Chapter Sixty-One: Return of The Oozarus
Bendros was gathering together his ki to battle Reccoom when he saw a bright glowing ball in the afternoon sky. He suddenly felt very strange, sick to his stomach. The Sastorian heir to the title of Granden of Sahara fell to his knees, and to his horror, he saw fur quickly growing on his hands, and his nails were lengthening into claws. He shuddered with terror, for this incident had only happened to him once in his life when he had been on another planet on an Intergalacticpol assignment.
"No!" he gasped. "Not this again! Not now!"
His body expanded, muscles growing larger, and fur swiftly coating his flesh. He dropped his sword, as his clothes were ripped from his muscular, lean form. He could feel himself growing taller and taller until the trees resembled green plants, and his friends and enemies were the size of mushrooms.
And then he lost all conscious thoughts, for in this form, in his Oozaru form, Bendros had no control over his actions. Unlike full-blooded Saiyans on planet Vegeta, Bendros had never been trained to handle his Oozaru powers properly. All he could think about now was destroying everything in sight.
He stomped on the ground, and he began blasting mouth blasts at the Ginyu Force, not knowing if they were his actual enemies or not. There was another Oozaru stomping and roaring alongside him, someone whose ki he recognized vaguely as his Aunt Alora. Their pureblooded Astorian comrades had wisely flown away from the scene, leaving the Oozarus to tear up the landscape and attack the Ginyu Force.
Bendros-Oozaru scooped up a bouquet of green trees and began to throw them down like spears at the Ginyu Force, who had scattered in all directions. Alora-Oozaru was firing her mouth blasts at them, for she didn't have much more control over her Oozaru powers than Bendros had over his.
Bendros saw a little red man flying past him with flowing white hair, and the Oozaru future Granden thought that now would be a good time for a snack…
…."Captain! Help me, please!" Jeice screamed in terror, as Bendros-Oozaru snatched him in his apelike hand and began to bring him towards his giant mouth, decorated on the inside with fangs.
Captain Ginyu was panicked, and his other men were frantically shouting at him. "Guido, stop time!" he commanded.
But Guido was no use at all, for he was too terrified of the two giant monkeys chasing him and the others to stop long enough to hold his breath to make time stand still. Guido was hurrying away from them, trying to find a place to hide.
"Captain!" Reccoom cried. "What about Jeice? What about the giant monkeys? How do we stop them?"
"I don't know!" Ginyu wailed. "Jeice is on his own unless one of you fools wants to fight the monkeys!"
Baata trembled in fear, but he said. "Captain, I'll try my Blue Comet Attack!"
"Somebody, help me!" Jeice cried in terror, preparing to use his Red Comet Attack on
Bendros-Oozaru. He launched his attack on the Oozaru's mouth, and the blast made Bendros cry out in pain. He angrily flung Jeice away from him, and Jeice wasted no time in fleeing the ape-creature.
Baata was relieved somewhat. "Well, I'm glad I don't have to face him now!"
"Are you kidding, fool?" Ginyu declared. "We have to fight them!" He and the others shuddered, as they heard the angry roars of the Oozaru-Sastorians.
"How, Captain?" Guido cried, running circles around Ginyu.
Baata said shakily, "Captain, why don't you switch bodies with one of them?"
Captain Ginyu was hesitant. It sounded like a good plan, but he didn't want to get any closer to the giant monkeys than necessary. Plus, the thought of being in an Oozaru's body, even temporarily, repulsed Ginyu. It would ruin his reputation with the ladies as well, for who would want to go to bed with a giant ape, although "Big Horned Ape" was Eclipse's pet name for him…
"It's-it's impossible for me to switch bodies with Oozarus!" Ginyu lied to Baata. "My body-switching technique won't permit it! Guido, I said to stop time!"
But Guido was cowering in Reccoom's arms, like a baby, too scared to move. Reccoom himself was trembling. Finally he stammered, "Captain, what do we do now? I never fought against Oozarus before!"
The other members did not have time to reply, for Alora-Oozaru blasted mouth lasers at them, and they were forced to fly out of the way. Finally, when they had landed in a safe spot, Ginyu took an authoritative stance and said as bravely as possible for the true coward that he was. "Men, there is only one thing that we can do in this circumstance!"
"What's that, Captain?" everyone asked in unison.
"RETREAT! GINYU FORCE RETREAT AT ONCE!"
"Yes, Captain! At once!" all the Ginyu Force members cried. And within less time than it took for Ginyu to think up new poses, the men swiftly flew away from the cliff.
Gorna panted, "Well, at least the Ginyu Force will be one less thing to worry about!" The three Mantros Chloe siblings were hovering in the air, watching their Oozaru-Sastorian comrades stomp and roar and rip up the landscape on the cliff where the Astorians had ran into the Ginyu Force.
Cletos heaved a deep breath. "But what about Alora and Bendros? What do we do about them?"
Gracina gasped, "We're-we're going to have to cut off their tails somehow! What puzzles me is how can there be a moon at this time of day?"
Gorna choked out, "Calmag only has three moons, and none of them were supposed to be full until next week!"
"But then how did they become Oozarus?" Cletos asked worriedly. "Remember when we went to rescue Tayla five years ago? We still couldn't figure out to this day how Vegeta and his bunch became Oozarus without a full moon."
"Do you think that someone working for Frieza learned how to create artificial moonlight?" Gracina asked, as Alora and Bendros continued to roar and tear up the forest on the cliff.
Gorna and Cletos looked at Gracina for a long minute, and then they looked at each other. "It is a possibility," Gorna admitted slowly. Then she straightened up and said decisively, like the future ruler of Astoria that she was, "But no time to ponder that, we must cut off their tails. Be careful, both of you!"
"Right!" Cletos and Gracina cried, as they flew down, preparing to maim the Oozarus of their tails.
Balair was furious with Chestra for intervening with his plans to molest Petalia (big surprise), and he decided to teach her a lesson. But before he could do so, he noticed a giant Oozaru shooting mouth blasts at the frightened Calmagians, who were swiftly fleeing the city of Magan.
Balair recognized the armor, which had stretched to size along with the Oozaru.
"Vegeta is a moron!" Balair hissed angrily, forgetting that he was planning to beat up Chestra. "Him and that stupid Power Ball of his! Those giant monkeys will wind up killing us before they kill the Astorians and the Calmagians!"
Chestra didn't say a word; she was too much in awe and shock, as she watched the Oozaru, normally known as Raditz, crush a few Calmagian army tanks beneath his feet. He swatted away the missiles that the Calmagian soldiers were shooting at him, and in retaliation, he burned away that section of the Calmagian army with his mouth blast.
"What do we do now?" she murmured, more to herself than Balair. Any battle between them was indefinitely postponed, and they both knew it.
Balair growled; he would deal with Chestra later, but right now, the Oozarus were wreaking havoc. "What if those monkeys wind up killing Princess Tayla? Then Lord Frieza is going to nail all of us to the wall! I am reporting Vegeta to Lord Frieza when we return; I hope Lord Frieza skins him alive! Chestra, where in the hell are you going?" He noticed Chestra already flying away into the air.
"To find Jaden!" she cried aloud.
Balair then allowed himself to grin for a few moments, as he watched Raditz-Oozaru and the Saibamen terrorize the people of Magan. Maybe the monkeys would accidentally kill Jaden and save himself and Dodoria the trouble of doing so themselves.
Then he gnashed his sharp teeth angrily. No, Jaden would be too smart for that, and besides, he and Dodoria had already tried to set Oozarus on her before….
Tayla shook with fear, as she saw Vegeta-Oozaru stomping throughout the land, screaming for Tayla, and demanding that she come out and surrender to him at once. The four Astorians, three in Astorian form, and one in diamond form, were now hiding behind a small hill, watching and listening until they could find a way to ambush Vegeta-Oozaru and cut off his tail. They also saw Diamonique was keeping a careful distance from her former lover, while she was searching for Tayla.
Vegeta had already been in a bad enough mood before he used his Power Ball to turn himself and his comrades Oozaru. He had decided to change the plans and wait no longer to capture Tayla in his natural for.
"PRINCESS TAYLA, COME OUT AT ONCE! I WILL KEEP MYSELF AND EVERYONE ELSE OOZARU UNTIL YOU SURRENDER TO ME! IF YOU DON'T WISH TO SEE YOUR PEOPLE PERISH, BRAT, I SUGGEST THAT YOU SURRENDER NOW!"
Tayla sighed wearily and commented, "Here we go again! One of us is going to have to distract him long enough, so that someone else can cut off his tail. I could distract him for a bit while Arlon could cut off his tail…Arlon, what do you think? Arlon? Arlon?"
Silence. A deadly, quiet silence.
Tayla paled, for she felt Diamonique's ki very close by.
Slowly, she turned around, and she covered her mouth to keep from screaming.
For where there was once her nephew and brother, there were now two new diamond statues, two perfect diamond sculptures of Arlon and Riccan, who had now joined Lukan in their frozen states.
Diamonique emerged from behind the statue of Lukan, smiling a sweet, fatal smile. "Hello, Princess."
Tayla clenched her fists in fury. "Slutzinen! Whoricen!" (You slut! You whore!) Shalila and Gracina would have sharply rebuked her for that sort of language, if they had heard Tayla use it under normal circumstances, for slutzini and whorici were among the worst words that an Astorian could call a woman of any species. Neither one of the well-meaning ladies in Tayla's life knew that Tayla had picked up the naughty words from Alora, whose language was not as refined as that of her Clan of Chloe in-laws. While whorici meant simply "whore", slutzini translated literally, meant "slut who opens her legs for any man of any species".
Diamonique's beautiful face twisted with fury, for although she didn't know what whorici was, she knew well what slutzini was, for Vegeta, who was fluent in Chloe Astorian (elite-class Astorian language), had once called her a slutzini during one of their frequent arguments. And on top of that, he had smilingly told her what that meant, and it had been the one and only time that Diamonique had slapped his face. She hated Tayla at that moment for stirring up that memory alone.
"How dare you suggest that I open my legs for any man of any species, you tar-headed, muddy-eyed Astorie brat!" she hissed. "Gemstarian women of the Diamondian tribe such as myself have discriminating taste in men!"
"It couldn't be that discriminating, if you chose someone like Vegeta as a suitor," Tayla pointed out, carefully hiding her shock that Diamonique knew what slutzini was.
Diamonique was about to say something in anger, but then Tayla's words sank into her mind. Finally she said sweetly, allowing Tayla's previous insult to slide for now, "I have to agree with you on that one. Vegeta was hardly worth it. I don't understand how monkeys like him and rabbits like you manage to mate and mingle together. Honestly, I question the taste of Astorian women, for allowing Saiyan men to mate with them all those years ago. When I heard that, I was surprised, for I always thought that Saiyans and Astorians hated each other, and imagine-Saiyans and Astorians bedding each other…"
Tayla gnashed her perfect, pearly teeth in fury, for she now knew some of the ugly truth of what many Saiyan men had done to Astorian women during the years of Saiyan occupation on Astoria in her grandmother's time. She had listened on some of the conversations (without Shalila's knowledge at the time) between Shalila and some of Shalila's old friends and acquaintances, some of whom had been raped by Saiyans, or knew of those who had.
When she had turned eleven years old, she had finally asked Alora one day how many of those stories were true, and Alora admitted that was how most of the Sastorians came into existence. But Alora had also been careful to point out to Tayla that not all Saiyans were like that, and there had to be good full-blooded Saiyans, as well as evil. The normally inarticulate, plainspoken Alora had surprised Tayla that day with a wise speech that Tayla would remember for the rest of her life:
"All races have both good and evil people in them, Tayla, and no one is perfect, kid. Even Saiyans have their share of good people, as well as evil ones, although sometimes that can be hard to believe. After all, Bendros and I have Saiyan in our blood, and you love us and know that we're not evil. Not all Astorians are good, and not all Saiyans are wicked, kid; you have to judge people as individuals, not by what race they were descended from. An entire race cannot be hated for the bad people in them."
"I know that many of your family members believe that there the full-blooded Saiyans remaining alive can come to no good end, but people can and do change. If things had gone differently at that Summit at the Temple of Chloe many years ago, Saiyans and Astorians would have been living in peace with each other, and Saiyans and Astorians would have intermarried with each other by now. It is what my people of the Clan of Sahara had once hoped for. Tayla, don't let your family's prejudices become yours; think for yourself, decide for yourself about people, think independently, kid, think on your own…
"In most cases," she told Diamonique quietly, "it wasn't the choice of the women of my people. While not all of the Saiyans raped Astorian women, some of them under King Dayrus did. But enough history for today; I want you to leave-now." And Tayla stood up tall and proud for her short height.
Diamonique smiled cruelly. "Of course, but you're coming with me."
"No, I'm not," Tayla told her firmly.
Diamonique said in an icy-sweet voice that Tayla would later learn to hate for the rest of her life, "You either come with me, little girl, or I will tell Vegeta where you are, and I'll let him deal with you. Which would you rather go with, girl, me or a giant, hairy ape who would probably consider you a snack?"
"Neither," Tayla told her coldly.
"You don't have a choice, brat," Diamonique told her.
"You're wrong, Diamonique," Tayla told her coolly. "I always have a choice."
Or course, Tayla always had a choice, but not always enough time. For at that moment a tall, cold shadow blanketed both Tayla and Diamonique, the shadow of a giant primate. Tayla looked up in horror to see Vegeta's Oozaru form towering directly above her and Diamonique.
Vegeta-Oozaru grinned wickedly, his grin even scarier in ape form. "Well, well, brat, nice to see you again. Looks like Diamonique did something useful for a change, after all."
Tayla swallowed her terror and screams.
Journa-Oozaru was gleefully crushing the fine metal and glass buildings of Magan under her gorilla-like feet, ignoring the cuts on her soles. The Calmagian army had blasted her with giant lasers and shot her with missiles, but they only felt like sticks and stones to her. She rewarded them with flesh burning mouth blasts, which eliminated many Calmagian soldiers instantly.
But strangely enough, it would be a Calmagian who would prevent Journa-Oozaru from causing any damage in her primate form.
Journa-Oozaru suddenly felt herself shrinking back into her normal size and form, and as she shrank, her fury increased. Who had dared to cut off her tail?
When she had metamorphosed back into her normal form, she angrily turned around to see a cocky, arrogant Calmagian boy grinning and brandishing a laser gun, the laser gun that had sliced off her tail.
"You're going to die for that, weakling!" she roared at her assailant.
"Not today, I'm not!" the boy laughed triumphantly. "Do you know who you are dealing with, gorilla-girl? Neither you, nor your any of your other friends are going to take my fiancée away from me! She is mine, and I will marry her, even if she does not wish it right now!"
"And who in the hell is your fiancée, and why would we want to take her away! It'd be quicker to kill her," Journa told him evilly with her brother's smirk.
"You won't lay a hand upon her!" the Calmagian boy-soldier declared. "Because after I defeat you and the rest of your gorilla posse, she will want me back! I will marry her, and we will rebuild Calmag together after all of you are destroyed!"
Journa laughed. "Yeah right, boy! Now who is this fiancée of yours?"
The Calmagian laughed. "Why Tayla Chloe, of course!"
Bendros was gathering together his ki to battle Reccoom when he saw a bright glowing ball in the afternoon sky. He suddenly felt very strange, sick to his stomach. The Sastorian heir to the title of Granden of Sahara fell to his knees, and to his horror, he saw fur quickly growing on his hands, and his nails were lengthening into claws. He shuddered with terror, for this incident had only happened to him once in his life when he had been on another planet on an Intergalacticpol assignment.
"No!" he gasped. "Not this again! Not now!"
His body expanded, muscles growing larger, and fur swiftly coating his flesh. He dropped his sword, as his clothes were ripped from his muscular, lean form. He could feel himself growing taller and taller until the trees resembled green plants, and his friends and enemies were the size of mushrooms.
And then he lost all conscious thoughts, for in this form, in his Oozaru form, Bendros had no control over his actions. Unlike full-blooded Saiyans on planet Vegeta, Bendros had never been trained to handle his Oozaru powers properly. All he could think about now was destroying everything in sight.
He stomped on the ground, and he began blasting mouth blasts at the Ginyu Force, not knowing if they were his actual enemies or not. There was another Oozaru stomping and roaring alongside him, someone whose ki he recognized vaguely as his Aunt Alora. Their pureblooded Astorian comrades had wisely flown away from the scene, leaving the Oozarus to tear up the landscape and attack the Ginyu Force.
Bendros-Oozaru scooped up a bouquet of green trees and began to throw them down like spears at the Ginyu Force, who had scattered in all directions. Alora-Oozaru was firing her mouth blasts at them, for she didn't have much more control over her Oozaru powers than Bendros had over his.
Bendros saw a little red man flying past him with flowing white hair, and the Oozaru future Granden thought that now would be a good time for a snack…
…."Captain! Help me, please!" Jeice screamed in terror, as Bendros-Oozaru snatched him in his apelike hand and began to bring him towards his giant mouth, decorated on the inside with fangs.
Captain Ginyu was panicked, and his other men were frantically shouting at him. "Guido, stop time!" he commanded.
But Guido was no use at all, for he was too terrified of the two giant monkeys chasing him and the others to stop long enough to hold his breath to make time stand still. Guido was hurrying away from them, trying to find a place to hide.
"Captain!" Reccoom cried. "What about Jeice? What about the giant monkeys? How do we stop them?"
"I don't know!" Ginyu wailed. "Jeice is on his own unless one of you fools wants to fight the monkeys!"
Baata trembled in fear, but he said. "Captain, I'll try my Blue Comet Attack!"
"Somebody, help me!" Jeice cried in terror, preparing to use his Red Comet Attack on
Bendros-Oozaru. He launched his attack on the Oozaru's mouth, and the blast made Bendros cry out in pain. He angrily flung Jeice away from him, and Jeice wasted no time in fleeing the ape-creature.
Baata was relieved somewhat. "Well, I'm glad I don't have to face him now!"
"Are you kidding, fool?" Ginyu declared. "We have to fight them!" He and the others shuddered, as they heard the angry roars of the Oozaru-Sastorians.
"How, Captain?" Guido cried, running circles around Ginyu.
Baata said shakily, "Captain, why don't you switch bodies with one of them?"
Captain Ginyu was hesitant. It sounded like a good plan, but he didn't want to get any closer to the giant monkeys than necessary. Plus, the thought of being in an Oozaru's body, even temporarily, repulsed Ginyu. It would ruin his reputation with the ladies as well, for who would want to go to bed with a giant ape, although "Big Horned Ape" was Eclipse's pet name for him…
"It's-it's impossible for me to switch bodies with Oozarus!" Ginyu lied to Baata. "My body-switching technique won't permit it! Guido, I said to stop time!"
But Guido was cowering in Reccoom's arms, like a baby, too scared to move. Reccoom himself was trembling. Finally he stammered, "Captain, what do we do now? I never fought against Oozarus before!"
The other members did not have time to reply, for Alora-Oozaru blasted mouth lasers at them, and they were forced to fly out of the way. Finally, when they had landed in a safe spot, Ginyu took an authoritative stance and said as bravely as possible for the true coward that he was. "Men, there is only one thing that we can do in this circumstance!"
"What's that, Captain?" everyone asked in unison.
"RETREAT! GINYU FORCE RETREAT AT ONCE!"
"Yes, Captain! At once!" all the Ginyu Force members cried. And within less time than it took for Ginyu to think up new poses, the men swiftly flew away from the cliff.
Gorna panted, "Well, at least the Ginyu Force will be one less thing to worry about!" The three Mantros Chloe siblings were hovering in the air, watching their Oozaru-Sastorian comrades stomp and roar and rip up the landscape on the cliff where the Astorians had ran into the Ginyu Force.
Cletos heaved a deep breath. "But what about Alora and Bendros? What do we do about them?"
Gracina gasped, "We're-we're going to have to cut off their tails somehow! What puzzles me is how can there be a moon at this time of day?"
Gorna choked out, "Calmag only has three moons, and none of them were supposed to be full until next week!"
"But then how did they become Oozarus?" Cletos asked worriedly. "Remember when we went to rescue Tayla five years ago? We still couldn't figure out to this day how Vegeta and his bunch became Oozarus without a full moon."
"Do you think that someone working for Frieza learned how to create artificial moonlight?" Gracina asked, as Alora and Bendros continued to roar and tear up the forest on the cliff.
Gorna and Cletos looked at Gracina for a long minute, and then they looked at each other. "It is a possibility," Gorna admitted slowly. Then she straightened up and said decisively, like the future ruler of Astoria that she was, "But no time to ponder that, we must cut off their tails. Be careful, both of you!"
"Right!" Cletos and Gracina cried, as they flew down, preparing to maim the Oozarus of their tails.
Balair was furious with Chestra for intervening with his plans to molest Petalia (big surprise), and he decided to teach her a lesson. But before he could do so, he noticed a giant Oozaru shooting mouth blasts at the frightened Calmagians, who were swiftly fleeing the city of Magan.
Balair recognized the armor, which had stretched to size along with the Oozaru.
"Vegeta is a moron!" Balair hissed angrily, forgetting that he was planning to beat up Chestra. "Him and that stupid Power Ball of his! Those giant monkeys will wind up killing us before they kill the Astorians and the Calmagians!"
Chestra didn't say a word; she was too much in awe and shock, as she watched the Oozaru, normally known as Raditz, crush a few Calmagian army tanks beneath his feet. He swatted away the missiles that the Calmagian soldiers were shooting at him, and in retaliation, he burned away that section of the Calmagian army with his mouth blast.
"What do we do now?" she murmured, more to herself than Balair. Any battle between them was indefinitely postponed, and they both knew it.
Balair growled; he would deal with Chestra later, but right now, the Oozarus were wreaking havoc. "What if those monkeys wind up killing Princess Tayla? Then Lord Frieza is going to nail all of us to the wall! I am reporting Vegeta to Lord Frieza when we return; I hope Lord Frieza skins him alive! Chestra, where in the hell are you going?" He noticed Chestra already flying away into the air.
"To find Jaden!" she cried aloud.
Balair then allowed himself to grin for a few moments, as he watched Raditz-Oozaru and the Saibamen terrorize the people of Magan. Maybe the monkeys would accidentally kill Jaden and save himself and Dodoria the trouble of doing so themselves.
Then he gnashed his sharp teeth angrily. No, Jaden would be too smart for that, and besides, he and Dodoria had already tried to set Oozarus on her before….
Tayla shook with fear, as she saw Vegeta-Oozaru stomping throughout the land, screaming for Tayla, and demanding that she come out and surrender to him at once. The four Astorians, three in Astorian form, and one in diamond form, were now hiding behind a small hill, watching and listening until they could find a way to ambush Vegeta-Oozaru and cut off his tail. They also saw Diamonique was keeping a careful distance from her former lover, while she was searching for Tayla.
Vegeta had already been in a bad enough mood before he used his Power Ball to turn himself and his comrades Oozaru. He had decided to change the plans and wait no longer to capture Tayla in his natural for.
"PRINCESS TAYLA, COME OUT AT ONCE! I WILL KEEP MYSELF AND EVERYONE ELSE OOZARU UNTIL YOU SURRENDER TO ME! IF YOU DON'T WISH TO SEE YOUR PEOPLE PERISH, BRAT, I SUGGEST THAT YOU SURRENDER NOW!"
Tayla sighed wearily and commented, "Here we go again! One of us is going to have to distract him long enough, so that someone else can cut off his tail. I could distract him for a bit while Arlon could cut off his tail…Arlon, what do you think? Arlon? Arlon?"
Silence. A deadly, quiet silence.
Tayla paled, for she felt Diamonique's ki very close by.
Slowly, she turned around, and she covered her mouth to keep from screaming.
For where there was once her nephew and brother, there were now two new diamond statues, two perfect diamond sculptures of Arlon and Riccan, who had now joined Lukan in their frozen states.
Diamonique emerged from behind the statue of Lukan, smiling a sweet, fatal smile. "Hello, Princess."
Tayla clenched her fists in fury. "Slutzinen! Whoricen!" (You slut! You whore!) Shalila and Gracina would have sharply rebuked her for that sort of language, if they had heard Tayla use it under normal circumstances, for slutzini and whorici were among the worst words that an Astorian could call a woman of any species. Neither one of the well-meaning ladies in Tayla's life knew that Tayla had picked up the naughty words from Alora, whose language was not as refined as that of her Clan of Chloe in-laws. While whorici meant simply "whore", slutzini translated literally, meant "slut who opens her legs for any man of any species".
Diamonique's beautiful face twisted with fury, for although she didn't know what whorici was, she knew well what slutzini was, for Vegeta, who was fluent in Chloe Astorian (elite-class Astorian language), had once called her a slutzini during one of their frequent arguments. And on top of that, he had smilingly told her what that meant, and it had been the one and only time that Diamonique had slapped his face. She hated Tayla at that moment for stirring up that memory alone.
"How dare you suggest that I open my legs for any man of any species, you tar-headed, muddy-eyed Astorie brat!" she hissed. "Gemstarian women of the Diamondian tribe such as myself have discriminating taste in men!"
"It couldn't be that discriminating, if you chose someone like Vegeta as a suitor," Tayla pointed out, carefully hiding her shock that Diamonique knew what slutzini was.
Diamonique was about to say something in anger, but then Tayla's words sank into her mind. Finally she said sweetly, allowing Tayla's previous insult to slide for now, "I have to agree with you on that one. Vegeta was hardly worth it. I don't understand how monkeys like him and rabbits like you manage to mate and mingle together. Honestly, I question the taste of Astorian women, for allowing Saiyan men to mate with them all those years ago. When I heard that, I was surprised, for I always thought that Saiyans and Astorians hated each other, and imagine-Saiyans and Astorians bedding each other…"
Tayla gnashed her perfect, pearly teeth in fury, for she now knew some of the ugly truth of what many Saiyan men had done to Astorian women during the years of Saiyan occupation on Astoria in her grandmother's time. She had listened on some of the conversations (without Shalila's knowledge at the time) between Shalila and some of Shalila's old friends and acquaintances, some of whom had been raped by Saiyans, or knew of those who had.
When she had turned eleven years old, she had finally asked Alora one day how many of those stories were true, and Alora admitted that was how most of the Sastorians came into existence. But Alora had also been careful to point out to Tayla that not all Saiyans were like that, and there had to be good full-blooded Saiyans, as well as evil. The normally inarticulate, plainspoken Alora had surprised Tayla that day with a wise speech that Tayla would remember for the rest of her life:
"All races have both good and evil people in them, Tayla, and no one is perfect, kid. Even Saiyans have their share of good people, as well as evil ones, although sometimes that can be hard to believe. After all, Bendros and I have Saiyan in our blood, and you love us and know that we're not evil. Not all Astorians are good, and not all Saiyans are wicked, kid; you have to judge people as individuals, not by what race they were descended from. An entire race cannot be hated for the bad people in them."
"I know that many of your family members believe that there the full-blooded Saiyans remaining alive can come to no good end, but people can and do change. If things had gone differently at that Summit at the Temple of Chloe many years ago, Saiyans and Astorians would have been living in peace with each other, and Saiyans and Astorians would have intermarried with each other by now. It is what my people of the Clan of Sahara had once hoped for. Tayla, don't let your family's prejudices become yours; think for yourself, decide for yourself about people, think independently, kid, think on your own…
"In most cases," she told Diamonique quietly, "it wasn't the choice of the women of my people. While not all of the Saiyans raped Astorian women, some of them under King Dayrus did. But enough history for today; I want you to leave-now." And Tayla stood up tall and proud for her short height.
Diamonique smiled cruelly. "Of course, but you're coming with me."
"No, I'm not," Tayla told her firmly.
Diamonique said in an icy-sweet voice that Tayla would later learn to hate for the rest of her life, "You either come with me, little girl, or I will tell Vegeta where you are, and I'll let him deal with you. Which would you rather go with, girl, me or a giant, hairy ape who would probably consider you a snack?"
"Neither," Tayla told her coldly.
"You don't have a choice, brat," Diamonique told her.
"You're wrong, Diamonique," Tayla told her coolly. "I always have a choice."
Or course, Tayla always had a choice, but not always enough time. For at that moment a tall, cold shadow blanketed both Tayla and Diamonique, the shadow of a giant primate. Tayla looked up in horror to see Vegeta's Oozaru form towering directly above her and Diamonique.
Vegeta-Oozaru grinned wickedly, his grin even scarier in ape form. "Well, well, brat, nice to see you again. Looks like Diamonique did something useful for a change, after all."
Tayla swallowed her terror and screams.
Journa-Oozaru was gleefully crushing the fine metal and glass buildings of Magan under her gorilla-like feet, ignoring the cuts on her soles. The Calmagian army had blasted her with giant lasers and shot her with missiles, but they only felt like sticks and stones to her. She rewarded them with flesh burning mouth blasts, which eliminated many Calmagian soldiers instantly.
But strangely enough, it would be a Calmagian who would prevent Journa-Oozaru from causing any damage in her primate form.
Journa-Oozaru suddenly felt herself shrinking back into her normal size and form, and as she shrank, her fury increased. Who had dared to cut off her tail?
When she had metamorphosed back into her normal form, she angrily turned around to see a cocky, arrogant Calmagian boy grinning and brandishing a laser gun, the laser gun that had sliced off her tail.
"You're going to die for that, weakling!" she roared at her assailant.
"Not today, I'm not!" the boy laughed triumphantly. "Do you know who you are dealing with, gorilla-girl? Neither you, nor your any of your other friends are going to take my fiancée away from me! She is mine, and I will marry her, even if she does not wish it right now!"
"And who in the hell is your fiancée, and why would we want to take her away! It'd be quicker to kill her," Journa told him evilly with her brother's smirk.
"You won't lay a hand upon her!" the Calmagian boy-soldier declared. "Because after I defeat you and the rest of your gorilla posse, she will want me back! I will marry her, and we will rebuild Calmag together after all of you are destroyed!"
Journa laughed. "Yeah right, boy! Now who is this fiancée of yours?"
The Calmagian laughed. "Why Tayla Chloe, of course!"
