Chapter Sixty-Nine: Despair and Discovery

A/N: Thanks to those of you have stuck with this extremely long story.! I hope you all think that it's been worth my effort so far. I will try to get another chapter of Chestra within the next week; right now I am sort of on a writer's block with that one, but I'm working on it. This story seems to be writing itself, and even I don't always know what will happen next every time I sit down to write a new chapter or continue an incomplete one. My characters have come to surprise me.
In this chapter, Alora gains an unwanted fan, the battle between Tayla and Vegeta slowly begins to take a turn for the worst--for Tayla, and Bendros meets a new member of his family, but not one that he would want to take home to his mother...

Anyway, enough rambling. On with the story!


Gorna, Gracina, Cletos, and Alora slowly emerged from the labyrinths under the city of Magan where they had been taking shelter in until the snow and hail had passed away. Alora had been the first to leave one of the entrances to the labyrinth (this entrance being a city manhole), and when she had entered the outside world again, she noticed that it was bright and sunny outside. She almost had to dodge a giant icicle that collapsed from a tall skyscraper, but she had been able to shatter it with a ki blast.

The sunlight was blinding, and as soon as Alora was able to adjust her vision again, the Sastorian warrior noticed Bendros-Oozaru fifty miles away, along with some powerful ki blasts that had the equivalent power of air missiles. Alora shielded her eyes when she saw two bright, large ki flashes collide together. She could feel many ki signatures, particularly those of Tayla and---a Saiyan's?

"Who is Tayla fighting?" Alora wondered aloud, as she heard Bendros-Oozaru growl from the distance.

"Somebody, help me, please!" a boyish voice shouted from a shorter distance.

Alora swiftly turned around, sword in hand, and she noticed a small ki coming from an aircar. She then heard a loud banging in the trunk, as several little green plantlike monsters were jumping and pounding on the vehicle.

"What the hell are those things?" Alora wanted to know, as one of the green creatures charged at her. The other two leaped off of the aircar in hot pursuit, but Alora held her sword out. She swung it at them like a boomerang (a new trick that she had developed), and the sword in its boomerang position, spun in the air like the blades of a helicopter, and while flying, it beheaded all three of the freakish attackers. The sword swung back to her, with Alora neatly capturing the hilt in her hand. The three heads of the green men fell to the ground, with three sickening plops.

Alora then fired a small ki blast at the keyhole of the trunk of the aircar, and it opened on contact. A naked young man scurried out of the trunk, and he screamed when he saw Alora's swishing tail.

"Don't hurt me, please!" the boy cried aloud. "You Saiyans have already put me through enough!"

Alora sighed, "I'm not going to hurt you, boy, and I am only one-eighth Saiyan, seven-eighths Astorian. Who in Kami Orchida's name are you?"

"Dollan," the boy rasped. "Oh, I hope that you are not on the enemies' side!"
She scoffed. "I don't work for Frieza."

Dollan then threw himself at her, kissing her battered, torn boots.

"You're my hero!" he exclaimed. "And you are so beautiful, even with a Saiyan tail! Thank you, thank you, and thank you! I am Dollan Rubenstein, and a horrible, yet beautiful woman with blue and silver hair and deadly poisonous nails kidnapped me and nearly raped me! I didn't think it was possible until now for a woman to rape a man! I am so thankful to be alive; I was afraid that the Saiyans and her were going to kill me! The Saiyans made me drive them into Magan, and may Kami Ankor forgive me for that someday! Thank you again, thank you, and thank you!" And with those words, Dollan once again kissed Alora's slender feet.

"Alright, already, you're welcome, now stop kissing my feet!" Alora snapped. "I have a battle to continue, and you have to go!"

"Please take me with you!" Dollan begged her, for he had fallen in love with this odd warrior woman on sight. He had never met a woman like her in his life, and he was instantly smitten, even though she was obviously the opposite of Calmagian ideas of what a woman should be. Dollan threw his arms around her waist; he was a short man compared to Alora's great height. He already loved her long, swishy onyx hair and ebony eyes and her rather muscular build. And her tail was beautiful, long and soft in appearance, even if it was a Saiyan's tail.
"I am forever in your debt!" he gushed, like a lovesick schoolboy, as he made puppy-dog eyes at her. Alora sighed, recognizing immediately the boy's crush on her; he reminded her of her younger nephews. "I feel as if I am falling in love with you already! When this battle is over, will you consider allowing me to court you?"

Alora groaned; what in the East Kai's name had she been thinking when she had popped open that trunk lid? She sighed, as Dollan continued to cling to her, and his fingers accidentally brushed against her tail, which she had now wrapped around her slim waist.

"You have a soft tail, the softest, furriest thing that I have ever touched," he sighed, infatuated with her. He then gently tugged at a lock of Alora's long, obsidian hair. "Your hair is just as soft as your tail!"

Alora growled at her potential suitor, "Do not touch my tail or my hair, or I'll pop you back into that trunk! You are in my way, now go hide somewhere, will you?"

"I can't!" Dollan cried. "The Saiyans and that horrible blue-haired woman could find me at anytime! Please take me with you, and I will help you! I promise not to be a pest!" He clung to her tighter then.

Alora moaned; her favorite puppy back home on Chloe acted with more dignity than this besotted schoolboy. "Very well, but do not get in my way or the ways of my comrades!"

"I will help you!" Dollan cried out happily. "And you will see that I will make you the perfect husband! You'll never find a man or boy more devoted to you, I swear by Kami Ankor's name!"

Alora growled deep in her throat. She was going to have to find some place to stash this troublesome lad, if not back in the trunk of the car. She told Dollan evenly, "I am already married with a daughter, so I'm afraid that you can't be my husband."

"If he dies, or is already dead, then will you consider being my wife?" Dollan asked tactlessly.

Alora began to count to one hundred in order to control her famous temper, just as Gorna,
Gracina, and Cletos joined her and her "groupie". Gracina and Gorna raised their eyebrows when they saw a naked, young man clinging to Alora's waist.

Gorna, as almost always, was the first to speak. "Alora Sahara-Chloe! Who is that disreputable nude boy that is holding onto you? Have you encouraged him?"

"Of course not!" Alora snarled, wishing fervently that she had left Dollan in the trunk of the car. "I rescued him from a bunch of little green monsters, and then I opened the trunk where he had been stashed at."

"I am falling in love with her," Dollan burbled. "She saved my life, and I will be forever grateful to her! If her husband is dead, or does die, I will marry her!"

"Are you sane, lad?" Cletos asked him, wondering why a naked boy was holding onto Alora for dear life.

"Not really," Dollan admitted proudly. "I am intoxicated!"

"You are drunk?" Gorna asked sharply. "Well, that would certainly explain your atrocious behavior! You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Alcohol is the root of much evil, causing-"

"Please, Gorna, not now," Gracina interrupted quickly, as she tried not to look at Dollan's naked body. Not that Dollan was much to look at, from the three women's opinions.

"I am not intoxicated with wine or beer; I am intoxicated with love! I am high and drunk on this beauty here who saved my life!" Dollan hugged Alora tighter, and Alora wore a pained expression on her face.

"Somebody please get him off of me!" she groaned, trying to pry Dollan off of her body.

"Lad, release her now," Cletos ordered him sternly.

Dollan reluctantly did so, and a relieved Alora stepped as far away from him as she could get. Dollan looked at her, more stricken with love than ever.

"What do we do with him?" Gracina asked.

"I vote that we stick him back in the trunk," Alora quipped.

"I wouldn't mind that, as long as you are with me, my love!" Dollan enthused.

"We'll have to take the boy with us," Cletos sighed. He then took another look at Dollan. "As soon as we find him some clothes."

"I am clothed only in love-love for what was her name-Alora?" Dollan cried happily. "She is so wonderful, don't you all think?"

Gracina whispered to Cletos, "Let's just hope he doesn't act like this if we find Bajal; Bajal will kill him."

Gorna said curtly to Dollan, "Young man, Alora is a married woman, married to my brother. My brother happens to be one of our most powerful fighters, and he won't hesitate to wring your neck, if he thinks that you would make an advance on his wife. I would advise you to restrain your tongue about your infatuation with my sister-in-law."

Cletos asked Dollan, "What is your name, young man?"

Dollan told him, and then Cletos saw a men's clothing shop, a ravaged building behind them.

"Wait here, Dollan," he told him, as he climbed through the window of the empty shop. Within minutes, he had procured a simple shirt and trousers for Dollan, a size too large, but they would work.

Dollan hurried into the clothes, and he asked the Astorians, "I have heard that you can fly, is that true?"

"Yes, Dollan," Cletos replied.

"Good!" Dollan cried happily. "Then my Alora can carry me with you all!"

Alora's face was clothed in horror at this thought. Cletos rescued her. "No, young man, I will carry you."

Dollan was disappointed, but he agreed reluctantly to allow Cletos to carry him away. The Astorians shot off from the ground like rockets, and they soared into the sunny, clear sky.





"BLITZER!"

"FINAL FLASH!"

The two powerful attacks from both Tayla and Vegeta collided into each other, causing a whitish-blue, blinding explosion of light that blinded all of the occupants on the ground. Because the attacks were of equal power, neither attack was able to reach the caster's opponent. Their ki attack levels were nearly equal, if their brute strength wasn't.

The battle between the Prince of the Saiyans and one of the youngest Princesses of Chloe was a fierce, brutal one. Tayla had lost her sword during one of Vegeta's Galic Gun attacks on her, and she had not had time to look for it. She had also managed to crack several of Vegeta's ribs with her small fists, but Vegeta had unfortunately succeeded in cracking her lower jawbone, when his fist had crashed into her chin. It hurt Tayla to move her lower jaw for more than a few seconds, so she tried to refrain from talking too much. She had quickly fought back after that, landing a hard punch on Vegeta's chest, sending him colliding into a cliff.

When had he pulled himself out of the chalky white cliff (the type of cliff commonly found on Calmag) Vegeta had retaliated by slamming his hard fist into Tayla's button nose, bruising it and causing it to spurt indigo blood. The life-giving substance had dribbled down on Tayla's chin and onto her already torn and soiled uniform. Tayla had swiftly wiped her face with the back of her grimy hand, and then she landed a swift kick near Vegeta's Adam's apple, fracturing his collarbone.

Now the two royal children had drawn back from each other and switched to ki blasts. Vegeta flew further away from his feisty opponent, and he raised his hand in a Big Bang ninety-degree angle position. He was going to defeat this stubborn brat once and for all.
Tayla was more than ready for him, as Vegeta shouted, "BIG BANG!" The planet-shattering attack (can't say earth shattering, of course) flew at Tayla faster than lightening, and it would have disabled her for the rest of the battle, if she had not deflected back at him with a Mirror Shield attack.

Vegeta easily ducked when his own attack backfired on him, and the giant ball of glowing yellow light seared over his head and into a cliff, crashing into it, causing it to explode with the power of a nuclear bomb going off. The entire cliff and the wilderness covering it was completely decimated, as trees, debris, rocks and white chalk flew everywhere around Vegeta and Tayla. Both warriors covered their eyes with their arms, as the blinding dust and dirt and rubble pelted their injured, but stable bodies.

That brat could have killed me with my own attack, Vegeta thought in amazement. I have greatly improved, but so has she. What can I do to bring her to her knees?

Tayla panted in great, heaving breaths, as the dust and debris slowly began to settle. Her snarled, ebony hair was coated with white chalk and brown dust, along with her face and much of her body. She looked as if she had been rolling around in both flour and dirt. She thought to herself, He's not going to give up until he captures me or kills me, and from what it looks like, he'll kill me first. I am as fast as he is, but he is so much stronger. The only reasons that I can keep up with him are my speed and my ki attacks, and Dirkan has always said that it takes more than brute strength to win a battle. I really wish that I could find my sword, and then I could just cut off Vegeta's head or something. But the last time that I tried to do that, Vegeta kicked me in my stomach hard. If I am going to kill him that way, I have to catch him off guard, not to mention finding my sword, and throwing him off guard hasn't been easy to do. He's good, very good, and almost impossible to beat. He's much stronger than before; he sure hasn't been slacking off. Well, at least he can't turn Oozaru right now.

Fortunately for her, she saw a flash of shining metal sticking out of a pile of mud. Tayla swiftly flew away from Vegeta, and when she came within close range of the metal object, she cried with delight when she discovered that it was her sword. She quickly yanked it out of the mud pile, squealing in childish delight at finding her favorite weapon. It was a newer sword, with a hilt made out of dark green jade carved in a pole, with morning glory vines climbing around it.

Vegeta caught up with his prey quickly. He hovered above her, smiling evilly. Tayla looked up at him, with her sword poised, as Vegeta's smile hardened into a grin. He reached into his belt, and cursed, for he had dropped both his collaring and cuffing guns during his battle with Tayla. But he had other ways he could restrain the girl. He quickly put his middle and index finger together, as he pointed them at her. Before Tayla could react, Vegeta shot out five small yellow lasers concurrently at her, and the miniscule lasers hit both of her wrists, both of her ankles, and her slender, long neck. She could not prevent herself from being thrown into the snowy wall of a nearby cliff. She was about to throw herself back, but the lasers had already encircled her wrists, her ankles, and her neck, and they were hardening into-cuffs?

Tayla was now pinned in a spread-eagle position to the cliff, with her ankles, wrists and neck were bound to the cliff wall. She struggled against the unexpected restraints, but it was in vain. She could not even move her head, for the cuff holding her neck was secure.

"Let me go!" Tayla screamed in rage. "This isn't fair, Vegeta!" She was aware that she sounded just like Riccan and his younger siblings when they weren't given their way, but she couldn't help it. She was scared and furious at the same time.

Vegeta chuckled softly, as he levitated towards his captive. He smiled into her frustrated face and purred, "All's fair in war, and you should know by now, little Tayla, that I don't ever give up until I get what I want. I am the Prince of all Saiyans, after all." He lifted her pointed chin with his the tips of his finger, and he chuckled further, amused by the look of helpless fury on her face, the in-between face of an adolescent girl, no longer childlike, but not completely womanly yet either.

He whispered silkily, "How do you like your new jewelry, Princess?"





Bendros-Oozaru had put up a near-successful battle with Raditz and Journa, and at first the two Saiyan lovers couldn't faze him, even though they used their strongest ki attacks against the Oozaru further Granden of Sahara. Shalila, Dirkan had managed to get Rojal, Dedron, and Petalia to safety, leaving the battle between Bendros-Oozaru and Raditz and Journa.

Bendros-Oozaru roared in heated fury when he saw Vegeta pin Tayla to the cliff with his attack involving restraining cuffs. He growled loudly when he saw Tayla struggle against the restraints helplessly, while Vegeta looked on and taunted her. He saw Tayla spit in Vegeta's face, and then Vegeta slapped her hard for her efforts. However, Tayla did manage to bite one of Vegeta's fingers before he could pull his hand back away from her heart-shaped face. Vegeta hissed in fury.

Bendros-Oozaru was infuriated when he had seen Vegeta hit Tayla's face, and he was so angered by it that he abandoned his battle with Raditz and Journa temporarily to go over to Vegeta to stop him from terrorizing Tayla any further. But before Bendros-Oozaru could do so, he felt himself begin to shrink rapidly, and the fur covering his limbs melted into ordinary flesh.

What was happening? Why was he shrinking? He had finally learned to control himself in Oozaru form, and he had been able to distinguish friend from foe. He had been in complete mastery of his Oozaru abilities; his people and mother would be proud, even though it was against Astorian law for him to put them to further use. Bendros had always followed and respected the law that forbade Sastorians from turning Oozaru; he understood it was for safety reasons, although he had always wondered if there was a safe method of being in Oozaru form. At least, he had been able to gain control of himself before he had devoured Tayla; he would have never forgiven himself, if he had eaten the funny, irrepressible little girl that he knew bore a huge crush on him yet.

But now he was shrinking back into his normal form, and he would be of less help to Tayla and her family than before. Curses, by all the Kais and Kamis, who had done this to him?

He soon found out when he had retransformed back into his natural form, and he felt the ki of the Saiyan girl that he now knew was named Journa. He hastily turned around and saw Journa holding Rojal's bloody sword. Raditz was standing next to him, grinning wildly.

"Any last words, half-breed?" Journa wanted to know. She decided that she was going to finish off the troublesome mixed-breed boy with a Four Finger Flash.

"Hey wait, Journ," Raditz told his mate. "He seems like a strong warrior, and he does have Saiyan blood in him. Hey, demi-Saiyan, what's your name?"

"Why?" Bendros asked edgily. He was now nude, but he paid no mind to it; there were more important things than clothes to worry about.

"Oh, just curious," Raditz replied smoothly. "You are essentially one of us, even with your Astorian blood. Why not fight with your own kind instead of the Astorie weaklings?"

"They're not weaklings!" Bendros hissed. "They're my friends and family! I am to rule the Astorian Clan of Sahara someday when my mother passes on! I am with my own kind!"

"Wait!" Raditz cried, forgetting Bendros' tirade for now. "You said that you are to rule the Clan of Sahara someday? Are you descended from the Sastorian girl known as Aliquina?"

"I don't have time to give my family history," Bendros snapped. "Tayla needs me, so farewell." He flew into the air, but Raditz blocked his path, and Journa swiftly Bendros by his hair. She kicked him hard in his kidney region, and Bendros was in too much pain then to fight for a few moments. Journa seized him by his neck with her arm, and she began to strangle him, just enough to subdue him.

"Answer my mate's question," Journa ordered sternly.

Bendros growled, "If you must know, yes, my great-grandmother's name was Aliquina."

"Did this Aliquina have a previous mate before your grandfather, a Saiyan named Arcan?" Raditz demanded to know.

"Yes, yes," Bendros grumbled (did Journa really have to hold his neck so hard?). "What in Kami Orchida's name is this? Trivia hour?"

Raditz grinned slowly then. "And is your mother named Mauria or Alora Sahara?"

Bendros wasn't going to answer any more questions, but another kick from Journa changed his mind. "Answer his questions, or we'll see that my brother hurts Tayla much more than already has. That slap in her face is nothing compared to what he could do to damage her."

Bendros snarled, "My mother is Mauria, Gran Mauria alright! Now let me go! I have no wish to play with either one of you!"

Journa's smile matched Raditz's just then. She patted Bendros' back companionably, almost lovingly, as she purred, "Well, Raditz, we found a member of your family. Meet your cousin." She released her stranglehold on Bendros.

Raditz laughed. "Well, hello cousin. We are both descended from Arcan; when Arcan returned home to planet Vegeta, he married a little thing named Bitra, who is my grandmother. My father's name was Bardock, and I have a little brother named Kakarot who's currently living on some tiny blue planet that he should have cleared by now. Hell, we're second cousins, isn't that something? You may have Astorie blood in you, but you're strong. What about joining our side and leaving these weaklings behind?"

"Never!" Bendros roared. "I will never work for Frieza!"

"Who said anything about Frieza?" Journa asked richly. "You're just be working for my brother, who happens to be Prince, technically the King of all the Saiyans. You are actually subject to him now, whether you acknowledge it or not."

"I am subject to no one except for my mother and Superior Gran Shalila and Superior Granden Dirkan!"

"Not if Vegeta has his way, you won't be," Journa declared.

"Are you with us or against us?" Raditz demanded to know.

"I think that you know the answer to that," Bendros told him calmly. "I am sorry to see a relative of mine work for a monster like Frieza and a bastard like Vegeta."

"Don't insult my brother!" Journa screamed.

Raditz purred then, "Calm yourself, mate; I think we can make him join us."

"Not a chance that will happen!" Bendros yelled, as he flew away quickly from Journa and Raditz, who took after him in hot pursuit.