A sudden very unlikely sound came to their ears.
A very loud and fluent string of curses said in rapid succession and with extreme irritation. Nekita's head snapped up from where it was resting on Krillin's shoulder, and she looked with blurred vision directly in front of her, where the dust was beginning to thin a little bit, and clear a space for her to see.
Swinging down from a little crevice of rock, and landing with all the grace of a cat was Avril.
She stood up, dusting herself off, and still muttering something under her breath. Then she looked up and grinned hugely.
Gohan looked like he would fall over, and so did Krillin, Nekita jumped to her feet and ran to her friend.
"Avril!" She cried joyfully, flinging her arms about the pirate and hugging her," you're alive!"
"Of course," Avril replied matter-of-factly, patting Nekita's head with the outside of her palm, since the insides were all scratched up and bleeding," you didn't think I was that easy to kill, did you Tzui-Tzui." Nekita pulled away and looked skeptically up at Avril's shining eyes. The pirate wasn't even hurt, she shook out a few stray pebbles from her hair, and a little bit more dust from her clothes, and appeared ready to go back into the fight, not even a little out of breath. "I think you guys had better head for some better cover or something," she observed," it looks like he's finally bringing out the heavy artillery." Nekita blinked in disbelief.
"Then…you'll keep going, but…he almost…" Avril laughed.
"He almost managed to scratch me, he's still holding back, and it's beginning to annoy me, keep covered, 'kay, and try to keep these guys safe." With that she lifted into the air and floated back into Frieza's view.
The look on the monster's face when he saw her rise up out of the smoke, completely unharmed, and more determined than ever to beat him was priceless. Such a combination of total shock, fury, and even a little bit of uneasy fear had never before showed itself on any face.
She grinned cheerfully and saluted him.
"Miss me?" She asked, in response he sent out another blast, but she dodged this one easily, since its aim was impaired by his evident anger.
A sudden cold light appeared in Frieza's eyes. Nothing he had done so far had had any affect at all on her, nothing except when he directed his energy towards her friends. Then she jumped in the way to save them. So, perhaps if he concentrated on taking out her friends, he could get her distracted enough to finally finish her off for good.
Yes, the plan was exactly to his liking, causing the most amount of pain and at the same time taking care of business. Perfect.
He wasted no more time, lowering slightly out of Avril's reach; he pointed a finger at the beach. Now, who first. His eyes rested on the small robed figure that was foremost among those on the ground. As good as any, he though carelessly. Willing a good amount of force into the blast, he let go with a shimmering arrow of pure energy, directed directly at the little priestess on the ground.
It came so quickly and suddenly that Avril didn't have time to dodge in front of it, and neither did anyone on the ground. It sped towards its mark, and hit Nekita in the next instant, sending her flying to the ground, with a choked cry of pain.
Krillin and Gohan were beside her in the next moment, trying to see how bad the damage was, and if the girl was still breathing. The looks they exchanged said nothing good.
Frieza looked up slowly, seeing the affect this would have on his difficult opponent.
Avril was very still for a moment, no expression showed in her eyes, or on her face, it was as if her spirit had left her and was now hovering over the tiny figure of her friend.
Frieza smiled in cruel satisfaction, drifting higher he kicked out at her, she let him. He punched her in the stomach; she didn't do anything to stop him. Oh, this was going to be too easy.
He continued punching her, making each hit sharper and more painful, making her suffer as much as he could. But she didn't even seem to notice. Her eyes were totally blank; they showed neither pain nor fear, sadness nor outrage, all the light was gone from them.
Frieza whipped his tail around, sending it winding about her neck, now to finish her off. His eyes narrowed in his pure evil pleasure.
Suddenly her head snapped around, and one hand easily caught his tail, twisting it away from her. With the same abruptness that all the light seemed to go out of her, it came back, full force and as raging as ever.
One long, slender finger pointed directly at him.
"You see," she said, her voice dangerously low," now you've gone and made me mad." And with that the finger pushed itself into his shoulder. What seemed like nothing more than a touch for those looking up from the ground, sent Frieza hurtling backwards with such amazing force that it was a wonder he stayed in the atmosphere of the planet at all, let alone in the battlefield.
Avril never let anything get to her when she was fighting, nothing her opponents did upset her in the least, because she never paid attention to anything except their movements. But when someone went after her friends, then it got personal. And when it got personal you better watch out.
***
Vegeta forced himself to his feet, staggering immediately backwards, and almost falling to the ground again. He clenched his teeth in pure determination and attempted to look up, but the light around him seemed unnaturally bright, and the things near him looked like nothing more than shapeless blobs. He grunted irritably and tried to take a few steps forward.
This only made him dizzier and the desire to sink down to the earth again stronger. What was in that pill anyway? He thought, thoroughly annoyed, why was it making him feel this way? The only upside to all this was that now he couldn't feel any of his limbs, let alone any injury that may be located on them.
He squinted, trying to see what was going on in front of him. Through his blurred and uncertain vision he thought he saw a cluster of dark shapes huddled around something, he couldn't recognize any of them, and he couldn't make out what they were saying, which sounded like senseless gibberish in his ringing ears.
Completely frustrated, and more than a little angry he at last managed to keep his eyes up long enough to see something in the sky.
Two shapes, one small and slender, as if carved from darkness in the midst of all the light, and the other bulky and clumsy compared with what faced it.
Without realizing it Vegeta sank back to the ground, his eyes glued to the sky.
It was her it had to be. For some reason that was the only natural conclusion that came to him. But what was she doing up there? She couldn't possibly be fighting, and if she was she couldn't hope to win. Either way the battle was lost for her. He knew, he had experienced Frieza's true power. In another few moments the creature would get tired of this senseless game and finish her off.
He covered his eyes wearily with his hand. The knowledge that in a matter of minutes that beautiful form would be wiped out forever sent a strange chill through him. Why should it do that? He wondered what kind of hold did that woman have over him anyway? He had only seen her for a fraction of a second, and now he couldn't stop thinking about anything else.
Extremely exasperated with this new strange feeling he found in himself, a feeling that he regarded as a weakness Vegeta attempted to rise again. No one could affect him in such a way, he was the Prince of Sayjins, and he needed no one.
***
Goku stretched out comfortably and opened his eyes sleepily. Having no special machine to help him along with his recovery, and having been only partially healed before he resorted to the old fashioned way of getting better.
Taking a nap.
Now he awoke feeling very refreshed and extremely hungry, and wishing very earnestly that he had thought to eat a big meal before coming all this way.
Rubbing his eyes, he yawned and stood up. For a moment he was a little disoriented, then seeing the spot where he had fallen asleep and its surroundings recognition came back to him, and with it memory.
His many aches didn't hurt as much anymore, and he felt a good deal stronger than before, an affect of being in that fancy machine, no doubt. Overall he felt revitalized and refreshed, and ready for action.
Turning his big, bright eyes in the direction where the fight must have been going on, he tried to feel out what was happening.
Frieza's energy he felt right away, unbelievably strong, and still growing. But the girl, her energy he couldn't trace at all. He couldn't feel it from the beginning, but as she stood there holding his hand he had seen something in her eyes that he didn't believe he had seen anywhere else. There was such an overwhelming amount of courage and determination in their depths, such pure vitality and cheerfulness that you couldn't help but trust her. She believed in herself, and if she believed then there was nothing else left for you to do except to believe also.
He shook his head wonderingly. Frieza's energy was still raging, but near it, somewhere not too far off he could still feel the faint reflection of Vegeta's power, and of Piccolo's fading strength. That meant that both of them were alive, which led him to believe that Avril wasn't doing too bad a job.
But now that he had recovered his strength, he was ready. Deep inside he felt that without him, the battle with Frieza was as good as lost, that something within him would give them that extra surge of power they needed to beat him.
So now, it was up to him to save the universe and every living thing in it.
Taking a very quick, wistful look at the cupboards surrounding him, stocked no doubt with enough food to feed an army, he slowly rose into the air.
Any thought of eating left him as soon as he felt that surge of excitement that told him he was going into a new battle, and that the winner of this battle would emerge victorious over the entire universe.
Grinning in pure determination, Goku flew higher and with an amazing burst of speed headed towards the battlegrounds.
***