The last thing Baby expected was to be flung through time and space and delivered right to the doorstep of the planet he set off to. One would assume that getting to the point of your destination sooner than intended was good news, but, frankly, it was just another headache for the Tsufurian in Saiyan royalty's body.
He didn't have the time to analyze the data from surrounding space stations about the status of Saiyans on Planet Earth. Did they have some sort of center they based around, who their leaders were, were they loved around Planet Earth or treated like an exotic attraction at the zoo and banded in concentration camps? Sure, Baby had the memories in Vegeta's body to provide some information, but given how arrogant the musclebound prick was as an independent man, Baby considered his memories unreliable.
Of course, Vegeta would see his people as the jewel of this rundown planet, the minority of powerful, elite soldiers that compared to and could trounce just about any military force in the universe solely because of how trained and absurdly powerful each individual Saiyan drone was. Vegeta saw himself as the lone, undisputed king with the unwavering loyalty of his people. And yet Baby sincerely wanted to get a second opinion on those memories before he actually approached anywhere near the Solar System.
Not the smallest clue about who brought them here or why. In a blink, the M-2 Star just began phasing through a wormhole and appearing within a hand's reach of the Earth's orbit. No exact plan of action yet. Sure, upon seeing the Big Gete Star, Baby suspected what had happened, but there was no sign of any potential allies he may have had on this planet. His most dominant theory currently was that some double agent from the previous Machine Mutant invasion remained and set this into motion, though given how incapable these sentient robots were of acting on their own, Baby had his doubts.
"Orders, Baby-sama?" a Machine Mutant drone hovered behind Baby and saluted him while the Tsufurian stared through the screen at Planet Earth and various statistical data and scan information he was drawing out on the spot.
"This sudden teleportation trick came as a shock, but my plans haven't changed. I'm still heading to the capital known as West City to gather the Saiyans and have them collect the Dragon Balls for us," Baby grumbled and turned around, heading to the mechanical door and preparing to head straight for the bridge opened between M-2 and Big Gete Stars to use Big Gete to transport him to West City.
"Alert! Alert! Danger detected!" another, dirt-brown Machine Mutant wobbled left and right with a rotating red light going wild on its headpiece.
"Hmm?" Baby turned around and approached the control panel, accepting the request for an interface with the Machine Mutant's internal systems and bringing up the data about the detected danger on the control screen.
"An Earthling!?" the Machine Mutant hovered in from behind Baby. "It's impressive to see an Earthling that's flying around, how is this Earthling posing a threat to us? We've got Planet M-2 and the Big Gete Star under our command."
"Danger! Danger! This Earthling is shooting devastating attacks! Danger! Danger!" the brown Machine Mutant was going absolutely wild. Baby reached for a holographic circle on his side and cranked it to the right, bringing up statistics of Planet M-2's energy reserves. Upon seeing the ludicrous percentage that was seriously threatening the artificial planetoid with overloading, Baby's eyes stretched out wide in disbelief.
"Surely the counter must be malfunctioning! All the Four Stars can withstand a calamitous amount of force and absorb the energies of even the wildest cosmic phenomenon. Neither supermassive black holes nor hypernovas pose us any danger," the first Machine Mutant pondered to himself with thin hooked arms.
"No, apparently, I know this man. Order our people on the Big Gete Star to beam him inside. I have a feeling that he won't blow up the vessel he's in. I'll treat with him. If we're fortunate, he'll clue us in about what brought us here," Baby's mood soured as this dangerous distraction brought him back from his intention of employing the Saiyans to work for him and make the first step toward redeeming for the horrific genocide they put the Tsufurians through.
"B-Baby-sama, you should be careful. The Sigma Force and General Rilldo were both defeated on Earth. We don't have a strong backup for you if this man decides to act with violence," the brown Machine Mutant warned Baby only for the latter to turn around with a grin every bit as smug as those Vegeta dyed his face with.
"King Vegeta believed this man to be of no threat to him. He is a vain idiot with most matters, but I'm willing to trust a Saiyan's judgment on matters related to fighting. If Vegeta believed to be able to defeat this man, with my enhancements to his nervous system and body, he should be able to utterly crush this man if he is foolish enough to choose violence," Baby pointed his thumb at himself, looking confident about his odds.
A strident cerulean beam blasted off toward the Earth's surface. Upon engulfing Tenshinhan in the atmosphere shooting one-handed Ki blasts, it transported Tenshinhan inside of an unfamiliar corridor, surrounded by Machine Mutants. Neither of those looked like the grand military machines that rolled out on Earth. These guys were scouts and civilians of their race. Still, by nearly flattening half of the Earth's surface and waging interplanetary war on Earth, the Machine Mutants had their monicker of enemy well-earned in Tenshinhan's mind.
"Machine Mutants!? So that's what this is all about, you couldn't conquer the Earth with a military invasion, so you acted through deception and brainwash our strongest martial artists?" Tenshinhan took a fighting stance, making the terrified Machine Mutants that were still trying to quantify the Earthling martial artist's power wash back in terror for their life. This hesitation on their part made Tenshinhan falter, as he couldn't think up an idea why they'd beam him onboard the Capsule Corps Star without a plan on the spot.
"I assure you that our emergence has nothing to do with military interference. It might sound cliché and flat-out ridiculous coming from this body, but... We come in peace," Baby walked out of the crowd, gently brushing his subjects aside and smiling at the Earthling. Though, given the body he was wearing, it was likely that Vegeta wasn't capable of benevolent smiling and he may have appeared a tad more malicious than Baby intended.
"Vegeta... What happened to you?" Tenshinhan staggered back, not expecting to see Vegeta like this. "Has this Baby brainwashed you too?"
"So, you know who I am?" Baby crossed his arms and tapped his foot with a rotten look on his face. "That might make some things difficult, depending on who else knows. I intend for the Saiyans to believe that I am still their savage and arrogant King Vegeta."
"No, you ARE Baby!" Tenshinhan pointed his index finger in sudden realization.
"Why are you here interfering with my business, Earthling? Is it because Machine Mutants invaded your planet some time ago, is that it? I don't intend on a single Machine Mutant taking one step on Planet Earth. Whatever reparations are in order, you may demand them of the Machine Mutants after I'm through with them. After the Saiyans redeem their crimes against the Tsufurian race," Baby Vegeta insisted with a tightly clenched fist. "The actions of Machine Mutants on Earth weren't under my orders. They were under Dr. Myuu's and I've destroyed Dr. Myuu because he and his ambitions for a Cyber-Verse were a threat to the rebirth of the Tsufurian race."
"You won't get off that easy!" Tenshinhan stepped up, making the Machine Mutants around Baby wash back like the fleeing tide. "Your parasites infected me and made me hurt my students! They made us do awful things. This transgression is your own, it has nothing to do with the Machine Mutants!"
"I see, so you are here to demand satisfaction for that, is that it? Would it make you see reason if I told you I had no control over those parts of me and that it is because you've encountered them in space that you've caught them? In fact, I extinguished all traces of my parasites everywhere I found them throughout the universe. Unlike Dr. Lychee's intent for me, I don't seek to control the universe or to convert it into the Cyber-Verse. I merely seek to restore Planet Plant and make it home to the revived Tsufurian race. You sound like a man of honor to me. Seeing how Saiyans snuffed my ancestors out, I am owed this satisfaction, am I not?" Baby Vegeta flared his eyes, leveling his look with Tenshinhan's by looking diagonally up since Tenshinhan was a fair bit taller than Vegeta.
"Do not take me for some grand cosmic hero of justice, runt!" Tenshinhan gritted his teeth and shook his fist out in front of him. "I don't care about your quarrel with the Saiyans, I'm just going to make you pay for brainwashing me and making me hurt my students, and robbing us of our martial artist's pride!"
"In that case, I'll finish the job and crush it entirely by defeating you in battle, No. 548814, take us to a remote planet with a breathable atmosphere where we can settle this and make sure to record this so that we have proof to show the Saiyans that I am still their king!" Baby turned around, swiping his arm with a daring command aimed at a specific, frightened Machine Mutant who dared not disobey Baby's authority.
Tenshinhan didn't seem to object to this at all and stood still while an electrified blue field formed around both him and Baby Vegeta. Then, a robust cerulean sky beam sent them across billions of light years off into the farthest regions of space toward an uninhabited planet with a breathable atmosphere and pleasant conditions. One of the countless worlds that Frieza's Army snuffed out of intelligent life and vacated to sell off before Vegeta and his Saiyan army crushed the remnants of the Frieza Army.
A sandy violet wasteland world welcomed the two warriors, beamed within eyesight distance to one another. The atmosphere was still with a sense of heaviness to it that kept all the dry sand particles firmly grounded. The sky above was of a darker eggplant color with visible beacons representing the innumerous stars in directions. The planet's surface had been riddled with craters and some of them still hosted halfway submerged ruins of buildings built out of an unidentified material resembling a mixture of polished stone and steel alike.
"What is this planet?" Tenshinhan asked, turning to Baby with an undaunted look.
"Who knows? If I got to pick the stage for our fight, it wouldn't have been very fair. Don't worry, the Machine Mutants are monitoring it so I won't leave you here to die when we settle our differences," Baby Vegeta took a wide fighting stance with a look of malicious excitement gleaming on his face. "All I can feel is that its gravity is around fifty times that of Planet Earth. It was careless of the Machine Mutants to just assume you can handle it, or maybe they intended to help me this way."
"Don't worry, the gravity of this planet does not bother me at all," Tenshinhan's look reflected the sharp focus toward punishing Baby for his transgressions as he became a stone wall from which Baby's demeaning attempts at emasculation bounced off of.
The two took off at the same time, colliding down the middle with their hands extended and their bodies tensed to the point of forceful explosion. The entire bodies of Tenshinhan and Baby Vegeta swelled up as the two entered a power struggle and began sending burrowing shockwaves that electrified the atmosphere and deepened the crater that the pair collided down the middle of. The ground shook, throwing the rotation of the entire planet out into the fritz and causing tiny dust specks combined into dice-sized pebbles to shoot off into the air like bullets. Despite their velocity, they failed to penetrate the bubble of concussive force formed around the pair.
With a confident smirk, Tenshinhan took control of the engagement by turning the arms inward and throwing Baby Vegeta off balance. The three-eyed martial artist scaled his opponent like a wall and sought a stiff boot to his chin, but Baby Vegeta turned it away and let it slip at the last moment. With his fist wound back, Baby tried responding with a devastating overhead smack but Tenshinhan hovered in mid-air, expelling a great deal of Ki from the soles of his boots to send walls of dust in all directions that made Baby cover himself up and cough, proving Tenshinhan's move a viable distraction.
Tenshinhan pressed his index and middle fingers together, winding his hand back as the shimmering golden Ki around the tips of his fingers built up force and expanded to cover his whole hand. "Neo Dodonpa!" Tenshinhan barked out, unleashing his Dodonpa not as a mere finger beam, but as a whole energy wave. After the tip of the incoming blast pierced through the veil of dust, Baby grumbled in shock before clutching his wrist with his free hand and extending his fingers. Five little energy blasts flickered around the tips of each of Baby Vegeta's fingers, firing five finger beams at once.
While one finger beam collided with the Neo Dodonpa, the others spiraled around it and hurried on their way to Tenshinhan. Taken aback by Baby's improvised comeback, Tenshinhan extended his free hand and fired a few Ki blasts to detonate the incoming finger beams before they got to him while his lost focus made the central beam strong enough to force a detonation out of the Neo Dodonpa. The resulting blast sank both fighters into heaps of dust. Since neither of them wanted to give their opponent an inch, they remained still until the area cleared out enough for them to continue their fight.
"From your attitude, I can still sense that you take me for some villain. I've never intended for the Machine Mutants to attack your planet, I've never ordered pieces of my flesh to attach to whoever brought them to Planet Earth or to infect you. In fact, had I gotten to Planet Earth while my flesh was still inside you, I'd have freed you like I've freed the others," Baby Vegeta said.
"The others?" Tenshinhan wondered.
"Before I came to Planet Earth hoping to have the Saiyans do my dirty work, I had a different plan. To gather those that were unwanted or about to die on their home planets and implant my body inside them. I thought that would make them more like me — genuine New Tsufurians. Unfortunately, it only brainwashed them into unconditional servitude. That's no way of rebirthing your race, that's slavery," Baby Vegeta replied while the storms of dust clouds howled aside, leaving both of them exposed to one another.
"The truth is that I couldn't care less if you are good or bad," Tenshinhan admitted. "You've put my students and me into your crosshairs and you forced me to fight when I have sworn myself out of this life. I have been just fine practicing martial arts merely as a master and teaching it to the next generation. Whether or not you wanted it, it's only right that you answer for what happened, since you are the one responsible."
"I see you won't see reason either way," Baby shook his head in disappointment. "Very well then, if you insist on getting the way of the rebirth of the Tsufurian race, I'll just have to beat you and move you out of the way!"
Baby Vegeta spread his arms and legs out to the sides. The overflowing energy roared as it formed two shining masses of yellow energy around each arm. Baby pushed his hands together, joining the two energy masses and creating a solid sphere that spat out relentless blasters of small Ki blasts in many directions. Tenshinhan got on the defensive, soaring up and away while swatting the incoming Ki blasts aside. He couldn't help himself but stiffen up for a moment as the back of his hand stung a fair bit from each deflection.
"Got you!" Baby Vegeta proclaimed with malevolent glee as he crashed into Tenshinhan from the air, head-first, having used the flash and the smoke of his energy barrage attack to conceal his dash up close. Tenshinhan grumbled in pain and covered himself up by pulling his arms back and over his head. While Baby Vegeta threw a rapid flurry of fists, Tenshinhan skillfully leaned to the left and to the right, slipping most of the damage and avoiding direct competition with either strike. That was until Baby's jumping left kick forced Tenshinhan's defenses to open up and an overhead double ax handle slam sent him crashing down into the ground.
His mouth felt dry as Tenshinhan quickly shot his eyes wide open and sprung to life, spitting the dust aside from his mouth and getting back to his feet. It was surprising to see Baby Vegeta show enough restraint to just hover in mid-air with his arms crossed over his chest and stare at Tenshinhan. While Tenshinhan hadn't quite fought Vegeta himself, he knew Vegeta to be a highly aggressive and in-your-face combatant. Vegeta was someone who sought to overpower his opponent in battle and then flaunt that strength with relentless aggression. It was off-putting to see Baby so restrained.
And yet he wasn't making the same mistakes Vegeta used to either. He didn't overextend. Not to mention how Vegeta's entire fighting strategy crumbled whenever he encountered a stronger opponent whom he couldn't just bully around. Someone who could match him beat for beat and had an answer to his aggression. Tenshinhan had to pull himself back from launching a point-blank Kikoho he would have been certain to hit Vegeta in a moment of overextension whereas Baby was okay not inflicting all the damage at once and staying in control rather than gambling the tide of battle in meaningless power contests.
"As expected," Baby Vegeta closed his eyes and showed his teeth in a look of disgust. "Vegeta's memories of you were unreliable. He thought you to be a meaningless bag of deer poop to be flung away. Yet it appears that you can more than hold your own."
"If you're impressed by my survival this far, you'll be really floored when I tell you I'm not going all-out right now," Tenshinhan smirked.
"What!?" Baby's eyes widened. "You mean Vegeta was off by that much!?"
"Vegeta has been too busy obsessing himself about not being surpassed by any of the other Saiyans and keeping his status as Saiyan royalty in place to notice the strides that other Earthlings have made in their training. I understand you weren't born that long ago, so I am willing to teach you a thing or two about martial arts right now. I'll show you my Spirit Cultivation Method!" Tenshinhan pressed his arms to his sides while turning the forearms away from his body.
"Spirit Cultivation Method? Fine, show me everything that Vegeta refuses to learn. You claimed to be a martial arts teacher, so how about you do what you do best and teach me through this exchange of blows?" Baby Vegeta exclaimed with a joyous and maniacal look on his face. The signature battle mania of a Saiyan was on full display and mixed with Baby's own personality every second he spent in Vegeta's body.