Her Return

Chapter Twenty-Five

Aya brought Yajirobe back with her to the lookout. When she got there, Mr. Popo told her right off the bat that he tended to Vegeta and Goku's wounds, and that he also gave Goku that purplish looking liquid. But he added that he didn't give Goku all of it because they might need some of it later. Right after Aya was updated on the news with Goku and Vegeta, she was instantly dragged off into one of the rooms where Bulla and Pan couldn't get it so that her wounds could be tended too.

Aya had her shirt pulled up over her head. Her arms were still inside so that she could cover her chest from Yajirobe who was wrapping her right arm in bandages. Mr. Popo was seated behind her stitching but the three gashes that had gotten wider on her back. She would wince every now and then when she felt the thin thread pull at her skin to connect it again.

"You'll have to leave these in for about a week, Aya." Mr. Popo said to her. Aya turned her head looking back at the black genie that had his hand on her upper back weaving the needle and out of her skin.

"A week?" Aya nearly shouted, but she winced when she felt Yajirobe pull on the bandages to tighten them. "I don't have that long to get ready for this."

"How long do you have?" Yajirobe asked walking around Aya going to her other side.

"Not long," she answered, "I have three days."

"That's it?" Yajirobe asked, "what are you going to do in three days?! Eat a pickle?!"

Aya frowned. There wasn't much that she could do in three days, Yajirobe had that right, but she sure as hell would do more then eat a friggin pickle. Mr Popo tapped on Aya's shirt, letting her know that she could but shirt back on, and Aya did that. She stood upright fixing it a little being careful not to move around to much.

"Mr. Popo," Aya started, "do you have a change of clothes?"

"All I have is armor." Mr. Popo answered. Aya shrugged her shoulders.

"Good enough."

"Follow me."

Aya turned to Yajirobe, "you go sit with the girls." Yajirobe pouted and crossed his arms over his chest watching as Aya followed Mr. Popo out the room. Aya followed him but she followed him slowly. She was in a lot of pain at the moment. All of the running around down at Korin's Tower was now taking a toll on her body; she was now wishing that she didn't move too much.

Mr. Popo had Aya wait out in the hallway as he got Aya some clothes. When he remerged he looked at the armor in his hand and then at Aya. "I don't you'll fit in it."

Aya pouted. "Then… give me some of Dende's clothes."

Mr. Popo was silent for a minute, but he then agreed to it. He the got Aya some of Dende's clothes and helped her get dressed. He then helped her walk to the room where he was keeping Vegeta and Goku.

Aya looked at Mr. Popo, "thanks Mr. Popo." Aya flapped her hands in the loose sleeves. "You can leave if you want."

Mr. Popo nodded and walked on down the hall, heading towards Yajirobe, Bulla, and Pan. Aya sighed as she watched the black genie walk away. She placed her hand onto the door handle and opened the door. Aya looked up at the beds. One bed was resting up against the left wall and the other was up against the right.

She looked at the bed to the left, spotting Vegeta there. From where she was standing, she could see how pale his face got. She watched with concern as his chest rose and fell gently, showing Aya that he was spilling slowly.

She turned towards Goku, he looked a lot better, even though he was covered in bandages. He seemed to be breathing a lot easier then before. And he wasn't sweating so much. But Aya knew that just because his physical features seem to look fine, doesn't mean that there isn't something wrong with something on the inside.

Aya approached Vegeta standing to his right looking down at him. Vegeta's head was tilted to the left a little as he slept. Aya reached out placing her hand onto his forehead, he was a little cold, and it seemed – by the expression on his face – that he liked the warmth of her hand. She glanced around the room before she spotted a closet over at the corner of the room. Aya walked over to it pulling it open slowly to make sure that nothing fell out. She was so used to her closet dumping things on her. She poked her head into the dark spotting a few blankets and a lot of extra pillows. She took a hold of a few blankets taking them off the shelf. She walked back over to Vegeta and put the blanket on top of him, actually she gave him two more tucking him in a bit so that he didn't move the wrong way in his sleep and hurt himself.

Aya turned towards Goku and moved across the room to him. She laid the other blanket onto him tucking him as well, being careful not to touch him the wrong way so that pain goes throughout his body. There was no doubt in Aya's mind that almost every bone in Goku's body was broken, considering Kira dropped him off of a cliff and Areiko let him fall.

Aya seated herself down on a chair that was close by the door. She stared at the two thinking about all that's going on. She needed to find away to train without hurting herself. That's when it hit her.

"I'll just ask Mr. Popo if I can… yeah!" Aya got to her feet and left the room with one last glance at Vegeta and Goku. She then headed towards the main hall where Aya found Bulla and Pan playing with Yajirobe, actually annoying the hell out of him.

Aya spotted Mr. Popo to the side. She walked over slowly trying not to get noticed by the kids. "Mr. Popo."

Mr. Popo looked at her, "yes Aya?"

"I want to use the Pendulum Room."

Mr. Popo looked at Aya weirdly, "for… what?"

"Well, I wanna use it to train." Aya answered, "it's only an illusion, and I want to train against Areiko, as her… killer self."

Mr. Popo looked at Aya. She had good intentions about the Pendulum Room, and they didn't have much time. Aya made sure that she reminded Mr. Popo that, with Mr. Popo reminded of it, he gave into Aya and led her to the room.

When she entered the room where the Pendulum Room was located, she looked around for a moment before stepping onto the platform. Instead of standing, Aya seated herself down.

"Have you ever used this?" Mr. Popo asked. Aya turned her head looking over her shoulder at the black genie shaking her head.

"No…"

"Just close your eyes." Mr. Popo said, "and remember Aya, this is all an illusion, and you know it."

Aya nodded her head. She turned away from Mr. Popo and closed her eyes. Slowly Aya felt herself drifting away into some other world, some other world that she knew she was going to have to face Areiko.

xxx

Aya opened her eyes again. She looked around and instantly knew that she wasn't on earth anymore, the vegetation was much to thick and heavy for it to be earth. The air around her was thick, making it a bit hard to breathe, but that was only because there was smoke in the air. Something in the pit of Aya's stomach told her to walk forward, and she did so.

She pushed the bushes off to the side and the low branches from the odd looking trees. Aya instantly came to a stop spotting a ship right in front of her. It was rather large, and it was in a shape of a disk. The hatch of the ship was wide open as soldiers matched out, heavily armed with foreign weapons and foreign armor. Aya watched closely, till someone that she recognized came gracefully walking down the steps.

His pale skin shimmered in the light that was being provided for the planet. His claws seemed like they were just trimmed and filed enough to make them extremely sharp, Aya assumed that they could slice a tree in three pieces. His blue tunic looked new, and the golden clips shinned brightly, nearly blinding Aya. The man's hair was short, as if he looked young, and the power level that he was giving off was something that Aya has never felt before, but it was familiar.

It then hit her, "Orx…" she mumbled.

Orx turned looking up the hatch snapping his fingers about three or four times, as if he was calling some type of animal. From where Aya was standing, she could hear the clapping of someone's claws hitting metal like how a horse's huff hits cement on a sidewalk.

Coming down the hatch ramp was a girl, she looked young, no older then the age of ten or maybe eleven. Her hair was about to her shoulders, and looked a little rough, like someone had tried brushing it but she fought back. Her icy gray eyes looked as if they could pierce you with an unseen force, it creeped Aya out, a LOT. As this girl continued to walk down the ramp, her eyes shifted around the area a few times before she stood up on two feet looking at Orx.

Aya's eyes widened, "Areiko?!" her voice echoed, right there and then Aya realized she was in trouble. Aya quickly suppressed her energy and ducked behind the bushes, hoping and praying that they didn't see her.

Areiko's eyes were locked on the bush where Aya was hiding behind the bush, she thought that there was something there, and she was going to go check it out when her master held his arm out to her.

"There's nothing out there my pet," he said stroking her cheek, "that's just one of the natives calling, there's nothing to worry about. Come on," he began to walk through his soldiers as they stepped aside to make room for him, "we have a job to do."

Areiko got down on all fours and followed him, the soldiers getting back in line after Areiko had walked by. Aya's head popped back over the bushes when she heard the soldiers march away.

Aya stepped out of the bushes watching as the soldiers, Orx, and Areiko marched right out of sight. She sighed, "remember Aya, this is only an illusion, that's not the real Areiko."

Aya stepped forward, silently following them. As Aya followed, she realized while she was here in this illusion, Vegeta and Goku were dying in reality. She wanted to get out and go back to them, but she couldn't. She had to stay here in this illusion to fight Areiko so that she could learn how to fight her when her three days are up, and she couldn't afford to waste her time.

She then stopped and knelt down behind one of the odd looking trees. Aya watched as the soldiers started to disperse themselves among the village, that kind of looked like a city. Areiko and Orx continued walking up the road towards a large palace located at the other end of the city.

The people that were walking around were weird looking creatures. They had pink skin with bright purple eyes. All of them were bald, including the females. The clothes they had on their bodies were weird looking, the collars and cuffs of their shirts were fluffed out with fur, and the men were wearing plated armor over their shirts. The women had on a long skirt that dragged across the ground, some women walked around with packs on their backs that carried their children.

Aya watched Areiko walk down that street as the people of this planet moved out of the way, as if they knew what would happen if they got in their way. Aya continued to watch till Areiko and Orx were out of sight. She was going to get up to follow them when…

"Hey!"

Aya's eyes widened a bit as she froze in her spot.

"You're not a native!"

Aya turned around to come face to face with a soldier. "Uh…" Aya shifted her eyes to the left, then to the right, and then back at the soldier.

"Hey… you're… an earthling! You're ten million light years away from your home planet!"

"Look!" Aya pointed over the soldier's shoulder, "an elephant!" Stupidly, the soldier turned around and looked, and then Aya took off running. The soldier turned back around just in time to catch Aya turning the corner into an alley between two huts.

"Hey come back here!" the soldier shouted following Aya. He pulled something out of his pocket and put it in his mouth. He then blew on it and this high pitch screeching noise came from it.

Pain shot through Aya's ears as she stopped running and clapped her hands onto them trying to block the sound. She clenched her eyes shut as she turned around. She opened one eye looking at the soldier as he approached still blowing into the whistle thing.

"Goddamn… it… shut up!" Aya shouted as she blasted the soldier's hand, knocking the whistle right out of his mouth. The soldier blinked a few times looking at Aya as she placed a relieved smile on her face. "That's better."

The soldier still stared at Aya but the look he was giving her told Aya that she shouldn't have done that. She shifted her eyes around again, and then suddenly the soldier pressed a button on his armor and an alarm started going off. Aya knew she was in trouble now.

"Fuck!"

"You're not going anywhere!"

Aya looked around her, she was surrounded. There was nowhere left to go… expect up that is, and that's what Aya did. She flared her ki knocking the soldiers off of her as she blasted herself off into the air and towards the palace.

Aya landed right on the windowsill leaning forward since there wasn't any glass to stop her from getting instead the brick building. She looked down to spot that she was right in the throne room. There were pillars set up along the walls. There was a red carpet that led up a pair of stairs leading to a throne, that was empty. Aya seated herself down on the windowsill with her feet dangling over the side looking in and watching.

She heard the doors opening and in a pair of voices filled the air. "We got your message Lord Orx."

"I'm glad you did, you saved me a lot of time by reading it."

"Did I?"

Aya soon got a full view of Orx, Areiko, and what she assumed as the king of this planet since he had seated himself into the throne. "Well, you're only wasting your own time then."

Areiko seated herself right next to Orx as they came to a stop at the end of the steps. Aya could tell that Areiko was itching to kill someone, or possibly feed.

"Am I?" Orx asked crossing his arms over his chest. "How so?"

"I will not bow to you." the king answered leaning forward. "You're wasting my time, and wasting yours."

"Do you realize who I am?" Orx asked walking up the steps lowering his arms. "I've taken over planets with a much bigger fighting history then yours my highness."

The king watched as Orx approached, leaning back fully into his chair. "You're planet my king, I can easily destroy with the rest of your race, and I won't think twice about using my weapon."

Aya turned her head looking at Areiko, who was licking her hand and then rubbing it over her head as if she was some type of cat. "What weapon?"

"It's in this room my lord." Orx said turning around heading back down the steps as Aya watched him. "You're looking at her."

The king turned her eyes onto Areiko standing upright. "THAT'S your weapon?"

Areiko lowered her hand glaring up at the king as she stood up onto all fours growling loudly, feeling threatened when the king stood up.

"You better sit down my lord," Orx said placing his hand onto Areiko's shoulder and gripping tightly. "My pet is feeling threatened, and I don't think you wanna scare her."

The king glared at Orx. "How dare you come onto my planet and threaten me with your animal!"

Orx smirked, and his grip disappeared from Areiko's shoulder. She screeched demonically, causing the king to clasp his hands tightly onto his pointed ears. Areiko charged forward, skipping every other step.

"Areiko!" Aya screamed lunging herself downwards. "STOP!" Aya suddenly tackled Areiko, throwing both of them into a pillar that cracked in half and began to fall. Orx stepped back as the king ducked behind his throne.

Aya was suddenly tossed into the air. She hit the ground hard skidding across and dragging the red carpet with her. Orx watched for a moment looking at her oddly talking to himself. "How did an earthling get here…?"

Aya hit her head on a wall. She sat there slumped for a minute. She heard a roar as she opened her eyes. Areiko was leaping towards her like a lion. Aya rolled right out of the way jumping to her feet getting into her stance.

'This is your chance Aya, don't fuck this up.' Aya thought to herself.

Areiko bashed her head onto the wall. She laid there on the ground for a little bit, she then shook her head got back onto her hands and feet. She turned towards Aya and got ready to pounce.

Snap.

Areiko suddenly froze, the hair on her tail standing on end. Aya turned her head over to Orx as he approached. She watched as the king ran behind Orx and out the door, it seemed like Orx didn't care if he got away.

"Who are you?" Orx asked approaching her, standing in between her and Areiko.

"Aya Briefs." Aya answered, "and I know I'm from earth, I came all the way here to challenge your monster."

Orx smirked, "you've come to challenge my Lekira?" he asked. "Tell me, why did you call her 'Areiko'?"

Aya paused, she was screwed now, unless she came up with something clever. "That's what she's known on my planet, we've heard about you."

"Oh really?"

Aya nodded, "yeah, you create genetically mutated saiyans." Orx narrowed his eyes down onto her, glaring, Aya definitely knew she was screwed.

"I didn't tell anyone what I create my creatures from…" he growled turning towards Areiko. "Kill her!"

Areiko roared and charged forward. Aya sidestepped, but Areiko clipped her on the side of the knee. Aya moaned as she collapsed holding her knee tightly, already she messed this up. She looked up, here came Areiko once more. But she slid her claws across Aya's neck. Her eyes widened in pain as blood started pumping into the air every time her heart beat, Aya then fell over to her side.

xxx

Aya's eyes shot open. She quickly looked around the room and wiping her neck and checking her hands. No blood, she was still alive. Aya turned her head to look over her shoulder to where Mr. Popo would be standing, but he wasn't there. Aya sighed as she stood up. She had enough of the Pendulum Room for right now, she was going to go check on Vegeta.

She walked out of the room and turned her head down the hall. At the other end of the hall she could see the outside, and it was dark already. Aya lowered her eyebrows a little. "Weird…" Aya then shrugged her shoulders and kept walking coming to Vegeta's door.

She opened it and peered inside. Both of the saiyans in the room were on their backs, sleeping. Just like she had left them. Aya approached Vegeta standing at his right again. The saiyan prince was still barely breathing, actually he was breathing even less now. Aya sighed solemnly as she pulled a chair near him. Before she seated herself down, she stuck her hand into her back pocket pulling out the senzu bean. She looked at it and then at Vegeta. She placed the bean onto the nightstand by the bed and seated herself down again. She placed her hand onto his and looked at him.

"Don't you dare die on me Vegeta…" Aya rested her head onto the bed. Slowly, she drifted off to sleep, ending the first day of her training.