“I don’t know! I don’t even understand what you’re asking…” T’charrl was at a loss here, he should had been able to avoid something like this but guess his powers were still pretty out of control. Trying to do what he could to help the spirit stop being able to interact with the living world he tried to use his energy. He didn’t know what he was trying to do, he was just doing what he thought was going to work even if it wouldn’t. He had already had to deal with a massive amount of energy previously so this was already pretty risky on his part. While he had no idea what he was supposed to be looking for from it he squeaked when Haku told him to stop, pulling his claws back. “W-What? What do you mean?” He really wasn’t understanding it anymore but by the way Haku was acting he was instead trying to interact with it, something a living person without his power shouldn’t be able to do. He must had screwed up somehow, he didn’t know how to fix the problem either. Staring at Haku as he interacted with it he rubbed his claws together nervously, feeling at a loss as to what he was supposed to do now. “Uhh…yes…” he muttered, frowning as he stared at the spirit, “I don’t know but I think I did that…but I don’t know what I did either! Maybe I did something to it but I don’t know…”

----

Kiton didn’t much like using his face to his advantage but it was probably something that would save him a lot of grief later, especially when this plan was very delicate and couldn’t come with problems. There were other people’s lives at risk here and one wrong move could end with the mission being a fail and him being sent to prison. Heading down with the guards gave him confidence that it was going to work, but he was made even better when his awareness gave him knowledge that Sasha and Ricken were right behind him. Keeping quiet for a moment in hope that they hadn’t been discovered he felt relieved when there was silence, his mind finally able to settle back on the task at hand and meeting this pirate.

Following his escorts through the building he looked around calmly before arriving at the room that probably housed the captain, frowning a little at the damage to the sign before sighing. He didn’t understand why doing something like that made them feel cooler because to him it was just something a little kid did. Peering in when the doors were opened he stared at the large alien that must had been the captain, frowning at his appearance at first before sharpening his gaze upon him once again. The man sure did look intimidating but he couldn’t let that get to him, especially when he was here on a mission. If he was convincing enough it should work, if not then he would be in for a beating. Keeping quiet as the man spoke he stared up at him, tilting his head a little as he folded his arms. “The Galactic Police wishes my kind were extinct…but here I am”, he spoke calmly, shifting his feet, “I’m here because I got word of a town that had been taken under siege by space pirates. If I found out about this simply by passing through this area then there’s no doubt some big authoritarian group is going to pass through here too and ruin this. The name’s Kiton, by the way. I’m a regular in the Galactic Police’s bad books. I want to help get rid of them before they find me too”.

----

Viral didn’t know if it was something wrong with how he was wording it or if he was just too valuable to be left to roam alone. None of them had any reason to keep holding onto him. Feeling rather confused and struggling to understand what he was supposed to do he quickly fell into a slump, unable to find his path in life again. Everybody was against him deciding what he felt was best for everyone, but then everyone made decisions for him and what he should do instead. Expressing his confusion he didn’t understand why she stopped suddenly, wondering what was happening as he looked on as if expecting somebody to be out there. Instead of somebody appearing to be in front of them Yumi moved in front of him, feeling confused as she placed a hand on his face.
While he did want to question what she was doing he didn’t get a chance to, his mouth not even getting to open to ask the question before she had infiltrated his personal space and kissed him directly on the lips. His heart felt like it had stopped for a moment, his breathing ceasing as his face went red. All this happened in the few seconds she had held the kiss, but even after she removed herself from his face he didn’t start breathing again. He didn’t understand what had just happened and as he stared at Yumi’s blurry image as she spoke, his expression looking like a mix of confusion and angry embarrassment as she spoke. Opening his mouth to talk he found he couldn’t find words to express what he wanted to protest about her actions, staring at what he could of her image as she stroke his cheek before finally backing off. Unable to find the right words he instead started snarling lowly before looking away with a quick huff, ending with a sigh as he spoke lowly. “I don’t…know what anyone wants from me anymore. What do you mean you love me? Is that different from the others? Where is this coming from?” he spoke as if not speaking to anyone in particular as he kept his gaze averted and wandering, “You’re supposed to love your own kind, but-…I am confused…”

T'charrl didn't understand him? Well to be fair he didn't understand himself or any of this for that matter. Here he was on a planet that was attacked by who knows what, a city lay in ruins and people and plants dead everywhere and yet some ghost animal was licking him. Haku expected a lot today yet not this, never in his wildest, nerve ridden dreams would he imagine this was what he'd get. "I don't know, I just... It felt like it was hurting. I mean you heard it whimper right?" He wasn't just imagining this thing which was good, T'charrl could see it too. Though if he was seeing spirits then what did that mean? And why could he only see this and not others? Glancing around the area to be sure he furrowed his brow at the emptiness before them, gasping when the creature nudged against his side, begging to be pet. Smiling nervously he placed a hand on its head and found it unusually cool to the couch. Stroking it felt a lot like stroking a broad leaf, kind of soft and slick at the same time.

"I... I don't get it, so why can I see this... And not other spirits?" Haku finally asked, having to voice his confusion, "If you did something then... Then I could see them all, right? There are other spirits here right?" Granted he had very little idea how T'charrl's powers worked, even less than T'charrl did himself. But why would his friend's powers reveal only a single spirit to him? Biting his lip uncertainly the Saiyan pushed himself up to his feet, wanting to test something as he took a few steps away. The creature as though it knew him for far longer dutifully nipped at his heels, sitting beside Haku when he stopped moving. Blinking a few times he let out a nervous laugh, reaching down and petting it again before looking at T'charrl. "I-I think it likes me... Oh wow... I've never had a pet before... A spirit pet... Thing..."

-----

"Hm... Is that right, Kiton? And you're wanting to get rid of the Galactic Police? That's adorable," the captain spoke, smiling amused as he folded two massive arms over his chest, "They're like roaches, just like we are. Kill one and ten more sprout up, getting rid of them isn't something we can do, no one can. Besides, if you know the right people and have what they want then most turn the other cheek anyway, bunch of corrupt sorts they are." Clearing his throat the pirate turned and spit into a nearby bin, walking closer to Kiton then and leaning over a bit, staring down at the Frost Demon.

"Let me guess... You came here thinking you could use that as a bargaining chip. Maybe we'd be afraid that someone will show up and try to take us out? And because of that we'd accept you into our rank? Well it's not the most original idea, you won't be the last to try it either," he pointed out, walking back towards the desk and sitting in the chair again, the wood protesting against his massive weight, "I know what you're capable of, Frost Demon, but we don't need your help. We have ways of avoiding capture and dealing with enemies, we've been doing this a long time. If they're after you then that's your problem, I'm not wasting any resources or any men trying to help you, understand me?"

-----

Yumi didn't really know why she had just done that or what prompted her to. It had come without any thought on her part and even after moving away she was just as confused, maybe even more. This felt so alien to her even with having been with Choi, yet this was completely different for her. When she told Viral what it all meant he was completely lost, and she couldn't help herself but groan and place her head in her hand. "Why... Why does everything have to be explained to you men? I swear..." she moaned, shaking her head before smiling slightly amused. She couldn't seriously be mad at Viral for this, she knew it was strange coming from her. Hell, she didn't even really know what she meant or was feeling right now, her head was aflutter with dozens of thoughts and she felt short of breath yet she hadn't a clue why.

"I mean exactly what I said Viral. I love you. I care about you a lot, I want you to be safe, I want to help you. I don't get why it's so complicated," Yumi stated matter of factly, her face reddening again as she had to look away. Clearing her throat awkwardly she rubbed at her arm, not sure if she really should commit to this whole business now. She couldn't just walk away now after pulling that and expect Viral to be okay with it though, she did owe him answers. "I... I don't know really, I'm just as confused as you are. And who cares about 'my own kind'. That doesn't keep me from loving someone. I love Shu and Takeshi too, and Kai and Choi and Kabocha, and T'charrl and June and Aito... I just love you differently. I don't know! This isn't exactly stuff I'm really used to either, I don't have all the answers."

"Everyone just wants you to get better Viral, and be there with us. It's nothing huge really is it?" No one had grand expectations or assumed that he would do anything, nor did anyone assume he'd do nothing. Whatever Viral did was fine, however much or however little, that was his call. To say people expected from him or wanted from him wasn't fair, it made it sound like he was just a means to an end. Letting out a sigh Yumi slapped her own cheeks before smiling, grabbing Viral's paw to lead him along as she started walking again, wanting to get back to the house now and over this awkwardness. "All you need to know is that we'll get through this bump together, I'll be there the entire way. So don't feel like you're alone on this, and if you ever feel lost you have me to fall back on. That goes for everyone else too, you don't have to struggle by yourself."

T’charrl twitch his antennae, not really understanding what Haku was talking about. “Hurting? It’s a spirit, they don’t feel pain anymore…” he frowned, not feeling too sure as to whether Haku was just saying that because that’s what he thought it sounded like or if he knew something about it he didn’t. The spirit must had been too close to him when he was using his powers, that had to be it. Feeling a little nervous he slowly nudged himself back before looking around, trying to see if the other spirits were reacting in the same way. It was hard to tell when he could always see them so he didn’t see anything different, only a few of them looking his way when he looked at them. Frowning, T’charrl looked back to Haku, rubbing his claws together nervously. He may had just prevented this spirit from moving on too.

“Uhhh, t-there are other spirits…but they’re not close to me”, he spoke slowly, shifting his feet a little against the grass, “I didn’t see that one when I went into my trance, so maybe I-uhh…I don’t know…” He wasn’t used to demonstrating his powers others so having this happen didn’t make sense to him. Staring at Haku as he petted the creature he slowly stood up, his knees wobbling around as he tried to stabilise. “A pet…? Uhhh, like a thing you keep?” he frowned, a claw holding his shoulder, “I don’t even know if a spirit can be a pet…or even leave this area for that matter! Spirits usually can’t go far from where they died and I don’t know what I did to it or even if I did something to you instead…”

----

Kiton stared at the captain before frowning, getting the impression that he was not taking this seriously at all. The guys probably just blasted and ran for it, the usual bother that pirates seemed to go for. Hearing the same nonsense that he already knew when it came to the Galactic Police he simply tilted his head, wondering what he was getting at with this in reality apart from the usual ‘no because what’s the point in fighting them’. He needed to convince them that there was a real threat, like there was an entire force rather than just two rebel soldiers that were sneaking around after hostages. Staring up at the man as he approached he didn’t budge an inch, narrowing his gaze as he examined the man.

“Accept me? Hmm, I get a lot of requests to join everyone’s club so don’t worry about that being the reason I’m doing this”, he spoke, waving his hand gently, “I do have one concern though. Don’t get me wrong, I understand you plenty! But why are you hanging around when you know the Galactic Police would just swarm you? Would had thought you would all be out of here by now if reports got out by the time I was passing. Speaking of resources and your men, isn’t it hazardous to take this whole place hostage? A bunch of people don’t go missing like this, after all”.

----

Viral was so confused he was on the verge of madness, talking to himself even when he should be addressing Yumi directly. He didn’t understand anything about this concept, he had never been exposed to it before in his known life. Everybody had just passed him off as who he was, even the likes of Yumi just passed by him. His only understanding of it was of what he saw on television or read in books. Unfortunately for Yumi he had come to a conclusion a long time ago, even seeing how the other Beastmen acted confirmed it for him. Trying to spare himself the thought of it all he could only question it, growling lowly when she brought up his gender as being a problem. “Don’t pile me on with everyone else…”

There she was saying that word again, the phrase that he couldn’t understand being directed to him. He was frustrated and confused over it and here she was trying to simplify it, telling him he was an idiot for not understanding such a simple feeling that humans and other species felt all the time. Listening to her nonetheless he kept quiet, the same frustrated confusion remaining in his expression until he sighed, his expression softening slightly. He really didn’t understand, even if he had read about it and seen it before. He didn’t know how he was supposed to deal with it directed to him, not even a tiny bit. Staring at the blurry ground he remained silent, unable to find words for everything she just said until he grabbed his paw and pulled him forward into a walk. Almost falling over in a weak stumble he growled in annoyance, trying to figure out where he was walking as he moved. “I feel like I’m going to fall forward, nevermind back!” he growled, feeling rather helpless and unable to figure out where exactly he was being walked to, “I’m not able to deal with all these things at once after that…”

"W-Well... It sounded like it was whimpering, I think..." Haku muttered as he glanced at the creature again. Had T'charrl not heard it? He swore he heard it whimpering and he was sure he wasn't crazy, not if his friend was seeing it too. Something must be special about this spirit for it to be interacting with him right? From the sounds of it this wasn't normal, they could generally only be seen by T'charrl and no one else. So what did that mean? Why could he see it? The fact there was no answer to it worried Haku yet he was just as intrigued as he was uneasy over the whole matter. Getting up from his spot he tried moving away from the spirit only for it to follow him, sitting dutifully at his feet and lifting its narrow snout up to him, its broad tail beating against the ground.

"I mean I don't feel any different, I don't think you did anything. Maybe it just likes me?" Didn't make much sense, a spirit liking someone. If it were a living dog-thing then there'd be no questions, they would just move on with their day. But a ghost dog? That had him all out of sorts. Scratching at his head thoughtfully Haku moved towards T'charrl again, glancing back as the animal followed at his heels, stopping whenever he stopped. This was very odd, neat but odd. Smiling slightly amused he turned to his friend and lifted his shoulders in a shrug, "I guess I've got another friend, while we're here anyways. He seems to be friendly right? Nothing to worry about!"

-----

"Oh? Isn't that adorable, you're popular. I'm sure some "club" would love to have you as a member," the pirate captain replied in a snide tone, hardly buying into Kiton's supposed value. Being a Frost Demon meant nothing to him, it was results that he cared about and he knew nothing of the boy's accomplishments, or even lack thereof. "You're right, normally it would be idiotic to stage an attack like this. We don't have the resources for a siege nor do we have the man power to hold back a whole force of Galactic Police. So then why are we doing this? What possible reason could we have for attacking a town like this?" He'd let Kiton think on that for a moment and try figuring it out himself, it shouldn't be hard. Pulling a bottle of liquor from a cabinet behind the desk he broke the cork off with ease, taking half of the bottle down in one gulp before frowning. Weak drink, what good was this bitter pisswater?

Outside the room the sound of blasters firing would disturb the silence that had settled, followed by shouts on both Ricken and Sasha's parts. It sounded like they were getting into a fight beyond the doors, and a good one at that as the fighting quickly escalated, Ki blasts even being fired off in retaliation. "There's a lot of things I don't like, Kiton, and being underestimated is one of them. I don't know who you are but did you expect us not to recognize two rebels when we saw them? Or the rebel craft?" the captain asked, frowning as he sloshed the liquid around in his bottle, "I know exactly why you're here, and what you and your friends intend to do. And since I'm a very busy man I don't have time for these games, so..." Pausing the man took down the last of the drink, throwing the bottle aside and rising from his chair, pushing the desk aside into the wall. "How about we just get right to it? Beat me and the hostages go free, lose and you die, plain and simple."

-----

Yumi couldn't stand there and explain love to Viral, it wasn't as though she were some love guru. Truth be told she didn't understand her own feelings entirely either aside from the fact she knew what she was feeling. She did love others too, her love for Viral just felt different. It was similar to what she'd felt for Choi for a period of time, only this was more... Intense? Real? Hell if she knew, it frustrated her too being unable to properly express her feelings. The fact Viral didn't react favorably to her admission either left her feeling a bit dejected too and not wanting to push the matter any more. Instead of keeping on that line of thought she grabbed his paw and pulled him along, wanting to be back to the house and getting him some attention he desperately needed.

"Right... Sorry, let's just focus on getting back, okay?" She didn't want to needlessly bog Viral down with any more baggage than he already had on him. That admission now in hindsight was awfully selfish of her too, wanting to try and make him feel better so she would in turn. That wasn't right, she should be trying to help him simply for the sake of helping him, not to benefit from it too. As they drew nearer to the home Yumi eased up on the pace a little, looking back at Viral every so often to see how he was doing. As soon as they stepped inside she figure he'd be swarmed by June and Aito alike, and Vegeta would likely want to see him as well. She hated to admit it put part of her wanted to keep him for herself for the time being, to try looking after him for a change. "Viral...? How about instead of going inside I take you out back? Unless you're really hurt you can lay down in the hammock and nap, I'll make sure no one bothers you."

T’charrl didn’t know what was up with that spirit but he didn’t like it, feeling like this wasn’t how it was supposed to be. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do when another living being was able to interact with a spirit near him, but then again he didn’t fully know how spirits function since nobody ever told him if they saw one before. “They don’t feel pain, they don’t have anything to feel pain with…” he frowned, wondering if he scared it instead. He didn’t want to be scary to everyone he came in contact with, even if he knew that couldn’t be helped. He was pretty scary looking according to everyone, but he couldn’t blame them either because of how he looked when he turned into a giant mutant ‘bug’. Speaking of turning into nasty things he was trying to get his energy to settle down to prevent just that, it certainly didn’t help that he was broken out of his own time too.

“Uhh I don’t know…I’ve not heard anyone saying they saw a spirit near me before…so I don’t know if I did anything…” he frowned, trying to figure it out as he rubbed at his arms. Staring at the spirit as he tried to figure out what it was doing he glanced to Haku again, backing off a little when he noticed the spirit was still following him around. “Umm…I don’t even know if others can see it…” he spoke, unable to understand if he was supposed to be indifferent about this since it had been so personal to him for a long time, now a stray element had come to confuse him all over again. “Oh sure…nothing to worry about except you pulled me out way too suddenly with your yell”, he frowned, looking down at himself, “I’m feeling pretty awful right now”.

----

Kiton didn’t care if the captain wasn’t really giving much of a care for his bluffs or stories, he was just trying to buy time for the others with his constant talking. The longer he kept the guy occupied the better things were going to turn out. Simply shrugging in response he frowned as he listened to the man’s response, finding it a little strange that while he was aware that hanging around was stupid but he wasn’t really doing anything about it. Sighing lightly in response he frowned when the man simply took a drink, expecting him to come up with an answer to a question he asked in the first place. Staring at the man he was immediately alerted to the sounds that were going on outside, quickly turning his head to look before sighing in annoyance.

Well this was a pain, of course they were going to blow it. Why did they come in after him instead of exploring properly? Narrowing his eyes he turned to look at the captain again, folding his arms. He expected this guy to figure out what was going on with all that noise going on behind but to not know who he was did tick him off a little. The guy could had at least looked him up or something to see if his claims were true. Sighing in annoyance he soon shook his hand, shaking his head. “Didn’t I say? I told you there would be people”. Being fairly patient with the man now he showed no signs of intimidation as he decided that was enough, staring at the man as he made him an offer on life and death. Staring at him for a moment he soon sighed, shrugging. “I don’t have much to lose. Okay sure, I’ll take you up on your offer”.

----

Viral didn’t know what he was supposed to say other than complain about the speed he was going at, finding it pretty hard to process. Yumi was probably feeling worse than him about this whole deal, she was the one who kissed him and told him all of that. He was struggling pretty hard with all of this, it was too human for him and something he hadn’t been exposed to all of his life. He didn’t know what was bringing this all out. Trying to keep up with her he groaned, disliking the speed they were moving at and how he was having to move without knowing where he was going. It was kind of difficult to get balanced and he felt completely out of control too. He wasn’t in any control over anything, even his life was beyond his control.

Groaning as Yumi gave him reassurance he was not made to feel any safer as they continued to stumble along, his eyes unable to focus on anything as he went. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do once he was finally settled somewhere either, even what he was supposed to say if Aito or June was there. He didn’t know if Vegeta would care much, he would’ve been expecting him to appear eventually; then again, June and Aito would probably be expecting the same. They knew Yumi had gone out to wait for him to appear again and knew she would bring him back so they had nothing to worry about. Looking vaguely in Yumi’s direction he frowned when she made a suggestion, staring at her before he sighed. “A nap…? I just woke up. I’m in pain but I don’t know if I can nap. My energy is incredibly low”, he spoke slowly as he thought through it before looking to Yumi’s blurry figure again, “What are you planning, anyway…”

Haku supposed that made sense, how would a spirit feel pain? So whatever T'charrl had done earlier had scared it then and maybe it wanted to be safe near him. But why him? That was the one thing both he and T'charrl still couldn't understand, why was this spirit following him? He'd done nothing other than sit down here and surely that hadn't triggered it. With luck there would be answers soon enough, his head was spinning trying to sort out this mess himself.

"Well... What if you didn't do this then? What if I did something?" Haku suggested, giving T'charrl what amounted to a nervous smile. He didn't know how he would have managed such a feat, he didn't have the sort of abilities that his friend had. Hell, there wasn't a single remarkable thing about him really. He was plain looking, average for a Saiyan, even weaker than someone like Yumi. He had no special training in anything and hadn't really ever accomplished much of note, so how would he have been able to do this? Were he not standing there that very moment, the ghost like dog at his feet, Haku would be hard pressed to believe anything was because of him, but what other explanation was there?

Smiling apologetically at his friend the Saiyan rubbed at his neck, glancing around the area before sitting down again. "I'm sorry, I'll be sure to be quiet this time, won't happen again," Haku muttered, figuring his friend could simply settle down again and try sitting. To his right the creature let out what sounded like a whine again, and as he glanced over it padded towards T'charrl, stopping at the Kaesstrian's feet. "H-Hey, what're you doing, uh..." He hadn't named it had he? This was worrisome though seeing it go over towards T'charrl, he hoped it wasn't going to harm his friend.

Glancing up at T'charrl with white opal-colored eyes the creature tilted its head curiously, smelling something unusual on the being before him. They smelled like two people, why was that? Moving closer to him the creature sniffed at his leg, then proceeded to rub against it once before emitting a yipping sound. It seemed to be eager to be around T'charrl in spite of being threatened earlier, getting up on its hind legs and placing its front paws on his leg, its two tails wagging excitably. Again it yipped, appearing like it wanted something from the Kaesstrian.

-----

"You certainly did. And you came with those people, according to what my men saw. A decent act boy, but sorry to say it was over before you even started," the captain said as the sounds of fighting raged outside. He didn't seem much to mind it even as one of the walls was nearly broken through, courtesy of one of his men being slammed into it. There was only one way for this to end for Kiton and that was by fighting, and somehow emerging victorious for it. Posing that choice he smirked when the Frost Demon accepted it, letting out a short chuckle and nodding. "Not that you had much of a choice, we'd fight either way. How about we get started then?" None of that usual nonsense fighters seemed to had, blathering away and all that. Honor be damned, he wasn't some soldier living by a code. Once he'd pushed the desk aside the captain took one step forward and held his leg in the air for a split second, smashing it back down on the floor. The effects of his strike caused a fissure to appear in the rock below, the ground cracking and splitting as large stones jutted up, the fissure racing towards Kiton. Assuming he would dodge it the fissure burst right through the door, even partially blowing apart the wall to reveal the fighting on the other side.

"The captains in the fight! We've got this now!" one of the pirates cheered, promptly silenced as a fist connected with his jaw and sent him spiraling away.

"You haven't won shit, moron," Ricken growled, flexing his mechanical fist before glaring at Kiton, "Deal with him, we'll help as soon as we take care of these idiots!"

Watching his underlings be swatted like flies was humiliating, surely they could do better than this. "I'd appreciate you not calling my men idiots. Weaklings yes, but they're not idiots," the captain said with a shake of his head, sighing as he turned back to the desk again. Easily lifting it with one hand he turned back towards Kiton, taking a swing at the Frost Demon again and managing to smash it to splinters against the wall as it was avoided, extending a hand and firing off a Ki blast that blew apart the other wall, part of the ceiling crumbling along with it.

-----

"I just figured a nap might help you, that's all. Regain a little energy," Yumi answered uncertainly, not knowing what more she might suggest. Food might help but she doubted Viral had an appetite, not after all he'd likely eaten the last few days. From the sounds of it he only needed to rest out in the sun and regain his strength that way, something that even she could help him with. Glancing at him curiously when she was questioned she only offered a shake of her head in return, hardly planning anything. She just wanted to get him somewhere he would be safe and be able to relax, that was all, there was no ulterior or anything to it.

"Viral! Oh thank goodness!"

A bit startled by the sudden shout Yumi glanced ahead, smiling seeing June barreling towards them, with Vegeta hot on her heels. Well this was nice, she was glad they had come out to see them. But how had they known? It was only then she noticed there was another energy nearby, blinking once and glancing towards the side of the road; stood against one of the trees, a knowing smile on his face was Aito. Of course he'd been around to watch over them, he'd done a magnificent job of hiding himself. Wait... He had been there the whole time, which meant...

June smiled broadly as she placed her arms around Viral, pulling him into a secure hug as tears welled in her eyes. "Oh Viral...! They said you would be okay, that you would calm down, but I was worried sick! You look exhausted honey..." She wanted so badly to bring him back home and let him lay down, make him something to eat and essentially baby him. Aito had warned her time and time again against doing such a thing however and she had to accept that both Viral and Vegeta weren't the little children she remembered. Still... A mother could worry couldn't she?

"Glad to see you're okay, being half-naked aside," Vegeta chimed in, standing just behind June as he watched the scene with a faintly amused smile, "And... Sorry it took so long. We wanted to wait, to make sure nothing happened, but we were looking after you the whole time."

"Vegeta did most of it really, he spent most of the time out there, just keeping an eye on where you were," Aito added as he approached the group, winking at Yumi teasingly before patting her on the back, "He really wanted to be sure you'd be okay, we're glad to see you back here in one piece. Welcome back Viral."

T’charrl didn’t have much in him to be preventing anything that might interfere with his energy, he didn’t know how to handle that kind of interruption. Every other time he had been interrupted by negative energy, but this time he was controlling it and making him feel pretty terrible now that he was out of it again. While he was feeling pretty terrible he didn’t know if that use of negative energy was what made the spirit visible, even if Haku was trying to find an answer by suggestion he did something. “Wha? You? I don’t think so…I mean, you’re not a medium if you can’t see anything”, he spoke slowly, thinking over it. If he was a medium he would had been able to see the other spirits and have experiences before, not get a fright over a little animal. “I don’t even know if that creature did something or just decided to like you…or used my energy because it likes you”.

Either way it wasn’t really his concern at this point, he was just having to concentrate on calming down his energy so that he didn’t change into an embarrassingly big monster. He wouldn’t really know what to do if that happened and while he did have a lot more control over himself he did get unreasonably angry in that form. Sighing he looked to Haku before frowning, lowering himself a little before noticing the creature. Gasping, he moved his foot a little as he stared down at the creature, not really knowing what it was doing near him. He didn’t have much experience with creatures that were spirits or creatures at all that weren’t dangerous. Frowning, he gasped a little when it barked at him, pulling his toes back. Looking to Haku quickly for help he continued to rub his arms before deciding to slowly bend forward, a shaky claw reaching down to it as he attempted to touch it.

----

Kiton didn’t like how quickly this plan fell apart, but it was still good as it meant he was able to get down to the captain. Either way his plan had worked, he didn’t lose anything other than having to go in and fight against the guy. Disliking how noisy Ricken and Sasha were he let out a sigh, staring at the captain he awaited the challenge, watching as he pushed the desk only to end up showing off with his awkward looking leg. Thankfully Kiton knew exactly what was going on and jumped to the side, watching the fissure run across the ground before clenching his fist. This was a pretty stupid place to try and fight in, might as well destroy the place completely before starting anything if this was how it was going to be. He didn’t even know where the captives were nevermind what else was in this building if anything.

Looking to the annoying pirate he frowned as he turned his attention to Ricken, disliking how he was calling them idiots as well. Well that was something he and the captain shared. The only idiots there were was those who couldn’t function by themselves and these guys were certainly capable. Turning his attention back to the captain he frowned when the man very quickly turned his attention back to him and was quick to initiate the fight. Gasping he quickly shifted to the side, his eyes following the man’s fist as it shattered the wall. Finding it hard to understand what this guy was doing he quickly flew to the side as a Ki attack was charged, flying off into the wall. Well that certainly told him a lot about this captain and right now it wasn’t worth hanging around here. “Well fine! If you’re going to play it like that…” Quickly turning around he immediately flew out the crumbled wall, deciding that now that the roof was crumbling that indoors was never going to happen.

----

Viral didn’t know what napping good would do him, he just wanted to get his senses back and not have to stumble around so blindly. Even his hearing wasn’t that good, moving around wasn’t doing him any good either. Frowning at Yumi’s answer he soon sighed a groan. “If I end up sleeping I might just went up not waking up for a long time, so…” Very quickly he let out a gasp as a sudden voice sounded out, his heart jumping. Absolutely nothing alerted him to it, he didn’t even know who was running for him until he was grabbed hold of and June’s voice squeaked in his ear. Going pretty stiff he stared down at her, letting out a groan as he looked away in embarrassment before gasping lightly when it turned out Vegeta was there too. He didn’t see him before, he couldn’t and that put him off guard immediately. Narrowing his eyes as if trying to focus on him he frowned, letting out a groan. “You were spying on me this whole time…?”

Feeling rather annoyed already he growled when he heard Aito was also nearby, looking in his general direction. So everyone was in on it and not just Yumi, everyone was keeping an eye on him as he ran around like a mental case. That made him feel particularly uncomfortable, knowing they were all watching over him. Feeling rather embarrassed and oddly vulnerable. “Oh great, thanks…” he muttered, not really looking to anyone, “I sure am glad to know all of you were in on watching me run around like an idiot. Was it because you were afraid I might kill someone who wandered over to the lake or wander to the city? How long have you been watching me since I woke up??”

"A medium...? I don't get it..." Haku muttered, glancing at himself as though there should be something on him, a sign that he was. Trying to break up the tension he smiled meekly, "Besides, I-I'm more like a small... Because of... My height." Yeah, the utter silence was just about what he'd expect for a joke of that caliber. Rubbing his arm awkwardly he looked at the creature again, smiling slightly as it yipped happily and looked at him in turn. "I don't get why it would like me though, I mean... Why me? You're the one with the amazing ability, what's it like me for? I don't have anything." Aside from maybe some petting and a smile he couldn't give the spirit whatever it might need. Since it wasn't a living creature it didn't need any food from him, nor did it need any normal pet stuff. So why him?

The creature had gone to T'charrl because he seemed to be in distress, it stayed when it noticed two spirits. Why were there two spirits with this person? That was very unusual, it seemed like they were unbalanced and uneasy because of it. Hoping to try and help settle nerves the spirit yipped playfully, pawing at T'charrl's leg before sitting down before him. Awaiting a gesture of affection in return it happily lifted its head into his hand, nuzzling against it gratefully. If it was able to do its job it would try and soothe his tension, just as it had done with Haku before. Not that the creature understood it had such a talent, it merely liked to be pet. Yipping playfully it began circling around T'charrl's legs, stopping in front of him again and sitting down on its haunches.

-----

The captain didn't much care for the building, it was mighty stuffy and a bit too cramped for a proper brawl. So it was then he decided to air out a little, casually throwing strikes any which way and breaking apart the room to give them far more space to do battle. Once he'd blown apart a wall and the ceiling began to crumble Kiton predictably took off out of the space, leaving the pirate smiling as he walked out after him. "Just doing you a favor, it's much too small in there for a fight," the captain called back, pushing down the wall on his way out, causing the building to collapse in on itself partially, obscuring the fight happening inside. With Kiton in the air the man crouched down slightly and took a hefty leap, rising up to the Frost Demon's level. He'd done so in a near instant propelling himself with his trunk like legs, proceeding then to try and make a cut at Kiton with the side of his hand, fingers extended in a chopping gesture.

What a mess this had turned into. The building was being blown apart by blasters and blows alike and more men were showing up for the brawl. Ricken wasn't sure what was more bothersome, how many people were being thrown at them or the fact the building had been shown no regard. Sometimes these things could be a real headache. Leaning back to avoid a man stabbing with an energized blade he drove a knee upwards into his gut, smashing his back with an elbow and knocking him back to the floor, giving him a kick to move him away for good measure. Another with a blade tried stabbing him while he was busy and he responded by reaching back with his artificial arm, grabbing the blade and smirking at the astonished look on the pirate's face, throwing his arm aside before jumping and spinning his body as he kicked the man in the head, sending him spiraling to the floor unconscious.

"If I didn't know better I'd say you were having fun with this Ricken," Sasha commented, seeing her brother's actions before shaking her head.

"Lot of pent up frustrations, gives me a chance to blow off some steam," her brother acknowledged.

Frustration over what who knew, he tended to get frustrated over just about everything. Rolling her eyes Sasha lined up against two more pirates, one with a blaster and another with a bladed weapon. No shortage of toys this time that was for sure. Bouncing back and forth lithely on the balls of her feet she waited for one to make a move, dodging a blaster shot first before dashing in for an attack. When a blade swung at her she nimbly jumped up and flipped over the men, catching herself on her hands and kicking out backwards with her legs, striking one in the back and sending him into the wall. The man with the blade tried getting her while she was down but a swift sweep of the legs knocked him off balance, and turning around she caught him seemingly in mid air, tugging him towards herself before kicking out and sending him into the same wall his partner had gone into.

-----

Poor Viral was doubtless quite overwhelmed by all of this. No doubt he hadn't expected to be greeted by everyone, and they hadn't expected to really greet him so soon either, not until June had gone running out. As they were quick to reveal however it wasn't as though they were completely alone, with Vegeta in particular having spent quite a fair bit of time watching after Viral and Yumi. He'd only just returned home an hour before Yumi had gone out to get him, and he certainly looked haggard enough to suggest he'd been busy recently. "I wasn't spying, I was watching after you," Vegeta pointed out, always with the technicalities, "I made sure to give you room and just made sure you didn't accidentally end up hurting yourself, that's all. We weren't really going to abandon you out there."

"No, we weren't too concerned. The only ones who go there regularly are the crew who maintain the dam and they were told to stay away until we finished out work, so it lined up nicely," Aito explained with a smile, "And if you're asking me, about... Oh the last minute or so, maybe a little longer than that." He'd leave out the fact he'd seen Viral emerge from the lake and Yumi chase after him, or that little moment they had shared. It was a massive invasion of privacy that he'd seen that, though in his defense how was he supposed to know it would happen? Glancing at Yumi she shot him a 'don't you dare' kind of look, making the doctor quickly clam up about what he'd witnessed. "I was distracted for a moment by something though, I only just caught back up. I'm glad you're back and safe Viral."

June was still holding Viral as though he might vanish again the second she let go, not remotely caring she was getting covered in water from doing so. "Oh don't be so angry, we were just worried about you, that's all honey," she said gently, smiling as she looked at her son. Noticing a piece of something similar to kelp on his forehead she plucked it off, showing it to him before laughing and throwing it away. "I'm just glad you're okay, I was up all night worrying about you. We should get you inside and changed, you must be freezing standing here." Placing one arm around his shoulders she eased Viral along, moving at a slow pace as not to hurry him, the poor thing must be beyond exhausted. The others quickly followed along behind them though she paid them little mind as all of her focus was on the young man at her arm. "Sorry I didn't come out to look too, I was asked to stay here in case you made your own way back."

T’charrl frowned, disliking how Haku was now confusing him with the language. He had been told that his ability had a name by Vegeta, but now he was saying it was something else. “W-What…? But I thought that was correct…” Disliking how he was being confused with words he tried to keep that out of his mind, making clicking noises before groaning at what Haku said. “I don’t have an amazing ability. It’s an absolute curse…” he muttered, shaking his head, “I wouldn’t wish it on anyone…” Haku really did overestimate his ability, but then again everyone did. Everyone tried to convince him that it was some sort of gift but all of his life he had been held back and handicapped by it, he didn’t even make any friends during his childhood because everybody thought he was just a freak.

Trying to distract himself from his powers and the problems that came with it he did try to stop the creature from touching him so much. He didn’t like how it wanted to be near him, he knew it would just fear him if it knew what he really was. Lowering his claws to the creature to try and gently shoo it away, but instead it jumped at his palm and nuzzled into it. Gasping, he pulled his claws back quickly and held it close to his chest. “W-What are you doing?” he spoke quickly, staring down at it with uncertainty, “You shouldn’t be near me…” Not really understanding what it was doing or even the concept it was trying to share with him. Watching it he pulled his feet together, staring down at it as he straightened his legs a bit more. “Haku can you help me with this…”

-

Kiton couldn’t risk the building collapsing fully, especially during a fight. He needed to get out into the open if he was going to do anything to this captain that didn’t risk harming Sasha and Ricken. Ricken would kill him if he was going to end up accidentally harming Sasha. Flying out of the building he quickly turned around, his attention being directed towards the captain once more as he floated in the air. That man was just a wrecking ball and while it should be intimidating he wasn’t scared, he had gone up against worse. Despite his confidence he sure did hope his body was up to it, seeing how it wasn’t that long ago since he had his bad crash.

Once the captain exploded from the ground Kiton immediately went back into alert mode and watched as the man tried to attack him just as quickly as he got into the air. For the man’s size he was definitely fast, a bit alarming really. Growling lowly he quickly shifted to the side, watching his fingers before he quickly retaliated with a quick whip of his tail. He was going to try and keep behind this man, he couldn’t let the man hit him. He couldn’t assess this man’s power just because he blew up some walls, he could be pure strength but no defence.

-

Viral was angered by the very thought that everyone had been watching over him, especially when he was completely out of it mentally. It was always the same, there was always someone watching over him. He couldn’t be trusted for a moment, even if he had lost his mind for a while at least he wasn’t doing much other than typical animal stuff according to their lax attitude towards him. Glaring at Vegeta as he tried to explain himself and Aito, his eyes briefly looking in Aito’s direction when he decided to chime in too. Way to make him feel like he really was just an idiot running around and not considered dangerous enough to worry about, even if it was a good thing it really made him feel like a crap bio-weapon. Even a little bit of concern would had been encouraging to hear, especially when he was supposed to be dangerous.

Growling lowly as he narrowed his gaze at Aito, remaining stiff until June let go. Frowning when June simply told him off only to finish off with ‘honey’ he soon went red in the cheeks, staring down at her before gasping when she found something on his forehead. Growling in annoyance he wiped his hand over his hair, trying to feel out other stray pieces of debris. He was rather filthy and wet, his condition not completely known to him with his deadened senses. Sighing, he frowned as he looked to June as she took a hold of his arm, leading him to probably the house they had been given. “I don’t know how I would had found my way back without seeking out your death specifically. I don’t know this planet well enough…” he muttered, his eyes directed to the ground, “It probably doesn’t matter, anyway. I did nothing out there worth noting, just ran around like a dumb animal. I suppose I was worried about nothing…”

It seemed like his attempt at cracking a joke was a total failure, no surprise there. Smiling apologetically he shook his head, rubbing at his neck before letting out a small laugh. "N-No... I mean it's right, I think... I don't really know what 'medium' means either, aside from uh... From clothes, so you're asking the wrong person." He hadn't been on Earth THAT long, there were loads of phrases and sayings he had no clue what they meant. Asking him for help on that was like asking Shu to patch you up after a fight, probably not the best idea. "What do you mean its a curse? You can help things move on right? And... If people want to they can talk to the dead, I think that's amazing. It would make people happy, knowing you helped someone move on. I think it's an amazing power." It was something no one else had either, something completely his own. T'charrl should be happy for that too.

Seeing the creature still cozying up to T'charrl, nudging him and yipping at him, it was all Haku could do not to laugh. It seemed like a harmless spirit that just wanted some attention but his friend was treating it like it was something scary. Maybe he ought to be concerned since T'charrl was more aware of spirits yet it seemed nice, he wasn't going to treat it badly. "Okay, I'll try anyways," Haku said with a smile, reaching down once he'd gotten over and trying to pick it up. The most astonishing thing happened then as his hands went around its body, it became a physical thing and he was able to lift it. Gasping in shock Haku stayed bent over for a moment before cautiously lifting it up, looking at the creature amazed before laughing as it licked at his cheek. "H-He's harmless!" he laughed, beaming as he glanced down at it, "I didn't know you could do that, little guy... Oh we should name it T'charrl!"

-----

If Kiton thought he would be able to fly off to be safe he was sorely mistaken, he wasn't fighting some third rate fighter. Using purely the strength of his legs the captain launched himself up after the Frost Demon, pulling back an arm and taking a chop at him; the chop missed its target but the force of the blow created a slight air wave, the pressure blasting past Kiton and the air cracking slightly from the force. Seeing Kiton's tail whipping around he raised an arm to block it, the two limbs smacking together with a loud smack as he was knocked down a few meters, catching himself with his own Ki. The point of impact was red and the skin slightly broken, impressive for a single quick blow. Hardly a life threatening wound though, the captain simply wiped the blood off and the wound was near invisible without the blood.

As easy as it would be to simply blow away the Frost Demon he couldn't be blowing apart the town, he'd have to reserve his strength and keep it largely hand to hand. Rising back up to Kiton's level he smiled slightly, adjusting his shirt before rolling his neck with an audible crack. "Hit my back next, if you wouldn't mind. There's an awful kink there," he joked before leaning forward, propelling himself forward again with speed unfitting a man of his stature. Lowering his frame some he cocked back his right arm and took a simple cut towards Kiton's stomach, ready to try and swing out his left elbow after that if it was blocked and or dodged. He wasn't going to make this easy for the boy, rebel or not.

-----

It was obvious that Viral was not completely comfortable here, all the more reason for June to get him inside to relax. After getting a little laugh over his becoming flustered she gently took hold of his arm, ushering him along with the others following behind them. They were conversing among themselves over something but she couldn't much care about it, her focus being the young man at her side. "Which is why we kept an eye on you Viral, we were just worried. And do you think the small chance of that is going to ever keep me away from you?" June asked with a smile, shaking her head before Viral could even respond. "You don't know how mothers work, I'm not going to abandon you over anything. And you know... It's not the first time I've done something like this."

Taking a brief glance back at Aito she saw him engrossed in conversation with Yumi and Vegeta, taking that as a sign she could tell a quick story. "When Aito and I first started dating we would go out to eat a lot, and he'd always take me to the most wonderful restaurants. One night we had some friends with us and we were celebrating our engagement, that means we were getting ready to be married. Aito had a little too much to drink that night though and... Well he doesn't handle his liquor well," she recounted with a stifled giggle, pausing as she led Viral up the steps and opened the door for him, "I spent all night watching him bumble around, talking to every stranger like he knew them personally and ending up laying in the shrubs outside the building. Now that is a dumb animal honey, not you."

T’charrl shook his head, frowning. “Talking to the dead is a taboo! It’s a bad thing, the sign of someone related to death. Being able to do such a thing is the same as bringing death closer to someone and…it scares them. People hate the unknown, that’s just the reality”, T’charrl spoke slowly as if trying not to startle the creature down at his feet, he didn’t want it attacking him, “My power may be able to help plants grow and shape them, but it can destroy it too. I could burn this whole place down if I wanted to and when you live on a planet covered in plant life, the thought that I could burn it all down makes people scared. I can take life away as easily as I can make it”. His own people were never going to accept what he was because they feared the unknown, especially when that power could only be properly demonstrated by either helping life to grow or taking it away.

Gasping when the creature continued to bark at him in a strange manner he rubbed his claws together, staring down at it the creature before looking to Haku. He was especially scared that he was going to step on it if his own powers decided to take over his body. Staring at Haku as he reached down to the creature he frowned when it was actually possible for it to be picked up, watching him curiously before tilting his head a little. “You don’t…feel like your skin is melting, do you…?” he questioned him in a concerned manner, tilting his head the other way at the suggestion of naming it, not quite understanding his phrasing. “Name it T’charrl? But my name is T’charrl…we can’t name it that…” he spoke quietly, scratching at his shaky claws, “How do you know it can leave this area for a name to be a good thing? Does it speak this language or another…? Does it understand us? I-I don’t know…”

----

Kiton didn’t know how his power was going to compare against this man but when his tail struck the man’s arm it sounded and felt like a good solid hit with Kiton being sent back a little. The man certainly got the brunt of the blow and was sent away from him, watching as the man recovered only to wipe off the blow like it was nothing. So this was going to be a little tougher than he thought, but he didn’t know if he could try and go all out with this guy either. He needed to keep calm and be the better man in this fight and use the man’s strength and violent nature against him. Watching the captain he frowned slightly at the joke made about his attacks, wondering if he might as well try and break the man’s back if he was going to be joking around like that. Hoping he might be able to get away with beating this guy in a fight through sheer force rather than dirty tactics. Readying himself again he watched as the man flew forward, his arm managing to block the blow to his stomach but hit into it at the same time, causing him to gasp before he had to immediately block another elbow. Taking the elbow blow with his own he was locked in, his eyes switching between each one before he quickly started to kick out, trying to go for the low blow. “I’m just here to free the people! I don’t care if you take treasures!”

----

Viral didn’t know what he wanted for when he was finally home, his mind not completely settled on something other than the fact that he was feeling the cold and that his senses were completely gone. He needed to get himself sorted and back to seeing and hearing, he needed washed up and his energy restored. Being so burnt out exhausted him greatly and made him wonder how he was still standing, yet here he was as he barely knew what he was supposed to be looking for with his feet finding foreign surfaces to be confusing whenever he came across them. His shoes were typically quite thin so he could feel out his environment without having to go barefooted, but with his senses so deadened everything felt so rubbery and dead. “I don’t know what brings you to keep calling yourself my mother when you know I don’t follow under the rules of family…”

Viral kept his head low despite the fact that he probably should had been gazing forward, his attention not really being given to what he should be doing. He wasn’t supposed to be looking all depressed and weak, he was supposed to be looking better than he was before, not appearing like he was going to give up and fall over. Looking in June’s direction as she began to speak again he frowned, not knowing why she was giving him a little story like this. Staring at her he frowned at the conclusion, looking away again as he tried to get up the steps without tripping. “For some reason that sounds exactly like something that idiot would do…” he sighed, shaking his head, “It still doesn’t sound like something that’s any different to what I did, except instead of talking to people I probably attacked everything, ate everything and ended up in a hole…”

"Well... We see your power and its not unknown, right? And I mean it's a little scary, but I could get used to it," Haku muttered meekly, smiling as he shrugged his shoulders. It wasn't as if the spirits had hurt him or anything, just knowing they were there and not seeing them made it a bit freaky. "You know who we're traveling with... Right? All those people we're with?" he asked, holding up his hands as he counted off of his fingers, "There's Shu and Takeshi, two Saiyan Princes, then there's Choi, Kai and Kabocha, all soldiers good enough to fight with them. Then there's Viral, and that Vegeta guy, his dad and mom... There's Yumi, there's Kiton, and then there's all the Beastmen we just got. There's loads of people who can make and destroy things," Haku pointed out, smiling as he folded his arms confidently, "So are they monsters too? If we're all monsters then uh... Well you belong with us. And if we're not monsters then you still belong with us, because that means you aren't a monster either, right?"

Seeing T'charrl having a hard time with the spirit he picked it up for his friend, a little astonished it actually worked. The creature was light and soft, it really did feel like a living creature. If Haku hadn't been confused before he most definitely was now, was this thing alive or was it dead? "Uh... Heh no... You'd know if my skin was melting," the Saiyan laughed weakly, smiling as he tentatively touched the animal's stomach, grinning when it yipped and squirmed in his grasp. It was really a harmless little thing, rather cute too. If it was wanting to come with him and be his friend Haku was more than happy to let it. "No, I meant you and I should name it, T'charrl. Not that we name it T'charrl," he added with a smirk, glancing back at the creature and shrugging in response to the question posed. When it squirmed again in his grasp Haku let it go, watching as it trot around excitably, sniffing at some of the sprouting plants in the area, "We should try, I want to keep him. Er... Her... I don't even know what it is..."

-----

So the Frost Demon had some punch behind his swings, good to know. For a single strike of his tail it had surprisingly knocked him a ways back, from now on he'd be more mindful of that extra limb. Closing the gap between them once again the captain retaliated with a straight punch, following it with a driving elbow strike that was also blocked out. Trying to force his blow through he dashed back to avoid being kicked low, smirking as he raised his fists again. "So that's what you're here for, I figured as much. An admirable goal, but a pointless one." Turning around the captain extended an arm towards the building, Ki pulsing in his palm before a blast was fired off at the building below, colliding and erupting into an explosion larger than anticipated from such a small blast. As dust and smoke was blown everywhere the sound of concrete crumbling and people shouting filled the air, the results of the blast revealing a shattered structure in the wake of the blast. Turning back to Kiton the captain scoffed, dusting off his hands with a clap.

"There, no more distractions. It's the first time I've ever fought a Frost Demon, I want to see if you're truly as powerful as they say," he said, grinning as he gave his knuckles a crack, "Now come on, show me some of your strength." Darting in again the captain used Ki to propel himself at a high speed, attempting to tackle Kiton and use his massive frame to drive him down to the ground, if he got a hold of him. If he outright missed he'd double back and attempt to grab hold of the Frost Demon to throw him down to the ground instead.

-----

"That doesn't change the fact that I'm acting as your mother, Viral," June pointed out with a patient smile, "I know it's a lot to ask of you so soon, we were gone for a while. And I don't think I can just pretend I'm something else, so please bear with me." It was one thing when they were normally around each other, she could restrain herself for the most part and not dote on him as she wished to. Seeing him all downtrodden and tired however propelled her into parenting mode, she wanted to tend to him until he was perfectly fine once again.

Leading Viral into house she smiled slightly after sharing her story of Aito, not getting quite the reaction she had hoped for. "That's not fair and you know it. In Aito's case he was drunk and he made some mistakes, and I don't see him as a drunk or a moron now, even if he was then," June said with a laugh, reaching out and patting Viral's arm, "Just like we don't see you as a monster, or we're not afraid of you because you might change now and again. That wouldn't be fair if we thought of you that way now would it? And maybe comparing the two isn't the same, but... That's how we feel. I certainly know its how I feel." Leaving Viral stood in the kitchen for a moment June went to the bathroom and returned with a towel, pushing a chair over for her son to take a seat in. Once he was down she began to gently dry him off, starting with his hair and moving around to make sure he was all dry, wanting Viral to be a little more comfortable. "Do you want some food Viral? We should probably get you changed too, don't want you to catch a cold."

"Oh, and this probably needs to be washed..." June added, glancing at the scarf still around Viral's neck. Smiling thoughtfully she let her fingers trace around the hem of it, pausing when she found a slight tear in the fabric. She'd made that for him years ago and he still wore it, it gave her a special sort of feeling know he still kept it. "You should let me sew it together, there's a tear here and there on it," she said gently as she tried to unwind it from his neck, "It'll be as good as new when I'm finished with it."

T’charrl tilted his head a little before looking around, tilting his head a little more as his antennae twitched. “I could suck out your life energy and you wouldn’t even know about it until you start feeling weak. Does that not scare you?” It was probably why his kind died out, minus the whole using spirits to their advantage. He didn’t know how many of his kind were still on his planet other than the King, he didn’t even get if his children had the gift either or if it had missed their generation. Not really understanding his logic when saying everyone was a monster in their own way he tilted his head, frowning before shaking his head. “I don’t think you really understand…but that’s okay. There’s many who don’t understand”, he spoke, looking to the ground, “It’s nothing to do with what you were trained to do. It’s to do with how unnatural my level of power is and what happens when it goes out of control…”

While all the talking was helping a little he was still trying to control himself, his knees shaking a little. He didn’t know what was going on with the creature and everything he had been doing so far had been left unfinished because of it. The area did look a lot better than it did before, but the negative energy that was leftover was difficult to control. It could had been worse, but his training previously had left it thankfully easier to handle when before he could barely get a handle on it. Staring at it as it wriggled around Haku seemed dead set on keeping it, eventually letting it go to have a sniff around. “Uhhh…really? B-But, what would the others think? What if it can get hurt? What can it do? I don’t know this much about spirits to be able to tell whether it can do everything we can, even if it could leave the area…”

----

Kiton didn’t want the mission to be a wasted effort when everything was riding on him beating down this man. Maybe while fighting this man he could compromise the safety of the people, letting the pirates go away with their treasures that could be replaced. He didn’t think a bunch of pirates would care for hostages that much and just let them go when it was known that they were all that they were there for. Holding his own against the captain’s attacks he hoped the man could compromise, gasping when the man backed off to avoid the kicks. Glaring at him, he got his fists ready again, watching him as he spoke before becoming concerned with what he was saying. Watching as the man extended an arm towards a building he was immediately placed on high alert. “No! Don’t!” Before he could even make a proper reaction the Ki was sent flying, the building very quickly becoming properly obliterated.

With wide eyes he stared at the destroyed building, the shouting that had come from it only becoming ingrained into his mind as he remained stunned. The mission had become too quickly a failure because of him, all of that planning gone to waste because he didn’t understand how ruthless this guy was. Continuing his staring at it he barely paid attention to what the man was saying now, his attention not being given until the last moment as the captain came hurtling towards him. With no time to dodge or make a reaction he was ploughed down at full force, his small body slamming into the ground under the full weight of the captain.

----

Viral let out a groan, not seeing the logic in it. He was an artificially made creature while a mother was someone who had given birth to you. He wasn’t born or anything, he came from a test tube made from a plethora of different things. Even then he barely knew her, he had lost his memory of her and Aito so that didn’t help matters. As he was slowly lead into the house the change of temperature made him shiver slightly, the tough skin on his arms not even being immune to the temperature shift. Glancing to June when she patted his arm he let out a sigh, shaking his head. “I’m supposed to change now and again to suit the environment, but I still have some concerns I’d rather address later. Now is hardly the time…”

When June left him alone in the kitchen to get something he immediately had the sense of being lost, his environment almost completely lost to him apart from a few distant shapes. He couldn’t even tell where the table and chairs were, only that they were somewhere out there ready to trip him up. Becoming alerted to the sound of June when she returned he remained silent, staring down until a chair was forced into his area of awareness. Reaching out in the direction he heard it from he soon found it and sat down, sighing heavily before gasping as his head was suddenly gently assaulted by June with a towel. Reaching up at first he soon growled in annoyance, eventually dropping his arms and slouching as he was dried off. “I won’t catch a cold…I’m hardy and durable! You’ll just give me food anyway too…”

When June started to touch his scarf instead he became suspicious, frowning at the suggestion to wash it. He didn’t know if it had been washed recently since he was sure Vegeta and Yumi touched his stuff whenever he passed out, probably washing his clothes in the process. “Probably just needs ringed out…” Frowning when she mentioned a tear he looked down at it, not really seeing much apart from the red blur until she began to remove it from his neck. “Be careful with it! It’s already drenched and I don’t need it tearing some more!”

"I mean... I'm scared of plenty of stuff. I was always scared when I was out fighting, or even when I was home, I always figured one of the Elites would kill me or something for messing up. I'm not scared of you though, I maybe was when we first met but I haven't been since then." He'd probably seen the worst T'charrl had to offer with that too so Haku was confident he would be okay. Maybe it was out of desperation to simply have a friend but he wouldn't let anything scare him away, not now. This was the closest he'd ever come to actually come to having a friend and nothing short of dying was going to make him go away. "Well that goes both ways, I don't think you really understand me," Haku pointed out with a small smile, shrugging as he looked at the animal in his arms, "I said I'm your friend and you won't change that, I don't care if there might be risks. I'm here to stay, just like this little guy is."

"I don't know... And I don't really care what they think," Haku said with a shrug, smiling as he watched the animal wander about, sniffing at some of the saplings which had sprouted, "They don't exactly talk to me a lot, I guess they won't even notice I have this. Besides will they be able to even see it?" He had no idea, he hadn't an ounce of the power T'charrl possessed and yet he could see the creature plain as day. Heck he had even touched it which was apparently not supposed to be something which could even happen. "Even if it just wants to stay with me I'd be okay with that, I'll take care of it. I can feed it if it needs food, or take it for walks, whatever it needs. I've got nothing but free time now anyways." Seeing the creature sniffing at a patch of dirt on the ground he tilted his head curiously, trying to guess what it was up to. Far as he could tell there was nothing there, glancing over at T'charrl and pointing towards his pet.

The creature could smell seeds beneath the dirt, they were deep but they were there, probably thrown by the fires. Sniffing at the soil excitably it let out a soft yip before digging at the ground with its paws, tossing aside small clumps as it worked to reveal the seeds below. Once they were exposed it meticulously dragged them closer to the surface with its paws, setting them down and then proceeding to bury them again, this time closer to the surface. With the hole recovered and the seeds on the top level of soil it yipped happily and its body began to glow, shimmering dully at first before illuminating, glowing even in the middle of the day. Seeming to quiver small sparks of energy flew from its body, up into the air before slowly settling down into the ground below. What followed was astonishing as the dirt itself seemed to shift around; seconds later small clumps of grass began to rise from the surface, reaching several centimeters tall and abruptly stopping in their growth. A handful of small flowers sprung up as well, the entire area effected by the creature being nearly 10 meters in diameter. With that patch regrown the creature turned to T'charrl happily, moving over to him and sitting at his feet with a yip.

-----

An amateur fighter if he'd ever seen one, being distracted so easily. The captain didn't even have to try and deceive Kiton at all as he plowed right into the Frost Demon, driving him straight towards the ground. At the last second he eased up his speed just a bit though the impact was still great, a crater forming on the site of the strike as Kiton was left at the bottom. Floating back to the edge of the crater he frowned, figuring that blow was far from enough to kill the boy. "Your comrades are likely dead, as are the hostages you came to save. And you're likely to follow in their footsteps unless you start taking this seriously," he called down, sighing as he dusted himself off casually, "You rebels hold yourselves to such high standards, but I wonder. Are you really one of them? Or are you just masquerading as one? I suppose we'll find out won't we?" Jumping up over Kiton the captain let himself fall, aiming a knee down at the Frost Demon's head, where impact would most certainly mean serious injury if not death.

While all of this was going a few buildings away a door buried beneath a carpet was pushed open, and emerging from said door was a handful of pirates. As the men all climbed out the last one turned and extended a hand out, helping up two residents of the town, then a third, with all seven of the hostages eventually being pulled out of the tunnels. There were still more on the way however as the sound of feet striking wood could be heard below, and at last Sasha's head poked out from the opening.

"That was a bit close for comfort, he was supposed to give us another few seconds," she muttered, sneezing again from the dust she was now coated in. With a sniffle she climbed on out and glanced down at her discolored self, trying to bat her clothing down and get herself a bit cleaner, sneezing again in the process.

"That idiot! He nearly blew up the tunnel!" Ricken shouted as he too emerged, scowling as he climbed out and kicked the door shut, "We went over this half a dozen times and he still screwed it up, unbelievable." Heading over to the windows he peered out just in time to see Kiton go down, blinking before rolling his eyes. "And now the idiot's going to bury Kiton, are we sure he's up for this?"

"Korian's orders, and he won't actually kill Kiton, you know that. But if he holds back too much it'll be obvious something is wrong," Sasha pointed out as she joined her brother, "He needs to figure out what to do here, that's the whole point of this. Just try to sit back and watch." It was hard though, there was no real risk of dying yet Kiton didn't know that, he thought all of this was real. She hated putting people through these tests yet she understood the necessity of them too, just didn't make it any easier.

-----

"I know you're tough Viral, but still, let me do at least this much for you," June said with a smile as she went about her work, picking out scraps of leaves and anything else clung to his body. Once he was properly dried off she folded the towel and set is aside for the time being, noticing the scarf still around his neck. Come to think of it he never took that off did he? Whenever she saw him he had it on, yet he probably didn't even remember where it was from, or why he had it. The piece had certainly seen better days with its color running and some tears in it, a bit of thread poking out here and there. Considering how old it must be by now it was impressive he'd still kept it after so long.

"I won't ruin it, I promise, I just want to make sure its taken care of for you," June replied as she unwound the piece from Viral's neck, "You think I would ruin something I made?" Oh, she probably shouldn't have said something like that, Aito had mentioned Viral's memory was a little foggy from early in his life. She felt like sharing this though might cheer him up a little, and with no one else present there was no reason she couldn't tell him. "When you were maybe... Four years old I made this for you. It was a Christmas present, you needed one so I went and made one. It was a little big back then, but I figured you'd grow into it," June explained with a smile, reminiscing as she trailed her finger along the damp cloth, "I didn't imagine it would ever last this long, or that you'd still be wearing it. Thank you Viral, it means a lot to me, even if you don't realize it."

T’charrl didn’t know why Haku was telling him this, he would had thought getting your life force stolen would had been much more scary compared to being threatened by some pompous Elite. He didn’t really know what an Elite was, though, even though several had claimed they were one he just didn’t see their power being demonstrated. Everything was still speculation for him, but nothing was stopping T’charrl from taking his life force right now apart from being a nice person and liking Haku. It would had been especially awful if during his little session the moment Haku disrupted him he accidentally stole his life force instead of the area’s.

“I-I don’t know, I mean I don’t even know if it is supposed to be seen by you nevermind everyone else”, he spoke quickly, shaking his head, “I might had screwed up big time and broken the rules of nature with this”. Misdeeds using his powers corrupted the soul, even if he didn’t know he had done anything wrong. Maybe what he was feeling was punishment for this and that his powers were reflecting his mistake. Frowning when Haku decided he wanted to claim responsibility for the creature, tilting his head a little before frowning. “But…are you sure it can leave this place…? We don’t even know what caused it to be visible to you in the first place…”

While he was very uncertain about it he looked over to the creature when Haku pointed to it, tilting his head a little more as he wondered what it was that he was pointing at. Frowning, he stared at it when it was simply digging around and making noises again, but with a gasp he recognised something. He didn’t know how it was doing it but it was doing what he could do to the plants, watching as they grew a little into a cluster of flowers. Now he was really confused, he barely knew what this thing was it turned out. When the creature decided to come back over to him he gasped, shuffling back a few steps before spreading his wings and quickly flying up a few feet off the ground. “Ah! What is it doing?? Please don’t touch me…”

----

Kiton didn’t know what he was supposed to do now. His only job had been lost completely and everything that was going to show he was capable of doing good gone up with it. He didn’t know what to do now, this was going to mean definite prison for being so incompetent. Taking the attack with no resistance he was forced into the ground, nearly being crushed by the force alone. He hadn’t a care for himself at this point, he might as well be dead. Remaining in the crater in quiet contemplation over everything he had lost he barely cared for what the captain said, knowing all too well what the result was. Ricken and Sasha surely wouldn’t be dead after something like that, surely they were alive but he couldn’t be certain.

Unable to understand where his life was going he remained fairly still, his eyes only looking up as the captain prepared to kill him. There was probably no point resisting, he was as good as dead anyway if it meant he couldn’t do one thing right in his life; however, he wasn’t ready to go quite yet. Raising his hands he grabbed onto the captain’s knee, holding him up just inches from his head. “…I’m not a rebel! What made you think they would ever accept someone like me??” he spoke, pushing back against the captain, “And if they’re going to execute me over this it won’t be before I take you down!” Suddenly disappearing from his spot he reappeared directly behind the captain, throwing his fist back before trying to slam it into the captain’s back.

----

Viral felt he would be better off just having a shower or something, but he didn’t have much of a say in what happened to him at this point. He was needing all sorts of stuff done to him and everything he couldn’t do by himself, otherwise he would had done it all. He didn’t know what there was that he could do for himself when he wasn’t aware of his surroundings. Raising his shoulders as June removed his scarf he frowned when she mentioned she made it, his eyes going to the blurry red mass that was his scarf. Staring in her direction before looking away as she told the story he sighed lightly, folding his arms. He didn’t remember a thing about how he got it but always felt like he needed to keep a hold of it, the scent it had keeping him sane even as he was bullied by the Capsule Corp to keep him in his place. Sighing when she thanked him, looking away as he folded his arms. “…I didn’t know where I got it from, but it kept me from destroying that place completely. Maybe it was the smell of you that kept me from going crazy, but I don’t know. I don’t have any memory of you or Aito, so I can’t even be sure anymore…”

"It's the only one I can see, I don't see any other spirits," Haku pointed out with a shrug, casting a glance about the area to prove a point, "So... Maybe it's nothing you did? Maybe this one is just different?" Had he just a little more knowledge about spirits maybe he could say for certain what was going on here. As things stood T'charrl knew more than he did and even his friend was at a total loss for words. It seemed friendly enough and just wanting for some attention, it was kind of like him in a way. "I don't know, but I want to try. It seems like it wants to come with us doesn't it? And... I'd love to have a pet." A pet that could grow things no less, who would have thought? It seemed to have a power similar to T'charrl's then, or the spirit inside of T'charrl, Haku still wasn't one hundred percent clear on how that worked.

It was amazing really that another creature could grow plants, it made Haku want to keep it even more. Having a pet was one thing but if it had some ability like that it made it even more awesome. Watching as it went over to T'charrl again he blinked in confusion as his friend went into a panic, glancing up skyward. "I think it was just trying to say hi, it's not going to hurt you," Haku explained, smiling as he crouched down and pet the animal. "See? I can touch it and nothing happens, I feel just fine. It only wants to say hi T'charrl." Feeling the grass beneath his boots the Saiyan turned slightly, grazing the tips of the blades with the palm of his hand in wonder. It felt like real grass, no tricks or anything, it was soft and full too. Reaching out he traced the petal of one of the nearby flowers, going as far to lean in and take a sniff at it. "It's really amazing... The two of you could work together and help this place heal. You should come down and work with it!"

-----

Driving his knee down the captain expected to feel bone on bone as he drove Kiton into the dirt. Instead he felt himself stop suddenly, and he was slightly surprised to see himself having been stopped by the Frost Demon. Smiling slightly amused he was pushed back, his eyebrows raising slightly when his opponent vanished before him. By the time he'd even managed to turn his head there was a powerful blow in the middle of his back, being smashed down to the same crater Kiton had been put in. Bouncing on impact he let out an audible groan, taking a moment to roll over and spring out of it to the opposite side to put himself away from his opponent.

"You came with them didn't you? So that makes you one of them. Guilt by association, I'm sure you're familiar with how that works," the captain remarked with a grin. Reaching up to his shoulders he unclasped his armor and let the two pieces fall from his torso, rolling his neck and shoulders once he was freed from it. "Execute? You're assuming you make it out of here alive, a little confident are we?" Now it was his turn, he'd try to push the Frost Demon to the edge, they needed to know how he performed in the face of possible death. Vanishing just as Kiton had done before the captain rose high above where the small alien was, forming two orbs of Ki in his hands and growing them before chucking each down below. So long as he had Kiton in his sights he would direct them towards the Frost Demon, prepared to chase him about with the blasts.

-----

"Oh... That's so sweet Viral, I'm glad I was able to help you," June said as she leaned down, placing a doting kiss on his head before stroking his hair, "Well now you know it's from me, so I hope from now on if you're upset it can help you. Everyone needs a little pick me up from time to time, even the strongest of people." Folding the scarf on itself she held it to her chest, turning and heading to the laundry room adjacent to the kitchen, "I'll be back in a few moments, I just want to get this patched up and put it in the wash." Pulling open the door she shut it behind herself to work in private, glancing down at the scarf with a tearful smile. To think he'd kept it after so long and that it would mean so much to him, it was more touching than she could ever put into words. She owed it to Viral then to take care of it and make it as good as new.

Once June had left the room Aito came in as well, giving Viral a small smile as he entered. "Hey, hope you don't mind if I join you for a moment," he said as he went to the table, sitting against the edge and folding his arms across his chest. "You had us worried there for a while there, I'm glad to see you're holding up. Is there anything I can get for you? Something to drink? A quick meal?" They should of course check Viral's vitals just to be safe, yet adhering to Yumi's strict demands to take it slowly the doctor did his best not to jump to that point. Habits died hard and he was far more used to promptly inspecting someone after a bout like that, but for Viral's sake he'd try to refrain. "Also I should mention Shu and Takeshi share their regards too, they're off playing I believe. I know they wanted to be here to see you but they had something planned it seems."

T’charrl really didn’t know what he was supposed to do about this creature or whether it was dangerous or not. It was very easy to be deceptive about your intentions when you look cute. Hovering off the ground he looked to Haku as he tried to convince him that the animal was not dangerous, staring at him before his eyes slowly looked to the animal again. He didn’t know what animals thought or acted when it came to others or whether they were capable of deception, he just knew from experience that animals were generally pretty dangerous. His kind were well armed against the creatures back home, their adaptability helped with that a lot and helped keep them safe, but with something small and also a spirit he didn’t know how it might act.

Staring at it for a moment he soon let out a groan, ending with clicking before finally landing again, his claws still close to his chest. Slowly approaching it again he soon gasped and jumped back a few steps, still feeling unsure about it. “I-I don’t know…what if I absorb it by accident? What if it steals my energy? What if I end up changing and standing on it accidentally? What if it bites me and I get a bad injury?” he asked quickly, shuffling his feet a little before sighing, trying to calm himself down. He might as well be a monster with how irrational he was being, but he couldn’t help it. Slowly squatting down he reached his claws out towards the ground, his lower arms touching the ground. He didn’t know if he had the concentration to try and pass energy, but at least he was going to try before the energy got too bad. “It’s hard to just ‘work on it’ after being pulled out so suddenly, but I can try I guess…”

----

Kiton was hurting all over, but he was determined not to die at this moment. Even if his kind was a scourge upon the galaxy and that he was a criminal, he still didn’t have the instinct to just roll over and die to make the galaxy a better place. If he was fated to die he was going to take out his man too. Watching the man as he instead found himself in the crater he had created he glared at him, moving his fists into a ready position again. “I am familiar, it still doesn’t mean they accept me as one of them!” He didn’t think they would want to be associated with the likes of him anyway, it would be just plain bad for their reputation. The Saiyans would probably slander the rebels for having him associated with them, using it as propaganda by saying they only want to conquer worlds to sell them off.

Watching as the man removed his armour he frowned at the little disadvantage that would have, seeing how armour was supposed to protect the body and not hinder its performance. Either way he was going to ready himself, knowing he couldn’t have this man thinking he was going to go down without a fight. Glaring down at the man he watched as he disappeared, his eyes only briefly searching for him until he finally found him. Pulling back his fists momentarily he frowned when he saw the Ki charging up, knowing he was going to have to be quick against these. Immediately flying towards the man, watching the shots as they were tossed towards him before dashing slightly out of the way of each, barely looking like he made it past them before immediately throwing his own in retaliation. He knew the worse off he was the faster he could be, it was this guy’s first mistake when he tackled him so carelessly.

----

Viral frowned and looked away when she spoke to him, gasping lightly before going red in the cheeks when June kissed him. She didn’t have to go and do that, he didn’t do anything to deserve that not to mention it was pretty embarrassing. “…I don’t know…if it’ll always be that way…” He didn’t know if there would ever be a day where it would rip or fall to bits, he didn’t even know what it was made of for it to be durable enough to last for so many years. Frowning at the mention of it getting put in the wash rather than getting handwashed he almost spoke up about it, but had to have second thoughts when it would probably just be considered weird that he knew how to wash clothes. Holding his tongue on that one he simply let out a groan in response, his claws scratching at his legs before being startled by Aito’s sudden voice.

He didn’t expect Aito to come in so suddenly, he thought that he might actually get a moment to himself but it didn’t seem possible. Sighing he briefly looked in Aito’s direction before slowly folding his arms, closing his eyes. He didn’t understand what they had to be so worried about, they probably knew he was going to live and just saw this as a slight inconvenience. “I thought June would be the one to want to feed me…” he sighed, not really answering the question. He didn’t know if he needed either, his senses were completely out of whack where even a drink was in need of contemplation. He didn’t even know how he wasn’t still unconscious and in the tunnel at this point. “Well I am usually fine after that so I don’t see why I should be treated like I ended up in hospital”, he sighed, opening his eyes again but just stared at the floor, “Why are you all so concerned? Is there something I’m not aware of?”

"You can do it, I'll even try to help. Here, I've got an idea." It wasn't much really but Haku would do what he could and make things a little less stressful for T'charrl. Smiling at his newfound pet he clapped his hands to get its attention, waving it over and then giving his friend a thumbs up. "I'll keep him with me and you can do your bit, no problems then. Just uh... Let me know if you feel funny, I don't think anything is going to happen, but... Just be safe, right?" This way there was no worry about being bitten or their powers messing one another up. Once they were a few meters away Haku leaned over and rubbed the spirit's head, smiling and gesturing to a barren patch of dirt not terribly far off. Without speaking a word the spirit seemed to pick up on his request and trotted over, proceeding to glow once again as it started replanting what it could. The buildings and people were gone but with luck they could make the place look nicer anyways. Someone else could move back here once things had calmed down, it was their job to make sure it looked decent.

-----

"So you don't belong anywhere then! Just a criminal, drifting among the stars!" the captain laughed, forming two orbs of Ki in his palms, "No different than those you tried separating yourself from!" By the time the orbs were fully formed and poised to be thrown he was up high in the air, reeling back before throwing each at Kiton simultaneously and directing them towards the boy. As expected he darted away to avoid being hit and tried to retaliate with blasts of his own, eyeing the blasts that were thrown his way. Redirecting his own blasts the captain held firm, the two pairs of orbs smashing into one another and exploding between them. Using the explosion as cover he circled around it, reappearing below Kiton now as he readied two more attacks. With one in each hand he fired them away, directing them to take a wide path before closing in on Kiton from either side, trying to catch him in between. "Come on then, where's that dreaded Frost Demon power? You could kill me any second, let's see it!"

-----

Aito was sure to wait until June was through before letting himself in, not wanting to interrupt anything being shared between those two. Despite years apart it seemed like her doting behavior hadn't waned whatsoever and she was just as careful with Viral and Vegeta as she had been before. It was both heartwarming and amusing, the former mostly because they were all near the same age now. Joining Viral he took a seat on the table, making a little small talk as he tried to actively avoiding bringing up his condition. "She probably does I'm sure. Knowing her she'd like nothing less than to put you in a high chair with a bib and hand feed you. That would be an amusing sight," the doctor chuckled, shaking his head before itching at his cheek, "I suppose you're a bit too old for that, you all are now. It's strange to think there was a time when we did that for you and Vegeta..."

They had tried to avoid bringing up conversation on Viral's condition and yet he was asking about it himself. Aito had answers and he couldn't deny those to his son, he had every right to know what the situation was. "We were concerned because of how long you were out there, and transformed. The fatigue you're doubtless experiencing now is to be expected, anyone would be tired after maintaining a transformation for that long," Aito explained, smiling though as he set his gaze on Viral, "I am happy to say though nothing which happened was unexpected, nor will there be any side effects aside from the initial exhaustion. Your final form came out and while we've got some work to do with it I don't imagine there will be any further surprises, that's everything there is to see concerning your changing."

"But all of that can wait, there's no immediate health problems aside from fatigue and I imagine you've gotten some food while you were out, so there shouldn't be hunger. I'm just glad to see you managed to change back and made it home. Whether you had trouble while transformed or not isn't the focal point here, all that matters is you're back and everyone is better for it. There will be time later to help you through this last form of yours." And there would be time later to look into why Viral had changed when he did, though Aito already had a fairly strong theory as to why it happened. Being knocked off the dam as he had been, colliding with the water, even if no real damage was done the impact would have felt like being struck by a vehicle. Chances were the form came on as a survival instinct and nothing more, now came the matter of mastering it. Getting up from his seat Aito moved over to where Viral was sat, looking at him for a moment before reaching out, giving his hair a gentle ruffle. "I'm proud of you Viral, no matter what you may think otherwise. You've become a splendid young man."

T’charrl looked up to Haku to see what his idea was, watching as the beckoned the little creature over to him. He didn’t know how this might go, if it went just the tiniest bit bad then everything would become so much worse. If it did turn out to be something he could do he might end up corrupting the plants instead. Certainly hoping that wasn’t going to happen he tried to concentrate and calm down, hoping that the creature really wasn’t going to end up sabotaging anything after all. He knew it was probably good-hearted, but what it was able to do and how it had appeared visible to Haku only confused him and made him concerned that it might be a phantom. Trying to shake off the bad feeling and the aches in his body he closed his eyes and tried to concentrate, not knowing how he was supposed to do it without going into deep meditation. Trying to keep calm he keep his energy concentrated on the plants, his energy managing to touch the plants but the potency was near nothing, the plants barely being allowed to grow if only a few centimetres at most. While he was managing to do something small he soon had to pull back, his body feeling pretty painful by the end of it. “I don’t know if I can manage anymore…did, uhh...did much happen...?”

-

“I’ve never belonged anywhere! You should know what that’s like!” Kiton was pretty determined not to take anymore big attacks, he knew if he had to stop too he’d probably do more damage to his body too. He was going to die if he ended up getting hit by one of those attacks. Throwing his own attacks in retaliation he followed them up but immediately he had to stop and pull back when the captain threw his own attacks, the Ki exploding on contact. Getting annoyed already he turned around to look for the captain again, soon noticing him with even more attacks. Spinning around he had to block them, raising his arms and legs as he took the attacks. The damaged was minimised as he raised his energy and projected it around himself, trying to use it to protect himself. Growling in annoyance as the smoke cleared he stared down at the captain, keeping the energy up before immediately powering it up again, the energy flaring up bright. “Why would you want me to kill you so quickly??” With his energy all fired up there wasn’t a moment of hesitation after speaking when he suddenly charged straight for the captain, his energy appearing and carrying the same ferocity as a nova as he charged headlong at him, hoping to travel straight down for the ground either way.

----

Viral thought for sure that Aito was just going to try and take over from here, knowing the man all too well and how controlling he could be. He wasn’t surprised either that Aito was wanting to take over with the food too, simply wondering whether he would try and load it with painkillers or other medicines in a sneaky way to get him back to full health. He didn’t know what he looked like to the others but he did hope he didn’t look as dead as he felt inside. “You suppose? I don’t know what you or June did in the past but I don’t want to be treated like I’m incapable and numb…”

Listening to Aito’s reasoning for their concern he still couldn’t see why they would be, wondering if it was just because he was gone for some unknown length of time. There was a lot that he didn’t know and probably wasn’t going to get any initial answers even if he asked. He had zero idea on how long it had been or whether he had lost something out there other than most of his clothes. Feeling awash with confusion he sat there quietly, staring at nothing before finally groaning and blinking when Aito ruffled his hair. They all must know he was near blind because all they had done to him so far was what he would usually avoid in the first place. “Proud of me? All I did was run around naked for…I don’t know how long…” he grumbled, “I don’t know if I want to ‘master’ it either and it’s not because I know it’ll be hard work, I just…don’t think I have the strength…besides, I have so much I need to work on before I worry about ‘forms’ or whatever…”

Haku sat in silence with the spirit for a few moments, having to occasionally pet it just to keep it quiet. Assuming T'charrl would be able to work as he had before he looked around when his friend had finished and wasn't exactly amazed by the results. "Uh... I mean... Did you do anything?" It didn't appear as though T'charrl had, everything looked more or less the same. When he crawled over to inspect a patch of grass he swore it did look a little bit longer, maybe, so something had been done. Smiling slightly Haku looked back at T'charrl and shrugged, plopping back onto his rear and letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry I messed you up before, this little guy scared me though..." he muttered abashed, watching as the aforementioned animal came over to his side once more. Giving its head a stroke he smiled thoughtfully and looked at T'charrl once more before suggesting, "Let it sit next to you? It's not going to hurt you, and its helped me calm down already. Maybe it can help you with that too?"

-----

"I have my home boy, among my men! You could have a home too if you tried hard enough!" It didn't seem like the lesson was being put across, Kiton was only growing angrier by the second. The captain couldn't say he hadn't seen such a thing coming, and Korian had warned against provoking him too heavily. But blowing apart the building was just the kind of momentous attack they needed to really test the Frost Demon and so far results weren't promising. Expecting another blast in retaliation he watched in silent awe as Kiton's energy surged, his entire body being engulfed by his energy and glowing as bright as a star. This wasn't good, an attack like that was going to do serious damage. Glancing back at the buildings below the captain braced himself, spiking his own energy and trying to maintain where he was in the air. As the two bodies collided there was a loud explosion, Kiton managing to push him several meters down and nearly into the ground before the captain stopped him. Breathing raggedly from the impact he reached out to grab the Frost Demon and throw him away. "No regard for what else might be here, hm? What if you kill more people?"

-----

"It was a little joke Viral, humor can be a wonderful thing in times of stress," Aito said as he smiled, "I'm sorry if it seems I made light of all that's happened, excuse me if that's the case." Reaching out he gave Viral's hair a slight ruffling, a little surprised he wasn't swatted at for touching his son. Viral must be really fatigued if he wasn't trying to resist that kind of contact. "Well... Maybe being proud of you for streaking isn't quite what I meant. But you've done plenty that I'm proud of, and you will continue to do plenty. And whatever you decide to work on, be it forms or anything else, you'll have all the support you need to accomplish your goals. I imagine Yumi in particular will be happy to help," Aito teased as he took a seat back on the table. "Joking aside, I noticed your vision seems to be unfocused, and you're a bit paler than usual. Sorry, doctors notice things," Aito said with a small smirk, "I'd suggest we go back outside and sit in the sun for a while, that should help a little. And before you worry about your appearance otherwise you've got on what I'd equate to shorts right now, so you are dressed... Technically. I can have Vegeta get you a change of clothes though if you'd like?"