DBZ: The Fallen Empire (Chapter 5: Asylum)

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Gogeta Jr. rolled his eyes, leaning back in his seat.

"Right, shall I provide you with a mansion to recuperate for your lessons as well? We can divert resources to make sure the walls are sound proof for your conversation with Junior too: that way, no one can hear you. The sheets will be made of the finest silk; only the most expensive decor for our lovely new couple."

"Hey, don't talk to her like that."

Gogeta Jr. blinked, his head turning at the sound of Vegetto Jr.'s stern tone. He stared back incredously, shaking his head.

"You're not seriously entertaining this bullshit, are you?! We're in the middle of a war, and here this little girl goes on and on about all of her own little fucking problems!"

Vegetto Jr. raised his voice in tandem, raising his right eyebrow.

"So?! We're just taking a break here and she just came out of cryo: what's the problem?!"

Gogeta Jr. scoffed lightly, leaning back against the seat cushion and looking Vegetto Jr. over for a moment.

"Of course, I should have known better."

Vegetto Jr. kept his eyebrow raised.

"What are you talking about now?"

Gogeta Jr. made a sarcastic grunt, gesturing back to Jaz with wide eyes.

"You already let some selfish bitch put the universe to the sword for whatever her petty little wants and desires were once. It's no surprise you're gonna enable it a second time, given your incredible taste in women."

Vegetto Jr. instantly narrowed his eyes into a glare, his muscles tensing as he spoke with a low, threatening tone.

"I did what I had to. I saved everyon-"

"You saved nothing!!"

Gogeta Jr. had already shot up out his seat, the cut off coming out in an angry shout as he angrily swung his fist down with his finger pointing at the floor.

"She was just a stupid, exploitable child throwing a tantrum, and you were supposed to take her down!! That was the plan: the son of the Sith Emperor, rising up to strike out at Zakuul and show the universe we didn't have to fear Arcann!! And what did you do?!"

He suddenly flung the seat he had sat in moments before to the side, the furniture shattering on the room. Vegetto Jr. frowned in response, instinctively shrinking a bit as Gogeta Jr.'s temper continued to flare in his outraged rant.

"You slept with her! You slept with the damn bitch!"

Vegetto Jr. soon found his courage again, raising his head up and narrowing his eyes.

"She was contained, alright?! What do you want me to say?!"

Gogeta Jr. scoffed again, gesturing to Jaz a final time.

"Oh sure, it was only about the universe; you were just trying to help us and her, not your damn self. Is that why you're doing the same thing again, with another simple minded bitch?! Is she a threat to the universe too?! Huh?!"

He sharpened his glare, straightening out his back and letting his arms fall to his side.

"I saw what real heroism is today, and if that hero had been in your place all those years ago, he would've finished the job we needed you to do. But because you decided to 'save everyone '-

His words dripped with venomous sarcasm.

"-instead of doing what's necessary...he's dead."

Vegetto Jr. turned his head down, Gogeta Jr. clenching his fists tightly.

"And when challenged by Arcann himself, your father rose to face him in combat. He didn't try to reason with him, or to make a friend out of an enemy like some spineless cowards we know. He rose to kill the biggest threat to our universe, same as the other heroes of old. He made a decision that inspired hundreds of Imperial and Republic fighters alike to join our cause, while the universe still suffers from yours." 

Gogeta Jr. scoffed again, turning his scowl momentarily to Jaz before steadily walking towards the exit, sarcastically waving his arm dismissively.

"We're going to use this public image to our advantage: the real Sith Emperor will return to be the savior this universe needs. You two want your privacy...fine: you can spend as much time as you want in your new room here. Just stay clear of the real warriors when we go to work."

Vegetto Jr. kept his head down, inhaling deeply at the sound of the doors shutting tightly once Gogeta Jr. had departed. He glanced to the side, a little worried of Jaz's response to the whole outburst and kept quiet in the small awkward silence that hung in the air.

=======================

HK-47 nodded once towards Solaris.

"Acceptance: As you command, master."

He then turned his head to Brachi, his voice ringing out once more.

"Query: Do you agree to the same decision, master? I require both of you to agree on a decision."
 
Jaz watched the two boys bicker back and forth, pulling back when Gogeta Jr. pointed her childish antics and behavior. In a way, she knew he was right, despite Junior disagreement, and the comparison to Vaylin didn't make things any easier for her. She lowered her gaze to the floor, listening to the door slam behind her as Gogeta left. She didn't say anything for a moment before standing up and taking a step closer to the window, gazing at the stars.

"He's right about me..." She began. "I take you away from the battlefield simply because of my selfish desires... like Vaylin. I can't keep you away from what you need to do for the universe, and that's all I've been doing, even when I was frozen in carbonite. Look, Gogeta is mad about the death of his father, I would be too, but he has a point about us, Junior."

She turned to Junior and gently lifted his head so they can meet eyes. She had her usual bright smile in her attempts to lift his spirits, but there was no doubt she was hurt.

"You are one of the strongest people in this universe, Junior. I think it's about time you showed people why. Gogeta Jr. is your family and he needs you and so does everyone else. I can't keep holding you back from your true potential if the whole universe is at stake. So how about this!" Jaz squished his cheeks slightly. "If you don't put your butt into action and help defend this universe, I won't let you kiss me, let alone date me! Heh, maybe dad will try to have me marry someone on Odessan if he finds out?"

Jaz chuckled before ruffling Junior's hair.

"I'm only kidding. He won't let me marry anyone, so you don't have to worry about competition. Besides, if Gogeta thinks he's gonna get away with calling me a simple-minded bitch, then he's mistaken!" Jaz placed her hands on her hips and scoffed. "I'll train harder than the rest of you! I hope he knows that a Rebbel never backs down! Thanks to his lil' remark, I'm determined to face Arcann all by myself and show him I'm just as strong as you guys! When I beat Arcann and help protect this universe, I bet your cousin won't say all that stuff to my face anymore! Yeah, that'll show him!"



"Master, I believe these metal alloys are quite difficult to copy. Shall I begin to study the components on a molecular level?"

"Sure, as long as you can make a somewhat decent copy, go for it."

Kire finished his welding and Helga finished the last bits of programming on his back. Parts of Kire's body started to turn invisible without him realizing so the upgrades were certainly working. As he gently polished the armor off, he checked the holograms and continued to examine the AI within. It piqued his curiosity and he only wanted to understand what it meant. The man touched his holograms and started to dig in, cracking the first few layers of the hundreds he would have to tread carefully.

A little peek wouldn't hurt, right? I should check what the hell 'Functions' are. It might help me out with KABS if I can learn some properties of this junk.
 
Brachi nods.

"I agree. Perhaps with some recalibration we could increase its power output." She said.

Xenest sighed, hoping the madness of this all would come to an end soon.
 
"I do not think anyone has explored the ship beyond where the lab would be." Mioi said, following Kira and looking all over the place, flinching slightly at the sound of a door tightly shutting after a loud muffled shouting from the other side. "Let's avoid that side of the ship for now..." She managed to pry open a door that looked to be an unused room that gave a good view of the stars. Aside from some discarded piles of random items, it looks fairly undisturbed since the ship was reactivated. "Here we are. This will suffice."
 
Solaris kept looking to the reactor, nearly placing a hand on it, when he heard Brachi give HK permission. Swiftly turning around, he looked at the two with a confused frown.

"Wait, what? The optimizations he suggested for the hyperdrive will make it's trip to Odessan go well, but at a cost to the engine's performance afterwards. That's not something we can really deal with, having to replace the hyperdrive, again?"

- - -

Kira looked into the room Mioi had found, spending several long moments just staring in, before heading inside and starting to move all the junk to one side of the walls.

"Yep, this will do. A little cleaning can't hurt." She said. "And then we can begin the training."
 
Vegetto Jr. simply stared back at Jaz with a solemn gaze throughout her entire peppy speech. His frown gave way momentarily at Jaz's confident claim to prove Gogeta Jr. wrong, but his frown soon returned once she finished. Instead of meeting her optimism with the same energy she brought to him, Vegetto Jr. glanced to the side with a frown.

"It's still not fair...Jaz."

He kept his eyes to the ground, sighing heavily.

"You never got to live the life you wanted...and I sure as hell didn't want to fight this stupid war..."

Vegetto Jr.'s eyes narrowed slightly into a small scowl.

"What right does the universe have? I didn't deserve this...you didn't deserve it."

His scowl weakened a bit, his voice a bit weaker.

"And neither did she."

======================

HK-47 stood still, glancing between them both.

"Acknowledgement: this debate must conclude before I am able to complete a specific order, masters. Should you require discussion pointers, I am well versed in educated persuasion techniques."

He paused for a moment, before continuing.

"Advisement: Evisceration works well. Electrocution and blunt trauma also work well, I understand."
 
Brachi was pondering about this, wondering what the best course of action would be that would ensure the upgrades would be even better.

"If only I had a stash of dilithium with me right now..." She said.
 
Jaz frowned at Junior's words and knew he was right, especially how the situation is turning out. She didn't know how to really cheer up Junior so she tried to explain her side of the situation in hope that he would understand.

"I know it's not fair, but sometimes, things aren't always the way we want it to be." Jaz let out a sigh, kicking childishly at the ground. "I don't wanna fight in this stupid war, no one does... but if we just sit here and do nothing Arcann and his sister are just going to destroy everything we care about. That's why I'mma fight back! I know I'm not as strong as you and I'm not as smart as your cousin... but I won't sit here and let you guys die."

Jaz crossed her arms.

"You're right when you say this universe sucks right now, but if I have to fight in order to protect everyone I care about, then I will. You've been through so much in the last 25 years, you're right, you didn't deserve it. That's why I want to get stronger and train my butt off so you won't ever have to experience pain like that ever again. I don't want you to be sad about anything or worry about what the future might hold..." Jaz took a hold of Junior's hand and squeezed it tenderly. "I just... I just don't want you to get hurt again, Junior. I don't want you to think that there isn't anything worth fighting for."

The girl lowered her gaze to the ground before gently speaking up.

"Hey, why not try talking to my dad? He's been through these types of situations before, so he should have an idea of how to help you. He might be able to lift your spirit more than I can. Give it a shot!"



"Master, I don't think it is very wise to meddle around with Solaris's armor. I recommend that we just fix it as he asked us to do."

"Yeah... you're right. Besides, I got more important things to mess with. KABS needs a major upgrade and you need to implement those components to KABS. Maybe Solgaris will be more compliant if he sees what a nice job I did with his armor."

Kire stretched his new mechanical arms before turning his attention to working on the KABS cores.
 
Mioi assisted with cleaning up the room to be more presentable, occasionally pushing out a box into the hallway. "That should suffice for now." To rest, she took a seat on the floor of the room, looking at Kira expectantly. "Ready when you are."
 
The information Kire had dug through could provide further leads for upgrading KABS. A half-functional AI belonging to an extinct, in one universe, race of space gods who designed a master class super weapon that was supposed to pilot said super weapon. Surely development could help KABS. But Helga was right, Kire had better work on KABS.

And not investigate that strange part of Solaris' code.

- - -

Solaris looked to HK-47 with the fact he needed a compromise. The Solarian visibly flinched at HK's suggestions for persuasion.

"What!? I, I'm not going to hurt my friend! That's just ridiculous as an idea! Why, I went to-" he said before his eyes suddenly went wide, body freezing. Slowly and less stunned he said, "I went to... I, went, to..." He said before grabbing his head. "I, I can't remember... I can't remember anything... Fine, do whatever you want Brachi. I'm, going to go sit by a window." He stated before speed-walking off.

- - -

Kira smiled at all the junk being cleaned up, proud of making a dingy place usable for sacred rituals. Closing the door to provide the two privacy and help block out the sound of whoever was losing their composure in the middle of space, she sat down across from Mioi, pulling out her lightsaber. Placing it inbetween the two, she placed her hands on her legs and closed her eyes, focusing. She began to speak in a way unlike herself, as if from practice rather than emotion.

"The Force is power in the ancient, traditional sense of the word. It exists in every living thing in the universe. Sentient beings like us, plants, animals, even the life-giving stars." She said. "It binds us together across the cosmos. It possess an intelligence, and a will, but that will can be subverted. With the right training, someone can learn to draw upon the Force directly for strength, and increase their connection to it." She lifted up one hand, yellow Ki drawing from her body into it. "Like so. The various Sith Emperors, in recent history, have been some of the people with the strongest connections to the Force. So strong, they go to another level entirely of it. The Force is complex, and it is possible to become lost in trying to understand it. As a result, it has been broken up into four aspects of existence for the Jedi. The Living Force, the energy of living beings and their connection to the Force, such as this energy in my hand." She said before letting the Ki disperse, and placing her hand back on her leg. "The Unifying force, the Force's connection across space and time, and in the future and past, such as visions of the future or memories of the past tied to a place. The Cosmic Force, the gestalt connection of existence through life itself. And the Physical Force, the Force's connection to physical matter." She said, the lightsaber lifting up into the air. "That, is the Force."
 
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