[IC] Dragon Ball: Legacy (Mogtaki and Vena Sera)

[Mogtaki]

What a great big dead end this was, nothing there to go on anymore until it showed up itself. Viral didn’t know how he was supposed to make something happen when absolutely nothing was wanting to make itself known and it completely frustrated him. It stressed him out so much because it hurt too much, his body feeling as if it was being pulled apart constantly. Growling lowly in frustration he looked to Vegeta with a frown, finding it hard to think through the logic that the King would be caught up, “It was only one attack! As if the King would go into space to deal with it himself”, he grumbled, hardly seeing it as a suitable excuse, “If we could establish contact or sneak in…find some way to get into their systems…just something!” Growling lowly in frustration he rubbed his forehead with his fingertips, trying to relieve stress before his gaze moved back to Vegeta, narrowing his gaze, “How I’m feeling? Like breaking my arms would be better for me”, he growled, flexing his claws, “Now that wouldn’t be so bad if I felt I had some control…but I don’t! It’s constant fighting with this….this twisted form…”

Shu hoped Takeshi would dismiss this whole lesson on anger thing, his hope stemming back to when he hoped he would forget about it in favour of other things. It was too hard and too awkward to do and Shu saw no way to conquer it so ignoring it as a problem was the best way in his eyes. His problem could be solved when it happened and so long as he didn’t hurt someone he knew then it would be alright. Keeping his head low as he hoped Takeshi would dismiss it, he looked up quickly and smiled a little, “Really? I’d like that a lot”, he spoke quickly, giving a nod of approval, “We-we could play and train at the same time! Really hard! I want to get stronger like you! Teach me things while we fight and play!” Shu would take anything over having to get angry at Takeshi, especially when it meant possibly hurting him really badly. To have nobody around who could help Takeshi if he got too out of control made it too risky in his eyes. Squeaking as he made a jump at Takeshi’s arm he tried to grab it while he was lying down, trying to wrestle with it to get Takeshi moving.

[GambolMuse]

"Viral, I'm not thrilled with sitting back like this either. Believe me, I want to get this over with so we don't have to worry about it anymore. At the moment however we're waiting on word to come back, until then we're going to stay put. No point in getting involved in more messes than we already are." There was enough on their plate as it was, they didn't need to add another enemy to it all. They really ought to try getting in touch with the rebels again though, just to see what the situation was. Silence could be good or bad, it either meant the situation was resolved or it had escalated to a point where contact was impossible. "If I had a means of accessing their computers I could easily hack them. The issue therein however is I don't know what kind of network, if any they use, or how I'd get a hold of it. The rebels might be able to supply something, but again, they're tied up at the moment. I can only hack something if I can get access to it." Just one problem after another, though Vegeta had little intention of hacking the Saiyan computers. Whatever data they had on Viral was useless without him present, there was no reason for concern. Yes, countermeasures could be created, but Vegeta could find ways around those as well. "We'll restore control soon enough, just hang in there a little longer, that's all I ask."

Shu's and his anger problems weren't something that could be swept up under a rug. Sooner or later they would have to be addressed if they ever wanted to get over going berserk. Since they weren't working on their anger they might as well find something else to do in order to pass the time. Whatever that was would be up to Shu, Takeshi couldn't be bothered to think too much right now. "Play and train, eh? I guess that could work. Though you're already plenty strong, and we're not exactly that far apart in strength." He might be a bit stronger physically, but they were both adept with Ki now, and Shu was faster. They had their own strengths and weaknesses, and far as he could tell that was fine. They fought together all the time so they covered each other's weak spots, that was how teamwork was supposed to go. Lying back on the floor and closing his eyes he waited for Shu to reach a decision, which didn't take long. Something grabbed at his arm, and with a confused expression he glanced over, finding his younger sibling wrestling with his arm. Puzzled he just watched for a moment before smirking, "So that's how it's going to be, huh?" Takeshi's smile widened into a grin as he rolled over, trying to tackle Shu and pin him on the floor.

[Mogtaki]

Viral was impatient, but he felt in his defence he had every right to be impatient. Nothing had happened for a few days now and he was forced to suffer through sleepless nights and no meals once more. He was just reverting to bad habits and it was making him incredibly testy. With Vegeta not finding any answers at all made him pretty angry, his mind unable to comprehend how hard it actually was to find something genetically wrong. Finding the idea of having to wait around for outsiders to call back made him angry as well, even though it shouldn’t really, “Saiyans are impossible…the rebels are impossible! If they just retreated and left the Saiyans to deal with whatever it is then we could move on!” Frustrated, Viral stood up again and let out an aggravated sigh, his tail even twitching in annoyance as he turned away. There had to be something missing, but if there was nothing in his blood then who knew where it was without taking some more extreme measures, “And you’ve not considered looking into my brain? Not even my spinal cord?? You have to have something in mind that doesn’t involve more of my damn blood!”

Shu didn’t mind putting it off for another day, maybe it could be looked at in the field instead of inside a ship with only one person to help him. He really had no desire to try and control his anger when he could instead play and train with his brother. He really needed to get back into practice, his hope to be useful again needing to be rekindled once more. Jumping at Takeshi’s arm and trying to wrestle it, hoping to get him up and playing with him too. Growling lightly as he twisted around and pulled at him, looking to him every so often before he finally decided to move. Letting out a squeal as Takeshi rolled onto him, Shu wriggled around to try and get out before kicking at Takeshi with rapid pushes, “No! I’ll win! I’ll be the strongest ever!” he squealed, throwing his tail out to try and whack Takeshi in the side so that he could instead leap at him.

[GambolMuse]

It was one step forward and three steps back with Viral. Every time they made progress something happened, either he was injured or a new issue presented itself. In spite of that Vegeta was still determined to fix this, regardless of how long it may take. Ideally he wanted to solve it prior to getting his parents back, but time would tell. Being at the end of his ideas as they were now he certainly hoped they found the problem, otherwise it was completely back to square one. "I may be making hapless conjectures here... But if the rebels do retreat, and the Saiyans drive back this new force, then the rebels loose their position. And the Saiyans might gain momentum. I would guess that's why Korian isn't pulling his troops back just yet." He was no commander though, taking charge of troops was a lot different from running some business. It was not a responsibility he wanted for himself, handling that many lives was just too off putting. "I have considered looking into your brain, and have. I've done scans of it before, and checked them already, no anomalies. As for your spinal cord, that isn't something I've examined. I don't believe it would be damage to that though as you're not suffering any sorts of disabilities." Examining the spinal cord would require more scans, those would come later. Vegeta glanced back at the display, starting to pour over the images again. "No more blood work, don't worry. I know that has nothing to do with it."

Wrestling was always fun, Takeshi would be hard pressed to refuse this. A nice part about them doing it too is they were so used to one another it made things fluid and fast. No awkward scrambles or grappling, just the two of them tossing about like fools. Grinning as he rolled over onto Shu he tried to pin the little guy down, hoping to keep him there. And there were the kicks, quick and fitful as his younger brother was trying to break free. They didn't hurt persay but it was tricky to keep a hold on Shu when he was being struck. Laughing he was made to let go, using his forearm to block Shu's tail. "Strongest ever huh? Shortest maybe!" he teased, backing off a bit. Pretty quickly thereafter Shu was on the attack, leaping at the older boy and latching onto him. With a surprised yelp Takeshi stumbled about, looking down at his brother amused. "What are you trying to do, hug me to death?" Managing to lift his arms just so he got his hands beneath Shu's arms, and poking his fingers into his armpits he started to tickle, hoping that might get him to let go.

[Mogtaki]

Viral’s patience had worn thin a long time ago and with it his thought of being cured starting to vanish. There didn’t appear to be any solution to his problem despite all of the research and experiments they had done. He was at the point where he would happily accept exile until this problem disappeared, but it was unfortunately requiring Vegeta to fix it and right now there was no fixing being done. If he could just try and think for a second to when it first happened then maybe he could find the answer himself. Every moment he spent waiting around for an answer to appear was another step closer to losing control. Growling to himself in frustration he looked back to Vegeta, “It’s hardly going to be a big deal if it’s going to be a little bit! The Saiyans would have to recover from it, anyway! They would have no time to attack!” This whole thing was just making him angry, but even worse was the lack of exploration Vegeta was actually doing was ticking him off greatly, “Scans before…but not of now! I’m strong enough to go through with it! It’s just-…damnit I-…it doesn’t stop…” Slowly sitting back on his chair he held his head, getting quite the headache pretty quickly from all this rage of his. Holding his head in his paws he slowly gave it a rub, mumbling, “Where are my damn pills…”

Shu was definitely trying while being playful at the same time, finding it to be good practice for when he did have to go into battle. He had done this in the past to practice fighting with others and would often come out the victor, but wrestling Takeshi was a whole different deal. He could find some sort of improvement from wrestling Takeshi where he wouldn’t find before because everyone else wasn’t strong enough to fight against him. Swiping out at him with his tail didn’t work and soon he was quick to make a leap again, grabbing hold of him and trying to squeeze him into submission. Holding him with his feet and hands, he kept a tight hold before Takeshi managed to shift his hands, tickling him instead, “Ah! No! No, no!” he squealed, giggling as he tried to keep a hold of him before suddenly flailing wildly at Takeshi, throwing his fists at him and eventually kicking out like a wild animal.

[GambolMuse]

Vegeta wasn't implying he didn't care about the Saiyans having data, because he did. The fact someone else had his father's work infuriated him to no end. But marching over to the Saiyan home world, probably by themselves just to retrieve data wasn't a good idea. Like it or not that would have to wait until the invasion, and that wouldn't come until the rebels notified them. Their hands were effectively tied until that happened. "We don't have the resources to attack them right now," he began, voicing his thoughts, "And do you honestly believe we could slip through unnoticed? They'll be on guard because of the attacks, and if we're caught it's not guaranteed we'll have back up, the results could be disastrous for us. That's why I'm saying no." They would get the information back, eventually. Now they should focus more on fixing themselves rather than external problems. "I will scan you soon enough if it will help settle you, alright? Let me do this first," Vegeta added, frowning as he tried focusing on his work. "Pills? Counter along the far wall, third drawer from the left. Just take two, but you knew that already." Maybe this would afford him the moment of silence he needed to really concentrate.

Takeshi had just barely managed to catch Shu's tail, having to block at an awkward angle. That was one thing that made fighting the little guy so fun, the way he wrestled was so irregular. No one else either had a tail or used their tail like he did, it made things interesting. How Shu could suppose that he'd be able to squeeze his older brother into submission was a mystery, considering he could scarcely reach all the way around. Some tickling would easily pry him off, and maybe he'd wet himself into giving up. Wishful thinking, but nope. "Give up and I'll stop tickling!" Takeshi laughed, pressing on. It became nigh impossible to continue when Shu began thrashing, making his older sibling have to distance himself a bit. Laughing all the same he watched Shu try to break free, quickly being silenced when he got a boop to the nose, and then another to a lower, quite sensitive spot. Squeaking indignantly Takeshi dropped his brother altogether, his hands going down as he wobbled a bit in his spot. "Y-You... Ooooow...." he whined, his face contorting into one of discomfort. "Don't hit me there Shu! It hurts!"

[Mogtaki]

Viral was getting beyond frustrated with everything and it was really beginning to bring him down, especially when he needed to focus and find some calm to keep his mind together. His head was really hurting now because of his anger and the only way to relieve pressure felt like the need to take his medicine. He didn’t care whether it altered his mood or the fact he should take it with food; he didn’t have time to care about these things just now when he was becoming way too out of control for anybody’s liking. Sighing as he slowly stood up and wandered over to the counter, his head in his paw as he searched around for the pills, “I’m going to run out at this rate…” he mumbled, removing his hand to unbottle the pills. Tossing a couple in his mouth he soon coughed, slowly tightening the top before gently placing the bottle back away. He definitely didn’t feel too good, but hopefully the pills would kick in soon and make him forget all his troubles. Letting out a sigh he slowly made his way back to the chair, sitting down with a thump before rubbing his head again, “I can’t take it…it wouldn’t be so bad without the pain…”

Shu didn’t want Takeshi to win and his latest tactic had him in an odd state of panic, the tickling proving to be too much for him to keep his calm and make him flail wildly at Takeshi. Squealing as he tried to make him stop he was soon thrashing with an extreme case of the giggles before managing to hit Takeshi’s face and kick out with even more force. That last hit had Takeshi dropping him and Shu bouncing around on the floor, his hands wildly smacking the ground before he quickly looked up when Takeshi seemed to be rolling around in pain still. Tilting his head a little, soon enough he started giggling again and bouncing around, spinning on his hands, “I win! I win the fight! I’m the winner!” he squealed happily, spinning around until he was too dizzy to continue and fell on his backside again. Rubbing his head, he soon looked back to Takeshi with a grin, bouncing on the spot, “You made me do it! I win, though! What we do now??”

[GambolMuse]

Resorting to the pills was never a good thing. Vegeta still loathed the idea of using them at all, but was reluctant to admit they did work. Viral was certainly easier to work with while using the medicine, albeit it was hard to appreciate that with all the negatives too. Just another reason to help the Beastman get better, no more of that blasted medicine. He know Doctor Ikura was only trying to help by prescribing it, and some therapeutic talk was supposed to coincide the prescription. Vegeta wouldn't try pretending he was a therapist, his knowledge of that was miniscule compared to a professional's. "Would it be bad of me to say I wouldn't mind you running out?" he asked, smiling faintly, "I just loathe the idea of being dependent on medicine. That's not solving the problem, it's just covering it up. Don't take that the wrong way, I'm for your using it if it helps, but I don't want to keep you on it much longer." Another reason he couldn't help with therapy, he was much too attached to Viral. Regardless of what the Beastman believed, Vegeta was nothing but sympathetic towards his friend. It was impossible for him then to be utterly objective without letting his personal feelings get in the way.

Takeshi might ask what Shu was doing, why he was thrashing about like... Well like a monkey. He might have asked if he could form a remotely coherent sentence right now. The only noise escaping his lips were groans and winces, his hands defensively lingering over his nether regions. Shu didn't just hit him there, that was near a proper kick. Sheesh did it hurt something fierce too. And the little guy was celebrating all while he was hunched over in pain! What a little twerp. Watching his sibling's display as he fell onto his butt, Takeshi followed suit, sitting down much more gingerly than Shu had. "Ah.... I didn't make you do nothing..." he groaned, leaning forward and hanging his head. "Sheesh... Well for starters say goodbye to your nieces and nephews you just crushed..." It would subside soon enough, but until then it was just pure discomfort. Leaning back he sprawled out on his back, his legs pulled up and pressed together almost defensively. Staring up at the high ceiling he ran a hand over his face, sighing softly. "I don't know... You pick again... I'll do whatever."

[Mogtaki]

Viral couldn’t care whether he needed to take his medicine or not at this point, especially when nothing appeared to be working or things were getting worse. The medicine helped in a small sense in that it helped him stop feeling sorry for himself all the time, his mind forgetting everything that was bothering him up to this point. There was just too much and he was barely able to find any way to recover. Already sitting on the chair was proving to be too uncomfortable for him to sit around in, his horns resting on the top of the back of the chair as he slowly slid down it in a defeated slump. Frowning ever so slightly at Vegeta’s words he let out a sigh, scratching his chest, “Better covering it up than letting it continue to exist”, he muttered, looking up to him, “I’m tired of it all. I can’t take it anymore so I’d rather cover it up. I am not supposed to function like this and medicine is the only way to go about it now”. Everything he was doing now was simply to try and keep thinking he might get better, to try and keep the bad thoughts away. He was just a broken warrior anyway, a creature that was now tearing at the seams. Too afraid to eat incase he hurt someone, in too much pain to sleep and unable to fight incase he acted out; there was nothing lower than having all these afflictions, “Do you…even know what you’re supposed to be looking for? Do you have any clue whatsoever…”

Shu was fairly excitable after all of that and it was completely Takeshi’s fault, his mind all wound up and ready to keep going as he rolled around in all of this excitement. Squealing slightly as he bounced on the floor he soon tilted his head, feeling fairly confused, “Ooh? Nieces and nephews? I didn’t mean to hit them…what are they, though? You always say strange things!” Watching Takeshi go back to lazing around on the ground again he slowly scooted towards him, tilting his head lightly before giving him a poke in the arm, “Why you so lazy? Do you not want to play with me?” he questioned him, frowning a little, “Do I bore you? Am I boring? I don’t mean to be…I thought you liked playing with me but you didn’t like that…”

[GambolMuse]

"I suppose covering it up is preferable... To a degree. If it eases your pain then it's not bad, but it's not a solution either..." That was the real struggle, finding a solution. To find that much they needed the problem to begin with. Time and time again Vegeta had told himself this, and yet his efforts were fruitless. He hated hearing Viral say medicine was his only option. Whether that was the case or not it was disheartening to hear, it was the equivalent of being backed into a corner. All the more reason to work harder, all the more reason to figure this out. At this point he was exasperated, not with Viral but with himself. For all his intellect this eluded him, why? Why couldn't he solve this? Was his father's level of work so far above him that he couldn't grasp it well enough? He was just about to answer Viral's questions when something caught his eye on the display. Thinking it first just as a trick, having been staring for so long, Vegeta double checked to be certain. On his father's work, the original, there was a series of genes that looked to be intertwined almost. In Sayomi's early work they were disheveled, but still clumped together. And the most recent? One almost looked to be missing, and another smaller than before. Meaning that the genes had quite literally vanished or been deactivated. But how? What would have caused that?

Vegeta though it too good to be true, so he had to check once more. There it was, plain as day, an in-congruent set of genes. What they related to and how they had changed weren't clear just yet, but they were definitely different. "No way... Has it been this the whole time...?" Obviously not, the genetic mapping showed it was over time. Genetic deterioration... It could be the explanation to Viral's problems. Difficult to cause but not impossible, and it was a safe assumption that the Saiyan's could have unknowingly caused it. Okay, so now they had something to go off of, but this didn't tell them everything. Now came the hard part of deciphering precisely what these were, though he already had a safe guess. Considering the symptoms Viral was displaying it was likely they were tied to his energy, and somehow furthermore to his transformations as well. In theory then correcting these anomalies would make things right. But how was he supposed to do something like that? And what's more, there were still more genes to go over. This might not even be the whole issue, just a part of it. But it was a start, more than they have had up until now. "Viral... I think I might have found your problem."

All Takeshi felt like doing at that moment was lying down, maybe just put an ice pack there or something. If Shu had any idea how uncomfortable he was feeling the little guy probably wouldn't be hopping about like a rabbit. Shu didn't understand what his brother was getting at, surprise surprise, to which the older boy could only groan. "Family, kids," he said shortly, glancing over as his sibling came near. Seriously? As if his being sprawled out, groaning in pain wasn't explanation enough Shu still had to ask? "Because you knocked me in the groin you dope!" Takeshi retorted, sitting up abruptly as he did so. In rising he applied pressure, wincing before laying back down. "Ah... Gonna whiz red..." Dramatics aside the pain was already easing up, it was more the surprise of it all. Somehow the younger boy began to think something was inherently wrong with him now, despite not having been the one who was struck. Glancing up, Takeshi lifted his hand, prodding Shu in the forehead with two fingers. "No you're not boring, and I do like playing with you. I'm just... Lying down for a second. Why don't you decide what you want to do next?"

[Mogtaki]

Viral felt a little better as the pills were quick to take effect, his lack of food allowing the pills to quickly absorb into his system. If he didn’t take the medicine without any real special precaution then he would be quite happy finding somewhere to sleep, “It is a solution…look at how relaxed I am”, he spoke up, slowly scratching his chest, “You just don’t like it when you can’t fix the problem…” If he wasn’t able to concentrate on the pain and was completely allowed to relax then he was okay with that. Closing his eyes for a moment allowed his head to clear, or at least as clear as it could get when it just meant everything bad was completely obscured. The pain was still there but it was soon deadened by other thoughts and even his actions made it hard to concentrate on it. Slowly moving his legs and feet up onto the edge of the chair he grabbed at his tail and pulled it up to his face, gently flicking it with his claw.

He didn’t like having a tail, it was like sitting on a rock all the time and having to watch your back all the time proved to be pretty annoying. If he did actually manage to get better and master his transformations then the only time he’d want to have a tail would be for balance and as a whip. He shouldn’t be getting so distracted while Vegeta was sitting right there, but it was pretty difficult to focus when he was on this medicine. When Vegeta spoke up he slowly looked up at him, sighing slightly as he pushed himself up and out of the chair, “What…?” Getting up was oddly difficult after sitting down, especially when he was too relaxed. Slowly wandering over to Vegeta’s side he stared at his work, but staring at it he couldn’t even think to what on earth it was supposed to represent. It was all a mash of colours to him at this point, but Vegeta seemed to have an understanding to what it actually was, “What…? What is it?”

Shu didn’t understand why Takeshi was so set on becoming lazy again, but maybe it was because he was beaten by him and that was a pretty big hit on his ego instead. Staring at Takeshi curiously he still didn’t understand what he was saying, squeaking a little, “Ooh? How did I do that…? I hurt people…? I don’t understand”. Even Takeshi being blunt didn’t allow him to understand what was going on, his mind still confused to how that was a factor. He had never had a problem so he was confused, rolling backwards and onto his feet before deciding to scoot closer to Takeshi that way. Tilting his head curiously as he moved closer to Takeshi, letting out a squeak when Takeshi gave him a prod he rubbed his head, frowning a little, “You do…? You’re not bored of me…?” he tilted his head, smiling a little, “Should we go help Friend T’charrl…? I don’t know how to train if you keep lying on the floor…”

[GambolMuse]

Viral may well have overdosed on his pills and Vegeta wouldn't have known, much too busy staring at the display now. The fact that he had found not just a small difference, but a glaring discrepancy over time was a huge discovery. It may well be nothing to do with the current situation, but if there were more like this then it could be the problem. There was still roughly 50% of the data to go over, but he had a gut feeling that there might be more along the way. Whilst locating and isolating these genes would be a challenge, Vegeta knew through gene therapy they should be able to fix this. The Beastman should see this as well, maybe it would give him some hope on his situation. "This is your genetic mapping, simply put. It consists of every little piece of you, collected from three sources and shown over time, from my father's original," Vegeta explained, gesturing across the display, "To my recent work at the end. What I want to show you though is this..." Going then to the console at the desk, Vegeta used the cursor to select and separate the sections where discrepancies appeared. Blowing those up to fill each portion of the display he smiled knowingly, pointing to each three. "These three genes have been altered over time. Now, this is just conjecture, but I would guess this is linked to your deterioration. If I have a little more time with this I would bet I can find out what it means and how to fix it."

Takeshi didn't have the capacity nor the patience to explain things to Shu right now. It wasn't like being confused would be anything new for the little guy, he could let it rest for now. Glancing at his brother he smiled slightly, reaching up and prodding the boy's forehead. "Of course I'm not bored of you. You're too random and unpredictable to get bored of," he retorted, slowly sitting up. "If you want to go help T'charrl I've got no problem with it. He's probably feeling a bit lonely right now." They tried to do things daily with him, but it wasn't constant. And he certainly wasn't with someone as much as he and Shu were, who were constantly together. Again came the comments about him lying down. Blushing a fierce red he sighed, rolling his eyes before pointing at Shu, "I was lying down because you hit me! It hurts you know!" He was wasting his breath though, unless he got into really awkward, vivid detail Shu probably wouldn't understand what he was saying. Sighing he rubbed at his head before getting up to his feet, gesturing for Shu to follow. "We can train with T'charrl if you want. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

[Mogtaki]

Viral could barely see what he was looking at or what he was supposed to be looking for with Vegeta’s work, finding it way too difficult to understand or rather it was all going right over his head. Maybe he shouldn’t have taken two pills, he’s always taken one in the past because taking two sent him on a pretty big trip last time but Vegeta told him to take two so he did. Staring at the information wasn’t helping his mind stay clear at all, his eyes unable to focus on a piece of the mapping nevermind one single pierce of it. Frowning a little he looked to Vegeta, his paw slowly moving to the desk to use it for balance. He didn’t really understand what he was saying but he knew it was bad, his eyes glazing over slightly before he sighed and rubbed his head, “And if you can’t fix it…how long do I have?” he questioned him, shifting slightly, “Those genes that showed you what’s wrong…what do they do? Can’t think about what…can’t think about much…”

Shu was really confused, but most of what Takeshi said confused him in some sense. Despite how long they’ve known each other he still had that year where he had no contact with the real world, just medicines and experiments. He definitely didn’t miss the experiments, but it wasn’t something he could easily forget either. It hindered a lot of his learning process so he was still a newbie to all of this stuff. Smiling a little when Takeshi sat up, Shu rubbed his head and stared up at him, “I don’t want Friend T’charrl to feel lonely…” he sighed, shaking his head before frowning, “Plus he has his own problem that’s probably easier to fix”. Staring at Takeshi Shu tilted his head as he got all angsty about getting hurt again, finding it odd when fighting usually meant getting hurt. He was a bit of a baby sometimes, but he wouldn’t hold that against him. Bouncing up to his feet he gave Takeshi a smile, nodding quickly as he immediately began to follow, “Yeah! I wonder how far along he is with his…I mean, Mister Vegeta spends a lot of time with him too doing something. Maybe he can speak to us without the scouter now?”

[GambolMuse]

Vegeta looked over his discoveries with hesitant excitement. It could either be the solution to Viral's problems or nothing at all, too hard to say just yet. It was the first significant find since these tests had began though, anything was good at this point. Even if they were grasping at straws here it was still a change of pace after so much disappointment. "How much time do you have...? I can't say, not yet. Considering the point from your capture to now though I would think quite some time. It has degraded, but not significantly so. If this rate continues you should have a few months, and we'll fix this well before then." Again, theories and hypotheses, nothing concrete. Viral wouldn't accept or appreciate being led around so it was best just to be straightforward with him. "I would guess those genes control your energy flow in some shape or form. It would explain at least why you've been struggling to control it, and why its been becoming increasingly difficult. If I can figure out what proteins are in those strands we can rebuild them. That however is going to be a huge undertaking." If he could figure out what the old mapping showed then that would pull everything together, but decerning proteins simply from an image was nigh impossible unless you had more data. Looks like it was back to reading.

Takeshi was just going to drop the explanations for now, as well as his annoyance over being given a cheap hit. Neither were getting them anywhere and it was only confusing Shu ultimately. They really ought to be going to T'charrl anyways, their friend had been alone all day far as they knew, goodness knows he could use some company. Since they weren't up to much right now it was no bother to visit him. "Well good thing we're going to see him, yeah? I bet he'll be happy we're coming by," he said, flashing a thumbs up, "Let's not keep him waiting, come on buddy." The training hall was much the same state they had found it in, so cleaning after themselves wasn't necessary. Stepping out into the corridors, Takeshi waved Shu on towards their destination. "He's gotta be pretty good by now. I mean, they've been doing it for a few weeks now. And he sort of sounded like he knew what he was saying last time. I doubt he's totally fluent, but he ought to be able to talk to us, you know? And we can help him too!"

[Mogtaki]

Viral had no idea whether the discovery was good or just going to make things worse overall, the fact that he knew whether he was going to die or manage to somehow live through genes degrading without being back on Earth. Vegeta didn’t make him, he wouldn’t know how to fix him so it was pointless even thinking about such a thing, the confusion as to how he would find the fix in the middle of space making it feel impossible. Pressing his other paw against the desk he stared down at Vegeta, his forearms becoming a little wobbly, “But it’s sped up…really fast. You know that”, he spoke, raising a claw to him but nearly falling under his own weight, his paw going to the desk again, “I believe maybe…a couple of weeks…I should start saying my goodbyes! No way you can find the solution in time…and it’s genes! I’ll get worse…maybe all funny looking…teh, what even causes…’gene deterioration’, anyway…? Like…one of those failed experiments your parents made…”

Shu was pretty happy and excited for a variety of reasons, even if it was all stemming from the fact he didn’t have to think about his anger problem. That whole thing could be swept away forever as far as he was concerned simply because it was too complicated and he felt he would only fail if he tried to do it. The less he needed to think about it the less those nightmares of his would occur after the constant worry he was put through over having this power. With Takeshi completely distracted from it as well they’d happily go and help T’charrl with his little problem which was a whole lot easier than what they had to go through. T’charrl just needed to get stronger and change to find his true form all while learning their language, something that he saw as being pretty easy. Running on after Takeshi he bounced along when he finally caught up, smiling up at him, “Yeah! It would be nice to be able to talk to him properly too…with all the things! And stuff you’ve told me! Has Mister Vegeta said what he’s been teaching him? Maybe we could teach him new things while we train?”

[GambolMuse]

Vegeta should be able to read through the compilation of works gathered and find a solution. It wasn't entirely beyond him to do gene therapy, with a little help he could figure it out. The degeneration was increasing, but not at a significant rate. Logic stated that it would continue at the same rate which ought to afford them plenty of time to solve this. Taking a seat at the desk he brought the images up on the computer screen, again enhancing the three strips. Somewhere he should find information on this, and from there he could know where and how to begin administering therapy. Glancing at Viral coming over he looked up, frowning at his concerns. "Has it sped up? Yes, but not substantially. I can confidently say you're not at any immediate risk," he replied, folding his hands together. "Please Viral, calm down and listen to me. If I thought there was an immediate threat to your life you know I would tell you, but I'm not. If it makes you feel comfortable then fine, say goodbyes, but you're not going to be dying. And so long as I can keep your energy stifled you won't be able to transform, so that eliminates that risk. It's not going to be easy for you, but now I know what we're supposed to be fixing." That was all he needed, everything was uphill from here. "Gene deterioration can be caused by tampering with your genetic coding, which I assume the Saiyans did. Things like radiation can also effect genes. If it can be done, it can be undone. Just... Often times the latter is the more difficult of the two."

"I'm sure he wouldn't hate being able to talk to us either. I'm getting pretty tired of those scouters honestly, so if he can speak without one then we can finally stop using those stupid things. Reminds me too much of when we were with father..." Besides, if T'charrl really wanted to improve he had to actually use the language. The scouter was fine and all for visits, but if you were around aliens for so long it was better to just pick up what they spoke. The Saiyans taught a few languages to some of their Elites for speaking with more valued allies, rather than relying solely on scouters for speaking. But overall, troops used them only for brief visits as learning a language was hard. He'd tried picking one up before, one he couldn't even remember the name of, and gave up pretty quick. The fact then T'charrl was doing so well was pretty outstanding. "You know... We probably could teach him. You know how to speak well, and I definitely do. Between the two of us we can teach him whatever Vegeta might, and we can probably do it quicker! Help him speak while we help him change back, kill two birds with one stone."

[Mogtaki]

Viral was pretty convinced that he wasn’t going to make it, even if those thoughts had been calmed with the use of the medicine. He knew full well what a genetic deterioration meant and how difficult it was to fix so in his mind he was pretty doomed; he was just taking it pretty well, that’s all. The medicine made it a lot easier to handle this kind of news and Vegeta seemed to be taking it pretty well too, at least with his understanding over the situation. Vegeta always seemed pretty calm in light of bad news so this was apparently not that bad a thing. Slowly beginning to lower down Viral still tried to keep standing, his weak legs finding it a little difficult to stand at this point as Vegeta continued to talk. Slowly moving his paw across the desk to try and find a way to push himself up again, he tried to raise up still, his arms wobbling, “Okay…you do that…I’ll just…sit”, he grumbled, eventually giving up and falling on his backside onto the floor. Slowly rubbing his head he let out a groan, finding it particularly difficult to concentrate with so much going on, “I don’t care about dying…I already know I am going to. No more fighting, no battles…no pain…but do I care for pain? Nah. Radiation is everywhere, even this ship…what do I do? Wait for death? Such long space days…”

“Yeah! It must be itchy too, I mean…how does it stick onto him? I don’t see ears on him”, Shu spoke up, feeling pretty confused by that. T’charrl was a pretty hairy guy and was probably just going to get hairier so those scouters would probably fall off eventually, especially when he didn’t appear to have any ears for it to hold onto. It was so confusing, but T’charrl certainly seemed to keep it off unless he wanted to have a nice conversation so that meant it probably wasn’t very comfortable. Scratching at his ear just thinking about it he let out a sigh, feeling pretty happy, “Yeah, maybe! I wonder if he’ll like that”, he spoke, giving a little nod, “I wonder if he misses being the way he used to be, I mean…he’s big and fluffy and cuddly; maybe that’s nice to be too? But he does have those pointy things in his arms…but he used to have swords too so maybe that is why he got them? I still don’t understand how it works…”

[GambolMuse]

"Don't wait for death, because you're not going to die. Not so long as I'm here to prevent that." Vegeta wasn't even sure Viral would die. Far as he could tell the only negatives to these genetic changes were the Beastman's inability to control his power. The other issues, especially depression, stemmed from that. Solving the former ought to alleviate the rest, and once in better health tackling anything that remained would be insurmountably easier. "If you want to know what you're to do for now, relax. We'll train sparingly over the next few days when we can, and I want to try getting you back on something akin to a diet. Your body will need the food to help replenish cells, and in doing so your genetic material itself. As for the procedure we'll use... I think I might have some idea. If I isolate exactly what gene we need and manage to create a culture, which should take a week, we can begin therapy. " That was if these particular genes were the offenders. Vegeta figured he would go over them in more detail, look for any more abnormalities, but also prepare to treat these first few. In the event he found more they could treat those as well, as many times as it took to get Viral right. Given that this worked, which he was hoping like hell it would, Viral should more than reach his prime when all was said and done.

"Maybe he does have ears, they're just hidden under all of his fur?" Takeshi suggested, smiling with a shrug of his shoulders. Far be him from being an expert on Kaesstrians, he hadn't a clue how they heard anything. It stood to reason that they were on T'charrl's head though, seeing as the scouter worked as it did on anyone with ears. It had been a fair long enough time now that he couldn't recall what their friend had looked like before hand. He certainly didn't have a human like ear, but probably had some kind of one. Eh, this was way too much to be thinking about right now. "Well I doubt he's going to hate having us there, unless we did something really wrong last time. Plus, it's not like Vegeta is the only one that speaks the common tongue, you know? All of us know it, anyone here could teach T'charrl, including us." The only thing that may be trick about them teaching is Shu's odd way of speaking. He was perfectly understandable, but the little guy had a funny way of talking that no one else shared. T'charrl would be understandable just as the little guy was, but having two people like that might be a real head scratcher. "Hell, I don't know how he got them either, so don't come asking me. It's probably like your Oozaru, it just happens when he changes, that's all. No real way to explain it."

[Mogtaki]

Viral didn’t see any other way around it, especially considering he was practically losing his mind everytime he went into a transformation. He might as well be killed off because of that, something that couldn’t be fixed should be dumped. If he could find some form of hope in all of this it would have to be given to him by Vegeta, but the guy barely seemed to be caring and wanted to get it over with. Letting out a pretty audible groan he slowly rubbed his head, “I can’t relax…could you relax? Hmm actually you are always acting relaxed…” he mumbled, not seeing it as all that possible to get back to eating and training. He probably could sleep just now, but he would probably end up waking up asking for more pills because his nightmares would be overwhelming with no way to wake up from them. Not exactly happy to hear the possibility of it all taking a week, “What do you intend to feed me with…? Food, probably…wouldn’t think…anything else…but what? It’ll get worse before getting better, or something…hmph, just because you think you can beat me…”

Shu really did feel confused, not exactly sure how he was supposed to understand how scouters worked if he was going to question where ears were on an alien. He should try and groom T’charrl and find out just what was under all that fur, whether he had traditional ears or just little holes. There were so many questions out there but all of them seemed too rude to ask for an answer directly. Scratching his head quickly he slowly looked up towards Takeshi, tilting his head, “I don’t think he’ll hate us being there…unless he’s a big bug again. Maybe he’ll get mad if you teach him something bad? Best not to teach him bad things because you know a lot of bad words, I think!” he nodded in acknowledgement, “I don’t think I’d like swords coming out of me…but I guess my nails sort of be like that when I change…ooh, I don’t like it. I only like having little nails…not big nails. Mister Viral has big nails…and Miss Yumi…but not that big…all scritchy-scratchy! They’re scary…like lots of little swords…”

[GambolMuse]

"To say I'm completely relaxed would be a lie. But I'm trying to remain as calm as possible to figure this out," Vegeta replied, glancing over at Viral. A small smile spread across his lips as he stood up from his desk, "Truth be told, I'm rather excited. We've been looking for the source of this for so long and may finally have found it. The fact we might be able to finally get you the help you need has me elated. But I'll celebrate when everything is said and done, not now." It would be a long process, gene therapy. The quickest bit would be making the culture of genes, everything from thereon out was simply a matter of waiting. Lots and lots of waiting. To the question of food the Saiyan merely shrugged his shoulders, placing one hand on the desk as he leaned lazily. "Anything you'd want. It would be a light meal, just something to keep you going for now. It's either that or we give you nutrition intravenously, and I know what a fan you are of that method." Solid food had more going for it anyways, IVs were sort of moot when you could eat an actual meal instead. "What do you mean beat you?" Vegeta repeated, frowning in confusion, "I'm not trying to beat anyone here, only help."

Takeshi didn't know the science behind scouters and he wasn't about to pretend to. All he knew was they picked up sound, could interpret it and pass it through your ear as if you heard it like that. That was how their translators worked, as explained by Vegeta before. If T'charrl really didn't have ears though then that did beg the question of how he heard. Did bugs have ears? Or did they use antennae or something like that? He didn't know, and whatever the case was it was likely unique to Kaesstrians. Since they were visiting their friend anyways they could just ask him, assuming T'charrl didn't mind. "I don't know that many bad words!" Takeshi said, pausing immediately after for a moment, "Okay... Maybe I know a few, but I don't use them that much. Plus no one makes me stop, so why wouldn't I use them?" They were just words as far as he was concerned, he didn't see the big deal. There were way worse things you could teach someone other than words, like how to steal for instance. "Little swords, huh?" Takeshi mumbled, glancing down at his own hands. "No idea what that's like. And Yumi's aren't that big I don't think. Or are they? I don't know, I never really look."