--- The Phoenix Chronicles ---
Chapter 12 - A Slight Detour, Part 1 - Welcoming
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He stormed off back to the hotel, not noticing the people he barged aside as He did so. He did, however, notice how restricted the cast on his leg made him, and resolved to cut it off as soon as possible. But that wasn't the source of his foul mood. His ship was trashed; there was no other word that could quite describe the state of the ship his father built better than that. In fact, he was amazed it had managed to bring him here alive, assuming you counted the state he was brought here in 'alive'.
Regardless, it seemed he was stuck here until he could find a way to repair it; he wasn't even entirely sure about where here was. He also knew that, by now, he would have been reported as dead; in a morbid way, he admired how efficient they were at that. That meant that by now his parents, his siblings, and his girlfriend knew, or thought they did, what happened to him, and he had no way to contact them and tell them he was alright; the ships long range communicator was also fried.
'Perhaps it's best this way...' He thought to himself. 'I know that last guy survived. He'll be hurting but he's alive. That means, assuming he doesn't believe I'm dead, which I severely doubt, he'll be coming after me. I can't risk putting them in danger by getting them involved; this is my fight. I'm... I'm sorry Pi... I'm sorry I'm breaking my promise to you... I'm sorry I'm not coming home...'
He tried to remember her face, her laugh, her voice, anything, but his memory seemed to be a bit fuzzy; he must've taken some serious head wounds. In fact, he found he had trouble remembering any of his family, or much of anything that had happened before opening his eyes on this planet. The memories were there, and he praised the powers that be for that small mercy, but it was like looking at them through a fogged-up window. On some level this saddened him, but he knew he had to get over it; he'd left his old life behind, been forced to leave it behind. He had to forge himself a new life. Still, that didn't mean he didn't miss his old life, and the people in it.
And through all this, the Saiyan warrior once known as Kapskaen, or Kaen, kept on walking.
He arrived back at the hotel, or, more importantly, the hotel's restaurant. It was decent enough in appearance - in his eyes nothing could compare to Vegeta-Sei, but that was beside the point - but the important thing was the smells coming from the kitchen. And while the cooking may not be able to compete with his mothers cooking - there was few, if any, anywhere that could - it smelled good enough. Besides which, it was free.
The place was fairly busy for late afternoon, but regardless, he found himself a table all to himself, large enough to seat four people; he would need the room. He sat there in silence for a fair while - the place was busy after all, and there was only so much staff - but his patience was wearing thin. Fortunately for those present, before his anger reached boiling point someone came to take his order.
"What can I get you sir?" the man intoned as politely as you'd expect from someone worked off his or her feet.
"I don't think that pad's gonna be big enough..." He muttered to himself, but before the other man could comment he opened the menu to page one - the menu was several pages long, as the restaurant had to cater to the tastes of at least two dozen species - and added, "Well, for starters, I'll take everything on page one..."
"What? There's no way you could eat that much!" the man, Musuko as his nametag read, exclaimed, interrupting him.
"I wasn't finished!" He barked back, "I said that was for starters. After that, I'll take two of everything on pages three and four, one of everything on page six, and the first half of page nine."
"Sir, do you really believe you can eat all of that?" Musuko asked incredulously.
He just nodded, saying, "Easily. I've been asleep for three days now while my body recovered, and I need a lot of food at the best of times."
"Wait, you're that guy who crash landed here in that pod aren't you?" the guy asked.
He nodded again, replying, "That would be me, yes. Now then, to wash that all down, throw in five bottles of the strongest alcohol you've got here."
"Wait just a minute," Musuko interrupted again, "You look too young to be drinking, and besides which, my father was the man that treated you, and I know he wouldn't want you having any."
He reached up, grabbing the man's collar with his good left hand, holding the cast on his right in front of the man's eyes as he said, "You listen to me boy, unless you want one of these to call your own, you'll bring me what I ordered. And while I'm here I might as well say your dad's picking up the tab; he gave me three free nights at this place, all-inclusive. Now, I suggest you start bringing me my food before I lose my temper."
He released the man, who left to do as ordered, and before too long the first of many courses was brought out by a rather attractive looking waitress, who tried, rather unsuccessfully, to flirt with him. Several patrons looked at him, gawking at how much food was disappearing down his throat, and the rate at which it was doing so, but a glare directed their way turned them back around. All was rather peaceful, until five very stupid people entered the restaurant, and decided to rob it while he was there.
"All right, nobody move. This is a robbery. If you all just stay calm and co-operate, then no one will get hurt," one of the robbers, obviously the leader, stated boldly. He raised his gun for a moment as he added, "Ok, stay where you are with your hands up!"
Everyone in the place did just that, stopping where they were, either seated or standing, and dropping everything to raise his or her hands in surrender. All but one. He just sat there, continuing to eat his meal as though nothing was wrong. He did, however, use his right foot to slip his left boot off. The four robbers, minus the leader, began going around collecting valuables from those assembled, but the last man, a man simply known as Boss, walked up to his table, seemingly intent on finding out why he chose to ignore a direct order.
"Hey kid, didn't you hear me, I said hands up!" Boss said angrily. When he got no response - the guy's eating didn't even slow! - he became twice as angry with the 'insolent brat', throwing the table, which was, by now, less than a third covered by food, aside and exclaiming, "You listen when I talk to you punk!"
Boss finally got a reaction, but it wasn't the one he was aiming for. He stood up, jumping into an uppercut with his right, cast-covered hand, and, in one fluid motion, spun out his left leg, sending his now-projectile left boot flying at one of the thieves, kicking the chair he was sitting on into the air with his right leg, and, continuing the spin, kicking the chair towards a third thief with his left leg.
He finally landed, but no sooner had he done so than he was off again, leaping towards a fourth in a corkscrew motion, and backhanding him with his cast-covered right arm hard enough to severely crack the cast, not to mention the guy's skull. The fifth man was fast enough to raise his weapon and let off a few bursts of energy, but he merely raised his left hand and fired off several bursts of fire-like energy of his own, cancelling them out, before leaping towards him and kicking him harshly with his left leg, fracturing the cast on it in much he same fashion as he had the one on his right arm.
The second thief, the one who copped the boot to the head, recovered slightly, and managed to stand up, but it was in time to see him go racing past with his right arm out, catching the guy in a clothesline that almost collapsed his windpipe, taking him down for the count, and fracturing the cast further. Boss managed to shake the cobwebs off, having enough time to notice three of his boys down, and the fourth starting to pick himself up, before he received a hard jab to the gut, followed quickly by repeated front kicks to his now-lowered head which almost completely broke the cast off his left leg.
The third thief, and now the only one still standing bar Boss, raised his weapon and started charging it to fire, but before he could he leapt again, spinning gracefully in the air and launching his now-shattered cast off his left leg and towards the thief, catching him in the stomach, and, inadvertently, causing the man to shoot himself in the face, which, although not lethal, took him down. Finally, in the same motion, he swung at boss in a haymaker, catching him right on the left temple with his cast-covered right arm hard enough to reduce the until-now undamaged side to a fine powder, and knocking Boss out cold.
Seeing his foes down for the count he just pickedhis table up again, looking over at the still stunned staff and barking, "What happened to the rest of my order, hmm? Keep it coming." Then, calm as anything, he just walked over to one of the downed grunts, picked his boot up, grabbed a new chair, and sat back down at his table to put the boot back on, as if nothing had happened. Once that was done, he ripped the shattered cast off his right hand, and before anyone could comment it burst into flame, seemingly spontaneously, and burnt to ash. His left hand, however, was unburnt.
The onlookers were stunned, to say the least, but that didn't keep the kitchen staff from working, seemingly going on double time to ensure he got fed ASAP. One of the other customers, a fairly heavy set man, walked up to him with an impressed look on his face, laughing heartily before saying, "Well, that was quite a fight boy, and while injured too no less. I don't think I've ever seen anyone fight that well."
He looked up, a pride-filled smirk on his face, as he replied, "Thanks. However, you call me 'boy' again I may have to hurt you."
The man laughs heartily again, saying, "Very well. You got a name then?"
His smirk turned amused as he answered, "Everyone's got a name, but I didn't tell the doctor who saved my life, and I won't tell you."
With a grin on his face, the guy asked, "Then what am I 'sposed to call you?"
"Make something up," He shrugged. Turning curious, he continued, "Why would you want to call me anything? What do you want?"
The man's grin widened as he replied, "Why, you're the meteor man; you're famous around here, and it would be nice to have a name to put to the face. But that's not why I came over. I came over to ask for your help. As you can see, the crime is bad in these parts; you get enough people assembled, criminals seem to appear out of nowhere. I need someone to clear some filth outta Gamma sector, and reclaim the merchandise they stole from me."
His eyes shone at the thought of a fight, but his voice contradicted them by saying, "Sorry, I don't do favours."
The man laughed heartily once more before replying, "No one does. No, I wasn't asking for a favour, I was asking if you'd work for me. I'm willing to pay you half what I sell the merchandise for if you can recover it, plus a bonus two hundred gold for the defeat of the gang that has it."
His eyes shone again, and a smirk tried to form on his face as he mulled the offer over, before asking, "Let me get this straight. You're willing to pay me if I kill some people for you, and pay me more if I can get your stuff back, right?"
Another hearty laugh was his answer, "That'd be right. But I notice you had a couple of casts on before that fight. I wouldn't want you to injure yourself further..."
He snorted, interrupting the man with a wave of his perfectly healed right arm, and saying, "Please. I was asleep for three solid days, I'm in better shape now than I was before I was injured." Grinning ferally, he continued, "Alright, you've got yourself a deal. Where are they, and where do I bring the stuff when I get it?"
The man grinned back, saying, "Confident aren't we?" Pulling a piece or paper from one pocket, and a card from another, he handed both to Him, saying, "Here's the gang's name and location. And this is the location of my shop over in Delta sector. Just ask for Taro."
Taking the two items and pocketing them, he said confidently, "You'll have your stuff in three hours, tops. One for me to finish eating, one for me to recover your stuff, and one to find my way around this planet enough to find both the gang and your shop." He finished with a grin.
He watched the man walk away as his second course was brought to the table, and thought over what had just happened. 'So I'm a mercenary now huh? Well, I 'spose it's not too far off what I was before, only I can set my own price this time. There are worse ways to make a living for a warrior like myself.'
And thus began his new career.
o-o-o
The Icebreaker sailed through the darkness of space towards the next dragon ball, a new day already well under way. With no sun to regulate a day/night cycle, the ships computer takes charge of this duty, and it is currently the mid-noon cycle, when the lights are at their brightest. It is a peak work time, for most races anyway; most Neko-Jin, however, spend this warm time of the day napping, and this irregular means of controlling time is no doubt taking it's toll on the young Kat, as she... 'dutifully' watches over her console.
One eye half open, Kat sleepily looks around the control room, to see if anyone's watching. Frost seems to checking over the latest reports from intelligence, and thus not paying much attention to anything else, and Avery, for once, has decided to be elsewhere. Stifling a yawn, she turns back to her console, trying not to fall asleep, when something catches her fatigue-clouded mind's attention.
On her console, a black panel lit up silver, its red-etched text, in a language beyond her scope, blinking teasingly, making a soft blipping sound as it did so. Yawning again, she studies it for a moment, eyes still half open at the best of times. The panel remains it's shiny silver colour, the red text blinking on and off to the beat of the blips. She tilts her head to one side, her tired mind deciding that staring at it will make it go away, but the pattern continues regardless. With a final yawn she falls asleep, head landing on the console, and, ironically, the silver-lit panel.
The panel turns completely red, the blip becomes higher pitched for a short moment, and the ship suddenly takes a sharp turn towards a nearby star. Shooting awake the instant the blips pitch changed, Kat cries out, "What happened?"
Dropping his reports as the ship turns, and seeming to not hear her exclamation, Frost shouts, "What the hell?"
"I didn't do it," she replies instantly.
He began to punch the controls on his console rapidly, and without looking over his shoulder said, "The fastest way to be blamed for something is to say you didn't do it." Cursing softly to himself as he stared at his console, he turned to look at Kat and added, "Call everyone to the bridge. Now!"
Her sharp ears catching what he grumbled to himself, picking up a few new words to boot, she just grumbled to herself and growled, "Whatever..." before doing as ordered.
After the summons was made, everyone assembled on the bridge, disturbed from his or her tasks. Flute looked warily at Frost. Kaen, annoyed at having been disturbed, glared at everyone and everything bar Pi, who, in turn, lookeds at Kat for a moment from her position beside Kaen, before looking at Frost. Kat, for her part, just stood there with an air of innocence that seems to scream 'This is everybody's fault but mine.' However, noticing Pi's look, she chirped innocently, "What? You think I did this don't you?"
Pi blinked a little in surprise before responding, "No I was wondering why we were called here... Why? Did you do something?"
Shaking her head vigorously, she just chirped again, "Nope. Not my fault."
Flute was less than impressed, barking, "It doesn't matter who did what, what matters is that we are veering off course. I, for one, would like to know why."
From his spot against the wall, the newly arrived Avery called out, "I don't care what she says, Kat did something, and I'll be more than happy to beat it out of her."
Before anyone can respond, even the girl in question, Kaen glared at Avery and growled, "You will do no such thing, or else I'll rip your wings off bird!" Pi raised an eyebrow at this in question, but he had no answers to give; his over-protectiveness of Kat surprised even him, but it didn't wane any under her scrutiny, despite him falling silent.
Clearing his throat loudly to get everyone's attention, Frost asked, "Okay, are we all here?"
Viola, silent until now, just shrugged and replied, "Looks like it."
Frost nodded, cleared his throat again, and started. "Good. Yes, we are now off course, a new destination. From what I can gather, this ship has a function made to locate and follow Cold Empire planetary captures, so Frieza could be at the forefront of his expanding Empire; when he felt the need to get off his lazy ass, of course. Anyway, the point is we are headed straight for a battle zone, and what's more, this ship, and everyone onboard, are marked for immediate extermination by Cold forces. Of course, this must be done without damage to the ship itself; thank my brother for that one."
Raising an eyebrow, Kaen inquired, "So, basically, we're now heading straight towards men who'd kill us without a second's hesitation, who have orders to do exactly that?"
Frost nodded in confirmation, saying, "That's right. Just making sure everyone knew to get his or her game faces on. This is an opportunity to stop Frieza's forces from taking another world, and deal a good blow to him. As soon as we're done, we can be on our merry way."
An evil, and eager, smirk filled Kaen's features. He said nothing, but was clearly looking forward to it. Pi's mood seemed to mirror his, as did her face, albeit without the evil undertone to the smirk; she didn't have the same incentive to hurt the Cold Empire as he did, and, if he had any say in it, never would.
Flute's expression remained like stone as he said, "I will help you then. I'd prefer not to, but if we can leave faster, so much the better." Viola looked about as hesitant as she usually did before going into battle, but inside her emotions were far more balanced than Flute's were at the moment; then again, she didn't have as much riding on their mission as he did. 'Then again,' he mused, 'if my mission fails I guess hers will too...'
Looking at Frost, Kat piped up, "Are we gonna fight too?"
The Aisu nodded, replying, "Looking forward to stretching my legs. You can stay here if you like; no point in getting yourself hurt out there."
She glared at him indignantly, exclaiming, "Hey! I can take care of myself, and was doing so long before I met you!" Kaen just raised an eyebrow at her, much like Pi did him earlier, and like he had earlier she quickly shut up, but didn't look an iota less eager to fight. 'If I didn't know any better, I'd swear she's trying to prove herself to me, or something...' he thought to himself. He had no idea how right he was.
Frost slapped his forehead, groaning, "I didn't mean it like that!"
Raising her head defiantly, she stated, "I will fight!"
Shaking his head in defeat, he replied, "I never said you couldn't."
A low clicking sound could be heard from Avery's direction, only audible to those with enhanced hearing, and even then only because of the silence in the room, as his gun slowly extended out it's casing, and he commented coolly, "Guess this means I get to shoot somebody today."
Shifting a little uneasily, Frost replied, "That you do..."
Smirking a bit, the Tori looked at Frost with emotionless eyes, and said, "What's the matter? Nervous? Or are you scared of me?"
Gulping quietly, Frost replied, "I've seen what that thing can do, and I feel no better knowing you'll be behind me with it. One near miss with that against me was more than enough..."
Avery just started stroking his gun almost lovingly. The others just watched the exchange between them silently, while Flute raised a single hairless brow, and Kaen muttered a low, "Oh... Kay..." There was obviously something in their collective past they'd decided not to share, for whatever reason; he knew almost nothing about what had happened to them before their chance meeting. 'Then again,' he thought silently, 'they don't know everything about the others either. Hell, I don't think there's anyone on this ship that knows everything about everyone; you're lucky if you've got the full story of two people beside yourself... Avery and Frost seem to know each others', as do Flute and Viola, and Pi and myself, and I'm the only one who knows much of anything about Kat... No one seems willing to share either...'
Unknowingly, he'd allowed Pi to overhear his musings, but thankfully she didn't comment on them. Instead, she decided to cut the tension a little, before it became thick enough to chew on, by asking, "How long until we get there?"
Shaken from his thoughts, Kaen nodded, saying, "Good question."
Nodding himself, Frost added, "Pretty soon, but I'm sure Kat can give a more accurate time from her console."
Looking down, and looking over her console a bit, she chirped, "Almost there. Won't be more than a couple of minutes now."
Frost nodded again, saying, "Well, whatever it is you'd like to do before we get there is up to you. Just do it now."
Kaen just started stretching a bit, already having had worked out already, and replied, "I was born ready lizard." Despite the normal insult, it lacked the heat you'd expect, instead sounding almost friendly. Of course, Kaen would never admit Frost was a friend if his life depended on it; Saiyans and Aisu did not become friends.
Frost nodded once more as Flute left the bridge to get some meditation done, with Viola following his cue. Obviously, the Aisu picked up on the hidden meaning in the Saiyan's reply.
Turning to his mate, Kaen asked, "You ready?"
She nodded, saying, "Just need to change," before turning and leaving the bridge. He watched her leave intently, and couldn't help himself sigh softly as she left his sight; despite having a constant presence of her in his mind, he still missed having her by his side. Frost looked at Kaen oddly as he did so; after all, the cold, emotionless warrior sighing was the least thing anyone expected. As if suddenly remembering the others were in the room, the Saiyan spun around, fixing everyone present with a withering glare, before storming out; Kat just giggled to herself at the display.
Frost and Avery headed off towards the launch bay; it had been a while since either had seen actual combat. Kat headed off after them, but made sure to keep enough distance to not give them the wrong idea; she wasn't following them, merely going the same way.
o-o-o
Within minutes, the Icebreaker was tearing through the atmosphere of the planet, drawing the attention of all those currently under the blue-green sky. All seven members of the group on board the ship were currently in the launch bay, making any last minute preparations. To save time, Kaen discarded his coat while still onboard, taking a moment to crack his knuckles.
Pi spent a few moments arranging her long dark hair in it's usual pin to keep it out of her face; she never liked the idea of cutting it short or braiding it, so that left this as the only option. She quickly knelt to check her boots, and then stood again to sit her armour over her torso properly, playing with the high neck of her body suit a moment; she decided against cutting this one low.
Raising an eyebrow in her direction, her mate asked, "You right there?"
She simply smirked, saying, "I didn't want to distract you."
He smirked in kind, sending her a few distracting images of his own before replying, "Fair enough..."
She kept a cool look, trying very hard not to show how said images were effecting her, and leaned up to brush her lips against his cheek, but no sooner had she done that the ship jolted, making it more than clear they'd landed. The bay doors opened and light from outside flooded in, mid-morning by the looks of things. Around the area the ship had landed lay dozens of space pods, their passengers not far off.
Smirking broadly, Kaen dived out first, showing off a little as he leapt into a corkscrew, followed by flips, etc. until he landed, and immediately began searching for anything that so much as resembled a threat. Pi wasn't far behind him, and Kat not far behind her. Flute discarded his cloak and followed, and Viola did the same. Frost and Avery brought up the rear, and by that time the entire Cold invasion force had amassed around them, gazing incredulously at the Icebreaker, and a murmur of the name 'Frieza' passed through the onlookers.
Kaen appeared relaxed, gazing impassively at the assembled troops, but only if you could call a coiled spring relaxed. Kat, after observing his stance, tried her hardest to copy it, but couldn't quite get it right; she still got the message across, however.
After a moment Frost cleared his throat, and, using a loud voice such that all assembled could hear him as he levitated slightly to gain their attention, declared, "As some of you may know, I am not Frieza, I am Frost, his former lieutenant. Most of you are here because the Cold Empire brought your home world under submission. I ask you to stop doing his work for him, and not to enslave other worlds in his name. Join me, and we can bring Frieza to his knees." With this, a second murmur shot through the crowd.
Kaen just mumbled sarcastically to himself, barely audible over the murmuring of the crowd, "Oh yeah, that'll work..."
In response, Pi jabbed him lightly, by Saiyan standards anyway, with her elbow, and 'said, "You never know."He just rolled his eyes and grumbled to himself again; it was obvious that he'd be disappointed if it did work.
A single being stepped out of the crowd, a blue skinned creature that, to Kat's eyes at least, was too familiar for comfort, whose armour markings declared him the leader of the invasion forces. Stopping a pace or two in front of the assembled troops, he spoke, seemingly for them, "Well Frost, your offer is good, but the bounty Lord Frieza put on your head would be more than enough, even divided, to make us all stinking rich, not to mention what your friends are worth. Gonna make a better offer so we don't kill you?" Obviously, this being figured that, with higher numbers, the odds were stacked in their favour, and never once stopped to consider why the bounty was so large.
Frost simply shrugged, landing and silently triggering the internal workings that caused his transformation, before replying, "The offer is a simple matter I'm afraid. Join us, or die." If the assembled troops were to have looked at the Saiyan male present, they would've probably wet themselves at the evil smirk on his face.
Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, a feint blue burst of light shot past Frost's head, missing by inches at most, starting behind him and streaming through the group towards the crowd. No sooner did it disappear than six members of the invasion force collapsed, the gaping, still smoking holes straight through their chests showing that the beam of light was anything but harmless. Lowering his gun, Avery, who fired the shot, looked very self-satisfied, and Frost couldn't help but shudder a little at how close the shot had come to his head.
Pausing a moment Frost gave a short cry, and transformed into his second form; while it may have been a lot less dramatic than Frieza's first transition, the results were much the same. In the moment of confusion caused by his transformation he launched his attack, a ball of blue ki in his raised hand, with a cry of "Hail Storm!" A deadly barrage of light blue ki blasts fired from this larger ball, the one in his hand decreasing with each shot, and shredded through no less than ten of the invading party where they stood.
Smirk still firmly intact, the thought "Watch this." came through the bond moments before Kaen began his attack. At first, from the motions he was making it seemed he was using his trademark Inferno Blast, but at the last second his ki made a sudden spike, the flow into the blast doubled, and with a cry of "Chaos Inferno!" a massive gout of flame, in a beam almost four metres in diameter, fired from his hands, the destructive forces detonating, and taking seven grunts instantly, leaving another five writhing in the burning pyre, and leaving Kaen with a smirk that was about as self satisfied as Avery's.
Pi raised her hands above her head, collecting ki, and through them down with a cry of "Gaia Disruption!" sending the blast into the ground below her. Without warning, the ground under the soldiers erupted, blasts of ki firing straight out of the earth, but unfortunately not hitting anyone. It did, however, leave twelve of them disoriented by the ensuing quakes. Pride shone through the bond as Kaen said, "Not bad," but she just smiled wryly in return; despite his praise, she knew she could do better, and knew he knew that as well.
Flute drew his right hand back, making a throwing motion with a cry of, "Vapour Grenade!" and hurling a hazy green ball of ki which landed amongst their foes, causing a sudden explosion of searing heat which claimed seven more lives as the green ki flames drew all the heat from their bodies. Kaen fought to keep from gaping, just keeping his smirk instead; he had to admit, even if it was only to himself, he was impressed with the Namek's skill with techniques.
Raising her arm, and creating a greyish-white thunder ball, Viola hurled it towards the enemy with a cry of "Static Field!" the single ball exploding into four separate blasts, each pinning one of the grunts to the ground before he's overcome by the electrical energy, and fall still.
Kat, the last to attack, drew her hands back, a black ball of ki forming in each, and threw them forward with a cry of "Night Shade!" Unfortunately, much to her chagrin, only a single warrior was enveloped by her blast of dark ki; however, where the blast died down, there was nothing left of him.
Out of the remaining warriors, none of which have yet had a chance to retaliate, five more were caught in the raging red flames of Kaen's Chaos Inferno, and another three fell victim to the lingering death of the green flames of Flute's Vapour Grenade. When both flames died down, there was but a single warrior remaining out of the original army.
Frost's grin widened as the last remaining troop of the invasion forces, after taking a moment to look around at what was left of the corpses of those he'd come here with, began to whimper and plead for his life; he had, after all, just seen the entire team bar him slaughtered in less than a minute, and, while most, if not all, Cold Empire troops would die if ordered to fight to the death, they, like he, rarely wanted to die.
A bored look on his face, Kaen turned away from the survivor, facing the others and calling out, in a voice loud enough that even the soldier heard him, "Who wants the left overs?" This comment only served to make the man twice as afraid, and send both Pi and Kat into a fit of quiet giggles.
Avery raised his gun, taking aim at the man, but before he could fire Frost waved him off, saying in a slightly booming voice, the result of his transformation, "Let me take care of this." The Nameks remained silent as Frost slowly walked up to the guy, to draw out the fear, but inside both of them were glad it was over. Reaching the man, Frost picked him up by the collar; now that he was a good foot or two taller he loomed over the man. When the two were face to face he said, in an eerily quiet voice that caused more fear than a shout, "Tell Frieza that his days are numbered." This said, he threw the man into a nearby space pod, punching in the co-ordinates for the current Planet Frieza in himself, and slammed the hatch shut, watching as the ship blasted off, and left the atmosphere.
Kaen watched the ship with a grin on his face, fully intent to blast it to smithereens should it even appear to be turning around, but he severely doubted it would; unless his eyes were deceiving him, the guy had wet himself, and with good cause, he might add. Pi just stretched a little, saying, "That was a good warm up."
That grin still on his face, Kaen nodded, replying, "Yeah, not bad. It's a shame it was so short though, I was looking forward to a good, long, fight."
Frost nodded once himself before saying, "Well, no matter, we can be on our way soon enough, now that's done. However, I'd like to sweep the planet first, to make sure there aren't any other parties that landed."
Kaen's grin turned into his trademark Saiyan smirk as he replied, "With pleasure."
Paying the Saiyan's eagerness no mind, other than filing it away for later, Frost continued, "By the looks of things, it was probably a scouting party, but Frieza sometimes deploys several forces at different points planet side. Instead of looking blindly, we should find the locals, and see if we can pick up anything from their local network about invading parties."
Kaen just nodded again, wrapping an arm around Pi's waist before saying, "Lead on."
Flute, silent until now, interrupted, "I don't think we need to find them. It would appear they have found us." He indicated the nearby forest line, where several pink-skinned aliens, with large eyes and ears, watched them intently. Kaen didn't so much as flinch at this revelation, but he did make sure to watch them for any potential trouble, as did, seemingly, Frost and Viola. Kat tried her hardest to imitate Kaen's relaxed mood, but only got it half right.
One of the taller aliens knelt before them, his voice amazingly humble as he said, "Thank you, saviours. The ones you defeated had destroyed an entire merchant caravan without mercy. We fled, and they would have come after us too, if you hadn't arrived."
Kaen just shrugged, as if he got this reaction everywhere he went; and truth be told, he had gotten this reaction on at least a few occasions. Waving it off, he said, "All in a good day's work really."
Still on it's knees, the being gestured towards the forest and added, "Please, come with us to our village. It is not far, and we can offer you food and rest for saving us." Kaen's eyes lit up at the mentioning of the word 'food', but he made no comment.
Frost scratched his head a little, unsure of how to deal with the situation - he'd never been in it before, after all - before turning to look at the others, saying, "Any objections?"
Flute turned to regard Viola, his eyes silently asking for her opinion before he'd make his, but she just shrugged in reply, responding just as silently that she didn't care either way. Similarly, Avery shrugged, shook his head, and muttered, "Whatever..." Pi nodded her assent quickly, as did Kaen, although his was a tad more enthusiastic.
Frost waited patiently for everyone, but, seeing as she wasn't paying attention, he called, "Kat?"
She blinked quickly, surprised that her opinion was being asked, and, still not over the shock, just replied, "Oh, sure, okay..." in a dazed voice, before returning to her previous thoughts.
Frost just nodded, ignoring her odd behaviour - she could hardly be considered normal at the best of times - and said, his voice directed at the kneeling being, "We accept. Please, lead on."
The alien nodded and stood up, saying, "My name is Nu'riah. I am the mayor of the village. I ask you to please feel welcome," before they began the short journey to the village.
o-o-o
No sooner had they entered the forest were they immediately inside the 'village', which in itself was seemingly a part of the trees, and nature around it. Looking around excitedly, Kat cried, "Cool!" Flute and Viola looked equally impressed in their own way, but, of course, neither of them were quite so energy about it.
Looking down at the ground, Pi remarked, "These flowers are very pretty."
Without looking around, moving his head, or even twitching, Kaen replied through their bond, "They've got nothing on you though..." Given the speed of the reply, it wasn't immediately obvious whether this was an idle thought, or an actual message to her, but never-the-less she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek for it. Finally looking around he smiled down at her before stopping for a moment to pick one of the flowers, the one that, in his opinion, looked the nicest, and thread it in her hair, causing her to giggle softly and kiss him again. Kat tried her hardest not to look jealous at the display, and mostly succeeded; it seemed to be getting easier the more time she spent around them.
As the group continued walking through the village, it became suddenly apparent that, despite the appearance of the aliens they'd met earlier, that their guides were the male of the species, and the female variation was equivalent to very pretty women, only with larger than usual eyes. Frost couldn't help but grin at them, but all too quickly he realised that he was still in his less-than attractive second form. He took a small vial from a concealed pocket under his armour (unlike Frieza, he felt no need to break it when he powered up) and swallowed its contents. With a sharp gasp he reverted to his initial form, and, coughing a little to regain his composure, continued walking.
Muttering mostly to himself, Kaen said dryly, "I always wondered how they did that..."
Nu'riah ushered them into a larger hall, where most of the villagers seemed to be gathering. They were all looking at the odd party of adventurers, as an unusual silence settled upon all those assembled.
Looking around, Kaen said through the bond, "Looks like they've seen a ghost..." but before Pi could form a response, a cheer rose up, everyone making a good deal of noise for their saviours. Frost was more than a little caught off guard, as was Kat, who looked around awed, but Kaen just seemed to take it in his stride, like this sort of thing happened every day; actually, truth be told, it had happened a few times, he couldn't remember the exact number, but that was beside the point.
Pi, despite feeling about as awed as Kat looked, managed to keep her composure, and a confident smirk, while the ever-stoic Nameks looked as implacable as ever. And as for Avery seemed to be concerned, he could have walked into an empty room.
Nu'riah raised his hands to hush the crowd, and as they fell silent he began his speech. "As the tree have told us, these are our saviours, come to save us from the ones who would destroy us all. Let us prepare a feast worthy of them all!" With that the hall was filled with activity, as everyone moved for side doors to prepare for the festivities.
Frost interjected with, "The trees told you?" Despite his questioning tone, there was a hint of scepticism.
Nu'riah nodded, either missing or ignoring said scepticism as he replied, "We can see with the trees, those near and far. The trees are our brothers."
Frost managed to keep his decorum, despite the thought of being brothers with trees making him want to laugh, as more important issues held his thoughts, which he voiced, "Would you be able to tell us if any others might be on the planet, like those we destroyed? If there are, we can stop them, before they do any damage to your homes."
Nu'riah nodded thoughtfully, mulling it over before responding, "It is possible, but to get news from all over the globe would take a week. We are more then willing to allow you to remain here, if that is what you wish saviour, while we wait for the news to arrive."
Frost nodded slightly and turned to Flute, saying, "Since you seem to call most of the shots with this deal, can we put off your hunt for a week? The final decision is yours, but I'd prefer it if we made sure Frieza didn't leave any surprises behind."
Flute paused in thought weighing the options in his mind. A quick glance at Viola showed that, while her face was, as usual, blank, her eyes spoke volumes in the silent way of communication the two shared, telling him it was his decision, and his alone. He was torn between his quest to save his home, or staying to help theirs; either way there was a chance he'd be sacrificing one world to save the other. Deciding to take the risk, and praying his wasn't dooming his people, he answered, "Very well, we can stay."
Frost nodded and turned back to Nu'riah, saying diplomatically, "We graciously accept your hospitality. Though I must give you fair warning..." He made a quick glance at Kaen and Pi before continuing, "Our Saiyan counterparts could eat an entire feast of their own, each, and I would not like to put your supplies at risk." Kaen had the gall to grin, refusing to take offence, but Pi was less than impressed, and not as adept at hiding it, instead shooting Frost a slightly indignant glare.
Nu'riah simply shook his head, saying, "You needn't worry, the trees also foretold your companions appetite. We are well provided for, I assure you. I only hope you find our meals nourishing."
Frost had to fight to keep from saying 'I'm sure they'll eat whatever you put out; in fact, I'd be surprised if they even tasted it...' He succeeded, but it wasn't without a great deal of effort; he bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood.
Nu'riah clapped his hands softly, and when a young maiden appeared he said, "Are the rooms ready?"
She nodded, turning to the group and saying in a delicate voice, "Please follow me." That said, she turned away and walked out towards a second building, no quite as large as the hall itself, but still a fairly large building compared to the others in the village.
Frost followed her eagerly, perhaps too eagerly. Kaen just pulled Pi closer towards him, both because he liked holding her close, and as a way to ward off any of the potential 'watchers' he knew he acquired on every planet he went to, as he followed. Flute took a moment to offer Viola an arm, which she happily accepted, a slight smile on her face, before the two followed. Kat followed after the two couples, trying both to hide her jealousy, and to ignore Avery, who walked behind her, gun still withdrawn.
They were lead to an inn, where rooms were provided for them. However, being that, when they did get guests, there weren't a great many, the inn was fairly small, and only had four rooms available, something their female guide apologised profusely for the inconvenience of.
Kaen just grinned again, still holding Pi close, and silently saying that, even were there enough rooms for one each, the two still would have been sharing one. Similarly, Flute and Viola seemed not to care either way about sharing a room; the two didn't sleep, after all, only meditated, so sharing a room didn't hurt them any. Kat, however, seemed less than impressed at the thought of having to share a room with either of the males left, and immediately began demanding to have a room of her own, and for Avery and Frost to leave her alone.
This, of course, meant the remaining two members of the group, Frost and Avery, were forced to share the last room. Avery just shrugged; he didn't really care either way where he slept, and he'd just as soon sleep outside as in. Frost, however, were more than uncomfortable at the thought of having to share with Avery - spending time with Avery made him remember his past, and those were far from pleasant thoughts - but he hid it behind a mask of annoyance; actually, the mask was fairly easy to don, seeing as how he was annoyed at Kat, and the scene she was making.
Kaen took notice of Frost's discomfort, however well he tried to hide it, and made a note of to ask him later as the group claimed their rooms, Kat and the Saiyans on one side, and the rest on the other, before they, as a group, headed back to the hall, engaging in feasting and festivities until the day drew dark.
End Chapter 12
To be continued...
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Author's notes:
You'll notice in the flashback sequence at the start of the chapter that, aside from a single mentioning, I never use Kaen's name, using 'he', 'him', and so on. The main reason for this is because he never uses his name, except when thinking to himself, thus I decided it would be easier to do what I did, rather than trying to work out different ways of calling him 'the mystery man,' and I'll continue to do so. Besides which, unless you haven't been paying attention to the flashbacks in the previous 9 chapters, you should know who he is anyway.