431Episode Forty-Four
'Slack-jawed
The ship approached the world at high speed, Chillax was a little amazed at the power of the Galactic Patrol's engines.
He was also a little amazed at the power on the planet. He could sense it the moment their . . . not quite named vessel came through the system's asteroid belt even before the planet was visible on-screen.
"What is that?" Captain Soda asked, clearly feeling the power as well, "that's not an individual is it?"
"No," Chillax told her, "but whatever it is it's . . ."
"Overwhelming," Ribuai said, clacking his beak.
It was Konpeito who offered the answer, "It's the tree."
"The tree? It's not meant to radiate power like this, is it?" Chillax asked, looking to both the Iwatian and his father, Frigus who shook his head.
"I never noticed it doing anything of the sort before, but then I can't sense energy without a scouter," Frigus told them.
"I've been in the presence of the tree on my own world," Konpeito told them, "this power is similar, it radiates a strength but this is far more intense."
"Likely because the host planet is still in a healthier condition," the Chief Scientist spoke up, "I can even imagine the usefulness of the trees radiating energy as sort of a beacon since it's a parasitic species."
"What do you mean?" Konpeito asked.
"Well trees don't hurl their seeds into space on their own, and if these trees are so overwhelming that they need entire planets to survive it stands to reason they need someone or something to spread their seeds across the cosmos, it'd help if those someones knew where to go to eat their fruit and spread their seeds."
Chillax blinked, "Whoever told you the trees were used for-"
"We're approaching now," General Herb interrupted him, "There's no time for this kind of speculation. It's time to make yourself useful, Admiral."
Frigus arched an eyebrow but smiled and told them, "Hail the base and put them on screen."
"We don't have a screen, not for that anyway. Audio only." The chief scientist said offering him a little black square connected to the bridge controls by a long curly cord.
"Well . . . that should make it easier," Frigus muttered before he took the black box and spoke into it, "Frago base this is Admiral Frigus aboard the . . . incoming vessel. Request landing coordinates."
"A-Admiral?" Chillax heard what sounded like a worried voice respond over the radio, "We can't see you."
"Yes, I'm transmitting audio only," Frigus snarled, "The ship I am in is somewhat primitive. Now tell me where I can land so that I can speak to the Arcosian in charge."
"There uh . . . there is no Arcosian in charge, Admiral. The entire Clan left to participate in the-"
Frigus cut the worried sounding operator off and said, "Then give me coordinates so that I may assume command!"
"Y-yes, it's just . . . I don't know where to land you right now sir, we're uh . . ."
"You're what?" Frigus roared.
"We're uh . . . dealing with a . . . well, a situation?"
"What by the great green glaciers is that supposed to mean?" Frigus roared.
"Operators are always irritating," General Herb muttered in apparent solidarity.
"We're coming up on the base now, you might as well just tell him we're landing where we please." Soda commented.
Frigus scowled and said, "Do you hear that? Whoever you are my ship is landing now, and when I find you I will discipline you harshly."
There was no response, just static on the other end and Frigus tossed the little black communicator away scowling, "Coward."
"Honestly I'm just amazed we could talk to them at all." The Chief commented.
"Now's not the time for that," General Herb told them, "I need you all focused on your mission. Crack the seals on those pods and bring our bots online."
"Uh let me do that," The scientist said, getting up from the control seat which prompted everyone to hold their breath, including Chillax but she said, "Oh it's on auto-pilot you dopes."
Chillax blinked and shook his head and put his scouter on. Immediately it sprang to life with warnings and readings prompting him to comment, "It's amazing how effective that tree's fruit is. The operator said there were no Arcosians on the world, but there are scores of Arcosian-like power levels."
"What?" His father arched an eyebrow, "I didn't know they'd begun feeding the fruit to the rank and file . . . no wonder that operator thought he could be so disrespectful."
"Is it going to be a problem for us?" Prage asked, not having a scouter of his own.
Chillax shook his head, "Not unless we have to fight them all. Just keep focused on the mission and we should be fine."
"Something's not right . . ." Konpeito commented, "I sense power exceeding what the scouter is reporting . . ."
"That's the tree isn't it?" Soda asked cautiously, but Konpeito didn't need to tell any of them how silly that question was, not even Soda.
Konpeito had been the one to tell them that the power they felt was the tree, obviously, he'd know the difference between the tree's might and whatever it was the scouter wasn't reporting.
The scientist piped up telling them, "Maybe that's just my little friends here. Rise . . . rise my creations!" She cried with a laugh as the three earthlings emerged from their cylindrical tubes.
Though to call them Earthlings might have been a bit of a stretch, Chillax had to admit. One of them seemed typical enough as far as Earthlings went, but another was tiny with purple skin and another was enormous with more of a silver complexion.
Well, it makes sense, Chillax thought, after all, if I could make a robot of my own design I wouldn't make it look like a typical Earthling either.
The three newcomers exchanged looks that Chillax didn't particularly like any more than he liked the fact that he couldn't read their power on the scouter.
Or sense them, which meant he already knew what Konpeito was going to say when the old Iwatian warned them, "It's not them."
"Great . . ." Avaug sighed passing Prage his scouter, "You take it, I don't even want to know."
Chillax forced a cocky smirk and slapped Avaug on the shoulder, "Come on, no fear. You only die once, after all."
"Typically . . ." Frigus said dryly as the ship made its final approach.
Chillax allowed himself to be silently impressed by the Earthling vessel's auto-pilot capabilities until the scientist rushed forward saying, "I better take over for this bit unless we want to crash and burn!"
The young Arcosian shook his head and began to mentally prepare himself for what was to come, closing his eyes and looking inward for peace and clarity before the battle.
"Well, that's something you don't see every day . . ." Tathy commented, prompting him to open his eyes and look out the ship's front-facing window at whatever it was the slime-girl was seeing.
"What in the name of Arcoss is that?" Frigus demanded.
Chillax had no answer to offer, the scene before them was one of chaos as they came to land in the starport.
The landing pad the scientist had chosen was fine—for the moment at least—but the base bellow was in chaos.
PTO soldiers seemed to be embroiled in some sort of civil war firing blasters and energy beams on one another and on . . . the plants?
It took Chillax a moment to realize the plants were moving, shambling mounds of vegetation lashing out and attacking not seeming to care which side in the conflict they engaged—that was if there were sides to begin with. Chillax could barely tell what was going on.
"By the gods!" Konpeito gasped, "They've gone mad!"
"This may be good for us," General Herb commented, "we might be able to reach the tree in all the confusion."
"We won't be the first," Frigus said archly.
"What do you-" Chillax began until he noticed the enormous power levels his scouter reported in the trees upper branches.
It was a monstrous power, even greater than what Chillax would have imagined the Frost Twins might have achieved, so his first thought was that perhaps it was the two of them together and the scouter was misreporting their strength.
But he knew he wasn't that lucky.
There was silence in the ship as those with scouters all quietly considered whether or not to break the news to their companions but it was finally Soda who removed her own scouter and said, "Fighting's not all about numbers, Trunks says so himself and his numbers are better than anybody's."
He wasn't feeling completely certain himself, but Chillax followed her lead and told the others, "Come on team, we didn't come all this way for nothing, we have a mission to accomplish."
"And you've got help after all," the scientist commented, indicating her three Androids who still hadn't spoken a word but were watching the scene from the window with thinly veiled amusement. "As the General says, it could work out to our advantage if there's so much confusion in the base."
"All right team," Tathy cried, "let's make like a tree and-"
"Don't you dare finish that," Chillax warned her as the hatch to the ship opened up and he jumped out.
"But I wasn't going to say 'leaf!" Tathy cried in protest.
"I know!" Chillax called back, noticing as he emerged that the control tower was a burning mess and thinking, Well, it looks like you won't be punishing that operator after all, Admiral. But what the blazes have we just walked into?
Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z
High above the surface of the Earth and above even the Lookout—since Dende had asked that they politely not damage the place—two golden lights clashed again and again.
Like bolts of lightning, they arced through the air striking in flashes accompanies by thunderous noise, their power turning the sky around them dark so that anyone on the earth below might well have thought a thunderstorm truly was the cause of all the ruckus.
Of course, the reality was simply two Super Saiyans sparring, and Trunks could barely suppress his grin.
Cauli was aggressive to begin with. Now with the strength and speed of a Super Saiyan, her flurry combos were harder to evade and when they landed her punches were strong enough for Trunks to actually feel them.
Not very hard, but he could feel them . . . more-so than the light tapping every other blow felt like at least.
He was only using the first stage of Super Saiyan to spar with her, the existence of the next level would have to be a lesson for another time and Trunks wasn't interested in over-dominating and crushing his student's spirit.
Though his main focus was on Cauliflora he did still hear when Kibito commented to the Supreme Kai, "These Saiyans seem to consider battle just as good as a handshake it seems."
The Supreme Kai chuckled and said, "Perhaps, but if we're going to face Babidi and Majin Buu I can think of worse allies to have. In just a year her power has increased magnificently."
Trunks didn't miss the slight smirk that crept on Cauli's face at that, letting him know she'd overheard them too, so he delivered a quick uppercut to her chin to remind her to stay focused.
"It's the power of this Super Saiyan form they're taking." Kibito commented, "Without it, they're just typical mortals."
"Perhaps . . ." The Supreme Kai said doubtfully.
Trunks decided he'd give Kibito something to be impressed by.
As Cauli recovered from the uppercut he began to gather the energy for a Galick Gun and seeing that he could sense she was gathering her strength for her signature Alpha Strike.
Both combatants stopped suddenly when the Supreme Kai of Time let out a shrill whistle that caught both their attention.
Looking to her the small supreme being called out to them, "Don't you think it's about time you headed to Frago, Trunks? Before you break the Earth I mean."
Trunks laughed sheepishly. He nodded to Cauli and the two descended towards the surface of the lookout where their audience awaited.
Brassica smirked at her younger self and said, "I'm sure you would have finished him with that."
"Don't patronize me, old gal," Cauli said with a grin and though the comment had sounded rather harsh to Trunks, Brassica threw her head back and laughed.
"Just thinking of your ego, young lady," The elder Saiyan told her.
"Right, anyway," Chronoa said, "if I'm not too far off those Royal Elites should have reached Frago by now. Since we don't know for sure what they're going to run into it probably isn't good to leave them alone for too long."
"I agree," Trunks said, "when Turles and I went back in time to that world it was a challenge. The planet's sentient life-forms are difficult to detect, and they're dangerous."
To most, anyway, Trunks thought, then scolded himself.
He knew thanks to the excitement of being Super Saiyan his temperament was a little more arrogant than he usually liked and knew he'd need to make an effort to dial it back as he looked to Kibito and asked, "Are you ready, sir?"
Kibito grunted and took a step towards Trunks when Cauli said, "Hey, let me go too!"
"Huh?" Kibito blinked.
"Let me really stretch my legs as a Super Saiyan, Prince Trunks!" Cauli pleaded, "Let me help on this mission!"
Trunks smiled and shrugged, "Sure, I suppose it can't hurt to have another Super Saiyan along for the adventure. What about you, Brassica?"
"I'll let you kids take care of this one," Brassica said dryly.
Kibito seemed irritated, but he didn't say anything.
The Supreme Kai smiled and, likely for his attendant's benefit, said, "Of course having a second Super Saiyan will help the mission get done faster so you can return to my service even sooner, Kibito."
"Of course, Supreme Kai . . . that is if you wouldn't I rather just leave them and return."
"Nonsense," Shin said, "with the situation as it is I'd feel better knowing you're there to bring Trunks back to Earth at a moment's need."
The tall Kibito bowed low to his master and said, "If that's your wish, Supreme Kai."
Rising he turned to Trunks and Cauli, holding an arm out towards either of them and saying, "When you're ready then, Super Saiyans."
Trunks asked Cauli, "Are you sure you want to come along? You've had a full year of training, after all. I would understand if you need a rest. Don't let the power of Super Saiyan go to your head."
Cauli grinned wolfishly, "I took naps in the time chamber, don't worry about me! Besides the last time that I saw one of those big trees I didn't really get to enjoy it."
Trunks smiled and nodded, "All right then. When you're ready, Kibito sir."
Kibito gave him a look that clearly showed calling him 'sir' wasn't being taken as the honorific Trunks was intending it as, so he made a mental note to stop.
However, the large and silent Kibito said nothing as Cauli and Trunks each placed a hand on one of his arms and in the blink of an eye, the three of them were on another world.
Trunks had been to Frago before, it had been a lush forest world then and as he arrived now he could still smell the scent of a flourishing forest . . .
But he could also smell fire and blood.
An explosion shook the ground around and the Super Saiyan took stock of his surroundings.
They were in the air above a small city of some sort. Trunks realized it must be the PTO's base and he could tell it must have seen better days.
At first, he thought the PTO must be falling prey to the native life on the planet but quickly he realized they were fighting each other as well, and his sharp Saiyan eyes spotted the reason.
"No . . ." Kibito gasped.
"What is it?" Cauli asked.
"Babidi . . . he must be here," Trunks told her, "because his mark is on the forehead of a lot of those PTO soldiers."
"This is good isn't it?" Cauli asked him, "We can get him here and now!"
Kibito grumbled, "We might if his servants let us get close . . . but how can we find him on a world like this?"
"You can't sense him?" Trunks asked, and Kibito shook his head, forcing Trunks to admit to himself that he wasn't sure if he could either.
Not with the planet as teeming with strange power levels as it was, and the fighting in the spaceport.
He chose instead to focus on his people's power levels, looking for Soda's or Chillax's since they were the strongest and most familiar to him.
But it was Cauli who said, "The tree! They're at the tree!"
"What? Who is?" Kibito asked urgently, "Do you sense Babidi?"
"I don't know," Cauli told him, "I just know the strongest powers I can sense are,"
"At the tree!" She and Trunks said together.
Kibito seemed uncertain and asked, "Is that big one a friend of yours?"
"Worried?" Cauli asked, not actually answering the question likely because she, like Trunks, couldn't be sure herself.
The power felt familiar . . . and yet unfamiliar as well.
Kibito scoffed and said, "I'm not worried. But if that power belongs to one of Babidi's minions then it's a good chance it's where he is, after all, I don't think he'd let his strongest servant stray far."
"Then to the tree it is." Trunks said and the three of them flew as fast as they could, ignoring the chaos and carnage beneath them.
As they drew near Trunks could see the skies around the tree had darkened and the ripple of power in the air was oppressive even to him.
The energy of the tree itself, vibrant and full of life rather than old and decrepit or dying as it had been when he'd been in its presence in Goulder's past was immense.
So was the power of the beings fighting in its branches.
Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z
In the courtyard of CCHQ various gathered members of the EDF watched as the skies began to clear.
They knew that what they'd just witnessed hadn't been a storm, at least Rhyce knew.
Everyone was proficient in sensing energy by now, but what an energy they'd sensed.
There was Master Trunks, they were used to that, but he was using more of his power than they were used to and his opponent—Rhyce was pretty sure it was Cauli—had warranted it.
With her in the courtyard were Schip, Anavill, Pastel, and Bocan, her brother Gurein and Kodva having gone to the lookout. Of the Saiyans Rhyce really wasn't sure where Turles or the Evil Twins were, probably training she supposed with their own might drowned out by that of Trunks and Cauli, but Kor, Routz, Sharro and Tell were all there.
Beeta had gone off with the elites of course. Okran, Lamson and Brock would be at the lookout and Quash . . . actually, Rhyce wasn't really sure where Quash was, and she didn't particularly care, the portly Saiyan rarely involved himself with the rest of them.
The nomad girl felt a shudder go through her entire body and she turned to her gathered companions and told them, "I know you all felt that."
"No, we're standin' on the lawn staring up at the sky all slack-jawed hoping to catch snowflakes on our tongues," Bocan told her with a wink.
"It's not even snowing . . ." Kor commented.
"It . . . it was sarcasm," Pastel said apologetically, "I'd say he's usually better at it but that'd be a lie."
"Never mind all that," Rhyce said, "didn't that do anything for any of you?"
"What, you mean like . . . psychologically? Because sure, I'm a little bit scared, I'll admit," Schip told them.
Rhyce said, "I mean . . . we should be training right now."
"What?" Schip gawked, "That's what that made you think? You think one quick training session and you can match that?"
"I think we'll never come close if we don't keep pushing ourselves and trying," Rhyce said, "we were supposed to battle in a tournament to show off what we'd learned but look how much Cauli's progressed in a single day!"
"To be fair," Telluce began but Rhyce waved a hand to silence him.
It seemed mostly to confuse him, but that still generated the desired outcome for Rhyce who carried on telling them all, "Magic time rooms aside we have a gravity chamber."
"But Cauli and Prince Trunks aren't just fighting as themselves you know," Sharro pointed out, "even those of us with tails can't go Super Saiyan, and the closest you Earthlings can achieve is that . . . that red aura thing and only a few of you know how to do it."
"Not to mention it doesn't even come close," Routz added helpfully.
"Very nice. Ever think of taking up a career in motivational speaking?" Rhyce asked, rolling her eyes. "I'm not saying we need to achieve that today. I'm just saying we shouldn't be standing around in awe of it. Master Trunks felt like he needed more Super Saiyans for whatever fight's coming, but that doesn't mean the rest of us should just stand around! We're the EDF, we're heroes too so let's act like it!"
"Have you ever considered a career in motivational speaking?" Anavill asked her with a smile.
Rhyce blushed, but to her surprise, Telluce spoke up and said, "She's right, we can't be so relaxed when we know another fight is coming. Even if we're behind the best there's no reason to lay about like a bunch of also-ran losers."
"Well knock yourselves out then," Bocan said with a shrug, but Pastel put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from walking off.
She pointed out, "I don't know where you think you're going, after all, you've just proven the same as everyone else here that you've got nothing better to do but 'stare up at the sky all slack-jawed' as you so eloquently put it, Red Leader."
"Red Leader?" Bocan raised an eyebrow.
"Well you are a team leader, so I guess that means you ought to . . . I dunno, train us or something." Pastel shrugged, "I mean since Master Trunks and Master Roshi aren't here."
Bocan gave them all a look that suggested he wasn't thrilled with the idea, but after a look from Pastel that Rhyce was pretty sure she'd hoped no one else noticed—she she'd pretend she didn't—and a very long sigh he cracked his knuckles and said, "I guess . . . doesn't look like it's going to snow anyway. All right then, come on everyone . . . let's stop acting like sidekicks and practice our side kicks."
That earned a collective groan from the group, but they did start following Bocan into the building and towards the elevator that led to the gravity training room.
To Be Continued . . .
On the Next Exciting Episode of Dragon Ball COED . . . Are Babidi's escapades on Frago about to come to a premature end? Will he have to face the might of two Super Saiyans, the Earth King's Royal Elite, and a band of Androids to boot? Or does the little wizard have a trick or two up his sleeve? What kind of powerful beings has the wizard managed to call to his side to defend the Tree of Might? Find out next time on Dagon Ball COED!
