//------------------------------// // Hot Stuff // Story: Dragon Ball Zeeyup! // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// It was several hours later - all the way into the next day, in fact - that Piccolo made his way back to the valley where he'd left Raditz, Gohan, and Big Mac. He didn't like leaving them to their own devices for that long, but it had taken a surprising amount of time for Bulma to explain the workings of the armor to him in a way he could utilize. She had started by trying to explain chemical formulae, but that had gone right over Piccolo's head. Comparative fabric analyses hadn't worked out as neither of them actually knew that much about different fabrics beyond "what feels good". It was only early that morning when Bulma had asked why it was so important that Piccolo had explained his plan to use his 'metro attack' to give Gohan and Raditz outfits that would work like the armor...at which point Bulma had suggested using the attack on part of the armor before putting it into reverse and using that to figure out how to make clothing like the armor using the attack. Piccolo had considered the notion completely absurd, but rather than deal with a cranky Bulma he'd tried it. ...just because it had worked in no way made it any less absurd... Coming into the valley, Piccolo noticed that it was much closer to its original configuration than when he'd left, with many of the plateaus, lakes, and rolling hills restored despite them having been rather thoroughly leveled by Raditz and Gohan's initial sparring. Oddly, each plateau was surrounded by circles of rubble, as though they had recently come erupting out of the earth. "I didn't think this place was geologically active-" As he spoke, one of the plateaus some distance away began exploding as two figures smashed repeatedly through it, one of them hurling energy blasts. Before long, it was reduced to a pile of rubble...only for the rubble to shake and sink into the ground as though it were liquid before a new plateau erupted from the ground like the tooth of a giant before coming to a halt at its exact former height. "Nice one, Big Mac!" Raditz could be heard calling out. "You're getting faster and more accurate at that, so your power must be growing!" "Eee...eeeyup..." Big Mac panted as Piccolo approached, looking rather sweat soaked and out of breath. "I think he's pushed himself too far," Gohan pointed out as he ran over to tend to his equine brother. "I'm pretty tired too, Uncle Raditz." "Alright, time for a break then," Raditz allowed as he walked over. As both Gohan and Big Mac collapsed to the ground, he noticed Piccolo. "Well there you are. I take it repairing the armor is going to take a while?" "It would if Bulma were doing all the work," Piccolo allowed. "But we found a loophole." He glanced Gohan's way. "Speaking of, he really shouldn't be running around naked." "Why?" Raditz asked in confusion. Big Mac also tilted his head uncertainly. Piccolo shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno. It's a human thing. They don't go naked." "Well, it's not like we have any-" "Clothes Beam!" Piccolo declared as he pointed two fingers at Gohan. Energy lashed from his fingertips to surround Gohan's body. It wavered over him for a time like a heat mirage, then settled into the form of a blue undershirt and red gi. Piccolo lifted his hand. "...yup, still my most metro attack." "Eeyup," Big Mac confirmed, looking over Gohan with a smirk. "So you can make clothing," Raditz observed thoughtfully. "I don't see how-" "That outfit has the exact same properties as your space armor without looking like it," Piccolo pointed out. "Same defensive properties, same resizing effect, and if it does take damage like the armor did I can remake it at will." "Well that's several advantages I can see!" Raditz purred eagerly. "I don't care how 'metro' that attack is - or what that even means - I can definitely see some creative uses for it." Piccolo stared at him for a time. "Huh. Good to know. So why's Big Mac so winded?" "It's his workout," Raditz explained. "Apparently, making the stuff for the pies grow properly involves the energy flows of the valley, so Gohan and I are careful not to damage any of the features that affect that. Anything else we break, Big Mac exercises his energy by repairing it. No idea how he does it." "Huh, guess he uses magic, then," Piccolo observed thoughtfully. "Interesting. I can probably teach him a few offensive techniques for that." "Magic?" Raditz asked in surprise. "It's like ki, but different," Piccolo explained vaguely. "Not everyone can use it naturally. Also follows different rules, and can exploit some different vulnerabilities. Don't really know the terms to explain it better than that, but one example..." He pointed his fingers towards Raditz. "Wait!" Raditz interrupted. "If you can really make armor that looks like any clothing...any chance I could look at other clothing styles and pick a different look?" Piccolo gave Raditz a flat eyed glare. "...fine," he allowed finally. "But where am I supposed to take a naked man, a child, and a talking pony to look at clothes that won't cause a ruckus?" "Maybe that place I found Kakarot at?" Raditz suggested thoughtfully. "At the very least I can apologize for damaging it." Piccolo frowned thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose..." His eyes widened as he thought about what sort of fashions would be available to look at at Kame House, and a grin crossed his face. "That could be an excellent source of designs..." "I am already regretting this," Raditz murmured as he picked up Gohan while Piccolo picked up Big Mac. The sun was somewhat high in the sky as the group came down for a landing on the little island where Kame House was located. As Piccolo set Big Mac down, however, they received a greeting none of them expected. "YOU!" All four of them jumped and spun to face the source of that ferocious voice. A blonde haired, green eyed woman in a pink spaghetti strap top, dark pants, and with a red ribbon in her hair stomped angrily towards Raditz before aiming a machine gun at his crotch. "Put the kid down, now!" she snapped out. "Yes ma'am!" Raditz responded immediately, quickly putting Gohan down and - without knowing why - putting his hands over his head. While he would normally never let a mere human intimidate him this much - he was a mighty Saiyan after all, whatever his class - the sheer force of this one's personality and the current trajectory of her weapon had convinced him that discretion in this case was definitely the better part of valor. ...now if only the speedo he was wearing continued to do a good job hiding the other side of his reaction to being barely clad in the presence of a woman with such a forceful personality who had him cowed, especially with the fact she was bending forward- A second gun was suddenly leveled right between his eyes. "Eyes where they belong, crap basket!" she snapped angrily. "I don't care what the tastes of the old man are, but this is not that sort of establishment, I am not that kind of woman, and you are in for a world of hurt if you came looking for that and brought a kidnapped child-" "What sort of establishment?" Raditz gasped out, doing his best to keep either of his emotional reactions from his voice. "I just came looking for some clothes!" The woman paused in her rant, staring at him as her head tilted. "Ex...cuse me?" she demanded flatly. "My armor got destroyed, but Piccolo can make clothing with its properties, and I wanted options on looks!" Raditz stated quickly. The woman withdrew her guns slowly, a frown on her face. "And you came...here?" she asked in disbelief. "I'm trying to keep a low profile until our training's finished and we've dealt with the next threat coming here in a year's time," Raditz explained firmly. He then gestured from himself to Piccolo, and then to Big Mac and Gohan. "What are my other options?" The woman glared at him for a time. "...fair enough," she allowed finally, lowering her weapons. Raditz let out a sigh. "Well, that's a reli-YIPE!" His hands went to his brow where the woman had just put a bullet right between his eyes. Wincing, he pulled it back to look at the sharp point of the round, a different color than the rest, and felt the tiny drop of blood where his eyebrows met just above the bridge of his nose. "That was for kidnapping him in the first place," the woman stated angrily before frowning at the minimal damage. "Dang, even armor piercing rounds don't do much..." Raditz couldn't help it. He found himself grinning from ear to ear. "So, care to show me around to what my clothing options are?" He looked her up and down with a smirk, making sure his eyes didn't linger anywhere for too long. "Somehow I doubt I could pull this look off as well as you do." The woman sputtered as she tried to suppress a snort of laughter. "Might be funny to see you like that...not that the view's problematic." Raditz let his grin soften into what he hoped was a rakish smile. "Raditz," he greeted formally, holding out a hand. "Launch," the woman replied, punching him on the arm hard enough he actually winced, though more from surprise than pain. Her eyes briefly roved over his chest. "So you didn't come looking for...that, then?" she asked a trifle ruefully, though her voice still full of aggression. As Raditz finally put together what she had been talking about before, he resisted the urge to facepalm. "No, definitely not, especially not with a couple of kids along," he insisted firmly. He then let his eyes rove, but not as much as hers were. "Though now I know you're here, I might come alone next time." He gave her a playful wink. Launch let out a bark of laughter. "You've got balls. I like that." As Raditz grinned and started to reach towards her, the gun came up again. "Don't make me shoot them off. I might have use for them later." "I'll behave!" Raditz promised hurriedly as they went inside. Piccolo blinked several times, tilting his head. "Well...that happened..." "...eeeyup..."