Lisette's new home perched atop a mountain peak over five thousand meters above sea level, where the air was thin and the silence absolute. The decision to build her residence in such isolation hadn't been by choice, her divine appearance made traveling among ordinary people impossible. Everywhere she went, crowds gathered to worship the "Dragon Heavenly Maiden," making simple tasks like finding lodging a nightmare of unwanted reverence.
The construction project had begun modestly. She had recruited Mr. Popo as her accomplice, though "kidnapped" might have been more accurate, given how enthusiastically she'd dragged the loyal attendant into her scheme. Together, they had planned to use their combined abilities to create a simple dwelling suitable for meditation and training.
Kami, however, had other ideas.
"I'm bored," the Guardian of Earth had announced, materializing without invitation. "Let me help with this project."
Before Lisette could protest, divine power had transformed their humble construction site into a magnificent white cathedral. Soaring spires pierced the mountain air, stained glass windows caught the sunlight in brilliant cascades of color, and countless chambers sprawled through the structure like a maze designed for giants.
"I'm supposed to live here alone?" Lisette had asked, staring at the opulent result. "There are enough rooms for a small army."
"Think of it as room to grow," Kami had replied with obvious satisfaction.
Worse still, he had appointed her as his official representative on Earth without bothering to ask her opinion.
"I refuse," she had declared immediately.
"Oh, you don't need to do anything dramatic," Kami had waved dismissively. "Just handle any messages I need to send to the mortal world. Simple communication duties, nothing more."
Faced with such minimal expectations, Lisette had reluctantly agreed. It seemed she had officially become a shrine maiden of the gods, complete with a direct telepathic link to the Lookout that she definitely hadn't requested.
Don't just connect our homes without permission, you meddling Namekian, she thought irritably.
But her living situation wasn't the only thing that had changed dramatically.
•~•
"The Flying Nimbus has gotten enormous," Lisette murmured, gazing up at the golden cloud that now measured nearly ten meters in length.
When she had first received it from Korin, the cloud had been large enough for her to lie down comfortably. Over the past few years, however, it had grown to truly massive proportions, drifting lazily around her cathedral like a benevolent storm front.
The reason was both simple and telling: Nimbus Clouds were becoming extinct.
In the early days, flying clouds had been a relatively common sight. Warriors, martial artists, and pure-hearted individuals across the world had ridden them as their primary means of transportation. But as society changed and hearts grew more complicated, fewer and fewer people could maintain the spiritual purity necessary to pilot a Nimbus.
With their riders gone, the abandoned clouds had naturally gravitated toward the few remaining pure souls, namely, Lisette.
This means Goku's birth is approaching, she realized with a mixture of anticipation and dread.
By the time the Saiyan child began his adventures, there would be virtually no one left capable of riding a Flying Nimbus. The technique would become so rare that even Master Roshi would speak of it as something from his youth.
According to her calculations, that meant the original story would begin within sixty to seventy years. Maybe a century at most.
Still quite a bit of time, she mused. After all, I've already lived one hundred and eighty years.
The prospect filled her with both hope and terror. She had spent nearly two centuries preparing for the cosmic conflicts that would reshape the universe, but was she truly ready?
•~•
Lisette spread her arms wide and felt familiar energy flow from her back. Pure white light coalesced into the shape of magnificent wings, not physical appendages, but solidified ki that responded to her will like extensions of her body.
This was the culmination of her ki mastery: the ability to give her energy permanent form and structure. The technique was similar to the destructo disk in principle, except instead of creating a cutting weapon, she shaped her ki into functional wings that enhanced her aerial capabilities far beyond normal flight.
The wings allowed for complex maneuvers impossible through conventional ki-based flight, sudden direction changes, hovering in place, even flight patterns that defied physics entirely. In the vacuum of space, where normal flight techniques would be limited, these energy wings would provide crucial maneuverability.
I just wish they weren't white, she thought for the thousandth time. Red would look so much cooler, like something from a mecha anime.
But despite her aesthetic complaints, the wings were undeniably beautiful. As she soared through the mountain air, sunlight caught the translucent energy and cast rainbow patterns across the clouds below. To any observer, she would appear exactly like the celestial maiden from the legends, an image that continued to embarrass her.
Flying helped her think, and she had much to consider.
After one hundred and eighty years of relentless training, how strong had she become? Without scouters or any reliable method of measuring combat power, she could only estimate based on comparisons with Kami.
If she assigned the Guardian of Earth a baseline power level of 300, then her own strength was probably around 15,000. With her "Burst Limit" technique, her white-energy version of the Kaio-ken, she could multiply that by five times easily, or seven times if she pushed herself to the breaking point.
That put her peak power around 75,000.
"Still weaker than Captain Ginyu," she muttered, her mood darkening.
The number that had taken her nearly two centuries to achieve could be surpassed by a random alien soldier in Frieza's army. The power inflation in the later sagas was so extreme that her lifetime of effort seemed almost meaningless.
During the Namek saga, power levels would jump from thousands to millions in a matter of days. Artificial androids created by a single Earth scientist would casually possess power levels exceeding one hundred million. And she, after living longer than most civilizations, had barely reached the level of a mid-tier villain from the universe's least impressive galactic emperor.
I need to train harder, she thought desperately.
But that was the problem. There was no one left on Earth who could challenge her. Every potential opponent was so far beneath her level that fighting them was like an adult beating up children. She had participated in the first World Martial Arts Tournament decades ago, hoping for excitement, only to end the entire competition with a casual wave of her hand.
Being too strong, paradoxically, had become a weakness. Without worthy opponents to push her limits, her growth had slowed to a crawl.
Still, strength was necessary. Without it, she would be nothing more than a bystander when the cosmic conflicts began. She needed power to survive what was coming, even if achieving it seemed increasingly impossible.
•~•
Movement below caught her attention.
Lisette's enhanced senses detected six figures approaching her cathedral, one elderly human and five distinctly non-human entities. The atmosphere around them was hostile, predatory, and unmistakably threatening.
Unwelcome visitors, she observed, her divine wings flaring as she descended toward the cathedral's main entrance.
A elderly man in a laboratory coat stood at the head of the group, flanked by five grotesque bio-mechanical creatures that clearly weren't natural life forms. His posture was confident, almost arrogant, as if he expected to intimidate the legendary Dragon Heavenly Maiden.
He was about to learn how wrong that assumption was.
"Beautiful," the old man breathed as Lisette touched down, her energy wings dissolving into sparkling motes of light. "It's an honor to meet you, Dragon Princess. Your reputation doesn't do justice to your divine presence."
"Who are you?" Lisette asked coldly, making no effort to hide her suspicion.
"My name is Dr. Cochin," he replied with a bow that seemed more mocking than respectful. "I have come to escort you to my master. You see, we require the services of the strongest person in the world."
Dr. Cochin. The name triggered memories from her inherited knowledge, a scientist who had dabbled in forbidden biotechnology and been expelled from the academic community for his unethical experiments. More importantly, he was connected to "The World's Strongest Man," a movie that preceded the Saiyan saga.
Which meant Dr. Willow was involved. A genius who had transplanted his brain into a mechanical body and spent decades perfecting bio-warriors in pursuit of immortality and ultimate power.
"Please come with me," Cochin continued, his tone growing more commanding. "Dr. Willow is eager to meet you."
"Is that so?" Lisette's voice carried the faint hint of amusement. "Then by all means, let me show you the way."
"Excellent! I knew the legendary maiden would be reasonable,"
The attack came faster than human eyes could follow.
Lisette's finger extended in a casual pointing gesture, energy already gathered at the tip. Five simultaneous beams of concentrated ki lanced out, each one perfectly aimed and precisely controlled.
The bio-warriors surrounding Cochin exploded into component parts before they could even register the threat. Simultaneously, a sixth beam severed the doctor's right arm at the shoulder, cauterizing the wound instantly to prevent him from bleeding to death.
Cochin's scream of pain and shock echoed across the mountain peak as he collapsed, staring in horror at his missing limb.
"I don't know what you were planning," Lisette said conversationally, smoke still rising from her fingertip, "but you chose the wrong target. You should have done your research before threatening a girl who's had nearly two centuries to perfect her technique."
"Impossible," Cochin gasped, his face pale with shock and blood loss. "My bio-warriors... they had power levels in the thousands..."
"And I have a power level that would make your scouter explode," Lisette replied. "Did you really think you could intimidate me with such pathetic creatures?"
But even as she spoke, her enhanced senses detected new arrivals. Three massive ki signatures materialized around her cathedral, each one significantly stronger than the previous bio-warriors.
The main event arrives, she thought with genuine interest.
Three figures materialized from thin air, advanced bio-warriors with power levels that actually registered as threats to normal fighters. A small, green-skinned creature with razor-sharp claws. An obese, yellow monster whose rubbery flesh seemed to absorb impacts. And a pink-skinned giant with a brilliant red mohawk and spiked shoulder pads.
"These are my true creations!" Cochin crowed despite his injury. "Bio-warriors with power levels exceeding seven thousand each! Capture the heavenly maiden alive!"
Kishime, Ebifurya, and Misokatsun, Lisette recalled from her inherited memories. The doctor's pride and joy.
The three monsters moved with surprising coordination, attempting to surround her in a pincer formation. Their movements were professionally trained, and their power levels were indeed impressive by Earth standards.
Unfortunately for them, Earth standards meant nothing to someone who had spent two centuries preparing for cosmic-level threats.
The green creature, Kishime, lashed out with an electrified whip that could have paralyzed most fighters. Lisette caught it barehanded, allowing the electricity to course through her body without effect. Her wish for environmental immunity extended to energy attacks of this level, she could survive in the vacuum of space, so a few thousand volts were barely noticeable.
She yanked hard on the whip, pulling Kishime toward her, then drove her fist through his skull in a single clean motion. Brain matter and bio-mechanical fluid splattered across the cathedral steps.
Ebifurya, the pink mohawked giant, responded by unleashing his signature Freezing Fist technique. Super-cooled air rushed toward Lisette at temperatures that would instantly freeze normal humans solid.
She walked through the attack as if it were a gentle breeze. Space was hundreds of degrees below zero, this was tropical weather by comparison.
When she reached striking distance, she placed her palm against Ebifurya's chest and fired a concentrated ki blast through his torso. The bio-warrior's mechanical heart exploded, and he collapsed like a broken puppet.
That left Misokatsun, the rubbery yellow creature. His Gomu Gomu no Mi-like powers allowed him to stretch and bounce, making him difficult to pin down with conventional attacks.
Lisette smiled and raised her hand. Disc-shaped energy blades materialized around her fingers, slicing attacks that cut cleanly through any material.
"Let's see how rubber handles being sliced," she said pleasantly.
The destructo discs carved through Misokatsun's elastic body like scissors through balloon fabric, reducing him to harmless chunks in seconds.
Total time elapsed: approximately fifteen seconds.
"Impossible," Cochin whispered, staring at the remains of his life's work. "My bio-warriors were perfect... they had power levels that could challenge the Saiyans..."
"Your bio-warriors," Lisette said, walking casually toward the terrified scientist, "were impressive by the standards of this planet. Unfortunately for you, I stopped being impressed by planetary-level threats about a century ago."
She knelt beside the wounded doctor, her expression pleasant despite the carnage surrounding them.
"Now then, Dr. Cochin. Let's discuss this master of yours. Dr. Willow, isn't it? I think it's time we had a conversation."
The old scientist's eyes widened in terror as he realized that his carefully planned abduction had become something far more dangerous, a house call from the most powerful being on Earth.
And she was smiling.
•~•
[Author's Notes]
Background: "The World's Strongest Man"This movie is set after the Saiyan Saga but before Namek, in a timeline where Piccolo survived. Dr. Willow is a genius scientist who transferred his brain into a mechanical body and created bio-warriors through advanced biotechnology.
Dr. Willow:Once called a "genius of the ages," expelled from academia for unethical experiments. His cyborg body has an estimated power level over 30,000.
Dr. Cochin:Willow's loyal assistant, also a cyborg. Spent 50 years working to free his master from permafrost.
The Bio-Warriors:
Kishime:Electric whip user, power level 7,000Ebifurya:Freezing Fist technique, power level 7,500Misokatsun:Rubber-bodied fighter, power level 4,300
All three could theoretically defeat Nappa, making them legitimate threats in the early Dragon Ball Z era.