Chapter Two -- Old Enemies.
"Ouch, my head" groaned Vegeta as he stood up and looked around him, Xiae was slumped on the ground beside him, still unconscious. Beyond them he saw Buffy was lying on the ground some distance away. They were still in the library but not the library he had entered a few moments ago. There were holes in the roof and what few remaining books there were, were aflame. In the pit of his stomach he felt the familiar sinking sensation that came from crossing dimensions. * Kuso, what next???* He reached out with his senses, this place was full of high powered beings, each near his own ki level,I just had to ask didn't I? in the distance he could feel the ki of the other Vegeta, Kakarott, Gohan, Trunks and Goten, and even further in the distance another very familiar ki signal, one he had thought he had killed...
On the ground Xiae groaned as she regained consciousness. She sat up and the look of intense concentration that came with sensing power passed over her face. Suddenly she tensed Masaka! Vegeta, you feel that??
Hai
But didn't we...
I thought we had
Well it looks as if we will have to do it again
Lets go to the others, I think we will need the extra firepower.
As you wish replied Xiae after some moments. She walked over and picked up the unconscious slayer.
Nani???asked Vegeta with some confusion when Xiae picked Buffy up. Xiae was no Kakarott, as a whole she despised the entire human race, endangering herself by helping a human was a shock to the young saiya-jin prince.
She has the potential to rival even third form super saiya-jin, besides she is the one from my vision, even if she is a lowly human, we need her.
okaaaaay then...said Vegeta and Xiae slung Buffy over her shoulder, then they flew at top speed through the holes in the roof to where the others were, leaving a pair of white ki trails in the sky.
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A pair of blood red eyes glowed in the darkness "They have come at lassssssssssst..." hissed the icy chill voice that belonged to the red eyes "My time of revenge is near..."
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Vegeta and Xiae landed softly on the grass out side the ship, walked to the door and knocked, #18 opened the door after she checked the vidcom to see who it was. The warriors walked in, Prince Vegeta was no longer in the bunny suit, he had powered up too much and the suit had melted. 'You guys OK?' asked Goku.
"We're fine, not so sure about Buffy though" replied Vegeta. Prince Vegeta looked incredulously at Xiae carrying Buffy * These humans must be getting to her * he thought to himself. Chichi busied herself getting Buffy into a tank
"Subjects DNA aquired, estimated healing time three days" blipped the rejuvenation tank, when the entire ship went dark.
You have three moons to prepare yourself to face first my minion and then my power, if you survive that long it is... the voice echoed throughout the minds of the surprised warriors ... Build up your strength, I do expect some sort of challenge...One last fight before you die...I have not forgotten what you did to me Xiae and Vegeta, you -- my pets, shall pay more than the others, it will be a long time before you finally receive death...a death that you shall beg for the chill voice laughed once and then spoke only to Xiae You remember the pain you suffered? Well what I will do will make that seem like a happy memory the presence laughed once more and was gone.
"Who the hell was that?" asked Prince Vegeta, "and how did who ever it was know you two???"
"Old enemy. Long story" replied Vegeta.
"Well come on tell us, onegai?" begged Goku making a puppy dog face. Vegeta stared uneasily at Goku, moved as far away as he could from him and then began his tale
"It started on Khonsu's ship, when we were both about 13, Khonsu had offered me to the ereshkigal, Yrch, as a slave, as we were becoming increasingly annoying for Khonsu to handle. Attacking him or his guards, not stopping until we were beaten unconscious, no matter what, we were 'punching bags' for the entire ship. We were a challenge for him, to see how long it would take to break us. He had hoped that by separating us he might be able to break our spirits a bit faster. Yrch accepted the offer and came to our cell to claim 'her property'..." Vegeta took a deep breath then continued, "She liked the look of me so much that she decided to make me an ereshkigal rather than keep me as a mere pleasure slave. She came into the cell and took hold of the chain attached to my collar and pulled me towards her... I couldn't resist, she had total control of my body, as at that time my mind was not yet strong enough to defend against such a mental attack
She grabbed my head and buried her face into my neck. Xiae attacked her, turning super saiya-jin for the first time, her rage at Yrch was so great. Xiae's collar shattered and she managed to drive Yrch from the cell. Xiae slashed Yrch across the face with her blade and the ereshkigal left, swearing revenge
She ordered the guards to seize us and take us to Khonsu, who then ordered Xiae's punishment. I do not know what the punishment was, Xiae has never told me what was done to her. All I know is when they brought her back a week later, they put her in the tank and she spent another week in there healing.
From that time on Yrch found as many opportunities as she could to try and get us killed. She couldn't do it straight off as Khonsu had ordered that we were to be kept alive until he had broken us, besides we were useful. There were none so capable as us when it came to assaination. We became adept at avoiding traps and clumsy assassination attempts. Every time Khonsu sent us to a planet to kill the leader of that people, she would try yet again to kill us. Finally, as we escaped from Khonsu, I decapitated her."
"If you decapitated her and what was left of her body was destroyed, what is she doing here?" asked Gohan in some puzzlement.
"I don't know Gohan, she was over 6 000 years old, maybe she survived somehow. She was the worst type of ereshkigal not only did she drink your blood, but she stole your soul" replied Xiae "Maybe all those souls she stole gave her the ability to live and reattach her head"
"Okay, I am not following here... ereshkigal??? What the hell is that???" Bulma looked more than slightly confused. Prince Vegeta quietly took his overly loud mate aside and explained that ereshkigal was the saiya-jin word for vampire, then glancing to see that no one was watching silenced her other questions with a kiss. The pair then walked back to the others, Goku was speaking "We must train, if this Yrch is as strong as Xiae and Vegeta say she is, then we need all the strength we can get."
"I shotgun the gravity chamber!!!!" yelled Goten "Me and Trunks are first in!!!!" Bulma smiled slightly and pulled a box of capsules out of her pocket.
"Four capsule houses and eight gravity chambers, should be enough ne?"
"Hai Bulma" replied Gohan
"I was thinking you, Xiae, Vegeta, Piccolo and Buffy when she gets out of the tank, could use these" said Bulma selecting one of the house capsules and two gravity chambers and handing them to Gohan.
"Thanks Bulma."
The four warriors walked out of the ship. Where the ship was there were many cliffs full of caves. The sun was just starting to set. Piccolo walked up to one of them and looked inside. "Gohan, this cave should be large enough for the capsule house. This way it won't be immediately obvious."
"Hmmm" nodded Gohan
"Very true Piccolo" called Xiae as she had been listening to him as well. "The gravity chambers though should remain in the open..."
"Just in case we blow them up" continued Vegeta. Piccolo nodded and Gohan activated the capsule and threw it to the ground, a thick cloud formed and when it cleared a capsule house was standing there. The warriors walked into the building and looked around, the building had three bedrooms, a very very very large kitchen and a small lounge area. Xiae went into one of the rooms and put her capsulised clothes inside, she then moved into the kitchen and rummaged in the cupboards, while the guys put their stuff in their rooms, Gohan and Vegeta sharing a room. Xiae would share hers with Buffy when she came.
Xiae came up with a pile of food capsules and popped them all open. There was a table in the centre of the kitchen about 2 metres square and the food piled up one metre high on the table. The three hungry saiya-jin dug in to the food and in a matter of minutes the food was gone and the trio sat back and wiped their faces and sighed contentedly.
"Is there any more in there, Xiae?" asked Gohan
"Plenty. The cupboard over there is full of capsules. I don't think we will be going hungry for a while" Piccolo in the meantime had taken over one of the rooms and sat in the air meditating over the bed.
Xiae cleared up what was left of the food, that is the inedible parts like bones, by the simple exercise of incinerating them. When she had finished 'clearing up' she followed the guys into the lounge area where they were sitting. Xiae sat next to Vegeta, snuggling up to his side.
"Xiae, you must tell us what that bitch whore did to you" asked Vegeta softly then added mentally please... I must know...
" Yes, what did Yrch have done to you as punishment anyway Xiae?" asked Gohan, a mixture of concern and curiosity over his features. Piccolo concentrated on what the saiya-jin girl was about to say from in his room.
Xiae thought, if there ever was a time to tell, it was now. She took a deep breath. Then she spoke in a flat monotone voice as if that would spare her some of the pain it caused to think about what happened. "Khonsu, after you were taken back to the cell, Vegeta, ordered me taken to the bowels of the ship, to a device he called a pain amplifier. To put it simply, once the device was attached to my spinal cord it amplified all sensations, the mere touch of a floating feather felt like the kiss of a burning brand. Then he called two of his strongest guards to beat me, they then slowly broke every bone in my tail..." Xiae's voice faltered into silence. Vegeta grasped Xiae's hand and she continued "The amplifier would not allow me the release of unconsciousness and the beatings continued, when one pair of guards tired, another pair would take their place" her voice was bitter with remembered pain and blood trickled from where she had bitten her lip. "The only thing that kept me sane was the need for revenge and my hatred for Yrch who would come and watch my punishment" and Ye also my prince, ye is mine and I don't want to leave ye Xiae fell into silence, her normally sparkling blue grey eyes dull and flat, almost lifeless, a single , fragile crystalline tear falling slowly down her face. Vegeta placed his arm around her slender waist, but she pulled away and walked slowly to her bedroom, her arms clasped about herself as if she was bitterly cold. Vegeta watched her go * I will make the whore pay for what she had done to you... I swear it * he promised himself silently.
"How did you meet Xiae?" asked Gohan,* there seems to be no end to his questions today.* thought Vegeta, he wasn't surprised though, after all they had only known the Z warriors for about 6 months.
"Her father was an elite soldier, she was seven when he brought her to the palace as a slave for the King due to her exotic appearance, a full blooded saiya-jin with copper hair and blue eyes. It was unheard of... when she was brought to the palace she showed no ki to speak of. Father ordered that she become my slave as he was fed up of loosing his strongest guards to me and his opinion was that a girl brat would be no loss if I killed her, and thought she would make a suitable diversion for me, rather than trying to kill his guards. Two weeks later he ordered that her power level be rechecked as he was amazed that she was still alive after sparring with me, after all I was stronger than any of the elite. Her power level was 19 500, only 200 below my own and 500 above the strongest of the elite. Father became worried. His power level was only 21 000. If we continued at the rate we were we would surpass him in less than a year. We became very close and used to create havoc in the palace," here Vegeta snickered " anything that we could wreak we did. Pissed my father off no end, but we spent most of our time training. By the time we were eight we had surpassed my father by 20 000. Then Khonsue came and ordered that we be handed over to him otherwise he would destroy our planet. Xiae and I went willingly enough with him. We wanted to see other planets and races. Khonsue broke his word, as soon as we were safely aboard the ship and in chains he blew up the planet. That's when Xiae's psychic powers first showed themselves. She felt the death thoughts of our entire race..."
Vegeta looked uncomfortable after he had finished talking, as if he felt he had said too much, and so he stalked off to the other bedroom, changed into a pair of boxers and took possession of the top bunk and lay there until he fell asleep.
Gohan followed some minutes later, had a shower and then went to sleep on the bottom bunk.
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In her room Xiae lay quietly on her bed, trying to calm her racing heart. In her mind all she could see were the leering faces of the guards as they beat her, beat her until the clothes dropped from her body, along with lumps of her flesh, all the while the agony increased until she didn't even know who she was, all there was in life was pain, leering guards and HER. The one she must kill or watch as the deed was done, all the time crying and begging for the pain to stop. Xiae recited softly to herself "Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little deaths that bring total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when the fear has gone there shall be nothing. Only I will remain" she felt calmness return slowly and she closed her eyes once more. That beating was like the litany she had read in the book Gohan had lent her, 'Dune', she had faced the beating, she had let it pass and once it had finished she remained, the same but changed... Xiae's breathing slowed and she was asleep.
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No!!! Tasukete!!!
Vegeta sat up, from below him came a muffled thunk as Gohan did the same and hit his head. The echoes of the mental scream that had woken him were just fading. He leapt out of bed and saw as Piccolo flashed by the open door. "Stop don't go in there!"
Piccolo stopped and turned to look at the chibi saiya-jin no ouji. "Why?, Xiae sounds like she's in trouble"
"She is, but not the kind you could help her with, unless you can go into her mind. She had a nightmare" replied Vegeta "and if you went in there now she may turn on you, its best I just go. She would never hurt me"
"Very well"
Vegeta walked in to Xiae's room, and felt his heart almost break.
Xiae was sitting in the middle of the bed, her knees brought up to her chin, rocking back and forth. Her eyes full of a terrible awareness, like that of a child survivor of a disaster, the terrible look of seeing ones own mortality, her normally pale face, now the colour of bone, the small scar standing out as if it were fresh "What happened?" asked Vegeta as he went up to her and sat on the bed beside her.
She won't let me alone...I close my eyes and she is there laughing at me, laughing as she sees me beaten, begging for them to stop, laughing and I can do nothing but cry and beg for them to stop beating me...
Shush, shush, its over now, she can't do that to you again comforted Vegeta, pulling her into his arms and stroking her cheek, hush now, sleep my sweetheart He started to growl, deep in his throat, almost a purr. Xiae began to feel drowsy and purred contentedly. Vegeta lay back and Xiae placed her head on his bare chest and listened to the comforting thrum of his heart beat, her tail coiled around his waist and his around hers, speaking more clearly than any words how much they trusted each other. Xiae held on to Vegeta as if her life depended on it, and spoke again that wasn't the only thing, I saw my death in this battle. Yrch drains my soul slowly before slowly killing the rest of you.
Hush, hush, you will live and so shall we all. That was not a vision, if it was I would have felt it too, we share the second bond, my mind is yours and yours is mine, besides you forget yourself Xiae-chan, your heritage, your blood, blood of the most incredible race of warriors ever, Saiya-jin. Nothing can stop us, not even the powers that be Xiae smiled slightly, a terrible smile full of grim purpose, to match the same look that was spreading over Vegeta's face.
Yes my prince, we will succeed, nothing, come hell or high water will stop us Xiae's eyes flashed with hatred in the dark, as she nodded At the end of the third moon, my prince, I swear by my honour and my lifes blood, I will not be the one who dies. Yrch's ashes will be scattered to the four winds and her soul trapped in eternal torment. The Xiae lay quietly for a few minutes longer and then fell asleep, wrapped in Vegeta's strong arms. *I love you...Xiae, my princess* he thought.
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The next morning, two hours before dawn, Gohan and Piccolo were having breakfast, or in Piccolo's case a drink of water, and talking about the past nights events. Gohan shot a puzzled look at his sensei, "I don't know why Xiae screamed like that, but it had to be pretty severe for her to act that way"
"I know what you mean, usually all the emotion we see from her is her going mad at Bulma's Vegeta and frustration when she fails to reach a new level when she trains,"
"And what she feels for her Vegeta" interrupted Gohan
"Yes at times, but I have never heard of any suffering like what she suffered" replied Piccolo "it was a moment of weakness for her, last night, and she has her pride, she always wants to show an impenetrable front, no matter how she feels. Come on Gohan, lets see if you remember anything about sparring or has all that book learning driven it out of your head"
"Okay Piccolo-san."
Piccolo grabbed a capsule gravity chamber and walked out of the house with Gohan. Once out side he noticed that he wasn't the only one with that idea. Vegeta and Goku were already inside one of the gravity chambers and hard at it. He hadn't been able to sense them though, Bulma's ki containment on the gravity chambers worked well. They could go up to 50 000x gravity and handle the power of a pair of dueling fourth form super saiya-jins. At the present time the saiya-jins and Piccolo himself could handle only about 1 500x, while poor little Krillin who could only handle 200x gravity.
Piccolo popped the capsule and walked into the building. Gohan followed him, put on his weighted training clothing and started stretching. The tall Nameck-jin shed his heavy cloak and turban, and then stretched. "Computer 1 200x gravity now. Increase by ten every minute."
"Acknowledged" The lights in the room brightened as the gravity in the room increased. Piccolo grinned and powered up, Gohan followed suit. The tall Namek-jin, once he was powered up flew at Gohan, flipping his legs around in a double roundhouse kick. Gohan dodged the kick, seized Piccolo's ankle with one hand and with the other swung a fist with all his might into the namek-jin's stomach. Piccolo reacted quickly, flipping out of Gohan's reach and firing a special beam cannon at Gohan's head. Gohan reacted quickly but not fast enough, the attack searing the side of his face. Now Piccolo had the advantage, with Gohan being half blinded. Piccolo attacked with a flurry of punches into Gohan's side, most of them, however were blocked by the young demi-saiya-jin warrior. Gohan swung around and grabbed Piccolo around the neck with his tail. Piccolo choked slightly but grabbed Gohan's legs and swung him into the wall. Gohan released and flipped away. He raised both his hands above his head, a ball of golden energy formed "Ma...sen...ko...yah!!!!!!!" the energy beam shot forward towards Piccolo. Piccolo crossed his arms in front of his body and took the attack. He was forced back to the wall of the gravity chamber, the ki starting to burn through the flesh on his arms *Kuso* thought the Namek-jin *he has grown much stronger since the last time I sparred with him*. With an almost roar, Piccolo powered up and pushed the beam away from himself. He flew at the young demi-saiya-jin and the two started trading punches, kicks and blasts once more.
"Gravity 1 500x normal" droned the calm female voice of the computer, distracting Gohan for a vital fraction of a second. Piccolo's foot connected with his chin and the demi-saiya-jin fell stunned to the floor. Gohan got up slowly "I think we will call it quits for now, hai?"
"Hai, Gohan. I'm impressed. I didn't think you would still be able to fight so well ." Gohan flashed a smile to his sensei and long time friend. Even after all these years, being praised by Piccolo still meant an incredible amount to him. Piccolo grinned back ever so slightly. "Now go get healed, you look like hell and I do not want that over protective dragon that is your mother on my back."
"Sure, if she saw me looking like this she would probably try to kill you with that frying pan of hers, you know Piccolo you should get healed yourself, I don't know but somehow I don't think bones showing in your arms is very healthy"
"Yeah, sure kid" said Piccolo, he could regenerate, but he was tired and the tank would provide a perfect way to both sleep and heal.
The two warriors walked out of the gravity chamber and back to the house. Bulma had included a healing chamber in there.
"Ouch, my head" groaned Vegeta as he stood up and looked around him, Xiae was slumped on the ground beside him, still unconscious. Beyond them he saw Buffy was lying on the ground some distance away. They were still in the library but not the library he had entered a few moments ago. There were holes in the roof and what few remaining books there were, were aflame. In the pit of his stomach he felt the familiar sinking sensation that came from crossing dimensions. * Kuso, what next???* He reached out with his senses, this place was full of high powered beings, each near his own ki level,I just had to ask didn't I? in the distance he could feel the ki of the other Vegeta, Kakarott, Gohan, Trunks and Goten, and even further in the distance another very familiar ki signal, one he had thought he had killed...
On the ground Xiae groaned as she regained consciousness. She sat up and the look of intense concentration that came with sensing power passed over her face. Suddenly she tensed Masaka! Vegeta, you feel that??
Hai
But didn't we...
I thought we had
Well it looks as if we will have to do it again
Lets go to the others, I think we will need the extra firepower.
As you wish replied Xiae after some moments. She walked over and picked up the unconscious slayer.
Nani???asked Vegeta with some confusion when Xiae picked Buffy up. Xiae was no Kakarott, as a whole she despised the entire human race, endangering herself by helping a human was a shock to the young saiya-jin prince.
She has the potential to rival even third form super saiya-jin, besides she is the one from my vision, even if she is a lowly human, we need her.
okaaaaay then...said Vegeta and Xiae slung Buffy over her shoulder, then they flew at top speed through the holes in the roof to where the others were, leaving a pair of white ki trails in the sky.
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A pair of blood red eyes glowed in the darkness "They have come at lassssssssssst..." hissed the icy chill voice that belonged to the red eyes "My time of revenge is near..."
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Vegeta and Xiae landed softly on the grass out side the ship, walked to the door and knocked, #18 opened the door after she checked the vidcom to see who it was. The warriors walked in, Prince Vegeta was no longer in the bunny suit, he had powered up too much and the suit had melted. 'You guys OK?' asked Goku.
"We're fine, not so sure about Buffy though" replied Vegeta. Prince Vegeta looked incredulously at Xiae carrying Buffy * These humans must be getting to her * he thought to himself. Chichi busied herself getting Buffy into a tank
"Subjects DNA aquired, estimated healing time three days" blipped the rejuvenation tank, when the entire ship went dark.
You have three moons to prepare yourself to face first my minion and then my power, if you survive that long it is... the voice echoed throughout the minds of the surprised warriors ... Build up your strength, I do expect some sort of challenge...One last fight before you die...I have not forgotten what you did to me Xiae and Vegeta, you -- my pets, shall pay more than the others, it will be a long time before you finally receive death...a death that you shall beg for the chill voice laughed once and then spoke only to Xiae You remember the pain you suffered? Well what I will do will make that seem like a happy memory the presence laughed once more and was gone.
"Who the hell was that?" asked Prince Vegeta, "and how did who ever it was know you two???"
"Old enemy. Long story" replied Vegeta.
"Well come on tell us, onegai?" begged Goku making a puppy dog face. Vegeta stared uneasily at Goku, moved as far away as he could from him and then began his tale
"It started on Khonsu's ship, when we were both about 13, Khonsu had offered me to the ereshkigal, Yrch, as a slave, as we were becoming increasingly annoying for Khonsu to handle. Attacking him or his guards, not stopping until we were beaten unconscious, no matter what, we were 'punching bags' for the entire ship. We were a challenge for him, to see how long it would take to break us. He had hoped that by separating us he might be able to break our spirits a bit faster. Yrch accepted the offer and came to our cell to claim 'her property'..." Vegeta took a deep breath then continued, "She liked the look of me so much that she decided to make me an ereshkigal rather than keep me as a mere pleasure slave. She came into the cell and took hold of the chain attached to my collar and pulled me towards her... I couldn't resist, she had total control of my body, as at that time my mind was not yet strong enough to defend against such a mental attack
She grabbed my head and buried her face into my neck. Xiae attacked her, turning super saiya-jin for the first time, her rage at Yrch was so great. Xiae's collar shattered and she managed to drive Yrch from the cell. Xiae slashed Yrch across the face with her blade and the ereshkigal left, swearing revenge
She ordered the guards to seize us and take us to Khonsu, who then ordered Xiae's punishment. I do not know what the punishment was, Xiae has never told me what was done to her. All I know is when they brought her back a week later, they put her in the tank and she spent another week in there healing.
From that time on Yrch found as many opportunities as she could to try and get us killed. She couldn't do it straight off as Khonsu had ordered that we were to be kept alive until he had broken us, besides we were useful. There were none so capable as us when it came to assaination. We became adept at avoiding traps and clumsy assassination attempts. Every time Khonsu sent us to a planet to kill the leader of that people, she would try yet again to kill us. Finally, as we escaped from Khonsu, I decapitated her."
"If you decapitated her and what was left of her body was destroyed, what is she doing here?" asked Gohan in some puzzlement.
"I don't know Gohan, she was over 6 000 years old, maybe she survived somehow. She was the worst type of ereshkigal not only did she drink your blood, but she stole your soul" replied Xiae "Maybe all those souls she stole gave her the ability to live and reattach her head"
"Okay, I am not following here... ereshkigal??? What the hell is that???" Bulma looked more than slightly confused. Prince Vegeta quietly took his overly loud mate aside and explained that ereshkigal was the saiya-jin word for vampire, then glancing to see that no one was watching silenced her other questions with a kiss. The pair then walked back to the others, Goku was speaking "We must train, if this Yrch is as strong as Xiae and Vegeta say she is, then we need all the strength we can get."
"I shotgun the gravity chamber!!!!" yelled Goten "Me and Trunks are first in!!!!" Bulma smiled slightly and pulled a box of capsules out of her pocket.
"Four capsule houses and eight gravity chambers, should be enough ne?"
"Hai Bulma" replied Gohan
"I was thinking you, Xiae, Vegeta, Piccolo and Buffy when she gets out of the tank, could use these" said Bulma selecting one of the house capsules and two gravity chambers and handing them to Gohan.
"Thanks Bulma."
The four warriors walked out of the ship. Where the ship was there were many cliffs full of caves. The sun was just starting to set. Piccolo walked up to one of them and looked inside. "Gohan, this cave should be large enough for the capsule house. This way it won't be immediately obvious."
"Hmmm" nodded Gohan
"Very true Piccolo" called Xiae as she had been listening to him as well. "The gravity chambers though should remain in the open..."
"Just in case we blow them up" continued Vegeta. Piccolo nodded and Gohan activated the capsule and threw it to the ground, a thick cloud formed and when it cleared a capsule house was standing there. The warriors walked into the building and looked around, the building had three bedrooms, a very very very large kitchen and a small lounge area. Xiae went into one of the rooms and put her capsulised clothes inside, she then moved into the kitchen and rummaged in the cupboards, while the guys put their stuff in their rooms, Gohan and Vegeta sharing a room. Xiae would share hers with Buffy when she came.
Xiae came up with a pile of food capsules and popped them all open. There was a table in the centre of the kitchen about 2 metres square and the food piled up one metre high on the table. The three hungry saiya-jin dug in to the food and in a matter of minutes the food was gone and the trio sat back and wiped their faces and sighed contentedly.
"Is there any more in there, Xiae?" asked Gohan
"Plenty. The cupboard over there is full of capsules. I don't think we will be going hungry for a while" Piccolo in the meantime had taken over one of the rooms and sat in the air meditating over the bed.
Xiae cleared up what was left of the food, that is the inedible parts like bones, by the simple exercise of incinerating them. When she had finished 'clearing up' she followed the guys into the lounge area where they were sitting. Xiae sat next to Vegeta, snuggling up to his side.
"Xiae, you must tell us what that bitch whore did to you" asked Vegeta softly then added mentally please... I must know...
" Yes, what did Yrch have done to you as punishment anyway Xiae?" asked Gohan, a mixture of concern and curiosity over his features. Piccolo concentrated on what the saiya-jin girl was about to say from in his room.
Xiae thought, if there ever was a time to tell, it was now. She took a deep breath. Then she spoke in a flat monotone voice as if that would spare her some of the pain it caused to think about what happened. "Khonsu, after you were taken back to the cell, Vegeta, ordered me taken to the bowels of the ship, to a device he called a pain amplifier. To put it simply, once the device was attached to my spinal cord it amplified all sensations, the mere touch of a floating feather felt like the kiss of a burning brand. Then he called two of his strongest guards to beat me, they then slowly broke every bone in my tail..." Xiae's voice faltered into silence. Vegeta grasped Xiae's hand and she continued "The amplifier would not allow me the release of unconsciousness and the beatings continued, when one pair of guards tired, another pair would take their place" her voice was bitter with remembered pain and blood trickled from where she had bitten her lip. "The only thing that kept me sane was the need for revenge and my hatred for Yrch who would come and watch my punishment" and Ye also my prince, ye is mine and I don't want to leave ye Xiae fell into silence, her normally sparkling blue grey eyes dull and flat, almost lifeless, a single , fragile crystalline tear falling slowly down her face. Vegeta placed his arm around her slender waist, but she pulled away and walked slowly to her bedroom, her arms clasped about herself as if she was bitterly cold. Vegeta watched her go * I will make the whore pay for what she had done to you... I swear it * he promised himself silently.
"How did you meet Xiae?" asked Gohan,* there seems to be no end to his questions today.* thought Vegeta, he wasn't surprised though, after all they had only known the Z warriors for about 6 months.
"Her father was an elite soldier, she was seven when he brought her to the palace as a slave for the King due to her exotic appearance, a full blooded saiya-jin with copper hair and blue eyes. It was unheard of... when she was brought to the palace she showed no ki to speak of. Father ordered that she become my slave as he was fed up of loosing his strongest guards to me and his opinion was that a girl brat would be no loss if I killed her, and thought she would make a suitable diversion for me, rather than trying to kill his guards. Two weeks later he ordered that her power level be rechecked as he was amazed that she was still alive after sparring with me, after all I was stronger than any of the elite. Her power level was 19 500, only 200 below my own and 500 above the strongest of the elite. Father became worried. His power level was only 21 000. If we continued at the rate we were we would surpass him in less than a year. We became very close and used to create havoc in the palace," here Vegeta snickered " anything that we could wreak we did. Pissed my father off no end, but we spent most of our time training. By the time we were eight we had surpassed my father by 20 000. Then Khonsue came and ordered that we be handed over to him otherwise he would destroy our planet. Xiae and I went willingly enough with him. We wanted to see other planets and races. Khonsue broke his word, as soon as we were safely aboard the ship and in chains he blew up the planet. That's when Xiae's psychic powers first showed themselves. She felt the death thoughts of our entire race..."
Vegeta looked uncomfortable after he had finished talking, as if he felt he had said too much, and so he stalked off to the other bedroom, changed into a pair of boxers and took possession of the top bunk and lay there until he fell asleep.
Gohan followed some minutes later, had a shower and then went to sleep on the bottom bunk.
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In her room Xiae lay quietly on her bed, trying to calm her racing heart. In her mind all she could see were the leering faces of the guards as they beat her, beat her until the clothes dropped from her body, along with lumps of her flesh, all the while the agony increased until she didn't even know who she was, all there was in life was pain, leering guards and HER. The one she must kill or watch as the deed was done, all the time crying and begging for the pain to stop. Xiae recited softly to herself "Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little deaths that bring total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when the fear has gone there shall be nothing. Only I will remain" she felt calmness return slowly and she closed her eyes once more. That beating was like the litany she had read in the book Gohan had lent her, 'Dune', she had faced the beating, she had let it pass and once it had finished she remained, the same but changed... Xiae's breathing slowed and she was asleep.
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No!!! Tasukete!!!
Vegeta sat up, from below him came a muffled thunk as Gohan did the same and hit his head. The echoes of the mental scream that had woken him were just fading. He leapt out of bed and saw as Piccolo flashed by the open door. "Stop don't go in there!"
Piccolo stopped and turned to look at the chibi saiya-jin no ouji. "Why?, Xiae sounds like she's in trouble"
"She is, but not the kind you could help her with, unless you can go into her mind. She had a nightmare" replied Vegeta "and if you went in there now she may turn on you, its best I just go. She would never hurt me"
"Very well"
Vegeta walked in to Xiae's room, and felt his heart almost break.
Xiae was sitting in the middle of the bed, her knees brought up to her chin, rocking back and forth. Her eyes full of a terrible awareness, like that of a child survivor of a disaster, the terrible look of seeing ones own mortality, her normally pale face, now the colour of bone, the small scar standing out as if it were fresh "What happened?" asked Vegeta as he went up to her and sat on the bed beside her.
She won't let me alone...I close my eyes and she is there laughing at me, laughing as she sees me beaten, begging for them to stop, laughing and I can do nothing but cry and beg for them to stop beating me...
Shush, shush, its over now, she can't do that to you again comforted Vegeta, pulling her into his arms and stroking her cheek, hush now, sleep my sweetheart He started to growl, deep in his throat, almost a purr. Xiae began to feel drowsy and purred contentedly. Vegeta lay back and Xiae placed her head on his bare chest and listened to the comforting thrum of his heart beat, her tail coiled around his waist and his around hers, speaking more clearly than any words how much they trusted each other. Xiae held on to Vegeta as if her life depended on it, and spoke again that wasn't the only thing, I saw my death in this battle. Yrch drains my soul slowly before slowly killing the rest of you.
Hush, hush, you will live and so shall we all. That was not a vision, if it was I would have felt it too, we share the second bond, my mind is yours and yours is mine, besides you forget yourself Xiae-chan, your heritage, your blood, blood of the most incredible race of warriors ever, Saiya-jin. Nothing can stop us, not even the powers that be Xiae smiled slightly, a terrible smile full of grim purpose, to match the same look that was spreading over Vegeta's face.
Yes my prince, we will succeed, nothing, come hell or high water will stop us Xiae's eyes flashed with hatred in the dark, as she nodded At the end of the third moon, my prince, I swear by my honour and my lifes blood, I will not be the one who dies. Yrch's ashes will be scattered to the four winds and her soul trapped in eternal torment. The Xiae lay quietly for a few minutes longer and then fell asleep, wrapped in Vegeta's strong arms. *I love you...Xiae, my princess* he thought.
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The next morning, two hours before dawn, Gohan and Piccolo were having breakfast, or in Piccolo's case a drink of water, and talking about the past nights events. Gohan shot a puzzled look at his sensei, "I don't know why Xiae screamed like that, but it had to be pretty severe for her to act that way"
"I know what you mean, usually all the emotion we see from her is her going mad at Bulma's Vegeta and frustration when she fails to reach a new level when she trains,"
"And what she feels for her Vegeta" interrupted Gohan
"Yes at times, but I have never heard of any suffering like what she suffered" replied Piccolo "it was a moment of weakness for her, last night, and she has her pride, she always wants to show an impenetrable front, no matter how she feels. Come on Gohan, lets see if you remember anything about sparring or has all that book learning driven it out of your head"
"Okay Piccolo-san."
Piccolo grabbed a capsule gravity chamber and walked out of the house with Gohan. Once out side he noticed that he wasn't the only one with that idea. Vegeta and Goku were already inside one of the gravity chambers and hard at it. He hadn't been able to sense them though, Bulma's ki containment on the gravity chambers worked well. They could go up to 50 000x gravity and handle the power of a pair of dueling fourth form super saiya-jins. At the present time the saiya-jins and Piccolo himself could handle only about 1 500x, while poor little Krillin who could only handle 200x gravity.
Piccolo popped the capsule and walked into the building. Gohan followed him, put on his weighted training clothing and started stretching. The tall Nameck-jin shed his heavy cloak and turban, and then stretched. "Computer 1 200x gravity now. Increase by ten every minute."
"Acknowledged" The lights in the room brightened as the gravity in the room increased. Piccolo grinned and powered up, Gohan followed suit. The tall Namek-jin, once he was powered up flew at Gohan, flipping his legs around in a double roundhouse kick. Gohan dodged the kick, seized Piccolo's ankle with one hand and with the other swung a fist with all his might into the namek-jin's stomach. Piccolo reacted quickly, flipping out of Gohan's reach and firing a special beam cannon at Gohan's head. Gohan reacted quickly but not fast enough, the attack searing the side of his face. Now Piccolo had the advantage, with Gohan being half blinded. Piccolo attacked with a flurry of punches into Gohan's side, most of them, however were blocked by the young demi-saiya-jin warrior. Gohan swung around and grabbed Piccolo around the neck with his tail. Piccolo choked slightly but grabbed Gohan's legs and swung him into the wall. Gohan released and flipped away. He raised both his hands above his head, a ball of golden energy formed "Ma...sen...ko...yah!!!!!!!" the energy beam shot forward towards Piccolo. Piccolo crossed his arms in front of his body and took the attack. He was forced back to the wall of the gravity chamber, the ki starting to burn through the flesh on his arms *Kuso* thought the Namek-jin *he has grown much stronger since the last time I sparred with him*. With an almost roar, Piccolo powered up and pushed the beam away from himself. He flew at the young demi-saiya-jin and the two started trading punches, kicks and blasts once more.
"Gravity 1 500x normal" droned the calm female voice of the computer, distracting Gohan for a vital fraction of a second. Piccolo's foot connected with his chin and the demi-saiya-jin fell stunned to the floor. Gohan got up slowly "I think we will call it quits for now, hai?"
"Hai, Gohan. I'm impressed. I didn't think you would still be able to fight so well ." Gohan flashed a smile to his sensei and long time friend. Even after all these years, being praised by Piccolo still meant an incredible amount to him. Piccolo grinned back ever so slightly. "Now go get healed, you look like hell and I do not want that over protective dragon that is your mother on my back."
"Sure, if she saw me looking like this she would probably try to kill you with that frying pan of hers, you know Piccolo you should get healed yourself, I don't know but somehow I don't think bones showing in your arms is very healthy"
"Yeah, sure kid" said Piccolo, he could regenerate, but he was tired and the tank would provide a perfect way to both sleep and heal.
The two warriors walked out of the gravity chamber and back to the house. Bulma had included a healing chamber in there.