Chapter Ten: Diamonique Learns A Lesson In Manners
A month later…
Nassau was a jungle planet, with over seventy-five percent of the globe covered in rainforest. The Nassai possessed spaceships, but while the spaceships were reliable, they were not as advanced or as well equipped as the spaceships from places such as Astoria, Vegeta, Calmag, or those of Frieza's forces. Their technology, what little they possessed, was only about fifty years old, with their first spaceship having been built only thirty years ago. The Nassai were a humanoid race of unusually tall people (no adults among them were shorter than seven feet) with dark blue skin, yellow hair, and black eyes.
Luckily for them, their technology was advanced enough that they had an satellite alarm system (which was antiquated compared to the satellite alarm systems of Astoria, Vegeta, Calmag and other higher evolved planets), and this system, which involved a manned satellite housing four technicians, two warriors, one doctor, and two pilots, alerted the Nassai government of the impending invasion from Frieza's minions. The Nassai were a strong people; they had telepathic abilities, shape-changing abilities, and weather-controlling abilities. They could make it snow or rain anytime that they wanted to, and their powerful weather-manipulating capabilities had deterred would-be invaders in the past. Many an invading army from another planet had been obliterated either through instant floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, snowstorms, or hailstorms before they had a chance to destroy the Nassai. The Nassai had used these incredible powers with their minds, in a process similar to Chestra's telekinesis.
The Nassai would have been able to destroy the four invaders from Frieza as easily as they had been able to do to other enemies, but a terrible worldwide viral plague had crippled half of the Nassai people, killing them within days of infection. The virus, called Rodin-ky (Bringer of Death in the Nassai language), was highly contagious (it was spread through contact with any object an infected victim touched or through someone's cough or sneeze), and it would halt the weather-controlling and shape-shifting abilities of any Nassai affected with the malady. The virus would also change the normal blue skin color of a Nassai to a sickly pale yellowish-green, and the virus would also quickly wither away the bone marrow and bones of its victim until the bones and marrow were turned into dust. In the final stages of the Rodin-Ky disease, the victim would have no bones left, and he or she would be a quivering blob of flesh and blood. There was no cure or treatment for Rodin-Ky, and anyone who had the extremely contagious and infectious disease was shipped immediately off to a disease colony country called Magin-Say (Land of The Doomed in Nassai language) to die horribly. No victims were ever allowed to leave Magin-Say again.
The Nassai government, knowing that they did not have enough soldiers to battle Frieza's Elite fighters, evacuated the healthy people left on the planet. All those with the infected Rodin-Ky illness were left behind to die. Some of the desperate victims, hoping that there would be a cure for Rodin-Ky on another planet (they did not know at that time that Astoria had an easy remedy for their illness), had tried to steal away on the fleeing ships, but the Nassai soldiers shot and killed them with antiquated laser guns. In fact, for the safety of the healthy escapees, the uninfected Nassai mercilessly killed many Rodin-Ky victims before they fled Nassau.
By the time, Zarbon, Dodoria, Diamonique, and Chestra had landed on Nassau in their separate space pods, all of the healthy Nassai had been evacuated off of planet Nassau. The four invaders themselves had been giving immunizations to protect themselves against Rodin-Ky when they each had joined Frieza's forces, so they had no worries about catching the illness. Zarbon and Dodoria were disappointed, for they had been looking forward to a good fight. A bored Dodoria blasted away many of the infected Rodin-Ky victims with his mouth blasts. Diamonique turned most of them into diamond statues by shooting them with ki blasts from her slender hands, and Zarbon fired ki blasts at the underground shelters where most of the frightened Rodin-Ky victims had fled to escape their doom. (Healthy Nassai have the ability to sense ki, but those infected with Rodin-Ky did not, for the virus crippled that capability.) Chestra used her telekinetic powers to send the mountains and trees on Nassau crashing down on the helpless disease-ridden victims, killing most of them instantly, since many of them had lost all of their bones to Rodin-Ky.
Within two days of their arrival, nearly all of the inhabitants left on Nassau had been destroyed. A pleased, although slightly disappointed Zarbon, had contacted Frieza to assure him the mission had been a complete success. Dodoria, bored as usual, was busy hunting down the few people left on Nassau to burn them away with his mouth blasts. Since there were not many people left to kill, Zarbon had sent Diamonique and Chestra out to explore the small planet and take notes of anything that Frieza or potential buyers might find useful, such as rare woods, rocks, animals, foods, or plants.
Now Diamonique and Chestra were on the other side of planet Nassau, and they were both tired, so Diamonique suggested that they take a nap. Chestra agreed, and the two young women found beds in a deserted hut near a stream. The cots were covered with comfortable, soft, red, giant velvety oval leaves that the Nassai had once used for mattresses and blankets. Chestra snuggled down wearily underneath two of the scarlet velvet leaves, trying not to think about the horrible way that the remaining Nassai people had died. She finally managed to shrug it off, for she recognized the symptoms of Rodin-Ky among the citizens, and she knew that they would have died sooner or later anyway. She and the others had given the citizens a quick death, which was surely preferable to them dying by the illness.
She was sleeping peacefully for someone who had just taken numerous lives, when she suddenly had a dream that a shadowy, perfumed creature was hovering over her. The creature was tall, shaped like a woman, with long, deadly claws. The strange woman sunk two of those deadly claws into Chestra's soft, white flesh, leaving two bloody marks on a slender, well-shaped pale shoulder. The woman-creature laughed maliciously in Chestra's dream, with a horrible sugary, sandpapery, scraping laugh that grated on Chestra's nerves, even in her sleep. The dark being whispered into Chestra's catlike ear, "Sweet dreams, only this is one dream that you will never wake up from, my dear. Farewell."
And then Chestra fell deeper into sleep, a dreamless slumber that rendered her nearly unconscious…
The next morning…
Zarbon was bathing in a nearby river, washing his hair several times with the special shampoo that he had Dr. Katsen, head of Frieza's Medical Division, make especially for his hair. The sunlight glinted off of his sleek, slick, lean muscular pale green chest and arms. His emerald hair was soft and wet, and it encased his shoulders like his cape often did.
Diamonique watched him bathe, as she approached him, smiling and scantily clothed. Diamonique had brought along an extra outfit, a skimpy, skintight outfit resembling a silver bikini set that consisted of a string top and a bikini bottom. The silvery top and bottom were metallic, with tiny specks of turquoise flashing throughout the outfit, and the bottom was so low-cut that a first inch of the crack of her buttocks was showing seductively. The bikini top was low-cut as well; it was practically a demi-bra, with her large, dark nipples nearly poking out of the top.
She cooed softly, "Hello, Zarbon!"
Zarbon looked at up at the barely covered Diamonique, startled.
"Diamonique!" he gasped. "Shouldn't you put some clothes on? And where's Chestra? You two girls were supposed to stay together!"
Diamonique sighed wearily, "Chestra decided to find Dodoria, so we parted ways, and she insisted that I come back where I would be safer. Anyway, she can take care of herself; she's a big girl. And so I am for that matter." She then curled her silvery-blue lips into a seductive smile, as she reached behind her back and began to untie her bikini top. She let it slide down her slender, peach-blue body to the silver sand that she was standing on. Zarbon nearly cried out when she began to wiggle her medium-sized, pert, conical breasts with the dark blue nipples the size of American quarters. She swayed slowly, as if to some to unheard music, as she began to leisurely slide her bikini bottom down her legs, while she was still smiling wickedly at her prey. She had been wearing a silver clip that had been holding up her hair, but lately, she had been allowing her hair to grow out, and it was past shoulder length, so she unclipped her hair. The hair fell loose, soft aqua hair, streaked with silver, which glittered in the Nassau sun. Diamonique grinned wider, as she tousled her lovely hair playfully, watching Zarbon's reaction.
Zarbon stared at her, his mouth agape, as she entered the cool, clear water of Nassai with a confident air. She then swam slowly over to her crush, hoping that she had won him over. Before Zarbon knew it, Diamonique was in front of him, her cool, peach-blue body pressed against him, her hips gluing themselves to his loins. She slid her slim, graceful arms around his neck, purring softly, as she brought her lips to his for a kiss.
"Diamonique…" Zarbon groaned.
Diamonique whispered breathlessly, "Don't talk, just kiss me and say that I'm yours."
Zarbon drew his head back, and Diamonique's lips were within millimeters of his. Zarbon's breath came in heaving gasps, as Diamonique brought her feminine hand to his green hair.
She was about to kiss him when suddenly she fell backwards into the water! "AHHH!" she screamed in horror, as her body sank under the cold water. She tried to get back up, but her body seemed to be pinned by an unseen force. Diamonique struggled vainly against the invisible restraints, but it was no use. She was only up enough to keep from drowning. She continued to fight against the unseen forces holding her down, as she cried out to Zarbon, "Help me, please!"
"Give me your hand!" Zarbon ordered her, holding out a well-muscled hand. Diamonique tried to reach for it, but she wound up unintentionally slapping herself in her perfect face. Helpless, to stop her hand, she continued to unwittingly slap herself hard repeatedly across her face.
"Diamonique!" Zarbon cried out. "Are you alright? Have you gone crazy?"
Diamonique tried to respond, but then her body levitated rapidly into the air, and the unseen force threw her beautiful form back into the water hard, facedown. Diamonique struggled to her face out of the water, but that was all she was able to do, for the unseen force was pinning her down once again.
"Help me! Help me, please!" she cried in terror.
Zarbon waded through the waters to reach her, but before he could make it to her, a slimy, gray toad, covered in warts floated towards her. Diamonique hated toads of any kind, of any planet, and she screamed in horror as the toad unwittingly flowed in the air towards her lips. Before Diamonique could prevent it, the toad's face crashed into her lips several times, forcing her to kiss the vile amphibian. Then the toad fell into the water, and Diamonique's body was levitated into the air again, and powerlessly, she unwittingly did somersaults and back flips in the air until her body once again fell into the water hard.
Finally, after several seconds, a nude Diamonique was in complete control of her body again, and crying in horror, she ran out of the water, and into the jungle. She ignored Zarbon's cries, as she continued to flee farther and farther away.
When she had disappeared, a few minutes later, Chestra emerged from the shadows of the trees, and she gasped in surprise to catch Zarbon nude. "Oh, you must pardon me, Zarbon, I did not realize that you were bathing! You must forgive me for disturbing you!"
Zarbon managed a smile. "It's no problem, my dear, no problem at all."
"I heard poor Diamonique screaming," Chestra said calmly, and Zarbon swore that he saw her grin to herself for just a second. "What was she so riled up about?"
Zarbon sighed, "It seemed that a ghost or an unseen force had taken over her body temporarily. It made her did the oddest things, such as slap herself repeatedly and kiss a toad."
"Poor girl," Chestra cooed with just the right amount of sympathy in her tone.
Zarbon quickly ducked back into the water, blushing magenta, when he realized that Chestra had seen his entire body in the buff. Still blushing, he said quickly, "Chestra, I think that we need to leave these woods tomorrow. They seem to have some strange form of apparitions…would you happen to know anything about them?"
Chestra cast Zarbon her most innocent look. "Why would I? I have never been on this planet before until now." She schooled her catlike features into the most innocuous saintly look that she could manage.
Zarbon looked at her skeptically, but then he smiled slyly at her. He wasn't considered to be one of Frieza's most intelligent Elite officers for nothing; he knew exactly what the unseen force was-a certain mischievous young recruit with ruby and emerald hair and large, teardrop-shaped jade eyes.
"Chestra," he said, trying to put a stern note in his amused voice, "did you happen to use your telekinetic powers on Diamonique just a few minutes ago?"
Chestra kept her angelic expression, but she could not hide the roguish grin that invaded the virtuous façade that she was trying to portray. Zarbon sighed and shook his head.
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't," she said as solemnly as possible, for she was trying not to laugh at the thought of Diamonique being forced to kiss that toad. Finally she couldn't help herself, and she burst out laughing so hard that the tears rolled down her face.
Zarbon couldn't help but smile when she had started to laugh; her laughter was like the sound of tinkling golden wind chimes to him. It was the first time that he could ever remember hearing her laugh. He chuckled before he could stop himself.
Chestra toned down her laughter, and she put on her most grave smile. "Am I to be written up for that, Commander?" she asked lightly.
Zarbon smiled a bit wickedly, for he had no interest in Diamonique, and he was glad that Chestra had intervened when she did. Zarbon had admired Diamonique's looks and body at one time or another, but he thought that she was too much of a spoiled, immature brat for him. He finally answered Chestra:
"Hmmm…should I write you up? Well, attacking another recruit without cause is technically a write-up violation, but in this case, since it was your first offense, I can let you off with a verbal warning not to do it any more-not today anyway," Zarbon told her sternly, but with a twinkle in his eye.
"Yes, Commander, I will behave myself after this, I promise," Chestra vowed, but Zarbon just laughed. He knew better; as long as Chestra did not permanent damage or cause death to Diamonique without reason, he wouldn't bother disciplining her for it.
"You are forgiven, VR," Zarbon told her playfully. "But you will also cook dinner tonight as your penance. If I have to eat one more burned or undercooked meal cooked by Dodoria or Diamonique, I will go on a fast."
"Whatever you say, Commander," Chestra responded.
That night…
All four of Frieza's soldiers were sleeping in their makeshift tents, with Zarbon and Dodoria in one tent, and Chestra and Diamonique in another, sleeping in battery-operated sleeping bags that could have their temperatures adjusted to suit the comfort of their occupants. Diamonique had gone to bed early, extremely embarrassed and angry. Chestra felt no sympathy for her, and Dodoria and Zarbon had not paid Diamonique any mind.
Diamonique awoke suddenly, with Chestra's soft, white hand enveloping her throat and choking the air out of her windpipe and Chestra's angry cat face staring down into hers. Chestra had managed to keep calm and lighthearted throughout the rest of the day, but now she had some business to discuss with her fellow recruit.
"Listen to me, you blue-haired, blue-skinned whore!" Chestra hissed angrily in Diamonique's face. "If Zarbon were to choose you over me, which I seriously doubt he would do at this point, I would not contest you for him. However, I believe that I have just as good as a chance as you do, if not better, for him."
"But Diamonique, if you ever, and I mean, ever, try to kill me again; I will return it to you fivefold! Jaden warned me about your nails, and I have two claw marks on my shoulder to prove that you tried to poison me with your deadly talons! Leave me alone, and I mean it! It would be far safer for you not to bother me again; do you understand, you perfidious little tramp! Leave me be!"
Diamonique wheezed; she could barely talk with Chestra's hand around her throat. "No one can survive my deadly claws, no one, unless they are Astorian, Saiyan, or Rybanese! How did you survive my poison? How?"
"I don't know," Chestra told her honestly. "To tell you the truth, I thought that I was done for; I thought that I was going to die. So if you wanted to give me a good scare today, you did accomplish that goal, at least until I realized that your poisonous nails had no effect on me. Jaden has told me that the symptoms would have shown up immediately, my skin would have bloated and turned blue with purple blotches and boils, and my eyes would have bulged and exploded. But I had none of those, so I assume that I will live. However, if you try to take my life again, I cannot assume the same for you."
"Are you going to report me?" Diamonique demanded to know.
Chestra scoffed. "Why? I am still alive, and I am a big girl, capable of taking care of myself. Besides, it is a nice threat to hang over your head as blackmail should you try to threaten my life or make my existence miserable." She then whispered in Diamonique's elfin ear, "Goodnight, Diamonique, and may your dreams be as pleasant as mine were today." She then released Diamonique's throat, left her archrival and crawled back into her own sleeping bag.
A month later…
Nassau was a jungle planet, with over seventy-five percent of the globe covered in rainforest. The Nassai possessed spaceships, but while the spaceships were reliable, they were not as advanced or as well equipped as the spaceships from places such as Astoria, Vegeta, Calmag, or those of Frieza's forces. Their technology, what little they possessed, was only about fifty years old, with their first spaceship having been built only thirty years ago. The Nassai were a humanoid race of unusually tall people (no adults among them were shorter than seven feet) with dark blue skin, yellow hair, and black eyes.
Luckily for them, their technology was advanced enough that they had an satellite alarm system (which was antiquated compared to the satellite alarm systems of Astoria, Vegeta, Calmag and other higher evolved planets), and this system, which involved a manned satellite housing four technicians, two warriors, one doctor, and two pilots, alerted the Nassai government of the impending invasion from Frieza's minions. The Nassai were a strong people; they had telepathic abilities, shape-changing abilities, and weather-controlling abilities. They could make it snow or rain anytime that they wanted to, and their powerful weather-manipulating capabilities had deterred would-be invaders in the past. Many an invading army from another planet had been obliterated either through instant floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, snowstorms, or hailstorms before they had a chance to destroy the Nassai. The Nassai had used these incredible powers with their minds, in a process similar to Chestra's telekinesis.
The Nassai would have been able to destroy the four invaders from Frieza as easily as they had been able to do to other enemies, but a terrible worldwide viral plague had crippled half of the Nassai people, killing them within days of infection. The virus, called Rodin-ky (Bringer of Death in the Nassai language), was highly contagious (it was spread through contact with any object an infected victim touched or through someone's cough or sneeze), and it would halt the weather-controlling and shape-shifting abilities of any Nassai affected with the malady. The virus would also change the normal blue skin color of a Nassai to a sickly pale yellowish-green, and the virus would also quickly wither away the bone marrow and bones of its victim until the bones and marrow were turned into dust. In the final stages of the Rodin-Ky disease, the victim would have no bones left, and he or she would be a quivering blob of flesh and blood. There was no cure or treatment for Rodin-Ky, and anyone who had the extremely contagious and infectious disease was shipped immediately off to a disease colony country called Magin-Say (Land of The Doomed in Nassai language) to die horribly. No victims were ever allowed to leave Magin-Say again.
The Nassai government, knowing that they did not have enough soldiers to battle Frieza's Elite fighters, evacuated the healthy people left on the planet. All those with the infected Rodin-Ky illness were left behind to die. Some of the desperate victims, hoping that there would be a cure for Rodin-Ky on another planet (they did not know at that time that Astoria had an easy remedy for their illness), had tried to steal away on the fleeing ships, but the Nassai soldiers shot and killed them with antiquated laser guns. In fact, for the safety of the healthy escapees, the uninfected Nassai mercilessly killed many Rodin-Ky victims before they fled Nassau.
By the time, Zarbon, Dodoria, Diamonique, and Chestra had landed on Nassau in their separate space pods, all of the healthy Nassai had been evacuated off of planet Nassau. The four invaders themselves had been giving immunizations to protect themselves against Rodin-Ky when they each had joined Frieza's forces, so they had no worries about catching the illness. Zarbon and Dodoria were disappointed, for they had been looking forward to a good fight. A bored Dodoria blasted away many of the infected Rodin-Ky victims with his mouth blasts. Diamonique turned most of them into diamond statues by shooting them with ki blasts from her slender hands, and Zarbon fired ki blasts at the underground shelters where most of the frightened Rodin-Ky victims had fled to escape their doom. (Healthy Nassai have the ability to sense ki, but those infected with Rodin-Ky did not, for the virus crippled that capability.) Chestra used her telekinetic powers to send the mountains and trees on Nassau crashing down on the helpless disease-ridden victims, killing most of them instantly, since many of them had lost all of their bones to Rodin-Ky.
Within two days of their arrival, nearly all of the inhabitants left on Nassau had been destroyed. A pleased, although slightly disappointed Zarbon, had contacted Frieza to assure him the mission had been a complete success. Dodoria, bored as usual, was busy hunting down the few people left on Nassau to burn them away with his mouth blasts. Since there were not many people left to kill, Zarbon had sent Diamonique and Chestra out to explore the small planet and take notes of anything that Frieza or potential buyers might find useful, such as rare woods, rocks, animals, foods, or plants.
Now Diamonique and Chestra were on the other side of planet Nassau, and they were both tired, so Diamonique suggested that they take a nap. Chestra agreed, and the two young women found beds in a deserted hut near a stream. The cots were covered with comfortable, soft, red, giant velvety oval leaves that the Nassai had once used for mattresses and blankets. Chestra snuggled down wearily underneath two of the scarlet velvet leaves, trying not to think about the horrible way that the remaining Nassai people had died. She finally managed to shrug it off, for she recognized the symptoms of Rodin-Ky among the citizens, and she knew that they would have died sooner or later anyway. She and the others had given the citizens a quick death, which was surely preferable to them dying by the illness.
She was sleeping peacefully for someone who had just taken numerous lives, when she suddenly had a dream that a shadowy, perfumed creature was hovering over her. The creature was tall, shaped like a woman, with long, deadly claws. The strange woman sunk two of those deadly claws into Chestra's soft, white flesh, leaving two bloody marks on a slender, well-shaped pale shoulder. The woman-creature laughed maliciously in Chestra's dream, with a horrible sugary, sandpapery, scraping laugh that grated on Chestra's nerves, even in her sleep. The dark being whispered into Chestra's catlike ear, "Sweet dreams, only this is one dream that you will never wake up from, my dear. Farewell."
And then Chestra fell deeper into sleep, a dreamless slumber that rendered her nearly unconscious…
The next morning…
Zarbon was bathing in a nearby river, washing his hair several times with the special shampoo that he had Dr. Katsen, head of Frieza's Medical Division, make especially for his hair. The sunlight glinted off of his sleek, slick, lean muscular pale green chest and arms. His emerald hair was soft and wet, and it encased his shoulders like his cape often did.
Diamonique watched him bathe, as she approached him, smiling and scantily clothed. Diamonique had brought along an extra outfit, a skimpy, skintight outfit resembling a silver bikini set that consisted of a string top and a bikini bottom. The silvery top and bottom were metallic, with tiny specks of turquoise flashing throughout the outfit, and the bottom was so low-cut that a first inch of the crack of her buttocks was showing seductively. The bikini top was low-cut as well; it was practically a demi-bra, with her large, dark nipples nearly poking out of the top.
She cooed softly, "Hello, Zarbon!"
Zarbon looked at up at the barely covered Diamonique, startled.
"Diamonique!" he gasped. "Shouldn't you put some clothes on? And where's Chestra? You two girls were supposed to stay together!"
Diamonique sighed wearily, "Chestra decided to find Dodoria, so we parted ways, and she insisted that I come back where I would be safer. Anyway, she can take care of herself; she's a big girl. And so I am for that matter." She then curled her silvery-blue lips into a seductive smile, as she reached behind her back and began to untie her bikini top. She let it slide down her slender, peach-blue body to the silver sand that she was standing on. Zarbon nearly cried out when she began to wiggle her medium-sized, pert, conical breasts with the dark blue nipples the size of American quarters. She swayed slowly, as if to some to unheard music, as she began to leisurely slide her bikini bottom down her legs, while she was still smiling wickedly at her prey. She had been wearing a silver clip that had been holding up her hair, but lately, she had been allowing her hair to grow out, and it was past shoulder length, so she unclipped her hair. The hair fell loose, soft aqua hair, streaked with silver, which glittered in the Nassau sun. Diamonique grinned wider, as she tousled her lovely hair playfully, watching Zarbon's reaction.
Zarbon stared at her, his mouth agape, as she entered the cool, clear water of Nassai with a confident air. She then swam slowly over to her crush, hoping that she had won him over. Before Zarbon knew it, Diamonique was in front of him, her cool, peach-blue body pressed against him, her hips gluing themselves to his loins. She slid her slim, graceful arms around his neck, purring softly, as she brought her lips to his for a kiss.
"Diamonique…" Zarbon groaned.
Diamonique whispered breathlessly, "Don't talk, just kiss me and say that I'm yours."
Zarbon drew his head back, and Diamonique's lips were within millimeters of his. Zarbon's breath came in heaving gasps, as Diamonique brought her feminine hand to his green hair.
She was about to kiss him when suddenly she fell backwards into the water! "AHHH!" she screamed in horror, as her body sank under the cold water. She tried to get back up, but her body seemed to be pinned by an unseen force. Diamonique struggled vainly against the invisible restraints, but it was no use. She was only up enough to keep from drowning. She continued to fight against the unseen forces holding her down, as she cried out to Zarbon, "Help me, please!"
"Give me your hand!" Zarbon ordered her, holding out a well-muscled hand. Diamonique tried to reach for it, but she wound up unintentionally slapping herself in her perfect face. Helpless, to stop her hand, she continued to unwittingly slap herself hard repeatedly across her face.
"Diamonique!" Zarbon cried out. "Are you alright? Have you gone crazy?"
Diamonique tried to respond, but then her body levitated rapidly into the air, and the unseen force threw her beautiful form back into the water hard, facedown. Diamonique struggled to her face out of the water, but that was all she was able to do, for the unseen force was pinning her down once again.
"Help me! Help me, please!" she cried in terror.
Zarbon waded through the waters to reach her, but before he could make it to her, a slimy, gray toad, covered in warts floated towards her. Diamonique hated toads of any kind, of any planet, and she screamed in horror as the toad unwittingly flowed in the air towards her lips. Before Diamonique could prevent it, the toad's face crashed into her lips several times, forcing her to kiss the vile amphibian. Then the toad fell into the water, and Diamonique's body was levitated into the air again, and powerlessly, she unwittingly did somersaults and back flips in the air until her body once again fell into the water hard.
Finally, after several seconds, a nude Diamonique was in complete control of her body again, and crying in horror, she ran out of the water, and into the jungle. She ignored Zarbon's cries, as she continued to flee farther and farther away.
When she had disappeared, a few minutes later, Chestra emerged from the shadows of the trees, and she gasped in surprise to catch Zarbon nude. "Oh, you must pardon me, Zarbon, I did not realize that you were bathing! You must forgive me for disturbing you!"
Zarbon managed a smile. "It's no problem, my dear, no problem at all."
"I heard poor Diamonique screaming," Chestra said calmly, and Zarbon swore that he saw her grin to herself for just a second. "What was she so riled up about?"
Zarbon sighed, "It seemed that a ghost or an unseen force had taken over her body temporarily. It made her did the oddest things, such as slap herself repeatedly and kiss a toad."
"Poor girl," Chestra cooed with just the right amount of sympathy in her tone.
Zarbon quickly ducked back into the water, blushing magenta, when he realized that Chestra had seen his entire body in the buff. Still blushing, he said quickly, "Chestra, I think that we need to leave these woods tomorrow. They seem to have some strange form of apparitions…would you happen to know anything about them?"
Chestra cast Zarbon her most innocent look. "Why would I? I have never been on this planet before until now." She schooled her catlike features into the most innocuous saintly look that she could manage.
Zarbon looked at her skeptically, but then he smiled slyly at her. He wasn't considered to be one of Frieza's most intelligent Elite officers for nothing; he knew exactly what the unseen force was-a certain mischievous young recruit with ruby and emerald hair and large, teardrop-shaped jade eyes.
"Chestra," he said, trying to put a stern note in his amused voice, "did you happen to use your telekinetic powers on Diamonique just a few minutes ago?"
Chestra kept her angelic expression, but she could not hide the roguish grin that invaded the virtuous façade that she was trying to portray. Zarbon sighed and shook his head.
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't," she said as solemnly as possible, for she was trying not to laugh at the thought of Diamonique being forced to kiss that toad. Finally she couldn't help herself, and she burst out laughing so hard that the tears rolled down her face.
Zarbon couldn't help but smile when she had started to laugh; her laughter was like the sound of tinkling golden wind chimes to him. It was the first time that he could ever remember hearing her laugh. He chuckled before he could stop himself.
Chestra toned down her laughter, and she put on her most grave smile. "Am I to be written up for that, Commander?" she asked lightly.
Zarbon smiled a bit wickedly, for he had no interest in Diamonique, and he was glad that Chestra had intervened when she did. Zarbon had admired Diamonique's looks and body at one time or another, but he thought that she was too much of a spoiled, immature brat for him. He finally answered Chestra:
"Hmmm…should I write you up? Well, attacking another recruit without cause is technically a write-up violation, but in this case, since it was your first offense, I can let you off with a verbal warning not to do it any more-not today anyway," Zarbon told her sternly, but with a twinkle in his eye.
"Yes, Commander, I will behave myself after this, I promise," Chestra vowed, but Zarbon just laughed. He knew better; as long as Chestra did not permanent damage or cause death to Diamonique without reason, he wouldn't bother disciplining her for it.
"You are forgiven, VR," Zarbon told her playfully. "But you will also cook dinner tonight as your penance. If I have to eat one more burned or undercooked meal cooked by Dodoria or Diamonique, I will go on a fast."
"Whatever you say, Commander," Chestra responded.
That night…
All four of Frieza's soldiers were sleeping in their makeshift tents, with Zarbon and Dodoria in one tent, and Chestra and Diamonique in another, sleeping in battery-operated sleeping bags that could have their temperatures adjusted to suit the comfort of their occupants. Diamonique had gone to bed early, extremely embarrassed and angry. Chestra felt no sympathy for her, and Dodoria and Zarbon had not paid Diamonique any mind.
Diamonique awoke suddenly, with Chestra's soft, white hand enveloping her throat and choking the air out of her windpipe and Chestra's angry cat face staring down into hers. Chestra had managed to keep calm and lighthearted throughout the rest of the day, but now she had some business to discuss with her fellow recruit.
"Listen to me, you blue-haired, blue-skinned whore!" Chestra hissed angrily in Diamonique's face. "If Zarbon were to choose you over me, which I seriously doubt he would do at this point, I would not contest you for him. However, I believe that I have just as good as a chance as you do, if not better, for him."
"But Diamonique, if you ever, and I mean, ever, try to kill me again; I will return it to you fivefold! Jaden warned me about your nails, and I have two claw marks on my shoulder to prove that you tried to poison me with your deadly talons! Leave me alone, and I mean it! It would be far safer for you not to bother me again; do you understand, you perfidious little tramp! Leave me be!"
Diamonique wheezed; she could barely talk with Chestra's hand around her throat. "No one can survive my deadly claws, no one, unless they are Astorian, Saiyan, or Rybanese! How did you survive my poison? How?"
"I don't know," Chestra told her honestly. "To tell you the truth, I thought that I was done for; I thought that I was going to die. So if you wanted to give me a good scare today, you did accomplish that goal, at least until I realized that your poisonous nails had no effect on me. Jaden has told me that the symptoms would have shown up immediately, my skin would have bloated and turned blue with purple blotches and boils, and my eyes would have bulged and exploded. But I had none of those, so I assume that I will live. However, if you try to take my life again, I cannot assume the same for you."
"Are you going to report me?" Diamonique demanded to know.
Chestra scoffed. "Why? I am still alive, and I am a big girl, capable of taking care of myself. Besides, it is a nice threat to hang over your head as blackmail should you try to threaten my life or make my existence miserable." She then whispered in Diamonique's elfin ear, "Goodnight, Diamonique, and may your dreams be as pleasant as mine were today." She then released Diamonique's throat, left her archrival and crawled back into her own sleeping bag.