It was a busy day at work. As a longtime World Martial Arts Tournament competitor and the winner of the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, the administration of the newly rebuilt Papaya Island saw Chayote as the fitting name to assist them in restoring the tournament and securing its procession when the 24th World Martial Arts Tournament is hosted again well over a decade since the last one went to hell.
This wasn't about competition. Nor was it about organizing the tournament. The Papaya Island administration sent Chayote Security a formal request to ensure that no worldly or otherworldly superpowers interfere with the tournament. Papaya Island was owned by a bunch of monks. Their temple probably couldn't afford to rebuild the island and the bustling cities thriving on it, as well as restore their sacred martial arts tradition of the World's Martial Arts Tournament through donations alone. Even now, cities rose and fell on the broad shoulders of the corporations that had their investments in them, whereas Papaya Island took nearly fifteen years to be rebuilt after the Tournament of Doom and even then, they gave up on being self-reliant and accepted the corporate investments looking out for Papaya Island. Or rather, the real estate there.
Chayote expected the next tournament to have way more advertisement breaks, and Papaya Island's request included a note about anti-air defense systems, meaning they probably had some air balloons or blimps to protect. A light tap at Chayote's door demanded her attention. Chayote tilted her eyes to the door, seeing her assistant peek through the crack.
"Excuse me, ma'am, Hercule-san is here to see you. He says you've requested him," the assistant squinted, as if worried that something heavy would fly at the wall and make her scramble for the next corner screaming and panting.
"I did request him, let him in," Chayote nodded and slipped the paperwork she was looking at back into the file it came from.
Mark looked sharp. Suited, probably armed and armored, and well-equipped underneath. Not something that he had to go through for a high-ranking administrative position on the job. He was no longer the active field agent he was back during the Artificial Human occupation days. It would have been impossible to tell that he wasn't trying his best to look like the Mark Satan that won over humanity's heart and soul as the figurehead of the company. The man who, because of his bold mission schedule and countless survivors, he pulled out of the line of fire, became synonymous with being the savior of the world. More so than the martial artists that actually defeated the Artificial Humans.
"Chayote, ya wanted to see me," Hercule dragged his feet up to her desk, unbuttoned the suit that struggled to contain Mark's increase in body weight, and rested on the chair in front of Chayote's.
"I did, Mark," Chayote took the Papaya Island request file and placed it in front of Hercule as a sign that she expected him to pick it up and get himself familiar with it. Mark picked up on the cues and ran his eyes through the file.
"Huh… They're starting that World Martial Arts Tournament thing again, huh? You know, I've always wanted to do my best in one of those. I was good and ready during the 21st and 22nd tournaments, but… I lost my martial arts master when I was young and… It made me buckle under pressure whenever I had to fight someone strong. The first tournament I got my shit together for and attended was the 23rd… The one that actual demons invaded on," Mark sighed and put the file back on the table.
"I want you in that tournament, Mark," Chayote weaved her fingers together, leaning forward like the shrewd mastermind that she was pretending to be. "Do you think you can lose that board member weight and get into a fighting shape in a couple of years? I'd very much prefer it if you won this thing."
"Chayote-san… What is this about?" Mark took his indoor shades off, showing off his sleepless eyes, and hung them over his front pocket. "I'm a board member as you said. I'm not a field agent anymore. Am I getting demoted further? What did I do this time?"
"You're not getting demoted, Mark," Chayote leaned back and turned around in her chair, rubbing her eyes and easing the tension around her temples to prevent her from bulking up and ripping another outfit. "In a way, I'm investing for you to take your company back. You've experimented with politics enough, let's leave it at that for now."
"I would have won that election!" Mark jumped up and pointed his finger at Chayote. He never snapped at her like this. He had too much respect for Chayote and everything she's helped him accomplish to do that. This showed how bad he saw things being that he allowed himself to let his emotions get the better of him like this. "I mean… The current King of the World funded murder robots being built from taxpayer money. He hired the mastermind behind the hostile takeover of the entire world to upgrade his death machines just to get back at one private corporation! Why did I have to change my name…? Everyone knew Mark Satan stood for security and your best interests, who the heck is even Mark Hercule? Some bum no one knows and votes for, that's who. I lost to a guy that used government funds to build murder robots, Chayote…"
"I won't lie to you and say I understand Earthling politics very well. Still, I've got a little rascal to take care of and I don't intend on making this job my whole life. You're going to step up, get your legacy as World's Savior back and you'll be back in this chair before long. After spending what felt like forever petrified, I'm not missing out on the rest of my life," Chayote stood up, looking at Mark with a look that made him regret taking off his shades so that Chayote could see the fear in his eyes.
"I got that… Still… World Champion? That's a tall order…" Mark loosened up his tie and began scratching the back of his neck. "I'm guessing you won't compete, but what if one of your friends does? There's no way that I can become that strong in just a couple of years."
"I'm sure Kakarot will want to compete, but if nobody else does, he won't be interested either. Still, you might have to worry about some of Tenshinhan's students and I'm sure at least a handful of Vegeta's Saiyans are going to compete. I'm confident I can get the heavyweights to sign off. Krillin and Yamcha don't want the hassle. Lazuli is in it for the money, we can pay her off. Tenshinhan only practices martial arts for self-improvement and wouldn't fight for the vanity of the title of Strongest Under the Heavens anymore. Both Kakarot and Vegeta won't compete unless they know it'll be worth their time. Bardock can't stop second-guessing every time he powers up these days, so he won't fight unless it's to save someone's life, either. Honestly, your worst problem is your own daughter. Videl and Gohan will most certainly compete and so will Trunks, I'm certain. I don't think that Goten will be old enough to compete, but Trunks might just narrowly clear that hurdle," Chayote crossed her arms and approached the wide and tall window panel on the left side of her office, staring out into the city involved in some massive construction projects. With how many world-shaking conflicts were occurring all the time, something was being rebuilt everywhere all the time.
"Videl's gotten extremely strong," Hercule looked down with some somberness to his tone. Chayote could tell that he was proud of his girl, even though her wild strength now posed a serious problem to both of them. "I don't think I can defeat her anymore. Even if I had the strength, I probably couldn't muster up the resolve to use it against my little Videl."
"Don't worry, I'm not counting on you defeating Videl. That is straight-up impossible at this point. There is an insurmountable schism of raw talent and wasted time between you two. She's gotten so far ahead of you that thousands of lifetimes or ordinary training wouldn't cover it. What's even more infuriating is that this student of mine keeps spending more and more time training every day. Even if you wasted no time and trained every chance you got with my guidance, she'd still keep the gap jarring by keeping up that pace training with Gohan," Chayote froze staring past her reflection in the window and far into a blank point in the city horizon.
"With that Gohan kid, huh?" Mark grumbled. "I wasn't sure what to make of him. Looked like a troublemaker at first, but… I tolerated him spending time with Videl because you vouched for him and he was family to friends of yours. Now the two are nearly inseparable. Flying to school together, spending time after school, training…"
"I'm sure I can talk to Gohan, and see if he would do me this solid. The thing about Gohan is that his curiosity and inventive mind, as well as his interest in martial arts, have created a technical juggernaut of martial arts. I'm sure he wouldn't skip an opportunity to see all the different martial arts techniques around the world and study them in his mind, but maybe I can convince him to study them from the spectators' seats. If it fails, maybe I can still talk to Chi-Chi, and see if I can pay her off to make Gohan too busy with studies," Chayote sighed, knowing deep down what rough odds she was facing. "If everything else fails, I'll talk to the tournament organizers and sponsors. The monks from the Papaya Temple don't care too much about children fighting trained martial artists, but their sponsors might. If they want to promote their upcoming movies and cheap beer on their big blimps and sponsor the renewal of their tournament and their island resort, they'll have to separate the adult and children divisions. I'll strong-arm them to make the barrier of entry at around Gohan and Videl's age for "security" sake."
"Jeez… I'm not sure which you is scarier, the roided out, spiky-haired muscle monster or the businesswoman," Mark went to town on his tie, messing up the tightness and tidiness of his suit even further than his blue mood already had.
"I studied from Bulma, besides, it's either this or having to skip my son's school projects and birthdays because of my work, and I won't allow that to happen," Chayote returned to her seat only to see the image on her desktop scrambling with static. She saw an alert for an incoming request for a communications connection from an unidentified address that wasn't even using that program to communicate. That was undoubtedly some ancient alien technology stuff, like that Capsule Corps Star Bulma was spending her days and nights rebuilding.
Not lacking in curiosity herself, Chayote approved of the request, having her monitor flash and become subjected to some sort of crude invasion from outer space. After the static stabilized and the image cleared up, Super Artificial Human No. 21's blue face was staring back from the other side of the screen straight at Chayote. The two women were looking at each other from almost matching sitting positions except light years apart from one another.
"Puri," Chayote acknowledged the appearance of a woman she wanted to do as little as possible with.
"Chayote, I hope I didn't offend you with my method of reaching out to you. Once I explain this all to you, I hope you will understand why I needed to intrude on your time. I figured you'd be flat-out unbearable if I took over your Earthling computer, so I offered you an illusion of control over choosing whether or not to speak to me," Super No. 21 explained.
"Yeah, I saw that very not obsessively controlling of you. Glad that exile is proving beneficial to your social skills, Puri," Chayote replied while keeping up the same sass she got in return. While sometimes the occasion demanded that they reach out or work with Dr. Puri and her family, Chayote wanted the woman to know that the two of them couldn't have been any further from being friends.
"Are you talking to Android 21 in there?" Mark jumped up with a long face, rushing up to Chayote's side and slipping into the reach of the visual communications.
"Oh, Mr. Chayote, I presume? I hope I wasn't intruding on anything, I will remind you it was you who agreed to this rendezvous, Chayote," Super No. 21 made a long face after seeing Mark walk into the range of the screen.
"Mr. Chayote?" Chayote's right eye began twitching nervously.
"Well, I wasn't entirely sure what to call him. I do recall him being your lapdog back when we were still at each other's throats, then he became the face of Chayote Security and, if memory serves, you two live under the same roof, don't you?" Super No. 21 elaborated even though Chayote would've rather have seen her turn sides again and blast the Chayote Security headquarters with some apocalyptic laser beam from outer space. Nothing other than the brushing of hellfire could cleanse the embarrassment.
"This is Mark Sata… Mark Hercule. He works for me, still…" Chayote corrected the woman with the tone of someone who was dead and ruined inside.
"Oh, I appear to have completely misread that whole living under the same roof situation then, my bad, I apologize," Super No. 21 shook her hands out, though Chayote could've sworn the nemesis of her past days spotting a little malevolent golden glint in her eyes. "In any case, I didn't reach out to catch up, as you might suspect. I'm afraid that the Machine Mutant invasion that struck Earth over half a year ago still isn't over. In fact, it's been silently continuing on a whole different front."
"What do you mean?" Chayote lowered her right eyebrow. She wouldn't have expected No. 21's call to be this relevant to her work. Protecting so many of her clients from otherworldly threats and providing support was kind of in her job description, so if any of her clients were compromised by the Machine Mutants, Chayote would've had to roll out the big guns.
"Back when we were working on finding and retrieving King Vegeta, I found Bulma's sudden shift in priorities to be extremely out of character. I fully expected her to not be rational about her little cyber star pet project, and I was right. Though, after tinkering with some dead Machine Mutants, somehow, it made Bulma change her mind. I found that odd. So I spent a little while scanning the Machine Mutant stiffs where we found them originally. The scans turned out empty and entirely useless. And so I continued to play along with Bulma's suggestion, I've retrieved her the parts of… Capsule Corps Star… And brought it to the Capsule Corps facilities here on Earth she requested them in. Then, I even salvaged what I could of the Dark Planet Star," Super No. 21 reported.
"The Dark Planet, Videl and Trunks told me a little about it during Bulma's welcoming party. You mean you have access to the Destron Gas?" Chayote asked with a rising tone of voice. The last thing she wanted Puri to have was some mystical gas that made imagination come to life.
"No, the Destron Gas is all burnt up and ruined. I salvaged the hardware, though. I've merged the Luud Star I've secured with the Dark Planet. I'm still workshopping the name though… It's not like I still have a company to advertise, after all…" Dr. Puri pressed her index to the right tip of her lips, looking up with daydreaming eyes.
"What about this Machine Mutant invasion you were talking about?" Chayote grounded her rival.
"Ah, that's right!" Super No. 21 shook, startled. "After completing my little construction project, feeling eerie about it the whole time, because giving me the most advanced cybernetic colossus of all time was actually Bulma's idea, of all people, I just couldn't shake off my suspicions. Then, the Para Para Brothers brought me interesting news from all over the galaxy. Apparently, Machine Mutants have been kidnapping people from all around the universe. Tiny scale, reports suggest those aliens were no one of consequence, almost as if they were trying to nab people that won't be missed."
"Do you know if they kidnapped any Earthlings?" Chayote wondered.
"Who knows? Probably not, I'd bet. But there's something far worse that I've discovered. After being at my wit's end with those dead Machine Mutant samples, I ended up beaming them up to the station for a manual inspection, rather than the dozens of fruitless scans I've done of them. By now, my machine workforce is numerous enough to analyze all the samples manually. And… Well…" Super No. 21 stroked her curly auburn hair with her hand, sifting through her locks with her fingers, building up the courage to say what she had to follow up her report with. "Something freaky tried attacking me straight from the guts of one of the Machine Mutants. My Android Barrier fried it though. It was some metallic, blobby mass. Something that survived being spaced for almost a full year and didn't register on any of my scans previously. Some of my bots even became infected with it and I had to terminate all of my workers and begin rebuilding my Android resources from scratch."
"You're building Androids again?" Chayote cast an accusatory stare at Dr. Puri.
"They're just helpless worker drones. They've got no fighting potential whatsoever, they just help me maintain a station that's over 2000 times the size of the sun. It's not like I can just hire that many workers. How would I even pay all of them? Plus, the health insurance of decillions of employees would be a…" Dr. Puri kept defending herself before Chayote rolled her eyes and encouraged her with a hand gesture to go on with what she meant to say first.
"So, what I've come to learn is that whatever Dr. Lychee and Dr. Myuu have been working on, this Baby of theirs, it's active. And not only is it active, but it can corrupt and enslave anyone that comes into contact with one of its… Whatever those blobs are. Since Bulma was tinkering with those and since she's shown off such a drastic personality shift after, I think it's safe to assume she's Patient Zero in this case," Dr. Puri shrugged, challenging Chayote to find flaws in her theory if the Saiyan considered it to be too dire to speak aloud.
"Bulma…? You mean Bulma's corrupted? Do you know if there's a way to cure that corruption?" Chayote suddenly became immensely interested in Dr. Puri's report.
"Well, terminating the subject certainly did the trick. I had to employ unbelievable temperatures that should have killed the hosts long ago, suggesting that Baby's parasites power up the host some," Super No. 21 shrugged.
"I'm not killing Bulma to remove the parasite," Chayote beamed a sullen stare that was meant to scold Dr. Puri for even considering such a thing as an option.
"I thought you might not, even though it would definitely help your case. Bulma hasn't been brought back with the current set of Dragon Balls, I don't think. So she could still get brought back… Though that would be a very foolish solution anyway…" Dr. Puri bent and cocked her head around, pondering on how this pathetic solution might have worked out before relenting to the notion that it was ridiculous.
"Really? You find the murderous solution ridiculous?" Chayote wondered, crossing her legs and striking a pose of curiosity why that might have been.
"Oh, shit… Bulma's not the only one infected, is she!?" Mark suddenly turned pale.
"Exactly, therefore I contacted you, Chayote. Bulma was traveling with Son Goku, Bardock, and Artificial Human No. 18. You can shelve them in the infected section. They're your enemies now. What's even worse–I've studied these parasites and how they make the host think on my unfortunate robotic employees. They corrupt the host's programming to make them serve Baby, but they don't subjugate them entirely. They make it feel like serving Baby was one's own decision, the host keeps a large part of their original personality, but twisted. There's no reasoning with a person who thinks they made a certain decision themselves and sees no trace of brainwashing," Dr. Puri pointed out. "The infected ones might infect those within their reach, merely because they consider those people a threat to Baby, or because their original personality considers them close and wants them to experience Baby's alleged love and care all by themselves. So far, I've operated under only one assumption–since Baby is a Tsufurian, he might step over himself and corrupt Saiyans, but he wouldn't corrupt THE Legendary Super Saiyan. You're his antichrist, so to speak."
"Shit, so… Kakarot and his whole family are in on it… Bardock, Lazuli… That means Krillin too… Goddamn it, we were all together during that homecoming party," Chayote leaned back and turned a full circle in her office chair, holding her pounding head in her hands to keep it from popping off and running away from her shoulders.
"Wait… Gohan!? That means… Videl too…" Mark gasped, stumbling back into a wall and collapsing. "No, no, no, no… Not my dear little Videl. Getting involved with your martial arts business always keeps putting her in harm's way. Why does she keep getting in danger like that? I can't… I can't lose my little Videl…"
"Snap out of it, Mark," Chayote turned to her fellow board member and friend. "We don't know if Videl's corrupted yet. Do you know how corruption happens, how do we determine if someone's corrupted or not? This is going to be a huge mess… Shit… Whom else can we trust with this? Everyone's potentially compromised."
"Well, that's the question, isn't it? I don't have conclusive data on most of those questions. I've only managed to study a bunch of robots, not organic hosts. I couldn't find a way to determine who was infected and who was not. However, I didn't reach out to you without a plan. Knowing your knuckleheaded approach to things, I figured you'd take forever to formulate a plan and it would most likely fail in the end, anyway. I have half of what we need–your friend might have the other. I'm talking about the Super Holy Water. You remember the little magical drink that you and Trunks from the future intended to use to cure the cybernetic conversion in people around the world?" Dr. Puri said.
"Right… That holy water on God's Temple. Upa thought it might have the ability to remove all traces of brainwashing. We weren't certain if it worked on purely mechanical brainwashing, but Upa and Mr. Popo both said there was a fair chance it might. The problem was that to deliver it to the entire world would've required Kami Upa to enter the Divine Sage Realm and to use the Seven Air Currents to use the very winds to deliver the water all over the world…" Chayote looked away, returning to those troublesome yet also nostalgic times of living like an outlaw in Dr. Puri's mechanized Earth, hunted by Artificial Humans and struggling to save as many lives as they could. Despite the peril that was in the air, back then she still had Trunks by her side so she couldn't remember those dark days as being all gloom, no matter how hard Chayote wanted to.
"B-But… Those wind tunnel things require Mr. God to walk around that dangerous place that would take his soul, right? That was why we wouldn't risk it back then! It would leave the world godless!" Mark Satan brought up the fair point that decided the issue for them back in the day.
"That's true, while I only have limited reports on that plan of yours, we figured you wouldn't take such a massive risk. There was only a chance that the Super Holy Water would work, then, even if it would have, a Kami can only enter the Divine Sage Realm for their trials and their passing of the mantle. It symbolizes the beginning and the end of godhood. Fortunately for you, your little native friend won't need to hang up his threads and magical tomahawks. I have the world's greatest filtration system in the Dark Planet, integrated into the Luud Star right here," Dr. Puri sheepishly opened her arms, referring to the marvelous cybernetic structure she sat safe and happy in. "Deliver me the Super Holy Water, and I'll spread it across the Earth, curing every one of Baby's parasites myself, no Divine Sage Realm field trip required. That is, of course, if it will work."
It had to work. Chayote wouldn't even entertain the idea of what they'd have to do if it didn't.