-Side Chapter: Tomes of an Unknown Language-
Mei Hatsume had one Hell of a time attempting to decipher the Space Pod. Not only was this thing one-of-a-kind and cannot be replicated if it were blown up, but her usual demeanor changed around this thing.
The thing about these Saiyan Pods is that just about anyone can jump in and punch in a random coordinate. However, to prevent them from falling into enemy hands or especially Galactic Patrol hands for reverse-engineering purposes, Frieza's engineers had produced numerous anti-tampering mechanisms to force the ship to self-destruct, should it trigger any one of them. The device's most heavily fortified mechanism is the ignition switch, as it will enable the on-board computer, itself holding all sorts of information. The computer circuitry itself has plenty of anti-temper mechanics attached to it, though not nearly as much as the switch. The radio and audio devices is also fitted with plenty of anti-temper devices. The fuselage has the least anti-temper devices attached to it, with only two.
However, it could not factor in a girl with telescopic vision that can double as microscopic vision. Nezu and Power Loader, for all their know-how, had only been able to mark out the anti-temper devices in the Pod, but never able to safely turn it on without a prompt warning to shut it off. With the help of Mei, they might be able to actually extract the data safely!
"I know I don't say this much, Mei, but thank you for what you're going to be doing. This pod is going to be one of the most difficult jobs you'll do. Nezu and I will try to help you however we can, but we're going to need to find a way to neutralize the anti-tampering devices. Go at it slowly, and see if there are vulnerabilities you can exploit."
"Gotcha, Power Loader," Mei replied, a little worried in her voice. "Let's see if this thing will respond to me...!"
She looks at all the circuitry that is within the pod itself. The internal ignition switch is to the left, though it's not as worn down as much of the other things touched upon, especially not the comfortable seat. Of course, the anti-tampering mechanics are marked red as to where their approximate location is relative to the padded interior. However, her first instinct is to go right after the fuselage. If those were to trigger, it would definitely be a toasty way to go out.
"Alright, show me what you got, fuselage," the engineering girl said to herself, as she uncovered the panel. This material definitely seems flimsier compared to the exterior, though one thing is curious. She saw the two anti-tampering devices, and saw what they compose of. They seem to compose of something not unlike a fuse, but what they connect to is much more interesting. She sees that it connects to a small bomb that will ignite a controlled explosion into the fuselage, which would lead to a catastrophic failure. However, only one of the devices links to the explosive. The other one links directly to the ignition switch.
"Hey, Loader! Take a look at this!" Mei shouts out, as her teacher approaches the Pod. "When I took a look at the fuselage's anti-tampering devices, I uncovered an explosive device attached directly below it!"
"Hmph, whatever or whoever created this, certainly didn't want anyone to get their hands on it. Though how many of these antamps link up to this bomb..."
"I count a dozen overall!" Mei's eyes zoomed in, seeing twelve points of contact, one of which was the fuselage wire. "They don't seem to think too highly of their pilots, however, because these wires lead directly to the other compartments in groups! Five for the ignition system, three each to the computer and audio systems. And our last baby... right here!"
"This is going to make it easier to not die, if we disengage the fuselage and render the bomb inoperable. Though how do you inoperate a bomb that's dormant..."
"Bomb disposal?" Nezu stepped in. "That's going to be quite easy. Ms. Hatsume, you noticed what the devices looked like?"
"Oh, right! They looked like cute little electrical fuses! Though I think there are two wires surrounded by a coating, only just slightly thicker than the wiring."
"Hmm, then my best guess is that this utilizes something similar to a bridgewater detonator, typically employed in early era nuclear weaponry. This might be complicated, but not impossible to disarm. However, we'll need to melt the wiring away slowly and leave nothing that can cause it to short circuit. Power Loader, are you capable of doing that?"
"I'll do my best, Principal. But you all best stand back, because if this thing blows up, it might level a good chunk of this department space, not to say about what'd happen to all the bits of me." The two are cast out of the classroom.
"Though how intriguing... A bridgewater detonator near the bomb... I wonder if the other eleven anti-tamper devices leading to the bomb has a similar mechanism in place. If that's the case, then the other anti-tamper devices we'll have to deal with might relate to shorting them out!"
"Is that good, Principal?"
"Very much so, Ms. Hatsume! However, we'll need to still be careful. If the propulsion system is knocked out, I will not worry too much about it, but what I want the most is the computer circuits to be as intact as you possibly can get them."
"That shouldn't be a problem!"
After a nervous few minutes, there were no explosions. Instead, Power Loader came back.
"It seems that the fuselage-bomb anti-tamper device was a bridgewater detonator after all. Regardless, I've successfully removed it and capped off the wire with a non-conductive cap."
"Excellent work, Power Loader! Let's be sure to get the other eleven disabled, then we can really start getting to work. Ms. Hatsume, would you?"
"Let's get going, Principal!"
Recognizing the way those lumps looked, for the rest of the day, Mei had to identify these triggers, managing to remove ten of them with the help of Power Loader and Principal Nezu.
The next day, the final two devices connecting the Pod to the explosive ordinance had been removed, and the bomb itself is removed from the Pod. Now, to more complicated matters...
"Without the bomb in the way, we can now try to do more direct methods of tampering, though we still need to practice extraordinary caution, especially dealing with the computer circuitry. If it's destroyed, then our internship has been for nothing. For your next task, Ms. Hatsume, identify which wires link to the computing processer unit. In the meanwhile, Power Loader, stay nearby and keep an eye out for any short circuits."
"Yes, sir," Power Loader looks towards Mei. "Well, Mei... Ready to take this thing apart?"
"Not really, but this is not something I'm going to pass up!"
"Well spoken. Let's get to work."
Mei started to take apart more of the Space Pod. All the wiring is being exposed, especially between the computer and the audio system, and in conjunction, the ignition switch. There are two anti-tampering wires connecting to the two subsections, and three bridging between the computer and audio system.
"Interesting...!" she remarks to herself, as she looks around the cluster of wires and pipes that comprise of this ship. Right on the floor are thin, vent-like slits, connected via pipes from the fuselage. The anti-tampering device from there to the ignition is pasted off to the right. As for the other four... two directly connected to the computer runs to the left, to the right armrest. To the top, the other two wires lead to the audio system. She then studies the two anti-tamper wires connecting to the computer unit. They barely contrast the dark grey by being a dark brown, and if it was under darkness, then the difference would be indistinguishable. However, because these aren't connected to the bomb, they use a different device. Actually, are those capacitors...?
"Huh, what about that. These capacitors seem like they are built to fail if the exact correct signal isn't given. Though with the right capacitors, it could bypass the anti-tampering in place. I'll handle these, Mei."
"No fair, Loader! You're getting to do all the fun construction around here!"
"Unfortunately for you, Mei, you don't get a choice. Just notify Nezu about what you've found out."
A bit away, the Principal is sipping his tea, with his laptop at the ready.
"So, how goes the project, Ms. Hatsume?"
"Pretty good, we found that the four anti-tampering devices that leads to the CPU and the audio system are simply capacitors that are meant to fail if unauthorized access was granted!"
"Huh, most intriguing... And the three wires shared by the two devices?"
"I don't know yet, but I'll get a look when Power Loader gives me the chance."
"Excellent. Let me know when you've got them figured out. I'm going to give hacking into the Pod's CPU a try!"
"...Not gonna lie, Mei, I think we had overblown the problem. Whatever they used, we have an equivalent we can refer back to."
"Nah, you're fine, Loader. Maybe you didn't want to ruin Son-kun's pod?"
"Hmph. And what if I did say that?"
"I wouldn't lie, I think I wouldn't have ruined such a baby!"
"...Focus on the final three anti-tamper wirings."
With that final task, Mei started to look at the three wires connecting the CPU to the audio system. One of them looked to be a data cable, though with a high-resistance resistor that, if triggered, could ruin the CPU circuit with a short. The seventh wire seemed to carry the power that leads to the resistor. As for the other two... They are actually just a speaker and a microphone, even with cute little speaker and mic symbols. Though it seems that, if the CPU were compromised, then the speaker and mic combo would blow themselves out. Finally, way in the back, was a radio module meant to relay whatever was said to and back from a mother module.
"Looking at the data cable, it seems that the seventh wire is rigged to short the CPU if the high-resistance resistor fails. As for the other two wires... they link to a microphone and a speaker, and it seems that their anti-tampering measures simply blow them out if the CPU were to be compromised."
"Hmph, a data cable with a seventh wire that is connected to a resistor... So, most likely the seventh pin. Got 'cha. If what you say is true, then we're mostly done with the deconstruction part. It'll just be mostly up to Nezu now."
"Okay!"
A few hours more...
"Nezu, I'm done with the final removal of the anti-tampering mechanisms to the CPU. She's all yours."
"Ah, most excellent! Now, to see if I can get these in right... Power Loader, feel free to hardwire my computer into the Pod!"
"I can't exactly disagree with you, sir. Just practice caution."
Soon, with the Ignition Switch turned on and the computer wired up to the vehicle, the Pod roars to life. However, with no anti-tampering safeguards in place, it simply stays on, as Nezu starts frantically typing on his computer.
"Seems they did indeed think about smarter individuals when it comes to their computing units. This language is entirely foreign even to me...! However, I'm not one to turn down a challenge!" the mouse-bear thing muttered to himself. However, he had a method of attack that is as old as the first computers: poking at it with 1's and 0's. It seems, based on the way he types out binary, the computer spits back seemingly irrelevant data. However, these random numbers and English alphabet that the computer interprets as the unknown lexicon... when he puts them through a hexadecimal to ascii conversion table, the text he gets from the Pod seem to spell things out.
"Frieza Force... Attack Ball... V1.02..." Nezu read out. "Password: SaiyanMonkey. Weird..." However, when he found the prompt for a password and entered it in hexadecimal, the Pod soon starts blasting out all kinds of data onto the computer. The weirdest part was that the entire database was not all that encrypted. Though with all that data in the Principal's computer, a lot of it needs to be recompiled. However, the one thing that refused to save onto the computer was something that was thousands upon thousands of petabytes. It'll be a mystery for another time, as he soon prompts the Saiyan Pod to go back into Rest Mode. It does... after crashing to the ground.
"Hatsume, Power Loader, I wish to thank you two for helping me realize this project to its upmost conclusion. The trove of data here will help us finally understand exactly where Son Goku came from."
"Mmm, this feels like a Pandora's box waiting to be opened, sir."
"Unfortunately, there isn't much I can do about that. I trust that he means well, though I want to gleam into his past, see what and why he came to Earth fifteen years ago."
"If you need our help, just give us the call."
"You know I will! I still cannot stress how much I want to thank you for the help, though!"
However, before he can even get out, his phone buzzed. There's a few pictures of... Hosu? A giant ape with a fur color similar to that of Goku's tai-
He felt paralyzed, as he remembers way back to when he was recently promoted to Principal of UA, and his conversation with the President of the Hero Commission of the Past.
"It's of great honor to see you becoming the principal of this establishment, Nezu," a familiar Samurai Hero spoke.
"Indeed, though you should forgive me when I saw that an animal became the finest of all the candidates," an older gentlemen said.
"I would rather be considered a person, President," Nezu hissed, not wanting to be just degraded to just an "animal".
"Whatever. Look, we need you to keep an eye on the alien called "Son Goku"."
"Preposterous. Sentient aliens are but a fictional creation. The only known proof of extraterrestrial life were found as single-cellular lifeforms across the Universe."
"It's not exactly true, Nezu. I had fought the alien. It was a giant ape, brown furred, breathing blue fire. However, when its tail was removed, the ape had turned into a small human boy."
"Plus, one of your now new employees have been working on a project. Follow us, and you'll see what we're talking about."
With trepidation, Nezu followed the two to the Support Department. In there, was the biggest shock of his life. It was a white, pristine sphere with a red wine-colored tinted window. Working on it was a younger Higari Maijima, only slightly younger at about 33 years old.
"Hmph, I can say it's true, Principal Nezu. This Pod couldn't have come from I-Island, and even the United States wouldn't be capable of creating something like this."
"The fact of the matter is that this thing shot in from deep space, seven years ago. For now, the boy is under the care of Son Gohan and Son Mikai as their son. If news leaks that there's an alien living among us, there's going to be sick freaks who want to take him away and dissect him to better learn about him. No, he's much better if he stays alive, if he followed in his 'father's' footsteps. Promise to me a creed of silence, and we will have no more umbridge."
"Oh dear..." was all that the mouse-rat principal can think about. However, seeing logic in the President's thought process, he nods. "You have a deal. I will not say anything about what I've seen here to a soul."
"Yep. Until the time is right, then Son Goku may know about his origins. I trust that by that point, he'll essentially be a human with a monkey tail. However, if he stares at the full moon, at any point, he'll become the giant ape that Yoroi Musha had described to me."
He soon snaps out of it, as he hears a shout of "Nezu!" coming from Power Loader. He looks at his phone again, and finds the fight of the Hero Killer making waves on social media, finding himself sweating bullets when he finds that there's at least three 1A students right there! Two teenagers with minor injuries and one seriously injured teenager were reported as casualties in the conflict.
"Hey, Nezu, what's wrong?" Mei asked. However, the bear-mouse principal looked at them with a neutral, yet extraordinarily horrifying blank stare, no smile at all.
"I'm going to go have a talk with Aizawa about something that had popped up. I will be back later." He said, before making a mad run to Aizawa's office.
"Oh, crap... That's a face I never hoped to see him make. Something exceptionally bad must have happened if he just has that blank stare." The Support Teacher lamented.
Soon, the Principal encounters Aizawa, himself looking angry.
"So, I'm assuming that you've seen the reports, too?" The not-so-tired teacher was barely keeping his anger contained.
"Indeed," Nezu said. "However, I also wish to see Son, who was last spotted in Hosu."
"I swear, if he's a part of those suicidal childr-"
"He isn't. I know as such." Nezu showed him a few photos of the giant ape to Aizawa. A lot of the photographs are blurry, though a common thread is that there's a sea of brown with two red tinges.
"It's just a giant ape, though... There's no way that thing is Son."
"I have my sources, Shota. But I'm also told to keep them a secret. Otherwise, there's going to be people who want him dissected, and as a lab rat, I am sure to not let that horrible fate befall onto Son."
"...Point taken, Nezu. Hopefully, tomorrow morning, the Hosu Police Force will have more insight into what's going on."
"Indeed... Where is your intern right now?"
"I had to sic Ms. Joke on him. She's off for the week for her Internship Week, and she was in town. Annoying clown she is, I can at least trust her to not seriously maim him."
"As long as he's occupied, then we can head towards Hosu. Though with how the bullet trains have been operating, we'll get there faster by car."
After the havoc at Hosu, and the tongue lashing that could last multiple lifetimes against Tenya's murderous intent, in addition to a sizeable heap of tongue lashing against Izuku and Shoto for just doing vigilantism in general, Nezu came back, looking less kempt than usual. He swears, he'll soon be getting grey fur with how much those 1A students regularly risk their lives. At least for Izuku and Shoto, they were doing it to genuinely save their friend and the Pro Hero that Stain had hunted down.
"Hmm..." He then looked at his laptop bag, before he pulled it out. And thus, began his day of deciphering and recompiling all the data he had gotten from the Pod. There's some genuinely interesting packets of information that he was able to recompile into something legible to him.
First off, Son Goku, or rather, Kakarot, was confirmed to be completely Quirkless. Instead, his power seems to derive from something these aliens called "battle power", using a numerical system remarkably easy to translate into decimals, itself branded as a "power level", though Goku and the principal himself referred to it as "ki", or rather, life energy. To rub salt into that wound, it turns out that Goku isn't even a human. He's referred to as a "Saiyan", an entire species that seems to share the same attributes that Goku had: A humanoid being with a brown tail, infamous for their bottomless void of a stomach and the ability to turn into something referred to as an "Oozaru", or in simpler terms: a "Great Ape". He wonders if some weird convergent evolution had happened that could theoretically allow for viable offspring between a Saiyan and a human, considering how ridiculously close the two look and the fact that Goku had reasonably passed for a Quirk Human for fifteen years and counting.
"I'll need to see about getting Lunch Rush's help with Son's dietary plan, then..." Nezu mused to himself.
However, his emotions had turned dark when he starts to read about the various jobs these Saiyans had to do. It seemed that they were a slave race to another race of beings, but they've still expressed a lack of remorse, no, outright pride with exterminating entire species of sapient beings under their "lord's" call, who goes by the name of "Frieza". Whatever these aliens are, they seem to act like mercenaries or soldiers of war, willing to do just about any dirty job if it means coming home with this "pride". It's akin to an organized group of poachers willing to kill entire hordes of elephants and rhinoceros for their tusks and horns. Yet, if it were so intrinsic, wouldn't the Saiyan he has exhibit those same traits? While it's perfectly clear nurture won over nature, perhaps this "pride" is utilized differently by him.
Regardless, something had piqued his interest. It seemed to be one of the last audio recordings to have been recorded on a faraway planet. It seemed to be the home planet called Vegeta, if smaller packets of data indicate anything. The only thing mentioned explicitly is that the planet had a gravity ten times greater than on Earth. The blatant violation of Square-Cube Law aside, that does explain how Son Goku was able to adapt to such heavy weights on his limbs and undershirt, despite only weighing in at a deceptively light 87kg. Playing it back, however... That opened his eyes.
In the audio, it picked up the voices of a gruff man and a woman. The man, trying his hardest to keep himself together, explaining to something inside the pod that he's sending them to a planet called Earth, and that if he's safe, he'll get him. Afterwards, the woman shouts to Kakarot, expressing her love and to 'remember us'. The woman, whose name he can get from is "Gine", appears to be the true mother and is told to hide by the man. One of the final things that the microphone heard was a "FRIEZA" shout in the distance, and a deep rupture a minute later. If this were truly a merciless group of mercenaries, then why would these two feel like an outlier? Finally, when he hears that deep rupture, whatever it was, if it was this "Frieza" thing or another object entirely, that must have killed Gine and the man, otherwise they could have found their way here by now.
There seemed to be some errant schematics. Likely something in case these Saiyans destroyed something of importance, usually either armor, a handheld communication device, or even a small, handheld unit that looks like a calculator. It seemed that there's a small compartment that has all the parts pre-fabricated located behind the headrest of the seat of the pod, aside from the armor. Reverse-engineering efforts could allow for a passable facsimile to be created.
The absolute final thing that was of interest was a 3D vector map. The dot escapes from a sphere, before it is dissolved. As the dot goes further away, there's a sudden jolt as it moves away from its destination, before the dot seemingly disappears and it ends. It seems that, corroborating with the audio recording, that Goku's home planet is outright annihilated. Not just all life on the sphere being killed, but the planet ceasing to exist as anything more than an asteroid pocket. The power to outright destroy planets... It's something that rattles Nezu to his existential core, since even at their worst, neither Humanity's man-made weaponry nor their Quirks could even come close to annihilation on such a cosmic scale. There's nothing more the Principal from this map, as anything beyond this point was corrupted beyond recognition.
Afterwards, Nezu felt exhausted from the entire report. He just wants tea and to go to bed, because nothing had exhausted him out this badly than the first day as Principal of UA. However, before he could even entertain the idea of going to bed, Power Loader knocked on the door.
"Hey, Nezu. Can we talk?"
"Oh, of course, Power Loader!" Nezu frantically puts away his laptop. He had looked disheveled and much less clean.
"Jeez, you look pretty bad. Did I come in at a bad time?"
"I'm sorry to worry you so much. I had to have Aizawa drive me all the way to Hosu so that we can have a heart-to-heart with those 1A students."
"Mmm. That was what I was gonna ask, actually. So, anything neat you decompiled on your laptop?"
"...More than I would have ever expected in my years of living."
"So, Pandora's Box worthy?"
"Perhaps. However, there are some schematics I had found. Apparently, these 'Saiyans' are responsible for these pieces of technology, including that Pod."
"Oh. So what you're saying is that Son Goku is some kind of humanoid monkey alien called a 'Saiyan'...?"
"Precisely." Nezu unplugs a USB drive and hands it to Power Loader. "Feel free to study the schematics, and see if they are even viable with our technology."
"Will do, sir. And for the record? Son's pretty damn good kid, even if he is an alien. It's his actions that speak volumes, not the writers of his tales."
"Right you are..." was all that Nezu had to say. "I'm terribly sorry, but I need some alone time and some tea, Power Loader."
"Understandable. Have a good night and we'll see you tomorrow."
That night was one of the hardest nights to ever sleep for Nezu, even after he had prepared a tea brew to help him sleep. He had finally gotten all the information he could ever want with Son Goku, and yet, the amount of information he has feels outright suffocating. The human-like Saiyan, existence of beings who are individually as cruel as the absolute worst Villains, the annihilation of said beings and their entire planet by something or someone even worse, and just how long the one Saiyan that had landed here, of all places, had been able to adapt. Part of him wants to lie to Goku, and to never tell him about what he had known, yet he knew that he would be kicking himself in the leg for the rest of his life if he genuinely went through with that plan. He will have to tell his monkey-tailed friend the truth of his existence. After the fever pitch of all that information, he started to fall back into deep sleep, a pitch blackness of no dreams that was calming after all that he had absorbed.
The final day of this proper internship, before he's going to have to compile everything he knows to give to the Madam President. He doesn't exactly feel good about giving her information about Son Goku's true self, but she had been supportive of his endeavors ever since she was the Secretary to the President. She is one of the few things that treated him like an actual person and not just an animal with a Quirk. Though on the same coin, he is well aware of the Hero Commission's shadow, and exactly how far some of their less savory members can go with extortion and threats, the previous president, unfortunately, being more willing to threaten those around him to get what he wants. As to why he allowed Fumikage to intern with them, is because he had sleuthed out whatever information about Hawks, including information behind the black ink. All in all, he had found Hawks to be trustworthy enough to greenlight the bird-headed teen's internship.
Before he meets with the Support Team, he gives the audio a deeper listen, with a refreshed perspective. From what he can gather at the beginning, over the wailing of a crying Kakarot, Gine seems to have called the gruff man "Bardock". Apparently, the two are unusual even by Saiyan standards, with the two having some level of compassion towards their son that the other Saiyans seemingly lacked, something their son had carried over in spades. Though it does seem that Bardock was a soldier at one point, he had a change of heart. Detouring over to the Lunch Rush Cafeteria, he had met up with the Cook Hero.
"Oh, hey there, Principal Nezu! How can I help you?"
"I'm curious, Lunch Rush... Is there a way we can pack more nutrients into your meals specifically for Son?" Nezu asked, as he looks at the table counter, seeing that there's a lot of vegetables on there.
"I've actually been experimenting with that problem myself. I'm just lucky that I have so much food to work with, but that boy just eats them like he's Kirby!" He then looks at Nezu studying the vegetables. "I'm sure you're wondering why I just have vegetables on the counter. As you know, a component of my Quirk is that I can embed food with more nutrients of any kind. Whether it'd be fats, vitamins, or just plain old kilocalories, it requires I take components out from other food items to transfer into my target. I had found that freshly picked vegetables are some of the best targets to embed more nutrients, the most surprising one being the humble lima bean. I could fit about two meals' worth of energy into a singular bean."
"Most intriguing. What would happen if you took that lima bean and grew it into a mature bean sprout?" That stopped the chef right in his tracks.
"Actually... I have no idea. It could either grow into a bean sprout much faster than normal, or it could create more nutritious beans."
"That could be our ticket to stuff a Son Goku without giving him twenty students' meals worth of food every day!"
"Heh, I hope so, though it's worth a shot. Thanks for the idea, Principal!"
"You're quite welcome! I'll be seeing you!" With Nezu leaving the cafeteria, he finally heads to the Support Department Studio.
"Mei somehow was able to develop working prototypes of all the schematics that you've given me last night," The Support Teacher spoke when the Principal approached. "Well... Aside from the Pod, but I think that's still going to be months, if not years, before that'll get anywhere."
"Hey, Principal!" Mei waves over, wearing a prototype of the armor schematic. It turns out she made a basic model, that being only a torso piece with the suspender-like shoulder straps that covers most of the wearer's torso. Though due to Mei's body, the armor curves noticeably with her body as she does some stretches. "You wouldn't believe just how light and flexible this armor is!"
"My, my, Ms. Hatsume... You're working so diligently even though you hadn't need to. Though how do you take it off, since it looks like a tight fit?"
"Oh, funny you should ask! It's insanely stretchy!" She demonstrates it by grabbing the bottom and easily stretching it, the armor's elasticity being proven before she puts it back. "And surprisingly durable!"
"We aren't going to demonstrate its durability by punching you, Mei. It'll be practiced on the dummies."
"Ah, pooey! I wanted to feel it for myself!"
"Sorry, Ms. Hatsume, but your safety comes first."
So, the trio set up the armor on the dummy, and then looks at a cannon. While it is old-fashioned, it's for measuring out all the exact powder and using the right cannonball. For his test, he's using a grapeshot round, with a couple kilograms of gunpowder, a fuse, and a wadding plate. Upon firing, the grapeshot predictably struck the armor where he aimed it at. However, to his surprise, there's no noticeable damage to the body.
"Mmm, though there still has to be internal damage somewhere."
Upon taking off the armor, there were indeed indicators that damage has still been sustained on the inside, though to his surprise, the damage nodes had only given a "minimal" ranking to internal damage.
"Hmm, minimal internal damage..." Power Loader repeated to himself. "It's not the best thing to see, but I honestly thought it would have popped up as 'killed' or at the very least 'severe'."
"How peculiar... a set of armor flexible enough to fit most human body sizes, yet strong enough to shrug off cannon fire with just a "minimal" ranking..."
"So? How is my new baby treating it?"
"As much as I'd rather you not needlessly endanger others for a field test, your armor is still in one piece. Good work."
"It worked quite splendidly! Though, if I were to suggest something, you should see about giving the armor some arm guards, because while the grapeshot doesn't hurt the body as badly, it'll still take your arms out of commission if they land a hit on your shoulders."
"As for this thing..." She picked out a small, handheld device that she puts over her left ear, with a red, translucent visor. "This is what the schematics called a 'Scouter'! This device boasts three features! It has a small microphone, an earpiece, and finally, an energy sensor! ...Though it seems that the energy sensor part is not exactly working all that well..." As she tries to read Principal Nezu's power level, it fluctuates between 10 and 25, the letters appearing on the visor seems to be numbers appearing before a triangle pointing in the Principal's direction. When Nezu fails to put the earpiece on and simply tried to use the energy sensor functionality, it also fluctuates Mei's power level to be between 14 and 30.
"Hmm, this is indeed a curiosity..." he returns the device to Mei. "Well, this is certainly enlightening! What about the final schematic, the calculator-looking thing?"
"Oh, the Pod Remote? It's... not working with Son-kun's Pod right now. Most likely just off frequency or something..."
"Or the original remote's destroyed."
"Ah, that makes sense. And with no Pods to use it with, it has no functionality."
"How much longer will I have to keep this secret, Principal Nezu?"
"Until Son knows about his true self. I intend to tell him before the next term, because I want him to enjoy his break."
After this entire week of internships, Nezu's ready to finally get back to his normal schedule of being a quirky Principal of a high school filled to the brim with superhero teenagers, though there's still one more loose end. Just before the kids are scheduled to come back from their internships, Meri appeared.
"So, Nezu, how had the duo worked for this week?" She asked.
"Quite splendidly, Madam. They had disengaged all the anti-tampering devices and either terminated them with insulated rubber caps or replaced them with regulators, so they won't cause any shorts."
"All within a week...?"
"It was because of Ms. Hatsume's Zoom. She was able to locate the devices with pinpoint accuracy and was able to discern the nature of which they operated."
"Any new information about Son Goku you can share with me?"
"...Indeed. Though you better take an entire day, Madam President."
"So, it's that mind-blowing. I will take heed when I go through it later. Do you have a high-capacity flash drive I can take back?"
"Oh, but of course!" Nezu hands an 8TB flash drive to his guest.
"You know, my predecessor always took you for granted. However, I knew you were something special the moment we met. And I felt that this entire week had further validated the last twelve years."
"Indeed..." He looks to his security cameras, and there comes in 1A students, mostly those closest to Musutafu.
"Hmm, it seems that the internships had ended, so that'll mean Son Goku will be coming."
"Good. I need to have a discussion with him."
"About the Great Ape?"
"...Wait, that's what it's called?"
"That computer unit held a treasure trove of all sorts of information. Though I couldn't extract one specific file, which had petabytes upon petabytes of information."
"We can extract that later, but the point is, do you know how this 'Great Ape' works?"
"Apparently, these aliens, who I found out are called 'Saiyans', use the term 'Blutz Waves' when it comes to moonlight. It seems to be at its maximum intensity during the Full Moon, which induces the transformation akin to lycanthopy you would see in medieval tales or with a Transformation Quirk. Whatever this is, it's intrinsically connected to Son Goku's tail, since it seemed that he reverted back into a child after Musha had cut off his tail, about eight years ago."
"...I think I'll need an additional day to just parse all of the information you've given me, if that's indeed true. Not only for this 'Great Ape' thing, but because of how ridiculously human-like this 'Saiyan' is and that Son is one of them."
"Unfortunately, Madam, it's the tip of the iceberg." He soon spots Momo and Goku via camera, walking together. "We'll discuss more about this later." He soon pulls out a small Nezu branded walkie talkie. "Aizawa, be sure to send yourself and Son up to my office, okay?"
"Hmph, I see them coming towards the entrance. I will do so."
"By any chance, are you running a side hustle? Otherwise, why brand yourself like a children's mascot?"
"Not at all! I just like making these gadgets for fun. Aizawa's walkie talkie is like every other walkie talkie."
The two now await the Saiyan and his teacher to appear, as the Madam President would rather not ask about why he would do that.
AN: I think this was a more interesting chapter to write, because Nezu would absolutely have more knowledge about Son Goku than the majority of the current cast, or at least have enough hunches about him that he could reasonably deduce more about him. As for the whole "self-sabotage devices loaded everywhere in the Attack Ball" thing, it's mostly because I would highly doubt Frieza would allow them to be used against him, that and Dr. Briefs had an Attack Ball explode on him due to some incompetence on his end. Regardless, he would still be stubborn-headed enough that there would be a lack of cyberdefense protocols aside from the Ball wanting to self-destruct. I would say that most of the info would be there just in case a Frieza Force member has to fight against a Saiyan, in addition to tidbits and the legend of the Super Saiyan. Finally, it also gives me a chance to introduce Senzu Beans, though instead of them being magical beans grown by the God of Martial Arts, it's created through Lunch Rush's Quirk... which I'm certain is just me giving his Quirk more utilization that what is shown in canon.
As for why I called this a side-chapter? It's more to explore Nezu's side from Chapters 10 to 13, since there's enough potential for a mini arc going on while the Hero Killer Stain events happen as they go.