A.N: As homage to DBZ Abridged, I've done my best to preserve Jeice's Australian type accent and mannerisms through text :D
Chapter Five - Reunion
Frieza regally emerged from the front of the main ship to welcome a new group of fighters that travelled to do his biddings. The one and only Ginyu Force - an exceptional group of fighters, and unlike any squad that he could put together himself, this group of men was likely to be overkill for this particular occasion. He couldn't be bothered to deal with the Saiyans himself, but he wanted to be done with the Saiyans once and for all like he once thought he had been.
"Lord Frieza," A tall purple alien with horns spoke with pride as Frieza approached and stepped out from the group to take a bow. "It's always an honour to be chosen to serve you."
"The pleasure is mine, Captain Ginyu." Frieza replied at the foot of his ship's loading ramp. "Now then, you have the Scouters I asked you to bring?"
Ginyu looked over his shoulder towards his men and gestured for them to come forward.
"Right 'ere, sir!" A shorter, slimmer red man with fluffy white hair joined in, walking over to Ginyu's side with a black box. He opened it to present six brand new Scouters, all polished, shined and ready for use. "They're updated and ready to go with the features you requested, sir."
Ginyu gave him a silent nod of thanks.
"Very good." Frieza acknowledged with an appreciative bow, taking the case from the man and fastening one of the devices to his face. "Now, for your assignment. This planet has some strange orange orbs called 'Dragon Balls'. They're quite large, actually, and they all have red stars in them. I wish to have all seven, but in the process of getting them, I've lost both of my generals to the Saiyan Prince, Vegeta, and some of his new comrades."
A lanky blue lizard-like thing laughed from amongst the group and looked over to the red man, who had been snickering to himself as well.
"Tiny little Vegeta?" He asked doubtfully. "He took out General Zarbon? Are we talking about the same person here?"
The red man let out a haughty sigh.
"I'm not too surprised, ya know, your right hand man had some issues with being full of himself." He joined in, tossing his waist-length hair over his shoulder. "Speakin' of Prince Vegeta and your generals, where's Zarbon's play toy? Now that he's gone, I imagine she got relocated. She must be living the dream now that she doesn't have to put up with such an egomaniac."
Frieza irritably shook his head and rolled his eyes. It was true, the Saiyan must have been having a ball compared to the locked down lifestyle he'd forced her into.
"She was with Zarbon while he was being taken out, so she escaped. Word has it she has some strange powers that even my most valuable scientists were unable to detect." Frieza explained with a dramatic shrug. He was starting to get rather annoyed - years of his scientists' time were invested in learning the Saiyan body and it's potential secrets, yet came out with absolutely nothing. But now, the useless woman was getting far too much attention after the fact that he never wanted to hear of her again.
"Welp, there goes your date, Jeice." The blue thing teased the jokingly nudging the shorter red man with a pointed finger. "Guess she found her prince again."
Jeice spitefully gave the blue man a swift kick in the leg.
"Piss off, would ya, Burter?" Jeice retorted, threateningly lifting his right arm to the blue man's chin. "She was a decent gal!"
"Now, gentlemen, settle down." Captain Ginyu stepped in, restraining the two of them with ease as they continued to growl and grunt. "You can fight it out later, as soon as we find these Dragon Ball things."
The two of them shot up obediently, and bowed apologetically.
"Yes, Captain!" the group of them shouted.
. . .
"Hmph!" Vegeta shouted triumphantly, tossing another Dragon Ball into a pile that he had stashed away on his own in another corner of the planet.
'How did I manage to get myself into this, not even a year ago I was trying to kill these people.'
Unsatisfied with how his plan had been coming together, Vegeta shook his head as he stared down at the pile of Dragon Balls, all gleaming brightly back up to him. On top of the two he'd managed to hide in the village, he had worked so hard to keep his other five Dragon Balls tucked away. Rosemary and the kid proved to be a deadly combo to reason with, and against his own wishes, he soon found himself regrouped with the humans and fetched for the remaining Dragon Ball with the help of the same device that did him in earlier in the day.
"With my five, this makes six! Quick, hand over the last one!"
Vegeta turned around to see Rosemary promptly touching down alongside him, with Krillin and Gohan following close behind.
Gohan protectively clutched the last Dragon Ball and kept his distance.
Vegeta narrowed his eyes and cocked a questioning eyebrow as he went on to stare the boy. Despite this, the kid didn't move.
"Yes, that's it!" Vegeta finally rasped. "Come on now, we don't have all day!" He angrily crossed his arms. "Don't tell me you're having second thoughts after all that running around, you'll kill us all!"
Gohan still couldn't grasp how much he could trust Vegeta and apprehensively slanted his eyes back. He decided to keep his distance with the ball and looked over to Krillin for some kind of insight.
Rosemary's eyes jumped back and forth between Vegeta and the others as she watched the exchange in confused silence.
'Why is he resisting all of a sudden... We agreed to work together! Does he have any idea what kind of situation we're in?!' She studied the group of them in disarray.
Far in the distance, she spotted a red and a blue blur in the sky that approached them with staggering speed and cowardly stepped over to Vegeta. She quietly pointed to the group in the sky - after faded bickering, everyone turned heads to follow.
Rosemary grimaced. These men were sickeningly menacing, she knew, yet she was unable to take her eyes off of the familiar faces of men that she hoped she never had to see again in an awkward awe.
She wasn't safe here.
'You've got to be joking… I just got Zarbon off my case and now these guys show up.'
"Dammit, not now, I was so close." Vegeta muttered under his breath, shaking his head.
Rosemary's legs began to tremble beneath her. She was beginning to regret her decision of running away from Zarbon - it was going to be a close call, no, a miracle, to get away from the Ginyu Force alive.
"Stay behind me, if you know what's best for you." Vegeta sharply commanded through gritted teeth, whipping out an arm to push her behind him. "Do your best to stay out of this, would you? I'm not going to be able to be a bodyguard."
"Well," She worriedly responded, "I can't exactly say that I have the luxury of sitting this one out."
With Jeice being the first to approach them, The Ginyu Force set down at the edge of the island, faces alight with smug grins and smirks. He gave the group before him a look over, and noticed Rosemary being protectively shielded by none other than the Saiyan Prince Vegeta. It was a pleasure to see her again, she was even easier on the eyes on since the last time they crossed paths.
His grin widened with delight, causing Rosemary to back away from Vegeta out of displeasure. To her dismay, she guessed that there was a good chance he'd go after her first.
"Well, would you look at that," Captain Ginyu commented with a look over Vegeta's shoulder. The mission was turning out to be easier than he originally thought - all of the so-called 'Dragon Balls' happened to already be rounded up and ready for capture. "You managed to wrap them up all nice and pretty for us! I suppose I should thank you!"
Vegeta let out a short growl.
"I wouldn't be so sure of yourself, Ginyu, I'm not lying on the ground and beaten within inches of my death yet." He shot back.
A pudgy green stump of a man shuffled his way through his comrades and scurried towards Vegeta in excitement. He'd been waiting for this moment since the team had received the call, and he wanted Vegeta all to himself to seek out his own kind of revenge.
"Oh yeah, tough guy?" He arrogantly taunted through some smug snickering. "Frieza's not here to bail you out this time! Ohoho, yes, I'm looking forward to this."
Vegeta crossed his arms with a cocky smirk of his own.
"You think I need Frieza to kick your ass?" He confidently retaliated. "You'll always be a freak to me."
"Argh! Why you-"
"Guldo," Ginyu sharply interrupted. "We need Vegeta alive, remember?"
"You can all go to hell if you think I'm going anywhere without a fight!" Vegeta shouted at them, grabbing one of the Dragon Balls from the pile and lobbing it away as hard as he could. "Damn you all!"
As the ball flew off into the distance, Burter shot up from where he stood to chase after it
Rosemary let out a sigh as she watched the soldier return with the shiny ball without the bat of an eye.
'Vegeta's starting to slip, Burter is known to be one of the fastest moving things in the universe...' She miserably thought to herself. She looked over to Gohan and Krillin, now gawking at the fearsome group as if they'd been violently shaken. 'It seems that those two aren't seasoned for a speed like that either. I guess this means that we've got even less of a chance of winning this than I thought.'
Burter regrouped with his comrades with the Dragon Ball in hand, and the rest of his squad broke out into hysterical laughter.
"Nice try, Veggie!" The last of the group - a burly but somewhat normal looking man with a less-than-average amount of clothing on teased. "Burter's too quick for ya!"
Rosemary smacked a hand to her face in humiliation.
"I have to admit, Vegeta, that was a bit of a rookie mistake."
Vegeta shot her a vicious look over his shoulder.
"Just whose side are you on?!" He snapped.
Rosemary irritably retracted the hand from her face and shot him an angry look in return.
"What do I have to do with this?!" She heatedly retorted. "You just played catch with arguably the fastest person in the universe!"
"Aha!" Ginyu joined in with a hearty chuckle from further away. "Clever girl! You've remembered so much! Now then, you wouldn't mind handing over the rest of the Dragon Balls, would you, Vegeta?" Ginyu chuckled, outstretching a hand with a sly smirk. "We have to report back to Frieza, and I'd prefer to do so sooner than later."
Vegeta felt a troubled trickle of sweat creep down his face. The Ginyus couldn't be stalled for much longer - he needed to think of something quickly if he had any intention of getting out of this encounter alive.
'I need to get the Dragon Balls away from here,' He thought through a heavy breath, and began to plot. He briefly recalled throwing them across an ocean earlier before he stumbled across Zarbon and Rosemary - they were durable enough not to have any scratches or markings on them afterwards, but he hadn't given them his full strength, of course.
'Perhaps it would be easier to smash them, instead.'
Vegeta whipped past Rosemary in a flash and towards the pile of the remaining Dragon Balls, snatching another for a final attempt. He lobbed it over to Krillin as fast as he could to make better use of him while he continued to contribute nothing to their escape.
Krillin caught the ball as it smacked against his chest and looked over to Vegeta in confusion.
"Quick, destroy it!" Vegeta sternly commanded.
With a firm, unchallenging nod, Krillin raised a fist over his head to smash the Dragon Ball, only for the ball to disappear from his hold as he began to lower his hand to hit it.
Gohan frightfully stared down at his empty hand from beside him, clueless as to where it could have gone.
Rosemary blinked a few times as well with Vegeta as she observed closely. Her perception was sharp, but she hadn't seen anyone nor the ball move an inch.
Something about this was new and unusual, and she didn't like it.
Guldo chuckled as he proudly tossed the very same Dragon Ball in his hand. "Looking for this, hmm?"
Rosemary's gaze moved over towards him in confusion, suspiciously watching the ball hop up and down in his fingers.
'What is this… Guldo doesn't have any abilities, he's just a strong fighter! What is going on?'
Vegeta narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"So, it's true then." He remarked as he took his post in front of Rosemary once more.
Rosemary looked to the back of his head again and anticipated some kind of explanation, but was bombarded with more arrogant laughs and snorts from the Ginyu Force instead.
"This... is new to me," She probed, perturbed. "Perhaps it's because I've been shut away in a general's quarters for quite some time, feel free to fill me in if you know something that I do not."
Vegeta couldn't help but imagine her in Zarbon's bed, confined to his room for pleasure, and shuddered. Vegeta frantically dismissed the thought as best he could with a quick shake of his head - he had more important things to worry about..
"Perhaps." Vegeta answered dully. "At first, I questioned how credible the rumour was," He looked to her over his shoulder. "But word has it that Guldo can freeze time itself."
Rosemary's eyes widened in disbelief. Time? The intangible fourth dimension? How ridiculous.
'Freeze... time? Not even the finest scientists in the universe have discovered how to manipulate time with the best technology out there, and now Vegeta is claiming that Guldo, of all people, can do it?' She curled her hands together into fists. She felt as hopeless as ever, and the odds just kept piling against her, it seemed.
"That's absurd." She responded. "I'll believe it when I see it."
"Heh, Lady Genius over here ain't buyin' it, huh?" The massive human-looking man known as Recoombe called over to her. "Can we get to fightin' already? This is boring!"
"Yes, we've got what we came here for, it's time to take everything and bring it back to Frieza." Ginyu followed. "I'll take Vegeta, the rest of you can decide who takes who on."
Guldo stomped his feet and pouted.
"Aagh, but I wanted Vegeta!" He whined. "Can't you let me have him? I've waited so long for this, Captain!"
Ginyu grunted in disappointment.
"Fine, you take Vegeta." He sneered. "Don't come crying to me when you can't kill him."
Jeice crossed his arms, a cheeky grin of excitement escaping his mouth.
"Geez, Guldo, don't be such a baby." He teased with a roll of his eyes. "My eyes are on a different prize, though, so you can have 'im."
He shot a playful look over to the pair of Saiyans and strutted his way over.
Vegeta closed in on Rosemary, ready to fight. Something in the back of mind was going insane - there was something he didn't take kindly to about Rosemary getting as much attention as she was. He hadn't been much for jealousy, but there was a first for everything.
"Hey, little lady." Jeice taunted, extending an arm with swagger while keeping a safe distance. "Long time no see, nice t' chat again. You're as fine as ever, huh? Now that Zarbon's gone, I bet you're absolutely thrilled."
Vegeta shot Rosemary a hateful glare. How putrid - Jeice of the Ginyu Force was openly flirting with his confidant in front of him.
Rosemary locked eyes with his as she stepped out from behind him, hoping he hadn't gotten the wrong idea. His expression, however, implied that he'd already been fuming over something.
'Would you just stay put!' Vegeta screamed in his mind, outraged. 'What the hell has she been up to this entire time?! She's got the entire upper rank fawning over her!'
"Oh yes, I'm absolutely elated." Rosemary countered sarcastically. "I appreciate the kind words, but it's unfortunate that I can't seem to say the same for you."
Her words, while obviously meant to degrade, instead ignited a strange fire of passion within him.
'It's time to have some real fun.'
And with that, Jeice disappeared before her eyes and reached out to snag her from behind.
Rosemary made an intuitive dash to the side after catching a trace of him out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't fight against the red soldier, but she could still run.
Jeice heavily planted a foot into the ground with a swift swipe of his right hand, only to grab nothing. His devilish grin curled into a frown.
'That must have been a fluke.' He reassured himself, then made another dive to chase Rosemary down.
Rosemary focussed further and hopped away once more once the moment was right, leaving Jeice to eat the ground with a face full of grass.
Humiliated after being thwarted once again, Jeice angrily stared up at her from the ground.
'This lil' bitch is supposed to be powerless!' He cursed on to himself and spat out a heap of soil. 'Is this what Lord Frieza was talkin' about when he said 'strange powers'? So what if she's a bit quick on her feet, I guess I'll have to put some work into it.'
He vanished again and attempted a few more aggressive grabs, but Rosemary continued to evade within mere inches of his talons successfully. She went on to run sporadically around the area to shake him off.
Jeice came to a halt and allowed her to get some distance.
"A'ight, you're starting to piss me off, Rosie!"
Rosemary gave her head an irksome tilt.
"Yes, of course, how dare I try and defend myself." She spat back. "What an inconvenience I must be causing you."
Vegeta snickered from where he stood. The fight may not have been as intense as he was expecting, it was turning out to be quite the entertainment.
'As amusing as this is to watch, now isn't the time to be fooling around.'
He made a firm step towards the soldier.
"Gods, Jeice, quit wasting your time!" He obnoxiously taunted. "You're going after the wrong person, if it's a fight you want."
Both Rosemary and Jeice turned to him with conflicted expressions.
"Ah, piss off, Prince!" Jeice belligerently shouted back. "Quit protecting your gal, I've got no interest in fightin' you! Besides, she's had this one comin' for a while, this one's hers."
Rosemary turned rigid. Vegeta's gal? Was she witnessing a case of jealousy?
Vegeta crossed his arms and eased up. He didn't like it, but Jeice had a point - it wasn't his fight to have.
Jeice recognized the act of concede and got back into his stance with a haughty smile.
"That's what I thought. Now then, let's dance, Rosie!"
The two of them continued their chase around the flatlands, and since then, Krillin and Gohan had taken up a risky battle against Burter. Rosemary's breaths grew heavier - she hadn't had this much time to run in ages, but refused to let being out of form do her in. She was as quick and nimble as ever, and she almost enjoyed the challenge.
As she made a dramatic jump, she felt the tip of a foot catch against a swell in the ground and an uncomfortable twist of her ankle. She frantically tried to adjust to carry on with a short gasp, only to stumble into the grass on one knee.
Vegeta went from observing the scene with enjoyment to watching with terror in the blink of an eye.
With Jeice closing in on her with a sinister grin, she hurried to get back on her feet, only to clumsily flop once more. Defeated and frustrated, she reluctantly knelt and accepted her fate - she was scooped up by the back of her armour just a second later.
"A-ha, now this is more like it."
Jeice cackled in satisfaction and turned her back towards him, pinning her arms between their two bodies with a tight grip of her wrists. From behind her messy Saiyan hair, he saw a familiar mark along her skin and perversely traced a finger down her scar. "What a shame, you were on quite a roll there."
Rosemary quivered as she could distinctly feel every inch that his member slithered downwards with displeasure. What was he planning to do, now that he had control over her? Would he use her to exact revenge on Zarbon now that he was out of the picture?
Jeice leaned in towards her left ear and lewdly snickered. This particular victory left a fantastic taste in his mouth.
"Man, this one stuck with you after all that. Good times, huh?" He cooed to her as his finger made his way towards her waist.
Rosemary let out a short whimper. She'd been made disgustingly vulnerable when she least desired it - right in front of Vegeta. He had been watching carefully as she continued to struggle, but chose to leave her be, presumably for the sake of her dignity. Perhaps he was waiting for her to figure something out that he'd already thought of.
Vegeta watched distastefully as Jeice continued to touch her in ways he wished he couldn't see. Something within him begged for her to find a way to break free with her new talent, like she had with Zarbon. She was surprising him more and more as they worked together, surely she wouldn't let him down now, of all times.
Rosemary wormed around in Jeice's hold, her hands and lower half of her body now strangled by one of Jeice's brawny arms as the other tickled and groped her further. Her legs were as useless as her arms in this state - attempting to run out from his grip would do nothing.
'Well this is just great.' She thought to herself annoyingly, trying her best to ignore the large red hand stroking her lower gut. 'I have one last thing to try, if it works, I'll be damned.'
"You're still a creep, you know that?" Rosemary muttered under her breath, quickly throwing her head back in an attempt to smash his face. As the back of her head made contact, she swore she'd heard a pop of some sort, and the grip holding her hostage loosened as Jeice's hands rushed up to his face.
'Apparently I need to trust myself some more.' Rosemary managed a small grin of her own.
Now free of his hold, she jumped into the air and planted a foot firmly into a cheek to follow up, then hopped back over to Vegeta and the others with a focussed glare on the red soldier.
Vegeta gave a quick nod of approval towards her, content but also quietly grateful that she had managed to pull through after all. She was learning at a rapid pace, but he wondered how long it would be before she began to plateau for the first time. He hoped that time wouldn't come during this fight, he needed her to be as strong as she could be, whatever that was.
The rest of the Ginyu Force observed Jeice struggling in shock, blinking and mumbling amongst themselves in bewilderment.
Burter scowled. With more effort than he should have had to give, Burter managed to follow Rosemary's path as she efficiently dashed around before she'd been caught - but just barely.
"What the hell was that?!" Burter angrily shouted over to Jeice in protest. He was supposed to be the fastest fighter in the universe, and now this useless Saiyan, this weak girl was matching pace with him?
"For someone who doesn't enjoy it much," Vegeta spoke out again."You seem to be the center of attention, what's up with that?"
Rosemary clutched at her chest and took deeper breaths to regulate her breathing. Dozens of sickening memories were rapidly firing off in her head - everything from her training with the Ginyu Force years ago, to the moment she woke up from nearly being slashed in half in a private infirmary - was making her increasingly anxious and about what was to come once the rest of Jeice's team got involved. She could still feel precisely where Jeice had touched her, her scar seemed to tingle from her nerves.
Unamused by Vegeta's ruse, she gave a short laugh to acknowledge him at the very least.
"I don't want to talk about it, and you're not helping the cause." She snapped back. "We're at a point where this is anyone's game, it's the least of my worries. I'll live, but we need to focus."
"Geez, Jeice, you're too slow for this, quit fooling around." Guldo whined as he finally stepped away from his allies. "Let me deal with this."
While everyone was bantering amongst each other, Ginyu took it upon himself to scoop up the Dragon Balls and began to make his way to the edge of the island to take off. Noticing him slip away from the group without a word, Gohan quickly fired off a blast of energy towards him as he took to the air.
Vegeta whipped around at the sight.
"Stop!" Vegeta shouted over. "Ginyu's gone, you need to reserve your energy! We've just been given a better shot at this!"
He waved a hand to the kid and Krillin to come closer quietly. Rosemary followed suit and got close.
Gohan and Krillin gave each other a doubtful look, and regrouped with the others.
Vegeta gave the group a scan, then turned his back to the remaining fighters of the Ginyu Force.
"Listen closely, I'm only going to say this once." He explained in a stern but quiet tone. "Unless Guldo goes for Rosemary first, which is unlikely, it looks like you two will fight him."
Krillin and Gohan gave attentive nods.
"Close combat won't work, obviously, you'll need to use your heads for this one." He crossed his arms and turned his gaze to Rosemary. "Personally, I think this would be more up your alley, Rosemary, but you're too inconsistent at the moment for me to task you with something like this."
"I don't like how it sounds, but that's… understandable." She sighed. "I suppose this means that I'll act as support."
Vegeta followed up with an affirmative nod of his own.
"Good. I'm sure I shouldn't ask, but," Vegeta went on, turning to Gohan reluctantly. "What are the chances that your father is on his way, kid?"
Rosemary gave Vegeta a suspicious look. 'The boy's father? What does he have to do with any of this?'
"Funny you mention that," Gohan responded in a low tone. "He's on his way and should be here soon." He crossed his arms snidely with an apprehensive scowl. "I don't know about you, but he's coming to help Krillin and I."
Vegeta grunted.
"You little brat! As if I care about that right now!" He snarled. "As much as I hate to say it, he'd be of good help to us right about now!"
Guldo approached the group of them impatiently.
"Are we gonna do this or what?" He taunted. "I haven't got all day!"
Rosemary gave everyone a quick but stern look.
"I'm going to keep a close eye on this fight. From what I've seen so far, something isn't right about Guldo's abilities. They're almost too good to be true."
Vegeta gave her a final nod of approval.
"I expected no less from you. Pick your brain as much as you want."
"Right." She confirmed. She gave him Vegeta a quick nudge with her elbow to try and lighten the mood. "You know, you're a pretty good motivator when you want to be. You should do this more."
Vegeta's eyes grew awkwardly wide and he turned away to hide his face as his cheeks turned pink. Damn, he liked that compliment far more than he should have.
"Y-Yes, well, we need it right now." He stiffly defended. "Just- pay attention."
Watching as Gohan and Krillin advanced forward, she began to rack her mind of everything she could think of when it came to her experiences with the small green alien.
'At the forefront of things about him is that he had an ongoing hatred for Vegeta for quite some time…' Her memory had evoked numerous instances of being the subject of curses and accusations strictly because of her affiliation with the prince. 'But, how can the runt of the Ginyu Force suddenly have such an astonishing ability when he's been powerless like me for as long as I can remember… How does a power like time manipulation even present itself?!'
Watching now as Gohan and Krillin took to the sky for an aerial assault, she placed her hands behind her back, as she always did when she was deep in thought, perplexed. She wanted to see Guldo pull the same stunt he did earlier, but up close and personal - she needed to see it for herself.
Two blasts came raining from the sky, causing Guldo to look up and quickly analyse the situation for himself. The blasts were gaining on him quickly enough that he wouldn't make it away on foot.
Rosemary narrowed her eyes, intensifying her glare on Guldo with anticipation. 'Yes, that's it, do it again…' She urged eagerly.
Guldo threw his hands out in front of him, taking a deep breath of air. Noticing it from the distance, Rosemary watched carefully.
"Time Freeze!" Guldo chanted.
Before she knew it, Rosemary was frozen still for a mere fraction of a second, her eyes locked on Guldo. Before she could take everything in, Guldo was gone. She searched the area quickly, to find him running from the blasts that were still approaching the ground, but far enough ahead of them now that they would certainly miss. Guldo hunched over, panting for air as he watched the bald man and the child come back towards the ground to continue their attacks.
'His breath is short, but he couldn't have done enough to tire himself out… Even I can run without breaking a sweat for that short a time.' Rosemary told herself in bewilderment. 'My new powers take a good deal of stress, too, but not like this.'
Vegeta gazed at Gohan and Krillin as the blasts formed two large craters in the soil. The two seemed far stronger than he remembered, but he wasn't gone for a long enough time to justify such a rapid increase in strength. He could understand the kid's growth, for he contained Saiyan blood, but not the bald man's.
"This is surprising." Vegeta told Rosemary, intrigued. "They've increased their power significantly since I last fought them. Between the three of you, we may have better odds than I anticipated."
"I see." Rosemary acknowledged, still deep in thought. "Hey, have a gander at Guldo for a moment. His position is way off of what it was just a moment ago." She pointed over at the tubby green alien, who looked to remain still for the moment. "He heavily relies on this new skill of his, it seems."
"Yes, but how he's pulling this off is what I want to know." Vegeta noted.
"I'm getting there." Rosemary explained further. "I'm on to something, I want him to do it at least one more time so I'm sure."
Gohan and Krillin raced towards Guldo quickly, hoping to get a closer shot at him. Scurrying once again, Guldo took another long inhale before he stopped in his tracks yet again.
"Yes! This is it!" Rosemary cheered before being fixed on the spot once again. She quickly looked around again, finding Guldo lying on the ground in a completely different spot, exhausted once more. "There, look!" She nudged Vegeta, pointing over at Guldo again. "He's completely winded. I know I'm not one to talk, but I don't think he's done enough to make himself tired, do you?"
Following her direction, Vegeta's eyes widened as he observed. Rosemary was right, Guldo was gasping for air as if he was on the verge of death. Pity, the group of them were wasting so much time and energy on such a wimp.
"What are you suggesting?" Vegeta asked her, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Guldo's far weaker than the others, it wouldn't be too surprising if he'd ran over there."
"That's… fair, I suppose, but when one is running, they're still maintaining a breathing pattern - a rhythm, if you will. Even after running, you shouldn't be panicking for air as if you're, well, dying." Rosemary went on with a grin. "How comical, Guldo takes a deep breath right before he blips away. And, when I spot him after the fact, he's trying to catch some air as if he'd just ran a marathon. Watch closely this time, I'm fairly certain on something now."
The two of them watched as Gohan and Krillin chased after Guldo even further, preparing two more energy blasts to fire off. Knowing he couldn't do another Time Freeze right away, Guldo bolted in the opposite direction, praying he can outrun whatever was about to come his way.
"We got him now, Gohan!" Krillin called out, cupping his hands together to form his next attack. "Kamehame-ha!"
"Masenko.." Gohan followed up, firing off his own blast of vibrantly-bright energy. "HA!"
Scurrying away with all his might, the two attacks were unfavourably faster than Guldo originally thought. Taking a quick dive to the ground, he was hit by a blue blast that Krillin had fired, sending him flying into a boulder where he then bounced off and laid face-first in the ground. Rosemary let out a chuckle.
"Look, he chose to run away instead of doing another freeze! He's too tired, and hasn't had the opportunity to stabilize himself!" She proudly pumped a fist above her head. "I'm willing to gamble that the duration of Guldo's Time Freeze is linked to the same length of time where he's not breathing!"
Vegeta laughed haughtily. What a ludicrous deduction.
"You seriously think that's what it is?" Vegeta bantered. "You've had better ideas, I'll admit."
Rosemary's confidant smile curled into an annoyed frown.
"I don't seem to be getting any better suggestions." Rosemary challenged. "Or are you just hoping I'm incorrect because of how ridiculous it sounds?"
Vegeta bitterly remained silent. 'So much for not being psychic.'
"Hmm?" Rosemary edged him further, then smirked. "Well then, I'm going to try and corner him to keep him on the run so he can't use his technique again, and whoever manages to get the closest to him first will take him out. I imagine I'm too quick for him to try and attack me. Does that sound reasonable?"
Vegeta huffed.
"Don't die."
Rosemary managed a chuckle, and took off towards Guldo as fast as she could.
'I need to end this now.' She affirmed to herself, drawing closer to Guldo with ease. Focusing on Krillin and Gohan up until that point, Guldo turned his head to see her coming and fearfully dove behind a boulder to hide.
Giggling to herself as she watched Guldo's display, she shook her head with a confident grin.
'As if hiding in plain sight is going to do anything, you fool.' She commented humorously. The grin fell off her face as she started to run out of ground to cover.
'...Am I actually about to do this?'
She was beginning to doubt herself the more she thought about it. She had never killed anyone before. She went on to debate with herself, reminded of the incredible satisfaction she would get if she could really do it, and the approval she would gain from Vegeta. Maybe he'd keep her around, after all.
The concept alone was enough to give her a rush of adrenaline as she finally closed the gap on him.
She was mere feet away from Guldo now, knowing that Guldo wouldn't be able to run very far at that point. Slowing her pace, she stood before him with a confident smirk.
"I'm not the one you were expecting to see, am I?" Rosemary taunted him smugly. 'I have to hand it to them, talking all high and mighty really does have a thrill to it.'
"You're still catching your breath after that last Time Freeze of yours, aren't you?" She edged on cockily.
Guldo's face lit up in fright, and the green tone of his skin turned a sickly yellow.
His exaggerated expression only confirmed that she was right. He reluctantly crawled away from her with a short growl, still breathing heavily.
"So what? You really think you have it in you?" Guldo childishly scoffed at her as he cowered into the boulders behind him. "You wouldn't hurt a fly!"
Rosemary bent forward to meet his eyes, giving him a good, heavy, hateful stare. Knowing that her time was running thin, her eyes slid down to the nape of his neck intensely as she prepared to take her first and final hit on him. One clean swipe would do just the trick - she just needed to do it.
"This will be the last time you take a shot at me." She declared, trying to sound powerful as she could. She quickly pounced, eyes wide with greed, and made a swift, vicious cut through the air towards Guldo's neck, separating his head from his shoulders.
She took a step back from Guldo's remains, unsure of how to feel about what she had just done. It was electrifying, the feeling that she had finally had her first real success, but she, the woman that was bound to never fight a battle, had just taken someone's life. It almost felt wrong, like she'd gone against what fate had set out for her.
'I'm a Saiyan, this is just a way of life.' She reassured herself with displeasure, and dropped the thought.
Shaking her hand free of Guldo's blood, she locked eyes with Vegeta far off in the distance, who had been watching her curiously the entire time. He hadn't even bothered to move, he trusted her enough to stick to her word. While it didn't seem to be much at the point of impact, her hand began to throb gently from the harsh contact with Guldo's neck.
The remaining members of the Ginyu Force stood there mortified, speechlessly watching Guldo's head fall to the ground.
Satisfied, Vegeta took advantage of the moment, and reappeared beside Rosemary in an instant with a wide grin on his face.
"Nice work."
Vegeta charged a small burst of his energy in his hand, then blasted the head to bits with a quick beam of powerful light.
Rosemary held her head high, humbly accepting his praise.
"Why, thank you." She responded, bowing her head to him. "I'm tapping out for now, it's probably for the best. I'm more than happy with one out of five." She gave him a lighthearted wink with a slight smile. "Oh, and I was right, by the way."
"Whatever." Vegeta spitefully retorted. "Enjoy your first victory, but we're far from done here."
After a small chortle, Rosemary leapt high into the air, contently taking flight to the top of a large mass of rock. She sat along on the edge of its peak and elegantly crossed her legs to watch the remainder of the fight carry out. She couldn't remember the last time she could cross her legs freely, and happily tapped her heels against the rockside.
"W-What the hell's happened to her?!" Jeice screeched to his team. "Miss Rosie's got some nerve, jumpin' in like that and then just sits pretty?! Who does she think she is?!"
Hearing him from down below, Rosemary sighed. 'You really have some nerve, calling me that.'
Burter angrily advanced on Gohan and Krillin while she relaxed. She wanted to take a cheap shot at him with a blast of her own, steadying her hand to aim at him, but was interrupted by a flash from out of nowhere. She flinched at the speed of whatever it was that flew through her sight, getting up quickly from where she sat.
She took to a pensive kneel and squinted to take a better look. She heightened her guard in case one of the fighters decided to take a quick jab at her.
Down below, there was now a man with pointed black hair down below that she didn't recognize, casually standing there and seemingly unphased by the play of events thus far.
"Wha-?!" Rosemary blurted out, baffled. She went on to study the man further...
After giving it more thought, his hair was strikingly similar to hers and Vegeta's. His clothing was unlike anything she'd ever seen, the contrasting blue and orange fabrics leaving her slightly appalled - the vibrant colours obnoxiously clashed. Even all worn and torn, she thought her suit looked far more stylish.
"Dad!" Gohan cheered happily, lying on the ground wearily after taking a heavy jab to the gut. He let out a forced cough through his wounded chest. "You made it..."
'The boy's father…' Rosemary played back. She continued to ponder from the distance, eyeing him closely.
The man looked over at Vegeta, who also looked to be recuperating.
"Hey, Vegeta," Goku spoke out to him, waving a hand in front of his face. "Wasn't expecting to see you here! You guys alright?"
Tired and grumpy, Vegeta grabbed the man's arm.
"I'm fine!" Vegeta snapped, slapping the man's hand aside. "We haven't exactly been having the time of our lives here."
Goku sensed an ever so slight change in energy as Rosemary held her guard from afar, peculiarly staring them down.
"Hey, uh, who's she?" Goku asked everyone who was listening, throwing a pointed thumb over his shoulder.
Able to distinguish that he was pointing at her, Rosemary blinked blankly in response and remained silent to see everyone's reaction. She opted to stay away and remain on standby until she had a better grasp of the situation.
"An ally." Vegeta answered dryly, hesitant to reveal his affiliation to Rosemary. If anyone figured anything else out, he knew he was going to be the biggest target of mockery he's dealt with in a long time. He could tell that as Rosemary curiously watched over them from the distance, her energy was beginning to dwindle again. "She's a Saiyan, like us."
'Ah, well, that's that solved.' Rosemary concluded mentally. 'How interesting... I suppose this means that Gohan is also a Saiyan. I had no idea there were this many of us still out there...'
Jeice watched the group of them awkwardly. He had no idea who all of these people were, or why they decided to become acquainted with each other in the middle of a fight, but he could take advantage of the time that they were distracted.
"Wow, another one? Well," Goku laughed, looking over his shoulder to get a better look at Rosemary from afar. "You must not be a very good friend if she's all the way up there!"
Vegeta growled in anger, unamused.
Rosemary finally hopped off the edge of the cliff to meet them, landing into a smooth roll and came back up with grace. She approached him kindly after a quick but peppy breath, and bowed.
"T-That's fairly normal with him." Rosemary explained with a half-hearted smile. "I was actually just backing off… I'm a bit tired from fighting."
"Alright, rest up." Goku nodded and returned her smile with a bright, cheery one. "Hey, for a Saiyan, you're really nice! Well, uh, compared to Vegeta, I mean."
Rosemary blushed and slightly leaned in towards Goku. Vegeta did his best to ignore him, checking to see if Rosemary cracked up at all. To his relief, she hadn't budged.
"Listen, if I were you," Rosemary cautiously whispered to Goku. "I would take it easy with Vegeta. He's not one for comedy unless it's from him, and it's finally died down here. If you don't mind, I would like a few minutes of peace..."
"What is this, some kind of reunion?!" Burter taunted from the distance, then charged towards Goku at an extreme speed. "How dare you ignore us!"
Rosemary leapt to the side. Aware of his presence as well, Goku ducked as Burter attempted to land a kick, then extended his arm into Burter's gut as he stood up. Lifting the blue alien off the ground, Goku tossed Burter aside without the blink of an eye.
Rosemary held her breath in awe, absolutely stunned.
'His reaction time... and his strength… It's incredible! It's much higher than mine, that's for sure, and,' She honed in on the new Saiyan. 'Maybe even Vegeta's...'
She gawked, dumbfounded.
'But where did he get such power from?!'
"Burter!" Jeice cried out hysterically as he watched his comrade lifelessly slap the ground, then turned his focus to the new individual. This man just came out of nowhere and was freakishly stronger than anyone he's ever come across - like hell he was going to try and fight.
'I think it's best if I retreat for now, I'm gonna get killed if I stay here much longer.' He thought reluctantly.
"Just you wait 'till the Captain finds out about this! I got what I came here for!" He threatened them from the distance, then took off from the fight as fast as he could.
"Hey, he's running away!" Rosemary bellowed out, getting ready to take off and catch him. "He's going to get Ginyu… Look, if you thought these guys were giving us a hard time, we're in for it now! I'm going to-"
Vegeta immediately grabbed her by the wrist.
"No, you're not going anywhere." Vegeta told her sternly. He hoped she wouldn't try to run off and hurt herself. "You've done enough."
Rosemary fought against his grip for a brief moment with a grit of her teeth and lowered her head in defeat. She knew that she couldn't handle a fight alone, and Vegeta was right, she was done after this encounter.
"Vegeta, please," She pleaded with tightened fists, still unsatisfied with her efforts despite doing the most she's ever accomplished. "You know as well as I do what's to come! At this rate, I'm the only one that can catch him!"
Vegeta released her hand and crossed his arms with a scowl. He gave as intimidating a stare as he could manage. Despite encouraging her to do so not that long ago, he cared too much about her condition to see her try and surpass herself at the moment.
"I know." He simply replied. "But you know better."
Rosemary let out a sigh. She would easily be bested by Vegeta if she tried to pull a fast one, and gave up.
"Hey, seriously though," Goku teased further. "You guys get along but you're so different, you know each other?"
Rosemary managed a small smile. How comforting, she could take a life and not be lumped in with the rest of her kind.
"For quite some time, yes." She explained. "But we've also been away from each other for quite some time. It's taken its toll."
It was also slightly embarrassing, being compared to Vegeta after everything that had just happened, she couldn't touch what this man could do. She was a Saiyan, she should have been much stronger and more confident in herself than she was. Truthfully, she couldn't bring herself to pretend to be something she wasn't - powerful, menacing, fearless. Instead, she hid her face and blushed.
"Hey, I didn't mean to offend you," Goku laughed lightly. "Vegeta's just a tough nut to crack!"
Vegeta's serious expression broke as Rosemary cowered away. She was noticeably tense - perhaps the conversation was too much for her right now, given the weight of everything that had been happening.
Unlike him, she had a huge heart.
"I'd watch your tone if I were you, Kakarot." Vegeta loosely threatened. "More importantly, don't prod her so much, she's sensitive right now."
Unaffected by Vegeta's taunts, Goku casually snickered. He wasn't used to Vegeta looking out for anyone other than himself, but he liked the change.
Rosemary blinked cluelessly, surprised that Vegeta bothered to defend her.
"Anyway, uh, I'm Goku," He talked to Rosemary's backside. "But Vegeta calls me Kakarot or whatever since I guess that was my original name. You've probably already figured out that I'm a Saiyan too!" He introduced himself, bowing respectfully. "What about you?"
Rosemary turned around to address him properly. She was still an esteemed associate of the Royal Court, after all.
"R-Rosemary." She hesitated and followed with a bow of her own. She looked over to Vegeta, who had been rigidly pouting. "Royal Advisor of the Saiyan throne, but more specifically, Prince Vegeta."
Goku's eyes lit up like stars.
"Ohoho wow, you guys are really close then!" Goku laughed and skipped on the spot with excitement. "You must be amazing if you've been trusted with this guy! I guess that means that he really trusts you, too!" He chuckled, trying to cheer her up.
Rosemary tensed up and blushed even more, unsure of what to say.
"Yes, well," Vegeta obnoxiously barged in, looking over to Rosemary. "She's far smarter than she lets on." He irritably advanced on Goku and looked up his chin. He wasn't wrong, but he was definitely making Rosemary, and himself, uncomfortable. "Quit making her all shy! She's still shaken from being freed not long ago!"
"Hey, take it easy!" Goku shrieked in his defense, cowering away in a harmless laughter. "It's not like that! She's brand new to me, you know?! It's exciting, that's all!"
After the introduction, Goku rushed over to his injured son, who had been peacefully laying on the ground. Now that the Ginyu Force had taken off, he could relax and focus on his breathing so he wasn't in so much pain.
"Hey, Dad." Gohan managed to say through a couple of thick coughs. "You're finally here..."
"You bet, kiddo!" Goku told him happily, "I see you've made a new friend!" He gestured to the Saiyans behind him. Rosemary had been in a strange, quiet stare battle with Vegeta. She seemed to be awkwardly avoiding conversation, whereas he looked like he was expecting some kind of recognition or approval from her..
"Rosemary?" Gohan clarified. "Yeah, she's nice. Nothing like Vegeta was when he first showed up. Be nice to her, she's helped us out a lot."
Goku let out a chuckle.
As Goku talked to his son, Rosemary slid away from Vegeta to continue making some conversation with the others.
"Yeah, I kinda got that from her." He agreed cheerfully. "It's great that we have someone else around! She seems really close with Vegeta, something about being his advisor or somethin'."
He held his arm out to help his son off the ground.
Gohan rolled his eyes weakly, grabbing his hand and gradually got up.
"Dad." He told his father tiredly. "They're really close. Like, more than friends close."
Within earshot of their conversation, Rosemary shot up where she stood, blushing again once she realized they were talking about her relationship with the prince. She never really knew exactly what Vegeta thought about her, but she had spent many years trying to figure it out.
Krillin nudged Goku in the shoulder with a grin and raised an eyebrow suggestively.
"So, now that she's here," Goku barely managed to follow along. "He doesn't want to follow up with that?" He crossed his arms and shook his head with a grin. "What a guy. Classic Vegeta, I guess."
"Yep, basically..." Krillin replied simply, making Goku frown. "Well, you know how he is."
"Man, that's gotta suck…" Goku sighed sympathetically. "She seems really tense and weird around him. It must make her upset when he gets really mean."
"Well, Rosemary kinda broke the stereotype about Saiyans being jerks for me but," Krillin replied in disagreement. "She seems really shy, and Vegeta's the opposite. She did just spend a lot of time being locked up though... I think she's waiting for a good time to catch up, but right now just isn't it, y'know, since we're fighting for our lives and what not right now."
Rosemary felt her face get hot as she listened further. Was she that predictable?
'I didn't realize I came across as so sensitive…' She told herself, recalling Vegeta mention it as well. She trembled and tightened her fists, embarrassed. 'Oh, I'm so stupid! I'm not trying to be some damsel in distress, I just want to live my life in peace!'
"Fair enough." Goku finished catching up, ready to cut to the chase again "So, where's that red guy going? Said something about a captain?"
"Y-You mean his boss?!" Krillin tensed up.
"I guess so," Goku replied unsurely. "Rosemary was kinda nervous when she said it... I guess if she wasn't losing her mind over it, it could be worse."
He turned around to look over to the edge of the island where she was originally, to find she was almost immediately behind him, making them both jump in shock.
"I-I know everything there is to know about this group!" Rosemary shrieked. She hoped they wouldn't mind that she was listening in and continued to quiver. She slid her gaze off to the side. "I-I can tell you anything you need to know... I have you guys to help fight them now, I didn't have such a luxury before...!"
"H-how long have you been standing there, anyways?" Goku jokingly retaliated. "You were so quiet I didn't even hear you coming!"
Goku stammered back. "I couldn't sense you either! What's up with that?"
Vegeta looked over to see what all the fuss was about, but dismissed it and continued to pout and stare off into the distance.
"A-A good amount of time, I suppose." She timidly replied. "I can't really tell because this planet makes it- never mind." She sighed.
"As for the sensing thing, well, I'm not powerful at all, I'm not like you and Vegeta… I'm a dud, if you will."
She leaned in and cupped a hand around her mouth.
"Also uh… I couldn't help but overhear that you think that Vegeta, um… you know…" She whispered. "Could you please try to keep it to yourselves? It's more complicated than that, so I would appreciate it if you wouldn't make assumptions…"
