990Capsule Corporation Facility - Former Red Ribbon Headquarters
11 years ago, this plot of land was one of the most tightly guarded locations on Earth. Within a day, 2 young children broke down its defenses and shattered its infrastructure within mere hours. Since that day, the Red Ribbon Army had collapsed and the facility was abandoned by its former superiors.
There was no way in Hell Bulma or Dr. Briefs were going to pass up free real estate like that.
Approximately 1 year after their downfall, Bulma approached King Furry for permission on repurposing the derelict military base for Capsule Corp's purposes, in addition to subcontracting for the Royal Defense Force. The surplus of resources left over allowed her, Dr. Briefs, and Gebo to renovate an old Red Ribbon airborne aircraft carrier prototype into the CCS Blue Bloomers. Now, after the careful dissection of Son Gokū and Raditz's pods, the ship was due for another refit.
The ship was currently docked within an underground hangar just outside of the old fortress's walls, while Bulma was experimenting with some cobbled prototypes put together after thorough analysis of the pods. A door slid open and Violet walked in.
"So, how goes the prototyping?" Violet casually asked as she unslung a large cable from her shoulder.
"Good timing! I've just finished the math behind scaling the floater engines!" Bulma beamed as Violet looked over the tool wall. "Observe."
With a quick input on her keyboard, Bulma roused the engine to life and it swiftly took flight several centimeters above her desk, hovering perfectly in place. The lavender-haired genius keyed in a few more commands and the engine quickly and shortly darted around in different directions before she ultimately powered it down.
"Sweet," Violet whistled as she looked at the hovering disc at Bulma's desk. "So we should be able to scale these up pretty soon then?"
"Well, not quite," Bulma sadly retorted. "My dad's still working on the hydrogen fusion process. Once he gets a generator working optimally, powering the thing won't be a concern at all."
Just as Bulma finished her sentence, a distant explosion rattled the base. Immediately she palmed her face and grabbed a fire extinguisher and raced out to the source of the explosion. Violet, not wanting to question the matter, grabbed one of her own and followed suit. She had trouble keeping pace with Bulma, which was a mystery in and of itself, considering that her old tenure with the Red Ribbon as well as jobs afterward demanded she stay active, and this scientist was outpacing her. When they arrived, they found Dr. Briefs and Gebo completely covered in soot. The former kept a chipper attitude as he dusted himself off, while Gebo had a nonplussed expression as he held up a strange-looking rat with pig ears.
"I believe this is the culprit?" Gebo deadpanned as he tossed the rat down at the ground. Immediately the creature POOF'd into the familiar shape of Oolong, carrying a small assortment of dirty magazines.
"Ehehehe, I uh, Iheard the doc had a stash, so I uh-"
Oolong did not get to finish his sentence as both Bulma and Violet blasted the soot-covered pig with their fire extinguishers before dousing the flames of the explosion.
"Alright, what did Oolong do?" Bulma groaned as she shut off her fire extinguisher.
"Welp, from what I could tell, the little guy snuck off with my capsule case, and thought it would be a good idea to giggle at some magazines while under the reactor I was testing," Dr. Briefs casually assessed as he casually blew some soot off his glasses. "Frankly, if he wanted to read 'em, he could've just asked. Instead, one of his hairs got too friendly with the prototype, caught fire, and you know how much hydrogen just loves fire! Don't need to be a chemist to tell you that."
"Why do you keep this idiot around, Miss Bulma?" Gebo inquired.
"I wasn't planning on it," Bulma sighed. "Muten Roshi finally had enough of his nonsense and kicked him out, so I let him stay with me."
Bulma then cracked her knuckles loud enough for Oolong to flinch. The shapeshifter began nervously sweating as the lavender-haired genius marched towards him with all too familiar fury. "But what I don't remember is saying that you could leave the visitor compound while we're working!"
"I-I-I got bored, see?! I wasn't gonna go too far but then-"
Gebo grabbed Oolong by the sling of his overalls and held him aloft before he could finish his sentence. "But then you decided to rummage for Dr. Briefs's capsule case just so you could have a little session under an extremely volatile prototype," Gebo finished, glaring daggers at the shapeshifter. "Had it been fully fueled, we might've been having an off-season holiday roast instead of just a layer of soot on your sorry pink hide. If you're so bored, check the volunteer bulletins. And next time, keep out of the labs when sensitive experiments are underway."
"Yb-Y-Y-Underst-stood sir!" Oolong stuttered before Gebo let go of his overalls, dropping him unceremoniously to the ground. "Ow."
As Oolong scurried off, Violet walked up with a grin on her face. "Been a while since I've seen the attitude of old General Gold," she commented as she inspected the damage. "I'm no engineer, but I think this looks to be salvageable."
"You'd be correct, Ma'am," Dr. Briefs confirmed as he brushed off the soot. "Fortunately we were only working with a teeny amount of hydrogen, and the most we'll need to do is clean it up."
"That's good to hear," Bulma sighed. "I'm gonna go work on the upscaled floater schematics then come back around to help with the reactor."
"Finally got the math down, eh?" Dr. Briefs chuckled. "Gotta admit, this tech is something else. Those floater engines are a lot more efficient than the ones we install in hover cars and bikes, and I'm talking about interstellar levels of efficiency. And the miniaturized centrifugal fusion reactor from those pods was an absolute treat."
"Yeah," Bulma nodded. "Speaking of which, do you know if old Dr. Gero's mechanical lab is still intact?"
"If you're referring to the experiments confiscated from there, we actually had that stowed away on the Blue Bloomers," Dr. Briefs explained before holding his chin. "Though given how supplies were offloaded for the refit, I'm gonna guess it's in one of the adjacent storage bays."
"Great, a needle in the haystack," Bulma groaned.
"Why're you looking for my father's old experiments, anyway?" Gebo inquired.
"Nothing solid yet, but I wanna see if he had any work in progress androids I could look at," Bulma explained. "Of course I'd ask Dr. Checka to check their neural nets before even thinking of bringing them online."
"Speaking of whom, how come Dr. Checka decided to stay back at West City?" Violet piped up.
"She said that her talents are best applied to the projects going on over there," Gebo answered with a shrug. "Not arguing that since biomechanics and neurobiology are her strong suits, but I'm guessing she also doesn't want to be around here. Too many bad memories."
"Ah," Violet knowingly nodded. "Well, if nothing else, I'll get back to my rounds."
"And I'll go make sure Oolong isn't causing any more trouble," Gebo decided as he walked out. Violet soon left after inspecting the damage done to the prototype, leaving Bulma and her father in the laboratory.
"You're not actually planning on picking up one of Gero's old droids, are you?" Dr. Briefs questioned.
"Nah," Bulma dismissed. "It's the mechanical side of things I'm interested in anyway. Let's just say I have a few ideas in the works once the carrier's refitted."
Break Wastelands
Everyone was bewildered to suddenly see Raditz drop down and kneel towards the new arrivals, or more specifically, the one identified as Prince Tarble. Even the man in question gave a tired sigh while the woman next to him simply palmed her face.
"Alright, at ease," Tarble sighed as he waved off Raditz's formalities. "I personally don't care for formalities like that. It wastes effort that can be applied elsewhere."
"Oh, um, right," Raditz stammered as he cleared his throat and stood back up. "But, what brings you here? I thought you were assigned with the Avocado twins."
"To correct your assumption, the Avocado twins were dealt with years ago," The Saiyan woman spoke up before Tarble could answer. "As for the question, isn't it obvious? We got yours and Kakarrot's message. I've gotta admit, you're hairier than I expected."
"Wha-Hairier than you expected?!" Raditz stammered, feeling rather insulted knowing full well she was referring to his hair. "Who do you think you are?!"
"Right, right, we never met," The woman waved off before putting on a big and mischievous grin. "My name's Jica. I'm your little sister!"
Piccolo's eyes widened with surprise while Kuririn and Chi-Chi gasped at the revelation. All the while, Raditz's jaw was practically on the floor from the shock.
"I-Wh-Y-B-" Raditz stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence before Chi-Chi slapped him across the face, getting the gears back into alignment. "I HAVE A SISTER?!"
"Scream it louder, why don't ya?" Chi-Chi quipped as she rubbed her pinky fingers into her ears to try and ease the pain. "Might wake up Rensō at this point, and he's headless."
"Rensō?" Jica echoed as she tilted her head curiously.
"Basically a jackass who tagged along with Raditz," Chi-Chi explained. "There was no persuading that guy, so he had to be dealt with."
"Let's get questions out of the way before turning in for the night," Tarble suggested, despite his amusement with Jica and Raditz.
"Alright, let's start with an easy one," Raditz began. "How many Saiyans escaped Planet Vegeta's destruction?"
"Not many, but enough that we could settle somewhere and start rebuilding," Tarble explained. "The numbers initially leaving were around 200."
"Naturally this included our parents, or I wouldn't be here right now,~" Jica added, leading on Tarble's shoulder, much to his chagrin.
"What did I say about leaning on me?" Tarble growled before shoving Jica aside in comical fashion. "She's not wrong, and my own mother escaped as well."
"What about your father, the king?" Raditz questioned. Tarble stayed silent and gave a somber look that answered his question. "I see. Did he at least go down fighting?"
"That I can assure you of," Tarble answered quietly. "It's because of his sacrifice that we're here today."
"Hey guys, what's going o-Whoa."
Everyone turned to see both Gohan and Menra drowsily approach the scene, but then both woke up immediately at the sight of the space barge and 2 visitors.
"Hold up, I thought there were 5 Saiyans coming!" Menra exclaimed, comparing pieces of the puzzle. "Plus they weren't supposed to show up for another 10 months."
Raditz immediately palmed his face and slid it down with exasperation. "Whatever. Better to get this out of the way now than later," Raditz groaned. "These two are actually allies. Gohan, Menra, meet the Saiyan Prince Tarble, and…" The wild-haired Saiyan let out an exasperated sigh. "...Your Aunt Jica."
"Whoa…!" Both twins gasped in amazement before remembering their manners and giving a small bow to their new guests.
"And here I thought we'd have to wait for Uncle Raditz to date Ms. Chi-Chi before we might get an aunt!" Menra innocently declared, causing the two in question to turn beet red and sputter incoherently.
"Wha-Shut up!" Raditz finally managed to stammer out, meanwhile Menra could only laugh at how her big bad uncle was so flustered.
"Aw, those two are adorable!~" Jica squealed at the sight of her niece and nephew before returning her attention to her older brother. "So you're training them for when the crown prince and his posse arrive?"
"That's the idea," Raditz sighed, finally regaining his composure. "Is that why Prince Tarble came here, to try and settle this diplomatically?"
"At the very least make an attempt," Tarble elaborated as he folded his arms. "But we had a feeling you would be preparing for Vegeta's arrival, so it was decided that we should train alongside you folks."
"Well, if I'm gonna be honest, I say the more the merrier," Kuririn spoke up with a shrug before letting out a loud yawn. "Alright, if there're gonna be any more surprise visits, tell me about it in the morning."
"We can work out details in the morning then," Tarble shrugged.
"Yep," Jica nodded before leaning beside Tarble for a whisper. "Did it not strike you odd that the bald one had no nose?"
"Goodnight," Tarble deadpanned as he pushed Jica away and reboarded the ship.
"What's got his tail in a knot?" Raditz asked.
"Ah, I'm guessing it's mixed feelings on meeting his brother for the first time in, what, 2 decades?" Jica surmised. "Also, I doubt being cooped up on a barge for 2 months with me did little to help in that regard."
"Hmph. Mad strategies to get someone to try and like you. How ridiculous," Chi-Chi muttered aloud. Jica simply scoffed at the accusation and merely shook her head. Meanwhile, Piccolo, Raditz, Kuririn, and even Gohan and Menra were giving the Frypan princess an incredulous look. "Why's everyone looking at me like that?"
"I dunno, you tell me," Raditz answered with a big grin. "Because it sounds a lot like someone we all know.~"
"What are you-" Chi-Chi began before cutting herself off, and now realizing the irony of her statement. Her face turned red as a brick as she slowly skulked away. "I'm uh, gonna go rethink my life choices now…"
"There's something I'm out of the loop on, I know it," Jica muttered as Chi-Chi walked away.
"It's a long story, which I won't get into tonight," Raditz replied. "Maybe when Kakarrot and Caulifla get back you can hear their side of the story."
North Kaiō's Planet, Afterlife
"ACHOO!"
Both Gokū and Caulifla launched themselves backwards by an aggressive set of sneezes, knocking them away from catching Bubbles sooner.
"Ah, so close too!" Caulifla groaned as she propped herself up, fighting both the strain of gravity coupled with her training weights. "Someone had to pick now of all times to start talking about us."
"Well, could be worse," Gokū retorted as he struggled to get back up. He looked over at the target monkey in question before leaning in for a whisper. "At least Bubbles isn't leaving a trail of banana peels, right?"
"Try to communicate that outside words next time," Caulifla gave a few pats on Gokū's face before turning the last one into a slap. "You see the ears on that capucha, right? His hearing could be as good as Piccolo's for all we know!"
"I don't think he's a capucha," Gokū retorted, tangenting on the subject before thinking. "Actually, what kind of monkey is Bubbles?"
"That… is a good question," Caulifla answered as she paused to think. "He looks to be closest to a chimpanzee, but they don't have tails, or pointed ears for that matter."
"That's because Bubble's ain't the type of monkey found on Earth," Lord Kaiō spoke up, catching the two off-guard. "Think of it this way; When a Saiyan goes Oozaru, their ears get pointed and they develop a large muzzle that can't be compared to other monkeys or apes on Earth."
"Okay, that makes sense," Caulifla hummed as she absentmindedly wrapped her tail around her waist. Considering Saiyans were not native to Earth, it would make sense that they would have features differing from earthborn primates. "So, where's Bubbles from?"
"He's actually from a nice tropical planet called Guava," The blue deity explained. "Such a nice vacation spot, and he actually used to serve as their respective God, just like Kami on Earth."
"Huh," was all Gokū could get out as he looked at Bubbles with a dumbfounded expression. "I honestly wouldn't have guessed from looking at him. Do all worlds have Gods watching over them?"
"Not all worlds," Lord Kaiō elaborated. "Barren and inhospitable planets obviously don't have any, and only those worlds that develop to a certain point and catch our attention earn the chance to assign a God. Sometimes those that do have more than one individual up to the task, even enough to create a pantheon."
"Makes sense to me," Caulifla declared with a shrug. "Welp, unless you've got more to add, we've got a god from Planet Guava to catch!"
"Really sounds weird when you phrase it like that, huh?" Gokū chuckled as he began slowly trudging along to fight the tiny planet's gravity.
"Oh shut up," Caulifla shook her head with a smile considering how right her husband was. She too began to wrestle with the gravity of the planet as she and Gokū marched to try and catch Bubbles.
Over by his humble hut, Lord Kaiō inquisitively observed the patterns of the two Saiyans as they tried to catch Bubbles. 'Hmm, those two are adapting quickly alright,' The deity pondered. 'Maybe a little too quickly. Those two are coordinating very well, and might catch Bubbles before they've mastered my planet's gravity. That may be a problem if I wanna teach them the Kaiōken. I just hope that call gets back to me soon…'
Rrrrrrrring! Rrrrrrrring!
"Well, speak of the devil!~" Lord Kaiō chuckled as he walked into his house and picked up the ringing phone. "King Kai's crib, North Kaiō speaking. … Uh-huh. … Really? He's still down there? … Yes, I know the risks, which is why you'll give him the brace 'till then. … Yep. … So even limited he'll be here in 6 days? Perfect! Thanks for checking. … Yeah, sure. Also, have you tried eating a clock? I hear it's time consuming!"
Lord Kaiō burst into laughter at his own joke before the dial tone cut him off. Displeased that his joke went unappreciated, he hung up the phone and let out a big sigh. "That big red oaf has no sense of humor. Then again, constantly judging the dead will do that to ya."
6 days later
Gokū and Caulifla were both napping under one of the few trees that dotted the tiny planet of North Kaiō. Chasing Bubbles while fighting the planet's gravity proved to be very tiresome, but even over the course of 6 days their speed had improved by a degree, and they were no longer struggling just to stand. Now it was a matter of regaining their typical speed while under both gravity and training weights. Gokū was leaning up against the tree while Caulifla used his bicep as a pillow. The napping couple were blissfully unaware of a new pair of boots landing a short distance away from them.
"Wake up!" A powerful and commanding voice called out to the two.
"Mmm… Five more minutes, Caulifla…" Gokū muttered in his sleep.
"Yeah… Five more minutes, Caulifla…" Caulifla absentmindedly muttered as she snuggled closer to Gokū's arm.
"I SAID WAKE UP!"
The voice boomed enough for the planet to quake ever so slightly, and the sleepy Saiyans had no warning as each of them received a respective sucker punch that sent them flying. If they were not awake before, they most certainly are now. Both Gokū and Caulifla wrapped their tails around their waists and assumed fighting stances but slackened ever so slightly at the sight of the newcomer before them. This was a man who carried an err of superiority and authority all in one package. He wore a more polished combat jacket complete with a waist cloak in addition to an amulet around his neck. His hair was jet black and shot up like a flame and his widow's peak put Raditz's to shame.
"I was dragged out of Hell to be greeted with this pathetic display?" The man sneered, clearly not impressed with Gokū and Caulifla before him. "I should kill you two right now…"
"Ap, hold your horses, big guy!" Lord Kaiō piped up as he casually walked over to the scene.
"Lord Kaiō, who is this guy?" Gokū asked the deity. "And what's he doing here?"
"Careful there,~" The North Kaiō cheekily warned. "I wouldn't wanna get his ire if I were you. As for introductions, Allow me to introduce King Vegeta the 3rd."
Both Gokū and Caulifla were stunned at the revelation, but quickly recomposed themselves and offered a quick bow.
"As for why he's here," The Kaiō continued. "He's going to be assisting me with training you two while you're here."
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Caulifla exclaimed, trying to process what's currently happening right now. "Okay, lemme get this straight: I off-handedly mention wanting to meet King Vegeta one day - It's an honor, by the way - and you decide willy nilly to pluck him out of Hell - Only guessing that's where he went based on what I've heard - just to have him as a training assistant?!"
"Yep."
Both Gokū and Caulifla fell backwards from the blue deity's simple answer, to which he got a hearty snicker out of.
"To elaborate, you two were getting closer to catching Bubbles than you were prepared for," Lord Kaiō explained. "So, to up the ante, you will be trying to catch King Vegeta by the tail."
"And here I thought Hell was torment enough…" The late King growled as he unraveled his tail and waved it freely. "Try and keep up, if you dare."
With that, the King leapt up and floated back a few meters before landing softly on the grassy turf, clearly waiting for Gokū and Caulifla to come at him. Recognizing the challenge, both Saiyans smirked and began trudging their way towards their target. They were slightly confused as to why the King did not move from his spot, but by the time they got within grabbing distance of his tail, King Vegeta gave a devilish smirk and vanished from sight. Both Gokū and Caulifla were stunned but their senses quickly clued them in that he had moved several meters to the right.
"I can't make this too easy, now can I?" King Vegeta chortled as he raised up his palm. Immediately, a bright yellow sphere of ki manifested within it, and launched towards the two Saiyans he was forced to coach. It was all Gokū and Caulifla could do to leap out of the way of the blast, which exploded upon the ground, sending them tumbling for a few meters. "I'm going to make certain that you master this planet's gravity, for your lives will depend on it!"
"Just don't hit my car!" Lord Kaiō piped up, looking visibly angry at the lightly scorched turf where the King had lobbed his ki at. "And dial the explosion force back, why don't ya! I live here after all!"
"Tch!" The King clicked his tongue. "That imp calling himself a deity expects me to dial it back whilst also whipping these low-class mongrels into shape…"
"This 'imp' can boot your royal Hiney back into Hell if you'd like," Lord Kaiō spat back as he pointed to the yellow clouds his planet floated above. "And remember what the folks at the check-in station told you when that happens."
King Vegeta said nothing but flinched ever so slightly at the Kaiō's threat, but for his own sake, no one had noticed, or chose to speak up about it. The deceased monarch chose to take a deep breath and return to his charge. A few meters past the planet's horizon, Gokū and Caulifla pushed themselves back up to their feet and glared at the King.
"Damn, that smarts," Gokū groaned as he wiped a scuff on his cheek. "King of the Saiyans has to be powerful to keep his title I bet."
"Ha! If you thought that was power, what you just barely dodged was but a prelude," The king scoffed at Gokū's comment. "You would be lucky to survive a tenth of what I can unleash, son of Bardock."
"Son of- How'd you know Bardock was my father?" Gokū inquired.
"The resemblance you share with him is uncanny," King Vegeta answered flatly. "A truly capable warrior by his caste's standards, though he was a maverick with whom we had many disagreements. Now enough stories. Come at me! And don't be afraid to hold back."
Both Gokū and Caulifla smirked at the challenge while Lord Kaiō observed the Saiyans at work. 'Perfect! Now they'll get adjusted to the gravity properly now,' he thought, pleased with his little scheme. 'And with how they've been improving over the past few days, I'm confident they'll be able to master the Kaiōken before their time here is up.'
Deep Space
Five alabaster pods shot across the void at incredible speeds, too fast for any unassociated spacecraft to intercept. Within each pod was a slumbering Saiyan placed in stasis for the long trip. The pods passed a small inhabited planet, while the largest Saiyan of the group squirmed ever so slightly, as if disappointed they would not be stopping there. Another rustled uncomfortably as the planet held features that were too haunting for her to think about. The restlessness ceased as the pods passed the planet's solar system and further onward to their destination.
A/N: I wanted an excuse to bring in King Vegeta. Sue me! :P That aside, hopefully it wasn't too asspull-ish with its approach. As for Capsule Corp commandeering the abandoned Red Ribbon base? Come on! That's prime real estate and leftover equipment just BEGGING to be utilized! But I get why Toriyama didn't bother with details like that, so here I am! Also, Tarble and Jica have introduced themselves (much to Raditz's chagrin) and training continues on Earth as it does in the afterlife. Also the nod to Filler!Arlia was too good to pass up. Sorry Nappa! No bug planet for you! Hope this was a good read. :)