Dragon Ball — The Heart of Adventurers
By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, edited by Firegod00
Chapter 13 — S-T-A-R-F-A-L-L
The Day of the Saiyans Arrival
Arrival on Earth within approx. three minutes (Planet Freeza Timequadrant).
Arrival on Earth within approx. three minutes (Planet Freeza Timequadrant).
Arrival on Earth within approx. three minutes (Planet Freeza Timequadrant).
This line was repeated several times amidst the five spacecraft that closed in on planet Earth. Within only a short time, the five invaders would close in on their blue target, and the suspended animation systems within their pods was beginning to deactivate — slowly, their vital readings returned to normal, and the seven Saiyans began to awaken.
It took only a short while for the Saiyans themselves to fully emerge from stasis, and by this point, their ships has broken the atmosphere. The spheres were immersed within auras, preventing them from catching fire upon entry, and as soon as they'd made their way towards Earth, the seven ships split off in four different directions; as was protocol, they were automatically headed towards the locations with the largest amount of life-readings. Two ships headed towards the Eastern Capital, Two for the Northern Capital, Two for the Southern Capital, and one sole ship raced towards the Western Capital.
One-by-one, the alien spacecraft crashed into the cities. The pavement exploded on impact, creating gigantic craters large enough to fit each of the pods. These pods opened, and in each Capital, a Saiyan stepped out of their spacecraft.
In the Eastern Capital, the first duo stepped out. They contrasted each other nicely, with one of them being a fairly short man, lean-built, with a shock of black hair that stood upright, and a widow's peak. He wore similar battle armor to Raditz, with a blue leotard, white chestpiece with yellow shoulder pauldrons, and similar pauldrons extending as crotchguards, as well as white boots and gloves. He wore a red Scouter, and his tail wrapped around his waist like a furred belt.
The other was a tall man, massively-built, without a shred of hair on his head, but a thin mustache. He wore no leotard, but his chestpiece was dark navy with similar yellow pauldrons and crotchguards. His boots matched his armor, and he wore no gloves, but rather armbands made of the same durable material. His Scouter was a dark blue, and like his comrade, his tail had been wrapped around his waist.
Nappa and Vegeta had landed.
At the Northern Capital, the second pair of Saiyans emerged from their pods. The first of the two was as tall as Nappa, but couldn't be more his opposite in terms of physical build. While possessing well-defined musculature, he was lanky, and his face had prominent cheekbones. His eyes were stern and narrow, but his expression gave off an air of boredom. His spiked hair framed his head with two bangs, but otherwise fell to his neck. On his ear was a single hoop-earring, and was bone plated with gold. He wore the same combat armor that the other Saiyans wore, though his breastplate was black, with white shoulder pauldrons. He lacked the crotchguards, but did wear the same leotard as Vegeta, merely black in colour. His gloves and boots were white, and his Scouter was red.
His compatriot was another slim Saiyan, with a rather blank expression on his face. It was accented by a short chin, but rounded cheekbones, and his eyes were otherwise lacking in distinctiveness. His hair was unique among the group, as he had shaved it on the sides to create a spiked-ponytail, tied by a red band, and reached the small of his back. His armor top consisted of only the grey breastplate, with green bands instead of pauldrons, and navy blue leggings, of which his boots matched, though they had a similar green armor at the tip. He possessed, however, intricate war paint, extending from the palms of his hands, up his neck, and across his cheeks and forehead; any Saiyan still alive would recognize these markings as distinct from Saiyan lore.
"Shall we, Bocho?" said the first Saiyan.
"We shall indeed, Gula," replied the second in a monotone.
At the Southern Capital, the final pair of Saiyans vacated their pods. Of the first was a wiry man with a lean build, possessed of an angular face and a chin that could cut diamond. His nose was aquiline, but befit his large eyes and beady pupils. He was the most menacing out of the seven, adorning his hair with a collection of various bones, styling it into dreadlocks-style braids. Unlike his comrades, he wore no armor, only a steel-mesh which revealed a mass of scars on his body, and his accessories consisted of thin arm and leg braces. His pants were made of black cloth, and he possessed a sword dangling at his side; the blade itself was serrated, with the hilt itself being crafted again out of bone — looking suspiciously close to a spinal column — with additional bones forming the guard. He possessed no Scouter.
His comrade was considerably more tame. He was muscular, only slightly slimmer than Raditz, with his hair worn in braided spikes. He wore the same combat armor that Nappa did, though it was forest green, and the pauldrons were an ashen gray. Along his right arm, there was a long-since healed wound, a scar that appeared to have been formed by a blade.
The wild Saiyan let out a laugh, cackling and speaking to his comrade. "Come on, Kuka! Let's go bust some heads!"
"You've always got too much energy," replied Kuka, a rough hand scratching the back of his head. "This is a mission."
The final pod had landed in the Western Capital, but its occupant hadn't bothered to leave, and the hatch was still firmly shut. Even as people crowded around to get a closer look, there was no response as the glass of the sphere's window shone against the sunlight. It was the only remaining Saiyan left — Aspara — and she refused to move.
"Aspara!" A stern voice came through her Scouter in their native language. It was Vegeta. "What do you think you're doing? Step out of the craft, now!"
"Oh please," replied the female voice, surprisingly soft but no less threatening. She replied in their tongue. "I came to this ball of dust and water expecting a fight. And we land here, in this overpopulated mundane city? Feel free to raze them to the ground if you want, but contact me again when you find the fighters."
"Step out of the craft. Now." Vegeta's voice dropped into a low timbre over the Scouter, and word was spoken as a threat. "Don't make me repeat myself again, or you will regret it."
"...Yes, Your Majesty," Aspara replied icily.
With a hiss, her pod opened, and the form of Aspara stepped out into the Western Capital. She was beautiful, to say the least. For a woman who had seen battle all her life, it appeared to have done far more for her appearance than it would have done for most others. She was possessed of a slight tan complexion, with narrow black eyes, wearing a stern expression. Her hair, contrary to most Saiyans, was worn straight, of a beautiful black sheen, and was combed over her face, obscuring her right eye. Along her cheek was a thin scar. Her combat armor possessed a red breastplate, outline with black, and exposed her midriff, and unlike Nappa and Vegeta, did not opt for crotchguards. She had skintight, black shorts, the exact same material that composed the leotard worn by Vegeta, and black gloves, her boots were black, with red armored tips, and ankle-length. Her tail was wrapped around her waist, and wore a bright red Scouter.
"What's the—?" One of the people gawking at the ship gasped when she exited.
"Are they filming a movie?"
"No, it has to be a public stunt!"
The Earthlings continued to chatter among themselves, and Aspara sighed.
"You lot are lucky," she said, ignoring their use of the Galactic Basic Standard. As she said this, it felt like the planet quaked. and pillars of light could be seen from the other three Capitals. Aspara's Scouter went haywire, as it tuned into the massive spike in ki from her comrades, followed by a sudden drop, and then the complete absence of various Earthling ki signals. "I might leave some of this city intact."
Before they could ask what Aspara was saying, much less what she meant, there was a flash to her eyes, a menacing mien that struck a chord of fear into their hearts. Then came the literal flash, a brilliant red sheen of energy. From Aspara's fingertips, a powerful kikōha was released, utterly destroying a large portion of the street. Water mains busted, spraying the liquid into the air. Bodies, however, were rent asunder, and blood splattered onto the destroyed pavement and concrete, diluting in the water.
"If I wanted to be honest," Aspara continued, "I don't have any real interest in such a base species — I want to get my hands around the necks of those traitorous brothers." With a casual air, another red flash of ki, and and the end result was simply more carnage. At this point, Earthlings were running and screaming in terror, attempting to flee the city. With a wild turn, she swung her hand down, and a wave of ki erupted, slicing through a third of the city, creating more needless destruction.
"Is there no one in this city worth my time?" The Saiyan warrior protested.
Western Capital, Capsule Corporation
"What's going on!?" The entire city was shaking, and Bulma could feel the Capsule Corporation building moving along with it. There had been a brilliant flash of red outside the building, and she ran outside to take a look. A large gash was carved into pavement and concrete, and she could see the destruction had spread from further in the city, where smoke plumed and flames were roaring.
"Bulma, what's the matter?" Tights called out to her. "It feels like a bomb just dropped!"
"I honestly wish one had," replied the younger sister. "The destruction here, and those gigantic pillars of light from the other Capitals...it has to be the Saiyans!"
"Now!? I thought we had a little more time!"
"I thought so too!" groaned Bulma, ducking back into the building and thanking their luck that Capsule Corporation had been narrowly missed by that energy blast. "We're just lucky that we've already made most of the necessary preparations." Looking out into the distance, she concluded quickly that there seven foreign powerful ki in total, and each of them at ridiculously high numbers. "Each and every combat strength is over 2,000..." gasped Bulma. "And the third strongest wouldhave landed here."
"...How can you tell all of that?" asked Tights, amazed.
"It might sound a bit...odd, but it's a cybernetic enhancement," replied Bulma. "I took the basic concept of the Saiyan Scouter and outfitted myself with it." She gestured to her face, which was as beautiful as ever, but devoid of the Scouter that the Saiyans typically wore. "Once I got a good understanding of it, I was able to reverse engineer it, and with one of the robots in the lab, outfit myself with a similar concept."
"What do we do?" inquired Tights.
"Head to the bunker for now," replied Bulma easily. "We have to wait this out, and then make a run for the Dragon Balls to bring Son directly here. If we go out now, we're dead."
Tights nodded, and the two siblings made a move get their family and staff into the underground portion of Capsule Corporation.
North Kaiō's Planet
It had been well over five months since Goku's training under the North Kaiō, and by the deities' own assessment, Goku had made leaps and bounds. The Genki Dama and the Kaiōken; both were techniques of the North Kaiō's own creation, and even he had not fully mastered them. For Goku to have come so far in these short few months, and to use his techniques even more flawlessly than the god who had made them — the Kaiō of the North was more than surprised, but also so very pleased.
"I didn't expect you to come this far," said the deity, looking at the exhausted figure of Goku. "For someone living to come here, and master my techniques in such a short span of time! And even surpass my strength!"
Goku laughed, planted firmly against the ground. His gi was torn, his body battered, but he couldn't look more proud of himself if he tried. "To be honest, I almost thought it was impossible. An' you didn't make it easy on me, either." He looked down at his hands, surprised to see how beaten down he was, but he could still feel so much new power from himself.
"It wouldn't have been training if I held back, now would it?" replied his mentor. "Now, let's see...we've been at this awhile, but the Saiyans should be arriving on Earth soon. Let me give it a check." He turned his attention towards the section of the Universe where Earth was located, completely focusing on the little blue planet. After but a moment's silence, he gasped in terror.
"W-What's wrong?!" inquired Goku.
"The S-S-Saiyans!" stammered North Kaiō. "I didn't expect this...I completely lost track of time during training, and I forgot to calculate the time it'd take you to make it back across Serpent Road...and they're there! The Saiyans are on Earth!"
"Damn it!" Goku clenched his fists, having jumped to his feet in shock. "You can't just fly me back or somethin'!? It took me four months to make it here, and I was runnin' at top speed!"
"If you run right now, it'll still take you a day!" said North Kaiō, now in a full panic. "I made a mistake, I'm sorry, Goku!"
"There has got to be a way!" Goku groaned, his tail twitching in frustration as he cursed their situation. "If Bulma was here, she'd know how to fix this!"
"Bulma? Who is that?" inquired the deity.
"My wife," replied Goku through the agitation. "I ain't much of a thinker unless it's in a fight, but Bulma's always been pretty good at thinking her way out of a problem. I just wish I could ask 'er."
"You can!" replied North Kaiō, turning his back to Goku. "Here! Place your hand on my back and reach out to your wife with your mind. Hurry, Goku!"
"L-Like this?" Goku placed his palm to the North Kaiō's back, and focused his thoughts on Bulma. "Bulma! Bulma! It's me, Goku!"
There was a moment of silence, but he heard the familiar tones of his wife ringing through into his head.
"Son?! Is that you!?"
"Yeah! I'm talkin' to you through North Kaiō, and I ain't got good news! I just finished trainin', but he said the Saiyans are there, and even if I run at full speed, it'll still take me a day to make it back to Earth!"
"Oh you bet they're here, and they just destroyed all four Capitals! But I already thought ahead! You stay there, give me a little time, and I'll gather the Dragon Balls! We'll have Shénlóng bring you back to Earth immediately!"
Goku didn't much fancy the idea of waiting in one spot, but when Bulma became insistent that he conserve stamina, he acquiesced, and the connection was broken. Breathing out a slight sigh, his tail curled up as his impatience began to mount. "I don't really like waitin', especially now that I know everyone will be down there fightin'. But I should have figured she'd use the Dragon Balls."
When North Kaiō looked puzzled, Goku explained how Dragon Balls worked, and the deity couldn't help to be impressed that such wish orbs existed, and was even more impressed by such a simplistic, yet effective, usage for them. With his composure now restored, the deity's antennae pointed towards Goku. "Let's fix up a few things in preparation for this battle."
Goku's ensemble shimmered, before taking on a completely different form. Gone was the tattered gi of which he'd worn for ages. In its place was new attire; the blue undershirt remained, but worn over it was an orange gi top with blue lining from the collar down to the hem, and it wasn't worn tucked like his previous gi. Near the base, "亀" was inscribed, but "界王" was inscribed on the back in a large white circle. His gi pants were of a darker orange, and his boots retained their shape, but now blue bandages wrapped from the ankle to the bottom of his pant legs. In place of armbands, Goku now wore blue bandages tied around his palms and wrists, and a blue obi sash kept his gi tied. His tail poked out from the back, much like it had in his childhood.
"Whoa!" Goku gasped, looking down at his new ensemble. "Look at these threads! Impressive! Thanks a bunch!"
"I figured you wouldn't want to go down and fight for the sake of your planet in rags," replied North Kaiō. "Now, I noticed you brought the Ensenji fruit with you. I'm surprised you've got such a powerful item with you, but now's the time to eat it. Your wife could wish you back at any moment, and you'd get killed if you fight while exhausted."
The Saiyan agreed, and went to retrieve the Ensenji from where he'd left it. As he devoured the golden peach, he took a seat, and his thoughts drifted to Earth. How were his friends faring? What about his daughter? There was so much he didn't know right now, and as he felt power swell within his body, it did nothing to help his impatience.
"Bulma! Hurry!"
East City, Orin Temple; Minutes Ago...
Home. It was hard to describe what place was that for the former monk and now devout martial artist is. Having lived his childhood in this place for a good while, he hardly remembered what it was like without Goku and the others. The time spent with his childhood friend and rival was one wrought with danger and excitement every step of the way. Despite being the weaker of the two he had made up for it with quick wit, nimble reflexes and a lot of luck. He thought it ran out when Daimaō Piccolo's henchman, the terrifying Tambourine, had ended his life and a slew of other reputable martial artists during his grave return. Resurrected by the power of the Dragon Balls, he was given a second chance at life.
One he had spent doing what he could to get stronger and find something useful with his life. He tried to help Goku fight Ma Junior in the ring -valiant, many would say- to no avail, having to spend the rest of the effort watching on the sidelines. After it was over and his best friend left back to his own home, Kuririn turned down Muten Rōshi's offer to live on the island with Oolong. Striking out on his own, he tried to start up a martial arts teaching but couldn't find a way to find a place decent at teaching or good pay for the end result. From that point on, he went job hunting for one thing after another, trying to find the right profession.
That's when he meet Kashiko. It was happenstance that they were on the same train, and after an eventful conversation regarding his career as a martial artist, they shared numbers to go out on a date. One thing led to another and they committed to an active relationship. Through her helpful recommendation, he grabbed a position at the Police Force here and became reputably excellent at what he did thanks to his training and natural talent for remaining faithful to his career. With a record low in crime, he was given some vacation time that he tentatively used throughout the better part of his training months in preparation for the Saiyans' arrival. Ending a couple months ago, he went back to work and only now got a weekend opportunity to visit his old place of training and where his path of martial arts started.
And much to his pleasure, he drove the monks who loathed his presence to unending madness as Kashiko barraged them with questions and took pictures wherever she could.
"Oh, what is this?!" Kashiko inquired with saucer-sized eyes aimed at a prominent statue in the center of the temple. There was a bronze outline to it, glossy from the light that shined through the cracks of the place of meditation and learning, giving the rotund yet well built looking effigy a regal appearance. This sparked her curiosity to no abound, much like their livelihood and every spot of space there was to see.
"Please, do not touch!" The Head Temple monk exclaimed. "That is the statue for the first master of Orin Temple, Matsumada Orin!"
"Oh! Was he a competitor of the Tenkaichi Budokai?!"
"No, he was the founder of this temple and taught us our ways-"
"I know, I remember that," She took a few pictures with her camera with a smile. "These pictures will do great for my job, even if none of you can hold a candle to my Kuririn."
"What, that disrespectful scoundrel?! He couldn't stand a single of our practices and only sought strength for strength's sake!" The master spoke with an indignant huff.
"He has no honor!" One of the senior monks shook a fist with a shout.
"I'm sure he's grown quite a bit since then, otherwise, I wouldn't be courting him," She grinned with a confident wink aimed at them.
"G-Get out! You've wasted much of our precious time as it is!" The master insisted with dramatic waves of his arms. "We lost so much time, we will need to double our efforts! Out woman! And take your boyfriend with you!"
"It was nice speaking with all of you," She replied in an innocent sing-song voice, walking away with a wave that only the youngest of the monks waved back bashfully; only for them to be scorned seconds later by the older of the students. Walking out of the temple with Kuririn waiting patiently outside, she clapped her hands in apology and bowed her head to the dwarf. "I-I'm sorry I wasted our time here. I didn't know they'd keep you out!"
"Eh, they got a grudge that's hard to let go. It's whatever," Kuririn put his hands behind his head nonchalantly, turning to walk down the temple's steps while looking over his shoulder at her. "I was surprised they let any visitors in. I guess the younger monks are a bit like I was back in the day. Eager to learn, eager to please and not stubbornly set in their ways just yet."
"They were all nice, till the grumpy ones found out what I was doing inside," She sighed, adjusting her glasses as she walked down the steps in reflection. It may have been the way she was dressed that upset them, when she thought about it. She wore a simple yellow tea with a white flower emblazoned on the left hip that sent strands of vines across the back and front of it. With only a short brown skirt and simple low-heel shoes, the long-haired brunette may have appeared too casual for such a place of learning.
Kuririn on the other hand was dressed in a new gi and was prepared to show off his appearance to the master, only for his person to be barred upon arriving. Unlike his previous gi, this one had a blue border to his orange top to match the sash wrapped around his waist. With the Hermit School emblem placed on the lower left flap, a pair of blue bandage wraps going from his wrist up his forearms. The same orange slacks and flat sole shoes with smooth socks adorned his uniform, but other than a few aesthetic changes, little has changed about the ex-monk's visage.
"I think the grumpier ones were just jealous that some loser like me has a stunning girlfriend like you around. Even if they forbade me to enter, just your presence frustrates them, you know?" He chuckled, doing his best to cheer her up despite the unsavory inhospitable greeting they gave him.
It was enough, giving Kashiko a smile as she turned to lean down and peck Kuririn's cheek with a giggle, "You're so sweet, you know that? It really is part of your charm."
"And my good looks help, don't they?" He waggled his eyebrows.
"Haha, and your sense of humor helps too," She joked with a raspberry wink aimed at him.
"H-Hey now! Here I was complimenting you and everything!" Kuririn joked back, his pride only partly hurt as he turned to see some glimpses of light. Blinking at them, he put his hands up block out the flashes they gave, Kashiko soon doing the same. "Falling stars? Well ain't that neat!"
"Do falling stars usually get bigger as they approach?"
"No, that's comets-" Kuririn stopped himself short, suddenly feeling an intense sensation coming off the bodies of astral illumination. It was like an immense gravity had begun crushing his body, the tingling of goosebumps crawling all over his skin and his organs tightening in on themselves. A blueness spread across his nose-less face, his eyes becoming dots and mouth spreading wide. Just out of his periphery, he'd see other streaking lights shoot off in other directions, shrieking by like jets coming in for a bracing landing. The two they saw ahead of the others moved to the center of the city was rushing to its center, as they plowed through tall buildings and landed at its center with a distant boom.
"D-Did something just crash land over there?" Kashiko hesitantly stepped forward, her curiosity building upon the after-quake of the landing. It wasn't until Kuririn grasped her wrist and kept her from taking another step that she turned to see the look of horror splayed over his face. Sweat beaded down his face, landing pitter patter on the tiled ground as he breathed heavily with panic. Looking down with worry, she turned to look at the columns of smoke building from the projectiles' crash. "What is it, Kuririn?"
"We need to go!" He gasped, wheezing slightly as he attempted to recover. "It's the Saiyans; the strongest ones!"
At hearing this, they both witnessed a sudden earth-rending pulse of light sweep the city, all the way to the temple behind them. Gritting his teeth, Kuririn felt an unfathomable and vile ki at work here. Relying on pure instinct, he pulled Kashiko by the wrist to sweep her on his shoulders and jettisoned into the air with a wreathe of his aura surrounding them both. Propelling at his top speed, he felt a flash of heat as the temperature fluctuated, gravity tearing objects, structures and people off the ground into the air with horrified screams and shouts. Closing his eyes, he pushed himself even harder.
"Please, make it in time!"
A shockwave struck his back as he escaped the explosion's proximity. In that instant he swerved and tumbled in his desperate flight out of the reach of his unseen assailants. Diving towards the stretch of bamboo forest that was partially blown away from the force of the blast, he saw a stretch of vegetation that had remained regretfully intact. Turning around to hold Kashiko in front of him, he used his back and head to brace the painful impact. Surprisingly, the worst it had done was briefly give him a headache and made him choke on the dirt. A stretch of a dozen meters or so was the outline he and Kashiko made amidst the flora surrounding him.
Pushing back the bamboo off of them, he looked with relief that Kashiko was alright. She groaned and was likely in a bit of shock, but she didn't suffer any life threatening injuries. When he stood up with her in his arms, he looked mortified at the vista before him.
The whole city, the temple and the surrounding land before him was turned into an ash piled crater. Not a single structure was left, nor a bone to pick out. Nothing but a pair of spacecraft the Saiyans had undoubtedly arrived in. Looking up with fear, he saw the two up in the sky, the perpetrators of all this carnage. Gripping Kashiko tightly, she stirred and began to come to her senses.
"K-Kurrin? What's going on?" She quietly asked.
"Those monsters," He hissed, gulping audibly as he continued to shake. "They destroyed the Eastern Capital. Orin Temple, the people and all of the buildings. Everything is gone, without a trace!"
"H-How awful!" Kashiko exclaimed, her eyes turning to see a glimpse of the two hanging in the air. "W-Why are they still here?"
"They're looking for high power levels, like how Raditz found Piccolo and Goku," He intoned with a whisper. "I'll keep my ki subdued till they go away-"
Just as he was saying it, he witnessed the pair disappear, faster than he blinked. From the way he sensed, they were moving and fast, towards a distant place. Given the energy he was feeling from distant horizons, he guessed that the other Saiyans have assembled and began the carnage. Only a few he felt were genuinely non-malicious in nature. Those were his friends, no doubt!
"Looks like I'll be a tad late to the party," Kuririn mentioned with a nervous chuckle, hefting her up to get a good grip on her body. "Hold on tight, I'm going to speed you to Kame House and then head straight to the battlefield."
"Before you do that," Kashiko mentioned quietly. "There's something I want to tell you."
"Heh, can't it wai-mph?!" He began to say, only for her to catch him off guard by pulling him into a long kiss. After the two finally parted, she looked worryingly with a glimmer of emotion moistening her eyes.
"Don't die, Kuririn. Please," She begged with a sniffle.
"Hehe, no way am I doing that twice! Now c'mon!" He powered up in a halo of white and shot off into the sky to zoom towards the Hermit's island. "Off to save the Earth!"
"So, it's time then?" Tenshinhan thought, feeling the swelling of many separate signatures across the globe. He was in the midst of meditation with Chaozu, the pair arching their heads to look from their desert plane to sense the many malicious and powerful surges of energy. The planet would be doomed if this was left unaccounted for. Standing upright, he looked to his partner as the two took turns to take stock of each other.
Both had come along way, and to commemorate their earlier finishing of their trials on God's Palace, they adorned new uniforms to show their progress from their past states of being.
Tenshinhan's person had went for a more simplistic style while still bearing a semblance of his old school's colors. A blue muscle shirt wrapped over his engorged build, a pair of green baggy slacks led to a pair of grey-tinted shin-guards wrapped around his heel to rest a bit over the hem of his tabi slippers. The only new addition was a pair of metal vambraces wrapped by a pair of black bands over his usual green wrist bands. Having fashioned them through his own ki, he knew they'd be invaluable to help defend him in a split second attack from a bladed weapon or a strong-armed hit.
Chaozu had gone with something akin to his older uniform. With a onyx metal-plated grass hat covering his head, he wore a long-sleeved grey cloak with black edges to his sleeves and a red circle around the white backdrop and black lettering of his Crane School emblem. With a pair of grey slacks matching the grey cloak, his black slippers filled out the rest of his new features apart of his own green wrist bands.
"Let's fight together!" Chaozu declared with a valiant fist pump.
"We will," His childhood partner nodded with a grinning nod of affirmation. Letting his own ki flourish with his colleague's, the two surged up from the earth in a sound breaking boom and swept across the heavens towards the horizon.
Into the fray, they'd launch.
Yamcha, was just having any other day. Content to eating and resting at his old hideout, he knew it was best this way. After telling the Taitans that he'd have to take a long leave of absence, it was with much regret and tears that they told him farewell before he fully committed to training. Finishing a few months back with everybody else, he went back to the old home he had abandoned to live a life with Bulma as his boyfriend for years and years. It'd felt like a lifetime ago.
But now, he felt it, as assuredly as everybody else did.
The ex-bandit stood up hastily and went to quickly change. Pu'ar noticed him scrambling to put his new uniform on, something the others had done after their old ones were tarnished from the gruesome regimen God had put them through. After fully settling in, he turned to face his changeling friend and asked with a grin, "Well, what do you think?"
Pu'ar thought Yamcha looked so different from the times before, it felt like all those months had changed him for the best. Much like Kuririn, his uniform reflected some of those subtle changes. With a sleeveless top that had blue borders, orange much like his slacks, to match the blue obi wrapped tight around his waist. Other than the standard blue slippers and socks fit snug in them, he had an extensive wrap of training tape that had a blue rim at the biceps and triceps, moving past his defined appendages up to the forearm where it became blue to wrap up and over the back of his hand to move between his various knuckles.
"You look great, Yamcha!" He said proudly with a splay of his short appendages. "I'm sure you'll fight good too!"
"No doubt," The long-maned martial artist strode past him, ruffling his friend's head as he grinned confidently, pointing a thumb towards his chin. "There's no way no dumb Saiyan is going to do me in; not unless I kill him back first!"
"Please just don't die, Yamcha!"
"I'll try my best, Pu'ar, but your safety -and the rest of the planet- comes before me," Yamcha intoned seriously, his smile traded out with a serious stare. "That means Bulma, her sister and parents, Pan, and everybody else special to her too. I may not be her boyfriend anymore, but I won't let anything bad happen to her if I have any say about it! It's the least this lousy ex can do!"
Sniffling, Pu'ar wiped a tear from his eye at the considerable speech he said, "K-Knock'em dead, Yamcha!"
"Now THAT'S the spirit, Pu'ar!" He barked out with a laugh, launching out the door with a ignited spray of light that left the changeling aghast at his new strength. Zooming off to the sky, he waved off sadly, doing his best to think positively.
That's all he could do, for the moment.
The Battlefield
The source of the ki that had caught the Saiyans' unanimous attention was a trio of signals, all powering up near the base of a large canyon next to a deserted wasteland. Each one had its own brand of color: purple, rose and bright azure; belonging to Piccolo, Raditz and Pan respectively. After awhile, they relaxed it, not wanting them to be completely scanned and known for their battle power.
They hoped their people would assemble quicker than the Saiyans; less they had to find a way to hold their attention before the fight began, considerably outnumbered and all.
"So this is it, then," Piccolo affirmed with a crease in his hair-less brow. "Our fight is happening ahead of schedule after all."
"We never had a guarantee, just an estimate," Raditz corrected with a scowl, crossing his arms over his chest with readiness. "Never expect us Saiyans to arrive when you want them to. We're an unpredictable bunch like that."
"Heh, reminds me of Son a bit, you saying that," He remarked with a wry grin. "He always tended to arrive when I didn't care or wanted him to be."
"Papa will be here," Pan spoke cheerfully, completely at odds with her serious instructors that had mild expressions of amusement at best. Her broad smile perturbed them, even as her bright eyes aimed up at them. "He'll be so excited to see how strong I am, right?!"
"Let's make sure you live long enough for a touching reunion, kid," Piccolo rolled his eyes at her exuberance.
"Just stay focused on the fight, Pan," Raditz harshly remarked, eyes steeled towards her. "This isn't just training any longer. They are here to kill you and you must be prepared to do the same, got it?"
"Yes, Uncle Raditz!" She replied with a polite fist-palm gesture and bow to him.
"Tch," Raditz tsked, his eyes turning to look at the horizon.
The first of the ki signatures he sensed had arrived. Rubbing at the itching he felt in his eyes -something he had been doing for awhile since the past few weeks he met with Kakarrot's wife- he'd peer towards the halo of auras and be a tad relieved, for the moment. A stay of execution was in order as the pair that dropped before them was none other than the triclops warrior and his albino eternally young partner.
"So, you're the guys we felt this way?" Tenshinhan intoned with an obvious monotone.
"Was there any doubt?" Piccolo snarked.
"No, you guys didn't have the animosity the others did, so it was just process of elimination," The triclops shrugged nonchalantly, taking in the sight of the three. "You three look like you spruced up since we parted. Bulma's doing?"
"Kakarrot's wife only tailored me something a bit more, appropriate," Raditz empathized with a slight tilt of his head and his crossed arms unfolding to reveal his entirely new armor decor. Given the intensity of the past half a year of training, it was only a matter of time till his Saiyan armor completely eroded from wear and tear. Not unusual given that the outfit he was a part of traded out armors as much as they got new Scouters, given how much action they saw; with him it happened less, due to obvious reasons.
Gone were the bare showcasing of his skin on all corners and now for something that gave him near all-encompassing protection to his body. Starting with the shoulders, he had angular ribbed pauldrons that fitted over them both snugly, leading to a grey-to-black series of breastplate and rib guards with only a brown abdominal rectangular plating split down the middle by a grey line set up to the top of his collarbone displayed muscles to the neck and down to his pelvic region. Fit into a singular piece that stretched down to his feet, only a pair of red painted bands on the left and right most parts of the suit in the same way his old bands used to preside, leaving a pair of calf-wrapped boots that had bronze dyed toes and heels. Only one of his old effects remained, the red armband left on his left arm, his old gauntlets replaced with a pair of forearm protective gloves.
The sign of him not wearing a Scouter was just a sign of his training having produced fruit. Other than the more serious and assertive way he carried himself, instead of false confidence masked by an inflated ego. Now he's become the most realistic of the group; something to expect of the Saiyan ally.
"I took liberties to modify the runt and I's own apparel," Piccolo declared factually, arms crossed over his bare emerald-salmon skin, his antennae on display nonchalantly. His purple obi and wrist bands were more or less the same, his own slacks now bearing his mark of the Demon on the lowermost right sleeve in light lavender over the deep violet hue of the silk. Purple slippers were fit with white tabi socks, completing his own appearance as far as a uniform went.
"Don't I look cool?" Pan inquired with fists balled tightly and a smile too big to ignore. A white headband wrapped around a few of the frayed bangs, leaving the rest of her lavender hair to jut up at an angle over her crown. A deep purple sleeveless top wrapped over a white undershirt was bordered by light lavender and wrapped by a black obi above an equally dark pair of slacks. A pair of tabi socks fit into black slipper shoes, a pair of light purple wrist bands finishing her own uniform with an unseen lavender symbol placed on the back of her top to show she was in the Demon School.
"You look ready for battle," He remarked with an encouraging grin. "Hope you're up for it."
"I hope the others show up soon," Chaozu remarked with a hint of worry in his voice. "If it's just us-"
"HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The sudden bellowing knocked them all out of their reverie made of false safety. Looking up, they'd see a large group of silhouettes blocking out the Sun over their heads. The biggest one standing in front had been the one to cry out, flanked by some burly comrades with the smaller ones standing farther aside, the only exception being one who stood above at a slightly higher altitude. Him being the shortest with a wry grin adorned to his face, his widowspeak was all too familiar to Raditz, as was the rest of his squad. Gritting his teeth, he held his ground and didn't flinch at their arrival.
"T-They're here!" Chaozu squeaked with impotent fear.
"Be brave, Chaozu!" Tenshinhan exclaimed, his own eyes squinting at the shadows that loomed over them, sweat already accumulating over his brow. "Their ki is...monstrous. Piccolo, Raditz, even Goku from back then doesn't even compare. Not only is it strong and dense, but vile and full of savage blood lust. Is this what it's like to stand before Saiyan warriors?"
"Be happy, three-eyes, that they're here on personal matters," Raditz rebuked him with knuckles tightening hard enough to make the gloves crinkle audibly. "If this was business, they'd have all attacked us without mercy and let loose unadulterated slaughter upon us. At least now they're just doing it for sport, which is good for us."
"Right," Piccolo intoned quietly, watching the eight descend down to the ground two dozen meters away in opposition to them. "At least this way, they have high ego and pride clouding their judgement. If we play it smart, we can stand a chance even against monsters like these."
"I-I won't run!" Pan declared with a pair of balled up fists held at the ready. "I'll fight with you, Uncle Piccolo and Uncle Raditz!"
"Heh, that's the spirit, runt!" The Daimaō replied with a toothy grin.
"Excuse me!" A lower timbre voice rang out, coming from the shortest of the group. The one known as Vegeta was made obvious to the eldest of the assembled defenders of Earth. With the biggest of the group flanking his right and the only female of the group standing a meter further to his left -bearing an intense scowl at Raditz- he stared at them with an amused expression visible even from their distance. His hands were on his hips, and his head cocked to the side with emphasis to his inquiry. "As much as I love to see you ramble among yourselves, I'm a bit curious. Which one of you is in charge here?"
"Me!" Raditz and Piccolo answered at once, both sharing a brief glare at each other with teeth bared, pointing at themselves insistently. "You're not in charge, I am! Listen here you-!"
"Well? I'm waiting!"
Sighing, Piccolo raised a balled fist up and the Saiyan looked at it a furrowed glare. Both settled into a stance and the Saiyans all exchanged bewildered stares. Just as they were about to wonder what they were up to, they began to chant out loud.
"JAN! KEN! PON!"
At the end, Raditz held out scissors with Piccolo holding rock. The Daimaō grinned victoriously while the Saiyan urged for a rematch. Shrugging the pair did it twice and then thrice, ending with the emerald warrior's ultimate victory. Turning away with a scowl and arms crossed with irritation, Piccolo looked onward with arms crossed and a stoic expression fixated back on his visage.
"I'm the leader, Daimaō Piccolo!" He hardened his scowl, asserting his role that he had abandoned for the past year of training. "Know you stand upon my sovereign soil, interlopers! What business do Saiyans have here with my planet?"
"Oho! The green one's got spunk!" The Prince of the Saiyans admired with a half-mocking, half impressed shout. Turning to look at Nappa and Aspara with a grin, he returned to stare back at him and the guarded people gathered around him. "You see, here's the thing, Nameccian! I got a bone to pick with that traitor standing next to you! By the way he dresses and acts, it's clear he's in bed with you Earthlings. We're here for a personal demonstration of what the consequence of betrayal is!
"But I am not a Saiyan without honor," He placed his hand on his chest, with Piccolo still confused by what he meant in calling him a 'Nameccian'. "In order to show good sport, I'll give you people a chance to fight us one on one. I'll save the best for last -me, obviously- and we won't interfere while you are still standing. Unless you give us a reason to, we won't slaughter you cretins outright and give you a chance. That sounds fair, doesn't it?"
"What's a Nameccian?" Piccolo asked, briefly debating the offer while inquiring Raditz.
"What, you don't know what you are? Did you hit your head as a child too?" He asked incredulously.
"No, I arrived here eons ago, and my former life is the result of a splitting. If my other half knew, I'd have probably known too, meaning something made us forget. Why?"
"Nameccians are a legendary race of warriors and providers of mystic powers that can be conjured by what your Earthlings would call, 'Dragon Balls'. After you people mentioned it and seeing you, it became obvious that you were responsible for the balls in some way, shape or form."
"And you didn't mention this earlier, WHY?" Piccolo hissed harshly.
"You never asked, and I thought it was obvious!" The Saiyan exclaimed in a hushed whisper.
"I SAID-!"
"We heard you loud and clear, Vegeta!" Piccolo replied, outright surprising the Prince for a moment before he regained his amused expression. He elaborated with an amused grin of his own, much to Raditz's visible chagrin. "We know all about you from your 'traitor' spilling his guts to us. And that offer of yours stands, but can you wait a moment for the rest of us to arrive? I'm sure you'd like having the numbers evening the playing field."
"Hmph, if they don't take all day," The Prince murmured with a thinned glare, his smile remaining intact. "Just know that the longer you make us wait, the more impatient we become."
"Wait no more!" A voice proclaimed, high in the sky following a pair of incoming signals. The Saiyans turned with the defenders of Earth, sharing looks of amusement and gratefulness between the two groups. Yamcha and Kuririn dropped from the sky into crouches, rising up and turning to flash grins of eagerness and confidence; Yamcha in particular raising a hand to clench into a vein-pulsating fist. "The calvary's here!"
"Hmph, at least you two look like you're going to pull your weight," Raditz remarked with a shrug.
"There! Didn't have to wait long at all!" Piccolo snapped back.
"Yes," The Saiyan Elite acknowledged quietly, his eyes straying to look at each one intently. His Scouter blinked accordingly, the ruby lens showing a series of alien symbols only he understood. Given from what he could see on the glass HUD, he knew that they were skilled enough to suppress their power level. Turning over to the others, he raised his voice so it was audible enough for the Earthling fighters to hear him. "Now that we've got the boring part out of the way, I'll give your less than stellar members a chance to shine! Which of you will step up to play ball?"
"I'm in!" Tenshinhan declared almost too quickly, surprising the rest at his readiness.
"Are you certain, triclops? I won't give you another chance than this one right now-"
"Just give me an opponent so I can wipe that smirk off your smug face," He replied with snarl.
"You really are just looking for death early? Fine then," He replied, smile still intact as he leaned over and barked out an order. "Coll! Go teach this three-eyed Earthling what it means to challenge a Saiyan warrior!"
"Heh, that's fine by me," He spoke out in a guttural tone, feral grin spread and bone-enamored effects jingling with every step. Looking the most savage of the group, he bore no armor and showed his scars on his uncovered torso and arms, leaving a bare metal mesh that covered his lower body. Perhaps the tallest and leanest of the group, his bone-plated dreadlocks made a wind chime sound as he stepped up towards his opponent, with the three-eyed fighter doing the same. Tilting his head down, he cackled with arms spread outward. "You look like you're going to be fun! Please don't die too quickly, cause I want to take my time prying your three-eyed head off your shoulders; wanna take your head back as a trophy and all, so don't die in just one hit."
"That's funny," Tenshinhan remarked with a brief smile. "I was about to tell you better keep your guard up, less you're the one dead."
Coll let out a barking laugh, spreading his legs and angling his arms around to crack each knuckle audibly. Rolling his neck, he sighed, smile broadly stretched and eyes fixed upon him, "I'll let you make the first move then, tough guy. See if you can kill me dead-"
It happened in a blur.
The three-eyed man moved far faster than the Scouters could blip on the other Saiyans' HUD and even surprised the lean Saiyan. A hand arched up and over, a thumb with bent fingers like a beak, tapping the bigger alien's upper torso. What came next was a sudden explosion of split air pressure, the kiai detonating at point blank at the point of contact, making the Saiyan fly backward and nearly hit his colleagues as they neatly sidestepped his flying frame. Stopping himself short with his heels, he stumbled a bit and blinked, eyes looking down with a balking expression at a small hole punctured in his chest, leaving a trickle of red flowing down his scarred pectorals down his abdomen and splatter on the barren soil between his feet.
"You really are a tough one," Tenshinhan intoned, taking up an angled back stance, his blood-soaked fingers raised with a bent thumb and his opposing arm held in a perpendicularly similar pose, just facing upside down. A serious glint entering his eyes with his smile now intact, goading him with his next choice of words. "I had meant to punch a hole through your chest out your back. Clearly I'll need to try harder!"
A/N Demod20: Whoo boy! I'm pumped for my shot at writing Tenshinhan vs Coll next chapter! Apologies for this chapter coming out a tad bit late, but I hope the wait was worth it. While most of this was just set-up and description for the heroes and antagonists of this Arc, I had a lot of fun describing the new style of gi and uniforms all of these trained fighters have to show their progress if only on an aesthetic scale (The Dragon Warriors' looks were inspired off of MLL's Redesign on DA. Go check them out, their artwork is phenomenal for the new conceptual designs of Dragon Ball characters!). Other than a little banter from Piccolo and Raditz, to Kuririn sharing some intimate talk with Kashiko (cementing their status as a couple further; when you know, he isn't busy saving her from Nappa's Volcano Explosion!) and Yamcha's determination to protect Bulma's family, I really enjoyed all the stuff added to this chapter, and the great beginning that my partner added in as well. See you all in a couple of months!
A/N Firegod00: Hey guys, Fire here. I know I'm quiet and when I leave notes, it sometimes comes as a shock. I just want to thank you lot for reading this story, the guys put their hearts (pun intended) into it and I do my best to make sure it's good to go from a grammar perspective. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy what we have this time around.
A/N LastationLover5000: Damn, was this a fun chapter or what? I didn't expect this chapter to take as long as it did, but all things considered, it could have been worse. I have been waiting to write Aspara for a long time, and the other Saiyans were a treat to bring in as well. To anyone noticing, yes, Bulma, of all people, cybernetically modified herself with a built-in scouter. I suppose she's technically a cyborg now? I don't have much to say for my section; I think Demod got the better half of the story, but believe me, it all culiminates into one hell of a chapter. We'll see you all soon!