Crossroads

Chapter 8

Senzu beans are not something easy to come across. They take a long time to grow and the only reason they are even known to planet Earth or planet Vegeta is because of the heiress of Capsule Corporation, Bulma Briefs, who happened to stumble upon the grower of the beans. According to the Elites of the castle, she was in search of something called "Dragon Balls" when she met the cat-man Korin who grows them. As the commerce between the two planets grew and the people of Earth couldn't help but fear the Saiyans in spite of their good graces towards them, the people of Capsule Corp. decided it best to sell the product to the Royal House as a bartering tool to testify for the humans usefulness and resourcefulness.

Since their discovery, many crop growers on planet Vegeta have tried their hand at duplicating the bean with some success, and while the useful production of them is more widely performed on planet Vegeta than on the Earth, regardless of the lesser effect in the beans on planet Vegeta, the strange plant is still mostly reserved for serious situations, or for those who can afford to hand out their supply at will.

(The idea of the Dragon Balls is a well-kept secret, and those Saiyans who do know of them consider the legend comical at best. The young and beautiful heiress, who is the same age as Prince Vegeta, never found all seven of the balls during her adolescent search some years ago, although claims say she has six of them hidden away, and that she apparently gave up on the challenge sometime in her mid-twenties.)

Thank goodness, though, that Geredi has senzu beans on hand (he is a wealthy scientist, after all, whose studies can at times go awry) otherwise the poor doctor would have had to explain to Prince Vegeta how his brand new guard died before ever even going on duty, and then the cat would have been out of the bag about his precious machine, as the Earthlings say, and their whole scheme would have gone to shit.

Geredi and Bardock hollered in approval, though, the moment Goku woke up. Raditz released a breath he'd been holding in and Minala scolded her father for his carelessness.

"This thing works! Yes!" Geredi grinned, tutting his daughter's concern away, and he thanked Goku for being so brave inside of the Gravity Chamber.

Goku nodded at him and marveled at the machine he had nearly been killed in. He trained inside for some time at an intensified gravitational force as Geredi continued to turn it up on him in intervals, and everyone watching was impressed with how well Goku was adjusting, and how willing he was to continue to keep pushing his limits, that is, until he collapsed and lost consciousness altogether.

The doctor explained, "Those Earthlings made it according to their natural gravity, mmm, but ours is stronger here on Planet Vegeta, so I had it tweaked a bit- Ha! This machine will be more of a challenge to our Prince than their original model, BUT, yes, see, I must figure out a way to get it to notch up slower. Theirs goes from 1 to 2 to 3 g's at a time, and so on, hm, but since I recalibrated it to our standards, it jumps ten-fold every time I kick it up, instead of little by little. No, no, I knew it, already. I'm sorry. I was afraid of that. But, bravo, that was quite a show! I think the Prince will be impressed, no?!"

Bardock and Geredi continued to discuss the machine for some time, but the night was closing in and Minala told her father that the travel back home for the Son family would take a while and that unfortunately they had to go soon. Geredi understood but waved his daughter's concern off and threw another device at them. Goku insisted he wouldn't need help, since he didn't have to go so far (and he was not interested in using another one of the Earthling's contraptions of laziness, although he was interested in the Gravity Machine and could see it's benefits right away), but Bardock and Raditz, upon instruction to open the capsule once they were outside, grew excited about trying out the craft. Geredi explained that it would take them where they're going in no time, and in style, and he told Bardock to keep it, as a gift, explaining that he would need to be able to come by again quickly, especially after their grandchild is born. Bardock couldn't have been more pleased, but Raditz just blushed and thanked him meekly.