Across the empty stretches of Namek walked two unlikely figures, their direction unknown, and their destination an equal mystery.
One was a tall and amazingly beautiful woman, with a force of presence and personality that could be felt just by looking at her. Wearing long baggy pants, and a loose shirt, and strapped and slung with weapons of every sort and caliber she walked head up, eyes shining directly into what was out there to waiting for her.
Next to her was a girl barely older, if not younger. Carrying herself rather shyly, and keeping her long slender fingers tightly clutched about the folds of her light robes she glanced once in a while from her friend to the surroundings and back again. Her golden hair was pinned up carefully with a shimmering black pendant, and her gray eyes were filled with uncertainty and worry, yet she continued to follow.
They had been walking a good portion of that day, and still Avril showed no signs of tiring. In fact her energy only seemed to increase the more distance they covered.
"How much farther?" She would ask over her shoulder once in a while, and Nekita would tell her the latest on the powerful force.
Finally after a few hours worth of travel they appeared to find it, sheltered in a deep valley, surrounded by more of the green pools and slender trees.
Avril looked around eagerly, searching for any signs of the powerful being. She frowned thoughtfully. There was nothing on the ground below them, nothing that is, except a few long cracks running from side to side, and some flimsy shrubbery that looked ridiculously out of place where it was.
"Oh well, nothing here, we can go now right?" Nekita turned away hopefully from the valley.
"Not so fast," Avril laughed," Someone's been here, and whoever it was, is still around…" She looked up, and smiled pointing. "Aha! There we go." Nekita looked up uneasily. Her eyes widened in surprise and she backed away slightly into the shadow of the cliff. Far above them, so far that they were almost dots from this distance were a cluster of figures. It seemed like three from here, two smaller ones and one slightly bigger, they appeared to be watching something…but what? Ah, there, very close to them, two more shapes, except these were moving very quickly. They were fighting! Nekita realized quickly, so this power belonged to an actual living being she was afraid of that. Avril was gazing up curiously, following the actions of the fighters with intense interest.
"Avril listen," she pulled on her friend's sleeve, causing her to look down." Listen, that power I've felt…it…it belongs to one of those two," she pointed to the fighters. " And it's not a good power Avril, I can feel that, it's a destructive power…" her eyes darted frantically back and forth, from the fighters to Avril," it will hurt whatever gets in its way, and it will destroy it." The pirate smiled faintly.
"Relax, Tzui-Tzui, I'm not going to fight…yet." Nekita was about to sigh in relief, but the last word caught her ear sharply.
"What do you mean, 'yet?'" Avril wasn't listening; she was now surveying something on the other side of the valley, something that appeared to interest her just as much as the fighters had. "What is it? What do you see?" Nekita demanded anxiously. A huge grin showed itself on Avril's face.
"There's a ship over there," she replied pointing. "From here it looks kind of cool, I think we should check it out." Nekita sank down on the rocks hopelessly.
"Avril, you don't even know who it belongs to, what if someone's there, and…" Avril waved away her concerns with an impatient hand.
"Right, right, I'll keep that in mind, now come on, I want to come back to this place before too much else happens." Nekita thought she was going to have a heart attack. Traveling with Avril was definitely not a healthy experience. The pirate appeared to have a limitless supply of energy, which seemed only to grow more intense when there was the possibility of getting into some sort of trouble, or as she put it, 'excitement.' Reluctantly Nekita got up, and sighing heavily extended her arms in front of her, as if they were handcuffed, and she was now to be lead.
"All right, let's go." Avril smiled.
"Oh come on, don't be so glum, you're always glum, were you glum on Gelra, because you know, that might be why they decided to get rid of you."
"Hey!" Nekita cried out indignantly. Avril grinned, and attempted looking sorry, failing miserably because they both knew she was right. If anything Nekita did need to lighten up a bit.
"All right, all right, I'm sorry, just a suggestion." Avril said, her green eyes sparkling," now let's go." Nekita looked over the valley and groaned.
"Walk all that way?" She asked rubbing her aching back. Avril considered.
"Oh, why not, I guess we could fly." Nekita smiled gratefully," it will save time, I guess," she added reluctantly. For some strange reason Avril considered flying independently for use as transportation, cheating. Nekita had no idea why. The pirate would lie shamelessly if it meant she could escape death by a hair's width. She would fire with the steadiest accuracy taking advantage of every weak spot her opponent had, and she would waltz into space craft or palaces, or anything that happened to have an easy lock to pick without the slightest hesitation. Yet she would not fly without a good reason.
"Flying's for sissies," she would say with disgust," 'normal heroes always take the long way about,' the wisest words I've ever heard." But very rarely she could be coaxed into flying, very rarely.
As a high priestess Nekita had learned to fly before she could even walk, and had developed the skill over the years, but with Avril it sadly had to lay dormant for long stretches at a time. Not that it was that bad really, but still she kind of missed it.
The pirate didn't give her time to reminisce, rising gracefully into the air; she did a forward tumble, followed by a joyful cartwheel, then shot off, towards the place where she had seen the spaceship. Nekita followed, rather quietly, gazing once in a while, a little bit nervously at the darting figures up above them, and hoping that Avril wasn't serious.
"If she fought, she wouldn't possibly be able to win." She thought anxiously.
***
"What a piece of junk!" Avril exclaimed angrily kicking at the inner wall of the tube shaped vessel they were located inside. "You'd think people would at least have the decency to clean up once in a while." Nekita shuddered as the powerful kick reverberated throughout the metal with a hollow shivering sound.
This place gave her the creeps, when they had landed next to it and opened the combination lock door (Pathetic! Avril had exclaimed, I've broken into piggy banks that were harder to open than this) they had found the place littered with dead or unconscious bodies. Weird-looking blasters and pistols were scattered here and there, and in the eerie silence you could almost hear their long past footsteps, still echoing against the thin metal.
But neither the atmosphere, nor the fact that there had been some sort of battle around here seemed to bother Avril. She barely paid attention to anything but the interior of the ship. And she was anything but impressed.
All the doors they passed were locked by combinations, which she easily cracked, and all the rooms they entered were filled either with bulky machinery, or used as some sort of storage.
"Well, I guess the only question now is, whether this thing'll fly." She looked at Nekita thoughtfully," what do you think, Tzui-Tzui, can this jumble of scrap metal muster up enough energy to keep itself in the air?" The priestess glanced around critically; making mental estimations as to the weight of all the possible equipment needed to keep the craft in working order. It was certainly not as elegant, as graceful or nearly as well equipped as Avril's vessel, but it would fly, so she told her so. "Good, warm up the engines, we're taking off."
"What!" Nekita gasped," we can't just do that, this ship belongs to someone, they'll come back looking for it and…and…" It was hopeless, Avril wasn't even listening, she had found yet another room that interested her, and upon opening it, something inside seemed to grab her attention.
"Hello, what have we here." She walked all the way into the room, directly to the far wall, where a huge machine was humming, busily performing some much-needed task. A circular glass opening showed the inside to be filled with liquid, but that wasn't all, a man was suspended in it, bobbing up and down along with the force of the water.
His eyes were closed, and a breathing apparatus was attached over his nose and mouth, but from what could be seen, he looked rather friendly, except for the fact that he was pretty badly beat up. Avril placed her hand to her chin, thoughtfully tapping her lips with her index finger, and squinting into the depths of the mysterious chamber trying to figure out what a man would be doing suspended in liquid, all alone on a ship.
Nekita came to stand next to her, glancing cautiously over her shoulder. Avril came closer and tapped the glass with her finger; the man's eyes snapped open. Nekita jumped back in horror, but Avril only grinned and waved to the occupant of the chamber. He seemed a little bit confused, but not afraid.
"What…what's going on?" Nekita stammered.
"Just keep smiling and waving." Avril instructed, keeping the grin plastered on her face, and giving her instructions through clenched teeth.
Abruptly another strong tremor shook the earth, the ship teetered dangerously for a moment gave a long thorough shake, and then the power went out. "Oh great!" The pirate called out from across the room, where she had darted in order to escape damage in the earthquake," what's going on out there, hey! High Priestess, some light would be good about now."
"Oh, right," Nekita responded weakly from her position next to the now silent liquid-filled chamber. She straightened and stood up, extending her hand, palm up in front of her, "Element of Fire I bid you appear!" She shut her eyes, and raised her arm higher. In an instant a bulb of brightly burning flame was cradled in her bare palm, she raised it high over her head, and surveyed the damage.
"Not too bad," Avril said, dusting herself off, and coming to a standing position from her crouch on the floor," could be worse." Another small tremor shook the ground, not as big as the first, but enough to cause Nekita to lose her balance, and almost extinguish the flame she carried. She looked reproachfully at Avril, who only shrugged and walked over to the darkened machine.
Sounds were coming from inside of it, but not sounds of turning gears or pumping water. A sharp metallic clang, followed by some gurgled words, that sounded a bit like a warning-
"GHHHEEETTT, GGGWAYYYY, FROM GGGGGOOORRGGG."
"What!" Nekita exclaimed anxiously. Avril tilted her head to one side.
"Not sure, I think he said 'heat way gorg.'" Nekita's eyes widened. She didn't have time to ask how that could possibly be useful information, when suddenly the glass opening cracked, and a spray of water, so powerful that it made a hole in the opposite wall shot through. Her eyes followed it fearfully, and then turned back to the source.
From the chamber emerged the stranger, soaking wet, breathing heavily, and looking at them with wide curious eyes that sparkled faintly in the light of Nekita's flame.
"Hello," Avril said without hesitation," hope you don't mind, we're just looking around," she leaned towards Nekita and whispered quietly," if he goes for either one of us, slip behind him, and run like crazy towards the nearest exit." Nekita looked up suspiciously at the strange man. He didn't look like he'd hurt them.
"Who…who are you?" He asked wide-eyed.
"Who're you?" Avril asked, squinting up at him.
"I'm Goku," Avril nodded knowingly.
"Of course you are, well Goku, it was nice meeting you, but my friend and I'll probably get going now." She made a movement towards the door, pulling Nekita after her. She wasn't sure who this guy was, but he took quite a beating, and if he happened to be the owner of the ship, it was very likely that he wasn't in a good mood, no sense in making it worse by explaining that they broke into it.
"Ohhh, pretty!" He exclaimed suddenly, pointing to Nekita's outstretched hand, the one that held the little dancing ribbon of fire. Avril stopped and looked at him carefully. His big black eyes were shining in fascination, and he was bent over Nekita's hand studying it very thoughtfully. Nekita looked helplessly from Goku to Avril, holding her hand away slightly, while at the same time attempting to keep her balance.
Goku stretched out a finger, and appeared about to touch the dancing flame, when Avril quickly seized his finger, and folding it back into his fist, replaced his arm next to his hip.
"Let's just keep that there, shall we." She said, looking at him through slightly narrowed eyes.
"Oh, right, I'm sorry," he rubbed the back of his neck, laughing softly," I just wanted to see how she did that." All thought of fleeing appeared to leave Avril's mind. She was looking at Goku with faint interest, her eyes shining slightly.
"So, Goku, suppose you tell us what you're doing strapped up to a hunk of metal like this," she said conversationally kicking the floor for emphasis. His eyes grew wide.
"It's a pretty long story," he said frowning, suddenly he clutched his stomach, and fell to the floor. Nekita gasped in horror, and kneeled next to him.
"What's the matter? What's wrong? Are you all right?" She asked hurriedly.
"Yeah," he said raising his head up to see her," but…I'm starving! You don't happen to have any food with you? Do you?" He glanced hopefully first at Nekita then at Avril.
The pirate was grinning from ear to ear.
"Sorry, when our ship crashed, we were kind of concerned with getting ourselves out alive, we didn't really think about food." Goku sat up with interest.
"You crashed on Namek?" He asked, getting up again. Avril wasn't looking at him, she was busy pulling out a jumble of wires from the wall next to her, which appeared to have been covered by paneling a moment before.
"Mmmhhhmmm." Was all that she answered. "Tzui-Tzui, fill him in, will ya, I'm going to try to get the power back on." And she began to twist the wires around expertly in her well-trained hands, completely concentrated on her work and nothing else.
Nekita smiled shyly up at Goku, and he grinned back, waiting for her account of themselves.
"Well…you see." And very hastily, with none of the relish for details that Avril had, she told Goku what had happened to their ship, and what they were now doing here. He frowned faintly when she told him about the power she sensed, but at that point Avril called for Nekita to come help her with something.
"That should do it." She said, wiping her hands on the front of her pants," now to see if it works, Tzui-Tzui, if you will?" She gestured dramatically towards the wall, half of which was now removed and completely rewired. Nekita hesitated slightly.
"Are you sure it's all right with…er…" She nodded delicately towards Goku. Avril glanced at him quickly.
"Why not, he's a big boy, he can handle it." The priestess sighed and turned towards the wall. Avril moved away, and very casually got down behind a huge machine, covering her head with her hands.
"I suggest you do the same," she called to Goku, who repeated her pose, somewhat uncertainly.
Nekita looked over her shoulder to make sure they were safely sheltered, then turned back to the wall, and closed her eyes.
"Elements of earth, Lightning!" She called out, stretching out her hand, and pointing at the disassembled wall. A powerful bolt of pure white heat erupted from her finger, slamming directly into the metal, and causing the whole ship to shake. There was a reluctant hum, and a rusty cough, and suddenly the lights flashed. Once, twice, and they were back for good.
Avril got up and smiled approvingly.
"Good, conversations in the dark are just not the same as when there's some light. Now, Goku, you know all about us, but we still have no idea about you, so I suggest you get comfortable, and start talking." He looked with some surprise at Avril and then at Nekita.
"Is she always like this?" He asked with some amusement.
"Always," Avril replied grinning.
"I don't know as much about you as you think," he offered, leaning back against the machine they found him in," I don't even know your names."
"Easy fix," the pirate replied, picking up a piece of stray wiring and beginning to tie it into some sort of complex knot," I'm Avril, and the All-Powerful-Priestess over there is Nekita." His black eyes studied them carefully. Nekita smiled, and clapped her hands together, extinguishing the flame that had kindled in her palm. "And so far all we know about you is that you're Goku, oh, by the way, you don't happen to be the owner of this ship, do you?" Goku shook his head," good, Tzui-Tzui, warm up the engines, we're taking off." His eyes widened.
"Wait! You're not…leaving?" Avril looked at him thoughtfully.
"That depends," she said leisurely," on whether there's anything keeping us here. Personally I'm rather curious about a fight going on outside right now…" Nekita sighed heavily.
"Avril, please don't start that again." She didn't know what was worse, having Avril steal the ship, along with Goku, or have her get mixed up in the fight with that powerful force.
"Listen, my friends are out there, and…my son, I have to help them, the fight they're fighting right now is against a very powerful creature, Frieza, if they don't defeat him now…well…the whole universe is as good as doomed." Avril listened, her eyes beginning to shine with that all-too-familiar light.
"So you're saying that the fate of the cosmos or whatever rests in the outcome of that fight?" She asked, barely keeping herself from smiling. Goku nodded gazing up at her. "What are the odds?" She demanded.
"Not good," he admitted." Frieza's way stronger than I thought, and he's still getting stronger, they're all trying to stop him…but…I think they need me if they're going to have any chance at all. And I'm still not completely recovered, the power from that thing went out too early, I don't think I have the strength…" Avril was listening with intense interest, and Nekita didn't like the expression in her eyes. It was the same look she got just before she suggested something like strolling into a bank-ship, and seeing if they could evade the alarm long enough to get to the priceless artifacts kept in the safes. In a word it was the look she got just before they crossed the last line and the alarm sounded, making the stakes go up. Avril loved to play the odds, the worse her chances for success the harder she would try to win and the more likely it was that she would.
Now as she sat listening to Goku, Nekita could almost see the thoughts taking shape in her mind, and she didn't like where they were going.
"So exactly how hard is this guy to beat?" Avril asked casually.
"Pretty near impossible," Goku said sadly. The pirate jumped up with a delighted laugh.
"Wonderful! I knew I'd find some excitement around here sooner or later, Goku, I have a proposition for you." She said cheerfully, completely ignoring Goku's startled gaze. "What do you say, that while you stay on this thing and recover, get your full strength back and stuff, we'll go out there and keep Frieza busy for a while, so he doesn't get bored and start picking off your friends."
"Avril! No!" Nekita cried out," you don't know how strong that thing is! It's terrible! I can't stand being this close to it, I can't be there right next to it." She bowed her head, shuddering slightly. But the pirate-woman only shook her head, smiling faintly.
"You don't have to come, Tzui-Tzui. I know all that energy stuff bothers you, and you don't like messy fights, so you can stay here with Goku, I'd love to go by myself, this is becoming very interesting, I don't want to drag you into this one unless you really want to come." Nekita sighed and shook her head. Avril was something else. She didn't care at all about what happened to her, and she kept dragging Nekita along on all this because she knew she could protect her. The prospect of a fight to the death never scared Avril, it only challenged her.
"Half the fun is staying alive," she said once," the other half is beating the stuffing out of the guy who has the nerve to try to kill you." Nekita looked up.
"Are you kidding, let you go off all by yourself, who knows what you'll do without me." Avril smiled, and turned to Goku.
"It's all up to you now, warrior-boy, so what do you say? Let the two tough girls go out there and do their thing, or wait until you can handle it? Your call." Goku looked at her for a moment, the expression of total shock and surprise still evident on his highly likable features. Suddenly a hard grin creased the lines of his mouth.
"You sure don't mess around do you?" He said getting up, and gazing her directly in the eye.
"Nope, never did, never will." Avril replied calmly without blinking an eye.
"To tell you the truth, if you think you could pull it off, if you think you can handle Frieza long enough for me to recover my full strength, you may just buy us the time we need." Avril nodded.
"So it's a deal," he smiled.
"You bet."
"Good! Then shake on it." Without hesitation, Goku took Avril's slender hand in his large, strong one, and shook it firmly. An expression of pure joy crossed Avril's amazing green eyes. "Great! Then let's go." Goku looked at her critically.
"You're not afraid, are you, Frieza has a lot of power, and I never met a…girl fighter."
"You mean you've never met one that was any good." The pirate observed flexing her hands slightly.
"Well…no," he replied very candidly.
"So you think I'll take one look at the big, bad, mean man and get all girly and scared and start running for the hills." She continued a spark of amusement coming into her eyes. Nekita had to smile at this one, Avril running for the hills? Hah! Not likely. Goku didn't say anything, but his big honest eyes reflected that he was thinking something along those lines. Who could blame him actually, when the fate of the universe rests in the hands of a woman who you've met five minutes ago you'd probably tend to get suspicious, but then again, you take what you can get.
Avril looked up at him again, eyes shimmering softly.
"Goku there're only two things in this life that I've never saw the point of. One was why banks leave their doors wide open, but chain those little pens to the counter," she stopped a moment, shaking her head as if still considering this great mystery," the other one's fear." She shrugged grinning. "So I think you'll just have to trust me." A gentle tremor shook the craft, as if giving warning that a larger one was on its way. "Well, I think that's our cue," she looked over at Nekita," let's go."
"But where's the exit to this thing, we've been through so many corridors I can't remember which way it was." Avril shrugged, not showing the slightest bit of concern. Slinging the semi-automatic rifle down from her shoulder, she pointed it up at the ceiling and fired a quick round. Replacing the weapon, and waiting for a moment for the smoke to clear, she soon rose up into the neat Avril-and-Nekita shaped hole.
"Take care, Goku!" She called down to the amazed warrior," and hurry up will ya, we can only do this for so long." And with another cheerful laugh she was gone.
***