He will pay for what he has done to my race! Vegeta thought in fury, barely dodging yet another powerful kick from Frieza.
The monster only laughed and flew behind him, so quickly that it was impossible to trace the movement.
"Oh, Vegeta, what a pity you've decided to turn against me," he sighed.
"Stand still!" Vegeta cried, trying to get in a futile punch. Frieza laughed again, and disappeared.
The Sayjin prince floated in mid-air, sweat running down his face, and into his eyes, blurring his vision. He had to defeat Frieza. He would defeat him, he was a Super-Sayjin after all, he had the power. An unexpected punch to the stomach bent him in two, as he coughed painfully, staggering against the pain.
Frieza's red eyes appeared a little bit above him.
"I've had enough of this little game." He announced casually, floating down to a little island amid the green waters. Vegeta froze where he was, staring down in terror.
No! No! What if he was wrong, what if he wasn't a Super-Sayjin. Frieza was so fast…what if…Doubt stabbed him sharply, and his eyes grew involuntarily wide as he realized that he had no chance. He didn't have a fraction of the strength Frieza had…humiliating to admit, even to himself, but…it was true.
On the ground Frieza was twitching his tail, patiently waiting for a good moment to attack. His red eyes were glowing with the knowledge of victory, and a painful death for Vegeta, the sayjin who had the nerve to betray him.
A wave of icy fear washed over Vegeta's heart as he realized that he was no match against Frieza. Just moments ago he had used his most powerful attack against him, it had drained almost every last bit of energy he had, it would undoubtedly had destroyed a good portion of the planet, but Frieza kicked it away as easily as if it were a little child's play thing.
A sudden painful tear rolled down the proud sayjin's cheek as he realized that his death would come in a matter of moments, forced out by the anger and humiliation he felt burning inside of him. Staggering back slightly, he tried to get ready for whatever Frieza would try. Not fast enough.
With a sudden leisurely motion Frieza rose up into the air, doing a graceful somersault, and coming to where Vegeta floated in the space of a half-second. A brief smile crossed his odd face, then his tail whipped out, slicing against the prince's shoulders, and sending him flying backwards.
Frieza followed, coming up behind him, and slamming his two powerful arms into Vegeta's chest, hurtling him to the ground, where he landed with a gigantic splash, directly into one of the sparkling green pools.
Blood rushed down Vegeta's face, and water began to fill his lungs as he fell deeper into the waters.
But Frieza wasn't done with him yet. The cruel tyrant raised one hand above the pool, sending the water flying in a cyclone around the little spot of ground where Vegeta now lay.
Keeping the walls of water up with the shear force of his mind Frieza lowered down into the valley of dry ground, and stood over Vegeta, clucking his tongue in mock pity.
"What? Giving up already?" He kicked the sayjin, so that the other turned over on his side with a painful groan. Reaching down Frieza grabbed a handful of Vegeta's wild hair and pulled, forcing the prince to his feet. Wrapping his smooth tail about Vegeta's neck, he held him up like this, before clenching his hands into fists, and punching into the sayjin's back with all the strength he would permit himself, in order to torment his prey before killing it.
Vegeta shut his eyes, barely attempting to make some sort of struggle against Frieza. The pain was blinding, he could barely tell where the ground was and where was the sky, they only thing he felt were the seeming knives of Frieza's fists cutting into his back and shoulders. Collecting all the strength he had left he pushed with all his might against the monster, attempting to get free. But everything he tried was useless, Frieza had him in a grip of steel, and nothing except death could loosen it.
Then…
Abruptly two clear blasts were heard. Gunfire? Impossible!
But suddenly Frieza's tail unwrapped from around his neck, and he heard an irritated grunt come from behind him. Something was happening around him, but what? Where was Frieza, what was going on!
A pair of beautiful green eyes suddenly came into his field of vision, or whatever was left of it anyway.
He looked into them angrily, because they seemed to be smiling.
"Ridiculous woman! What are you grinning about!" He muttered. The eyes closed for a moment as she smiled faintly then opened. A soft slender hand reached down below his chin, and touched a spot on the side of his neck. Then everything blurred and only darkness surrounded him.
Avril picked up Vegeta in her arms, slinging him over her shoulder as if he weighed nothing more than the rifle still in place there. Nekita was gazing nervously in the direction of the odd little creature that was bent over his tail in a frenzied fury. Looking up he met her gaze with his terrible red eyes, and with a cry sprang up, pointing a finger, at the tip of which a sharp violet light was beginning to glow.
"Avril! Look out, he's about to fire!" Nekita called out.
"Take it easy, Tzui-Tzui, woah! This guy weighs a ton!" The quick blast of energy came suddenly, heading directly for Avril. The pirate only tilted her head slightly to one side, and the arrow of energy sped harmlessly by her. "All right, let's get to higher ground or something," she called over to Nekita, not paying the slightest attention to Frieza's fury, or her close brush with death," better get this guy with the rest of Goku's friends, and then we'll come back." She flew up swiftly, not giving Nekita a chance to do anything but follow.
For the moment Frieza was too outraged with disbelief to do anything but stare after them. In another second he would come around, Nekita only hoped that it wouldn't be too late by then.
Avril seemed to know exactly what she was doing; she spotted the little group of people clustered close to the cyclone's mouth, peering down with wide, frightened eyes.
The pirate landed lightly directly in front of the foremost of them. A huge green guy, with little antennae sticking out of his head. She placed Vegeta carefully on the ground a good distance away from the pool, propping him up against a boulder.
Then she turned, and what was possibly the longest staring contest in the history of staring contests took place.
The green guy stared at Avril; the bald guy next to him stared at Avril. The little kid behind him stared at Avril. Nekita stared at the three of them. Avril was rubbing her shoulder where Vegeta had been placed, and at the same time, blowing the smoke away from the barrel of her rifle. After a short pause she turned towards the three of them.
"All right, which one of you's Goku's son?" The three of them exchanged puzzled glances." Oh, come on, it's not such a touch question." Still nothing. She sighed in exasperation. "Well, the green guy's out, so's the bald one, that leaves only, you." She smiled, pointing to the boy.
His mop of black hair bobbed uncertainly as he nodded, looking from his two friends to the strange woman smiling down at him.
"Good, so we're in the right place. Sorry, but there's not that much time to explain, the only thing I can tell you is that your dad sent us to try to help."
"Help? But…how?" The little bald man managed finally.
"Good question, let's find out, shall we?" Avril strolled down to the opening of the cyclone that was beginning to close up as Frieza rose from it, fury in every line of his face.
"Why you insolent…" She interrupted impatiently.
"You're Frieza, right?" Some calm seemed to return to him.
"My, my, so polite, don't be too hasty, my dear, perhaps you don't know what you are dealing with."
"Not exactly, but that's not the point," Avril looked up at him thoughtfully.
"Oh really? So what exactly is the point?" Frieza demanded," do you know that with a flick of my wrist I can break your neck, my pretty little one?" Avril considered this, with what to Nekita seemed relish. Her eyes, at any rate, were shining like giant suns.
"No kidding," she breathed," excellent, then just give me a minute to get ready, and I'll be right up." For a moment the creature seemed slightly taken aback, he wasn't expecting this sort of response, but his composure was back in an instant.
"You're not suggesting that you will actually attempt to fight me?" A slow cruel laugh started on his lips," oh, my dear, don't be absurd!" Avril shrugged and grinned.
"No, I'm serious, like I said, give me about three minutes and I'll be right up." Frieza crossed his arms, an expression of malicious amusement and curiosity coming over his face. He shook his head, sighing.
"You fighters are all alike, all rushing stubbornly into a hopeless battle, oh when will you learn. But it is not my business that you have a death wish, pretty one, so if you're really serious about this, I'll indulge you. Three minutes it is, by that time you better be ready." His eyes glinted pitilessly; he would enjoy crushing this stubborn and strange woman.
Avril didn't appear particularly interested in the main gist of his speech. The only thing that caught her attention was that he agreed to give her the three minutes she needed.
"Wonderful!" She exclaimed, and came back to the three totally confused and more than a little uneasy friends of Goku's.
"What do you think you're doing!" The green guy exploded," this isn't a game! Frieza will crush you with his little finger, don't you realize that?" Avril shook her head, smiling.
"Have a little faith, will ya." She said, beginning to unhook the two leather straps that carried her pistols from around her waist. "Who knows, maybe I'll last a little longer than you think." He snorted disdainfully and turned away, it appeared he wasn't very convinced.
Meantime Avril proceeded to sling down her rifle, after which she bent down and extracted a long knife, attached with a special band to her lower leg. Then she shook out a bundle of needle-shaped darts, along with a special apparatus that looked rather like a flute, that was apparently used for launching them. This done she took out a short dagger from beneath the concealment of her other sleeve, and for the finishing touch dug out two hand-grenades from her pockets. All this she did with the most business like calm, while the others watched with ever widening eyes at the growing arsenal beginning to mount itself on the ground.
Once totally finished disarming herself, Avril turned towards the others.
"What?" She asked innocently, rummaging in her pockets yet again. This time, however, she only took out a small circular pill, this she handed to the bald little man, nodding towards the unconscious Vegeta she explained-
"Give this to your friend when he comes around, it should help with some of the pain. You'll probably need to force it down, so let Tzui-Tzui do it, she'll be able to make water to help it go down easier." The little man took it carefully in his hand, gazing at her with pure disbelief.
"All…all right…but, hey won't you at least tell us who you are, I mean this is all kind of sudden…" He trailed off uncertainly, gazing to the others for support. She shrugged.
"It's not that important, besides, your green friend over there doesn't seem all that impressed with me." Her eyes shone suddenly with an abrupt green light," say…you wouldn't care to place a wager, would you?" She asked slyly.
"What! You mean bet! On what?" She crossed her arms, a small smile curling her lips.
"Twenty says I'll last more than ten minutes."
"You wouldn't last five!" Exclaimed the aforementioned green guy, overhearing the conversation."
"Then it's a bet!" She laughed," and I don't want you going back on your word, so shake on it! 'A pirates honor rests in a handshake,'" she quoted," always." He grunted disgustedly, but extended his large green palm, and rather abruptly shook on the now solid bet.
She nodded in satisfaction, and glanced up briefly at Frieza who was beginning to show signs of impatience.
"All right," she said, stretching out her arms in front of her, and testing the strength of her legs." That should be it, just stay as far back as you can now, and it would probably be good if you weren't under something very heavy that had the potential to collapse." She considered a moment," that should be it, see ya on the other side!" And with that the pirate grinned and rose into the air, while the others continued staring at her in pure disbelief.
"Take care of yourself, Avril," Nekita said softly, as her friend disappeared from view.
***