Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I’m not happy about this,” said Bulma as she threw up her hands in frustration because she thought that Trunks wasn’t listening to her. Which wasn’t exactly true; Trunks could hear her just fine. He just didn’t care.

“I told you, once I finished my degree and my internship with Capsule Corp, I was going to take a gap year,” he reminded her as he ran another series of system checks for the spaceship from his tablet.

“You said a gap year, nothing about spending it in space!” Bulma retorted, her hands now firmly placed on her hips as she rounded on Trunks in the hanger. While he’d been spending time for ages working on parts of it in his workshop, he’d finally had to move the project to a central space to give him enough room to put it all together. And that meant he could no longer keep it a secret from his mother.

“Because I knew you’d react like this.” He finally finished tuning the life support in and unplugged his tablet to shut the control hatch on the side of the spaceship before turning to face his mother. “Come on Mom, it’s just space. What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is my little boy wandering around in space for a whole year? What if something goes wrong? I won’t be there to help if the ship malfunctions! Your father will be planets away if you run into any trouble! Who knows what you’ll face out there!” She was getting more incessant with every new terrifying thought that came into her head and Trunks knew he needed to cut her off before she really got going.

“Look Mom, you’re just going to have to trust me that I will be able to handle things out there. I’ve run countless tests on the ship and I’ve been working off the old blueprints that Grandpa made so I know this will hold up. And it’s not like I’m going to be doing this trip all on my own.”

“I’m assuming Goten will be accompanying you,” Bulma responded coldly.

“Yeah, and Marron too.”

“Marron!” And oh great it was back to the yelling.

Trunks sighed. “Yeah, she’s graduating high school and just turned 18. She’ll be fun to have come along. She’s talking to Krillin and No. 18 to get permission.”

The summer they had spent on that road trip had been a lot of fun and Marron had been only 13 at the time. But over the past few years, she’d become a close friend to Trunks, perhaps his best friend after Goten. She met the insanity of their lives headlong and was always an open ear for him to rant to about whatever problems he was having. She understood what it meant when he was venting about the strange calling he sometimes felt in his blood when it came to Goten, could parse it into understandable terms, and offered advice on what to do about their unique relationship. It didn’t come up all the time, but when it did, it was good to have someone who understood that he and Goten weren’t normal boyfriends. There was a part of them that sang with Saiyan instincts and wanted things that were completely bizarre to Earthling sensibilities.

“Mom, it’s okay,” Trunks said as he packed up his tablet in his bag, “Goten and I are strong enough to handle anything we come across in space. Remember when we were kids and you guys told us we could have taken on Frieza?”

“But not Frieza in his current form,” Vegeta’s voice rang out as he entered the hangar and walked over to the ship. He must have heard the yelling. “You are vastly outmatched by his current abilities and would do well to remember it.”

“Well, I promise we’ll avoid Frieza. Shouldn’t be hard. I hear space is a pretty big place after all.” He tried to shoot his father one of his most appeasing looks to let him know he was being heard and considered; but Trunks was just going to do what he wanted regardless. Vegeta did not look placated.

“See, your father agrees with me,” Bulma said, happy for the backup. “Going all the way to space on this little booze cruise. You can party on Earth just as well.”

“It’s not going to be a booze cruise. We’ll be doing things besides drinking and partying,” Trunks protested before he pulled out the big guns. “Look, it’s like this: Earth is always going to be my home, but I have a whole other side of my heritage that I want to get in touch with and I don’t think I’m going to be able to do that if I don’t go travel through space.” He turned to his father and put a lot of pleading into his voice, “You used to talk about how Saiyans would traverse the stars, and sure it was usually on a mission for Frieza but I want to do it for me.”

Trunks saw a flash of emotion pass over his father’s face, but it was quick enough that he couldn’t recognize it before it was back to its usual stoic demeanor. But it seemed to have been enough. “Let the boy go.”

Trunks resisted the urge to fist pump, barely. He knew it would not help the situation as his mother reared around to demand to know what Vegeta was getting at giving her baby permission to go off into space.

Vegeta held up a hand to silence his wife, “The boy is right. He’s of an age that would have had him seen countless missions if he’d been born on Planet Vegeta. The stars have as much a claim on him as the Earth does and it might do him some good to see it.”

Bulma knew she’d lost the argument and let out a loud groan of frustration and stormed out of the room.

Trunks tried not to smile too much when he turned back to face his dad. “Thanks for the support there, Dad.”

Vegeta acknowledged his words with a tilt of his head, his gaze focused on the ship Trunks had built. “Yes, well, you best remember to take care while you’re out there. Your mother is right that coming to your aid would prove very difficult and should be avoided. And it will be putting your engineering skills to the test to take out a ship of your own design.”

“I’ve been working on it for years,” Trunks said with a laugh as he slapped the side of the spaceship. “I’ve got a few more tests to run on it in Earth’s orbit to make sure everything is working as it should, but I have full confidence that Sweetheart here can handle anything.”

Indeed, Sweetheart had been a project that had been consuming his main interest for the past few years. It was a ship that was spherical and based on the designs of the one his grandpa had made that took Goku to Namek, only larger. There were two floors to the ship, the bottom floor held the bedrooms, eating area, a lounge area, and a control room. The top floor consisted of a small gravity chamber for him and Goten.

Compared to how compact most eating areas were on ships, you could almost call the kitchen and table normal-sized, but it was still a serious downgrade that they would have to tolerate on the ship. Trunks could already hear Goten grouching about the kitchen. Though there was both a table and a chair attached to the counter because Marron refused to sit at the same table, since watching the boys chow down made her lose her appetite.

The pantry space consisted of a large assortment of foods that were stored well and several capsules filled with boxes of Trunks’s highly specialized protein drinks that were designed to keep up with a Saiyan metabolism. They were well aware they would need to stock up on foodstuff on some of the planets they visited, but the universe was a big place full of people who needed to eat. Certainly they would find something palatable.

Over the next week, Marron and Goten would stop by during the day bringing more and more stuff they packed for the trip. Thankfully, they had capsules that could hold a vast majority of their supplies, but even still, the lounge area was packed with boxes of things they had loaded up as essentials to keep entertained over the next year.

There were crates of half-finished projects Trunks would be able to tinker with and even more spare parts. Goten had brought boxes of drawing and painting supplies and a pile of canvases, and Marron had a lot of camera and recording supplies for her Godtube channel.

Finally, the day arrived that they would be setting out. Goten arrived first, bringing with him his suitcases of clothes and training gis. And Trunks had supplied him with several capsules for all the art supplies he was bringing, which was practically his whole studio.

Goten and Trunks both graduated from Southern University that past year. Trunks earned a double major in Engineering and Computer Science, and Goten, a degree in Art History.

They’d gotten an apartment off of campus and it had taken them a while to get used to living together, they had different tolerances for cleanliness and chore rotation for one. Trunks refused to see why he couldn’t just pay someone to come and clean the apartment and why he had to do it himself which Goten wouldn’t hear about. They had eventually worked out an agreement so long as Trunks kept his mess contained to his areas.

But it had been good to get out of their parents’ houses and experience living for themselves. They could stay up late watching movies or playing video games and not have to hear their parents complain. They each had their own bedrooms full of their own stuff and their own space, but would usually end up spending the night sharing one of their beds with each other.

They had elected to downgrade their training to one flight back to West City for the gravity chamber a week. But they still found time to just fly off into the wilderness to deck it out away from onlookers on at least a biweekly basis. It wasn’t ideal and they both agreed they longed a bit for more but at the time, school was more important.

They’d made friends on campus and gotten involved with school activities. Trunks had enjoyed one of the Engineering clubs up until they realized he was the Trunks Briefs and everyone tried to get him to hook them up with job opportunities and internships. He had to explain that it wasn’t his call to do that, it was his mother's and he wasn’t about to put in a good word or two for one specific person when everyone was asking him to give them a reference. People did not respond positively and Trunks had a rough time for a while before finally befriending Thesuran who had a mother who was a famous actress and understood Trunks’s struggle. The two ended up bonding over the school’s works egineering labs and Trunks even invited hi back to his and Goten’s place to see some of his toys. He wanted to build robots and Trunks would show him off some of his designs a year in by inviting him back to Capsule Corp to see some robots and introducing him to Dr. Hedo.

Goten had a great time in his Art History major while taking as many of the university's art classes as his schedule would allow. He wanted to try a little bit of everything. Even though he was mainly interested in drawing digitally,. he had a deep love for being able to paint physically as well. He’d placed pieces in a number of the university’s little shows, though he did so under a pseudonym. His series about plants with their ki lines added was liked for how unconventional yet poetic it was. Goten tried not to feel disappointed in how few people picked up on how it was ki lines till he had shown some of his work to his family. 

They had kept in touch with their friends from high school, but the distance had definitely done a number on how close they all were. It was mainly Inka and Goten that had kept in touch via drawing streams together. At Goten’s behest, Trunks had still made an effort to keep in touch, and about once every few months, he would arrange a get-together for a night, paying for everyone’s transport from across the world to the location.

They had both taken 5 years to complete their degrees, Trunks because he had double majored and Goten because he kept taking too many extra art classes. (ChiChi had not been happy about this until Bulma pointed out that she was the one paying for the tuition and it worked out to keep both boys engaged in school at the same time.)

But now here they were, graduated. After a relatively normal amount of drinking and light partying in their school days they were eager to cut loose and away from parental guidance and were also looking forward to spending time with Marron, who they mostly kept in touch through texting through their school years and meeting up in person a few times a year. 

Speaking of Marron. 

“Oh boy!” Marron cheered as she showed up with the last of her bags. She had changed over the years. For one she’d grown up and grown a set of boobs, but another was her current haircut, buzzed short on the sides into an undercut with just a little bit left on top that might have been a shaggy mohawk.

She was followed around by a small floating camera system and audio system, complete with auto-stabilizers and a massive memory bank for footage. It had been a gift from Trunks a couple of years ago from back when she had been complaining about always having to shoot her own footage for her Godtube channel. Her channel was apparently rather popular on the platform. Trunks and Goten had seen her videos and they mostly involved her either filming events and providing commentary or sitting in her bedroom having discussions about space or the universe as she understood it growing up on a planet with Earth-Saiyans and other people who made some of the most powerful fighters in the multiverse.

The Gods of the other 11 Universes were all still mildly traumatized by the events of the Tournament of Power and facing immediate destruction if their universe’s team of fighters lost. While eventually it had been undone by Android 17’s wish on the Super Dragon Balls and really it had all been the Zenos’ idea, the childlike “Gods of Everything” that ruled over the multiverse, to make the stakes that high, the gods all, for the most part, continued to blame Goku for suggesting the tournament to the Zenos in the first place. They’d been horrified by this mortal who would be so fight-mad that he would cause the entire multiverse to go to war. Horrified, captivated, and wanting to know more.

She had a whole series where she entertainingly recounted stories of their fights with various bad guys, providing frequent commentary and voices for all the characters as she laid out how many mistakes were made along the way. It was one of the most popular series on the site, the gods loving the irreverent tale of the fight monkeys who would put their own world and Universe at risk if they got a good fight out of it.

Granted, there were also a fair number that were just antics with Trunks and Goten that were less popular, but still had an audience for people who were curious what domestic life with Saiyans was like. Marron had a long talk with Goten about getting his approval to be on the channel, but she was able to convince him that since probably no other mortal in Universe 7 would see the footage he could allow himself to be filmed so long as he had the right to approve the footage beforehand. She had made good on her promise and had not uploaded her more embarrassing footage of these incidents.

The camera itself was shaped like Rascal Rabbit, one of the character mascots belonging to a popular entertainment company that had a wide list of characters they made all kinds of branded products for. Rascal Rabbit was a spunky rabbit with a floof of hair and a little slingshot he carried around. He had been Marron’s favorite growing up and she had carried around a plushie of him for many years. She’d eventually have to retire him when he got to a certain age and wouldn’t survive another major sewing surgery. But now his spirit lived on in the floating rabbit-shaped form, its large pupils taken up by camera lenses, its paws concealing wire ports to connect the camera back to a computer. The bottom of its feet were two little hoverports. It had a fairly smart AI trained to direct its attention to filming Marron, but could focus on other targets if directed. It would float and move to catch the best angle. 

“Where do you guys want to go first?”

They quickly decided that destinations would be decided by taking turns. Goten won the round of janken so he got to be the first pick of the turn order. What he wanted was to visit a place that was popular among alien tourists and designed to attract all types of travelers so they could take stock of what the Universe had to offer and decide the rest of their destinations there.

It was a good first pick and Marron consulted her Godpad for a bit before deciding that the Meshi Space Station would be the best fit. It was less a singular destination and more a large metropolis that existed in a space station that made up a giant artificial ring around the Meshi planet. While the Meshi planet was rather small, its giant ring’s attractions attracted people from across the galaxy to come and visit. Marron compared it to the galaxy’s biggest space mall.

It was in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, so it would take a few days to travel. Trunks plotted the course on the ship's controls but added a pit stop on a planet on the edge of the solar system that held a currency exchange so he could cash in his Zeni account. He’d been saving for years for the trip, mostly allowances, money he made interning at Capsule Corp, and some inheritance he came into when he had become of age. All of it was cashed into space credits. He’d make more money later when he took on a proper job at Capsule Corp, but for now, he wanted to have the best possible travel year they could get.

Travel on the ship went fairly smoothly. The three of them knew what buttons to press and/or avoid depending on if they wanted to start an argument and they usually didn’t want to, though sometimes the boys would want to start something up between themselves.

When that happened, they usually took it to the gravity chamber, only having a chamber on part of the ship had been a bit tricky for Trunks to create. Marron reported after the first time they used it, that the gravity on the rest of the ship had increased by a magnitude of twice over, though she could learn to tolerate it. Trunks and Goten kept getting twitchy at times when they were awake and they made a couple of hours in the gravity chamber a daily occurrence. Goten wondered how Saiyans had managed to tolerate space travel in such confined spaces without somewhere to train; didn’t they use to travel around in those little pods? Trunks reported that his father had told him how they spent most of their trips in an induced sleep state. Vegeta had described how miserable it had been, the feeling of confinement enraging their inner Saiyan, and how the worst thing was to be forced awake because one of your damnable companions had wanted to make idle chatter on the trip.

So they spent most of their time working on the projects they had brought along, Trunks was tinkering, Goten was sketching, and Marron was editing some footage she’d shot of their departure and the quick tour she’d given Rascal of the ship.

Finally, they arrived two days later. When they reached the solar system, they slowed down and Trunks took over control of the ship. Apparently the Meshi station only allowed a manual approach.

The reason for this rule began to make more sense as they approached they noticed more ships around them, all traveling to and away from the station. They ended up getting in a line of arriving ships and spent a few hours waiting and looking at the eclectic mix of ship designs as they moved forward to the planet.

As they got closer they could see it was less a solid ring and more a series of big bulking structures, with countless spires jutting off of some, held together by a much smaller connector. Marron read off that they were the 36 sections of the Meshi station, and that there was a series of tracks in the connecting parts where the trains that transported people around Meshi ran.

The line ended up approaching a giant hanger on one of the gargantuan sections of the station, with the cars being directed into short and long-term parking lines and then further guided by way of many, many illuminated signs and a pleasant-sounding robotic voice to one of the many large seemingly open aired shelves where ships were parked on. There were rows and rows of giant structures with multiple levels of shelves reaching up to the top of the hanger.

The vehicle in front of them took the last spot on a shelf, so they were directed to a new one above by way of the newly changed lights. They waited for the vehicles behind them to park before clear siding walls slid up the sides of the shelf and enclosed the parking space. The airlock finally engaged and the robotic voice told them it was now safe to exit and to remember where they parked. They exited through an elevator on the side and rode down to a transportation tunnel where everyone was departing from the parking structure and heading into the main section of the structure.

It was hard not to stare at all the different people in the large crowd of varied aliens walking around them. Their attention kept getting sidetracked by watching the diverse races from all over the universe walking through the megastructure, dragging bags behind them, or pushing carts filled with crates. Luckily, the three of them had put their luggage in capsules and didn’t have to bother with any bags outside of Marron’s purse as they continued down the crowded tunnel and emerged on the ground floor of a multistory giant expanse of a mall of Section 23. Rascal Rabbit floated along after them, following Marron’s command as she told it to take lots of sweeping shots of the people they were passing.

There were shops spread out for miles on all sides of them, and the streets branched off into pathways every so often. Road signs jutted off every building side to declare what street they were now entering. Stories were stacked on top of each other and there must have been six or seven levels of the hub. Looking up, they saw a sprawling net of escalators that connected the different floors and pathways. On about the third story ran a series of rails down the middle of the street that the trains must run on. In the middle of the entire structure was a large building that met the railway line on the third story in an open-air station.

The place was illuminated by lighting tubes that ran across the fronts of buildings and hung down over walkways. It also was lit up by the countless neon signs they saw from every shop, glowing bright blues and purples and greens. There were massive moving billboards on the sides of buildings and even some holographic ones that projected images out into the physical space.

There was an information desk by their exit and they went to it and Trunks rented a tablet containing a visitor’s guidebook, complete with a registry of all the stations' shops and amenities as well as many interactive maps so they could find where they were located in the station. They asked for any hotel recommendations that would give them a fun experience and the lady at the desk recommended the Nebula in Section 16.

They rode an escalator up to the train station and waited for the next train as Goten poked through the tablet and kept reading parts of it out loud. There was a small amusement park in Section 4 and an indoor beach in Section 12. They boarded the train and found that the windows were fun to look out at when they departed and entered a new section but were rather boring when they went through the windowless tunnels that made up the connectors between each of the 36 sections.

Eventually, they arrived in Section 16 and followed their map to the Nebula Hotel. Its lobby jutted out from the side of the station in a big enclosure of some sort of transparent material, allowing them to stand and look at the surrounding stars while they waited in line at the front desk. One side of the view was taken up by a towering spire that contained the rooms of the hotel and it was daunting to see it piercing the center of space over its many, many stories.

Trunks handled the check-in, and after an exchange of units, they were given their key cards for their suite. They rode up in an elevator that ran on the outside edge of the tower and was built of the same transparent material so that the elevator ride up felt like they were flying upwards into space without suits.

Their suite was laid out in a series of circles, the main room being completely circular with the very center of the room containing a sunken white couch that encircled a table in the center. Everything else in the room was curved like its ends were being pulled by the gravity of the couch. The tables, the shelves, the large tv screen, and everything else were arranged against the curved walls. There wasn’t one flat edge. The room was painted in pastels of blues and purples with much of the furniture being white giving it an airy feel. One portion of the wall was made up of a giant full-length window into space that they could gaze out.

The bathroom was a sleek white circle, with a portion of the wall covered in mirrors from floor to ceiling. There was a large tub in the center of the room with multiple faucets all around the rim. Marron of course had to immediately try them all and found that they produced different types of water, some bubbling with soaps already in them, some in strange colors with unknown properties. There was a stylish chrome shower head that came down from the ceiling over the tub.

Of the two bedrooms branching out from the main room, both continued the round theme, only the center points of these rooms were these white domed pods that must have been the beds. They were completely enclosed except for an opening on one end that would require you to crawl inside. They looked a bit like giant eggs.

Trunks stuck his head into the one and yelled to Marron that he and Goten were claiming the room as theirs. The inside of the egg was a well-cushioned bed with multiple pillows and soft sheets. But the most interesting thing was the dome had a video screen that took up the entire inside, showing a high-quality projection of twinkling stars.

“Ten, come and check this out,” Trunks called as he climbed inside. It was cool, like a high-tech cave where you could only just sit up without your head brushing the top of the dome. He laid down on the bedding and looked up at the lights from the projection casting everything in a soft blue glow on the inside walls of the egg.

“Oh wow,” Goten said as he poked his head in before climbing in himself, “I guess it’s supposed to make you feel like you’re sleeping amongst the stars.” It was a nice thought, just the two of them all alone with only each other amongst the blanket of stars above them. It was a cozy image.

But it also made Trunks think of something else.

“Sleeping won’t be the only thing we do, Ten, tonight I am going to fuck you under all these stars.” He loudly declared, rolling to his side and propping up his head with one of his arms.

“Oh are you now,” Goten said playfully. “What? Is seeing little star nightlights getting you in the mood?”

“Oh, like you won’t love it. I know how you like going star gazing out at Mount Paozu. Well, this way we can fuck under the stars and not have to worry about all the negatives of trying to have sex outside in the middle of the mountains.” It had not been a fun experience the last time they tried. Trunks ended up having a rock wedged underneath his shoulder that distracted him the entire time and they were both covered in dirt afterward in places dirt should never reach.

Goten hummed in response, probably considering how much nicer the bed pod would be instead. “Well, it’s certainly something to look forward to this evening but we need to get dinner soon.”

“Well then just lie down with me here for a little,” Trunks said, before reaching out and yanking Goten next to him, pulling his back flush with Trunks’s chest. He wrapped his arm over the other man’s waist and curled around him. “I want to test out what it will feel like tonight,” Trunks murmured into Goten’s neck.

Goten relaxed into him, “Okay, but only for a bit. I’m getting hungry and that means you have to be getting hungry too.”

Trunks huffed out an affirmation and settled down to just enjoying having Goten in his arms. There was something profoundly intimate about being enclosed on all sides. It was like the rest of the room or even the rest of the universe didn’t exist. All that mattered was the Saiyan in his arms, illuminated by the artificial stars. They laid there for a while with Trunks fighting between the urges to continue to spoon or to roll Goten over so he could pull him into a kiss. He settled for pressing a kiss to the back of his neck.

Goten reached out for Trunks’s hand and interlocked their fingers. “Hey, do you remember what Vegeta once said to us? About how Saiyans were made of stardust?”

“You’re thinking about that now?” Trunks asked, trying not to feel a little put off that his boyfriend was thinking about something else when they were together, and a conversation with his dad from years ago at that.

“Yeah, it just came back to me right now,” Goten responded. “I always wondered if that was why I sometimes felt like the stars were talking to me at night, calling for me to come to join them. It’s why I was so eager for this trip. Come on! Doesn’t it feel a bit like we’re going home?”

“I guess I know what you’re talking about,” Trunks admitted, “This whole trip wasn’t just to have fun exploring space. I’ve always wanted to get more in touch with my Saiyan roots and I figured this trip would be the best way to do that. Maybe there is some truth to the whole ‘spun from stardust’ thing my dad mentioned. How Saiyans might feel at home amongst the stars. I don’t know, but I’m down to find out with you. And that’s what this trip is going to be, a year spent traveling the stars before we get back to our regular lives back on Earth.”

“At least we’re doing it together,” Goten flexed his entwined fingers causing Trunks to move as well. “There is no one I’d rather be doing this trip with than with you. Not that I mind Marron being here either, but it’s different with her. She doesn’t get it as you and I do.”

“I getcha,” Trunks pressed another kiss to Goten’s neck. “Of course, we’re doing this together. I want to do everything together with you. You can have me by your side as long as you want me. I promise you that.”

“Don’t say that,” groaned Goten, tensing beneath Trunks’s hold. “As if I’m not as into you as you are into me. I want to spend the rest of my life, death, and afterlife with you and I’m not going to hear otherwise from you.”

“Whatever you say Ten,” Trunks promised and they just laid there together until they were roused by Marron knocking on the door.

“You two finished having sex in there?”

Trunks weighed the odds of her staying out or barging in and haranguing them from outside the pod and didn’t like his results. Grumbling, he disentangled himself from Goten and pulled himself over to the opening of the bed, and walked to the door. “You knew very well that we weren’t having sex. I know you can sense our ki interacting when we do it.”

“Yeah, but I’ve gotten pretty good at tuning it out. You think I would be able to tolerate being on a spaceship with you two for a year if I was always aware of your guys’ not-so-insignificant kis constantly fucking each other?”

Goten groaned mournfully the same way he always did when Marron and Trunks got a little too frank with each other.

“We were just lying in the bed. You should check yours out. They’re kinda cool.” Trunks said.

“Maybe later. I’m hungry and want to go get something to eat. Both of you can come out and help me look at the list of places to go.”

Marron presented them with the information table that she’d been scrolling through. The restaurant section was huge and divided into multiple subsections in each of the stations' different areas. They spent a good fifteen minutes debating the options. Goten pointed out that they probably shouldn’t go to one of the more formal and expensive restaurants when they knew they were going to be ordering multiple courses . Finally, they settled on picking a place called the Orange Starburst from the casual bar section, mostly on the basis that it had a really fun-looking logo of an exploding star.

They took the transport shuttle train over to the section it was housed in and followed the little interactive map on the tablet unti lthey arrived. The place was on the smaller side and looked a lot like the izakayas on Earth. There were even low tables with orange pillows to sit on as opposed to chairs. The décor was all orange and grey with rustic tables that looked like they were carved out of some mineral they couldn’t identify. The low-hanging lamps were made of glowing orange balls and looked like clusters of oranges.

Only a small number of the tables were in use so they took one of the open tables near the back, making sure to pick one of the larger tables. Marron took a seat and angled herself so she was facing away from the boys with Rascal Rabbit cozying up next to her. They had only just sat down when a server arrived. She looked like the aliens that had been working at the front desk of the Nebula and the information desk. She was tall with inky black skin and long translucent hair that was tied in a ponytail on top of her head so that it fell in what looked like a shower of sparkles around her head.

“Hello, I’m Yaki-Meshi, and I’m your server. What can I get you started with?”

Marron opened the menu and glanced down at the list of meals in a language she couldn’t read before looking back up at Yaki-Meshi, “What do you recommend? We’ll start with that.”

Trunks closed his menu as well. “Forget that, we’ll just take one of everything.”

Yaki-Meshi blinked at him, “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to be serious.”

“I am being serious. Trust me, we have big appetites. Just bring out whatever food is ready when it’s done.”

“Tell the chefs to start with whatever you think are the best dishes,” Marron added. “As for drinks, I’ll like something fruity and strong. And send your strongest drinks out for the boys. They got quite the constitution.”

Yaki-Meshi looked at them again, unsure of what to write before she settled on, “If you’ll excuse me for a moment, I need to have a word with my boss.”

She returned a few minutes later with a man who had a similar appearance but was a bit taller, bulkier, and had an even longer ponytail. “I’m Mugi-Meshi, and I’m the assistant manager of Orange Starburst. I heard there was a slight miscommunication between you and my staff?”

“No miscommunication,” Trunks said. “We just told her that we’d like one of everything on the menu. We’re big eaters and interested in trying everything your establishment has to offer. Don’t worry if it will take awhile. We have all night.”

“I see. Yaki, why don’t you help these lovely people and I go about closing down our empty tables for a while? We only have two cooks, you see,” Mugi-Meshi explained to them.

“Hey, Yaki-Meshi,” chirped up Marron, “If you’re not going to be busy serving food you can also come and chat with us. We’re tourists and would love a chance to talk with some of the locals!”

“Yes,” said Mugi-Meshi, eager to appease the big spenders of the evening. “Yaki, why don’t you take the rest of the night to tend to these guests, I’ll handle the rest of our current tables.”

“I see,” Yaki-Meshi said, and then scribbled on her notepad, “Let me take your order to the cooks and get started on your drinks. Anything for your friend here?” She gestured to Rascal Rabbit.

“Oh no, he’s not a person, just a camera,” Marron assured her. “I hope you don’t mind us filming?”

“I see,” Yaki-Meshi said, sounding like she didn’t see at all but dutifully turned and took their order to the chefs. “That should be alright.”

“Get a drink for yourself on our tab,” Trunks yelled after her.

Goten was looking slightly embarrassed for some reason. “What?” asked Marron. “We’re just inviting her to join us for conversation. It’ll be fun.”

Goten looked between Marron and Trunks’s expectant faces, “I just don’t want to embarrass her in front of her boss.”

“We’re not embarrassing her,” Trunks protested, “We’re inviting her to sit and have a chat with us, it’ll make the evening more fun.”

She returned and she did in fact have four glasses and set one in front of each of them before taking one for herself and taking an available pillow. “So, where are you guys from?”

“We’re from North Quadrant, near the edge,” Marron said as she dove into her drink.

“Oh, wow you guys sure live in a dangerous place!” Yaki-Meshi tilted her head and caused the shower of sparkles to shift. Her hair was glowing orange under the overhead light of the table.

“Not really. Our planet is pretty peaceful.” Trunks replied as he tried his drink and found that it was in fact pretty strong, enough so that it might actually be enough to get him buzzed when it normally took a series of drinks back on Earth.

“Well then you’re lucky, I hear that’s where the last of the Saiyans have taken up.” Yaki-Meshi took a sip of her drink oblivious to the rest of the tables’ occupants trying not to spit out their own drinks.

“Oh? Saiyans?” choked out Goten.

“You’ve never heard of the Saiyans?” Yaki-Meshi asked, surprise flitting across her features.

“Nope.” Marron popped the p as she said it. “Why don’t you fill us in?”

Yaki-Meshi explained briefly about the Saiyans, a warrior race that had worked under Frieza before being wiped out by a meteor with a few remaining survivors. They were known to be strong but the few remaining ones were said to be stronger than anything seen before. They hadn’t been heard from in years but the mere threat of them was enough to keep most people scarce from the North Quadrant. The three of them nodded along thoughtfully as if this was all new information for them. Marron fought a giggle at how serious Yaki-Meshi was recounting the whole thing.

After that talk turned to the history of the Meshi station and how it had grown over centuries into the massive spanning city in a ring that it now was. It had grown immensely, and now it was a central hub of travel from all over the galaxy. She described the various peoples that came through the station, the trading that was done, and the tourists that came.

Her stories of the station kept being interrupted by the continual dinging of the bell by the chefs saying another order was ready when she would get up to go retrieve a series of plates and bring them back to the table. Marron was allowed to first sample all of the plates to see if there were any she wanted to eat more of but soon enoug,h the plates were passed back to where Goten and Trunks dug into the meals. Soon, plate after plate was cleared by the two Saiyan appetites and Yaki-Meshi looked on in amazement at how much the boys were able to put away.

Of course, she wasn’t the only one bringing them their food, as sometimes Mugi-Meshi would stop by with plates or refills of drinks as he cleared away the other tables of occupants as the night went on. Soon, they were the only ones still eating and Mugi-Meshi invited himself over to join in on their conversation.

“I heard you guys talking about Saiyans earlier,” Mugi-Meshi handed out the refills of drinks, including ones for Yaki-Meshi and one for himself.

“Yeah, we’d never heard of them,” Marron piped up.

“Well don’t get Yaki started,” Mugi-Meshi laughed, “She’s our little historian here and she loves reading about different cultures and their histories. And I know she’s been reading up on Saiyans recently.”

“It’s nothing,” Yaki-Meshi blushed, her black cheeks taking on a luminescent glow, “It’s just a little hobby of mine. I specialize in mythologies, and I love hearing about stories from various cultures that explain how the universe was shaped.”

“That sounds like a pretty cool hobby,” Goten said after swallowing a large mouthful before shoveling a new forkful of noodles into his mouth.

“Anything you’d like to share about the Saiyans?” Trunks asked, not polite enough to wait until he had finished eating his mouthful to ask his question.

“Well,” Yaki-Meshi began and, at their eager attention, settled down and continued. “There was this one old legend from back before they migrated to their most recent planet, Vegeta. The first thing you should know about Saiyans is they had a relationship called kismesis that would one day end with the two kismesis killing each other in a fatal duel where they would use up all of their not-insignificant strength and ki to create the biggest funeral pyre that they could manage. This is what actually destroyed their first planet, Sadala. Anyway, the legend went that one day there would be two Saiyans who were stronger than all who came before and that their final battle would end with the entire universe being destroyed along with them.”

“Huh, some story,” Trunks muttered, trying very hard not to focus on the jolt of concern that went up in him at hearing her speak.

Their alarm must have shown on their faces because Mugi-Meshi hastened to add, “Oh, it’s just an old story, and it was just delusions. They were weaker than Frieza and served under him. There’s no way that two Saiyans could become powerful enough to threaten the Universe. And their legend didn’t foretell their entire planet being destroyed by that meteor. Some prophesying that was if they couldn’t even see their own destruction.”

“Well, I didn’t say it was going to happen,” Yaki-Meshi huffed, “Just that it was an interesting legend I read about. But I don’t know how certain I would be about it never coming to pass. Apparently, the last remaining Saiyans are showing more promise than they ever did on Planet Vegeta or Planet Sadala. They were the ones responsible for Frieza disappearing for all those years, and I heard they were involved in that incident with Moro several years back.”

They heard the ding of another course of food was ready and Mugi-Meshi laughed as he got up to retrieve it. “Well alright. Maybe I am wrong and our destruction will come at the hands of two Saiyans in their little fatal courtship.”

“Let’s hope not,” Goten prayed aloud and Marron and Trunks were both quick to sound an amen.

Dinner continued as more dishes were cleared away and eventually, even the bottomless Saiyan stomachs began to fill. Finally, Mugi-Meshi brought the last of their food and Trunks paid the bill with a generous tip for the specialized attention they received.

They walked back to the train musing upon dinner. Marron had a special bounce in her step as she kept glancing at her robot on the way back.

“I’m glad I got all that on Rascal, I got a killer video to make now, “The Legend of the End of Universe 7 by Kismesis” or something. I’m sure the fact that there’s a legend that could explain Goku will be comforting to some of the Gods, but I bet more are going to be like ‘It’s what Universe 7 deserves’ if it ever happens. Oh, this is going to be fun to upload. But I need to get your guys’ take too, what do you make of the Legend?”

“Well once again I’m wondering why Vegeta refuses to tell us anything,” Goten recalled. “You think he would be gloating about a legend like that going by stories I heard about him first going Super Saiyan.”

“For what it’s worth Ten, I’m not sure he ever heard it.” Trunks added, clearly musing aloud more than anything, “I mean that thing about kismesis destroying the universe thing is from, like, the Sadala days, and when whoever destroyed their planet, they might have already thought it fulfilled I guess. And then my Dad spent his entire youth serving under Frieza where I’m sure a story like that would be suppressed to keep Saiyans from getting too big an idea of themselves.”

Marron sped up a bit to walk ahead of them and moved the camera so she was filming them dead on, “Okay so I need your guy’s take on the odds of Goku and Vegeta being these prophesied universe destroyers?”

Goten groaned, “They better not. The rest of us live here. When they want to go have their final fight, they can go to an empty spot in space and do it there. Probably get some sort of deity to help with that. I don’t think my Dad would want to destroy any part of the universe or anything.”

“I just know I’m never telling my Dad this because he’s going to get so weird about it. It might fuck with his head more than boost his ego honestly. He gets weird about the thoughts of destiny when it comes to him and Goku.”

“Well, I predict that when I upload this Yaki-Meshi is going to be super popular with my audience. They will meme how wise she is.”

~

They spent the next two weeks wandering through the Meshi station, sometimes checking out specific stores they saw in the registry but other times just wandering around, window shopping at whatever they came across.

There were thousands upon thousands of stores of all kinds in the various sections of the station. They could spend an entire day in only one section walking around and still not seeing everything. Some places sold gizmos, the purpose of which were completely lost on the three of them. Beauty salons catered to aliens of all different species. Clothing stores served customers of all sorts of strange shapes and featured materials that were like nothing found on Earth. Food stalls and restaurants offered all kinds of different cuisines.

They even did a little shopping themselves. Trunks was taken in by an electronic shop that held all sorts of gadgets. He bought a number of devices that Marron and Goten didn’t understand but he proclaimed at least a few of them were going to be torn down and rebuilt into something new.

Goten found some street artists who could create wonderful scapes of color with just minutes of flinging paint onto their thick glossy paper. He ended up buying quite a few works and even got one framed at a shop that specialized in indestructible frames of transparent aluminum.

Marron got herself a silver dress that had little floating glowing rings that came off the shoulders and hem. They hovered in place through some means she didn’t understand but she loved the effect. They glowed in a variety of colors, with different presets to change colors or to flash between certain hues, and were controlled by a small battery pack that could be carried in her purse. The shop lady reassured her that the batteries lasted a long time but Marron made sure to buy extras.

After that, she was able to persuade the boys into going into a different clothing shop so they could try on some alien wares that advertised themselves as hyper-durable. Trunks said he needed more workout clothes considering how often their exercise clothing got damaged during their sparring when their ki concentration failed.

Every day, they tried a different food offering, though regretting some of their more adventurous endeavors. One dish that was so spicy it caused the eater to breathe actual fire after eating. The boys were fine after eating that but Marron had burned her mouth badly enough that they had to go to a pharmacy to get something to soothe it and she’d relied on a smoothie diet for the following two days.

One day in their wanderings on the 4 th story of Section 19, Marron saw a shop that had a glowing exterior decorated in black and fuchsia with a blinking neon sign proclaiming “TOYS”. It, however, wasn’t a children’s toyshop as could be detected by the window’s display case displaying a large selection of dildos and a mannequin in skimpy lingerie.

“Ooh, let’s check out this one!” She declared to the boys, catching their attention away from the train that was passing through the center of the section next to them. They both turned around and instantly realized what the store was from its garish design and obscene display.

“Oh no, I am not going in there!” said Goten, crossing his arms in determination.

“Oh yes you are!” said Marron. “Come on, it’s my turn to pick a thing to do and I want to visit the sex toy store. Aren’t you curious what kind of stuff an alien sex toy store would carry?”

“Not in the least.”

“Eh?” Trunks shrugged. “Can’t say I ever thought about it before but congratulations, you’ve piqued my curiosity.”

Goten groaned at Trunks’s words. “Marron, we know way too much about each other’s sex lives.” He wasn’t going to forget the conversations they’d occasionally had about Marron’s love for the genre of trashy erotica and the time she’d recommended a book for its plot and failed to mention the numerous explicit scenes in it. It was so awkward for Goten to get through and he would have put it down if she hadn’t been so right about how addictive the story was.

“Oh please! More like I know way too much about your sex life,” Marron scoffed. “Trunks doesn’t know the definition of TMI in his texts sometimes.”

Goten glared at his boyfriend who gave a shameless shrug. “Yeah, well, you’re our auspistice or whatever. You get to know shit. Besides, I need someone to vent to sometimes.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have put up with it for this long if I wasn’t at least somewhat curious about your strange half-alien love lives.”

Goten took a bit more cajoling before finally relenting when he realized they were perfectly fine going into the shop without him and leaving him to stand around in the hallway. The inside of the store was only somewhat gaudy with sleek white shelves lined with all kinds of products, and racks upon racks of different outfits or pieces of them. The black and fuchsia walls held more displays with mannequins wearing the merchandise and pegs that held yet more items.

Marron’s attention was almost immediately caught by the back wall which was a floor-to-ceiling set of shelves filled with dildos. “Omigods! It’s a wall of alien dicks!” she commented before immediately taking off in that direction.

“Why are you walking towards it!” Goten hissed.

“‘Cause I want to see,” Marron turned around and looked back at him, “I’ve never seen some of these shapes before and call me curious. Look how many tentacles there are! Why don’t you follow Trunks? It looks like he’s going to the bondage gear section. I doubt he’s going to be getting something just for him to use.”

Goten looked over and, sure enough, Trunks was walking with determination to that section. Realizing it was best to tag along lest he be stranded in the doorway by himself he followed his boyfriend towards the bondage section.

They were soon approached by a salesperson who was another one of the Meshi people. Her shimmery hair was cut into a mohawk and she had several prominent piercings in her ears and face. Her name tag read “Kate-Meshi”. She casually greeted them and answered all of Trunks’s questions about if they had anything that ki could be channeled into. She didn’t know what they were talking about at first until they called it “energy” and held out a small ball of it. Then, she understood.

Turns out, there were several kinds of ki restraints and Goten did consult with Trunks about getting the most indestructible set the shop offered, even if Goten was a blushing, stammering mess the entire time. With ki reinforcement being channeled into it, they should be able to withstand their raw strength. Trunks was giddy at the thought of using them and only teased Goten about getting him lingerie a modest amount afterward but didn’t follow through.

Marron had spent the time talking to a Meshi male in front of the wall of dicks before coming back over with a box of her own. She proudly showed the… unique dildo pictures on the side of the box to the boys and Goten quickly averted his eyes while Trunks just laughed.

“Can a girl not get herself one monster dildo without being judged?” Marron huffed.

“I thought you said alien dicks weren’t your thing,” Trunks teased. “You always said how you’d never date an alien guy.”

Marron rolled her eyes, “Uh, excuse you! I said I wasn’t into alien boys. This is an alien dildo. Those are two very different things, and only one of which is going to show me a good time.”

“I hate you both,” Goten complained from where his face was residing in his cupped hands.

They showed Marron what they picked out and she dutifully acknowledged it sounded like a good investment for them for back on the ship, given how reinforced their bed was there.

When they were standing in line to check out, Marron was still scanning the aisles and brought their attention to a new item. “Oh hey, those taffy pink restraints are cool. Look like they’re kinda moldable before you reinforce them. Remind you guys of Buu at all?”

Goten’s blush had faded somewhat by the sheer time they were in the store but it came back in full force and Trunks stiffened, nose twitching.

“Ten, are you serious right now? The Buu flashbacks are doing it for you?”

“No!” Goten yelped.

“I can smell how turned on you are right now,” Trunks responded with a ferocious grin. “No judgment from me but now I’m definitely getting them.” He ducked out of line and returned, grinning as he was carrying his prize.

“Oh, Trunks, be nice. People have gotten weird kinks from childhood incidents before. It’s made the most wholesome of people into complete perverts. There’s no shame in Goten getting off because of Buu trauma.”

“I’m not a pervert!” Goten hissed at them both.

Trunks laughed, “Oh, I don’t know about that, nii-san .”

Marron giggled while Goten turned several more shades. “I thought I told you to never bring that up!”

“Goten,” Marron said placatingly, “Let’s just all agree we’re all perverts here. But ain’t no one gonna judge us for our sins except King Yenma, and I’m sure saving the universe outweighs kinky sex perversions.“

Goten grumbled. “I hate you both. And we can never tell anyone else about this. Marron you cannot post this footage. I refuse to consent to this.”

“Who would we tell, really?” Trunks said. “The most I could tell our Earthling friends from school is we have a mutual thing for some bondage.”

Goten glared.

“Fine, Fine, I promise I won’t tell anyone of our sex store adventures,” Trunks added.

Marron agreed, “Don’t worry Goten, we won’t tell anyone how much of a terrible pervert you are Goten.”

“You are both terrible friends,” Goten huffed, face a brilliant red.

~

They were exploring Meshi Station, mainly checking out a coffee shop, when they ran into a familiar and unexpected face sitting at a table outside the shop.

“Jaco!” Trunks yelled. And the startled Galactic Patrol officer nearly spilled his drink in surprise at being yelled at. He turned to face them and recognition flitted across his face. “Oh, I see, you’re Bulma’s son. What are you doing all the way out here? Do I need to call to have your father come and retrieve you?”

“Nah, no need to worry about that this time. My parents know I’m out here.”

“We’re going on a space road trip,” Marron piped up. “What are you doing here at the Meshi station?”

“I am doing important Galactic Patrol work,” Jaco said, thrusting his chest out.

“You’re drinking coffee and on your phone,” Marron pointed out.

“Well, it’s an important coffee break! I have been working all morning and this is my break time.”

“Oh, what were you doing?” Goten asked.

“I have been consulting the various parking ports and writing tickets to those who deserve them.

“So you’ve basically been acting as a meter maid,” Marron said. “That doesn’t seem very spectacular of the Galactic Patrol.”

Jaco huffed. “Meshi Station is a hub of economic activity but ti’s also a hub of criminal organizations. Criminals from all over come and try to pass off their goods in the open swap areas. Much of it is counterfeit, but trying to catch a counterfeiter is tedious work, and paperwork declaring items legitimate can so easily be faked. It’s easier to just deal with people with expired plates or those with overdue passes before doing a patrol of the markets.”

“Okay, how about we tag along with you for the rest of the day?” Trunks suggested. Both Marron and Goten perked up at the suggestion. 

“Yeah, we want to see this important Galactic Patrol work in motion. After all, my Dad helped you guys out once before,” Goten agreed. 

“Besides if you have extra hands it might mean you can finish early,” Marron pointed out.

Jaco considered their offer for a moment before putting his coffee down. “Well no,w maybe I could use the assistance of some concerned galactic citizens. But of course, a Galactic Patrol officer such as myself doesn’t need help.”

“Well if you say so,” shrugged Trunks and moved to leave and let out a smirk at Jaco’s quick, “Wait, wait, maybe I could use some assistance today only.”

“Cool! We’re going to be space cops. Rad! Do we get cool costumes?” Marron asked hopefully, her eyes gleaming. 

“I have something I can use to deputize assistants.” Jaco said. They followed him to a nearby locker facility that had some long term units for the local Galactic Patrol officers who came through. Jaco explained one of the perks of the job was facilities like this across the Galaxy that he had some essentials of the job stashed at. He produced three red armbands with the Galactic Patrol symbol on them, and they obliged and put them on. 

“Let’s go fight some crime,” Marron declared, her hands firmly on her hips. “You were talking about the counterfeit ring? 

“I can give you a scanner that you can use to analyze goods with expert analysis to see if it is counterfeit or real. Everything on sale here had to be registered to the system beforehand and it cross examines that database. You’re lucky that I have some old models of scanners so you can each take one.” 

He handed them each a device that was very clunky and whose surface took up a touch screen that they activated and followed Jaco along as he explained what buttons to press. 

“Wait, so this little device can tell if something is counterfeit or not with the ability of an expert? For anything?” Trunks repeated.

“Yes, they are quite a breakthrough by the Galactic Patrol. They’ve really helped with identifying criminals. Luckily, I have spares. Now remember, I am your superior and you will do as I say.”

The market Jaco led them to was a maze of stalls and tables with people hawking all kinds of goods. A table surrounded by racks of clothing was next to one covered in mechanical parts who was next to a bookdealer. Jaco didn’t want them to split up as he “didn’t want unsupervised representatives of the Galactic Patrol causing trouble” which might have been experience talking when it came to dealing with Goku. Or maybe he just wanted to boss them around as they did all the work.

Some sections were made up of much bigger booths taking up most of the space, but then there would be small tables with simple backboards with goods on display at a single stall. This was even more disjointed than the mall, because these booths here obviously cost a lot less to rent than the shops. There were a lot of smaller sellers.

The three of them dutifully went up to booths with items that they thought looked interesting and scanned them with their devices.  There were some nicer tables the more they wandered in, but even more that had some of the strangest things Marron had ever seen. She in particular got distracted by a booth that had a lot of iridescent jewlery that seemed to be living creatures considering they radiated ki. 

Trunks got distracted by some gizmo places and examined some items long after having scanned them. He did argue with a scanner about one item at one point as being totally misclassified but didn’t really push it besides giving the seller some grief about it. 

And Jaco informed this was just the first floor of the market, that it continued on some levels above. 

When they found an item the scanner deemed counterfeit, Jaco would write up a ticket and confiscate it into this bag. They noticed it seemed to be more spacious on the inside as it never got any bigger. 

About an hour in, a stall owner ran up and said someone had just robbed their stall of high value jewelry. 

They quickly sprang into action and followed to where the owner directed them. The three men were still hanging about the scene of the crime, completely carefree of the Galactic Patrol officer who just arrived. 

They were not Meshi people and had yellow green skin and were very large and didn’t have much hair. They were dressed in what was actually a very neat punky spacey look that Marron liked, with the odd bits of what were probably armor under leather jackets with spikes coming out. The one with long hair had a bright dandelion yellow mane that on Earth would have required a lot of hairspray to maintain. The shortest one had neon green spikes gelled into his hair, though it’s possible for him it wasn’t technically hair. (Marron couldn’t tell for sure.) The bald one had the most number of spikes on his outfit, jutting out in ways that just make it difficult to move very much.

  But Jaco froze when he saw them and the three Earthlings looked at him in confusion as he quietly backed away from the three men. 

“What’s going on Jaco? Aren’t you going to arrest them?” Goten asked, confused as they were several booths back and out of earshot but they still had a sightline on the men. 

“Umm, well, you see, this isn’t really my purview area-”

“Okay, what’s the real problem? Who are they?” Trunks rolled his eyes.

“They are members of the Yakitori gang, a dangerous little group in this solar system. They have taken up residence on Meshi station as their home base for a while. Those are the three brothers that run it: Sasami, the short smart one, Tsukune, the crazy violent one, and Bonjiri, the leader, he’s the one with the long hair. Their exact power levels are unknown because they know that trick of hiding your power level but each of them has been clocked at least over 10,000!”

“What’s your power level, Jaco?” Marron asked curiously. She could sense his ki pretty well but didn’t know what the numerical value would be for it. She reached out with her senses to the Yakitori trio too but, as Jaco said, they were not showing their full strength as she could sense their ki in a very relaxed state. 

Jaco clearly spent a minute debating telling them the truth or not before finally getting out “4,000. So you can see why I’m not eager to throw myself in a situation with them.”

“Oh in that case, fuck, we got you covered.” Marron said with a laugh. To think she had been thinking they might possibly need to use Super. If Jaco was, like, half the strength of one of them, either Trunks or Goten wouldn’t even need to be blonde to take them all down easily. “It’s a good thing you got some deputized Galactic Patrol officers here that you can count on.” She jerked her thumb back behind her to the boys, “Or are you forgetting that they’re both half Saiyan?” 

Goten and Trunks both gave cheeky waves at him grinning wildly.

“Yes, you are correct. Compared to your fathers, you’re quite the disappointment, but you do have a considerable amount of power behind you yourselves.” Jaco stroked his chin before quickly pointing the same finger at them, “And I trust you’re a lot less reckless since I last met you both.”

“Hey,” Trunks pushed the pointing finger aside, “we’ve both grown up a lot since then. We’re adults now and much more mature.”

“Trunks let's not get carried away now,” Marron cut in and got a swipe to the head from Trunks in retaliation that she saw coming and dodged while Goten said, “Hey man, we’re offering to do you a real solid here. You said they’ve been causing trouble and I’m sure the people of Meshi station will be happy to have them gone.” 

“Plus, think how nice your reward would be when you bring them in,” Trunks added, with a smirk knowing he’d just won the argument. 

“I suppose I could allow you both to apprehend the trio. I have knockout spray so once they are subdued we could transport them to my vehicle and I could take them all to the nearest precinct.” Jaco was sounding more and more convinced with every word.

“Do you have any like ki-restraining cuffs we could use on them? Should at least subdue them while you use that knockout spray?” Marron asked, she had heard of them though had never seen a pair herself. They were useful for many situations but at a certain point they could just be broken by brute force and the Saiyans she knew were one such group.

“Of course! They are standard issue,” Jaco reached into his side pouch and produced three sets of two open circles of some sort of pearlescent metal material joined. He pulled one set of circles apart to show the band was some sort of energy appeared to hold them together.

Marron handed the cuffs to Trunks who huffed “You’re taking the fun out of it, Marron,” before taking the cuffs and hanging them off his belt to keep his hands free. She would have handed them to Goten, but he wasn’t wearing a belt with his style of Eastern pants. 

“Well if that’s what you’re worried about, feel free to go Super. That should make it more entertaining for me and Rascal anyways.” Marron said, before calling the camera over to start a new recording. She proceeded to set up the camera to get a good view. 

Trunks turned to Goten, his eyes gleaming with a childlike delight. “Goten, wanna go be space cops?”

“Yeah, it sounds fun,” Goten answered back, a hint of mischief in his voice. 

“I know. This is going to be awesome. Oh dibs on the bad cop.”

“We don’t need a bad cop,” Goten retorted. 

“Okay, but if we do, dibs.” They both set off back towards where the Yakitori gang were bullying a toy maker in a large stall. 

“Oh I have to catch this! Come on Rascal!” Marron chirped and followed after the boys.

Now, despite some appearances, Trunks and Goten weren’t stupid. They were not on Earth in an abandoned area where they could have the most fun possible messing with these guys. Which they would have if they could, you best believe they would. But instead, they were on a space station that absolutely could not have random ki blasts going off, much less before you got to how crowded the hall was. So the name of the game was going to be about subduing them as quickly as possible. Then, they would let Jaco come in with the knockout spray.

Didn’t mean they weren’t going to have fun with it though; as one they both powered up to Super Saiyan but deliberately kept their ki suppressed. If the Yakitori gang could hide their own power levels it was logical they could also sense other people’s. 

When they approached, the three Yakitori people were bullying some toy shop owner for one of the robotic dogs, clearly enjoying trying to talk them out of taking the best one he had. 

“Don’t you guys have anything better to do than harass random vendors?” Trunks called out to get their attention. All three men turned to look at him but the shortest, Sasami, seemed to turn back to the vendor while Tsukune and Bonjiri both seemed interested in the guy who was interrupting their routine of shaking down the vendors. 

“What’s it to you? You don’t know who you’re talking to, kid, so you best go off and scram,” Bonjiri retorted. Ah yes, the eternal Saiyan youth. Goten and Trunks didn’t look older than teenagers even now. Based on how Goku’s genetics worked, they would probably keep the young looks for a long time. Granted, youth presentation differed amongst different alien species, but by most norms, Trunks and Goten still looked like young adults.

“Sorry, no can do. We decided we’re going to turn the three of you into the Galactic Patrol. You can do this the easy way or the hard way,” said Goten.

“The hard way is also the fun-for-me way and please pick it.” Trunks added, a playful teasing in his voice. 

“Oh, want to try to throw your life away trying to turn us in for the reward? Sure, it’s a respectable bounty for the three of us, but is it worth losing your life over?” Sasami started talking, quick and sly like he was used to having a silver tongue. 

Bonjiri stayed silent and watched as Tsukune started cackling and looked at them in delight. “Oh, this is going to be fun ! And to think I thought this was going to be a boring day. I think I’ll kill one of you so the other can take the corpse back to the Galactic Patrol. Do either of you have a preference?” 

And then Tsukune suddenly jerked forward and threw a punch at Trunks, fists wrapped in ki. The fist came flying at Trunks’s face and he caught it casually while flaring his ki in only his fist. He held it while Tsukune flared his ki trying to get his hit to land. He seemed surprised when it stayed firmly in place in Trunk’s grip.

“See, here’s the thing. I’m sure you guys are real used to being the toughest shit around outside of Frieza’s people, but your luck just ran out. Now you’re all going into the Galactic Patrol,” Trunks said.

Quickly, the leader, Bonjiri’s hand flared as he was readying a ki blast. Goten jumped into action by flash stepping forward and putting his arm in an armlock with the ki fist held up against his own back. Bonjiri couldn’t prevent himself from burning his own jacket with his palm full of ki. 

“Fuck!” Bonjiri yelped and dropped the burst from his hand. Goten flared his own ki to strengthen his hold and not let go of the arm. He gestured to Trunks, who tossed him a set of the cuffs with his free hand as he kept Tsukune in place.

Bonjiri must have recognized the cuffs, and tried even harder to break the hold. He jerked down and pulled his arm to try and flip Goten over his shoulder. Goten let him but did not let go of the arm from the hold and jerked it straight out of its socket when he landed forward. 

When Bonjiri screamed in pain, Goten finally got the cuff on the dislocated arm’s wrist. Then, he pulled the criminal down by the bicep and brought Bonjiri falling forward over him before rolling out and standing up. He stood over Bonjiri and grabbed the dislocated arm and first shoved it back into itssocket, Bojiri screaming loudly all the while, before bringing it behind him and cuffing the other wrist. It was not a comfortable position for him, none the least because some of the spikes on his wrists were now jabbed into his back. 

His brothers looked on in shock to see their leader brought down so easily. With their power level, they were about half as strong as Vegeta was when he first came to Earth, more than formidable enough to be Frieza Force's top soldiers. 

Tsukune and Sasami both reacted differently. Tsukune reared forward at Trunks with a kick at his legs to try to unbalance him but Trunks darted up  and just jerked Tsukune into the air. It was only about a three-story space of open air so Trunks didn’t go high but it was enough to unbalance Tsukune as he was jerked into the air by his arm. 

Sasami started to take off but Goten abandoned his stance over Bonjiri and flash-stepped to catch Sasami. He grabbed both his biceps and flared his ki as he held the arms by Sasami’s side and forced him to watch Trunks take down Tsukune. 

Trunks slapped a cuff on the wrist he was holding before darting in the air around Tsukune, wrapping his arm around his back and grabbing the other wrist. Tsukune roared with fury and flared his ki from both his palms but Trunks wrapped his own ki around the two hands, suppressing it back into the source, all the while burning the ki points in the palms of his hands. 

“Easy way, or the fun way?” Goten offered to Sasami in a playful tone. Giving the smartest of the three a chance to make the smart choice. Reluctantly he obliged and let himself be cuffed by Goten. 

When all three of them were in the ki cuffs,n Jaco swooped in and sprayed all three of them with the knockout spray with an air that he was acting like he was contributing more help than was really given. The three bodies slumped over. 

“Welp, time to take out the trash,” Trunks huffed a small chuckle and swung Tsukune and Sasami under each arm, staying in Super he wrapped his body in ki to reinforce it against the annoying pricking of the spikes on the Yakitori gang’s clothes. He let Goten princess carry Bonjiri.

“Very cool. I’ll put together a lil’ thing about the two of you being good members of Galactic Society and doing it quick and easily. My viewers like seeing when you’re more sane and less fight-obsessed than your fathers,” Marron chirped and gave Rascal a little smile as the rabbit robot had been filming the entire encounter. 

They followed Jaco to his ship, which was in a special hangar for the officers. He’d upgraded to a larger one since they had seen his dinky one on Earth and put the three captives in the detainment section of the ship.

“Well, I have two hours before that wears off and I should have them in a cell behind bars by then,” Jaco said cheerfully, “Might get some credit from my boss about this.” 

“Gonna lie and say you took care of the three of them yourself?” Marron guessed. “You really think they’ll believe that?”

Jaco’s puffed chest deflated a little bit, “Well, it’s still on my watch I’m bringing them in. I should get the credit.”

“Well, you’re welcome,” Goten laughed. “I hope your boss is happy with you.”

“If you want us to not say anything to anyone about this, go send my Mom some sort of exclusive space treat to enjoy,” Trunks said. “Tell her it’s a gift from us and you.” 

“It has been a while since I’ve seen Bulma,” Jaco mentioned. He was pretty easy to negotiate with and the promise of taking full credit for the Yakitori gang’s capture was hard to pass up. A small thing like sending some sort of treat to Bulma was a small enough payment for it.

“We’re heading out of this place in like a day or two,” Marron added. “The Meshi station has been fun but there is a whole big universe out there to explore and we’ve got places to find. Have fun being a space cop, Jaco!”

“Goodbye, Bulma’s son and other young Earth children who are now adults.”

Chapter Text

After their stay on Meshi Station, it was Marron’s turn to pick. She proudly declared that she wanted to go to New Namek. Trunks was immediately suspicious she wanted to use their Dragon Balls for a wish and she had to correct him that she had absolutely no wishes in mind; she wanted to go for another reason.

At least New Namek was only about a week’s trip on the ship. The coordinates to it were a well-kept secret amongst the Earthlings back home, though for Goku it was more “where I feel them coming from” than actual coordinates. But Trunks had been entrusted with coordinates from Bulma “in case anything should happen” before they left.

They spent the week occupying themselves on the ship. Goten was going through the art he’d bought and was trying to create something capturing the same style and wasn’t happy with his results. Maybe he really did need 6 arms to do it right. Trunks was playing with all the gizmos he’d picked up and even started disassembling two of them to see if he could combine them.

Marron was editing all the footage she’d taken on Meshi and filming some bits of her talking about the video to Rascal. She was titling it under the series of “Road Trip 789” and included various information about what was happening. She had fun with the kismesis storyline and did a whole segment where she hyped up the notion that these damn Saiyan fight monkeys might try to destroy their own universe with their ultimate final suicide fight. This stirred up much conversation in the comment section and she had to put it on comment moderation for a while. Some of the gods were still not over their grudge against Goku’s insatiable need for fighting.

Finally, they arrived at the remote New Namek. Trunks landed the ship on a field of grass not that far from a pond. When they approached, it looked to be having some sort of cultivation going on inside it.

“Okay so here is the reason I wanted to come here,” Marron clapped her hands and got both of the boys’ full attention before moving her hands to her hips, “I want to take some photos. I will provide the costumes for us to wear.”

“We came all this way for some dumb photos?” Trunks said incredulously. At the same time Goten piped up with an undercurrent of concern, “What kind of costumes?” Because he did not trust Marron with something so nebulous.

To answer, Marron pulled out a capsule which when opened revealed several boxes of varying sizes including one rather large one. She handed a smaller one to Goten and it was revealed to be an orange Gi with his father’s “Go” kanji on it. Trunk’s larger box contained a set of Saiyan armor like his father had once worn with a blue base suit. There was a smaller box for him that also contained a black wig styled in Vegeta’s hairstyle. Marron showed off her own orange Kame gi that looked a lot like Goten’s.

But there was still the largest box remaining. “And here is the big finish,” Marron said as she pulled the lid off the box and pulled out a life-size plush of Frieza. It was in his final form and had a slight scowl on his face. It was barely shorter than Marron and she looked a little ridiculous as she hugged it into her grasp.

“I asked one of my patreons to make it for me and told them it was going to be for a good video. Heles from Universe 2 was kind enough to make it for me, as she remembered Frieza from the Tournament of Power. I think she’s curious about what I’m going to do with it.”

“Okay, but why do you have a Frieza doll?” Goten asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Because I want pictures ! Come on, think about it. New Namek was created because of all the shit that went down with Freiza and Namek. I want to kinda memorialize the great lore of this planet and our parents' history on it. So we’re taking photos dressed like them with a Frieza doll! It will be a great photo op!” Her enthusiasm waned for a moment as she looked thoughtful, “I mean it is just a real shame we couldn’t bring Pan and Bulla, we could have dressed them up as Gohan and Bulma.” Before shrugging away the doubt along with her shoulder movement, “Oh well maybe when they’re older. Oh ooh, we could get dolls of the Ginyu squad too! Moro is kind of boring since only Goku and Vegeta were here for that one.”

“You’re so sure we’re coming back,” Goten laughed but already admitting he would like to one day have a chance to bring Pan here. Gohan had so many bad memories of Namek, that maybe seeing his daughter having fun with his history might cheer him up. Also, Pan might like to meet some more Namekians besides Dende and Piccolo. In fact, maybe Goten would like to meet some as well.

“Oh, I think these photos are going to be a big hit when we show them off back home!” Marron smirked and waggled the Frieza doll till it did a little dance.

“This sounds fun and all but one thing, I’m not wearing the wig,” Trunks said, eyeing it like he’d like to ki blast it. And put the box on the ground.

“Oh come on, Vegeta doesn’t have purple hair! And it’s not nearly spiky enough!” Marron had a severe pout in her voice. She had put all the effort into getting it made!

 “I’ll just go Super Saiyan the whole time, that is spiky enough on its own,” Trunks said flippantly and went Super Saiyan just to prove his point. His straight hair shot up vertically as his ki spiked it and turned it blonde.

“But Vegeta wasn’t a Super Saiyan on Namek!” Marron stomped her foot.

“Well this is a redo photo shoot anyway, maybe this time it’ll be fun to be a Super Saiyan against Frieza. I refuse to see how much I look like my father if I have his hair. We already know enough of what Goten looked like when he was mini Goku,” Trunks stuck out his tongue before powering back down.

Marron knew Trunks was as stubborn as both his parents and there would be no winning this fight so she sulkily dropped the matter of the wig.

Marron and the boys took their outfits into their rooms to change and met up back in the center room ready to depart and check out the planet.

They got off the ship and sensed the ki of a civilian in the direction of the pond, so they decided to head that way. They came across an older Namekian who was up to his knees in the pond tending to the plants in it.

“We come in peace. We’re friends of Earth and Son Goku,” Goten called out. Trunks held out his watch which translated Goten’s words into Namekian in case the Namekian didn’t speak standard but they needn't have worried.

“Nice device,” the Namekian said. “Friends of Son Goku you say? Do you need our Dragon Balls once again? Has some great evil started attacking the universe once again?”

“No, nothing like that. We would like to see the Dragon Balls, but not for any wishes. We mainly just want to take some photos with them,” Marron piped up and waved with the arm not carrying Frieza at Rascal who, as always, was floating dutifully behind he. It was getting a good shot of her in the frame while capturing the Namekian as well.

“I don’t understand,” the Namekian cocked his head.

“We’re making a present for our parents. I’m Marron, daughter of Krillin. These are Goten, son of Son Goku, and Trunks, son of Bulma and Vegeta. We want them to feel nostalgic over their victory and Goku’s first time going Super Saiyan.”

“I’m Limax, descendent of the deceased Super Kami Guru. I was killed by Frieza and once again by Moro. I tend to these fields of Mollusca here. I remember the time of Frieza and the terror. I do not understand your desire to return to those events, but if you think it will be enjoyable for Son Goku and friends, I will oblige you. I shall take you to Guru Esca to see what he has to say about being allowed to use the dragon balls.”

Limax dutifully started to fly off and they followed. It was a comfortable pace, one that Marron could keep up with if she pushed herself, while something akin to a slow stroll for the boys.

Marron carried the Frieza doll on her back with its arms tied around her neck and held its legs in place like she was giving him a piggyback ride.

The Namekian of the Dragon Clan with the highest ki ability had taken on the semi-divine role as the planet’s guardian and possessed the lifeline the Dragon Balls were attached to. Esca had been chosen for the role in a time of crisis that was Moro. He was the only one that had survived Moro’s attack until the rest of the Namekians were revived once their energy had returned. They flew over a village as they arrived and saw various Namekians poking their heads out to take a look at them. I was strange to see some Namekian children running around because it put the idea of a mini Piccolo in their minds.

The Namekian back home they had the most contact with was Piccolo, who was a proud member of the Warrior Clan and was probably stronger than if every Namekian on this planet fused into each other. But he also had no memories of Namekian people except the vague ones he had gotten when he had fused with Nail. Piccolo was an Earthling through and through.

Even Dende, who was also a member of the Dragon Clan giving him access to gifts like making Dragon Balls, has long since adapted to living on—well, above—Earth for the past two decades. But here were Namekians on a world they called their new home. They were probably so very different.

They landed on top of a hill next to a large, ornate, and very alien building. “This is the residence of our Guru Esca,” Limax said.

Right before they entered, Goten reached out and gave Trunks’s hand a little tug. Trunks turned his attention back to his boyfriend and Goten gave him a very short look that clearly said to be on his best behavior. Trunks rolled his eyes but didn’t object to the reminder and still held Goten’s hand as they entered the building behind Marron.

Esca was an adult but looked to be on the younger side. He was the youngest Namekian to have seen Earth as he had not been alive during the year Namekians had spent on Earth after Namek was destroyed and before New Namek could be found. But he had come to Earth during the whole Moro situation more recently so he had known a different world by then.

He greeted them and then asked why they were wearing the clothing of Vegeta and Goku. They happily responded they were their sons and were doing a silly little recreation of their fight on Old Namek. Esca had to think a moment after Marron described Krillin to remember he had seen him on Earth so he greeted her as a child of a friend as well.

Then he asked what brought them to the planet, as friends of Son Goku.

Marron showed off her Frieza doll and explained to Esca that they were simply looking to take some photos with some of the Dragon Balls, and didn’t even have to be all of them before they would be on their way.

Esca was at first confused as he did not see the destruction of their previous planet so humorous but understood when Marron emphasized it was an important moment in the courting affair of how the two kismesis would eventually get together.

Then when Marron reassured him they didn’t even need all the Dragon Balls and that they would return them after they took some photos so they didn’t even need a wish, he was pretty agreeable.

He summoned his assistant and asked him to go alert the villages that protected Dragon Balls to bring them to him for a brief indulgence of the visitors.

While the balls were being summoned, the three of them flew around the area trying to find a nice place for their photos and found an area with lots of varied terrain, but mainly a plateau they could work with. When they returned from their photo spot, 5 Dragon Balls were waiting for them.

Trunks powered up into Super, Rascal took its spot to film, and they began to indulge in every silly whim they could think of to have fun as they posed.

There was the one where Goten held the doll aloft by its tail like a pinata while Trunks was preparing to take a swing at it with a stick. They each took a turn doing a dance with the doll as if it was their partner. Several staged photos of Trunks and Goten mocking up a fight with the doll and the two of them having a blast hamming it up. Goten went Super Saiyan at one point and both he and Trunks were laughing.

But they also posed with the balls. They took one photo where it looked like Marron was hiding one of the absurdly large balls behind her back while Trunks acted as if he was looking for it, and another of Trunks and Goten both holding aloft Dragon Balls and Marron standing with one foot on each of them.

Several photos were of Goten and Trunks having fun pretending to be enemies and were followed by one of them kissing.

Oh, how they danced and played around while Rascal recorded it all as they posed for some fun stills. But after about two hours of filming, they were tired and had exhausted their ideas and the entertainment value of the endeavor.

They returned back to Esca’s place with the balls and found there was some type of welcome party for them going on. A number of Namekians from the various villages were waiting for them to come back. There was a table with several different teapots standing and the Namekians mingling as they were drinking the various teas. Namekians didn’t eat food and only needed to drink water but tea was something they occasionally liked to indulge in.

They landed and greeted the many Namekians who all wanted a gander at the Earthlings and children of their saviors. Goten left briefly to return with some food from their ship so they could also have some food at the party even if they were the only ones eating it.

While it was fun to talk to all the Namekians, it was a child named Helicid of about Pan’s 10 Earth years in age that caught their attention the most. The child held a rather large amount of ki, comparable with the strongest of the Namekians that introduced themselves as from the Warrior clan.

When asked if Helicid belonged to the Warrior or Dragon clan, the child responded that they had not yet made that decision, but that they would need to make it relatively soon. Helicid wanted to help his planet to the best of his abilities but didn’t know which path would allow him to do that with his potential and ki reserves.

“Well, if you ever wanted to try being a fighter, the likes of which this planet has only glimpsed in others, you can come to Earth and train there. We have some masters of martial arts who would gladly train you. We even have the strongest Namekian in Universes 6 and 7,” Marron said. “You could protect New Namek like we protect our Earth.”

“Oh man, Piccolo taking on a Namekian pupil would be so neat,” Goten piped up. “I think it could be really good for him to train someone who's not Pan right now.”

“Maybe I will!” the child said, looking very considering and Trunks returned with a communication device so that Helicid and the Namekians could contact Bulma who could summon Goku to use instant transmission in case Helicid wanted to phone Earth.

But that was not the end of the talks.

“What are you going to do with that doll of Frieza?” Helicid said pointing at the doll.

“Uh, nothing really. If we came back again I’d probably have a new one. Ooh maybe one of each of his forms, along with the Ginyu squad. Why? Do you want him?” Marron asked.

“I want to burn him,” the child’s mild manner as he spoke the lines struck them all as hysterical and they descended into a fit of the giggles.

“Oh, now that sounds like a fun time that I see no reason to stop. Go nuts, he’s all yours.” Marron said holding out the doll that was a foot taller than Helicid but he took it anyways.

Eventually, the three of them bid their adieu to the Namekians and returned to the ship that was being watched over by Limax as he chilled under a tree.

“So, what do you grow out here? I know Namekians farm even if they can’t eat things,” Trunks asked.

“Mollusca Weed, it’s a natural weed that we smoke to relax and release endorphins,” was Limax’s response.

Trunks perked up, “Oh cool so like on a scale how intoxicating would this be for a non-Namekian?”

“Trunks!” Goten grumbled.

 “What? I want to get high on the alien drugs if they’re not too damaging. It could be fun. And when is the next time I’m going to be able to try this again?” Trunks said, rolling his eyes.
“Alas, it would do you no good. It does not work on those who can’t photosynthesize,” Limax said with a chuckle.

“Dammit,” Trunks grumbled.

“Oh, don’t be so sure I don’t have something in mind for a Saiyan fun time,” Marron rolled her eyes which got both of the Saiyan’s attention.

“Well, now you have my attention,” Trunks rolled the words that would almost sound flirtatious if it wasn’t for the complete lack of intent behind it. He was just having fun.

“And I shall also have your patience next, not ‘till it’s my next turn,” Marron turned up her nose at him. Trunks got that for now his curiosity would not be satiated and changed the subject.

“Wait, we should totally take some of this Mollusca incense back to Piccolo and Dende. It might let Piccolo chill out a bit.”

“Piccolo has no chill. He’s so straight edge he wouldn’t conceive of doing something like this.” Marron said.

“Well, maybe he’d find it if we gave him some. Limax, can you hook a guy up?”

“Besides, even if Piccolo doesn’t want to use it, maybe Dende will enjoy it,” Goten pointed out.

So Limax did in fact give them about a pound of properly dried Mollusca weed that they put in their storage area of the ship in a capsule.

Then they left New Namek behind.

~

Turnks’s turn took them to a space casino where they spent a couple days seeing all the sites. Trunks used his ki to guide the dice a few times before he got thrown out. It wasn’t like they could prove anything but he won too many times in a row for them to tolerate him any longer. He made a bit of a fuss about being thrown out but eventually complied and Marron and Goten followed.

Next, it was Goten’s turn. He declared he wanted to see some alien art. He’d been spending the time on the ship traveling from place to place working on his art projects, be it on his tablet digitally or, as he much preferred, working physically on canvas and paper. He had brought a lot of paints, pencils, charcoal, and markers to use depending on what he felt like doing.

He had been taking some photos of his own for reference but he also had Marron show him her camera footage so he could review things for himself. But he was starting to feel a little too out of his depth at how one could portray all the amazing things they’d been seeing and wanted to see how other people had captured the majesty of space. So Marron looked it up and found they were near a planet that was known for its art collections.

The planet was called Bateau. Many years ago, the polar ice caps had completely melted, flooding the planet and in turn reducing the amount of livable land masses into a series of small islands. Most of the existing cities were built on the ruins of previous ones and jutted out of the waters.

Marron read aloud from her Godpad about the planet and noted that the main form of transportation now was by gondola through the water and canals that were once roads.

It was ruled by King Catamaran for 200 years and when he was a young man, he had fallen in love with a commoner artist, married her, and discovered a love of art through her. She had passed after only a short 25 years together, but he had kept up his love of art in tribute to her. He had dedicated his reign to creating a place where art from across the galaxy could be displayed and marveled at. Most artists could only ever dream of having a piece displayed in a gallery on Bateau.

He had made a love of art a core tenant of life on the planet and had led by example. It was because of him that the Batean people tattooed their peachy skin in bright designs. Many were covered from head to toe in them, including their bald heads. He had completely revitalized their culture that had seen such upheaval after the great flooding.

But there were galleries of art from across the universe across the planet, and the most illustrious were in the capital city of Bracera which was built atop the flooded ruins of the previous generations of the city.

Parking was on the moon and there was a space shuttle that took them to the planet with the other tourists. The shuttle was shaped like an old sailing ship they’d seen on Earth, though it was contained in a bubble of some sort of technology that kept the air comfortable on board.

They hit up Bracera and went to the visitors’ center to get maps and recommendations of which galleries to head to first. It was there that they discovered they were in luck. It was the year of the king’s 250 th birthday. For his celebration, he had put together a collection and show of pieces that were a tribute to Bateau but had never before been displayed on such a grand stage. It sounded very exciting, but tickets were sold out for the next three days, so they would have to wait before they could see the birthday collection.

But that problem was not a problem at all, as there were many famous galleries they could visit in the meantime! There were a number of galleries in the city all owned by the planet’s richest man, Pirogue, and there was an “About” section on the pamphlets for each of his galleries. He was not a native of Bateau, but had come and tried to assimilate into the culture he had fallen in love with.

In his picture, he had pale but distinctly yellow skin but had painted his skin in tattoos according to custom. He had brought his vast wealth of sky-gold to the planet and helped sponsor many artists who worked on the planet.

They started by heading to the Brazzera which was Pirogue’s collection of his favorites. They took the city's gondolas, opting not to fly so as not to attract attention. Besides, it was a fun experience to live like a normal human for a change.

The Brazzera was very neat. It was built with a giant invisible aluminum-bottomed floor so in every room, you could look down into the ruins of Old Bracera below. They saw many paintings and sculptures in the gallery and, at first, the three of them walked together. But before too long, Goten broke off to go explore on his own and took pictures of all the art that piqued his interest.

Goten took many photos even though he knew Marron was also having Rascal record all the art pieces they saw as well. He would have to get the footage from her later.

But then he wandered into one room that was titled “Beauty of Brazzera.” The exhibit was all paintings of Bateau, or in particular, the capital city.

There were several pieces that all looked similar in style and a brief reading of their placards confirmed they were all by the same artist: Felucca. He saw a small stand of pamphlets with the same name on them and grabbed one.

Felucca was very reclusive and secretive and only came out in public for certain shows during which she had painted all her skin a solid matte gray to prevent anyone from knowing what her tattoos really looked like. She was assumed to be a Batean native and painted mainly cityscapes the capital. But each work seemed to capture some new sentiment and meaning.

He read more about her and her style. Her art was impressionist and without finer details, but the colors and every brush stroke spoke to the beauty and mood of the pieces. He found Marron and asked her to look up the artist and see if her art was displayed in more places on the planet so he could see more works. He was in luck; Pirogue was her patron and had numerous works by hers hung up in galleries across the city.

They went to two more galleries that day to see her work and others but then discovered the next day, they would all be closed as it was a “Creation Day” of the week. That meant everything beyond essential services would be closed to encourage all the artists on the planet to create.

Goten was incredibly charmed by the notion and vowed the next day to try to paint his own image of the flooded city on Creation Day. So he bid Marron and Trunks adieu when they decided they were going to do a bar crawl through the various paint and sip ceramic studios and spend the day just making things. Goten felt a pang of desire to join them, but he craved painting a picture of Bracera at sunset more.

He took some painting supplies and some canvases in a capsule and flew through the city about a few hours before sunset and found a location on a rooftop that gave a good view of the city. He started sketching the lines of buildings now so he’d have that done when the multiple suns set so he could focus on painting the colors then.

He was  so focused on his work that he didn’t sense the ki signature of the mortal that opened up the door on the floor and poked her head out.

“Oh, someone’s already here,” she said as she pulled herself up onto the roof. “I see my hiding spot has been discovered.” She was Beatean covered in rainbows of tattoos with so many designs and colors blending into each other. Goten noted she was carrying a large bag and canvas with her, so she was presumably a painter like him.

“Sorry for stealing it, but it was just too good a vantage point to pass up,” Goten said with a shrug but offered the woman a friendly smile.

“No, no, it’s a great spot. One of my favorites in fact. I’m just usually a lot luckier with inhabitants. How did you find it?” She said as she set up about two feet away from Goten, and he could see she had already started laying down the base colors on the piece of a sunset on the rooftops not unlike the one Goten intended to paint.

Well, Goten was not about to say he’d been flying and spotted it. So he just mumbled some vague things about getting lucky, he guessed. She set up her easel and began doing some light work on her painting, but it was clear she was waiting for the true light show to begin at sunset. She timed her arrival well, as within a half hour, the suns began to set and the colors of the sky and city were illuminated in the light reflected off the water. Unlike on Earth, the sunsets here were in neon shades of blues, purples, and greens as the atmosphere was very different from Earth’s.

As one, they both began to furiously work on capturing the light show before them onto their canvases. No words were spoken as they worked in silence, both utterly consumed by their work. Once Goten was happy with his approximation of the colors for the sky, as he’d touch it up later, he began to work more on the city and the people in it.

“I don’t mean to pry but what are those lines and lights?” the woman asked suddenly, startling Goten out of his art focus. Goten looked at the painting and realized she was referring to the ki lights of the people and ki lines of the planet that ran through the city that he’d painted.

 “Oh, it’s the ki of the planet and the living things on it. It’s something I sometimes like to add to my work. Kinda like a trademark I guess,” Goten shrugged. Most of the people he’d shown his work to on Earth were familiar enough with ki to never comment on it.

“The ki ?” she cocked her head.

“‘Life energy’ I think is the term you might know it by.”

“You can see it? This is what the world looks like to you?” She was staring at the painting now as if it held secrets she could uncover if she just focused hard enough.

“Well, more like feel it but yeah, I’m aware it’s there.”

“You must explain this to me.” She put her own brush down and scooted closer to Goten, abandoning her work entirely, her eyes still focused on Goten’s painting.

“It’s like this: every living thing has energy to it. Then, there are those who train it and can cultivate their energy by doing martial arts or meditating or all kinds of other activities. Those that have more ki can do some really incredible things, like fly or create blasts of energy from their hands,” Goten explained, trying not to let her catch on just how much experience he’d had with those things.

“Here, let me show you,” he said and he took her hands and cupped them in his as he started focusing on the ki of the planet and sent that connection to her along her own ki wavelength.

He felt the fish and the kelp in the seas, the birds in the sky, and every person that was wandering around Bracera looking at the art. He also tuned into the familiar kis of Trunks and Marron. Trunks’s ki was a beacon that Goten was never unaware of, even if they were on opposite ends of the planet.

Then, he sent a small flow of ki to their combined hands and in the center of her palms created a small, barely there, ball of ki. He had surrounded her hands in his ki so it would not burn and instead just provided a small show of what it could do.

She stared at their joined hands transfixed. “Who are you, and how come it’s taken you so long to show me this magic?” She whispered before looking up at Goten, her face no longer showing wonder but determination.

“I want to do a collaboration painting with you. My name is Felucca and I need your help.”

“Wait, the Felucca? I’ve seen your work across the Brazzera and what do you mean by collaboration? You are incredible I could never-” Goten began, but was cut off by her shushing him.

“No, no, you don’t understand. I need your ki-seeing eyes, or however you do it, to help me fix a painting that I want to complete for the 250 th celebration and to celebrate life as it now is in this great and historical city. I have never been happy with my past attempts, as there was always something missing and now I’ve found it. I want to work with you to finish this piece.”

“I mean, that sounds cool. I’ve done some drawing collaborations with my friend Inka before but those were all digital works. But if you just want me to show you how to sense ki-

“No!” Felucca said, a bit of frustration in her voice. “I want you to work on the painting as well! I can see in your work here that you would be more than adequate enough to be an assistant.”

“Well okay, as an assistant, maybe, but are you sure about this? I mean your work is just so incredible-”

“And with your help, I’ll make something even better!”

He opted not to show her he could fly at that point, so they took the gondolas back to her studio on the outskirts of the city. As a featured artist at the Brazzera, she had an obvious patron in Pirogue which afforded a very nice studio space to work in.

She showed him the pieces she was working on and he thought they were amazing already but she insisted they needed to show life more.

They got to work sketching out what the painting was going to be. It would be of Bracera, without a doubt, but the question was where exactly to paint it from. She made numerous attempts at of a certain juncture of buildings and they decided to start with that and went to scope out the location that night at dusk and took many reference pictures.

Goten finally finished up for the night and took one of the shuttles back to the moon and the ship to catch up with Trunks and Marron. They had not come to find him, trusting him and his texts that he was busy doing something and would be just fine.

When he told them of his new project, Marron was excited for him but Trunks was a little put out that he would be denied hanging out with his boyfriend for several days in a row. “Who’s going to explain all the art to me?” was his gripe but Goten rolled his eyes and promised him he’d put out at night if he got to get all his creative energies out during the day.

And so the next day, he went back to her studio and they set to work. First, he spent hours helping her train her ability to sense ki. She was much better at it when she was meditating so in between painting, she would go meditate to reaffirm the ki-sight she was trying to portray.

Goten added some touches on the painting, refining ki lines, and filling in the background. However, he could see a savant at work on the piece and knew enough to stand back and let her do the majority of the work.

They finished it in three days and by the end, Felucca had the ability to sense ki from about 10 meters away even when she wasn’t meditating. She could also sense Trunks on the other side of the city with his power level. When she focused on it and really concentrated, she could see for several miles.

The painting depicted a rare moment of twilight in the city when the twin suns had already set and the city was being illuminated, not by them, but by the ki lights of the city’s inhabitants shown in biped-shaped forms. But there were also the tendrils of the world’s natural ki lines running through, and the tiny specks of color for the fish in canals and in the ruins of the city below.

Felucca called up Pirogue and told him that she had finished her next painting. He was delighted when she explained the subject and said he would do a big event for its unveiling. He would even invite the king, as it was to be offered as an option for his Batean collection.

When Trunks and Marron asked Goten that night if he had anything to do with the new painting that had the entire city buzzing with excitement, he only smiled and showed them the three tickets to the unveiling he had secured from Felucca and Pirogue.

They dressed in their nicer outfits the next day for the unveiling and Trunks and Marron were excited to see just what it was that Goten had been so excited about working on. They ran into Felucca outside. She was donned in a very modest body-covering garb, including a face mask, but her hands and head were all painted matte gray for a sense of anonymity.

But then there was much commotion as a man with tattoos distorted by sagging skin came in. He wore a simple circlet on his head but they’d seen his face on the coinage when they went to the gift shops. This was the king.

Pirogue soon unveiled the painting and everyone watched as it now stood on the wall.

It was a beautiful tapestry of white-yellow lights on a sea of purples and blues that made the cityscape. It was so clearly Bateau, even in the impressionist style.

The king was silent for a moment, examining it, before turning to Felucca. “What are these lights?”

“The easiest way to explain would be to show you. Please, if I may show you my king.” She took his hand and sent a short burst of ki into him and let him experience the shock but then she started doing a light mediation to expand her own ki sense as she drew the king’s attention to the ki in the world around him, the other people, the plants in the oceans, and the very planet.

“This is life force energy. This is what I have always been trying to capture, and this is my discovery of what will be my next feature of a series of works,” she explained.

The king stared at his hands as if they held some unknowable secret in them. “In all my many years I have never noticed a beauty such as this. You are showing me the very essence of life itself and I can hardly breathe, for I am so overcome. I have seen many, many, beautiful paintings for over my two centuries of my reign, but never before have I seen one such as this. To think I lived so long and only now have I seen such beauty. I will purchase this painting and have it hung in the palace.”

The entire crowd muttered in excitement. The king had found a new piece for the collection as reputable as the royal palaces?

“I’m sorry, but it’s spoken for,” Felucca said and the crowd let out an audible gasp. “This one belongs to the man who gave me the gift of sight for ki and helped me craft it. But now that I know this secret I shall do a whole series of paintings about this planet and the ki living on it. I shall make art for you, my king, beyond anything I have made before or any that you have before seen. But this painting belongs to Goten.”

“Don’t be ridiculous I could never accept-” Goten began in shock.
“I insist. You have opened up my eyes to so much and this was just as much your painting as mine,” she said. “And now I can create many more paintings like this with my ki-sight.”

Trunks, Goten, Marron, and Felucca all went to have lunch together, paid for by Pirogue, at a cafe as they explained their experiences with ki and a lot more. She had not heard of Saiyans so she had to just take them at their word when they tried to explain why Trunks and Goten’s ki was just so astoundingly large. And it was over lunch that Goten was convinced by the combined efforts of the other three to accept the painting.

Goten vowed to return again one day and see even more artwork Felucca had created as well as touring every gallery on the planet. Felucca promised to take him on the tour herself.

And with that, it was time for their next trip.

~

Marron’s turn to pick what to do next involved finding a planet that was unoccupied. They found a suitable one that had enough of an atmosphere to support life even though the complete lack of water meant it had no native population. It was just a hunk of rock and dust. It was about the size of Earth’s moon, though with gravity of about three times that of Earth. It had a series of craters, but not much else in the way of landmasses.

They landed next to one of the larger craters.

“So what did you want to do here Marron?” Goten asked, curious at the odd request of a location for a visit.

“You boys are going to have a fight, but you’re going to first enjoy a drink of this,” and she brandished a bottle she’d pulled out of her belongings. “This is Saladan Bloodbeat Brandy. It’s a special blend of alcohol and natural amphetamines that’s made just for the Saiyan constitution. I was warned if I drank it my heart would probably explode.”

“Wait, but we can get drunk normally. Like, it takes a lot to do it, but we can do it,” Trunks said, reaching out to take the bottle to examine it. The glass was red and shaped like a very rounded whisky bottle and it was filled with a dark and opaque liquid.

“But this is a specialty for Saiyans about to have a fight. It was a tradition that in competition the Saiyans would take a drink of this beforehand to make the fighting more instinctual. It’s said to be a favorite indulgence of kismesis, which you guys are, like, half that at least. Come on, are you really turning this down?”

“Of course not. I’m all for a fun time and even if for some reason it’s a bust, I’ll still get a spar in with Goten.”

“Yeah, sounds like it could be fun enough,” Goten agreed. “Where did you get this from Marron? Universe 6, I presume?”

 “Oh, it was a gift from Champa, or more probably Vados claiming it was from him. I got two bottles and gave one to Vegeta for him to share with Goku and one for the two of you. I think the intention behind giving it to me was to stir Goku and Vegeta up into causing trouble for Beerus. Which, who knows? I hope Champa enjoys whatever chaos he’s going to cause with it. But we’re going to have fun with it now!”

“Okay, so sparring session after we indulge in this sounds easy enough and pretty quick usage of your turn. But whatever spins your engines I guess,” Trunks said.

“One last thing,” Marron added, “I think we should be keeping it in base, boys. I don’t want you mixing Super Saiyan with the Bloodbeat Brandy quite yet. After all, we don’t know how it will affect you with your half-human constitution. Let’s try to maintain as much control as possible even when we let loose under the influence.”

“Fair enough,” acknowledged Trunks. There could be plenty of time to try out Super using this Bloodbeat Brandy, it only made sense for the first time to be a control test.

“Good thinking Marron,” agreed Goten.

The three of them exited the ship, Marron making Goten take out a fold-up chair and small speaker for her while she brought out her laptop. Trunks carried the brandy and two shot glasses. She set up the chair next to the edge of the crater as Trunks poured two shots before recapping the bottle and handing it to Marron. She set it beside herself as she began to play some fun poppy workout numbers from her laptop speakers.

Trunks and Goten toasted the glasses before both swallowing their shots and, huh. It tasted strange, unlike any Earthling alcohols, and oddly sweet in a pungent sort of way. But whatever; they weren’t drinking it for the taste.

They both hopped down into the crater they planned to spar in and began their warm-up stretches as they waited for the alcohol to kick in. They still didn’t feel any different after the warmup, but they moved into a light exchange of blows as they started in. It was only after about five minutes of them slowly increasing their pace that they begun to feel it all kick in.

Rascal had followed them into the crater and had set itself up a little ways away, eyes trained on them. They kicked it up a notch, showing off a bit for Marron, Rascal, and everyone who would end up watching this on Marron’s channel.

But even though they had just started ,they noticed the feel of blood rushing in their brain and body. It was the kind of adrenalin-powered hyperfocus on fighting they only got when they were being intense, but here it was already so strong and powerful. They both powered up their ki more before diving into more furious sparring.

They traded blows and they didn’t notice in their rush that they were hitting a little harder, a little wilder, and a little less controlled than their usual finely-honed fighting style they’d spent their lives mastering.

No, this was something new. They practically danced around each other in the three times gravity that could have been negative zero-g for how little they felt it.

But then a new change came, as the desire to dodge began to fade in the fight. The boys were taking blows and hits and throwing each other around with more strength. They wanted to feel it. They wanted the contact of skin on skin and the hurt that came with it.

Their ki control was getting sloppy, which was unusual for them. They had long since learned how to master the absurd control they needed to maintain their ki even in Super, but now that control was fraying. It wasn’t neatly wrapped around them, and was starting to bleed out into the space surrounding them. If they were trying to deliberately make it seem bigger, they would be doing this on purpose. But instead, they were creating holes in their ki fields. And those were holes that were begging for exploitation.

Trunks’s clothes ripped as Goten threw him backwards into the ground and it cratered beneath his body. Trunks was stunned for a moment as he looked up at Goten, who had turned and given him a triumphant smirk the likes he only gave Trunks.

As he looked at Goten and was struck by the thought that he wanted nothing more than to beat him bloody then kiss away all the blood, and then fuck him into the planet. It was a deliriously good image in his mind. One that seemed right on a fundamental level to Trunks. This was his Goten, this was their fight, and this is what they were in the most simplest of terms. This was what life was worth living for. This was everything.

“Ten!” Trunks yelled over the roar in his ears as he dodged a punch aimed down at him, grabbed it in his hands, and quickly dartied around Goten so he now had the fist wretched into his back. “I fucking love you, man,” he declared in Goten’s ear.

“Not going to go easier on you for that Trunks!” Goten hissed furiously and flared his ki almost to going Super to break the hold and wrenched out of it.

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it. I want you to go as hard on me as you can,” Trunks laughed as he recovered from the broken hold and moved to come at Goten a second time.

They flew around the crater, not firing much ki but using mostly grappling holds and physical punches on each other. This was not how they usually fought and there was something base and instinctual in them as they moved, both on the same wavelength of just how serious to take the fight.

“Oh gods! This is so much fun. I love this feeling!” Trunks yelled. Wow, he was doing a lot of yelling, but it just felt so right. It was as if he needed to shout to the universe.

Eventually, the spar came to an end when Goten ended up doing a flying tackle into Trunks pushing him into the ground as their lips met in a fierce battle of who could kiss more deeply. Trunks didn't’ fight back and let himself be pushed further into the ground as Goten pushed down while kissing intently, slowly cratering the ground more and more beneath them. Yes, this. This . Okay, fine, Goten won. The only person Trunks never truly minded losing to was Goten. Oh god, Goten fuck him. He relaxed his ki around his clothes so that Goten could tear them away and–

“Okay, I guess that means the Bloodbeat Brandy was a success!” Marron called down into the crater loudly and broke the moment. “Guess I’ll leave you two to go finish off what the foreplay started, have fun!” As she began playing some music even louder to cover any noises as she started back into the ship after calling for Rascal to follow her and let the boys undress each other in the crater to fuck.

Goten came to get her about an hour later after they had finished and showered. She was sitting at the table in the kitchen having a snack.

“Have fun?” She asked cheerfully, acting like she very well couldn’t see the lines of marks all over Goten’s skin that his tank top displayed.

Goten gave her a look and tried to fight a blush.

“Yeah, the brandy? It’s, um, really good stuff. Be, uh, fun to try it again...”

He was trying to be coy and nonchalant but Marron knew how to read the boy and could see his ki dancing still on the after-effects of the high from sex, if not from the brandy. The boy was clearly thrilled by what had just happened. Well, good for him.

“Well, I’m not going to be the one drinking it. That’s for sure,” Marron said, pausing to take a sip of her drink before continuing, “Though I do think we shall avoid indulging in it if we’re on the ship.”

“But the gravity chamber,” Goten started to whine in his puppy-dog way that he used when he wanted to get what he wanted from Trunks to Gohan to Piccolo. But it did not work on Marron.

“ I don’t care about the gravity chamber” Marron overemphasized, “We’re using it to fly around space and I will not be stranded somewhere because you two fight monkeys got a little too rowdy while drunk and on speed. If you two want to save some brandy for 100g’s of Super Saiyan sex, you can do that when we get back to Earth.

“Okay but can you, like, get us some more? For like when we’re on Earth? Because that was too fun not to do again.”

“I could see how friendly Vados is willing to be. Champa is a frequent commenter anytime Beerus comes up, so I know he watches. I might be able to see if Whis is willing to work something out to get Vegeta a hookup. Like, maybe establish intra-universe Saiyan relations. Fuck, maybe we should see if we can get Vegeta to go on a trip to Universe 6 Sadala. That could be a fun family trip I suggest on the condition I get to come along and film.

“Yeah, yeah, I can imagine the others would want to go see the planet of the nice Saiyans and make a big trip out of it.”

“Oh, man! Can I put money down on Vegeta having some sort of breakdown over the whole thing? Like, stepping foot on a planet Sadala even if it’s not his Sadala? Oh! And as an aide, you two are going to have to work on being a lot more careful if you ever do that shit in Super because that is a lot more ki that can go wrong if you lose control. I think a single drink is all either of you need.”

“Yeah. Besides, who knows when we can restock. We’ve only got the one bottle, so we’ll try to save it as much as we can.” Goten said. “Besides, maybe we can train up to Super on it.”

“Would that be training to fight in Super on the brandy or what comes after?” Marron arched her eyebrows giving Goten’s marks a very obvious look.

“Oh leave me alone! I’m in a committed relationship. I’m allowed to have a sex life,” Goten grumbled.

“Oh please, like I wasn’t half expecting something like this based on what I read about the stuff. Apparently, it’s popular amongst the kismesis couples, so, like, yeah. No wonder you two are enjoying it. That’s why I took the time to ask for it and why I wanted enough for Vegeta and Goku. I bet they’re having just as fun a time with it as you two are. And think if we become Vegeta’s hookup for the stuff; he’ll have to let us get away with all sorts of fun.”

“What stuff are we my Dad’s hookup for, and how can I get in on it? Because I like fun,” Trunks said, coming back into the room, sans shirt. Wow, if Marron had thought he’d done a number to Goten’s neck and shoulders, she was not prepared for Trunks’. Or his chest. Or his back. Woah, monkey-sex indeed.

“I was given two bottles of the brandy, and I gave one to your father and told him to use it on himself and Goku,” said Marron.

“Well, thanks for wing-manning my Dad I guess. Don’t exactly want to think about him using that stuff with Goku if does the same thing me and Goten just did. It’d be a bit more destructive, that’s for fucking sure though.”

“Oh I’m sure they could blow up a planet if they weren’t watching it while on the stuff. I hope Vegeta was smart enough to make the first time they tried it somewhere with Whis playing chaperone to rewind time if things got a little hanky with the hanky-panky.” Marron put on a big shrug. “Well, I enjoyed the show at least. I’m so glad Rascal has the AI that lets him know how to direct his view. I can’t wait to go over the footage and put something together. It needs some mood music and I think I could have a hell of a time making you boys an AMV. I’ll send both of you the final thing before I post it for approval but I’m also sending a copy to Champ and Vados with the note that if this is what you two are like, imagine your fathers.”

“When we’re back home, are you going to film the two of them somewhere on the Bloodbeat?” asked Trunks.

“Oh you know it!” Marron grinned. “I can’t wait to show the Saiyan Kismesis unleashed. After the talk about that prophecy, I’m sure Champa is going to want to supply us with the hopes it might cause Beerus’s universe to be destroyed.”

“We need to get on his good side if he’s going to be our hookup. I think I’ve found my new favorite alcohol,” said Trunks.

“Oh yeah,” agreed Goten.

~

Next up, it was Trunks’s turn and he made good on a threat he’d been giving for years: It was time to get some tattoos! But not just any tattoos. No, Trunks had heard Vegeta’s scathing words about marking a Saiyan body. He heard his rant about how they would defile something sacred with such a thing too many times to just get normal ones. And Goten was in a similar boat with how his mother would screech if she found out he’d gotten a tattoo like some common hoodlum.

But Marron had shown him a video of ki-reactive tattoos that were invisible unless someone was channeling ki through them. This seemed like the perfect compromise. Especially if the tattoos were done when there was already large amounts of ki flowing through the body, you needed to pump up the area with quite a bit of ki to make them show. So, say, if the boys just happened to be getting the tattoos when they were both Super Saiyans, it would take ascending to that state for the marks to show. They both agreed to start looking into adding compression sleeves to their workout wear if they intended to go Super.

Trunks and Marron looked up and found a place that was only a few days' travel away. It was a very reputable facility that did strange and unusual tattoos and piercings for aliens of all kinds of species.

There was a planet that had one of its moons dedicated to medical facilities that were renowned in their solar system for their cutting-edge technology. Apparently, people came from the other planets in the system to this specific moon if they had some type of unusual injury or illness.

While technically more of a cosmetic establishment, their destination was still held to the high standard of the other facilities on the planet.

They landed in a large parking garage that was not dissimilar to the one at Meshi station and followed the large directory to find where they wanted to go. They were eventually led to a tall building that was painted white and had purple neon lights all over it, promising all kinds of body modification services inside.

The inside was much of the same. It was very white with nice low-light violet lighting. They went to the main desk and said they were all here to talk to someone about getting tattoos and sat and waited until a 4-foot-tall, blue-skinned, 4-eyed alien with a clipboard began asking them questions about what they were interested in.

Marron asked what were the current most popular services and their interest was piqued when they heard the words “linage lines.”

“It’s a way to permanently record your important family history in a way that it will always be with you,” explained the alien.

“Wait ,that actually sounds kinda cool,” said Trunks. “So I could have stuff from my parents etched into my skin”

“Yes, where you come from, family history, the like.”

“Okay, I think we found our choice,” said Trunks. Marron and Goten both easily agreed.

“You guys should get them on opposite forearms so that Gotenks would have both of them filled,” Marron suggested.

“I like that idea,” said Goten. It sounded like a very fun thing to have Gotenks with his incredible lineage etched into his skin like some kind of boast. Also, the forearms sounded very aesthetically pleasing to some base nature artist brain of his.

“Well, if that’s what we’re doing, why don’t you guys think a bit about the designs you want and draw them out? I can help look up stuff on my Godpad if you need help visualizing something.”

They went back to their ship so Goten could grab some drawing supplies so they could draw the designs for the artist to work from.

Marron and Trunks figured theirs out pretty quickly, but Goten kept counting on his fingers and looking annoyed every time he added up another one.

“Okay so here’s what I got: Grandpa Gohan, Master Roshi, Kami, King Kai, and Whis. Man, my Dad kind of got around. And then for my mom, the old Ox-King crest, and then I feel Piccolo has taught me enough that I would say he warrants including.”

“Also, the crest for the royal family of Vegeta,” Trunks added, “Dad did do that naming thing for you after all, even if it doesn’t mean anything to anyone except him.”

“The thing we all agreed to ignore because it could by a certain definition make us technically brothers,” Goten said, skepticism very heavy in his voice.

“Don’t care. It did something otherwise Raditz would have been able to hit you. Besides, you’ll end up getting it anyway when you eventually marry into it. It’ll save us the hassle of updating it now.”

Goten silently nodded his head, satisfied with the new justification. Trunks gave a lil victory smirk at winning the point.

“How about you Trunks?” Marron asked.

“Well Capsule Corp’s logo for my Mom, obviously. Then for my Dad, the Vegeta family crest, Frieza’s mark—thanks for helping me look that one up Marron—and Whis. Then for myself, Piccolo’s mark I guess if we’re counting him.”

“Are you sure you want to have Frieza’s mark on you?” Goten asked in surprise. Marron cocked her head, confused herself and curious as to Trunk’s justification.

Trunks shrugged, “It’s a part of my dad’s legacy. I shouldn’t deny all that he’s done. He’s owned up to it, and he’s working to atone. After that thing with Gas a while back, apparently Dad had a lot of feelings about being on New Namek again and had some long talks with Mom about it. At least that’s the gist of what I caught from Mom’s long explanations. But, like, he’s been approved by Sheron’s powers and half the gods in the universe that he’s now a good person and is doing the right thing, even if it’s kinda in his way. So yeah, I’m gonna record my Dad’s story even if it’s not pretty.”

“Man, I’m so simple compared to you guys. I’m just getting the Kame symbol and the number 18,” Marron said. “But anyways, let's have Goten draw out how we want them to show the tattoo artist,” Marron said. So Goten took Trunks and Marron’s sheets and drew them all out as they negotiated exact orders and placement on the boys, Goten adding the Vegeta crest to his own as well.

They went back to the shop and presented the sheets to the scheduler who gave them a room and names of the people who would be working on them. The drawings were taken and prepared to be made into stencils to put on the skin by their assigned artist.

Trunks got his tattoo drawn onto his left forearm and Goten on his right while Marron had opted for hers to be on her right hip.

There was a bit of a conversation about pain tolerance from the artists, a prepared speech undoubtedly, but Trunks and Goten reassured them that they had a high pain tolerance. However, there was more of a problem with how much ki they were going to be using as they were being tattooed. They would be in Super where their ki would naturally encircle them but they would have to focus on holding it back from their arms enough to let the needles pierce their skin.

Sure enough, it took a few tries and several needles before the boys had figured out how to hold their ki away enough from the skin so the needles could pierce and leave the ink.

Marron started asking the artists about what kinds of tattoos they’d done or what were their favorite kinds to do. But when she tried to involve the boys in the conversation she got brushed off.

“Okay, so this actually takes a decent bit of control to be Super and hold back my ki enough that I can let a fucking little ass needle pierce my skin. So maybe we keep the chatter to a minimum.” Trunks said, letting some annoyance seep in.

“Not all of us have a hypersensitivity to ki like you do Marron,” Goten agreed though at least more politely.

“My one true superpower,” Marron intoned but did quiet herself and started playing with her phone. Compared to the boys, she hadn’t really inherited much power from her parents as No. 18’s uterus was one of the few things untouched by the process that turned her into a cyborg. But even gestating in it for nine months less than a foot away from her infinite energy core had given Marron a very fine-tuned ability to sense ki. She’d used that skill to train her own control over the rather pitiful reserve she had. She was able to fly and create a small ball of ki in her hands, but not much else. But that was fine. That was what her flying monkeys were for.

Marron’s was done first, as she had the simplest, then Trunks’ was finished, and finally, Goten who had the most to get inked.

They were informed if they wanted the tattoos to remain as linked to this level of ki as they were they would need to keep up the same state. So basically the boys would need to remain in Super as they healed.

“Great so we’ll be the blonde squad for the rest of the trip,” Marron chirped.

Goten pouted a little, mainly because he knew that meant when Trunks and him sparred in the gravity chamber they would need to be more careful with how much ki they trained with. And that also meant any Sadalan Bloodbeat Brandy indulgences would need to be done far away from the ship.

Chapter Text

Goten’s pick took a little figuring out as he didn’t exactly know where he wanted to go, so they spent some time feeling out the place had the right vibe. They consulted lists of tourist spots in the Universe. Goten knew he wanted to see some interesting natural wonders he could never see on Earth, but it needed to have life living there, to feel lived in. He wanted to take pictures of ki lines within a living breathing environment. 

Eventually they settled on a small planet that was renowned for its 10,000 little springs. Each one had some sort of unique property, which was often medicinal but many were instead on the mystical side of things. Goten thought it likely they could find something that would help their new tattoos heal a little quicker, and they all thought it was worth giving a shot. It was a good enough excuse to make it their next stop, Jusenkyo.

They set the coordinates and found it was only a few days’ flight. Marron gave the boys a very stern talking to about using the gravity chamber when they were both in Super and thus had the 50x multiplier of access to their ki at once. The ship was not meant for any serious fighting when they were like that. 

The boys did some warmups testing their own control over their bodies and their ki before coming to a mutual agreement to save the sparring and maybe just do some solo exercises. They did crank up the gravity to the max 150x it was capable of to at least put in a little effort to really train. 

After some lifting and basic exercises, they hit the button again to set the gravity back down to normal, and went to stand in front of the full length mirror against one side of the gravity chamber. They were both looking in the mirror in their work out gear which had bared their forearms, and they saw how the tattoos looked on themselves and each other. 

They didn’t even bother resisting more than a moment and they both looked at each other, very much knowing what the other was thinking, and they both dove into the dance to form Gotenks. Marron came into the room yelling about not only risking the ship as Super Saiyan but going Gotenks as well.Gotenks completely ignored her and was just checking himself out in front of the mirror and his tattoos on both his arms. 

Marron huffed and left when she could tell Gotenks was very much going to enjoy looking at himself in the mirror some more and probably not in a wholesome way. She wasn’t exactly interested in watching some narcissist make eyes at himself while jerking off. 

They arrived on the planet and got out in swimwear under simple coverups as they landed on the multi-tiered parking structure that appeared to be made out of wood but on Trunks’s closer inspection (breaking off a tiny piece) it was much harder than any wood they were used to. They went down the big plank on the side of the structure to where there were a series of lanes of open-air tropical stalls where you could find out about the various springs you could visit, maps of where they were all located, and they were each handed little electronic cards assigned to their names which were how you went about signing up for time slots of some of the springs. 

They each got one of the tablets displayed at the windows that offered reservations that had the guide ebooks on them. They took them over to a table under some sort of umbrella that was either alive or weirdly automated as it kept jiggling slightly and moved around to block the light from the sunlight filtering through the clouds on the planet. They took a look at the index that sorted the springs in multiple ways and began going through. The first thing they noticed was how the springs varied greatly in size. Some could accommodate a hundred people while others were only big enough to fit a few people. 

They browsed the listings of the medicinal springs and picked one of the larger, more mild healing springs that they visit in about 2 hours instead of the ones that could do more intense healing that had longer waits. It didn’t need to be said aloud but, all three of them were thinking about how a little speed up on the tattoo healing would be nice.

Then they spent the next hour just swiping through all the more bizarre and eclectic springs. There were even springs that could change you into an animal if hit with cold water. Trunks half joked about giving the monkey spring a dip, but Goten’s flat glare put a stop to the “joking” pretty quickly. Goten was not interested in being a furry and was very much not interested in dating one. 

Trunks read aloud from the list of what the most popular springs were, and the top choice aside from the healing springs was one that changed the physical sex of the people who swam in it. Depending on how long the dip in the spring lasted, the effect could be varying lengths of temporary or even permanent. 

Trunks playfully mused what he would look like as a woman but Goten just gave his shoulder a shove to stop being ridiculous. Goten knew Trunks well enough that he could pick up on this comment being entirely a joke. Goten had intimate knowledge of how much Trunks liked being a man in a male body. 

Marron read the descriptions for springs that were under the “For Lovers” section, and found one for a max of four people. It was pretty solidly booked, but maybe there had been some sort of cancellation as she saw a free  half hour slot for tomorrow. She quickly skimmed the Meeting-of-the- Minds spring’s details before she grabbed Trunks and Goten’s cards. The boys let her take them without protest but both turned to see what she was doing with them. She swiped them both on the side of the tablet, signing them both up for it as a private reservation. 

“Well? What am I doing now?” Trunks asked, craning his neck to read over her shoulder as she handed him his card back. Marron quickly clicked away, not letting him read the description of what exactly the properties of the spring she signed them up for were. 

“Secret surprise romantic date spot for the two of you. Clothes are required. Note that if you fuck in the spring, there’s a severe cleaning fee.” 

“Thanks,” Goten said, rolling his eyes with a bit of exaggerated force, but at the same time, noting that if Marron was bothering to inform them of it, the caution was probably warranted.

They got bored of browsing through all the listings after a bit and decided to do a bit of wandering as they made their way to their scheduled healing spring dip about a half hour early. 

They were looking for one that gave you a mermaid tail so long as you were submerged in the spring when they saw a warm, pink-skinned person leaning over the side of a spring that had a red warning on the signpost next to it, the red labeled ones were ones that were not ones anyone would want to voluntarily get into by any means. The person, now with a closer look clearly a woman, seemed to be trying to get a water sample but was leaning pretty far over the edge in order to reach down…

Moving only on instinct and intuition, Goten flash-stepped forward and grabbed her person right before she lost her grip on the side of the pool. He dragged her back and with his free hand grabbed the empty vial from her hands. 

Trunks, not needing to be told what to do, swooped over and grabbed the vial from Goten’s outstretched hand and flew over the pool and hovered over it and used some ki to lift out a small sample of water and guide it into the vial. 

“Hey you okay?” Goten said, addressing the woman.

She blinked several times taking in what had just happened, and what had nearly happened, before she quickly dropped into a bow at Goten. “Thanks for saving me.” 

“No problem. That seemed like it was about to end badly,” Goten said as Trunks landed next to him and handed out the filled and capped vial out to the girl. 

“Oh, I’m Goten. This is Trunks, and that over there is Marron.” 

Marron made her way over to the others at a leisurely pace instead of flying but she still managed to hear the Kai speak.

“My name is Pechetta.’

“Wait, you’re a Kai, aren’t you?” Marron asked. Trunks and Goten both did a double take as they looked at her. They hadn’t met a pink kai before, but surely they existed given the range of pastel colors of the Kais they did know of. She had a white mound of hair that kind of looked like two pieces of a heart coming together on top of her head. 

Pechetta looked taken aback. “How did you know?”

“Your ki? I mean your energy, it’s got a bit of an edge to it. I only sense when people have divine ki, even if yours is a lot lower.” Marron shrugged instead of elaborating more. 

The Kai sighed and her shoulders slumped. “Yeah that’s me, low on divine magics. I didn’t realize it was so obvious that now even mortals could pick up on sensing it.”

“Eh, don't sweat it, I just grew up very sensitive to energy,” said Marron. “So, what are you doing here. It must be important work for them to send a Kai here and everything.”

“Not really, I’m just here to collect samples of each of this planet’s springs to bring back for a study on their various strengths and properties.”

“Wait, you’re collecting water from the springs on this planet? All of them? By yourself?” Goten asked, his voice getting increasingly incredulous. 

When Pechetta nodded, Trunks let out a low whistle, “Sounds kinda monotonous?”

“That’s because it is. And no, to answer your question, it’s not very important. I apparently need to learn patience and precision, I’m one of the youngest Kais and I think some of the elders think I act without thinking that much. Also it’s just busy work to get me off of the Core Planet for a bit. 

“Well that’s not very nice,” Goten said, perturbed on her behalf.  

Pechetta shrugged bashfully and began to rub her arm with her free hand, “They don’t like me that much. I don’t have much magic and I’m only barely a Kai.”

“Well, that sounds lame as hell,” said Marron. “How about you put a pause on this task and hang out with us instead? We’re probably a lot more fun than just gathering water samples.”

“That sounds delightful, but I’m not sure I should do that-”

Trunks ignored her hesitation and gave her a look up and down. “It’ll be fine. If this is such a low level priority I’m sure no one will notice you taking a bit of a break to have fun with us. Can you fly?”

“Yes, I was at least able to learn how to do that,” Pechetta said. 

“Tag along with us on our trip,” said Goten. “We’re on vacation and doing sight seeing of the Universe.” 

Pechetta smiled, “I’d like that. Where are you guys headed to next?”

“We’re just trying to see cool planets with neat people,” said Trunks, “We’re taking turns right now to each pick what our next stop is.”

Pechetta gave them all a bit of a longer look, clearly thinking, “Are you all related? Your coloring is similar.”

Marron lit up and started grinning like mad, which was a terrible sign, “Yes, we’re all siblings.”

“Don’t tell her that,” Goten chastised while Trunks swatted at her shoulder.  “She might actually believe you. No Pechetta, none of us are related. We just happen to all have the same hair color right now. But we don’t normally.” And then, quick to add in as to prevent any potential misunderstandings, “Trunks is my boyfriend. We’re dating.”

“You should be pretty sensitive to ki with your own divine ki. Can’t you tell from looking at theirs,” Marron said. 

“Not really, I don’t have that much use of my own powers. I mean I do possess divine Kai energy and can do some Kai magics but I would be absolutely defenseless at defending myself like a lot of stronger Kais can do. 

“Oh no worries, there we got the boys!” Marron chirped and when Pechetta tilted her head in confusion Marron grabbed her hand in hers. “Here let me show you exactly what I’m talking about,” Marron took Pechetta’s abilities to feel out ki and opened them up to follow her own more expansive seeing ability and then directed her to where the boys stood.

The boys had both perfected their first Super Saiyan form for well over a decade and a half to minimize ki drain, but it was there. If a regular mortal life was like a candle, then like this the boys were a softly glowing fireplace. They were noticeably more intense yet still very well controlled beings with ki. But using Marron’s finer tuned sense, they saw further and saw the tankers of gas that could fuel the fire into an inferno if they were to tap into them. 

Not only that, she showed Pechetta the way the two fires were intermingling at the edges, like two fires set up burning in two separate fire-pits next to each other, close enough that the two fires met in the middle and were interacting, sparking embers drifting from one fire to the next with ease. 

“Wow! And you’re both mortals?” the Kai said, looking at both the boys with wide eyes.
In lieu of answering her direct question with the incredibly obvious answer, Trunks instead got to the real one she hadn’t asked. “We’re not interested in being the focus of the goings on of the universe. We’re just having a fun time exploring all the universe has to offer and having fun. And like we said, you’re welcome to tag along.”

Pechetta thought about it for a bit but then tagged along with them for their dip in the healing spring. She didn’t get in herself, but sat near one of the edges that had some rocks lining the banks while the three mortals hung out near the edge talking to her while they all soaked their tattoos in the water. The water was a pleasant warm temperature, though nothing like the roaring heat of the hot springs the boys had visited on Earth. The water also gave a slight tingling effect over all the skin that was submerged. 

The healing spring had a one hour time limit but when they got out, they noted their tattoos looked remarkably more healed though not fully so. The boys expressed true amazement that their tattoos had yet to fully heal considering their usual Saiyan healing rate, but Marron pointed out this was a type of wound that was healing around a foreign substance in their arms and maybe the tattoos were draining enough of the boys ki to keep up with their natural body rates.

~

The next day, Pechetta took Marron to one of the other springs, one that was apparently for females only for some reason. Marron herself didn’t really know why, but she had steered the boys away by reminding them of their special booking. Goten and Trunks followed their map to the “Couple’s” one that Marron had booked them for. 

It was not a big spring by any means, more like a half swimming pool in size though probably not as deep as one normally got. As they took a look at it they noticed that what it was filled with had the consistency of a jelly like substance and was a brighter and bluer blue then natural water was on earth. Shrugging, they both dropped their t-shirts that covered their chests and got in in their swim shorts. 

The gel was a bit chilly but they quickly adjusted. The rivers and lakes out by the Son house back on Earth were much colder. It only came up to about their abdomens, so they had to crouch to get into the substance more. They tried moving around in the mixture and it took some getting used to. It was thicker than water and harder to control themselves through but it was easier to feel themselves floating. 

This is so weird, thought Trunks.

“Wait what?” Goten said aloud

“What what?” Trunks said, looking to meet Goten’s surprised gaze. But Goten did not respond. Or at least not audibly. 

I think I can hear you in my head, Goten thought at Trunks as he met his gaze and sure enough he saw Trunks’ eyes widen at the words. 

Oh! I see what this spring is about. Trunks thought aloud. I guess I can see why it’s popular with lovers. Who wouldn’t want to be able to communicate without words with their lover? Not everyone had access to something like fusion that allowed Trunks and Goten to already have a familiarity of sharing a mind-space, or at least the after effects of it. 

As such, both Trunks and Goten didn’t immediately return to thinking at each other and were more interested in examining the sensation of being in the gel before they got more used to it and began wadding near each other, giving light shoves to see if they could submerge the other under the surface of the gel for a bit before they both laid on their backs in the gel next to each other. 

This is so weird, Goten repeated the sentiment Trunks had thought earlier. 

Nice though. Fun to be able to be in your thoughts yet also share them without speaking, Trunks thought before glancing over at Goten. Makes me want to think about all the things I want to do to you.

At Goten’s slight pinking cheeks Trunks sat up and grabbed for the other man and began to place kisses along the line of his neck and soon their joined minds were filled with how many different ways they could make love to each other in the pool right now. 

Remember the cleaning fee, Trunks thought as he kissed his thoughts into Goten’s skin. 

We are not doing anything like that Trunks. Goten scowled at Trunks playing like Goten was the first one whose mind first went to perverted thoughts between the two of them. Goten knew Trunks well enough to know his mind even without being literally able to currently read his thoughts. 

I could see why couples would do it though, fuck in here. Makes it all seem so intimate. I could make love to your body and your mind at the same time.

We kinda do that enough already with our ki when he have sex normally, Goten pointed out.

Trunks vocally hummed in response and paused for a moment before speaking aloud. “You’re my everything Ten. As far as I care, the entire story of the universe and everything our parents ever did was only ever meant to lead me to you.

“Why are you talking out loud?” Goten had been enjoying the talking-without-talking a moment ago.
“Because I want you to hear me say it. Hear how much I mean it.”

Would have known it even if you had thought it at me, I can read your every intention, Trunks.

Then what are my intentions right now?

Goten rolled his eyes, and elbowed Trunks and thought as loudly as possible at his boyfriend CLEANING FEE!

Trunks audibly burst out laughing at his own ribbing being turned back on himself. 

~

After they got back on the ship from their second day on the spring planet, they were ready to get going onto their next adventure. 

Marron set up a series of cushions for Pechetta to sit and meditate on in her room. Kais didn’t sleep quite like humans but went into a deep meditation sitting up. They readied the ship to account for a fourth passenger before they met up in the living space and talked about what the next stop on the trip was. It was Marron’s turn to pick next and she showed the boys a digital flyer she found on the Godpad for a concert with a popular alien idol group, Intastella 7777, that was on a big Universal tour to promote their latest album and the hit single 5tar 5ystem. The next concert was near enough to them that they could make the flight in time for the show. 

The parking for the show was on a space station where they would take shuttles to the concert venue which was on the nearby planet. As they approached the planet, they saw the unique setup. It was on a small but dense planet that had an asteroid belt around it made up of a set of several rings, with the planet’s atmosphere extending far enough to actually encompass the rings in a strange staggered gravitational pull. The asteroid belt started as a natural phenomenon, but had been built up over the years with more asteroids being dragged into the belt artificially to beef it up. The small planet, Electronica-Accustica, was now an entertainment venue that could host up to about 200,000 people, but most of the seating was spread out on the smaller asteroids making it almost like thousands upon thousands of deluxe box seating. 

The stage was set up on the center of the planet with the biggest standing section of the pit for people who wanted to be as close as possible to the show or mosh. The stage was surrounded by gigantic flying screens which projected the visuals of what was on stage while the

Marron had booked one of the smaller asteroids, and the four of them flew to their designated seats. It was a small asteroid about the size of an Earthly minivan and had two sets of benches carved into the stone surface, one behind the other. Once seated they got their supplies out of the capsule Trunks packed;  cooler of foods and drinks, some lawn chairs, and a few blankets. It was a bit chilly on the asteroid so they came well prepared. Marron handed Pechetta a blanket before wrapping herself in one, not even bothering to roll her eyes as Trunks and Goten laid one out on the ground before starting to canoodle together under another one. 

They had barely settled in to watch the stage crew finish setting up the pre-show before Marron was already kicking things up a notch as she got the group’s attention and asked in her I-mean-trouble voice, “You guys ready to make this a bit more fun?”
“Oh boy, whatcha got?” Trunks asked, turning around to face her, delight already filling his voice. If Marron started with that, Trunks already knew he was gonna enjoy whatever followed. 

Marron held out a little baggie that held a series of brightly colored small pills. 

“Won’t get into specifics but think of it as basically divine LSD. It should work on you boys too as I’ve been reassured. Even though it’s designed for gods, it should be reactive to all mortals. “

“You always bring us the best treats, Marron,” Trunks said grinning before turning to look at Goten. He didn’t say anything for a moment and stared at the pills in Marron’s hand silently, clearly debating whether he was going to take one or not. Trunks was about to break in with some pleading on his part, but he ended up not needing to as Goten reached for a pill. “Not a word about this to my mother,” he hissed at both Trunks and Marron. 

Trunks let out a little whoop and gave Goten a kiss on the cheek before reaching for one of his own. Marron handed them both a water bottle and they both took the pills while Marron offered the baggie over to Pechetta who took a bit of convincing from Marron and Trunks that “no one will know” before she took a pill for herself. 

The girls both downed their pills and went back to watching the pre-show setup and by the time the pre-show had ended they could all feel the effects beginning to take hold of them. 

Then finally, the main band came on. 

Four band members that looked very humanoid and could pass for Earthlings, if it were not for their four arms, blue skin, and bright burning orange hairstyles, walked out onto the stage. Literally burning. In fact, they had orange flames on their heads instead of hair and watching their hair flicker around was oddly hypnotic. 

The lead singer was female and she played what could best be compared to a bass guitar, but sounded deeper and more complex in a way hard to describe with the two necks her four hands strummed the multitude of strings. The other three musicians were male but all looked very different. 

The fattest one was on the drums, and his four hands flew in a fury across the about 20 different drum pads on the drum set. The smallest one, who was either the youngest, or like, the equivalent of a Krillin-sized being of their species, played the keyboard, well keyboards considering the three sets of keys stacked on top of each other. 

Then, they began to sing. 

Maybe it was the space LSD kicking in but they could, almost swear they saw them singing in colors and not just in sounds as the first real song began to pick up the pace. 

Trunks and Goten began to slowly make out a bit under the effects, though Marron gave their backs a few little kicks when she sensed they were starting to get too handsy. They eventually settled into a serious necking session instead, though without any more heavy petting that kept getting them kicked. 

~

After the concert they went back to the ship and lazed around as they waited for the divine LSD to fully wear off before making any big decisions as to where to go next. The boys all too quickly slipped off to their room and when Pechetta made a questioning look at Marron, the mortal told her bluntly they wanted to see what sex was like while high on the drug. 

The next morning, after they were all much more sober, they regrouped in the kitchen area and discussed. 

“Well, before we go anywhere next,” Trunks began, “We need to think about refueling the ship. Marron, are there any fueling stations near this place?”

Pechetta sat up, “Oh! I have some fuel crystals you could use. They should last a while.” She reached into the sole bag she’d brought with her and pulled out a little drawstring bag and opened it up and took out a few small rocks and handed them to Trunks. Marron and Goten got closer to inspect them as well. They were round with many small bulges protruding from them. They looked a bit like some earthly hard candy.

“These are fuel?” Trunks asked skeptically, “I think they’re a little small to be able to power our ship...”

“Oh these are Konpeito fuel crystals and they hold a lot of power for their size. It’s the most efficient fuel system in the galaxy!” Pechetta said. 

Goten held up one rock to the light of the ship to look through its opaque coloring. “So this little crystal holds enough power to fuel a spaceship?

“Well, for a while at least, yes.”

Trunks took the small bag of the crystals from Pechetta and held them in his hand as he looked at them contemplatively, “Konpeito?”

“Yeah, Planet Konpeito,” said Pechetta. “It’s the crystalline planet where crystals of all different kinds grow and are harvested. They have fuel crystals,  healing crystals, and crystals that can dod all manner of other things.”

“Let me look it up on my Godpad,” Marron left to go grab her tablet from her room. When she came back she was already flicking her fingers around the screen,  “Yeah okay, it’s a planet known for its crystalline formations which are mined for all sorts of different purposes. Oh wow, they got crystals for everything, ones power spaceships, medicinal ones, as building materials, damn-”

“Okay it’s my turn to pick next,” Trunks interrupted, “And I think we just found our next stop. How far away are we Marron,”

“Gimme a sec to check out a map,” Marron said, swiping over to a different app. But before she could find her answer Pechetta responded. “If I correctly was able to judge how fast this ship moved and our current location, I think we should be able to reach it in a few days.”

They set course for their next stop. 

~

When they arrived on Konpeito, it was in a large desert that was very mountainous, with high crystalline gorges that had been created over millennia of the tectonic plates of the planet pushing against each other to create jagged, complex, and gorgeous cliffs of various crystals. 

The atmosphere was hazy from the extensive mining operations that took place all over the planet for the various precious crystals. 

They had to fly around on the surface for a bit before they were able to find a flat enough landing surface. Finally, they found a plane that was already playing host to a number of other vehicles so they took a spot and all walked over to where they felt a source of many ki signatures. As they grew closer, they saw what looked like some sort of event being set up. 

Most of the people setting up seemed to be native Konpeits as they looked like the little photo that had appeared on Marron’s Godpad when she was looking up the planet of what the native inhabitants looked like. They were all pearly white, had very large black eyes, and opalescent horns that looked like hair atop their head that looked like they were made from diamond, However, Marron assured the boys they were even harder. 

When the three mortals had expressed curiosity at what was going on, Pechetta’s hand flew to her forehead, “Oh I forgot! This time of year the Konpeito Competo Grand Prix is coming up. That must be what they’re setting up for!” 

“What’s that?” An oddly echo-y question as voices at once stumbled over each other as all three of them had the same question at once.

“It’s an annual race they hold through the crystalline gorges. They ride Cryspeeders at terrific speeds through the sharp rocks and other obstacle courses. There’s even part of the course that goes through an active mineshaft.

“Cryspeeders?” Trunks said, perking up. 

“Yes, their crystal powered speeders. Let’s look around. I’m sure we can find one around if this truly is the Konpeito Competo.”

They made their way into town and split up a bit to look around, the boys both wandering off by themselves while Pechetta stuck to Marron. 

“Look! There’s a display Cryspeeder over there.” 

Pechetta pointed to the display one that on first look didn’t look too different then a wider hoverbike that was suspended a foot off the ground on some stands and was being overrun by children climbing all over it. Marron flared her ki in the agreed upon signal and soon enough both boys had quickly made their way over to her location. 

They walked over and had to wait for the last of the children to finish before Trunks was able to get a decent look at it.

Its seat was one you’d straddle like a bike but along the handles were about a dozen different buttons and switches on the dash. The wings jutted out towards the back around the sides, enclosing around the rider’s legs. The curved windshield only extended up enough for display readouts embedded in the, well, it looked like glass, but Trunks very much doubted that’s what it was. 

Instead of wheels, it had three engine ports on the underside of the device: one under the handles and two at the rear under where each foot would go.

Not even hesitating, Trunks threw himself on the ground on his back and dove under the speeder to get a good look at the underside. He eyed the three rings that each held a floating, mostly-spherical crystal in the center. 

“How does it work?” Trunks poked his head out looking at the girls making it clear who he was addressing before just as quickly diving back under the bike to poke around. 

It was Marron who answered, fingers dancing over her Godpad as she looked it up for them, “Okay, it’s built around four propulsion crystals, three on the bottom that are the ones focused on lifting and the one that maintains flight control in the center where you put in your key crystal. The charges create a propulsion sphere around the vehicle that lets it hover off the ground and repulse off of objects.”

“As I recall,” said Pechetta, “A big part of the race is people trying to deliberately steer their Cryspeeders into each other’s space causing them to bounce off of each other and the surroundings. It leads to a lot of crashes, which I think are part of the draw. But don’t worry, Konpeits are very hardy people able to withstand a great deal.”

“Sounds dangerous,” Marron commented, her cheerful tone belying she was not showing the least bit of concern as she spoke, more just stating a fact. 

“Sounds fun,” said Trunks with an all too familiar gleam in his eye. “So, can like, anyone join in the race?

“Trunks, are you going to try to enter the race?” Goten asked in a resigned way. He knew that tone in Trunks’s voice, and that look on his face.

“Ten, you better fucking bet your beautiful ass I’m gonna try.”

They asked around until they were directed to one of the event’s staff who told them the entries had to be made months in advance as the race was in one week.  When Trunks asked if there were any people who had been approved who weren’t flying, they were told that one team had withdrawn that morning: Blue Streak. 

Marron was able to sweet talk the man into giving them the address that Blue Streak had on file of their base. And they spent the next hour flying over to a nearby city, or more in the outskirts of one. They could see the much larger structures off in the distance. They followed the organizer’s instructions and went into the outskirts of the nearby city and found a small mechanic shop that had a sign in its window that advertised it as the Blue Streak racer’s shop.

The four of them went into the shop and found a Konpeit at the counter. He was shorter than most and had crystal horns going atop his head like a small mohawk. 

“Hey, we came to ask about the Blue Streak team,”

“Yeah, what about it,” the man snapped. 

“You guys withdrew?” 

“Well, we had to,” the Konpeit snapped, “We had a crash last week. It badly damaged the Cryspeeder and our rider was injured. Nothing to be done about it. My wife broke her arm.” I’m not really wanting to talk about the Blue Streak at the moment. 

“It must have been a bad crash for it to harm a Konpeit,” said Pechetta. 

“Oh I’ll heal.”  A woman came into the shop with her left arm in a sling, “But what about our Cryspeeder?” Her hair was in a pixie cut with a bit of a tail at the very back that met her shoulders. 

“Well, tell you what,” Trunks leaned over the counter to them, “I’ll help you get your Cryspeeder up and operational again if you let me be the one to fly it in the race for ya.”

The two of them raised their crystalline eyebrows but allowed Trunks to continue his pitch. “Lucky for you I’m a genius mechanic who is an experienced flyer on my hoverbike back home. I’m a fast learner! how me how this tech works and I’ll show you what I can do. 

“If you think we’re going to just-” began the man. 

“Now, let’s hear the boy out,” said another. This time gravely, voice and what appeared to be an older Konpeit came into the room. His face was more weathered and cracked. “Hello there, I’m Danburite. I’m the owner of this shop and the Blue Streak team. That’s my son and apprentice, Calcite and his wife , Stelenite, you were just talking to. What do I hear about you being a genius mechanic?”

He took Trunks back to the workshop with his son Calcite and, sure enough, with an hour in the shop, Trunks had already proven knowledgeable enough for Danburite to give the okay for Trunks helping him repair the Cryspeeder, and for even Calcite to admit that Trunks knew his stuff. Trunks would be allowed to lead the repair more and more as he learned the tech.

Meanwhile, Stelenite took them back to living quarters while they waited for the men to get their mad mechanic on and made them all something that was remarkably like hot chocolate, “I’m the flier of the team. I met Calcite when he was assigned to me at a race as my mechanic. He stole my heart and got me to drop out of my bigshot team and fly for this tiny place. Best decision of my life.” 

“What made you decide to marry him?” asked Goten. 

“His heart,” Stelenite smiled into her mug, “but also there is nothing hotter than seeing him work up a sweat in that shop, covered in grease and cracks I need to buff out.”

Marron had her gaze locked on Goten as she watched a glazed look pass over his face for a moment. Oh, Goten very much understood what she was talking about. 

The next three days, Trunks lived at the shop working on the flyer. Goten, Marron, and Pechetta spent the time being shown around the race track by Stelenite and watching the structures for the Competo rise up around and creating a tent city near the track.  It wasn’t just the observation stands that sat out in the open desert, but the whole marketplace that sprang up as more people kept streaming into the area every day. 

It was two days before the race when their market sightseeing was interrupted by Marron and Goten noticing Trunks flaring his ki in order to get their attention. 

They went back to the shop and saw much celebration amongst the mechanics and a Cryspeeder that was hovering two feet off the ground with Trunks on its back. 

“Great, now you just need to learn how to fly it,” Calcite said, a little sardonically but not being able to hide the true excitement he felt that Trunks might actually be able to do this. 

“Oh, I have experience with my own hoverbike back home. And just flying in general. It’s just getting a hang of the propulsion system,” Trunks said, running his hand along the bike. 

“Propulsion systems are different from hover technology,” warned Stelenite but she sounded downright gleeful. 

Danburite gave Trunks the up and down, “The race gets pretty rough. People use the propulsion systems to bounce off one another and the environments. Normally, only Konpeits enter because they’re the only species made tough enough to withstand the potential damage of a wipe out.”

“It’s okay, I’m pretty sturdy, I can handle a rough race,” Trunks said grinning, his blonde eyebrows shaping his look of determination on his face. 

“Son, you don’t look it,” said Danburite, “Look at how fleshy you are! These Cryspeeders will involve periods of losing control of your steering and hoping that the repulsion sphere will kick in before you’re smacked straight into the sides of a canyon. And many times it won’t. This is not a race for most species. Konpeits are built differently.”

“I’m telling you, I’m plenty strong. I’ll be fine,” Trunks got off the bike and looked around the shop for a solid chunk of something miscellaneous and strong. He came up with a chunk of some sort of crystal, held it up for Danburite and Calcite to realize what it was, and crushed it with his fist without using ki. “Not only that but since I’m in Super Saiyan I’ll automatically be projecting enough ki to keep me safe.” 

“What. Super Sai-yan?” Calcite said. 

“He’ll be fine,” Marron said reassuringly, but at the same time not answering his question. The Konpeits all shared a look but seemed to come to the same conclusion “Well,” Danburite sighed, “I guess you can train out in the desert. You’ve got two days my boy” said Danburite before turning to his daughter-in-law, “Stelenite, my dear, this is where you’re up.” 

The next morning, they loaded up the team’s truck with all the equipment from the shop and hooked up the trailer that normally towed the speeder as they made their way to set up at the track. Meanwhile, the others flew out to the desert to practice. Goten carried Stelenite, Trunks carried the speeder, and Marron and Pechetta carried their lunch. Goten, Marron, and Pechetta sat around for a few hours watching Stelenite explain to Trunks how to steer and balance between the three propulsion crystals. The others eventually got bored of watching Trunks getting increasingly frustrated when he wasn’t instantly competent at it and went back to see the race track and the surrounding festivities.

That evening, when they went back to the ship, Trunks didn’t come back until late that night, saying that he got the hang of flying it at its top speed but that he was going to be spending all of the next day training on it too. 

~

Race day came and it was hard not to be excited. Stelenite proclaimed Trunks as “pretty darn good” and was clearly excited to see the alien perform in the race. Calcite and Danburite were down in the pit while the others decided they were going to take seats in the stands for a better view. The stands were out in the flat area where the finish line was set up. There were giant floating monitors that displayed many views of the track. 

Before they left the pit for the stands, Marron and Trunksl took a moment to speak to Trunks while Stelenite and Pechetta just wished him a simple good luck.

“Now Trunks, remember, you could always cheat by firing a ki blast at an opponent,” Marron said. 

“No!” Goten said sternly. “Trunks, I know you’re an unrepentant cheater but you got to do this right. It’s not fair to the Konpeits otherwise.”

“If I place in a fair fight, will you do whatever I want in bed tonight?” Trunks waggled his eyebrows at Goten. Goten rolled his eyes but only responded with a pointed, “If it’s a fair fight.”

“Fine, cross my heart I promise I will not shoot a ki blast at my opponent or their Cryspeeder. Now do I get a good luck kiss?”

After that Goten, Marron, Pechetta, and Stelenite settled up into the stands, in a designated section for spectators who were also members of a team. 

The race had about 30 Cryspeeders and their fliers. They lined up at the starting line. Trunks was pretty far back, but Marron and Goten could sense his ki glowing around him revving up alongside the engine every time. 

And the race was off!

Trunks flew in the middle of the pack, immediately taking to the air to the upper limit of the Crypseeders. It was a tactic that was not common amongst flyers, as it was more difficult to control a Cryspeeder the farther off the ground you got. But Trunks was comfortable in the air and had two decades of flying at top speed as experience. 

The other racers were seeing Trunks making progress and went to bump him. The further he edged forward and around other racers, the more he was the target. He danced between them regardless. When Trunks was just grazed, he would shake off the slight course shifting but if it was a bad one and he was sent crashing into the walls he’d fire a ki blast at the wall to give him something to bounce off of back on the course. 

But just as many times they saw him slam up against something sharp and strong. But as the dust cleared and they caught him on the next camera at the next stage he didn’t look any the worse for wear. He was Super so he was able to shake off any cuts deep enough to bleed. That is, if he was able to focus his ki there at the same time as flying. 

Eventually he started edging more and more towards the front, but even with his skill, some of the flyers had years of experience on the hovercraft and were able to outmaneuver him. 

The race went through canyons where the Cryspeeders danced about with how many were bumping off each other and the canyon walls. It went through an active mine shaft that was taking the day off for the race, and there were many crashouts in the shaft while the leading few got closer and closer.

He ended the race finishing third. 

Stelenite was ecstatic but Goten knew his boyfriend and knew how he felt finishing anything below first to people. Their Dads were one thing but when it came to people his age, he only settled for losing to Goten. 

Goten carried Stelenite and flew down with the girls to the pit area and celebrated with Dan and Calcite. 

Sure enough, after Trunks got off the winners block holding the medal and a bag of credits, he was pouting by the time he made it back to them. Goten pulled him into a celebratory kiss and told him to shut up and accept his win. Besides, he’ll still be getting another prize later that night. 

Trunks grinned at that and offered the bag to the Blue Streak shop, “I’m gonna take a cut to stock up on those fuel crystals, but you guys can keep this if I get to keep the medal.” 

~

“This was a lot of fun. I’m so glad I got to see the universe like this, like a mortal,” Pechetta said as she got back to their ship. It had spent two months traveling amongst the planets since the Konpetio Compeato.  They had just gotten off a planet that was almost entirely underwater. There were magicians on the planet who would do a spell to give you gills for different periods of time for tours of the underwater kingdoms, the four of them did two day trips down to the sea floor.

“Okay Pechetta,” Marron said, turning to face the ki “It’s finally your turn to pick the next place we’re going to. Come on, if you can go anywhere, where would you go.”

“I mean-”

“Anywhere,” Marron emphasized, “And listen, I got some divine hookups so I can probably get you into anything short of the Demon Realm, but if you wanted to get there I’m sure I could probably whip up something.”

Pechetta laughed and Marron had the feeling she thought Marron was joking about the Demon Realm. She was not, that sounded baller as fuck. 

“Well, no, it’s not the demon realm, but if you’re sure you can get us divine permission, there is this ceremony that some Kais hold on a different select planet in the mortal world every galaxial cycle. It’s a celebration of mortality of life in the universe. I’ve always heard about it but was never allowed to attend. It’s happening soon. But there is no way you could get an invitation

“Say no more,” Marron said, grabbing for her Godpad, "if it's something the entire Universe’s Kais do then it’ll certainly be posted on GodSpot and I’ll get the coordinates.”

Pechetta’s eyes widened as Marron typed away at her screen for a minute before pulling up what looked like some kind of flyer. 

Marron looked up and jerked her head at Trunks and he wordlessly followed her as she made her way over to the ship's computers as he was gonna look to set the course. 

~

It was about a week of flying, and making use of a few wormholes that had a long fucking traffic line to get into, but they managed to make it in time to the chosen planet for the divine festival in time to make it. 

When they arrived, Pechetta did a spell and turned her clothing into a fancy white dress with a fuchsia jacket. Taking their lead from her, the three mortals all grabbed the most dressy thing they packed. 

Goten buttoned up the frog buttons on his formal high-collared jacket he wore over black pants as he came out into the living room to meet the others, taking a look at Trunks and Marron.

Marron was wearing her silver dress she got on Meshi station, while Trunks had also opted for a pair of black pants but instead with a black jacket over a white collared shirt with several of the top buttons undone. 

When he came out into the living room to meet the others, Goten made a face and fastened a button on Trunks’s shirt, hiding an assorted set of bruises that told a vivid story. 

“What?” Trunks asked defensively at the very done look Goten gave him. “Don’t like seeing your own handiwork?”

“You know very well what they do to my stupid Saiyan hindbrain, Trunks. But we’re going to a divine festival. You’re not showing off like that here. Be decent,” he hissed. 

It was on a small planet that didn’t have a proper name just the designation of Planet 6813-843. When they arrived, they could see it was populated by gods and other beings. Most of the people who didn’t look like they were from the Kai race had halos above their heads, meaning the deceased had a presence here as well. 

Pechetta looked around, nervous as the other three strolled in. They spent a few minutes reassuring her before they were interrupted. 

“Is that a Saiyan ki I feel?” came a voice all three mortals had heard before, though it sounded differently outside of their heads. 

Pechetta eeped like she had just been caught at the voice but her eyes bugged out when she saw that it was North Kai approaching them. However, nothing could prepare her for the next words out of his mouth.

“You’re Goku’s son, right? And you must be Vegeta’s?” King Kai said to the boys. However he addressed the wrong boys as he spoke in turn. 

“Almost got it. I’m Trunks, that’s Goten.”

“Oops, my bad,” King Kai said. “Gotta admit you Earthling Saiyans all look rather similar.”
“To be fair, I bet it’s a bit harder to tell for sure when we’re both in Super Saiyan state,” Goten added. 

King Kai took a look at the girls with them. He titled his head as he was clearly trying to place them. 

“And you two are?” he asked in a blunt but non-accusatory way.

“I’m Marron, Krillin and Android 18’s daughter, both friends of Goku,” she said. King Kai thought for a moment before nodding as he clearly remembered one or both of the spoken people. 

“This is our friend, Pechetta,” They said, introducing the Kai. King Kai gave her an up and down, clearly trying to place her and seemingly not being able to find the answer. Finally, he just said, “Hello, nice to meet you,” nodding his head, before quickly turning to the boys. “Please tell me you didn’t bring Goku,” he quickly finished in a way that all too loudly telegraphed to them that was his main concern that brought him over to talk. 

It was Marron who answered, “Oh no, no. Not my circus, not my fight monkeys. Goku and Vegeta are not my responsibility, I’m just here with my Saiyans, Trunks and Goten. We’re on a space road trip to see the universe. We’re not looking for any trouble or fights.” 

North Kai sighed audibly in relief. Then he paused before turning so he was facing the one obviously in charge, “Then why are you three here, how did you even get here? This location is not something that you should be able to reach by any mortal means.”

“Well, our friend Pechetta told us about it, and Marron cribbed an invite from the thing all the Kais and Gods are always shit talking each other on,” said Trunks, “And we sort of just… flew here?”

“And I mean, isn’t this whole thing supposed to honor mortals? Well, I don’t see any mortals here! Besides we’ve all died twice already so we totally should be allowed to join the celebration of mortal life forces or whatever.”

King Kai rubbed his chin, “I don’t know, it’s really not something we usually allow-”he said, while at the same time, sounding like he was interested in what could persuade him. 

“We can send a message to New Namek to use their Dragon Balls to resurrect you, your monkey, and cricket,” Marron said calculatingly. 

“Done! You are now my personally invited guests,” King Kai held out his hand to her to shake on it. “Don’t let the boys eat any of the sacred golden fruit. I mean it! I do not want to imagine what it would do to a mortal Saiyan.” He visibly shuddered, which was unfairly intriguing to Marron, but she also was not about to push it.  

She immediately turned to the boys and said, “Boys, golden fruit is off limits!” Even though they both heard King Kai.

“Got it, don’t eat the holy fruit,” Goten nodded, “So then, what is safe to eat?”

“Most other foods, but if anything is giving off a faint still-living-ki sense, you should avoid it. I hear the roast Boarlax is highly regarded. It’s the purple meat over there. I’m told Beerus himself seems kinda fond of it.”

“Sweet, this will be fun,” Trunks said before looking at Goten, “Ten, let’s go check out what non-earth food Beerus likes.”

King Kai waved them farewell, and began to wander off before stopping to think for a moment. He quickly  turned around to yell,“Don’t eat too much! I know you Saiyans!”

The boys snickered at each other but before they could run off to find out what Boarlax tasted like, Pechetta grabbed Goten’s shoulder. Goten stilled under her touch, turning to look back at her while at the same time not looking as he automatically grabbing Trunks’s upper arm. 

“How do you guys know North Kai?” Pechetta’s voice sounded strained, like she was holding back from showing the true extent of her feelings on the matter.

“Oh, he’s a friend of my Dad’s,” Goten said. 

“But, but, but... he’s the Kai in charge of all of the Northern Galaxy!”

“...and?” Marron asked, not quite sure what she was getting at. 

Pechetta took a long look at the blasé and mildly curious faces of her three traveling companions as it dawned on her how little she knew about them, “I just had no idea you guys knew someone so high ranking.”

Goten shrugged, “It’s not that big of a deal. Here, see my tattoo?” Goten rolled up the sleeve on his jacket. “Most of these marks are masters my father has trained under. You can see King Kai right here.” 

Pechetta studied Goten’s tattoo and her eyes widened as she read a certain symbol, “Wait is that Lord Whis’s-” Her voice was growing louder and more emphatic with each word so Goten quickly cut her off as he took his arm back and pulled the sleeve down.

“Like I said, my Dad trained under a lot of people. That one had Trunks’s dad as well. Not like a big deal or anything.”

Pechetta looked very much like she wanted to argue that point but Goten didn’t give her a chance before turning and making his way over to the food table, still holding Trunks by the arm. 

“Told you it wasn’t a big deal,” said Marron to her friend who was still gaping at the boy’s backs. “Now do you want to go check out the food table too?  Must have something refreshing and fun for you Kais”

“I’m sure they have some extraordinary tea,” Pechetta said dully, her mind clearly elsewhere as she processed what had just happened. 

After they all got plates, or in the boys’ case plates and plates, of food, they sat around on a blanket Trunks pulled out of a capsule. As they ate, they watched the bonfire being built. To the left, musicians played on a small podium. There were a number of Kais and ogres that played different musical instruments like a harp, xylophone, and one Kai who played bongos with a very intense look on his face.

Reds and yellow flames danced with blues and greens, as the color-tinted smoke rose above the feast. Marron felt a divine energy coming off of it like it was a living being. Neat, she thought.

“They’re setting up for the Sacred Dance,” Pechetta explained and so as they all finished their food they looked over to see what a sacred dance amongst the gods looked like. 

As the dancers formed a circle around the bonfire and began the first number, Goten sat up with a start. “Guys I think it’s the Bon Odori, like, it’s kinda different but the gist is the same,  Trunks let’s go!”

“Wait, seriously?” Trunks grumbled, he was planning to lay around and digest. 

“Come on, I know you know this one! I was there when my mom taught both of us for Obon.”

“Oh, is that your version of the Sacred Dance? Is Obon your celebration for mortals on Earth?” 

“Kinda, ours is more about our dead ancestors. It’s this festival we have back on Earth where I’m from,” Goten explained before he turned to face Trunks and tugged on his sleeve. “Come on Trunks! My mom taught you too! I was there!”

“ChiChi taught me years ago! For all I know, you’re gonna make me do, like, the girl part somehow,” Trunks protested yet in an audibly whipped tone which meant he knew very well he was going to get up there and dance with Goten.

“Oh come on!” Goten yelled, and finally, Trunks let himself be led to join the circle of dancers around the fire. 

“Some things are the same everywhere,” Marron muttered to herself as she walked over and found a spot to sit down where she could watch the boys. She sent Rascal over to follow them.

Pechetta looked at her confused, but took up a spot away from the growing circle of people, but not as far back as where Marron went.

The dance began involving dancers that were Kais, ogres, or even the dead. It was oddly asynchronous yet coordinated on the beat of the music. Everyone seemed to be doing their own specific moves but by and large it was all set to the same beat that everyone just seemed to be on rhythm to. Goten pulled Trunks into the edge of the circle and began reminding him the steps from their youth. For all of Trunks’ protesting, he caught on pretty quick, though after one and a half songs he’d reached over with one hand to take Goten’s and refused to let go. Goten glanced over at him. Rascal didn’t capture what his face looked like but Goten didn’t pull back. 

Marron watched for a bit, and sent out some of Rascals’ orbital flying mics a bit closer when she caught the next words. 

“Can’t believe you tried to say you wouldn’t dance,” scoffed Goten. 

“Yeah, well Ten, what can I say? You’re gonna be able to make me follow you anywhere. Haven’t you figured it out yet, Ten? It’s always going to be me and you. Together till the end of the universe.” 

“Together forever,” Goten corrected with a hint of scolding on the last word. Like, really, how dare Trunks forget. 

Trunks chuckled and leaned over to give Goten a quick kiss and then, so quietly, Marron wouldn’t have been able to catch it if it weren’t for Rascal’s helpful auto-captions, “Forever it is.” 

Pechetta must have had hearing like Piccolo because Marron saw her stiffen at the boys’ words and twitched her hands awkwardly. Marron went back to taking video of the boys and didn’t notice Pechetta hold out an outstretched hand and began to softly murmur words in a language Marron recognized only as divine, but couldn’t comprehend the words. A soft glow began to emit from her hand but Marron only barely noticed the small rise in divine ki from it. Instead, she was more entranced by the bonfire that had begun to start to glow in even more unearthly ways and even more interesting colors. 

Marron did notice that all the people dancing around the fire were seemingly consumed by a similar strange glow. Marron could only recognize it as divine energy, but nothing she could put an exact label on. . 

Pechetta began chanting louder and Marron saw her hand began to glow pink as tiny trails of visible red, glimmering ki extended from her fingers and headed right toward Trunks and Goten. Marron had one of Rascals’s eyes glance down and film the red trails of light as they met at Trunks and Goten’s combined hands and encircled them. Neither boy appeared to notice it, they couldn’t sense the divine ki and they didn’t notice the red color of the light. 

Marron was definitely going to ask Pechetta what that was about later, but it seemed like something she should hold back and not ruin the moment as the cameras were still on the boys finishing the dance. 

When the boys turned around, they caught sight of Rasca. Goten smiled when he got back to Marron. “Oh I got the whole thing,” she told him with a smile. She couldn’t wait to figure out what exactly it was she had just caught. 

But they had barely begun to sit back down before Marron and Pechetta looked up to see a somewhat familiar face come running over to them. It was the Grand Supreme Kai of Universe 7, or otherwise known as Shin.

“I recognize that hair and Saiyan-feeling ki,” Shin said excitedly. “You must be related to Goku and Vegeta?”

Pechetta froze when she saw him..

“Their sons,” Goten said, inclining his spiky golden hair down in Shin’s direction. 

“Of course, of course. You must be the older set after Gohan. I still think of you both as the same size as when we dealt with Buu. I didn’t know Goku and Vegeta’s sons were so spiritual as to perform their binding during the sacred dance, much less together. 

“Supreme Kai,” Pechetta said tensely, looking almost like she was about to pee herself a little bit. Uh-oh, Marron wondered, was she regretting what she had just done during the dance?

“Wait, binding? What does that mean?” asked Goten warily. 

“You know? A binding ceremony where yours souls have been tied together,” Shin replied. 

“Wait you mean a marriage,” Trunks hissed, sounding annoyed now that he had caught on a bit more. “Elaborate now, please.”

A “please” meant Trunks meant serious business, though not without good reason given what Shin had just said. 

“I- I created a life-link between your souls,” mumbled Pechetta as the boys turned to her. 

“Oh. That’s. Neat,”  Trunks said in a rather high pitched tone Marron knew she was secretly going to edit to be even a bit higher, but at the same time his tone sounded more strained than necessarily upset. Goten’s eyes were bugging out but he was still clutching at Trunks’s sleeve. 

“I heard you both talking and I knew you were together and I wanted to bless your coupling with the approval by the light of the Sacred Dance.” 

Trunks took an exaggerated breath and let it out, “You know what? Fine, I was gonna marry Goten one day anyways. I’s not a big deal that it happened today. Marron, I expect you to look up everything you can about life-link though. Like, yesterday. 

“On it,” she said, before searching the term on her Godpad.  After a few moments, she paused and looked up at Trunks, “Trunks, Goten, this means you guys just eloped. Now what will your mothers say?” 

“Oh no,” Goten moaned.