The New Age Empire v2: Book 2

~Chapter 10: Addressing the Masses~

If Goku thought travelling with Vegeta and Company was going to be fun he was sadly mistaken. In fact, he was doing some of the same sort of things he had been doing back on Chikyuu: eating, sleeping, and sparring. Therefore he was glad when Vegeta's call came through.

"Kakarott, didn't I tell you I wanted a press conference?" Vegeta asked, irritated.

An embarrassed smile came over his face. "Oops."

" 'Oops' is right. The good thing is that you have an half an hour to get your ass back to this planet and prepare for the camera." He disconnected the call without saying goodbye.

"Are you seriously thinking about letting him control you like that Tousan?" Goten asked with a frown while glancing at the king's namesake. "He's just like-"

Vegeta's raised hand cut him off. "Don't go there."

Goku shrugged. "Vegeta's got opposition. Of course he's grumpy right now."

"When *isn't* he grumpy?" Goten asked. Goku could think of a lot of times when he wasn't but he didn't think Vegeta would like him telling everyone about them. "I have to go and dress in my 'royal commander clothing'." He made a face when he said that.

"I know what you mean, Goku-san. Papa has bad taste in regal clothing."

"Be seeing ya!" He said as he teleported for the second time in less than two days.

"Don," Goten asked. "How long until we get to the planet?"

"ETA is forty-eight point five hours."

"I wonder if Tousan will remember to bring a board game or something."

***

"Um ChiChi, where are my clothes?" Goku asked while searching through the closet. He had heard his wife enter the room and he also scared her because she wasn't expected him to be back. After calming herself down and replacing the weapons that had appeared in her hands back into their hidden space, she answered him.

"In the closet, Goku-sa. Where else would they be?"

"My *gis* are in the closet. I'm looking for that really ugly outfit Vegeta picked out."

"Oh!" Then her eyes widened. "It's still at the dry cleaners. You spilled gravy on it at the last banquet, remember?"

"Oh damn," he cursed. "Vegeta's gonna really kill me this time. The press conference is in," he checked the clock on the nightstand, "twenty-five minutes and I don't have my 'royal outfit'."

"No problem," she said. "Just wear what you usually wear."

"ChiChi, dear," Goku said with a patient tone as if speaking to a retarded person, "people are already trying to kick Vegeta off the throne. It wouldn't a good idea to show up that way. We want people to know we mean business." As he spoke to her he decided to just go to the dry cleaners to get his clothes. Maybe he could back in time. "What cleaners did you take it to?"

"The one downtown, next to the deli. Satan City Cleaners."

"I'll be back soon," he kissed her quickly on the cheek. "Run downstairs and tell Vegeta to not freak out if I'm a little bit late." After she nodded, he ran to the balcony, took off into the sky. It was an emergency, some people would just have to stare.

The line was long at the dry cleaner place since it was the middle of the afternoon. When Goku saw it he went immediately to the front counter and cut in front of an old woman in pink.

"Gomen nasai, ma'am," he apologized when she glared at him, "but this is important!"

"Can I help you?" the man behind the counter asked almost rudely.

"Uh yeah. My wife dropped off something a few days ago and I really needed in today. In fact I need it within twenty minutes."

"Sir," he said, "do you always make it a habit to wait until the last second?"

"I didn't know she brought it here! Anyway, her name's Son ChiChi."

Nodding the man pushed the button on the rack after checking the book and slowly his clothes made their appearance. The man grabbed the plastic coated garment and handed across the counter to the anxious Goku.

"Did you pick this out?" He asked, his nose wrinkled in distaste.

"Iie, but I feel the same way about it. Er, Vegeta-oui did."

"*The* Vegeta-oui?" he asked with wide eyes.

"Of course it was *the* Vegeta-oui. I'm his commander, Goku." He shook his hand with a grin. "So nice to meet you. Now I have to go and get ready for the press conference of Vegeta will *not* be pleased." He turned around the go and was instantly mobbed by all the people waiting. 'Now I know what Vegeta means by 'rabid ningen'.' Taking a brief look at a wall clock, he concentrated on Vegeta's ki and teleported.

***

Ten minutes before the press conference, Vegeta was feeling a little nervous. It wasn't just the problem of ningen asking stupid questions but the fact that he always wondered if he said the right thing to answer them. After reading those books he purchased, he felt a little bit more confident but it wasn't enough. He hoped that Goku would get there soon because he always seemed to know the right things to calm people down. Turning on his heel, he once again began to pace the length of the room with his vision focused on the floor. A few seconds later he bumped into something solid and immovable.

"You got here in time, eh?" He asked recognizing his commander's ki.

"Yeah." Goku looked around trying to recognize where he was. After figuring out it was the throne room he dashed off through the a door behind the dias and emerged into the back hallway. "Bathroom, bathroom," he muttered to himself. He still didn't really know where everything was. It was just like with the Capsule Corporation, there were just too many rooms. After opening his fourth door he found a half-bath that was obviously there for visitors. He shut the door and quickly began changing his clothes.

His royal outfit was completely different from the old one of Vegeta-sei. It had Vegeta's family mark on the front, a red symbol resembling an anchor, but that's where the similarity ended. For starters it was without armor of any kind. Vegeta isn't expecting the ningen to be able to kill someone in his court. The pants were a navy blue with gold braid down the outside of the legs and tucked into the black knee-high boots and there matching navy blue and gold braid trimmed jacket with the royal mark in red on the left side. Underneath the jacket went a plain white shirt with a ruffle underneath his chin. The outfit was stiff and uncomfortable but Vegeta claimed it looked royal. The girls all had the same outfit with with a straight navy skirt instead.

"Shoes!" He exclaimed as he wiggled his bare toes in the thick floor rug. "I can't wear my boots!" Gathering up his discarded clothes, he took off for the back staircase praying to kami that he would get back downstairs in time. Five minutes remaining and counting.

***

"Where is he?" Vegeta asked Bulma who sat beside him on her throne. He questioned her through clenched teeth that he was trying to make stay in smile-like formation.

"I have no idea, Vegeta. Just stay calm. It wouldn't be wise to have a heart-attack on the dais."

It was four o'clock and of course it was time for the conference. Both Vegeta and Bulma sat stiffly on their thrones highest up in the room with Trunks, who was on his father's right, since he was the oldest child. Bra and Jakina had their thrones on the next lowest level along with their other niichan who's seat reamained empty. Just as one reporter opened her mouth to question Vegeta, Goku ran into the room hopping as he shoved his foot into a boot.

"I'm here! I made it!" He grinned triumphantly even as his king's eyebrows lowered in displeasure. Goku moved to sit on the steps of the dias in a relaxed way. From Goku, no one could expect anything more.

"Vegeta-oui," the woman asked politely. "where is your second son?"

"On an errand for me," he answered simply.

"May I ask what sort of errand? It seems he has been gone an awfully long time."

"I sent him to another planet to pick up something for me. It's magical spring water that can-"

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that," Goku interrupted. "They've decided to forgo the original plan. Seems something more important came up with Taura and Kallen."

"What do you mean Kakarott?" he asked with barely supressed rage.

"You see, Kallen needs to be immortal and Taura's friend Jas is missing a part of his soul. Don't you think that's a little more important than what you wanted the spring water for?"

Of course Vegeta had to say yes. He couldn't prove to the media that he was a heartless bastard... even though it was basically the truth.

"Helping my son's friends on their journey is very important, I agree." He answered smoothly despite the fact that he wanted to strangle his so-called-friend. "Rest assured that this Empire will do all that it can to assist them."

"Why does this Kallen want immortality?" A man's voice asked loudly. "Isn't that something mortals should never have?"

Vegeta shot a quizzical look to his commander. That was something he would like to know as well.

So Goku told them all that Kallen had told him on the ship about Chaos and 'keeping the balance'. He didn't omit anything and when he was done, he faced a deep silence. Then a snort rang out from a TV camera man in the front and soon everyone was laughing uproariously. Somewhat shocked at their reaction, Goku lapsed into silence and shot Vegeta a look from the corner of his eye.

"These ningen are seriously insane," Vegeta announced mentally to Goku. "But if I didn't know how things worked out there in the universe I would be laughing too. Stranger things have both happened and been said."

"You should have seen her face when she told me! She was incredibly distraught over the entire thing. If I have your permission, sire," Goku's voice suddenly changed from insistent to polite, "I want to accompany them on their mission."

"Kakarott please," Vegeta said amusedly. "Whether I said hai or iie wouldn't even make a difference. You still would have done what you wanted anyway. Don't pretend to obey me."

"But Veggie, at least I respect you."

Vegeta sighed. "I guess I could settle for that."

During their conversation, the media people had begun to mutter amongst themselves. Sudden a tall, thin man in a dark blue suit and a blue and brown silk tie cleared his throat and asked the most well thought out question so far.

"May I ask, Vegeta-oui, what do you need the magical water of Agalar for? Knowledge, Power, and Wisdom you definitely have and I doubt that Creativity and Luck are your aim. Unless you are going for Immortality and Love I would think you had it all."

After thinking up an appropriate response, he opened his mouth to explain but then shut it once again. For the absolute first time in his life Vegeta did have the faintest idea what to say. Sensing this, both Bulma and Goku spoke up at the same time, their voices overlapping.

"He wanted to bring it back here," Goku told him just as Bulma said, "That's none of your damn business." Both blinked at the other and Goku smiled tensely. "What Bulma-ouhi said. Just not so colorfully."

During this whole thing Vegeta and Bulma's children remained perfectly silent. Trunks was constantly glancing at his watch, Bra and glaring at the main in blue for even asking her papa such a question, and Jakina was fidgeting. The silence stretched on ever since Goku had spoken and finally Jakina broke it. Standing up from a throne that was still much too large for her, she fixed blue eyes on the reporter.

"Listen, Sir," she said in a calm voice. "My father, Vegeta-oui, is intending on bringing the magical water back to this planet in order to give to his people. Please excuse my mother for her earlier rudeness."

"I see," the man murmured softly. "May I ask then, Jakina-hime, how you feel about this endeavor?"

The little girl could have said "No comment" in fact, both her mother and her father were silently willing her to do so. Vegeta went as far as to order her inside of her mind. But Jakina hardly hardly ever lied and not answering a question was an even rarer occurence. So she told the truth, all of it, from the time Doctor Judek called the palace to yesterday when Goku had teleported to the ship. She ended with how she felt at the moment and no one had really known what went on inside of her mind.

"Sure, Papa's reason was selfish at first but I know, deep inside of my heart, that since he understands about Kallen and Jas he will do the right thing now." She turned slightly to look at her father above her with tears in her eyes. "I know he will."

Her words made Vegeta think hard about just why he sent both his son and Goten to Agalar. He could admit to himself now that he wanted immortality and power beyond Kakarott's belief but he was getting along fine without it. Why shouldn't he help Kallen and Jas? They would be so grateful to him that both would swear allegiance and serve him always. Again, Vegeta had twisted something completely around to suit his own purposes.

"It seems your daughter has a lot of faith in you," the reporter said quietly.

"Hai, she does." Vegeta was beside himself in pride despite his outward appearance. He was concentrating on what he would say about the Shadow Stalkers, the original purpose to the press conference.

"About the Stalkers," Vegeta began, "and all those who believe I am not suited for this job. Isn't everyone tired of the countless wars between nations? Aren't the endless boundries and borders between people of the same species wearing on your spirit? Wouldn't it be better to unite against a common enemy, to make sure what happened with the Kamoku-jin would never happen again?" Everyone in the room fell silent, remembering the incident that had happened no more than a month ago. Sometimes it was easy to forget that their beloved friends and relatives had died only to be ressurected less than a week later by the dragonballs. "I am creating an army above all armies to protect this world from outside invaders. I grew up in a militaristic environment on my own home planet, believe me, I know what I'm talking about. Once I have obtained water from the Spring of Power, my lovely mate here," he gestured to Bulma, "will create a pill using a bit of the Water. This pill will permanently grant all who joins the military power to protect those they that love. At the moment, ningen are ill suited to combat aliens sad to say." He let mock sadness creep into both his eyes and his expression, falsely sympathizing with the native race of Chikyuu. Grabbing Bulma's right hand, he gently held it in front of the cameras showing the people of the world that he was a firm believer in the joy of family life. That he was a kind man, a man that would never go back on his word. Bulma frowned inwardly at his sudden, and unusual, display of affection but a small smile remained on her lips. It may had been different, but it was... nice.

The media broke out into a loud clamor, questions rang out everywhere and the same woman who had asked the first question pushed her way to the front and almost to the dais before Goku stopped her with a glance. She held her microphone towards the king and questioned him in an excited voice. "Sir! Is this 'power pill' really going to work?"

Even though the question wasn't aimed at her, Bulma answered anyway. She felt that the woman was insulting her ability in science and technology. Barely keeping a lid on her anger, she answered in a cool voice. "I assure everyone that the pill will, of course, be one-hundred percent effective. I am fully capable of creating such a pill and as soon as my son and Son Goten return, I will get to work on it. The civilians will never have to fear a violent death again."

Her last statement hung over the heads of Trunks and his siblings while the media continued to jabber excitedly at one another and shout random questions to the king. Goku was happy that soon he would have something to do on Chikyuu but the kids didn't really like the way Bulma had spoke of death. She said that the *civilians* would never have to fear a violent death again. What about the defenders? Couldn't she think up something to protect them with as well?

Both Bra and Trunks resolved to become even better at their Art so that death would not be able to embrace them in Its icy grip. It seemed that their martial arts ability would be all that stood between a peaceful life and a trip to see Enma-sama.

How unfortunate for them.