Days later, with their accelerated training complete, the warriors of what was tentatively being called the Galactic Liberation Front - Android 18, Krillin, Master Roshi, Piccolo, Tien, and Yamcha - gathered around the bedridden Future Vegeta, who struggled to lean up and deliver his briefing even as Android 17 and Bulma continued to work behind him.
"Alright," he said in a no-nonsense tone. "Here's the plan. First, we need to-"
"Hang on, pause, real quick: do we have to wear these?"
The group turned to Android 18, who was less than pleased with the purple jumpsuit and stylized white armor plating which she had been told to wear along with everyone else. A couple of the other fighters assembled, notably Piccolo, grumbled in agreement, particularly since they were also wearing somewhat-cumbersome voice-altering masks like Future Vegeta's on top of all that. In response to their discontent, Future Vegeta sighed in slight annoyance at the delay in his briefing.
"Yes," he said in that same tone as before. "These people have been through four regime changes in as many months; the last thing we need is them assuming we're some outside group they've never heard of coming to take over for the fifth time. They know the Galactic Patrol, and although they may not respect the organization very much, they at least know that they would be more free to live as they wish under their previously feeble protection than they would be otherwise. Therefore, conducting our operations while wearing their colors will make it much easier to gain support, and wearing masks like mine will help us to disguise our involvement from King Vegeta for as long as possible." The others nodded along with that explanation, although 18 still looked somewhat put-out, especially once her brother decided to comment.
"Besides, if you ask me, dorky's a good look for you," he cracked, earning him an amused look from Bulma as 18 let out a sarcastic laugh that made it clear he shouldn't be testing her.
"Ha ha, bite me," she spat before crossing her arms with a huff.
"Well, on the bright side, at least they had one in my size," Krillin quipped nervously, which at least got him a slight chuckle from 18 before Bulma interjected.
"Actually, that's the only one we didn't have to modify; the pattern we have on file starts that small," she commented without turning her head, bringing a question to Future Vegeta's mind.
"Yes, I wanted to ask about that, how do you-?" he began, only to be cut off with a laugh.
"Ah, it's a whole thing with my sister, I'll tell you later," she replied smoothly, leaving him even more perplexed for a moment before he shook his head.
"Fair enough. Now, as I was saying-!" Future Vegeta began, only to be interrupted yet again.
"Hm, one other thing: wouldn't impersonating space cops be, like, a crime? A space crime?" Yamcha asked hesitantly, to which several of the others looked at him with dry expressions before he moved to defend himself. "Look, I used to be a bandit, okay? I'm not about to wreck nearly 15 years of going straight by getting myself thrown into space prison!" he argued. Bulma chuckled a bit while Future Vegeta sighed, beginning to grow somewhat impatient.
"Even if they had the means to arrest us for this, Yamcha, the simple fact is that they're not going to," he explained in a tired tone. "They may be laughably ineffectual and ridiculous beyond measure, but they aren't stupid. When word reaches the Galactic King that what remains of Frieza's empire is being slowly picked apart by individuals rumored to be working for him, his only sensible option will be to confirm that the rumors are true. To do otherwise would be to reject the first chance he's had in decades of not only regaining the territory he's lost, but also regaining the trust of the people he once protected, solely for the sake of his principles." Future Vegeta looked off into the distance for a moment, his expression contemplative as he almost muttered the rest of his sentence:
"No matter how righteous they are...no ruler would ever make that mistake."
Left without much of a response to that, the group wisely allowed Future Vegeta to get back to what they'd actually gathered there to talk about.
"In any case!" Future Vegeta said a little abruptly, but now back on track. "Here's the plan..."
"First, we need to do something about this new elite force that your 'King Kai' warned me about."
The private shuttle of King Vegeta came to a sudden halt just above the atmosphere of Saiyan Planet 79, a mostly craggy world made valuable solely due to its relative proximity to uncharted planets of particular interest to whichever organization has controlled it over the years, namely the planets Earth and Namek. The prompt defection of this world and the outpost built upon it in the aftermath of Cooler and King Cold's deaths was a profound blow to what was left of the Frieza Force before King Vegeta took power, but more than that...it was an insult. An insult which the recently formed Bonyu Force had been tasked with correcting.
"I don't know most of them, but Bonyu is a former member of the Ginyu Force."
Their instructions clear, the Bonyu Force stood by waiting for the moment they could exit the shuttle, with the mercenary Chidoru swiftly directing it to land on a spot just outside of the still-rebuilding outpost after dodging scattered laser fire from the few anti-spacecraft turrets they still had in operation. Satisfied that the damage to the shuttle was only superficial after a brief inspection, their captain took point as she took off in the direction of the outpost at blinding speed, causing the others to follow behind her as best they could. Bonyu may have been a former member of the Ginyu Force, but the soldiers forced to serve under her command weren't pushovers either, with each of them boasting a power level well above twenty thousand. The rebellious soldiers of Saiyan Planet 79 didn't stand a chance against such a show of force, and the shaking soldiers that they saw when they arrived at the landing platform definitely knew this. Bonyu smirked as she gestured towards them all, willing to give them one last chance if only to save her the trouble.
"She may not be a threat to us, but unlike her former colleagues, she doesn't treat her work like a game."
"People of Saiyan Planet 79!" she began in a booming voice, causing the rebels before her to panic even more. "I trust you know full well what is about to happen here, just as you know that resistance is futile. You have two possible choices: pledge yourself to King Vegeta and the Saiyan Empire...or die." With that, she glared at one soldier in particular who looked to be the ring-leader, judging by his power level of 5,000 in comparison to the others' rough average of 2,000. "I expect your answer within the next five seconds," she said, unknowingly giving many of the soldiers a terrifying sense of deja vu as they glanced at each other with fear in their eyes.
"Her task is to make an example of this planet, to show the others that it's pointless to resist."
"Five," Bonyu began counting, only intensifying the rebels' panic as some began to run.
"If we're to have any success in our efforts, we need to do the exact opposite."
"Four," Garana picked up as he swiftly moved to block some rebels who thought of escaping to the north, causing them to back away in fear.
"We need to show them that they were right to rebel, to take back control of their destinies."
"Three," Shisami and Tagoma said in unison as they blocked off the east and west.
"We need to show that we can and will support these rebel planets in their cause."
"Two," Chidoru said with a sinister grin as he blocked off the south, leaving the rebels well and truly cornered as each of the Bonyu Force began charging up ki blasts to fire indiscriminately into the crowd. Bonyu herself continued glaring at the rebel leader, daring him to make a move that he was definitely no longer prepared to make.
"And to help us spread that message as best we can...we need to make an entrance that won't be forgotten."
"One," Bonyu finished as she charged up a ki blast of her own, aimed right between his eyes.
"I can think of no one better suited for that task than you."
Suddenly, another ki blast rang out from above to strike Bonyu's scouter directly, blasting it to bits and causing her to instinctively screw her eye shut as the other soldiers looked up in shock.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Android 18 stood on the roof of the outpost's main command center in what she certainly hoped was a pose which convincingly sold her as a member of this "Galactic Patrol" without also being dorky as all hell. Unfortunately, the former seemed to preclude any possibility of the latter, as once Bonyu's subordinates got over their initial surprise at her successful ambush, their next response to her presence was to laugh incredulously.
"Dammit," 18 muttered under her breath, wondering what she did to deserve this.
"Oh, this is just precious!" Chidoru cackled. "They must think they're hot stuff after getting the Ginyus on their side, huh, boss?" he asked, only to receive no response as Bonyu squinted at 18.
"Chidoru...check her with your scouter," she commanded tersely, only for the man to scoff.
"Agh, c'mon, captain, I don't need to do that to know this fresh-off-the-ship newbie ain't got a chance of beating us!" Chidoru countered brashly, his bravado overriding what good sense he had telling him not to get on Bonyu's bad side. "The Galactic Patrol is nothing! D'you know how many of your buddies I've killed in my time, girlie? Do ya?" he asked tauntingly, floating in order to get right up in 18's face and daring her to make a move while Bonyu tensed up, ready for an actual fight. 18 simply smirked in response to Chidoru's mockery, amusing him further.
"I think you'll find I'm nothing like them," she replied simply, with the kind of confidence that might not have rattled Chidoru, but which certainly set Bonyu on her guard.
"Chidoru, get back! Something's not right here-!" was as far as she got before 18 broke Chidoru's right arm with a single roundhouse kick.
The attack happened faster than any of them could process. One moment, Chidoru was large and in charge, and then, in the blink of an eye, he was sprawled on the roof of the command center screaming bloody murder as he clutched his broken arm, the mysterious Galactic Patrolwoman nowhere to be seen. Not willing to look a gift horse in the mouth, the rebellious soldiers wisely got the hell out of dodge, taking advantage of the fact that the Bonyu Force was far too distracted in the face of this new threat to stop them from escaping the immediate vicinity. Now fully aware that they were actually in danger, the rest of the Bonyu Force was much more willing to listen to Bonyu's orders this time around.
"Someone find her, now!" she called out, trying to maintain her composure even as she was effectively fighting a foe of unknown strength completely blind. Each of her remaining subordinates attempted to do just that by calling upon their scouters, only for a dissonant beeping sound to quickly dash any hopes they had of getting a read on their enemy.
"It's no good, captain! I'm not picking up anything!" Garana replied, not quite as good at hiding the panic in his voice as he frantically looked around. "It's like she just disa-!" he attempted to add, only to be cut off mid-sentence as 18 suddenly appeared right in front of him and punched him in the throat, leaving him gasping for air before vanishing again.
"Garana!" Shisami called out, moving to rush to his side before being stopped by Tagoma.
"Calm yourself, Shisami!" he said, pulling him closer. "We must stick together if we are to-!" he proclaimed, only for 18 to send them both crashing to the ground with a sudden clotheslining maneuver. With all four of her subordinates incapacitated in one form or another, Bonyu stared 18 down as they stood across from each other, knowing this battle was likely to be over in an instant.
"Who are you?" she asked, trying not to let the circumstances rattle her composure.
"You're the only one of us whose name and face he wouldn't recognize. We need to take advantage of that."
"I am Lazuli of the Galactic Patrol!" Android 18 proclaimed as ostentatiously as she dared, making sure her voice rang clearly across the landing platform so that the hidden rebels could hear her loud and clear. "And for the sake of the galaxy's future, I shall punish you!" she continued, internally cringing at herself even as a part of her she refused to acknowledge actually found herself having a bit of fun with this ridiculous façade. Bonyu's face set into an expression of grim determination as she prepared to face this inane, yet nonetheless terrifying woman before her.
"You'll die trying," she growled, only half-certain it was true. "Blast Ball Barrier!" she cried out, firing off a number of blue spheres of ki whose energy came together to create a solid cube, trapping her opponent inside of it before Bonyu brought her hands together and sent electricity coursing through the entire cube. Although it seemed to be having some kind of effect, Bonyu wasn't about to let her guard down just yet, although she did allow herself a gloating smirk. "Now, then, let's see you try and sneak your way out of that-!" she began, only to be interrupted by a rush of air coming from behind her. Realizing what was happening, she tried to retaliate with a backwards jab. One swift punch from Android 18 swiftly knocked Bonyu senseless, but not before she realized how her opponent had managed to escape. The barrier had been cracked open from the inside so quickly that Bonyu couldn't even process it until she was attacked from behind.
Her most powerful technique had been blown apart in a single punch.
"Damn...you-!" she muttered right before she lost consciousness...and left 18 the victor.
With a small sigh once the ordeal was over with, 18 glanced around at the aftermath.
"So what should I do with them once I'm done?"
As the fallen soldiers of the Bonyu Force groaned in pain, Chidoru was the only one even able to get himself into a somewhat battle-ready position as he looked up in fear at Android 18, now hovering over him much as he had been hovering over her at the start of the fight. With a frightened gasp, Chidoru moved to hold his hands in front of his face as if that would protect him from the ki blast which seemed to be forming in 18's outstretched hand...only for it to abruptly fizzle out.
"Leave them broken, but alive. Someone needs to be around to tell King Vegeta, after all."
"Take your friends and go," 18 commanded sternly, in a tone which made it clear to Chidoru that he would be killed if he didn't comply immediately. "And one more thing," she added as he frantically brought the others shakily to their feet, with Bonyu lying on top of Garana's massive frame. The battered soldiers turned around frightened out of their minds, briefly wondering if this Galactic Patrolwoman was going to suddenly change her mind. "When you get back to your home base...tell your boss we'll be watching." With that, she vanished as quickly as she came, leaving the Bonyu Force to blink in astonishment for a moment before they ran back to the shuttle and took off into the night sky, leaving the rebels safe and the outpost completely intact.
"Besides, if they come back that way, knowing me...it'll anger him like nothing else."
"While 18 handles the main world under threat, the rest of you should focus on coordination."
"Try this one on for-OH BLOODY HELL!"
Reacting instinctively, what would've been a fairly harmless Crusher Ball meant for training with Pui Pui and Recoome abruptly powered up tenfold in response to Jeice's panic at seeing a familiar figure suddenly appear in front of him: the scarred martial artist from Namek who used to have a cool robot hand. Caught by surprise, the attack hit Yamcha right in the face and kicked up a fairly substantial cloud of dust. However, when the smoke cleared, Jeice found to his surprise and slight dread that the weakened attack had only succeeded in scorching the bandit and messing up his hair, but did little in the way of appreciable damage. The former bandit chuckled as the others looked on in apprehension, particularly since the man in question didn't seem to have any problem standing in a room that was currently experiencing fifty times standard planetary gravity.
"Now that's no way to greet an old friend," he chided them teasingly, causing Jeice to sputter indignantly at how casual Yamcha was being over suddenly ambushing them without warning.
"I imagine the ex-Ginyus will have a lot of questions for me."
"We ain't friends, you bastard!" Jeice retorted angrily. "You got a lotta nerve sneaking up on us like Vegeta did, but then again, maybe you can tell us what the big idea is, huh?!" As he spoke, Pui Pui and Recoome moved up behind him, ready to engage if necessary.
"First the monkey strong-arms us into hitching our wagon to the Galactic Patrol, then he leaves all of a sudden, and now word around the grapevine is that he's up and taken over the empire," Recoome said as he pieced through the curious chain of events. "Now, I ain't the smartest one here, I know that, but all of that plus you suddenly showing up in patrol getup...the math isn't adding up," he said in a more sinister tone as he brought his fists together, making it clear to Yamcha that he was either going to have to start talking or start fighting. Either way, things would get messy.
"The truth could be risky, and an elaborate lie isn't worth the effort. Just bring them into line."
"Now, fellas, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that information is 'need to know' and frankly? We don't like y'all very much, so as far as me and my friends are concerned, y'all don't need to know!" Yamcha retorted, only further antagonizing them as he put his foot down. "Now, are you guys gonna accept that and hear me out like civilized people...or am I gonna have to show you why they sent me instead of Vegeta?" he asked in a warning tone, but the others moved closer anyway, convinced that the three of them together could take him on.
"Sorry, mate, but if you ain't gonna tell us what the hell is going on here, then we're gonna have to get nasty," Jeice replied, his earlier apprehension mostly subsumed by the newfound confidence he had with his two friends closing in on the former bandit.
"You've gotten way stronger, I'll give ya that much," Recoome added from behind, "But you're still out of your league, Scarface. Face it: you're no Frieza, you're no Namekian, and you're certainly no 'Super Saiyan,'" he said somewhat derisively as he towered over Yamcha, daring him to try and make up for the thrashing he got from Burter not too long ago. "You're just human," Recoome sneered, only for his expression to falter when Yamcha simply chuckled.
"Yeah? Well, you know what?" he asked without giving them time to prompt him further.
Instead, whatever attack Jeice planned to make while Yamcha's back was turned towards Recoome was swiftly thwarted with a single palm strike, one powerful enough to break the red alien's nose and send him sprawling to the ground with his hands cupped over his bloody face. Before the other two could even react to this development, Yamcha finished the movements of his Wolf Fang Barrage, spinning around to face them both and hitting them with a number of palm strikes which ultimately incapacitated them as well. With all three of the formidable warriors down for the count in seconds, Yamcha took a brief second to straighten out his hair before finishing his thought.
"Humans are underrated," he said snidely as he casually strutted towards the fallen Jeice.
"Agh, bastard, ya can't just-ACK!" Jeice attempted to get out once he'd recovered somewhat, only to be painfully cut off as Yamcha planted a foot onto his chest, keeping him on the ground.
"You wanna try and talk things out now?" Yamcha asked in that same faux-jovial tone, to which Jeice quickly nodded. "Good!" he replied. "Now...how do you feel about having company?"
As it turned out, "having company" meant "housing and training nearly a thousand rebels."
"Even with Instant Transmission, we can't fight a revolution of this scale on our own, nor should we."
The massive flagship of King Cold's imperial fleet was certainly able to accommodate such a number of soldiers, of course, but it was still a rather stark contrast for the Galactic Force to see it so full of life and activity again after they'd slaughtered their way through the sizable crew they'd left with. The ship ran mostly on autopilot, but running a ship of that size with three people had still proven to be difficult, so if nothing else, they supposed they appreciated having the help this time.
However, that didn't mean they liked having to take care of so many "houseguests."
The vast majority of the new arrivals were standard Frieza Force soldiers: widely diverse in most respects, but all of them no higher than 5,000 in terms of their power level. They were taken not only from the twenty planets that had already defected, but also from the dozen other planets which seemed to be thinking about it, especially given recent developments. Judging from the excited chatter they could hear as they walked down the halls leading to the bridge, the mercenaries suspected that most of that "convincing" consisted of the terrifyingly powerful Earthlings utterly thrashing anyone who tried to stop them on those planets, somehow managing to leave their outposts and production facilities almost completely undamaged in the process. Every minute that the trio of ex-mercenaries were forced to work with these people just brought up new questions that none of them could answer, and as much as it irritated the Galactic Force to no end, it also quickly became apparent that Yamcha was actually still on the weaker end of Earth's warriors. From what they'd been able to sense, the Namekian that had killed Burter could kill them all without even trying, and judging from what little they had glimpsed of him...he was certainly considering it.
"This deal's getting better all the time," Jeice muttered sarcastically as the trio walked and walked before eventually reaching the bridge and the sizable war room adjacent to it, where they knew that representatives of the rebelling planets were currently in the midst of a heated discussion over whether or not to pledge further troops to this "Galactic Liberation Front" beyond those who had volunteered of their own free will.
Judging by the bedlam they heard through the doors, that wasn't going well.
"Alright, that's it!" Jeice called out as he opened the door while Recoome slammed his fist on the table, shocking the bickering bureaucrats into silence. Master Roshi, the self-appointed mediator of these talks, observed the sudden intrusion with interest. Android 18, still playing the part of "Galactic Patrolwoman Lazuli" to provide a show of force, could only roll her eyes at the disruption.
"Always gotta make a big dramatic entrance, huh?" she muttered to no one in particular.
"Listen, you lot!" Jeice proclaimed angrily. "I could care less about whatever you decide to do. I know you don't care for the Galactic Patrol and frankly, none of us do either. We just joined up with them because it was the only real option we had," Jeice admitted, causing a wave of murmuring among the delegates before Recoome slammed his fist on the table again. "Nobody likes the idea of these eccentric law-and-order types bossing us around over every little thing. I'm sure that's why a lot of you joined up with the Frieza Force in the first place, and I know that's why you each decided to go bugger off on your own instead of buggering off together once things started to go sideways. No sense in breaking away from the government just to become a stupid government, yeah?" he asked with a bit of a bemused grin. The question caused another wave of murmuring to ensue among the delegates, although nobody seemed particularly inclined to refute that assertion. Jeice could only growl as he watched them continue to prattle on. "Look, just shut up and get on with it, alright? If I'm gonna be stuck babysitting you sniveling cowards, you can at least do me and me mates the courtesy of not just carrying on with each other for months," Jeice finished dismissively, causing a number of the bureaucrats assembled to finally interject with all sorts of cutting remarks...until Master Roshi held up a hand and bade everyone to stop talking immediately.
"Our dear host here is right about one thing: we are the only option you have," Master Roshi remarked calmly, attempting to get into character as an aging member of this "Galactic Patrol" outfit. "If you all agree to work with us now, although I can make no guarantees, I imagine it will be trickier to justify going to the trouble of prosecuting you all for your involvement with the Frieza Force after putting everything on the line to bring about its destruction. With especially good behavior, you may even be able to retain your current posts, albeit under the Galactic Patrol's jurisdiction." A couple delegates scoffed at that, but a quick look from Roshi shut them up. "Like I said, I can make no guarantees if you join us, but if you don't...I can guarantee that King Vegeta will come for you eventually," he said sternly, causing everyone's eyes to widen while the Galactic Force looked on with skepticism, given their many unanswered questions. "It might not happen this month or even this year; in fact, you may go a decade or more without ever hearing from him again. Still, the fact remains that it's going to happen to each and every one of you within your lifetimes, and when it does, he will show you no mercy, just like he would have done with Saiyan Planet 79 if Patrolwoman Lazuli hadn't stopped the Bonyu Force in their tracks. That's just the kind of man Vegeta is, and although we have grown stronger...we still cannot hope to stop him as he is now."
Roshi felt the mercenaries' eyes on him then, certain that they were going to have questions and wondering whether continuing to keep them in the dark was truly the best call. Still, although he didn't relish having to lie about their strength, Roshi knew that getting the support of these rebels meant presenting King Vegeta as a genuine threat which they could only eliminate by working together. Only when an empire falls apart from within does it truly die, and Roshi wasn't about to let what was left of Frieza's empire persist any longer than necessary under King Vegeta's rule. He had already lived and died through one alien invasion: he wasn't about to fight through any more.
And with the Kais as his witness, neither were these people.
"So what's the point?" one of the delegates asked. "If even you can't stop him, what hope do any of us have?" The crocodile-like man's questions sparked hushed commentary among the other delegates, some of whom seemed to have made up their minds while others were still on the fence. The mercenaries sat and waited contemptuously for Roshi's response, who remained silent for quite some time before finally giving them his best attempt at encouragement.
"We can stop him, but only if we work together," he said simply, holding out his hand and speaking in a tone which was somehow both commanding and inviting simultaneously. "He can't be everywhere at once, and no matter how powerful he is, he isn't invincible. With your help, I believe we will eventually find a way to defeat him, but if we choose instead to remain isolated like this...then all will be lost to darkness." With these words, he looked at everyone in the room with a cold stare as he asked them a simple question, one which he hoped conveyed the stakes of the situation:
"Will you be the one to sound the death knell of the universe?"
In the face of such heavy implications, the delegates looked at each other apprehensively, wondering who was going to be the first to acquiesce and whose pride would come before the fall. Although a few of them left the room in a huff along with the Galactic Force, the vast majority fell in line one after the other to shake Roshi's hand and pledge their allegiance to the cause. A cause which they had decided might just be worth the risk after all.
"In the end, no matter how powerful we are...this is their fight. Our job isn't to fight their battles for them."
Once everyone had left and ultimately picked their side in this fight, Roshi grinned over his shoulder at Android 18 in celebration of a job well done. The woman scoffed, part of her hoping that she wouldn't have to play this role again for a while as the rest of her tried to reconcile that sentiment with how much she had actually enjoyed herself. Judging from the expression on Roshi's face, the old bastard knew that all too well, but that was immaterial. The point was, everything had more or less been set into motion for the revolution...just as Future Vegeta had told them to.
"Our job is to make sure they win."
"Whoo-hoo, that was fun!"
As Krillin jubilantly celebrated their first successful foray across the universe once everyone teleported back to Future Vegeta's room at Capsule Corp, Yamcha chuckled along with him.
"Tell me about it! I've missed having my Wolf Fang attacks actually work on people!" Yamcha remarked, earning him a smirk from four different copies of Tien before they all fused back together into a single version of him...albeit one that was still smirking.
"Can't say I relate," he quipped. Although Yamcha didn't laugh, he had to admit it was a halfway decent comeback. It was amazing: Blonde Launch and two years in the time chamber with him really had worked to make Tien somewhat funny. Talk about a genuine miracle.
"I'll admit it was fun to actually fight someone after all this time, but it was just too easy," 18 complained, having already changed out of her Galactic Patrol uniform. "Honestly, you should've just thrown me at the other Vegeta, I could've handled him!" she argued to the man himself, who managed to give her a tired smile in response.
"Although I can't sense your energy to confirm, I am certain you are correct," Future Vegeta said, surprisingly amicable to the woman that he, understandably, hadn't spoken with all that much. "However, it's important that we don't engage King Vegeta directly just yet, lest he begin to suspect we are a greater threat than we currently seem. It's not inconceivable that the Galactic Patrol could have trained an agent powerful enough to defeat Bonyu and her squadron, but having suddenly acquired an agent stronger than Frieza would be quite unbelievable. As long as he assumes the former to be the case, he'll leave handling the rebels to his subordinates while he focuses on his own agenda, and that's exactly the sort of move which will slowly turn the people against him. As he remains fixated on his own interests, our revolution will continue to grow until it finally splinters his 'Saiyan Empire' apart. As soon as that is done...I will kill him. Simple as that." The others nodded along to that explanation, with Android 18 following suit after a couple seconds.
"Ugh, fine, I'll be on standby, I guess," she said like it was an immense inconvenience for her, but one slightly smug look from Krillin told her that he knew she'd actually had a bit of fun playing pretend and acting all dramatic as "Galactic Patrolwoman Lazuli."
He'd gotten good at seeing right through her...not that she thought this was a bad thing.
"What about the rest of us? Must we continue to take part in these juvenile theatrics?" Piccolo asked, decidedly even less enthusiastic about the prospect. Future Vegeta smirked.
"Not for the moment, at least," Future Vegeta replied. "It will take a few days for the Bonyu Force to get back to Planet Chilled and for the full extent of our initial involvement to reach King Vegeta. If I were in his position..." Future Vegeta paused for a moment as he tried to place himself into a mindset he had possessed in what felt like another lifetime. It was easier to do than he cared to admit aloud, although Bulma could tell even as she was buried in her work by the way his entire body tensed up. "I'd order the Bonyu Force to train, since I'm assuming he's had his engineers construct a new gravity chamber to replace the one on the stolen flagship. As for his own agenda..." Future Vegeta paused again, leaving Roshi to look around for a moment before interjecting.
"Hey, can you kids do me a favor and clear the room?" Roshi asked, sending Piccolo into another bout of angry muttering at being called a kid while the rest of the fighters nodded. Bulma wordlessly pointed a finger towards herself. "Yes, you too, Bulma; you can afford to take a five minute break," Roshi said, adding the addendum before she could even think to argue.
"Damn mind reading BS..." she muttered under her breath as she moved to pack her things.
"Yeah, alright," 18 said nonchalantly. "C'mon, Krillin, we're going shopping!" she called out behind her, causing Krillin to scramble after her.
"Ah, yes ma'am!" he replied as he quickly caught up to her before closing the door. Yamcha snickered at the exchange, having a good idea as to what had transpired over the last few days.
"Whipped," he said teasingly, just low enough that only Piccolo and Tien caught it.
"Tch, what do you mean? You're all fools," Piccolo muttered as he began walking.
"He's got a point; you say that like you didn't immediately hug Maron as soon as you got out of the time chamber with me and 16," Tien pointed out as he followed suit, poking a pretty major hole into Yamcha's lighthearted joke.
"Hey, I hadn't seen her in two years on my end, gimme a break!" he replied at the end of the procession. "And besides, you're the same way with Launch!" he argued, only for Tien to chuckle.
"Of course. I never said it was a bad thing," Tien replied back smoothly. "Now, would you like to join us, or do you have other plans?" he asked teasingly, causing Yamcha to blush somewhat in embarrassment before he attempted to laugh it off and failed miserably.
"Maybe," he said sheepishly as he moved to close the door once Bulma joined them. "We can't all live like monks, you know," he added in a lower tone, which was all Roshi heard before the door finally closed and he was alone in the room with Future Vegeta.
"So..." Future Vegeta began awkwardly, not sure where to start a conversation with someone who could just as easily read his mind. "I take it that the talk with the ex-Ginyus didn't work out too well?" he asked, to which Roshi shook his head.
"No, they didn't know much of anything about what Jamba's plans were," he replied bitterly. "Seems they weren't let in on much after being forcibly brought back into the fold. I'll have to get all of the answers I want directly from the horse's mouth, as it were."
"King Kai," Future Vegeta said, guessing what Roshi meant easily enough. "Yes, he was curiously evasive when he contacted me as well. I asked him what my counterpart was planning, but all he'd say was that he was studying the Super Saiyan transformation and looking for any stragglers from Planet Vegeta. I sensed that there was more to it than that, but he just excused himself from the telepathic conversation and cut me off."
"Yeah, he does that," Roshi replied dryly, only for a familiar thought to come to his mind unbidden. He'd had a few days to rest after he'd risked starvation in the time chamber, and seeing as Future Vegeta had some questions of his own...it seemed like now was as good a time as any.
"Do you have any clue as to why he might have withheld information? You know him better than I do, after all," Future Vegeta asked, to which Roshi thought about it for a moment before reaching a decision on whether or not it was time to pursue step 3 of his plan.
"No clue," he said blithely, giving Future Vegeta a smirk. "You want me to ask him?"
And so the plot thickens.
I'll admit, it may have been a bit quick to just jump to when everyone was done training, but I'd already done a time chamber arc and I figured things had to come to a head sooner rather than later. We will be seeing more of the two time chamber trips, of course, just in the form of interludes that I can post at a later date. For now, all that matters to the plot is that everyone got stronger and 18/Krillin is in a bit of an interesting place atm. Two years alone together really works wonders for sorting out awkward feelings, don't it?
Not much else to say with this one, other than that I'll have to pick up the pace at some point since, at the moment, I've only got the next chapter ready. This fic has admittedly been a bit more on the side thanks to other projects I've been focused on, but luckily, the monthly updates have been working pretty well so far when it comes to balancing that on top of everything else. Hoping I can keep that up.
There have been some power level changes, but since they don't figure in too heavily, I might just save them for the interludes since that's when they'll be explained in more detail. As such, all we've got this time around are reviews, of which there are more than usual this time, yay!
First off, Shahryar says:
"So while I was sad to see Vegeta fall further into the pit, the end of the chapter did give me hope and I'm really interested to see how things go for him, though I'm more interested in the heroes (but I'll still keep reading). And thanks for responding to my other review!"
Yeah, he's definitely letting his Saiyan pride take the wheel on this, but the important thing is that Future Vegeta's last-ditch effort is getting through to him, at least a little. Of course, he seems to be of the opinion that he can have it all, but from the looks of things...that might not turn out too well for him.
And then, a whole bunch of reviews from Emrys Akayuki, here we go!
From Tale 17, they write, "530? Damn, that's an increase... what is the roof on zenkai? They became negligible after a while." Yeah, zenkais are always kinda ridiculous, but it's mostly inferred from him being able to match first form Frieza in canon after recovering from a similar beating on top of his earlier boosts. Course, he never ends up fighting Frieza in this fic on account of Ginyu shenanigans, which we can plainly see really grinds his gears, lol.
From Tale 24, they write, "Wait, the dragon didn't mention Krillin?" Mhm, because he already died and got revived by Shenron back in the King Piccolo saga. Couldn't revive him again, so no point in him mentioning that Krillin was among the dead since he can't bring him back.
From Tale 40, they write, "Is future 'geets gonna wish back pybara... pbyra... pybybyby... the old yardratian when he gets a chance? I kinda wanna see a scene of him telling him he was right and thanking him for everything, I wanna bawl, y'know? Also, you could always say the implants were too intrinsic or in there too long ir vegeta is simply too strong for the dragon to heal, like how some people are too strong to kill, or something, the dragon couldn't turn the cyborgs back to humans, there's gotta be some reason." I honestly didn't give it much thought, but enough people have pointed it out that I realized he kinda has to. Would feel unsatisfying otherwise. That won't be for a while, though.
And finally, from Tale 43, they write, "Great stuff! On a related note, given that you're having the multiverse straight up not exist instead of just not using it, does that mean that angel-boi in training in the galactic patrol doesn't exist? 'Cause push comes to shove, he's the strongest guy in the universe, and totally undetectable with god ki. Just wondering if he was still around." Mhm, that guy isn't around for several reasons, mostly because of the changes I'm planning on making to the cosmology to account for there not being a multiverse and therefore not having multiple angels/Gods of Destruction floating around.
All in all, thank you for your interest and your dedication in reading through all those chapters, lol. I know I tend to go on for a while. xD
With all that said, as always, thank y'all for reading, stay safe, wear a mask, have yourselves a fantastic night, and take care.