Ch.
2
Here
I come,
Rougher
than the rest of them,
The
best of them,
Tougher
than leather.
-Knuckles, Unknown from M.E.
A/N:
I'm sorry, but I loved this particular Seinfeld convo. I had to use it, the
space theme was too much temptation!! And to Zarbonslover, believe me, you're
now the reason I'm writing this. I'll do a Zarbon/Jeice lemon after this,
promise, to repay your enthusiasm. Oh, and major Spoiler Alert for those of you
who haven't read The Prisoner of Azkaban. Read it in it's whole BEFORE you read
this chapter. And don't flame me if you don't, I warned you.
"….
'Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Padfoot and would like to add that Professor Snape
is an ugly git. Mr. Wormtail bids good day to Professor Snape and advises him
to wash his hair, the slimeball.'".
Kuao
and Mere howled with laughter.
"Well
Snape had it coming with that 'Master of this school' remark," Kuao said.
Krista giggled.
"I
thought it was pretty funny myself."
She
had managed to grab a break with her friends and now the four of them were
sitting off to the side, talking. Krista felt as if she were in an episode of
Seinfeld.
"So
there's really a Kryptonian on your planet?"
Krista
nodded. "Yep. His name is Kal-El."
Musquo
blinked. "Son of Jor-El? I've heard of him, he's quite famous about the
galaxy."
Krista
smiled. "Yeah, he's cool. We call him Superman, though."
"Why
Superman?" Mere asked. "What can he do that other men can't?"
"Um,
lessee…he can fly…he's faster than a speeding bullet, they say…he's known as
the Man of Steel…"
"Wait,"
Musquo said. "The Kryptonians never could do that on Krypton."
Krista
shrugged. "My brother explained it to me a while ago, when we were preparing
for you guys. Apparently Krypton had a red sun. Since our sun is yellow, it
interacts with his DNA somehow and makes almost all aspects of him…well,
super."
"How's
his humour?" Mere asked. Krista shrugged.
"I
don't know. A normal sense of humour, I suppose."
"You
mean to tell me," Mere said. "That all these other aspects of Kal-El's
personality would become super because of the yellow sun of your world, and he
wouldn't get super humour?"
Krista
shrugged again. "I've never heard him say anything particularly funny."
Mere
chuckled at this, then stretched and sighed. he opened his mouth to ask if
there actually were any visible portions of "super-ised" personality on the
part of Superman, but cut himself off as Frieza strode into the room. Salutes
were given around the room and Frieza nodded.
"At
ease…" he smiled. "Troops, the time has come four our tournament."
At
once excited whispers broke out around the hall. Frieza waited for everything to
die down before speaking again. "The rules are as last year. We will be holding
simultaneous fights for the first three rounds. After we've eliminated the
unworthy, we will begin pitting you against the Ginyu."
Musquo
smirked. "Maybe they'll actually lose this year."
"You're
serious?" Krista said softly. "The Ginyu have always won?"
"There's
never been anyone here strong enough to stand up to them," Kuao said. Mere
grinned.
"That
may have just changed, though."
Krista
blinked. "You mean…I can enter?"
"All
soldiers can enter," Musquo said. "Traditionally, the prize is a spot on the
Ginyu. But ever since Jeice won several years ago, no one's beaten the Ginyu."
"But
you can do it," Kuao said. "I'm almost sure you can."
Krista
looked thoughtful. A tournament…
He
was almost sure that she would enter. He'd heard from various crewmen how she'd
fought while on Earth. If she was as good as people said, and it was a real
possibility, then she'd almost certainly make it to the final round.
And
he'd be waiting.
You're not entering?
No, Krista thought as she continued her sketch of
the Samurai Troopers. There's no point. I wouldn't win.
Who's to say? Zarbon asked her as he sat
next to her. You're an excellent fighter. You could be up to the Ginyu's
level…with a little coaching.
Krista
groaned. That's how I got into this in the first place.
Do you know how I became Second in Command?
Zarbon asked her suddenly. Krista shook her head. Zarbon smiled a bit.
It was a tournament. Like the one coming up, except it was specifically for the purpose of getting a new Second in Command.
What happened to the old one?
Zarbon
smirked. He had a little…accident. Let something slip out to Lord Frieza he
shouldn't have. In any case, I myself was only a Sergeant at the time. It's
quite possible for, say, a Lieutenant to make it into the Ginyu force.
Krista
sighed and stole a sideways glance at Zarbon. You're willing to train me?
Why?
Zarbon
smirked again. It's a mater of pride, Krista. You nearly beat me. I've been
beaten by the Ginyu since.
And you don't want me to lose to them after I've beaten you. It'll make
you look weaker, is what you're saying.
So do you accept?
Krista
grinned. It would be nice to experience another style of fighting. She grinned. I accept.
She
later wished she hadn't.
She
had thought Vegeta was a tough taskmaster. She hadn't seen anything.
When
she wasn't on duty, she was out and about the planet, being trained by the now
rather strict Zarbon for hours at a time.
Zarbon
launched himself into the air and began launching several volleys at Krista,
who agilely avoided them, weaving in and out of the blasts until she came level
with him. She aimed a last at him, which he barely had time to dodge. They
began going at it, each blocking the other's strikes before attacking
themselves. The rebounded off of each other, a light sheen of sweat on both
brows. Zarbon grinned a little deviously.
"I
almost wish I'd gotten a chance to fight you all the way through, that would
have been interesting."
"I'd
still have beaten you, you know."
Zarbon's
grin widened. "And now I remember what made you such a good opponent."
Krista
formed her energy. "Come on, you said you were going to train me for the
tournament, not talk!"
You'd prefer something else?
Zarbon asked with amusement. Krista sent five blasts at him in answer. Zarbon
laughed and came at her.
Krista
watched, a little anxious as Mere battled with another of the officers. The
being aimed a corkscrew blast at Mere, which was easily dodged before Mere
counter-attacked. Zarbon was judging the competition, along with Captain Ginyu.
Mere aimed an attack at his opponent, unaware of the blast that had already
been sent…until it was too late. Zarbon nodded.
"Mere
loses. Mitberv wins."
Krista
gulped. She was next. Musquo clapped her on the shoulder. "Good Luck," he said
softly. Krista frowned.
Gambatte.
Right.
She
stepped into the ring, and the whoops and hollers intensified. Captain Ginyu
smirked.
"Battlers.
Begin."
Krista
found herself full rushed. Mitberv had caught her off guard. That was okay, she
could do that too. She dug her heels into the ground and used a combination of
her own physical strength and her powers to force him off of her and to the
ground. She quickly launched herself into the air, aiming a blast at Mitberv whish
was easily avoided. She aimed another. He avoided that one too. She tried not
to smile as he avoided attack after attack until he was at the right distance.
One more blast and he leapt aside…and straight into the path of the blast she'd
launched a second after the first one. Captain Ginyu rose a brow.
"Mitberv
loses. Krista wins."
The
ring of soldiers around her erupted in cheers and she flushed excitedly. She
had actually won. She gulped as another soldier-bigger and meaner looking than
the fallen Mitberv had stepped up.
"Battlers.
Begin."
He
watched with an increased interest. She was better than he'd first speculated.
She'd certainly be fun to take through the wringer, now wouldn't she? He looked
at the person standing with him, Burter. Burter grinned at him.
"I
suppose you want first crack at her?"
"Damn
right," Jeice affirmed. "That fool Dodoria went after her too quickly, and
alerted Zarbon besides. I don't intend to repeat his mistake."
"Don't
you?"
"No,"
Jeice smirked. "And I think that she'll be a bit more eager to be with me than
she ever was with Dodoria."
"Remember,
Jeice," Burter's tone became cautionary. "Frieza's got to be fond of her if he
gave her a protector and killed Dodoria for going after her. And it's not good
to make Frieza angry."
"I
know, I know," Jeice said irritably. He was more interested in watching as the
girl put down yet another opponent. This was her fourth one in a row, and the
men were beginning to thin out. He also watched his Captain and the Second in
Command carefully. His Captain, like himself, was intrigued by this girl's
fighting ability. If she beat all of the Ginyu, then she'd may be enough to
give him a run for his money.
As
for Zarbon…..Jeice had a distinct feeling that Frieza wasn't the only one fond
of her.
He
also had a distinct feeling that she wasn't nearly as shy as she seemed in the
mess. He grinned. He knew how he could find out.
"SCABBERS???"
Their
entire section of the mess went absolutely silent and Mere smiled, a little
embarrassed. As the babble of talk broke out again, he whispered fiercely
"Scabbers was the traitor??"
"Yep,"
Krista said softly. "An unregistered Animagi. He turned out to be Peter
Pettigrew. Pettigrew hadn't cornered Black, it was the other way around. Black
was ready to kill him when Pettigrew faked his own death, cut of his finger and
turned into Scabbers. He found the Weasleys to take him in and there he
stayed."
"Then
Harry was right," Kuao breathed. "Scabbers-I mean Pettigrew-had been losing
weight because of Black and not because of Crookshanks."
"And
that's why Harry wasn't attacked when Black came into the tower," Mere said
excitedly. "Because it was Scabbers he was after! He hadn't gotten the wrong
bed!"
Krista
grinned. These two were having too much fun for her to try to introduce the
Time Turner into their world just yet. She stretched and stood, determined to
get some more food. She walked across the mess, partially ignoring the comments
thrown at her at her getting into the semi-finals of the tournament. A soldier
passed behind her and she stiffened as she felt a hand linger on her butt.
She
whirled around to see one of the Ginyu-Burter, she thought, smirking at her in
a way that told her immediately that he was the culprit. She didn't contact
Zarbon just yet. Perhaps she could handle this herself.
"Watch
it," she said, her voice soft but with a hint of steel in it. "Or next time you
may lose that hand."
Burter
smirked wider. He raised his voice so the entire Mess could hear. "So she does
have spirit. And all this time I thought all you could do was talk and giggle.
Are you so shy when you're being fucked too?"
Krista
flushed scarlet, and before Burter could react he found himself pressed up to
the wall by an invisible force.
Or
not so invisible, Krista's blue hair was floating away from her shoulders, and
it was apparent that she was using some type of power to keep him there. She
walked up to him calmly and, with the force of her powers, punched him in the
gut. It was as if he'd been rammed with a steel girder and once she let him go,
he crumpled to the ground. He managed to stand and look at her, a smirk playing
over his face once again.
"You
like it rough? I'll remember that for later."
As
Krista's eyes glinted and she pulled her arm back to aim one of her most
powerful attacks at him, Zarbon came pushing through the crowd. He assessed the
situation quickly. He, along with the entire hall had heard Burter's comments
and he knew that Burter had gotten what he'd deserved. Krista, however, was so
angry right now she'd likely kill him before she got a chance to fight him.
Back off, Lieutenant. You've taught him his lesson for right now, and you have a chance to do so again tomorrow. The semi-finals, remember?
You heard him, didn't you? Even Krista's
thoughts were filled with indignation. I didn't even let you get away with
that shit.
Be that as it may, Zarbon let a warning tone
enter into his thoughts. You've done all you can right now. Leave him
Krista.
Krista let the power fizzle out. She spit on him before stalking out through the crowd, which parted to make way for her. Zarbon followed her closely after a disgusted look at Burter. As the crowd dispersed, Jeice walked up to Burter who grinned in a very self-satisfied way.
"She'll
definitely be fun."
