Chapter 7 - 4 Three Years

Dawn soon came over the horizon, signaling the beginning of the next day. Iona soon woke up, and the first thing that came into her sight were Nao and Miya, still sleeping peacefully. If only time could stop so she could continue watching them, she thought. But such a thing was impossible for Saiyans to do at this point in time. Feeling groggy from trying to wake up to start the day, she struggled trying to get up out of bed. But knowing today was likely going to be the most important one since the birth of her children, she eventually got up and placed on her battle armor to start the day. Unlike the Saiyan Gine in the original story who had shaggy hair, Iona's was naturally more straight and flown down to her shoulders.

Today marked the decision made by Iona and Oscar that they would be placing their two children in the incubator pods. Once placed inside these pods, they would not be able to hold their children until the pods fully developed them to where they were safe enough to come out. Iona soon got out of bed and placed on her battle armor. Not wanting to last a moment without her children in her embrace, she quickly picked them up and placed them back in her arms, and gently smiled. Not before long she was ready to start the day and made her way to the first floor. Oscar finally saw Iona arrive with his children in her arms and let out a sigh of relief.

"Iona! You made it down. Was last night's rest hard on you?"

"Not really. A wave of exhaustion soon hit me and I quickly fell asleep. Waking up was a little hard though..."

"Haha! Yesterday was quite eventful so that's no surprise to me. What surprised me though is that I still woke up pretty early. Perhaps it was because I was at full power yesterday ready for any unforeseen circ.u.mstances..."

Iona soon sat down next to him at the dining table. The sun stood high up in the center of the planet at this time of day signaling it was lunch time. Iona was surprised at where the sun currently was as she woke up at dawn, but apparently her groggy state caused her to lose track of time, and spent the last few hours trying to wake up. Saiyans usually ate two meals a day, one to start the day with full energy and the other near the end of the day to replenish any energy they lost whether they were at work or out on battle missions. What laid out in front of them was more cooked meat. Meat offered most the most nutrients and energy, so most Saiyans generally ate meat at their meals. Another half an hour soon passed, only leaving behind empty plates.

Oscar informed the maids it was time to clear the table, and soon the plates were cleared. Iona and Oscar did not sense any incoming presences, unlike the last two days, so it appeared the two could finally enjoy a relaxing day with their children. As Iona was currently staying home due to her childbirth, and Oscar was in between battle missions, they had more than enough time today to enjoy spending it indoors. Oscar and Iona soon excused themselves and they made their way back up to the second floor bedroom, with Iona holding their children. Oscar noticed that Iona was still a bit pale and felt a bit worried.

"Iona...Giving birth to these two was really hard for you huh? Why don't you continue to rest? It's not like we've anything special until the day is almost over so you should try to regain as much strength as you can."

"Dear Oscar...I will do as you've suggested..."

Almost sluggishly, Iona soon made it to the bedroom's doorway only to stumble a bit. Seeing her stumble forward, Oscar immediately went to her side and caught her by the shoulder. As if sensing Iona's uneasiness, Miya slowly started to wake up and started to cry. Even though Miya started to cry, a smile still formed on Iona's face, knowing that her child is now awake.

"Shhhhh, Little Miya. Mama is right here...Mama won't disappear any time soon."

Iona's uneasiness soon vanished, and was replaced by satisfaction, after she started to rock her arms back and forth. After going through this motion for a while, Oscar and Iona soon approached the bed. Perhaps it was due to the constant motion but Nao also woke up at this time, soon after his sister.

"Look! Nao also woke up. They really are twins after all. They're already starting wake up at the same time."

Iona then got on the bed and sat up on it. She then removed her top and started to feed both Nao and Miya. Seeing Iona do her feeding, Oscar excused himself and soon sat down near the incubator pods, and entered his meditative state, clearing his mind. As soon as his mind started to clear, he lost the concept of time, and the sun soon approached the horizon, which signaled the day was going to end soon. Oscar then regained his thoughts and his meditation ended. Around 5 hours has passed, and he found Iona's eyes shut, sleeping soundly with their two children next two her. Oscar then approached Iona and gently shook her. Feeling a gentle push, Iona's eyelids moved a bit and then she woke up, and yawned.

"Iona, the day's end is soon approaching. It's almost time."

"Is it almost time already? I wanted to spend some more time with them..."

"It's not like you won't be able to see them Iona, you'll still be next to them every day."

Iona gently nodded to Oscar's words, which comforted her. Oscar then soon approached the two pods one by one, and fiddled with the panel attached to each of them. The settings were told to him by the scientists and were rather easy to use. Before long, beeping could be heard, and the glass soon latched off from the top of both pods. The glass soon moved downwards, which allowed Oscar to see two small protective suits inside that connected to the bottom of the pods. Seeing that the two pods were now ready, he approached Iona. Iona picked up their children off the bed and passed them to Oscar, slowly. Oscar made his way back to the pods. One was in front of him while the other was situated to his right. Oscar first got Nao fitted into the suit and put the respirator mask over Nao. Oscar then fiddled with the panel again, and after pressing a finger on the panel, the glass soon started to move back up towards the pod's top. Not before long, the pod was sealed again in glass, and Nao sat at the bottom of it within its protective suit. Oscar went over to the other pod on the right, with a sleeping Miya in his arms. He gently caressed Miya's head, which formed a small smile on her face while she was sleeping. Seeing this, Oscar smiled himself. He approached the panel and fiddled with it like he did with the previous pod. He then tapped on the screen and the glass started to move downwards, until the protective suit became visible. After fitting her in the suit, the warmth Miya felt vanished and she started to cry again.

Hearing Miya started to cry again, Iona's heartstrings were pulled and approached the pod, gently rubbing it.

"Oscar, perhaps we are rushing this too much..."

Oscar shook his head in disagreement.

"No, we aren't. All Saiyans need to go through this stage in their lives. Our children is no exception, the sooner they're exposed to this, the better chance they have to become stronger warriors."

After Iona heard Oscar say these words, she could only look on at the crying Miya. Soon after the glass of the pod containing Miya closed up, just like Nao's pod did. Almost simultaneously, liquid started to rise from the bottom, eventually filling each pod to the brim. This is the one and only liquid which is said to help a Saiyan's growth while they're still in their infant stage. The respirator mask soon let out a relaxant which induced Nao and Miya to fall asleep again. Seeing their children fast asleep and floating in the liquid, Oscar and Iona soon let out a sigh of relief, seeing nothing bad had happened. Another situation unexpectedly occurred, and the clear liquid soon turned white and red respectively, which shocked the two.

"Iona, I will go report this to His Majesty, it's only right for him to know as he graciously gave us these two high quality pods."

"I completely agree with you, my dear Oscar...However I'm not feeling hungry and will probably skip dinner. I should probably rest some more."

Oscar nodded at Iona. Iona then had one last look at their two children in the pods, and then retreated to her bed. It didn't take long for Iona to fall back asleep again. Seeing Iona now asleep,

Oscar soon made his way to the first floor and informed the maids he was going to head out for a bit. After stepping outside the house, he could still see the sun before the horizon, so he still a had a bit of daylight left. As this situation is similar to the birth of his children, he made haste to the main staircase and climbed up it only to the find the bridge leading to Palace Vegeta deep within the mountain. Oscar informed the guards stationed at the beginning of the bridge and the guards let him pass through. Running through the bridge, he soon arrived at the grand palace, and made his way through to the throne room. Upon arriving at the throne room, he could see King Vegeta II sitting on his throne with his face resting on his right arm and veins could be seen popping out of his forehead, and a Saiyan guard kneeling down in front of him. Oscar soon approached his side and also knelt down in front of King Vegeta II. King Vegeta II then put a grin on his face.

"Now this is unexpected...What brings you here to this King's throne, Oscar?"

"Your Majesty! Another unexpected situation occurred just moments ago. We took your advice and fitted our children into the pods. Once the pods activated, the liquid containing Nao turned white and the liquid containing Miya turned red!"

"What!? The pods liquids changed colors!? Why the hell does this keep happening to these two!?"

"I'm not sure, Your Majesty, I came to report to you as soon as it happened!"

"Well this is rather interesting. But we have more pressing matters to attend to right now. The guard next to you just reported that more Tuffles have been spotted within the vicinity of the west gate that leads into the Middle-Class District. Your arrival couldn't have been any more damn perfect actually. I know you have a pretty high battle power within the High-Class District so this mission will suit you perfectly. I will give you two guards to investigate those damn Tuffles and how they appeared near our borders."

"B-But Your Majesty..."

"Are you still worried about your children? I will have the scientists investigate it for you. You only need to focus on the damn mission at hand. I will give you the night to rest up and the two guards will meet at your resident tomorrow morning. I expect results! Failure is not an option! We must rid ourselves of these f.u.c.k.i.n.g Tuffles once and for all!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Receiving his orders, Oscar rose up and quickly left the throne room. After leaving the Palace he let out a sigh of relief. It appears that he was given a new mission as well. The sun now vanished from the horizon and is it is now dark out. Not wanting to waste any more time, he left the palace bridge and soon flew up and rushed towards his house. He could see Iona outside the house watching the sunset, and Iona looked at the sky only to see Oscar flying straight towards her, which surprised her. It didn't take long before he landed.

"Oscar, did something happen with His Majesty?"

"Yes, Iona. I received a new mission. This one may take longer than the others as this is a scouting mission. I will be heading out tomorrow morning and I will be given two personal guards by His Majesty."

"Oscar..."

"Iona, there is no need to worry. While I may gone for a while, you will need to focus your worry onto the children so they are safe for when I return!"

"Yes, Oscar!"

Iona and Oscar soon may their way to the second floor and retreated to the bedroom for the night. Dawn soon arrived and Oscar gently shook Iona awake. Oscar then got out of his bed and fitted his battle armor, knowing that battle was inevitable on this mission. He then approached the two pods which contained the sleeping Nao and Miya and smiled. He said his goodbye to Iona and went down to the first floor. Upon opening the door to the outside, he saw two Saiyan elites and assumed these two were provided by His Majesty.

"Sir Oscar, are you ready?"

"Yes, let's head out at once."

"Yes, Sir!"

The two elite Saiyans and Oscar soon approached the Middle District and went west until they saw a big metal gate. The guards stationed at the gate were informed of the scout party departing early in the morning, making way for the trio. The trio soon took flight and left the west gate. The scenery that appeared before them was all the same, void of all life and burnt destruction everywhere, as it didn't seem it was healed yet from the destruction caused two years ago. According to His Majesty, Tuffles were spotted within the vicinity, so they started to inspect every inch of the scorched land. However time passed on and they couldn't find anything. Oscar then thought that the Tuffles might have switched their base of operations to underground. Searching every inch of the land proved to be a challenge for the trio.

Back at the Saiyan City, news of a scouting party leaving the west gate soon spread among the Saiyans. However it didn't seem they would return any time soon. Time started to slowly pass and Iona remained in her house, watching over the growth of her two children. Unexpectedly, two years have now passed with no news of the scouting party that left the west gate. Iona soon started to grow worried about when Oscar would return home, but according to him he should not worry about Oscar and instead focus on their children, which she did in these two years. She could see her children's stature grow a bit and now from babies they were now small children about two feet tall. This caused her to be happy, seeing the growth of her children so visible to her eyes. However even with the growth of her children, without Oscar it wouldn't be the same. She started to develop a habit of visiting the west gate at sundown to see if anyone would arrive, and got to know the guards stationed there. Seeing as nothing happened lately, she went to bed again. Time flowed on once again and it soon turned the start of the third year the scouting party has left, marking it year 728.

Seeing the third year approaching, it was soon time for her children to be taken out of the two incubator pods, which exhilarated her. She made her daily routine of checking on her children and once sundown approached, she arrived at the west gate, greeting the guards. Unexpectedly, they could see a single figure flying erratically towards their direction. The guards took defensive stances, and the unknown figure soon landed in front of them, and collapsed on the ground. After the dust settled, Iona took a look towards the figure, only to be stricken with horror. She could see Oscar flat on the ground with a wide bloody hole in the middle of his stomach, bleeding profusely. She cried out to him.

"Oscar, Oscar, hang in there!"

Oscar struggled to stay awake, and saw Iona approach him.

"Iona...? Why are you here and not at the house?...*Cough*"

"Don't speak! We have to get you treated!"

"Iona...I won't make it..."

"Don't say that Oscar!"

"Don't cry, Iona...I brought a report *Cough*...Quickly inform His Majesty, Hatchiyack has returned from space..."

As if he were trying to relay his last words to Iona, Oscar coughed out a huge amount of blood. Before long, Oscar struggled to raise his hand to caress Iona's face one last time, and then lost the strength in his hand. His hand soon fell to the ground and Oscar soon lost his vision, and blacked out. Blood continued to spread out from the giant hole in his stomach. Seeing Oscar's lifeless body, Iona knelt down to him and started sobbing.

"OSCAR!!!!"