Shu didn’t want to have to pull out, he could fight a little more if he tried without having to worry about his head; besides, even if he lost it was no big deal, he knew he was only getting around with pure luck and he had ran out of all that for the day. Feeling a little bummed that Aito was suggesting he’d pull out at the last hurdle he frowned and rubbed his head, keeping his shoulders raised before looking to Aito when he gave him a chance instead. “Ooh, really…? Ooohhh, I do kay! I try to do kay, I mean…always try best, and such!” he squeaked, nodding a little before lowering his head, “Shu can only try hard…try hard and do good! Just a little headache and dizzy, but Shu good at the dizzy! Wobble wobble wobble…” He got hurt all the time, he didn’t see it as a big deal especially when he was used to pain in general. He didn’t know how bad things were on the outside until someone said so, but he really wanted to go and do this final match and couldn’t regard something like that right now.

Giving Takeshi a glance when he reassured him that carrying on was the right decision he smiled a little, rubbing the side of his head. He hoped he was tougher than that, especially to other Saiyans he always seemed so weak and brittle. It wasn’t fair to have to try and live up to such high expectations all the time because of his heritage, even if it was just Takeshi trying to encourage him and tell him he was actually pretty strong. Looking to him when he called Ricken a loser practically to his face he frowned a little, raising his shoulders when Takeshi decided to take off to the stage. Hopefully things weren’t going to go too crazy on there, especially when Ricken was a little bit of a mean person and Takeshi was really competitive. Rubbing his head he rested back on the bench, looking for any sign of Aito before deciding he was safe to have a little lie down on the bench where it was empty. He didn’t really care much for Takeshi’s match again, he didn’t really like it when the fight had a more aggressive tone over playful and Ricken was most definitely going to go for an aggressive one.

Sayomi frowned and looked away, sighing a little at his decision. “Well, you shouldn’t rely so much on them just because of their status. You should be happy that you have them over the King”, she spoke sternly, tapping her screen, “You shouldn’t see them as a bargaining chip either. It seems the King doesn’t care that you have them, seeing how he instructed Krom to train them up…and that guy hates him despite the fact he’s also incredibly loyal to him…” She didn’t quite get it either but she did think this was a ploy to get them to be used as a tool from the other side, thinking they were doing good when they were in fact clearing land overrun by those creatures only to take over it immediately after. She had a lot of theories regarding the matter, even regarding the use of Viral and why they stole his genetic makeup to make more Beastmen. She thought it had something to do with their ability to null the threat easier, but these Beastmen were pretty simple and were only a little part of what Viral was. The King probably didn’t have enough time to make a perfect duplication and went for the part that mattered which was to get rid of these creatures for good. Frowning as she went over it in her head she looked to Korian when he decided to have a mutter to himself again. “Hmm what’s that? I can’t hear you when you mutter like that, especially in a room full of cheering people…” she spoke quickly, feeling a little irritated whenever he did that, “They do a lot better when they’re out on the field, if that’s what you mean. They recognise the dangers better than when they’re up against people they know or are completely innocent. Shouldn’t you be also training yourself to get better at tackling those creatures? The only one that’s shown a positive report regarding the beasts is Viral. How does that make you feel?”

"I knew they were going to do this... I knew the second their match was announced they were going to do this..." It came as a surprise to absolutely no one that Ricken and Takeshi were going to really duke it out for the final spot. It wasn't even so much reaching the finals as it was beating the other, that was what they were really interested in. Sasha felt fortunate she'd been paired with Shu over her rough brother but maybe their match up would have been better, he wouldn't have been nearly as aggressive with Shu. Probably. Sighing as she set herself beside Shu, Sasha arched an eyebrow as Aito did the same on the other side, curious to see him eating as casually as possible while he watched the fight. He was... Odd, to put it nicely. Watching the fight progress she felt herself cringing inwardly, hoping that neither of them was going to seriously hurt the other with Shu sitting here to watch. Very few matches today involved the actual exchange of punches yet Takeshi and Ricken had no problem trading blows, all but trying to knock each other's block off with each hit. "I'm so glad you're a good boy Shu..." Sasha laughed, smiling as she reached over and gently rubbed Shu's back, "Don't ever change. We need someone like you around, everyone takes everything way too seriously."

It wasn't just enough to have the Princes, having them meant nothing if they couldn't be relied upon to do anything. If all Shu and Takeshi did were pose problems then they were no better than any other soldier of theirs, again all their power couldn't reliably be directed. "I'll give them that their efforts in the field have been good, but there's plenty of reason to still be concerned. I won't relax until we're certain they don't pose a risk to the rest of our men, or to civilians." When posed whether he should be training or not Korian simply gave a "humph" in reply, narrowing his eyes as he continued to watch the fight below. Viral was specifically designed to fight those beasts so it was no wonder he was the best at it, everyone knew that. But his way of fighting them seemed to burn up quite a lot of energy, he would find a more efficient means of dispatching them. He knew Sayomi was just trying to get under his skin and it had worked, the Saiyan let out another huff before getting up from his seat. "I'm going to get a snack, I'll be back."

Ricken really wasn't letting up at all with his attacks. Takeshi blocked a high kick from the rebel only to have to step aside and push away his other leg as Ricken twisted around and tried striking him in the stomach. Gritting his teeth he threw a punch and managed to strike Ricken in the shoulder, grabbing his shirt and pulling him closer before punching him in the face and letting him drop to the arena. Trying to get down to the ground and throw another Takeshi cursed when Ricken wrapped his legs around one of his own and pulled him down, ending up on the receiving end of a punch as he was thrown back onto the arena. Another punch soon followed, and another, and quickly Takeshi had to raise his arms to cover his face, tensing as repeated shots to his arms and body struck him. Getting fed up with it all he dropped his guard and sat up, smashing his head into Ricken's jaw to stun him before kicking him in the chest and knocking him away. Grunting as he got to his feet he wiped away blood from his mouth, scowling as he spit more out on the tiles. "What the fuck dude?! It's just a tournament, you know? Quit trying to beat the crap out of me!"

"Quit whining you damn monkey! Shut the hell up and just take it!" He was a Saiyan, they thrived when getting the crap beat out of them! Takeshi should be enjoying this, he'd only get stronger right? Whining then was completely idiotic, he had nothing to lose. Back on his feet he was abrupt in striking out again, slamming a fist into Takeshi's palm and lifting a leg to kick his head, growling as it was blocked as well. Spinning his body around and swinging his other leg down from above he kicked Takeshi in the back of the head, dropping to his feet and crouching before darting ahead and driving his shoulder into Takeshi's gut to try and knock him off the edge. Not only did that not succeed but he was grabbed and lifted off of his feet, being slammed backwards and yelping as he was grabbed by a leg and then slammed down a second time.

"Seriously! Get that stick out of your ass! The hell are you trying to do, put me in the hospital?!" This was already way more intense than most any other match in this tournament, and for that Takeshi would normally be grateful. But the way Ricken was hitting him and throwing punches it wasn't like he was trying to win this match, he was trying to hurt him. The guy looked to be in a rage as he just got up and all but threw himself at Takeshi, dashing aside to avoid him and grunting as he was grabbed by the back of his shirt and pulled along, being thrown off of his feet and flipping to land. "Relax! This isn't that big-" Again he was cut off, raising his arms and blocking a high kick aimed at his head. Grabbing Ricken's foot he swung around and tried throwing him out of the arena, clicking his tongue in annoyance as Ricken landed easily.

"Shut up Saiyan! Just shut the hell up!" Why did Takeshi think this was so strange? Was he really that much of an absolute idiot? Gritting his teeth furiously Ricken flexed his hand before forming an orb of Ki in his palm, hurling it at Takeshi as it was bashed into the sky and exploded over the arena. "Not that big of a deal?! It's just a tournament but your kind ruin it! How do you expect anyone else to even have a chance when a Saiyan shows up, huh?! How is that even fair?!" Trembling angrily Ricken threatened to form another Ki blast, glaring as the announcer began to get onto the stage. Realizing he might be disqualified he let it dissipate, turning his furious gaze back onto Takeshi. "You Saiyans think you can run everything, you run around acting like you're the best thing this universe has ever seen! Your entire race is built on slaughtering and destroying others, and yet you have the nerve to show pride?! I'm sick of it, I'm sick of the Saiyans acting like they control everything!" And Takeshi didn't think anything was wrong with any of that, nor did Shu. Even Korian and Sayomi were guilty of it regardless of what they thought. "I'm not letting a damned Saiyan win. I'm going to beat you, your brother, and show everyone the Saiyans aren't as dangerous as everyone thinks! People don't need to be afraid of them anymore!"

Shu looked to Sasha as she came along to sit with him, or rather she sat and he remained lying on his side with his legs down. When Aito decided to join him too he frowned a little and slowly sat up again, preferring not to show that he was pretty dizzy. The plus side about being dizzy would be whoever ended up as his opponent might not be able to hit him because he would be wobbling everywhere, but then again he didn’t know if that would affect him too. Maybe he just needed a little bit of time to recover, then he’ll be alright. He didn’t know what a concussion was, but he wouldn’t let it stop him from having a good time. Not finding it very easy to watch the fight due to all the blurring going on he could hear them blabber no problem. Squeaking when Sasha laughed and gave his back a patting he looked up at Sasha. “Ooh? Good boy Shu? I good! Much good! Shu is happy too…”

Sayomi was hardly impressed by Ricken’s attitude, even if he was showing he was capable of fighting seriously and showing off his strength. Now was not the time for such behaviour, she would have to have a word with him later about displays in public. If every outing that involved fighting was going to be like this then she was going to have to tell him to cool it or to not go out to one of these again. When Korian voiced his concern over the Princes on the other hand she frowned, eventually turning her attention back to the fight going on. “Then howabout after the tournament you go talk to the pair and tell them they need to be getting into serious training? You’re the leader, it’s your job to make sure they’re getting stronger”. While she was in charge of making sure everything was in order, the Princes training was more of a personal thing for Korian since he had wanted them as part of the rebels. Looking to Korian as he decided to go grab something she gave a quick nod before looking back to the match. “Alright. Don’t be too long now”.

Shu didn’t really know what he was supposed to say about the fight, especially when most of his concentration was on the noises all around him rather than trying to focus on one specific image. He could only kind of see the moves that were being dealt, it sounded pretty violent compared to how everyone else fought their matches. He was a little worried that they were overdoing it, it sounded like Ricken was really mad too. He didn’t like how mad and negative he was sounding, all he wanted to do was let them both have their fun today and there was Ricken all getting hot and bothered about fighting Takeshi. Gasping a little when he realised Ki was being used he looked around for it before holding his head as the noise of it exploding up above hurt his head. It wasn’t so much the noise but the external force of it causing the headache but the shockwave. The crowd seemed to be in awe over how passionate the pair were, even if it was against the rules. Frowning a little, he heard Ricken only curse at Saiyans in general, making him feel a little hurt. He didn’t mean to be born a Saiyan, he didn’t deserve to be hated on so much.

Where the hell was all of this coming from? Takeshi knew Ricken and Sasha had lost their home to Saiyans but why was the guy taking it all out on him now? It was just a stupid little tournament, not like they were fighting for their lives or anything. Maybe he just had a shitty day and was taking it all out on him? Ducking under a punch so strong the air around it seemed to concuss Takeshi frowned and pushed the offending arm up, twisting it around Ricken's back and trying to pin him down on the arena. Getting a head bashed into his nose he loosened his grip with a groan and was batted off, rolling over hastily to avoid Ricken slamming both feet down onto his back. Having to almost somersault to avoid another ax kick he grit his teeth and sprang up, throwing a punch into Ricken's false arm and using his other to deliver an uppercut, becoming wary when he felt Ki building up again. "Seriously, cut it out man! It's just a tournament, the hell you getting so worked up for?!"

"What's wrong, weren't you going to win? You were so sure earlier, now you have a problem with it?" Scowling he let his Ki fade again and directed it to a speed boost, darting forward in a blur and slamming his arm into Takeshi's neck, hitting him and flipping him head over heels before catching him in mid-air. "You were going to beat me right?! Well come on then, Saiyan," he shouted, grabbing Takeshi's shirt and slamming him down onto the arena, "Show me what you've got!" No way was he going to lose to some arrogant, self-serving, loudmouthed punk like Takeshi. Leaning down to grab hold of the Saiyan's collar he winced when Takeshi suddenly kicked up and struck him in the gut, stumbling back and clutching it painfully. The Prince was quick to follow up and tackled him backwards towards the edge, and if Ricken hadn't struck him with a knee and stepped away he probably would have been thrown out.

So that was it? THAT was why Ricken was taking this so seriously? Just because he was a Saiyan? Sure he'd talked smack before the match but so what? Takeshi wanted to tell the rebel off for taking something so meaningless so seriously but he'd realized something as he was being yelled at: he was doing exactly the same thing. Save the blatant racism of course, that was totally on Ricken. But he'd been treating the tournament like a lot more than just a game hadn't he? Jura had said as much, that guy he'd fought earlier had called him a "hardass" or something like it, and now Ricken was calling him out on it. Was he really being that bad?

"Nothing to say now huh? All out of snappy comments are you?" Fine, maybe Takeshi would finally start to actually fight then! Sniffing in disgust Ricken started back towards Takeshi and was a bit curious when he just stood there, frowning and throwing a punch anyways. His fist was caught and he clicked his tongue before pulling it back and throwing another, eyes widening when Takeshi ducked and grabbed his arm, turning and flipping Ricken over onto his back. Slamming onto the arena floor he was then spun around and released to the edge of the arena, flipping and barely managing to dig his feet into the tiles to keep from flying off entirely. It was a short-lived victory however as Takeshi was already on him, and while he blocked the kick that came it didn't seem to ever be aimed to hurt but to push him back. Before Ricken knew it he had slid off and lost his footing, tumbling backwards and landing in the grass below. He'd lost.

The crowd was uncomfortably quiet after that match had ended and it took the announcer a moment to declare the match over. Takeshi watched as Ricken seemed to struggle with the fact he'd lost their match before he began slamming a fist into the dirt repeatedly, clearly angry about the result. Lips pressed in a hard line the Prince simply walked off the stage, heading back towards the bench and passing Ricken without a word on his way. Sasha was already getting up and moving to go speak to her brother which was great, it seemed neither she nor he wanted to talk to each other right now. Taking a seat beside the still shaken Shu the older boy sighed, rubbing his face with both hands before sitting forward in a slouch. Was that how people saw him too? Wound up too tight to enjoy anything and getting angry at the slightest thing? He got Ricken being mad at Saiyans for what happened, sure, but the guy couldn't relax even for something like this?

"Hey Shu... You doing okay?" Takeshi asked after a moment, looking to his brother and smiling slightly, "If uh... If your head hurts we can just not fight, you know? I'm cool with ending it here, I don't care if you or I win honestly." He'd been so excited to fight Shu again and have a chance to win he wasn't paying attention to the fact Shu was hurt. His brother had a history of hitting his head and it should be no surprise that doing so again left him like this. He couldn't fight him like that could he? "I mean... Aito said you're hurt yeah? The guy's a doctor so we should maybe listen to him, you know? I don't want you to end up hurt because we fought."

Shu was feeling a little bit uncomfortable with all this shouting Ricken was doing, especially when he was supposed to be having fun. He didn’t like feeling guilty for nothing that was his fault, he did wish he would stop with it as he continued to egg on Takeshi. He wondered if Aito was affected by it, but then again he wasn’t that much Saiyan in him and was more Human. It was probably like making fun of his foot or something which was hardly a big deal or even relevant to who he was as a person. This was definitely pretty uncomfortable to watch, he couldn’t help but wonder how the crowd was feeling too. It was certainly easier to see the people in the crowd, there wasn’t a bright light shining on them so the darkness certainly helped his focus. There was a lot of silence in some areas, but that silence was because they were either interested in the fight or were hoping they weren’t going to get hit by something Ricken threw around. Probably a good reason why Ki was not to be used in this place, it would hit a whole lot of people.

Trying to remain pretty positive looking he rubbed his hands together and tried to watch the blurry masses jumping around and blur together sometimes as Takeshi and Ricken got close together in a wrestle. It wasn’t making him feel sick, but it was certainly hard to watch and making him feel rather tired. He wanted to look elsewhere but if he did he would look either disinterested or distressed which would make their opinions of him even worse. Watching as the blurry couple started to move off in a different direction he squeaked a little when it looked like one of them had received a ring out, squinting his eyes to try and see who it was. Gasping when the announcer said it was Takeshi he looked to Aito and Sasha quickly, watching as she decided to get up to go see to her brother. Frowning a little, he looked to the sharpening blur that was Takeshi who decided to head on over to the bench, simply watching him as he decided to sit beside him. Frowning a little, he pressed his fingers together as he tried to think up something to say, eventually looking to Takeshi when he decided to take the lead in the discussion. Feeling a little worried that he thought he was fragile he raised his shoulders, trying to hide his slump. “Oooh! Still want to fight! Still good! Just dizzy and a little blur, but all good! No feel sick or really tired, just a little sore”, he spoke quickly, rubbing his head, “It not a big problem, I mean…feel okay to fight, should be able to fight, yes? It only chance!”

"Er... Are ya sure you should fight? I mean if you're dizzy then you hit your head pretty hard don't you think?" Zero efforts were made to hide the concern that was etched on Takeshi's face as he looked at Shu's head, worried there might be some blood somewhere in that mess of hair he had. Aito had cleared him but now he wasn't so sure why, the little guy could barely sit without wobbling. Shu really did want to fight though and Takeshi had looked forward to it himself earlier. Sighing to himself he rubbed at the back of his head, watching as some crew members went about repairing the arena for the final. The announcer had declared there would be a short break between the semi-finals and the final itself so they had time to relax, and hopefully time for him to convince Shu not to fight. His little brother was awfully excited but the last thing he wanted was to hurt him just for the sake of them having a little match. Plus after the crap with Ricken and realizing what an idiot he'd been himself the desire to fight had, for once, gone away. It was the last thing he wanted to do right now.

"You know we could have a little match any time, we really don't have to do this whole tournament crap. We both made it to the finals, we already know we both kick ass." There probably wasn't any way he could convince Shu not to fight without outright telling him not to. Still he should try, if Shu ended up hurt any more than he already was Takeshi would hate himself. "Plus we wouldn't have to be stupid and put on a show for a bunch of people, you know? We're down here busting our butts and they get to have fun, kinda seems like a lousy deal for us don't ya think? Heck we can have our own tournament with just our friends sometime, that'd be fun!" He still felt like he was getting nowhere with these arguments and they were going to have to fight one way or another. Takeshi let out another sigh and leaned back on the bench, placing his hands out at his sides as he looked up at the crowd. Come to think of it why had he even wanted to do this? He hated the tournament back home and only had taken part because of money, he hated idiots that sat there and watched you bust your ass for their entertainment. How was this any different? The stakes were lower but it was the same exact thing. It was for Shu to have fun, and for his idiotic self to show off, but he didn't much care for the latter anymore. He just wanted Shu to be safe.

Shu frowned, disliking where this was going. “Umm…no?” he spoke, raising his shoulders, “Bump all the time! Just did much of the things today…” It wasn’t as if he was bleeding profusely from the head or showing signs that he couldn’t move anymore, he was feeling just fine apart from the sore head and the wobbling going on. He didn’t see why he should drop out of it if he was just feeling a little off and no more. He was really worried that he had screwed up now, maybe he wasn’t good enough to be out in battle if all it took was one kick to send him into the danger zone. It wasn’t fair, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do or say to support his point that he was a perfectly capable fighter. It made him depressed that was for sure, all these problems looming over him and them all trying to fix them but getting nowhere. He figured he would be fine with this, even if it was completely overplayed and faked people would still enjoy watching it and who knew how long they had been waiting to see this.

“No want a little match any time! No need that!” he spoke quickly before frowning, slowly shaking his head, “Just because you think it stupid…but it not stupid! Only been to this and last tournament! You no know what it like…” He didn’t want to disappoint so many people because he couldn’t go through with his final match, it wasn’t as if they didn’t have a replacement either. He was the one who got through and if he couldn’t go up to the stage to fight then everybody was going to be disappointed in him. They would probably all talk about how he ruined the tournament because there wasn’t going to be a final. It made him feel awful, he just wanted to entertain people with this. “You no know what it like to only be part of people word for small time, then no part of it. It is not always something Shu was able to do that is not fighting for living…”

"Just 'cuz you get it all the time that doesn't make it any better. Hell that makes it worse, you know? If you broke an arm or whatever all the time you'd be more careful..." Takeshi had no desire to fight Shu anymore, not with how very clearly his little brother was shaken up. The fact that Aito had even had to come down to see him now was clicking, if the doc saw a reason to see Shu then he was actually hurt right? Even if they spelled it out for the little guy he'd probably still want to fight and he didn't know how to make his brother back out. Would he get pissed if he just forfeited the match?

Takeshi did know what Shu was talking about, he'd been there too. Of course his punishment for being caught was nowhere near as bad but he'd been there, he'd lost what it was like to be free. Hell even before that he'd actively avoided people as much as he could and it was only because of Shu he'd gotten so involved. They could be part of this and not have to fight each other, the people would get over it and they wouldn't be any worse for wear. It was strange having a feeling of absolutely not wanting to fight. Shu seemed so adamant about it though and much as Takeshi wanted to just refuse letting his brother fight he didn't know if he had the heart to. This was about pride for Shu wasn't it? Even if the little guy didn't say so outright he didn't want to be babied and coddled, even Takeshi figured that much by how Aito was treating him.

"Fine, you wanna fight squirt? We'll fight, it'll be our little rematch from our first tournament. That means you've got to go into this like you're gonna win, okay?" They'd have their match then, he just had to come up with some kind of plan before it began. No way was he going to fight his brother in the state he was, and truth be told Takeshi hardly cared about winning. Nothing was to gain from a mismatch tournament where, as Ricken had pointed out, it was grossly in their favor from the beginning. Even without Ki how was anyone supposed to match the strength and speed of Saiyans? Ricken and Sasha had been the closest and at best they'd managed a few seconds longer than others, which meant their fight was basically what this whole mess led up to. It should be epic then, but Takeshi felt like he'd just as soon throw it for Shu's sake. And he probably would. "Relax so your head stops spinning, and get ready to get your butt kick," the older boy teased, putting on as much a smile as he could, "I'm not gonna let you win."

Shu didn’t want to have to quit, nor did he think it was fair for him to be the one to quit when he had tried hard to be on top of things all day. He had tried to keep his worries out of his life for the entire day, but this was just making him feel straight up terrible when everyone else was counting on him. “It just little pain! It not-…it not problem…” If he was still capable of standing then he was still able to fight, one little injury wasn’t going to stop him even if he wasn’t going to win. He didn’t know how this was supposed to encourage him to be a stronger individual either, seeing how everyone around him continued to fight on even with the difficulties they suffered from along the way. It made him feel weak, even if it was for his own health that he should avoid taking too much damage. He knew a lot of people looked down on him for being vulnerable, but he didn’t want to be seen as vulnerable at all. Maybe he had been trying to keep himself all bottled up all day, but that was only to show he was capable of dealing with his problems himself and carrying on like all the rest of them. He did want to be strong, he just didn’t know how.

Looking to Takeshi slowly when he spoke again he let out a hiccup, staring at him for a moment as he told that he shouldn’t need to worry anymore. “We…really fight? Really? Really??” he spoke, bouncing on his seat a little, “Ooooohhh! No care if win or not! Just fighting good! Fight good and do good! Not do bad, that bad! Just no hit the head and I no hit your head!” He thought that was a fair compromise since it was only his head that was a little bit funny, otherwise he felt pretty okay. He didn’t feel sick or felt like he was going to collapse so that was probably good, he was fine with what he had just now. He would get treatment right after and the food he wanted too, he was still feeling quite hungry but that had to wait as the finals weren’t too far away. Giving his head a quick rub he nodded a little, smiling, “Would just be a bad if people are here and then there no final, yes? I know Shu would be sad!”

"Yeah, no hitting in the head. Other than that its fair game," Takeshi chuckled weakly, smiling as he gestured to himself before Shu, "I'm going to win this time though, it won't be like last time. I'm not going to lose to a squirt like you, buddy." Hopefully he could throw this without his brother noticing what he was doing. Was it too much to ask that they both just be declared winners now and leave it at that? They were almost finished preparing the stage for the final match and people were beginning to return to their seats, and Aito had come back to watch them as well. Looking over at the doctor there was a silent agreement between the two of them as the man nodded to Takeshi before trying to help settle down the still irate Ricken. Shu definitely shouldn't be fighting, but if the little guy was going to insist on it then he'd play along. Takeshi refused to fight though, he'd play along right up until the bell was rung.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come at last for the final match! This exciting tournament has led up to this point, the culmination of this world's finest fighters have fought for this opportunity! I hope you're already for the match of the year, I sure know I am!" Fat chance it was going to be anything like that, but Takeshi would let the guy have his fun. It was annoying having him build up the two finalists as if anyone didn't know who was going to be fighting, they'd literally finished the semifinals not ten minutes earlier. As the man went through with his spiel Takeshi was already moving to the arena, standing at the stairs leading up and waiting impatiently for his name to be announced. Seeing Shu at the bench still he smiled and waved for his brother to come over and join him, watching the announcer as he went on and on.

"Jeez, this guy doesn't shut the hell up does he?" Takeshi grumbled, itching his head with a sigh as the crowd cheered for him and Shu. Hands in his pockets he went ahead and up the stairs, passing straight on by the announcer as he gave him an introduction. Would it be bad if he screamed at the guy to shut the hell up and get on with it? Probably, and he didn't want to make this any worse for Shu. Rolling his eyes as the man finally got on announcing his brother he smiled for Shu, ready to get the mess underway. When the announcer at last shut up and the match was started Takeshi simply took one hand from his pocket and waved to Shu, smiling apologetically as he started to step backwards towards the edge of the arena. He had to just throw the match, if Shu ended up even more hurt just for a little scuffle then it'd be all his fault, but more importantly he didn't want Shu to be hurt in the first place. The doctor had to take a look at him and once this match of theirs was over he could. At the edge of the arena he glanced back at the grass before looking to Shu again, taking his hands out and putting them up defensively, shrugging his shoulders before stepping back and simply falling out, landing on his feet and sighing as the crowd fell deathly silent.

The final match was... Over? They had heard that it had begun hadn't they? So why had Takeshi just stepped out of the arena? This was... Unusual, no contestant had ever done something like that before, certainly not a finalist. What should they do now? The crowd had been so excited for this match and now everyone was staring down at the arena dumbstruck trying to figure out why one of the two potential champions had forfeited. The announcer looked for Korian in the crowd for some sign of what he should do and at the wave of the man's hand he decided to conclude the tournament. "W-Well... Ladies and gentlemen, it seems that we have a winner..." he began, turning and gesturing to Shu with a still dumbfounded expression, "Shu... Er... It seems like you are the winner! You've successfully beaten Takeshi and have been crowned the champion of this years tournament!" The crowd still wasn't reacting much and the announcer was clueless how to spark them back up. Clearing his throat awkwardly he pulled at his collar before turning to face the crowd, beaming as he spoke. "Now everyone, wasn't this a SPECTACULAR tournament? Let's hear it for all of this year's combatants, everyone who took part in the festivities, and all of those behind the scenes working to make this happen!" THAT got some cheers going, and from there he could work the crowd.

Takeshi had actually thrown the match, how interesting. At least the boy had been smart enough to recognize that Shu was in absolutely no state to be fighting regardless of what he'd said earlier. They would have to go through concussion protocol as soon as Shu was off of the arena, and to be safe he'd probably have to be kept out of most activity for a few days at least. Aito didn't like to have to take away Shu's ability to do anything particularly because that might help his issues, but if it meant preventing another concussion it'd be worth it.

"Looks like you beat me buddy, sorry. I'm not going to fight you," Takeshi admitted as he stood before his brother. The little guy was probably furious with him but he couldn't do it, not with how Shu was. Smiling apologetically he rubbed the back of his neck and looked away, wondering what in the hell to say now that he'd gone and lied to his brother like that. "Er... I mean you probably would have beaten me anyways, you know? You're faster, and... I'm kind of sore from my matches, especially since Ricken was knocking me around. I just saved you the trouble of kicking my butt, that's all."

“Yeah! Shu do his best!” he spoke quickly, nodding a little, “If Takeshi win it kay, just want to have fun!” He was quite excited now, this should be a good end to the day. He hoped the people weren’t going to be disappointed in him and now with being able to take part in the finals he was going to have a great time again. Aito didn’t seem to be protesting, it must’ve been okay to fight. It was going to be exciting, especially when they hadn’t really fought before since the tournament all that time ago. Maybe it would go the same way, maybe he would end up winning or Takeshi by knocking him off the ring. He didn’t know what was going to happen, but he certainly hoped the crowd would enjoy it even if it did end up being playful. He just wanted to make people feel proud of him and happy for him, he couldn’t stand the thought of disappointing so many people. Hearing the announcer man speak up on the loud speaker his heart jumped, his eyes quickly going to Takeshi who went ahead before bouncing off the bench, making his way over to Takeshi.

Not giving much of a care about what the announcer was saying he bounced on the spot, feeling all sorts of excited. Everybody was going to be happy to see how strong he had gotten and how brave he was to minor bumps. With the announcer talking a whole lot Takeshi seemed to be a little impatient and headed up to the ring already, watching as he moved and headed on up to the stage, feeling a little confused but decided to follow him anyway. He thought he had to be called up, so he hung around in the corner a bit out of the way until it was time to get close. It was time to show that he was truly a capable fighter and not some weakling, he was capable of standing on his own two feet. Getting ready to fight he raised his fists, waiting for the announcement to start before bouncing forward; however, instead of coming at him Takeshi appeared to be moving back instead.

“Wha? N-No! Y-You said!” By the time Shu had rushed over it was too late as Takeshi had already thrown himself off stage much to the confusion of others and himself. Backing off rather quickly he felt the silence of the audience bore through his body immediately, gasping as he looked towards them and around. He couldn’t see them, but their silence and whispered words tore into him like he was the one at fault, like all this was because he had a slight bump on the head. It was his fault that he didn’t dodge that kick, he ruined this match for everyone with Takeshi seeing him as too weak to even try. It was a disaster, he had ruined everything, he wasn’t even giving the announcer any attention either as he tried to recover the crowd. Continuing his staring out he didn’t take any notice of Takeshi, his blank stare continuing before he suddenly snapped back into reality and threw a kick at Takeshi before backing off in a bounce, hissing at him angrily with his hands raised as if he might try to scratch him if he came close again.

Takeshi felt awful for lying to Shu and even worse for bailing on their match, but he knew he'd feel worse still if he'd forced Shu to fight in the state he was. Seeing how angry his brother was he smiled apologetically and let it be, figuring the little guy was going to be angry with him. Maybe he could play it off still? Play the speed card and say Shu would have won anyways, he might as well try it. When he spoke to Shu and his brother didn't reply at all the older boy wasn't sure where to go with it from there. Was Shu really that angry with him? Reaching out to pat his brother's head Takeshi drew his arm back when kicked at, shocked that he would be attacked like that. It was even more shocking that Shu reared up and hissed at him like some wild animal. Was it seriously that bad? "Come on buddy, I'm sorry I threw the match okay? I just don't want to hurt you, I mean you hurt your head and all, you know?" Trying to get closer to comfort his brother Takeshi grumbled when someone grabbed his arm and held him back, throwing Aito a confused glance as he was eased back. Why couldn't he talk to Shu? He was trying to own up to what he'd done and Aito didn't want him anywhere near his own brother.

"Shu, no one is angry with you right now. And no one is blaming you for what happened," Aito explained, smiling as he held up his hands, "Takeshi just wanted to try and help you, and he was only doing what I told him. If you're going to be angry with someone then be angry with me." He'd known what Takeshi was considering and had signed off on it, knowing full well something like this might happen. It must be awkward to be doing this in front of the crowd, though thankfully the announcer seemed to pick up on this and continued talking. By now Sasha and Ricken had come over as well but were staying further back at Aito's behest, not wanting to crowd Shu. "Listen, no one here is going to get mad at you for any of this, you didn't do anything wrong. We didn't want to have the fight happen because you hit your head, which isn't your fault. None of this is your fault, understand?"

Sasha stepped forward and placed her hands at her sides, taking a deep bow and closing her eyes. "I'm sorry Shu! I didn't realize when I kicked you what had happened, it's my fault," she said remorsefully, looking at the boy before her sadly, "I'm the reason you couldn't fight like you wanted to, it's not their fault either. Please don't be mad, your brother and Aito just wanted you to be safe after my mistake." This really was all her fault wasn't it? She'd figured going with kicks might be dangerous but she didn't want to disappoint Shu by holding back either and look where it had gotten them. Could she make up for ruining Shu's evening like this? "Would you still want to go get another candied fruit...?" Sasha offered meekly, smiling as she extended a hand for Shu, "We said we'd get another right? Why don't we go get one?"

Shu didn’t want Takeshi or anyone anywhere near him, becoming pretty aggressive as a result of his loss and humiliation. Everybody was disappointed in him, all staring and upset over the results, even if the announcer had got them cheering somewhat. It cut him pretty deep, he didn’t know what to do about it other than last out and even attack his own brother. Furiously he hissed and made it clear to Takeshi that he wanted him to keep away, shaking a little with each breath. The sounds of the crowd widdled away behind a white noise ringing in his ears, the thoughts of everything negative completely clouding his judgement and humanity. He wasn’t even really focusing on Takeshi all that well, especially when he was a little wobbly in the knees both from his rage and the lack of focus he was suffering from with his head not being too good. He didn’t have any real awareness of anything, not until Aito started talking to him too.

Shu understood what Aito’s arms being up meant, he was definitely picking up on that but he remained pretty cautious, baring his teeth at him all the same. He was slowly moving back as well, just a few centimetres at a time as his foot slid backwards on the floor. He was both angry and scared, feeling a little crowded even if he only had one person to focus on. While he could understand Aito he was barely seeing through the reasoning behind it, like he had been betrayed by both of them. He wasn’t weak, he never was weak and yet they treated him that way all because of a bump to the head. He felt confused, his sharp gaze looking in Sasha’s and Ricken’s direction briefly. Aito didn’t know what he was talking about, it was his fault for getting hit on the head.

When Sasha stepped in and immediately dropped her head down he was startled slightly, making a step back quickly and pulling his arms in. He went from angry to frightened really fast, his knees almost crossing as he bent forward in submission. He didn’t understand why it was her fault, she was only doing what she was supposed to do in a fight on stage. Now he had made her sad, this was awful. Everybody was masking their feelings and he didn’t understand why when it was his injury and not theirs. The crowd was disappointed in him, there was probably some talking about him while the announcer continued to prattle on, but there was no way of seeing if it was a reality or all in his head. Frowning, he rubbed his hands together before taking hold of his tail, looking away from everyone before seeing Sasha’s hand held out for him to take. Looking to her hand he soon looked to her, frowning heavily before letting out a little sigh, lowering his head as he reached out for her hand. “…Okay…okay, we get fruit, I guess…”

Sasha felt absolutely awful for all of this, she'd ruined the fight for Shu and probably upset an awful lot of people too. The very least she could do then was uphold her promise and take Shu to get another candied fruit and hope that somewhat improved his mood. He didn't seem near as enthusiastic as she might have hoped when the offer came up but he took her hand all the same. "Let's go get some yummy fruit okay? I bet there's all sorts we didn't get to try," she offered with a meek smile. Thank goodness he wasn't too angry with her to allow this much, hopefully if they got away from all of this he'd calm down even more. Before leaving the arena Aito made a request to see Shu when they were through and Sasha readily agreed without a moment's hesitation. The boy still had a concussion that needed to be seen to and they couldn't put it off for long, but right now helping him relax was more important. Hand in hand she took him out of the arena proper and back to the stalls which already had begun clearing out now that the festivities had come to an end. The fruit vendor was still there though and upon seeing them he lit up and enthusiastically welcomed them; he hadn't known what had happened with the match and didn't seem much to care, he was simply happy to see his customers again. Handing over two more fruits, a larger one this time, he bid the two a good night and began to take down his stall. Hopefully that little act of kindness would help Shu a little.

---

What a relief to at last be back on Uuonoe! Lioma had been nice enough, apart from the whole being at war thing, but it didn't beat being back here again. Kabocha almost could kiss the ground when they stepped out of the shuttle though he just threw his hands up and took it all in. "Ah... Now this is nice! I can't wait to get a hot meal and a shower!" he declared while beaming, turning to the rest of the group. Leto had been given a stay so he could be with his people to help them meaning everyone else save him had come back. And for the most part they had recovered from their injuries, albeit it would probably be a while yet until they were sent out again. Waiting for the twins to emerge he smiled toothily and stepped towards them, placing an arm around each of their shoulders. "What do you say we go celebrate a job well done guys? Get some food, have some fun... Maybe see if we can find some girls? I bet they'd love to hear about what we did!" That sounded like a good celebration to him! Glancing over his shoulder as Viral and Yumi exited the shuttle as well he let go of the twins, moving to grab them before thinking better of it: Viral would probably kill him. "You two are welcome to tag along! The more the merrier! Its the least we deserve after that job."

"Uh... Thanks but no thanks, I'm going to pass. I don't think I'm in the mood for partying right now," Yumi answered with a slight smile, "Besides I'm not really into women, I wouldn't want to ruin your boys' fun." Her head was still throbbing and Viral may not be 100 percent, not that she imagined him going even if he was. Stepping down off of the shuttle ramp she waved farewell to the pilots and thanked them for their help, waving them off as they returned to base. She didn't have any plans other than relaxing herself but there was one thing she did want to get out before they went their separate ways. Reaching out and grabbing Kabocha's shoulder she pulled him close, smiling before yanking his ear to pull his head down. "Also... You really shouldn't talk about women like they're objects in front of one, we really don't like that kind of thing," Yumi muttered, tugging on Kabocha's ear once for good measure before letting it go and smiling sweetly at him and the twins, "Have fun guys! We'll see you around!" Waiting until they were well and gone she turned to Viral, tilting her head as she gave him a curious look. "Well... Is there anything you'd like to do now that we're back? You're feeling better right?"

----------

Haku had figured T'charrl's come city was amazing enough. The tall trees surrounding it had been majestic, he'd loved the underground portions and the city above ground was nothing to scoff at either. He was in for even more of a treat when they arrived in another city however and found no buildings on the ground but in the trees themselves. He'd been confused at first until told to look up, and upon craning his neck he was awestruck seeing the city above. Bridges spanning wide gaps, homes hanging off of the sides of the massive trees, people flying to and fro and others using the paths. Something about avoid predators, Yusef had mentioned, though Haku didn't understand what people who could fly had to be worried about really. He didn't understand either why the way to get up wasn't to fly, but to use one of the many lifts that brought people from the ground up. Confusion was thoroughly overwritten by excitement as they loaded themselves onto a lift and were taken up to the city, and Haku was all but bouncing on his feet when the lift finally stopped. Getting to see new worlds was never going to get old and he was loving Kaesstra more and more by the minute.

"The King's home is in the center of the city, but I think we're a little early," Yusef said as he noticed Haku's enthusiasm, smiling and folding his arms at his back, "If you two would like we can look around first. It's a rather nice city and they have some things we don't have in ours, T'charrl. Now might be a good time to enjoy the sights."

"Oh can we? I want to see what's here!" Haku exclaimed, grinning as he ran over to one of the bridges and leaned over the railing, looking around at the various buildings and even the people. They looked almost nothing like the people in T'charrl's home, they had larger wings and their hair was different colors as were their patterns. It was a far cry from his home where everyone more or less looked the same, it was so interesting seeing a big variety even among a single people. "I k-know that we're busy, but it w-won't matter too much if we look around just a little, w-will it, T'charrl?" He didn't want to force his friend into agreeing but he really did want to see more. After all who knows when if ever he'd return to his place again, best to look at it all now while they were here. "If not we can always l-look after we meet the K-King, since we'll be here for a wh-while anyways," he added as he returned to father and son, "Up to y-you, since we're here for y-you anyways."

The twins were about done with their little trip away from Uuonoe and about ready to get back to less serious stuff, especially after a fight like that and the treatment they had been receiving in the hospital. As par the usual the twins were seen as a strange phenomenon as they were seen to have nearly identical injuries and were healing at about the same rate too. It was always the same and having to explain how their Ki being linked caused it to happen never failed to still baffle people who weren’t familiar with Ki all that much. Luckily their injuries weren’t too bad so they were out pretty quick and only had to wait for Yumi and Viral to heal up a bit more before leaving. Arriving back on solid ground was welcoming for the pair of them, although Kai was definitely looking more fed up than Choi. They captured some of the goons who they had been fighting at least, so maybe Korian wasn’t going to get too furious at them for the two dead Elites. It would be the pilots and other soldiers back at the base to sort out once the main ship was docked. Kabocha had the right idea, even if his was a desperation to find some girls who might possibly like him for once. “I’m more for the food part myself. Sick of rations and hospital food already”, Kai sighed, looking quickly to his brother before immediately to Kabocha as they were both grabbed. Guess they had no choice where they were going anyway. It was highly doubtful that Viral and Yumi would even go, Kabocha was shooting low with that suggestion.

Viral was definitely not in the best of moods to be going off on one of their little adventures, especially with those Saiyans. He wasn’t completely healed, just enough to convince the hospital to let him go back to Uuonoe. His body had nearly been completely destroyed so it was a miracle that he could even move around as much as he was. While it would be ideal to just get away from the base as far as possible, he couldn’t shirk his responsibilities like the others. Keeping his eyes off the others while Yumi dealt with Kabocha he frowned, attempting to make plans in his head before looking to Yumi when she made the approach, narrowing his eyes before he looked away towards the base. “One thing that’s on my list is to kick Aito’s ass, wherever that bastard is…” he grunted, rolling his shoulder, I need to find somewhere where the solar energy is abundant first…and you, shouldn’t you be getting some rest? You’re hardly doing yourself any good by staying up and about like this with that head of yours…”

--

While it was nice to finally see what his city and family had been getting up to, T’charrl was feeling fair nervous about returning to a more familiar place. He knew the days he had spent with his family was more for relaxing and trying to get rid of some of his nerves, but he still developed a fair case of the shakes despite that. He was fairly relaxed those past few days, just when it finally came to doing what he set out to do did his nerves return. It was important that he came here, the King of this land was his only lead to more stable power. While he had been here before, he was now with his father and there for the purpose of training and discovering more about himself, whatever those discoveries may be. He knew it was going to be a lot of work, but he had no idea how he was going to even work in the first place when he didn’t know where to start with it yet. As they were taken into the lift he sighed heavily in an attempt to relax, but still he continued to twiddle his claws restlessly.

“Ah, the sights? I-I mean yes! That would be nice to do”, he nodded quickly, laughing nervously before sighing again. He certainly wondered how many staring eyes he was going to gain through coming here, he was very much aware that he was going to be the odd one out here. While it was obvious Haku was a visitor from the outside world, it would be easy to pick him out as a bit of a barbarian in their culture due to his colour and type. His father was too large to get picked on for sure, no matter where he went he would be seen as the greater Kaesstrian and was generally untouchable. He had a lot to live up to compared to his mother and father, but right now all he hoped was to not be caught out as a bit of a runt compared to the rest of these citizens. He probably shouldn’t think too much about it, he was just used to being the outcast and expected it from these people too. “Oh uhh…huh? Oh, I would rather we looked around now”, he spoke, momentarily coming back out of his own thoughts and into reality again, “I need to find a way to relax before I get to work. I’m too much on edge…I need to uhh…chill out? Yeah…”

"Then we'll get food, and if we just happen to find women along the way even better!" Kabocha wasn't going to hang around for Yumi to rip off his ear again for that comment, and after throwing his arms around their shoulders he courted them away from the others. "See you later you two! Don't do anything we wouldn't do!" he laughed, waving as they went off. After all they'd been through the very least they could do was have a little bit of fun! The twins might not be so gung-ho about finding women but Kabocha had a suspicion if they did neither would complain. "I wonder if there's actually any place to pick up chicks here, I've never checked..." the noble muttered as he took his arms from around his friend's shoulders, "You guys know of a place? There was something on Earth that would be awesome here! The girls all had big... You know..." he explained as he motioned to his chest, "And they served food and they were all really cute! I wonder if they got a place like that here..." Was he more excited for some actual food or for women? Both probably, actually definitely both.

"We only just got back, can't we hold off on the ass-kicking for a little while?" Yumi asked with an amused smile, "I got some rest, the doctor on Lioma said I can be up, just not to do too much. And someone's got to keep an eye on you, make sure you don't go pick a fight with Aito," she added with a teasing wink. It was much too beautiful outside to be indoors resting anyways and they weren't exactly going to do much in the city. Folding her hands behind her back Yumi looked up at the sun cheerfully and closed her eyes, basking in its warmth with a sigh. Lioma was probably a beautiful world when there wasn't a war going on so it was nice to be somewhere that you could just take a walk and relax. "Before we go headhunting how about we enjoy ourselves a little? There's a lot we can do here that doesn't involve fighting you know," Yumi said as she started walking off, turning on her heel to face Viral, "We could find some food, or we could go for a walk. Or now that the lake isn't swarming with big, nasty creatures we could go for a swim! Whatever you'd like!"

-----

"Really? That's awesome, thank you! And yeah, yeah ch-chilling out sounds good!" Haku agreed enthusiastically, beaming as he looked around the city. Where should they go first? He didn't even know what was in the city never mind where they should even go. Looking to Yusef for some kind of direction he suggested they cheek out the hanging gardens. How did gardens hang? He hadn't a clue but it sounded amazing and T'charrl seemed to be up for anything. After asking which general direction to go Haku all but ran across the bridge, remembering he was with other people and looking back, waving them on. "Come on g-guys! Let's go s-s-see the garden!" Higher up into the trees they went, and along the way they ran into quite a few of the locals. People must know what T'charrl was going through and yet nobody batted an eye or said anything other than some pleasantries and smiles. Nice people, even more of a shame to think at one point they might have been at war. T'charrl's own city was incredible too but it wasn't a hanging city like this one was, Haku had never seen anything like it before. And he'd certainly never seen anything like the garden either.

When they had said it was a hanging garden they had meant so as literally as possible. Large circular planters were suspended from the highest branches of the trees and hung down alongside the walkways, a wide assortment of flowers and smaller plants nested among them. Plenty of other people were around making getting close a bit difficult but Haku was enjoying it anyways. "We don't have anything l-like this back on Kortal..." he mused as he leaned closer to a planet, sniffing at the flower and hastily turning his head to sneeze, "Oh! Heh, s-sorry! These flowers are really b-beautiful though, and there's so m=many kinds too!" He could easily spend the afternoon wandering around here just looking at the types of plants they had here. Were they able to get any for themselves? It would be nice to have something on the ship, and even better to have something back on Uuonoe in their quarters. "I can see wh-why you'd miss this... It's s-s-so different from other worlds," Haku said as he smiled and reached out to a flower, tracing its petals with a finger, "You're so lucky, l-living here."

Despite Kabocha’s mind being focused on women, getting food was definitely the best thing about going off on their own. There was of course no way Yumi or Viral would go, neither of them were into relaxing when one was so focused and the other just went where ever he went. Sure, Yumi used to hang out with his brother Choi a lot, but that was a while ago now. What was funny was Viral barely seemed to want to be around Yumi, she’d be a lot happier with his brother even though he personally wouldn’t be. It was lonely when you didn’t have your twin around to accompany you, it felt like he was missing part of himself when Choi was elsewhere. For now though it was going to be the task of finding somewhere to go Kai certainly didn’t know of anywhere interesting, he didn’t really venture out other than to some fast food places with his brother and those were really good, especially the all-you-can-eat places.

“We know a great place where you’re allowed to eat a ton of food! But they’ll eventually kick you out if you eat too much”, Choi quickly spoke up, pointing randomly in the direction of the main city centre, “There’s not many girls I mean not always, but there’s so much food! Sometimes some more Saiyan-like girls pop in but…you know, they have barbeque there”. Choi wasn’t too bothered by the thought of girls either, but food was great and definitely one of his favourite past times. He did enjoy cooking, but having food made for him was even better and definitely tasted great nearly all the time. “Still got a fair amount of credits from the soldier’s allowance thing for nearly unlimited food. They get less fed up with us the more we pay”.

--

Viral gave Yumi a quick look, narrowing his gaze before looking away again. “I highly doubt that’s your reason for wanting to keep an eye on me. I’ve never been trusted to be by myself and that’s just it”. If he was to do anything at all it would be to deal with Aito for all that he did and didn’t do, he was going to be in trouble anyway once the report had got out that he had killed two Elites and nearly destroyed the city he was supposed to protect. He was fair angry at Aito for a number of things, especially stuff that had been keeping him up at night. For Yumi she certainly didn’t need to care much, it wasn’t her business and being able to have a relaxing time after the long battle and rest was all she had on her mind. If he was by himself he would try and find him to get an answer out of him, but of course Yumi wouldn’t let him. He couldn’t remember the real proper time he was left alone, there was always someone following him around and sticking to him tight. Watching as Yumi began to make her own way along he felt rather stuck between what he wanted to do and not wanting her to get all angry at him. “We’re not going for a swim!” he snapped at her, feeling a little flustered, “Fine! We’ll go for a walk somewhere…at least that’ll make me harder to find if they decide to come looking for me…”

--

T’charrl was fairly happy that he was getting the hang of the usual slang they used, it was even things that he could translate into his own language. He was still getting the hang of their language and while his speaking comprehension was high, his understanding of slang was still sub-par and having to think about the reason the words were being used was the hardest part, especially when chill could also mean cold. When it came to this city though he definitely didn’t know much about it and his knowledge was definitely pretty low. He probably should’ve got a map or something, but that would cost money and he didn’t have clothes that would fit him well to carry money. He could always fly around with Haku, but then he might accidentally fly onto someone’s property. Looking to his father he soon looked around again before gasping when Haku decided to go off in another direction. “Ah! Wait for me!”

Running on after Haku he continued to look around and follow along, not really knowing what he was supposed to be looking at along the way. It was a fairly interesting place, but foreign places did make him a little nervous especially if he was to get lost and not be able to find his way to the palace in time. Only sometimes he could spy the palace, but then he’d quickly lose it again or mistake another building for it. This place was certainly confusing to him and nothing like his world underground. Stopping whenever Haku did he made a slow look around each time, gasping in surprise whenever Haku spoke. “Oh! Uhh, Kortal? I don’t have any idea about that place”, he spoke quickly, scratching his chest, “Maybe there’s some nice places on Kortal. Earth was pretty nice and had a lot of variety”. He figured since Kortal was where Saiyans came from it would be a planet like the Human’s one seeing how they looked very similar. “W-Well uhh, I miss it for other reasons too, like the food a-and uhh…well, I’m not weird looking to my own people. I get called a bug by others and everybody eats so much meat and strange ground plants a-and, umm…even though I have to eat a lot of meat too to sustain my energy levels, I do miss the wide variety of fruit we have…”

"So a buffet? Fine... At least we'll get half of what we're after," Kabocha grinned, clasping his hands together in excitement as he gazed around, "And you've got to be more excited about the girls, man! I figured you'd be all about them after Yumi broke up with you for Viral. Plus aren't you worried about having kids someday? You need them to continue the line and all that good stuff, teach them to fight and how to carry on your family. Doesn't that mean anything to you two?" Maybe not if they were just cooks back home, the last thing they would probably be worrying about was kids and more getting out of a crappy situation. "Besides there's more to women then just making kids you know. They're good for plenty of other things too," he added, glancing back and winking at the twins before frowning and sighing at Choi's comment. "Man... You're the reason no women will get with us! I'm trying to get friendly with them and you're over there drooling about some barbecue food, get your priorities straight! You've got to think in the long term," Kabocha went on, turning around and walking backwards as he gestured with his hands frantically, "What's good going to get you a week from now other than the dumps? You get a girl to keep you happy, she'll do stuff for you and you get kids to carry your family on. If you were half as excited about girls as you were food this wouldn't even be a problem!"

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"Oh I'm only teasing! I just wanted to spend a nice afternoon with you after that mess we went through, that's all. It's a beautiful day and we have it all to ourselves." No pesky rebels or anyone else getting in the way of just them enjoying themselves was rare and Yumi didn't want to waste it. What they would actually do she hadn't considered yet but she'd make something up as they went along; Viral wanted to go and question Aito but he was much too angry to do so right now. Maybe a nice walk to clear his head would help that? He shot down the idea of a swim in a heartbeat and so they'd simply walk, a leisurely stroll around the city until Viral cooled down enough to go talk. Something as innocuous as a walk still annoyed him though and Yumi had the very real notion that he didn't want anything to do with her. Or rather he was more focused on getting at Aito than relaxing after their battles. Stopping in her tracks she turned and smiled at Viral innocently, walking back over to him and raising herself up onto her toes, staring him in the face curiously. "So do you really not want to spend time with me then? Am I annoying you that much?" Yumi pressed teasingly, moving back and frowning as she folded her ears down and hands behind her back, "You could have just said so..." she added, sighing and looking away, "I guess I'll go do something on my own then."

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"Yeah Earth was r-really nice... I only s-saw a little part of it th-though, its supposed to have loads of different types of places t-too." Most worlds were either one extreme or another and had very little if any variety, Earth was the first world Haku had ever seen that was so different. Even Kaesstra for all its beauty was mostly forest and water, there weren't even frozen places at the poles like most planets had. "I guess there's s-some nice places on Kortal, but people l-like me were always t-t-too busy to see them. The King doesn't let p-people like me do m-much..." Almost every other planet he'd ever been to had such nice rulers compared to Yamate and he'd figured if the King wasn't so powerful no one would ever follow a jerk like that. He didn't want his own people to be attacked but it could only make things better if a creep like him was taken out of power. "I don't think you're w-weird looking. Who said you look w-w-weird?" Haku asked, frowning as he turned to his friend, "Look at h-how different all the p-people on Uuonoe are, everyone l-looks different. That's n-normal, right?" he asked in regards to Yusef, smiling at the elder Kaesstrian.

"Of course! You've never seen any of the northern clans, have you T'charrl? They look nothing like us," Yusef continued as he gestured to himself, "They're smaller than us, their hairs are lighter colors, some of them almost white, and some don't even have wings! And there are some who live underground like us but they don't have the light we do. So their eyes are bigger and their hairs are shorter and more sensitive, to sense vibrations in the air. Just because you don't look exactly like us doesn't mean you're weird, just different. And like Haku said everyone is different, that's nothing to be ashamed of." Smiling he reached out and placed a hand atop T'charrl's head, looking up above as a group of children sped by, laughing as they shoved at one another in mid-air. Waving at the group some of them looked down and waved back to them in turn, not a single one seemed disturbed by T'charrl. "See? People don't mind how you look, it's the type of person you are that matters. And I know plenty of people would love to have my son as their friend, and some day you'll make an excellent leader too."

Choi didn’t really know what to say to Kabocha, hearing him obsess like that. “Hey c’mon man it wasn’t like that! Viral was suffering and she wanted to help him not to mention they’re practically childhood friends! I’d hardly call it a break up more like a mutual understanding of circumstances!” he spoke quickly, shaking his hand quickly, “Whatever though, I don’t know I mean, I’m still pretty young?? Is it even legal for Kai and I to think about finding a girl and having kids? We’re younger than you, you know! I don’t know the universal rule either when it comes to having kids! Can’t we just be teenagers for a little while longer? Why are you even thinking so much about kids, anyway? You’re hardly that much older than us and you’re already thinking about mates?”

“I’d rather just think about food right now. I’m not interested in girls”, Kai sighed, shaking his head, “I can do whatever somebody else can, so I’m fine. Like Choi said I don’t feel I’m quite mature enough to be thinking about settling down and having a family”. Kabocha probably did have a legacy to continue, but no Saiyan girl was going to want to hook up with a guy who had an identical twin. Twins weren’t a thing in common Saiyan society so it was seen as a little freaky. “What girl would want either of us who isn’t Yumi, anyway? And even then did Yumi really want Choi as a mate?”

--

Viral groaned, definitely having a general dislike for Yumi’s teasing. She certainly took advantage over his more passive nature towards her, openly poking fun at him and getting her laughs from him. He didn’t even know why she was so obsessed with him in the first place, she barely left him alone for instance. They only technically had the day to themselves until he was called in or found, then it was free reign for the others to do what they wanted with him. They wouldn’t let the one in charge of the mission have free wander without reporting back, especially someone like Korian. He seemed like the kind of guy who would go out of his way to try and find him personally, even if he was impossible to track through normal means. Yumi obviously didn’t share any of these concerns though, she just wanted to find somewhere to relax and play around before heading back for something as trivial as rest. Just wanting to go for a walk just now he slowly came to a halt when Yumi started to walk back to him, already feeling confused by her words. He didn’t say anything like that which only confused him even more, giving her a long staring at before simply closing his eyes. “If that is what you so desire, I have no authority to stop you”, he spoke, going into a default state, “If that is what you wished for in the first place, you only need tell me”.

--

T’charrl smilled a little, nodding before sighing. He certainly liked Earth, but he did remember having to hide himself most of the time since to the normal everyday natives he was a bit of a monster to them at the time. He still was a bit of a monster compared to Humans, but not as bad as what he looked like back then. T’charrl didn’t really know too much about Kortal other than that King being there, but he didn’t think a whole planet was going to be boring. Sighing, he nodded as he looked away, rubbing his claws together in a nervous twitch. “Because I have weird things and stuff on me others don’t among other things…”he spoke quickly before groaning, shaking his head. He didn’t know why he thought so much about it, but the way he looked did bank on a lot of reasons why he might not be able to find a mate or why other Kaesstrians still didn’t like him even after all he did.

Feeling discouraged, he looked up at his father, staring at him as he talked about some other clans up north. He didn’t know what to make of their descriptions, but he did remember that the reason Takeshi didn’t like looking at him or touching him was because of his eyes and hair. Rubbing his face slowly he gasped when his father placed his hand on his head, looking up before off in the direction he gazed off in too, staring at the kids before he looked down again. He didn’t know if children like that counted, they were pretty pre-occupied with playing around. “What if I’m a really awful person? What I can do is already a taboo, so what do I do? How am I supposed to be an excellent leader and make friends if they knew all this? What if-…what if I turn into someone they fear instead? I-I just…don’t know what to do about myself and all these…things happening to me. I’m scared of the future…”

"Legal...? Look at all the crap we're doing, all the fighting we're doing. You're worried about whether or not its legal?" Kabocha was incredulous Choi would even say such a thing, who cared? What was more important than making a family for them? Getting stronger maybe but having a family was definitely second. "And I'm talking the future, man! For now don't you just want a girlfriend? You know... Someone to do... Stuff with." He'd never thought someone of his own species could be so alien to him until the twins. Rubbing at his face in disbelief when Kai seconded Choi's opinion he put his hands up in defeat, smiling before rolling his eyes. "Alright forget it, no girls. I get it you two aren't into that. Probably happens from being around guys all the time," Kabocha jeered, grinning tauntingly before turning back around and laughing, "And sure she did! I think she just felt bad for Viral, you said it. I mean think about it, they've been friends for how long and only now they're together? If she liked him they wouldn't have waited that long would they?" Seemed perfectly clear to him that it wasn't all that genuine and Yumi was doing it just to make Viral happy. I mean really what was there to like about him anyways? The only way you could do any worse was by going out with the idiot Princes.

Kabocha assumed this was the barbecue restaurant Choi was speaking of, it sure smelled like one. Overly heavy sauce and lots of spices, a huge crowd and a bunch of annoying kids whining. Sure seemed like the ideal spot for three young guys to grab a bite to eat. Watching a family of five walk by with two whining children covered in sauce Kabocha's brow twitched and he gave the twins a look of disbelief, silently gesturing to the shop and mouthing the words 'Really guys?' Choi had wanted barbecue though and they were here, may as well eat while they were at it. "I miss the food back on Kortal though... That was good food. We'd get things from all over Kortal and from other worlds even and the cooks always prepared it just the way we like it. Instead we're being forced to have..." Kabocha trailed off, gesturing to someone's plate with a pile of meats and sides on it in disgust. The diner in question looked at him like he had two heads before going back to their conversation and Kabocha merely shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever, I guess its better than nothing."

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Yumi blinked her eyes slowly as Viral all but dismissed her from his company, jaw dropped slightly. Was he serious? How daft could he be? She was trying to tease him into asking her to stay and he'd all but told her to get lost instead. Gaping like a fish out of water she looked for words before rolling her eyes, stepping closer and prodding his chest with her finger. "I'm not leaving you goof, I was teasing you. I figured you'd want me to spend time with you once we got back to Uuonoe, I wanted to too. But if you don't want me around then tell me right now and I'll find something else to do." Maybe it was unfair of her to push this on Viral but she was feeling the slightest bit hurt after his comments. Was it not obvious that she wanted to be with him? That she wasn't merely following him around and trying to plan things purely to annoy him? Letting out a sigh she crossed her arms and stared up at Viral patiently for his answer. "I'm sure June could use a hand with something, and you can go... I don't know, argue with Aito if that's more fun to you," Yumi continued with a dismissive wave of her hand, "Just tell me so I know whether or not I'm wasting my time here."

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"Are you an awful person? Are you like Garesh, bringing our people into war over power? Or did you stop a monster like that from getting power? I think you're the reason our home isn't in ruins right now, T'charrl. That's no monster, that's a hero." Yusef smiled sympathetically and shook his head, gesturing towards Haku as he continued. "Friends? You mean like Haku here? And the others you've been traveling with? It seems to me that you've made friends just fine. And you don't need to worry because we're going to fix that aren't we? We'll help you learn to control your powers and turn you back to normal, or have you forgotten why we're here? Be more confident in yourself, you're capable of doing so much more if you just let yourself believe that." As much as Yusef wanted to comfort his son he wanted even more to more on from this conversation. They were supposed to be helping T'charrl relax before they went to meet with the king and now T'charrl seemed very uptight and uncertain. What other places might they go and see? He was not terribly familiar with this city still but there were a handful of places, particularly in the evenings, that were splendid sights. "Let's go and see something else. They have a museum here, a place where they display old art and weapons and tools. Would you like to see that, my son? Or perhaps we can look for somewhere to eat?"