Act Two, Chapter Ten
In the Midst of Catastrophe, an Unexpected Twist of Fate! Old Enemies, New… Allies?
The starfighters that surrounded the Dragonwing fired in succession, intending to totally destroy the vessel and eradicate everyone present inside. Fire began to eat the Ryuujin starship, and in the midst of all the heat and eye-stinging light, the female assassin let out a loud, maniacal laugh. "This is the fleet that's supposed to invade that mudball of a planet?" she sneered, her figure becoming a mere silhouette against the bright wall of flame that burned behind her back. "Pathetic!"
Despite what was going on, however, Ryuuki did not let her go. He was determined to hold on to her Guuuuq until his last breath, so that if he would die at the ship's explosion, he would be taking her with him. The Commander had an intense dislike towards infidels, and what Ten-Thirteen had just exhibited was enough to make him classify her as one.
Noticing that her adversary was too stubborn for his own good, she focused her attention on a medium-sized metal plate that lay unnoticed behind the Ryuujin's back and levitated it, aiming to strike the alien warrior and eventually, force him to let go of his hold on her. She struck – once, twice, thrice – and sent the Commander to the ground, underneath the said metal panel, but he did not flinch at all.
"No matterr what youu do," he told her as she used her mind to push the alien to the wall and pin him there, trying to choke him, "I will not rrelease youu. Kill me if that is what youu desirre, buut that will get youu nowherre. Any moment now, this vessel will be nothing, juust as we will be."
"Oh no, Commander. Vengeance is mine," she whispered with a voice barely above a whisper, anger surging through her at the other's words, before she exerted more force into what she was doing. She had made the decision that she was going to silence him for good. However, it was also at that moment when she lost her control over the pilots of the other starfighters – as it took much concentration to pull off that feat – and the ships were thrown off-course, slamming either into each other, or into the battered head of the fleet.
By reflex, her attention was transferred to her grip on the aliens' minds that was slipping out of her control, but she overdid it that her psychic hold on Ryuuki was released. Like a fierce jungle predator, the Commander lunged, sending both of them to the cold floor, but with her falling headfirst. Acting once again on reflex, she shifted her focus on her adversary and attempted to throw him off her, but to no avail.
It wasn't only because she was losing her concentration due to everything she was doing; Ryuuki had locked his iron claws into both her shoulders for anchorage, causing her intense pain that distracted her greatly. She focused on keeping him still instead, so he would not be able to do any more damage, but before she could even make that move, the other's sharp-edged tail had removed from its hiding place, snaked its way to her, and wrapped itself around her neck, robbing her of precious air.
Ten-Thirteen's vision began to blur, but at such a fast rate that she wondered what had gone wrong. All of a sudden, she no longer felt the alien's claws on her shoulder, only the pain that swallowed her whole. Damn! she thought with impotent fury as she slowly sunk back into the darkness. Ryuubuki poison! They got me again!
She was determined, however, not to let the aliens get away this time. If she was going down – and it seemed that she was indeed going that way – they would have to go down as well. And she was going to make sure of that.
With that thought in mind, she fought the darkness, climbing her way back to where she could see the light. She might not be able to fight Ryuuki and win, with the venom that was circulating in her body through her blood and with his control over her through the Guuuuq, but she knew she would be able to make him stay for a few more moments. A few more moments, Ten-Thirteen told herself with much determination, and this will all be over.
-x-
"Goten, get out of there, quick!"
The demi-saiyajin reached into the pocket of his trousers to pull out a coin-sized communicator as he tore through the corridors of the burning spacecraft. Activating it, he said, "I'm coming!" with a shout, as he was sure his voice would be drowned amidst the defiant hum of the vessel's engines and the deafening cackle of the metal-eating flames.
His heart pounded heavily as hurried to where their own ship was docked, for he knew that there wasn't much time left for anyone in the vessel, much more for themselves. Not only were they supposed to leave the Dragonwing before it would explode into pieces, they were supposed to get away far enough when that time would come.
He came to a halt, however, as soon as he saw the thin river of blood that trickled out the gap between the floor and the metal door. After a few precious heartbeats of debating whether he should check it out or not, he put his safety aside and decided to check out whatever it was. "Trunks," he called out through his communicating device, "if I don't make it there in three minutes, leave. All right?"
And then, he shut off the communicator, not even waiting for his friend's response.
Here goes nothing, he thought to himself, and taking a deep breath, he kicked the metal door open. It didn't take even a second for him to realize that he was in for a lot of trouble. The sight of an unconscious Kasumi, with a sinister-looking alien with a horrid tail and shiny claws on top of her, was enough to make the demi-saiyajin drop into a fighting stance.
Noticing that someone had decided to join in, Ryuuki rose, his eccentrically-shaped eyes fixed intently on the intruder. From a few good meters away, Goten could see the young woman's blood staining the alien's iron claws at a disturbing intensity – in fact it was disturbing enough to make him flinch uncomfortably. And the sight, for some reason, moved him drastically. Made anger burn inside of him like he had never felt before.
But he wondered why. The assassin was, after all, their enemy – and yet here he was feeling sorry for her. Feeling mad for what the alien had done to her. He knew he was simply a good-hearted young man, although he, too, knew that there was something else behind the feelings he couldn't fight.
"What have you done?" he breathed in a surprisingly calm tone, despite the fact that he was quivering in anger.
"It is none of youurr buusiness, intrruuderr," the Ryuujin snapped, holding up one of his hands to expose his bloodstained claws, as if threatening the demi-saiyajin that he would do the same if the other would do something drastic. "Now get ouut of my way beforre I strrike youu down like what I did to herr. I tell youu, youu will fall exactly like this pest did."
Their eyes met for a short while; Ryuuki's menacing orbs clashing against Goten's firm ones. Then, the demi-saiyajin stood up straight, letting his battle stance fall away, but not the stability of his posture. A challenging gleam shone through his raven eyes. "You want to move me? Come on and move me."
Those words hit the alien with much intimidation, and in response, he dove towards Goten, his claws and tail ready to dig themselves into the demi-saiyajin's flesh and dish ample damage. But he wasn't fast enough to catch the other warrior. His built-in weapons slowed him down considerably, enabling the quicker, more agile fighter to get out of the way of his attack in the blink of an eye.
But if there was a field the Ryuujin Commander excelled above all the other warriors, it was in the domain of flexibility. When the demi-saiyajin reappeared behind him, he swished his tail towards the young man's direction – and caught by surprise at the sudden move, Goten wasn't able to pull away in time. He stumbled back, clutching his chest, where the sharp tip of the alien's tail brushed against.
A ridiculing smile appeared on the other's unfamiliar features. "I warrned youu, intrruuderr," he sneered, his erratic-looking eyes twinkling mischievously. "Buut that is juust the beginning. Morre pain will come into the last few moments of youurr life. Worrrry not, howeverr; the pain will not last long. Death, afterr all, will suurrely follow."
"I highly doubt that."
Ryuuki froze – literally – at those words, for they did not come from the warrior he was facing; they came from the one who he had supposedly defeated. "I-Impossible," he stuttered as he felt movement from behind him, which was Kasumi pushing herself up and clutching one of her bleeding shoulders to support herself. "H-How couuld youu-"
Despite the discomfort she was feeling due to all the injuries she acquired in their battle and the poison that was taking a body trip through her bloodstream, her face remained firm, cold and unsympathetic, even if she was wobbling at where she stood. "Ever heard of immunity, Commander? I believe that's what it's called." She glanced at the young man who had arrived to aid her, and knowing that he was her only means of leaving the ship alive, she decided to join in the ride, even if she would have to do the pride-wounding task of asking his assistance.
The demi-saiyajin quickly understood the look she was projecting, even though she did not say a single word. Turning his attention back to their adversary and slipping back into a fighting stance, he announced, "And this, Commander, is what you call teamwork," before he jumped back into action.
As if reading each other's minds, they worked in remarkable synchronization. Focusing on nothing else but the alien invader, Kasumi flung the Ryuujin away from her and towards one of the ship's windows, and as soon as she did so, Goten reappeared a useful distance away from the other warrior and hurled a ki-blast at his direction. That gust of ki surely served its purpose; it cut Ryuuki's horrid-looking tail off.
The young man then launched another blast from where he was hovering, hitting the window and shattering it completely. The cloak of vacuum that enveloped the Dragonwing then began its own attack, pulling whatever it could get its hold on towards its dark, murky center. And nearest to the window, where the assault was originating, was the unfortunate alien Commander, Ryuuki.
By then, the demi-saiyajin was beside the assassin, protecting her from being dragged off into the dead realm of nothingness. However, she could not help but rebuke him for what he thought of doing. "Yes, this is what you call teamwork," she muttered under her breath, not letting the opportunity of intimidating others slip from her grasp. Her sapphire eyes narrowing considerably, she added with a frown, "I could've done better!"
"If you weren't injured, yes," Goten replied coolly, before he lifted her into his strong arms, careful not to hurt her any more than she already was. He then began to fight his way through the force that seemed to be pulling them out of the starfighter, determined to get back to where his friend was before the dreaded explosion would take place. "We gotta get out of here..."
"Allow me," was Kasumi's simple offer, putting two fingers to her forehead. The demi-saiyajin interrupted her from what she was about to do, but she insisted that she would still be able to do it despite her condition. Knowing that they only had a few precious seconds left, he gave in without arguing any further, and they teleported off, back into the Chikyuujin spacecraft Kismet that was about to leave the docking bay of the Dragonwing.
Upon arriving in the spacecraft, the demi-saiyajin elbowed the button that slammed the metal door shut, laid the young woman in the most comfortable place he could find, and urged the ship's pilot to take off as he rushed to the cockpit, taking his place in the co-pilot's seat. "Sorry I was late; I had to save someone," he apologized before he activated the rest of the controls.
Trunks did not take his eyes off the viewscreen, despite his friend's words that he was delayed because of his heroics. "Full throttle, Goten," the older demi-saiyajin commanded, his hands going from one controlling device to the other. "We gotta get out of here on the double, or else we're going to be cosmic dust."
A few heart-stopping seconds later, the Dragonwing exploded like a gigantic star.
-x-
Kasumi lay half-awake on one of the ship's bunks as the explosion rocked the Kismet back and forth like a metal object vibrating irregularly, not believing what she had just heard. She wanted to think that she did not hear the name right, but she knew with her keen sense of hearing she could not have been mistaken.
The man who saved her life was the man she wanted to kill.
Goten Son.
Anger then surged inside of her at that realization, anger that was actually directed towards herself. She was mad because she was stupid enough to enlist his help. She was mad because there was no other way to defeat Ryuuki at that time. She was mad because she knew that she could not defeat the Ryuujins alone, no matter how much she'd try. The Guuuuq would always be in the way.
But with two fighters and an oracle by her side, things would change to her advantage. She would be able to crush them for good. She would be able to make them pay for everything they did to her. But that gave her another reason to be mad, because she would have to ask the help of her other target's pesky friends to attain that. In fact, she had the feeling she would have to beg them to gain their faith in her.
Most of all, she was mad because her revenge for her Master's death would have to wait – and a long time, at that. She needed Goten Son, no matter how much she despised him. Thus, she could not kill him until the Ryuujins would be annihilated, and it would take more than a few hours to obliterate a race of their caliber.
She flinched as the older of the two demi-saiyajins burst into a shout of disbelief. "You what?!" Trunks' voice boomed from the cockpit, and it was hard to tell how he really felt from the way he spoke. The assassin, however, was sure that there was anger in him. "Goten, are you crazy?! You know that she's the woman who wanted to kill me – and you know that she almost did! Once she recovers, there's no telling what she's going to do!"
A smile appeared on the young woman's pale features at those words, amused at the reaction of the former CEO of Capsule Corporation. But a short while after, the smile she was wearing faded into a contemplative expression as she slipped back into her thoughts. Why did Goten save her? She was sure it wasn't her sex appeal, despite the fact that it had done wonders for her numerous times.
Why, indeed?
"Well, she did save my life," Goten told his purple-haired friend in an offhand fashion, as if he was your everyday knight in shining armor, and that he had been saving damsels in distress all of his life. His voice then took a proud tone, a grin breaking through his solemn features. "You should have seen us when we battled Ryuuki, Trunks. You should have seen her. She's a pretty good person to have at your side."
"Except when she wants to slide a knife or thrust a ki-sword through it," the other demi-saiyajin pointed out with a scowl. A short session of silence followed, then a heavy sigh from the pilot of the Chikyuujin starfighter. "Face it, Goten. We're doomed."