The science lab of the Frieza force spaceship was actually the 2nd largest area of the entire ship. In terms of square footage it was surpassed only by the cafeteria which was made to feed a literal army of saiyans. It held any number of scientific tools and instruments ranging from simple flasks to unfathomably complex lasers. To someone like Bulma, science wasn't just a career. It was her life's calling. Outside of being a loving mother and wife of course. With that in mind it should come as no surprise that upon entering the room she spent the better part of an hour squealing and jumping up and down, dragging poor Kakarot to and fro as she excitedly fired off facts about the various objects.
The saiyan man tried to keep up, he truly did but his wife's knowledge and enthusiasm outclassed him in a way no villain ever had. His brain felt fuzzy and confused. Nevertheless he could clearly see how excited his wife was about all of this so he did nothing to dissuade her current course of action. When it was all said and done Bulma was left huffing and puffing. She straightened her back until it popped and said, "Ok! Now that you know the basics we're going to get to work."
Kakarot laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Well umm.." But Bulma cut him off there. "Don't worry, dear husband I know you couldn't comprehend half of the information I threw at you. But you tried to listen and that's what matters." She said with a smirk. Kakarot flashed her a loving smile of appreciation and patiently waited for his wife to continue.
"I'll handle most of the technical stuff, I just need you to do all the heavy lifting and provide me with an extra set of hands. I'll teach you more along the way of course and before long you'll be able to coordinate entire parts of the project all on your own." The blue haired woman assured him. Kakarot nodded slowly and crossed his arms.
"Oook. But you still haven't exactly told me what it is you're trying to do. It might help if I had some semblance of an idea of what it is we're trying to accomplish." He supplied. Bulma tapped her chin. "Hmm. Well it was gonna be a surprise once it was all said and done but honestly I'm pretty excited so I'll just tell you."
She sucked in a breath and clicked her tongue, "So basically without getting too deep into the biological aspects of it, I'll be splicing saiyan DNA with the DNA of a senzu bean." She explained. Kakarot's eyes widened and he raised an eyebrow in shock. "To what end..?" He asked, astonished.
"I realized when we were still back on Earth that even after a few short months you were beginning to pull way ahead of me and I.. I knew that gap would continue to grow as long as you continued getting stronger and I wanted my time within the confines of a lab." She paused to let the weight of her concerns ferment the air. "Before we left I had already managed to isolate the necessary bases adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine for the Senzu beans as well as myself. I can combine them with 100% success rates. Honestly the results are better than I could have even hoped, boosting my body's natural regenerations to inhuman levels. Of course that's the easy part, we already knew that senzu beans had magical properties that revitalized organic matter.. It's the part that comes next that is going to take a lot of work."
At this point she had begun to ramble slightly and talk just a little faster but Kakarot let her continue her verbal essay. "Now I just need to add your DNA to create a tribrid strain. I believe that by using the saiyan's genes I can replicate the zenkai process on myself but on a constant, cellular level. And with the help from the senzu beans I should be able to all but eliminate the risk of shortening my lifespan." The blue haired woman finished her long winded explanation and Kakarot whistled in recognition of the daunting task his wife had set for herself.
"Wow Bulma. I can't pretend to fully understand what you're trying to do but I understand the basic concepts of the idea. All I know is that if there's anyone that can do it, it's you. There's no one more intelligent in the whole universe and when you really try and put your mind to something there's nothing you can't do! Heheheee!" The saiyan laughed sincerely.
Bulma blushed and shied away. Sometimes the love she felt for her husband made her feel like a princess in a perfect fairy tale and the two of them were destined to live happily ever after.
"Oof! Hey! Woahhh.." Kakarot yelped, waving his arms as his wife tackled him in a big hug and slammed her lips against his. The saiyan's eyes widened, and he froze briefly from the unexpected shock. But then he allowed his instincts to take over and do what came naturally. He placed a hand on the small of her back and brought her in closer, deepening their kiss and relaxing into their loving embrace.
Several hours later in the mess hall..
Goku and Bulma convened with the rest of the Z-warriors, including a now fully recuperated and brooding Raditz to share a meal and discuss various affairs. The food was dispensed by a humongous machine that relied on advanced touch based user interface or TUI for short.
It sported a wide variety of foods and drinks most of which none save Raditz had even heard of. The quality of most of the selection wasn't too bad, but admittedly it lacked the flare and flavor of Earth's own food. In truth, for whatever reason, it seemed the blue marble that was their home planet boasted the best food in the entire cosmos according to most intergalactic records.
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They laughed and chatted, simultaneously fascinated and disgusted with the saiyans, who scarfed down sustenance faster than an industrial food disposal. Food flew through the room and there was a general buzz of excitement and fun energy in the air. "Heads up!" A peculiar item which appeared to be akin to a BBQ pulled pork was on a straight trajectory for Piccolo's face.
The green man frowned heavily and swatted the sandwich aside with telekinetic magic before it could ruin his attire. He crossed his arms and turned around In a huff. "Foolish." He muttered. Kakarot ambled over to the green man and smiled at him in his trademark idiotic, closed eye manner. "Sorry! That one was all Gohan!" He said defensibly.
The Namekian sighed. "Don't mention it.. Glad he likes the cape." And indeed since having received the cape from the tall alien, Gohan had not removed his weighted cape except for when performing routine activities such as eating and bathing. The boy was hardly recognizable compared to how he was before, even if it had only been a little over a year.
For one thing he had grown several inches, and his power level had quadrupled. By and large he was well on his way to becoming a true warrior, even though he mostly retained his gentle, kind hearted nature. The boy waved at the two men and his father cheerily waved back with heavy enthusiasm. Piccolo's face flushed red and he looked away, but he too gave a short wave back in response to the precious boy.
Goku turned back to the man who's turban covered his thin green antennas. "Say.. You know come to think of it, Piccolo, I've never really seen you eat anything. What's up with that? Aren't you hungry?" He asked.
Piccolo stared at him for a second before answering the saiyan's question in a plain manner, "My species doesn't require food. We can eat it but there's not really any point. We survive on water alone." He explained shortly. Kakarot nodded and scratched his head. "Is that so..? Heh. Honestly I think that would suck, I couldn't imagine not eating food! It's almost as great as fighting! Hahahaheee." He laughed, clutching his stomach.
Piccolo rubbed his head and tried to repress another sigh from escaping his frustrated lips. Honestly as powerful as the saiyan man was Piccolo couldn't help but marvel at the saiyan's innately stupid nature.
Suddenly the atmosphere mutated, becoming silent and suffocating.. The source of the disturbance came in the form of the hulking beast Nappa waltzing through the doors of the cafeteria. He briefly scanned everyone currently assembled before grumbling loudly. He stomped over to the food terminal and began filling his tray to the brim and even a little over.
There were a half dozen tables spread symmetrically throughout the canteen. Each one could comfortably seat four soldiers on each side so the Earthlings had all piled onto one, save the saiyans and Piccolo. Kakarot and his Namekian ally shared a concerned look as the large saiyan, dressed in his now repaired body armor, took a seat across from the feasting Raditz.
The brother of Kakarot looked up, slowly chewing an overflowing mouthful of food. He swallowed hard, and leveled a glare at the brutish commander of the saiyans. Nappa's features twisted into a mirror image of Radit's own and he huffed before speaking. "Hey, listen. You did good, Raditz. You're an elite now, there's no denying that. Just don't you go forgetting your place now, you hear!? I'm still Vegta's second." He finished, jabbing a thumb into his large chest.
Kakarot, who was casually approaching the table with Piccolo, expected his brother to explode in anger, as he often did when being challenged in any perceivable way. To his astonishment the older saiyan merely smirked. "Deal. All I ever wanted was acknowledgment, you know that better than anyone, Nappa. I have always been loyal to the royal family." He said sincerely. The bald saiyan merely nodded and began wolfing down food in response, seemingly satisfied.
Kakarot had to admit, he was quite proud of how far his brother had come. He composed himself in a much more calm and rational manner these days. All the while maintaining that inner fire that was his anger and the primary source of his strength.
Ambling up to his brother's side the youngest of the saiyans spoke. "Sorry to interrupt.." He began. ".. But what exactly is so special about being in second place anyways?" He asked, scratching his head awkwardly. Nappa glared up at the man. "Insolent little grrbrrburl.." Whatever profanities he was cursing were unintelligible due to his mouth being stuffed with food.
Raditz rolled his eyes, both in disgust at his commander and at his younger brother's ignorance regarding anything related to the saiyan's cultural ways. "Only the right hand of the king may challenge him for the right to sit on the throne. The second has always protected the rightful ruler.. And Nappa believes prince Vegeta in particular is destined to be the greatest king the saiyans have ever known.. The thing is.. I can't say I disagree with him." He answered truthfully.
Kakarot crossed his arms and nodded. "Why's that? Because he's so strong?" The man asked curiously. Raditz nodded and took several large gulps from his drink. Wiping his mouth he responded, "Yes. Put simply, at the age of ten, Vegeta was more powerful than any saiyan ever has been in all of history. He even surpassed his father, the king. And he's only gotten stronger since then. He is truly a prodigy."
Kakarot began to get giddy at the prospect of facing the saiyan prince in battle. "Oh maaaan that's so awesome! I hope he agrees to train with me soon.. I can't stand all this anticipation."
Raditz scoffed. "Ha! Don't count on it, Kakarot. Prince Vegta trains alone, no exception. If the two of you ever were to fight.. It would be only as enemies and the conclusion would be your death." The long haired man warned. Any sane person would hear these words and certainly be deterred from any reckless thoughts that may lead to the loss of one's life. Kakarot, however, was no normal person.
The saiyan from Earth crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "Geeeesh you worry too much, just like Bulma! (In the background his wife could be seen comically flailing her arms in protest) He wouldn't be the first person who wanted to kill me and ended up as an ally. Hell, look at you and Piccolo hahaha!" He laughed nonchalantly. Raditz shook his head incredulously at his brother.
"You truly are hopeless, you moron.. For your sake I hope you're right.." He mumbled looking down at his drink. He couldn't deny that his brother did seem to have some sort of supernatural magnetism about him. You couldn't help but to be drawn to him, and want to believe in him. Even if you hated him, that hatred couldn't persist within the precease of the man's saint-like existence. He radiated positivity and confidence. He showed kindness and trust.. All of these were qualities that would typically be seen as weak to a saiyan.. But wielded by this warrior they became weapons the likes of which no amount of raw power could withstand.
"So where's Vegeta now? I'm surprised any saiyan in the universe would pass up on dinner, even for training." Kakarot asked innocently. The two saiyans that were currently seated froze. They shared a look as they finished chewing and swallowing whatever food may have been in their mouths. All of the Z-warriors were listening closely, sensing the intensifying atmosphere around them.
Surprisingly it was Nappa who answered the question that was left to impregnate the air. "Prince Vegeta.. Is a more complex individual than you could possibly understand."
End of chapter 17.