Month 10
The time had finally come. Seven months of hard work, long days and nights, and endless headaches had come to fruition. The rest of the cities were planned out and ready to be built in succession. More importantly, New Vocado City was finally furnished and ready to be opened. Sarada decided to let people move in gradually as the cities were being built. They were getting restless, so it was probably a good idea to let them move into their new homes and explore the planet.
Oh, the planet’s name?
Sarada opted to put it up to a vote a few months ago. She wanted to name it Vocado II, just to keep things as close to the same as possible. The people disagreed, overwhelmingly so. Thus, by their decree, the throne-world was christened Sarada. It was only natural; after all, she did defeat the greatest threat to their safety since Glacier. Avoca was sure that if Vocado himself was still alive, he would agreed whole-heartedly that she deserved to have the throne-world bear her name.
Sarada may have vocally disagreed, but Avoca knew she was proud deep-down. She had worked her ass off to earn her people’s respect, and she finally had it.
The portals leading to each of the colonies were located five miles south of the capital. Millions of people - five, to be exact - poured in through the portals and rushed to find their new homes. As Avoca observed them as they entered, she saw nothing but excitement and relief. For months, those from Vocado had been displaced and homeless. The ones from Turrip had been homeless for years. While they had roofs over their heads, true, there was nothing like having a planet of their own to call home again. The hospitality that the colonies showed was overwhelming and timely, but it was time for them to finally have a place of their own.
“You really outdid yourself, Avoca,” Sarada said with a grateful smile. “I can’t thank you enough for taking this on. I can’t imagine how I would have fucked things up.”
Avoca waved her off. “Don’t worry about it. You got enough on your plate as is.” At the mention of plates, her stomach started growling. “Ugh, I’m starving. I think the kitchen at the palace is fully stocked by now.”
“You literally read my mind.”
As they flew toward their new home, she couldn’t help but notice the thing in Sarada’s hand. Unless she was mistaken, it was a book. That was impossible, so it must have been something else. “What’s that?”
“...oh. It’s one of the novels from Parsley’s library.”
?!?! “...I didn’t know she had picture books.”
“Shaddup.”
The royal palace had many of the same amenities and luxuries that the old palace on Vocado had, with one small exception: a safe room the basement. The attack on Langal months ago that saw Parsley’s children and Sarada’s in mortal danger from invaders led many to the conclusion that the building wasn’t safe enough to protect anyone if the initial defenses were breached. Sarada was mostly hands off on the construction of the throne world, and only had a personal hand in the construction of the palace. That was the most important reason why, other than it being her actual home.
The safe room had its own power supply and communications array separate from the rest of the palace, storage space for the bare essentials, enough food to last five people for a week, and a jet propulsion system with an underground tunnel should escape have been necessary. All in all, it was a point of emphasis that the hazardous situation on Langal not ever be repeated again.
Speaking of power, each city was equipped with its own power supply. In the center of the cities was a forty foot tall tower with a glowing white sphere at the top. That sphere was filled with photon V, a clean energy source discovered on Turrip twelve years ago. Before, the Saiyans had been using archaic electrical power sourced from water, wind, and solar power. Much like those, photon V was easily produced and was excellent for the environment. Unlike those, it never extinguished due to chemical reactions that were far too complex for normal minds to comprehend. It was basically a flame that never went out, no matter how hard the wind blew against it.
“Did Maiz finish her temple thing?” Avoca asked as she and Sarada walked out of the kitchen with two-foot long sandwiches.
“She told me she did yesterday,” she responded. “Let’s go check it out.”
Much like Sarada’s palace, which was actually a few miles north of the capital city, Maiz’s guardian temple was out of the way from civilization. The planet was adorned with several waterfalls, and Maiz chose to set up shop within the largest one.
Sarada and Avoca landed softly on a rocky outcropping overlooking said waterfall. In the distance, they could see the skyline of the capital city as the setting sun drifted slowly toward the horizon. The bubbling roar of countless millions of gallons of water dropping over the edge of the fall was deafening, but also oddly peaceful. It was easy to see why Maiz chose that location over all others to build her new temple.
“Wow, it’s beautiful here,” Avoca commented.
“Yeah.” Sarada leaped off the edge and followed the water down. The waterfall continued for another hundred or so feet before it was violently funneled into a series of rivers that snaked across the planet. The outcropping, however, ended some distance before that. They landed at the mouth of an underground cave. Water from the waterfall poured down over the rocks to form a small lake. The water was so clean, it sparkled from the small bits of light that filtered down from above. Lanterns hung from the wall to provide light when it became dark. A single sakura tree had been planted in the middle of a patch of luscious green grass. It looked so out of place, so unnatural, but added to the peaceful ambience of the temple.
There, kneeling at the base of the tree, was Maiz. “I was wondering when you’d find me,” she said. “Sarada looks wonderful, Avoca. You did an exemplary job.”
It took her an embarrassing amount of time to realize she was talking about the planet. That will take some getting used to. “I just did what I could with what I was given,” she answered with a lazy shrug. “Have you finished setting up?”
“I have.” She rose to her feet and starting walking further into the cavern. “I’ll show you around. I’ve changed a few things from the old one.”
Avoca noticed that at the base of the tree where she had been kneeling, a picture of Rutaba and and one of Mato had been placed. In times of peace and jubilation, it was easy to forget the people that fell along the way toward that peace. Even if they were due to be brought back... at some point, it was worth remembering that without Mato and Rutaba’s sacrifices, Sarada would have been killed on Ruco. If that happened, they all would have been dead.
She bowed her head respectfully, then followed Maiz inside.
“The old temple was so dank and drab,” Maiz said as they walked further inside. Gradually, dank cavern walls were replaced by gray bricks and brown wood beams. Every so many feet, a pillar stretched from the floor to the ceiling; at the foot of each pillar was a face that looked eerily similar to an Oozaru. If it was or not wasn’t clear; not that it mattered. “I decided to liven up this new one.”
In the center of what Maiz called the foyer was another sakura tree. Small candles were bundled at each pillar, in between those pillars, and at the four corners of the small staircase that led up to the tree. Images were carved into the stone walls.
Maiz led Avoca and Sarada through the temple, showing them where everything was. Bedrooms, bathrooms, the kitchen, lounge areas, and so on, she showed them everything. Almost everything. The only thing she didn’t show them was the Guardian Chamber. “Sorry, that’s a holy place,” she said with a cheeky grin. “So, what do you think?”
“It’s way better than the old one,” Sarada said, giving her mother figure two thumbs up. “All that’s missing is a place for us to train.”
Maiz’s face visibly soured. “There’s plenty of other places for that.”
“Relax, I was joking. Training underground doesn’t sound too smart.”
“Not, it doesn’t. How long before everyone is moved into all the cities?” She was talking to Avoca that time.
“Uh...” She pulled up her notes on the construction schedules. “Conservatively, another eight months.”
“Okay. Listen, I’d rather keep the number of people who know where this place is to a minimum. The less people that know, the less chance of someone... unsavory finding me before I know they’re here.”
They knew what she was talking about and understood. “Right. The council will obviously know, but we’ll leave everyone else to a need to know basis.”
“Thank you.”
The two bid Maiz a farewell and returned top-side shortly after. The sun had almost completely disappeared from the sky. A half-moon was ascending on the opposite side of the sky to take its place. Avoca let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes. “I haven’t slept in the last six months, so I’m hitting the hay.”
“Yeah, get some sleep. You’ve earned it, buddy.”
As she flew back toward the city, she noticed that Sarada wasn’t following her. Instead, she watched her sit down on the outcropping. At first assumption, it seemed like she was meditating, but meditation wasn’t really Sarada’s style; at least, it wasn’t anymore. While she wanted to head back and ask her what was up, she decided it was best to leave her alone. If it was that important, she could come to her once she had it sorted out in her head.
While her mind was on Sarada, another thought came to mind. “When am I getting my check?”