The New Age Empire v2: Book 1

~Chapter Two: Revival and Reconstruction~

The place where they lived now was nothing but a shack hastily build to keep out the elements. There was only one room, a large one that held both the kitchen and the bedroom but the bathroom was outside.

All six of them were miserable there, but it was the best they could do considering the circumstances. Some people were without a home completely, choosing instead to take their chances against robbers and wild animals.

This was the day they were to try and wish back everyone that the Kamoku-jin had killed, once they found the dragonballs of course. Vegeta called a meeting at Master Roshi's old house, since it was basically the only one big enough that was intact, and everyone showed up to his disbelief. It seemed that people would put aside their fear and hatred to help others.

In a circle sat Piccolo, Gohan, Goten, Pan, Juuhachi-gou, Tien, Trunks, Bra, Vegeta, and Vegeta Jr. All were looking rather tired and weary but it was hopeful that they could resurrect everyone.

"Does Bulma still have the Dragon Radar?" Piccolo asked, dispelling the tense silence that had settled over the room after the remaining warriors had arrived.

Vegeta nodded and placed it on the coffee table. "It was one of the things she saved." He smiled grimly. "She knew that we were going to need it."

"Right." He picked it up and pressed the button on the top to get a clearer picture. "All seven of them are still around. The real problem is convincing the dragon to revive Goku, Yamcha, Roshi, and Krillin again."

Gohan nodded and pushed his glasses up with his index finger. "If we revive Tousan first, we can have him teleport to Neo Namek-sei and use Porunga."

Then Piccolo remembered. How it escaped his memory before was beyond him but it was extremely important. They couldn't use the dragonballs simply because their wishes had already been used recently.

They had been stupid, now that he thought about it, but seeing as there had been peace for a long time they didn't need them for anything else.

The first wish had been used by Goku who had wanted a year's supply of food. He ate it all in a week. The second was used by Bulma and ChiChi who had wanted thirty years to be taken from their appearances and the final wish had been Jakina's who wanted every single kind of Barbie doll in existence.

Silly, stupid, and completely unnecessary. Now, when they really needed it, the wishes couldn't be used again for at least ten more months.

"We can't," Piccolo told everyone. "They were just used, remember? Someone will just have to go to Neo Namek-sei and use theirs."

***

Vegeta opted to stay behind on Chikyuu to help everyone replace the things they had lost as did Gohan and Piccolo. In fact, the only ones willing to travel to Neo Namek-sei were the younger ones.

"Bra, you cannot go with them," Bulma said sternly. "I don't trust your brothers to look after you."

"But Kaasan..."

"No buts! And don't give me that 'Gohan is letting Pan go' defense. He's stricter than I am!"

Gohan frowned. "I resent that."

"Anyway," Bulma dismissed the talk with a wave of her hand, "Trunks, V.J., Goten, and Mia are going. That's enough."

"It's not that bad, Bra-chan," Pan smiled as she put an arm around her shoulders. "We can help Tousan and Vegeta-ojisan."

Bra still pouted. "I guess..."

Vegeta absently patted her on the head and moved over to the assembled young people with a clipboard.

"Listen up! Here are the rules."

Gohan shook his head. "I still think an adult should be going with them." Trunks, Goten, & Vegeta Jr. all cleared their throats pointedly. "A *responsible* adult."

"Why Gohan!" Bulma pushed him forward none too gently. "Are you volunteering yourself?"

"N-nani? Iie. Not me. I have too much work to do here." He chuckled a little nervously. "They'll be fine!"

Waving his hand as if dismissing their foolishness, Vegeta went over his list. "One: You are to go there, make the wish, and come home. That's it!" He glared at each and every one of them personally. "No sightseeing, no side trips, no conversing with friendly Namek-jin!"

Trunks mock pouted. "I can’t even pick you up a little something from the gift shop?" Both his brother and Goten howled with laughter but they were the only ones who found it the least bit amusing.

Vegeta's glare returned and they shut up immediately. "Two: You will have a Namek-jin say: 'We wish that everyone the Kamoku-jin has killed on Chikyuu be brought back to life.' "

"Papa?" V.J. said hesitantly. He really didn't want another death glare.

"Nani?"

"What about the other two wishes?"

"Just leave them alone. Three: When you return, you will help us with the rebuilding. Everyone needs help and I'll split you up and send you to different countries."

"What if we don't know the language?" Trunks asked. "Like if Goten gets sent to France?"

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Prior to contrary belief, carpentry is a universal language. So is helping someone out. You're not getting out of this."

Bulma ceased typing on her laptop and sent her information to the printer. "Here's the list of coordinates for Namek-sei. Included is also a guide on how to operate the ship." She handed it to Mia because she didn't trust the other three not to lose it. "Don't screw up. Everyone is counting on you."

"We understand," Trunks told her. "And my duty, as the oldest, is to keep these guys in line." He began to walk toward the space ship, his head held high.

"Don't worry Bulma-san," Mia reassured her. "I don't think even he would mess something this important up on purpose."

Bulma watched as the four of them entered the space ship and closed the door behind them. As they lifted off into the sky, she sighed and began to pray.

'Kami *please* don't let them screw up.'

***

'The materials just aren't readily available.' That was what the man at the lumberyard had said. 'Too many people are trying to rebuild their lives. Myself included.'

Vegeta frowned as he crossed let another building material supplier off his list. It had been two days and no one had anything.

"How is it coming Vegeta?" Bulma asked him as she entered the living room to bring him a cup of tea. He ignored it and kept right on scanning the phone book.

"There's trouble. No one can spare anything and because of that they've hiked up their prices until no one can even afford to buy the little that they do have left."

Bulma frowned and sat beside him at the table. "It seems to me that we can't rebuild individual houses. How about a couple of large buildings? Like apartments?"

Vegeta blinked and slowly turned to look at her. "You know, you may have something there." Then he began to dial the phone at a rapid pace.

"This is Vegeta from the former Capsule Corporation. I was wondering if you had any stone and lumber that you could sell me?" He paused. "Not much, huh? Well, could it do for one large building?" Pausing again, he absently scratched his arm. Then his dark eyes lit up. "It could? Well, that's good. I'll be right over." Hanging up the phone, he took Bulma's hands.

"It's done! All I need to do is call a few more people and get all that they have too. I need you to come with me because I have no idea how to get this stuff. We'll build a large building with multiple apartments first and then another until everyone has a place to live."

"That's nice of you Vegeta." Bulma said, her eyes shining. 'I wonder what changed him?'

"Not nice, necessary. I intend to rebuild this planet and strengthen its defenses. Eventually Chikyuu will be the greatest empire in the Universe and I will be its king."

She sighed. 'I just knew he had an ulterior motive.'

***

It took ten trips total on that sunny, cloudless, and warm day to get all of the necessary supplies. Most of the warriors helped out as well as the citizens of Satan City that they were building the housing complex for. They really worked well together.

"We have the bricks, the wood, the stone, the paint, the plaster, the roofing shingles, the cement..." Vegeta checked each thing off his list. Over the last month he had become extremely organized.

"What we *don't* have," Gohan interrupted him, "are brick layers, roofers, carpenters..."

The shorter saiyan waved his hand in a dismissive air. "We don't need them."

Bulma, who had just finished the plans on the computer, looked over at him. "Do you really think so? You haven't built anything in your entire life, Vegeta."

"With a little sweat, blood," several people started at this, "and determination, we can succeed." He grabbed a shovel that was lying against a stack of lumber and placed it against the ground. "Now, I intend to break ground. Does someone have a camera?"

His mate sighed and handed Gohan a Polaroid. "I can see the caption now: 'Future king breaks ground on new project for the homeless.' "

Gohan smiled slightly. "If it *is* there, it's only because he wrote it himself." He got into position in front of the saiyan and motioned for him to remove dirt with his shovel. As he did so, Gohan snapped the picture.

They worked for hours that day, digging the basement with a borrowed power shovel and laying the foundation. While waiting for the cement to dry, Vegeta outlined his future plans with his workers.

"Tomorrow we begin to build the frame. I want everyone here bright and early at seven o'clock." There were many groans. "Look at it this way! The earlier you arrive, the faster you can have someplace to live."

As the people left to return to whatever it was that they were calling home, Bulma stopped to wonder yet again at the man that she called her husband.

He was different, that was for sure, but she couldn't place her finger on what exactly had caused it. It could have been any number of things; the battle, the hunger, or the general sorrow of the land. But whatever it was, it seemed to be a change for the better.

Bulma remembered the day the Kamoku-jin attacked Satan City all too clearly. She had been making the final corrections on a computer program when the ground shook with such force she thought it was an earthquake.

She remembered that Bra had ran into her lab, shouting something about destruction and that they needed to leave as soon as possible. She had told her daughter to gather up only the important things and to lead her sister to safety.

She was staying.

'Goku and the others will take care of it,' she had told her, 'There's no need to worry.' Oh but how wrong she was.

To Bulma staying with her experiments was more important than fleeing. The company was her life. It took Bra's tear streaked face to convince her that surviving was the most important thing of all.

Bulma shook her head at the memory. The attack was awful, sure, but the way she had been acting was even worse. Nothing is more important than staying alive for her family. Nothing. It was a mistake that she would never make a second time.

After finally coming to her senses, she had grabbed a couple of things, stored them in a capsule and left the building. It had been only a few minutes before the mothership had destroyed the Capsule Corporation. Kami had been truly watching over her that day.

"Kaasan, are you thinking again?" Bra knew the look her mother had on her face. It was the same one she had seen almost every day since the attack. Many people had very similar looks; everyone had a horror story to replay in their mind.

Bulma shook her head. "It's nothing."

Despite her answer, Bra was still worried.

***

"We're coming up on the planet now," Trunks told everyone as he rechecked the coordinates. "I think you should all buckle in, it might be a bumpy ride."

"If it is," Mia told him, "it's your own fault."

The trip to Neo Namek-sei was rather uneventful. There were no other spaceships, no comets, no asteroids; nothing. All knew the importance of the trip and didn't waste the one over by playing, they had spent it coming up with a way to gather the dragonballs.

"Shouldn't we go to the Elder and just ask him for them?" Mia said.

Trunks shook his head. "Kaasan told me that there are trials that you have to go through to prove that you're worthy of receiving the dragonball. We don't have time for that."

"It doesn't hurt to ask!" She insisted. "It might save us trouble later on if we tell them how important this mission is."

"You're always playing by the rules," V.J. snorted. "Even when we don't have time."

Goten frowned at his earlier comment. "I agree with her. What if the Namek-jin get mad at us for collecting the dragonballs?"

Trunks sighed and ended the conversation. "We'll ask them then. Like Mia says, there's no harm in it. Right?"

Now that he was actually landing on the planet he wasn't so sure.

They disembarked quietly, each worried that the Namek-jin wouldn't let them use the dragonballs.

"What do we do now?" Goten asked.

"We split up into groups. One will go find the Elder and the other will begin to collect the dragonballs." Trunks handed Mia the Dragon Radar. "Mia, you'll go with Vegeta."

"Why do *I* have to go with her?" Vegeta asked in exasperation. "We never get along!"

"You're getting along today whether you like it or not. This is too important."

"Sure Big Brother Trunks. Whatever you say."

Mia rolled her eyes as she pressed the button to get a clearer picture. "Doing this with you isn't high on my list either." Then she took to the air, following the direction that the Radar had indicated.

Vegeta sighed and was quick to follow her. "You can't leave me this easily!"

Trunks fell silent for a moment as he searched for the ki of a large group of Namek-jin. "They're over there."

Goten nodded. "Let's go."