Chapter Text
In the cold darkness of a generic bad guy office, a red-haired man with a generic bad guy eye patch and generic bad guy suit sat behind a generic bad guy desk, his short legs poking off his chair. The door, stationed at the opposite end of the room, opened up and the lights flicked on. A dark-skinned man, wearing a suit similar to the other, walked in with a stack of papers.
“The budget reports you asked for,” The black man said. “Although it may be best to read them in the light.”
“I was resting,” the shorter man excused. “Set them on my desk, Officer Black.” The second man, now identified as Black (whether or not this referred to his skin color has yet to be seen). Black nodded before complying with the instructions of his superior. “Report on our ground forces.”
“General Blue is having trouble capturing the asset due to “lack of geographic information” and has requested for more men, all males, to be sent to reinforce his battalion.”
“Tell him to quit killing people for picking their damn nose and he would have the men. Next.”
“Both Colonel Violet and Colonel Silver believe that they are close to locating it.”
“Belief won’t get us what we’re after, tell them to report once they find something. Next!”
“There’s a report from the Jingle Village camp that General Burgundy assures that is nothing to worry about,” Black responded. “Two escapees, a girl, and a doctor, I’m assured they will be dealt with along with the security oversight. Shall I get the General, Commander?”
“Don’t bother,” the Commander responded. “Inform Captain White he’s in charge and to retire Burgundy.”
“It will be done,” Black said before bowing and turning to leave out the door, then stopped. “The doctor wants to speak to you about capturing someone who would help with the location of-”
“Tell him it’s approved,” the commander interrupted.
“We are to get the Dragon Balls at any cost,” he finished.
Chi-Chi and Raditz stared each other down from opposite ends of the ring. Well, it was more like Chi-Chi stared Raditz down while he stood there disinterested. His arms were holding each other on his chest while the princess of Mt. Fry-Pan held her stance as tight as she could. She struck fast so Raditz wouldn’t have a chance to block as he did with Krillin. Raditz moved out of the way of Chi-Chi’s attack. Each kick, punch, and jab thrown at Raditz was met with air and space.
She was relentless in her assault and her speed was nothing to scoff at, yet his skill was leagues above Chi-Chi’s, and as this one-sided battle continued the princesses anger climbed. And it was this very rage that caused her to throw herself at her opponent. A simple sidestep from said opponent and the female fight was sent out of the arena.
The fight was over, and the winner was Raditz.
Chi-Chi watched as Raditz simply glanced at her, sighed, and walked off the stage. Angry tears stung her eyes at her failure. Hiding her face in her arm, she ran through the contestant building past those in there and out into the temple ground. She ran away from her failure into the crowded area in front of the temple. Chi-Chi collapsed on her knees and hands as the tears spilled.
She was being childish and she knew it, yet that only served to make the rage at herself worse. It was stupid to think she ever had a chance at impressing anyone. Stupid to believe that she could win. Stupid to think-
“Are you alright?” A voice, one that croaked with age, asked.
Through the tears, Chi-Chi forced herself to look up at the source of the voice: the man who was supposed to fight Kakarot, Jackie Chun.
“Leave me alone…” Chi-Chi muttered once her breathing was stable. Jackie hummed before pulling out a tissue and handing it to the girl. “Why…?” The girl sniffed even as she accepted the tissue. “Won’t you be disqualified if you don’t show up?”
“Because I’ve seen too many give up after failing this far ahead,” the older man solemnly said. “I don’t suppose you need help getting back?” Jackie extended his hand towards the girl.
“Thank you,” Chi-Chi said as she took his hand and pulled herself up with new resolve.
She will prove herself.
“Guys, please,” the announcer pleaded with the Saiyan brothers. “It doesn’t even have to be anything real, just something so we can have a winner.”
“But I didn’t earn it, Jackie Chun just didn’t show up,” Kakarot responded. “How’s it any different than me?”
“Because it’s been ten minutes since anyone’s seen him,” the announcer explained before turning to Raditz. “Look, could you talk some sense into him?”
Raditz scoffed at the request. “Kakarot’s right, he didn’t even fight and I’m not going to accept victory for a battle that didn’t happen.”
Breathing out a sigh of frustration and throwing up his hands, the announcer went out of the room mumbling something about ‘Weird ass twelve-year-olds.’ The two brothers were left alone to their own devices.
So they stood there, in silence, with nothing to do. Raditz leaned back on a wall and pretended to sleep while Kakarot paced around the waiting room on his own. With nothing left to pierce the silence, the younger Saiyan was left alone with his thoughts, more specifically the ones relating to the previous fight. Chi-Chi had lost, which sucked because he wanted to fight her. There was also Raditz who was kinda harsh to the princess. It wasn’t that Raditz didn’t let Chi-Chi hit him, she was slow for some reason. It was that Raditz didn’t even notice her, or at least didn’t act like it.
Maybe it was because Raditz respected strength and Chi-Chi hadn’t earned it yet?
But she got this far…
The two Saiyans were drawn out of their thoughts by the announcer walking back into the waiting room.
“So we can’t give you any money, but we can claim a tie between you three, please say that works,” the announcer said. The two brothers thought this over for a bit before they went to agree.
Then the wall exploded with a robot flying through it.
Bulma could remember every time she’d been kidnapped. Once when she was two, twice when she was six, and Pilaf’s.
And now, in the arms of a metal disk with tentacles that were currently wrapped around her. The logical part of her mind was taking note of the Red Ribbon Army symbol on it.
The primal, more emotional part, was screaming. Fear clouded her rational thought as the machine that held her slithered and constricted around her form. Bulma screamed as she was thrashed around by her captor.
Suddenly, with a screeching of metal, she was dropped to the ground. The blue-haired lady grunted in pain when her body hit the ground, then pushed herself up.
Floating above her was Raditz, the broken shell of a robot held in his hand.
“Pathetic,” the Saiyan muttered before casting the husk aside. “You alright?”
“Yeah,” Bulma said. The Saiyan floated down to meet his blue-haired companion.
“Good…”
“Very… Where’s Kakarot?”
“Dealing with his robot,” Raditz replied. “Gohan’s with him.”
“You could’ve caught me.”
Kakarot watched as Bulma and Raditz ran up to him and Gohan, the blue-haired girl having the elder Saiyan dragging a crumpled robot behind him.
“Let me see,” Bulma ordered, nudging Kakarot out of the way. “Just want to make sure of something,” she mumbled. Bulma grabbed two shards of the separate machines and compared them together, frowning when she did so.
Starring from the two pieces of metal, like four eyes, was two sideways red hourglasses with two white ‘R’s on each one.