DB/Z/GT: Altered History - Saga VI

[Xyex]

Alright, it's finally here. Not sure how many readers I still have around these parts, but hello again.

Some of you may have already read these first few chapters elsewhere but feel free to read them again, and to comment on them here too. Updates at the other location are on hold until the posts here catch up. And while on the topic of updates, they will be slow. I've only (yes, that's only) got 23 completed chapters for this fic so far. And that's not much, not for this story. (Yes, it's that long!) So updates will be slow to try and pace myself and prevent making you want months for a new chapter.

As a side note, my beta reader no longer has the time to beta read so expect typos to return. I do have a spell checker but that can't fix incorrect words that spelled write (that's a pun, I know, it's bad) so those may crop up. Anyway, let's get on to why you're actually in this thread, shall we?



Chapter One - Family Ties

May 2nd

Nearly seven years have passed since Cell's defeat....

The sky overhead was blocked out by thick black clouds. Low rumbles of thunder could be heard rolling over the lands in the distance. Between their deep growls the only other sound was the rain as it fell upon the leaves of the trees and the grass covered ground. It was coming down in buckets and soaking through the clothes of the two figures that stood upon the small hill, though neither really cared.

Both wore the same thing, a simple white t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and sneakers. Nothing more. They'd been standing there in the rain for almost ten minutes now, one several feet further up the hill than the other. When they'd first arrived the woman had been carrying a bouquet of flowers. Flowers of blue, red, pink, white, and yellow. Now that bouquet lay down upon the ground in front of a small white stone.

The stone was unimpressive in and of itself, the formal burial site was where the impressive and extravagant marker was. Even if there was no body at that location. She had been buried here, on her favorite hill where the flowers always grew in the spring and summer and only a few yards beyond the palace. It had been a request in the last few hours of her life that she be laid to rest here.

It had been... such a shock. So sudden and unexpected, like all the deaths that had come in the two months before and the three months after it. A terrible illness unlike anything they'd ever experienced had befallen them. The entire planet had suffered its effects, a world wide epidemic. Their already small population had taken a devastating blow.

It seemed that no one on the planet was immune to the disease. In the five months that it ran its course through the planet's population each and every one of them had gotten sick. Those who were lucky enough to survive developed a powerful resistance and immunity to it, there would be no threat of it returning to harm them. But most weren't that lucky and they died... within twenty-four hours of showing symptoms of the disease.

A population of just over four hundred thousand had been reduced, in just five months, to less than one hundred thousand. That had been over two years ago now and the population had begun to restore itself. In those two years they'd managed to climb back up over one hundred thousand again. That mile stone had just been reached just that morning. Though neither figure on the hill knew it there were currently one hundred thousand of them, exactly.

A hand rested lightly on her shoulder but she didn't notice it right away, too lost in her thoughts and memories. Then she heard a voice saying her name, though it sounded distant and foggy. A moment later it came again. "Hotaru?" Finally she turned her head over her shoulder so that her eyes met those of the man with her. "We should head back to the palace." he said. "I don't want you getting sick on me. Besides, our ship leaves soon."

She nodded. "Ok." she said, turning around completely. It had been two years but she still came to the grave once a week to offer a prayer or to just talk, let her mother know how things were going. She moved beside Yamcha, wraped her arm around his, clasped his hand in hers, and leaned her head against his shoulder as they walked.

Despite having lost her mother to the powerful illness that had swept the planet she still considered herself lucky. There were... entire families that had been destroyed and people who had lost everyone. Thankfully Sango had been off-world, as she often had been over the years, handling offical business, when the disease had struck. She'd shown no symptoms and had remained off-world and out of physical contact with anyone from Tanaria until a vaccine had been developed.

Yamcha had, much like Kavar, experienced a far less severe infection. For the Human it had merely caused a high fever, sore throat, and an inability to keep any food down for a few days. A simple IV had remedied his eating troubles and some basic medication had dulled the pain of his throat and reduced his fever.

Kavar had suffered from similar issues. However, while he'd not had any problems keeping his food down he had lost all of his hair for a couple of weeks and, out of everyone on the planet, been sick the longest. He'd also revealed the source of the illness. Taraganin histories spoke of it coinciding with the planet's steam venting. A natural process where thousands of fissures and openings across the entire planet would vent steam at random intervals for random peroids over several days as the planet released built up internal pressure.

Apparently the bacteria lay deep inside the crust where it had gone completely unnoticed by the Tanarians after their arrival. The steam venting had begun about two days before the first case of infection. And so the bacteria had been forced to the surface and had found a planet full of new creatures to make its host, to far more devastating effect than the natives.

Another thing Hotaru had to be happy about was that neither of her daughters had contracted the illness to the same degree as the Tanarian population. They'd both suffered the same symptoms as Yamcha as well as the body aches and temporary loss of vision that all the Tanarians had experienced. But their hybrid immune system had been strong enough to stave off the worst of it and both had survived.

She herself had come out pretty well, considering. She'd been hit by the illness hard, almost as hard as her mother. There had been a few times during the twenty-four hours that she'd been sick that the doctors thought they were going to lose her. She was extremely thankful for the Regen Tanks that King Vegeta had sent the year before. Without them... it was possible no one would have survived. The Tomyu Flower Extract that they used to heal injuries just wasn't effective on sicknesses.

At last the two reached the doors into the palace and made their way through the halls to the ship bay. "It'll be nice to see everyone again." Hotaru said after a moment, smiling. Sure, she'd seen everyone several times over the years but never everyone at once like this.

Yamcha nodded. "Sure will be. And I'm looking forward to the tournament. I can't wait to see how far along Krillin and Tien have come. Not to mention Gohan!"

Hotaru nodded. "And I want to see how much Vadora's improved... Hard to believe she was stronger than me at one time."

Yamcha laughed. "Yeah, well, that happens when you're, what, the second strongest person in the galaxy? I mean, at this point, the only one who could beat you would be Gohan."

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Earth:

"Oh, come on Gohan, hurry up!" Goten cried dancing back and forth on his legs. "I don't want miss the ship!"

"Relax squirt, we'll get there in plenty of time." Gohan said laughing. "I still don't know why you didn't just stay on Planet Vegeta in the first place..."

"Cause I wanted to fly back out with you guys!" he said. "Now come on, let's go!" And with that he blasted off in a streak of blue.

"Well, he sure is excited." Videl said laughing as she emerged from the Son home with a large suitcase, having offered to carry Chi-Chi's things. She'd recently cut her hair short again, in perperation for the tournament, and the breeze caught the wild tufts that jutted out here and there and blew them about.

Gohan nodded. "I think the idea of the tournament's got him really worked up. He's heard all the stories about dad entering the Budokais here so now he wants to compete too." He looked over the stuff they had out to carry. A suitcase for all of his things, one for Goten's, and one for Videl's, and one for Chi-Chi's. "Looks like everything..." he said.

"Your mom's going to meet us at the Embassy, right?" Videl asked, picking up her own suticase and lifting up off the ground.

Gohan nodded. "She went over to Capsule Corp yesterday to help Krillin and Mijima settle up things there. She's going to head to the Embassy with them. Your father should be there by now too."

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's get going." she said flying off. Gohan grabbed his and Goten's things and took off after her. The trip was made in peaceful silence... at first. They'd been flying about twenty minutes, having covered a good distance, when a blue light appeared in the distance zooming toward them. Goten was moving at full speed and reached them a moment later.

"Big brother!" he cried, pulling to a stop. "Trouble down in East Laketown!"

"What is it?" he asked, pulling to a stop and reaching out his senses.

"I dunno, I heard explosions so I got closer to look and there were a lot of energy blasts zipping around down there!"

"Here, take the suitcases." Gohan said handing the two he had over. Goten tucked one under his arm and grabbed the handle of the other, then did the same with the ones Videl had. The teen then looked over to Videl. "Ready?" she nodded and both moved off toward East Laketown. They could feel a lot of powers of varying levels coming from the city. Nothing on their scale though.

The two landed a moment later on a rooftop a few blocks from the ongoing fighting. The area around them was pretty badly damaged with craters of various sizes in the street and sidewalk and a couple buildings completely destroyed. Feeling a faint power in the alley beside them Videl moved over and looked down. "Oh no... Gohan, over here!" she called over her shoulder as she jumped down.

He joined her a second later and saw what she'd found. A man in the Earth Defense Force's green and blue battle armor with a large section blasted off and rather serious injuries as well as a broken leg. "Who...?" he said weakly, looking up.

"It's ok." Videl said kneeling down beside the guy. "Can you tell us what's going on?"

"Gang of thieves..." he said slowly. "Tried to raid... the town. We were just flying by... and came to help the locals...."

Videl nodded and stood up. "Must be some pretty impressive thieves to be able to do this to someone in the EDF." she said, crossing her arms.

"Well, impressive or not, they're no match for us. Come on, let's give these guys a hand." Gohan said walking down the street. "Then we can send help for this guy." Videl followed after him and a moment later they'd reached the battlefield. The EDF had taken cover behind one of their reinforced vans, which had taken a serious beating. Meanwhile the thieves appeared to be hiding out in a bank across the street.

"Who's in charge here?" Videl asked, walking over to the EDF soldiers.

A short guy, no more than three foot tall, with orange skin, blue hair, and a short and fat little blue spike atop his head turned to look. "I... I am now." he said, a bit nervous. The two teens glanced at each other recognizing the insignia on his armor marked him as only a level four. Team leaders were always level three or higher which meant...

"Where's your original leader?" Gohan asked. The short man jerked his head toward the street and Gohan looked. There was a lone EDF solider laying dead in a pool of blood in the street. "Damn." Turning his attenion back to the others he nodded. "Alright, we'll handle this from here, just relax."

The little orange man started to say something but was cut off by a really deep voice from behind. "Gohan!? Ha, it is you!" Glancing back Gohan saw what could best be described as an eight foot tall bowl of blue-berry Jell-O in white and orange battle armor.

"Dubibub." Gohan said with a nod. He knew the alien fairly well having encountered him several dozen times at the training center. "What are you doing out here, you're not with the EDF."

"Was passing by..." he started as he tapped his scouter. "Heard the distress call from the EDF forces. Mind if I take a shot at these guys before you? I could use the exercise."

"Just be careful."

"No problem!" he cried walking out into the street.

Meanwhile Videl leaned over a little. "Um, Gohan... is it just me or... are there no Kis coming from in there?"

Gohan frowned a little and then focused, reaching his mind into the building. Videl was right, he found, there wasn't a single energy inside the bank. He was about to suggest that the thieves had escaped when Dubibub's surrender speech was cut off by a blast of golden energy. The alien deflected it away easily enough and then repeated his order to surrender.

"Ha! Not on your life!" came a voice from inside and then four odd looking... things... walked into view. They were obviously robotic with upside down cone shaped bodies and four spider like legs that ended in multiple toe like prongs. Atop the cones were black glass domes, probably where the sensors and such were stored. In the middle of the body, between the dome and the legs, they each had a pair of arms, the hands of which were now split open revealing energy guns.

The four machines began firing together, their energy blasts charging toward their target with perfect accuracy. But the alien deflected each shot with ease. "Nice toys but they wont work on me!" he said as the last energy blast was deflected away.

"Then allow me!" came the voice once more. A blast of red energy surged out and slammed into Dubibub square in his chest. His armor shattered and he was thrust back into the armored vehicle and knocked out. "Now, unless you want to be next, get lost!"

Gohan walked out into the street with Videl at his side. Both stopped directly in front of the bank in the middle of the road. "I suggest..." Videl began. "That you give up. You won't like the alternative."

The reply came in the form of another blast of energy but she deflected it with ease. And then twin flashes of gold exploded from the teens and bathed the streets. The bright light cutting into the darkness of the bank and revealing the man inside. He was a large man in jeans and a red tank-top. His face was hidden from view by a metal helmet made to look like a skull. However, the most distinguishing feature was the sleek metal right arm he bore.

"What-the-hell?" Videl said, blinking.

"Brats!" the man growled. "It's always a pair of brats!" With that he charged toward them, his metal arm cocking back for a punch. With a cry he swung his fist toward Videl's face but she caught the arm with little effort. But then, to their shock, the man laughed. Suddenly a cry of pain sounded from Videl and she dropped to one knee. Gohan turned and looked and saw her golden aura flowing into the metal arm of the man.

With a cry he thrust his arm out and landed a punch to the large man's helmeted head. The metal helmet cracked but held as he was knocked down the street. The metal arm reached out and he rebounded off of it and onto his feet once more. "Crap, shouldn't have held back that much." Gohan muttered. "You okay Videl?"

She nodded as she stood. "Damn, that felt..." she said shaking her arm. "He took a small chunk of my energy."

"Who are you!?" Gohan called.

"I... am the great Autoro!" he called, charging in toward them again.

/Autoro? Where do I know.../ Gohan thought. /Ugh, no way, could he be!?/ "Autoro!?" he cried, as the thought hit him. "Mijima and Gainin's father!?"

[Xyex]

I know the seen with Autoro seems short and then quickly forgotten, but it's a set-up for (much) later in the Saga. PLs for this section have been posted as well.

Also, I'm not triple posting, so if you guys want the next chapter I need comments. >>

Chapter Two - Reunion on Planet Vegeta

The man's charge came to a sudden halt as he pulled to a stop. "How do you know that!?" he demanded.

"So, you are their father..." Videl said in disbelief.

"Answer me!" Autoro yelled.

"They told us." replied Gohan, crossing his arms. "Or rather, Mijima did, seven years ago." He was about to say more when he felt another power graze his senses and looked up to see Piccolo floating down to join them.

"Felt your powers shoot up, thought I'd see what was up since I was in the area." he said landing. "What's going on?"

"Apparently Mijima's father's kept up his old tricks, and he's gotten some upgrades." Videl informed the Namek.

Piccolo snorted. "So he's the cause of this then? Well, no time for pleasantries." He thrust an arm forward and a gust of wind surged, blasting Autoro five blocks down the road where then he was met with a green fist to the back of his head that knocked him out. As the two teens powered down, Piccolo picked the unconscious man up and carried him back over to the EDF van.

"You know, we could have handled that." Videl said smirking.

Piccolo grinned but said nothing as the three of them left Autoro in the care of the EDF and lifted into the air rejoining Goten. "I wonder where he got that arm from." Gohan said thoughtfully. "I've been seeing cybernetics cropping up like that here and there."

Piccolo nodded. "Not just here on Earth, either. Apparently someone's opened up a galaxy wide black-market on cybernetic enhancements. It's not that big of a concern, though. Likely just a fad inspired by Gero." He turned his gaze toward Gohan. "I'm looking forward to seeing how much you've improved over the last seven years Gohan."

"I want to know how much Videl's improved." Gohan said, looking back at her. "She's refused to train with me for the last year now and hasn't shown me her full power in just as long. Ever since the tournament was announced."

Videl chuckled. "A girl has to have some secrets, you know. I just hope you've taken your training seriously Gohan, I'd like a challenge at the tournament."

"Gohan will win for sure!" Goten said happily. "He's the best! But Trunks and I aren't going to lose easily either!"

"Hey Piccolo, any idea on how strong Vegeta's gotten?" Gohan asked. "I've not even seen him since he took the title of King two years ago."

The Namek shook his head. "I've not seen him fight or train in any of my trips to Planet Vegeta. I don't know how strong he is. But Bulma's told me he trains any chance he gets, which hasn't been nearly as often as he'd like. With the Sai-jin Empire's dissolution and the formation of the Sennari he's had his hands full the last 2 years."

"How is that coming along, anyway?" Videl asked. "Last I heard there were still some disputes over leadership?"

"The Sai-jins are being typically Sai-jin." Piccolo grunted. "Most of them don't want to follow anyone other than a Sai-jin. And there are a few dozen worlds that don't like the idea of Sai-jin rule. But Vegeta and his father both want as many worlds in the Sennari as they can get. A single, solid, galaxy wide government.

"His father was right, the galaxy is far too large a place for a single, simple, Empire to rule over. It's why the Cold Family divided it up between them. And leaving control in the hands of a single race would mean dissention in the government and allow favoritism of the laws and regulations toward that race.

"Right now they're trying to negotiate out a deal for elections. Though, there's debating over that too. The Sai-jins and a number of other races think that the elections should be limited to royal blood, that only those of royalty on their worlds should be given the chance to head the Sennari. Of course, worlds where there isn't true royal blood, like here on Earth, are against that because it removes them from leadership possibilities."

The Namek sighed. "I still don't know how I let Bulma talk me into helping them with this nonsense. We spent six hours in conference last week and didn't make any progress at all. Still, once the Sennari is up and running, things should be a lot smoother in the galaxy. It's just getting there that's going to take some time."

By now they'd reached the Embassy and made their descent landing just outside the loading bays. Chi-Chi, Hercule, Roshi, Krillin, and Mijima were already there waiting for them. "Hey guys." Gohan said waving as his feet touched the ground. "Sorry we're late, we had a little... delay along the way." He figured it'd be best to inform Mijima about Autoro later, after they'd gotten back from planet Vegeta. "So, decided if you're entering yet Krillin?"

"He's entering." Mijima said with a smirk.

Krillin slumped his shoulders a little and sighed. "I don't know how much good it'll do. Not with all the Sai-jins that are going to be there. Not to mention Piccolo and Hotaru, and Tien's going to be entering too!" He groaned and looked up at the sky next. "And Mijima said she's gong to enter too... there's no way I'm going to win."

"You never know, you could get lucky." Videl said laughing. "Really, how far anyone makes it is going to depend on luck to start. You could get lucky and make it all the way to the finals."

"Yeah, I suppose." Krillin said, running a hand through his thick black hair as they all turned and entered the building. "But then I'd have to fight against Gohan...."

"You know, Gohan might not make it to the finals." Videl said, glancing back at him and smirking.

"Like that would happen." Krillin said, not noticing her look.

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Otherworld - Grand Kai's Planet

Goku ducked under the leg that had been aimed for his head, swerved around behind his father, and lashed out with a kick of his own. His attack missed as well as Bardock vanished only to reappear above him and throwing a hard punch down toward his son's head. This missed too as Goku now vanished and reappeared beside him, his leg shooting out and connecting with Bardock's raised forearm with a loud crack.

The two Sai-jins were, as they often were, in the midst of a light spar. Well, light by their standards. Their powers had climbed rapidly and considerably since their arrival seven years ago and there were now only two others on the planet who they couldn't beat without at least using the Kaio Ken. Those were the powerful Human warrior Olibu and the amazing Pikkon. Though, when transformed, not even the great Grand Kai was their equal.

The two broke apart and dropped down landing a few dozen feet apart. Neither was breathing heavy, neither was showing signs of any real exertion from their work out, and both were grinning. Appla had to admit, they'd kept things lighter than usual. They'd not even powered up the Kaio ken, simply stuck to basics. But then, that's what they'd said they wanted to work on today. Both felt that they were slipping with their basics, their style and technique. This was a chance to sharpen their form more than their power.

"Hey, Goku, Bardock!" King Kai yelled as he walked toward the two warriors. "Have you guys heard yet?"

Goku blinked and relaxed his stance a bit, Bardock doing the same. "What is it King Kai? Is something up?"

"Remember you saying you were curious how Gohan and the others were progressing back in the Mortal Plane?" the short Kai asked to which the Sai-jin nodded. "Well, it seems we'll be finding out shortly. They're holding a big tournament for the entire North Galaxy to celebrate the passed seven years of peace and the formation of the Sennari."

"Senairy?" Goku asked blinking.

King Kai hung his head as Bardock smacked his forehead. "Sennari. Remember? The new ruling body for the galaxy?" his father said.

"Oh, yeah, that!" Goku cried grinning. "I remember now! So, wait, they're having a tournament?"

King Kai nodded. "Yep! And, apparently, everyone is going to be competing. It's going to be huge! I figured we may as well enjoy the show here so I talked to the Grand Kai about setting up a way for everyone to watch."

The four heard chuckling from behind the blue Kai and looked to find the Grand Kai walking toward them. "I decided on something even better than that. I think it's high time we have our own tournament again here. So not only are we going to watch the mortal tournament but once it ends we're going to have our own. See if Pikkon can hold on to that narrow victory from last time."

"Yeah! Alright!" Goku cried, pumping a fist into the air.

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May 5th

Planet Vegeta

"Now arriving at Terminal 105, Flight 97 from Earth." a female voice sounded, echoing through the large space port and easily discernable even over the loud din of the crowd. "Now arriving at Terminal 105, Flight 97 from Earth. Now arriving at Terminal 238, Flight 33 from Tanaria. Now arriving at Terminal 238, Flight 33 from Tanaria."

"Hmm, early." Bulma said, glancing down at her watch. "The ship from Tanaria wasn't supposed to be here for another half an hour."

"Toma and the others are already over there waiting." Vadora said. "So it's not like there wont be anyone to greet Yamcha and Hotaru."

"Yeah, but I was hoping to be there..." Bulma said with a sigh. "It's been so long since I've had a chance to get away from the palace and just hang out with my friends. I never knew being a Queen was so... tiring."

Vadora chuckled as she noted the power readings taking shape on her scouter. As Bulma's personal body guard, a position she'd only just attained the previous month, she had to always be on the lookout for threats. Not that she really expected any. Bulma was a bit of a standout amidst a crowd of Sai-jins but here at the Space Port she blended in with the throngs of aliens pretty easily. And since neither she or Vadora were in uniform, or even formal wear, they were easily overlooked.

In fact, Vadora doubted that half the people in the terminal would recognize Bulma even if she were in her formal armor. Part of that was due to the fact that the Sai-jin Queen hadn't been seen much by the rest of the galaxy yet, having only gone to a small amount of formal affairs so far. The other part was due to her somewhat drastic change in appearance over the last several months.

She'd had her hair cut short again, it had been down passed her shoulders a few months ago. And, on top of that, she'd stopped dying it. Apparently blue-green hadn't been her natural hair color. Purple was. And she had yet to be seen in public, formally, with her new look. "Ah, that must be them." Vadora said as several powers of exactly one thousand appeared on her scouter with a few much smaller readings.

Sure enough, a moment later, Gohan, Piccolo, Videl, and the rest emerged from the docking hall that had attached to the ship out on the landing pad. Vadora raised her arm and waved soon catching the attention of Piccolo, the only one who could see over most of the heads in the crowd. With the Namek in the lead they pushed their way through the throngs of people, most of them parting to let the imposing green man through, and soon reached the two waiting women.

"Bulma?" Gohan asked blinking. "Is that you?"

"Yep! So, what do you think?" she asked running a hand across her hair. "Decided to go with my natural hair color."

"I didn't know you'd been dying it."

"Yeah, since I was fourteen actually. But with as hectic as things are here it's just too much hassle to deal with it." she said as they started moving through the Space Port toward terminal 238. "Wow, you two have really grown."

Videl laughed. "Well, it has been what, two, three years?" she said.

"Oh, I don't even remember anymore." Bulma said, shaking her head. "One day bleeds into the next lately. So, how are things holding together at Capsule Corp.?" she asked with a glance toward Krillin and Mijima.

Mijima shrugged. "The only problem we've had is at the North City plant, for some reason the reactor isn't pumping power into the plant. It's working and running, and we've restarted it several times, but the power just isn't getting to the systems. Other than that, pretty well, actually."

Krillin grinned. "That's because Mijima here has them all scared so they're working double time. I've never seen anyone move so fast as when she walks into a room." The others cracked up laughing as well for a moment. "But, it's not easy." the short man continued, after catching his breath. "I never realized how much work was involved in running a company. Even just part time like this..."

"Yeah, but it's fun." Bulma said smiling. "I'm just glad you guys are there to help out dad. He never was that good at running the place on his own."

They carried on their conversation as they continued walking. The crowds thinned a bit after a few more minutes and then suddenly a loud cry sounded from around the corner and the ground shook. Roshi, Hercule, and Chi-Chi fell over from the vibrations and Vadora instinctively reached up to her scouter and scanned everything.

"That's Toma and Tangerie's power readings." she said as the numbers took shape. Before she could say more, the wall at the corner shattered apart and collapsed as a very large blue skinned alien was smashed through it. Floating only a few feet from the damage was a little ten year old girl with a pulsing red aura and a not so happy expression on her face. She had shoulder length silver hair, black eyes, and was wearing a pair of black pants and a white t-shirt.

"Sakura, don't destroy the place!" a familiar voice called. A second later Hotaru ran around the corner and stopped beside the girl.

"Sorry mom..." the ten year old said relaxing as Yamcha walked up behind her scratching the back of his head and looking at the damage. Toma and Tangerie then walked up as well.

"What happened?" Gohan asked stepping passed the unconscious alien.

"Oh, Gohan!" Hotaru cried happily. "Wow, you've gotten big!"

"Hey Gohan!" Sakura cheered. Then she spied Goten. "Goten!" With that the three kids, Goten, Sakura, and her five year old sister Akemi, moved off to the side away from the others to talk.

"So, who's the oaf?" Krillin asked thumbing back to the downed man.

"Some would be thief. Tried to steal some lady's purse right in front of us. Leave it to Sakura to go after the guy, even with Toma and Tangerie right beside us." Yamcha said shaking his head. "She takes after her mother. Sometimes a little too much." This got him an elbow in his side from Hotaru.

"So, the gang together again." Krillin said after a moment. "Well, almost. Where's Tien at anyway?"

"Looking after Cheri and Marron." Vadora answered. "Or, more likely, training with Raditz while Chaotzu looks after Cheri and Marron." she sighed and shook her head and Bulma laughed.

"Vegeta's the same way. When it's his turn to look after Trunks he always ropes someone else into it and then goes off to train."

"Oh, I know what that's like." Chi-Chi added with a shake of her head. "Goku did that all the time when Gohan was younger. And these days it's Gohan that's doing it with Goten."

"Yamcha's the same." Hotaru said as the women started walking away from the group. "He usually gets Kavar to look after the girls or, lately, has Sakura look after Akemi, and then goes and does his own thing."

Gohan blinked and looked over to Yamcha. "Why am I getting the feeling that nothing good can come of this conversation?"

Yamcha sighed, slumped his shoulders, and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Because nothing good ever comes about when women start talking about men."

"Aint that the truth." Roshi said with a sage nod.

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Sai-jin Palace

The adults had all gone off to do their own things. Some were heading off to do some last minute training, some wanted to get some rest and relaxation, and some had work that needed to be done. But it all had the same result, the kids were left in the care of Chaotzu. Or, had been. However, Chaotzu was currently sound asleep on the living room floor of his palace suite courtesy of a little sleeping powder mixed in with his water at dinner. That had been Trunks' idea.

Now they were creeping down the halls toward the main kitchen, that was Goten's idea. Their goal...? "Operation Rocky Road proceeding as planned." Sakura said softly into one of the scouters Cheri had nabbed from her mother's closet.

"Coast is clear on this end too." Came Trunks voice through the speaker in the device. The kids had divided up into two groups. Trunks, Goten, and Marron had taken the west hall. Sakura, Akemi, and Cheri the east.

"What about inside?" Sakura asked.

"I don't sense anybody...." Trunks replied after a moment. "But I can't be sure...."

Sakura was quiet for a moment as she thought. "Only one way to find out." she said at last. "I'm going in." She took a deep breath and slipped around the corner moving quickly for the large double doors into the kitchen. Reaching out she gripped the handle and pulled the door open slowly and peeked in. Not seeing anyone she opened it further and slipped inside. "It's empty, come on in." she said grinning and motioning out the door for Akemi and Cheri to follow her.

A second later the other door burst open as Goten and Trunks charged in. Both moved quickly making a beeline for the freezer. Yanking the door open the two grinned and drooled. "What'd I tell ya!" Trunks cried, grinning from ear to ear. "Stocked full of ice cream!"

"I've never seen so much ice cream before!" Goten said, wide-eyed.

Sakura chuckled as she walked up behind the two boys. "This is nothing, you should see the freezer in the cellar of the palace on Tanaria. It's got three times this much."

"Three times!?" Goten cried, his eyes going wider. "Wow!"

"Talk later, ice cream now!" Trunks said grabbing a few of the tubs. "Chocolate, Rocky Road, Vanilla, Strawberry, Butterscotch, Mint..." he read off the labels as he pulled them out and stacked them up. "There we go, one of each flavor. Let's get a place to sit."

[Arros]

Amazing.

It's awesome how you've made the story line so unique. Vegeta being a King, and how everything is being set and placed in the chapters. Trully inspiring, and truly worth reading.

[Amerowolf]

chapter one (I go on a chapter to chapter basis when I review)
Did you know...That Sango, Hotaru, and Gainin are all character names from Anime/Games? That was a little distracting for me, but I'm sure it wasn't on purpose. I just sort of lulz'd and moved on.

Anyway, I like. I felt like I didn't know some of the original characters very well, most likely since this is the first saga I read, but you did a pretty good job not making them too complex upon introduction. The metal arm was a nice idea too, I can pretty much envision Autoro hitting Videl with it.

Chapter two:
I wish I knew more about Mijima/Gainin/Autoro. Where Gohan was talking to him about his kids, I got sort of lost. But that's my bad for not reading previous sagas.

Ah, Goku and his mispronunciations that set up for explanations. <3 ^_^
Haha, Bulma's natural hair color is purple then? I guess only Vegeta would've known if the carpet didn't match the drapes.

Aww, not as much action as in the first chapter. More of a set-up sort of thing, then? With a little thrown in laugh-out-loud moments?

[Xyex]

w00t, thanks for the comments guys.

And yeah, Amero, there's a lot of prep-work for this saga. A little action next chapter but the real action doesn't pick up until chapter 9 when the Galactic Games begins. And the plot, while sparsely scattered throughout the chapters, doesn't become the focus for a while. XD (I'm working on Chapter 24 currently and I'm still doing tournament battles and prep work.) Everything right now is to establish what's changed since saga 5 and develop the newest OCs. As for the names, didn't know about Gainin but the rest I did. All the Japanese names would, of course, appear in games/animes. But that's unavoidable.

And in case anyone doesn't remember from Saga 5, Mijima = 18's name and Gainin = 17's name. They've started using their names again, instead of the numbers Gero gave them. :)

Chapter Three - Oh Man, This is Big Trouble!

Trunks leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh as he rested his hands on his stomach. The empty tub, formerly full of ice cream, tipped over and rolled off the table falling to the floor with a soft thud. "Man, I'm stuffed..." he said yawning and stretching.

"Me too." Goten chirped before sticking another spoonful of ice cream in his mouth.

"Usually..." Sakura began as she dropped her spoon back into the half empty tub of chocolate ice cream she'd been sharing with Marron and her sister. "People stop eating when they're stuffed."

Goten looked up at her over his almost empty bucket of butterscotch and frowned. "But it's almost gone! I can't stop now!"

The eldest of the children sighed and shook her head. Boys would be boys and Sai-jins would be Sai-jins. She glanced over at where Cheri sat. The girl had three empty buckets around her and was half finished with a fourth. Not quite as much as Trunks and Goten's six tubs each, but still more ice cream than she and Akemi could eat, combined, in a week.

"We should probably clean up." Trunks said after a moment of silence. He sat up a bit and looked around at the minor mess they'd made. Melted ice cream on the table and floor, empty buckets scattered about, and their clothes... Well, his and Goten's at least, were a mess too. "Otherwise they'll figure it out and we'll still get in trouble."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, good idea. I saw a mop back in the kitchen area. I'll go get it and fill a bucket with water to mop down this floor. You and Goten should get some washcloths to clean up the tables."

"Right!" the boys said with a nod before taking off.

"What about me?" Cheri asked.

"Clean up the empty buckets and throw them out. Then get the partials and put them back in the fridge."

"Ok."

Sakura watched her go off and then turned to her sister. "I want you to keep an eye on Marron, ok?"

"Ok!"

"Good." she said, ruffling her hair and then she was off to get the mop. Working together the kids had the area cleaned up and back in order in under fifteen minutes. The task finished they returned their supplies to the kitchen and got ready to leave. Sakura took a look over the group as she prepared to put on the scouter. However, her hand stopped half way and her eyes moved over the others again quickly. /One, two, three, four.../ she blinked. /Akemi, Trunks, Goten, Cheri... where's Marron!?/

"Akemi, where's Marron?" she asked looking down at her little sister.

Akemi looked around, her short silver hair bouncing on her head as she did. "I... don't know... She was right with me five minutes ago..."

"I don't sense her in the room!" Trunks cried, eyes going wide. "She must have wondered off! Oh man, this isn't good..."

"Stay calm and relax." Sakura said, moving toward the nearest door. "She can't have gotten too far. We'll just have to...." she paused in both her talking and her walking. She could hear a conversation outside, faint and distant. Moving slowly she crept over to the door and opened it up a crack. Leaning forward she peeked out around it and down the hall to where two large Sai-jins were standing with their backs to her.

"I don't know about this Torrac." the shorter of the two said. "I mean, what if they find out it was us?"

"Quit your whining Rycel." the other replied in a deep voice. "Ornja knows what she's doing."

"Ya, but... I mean, the kid's parents have connections with the King... If Vegeta finds out we kidnapped her...."

"Well he wont find out because we're not gonna tell him. Look, it's simple, because they have the connections the kid is useful. If she wasn't connected to them we'd not need her." The larger of the two Sai-jins crossed his arms and scowled at the other. "Do you want the Sennari being run by any random nobody out there? The kid is our insurance that only the Sai-jins can lead the Sennari. Now come on, let's go."

"Oh no... this is...." Sakura said, closing the door and moving back a step into the room.

"What is it Sakura?" Goten asked.

"I think.... I think the two guys in the hall kidnapped Marron...."

"What!?" Trunks cried. "Oh man, this is big trouble! We'll be in as much trouble as them when dad finds out!"

"He wont." Sakura said shaking her head. "No one will because no one's going to know this happened. We're going to go rescue her before they find out."

"Yeah, we can take them, no problem!" Akemi said, pumping a fist into the air. "We're the strongest there are!"

"Hey, it could be good training for the tournament!" Goten said grinning.

Trunks sighed and slipped his hands into his pockets. "Well, it's certainly better than letting out parents find out about this. Come on, let's go before they get away."

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Saiya City

Krillin stood in the middle of Saiya City, somewhere along Furuta Ave. and Vegeta Blvd., outside a store called Pear's Fashions, arms stacked high with boxes. In fact, the boxes stood four times taller than him. Beside him stood Yamcha, his arms also stacked up with boxes. "I can't believe this." Yamcha sighed, closing his eyes. "Remind me again how I got pulled into this?"

"Mijima said she'd kick your ass if you didn't come too?" Krillin replied.

"Oh, yeah, that."

Meanwhile, inside the store.... "How's this?" Hotaru asked stepping out of the dressing room in a long red sparkling gown and turning slowly. It had a low back and wire thin straps over the shoulders that you couldn't even see.

The blonde woman sitting on the chair across from the dressing rooms looked her up and down and pursed lips. "Not bad, but I think you need a smaller size." she said after a moment. "Or at least a little shorter in length."

Hotaru frowned as she looked down at the floor. She was stepping on the bottom of the dress. "Yeah, Tanarians have shorter legs than Sai-jins." she said. "It's rather annoying when trying to buy clothes made by them. Even Humans are generally longer legged than us." she sighed. "Well, it's not too bad, and I can have it altered when I get back to Tanaria."

"True. It's a lot cheaper to buy this stuff while you're here than to import." Mijima said standing. "So, that's it for this store then?" she asked.

"Yep, last one from here." Hotaru said going back into the dressing room to change back into her street clothes. A moment later she came back out in her jeans and T-shirt and the two women took their clothes up to the counter. Five minutes later their husbands had four more boxes to hold and two bags. "Where to next?"

"Umm, how about back to the palace?" Yamcha asked. "So we can at least drop this stuff off?"

"Or, the capsule store?" Krillin asked, looking around his boxes toward the two women. "A few empty capsules would make this stuff a lot easier to carry...."

Mijima shrugged. "I guess we could stop at the capsule store. There's this nice jewelry store right next to it I want to check out anyway."

"Oh, I could use a few new necklaces." Hotaru said smiling. And with that, the women were off. The two men sighed and, best as they could manage, followed after their wives.

"I never knew being married would be this troublesome." Krillin said with a glance over to Yamcha.

The scarred Human shook his head. "I knew. I knew it and I went ahead with it anyway. I don't know, maybe I'm just dense or something."

"Maybe."

"Hey!"

"You said it first."

"You didn't have to agree!"

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Sai-jin Palace

The room shook violently as the Ki blast impacted the ground and exploded sending a column of dust and debris into the air. A black shadow formed inside the smoke and then a charging Sai-jin emerged surging across the room. The triclops floating across from the rushing Sai-jin tightened his stance and took a deep breath as he watched him come.

Palace life had, at first, been a hard fit for Tien. He much preferred seclusion to being surrounded by thousands of people. But as the months had passed he'd adjusted rather well quickly taking a liking to the decent supply of light sparring partners constantly at the ready. And then even taking a position as one of four head trainers within the palace.

Currently he was training with one of the Super Elites, Artoke. Easily the most skilled of the entire lot in Tien's opinion. Still, aside from the likes of Gohan, Vegeta and his father, and Raditz, there wasn't a Sai-jin on the planet that could give him a real fight. Vadora had kept up impressively thanks to her skills with the Kaio Ken. With that she could surpass his power, but only if he didn't use the Kaio Ken or Kinryoku to boost it too.

Tien's eyes narrowed as the first shot toward his face. Slipping to the side around the attempted blow he moved behind his opponent and countered with an elbow to the back that drove him down into the ground and knocked him out. Hearing light clapping from below he turned and looked and saw Raditz standing there, his white armor shining brightly in the light of the room.

"Still can't believe Artoke didn't get into the finals." Raditz said as Tien landed beside him.

The Human shrugged. "Luck of the draw. He fought Vadora in his block of the prelims." he said. "I've seen some of the others who made it in. The range in power from the top to the bottom is pretty big. Some of the finalists don't stand a chance."

Raditz nodded. "Even who makes it to the final match will be partly based on luck. Hopefully, though, it's not a completely uneven match-up. It would be nice for the championship match to be entertaining."

"It's possible." Tien said as he left the room, the Sai-jin following after him. "But I'm betting most of the good matches will be scattered about randomly. It's even entirely possible that the first match will be the best. Depends on how the tree fills out from the drawing later."

They walked in silence for a moment as Raditz thumbed through data on his scouter. "I'm surprised that only six races made it through to the finals." he said after a moment. "Counting the Half Sai-jins and Half Tanarians as Sai-jin and Tanarian respectively, that gives us... Twelve Sai-jins, Ten Tanarians, Five Humans, Two Nameks, One Taraganin, One Rondo, and One Blubor."

"Pong fought in the same block as Pug, didn't he?" Tien asked.

Raditz nodded. "Yep. Cleared through everyone like paper until he hit Pug. Pug, of course, didn't get any challenge at all. Pong was the second strongest in that block." Raditz pursed his lips as he read over the data. "This Eskarga has me interested."

"That's the other Namek, right?" Tien asked.

"Yeah. The only one other than Piccolo to even enter the prelims." replied the Sai-jin. "I wasn't really expecting any of them to enter. They're not exactly high warriors, despite their power." Raditz froze and blinked as he looked at the names on his scouter.

Tien had only gone a few steps before he realized the other man wasn't beside him anymore. Turning to look back he saw the shock on the Sai-jin's face. "Raditz? What is it?"

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Space Port

"Now arriving at Terminal 77, Flight 545 from Kanassa. Now arriving at Terminal 77, Flight 545 from Kanassa." the voice intoned over the com systems.

"Ah, that's them." a young man said smiling. Him and the woman standing with him watched as the people began to file out of the ship. A few moments later a long silver haired woman emerged among the throngs of blue skinned aliens, and right beside her was a black haired man with a baby in his arms.

"Over here!" the waiting woman called. The two others noticed and made their way over.

"Kazuki, Yuki, It's been a long time." the long haired woman said, nodding to each of them.

"It's good to see you again Sango." Yuki said. "Kavar, Akira, and Aiko have already gone ahead to get our rooms."

"So, she doesn't know we're here?"

Kazuki shook his head. "She's not had access to the competitors list. Can't see the full list unless you're on the planet. And I doubt she or the others are all that interested in who else is here."

"Well then, we should go say hello."

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Sai-jin Palace, Conference Room

"Do we have to do this now?" Piccolo growled, scowling.

"I don't like it either." Vegeta said with a sigh. "But matters like this need to be dealt with quickly. If we let it slide for even a couple of hours it could snowball."

"Splinter factions will exist in any government though."

The was another sigh, this time from the other Sai-jin in the room, the former King Vegeta, now an advisor to his son and a Sennari senate member. "It's not as simple as that. This isn't just a faction forming, a party within the bigger picture. It's a splinter movement for a separate order."

His son nodded. "Under normal circumstances no Sai-jin would dare move against the throne like this. But with the Sennari forming the official capacity of the royal Sai-jin throne is reduced. If someone where to get the wrong idea about how this is supposed to work and believe that the Sai-jin royalty was being dissolved..."

The Namek sighed. "They'd no longer consider it moving against their King to act against him...."

"Right." Senator Vegeta said with a nod. "This faction believes that the crown has been subverted, that the royal family is no longer truly in power. Or, at least, that we wont hold any power after the Sennari's full formation. With an issue like this the faction wont go to the Sennari for resolution of the issue. They'll fight with fists, not words."

"Which is why we need to put a stop to this... Ornja and her followers now, before they disrupt the entire proceedings." Vegeta said. "The Galactic Games are the first official event of the Sennari, I don't want this entire thing to collapse before it gets started. Not after this much damn work to get it going."

"Right." Piccolo said, frowning. "Well, do we know where this Ornja is?"

"Not yet, unfortunately." said the Senator. "However, we've got people looking into it. We're scanning all the security footage nad backtracking the messenger in hopes of finding the origins of that little note."

Piccolo glanced down at the paper in his hand again. The little piece of parchment that was the cause of his current headache. It demanded that the Sai-jins either assume a leadership position of the Sennari, with the Sai-jin Royal family at the head, or be removed from it completely. And it threatened, should those demands not be met, 'swift and decisive action against that which was weakening the Sai-jin people'.

The three in the room, the only three to know what the note said, weren't sure what that action would be and didn't want to find out either. Anything, anything at all that screwed up the Galactic Games, even the smallest incident, could bring the entire Sennari crashing down into shambles before it was even fully functioning. A problem at this juncture would spook too many races into backing out. No, the two Sai-jins were right. This had to be stopped now, before the last several years of work went down the proverbial drain.

[Arros]

This gets an instant XD for "Vegeta Blvd"

Seems like things are starting to pick up, I can sese very climatic plot unfolding. It's awesome how you've put DBZ related characters into a different enviroment from their usual Blast Blast, explosions.

Can't wait to see how the whole confrontation with the Sai-jin goes.

[JAIF]

I... just started reading Saga 1... so it will take me A WHILE before I read these chapters >_>.

Anyway, everything looks very interesting for now, the plot and build-up are nice, but I'm still like... too early in the series to have an opinion on it as a whole.

Also, you might want to fix a few of the image links, because they are broken.

[Xyex]

If you follow the links in my sig to the original postings (not the repost postings, aside from Saga 5 which links to the reposted posting) those (should) have working cover images.

[Xyex]

Chapter Four - The New Super Elites!

"Shhh!" Sakura hissed, looking back at the others behind her. "If we want to find out where they took Marron we've got to be quiet so they take us to her."

"But I reeeeallllly have to peeeeee!" Goten said dancing back and forth. "Can't we just go make them tell us?"

"Goten's right." Trunks said crossing his arms. "I AM the Prince here, you know, I can just make them tell us."

"And what if they alert that Ornja lady?" Cheri said frowning.

"Tie them up or knock them out after they tell us." Trunks said with a shrug.

"Oh, yeah, real smart there." Sakura said with a roll of the eyes. "And what if they're supposed to check in or something and don't? Ornja could be gone by the time we get to her location."

"But I have to PEE!" Goten wailed.

"Ugh, fine..." Sakura said looking around. They'd made their way pretty deep into the palace. They were in a part that wasn't even used these days. An old military barracks that had been closed down for some reason or other a long time ago. She spied a door that was cracked open a little to the side and peeked in. "Here, go in there and use a corner or something."

Goten nodded rapidly, Sakura was surprised his head didn't fly off his shoulders, and hurried into the room. A second later there was a sound like running water and a long sigh. Sakura closed her eyes and hung her head a little as Cheri and Akemi giggled. A few moments later Goten came back out into the hall still retying his belt. "Ok, I'm done!"

"Good, now can we get going again?" Sakura asked. Goten nodded so she turned her attention back to the scouter she had on. It was easier to track these two with the scouter than with their senses. The scouter had a map overlay of the palace, even this disused portion, and that came in handy for tailing the two Sai-jins. "Hmm, they've stopped..."

"Any other powers there?" Trunks asked.

Sakura shook her head. "No, there's... what the...?"

"What is it?" asked Cheri.

"They... vanished."

"Maybe they lowered their powers." Akemi said, looking up at her sister.

"No, the powers didn't drop, they just vanished."

"Shielding." Trunks said, furrowing his brow. "I've been learning recent history and just last week Pug told me about a Namek named Slug that had armor on his ship that blocked senses and scouters. Mom's been researching some of the metal she found from his destroyed ship and started producing her own a few months back. These guys must have gotten hold of some of it."

"So... now what?" Goten asked.

"Akemi?" Sakura asked, kneeling down in front of her sister. "Think you could take a look?"

"Ummmm, I don't know... I can try."

"Ok." Sakura said. "That's all I ask, just try. If you can't that's ok."

"Ok." Akemi said closing her eyes. The five year old focused her young mind reaching out with her senses. Tanarian's had mental abilities of varying degrees, Sakura's were a little below average but Akemi's were well above superior. She could do things only a few were capable of, and even a few things that no one else could.

As she focused the darkness cast by the back of her eyelids vanished and a distorted view of the hall and her friends took shape. The edges of her vision seemed to be stretched and rippling. With her mind's eye now open and her astral form free of her body she moved through the halls, or her astral body did. It passed through the walls like they weren't even there and followed the softly spoken guiding of her sister toward where the two Sai-jins had been a moment ago.

It took a moment to find the area and she looked around. A door stood out on the wall different than the rest. Newer, cleaner, and not as rusted. She moved toward and then through it emerging into a large room that had boxes stacked up along the walls, a large round table in the middle with chairs around it, and a couch in the back where Marron was currently sitting tied up.

The view faded away into blackness and the girl opened her eyes again. She smiled as she looked up at her sister. "I saw her!" she said happily. "There's a room down there, and there's five people in it at a table. Marron's on the couch and they tied her arms together."

"Five of them? You sure?" Trunks asked.

Akemi nodded. "Yep. I counted them twice to make sure!"

"Alright, let's move." Sakura said starting down the hall. The kids moved quickly following Sakura and Akemi's directions. In a few minutes they reached the door the young girl had mentioned. It was clearly brand new and very much out of place among the rest of the disrepaired halls. "I still find it odd that any part of a palace that's still being used would end up like this."

"Yeah." Trunks said frowning as he wiped a little dust off the wall with a finger. "They stopped using this area about two hundred years ago, dad said. One of my ancestors was killed here and his brother had the area closed down while they investigated. Apparently he died before opening it again and it just sort of stayed closed." he said with a shrug.

"Well, whatever, let's just get Marron and go." Cheri said walking up to the door. "Hey, Trunks, Goten, stay back here, ok?"

"Huh, what for?" Goten asked.

Cheri smirked. "You two would scare them too much. It wont be as much fun if their shaking in fear."

"Why would we scare them?" Goten asked blinking.

Trunks sighed. "Because I'm the Prince and you're the brother of the strongest person in the galaxy." he explained.

"Oh. But, staying out here wont be any fun...."

Sakura put a hand on Goten's head and ruffled his spiky hair. "You can catch anyone that slips passed us." she said. "Incase they try to get away."

"Well... ok." Goten said after a moment. While he and Trunks moved back to the wall across from the door Cheri reached up and activated it. It slid aside with a hiss and quickly drew the attention of those inside. The three girls walked into the room and the door hissed shut behind them.

"Heh, just a bunch of brats." one of the Sai-jins laughed as all five visibly relaxed. The five were sitting around the table, two on the left, two on the right, and one directly across from where the girls stood. Sakura recognized the two on the left as Torrac and Rycel. She could see them better now. Rycel was short, only about four and a half foot tall, and a little on the thin side, though his muscles were still well defined.

Torrac was at least six foot tall and his chest was as thick as a tree, his arms and legs not much smaller. While Rycel's hair was short and stuck straight up in dozens of spikes while Torrac's was long, hanging half way down his back, and even more wild than Raditz's. He also had a scar going across his forehead.

The two on the right Sakura didn't know. A male and a female. The female was at around five foot and had her long hair pulled back into a ponytail that stuck up and out at least a foot before curing down and still reaching her waist. She had a number of scars on her arms and had well defined muscles and quite pronounced curves.

The man was only a couple inches taller than her. His body was a little thicker than that of Rycel and while the top of his head was bald he had a spiky horseshoe of hair wrapping around his head. He too bore a scar on his face, a crisscrossing X scar over his left eye which was covered by an eye patch.

The other Sai-jin there, also a woman, had shoulder length hair. She had five or six tufts sticking up and back and the rest hung down. Her muscles were well defined as well and she bore no visible scars. She did, however, have a deep scowl etched on her face. The first four were in white and black armor bearing the palace insignia, meaning they were palace security. The fifth wore a red and white armor meaning she was one of the Hunters, the Sai-jins that tracked down and captured fugitive Sai-jins that had royal contracts on their heads. She was most likely the Ornja she'd heard mentioned.

Sakura could feel the powers now that she was inside the room and all five had definitely earned their positions. Not that even just the three of them would have any real trouble handling them. They could over power all five of them without any trouble. Sakura looked passed them and saw Marron sitting on the couch with her hands tied, just as Akemi had said. "You ok Marron?" she asked.

The little girl nodded. "Yes. They said they'd give me candy but they lied!" she said pouting.

"You know you shouldn't go with people you don't know Marron." Cheri said with a frown.

"I know..." Marron said, pouting more. "You're not gonna tell mommy and daddy, are you?" she asked suddenly.

"No." Sakura said, crossing her arms. "That's why we're here. They're not going to know about this because we'd get in trouble too."

"Heh, would you look at that, they know each other." Torrac laughed.

"What I find amusing..." the guy on the right started. "Is they think they can rescue their friend by themselves."

"Well, Rhubar, they're just kids." the woman beside him said laughing. "They don't know any better."

"Careful there, Apalla." Rycel said looking them over. "The two silver haired ones aren't an issue, they're Tanarians for sure. No power until they're older. But the other kid looks like a Sai-jin."

A