Here we go again.


Basawe


As Basawe's transformation wore off, what Shitagi had said earlier rang in his mind again...

"Once Goku learned how to become a Super Saiyan, he trained himself to stay a Super Saiyan until it felt natural to him. Like when he was in his normal form. It made him a LOT stronger, both transformed and not transformed."

"Let's go see what Retasu and Shitagi are up to." he said, wanting to test something. Though he really hated having to talk to her...

Hammer agreed and followed Basawe back to the rest area, walking in silence the whole way.

"You're a man of few words." Basawe noted. "Shitagi's people are very vocal..."

"Humans usually are." Hammer responded in his typical curt manner. He wasn't rude, Basawe thought. He just didn't seem to have much to say. "Namekians rely more on their minds than their mouths."

"Minds... and fists, it would seem."

Hammer grunted and offered a half-smile, not looking away from the path he was walking. "The warrior Namekians are a rare breed. I'm the only one on this planet that I know of."

"There are no others...?" Basawe was genuinely surprised. "How could that be?"

"Not on this planet." Hammer repeated. "On New Namek, there are other warrior Namekians. My people are peaceful, so they require strong guardians."

Basawe was quiet for the rest of the walk. A planet with guardians as powerful as Saiyans, yet they were peaceful? Such a place... sounded like a paradise. Like the exact opposite of Ninjin.

Back at the rest area, Basawe excused himself and went to the other side of the plaza...

Retasu was still tinkering with her scouter. It beeped and chittered a bit as she replaced the conversion panel, reconnecting the wires that translated energy into Saiyan numerals...

"Excuse me, Princess," Basawe said, sarcasm dripping from the title, "but I've got to talk to you for a moment."

Retasu audibly sighed as she flipped the casing of her scouter shut and screwed it back into place. "Basawe, is it possible for you to ever leave me alone? I'm not planning to destroy your precious planet or steal your Dragonballs. I'm just upgrading my scouter right now."

"I know. That's what I'm here about."

"I already told Shitagi that I'm not-"

"I need a reading."

Retasu looked up for the first time, slipping the scouter back on.

"Excuse me...?"

"When I transformed earlier, the surge of energy destroyed my scouter." Basawe explained. "My power increased greatly, but as you can probably see, it's decreased again. I want to know if my base power has increased."

Retasu arched one eyebrow, but to Basawe's surprise, she complied.

"Fine." she said, pressing the button. "After all the hassle you've given me since I got here, consider it a token of good will. Or a bribe so you'll leave me to my own devices for a little while."

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BEEP BEEP BEEP!

16920.

"...What was your power level before you transformed?"

"The highest it reached was just over 11,000."

"Well, it's at almost 17,000 now."

"What? Are you sure...?!"

"Positive."

Basawe couldn't believe it... Shitagi had been right. His power was increasing. Gradually, but to be sure, it WAS climbing. And he still had, he assumed, over a week left in the Chamber. If he could just keep transforming and holding his power...

'I'll become the strongest Saiyan alive...' Basawe thought.

A smile began to cross his face, but it was quickly erased by a pained yell on the other side of the rest area. It sounded like Shitagi...


Chita



A small explosion on the horizon... Either Kados had just avenged his brother, or he'd met the same fate.

"Double-time, gentlemen." Chita ordered. "The Kwalis seem to have worn out their welcome."

If Blaque or Whyte had a response to this, Chita tuned it out as she listened in, her sensitive ears picking up faint voices, growing slowly in volume...

"Neat trick, but can you do it again?"

Chita smiled; with a quick gesture, she vanished from her flight path...

"I... think it'll take me a while."

...And she reappeared between the fallen Kwalis and the three Earthlings that had evidently killed them.

"I'm sorry," she said unapologetically, "but Rothax doesn't enjoy 'whiles.' Those Dragonballs will be in his possession within a few minutes."

The human who was holding the duffelbag stood up, very quickly for someone so weak, Chita noted.

"Actually," he said in a voice brimming with rage, "I think I just got my second wind."

"And I haven't even used my first yet." the lone female of the group added. "Who do you think you are trying to just take my Dragonballs like that?"

Two figures landed behind Chita at that moment - Blaque and Whyte.

"I am on the clock." she replied, barely seeming to notice her associates. "So if you don't mind..."

What happened next seemed to last several moments for Chita: She walked up to the Earthlings, then grabbed the duffelbag from the one in the middle and opened it, inspecting its contents... There were 3 orange, crystalline spheres inside of it. One had 3 red stars in its center, another had 5, the last, 7. All three of the orbs pulsed with an energy Chita had never felt before.

'This is them...' she thought, before stepping back and up to her two associates...

Approximately 0.000016 seconds after the word "mind" reached the Earthlings' ears, Chita had turned to her associates... with a bag in her arms...

The Earthling who'd been clinging to the bag looked down at his suddenly empty arms; his eyes widened so much that they threatened to bulge out of his head.

"I'll be taking these back to Rothax's ship." Chita informed her colleagues. "You two handle the Earthlings."

"Understood." Blaque said, smiling wickedly. "Well, Mr. Whyte, it would appear that-"

FWOW-WOOOOM!!!

The verbose warrior's words caught in his throat as the lone female of the group lowered her smoking hand... It had just fired a sphere of energy at Whyte.

From the middle of his exposed ribcage up, Whyte's body was gone. His head and one arm were now little more than small fountains of blood; his remaining arm twitched as it dangled from a shattered shoulderblade, spasming a good 70 degrees in the wrong direction before the body it was attached to fell over, the organs visible in its chest cavity pulsing irregularly before going still.

"MR. WHYTE!!!" Blaque cried out, clearly terrified. At the same moment, the Earthling that had been clutching the duffel charged forward with an animalistic howl, fist pulled back and glowing with energy.

Chita blinked; as her eye opened, she saw Van coming towards her with all the speed and intensity of a drifting cloud whose movement is only noticed when focused on for several seconds.

Chita blinked again; breaking the sound barrier, she dashed at Van and kicked him upward, in the chest. Time resumed its normal flow for a fraction of a second before his ascent slowed to a more manageable speed; Chita flew high into the sky and spun in a somersault, her fists balling together and striking the back of Van's neck. Upon impact, time again returned to normal as Van plummeted like a meteor, crashing into the side of a ridge hard enough to actually indent into it.

"What the Hell?!" the remaining human cried out. "How... she didn't even move!"

"Yes she did." the female replied, clenching her fists. "She just did it really, REALLY fast. It was all a blur to me."

Chita's mouth curled into a smile of pure smugness.

"Blur or not, you could keep track of me?" she asked. "That's quite impressive..."

She turned and flung the duffelbag to Blaque; in his stupor, he fumbled and barely caught it.

"Make yourself useful and take that to Rothax's ship." Chita ordered.

Blaque was still shaking a bit, but he did as he was ordered, flying back off into the sky the way he came a little TOO eagerly for Chita's liking.

'Coward.' she thought.

"You aren't going anywhere with those!" the Saiyan woman yelled, flying after Blaque.

FWAM!

...And getting an elbow into her stomach for trying.

"Kura!" the human cried.

"Kura...?" Chita echoed, chuckling as the Saiyan clutched her stomach and fell back down to the ground. "If you and your friends are that adamant about keeping hold of the Dragonballs..."

She held her arm out to one side.

"...You'll have to go through me."


------------


The gauntlet has been thrown down. The next three Dragonballs already secured, Chita is ready to use her mind-boggling speed to end the battle with Earth's defenders before it can even begin!

Can the uncooperative heroes put their differences aside long enough to discover a weakness in this interstellar speed demon? Or has the race for the Dragonballs - and the future of the Earth - already been lost? Find out next time, on Dragonball SU.