Chapter Six - Tension
"There you are, sir," Captain Ginyu addressed Frieza professionally as he landed out front of Frieza's main ship, tossing his armful of shiny orange orbs on the ground before him. The Dragon Balls' glassy finish glimmered in the sunlight as they slowly rolled to a halt in front of Frieza. He bowed gracefully, then held his head high in pride. "All seven Dragon Balls, as you requested."
Frieza's impatient scowling turned into a wide smile.
"Excellent, Ginyu." Frieza acknowledged him as he approached the Dragon Balls excitedly, looking down at the large balls with delight. "I knew I should have called you from the start."
He chuckled lowly.
"Now then, let's get this over with so I can get off this stupid planet and destroy it for giving me such a hard time."
Frieza dramatically flared out his arms and began to chant. "Dragon, rise to grant me my wish!"
The Dragon Balls sat in the calm blue grass, unbothered.
Frieza and Ginyu intensified their stare on the pile as they anticipated something spectacular, but nothing happened.
Frieza growled irritably. His impatience quickly returned, and grew with a vengeance.
"What's going on?!" He shouted in a fuss. "Why aren't they working?!"
Captain Ginyu continued to watch the balls blankly, crossing his arms to ponder.
"Hmm..." He spoke out. "Are you sure you're doing it right, sir?"
Frieza shot Ginyu a bitter look.
"Oh!" Ginyu blurted out once again. "Here's an idea! Perhaps these Namekians have their own native language, or some kind of keyword you need to activate them?"
"Why the hell would something like these have a password?" Frieza asked him sarcastically. "Clearly, it's the first one. Pity, there are no Namekians left to activate them for me since my soldiers had a bit too much fun."
Doubtful, Ginyu pressed a button on the side of his Scouter, trying to pick up any form of life that happened to be out there somewhere. Just a moment later, the device beeped slowly in response, indicating a few small yellow dots on the surface of the translucent green eyepiece. He carefully turned to follow the orientation on the Scouter and came to a halt as he faced the open water of an ocean. The water had been calmly glazed over allowing him to see extremely far distances with ease.
"It's your lucky day, sir." Ginyu informed him encouragingly, pointing out towards a far-off island across the sea. "My Scouter is detecting three of them in that direction!"
Frieza looked out to where Ginyu was pointing. All he could see was a tall, pillar-like mountain faintly visible from where they stood.
He nodded with approval.
"Very good." He acknowledged him again. "I'll see to it, then."
Without wasting another second, Frieza took off towards the island - leaving Ginyu to supervise the ship and the Dragon Balls, alone.
Just a minute later, Jeice landed in front of Ginyu in a hurry.
"Oi! Cap'n!" Jeice called from the air. "Come quick!"
"Jeice!" Ginyu greeted him warmly. "Glad to see you've returned, I've been entrusted to keep guard of these Dragon Balls."
He tilted his head, nothing that Jeice was the only one to return. "Where are the others? Still cleaning up?"
Hesitant to respond for a brief moment, Jeice shook his head in disbelief.
"Well, sir, uh," He reported shakily. "They've all been eradicated, s-sir."
He fisted his hands with guilt. He ran away from the scene instead of assisting.
"Miss Rosie took care of Guldo in a flash, it was unlike anything I've ever seen from 'er. And this other guy showed up and took out Burter, so there's more fighters against us now. Recoombe was killed by Vegeta on my way back here… You and I are all that's left, sir."
Ginyu sighed dismissively. He already wasn't looking forward to the hunt for new members of the squad.
"This group is becoming quite a bunch of pests, aren't they?" He asked in a low tone.
Jeice pouted, absolutely humiliated. He knew he was the weakest fighter, even more so now, but he questioned if the two of them could finish the job at this rate.
"Aye," He admitted, "This new guy that showed up handled Burter like it was child's play, sir! It was insane… If I had to guess, they're probably gonna be headed here to reclaim the Dragon Balls. Where's Lord Frieza, wasn't he wit' you?"
Ginyu frowned.
"He's off to find some locals to activate the Dragon Balls, there were...complications." Ginyu replied. He walked closer to the foot of the ship, tapping the ground with his foot pointedly. "Before we go anywhere, we're burying these Dragon Ball things so they aren't in plain sight."
Jeice nodded affirmatively, rejoining Ginyu where he stood. "Good thinking, sir. Last thing we need is our heads off because Frieza has lost control of the target."
With a final nod to each other in agreement, they began to dig a hole just large enough to fit the Dragon Balls snugly inside. The dirt beneath them was soft and rich, allowing them to finish the job quickly. They slid the Dragon Balls into the hole, and smoothed the earth back over them with ease. For the final touch, Jeice ripped up a patch of grass from nearby and stuck it on top of the mound in hopes that it would help disguise the hole while they were gone.
Satisfied, they set off to find the bunch that destroyed their squad.
. . .
"… And then the Ginyu Force arrived here and took the Dragon Balls we just rounded up!" Krillin explained to Goku, pacing back and forth in worry.
Gohan and Rosemary nodded as Krillin finished re-telling their events of the day to catch Goku up to speed. Things were moving rather quickly now - Rosemary wondered how long it would be until they inevitably crossed paths with Frieza for the final fight.
Vegeta continued to sulk privately, actively listening in as everyone grew chatty. Whether he liked it or not, it was in his best interest to stay with the Earthlings if he wanted any chance for himself or Rosemary to get off the planet alive and in one piece. He thought briefly about what he'd get up to on the off-chance that he had a life to spare after everything was said and done. Now that he thought about it, If Frieza could be defeated, he wouldn't have much of a purpose anymore, with his planet gone and his people eliminated. It'd just be him, Kakarot, the kid, and most notable to him out of the bunch, Rosemary.
"Yes," Rosemary commented, trying to devise a plan after everything she's seen so far. She had her doubts, but she was convinced that she could make something work. "But, I'm beginning to think that it's not that big a problem just yet…"
Heavy with nerves for quite some time now, everyone looked over to her for insight at the first mention of a plan.
"What do you mean?" Goku asked, trying to keep a sense of urgency. "If Frieza gets them, he could become immortal and we won't be able to stop him after that."
"Of course, yes." She agreed politely, expressively holding out a hand. "But, those Dragon Balls are owned by this planet, correct?"
Goku, Krillin and Gohan nodded, while Vegeta raised an eyebrow at her, unsure of where she was going with it just yet.
"During my short time in captivity while I've been here," She continued. "I've noticed that the Namekians speak in their own tongue when they don't want to be understood… What if those Dragon Balls can only be summoned through that language?"
She waited a moment for a response, but there was none. She blinked hard.
"...Am I the only one that's noticed?"
"Actually, I was thinking the same thing." Gohan spoke up, lowering his head shyly. "At first, I thought it was a silly idea, but you're onto something."
Rosemary lended him a warm smile.
"Come now," She softened her voice. "Right now, there's no such thing as a silly idea. A hypothesis is nothing more than an educated guess, after all." She gave Gohan an encouraging wink, then frowned to thinking further. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen a group of Namekians other than the few they'd come across before the Ginyus showed up. The plan may prove to be more difficult than she originally thought.
She gave a doubtful sigh.
"Here's the hard part. The only Namekians that we currently know of are the elder, the guard that was with the elder, and the little boy that you guys managed to save." She shrugged her shoulders, her confidence in the idea faltering as she quickly ran the odds through her head. "So that's why when I say it's not that big an issue, it's because the chances of the Ginyus finding them are relatively slim... They're at Guru's tower, if they've moved since then, that also means that we may not be able to use these Dragon Balls, either."
Suddenly feeling an obnoxious energy moving just within his reach, Vegeta scowled, troubled.
"About that," Vegeta barged into the conversation assertively, able to barely decipher that the energy belonged to Lord Frieza himself. "Frieza's headed there right now, the Ginyus must have given him a new Scouter to track them."
He let out a frustrated growl.
"We can't waste more time here! After hitting those guys, he's going to backtrack and find us here!"
Gohan nodded in agreement, picking up Frieza's sickly aura as well.
"Vegeta's right, he's definitely hunting down Guru!" Gohan confirmed.
Rosemary's hands fearfully curled into fists.
"Agh, I was hoping it wouldn't be so soon!" She whined. "Things are really coming down to the wire, it seems."
This was really it, everything was about to go down in some form. She had waited so long for even the slightest chance that Frieza would be out of the picture, but given the way she anticipated it to happen as the group of them continued to push on, she wasn't sure if she wanted to be around for the end.
"We have to go help them... This might be our last chance to get what we need as well."
"No." Vegeta told her simply.
Rosemary wrinkled her nose in disgust. She wasn't sure what she hated more - the fact that Vegeta was challenging her on every little thing she suggested, or his unwavering lack of understanding towards their need to be careful.
Hopefully it was nothing personal.
"What?! Why not?" She shouted furiously. "Vegeta, you better have a good reason for this, do you not understand our circumstances here?!"
Vegeta's glare sharpened on her as she yelled at him.
"Shut up and I'll explain!" He shouted back at her firmly.
Rosemary cowered away with silent, confused blinks.
"Listen," Vegeta went on, "That guard was probably selected out of honour to protect the elder." He crossed his arms with a strong huff, slightly remorseful for scaring her like he had. "If he was any man worth his salt, he would refuse your assistance, even if it leads to death."
Rosemary relaxed her face and skeptically looked off to the side.
"Well, I wouldn't know anything about that..." She mumbled. "I suppose I'll put faith in you on this one."
She finally turned back to him with a stern look. "But you do realize that we are certainly going to have to fight Frieza eventually, and I'd rather do so before he becomes immortal!"
A sharp pang in her senses suddenly presented itself out of nowhere. She turned around to find Jeice and Ginyu landing a short distance behind the group, empty handed.
She whipped her head around to look back to Vegeta over her shoulder in an instant.
'This could be exactly what we needed, how convenient.'
"Listen, Vegeta, please trust me on this." She whispered and looked away for a moment, then returned to meet his gaze. "If Frieza is at the elder's tower, and they're-"
She nudged her head in Ginyu and Jeice's direction.
"-here, then the Dragon Balls are probably back at Frieza's ship, unguarded!"
Vegeta's eyes widened with passion. The sound of being gifted with fortune made his heart quicken in excitement.
He snickered pleasurably.
"So they're free to take." He finished for her.
Rosemary responded with a small but cheeky grin and an inconspicuous nod.
"I think it would be wise to take Krillin and Gohan with you." She continued in a hush. He probably wasn't too happy with that part of her plan. "I can tell that you're not a fan of them, but it's just in case, surely you understand. I'll stay here with Goku to get him up to speed on Ginyu's techniques."
Vegeta's smile faded.
"This had better work." Vegeta told her lowly, skeptical about leaving her with Kakarot. The fool always had a way of pulling through, sure, but he had a knack for doing so under the most extreme of ways. "Don't be reckless."
"We'll find out soon enough." She replied in a serious tone, eyeing the rest of the group to gain approval, then looked back to Vegeta as she tensed up her stance. She took a deep breath to keep herself calm. "Okay, it's best to go now before things heat up."
After discussing her plan with the group, Vegeta had motioned Krillin and Gohan to follow him reluctantly, leaving only Rosemary and Goku behind to take on the remains of the Ginyu Force. Goku looked at them naively.
"It's just you and I now, Goku." She told him, walking in front. "I'll take Jeice, and you can take Ginyu."
Goku managed an awkward smile.
"I mean…" He hesitantly replied. "Vegeta just said not to be reckless! Are you sure you can handle-"
"I'll be fine!" She meanly cut him off, then let out a heavy sigh. She should have been appreciating that he was looking out for her, the situation could have been a lot worse. "Listen, Ginyu's powers rely on taking over another someone else's body. The minute he chants 'change', you have to get out of there!"
Goku nodded after some light laughter. 'Man, this girl means business! I like it, but she's not nearly as strong as the others…'
Rosemary took a moment to reflect. She didn't know what else to say.
'Maybe I should apologize…'
She couldn't bear to look at the mysterious new Saiyan after her little episode.
"Look, I know we just met and all," She shyly continued. "But there's something huge I can feel from within you... I-I don't know what it is or how you got it, but it's probably my last hope for freedom!"
She took a deep breath - getting that off her chest felt good. This man was ridiculously and absurdly strong. She didn't like the thought of it at first, but Vegeta likely couldn't light a candle to Goku's power.
She needed to make sure that this power of his was used to do the right thing.
She finally looked back to him with a more serious expression.
"I'm counting on you to take my advice so we can get rid of these two for good and get out of-"
"Careful!" Goku interrupted, with a snap of his eyes.
Jeice was already on the move towards her. She turned to face him as quick as she could and shot an arm out in front of her to grab him. With strong nerves, she took hold of the soldier and dashed in for a kick to the head.
'Ugh, why does he want to harass me so badly?!'
The rocky ground beneath them crumbled as Jeice was slammed to the ground.
"What the-?!" Jeice groaned with his face in the dirt. "This again? What kind of cheap technique is that?!"
"I don't care, it's working!" Rosemary growled back through gritted teeth. The pain from earlier was beginning to come back.
'Gods, I'm so damn weak!' She couldn't help but think, and jumped away as she was forced to release her hold on Jeice. She endured another jolt to the head and reluctantly took to a kneel. 'I took him on too quickly and I'm already not in the greatest shape for this… This is so humiliating! Why can't I fight like everyone else?!'
But she couldn't afford to lose.
She gradually grabbed Jeice once more with a struggle and stumbled to her feet. She leapt in for a barrage of kicks to keep him on the ground, then retreated again, making sure to skip around to stay on the move.
"Would you quit it?!" Jeice furiously shrieked as he fought to get back up. His nose was starting to swell again from their first awful excuse for a battle, even after he had put it back in place on his way back to Ginyu. "The hell is this you're doing to me?!"
'I have to do this!' She confided, near tears. She hated that she had to fight, she was never a fighter, and was never meant to be a fighter, it seemed. Her forehead screamed at her for putting it through so much work. 'Agh, I'm going to have to rely on my speed to save me now, this pain is just too much for me to keep doing this… Sorry, Vegeta, now is just not the time to push myself.'
"Fine." She retorted, sprinting over to him yet again. She sprung into the air to land a hasty kick to his gut, knocking him back and forcing him to keel over in agony. Her eyes burned to stay open, but she persisted onwards. She just wasn't done yet, she needed to finish the job.
"Change…" She managed to faintly hear from behind and instantly diverted her attention towards Goku.
Goku was planted where he stood, staring up at Ginyu as he proceeded to perform his all too familiar body swap a good hundred feet in the air, all the while enduring a gigantic gaping hole through his torso.
Rosemary's eyes grew wide at the sight of blood dripping from Ginyu's armour.
"Goku, you have to move!" She cried out and prayed that she was within earshot.
Jeice, who had quickly recovered, dove for her and attempted to land a slap while she wasn't looking.
She caught him out of the corner of her eye and pushed his hand back with the last of her remaining power, only to be sent sideways and off her feet as his hand collided with her cheek. Her body trembled in shock at the concept of being struck, and her limbs refused to move in fright. How petty - she was bested with a single blow, and her traumas took care of the rest.
Jeice took a glimpse of his captain's fight while he kneeled at Rosemary's side with satisfaction. He spared her any further damage, uninterested in beating up a lady, let alone this lady. His job wasn't to kill, only to prevent the group from interfering with Frieza's request.
"It's alright, Rosemary, I can block it!" Goku called from afar. "Take care of yourself!"
Rosemary slammed her hands to the ground in violent fists. 'Why, why can't he just listen to me?!'
"NO, YOU CAN'T!" She screeched as she watched a bright golden beam of light fall from the sky.
The both of them watched it gain on Goku at a frightening speed.
"I can't?" He called back with fearful confusion. "Why not?I"
"Just shut up and DODGE IT!" She screamed, but knew it was too late to change the outcome. Ginyu's spiritual energy was already too close for Goku to escape the trajectory of the blast.
Distraught, her body slumped to the ground in defeat. Tears were uncontrollably gushing from her eyes as they continued to burn angrily. 'Damn it… I was supposed to prevent this from happening! What am I going to tell Vegeta now? No, I won't even get to see him again at this rate...'
Ginyu's blast made contact with Goku despite just seconds later, creating a blinding flash of light that surrounded the area.
Rosemary shoved her face to the ground to shield herself from it, and began to cry. She knew quite well what was about to happen next.
As the light faded, Jeice laughed victoriously and gave Rosemary's waist a cocky nudge with his foot for good measure.
"Aww, tough luck, Rosie!" Jeice teased and flew over to Goku, knowing that the captain had successfully taken over his body.
Ginyu, now Goku, was looking at himself in disappointment up above, wincing as he felt his heart angrily overworked itself against the hole in his chest. Rosemary growled as she watched the new Goku descend to the ground.
"Why didn't you listen to me, Goku?!" She wept frantically, now noticing the large, seeping hole in his chest. She got up frantically to help him, keeping her eyes away from the wound squeamishly until she had to tend to it. "If you did what I told you to do, we could have taken advantage of the situation!"
Goku, now Ginyu, laughed hysterically.
"What's his is mine and mine is his!" Ginyu boasted triumphantly, flexing and punching the air rapidly. "Ah, this power is incredible!"
Rosemary slowly crawled towards him, increasingly uncertain if she could aid him, now awkwardly looking at the body of what would normally have been a man she avoided at all costs. Short for time, she forced herself to examine him to tend to his wounds. There was a massive hole clawed into his chest that undoubtedly pierced a lung or two, with purple blood seeping slowly out of him. Distastefully examining the edges, she reached out a hand to touch the wound. She could only assume that blood had already began to clot in an attempt to stabilize his body.
"Gods!" She gasped in disbelief, kneeling beside him to get a closer look. "How are you still standing after this?!"
"Don't touch it!" Goku blurted out and flinched. "It stings…"
Rosemary's jaw dropped open.
"You've got to be joking!" She bitterly shot back. "You have a huge hole rammed right through you and the best thing you could come up with is that it stings?!"
Goku noticed something spiking from within her. Her energy up until now was soft and gentle, but he was sensing something different and desperate now, something much bolder than before.
"Look, I know you're mad!" He carefully spoke. He wasn't entirely sure what to expect from her just then. "But listen, that anger of yours is making your power increase! For the sake of the immediate future, keep it that way!"
Rosemary looked down at herself as if she was supposed to see some noteworthy change, clueless, then back up to him.
"It is?" She asked, crossing her arms, unconvinced. Her body stiffened up as she folded her arms - it was rare that she took an aggressive stance. It felt wrong.
"Trust me!" Goku assured her. "But use it on them, not me! I'll be fine!"
Jeice used his Scouter to evaluate their remaining power now that Goku was fatally wounded, reading a bright 12450 across the screen - a number higher than what he was hoping to see. He looked over to the captain with a grave expression, gesturing to bail from the scene with a nod off towards the sea.
Quietly agreeing with him, the two of them quickly flew away to escape, content with the outcome of their encounter. Feeling the air clear slightly, Rosemary instinctively looked over her shoulder to find the Ginyus fleeing.
"You cowards!" She yelled at them as they grew farther away then turned back to Goku, gesturing towards his massive wound. "Hey, if it just stings, can you still fly?"
She shook her head worriedly. She had no plan moving forward.
"I-I can't carry you if you can't! They're headed back to the ship, and when they get there, they're going to take care of Vegeta and the others, I'm sure of it!"
"What, why not?" Goku asked her in confusion. "Aren't you like me?"
"Yes, but I'm not strong like you and Vegeta!" She defended and clamped her eyes down hard. The lids of her eyes ached from crying as more tears came to surface.
She gave the ground a swift kick out of anger.
"I have a different kind of power and I don't really know how it works, I'm essentially useless in a fight, as I'm sure you already saw..."
Goku moped. He wasn't good at the whole comfort thing.
"Hey, uh, don't be like that…" Goku responded awkwardly in an attempt to soothe her. "You're going to figure it out eventually, I can feel it. But for now, we need to catch them before they get to the others!"
"Right, let's go!" Rosemary agreed with a nod. "Just stay back in case they try to pull a fast one! You're badly hurt, I don't think we can afford for you to take another hit or two."
"I think it would actually be better if you stayed back, Rosemary." Goku rebutted. "You're exhausted, even if you're not wounded."
Rosemary huffed. 'Am I really weak enough that someone, even on the edge of death, is still stronger than I?'
"I really hope you know what you're doing, Goku…"
. . .
Krillin, Gohan and Vegeta flew back to Frieza's main ship in an uncomfortable silence.
Vegeta had been becoming restless during their flight, angrily huffing away to himself with a scowl that refused to leave his face. The idea of leaving Rosemary in Kakarot's care was humiliating and risky - he knew nothing about her to properly protect and assist her.
Gohan observed Vegeta's frustration from just a few feet behind. There was no doubt in his mind that he was worried because Rosemary was in a dangerous situation somewhere, but his crankiness had become less tolerable with the longer they travelled together.
After finally arriving at the Frieza Force's main ship, the group tried to encourage Vegeta to rest while he could with a good deal of irritable resistance. Vegeta reluctantly gave in and took to a secure area within the ship, though he doubted that he'd be able to sleep.
He found himself in one of the infirmary rooms in the West Wing. He paced around the room to find a comfortable spot to plop himself down with difficulty.
The walls were lined with broken beds and shattered healing vessels from angry soldiers. The ship was a disaster - partially thanks to him for making such a scene while he escaped and the chaos began.
He finally dropped in front of a healing tank and slowly eased his back against it while his muscles continued to ache.
Perhaps taking a breather was for the best.
He mindlessly stared at the opposing wall and let his thoughts wander. His ability to think was clouded with constant stress since he chose to fool around with the Earthlings again. Was it too much to ask that things just go as he planned? He hadn't been so fortunate once the Ginyu Force showed up, but the real question was if he would be able to get off of Namek with his life intact, or even more importantly, what he was going to do once he did.
His thoughts shifted to his more recent terms with Rosemary. Her moment of breakthrough with Guldo was still tortuously fresh in his mind. There was so much about her that was new to him, yet the way she carried herself, all the way down to how she spoke, was exactly the same as it used to be. The way she went in for her first but final strike was absolutely riveting. Her snappy and precise slice to Guldi's jugular artery, no, his entire damn neck was so calculated - something about it aggressively turned him on.
She was shy around him for some reason, however, he wondered if she had managed to learn anything of their relationship over the years. He loved the mystery in it all, he found her innocence and purity to be cute and heavenly, though he would never admit it. Despite her more recent, darker personality thanks to her change of scenery, he was somehow pleased by how she had been tainted as well.
Something about the thought of it all made his legs awkwardly stiff. His exhaustion was becoming more apparent as he lounged, with his consciousness fluttering around in delirium as he continued to ponder. He couldn't deny that he was far too excited to have her around again.
'Gods, just sleep already.' He snapped at himself, leaning his head back against the broken machine tiredly and continued to stare blankly at the wall. He hated being reminded of his sleep problems that seemed to go back as far as time itself.
Meanwhile, outside the ship, Krillin was convincing Gohan of his own mischievous plan.
"Listen," He was saying, "With him sleeping in there, we have a good amount of time to get outta here once we get 'em out of the dirt."
Gohan remained skeptical through it all.
"Yeah, but what if he wakes up?" He defended, uncertain that the two of them would be able to pull it off safely. Vegeta didn't seem like a person that needed much sleep at all to function. In fact, he seemed like the kind of guy that had issues sleeping altogether, which made the idea even more difficult to put a time frame to. "You don't think he would be mad? He'd kill us as soon as he finds us!"
"Yeah, well Instead of standing here arguing about it," Krillin continued with a sharper tone. "We could be halfway done! Quick, let's do this! We still don't know what his plan is after all of this. We gotta play it safe!"
Krillin had begun digging at the patch of dirt where the Dragon Balls had been buried earlier, while Gohan continued to watch for any sign of someone approaching.
"Are you really sure this is a good idea?" Gohan asked him again, still unconvinced. "Think about Rosemary, too!"
He lowered his head sadly. "To be honest, I'm more afraid of her than I am of Vegeta… She really trusts us, why would we ruin that?"
After finally being able to sleep for ten questionable minutes, Vegeta was startled awake by some stroke of intuition. He remembered back to the suspicious fuss that Gohan had made about handing over the Dragon Ball just before the Ginyu Force arrived. He'd just entrusted them to full, undivided care of the entire collection while he rested.
His trust in Gohan and Krillin was voided without a second thought.
"Agh, those two!" He tiredly growled. "I'm a fool! They might take the Dragon Balls for themselves!"
He shot up from the floor in a hurry, washed his face in a nearby sink and made his way outside in a hurry, only to get smashed into a wall of the ship by something in his blind spot.
Among the dust of debris, he heard an angry growl.
"Thought you were rid of me, huh?!" Jeice belligerently shouted. He was out for blood now"Think again!"
'Damn it, why now?!' He put together angrily, blasting Jeice away with a quick ki blast. 'If Hot Shot here came back, that means Rosemary and Kakarot were unsuccessful... Shit, I should have known! What was I thinking, trusting those two on their own! Not even Rosemary's brain is enough to carry that buffoon!'
He shook his head and launched himself out of the ship angrily, to find Jeice eagerly waiting for him on the roof.
"What a way to wake up." He groaned, his mind still frustratingly fixed on other things. "Alright, if you really think you have a shot at me, Jeice, let's get this over with. I'm starting to get fed up with you lot."
Jeice grinned devilishly.
"Y'know, if Rosie's partner there wasn't such an idiot, they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble." He bragged with an arrogantly raised eyebrow. "So, Princey, you gettin' all close now that she's around again or what? I wouldn't wanna waste any quality time, if I were you."
Vegeta scowled. His face was obscenely hot. All of this needless teasing was really starting to piss him off.
"I'll be sure to, in your memory." He hissed, diving towards Jeice aggressively. "I wouldn't mind another reason to look forward to it, to be perfectly honest."
Rosemary watched Vegeta and Jeice go at it from afar as she zoomed towards the island quickly, performing a single front flip with finesse as she landed to break her fall. Goku, barely clinging to life in Ginyu's body, touched down not far behind, landing much more slowly with a hand over his chest to slow his bleeding.
Vegeta was able to sense them arriving down below, and gave them a quick glance while he had a moment. He was expecting to find an injured couple of Saiyans, only to find that Rosemary was with Ginyu, of all people, and Kakarot wasn't around.
Profoundly confused, Vegeta shook his head quickly to make sure he wasn't in some ridiculous dream. He must have really woken up in a rough state.
"What the hell?!" Vegeta managed to say as he parried a few weak punches from the red soldier. Jeice was tired, too, he could sense it, and he could tell that Jeice was struggling to keep up with him in his current state.
'Well, I just happened to catch a break, it seems.'
Jeice madly retreated a few steps back. In all of this man's life, Vegeta has never been so strong.
Vegeta reappeared behind him with a wide grin and wickedly pinned his arms behind him in an all too familiar fashion. His eyes grew wide with pleasure of the irony, remembering how sick it had made him to watch Jeice do the same to Rosemary.
He wasn't about to waste time on his own desires, however.
Jeice yanked his wrists away as hard as he could, but Vegeta was too strong.
'...This bastard.' He cursed to himself. 'How lame, tryin' to get revenge like this for Rosie.'
He tried to writhe his wrists around to try and weaken Vegeta's hold, but Vegeta seemed to be on top of that, too, and clamped down hard on them to restrict his movement. Unless he injured himself to get away, he was in for it now.
Vegeta chuckled.
"Not as fun when it's you at someone's mercy, hmm?" He boasted, evilly holding a hand in front of Jeice's face.
A small flicker of light ignited in Vegeta's palm.
Jeice's eyes wildly glued to Vegeta's growing energy. He couldn't move, he couldn't defend, he was done for.
There were going to be the last few seconds of his life - a victim of vengeance to none other than the menace Prince Vegeta himself. How shameful.
'Well, I had a good run, I s'pose.'
"Oh, don't worry, I'll be sure not to make an ordeal out of this like you did."
Vegeta spitefully shoved his hand into Jeice's face and blasting him into oblivion.
Down below, Rosemary took the time to monitor Goku's wound once again now that they had landed safely. She brought him to a kneel as they watched Vegeta finish Jeice off with ease, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Finally, some good karma." She commented as the sound of the final blow died down and gently ran her fingers along the edge of Goku's injury once again. It seemed to scab over around the outside, at least, but there were still small traces of darkened blood still creeping out from the center.
His blood was losing oxygen - his lungs must have been affected as well.
She looked up at Goku eerily, to be met with Ginyu's purple, veiny face. "I'd be a fool to ask if it still hurts, but is it better at least?"
He nodded, trying not to wince as her touch faintly tickled him.
"Yeah, I should be fine." He responded. "My real body should be showing up shortly since we passed him on the way here, I shouldn't be like this much longer."
Rosemary frowned. "I sure hope so for your sake. Your blood is telling me that you may run into other issues soon."
Vegeta landed in front of the two of them with squared arms and apprehensively took in the sight of Rosemary tending to Ginyu. Her hands were intimately close to his wound - he could only imagine the feel of her tender aid as her fingers crept across his body.
'I suppose it's reassuring that she was trained well.' He hardened his stare on her.
Rosemary stood up and defensively retracted her hands with haste.
"Wait, it's not what it looks like, Vegeta!" Rosemary rushed in before Vegeta could do anything rash. "It's actually Goku! Ginyu performed a body swap."
His eyes widened once again. The news sounded exceptionally wonderful coming from her.
He grinned, and his mouth watered with temptation. He could finally accomplish what he'd meant to for so long.
And so, he let out a hearty laugh.
"If that's the case, what's stopping me from killing both Ginyu and Kakarot at the same time?" He went on diabolically. "I don't expect you to understand of course, but this is starting to become quite the lucky day for me."
Rosemary took her left hand and threw a thumb over her shoulder, to point out the new Ginyu, in Goku's body, landing close behind.
"Him." She answered with wit. "And I can just imagine that you're going to hate me for saying this, but I think it would be in our best interest to get Goku back in his original body."
Vegeta's villainous smirk curled into a frown.
Rosemary cocked a challenging brow at him. She didn't know what to expect - Vegeta likely wouldn't tell her that she was right even if she was.
Vegeta let out a faint growl, refusing to admit defeat to her.
"I'm not sold on it," He lied under his breath. "But I suppose I could let you have a chance to redeem yourself after nearly dying to your biggest fan."
Rosemary rolled her eyes, accompanied by a small scowl. She was beginning to lose her extraordinary patience with him.
'He must really hate Goku...'
"How convenient, that's exactly what I wanted, thank you." She countered sarcastically.
"You watch your tone!" Vegeta violently shouted back. "I'm still the prince!" He made a gigantic heave to calm down. He happened to be on the way to being less than entirely forgiving with her as well. "Just… shut up and stay out of my way."
"Of course," She purred over-dramatically, "Your Highness."
It took a good deal not to retaliate further. He took off to the sky without another word, ready to challenge Ginyu to finish off the legendary Ginyu Force, once and for all.
"So, uh, what was that before about not picking a fight with him?" Goku teased with a pained snicker. "If he's letting that one slide, you really must be something special!"
Embarrassed, Rosemary shoved her hands to her side and crossly spun around.
"Yes, well, I'm also the one that just spared your life. Don't test me." She heatedly shot back. "I'm his Advisor, and I advise him accordingly."
The sky grew bright as the two of them bickered. She looked up through a squint to spectate silently from there on out. Ginyu and Vegeta had quickly taken to a fight it seemed, with a familiar blinding beam of light heading towards Vegeta.
She tensed up at the sight.
"No!" She angrily blurred out. "Gods, not him too!"
"Hey," Goku replied as he took a stand. "I've got this one."
He vanished from Rosemary's sight and emerged in front of Vegeta, confidently intercepting the blast at the last possible moment.
From down below, she watched in suspense, but couldn't make out the details.
'Did-' She held her breath. 'Did it work?!'
Ginyu winced from the return of burning pain from his chest wound.
"H- How did this happen?" Ginyu strained a gasp. "What even-?!"
Goku plummeted back to the ground with content, slamming the dirt with a loud thud.
Rosemary jumped a foot back. She watched over Goku's body carefully with wide eyes and waited for a sign of movement.
"Ah, I'm back to being me again…" Goku he managed to say, the breath knocked out of him from the fall. He gave Rosemary a tired wink. "See? Ya just gotta trust me a little."
'Unbelievable.' Rosemary commented to herself, peeved. 'A fall like that and he doesn't even care.'
"Sure," Rosemary told him stiffly, then looked back up to the sky. "But we're not done here."
She watched as Ginyu went in for yet another attempt to steal Vegeta's body as the same beam of light encroached on him once again. She prayed that he wouldn't face the same fate as Goku had.
A strange frog-like creature with antennae curiously hopped over to the two of them and caught their eye with intrigue. It stared up at them with bulging eyes, then crawled onto Goku's chest.
"You know, I think I got this one, too." Goku told her with a small winded chuckle.
Careful not to scare it away, he lifted an arm and steadily grabbed the frog and stared up at it.
"Yeah… This one's gonna be great."
He lobbed it with everything he could muster towards the fight above.
Rosemary followed the path of the creature as it rocketed through the sky, amazed.
'What an arm he's got, even being as tired as he is…' She admitted wondrously.
As she watched the frog slip into the trajectory of the blow, she shielded her eyes as the beam of light came into contact and the light spread rapidly in all directions.
After the blast had disappeared, both the frog and Ginyu fell to the ground.
She held her breath with anticipation and watched with a hopeful stare.
Ginyu let out a strange croak.
At the sound of the odd noise, Rosemary's careful composure gaze relaxed. A massive smile crept it's way onto her face, and she burst out into hysterical laughter.
Confused, Vegeta kept an eye on the two of them down below. He couldn't make out what had happened and tugged at his clothes to make sure he was still himself. Something must have interfered with the body transfer...
Rosemary's voice must have jumped an octave just then as she continued to crack up down below.
'Add her stupid laugh to the list.' Vegeta thought as he descended to join them. Walking over, he awkwardly observed as Rosemary buckled over in hysterics and Kakarot stayed relaxed on the ground.
Whatever it was that just happened seemed to really get her going.
"What the hell are you on about?" He finally asked.
Rosemary tried to catch her breath to explain and wiped a tear that managed to escape her eye, only to follow with more helpless laughter. She hunched over in delight - this was the best thing she'd seen in years, she just couldn't contain herself.
Annoyed, Vegeta crossed his arms.
"Speak, Rosemary!" He commanded.
Rosemary pointed over to the frog as she struggled to form the words. Confused, he traced her gesture, and he cluelessly found himself looking at it at last.
The frog's glossy eyes stared back up at him, as if it had some kind of sentience and knew exactly who he was. It refused to move from it's spot expectantly and they continued to stare each other down.
It was at that moment, that he finally clued into what exactly he was looking at - the fearless and mighty galactic warrior, Captain Ginyu.
"You- You've got to be joking." Vegeta stuttered.
He looked back to an uncontrollably giddy Rosemary for insight, but got nothing but more bothersome laughter.
He blinked hard.
"You're not joking."
Rosemary aggressively shook her head, still giggling but finally calming down. She took a couple of deep breaths.
"Nope!" She finally managed to say.
Vegeta looked around for Ginyu's old body, to find it hopping around near the ocean. He approached it steadily, trying not to frighten it away like the animal he knew this body now was.
"What a shame." He told it smugly, holding out an arm to start charging another energy blast.
He blasted Ginyu's old body into oblivion, then back went over to the strange space frog, who continued to watch him with a stiff, muted stare. He took post in front of it now and gave it a hateful glare, unsatisfied with the idea that Ginyu was going to die in such a quick and painless manner.
Rosemary turned to face him with tightly clasped hands.
"You know," She assertively interrupted his business. "Had it not been for Goku's, hmm… surprisingly quick thinking, you would have been trapped in that wretched body yourself..."
'As if I care about that.'
"It doesn't matter anymore, now, does it?" He shot back, turning to face her with an eyebrow raised and a cocky smirk.
Rosemary rolled her eyes.
"It doesn't." She replied simply. "All that's left to take care of now is Frieza…"
Vegeta cocked his head to the side slightly and outstretched a hand to prepare to destroy the frog in their midst.
"If I didn't know any different," He went on. "You're just scared, rightfully so, mind you. It's not impossible to handle Frieza in our current state, I'm more powerful now than I ever have been!"
Rosemary's eyes widened in shock. He truly thought he could take Frieza on his own? Unbelievable.
"You're starting to think recklessly again." Rosemary pointed out. "You're not fighting Frieza by yourself, only a fool makes a statement like that."
"Then you can stay away if you're so worried, but I'm killing him. By myself, with my own two hands." He replied. "And that's an order."
Rosemary shook her head. She fully understood the growing tension in the air, what with their fate being decided in just a few more moves on the figurative war board. She wanted Frieza gone as much as everyone else, but she worried more for Vegeta's safety above all, with her own being an afterthought. She wanted the best for him, it was her job to care for him. Had Vegeta forgotten? This man was about to get himself killed for the sake of his… pride? His arrogance was unfathomable, and she was through with her counsel being a second thought, especially since him, of all people, put her in this position to begin with.
She needed to pull all the stops out for this one, and she hated it.
The arms that she respectfully kept to her sides at all times arched as she assertively placed her hands on her hips. Her pin-straight posture perished as she dominantly threw a hip out to one side. The head that she made a point of holding high lowered slightly to a more direct and confrontational level in order to more accurately display the angry scowl that planned to attack Vegeta's ego, and maybe even his heart.
She knew everything about it was completely and utterly disrespectful, but she was serious, and she needed him to see it.
"I refuse to go back to living as a captive, even more so due to your failure."
Vegeta whipped around in a rage, and his jaw dropped open.
Goku's jaw dropped open as well, and he opted to stay lying on the ground.
The universe must have fallen still just then.
Vegeta seethed as he took in the weight of her words - such pure defamation from her specifically. Did she not trust him or have faith that he would protect her?
His face burned up furiously, and his blood boiled like nothing he'd felt for quite some time. His knuckles were bared and white with hatred, and most notable to him, his pride was damaged, no, demolished.
'How dare she challenge me like this.' His inner demon screamed. The desire to form every curse word under Namek's four suns clawed at the forefront of his thoughts. 'This woman has some real nerve, defying me, such actions typically cost a life.'
He wanted to smash something, no, smash her, and nothing was stopping him from taking a real good swing. He wondered if she would fight him on that too.
This woman, once thewoman he desired more than anything, with her cold and intensely sharp, unwavering eyes. The longer he locked his own with hers, a strange sense of intimidation began to surface and petrify him on the spot. Something about her expression unexplainably rattled him. She was never one to openly display anger, or rebellion for that matter. What had he done to achieve such a feat?
The thought of being unreliable to her, along with her need to destroy her immaculate track record festered and ate away at him. He almost felt guilty.
The more he thought about it, the very idea - the sudden desire to hurt her, was shameful. Yes, that was it. She had brought him to shame just then.
He finally looked away from her. Perhaps that was the point.
'How in the hell does she make me feel like this.'
He loosened his fists. He was acting irresponsibly.
Rosemary continued to focus him down, patiently waiting for some kind of acknowledgement. She watched Vegeta's face turn many shades of red, yet he didn't utter a single sound. It must have taken everything in his power not to react - to display some sort of outlash - and through it, she found a new kind of respect for him. While satisfying to see the exact effect she was going for, she only imagined how deep she had managed to cut. She truly damaged him just then, and while it was for their own sake, she felt incredibly sorry for it. She couldn't remember a time where she's ever deliberately hurt the prince, it was her duty to ensure the exact opposite.
She wasn't sure how much longer she could bear to see him like this. She intended to do her job, and she did, but it was tugged at her heart in a way she found uncomfortable.
Rosemary stood up straight once again and diverted her focus away at last.
Noticing her finally ease up, Vegeta gave a grudging heave.
"There you have it." She sternly declared. "You're not going alone."
"...Fine." Vegeta snapped.
