Cancelled?!

[Sansho "Pepper"]

There was comforting point in this situation, she realized. It was highly unlikely that, unless he chose to let her, Kakiri would be able to go onto one of her preferred rampages of destruction. From what she had seen of him so far, and from what she vaguely remembered of the tournament ten years ago, he was not one to be trifled with. Pepper wasn't weak in either of her personalities, but she was merely like a stepping stone between humans and his saiyajin.

"You will deal with her. I.. I'm stronger then her today, but some days she's stronger then me. And she's better at some things than I am, and the other way around. So we'll both have to work on our weak points... and our strengths..." She rubbed her head before lifting the green tea and taking a sip, letting the earthy taste soothe her. Pepper had to admit, she loved green tea. It was one of the only things she never guzzled down and actually took time to enjoy.

She wondered if she should tell him that it had been her goal for several years now to try to break the punching machine like he had, but thought better of it now. He didn't need another ego boost..

When he spoke, she lifted her gaze to him, her large, angular eyes puzzled, ears twitching as he spoke. What he said caused her eyes to widen. The memories, the haunting memories, threatened to overwhelm her, but she suppressed them as hard as she knew how as the puzzle pieces seemed to fall into place. She didn't exactly know what a dragon had to do with anything, but that was beside the point.

Slowly, forsaking her good manners, she leaned back, slumping her shoulders against the booth back. Her hand came up to rub at her forhead, as even Kakiri was stunned into silence by this revelation.

"... Wow. That's... That's really heavy...What I felt was the death of the planet.." Pepper finally said, her voice soft. "... Huh." She closed her eyes, mulling it all over, as she felt Kakiri do the same. "We... So.. there's more of you. Wait. Everyone that was with you, everyone that had such high scores on the tests." She paused, as if listening to another voice, then shook her head a bit as if silently saying Later. I'll ask that later. Her ears twitched, catching the jingling of the trays. Sighing softly, she straightened up, inhaling deeply, letting the heady warm scent wash over her as the food came close enough for her to smell it. A smile touched her lips, and as she opened her green eyes, some of her spark seemed to back.

"Food!"

Okay. More than just a bit. But she was still sombered by these revelations, and was still pondering it over in her mind.

[Vegeta]

Vegeta grinned in hungry delight. There were five plates of everything that he typically ordered and that wasn't really all he would be eating either. It was half, if not one third of his full meal. He figured the owners of the restuarant were grateful that Indian food could be quite filling.

Setting his napkin on his lap, he took to his food eagerly, demonstrating for the other how the saiyajin appetite was. Anything that didn't need handling with his hands was carefully and precisely shoveled into his mouth with a spoon. Unlike some of the other saiyajins who also ate like the food would disappear, he didn't send rice flying all over the damn place. But he still managed to be pretty noisy as he ate.

He took a moment, biting at the nut and fruit stuffed bread to ponder what she said. She had felt the planet die? That was somewhat unusual. Sometimes druids felt nature wilt and die, but he wasn't sure how a planet blowing up affected them. He decided not to assume, even though part of him figured that on death, they would be none the wiser how the planet was. Death sometimes sort of reset some things. He shrugged his broad shoulders, taking a swig of his flavorful tea.

"Yes." He grunted, swallowing a mouthful of rice. "The others that were with me. They were merely tapping the machine to be careful...I didn't really care. They make it their business to protect this planet. I more or less help because, I really have no option. This is my home now basically. Kakarot, or Goku as all the humans call him, is the strongest. And the only other full-blooded saiyajin left besides myself."

Visibly, he grimaced at having to say that out loud. During their fight with Kid Buu, he had finally admitted to himself that...Kakarot was the best. It was frustrating but living in constant denial was doing him no good anyway. And stupid stunts like letting Babidi take control of him worked no better. Shaking his head, he finished the last of his drink and barked for another. He had to grudgingly get used to the admission and saying such to her was not going to be the end of the world. She had no real room to go about mocking him and he was certain she knew he could, and would, make her pay if she did.

"Considering you will be working with me for training, should anything happen, I will probably be dragging your ass along to help save the world. Hn. Some real combat experience would be good. But I doubt there'll be any real need for a while." It was up in the air. There were no known threats looming overhead, at least none that he could think of. But for good measure, he knocked his knuckles on the wooden table before he continued to wolf down some more food.

[Sansho "Pepper"]

By all the earth's grace, that was a ton of food! Her mouth widened into an 'O' of surprise as she stared at the massive amount of food. Now she knew why he told her to get whatever she wanted, he was already used to spending a fortune on food!

Unlike him, she reached for the wooden chopsticks placed next to the silverware, cracking them open efficiently. In the back of her head, she could feel Kakiri's demand to be able to taste the food as well. Even the homicidal entity could be swayed by food...! She closed her eyes, giving a quick nod before she began to dive in. Her stomache was growling, but she wasn't going to let it suffer!

There was silence for a long moment while the two of them consumed food at a massive rate. While she was no saiyajin, she still could put a healthy amount of food into her. The food was different than she was used to, as it was rare that she ate Indian food, but the spices almost had a very earthy taste to it, one that she couldn't complain about. Shoving a mouthful of chicken into her mouth, she paused to peek up at her new master.

The idea of holding back strength on those machines because it was good for the humans never occured to her. She had, of course, held back on other things, but had always wanted to destroy the punching machine like the man- who turned out to be, of all people, Mister Vegeta- had ten years ago.

Unaware of how much it had irked him that he was second best, she merely grinned at him. "I bet you spar with him all the time." Pepper remarked cheerfully around a mouthful of food before diving right back in, putting an empty plate aside and going for the next. She paused, eyes flashing briefly before Kakiri took over to enjoy the butter chicken, devouring it as fast as Wuko had scarfed down the last plate.

"Mmf. Sounds real fun." Was Pepper's only response as she distracted herself with the chicken. Frankly, she didn't care about the people of the world, or saving them, her only focus being the food in front of her. Reaching over, she took a drink of the green tea, gulping it down and setting at the end of the table for a refill before she went back to shovelling the butter chicken down. A snort escaped her at the knock of wood, though.

[Vegeta]

Her surprise at his order had not escaped him, nor had the second portion of his meal that had arrived with a fresh chai tea. The plates were piled up quickly as he cleaned them off and taken away by the attentive waitress. Technically, the quiet, almost empty restuarant favored him since business was typically slow, so he never waited long for service.

The girl's consumption was impressive, he swore she had to be part saiyajin or something. It was rare, almost nonexistent to see an earthling eat as much as one of them.

He grunted at the mention of sparring with Kakarot. He wished. Once in a while, it was like pulling teeth to get the oaf away from his harpy wife and brats. Even during their sessions, he always got the feeling just a little bit was being held back on him. And now he was off with Uub, training. Without him. Vegeta's shoulders bunch up as he bent the metal spoon. Now he was in a bad mood. He tried to avoid thinking about the idiot that was off training without him but it couldn't be helped now that the thought was there.

"That idiot, taking off to train that brat. He leaves me with all of the half-breeds who would rather tend to 'human lives' then seriously train. It makes me want to throw up sometimes." Vegeta had no job to speak of. He had tried, really he did. He had needed something of a distraction. But he either wound up pissing people off with his arrogance or breaking something, no matter how light a touch he tried to do. Sometimes, he was told 'Use a machine to do this' and he hauled off and did it with his bare hands. Needless to say some people were freaked out. He could accept living on Earth, with the humans, but he couldn't really live like one.

As frighteningly bizarre as it was, his appetite had suddenly left, two thirds into his meal. He just eyed what he had left sourly. When the waitress came by, refilling his drink, he turned down thirds. She gave him a funny look due to that being unusual but she nodded and went to fetch a box for his leftovers.

"Tell me something. Are you the last of whatever you are? Or are there more of you?" He knew it was an odd question. But given where his train of thought had led, it made him curious. He didn't recall much detail about what she was, all he could figure was that she wasn't quite human. Normal humans, after all, did not have pointy ears.

[Sansho "Pepper"]

If she had to make a guess, she would say that she hit a nerve.

Pepper hid a smirk as she continued shovelling the plate down, savoring the taste of the chicken. It was a bit spicier then she liked, but since there wasn't anything along the lines of an orange or strawberry chicken, she would just have to deal. At least it was filling.

Her green eyes flickered to the bent spoon, one brow raising in the air before she reached for the new green tea that was left there. Taking a gulp of the fresh mug, she paused in mid-bite of a clump of rice as he spoke, watching him for a moment.

"Guess you'll have to train me until I'm a worthy match then." Pepper said slyly, studying him before she reached for a plate, only to stare at it in disgust. It was Wuko's damn chilli dish. Muttering under her breath, she stabbed the dish with her chopsticks, getting ready to switch back when his words caught her attention.

Her angular eyes narrowed as she studied him again. If he had not already deduced that she wasn't human, she would have just made some remark about how she was human and yada yada. Instead, she just lifted her chopsticks, not even paying attention to what was in it.

"There are more of us. We are rather populous. We do not travel much outside of our communities, however." She responded tersely, bringing the bite to her mouth, only to choke on a mouthful of chilli.

"D...d-damnit... Wuko!" She swore before instaneously switching to the simpler personality to let her deal with the spice.

[Vegeta]

"Hmph. Compared to him? You'll never be worthy enough, but you'll have to do." Since he was no longer focused on his food, he instead watched her. He took note of the motion of her lips, her tone, the look in her eyes...This had to be that other half of her, Kakiri. Part of him found her demeanor a little more relatable, despite the fact that it was likely they would be at odds with one another.

He frowned. How he hated being one of the few in what felt like the whole damn planet to be alone. Of course, sentimental idiots like Bulma would taunt him that he wasn't actually alone, but she lacked the true understanding. He harumphed.

The saiyajin arched a brow as she seemed to gag on the chili dish. She didn't seem quite fond of spicy food. He could relate. He liked to be able to eat without having to tend to a heated tongue. On inspection as he glanced over her plates, he realized the darker half favored the sweeter dishes. He smirked, pushing a plate of his muglai methi matar, which was a vegetarian dish. A creamy yogurt based gravy with peas and corn. It was sweet and tasty, poured over rice. "In case you're still hungry, eat my leftovers. I hate carrying this stuff back."

He lounged, one arm draped over the back of the booth seat, feet folded. "I'm not very familiar with Earth's races outside the humans. I know I've seen some of those strange, animal people that wander about but I don't think I've seen your kind till now. What exactly are you called so I don't go about referring to you as simply an earthling." It was more a demand for the name rather than a polite question.

His dark eyes glanced out the window, determining the time. They would have a little session, possibly visit the gravity room to test her tolerance to different levels of gravity. Then he would find a room somewhere to toss her while he had words with Bulma about their new 'guest'. "We'll put you up with us at Capsule Corp., you'll have to deal with the woman and my kids, but I doubt you'll see much of them once the training gets going full swing."

[Sansho "Pepper"]

It was going to get confusing, very quickly. Pepper blinked up at him and the disc as she shovelled a mouthful of the chilli into her mouth. Swallowing, she wrinkled her nose before the subtle shift occured again. He had been talking to Kakiri, and hell, she was behaving now. She'd finish the chilli dish soon.

Pushing the chilli dish aside, she reached for the muglai methi matar, eyeing it for a moment before taking a careful bite. Finding it to her approval, she took another drink of the tea before cracking her neck.

"Hm. All right." Pepper responded, though she was beginning to get full, truth be told. The food was rather filling, and she didn't quite have the appetite capacity as Wuko. Still, at least she could make the moron carry the leftover food back. She never wasted food if she could help it. It was too often that they were hungry.

"Earthling is both wrong and right on different levels. But we are the Ikikesa." She responded as she began to eat the rice dish, her eyes half-lidded as she focused on the mild dish. She would have to switch back to her other half-soon or deal with her annoying whining about not being able to eat the chilli dish.

"As long as the children do not expect me to be as nice as the moron, then I'm fine with it." Pepper said testily, obviously speaking of her sweeter half. "I don't have too many belongings, so I won't need to pick them up. If you've got any questions that require an actual brain to answer, you'd better ask them quick, before the idiot takes back over."

Man, someone was a little bitch.

[Vegeta]

Vegeta's face shifted subtley, a bit of shock flickering by. The irony was palpable.

Ikikesa. Now he understood her powers. After all, he had taken a few rocks to the face because of them.

"Hn." He remembered when he had purged their planet with Raditz and Nappa. It had been one of their first missions as a trio. They had been an especially scrappy race. That mission had been the one where he had caught Kakarot's brother healing the general. Unfortunately, it had been the only time and he had learned that the healing powers had dried out. Raditz had taken a trip to the healing tanks for it, and it had not been courtesy of the Ikikesa resistance. Frankly, he had been pissed over such a thing being hidden from him and even more so that it had drained away. He was impressed that not only had there been some survivors but they had made it to Earth.

'I wonder how she'd feel if she knew I had tried to wipe her people out...Hn. She won't have to know though it would be something to see the look on her face.'

With a grunt, he made sure his leftovers were boxed up when she finished up. "Trunks is bordering on adulthood, so I doubt he'll bother you. Bra's little so I make no promises. Bulma's a beast in a whole other respect. I won't be protecting you from her, better she annoy you than me, then again you may get along." The saiyajin smirked, he would get her get the leftovers if she wanted. He just hoped she wouldn't wind up wearing them later on.

Quickly, he skimmed his thoughts for any more questions, but decided they could wait. If he had to know anything, it would come about later as they worked together. "No, we're good. Go ahead and let her finish that dreadful chili dish." He smirked, something of a good humor returning.

[Sansho "Pepper"]

While she generally considered herself a higher intelligence then Wuko and prided herself on being more observant, even she missed the shock flashing across his face. Still, there was the feeling that she had missed something...

"We're a bit more.. secluded." Was her response to his 'hn', as she naturally assumed that he had never heard of them. Few people had. They only welcomed short-term visitors and welcomed no strangers in staying in their communities, after all.

Her eyes didn't even more to him when he spoke again, her mind paying no attention to the names. Let Wuko deal with that. She didn't care about them. The other part of her mind had latched onto them in insane curiousity, even as she eagerly awaited her chance to finish eating the chilli dish.

Speaking of which...

Pepper pushed the dish away, deciding she was done. It was better to let the moron finish the meal.. The food was good. She made a note to try it again in the future. It wasn't as sweet as she liked, but it wasn't bad. His words caused her to frown, and she pointed her chopsticks at him, glowering at him. "You are an evil, evil man. I hate spicey.." She muttered before stabbing her chopsticks in the dish, closing her eyes as the change swept over her.

One green eye popped open, eyeing the dish. Then, she grabbed it and began shovelling it into her mouth. A meager ten seconds later, and she was done and leaning back, a pleased look on her face.

[Vegeta]

'I'd be more secluded too, if I had run away from some other aliens nuking my race in the past.'

"That's why I said let her finish, but yes, I am an evil man indeed." The prince snickered. She had no clue in the least. He could turn her hair white with some of his past deeds. However that was no longer the case. He had thought to try and go back to being that way, but apparently he had come a long way from it. There wasn't any turning back now.

Since she was done sampling what he ordered, he boxed the last of it then watched her make her switch as she turned around and started shoveling food down her throat. "Your other half is interesting, though not much different than most difficult personalities I've dealt with. Now are you finished? We will have some work to begin on, such as testing your limits before we start breaking them. Grab the boxes." Leaning from the booth, the saiyajin promptly slid out of his seat. He downed what he had left of his tea and started heading for the front desk, pulling out the small plastic card.

"This island isn't all that far from the western mainland and in turn Capsule Corporation. Just a note, I won't be fishing you out of the water if you fall in somehow." He wouldn't be taking a swim in the sea if he could help it. He hated sea water. To him, the flight would not be terribly long but he wondered if she would feel differently, since she was relatively new to flying. They would see.

At first, he figured the bill would be quite astronomical, but he had lost his appetite halfway in so the damage wasn't so bad. Once he signed the receipt slip and left a more than gracious tip, he made his way out with his hands on his hips, waiting outside for her to catch up before they would round to the empty alley to take off in the air again.

[Sansho "Pepper"]

It was one of the first times that she had heard someone describe Kakiri as 'interesting'. Pepper blinked at Vegeta in some surprise before swallowing a mouthful of spice and chilli, sipping her green tea, savoring it as Kakiri had not. "Wow, really? You think so? Most of the time, if people recognize me as her, they chase me with pitchforks!" She piped cheerfully before blinking at him again.

When he asked her if she was done, she gave a quick nod, dropping her legs to the ground and sliding out as well. Once she was out, she took a moment to stretch her arms above her head, sighing happily. Then, she quickly unrolled the top half of her wrap, slipping her arms into the sleeves and rapidly doing up the clasps. Her hand snaked out, grabbing the blue-and-gold vest and throwing it on, fastening it in haste as well. She tugged it once to make sure it was straight as a waiter boxed up what was left of her food and put it in the bag with Vegeta's.

Grabbing her staff, she slung it on her back again and grabbed the bag, hurrying after Vegeta, the bag swinging in her arm. Part of her wondered how big the bill was, but a moment of prudence caused her to decide not to try. She had a feeling the price would probably scare her...

When Vegeta mentioned fishing her out of the sea, Pepper just looked at him, one brow raising in the air before she gave him a smile. Would she fall out of the sky? More then likely. However, she could recover. It would be difficult jumping into a run on water without dry land to start on, but she could do it. She was, after all, one of the fastest. "I'll keep that in mind, Mister Vegeta!"

Swinging the bag from one hand, she followed him, humming a bit tunelessly under her breath. Her green eyes blinked a couple of times as she carefully formed the image of the pumice stone in her mind. Slipping the loop of the bag over her wrist, she clasped her hands together in the alley, concentrating with a frown to hover in the air. Then, once he took off, she launched after him, albeit a bit unsteadily.

[Vegeta]

"Of course, you will. I still expect that I'll be hearing a 'Help me!' somewhere in there." The saiyajin grunted. Without looking back, he launched into the air with ease, though he reigned in his speed for her to keep up. It wouldn't do if he got too far ahead and lost her.

They flew much higher over the city this time, making good time as they started over the rest of Papaya Island. He glanced back at her. "If you fall at any point, make an effort to try and catch yourself. I don't want to see you running around, I want you flying." The flight across the remainder of the island was a little longer than their exit of the city and soon they came to the water, heading in a northwestern direction for West City.

Provided she didn't slow them down terribly, they would arrive well before sundown and they would go over their plans for her training in full. He sniffed as they flew, he liked the smell of the ocean water. He just didn't like being in it. The salty water irritated his senses on more direct contact and ever since a human called it 'a big fish toilet', well, there you go.

[Sansho "Pepper"]

Something akin to a giggle escaped Wuko as she flew after him. Her concentration wavered, causing her to drop for a heart-wrenching moment before she recovered and shot after him again, heaving a sigh of relief.

When he spoke again, she blinked before another sigh of relief escaped her, as she realized that she had done what he wanted without him even voicing it yet. Either she was getting to know him really, really well, or she was just really, really lucky...

Probably the latter.

Still, the idea of not being allowed to run did cause her lower lip to stick out in a pout. Pepper loved running, and hated the idea of not being allowed to. A mental smack from Kakiri caused her to do a flip in the air, tumbling down before recovering and shooting after him again, her focus back on flying like it was supposed to be.

She had to admit, that after awhile, she was getting tired. There were some very real differences between running, which was in her very blood, and doing this flying. She found that puzzling, as she didn't seem to be using any muscles like she did while running...

The salt of the water caused her to sneeze, and she dropped like a rock. A frantic clawing at her ki energy sent her shooting far too high. Almost hyperventilating, she dove back to a few meters below Vegeta's own height. Sweat was beading on her forhead, and cooling just as quickly. Pepper was really, really hoping that they were getting close... The scent of the water only caught her on the first time... She really wasn't used to it's scent. The Ikikesan couldn't help but yearn for her wonderful, wonderful earthy smells...

Please.. please let us arrive soon, and let it be somewhere nice and landy. Pepper thought to herself. Kakiri just snorted in her mind.

'Landy'? I think you're stupider then you were a couple of hours ago.

[Vegeta]

As he flew, he monitored her ki. He had pondered really testing not only her ability to react properly in the air but her endurance as well. However he was getting the feeling that flying the distance from the Papaya Islands to West Capital was probably taxing enough as it was.

Plus, if a sneeze was enough to send her down and cause a panic, then his turning around and possibly landing a weak kick on her back would probably plant her into the water with no trouble. He made a mental note to not only have her work on her feet in the gravity chamber, but to do some flying laps on top of it. Hopefully the added work under such conditions would help get her used to flying around.

Below them, some of the water was giving away to bits of land that stretched out to the sea, growing more frequent in their numbers before they eventually came to fly over some solid land.

When they came to the city limits, Vegeta made an abrupt dive down to lower himself a little more. Most of the people in the city were more or less used to people flying around, contrary to Bulma's worrisome attitude. More humans needed to learn to fly anyway. They passed by many tall buildings, some with circular domes at the tops of their structures. But they eventually came to an immaculate, gated lot where there was one prominent domed building with Capsule Corp. in big blue letters across it's face. To it's side sat a pair of smaller dome buildings and just behind it was his prized Gravity Room.

"Here we are." He touched down in the backyard and looked around quickly. He saw no sign of Bulma's parents, thankfully. Her mother was sickeningly sweet and he wasn't sure how well he would stomach her at the moment. He rubbed his hands together, smirking as he led her towards the massive building ahead. "This is Capsule Corporation. Now then...It's best we go over the living arrangements real fast, so you know where you'll be permitted to pass out when I decide you can have some rest."

[Trunks]

After talking with his father at the cancelled tournament, Trunks had hung around for a few moments longer before setting off towards home. There was no point in remaining there when he had finished up all of the 'business' he wanted to attend to. Mainly that meant talking to pretty chicks, but who could blame him? He flew home and took his time as he did so with nothing urgent awaiting him.

He landed on the grass behind the Capsule Corp. home and made his way through the house to enter the kitchen. Trunks glanced through the rooms as he went, noticing that neither his grandparents nor his mom were home. It was either that, or the three were in the lab. Nonetheless, Trunks made a beeline for the fridge and was surprised to see food already made as well as lemonade. Thank Dende for his grandma.

He pulled out a bowl of cold soba noodles and a bottle of lemonade before grabbing a set of chopsticks, closing the door of the fridge with his butt. Trunks practically inhaled the noodles as he walked outside towards the lab, carefully keeping his bottle of lemonade craddled in the crook of his arm. As he was about to pick up more noodles with his chopsticks, he felt a different ki and did a double take.

His dad, the most anti-social person he knew, had actually brought someone to their home. That was weird. Trunks glanced in their direction, and just as he was about to enter the lab, he turned around to look again. He had brought a girl? First glance he had mistaken her for a boy, but looking again and she was definitely a girl. How did he know? He was a teenage boy, it was his job to know these things.

"Who are you, and what have you done with my dad?" Trunks questioned Vegeta with a teasing grin as he took a few steps closer. He placed his chopsticks in his bowl of cold soba noodles as he watched the two of them. Trunks held the large bowl in both hands, and shifted the lemonade so it wouldn't fall out of his arms. He gave a warm smile at the female fighter as he introduced himself.

"Hey, I'm Trunks. What's your name?"