Down to Business (Zuqetta)

"What's this?" One of the men would speak up, revealing himself from the back of the pack; having been first in this suddenly formed line, "You got somethin' ta say, kid?" The six foot eight, overly buff mad would bark; not knowing that his measly battle power of only nine-thousand paled in comparison to Zerori's.

"Oi boss, this lass 'ere ain't be wantin' ye ta eat!" An underling would chime, clearly intent on forcing trouble between their group and the diminutive girl before them.

"Is that right?" The boss spoke, rubbing his half shaven beard with intrigue, "Well, we can't have that now; we're elites, you know that little missy?" He stated with an uncomfortably large and heinous grin, "We get the things that we want, and you hurt my feelings with that attitude." He continued, his underlings laughing beneath their breath as he spoke, "But perhaps, you could cheer me up. In exchange, I'll let you have the scraps." He finished; his disgusting grin stretching even further in an heinous manner.

With none of the group current equipped with scouter, and being unable to sense energy; the group had no idea the terrible situation they were digging themselves into. With ease, Zerori could have completely incinerated them; and hardly any around besides maybe the Royal Guard could have stopped them. These men may have been elites, but much like Zuqetta's father, they were of the lower echelon of power.

"Hey!" A voice would suddenly call out, before just as suddenly an arm would reach over Zerori shoulder; featuring an offer ice cream cone, of a simple vanilla, "Hey sis!" Zuqetta spoke up with a grin, "Wasn't sure what ya liked, but I saw ya over here whining for somethin' ta snack on and brought ya a bite!" She continued, taking a quick lick of her own ice cream before shooting an icy glare to the boss of the men before them, "Can I help you with something?" Zuqetta asked in a much lower tone, showing off the Royal Saiyan Insignia emblazoned upon the chest of her armor.

"Wha- why you..." The boss spoke, before being quickly interrupted by Zuqetta as she slammed her tail into the pavement; cracking it.

"Hey genius, how's about we go one-on-one if you're that offended!" She challenged, "But before we do, I suggest SOMEONE go ahead and gauge their chances with a handy-dandy scouter." She finished firmly, with two of the men quickly reaching into their pockets to retrieve their scouters without hesitation.

"Hey uh.. boss, isn't this girl...?" One of the skinnier men would whisper to the boss, "Heh, you think I care about how strong you are, shrimp!" The Boss would yell, lifting his arms to flex his muscles in a grandiose display, "I am an ELITE SAIYAN, girl! I've tussled with foes the likes of which you-" Before the Boss could continue, he would be interrupted by the cry of one of his underlings as their scouters finally chimed in with the sounds of the read battle powers.

"There it is~!" Zuqetta would say cheekily as she took another lick of her ice cream.

"Twe... twenty-five thousand!?" One man would exclaimed, "And this... this 'ere lil one... she... she's over nine-thousand!" He exclaimed, "Sixteen thousand in fact!!" With that, the group would fall momentarily silent as the Boss would steadily begin to lower his arms and slouch down in a more amenable manner.

"Hm, yeah but, what IS a number? Huh guys?" Zuqetta would ask rhetorically, "We're just itty bitty widdle girls awfter all!" She'd continue in a mocking tone, "And you're big, STRONG men! So... what was the rest of that statement? Foes, the likes off which we...?" She would finished darkly with a low, ominous tone.

"S'what I was tryin' ta tell you boss!" The skinny man would whisper frantically, "That armor! She's that kid, of you-know-who! That's Zuqetta!" Each of the men would take a step back, almost literally shaking in their boots before the little girls before them. While the Boss himself had taken a fully hunched position to be closer to eye level with the girls, keeping his hands together and body in a prostrating mannerism as he attempted to display respect and politeness. "I-I-I meant no disrespect Miss Zuqetta! Not to you, or your generous friend!" He began, "She was merely alerting us to our misdeeds and inconvenience!" He continued, before looking at Zerori and bowing profusely, "Thank you, oh thank you young miss! We'll move immediately!"

With that, the men would be quick to depart the area; each one bowing, apologizing, and thanking Zerori as the rushed away from the scene. The whole while, the surrounding passerby's would gawk with interest; only to leave just as quickly as the final moments of the scene played out.

"Hmph, useless so called elites." Zuqetta would spit, "As bad as my would-be dad, if not worse... least the old man woulda been willing to fight." Zuqetta said in a solemn tone before shaking her head and removing herself of Zerori's shoulder, "Anyways, whatcha doin' all the way out here? Just felt like startin' some trouble again?" Zuqetta inquired, this time taking a bite down upon her ice cream.

---

Zuqetta couldn't help but grin as Zerori played along with teasing the cowardly elites. As Zerori went on to explain herself, however, that grin would quickly fade. "That's right, I remember now..." Zuqetta muttered to herself as she recalled the conversation they'd once had back at Vennel's apartment. Zuqetta would give a light huff as Zerori continued her explanation; it hardly made sense why she cared so much about some father she never met when she had a perfectly good mother. "Listen, a dad is just..." Zuqetta felt the need to protest, she had wanted to convince Zerori to leave the idea of finding such a man behind; but as she spoke, she simply couldn't bring herself to continue the statement.

Zuqetta hesitated, thinking carefully about what to say next as a strange feeling washed over her. With a heavy sigh, Zuqetta would take another large bite out of her ice cream cone; nearly finishing it off. "Know what, maybe he is." Zuqetta began, averting her gaze for a moment before returning it to Zerori with a toothy grin, "I'll bet he's some kinda genius! And just cause ya haven't found him yet doesn't mean anything bad; but uhh, your not gonna have any luck lookin' for him around some King, the Saiyans are kinda... lacking in that department at the moment, hehe." She continued with a laugh before finishing off the remainder of her ice cream.

"If your dad's that amazing, I'll bet he's out somewhere having crazy adventures! That's probably why you haven't found him yet!" She asserted, "What's his name? Maybe we can find out somethin' about him at the Information Citadel, or with some of the soldiers." She asked curiously; though it was solely for Zerori's sake. She had no personal interest in locating some 'father', especially given her grievance with her own father; but it was clear that this situation was impacting Zerori pretty heavily, so if it would make Zerori happy, she could make an exception.

---

Watching Zerori down her ice cream in a single go was certainly a surprise; though Zuqetta had intended to warn her against it, the deed had already been done. "Eh, I think the war is BECAUSE of the King..." Zuqetta answered with an awkward laugh at Zerori's actions, "I've really been wondering if ANYTHING good comes from Saiyans lately." She continued solemnly, before listening in to the rest of Zerori's explanation. What the girl would say next however, would send a cold shiver down Zuqetta's spine as a mix of negative emotions washed over her momentarily.

"Potate...?" She questioned lowly, before calming herself with a quick breath, "I see... yeah, pretty strong." She continued, "My dad? His name?" Try as she might, she simply couldn't cease the endless wellspring of rage that was building within her at the thought of her father; she didn't want to ruin the moment, so decided it best to avoid the topic, "Just call him... useless..." She answered plainly, averting her gaze with a pained and angered scowl.

"As for the Tuffles, no... I don't think we'll be finding any in this city. Or in ANY Saiyan territory for that matter." Zuqetta answered, taking an incredibly deep breath as she tried to hype herself back up, "I got to see some things, things I wasn't expecting; it seems like tensions between Tuffles and Saiyans are a lot worse than I thought... neither side will even stop to listen to the other." She continued, her scowl unfortunately returning as she remembered the battlefield, "Saiyans are so thickheaded and arrogant; Tuffles act so superior and above it all..." She hissed, "How the heck do we help people that don't even want to help themselves?" She questioned rhetorically as she crossed her arms aggressively.

Finally, Zuqetta's scowl would break as she leaned back against a wall and gave a deep sigh. "But, maybe that's just the surface... maybe we could kill two saiba-birds with one boulder." Zuqetta began, looking back up towards Zerori enthusiastically, "We can start with the Information Citadel; look up... Potate, and see if there was a technician by that name. And then maybe ask around the Military Base or the Airfield." She said with a grin, "But if that fails, from what I've learned, Tuffles seem to be amazing inventors and stuff... so, if your dad is so amazing, maybe he's living over on the Tuffle side of Plant!" She finished with an excited tone, "None of these soldiers will listen to reason, but maybe a Tuffle who ISN'T a solder will! We could go ta the Tuffle city and ask around!"

---

Zuqetta simply gave a bit of an awkward half smile when Zerori mentioned the battlefield; luckily it didn't seem to be something she wanted an explanation on as she had quickly latched on to the topic of the possible location of her father. It was nice to see Zerori so enthusiastic, such an upbeat personality definitely suited her more than her previous mopey one.

"Well, let's see..." Zuqetta began, reaching into her sweater to pull out her scouter, "From our current location..." After placing on the scouter, it would only be a few button presses before Zuqetta would be presented with a layout of Plant's geography, "Hm, I dunno about getting us there 'instantly', it seems to be at least a days trip if we fly." She continued, looking off towards the west and pointing out over the horizon, "The map says the fastest course would be to head six-thousand three-hundred and ninety-three kilometers west from here. So... maybe a little less than half a day if we stay at top speed?" She finished before removing the scouter and giving a light sigh.

"It's doable, but I don't care how fast you think you can fly; there's no gettin' there instantly, hehe." Zuqetta teased before looking off in the direction the Information Citadel would be, "Before we make such a long trip, we should probably look up some information on him first..." Zuqetta said hesitantly, somewhat worried about what information they would find, if any.

---

Though hesitant, Zuqetta couldn't help but also feel curious as to what information she would find exactly should the two decide to search the data at the Information Citadel. Zerori had already given more than enough information to work off of, considering she had a name and profession; though an age and military division would have also been nice. At the very least, she knew that she could look up information between the past fourteen to seventeen years; depending on how old Zerori was. Zuqetta held her hand to her chin in an inquisitive manner as she thought about how best to proceed with there search; as Vennel taught, the first step to any battle was to know your enemy after all. Why would something like this be any different?

"Actually, I think we should start at the Military Base to ask about the name, surely- huh?" As Zuqetta attempted to explain the next steps to take, she would be interrupted by Zerori calling out to her; only to then suddenly find herself set upon by the girl like she was some wild beast, "What're you!?!?" To her complete surprise, Zuqetta hadn't simply been tackled; suddenly, the world around her seemed like it was going dark... was she falling into a hole!?!?

With that, the two would be flung through a portal of Zerori's creation to who-knows-where; the only hope being to emerge unscathed...

---