//------------------------------// // Interlude: Preparing for the Future // Story: Dragon Ball Z: Magic's New Life // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// After chewing out the Kais for tormenting one of their own, even if King Kai brought it upon himself for his sins against her and her family, Twilight ensured that Aria was able to see the various planets of the universe, starting with Alexandria for a day of relaxing in one of it's seven libraries. Of course there were other locations for them to visit, like surprising Frieza while he was on the main planet of the empire, where Aria learned of how Twilight had altered the army to not kill everyone on the various planets they went to, rather they took care of existing problems before integrating the remaining population and their world into the growing empire. Such a thing made her realize that Twilight really didn't like to exterminate the people of a planet, rather she liked to learn about them and found ways to save as many as she could, letting Aria see her in a new light as they continued to explore the worlds she helped bring into her father's empire. One of which happened to be the planet known as Griea V, allowing her to listen to the tale that was weaved as she learned about the battles between those native to the planet and those who crashed on it, which the Frieza Force had put an end to after everything that went down all those years ago. When they finally returned to Earth, to stay there and prepare, Twilight returned to her training, studies, and work, as she was finding that more and more people seemed to like being Beastians, to the point where it seemed like the world was going to be a fifty-fifty split between them and Humans. She also worked to ensure that Eschalot didn't awaken the beast inside her before she could start her training, where it was easy to find that both she and Piccolo were keeping a close eye on the Capsule Corp, to ensure another rampage didn't happen, to the point that Twilight left the observation to him and informed him to contact her if the dragon went crazy. While he did that, only reporting that nothing happened with Vegeta's family, Twilight spent a good portion of her time making her lessons for her children and those who would be coming to her as well, since she suspected that Trunks and Goten might find a way to join everyone else. She knew that she was going to have to speak to Chi-Chi about her second son, set up some sort of training day for him like she did for Gohan some time ago, but she pushed that off for the time being since he wasn't of age to start his training. Another thing she and the others learned was that Krillin and 18 also had their own kid, a little girl named Marron, four years after the Cell Games, though until all of the other kids in her generation she wasn't going to be a fighter, for now at least since there was no telling what 18 wanted, causing Twilight to focus on her charges. As time went on Twilight found that her thoughts were correct, as when the next generation came of age to actually start their training it fell to her to make sure all three of her children and Eschalot actually arrived, because while she knew that her kids would come she had no idea if Vegeta would remain true to his word. Most of her assumed that his pride would be too big to even allow her to train his daughter, even if he had nodded his head when she made her comment after the deadly rampage, and she was pleasantly surprised to find that he and his young daughter arrived in the area that she was using as her training grounds. Eschalot wore a blue gi, colored to match her mother's hair color before she was turned into a Beastian by Twilight, with a red belt and red wristbands, and she was excited to actually start training, because she had a feeling that the destruction caused that fateful night was her fault and she didn't want it to happen again. Twilight also discovered something interesting, Vegeta wanted to join in and grow his power by training with her, something that caused her to chuckle for a moment as she got to work, confusing the Saiyan Prince for a short time. He soon discovered that his opponent wasn't Twilight, like he had hoped, rather he was going up against her children as she focused on teaching Eschalot the basics of how to control her power and being the master of it, instead of it being the master of her, as the first step was important before they moved onto the later lessons, and whenever her kids knocked him down they'd sing 'Kidnap the Saiyan Prince' to get him motivated again. Twilight found that Eschalot was a fast learner and was far more intelligent, in both the sense of battle and computers, a fact that informed her that she must have inherited the strengths of both her parents, an interesting turn of events since it meant there were great things in her future. She wasn't too surprised to find that Trunks and Goten came to her as well, during her current training sessions, and when Gohan joined she set a rule that their training day would be the day that Gohan was given, just so there weren't too many interruptions while she worked. Twilight also discovered an annoying fact, Trunks and Goten only wanted to fight adults, the strongest around in their eyes oddly enough, and so they targeted her no matter who she was training, though while it was a good lesson for everyone it was annoying when she wanted to focus on something else. The only good part about that was when the pair revealed that, somehow, they could transform into Super Saiyans, something that surprised Vegeta, Gohan, and most of the observers, Aria and Twilight's family, but it did have an interesting side effect, the fact that Eschalot didn't have it sparked her anger and gave her the same form in no time at all. Eschalot's scales went from their usual grey and turned the same shade as a Super Saiyan's hair, while her eyes turned the same shade that came with the transformation, though it caused Twilight to restart her lessons since a burst of power, in any form, made people do stupid things and she wasn't running that risk with Eschalot. In addition to all of that, as the years rolled on, she got an interesting visitor at her company's headquarters in the form of Mr. Satan and Videl, a fair skinned girl who was seventeen when they first met, as it was six years after the Cell Games, not to mention that she had a slim build that reflected her fighter nature. Mr. Satan told her that Videl liked to fight crime, in fact she had special permission to leave her classes at school whenever criminals were active in Satan City, despite the fact that it was where they were making their home, an interesting fact since it was close to Gohan's place. In order to make good time in her crime fighting activities, and not fall behind during her studies, they had come to the conclusion that one of the TF Food's was the best course of action, though that lead to why they had come here, to her, instead of focusing on which animal Videl wanted. Apparently they wanted to place a custom order, where instead of being just the ears and tail they wanted it to be the feet of an animal, so she could speed off without delay and get back quickly, plus Mr. Satan was of the opinion that it should have a shorter time limit, so it didn't interfere with her classes. "The changes you're asking for will make the recipe unstable... you could get stuck as a Beastian." Twilight stated, as after her previous changes to the serum, creating Animorph Z for the fighters of the world, she had devoted some of her time towards researching new creatures and even producing new products for people to enjoy, so she knew the inns and outs of the drug better than anyone else. "So there's nothing you can do?" Videl asked, because while she didn't have the knowledge to understand everything that went into the various TF Food's that everyone seemed to be enjoying, rather than the fact that the time limit was necessary to some degree, she did know that Twilight was smart enough to tell them why this wouldn't work. "On the contrary, I can make a version that won't endanger you and give you what you want." Twilight replied, though she was fine with Videl and her father having their own thoughts on the drug and her ability to mess with it, instead of being ignorant about everything, causing her to focus on what she needed to tell them before they came to a decision on what to do for the young lady, "Considering that you want to fight crime, and could be called away multiple times during a day, I can create a new TF Food that will grant you both the legs and tail of a fast creature, in addition to the ears, as the legs will ensure you have the speed you desire and the tail will give you balance. Now, you won't be able to carry actually food into your school, like cake and whatnot, so I have another idea: how about crackers that you only need to eat one of to bring forth the changes... obviously you'll want to take your shoes off before using one, and maybe get yourself some clothing of my own construction that adapts to when one partakes of a TF Food." "Wait, you got clothing as well?" Mr. Satan asked, as that was something he hadn't known before this point, though he was interested by the idea since it meant his daughter wouldn't have to worry about accidents during her time in school if she proceeded down the path she was choosing to walk down. "We're actually in the process of producing them right now." Twilight said, where she tapped a key on her computer and the screen that she used to show things to investors and other people, as many people wanted to be part of her growing company and none of them bothered to try and cheat her, she found them out before they got too far, causing the pair to turn for a moment as she played a video, "Go ahead, see for yourselves." Twilight had developed several variations that did what Videl wanted, instead of focusing on the tail and ears they gave the user a different animal trait, for testing purposes of the Morph Clothing as she called it, where one tester was given a wing variant to test. Such a thing allowed Videl and her father to watch as the tester took the sample and downed it, where they observed as the back of his shirt opened, revealing two slits, before large brown feathered wings grew out of them with ease, where she could see that they were surprised by her creation. Another one took a newer blend, a dino treat that was going to be on the shelves in the near future, and while a thick tail grew out of her spine, like the apex predator type, she found that a hole opened in her pants for it to emerge from without tearing everything she was wearing to shreds. Videl had to ask if it was possible for shoes to be included in the idea, since part of her desire was for that aspect of the change, and Twilight told her it was entirely possible, she just had to research the topic in question since she had focused on the main articles of clothing. In the end Mr. Satan placed an order for an item Twilight called 'Raptor Bites', an altered version that did exactly what his daughter wanted them to, and also for several sets of clothing so Videl would have different choices when the time came, though Twilight chuckled as she did so, as Videl seemed pretty happy with her selections. She made sure that Videl knew to use the crackers once she was of the legal age to do so, since there were consequences for the underaged taking them, a fact she didn't have to worry about since most people were smart enough not to do something stupid, but she wanted to make sure Videl knew that fact. Fortunately she did and Twilight didn't have to say anything else on the matter, rather she was able to focus on the rest of the transaction, where Mr. Satan sighed as he paid for the gift he would be giving his daughter when she finally turned eighteen, making this a special birthday present for Videl. Once that was done the pair went off to do whatever it was that they wanted to do with the rest of their day, leaving her to her work as she recalled the orange star badge on Videl's attire, the same that Gohan told her about when he mentioned that he would be going to a high school in the near future. Such a thing caused her to chuckle as she realized that the two were on a collision course with each other, something she was interested in hearing about when the time finally came, causing her to glance out the window as she wondered what the future held for her and the rest of the Earth.