All These Squares Make a Circle [DB CHALLENGE]

This was a really odd place. Nashua could only wonder what kind of purpose a floating island in the sky served like this, especially in such a remote area. Vegeta certainly didn't have any sort of places that resembled this. The mystery around the place also begged the question: What kind of person took up residence here? That question seemed to soon find itself an answer, as Nashua's scouter detected a single approaching presence, clocking in at a power level of forty thousand. Not low, really - it was actually quite high. Just not compared to Nashua and the band of powerful fighters she usually found herself associated with. But who did this energy presence belong to? That question was also very rapidly answered, as none other than a short little Namekian boy popped out of the building that rested on the far end of the island.

"Oh, hello," Nashua said with some slight surprise. This wasn't exactly what she'd been expecting to find. He was so... Short. And young. And cute. She stood in vaguely dumbfounded silence for a moment or two until it registered that he'd asked her if he could help her with anything. "Oh, uh, right!" she exclaimed, clearing her throat and taking a few steps forward so they weren't standing so far apart from each other while they talked. Once she was about two meters away from him, she stopped, with her hands folded neatly behind her back and a friendly smile on her face. "My name is Nashua, I'm a foreign ambassador for the Saiyan Kingdom!" Or, wait, was that still her title? She was pretty sure the war with the Fleet, so it made sense she'd go back to her old position. ...She'd need to ask Vocado about that, later.

Foreign ambassador would do for now, though! "I'm on Earth currently because I'm trying to find these things called 'Dragon Balls'. If you haven't heard of them, they're seven magical orbs that exist across both this planet and a far off planet called Namek! Although, you're a Namekian, so you probably knew about that." The Saiyan coughed, then cleared her throat. "Anyway, I've been following a device that lets me track the whereabouts of these Balls, and I picked up on a trace of one that leads up here! You wouldn't happen to know where it is up here, would you?" She finished her question with a smile, and looked down at the Namekian boy expectantly. He seemed like a friendly little kid, so hopefully he was going to be cooperative. If he didn't know what she was talking about, though, she was probably just going to have to try and quickly search around for it herself.

TAGS: Chime

It was hard not to notice the Namekian leaning to his side and staring towards Nashua's rear end, and she was pretty sure she knew what he was looking for, there. "Okay, yes," she stated, turning around and lifting the back of her skirt slightly to confirm that there was no tail present, though if Chime looked closely, he'd likely have noticed the very small stump at the base of her spine. "I don't have a tail, like most Saiyans - this member of the World Trade Fleet attacked me and burned it off a few months ago. But, you can trust me, I am a Saiyan!" She turned back around once she'd finished speaking, just in time for the Namekian boy to start responding. It was news to Nashua that he had 'made' the Dragon Balls. She hadn't ever considered there was a person behind them, she had just kind of figured they had always sort of just... Been around.

When he explained that the radar must have just picked up on him instead of the signature of an actual Dragon Ball, though, Nashua grew suspicious. She couldn't deny the logic made some sense, but he seemed a bit apprehensive about her presence, even though he was also quite apologetic about the inconvenience he seemed to have caused her. Just to make sure, Nashua reached into her pocket and pulled her radar out, giving another quick scan of the area. "Well, uh," she started to reply as the radar confirmed her suspicions. "The radar I have says that it's picking up the Ball's signal from past you, inside that building you just came out of, not directly from you." She looked up at the Namekian and eyed him for a few moments, then stepped forward.

"Still, it might just be picking up on something odd, this is a rather strange place, after all. But I want to make certain it's nothing before I move along, if that'd be alright with you." She gave the green boy a smile and a nod, before stepping forward to try and move past him towards the inside of the building, turning the radar screen around to show him the signal for a moment as she stepped past his side. "See? It's just right ahead. Sorry to intrude, but I'll be out of your hair in juuust a minute - or, well, you don't have hair, but I'm sure you still understand the expression." Provided Chime didn't actively try and stop her, she moved on ahead towards where the radar was leading her, inching closer and closer to the source of the signal it was picking up.

TAGS: Chime

Nashua thought she could just step past the Namekian, grab the Ball without any trouble, then be on her way to find the next one without much of a hitch. That proved not to be the case, though, as the short little oddly dressed boy ran up the stairs and held his arms out to both his sides to block her from taking any further steps. Well, that was a little unexpected. His eyes were something fierce, though his voice wavered in a somewhat frightened tone as he stated that the Dragon Balls were only to be used to help Earth, and that the Saiyans had already used up their wishes on Namek. Well, that raised more than a few questions in Nashua's head as her eyebrows furrowed in a mix of concern and confusion. "How do you know about all the Namek stuff?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest.

Well, clearly he didn't know about all the Namek stuff, if he thought two of the wishes were for the Kingdom's sake. "Well, you're right, we did use the Dragon Balls on that planet, but only one of them was to our direct benefit - and it was kind of a small benefit, too." She briefly remembered how the wish for power had ended up being slightly disappointing in weight. It'd granted them each about a month's worth of training, instead of the godlike power Nashua had been imagining. "But the other two were to help other people - in fact, I was the one who made the wish to revive all these people who died in Satan City! And then this Konatsian Prince revived his own planet's population, since he helped us gather the Balls and we kind of owed him one for that."

She had to figure out how to phrase this carefully, so she could get the Namekian to understand. "None of those wishes were wishes I wanted to make, though. See, the World Trade Fleet - I'm sure you've heard of them by now - attacked our home planet and killed countless Saiyans about ten months ago. I... Lost a lot of friends, and all my family, when they attacked. I only survived by the skin of my teeth, myself. We couldn't wish to undo those deaths back on Namek, but now that we've retaken our planet and it's safely under our control, it's okay to bring back all those who died again." She slipped the radar into her pocket, and stepped forward, looking down firmly at the creator of the Dragon Balls. "So, that's why I'm here. The Dragon of Earth is far more powerful than the one of Namek. With him, I could wish to revive not only the people of Vegeta, but all the people across the universe who the Fleet have brought untimely ends to. That's what more I could possibly want, so soon."

TAGS: Chime

OOC NOTES: this is a lot of purple text

Nashua was hoping that her explanation would get right on through to the Namekian and he'd accept her wish as the proper one to make with the Balls, letting her past. So she was a little surprised when he remained steadfast and began to explain why he still wasn't going to let her pass. Nashua's neutral expression fell into a slight frown, and her eyebrows furrowed as the young man argued that it was more important to use the wish to prevent them from causing more damage, instead of repairing all the things that they had already done. It wasn't that the green boy's logic was totally flawed, but it sure as heck didn't make more sense to Nashua than her own idea. "We can deal with that without a wish, you know," she stated, placing her hands on her hips and giving a tap to her scouter to recheck the Namekian's power level.

"I've fought a lot of Fleet members recently, and, to tell you the truth, they're quite vulnerable. Most of their members aren't even as strong as you. And they're constantly at war with each other: when we were on Namek, the two most dangerous threats among them killed each other because they were so unstable of a group." Nashua stepped forward once again, her head now hanging down over the Namekian boy in a vaguely intimidating manner. She was starting to get worried that he might try and fight her off, and she really didn't want that to be the final outcome here - the last time she'd fought someone over a Dragon Ball, the outcome had been less than favorable for both parties involved. It was always just far better to not fight over things, in general.

"Basically, the Saiyan Kingdom is more than powerful enough to come mop up the rest of the Fleet whenever we want. And we will, after our leaders stop squabbling over which of them gets to call themselves the boss." Nashua rolled her eyes as she thought about Kayen and Vocado, and how likely it was they were probably bickering over who got to call themselves queen or king right at that very moment. "So, for the moment, the best way to be using the wish is to undo all their damage. Not because we can't use a wish to stop them in their tracks, but because we don't need to. But bringing back the dead? That can only be done with a wish from these magic Balls." The Saiyan hoped that the Namekian understood her now, and stepped forward to move past him with a bit more force than she had the last time. Hopefully he wouldn't be contesting her any further.

TAGS: Chime

The Namekian was all the way back up against the door, now. The only way Nashua was getting inside was if she moved him out of the way, and she bit her lip as she wondered how well that would go. Probably not very. Pat of her wondered how feasible it'd be to just wait it out until the Namekian fell asleep, though, now that she thought about it, she wasn't sure if Namekians even did sleep. They were pretty similar to plants, right? And plants never slept. Not that plants were ever really awake, to be fair. This Namekian definitely was awake, though, and stalling was most likely not a valid tactic. Maybe she could make a bargain with him, though. He didn't trust her to take the Balls for herself, but he did understand the point she was making. That was progress!

"Maybe," she responded after a moment, eyeing the hand he held out to shake with. There was still one little issue with what he was trying to do. "See, you and I both know they're looking for the Dragon Balls, right? And, well, if I was already able to get your signal, and you said you struggled against the Fleet members you already did meet, then, well, if they get ahold of your signal, too..." she paused for a moment, crossing her arms and tilting her head to the side with her eyebrows furrowed and her upper lip slightly lowered over her bottom one. "You're gonna want to trust me when I say we cannot let the Dragon Balls fall into their hands. I heard their plans on Namek for if they won those wishes, and, let me tell you, it does not go well for Earth."

Nashua knelt down a bit so she was at Chime's eye level, and gave him a calm, but friendly smile. "If you can give me that Ball, just so I can keep it safe, then I promise that I'll put in all the effort I can to personally ensure that they don't bring more harm to Earth. And I don't want them to hurt you, either. You're in a lot of danger if you hang onto that thing." The Saiyan held out her hand for her own handshake, hoping to strike up a slightly altered deal with the Namekian, if he was on board with it. "You give me the Ball, for safekeeping, I help make sure Earth is safe as I gather up the rest of them, and get my Saiyan friends to help deal with them, completely. And then we'll wish to undo all the damage. That sound fair, to you?"

TAGS: Chime

It was hard to say what was going through the Namekian's head, as Nashua somewhat nervously awaited his response to her proposal. If he didn't agree with it, then, well, there were maybe a couple of other things she could try, but the odds of making sure everyone walked out unscathed were dropping. And then, almost unexpectedly, the green young man reached forward and shook the Saiyan's hand, and accepted her deal. "Really?" she asked with some befuddlement, though it quickly changed into glee. "I mean, great! Don't worry, I wouldn't even think of backing out of a deal. Only way those Fleet guys are getting this Ball from me is by prying it from my cold, dead fingers! And I'm pretty hard to kill, far as I've seen." She stood back up to her full height and waited patiently as the kid ran off to grab his Ball.

She was kind of curious about what was inside the building - and what the heck this floating island was in the first place - but those were questions for a later time, she supposed. It was only a moment or two before the Namekian emerged back from the building, a shockingly small orange ball held in his hands. "...Huh, the Namek ones are way bigger," Nashua commented with a puzzled head tilt. On the bright side, that made the Earth ones much easier to carry around. She happily accepted it when it was offered to her, and gingerly looked over the glossy magic ball that was bound to cause her plenty of trouble. "Nah, I think I'm strong enough already. In fact, I'm not sure I can even get much stronger even if I wished for it!" she replied with a tiny chuckle as the Ball was safely tucked away.

"Good to meet you, Chime!" Nashua exclaimed lightly bowing back to him as he did so to her. "I'm Nashua - but I already said that, didn't I?" She didn't know what 'Kami' or 'Lookout' were, though she assumed that the floating structure they stood atop was the Lookout. Maybe Kami meant like... Landlord? The 'Guardian of Earth' part was more easily understood. "I would've guessed the guardian of Earth would be a little older, to tell you the truth," Nashua commented with a quizzical look down at the Namekian. "But, you seem like you're gonna do your best to keep Earth safe! And I think that's what's most important. I'll do my best to keep your planet safe, too." She gave him another bow, and then took a quick glance around the Lookout. She still had quite a few questions, but she probably couldn't stay.

"Much as I'd like to uh, ask more about..." she widely gestured to the whole area around them, "...this, I should probably get a move on. Important to make sure I get to the rest of the Balls before they do, you know?" She started to step away from Chime, and gave him a quick smile and a wave as she did so. "But, it was really nice to meet you, Chime! I'll keep this Ball perfectly safe for you!" One last big wave was given towards the Namekian, before she took off into a fly, and soared back down towards the Fukurou Forest. One Ball down, six to go!

TAGS: Chime

OOC NOTES: Nashua accepts the Three Star Dragon Ball and attempts a thread exit!