…
"...? Who's this guy, you know him Goten…?" The purple-haired little boy asked rather impolitely with his hands behind the back of his head.
"Hmm, no no, I don't know him…" While the black-haired tilted his head and shrugged his shoulders with an innocent air.
Behind the two boys, three other kids could be seen hiding in the background. A dog, a blue guy, and a black-haired girl.
"Trunks, shush, don't be impolite…" the blue-haired woman said and pinched the ear of the Trunks boy.
"Aouch aouch aouch, stop it, Mom!" The little Trunks cried out in pain.
"Bulma, you're finally here phew…" Krillin said as he stood up beside his wife.
"Krillin, Piccolo, what are you both doing here?"
"Sigh, we were going to the market today when Android 18 and I both sensed this guy's Ki. Dende then contacted us and asked us to check on it…"
"Where's Vegeta?"
"Tch, he's gone to train with Whis-san again!" Burma exclaimed in anger when she heard the name Vegeta.
"Anyway!"
"Hmm…? The woman named Bulma asked with a fierce expression as she scrutinized this very young man in front of them. Her eyes however widened when she noticed the familiar monkey tail waving in his back.
"Geh?! You're a Saiyan…?" Bulma took a step back warily.
"... Uh… yeah…" Edam replied blankly as his eyes kept darting at the two kids. For a reason that he ignored, he couldn't help but take a liking for these two little guys.
…
'Umm, be careful, my lord, these little guys are hybrid Saiyans…'
'Oh okay…'
'What I mean is that they might be more powerful than you currently…'
'…?! What?'
...
"Oh…! So you're a Saiyan like our dads…?" Trunks and Goten's eyes twinkled with curiosity as they asked and wanted to approach this young man but were suddenly held back by Bulma.
"Wait a second you two…" Bulma pulled the two kids back and then turned toward Edam and scrutinized him with a suspicious gaze before asking.
"Who are you…?"
"I'm Edam, like the cheese but it's actually from Edamame…"
"How old are you…?"
"...?" Although he was taken aback by this, he didn't care to reply to it. "I will turn twenty this year, why?"
"Twenty? So, you're only nineteen…?" Burma as well as Krillin, his wife, and Piccolo were stunned by that.
"Wait for a second, something's not right, the planet Vegeta has been destroyed a long time ago, you're way too young to come from there right? So you're surely from Universe 6 planet Sadala right?"
"Huh? No no, I'm not from here nor there…" Edam shook his head and responded vaguely.
"What? Where are you from then?"
"...I was adopted so… I don't know…"
"Uh…" Bulma didn't want to continue on that as she asked. "Whatever, and for what reason are you destroying my garden? You better have a good excuse for that…"
She took a look at what was once a garden… even though the battle had only lasted a few minutes, it only took that much time to end in a battlefield of some sort.
"Well…" Edam pointed at Piccolo and Krillin. "Those two guys there tried to get some personal information from me and then provoked me in a duel. I just replied to their invitation…"
"...Seriously now…?" Bulma turned toward Piccolo and Krillin. "What about my garden...?"
"Yeah… it's our fault, sorry Bulma-san…" Krillin rubbed his bald head and laughed while Piccolo had a grumpy expression and snorted as he averted his eyes elsewhere. "Aren't you filthy rich? what's the deal…"
"You…" Bulma's expression twitched in anger as she shot an angry glance at Piccolo, intimidating him a bit before looking back at Edam.
"And for what reason have you come to my house…?" Burma asked curiously. The fact that this young man was willing to reply to her question perhaps means that he wasn't as evil as she first thought.
"..." Hearing that Edam couldn't help but clenched his fists, feeling a depressive feeling welling up and weighing upon his heart and soul.
"I came here to find the super dragon balls… but it doesn't matter anymore…" Edam uttered depressingly, feeling a bit low right now.
"The Super Dragon Balls?" Bulma said and wore a wary expression. "And what do you want with them…?"
Faced with this question, Edam fell silent for at least half a minute. "...I'm not in the mood to speak about that, sorry…"
…
…
* An hour later, in the afternoon*
Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap!
Edam along with Krillin and Piccolo could be seen with hammers in hand hammering and repairing the wall of a building.
"Hey, Edam, give me a nail please…" Krillin asked in a friendly tone, as the box of nails was just beside Edam.
"Here…" Edam took a nail and gave it without a thought.
"Hey, Saiyan, give me a nail…" Piccolo said with a grumpy expression.
"I have a name…"
"...Edam…"
"Here…"
…
Meanwhile, a bit away, Bulma and Krillin's wife were watching this while enjoying some drinks.
"Well, they seem to get along right, Android 18?" Bulma smiled amusingly.
"Hn, Indeed…"
Bulma had forced Krillin and Piccolo to stay and repair the damages caused by their fights.
As for Edam, he felt rather guilty and also had nothing to do for eight months… As such, he decided to help with the reconstruction of the buildings since it was half his fault.
He was the first to step forward to introduce himself to them and apologized for the damages caused, stunning and even shocking them. Never would they have thought a Saiyan to apologize for his actions and even less help them. It really raised the opinion they first had of him.
"So… Edam, what are you going to do after that…?" Krillin asked while hammering his nail.
"...? Why?"
"Umm I mean most of the Saiyans we know have done bad things but you look like a guy we can speak to without using violence so…"
"..." Piccolo hammered his nails quietly but was all ears.
"I…" Edam pondered for a sec before saying with a firm and resolute expression. "I'll wait until the super dragon balls are usable again!"
"Sigh… you're resolute aren't you…?" Krillin lightly laughed at Edam. "Your wish is that important to you huh…"
"Hn… I would give my life if needed…" Edam was dead serious as he declared. And yet his mouth couldn't help but slightly arched into a faint smile in the next moment as he thought about Hancock and the baby that had yet to come.
"..." Both Krillin and Piccolo saw the extreme determination and love that flickered in Edam's eyes the very moment he mentions the subjects of his motivation.
His determination was extreme but he was still trying to be as reasonable and genuine as possible, hoping not to fall on the darker side of the long road.
Piccolo easily picked up these things with only one glance at the young man. After all, he himself had already and was even today still experiencing such a thing. He, who was the offspring of the Demon King, the evil incarnate of a past time, exactly knew his stuff.
…
*Two hours later or so...*
They had finished repairing at least seventy percent of the damage they caused and should have continued but because Krillin and his family had to go home, Bulma just let him go and then also let Piccolo go. They were to come tomorrow morning to continue the job.
As for Edam, when his gaze landed on the destroyed trees, he couldn't help but feel guilty.
Krillin and his family then departed leaving Piccolo, Edam along with Bulma and the kids.
"Anyway, Piccolo, are you gonna go home already or not?"
"Huh? And leave him alone? Impossible…"
"Sigh… it's fine, I believe he won't do bad things right? Edam?" Bulma shot a wink at Edam.
"...?" The young man found that to be quite strange. If he was in their shoes, he would've never trusted somebody like that. "Why are you trusting me like that…? I mean, I'm but a stranger..."
"Well…" Bulma held her chin and thought for a moment before smiling a bit. "You just remind me of my son…"
"...?" Edam then turned to look at the little Trunks playing with Goten.
"Ah no, not this Trunks, it's a bit complicated but a few years ago, my son literally traveled through space and time to seek our help… he was about your age when he arrived, totally helpless…" Bulma sat down and started to recount her entire life it seems.
Seeing this, Piccolo snorted and left.
"..." After a while, as he listened on, Edam eventually sat down to continue to listen quietly.
"At first, he didn't want our help but just wanted us to have a better future… but we eventually came to help him out and settle everything in the right way, etc…"
…
An unknown amount of time passed and the night rapidly fell.
"Ah… it's already night!" Bulma didn't see the time going by as she exclaimed and stood up.
"Well, you spoke for that much time too, Bulma-san…" Edam laughed softly and lowered his head as his eyes met with the flowery bracelet linked with Hancock's lifeforce before glancing at the sky.
"Anyway, I should go now, with me here, you surely won't be able to go home with a peaceful mind right?" Edam smiled faintly as he stood up to depart.
"Ah, wait, where are you going to go?"
"Well, I'm just gonna stroll around… and no worry, I'm not gonna hurt anyone, I have no interest in such a thing …" Edam said as he flew in the air.
"Okay then, but you better come back young man, this place won't be fixed alone…"
"Yeah, yeah…" Edam replied and left the place quietly.
"Well… no cities were destroyed, that's a good beginning I guess…" Bulma declared as she looked around in satisfaction.
…
…
…
Meanwhile, somewhere in a desert, Edam found a calm place as he quietly flew down and settled…
"Phew… this day was full of events huh…" Despite feeling a bit low because of the super dragon balls' news, Edam still tried to be positive.
"Indeed…" Yamote responded calmly. "But this world does look like a funny world…"
"I guess…"
He then pushed every thought aside as he looked at the flowery bracelet glowing a faint and beautiful golden-green light.
Lying on a ground full of grass, he quietly looked at the bracelet under the starry sky. It didn't last long before he eventually fell asleep.
…
…
…
*Next Morning*
Unlike any other day, Bulma woke up pretty early today for no reason at all, and as she went to drink her coffee on her terrace, her mother who was already up long ago greeted her.
"Oh, you're already up Bulma, say do you know the charming young man who's working so early today?"
"...? Don't tell me…" With a curious expression, Bulma went to check what was going on while having some suspicions.
Far away, where the trees were once destroyed to smithereens, she saw Edam seemingly replanting some trees while accompanied by her son Trunks and her own father, Dr. Brief.
"Oh, he really came back…" Truth be told, she didn't believe that he would come back, but here he was...
Waking up very early this morning and with nothing great to do, Edam made his way in here and already started to fix the mess he did yesterday.
Cutting a part of the roots from each of the destroyed trees, he replanted every one of them before growing them in his own way, using his Ki as fuel, sending pure vital force into those roots.
The results could be witnessed with the nȧkėd eye.
And in the meantime, Dr. Brief as well as his grandson seemed to have woken up as they went to check on him.
Both of them were however quite surprised by Edam's techniques.
"Hum-Hum, what an interesting phenomenon…" Dr. Brief said as he observed the energy flowing from Edam's hands. In normal times, a non-Ki user shouldn't be able to see the flow of Ki, but Edam's Ki was currently in a state where it was nearly liquid-like and so visible to the normal eyes.
After that, the old man just walked away, returning to his home with an enlightened expression.
Trunk's reaction though was not for the same reason. "You can do that with Ki?" He exclaimed softly while sitting a bit away.
"Well, I can, so you should too I guess…" Edam said and shrugged his shoulders as he kept his hands over a plant.
"Umm, maybe, but, we are proud warriors, how could we use our powers like that? My father would perhaps be angry at that..." Trunks questioned Edam.
"...It's rather sad to be limited to only fighting I think…" Edam then glanced at Trunks and asked. "Did you never play and had fun with your powers?"
"Goten and I always fight with each other so…"
"You've already half-broken the rules then.." Edam said with a smile and laughed softly.
"Oh right, so your father is a Saiyan?"
"Yeah, he is, along with Son Goku, the two most powerful Saiyans in the World!" Trunks said with pride burning in his eyes.
"Really?" Knowing that this little guy might be stronger than himself kinda surprised him. He was truly curious to see the parents of these two little monsters.
"Yup…!" Trunks once again affirmed firmly.
…
Trunks and Edam then chat for a very long time with the former mostly recounting strange and funny adventures he got himself into with Songoten before Trunks' home instructor arrived while Edam went on with his job.
It was Bulma who then joined him to chat a bit.
But, after a while, she noticed that something felt kinda amiss. She didn't see the shadow of what should be a Piccolo and a Krillin.
"Grr… where might these two idiots be…? Is this a joke? It's the guy who I thought wouldn't come who actually came and those I thought would come who didn't come…!?" A vein popped up on her forehead as she raged here and there as she then took her phone out and furiously made a call.
The phone rang out for some minutes before it was taken.
"Ah, Bulma…" Krillin's voice sounded out.
"Krillin! Where the heck are you?! You have a yard to fix up!" Burma furiously yelled to her phone.
"Sigh, I know, I had first wanted to pay a visit to Goku and talk to him about our new friend there but I made a blunder…"
"What? What have you done?"
"Well, I accidentally told him that Vegeta was training with Whis and he used his instant transmission right away. And, Chichi is forcing us to finish Goku's work… Piccolo is with me too…" Krillin said in a depressive tone.
"Chichi?" Bulma wore an ugly expression, even though she didn't want to argue with Chichi as it would be way too bothersome.
"Sigh… let's leave it at that, Edam is already here and is nearly finished with the trees, only the ground is left to be fixed…"
"Oh, he came?"
"Yeah… unlike some people…"
"Hah haha…" Krillin's voice faltered as his face twitched awkwardly.
"Tch, whatever…" Bulma said and ended the call without saying goodbye...
…
Thereafter, as she too was quite busy, she left him alone to his business.
"..." Being left alone in a place that wasn't his own felt kinda awkward for Edam.
The amount of trust he was given made no sense even for him. What if he was truly a bad guy? What if he was just playing around?
After having put enough Ki on each plant for them to grow into a full tree by tomorrow morning, he gazed at the surroundings and slowly strode around as he arrived near a terrace.
There he saw Trunks, and his three friends of yesterday, the dog, the blue little guy, and the little girl. In front of them, an instructor was teaching Trunks mathematics even though the latter was kinda struggling with it.
Edam didn't make his way there but only observed from far away before going to sit quietly under a tree as he closed his eyes.
'Yamote, I have to find something to do or I might really go crazy…' Even though he seemed to be rather calm and serene, it was just a facade. The frustration was rising higher and higher by the hours.
Although he was good and all in this world, it was ultimately not his home.
"Hmm…" Yamote came out and pondered a moment before saying. "Alright, this frustration might be a good thing… Just continue to close your eyes and try to feel every cell of your entire being…"
Edam did as he said.
"You may not know this but the Saiyan race's body is composed of not only normal cells but also S-Cells. These S-Cells are unique to them alone and are the primary source of power that a Saiyan draws upon. These S-Cells are what differentiate the Saiyan race from other races although most Saiyans don't have many S-Cells too…"
"If a Saiyan could get enough S-Cells, a trigger of anger and sadness would be all one needs to awaken themselves to a whole new level of strength…"
As he listened to Yamote's words, Edam felt his mind calming down as he sensed those S-Cells that he was speaking of.
"As for you, my lord, at the age of ten, no at your birth even, you were already eligible to enter this whole new realm of strength, your body has always been filled to the brim with S-Cells… you were already capable of such a feat… You have stepped into it once, why not twice…?"
The wind was blowing a good and pure breeze as Edam's hair seemed to rise slightly from time to time and his locks and strands of black hair began to fade to a pure blonde-golden color, switching between the two colors again and again for half an hour.
The sky was slowly covering itself with black clouds as thunder rumbled.
On the terrace, the instructor had let Trunks have a break as he and his friends had lunch together.
"Ah, it's raining…" The three kids looked at the sky and remarked while Trunks first gazed at the sky before looking at Edam sitting under the tree.
"What's going on with him…?"
Trunks could clearly sense Edam's energy rising slowly and surely as a blood-red aura first formed out encompassing his whole body like a calm and quiet burning candle.
It wasn't violent at all nor was it fierce and savage at the moment... and yet an oppressive feeling started to permeate the air and a faint but real suffocating feeling arose in the hearts of the people present in the vicinity.
"Hey- Hey-..." However, before Trunks could call him out or Edam's metamorphosis could be completed…
Time and Space trembled as this disturbance was felt by Trunks who curiously glanced at the sky. "...? What now…?"
Following this, Edam also quietly opened his eyes and he too glanced at the sky, his pupils tainted with a cold and frightening blood-red color which however also faded away in the next instant along with the blonde hair.
After having been disturbed just as he was about to discover something new, the first thing Edam had wished to do was to scream at the top of his lungs but his words were stuck in when he saw the thing that appeared out of nowhere.
"...? What the heck is that…?" Both Trunks and Edam exclaimed in their minds as they saw a strange sort of machine floating in the air.
The strange machine landed near the terrace and stayed quiet for a rather long time.
After hesitating a moment, Trunks decided to check on it as he flew toward it.
And seeing the curious and hesitating expression on the boy's face, Edam concludes that it was not something common and decided to check on it with the boy as he stood up and flew toward it too.
"Need help?"
"Uh, I don't think so…" Trunks flew around and then wiped out the fog that was hiding the interior.
"Whoa!" Trunks exclaimed in surprise and shock. "There's- there's someone in there!"
…
////////