[IC] Dragon Ball: Legacy (Mogtaki and Vena Sera)

[Mogtaki]

T’charrl smiled happily, raising his shoulders. “Oh, uhhh y-yes! I’ll keep trying to get better. I don’t want to fall behind too much. I really want to be able to talk to everybody properly”. There was a lot of thinking that came when he was trying to speak their language so he probably sounded slow to them a lot of the time, but at least he was still trying hard to keep up. He didn’t want people feeling awkward around him because he couldn’t keep up. Staring at Yumi as she decided that she should go for a walk he tilted his head when she offered, smiling as he took her hand and slowly shifted to stand up. “Oh, thank you. Maybe a walk will help…”

Shu didn’t know what Takeshi was going to treat him to, feeling rather excited over the possibility that it was going to be something fun. He hadn’t had much fun since his little identity crisis so it would be nice to get out of that for now and onto something fun. Smiling happily as he waved his hands in the air at Takeshi’s hand he soon got out of his seat too, staring up at Takeshi hopefully. He was certainly hoping he was going to have some fun, otherwise there was no real reason for him to get all excited. Bouncing off his chair he smiled happily at Takeshi, watching him clean up before bouncing after him to catch up.

Viral was pretty fed up and seeing the others start to head off made him feel somewhat relieved, preferring to be alone over anything. He was certain they just wanted to see him to be annoyed at them all the time. It wasn’t that he didn’t like company, there was just a time and a place for it and while he was feeling like this he definitely preferred to be alone. Managing to stand up at least he froze when June took his paw, his eyes quickly looking down at it before to he sighed heavily, looking away in embarrassment. “I’m not a child. You are just aiming to embarrass me as much as possible, aren’t you…”

----

Viral was the least bit impressed at the weather remaining as it was with everything seeming to be perfect for sleeping outside, of course that meant the hammock plan was going to go ahead. He didn’t know how to sleep in a hammock, at least from experience he didn’t know. He had seen it done before, but it looked difficult and hard to get out of once you were in. Frowning at the sight of Aito running off to get it all set up he kept quiet where he was, looking like he was concentrating on not falling down. Once the hammock was completed he glanced to June before letting out a sigh, tilting his head back slightly. “I’ve got a feeling it’s going to collapse…” Slowly walking around it he frowned at the sight of it, shifting it with his hand before he made a jump into it, looking panicked at first as it rocked around before sighing and laying down in it. It seemed stable enough but he was still a little nervous about it, even with him feeling rather tired. “…Well…it didn’t collapse…”

Shu was pretty on board for this surprise, feeling all sorts of excited over it even though he had no idea to what it was. Squeaking away to himself he bounced on his toes, staring up at Takeshi anxiously until he knelt down before him. Rubbing his hands together he gasped when Takeshi basically said they were going to do what they were doing before. “Ooh, day off? Play and explore?” he spoke, tilting his head before he looked around, “Explore and play! Play…oooohhh, that’s no surprise at all! You silly”. Shu was really feeling confused but he was down to it, giving Takeshi a big smile before he bounced around him. He did like doing those things but he was looking for something special. “What we do??”

T’charrl couldn’t help but feel a little awkward, what with him being all alone with Yumi. He didn’t know what to say to her or how to approach the silence with talking. He really was bad at this socialising thing which certainly managed to make him feel a little depressed. He wanted to be good at making friends, not leave them to make all the decisions for him. Scratching at his chest a little as he sat by himself he gasped when Yumi approached him, staring at her as she crouched down in front of him. It was nice of her to approach him like this and the idea of lessons sounded somewhat appealing, giving her a smile as he nodded. “That sounds nice of you, thank you. I didn’t really know what I was going to do in the time left today before I have to go back for a check-up…” Hopefully he was going to show how intelligent he was and not that he was good at repeating other people’s habits. Being given the decision he stared at her for a moment, eventually raising his shoulders. “Reading sounds like a good idea. I am getting better at it! I hope I’m getting better at it…I-I mean, I’ve been practicing and I hope I’m better at it. Maybe you can say if I don’t do very good while showing me big words?”

[GambolMuse]

With the hammock all set in place and the weather cooperating there was no longer a reason for Viral to not sleep outdoors. Everyone else was away to give him privacy, he wasn't going to be disturbed until it was time for him to wake up, whenever that might be. "It won't collapse, I was promised it wouldn't. With all that rope there I bet it could hold a few people. Uh... Let's not test that though." Would be a big waste to have them break the hammock after she'd built up this plan of hers. Waiting as Viral inspected the hammock she cringed inwardly as he just threw himself into it, praying silently that it wouldn't collapse like he'd said. Exhaling with relief when it didn't come down she smiled at Viral cheerfully and clasped her hands together with a nod. "I told you it wouldn't, now just take it easy and relax, you've earned it," June said as she stepped closer to the hammock, leaning over it and gently stroking Viral's hair just once before laughing, "I'm sorry, I know you hate that but it's a force of habit. I'll leave you alone so you can rest." Resisting the urge to give him a kiss as well she waved before heading back to the house, giving him one last glance before disappearing inside.

"Heh... That's right squirt, I tricked you, no surprise!" Takeshi laughed before taking a playful swipe at Shu's nose, "I've got something in mind though, just you wait!" Heh, as if he had some plan in mind, what a lie. Rubbing at his neck he watched his brother bounce around in circles, smiling slightly when asked what they would be doing. Should he just come up with something on the spot? Or maybe they could go for a walk and he'd come up with an idea as they went. Yeah, probably best to do that. "Well for starters it's not here, we need to go somewhere else to do it, so we're leaving again," he declared as he placed an arm around Shu's shoulders, "The surprise is back out in the city, we just need to get to it." That should give him plenty of time to find something for them! Giving himself a mental pat on the back Takeshi headed then for the door, holding it open for Shu and giving both Yumi and T'charrl a wave goodbye. "See you guys in a bit! Don't do anything too nuts," he joked, letting Shu out before following after him. Since they kept going right out of the house, why not see what was left? Motioning for Shu to tag along he started down the street, silently hoping he actually found something soon.

So it was just her and T'charrl for now then huh? Vegeta and Aito were both busy with work so that left just the two of them to their own devices, not such a bad thing. Seeing as he was wanting to learn more Yumi figured she could help with his lessons, however marginally that might be. Despite her lack of any sort of training he readily agreed to go along with her plan, smiling cheerfully and nodding as he decided to read. "Okay, I can do that! I'll grab us a book and we can get started." There was a bookshelf right in the room that had some books in it, some from the owners of the home and others that had been taken in from the ship. A quick glance at the local books told her the languages were well beyond them, no sense in trying those. Browsing through the books from Earth Yumi smiled sheepishly as she read the words inside, finding most to be scientific in nature and well beyond her. "Let me see, there's got to be something here..." she mumbled as she began throwing books to the side, sorting through at least a dozen before finally finding one. It was a novel, some fantasy novel about who knows what, she didn't even bother to read the back and only went off of the cover. Deciding it was their best bet she brought it back to T'charrl and sat beside him, offering it to him eagerly. "Maybe if you read out loud then you can work on your speech too? If you want to."

[Mogtaki]

Viral wasn’t sure about the hammock at first, in fact he was quite nervous that it would simply cause him to fall while he slept and only lead to further pain and quite a lot of stress. He didn’t want to end up having a heart attack because the hammock fell. There was a terribly high chance of that happening, but he had to trust Aito to create an effective hammock that he wasn’t going to hurt himself in. Sighing as he lay down on his front he moved his arms around, twitching when June touched his hair before he let out a groan, annoyed that he couldn’t stop her in this position. “’Force of habit’…you’ve barely been here…” He didn’t know what that meant seeing how she hadn’t been around in so long so it surely couldn’t be that much of a big habit. Shifting onto his side he closed his eyes, trying to drift off to sleep and forget about the pressure he felt earlier.

Shu didn’t understand why Takeshi would trick him, he thought it was perfectly fine to give him a surprise after all he had been through. He wanted something and he wasn’t going to stop bugging Takeshi until he got it, moving onto bounce around him. Takeshi had to be lying to him about the lie if his suspicions were anything to go by. Takeshi would never tell him something like that if he wasn’t kidding him on. Squeaking as he bounced around he stopped when Takeshi put his arm around his shoulders, his eyes staring up at him with curiosity as he revealed what it was that he had been planning if possibly only a little thing was elsewhere. “Then why we come all the way over here…?” Feeling rather confused yet excited he followed after Takeshi, giving Yumi and T’charrl a quick wave before continuing his little trot along. “Why do you have surprise out in the city? I don’t understand why walk here then back again…”

T’charrl looked back to see Shu and Takeshi head off, giving a little smile before he sighed, lowering his head. He hoped he hadn’t scared them off, but then that was his own slight paranoia that he had chosen the route to only talk to Yumi over them too. Not knowing what he was feeling guilty over exactly he sighed and focused on Yumi, watching as she went around and looked through some books for him. He was nervous already, he wasn’t really aware of what she might challenge him with but judging by the books she was looking at he had every reason to be nervous. Watching the books go flying he slowly looked away, hoping she wasn’t going for the really difficult ones before she finally returned, shifting on the spot a little as he peered over to get a look at the book before taking it from her. “Out loud? Oh, oh no…” he spoke, opening it up into the middle and giving it a peering at. If there was one thing he wasn’t particularly good at it was reading and speaking aloud. “Oh, uhhh…t-that one is ‘the’. The…umm…the pat-the pay-uhh…ohh no, I’m so bad at this”, he mumbled, letting out a groan, “Another one, umm…’they gat-they gath-they’...uhh, can you read a sentence for me and then I read it?”

[GambolMuse]

"I mean from before, but I'll stop and let you rest. Sweet dreams Viral," June replied softly, parting with a smile before disappearing into the house. Once inside she peeked briefly into the living room to see the others splitting up and going about their own business, leaving her with time to check in one Aito and Vegeta. No doubt they were still working and she was curious to see how they were coming along with whatever it might be. Hurrying up the stairs she moved through the hall to the master bedroom, albeit a room which no longer remotely resembled a bedroom; monitors, tables with vials and containers of medicines, a small hospital bed and several file cabinets were all that decorated the room now. Aito was sat behind a desk pouring over documents while Vegeta... She wasn't completely sure what he was doing, sat over the counter with a screwdriver in hand, goodness knows what he was building. "I'm not interrupting your playtime boys, am I?" June asked teasingly.

It seemed like by now all of Viral's genetics should be in place, the cell therapy had been working. Excellent, now that simply left his mental well-being to be seen to. PTSD, to a minor degree, as well as a feeling of inferiority brought on by his perceived weaknesses, all of that could be reversed if he was given chance enough to change it himself. There was Shu as well, clearly suffering from PTSD at the hand of several traumatic instances, and as Aito assumed even more that had never been brought up. A lot of work to be done with him as well, they would need another session to try and figure out what bothered him though. Glancing through both medical dossiers he glanced up at the sound of his wife's voice, smiling slightly and closing each before shaking his head. "Of course not, in fact you came at a wonderful time," he answered while pushing himself from the desk, "I wanted to ask how the afternoon went with Viral, how's he fairing?" Seeing a look of discontent from June he put his hands up defensively before she could even snap, knowing exactly what she was bound to say. "I have no intentions of testing or anything, I'm simply wondering how he did out and about."

"Well... I can't say he was all smiles and laughs, but he didn't seem to be completely hating it either. And at one point he and that Takeshi boy brought down a building. Er... For demolition, before you ask, they were asked to by some of the locals I suppose. After that he became tired, and now he's trying to sleep outside, but you knew that part already."

Takeshi sure hoped Shu wasn't growing suspicious and catch on, he really hadn't anything in mind yet. Wandering around the city they were bound to find something for him to do though right? "Well we wanted to say goodbye to our friends, and make sure Viral was okay right? And besides, this was on the way anyways," the older boy explained, pausing to wave goodbye to Yumi and T'charrl before leaving the house, "Just you wait buddy, you'll like it." Whatever it was though he hadn't figured it out yet. Once in front of Shu his face scrunched up slightly with a nervous smile, eyes darting around to try and find something, anything his brother may enjoy doing. If there were a bunch of kids out and playing then they could do that, but he didn't see anyone. Most of it was adults going about their way to work or fix things, people relaxing in their homes or the occasional shop, not exactly fun for an excitable Shu.

"Believe me when I say what I have planned is going to blow your socks off Shu, it's going to be so much fun!" Had to keep trying to sell it, even if he was technically lying right now. By this time Takeshi was becoming visibly nervous, rubbing his hands together as he kept looking about for something to do. Seriously wasn't there anything fun to do in this city? It was huge, there had to be at least one little thing for them. Two blocks later though and they still had yet to see anything, and by now he was almost ready to just admit he'd been leading Shu on. Stopping in his tracks he let out a sigh and turned to make the confession, but as he opened his mouth the sound of children laughing and screaming drowned him out. Glancing to the source he saw kids racing down a nearby hill on what looked like some big piece of plastic covered in water, ending up in a small pool at the bottom. There were a lot of those slides too, plenty of room for even more people to join if they wanted. "T-There! See, I told you I had something in mind," Takeshi said quickly, grinning as he pointed to the hill, "Want to go try those?" Oh please say yes.

Reading aloud would help both his speech and reading skills, Yumi remembered that much from her own early education. Unlike her though T'charrl wouldn't be reading in a classroom full of his peers, worrying about whether or not he sounded stupid in front of his friends. She hoped that made it easier and yet his reaction when given the assignment was anything but confident. Waiting for him to give it a few tries it was clear he was having trouble, and when he asked for help she nodded, moving closer to see the pages more clearly. "Of course, I'll read nice and slow, just so you hear how each word sounds okay? And don't feel bad if you don't pronounce everything exactly the same as I do, everyone talks a little differently." Now where had he been? Skimming the page with her fingertip she found the passage, smiling as she began to read along. "They paid for their goods and gathered them in a sack, leaving the store prepared for their adventure. Cecil had little idea what most of them were, but he felt confident the items would help them." she read, silently wondering who in the world read these kinds of fantasy books. Probably Vegeta's now that she considered it, he could be such a nerd sometimes.

[Mogtaki]

Shu was pretty suspicious regarding Takeshi’s actions, giving him a good long staring at as they walked through the city. He didn’t know what he was doing or where they were going, but he was sure Takeshi was just trying to find something for them to do. He was a pretty sharp much to Takeshi’s misunderstanding of him, but it was probably pretty easy for everyone to look at him like he was just a little kid who was not aware of such tricks. It was probably because Takeshi had tricked him a fair number of times before to surprise him and his change of tone told him he didn’t know what he was actually going to show him. Bouncing along with him he made sure to look around to see what Takeshi was planning, trying to tell if he was able to spot what he might be looking at. There was probably a lot out there, but if he just brought him to take down a building like he did with Viral then he was going to be rather disappointed.

“My socks off?? I don’t wear socks, you silly! Shu goes no shoes!” he giggled as he skipped around Takeshi, “How do you knock off socks when they are not there?” They were certainly going a long way at this time and he was starting to wonder if Takeshi would just give up soon. To come all this way out again for a surprise was definitely strange and was probably just to tire him out, but he wasn’t tired at all at this time of day. As he was starting to wonder if Takeshi was just waiting for him to forget anything was said before Takeshi seemingly spotted something, his attention immediately turning to see what he was seeing, gasping when he too spotted the strange event. He hadn’t seen anything like it and what was even better was there was many people who were very excited to be playing. “Ooh! Ooh! What that?? What that?? I wanna try!” he squeaked, getting all excited as he bounced in his step, “Is that bathtime? We had a wash this morning! I still feel fluffy!”

T’charrl couldn’t help but feel terribly embarrassed at the fact he was completely caught out with his poor reading skills, something he had only really found he was somewhat okay with when it came to children’s books. The large letters helped him greatly, but some of these letters were so close together that they confused him. He recognised some words, but just the most basic. He didn’t know how he was going to do if that was his first attempt to show how much he had learned. Staring down at the book for a moment he made a glance to Yumi, smiling nervously before sighing lightly, his eyes going back to the book. “I’m sorry. I should learn to speak clear too…” Wondering if he was going to manage this he stared at her finger as she searched up a passage, watching it carefully as she read along. The words all sounded so simple and yet he had managed to screw it up completely, feeling confused for only a moment when she read the character’s name before his eyes moved to Yumi. “That sounds exciting. I wish I could read properly to hear what happens”, he smiled, letting out a sigh, “I always loved reading books. I used to read to my grandma when I was little. I guess people thought I was just reading out loud because I was a silly kid. My home has a really big collection of books”.

[GambolMuse]

"It's a figure of speech buddy, I didn't really mean it," Takeshi said with a smirk, watching as Shu bound around him hyper-actively. Never thought he'd miss that part of his brother but it really had been a long time since he'd been this wound up. Laughing at the enthusiasm he reeled it back a little, looking around for anything for them to do. For a moment it seemed like there wasn't a single fun activity, but then he spotted the slides up on a nearby hill. What luck that there was actually something out here to do! If they hadn't come across anything soon then Takeshi was going to have to fess up, and doing so meant disappointing Shu and getting him upset. This... Whatever it was looked like serious fun though, perfectly innocent fun at that. If it had Shu this riled up just watching it then he'd be all giddy once they actually started.

"Not bath time buddy, not everything with water is bath time," Takeshi teased as he ruffled Shu's hair, "And they're called slides... I think. You ride on them and go down the hill, on those... Board... Things." There was a word for them but he couldn't for the life of him think of it. Well whatever, that wasn't the important part here. If Shu was happy to do it then damn they were going to do it, for however long it took to make the little guy happy. Grabbing Shu by the hand he tugged him along up the hill, going to the top where a stack of the boards sat unused, just waiting for them to take. Seeing some parents go down with their kids in their lap he figured that's how they would do it, even if Shu might be a little large for that. Finding an open chute Takeshi set the board down, kicking his shoes off and leaving them there before climbing on and patting the spot before himself. "Sit right here and hang on buddy, unless you wanna go down by yourself?"

Finding a book that wasn't above both of their heads proved to be tricky, goes to show what finding reading material in a home full of scientists was like. Having found maybe the one book that they could even grasp it seemed like T'charrl needed a little bit of help with his reading; considering that he and Vegeta had only done a few lessons it wasn't really a bad thing T'charrl was struggling, it was kind of expected really. "You'll get it with practice, don't beat yourself up over it," Yumi encouraged, pausing in her reading as her friend spoke again. "Well I can keep reading if you'd like, and maybe now and again you can pick it up? We'll take turns." Might not be a bad way to teach him actually, then he'd have some idea of how words sounded by listening to her. There was nothing to this teaching thing! "Oh that sounds amazing, I never saw that part of your house..." Yumi muttered before blinking once, a sheepish smile passing her lips, "Come to think of it... I never saw anything except the entrance and the throne room," she added before turning to T'charrl, "When we go back I want you to give me a tour of your house! I want to see where you grew up, I bet there's a lot there we never got to see."

[Mogtaki]

Shu didn’t know how to contain himself, he was just off the rails in excitement. He wanted to bounce all over the place when he was offered such a desirable surprise, but he could do without that for now until he knew it was a good surprise Takeshi had given him. To see the slide certainly gave him a fair boost of excitement, but he would have to test it himself to see if it’s truly as fun as it looks. The best part about it was there was no deep pool at the end so he wouldn’t have to worry about being unable to swim. He thought he was certainly going to enjoy this, even if Takeshi didn’t expect to find it to surprise him. Staring up at Takeshi in excitement, he quickly looked off towards the strange contraptions when they were given a name. “Slides! Board things! Go slidey down the hill!” Bouncing on his toes he was soon whisked away by Takeshi off up the hill, staring all the way up until they were finally going to get ready. Staring at the natives who were having fun either one by one or in pairs he gasped when Takeshi suddenly spoke out to him, looking to him at his offer. Smiling happily, he bounced towards him before squeezing in in front of Takeshi. “I wanna go with you! Fun together!” he squeaked happily, holding onto Takeshi, “Looks more fun together!”

T’charrl had hoped to study reading by himself at some point, but he had never got around to it or knew where to start mostly. He was getting the hang of talking in their language because he was constantly surrounded by it, but their writing was a different matter when it was so different. The basics he had done recently, but he had only done a few lessons and didn’t expect Yumi to pick a hard book immediately. “Oh, uhh, maybe. I mean…if I know the word and what it looks like, it can’t be hard to read a sentence, right?” He really had no idea how he might do if this book was going to change the words up all the time. He could certainly try to be impressive, but ultimately he would still end up failing when a new word popped up. Smiling a little when Yumi showed interest in his house he chuckled nervously, raising his shoulders. “I guess that was my bad. It was a little rude of me”, he sighed, even if the first time he could barely walk and the second he had to go and do official business with another kingdom, “There is a lot you didn’t see! I mean…I could show you my room, the guest rooms, the books and where the food is and all sorts of places! Maybe Father would let me show you where we train, maybe even our family history room. As you know I spent a lot of time at home growing up, so I could show you all everything…well, everything except my parent’s bedroom…and maybe the medical bay if it’s busy…but everything else, I could!”

[GambolMuse]

Shu's excitement was way higher than Takeshi had anticipated, the kid was practically bounding out of his own skin. It had been absolutely ages since he'd seen his brother this eager and it was both reassuring and hilarious to watch. "Yeah, nice and simple buddy. Come on, we're wasting time just standing around here." Grabbing his brother's hand he pulled him along, right to the top of the slide where spare boards were waiting for them. After finding a decently sized one, they weren't all uniform, he set it on the closest slide and waved Shu over to join him. "Sure does, just hold on tight while we go!" Takeshi laughed, placing his arms around Shu's midsection for extra measure. All set? Freeing one hand briefly he pushed off on the ground behind them and sent them forward, slowly approaching the peak of the hill before spilling over it. Rushing down the slide, water kicking up everywhere, they made it to the bottom of the hill in seconds and hit the pool at the bottom with a resounding splash. It was shallow there, barely up to one's shins if they stood up, but it served the purpose plenty well. Just from that one go they were positively soaked yet even Takeshi found himself grinning like an idiot. "Hah! Ready to go again squirt?"

Reading and discussing their language may not be as exhilarating as racing down water slides but it had its own fun. Yumi was enjoying teaching T'charrl what she knew and he in turn was taking it all in, it was nice to see. "You don't have to read it as quickly as I do either. If you get caught on a word then we can sound it out, no problems there!" It was weird, in some ways it was like instructing a little kid. Only this little kid was probably close to Shu's age, spoke perfectly fine and was from another planet. Weird that she could say that now and it be a completely normal thing, just over a year ago training someone from another country seemed strange, never mind off-world. "I'd love to see all that! Your planet was really nice, and so was the castle. I'm sure there's an awful lot to be seen still, we'll definitely have to go back!" Yumi said eagerly, smiling before placing her hand down on the book, "Before we get ahead of ourselves though let's get back to reading, okay? After this maybe we can think about going back, if we have time. I'm sure Vegeta wouldn't mind if we... Borrowed the shuttle."

[Mogtaki]

Shu was sure he was going to have fun with this activity but he was also pretty anxious so going with Takeshi felt best for him, his curiosity over whether it was going to be a good time certainly remaining high. It looked fun and everyone was having fun, but whether it was fun for him he didn’t know quite yet. Letting out a squeak he did bounce in front of Takeshi, landing in front of him and holding on to make sure he wasn’t going to fall away. Getting all excited he barely cared about Takeshi holding onto him like that, his only concern right now being the ride down. The moment they started to move Shu let out a squeal of excitement, his tail wrapping around Takeshi’s leg momentarily as they shot down the hill. What a burst of excitement this was turning out to be and as they crashed into the water below Shu shut his eyes tight, tensing up momentarily but soon opened them. Gasping momentarily in fright he remained quiet at first before squealing, clapping his hands. “Again! Again, again!” he squeaked happily, jumping to his feet before he splashed around gently as he headed on out again, “That was fun! Not done that before! I never seen before!”

T’charrl was rather excited to talk about his own home and its little areas that nobody really got to explore. He was all for the excitement of the possibility that they would be future guests, it would mean he would no longer have the title of introvert back home. Everybody was quite happy to laugh at him before for not having any friends and make jokes about it, but having guests over would surely shut them up. Getting all embarrassed he let out a nervous chuckle, smiling at her. “I don’t know how you feel about the underground, though. I mean…there’s as much to the underground as there is to the surface, but you grew up on the surface, right? I mean, your skin is bright so you must had”, he spoke before frowning, raising his shoulders, “I-I don’t know if that’s how it works with your kind…” Sighing lightly he shook his head, trying to shift away the embarrassment before he smiled, nodding at Yumi. “Y-Yeah. Well uhh, how long does it take to travel again? Don’t you want to go back home some time too? We were only there for a while. I thought maybe you might like to go back sometime again. Oh, uhh…y-yeah, I guess we should keep reading too…”

[GambolMuse]

Convincing Shu to join him on the board had been easy, and within moments they were on their way down the slide. Keeping one arm around Shu to be safe they darted down the hillside, speeding along right up until they hit the pool with a resounding splash. At first the silence that greeted them in the pool worried Takeshi and made him think his brother hadn't enjoyed this as much as he might like. That concern though was quickly dispelled when Shu sprung to his feet and jumped around, looking like a little kid as he rushed out to get ready for another run. "Alright, alright buddy! We'll go again!" the older boy laughed, getting himself out and wiped water from his face before ushering Shu back to the top of the hill. All around them the sound of children laughing and squealing with delight made him grin, finding all of the excitement to be contagious. Definitely a lucky break they found this place no doubt! "Ready? We'll go even faster this time!" Placing himself down and getting Shu situated he grinned, pushing off with both hands this time. They slightly raised up off the slide before bouncing back onto it, darting along the track into the pool within seconds, kicking up a large amount of water on landing. Even Takeshi was laughing now, falling back off the board into the pool and smiling at Shu.

"Oh, uh well that doesn't change our skin really, it's different than that. It uh..." Yumi began before pausing, frowning confused as she scratched at her head, "Actually... I don't know how it works. But being above ground and below ground doesn't change that. But I'll love to see it, I don't mind if its underground." While she was enjoying having these side conversations they had technically come down here to study, they could always continue these later after they did a little more. Smiling amused she nodded once before opening the book open to the same page, skimming it for a couple of sentences that didn't seem terribly complex. "We can make plans after we do this, how's that sound? I'm sure we'll be able to find time to see both of our homes if we want. I haven't ever shown anyone where I live." Vegeta had been there years and years ago but she doubted even he remembered it now; when they were kids growing up she spent more time at Capsule Corporation than her own home, sometimes even she got confused. "Now let's see... Aha! 'The horses were drawn up and let loose to graze while everyone began preparing for a long night. The river would keep them safe, so they hoped, and provided a source of food and water.'" Seriously though when were the faeries going to start popping up? Silly fantasy novels...

[Mogtaki]

Shu didn’t know how to describe the thrill he got from that little ride of his, but it was definitely very exciting compared to what he had been doing lately. He didn’t know such a ritual existed or why this was even an activity, but he did enjoy it whatever its purpose. With the days on this planet being a little longer than Earth’s he was happy that he got to enjoy a lot more during the day as opposed to having to go to sleep once it got dark, seeing how it left out a lot of activities he could’ve done during the day like this. His bedtime hours were strict for the safety of others, but because he had grown used to that he wasn’t used to having so much extra time to be awake for. Staring down the hill once they had got back up to the top he bounced on around Takeshi again, sitting down in front of him once more. “Ready ready!” Once they took off he squealed on the way down, holding onto Takeshi’s legs on the way down before throwing his hands up once they hit the water. That proved exciting as well, so much so that he bounced up and jumped around in the water as Takeshi laughed away. “That fun! That really fun! More please! Why we no have this on Earth??”

T’charrl smiled nervously when he seemed to had gotten it wrong regarding her species, looking away slowly as he tapped his claws together. He was a little embarrassed since he seemed to had made her confused, getting into questions he probably shouldn’t be asking. “Oh…I-I see. With us you can tell what environment we grew up in by how we look, I suppose”, he sighed, shaking his head, “I just thought that maybe you were going to miss the light if you were underground for too long”. He felt pretty stupid sometimes, especially when he didn’t know if he was going to be going into territory he really shouldn’t. Smiling and nodding at her plan he sighed heavily. “That would be great…and I should try to figure out how to make it easier for everyone too, I suppose…” Going back to the book he stared down at the words as she continued to read through the story, slowly tilting his head. “Ohhh…something bad is going to happen. I can tell”, he spoke before turning to Yumi, “What is ‘horses’, though? ‘Graze’? ‘Drawn up’…like a sword?”

[GambolMuse]

It was good that Shu was having an absolute blast with this, as was Takeshi. He hadn't honestly expected much out of this and even thought his brother might be afraid of it, so having both of them enjoy it was a pleasant surprise. Laughing as they surged ahead they hit the water at the bottom with a splash, the older of the two boys falling back into the shallow pool as he let go of Shu. "Of course its fun! Glad you're having a blast buddy!" he said through chuckles, sitting up and grinning at Shu, "We do have it on Earth, somewhere. When we go back maybe we can look for something like it." Whenever that might be, they probably had a lot of stuff to do before they could even consider going back home. "Until we get home though let's go ahead and play here. No ideas when we'll get to do this again, you know?" He was positively soaked right now yet just didn't care, having much too much fun to be bothered by it. Getting to his feet he shook himself off and fetched their board, jumping out of the water and racing up the hill. "Come on buddy, let's go!"

"Oh... I mean that makes sense. And I guess we kind of look different depending on where we grew up. Just nothing as drastic as your kind, understand? And of course I'd miss the light, it's nice to be able to go out and into the sun." East City had just the right balance of sun and rain, you never got too accustomed to one or the other. There were the winters too of course which she couldn't much care for, and aside from that one world they went to Yumi didn't think T'charrl knew what snow was anyways. Trips aside they really should focus on their lesson here, goodness knows when they might have a chance to sit down and talk like this again. "Don't spoil the book silly, I want to know what happens too," Yumi teased, nudging T'charrl with her shoulder before beginning to read. She only got a few sentences in before the questions came again, unsurprisingly about things he'd probably never seen before in his life. "Oh... Well let's see... Horses are animals we ride on Earth. They are big, bigger than either of us, and they stand on four legs. They have long heads, a lot of hair on their necks and tails. Graze is how animals eat, they eat grass in fields and things like that. And drawn up... Uh..." Come to think of it she didn't quite know how to explain that one, oops.

---

Enough being led around like a horse by a carrot, he was sick and tired of not getting straight answers. Work denied him the chance to go and seek out Krom as he'd like, and the rebels were terribly strict about allowing the Saiyan off the premises. Only after a forceful conversation was Aito able to have the former general brought to their temporary home under supervision of some rebels. There were answers he needed, explanations concerning the Beastman project among other things. Waiting for Krom to decide to give him the details wasn't going to cut it any longer. Pacing about in the back yard Aito glanced briefly over at Viral's sleeping form, wondering if he might be able to get some insight into his son as well; Krom said he wasn't a scientist, and his knowledge proved as much, but he should still know something about what was done. "Assuming you have the answers..." the doctor mumbled, glancing over his shoulder as Krom entered the property, "Took you long enough to arrive. Your escort out front?"

After getting completely drenched from their games earlier Takeshi and Shu both desperately needed a change of clothing. With the former being chastised by June for soaking good clothes, and leaving them lying on the floor, they redressed and headed to the living room to relax. For a while both boys were still giggling and chattering away about what they had done earlier and making plans even now to do it again. How long had it been since he and Shu did something like that? Had they ever? Sure they played games now and again but that was for a few minutes here and there, often days if not weeks apart. Today though they spent a whole hour on those slides, coupled with their time swinging in the trees before that too. "How do you still have so much energy?" Takeshi laughed, grinning as he watched Shu, "Seriously buddy, you gotta wind it down a bit, you know? You'll have no energy left for later!" Then again if Shu was getting back to himself then he'd be all bouncy and giddy right up until they went to bed, and probably even while they were in bed too.

This was not very promising, why was Krom coming here? The fact that his father seemed so agitated by the man's presence worried Vegeta; he always recalled his father as relatively relaxed and casual, seeing him visibly annoyed by something was unusual. None of them were a huge fan of Krom's admittedly and wouldn't be for some time, but aside from stories and accounts of past encounters what did Aito have to go off of? Peering through the blinds into the back yard he watched his father pace back and forth for a bit, his breath catching slightly when Krom entered his view. "Father... What are you doing with him?" Vegeta mumbled, furrowing his brow as he tried to make heads of the situation.

"He's meeting with Krom obviously," Yumi interjected, peering over Vegeta's shoulder as she tried to see too. "I don't know why though, he should just stay back at the base, I don't like seeing him here." More importantly Viral was still out there asleep, was it really the best place for them to be doing whatever they were doing? She worried seeing that man would upset her friend, or even worse make everything that had gone right as of late go so terribly wrong. "I hope your dad knows what he's doing... He knows Krom isn't a great guy, I can't imagine they're having a friendly conversation." She might be able to even eavesdrop on their conversation from here but she refrained from doing so, almost afraid to and discover what they were discussing. Whatever it was they were doing it outside and away from them, if it was meant for their ears then they would be having the chat in here.

Haku didn't quite understand why they were so tense about what was going on outside, it wasn't like they were going to fight. The fact that a man like Krom had been reeled in and was being kept under watch struck him as funny, a man who would probably as well sent him to his death had he the chance. Funny how that was different now, to think that he wasn't just some little bug to be thrown at the nearest enemy anymore. Sure he might not be the most popular person here but hey, anything beat what he was doing before. "I'm surprised they even let Krom go out, you should see it at the base," he whispered to T'charrl, "Guards around him all the time, and Korian is constantly coming by to make sure he's not doing anything. He's basically a prisoner, hard to believe he just was let go." Or was he? Getting up from his seat Haku went to the window and peered out the front, frowning and immediately drawing back away from it. Nope, that massive man Leto was out front with that woman from before, whatever her name was. So he wasn't completely free then, kind of funny still.

"I don't understand why everyone was called here, this is a colossal waste of time so far," Kabocha grumbled irritably, leaning back on his spot on the stairs and folding his arms, "I was just chatting it up with some nice girl too, she was totally going to go for it and then we were asked to come here. Talk about lousy timing!" Sure maybe he wasn't super into the whole orange-skin, green hair deal anyways but a girl was a girl, he didn't much care right now. It would be one thing if they were being spoken to at the moment but instead Aito was outside chatting with Krom, leaving everyone else in here to sit and wait. "They should at least be involving me and my father if it's about Kortal, we have the power back home to make things change. At least once the king is out of the way..."

[Mogtaki]

Krom was pretty annoyed at having been dragged away against his will like this, but then again he didn’t really have much freedom around here in the first place. He had been busy training all the others and was just taking a rest in his cell when Aito decided to drag him outside like this. It was most annoying for him, but he was going to play along if that’s what he had to do. Meeting up with Aito finally he let out an annoyed sigh, greatly disliking how he was having to meet him so far away from his cell. Staring at him he only made a glance at the hammock before sighing, staring at him as he spoke. “What do you want and why did you drag me out here in the first place? You know every time I have to get dragged away like this I have to go through security checks because you couldn’t be bothered waiting until I was due to train the kids…”

Shu had fun times today and was completely hyped up, his excitement hardly being contained by the nothing that was happening just now. He was certainly more settled than he had been when they went out and done that water sledging activity, but he was still pretty hyped and bubbly. Smiling happily at Takeshi when he questioned his energy output he giggled, shaking his head. “You did it! You make me happy all energy!” he giggled, clapping his hands, “I no did this so I no need to! Not sure why need to run out of energy for later! Just eat or nap! Maybe nap. Would like both!” Shu didn’t really know whether he was supposed to try and wind down since he didn’t know what they might be doing later. “What we do later? You said a thing for later!”

T’charrl didn’t really know what was going on with everyone here, he wasn’t bothering anyone and surely neither was everyone else who was hanging around here. While he didn’t particularly want to be left alone he didn’t particularly know how to feel about this. Everyone was probably curious about what was going outside, but he didn’t feel like he should be too. He didn’t have any connection with Krom and while he knew he was the bad guy to them, he had turned himself in so he couldn’t be completely evil. The only spite towards a person he really held was towards the General and that was for obvious life-changing reasons. Staring at Yumi and Vegeta he gasped a little when Haku whispered to him, tilting his head slightly. “Uhh, I don’t think he’s free. I think it’s something else that's going on out there that’s probably none of our business”.

“You probably forced her into a corner to talk to you, seeing how desperate you get when you’re away from a female for too long”, Kai spoke up, picking the dirt out of his fingernails as he sat beside his brother, “She was probably just being polite”. He didn’t really care about what was going on outside, all he was bothered with was having to hang around in here for whatever reason. Maybe Krom had called out Aito for a fight just because he was a little bit Saiyan or something, either way he saw it as no big deal. This whole thing was more of an inconvenience over anything since training plans were cancelled. “What the hell could it be about if it is about Kortal, anyway? The people are acting bad mannered, go and deal with them politically? I doubt there’s anything wrong with Kortal right now”.

[GambolMuse]

"Yes I'm sure the whole process is painful for you, but this can't wait. Or rather, I can't wait any longer," Aito corrected himself, meeting Krom's gaze with an annoyed one of his own, "At any rate I'd think you would be happy to be allowed off of the base grounds, unless you'd prefer to spend all your time there?" He didn't much care for the inner workings of the rebel forces either, he tried to steer clear of whatever they decided to do with the man. Much as he may not be favored around here however Krom may posses some invaluable information, information which could have a large impact on them. "When we last spoke you mentioned something like a Beastman project, yes? Turning people into what I assume you've turned Yumi into," Aito continued as he started pacing again, albeit far more slowly, "I want to know where this is being conducted, and who your subjects are. I can't imagine many people volunteering to have their entire physical being altered like that, unless they're zealous or insane. So tell me... You must know at least that much?"

Shu was going to bounce right out of his damn pants if he kept hopping around like that, what gives? Takeshi hadn't seen his brother this happy in over a year, and while nice it was kind of odd to see. "I did this... Really...?" he asked as if in disbelief, his eyebrows raising slightly. No way, he'd actually done something to cheer Shu up? It wasn't remotely what Vegeta or the doc probably had in mind but hell, if it worked then it worked. Chuckling at his brother's hyperness he nodded when asked about something later, reaching out and playfully plucking at his nose, "I do have something yeah, but its a surprise again! It's no fun if I tell you everything now is it?" he asked with a wink, "Besides, if I told you then you might go through the roof you'd be so excited, don't want to be breaking the house now do we?"

Being asked here was confusing, Haku didn't expect to be involved in much really. He was far more used to sitting in his quarters and leaving only when told, this new kind of freedom was unusual to him. Not that he minded it, he just didn't know much of what to do with it. To find that Krom was here as well didn't sit terribly well with him as he had no love for his former superior whatsoever. Just what was going on out there though? What did those men have to talk about that none of them could hear it? "I guess not, he had an escort and everything... And aren't you curious why he's here?" Haku asked as he returned to T'charrl, "That man's awful, I'm kind of hoping they lock him up and throw away the key. I don't care why they did what they did, it was miserable taking orders from them." No regard for most of their troops for one, or if they did have it then they never showed it. Plus being treated like crap was never a fun thing, he certainly didn't miss that.

"No way, she was completely into me! She was laughing and everything," Kabocha said defensively as his face reddened, "And do you know how hard it is to find a girl on this planet? Seriously, this place is packed and yet so many of them are..." he paused, shuddering before lowering his voice, "I met a girl with tentacle arms... I am NOT dating something with those!" At least if they were on Kortal or Earth he'd find a woman that was, well, more like him. Out here in a world where so many different races lived together there were plenty of people he just couldn't see himself getting on with; admittedly there wasn't a whole lot that deterred him from a girl, yet Uuonoe seemed to have just about everyone one of those things. "Oh right, aside from a crazy king waging war to protect everyone, nothing is wrong with Kortal at all," Kabocha remarked with a roll of his eyes, "Come on Kai, they need someone to straighten them out. I'm all for Saiyans taking charge, it makes sense because we're the strongest. But you think the way the King and everyone is doing it isn't wrong?" He might not have a method of his own, but clearly what was going on wasn't working.

[Mogtaki]

Krom was pretty angry with this whole interception of his time, but he was still curious to see what Aito was going to say about it all and whether he was going to have to talk to him further. He didn’t particularly like Aito’s company, he acted too high and mighty for his own good. He didn’t like how he was constantly going to be the one under question here when he was doing them all a service, especially when he was the one who had to drop everything to do this. Staring at him he frowned a little, disliking where he was trying to lead this before letting out a sigh, looking over to the rebels standing near. It was Sayomi who put him up to this, he bet, knowing how often she was determined to get every answer possible out of him. At the mention of the project he frowned and looked back to Aito, narrowing his eyes briefly. He was asking pretty heavy questions, ones he wasn’t so keen to be talking about. “Tch! You’re asking a question like that now? That’s awfully sensitive information you’re asking for there”, he spoke, watching Aito carefully, “Yumi was more of a ‘what if’ case, anyway. Where it is conducted? I can’t tell you that. Despite my standing with your group, that isn’t something I can go ahead and compromise. Hmph, you’d insult them greatly by calling them zealous or insane…”

Shu just wanted to be doing something right now rather than sitting around, seeing how he was fairly hyped up and ready and willing to go ahead and get going with his entire day some more. “You did! Making all happy-bouncy! Wanna fight and play!” His mind wasn’t even going to the thought of sleeping eventually, he just wanted to go on ahead with everything and get his day going. Shaking his head after his nose was plucked he scratched at his nose, staring at Takeshi before gasping. “Ah! Surprise?? But I am excited now! I might break things now and that would be bad of me! Do you not know again? You making things up!”

T’charrl still felt fairly out of the loop concerning these kinds of matters, wondering if he should just be trying to recover and get on with things himself. He wasn’t exactly part of their war so this whole being nosy about someone he was more concerned with beating down just because he had done something bad to his friends. Now that they had him he didn’t know what the fuss was about. “I’m not really curious, no. Wasn’t he just doing his job as a General or whatever rank he is?” he asked, raising his shoulders, “It’s not like he was experimenting to further his own power, right? He just seems like a soldier to me that is already beaten”.

Kai let out a sigh, scratching at his ear. “See? Picky! Most guys would love to have a girl with tentacle arms! You just don’t like anything too different from a Saiyan”, he sighed, shaking his head, “There’s loads of girls on this planet who are probably single! You just can’t settle on anything less than no tail!” Kabocha would really get a lot more lady friends if he just expanded his interests, but he was too stubborn to see beyond the ‘not a Saiyan’ look a lot of these aliens had. He was fine with whatever girl he drew a fancy to, but unlike Kabocha he had more of an interest getting on with his own things than get into a relationship and have his brother be all alone. Already annoyed with Kabocha’s complaining he glanced at his brother who looked to him as well only for both of them to stare at Kabocha again, Kai sighing lightly as he scratched his head. “You still think having someone who isn’t the strongest out of all of them not be head honcho? Think about what would happen if there wasn’t one strong Saiyan to keep them all from fighting for superiority. So long as the King is in charge, bad things aren’t going to happen to Kortal”.

[GambolMuse]

Aito had asked for Krom's presence for one reason and one reason alone, to get the information he'd been denied before. The man had to know more about the project than he'd shared before and he was determined as anything to put an end to it. In order to do that though he needed more details, as it stood now he wouldn't even know where to go. "I don't care if its top secret, you're answering my questions." He wasn't going to be dodged this time, Krom clearly knew something and he was going to divulge it. Waiting impatiently for the Saiyan to reveal what he knew he clenched his jaw angrily when denied, a single vein in his forehead popping as he glared at Krom. "You don't seem to understand my question, so let me rephrase it..." Aito began as he stepped closer, stopping just barely a foot from the Elite. "Tell me what I want to know, now, or I'll make you speak. I don't give much of a damn how their politics work here, you harmed my family with your unethical, insane, outlandish practices. I've had it with this nonsense of yours, I'm putting an end to it."

"Aw jeez buddy... Now you wanna fight and play? You're going to run me ragged!" Takeshi whined playfully, plucking Shu's nose with a smirk, "We should wait until we know why we're here, you know? Don't want to go running off and get Aito mad at us." They still hadn't been told why they were called here or anything, kind of annoying honestly. Narrowing his eyes when he was accused of making things up his face reddened slightly, letting out a huff before he folded his arms in an indignant manner. "Of course I know what we're doing! We're going to go and do something really fun, it's back at the rebel base!" That was of course provided they would allow him and Shu to do it, he wasn't sure. It was something he'd noticed once or twice walking through the place though and he was interested in giving it a try himself. Smirking then at his brother the older boy stepped forward and pressed down on his head teasingly, giving his hair a ruffle in the process. "It's a kind of training, I think you'll enjoy it. But I won't tell you what it is till we get there, okay?"

"I guess... But when you're stuck working for a jerk like that you don't exactly like him much," Haku grumbled, laying his chin in one hand as he leaned forward, "I still don't like him. You say he's beaten but he still walks around like he's better than us, and every time he looks at me it seems like he's looking at something gross. I hate it, he isn't anything special out here and he still has some big ego." At least now he didn't need to take orders from the Elites anymore, he was more or less his own man now. Nice, but as he'd though over so many times before he had no idea what to do with himself now. "Oh well... So how are you feeling by the way?" Haku continued, pausing briefly to glance at T'charrl and smile, "You look better than the last time we talked, healed up yet?"

"Kai... Just... No, no tentacle arms," Kabocha muttered, shivering at the very thought of it. Those things even hugging him just bugged him out, never mind the other things they might do. If that was what Kai was okay with though then he now officially knew way too much about his friend. "I'll settle on something that isn't completely different from me, how's that? I'm okay with a little different, but there are limits man! I can only get with a girl who is so strange before it becomes too much!" Whatever, they had more time here on Uuonoe, he'd find someone to hang out with before they were on their way again. On the topic of Kortal's leadership he shared his piece with the twins, leaning back and letting out a sigh when Kai argued with him. "Someone else who is strong can take his place though, someone who isn't going to rule by scaring the shit out of everyone else," Kabocha pointed out, glancing sideways at his friends, "Come on, think about it honestly for a second. If you had someone leading the Saiyans, leading us, who wasn't treating us like crap, wouldn't you be willing to go back? We're here because our King sucks, I don't care what his reasons for what he does are. We're better off with someone else in power."

[Mogtaki]

Aito was going into territory neither of them were ready to conquer, especially when it was entirely sensitive stuff. Krom didn’t want to be spilling such information when it could end up risking the project and the lives of those who are a part of it. If Aito got his hands on the project while some were still being produced then they could probably die. Even if they were experimentations he couldn’t just let them die and the whole project be for nothing. Glaring at Aito when he wouldn’t let go of the subject he looked at him up and down before frowning. If he was going to get into an argument with this man then he was going to be the better one to come out of it. Narrowing his gaze as Aito approached him he got himself ready, feeling wary over what could possibly be the start of a fight. “I did that? I did nothing! You are the one ready and willing to step into territory that is off limits!” he snapped before jumping back, moving into a defensive position under the obvious threat, “That project could save the lives of so many and you want to risk it all over some pride of yours because you don’t know! Harmed your family…that’s awfully rich coming from someone who experimented on his own son!”

Shu was sure he could get Takeshi to play around with him if he was persistent about it. He didn’t really like having to stay in one place for too long when he was all hyped up. “Ah! Shu no wanna disappear! Stay maybe until bored? But no wanna get bored! Get bored and then tired! Don’t wanna be tired”. He didn’t know what Aito was up to but he didn’t really care, the man was pretty scary to him with his big words and straight way of talking creeped him out. “Back at the rebel base?? Oooooh! That new! Not random strange place! Stranger place…” he spoke, giving his hair a quick pull before Takeshi proceeded to ruffle up his hair. Waving his hands around in the air he looked back to Takeshi, bouncing on his seat. “Get there! Back there! Okay! That gonna be a while though, huh?”

T’charrl didn’t know what Haku was talking about, but then again he hadn’t seen the man when they all went off to train or whatever they were doing. “Well, he does seem to be of a higher rank of uhh…Saiyan. Isn’t it the biggest who are in charge?” he asked, feeling like he was getting it wrong already as he averted his gaze. “Or maybe that’s not correct, I don’t know. That’s just what I’ve found out to be correct with your King…” Feeling like he didn’t really understand much about society outside his own he felt it was best to keep quiet for now, lowering his head before looking down at himself. “I am nearly healed up. I just need to sleep a little more. It has been a little hard to sleep lately. I’ve never felt so low on energy since I changed”.

“Wow I never knew you were that racist. Then again I completely did know because I got you to admit it”, Kai smirked, wiggling his fingers as if to imitate tentacles before folding his arms again, “You’re just scared of trying new things”. When it came to the leadership of their own race Kai didn’t know whether getting rid of the King completely was going to be the best thing to do since it would lead to a fight for superiority so he was always going to be hesitant when it came to this whole war thing. If the King didn’t abuse his knowledge and power all the time then they would be fine with a King like him, but unfortunately science had corrupted him pretty badly. “We’re here because we don’t have a choice. It’s either go back and have our lives threatened for being deserters or be here and have our lives threatened by uncertainty. We don’t even have a plan for when the King is gone”.

[GambolMuse]

Still Krom refused to speak? He was no longer a subordinate of his King, he was in effect a prisoner in fact: answering these questions was no longer a question of if he wanted to, he needed to. Narrowing his eyes as the Elite continued to deny him he watched as Krom backed off, his mouth taught as he listened to more excuses. "It is only off limits because you refuse to answer me. You no longer answer to Yamate, realize that and tell me what I need to know. I will not ask again." His voice didn't raise in volume but it adopted a certain firmness to it, his eyes burning with anger. When Krom tried to turn it around on him Aito snapped slightly, his Ki rising where he stood and exuding almost a sort of pressure around the area. The ground at his feet cracked from the sheer force of it and as he slowly began to approach Krom each step created a small indent in the earth. "Viral was born like this, and he is stronger for it. You are forcing changes onto people, turning them into weapons to ensure your own survival. THAT is selfish and unethical, I will not allow it. Now answer me, where is the project being conducted?"

"If you don't want to get bored then keep bouncing, it's keeping me plenty entertained!" Takeshi laughed, watching his brother as he bounded about energetically, "And yeah back to the base. Unless they're using what I want to use we shouldn't have a problem getting it. You'll have fun with it buddy I'm sure." It would be something entirely new for the little guy and probably even a little intimidating at first, but he could see Shu having fun with it too. "And yeah, it'll be a bit buddy, but we'll get there. Just gotta be a little patient, you know?" Maybe he ought to come up with some back up plan just in case that didn't work out. But what else was there to do on Uuonoe anyways? He'd not seen a whole lot in the city, and doing the same old stuff wasn't going to cut it. Scratching at his head in thought Takeshi paused when he picked up a slight spike in energy, his eyes widening slightly as that spike turned into a sizable increase. What the heck was that?!

"Uh... Kind of? I mean there are some strong people who are small too," Haku mentioned with a nod towards the brothers, "But yeah, I guess the big ones are in charge. That could change though! Doesn't always have to be the big, mean ones." Wishful thinking that was, he didn't know how the heck anyone would take the King down. Even if he was supposedly a good guy, doing what he did to protect everyone, it still didn't make him very liked. "Glad you're healing though! And uh... Maybe you need some food too? A nice big lunch and then a nap would be great I'd bet. You could always go and ask-" He was about to say Aito or Vegeta, but the sudden sharp burst of power nearby made Haku clam up awfully quick. Paling slightly he looked towards the rear of the house and tried to guess what was going on, not recognizing it as Krom's power; if someone screwed up they were usually beaten or intimidated, he'd grown fairly used to experiencing what the Elites could do. But this wasn't an Elite, so who was it? The doctor? "Uh... What's going on out there?"

Kabocha just bit his tongue on that one, though he did cringe back slightly when Kai made the tentacle gesture. Easy for the twin to say all of this but he seriously doubted Kai would take it either, unless he was incredibly desperate. And as for new things he'd gone and defected from the military, that was a pretty new thing wasn't it? Rolling his eyes he tried to divert the conversation back to a change of power on Kortal, still believing they were better off with the King out of power. "I'll take the uncertainty, at least if I die now I know I died doing what I wanted, not what some egomaniac told me to do," Kabocha answered plainly, "And I know, and it's probably not up to us. But can we really do worse than Yamate? I mean come on, you're going to sit there and tell me you wouldn't want someone else in power? Heck it could even be one of us! With all the things we've seen we know a little bit about what makes a good leader, don't you think? We could do a better job!" Kind of crazy to imagine even as he said it, that someone in this very room could lead the Saiyans. Now that he thought about it maybe not. Like the others he soon picked up on a sudden power flux, his eyes darting right back to the rear of the house in surprise. Something was going on out there... Probably best they stayed put.

"Father...? What in the world...?" Why was Aito showing off his power? Just what in the hell was going on outside? What bothered Vegeta even more was first Krom had disappeared from view and then his father, now the power surge. Clearly whatever was being discussed wasn't going over well if this was happening now. Should they go out to help? No, if they were going to fight then throwing themselves into the mix was only going to cause problems. Exchanging a worried look with Yumi he moved to the back door, placing his hand on a handle but keeping where he was. "Viral's still out there... He's not going to do anything, right?"

[Mogtaki]

Krom wasn’t going to stand down, even if it was going to cost him. It was sensitive information and someone like Aito was unpredictable and obviously knew too much. If he went into this then everything could end up compromised and then everyone would be in trouble. Keeping his standing even if he was backing off he narrowed his gaze, still refusing to speak even if Aito dropped a fair point. The problem was he was still going to uphold his views that the project was too vital to compromise. He didn’t know if someone like Aito would want it shut down completely and would end up killing everything in sight thinking they were all insane and evil. Keeping his stance he was put on alert when Aito’s power started rising, his eyes going to his feet first before he raised his power only with him being more subtle about it. “Making him into something he was not meant to be is still the same as forcing a change into him! And what was he created for?? Just because you could? What makes the project different from what you did all those years ago??”

Shu didn’t know what to do with himself which probably didn’t help much to his inability to sit still, his eyes staring at Takeshi curiously before he squeaked. “Ooh! I think I know what it is! You no that good to hide things from me!” he spoke quickly, giggling, “Shu is smart, you know!” When he was not talking he was feeling something strange if a little unsettling, his eyes going to Takeshi before to the outside. “Ooh! What that? It weird feeling”, he spoke, not really sure what to make of it. It was a rather uneasy feeling and was not failing to make him feel strange, but problem was he didn’t really know what he was supposed to be alerted to despite it probably being something to be worried about.

T’charrl frowned, disliking how big came into correlation with mean in Haku’s book. He certainly didn’t think of his mother as a mean person just because she was big, for instance. Maybe that’s why he was seen as scary whenever he was big, but then again he didn’t know what he looked like when he was big either. Listening to Haku giving his thoughts on what he should do he frowned when there was an energy source from somewhere, his senses perking up but immediately he was disliking it. The energy was pretty negative, even if it felt like it came from a good source. It was energy like that which made him feel uncomfortable, even more so when he was still injured. “Outside…? I don’t know but I wouldn’t mind it if it stopped…”

Kai saw nothing wrong with teasing Kabocha a bit, seeing how he was being pretty picky when it came to his choice of girls. Regarding the state of their situation regarding the military he took it much more seriously, generally disliking where his life was going. It was full of uncertainty from this point on and even though they were with friends he didn’t know what the future held for any of them once it was all over. Frowning as Kabocha spoke he sighed lightly, shrugging a little. “I highly doubt one of us would ever be able to get power like that. We’re just grunts or at least the equivalent of that right now. We could never reach that kind of level”. Even if their conversation was important regarding their future neither of them could ignore what was going on outside. It felt like a fight was being started outside, but it was hardly something they should get involved with.

Viral had been fine and in a deep sleep by the time everything was starting up, but despite remaining asleep it was becoming disturbed as the energy started to affect him. He remained asleep but the dreamless sleep was soon invaded by the energy itself, like the energy was manifesting in a mental representation that was beginning to disturb him. It was the equivalent of a fever dream that was starting to happen as the energy continued to surge. He was unable to wake up from it yet, but it was sure making him feel terrible mentally and physically.

[GambolMuse]

Aito was losing his patience fast, this had been bothering him since he'd learned of it and he still barely knew any of the details. Krom was going to tell him what he wanted to know even if he had to force it. "I've learned my lesson and I'm paying the price, regardless of what my intentions were for his creation. Just because you can do something does not mean you should," the doctor said sternly, clenching his hands into fists as he continued to advance on Krom, "The difference is he was not born, he did not have a life before this. Viral is a Beastman, your subjects, or prisoners more precisely, they had their lives stolen, and for what? To develop weapons?" Yumi was changed because of their callous approach to these experiments, he wasn't going to allow anyone else to be victim to it as well. Exhaling through his nose silently Aito cracked his neck before suddenly darting forward, his movements not even visible as he reached out and grabbed Krom by the throat, lifting him off of his feet and slamming him back down into the ground. "I am not concerned with your petty politics or what may happen to you by telling me this, one way or another I will put an end to this project of yours. Those people will be freed and let to live the lives they want!"

"W-What? I can so hide things from you! In fact I might be hiding something from you right now and you wouldn't even know it, that's how good I am!" Yeah right, he had absolutely nothing to hide from Shu. Much as the little guy might want to go out and play more they had to wait, at least until Aito told them what they needed to know. Seriously, what was taking that guy so long? Getting somewhat impatient Takeshi almost considered going to the back yard to ask, but the sudden burst of Ki from outside convinced him otherwise. It wasn't energy he recognized right away, and while it definitely was intimidating it didn't feel bad. "I... I don't know... The hell is going on out there?" Takeshi asked as he got to his feet, gesturing for Shu to stay put as he started towards the windows. With Vegeta and Yumi in the way he couldn't quite see, and the few peeks he managed to get showed Aito was off somewhere else, though jeez it felt like the man was right next to them with how much Ki he was putting out.

There was nothing good happening if Aito was showing off his power like this. Krom was out there too, had he done something to cause this? Despite knowing the overwhelming Ki was coming from a friend and someone who would never harm them she still found herself slightly afraid, her body breaking out in goosebumps in fright. Was he always this powerful? He didn't seem like he had this much strength yet he was really up there, easily stronger than even someone like Korian. Swallowing back nerves she looked at Vegeta standing at the door, then exchanging an uncertain glance with Takeshi. Should they go out and try stopping this? Her real concern was that Viral was still outside and resting, no doubt this was going to bother him.

"What is everyone fussing about, what's going on?" Coming down the stairs June looked at the group confused, not able to detect the Ki like they were. She didn't need any sort of empathetic link like Yumi to notice how tense some of them were either, she picked up on that even before she made it to the landing. Seeing Vegeta, Yumi and Takeshi gathered at the back windows she furrowed her brow and went over to check as well, peering out and only seeing Viral asleep in the hammock. "What's the matter? Is Viral okay?" June asked with a hint of worry to her tone, "Should we go out and check on him?"

"Viral is fine mother, that's not the problem. Something has made dad angry and I think it was Krom." Vegeta explained, frowning as he tried to get a visual on what was going on. Now both of their powers were up, yet his father's still dwarfed the Elite's by a considerable amount. They were in a temporary home on a peaceful world and Viral was asleep in the back still, surely nothing drastic was going to happen... Right?