--- The Phoenix Chronicles ---
Chapter 09 - The Final Straw
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"Geez, King Vegeta wasn't kidding when he said it wouldn't be hard..."
That was an understatement if ever he'd heard one. The team had finally arrived on Hunaiya-Sei, prepared for anything that may come about. Well, they thought they were, but they never prepared for this. From what they saw, the planet was in ruins, and looked like it had been that way for some time.
"I don't get it. Why would the king send us to a planet like this?" One of the men asked.
Taking up his role as commander, Kaen spoke over the top of them to make himself heard, "Look guys, I don't know what's going on, but I don't like it, so stay alert, and keep watch for any potential trouble. Now move out."
The team moved carefully through the rubble, watching every dark corner to see if there were any survivors of what appeared to be a great battle, but every time there was nothing, and nobody. In the quiet that reigned over the planet, he could hear the whispers of the group. "It almost looks like someone beat us to it..."
His eyes widened in panic, and he shouted, "Shit! It's a trap! We've been set up! Everyone, back to the ships!"
It was too late, as before they could get more than five feet, fifty-odd power signatures flared to life on their scouters, surrounding them, and cutting off their escape. One of them, the leader if the markings on his armour were correct, walked forward to address them. "I must say young Saiyan, I'm impressed you worked it out, even if it was too late to do anything about it."
Kaen growled in response, "Who was it? I assume you're here for us, so who wanted us dead?"
The man simply chuckled, saying, "I could tell you, but why waste the breath, when you won't live long enough to think it over."
He simply fell into stance, his team following suit, and without looking back he shouted, "Alright boys, if it's our time to die, let's go out in true Saiyan fashion! Let's give 'em hell, and take as many of these bastards with us as we can!" And with that, the fight was on.
It was a massacre. For hours the two teams had fought, the Saiyans severely outnumbered, yet not backing down an inch. Dead bodies lay strewn across the planet's surface, some whole, some in pieces, and some vaporised completely. The underdog Saiyan team had put up a grand fight - of the fifty attackers, only three remained - but it was not enough. And as the last of the elder Saiyans fell, protecting his commanding officer from a blast, the young warrior was left to face them alone, his power reserves dangerously low.
"And then there was one," the enemy commander taunted, as he lowered his arm. There was no doubt the man was tough; he had personally killed three of the nine now deceased Saiyans. And if Kaen couldn't stop him, that number would rise to four before the day was out.
The young Saiyan struggled to catch his breath as the remaining three turned to face him, and after a moment of staring each other down, the leader spoke again, "I must say you monkeys surprised me. We were faster, stronger, had more numbers, and yet you still managed to kill ninety-four percent of the team. In the end, however, it's not enough. No matter what you do monkey, we will always be better than you. Our victory was assured from the moment you stepped foot on this planet."
The man smirked, a smirk filled with superiority, before continuing, "I'll admit I was a little worried when you monkeys turned up late. I thought maybe you'd figured it out and fled. After all, we got a little bored of waiting and decided to have some fun, and I was a little concerned you'd seen the damage and gone home. But I guess I gave you monkeys too much credit."
Panting heavily from exhaustion, Kaen stood on shaky legs, his right hand glowing with white light, as he growled out, "I'm not done yet shit-eater!"
His ego blinding him, the man smirked again, mistaking Kaen's plan for something else, and saying, "You think I'm worried? I've heard about your monkey fake moon technique. I assure you you'll be dead before you've finished transforming, but you're welcome to try."
With a feral smirk, and laughing in his head about the man's stupidity, he simply panted, "Thanks," before concentrating on his attack. He'd been working on this technique for a while now, but had never used it before, so he just hoped it worked... With a cry of "Balefire Disk!" he launched it, throwing his right arm, up to this point beside him, up into the air, the white ki shaping into a large, razor-sharp disk of ki, flying vertically through the air towards the remaining men.
However, in his exhaustion, his aim was off, so instead of slicing through the leader, his target, it hit the man to his left, cutting him clean in half down the centre, and flying off into the air. Kaen fell to his knees, the energy he used to stand being used instead to redirect the disk and bring it back this way, but donning the face of a man defeated.
As he watched the bisected man fall, the two halves of his face forever frozen in shock, the leader couldn't help but laugh. "Nice trick kid. You monkeys just keep surprising me. Still, it wasn't enough, and I don't think you've got another one of those in you."
The urge to smirk proved too great to resist as Kaen panted out, "What makes you think that one's finished?"
With a look of horror on his face, the man turned back, seeing the white disk of ki baring down on him, the time to dodge already passed. However, before it could hit, the last soldier, thinking quickly, tried to tackle him out of the way, having his head and left arm diced off diagonally for his troubles.
He did, however, save his commander's life, the disk's not striking a fatal wound, but it didn't miss either. The white-hot disk sliced cleanly through his shoulder, severing his right arm completely, the now useless appendage just falling to the ground. The shock never left the now alone commanders face; the disk sliced through painlessly, despite forever robbing him of his natural right arm.
All too soon, however, the shock became replaced by pure rage, and he rounded on the young warrior, finding him smirking at his handiwork.
Kaen smirked proudly. Sure, he was disappointed that the guy was still alive, and sure he was probably going to die now, but he had managed to reduce the number of survivors to one. Well, most of one anyway. Staring Death in the face and laughing, he taunted, "Looks like you ain't so tough after all. We 'inferior monkeys' managed to off forty-nine members of your team, compared to your nine Saiyans. Well, forty nine and a bit..."
He was cut off by a left hook to the face, dislocating his jaw, as the man, now angry beyond words, drew his left hand back, forming the killing blast, and spat, "Soon it will be ten Saiyans. Any last requests monkey?"
Figuring 'Yeah, let me go' would sound too stupid and cowardly, he snapped his jaw back in place, using all the energy he could spare to spit in the guy's face and cry defiantly, "Yeah, shoot straight ya bastard!"
With no free arm to wipe away the spit, the man's glare darkened, and he replied coldly, "So be it," before firing. In his anger, he didn't notice Kaen use the last of his energy to Zanzoken out of the way, the force of the blast burying him under the rubble, the exertion knocking him out cold, and his last thought, before darkness claimed him, was 'I'm sorry Pi... I failed...'
o-o-o
He awoke with a start, opening his eyes slowly to take in the room around him, still unfamiliar territory despite spending several days on the ship already. He lay back down heavily, his mind still racing. The nightmares had come back, and he didn't know why. Ever since Pi had found him, he'd thought they were gone forever, but they were back, stronger than before, and the reason for it couldn't be good.
Shaking his head to clear it of erroneous thoughts, he arose, getting prepared for the day ahead. The time for sleep was past; it was time to train. Whatever the day would bring, he would make sure he was ready for it, and he had a feeling he wasn't going to like what he found.
o-o-o
The Icebreaker cut through the emptiness around it, reaching speeds until-now unheard of, as it raced un-erringly towards its destination, the fourth dragon ball. The ship granted them swift passage, cutting the time to a mere fraction, days instead of weeks. Never the less, the stoic Flute had made it his mission to ensure those few days went by without incident, choosing to watch over the Aisu Frost to make sure he didn't do something unexpected without knowing.
Frost, for his part, spent the days standing over the controls, mumbling to himself, and anyone else who would listen, about his treatment, and general increase in pain since their chance meeting several days ago. Kat spent her time either training or hanging out with the Saiyans, or simply giggling at Frost's mumbled rants from her seat nearby. And Avery, with a persona to match the Namek, chose to watch over Kat like Flute did Frost, to make sure nothing else happened.
Frost glanced over his shoulder at the Namek, seeing him seated over to the side, obviously meditating. Turning back to the console, he called, "We'll be arriving at your target destination in a few hours."
Flute simply nodded, standing up and walking out of the room in search of his companions without a word. Watching him go, Kat whispered to herself, "Weird..."
Frost, however, was closer than she thought, overhearing her, and commented with true earnest, "Must be nice to have friends like that."
Spinning around, and fixing him with an accusing glare, she said, "Were you listening in on me?"
He took a step back, raising his hands defensively, saying, "Not directly, sorry." Lowering his hands again, he continued his thought, "Now, why can't we be friends like all them?"
She eyed him warily, replying, "What are you up to now?"
"I just mean why can't we get along as they do," he explained, glancing at Avery, "I mean, there's a hell of a lot of animosity here."
She stood up, exclaiming, "You want me and the bird to be friends? Ha!" The bird in question just glared at her, but said nothing.
Realising this was getting nowhere fast, he said, "Okay, okay, what I mean is, it can't hurt for us to be more trusting, closer... I mean, really, would it hurt to be nicer to each other?"
She glared a little longer, switching her focus between the two of them, before dropping her head in defeat and sighing, "Fine..."
He smirked, a self-satisfied smirk, as he said, "Oooh yeah, getting to be friends is a great way to kick it off, so we can get it on..." He trailed off, his face dropping, as he realised something, "... I just said that out loud, didn't I?" The look on Kat's face said it all; her glare was back, stronger than before, and her hands, still by her sides, started twitching. Suddenly looking very worried, and reflexively crossing his hands over between his legs, he stammered, "I am so gonna feel pain, aren't I?"
An evil smirk filled her face as she watched him trying vainly to defend himself, and before he knew what happened she used her newly taught technique to lay down the hurt. 'I really need to thank Pi for teaching me how to do this...' she thought to herself as she made her own hammer, one of pure dark ki, vanish with but a thought.
As she watched him lying on the floor, whinging about how "It hurts and stings," Pi's words echoed through her mind. 'You must remember not to abuse or overuse this technique,' she had said, 'This technique has been passed down for generations, and every time it came with the same warning; if you use it too much too often, they may become immune to it.'
The thought, 'He's had this coming for a long time now,' ran through her mind's eye, overriding Pi's advice, and she hit him again, revelling in his cries of pain. Deciding to be truly cruel, and that, once again, he'd had it coming a long time, she hit him one more time, before deciding to leave the room, lest she continue hitting him.
And all the while, Avery watched on with a smirk on his face, but made sure to file away the thought 'Note to self: do not piss her off without weapon drawn.'
o-o-o
In the mean time, Flute made his way down to the training room, figuring it'd be the first place he's find his Saiyan companions, the second being the cafeteria. As he entered, he noticed the relaxed air about the room. Kaen was obviously only doing a light workout, not even breaking a sweat in the 20 times gravity, or seeming to strain to avoid any of the shots from the six training droids. And Pi, although with him in the room, seemed to have focused her efforts on cheering him on, although he noticed she did occasionally stop one of the robots from attacking his flank, her actions seemingly oblivious to Kaen.
Looking around, he noticed he seemed to miss the presence of Viola, although he didn't know why. If he'd bothered to ask, he would have been told that she had decided to use the holograph room to 'spend some time in nature,' as she put it. However, seeing as he couldn't place the reason he missed her, he remained silent.
Finally noticing his green-skinned comrade, Kaen barked out, "End training session," to deactivate the gravity and training droids, before turning to face him, nodding once in greeting.
Flute nodded once back, saying, "We're a few hours away still."
Kaen just shrugged his shoulders, saying, "Good, got enough time for a snack then."
Flute looked a little hesitant as he said, "I sensed something... odd about the planet, though it was hard to place. Regardless, I have a very foreboding feeling about this."
The Saiyan male just snorted, saying, "You've always got bad feelings about places. I don't think there's any planet we've been on where you haven't said something similar."
The Namek's irritation was obvious as he shot back, "With good reason I might add."
Kaen just smirked, a true Saiyan smirk, before saying, "Oh come on, what was so bad about the last place?"
At the mention of a snack, and the beginning of an argument, Pi trotted off ahead of Kaen to prepare the food. If things went like Saiyan arguments usually did there would be fists involved, and there's nothing more Saiyans liked to do after fighting than eat. Well, almost nothing...
Flute shook his head, saying, "The energy feels very concentrated, like a group of people, or a powerful presence, directly around the dragon ball."
The smirk still firmly intact, Kaen just shrugged again, replying, "So what, we've got a little fight on our hands, what else is new?"
Flute paused, looking around to make sure no one else was in earshot, before continuing, "The ki presence felt linked to your own. I do not like this at all."
His face fell, a look bordering on shock and worry replacing his smirk, as he stammered out, "What? How?"
Shaking his head in a semi-reassuring manner, Flute said, "Not linked as in a bond of some kind, but as if it were focused on you. I think someone, or something, will be waiting for us."
Kaen just started growling fiercely, his tail thrashing behind him under his coat, as he replied, "There's only a handful of people who I know who'd be waiting for me on any planet bar Vegeta-Sei, and none of them are good news."
"So you can understand my apprehension in this matter," Flute answered knowingly.
A face suddenly flashed into Kaen's mind's eye, a face he could never forget if he tried. It's hard to forget the man who's seemingly made it his life's work to kill you.
He still remembered the first time he had met his would-be killer, his name still unknown to him. He hadn't been strong enough to win that day, and after all that time, his pride still hurt from it. It wasn't the last time they fought either. It seemed that every three months, or year in the standard time, the man had found him again, regardless of where he was, and they fought again.
Every year, on the same day, they resumed their battle; every year, Kaen realised he wasn't strong enough to win; and every year, he took another hit to his pride, being forced to flee. Every year, for three years now. And as the calculations finished in his mind, he realised that today would be the fourth; the fourth anniversary of the carnage on Hunaiya-Sei.
Suddenly, the reason for his nightmares returning was painfully clear...
Kaen snarled, his right hand clenching and releasing unconsciously, as he said, "Can you tell me anything about it, what it felt like, what it looked like, anything?"
Flute, while shocked at his behaviour, and taking it as a bad sign, hid behind his usual emotionless mask as he replied, "Nothing more than what I have said. Something will be waiting for us, or more specifically, you."
Kaen closed his eyes, visibly willing himself to calm down; it took him several moments, which was another sure sign something bad was going to happen. As he walked out, he paused, making one final fierce statement, "If it's who I think it is, this time I won't miss..." With not even so much as a glance back, Kaen wandered out in search of Pi, leaving Flute to ponder over the situation.
His sense of foreboding stronger than ever, he headed back to the control room, pausing outside the holo-deck as he sensed Viola's presence nearby, before shaking his head and continuing on, deciding it wasn't worth interrupting her over; they had enough people worrying prematurely as it was, they didn't need another.
o-o-o
The time passed with a solemn attitude, none willing to discuss further on what Flute had sensed, and all too soon the Icebreaker slowed to a halt outside the gravity of the planet. Flute and Frost had reached an agreement: The Icebreaker would remain in orbit unless absolutely necessary, to ensure a swift getaway if need be, and Flute's ship, and/or the pods, would be used for deployment. And with this agreement in mind, Flute waited in the docking bay, looking down at the planet below.
Viola walked in not much later, looking fairly relaxed, but immediately sensing Flute's concern. Her face became one of worry as she asked, "What's wrong? What did I miss?"
Without looking back at her, Flute said gravely, "This may prove to be a difficult journey this time."
Her worry being replaced with confusion, she asked, "Why?"
Before Flute could respond, Pi walked into the hangar, partially dragging Kaen to hurry with her, and he seemed to stumble a bit as she dragged him, looking for the most part like he was going to a funeral, and not looking forward to it one iota. Shooting Viola a look that said 'Not now,' he turned around to regard the Saiyans.
Frost's voice crackled over the speaker system, "We'll stay here and man the controls. After the last few scuffles you described, I think it's best someone stay here to ensure a quick getaway if need be."
"Thanks for the support..." Kaen grumbled to himself.
Pi squeezed his arm, saying, "What's wrong Kaen? Are you worried about what's down there? You know we're invincible together."
He smiled down at her, secretly hoping it didn't look too fake, before replying, "I know..." Dropping his voice, he whispered, in a voice not meant to be heard, "I won't lose you... not again..."
Flute waited until the conversation turned quiet before beginning to lay out the plan. "My ship is now better suited to ferry us down to retrieve the dragon ball. I won't lie, something strong is down there, and it might be waiting for us," a half-truth, "So we need to act fast. Getting into unnecessary fights is wasting time we haven't got."
Stunning everyone with his out of character behaviour, Kaen nodded, saying, "I agree."
Pi, the most shocked of all, raised her hand to feel his forehead, saying, "Kaen, are you feeling okay?"
He nodded, as reassuringly as he could, before saying, "I'm fine. Don't worry. I'm just... eager to get back to my training." As she nodded, he thought to himself, 'Okay, so that's not exactly the whole truth, but I'm not lying.' He noticed she still seemed a little unsure of what was going on, and that she held onto his arm a little tighter, as if not just to reassure him, but herself as well.
o-o-o
Flute headed to the ship and climbed aboard, feeling a little better as he sat at the controls, despite the situation, now back in familiar territory. Viola, after giving the Saiyans - Kaen in particular - another quick look, an eyebrow raised in both question and concern, headed on after Flute.
Unconsciously, Kaen's tail had wrapped itself around Pi's leg, causing the girl to blush like mad. He looked down at her, saying, "C'mon, we don't want to keep them waiting..." before beginning to lead her into the ship. Pi, too embarrassed to do anything besides nod dumbly, just followed his lead, allowing herself to be directed around, while Kaen was too concerned about what lay ahead to even notice her embarrassment, let alone it's cause.
Once they were on board, Pi fell into Kaen's lap as he sat down. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and she just blushed again and pointed to her leg, still firmly in the grasp of his tail. Noticing this, he blushed a little himself, but made no effort to change the situation, or to correct his rebellious tail, instead shifting to make things more comfortable for them both.
While this contact would have normally made them both feel at least mildly embarrassed, Kaen just seemed to bask in her presence, looking a lot less concerned now than he was before. Seeing this, Pi just smiled and nestled her head against his chest, and before too long, the ship they had spent several weeks travelling on began planet-fall.
Viola smiled a little at the display, unknowingly letting Flute hear her think, "Aww, that's cute..."
Flute glanced back at them, knowing the gravity of the situation full well, before answering simply, "There's no denying that they are meant for each other."
She jumped a little, not realising she'd said that telepathically, before replying, "It sure looks like true love from where I'm sitting."
"Let's hope they live long enough to appreciate it..." He said gravely, before severing the link suddenly to turn his attention back to the controls, as the ship touched the surface of the planet. Viola looked a little concerned at this, both what he said and how he said it, before forcing the look from her face, if only for her companions' sake. After sharing a look with Flute, coming to a silent agreement with him, the two exited the ship, surveying the area, and allowing the two Saiyans a moment alone.
Kaen enjoyed another moment where he was, imprinting her scent, the feeling of her, everything, to his mind, before willing himself to release her, however much he wanted her to stay exactly where she was. Pi seemed to agree, letting herself be removed from his grasp a little resentfully, but standing none-the-less. He sighed wistfully as she got up, before standing himself, mentally steeling himself for what lay ahead.
Flute glanced back at Kaen as he exited, motioning him to move forward with him, Sparing Pi one last wistful glance, he took Flute's lead. The Namek kept his voice down as he asked, "Would he be able to sense us?"
His voice equally as low, Kaen replied, "Unlikely, few species I've had run-ins with can, but, being a member of Frieza's army, chances are he'll have a scouter, or something like. We'd be best to tread cautiously, and not show our true strength, until he shows his ugly face. This is assuming it is who I think it is."
With a look almost bordering on amusement, and very odd considering the circumstances, Flute asked, "Gaining grudges is a simple matter for you. Would this be a particular favourite?"
Despite the gravity of the circumstances, Kaen found himself struggling not to smirk as he said, "Let's say we've got a bit of history that goes way back, and I took something precious to him."
Realising who he meant, Flute responded, "A right arm, if I remember your tale correctly."
The smirk broke its way through, and he said, "That, and his pride."
The time for humour seemingly over, Flute returned to his stoic self, saying, "Well, let's move out. If we can avoid him I think our trip will be better for it." Kaen's smirk faded back into his serious expression, and he nodded solemnly. Flute turned back to the two females currently giving them some space, saying in a voice just loud enough to be heard, "We'll continue on foot to the dragon ball. No need to attract too much attention."
As the group headed off, Kaen switched on his scouter, monitoring all transmissions, and constantly flicking between ki, electrical, and dragon ball detection modes. His senses were on high alert, even more so than usual, to a point that it scared even him, as he watched everything in a paranoid fashion. Pi fell into step behind him, watching him with a careful eye, and Viola walking in Flute's footsteps much like Pi was Kaen's, found herself worrying more as she saw him acting like this.
All of a sudden, Flute spun around to face them, shouting, "Something has the dragon ball, and they're moving fast!"
Cursing to himself, Kaen spun, facing the direction he knew he'd come from. His scouter had picked him up just as Flute's cry reached his ears. And there, before his eyes, materialised the face in his nightmares, his cybernetic right arm holding the dragon ball. His face was hidden by a dark cloak, but a smirk was clearly visible as he taunted, "Looking for this?"
Kaen started growling, his tail lashing behind him under his coat, his anger at this man's, this cyborg's, presence more than obvious. Pi, however, looked a little bewildered, as she said, "I know that voice..."
Kaen's head shot in her direction, his face full of shock as he cried, "You've met this bastard?"
Still unsure what he meant, she replied, "He was the one who compelled me to come find you."
His growl came back, more prominent than before, as he glared back at the cloaked figure again, barking out, "Couldn't leave her out of it could you?"
His smirk was evident. "She was a very capable individual, and possessed a drive to find you like none other. What can I say, she was a perfect tool." his cloaked voice declared.
Pi was filled with anger at the fact that she'd been used, but Kaen had gone beyond the stage of anger long ago. One could literally see the fire in his eyes as he snarled, "You won't have her. So long as I draw breath I will fight you."
The cloaked figure tossed the dragon ball aside, saying, "It's almost a shame you managed to recover the last one of those I found. I spent a lot of time planting that. I thought for sure those robots would be your undoing monkey. But once again you surprised me with your resourcefulness. Oh well, at least this way I get the hands on touch. You've run long enough. I am going to finish what I started, and then I'm going to make your little girlfriend watch as I cut you to pieces."
Kaen shed his coat in a flash, growling, "Not today shit-eater. You can make all the threats you like, but I promise you you'll be dead before the sun sets today."
Pi's face set into a mask of determination to correct her error. She had lead the person who had almost killed her soul mate years before back to him, and she would not let it happen. "If I knew who you were I would have killed you back then!" she shouted angrily, before arcing her arms over her head, balling her fists and slamming them into the ground with a cry of, "Terra Fury!"
The force of the attack caused the cloaked figure to trip and fall, and taking full advantage over his prone situation, she cupped her hands to form another attack, crying "Titan Cannon!" as she launched her devastating attack, striking him head on, and causing a great deal of damage. Or so she thought
Despite the sheer power of her attacks, the cyborg seemed to shrug them off like they'd been nothing. Laughing at her pitiful attempts to hurt him, he declared, "You'll have your turn to die soon enough!"
Hearing this, Kaen roared in defiance, his Rage Pyre aura bursting to life at full power, but the cyborg shouted, "I'll have none of this!" sending a whip-like attack directly at him, the bands of ki wrapping themselves around the Saiyans torso and neck, literally stealing the flame from him as soon as it burst to life, and granting the cyborg the power Rage Pyre yielded.
Seeing Kaen restrained behind the bonds of ki, the Namek duo shot forward, launching attacks of their own, if only to distract the cloaked man from his target, but their attempt to attack was disrupted as he showered them with weak ki blasts, nothing more than a means to keep them at bay. They did however distract him long enough for Kaen to shatter the bonds around him with another roar of defiance.
Growing impatient, the cloaked figure stands tall, suddenly igniting with black flame, a dark shadow of the Rage Pyre stolen from his Saiyan foe, as he shouted, "Play time is over! You are through running from me! It's time to meet your fate monkey!" Saying this, he held a single palm towards the Saiyan male, crying triumphantly, "Vorpal Striker!" as a blast of pure darkness fired from his hand.
Kaen could only stare in horror as the blast drew nearer. The effort of shedding the chains of ki had left him too drained to dodge, to say nothing of having his strength stolen from him by the same attack. Time itself seemed to slow down as the blast headed ever closer, appearing as though it would blast his head clear off, and Kaen just closed his eyes, willing himself to die with the dignity a Saiyan demanded. But fate, it seemed, had not deemed him to die this day, as he heard the sound of impact, but felt no contact.
His eyes shot open again in shock, but as he took in the sight before him, he found himself wishing he hadn't. A slight whimper could be heard in the silence that followed, as Pi, the hallmarks of having blocked the blast on her back, braced herself against the overwhelming pain. Eventually, it became too much, the attack meant to have a single, total effect: death. He caught her as she fell to her knees, clutching her chest as she felt her strength leave her. She looked up at him, eyes filled with tears she'd never live long enough to shed, and with strength she shouldn't have had, she smiled at him one last time, whispering, "I love you Kaen," one final time. As her final breath left her, her eyes closed, the traces of tears still around their edges, and she knew no more as she died in his arms.
Kaen stared in shock as he held the lifeless form in his arms, tears unknowingly slipping from his eyes, as he whispered, "No..." He felt empty, dead; he felt like his heart had been ripped in two, and like his soul had died. As he knelt there, cradling the deceased girl in his arms, he realised, all too late, how much she truly meant to him. He had always known, somewhere inside, that she was his mate, but when all of this had happened, stemming from the bastard in the cloak, he had tried to distance himself from her; a man who has nothing to lose has everything to gain.
He realised now that he would rather have had her for just a heart beat than never at all. But it was too late. She was gone. He would give his life to have her back. With a heart-wrenching cry, one enough to cause the most emotionless of being to cry in sympathy, he wailed, "NO!"
And then he heard it. Laughter. Someone was laughing at his pain. No, not just someone. It was him. That bastard, the man who'd taken so much from him, had the nerve to not only rob him of his soul mate, but to laugh at it! He would pay for this! He would pay with his blood, even if it took Kaen's dying breath to do it! He vowed, on Pi's death, he would avenge her, and everyone else this bastard had killed, if it was the last thing he ever did!
He laughed, a deep, maniacal laugh. His attack had hit a stronger nerve than he'd thought possible. He'd never have guessed the monkey liked this girl this much. Ah well, he was gonna kill him anyway. At least this way he could make the pest suffer before he died. For now, all he could do was laugh.
He could feel the rage building, could feel his power rising. His eyes opened to take into his foe, his hands clenched hard enough for his fingernails to draw blood. His voice full of anger, he growled, "You took her from me... You had no right to take her from me!"
His laughter died in his throat as he watched the heartbroken monkey. It wasn't the glare that did it, nor was it what he said; it was his power. It had long since gone past his own maximum, even with his stolen power-up. And it just kept going. His last thought before the fear overcame his mind was, 'Shit... look's like I pressed the wrong button this time...'
As his power reached levels unheard of to date, and kept going, his mind was focused on but one thing. In his rage, he failed to notice his newfound strength, the strength that kept rising. All he knew was the bastard standing not five metres from him had killed Pi; until he was dead, nothing else mattered. His blood was on fire, his rage reaching dangerous levels.
His body struggled to keep up with his anger. His eyes, flickering between their normal black and a cold teal, stared at his foe, their dead, emotionless gaze boring right into his soul. His hair, switching between his normal black, and a fiery, ethereal gold, raged violently in the wind kicked up by his aura, also an ethereal gold. And as he screamed, one final, pain-filled scream, "You took her from me! AND I WILL HAVE HER BACK!" his rage exploded in a blinding gold flash, his body settling into his new form, the form born from his rage.
When the light died down, those assembled could see the new Kaen, his golden hair blowing in the wind, his cold gaze watching the fallen body of his soul mate, tears forming in his emotionless eyes. But all too soon, for the cyborg's liking, he turned an icy glare on the cloaked being, his tears evaporated by the raging golden aura around him.
As his eyes swept past the Nameks, they saw only one thing in his eyes: death. There was nothing he wouldn't do to see that cloaked figure dead. Even though his rage wasn't directed at them, when they had seen into his eyes, they had frozen in fear. Using what little wits the enraged Saiyan's glare had left him with, Flute used his ki to collect the dragon ball. Stuffing it into his robes, he grabbed Viola around the waist, and quickly moved the two of them to a safe distance.
His voice was cold, devoid of all emotion bar hatred and loathing, as he said, "You took her from me. You robbed her of life before her time. And for that you must pay the ultimate price. There will be no final judgement. Neither heaven nor hell. No chance for redemption. There is only annihilation."
He waited just long enough for his words to sink in before he attacked, charging his foe, and preparing his attack, his revenge. In his subconscious, he knew the ramifications of doing what he was. This attack was made of pure balefire; uncontained, it had limitless destructive power, and there was no force anywhere in the universe that could undo it's damage. Balefire didn't just attack the physical body, it also destroyed the mind and soul, forever. What's more, it didn't attack in the present; it destroyed the victim in the past, undoing all actions carried out after that point, and putting them beyond the effects of almost every revival technique. And it was just what he needed.
He'd tried this before, when he was younger, and it almost destroyed him. His body and soul weren't strong enough to handle the strain. He had since managed to wield a more focused, concentrated form of balefire safely, as his disks proved. However, in this new form, born purely from rage, he had all the power he would ever need. And he planned on making it count.
All this passed through his subconscious in a moment, but none of it registered to his rage-fogged mind. All it needed to know, as it streaked towards the fear-paralysed cyborg, was it would bring about the death of said cyborg, forever. To the world around him, all that could be seen of Kaen was a golden streak, the light from his aura, with a single stripe of white, a stark contrast to the golden flame, from the balefire coursing around his drawn-back right hand. To the cloaked cyborg, time seemed to slow down, until it almost stood still, and yet he still couldn't see the approach of the avatar of his destruction.
Kaen stopped dead in front of the cloaked figure, his speed causing a sonic boom, one which drowned out his cry of "BALEFIRE FIST!" as his right hand struck home, landing squarely in the cyborg's ribs. Within less than a second his cloaked body became shrouded in raging white flame, burning him from existence, but Kaen didn't stop there. He just kept pouring his ki into the attack, the pyre increasing to frightening size.
The cloaked cyborg may have screamed, as the pain from his very essence being torn from the fabric of reality assailed him, but it was impossible to tell; the sonic boom drowned out all other noise. By the time it had faded, the chance for screaming had gone, and any he may have made were long since scattered to the wind. Suddenly, the flames were gone, and the cloaked figure with it. Not even ashes remained, already having been long since scattered to the wind due to the effects of the balefire.
Only then, as they saw the charred ground, a deep gash in it where the flames had once burned, did the echoes of the attack's name reach there ears, but now Kaen stood there alone, his fist still extended. As the sound ebbed, he fell to his knees, the pain of Pi's death finally catching up with him now that the rage had faded, and he wept openly, mourning her loss. In his heart-broken state, he failed to remember the side effects of his attack, and that because of them, he mourned in vain.
Not ten metres away, Pi began too look around oddly, as if she'd lost something. She was utterly confused; hadn't she been killed? If she had, what was she doing back here? Suddenly, she noticed Kaen, or what appeared to be Kaen, drawn by the sounds of his crying, and she knelt next to him, asking softly, "Kaen, is that you?"
Hearing her voice, and wondering if he's dreaming, he turns slowly to face her. The moment he saw her face, he instantly latched onto her, his tail, which looked odd with golden fur, wrapping itself firmly around her, as he continued crying, the words, "You're okay..." occasionally being understood from the unintelligible rambling of the distraught Saiyan.
She began to mutter back, offering comfort all the while, "I was in this strange place with all these spirits and these weird ogre things. I was standing in line or something, and then I was here again... And why are you blonde?"
The pain of losing her finally starting to ebb, his sobs subsided, but his grip didn't loosen. His voice cracked from crying, he whispered, "It doesn't matter. All that matters is you're okay..." Truth be told, he was a little confused at her saying he was blonde, but was too broken up to think heavily on it.
Returning with Viola still in his grasp, Flute looked them both over with a slight look of disbelief on his face. First at Pi, the main, if not only, reason being her being alive and seemingly well, then at Kaen, his new appearance and shocking power the main reason there.
Managing to calm his soul somewhat, he turned to regard the others for a moment, still not letting go, before turning back to Pi, giving her his full attention, a true smile on his face.
She smiled back before returning the hug. While she enjoyed the embrace, it was also the easiest way for her to better examine his golden tail.
After a moment spent simply basking in each other's company, he whispered in her ear, his voice filled with emotions he would have never shared before, "I thought I'd lost you..."
Her first thought had been, 'For a minute there you had,' but she realised that wouldn't help, so she responded in kind, "I didn't want you to get hurt."
"You know I'd gladly give me life to keep you safe..."
"I spent so much time looking for you, I didn't want to lose you again."
Again, the thought, 'For a minute there you had,' came, this time in Kaen's mind, but instead, he drew himself back, staring deeply into her eyes, his gaze showing more love in the three seconds of silence than he ever had in the nineteen years thus far, as he vowed, "I swear to you, on my life, that I will do everything in my power to see you never do..."
The Nameks watched on, the emotions think in the air causing their silence, and both seemed to forget that Flute's arms were still around Viola's waist protectively.
Pi blushed deeply at Kaen's words before kissing him, and he wasted no time in responding, letting this one kiss show her how much she meant to him. He was so caught up in the moment, he failed to realise that he wasn't blushing. She broke the kiss softly, a loving smile on her face, before taking his hair in her hands to examine it herself.
He smiled back, taking a moment to notice the golden locks she held, now looking like real flame, and his face failed to hide the shock. Letting them go, she began to stroke his tail a little, examining it closer. This time, he did blush, but nowhere near as much as he would have the day before. Fighting the rising feelings, he managed to say, "I guess whatever caused my power jump changed me a bit..."
Seeing that the tender moment had passed, Flute spoke up, saying, "More like power explosion."
With his arms around her, he managed to shrug, replying, "I don't really remember what happened after..." he trailed off.
Raising an eyebrow, Flute asked, "After what?"
The Saiyan just glared at him, barking, "Guess!" Flute just nodded. He had the answer he needed. Calming himself, and looking a little confused, he looked between the Nameks, noticing their position and filing it away for a more appropriate time, before asking, "Don't 'spose you guys can tell me what happened?"
Noticing Viola was remaining fairly silent, Flute answered, "You were angered to say the least, and then you transformed..."
Suddenly noticing something, Viola gasped, "Your eyes!"
Pi nodded, noticing it as well, and exclaiming, "They're green!"
Kaen just sighed, "This is a weird day..."
Flute just nodded, a semi-amused smirk crossing his features for a moment, before saying, "Indeed."
After sharing a look with the girl in his arms, Kaen sighed again, saying, "At least the worst is over with."
Pi nodded, her face showing her exhaustion, before she smiled again, this one showing amusement, as she said, "You look funny as a blonde. If Oran and Lime saw you they'd be in fits. Like the time you had to wear that dress after one of your flame attacks back-fired and you lost your clothes."
Flute smirked considerably at the thought, and Viola fought to keep from bursting out laughing. After all, he was much more powerful than either of them could ever be, and after the display he put on before, she didn't need him directing any anger at her.
However, Kaen found himself unable to do so much as glare at her for bringing up that insulting time, the day's events seemingly overwriting his pride, at least for now. Instead, he simply smiled back at her, saying, "You're right. They'd find it hilarious." Fortunately, she missed the pain on his face as she mentioned them, and the wistfulness in his voice; he still missed the little terrors... Banishing such negative thoughts from his mind, he turned to face the Nameks, a smirk filling his face, as he said teasingly, "Are you sure nothing else happened today?"
With a raised eyebrow, Flute replied, "You killed someone who had a vendetta against you, and we recovered a dragon ball. I can think of nothing else that has happened. Now, I think it would be wise to head back to the Icebreaker before Frost does something stupid, like leave without us."
The smirk didn't falter as he said, "Sure thing, I was just curious, is all. After all, you two look mighty close. I'm glad you've finally reached stage four." As he said this, he indicated Flute's arms with his head, which were still around the Namekin's waist even now.
Pi started giggling as she noticed. Viola, after looking confused for a moment finally registered the arms around her, and started blushing like mad. Flute realised not a second later, and his hands shot away so fast you'd swear they were burnt. His face became set in stone, hiding anything resembling emotion, but the embarrassment was clearly evident in his eyes.
Kaen started laughing, getting out, "Guess I was wrong, you're only in stage two. Three at best."
Flute arched a brow, asking, "What the hell are you talking about?"
The smirk returned as he replied, "The four stages of a budding relationship. Humour. Denial. Consideration. Acceptance."
Viola's face just kept getting darker and darker shades of green as the conversation went on, her blush deepening by the moment, but the embarrassment kept her from talking, even to defend herself; regardless of how pointless it would have been to do so anyway.
Flute just closed his eyes, his frown deepening as he said, "I have never heard such nonsense ever before."
Finally standing, Pi still firmly in his grasp as they stood together, Kaen replied, "It's quite obvious to one who's been through it before, such as Pi and myself. You're in stage two, but, judging by her lack of reaction thus far, Viola seems to be in stage three." His smirk widened as her blush deepened again, reaching levels no normal person, Namek or no, should ever be able to reach.
Flute said no more, simply turning on his heel and heading back to the ship.
With a satisfied look on his face, Kaen turned to the girl in his arms, saying matter-of-factly, "See? Common denial." She simply nodded and hugged him as they headed back to the ship, playing with his blonde tail again, the pair closer now than they'd ever been before.
It wasn't until several moments later that Viola recovered from her embarrassment, and realising that she was now alone, she hurried back to the ship, managing to make it back before the Saiyan pair thanks to her speed.
As they entered the ship, noticing the Nameks pointedly avoiding making eye contact with both them and each other, they sat down to leave in much the same fashion they had to come, Pi in Kaen's lap, his tail firmly around her leg. And as the ship blasted off the planet, the last of his anger-fuelled tension faded away, and the exhaustion of holding his new form caught up with him. He fell asleep in the chair, his hair and tail returning to their normal colour, and while she couldn't see it, Pi assumed his eyes did so as well.
Sighing contentedly, she nestled her head against his chest, much like she'd done on the way down, and allowed her own exhaustion to drag her into the land of nod herself. It had been a long, eventful day. The horror that haunted Kaen's past was finally laid to rest, his team, their friends, had been avenged, they had recovered the next dragon ball, she'd seemingly been revived from death, and, most importantly of all in her mind, she and Kaen had finally reached the penultimate step in their relationship; soon, very soon, it would be time for them to take the final step.
End Chapter 09
To be continued...