FIFTEEN

Noon was closing in on the city of Mozu and Thermo, with the two mutant namekians in tow, makes it to the main city. He checks his wrist cuff to watch the map displayed on it showing his location in comparison to his destination. He was close to his end point. The namekians with him watch the city pass below them in awe and excitement.

MUTANT1

"M-mister…? Mister acrosian… sir?"

THERMO

"Thermo."

MUTANT1

"Ah! S-sorry. Mr. Thermo… w-where are we?"

THERMO

"Our new homeland, Mozu city. We'll be living here from now on."

MUTANT2

"Why?"

THERMO

"Because you need to grow your power to create your own set of orbs like the one that nameless had."

MUTANT1

"We-we can't do that! We tried but…"

THERMO

"I know you don't have the ki for it. But you have something else that will help you do what you're born to do. And I know who can help you work on that."

MUTANT2

"R-really!?"

MUTANT1

"... so… what use will we have for you?"

THERMO

"If all goes well, I will have you work your way into being guardians of this planet."

MUTANT1/2

"WHAT!!?"

Thermo lands in front of the apartment complex. The building was completely new and plain with a third floor to have more places for the rest of those that would move in, and a second building with nothing in it. He looks at the building for a while before spotting the office at the end of the building and heads towards it to see a few people inside with suits and tablets. One of them notices him walking inside with the mutant Namekians.

MAN1

"Would you be the young master taking this complex?"

THERMO

"... I own this building if that's what you want to know."

MAN1

"... I'm sorry, but may I have proof of your identity?"

Thermo lifts his cuff in front of him and hits a button that opens a compartment and spits out a card. He takes it out and hands it to the man then hits another button that allows a holographic display of a document that had five signatures on it. The man looks over the document and smiles with a nod.

BURAC

"Then, it's a pleasure to meet you, sir. I am Burac Marcer, your new management officer."

THERMO

"Fine. I was given notice that this facility was completed. But it still looks barren."

BURAC

"Ah. I was just talking to the constructors about that. They were supposed to be done yesterday, but it seems there was a structure issue with the basement."

THERMO

"And that is?"

CONSTRUCTOR

"There's a structure behind one of the cemented walls and we can't get behind it without the entire building collapsing on us and undoing all our hard work. And it made us realize how unstable the foundation was."

THERMO

"... show me."

The constructor hesitates for a moment and looks at the mutant namekians. Thermo looks at them and they rush outside as if they read the room well. With them gone, the others go down to the basement to find a destroyed wall with a large metal door and warped pillars. The door had a special airtight lock on it that was obviously dangerous to open. Thermo notices one of the bolts on the door coming loose and decides to force it back in with his energy, carefully screwing the bolt back into place. He sees pressure valves on the door and uses his energy to release the pressure, breaking the lock mechanism in the process and letting the door creak open on its own with a flood of cold fog spilling out and covering the floor around them.

Inside, Thermo sees a preserved case of ice that was as clear as glass with a plethora of crystals lighting up a tunnel that dug deep down into darkness and seemed to snake off somewhere. Thermo remembered seeing these types of crystals in the mountains.

THERMO

"It seems to be a mine."

BURAC

"Oh my lord… it's gala crystals. These haven't been mined in years."

THERMO

"Then I take it since this is my land, I can do as I please with it."

BURAC

"Uh! Y-yes! Of course! … what are the odds of this?"

THERMO

"I'll hold off on the construction for a week. Find a place for those brats to stay along with those signed to stay here."

BURAC

"Right away!"

Burac leaves with the constructors and starts making calls. Thermo makes a call of his own and waits for an answer.

PLUTOS

*call* "Thermo? Has something happened?"

THERMO

"Yeah. I found the entrance to that mine."

PLUTOS

"WHAT!!? Where!? Where are you!?"

THERMO

"The location you made me take ownership of. There's a place behind the wall of the basement that leads down. It's filled with something the people call gala crystals."

PLUTOS

"Did I really just make you the richest bastard on the planet???"

THERMO

"Watch it."

PLUTOS

"S-sorry. But this is good! You have more earnings than the three of us came with together."

THERMO

"... I do what I want with it then??"

PLUTOS

"Well, yes you own the lot it's on. You'll most likely have to deal with many people trying to buy it off you or causing issues with your plot to try and force it off your hands. But don't worry about that since I can just get that dealt with for you if you need it."

THERMO

"... who are you???"

PLUTOS

"Piss off. I'll talk to you later. I have a tour to finish."

Plutos hangs up and Thermo stands mildly annoyed as he stares at the blocked cave entrance until Burac returns with the mutant namekians who see the cave and look at it confused.

MUTANT1

"I-i… I thought we were in Mozu… why is there a crystal cave here?"

MUTANT2

"I-is it some kind of portal?? It has to be! R-right???"

THERMO

"Stop acting dumb and help me check this thing."

BURAC

"Y-you're gonna make the kids look!?"

THERMO

"They know about this better than I do. If something happens I'll protect them."

Thermo and the mutants approach the cave carefully. One of them touches the clear casing over the entrance and the casing opens up for them, only to have the room blasted with hot steam. Thermo quickly grabs the mutants and pulls them away from the entrance and back towards Burac to shield everyone with a ki wall, letting the steam rush out the hatch and into the office. In the office, the constructors see the steam and quickly rush out the front door with the steam chasing them and rising into the sky.

The steam slowly starts to clear and cool thanks to the ventilation. Once the room has cooled down enough, Thermo drops his ki shield and looks into the now exposed, steaming crystal cave. Thermo doesn't hesitate to walk into the cave and follows it into darkness until he makes it to an opening where he can hear dripping water. He makes a light source with his ki and finds a shallow pool of water with crystals inside heating the water and creating the steam. He found a natural spring under the complex. It was obvious that it had been down there for a long time. Past the pool, was more of the cave, dimly glowing on the other side with crystals lighting the path onward.

Thermo continues to follow it only to bump into a dead end, hitting a cold, clear wall that had a bright light at the end. He decides to go back and returns to the others telling them what he saw.

BURAC

"That was all under the complex!?"

THERMO

"We can deal with that later. For now, I need the constructors to make a vent system for this place so we can close this off until I can make use of it."

BURAC

"Will do!!"

Burac leaves in a hurry and leaves thermo with the mutants.

MUTANT1

"W-will it be alright to leave it there?"

MUTANT2

"What if someone finds the otherside?"

THERMO

"They can't get through anyway since it needs one of you two to open the path. Let's go. We'll get a place to stay so they can finish this place up."

Thermo and the mutants leave and Burac gives them a ride to a hotel he had set up for them. Once there Thermo takes the chance to call Plutos again.

PLUTOS

*call*"Hello, Thermo."

THERMO

"You sound worse for wear."

PLUTOS

** "urgh. Don't get me started. What are you calling for now?"

THERMO

"The cave goes on to a passage that seemed to lead outside somewhere. From my map, it looked like it lead to the inside of a gorge outside the city, but I couldn't get to the otherside due to a barrier."

PLUTOS

**"Oh! That's news. How did you get into it?"

THERMO

"I have a couple of namekians with me that I need the gods to deal with. They have the power to do something about those crystals."

PLUTOS

**"Oh… well, you got progress so good for you."

THERMO

"I have a problem though."

PLUTOS

**"What??"

THERMO

"I don't think we'll be able to stay there for a while since the cave made the foundation unstable once I opened it. I need to get a crew to stabilize the cave before anyone can move in."

PLUTOS

** "ah… that's not good. Hm? Well, what do you know? I just got a notice about it. Great. No one is going to be happy with this news."

THERMO

"Sorry."

PLUTOS

** "don't mind it. It's not your fault. We just need to wait it out for now. How long do you think it will take to get it ready?"

THERMO

"I told them they have another week to get it fixed up and ready to live in. we're already behind schedule after all."

PLUTOS

** "a week is generous, unless the cave is that big."

THERMO

"It is."

PLUTOS

** "Well, better late than never, I guess. It's not that late in the day, so how about we meet up at the central plaza east entrance, since it's the same direction? You're going to need clothes and supplies down the line and It'll be good for you to experience some down time outside of your busy schedule."

THERMO

"I'm not lazy like you. I don't need it."

PLUTOS

** "It's not being lazy! It's getting to know your location, musclehead. Explore the city and get a feel of the environment so you know where everything is in relation to your home. That's common knowledge when moving."

THERMO

"Fine fine. I'll do something then."

PLUTOS

** "I can guess that you're nearby, yes? I'll see you soon then."

THERMO

"Yeah sure."

Thermo hangs up and looks at the mutants who were engrossed in the television with Burac.

THERMO

"Burac."

BURAC

"Huh!? Y-yes, sir. What can I do for you?"

THERMO

"I need to get clothes, where do you recommend?"

BURAC

"Oh! Right! I'll get a service for you right now."

Burac makes a call and chats away before hanging up.

BURAC

"A Tailor will have a suit ready for you soon."

THERMO

"A suit? For what?"

BURAC

"Uh… you said you needed clothes."

THERMO

"I'm going myself to get them. I need to see the city I'll be living in anyway."

BURAC

"OH! True! I'll have someone take you to the best-"

THERMO

"I want to go to the plaza to shop."

BURAC

"Ah… alright. It's just there, sir."

Burac points out the window to an open market a few blocks away. It was a perfect walking distance from the hotel.

BURAC

"Since it's a large area, I'll have a ride-"

THERMO

"I'll be back by sundown. Watch them for me."

Thermo heads for the door and steps out without looking back, leaving Burac alone with the namekian mutants.

Thermo steps out and the first place he spots is a clothing shop just on the corner. It was vibrant and luxurious looking, so he decided to go there first, checking his digit-card as he walked inside. He comes out an hour later with a few bags, dressed in slick dress boots, deep violet pants and coat over a night blue, open collar polo. The manager of that store rushed out to thank him with excitement as Thermo left the scene and moved on. He looks around for a while, but doesn't notice Plutos anywhere nearby until he uses his ki sight to pick up on his energy only to find him in the center of the plaza. Annoyed, Thermo decides to float and head in that direction. Once near he hears someone scream from pain and others cursing loudly.

He still had his vision locked on energy signals, so he looked in the direction he heard the screaming and cursing, he was momentarily blinded by the energy there and had to stop flying to look again. In the alley, he saw three men cornering a girl into a dead end with two of them on the ground seemingly unconscious. To his surprise, the girl reminded him of the star he once saw while meditating on the supreme Kai's planet.

THERMO

*Thinking* "The star was from this planet??"

In the alley, Miu was struggling to hold her ground as she waited for Plutos and the others to find her, having been chased down the backways by the hooligans surrounding her. She was out of breath and unsteady but she stayed standing and struggling to keep her power under control. The remaining hooligans jump her and she fights back with all her might until she's thrown off guard and tackled into a wall, getting nicked on the shoulder with a knife. Before they could rush her again, Thermo lands between them and knocks the knife out of one's hand and sends him flying into a dumpster, shutting the lid on him and knocking him out cold.

HOOLIGAN

"HEY! Who the hell!?"

The hooligan sees Thermo and instantly panics with a step back.

HOOLIGAN

"What… What's one of you guys doing here?? I thought they said we could do what we want!"

THERMO

"... I suggest you leave before I make you, human."

HOOLIGAN

"What!? I-I'm not scared of you, asshole! Don't interfere!!"

The hooligan rushes Thermo with a punch and it connects to Thermo's cheek. Miu gasps in panic, but Thermo doesn't flinch.

HOOLIGAN

"Wh-w-what…???"

Thermo grabs the man's wrist and twists it with ease before picking him up by the shoulder, forcing an agonizing cry out of him, and throwing him out in the open road. It's quiet for a moment before Thermo turns around to look at Miu for a while then steps out of her way. Miu gazes at him for a while before realizing what he's doing and takes a few steps past him, before taking a nervous bow before him and stepping away back out to the main road with him following behind. As soon as they step out, a line of patrol cars appear and block off the area as the officers step out and quickly point their guns at them.

POLICE

"Nobody, move! Hands where I can see them!"

Another patroller arrives and officer Kosuke steps out and sees Miu surrounded. He quickly rushes onto the scene and steps between everyone.

OFFICER KOSUKE

"STOP! STOP! HOLD YOUR FIRE! Miu! Hurry, come here!"

MIU

"Mr. Kosuke, wait a minute it's okay! This person-"

A shot is suddenly fired in the chaos and in the same second Miu is forced back off her feet and into Thermo, who's hand was in a fist in front of her holding something, while he used his other hand to hold her close to him.