Dragon Ball: Paradise Lost

Plans On Sunbathing

"How could you be so brutal with him?" Bulma objected, pointing at the bandaged yet sleeping peacefully Son Goku sleeping in the Papaya hospital that, despite the short-lived rampage of the world-breaking monster transpiring on the same island, was not only in a functional condition but not even overcrowded. People were lucky to leave as early as they did.

"To beat another Saiyan half-to-death is the greatest honor a Saiyan can have." Chayote replied without much emotion to it. Almost as nonchalantly as she would have explained where the Sun rose from and where it set.

"That's so horrible!" Puar grabbed its fluffy cheeks.

"You might think so." Chayote closed her eyes and breathed in deep. She finished that thought while she exhaled. "However, to a Saiyan, strength is everything."

"I don't get it, how does crippling each other makes you guys stronger?" Krillin squinted at Chayote. Goku's life was not in any immediate danger now which was why the crew still looked distrustful of Chayote but felt calm enough to have a conversation about the intricacies of the cultural differences of a faraway alien race that both Goku and Chayote came from.

"You wouldn't." Chayote shook her head. "It is called Zenkai. It is an ability that all Saiyans share, we grow stronger with each battle. The closer we get to death – the stronger we become. If a battle is boring, there is often no growth whatsoever. Yuca, my instructor back on Planet Vegeta, told me that if a Saiyan is not driven to an inch to their death Zenkai will not come into play but... I have a feeling she was wrong. Sometimes it seems like Zenkai makes itself known all throughout a fight as if I am growing stronger while I am fighting. I've no idea why Yuca would have wanted to keep that hidden, maybe she did not know it either."

"I guess that explains why you two are so eager to get into fights." Bulma squinted at Chayote. She then turned an angry glare at Yamcha too. "Sometimes you're so one-track-minded that I think you might be a Saiyan as well!"

"Awww, come on, Bulma, now that the tournament's over we can spend more time together, we talked about this, remember?" Yamcha tried excusing himself as if he had something to excuse himself about. What a strange guy, why would he feel so obliged to lower himself in front of this woman for having his priorities set perfectly straight?

Then it popped to Chayote – Yamcha must have wanted Bulma to invent something for him. Maybe not a spacecraft like the one Chayote would have fancied but something he could have used. Perhaps a machine that removed his fear of women?

"Saiyans are really scary..." Oolong lamented. "Is this Planet Vegeta nearby? Two of them have already landed and nearly totaled the whole place, what if more of those guys come?"

"There's almost no chance of that happening." Chayote shook her head, growing visibly more bitter and distressed as she affirmed her own worst fears. "I don't know the exact location of this planet in the scale of the entire universe but... Judging from what I've heard, it's on the whole opposite side of the galaxy from the edge of Lord Frieza's Empire. There's no chance of Saiyans finding us here, not until we reach out to them first."

Everyone sighed easier.

"Not for a decade at least..." Chayote sighed again in disappointment while everyone else lost their collective shits.

"A decade!? That's not that far off!" Bulma yelled out at Chayote, attempting to make the teen cower and bend to her authoritative and loudmouthed influence just like the rest of the crew did. While Chayote considered being nice to the brilliant inventor lady of the planet, she'd rather never meet another Saiyan for a dozen more years rather than give up her Saiyan pride.

"This Lord Frieza... He sounds troubling." Muten Roshi turned serious all of a sudden. Something dark flashed through the man's eyes as if he recalled a gruesome and hopeless meeting with another tyrannical overlord. While Chayote was just shooting from the hip, if her assumptions were correct, this may have been an intriguing opponent to meet. Now that Chayote cemented herself as the strongest under this planet's heavens, she'll be severely bored for the coming decades.