There were a few lesser aliens scurrying up and down the hallway starting their early morning work. A squat grey blue alien with a head like a frog was driving a small flat bed transporter and stopped in front of Ruta.
“My Ruta, that’s quite the fashion statement for so early in the morning. What’s the occasion?”
“Calm down Moot, I’m just taking out some trash” she replied throwing a thumb behind her at Raditz hauling a lifeless Nappa.
“Oooo…looks like you had some fun with that one. What do I have to do to get that kind of action from you, sugar?” Ruta raised an eyebrow,
“Hear that Raditz, Moot here wants the same treatment as Nappa” she grinned at him. Raditz glanced behind at Nappa and then to the small blue frog. He’d be nothing but a blue stain on the floor once she was finished with him. Raditz actually snickered at the thought.
“I’ll consider your request later Moot, ok?” she said as she passed him. The blue frog smiled excitedly,
“I’ll remember you said that Ruta! I’ll remember!” he yelled out as he continued down the hallway.
“You do know what he’s referring to don't you?” asked Raditz.
“Sure I do. But that horny toad has a horrid memory. He’ll forget we ever had that conversation by the time he reaches his destination. In fact, his D.N.A helped me make those ‘memory snatcher’ pills”. Ruta stopped in front of an elevator door and pushed the button to open it. The doors opened to show a narrow compartment with dim white light from above.
“Ok, just haul him in there and push the button for the top floor”. Raditz followed her instructions and waited inside but she yanked him out of the elevator before the doors closed,
“That elevator ride is just for him,” she explained, “the guys at the top will deal with him”. She started walking back down the hallway to her medical room and stopped suddenly. She turned around and asked him seriously,
“Why didn’t you try and stop him from harassing her?” Raditz looked a bit taken aback at the sudden question and felt a bit awkward answering,
“He completely out ranks me as a warrior so I have no authority to question or intervene in his actions”.
“So basically you’re saying you’re too weak to do anything to stop him?” Raditz blushed in embarrassment and glanced to the side,
“I think I phrased it better”
“Of course you do”, she smiled, “But you’ve just witnessed me knocking out that ‘higher ranking warrior’ in as little as three moves but I’m obviously not stronger than him”.
“Well…yeah. Any guy would go down that quickly if you attack below the belt. That’s just fighting dirty”
“Oh and you don’t fight dirty?”
“…not when I don’t have to…”
“Yeah, well I had to. That guy has a good 300 pounds on me; I had to shut him down fast”
“So you admit that you wouldn’t stand a chance against him in a serious confrontation when it comes to strength?”
“I’d think that’d be extremely obvious. But strength isn’t everything that a soldier should focus on. Being able to out smart your enemy with a sharp intellect can be just as effective as having a large power. Those who were the first to find that out were the original rulers of Planet Vegeta. I think Bura would make a more efficient fighter if she followed that path”. Ruta and Raditz re-entered her medical room and the lights flickered on softly.
“Ha! We have power!” laughed Ruta. She walked over to a stand in shower stall and pressed a few buttons inside,
“C’mere Bura will have you dried off fast in here”. Bura slid off the table and walked over to Ruta. She guided the young saiyan inside, told her to stand still and pushed another button. A steady gust of warm air came up from below causing Bura’s hair to fly upward. She had her eyes closed but she was smiling and extended her arms in front of her. After a few moments the gust stopped and Bura walked out, her hair a bit messy but completely dry.
“That was fun!” she laughed.
“That’s good. You sound a lot better already” Ruta smiled, “after I find out what type of illness you have, I’ll be able to treat it and you can get back to your training. It must be a little serious if it caused you to have such abrupt nausea”. Bura’s smile fell a little bit and her eyes lowered,
“…it was the dream…” she sighed.
“Huh?”
“…the dream. It made me really scared. It turned my stomach”
“Oh…? What were you dreaming about?” asked Ruta. Bura narrowed her eyes and thought for a moment,
“There were people running and a bunch of fires. Someone was looking for someone else. But they were pulled into the sky”.
“Hmm…no offence, Bura, but that doesn’t sound very scary”.
“It felt more like…an emotion. Something bad was going to happen”.
“Well, with you having to deal with two big brutes by yourself, it’s no wonder you might have some startling dreams”.
“Is there no end to your prejudice?” asked Raditz a bit annoyed.
“Hey, it’s a known fact that saiyan guys are naturally aggressive, why should you be so different?”
“He’s not that bad, Ruta” Bura said timidly.
“Yeah, I know, you think he’s a big softy because he let you sleep under his hair”. Ruta looked at Raditz and then glanced at the ends of his hair, “…that really was enough to keep you warm?” Bura smiled and rubbed the back of her head bashfully,
“Yeah”
“Huh…” Ruta grabbed the ends of his hair and lifted it, “...hmm, it is rather heavy. But it smells like dirt”
“Like I care,” Raditz replied and tugged his hair out of Ruta’s grasp. Just then the little frog faced alien, Moot walked through the doorway. He had a green scouter grasped in his hands. One look at Ruta and he stopped in his tracks,
“My Ruta, that’s quite a fashion statement for so early in the morning. What’s the occasion?” Ruta rolled her eyes,
“What do you want, Moot?”
“Ah…yes. I was ordered to deliver this scouter to one of the saiyans in supervision of the half-breed girl. It is set to relay the information of her next course of training” Raditz took the scouter, placed it over his left ear and pushed the top button.
“Is this a saiyan looking’ after the hybrid girl?” asked a male voice over the scouter.
“Yeah” answered Raditz.
“We’ve just received orders to administer her in transformation training. She is to report to her selected instructor at the South Side Wasteland in one hour”
“What’s the name of her instructor?” There was a brief pause on the other side,
“The name of her instructor is Bardock, a 3rd class warrior. That is all” and with that the other line was cut off. Raditz pulled off the scouter and stared at it.
“What is ‘transformation training’? Is it hard?” Bura asked.
“No, it’s very simple. Any saiyan with a tail can do it. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine” smiled Ruta. She noticed Raditz was still staring at the scouter, “What’s the matter?”
“He said that her instructor was named ‘Bardock’ a saiyan said to have died along with the destruction of the original Planet Vegeta. He has the same name as my father”.