Hi everyone,
It's a short chapter. I know. I figured short was better than nothing at all. There's a dirty joke in there somewhere...
Anyway, 7 for 7!
-Kanotari
Chapter 8: Children of Tethys
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," Bulma quoted to herself as she deployed Cale's pod. Possessed or forgetful or out of his mind, Radditz was in for a shock. She rushed back to the bridge as soon as the pod detached; if anyone needed her, she would be there. Apparently, so would Vegeta. He was waiting for her by the view screen with a look of extreme annoyance on his face.
"Where are we?" he demanded.
"Planet 434, Riparian. A whole planet of oceans," she explained concisely.
"Where is everyone else?" was his next question.
"Planet side."
"Without me."
"You were asleep and recovering from your wounds," she defended.
"I command this unit. Me!" he growled, asserting his alpha male role.
"Yes, but Bannan had things under control," she explained, backing up a few steps. He pointed to the view screens. It was divided into quarters with all four saiyan comm links active.
"This is what you call under control?" he asked incredulously. "Two of my men are mesmerized by under-dressed fish women. The other is being electrocuted by a mechanical arm which isn't meant for combat and certainly shouldn't be under water. The daft woman knew the dangerous situation and rushed in anyway, and is probably flying toward her own death. Under control, you said?"
"Listen up woman," he continued. "I am going to grab my gear and get in a pod. You will launch it, and you will -" Bulma never learned what she would do. The view screen went black. Two dark eyes opened, lighting the room again. Then the voice started.
"Greetings young prince, Earthling," it said. "I am Visus. You were warned of my presence." Bulma stared agape at the screen. She hadn't 'been warned of his presence' or whatever. Vegeta simply looked annoyed.
"What is it with you people?" he spat. "I don't need your help."
"So you know about Tethys then, do you?" it asked. Bulma shook her head. The prince massaged his temples, frustrated. The eyes narrowed, but not threateningly. If they could see the cultist's mouth, Bulma thought it would be smiling.
"The denizens of Riparian call her Mother," Visus continued.
"Mother! A syreni named Estuary is guiding Bannan to her as we speak."
"But child," the cultist cautioned. "Tethys is already with him." The eyes closed and the screen went dark again. After a moment, the comms flickered on, and it was as though the cultist hadn't been there.
"Bannan!" Bulma called into her headset. "Bannan, are you there?"
"Yes little human. I am here," he replied calmly. "Why so excited?"
"Tethys. Mother. She's already with you." The cyborg looked around.
"I see Radditz and the syreni, no one else."
"But the eyes..." she muttered. Vegeta yanked the headset off.
"It's a riddle," he informed Bannan. "She means that this mother person is the ocean, the whole ocean. The syreni are tricking you."
Even though the water softened the blow, Cale's kick still cracked the glass on Radditz's helmet. Bannan flinched theatrically, laughing.
"What was that for, you crazy woman?" he demanded.
"Following the half-naked fish. I'm surprised you haven't drowned in your own drool yet," she growled.
"What fish thing?" he asked. His eyes dilated in fear. "Cale! Behind you!"
"You remembered my name," she said, smiling, as she aimed a kick behind her.
"How could I forget you?" he asked sweetly, wrapping one hand around her waist and firing a ki blast at the attacking creature with the other. The creature was similar to a syreni, but with a few key differences. The fingernails were instead claws, eight inches long and very sharp-looking. Her canine teeth gave her a remarkable resemblance to a saber-tooth tiger. Where the syreni were silvery, the attacking beast was red. Her skin was a deep red, and her eyes the unsettling eyes of an albino. Bannan glanced around. The two syreni guides had vanished, and the creature going for Cale's throat had a friend. Coincidence? He thought not. Cale twined her fingers in Radditz's hair, kissing him passionately as they both shot lazy ki blasts toward the second creature.
"No more missions without me, okay?" she teased. "You can't forget me if I'm right here, fighting next to you."
"Yes ma'am," he said with a wink. Bannan cleared his throat.
"If you two are done..." he laughed, reminding them of his presence.
"Sorry Ban," Radditz apologized.
"I really wish you two had a little more self control. You blasted these things to smithereens," he said, poking a reddish corpse.
"I'm in one of those moods," Cale joked.
"This is serious," Bannan shot, face contorted with worry. "I'm fairly sure these creatures are the syreni. If that's the case, then they have Nappa."
"Look at the hair," Radditz said soberly. Cale prodded the nearest one, the one that could have been her twin. It was her hair, down to the smallest split end. It was the same hair the syreni called Levee had. No question. The syreni had transformed once they learned their ruse was discovered.
"That's what you get, slut," she said growled, shoving the floating corpse away.
"It's a shame, really," Bannan muttered. "I always liked redheads."
"Well then," Bannan continued, confident in his assessment. "Nappa is in a world of trouble. Let's go save our friend."
Seleri... Nappa thought. It couldn't be. She died years ago in childbirth. Yet here she was as an underwater dream.
"I'm not mad," he started, trying to formulate his apology. He had been wrong, and he knew it, but not until it was too late. "You loved him. I was just jealous."
Seleri... no Acequia's eyes stared at him blankly.
"It is okay," she laughed. "Come meet my sisters." It wasn't like her to simply accept an apology. He thought she would hold it over his head like she usually did. That girl could hold a grudge for weeks. As for these sisters, he knew she was an only child. Women were rare enough among saiyan children. More than one in the same family was a thousand-year occurrence. He gathered, then, that she must mean others like her. The other syreni, the other dead.
"How... how are you here?" he stammered.
"Mother found me. Mother loves her children," came the well-rehearsed answer.
"I knew your mother. She was a spiteful hag. You said so."
"Mother is kind!" it hissed, skin deepening to red. "Mother loves her children!"
"Okay, okay," Nappa replied. Anything to rid her of that demonic appearance, anything to see his Seleri's face again.
"This Mother, person... thing. You don't mean you biological mother. You're not talking about the saiyan who gave birth to you," he pondered.
"Tethys is my mother now. Mother loves her children," the fish bearing Seleri's image said.
"Yes, yes. I'm sure she's very nice."
"Seleri..." he whispered. "What about your son? Are you going to see him?"
"I have no child. Only Mother is a mother. Mother loves her children," the mermaid said, head cocked to the side. It appeared to be genuinely confused, as though it never realized it was capable of reproducing.
"Hope your sisters are smarter than you," Nappa muttered under his breath.
Back in his normal tone of voice, he continued. "Sel, what about your husband? He misses you so much."
"I have no husband. Men are evil. Mother protects me from them. Mother loves her children!"
"You called Vegeta a host of names, but never evil. You loved him, Sel. And you and me... we were friends. I'm not evil! What happened to you?"
"You are male. You are evil. Mother will protect me from you."
"I know I made you mad. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I just couldn't believe you picked him over me. He was king, but I thought that wouldn't matter to you!" The syren began to wail, a horrible keening noise.
"Sister!" it burbled. "Oh sister." Nappa grabbed her face, gently.
"Sel! What happened? Are you okay?" he demanded. As he stared into her eyes, their beautiful jet blossomed into crimson. The nails on the hands he held grew. Her pained smile morphed into a demonic grin.
"Piscis, defend Mother! Her children have been attacked!" the mutated syreni shrieked.
"Arise Natan, Balena! Arise Delphine and Lutra! Mother's children are dying!"it cried. Nappa hugged the reddish monster to his chest. Whatever little bit of Seleri was still in there was in pain, so much pain. Fatigued, the demon slumped, dead weight. Her features returned to their calmer state. Nappa held his precious Seleri again. What she had done, however, he had no clue.
"Nappa's comm link! It's working again!" Bulma relayed to the underwater saiyans. "Acequia, the other syreni. She knows you killed her sisters. She transformed and called to something..." The genius wracked her brain. "The... the piscis! She sent the piscis after you."
"Just what we need," Radditz groaned. "As if we didn't have enough fish freaks to deal with."
"What do you think, sushi for dinner?" Cale grinned menacingly.
"One more thing," Bulma added. "He thinks the syreni is someone named Seleri."
"Mother?" Vegeta whispered incredulously.
Stay tuned for next time, when Seleri's past is revealed, Tethys defends her children, and the vox make their appearance.
I really wanted Cale and Radditz to be cute, since when Vegeta and Bulma get together later (which will happen... in the eventual sense), there is some contrast. Their relationship is 90% bickering, which some people like me think is adorable, but it's certainly not typical.
To alleviate any confusion, the syreni transform into the appearance of a man's dream woman. That's why Levee looked like Cale and why Acequia looks like Queen Seleri. I'll make that clearer when I go back and edit. If anyone knows anything about Vegeta's mother, I couldn't find anything. This led me to believe that she wasn't mentioned in the series by name. Let me know if I'm wrong.
For those of you interested, Queen Seleri's name is a misspelling of celery. Yep... that was the best I could come up with.
