The giant feet of the Great Apes indented the ground, leaving behind footsteps that lingered even now. Coupled with the ruins that were left untouched, it made for a grim story to tell Marzette.
But Knox figured she'd rather know the whole story of Planet Cereal than be left in the dark.
What he didn't expect, however, was her reaction afterwards.
"...Is he stupid?" she asked.
Knox blinked, taken aback. "Uh..."
"What's the point of this?" She crossed her arms. "Even if he didn't know what the Heeters did, why is he just lazing around waiting for his revenge to come to him?"
"Oh, you meant that!" Knox snapped his fingers. "But I just told you that he became a bounty hunter, so he's not lazing around."
"He has access to the entire universe, and yet he's confined himself to this little part of it." Marzette snorted. "We witnessed a man turn a planet into raw power. There're probably an innumerable number of little things out there to become stronger and get his revenge and yet he decided to... get a job?"
Knox raised a finger to protest, but a counterargument to that thought already formed in his mind, so he lowered his finger.
Then he rubbed the back of his neck. "When you put it that way... yeah, I don't know what he was thinking. But it's not like he was working on a healthy mindset either way. People don't think straight when revenge is their entire personality."
"True, but it's just so..." She shook her head, her focus diverting back to the village. "Never mind. We're getting off track. The real question is how are we going to get the evidence they did anything?"
Knox squinted at her. "What do you mean? I just told you. We go to their base, grab some damning evidence, and shove it in Granolah's face until he admits I was right."
"I got that," Marzette said pointedly. "But how are we actually going to get to their base? I doubt we have their planet in our database, and we still can't fly the ship."
Knox's mouth opened, but then his mind blanked.
"Oh."
After a brief pause, he asked, "...Can you breathe in space?"
Marzette's mandibles clicked once. "No. But even if I could, I wouldn't be able to survive the radiation, the extreme temperatures, or the general danger of just... being in space."
"…Right, right," Knox murmured.
His gaze wandered to one of the larger craters near the ruins, where the faint remnants of charred dirt still shimmered faintly under sunlight. "But now that you mention it…"
Knox's eyes lit up. "Ki can be used for heat resistance, right?" There was even that time Broly and Goku were fighting submerged in magma. "Then why don't we just..."
He held out his hand, a faint glow emanating from his palm as energy coalesced into a shimmering, translucent bubble around him. The barrier warped and stretched slightly as it stabilized, almost perfectly encasing him in a protective shell.
"All we need to do is make an airtight barrier and the Ki should protect us from everything else. A perfectly portable bubble of safety. Good idea, right?"
Marzette's antennae twitched. "Knox, we can't fly at light speed. We'll suffocate before we get there."
Knox waved her off. "Nah, it's not that far. Their base is literally on an asteroid belt in the same solar system as this planet. Shouldn't take too long to get there if we fly fast enough."
"...This is a completely reckless plan built upon two seconds of thinking."
He tilted his head. "So... you're in?"
"Obviously."
Knox chuckled, securing the edges of the barrier as he turned toward the sky. "C'mon, then! There's no time like the present!"
The two powered up, their respective auras glowing faintly as they propelled themselves upward, breaking through the atmosphere with enough speed to leave faint ripples in the air behind them.
The world below shrank, blending into a patchwork of browns and purples. Soon, they left the atmosphere entirely, the transition marked by the silent roar of space.
Hovering in the vacuum surrounding Cereal's solar system, Knox stopped first. Marzette slowed to a halt a moment later, her own protective barrier already solidified.
He raised one hand, giving her a confident thumbs up.
Marzette stared blankly for a moment, but then, ever so slowly, she raised a hand of her own, returning the gesture with the tiniest flicker of exasperation. An unspoken message passed between them through nothing but that exchange:
'It worked.'
Knox turned away, giving her a playful salute before motioning with his hand for her to follow. Then, with a burst of speed, he shot off, streaking across the vast nothingness of space.
It took roughly twenty minutes of flying to get there, but eventually the asteroid belt came into view. Chunks of rock and ice ranging from minuscule specks to massive floating hulks, spinning lazily in orbit.
As they weaved through the dense field, a jagged asteroid far larger than the rest came into focus.
Their base was as obvious as it could get; a massive castle built atop the largest asteroid they could find. Cannons and turrets jutted from the rocky surface, swiveling lazily as if searching for targets.
Knox slowed his flight until he hovered above the only landing platform, signaling Marzette to wait with a hand gesture.
With a deep breath, he dissolved the barrier encasing him. For a few tense moments he stood there, bracing himself for any adverse reactions.
Nothing happened.
Surprisingly, the asteroid had its own atmosphere, or something like it, as he was completely fine.
Slowly, he gave Marzette a nod and a thumbs up, signaling that it was okay.
Marzette's antennae twitched skeptically, but she followed suit, releasing her own barrier with a faint flicker of energy. The protective shell vanished, and she touched down beside him.
"I... cannot believe that worked." She mumbled.
"Never doubt me again!" Knox said cheekily. "For I am the one who knows all, and you my dear Marzette, are but an ignoramus in the face of my genius."
"No, seriously." She said as they walked to the castle's entrance. "If everyone can just remove all the dangers of space travel with Ki, we could've just built an oxygen tank and travelled the cosmos years ago."
Knox gave a so-so motion. "You'd still need enough Ki to fly in the first place, and most weaker people won't be able to do it. Also, like you said, we can't fly at light speed. Unless you refine the flight technique to an insane degree, it's just not practical."
Marzette hummed, thinking it over.
But before they could continue their conversation or take another step, a figure emerged from the corridor leading to the castle. It was a towering, rotund man with turquoise skin, dark circles around his eyes, draped in red and gold.
His Combat Visor beeped as he walked into view.
| Threat Level: B-Class
| Profile: A loyal enforcer for the Heeter Force, Oil is the...
'Oh, it's just the fat one.'
"Who are you, and what business do you have here?" Oil's voice boomed.
Knox raised a hand casually. "I'm just here to see Elec."
The towering alien raised an eyebrow. "Elec doesn't want to be disturbed right now. You should leave now and come back later..." Then he looked around, squinting his eyes. "How'd you even get here, anyway?"
"Doesn't matter," Knox waved him off. "I just needed to know if he was here."
With that said, he took a step to right, attempting to go around the big guy.
But Oil stepped in front of him again, his expression darkening. "Listen, punk. Go back where you came from before things get heated."
Knox stared at the man, then sighed. "Whatever, man." He turned to Marzette, pointing at Oil mockingly. "Do you think that ever works? Like, sure he's a pretty big guy, but most competent people would know being big doesn't matter when you have Ki."
Marzette shrugged. "I doubt most people even have the barest hints of Ki control, much less enough to be as fearless as you."
Knox smirked. "I am pretty awesome and devastatingly good-looking, aren't I?"
"...If arrogance granted power, you'd be stronger than Frieza already."
He snorted in response, content to walk past Oil as if their conversation was over.
"Hey!" Oil roared. Fury etched across his face; he cocked a massive arm back. "I'm talking to you!"
'Slow.'
With a single step backward, he evaded the strike effortlessly, the fist missing his face by mere inches.
Before Oil had a chance to counter, Knox grabbed his outstretched arm with both hands.
In one smooth pivot, he hurled Oil straight down the corridor, sending him flying into the castle doors. He crashed through, an explosion of shattered wood and metal left in his wake.
On the other side of the door sat Elec, sitting on his throne. The rest of the Heeters were also present, all looking flabbergasted at the sight of their sibling slumped on the ground.
As the dust settled, so too did the silence of the throne room.
In a flash of speed, Knox appeared at the entrance with a smile on his face.
"So! This is the part where you either surrender or try to kill me. Personally, I'm rooting for option B. It's been a rather boring day."