--- The Phoenix Chronicles ---
Chapter 13 - A Slight Detour, Part 2 - Hostilities
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He scowled to himself, absently fingering the sling his left arm rested in. He knew that the arm would be fine again by morning, but it was an annoyance nonetheless. He'd gotten cocky on his last job, and that lead him to be careless, meaning one of the undeveloped, unevolved, barely-conscious pond-scum that made up the criminal world of Ichiba-Sei had managed to wound him, all because he didn't realise the guy was there. Life was so much more difficult without a scouter.
That thought made his scowl deepen; the fact that he was so dependant on a device rankled him. It made him no better than Cold's weaklings... His scowl lifted slightly as he realised something. Many of Cold's troupes couldn't actually form ki blasts themselves, so they had devices on their arms to allow them to attack with their ki. Potentially, this meant that a scouter just made up for the lack of a natural ability to detect people's power levels, and if so...
He sat down cross-legged on his bed, and, with a sigh, forced his body to relax, as he stretched out his mind for an answer to his problem. While he'd never been very big on meditation when he was younger, he did know the 'how' and 'why' of it, and had partaken in meditation between training sessions some times; if his memory served him, anyway, which it often failed to do nowadays.
The room was the one he'd been given in the hotel when he first arrived, but he was paying for it himself now; he had been on the planet for over a week now. Fortunately, his new career payed well, as the merchants were willing to pay quite a bit to be rid of the criminal element; 'a small price', they all said, 'for not having to deal with crime anymore'. Often, the amount they paid him was in excess of what the crime would have cost them, if only because it was a one-off charge that was, in their eyes, worth paying.
He was paying his way in the hotel day-by-day, because he had no way of knowing when, exactly, he'd have to leave. Of the rest of his pay, quite a bit was spent on food, as, being a Saiyan, he required quite a bit, but the amount was lessening; he was slowly training himself to run off less food, for those times he knew he'd have to go without. Almost all the money he didn't spend on food was going on repairing his ship, and that was doing the repairs himself; he knew he'd never be able to afford having someone else repair it. There was, of course, the occasional extra expense, like the thus-far one off purchase of a new outfit: a black bodysuit, boots, and gloves, with a set of red torso armour, and, completing the set, a red headband, and black trench coat; weighted, of course, to aid in his training.
Suddenly, he was torn from his thoughts, as his meditation started to bear fruit; he could... feel, something on the edge of his senses. Focusing his hearing, he picked up sounds coming from the room next door; the guy living there having an argument with his 'lady friend' for the day. Turning his head in that direction, but keeping his eyes closed, he could, for lack of a better word, 'see' a dull yellow glow, and a slightly more vibrant one, through the wall. He smiled to himself; it seemed that there was some truth to his theory after all.
He smiled to himself in satisfaction, as he slowly counted through the pay from his latest job. His new technique, which he dubbed 'ki sensing', for lack of a better term, proved to be most useful; while it wasn't perfect - yet - it helped keep him one step ahead of the competition, and that was all he really needed. The last job had gone off without a hitch, and, while he wasn't confident enough in his sixth sense yet to say he could have done the job blindfolded, he was getting close.
"Uh, excuse me mister?"
His musing was interrupted by a small voice, belong to a small child, that was looking up at him with big eyes. Trying not to scare the boy, he asked, "What is it kid?"
Fidgeting a bit, the boy asked, "Uh, is it true you're a phoenix?"
"Where'd you hear that?" He asked, curious.
The boy shuffled his feet a bit, replying, "I, uh, heard some of the dock workers talking about it."
"And do you know what a phoenix is?" He himself didn't, but he wasn't about to admit that, so he decided to test this kid's knowledge, and satisfy his own curiosity at the same time.
Nodding, the boy replied, "Yeah, uh, they said a phoenix was a bird of fire that appeared to help people in need. They said that a phoenix is immortal, and if it ever gets killed, it simply rises from the ashes, reborn again. They said that you were a phoenix in human form. Are you?"
He grinned; he liked the sound of that. Reaching into the bag that held his most recent pay, he pulled out one of the gems; a ruby, and fairly large at that. Crouching down, he took one of the boy's hands in his own, placing the ruby inside, and saying, "Thanks for the story kid." With that, he started to walk off.
"Wait mister!" The boy called out, without having yet seen what he'd given him, "You didn't answer-"
"Yes, kid." He replied, turning back to the boy, "My name is Phoenix. Spread the word." With that, he was gone; as such, he didn't see the boy's eyes almost fall out of his head when he realised what he was holding.
o-o-o
The sun dawns on the unknown planet the crew of the Icebreaker landed on, marking the start of a new day. Much of the previous night was spent eating and celebrating with the local sentients in their forest village; a general celebration of being alive after the destruction of the initial Cold Empire invasion forces. With a new day comes a new challenge, and as the sun begins it's lazy trek across the sky, bathing the village hidden in and amongst the forest at the foothills of the mountain range, seeming to stretch as long as the mountains themselves, it's occupants, both permanent and temporary, know this new challenge is, like the sun, just across the horizon.
For now, however, said occupants seem to be taking it easy, as if enjoying this moment of peace while it lasts. The Saiyan warrior Kaen, taking a break from his usual routine of training and eating, simply relaxes in the shade of one of the large trees, his better half seated in his lap, resting her head against his chest and absently playing gently with his tail, his arms around her waist.
The Namekin Viola meditates silently a short distance away, also in the shade of one of the great trees, but her male counterpart is nowhere to be seen; his ki can, however, be sensed further off in the mountains. The Neko Kat currently rests on a tree branch some 20 feet above Viola, fast asleep, her arms hanging on either side of her impromptu bed, but her self-appointed enemy Avery is, like Flute, nowhere to be seen; his ki can be sensed travelling aimlessly through the forest.
The rebel Aisu Frost seems to have embraced his role as 'saviour and protector' as he wanders around the village warily, almost daring anyone to try and attack; in his fight against the Cold Empire he's taken a very serious air. Laughing quietly to himself as he watches the Aisu, Kaen mutters, "He's really milking this hero thing for all it's worth isn't he..." 'Then again,' he mused to himself, making sure to block the thought from Pi, 'I've done the same before.'
Elbowing him softly in the ribs, Pi shot back, "Maybe he doesn't like seeing people get hurt, especially those who can't defend themselves... like a certain someone I know."
Raising an eyebrow, Kaen replied mock-seriously, "Me? I'm not that bad surely?"
She just grinned, saying, "He takes what he does seriously."
"A little too seriously if you ask me."
She giggled in response, saying, "Yes, almost as seriously as any dedicated Saiyan. I never expected to see it in an Aisu, especially one related to Frieza."
He grinned, "Can't say I ever expected to spend time with any Aisu."
Her playful grin intact, she commented, "Yes, and who would expect you to actually start liking one."
He raised an eyebrow in mock offence, "What gives you that idea, hmm?"
She shifted slightly to look into his eyes, before replying, "Well, you aren't muttering about causing him an imminent death as often as you used to, and not quite so seriously." Her smile started to bare her teeth a little.
He shrugged as best he could from their position, saying disinterestedly, "Haven't been in the mood."
She shifted back to her previous position, giggling to herself again, "You always were a pathetic liar."
Sighing dramatically he replied, "That I was."
She tilted her head up to kiss him on the chin, before giggling to herself again.
Smiling again, he continued, "I found it much easier to say nothing rather than lie. People will always make up their own minds anyway, regardless of how you answer." Laughing a bit, he added, "Besides, it's funny to hear some of the answers people come up with."
Curious now, she prompted him to continue by saying, "Like what?"
"Everything. How strong I was, how old I was, what I was; would you believe the people of one planet thought I was the current avatar of some ancient guardian they believe in? Hell, even something as simple as my name. For safety reasons I never told anyone my name during my travels, or why I wouldn't, and you wouldn't believe some of the things people call me, and the reasons why I didn't tell them."
She grinned a bit, marking off her fingers as she listed, "Phoenix, bastard, 'that damn Saiyan', monkey, brute..." She added contemptuously, "hottie..."
Ignoring that last one for his own safety, he grinned a bit himself and replied, "Those were some of the more popular. I've lost count of all of them." 'I must admit,' he thought to himself, 'I did, and do, like the sound of 'Phoenix'; a legendary bird of fire that can never be killed, always rising from the ashes again. It's a nice thought, never being able to be killed, although I 'spose I've already 'risen from the ashes' a couple of times...'
Unbeknownst to him, he'd accidentally allowed Pi to overhear his musings, but she made no comment on them, instead continuing from their previous topic. "Those are some of the common ones I heard while following your trail. The last one came up more often than I would have liked..." She then added quietly, "Although, I can't say I really blame those who said it..."
Overhearing her quiet remark, he leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Why thank you." She blushed a little, elbowing him again playfully, by Saiyan standards anyway; the 'light blow' would have probably been more than enough to crack the ribs of most other races, if not worse. He just pulled her closer, chuckling quietly to himself.
Continuing his walking patrol, Frost approached the group, stopping by Viola and clearing his throat before saying, "Do you have any idea where Flute is? I'd like to speak with him." Seeing that Viola wasn't about to break from her meditation anytime soon, Kaen just raised his right arm and pointed in the direction he sensed Flute's ki, but said nothing. Raising a hairless eyebrow, the Aisu asked, "How do you know that?"
Deciding he couldn't be bothered explaining in detail, the Saiyan powerhouse just replied, "Just do."
Frost just shrugged, "Whatever it is, I'd like to learn it. It seems useful. Anyway, any idea how far?"
Raising an eyebrow, Kaen said, "See the floating mountains?"
Looking about, Frost did in fact see a couple of the smaller mountains floating a bit off the ground, and a slightly awestruck look hit him as he muttered in a dazed voice, "Wow, never seen that done before..."
Nodding once, Kaen just said, "There," before closing his eyes and going back to his relaxation.
He just shrugged again, "I guess I'll take your word for it."
A very small smile flitted across his face as, without moving a muscle, he replied, "You do that."
Nodding once, the Aisu took off in the given direction, Pi watching him fly off before saying, "Flute's letting off those ki spikes that blew up the training bots. I hope Frost doesn't try anything overly stupid..."
Kaen just opened his eyes again, looked down at her, and shrugged, before replying with a hint of a smirk, "I dunno, that would be rather amusing to watch." She just shook her head, looking in Viola's direction, as she seemed entirely undisturbed by everything. The woman in question seemed oblivious of the attention, the extra training methods Flute showed her helping to block out all outside distractions, as she floated a few inches off the ground, eyes closed.
Returning from whatever it was he was doing, Avery remarked dryly, "Well, aren't you lot full of energy." Pi turned to face him and simply blinked; she wasn't totally aware he'd gone, let alone come back. Her other half seemed no better off, having to suppress a startled jump at missing both his departure and return, before shrugging in dismissal. Kat's reaction, however, was far more colourful, as, startled awake by the intruding voice, she leapt awake and almost fell out of the tree, catching herself with her claws and pulling herself up; in her tired state, she seemed to forget the fact she could land on her feet safely.
Looking up at the young Neko, Pi couldn't help but giggle a little, which caused Kat, now sitting on the branch again, to alternate her glare between Avery and her, a look ruined by her yawning widely. For her part, Pi remained ignorant of Kat's glare as she went back to scrutinising Kaen's tail to some degree; try as she might, Kat's glares were far from intimidating unless you were a male who was being particularly lecherous.
Chuckling dryly, Avery said, "What's the matter kitty? You look tired."
As tired as she was she apparently missed the jibe, just mumbling, "Didn't get much sleep last night. Those two kept me awake all night." She inclined her head towards the relaxing Saiyan couple. Yawning again, she added, "They were loud enough to wake the dead, and were at it for hours. I'm surprised they didn't keep the whole village awake, let alone that you got any sleep." In her tired state, she also seemed to miss just how blunt she was being.
He just shrugged, saying offhandedly, "I could sleep through a quake," as he looked at the Saiyans out of the corner of his eyes. Pi was wearing a smirk as smug as she could bare, a look that clashed with her rising blush, and Kaen had a mirroring smirk, minus the blush; obviously he felt no need to be embarrassed about their nightly activities.
The catgirl just yawned once more before lying down again to get some more sleep, and, seeing as how his favourite verbal punching bag was out of commission, Avery just sat down quietly and started cleaning and reloading his gun, dotting on it as much as normal people would a small child.
"Wow, he's social..." Kaen mumbled sarcastically to himself.
"About as socially appealing as a head-cold," Pi replied just as quietly
Nodding once, he broke out into quiet laughter, "And people call me blunt."
She poked her tongue out at him, "I must be spending too much time with you."
"Gee, we wouldn't want that now would we..." he mumbled to himself. The sarcasm was so think you could almost taste it. She promptly shut him up with a kiss, a gesture he accepted easily, holding her close.
The peace in the forest was suddenly, and rudely, disturbed by a fairly substantial shuddering of the earth. Breaking the kiss, Kaen didn't so much as blink in surprise, simply remarking, "Wow, that was unexpected..." Kat, however, was far less composed about being shocked awake again, this time actually falling from the tree before she managed to catch herself with her ki in mid air, upside down, and with her face just inches from the ground; apparently, she'd lost her ability to land on her feet due to sleep deprivation.
Avery just chuckled dryly at her again, commenting loudly enough for everyone to hear, "Well, that was graceful."
For the first time since she'd started, Viola broke from her meditation, and, upon noticing that Flute had dropped the mountains, which had, in turn, caused the shockwave, merely said, "This can't be good."
Pi just raised an eyebrow, offering, "Frost?"
Kaen groaned, but the words that came out of his mouth weren't what you'd expect, "Dammit, we're missing the show."
Pi just elbowed him again before getting up, saying, "They could be in trouble."
Sighing, and muttering something like, "It'd serve him right..." under his breath, he stood himself and said aloud, "We'd better go and check on them then." The five of them were in the air within moments, Avery bringing up the rear, as they headed off towards Flute's mountain training ground.
o-o-o
As they neared, several smaller ki signatures became evident, as well as the fact Flute's level had dropped a decent amount from his norm. Upon finding Flute and Frost, it could be seen that Flute had discarded his cloak and mantle, and Frost had changed into his second form. Kaen just growled, "I hate leftovers..." as they approached, forming blades of black fire over both his hands.
Wasting no time, Flute prepared an attack, launching it with a cry of "Inferno Grenade!" and incinerating four of the remaining fifteen grunts. Frost was ready with his own attack moments later, the icy blast piercing another's heart with a cry of, "Ice Beam!"
Without a word Kaen sped forward, lashing out at a pair of grunts as he shot past with his ki blades, and dispatching them fairly cleanly; well, truth be told, the dispatching was fairly messy as they fell apart, but that's beside the point.
Kat threw her hands back, forming a blast eerily reminiscent of Kaen's Inferno Blast, and fired it with a shout of "Darkness Wave," but, in her fatigue-clouded mind, her aim was way off, and the blast runs wide, ending up blowing a hole in a semi-distant mountain, and causing her to curse softly to herself as her eyes hung low, sleep threatening to pull her under again.
Viola, like those before her, wasted no time in attacking, destroying two with her Static Field attack, but a third managed to evade. Pi raised both hands above her head and chose her targets, launching her attack with a cry of "Titan Fury" and turning both into a fine red mist.
Avery simply smirks as he raises his gun, the malleable weapon shifting form into what appears to be a rocket launcher. Saying loudly, "Fire in the hole," the gun fires, proving, for once, that appearances are not always deceiving, as it does indeed fire a rocket, the explosion catching three of the remaining four grunts, the last of which rushes at Flute blasting wildly, one such blast catching Flute in the arm badly, before the man is met by the Namek's other arm in a cross chop to the neck which, by the snap, seems to have broken several bones, and sends the man flying directly through a nearby cliff face.
Viola surprised herself by rushing to his side and asking worriedly, "Are you ok?" despite knowing that, with his regenerative capabilities, he would be. He just nodded slightly, before taking a moment to examine his arm; the muscle was shot through at the joint, meaning that the arm was now, for all intensive purposes, useless. Gritting his teeth, he promptly tore it off at the shoulder, causing the non-Namek females to wince, the younger of the pair also gasping in shock, and the Saiyan male raising an eyebrow in silent question of the Namek's sanity.
Flute seemed oblivious to their reactions as he ground his teeth harder, looking very strained, even going so far as to growl audibly, before, without warning, a new arm burst free from the mutilated stump he'd left, with a small spray of purple blood and a small shout escaping his lips. Kat gasped once more as she jumped in shock, Pi looked more than dumbstruck, and, in keeping with his usual silent expressions, Kaen's other eyebrow rose, changing his look from one of question to one of shock.
Frost merely nodded slightly as he watched Flute flex his new hand, giving it a quick examination to ensure it turned out right, but Avery seemed as impassive as always, as if he saw a man regrow a limb every day; then again, Avery never showed any signs of anything.
Flute was the first to break the awkward silence that had settled on the group after his little display, commenting, "It would appear you were right Frost, there are more of them."
The man in question looked towards the horizon, in the direction facing away from the village, before replying, "They seem to be in groups of about forty or so. Not too hard to beat, but it's more than obvious we can be overwhelmed if not too careful." Flute nodded solemnly, unconsciously holding his newly regenerated arm.
Kaen just smirked a very Saiyan smirk, saying, "Bring it on."
Pi spoke up, "We should probably head back to the village; maybe news has come in?"
Frost nodded a little, "You all head back. I'll scout around a little, let you know if anything comes up."
"I'll go with you, make sure you don't do anything stupid." The words had left Kaen's mouth before he'd realised what he was saying, or thought about why he was saying them. He justified his actions in his mind as just an instinctual desire to be there when and if a fight started, despite knowing it wasn't the full truth; although he'd never admit it, not even to himself, he did consider Frost something of a friend.
Frost just grinned, "I'm not as irresponsible as you Saiyans." His words carried more humour than contempt.
Raising an eyebrow, also with semi-obvious amusement, Kaen replied, "That a fact? Then care to explain why you decided to take on a group with the odds stacked fairly heavily against you, and why Flute now looks rather worse for wear as a result?"
Snorting, the Aisu replied, "Decided? I didn't think even you Saiyans were thick enough not to notice the fact we were ambushed, and with Flute already tired out after his training, the forty-odd strong party managed to do a fair amount of damage before you guys arrived to mop up the stragglers."
Still with his eyebrow raised, Kaen fired back, "Ambushed huh? So what makes you think that there won't be anymore that try the same thing, with similar results, and you without backup this time?" Almost as an after thought, he added, "Oh, and you call my stupid again and I may have to kill you." The words lacked the heat he was going for.
"That's why I said I wanted to scout the area, see if there were any more to flush out, and a small party is harder to find than a large one, as if that wasn't obvious." He then added, with a great deal of mirth, "The only thing you could do to kill me is set your girlfriend after me; she's ten times more threatening than you'll ever manage."
Pi took that as quite the compliment, smirking in a quite satisfied manor, but Kaen just growled to himself, deciding against continuing the argument; disputing that final point would just make Pi angry with him, and as loath as he was to admit it, in their verbal jousts Frost was the stronger.
Ignoring their banter, Flute glanced quietly at Viola, giving her a reassuring nod and a slight smile, a gesture she reciprocated just as silently.
Barking a laugh, Frost took to the air, speeding forward slightly before pausing, turning back to Kaen and saying, "Are you coming or not?" before speeding off again.
With a vicious growl, Kaen blasted off after him with a violent burst of speed, and a shout of "I'll kill you!"
Pi watched as Kaen sped after Frost, giggling a little to herself, "He's so cute when he gets angry." Kat, joining her in giggling, managed to catch herself before letting slip she agreed. Knowing Pi's opinion of his 'groupies', it probably wouldn't have gone over well; she'd met a few herself in her travels, and was also less than impressed.
Flute used his ki to retrieve his cloak, but, finding it in tatters, merely discarded it, commenting neutrally, "I could use a drink."
Without thinking Viola picked up to the discarded cloak, using her abilities to transmute it fixed again, and unconsciously increasing the weight, knowing, on some subconscious level, that it was reaching the point of being too light for him. Handing it back to him, she replied, in a similar tone, "Same." He took the now-fixed cloak with a slight nod and an even slighter smile, putting it on and offering her an arm, a gesture she accepted.
The moment was ruined, however, when Kat exclaimed, an awestruck look on her face, "How did you do that?"
Pi nodded as well, adding, "And that thing with your arm!"
Flute looked at them and blinked a little, as if just noticing the two were still there; he'd noticed Avery fly off out of the corner of his eye, and figured these two had gone with him. Viola seemed just as surprised, and inwardly scolded herself for the mistake; she'd been paying so much attention to him, and so little attention to anything else, that the pair could've been ambushed easily, and she wouldn't have known until one of them got hit.
Breaking the silence, Flute explained with a dry tone, as if saying that stones were hard, "Nameks are able to regenerate lost limbs with ease. As long as our head remains intact, we can regrow everything else."
Kat, picking up on his tone, huffed, "Well how were we 'sposed to know?" Her only reply was a single raised eyebrow from the stoic Namek, and, realising her statement wasn't having the desired effect, she dropped the look an merely started pouting sullenly, not realising she was acting like a child that didn't get his/her own way.
Pi kept her gaze on Viola, asking again, "How did you fix his cloak like that? If I knew how it would make fixing Kaen's clothes so much easier for me!"
Viola simply shrugged in response, saying, "It's just something I discovered I could do through my meditation; I can change one thing into another. I haven't tested the limits of it yet, but in theory I could make things from nothing but air. I'm not sure if others could learn, but I'll never know unless I try."
Pi nodded as if she understood, and Kat just continued pouting. Seeing nothing worth hanging around for, Viola started floating, gesturing at Flute as if to say 'follow.' As he started to do just that, he couldn't help but ask her in a voice loud enough to be heard without it's intent being obvious, "Were you ever like that?" gesturing at Pi and Kat as he said it.
With a hint of an amused look on her face, she sighed semi-dramatically and replied, her voice just as loud, "Kami I hope not, I really do." A smirk slowly started to spread on his face as well as the two began flying off.
Pi, having overheard this, was far from impressed, and her expression showed as much from the glower she directed their way as she followed, and Kat, flying along side her, tried to match the look, and while she was getting better, she still wasn't quite there. And as they flew back to the village in silence, the group now split in two, the sun reached its peak in the teal sky; the day was only half over, and their troubles had only just begun...
End Chapter 13
To be continued...