Defenders of Earth! A meeting in the Harborage. (Chai)

    Chai, for once, was doing... pretty good in general with his life. He managed to surpass his feelings of guilt, doubt, and self-loathing when Cloud died, and mastered more of his self during his training with Bing a few days prior, had an AMAZING birthday party, stopped some apple-headed android from harming the Highlands with his words, and even began to work on starting his own school, which sported surging interest right off the bat! What a life.

    In celebration of being good adults for once, Chai and Guardia decided to head out and get some nice food. Guardia was the one that chose the place- something called the Hunter's Harborage. He didn't know much about the establishment, but the cabin-like building reminded the sword of their own home. Plus he'd be able to watch others duke it out in there! Chai wasn't one for fighting, so he decided to keep away from the ring.

    On the way to the place, Guardia would fold his crossguards like tiny arms, looking at his partner with glee. 'Hey, Chai. Chai. Guess what?' The sword tapped on his ZPhone while the goat glanced down with a small, playful smile right back. "Let me guess, G. A new Majin Bros game came out?" The sword shook his hilt. 'No, no! Even better!' He glanced back down to his phone, raising it into the air with his telekinesis to show Chai. An email was opened up on Guardia's WooHoo app.

    'It's from Blue Banner.' Guardia began to explain. 'Due to all our hard work, we're getting some more vacation days! No more worrying about work for you!' Guardia rang cheerily, causing Chai's smile to widen. "Sick, dude. Now let's go eat!" The goat picked up his pace, with Guardia rolling his eye. The sword couldn't eat with the lack of a mouth, but at least he was getting Chai out of the house.

    Chai strolled up to the rustic building, his ears twitching as the sounds of customers chatting and clinking their drinks together rang in his ears, and an occasional echo of a ki blast or swift punch from the fighting area inside. Chai peered in with his partner, briefly examining the spacious interior with an impressed whistle. His eyes briefly trailed to the nearly finished fight in the corner, with the goat wincing with shared pain when a combatant was punched in the eye. Ouch.

    'Hey, I'm gonna go watch the end of the fight over there. You go get us some eats. Capiche?' Guardia rang, to which the goat nodded wordlessly. The two went their separate ways, with the sword floating and watching from afar in the crowd around the back room's ring. Meanwhile, the goat would take a seat at the main bar, plucking a menu off of a rack before examining the selection of food he had to choose from. Hopefully they had something here for a vegetarian like himself.

    By the time the final fight of the night came to an end, Guardia would continually try to peer over the crowd from his spot. He couldn't see much due to the crowd blocking his view, but the man at the end who patched up the combatants seemed... familiar, somehow? Guardia shook it off for now, following the crowd wordlessly to the main diner once more. In hindsight, perhaps he shouldn't have bet so much money on the loosing fighter...

    By now, Chai was whistling a tune to himself, waiting for his order of a salad, and a side of fries for Guardia. Speaking of the devil, the sword soon moseyed into view, taking a seat on a cushioned stool beside his partner. 'Ugh. That fight was an upset I tell you! I thought for sure that the blue guy would win!' Guardia rolled his eye grumpily. 'And I could have sworn in the crowd I hear someone familiar also. Do you think Collan is here? We've been running into him a lot lately.' Chai shrugged, earning a sigh from Guardia. "Don't worry about it. Let's just relax for now." Chai comforted Guardia, causing the sword to crack an invisible smile... Well, until his eye drifted to an all-too-familiar face sitting a few seats away at the bar.

    'Well, well, welly, well, if it ain't the hypocrite, eh?' Guardia narrowed his eye, catching sight of Pieter and recalling their last, unpleasant meeting that the sword still had not let go. "G-Guardia!" Chai stammered, quickly bopping the sword on the hilt. "Shush! Don't be rude, please!" Guardia eyerolled into space once more. 'Ugh, fine. Blame me for disliking the guy that made you feel like an incompetent sack of trash.' Chai bit his lip, pupils shrinking as brief recollections of his last encounter with Pieter went...

    Chai raised his head, forcing a nervous smile towards the Hunter while Guardia slipped into his sheath with a grumble. "H...Heyo, Pieter! Long time no see!" Chai beamed, his nervous smile becoming a little more genuine now that he put aside Guardia for now. But unlike the happy-go-lucky-befriend-everyone-goatman, the sentient sword would eye Pieter cautiously from the safety of his scabbard...

    Guardia groaned internally when the saiyan approached Chai and himself for conversation. In rebuttal to the saiyan's comment about improving, the sword would only intensify his glare. 'Right back at you, pushy.' Chai sighed in response to his partner, though he didn't quell Guardia this time. But, for now, Chai found conversation harmless enough. A simple "what's up" wasn't too bad.

    "Oh, not much. Just been doing lots of army stuff for Vi-Poi and things." Chai leaned back against his chair, recalling several escapades he and Guardia had embarked on recently. "I managed to quell some violent bank-robbers with Officer Arlic, and also... uh, prevent this guy from blowing up Bamboo forest." Chai's voice dimmed with the last statement. He tried, but Cloud was just too headstrong and airheaded to listen to the goat's pleas. "And then me and Guardia quelled this fight in the Northern regions to minimalize death, and THEN, well..."

    Now, a genuine smile creeped across the goat's face. Pride and joy took control of his expressions now. "I've started a school for martial arts! My Star School focuses on teamwork and cooperation-- I've already got a handful of students also!" The goat's single eye closed. "Really, I can't ask for a better lineup of friends to train with as well."

    Guardia's gaze softened when he directed his attention to his wielder. Life was pretty good as of late somehow. Grumbling to himself, the sword slid into the darkness of his sheath to let the adults talk, though he'd keep a careful ear open in case Pieter did anything to upset his precious partner... "So, uh, to return the question, how are you doing lately?" Chai inquired after explaining his own dalliances, head tilted to the side.

    Chai raised his brow, briefly recoling back when Pieter choked on his drink soon after his first comment. "A--Are you okay?" He quickly inquired, though Pieter's snide comment about Vi-Poi took the goat aback. Was there bad blood between Pieter and Vi? 'It's better than working for you or something.' Guardia commented from his sheath once more, earning a harsh glare from the caprine zoanthrope. The blade merely rolled his eye, uncaring.

    Apparently Chai's boss had punched Pieter for wanting to talk about... "Realigner...?" Chai muttered to himself, genuinely confused as to what the subject was. It seemed like it was a touchy subject for the premier, though. Chai had his own touchy subjects, so he decided to leave his inquires unanswered out of empathy.

    Pieter briefly elaborated upon his own crimebusting shenanigans and running the Harborage in general. Chai nodded along, though his eyes widened again when the saiyan hybrid fired shots at Vi-Poi again. "Well, uh..." Chai stammered, twiddling his thumbs. "H-he's a friend of mine now. I haven't talked to him much, but he's still my friend-- I trust the guy. I feel like we... get eachother at least somewhat also." Chai's gaze trailed to a window nearby. He recalled his days before meeting Vi-Poi and the Blue Banner Army. They weren't the most pleasant, to say the least.

    "Vi gave me a home when I was living under a bridge for the longest time. He gave me a purpose again with army work and missions, and a whole new team to meet and work with as well." Chai was a lost wanderer, desparately looking in every direction for answers for the longest time when he first arrived in this universe. Having someone else point him in the right direction was much appreciated, even if Chai and Vi didn't know eachother too well yet. "...Honestly, this is only the least I can do for his kindness upon me."

    "Sure, he might have some flaws or a ways to go in his life. Me and him both do." Chai smiled weakly, turning his gaze back to Pieter. "But it's better to be stuck together with someone than go through life's gauntlet alone, right?" He chuckled weakly. Guardia sighed internally- Chai really needed every bit of support he could get. The traumatized goatman was frail at heart, but each of his supports gave another layer to his skin. Guardia and Chai were the best partners either could ask for, but even then, there was only so much the sword could do to support his partner on his own.

    Pieter wasn't done rambling about his distrust to the Premier yet. The goat made a mental note to beware of bias as well; Pieter sure wasn't going to give an entierly fair perspective about Chai's boss, whom decked the saiyan right in the schnozz also. He knew he wouldn't look for the good if he was in Pieter's shoes, at least. Guardia just groaned as the saiyan began his rant, clearly tired of shenanigans. But, soon enough, the president's actions would be the least of the goat's worries.

    "...Seriously, Realigner what and why now?" Chai tilted his head to the side, concern growing when Pieter mentioned "Vi loosing control of himself as Realigner Red." The goat clutched the fabric over his heart, recalling the brief period his darker self from this universe controlled him with some dark magic mind controlly ability or something. The whole endeavor was not a pleasant experience for sure. If anything, from what he could presume about what happened to Vi, his empathy and respect only grew. Still, he couldn't help but to wonder what his evil persona was up to nowadays after being defeated.

    Chai's expression coursed to shock once more when Pieter brought up some time the saiyans invaded the Earth-- okay, Vi's actions were the least of the goatman's concerns right now. "T-the saiyans did WHAT???" He found himself questioning instinctively. Coupled with his ignorance of the Realigner escapade, and the saiyan invasion- both key historical events on the Earthling's home planet, Chai quickly realized that suspicions would more than likely gather with Pieter. But back to Vi, the caprine concluded.

    "H-he has his flaws, as I said earlier. I do also. And that's o-okay." Chai grit his teeth, recalling some of his own similar actions and inaction back in his home. Hand still clutched over his heart, he would gaze away from Pieter. "Vi is not some omnipotent god that knows exactly what is right and wrong, despite what all that power might suggest. None of us know, really." The goat continued, leaning back against his chair with a strained sigh. Was he wording all this right?

    "But I'm pretty sure he's not just playing life like a video game- he's a good guy at heart, I fell." The goat leaned back, continuing on to perhaps change the subject and rid of his friend's possible suspicions at his lack of knowledge of the saiyan invasion and the Realigner. "Why'd he help me? Why'd he defend the Earth, and even try to attack Vegeta?" The zoanthrope took a slow breath in. "He cares about us, and the galaxy. He might now always show it in the best ways, or the ways you and I agree with, but he sure does care a lot about all of us. At least, that's what I assume."

    "I'm sure Bing's injuries broke his heart, even with what little I know about the guy." Chai commented, twiddling his thumbs. Guardia blinked from his sheath, still processing the whole thing about the Saiyan Invasion and the implications of Realigner Red. Still, he remained silent, deciding his remarks were best left unvoiced. Pieter was quick to change to a lighter topic soon after- the goat's home in question.

    "Oh! It's a really nice, cozy little place." Chai explained. "We've got all the necessities there- I even built a dojo nearby myself as well for my students to train in." The goat paused, rolling his shoulders. Guardia's glare seemed to soften with an easier topic at hand now as well, though his gaze was still fixed onto the saiyan, just in case he said anything funny.