(One and a half months later)
Humming pleasantly to himself as he sat at his desk in his old room, Gohan continued to busy himself away with his studies. With a ceiling high shelf of textbooks stacked to his left and his computer sitting on his right, the young man had practically everything he needed for a few hours of successful cramming. After the harrowing events that'd taken place at the Intergalactic Martial Arts Tournament not too long ago, this had pretty much become standard procedure for him.
Ever since Bojack's attempted invasion of their planet the defenders of the earth had all decided to make some significant changes to their lifestyles.
For starters, Vegeta was now back in the game and hitting the gravity room harder than ever before… that is, whenever he wasn't looking after his son and filling in time that Bulma wanted him to take up while he was at home. Having pretty much recaptured his youth, the Saiyan Prince was now determined to reach the same level of control and ability that Gohan had achieved in his training, while at the same time not wanting the demi-Saiyan to get too far ahead in the combat department. He'd even managed to shanghai Mirai Trunks along for the ride who, after getting out of the hospital, had decided to stick around for a little while longer to hang out with his friends and family before returning to his own timeline.
Foregoing his planned rest period in the subcategories, Krillin had also decided to continue his training at Master Roshi's island. Every day the current Turtle Master would set some time aside to practice his move sets and polish up his fighting techniques, staying in peak physical shape while simultaneously becoming more emotionally and socially active. The man wanted to get out there to see as much of the new world as possible and to experience all of the things he'd missed out on in the past couple of years. Since they'd arrived at a time of secured peace and prosperity for all of mankind, he, along with Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu, the sole human members of the Z-Fighter squadron, had all decided to live it up as best as they could, now that they didn't have the threat of androids and aliens looming over their heads.
Of course, one couldn't be too careful.
Speaking of which, Yamcha, a long time supporter of the group, had decided to return to his old career path in baseball and practicality in the world, while Tien and Chiaotzu had disappeared into the north to continue their regular training regimens. This further went on to illustrate the level of commitment each and every one of them held toward their responsibilities and passions as fighters, which varied between each member of the team.
The same could be said for the non-fighters of the group. Korin and Yajirobe were up in their tower doing whatever it was they did best while watching over the planet from afar.
Dende, bright and dedicated as ever, was still learning the ropes of being guardian of earth and was taking frequent lessons under Mr. Popo, who was just glad to have a friend to serve once again. Master Roshi was being pedantic and laidback as usual, with Turtle and Oolong coming in a close second, and the Briefs family filled in their quota of the year by pushing the Capsule Corp. industry in a whole new direction of discovery and innovation.
In a few words, everyone across the board had their own parts to play.
Getting back to the heavy hitters, Piccolo never strayed too far from the regions surrounding Mount Paozu or Kami's Lookout. The man was always… around, in some way, shape or form. Sometimes you would often see him standing outside the Son family house under a tree or find him meditating beside the local waterfall not too far from them. This didn't bother Chi-Chi too much since she never really saw the Namekian warrior very frequently, but Gohan did, and it always made him smile whenever he noticed his friend watching over him.
And as for the young demi-Saiyan, things were going nicely for him.
Just like he planned, every morning and late afternoon Gohan spent his hours training away, juggling time between skill and technique molding and strength building. Every so often he would share a couple of sessions with Piccolo whenever his old teacher dropped by and when the green warrior wasn't coaching him in the first half of the day, the two of them would spar until they were both too tired to move. Gohan was even sure to push himself by not going Super Saiyan the entire match, making him work even harder. Though on one hand it made Piccolo happy to see the half-Saiyan trying so hard, at the same time it irked him somewhat since he thought his student was taking it easy on him. But Gohan had his reasons and the man understood them well enough to let these little foibles slide.
It was a given. The more the demi-Saiyan trained and strengthened his base level state the stronger his subsequent Super Saiyan transformations would become. But this didn't mean Gohan neglected training in his powered up states either, as the young warrior knew he needed to gain control over his Ascended Super Saiyan state, or what he liked to call Super Saiyan 2, above everything else.
In the past month, he'd actually managed to gain a certain level of directive over it. He did this by spending a whole week in that form, walking around with his hair blonde, elongated and defying gravity. It was cool at first and the youngster loved the feel of it, but his mother soon urged him to turn back to normal since not only did he appear a little scary, but he also had these sudden bursts of strength that just came out whenever he got too excited or carried away.
The most notable instance was when Gohan first opened the door when he was coming home after a morning session and inadvertently ripped it off of its hinges.
That was pretty much all he needed to know that his control skills at the second level needed a bit more fine tuning.
Outside of working his physical abilities into the ground and training to the point of complete and utter exhaustion of course, just like he promised, the demi-Saiyan also focused a lot of his time on his studies. After all his years of homeschooling under his mother's loving care and guidance, the boy had gotten so good at math, science, and all the other subtopics that he barely needed to apply a hundred percent effort into his learning process anymore. He wasn't even sure there was anything more for him to learn, period. As it stood, with only a quarter of his concentration, he could burn through textbooks like they were children's picture books. He'd memorized all of the most complicated mathematical theories to date, knew every single field and method by hard, and could solve complex equations in his head like he were adding and subtracting, as he'd been doing stuff like Calculus ever since the ripe old age of four.
Even when he'd been training under Piccolo's watch, he'd actually spent a lot of his free time recapping on his complex numbers and differential equations while resting in a cave.
General theory of relativity, nonlinear systems of equations, differential topology, geometry and manifolds, quantum mechanics, matrix algebra, quantum field theory, nuclear physics, vector calculus, advanced counting theory, chaos theory, unified field theory… you name it and there's a good chance Gohan has covered it at least five times.
Hell, while some people struggled with their times seven multiplications, Gohan could recite the entire quantum chromodynamic gauge-invariant Lagrangian in his sleep.
Really, by this point in time it was all just a practice in futility.
But if it made his mum happy, then Gohan wasn't complaining.
Anyhow, after having spent a couple of hours cramming some basic systems of algebra and quadratics into his head for the hundredth time in a row, the demi-Saiyan felt he'd spent enough time sitting down. So, marking his page, closing up his text book, and adjusting the orange top of his father's style gi, the youngster got up and headed into the kitchen to see if his mum needed anything. When he got there, he saw she was busy scaling some fish at the counter.
Beaming at how hard she was working, Gohan approached the young woman and stood alongside her expectantly. "Hi, mum. Do you need any help?"
"Oh, Gohan," Chi-Chi exclaimed in slight surprise, "I didn't hear you come in. Did you finish your studies for this morning?"
"Yep. I covered all six books like you asked and filled out all of the exam papers you gave me," the young Saiyan responded, beaming across at the hardworking mother.
"That's good. You seem to be going through those texts a lot faster than you usually do," the raven haired woman remarked while raising an eyebrow at her son, at the same time deboning the large fish on the counter. "You aren't cutting corners in your work, are you? Because if I come in there and see that you're purposefully skipping questions and slacking off…"
"No. Of course not," Gohan chuckled. "I went through all six books page by page, formula after formula. I'll be able to show you the papers afterwards if you like and you can have a look to see what I've done."
"Hmm…" Chi-Chi raised an eyebrow at the demi-Saiyan. However, after giving the boy a suspicious once over and upon staring into his disarmingly innocent smile, the Son mother shook off her distrust and gave the eleven-year-old a warm gaze. "Ah, I trust you. After seeing the amount of work you put into your education, I think it's about time I start taking it a little bit easier on you." She turned back to chopping up the fish. "Like your father said, too much work can turn your brain into mush."
"Thanks mum," the boy nodded, before checking out the pile of food standing alongside her. Giving it a considerate scan, he then pointed towards the stuff, "Would you like me to dice all of that up for you?"
A little bit surprised by his sudden question, Chi-Chi quickly glanced between her boy and the food he was pointing out. After three back-and-forths, she then brightened up and refocused her attention on the youngster, "Of course sweetie. If you like."
"Yeah." Cheerfully hopping over to the other side and washing his hands at the sink, the youngster then brought out a second clever from the drawer beneath them. After twirling it expertly in his grip and finding a suitable balance, he then grabbed a couple of Chinese cabbages, lined them up, and, without hesitation, began chopping them up into bite-sized pieces at record breaking speed.
All he did was push the whole cabbages across the board and sliced down on them with the blade.
Watching her son start cutting through the vegetables faster than the Energizer Bunny, and watching him separate the piles for extra measure, the Son mother smiled proudly and, not wishing to be outdone, returned to her work as well.
"My son… I'm so proud of him," Chi-Chi exclaimed, putting the fish pieces into a separate bowl and sparing a fond gaze towards her stomach, where she knew the growing life inside of her belly was sitting. "You're going to have a wonderful older brother waiting for you when you come out…"
His mother's distant expression as well as her hand wrapping around her stomach area gave Gohan a moment of worried pause, "M-Mum? Are you okay?" He saw the woman glance up at him. "You're not feeling sick are you?"
"Oh no. No dear. It's nothing. I was just spacing out," Chi-Chi replied quickly and threw the young man a pleasant smile. Obviously, she had yet to tell Gohan about the fact that she was pregnant. It'd been two months already, but there hadn't been many changes to her body that would warrant the young demi-Saiyan's notice, even with his superhuman senses.
This just showed how much like his father Gohan actually was, bless his heart.
Smiling brightly, the Son mother regarded her son considerately for a few moments. "I'm just thinking about how much of a fine young man you're turning into." Her eyes then sparkled as she met Gohan's gaze with her own, "I know that no matter what obstacles you may come across and no matter what challenges you may face, you will lead a rich, full life, filled with happiness and love, and that you'll make whoever you end up with feel like the most important person in the world to you."
Blinking at this, Gohan smiled, "Thanks mum."
Slowly returning to their work, a cheerfully humming Chi-Chi went through a couple more fish before inevitably asking the one question that'd been standing out in her mind. "By the way, Gohan… have you been keeping in touch with Videl?" Her question startling the young man from his task, the mother looked across at him curiously. "You haven't visited the city for a while and she hasn't come over to visit us yet. In fact, I don't think you've said anything about her the entire month… so I'm just curious. Are you two still friends?" Clearly, she was more concerned about whether or not the two of them were together in the fundamental sense as opposed to the common term, even if she may have been getting a little bit ahead of herself.
Shaking off the surprise, Gohan nodded his head vigorously, "Of course we are, mum. I keep in touch with her everyday over the computer. She says she's doing really well in the city, and that she would like to come over and visit us sometime." What he really wanted to say was 'visit him'. To be honest, he was hoping he would be able to stop by and visit her as well.
Videl was a really great person to talk to and he really enjoyed the many times he'd been able to spend with her. Chief among which was when he finally got out of the hospital and he was able to go explore the town with her. However, since they lived so far away from each other and because they both had responsibilities to keep with their families, such as schooling and training, it meant that the only way they'd effectively been able to stay in contact with one another was via the internet.
The two were happy nonetheless, but they still kept trying to find times where they were both free to drop by and see one another.
This information brought a wide grin to Chi-Chi's face, before she languidly went back to cutting up the salmon, "Well, as long as things are going well between you two, then I have nothing to worry about. Be sure to try and invite her over for lunch some time. It would be nice to have somebody new around the house… especially one of my boy's girl friends."
Now, while she really meant to say 'a girl who was a friend of her son's', the way she'd said it inadvertently brought a flash of red to the boy's face and had Gohan round on his mother with distress. "M-Mum!"
"What?" Chi-Chi looked back at him in surprise. After taking note of the startled look of embarrassment on his face, the mother soon realized what she must have said and smiled deviously. "Oh, I'm sorry Gohan, dear. I didn't know you two were already boyfriend and girlfriend."
"MUM!"
Damn it. Why did she have to go there?
While the boy blushed and babbled on nonsensically under the delightful gaze of his mother, the young demi-Saiyan was completely unaware of the set of eyes watching him through the window.
Atop the nearby hill underneath a tall oak tree, the orange haired form of Zangya could be seen standing there, leaning against the trunk with her arms folded and eyes set on the building down below.
At first having been observing the boy while he'd been studying, the former alien invader then saw him abandon the confines of his desk and head into the kitchen to help his mother out with her housework. It was a routine she'd adopted for a while now, as ever since the scuffle on the island over a month ago, the alien woman had been keeping close tabs on the young warrior, taking her time to watch him, analyze him, and getting a feel for what he did in his off hours.
She had to admit, it'd been incredibly entertaining observing his interactions with his family members and awe-inspiring watching his training sessions every morning and late afternoon. The entire experience gave Zangya a big idea of what life was like for this timid little warrior and what made him such a force to be reckoned with in the first place.
Oh sure, the young Hera wasn't exactly a friend of the demi-Saiyan's or an ally of his by any stretch of the word, but she sure as hell wasn't an enemy of his either. And even though she didn't hold any deep-seated animosity towards the people who'd killed Bojack and her teammates, but was in fact relieved to have been liberated from that power-hungry demon's command, Zangya was also smart enough not to start anymore fights with these people.
She actually frowned upon the idea of fighting against them, knowing what consequences awaited her if she did, and simply resigned herself to sitting on the sidelines and looking on from afar for the time being.
After watching Gohan for several weeks now, the young alien girl couldn't help but shake her head at his everyday antics and smile.
"Hard to believe that he's one of the strongest beings in this universe," Zangya thought, continuing to look upon him with interest and tilting her head when she saw him return to cutting up the vegetables.
As interactions slowly returned to normal within the Son household and the events of before calmed down slightly, the former alien gangster couldn't help but wonder to herself whether or not she should show her face to the young warrior and ask him the question that'd been plaguing her mind ever since the Intergalactic Martial Arts Tournament. By this point, it'd really been grating on her patience and, after days of nothing but silence, she was starting to feel a little bit antsy just waiting around for an opportunity to approach.
"Hmph… maybe I can pester him the next time he goes out to do some training," the young Hera considered.
That is… if she didn't lose her nerve stepping out from behind this tree of course…
OOO
(Sometime later - Elsewhere)
Across the plains of Mount Paozu, floating peacefully beside a large waterfall, the familiar form of Piccolo had decided to fill in his free time with some much needed meditation. With his arms and legs crossed and his cape bellowing gently on a breeze, the Namekian warrior suspended himself quietly, while the sounds of nature echoed all around him.
He made sure to compress his hearing solely to this one spot, as any form of outside noise would upset the state of emotional symmetry he'd been able to achieve. Even though the cry of his student could be heard for miles around due to a possibly embarrassing comment by his mother, Piccolo paid it little mind and allowed time to pass by as normally after that moment. The little foibles and everyday shenanigans of Gohan's social and home life didn't concern him so much, since he knew the boy could cope with it.
'Shake it off' he would always say to the demi-Saiyan. It was a fine combination of words he hoped would stick with the youngster for many years to come.
So far, it'd proven fruitful, as was the hours he'd already spent out here.
"Ah… now this is relaxing," the former guardian of the earth thought, a small smile pulling across his lips. "I haven't had such a peaceful meditation in a long time." After all the things that'd happened with the androids, Cell and Bojack, the earth was due for a long period of downtime. Hopefully the days would stay like this and the world would be able to keep on turning.
But then, just when Piccolo was settling in for another bout of silent contemplation, the Namekian's eyes suddenly shot open and he spun around. Disengaging from his seated position, the green skinned warrior fixed his gaze upon the sky, where he sensed an incredibly powerful force heading their way.
"W-What is that?" Piccolo thought, unable to comprehend what the hell he was feeling.
It was an alien presence. That much was certain. However, unlike the times he was able to pick up the approaching meteorite that was Lord Slug's craft or Frieza's saucer, this one was somehow different.
It was like he could feel the sun approaching them…
XXX
High above the planet's surface in the empty vacuum of space just a few clicks off of the moon's orbital path, a vessel of unknown origin and make suddenly broke into earth's reach. Oval in shape and looking as though it'd been assembled together from specially crafted plates, not only was it sleek in design and silver in color, it also had a series of orange lights running up and down the channels on its outer hull. Flying into view propelled by three thrusters on its back, the spacecraft shot past the moon's current position before suddenly beginning to slow on its final approach of the planet.
Upon arriving into satellite distance of the earth, the ship's velocity continued to reduce until, in just a few short seconds, it came to a perfect stop. Once suspended in view of the cities dotting the continents and islands far below, the ship remained hovering in place for several minutes, motionless and drifting through the cold expanse of nothing. The flickering lights along its shell making several beeping noises as they flashed more erratically, the craft from another world seemed to just float there, eyeing the planet like it were some kind of wounded prey before, without warning, something started to happen.
The front of the craft emitted several small bursts of hot steam before the plates broke apart and separated, like it was disassembling itself. The sections fanned out like they were still attached to the craft, even though they weren't, and held their positions around the tip. When the compartment opened, it revealed a tiny, sphere-shaped pod contained inside the nose of the craft. But that wasn't the only part to open up.
A plate from the side also detached too. However, instead of exposing another separate portion of the vessel, it revealed an open space with several other kinds of flashing lights. More steam escaped the vents and the ship started to hum loudly again. As the sound of engines revving grew in volume, a speck orbiting the planet in the distance started to drift towards the main craft. When it came into view, it revealed itself to be a highly advanced Capsule Corp. satellite that eventually got drawn into range of the much larger vessel. Once in close, it got sucked into the side compartment, becoming attached to the foreign machine.
More beeping and more steam shot off of the vessel after the satellite plugged into the alien craft like a USB. After several seconds, the open compartment at the very front of the ship emitted a bright orange light, which shot towards the very polar north of the earth. As soon as the light reached the top of the planet, it began to expand and scan the whole sphere.
The beam of light stretched over the earth and ran down all the way to the southern pole, a process which took a whole of a minute. Once it was done scanning the planet, the light switched off and the vessel gave another loud hum.
XXX
(On Earth)
In the astronomy department of the West City industrial super giant known as Capsule Corp, the original founder of the business and former head of the empire Doctor Briefs could be seen looking through the facility's primary telescope. Murmuring to himself as he gazed into the main optics fixed upon the skies above like a massive, planetary gun, the man with the bushy mustache, square rimmed glasses, lab coat, and little black cat sitting perched on his shoulder, gave a contemplative grunt as he adjusted the sights.
"Hmm… yes… this is vexing," the scientist remarked out loud. His cat meowed in response, earning a nod from the man. "I know… but where in the world did it come from?"
While the man busied himself with trying to solve their current problem, he was then interrupted from his investigation by a clearing of a person's throat. Looking towards the walkway circling the interior of the dome-shaped building, Doctor Briefs spotted his daughter, dressed in regular work clothes and a lab coat of her own, gazing down at him from above.
She wasn't alone either, as she was also accompanied by a concerned Vegeta and Mirai Trunks, both of whom were staring out through the telescope dome's main hatch towards the sky.
"So what's the scoop, dad?" Bulma asked, her expression stone cold serious mixed with a tint of nervousness, "Can you make out what it is?"
The man with the unlit cigarette in his mouth nodded, "Your man was right on the mark when he said he sensed something troublesome heading our way."
"Well… what is it?" the daughter persisted, anxious to find out what it was her dad had spotted.
Reaching over to type into his computer, the man brought up the image his telescope was able to capture onto the projector. The specially designed hologram lit up and relayed to the audience an image of the ship in question, which immediately had Vegeta and Trunks's gazes snap towards it. Befuddled by the sight of it at first, everyone on the walkway was soon locked in a glaring match with the unusual object, a ship that was obviously not from their galaxy.
"The extra terrestrial vehicle is a class three. It's a small craft… smaller than a jumbo jet but much larger than a fighter bomber; big enough to transport a couple of people. The lights you see blinking along its hull are what I suspect to be power conduits and sensors, while the gaps between the plates act as vents that eject excess energy and heat. The outer shell and armor seem to be held together by some sort of magnetic energy, able to detach and reattach at a moment's notice. It's what I was able to gauge from my few minutes of observation," Doctor Briefs said, turning away from the projection to continue watching the vessel through the telescope. "It was on fast approach of the planet until a few minutes ago, and it's now positioned itself in geostationary orbit above the earth, just out of effective range of our big missiles."
As the old man adjusted the focus, Mirai Trunks's brow tightened into a frown, "So… what's the deal with this thing? What's it doing?" He saw that the shape it had assumed wasn't its original shape. The very tip of the vessel had opened up and revealed some sort of device that was now pointing down at the planet.
"The computers picked up a strange electromagnetic anomaly that pierced the earth's atmosphere and ran all the way down from the north to the south, which only lasted shy of about sixty seconds before it dispersed," Doctor Briefs stated, glancing up at the time traveling warrior and his family to see them all still staring at the ship. "My guess is that the vessel was scanning us."
"Scanning us?" Bulma parroted, "The entire planet?"
"Yes," Doctor Briefs said, taking a red laser pointer and flashing it at the hologram, where the dot suspended itself around the ship's edge. "Just before the energy reading occurred, a section on the starboard side of the vessel also opened up and sucked in one of our satellites. The orbiter was tractor beamed aboard the UFO and forcibly plugged into their system."
Confounded by this new information, Bulma looked down at her watch and began typing into the keys. A computer image popping up, showing the various positions of satellites orbiting the planet, the blue haired woman balked when she took stock of their equipment. "That was the Type 29 we sent up there a few weeks ago; our latest model." She then looked across at Trunks and Vegeta, the former of which was now looking at her. "It was designed to boost information and communications channels by acting as a conduit for all of the planet's internet activity; that includes all local media and military transmissions."
Trunks was immediately troubled by this news, "Does that mean the ship will be able to access all of the planet's information through that thing?"
"If it has the right hardware and a big enough power source, yes," Bulma replied, shutting off her watch and turning back to the projector. "Considering that thing's alien, I'll bet my money that it's processing all of that information right now."
"Can you shut it off somehow and prevent that ship from accessing the satellite?" Trunks asked, hoping that the world's greatest scientific mind would be able to figure a way out of this and safeguard their planet's history and data.
Bulma gave a disgruntled look, "Not unless you can type over a million lines of code in the next five minutes." Even for someone like her that was a bit of a stretch, despite how lightning fast she was at the computer. It would take somebody with superhuman speed and her brain to actually pull it off. "It takes a long time to completely kill the system. But even if I was able to shut off all of our satellites in orbit it wouldn't help. That thing finished downloading over a third of the planet's information the moment the two craft became connected… and I'm not going to put it past the guy who's probably traveled over a million light years to get here just to give up on the first shot."
Frowning, the man turned to look up at the sky, where he could still sense the strange energy source coming off of the craft. "What do you suppose they want?"
"I don't know. But whatever it is, I know it's going to be bad news…"
Vegeta, having remained silent throughout the entire duration of their discussion as he stared up at the strange ship, suddenly squinted at the image, as if trying to decipher a Rubik's cube by hard. After a few seconds of closer analysis, his eyes then widened in shock, "Wait… I recognize that vessel."
Bulma and Trunks quickly turned to the man, where they saw the look of abject disbelief on his face.
"W-What is it Vegeta?" Bulma asked, giving the man a few confused blinks when she then saw him begin to shake.
Vegeta swallowed, "It can't be…"
Clenching his jaw, the Prince of all Saiyans then spun around and looked up towards the sky. Eyes wavering and sweat starting to break out, he then wordlessly powered up and took off out of the dome through the gap. His sudden vacating of the facility prompted Trunks to follow after him and Bulma to give a concerned look.
"Hm… I wonder what's gotten under his feathers," Doctor Briefs wondered out loud, glancing down at the little cat still lying over his shoulder. "What do you think, Kitty?"
The little feline gave a cute meow.
This subsequently brought an understanding head nod from the founder of the company. "You may be right. Hemorrhoids do seem to be the most logical explanation…"
XXX
After a few minutes of hovering there in dead silence, suspended above the earth and watching all of the commotion going on down below, the ship once again started to stir.
However, instead of more panels opening up, the ship's open nose exuded a few more bursts of hot steam. Upon which, the small pod that could be seen sitting inside it retracted and disappeared into the hatch. It was shortly replaced by another pod with a similar shell and plate design as the main vessel, with gaps and channels in between each panel that glowed orange. Once it'd been moved into position and placed in the opening of the vessel, it was then ejected from the ship and sent rocketing down toward the planet's surface.
The speed at which it traveled down to the surface was ridiculous.
As to its destination…
XXX
(Central City)
In the very heart of the mega city that served as the capital of planet earth, there stood the eloquent, multi-rimmed tower representing the forefront of the main parliament building known as King Castle. Sturdy, tall, and majestic, reflecting all of the attributes of royalty and leadership, it was this very place that the leader of all the nations of the continent and most if not the entirety of the world, oversaw all the affairs of his countries and its people. By extension, it also served as his home and a symbol of peace and prosperity in their world.
Beyond the walls surrounding the castle, through the bustling courtyard filled with tourists and armed guards, and between the many other towers making up the castle, the main building stood proud above all. It was in the main office of this very construct, a few floors above ground and with an impressive balcony sticking out over the central quad, the King could be found hard at work.
Sitting at his desk in his trim suit and perusing through his paperwork, an anthropomorphic blue dog with a large mustache and glasses breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he finished reading through a long report. Closing the file up and setting it aside, the man then set the pen he'd used on the rack in front of him and leaned back in his chair.
At that exact moment, the door to his office burst open. The guards standing on station drew their weapons instinctively, only to retract them when they saw the King's adjutant come jogging into their midst and up to the presidential desk. The frazzled man, a young male with spiky red hair and wearing a brown military uniform with the rank of Private First Class on his jacket, skidded to a stop a few feet away from the leader's table.
The high-standing ruler was quick to acknowledge the boy's presence as well as his salute of greeting, "Yes?"
"Sorry for disturbing you, Koku-sama, but I was told by the head officers down stairs that they received an urgent telegram from one of our air bases to the West and ordered me to deliver it to you immediately."
"Well then, read it out," the King replied, sensing the urgency in the man's voice.
The Private swallowed uncomfortably while looking down at the paper, "Commander Nishi reports that a small craft… a UFO of some kind, has appeared out of nowhere and positioned itself in high orbit above our planet, and is currently holding over the western part of the continent."
"A UFO? In orbit?" King Koku murmured, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. Whenever he received news of an unidentified flying object or a blip on their radar that his men considered abnormal, it always spelt trouble for him and the rest of the planet. He'd been getting a lot of those in the past several years and by this time he'd stopped being surprised. "How long has it been since it appeared?"
"The radio telescopes picked it up about half an hour ago, sire," the messenger answered. "The staff running the station didn't report it immediately because they initially believed it was a satellite that had strayed off course."
"Has there been any activity surrounding the craft that we should be concerned about? Positional changes? Attack formations? Deployment of weaponry?"
"N-No sire," the soldier responded, standing stock straight while the King gave him a deeply inquisitive look. "The ship is just… sitting there. It hasn't done anything other than open a hatch at the nose end."
Raising an eyebrow, the earth's leader remained sitting in place, twiddling his thumbs nervously and murmuring to himself. After meditating on it for several moments, he then gave a nod of acknowledgement and pointed across at the runner. "Get me General Rin. Tell him to-" Unfortunately he wasn't able to finish relaying his instructions.
Without even the slightest bit of warning, the ceiling of the King's office where the chandelier hung proudly from its fixture suddenly caved in with an ear-splitting 'bang', an event that not only knocked the messenger off his feet but caused the entire building to shake. Koku and his guards, instantly stunned by the unforeseen explosion, had their visions blocked out by a thick wall of smoke and dust, which choked up the air and filled every corner of the chamber. Coughing and waving the cloud of fumes out of their faces, the nation leader and his stricken attendants peered back towards the center of the room to see what the hell had just happened.
Almost all of them, especially the king, did a hilarious double take when they noticed a large metal sphere with glowing, symmetrical orange lines patterning its surface hovering directly in the center of the office. Having obviously been the cause for the sudden cave in, the perfectly round pod had stationed itself above the floor and was emitting a very eerie, radioactive like glow and a very distinct humming noise.
In the first few seconds of staring at the intruder, King Koku was able to determine two things about it.
One, it definitely wasn't something from this planet. Two, it certainly didn't come here for a cup of tea.
Gulping at the sight of the celestial orb, the King then watched as the gaps along its hull emitted sharp bursts of steam. Then, just when he thought his day couldn't get any stranger, the entire ball opened up at the front in an origami like manner. The entire outer surface of the ball unwrapped itself and retracted when, stepping out from the confines of the floating pod, a shapely leg appeared followed by what Koku immediately recognized was a woman.
Not just any woman though. The person that emerged from the pod was a beautiful, radiant girl around sixteen years old with human skin coloration, a curvaceous figure, and wearing a highly sophisticated, very pronounced figure-hugging plug suit. Silver and white, with grey components and outlets sticking out of it, it was a sleek costume with small gaps and channels between the plates that glowed orange like her ship, and had shimmering blue nodes on certain parts of the limbs and torso. Completely symmetrical, the design was absolutely beautiful, yet terrifying at the same time.
But aside from the visitor's cute face, sharp blue eyes and serious expression, the most defining trait of the woman was her hair. She had long, flaming orange hair with a third of it that would have been touching the floor were it not already waving in the air as a singular mass behind her. If she wanted too, the girl could easily blanket all of it around her lithe body. What's more, it was also shining a luminous radioactive-like orange and seemed to waft on the air like a flame, literally defying gravity.
The pod that had used to transport her vanished into her back as a mere component of her suit, bringing realization to those present in the room that the girl was in fact the sphere.
Completely awestruck by his unexpected visitor, King Koku looked up through the hole in his ceiling, where he saw that the ball had crashed through all thirty levels of the building before coming to a stop directly inside his office. It was a sight that had the man gulp and look ahead of him once again to see the woman taking in her surroundings. Upon which she then focused her gaze onto him and began striding forward.
Elegantly traipsing across the floor, the alien girl came to a slow halt on the other side of the King's desk, at about the same time to the doors to the office burst open and dozens of soldiers began pouring in. The heavily armed guards encircled the woman and cocked their weapons, pointing them at her as she stared their anxious leader down.
After several moments of unnerving silence and with an unflinching stare, the woman began to speak, "Excuse me, but are you the current ruler of this planet; the keeper of the peace, King of Nations, and the one who is recognized as the most powerful man on earth, King Koku?"
Snapping out of his daze, Koku frowned uncomfortably, "Y-Yes. That's me?"
"And are you the chief warden tasked with safeguarding the lives of all of the people underneath your banner, protector of the world's lands, animals and resources from the northern point of Gaia to the south?" the young woman continued in her cool and collected tone of voice. Her questions almost seemed casual in nature, like the fact that she'd just busted into the king's chambers to speak with him meant nothing to her.
Baffled, the man glanced around at his guards, whom he could see had all of their rifles trained onto her, before slowly looking back at the inquisitive alien girl. "Yes… I guess."
This answer brought a small smile to the woman, who then placed a hand over her chest and bowed, an action that baffled the soldiers. "It is a pleasure to meet you, your highness. My name is Kana; I am a part-time privateer and freelancer for the Planet Trade Organization of the Four Quadrants of Space. I have journeyed far from the core systems of the universe seeking a world that has been completely terraformed to suit a variety of flora and fauna. I must say… you have a very beautiful planet, King Koku; one that is both rich and overflowing with life."
Not really sure where this was going, King Koku nevertheless nodded, "Th-Thank you. That's very kind of you to say."
Straightening up, the woman now identified as Kana brought her hand back down and beamed brightly at the nation ruler, "This earth is a very rare gem, unlike any other planet I have ever encountered before. If it isn't too much trouble, I would very much like to begin negotiations as soon as possible."
"Uhh… negotiations?"
"Surely as this planet's ruler you are willing to partake in a spirited discussion," the woman said with a hopeful voice. "I know that this is a bit forward of me, but as much as I would love to have a guided tour of your world, I'm unfortunately on a very tight schedule. I have another business transaction with the Brench of Sector 15 tomorrow morning and I do not wish to be late."
King Koku, hesitant at first and picking up a sense of foreboding hanging in the air, gave a very nervous murmur before, after much consideration, conceded to the girl's pleasant approach. With a wave of his hand, he ordered his soldiers to lower their weapons, which they slowly and cautiously did. "Very well. I see no harm in having a friendly chat. Would you like it if the negotiations took place in here?" He was completely willing to overlook the massive hole in the ceiling.
The workers could clean that up afterwards.
Blinking a few times, Kana looked around the office a second time before glancing back. She appeared slightly puzzled, "You don't think that this room is a little too small for our needs?"
The King smiled, "Do not worry. I have held many meetings in this room over the course of my tenure as leader. Various treaties between nations and individuals of high standing have been brought to this table and discussed. Considering its history and significance, I am sure that this chamber will be adequate for our needs."
"You must be an incredibly persuasive person then," Kana remarked, a smile forming on her lips. "Very well. If you believe that this is all the space that we shall require, then I will accept this as our decided battle ground."
It was this response that had Koku recoil slightly. "Uhh… battle-what?"
Unable to get an answer in time, he suddenly saw the woman raise a clenched fist like she was holding something, before she casually opened it and revealed a marble sized sphere of golden energy hovering above her palm. As soon as her fingers uncurled, Kana fired it at the man. King Koku only had time to let out a startled cry before he was smashed in the chest by the attack and sent flying out of the office window behind him, over the balcony and into the courtyard two stories below. The man then landed in the pool of the palace's central fountain with a big splash, startling the dozens of civilians on tour of the residence.
The soldiers, thunderstruck by the sudden attack of their King, loaded their weapons, raised them and opened fire on their planet's visitor. Rifles and machine guns opened up on the stationary woman with a hail of bullets, all of which threatened to tear her to pieces from all sides. However, just as they were firing at the woman, the King's guard watched on in shock as their bullets slowed in midflight and stopped just two feet from their target, who didn't even flinch at the barrage.
When the gunfire ceased, the hundreds of bullets suspended in the air around the girl then dropped to the ground, scattering like pellets. It was then the fiery haired woman glanced around at the guards, causing them all to gasp and take several steps back.
"Are you challenging me?" Kana asked in the same, cool tone of voice as before.
Unwilling to fight a woman who literally just stopped all of their best shots, the soldiers dropped their weapons and raised their hands.
The moment they did so, the fiery haired girl suddenly levitated herself into the air, floated over the desk and out over the balcony. Looking down from her elevated position, she saw the crowd of people down below gathering around the fountain, where the King emerged on the edge coughing and sputtering. He was quickly surrounded by soldiers who, upon spotting the woman hovering overhead, opened fire on her as well.
Just like in the office, the bullets either missed or stopped in mid flight just feet from their target, before falling to the ground uselessly. After suspending herself in place and watching the guards balk in horror, Kana floated down and landed just a couple meters from the fountain's edge.
The people immediately took a step back from where she landed.
When she approached the pond's edge where King Koku was busy trying to pick himself up and clear his lungs, a couple of the surrounding soldiers bravely stepped forward and held their guns at the invader. As soon as Kana came within a few of feet of them though, the pair of guards were suddenly lifted off of the ground by an invisible force and gently moved out of the way, an anti-gravity event that surprised the hell out of them before they were unceremoniously dropped onto their asses.
Kana stopped before the winded and thoroughly waterlogged king, looking down at him curiously while he looked back up with an entire front portion of his clothes completely burned away. "That attack was child's play. Are you sure you're the most powerful man on the face of this planet?"
"Eh?" the King replied intelligently, gazing up at the star child who merely tilted her head in his direction. "W-What do you mean by that?"
Kana frowned, "I'm supposed to be negotiating with the sole guardian and protector of this world for the right to ownership over it, so that if I emerge victorious I may compartmentalize it and sell it to the interplanetary market for preservation. I do not believe that such a beautiful planet would be occupied by so many people without having a representative who is strong enough to negotiate for them."
Oh. So when she meant 'negotiations', she really meant a battle of physical strength between two parties, the victor of which would emerge with the planet as their prize. King Koku quickly figured this out in the next few seconds as the woman stared down at him and quickly reconsidered his options. After all, he knew how these kinds of games were played across the board. It wasn't just a way of finding a middle ground between two opposing forces; it was also a primary function of war as well as a manner of sport. This visitor from another planet viewed it as a kind of bartering system in her trade, one in which she was probably a master of. To this person, the act of battling for a right to possession and tenure was a business.
After seeing his guards get pretty much backhanded out of the way without so much as a struggle from their target, he knew that this woman Kana was an opponent that neither one of his normal warriors would be able to overcome.
However…
"I am merely the political leader of this planet; the one that stands as the voice for the people and guides them along the path to peace and prosperity without the need for military might," King Koku replied groggily, at the same time facing the woman as confidently as he could. "As such, I am not this planet's guardian nor am I its strongest warrior."
"You're not?" Kana recoiled a bit, staring down at the man for a moment before then noticing the stunned looks of the people around her. Considering her situation carefully, she then looked down at her hand and allowed the node on her palm to produce a hologram, which began cycling through several pages of information. Scrolling through it at high speed, the once cool young lady then widened her eyes, blushed and rubbed her head in embarrassment in a surprising break in character. "Oh… whoopsie. I think I may have cocked up a little. The administration hierarchy on this planet is a little bit different from the others I've visited in the past. My bad." Acknowledging her little foible with a nervous laugh, she then deactivated the hologram and focused back down on the king. "Do you think you could point me in the direction of the earth's strongest warrior so that he may negotiate with me on your behalf?"
The King raised an eyebrow, "You wish for me to present a champion?"
Kana nodded, "If you could."
Thinking on it for a few seconds, the man quickly came up with a name. It was someone he knew all too well and someone he believed would be able to combat such an outrageous opponent, "If you're looking for this planet's strongest warrior, then look for a man named Goku."
"Goku?" Kana parroted, opening up her palm again and cycling through the orange hologram at speed. Producing a series of profile pictures, she then held them up towards the king and flicked through them, allowing him to identify which 'Goku' on the earth's registry he was referring to.
After going through a few faces, the man's eyes widened when he saw the man's face appear and he pointed, "Th-That's him."
Looking down at the image and expanding the person's profile, Kana scanned through the information for a moment before looking back down at the King. "Obituary records state that Son Goku passed away over two months ago due to a debilitating heart virus."
Appearing stunned, the nation leader looked down hesitantly, his expression showcasing a sense of mild disbelief. If it was true that Son Goku was gone, then he had no idea who else to turn to. As far as he was concerned, the young man who'd fought and defeated the mighty King Piccolo had been his one and only shot at combating and defeating this visitor from outer space.
However, the people around him had something else to say.
"You want the name of the strongest man in the world?" an adult male from the crowd shouted, drawing everyone's attention, namely Kana's, in his direction. "His name is Hercule Satan! There is not a person alive on this planet stronger than him!"
While the King looked stunned at the civilian's claim, Kana blinked as she processed this new name that'd been given to her. "Hercule Satan?"
"Yeah! He's the world's greatest champion and our savior!" the man continued.
The woman beside him nodded her head vigorously, "That's right!"
"He saved our world from the monster Cell and the aliens who invaded our planet during the Intergalactic Martial Arts Tournament! If it wasn't for him, none of us would be alive right now!" another man from the crowd shouted, rousing a loud clamor and cheer from the people around her.
"Yeah! Mr. Satan is the strongest!"
"He will gladly fight you!"
Hearing a chant of 'Mr. Satan' start up, Kana narrowed her eyes and turned back to her hologram. Swiftly processing the name in her computer, the woman's hologram flashed through several more pages before finding a series of pictures. Beaming them up for everyone in the square to see, the alien visitor raised an eyebrow when she saw a large man with a mustache and an afro posing heroically before the camera. Moving through several more photos, she found clips of people gazing admiringly up at the man standing high up on the balcony, almost like he was their messiah.
Immediately sold from the images alone, Kana smiled excitedly and shut off the hologram. "It seems that I've found your planet's champion. I'm sure our negotiations will be long and fruitful." With a nod of acknowledgement, the fiery haired alien bowed to the planet's leader as he lay staring up at her from the fountain. "I'm deeply sorry for disturbing you, King Koku, and I apologize unreservedly for any unwarranted stress and inconveniences I may have caused you and your people." She then took a step back and nodded politely, "It has been a real pleasure. Farewell." With that, the warrior then tucked herself up into a ball above the ground and became incased in the same metal sphere once again, which sprouted from her like a sheet.
Upon taking the form of the pod, the vessel hummed loudly for a few moments before, without any need for sophisticated preparation, shot up into the sky with a sonic boom, going from zero to holy-shit-satellite-orbit in under five seconds.
Once everyone saw the vessel vanish into the clouds above, the people, soldiers and the king spent the next minutes staring at the sky in shock. When they eventually shook themselves out of their stunned reveries a full two minutes later, the guards quickly went about helping the poor king out of the fountain, while at the same time moving to clean up the mess caused by their extraterrestrial visitor.