Down the Rabbit Hole

The bright green and blues of the Plant life in this large city park were some of the most well preserved on the planet. And also one of the less populated in the city. This was a leisure time area, and a lot didn't spare their minutes in it. So, how did the small Paz fit in here then? One of the biggest coincidences, really. She was on the move from the capitol building towards R&D through here when she had her scouter go nuts. Absolutely ballistic.

"Oh come on..."
Unable to catch a break and trouble seeming to find her at every turn, the green-haired techie steeled herself and went towards this strength. No doubt others would pick up on it and others would be around to eventually investigate. Popping up out of nowhere, and so suddenly, was the most dangerous thing. Someone had to be there quickly to cover this. So, pushing past some brush, it was somewhat bewildering to see two taller persons. Each complaining to one another about appearing here and not sure where this exactly was. There wasn't really anything to go off of by that. She had to make herself known and keep an eye on these two.

"Hey, hold up!"
Paz walked out of the brush and held her posture upright. Standing up to these two was a bit intimidating, but she'd keep her calm and rest a hand on her side, near the blaster.

"I have no clue where the two of you came from, but I'm going to have to call some officers down and have you detained for questioning. Two strong signatures cropping up here is a cause for concern."
It was more forewarning than a threat, the small woman taking to fly a little in the air to try and keep eye-level with the one standing up.

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WC: 315
Thread PL: 5,000

Zerori froze, the voice having caught her off guard and looking like she’d been caught with her hand in a cookie jar. Turning around, Zerori had expected to see someone intimidating, but what she saw was… underwhelming. “What’s a kid doing here?” She spoke without thinking, before realizing that SHE must have been a Tuffle. She’d only seen a Tuffle once and they were asleep so she couldn’t have been sure of that even! Still, there were really… really tiny. Looking back at Zuqetta with a confusion in her eyes, Zerori was relieved to know that Zuqetta had all the talking down. She was pretty good at it, actually. “Uh… yeah, no trouble here,” Zerori nodded, crossing her arms as she looked down at the Tuffle. “But. uh-” She stepped back a bit as the kid levitated and snorted a little.

She couldn’t keep a straight face anymore and blurted, “Kid, do your parents know that you’re coming up to strangers and pretending to be an officer?” She held up her hands in surrender, smirking, “I ain’t judgin’! When I was a little kid, I’d play ‘SPACE MERCENARY’!” She declared with a cool pose, trying to impress the kid with little chops and pretending to blast random things in the distance with her hand shaped in the form of a gun. “I grew out of it, I think, but it’s still my dream!” She looked back at Pazion, “Still, that’s pretty dangerous, kid. We coulda been hostile Saiyans, y’know?” Not realizing that she might have been saying a little too much...

Pazion

Flinching as Zerori would randomly mention 'Saiyan', Zuqetta would quickly jab her heel into Zerori's toes; whilst maintaining an innocent expression as she listened to the girl speak. A Tuffle? Zuqetta questioned, Okay, guess that means we really ARE still on Plant; but wow, this kid's committed to her bit. She thought about the previous encounter she'd had back at the ruined metropolis; thinking perhaps that she'd misunderstood the situation. There had been Tuffles their too, and when compared to the average height of a Saiyan, they were quite small; but this girl was absolutely tiny! Still, if the other Tuffles were any indication, could this little girl have actually been an adult??

"Names?" Zuqetta questions, "Names! Yes, obviously, names! Right, I'm Zu..." Hesitating, Zuqetta realized she couldn't simply up and use her real name; Saiyan's took pride in their names, and had an incredibly specific tell after all, "Zu...zu..." She stated, completely blank faced, "My name is, Zuzu. Heh... nice ta meet ya!" She finished with an awkward laugh and chuckle, not even realizing she'd have needed a fake name for this mission; though she had to wonder, why was this girl so suspicious of them, and how the heck did she find them so easily!?

---

It was unclear if their little ruse was working or not against this child-like individual; they were clearly skeptical of the story but weren't entirely sure it was a false claim. If anything, they were at least giving it the benefit of the doubt, and as such, took it upon themselves to check upon the information given. While their back was turned, Zuqetta would inch closer to Zerori as quietly as she could; taking Zerori by the hand before looking out towards the city. "Psst." She would whisper, hoping to get Zerori attention before giving a small gesture with her shoulder off towards the direction of the city. With that, Zuqetta would slowly begin to lift off the ground to take flight; hoping Zerori would do the same, before quickly but quietly leaving the scene to disappear into the deeper city.

Assuming Zerori followed, the two would soon find themselves within the sprawling metropolis of towering, high tech buildings. "Finally free!!" Zuqetta would exclaim excitedly as she flew about, "Didn't think we'd get accousted by some kid upon arriving though." Zuqetta groaned with an annoyed expression, "Er, I guess they weren't really a kid? Jeez, this is difficult..." Zuqetta complained as she looked upon the people that walked the city below; gauging their varying degrees of height from afar.

The city was a far cry from what she was used too; while Sadala was darkly toned, from its population to its scenery, this city was the complete opposite! Building were exceedingly tall rather than wide, structures were well maintained and properly painted, and the streets were dotted with shrubbery and light sources. Everything felt so high tech; for the briefest of moments, Zuqetta felt an insatiable wish to have been born on this side of the planet rather than the Saiyan side. Her wrapped tail around her waist however; hidden as it was underneath her sweater, would remind her of origins and snap her back to reality. She and Zerori had a mission, two in fact! She couldn't allow herself to be distracted by the surrounding wonders.

---

After landing, Zuqetta was quickly upon one of the lamp posts; examining its high tech design and comparing it to the torches used back in Sadala. "Heh, wicked?" Zuqetta remarked; though keeping her gaze locked upon the lamp, "It's certainly inspiring! Everything is so different, so advanced!" Zuqetta exclaimed excitedly as she lightly ripped off a panel from the lamp post to examine the circuitry within, "Like, where do you think the energy is even coming from to power allllllllll of these lights!?" She continued in an overly enthusiastic manner; fiddling within the lamp post with the cables before inevitably causing it to short circuit. In spite of this, Zuqetta was undeterred; continuing her disassembly of the unit until she had her hands on the main circuit board housed within.

It was then that Zerori had spoken up about the whole point of their arrival here; to locate Zerori's father. Zerori had made mention of something specific however, something that Zuqetta hadn't even thought about due to how distracted she had been. "AHHHHHHH!!" She cried out before rushing to Zerori, "You're right! You genius you!!" She declared before rushing in to give Zerori a hug, "A hub for information, the Information Citadel!! If the Saiyans have one, then the Tuffles are bound to have one of their own!! Filled with all the knowledge and understanding necessary to build and create all these advance technologies!!" Zuqetta cheered before backing off and placing her scouter back on, "I'll start the mapping program on my scouter, it'll help us get around. In the meantime, lets explore! If we come upon anyone, we can ask them where to find their 'library' as you called it!" Zuqetta declared, before turning back to give Zerori a sly expression, "And you... you NEED to take me to this 'demon realm' you're always going on about. You never told me you had your own hub for information there!" She said with a wide grin before turning away and beginning the expedition.

It was clear just how excited Zuqetta was to be surrounded by so much technology; it was as though she was finally someplace that she belonged. Her tendencies as a Saiyan didn't seem to wane however; especially considering the destruction of public property she had just taken part in, as well as the theft of the circuit board. All of this was in the pursuit of knowledge however! Knowledge that would certainly be useful much further down the line; as well as knowledge that would hopefully improve the lives of the Saiyans in the future.

"We'll need ta stay on foot, I didn't see a lot of Tuffles flying around, so it might not be a popular option." Zuqetta explained as they walked the streets, "Just act natural if we meet anyone, and keep that tail hidden; as uncomfortable as it is..." She groaned, "Really, what we'll need is a better story for ourselves... we don't look enough like Tuffles to pass as them, even if... we're pretty short." She groaned once more, giving a big sigh before continuing on, "But I don't think that 'Earf' story is gonna work; I just don't know enough about the place." She said in an annoyed tone as she crossed her arms, "We could pretend to be from Fruti, it's a neighboring planet not too far from here... what about you? Is the demon realm a nice place that people wouldn't find suspicious?" Zuqetta asked curiously, hoping to find a better solution to explain away their situation.

---

As the two continued on their way, the mapping program on Zuqetta's scouter would begin to make a detailed layout of their surroundings. The program was still a bit rudimentary however and didn't accommodate for the z-axis of altitude; something the annoyed Zuqetta to no end, she would need to fix that sometime soon.

"Heh, Zero?" Zuqetta commented, "I like it!" She continued with a cheery smile, "Know what? Don't call me Zuzu; I was caught off guard when I thought of that." She said, crossing her arms as she gave a new name a slight bit of thought, "I know! If you're gonna be Zero, then I'll be One!" She exclaimed excitedly before thinking a bit more on the idea, "Hm... actually, One might get people a bit confused..." With a few clicks on her scouter, Zuqetta had accessed a bestiary of sorts on documented outer world species and their languages; with just a few moments of searching, a wide grin would quickly cross Zuqetta face before she looked over towards Zerori enthusiastically, "Call me Uno!" She said cheerily before the two would finally make their way upon the Tuffles information hub.

Having already taken notice of the many strange letters and words that sprawled the city streets, walls, and signs; Zuqetta had already taken the preemptive liberty to begin a translation program while her mapping program ran. Surprisingly, she had found that the Tuffle language wasn't too dissimilar to the Saiyan language; more than likely, the Saiyans had plundered the Tuffle alphabet and simplified it to their needs.

"Let's see here..." Zuqetta began as she scanned the words upon the building they approached with her scouter, "Cathedral of Knowledge?" Zuqetta questioned, "The heck does Cathedral mean??" She asked rhetorically with crossed arms, "Eh, whatever, it said knowledge! So I bet this is it! The Tuffles own Information Citadel!" She said excitedly, taking notice of Zerori's comment, "Hehe, of course I am! You should be too! Think of all the things we could learn here? Not too mention, if there's info on your dad, then this would be the place to find it!" Zuqetta explained before reaching out to take Zerori's hand, "Come one! Let's head inside!" She cheered before attempting to rush inside with Zerori in tow.

Zuqetta hadn't even taken notice of the Tuffle passerby's; though they had certainly taken notice of the two of them. Though still small, it seemed that the majority of the Tuffles they passed weren't nearly as diminutive as the green haired one they had encountered. Proportionally however, Zuqetta and Zerori still looked incredibly large by comparison to them; luckily, it wasn't so abnormal as to be questioned too terribly.

Once inside this absolutely massive stone building; the two would find the inside to be even more grandiose in size and appearance. While the outside of the building appeared about as one would consider a cathedral; the inside was designed completely differently! Metal tiles, railings and automatic walkways, video screens and holo monitors; the entire area was like stepping into an entirely different world. So different was everything from the Saiyans simple Information Citadel, that Zuqetta could hardly even tell was she was looking at! Zuqetta took a deep breath as she took it all in; but was completely speechless as the excitement within her overflowed past the breaking point.

"Salutations, and Good Evening, young ladies." A voice would suddenly call out from the right, "How rare to find guest of such a manner is a place such as this; may I ask, have you come to enlighten yourselves with the gift of knowledge at our disposal?" The man would ask kindly as he stood behind his counter with a holo data-pad within his hands.

The man was a Tuffle, yet seemed to stand taller than most of the passerby's; in spite of this, he was only about three or four inches taller than Zuqetta and Zerori. He was slender, and would a light blue robe that stretched to his feet and was adorned with silver buttons. As well, he appeared to be wearing a strange form of monocle; one that was likely customized to double as a scouter. Overall he had a sense of regality about him; yet was no more than the equivalent of the head librarian.

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