Chapter Fifty-Eight: Power Play
Arlon muttered out loud, "Just what we needed; just when it seemed that things couldn't get any worse…"
"I come along and save Tayla?" Vegeta finished with a smirk.
Balair's eyes widened. He looked long and hard at Tayla; it was as if he was seeing her for the first time. "That girl is Princess Tayla?"
Vegeta chuckled. "That's right, you fool! And while I have to thank you for slowing her down for me, I'm afraid I can't let you keep her." He looked towards Tayla, who couldn't keep her eyes off of her archenemy. He grinned wickedly at his prey. "Nice to meet you again, Tayla; my, my, how have you grown-which isn't much. You haven't changed that much, princess. I recognized you from the moment I saw you. You owe your life to me now, but your surrender to me will do." He decided not to use his ki-restraining cuffing gun just yet.
"A Princess of Chloe never surrenders!" Tayla declared, recovering some of her spirit.
"Neither do Princes of Chloe!" Arlon added.
"That's right!" Riccan boasted. "And don't forget what Tayla did to you the last time!"
Vegeta smiled cruelly at the boy. "I haven't forgotten; in fact I owe her for the increased strength I have gained. Every time a Saiyan recovers from a near-fatal injury, he or she becomes stronger. Tayla should have killed me five years ago, but she didn't, and that was a sad mistake on her part. However, I am much stronger now; my strength is now fivefold what it was five years ago."
He looked towards Tayla now. "Don't worry, little princess, I am not going to hurt you like Balair would have. You will come with me to Frieza immediately."
Tayla gathered together her courage. "Not on your life!"
Vegeta chuckled. "I see that we will have to fight again before you surrender. I'd think about that carefully, Tayla; from the injuries that Balair has just given you, you don't look like you're in much condition to defend yourself. Surrender to me now, and I promise I won't add to your injuries."
Tayla posed into a fighting stance, and Arlon and Riccan gathered around her.
"Tayla's not going anywhere with you!" a voice cried from behind them.
Lukan had returned; he had a twisted arm now and a broken jaw, but he was determined to stay and fight. Arlon grinned slowly at his favorite brother, and Riccan straightened himself up to his full height.
"You heard him!" Arlon added to Lukan's cry.
"Another walking wounded," Vegeta said smoothly, with his cruel smirk. "You three boys may as well give it up; I don't consider any of you three fools worth my time." He turned his gaze to Balair, who was still lying on the ground. "I will have to give you all credit for disabling Balair temporarily; I don't think he can even vaporize or liquefy himself now, can you, Balair?"
Balair didn't answer, but the fatal glare he shot at Vegeta told the Saiyan prince all that he needed to know.
"Who broke your bones, so that you couldn't vaporize or liquefy yourself, Balair?" Vegeta asked with a snicker.
Tayla now understood why Balair had quit vaporizing himself; she must have broken a bone or two of his somewhere.
"Thanks for giving my secret, monkey prince!" Balair hissed. After he spoke a surviving Saibamen jumped out of the trees down onto him. Balair flung the Saibamen at the Astorian fighters with his good arm. Tayla quickly blasted it into green pieces.
"Practicing for the real thing, Tayla?" Vegeta asked.
Tayla gave him what she thought was her most fatal, warning look. "Leave us alone and go away," she said evenly, even though she knew that he would not listen.
Vegeta merely laughed. He looked at the three boys with Tayla. "Do you little boys plan on defending her?"
"Of course we do!" Lukan cried vociferously.
Riccan found his sword and scuttled back to the others with it. He pointed it towards Vegeta and shouted, "We're not afraid of any Saiyan!"
Vegeta cast Riccan a contemptuous look. "A little boy challenging me? You're not even worth my bother!"
"Tayla and Riccan, you two stay here," Arlon ordered his sister and his nephew. "Lukan and I will handle him." The boys charged at Vegeta.
Vegeta yawned, bored. He flew at Arlon and Lukan and punched them both in their faces with his fists. Lukan recovered long enough to punch Vegeta's abdomen with his fist, but the Saiyan prince kicked him hard in his crotch. He kept up his punches against Lukan, hitting him in his most vulnerable areas. Arlon dashed at Vegeta, but Vegeta easily kicked him in his nose at the same time he punched Lukan in his shoulder.
Balair rose from the ground as the fray between Vegeta, Lukan, and Arlon continued. He flew over towards Tayla and Riccan, intending to snatch Tayla and take her away while Vegeta was occupied. Riccan attempted to throw a Rings of Saturn Scarf on him, but Balair dodged it and continued his quest to capture Tayla once again.
Tayla and Riccan jumped out of Balair's path; the bites on her body slowing Tayla down a bit. When Tayla saw Balair coming after her again, she pushed Riccan to the ground and told him to stay there until she was finished.
"Finished with what?" Riccan wanted to know?
"You'll see," Tayla told him. "I just hope this will work."
Tayla rose into the air until she was a good distance above Balair. Balair flew into the air after her, and that was when Tayla stopped and put her hands together in a praying position. She took a few precious seconds to gather more energy, as she pulled her praying hands back against her chest with her elbows sticking outward. Quickly, she tore her hands apart from each other until her palms were exposed away from her. She held her hands at a ninety-degree angle, threw them back again in that same position, and then she shot two silvery-blue bolts of light out of her palms. The bolts of light zoomed towards Balair, creating a sharp whistling sound in the air. One bolt of ki shot towards Balair's upper chest, but the other bolt flew past him. Then the ki stream that flew away turned around a few feet behind Balair and shot into his back with lightning speed. The first ki blast shot into Balair's chest at the same time that the second ki blast shot him in behind. Both the ki bolts shot through Balair's sternum and spine and rammed into each other inside his body. Balair screamed, as strong currents of voltage emitted from the ki blasts, shocking him; this electric attack was much stronger than Electric Touch. Balair was slowly frying in mid-air, as electric currents danced around his body.
Tayla was relieved that her new attack was working (Kami Orchida taught her that one, calling it Double Janus Bolt. [Janus means looking both ways ahead and behind]). She then took that opportunity to launch her next attack in the air. She moved her wrists to the right side next to her head and crossed them in an X position with palms facing away from her in clamshell positions. She drew her palms and wrists back, quickly gathered more ki and shouted,
"BLITZER!"
A mighty blast of bluish-white ki burst forth from both of her hands, two smaller blasts combining into one large one before the bolt left he hands. The ki blast collided into Balair before he had a chance to fight it off, and it knocked him out of the air, forcing him to crash into a nearby meadow that was covered with many large boulders. Balair's body hit one of the boulders, and it nearly killed him. Balair was now lying on the meadow ground in front of the boulder that he had smashed into. He just lay there, dazed.
"How, how did she defeat me?" he choked out loud. She was just a little girl, an Astorie, a rabbit, a brat. How did she do that? How did she win over him?
Balair closed his eyes for a few moments, pondering what to do next.
Meanwhile, Vegeta was still fighting Arlon and Lukan; Vegeta finally managed to punch Lukan hard enough to knock him into several trees, causing them to topple over. It was just Arlon and Vegeta now, and Arlon was now beginning to tired; it was getting harder and harder for him to keep up with Vegeta, who showed no signs at all of wear. Vegeta crashed his fist into Arlon's ribs, breaking several of them. Vegeta then delivered a roundhouse kick into Arlon's cheek, and Arlon fell down to the ground from the impact. Vegeta flew into the air and raised his right hand at a ninety-degree angle, preparing to use Big Bang on him.
Lukan managed to pick himself up and fly into the air, hoping to stop Vegeta.
"BIG BANG!" Vegeta screamed, as he shot one of the Saiyan trademark attacks at Arlon. He missed his mark however, for little Riccan swiftly pulled Arlon out of the path of the Big Bang attack. Riccan flew away into the air with Arlon in his arms, and they joined Tayla and Lukan in the air. Vegeta's ki blast smashed into the soil, creating a crater and burning away most of the wilderness. The Astorian fighters looked on with amazement.
"Incredible!" Lukan gasped; he had not seen Tayla blow away Balair into the nearest meadow, for he had been too busy fighting Vegeta.
"You should have seen what Tayla did to Balair!" Riccan boasted. "She blasted him away with some strange attack. What do you call those two attacks that you did, Tayla?"
Tayla panted, "The first one was called Double Janus Bolt, and the second one was called Blitzer, one of the most powerful new ki attacks that I have. Kami Orchida taught me those."
"Amazing!" Arlon gasped. "So now Balair's been put of out of commission?"
"I hope he's been put out of this dimension," Lukan declared. "I never thought he'd be as tough as Vegeta, if not tougher."
Those would be Lukan's last words, for at that moment, a streak of ki shot from the ground and hit Lukan in his back. Lukan screamed before his body crystallized into a diamond statue. The statue that had once been Lukan swiftly crashed to the ground hard.
"LUKAN!" everyone shouted in horror, as the statue fell down in front of his assailant, the beautiful Diamonique.
Vegeta glared at her. "What are you doing here?" he sneered.
Diamonique smiled devilishly. "I just wanted to know who nearly blasted Balair into the next dimension, that's all. I take that it wasn't that boy I just crystallized."
"It must have been Tayla, probably," Vegeta told her stonily. "Thank you, woman, but you are no longer needed here. Go away and let me finish my battle. I intend to take Tayla back with me, and you will not intervene."
Diamonique looked up into the sky at the three horrified Astorians and then at Tayla. "That scrawny little brat is Princess Tayla?"
"That's right, woman," Vegeta told her smoothly, "and don't think that you are taking her with you either. She's mine."
"In your dreams, monkey prince," Diamonique said with an unladylike snort. "I'm collecting that reward, and now I will get Tayla."
Vegeta narrowed his eyes at her. "I have no time for you, woman. I am going after her; now give it up and go away!" He soared into the air after Tayla, but the Gemstarian woman blocked his path.
"She's mine, boy," Diamonique told him icily.
"Don't make me blast you, woman! Just because I enjoyed the pleasures of your flesh doesn't mean that I won't hesitate to give you what you deserve!" Vegeta hissed. "You weren't that great in bed to begin with!"
"Oh, please!" Diamonique sneered. "You didn't even know where to put it before I taught you! Anything that you know about sex, Vegeta, you learned from me! I initiated you, taught you every thing that you needed to know! No woman that you have after me will even compare!"
"Don't be so certain," Vegeta told her with a nasty smile. "I intend to try the Ginyu Girls once I bring Tayla to Lord Frieza; I have heard that their charms in bed greatly exceed yours! Nappa and the Ginyu Force should know that!"
"Good luck," Diamonique jeered. "That is, if you can get any of them to even touch you! I can't imagine anyone else wanting to sleep with you besides me, and you don't even interest me anymore!"
Vegeta snorted. "Fine then; you are no loss to me, woman! I used you, and now I'm done with you!"
"Well, I used you too! You satisfied me, Vegeta, but now it's on to bigger and better things!" Diamonique retorted. "And when I mean bigger things, I mean the things between a man's legs! Your tail in front doesn't even compare to the length and girth of the tail in behind!"
Arlon laughed before he could stop himself, and Tayla cuffed him hard. "Arlon, you ought to be ashamed of yourself! She just turned Lukan into a giant diamond!" she screamed angrily.
Arlon sobered immediately, and then the full realization of what happened to his brother and best friend. His body shook, and deep regret and shame filled him. "Lukan," he whispered hoarsely.
"Is he dead?" Riccan asked tearfully, as Diamonique and Vegeta continued their verbal assaults against each other. The language between them now was nasty and crude, with words and sexual innuendoes that made Riccan and Tayla blush against their wills.
Tayla whispered quietly, "No, he's not, Riccan, just frozen into a diamond. Toria taught me how to reverse the spell on anyone affected by that attack. Gemstarians use that attack all the time, but it doesn't kill the victims."
"You know sorcery now?" Arlon asked, astonished.
"Some of it," Tayla told him. "Toria told me not to reveal anything that I learned at Kami Orchida's until she said so. I'm finally allowed to reveal what I learned there."
"We've got to get Lukan out of here," Arlon told her.
"I've got an idea," Tayla told him and Riccan. She whispered it to both of them, and Arlon said, "Sounds like a plan to me."
Diamonique decided to end her verbal spat with Vegeta, and she left him abruptly to go after Tayla. She was in front of Tayla before Tayla knew it. Tayla smiled at her as confidently as she could, for she knew that Diamonique would come.
"You've come to take me away, haven't you?" she asked calmly.
Diamonique smiled cruelly. "That I have, brat. And if you come along with me quietly, I'll promise not to hurt you or your boyfriends."
"They're not my boyfriends," Tayla told her evenly, with less of her smile than before.
Vegeta flew up behind Diamonique. "Out of my way, woman!" he ordered his former lover. He shoved himself between her and Tayla. "Alright, brat, the party's over!"
Riccan took that opportunity to fly away from the group. He found Lukan's body and gathered the heavy diamond statue in his small arms. Quickly as possible, he flew away with Lukan, out of sight.
"Come back here!" Diamonique ordered him angrily.
"Leave them be, stupid woman!" Vegeta commanded. "Who cares about them anyway? You can worry about petty problems like them if you want to, but I am going after the prize."
"No, you're not!" Diamonique declared furiously.
"Yes I am, idiotic woman!" Vegeta snapped. "Now move away, so I can capture Tayla without your old body in my way!"
"You shouldn't let him talk to you that way, misselle (miss in Astorian)!" Tayla told Diamonique.
"What?" Diamonique exclaimed.
"He was your beau, wasn't he?" Tayla said in a sympathetic tone. "And I bet that he broke your heart, didn't he?"
"He broke nothing but my ego!" Diamonique cried, but her eyes were now desperate, and a little bit hurt. "I wanted him for my mate, and the fool turned me down! He used me!"
Tayla shook her head pityingly, playing the perfect part of a compassionate confidante. "Just like a Saiyan, always using people and throwing them away! You deserve much better than him, misselle. And you shouldn't let talk to you the way he has been doing. The only reason he talks to you like that is because he knows that he's not worthy to even look upon someone as beautiful as you."
"Now see here, brat-" Vegeta began.
Diamonique smiled. "She's right, you know, monkey boy!"
"He's not worthy?" Arlon asked Tayla. "Vegeta is a Prince, and I am sure that this woman is nothing compared to him. She should be groveling before him, kissing his feet, for he is on his way to becoming the most powerful warrior in the universe."
"That's right!" Vegeta agreed happily. "I am glad that a mere Astorian like yourself can recognize my true worth."
"What worth?" Tayla said with an unladylike-Gracina-wouldn't-approve-of-it snort. "Misselle, don't worry about Vegeta. I'm sure his power doesn't even compare to yours!"
Diamonique smiled benevolently at Tayla. "I like you already, Princess. You and I will get along just fine, especially since you seem to understand how wonderful I truly am! I will ask Lord Frieza to let me train you myself. There are many things that I could teach you, Princess Tayla, especially about handling men like monkey prince here-"
"Call me monkey prince one more time, woman, and I will blast you into the next dimension!" Vegeta roared.
"You tell her, Vegeta!" Arlon cheered. "She shouldn't talk to someone as important as you are that way! She's just a woman!"
"How dare you?" Diamonique hissed at Arlon. "Women are smarter and more powerful than men; any fool can see that! You and Vegeta are just as chauvinistic as Balair! You and Balair ought to meet, Astorie; you both would get along great!"
"Prince Vegeta, are you going to let her put you down like that?" Arlon asked.
"Diamonique, Vegeta threatened to kill you," Tayla told her boldly. "He shouldn't have done that! He shouldn't have threatened to harm you, even if you two are no longer a couple!"
"I agree," Diamonique told her sweetly. She turned back to Vegeta and said icily, "Don't ever threaten me again."
"I'll threaten who I please, woman! I am the Prince of All-"
"Monkeys?" Diamonique finished slyly.
Vegeta's face became ugly then, and his black eyes narrowed. "Don't ever call me monkey again," he said in a deadly voice.
"Tell her, Vegeta; she has no business talking to you like that!" Arlon crowed. "You are the greatest fighter than I know of; why you were even able to defeat me! Show her who is boss! Show her who is the greatest!"
"Myself," Vegeta said proudly.
"Dream on, Princeling," Diamonique told him sharply, using the other insult that Vegeta hated besides "monkey".
"Quiet, woman!" Vegeta snapped. "Do not ever call me Princeling or monkey!"
"I'll call you whatever I please!"
"I ought to blast you into the next dimension!"
"Do it, Vegeta!" Arlon encouraged him. "Don't let her take Tayla! After all, you went through all this trouble to get to her!"
"Diamonique, help me, please," Tayla said in a plaintive voice. "I would much rather go with you than him. You deserve whatever reward Frieza will give you for me. Don't let Vegeta take me away."
"I promise you that I won't, Princess," Diamonique told her smoothly. She pushed past Vegeta, but Vegeta caught her arm and held onto it.
"She's mine, Diamonique, back off," Vegeta ordered.
"Are you going to let him stop you?" Tayla asked. "Diamonique, if that is your name, I would rather go to Frieza with another female. I fear what Vegeta could do to me."
"Vegeta, if you want my sister, you are going to have to get Diamonique out of the way," Arlon told him. "I know that I can't stop you from taking her, but don't let Diamonique win! You have fought us for her, and she should be yours to take, not hers."
"Shut up, rabbit!" Diamonique snapped at him. She said to Vegeta icily. "Let me go!"
"Not until you agree to leave and let me take Tayla," Vegeta told her.
"She's mine, monkey!"
"Tell him, Diamonique! Please help me! I have seen your great power!" Tayla declared. "I want to learn from you and train under you; don't let Vegeta spoil it for the both of us. He's nothing compared to you!"
"Shut up, brat!" Vegeta ordered her. "You are coming with me now! Let's go!" He shoved Diamonique from him and leapt at Tayla, but Diamonique kicked him in his ribs. Vegeta flung her from him.
"Help me, Diamonique!" Tayla pleaded.
"Don't let that woman get my sister!" Arlon told Vegeta.
Diamonique tried to punch Vegeta, but Vegeta heard her fist swing in the air, and he turned around and caught it quickly. He seized Diamonique's waist with one arm, and he pulled her fighting arm behind her back. He then used his left leg to wrap around Diamonique's left leg and restrain her.
"The girl is mine," Vegeta told her harshly. Diamonique then used her right foot to kick Vegeta hard in his shin, and the attack surprised Vegeta enough to release her. She then tried to freeze Vegeta's heart, but Vegeta deflected her ki blast away from him with one hand. Diamonique then threw herself at Vegeta with her fists, but Vegeta shoved her away from him. He then seized Diamonique's neck with his left arm and forced her into a headlock. The Gemstarian warrior struggled and kicked at her captor, trying to break free of the headlock. Diamonique then raked her nails across Vegeta's leg with the sharpness of a cat with steel claws. Vegeta howled with pain, and he abruptly shoved Diamonique away from him again. She then jumped onto his back and hooked her arms under his arms, wrapping her arms around his shoulders to restrain him. Vegeta kicked at Diamonique's shins, but she held onto him firmly. Vegeta struggled against her tight, viselike grip.
"What do you have to say now, monkey prince?" Diamonique asked coolly, as she held him under his arms.
"Woman, I am warning you; release me at once, or I will have to really hurt you!" Vegeta threatened.
"Do not ever refer to me as merely 'woman', boy!" Diamonique snapped. "Tayla Chloe is mine, and you are not going to take her! You had your chance five years ago, and you blew it! Now it is my turn!"
Vegeta gathered all of his strength together, and he finally wrestled his way out of Diamonique's seemingly impenetrable grip. He pushed away from her, looking for Tayla, and then his fury increased.
He had a good reason to be upset.
Tayla was gone, and so was her brother.
"Curses!" Vegeta roared. "The brat and her brother escaped!"
Diamonique looked around the sky, and she too saw no sign of Tayla or Arlon. She turned on her scouter, but it did register any kis other than her ki and Vegeta's.
"We are among Frieza's best warriors!" Vegeta snarled. "How did a brat and her weakling brother outwit us?"
The Gemstarian warrior clenched her fists, with the diamond nails digging deep into her soft, firm peaches-and-ice flesh. Realization hit her, and it angered her. "They tricked us! They played us against each other! They wanted us to fight each other! That cursed brat and her brother outsmarted us!"
"I am the Prince of All Saiyans, the greatest warrior of my line and my people!" Vegeta growled. "And I allowed a brat to trick me! How could I have been so stupid?"
"And I am Lady Diamonique of the Diamondian tribe; niece of the King of Gemstar! I am one of the smartest and most beautiful of all the women in my tribe, and an Astorie brat and her brother outsmart me! We fell right into their trap! They escaped while we were fighting each other! Lord Frieza's going to have a conniption! I'm glad not to be within his vicinity at the moment!"
Vegeta didn't say so, but he agreed with her. He would never admit to it under slow torture, but even he did not like to set off Frieza's ire anymore than necessary. There would come a day when not even Frieza's wrath would be enough to save him from Vegeta, but that day was far away. Until then, Vegeta would have to tolerate Frieza's authority-and occasional abuse and insults.
"That brat won't outsmart me again!" Vegeta declared determinedly. "She and that weakling brother of hers couldn't have gone very far, even if Astorians are fast! I will have her yet!" Vegeta pushed past Diamonique and began to zoom away.
"Not if I don't beat you to her first," Diamonique insisted, but then she grew thoughtful. "Wait, Vegeta!" she called.
Vegeta grudgingly stopped and turned around. "What do you want now, woman?"
Diamonique smiled wickedly. "Perhaps we should look for her and capture her together."
"Forget it; I can find her myself!"
"Oh, c'mon, Vegeta!" Diamonique cooed. "That brat is too much for the two of us to handle alone. If you help me catch her, I'll spilt the reward with you!" She put a charming pout on her face, a trick that had worked with Vegeta several times before.
But it didn't work this time. Vegeta was through with his ex-lover, and he wanted the reward for Tayla to himself. He snorted contemptuously and said, "I need no one's help!" He sped away from her before she could speak another word. The Gemstarian warrior was furious.
"Monkey Princeling! Bastard! You will pay for that!" Diamonique screamed. "You'll be sorry, Princeling! Don't be surprised if I find the brat and keep the reward to myself! No one crosses or refuses me and gets away with it!"
Vegeta didn't hear her, and even if he had, it would have made no difference to him.
Arlon muttered out loud, "Just what we needed; just when it seemed that things couldn't get any worse…"
"I come along and save Tayla?" Vegeta finished with a smirk.
Balair's eyes widened. He looked long and hard at Tayla; it was as if he was seeing her for the first time. "That girl is Princess Tayla?"
Vegeta chuckled. "That's right, you fool! And while I have to thank you for slowing her down for me, I'm afraid I can't let you keep her." He looked towards Tayla, who couldn't keep her eyes off of her archenemy. He grinned wickedly at his prey. "Nice to meet you again, Tayla; my, my, how have you grown-which isn't much. You haven't changed that much, princess. I recognized you from the moment I saw you. You owe your life to me now, but your surrender to me will do." He decided not to use his ki-restraining cuffing gun just yet.
"A Princess of Chloe never surrenders!" Tayla declared, recovering some of her spirit.
"Neither do Princes of Chloe!" Arlon added.
"That's right!" Riccan boasted. "And don't forget what Tayla did to you the last time!"
Vegeta smiled cruelly at the boy. "I haven't forgotten; in fact I owe her for the increased strength I have gained. Every time a Saiyan recovers from a near-fatal injury, he or she becomes stronger. Tayla should have killed me five years ago, but she didn't, and that was a sad mistake on her part. However, I am much stronger now; my strength is now fivefold what it was five years ago."
He looked towards Tayla now. "Don't worry, little princess, I am not going to hurt you like Balair would have. You will come with me to Frieza immediately."
Tayla gathered together her courage. "Not on your life!"
Vegeta chuckled. "I see that we will have to fight again before you surrender. I'd think about that carefully, Tayla; from the injuries that Balair has just given you, you don't look like you're in much condition to defend yourself. Surrender to me now, and I promise I won't add to your injuries."
Tayla posed into a fighting stance, and Arlon and Riccan gathered around her.
"Tayla's not going anywhere with you!" a voice cried from behind them.
Lukan had returned; he had a twisted arm now and a broken jaw, but he was determined to stay and fight. Arlon grinned slowly at his favorite brother, and Riccan straightened himself up to his full height.
"You heard him!" Arlon added to Lukan's cry.
"Another walking wounded," Vegeta said smoothly, with his cruel smirk. "You three boys may as well give it up; I don't consider any of you three fools worth my time." He turned his gaze to Balair, who was still lying on the ground. "I will have to give you all credit for disabling Balair temporarily; I don't think he can even vaporize or liquefy himself now, can you, Balair?"
Balair didn't answer, but the fatal glare he shot at Vegeta told the Saiyan prince all that he needed to know.
"Who broke your bones, so that you couldn't vaporize or liquefy yourself, Balair?" Vegeta asked with a snicker.
Tayla now understood why Balair had quit vaporizing himself; she must have broken a bone or two of his somewhere.
"Thanks for giving my secret, monkey prince!" Balair hissed. After he spoke a surviving Saibamen jumped out of the trees down onto him. Balair flung the Saibamen at the Astorian fighters with his good arm. Tayla quickly blasted it into green pieces.
"Practicing for the real thing, Tayla?" Vegeta asked.
Tayla gave him what she thought was her most fatal, warning look. "Leave us alone and go away," she said evenly, even though she knew that he would not listen.
Vegeta merely laughed. He looked at the three boys with Tayla. "Do you little boys plan on defending her?"
"Of course we do!" Lukan cried vociferously.
Riccan found his sword and scuttled back to the others with it. He pointed it towards Vegeta and shouted, "We're not afraid of any Saiyan!"
Vegeta cast Riccan a contemptuous look. "A little boy challenging me? You're not even worth my bother!"
"Tayla and Riccan, you two stay here," Arlon ordered his sister and his nephew. "Lukan and I will handle him." The boys charged at Vegeta.
Vegeta yawned, bored. He flew at Arlon and Lukan and punched them both in their faces with his fists. Lukan recovered long enough to punch Vegeta's abdomen with his fist, but the Saiyan prince kicked him hard in his crotch. He kept up his punches against Lukan, hitting him in his most vulnerable areas. Arlon dashed at Vegeta, but Vegeta easily kicked him in his nose at the same time he punched Lukan in his shoulder.
Balair rose from the ground as the fray between Vegeta, Lukan, and Arlon continued. He flew over towards Tayla and Riccan, intending to snatch Tayla and take her away while Vegeta was occupied. Riccan attempted to throw a Rings of Saturn Scarf on him, but Balair dodged it and continued his quest to capture Tayla once again.
Tayla and Riccan jumped out of Balair's path; the bites on her body slowing Tayla down a bit. When Tayla saw Balair coming after her again, she pushed Riccan to the ground and told him to stay there until she was finished.
"Finished with what?" Riccan wanted to know?
"You'll see," Tayla told him. "I just hope this will work."
Tayla rose into the air until she was a good distance above Balair. Balair flew into the air after her, and that was when Tayla stopped and put her hands together in a praying position. She took a few precious seconds to gather more energy, as she pulled her praying hands back against her chest with her elbows sticking outward. Quickly, she tore her hands apart from each other until her palms were exposed away from her. She held her hands at a ninety-degree angle, threw them back again in that same position, and then she shot two silvery-blue bolts of light out of her palms. The bolts of light zoomed towards Balair, creating a sharp whistling sound in the air. One bolt of ki shot towards Balair's upper chest, but the other bolt flew past him. Then the ki stream that flew away turned around a few feet behind Balair and shot into his back with lightning speed. The first ki blast shot into Balair's chest at the same time that the second ki blast shot him in behind. Both the ki bolts shot through Balair's sternum and spine and rammed into each other inside his body. Balair screamed, as strong currents of voltage emitted from the ki blasts, shocking him; this electric attack was much stronger than Electric Touch. Balair was slowly frying in mid-air, as electric currents danced around his body.
Tayla was relieved that her new attack was working (Kami Orchida taught her that one, calling it Double Janus Bolt. [Janus means looking both ways ahead and behind]). She then took that opportunity to launch her next attack in the air. She moved her wrists to the right side next to her head and crossed them in an X position with palms facing away from her in clamshell positions. She drew her palms and wrists back, quickly gathered more ki and shouted,
"BLITZER!"
A mighty blast of bluish-white ki burst forth from both of her hands, two smaller blasts combining into one large one before the bolt left he hands. The ki blast collided into Balair before he had a chance to fight it off, and it knocked him out of the air, forcing him to crash into a nearby meadow that was covered with many large boulders. Balair's body hit one of the boulders, and it nearly killed him. Balair was now lying on the meadow ground in front of the boulder that he had smashed into. He just lay there, dazed.
"How, how did she defeat me?" he choked out loud. She was just a little girl, an Astorie, a rabbit, a brat. How did she do that? How did she win over him?
Balair closed his eyes for a few moments, pondering what to do next.
Meanwhile, Vegeta was still fighting Arlon and Lukan; Vegeta finally managed to punch Lukan hard enough to knock him into several trees, causing them to topple over. It was just Arlon and Vegeta now, and Arlon was now beginning to tired; it was getting harder and harder for him to keep up with Vegeta, who showed no signs at all of wear. Vegeta crashed his fist into Arlon's ribs, breaking several of them. Vegeta then delivered a roundhouse kick into Arlon's cheek, and Arlon fell down to the ground from the impact. Vegeta flew into the air and raised his right hand at a ninety-degree angle, preparing to use Big Bang on him.
Lukan managed to pick himself up and fly into the air, hoping to stop Vegeta.
"BIG BANG!" Vegeta screamed, as he shot one of the Saiyan trademark attacks at Arlon. He missed his mark however, for little Riccan swiftly pulled Arlon out of the path of the Big Bang attack. Riccan flew away into the air with Arlon in his arms, and they joined Tayla and Lukan in the air. Vegeta's ki blast smashed into the soil, creating a crater and burning away most of the wilderness. The Astorian fighters looked on with amazement.
"Incredible!" Lukan gasped; he had not seen Tayla blow away Balair into the nearest meadow, for he had been too busy fighting Vegeta.
"You should have seen what Tayla did to Balair!" Riccan boasted. "She blasted him away with some strange attack. What do you call those two attacks that you did, Tayla?"
Tayla panted, "The first one was called Double Janus Bolt, and the second one was called Blitzer, one of the most powerful new ki attacks that I have. Kami Orchida taught me those."
"Amazing!" Arlon gasped. "So now Balair's been put of out of commission?"
"I hope he's been put out of this dimension," Lukan declared. "I never thought he'd be as tough as Vegeta, if not tougher."
Those would be Lukan's last words, for at that moment, a streak of ki shot from the ground and hit Lukan in his back. Lukan screamed before his body crystallized into a diamond statue. The statue that had once been Lukan swiftly crashed to the ground hard.
"LUKAN!" everyone shouted in horror, as the statue fell down in front of his assailant, the beautiful Diamonique.
Vegeta glared at her. "What are you doing here?" he sneered.
Diamonique smiled devilishly. "I just wanted to know who nearly blasted Balair into the next dimension, that's all. I take that it wasn't that boy I just crystallized."
"It must have been Tayla, probably," Vegeta told her stonily. "Thank you, woman, but you are no longer needed here. Go away and let me finish my battle. I intend to take Tayla back with me, and you will not intervene."
Diamonique looked up into the sky at the three horrified Astorians and then at Tayla. "That scrawny little brat is Princess Tayla?"
"That's right, woman," Vegeta told her smoothly, "and don't think that you are taking her with you either. She's mine."
"In your dreams, monkey prince," Diamonique said with an unladylike snort. "I'm collecting that reward, and now I will get Tayla."
Vegeta narrowed his eyes at her. "I have no time for you, woman. I am going after her; now give it up and go away!" He soared into the air after Tayla, but the Gemstarian woman blocked his path.
"She's mine, boy," Diamonique told him icily.
"Don't make me blast you, woman! Just because I enjoyed the pleasures of your flesh doesn't mean that I won't hesitate to give you what you deserve!" Vegeta hissed. "You weren't that great in bed to begin with!"
"Oh, please!" Diamonique sneered. "You didn't even know where to put it before I taught you! Anything that you know about sex, Vegeta, you learned from me! I initiated you, taught you every thing that you needed to know! No woman that you have after me will even compare!"
"Don't be so certain," Vegeta told her with a nasty smile. "I intend to try the Ginyu Girls once I bring Tayla to Lord Frieza; I have heard that their charms in bed greatly exceed yours! Nappa and the Ginyu Force should know that!"
"Good luck," Diamonique jeered. "That is, if you can get any of them to even touch you! I can't imagine anyone else wanting to sleep with you besides me, and you don't even interest me anymore!"
Vegeta snorted. "Fine then; you are no loss to me, woman! I used you, and now I'm done with you!"
"Well, I used you too! You satisfied me, Vegeta, but now it's on to bigger and better things!" Diamonique retorted. "And when I mean bigger things, I mean the things between a man's legs! Your tail in front doesn't even compare to the length and girth of the tail in behind!"
Arlon laughed before he could stop himself, and Tayla cuffed him hard. "Arlon, you ought to be ashamed of yourself! She just turned Lukan into a giant diamond!" she screamed angrily.
Arlon sobered immediately, and then the full realization of what happened to his brother and best friend. His body shook, and deep regret and shame filled him. "Lukan," he whispered hoarsely.
"Is he dead?" Riccan asked tearfully, as Diamonique and Vegeta continued their verbal assaults against each other. The language between them now was nasty and crude, with words and sexual innuendoes that made Riccan and Tayla blush against their wills.
Tayla whispered quietly, "No, he's not, Riccan, just frozen into a diamond. Toria taught me how to reverse the spell on anyone affected by that attack. Gemstarians use that attack all the time, but it doesn't kill the victims."
"You know sorcery now?" Arlon asked, astonished.
"Some of it," Tayla told him. "Toria told me not to reveal anything that I learned at Kami Orchida's until she said so. I'm finally allowed to reveal what I learned there."
"We've got to get Lukan out of here," Arlon told her.
"I've got an idea," Tayla told him and Riccan. She whispered it to both of them, and Arlon said, "Sounds like a plan to me."
Diamonique decided to end her verbal spat with Vegeta, and she left him abruptly to go after Tayla. She was in front of Tayla before Tayla knew it. Tayla smiled at her as confidently as she could, for she knew that Diamonique would come.
"You've come to take me away, haven't you?" she asked calmly.
Diamonique smiled cruelly. "That I have, brat. And if you come along with me quietly, I'll promise not to hurt you or your boyfriends."
"They're not my boyfriends," Tayla told her evenly, with less of her smile than before.
Vegeta flew up behind Diamonique. "Out of my way, woman!" he ordered his former lover. He shoved himself between her and Tayla. "Alright, brat, the party's over!"
Riccan took that opportunity to fly away from the group. He found Lukan's body and gathered the heavy diamond statue in his small arms. Quickly as possible, he flew away with Lukan, out of sight.
"Come back here!" Diamonique ordered him angrily.
"Leave them be, stupid woman!" Vegeta commanded. "Who cares about them anyway? You can worry about petty problems like them if you want to, but I am going after the prize."
"No, you're not!" Diamonique declared furiously.
"Yes I am, idiotic woman!" Vegeta snapped. "Now move away, so I can capture Tayla without your old body in my way!"
"You shouldn't let him talk to you that way, misselle (miss in Astorian)!" Tayla told Diamonique.
"What?" Diamonique exclaimed.
"He was your beau, wasn't he?" Tayla said in a sympathetic tone. "And I bet that he broke your heart, didn't he?"
"He broke nothing but my ego!" Diamonique cried, but her eyes were now desperate, and a little bit hurt. "I wanted him for my mate, and the fool turned me down! He used me!"
Tayla shook her head pityingly, playing the perfect part of a compassionate confidante. "Just like a Saiyan, always using people and throwing them away! You deserve much better than him, misselle. And you shouldn't let talk to you the way he has been doing. The only reason he talks to you like that is because he knows that he's not worthy to even look upon someone as beautiful as you."
"Now see here, brat-" Vegeta began.
Diamonique smiled. "She's right, you know, monkey boy!"
"He's not worthy?" Arlon asked Tayla. "Vegeta is a Prince, and I am sure that this woman is nothing compared to him. She should be groveling before him, kissing his feet, for he is on his way to becoming the most powerful warrior in the universe."
"That's right!" Vegeta agreed happily. "I am glad that a mere Astorian like yourself can recognize my true worth."
"What worth?" Tayla said with an unladylike-Gracina-wouldn't-approve-of-it snort. "Misselle, don't worry about Vegeta. I'm sure his power doesn't even compare to yours!"
Diamonique smiled benevolently at Tayla. "I like you already, Princess. You and I will get along just fine, especially since you seem to understand how wonderful I truly am! I will ask Lord Frieza to let me train you myself. There are many things that I could teach you, Princess Tayla, especially about handling men like monkey prince here-"
"Call me monkey prince one more time, woman, and I will blast you into the next dimension!" Vegeta roared.
"You tell her, Vegeta!" Arlon cheered. "She shouldn't talk to someone as important as you are that way! She's just a woman!"
"How dare you?" Diamonique hissed at Arlon. "Women are smarter and more powerful than men; any fool can see that! You and Vegeta are just as chauvinistic as Balair! You and Balair ought to meet, Astorie; you both would get along great!"
"Prince Vegeta, are you going to let her put you down like that?" Arlon asked.
"Diamonique, Vegeta threatened to kill you," Tayla told her boldly. "He shouldn't have done that! He shouldn't have threatened to harm you, even if you two are no longer a couple!"
"I agree," Diamonique told her sweetly. She turned back to Vegeta and said icily, "Don't ever threaten me again."
"I'll threaten who I please, woman! I am the Prince of All-"
"Monkeys?" Diamonique finished slyly.
Vegeta's face became ugly then, and his black eyes narrowed. "Don't ever call me monkey again," he said in a deadly voice.
"Tell her, Vegeta; she has no business talking to you like that!" Arlon crowed. "You are the greatest fighter than I know of; why you were even able to defeat me! Show her who is boss! Show her who is the greatest!"
"Myself," Vegeta said proudly.
"Dream on, Princeling," Diamonique told him sharply, using the other insult that Vegeta hated besides "monkey".
"Quiet, woman!" Vegeta snapped. "Do not ever call me Princeling or monkey!"
"I'll call you whatever I please!"
"I ought to blast you into the next dimension!"
"Do it, Vegeta!" Arlon encouraged him. "Don't let her take Tayla! After all, you went through all this trouble to get to her!"
"Diamonique, help me, please," Tayla said in a plaintive voice. "I would much rather go with you than him. You deserve whatever reward Frieza will give you for me. Don't let Vegeta take me away."
"I promise you that I won't, Princess," Diamonique told her smoothly. She pushed past Vegeta, but Vegeta caught her arm and held onto it.
"She's mine, Diamonique, back off," Vegeta ordered.
"Are you going to let him stop you?" Tayla asked. "Diamonique, if that is your name, I would rather go to Frieza with another female. I fear what Vegeta could do to me."
"Vegeta, if you want my sister, you are going to have to get Diamonique out of the way," Arlon told him. "I know that I can't stop you from taking her, but don't let Diamonique win! You have fought us for her, and she should be yours to take, not hers."
"Shut up, rabbit!" Diamonique snapped at him. She said to Vegeta icily. "Let me go!"
"Not until you agree to leave and let me take Tayla," Vegeta told her.
"She's mine, monkey!"
"Tell him, Diamonique! Please help me! I have seen your great power!" Tayla declared. "I want to learn from you and train under you; don't let Vegeta spoil it for the both of us. He's nothing compared to you!"
"Shut up, brat!" Vegeta ordered her. "You are coming with me now! Let's go!" He shoved Diamonique from him and leapt at Tayla, but Diamonique kicked him in his ribs. Vegeta flung her from him.
"Help me, Diamonique!" Tayla pleaded.
"Don't let that woman get my sister!" Arlon told Vegeta.
Diamonique tried to punch Vegeta, but Vegeta heard her fist swing in the air, and he turned around and caught it quickly. He seized Diamonique's waist with one arm, and he pulled her fighting arm behind her back. He then used his left leg to wrap around Diamonique's left leg and restrain her.
"The girl is mine," Vegeta told her harshly. Diamonique then used her right foot to kick Vegeta hard in his shin, and the attack surprised Vegeta enough to release her. She then tried to freeze Vegeta's heart, but Vegeta deflected her ki blast away from him with one hand. Diamonique then threw herself at Vegeta with her fists, but Vegeta shoved her away from him. He then seized Diamonique's neck with his left arm and forced her into a headlock. The Gemstarian warrior struggled and kicked at her captor, trying to break free of the headlock. Diamonique then raked her nails across Vegeta's leg with the sharpness of a cat with steel claws. Vegeta howled with pain, and he abruptly shoved Diamonique away from him again. She then jumped onto his back and hooked her arms under his arms, wrapping her arms around his shoulders to restrain him. Vegeta kicked at Diamonique's shins, but she held onto him firmly. Vegeta struggled against her tight, viselike grip.
"What do you have to say now, monkey prince?" Diamonique asked coolly, as she held him under his arms.
"Woman, I am warning you; release me at once, or I will have to really hurt you!" Vegeta threatened.
"Do not ever refer to me as merely 'woman', boy!" Diamonique snapped. "Tayla Chloe is mine, and you are not going to take her! You had your chance five years ago, and you blew it! Now it is my turn!"
Vegeta gathered all of his strength together, and he finally wrestled his way out of Diamonique's seemingly impenetrable grip. He pushed away from her, looking for Tayla, and then his fury increased.
He had a good reason to be upset.
Tayla was gone, and so was her brother.
"Curses!" Vegeta roared. "The brat and her brother escaped!"
Diamonique looked around the sky, and she too saw no sign of Tayla or Arlon. She turned on her scouter, but it did register any kis other than her ki and Vegeta's.
"We are among Frieza's best warriors!" Vegeta snarled. "How did a brat and her weakling brother outwit us?"
The Gemstarian warrior clenched her fists, with the diamond nails digging deep into her soft, firm peaches-and-ice flesh. Realization hit her, and it angered her. "They tricked us! They played us against each other! They wanted us to fight each other! That cursed brat and her brother outsmarted us!"
"I am the Prince of All Saiyans, the greatest warrior of my line and my people!" Vegeta growled. "And I allowed a brat to trick me! How could I have been so stupid?"
"And I am Lady Diamonique of the Diamondian tribe; niece of the King of Gemstar! I am one of the smartest and most beautiful of all the women in my tribe, and an Astorie brat and her brother outsmart me! We fell right into their trap! They escaped while we were fighting each other! Lord Frieza's going to have a conniption! I'm glad not to be within his vicinity at the moment!"
Vegeta didn't say so, but he agreed with her. He would never admit to it under slow torture, but even he did not like to set off Frieza's ire anymore than necessary. There would come a day when not even Frieza's wrath would be enough to save him from Vegeta, but that day was far away. Until then, Vegeta would have to tolerate Frieza's authority-and occasional abuse and insults.
"That brat won't outsmart me again!" Vegeta declared determinedly. "She and that weakling brother of hers couldn't have gone very far, even if Astorians are fast! I will have her yet!" Vegeta pushed past Diamonique and began to zoom away.
"Not if I don't beat you to her first," Diamonique insisted, but then she grew thoughtful. "Wait, Vegeta!" she called.
Vegeta grudgingly stopped and turned around. "What do you want now, woman?"
Diamonique smiled wickedly. "Perhaps we should look for her and capture her together."
"Forget it; I can find her myself!"
"Oh, c'mon, Vegeta!" Diamonique cooed. "That brat is too much for the two of us to handle alone. If you help me catch her, I'll spilt the reward with you!" She put a charming pout on her face, a trick that had worked with Vegeta several times before.
But it didn't work this time. Vegeta was through with his ex-lover, and he wanted the reward for Tayla to himself. He snorted contemptuously and said, "I need no one's help!" He sped away from her before she could speak another word. The Gemstarian warrior was furious.
"Monkey Princeling! Bastard! You will pay for that!" Diamonique screamed. "You'll be sorry, Princeling! Don't be surprised if I find the brat and keep the reward to myself! No one crosses or refuses me and gets away with it!"
Vegeta didn't hear her, and even if he had, it would have made no difference to him.
