Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Strange Duet ❯ Second Movement ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Strange Duet Second Movement

A few minutes after Goku left, Bulma back at the arrived at the medical ward to find the blue creature sitting on the bed she had left him on, rubbing his head and looking about the room as if it was completely confused. When he saw Bulma he gawked at her as if she was the single strangest creature he had ever beheld. She decided it would be best to introduce herself (politely, as he had already broken his restraints, and she didn't have quite as much faith in Gohan's ability to 'help' as Goku) before proceeding with anything else.

"Hi, My name is Bulma, and place this is the Capsule Corporation Headquarters, what's your name?" She said in her most sweet and non-threatening voice.

The creature stopped staring, but looked no less confused. "My name is Machia, and I am…ah… very pleased to meet you…this may sound strange, but can you tell me if I'm dead?"

Bulma blinked at the question for a few seconds before answering: "Um, I don't think so."

"I thought not. Could you tell me what happened to the Saiyajin, by that I mean the muscular man with the spiky hair and the orange outfit?" 'And why he brought me here instead of just killing me.' He added silently

"You mean Goku? He left just a few minutes ago…" Bulma remembered what it was that she had come rushing up here for. "Say, are you hungry or anything?" The alien nodded, "I am, but aren't you afraid of the Saiyajin coming back?" Bulma blinked at the response. "Why would I be afraid of Goku? I've known him all of his life?" An idea struck her.

She walked up to Machia and held the printout for him to see. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know what all this is would you?" she said. "It's writing, in the Saiyajin language," he replied. It says 'Kakaratto, third class, son of Bardock and Caula, also of the third class'. Kakaratto, what a strange name for a Saiyajin…hmmm here it says something that I cannot read, the characters are in archaic Saiyajin writing, which is odd. Birth date, this is eight days before the Saiyajin home world was destroyed! I did not know the Saiyajin sent them out when they were that young! Last, below the birth date are the coordinates of the planet he was sent to before the Saiyajin home-world was destroyed." He examined the coordinates for a moment to see if the planet was any he knew of. His eyes widened as the realization struck. 'But that's this very world!' he thought, 'But it seems this planet's original inhabitants are still here. It's impossible that a Saiyajin as powerful as him would take over twenty years to purge a world like this, without there even being any evidence of one happening. So why hasn't the Saiyajin carried out his mission?'

********

Later, Bulma led Gohan and Machia to the kitchen to get him something to eat. She had offered to let him stay in bed, because he probably still needed rest, but he had declined. Apparently, there was some kind of etiquette custom where he was from that you could only eat where the host ate if you were a guest in an unfamiliar household. He had insisted, even though Bulma had told him it wasn't necessary. Bulma figured that since he was away from home, it would probably make him feel more at ease to act like he did when he was wherever it was he came from.

Once there, they found that was some vegetable stew and freshly baked bread that Bulma's mother had prepared earlier that evening. The stew needed reheating, though. As they were waiting for it to finish microwaving Bulma asked casually what had brought him here, and why he had felt the need to attack Goku.

He thought for a moment and said, "I came here looking for the Saiyajin that slaughtered my people; but now I think that I must have made a mistake. This 'Goku' can not possibly be the same monster that destroyed Vellia, my home." Machia watched Gohan as he sat on the kitchen counter and absently kicked his legs against the cabinet doors, waiting for dinner to be ready. 'He is most defiantly a Saiyajin, but his even his very aura is different than the one I sensed on Vellia. His son is the same way. Neither of them are vicious killers to say the least." He watched as Bulma poured the stew into three bowls. "However, I still do not understand what it was that made him turn out so different from his kin. Perhaps it is because he is missing his tail…"

Then there was a loud knock at the door, a 'boom, boom' sound and a terrible loud screeching voice rose from the other side of the door that led to the backyard. "GOOOKU," it screeched, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? WHERE'S GOHAN, HE HAS SCHOOL TOMORROW!" The 'boom, boom' pounding on the door grew even louder. Bits of plaster fell from the ceiling and the door swung open. It revealed and enraged-looking human female, eyes bulging and fists clenched in rage.

Gohan gulped "Mama?"

********

It was sunset. Son Goku leaned against a wall in a small town not far from where he had summoned Shenlong. After the dragon had left, he had come here, simply to watch the people going about their day-to-day activities. He saw people shopping, going on dates, having fun with their family and friends, going about errands, and a few that appeared to be doing absolutely nothing, just as he was.

'All of this, all of these people'

He saw a young girl, no more than six years old, walking with her mother. She was holding her mother's hand and chattering about what had gone on in school that day.

'Should be dead'

After the mother and daughter had passed by, a group of teenagers walked by, talking loudly with one another and laughing. Behind them was a middle-aged man talking on his cell phone, oblivious to anything but the conversation.

'If I had not fell and lost my memory, all of this would be gone, and it would be because of me.'

Goku saw in his mind's eye the image of Freeza, laughing as he reduced the Saiyajin homeworld to dust. 'Most of the Saiyajin were not planet purgers …not until Freeza came along. He's terrible, worse than anyone else I've ever faced before. He destroys all that he sees fit with no regard to anything save his own whims. I can't just allow him to keep on doing it; I have to find a way to defeat him.' He thought of the to scaly monsters that had killed his brother. 'I should avenge him. I can't let them get away with killing him for no reason like that, even if he was a bad guy, he was still my brother.'

A vision of the last thing the dragon had shown him flashed before his mind, along with the words the blue alien who had started all of this had said just a few hours ago '"The last of your foul race, save your damned prince" maybe I should leave. If I did I could be with my prince, Vegeta.' thought Goku. 'I wonder if I should go find him; I bet he's lonely, with no other Saiyajin to talk to.'

'But no, that's silly, I can't. This is my home. I belong here. My friends and family live here. There's no way I can just go out into space looking for people I have no idea how to find. I don't even know where I could find a spaceship. I am still Son Goku, the same man I was yesterday.

Goku stepped away from the wall, turned and went down a secluded alleyway. He looked around to make sure no one would see him before he slowly levitated up into the sky. He felt the wind, smelled the fresh air of summer, and looked up at the multicolored sky with the sun peeking halfway out of the mountains in the distance. Goku began to fly back to Capsule Corp. He flew at a leisurely pace, not in any particular hurry. He saw dense forests of deep green, bustling cities, and beautiful green fields where he could sense the small woodland creatures as they went about their daily business. Son Goku sighed to himself, 'This is my home, no matter what.' he thought.

********

Goku landed on the lawn at Capsule Corp. Headquarters, and the first thing he heard was loud shouting and crashes coming from the kitchen. He could distinctly make out the voices of Chichi and of Bulma. Normally, he would be able to make out their words at this distance, but both woman were shouting at the same time, and he couldn't quite understand what they where saying. Goku knew in his heart that he was about to get an earful, and probably end of sleeping on the couch tonight. 'Here goes nothing,' he thought.

He opened the door to behold a scene of chaos. The kitchen table was overturned, there were pieces of broken dishes everywhere, food was splattered on the walls, and from behind the table Goku could see the tip of his son's tail, poofed up like a bottlebrush. He was clearly very upset. The alien was standing in a defensive posture in the corner, a look of complete horror on his face. He looked pretty upset too. In the center of the room, Bulma and Chichi stood nose-to-nose, hands balled up into fists, and faces red with rage. It looked like they had been going at it for a while. Nobody had taken any notice of him as of yet. Goku put on his best 'brightly cheerful' face and said, "Hey everybody, how's it going?"

Both ladies abruptly stopped their catfight and glared at him. The alien began edging over to take shelter behind the table with Gohan. Chichi narrowed her eyes into the most impressive death glare he had ever seen her give him, and she had given him a lot of death glares. She stomped up to him, pointed her index finger into his face, and shrieked, "YOU!"

Goku didn't really understand much of what was said after that; because Chichi was far beyond the point of caring about piddling things like whether or not she was being understood. This was the angriest Goku had ever seen her in his entire life. For the next twenty or so minutes all Goku could catch were snippets like "worried sick", "house empty, dragon balls gone", "Irresponsible", "find you gallivanting with freaks", "why I bother I don't know" and various obscenities.

Finally Goku managed to get a word in. "Calm down Chichi, there's no need to overreact. I-"

Chichi cut him off before he could finish. "Overreact? OVERREACT? I have had it with you and your damn flighty attitude! You have no idea what it means to settle down and be a responsible family man! I'm taking Gohan and I am going home! If I ever see you again it will be TOO SOON! Come on, Gohan we're leaving!" Chichi turned in time to see that Gohan had fled the room in terror. Frustrated, Chichi stormed out at the door and slammed it behind her. For a full thirty seconds nobody moved or made a sound as they listened to Chichi's air-car as it flew off. Goku turned to Bulma, put his hand behind his head in his trademark manner, and said, "Umm, Bulma it looks like me and Gohan are going to need a place to stay until Chichi cools down, is it ok if we stay here?"

Bulma smiled at her longtime friend. "Sure, Goku. You know you're always welcome here. I'll go and get the guest rooms ready for you guys"

Goku smiled back and said, "Thanks Bulma, its really great of you to take us in like that on such short notice. I hope I can make it up to you sometime." He pointed at Machia, still behind the kitchen table. "While your gone I need to have a talk with this guy, is that alright?"

"Sure thing, I'll come back here when everything's ready. You guy's hang out and here and talk, I'll send some worker robots to try and clean up this mess while I'm at it. Be right back!" She waved and then left the other two to themselves so that they could sort out whatever issues they had which led to the day's earlier events.

When Bulma was gone, Goku dropped his cheerful facade. He sighed and leaned against the kitchen counter and said, "You can come out from behind there now, Chichi's gone and I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm sorry about what happened earlier today, you were right about me being a Saiyajin; I just didn't know it because I lost my memory. I had to use the dragon balls because I didn't want to believe you."

He saw Machia's confusion. "Ah, you don't know about those; they're theses seven balls that you gather together, and you get to make any wish you want. I wished to know about my family and heritage, and the dragoon told me. Actually, I think what really happened was the damage I got from my head injury was fixed and I learned about what became of my family. They're all dead now, but my brother died not long too ago, so he might have been the one who destroyed your planet. I'm sorry."

Machia stared at the Saiyajin in disbelief as he leaned against the counter with his arms crossed and stared straight ahead of him. "Let me get this straight," he said. "You thought you were an Earthling before I came along and told you otherwise, correct?" Goku nodded. "And what are you going to do now, go and join the rest of your kind?"

Goku looked down at his boots for a moment and said nothing. Then he slowly turned his head to look at Machia and said, "I-I can't. They have to work for Freeza now. I'm nowhere near strong enough to beat him right now. Right now to join the rest of my kind means to go and serve Freeza. The dragon showed me just a glimpse of him, but it was enough. I won't my life as a pawn of a monster like him."

Machia nodded. "Very well, thank you for telling me this. I'm glad that we have been able to come to an understanding, Kakaratto."

Goku regained his usual cheerful exterior. "That's okay, just call me Goku, alright? I'm gonna go and see if I can find where Gohan ran off to so we can have some dinner. I hope all the food didn't get ruined when Chichi and Bulma had that big fight, 'cause I'm starving!" With that, Goku walked out of the kitchen with the sound of his rumbling stomach following him as he went.

Machia watched him as he left. 'Something just is not right, he thought, there is something he is hiding from me. I do not know why, but some part my intuition insists that something is about to go wrong. If only I could place what!'

********

That night, Goku tucked his son into his bed, assuring him that Daddy would be just across the hall if Gohan should need him. It had taken quite a bit of time to calm Gohan down after he had finally found him hiding inside of a new model hover-car that Dr. Briefs was working on. Eventually, he had managed to coax him out of there and soothe his frazzled nerves. It had always scared Gohan when him and Chichi had a fight, but this one had been a doozy so it had scared him especially bad.

Gohan gazed up at his father sleepily. "Tell me a story, Daddy," he said sleepily.

"Okay then son, what story would you like to hear?" Goku asked

"I dunno," Gohan yawned. "Somethin' I haven't heard before."

Goku considered his son for a moment, wondering if the story he was thinking of was really a good idea or not. After a few seconds he said, "Okay then, how about I tell you about the story of the Legendary Super Saiyajin? Once upon a time there was a great Saiyajin warrior named who was really strong…"

********

Time passed by, and Son Goku was still residing with his son at Capsule
Corp.

Machia had apparently decided to settle there, as well. He had been
convinced that Goku was not the Saiyajin he had been looking for, but Machia
still had his misgivings, and decided to keep an eye on him. He knew, in any
case, that his screaming, black-haired demon of a mate was definitely
dangerous. Briefly, he had pondered what exactly would posses someone to
mate with such a creature. He decided that it was either the desire to find
a mate similar in nature to a Saiyajin, he hadn't known her true nature when
he first mated to her, or possibly extreme alcohol excess. Machia decided it
would be prudent to stay away from her no matter what the circumstances. Far
away.

In spite of what he thought of either of his parents, Machia found that he
had something of a fondness for Gohan. The child seemed both intelligent and
polite, both of which traits were considered highly desirable in Vellian
society. He spent most of his day with him, playing games and teaching him
what he knew of interplanetary customs and traditions, as well as some
mathematic and scientific theorems he doubted were widely known on the
Earth. Ironically, Gohan was learning more from him during his stay at
Capsule Corp. than he had under his mother's tyrannical supervision.

Bulma's mother and father were both delighted to have Goku and Gohan staying
with them. Bulma's mother was always too happy to cook all of the necessary
food to sustain two Saiyajin, and Dr. Briefs needed Goku's help to test a
machine that he was working on that increased gravity inside of a
specialized room. Both of Bulma's parents had inexplicably come to the
conclusion that Machia was a stray cat that Bulma had picked up somewhere.
They insisted on calling him 'kitty', despite the fact that Bulma pointed it
out to them that he was bipedal, bright blue, and could talk. Machia, for
his part, assumed it was a rather odd earth custom, and in any case didn't
want to offend the Brief family because they were his hosts. He needed to
stay at Capsule Corp. because that was where Goku was.

Goku enjoyed the time he his stay at Capsule Corp. because it gave him an
opportunity to think without anyone interrupting him. For the last year, he
had found that he felt some kind of unnamable discontent with his life. He
had a loving wife, a nice home, everything, but he could not shake the
feeling that something was out of place in his life. True, the occasional
evildoer would come looking for trouble, and this would give him a nice
challenge, but that wasn't what his life lacked. It didn't shake the
feeling that something was absent from his life. It was like he felt lonely
or something. He could not understand why. His discontent had begun to
become more and more apparent, and Chichi could not abide by it. She had
wanted a family man, a husband that would come home after work at the office
and read the newspaper, not one that would not go off looking for
dragonballs and go wander around looking for 'strong guys' to fight. She
wanted a normal man who was happy living a normal life.

At first he had thought that maybe if he spent some time away from it all
and had some time to think he could straighten things out. Twice he had
called her to come over to talk things over, and both times there had been a
huge scene like on the night Goku summoned the dragon. On the third time,
their fight had caused such a disturbance that the police had been called.
It had not been pretty. After that, Goku realized that things where no
longer reconcilable between him and Chichi. The week after the incident with
the police, Goku went and got a divorce. The judge had been very good about
giving him custody once he was aware of Chichi's behavior the week before.
It pained him to do it, as he felt that it was his fault somehow, but he
didn't know what else to do.

********

Goku decided to go to the kitchen and see if Mrs. Brief had finished cooking
dinner yet. When he got there, he saw that she hadn't completely finished
yet, but there was a plate of freshly baked brownies and that was almost as
good. Goku decided to have about six of seven of them to tide him over until
dinner was ready. He got himself a glass of milk and munched away. As he
ate, he began to absently scratch his tail scar.

"What are you doing?" came a voice from behind him. It was Bulma.

"Eating," he replied around a mouthful of brownie. Bulma glared at him.

"No, I want to know why you're scratching yourself. It's rude."

Goku frowned. "I'm sorry, Bulma, it's just that the place where my tail used
to be has been really itchy lately. I guess I wasn't thinking about what I
was doing."

"Itchy?" said Bulma.

He brushed the brownie crumbs off of his gi. "Call me when dinner's ready.
I'm gonna go find Gohan and find out what it is he's up to. See ya!"

"Ohhhhh, hello, kitty!" squealed Mrs. Briefs as she saw Machia enter the
room. As Mrs. Briefs scratched his chin and cooed about what a darling
little kitty he was, Bulma poured herself a mug of coffee and walked off
towards the living room. There, she plopped down on the couch to watch her
favorite soap opera "As the Sun Sets". Machia entered the room and sat down
on the couch with her.

"I would like to ask you something," he said

"What is it?" asked Bulma.

"When I was recovering from the injury that gave me this scar, I remember it
itched terribly as it healed. I am not familiar with Earthling physiology,
nor with that of a Saiyajin. I heard you and the Saiyajin, Goku that is,
talking about it before. His tail scar, I mean. I was wondering if he ever
complained of his flesh itching as it healed before? I am afraid that his
tail may be about to regenerate."

Bulma wasn't nearly as disturbed by the idea. "Goku's tail always seemed to
just regenerate randomly before, but I don't remember being close to him
right before it grew back before. There's nothing to be worried about,
though. There's not a moon for them to transform with. Besides, Gohan has
always had his tail and he's just fine."

"It's not as simple as that," Machia replied. "A Saiyajin's tail is not just
an ordinary appendage. It does far more than allow it to transform at the
full moon. I have read documents of studies proving that Saiyajin, which
have had their tails removed, are less powerful and aggressive. I also have
heard it said that the glands at the tail's base are necessary for many
things, and that the true scope of its functions are not apparent until
after puberty. I distinctly remember you saying a few days ago that Son Goku
lost his tail many years ago, before he reached puberty. Therefore, the fact
that he seemed 'normal' to you as a child means nothing. We have no way of
knowing what change would occur in him if he to regain his tail. Young Gohan
is only a child, and a hybrid at that, so I doubt the effect is as apparent
in him." He looked her in the eyes and said in a low, worried, voice, "It
may be that if and when that tail of his regenerates that we will have an
entirely different kind of Saiyajin on our hands. He would be very
dangerous, then, especially now that he knows the truth of who and what he
is." He laid his ears back and sighed, "If I had never come here, he
wouldn't know and that wouldn't be a problem. I've gone and turned a
peaceful Earthling into a Saiyajin."

Bulma slammed her coffee cup down and glared at him. "Look, buddy. I don't
care what you think, Goku would never-"

"Are you so sure?" he asked. "And exactly how much are you willing to bet?"
*********

That night Goku had a strange dream. He was running in a deep jungle,
chasing after something. The moon was full and the night sky was a deep red.
He could smell the fear coming off of his prey. He could hear it as it
gasped for breath and the little cries it would make when it stumbled. He
knew that it was growing tired, and that soon it would be too weary to run.
Then the hunt would be over, and the prey would be his. 'If only I had
someone to hunt alongside of me. Then this would be perfect,' he thought.

He pushed himself to run faster, and pounced on the helpless victim. 'Yes,
perfect.'

Goku awoke to a face-full carpet and the buzz of the alarm clock. 'I must
have fell off the bed,' he thought. He rolled over onto his back and was
greeted by a blinding surge of pain on his backside that ran all the way up
his spine. Goku jumped to his feet in surprise and rubbed the place that had
hurt. It was still pretty sore there. His tail scar seemed to extend farther
out than usual, a lot farther in fact, and he could feel a furry something
brush past his right leg. He froze in pure shock. 'My tail! I have my tail
back!'

*********

Bulma would later muse to herself that it had been such a peaceful morning,
too. She had been sipping coffee and reading the business section of the
newspaper when Goku had come running in yelling his head off about his tail.
It took some doing, but Bulma managed to calm him down enough to understand
that he had awoken to find himself with a tail again, and that it was sore
at the base, but the rest of his tail was okay. Bulma guessed that it had to
do with the tail glands that Machia mentioned. Apparently, since they hadn't
been active before, they were working overtime to get Goku's system to where
it should be, and that was what was causing the discomfort. She told Goku
this, and it seemed to calm him somewhat. He told her that he was glad it
had grown back; he just didn't feel right without it. She asked him if he
wanted her to take a look at it later, to see if there might be anything
wrong; he said no. Afterwards, Goku said that he was going to go and wake up
Gohan and left. Bulma simply watched him leave the kitchen and then went
back to her morning paper.

*********

"What is wrong with you? How can you be so calm?"

A few hours after Bulma had left the kitchen to go and work on the SM00015,
Machia had come running in screaming that the Saiyajin had regrown his tail,
that his worst fear had come true, and generally acting like a chicken with
its head cut off, in Bulma's opinion. When Bulma had voiced her lack of
concern, he had lost it.

"Every time I come to you and try to warn you, you act as if it's nothing!
'Oh, don't worry about the bloodthirsty, violent, murdering, warmongering
alien! We've known him forever! I'm SURE he won't kill us! Oh, tra la la
la!' How, for the love of the stars, did your species get such a high
population when none of you have any sense whatsoever? No, tell me, I want
to know!"

Bulma could tell he was going to go on like this for a while if she didn't
take any evasive action. He sure was acting all know-it-all and
condescending about the whole thing. 'Well pardon me for not betraying my
best friend the first second some alien comes toddling along ranting and
raving at me,' she thought sarcastically. Bulma watched him storm about the
room, gesticulating wildly and shouting. 'The way he's yelling, I bet Goku
can hear every word he says plain as day. Heh, I should tell him that, give
him a bit of a scare.'

"You know," she said, "I've known Goku for quite a while now, almost fifteen
years. We're pretty close, almost like brother and sister. I know him well
enough to know that he can hear pretty good. I bet he's heard every single
word you've said since you came in here bawling about his tail growing
back." Bulma leaned back in her chair and put her hands behind her head in a
relaxed gesture. "I hope he doesn't get too mad at all the nasty things
you've said to me today. I mean, what with that nasty temper he's supposed
to have and all."

Machia looked at Bulma lounging in her computer chair with a mixture of fear
and wonder. 'Are all of the women of this world insane? First that terrible,
screaming, one and now this. Maybe this is why the Saiyajin never finished
his mission. I would not want to face down a planet full of creatures like
these for anything.'

Bulma was grinning from ear to ear. 'Nothing like winning an argument to
start your morning out right,' she thought with satisfaction.

Machia waited for a moment to think the situation through. 'There is only
one more way to sway her. I must get her to talk to someone else that knows
the true nature of the Saiyajin. When she hears the truth from another, she
will see that I am neither mad nor deceiving her, and she will accept the
truth. The Saiyajin trusts her, I know this. I will need to use that trust
to destroy the Saiyajin and prevent him from causing any suffering before he
can get the chance. She does not know the true gravity of this situation
yet, but it is my duty to make her understand. I set things wrong by turning
the Earthling into a Saiyajin, and I will set them right again, no matter
what the cost. This is the only way.'

He remained silent for a moment, then he looked at her with the most sincere
and entreating look he could muster. "Please forgive me for my outburst
before. It was wrong of me to take my frustration out on you. I am sorry,
but you must understand that I only want to help you. I have seen the
destruction that a Saiyajin of lesser power than Goku can create. I cannot
stand to see it happen again. Surely you understand why I am still afraid,
even though you have assured me that there is no threat. If I could return
to my ship, I could get into contact with someone who knows far more of
Saiyajin physiology than I. He is a trader who has had contact with many
worlds and he did some business with the Saiyajin shortly before their world
was destroyed. He will be able to tell us for sure where things stand. If he
doesn't know, then he'll know of someone who will. Failing that, he owes me
enough to go and find someone should I ask."

"My spaceship is not too far form here, but it will still take at least an
hour to get to it. Please come with me. Then we will both know for
certain whether there is any danger, and we can both be at ease. Also, you
can answer any questions that I cannot. It would be better if you
accompanied me to my ship. Would you please do so?"

Bulma still felt that there was no crisis to speak of, but the prospect of
seeing a real alien spaceship was too compelling to deny. "Sure, I'd love to
see your spaceship. Just let me go get the capsule for the plane from my
room. Wait here for a sec."

********

A few minutes later they were riding in the SRP101784 deluxe airplane
(available in the Capsule Corp. catalog for 18,000 zenni) toward where
Machia had said he had left his ship. He said he had landed at a clearing in
a remote valley surrounded by mountains that were uninhabited so that if the
cloaking device had malfunctioned, it would most likely still be
undiscovered. Apparently, while it was designed to keep the ship invisible
to both radar and the naked eye indefinitely, the ship was badly in need of
repair and he had been too intent on finding the Saiyajin that killed his
people to worry with it.

They arrived at their destination, and Machia jumped out of the plane as
soon as it landed and walked a few paces toward the center of the clearing.
He said slowly and clearly in a strange tone, "J'soin ourirah rou." It was
as if the clearing was a room, and a door opened to another off-white room
some ten feet away. "The cloaking program is still running, but it only
covers the exterior of the ship, so when the door opens you can see into the
ship's interior," he explained.

They walked inside the ship, and Bulma saw that all of the interior ship was
the same off-white, save the screen at the far side, which was a very dark
blue. There was nothing in there except the screen, and a door to the left
that presumably led from the bridge to the living quarters and the rest of
the ship. Bulma saw that there appeared to be no controls anywhere and
wondered aloud why.

"All of the controls are voice operated, and keyed to the sound of one's
voice so that an intruder cannot take control of the ship," he said before
he turned to the screen and said in the same odd sounding tone. "J'sa louv
ra nea." The screen turned from dark to light blue. He continued speaking
commands to the computer and after a few moments, it answered back.

It spoke in a deep voice, one that reminded Bulma of a famous singer, but
she couldn't place which one. Machia frowned. "That is the voice of the ship
that belongs to my trader contact. It says that he isn't available right
now, but I suspect he just doesn't feel like taking calls. I-" As he spoke,
a low beeping sort of noise sounded, and alien writing in bright green
appeared on the screen.

"What's happening?" asked Bulma "Is something wrong?"

Machia laid his ears back. "An unknown ship is approaching this planet at a
great speed. It should land in just under five minutes. It'll take that long
to decipher where it's going to land. Judging by the size and speed it
might well be a planet purger pod. This is very unfortunate. I will try and
find out what's going on. You contact Son Goku and get him to come here. If
the situation turns out to be as serious as I think it is, then we'll need
to have him ready as soon as the ship lands."

Bulma nodded and headed for the built-in phone on the plane.

Machia stopped her midway. "Stop! Do not contact the Saiyajin! I know whose
ship this is!" He spoke with his back to her, staring at the screen in front
of him. His voice had a much more fearful and desperate quality to it than
before. "Yes, I know who this is. When I was searching out the Saiyajin
responsible for the slaughter of my people, I found out that there were only
two left. One is the Saiyajin known as Goku, who is here on Earth. The other
is named after the Saiyajin home world itself, Vegeta. It is said that he is
more powerful and more ruthless than can ever be imagined. He is the crown
prince of the Saiyajin, after all. I knew I could never face such a creature
in battle and live, but I found out the code of his personal pod to use for
future reference nonetheless. It is that same ship which is about to land on
this world." Slowly Machia turned and stared at Bulma with unblinking eyes.
"He is coming here. It seems the great and noble prince Vegeta has come to
pay his last subject a little visit."