Post by Melody on Nov 1, 2021 20:09:14 GMT -8
Collaborative rp with Valentus
Planet Plant Prior to the War against the barbaric Saiyans.
Triplets who were known as Team Citrus, who were notorious Tuffles in the outskirts of the capital city center, and were constantly pulling pranks and stealing things without ever getting caught. Dr. Aspic’s cloned children utilize the highest level of technology to perfect their biological bodies. Tangelo, a blue haired, tan skinned, muscular build teen suppressed the opposition quite easily through raw strength. Narin, a lime green haired, pale skinned, lithe build teen was the brains of the operation, hacking into security cameras, and freezing any drones to prevent any evidence of their mischief from ever being recorded. Finally, Nova, a pink haired, blue eyed, spunky teenage girl who was the bridge between the two, who often decided what trouble they would get into, convinced her brothers to steal from a well known noble estate at the core of the citadel known as Manor Nectarine.
The plan was a simple break in, steal something valuable worth taking, and escape without getting caught. However, the security of this place was like a fortress, armored guards were placed at every critical location, and the trio were going to have a hard time gaining entry unseen. Narin was using a scope to gauge the guard rotations, he spun a dial to observe for what seemed like hours, and nodded.
“We’re not going to be able to sneak in unless we cause a distraction. I am afraid this is going to be a solo operation Nova. We will watch your back to make sure you’re safe.”
“Right.” Nova nodded, wearing a silver metal form fitting jumpsuit, she already knew of plan B, and she separated from her siblings with a wink and a thumbs up.
On cue, her brothers kicked a ball so high it went over the fence, and the pair rushed over to the guards to ask permission to retrieve it at the front gate with immediate rejection but they persisted explaining its a childhood relic. Nova climbed the estate walls, her suit matched the foliage growing over it, completely camouflaged with Dr. Aspic’s latest tech, and once she stepped over the open grass field she used the garden shrubs to hide until reaching a terrace. The suit automatically changed like a chameleon, she climbed the wooden vines of a flowering plant to the top successfully without detection. With the dark exterior, the suit would reflect light, so she unzipped it, and neatly folded it into a hand sized cube which was part of the tech.
Brilliant sky blue irises peered into--a bedroom? It was bigger than the garden outside, let alone her father’s entire laboratory. She sneered at how much nobles wasted no time or effort, building something ridiculously large, when it seemed there was no one around, and she quietly snuck in hiding in the shadows. At first glance, the only item that stood out was a sword, embezzled with a giant red ruby on the hilt, mounted on the wall; the gold metal inlay would mean it was worth a fortune. A family heirloom perhaps? Nova kept assessing its value based on the details as she stood there wearing a white bandeau, black suspenders, blue shorts, and red thigh high stockings.
[542]
Manor Nectarine, the home of the House of Nectarine, was a beautiful jewel of high Tuffle architecture, blending prestigious decor and century-old traditions with the simplicity and functionalism which Tuffles were long known for. Though the wealth and power of this family has long since waned, the walls and garden alone reminded anyone passing by that this was home to no ordinary Tuffles.
The owner of the manor, Prince Coronet Nectarine, was only sometimes around - and this was not one of those days. Always involved with politics, he travelled across the planet to keep in touch with the people and shake hands with the elite - and his wife usually travelled with him. So, their oldest child, Valentus, was tasked to look after his younger siblings - far from a difficult task, as all the staff hired by the manor was always there, but a task nonetheless.
Having put his siblings to sleep and finished another chapter from a book on Planet Plant’s history which he was meaning to finish, the teen noble was making his way across the corridors, when he suddenly stopped in his tracks. In the middle of pitch perfect silence, he heard something light drop in a room nearby - his room. He was certain that he was probably just hearing things, but it did not hurt to check - besides, he was heading for the room anyway. With haste, Valentus approached the door and opened it, then immediately turned on the light.
Much like the rest of the manor, he was fancy and squeaky clean. A formal suit, white pants, long boots and gloves.
“Is someone there?” Valentus called out.
[271]
Nova slipped on a pair of white gloves, carefully removing the blade from the wall, her senses picked up the hastened footsteps a few meters away. If Narin was here, he would have secured an exit by now, she carelessly forgot while searching the room initially. Cursing under her breath, she figured she had to hide the sword first, and she was running out of time when she looked around quickly. There was a huge wooden bed with an ornate bed skirt at the bottom. It was rather dated, since the bottom was covered from view, she could not mentally calculate the distance of the bed frame to the floor. However, she had only seconds to hide the blade, so immediately, yet quietly skidded under it, to her surprise it was lower than expected. Since she was being quiet as a mouse, she adjusted herself to cover the distance at the last second, she sprained something along the way.
The sword was pressed up against the wooden slats, she began using thumb tacks, using her raw strength to push each one against the wood to secure the sword. The plan was for the sword to be reported missing to the guards, she was planning to use that ruckus as an opportunity to get it later once the coast was clear. Nova rolled out from under the bed, she heard the door to the bedroom chamber open, and she used what remained of her strength to hide behind a thick tapestry style curtain by the terrace window. If she had a few more seconds, she would have been able to escape the room entirely, and she held her breath the instant she heard a young man’s voice.
Whoever it was, he was able to detect her presence, either by sheer luck or instinct despite having her power level suppressed. Now she had to patiently wait, she winced from a sharp pain in her ankle, she must have sprained it doing the limbo under the bed earlier. Nova used her mental fortitude to ignore it, she was currently at risk of being caught, so she held entirely still, and breathless.
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Nobody answered when Valentus peeked inside of the room - and yet, the noble quickly guessed that something wasn't right. Maybe it was unfounded suspicion, but he did not leave the terrace window open, did he? Not to mention that whatever sounds were coming from the room grew louder and more erratic right as he pulled the door handle. Something fell to the floor, something tapped across it, and yet, there was nobody here.
Valentus did notice the missing encrusted sword, a ceremonial weapon inherited from two centuries ago - instead, he thought that one of his siblings was hiding in the room and called out:
“I was serious when I said it’s time for you to sleep, you know... I don’t want to drag you there.”
He stepped to the center of the room, then made his way to the terrace window. There, he stopped, briefly looking down at the garden below and sighing in relief when he saw nobody down there - the last thing he wanted was for one of his brothers to get hurt by recklessly jumping off. Valentus lingered on by the window for just a bit longer, though, and stared off to the sky in contemplation.
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Nova held her breath, her plan to raise the alarm for the missing sword was foiled, presumably because it was a common occurrence. While she was genetically modified to hold her breath longer than 12 minutes at a time than the average Tuffle, she was reaching her limit, and it would be impossible to keep at it if she was unable to sneak out. The sounds of insects playing nightly tunes was a strong indication that it was getting late and her brothers would be worried. As the pinkette formulated a new plan, she figured she could avoid one person, and the guards if she made a dash for it. With newfound determination she decided to do just that, slowly breathing out, and taking deep breaths.
The instant she rushed towards the window, she saw a teenage boy looking out at the horizon, he would most likely turn to meet her gaze, and she anticipated it as she planned to hit him hard on the back of his neck to render him unconscious so she could escape from trespassing. However, she never expected to walk right into a page of a romantic storybook, she blushed the instant she met his brilliant cerulean irises with her own lighter pair, he was dressed formally like a noble except he looked like a prince against the twilight scenery. In that brief moment, she lost sight of her goal, and hesitated long enough to turn on her heel to change direction.
It was a long jump down from the terrace, the pain returned on her sprained ankle, she winced and fell at the noble’s feet instead like a tree in a forest. A yelp escaped her lips as she further injured herself, she still needed more time for her regenerative abilities to take effect, and now she had to try a different solution to reunite with her family again.
“Good evening.” Nova looked up as she grabbed her ankle, she figured she could talk her way out of this situation given the circumstances, “Um…I always wondered what the people who lived in such a grand estate looked like after growing up in the outer districts. I was dared by my siblings to sneak inside your home as a prank. Clearly I failed at the sneaking part and injured myself. This is so humiliating. I must apologize. Please forgive me.”
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A step on the floor and a sharp yelp suddenly reached Valentus’ ears from the side, startling him. When he turned, he saw a girl collapse at his feet. From the flutter of the curtains behind her, he could guess that it’s where she had been hiding, and figured that this was the culprit all along.
It was not one of his siblings, no. Rather, it was an unfamiliar pink-haired girl, dressed in a bandeau and tight shorts, and about his age. A charming one, at that - the dress and hairdo radiated the aura of a plucky, intrepid adventurer, exactly the type to satiate her curiosity by slipping into a beautiful mansion at midnight.
She raised her eyes, just as blue as his own, and spoke up.
“...Good evening to you, too?” Valentus answered her initial greeting - something calm and polite was not what first came to his mind in a situation like this. The girl soon explained herself, however - as she gripped her ankle, she detailed her curiosity of what a noble’s life was like when she had never experienced it. Only to be found by him, of course, which turned the scene all the more humiliating to her.
Valentus went down to one knee to get to the girl’s level as she explained herself, and smiled softly afterwards.
“Don’t worry about it. I forgive you,” the noble answered her, then offered his hand to the girl to help her up to her feet - palm upwards, with the same motion as if he were offering a lady to a dance. “If you need medical help, then I can escort you to our infirmary.”
As he stood up, he spoke again:
“I am Valentus, heir to the House of Nectarine. What’s your name?”
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For a Noble, she never expected him to lower himself to her level like an equal, and she felt her heart skip a beat. A blush formed on her face as she recalled buying herself some time for her regenerative abilities to heal her injury if she kept up the conversation going in the first place. Apparently her apology was believable, he did not seem to mind her sudden intrusion, and he forgave her without question. In all her life, no one truly expressed this level of kindness, even among her brothers who constantly made fun of her all the time if she ever made a mistake in their erudition or training regiment their father put them through like guinea pigs. It was because of this lifestyle that she resorted to petty thievery and now she was suffering internally of what exactly she was feeling after meeting this redhead teen.
“Uh, that’s not necessary, it’s healing normally.” Nova stated, the average Tuffle would never say such a thing, she was specifically engineered before she was born into the world and did not have second thoughts on her statement. “It means I just have to intrude on your privacy a bit longer before I can go back home.”
“Nova Aspic.” The pinkette answered nonchalantly, “Daughter of Dr. Aspic, the front runner of advanced cloning, I am basically a clone of him with some adjustments. I have Planet Plant’s world record of being the fastest runner in existence.”
While it was not exactly something she was particularly proud of, she felt it was important enough, and it was the whole reason she was sent out on this solo operation, of course she did not have the careful planning of Narin who had precognitive abilities. A sigh escaped her lips, she was nearly perfect, but somehow only triplets were the direct result of all that advanced cloning.
“Do you ever feel lonely in this huge place with your grand sleeping chamber? At home, it’s the opposite for me, I never have any privacy around my family.”
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“Dr. Aspic?” Valentus answered as soon as Nova introduced herself, and named her father. “That... I could not have guessed, honestly. Certainly not someone you can meet every day...” Of course, he knew who Dr. Aspic was - he was one of the most famous scientists on Planet Plant, who has even visited Manor Nectarine once or twice to meet Valentus’ father, to ensure that the government provides support for his numerous research projects.
The fact that Nova was his “daughter”, and presumably modified as well, explained a few things - for example, why she shrugged off an injury which would take days to recover from, expecting it to heal soon enough that she will be able to depart quickly. It raised just as many questions, however. Why were Dr. Aspic’s clones allowed to just wander about and sneak into houses, and if she wanted to see what the inside of an estate was like, then why did she not ask her father to arrange a visit? Did they have contact with their father at all, or did the fact that she lives in the outer districts mean that they were distant?
All in all, what this meant was that Valentus’ interest was piqued to new heights. He wished to learn more about her, and maybe even have her stay.
Nova’s question to him got the noble to sigh as well, however. He placed his hand on his waist and stared off to the side in contemplation.
“Well, I certainly don’t find much company here,” Valentus answered. “I don’t get to go out often, and since Father is always away, there’s not that many people I can talk to. I’ll be commissioned to the Armed Services next month, so at least I will not be stuck here for the rest of my life, but still...” He still was not sure what he would find in the TAS, or whether he would enjoy it there - but it was a tradition for everyone in his lineage to eventually serve and he was not going to become an exception.
Valentus turned back to Nova, staring straight into her crystal blue eyes.
“Would you like to stay here for the night? We have plenty of room, as you see.”
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“Ah. Well he is rather busy with his research.”
Nova nodded when Valentus spoke of his upbringing, it seemed rather lonely, and he felt that being in service meant he would have more opportunities to interact with people outside of his household. In truth, Nova did not have any friends either, her life was similar as she did not have the opportunities to interact with other people her age, and Dr. Aspic allowed the triplets to do whatever they wanted without any discipline or direction since they were the first set of clones from his own DNA.
“So, I won’t be able to see you again in a month’s time?” The pink haired teen blinked, she was beginning to like the idea of becoming friends, but it seemed like it was only temporary. “Do you want to be friends, Valentus?”
At this point he invited her to stay the night, she placed little thought to that idea as she slowly got up, and tapped her toe through her red designer sneakers on the terrace floor. Good as new, she could return home, but she was feeling rather reluctant to leave now. Perhaps the furniture in this grand home was outdated, sleeping in a cryo-stasis pod was a different type of luxury most people would prefer, but Nova was curious to try something different.
“Eh. If I stay the night, what do you plan on telling your family about me?” Of course she had no idea who else lived here, whether Valentus had parents, or siblings since she never left his room.
Nova wanted to know why Valentus invited her to stay but she already agreed to it.
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Valentus’ detail of his future assignment to the Tuffle Armed Services left Nova oddly distraught - the girl did not openly express it, merely asking whether they won’t be able to see each other again when he has to leave home. It once again got the Tuffle to glance away, lost in contemplation - if a girl he only met tonight was so worried about him, then surely he would be even moreso...
“Well, hopefully I won’t be gone forever...” the noble muttered under his breath, his words drawn out and unsure. What’s the worst that could happen, really? Planet Plant has been at relative peace for generations up to this point, and this peace could not perish in a day.
It was not all that Nova was concerned with, however. She wanted to know whether he wants them to be friends - and if he allows her to stay, what will he tell his family afterwards? The second question got Valentus to turn his head around, and glance towards the door on the other side of the room. It was closed.
“Do I have to tell them anything?” he answered with a rhetorical question. ”My parents are gone for two weeks, busy with politics. Without them, I am the head of the manor, so anyone enters or leaves this room only with my permission.”
Valentus turned back to Nova. “It can just stay a harmless secret. And, of course, I’d love to be your friend, the best friend I can possibly be.”
At least, for this month.
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“I am honestly not familiar with the military, if they take leave at any point, or if they survive training or not. You live quite differently here than I do back at home. I may not be able to get the clearances approved for you to visit the lab where I live but I think my brother can hack our father’s security system so you can sneak in.”
The pair of teens might have been Tuffles but they were quite different socially and for lack of a better term politically. A chuckle escaped her mouth at the implication of keeping their friendship secret from House Nectarine, it was apparent that Nova did not have the proper clearances to remain on the property, and she was quite intrigued of bending or breaking house rules with a noble.
“Two weeks huh? Is that how long you’re inviting me to stay? How about an even exchange? Two weeks here and two weeks at the lab. One week outside the city limits!” Nova grinned.
After a beat she clasped her hands behind her back and wandered back into the room.
“So is that the reason this ancient bed is so big? So that you and your parents can fit together? I have seen people share them in the outer districts, not exactly sure what the arrangements are in a noble family.”
It was apparent that she never used a bed before in her entire life.
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“Well, not for two weeks permanently, I don’t think I could keep you here for that long,” Valentus corrected himself, when the question of time came to be. “But if you could come and visit every once in a while during that time, then I would certainly appreciate it.” Certainly, it would make the last month he could spend in the Capital before military service less dull.
Valentus followed after Nova as she made her way to the heart of the room - his movement was a lot less upbeat and more collected, characteristic of a well taught nobleman. “I certainly haven’t seen Dr. Aspic’s lab from the inside before, so if you are inviting me, then I would certainly love it. We can make it an even exchange.”
Nova’s curiosity, meanwhile, turned its attention elsewhere - to the king sized bed which adorned the center of the room. While it was not particularly ancient, counting off construction date, it was made in a rather medieval style, fitting into the decor of the rest of the palace - and it certainly differed from the simple and functionalistic Tuffle style standard, so he did not fault the girl for believing it was old. Or that it was built for his whole family to sleep in either, in fact.
“No, they... have their own,” Valentus explained as he sat on the edge of the bed, bouncing a little from the inertia of the extremely soft mattress. “More than one person can sleep on it, of course - but I always do so alone.”
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“Are you doubting my abilities of espionage? I fooled you. Didn’t I?” Nova twirled once on the soles of her sneakers, as she thought about it, there must have been plenty of places to hide in this place not that she would enjoy it as much compared to being around Valentus at close proximity. “If I come to visit every day, do I have to come through the terrace?”
The pink haired teenager tilted her head curiously, since he mentioned their friendship was supposed to be kept secret, the guards were probably the type to gossip given how mundane their roles were at this grand estate.
“Ah, well no one is allowed inside the lab, except for me and my brothers. At least his personal one, there are other labs which his associates use, but he calls them all useless and he prefers doing his research alone most of the time.”
It was apparent that she was not involved in part of the process of Dr. Aspic’s research or inventions other than being in possession of some of the things the mad scientist designed which included her clothes.
When Valentus explained that everyone in his household had similar sized beds, she felt it was rather useless all the same, a waste of time and space quite literally. As she watched the noble enjoy such frivolous comforts, she followed suit, and sat next to him while he bounced.
“Eh...I sleep in a cryo-pod every night. I suppose I cannot entirely dismiss the idea of sleeping on something like this but...I have never slept outside the lab. What exactly is the process for a noble?”
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“Well, I assume that’s the easiest way for you to enter. I can make it easier for you, if you need it.”
Valentus hardly considered what could be the consequences of persistently sneaking in a person who’s already been breaking into the manor before. If Nova were to guess whether the noble could tell that he was in the middle of being robbed before, and that a priceless relic was now under the bed, then he was completely clueless about it.
Nova continued speaking afterwards - first explaining who was allowed to enter Dr. Aspic’s lab, then asking what “the sleep process” was like. The girl, according to her, had never slept on a bed before - all that she’s ever used was a cryo-pod. The fact that she was artificially born had barely registered to his mind before - for all intents and purposes, she was as much of a Tuffle as anyone else to him, and it was only reminders like these which informed that her experience of life was far from mundane.
“For a noble?” Valentus repeated the end of her question and chuckled. “Well, we sleep like everyone else, we’re not lizard-people. Sleep just... happens when you lay on a bed for long enough.” Hopefully, he did not actually need to explain what sleep outside of cryo-pods was like to Nova - the most simple and mundane concepts were the hardest to explain.
“I suppose the main difference is that we wear nightgowns for the occasion. I don’t think I will be able to provide you with any from my wardrobe, though... so underwear works just as well.”
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While it seemed normal to imagine using a bed, Nova’s mind was focused on Valentus, when the noble insisted that he had nothing that would fit her, when he mentioned that she can be in her undergarments she was enticed; she had none since she slept in her cryo pod naked. If she slept with clothes on the fibers would be turned to ice which would be a rude awakening that potentially lead into shock if her basal temperature was tampered within the cryopod.
Being this close in proximity while the ideas filled her mind caused her to pounce the redheaded teenager. While it was only in thought at first, she automatically reacted in reality, she was engineered to adapt physically any time she placed her focus on a target. A blush of all shades of pink were on Nova’s cheeks, she was breathing heavily between her parted lips, and she shifted her weight briefly.
“I am physically attracted to you, Valentus. I must rescind our friendship since my instincts are preventing me from…being a good friend.”
A sigh escaped her lips, while she had a scientific explanation for her change in behavior, there was the probability that a noble would not have a significant interest in a clone. The whole point of a noble household stemmed from their social rank and nobility by pairing with other noble houses. While she was descended from a notable scientist she figured it was not sufficient enough to bring the pair together.
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Everything changed in an instant. Valentus did not predict the sudden pounce straight at him - after mentioning sleep in their underwear if a nightgown was not available, the noble’s thoughts briefly wandered towards what it would look like to see Nova in them, but quickly shunned that thought. It was in that state that he was suddenly tackled.
The girl pushed herself close to him, sending blood rushing through Valentus’ veins and leaving him blushing brightly. Their eyes stared straight at one another, and much like she breathed heavily from the tension, so did him. There, Nova explained exactly what was wrong with her - she was attracted to him physically, and yet, in spite of that, she suddenly announced that she could no longer be a friend of his.
“Attracted...?” the noble repeated her words. Though he didn’t go forward to state it, he could already imagine what she meant. “I’d... be more equipped to answer you if this wasn’t so sudden...”
Gently, Valentus placed his hand on Nova’s, then leaned closer himself.
“Was this... what you wanted from the start...?” Valentus muttered, in between heavy breaths. Faced with an experience he had never felt before, the noble was not even sure how to respond. Seeing a person, and one of lower status, force themselves onto him clashed, barely old enough to count as an adult. He could not deny just how attractive Nova was, either - and she certainly did everything she could to present herself, that way.
So, ultimately, he breathed and stared her in the eyes.
“...But why so? Why can’t we be... good friends? If you want to cross that line, then I will cross that line with you.”
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“Is there more than this that you’re willing to offer?” Nova smiled, she did not understand the question fully, as if there were options to explore. After some reflection, she nodded disapprovingly, to confirm that meeting him was simply a chance encounter. “You arrived as soon as I got in...I never expected to stay or even have a conversation with you at all. I planned to run even if you were in the room but fate decided to slow down time so that we can meet each other.”
At this point she leaned in to close the distance between them, taking a breath, as she pressed her lips against the teenage noble’s mouth. On contact she quivered slightly at first until the passion she felt initially took over to kiss him deeply slowly closing her eyes. With her free hand she raised it to his shoulder, then over to the back of his neck, and then pulled away to meet his gaze.
Nova confessed her feelings for Valentus verbally, albeit in a scientific manner, and physically assaulted him with little to no resistance. Rather than affirm or accept that he felt the same way, he wondered if this was all she wanted, and she blinked her eyes still feeling his hand squeeze her hand. It was difficult to formulate a single thought being this close to each other and the pink haired teen pressed her lips tenderly against his in response again.
The tuffle’s slender hand was pulled away from his, so that she can unfasten her suspenders which retracted, this entire time it was made of weighted dense fibers that functioned as resistance training to maintain her posture during a run, and she relaxed for a minute before storing it in the side satchel of her utility belt. While she acted on impulse before, she was still mentally sound, and she was not going to force the noble against his will unless he specifically asked her to.
“I cannot stay forever...but I will make you mine tonight, Valentus.”
[Fade to black]
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Nova lived for the moment, she already knew it was temporary, since they both decided to be together secretly tonight. The pair of teens hugged each other under the sheets, the pinkette giggled from being so close, and genuinely happy. Despite this happiness being a single drop in the ocean, she reveled in it, and could think of no one else but Valentus at her side. Since the newly formed lovers agreed to meet every night, she was hopeful for the next evening, sneaking around the estate without getting caught by the guards, just to prove her abilities; that she had forgotten the purpose of the intrusion because she was enamored with the redheaded teen.
Dawn arrived to signify the next day, the insects finished their tunes, and the birds were singing right outside the terrace. While the noble fell asleep shortly after, Nova had been awake the whole time, watching him almost without blinking without any sign of fatigue. It was the first time she spent the night outside of the lab, she learned she was unable to sleep biologically, unable to create enough melatonin in her body that would allow her to sleep. It explained why Dr. Aspic never slept, he was genetically modified to stay awake, and the cryo-pod was the only time their bodies were at rest.
As soon as Valentus woke up, the pink haired teen kissed him affectionately, she used her fingers to gently pull away a few strands from his face, and she leaned back to admire his visage at this time of day.
“Good morning. Did you rest well?”
Waiting for an answer she took a deep breath and stretched.
“It turns out I cannot sleep on my own without aids. So I may have to return to the lab to sleep in a cryopod during the day.”
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Hearing Nova giggle with joy, watching her cuddle close to him and feeling her arms wrapped around him left Valentus’ heart fluttering, melting it. How precious it felt, seeing her beside him, enjoying every waking moment they were together... It only strengthened his resolve to find a way to make this permanent one day. Eventually, the night prevailed over Valentus, and so he went to sleep with Nova still in his arms - but he did so with a content smile on his face. The noble was not a loud sleeper, and spent most of the night on his side, face turned towards Nova.
Soon, the first rays of the morning sun filtered into the room, followed by chirping from the gardens below. Slowly, Valentus opened his eyes, releasing a faint, muffled groan - and was immediately caught by surprise, his lips suddenly meeting Nova’s. The girl was beside him, and was admiring his form at this time of the day.
“Better than the usual, I feel...” the noble mumbled under his breath as he rubbed his eyes. Last night left him a bit exhausted, but not to the point where he was left bedridden afterwards. Valentus was about to turn that question around and ask her, before the girl answered it herself - she was unable to sleep like a normal person at all. Spending several hours just laying beside him, struggling to sleep... that sounded terrible.
“It’s fine, I will be busy during the day, anyway,” Valentus answered to Nova’s lamenting about the need to return to her cryopod. Between private tutors, training in the courtyard, and looking after his siblings, daytime was a rather occupied time for him. The evening and night, when the manor turns silent, was a much more opportune time for the two accidental lovers.
A knock was suddenly heard on the door to the bedroom. It was unlocked, but nobody in the manor except other members of House Nectarine were allowed to enter without permission - and all others must still be sleeping.
“Sir Valentus! Breakfast is ready!” a man’s voice called out from the other side.
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“Is that so?” Nova smiled widely, curious why he was unable to sleep, and she figured it was because of all the responsibilities he was faced with everyday that there were little to no opportunities for leisure time.
“I hope that I had something to do with that!” The pink haired teen blushed when she realized she raised her voice a bit too loud in her enthusiastic excitement.
At this point there was a knock followed by a mysterious voice, her heart started to race, she was completely undressed under the sheets, and despite being the fastest runner there was no time to put on her clothes to make an escape. Completely vulnerable to the situation at hand, she gripped the bed sheet, and began to sink underneath.
“What do we do?” Nova whispered, she figured Valentus had a plan, it would be troublesome if anyone discovered the pair of lovers this early on.
In truth, Nova loved a challenge, it was the primary reason she was always seeking trouble in the first place. As Dr. Aspic’s clone, she was highly intelligent in any situation that she enjoyed fooling other Tuffles. However, Valentus was the exception, for the first time in her life she enjoyed being with him, more than any of the pranks she committed with her siblings.
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One of the butlers in the Nectarine Manor staff was standing behind the door, a full silver plate on his left hand, carrying a hearty breakfast for a noble warrior in training. Every day he’d knock, he would receive the same answer, letting him in - but today, something was different. Someone was inside, but no answer came.
“Uh...” Valentus stammered under his breath, the call from behind the door taking him just as much by surprise as it did Nova. He was about to answer the girl and explain that her presence next to him really was helpful, but this surprise threw everything out of the window.
“Uhm... wait a minute, please!” the noble called out, all while frantically pulling the bedsheet off himself. Thankfully, though his clothes were scattered across the bed, none of them had vanished. He could throw it under the sheet and put it on later.
“A minute? Sir Valentus, the tea will get cold!” the voice from behind the door called out again, puzzled. “What is happening there? Do you need help?”
“Nothing! Just... please wait!” Valentus yelled back in defense, his eyes then turned to Nova. It might sound silly to have such a comedic situation trigger such an instinct, but it was more than just his reputation with the House which was on the line. That could always get glazed over eventually. No, he now had a duty to protect Nova.
“I’ll... keep him distracted and explain everything away. Put on your clothes and get out, quick,” the noble whispered. Thankfully, her clothes did not seem anywhere near as complicated to put on as his.
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Nova simply nodded in response, reluctantly she was dressed faster than he had taken, talking to whoever was persistent at the door, promising to make a long enough distraction for her to escape without getting caught. Before she stepped out of the terrace, she stole a kiss on Valentus’ cheek, and stepped away to wave her white gloved hand at him as a goodbye.
Moments later she activated her utility belt, slipping into a newly developed tech created by her father, a suit that allowed her to blend in her surroundings like a chameleon. The metal cube was activated, liquid like metal surrounded her body, and she disappeared by bending the light that most Tuffles used to see.
Once she was outside, she leaped across the top of the stone gateway that surrounded the estate, and hopped on the roof tops towards the lab where she was born. At no point in her life did she have a childhood, she was aged up to a teenager in a cryopod when she woke up, and was otherwise preserved as part of Dr. Aspic’s many experiments.
Once inside the lab, she removed the suit that made her invisible, returning it inside the cube, and inside a pouch on her belt. Upon arrival her siblings were just released from their pods and were in the process of getting dressed.
“What took you so long?” Narin raised a brow.
“Did you get anything worthwhile?” Tangelo sneered.
“Eh.” Nova blushed, “Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“Huh?” Nova realized she was in such a daze about Valentus that she forgot about the motive. “It’s a work in progress. I haven’t slept so we can talk about it another time!”
Seconds later she was undressed and inside the cryopod which activated instantly while her brothers were staring at each other suspiciously.
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Much like Valentus had anticipated, Nova was quick to put on her shorts, stockings and bandeau - the noble, meanwhile, was not in as much of a rush, so he only put on his underwear in the time they had. Thankfully, his butler got the idea after the long distance yelling match and waited.
“-Oh,” the noble whispered, caught in surprise by the sudden kiss on his cheek, before smiling brightly. Much like Nova, Valentus raised his hand, waving a goodbye. “See you soon.” He wanted to add ”I hope” to that sentence, but held it back - in retrospect, it would have sounded much more desperate than he wanted their goodbyes to sound like.
Once Nova cloaked her appearance and vanished, Valentus dropped back onto the bed and pulled the sheet over himself, then called out again:
“Alright, you can come in!” The door to the room opened almost immediately. “Sorry for the trouble.”
“Is everything okay?” the butler asked as soon as he stepped in. There didn’t seem to be any signs of battle on the floor and on the walls, and Valentus appeared healthy as well. Right as he was about to place down the breakfast table before the young noble, he suddenly stopped, his focus diverted to the wall. “Sir Valentus, where did you put the-”
“Huh?” Valentus called out, turning in the same direction. The sword of Asbolus Nectarine, the encrusted replica of the legendary weapon wielded by the founder of their dynasty almost a millennium ago, was missing. “Wha-where did it go?!” Frantically, he rose to a sitting position, his head turning from side to side - at which point the butler asked again:
“Sir Valentus, why did you... sleep naked?”
“I-Uh-” the question got him to start stammering. Perhaps Nova would be better at coming up with good excuses, but Valentus was immediately left clueless. “I... forgot...?”
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While Nova slept, Dr. Aspic was alerted of a foreign object inside his daughter’s cryopod on his computer, while he mass developed the pods for future use entirely funded by the Tuffle Science Executive (TSE), as President of Tuffle Government, he strived for perfection to be presented to the leaders of the military branch ISLET. Dr. Citrus extracted the foreign object as a strand of fiery red hair, placed the hair inside a glass saucer dish, and resumed the cryostasis of the teenage girl. The resemblance between both females was uncanny, she specifically designed Nova’s appearance to her own per Dr. Aspic’s request, in order to explore designer DNA.
Once all the cryostasis data was presented with high success rates, further funding was given to the TSE from ISLET, to produce cryopods for their soldiers, as well as any cloning options for fallen comrades and leaders as a safety measure, as it was presently peaceful for Tuffles. Special tags activated a satellite signal to create a backup clone, extracting data from the original’s brain implant, and uploading the memories of the new cloned body. The ISLET commanders Commander Cerola, Weetsop, Pricota, Mango and Southern Taskforce Commander Tamarind were the first to be issued the tags which detected the life force of the current body to determine activation of the backup clone.
Meanwhile, Nova continued to sleep in the day, to visit Valentus at night until the final day before he joined the military. At no point did she stop to think about the sword she hid away because she felt spending time with the red haired teenager was far more valuable than an heirloom.
“I am going to miss you, Valentus.” Nova blushed as she confessed how she felt. “Are you going to miss me, too?”
The pink haired teen held her hands behind her back as she stood by the window shortly after sneaking past the guards. While she never grew physically tired, she was nearly out of breath, her heart was racing since it would be a long time until she could meet Valentus again when she truly desired to see him all the time. At this point she never realized what she was feeling was love that she kept secret from both of their families.
“It is protocol for citizens to enlist in the military but I am just…a clone. Dr. Aspic already served in the military until he was elected president of the TSE. So technically I already served and there isn’t anything I do not know about being a soldier. It is also for political reasons that I am not allowed to join. It is a conflict of interest if the most prestigious scientist had his genius clones move up in the ranks among the present commanders.”
Nova knew she was over explaining the situation, she just wished there was another way to express her devotion, of her wish to be with the noble as much as possible, except it was impossible for many reasons. While they both refused to follow the rules, the exemption was made for being seen publicly by the government, neither teen would disgrace their ancestry, and as long as they believed their relationship was secret it was safe to assume it would remain that way.
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“I know you don’t like your neck getting squeezed, but you are going to have to keep your collar tight, it’s proper that way.”
After a slightly forceful buttoning of his son’s military green uniform, Prince Coronet smiled and stepped back. His wife Elberta stood besides him, also striking a bright, proud smile. Valentus was still fixing up the uniform by his wrist, while his father continued speaking. “You know, if you enjoy your time out there, then please write to me and I will ensure that you can stay. Our house has not had a General among our ranks for almost two centuries, you know.”
“I... don’t want to think about that right now,” the young noble answered. “I still don’t know what to expect out there.”
“You’re going to get in trouble, you know?” Elberta spoke up and nudged him with a wink. “You’re going to threaten Cerola’s spot as the most handsome commander in all Tuffle Armed Services.”
“Ah-stop that...” Valentus mumbled, glancing to the side with a faint blush, and thus getting his mother to start laughing. He and his parents soon said their goodbyes for the night, however, and the young noble departed - tomorrow, early in the morning, he is finally leaving the manor, and won’t return for a minimum of two years. Coronet and Elberta remained standing in the central hall after their son vanished in the corridors, at which point, the woman immediately dropped all pretenses of a happy face and poked her husband on the chest, gushing out:
“You know you could have pulled all the strings needed to get him out of the TAS. Or assign him somewhere harmless, at least - but no. We both know what’s been happening with the Saiyans recently. Do you think they’re going to wait until our sweetheart completes his service? Of course not!”
“I could have, but my heart won’t let me,” Coronet defended himself. “Cowardice is a crime to our family code worse than death. If Val ends up forced to fight in a war and has to defend his honor, even if he dies, then I won’t feel an ounce of regret about it.”
“Oh, grow up for once...” his wife shot back with venom in her voice. “We don’t live in the ancient times. And, what’s worse, Val’s taking that philosophy from you... if he keeps that up, then this world is going to eat him alive.”
…
After leaving the central hall, Valentus walked past a handful of corridors before finally entering his room - where, once again, he could find Nova. As he had gotten used to by now, the noble locked the door to ensure that nobody from the other side stumbled in, then approached his lover.
Today, she was a lot more somber, opening up by saying that she is going to miss him, asking whether he felt the same, and then going on a tangent about how her nature - being a clone of Dr. Aspic and all - prevented her from following him. No matter what, he could tell that her thoughts swirled about what would happen to him.
“Please, Nova...” Valentus muttered, then reached around the girl to gently pick up one of her hands, holding it tightly in front of him with both of his own. “The more you worry about me, the worse you feel... the worse it makes me feel.”
The noble formed a smile. “I’m not going to be gone forever. No matter what happens to me in the Armed Services, I’ll never forget you - and when I come back, I’ll be sure to reach out to you as the first thing I do.”
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Nova was stunned to hear Valentus explain that her concerns were affecting him, she nodded her head, and lowered her gaze apologetically.
“I am sorry. I am confident that you will do well!” The teenage girl grinned, gripping his hand, “Just give me a minute to change. We should celebrate together, all the new recruits are in their uniforms, so we can blend right in.”
Prior to leaving the lab, she managed to print a replica of the uniform, mainly for the free food and drinks local shops were offering for their soldiers. The uniform was kept inside the puzzle cubes she kept in her belt pouch. It was neatly pressed upon release and she easily wore it over her usual clothes apart from her shoes which were not part of the uniform so changed those as well. Perhaps it was questionable to a noble to witness someone impersonate a soldier, it was just another rule she was willing to break for a memorable night, and she figured he would overlook what she was getting into.
The pinkette released her side ponytail, then tucked her hair into the sailor style cap, and she straightened up to resemble a female soldier.
“It’s not a standard issue uniform but it’s very convincing right? Are you ready to go, Valentus?”
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“I... certainly hope so,” Valentus muttered under his breath in response to Nova’s encouragement, though his voice came off more somber than he intended. After all, even if he tried to argue that he was only going to be gone for a few years, it was still a long time, and anything could happen in that time. Will he return the same he was, will he still be able to find Nova when he comes back?
Hell, will he even return? Valentus always made sure to mention it as a certainty to Nova, something she should never worry about, but... what if he fails to fulfill that promise?
While he was lost in thought, the girl suddenly got another idea. From her belt pouch, she suddenly pulled out a replica of the uniform of a Tuffle Armed Services cadet, and before his eyes, she swiftly put it on. She even pulled out a sailor style cap, placing it on her now loosened hair - combined with her mischievous grin, the cuteness was heart-melting to Valentus.
“Oh, uh... well, it certainly fits the part...” he answered, still lightly stunned by the sudden change, then blinked a few times. “Wait, where are we going? I only have to leave tomorrow in the morning...”
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Nova blew air into her cheek until it puffed up, Valentus was lost in thought, completely unaware that she said they should celebrate with the other soldiers who were partying in every district as a send off. Perhaps nobles had more to think about being enlisted in the military. The teenage girl had no idea what formalities he had to follow through but she figured he needed one last night of fun to remember.
“We are gonna walk the streets and try all kinds of treats. Dance and be merry!” The pink haired Tuffle activated an orb, she took his hand, and smiled towards the hovering mechanical device which snapped a photo with a shutter.
“Of course that means you have to sneak off, worse case scenario we might get caught if you’re not any good at it, but we have to try right? Let’s go.”
While holding hands, she crept towards the terrace, keeping her sky blue eyes for the guards who kept their eyes on the walls at all times. The moment they turned, she gripped the noble’s hand tightly into a vice, and they both leaped off the edge to land on the ground hidden by shadows. Once the area was clear again, they had to scale the wall, at this point she released his hand since it required they use both their hands to climb up.
Once Nova gave the signal, she scaled the wall first, with ease, since she spent two weeks of this routine it was rather easy for her. Unfortunately, she was met with two soldiers standing on the other side with their arms crossed, wearing the same captain style hats with a shiny leather brim.
“Eh…” Nova needed to wait for Valentus, so running was not an option, and she felt something familiar about the pair until she heard their voices.
“So this is where you have been.” Narin spoke up first.
“We found out you printed uniforms at the lab so we made our own. A perfect disguise to blend into masses.” Tangelo grinned, “Free food!”
“You two are on your own.” Nova scoffed, “Unlike you two losers I have a date. So get lost.”
“I never figured you for a breeder. While it’s impossible in your current condition. I fail to see the logic of anyone going on a date with a barren woman.”
In Tuffle society, people took pride in their offspring, while nobles arranged marriages everyone else was raised to choose suitable suitors. Nova knew that she was far from suitable, she allowed instinct to take over her teenage hormones in exchange for feeling affinity, and she lowered her head.
“Mind your own business.”
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Nova did not enjoy Valentus’ confusion, puffing up her cheeks in response, then explaining that they were going to sneak away to the streets for the night, and spend the last night together for a long time enjoying their time with everything the streets provide. “Ah, of course...” the noble muttered under his breath, feigning understanding. While this may have been a matter of fact to Nova, Valentus was actually not aware that they could find anything special on the streets tonight, especially tailored to cadets in the Tuffle Armed Services. An affair with the clone hasn’t made him any less sheltered.
Pulled in for a sudden photo, Valentus quickly struck a smile, and let himself get pulled to the window terrace, where, after quickly deducing the pattern of the guards below, Nova leapt and took the noble with her. Only at the last moment, as he already soared through the air, did he realize that this may not have been the best idea.
After all, how can he guarantee that he will return back home in time - and manage to sneak through again, even - and thus not end up late for his departure? At least, thankfully, he had the bright idea of locking his door - he won’t have his parents or siblings sneaking in and thus seeing that he’s absent.
Nova scaled the wall from the gardens to the streets beyond Nectarine Manor first, while Valentus briefly checked whether nobody was looking, before following after her. His climb was not as quick as Nova’s, but not particularly slow either - copying the girl’s movements, he pulled himself up in haste.
Right as his head poked over the wall, he saw that a scene had developed on the other side - two other recruits had confronted Nova. Valentus only caught the end of their conversation, but it told him everything he needed to know about what’s happening - one of the two recruits called her a “barren woman” and she told him to mind his own business. The noble dropped down on his feet and stepped forth, yelling:
“Get lost!”
Valentus stopped in front of Nova on instinct, his stance now much more stout and confident. Whoever these two were, he was not afraid of them. “If you touch her, you suffer. Simple as that.”
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“My apologies. I never expected my identical twin sister would be on a date with a noble.”
Narin offered a bow, his pale pink eyes narrowed, as he observed the teen for a moment. Clearly, their relationship must have been secret, a noble would never waste their time with a commoner let alone a clone. Dr. Aspic was the front runner of the latest scientific breakthrough but his clones were just another experiment.
The triplets had one significant aspect that distinguished their relationship, their eye colors complimented each other’s hair.
While it was dark, Nova was embarrassed that her brothers showed up, let alone be challenged into a fight with Valentus.
Tangelo cracked his knuckles, a glint appeared in his green eyes, he was grinning under the veil of shadows under the brim of his hat, more than eager to test out this red haired teenager’s might.
“Hey! You can fight another day. You’re both cutting into our time.” Nova punched Tangelo hard against his bicep to get him to move.
“Hah! You’re actually serious for once.”
“Come on Valentus, let's ditch them.”
The pink haired tuffle reached out to take the noble’s hand and pulled him out of the present situation by running down the street towards the festivities. The most significant spectacles were marching bands, hologram parades with strobe lights, confetti, and food stalls in every corner offering anyone in uniform a small meal. Nova stopped running by a water canal that divided the main streets and turned around to face her lover.
“I would have introduced you to my brothers sooner but they normally sleep at night. It’s a good thing they caught on rather late or else we wouldn’t hear the end of it.” Nova chuckled nervously, “You must have overheard them for you to respond that way. Honestly, your family would have reacted the same way if they ever found out about me…regardless of your noble birth my feelings towards you are as if you were my equal.”
Still holding his hand, she intertwined her fingers with his, and clenched her uniform with her other hand specifically over her chest which was pounding wildly.
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Narin’s sudden response, emphasizing that he was Nova’s twin, briefly got Valentus to do a double take, but his stature remained straight. He quickly realized what was going on - if he, and likely by extension Tangelo, were Nova’s siblings, then they must be Dr. Aspic’s clones as well.
That left Valentus slightly less confident when he saw the blue haired twin itching for a fight - if Nova, as he recalled, was genetically modified to be the best sprinter in existence, then he had no reason to assume the other clones weren’t equally superhuman. It was not going to get him to stand down, however. Making a stand was more important than actually winning one.
Fortunately, Nova intervened in time, ordering Tangelo to step aside, before taking Valentus’ hand and setting off. The noble shot one final glance at the two clones they left by the garden walls - his eyes were narrowed, though, as the standoff got resolved, he was not particularly furious anymore.
The streets of the capital were lively tonight, more than the usual. The two lovers walked past over a dozen different food stalls, selling options from pastry to hot soup, while a military band was playing tunes from their camp somewhere in the distance... Past all that, Valentus and Nova stopped by a water canal instead.
“I heard the end of it, yes. I didn’t know they were your brothers at first, so I thought you were in danger,” the noble explained himself. Hearing Nova’s thoughts about the reaction his family would have had if they found out about their relationship, the noble released a sigh. “True, but at least it could be worse... My family is more accepting of the changing times than the average noble. I don’t know how much you follow politics, but they’ve tried to achieve peace between us and the Saiyans for years...”
With a resigned expression, Valentus glanced away, his hand was placed on the railing separating them from the canal, and his eyes stared to the water below.
“I’m sure pretty much everyone but us would react the same way - and I don’t even quite understand it. There’s a difference in status and wealth, sure, and in bearing children... but that shouldn’t be enough to resign anyone to never being able to truly be together. But...”
Valentus suddenly gently picked up Nova’s other hand, holding them both and staring her in the eyes. “It doesn’t have to be this way! One day, I’ll... have the power to make real change, to the better. I won’t just be an heir locked inside a manor forever, one day I’ll be the next Prince Nectarine. And at that point, what I decree will actually mean something.”
His smile was confident. “One day, we won’t have to hide anymore, and nobody will call you barren.”
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As the days passed in her life, despite being in company of siblings, Nova felt alone with her emotions. Part of being the fastest among the three, she was also a quick witted thinker, unlike Narin who was calculative and patient, while she was left suppressing anything that defied logic. For the first time in her life, she actually wanted to be left alone with Valentus, but she also wanted to celebrate with the rest of the locals which left her conflicted. In response to her feelings over their relationship, the noble confessed that he wanted to defy the social stigma between them, and what he said afterwards astounded her completely.
“Achieve peace with Saiyans?” Nova was in disbelief, she was vc
M p
specifically cloned on the off chance that she would be faced with one in a fight, and she cast her gaze away. Politics were not her strong suit, she was far too emotional to rationalize anything, and she simply nodded her head.
It was strange for the pair of teens to decide their future based on being able to reproduce, all the pink haired tuffle could think of at present was having a good time with the noble for as long as possible, at some point she did think about when it would all end but she did not allow it to cloud her judgement at present.
With both of her hands held by Valentus, Nova’s heart started racing as she listened to his confident choice of words to describe a future he imagined was entirely possible, and she smiled happily for a moment.
“Well, when you put it that way, anything is possible. Apart from being together, you have to convince the TSE that clones have the same rights as Tuffles first, we’re considered science experiments apart from people. I suggest working with Dr. Citrus on the subject, she designed us, and she can confirm that we have independent conscious thoughts like anyone born naturally. Whatever happens will define the rights of every new clone afterwards.”
After a beat, she giggled at the prospect, and smiled, “Is there anything you wanted to do tonight specifically while we’re here? Perhaps you can save all this future politics after you serve your term first. Thanks for sharing your ideas with me, it gives me hope.”
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Seeing Nova’s expression light up by his words, hearing her be moved by his hope and dreams, warmed up Valentus’ heart at its core. “Of course, I’ll do my best,” he answered the clone girl, smiling as well. It might sound a little troubling that he would need to go through so many institutional things, if Nova is to be believed - however, hearing that it would make life just a little bit better for every clone, not just them two, motivated him further.
After all, if he has an opportunity to make this world just a little bit better place to live, then why shouldn’t he take it? Good actions, bad actions, that dichotomy rarely figured in his mind - but as if on instinct, Valentus knew that this was the right thing to do.
“Ah, well...” Valentus glanced to the side, considering Nova’s question, then faintly snickered under his breath. “Funny that the only idea I did have has just been made invalid. I had a thought that I could bring you to our library one of these days - I’m sure that even if Dr. Aspic has all the reading you could ever need on the natural sciences, he is not as well read on ancient history.”
The noble briefly glanced over his shoulder, towards the path from the manor they had just run past, before turning back to Nova.
“But forget that. We’re not returning back home for the night, I take it. You know much more about what we can do in the city than I do.”
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“So you enjoy history…” Nova realized it was a subject she was not entirely familiar with but she was happy to learn something new about her lover all the same. “I rarely see Dr. Aspic, so I am not sure how well versed he is in ancient history, and nothing is impossible when it comes to his genius intellect.”
The pink haired teen hummed while she held his hands like a bridge between them, “We will return to your manor early. I just wanted to know what your favorite foods are and to taste them all...as something to remember you by. Besides, if we hang around too long, my brothers might follow us so we should lose them while we have the chance to. So let’s go.”
After releasing one hand, she held onto the other, and led the way to the first food stall which was serving dumplings. A sampler was handed over to each of them, the variety of dumplings were folded differently, and the one that Nova enjoyed the most was filled with soup which burst in her mouth.
“Which one is your favorite?” Nova blinked her sky blue eyes briefly, then smiled to grab another plate of fruit slices in a similar variety from peach, orange, grape, drupe, kiwi, and banana. “How about these?”
While the pair of teens spend every night embracing each other since they first met, this was the first time they were seen in public, wearing cadet uniforms to blend in with the crowd like equals, and she was enjoying every minute of it because she felt like a normal teenager for the first time.
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“Ahh...” Valentus muttered, his lover’s motive briefly caught him off-guard, but he quickly understood what the logic behind it was. On the last night before his departure, Nova wanted to learn more about him - and so dragged him to the food stalls across town to sample what the people had to offer. They stopped before a stall, where Nova immediately equipped herself with a bounty. Dumplings, several options of them, and then a plate with an array of fruit.
“Ah, give me a second...” the noble spoke under his breath, unsure, and reached to the stall to pick up one of the disposable plastic forks offered. He had not tried dumplings before - though, judging from Nova’s expression, they were a delicacy to her. The fruit were more familiar, however - they were a cornerstone of the diet of noble Tuffles just as much as they were for commoners. With the side of his fork, Valentus carefully cleaved the peach slice in half and picked up one of the halves, reaching for Nova’s mouth.
“How is this?” he asked. If the girl opened her mouth, he would place the piece of the peach inside with his fork, and pick up the second one for himself. “I like peaches. They’re... sweet, but not too much. My family grows a peach orchard, too... so I’ve had them often.”
It did not take a mention for Valentus to tell that Nova was having the time of her life, pulling him through the food stalls and being... just an ordinary couple, without any restraint. He did not mention it either - but he felt much of the same.
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It was quite unusual to be fed publicly, so Nova quickly took a bite of the peach slice, but slowly chewed it to savor the flavor while Valentus explained his family kept this type of fruit at his estate.
“It is...tart like an apple but soft...and crisp. So this is genuinely your favorite because you grew up eating this?” The teenager observed, “I wonder how many dishes can be made from this fruit.”
The pair were whisked away by vendors, other cadets were crowding the stalls, eventually they were offered a full plate to share at a picnic style table under a tarp since it began to fog up. Without thinking much about it, Nova was sampling the bread rolls, one was made with potato, and the other had more egg in it to change its color.
“You had dinner with your family...so you must not be as hungry as I am. Hmm. I cannot decide which bread roll I like more, the one with the root specimen or the one that is moist from the extra eggs mixed into the composition of the baked product.”
Once again she was explaining everything on a scientific level, she was the least charismatic of the triplets, so she relied on her intellect to hold a conversation. Nova was raised differently in the past few years as a teen compared to Valentus who was raised as a noble who would eventually ascend to become a prince. While it was due to instant chemistry that attracted to her to him as a prime specimen of the opposite sex that brought them together as a couple; perhaps he found her quirks interesting enough to understand her explanations. None of these thoughts crossed her mind as she was rather focused on learning what the redheaded teenager enjoyed, so that could reminisce on all of his favorite foods while they were apart, and she looked over to smile at him happily.
“So, what do you think? Which one of these is your favorite? I can learn to make this someday since it seems simple enough.”
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“Well, I don’t really pick favorites from food... but I guess so,” Valentus answered when asked about his opinion on peaches. Since Nova enjoyed it, Valentus offered her another slice at the tip of his fork while they continued talking. “I know people make a lot of desserts from it, though I personally like just having a few of them sliced as a snack while reading.”
Their trip across the food vendors continued, and soon enough, Nova returned to him with new bounties at hand - freshly baked bread rolls, picked out from an assortment of pastry offered to aspiring TSE officers. Unfortunately, the girl was not sure how to describe them - so, she relied upon a barrage of scientific terminology to get her point across, which left the noble even more confused. Ever since they first met, he started to get used to Nova’s waxed and scientific speech, and figured it was because of her clone nature - but he still slipped up trying to understand her at times.
“Ah-uh, a root product?” Valentus repeated what she said, confused. “You mean... like a tree root?” That what Nova meant was potato flour, from a root vegetable, slipped from his mind - the scientific language obscured it. “That sounds... rather exotic, I don’t think I’ve ever tried that.”
Gently, he picked up the bread roll from Nova’s hands and pulled it into two halves, offering one half to the girl and trying the other himself. After he took the first bite off the potato bread roll, Valentus suddenly spoke:
“Oh, oh, speaking of peaches - our servants bake peach pie sometimes, and that is great. It’s like those peaches and these bread rolls, combined to something superior.”
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“Tree root?” Nova was confused now, she was describing a root vegetable, trees were not known for producing root specimens that were edible, and they were both lost in the conversation. Since he described the potato flour bread roll as exotic, she assumed he preferred it over the egg one, and set it down to eat more of the other, noticing that it had more flavor.
“I typically do not eat from the local shops but my metabolism is generally higher than normal so I can eat anything without being restricted to a certain diet... but Dr. Citrus does have a meal plan for me and the others in order to develop our specialized traits to its full potential.” She admitted, “I imagine all your meals at home are different, too. The TAS rations are going to be similar to what I normally eat, perfectly balanced, and practically tasteless. Honestly, I feel like I have been missing out on a few things, now that I am with you.”
Valentus described a peach pie being superior to the peach and bread rolls. While Nova was intrigued, it seemed like it was something only House Nectarine produced, otherwise the various scents in the dense fog would have drawn the noble by now.
“It seems you’re going to miss out on peach pie from home. Do you think there might be some left for me to try? Well...we should head back before we get caught again.” She grinned, taking a sip of water, before getting up to look around outside the tent to make sure they were not followed. “Are you ready to go, Valentus?”
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“Sounds like I’ll end up missing out when I end up travelling there, too,” Valentus commented after hearing Nova’s detail of their diet. He did not actually know what the cadets in the TAS usually ate, but he had anticipated not having the variety which he was used to back home. Instead of filling, delicious, professionally made meals, it was going to be rations designed to keep cadets in shape and provide them with all of the nutrients and vitamins they need every day.
After all, unlike the declining noble houses, the armed forces and the scientific community followed reason and efficiency without any scrupule.
Listening to Valentus about the supremacy of the peach pie, Nova asked if she could have any - the sudden innocence in her wording getting him to flash a soft smile. “I doubt it, you can’t store pie for that long... I’m sure you could find a recipe somewhere in our library, though.” Technically, her taking some Nectarine peach pie would be theft. And while Valentus obviously was not going to say something that mean to Nova, he could not condone it, either.
The noble tapped the flat military cap on his head, tipping the beak down slightly to remain inconspicuous. “Of course, I’m ready when you are.”
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“Ah...so it's better when it is prepared fresh as it does not keep well...the glucose from peaches is a natural preservative. Hm. Perhaps that is only true when it is stored or turned into...jam?” Nova was reliant on the information she inherited from Dr. Aspic, while parts of her memories had been tampered with for security reasons, she was still required to learn or affirm her findings on her own.
While she was lost in thought the noble joined her at the entrance of the tent, the fog was sufficient cover from masking their presence from her siblings who were curious about the couple, as it was unusual to keep secrets from each other. Just as she was about to take a step forward, she noticed their familiar faces, she tensed up and reached out for Valentus’ hand to weave through the crowd of cadets.
Like a dance, Nova was quick to flow around the other soldiers fluidly, her sky blue eyes were wide as she calculated her trajectory towards the city center, where the elite nobles resided. Unfortunately, Narin predicted she would return to the wall closest to the terrace so he waited for her there. The pink haired Tuffle did not anticipate outsmarting her quick witted twin, so she quickly turned down an alleyway, she was practically holding the red haired tuffle teen into a vice with her grip from the stress of involving a relative in their antics for the evening. At some point she was about to unveil their cover of darkness if she did not release his palm, it was frustrating enough to hide from guards, servants, and the other nobles in the Nectarine Household let alone her own family who was presently searching for her whereabouts.
Their secret world was about to be discovered but Nova was not the type to give up so she sprinted out leaving Valentus behind with a simple hand gesture to remain in place. After scaling the walls of a nearby building, she leaped up on the rooftops, pretending she was heading towards the wall to catch Narin’s attention but Tangelo was already on the lookout his arms outstretched to capture his pink haired sister in a tight embrace of his above average muscular build. However, Nova backflipped out of the way in a fraction of a second, she was the fastest among the triplets and she was going to have a difficult time losing the trail between the other two.
Perturbator - Venger [feat. Greta Link] (Unofficial Videoclip)
Nova returned to lower districts, where cadets were still crowding around, blending in with the crowd once again, and she was immediately followed by both of her brothers who were much slower. A group of tuffles with pink hair were in view, so she took advantage of heading towards them, even switching her headwear with one of them to distract Tangelo’s senses. The fog rolled in, the teenage girl relied on her powerful legs to sprint back to where she left her lover waiting, then reclaimed his hand so they could scale the walls of his estate once again to leap over the other side.
An LED clock appeared under Nova’s wrist, she had timed the climb perfectly when the guards switched shifts, and they still had to scale up towards the terrace into Valentus’ room to avoid detection. After a beat, she did exactly that, and for the first time the noble would notice how much effort she had to put in every night to meet him secretly. However, she was not remotely fatigued in the slightest, all the calories she ate before gave her the boost she needed to remain alone together.
“I managed to avoid them this long...but I am still the fastest runner.” Nova smiled as she caught her breath, while standing inside his room, which was presently dark. “It is your turn to lead the way.”
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Before Valentus could yelp a word, Nova grabbed him by the hand and dragged him across town, weaving through people in their path and getting a handful of confused glances their way - two cadets suddenly rushing out and running away was not something you could easily miss. Valentus tried his best to keep up - but despite his training, he couldn’t hope to be as nimble as someone designed to be superior to an average Tuffle from birth, so he ended up pulled, trying his best to move out of the way and not hit any of the other cadets. The last thing they wanted was to get in trouble because they pushed some tough guy and spilled his drink.
Until suddenly, Nova let go of Valentus’ hand and ran into the distance, leaving him standing in the middle of the street, lost and a little bit confused. He could tell that Nova was leading them away from something, but without any sort of explanation, all the noble could do was guess. Maybe she saw someone in the fog and the crowd he did not? Maybe she knew that someone back home was in trouble and wanted them to get back sooner...
“Darn it, Nova...” Valentus muttered under his breath and folded his arms. He couldn’t be mad at her, but being dragged out into an unfamiliar part of the city and then left alone didn’t leave him happy, either. Especially since he still did not know what this was for. Fortunately, this abandonment did not stick. In a matter of minutes, Nova grabbed his hand from behind again and dragged Valentus forward yet again. From there, the two teens hastily infiltrated the manor yet again - climbing over the same garden wall as before, tracking the movement of the guards to advance past the gardens, and making their way up to the terrace where they had first met, which appeared almost impossible to do without supertuffle strength, but with Nova’s help, Valentus scaled it up as well.
“Ahh...” he sighed under his breath and sat down on the bed - while Nova was visibly just as energetic as always, Valentus had to catch his breath for once. Before he was about to ask, the girl explained what was going on - she was on the run from her brothers. “You could have... at least mentioned it while we were on the run. I had no idea what was happening the whole time...”
The noble stood back up and made his way to the door, unlocking it and opening it. By now, the rest of the manor was just as dark and silent as Valentus’ room - and while his room had just enough light from out the window to see around, the corridors were going to be pitch black. So, from a nearby drawer, Valentus took out two lights - they were custom made, designed to look like burning candles, even though they were actually electric. He offered one to Nova and walked forward with the other in his hand.
The corridors of the Nectarine manor were decorated intricately, and adorned with numerous paintings. Some had been purchased by the family during the past few centuries, and varied from battle scenes, to paintings of Tuffle space exploration and summits with the species of the Planet Trade Organization. Others were full body portraits which depicted ancient heads of the family - stout, proud, always with red-orange hair much like Valentus’ and often in armor. The paintings were supposed to represent what that prince was the most famous for during their life, after all, and many past Nectarines were soldiers, or politicians.
Finally, they approached a tall, narrow double door built out of the finest wood money could buy - here, Valentus briefly raised his palm to stop Nova. First, he leaned close to the door to check if he could hear anything inside, then slightly opened one of the doors to peek inside. Sometimes, even during the night, a cleaning maid might be here to sweep away gathering dust or order the books correctly. This was not one of those days, however, and the library was completely empty - so, Valentus led Nova inside.
“All of the knowledge which my family has gathered for centuries is stored here,” the noble stated, calmly, the elevated area of the entrance giving them a sweeping view of an enormous two-story library. “Perhaps not as much in the natural sciences as Dr. Aspic may have, but when it comes to things like ancient history, or even martial arts... this place has books which do not exist anywhere else in the Universe.”
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“It is difficult to explain...I just wanted to be alone with you, Valentus.” Nova affirmed, she was basically inseparable with her siblings, and they did not understand her recent change in behavior so they have been monitoring her ever since. The imposition of her relatives was not necessarily an issue since House Nectarine would have been against the pair as well. The noble was eager to show her the library as promised, so he handed her an odd lighting device, and gestured for her to follow him.
Everything inside the manor was dark, quiet, and every step echoed in the long corridor that was illuminated by the electric light shaped like a candle--which Nova had never seen before until tonight. The pair of teens were raised differently, Valentus was deeply rooted in ancient traditions, and Nova was integrated in the latest advancements of science. The portraits of his relatives were intricate, symbolic to what his house was capable of and their influence among the elite tuffle society, which she could never imagine herself being part of. A suitable spouse would politically aid Valentus’ dream who was nearly as powerful to influence the future.
The idea that clones were equal to natural born Tuffles would be absurd to the current climate of society. After all, there was still a division of class within the city districts, and Valentus’ parents would be against their relationship on the suspicion that Dr. Aspic had planned for his clone to be involved with their son for political reasons. All these ideas filled Nova’s mind, the potential outcomes after discovering their secrets, and she looked up to see the grand library in awe with a high ceiling full with ornate wood that was more exquisite compared to the furniture in the noble’s room.
“So these are archives of historical references in physical form?” Nova wondered, she was accustomed to searching for information on a computer, and this was the first time she had ever seen a book.
There were more candles throughout, similar to the one she was holding, which she set down on a table so she could pick up one of the volumes which was written in a language she was able to read. Genetically bred to be fast, she flipped through the pages on a book that explored the phases of the moon, reading the two inch thick book in less than five minutes. Nova’s blue eyes counted the number of books on the shelves and calculated how long it would have taken to read them all.
“If you brought me here from the beginning. I would have been able to read all the books by now.” Placing the book back to where she found it she leaned on the table in her forged cadet uniform. “So which one is your favorite? I should read that one next.”
Among other things, there was a recipe that Nova needed to find as well, so she could learn to make his favorite dessert.
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For a noble family, history was everything. In a world which was governed by science and rationality, the last thing they could do was cling onto times of the past when it was not technology and minds that governed the planet, but swords and blue blood. They still remember the times when they were the eyes and ears of the Tuffle King like it was yesterday. In truth, their power has long, long since waned - even the most famous and wealthy families such as the Nectarines mostly remained relevant not through their status, but because members of their dynasty were actually active on Planet Plant, be it in politics or in the Armed Services.
So, it was crucial to keep that history written, codified, and transferred across generations. This was the primary purpose of their library - so many of the books lined across the shelves were either family history or collections of documents from centuries past.
“That’s what archives look like in physical form, yes. Maybe a little less illustrious, but still...” Valentus explained as he strolled into the centre of the library, standing in between several reading tables and raising his light into the air to illuminate the bookshelves surrounding them from every side. In the corner of his eyes, he saw Nova pick up one of the books in the astronomy section. “Father does not want to digitize anything but the most general tomes. That way, the knowledge stored here remains stored only here - instead of filtering its way to the outside world. I’m not sure why it’s so necessary, but apparently it is...”
Finishing his brief contemplation, Valentus turned around, thinking of asking Nova what the book she took was about and whether she found it interesting - only to see the girl already pushing the book away and asking for another.
“That...” Valentus muttered, blinking in bafflement. Now that he saw Nova push the book back to its place, he recognized the cover. “That book took me two weeks to finish... Are you sure you read all of it?”
He took a glance around, his eyes setting on the bookshelves. “I guess... you could give the 18-tome History of Planet Plant a try,” he brought up, his attention drawn to eighteen massive tomes with a rich blue cover, lined up one after another in one of the bookshelves. “They are a few decades old, but they are masterfully written and easily accessible for any reader.”
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It seemed some of the books were not sourced anywhere on the planet according to Valentus’ explanation, specifically because his household acquired the information for themselves, or a different reason Nova could not begin to comprehend. Knowledge is power but at the same time ignorance was a weakness that people exploited. Dr. Aspic had been monitoring planet Salada from a distance ever since he noticed a leap in their scientific progress, he had been suspicious that saiyans were conquering other planets, and would eventually arrive at planet Plant. For the longest time, he forced himself to sleep in cryopods, in order to remain adept in developing technology that would aid the Tuffles succeed in the future. The development of clones was published to the public as the latest scientific theory but the triplets were entirely secret. A premeasure of the data analysis from TSE that a war was inevitable if the saiyans continued conquering planets successfully across the galaxy.
“Your father is quite optimistic in the preservation of these volumes.” Nova smiled, she analyzed that the books had the potential of surviving two thousand years, unless copies were produced, but it was none of her business to have an opinion on the matter since it was not her household. “Are you not entitled to scanning a few digitally for your personal use without anyone else knowing? What is one more secret?”
The pink haired Tuffle mused as she watched the noble admire a specific collection, he wondered about her reading ability, admitting that it had taken two weeks for him to read the same book, and she tilted her head curiously wondering if it was abnormal that she was able read quickly or not. Part of the reason the triplets were left to their own devices, was to make their own discoveries, and this was one of those moments.
“The archive covered the phases of both of our moons, the gravitational pull of when both moons are in its fullest phases decreases the ocean tides by several kilometers. It also covered the equinox of the moon during certain time periods and the one that was most interesting was the Harvest Moon phase. I can read these volumes quickly...I suppose not every Tuffle can do that.”
Nova stood next to Valentus and explained that the collection was his favorite, one that covered the planet’s history in a form that she suspected was an encyclopedia, an ancient form of historical knowledge that was constantly being revised by historians whenever information was missing from initial study. A sigh escaped her lips, while he was enthusiastic, she was beginning to doubt the accuracy of the information compared to what she was allowed to know since part of her memories from Dr. Aspic were tampered with intentionally. After pulling out the first volume, she read about the first surviving historical monument by tuffles since the dawn of existence, and she looked over to stare at Valentus who was still enthusiastic about what she would learn from this book.
“Why do you enjoy reading about the past so much, Valentus?” Nova wondered, she stared at his teenage visage to the point where their noses nearly touched, and she stole a kiss. “The present is so much better.”
With a soft chuckle, she began to speed read, flipping the pages within a matter of seconds, reading the five centimeter book in five minutes. Nova’s sky blue eyes read every line, the pupils practically vibrated back and forth reading every line. While this was just her second book, she noticed that her eyes had become fatigued slightly, she blinked a few times until her regenerative abilities restored her sight to normal, she was straining her eyesight slightly from the low lighting conditions.
“The prehistoric ages were quite something...people lived in natural habitats like animals. It was such a long time ago that we have evolved into superior beings in our own solar system to the point of space exploration. However, we are still in the process of sending space probes before we venture anywhere near another planet without the utmost caution. It is part of Tuffle nature to determine all the variables prior to making a commitment that can change history itself...otherwise our entire existence.”
Nova often spoke confidently about anything she was knowledgeable about and she was not nearly as optimistic as her counterpart. The unknown future was unpredictable even with the latest advancements of technology, Dr. Aspic was quite paranoid as a result, and she had been ignoring any concerns her creator turmoiled over in order to enjoy the present.
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“I don’t need to scan them - I'm allowed to read them myself, and honestly, I prefer reading an old manuscript in my hands to a digital copy,” he answered Nova’s thoughts about scanning some of the volumes for personal use. Eventually, they will have to be copied when the paper wears down for good, but that was going to take a very long time - here, they were kept in the best possible condition.
“Well no, I don’t think anyone except you can do that,” Valentus then explained, raising his eyebrow at Nova being completely unaware that her ability to speed-read was unique. Of course, being born with such an ability gives you a different perspective of what a “normal” Tuffle should be able to do - but he figured that unless Nova was made completely isolated from any and all knowledge about their species, written or otherwise, then she could have learned something about what makes her above average. At least, he did not have a reason to believe that she was merely pulling a prank on him - what she laid down was, indeed, what was written in the book.
“Besides, it’s not a race, or a competition. Sometimes, books are read to be enjoyed, not just to extract as much information as quickly as you can,” the noble tried to explain himself. When Nova reached for the first tome of History of Planet Plant, Valentus pulled it out from the top shelf for her and passed it to the girl. “Say, on a lazy afternoon, I’d pick up where I left off in the History tomes, bring a bowl of peaches and cookies at the side, and read a chapter before imagining what it was like in my head...”
But it was leisure, and Valentus was not sure if Nova understood the concept in anywhere near the same way as him. After all, she spends most of her time locked in a cryo pod and can’t even sleep.
Valentus reciprocated her kiss, briefly closing his eyes as she leaned to his face, but her question afterwards left the noble in thought. Embraced by the present, Nova wondered what interested him so much about the times of old. What did he find in all of these tomes?
“Well, yes, the present is more advanced, enlightened, and so on...” Valentus began, considering her question. “But there’s so many interesting stories to find in the past... It’s not really the dry facts which interest me - the stories, legends about heroism, glory and chivalry... that’s really what keeps bringing me here. The people we meet in the present - well, they have stories to tell, too, but we’re all flawed people in the end. Legendary heroes, meanwhile, are just so much more grand by design, the wars they fight are a lot more grand and their stories a lot more noble.”
Briefly, the noble stopped, considering his thoughts. “It’s something to aspire to, you know?”
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Socializing with other Tuffles had been minimal, people read everything that was written on electronic devices connected to the internet, so finding anyone reading a book at a leisure pace was rare. The pair of teens were distinct from each other on the notion of literature apart from the enjoyment of knowledge. Even with the shared kiss between them Valentus explained his love for history passionately. Nova was envious of his interests, she had not developed one of her own since she was rarely separated from her brothers, and after reading two archives she felt indifferent.
“I am not entirely certain if I am going to be as enthusiastic as you are by uncovering historical points of the past. After tonight, I feel partial towards learning to cook some of the food we had together, so I can enjoy it again.”
It was obvious when she spoke that discovering food she never had before was something she could pick up as a hobby. As a noble, he had a luxury of eating meals not everyone had before, and it was evident that her upbringing did not indulge in the same level of nutritional values. Dr. Aspic and Dr. Citrus raised the triplets on scientifically balanced meals that were made flavorless since the combination of ingredients compounded together would be distasteful otherwise.
“What is a cookie?” The pinkette wondered.
When Valentus mentioned heroism, Nova reflected on the first tome, which covered the Neolithic and golden ages which was distinguished by a clash of ideals which led to civil strife. Tuffles prioritize knowledge but whenever the foundation of intellectual growth was questioned the solution had always been left to the noble families. At some point the nobles were related by blood but eventually a price was paid by assassination in order to shift the influence of power. Perhaps heroism for a noble was facing their enemies without fear of being uprooted from their position. Despite the turmoil, Tuffles were reasonable enough to avoid war, and eventually the power shifted when ISLET and the TSE seized their own level of influence among the people.
With the current political climate, Valentus’ potential of being a hero would involve being highly decorated as a soldier, and at that point it would take quite some time to accomplish. Nova’s patience over being separated for so long was being tested in a matter of seconds. However, she knew very well that she had no choice on the matter because she had no desire to be with anyone else but him.
“Of course, if anyone is going to do well enough to leave a mark in history, it will be you, Valentus.”
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“A... cookie?” Valentus repeated Nova’s question, blinking for a second. It wasn’t that he was surprised by her not knowing what it was - their time in the streets not too long ago proved that she knew very little about the different foods available to the average Tuffle. He was unprepared to explain something as simple as a cookie, however.
He glanced to the sides for a second, wondering if there was a bowl or a jar of those left somewhere in the library - alas, even if someone had carelessly left one on the tables during the day, the manor’s servants and cleaning maids would have long since put it back where it belongs.
“It’s... a baked dessert, I suppose. Usually small, round and sweet, and baked out of dough,” the noble tried explaining in his own words. “It’s not something you’d eat for dinner, but it’s something sweet to snack on at the side. I’m surprised you never tried them, I imagine you’d really like them.”
Valentus’ mind was still on the matter of cookies when Nova changed topic - she returned to his idealism of the past, how he aspired to the legendary heroes from the books he mentioned. Surely, his bold claims about changing the world for the better when he finally becomes a prince in his own right added to it as well. For a second, Valentus stared at Nova in silence, slightly taken aback by her confidence in him, before he finally struck a soft smile and approached her.
“Thank you so much, Nova,” Much like she had stolen a kiss from him a moment ago, he did the same. “I love you.”
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“I will learn to bake cookies too.” The lab at home did not have the tools or facility to prepare any of the desserts Valentus enjoyed but she was optimistic to discover them for herself.
Nova removed her cap shortly after they kissed a second time, she stared back into his eyes, and felt her heart skip a beat when noble said he loved her.
“I love you, Valentus. The second I first looked at you, I already knew it. I just wish we could spend more time together but there is not enough time in a single day for us.”
The pink haired teenager wrapped her arms around the redhead’s neck, she pressed her chest against his torso, and passionately kissed the noble. When their tongues met, the sound of their enamored exchange echoed in the silent library, the shelves of books bounced their heavy breaths between the enclosed space they stood in. After a few minutes, Nova pulled away to stare at Valentus with bewilderment, she unsnapped the left side of the uniform, then pulled down on the enamel cross zipper to remove the dress jacket, to reveal her usual white bandeau underneath.
The library was not exactly a private room for the pair of teens, the risk only excited the Tuffle, and little thought was placed on doing anything else other than to share a moment of intimacy between lovers.
[Fade to black]
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Their love was exhilarating, ecstatic and unforgettable. The girl had wrapped her arms around him, pulling closer and leaning up to him. Looking down at her from up above, Valentus could tell that the girl was floating - even though he was not holding her, and Nova appeared light, she was holding onto his neck without any difficulty.
The flustered blush on Valentus’ face was not going away, but the noble struck a smile to reassure her nonetheless, and then picked her up with both of his arms to hold her in a bridal carry. If Nova chose to let go of her flight and rely on his arms, they would be sure to hold her for as long as she wanted.
He looked down at her face, gazing into the eyes he was going to have to let go for years before finally coming back. If he comes back. If he finds her after coming back. The worry was still nagging him at the back of his mind, and the noble chose to reassure her - not just her, but himself as well.
“Even if it takes a thousand years, I will return to you one day, Nova. I promise,” Valentus whispered back to his lover. “You are like the sun in my sky, I won’t ever be able to live without you again.”
Though his promises were dramatic, the noble was sure that neither of them had anything to fear. Planet Plant has been peaceful for as long as either of them have lived, nothing could stop him from returning home once his service concludes.
“We should go, before you get cold again.”
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Nova noticed Valentus blushed more by cradling her and it caused her own cheeks to turn different shades of pink as she relaxed in his arms. Listening to the noble express his love for her in comparison to sun caused her to smile widely, she was unfamiliar with such metaphors, since anything she read before were technical documents, she found an interest in the use of words he was capable of arranging into eloquent prose.
“Even when we’re apart, in my heart we will be together, and we will be under the same sky reflected in our eyes every time we think about each other.”
The mention of feeling cold caused her to laugh quietly, she closed her eyes briefly shaking her head, she was genetically modified to adapt to any temperature.
“I just said that I was cold because I want to feel your warmth, Valentus.” Nova admitted, “I figured that if it seemed urgent enough...I would not have to wait another second. Now I have to wait starting tomorrow.”
The pair of teens held their gazes a little longer until the pink haired Tuffle was set down to collect their dress uniform jackets. The Nectarine household was still occupied by others, so they quietly returned to the bedroom undetected.
Once they were in the room, Nova leaped for the bed mainly because she was not planning to sleep over with her brothers who were being highly suspicious of her whereabouts, and she had to face the consequences in order to keep Valentus safe so that he could report for duty. The heirloom sword hit the ground, after it had been tacked to the wooden underside of the bed, it was rather loud which caused the pink haired Tuffle to look towards the door to make sure that it closed before it echoed down the corridor.
It seemed impossible to explain why the sword was hidden there so Nova quietly picked it up and mounted it back on the wall where she found it initially; an indication that she was the reason it was there since knew exactly where to return it.
“I--” She began, biting her bottom lip, as she stared at the blade then turned to meet her lover’s gaze, “The truth is...I was not just exploring the Nectarine Manor because I was curious who lived here. My brothers and I planned to steal something valuable without being caught as part of our personal training. After meeting you, I changed my mind about the sword, and I forgot that it had been under the bed this entire time because you are all I think about when I am in this room.”
After a beat, she walked over to collect her cap on the bed, and clutched it tightly in her hands as she stepped in front of Valentus.
“I should go…”
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“I... darn it, Nova...” Valentus mumbled under his breath, faintly flustered. Here he was, thinking that he was doing a favor to his lover in her moment of need, only for her to laugh at him and tell him that she played him like a fiddle. He wasn’t angry at all, though, he feigned disappointment, and let Nova go to the ground, picking up his jacket while she took hers.
Thankfully, their worst fears did not come about. Their sneak into the Nectarine Manor Library did not disturb anyone, nor did the few awake members of the manor staff wander their way during that time. Nova and Valentus were thus able to sneak back to his room the same way they came. Past the judging eyes of a dozen ancient portraits along their way.
Here, in the comfort of his bedroom, the noble took off parts of his uniform - having spent so much time hanging out with Nova tonight, he almost forgot that he will have to wake up early tomorrow. At this point, even if he wasn’t overflowing with emotions, he wasn’t going to get enough sleep before he had to wake up again, anyway...
Nova, meanwhile, was focused on something else. The sound of something loud hitting the ground drew Valentus’ attention to the bed, where she suddenly pulled out the ceremonial sword which had been missing for a whole month.
“H-huh?!” he called out, shocked, watching the girl hang it back on the wall, then turn around and explain herself. All this time, she said, it was burglary which she first came to the manor for - which she hid from him all this time, explaining herself away with curiosity and eventually falling in love with him. And, if the change of her mood had anything to say, it was that she was not happy with finally coming out about it. Valentus, meanwhile, once again saw that something had slipped past his nose thanks to his naivete.
“I...” the noble spoke, his voice cracking for a second. “It’s fine... I was told to go find it, but it had slipped from my mind completely as well... and it doesn’t really matter why you came here as long as we know where we’ve gone together, right?”
Valentus briefly raised his hand for goodbyes. “But, yes, I suppose we’ll see each other... eventually.”
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“Good luck tomorrow.” Nova waved back, turned her heel, and left through the terrace reluctantly. While she confessed the truth, it was better than keeping it secret, it felt like a weight was removed from her chest. The proper way to handle the problem was to apologize but it seemed like Valentus knew she found it difficult to say anything after everything they had been through. Love was a wonderful feeling if it overlooked each other’s faults, she was grateful that Valentus was forgiving, but her brothers were a different story.
As soon as she dropped over the wall, her brothers were there waiting for her, and she could barely meet their gazes as she crossed her arms to stare at the wall.
“I knew you two would be waiting this time. Can we just go back to the lab?”
“What have you been doing with that noble while pretending to burglarize the place? You’re empty handed aren’t you?” Tangelo leaned his palm on the wall right above her shoulder, nearly pinning her there.
“So the date was not a ruse?” Narin sneered, “You realize that the three of us are just experiments right? You have no chance to even be invited for tea at a noble house without a rank or social standing. You had your fun so let’s go. If you come back here, I am telling Dr. Aspic everything.”
“No you wouldn’t.” Nova interjected, “If you did, you would be in trouble, too. It was your idea for me to infiltrate the estate. You’re also wrong about everything…”
Tangelo picked up his sister over his shoulder, she slipped out delivering a kick on the back of his neck causing him to step forward, his large frame turned quickly with an enraged expression.
“I can walk. I am not going back.”
At least, that’s what Nova thought was going to be the case, since she had no idea when Valentus would return home, he would have to find a way to contact her.
The next morning:
Nova was woken up from her cryopod early by Dr. Citrus.
The doctor was fatigued as she waited for Nova to open her eyes.
“Subject Nova you are hereby revoked of leaving the lab until further notice.”
Nova sat up in her pod, offering a nod, and began to get dressed.
“Am I being assigned a task?”
“You’re organizing the DNA index on the exodus project.”
It was a long process of auditing an assortment of DNA that would take weeks but Nova was not necessarily in a hurry since she had no interest in leaving soon. At least she would not be teased by her brothers anymore.
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“Why did you go to sleep so late?!”
Two nobles were rushing across the halls of the Nectarine Manor in the early morning, before the sun had even risen. While one, the slightly younger one, was already fully dressed, the other was still pulling on the jacket of his cadet uniform as he hastily walked through the corridors. Knowing that their eldest son will have to leave very early in the morning, Valentus’ parents said their goodbyes to him in the evening prior, but his brother, Lorent, made sure to wake up as early as he could to see the departure with his eyes.
Valentus, meanwhile, was not in the mood to be chastised. “I just... did not want to go to sleep so early. I still had to say goodbye to people, and to the Library, then I was in the mood for some reading, and...”
“Dear lord... The moment you don’t have to look after us anymore, you suddenly start lapsing on your duties.”
Of course, the real reason was not Valentus turning lazy, or less diligent, or anything else which Lorent might have wanted to accuse him of - but that was something which the Nectarine heir preferred to keep to himself. Hopefully not forever, he did not want to keep his relationship with Nova behind the curtains secret - but he has already declared his ambitions to the clone girl and did not need to repeat them to himself.
Guards of the manor opened the double front door with a wide swing, revealing a floating transport ship in front of the manor, its doors wide open and awaiting the last cadet to transport to the Tuffle Armed Services this morning. Valentus fixed the flat cap on his head, turned to his brother and spoke:
“Well... I suppose this is goodbye. Until I come back, and whenever Father is away, you’ll be the new master of the estate.”
“And good riddance. Finally some competent management,” Lorent smirked, grinned and elbowed his brother, only for his brother to elbow back and say:
“Well, you will have an easier time, after all, you won’t have to look after Lorent.”
With a content smile on his face, Valentus departed and made his way to the dropship - there, however, the mood was far from positive. Fellow recruits, all of them in uniforms just like his, were sitting in lines, contemplating their fate. Only two officers were on the ship, one was piloting and the other was staying guard - and both of them, having their own personal contempt for the old, decrepit noble families, barely bat an eye to him.
“...Hey everyone!” Valentus called out, but nobody responded - so, slightly surprised, the noble took the last empty seat. The doors closed, and the transport ship took off into the sky.
[466]
[8,908]
The next time Nova was allowed to leave the lab was during the political marriage between Dr. Aspic and a Saiyan female scout from planet Salada. While the wedding took place at a military base, broadcast among all Tuffles on planet Plant, it was a symbol of peace between both races. House Nectarine was present but not Valentus who was occupied with his training. The teenage clone kept gazing at his parents and siblings but looked away every time they took notice of her. It was the only opportunity to meet them, she was eventually introduced as a relative to the groom, but it was a brief interlude with her lover’s family.
The peace eventually ended when the Saiyans devastated half the planet and reached the capitol gates. Dr. Aspic’s wife had long been executed, the memory of the matrimony was brief, and several Tuffles who were not at the front of the battlefield fled from cowardice. A secret lab was created on the moon, one that was connected to ISLET’s invested plan to backup the consciousness of every military leader to the hands of the TSE prior to the arrival of the Saiyans who were known for conquering planets.
Nova watched the battlefield from within her spaceship intently, what remained of the Tuffle Military defended the walls of the capital all through the night, she was filming aerial data for analysis. Despite her efforts to find Valentus ever since the war broke out, she had been unsuccessful, her time was limited during her recon field research for Dr. Aspic to find a weakness among the Saiyans. Eventually she would return to the moon base to analyze the footage she recorded with her ship with the help of her siblings.
After a fateful nightfall, the unimaginable happened, both of the moons on planet Plant were full on the equinox, and the Saiyans transformed into massive mammalian behemoths that broke through the capitol walls. In the back of Nova’s mind was the book she read in the Nectarine library about the double moon phases, she never imagined the power of the moon would deliberately change the tide of war, and she looked away from the HUD as soldiers were massacred in greater number after securing the gates diligently for some time.
Several cameras were fired from the ship, hiding within the destruction, the video feed was directly connected to her ship which she retreated safely further into the capitol city center. In the corner of her bright sky blue eye she caught a glimpse of House Nectarine manor, she figured she should take one last proper look before returning to the moon base, she had a feeling Dr. Aspic was more than likely to launch project exodus from the tidal change of the war.
After landing the ship on the roof of the manor, she scaled down towards Valentus’ terrace, and into his room immediately opening the door running down the hall towards the library which was left open.
[498]
[10,708]
The cadets in the Tuffle Armed Services had little ability to care about the events happening before their barracks. Their commanders were the first to learn about a possible war with the Saiyans, and before the soldiers commissioned in the TAS even knew what was going on, their training was accelerated and their freedom of movement was restricted, so they would always be ready to fight. The invitation which Valentus received, offering him to join his family in a marriage between Dr. Aspic and a Saiyan woman, had to be left on his shelf, as there was no way he could get out of the barracks for the event. Even though he was sure he could meet Nova again there. If their roles were reversed, she surely would have been able to sneak out to the city, but Valentus was nowhere near as good at sneaking around as her.
And now, so many months, maybe even years later, nothing was on their mind anymore. The roaring sounds of battle dimmed out their thoughts, and the first great ape rising above the city skyline instilled them with fear.
In what was once a pastry shop, partially blown up by a stray ki blast, several surviving officers of the 21st Assault Battalion were standing around a holographic map of the capitol walls and discussing the situation. Several beakers were scattered across the map, blue ones indicated Tuffle units and red ones were known Saiyan Oozaru locations. The red ones were active and advancing forward, the blue ones were rapidly dwindling.
“This is madness,” one sergeant called out, gushing through his teeth. “Our forces are too depleted, trying to make an assault through the Saiyan lines will just mean the loss of the whole battalion!” However, he was rebutted by one of his peers:
“We don’t have much of a choice. Colonel Pricota and her unit are trapped behind the Saiyan lines, and the High Command’s orders are to relieve them, no matter the cost.”
Another Tuffle sergeant was flicking through the unit beakers, observing the information about them. “I disagree as well, Sergeant Apricot... I think we have a small chance to save someone.”
Sergeant Valentus Nectarine looked different from the sheltered teen who first arrived at the Tuffle Armed Services. His hair was now messy and unkempt, and his face turned a lot more mature. A blue-gray cloak was thrown on his shoulders, covering his uniform - it was smeared with dirt and blood, mostly of his own comrades. Those he tried to save, and usually couldn’t.
Even though he was of the same rank as the other officers in the room, his statement immediately got the rest to turn his way, and start nodding in agreement. Sergeant Nectarine had earned their respect, not through his birth, but through his shocking skill and fighting talent. Of the entire 21st Assault Battalion, he was the only soldier who was able to stand against a Saiyan, vibroblade in hand, and come out not just alive, but victorious. In fact, his noble birth was less and less of a deal to him. The lives of the handful of soldiers he was tasked to command was far more important than the abstract feeling that they were lower than him in social rank.
“If there is no more discussion, then I believe it is time to head out. Every second wasted costs us lives.”
And so, they did. Valentus stepped out of the blasted house first, immediately greeted by private Plume, a soldier in his team. A sergeant, even one promoted in haste during the war such as him, usually commanded four to five people, and Valentus was no different - thankfully, all of them were still in one piece.
“What’s the plan, Sergeant?” Plume asked as he handed his commander’s weapons back to him - a blaster pistol and a vibroblade.
“Same as we were ordered. We’re doing an offensive.”
The soldier sighed. He understood why, but much like officer Apricot, he feared that it would end with a massacre. Haven’t they lost enough to the enormous monkeys already? “Of course.”
“Please... just keep your chin up. There’s always a chance, you know?”
“A chance that we all die, yes. Quite a large one...” Plume continued complaining as he and Valentus walked across bombed and ki-blasted streets, stepped past enormous Oozaru footprints and made their way towards the gate, where the rest of their peers were holding out. “It’s fine, Sergeant... I mean, Val. It is what we all signed up for, after all. It’s just... rather disheartening to know that all we do is prolong the inevitable.” The young man kicked a rock past the road out of frustration. “Can’t you imagine how much we’ll be missing out, dying today? I don’t know whether you nobles go through school, but I barely managed to graduate and now I’m thrown here, even though I’d rather apply for a lab, or catch up to my girl again, or... And all we have is the promise that this ‘Neuro-Jumper’ thing will keep us alive even after death...”
Though Valentus remained silent during his fellow soldier’s rant, his heart was starting to race as well. His eyes stared off to the distance, a bit to the right, where he remembered the Nectarine Manor was from here. Valentus knew that the rest of his family managed to escape - after all, he was given a chance to follow them off-world, and refused. Will his father really think of him as a hero, like he promised? Will his family even remember him, as the first Nectarine in generations to have perished in a war…?
What about Nova? Was she still alive? Was she given a chance to escape with the rest of the exodus? Her case was different from his - she was a clone, an experiment, and he couldn’t know whether Dr. Aspic would bring her with him, or leave his clones behind.
Would she remember him? They vowed much to each other on their last day, promising to never forget one another, but how well would these promises hold up after a decade? Two, three? He might never see her again, and leave this world with their love forever incomplete.
Valentus shook his head, and called out. “Let’s go, and faster.”
The only solace he could find was knowing that she’ll be on his mind until the last moment of his life.
[1,069]
[9,977]
Upon arrival at the library, books were scattered everywhere, the Nectarine household left in such a hurry that they took what they could, and Nova stared for a minute until she picked up a familiar text from the ground. It was the first book she ever read, that covered all the moon phases of Planet Plant, and tore the page of the summer solstice moon right out of it. It was the color of a peach, so she immediately calculated the number of folds to turn it into the shape of one, followed by sticking a leaf, and a wooden stick at the top. The nostalgia of being fed peach slices by Valentus allowed her to appreciate the moment now. At first she thought being helpless was a sign of weakness, but now she understood that he did it to see her vulnerable expression as she ate the fruit for the first time in her life.
The longer she stared at the paper peach, the desire to remain on the planet without her family crossed her mind, living without the love of her life was overbearingly painful for the teenager that she was crying. Nova was shocked, she never cried before, and she felt out of her own element as the tears continued to roll down her cheeks. The memories of Dr. Aspic had been altered so she had no recollection to depend on for her current state. If she were to stay behind, her brothers would look for her and attempt to take her by force, that much she knew. Based on that probability, it was her responsibility to return, what remained of the Tuffles required the visual data in order to defeat the saiyans from conquering the entire universe.
Nova vowed that Valentus was the only one that she would ever love, even if it meant abandoning him on their home planet, so that their entire race could continue to survive. She swore that she would love him until the end of time, while she would be unable to be with him until the end, the love they shared would live on in her memory. With newfound resolve, she left the paper peach on top of the book on the table, and ran out when her heart felt like it would nearly burst if she waited another minute.
After returning to the ship, she noticed several deployed cameras were destroyed, but received the ingested feed. As clutching the throttle, she sighed, and launched the ship from the roof. Once she was high up into the sky, she shot up further past the atmosphere towards the lunar base. As soon she arrived, the data she collected was automatically transferred, and her brothers were waiting for her at the hangar. The pair looked at each other as they noticed something was off with their sister but remained silent as the three of them were ordered to return to their cryopods.
Deep within a spaceship, the triplets walked past several pods, some of them contained tuffles, and others saiyans that Dr. Aspic had been experimenting on in order to defeat their invaders to no avail to change the outcome of the war. The main AI computer had determined long ago of the probability of being conquered by saiyans, the same would apply to the next planet in due time so it was up to the TSE to exploit everything inherently possible to prepare for the next war.
As Nova laid in her pod, she thought about Dr. Aspic’s saiyan wife, she was formidable but she was afraid about something she refused to explain even on her final day. For a race known for conquering many planets across the galaxy, what else was there to fear? It was evident that she was a warrior capable of other emotions, even love, so their tyranny was rooted to something sinister. When she closed her eyes, it would be years until she woke up again, on earth.
[662]
[11,370]
Several Tuffle soldiers circled around an enormous Oozaru, one which effortlessly pushed skyscrapers aside and fired enormous energy beams from its mouth at anything alive it could see on the surface below. The Assault Battalions, including Valentus’ 21st, were equipped with the most modern weapons which the Tuffles could afford, and tasked to eliminate the Saiyans in direct ground combat - but they were equipped to fight normal Saiyans, not the gigantic apes they transformed into.
Fighting manuals said that the tail was the Saiyans’ weakness and these gigantic apes still had them, but how can they possibly reach those tails?
Valentus ran across the streets, holding a vibroblade with one hand and pulling his comrades out of danger with another. He threw them on his shoulder, doing his best to ignore the weight. The mere shocks of the Oozaru’s steps was throwing them away and crippling their ranks, and the energy beams were always too wide for everyone to avoid. Their numbers were dwindling, and any attempt at strategy had long since collapsed. Those who were still alive would rather save themselves and flee, instead of trying to push past an insurmountable threat.
A mouth blast smashed into a boulevard, toppling it and scattering debris anywhere - the ground under Valentus’ feet crumbled and the Tuffle painfully fell on his shoulder, crashing down alongside two wounded soldiers on his shoulders. Something there must have cracked, as a debilitating pain suddenly shot across his entire arm, paralyzing him.
In spite of the pain, Valentus pulled himself onto his back. The Oozaru, with its bright red eyes, was staring down at him, raising its foot with a mischievous smirk. To the Saiyan who was about to crush him, it was no more than eliminating a few more annoying ants in his wait. To the Tuffles, it was the end of the line.
Behind the back of the Saiyan, a tiny streak sped across the sky, advancing towards outer space from the direction of Nectarine Manor. In the last moments of his life, Valentus kept his eyes on that faint, glimmering light, resigned to his fate.
Hundreds of years later, a new consciousness will be born - different, yet carrying the same name and memories as the heir of Nectarine.
[375]
[10,352]
Dr. Citrus collected the data on the saiyans Nova brought on her ship, the holographic monitor with the new footage reflected on her eye glasses, while she was able to get corrective surgery it was a matter of comfort to wear spectacles in order to suppress her emotions. It was a great loss for the Tuffles, the trajectory of the conquering Planets by saiyans had long been predicted prior to their arrival, it was quite unexpected that they were able to transform into behemoths to destroy what remained of ISLET. The AI Computer determined it was the direct result of Planet Plant’s moons, the only method to stop the invaders was to destroy them, but the lunar base was the last protocol to salvage what remained of their entire race.
The Neuro-jumper terminal received the consciousness of every commander that perished simultaneously on the battle front, as well as any soldiers who were wearing the special tag given to them in exchange for securing the capital long enough for civilians to escape. A second chance at life in order to start anew, to stop the Saiyans from continuing their tyranny across the galaxy, and to replenish the loss of so many Tuffles. With the DNA index on board, the bodies of Tuffles were being cloned within the same pod that was also their cryostasis chamber, under the supervision of the TSE everyone was restored and their consciousness transferred into their new bodies. Once the cloning was complete, the Exodus ship launched from the moon, warp jumping into the milky way galaxy.
Upon arrival of the earth, the exodus was built with various compartments, which separated prior to entering the atmosphere, each section drilled itself deep into the ground, digging up bunkers for Tuffles to live in until it was safe to resurface. Each bunker was set on a timer to automatically awaken the Tuffles who were cryogenically frozen, while others required access from ISLET or TSE to activate, and anyone who tampered with the hatch would deteriorate through the use of explosives or harmful chemicals as an extra security measure.
It would be over 400 years when the Triplets were set to wake up in their bunker, located on a remote island in the Southern region of the earth’s hemisphere, as Dr. Aspic’s clones were free to be independent for the first time in their lives.
The moment Nova woke up, she looked at her wrist, the LED numbers lit up through her skin of her embedded watch, she set a timer for the period of time it would be when she was conscious again, and was thoroughly disappointed to see 3,506,328 hours. Even if Valentus survived the war, it had been far too long to reunite with him, most importantly they were without a space ship since the one they arrived in was scattered across the globe. The only relief was that they were far from their home planet and the Saiyans. However, Narin was quick to analyze any new data from bunkers that were set to activate upon arrival, discovering that Planet Plant was renamed Planet Vegeta, and the reason they were conquering planets was for an Overlord named Freiza.
The triplet’s first priority was to adapt to their new home, as clones of a genius scientist, they desired to rebuild, which required zeni so they began to collect it on behalf of all Tuffles by any means.
[572]
[11,942]
Triplets who were known as Team Citrus, who were notorious Tuffles in the outskirts of the capital city center, and were constantly pulling pranks and stealing things without ever getting caught. Dr. Aspic’s cloned children utilize the highest level of technology to perfect their biological bodies. Tangelo, a blue haired, tan skinned, muscular build teen suppressed the opposition quite easily through raw strength. Narin, a lime green haired, pale skinned, lithe build teen was the brains of the operation, hacking into security cameras, and freezing any drones to prevent any evidence of their mischief from ever being recorded. Finally, Nova, a pink haired, blue eyed, spunky teenage girl who was the bridge between the two, who often decided what trouble they would get into, convinced her brothers to steal from a well known noble estate at the core of the citadel known as Manor Nectarine.
The plan was a simple break in, steal something valuable worth taking, and escape without getting caught. However, the security of this place was like a fortress, armored guards were placed at every critical location, and the trio were going to have a hard time gaining entry unseen. Narin was using a scope to gauge the guard rotations, he spun a dial to observe for what seemed like hours, and nodded.
“We’re not going to be able to sneak in unless we cause a distraction. I am afraid this is going to be a solo operation Nova. We will watch your back to make sure you’re safe.”
“Right.” Nova nodded, wearing a silver metal form fitting jumpsuit, she already knew of plan B, and she separated from her siblings with a wink and a thumbs up.
On cue, her brothers kicked a ball so high it went over the fence, and the pair rushed over to the guards to ask permission to retrieve it at the front gate with immediate rejection but they persisted explaining its a childhood relic. Nova climbed the estate walls, her suit matched the foliage growing over it, completely camouflaged with Dr. Aspic’s latest tech, and once she stepped over the open grass field she used the garden shrubs to hide until reaching a terrace. The suit automatically changed like a chameleon, she climbed the wooden vines of a flowering plant to the top successfully without detection. With the dark exterior, the suit would reflect light, so she unzipped it, and neatly folded it into a hand sized cube which was part of the tech.
Brilliant sky blue irises peered into--a bedroom? It was bigger than the garden outside, let alone her father’s entire laboratory. She sneered at how much nobles wasted no time or effort, building something ridiculously large, when it seemed there was no one around, and she quietly snuck in hiding in the shadows. At first glance, the only item that stood out was a sword, embezzled with a giant red ruby on the hilt, mounted on the wall; the gold metal inlay would mean it was worth a fortune. A family heirloom perhaps? Nova kept assessing its value based on the details as she stood there wearing a white bandeau, black suspenders, blue shorts, and red thigh high stockings.
[542]
Manor Nectarine, the home of the House of Nectarine, was a beautiful jewel of high Tuffle architecture, blending prestigious decor and century-old traditions with the simplicity and functionalism which Tuffles were long known for. Though the wealth and power of this family has long since waned, the walls and garden alone reminded anyone passing by that this was home to no ordinary Tuffles.
The owner of the manor, Prince Coronet Nectarine, was only sometimes around - and this was not one of those days. Always involved with politics, he travelled across the planet to keep in touch with the people and shake hands with the elite - and his wife usually travelled with him. So, their oldest child, Valentus, was tasked to look after his younger siblings - far from a difficult task, as all the staff hired by the manor was always there, but a task nonetheless.
Having put his siblings to sleep and finished another chapter from a book on Planet Plant’s history which he was meaning to finish, the teen noble was making his way across the corridors, when he suddenly stopped in his tracks. In the middle of pitch perfect silence, he heard something light drop in a room nearby - his room. He was certain that he was probably just hearing things, but it did not hurt to check - besides, he was heading for the room anyway. With haste, Valentus approached the door and opened it, then immediately turned on the light.
Much like the rest of the manor, he was fancy and squeaky clean. A formal suit, white pants, long boots and gloves.
“Is someone there?” Valentus called out.
[271]
Nova slipped on a pair of white gloves, carefully removing the blade from the wall, her senses picked up the hastened footsteps a few meters away. If Narin was here, he would have secured an exit by now, she carelessly forgot while searching the room initially. Cursing under her breath, she figured she had to hide the sword first, and she was running out of time when she looked around quickly. There was a huge wooden bed with an ornate bed skirt at the bottom. It was rather dated, since the bottom was covered from view, she could not mentally calculate the distance of the bed frame to the floor. However, she had only seconds to hide the blade, so immediately, yet quietly skidded under it, to her surprise it was lower than expected. Since she was being quiet as a mouse, she adjusted herself to cover the distance at the last second, she sprained something along the way.
The sword was pressed up against the wooden slats, she began using thumb tacks, using her raw strength to push each one against the wood to secure the sword. The plan was for the sword to be reported missing to the guards, she was planning to use that ruckus as an opportunity to get it later once the coast was clear. Nova rolled out from under the bed, she heard the door to the bedroom chamber open, and she used what remained of her strength to hide behind a thick tapestry style curtain by the terrace window. If she had a few more seconds, she would have been able to escape the room entirely, and she held her breath the instant she heard a young man’s voice.
Whoever it was, he was able to detect her presence, either by sheer luck or instinct despite having her power level suppressed. Now she had to patiently wait, she winced from a sharp pain in her ankle, she must have sprained it doing the limbo under the bed earlier. Nova used her mental fortitude to ignore it, she was currently at risk of being caught, so she held entirely still, and breathless.
[358]
[900]
Nobody answered when Valentus peeked inside of the room - and yet, the noble quickly guessed that something wasn't right. Maybe it was unfounded suspicion, but he did not leave the terrace window open, did he? Not to mention that whatever sounds were coming from the room grew louder and more erratic right as he pulled the door handle. Something fell to the floor, something tapped across it, and yet, there was nobody here.
Valentus did notice the missing encrusted sword, a ceremonial weapon inherited from two centuries ago - instead, he thought that one of his siblings was hiding in the room and called out:
“I was serious when I said it’s time for you to sleep, you know... I don’t want to drag you there.”
He stepped to the center of the room, then made his way to the terrace window. There, he stopped, briefly looking down at the garden below and sighing in relief when he saw nobody down there - the last thing he wanted was for one of his brothers to get hurt by recklessly jumping off. Valentus lingered on by the window for just a bit longer, though, and stared off to the sky in contemplation.
[199]
[470]
Nova held her breath, her plan to raise the alarm for the missing sword was foiled, presumably because it was a common occurrence. While she was genetically modified to hold her breath longer than 12 minutes at a time than the average Tuffle, she was reaching her limit, and it would be impossible to keep at it if she was unable to sneak out. The sounds of insects playing nightly tunes was a strong indication that it was getting late and her brothers would be worried. As the pinkette formulated a new plan, she figured she could avoid one person, and the guards if she made a dash for it. With newfound determination she decided to do just that, slowly breathing out, and taking deep breaths.
The instant she rushed towards the window, she saw a teenage boy looking out at the horizon, he would most likely turn to meet her gaze, and she anticipated it as she planned to hit him hard on the back of his neck to render him unconscious so she could escape from trespassing. However, she never expected to walk right into a page of a romantic storybook, she blushed the instant she met his brilliant cerulean irises with her own lighter pair, he was dressed formally like a noble except he looked like a prince against the twilight scenery. In that brief moment, she lost sight of her goal, and hesitated long enough to turn on her heel to change direction.
It was a long jump down from the terrace, the pain returned on her sprained ankle, she winced and fell at the noble’s feet instead like a tree in a forest. A yelp escaped her lips as she further injured herself, she still needed more time for her regenerative abilities to take effect, and now she had to try a different solution to reunite with her family again.
“Good evening.” Nova looked up as she grabbed her ankle, she figured she could talk her way out of this situation given the circumstances, “Um…I always wondered what the people who lived in such a grand estate looked like after growing up in the outer districts. I was dared by my siblings to sneak inside your home as a prank. Clearly I failed at the sneaking part and injured myself. This is so humiliating. I must apologize. Please forgive me.”
[395]
[1,295]
A step on the floor and a sharp yelp suddenly reached Valentus’ ears from the side, startling him. When he turned, he saw a girl collapse at his feet. From the flutter of the curtains behind her, he could guess that it’s where she had been hiding, and figured that this was the culprit all along.
It was not one of his siblings, no. Rather, it was an unfamiliar pink-haired girl, dressed in a bandeau and tight shorts, and about his age. A charming one, at that - the dress and hairdo radiated the aura of a plucky, intrepid adventurer, exactly the type to satiate her curiosity by slipping into a beautiful mansion at midnight.
She raised her eyes, just as blue as his own, and spoke up.
“...Good evening to you, too?” Valentus answered her initial greeting - something calm and polite was not what first came to his mind in a situation like this. The girl soon explained herself, however - as she gripped her ankle, she detailed her curiosity of what a noble’s life was like when she had never experienced it. Only to be found by him, of course, which turned the scene all the more humiliating to her.
Valentus went down to one knee to get to the girl’s level as she explained herself, and smiled softly afterwards.
“Don’t worry about it. I forgive you,” the noble answered her, then offered his hand to the girl to help her up to her feet - palm upwards, with the same motion as if he were offering a lady to a dance. “If you need medical help, then I can escort you to our infirmary.”
As he stood up, he spoke again:
“I am Valentus, heir to the House of Nectarine. What’s your name?”
[293]
[763]
For a Noble, she never expected him to lower himself to her level like an equal, and she felt her heart skip a beat. A blush formed on her face as she recalled buying herself some time for her regenerative abilities to heal her injury if she kept up the conversation going in the first place. Apparently her apology was believable, he did not seem to mind her sudden intrusion, and he forgave her without question. In all her life, no one truly expressed this level of kindness, even among her brothers who constantly made fun of her all the time if she ever made a mistake in their erudition or training regiment their father put them through like guinea pigs. It was because of this lifestyle that she resorted to petty thievery and now she was suffering internally of what exactly she was feeling after meeting this redhead teen.
“Uh, that’s not necessary, it’s healing normally.” Nova stated, the average Tuffle would never say such a thing, she was specifically engineered before she was born into the world and did not have second thoughts on her statement. “It means I just have to intrude on your privacy a bit longer before I can go back home.”
“Nova Aspic.” The pinkette answered nonchalantly, “Daughter of Dr. Aspic, the front runner of advanced cloning, I am basically a clone of him with some adjustments. I have Planet Plant’s world record of being the fastest runner in existence.”
While it was not exactly something she was particularly proud of, she felt it was important enough, and it was the whole reason she was sent out on this solo operation, of course she did not have the careful planning of Narin who had precognitive abilities. A sigh escaped her lips, she was nearly perfect, but somehow only triplets were the direct result of all that advanced cloning.
“Do you ever feel lonely in this huge place with your grand sleeping chamber? At home, it’s the opposite for me, I never have any privacy around my family.”
[343]
[1,638]
“Dr. Aspic?” Valentus answered as soon as Nova introduced herself, and named her father. “That... I could not have guessed, honestly. Certainly not someone you can meet every day...” Of course, he knew who Dr. Aspic was - he was one of the most famous scientists on Planet Plant, who has even visited Manor Nectarine once or twice to meet Valentus’ father, to ensure that the government provides support for his numerous research projects.
The fact that Nova was his “daughter”, and presumably modified as well, explained a few things - for example, why she shrugged off an injury which would take days to recover from, expecting it to heal soon enough that she will be able to depart quickly. It raised just as many questions, however. Why were Dr. Aspic’s clones allowed to just wander about and sneak into houses, and if she wanted to see what the inside of an estate was like, then why did she not ask her father to arrange a visit? Did they have contact with their father at all, or did the fact that she lives in the outer districts mean that they were distant?
All in all, what this meant was that Valentus’ interest was piqued to new heights. He wished to learn more about her, and maybe even have her stay.
Nova’s question to him got the noble to sigh as well, however. He placed his hand on his waist and stared off to the side in contemplation.
“Well, I certainly don’t find much company here,” Valentus answered. “I don’t get to go out often, and since Father is always away, there’s not that many people I can talk to. I’ll be commissioned to the Armed Services next month, so at least I will not be stuck here for the rest of my life, but still...” He still was not sure what he would find in the TAS, or whether he would enjoy it there - but it was a tradition for everyone in his lineage to eventually serve and he was not going to become an exception.
Valentus turned back to Nova, staring straight into her crystal blue eyes.
“Would you like to stay here for the night? We have plenty of room, as you see.”
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“Ah. Well he is rather busy with his research.”
Nova nodded when Valentus spoke of his upbringing, it seemed rather lonely, and he felt that being in service meant he would have more opportunities to interact with people outside of his household. In truth, Nova did not have any friends either, her life was similar as she did not have the opportunities to interact with other people her age, and Dr. Aspic allowed the triplets to do whatever they wanted without any discipline or direction since they were the first set of clones from his own DNA.
“So, I won’t be able to see you again in a month’s time?” The pink haired teen blinked, she was beginning to like the idea of becoming friends, but it seemed like it was only temporary. “Do you want to be friends, Valentus?”
At this point he invited her to stay the night, she placed little thought to that idea as she slowly got up, and tapped her toe through her red designer sneakers on the terrace floor. Good as new, she could return home, but she was feeling rather reluctant to leave now. Perhaps the furniture in this grand home was outdated, sleeping in a cryo-stasis pod was a different type of luxury most people would prefer, but Nova was curious to try something different.
“Eh. If I stay the night, what do you plan on telling your family about me?” Of course she had no idea who else lived here, whether Valentus had parents, or siblings since she never left his room.
Nova wanted to know why Valentus invited her to stay but she already agreed to it.
[277]
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Valentus’ detail of his future assignment to the Tuffle Armed Services left Nova oddly distraught - the girl did not openly express it, merely asking whether they won’t be able to see each other again when he has to leave home. It once again got the Tuffle to glance away, lost in contemplation - if a girl he only met tonight was so worried about him, then surely he would be even moreso...
“Well, hopefully I won’t be gone forever...” the noble muttered under his breath, his words drawn out and unsure. What’s the worst that could happen, really? Planet Plant has been at relative peace for generations up to this point, and this peace could not perish in a day.
It was not all that Nova was concerned with, however. She wanted to know whether he wants them to be friends - and if he allows her to stay, what will he tell his family afterwards? The second question got Valentus to turn his head around, and glance towards the door on the other side of the room. It was closed.
“Do I have to tell them anything?” he answered with a rhetorical question. ”My parents are gone for two weeks, busy with politics. Without them, I am the head of the manor, so anyone enters or leaves this room only with my permission.”
Valentus turned back to Nova. “It can just stay a harmless secret. And, of course, I’d love to be your friend, the best friend I can possibly be.”
At least, for this month.
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“I am honestly not familiar with the military, if they take leave at any point, or if they survive training or not. You live quite differently here than I do back at home. I may not be able to get the clearances approved for you to visit the lab where I live but I think my brother can hack our father’s security system so you can sneak in.”
The pair of teens might have been Tuffles but they were quite different socially and for lack of a better term politically. A chuckle escaped her mouth at the implication of keeping their friendship secret from House Nectarine, it was apparent that Nova did not have the proper clearances to remain on the property, and she was quite intrigued of bending or breaking house rules with a noble.
“Two weeks huh? Is that how long you’re inviting me to stay? How about an even exchange? Two weeks here and two weeks at the lab. One week outside the city limits!” Nova grinned.
After a beat she clasped her hands behind her back and wandered back into the room.
“So is that the reason this ancient bed is so big? So that you and your parents can fit together? I have seen people share them in the outer districts, not exactly sure what the arrangements are in a noble family.”
It was apparent that she never used a bed before in her entire life.
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“Well, not for two weeks permanently, I don’t think I could keep you here for that long,” Valentus corrected himself, when the question of time came to be. “But if you could come and visit every once in a while during that time, then I would certainly appreciate it.” Certainly, it would make the last month he could spend in the Capital before military service less dull.
Valentus followed after Nova as she made her way to the heart of the room - his movement was a lot less upbeat and more collected, characteristic of a well taught nobleman. “I certainly haven’t seen Dr. Aspic’s lab from the inside before, so if you are inviting me, then I would certainly love it. We can make it an even exchange.”
Nova’s curiosity, meanwhile, turned its attention elsewhere - to the king sized bed which adorned the center of the room. While it was not particularly ancient, counting off construction date, it was made in a rather medieval style, fitting into the decor of the rest of the palace - and it certainly differed from the simple and functionalistic Tuffle style standard, so he did not fault the girl for believing it was old. Or that it was built for his whole family to sleep in either, in fact.
“No, they... have their own,” Valentus explained as he sat on the edge of the bed, bouncing a little from the inertia of the extremely soft mattress. “More than one person can sleep on it, of course - but I always do so alone.”
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“Are you doubting my abilities of espionage? I fooled you. Didn’t I?” Nova twirled once on the soles of her sneakers, as she thought about it, there must have been plenty of places to hide in this place not that she would enjoy it as much compared to being around Valentus at close proximity. “If I come to visit every day, do I have to come through the terrace?”
The pink haired teenager tilted her head curiously, since he mentioned their friendship was supposed to be kept secret, the guards were probably the type to gossip given how mundane their roles were at this grand estate.
“Ah, well no one is allowed inside the lab, except for me and my brothers. At least his personal one, there are other labs which his associates use, but he calls them all useless and he prefers doing his research alone most of the time.”
It was apparent that she was not involved in part of the process of Dr. Aspic’s research or inventions other than being in possession of some of the things the mad scientist designed which included her clothes.
When Valentus explained that everyone in his household had similar sized beds, she felt it was rather useless all the same, a waste of time and space quite literally. As she watched the noble enjoy such frivolous comforts, she followed suit, and sat next to him while he bounced.
“Eh...I sleep in a cryo-pod every night. I suppose I cannot entirely dismiss the idea of sleeping on something like this but...I have never slept outside the lab. What exactly is the process for a noble?”
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“Well, I assume that’s the easiest way for you to enter. I can make it easier for you, if you need it.”
Valentus hardly considered what could be the consequences of persistently sneaking in a person who’s already been breaking into the manor before. If Nova were to guess whether the noble could tell that he was in the middle of being robbed before, and that a priceless relic was now under the bed, then he was completely clueless about it.
Nova continued speaking afterwards - first explaining who was allowed to enter Dr. Aspic’s lab, then asking what “the sleep process” was like. The girl, according to her, had never slept on a bed before - all that she’s ever used was a cryo-pod. The fact that she was artificially born had barely registered to his mind before - for all intents and purposes, she was as much of a Tuffle as anyone else to him, and it was only reminders like these which informed that her experience of life was far from mundane.
“For a noble?” Valentus repeated the end of her question and chuckled. “Well, we sleep like everyone else, we’re not lizard-people. Sleep just... happens when you lay on a bed for long enough.” Hopefully, he did not actually need to explain what sleep outside of cryo-pods was like to Nova - the most simple and mundane concepts were the hardest to explain.
“I suppose the main difference is that we wear nightgowns for the occasion. I don’t think I will be able to provide you with any from my wardrobe, though... so underwear works just as well.”
[268]
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While it seemed normal to imagine using a bed, Nova’s mind was focused on Valentus, when the noble insisted that he had nothing that would fit her, when he mentioned that she can be in her undergarments she was enticed; she had none since she slept in her cryo pod naked. If she slept with clothes on the fibers would be turned to ice which would be a rude awakening that potentially lead into shock if her basal temperature was tampered within the cryopod.
Being this close in proximity while the ideas filled her mind caused her to pounce the redheaded teenager. While it was only in thought at first, she automatically reacted in reality, she was engineered to adapt physically any time she placed her focus on a target. A blush of all shades of pink were on Nova’s cheeks, she was breathing heavily between her parted lips, and she shifted her weight briefly.
“I am physically attracted to you, Valentus. I must rescind our friendship since my instincts are preventing me from…being a good friend.”
A sigh escaped her lips, while she had a scientific explanation for her change in behavior, there was the probability that a noble would not have a significant interest in a clone. The whole point of a noble household stemmed from their social rank and nobility by pairing with other noble houses. While she was descended from a notable scientist she figured it was not sufficient enough to bring the pair together.
[249]
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Everything changed in an instant. Valentus did not predict the sudden pounce straight at him - after mentioning sleep in their underwear if a nightgown was not available, the noble’s thoughts briefly wandered towards what it would look like to see Nova in them, but quickly shunned that thought. It was in that state that he was suddenly tackled.
The girl pushed herself close to him, sending blood rushing through Valentus’ veins and leaving him blushing brightly. Their eyes stared straight at one another, and much like she breathed heavily from the tension, so did him. There, Nova explained exactly what was wrong with her - she was attracted to him physically, and yet, in spite of that, she suddenly announced that she could no longer be a friend of his.
“Attracted...?” the noble repeated her words. Though he didn’t go forward to state it, he could already imagine what she meant. “I’d... be more equipped to answer you if this wasn’t so sudden...”
Gently, Valentus placed his hand on Nova’s, then leaned closer himself.
“Was this... what you wanted from the start...?” Valentus muttered, in between heavy breaths. Faced with an experience he had never felt before, the noble was not even sure how to respond. Seeing a person, and one of lower status, force themselves onto him clashed, barely old enough to count as an adult. He could not deny just how attractive Nova was, either - and she certainly did everything she could to present herself, that way.
So, ultimately, he breathed and stared her in the eyes.
“...But why so? Why can’t we be... good friends? If you want to cross that line, then I will cross that line with you.”
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“Is there more than this that you’re willing to offer?” Nova smiled, she did not understand the question fully, as if there were options to explore. After some reflection, she nodded disapprovingly, to confirm that meeting him was simply a chance encounter. “You arrived as soon as I got in...I never expected to stay or even have a conversation with you at all. I planned to run even if you were in the room but fate decided to slow down time so that we can meet each other.”
At this point she leaned in to close the distance between them, taking a breath, as she pressed her lips against the teenage noble’s mouth. On contact she quivered slightly at first until the passion she felt initially took over to kiss him deeply slowly closing her eyes. With her free hand she raised it to his shoulder, then over to the back of his neck, and then pulled away to meet his gaze.
Nova confessed her feelings for Valentus verbally, albeit in a scientific manner, and physically assaulted him with little to no resistance. Rather than affirm or accept that he felt the same way, he wondered if this was all she wanted, and she blinked her eyes still feeling his hand squeeze her hand. It was difficult to formulate a single thought being this close to each other and the pink haired teen pressed her lips tenderly against his in response again.
The tuffle’s slender hand was pulled away from his, so that she can unfasten her suspenders which retracted, this entire time it was made of weighted dense fibers that functioned as resistance training to maintain her posture during a run, and she relaxed for a minute before storing it in the side satchel of her utility belt. While she acted on impulse before, she was still mentally sound, and she was not going to force the noble against his will unless he specifically asked her to.
“I cannot stay forever...but I will make you mine tonight, Valentus.”
[Fade to black]
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Nova lived for the moment, she already knew it was temporary, since they both decided to be together secretly tonight. The pair of teens hugged each other under the sheets, the pinkette giggled from being so close, and genuinely happy. Despite this happiness being a single drop in the ocean, she reveled in it, and could think of no one else but Valentus at her side. Since the newly formed lovers agreed to meet every night, she was hopeful for the next evening, sneaking around the estate without getting caught by the guards, just to prove her abilities; that she had forgotten the purpose of the intrusion because she was enamored with the redheaded teen.
Dawn arrived to signify the next day, the insects finished their tunes, and the birds were singing right outside the terrace. While the noble fell asleep shortly after, Nova had been awake the whole time, watching him almost without blinking without any sign of fatigue. It was the first time she spent the night outside of the lab, she learned she was unable to sleep biologically, unable to create enough melatonin in her body that would allow her to sleep. It explained why Dr. Aspic never slept, he was genetically modified to stay awake, and the cryo-pod was the only time their bodies were at rest.
As soon as Valentus woke up, the pink haired teen kissed him affectionately, she used her fingers to gently pull away a few strands from his face, and she leaned back to admire his visage at this time of day.
“Good morning. Did you rest well?”
Waiting for an answer she took a deep breath and stretched.
“It turns out I cannot sleep on my own without aids. So I may have to return to the lab to sleep in a cryopod during the day.”
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Hearing Nova giggle with joy, watching her cuddle close to him and feeling her arms wrapped around him left Valentus’ heart fluttering, melting it. How precious it felt, seeing her beside him, enjoying every waking moment they were together... It only strengthened his resolve to find a way to make this permanent one day. Eventually, the night prevailed over Valentus, and so he went to sleep with Nova still in his arms - but he did so with a content smile on his face. The noble was not a loud sleeper, and spent most of the night on his side, face turned towards Nova.
Soon, the first rays of the morning sun filtered into the room, followed by chirping from the gardens below. Slowly, Valentus opened his eyes, releasing a faint, muffled groan - and was immediately caught by surprise, his lips suddenly meeting Nova’s. The girl was beside him, and was admiring his form at this time of the day.
“Better than the usual, I feel...” the noble mumbled under his breath as he rubbed his eyes. Last night left him a bit exhausted, but not to the point where he was left bedridden afterwards. Valentus was about to turn that question around and ask her, before the girl answered it herself - she was unable to sleep like a normal person at all. Spending several hours just laying beside him, struggling to sleep... that sounded terrible.
“It’s fine, I will be busy during the day, anyway,” Valentus answered to Nova’s lamenting about the need to return to her cryopod. Between private tutors, training in the courtyard, and looking after his siblings, daytime was a rather occupied time for him. The evening and night, when the manor turns silent, was a much more opportune time for the two accidental lovers.
A knock was suddenly heard on the door to the bedroom. It was unlocked, but nobody in the manor except other members of House Nectarine were allowed to enter without permission - and all others must still be sleeping.
“Sir Valentus! Breakfast is ready!” a man’s voice called out from the other side.
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“Is that so?” Nova smiled widely, curious why he was unable to sleep, and she figured it was because of all the responsibilities he was faced with everyday that there were little to no opportunities for leisure time.
“I hope that I had something to do with that!” The pink haired teen blushed when she realized she raised her voice a bit too loud in her enthusiastic excitement.
At this point there was a knock followed by a mysterious voice, her heart started to race, she was completely undressed under the sheets, and despite being the fastest runner there was no time to put on her clothes to make an escape. Completely vulnerable to the situation at hand, she gripped the bed sheet, and began to sink underneath.
“What do we do?” Nova whispered, she figured Valentus had a plan, it would be troublesome if anyone discovered the pair of lovers this early on.
In truth, Nova loved a challenge, it was the primary reason she was always seeking trouble in the first place. As Dr. Aspic’s clone, she was highly intelligent in any situation that she enjoyed fooling other Tuffles. However, Valentus was the exception, for the first time in her life she enjoyed being with him, more than any of the pranks she committed with her siblings.
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One of the butlers in the Nectarine Manor staff was standing behind the door, a full silver plate on his left hand, carrying a hearty breakfast for a noble warrior in training. Every day he’d knock, he would receive the same answer, letting him in - but today, something was different. Someone was inside, but no answer came.
“Uh...” Valentus stammered under his breath, the call from behind the door taking him just as much by surprise as it did Nova. He was about to answer the girl and explain that her presence next to him really was helpful, but this surprise threw everything out of the window.
“Uhm... wait a minute, please!” the noble called out, all while frantically pulling the bedsheet off himself. Thankfully, though his clothes were scattered across the bed, none of them had vanished. He could throw it under the sheet and put it on later.
“A minute? Sir Valentus, the tea will get cold!” the voice from behind the door called out again, puzzled. “What is happening there? Do you need help?”
“Nothing! Just... please wait!” Valentus yelled back in defense, his eyes then turned to Nova. It might sound silly to have such a comedic situation trigger such an instinct, but it was more than just his reputation with the House which was on the line. That could always get glazed over eventually. No, he now had a duty to protect Nova.
“I’ll... keep him distracted and explain everything away. Put on your clothes and get out, quick,” the noble whispered. Thankfully, her clothes did not seem anywhere near as complicated to put on as his.
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Nova simply nodded in response, reluctantly she was dressed faster than he had taken, talking to whoever was persistent at the door, promising to make a long enough distraction for her to escape without getting caught. Before she stepped out of the terrace, she stole a kiss on Valentus’ cheek, and stepped away to wave her white gloved hand at him as a goodbye.
Moments later she activated her utility belt, slipping into a newly developed tech created by her father, a suit that allowed her to blend in her surroundings like a chameleon. The metal cube was activated, liquid like metal surrounded her body, and she disappeared by bending the light that most Tuffles used to see.
Once she was outside, she leaped across the top of the stone gateway that surrounded the estate, and hopped on the roof tops towards the lab where she was born. At no point in her life did she have a childhood, she was aged up to a teenager in a cryopod when she woke up, and was otherwise preserved as part of Dr. Aspic’s many experiments.
Once inside the lab, she removed the suit that made her invisible, returning it inside the cube, and inside a pouch on her belt. Upon arrival her siblings were just released from their pods and were in the process of getting dressed.
“What took you so long?” Narin raised a brow.
“Did you get anything worthwhile?” Tangelo sneered.
“Eh.” Nova blushed, “Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“Huh?” Nova realized she was in such a daze about Valentus that she forgot about the motive. “It’s a work in progress. I haven’t slept so we can talk about it another time!”
Seconds later she was undressed and inside the cryopod which activated instantly while her brothers were staring at each other suspiciously.
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Much like Valentus had anticipated, Nova was quick to put on her shorts, stockings and bandeau - the noble, meanwhile, was not in as much of a rush, so he only put on his underwear in the time they had. Thankfully, his butler got the idea after the long distance yelling match and waited.
“-Oh,” the noble whispered, caught in surprise by the sudden kiss on his cheek, before smiling brightly. Much like Nova, Valentus raised his hand, waving a goodbye. “See you soon.” He wanted to add ”I hope” to that sentence, but held it back - in retrospect, it would have sounded much more desperate than he wanted their goodbyes to sound like.
Once Nova cloaked her appearance and vanished, Valentus dropped back onto the bed and pulled the sheet over himself, then called out again:
“Alright, you can come in!” The door to the room opened almost immediately. “Sorry for the trouble.”
“Is everything okay?” the butler asked as soon as he stepped in. There didn’t seem to be any signs of battle on the floor and on the walls, and Valentus appeared healthy as well. Right as he was about to place down the breakfast table before the young noble, he suddenly stopped, his focus diverted to the wall. “Sir Valentus, where did you put the-”
“Huh?” Valentus called out, turning in the same direction. The sword of Asbolus Nectarine, the encrusted replica of the legendary weapon wielded by the founder of their dynasty almost a millennium ago, was missing. “Wha-where did it go?!” Frantically, he rose to a sitting position, his head turning from side to side - at which point the butler asked again:
“Sir Valentus, why did you... sleep naked?”
“I-Uh-” the question got him to start stammering. Perhaps Nova would be better at coming up with good excuses, but Valentus was immediately left clueless. “I... forgot...?”
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While Nova slept, Dr. Aspic was alerted of a foreign object inside his daughter’s cryopod on his computer, while he mass developed the pods for future use entirely funded by the Tuffle Science Executive (TSE), as President of Tuffle Government, he strived for perfection to be presented to the leaders of the military branch ISLET. Dr. Citrus extracted the foreign object as a strand of fiery red hair, placed the hair inside a glass saucer dish, and resumed the cryostasis of the teenage girl. The resemblance between both females was uncanny, she specifically designed Nova’s appearance to her own per Dr. Aspic’s request, in order to explore designer DNA.
Once all the cryostasis data was presented with high success rates, further funding was given to the TSE from ISLET, to produce cryopods for their soldiers, as well as any cloning options for fallen comrades and leaders as a safety measure, as it was presently peaceful for Tuffles. Special tags activated a satellite signal to create a backup clone, extracting data from the original’s brain implant, and uploading the memories of the new cloned body. The ISLET commanders Commander Cerola, Weetsop, Pricota, Mango and Southern Taskforce Commander Tamarind were the first to be issued the tags which detected the life force of the current body to determine activation of the backup clone.
Meanwhile, Nova continued to sleep in the day, to visit Valentus at night until the final day before he joined the military. At no point did she stop to think about the sword she hid away because she felt spending time with the red haired teenager was far more valuable than an heirloom.
“I am going to miss you, Valentus.” Nova blushed as she confessed how she felt. “Are you going to miss me, too?”
The pink haired teen held her hands behind her back as she stood by the window shortly after sneaking past the guards. While she never grew physically tired, she was nearly out of breath, her heart was racing since it would be a long time until she could meet Valentus again when she truly desired to see him all the time. At this point she never realized what she was feeling was love that she kept secret from both of their families.
“It is protocol for citizens to enlist in the military but I am just…a clone. Dr. Aspic already served in the military until he was elected president of the TSE. So technically I already served and there isn’t anything I do not know about being a soldier. It is also for political reasons that I am not allowed to join. It is a conflict of interest if the most prestigious scientist had his genius clones move up in the ranks among the present commanders.”
Nova knew she was over explaining the situation, she just wished there was another way to express her devotion, of her wish to be with the noble as much as possible, except it was impossible for many reasons. While they both refused to follow the rules, the exemption was made for being seen publicly by the government, neither teen would disgrace their ancestry, and as long as they believed their relationship was secret it was safe to assume it would remain that way.
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“I know you don’t like your neck getting squeezed, but you are going to have to keep your collar tight, it’s proper that way.”
After a slightly forceful buttoning of his son’s military green uniform, Prince Coronet smiled and stepped back. His wife Elberta stood besides him, also striking a bright, proud smile. Valentus was still fixing up the uniform by his wrist, while his father continued speaking. “You know, if you enjoy your time out there, then please write to me and I will ensure that you can stay. Our house has not had a General among our ranks for almost two centuries, you know.”
“I... don’t want to think about that right now,” the young noble answered. “I still don’t know what to expect out there.”
“You’re going to get in trouble, you know?” Elberta spoke up and nudged him with a wink. “You’re going to threaten Cerola’s spot as the most handsome commander in all Tuffle Armed Services.”
“Ah-stop that...” Valentus mumbled, glancing to the side with a faint blush, and thus getting his mother to start laughing. He and his parents soon said their goodbyes for the night, however, and the young noble departed - tomorrow, early in the morning, he is finally leaving the manor, and won’t return for a minimum of two years. Coronet and Elberta remained standing in the central hall after their son vanished in the corridors, at which point, the woman immediately dropped all pretenses of a happy face and poked her husband on the chest, gushing out:
“You know you could have pulled all the strings needed to get him out of the TAS. Or assign him somewhere harmless, at least - but no. We both know what’s been happening with the Saiyans recently. Do you think they’re going to wait until our sweetheart completes his service? Of course not!”
“I could have, but my heart won’t let me,” Coronet defended himself. “Cowardice is a crime to our family code worse than death. If Val ends up forced to fight in a war and has to defend his honor, even if he dies, then I won’t feel an ounce of regret about it.”
“Oh, grow up for once...” his wife shot back with venom in her voice. “We don’t live in the ancient times. And, what’s worse, Val’s taking that philosophy from you... if he keeps that up, then this world is going to eat him alive.”
…
After leaving the central hall, Valentus walked past a handful of corridors before finally entering his room - where, once again, he could find Nova. As he had gotten used to by now, the noble locked the door to ensure that nobody from the other side stumbled in, then approached his lover.
Today, she was a lot more somber, opening up by saying that she is going to miss him, asking whether he felt the same, and then going on a tangent about how her nature - being a clone of Dr. Aspic and all - prevented her from following him. No matter what, he could tell that her thoughts swirled about what would happen to him.
“Please, Nova...” Valentus muttered, then reached around the girl to gently pick up one of her hands, holding it tightly in front of him with both of his own. “The more you worry about me, the worse you feel... the worse it makes me feel.”
The noble formed a smile. “I’m not going to be gone forever. No matter what happens to me in the Armed Services, I’ll never forget you - and when I come back, I’ll be sure to reach out to you as the first thing I do.”
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Nova was stunned to hear Valentus explain that her concerns were affecting him, she nodded her head, and lowered her gaze apologetically.
“I am sorry. I am confident that you will do well!” The teenage girl grinned, gripping his hand, “Just give me a minute to change. We should celebrate together, all the new recruits are in their uniforms, so we can blend right in.”
Prior to leaving the lab, she managed to print a replica of the uniform, mainly for the free food and drinks local shops were offering for their soldiers. The uniform was kept inside the puzzle cubes she kept in her belt pouch. It was neatly pressed upon release and she easily wore it over her usual clothes apart from her shoes which were not part of the uniform so changed those as well. Perhaps it was questionable to a noble to witness someone impersonate a soldier, it was just another rule she was willing to break for a memorable night, and she figured he would overlook what she was getting into.
The pinkette released her side ponytail, then tucked her hair into the sailor style cap, and she straightened up to resemble a female soldier.
“It’s not a standard issue uniform but it’s very convincing right? Are you ready to go, Valentus?”
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“I... certainly hope so,” Valentus muttered under his breath in response to Nova’s encouragement, though his voice came off more somber than he intended. After all, even if he tried to argue that he was only going to be gone for a few years, it was still a long time, and anything could happen in that time. Will he return the same he was, will he still be able to find Nova when he comes back?
Hell, will he even return? Valentus always made sure to mention it as a certainty to Nova, something she should never worry about, but... what if he fails to fulfill that promise?
While he was lost in thought, the girl suddenly got another idea. From her belt pouch, she suddenly pulled out a replica of the uniform of a Tuffle Armed Services cadet, and before his eyes, she swiftly put it on. She even pulled out a sailor style cap, placing it on her now loosened hair - combined with her mischievous grin, the cuteness was heart-melting to Valentus.
“Oh, uh... well, it certainly fits the part...” he answered, still lightly stunned by the sudden change, then blinked a few times. “Wait, where are we going? I only have to leave tomorrow in the morning...”
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Nova blew air into her cheek until it puffed up, Valentus was lost in thought, completely unaware that she said they should celebrate with the other soldiers who were partying in every district as a send off. Perhaps nobles had more to think about being enlisted in the military. The teenage girl had no idea what formalities he had to follow through but she figured he needed one last night of fun to remember.
“We are gonna walk the streets and try all kinds of treats. Dance and be merry!” The pink haired Tuffle activated an orb, she took his hand, and smiled towards the hovering mechanical device which snapped a photo with a shutter.
“Of course that means you have to sneak off, worse case scenario we might get caught if you’re not any good at it, but we have to try right? Let’s go.”
While holding hands, she crept towards the terrace, keeping her sky blue eyes for the guards who kept their eyes on the walls at all times. The moment they turned, she gripped the noble’s hand tightly into a vice, and they both leaped off the edge to land on the ground hidden by shadows. Once the area was clear again, they had to scale the wall, at this point she released his hand since it required they use both their hands to climb up.
Once Nova gave the signal, she scaled the wall first, with ease, since she spent two weeks of this routine it was rather easy for her. Unfortunately, she was met with two soldiers standing on the other side with their arms crossed, wearing the same captain style hats with a shiny leather brim.
“Eh…” Nova needed to wait for Valentus, so running was not an option, and she felt something familiar about the pair until she heard their voices.
“So this is where you have been.” Narin spoke up first.
“We found out you printed uniforms at the lab so we made our own. A perfect disguise to blend into masses.” Tangelo grinned, “Free food!”
“You two are on your own.” Nova scoffed, “Unlike you two losers I have a date. So get lost.”
“I never figured you for a breeder. While it’s impossible in your current condition. I fail to see the logic of anyone going on a date with a barren woman.”
In Tuffle society, people took pride in their offspring, while nobles arranged marriages everyone else was raised to choose suitable suitors. Nova knew that she was far from suitable, she allowed instinct to take over her teenage hormones in exchange for feeling affinity, and she lowered her head.
“Mind your own business.”
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Nova did not enjoy Valentus’ confusion, puffing up her cheeks in response, then explaining that they were going to sneak away to the streets for the night, and spend the last night together for a long time enjoying their time with everything the streets provide. “Ah, of course...” the noble muttered under his breath, feigning understanding. While this may have been a matter of fact to Nova, Valentus was actually not aware that they could find anything special on the streets tonight, especially tailored to cadets in the Tuffle Armed Services. An affair with the clone hasn’t made him any less sheltered.
Pulled in for a sudden photo, Valentus quickly struck a smile, and let himself get pulled to the window terrace, where, after quickly deducing the pattern of the guards below, Nova leapt and took the noble with her. Only at the last moment, as he already soared through the air, did he realize that this may not have been the best idea.
After all, how can he guarantee that he will return back home in time - and manage to sneak through again, even - and thus not end up late for his departure? At least, thankfully, he had the bright idea of locking his door - he won’t have his parents or siblings sneaking in and thus seeing that he’s absent.
Nova scaled the wall from the gardens to the streets beyond Nectarine Manor first, while Valentus briefly checked whether nobody was looking, before following after her. His climb was not as quick as Nova’s, but not particularly slow either - copying the girl’s movements, he pulled himself up in haste.
Right as his head poked over the wall, he saw that a scene had developed on the other side - two other recruits had confronted Nova. Valentus only caught the end of their conversation, but it told him everything he needed to know about what’s happening - one of the two recruits called her a “barren woman” and she told him to mind his own business. The noble dropped down on his feet and stepped forth, yelling:
“Get lost!”
Valentus stopped in front of Nova on instinct, his stance now much more stout and confident. Whoever these two were, he was not afraid of them. “If you touch her, you suffer. Simple as that.”
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“My apologies. I never expected my identical twin sister would be on a date with a noble.”
Narin offered a bow, his pale pink eyes narrowed, as he observed the teen for a moment. Clearly, their relationship must have been secret, a noble would never waste their time with a commoner let alone a clone. Dr. Aspic was the front runner of the latest scientific breakthrough but his clones were just another experiment.
The triplets had one significant aspect that distinguished their relationship, their eye colors complimented each other’s hair.
While it was dark, Nova was embarrassed that her brothers showed up, let alone be challenged into a fight with Valentus.
Tangelo cracked his knuckles, a glint appeared in his green eyes, he was grinning under the veil of shadows under the brim of his hat, more than eager to test out this red haired teenager’s might.
“Hey! You can fight another day. You’re both cutting into our time.” Nova punched Tangelo hard against his bicep to get him to move.
“Hah! You’re actually serious for once.”
“Come on Valentus, let's ditch them.”
The pink haired tuffle reached out to take the noble’s hand and pulled him out of the present situation by running down the street towards the festivities. The most significant spectacles were marching bands, hologram parades with strobe lights, confetti, and food stalls in every corner offering anyone in uniform a small meal. Nova stopped running by a water canal that divided the main streets and turned around to face her lover.
“I would have introduced you to my brothers sooner but they normally sleep at night. It’s a good thing they caught on rather late or else we wouldn’t hear the end of it.” Nova chuckled nervously, “You must have overheard them for you to respond that way. Honestly, your family would have reacted the same way if they ever found out about me…regardless of your noble birth my feelings towards you are as if you were my equal.”
Still holding his hand, she intertwined her fingers with his, and clenched her uniform with her other hand specifically over her chest which was pounding wildly.
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Narin’s sudden response, emphasizing that he was Nova’s twin, briefly got Valentus to do a double take, but his stature remained straight. He quickly realized what was going on - if he, and likely by extension Tangelo, were Nova’s siblings, then they must be Dr. Aspic’s clones as well.
That left Valentus slightly less confident when he saw the blue haired twin itching for a fight - if Nova, as he recalled, was genetically modified to be the best sprinter in existence, then he had no reason to assume the other clones weren’t equally superhuman. It was not going to get him to stand down, however. Making a stand was more important than actually winning one.
Fortunately, Nova intervened in time, ordering Tangelo to step aside, before taking Valentus’ hand and setting off. The noble shot one final glance at the two clones they left by the garden walls - his eyes were narrowed, though, as the standoff got resolved, he was not particularly furious anymore.
The streets of the capital were lively tonight, more than the usual. The two lovers walked past over a dozen different food stalls, selling options from pastry to hot soup, while a military band was playing tunes from their camp somewhere in the distance... Past all that, Valentus and Nova stopped by a water canal instead.
“I heard the end of it, yes. I didn’t know they were your brothers at first, so I thought you were in danger,” the noble explained himself. Hearing Nova’s thoughts about the reaction his family would have had if they found out about their relationship, the noble released a sigh. “True, but at least it could be worse... My family is more accepting of the changing times than the average noble. I don’t know how much you follow politics, but they’ve tried to achieve peace between us and the Saiyans for years...”
With a resigned expression, Valentus glanced away, his hand was placed on the railing separating them from the canal, and his eyes stared to the water below.
“I’m sure pretty much everyone but us would react the same way - and I don’t even quite understand it. There’s a difference in status and wealth, sure, and in bearing children... but that shouldn’t be enough to resign anyone to never being able to truly be together. But...”
Valentus suddenly gently picked up Nova’s other hand, holding them both and staring her in the eyes. “It doesn’t have to be this way! One day, I’ll... have the power to make real change, to the better. I won’t just be an heir locked inside a manor forever, one day I’ll be the next Prince Nectarine. And at that point, what I decree will actually mean something.”
His smile was confident. “One day, we won’t have to hide anymore, and nobody will call you barren.”
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As the days passed in her life, despite being in company of siblings, Nova felt alone with her emotions. Part of being the fastest among the three, she was also a quick witted thinker, unlike Narin who was calculative and patient, while she was left suppressing anything that defied logic. For the first time in her life, she actually wanted to be left alone with Valentus, but she also wanted to celebrate with the rest of the locals which left her conflicted. In response to her feelings over their relationship, the noble confessed that he wanted to defy the social stigma between them, and what he said afterwards astounded her completely.
“Achieve peace with Saiyans?” Nova was in disbelief, she was vc
M p
specifically cloned on the off chance that she would be faced with one in a fight, and she cast her gaze away. Politics were not her strong suit, she was far too emotional to rationalize anything, and she simply nodded her head.
It was strange for the pair of teens to decide their future based on being able to reproduce, all the pink haired tuffle could think of at present was having a good time with the noble for as long as possible, at some point she did think about when it would all end but she did not allow it to cloud her judgement at present.
With both of her hands held by Valentus, Nova’s heart started racing as she listened to his confident choice of words to describe a future he imagined was entirely possible, and she smiled happily for a moment.
“Well, when you put it that way, anything is possible. Apart from being together, you have to convince the TSE that clones have the same rights as Tuffles first, we’re considered science experiments apart from people. I suggest working with Dr. Citrus on the subject, she designed us, and she can confirm that we have independent conscious thoughts like anyone born naturally. Whatever happens will define the rights of every new clone afterwards.”
After a beat, she giggled at the prospect, and smiled, “Is there anything you wanted to do tonight specifically while we’re here? Perhaps you can save all this future politics after you serve your term first. Thanks for sharing your ideas with me, it gives me hope.”
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Seeing Nova’s expression light up by his words, hearing her be moved by his hope and dreams, warmed up Valentus’ heart at its core. “Of course, I’ll do my best,” he answered the clone girl, smiling as well. It might sound a little troubling that he would need to go through so many institutional things, if Nova is to be believed - however, hearing that it would make life just a little bit better for every clone, not just them two, motivated him further.
After all, if he has an opportunity to make this world just a little bit better place to live, then why shouldn’t he take it? Good actions, bad actions, that dichotomy rarely figured in his mind - but as if on instinct, Valentus knew that this was the right thing to do.
“Ah, well...” Valentus glanced to the side, considering Nova’s question, then faintly snickered under his breath. “Funny that the only idea I did have has just been made invalid. I had a thought that I could bring you to our library one of these days - I’m sure that even if Dr. Aspic has all the reading you could ever need on the natural sciences, he is not as well read on ancient history.”
The noble briefly glanced over his shoulder, towards the path from the manor they had just run past, before turning back to Nova.
“But forget that. We’re not returning back home for the night, I take it. You know much more about what we can do in the city than I do.”
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“So you enjoy history…” Nova realized it was a subject she was not entirely familiar with but she was happy to learn something new about her lover all the same. “I rarely see Dr. Aspic, so I am not sure how well versed he is in ancient history, and nothing is impossible when it comes to his genius intellect.”
The pink haired teen hummed while she held his hands like a bridge between them, “We will return to your manor early. I just wanted to know what your favorite foods are and to taste them all...as something to remember you by. Besides, if we hang around too long, my brothers might follow us so we should lose them while we have the chance to. So let’s go.”
After releasing one hand, she held onto the other, and led the way to the first food stall which was serving dumplings. A sampler was handed over to each of them, the variety of dumplings were folded differently, and the one that Nova enjoyed the most was filled with soup which burst in her mouth.
“Which one is your favorite?” Nova blinked her sky blue eyes briefly, then smiled to grab another plate of fruit slices in a similar variety from peach, orange, grape, drupe, kiwi, and banana. “How about these?”
While the pair of teens spend every night embracing each other since they first met, this was the first time they were seen in public, wearing cadet uniforms to blend in with the crowd like equals, and she was enjoying every minute of it because she felt like a normal teenager for the first time.
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“Ahh...” Valentus muttered, his lover’s motive briefly caught him off-guard, but he quickly understood what the logic behind it was. On the last night before his departure, Nova wanted to learn more about him - and so dragged him to the food stalls across town to sample what the people had to offer. They stopped before a stall, where Nova immediately equipped herself with a bounty. Dumplings, several options of them, and then a plate with an array of fruit.
“Ah, give me a second...” the noble spoke under his breath, unsure, and reached to the stall to pick up one of the disposable plastic forks offered. He had not tried dumplings before - though, judging from Nova’s expression, they were a delicacy to her. The fruit were more familiar, however - they were a cornerstone of the diet of noble Tuffles just as much as they were for commoners. With the side of his fork, Valentus carefully cleaved the peach slice in half and picked up one of the halves, reaching for Nova’s mouth.
“How is this?” he asked. If the girl opened her mouth, he would place the piece of the peach inside with his fork, and pick up the second one for himself. “I like peaches. They’re... sweet, but not too much. My family grows a peach orchard, too... so I’ve had them often.”
It did not take a mention for Valentus to tell that Nova was having the time of her life, pulling him through the food stalls and being... just an ordinary couple, without any restraint. He did not mention it either - but he felt much of the same.
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It was quite unusual to be fed publicly, so Nova quickly took a bite of the peach slice, but slowly chewed it to savor the flavor while Valentus explained his family kept this type of fruit at his estate.
“It is...tart like an apple but soft...and crisp. So this is genuinely your favorite because you grew up eating this?” The teenager observed, “I wonder how many dishes can be made from this fruit.”
The pair were whisked away by vendors, other cadets were crowding the stalls, eventually they were offered a full plate to share at a picnic style table under a tarp since it began to fog up. Without thinking much about it, Nova was sampling the bread rolls, one was made with potato, and the other had more egg in it to change its color.
“You had dinner with your family...so you must not be as hungry as I am. Hmm. I cannot decide which bread roll I like more, the one with the root specimen or the one that is moist from the extra eggs mixed into the composition of the baked product.”
Once again she was explaining everything on a scientific level, she was the least charismatic of the triplets, so she relied on her intellect to hold a conversation. Nova was raised differently in the past few years as a teen compared to Valentus who was raised as a noble who would eventually ascend to become a prince. While it was due to instant chemistry that attracted to her to him as a prime specimen of the opposite sex that brought them together as a couple; perhaps he found her quirks interesting enough to understand her explanations. None of these thoughts crossed her mind as she was rather focused on learning what the redheaded teenager enjoyed, so that could reminisce on all of his favorite foods while they were apart, and she looked over to smile at him happily.
“So, what do you think? Which one of these is your favorite? I can learn to make this someday since it seems simple enough.”
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“Well, I don’t really pick favorites from food... but I guess so,” Valentus answered when asked about his opinion on peaches. Since Nova enjoyed it, Valentus offered her another slice at the tip of his fork while they continued talking. “I know people make a lot of desserts from it, though I personally like just having a few of them sliced as a snack while reading.”
Their trip across the food vendors continued, and soon enough, Nova returned to him with new bounties at hand - freshly baked bread rolls, picked out from an assortment of pastry offered to aspiring TSE officers. Unfortunately, the girl was not sure how to describe them - so, she relied upon a barrage of scientific terminology to get her point across, which left the noble even more confused. Ever since they first met, he started to get used to Nova’s waxed and scientific speech, and figured it was because of her clone nature - but he still slipped up trying to understand her at times.
“Ah-uh, a root product?” Valentus repeated what she said, confused. “You mean... like a tree root?” That what Nova meant was potato flour, from a root vegetable, slipped from his mind - the scientific language obscured it. “That sounds... rather exotic, I don’t think I’ve ever tried that.”
Gently, he picked up the bread roll from Nova’s hands and pulled it into two halves, offering one half to the girl and trying the other himself. After he took the first bite off the potato bread roll, Valentus suddenly spoke:
“Oh, oh, speaking of peaches - our servants bake peach pie sometimes, and that is great. It’s like those peaches and these bread rolls, combined to something superior.”
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“Tree root?” Nova was confused now, she was describing a root vegetable, trees were not known for producing root specimens that were edible, and they were both lost in the conversation. Since he described the potato flour bread roll as exotic, she assumed he preferred it over the egg one, and set it down to eat more of the other, noticing that it had more flavor.
“I typically do not eat from the local shops but my metabolism is generally higher than normal so I can eat anything without being restricted to a certain diet... but Dr. Citrus does have a meal plan for me and the others in order to develop our specialized traits to its full potential.” She admitted, “I imagine all your meals at home are different, too. The TAS rations are going to be similar to what I normally eat, perfectly balanced, and practically tasteless. Honestly, I feel like I have been missing out on a few things, now that I am with you.”
Valentus described a peach pie being superior to the peach and bread rolls. While Nova was intrigued, it seemed like it was something only House Nectarine produced, otherwise the various scents in the dense fog would have drawn the noble by now.
“It seems you’re going to miss out on peach pie from home. Do you think there might be some left for me to try? Well...we should head back before we get caught again.” She grinned, taking a sip of water, before getting up to look around outside the tent to make sure they were not followed. “Are you ready to go, Valentus?”
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“Sounds like I’ll end up missing out when I end up travelling there, too,” Valentus commented after hearing Nova’s detail of their diet. He did not actually know what the cadets in the TAS usually ate, but he had anticipated not having the variety which he was used to back home. Instead of filling, delicious, professionally made meals, it was going to be rations designed to keep cadets in shape and provide them with all of the nutrients and vitamins they need every day.
After all, unlike the declining noble houses, the armed forces and the scientific community followed reason and efficiency without any scrupule.
Listening to Valentus about the supremacy of the peach pie, Nova asked if she could have any - the sudden innocence in her wording getting him to flash a soft smile. “I doubt it, you can’t store pie for that long... I’m sure you could find a recipe somewhere in our library, though.” Technically, her taking some Nectarine peach pie would be theft. And while Valentus obviously was not going to say something that mean to Nova, he could not condone it, either.
The noble tapped the flat military cap on his head, tipping the beak down slightly to remain inconspicuous. “Of course, I’m ready when you are.”
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“Ah...so it's better when it is prepared fresh as it does not keep well...the glucose from peaches is a natural preservative. Hm. Perhaps that is only true when it is stored or turned into...jam?” Nova was reliant on the information she inherited from Dr. Aspic, while parts of her memories had been tampered with for security reasons, she was still required to learn or affirm her findings on her own.
While she was lost in thought the noble joined her at the entrance of the tent, the fog was sufficient cover from masking their presence from her siblings who were curious about the couple, as it was unusual to keep secrets from each other. Just as she was about to take a step forward, she noticed their familiar faces, she tensed up and reached out for Valentus’ hand to weave through the crowd of cadets.
Like a dance, Nova was quick to flow around the other soldiers fluidly, her sky blue eyes were wide as she calculated her trajectory towards the city center, where the elite nobles resided. Unfortunately, Narin predicted she would return to the wall closest to the terrace so he waited for her there. The pink haired Tuffle did not anticipate outsmarting her quick witted twin, so she quickly turned down an alleyway, she was practically holding the red haired tuffle teen into a vice with her grip from the stress of involving a relative in their antics for the evening. At some point she was about to unveil their cover of darkness if she did not release his palm, it was frustrating enough to hide from guards, servants, and the other nobles in the Nectarine Household let alone her own family who was presently searching for her whereabouts.
Their secret world was about to be discovered but Nova was not the type to give up so she sprinted out leaving Valentus behind with a simple hand gesture to remain in place. After scaling the walls of a nearby building, she leaped up on the rooftops, pretending she was heading towards the wall to catch Narin’s attention but Tangelo was already on the lookout his arms outstretched to capture his pink haired sister in a tight embrace of his above average muscular build. However, Nova backflipped out of the way in a fraction of a second, she was the fastest among the triplets and she was going to have a difficult time losing the trail between the other two.
Perturbator - Venger [feat. Greta Link] (Unofficial Videoclip)
Nova returned to lower districts, where cadets were still crowding around, blending in with the crowd once again, and she was immediately followed by both of her brothers who were much slower. A group of tuffles with pink hair were in view, so she took advantage of heading towards them, even switching her headwear with one of them to distract Tangelo’s senses. The fog rolled in, the teenage girl relied on her powerful legs to sprint back to where she left her lover waiting, then reclaimed his hand so they could scale the walls of his estate once again to leap over the other side.
An LED clock appeared under Nova’s wrist, she had timed the climb perfectly when the guards switched shifts, and they still had to scale up towards the terrace into Valentus’ room to avoid detection. After a beat, she did exactly that, and for the first time the noble would notice how much effort she had to put in every night to meet him secretly. However, she was not remotely fatigued in the slightest, all the calories she ate before gave her the boost she needed to remain alone together.
“I managed to avoid them this long...but I am still the fastest runner.” Nova smiled as she caught her breath, while standing inside his room, which was presently dark. “It is your turn to lead the way.”
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Before Valentus could yelp a word, Nova grabbed him by the hand and dragged him across town, weaving through people in their path and getting a handful of confused glances their way - two cadets suddenly rushing out and running away was not something you could easily miss. Valentus tried his best to keep up - but despite his training, he couldn’t hope to be as nimble as someone designed to be superior to an average Tuffle from birth, so he ended up pulled, trying his best to move out of the way and not hit any of the other cadets. The last thing they wanted was to get in trouble because they pushed some tough guy and spilled his drink.
Until suddenly, Nova let go of Valentus’ hand and ran into the distance, leaving him standing in the middle of the street, lost and a little bit confused. He could tell that Nova was leading them away from something, but without any sort of explanation, all the noble could do was guess. Maybe she saw someone in the fog and the crowd he did not? Maybe she knew that someone back home was in trouble and wanted them to get back sooner...
“Darn it, Nova...” Valentus muttered under his breath and folded his arms. He couldn’t be mad at her, but being dragged out into an unfamiliar part of the city and then left alone didn’t leave him happy, either. Especially since he still did not know what this was for. Fortunately, this abandonment did not stick. In a matter of minutes, Nova grabbed his hand from behind again and dragged Valentus forward yet again. From there, the two teens hastily infiltrated the manor yet again - climbing over the same garden wall as before, tracking the movement of the guards to advance past the gardens, and making their way up to the terrace where they had first met, which appeared almost impossible to do without supertuffle strength, but with Nova’s help, Valentus scaled it up as well.
“Ahh...” he sighed under his breath and sat down on the bed - while Nova was visibly just as energetic as always, Valentus had to catch his breath for once. Before he was about to ask, the girl explained what was going on - she was on the run from her brothers. “You could have... at least mentioned it while we were on the run. I had no idea what was happening the whole time...”
The noble stood back up and made his way to the door, unlocking it and opening it. By now, the rest of the manor was just as dark and silent as Valentus’ room - and while his room had just enough light from out the window to see around, the corridors were going to be pitch black. So, from a nearby drawer, Valentus took out two lights - they were custom made, designed to look like burning candles, even though they were actually electric. He offered one to Nova and walked forward with the other in his hand.
The corridors of the Nectarine manor were decorated intricately, and adorned with numerous paintings. Some had been purchased by the family during the past few centuries, and varied from battle scenes, to paintings of Tuffle space exploration and summits with the species of the Planet Trade Organization. Others were full body portraits which depicted ancient heads of the family - stout, proud, always with red-orange hair much like Valentus’ and often in armor. The paintings were supposed to represent what that prince was the most famous for during their life, after all, and many past Nectarines were soldiers, or politicians.
Finally, they approached a tall, narrow double door built out of the finest wood money could buy - here, Valentus briefly raised his palm to stop Nova. First, he leaned close to the door to check if he could hear anything inside, then slightly opened one of the doors to peek inside. Sometimes, even during the night, a cleaning maid might be here to sweep away gathering dust or order the books correctly. This was not one of those days, however, and the library was completely empty - so, Valentus led Nova inside.
“All of the knowledge which my family has gathered for centuries is stored here,” the noble stated, calmly, the elevated area of the entrance giving them a sweeping view of an enormous two-story library. “Perhaps not as much in the natural sciences as Dr. Aspic may have, but when it comes to things like ancient history, or even martial arts... this place has books which do not exist anywhere else in the Universe.”
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“It is difficult to explain...I just wanted to be alone with you, Valentus.” Nova affirmed, she was basically inseparable with her siblings, and they did not understand her recent change in behavior so they have been monitoring her ever since. The imposition of her relatives was not necessarily an issue since House Nectarine would have been against the pair as well. The noble was eager to show her the library as promised, so he handed her an odd lighting device, and gestured for her to follow him.
Everything inside the manor was dark, quiet, and every step echoed in the long corridor that was illuminated by the electric light shaped like a candle--which Nova had never seen before until tonight. The pair of teens were raised differently, Valentus was deeply rooted in ancient traditions, and Nova was integrated in the latest advancements of science. The portraits of his relatives were intricate, symbolic to what his house was capable of and their influence among the elite tuffle society, which she could never imagine herself being part of. A suitable spouse would politically aid Valentus’ dream who was nearly as powerful to influence the future.
The idea that clones were equal to natural born Tuffles would be absurd to the current climate of society. After all, there was still a division of class within the city districts, and Valentus’ parents would be against their relationship on the suspicion that Dr. Aspic had planned for his clone to be involved with their son for political reasons. All these ideas filled Nova’s mind, the potential outcomes after discovering their secrets, and she looked up to see the grand library in awe with a high ceiling full with ornate wood that was more exquisite compared to the furniture in the noble’s room.
“So these are archives of historical references in physical form?” Nova wondered, she was accustomed to searching for information on a computer, and this was the first time she had ever seen a book.
There were more candles throughout, similar to the one she was holding, which she set down on a table so she could pick up one of the volumes which was written in a language she was able to read. Genetically bred to be fast, she flipped through the pages on a book that explored the phases of the moon, reading the two inch thick book in less than five minutes. Nova’s blue eyes counted the number of books on the shelves and calculated how long it would have taken to read them all.
“If you brought me here from the beginning. I would have been able to read all the books by now.” Placing the book back to where she found it she leaned on the table in her forged cadet uniform. “So which one is your favorite? I should read that one next.”
Among other things, there was a recipe that Nova needed to find as well, so she could learn to make his favorite dessert.
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For a noble family, history was everything. In a world which was governed by science and rationality, the last thing they could do was cling onto times of the past when it was not technology and minds that governed the planet, but swords and blue blood. They still remember the times when they were the eyes and ears of the Tuffle King like it was yesterday. In truth, their power has long, long since waned - even the most famous and wealthy families such as the Nectarines mostly remained relevant not through their status, but because members of their dynasty were actually active on Planet Plant, be it in politics or in the Armed Services.
So, it was crucial to keep that history written, codified, and transferred across generations. This was the primary purpose of their library - so many of the books lined across the shelves were either family history or collections of documents from centuries past.
“That’s what archives look like in physical form, yes. Maybe a little less illustrious, but still...” Valentus explained as he strolled into the centre of the library, standing in between several reading tables and raising his light into the air to illuminate the bookshelves surrounding them from every side. In the corner of his eyes, he saw Nova pick up one of the books in the astronomy section. “Father does not want to digitize anything but the most general tomes. That way, the knowledge stored here remains stored only here - instead of filtering its way to the outside world. I’m not sure why it’s so necessary, but apparently it is...”
Finishing his brief contemplation, Valentus turned around, thinking of asking Nova what the book she took was about and whether she found it interesting - only to see the girl already pushing the book away and asking for another.
“That...” Valentus muttered, blinking in bafflement. Now that he saw Nova push the book back to its place, he recognized the cover. “That book took me two weeks to finish... Are you sure you read all of it?”
He took a glance around, his eyes setting on the bookshelves. “I guess... you could give the 18-tome History of Planet Plant a try,” he brought up, his attention drawn to eighteen massive tomes with a rich blue cover, lined up one after another in one of the bookshelves. “They are a few decades old, but they are masterfully written and easily accessible for any reader.”
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It seemed some of the books were not sourced anywhere on the planet according to Valentus’ explanation, specifically because his household acquired the information for themselves, or a different reason Nova could not begin to comprehend. Knowledge is power but at the same time ignorance was a weakness that people exploited. Dr. Aspic had been monitoring planet Salada from a distance ever since he noticed a leap in their scientific progress, he had been suspicious that saiyans were conquering other planets, and would eventually arrive at planet Plant. For the longest time, he forced himself to sleep in cryopods, in order to remain adept in developing technology that would aid the Tuffles succeed in the future. The development of clones was published to the public as the latest scientific theory but the triplets were entirely secret. A premeasure of the data analysis from TSE that a war was inevitable if the saiyans continued conquering planets successfully across the galaxy.
“Your father is quite optimistic in the preservation of these volumes.” Nova smiled, she analyzed that the books had the potential of surviving two thousand years, unless copies were produced, but it was none of her business to have an opinion on the matter since it was not her household. “Are you not entitled to scanning a few digitally for your personal use without anyone else knowing? What is one more secret?”
The pink haired Tuffle mused as she watched the noble admire a specific collection, he wondered about her reading ability, admitting that it had taken two weeks for him to read the same book, and she tilted her head curiously wondering if it was abnormal that she was able read quickly or not. Part of the reason the triplets were left to their own devices, was to make their own discoveries, and this was one of those moments.
“The archive covered the phases of both of our moons, the gravitational pull of when both moons are in its fullest phases decreases the ocean tides by several kilometers. It also covered the equinox of the moon during certain time periods and the one that was most interesting was the Harvest Moon phase. I can read these volumes quickly...I suppose not every Tuffle can do that.”
Nova stood next to Valentus and explained that the collection was his favorite, one that covered the planet’s history in a form that she suspected was an encyclopedia, an ancient form of historical knowledge that was constantly being revised by historians whenever information was missing from initial study. A sigh escaped her lips, while he was enthusiastic, she was beginning to doubt the accuracy of the information compared to what she was allowed to know since part of her memories from Dr. Aspic were tampered with intentionally. After pulling out the first volume, she read about the first surviving historical monument by tuffles since the dawn of existence, and she looked over to stare at Valentus who was still enthusiastic about what she would learn from this book.
“Why do you enjoy reading about the past so much, Valentus?” Nova wondered, she stared at his teenage visage to the point where their noses nearly touched, and she stole a kiss. “The present is so much better.”
With a soft chuckle, she began to speed read, flipping the pages within a matter of seconds, reading the five centimeter book in five minutes. Nova’s sky blue eyes read every line, the pupils practically vibrated back and forth reading every line. While this was just her second book, she noticed that her eyes had become fatigued slightly, she blinked a few times until her regenerative abilities restored her sight to normal, she was straining her eyesight slightly from the low lighting conditions.
“The prehistoric ages were quite something...people lived in natural habitats like animals. It was such a long time ago that we have evolved into superior beings in our own solar system to the point of space exploration. However, we are still in the process of sending space probes before we venture anywhere near another planet without the utmost caution. It is part of Tuffle nature to determine all the variables prior to making a commitment that can change history itself...otherwise our entire existence.”
Nova often spoke confidently about anything she was knowledgeable about and she was not nearly as optimistic as her counterpart. The unknown future was unpredictable even with the latest advancements of technology, Dr. Aspic was quite paranoid as a result, and she had been ignoring any concerns her creator turmoiled over in order to enjoy the present.
[767]
[8,611]
“I don’t need to scan them - I'm allowed to read them myself, and honestly, I prefer reading an old manuscript in my hands to a digital copy,” he answered Nova’s thoughts about scanning some of the volumes for personal use. Eventually, they will have to be copied when the paper wears down for good, but that was going to take a very long time - here, they were kept in the best possible condition.
“Well no, I don’t think anyone except you can do that,” Valentus then explained, raising his eyebrow at Nova being completely unaware that her ability to speed-read was unique. Of course, being born with such an ability gives you a different perspective of what a “normal” Tuffle should be able to do - but he figured that unless Nova was made completely isolated from any and all knowledge about their species, written or otherwise, then she could have learned something about what makes her above average. At least, he did not have a reason to believe that she was merely pulling a prank on him - what she laid down was, indeed, what was written in the book.
“Besides, it’s not a race, or a competition. Sometimes, books are read to be enjoyed, not just to extract as much information as quickly as you can,” the noble tried to explain himself. When Nova reached for the first tome of History of Planet Plant, Valentus pulled it out from the top shelf for her and passed it to the girl. “Say, on a lazy afternoon, I’d pick up where I left off in the History tomes, bring a bowl of peaches and cookies at the side, and read a chapter before imagining what it was like in my head...”
But it was leisure, and Valentus was not sure if Nova understood the concept in anywhere near the same way as him. After all, she spends most of her time locked in a cryo pod and can’t even sleep.
Valentus reciprocated her kiss, briefly closing his eyes as she leaned to his face, but her question afterwards left the noble in thought. Embraced by the present, Nova wondered what interested him so much about the times of old. What did he find in all of these tomes?
“Well, yes, the present is more advanced, enlightened, and so on...” Valentus began, considering her question. “But there’s so many interesting stories to find in the past... It’s not really the dry facts which interest me - the stories, legends about heroism, glory and chivalry... that’s really what keeps bringing me here. The people we meet in the present - well, they have stories to tell, too, but we’re all flawed people in the end. Legendary heroes, meanwhile, are just so much more grand by design, the wars they fight are a lot more grand and their stories a lot more noble.”
Briefly, the noble stopped, considering his thoughts. “It’s something to aspire to, you know?”
[490]
[7,500]
Socializing with other Tuffles had been minimal, people read everything that was written on electronic devices connected to the internet, so finding anyone reading a book at a leisure pace was rare. The pair of teens were distinct from each other on the notion of literature apart from the enjoyment of knowledge. Even with the shared kiss between them Valentus explained his love for history passionately. Nova was envious of his interests, she had not developed one of her own since she was rarely separated from her brothers, and after reading two archives she felt indifferent.
“I am not entirely certain if I am going to be as enthusiastic as you are by uncovering historical points of the past. After tonight, I feel partial towards learning to cook some of the food we had together, so I can enjoy it again.”
It was obvious when she spoke that discovering food she never had before was something she could pick up as a hobby. As a noble, he had a luxury of eating meals not everyone had before, and it was evident that her upbringing did not indulge in the same level of nutritional values. Dr. Aspic and Dr. Citrus raised the triplets on scientifically balanced meals that were made flavorless since the combination of ingredients compounded together would be distasteful otherwise.
“What is a cookie?” The pinkette wondered.
When Valentus mentioned heroism, Nova reflected on the first tome, which covered the Neolithic and golden ages which was distinguished by a clash of ideals which led to civil strife. Tuffles prioritize knowledge but whenever the foundation of intellectual growth was questioned the solution had always been left to the noble families. At some point the nobles were related by blood but eventually a price was paid by assassination in order to shift the influence of power. Perhaps heroism for a noble was facing their enemies without fear of being uprooted from their position. Despite the turmoil, Tuffles were reasonable enough to avoid war, and eventually the power shifted when ISLET and the TSE seized their own level of influence among the people.
With the current political climate, Valentus’ potential of being a hero would involve being highly decorated as a soldier, and at that point it would take quite some time to accomplish. Nova’s patience over being separated for so long was being tested in a matter of seconds. However, she knew very well that she had no choice on the matter because she had no desire to be with anyone else but him.
“Of course, if anyone is going to do well enough to leave a mark in history, it will be you, Valentus.”
[444]
[9,055]
“A... cookie?” Valentus repeated Nova’s question, blinking for a second. It wasn’t that he was surprised by her not knowing what it was - their time in the streets not too long ago proved that she knew very little about the different foods available to the average Tuffle. He was unprepared to explain something as simple as a cookie, however.
He glanced to the sides for a second, wondering if there was a bowl or a jar of those left somewhere in the library - alas, even if someone had carelessly left one on the tables during the day, the manor’s servants and cleaning maids would have long since put it back where it belongs.
“It’s... a baked dessert, I suppose. Usually small, round and sweet, and baked out of dough,” the noble tried explaining in his own words. “It’s not something you’d eat for dinner, but it’s something sweet to snack on at the side. I’m surprised you never tried them, I imagine you’d really like them.”
Valentus’ mind was still on the matter of cookies when Nova changed topic - she returned to his idealism of the past, how he aspired to the legendary heroes from the books he mentioned. Surely, his bold claims about changing the world for the better when he finally becomes a prince in his own right added to it as well. For a second, Valentus stared at Nova in silence, slightly taken aback by her confidence in him, before he finally struck a soft smile and approached her.
“Thank you so much, Nova,” Much like she had stolen a kiss from him a moment ago, he did the same. “I love you.”
[276]
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“I will learn to bake cookies too.” The lab at home did not have the tools or facility to prepare any of the desserts Valentus enjoyed but she was optimistic to discover them for herself.
Nova removed her cap shortly after they kissed a second time, she stared back into his eyes, and felt her heart skip a beat when noble said he loved her.
“I love you, Valentus. The second I first looked at you, I already knew it. I just wish we could spend more time together but there is not enough time in a single day for us.”
The pink haired teenager wrapped her arms around the redhead’s neck, she pressed her chest against his torso, and passionately kissed the noble. When their tongues met, the sound of their enamored exchange echoed in the silent library, the shelves of books bounced their heavy breaths between the enclosed space they stood in. After a few minutes, Nova pulled away to stare at Valentus with bewilderment, she unsnapped the left side of the uniform, then pulled down on the enamel cross zipper to remove the dress jacket, to reveal her usual white bandeau underneath.
The library was not exactly a private room for the pair of teens, the risk only excited the Tuffle, and little thought was placed on doing anything else other than to share a moment of intimacy between lovers.
[Fade to black]
[233]
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Their love was exhilarating, ecstatic and unforgettable. The girl had wrapped her arms around him, pulling closer and leaning up to him. Looking down at her from up above, Valentus could tell that the girl was floating - even though he was not holding her, and Nova appeared light, she was holding onto his neck without any difficulty.
The flustered blush on Valentus’ face was not going away, but the noble struck a smile to reassure her nonetheless, and then picked her up with both of his arms to hold her in a bridal carry. If Nova chose to let go of her flight and rely on his arms, they would be sure to hold her for as long as she wanted.
He looked down at her face, gazing into the eyes he was going to have to let go for years before finally coming back. If he comes back. If he finds her after coming back. The worry was still nagging him at the back of his mind, and the noble chose to reassure her - not just her, but himself as well.
“Even if it takes a thousand years, I will return to you one day, Nova. I promise,” Valentus whispered back to his lover. “You are like the sun in my sky, I won’t ever be able to live without you again.”
Though his promises were dramatic, the noble was sure that neither of them had anything to fear. Planet Plant has been peaceful for as long as either of them have lived, nothing could stop him from returning home once his service concludes.
“We should go, before you get cold again.”
[273]
[8,049]
Nova noticed Valentus blushed more by cradling her and it caused her own cheeks to turn different shades of pink as she relaxed in his arms. Listening to the noble express his love for her in comparison to sun caused her to smile widely, she was unfamiliar with such metaphors, since anything she read before were technical documents, she found an interest in the use of words he was capable of arranging into eloquent prose.
“Even when we’re apart, in my heart we will be together, and we will be under the same sky reflected in our eyes every time we think about each other.”
The mention of feeling cold caused her to laugh quietly, she closed her eyes briefly shaking her head, she was genetically modified to adapt to any temperature.
“I just said that I was cold because I want to feel your warmth, Valentus.” Nova admitted, “I figured that if it seemed urgent enough...I would not have to wait another second. Now I have to wait starting tomorrow.”
The pair of teens held their gazes a little longer until the pink haired Tuffle was set down to collect their dress uniform jackets. The Nectarine household was still occupied by others, so they quietly returned to the bedroom undetected.
Once they were in the room, Nova leaped for the bed mainly because she was not planning to sleep over with her brothers who were being highly suspicious of her whereabouts, and she had to face the consequences in order to keep Valentus safe so that he could report for duty. The heirloom sword hit the ground, after it had been tacked to the wooden underside of the bed, it was rather loud which caused the pink haired Tuffle to look towards the door to make sure that it closed before it echoed down the corridor.
It seemed impossible to explain why the sword was hidden there so Nova quietly picked it up and mounted it back on the wall where she found it initially; an indication that she was the reason it was there since knew exactly where to return it.
“I--” She began, biting her bottom lip, as she stared at the blade then turned to meet her lover’s gaze, “The truth is...I was not just exploring the Nectarine Manor because I was curious who lived here. My brothers and I planned to steal something valuable without being caught as part of our personal training. After meeting you, I changed my mind about the sword, and I forgot that it had been under the bed this entire time because you are all I think about when I am in this room.”
After a beat, she walked over to collect her cap on the bed, and clutched it tightly in her hands as she stepped in front of Valentus.
“I should go…”
[476]
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“I... darn it, Nova...” Valentus mumbled under his breath, faintly flustered. Here he was, thinking that he was doing a favor to his lover in her moment of need, only for her to laugh at him and tell him that she played him like a fiddle. He wasn’t angry at all, though, he feigned disappointment, and let Nova go to the ground, picking up his jacket while she took hers.
Thankfully, their worst fears did not come about. Their sneak into the Nectarine Manor Library did not disturb anyone, nor did the few awake members of the manor staff wander their way during that time. Nova and Valentus were thus able to sneak back to his room the same way they came. Past the judging eyes of a dozen ancient portraits along their way.
Here, in the comfort of his bedroom, the noble took off parts of his uniform - having spent so much time hanging out with Nova tonight, he almost forgot that he will have to wake up early tomorrow. At this point, even if he wasn’t overflowing with emotions, he wasn’t going to get enough sleep before he had to wake up again, anyway...
Nova, meanwhile, was focused on something else. The sound of something loud hitting the ground drew Valentus’ attention to the bed, where she suddenly pulled out the ceremonial sword which had been missing for a whole month.
“H-huh?!” he called out, shocked, watching the girl hang it back on the wall, then turn around and explain herself. All this time, she said, it was burglary which she first came to the manor for - which she hid from him all this time, explaining herself away with curiosity and eventually falling in love with him. And, if the change of her mood had anything to say, it was that she was not happy with finally coming out about it. Valentus, meanwhile, once again saw that something had slipped past his nose thanks to his naivete.
“I...” the noble spoke, his voice cracking for a second. “It’s fine... I was told to go find it, but it had slipped from my mind completely as well... and it doesn’t really matter why you came here as long as we know where we’ve gone together, right?”
Valentus briefly raised his hand for goodbyes. “But, yes, I suppose we’ll see each other... eventually.”
[393]
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“Good luck tomorrow.” Nova waved back, turned her heel, and left through the terrace reluctantly. While she confessed the truth, it was better than keeping it secret, it felt like a weight was removed from her chest. The proper way to handle the problem was to apologize but it seemed like Valentus knew she found it difficult to say anything after everything they had been through. Love was a wonderful feeling if it overlooked each other’s faults, she was grateful that Valentus was forgiving, but her brothers were a different story.
As soon as she dropped over the wall, her brothers were there waiting for her, and she could barely meet their gazes as she crossed her arms to stare at the wall.
“I knew you two would be waiting this time. Can we just go back to the lab?”
“What have you been doing with that noble while pretending to burglarize the place? You’re empty handed aren’t you?” Tangelo leaned his palm on the wall right above her shoulder, nearly pinning her there.
“So the date was not a ruse?” Narin sneered, “You realize that the three of us are just experiments right? You have no chance to even be invited for tea at a noble house without a rank or social standing. You had your fun so let’s go. If you come back here, I am telling Dr. Aspic everything.”
“No you wouldn’t.” Nova interjected, “If you did, you would be in trouble, too. It was your idea for me to infiltrate the estate. You’re also wrong about everything…”
Tangelo picked up his sister over his shoulder, she slipped out delivering a kick on the back of his neck causing him to step forward, his large frame turned quickly with an enraged expression.
“I can walk. I am not going back.”
At least, that’s what Nova thought was going to be the case, since she had no idea when Valentus would return home, he would have to find a way to contact her.
The next morning:
Nova was woken up from her cryopod early by Dr. Citrus.
The doctor was fatigued as she waited for Nova to open her eyes.
“Subject Nova you are hereby revoked of leaving the lab until further notice.”
Nova sat up in her pod, offering a nod, and began to get dressed.
“Am I being assigned a task?”
“You’re organizing the DNA index on the exodus project.”
It was a long process of auditing an assortment of DNA that would take weeks but Nova was not necessarily in a hurry since she had no interest in leaving soon. At least she would not be teased by her brothers anymore.
[446]
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“Why did you go to sleep so late?!”
Two nobles were rushing across the halls of the Nectarine Manor in the early morning, before the sun had even risen. While one, the slightly younger one, was already fully dressed, the other was still pulling on the jacket of his cadet uniform as he hastily walked through the corridors. Knowing that their eldest son will have to leave very early in the morning, Valentus’ parents said their goodbyes to him in the evening prior, but his brother, Lorent, made sure to wake up as early as he could to see the departure with his eyes.
Valentus, meanwhile, was not in the mood to be chastised. “I just... did not want to go to sleep so early. I still had to say goodbye to people, and to the Library, then I was in the mood for some reading, and...”
“Dear lord... The moment you don’t have to look after us anymore, you suddenly start lapsing on your duties.”
Of course, the real reason was not Valentus turning lazy, or less diligent, or anything else which Lorent might have wanted to accuse him of - but that was something which the Nectarine heir preferred to keep to himself. Hopefully not forever, he did not want to keep his relationship with Nova behind the curtains secret - but he has already declared his ambitions to the clone girl and did not need to repeat them to himself.
Guards of the manor opened the double front door with a wide swing, revealing a floating transport ship in front of the manor, its doors wide open and awaiting the last cadet to transport to the Tuffle Armed Services this morning. Valentus fixed the flat cap on his head, turned to his brother and spoke:
“Well... I suppose this is goodbye. Until I come back, and whenever Father is away, you’ll be the new master of the estate.”
“And good riddance. Finally some competent management,” Lorent smirked, grinned and elbowed his brother, only for his brother to elbow back and say:
“Well, you will have an easier time, after all, you won’t have to look after Lorent.”
With a content smile on his face, Valentus departed and made his way to the dropship - there, however, the mood was far from positive. Fellow recruits, all of them in uniforms just like his, were sitting in lines, contemplating their fate. Only two officers were on the ship, one was piloting and the other was staying guard - and both of them, having their own personal contempt for the old, decrepit noble families, barely bat an eye to him.
“...Hey everyone!” Valentus called out, but nobody responded - so, slightly surprised, the noble took the last empty seat. The doors closed, and the transport ship took off into the sky.
[466]
[8,908]
The next time Nova was allowed to leave the lab was during the political marriage between Dr. Aspic and a Saiyan female scout from planet Salada. While the wedding took place at a military base, broadcast among all Tuffles on planet Plant, it was a symbol of peace between both races. House Nectarine was present but not Valentus who was occupied with his training. The teenage clone kept gazing at his parents and siblings but looked away every time they took notice of her. It was the only opportunity to meet them, she was eventually introduced as a relative to the groom, but it was a brief interlude with her lover’s family.
The peace eventually ended when the Saiyans devastated half the planet and reached the capitol gates. Dr. Aspic’s wife had long been executed, the memory of the matrimony was brief, and several Tuffles who were not at the front of the battlefield fled from cowardice. A secret lab was created on the moon, one that was connected to ISLET’s invested plan to backup the consciousness of every military leader to the hands of the TSE prior to the arrival of the Saiyans who were known for conquering planets.
Nova watched the battlefield from within her spaceship intently, what remained of the Tuffle Military defended the walls of the capital all through the night, she was filming aerial data for analysis. Despite her efforts to find Valentus ever since the war broke out, she had been unsuccessful, her time was limited during her recon field research for Dr. Aspic to find a weakness among the Saiyans. Eventually she would return to the moon base to analyze the footage she recorded with her ship with the help of her siblings.
After a fateful nightfall, the unimaginable happened, both of the moons on planet Plant were full on the equinox, and the Saiyans transformed into massive mammalian behemoths that broke through the capitol walls. In the back of Nova’s mind was the book she read in the Nectarine library about the double moon phases, she never imagined the power of the moon would deliberately change the tide of war, and she looked away from the HUD as soldiers were massacred in greater number after securing the gates diligently for some time.
Several cameras were fired from the ship, hiding within the destruction, the video feed was directly connected to her ship which she retreated safely further into the capitol city center. In the corner of her bright sky blue eye she caught a glimpse of House Nectarine manor, she figured she should take one last proper look before returning to the moon base, she had a feeling Dr. Aspic was more than likely to launch project exodus from the tidal change of the war.
After landing the ship on the roof of the manor, she scaled down towards Valentus’ terrace, and into his room immediately opening the door running down the hall towards the library which was left open.
[498]
[10,708]
The cadets in the Tuffle Armed Services had little ability to care about the events happening before their barracks. Their commanders were the first to learn about a possible war with the Saiyans, and before the soldiers commissioned in the TAS even knew what was going on, their training was accelerated and their freedom of movement was restricted, so they would always be ready to fight. The invitation which Valentus received, offering him to join his family in a marriage between Dr. Aspic and a Saiyan woman, had to be left on his shelf, as there was no way he could get out of the barracks for the event. Even though he was sure he could meet Nova again there. If their roles were reversed, she surely would have been able to sneak out to the city, but Valentus was nowhere near as good at sneaking around as her.
And now, so many months, maybe even years later, nothing was on their mind anymore. The roaring sounds of battle dimmed out their thoughts, and the first great ape rising above the city skyline instilled them with fear.
In what was once a pastry shop, partially blown up by a stray ki blast, several surviving officers of the 21st Assault Battalion were standing around a holographic map of the capitol walls and discussing the situation. Several beakers were scattered across the map, blue ones indicated Tuffle units and red ones were known Saiyan Oozaru locations. The red ones were active and advancing forward, the blue ones were rapidly dwindling.
“This is madness,” one sergeant called out, gushing through his teeth. “Our forces are too depleted, trying to make an assault through the Saiyan lines will just mean the loss of the whole battalion!” However, he was rebutted by one of his peers:
“We don’t have much of a choice. Colonel Pricota and her unit are trapped behind the Saiyan lines, and the High Command’s orders are to relieve them, no matter the cost.”
Another Tuffle sergeant was flicking through the unit beakers, observing the information about them. “I disagree as well, Sergeant Apricot... I think we have a small chance to save someone.”
Sergeant Valentus Nectarine looked different from the sheltered teen who first arrived at the Tuffle Armed Services. His hair was now messy and unkempt, and his face turned a lot more mature. A blue-gray cloak was thrown on his shoulders, covering his uniform - it was smeared with dirt and blood, mostly of his own comrades. Those he tried to save, and usually couldn’t.
Even though he was of the same rank as the other officers in the room, his statement immediately got the rest to turn his way, and start nodding in agreement. Sergeant Nectarine had earned their respect, not through his birth, but through his shocking skill and fighting talent. Of the entire 21st Assault Battalion, he was the only soldier who was able to stand against a Saiyan, vibroblade in hand, and come out not just alive, but victorious. In fact, his noble birth was less and less of a deal to him. The lives of the handful of soldiers he was tasked to command was far more important than the abstract feeling that they were lower than him in social rank.
“If there is no more discussion, then I believe it is time to head out. Every second wasted costs us lives.”
And so, they did. Valentus stepped out of the blasted house first, immediately greeted by private Plume, a soldier in his team. A sergeant, even one promoted in haste during the war such as him, usually commanded four to five people, and Valentus was no different - thankfully, all of them were still in one piece.
“What’s the plan, Sergeant?” Plume asked as he handed his commander’s weapons back to him - a blaster pistol and a vibroblade.
“Same as we were ordered. We’re doing an offensive.”
The soldier sighed. He understood why, but much like officer Apricot, he feared that it would end with a massacre. Haven’t they lost enough to the enormous monkeys already? “Of course.”
“Please... just keep your chin up. There’s always a chance, you know?”
“A chance that we all die, yes. Quite a large one...” Plume continued complaining as he and Valentus walked across bombed and ki-blasted streets, stepped past enormous Oozaru footprints and made their way towards the gate, where the rest of their peers were holding out. “It’s fine, Sergeant... I mean, Val. It is what we all signed up for, after all. It’s just... rather disheartening to know that all we do is prolong the inevitable.” The young man kicked a rock past the road out of frustration. “Can’t you imagine how much we’ll be missing out, dying today? I don’t know whether you nobles go through school, but I barely managed to graduate and now I’m thrown here, even though I’d rather apply for a lab, or catch up to my girl again, or... And all we have is the promise that this ‘Neuro-Jumper’ thing will keep us alive even after death...”
Though Valentus remained silent during his fellow soldier’s rant, his heart was starting to race as well. His eyes stared off to the distance, a bit to the right, where he remembered the Nectarine Manor was from here. Valentus knew that the rest of his family managed to escape - after all, he was given a chance to follow them off-world, and refused. Will his father really think of him as a hero, like he promised? Will his family even remember him, as the first Nectarine in generations to have perished in a war…?
What about Nova? Was she still alive? Was she given a chance to escape with the rest of the exodus? Her case was different from his - she was a clone, an experiment, and he couldn’t know whether Dr. Aspic would bring her with him, or leave his clones behind.
Would she remember him? They vowed much to each other on their last day, promising to never forget one another, but how well would these promises hold up after a decade? Two, three? He might never see her again, and leave this world with their love forever incomplete.
Valentus shook his head, and called out. “Let’s go, and faster.”
The only solace he could find was knowing that she’ll be on his mind until the last moment of his life.
[1,069]
[9,977]
Upon arrival at the library, books were scattered everywhere, the Nectarine household left in such a hurry that they took what they could, and Nova stared for a minute until she picked up a familiar text from the ground. It was the first book she ever read, that covered all the moon phases of Planet Plant, and tore the page of the summer solstice moon right out of it. It was the color of a peach, so she immediately calculated the number of folds to turn it into the shape of one, followed by sticking a leaf, and a wooden stick at the top. The nostalgia of being fed peach slices by Valentus allowed her to appreciate the moment now. At first she thought being helpless was a sign of weakness, but now she understood that he did it to see her vulnerable expression as she ate the fruit for the first time in her life.
The longer she stared at the paper peach, the desire to remain on the planet without her family crossed her mind, living without the love of her life was overbearingly painful for the teenager that she was crying. Nova was shocked, she never cried before, and she felt out of her own element as the tears continued to roll down her cheeks. The memories of Dr. Aspic had been altered so she had no recollection to depend on for her current state. If she were to stay behind, her brothers would look for her and attempt to take her by force, that much she knew. Based on that probability, it was her responsibility to return, what remained of the Tuffles required the visual data in order to defeat the saiyans from conquering the entire universe.
Nova vowed that Valentus was the only one that she would ever love, even if it meant abandoning him on their home planet, so that their entire race could continue to survive. She swore that she would love him until the end of time, while she would be unable to be with him until the end, the love they shared would live on in her memory. With newfound resolve, she left the paper peach on top of the book on the table, and ran out when her heart felt like it would nearly burst if she waited another minute.
After returning to the ship, she noticed several deployed cameras were destroyed, but received the ingested feed. As clutching the throttle, she sighed, and launched the ship from the roof. Once she was high up into the sky, she shot up further past the atmosphere towards the lunar base. As soon she arrived, the data she collected was automatically transferred, and her brothers were waiting for her at the hangar. The pair looked at each other as they noticed something was off with their sister but remained silent as the three of them were ordered to return to their cryopods.
Deep within a spaceship, the triplets walked past several pods, some of them contained tuffles, and others saiyans that Dr. Aspic had been experimenting on in order to defeat their invaders to no avail to change the outcome of the war. The main AI computer had determined long ago of the probability of being conquered by saiyans, the same would apply to the next planet in due time so it was up to the TSE to exploit everything inherently possible to prepare for the next war.
As Nova laid in her pod, she thought about Dr. Aspic’s saiyan wife, she was formidable but she was afraid about something she refused to explain even on her final day. For a race known for conquering many planets across the galaxy, what else was there to fear? It was evident that she was a warrior capable of other emotions, even love, so their tyranny was rooted to something sinister. When she closed her eyes, it would be years until she woke up again, on earth.
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Several Tuffle soldiers circled around an enormous Oozaru, one which effortlessly pushed skyscrapers aside and fired enormous energy beams from its mouth at anything alive it could see on the surface below. The Assault Battalions, including Valentus’ 21st, were equipped with the most modern weapons which the Tuffles could afford, and tasked to eliminate the Saiyans in direct ground combat - but they were equipped to fight normal Saiyans, not the gigantic apes they transformed into.
Fighting manuals said that the tail was the Saiyans’ weakness and these gigantic apes still had them, but how can they possibly reach those tails?
Valentus ran across the streets, holding a vibroblade with one hand and pulling his comrades out of danger with another. He threw them on his shoulder, doing his best to ignore the weight. The mere shocks of the Oozaru’s steps was throwing them away and crippling their ranks, and the energy beams were always too wide for everyone to avoid. Their numbers were dwindling, and any attempt at strategy had long since collapsed. Those who were still alive would rather save themselves and flee, instead of trying to push past an insurmountable threat.
A mouth blast smashed into a boulevard, toppling it and scattering debris anywhere - the ground under Valentus’ feet crumbled and the Tuffle painfully fell on his shoulder, crashing down alongside two wounded soldiers on his shoulders. Something there must have cracked, as a debilitating pain suddenly shot across his entire arm, paralyzing him.
In spite of the pain, Valentus pulled himself onto his back. The Oozaru, with its bright red eyes, was staring down at him, raising its foot with a mischievous smirk. To the Saiyan who was about to crush him, it was no more than eliminating a few more annoying ants in his wait. To the Tuffles, it was the end of the line.
Behind the back of the Saiyan, a tiny streak sped across the sky, advancing towards outer space from the direction of Nectarine Manor. In the last moments of his life, Valentus kept his eyes on that faint, glimmering light, resigned to his fate.
Hundreds of years later, a new consciousness will be born - different, yet carrying the same name and memories as the heir of Nectarine.
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Dr. Citrus collected the data on the saiyans Nova brought on her ship, the holographic monitor with the new footage reflected on her eye glasses, while she was able to get corrective surgery it was a matter of comfort to wear spectacles in order to suppress her emotions. It was a great loss for the Tuffles, the trajectory of the conquering Planets by saiyans had long been predicted prior to their arrival, it was quite unexpected that they were able to transform into behemoths to destroy what remained of ISLET. The AI Computer determined it was the direct result of Planet Plant’s moons, the only method to stop the invaders was to destroy them, but the lunar base was the last protocol to salvage what remained of their entire race.
The Neuro-jumper terminal received the consciousness of every commander that perished simultaneously on the battle front, as well as any soldiers who were wearing the special tag given to them in exchange for securing the capital long enough for civilians to escape. A second chance at life in order to start anew, to stop the Saiyans from continuing their tyranny across the galaxy, and to replenish the loss of so many Tuffles. With the DNA index on board, the bodies of Tuffles were being cloned within the same pod that was also their cryostasis chamber, under the supervision of the TSE everyone was restored and their consciousness transferred into their new bodies. Once the cloning was complete, the Exodus ship launched from the moon, warp jumping into the milky way galaxy.
Upon arrival of the earth, the exodus was built with various compartments, which separated prior to entering the atmosphere, each section drilled itself deep into the ground, digging up bunkers for Tuffles to live in until it was safe to resurface. Each bunker was set on a timer to automatically awaken the Tuffles who were cryogenically frozen, while others required access from ISLET or TSE to activate, and anyone who tampered with the hatch would deteriorate through the use of explosives or harmful chemicals as an extra security measure.
It would be over 400 years when the Triplets were set to wake up in their bunker, located on a remote island in the Southern region of the earth’s hemisphere, as Dr. Aspic’s clones were free to be independent for the first time in their lives.
The moment Nova woke up, she looked at her wrist, the LED numbers lit up through her skin of her embedded watch, she set a timer for the period of time it would be when she was conscious again, and was thoroughly disappointed to see 3,506,328 hours. Even if Valentus survived the war, it had been far too long to reunite with him, most importantly they were without a space ship since the one they arrived in was scattered across the globe. The only relief was that they were far from their home planet and the Saiyans. However, Narin was quick to analyze any new data from bunkers that were set to activate upon arrival, discovering that Planet Plant was renamed Planet Vegeta, and the reason they were conquering planets was for an Overlord named Freiza.
The triplet’s first priority was to adapt to their new home, as clones of a genius scientist, they desired to rebuild, which required zeni so they began to collect it on behalf of all Tuffles by any means.
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