--- The Phoenix Chronicles ---

Chapter 14 - A Slight Detour, Part 3 - Power Trip

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Phoenix licked his fingers, having just finished off a monumental feast in the eyes of the restaurants other patrons; in his eyes, it was lunch, albeit a fairly heavy one. Today was the day. Today, he would fire his ship up, finally completely repaired, and leave the planet that had heralded his rebirth. He didn't know when he'd be on world next, so he needed to make sure his body was properly fueled up; hence the heavy lunch.

It had taken a month to repair his ship, including the upgrades he'd made to some of the systems, but he believed he could have gotten it done faster if he hadn't had to work; of course, if he hadn't worked, then he never would have been able to afford the parts to repair and upgrade it, so it was a moot point. In that month, he'd made quite a bit of money, and had managed to tone down his eating habit enough to actually save some. Now, he only needed one big meal a week, and the rest of the week he could do fine without; not to say that he liked going a week without, but he wouldn't be left powerless if he needed to.

In that month, he had managed to reduce the crime rate in Ichiba-Sei to nothing. Zip. Zero. There was absolutely no crime at all left across the entire planet, which was quite a feat for the largest trading hub in the entire Northern Quadrant; he surmised that he'd either killed them all, or they were too afraid to commit crimes, lest he be sent after them, but either way sat with him just fine. In any case, it was time he left.

As he headed towards where his pod was stored, he noticed something that set his blood afire. A Cold Empire scouting party, a mere four large, wading through the crowd, showing the occasional person something on a palmtop display device. One of the Delta sector merchants, spotting him, quickly grabbed him by the arm, spinning him around and drawing him close, whispering into his ear, "They're after a man fitting your description Phoenix. None of us have said anything so far, and we won't, what with all you've done for us, but it'll only be so long before one of the tourists drops something. You've got to get out of sight."

Phoenix just smiled, although it didn't reach his eyes. "Don't worry friend, I'll handle this. Just take care of yourself and your family, you hear?" The man nodded and rushed off quickly. Growling, Phoenix flared his battle aura, shouting, "Everyone, clear the area!" The crowd fled, well used to events like this taking place, although several of the tourists remained. Rounding on the scouting party, he growled again, "You want me? Well here I am!"

He blasted towards them, shattering the pavement as he launched off the ground, and drove his fist clear through the head of the first scout before the group could react. Ripping his hand out, he spun around with a ki-packed kick, bisecting one of the other scouts, before continuing the motion and leaping into the air, using his other leg for a spinning back kick, snapping the neck of the third. Fearfully, the fourth scout began to back away, but he was faster. Phasing in directly in front of the guy, Phoenix drove his hand, fingers extended, into the man's gut, his hand coming out the man's back, severing his spinal cord.

With his opponents taken care of, the bloodlust faded, and he realised what he'd done. He'd lost control. He'd let his rage dictate his actions. He growled again; he'd made a mistake. Focusing ki through his left hand, he set about disposing of the bodies, ignoring the cries from the two still alive, albeit dying; this would just make their deaths quicker. Evidence destroyed, he noticed the group of tourists watching, horror painting their faces, but not preventing them from snapping pictures.

With one motion he spun around, firing small blasts from his fingers, and obliterating all camera in his line of sight, before taking off in a sprint. He'd stayed in one place for long enough for them to track him down. It was past time he'd moved on.

o-o-o

The sun began its descent down the blue-green sky, marking the beginning of the end of the current day. Upon arriving back at the village, four of the five members of the group had instantly settled back into their relaxed state. Kat was, once again, trying to catch up on her sleep; sleep was a biological need for Neko's, more so than other races, and not only was noon an important nap time, missing an entire night of sleep would have, and had, thrown her system for a loop. Flute and Viola had returned to their silent meditation as soon as they'd landed, and Avery had returned to tending for his gun. It seemed everyone was perfectly happy to do nothing; everyone bar one.

Pi had always hated this time of the day, despite it being one of the times meals were enjoyed; she never really liked the idea of anything beginning to draw to a close. Today, however, her uneasiness was worse, and she had this terrible sense of foreboding. She'd only ever felt like this once before in her life; ironically, it had also happened around this time of day. It was the day Kaen's mission had gone sour, if her calculations were correct, and this little fact didn't help her mood any. Feeling more than a tad anxious, she said, "I'm gonna try and catch up with Kaen and Frost," taking off almost before finishing the thought.

Avery watched her fly off without a word, and as she left, Flute opened his eyes, saying worriedly, "I hope that was a cluster of warriors I sensed."

Viola, also opening her eyes, added, "Should we follow?"

He paused in thought, before replying, "I think they'll be fine without us. That cluster would be pretty large, like the others, but I think Kaen himself wouldn't break a sweat."

Kat, half asleep, murmured, "He'll be fine. He's fought groups that large on his own..." She trailed off as sleep took her again. In fact, the transition between awake and asleep happened so fast it was hard to tell if she was even awake at all, or just talking in her sleep.

He nodded slightly, thinking it over a moment longer before saying, "If it were a single warrior I'd be more worried."

"He should still be alright," Viola said sagely, "He has got that really powerful form after all."

"Frost is there too, and he seems to still be holding back," Flute added.

Nodding once more, she closed her eyes again, returning to her meditation with one final comment, "They'll be fine." She just wished it didn't sound so much like they were clutching at straws.

o-o-o

The pair in question were currently flying low over the mountain range, which seemed to stretch almost all the way around the planet, and thus were a fair distance away from the village. Thus far, their search had turned up empty, but before too long Kaen sensed a large collection of power a short distance off, and started grinning to himself, saying, "Well, looks like this won't be a wasted trip after all."

"What do you mean?" Frost asked, looking about to see what had got the Saiyan warrior so excited, but finding nothing out of the ordinary.

Pointing, he replied, "There's a large energy source that way. Looks like we've found us another squad."

"How in the name of Kami do you do that?" There was a hint of annoyance in his tone, and another of wonder.

Grinning again, he replied, "I'm good." His response was a flat stare, so he dropped the grin and amended, "Alright then, it's a skill I taught myself when I didn't have a scouter to rely on."

"Will you show me sometime?" This time, there was a hint of hope in his otherwise bland tone, still slightly booming, due to Frost still being in his second form.

Kaen just shrugged, saying, "We'll see."

Shrugging in kind, the Aisu replied, "Can't ask for more than that," and the two headed off towards the energy signal in silence.

o-o-o

As they clear the rise they could see, in the valley below, only a few scattered soldiers, not nearly enough to constitute the size squad they'd encountered thus far, meaning one thing - Frieza had brought out the big guns this time. An eager grin on his face, Kaen asked offhandedly, "Shall we surprise them, or make ourselves known?"

"Surprise is best, as least until we know what we're up against." Saying this, Frost floated over to land on the edge of an overlooking cliff to get a better, making sure not to be seen, and Kaen wasn't far behind.

"Well then, let's see what we're up against..." he mused quietly.

In the valley below were only about a dozen warriors, their armour marking them as fairly high class, but one stood out from the rest. His armour had different insignia from everyone else, and his large hulkish body, stupid grin, and shock of red hair were only too familiar to Frost, who began to curse in Aisu-Go. While he didn't know the words, Kaen could guess what many of them were, and he commented wryly, "That good huh?"

Cursing once more Frost spoke again, this time in Basic, "His name is Recoome; he's a member of the Ginyu Force." When Kaen himself cursed, he added, "It gets better; he's their powerhouse, second in strength only to Ginyu himself."

With a sour look on his face the rebel Saiyan warrior muttered sarcastically, "Well... isn't this wonderful... I thought I knew that armour from somewhere..."

With a sour look of his own, Frost asked, "Ok, any ideas?"

Nodding vehemently, Kaen replied, "Yeah. I say we take it to the max. I know he's supposed to be strong, but I also know you're holding back a lot of power; don't ask how I know, I just do. Together we should be able to take him down, and those other's shouldn't be a real threat unless we let them."

Nodding in agreement, Frost commented, "Yeah, but if I transform now they'll know something's up. My transformations may not be nearly as dramatic as Frieza's, or take nearly as long, but it still takes time. Think you can keep them off my back until I'm done?"

He grinned his usual feral grin, "I think I can manage that."

"Alright."

Turning serious, Kaen added, "You ready?" Frost just nodded, standing up and beginning the change, as Kaen shed his coat and moved silently into a better position to begin his diversion. The troupes below must have been as tired as Kat, however, and their scouters must've been broken, because they noticed nothing, not even Frost's change to third form and continuation into fourth and final, until Frost was enveloped in a bright light, marking his final transformation, and Kaen landed silently in front of them, exclaiming cheerily, "If I knew we'd be having guests, I would've prepared a party!"

The grunts didn't waste time on words, instead choosing to rush the Saiyan powerhouse en masse; Recoome, however, waited where he is. 'Well, this works out nicely...' Kaen muses to himself as he clenches his hands, spiking his ki dramatically with a cry of "Rage Pyre Fury 10!" before jumping skywards, holding his hands out and shouting, "Firestorm!" His attack launched roughly twenty-four blasts, enough to vaporise them all twice over, and leaving a fairly substantial impact crater.

Recoome began to laugh heartily, his nerve-grating laugh, before saying in his nasal voice, "Well, well, well, looks like the monkey here might be a challenge after all. Not to mention you Frost. Frieza will reward me well when I bring your sorry carcass back to him, along with the ship you stole."

Kaen's right eye began to twitch around the word 'monkey', and Frost just shook his head, replying, "Sorry Recoome, not this time."

Laughing again, Recoome stated, "Yeah, you'll be sorry alright. You should have never crossed Frieza."

Falling into stance, Kaen just growled, "Bring it!"

That nerve-grating laugh was back as Recoome said, "Okay monkey boy, since you are so interested, you first. Recoome Crusher!" Saying this, he charged down on Kaen with speed you'd think a man of his bulk couldn't achieve and used a hammer blow, charged with ki, to send Kaen flying into a cliff-face, and causing it to collapse in upon him. Seeing that was done, he turned to the other, adding, "And now for you Frost. Recoome Kick!" He sent a high-speed kick towards the Aisu, but Frost managed to dive out of the way before it hit.

Roaring in anger, Kaen erupted out of the debris with an explosion of power, speeding towards Recoome with blades of dark flame at the ready. However, in his anger, he got sloppy, and the walking mass of muscle easily evaded his wide attacks, saying, "Nice try monkey boy, but no dice!" before punching him in the side of the head, sending him sprawling, but otherwise mostly unhurt. He did, however, provide a nice distraction for Frost to land a kick to the side of Recoome's head, but the blow didn't even seem to faze him.

Getting back to his feet, still growling, Kaen commented sarcastically, "Oh yeah, this was a good idea..." Crouching down slightly, as he began to focus his power, he clenched his fists and closed his eyes, crying, "Alright! That's it, no more games!" His voice rose to a shout as his power began rising, "It's time to show you my true strength!" With that he concentrated, bringing forth the dark memories and negative emotions still all too fresh in his mind, and ascending to his golden avatar of destruction with a flash of light. Before the flare had fully faded Kaen took advantage, raising both hands in front of him and charging a ki blast in each hand, firing both with a cry of "Twin Nova!"

The ensuing blast razed the entire area, leaving it desolate, but when the flames died down Recoome was still standing, his armour all but gone, his hair and skin singed, but otherwise, seemingly unharmed. Laughing again, he remarked, "That was a nice one monkey. I always wanted a tan!"

"A tan huh?" Kaen growled, his voice lower than before, but his exhaustion beginning to show; it was obvious to those who knew where to look that he couldn't properly control this form, and was bleeding energy as a result. Fortunately, Recoome didn't know where to look.

While he was distracted, Frost attempted to attack him from behind with a kick, but apparently Recoome was expecting the move, dodging the blow at the last minute. However, what he didn't expect was for Frost to follow up with his rather thick tail, and thus, he was caught in a fairly solid blow from the appendage that promptly sent him flying into a mountain side. Landing, Frost panted out, "Damn ape... No offence." It was clear Frost wasn't used to his current form either, but, as his was more biological, he was having less trouble.

"None taken." Kaen replied, as they collected their breath and waited for Recoome to dig himself out. "I must say, he's tougher than I gave him credit for..."

Before Frost could reply, Recoome was back, pulling himself out of the hole, laughing all the while, before saying, "Well, it's nice to have a workout for once - So few people can keep up with me! - But I think it's time to end this. Eraser Gun!" This said, he fired off his trademark attack.

With a curse, Kaen jumped in front of Frost, raising both his hands, and, with a cry of "Heat Shield!" a dome of red energy erupted around the two of them in time to meet the pink blast. In the end, however, it was not enough, and before long the shield shattered. Kaen caught the brunt of the attack, knocking him well and truly out of his golden state as he barely held on to consciousness, but despite his efforts Frost wasn't spared any injury; he did, however, only cop the tail end of the blast, but that was still enough to render his left arm useless.

Kaen struggled to pull himself to his feet, groaning, "Ouch, yeah, that kinda hurt..."

Frost pulled himself up moments later, and, noticing his arm hanging limply at his side, mutters, "Damn this." Collecting some of the last of his energy, Frost shot into the air, raising his good hand above his head, index finger outstretched, and, in a similar fashion to his half-brother, focused his ki into a point above said finger, launching the massive ball of blue-white ki with a cry of "Avalanche Death Ball!" As the ball descended on it's target, Recoome moves to get out of the way, but this time he's not fast enough; he himself spent a lot of ki in that last move, and was yet to recover. He did avoid the majority of the blast, but got caught in the resulting explosion.

Seeing Recoome dazed, but not out, Kaen stood on shaky legs, drawing both hands behind him as be began to gather energy for one final attack. Within moments, every bit of energy he had to spare was ready to fire, and he muttered, "I just hope this is enough..." before throwing his arms forward with all the speed he can muster, fusing the two ki balls in front of him. But the strain of holding this single, highly concentrated ball of ki soon became more than his battered body can handle, and the energy dissipated harmlessly, and with it went his strength, as his legs gave out, sending him onto his hands and knees. Clutching his chest with one hand as he gasped for breath, he panted out, "Damn... I never thought it'd end like this..." His last act before he collapsed to the ground, succumbing to the darkness, was a message to his mate. "I'm sorry..."

o-o-o

"I'm sorry..."

The message rang loud in her head, and then all was silent. Less than a second passed between his collapse and her arrival into the once-valley, and the first thing her eyes fell upon was the unmoving body of her bondmate. She immediately rushed to his side, crying fearfully, "Kaen! Wake up Kaen, I won't let you leave me, not again, please wake up... please don't leave... please... I love you..."

Silence was her only answer, and not the silence of someone who chooses to ignore what they hear; the silence of someone not there to hear at all. Subconsciously, she knows he still lived, because the bond they share was still whole; were he to die, it would be shattered, and her psyche along with it, but her mind was clouded with the image before her. She bowed her head, her vision blurred, but not from the forming tears; from the sheer amount of rage now flowing through her veins.

"I'll make you..." An aura burst into life around her, flickering between the deep forest green that was her norm, and an eerily familiar bright golden yellow. "I'll make you pay." Her eyes began flickering between their normal black and the teal Kaen's were only moments ago, her hair undergoing a similar change as the bands holding it in place snapped, her hair beginning to stand on end.

With a final burst of energy, the change was complete. Pi, like her mate before her, had changed, reaching a plateau of strength hither-to unknown. Her eyes slowly swept across the clearing, before coming to rest on the subject of her ire; a certain red-haired wall of muscle, that had the gall to laugh!

Fear. That's all Frost could feel as her gaze swept past him. No, fear wasn't a strong enough word. Even terror didn't feel right, but it would have to do, and he wasn't even the target of her fury. Slowly, so as to not catch her attention, Frost began moving away from Recoome and towards Kaen; he was safer there, so long as he didn't make any sudden movements.

Recoome, however, either didn't notice the white-hot rage in her eyes, or was too stupid and overconfident to pay it much mind. Still laughing, he remarked, "Too bad monkey girl, your boyfriend there tried the same trick, and it didn't help him..."

She didn't let him finish, and he was abruptly cut off by a flying kick to the midsection, knocking the wind out of him. His peanut-sized mind had barely had enough time to realise that he'd never even seen her move, and to come to the quick conclusions that her blow hurt, and maybe he wasn't stronger, but had simply got lucky with the other one, when a second blow, this time to the jaw, sent him flying uncontrollably through the air, ironically winding up crashing into an open space pod.

She began collecting ki for her next attack, but before she could really get started Frost, who had arrived at Kaen's side, and used the all-of three seconds in which she KO'ed the lumbering brute that had been smacking both him and Kaen around like rag dolls, to check for a pulse, and, finding one, called out, "He's alive, but he needs help right away! He's fading fast!"

Forgetting the attack, forgetting Recoome, and forgetting practically everything else that wasn't Kaen, she sped towards her mate and picked him up, thinking aloud, "Flute can heal him, I know he can!" and speeding off without another word. Thinking quickly, Frost sped towards the pod Recoome had crash-landed in, and his suspicions were confirmed; the man was out cold. With a heavy conscience, he decided against finishing the man off. Instead, he punched in new co-ordinates, and sent out automated commands to the entire invading forces to pull out and return to base. With one final command, he stood back, watching as the ship blasted out of the atmosphere, and after the ship was out of sight, sped after Pi with all the speed he could.

o-o-o

Pi landed in the village at such a speed she seemed to appear out of thin air, and, after gently setting Kaen on the ground, she unceremoniously dragged Flute over to him, demanding, "Heal him!" Such was her speed, it wasn't until after this command had reached his brain, along with her appearance, had been processed, and was being carried out, that the sonic boom of her approach reached their ears.

Viola, slightly shocked at hearing her friend's voice, was startled out of her meditation when the shockwave hit, and her eyes widened further at seeing her appearance; she remembered that look, she remembered it all too well. Kat was also startled awake, but this time she was rested enough to be able to spin in the air and land safely on her feet. Upon taking a few seconds to notice everything, she gasped, "What happened?"

"We ran into one of the Ginyu boys," Frost answered as he landed a short distance away.

Gasping again, she squeaked, "The Ginyu Force? Here?" She may not have ever seen them herself, but she'd heard stories. Viola paled; it seemed she'd heard stories too; even Avery couldn't keep his composure.

Shaking his head, Frost amended, "Only Recoome. Kaen and I put up a decent fight... Pi really sent him flying though... Uh, if it's not too much trouble, could someone do something about my arm? Not quite like the Nameks..."

Looking at his arm, Viola said apologetically, "I don't have that power, sorry..."

Flute didn't look up from his work, simply supplying, "Kaen will take a little time, can you wait?"

Frost just nodded, "No problem." His injury wasn't life threatening, merely highly annoying; he knew Kaen was a higher priority.

Looking over Pi once more, Kat had to repress a shudder. Like Viola, she remembered this form - this was the form that made her feel about as strong as an ant in comparison - and, if Kaen's pain-filled screams were even an iota of what he had felt that first time, she also knew that Pi must be really torn up inside now. Hurrying over to her, she said, "What happened to your hair? It's yellow, just like Kaen's went..." She trailed off; she was trying to get Pi's mind away from depressing topics.

It seemed to work, as Pi only then noticed the large mass of golden hair atop her head; there was so much of it, the force of gravity was greater than the unknown force that caused it to stand on end in the first place, and much of it still hung down behind her. Looking at it with a small amount of disbelief, she replied, "I... I don't know..."

Nearly bubbling with excitement on the outside, but inwardly hoping Pi was alright, Kat exclaimed, "It looks so cool!" Pi, however, didn't feel nearly as much enthusiasm, giving only a small smile, before turning to watch Flute heal her mate.

Without stopping his work, Flute looked up at Frost, and after taking in his new appearance for a moment, commented, "Pi isn't the only one to make a change... that form is certainly different from your other two..." Finally noticing Frost's appearance for the first time, Kat gasped once more, and inwardly scolded herself for not noticing before, but she was too concerned for Pi.

Nodding, he replied, "I don't think I've ever had to fight something strong enough that I needed this form before, but seeing as how the Ginyu's have a nasty habit of keeping a sore tooth about being beaten, I might just have to stay in it for a while... saves time. Besides, it'll be nice not to instantly remind people of Frieza..."

Avery cast a cool eye over the new look, before nodding once in approval; looking like that, the birdman could almost forget who he was related to. Nodding a bit herself, Viola commented, "That may be wise."

Looking between Pi and Frost almost frantically, Kat prodded, "What about Recoome? Is everything okay now?"

Frost nodded, saying, "Don't work yourself into a frenzy, he won't wake up for a while now I reckon, and when he does, he'll already be halfway back to Planet Frieza, and the rest of the invasion forces with him. I set the commands to withdraw, so they'll all pull out. When a planet offers this class of resistance, they just black mark it and move on, so unless Frieza decides it's better off to wipe it out completely, it's safe now."

The catgirl sighed in relief, "That's good."

Standing, and stretching out his shoulders, Flute said, "He'll wake up soon. But he'll be hungry." Kat sighed in relief again before she could stop herself.

Smiling quickly in thanks, Pi dashed off immediately in search of ingredients and cooking utensils. However, she returned moments later, grabbing Viola and Kat, and dragging them off, offering, "I'll need a hand!" as reasoning.

Once they were out of sight, Frost smiled weakly, commenting, "I can't say I envy them..." and causing Avery to bark a dry laugh. Flute moved to heal him, and within moments his arm was as good as new; as tired as Flute was from healing Kaen from the brink of death, he didn't have the strength to restore the Aisu to full strength, but that could wait until he'd healed on his own.

Nodding his thanks, he picked up the unconscious Saiyan and went to move him to rest against a tree, ironically the same tree he'd been resting under earlier in the day, and saying, "He came at us pretty fast, and I don't think Kaen is too used to his new form, otherwise he wouldn't have been beaten so easily; I know what he's capable of, and just how strong that form is."

The man in question awoke slowly, being moved enough of a trigger for his return to the world of the living, but he just held his head and groaned, "Ugh... Remind me not to do that again..."

"'Avoid walking hulks of testosterone', gotcha, wrote it down, and I'll pin it to your shirt for good measure." Frost grinned, and the other two males each bore their own version of a smirk.

Groaning again, Kaen replied dryly, "Right, laugh it up shitkicker. If I wasn't so sore, I'd wipe that grin off your face, and turn you into a new pair of boots."

Avery barked another laugh, but the Aisu just said, "Save your strength... I think you'll need it..."

Raising an eyebrow, he opened his mouth to reply, but his stomach beat him to it. Flute just grinned and shook his head, as he watched Pi return at high speed, promptly throwing herself at him in a tight hug as soon as she saw he was up, saying in a voice that showed she was bordering on tears, "Don't ever scare me like that again. I swear, if you do that again Kaen, I'll have Flute revive you so I can kill you myself..."

"You say that like I meant it to happen. Getting my arse kicked by a walking wall of muscle wasn't on my to-do list for today," he replied sarcastically.

"You're supposed to be better than that," she replied wryly, her emotions now back under control, and sounding more and more like the Saiyan warrior she was.

His reaction, however, wasn't the usual affirmation she expected of him. Instead, he sighed, replying softly, "I know... I don't know what happened..." His tone had a hint of remorse to it, but if anyone picked up on it, they remained silent.

She just buried her head in his chest, murmuring, "It doesn't matter now..." Pulling away a bit, she added, "What does matter is that lunch is ready."

He sighed once more, muttering, "I'm getting soft..." before putting it out of his mind for now, adding out loud "That's good. I feel like I haven't eaten in days." She just smiled and helped him up. Once he was on his feet again, he shot a glare at the others, a look that conveyed the message 'Don't you dare say a word, or so help me...' very clearly. Flute's expression remained as stoic as ever, as did Avery's, and Frost adopted a very bored look. With another satisfied glare, that clearly said 'Good, keep it that way' he let Pi help him off.

Once they were out of sight, Frost's face broke out in an amused grin, a look that was close to being mirrored on Flute's face. Chuckling a little himself, Avery remarked dryly, "I wouldn't let him see that. He seems rather... edgy."

Flute nodded sagely, saying, "The thing that got hurt the most out of that conflict appeared to be his ego." Frost only voiced his agreement with a short laugh.

With a slight grin that looked odd on his averian face, Avery nodded his agreement, replying, "Judging by his mood I wouldn't say it was the first time either."

Flute nodded, "Yes, I did manage to beat him once, and it had the same result then as it did now." He didn't give the anecdote any real closure before he walked off to find Viola. Frost gave a mildly annoyed look at Flute's back, and Avery simply shrugged, before the two of them set off after him.

o-o-o

The eating area set out by the locals was in a bustle, as local women hurried about bringing Kaen his lengthy meal, and taking away the used dishes, under the ever watchful eye of a still blonde Pi. Kat and Viola, both looking exhausted, were sitting off to one side, out of the way of the steady stream of servers.

Despite having seen it several times now, Viola couldn't help the disgusted look that found it's way onto her face; Kaen was eating so fast you'd swear he didn't have enough time to chew, let alone taste anything, before it was gone and something else had replaced it. Kat just tried to avoid noticing the sheer amount of food that was disappearing into his black hole of a stomach; she was only partly successful.

Flute simply moved to Viola's side, and Frost and Avery wisely chose to look away from the gorging. Through all this, however, Pi had a smile firmly entrenched on her face. Forcibly turning away, Viola muttered to herself, "I don't think I'll ever get used to that..." Her voice was quiet enough that were the room quiet, all bar Flute would have had trouble hearing her.

"Indeed," he replied solemnly, in the same volume.

Before too long, the line of incoming food dwindles to nothing, and the eating, if you can call it that, draws to a close. With a single belch, and a "Ah, that was good." Kaen falls silent, obviously not in the mood for conversation. As if this were some secret trigger, Pi's hair and eyes return to their normal black; obviously, the last of the tension had left her now that, in her mind, he's well and truly all right again.

Standing up, Frost made a short announcement, "The invaders are gone, and I think it's best if we join them." The other's nodded their agreement, all bar Kaen, who, other than standing to support the exhausted Pi, made no indication he'd even heard the announcement. And with that they boarded the Icebreaker, blasting off the lush green planet, and continuing the search for the remaining three Dragon Balls.

End Chapter 14

To be continued...