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Chapter Text

Year 773

Videl sighed in frustration and took out her GPS and map again. The sound of waves lapping at the shore reached her ears, but despite the calm sounds the girl wasn’t relaxed at all. She looked searchingly out across the ocean, the water in the distance reflecting in her bright eyes. She’d been so sure this time that she was on the right track, and that the information she’d discovered recently would lead her to Master Roshi’s island. 

“Videl I’m tired,” whined Erasa from a few feet away. The girl looked over to her friend who’d dropped to her backside on the ground in protest at how long they’d been searching. Erasa for once had dressed quite sensibly for this outing, in a casual t-shirt and shorts, and the lightweight jacket she was now stuffing into her backpack. “And I’ve got too much sand in my sandals”, she pouted. 

“Then go wash them in the ocean,” Videl responded bluntly while looking at her watch. It was approaching midday and the sun was bright overhead, with a cloudless blue sky. Despite this it wasn’t uncomfortably warm, still in the cool weeks of late spring.

The blonde slowly got to her feet. “Fine”, she responded as she pulled a towel out of her backpack and shuffled to the edge of the water to rinse her feet and shoes free of the sand.

Videl watched her friend with a fond smile, despite the somewhat harsh tone of her last comment. Somehow Erasa had been convinced by Videl to come with her for a few days since they hadn’t had much time to spend together lately, with Videl spending most of her time training at home lately, and almost as much on this latest side project she’d been working on. Erasa wasn’t particularly interested in the people Videl had spent the last few years trying to track down, but had been swayed by promises of the beautiful beaches and islands they’d get to explore this time. 

Today so far hadn’t quite been the fun beach day Videl knew Erasa might have been been expecting though, Videl’s persistence not allowing them much time for breaks. The latest impediment had set her plans to give them both time to rest even further back. 

Did she get the co-ordinates wrong? No, it had definitely been the right place, they’d triple checked as they were hovering above in her jet-copter. However, from above the island looked totally deserted, with barely any signs of life at all, let alone evidence of someone living there.

He was known as the Turtle Hermit, and she had previously considered that he might live in a cave or somewhere equally remote or without modern conveniences, but the island was so small that it hadn’t been possible for anyone to be hidden there.

Once they landed on the tiny island, while there were a few footprints here and there it had otherwise been entirely devoid of signs of habitation. After they’d realised the island was empty though they’d returned to the closest beach on the mainland for a break and for Videl to consider their next move. 

She looked down at the map again while trying to clear her thoughts.

Five years ago as an eleven year old she’d won the junior division of the World Martial Arts Tournament, the same year her father had won the adult title. 

It had been an incredible achievement, even if she did say so herself, considering she was fighting against other kids, mostly boys, who were both older than her and physically so much stronger. Although she was unusually strong for someone of her size and stature, she’d needed to develop her fighting style based on her speed and reactions, and she recalled the elation she’d felt that day and the dreams she’d had of the skill level and abilities she might be able to achieve as she grew older. 

However, her progress had stalled a few years after that, with her father no longer training her directly. He’d spouted something about having to secretly train alone on some new and dangerous techniques, and wouldn’t rethink his position despite her continual protests in the months immediately afterward. 

In all honestly she’d also begun to lose faith that what she and her father were capable of was anything in comparison to what the fighters of previous recent tournaments had been. She’d pored over articles and tapes of previous fights and knew most of them punch by punch, and could name every qualifier and competitor for tournaments going back decades.

The feats of some of those fighters was beyond the comparatively rudimentary punching, kicking, and grappling that was now standard in the current world of martial arts. There had been energy beams shooting out of people’s hands, fighters defying gravity and flying through the air, entire rings being destroyed, and various other techniques her father could only describe as tricks. 

Videl wasn’t entirely convinced these weren’t real, and irrespective of whether they were or not she’d needed to somehow find at least one of these fighters and speak with them. In a perfect world one might even be willing to take her on as a long-term student, but she wasn’t holding out much hope for that.  

So she’d been trying to track down previous World Martial Arts Tournament participants off and on since in what limited spare time she had, with mixed results. Right now she was after one of the top targets on her list – Master Roshi.

Deciding to take off her boots and socks, she put them into one of her storage capsules which she subsequently packed away in her backpack. Now barefoot, she could feel the sand of the beach beneath her feet and between her toes. Going barefoot on grass or sand always helped calm her down and feel more connected to the earth, as it did for most people she imagined. 

Closing her eyes she thought back to the breathing and mindfulness techniques Nam had taught her, one of the fighters she had been able to track down, and a former semi-finalist at that. A good-hearted man, he had understood how genuine she was and had allowed her to stay with his family for a few days. The meditation techniques he’d taught her had definitely raised her level as well as giving her ways to refocus her mind when she was under pressure or stressed. 

In this moment she wouldn’t give up but she needed to calm her frustration at the current situation. The co-ordinates may not have led her directly to Master Roshi’s island yet, but she was confident that there was an element of truth to the information and that he had at least at some point been on that island or somewhere close. 

“There are lots of islands out here”, she spoke out loud to herself, realising of course that it wouldn’t be difficult for the hermit to relocate easily between them. While she was in this area she had to at least scour the other islands close by. She picked her map and GPS back up which she’d set on the ground when removing her shoes and socks, and started to unfold the map in her hand further so that she could see a wider area, but a shout from her friend had her distracted from the task quickly. 

“Videl can you come here please,” Erasa yelled worriedly from the edge of the water about fifty feet away.

Videl set off immediately, her bare feet pounding against the sand as she jogged across the beach quickly, concerned about the genuine nervousness she’d heard in her friend’s voice. “Are you hurt Erasa?”

Erasa didn’t look at Videl, instead pointed along the beach to their right as they faced the water. “What’s that?” the blonde asked.

From this position closer to the ocean they could see further around the curve of the beach, where their view had previously been blocked by the jungle behind them. Videl’s eyes followed the direction of Erasa’s pointing to where a light plume of smoke rose from a spot on the beach into the sky. It was difficult to see at this distance but at the base of the smoke inside a crater, wide but shallow in depth, there was what looked to be a small spherical boulder, which seemed to be the origin of the smoke. This is what Erasa was so worried about?

“I’m sure it’s nothing”, she responded as calmly as possible, hoping to reassure her friend. “Maybe someone just had a bonfire and it’s still smouldering.” Her explanation was logical but as her blue eyes lingered on it longer she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something unusual about the boulder. As much as she couldn’t explain it something was emanating from it, a strange, ominous feel. Maybe it was her imagination getting the better of her but something was causing a knot in her stomach. 

She swallowed thickly and refocused as she realised she was being ridiculous. Like she’d said to Erasa it was most likely just the remains of a bonfire earlier in the day or yesterday, and that boulder had probably been a good shield from any wind or otherwise just a good spot to sit. It’d probably been there for years doing no harm to anyone.  

“Let’s walk down the beach to it, I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“If you’re sure,” Erasa responded.

They both set off, walking barefoot on the sand where it was easiest to walk between the water’s edge and the drier part of the beach, gradually getting closer to the smoke. As they grew nearer the features of the boulder started to become clearer. It was almost perfectly spherical, and was a very pale grey or dirty white colour apart from a round muddy red blotch in the centre which was slightly reflective, the sun’s rays bouncing off it.

“It doesn’t look like a rock to me.”

“You’re right Erasa, it looks mechanical,” Videl said as they approached further and could now make out that without a doubt whatever it was it was not a boulder, and was man-made in nature. “It looks like a satellite or a space probe. But how did it land here and survive the fall with such minor damage if it just crashed?” she asked as she looked up into the sky. “And don’t they normally just burn up in re-entry anyway?”

“I dunno but who knows what technology they have nowadays. We are close to the water, maybe it was planned and it was supposed to land in the water and they’d recover it?” Erasa suggested hopefully. 

Videl looked around following Erasa’s point, which wasn’t a bad one. She thought if that was the case there might at least be some kind of parachutes or airbags to slow the fall or soften the landing. 

“What if it’s a spaceship?” Erasa asked, excited all of a sudden.

“Don’t be ridiculous Erasa, you know our technology is nowhere near space travel. We can barely send satellites up there.”

“There’s no technology like that that we know of, but who knows what kind of research the government is up to, or companies like Capsule Corp. They might be sending freaky space pods out there all the time for all we know.”

As they spoke the two of them were now upon the pod, as Erasa had called it, and while Erasa hovered near what they now thought of as the “front” Videl did a loop around it and returned to Erasa. The back was the same pale colour with few markings, and underneath it in some areas the sand had turned to shards of glass, whether through heat or pressure or a combination of both. 

“Maybe you should hang back a bit,” Videl cautioned her friend as she thought back to the strange feeling she got when they were first discussing the smoke. The knot in her stomach hadn’t gone away, and if there was something fishy going on she couldn’t allow Erasa to get hurt. 

“No way!”

“OK but just get ready to get behind me or run if I tell you,” Videl ordered as they moved closer again to the red circle which they now realised was some kind of glass. 

“I think there’s someone inside!” Erasa exclaimed. 

Videl couldn’t believe it, but Erasa was right. The round window was somewhat transparent, although foggy and difficult to see through even up close and was dark inside apart from the tiniest glow of a small red blinking light inside. But an outline of a person, what looked to be a man, was inside. Videl pressed her face to the glass, holding her hands around her eyes to block out as much peripheral light as possible. Some kind of mask covered the bottom half of his face, tubes extending out from it to each side. 

Videl backed off from the window a little, remembering that she’d never seen any technology like this. Her curiosity was battling against her discomfort, which was growing even higher than it already had been. “Erasa you really should get behind me,” she said as the latter won out for once.

“Maybe you’re right.”

As Erasa went to move a hiss originated from the sphere, making them both jump. Suddenly cracks were visible around the section containing the central red window, and it started to lever open as the sound of pistons inside could be heard. Videl moved back quickly shepherding Erasa behind her.  

A second later what they now realised was a door to whatever this was had completely opened, and now entirely visible inside was a young man. Even in broad daylight though it was difficult to make out his clothing and features, as from his chest up he was almost entirely covered in some kind of dark grime or dust, and that mask was still covering his mouth and nose. 

Videl and Erasa didn’t dare move for about ten seconds, not knowing if he was about to immediately spring to life or if this pod was going to have another surprise for them. When neither the pod nor the man inside moved they both crept back closer, having regained at least a little confidence. 

“What’s he covered in? Is it mud? Or camouflage paint or oil or something?” asked Erasa once they got as close as they could. 

Videl looked him up and down and tentatively smelled the air as close as she dared to get. A sick feeling overtook her. There was definitely mud and whatever gunk he seemed to have had dumped on him given how copiously it covered him. But there was something else she’d realised was all over him based on the smell in the air, that she could unfortunately now almost taste. “I think it’s blood.”

She could hear Erasa swallow with nervousness next to her, and saw her turn away slightly. “If he’s lost that much blood he can’t still be alive.”

Videl studied his body closely. “I don’t think it’s his blood,” she said quietly after a few moments. “At least not all of it.”  

“You’re not making me feel more comfortable with this situation, Videl,” Erasa croaked. 

“I’m sorry.”

“What do we do?”

“No matter who he is we have to help him if he’s hurt, if he’s even alive that is,” her drive to help others kicking in.

She watched his chest but couldn’t even tell if he was breathing. If he was his breaths were too shallow to be visible or audible. She’d have to get even closer to check for his breathing and for a pulse.  

The door to the pod was awkwardly placed and she had to lean over with one shoulder braced against the body of it to get far enough into it to reach him. Avoiding some kind of bulky outerwear the man was wearing she dared to place her hand on his chest where the fabric of his clothing was thinner. The solidity of him surprised her, not that she had that any experience of touching the chest of guys apart from when she was punching or kicking them. 

Even holding her hand in place for what felt like the longest few seconds of her life, unfortunately there were still no signs of life. She wanted to place her hand near his mouth or nose to see if she could feel his breath but considering it might be the only thing keeping him alive she didn’t dare touch the mask. It had two tubes running from it to each side, linking to other apparatus of the pod, and definitely looked like some kind of ventilator.  

Instead she lightly tapped his forehead with her finger, then his left cheek above the mask and just beneath his left eye but there was no reaction. 

“Why are you poking him?!” Erasa whispered.

Videl ignored her friend and carried on. “Can you hear me?” she asked, but as she’d expected there was no response. She put her hand back on his chest to try to check his breathing again. Feeling nothing she looked at Erasa who looked back with unease. 

Getting increasingly concerned that this man was sadly already dead, she went next to check his pulse. If there was still nothing she wouldn’t give up though. She’d figure out a way to remove that mask, lift him out of here and try whatever emergency measures she could take. She’d have Erasa call the emergency services in a second while she continued to do what she could. She knew in the back of her mind though they were tens of miles from the closest settlement, and the chances of an ambulance, or coast guard, or whoever the hell could get out here reaching them in good time, if at all, was almost certainly nil. 

She stared at his face again for a moment, with the blood and grime on his face it really did look like he was wearing camouflage face paint like Erasa had said. The mud and blood was so thick that it was a reddish brown that was almost black, and it was caked over his face and ears, even his hair. It was horrifying. What in god’s name had he been doing to get into this state, and where did he come from?

“Whoever you are, despite whatever mess you’re involved in I hope you’re still alive,” she muttered. “Please don’t be dead,” she added. 

Finally Videl reached her hand out to his wrist in order to check his pulse, keeping a close eye on his face. Her fingers were inches from his wrist when something furry, warm, yet alarmingly strong wrapped around her forearm. 

In shock and fear she froze, and her blood ran cold. Her eyes hadn’t left his face which still hadn’t moved or twitched at all. Erasa gasped loudly behind her, having now seen whatever it was encircling her best friend’s left forearm. Slowly Videl moved her eyes to her arm and saw what looked like a thick brown rope holding her arm in place. No, not a rope. It looked more like a tail. 

Unable to move, whether due to fear or this appendage which had come from who knows where keeping her in place, all she could do was raise her eyes back to his face. 

Now looking back at her were two narrowed eyes containing a depth of aggression and brutality that she couldn’t fathom. The irises were as black as the pupils, or so dark brown she couldn’t even tell the difference, and the whites of his eyes looked impossibly stark against this and the grime covering his face, and the dark grey of the breathing mask. 

With his eyes looming against the darkness of his face and mask around them he was like something escaped from hell, and somehow she was both frozen in fear and shaking with it at the same time. Videl wasn’t even sure if she was breathing but her heart was absolutely hammering in her chest.  

She held his gaze for a few more seconds, unable to look away, but eventually it was as though a switch flicked somewhere in him. Something softened in his eyes slightly, as did the iron grip around her arm. After this for a second she also saw as much shock in his eyes as she knew must be visible in her own, but they didn’t break eye contact.  

“Not dead yet.” The voice was hoarse, its sound robotic through the mask.

The sound broke Videl’s thoughts,and she jumped with surprise. She hadn’t been expecting him to talk, nor had Erasa who screamed behind her at the astonishment of hearing him speak. Prompted by the sound of Erasa’s scream the man glanced at her friend, and Videl knew she had to take more control here. She was one of the best martial artists in the world for god’s sake!

With all of her strength she wrenched herself away from whatever was wrapped around her forearm, feeling it loosely trailer against her wrist and hand, with the thought in the back of her mind that she may have had little to do with it and had simply been released from its grip. Setting it aside as irrelevant she moved to stand stood in front of Erasa protectively, getting into a defensive stance.

“Hey! You two, get away from him!” a man’s voice called clearly from behind them.

Videl was hesitant to take her focus from the man in the pod but the instinct to turn to that shout was natural, and behind them landing on the beach out of nowhere and effortlessly falling into a sprint was unmistakably Krillin, former World Martial Arts Tournament semi-finalist. Despite his hair having grown out his features were unmistakable to Videl, who had the faces of all of the former competitors memorised. 

At Krillin’s insistence Videl backed up, corralling Erasa behind her. Krillin ran to a position beside them and dropped into a defensive stance.

The trio watched as the mysterious man slowly removed the mask from his face, and levered himself out of the pod with his bloody hands.

Chapter Text

Year 773

Gohan’s body and mind were slowly coming around, the emergency care protocol of his ship must have put some of his body’s functions into almost complete shutdown or extreme slowdown to stabilise him after he’d set the instructions for the nearest safe haven the ship could locate. That some of his senses were back online but that he couldn’t move or talk were telltale signs of the emergency care that had kept him alive and got him to at least a partial recovery. 

A small hand pressed itself flat against his chest. Something about the touch was caring but he couldn’t understand why. Physical affection or care wasn’t really something he was used to. His heartbeat was irregular. Whether that was due the recovery from the slowdown, or the relief that he was still alive, or from that gentle touch, he didn’t know.

Was someone trying to help him? If he was back on a Saiyan controlled planet he’d have been unceremoniously thrown into a recovery tank by this point. Sympathy or care would be hard to come by. And if it had been the enemy he’d be in a significantly worse position. 

“Whoever you are, despite whatever mess you’re involved in I hope you’re still alive,” an anxious female voice said. “Please don’t be dead,” followed it up. The sound of her voice was so close to him, she was right in front of him but he couldn’t open his eyes or move his body. He tried to breathe in through his nose to pick up any scents he recognised. If he could he might be able to place where he was but his body and muscles wouldn’t do what he told them. Hard plastic covered his mouth and nose anyway – the ship’s breathing mask was still over his face, blocking his mouth and nose from the outside air.  

The hand moved from his chest. Even such a small compassionate and caring act had been so alien to him, and the loss of the touch left a hole somewhere within him briefly. When was the last time he’d been taken care of, or even needed taking care of?

Alarm bells started ringing in his head, he was too distracted and not in control of this situation or even his own defence. He didn’t know where he was or who the person or people around him were, whether they had good intentions towards him or ill. He had to remember to always be prepared to fight and kill if the situation demanded it, that was his only purpose.

Movements in air currents around him, the shuffle of clothing, and his ki sensing abilities told him that the person in front of him had moved her hand away from his chest towards his wrist, and his defensive instincts kicked in. His tail was the only part of his body that responded and he wrapped it firmly around her forearm as it reached towards his own.

He readied himself in case he’d need to defend himself or attack immediately. Without knowing where he was this could already be a situation which could end have terrible consequences. He couldn’t sense any threats around, at least when he reached out with his ki, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any. Gohan steeled himself, ready to for whatever he might have to do.  

His eyes finally followed his commands to open. The light was blinding for a second, there was no way to know right now how long it had even been since they’d last opened. As they were adjusting to the brightness a pair of light blue eyes set in the pale face of a girl or young woman met his own gaze, her dark hair pulled into two bunches framing her face.

They stared eye to eye for a few more seconds before the terrified look in the girl’s eyes shamed him. His readiness for murder and destruction dissipated immediately. His hold on her forearm with his tail relaxed slightly, but kept a loose grip on her with it, the tail loosely looped around her lean arm. 

“Not dead yet,” he ground out after a few moments, as much to himself as her, but still eye to eye with the girl. He sounded more gravelly than he was expecting. 

A scream came from a little further away. Another girl, this one light-haired, stared at him open-mouthed, somehow even more terrified than the first one had been.

The dark-haired one moved protectively in front of the other. Gohan’s lips twitched into the slightest of smiles at her bravery. 

Behind them a larger ki signal approached quickly, taking Gohan’s focus away from them. From high up in the sky a short man descended quickly, landing on the beach skilfully transitioning from flight into a run towards him.

“Hey! You two, get away from him!” the man cried out to the girls.

Not bad advice, thought Gohan as he reached up to disengage the breathing mask. Once it was loose the hard plastic no longer pressed into his skin, and the feel of fresh air against his face was welcome. Glancing quickly at the live star chart of his ship beside him he could see he was on an unrecognised planet in an unmapped area of space.

Despite the pain in his arms he took hold of the frame of his ship with his hands and dragged himself out onto his feet, and shuffled towards the others a few steps. He stopped and pulled himself to his full height despite his body still aching with stiffness and soreness. Behind him his tail swished and flexed, now completely free. 

He studied the three gathered in front of him. They were uncannily similar to Saiyans, of comparable colouring and features, although the blonde girl’s hair colour would never be seen on a Saiyan, nor would the bright coloured eyes of both girls. Their softer facial features also lacked the harshness of Saiyans, and the wilder hair that was typical of them. No tails were visible either. The man also had no apparent nose, but from such a sample size he couldn’t assume that all the males of this planet shared this attribute. Gohan himself had at least one non-standard characteristic among Saiyans himself.

A lot of races in the galaxy weren’t so different though, two arms and two legs was the most common and even ten digits on hands was seen more often than not, so this wasn’t all that unusual. The Tuffles they shared planet Vegeta with weren’t so different either, noticeably smaller than Saiyans and with pure white or very pale skin.

He looked back between the three of them. The man had some fighting and ki manipulation prowess and appeared to understand the danger Gohan himself posed, or at least could pose. However, Gohan wasn’t concerned his strength was a threat although he definitely needed to keep an eye on him. 

His eyes made contact with the two girls in turn. The dark-haired one who had been trying to help him now looking ready to fight and defend her friend, who was still frozen to the same spot. Despite that one’s willingness to fight neither of them could harm him, but he’d not got this far in this kind of life by underestimating others. The blonde girl’s eyes didn’t move when he made eye contact with her, still staring at him in fright. He held eye contact for a few moments, but then had to look away.

He couldn’t stand looking at it – that innocence in her eyes. 

Instead he scanned his eyes across the beach and the blue sky above. Wherever he was the scenery was beautiful. A perfect yellow sand beach stretched around the coast. Flocks of small white birds were circling overhead as they cawed loudly, others strutting along the sand close to the water.

After watching the birds for a few moments he turned his focus back to the three individuals. A quiet and fragile tension descended on them all as the two sides weighed each other up. The silence hung in the air around them.

Gohan decided to break the stalemate. “I’m not going to hurt anyone,” he said, trying to reassure them. If he offered an olive branch right away they might take it. He just hoped it sounded as genuine as it was.

“Yeah right,” the man answered caustically. “As if we’d trust a Saiyan.”

Gohan masked the surprise in his face. “You’ve encountered Saiyans before?”

The man nodded in response. 

“How many have you met?” 

“Only a few, but more than enough for a lifetime,” he bit back. 

“They were here?”

The man nodded again. Very strange, thought Gohan. If Saiyans had been here why was it an uncharted planet in the galaxy map of his ship?

“What do you know of Frieza or his empire?” he probed. As he asked Gohan focused on the shorter man. While he was concealing his full ki, Gohan’s ki sensing abilities were excellent, and even if he could only estimate the true level of power he felt confident that neither he nor the two girls were a danger to him but kept on his guard.  

“Never heard of it,” came the answer from the man. The blank faces of the girls suggested they’d truly never heard of it, but the man’s answer was a little too forced. Gohan swept his eyes back to the man. He was sure he’d seen a flicker of recognition in the dark-haired man’s eyes when he’d mentioned Frieza.

Somehow he was sure that this man knew at least something, but whatever it was wasn’t common knowledge on this planet. Whatever the case was, it did seem that this was a planet blissfully untroubled by the enormous war raging across the stars, at least for now.

“I’m not interested in this planet. I don’t even know where I am, and it’s best that you tell me as little about it as possible,” he added. The less he knew about this place the less at risk it would be. 

“I can’t trust anything you say,” the man retorted.

Gohan gave up conversing with the understandably stubborn man for now and looked down at his own hands and body. He was caked in dust from that godforsaken moon he’d been on, mixed with at least as much blood and ash from the battle. No wonder he looked so terrifying to them. Although even if he was perfectly clean they’d still be spooked, especially the man who’d dealt with Saiyans before. 

He couldn’t help but think back to the battle that put him in this position, clenching his fists, nails digging into his skin. He felt a hollowness in his chest. 

The closest thing he had to a friend was dead. 

It was pointless to linger on that right now. Saiyans died in battle all the time.

He breathed in and out deeply in order to refocus his mind and decide what to do next. His torn battle armour was distractingly constricting against his body, and the smell of stale blood was becoming increasingly unpleasant. He had to get the stink and feel of it off his skin. Glancing at the blue water of the ocean he saw the solution and started to peel off the armour, his muscles and joints screaming at him in pain. He hadn’t recovered as much as he had hoped, he must have been injured at the end of the fight worse than he had thought. 

Gohan dropped what was left of his armour at his feet. His boots were barely holding together either so he kicked them both off, going barefoot. He’d already lost or destroyed his gloves during the last battle. The top part of his under-layer was also torn to shreds and beyond saving, and he started to remove it.

“Excuse me, what do you think you’re doing?” the dark-haired girl yelled at him as he did so, now daring to speak up. 

Gohan glanced at her, but not knowing what kind of answer she was expecting ignored her question as he continued. Once he’d removed the upper body part of his bodysuit he heard hisses from the other three as they winced at the extent of the visible injuries to his body.

“Well keep your pants on at least!” the girl ordered after a moment, her voice commanding even through the nervousness in it. He could at least do that.  

Gohan dropped what remained of his top with his outer armour and boots, and looked down at his chest, arms, and what he could see of his back and sides. Angry purple and black bruises ran from his left hip, past his rib cage, and into his armpit, and most of the left part of his back and shoulder. He ran his hand over his right arm where he could see and feel a rough scar running from the front of his right shoulder, past the crook of his elbow and midway down his forearm. 

Most of the cuts and burns he’d suffered had healed through a combination of the accelerated recovery owed to his Saiyan race, and the emergency care systems of his ship, but bruises tended to take a bit longer and he’d have to let these heal naturally over the next few weeks. The ship’s emergency care systems weren’t anywhere close to a fully equipped healing tank, which if entered quickly enough would repair all fresh damage entirely, given enough time. The physical scars that had remained he would now have to live with, and they weren’t the first. 

He looked down at his hands again though, feeling all of a sudden that something had felt off when he’d clenched his fists a few moments earlier, as well as when he was removing his clothes. Squeezing his fingers on both hands the muscles and tendons felt fine, but something just looked off with his left hand.

“Shit,” he mumbled. The tip of the little finger of his left hand was missing from the last knuckle on. The sudden shortness and lack of fingernail looked more than odd but what was left still moved fine by itself. Gohan could even feel a ghost of what had been removed as he waggled the stump, as if the last knuckle and tip were still there. It had been removed with a remarkably clean cut judging by the smoothness of it and luckily it had scarred over already, although was still blackened and bruised.

Frustrating but not something he couldn’t get used to. At least his dominant right hand seemed fine.

Despite the partial loss of the digit the Saiyan smiled a little though. It was starting to make sense when this happened during the last stages of the fight, just before he’d escaped. Assuming he was remembering the details through the rage and anger he’d felt, he was sure he’d taken something from that bastard as well. Much more than the tip of a finger.

Gohan used his ki to float from the ground and flew in an arc to the water’s edge, hearing gasps from the two girls as he’d taken off. Even though the other man had flown in, flying probably wasn’t an everyday ability here, it wasn’t in most places he’d travelled in the galaxy.  

Approaching the ocean’s edge he was confident it was nothing dangerous. He’d been on enough planets where the oceans and lakes were made up of ammonia or methane or whatever else, but had the experience to be sure that this was simply water. Washing himself in it couldn’t do him any damage, his Saiyan physiology could handle any pollutants or microorganisms that might be local to this planet.

Wading further into the water up to his hips, his hands trailed in the water. He touched a wet finger to his lips – as expected this was a salt water ocean. On the short flight over thirst had his him but even he couldn’t drink this. His mouth felt parched suddenly but hydration would have to wait. 

Finally he let himself sink underneath the water and used his hands to scrub at his body and hair, hoping the salty water would be enough to cleanse his skin.

His thoughts drifted back to the last battle. Technically their mission had been a success, the target was dead. But it had turned into a bloodbath, and the closest Gohan had come to death.

Guilt hit him, wondering if he could have done anything else to save his teammate. No, they’d had no chance once Frieza arrived. It was a miracle that even one of them had survived.

What the hell had Frieza been doing there anyway? The intelligence they’d had hadn’t said anything about that possibility, which would have been as major a piece of information as it could get. That monster was supposed to be on the other side of the galaxy right now. If they’d known the Emperor himself would be there they’d have been nowhere near that moon. What was even more concerning than even that to Gohan was how he had not even noticed Frieza’s ki signature until it was too late. If Frieza had learned to mask his ki then they were in serious trouble…

Standing back up Gohan looked at the water around him, now dark with the grime which had washed off him. Running a hand through his hair he could still feel gunk in there, grimacing at the realisation there were chunks of bone and tissue in there. He moved to another spot, not willing to wait for it to dilute further or for the current of the water to take what had been left on his body of those enemies, or his own blood.  

He went under again a few times to get rid of as much as he could. Occasionally small fish would swarm around him and he’d enjoy a peaceful moment watching them, or the birds again on the beach and in the air as a distraction. Beyond keeping an eye on them through their ki he ignored the three on the beach. He didn’t want to feel judgmental eyes on him right now.

Once satisfied he was as clean as he was going to get he turned to the trio, who were watching him intently, discussing something between them too quietly for him to hear. He pushed his feelings of anger, guilt, and inadequacy down as deep as they’d go. Down there with the rest of it. Right now he had another situation to deal with.

Before he headed back to them he looked up at the sky again for a few moments, and breathed in. Something about the feeling of the air in his lungs and on his skin, and colour of the sky on this planet felt comforting and familiar. He closed his eyes and let the light of the sun warm his face. Then he floated out of the water, dried himself a little with a small burst of ki, and flew back to the three on the beach.  

Chapter Text

Year 773

Videl watched the man as he began to remove his strange clothing. He was stiff as he took the chest piece off and dropped it to the sand, and kicked his shoes off. 

When he started to remove even more she wondered where this was going to end, it didn’t really seem appropriate for him to get naked. “Excuse me, what do you think you’re doing?” she dared to shout at him, but as he peeled his shirt off she hissed through her teeth. She could see at least some of the evidence for why he was moving so tentatively. 

“Well keep your pants on at least!” she yelled at him, hoping it would stop this strip show there. 

His unusually lean body was well-muscled, but was covered in bruises. Were those injuries from the landing of the pod? While it looked like it hadn’t had a soft landing it didn’t seem to have crashed exactly. He was examining his own body, same as the three of them were. He appeared surprised to the extent of the bruising and a long scar on his arm. He also spent quite a bit of time investigating his hands, mumbling something to himself when he did so, but she couldn’t tell why.

Whether it was due to her comment or it was where he’d intended to stop, he didn’t remove any more layers. Instead Videl watched as he floated from the ground and flew to the ocean’s edge. 

Despite having seen it in videos of old tournaments and even seeing Krillin fly earlier it still caught her off guard, and both she and Erasa gasped in astonishment. Did he have the same kind of powers as Krillin and the others?

Krillin was convinced that he was dangerous, and everything about the man that she’d felt and seen had screamed the same thing. But he’d done nothing aggressive towards them, yet at least. 

Krillin spoke up quietly, not taking his eyes from the man who’d emerged from the pod. “You girls need to get away from here as fast as you can.”

“You are Krillin, right?” Videl asked equally quietly realising that they might need to keep their conversation from the man in the water, but not really engaging with his request to leave. 

The man looked surprised, but nodded. “I am. How do you know?”

“I recognise you from old world tournaments.”

“Nice to meet a fan, and if we survive this I’ll tell you all about the old days”.  

Videl’s nerves rose again following his comments. “What do you mean survive this?”

“Don’t you get it, he’ll kill us the first chance he gets!”

“If he’s that dangerous wouldn’t he have done something already?” Erasa asked hopefully. 

“That’s right,” Videl added. “I won’t lie I was scared of him too at first but he’s not made any aggressive moves towards us.”

“No, but that doesn’t mean he won’t. He looks badly injured, and his ki level is weak and shaky.”

“You can tell all that?” Videl asked.  

“Yes,” Krillin said as he nodded. “He saw me fly in and definitely picked up that I’m not a regular person. The first Saiyan I met couldn’t detect ki levels but it’s not outside the realm of possibility that this one can. It might be that he thinks he can’t take us all at once in his current state, and is biding his time for another opportunity, or to recover before he attacks.”

“What is this Saiyan thing you both mentioned?”

“A race of strong warriors.”

Videl racked her brain for any occurrence of that word. She’d never heard of any groups of Earthlings or warriors with names anything like that. “I’ve never heard of them.”

“Most people haven’t, they’re not from this planet,” the man said sincerely.

Videl and Erasa’s mouths gaped. In any other circumstances they’d assume Krillin was joking around, but given what they’d seen so far that day and the seriousness with which he’d said it they took it at face value for now. 

“I told you it was a spaceship!” Erasa directed at Videl. The dark-haired girl turned to her friend who was dropping to her backside to sit on the sand, probably out of a mixture of mental exhaustion and shock. She pulled her knees to her chest protectively, wrapping her arms around them.

Videl focused back on the man who she now realised might be an alien, as he ducked his head into the sea again. “Are you sure he’s an alien? But he looks so much like us.”

“Look at his tail,” Krillin responded.

“Our king is a talking giant dog, just because someone has a tail doesn’t mean they’re not from this planet.”

“I know, but he’s unmistakably one of them, he practically confirmed it himself with his responses to me. The Saiyans are murderous and cruel, don’t be fooled by his act.”   

Videl looked over at the Saiyan. He was far enough away that she hoped he couldn’t hear their whispering, but close enough that she could see that he was making an odd-looking face at the birds pecking at the sand on the beach. He didn’t look particularly cruel. 

“But you’ve only met a few before right, that doesn’t mean they’re all evil does it?” she appealed to him. “Some Earthlings are bad, it doesn’t mean we all are”.

“It’s true that he doesn’t have the same evil aura as those others. Honestly it’s disconcerting. But he may just be better at hiding it. It doesn’t matter anyway, we can’t risk it,” Krillin said as he shook his head. “You know who I am. Do you trust me over some space alien who may have been sent here to kill us all?”

“I do but what are we even gonna do?” Videl whispered. 

“We have to try to keep him here. If we can do that some of my friends will get here eventually and together we’ll be able to trap him.”

“Shouldn’t we call the authorities? If this is an alien isn’t it world changing news?”

“No,” Krillin spoke with determination. “This can’t be dealt with by normal means. And even if we knew who to call they wouldn’t get here in time.”

“What if he does try to attack us now then?” 

“If it comes to it I’ll fight him alone, or try to destroy his ship. I’m much stronger now than I was when I last encountered a Saiyan, and his ki is depleted right now. But please promise me no matter what, that you won’t get involved.”

Videl was just about to respond when they saw that the Saiyan had risen from the water, and started to float back towards them. They were all quiet as he landed. 

Videl eyed his face. Now clear of the grime that had covered it she was better able to see his features. She was hoping to get a feel for what Krillin was saying might be true or not, but his face was the picture of calmness. She couldn’t read into his intentions at all. 

Even with the dark bags under his eyes, perhaps from fatigue or lack of sleep, he was surprisingly handsome and she much younger looking than she’d assumed. Contrary to her earlier assumptions he only looked a little older than her and Erasa. Not that she’d know what the life cycle of these Saiyans was of course, he could be five hundred years old for all she knew. 

Looking down at his body she winced again at the sight of the bruises and the long fresh scar on his right arm, as well as older scars dotted across his pale skin. She’d been around martial artists all of her life so she didn’t swoon over his body. But his frame and muscles were perfectly proportioned, even stood there in a relaxed state his muscles looked unimaginably dense but without any unnecessary bulkiness. 

In any other situation Erasa would no doubt be cooing over how hot he was, like she did when she visited Videl at her dad’s gym and spent her time sneaking looks at the guys training. But to Videl his looked like a body perfected for the purpose of physical combat, someone who had been through a lifetime of it. Even his hands looked alarmingly strong, and her nerves rose again as Krillin’s words about the danger of the Saiyans ran through her mind. Her eyes went to his tail, which was now wrapped around his waist. Its grip had been like iron on her arm.   

She tried to shake herself out of it, she’d beaten larger and stronger adversaries before. But this was totally different, they were fellow Earthlings she’d beaten after all. She had no idea how strong these Saiyans really were, and she knew herself she was nowhere near Krillin let alone this supposed alien. However, despite her uncertainty over how what could happen, something about him just didn’t fill her with the fear that Krillin said they should feel. 

“I hate to ask but do you have anything to drink?” the Saiyan suddenly asked courteously, breaking her thoughts. 

“There’s an ocean behind you, go choke on it!” Krillin let out with more than a little venom.

“Krillin, please,” Videl pleaded. She wasn’t sure what to do. She had water in her backpack and Krillin wouldn’t be happy. But she couldn’t not help him, not while he hadn’t really done anything hostile towards them. And maybe this would maintain the peace between them. Bringing her bag in front of her she took out one of the two refillable water bottles packed inside. 

“Don’t,” Krillin grumbledwith exasperation at her naivety. 

“It’s just water Krillin,” Videl ventured,although she still hesitated for a second. Her hands shook a little as she held the water bottle and watched him. The threat she’d felt when she saw the darkness in his eyes that first moment hadn’t left her, nor had Krillin’s warnings. But now the Saiyan was looking at her so calmly. “Don’t make me regret this,” she told him with anuncertain tone as she tossed the bottle to him, keeping her distance rather than moving closer to hand it to him directly.

“Thank you,” the Saiyan said as he caught it, and opened the top. He drank half of it in great long gulps. Once done he looked over at his ship then back at them. “My ship has some minor damage, but once I’ve made it safe for travel I’ll be on my way, and it’ll be as though I was never here.” After drinking his voice was now smoother and less gravelly than it had been.

“I can’t let you leave,” Krillin responded quickly.

“What good would keeping me here do?”

“Don’t worry about why,” Krillin said as he quickly raised his left arm horizontally towards the small ship, with his palm facing it. 

With nothing but a shift in the air and a few grains of sand being displaced underfoot the Saiyan was immediately in front of Krillin, his speed far too fast for Videl to comprehend. 

Even Krillin was shocked, his hand now pointed towards the sky, held by the wrist in the grip of the larger man.

“Please don’t do that,” the Saiyan pleaded in a polite tone. It was clear to Videl that the Saiyan just thought Krillin was wasting his time and energy trying. 

Krillin swung his other fist at the Saiyan, aiming for the bruised areas around his ribs but the Saiyan just shifted his body, the fist swinging uselessly past him. He still held the water bottle in his free hand. 

“You’re strong and I’ve no doubt you’ve got plenty of tricks up your sleeve, but I won’t let you damage that ship.” 

Krillin tried to pull his arm free but the Saiyan just walked forwards forcing Krillin back with minimal effort. Krillin tried to plant his feet but the soft sand gave him no purchase. 

“Hey leave him alone!” Videl shouted at the Saiyan, but didn’t dare intervene physically.

The Saiyan looked at her with confusion. “He attacked me!” he protested.

Though her heart was thundering in her chest with nerves Videl forced herself to stare him down, but didn’t make any move towards them. After Krillin stopped struggling the Saiyan released his grip on Krillin, turned, and walked back to his ship. Videl didn’t kid herself that it was because of her asking him to leave Krillin alone. “It’s not in your interest to damage that ship,” he continued. “Destroy it and strand me here and you run the risk of more of my kind trying to track me down.”

“So you’re admitting that Saiyans would come here and destroy us?” Krillin asked.

“No. You may not like Saiyans, perhaps for good reason, but we are far from the worst of what’s out there,” the Saiyan told them as he set the water bottle on the sand.

Considering Krillin had just been trying to destroy his ship, Videl was surprised at his nonchalance as he continued to speak without even looking at Krillin. He crouched by his ship’s door and reached into a compartment behind the seat. He seemed confident he’d convinced Krillin not to bother trying anything else. “You’ve been powering up and down now for a while, probably signalling to someone to attract them here,” the dark-haired Saiyan said. “If you’re trying to keep me here until your friends show up it’s pointless. Whether you like it or not I’ll be long gone by the time they get here.”

Videl watched Krillin’s face as it fell, the Saiyan had obviously seen through whatever Krillin was planning. “You don’t know how fast they’ll get here, and once they do we’ll defeat you.”

“You can try,” the Saiyan responded absent-mindedly. He was more interested in sorting through the small compartment, and pulled out a small red box which he placed on the sand beside him. Next he took out a grey item about the size of a paper notebook or tablet computer, the bottom half had a keyboard and the top had a small screen built in.  

“We’ll at least do what we can to keep you here, I can’t risk you getting away and bringing more of your kind here.”

“There are beings in this galaxy that make even a monster like me seem like I might not be so bad,” he said as he started to tap on the keys of the hybrid keyboard and screen, the latter then lighting up. “My people and our allies have been at war with an empire led by creatures of pure evil for almost ten years. That war is spreading day by day and whether it’s two years from now or a thousand there’s sadly a good chance that your planet will become involved.” 

Videl tried to push down the sick feeling in her stomach. That there was all of that going on in space, and her whole planet was completely unaware of it, but could still be pulled into it. 

The Saiyan looked over his shoulder between all three of them and sighed. “Hopefully it will be one of the lesser evils who finds you, but I have no desire to be the one who brings your planet into that war. While there’s still the smallest chance that you remain undetected I won’t let anyone know about this place.” 

“Why would you do that?” It was Videl this time who asked. She wanted to be able to trust him, that he wouldn’t compromise her planet. 

“I don’t need the alternative on my conscience.”

“That’s easy for you to say but difficult for us to believe,” Krillin said as he glared at the Saiyan. “And surely once you get back they’ll ask where you were. Won’t your ship have records?”

“If you know what you’re doing it’s trivial to trick the ship’s data logs.”

“And you do?”

“Yes. No one will know I was here.”

“Was your ship broadcasting anything before you crashed here?” Videl asked.    

“Another fair question, but no,” he responded as he pulled a cable from the top of the tablet in his hands and plugged it into a port on a small panel of mostly switches and lights to the right of the seat. “I’d switched off all communications and beacons.”

“Why?” asked Krillin.

“Because I was running away from something.”

“You’re being surprisingly honest with us,” Videl said. 

The Saiyan simply shrugged as he tapped quickly at the keys on the tablet he’d plugged into the ship. “Who’re you gonna tell?”

“Whatever you were running away from, could someone have followed you here?” Videl queried.

“No,” he responded with a finality she wanted to believe.

Videl realised as honest as he was being, she herself had been surprisingly accepting of all of this newfound awareness she had of the existence of aliens, interstellar wars, and everything else she was learning. “Are you really an alien?” she asked bluntly, as if the answer would make everything fall into place.

“Yes,” he said calmly, without looking up.

“You’re definitely not from E-” Videl stopped herself remembering the Saiyan telling them to give away as little as possible to him. She wasn’t sure what he could do with just the name of their planet but erred on the side of caution and corrected herself. “...this planet.”

“No.”

That would have to settle it for now, thought Videl. Unless the Saiyan and Krillin were playing a huge trick on her and Erasa, or were both living in the same fantasy world it seemed decided. She pushed the distracting thoughts about how her perception of the universe would have to change completely away for now. “Is your ship going to work, it doesn’t seem in great shape?” shepressed on with. “I don’t know how long you’ve been here but that smoke has been coming out of it at least since we first spotted you.” 

“The log says I landed about ten hours ago in your planet’s time. The smoke isn’t as big a deal as it seems, it’s just a busted heat exchanger. I’m more concerned that the door opened by itself when you approached. I don’t need it opening when I’m in the middle of space.”

“Can I help?” Videl found herself saying, surprising even herself. Was this a good idea?

He looked at her, also surprised at the offer. “Do you really want to help or are you going to sabotage my ship while I’m not looking?” he asked with one side of his mouth turned up in half a smile. 

“Err, no…” she protested, not particularly well.

“Right…” he said quietly, not looking at her.

She crossed her arms and huffed at him for questioning her motives, regardless of whether he was right or not. “Fine, if you don’t want my help fix it yourself.” 

He just chuckled lightly and shook his head, going back to his keyboard. She watched his hands, one of which was holding the tablet and the other tapping deftly away at the keys. She wondered what exactly he was doing. “What does that do?” she demanded, never one to be shy or let a thought go unexplored.

He glanced up at her, but again despite her anxiousness Videl fixed him with one of her hardest stares. She won the starting contest, with him returning his eyes to look at the screen. “I’m checking for door issues and other error reports in the software that controls the ship. I’ll double check in a minute but the door or seals don’t look damaged and these things are built to survive hits much harder than we took landing here, so it’s probably just an issue with one of the programs that control the door.”

“Can you fix it?” 

“Resetting the software should do it, at least to get me back in space and close enough to where I need to go. But I’ll check the door alignment a few times first to be sure.” She wondered if the door really was screwed, and if so would he really be stuck here, and was faking his confidence that he was going to get away. If he was he wasn’t giving anything away.  

After saying that he climbed inside, taking the still hooked up tablet inside with him, and settled into the seat. “Stand back please,” he requested politely and Videl moved back. He tested the door a few times and seemed to be happy that it was opening, closing, and sealing correctly. 

With the door open he tapped a few more instructions into the tablet, then left it on the seat behind him as he clambered out. “I’ve left it to debug and reset, it’ll take about thirty minutes.” 

“What else do you need to do? What about the heat thingy?”

“Yeah, I need to check the heat exchangers,” he responded as he picked up the small red box. When he opened it some small tools and instruments were visible to Videl. Walking around to the side of the ship where the smoke had originated from he sorted through it with his fingers. The smoke had now died down to a barely visible wisp of smoke drifting out of a small vent. 

He removed one tool which looked like a small flathead screwdriver. She’d been expecting something a bit more high tech to fix a spaceship. 

“Can you fix it with just that?” she asked doubtfully, following him around the side of the ship. She’d not really realised how close she’d been to this supposed alien menace as she hovered around him watching him fix the ship. She didn’t feel particularly concerned in his presence now at all. 

“These are put together to be as robust and simple as possible. Simple enough to be fixed by a Saiyan with basic tools when we need to. We’re mostly pretty dumb,” he joked as he scratched at his cheek with a free finger. “Can you hold this please,” he asked as he passed the box to Videl. 

She took it without hesitation. “I thought you didn’t need any help?” she wondered out loud though, as she looked into the box containing some equipment that looked like normal everyday tools, other instruments she couldn’t even guess the uses of. 

He kneeled and unscrewed a panel with the vent where the smoke rose from, and it swung open, hinging at the bottom, displaying some internal machinery. 

“I felt bad about turning down your offer to help,” he muttered quietly. “Although now that I think about it I’m not sure I actually said no.”

“Well you shouldn’t have questioned my intentions then,” she remarked with a mock frown. Next Videl sat on the ground cross-legged next to him, still holding the toolbox. 

“Girl are you crazy?!” Krillin hissed in exasperation from where he was stood further back. Erasa was still sat a similar distance away, chin resting on knees pulled to her chest. Krillin had remained fairly close to the blonde. Videl appreciated his protectiveness, and did feel a bit guilty having stressed him out more than a few times in the course of this situation. But whether it was out of naivety or otherwise, rightly or wrongly she had been feeling less and less of a threat from the Saiyan for a while now, and the opportunity to speak with someone from another planet might never come along again…

“Are you sure you should be this close?” he asked, without taking his eyes off what he was doing.

“It’s not like I trust you all of a sudden or doubt what he says about Saiyans,” she said, meaning Krillin. “I guess my curiosity is getting the better of my judgement though. Are you sure you should be trusting me with these tools? I thought I was going to sabotage your ship.”

“I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt,” he mumbled as he placed the screwdriver on the ground. Videl wondered where the loose screws were and saw that they were loosely attached to the panel still, probably magnetically to reduce the chance of them getting lost.

“Thanks.”

“But I’ll stop you if you try something,” he added without looking at her.

Videl didn’t miss the implication. Maybe the underlying threat of his presence was still there a bit… “Sure,” she said through an involuntary nervous swallow.

He breezily moved on, saying, “there should be something in there with a green handle and interchangeable heads.”

She fished out the only green-handled tool she could find and held it up to him. He nodded, satisfied that the chunky instrument she was holding up was the right one.  

“Does this have a name?” she asked as she passed it to him. 

“Um, it’s a decakit with built in harmonic oscillator and phaseshift calibrator. I call it the Super Tool though,” he announced as he waved it around, stressing the words proudly. She smiled despite herself. For an alien super soldier he was kind of goofy. 

He fiddled with the tool for a few moments, then pointed to the open panel. Inside Videl could see three long tubes about ten inches long set horizontally on top of each other. They looked like large fuses with tiny coiled piping inside. Two looked fine but the third at the bottom was blackened and burned, and was obviously where the smoke had been coming from. “We need to remove the damaged one.”

“Do you have a spare?”

“No, but the two left will get me home. Even one would be enough, there’s triple redundancy built in as it’s such a critical component. If I didn’t remove this damaged one the ship would still run, but it’s safer with it out.”

“Your people can’t survive in space right? Without the ship or a spacesuit?”

“Unfortunately no,” he joked with a small laugh. 

“Are you definitely gonna be safe in this thing?” she enquired uncertainly, as she scrunched her nose up at the damaged ship.

“It’ll be fine. These things are always getting banged up.” He tapped the ship with his hand a couple of times. Videl couldn’t believe how relaxed he was about travelling in the void of space in this tiny pod, it was like he was just fixing up a car. 

“I guess you’re pretty used to all this.” 

He just shrugged as he started to remove the damaged part. Videl studied his face in profile as he worked away. She still couldn’t believe how much he looked like a human, and how young he seemed to be considering that he was flying around the galaxy involved in some giant war. Her eyes trailed up to his thick dark hair. Some of the salt from the ocean had dried in his hair leaving a slight salt and pepper look to it. From this close up she could see that on top it naturally stood up in spikes in places, with one thick lock and a few other dark strands falling over his forehead. He was focusing hard on the task at hand, and his cheeks were developing the lightest blush. Maybe the colour was just returning to his skin after being cooped up in the ship with that breathing mask on for so long.  

“You seemed pretty worried about the door though,” she speculated after studying his face for a few more moments. “There aren’t three doors like there are three of these things. How can you be so sure about the door?”

He didn’t answer immediately and Videl realised he was giving her a look out of the corner of his eye, even while he continued to work away.

“What?” she demanded.

“Nothing,” he mumbled as his eyes went back to the task at hand.

“No, what?”

“You just remind me of someone.”

“In a good way or a bad way?” she demanded, tapping her foot.

“Forget I said anything.”

Videl wasn’t going to let him off. “I’ll just keep asking.”

He sighed in defeat. “You’re very…curious is all.”

“I’ve been called worse.”

It looked like he was about to say something in response to that before thinking better of it. “About the door there are a few other safety features to mitigate against problems with that,” he explained instead, answering her earlier question. “Without a heat exchanger the ship would just blow up!” he said with another laugh. Videl laughed nervously in response. She wouldn’t be getting in one of these ships in a hurry. 

The heat exchanger came free and he dropped it on the sand. A small hissing sound came from the ground where it had been placed, as what little moisture there was in the dry sand was vapourized. “Don’t touch that, it’s a lot hotter than it looks,” he warned. 

The heat hadn’t bothered him at all and Videl studied his hands as he passed the tool back to her, they were completely free of damage or visible pain. She took his word for it though, his skin must have been a lot tougher than hers. He picked the screwdriver up again and screwed the panel back on quickly, then passed it back to her to return to the toolbox. 

“You can close that, just gotta wait for the software reset now,” he said, rocking back from his kneeling position to his feet. 

Videl closed the box, its clasp automatically engaging. He held his hand out and she went to pass him the box but he didn’t take it immediately. 

“Do you want a hand up?”

“I don’t need your help,” she muttered as she pushed herself to her feet with ease. “But thanks for the offer,” she added as his face fell a little. He then took the box from her and walked back to the front of the ship.

He checked the device hooked up to the ship and nodded in appreciation of the progress made to the update. “It’s still got a while left but not long enough for your friends to get here in time, sorry,” he said to Krillin.

The man clenched his fist in frustration from his position still close to where Erasa sat, still quiet as she watched Videl and the Saiyan. The human fighter was still stood, prepared for anything to happen.

However, the Saiyan proceeded to sit in front of the ship with his legs stretched out and arms reached out behind him, his hands pressed into the sandy beach. He looked incredibly relaxed all of a sudden.

“Not often I get a few minutes to just do nothing but sit and wait,” he declared.

Videl sat down crossed-legged about six feet from him. She wouldn’t give up this chance to find out even more from this alien visitor.

“You were right about me, I am a curious person. And I’ve got a lot more questions.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to tell much more than I already have,” he objected.

“Hey, I gave you that water and helped you fix your ship. Plus my friend and I were about to rescue you before you woke up. You owe me,” Videl insisted.

She narrowed her eyes at him, fixing her face with its sternest expression, and watched him as he considered it for a few seconds. A thoughtful look crossed his face as he studied the sand of the beach, then looked back at her. “OK then. That’s fair,” he assented, and reached for the water bottle to parch his thirst. “If there’s something I really can’t answer then I won’t though.”

Relieved at his response, she nodded and jumped straight into her questions. “Why do we speak the same language? You might have one but I don’t have my alien translator on me today.”

He smiled and shook his head at the question. “Something lots of people ask once they start to meet people from other planets. There are still some local languages still used here and there, there’s even an ancient language of my people. Most don’t speak it. But there is a universally spoken language across our galaxy, although the written form used differs between some planets or empires. You probably couldn’t read what’s on that computer even though I could read it out and you’d understand what I was saying. The symbols are probably just not what you’re used to.”

“How can that have happened?”

“Almost everyone in the galaxy has their own theory. Some say all planets were once one huge empire, but so long ago that all records are lost, and we all became separated. Others that we were all created by lazy gods, who didn’t want to go to the trouble of remembering all of our languages.”

“What do you believe?”

“There’s no evidence for any of the theories. So I try not to think about it too much. And there’s so much other weird stuff out there which almost no one can explain that it gets lost with everything else.”

“OK that answers the language thing, sort of. Where do you come from?”

The Saiyan pondered on his answer for a few seconds. “The planet of the Saiyans is named Vegeta.” he said without emotion. “It’s a harsh place,” he added without elaborating further.

“What’s it like?”

“It’s not all that different to your planet, in some ways. The length of both a year and a day there is the same.” He must have seen something about this planet when he checked his ship’s records.

“That’s a handy coincidence.”

“Same size roughly as well, although much more dense so the gravity is a lot stronger. Ten times higher.”

“You must feel like you’re walking on air here then?”

He shrugged and shook his head lightly. “You get used to being in different gravities, after a while unless it’s ridiculously high you don’t even feel it beyond knowing it’s there. I haven’t been on Vegeta for years anyway.”

“How many?”

“Six or seven.”

“Do you miss it?”

He looked away and up to the sky, considering her question for a while. “No,” he eventually responded.

Videl swallowed a little. She couldn’t imagine not seeing her hometown for that long and not missing it, let alone her home planet.

“Don’t you have family there?”

“No.”

She explored his dark eyes, not reading much into them on this topic. But even Videl didn’t want to push him on what that meant exactly. No family on the planet, or none at all anywhere? Instead she reverted back to the line of questioning about the planet itself. “Does Vegeta look similar to this?” she asked as she gestured around them to the ocean, beach, and jungle behind. “Not that everywhere on this planet looks quite like this.”

“Not that I’ve ever seen. What isn’t built on or used for industry is either barren wasteland or jungles like that,” he explained as he waved at the trees behind the beach. “But much larger and thicker.”

“Probably not that different to here then. Most of this planet isn’t as beautiful as this place.”

“Something about the sky being so blue makes everything seem much more relaxing for some reason.” He was admiring the bright blue sky as he spoke.

“Yeah,” she agreed with a smile. He smiled gently back at her, holding his gaze on her eyes, before he looked away quickly down the beach.

“Oh, the sky on Vegeta is red,” he added as if keen to share it, and for the sake of showing what he was comparing it to.

“Have you seen a lot of planets with different coloured skies?”

He nodded back at her to confirm.

“So what are your people like?” she asked, hitting him with the next question almost immediately.

His previous gentle look was now gone, replaced with a more neutral expression. “As your friend knows,” he said as he gestured to Krillin with his chin as he did so, “we’re a savage and aggressive people.”

“You don’t seem that bad.” Even if you did show up looking like you’d fought through hell and back, she thought to herself.

“I don’t know about that. I might even be the worst one,” he proclaimed with that blank look still on his face and Videl couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not.

“Are all Saiyans soldiers?” she fired at him quickly, before she lingered too much on what that last comment might mean. This was another door even she was not brave enough to push at, in case he wasn’t joking.

“Most of us, in one way or another. Not all.”

“If you’re a soldier do you have like a rank or something?”

“I’m a diplomat,” he answered quickly, almost robotically.

Videl looked at his discarded clothes from earlier, now in tatters, and narrowed her eyes back at him. He had called himself a monster earlier and she shivered thinking back to the blood that he’d been covered in. “What kind of diplomat shows up looking like that?”

“Even diplomats get caught up in sticky situations every now and then,” he answered slightly nervously.

Videl wondered now if he thought he was sharing maybe a bit too much with her. She’d wanted to ask what or who he had been running from, but it didn’t seem likely that he’d answer that. Worried that he would clam up and stop answering her questions entirely, she decided to pivot the conversation away from questions for a minute. Still wearing her backpack, she wriggled out of it and brought it around to her front and set it in her lap.

“Are you hungry?” she asked.

His eyes widened and the largest smile she’d seen on him reached his mouth. “Yes!”

“Let me see what I’ve got left,” glad for some reason that his smile was back. At least he seemed less threatening that way.

Videl rooted through the backpack as he on watched eagerly. Most of the provisions she’d brought for herself and Erasa were in the storage compartment of her copter or in a separate storage capsule she had on her but in her backpack she had some chocolate bars and dried fruit.

“Do you have chocolate where you’re from?” she asked as she held up a couple of bars.

“Not on Planet Vegeta but I’ve had it a few times on other planets,” he answered.

“Do you want the Satan Crunch or the Kamehamebar?” she asked as she held up the two.

“Er, Satan Crunch please,” he responded after deliberating for a few seconds and she tossed the red-wrapped chocolate bar to him. She gestured to Krillin and Erasa with some spares she’d fished out of her bag but they both shook their heads to decline.

“Who’s this guy?” the Saiyan asked as he studied the gurning large-haired man on the wrapper.

“Just the mascot I guess,” she responded quietly with a slightly red face. Damn it dad, why do have to put your face on everything?

The Saiyan thankfully didn’t ask anything else about the man on the wrapper and tore into it, sniffing the bar first, then taking a large bite. She watched him chew happily.

“This is great!” he exclaimed. “Much better than the chocolate I’ve had anywhere else.”

She smiled at his enthusiasm. It had been strange to see him flick through so many emotions. She couldn’t reconcile this calm, relaxed individual with what she’d seen in his eyes at first.

Once he’d finished that she threw him a bag of dried banana chips, which he caught gladly and crunched through in no time at all.

“Typical Saiyan eating habits,” mumbled Krillin from off to the side, who had taken to prowling back and forth along the sand in irritation.

Videl and the Saiyan continued to speak, her asking and him answering. Sometimes he danced around the questions, or outright declined them, at other times being as honest as possible, or so it seemed to Videl. Every now and then he would check the computer, making sure it was making progress.

As he was in the middle of an answer to a question about the weirdest aliens he’d met a small beeping noise emitted from the computer. He ignored it as he finished answering but something told Videl their time was running out as he scanned the screen. “It’s done.”

A sinking feeling settled in Videl’s stomach, as he stood up, taking the computer with him. Her chance to learn more about this Saiyan, the war he was talking about, and the rest of the galaxy was coming to an end.

“Why don’t you just wait a while?” she pleaded as she stood too. “That way you can make sure your ship is definitely safe and that you’re totally recovered yourself. You are in pretty rough shape.”

“I am?”

“Yeah, you look like shit.”

“She’s right,” added Krillin.

The Saiyan laughed, but shook his head to decline. “Did you want to tell me how bad I look too?” he directed at Erasa. The blonde girl was only brave enough to give a swift shake of her head.

“If you wait we can work this all out,” Krillin spoke up again.

“Sorry, but it’s not happening. I need to get back out there.”

Krillin tensed up and for a second Videl wondered if he was thinking again about physically stopping him from leaving.

The Saiyan sensed it too. “Don’t,” he breathed out dejectedly, his previous good humour now gone. “It’s not worth it.”

Krillin was a coil of frustration and tension but didn’t make a move, and the Saiyan continued to pack the computer and any other items back in the ship.

“I’m serious though are you sure you’ll make it back? Do you even have any food or water?” Videl asked him.

“I’ll be fine.”

There was no doubt to his words but Videl couldn’t leave it at that. “At least take the water bottle. Here, I’ll refill it,” she said as she kneeled where it sat and topped it up from her own. Once done, she stood next to him as he was playing with some other setting of his ship and held it out to him.

Instead of taking it he rose and turned to face her. They stood only feet apart.

“I don’t deserve your kindness,” he murmured.

“Just take it,” she ordered as she shoved the bottle into his chest, staring hard into his dark eyes.

He blinked back at her a few times before answering, “yes, ma’am.” Their fingers brushed lightly as he took the water from her.

“Take all of this as well,” she insisted, shoving the rest of her snacks at him.

He gathered them in his arms along with the bottle. “Thank you.”

“You promise not to say anything right?” she asked as he placed the provisions in a compartment of the ship, and turned back to her.

“Yes, I promise.”

“OK, let’s shake on it.” Videl put her right hand out in front of her with the expectation that he’d put his out in turn, but he just looked down at it. “On this planet to seal a deal sometimes we shake hands,” she said, grabbing his arm with her other hand. Confusion showed on his face but he let her guide his arm up, and for their hands to clasp between them. His was warm and rough, and dwarfed her own, although not as massive as her father’s gigantic oversized hands. She squeezed his and moved their hands up and down together to complete their handshake, and he squeezed back. His grip was vice-like and she fought back a flinch, not willing to show any weakness in front of him or the others. Through the connection even though she had no way to sense ki she felt as if she could grasp the low thrum of his power.

“I should go,” he declared decisively as they let go.

Videl looked around at Krillin. Maybe he was right about everything, and she had been stupid helping the Saiyan and letting him go. Not that any of them could do anything about it regardless. “Are you sure you can’t wait,” she prodded anyway.

“Yes,” he responded, starting to pick up the scraps of his destroyed clothing.

“If they’re ruined we can tidy it up.”

“Are you sure? I didn’t come here to leave my trash everywhere.”

“It’s fine,” she reassured him.

“Sorry for the trouble,” he apologised as he passed his ruined top to her. “And not just about the clothes,” he went on to say as he looked around at all of them. “I meant what I said earlier. Unless this war ends quickly this planet will become involved in what’s going on out there. It’s a miracle it’s gone unnoticed this long. I almost feel more guilty that I won’t mention this place to anyone else, because if the other side find you first nothing good can come of it. As bad as we might be,” he added with a pointed look to Krillin, “we’re nothing compared to Frieza.”

“There’s nothing you can do about it,” Krillin responded in a resigned tone. “Just keep your promise.”

The Saiyan nodded back earnestly, then climbed into his ship. Once settled into the seat he started to swiftly key in some commands.

Erasa had braved getting to her feet, walking to a position right next to Videl. She clutched lightly with one hand at her friend’s t-shirt for comfort. Videl dropped the remnants of clothing she was holding and put a supportive arm around her blonde friend.

The Saiyan continued to press in instructions, until his hand hovered over the console for a few seconds, and he caught Videl’s eye. “Thanks,” he told her again, with a look on his face she didn’t really understand. “Bye.”

“Yeah. See you around,” she responded, feeling moronic at her word choice.

He exhaled a small laugh as if he understood the absurdity of the situation and difficulty to find the right words. With a press of a button the door closed with a hiss, passing over his face, until he could only be seen through the blurry red window.

The pod raised from the ground unnervingly smoothly and silently, and the three Earthlings stepped back.

Inside, he raised a parting hand to them.

Videl waved back, as did Erasa. Even Krillin raised a hand in a parting gesture to wave him off.

The ship shot off like a bullet, leaving nothing but a gust of wind in its wake and a few grains of sand kicked up in the air. As it flew further with a streak of gases around it, it angled more steeply towards the sky.

“Shit that’s fast,” Erasa whispered. She hadn’t spoken since the Saiyan had returned to the three of them after cleansing himself in the ocean.

All three of them kept watching the area the ship had disappeared in for a few more moments.

“Crap,” said Videl suddenly.

“What?” asked Erasa.

“I never asked his name.”

Chapter Text

Year 773

Adrenaline, bravado, and whatever else had been carrying her through finally gave out and Videl collapsed backwards onto the cool sand of the beach.

Erasa fussed around, kneeling next to her. “Videl are you ok?”

“Fine.” She stared blankly up at the sky. While physically fine she was mentally exhausted. She’d just met an alien soldier, or diplomat, or whatever the hell he was, and her entire world-view had been shattered. What are you supposed to do after that? “Just need a few minutes.”

In the sky above nothing but clouds and endless blue emptiness passed overhead. But there was so much out there well beyond the clouds. Right now people from other worlds were probably exploring the galaxy experiencing wonders she couldn’t even dream of, or fighting and dying in this war that Saiyan was neck deep in. Or just going about their daily lives in ignorance like she had been until an hour ago. She’d always just assumed aliens existed – it was more fun to think that there were other living and breathing worlds out there. Knowing it absolutely was true was a different feeling. A cold shiver ran over her. So many dangers she couldn’t even comprehend. 

None of them spoke for a while but eventually she turned her head sidelong towards Krillin, uncaring of the sand working its way into her hair. The man had also dropped down to the sand, and was sat looking at her with a mix of pity, and something else. She hoped not annoyance, but she wouldn’t blame him if it was.

“I’m sorry I didn’t do what you asked.” The girl twisted her fingers together across her stomach. “I have a problem leaving things alone.”

“It’s fine.”

Despite Krillin’s insistence she continued with her own defence, as much justifying it to herself as to him. “I felt sorry for him. Half-dead, with no food or water. Who knows how far he has to go home?” She wasn’t sure how much weight that last bit really carried. The Saiyan hadn’t seemed that worried about any of it himself.

“I’m telling you, it’s fine.”

She was desperate to know what had happened before. “Can you tell me what happened before with Saiyans? Here on Earth that is.” Erasa looked around at Krillin too, waiting patiently for the answer.

Krillin sighed heavily but didn’t look away. “The last time Saiyans were here we lost my best friend’s son.”

Videl sat up. “Oh,” she mumbled. “Sorry.”

“It was a long time ago.”

“When you say lost...?” Dead? Missing?

“We don’t really know if he’s alive or not. They took him.”

“They abducted him? Why?”

Krillin had picked up a modest-sized pebble from the surface of the beach and was rolling it in his palm. “Who knows.” His voice was calm but he crushed the pebble to gravel in his fist, and let the remnants drop to the sand. Dust from his hand merged with the sand below and Videl marvelled at the simple display of his power. Despite that strength he’d been completely outmatched by the Saiyan.

Videl had a feeling he wasn’t quite as clueless on the reason his friend’s son had been kidnapped as he had suggested but didn’t push it. Every now and then she could let someone hide things when they wanted to. Especially when it was something so sensitive, that still ate at him so much. She stared at the sand between her feet thinking back to her interaction with the Saiyan, going over every moment and gesture. “Well if you’d led with that I might not have given him that food!” she shouted, flapping her arms around.

“Don’t worry about it. You did what you thought was right.”

“Still…”

“It didn’t matter anyway, we didn’t stand a chance against him by ourselves. Looking back all of us surviving, and him off this planet was about the best outcome I could have hoped for.” He got up from his sitting position.

“I guess.” Videl stood too, brushing sand off her clothes and shaking a few grains out of her hair, then helped Erasa up.

“Anyway, even though it seems you already know I should formally introduce myself. I’m Krillin.”

“Videl.”

“I’m Erasa.”

“Nice to meet you both,” Krillin shook both of their hands. “Wish it was in less unusual circumstances though. What were you two even doing way out here?”

”I guess you could say I’m a big martial arts fan. I dragged Erasa along looking for Master Roshi. I’ve been trying to talk to old tournament participants.”

“Easier said than done, we do like keep a low profile. Some of us at least.”

“I’ve been trying to find skilled and tough fighters, to see what I can learn from them.”

The short man folded his arms across his chest. “You were pretty tough yourself you know, staring that Saiyan down like that and telling him off.” He giggled cheekily. “Didn’t seem like you were that scared at all.”

The image of an angry, terrifyingly bloody face brought back all the fear and dread she’d experienced, more than she’d ever felt in her life. “I was scared,” she breathed out. Her hands ran over the goosebumps that had risen on her bare forearms. Then the opposite image appeared in her mind – one of a contented smile. “Some of the time. He didn’t seem that bad after a while though. But thank you.”

“Videl is strong. She is the world martial arts junior champion after all.”

Erasa was always ready to hype up her friend supportively but Videl cringed a little with embarrassment. Surely that paled into insignificance in front of someone as accomplished as Krillin, but his face lit up with enthusiasm. “Oh, wow. That’s amazing! No wonder you knew who I am.”

Videl blushed red at their words and accepted the compliment quietly. “Thanks.”

“And the daughter of Mr Satan!” added Erasa eagerly.

“Great.” Krillin had significantly less enthusiasm at that. Videl couldn’t blame him – she knew herself that her dad was nowhere as strong as Krillin, even if he never stopped telling everyone about how much stronger he thought he was. She could forgive Erasa though, she still bought into it all. “Junior world champ though, that’s awesome. Wish there’d been a junior division back when I was a kid. Goku probably still would have beaten me though…”

An hour ago Videl would have been peppering him with questions about old tournaments and fighters but so much had changed in that time. She had to know what was next. Were those friends of Krillin still coming even if the Saiyan had left? “So what do we do now?”

“We should head back to my house. It’s not far and the others can meet us there.”

“Who else is coming?”

Krillin grinned. “Since you’re such a martial arts fan I’d prefer not to spoil the surprise.”

Her mind ran wild with possibilities – she knew Krillin had connections to Master Roshi, Goku (hell he’d mentioned him 30 seconds ago), Yamcha, and others. She could speculate all she liked but the sooner they tidied things up here and got to wherever Krillin would take them the sooner she’d know, so she collected the tattered clothes and armour the Saiyan had left behind. It was bizarre to think she was holding evidence of aliens in her hands. Her eyes glanced back up at the patch of sky where his ship had flown out of sight, wondering how far away he was by now. Holding the armour under her left arm she looked down at her right hand – she’d even shook hands with an alien. Even if he had looked almost exactly like a human it still boggled her mind.

Erasa was watching her. “Wondering if he had space cooties?” she joked.

“No! He better not have…” Tapping at the armour and moving it around in her hands, how lightweight and flexible it was amazed her. The material of the under-layer stretched easily but sprang back into shape perfectly, even the charred and damaged parts. “What should I do with this?” she directed at Krillin.

“Throw it out, keep it, doesn’t matter.” He wasn’t as enthralled by all of this as she was. “Can you follow me if I fly?”

Videl dug her jet-copter capsule out of her pocket and tossed it ten feet away. “Yeah, no problem,” she said as it popped into view. She packed everything away inside within various compartments of her jet-copter, including the armour. Once settled into the pilot seat she leaned over to Erasa who had clambered into the passenger seat next to her. She placed her hand on her friend’s arm gently. “Are you OK?”

“Sure,” Erasa answered quickly and a little too brightly.

Videl squeezed her friends arm. She’d dragged Erasa out on this search for Master Roshi, and put her in what could have been the most dangerous situation imaginable. “I can take you home first if this is too much. I know that was scary. I shouldn’t have put you in danger like that.”

Erasa had a determined look on her face. “I’m fine. I wanna know what’s going on too. Unless another one shows up we’re safe now right?” The blonde ended the thought with a laugh.

Videl nodded and smiled back at her, and started up the jet-copter. Krillin was already hovering in the air waiting for them, and as she directed her jet-copter in his direction he took off over the small waves of the ocean. It was surreal how normal seeing someone gliding through the air had become to her in the last hour.

It barely took more than ten minutes before a small sandy island came into view. A cute red-roofed beach house was settled on a patch of grass in the middle. It couldn’t have been more than a few miles from the co-ordinates Videl had for Master Roshi’s house. Putting two and two together she realised Krillin must either live with Master Roshi, or very near at the very least. They really had been so close after all. As she powered down her jet-copter and jumped out she saw that the cosy looking house had a soft pink walls, with ‘KAME HOUSE’ painted in large letters on the gable.

Reading a book on a beach chair close to the water’s edge was a pretty blonde woman in a sleeveless blue blouse. A pair of large sunglasses covered her eyes, she hadn’t even looked up as they landed. “How’d it go?” she called out to Krillin.

“Not great! If you’d come to help I might not have got my ass kicked,” Krillin said sourly as he stomped towards her.

“It’s better that I didn’t see that happen, honey,” she drolled.

“Yeah, yeah,” Krillin muttered.

“I told you not to bother,” she said as she set her book down on the small table next to the chair and approached them.

“I couldn’t just ignore it.”

“I know.” As she settled into position next to Krillin she kissed him on the top of his head affectionately and hugged him to the side of her body. “You just can’t keep out of trouble.”

The woman released Krillin and removed her sunglasses, and her serious, calculating eyes passed over Videl and Erasa.

“Erasa, Videl, this is my wife, Eighteen.”

The blonde raised an eyebrow as if expecting a question about her name but Videl ignored it, as did Erasa. Someone’s name being a number was way down on the list of strange things they’d seen today. They exchanged pleasantries, before Krillin’s wife returned to her chair and book, obviously not the chatty type, and not particularly interested in why two teenagers had followed Krillin back.

Videl was intrigued though by the idea that his wife’s presence might have made a difference. “Is she a martial artist too?” she asked quietly.

Krillin looked like he wasn’t sure how to answer the question for a second. “Not exactly. But she’s stronger than me for sure.”

Videl was dumbfounded. “How?”

“It’s a long story. One I can’t really get into.”

“OK but just please tell me she’s not a Saiyan?”

Krillin laughed. “Definitely not. Listen, uh, there is one thing I should warn you about. It would be nice if it was a surprise for you but Master Roshi is inside.”

“Master Roshi!” Videl had already figured he must live with Krillin but she couldn’t hide her excitement knowing that the martial arts legend was inside the tiny house just a few feet away.

Krillin grimaced. “Don’t get too excited.” He looked between the two girls. “He’s friendly. But maybe too friendly with young women.”

Videl’s excited smile turned into a frown immediately.

“He’s mostly harmless. But a bit, ugh…”

“Gropey, is the word he’s looking for,” called out Eighteen.

The two teenagers looked around at each other, both of them crinkling their faces in disgust but Krillin led them towards the front door anyway. “Don’t worry, he’ll be on his best behaviour.”

“Don’t be afraid to punch the old man,” shouted Eighteen. Videl and Erasa laughed awkwardly but the look on Eighteen’s face told them she wasn’t joking.

“Hey, can this house be moved?” Videl asked as they walked to the door. “We were searching another island where I thought Master Roshi would be, but it was empty.”

Krillin’s hand was on the door handle and they waited for a moment as he answered. “Yeah the house can be packed into a capsule. We moved islands a few weeks ago for a break. Probably for a few weeks at most. My daughter kept complaining about a weird smell where we normally live. But I think it was just Roshi.”

Erasa nodded knowingly. “Old man smell,” she said. Videl gave her friend a glare as they followed Krillin inside. Erasa only shrugged and mouthed what? back at her.

The front door opened straight into a small open-plan living room and kitchen, with hardwood flooring throughout. The television was playing an exercise class led by a lithe young woman in a full-body leotard, a group of others behind her all stretching their legs up and down in the same fashion. Krillin rushed to the remote and switched it off. “Damn it, old man,” he cursed.

“Krillin,” came the shaky voice of an elderly man from the stairs. “You’re back.” A pair of flip flops and tan, thin legs in white shorts were now visible on the stairs as he descended, followed by a bright orange Hawaiian shirt. He came low enough on the stairway to spot Erasa and Videl, and the old man’s face lit up. “And you brought back some new friends.”

Despite Krillin and Eighteen’s warnings Videl still felt compelled to rush forward and shake his hand with both of hers at the bottom of the staircase. “It’s an honour to meet you, sir.”

His handshake was firm despite his age, although he clung on a little too long for comfort. “My name is Videl. This is my friend Erasa.”

“Such pretty young ladies.” He offered his hand to Erasa who was a little less enthusiastic than Videl but greeted him politely all the same. Holding her hand even longer than Videl’s, it looked like he was about to bring the blonde girl’s hand up to his lips, readying them for a kiss.

“Touch them beyond a handshake and I’ll kill you.” Eighteen was leaning against the frame of the front door, her sunglasses hooked to her blouse, eyes narrowed at the legendary martial arts master.

“What kind of man do you think I am?” Master Roshi protested as he released Erasa’s hand. Videl led her friend away from him, and Krillin pointed them to one of the sofas around the television.

“Krillin, you switched m’show off. Where’s the remote?”

Krillin still had it in his hand and flew up to the height of the kitchen ceiling, dropping it on top of a cabinet well out of ordinary reach. “We’ve got company.”

Master Roshi shambled over to the sofa after them, and sat uncomfortably close to Videl. She could feel his eyes on her even through the lenses of his dark sunglasses. “Oh, I know.”

Eighteen walked past them behind the sofa, smacking the back of his bald head as she walked past. “I’m going to check on Marron.”

Roshi shuffled down to the other end of the sofa, heeding Eighteen’s warning. “She’s napping,” he told her.

“That’s my daughter.” Krillin explained.

“How old is she?” asked Erasa.

“Two.” Krillin pointed out a photo on the window sill. “That’s her.”

Erasa and Videl awwed at the cute blonde toddler in the photo, and Videl left her friend to make conversation about Krillin’s daughter. She was always much better at that kind of thing.

“What happened out there Krillin?” Master Roshi demanded eventually.

“I’ll explain when the others get here. It won’t be long. In fact...”

Almost on cue the face of a dark-haired man of around forty poked its way through the front door. Videl recognised Yamcha immediately.

“Hey Krillin.” He walked straight into the home, clearly comfortable coming and going. “What’s going on?” Then he looked at Videl and Erasa, surprise on his face. “Hey! Videl, right? What are you doing here?”

“We were out here looking for Master Roshi, but things have gone sideways since.”

“Still a Devils fan?”

Videl nodded and Yamcha booed in jest.

“How’d you two know each other?” Krillin wondered.

“Kids are always seeking out my strength and wisdom.”

“Whatever, Yamcha.”

“No, he’s right. He was one of the martial artists I wanted to find. You too Krillin.” Yamcha was one of the most high profile of them, given his career after martial arts as a professional baseball player, and so easy to track down. Being both a junior world champion herself as well as the daughter of the current world champion, she hadn’t been shy in calling in a few favours from mutual connections to get in touch. “I love baseball too, even if Yamcha never played for my team he’s still one of the greats.”

Yamcha beamed and pumped his arms. “See Krillin. Despite what you might think I’m still pretty cool.”

“Maybe to martial arts nerds,” Krillin jibed, managing to tease both Yamcha and Videl at once.

“Hey,” Videl mumbled.

Krillin grinned. “Just kidding.”

“To be honest I don’t think I was any help to her at all anyway,” Yamcha admitted as he sat on a stool in the kitchen, after Videl had introduced Erasa to him.

It was only partially true. The veteran baseball player had been honest with her and told her that ki and all the other crazy skills were all real, no tricks. But he wouldn’t give much away on how it all worked, nor where she could go to learn those powers, and that he himself had long ago given up any serious martial arts practice. Nowadays his only training was for his sports career, and even that was so limited given he was working as a coach these days. He had given her the information which had eventually led her to tracking down Master Roshi’s location though. Even if she had missed him being there by a few weeks.

“Did you ever track anyone else down?” he asked.

“Yeah, I found Ranfan. She made the quarters at the 21st tournament.”

Master Roshi rubbed his hands on his thighs. “Ranfan, yes quite the competitor.”

Yamcha encouraged her to continue. “Just ignore him.”

“She was great, really friendly and helpful. Even though she’d stopped fighting a long time ago she was still skilled and gave me some training pointers.” Videl’s cheeks blushed a light pink. “But I got out of there once she started showing me her ultimate techniques were mostly just flirting with opponents or stripping her clothes off.”

“Maybe that was what the Saiyan was doing when he took his armour off,” Krillin joked.

The old man further down on the couch had been lost in his own memories of Ranfan, but was brought back to the present in a flash at that comment from Krillin. “What Saiyan?” he and Yamcha both yelled.

“Oh crap, I was supposed to wait. Just give it a few more minutes. The others will be here soon.”

“Anyone else?”

“Of people who qualified for the three main tournaments before my dad won, only Nam. Do you remember him?” The other martial artists all nodded. Nam was a semi-finalist from the same tournament as Ranfan, in fact the fighter who beat her in the quarter finals. “He let me stay with his family for a few days, they were all so nice. He taught me some meditation techniques and other stuff.”

“Who else have you been trying to find?” Krillin asked

“I tried tracking down Tien Shinhan.”

“Yeah, he’s hard to find sometimes even for us,” Krillin explained.

Yamcha gave her a knowing wink. “I’m sure you’ll meet him sometime.”

“Jackie Chun was another, but he seems to have disappeared from the face of the Earth.”

Master Roshi gave a hearty laugh at that, but once he’d calmed down he focused on Videl seriously all of a sudden. “I hope you’re careful if you keep doing this. There were a lot of dangerous people at those tournaments.”

“Oh yeah, for sure. I have a list I don’t ever wanna meet.” She started listing them off on her fingers. “Bacterian – more disgusting than dangerous, though; that Tao guy; definitely not Ma Junior. Wasn’t he the reincarnation of–” She stopped talking as Yamcha and Krillin’s faces had dropped. “What?”

“Krillin! What the hell is going on?” a deep voice boomed from outside.

Erasa clutched at the arm of the sofa on one side and Videl’s leg on the other, and both girls screamed as a gigantic green individual ducked his pointy-eared head through the door.