Chapter Seven - Anguish
With four out of the seven Dragon Balls in arms, Krillin anxiously landed down on the edge of the water and scanned the area. He was on high alert, on the lookout for Vegeta, and ready for whatever wrath was about to come his way.
The first thing that caught his eye was Frieza's ship. It was in complete ruin - he assumed whatever fight that just happened between the remaining Ginyu Force members had finished off what was left of it.
He spotted Rosemary lounging against a leg of the ship, but no Vegeta or Goku. The fact that she was still present among the group was a good find at least, he supposed.
Perhaps nothing too horrible happened while he was gone.
As much as he wanted to get home in one piece, he just couldn't trust Vegeta when it came to his life. The Saiyan was insanely powerful and was probably the group's best hope for escape aside from Goku, but Vegeta's extreme lust for murder and havoc was enough to deter anyone in their right mind from teaming with him in a heartbeat. The minute Vegeta caught on that he'd just tried to steal the Dragon Balls from him, he knew he was a goner. The man was likely going to challenge him the instant he got back from wherever he was for deceiving him from right under his nose, but for now, he was nowhere in sight.
He relaxed for the time being and quietly regrouped with Rosemary.
Rosemary gave him what could have passed as a steady but cautious stare of confusion. Her eyes took to almost rhythmically switching between him and the Dragon Balls that he had tucked away under his arms - indicating that she knew something was up.
He awkwardly took her expression in, and dismissed it for the time being. Rosemary was far less likely to kill him.
Gohan followed not far behind with the other three balls to complete the set with his head lowered in shame. He was never entirely on board with the idea of stealing the Dragon Balls away, especially now that he had been bringing them back after doing the deed. He could already see the weird look Rosemary had been giving Krillin, which looked terrible on him as well - he hadn't planned to betray her like he had. She was too kind for him to need to do such a thing.
And she definitely had questions.
Rosemary kept to herself and pieced together potential scenarios that would have led to the need to relocate the Dragon Balls, and she continued to observe Krillin and Gohan's questionable behaviour in silence.
'These two are acting strangely as of late…' Rosemary told herself with growing concern. 'Do they not trust Vegeta with the Dragon Balls at all?'
Gohan tossed his share into a pile with the others.
She wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer. If Vegeta couldn't be trusted, was the only reason this group stayed together for the sole purpose of increasing their chances of survival? It wasn't a huge surprise to her that Vegeta was extraordinarily gifted with strength and wit, but it was abundantly clear now that they knew who he was before the events on Namek.
'Gods, I wish Vegeta would explain what he's been up to all this time, it would make everything make so much more sense.'
The Namekian child from earlier, Dende, was the last to join them. He neglected to slow down as he landed and scurried over to everyone in a hurry.
Gohan was growing antsier by the second. This was it, their victory was going to be so much closer now.
"Alright, let's bring back our friends!" He cheered optimistically.
"Our time here is running thin, for sure..." Rosemary commented. A familiar menacing wall of energy creeped up on her and looked to haunt her thoughts. Were there more people coming to help?
She questioned if it would make a difference at the moment. Frieza was the most powerful being in the universe - not even entire armies that spanned whole planets were enough to bring the tyrant to an end. This particular group must be quite confident in themselves and for the sake of getting off the planet alive and well, and for now, all she could do was put faith in them.
"Yeah," Gohan followed up. "Frieza's coming, no doubt about it."
Krillin reluctantly grunted.
"Yeah, that's him, all right, we ran into him earlier." Krillin joined in. "Hey, uh, since we're about to get into some serious business, where'd Vegeta and Goku go, Rosemary? They were here with you, weren't they?"
Rosemary sighed. The guilt from her dig at Vegeta earlier refused to leave her thoughts. It wasn't often that she hit a sore spot on him - there were times where it needed to be done and the situation would have gotten even worse if she hadn't stepped in.
"They were." Rosemary answered simply. "Vegeta, well, I, um... I hit a big nerve of his while you were away... I think it's best that he has some space to cool off. It really was awful of me to do..."
She straightened up in an attempt to stay optimistic - Vegeta wouldn't miss a fight even if the universe was ending.
"As for Goku, he got pretty banged up while fighting the Ginyus, so he's in a healing tank in the ship while we have some downtime." She gave a firm nod. "I'm sure the instant that this Dragon or what-have-you has been summoned, Vegeta will come back. He's not one to leave 'business', as you could call it, unsettled."
Dende whipped his arms out towards the cluster of Dragon Balls on the ground and began to chant away in his Namekian tongue. The rest of the group watched attentively while Rosemary slightly backed away, unsure of what to think about the situation. She didn't know what to expect next - the talk of dragons and mythical creatures was starting to rouse her, and she couldn't tell if it was a positive or negative energy she wanted to associate with it. She'd never seen a dragon before, weren't they supposed to be malevolent and vicious beings?
She prayed that Gohan and Krillin knew what they were doing by summoning such a thing.
What was Vegeta's plan for the Dragon Balls, she wondered - if these objects were capable of reviving the dead, was he planning to bring back the Saiyan race and their homeworld?
And more importantly, if Vegeta didn't get back in time, would these people leave him hanging?
The Dragon Balls began to glow brightly, and a huge, bright silhouette of a figure emerged out of them with a gentle hum throughout the orbs.
Rosemary looked up to a pitch black sky to see a massive, fat, green dragon now solidifying itself in the air above them and jumped back with a frightful yelp. The Dragon towered above the group in such a way that no building ever could, not even the Royal Palace seemed to put as large a mark in the sky as this Dragon did so effortlessly.
"P-Pardon me…" She spoke out in a nervous stutter. "This is all so new to me... This is the Dragon?"
She tilted her head slightly as she got a better look at it. From her readings, she always perceived dragons as thin but long, omnipotent creatures... Contrary to her studies, however, this dragon had a stubby tail and a large gut that she couldn't bring herself to take seriously, perhaps it could afford to be put to more work than it had been.
She received silent nods from both Gohan and Krillin.
Rosemary hopelessly shrugged.
"I guess I was expecting something a bit more, well, sleek." She finished with an awkward smile.
Krillin folded his arms to think it over.
"Well, I'll be honest with you," He responded with his head up to the sky. "Earth's Dragon is much slimmer than this one…" He paused at the thought, shrugging now as well.
"I guess they vary depending on the planet, I dunno."
The Dragon boomed before them in a language that they couldn't decipher. Krillin tilted his head in disappointment.
"It speaks Namekian, too?" Krillin commented.
"Well, it makes sense," Rosemary continued, still stunned in place as she gawked upward. She was unsure if she should be more frightened or happy than she was - the level of uncertainty she had moving forward was greatly intimidating.
She couldn't remember a time where she had been so clueless.
"It is Namek's dragon, after all, one would only assume it speaks Namek's language, right?"
"The Dragon says that it will give you any three wishes!" Dende told them quickly.
Everyone's eyes widened, awestruck.
"Wow!" Krillin blurted out with surprise. "Three?! I'm used to only getting one, this is awesome!"
"Just hurry!" Gohan told him sternly.
Rosemary stayed quiet as the rest of the group handled the situation and observed everything with fascination. She took in the dark clouds that swirled around in the sky as the Dragon pierced through them, as well as the divine aura that mystically glowed among it all. It felt like she had been in the presence of a god - she had no idea what to do or how to think, it was something she could never imagine witnessing in her lifetime.
And yet, everyone else was acting like it was just another day. Everything at that moment was just bizarre.
"Uh, alright, well, let's bring back our friends!" Krillin responded in a hurry.
Dende frowned.
"Unfortunately, Porunga can only bring back one person at a time…" Dende trailed off and awkwardly fiddled with his fingers.
Rosemary heavily sighed with a frown. Her quick theory of the return of the Saiyans was gone as fast as it had formed - it would take eons to revive the entire planet's worth of civilization.
But what about bringing back a select few?
Gohan felt something new enter his mind just then.
"Listen!" A familiar deep voice surged through, to his surprise. "If you bring me back, then that brings Kami back as well. Use Earth's Dragon Balls to do the rest, don't worry about everything else for now."
Gohan nodded instinctively. He ignored that he was practically talking to himself.
'Hey, you know, that's a great idea! Thanks, Piccolo, you're the best!' Gohan said back in response.
"Alright." Gohan replied to the group. "Hey, Krillin, let's bring Piccolo back! Then that will revive Kami!"
Krillin gave Gohan and then Dende a nod of approval, and the child began to converse with the Dragon once again.
As if in response, the Dragon's red eyes began to shine brightly, following up with a thunderous roar.
Both Gohan and Krillin looked around the area, expecting Piccolo to appear alongside them.
Nothing happened.
Rosemary blinked a few times in confusion.
"Perhaps I just don't know any better," She joined in, "But this 'Piccolo' you speak of... He's not here."
Dende made a small frown.
"Well, you see," Dende shyly explained with an apologetic but courteous bow. "When you revive someone with the Dragon, they're brought back to life in the exact place that they died, wherever that is... I'm guessing that would be Earth."
"Alright, then, let's bring him to Namek!" Krillin replied without a second thought.
"Your wish has been granted." The Dragon exploded in return.
"Interesting, he understands the common tongue, after all." Rosemary remarked and looked around again, unable to find any noticeable changes
"But, um… He's still not here?"
"He is on Namek." Dende assured her from over his shoulder. "When it comes to saying what you want, you have to be specific... The Dragon won't do more work than it has to." He turned back to the Dragon Balls. "Anyway, what's your third-"
Just then, the group of Dragon Balls had lost their glow and hazed over before they turned to complete stone.
Rosemary looked at them in confusion, then shyly took to Dende's side.
"Is…" She began. "Is this supposed to happen? I only counted two wishes..."
"No." Dende told her firmly, thinking hard. "Something has happened to Lord Guru, he's sort of paired to the Dragon Balls… When his life is over, so are the Dragon Balls..."
"Oh no, that's like Piccolo and Kami!" Gohan woefully moaned. "How are we supposed to save your people?"
"I'm... still not sure." Dende mumbled.
"This isn't looking good at all, you guys…" Rosemary told them with a troubled sigh. "If one of us gets killed, we can all be fatally impacted by it…"
She thought about Goku, who was still in the tank back at the ship. There was no doubt in her mind that he needed more time to heal completely. "And with Goku still recovering, the chances of us winning this battle are very slim right now…"
"With that attitude, perhaps." Vegeta mockingly called down to her.
Rosemary turned around at the sound of his voice, to find Vegeta gallantly posing and looking down on them from atop a tall rock.
She managed a relieved smile and pointed to him over her shoulder.
"Told you." She lightly chuckled towards the group as Vegeta descended and marched over.
Suspicious, he silently cocked an eyebrow.
"Told them what, exactly?" Another voice chimed in.
The air became eerily cold and dense.
Vegeta whipped around immediately, to find Frieza standing behind them atop the same rock he had stood with a hard stare.
Frieza narrowed his eyes with a wide, smug grin.
"No please, I'm willing to listen."
Rosemary followed Vegeta's gaze nervously at the voice that she'd known far too well. The infamous leader of the most formidable galactic army in history had finally made his way back to the ship to finish what he'd started.
The two Saiyans shared a silent moment of dread as they took in his nefarious, spine-chilling splendor.
'Oh no...' She fearfully kept to herself. 'I was hoping it wouldn't be this soon… I just got some free time, this isn't good…'
Frieza was staring down right at her, a slight but potent scowl on his face.
"It's quite peculiar to see that you've somehow managed to survive on your own, Rosemary." He coolly called over, his hateful frown curling into a sly grin. "With such a miniscule power level, I didn't think you'd make it. It would appear that I haven't been giving you enough credit."
Rosemary blinked hard. All she could do is go along with him, it seemed.
"I-I'm not sure if I know what you mean, sir." Rosemary responded politely, straightening her posture to keep her typical level of etiquette. 'If I can't fight, I might as well make it look like I mean no harm...'
"Oh, nothing too crazy," Frieza replied to her smugly. "I'm referring to your abilities that so magically appeared out of nowhere that have been flooding my reports today. Either my scientists are stupid or you're just very clever."
He shot Krillin and Gohan a nasty grin, causing the both of them to shoot up where they stood.
"But enough about that, I see you've made some friends."
Vegeta skeptically shifted his attention to Rosemary, now trembling beside him in what he assumed was fear. He loathed that Rosemary absolutely had no chance of success if she tried to fight against Frieza to any degree - if she took even a single hit, she could be killed in an instant, but they needed every ounce of power they could get their hands on at the moment.
Frieza had noticed Vegeta's heavy look of concern from off in the distance.
"And of course," Frieza continued mockingly, waving a hand out towards Vegeta. "The Prince has finally found you, or rather, I suppose I should say he's finally gotten past my aversion to letting that happen."
He let out a sinister chuckle. "Perhaps I should kill you first and see how your beloved Vegeta takes to it, hmm?"
As he finished his address, he made a savage dash towards her. Frozen in horror, Rosemary stood completely still. Despite being able to see him advance on her through every inch of movement, his speed - the way he controlled those around him with just his appearance was enough to make anyone hesitant to do much of anything.
"Get down!" Vegeta yelled at her. He made a quick leap and smacked her to the ground as he took the first punch. "What the hell are you doing?!"
"Ouch!" Rosemary yelped as her shoulder smashed against the dirt. The residual ache from Zarbon's hit earlier came back with a fury as she lay still, glaring up at the two of them.
They were such incredible fighters. She could see the amazing speed that kicks and punches were being thrown at each other from such a close range - absolutely extraordinary.
Could she really contend with Frieza and Vegeta at a time like this?
"Holding him still for a few seconds is not going to kill him, Rosemary!" Vegeta hissed as he carefully dodged a rally of kicks. He had to put every ounce of cunning he could muster into just evading every blow by mere fractions of seconds.
Vegeta left Rosemary on the ground and took to the air just above her with Frieza not far behind.
Rosemary made a concealed attempt to get up with sharp protest from her arm as she lifted herself off the ground. Giving up after a strained grunt of pain, she flopped back to the ground with a gentle thud.
'Vegeta really wounded me... I suppose that's payback for earlier, but did he break something?!' She angrily bickered to herself. 'I can't just sit here like this!'
"No, but I need to at least try!" She snapped back with a swing of her legs, springing herself up between the two of them.
To her surprise, she managed to land a solid kick to Frieza's jaw from below, sending him flying a few feet higher into the air.
She quickly touched down to the ground on foot to get some space, brushing herself off with a few deep breaths. 'Gods, I'm probably going to die for it but that was so cool…'
She couldn't waste time standing around, this was it - this was the very fight that would determine if she lived on freely in peace or died before she could experience life as a grown woman.
She vowed to come out of it alive, by whatever means necessary.
She gave a firm nod to herself and took to the sky, making sure to give herself a comfortable cushion of space between herself and the ongoing battle. She lifted her arms to form her newly discovered signature stance and prepared to engage. Her left arm already begged her to rest as she brought it to chest level, but she needed to press.
After another deep exhale, she cleared her mind and went to work. All of the attention that she gave to her pain and her fear faded away...
She locked eyes on Frieza from far in the distance and began to feel around for the exact dimensions of his energy. She went on to flex various fingers to make mental points for herself as she tried to locate the confines of his spirit to get a hold of him. Almost as if she needed to shove a large amount of substance into such a tiny space, she began to feel resistance from him just for making an attempt to touch him.
To her convenience, however, Frieza's power seemed much easier to search around for.
'Maybe it would have been simpler if I had started my training on Frieza…' She pondered, crinkling her nose as she began to push. 'It took me no time at all to focus on him because of his ridiculous power…'
With a final mental effort to restrain Frieza for good, she successfully took hold of him and tightened her grip with a stressful grunt.
Frieza could feel her restraints take effect and squirmed to nudge her away, only to be frozen still where he hovered.
Rosemary could tell he was resisting - there were points scattered around his figurative bubble that demanded to punch outwards and forced her to adjust with every hit. As he persisted, she became nauseated as the pressure on her head pulsed with every move.
Her breaths grew slow and heavy. She sharpened her focus on him a little further, and the fight to hold her ground ended successfully.
'Wow, he's surprisingly light…' She noted with disbelief as Frieza's ball of energy grew still once again. 'This might be easier than I originally thought.'
Concentrating only on Frieza up until now, she hadn't noticed that Vegeta had retreated to the ground to recover. She questioned if he was hurt from the few hits he'd taken from Frieza to defend her. Perhaps she should give him a look over when she had a moment.
Making a few adjustments to her plan, she prepared to make her first move.
"Hey, Vegeta!" She called down to him with a faint smile of confidence. She threw Frieza towards him with a wide throwing motion of her left arm. "Catch!"
"Ah-ah, not so fast." Frieza retorted, chucking a high-powered energy blast her way as he plummeted against his will. "Whatever it is you're doing - you're slipping."
Unfazed, Rosemary made a hop to the side to evade, unknowingly releasing her hold on Frieza in the process.
Much to his plan, Frieza suddenly didn't feel as stiff as he had just moments ago.
His face distorted into a massive grin.
'Silly monkey, you have much to learn!'
He whipped around and planted a pointed foot into Vegeta's chest as he completed his fall.
Vegeta wasn't quite able to react in time to avoid the kick to his gut and coughed in agonizing frustration. He tightly curled up and grimaced as he took the blow, not only because of his own shortcoming, but because of Rosemary's errors.
Now wasn't the time to be experimenting. In fact, he much rathered that she fled instead.
"I'm disappointed in you, Vegeta," Frieza teased, digging his heel into him further. "She's doing better than you and she's got just a fraction of your power."
Unaware that she was approaching quickly behind him, Rosemary landed another powerful kick to Frieza's head, stunning him in place but left him unscathed.
"Surprise." Rosemary taunted back with a smirk and kicked him again with her free leg, knocking him away and off of Vegeta's body.
Vegeta could practically feel the impact of her feet as they collided with Frieza's skull and winced accordingly.
'So she does have some strength in her...' He told himself. 'It's not much, but it's something.'
Her relief was good, but he couldn't overlook that she was being extremely risky with her decisions. Such behaviour was so unlike her, had she thought these choices through before she committed to attacking? She left herself completely vulnerable as she went in for every hit.
'If she keeps going like this, she's bound to be punished for it eventually.'
Frieza slid back a few feet from another forceful kick as Rosemary pursued him further. Vegeta finally retreated to observe the fight closer.
'Where is this power of hers coming from?!' Vegeta carried on quietly, puzzled. He continued to watch in disbelief as she continued to fearlessly challenge Frieza head-on.
Something was wrong.
He quickly felt around to get a better sense of Rosemary's life force - as small as it was, he could feel her energy dwindle rapidly.
'She's extremely inefficient with her energy…' He pondered further. 'Though I don't know why I expected differently.'
Her attacks began to slow down with every kick. She refused to bring her arms into the mix, did he hurt her when he slapped her?
It was clear that she was exhausting herself too quickly.
'To think she hadn't had much energy to begin with... Paired with her lack of experience, I'm surprised she's managed to last this long.'
Still fighting, Rosemary's whole body ached. Initiating a solo attack was a mistake for sure - she was moving in ways that she hadn't in ages, and constantly overexerting herself to her limits for the sake of survival just was beginning to take a whole other toll on her.
She got in a final kick to Frieza's shoulder and spun around as fast as she could to stomp Frieza to the ground with a pointed heel, leaving a small dent in the dirt as he finally made contact with the hard ground below.
She hopped off of his shoulder with a backward flip and retreated a good hundred feet away from him. She was reluctant to leave her battle at that, but it was better than doing so unconscious.
Her fatigue forced her to a kneel. She shook her head in disappointment and took the time to catch her breath and reflect.
"I… I can't give up this easily, can I?" She huffed with a tired moan.
She fell over on all fours and let her messy hair drape over her face. She was definitely sick to her stomach now.
Gohan and Krillin couldn't help but hesitate to get involved and stood off to the side with jaws hanging open in a worried shock. Krillin had been the first to doubt her condition out of the two and winced as he observed her continually heaving for air.
'Is this the same girl we met earlier?' He speculated. 'I get that this is do or die, but I dunno if I agree with her judgement…'
Rosemary's vision blurred. She placed a hand to her forehead, as she went on to see spots fluttering around in the corners of her vision.
'It's truly shameful how weak I am.'
After a few more laboured breaths, her eyes drooped shut and her body conceded. She managed to balance on the knee she leaned until it gave out from under her.
Vegeta was already handling Frieza in her place and looked to be too busy to notice her faint. Gohan and Krillin immediately switched to high alert.
"Crap!" Krillin cried out, making a break for it and dove underneath her just in time to break her fall. "This girl is all kinda weird, she's gotta learn to control her ki better!"
He plopped himself down in the dirt with her to get a closer look. He put a hand to her nose and to his relief, she took slow but hard breaths but showed no sign of consciousness.
"She just... fainted?!"
He shifted his focus over to Vegeta in hopes that he'd get some insight but got none as Vegeta carried on with his assault. He chose not to think too heavily about it, the man was clearly busy. "What the heck just happened?!"
Gohan scurried over to Krillin with a grim expression, kneeling down beside him to take a quick look at Rosemary. She seemed stable enough to leave her be and let her rest.
"I'm gonna take her to where Dad is." He told his friend. "She's not going to be able to do much else for a while."
Krillin gave him a firm but quiet nod and let him to pick her up. Without wasting any more time, Gohan flew away from the scene with Rosemary in tow.
…
Piccolo grudgingly took in the scenery as he appeared on Namek - this place definitely wasn't the Planet Earth that he remembered.
Being transported to Namek wasn't exactly what he had in mind when he said to bring him back. Frustrated, he gave the ground a good kick.
"Fools!" He angrily shouted to the empty air, looking up at the green sky with a hard stare. "They didn't have to bring me here to get killed with them!"
. . .
"Come on, boy, if you're going to heal me, it can't take this long!" Vegeta snapped at Dende with a pained, belligerent groan.
Leaned over Vegeta's now severely wounded stature, Dende continued to hold quivering arms over him as he worked away to close several punctures and lesions as best he could.
"I-It's not that simple, sir! I'm trying my best!" The child cried in retaliation, harsh with fatigue as he transferred all of his energy into his work.
Before he could react, a sharp purple beam shot cleanly through his heart, and he fell lifelessly to the soil.
Frieza laughed in delight from afar. Children happened to be his favourite to eradicate.
Piccolo bolted over to the group and prepared himself to get involved, starting off by giving the child a closer look to assess the damage.
"Dende, no!" Gohan screeched with grief. The lids of his eyes quickly began to sting as his sight was blinded with tears. He looked to Piccolo through watered down vision.
"Can you heal him, Piccolo? Do you know how to do what he was doing?"
"I don't know," Piccolo told him dully. "Probably not."
Gohan bowed his head mournfully and sobbed atop Dende's stomach.
"Gohan," Piccolo continued, "There was a girl with you, wasn't there? Where is she now?"
"Rosemary?" Gohan asked through a sniffle. "I-I brought her back to the ship where my dad is healing so she could use it after..."
"She's not hurt, it won't do anything." Vegeta snapped, grudgingly crossing his arms as he regrouped. "She collapsed, there's a difference. Those healing tanks are for critical, physical injuries. She'll be fine once she wakes up, she was just reckless and completely depleted her energy."
"How long will that take?" Piccolo asked in his typical low tone. "We don't exactly have time to be wasting here."
"I know that!" Vegeta angrily snapped back. "I'm just as blind to her capabilities as you are!"
. . .
Rosemary snapped awake in a different location, realizing that she hadn't fallen asleep on her own terms. She got up from the floor of the ship she'd been placed on in a flash and looked around in a tired, dazed frenzy. She was back at Frieza's ship, one of the infirmary rooms in particular from what she could tell.
"What am I doing here?" She whined as she stirred, then remembered quickly. "Wait, Goku!"
She turned around to find Goku in one of the healing tanks behind her, hovering lifelessly in the fluids of the vessel as the nutrient-rich and intricate chemicals ran their course over his body.
As she slowly came to, there were several loud booms from outside. No doubt in her mind, the battle against Frieza was still going on closeby.
She took in the droning hum of the machine and examined the tank to determine its specifications, growing more and more impatient by the second.
"One of the older models…" She remarked. She went and looked at all of the other tanks around the room and found newer versions, along with several beds and life support devices that were all damaged beyond repair.
"This was likely Vegeta's doing… Gosh, I wish he would think before he does things!"
She turned her attention back to Goku in the tank and stroked the industrial glass window of the machine. "I need you to hurry up in there, Goku! Please!"
She proceeded to pace the room with worry and reflected on her own battle with Frieza. The ship was eerily silent - she briefly wondered why there were no men stationed at the ship while everything had been happening. She assumed that they were all killed at one point by Vegeta as well.
She irritably shook her head, frustrated with the mess she was in. She was backed into a corner yet again - she was too weak to defend herself, but if she didn't assist in the battle, she might as well have assumed defeat and lay on the ground to die.
She was beginning to understand why Vegeta hated losing so much - there was something agonizingly shameful about being vulnerable, and it was beginning to cloud her feelings.
She swiftly clapped her hands to her cheeks to scold herself. She couldn't afford to be emotionally unsound right now, too many lives were at stake!
She gave a reluctant sigh.
"Well, seeing as though I'm here…" She mumbled and looked over to a dented but intact metal storage unit nearby. "I might as well get some new clothes…"
She looked down at herself. Even after fixing up her suit, the fabric had been in tatters. "These are really past their time…"
She went over to the unit and snapped a look every so often back to Goku to check if he was coming to, then grabbed the smallest ash grey tight suit she could find. She continued to rummage through all of the suits in the closet and grabbed the most suited chest plate. After countless journeys around the ship over the years that she'd been stationed there, she wasn't in the least surprised to find there were no armour plates for women.
'Of course not,' She bickered. 'There never is, why would that suddenly change… My brain is really slipping because of all of this, it seems...'
She slipped into the tights with care and hesitantly stared down the chest plate before attempting to put it on.
She gave it a heavy huff of resentment.
'This is always the worst part...' She loathingly took the armour into her hands and lifted it above her head to rest it on her shoulders. As always, she wrestled with it to get it any lower, and then over her bust…
She let out a heavy exhale. These plates weren't designed to stretch the ways that she'd been forcing it to - women simply had dimensions to their bodies that men didn't have to deal with.
Giving it a final pull, she held her breath and whimpered as the plate tightly squeezed against her on its way down, finally resting just above her waist and the straps sat snugly on her shoulders.
She breathed out after her small success and awkwardly stretched. The stiff plate pinched her airways as her breasts fought against the material for space to breathe.
She put on a clean set of white gloves and matching white boots and paced the room with large movements of her arms and wide strides of her legs to break in the new suit. Such a ritual wasn't a stranger to her - while the discomfort of improperly designed clothes left her with a bitter hatred towards changing, there was always something satisfying about putting on a brand new set of tights.
She went back over to Goku's tank to try and catch a glimpse of herself in the reflection of the damaged glass. Able to make out a brief silhouette of her body, she curiously rotated her hips to observe how her dark suit modestly hugged her curves and slimmed her out.
'Not too shabby.' She admitted. Impressed with herself, she smoothed her fingers over her thigh in delight.
Something deadly interrupted her train of thought and subconsciously stiffened her body into something she wasn't sure she wanted to question.
"W-What is this..."She muttered. She dashed to the windows at the other end of the room to look outside.
She couldn't find anything noteworthy from this angle of the ship.
She took a deep breath and concentrated to sense any information the air could give her.
"I-Is this Frieza?!" She shook her head and began to weep, angrily planting a foot into the floor. "This is such a disaster, and here I am, unable to do anything! I hate this!"
Just then, Goku's healing tank thrummed with a new sound.
Rosemary whipped around as it opened to see that Goku had been finally emerging from it. He rubbed his eyes to get the remnants of whatever was in the healing fluid out of them and coughed, then saw Rosemary standing before him with a troubled look across her face. She was wearing new clothes - did she shrink or was the darker shade more revealing of her actual form?
"Rosemary?" He called out to her in confusion. "Looking good! But... I thought you fainted?"
"I did, but-" She paused with wide eyes.
Goku wasn't around when she passed out.
She gave her head an apprehensive tilt. "Wait, how did you know I fainted if you've been in there?!"
Goku tapped the side of his head with a cheeky smile.
"King Kai told me." He explained with a wink.
Rosemary binked hard, clueless.
"I don't know who this 'King Kai' is," She began, flustered. "But it's not important right now… Listen, I have a feeling that Frieza has powered up, I know that he has several forms but I've never experienced them myself… For all we know, all of the others could be dead by now!"
"They're not." Goku assured her confidently. "You just passed out, that's all. Calm down a little, would ya? I know you're frazzled, but if we're gonna fight, we can't be scared and freeze up."
Unamused, Rosemary narrowed her eyes on him. He made it all sound so simple.
"Oh, and I suppose this King Kai told you that, too?" She retorted.
"Yes, I did." A new, nasal voice surged into her head and made her flinch. "And you're awake now, so we're back on track, stop wasting time!"
Absolutely dumbfounded, Rosemary surveyed the room to figure out where this new voice came from, but couldn't see anyone else. She nodded in confirmation after concluding that it was for naught.
"R-Right!" She replied and rocketed out of the ship.
Goku took to her side shortly after.
The two of them flew over the island where the fight with Frieza began. Rosemary gave the land a quick look over, only to find that it was abandoned.
"I'm not seeing anyone around, they must have moved elsewhere to keep the attention off of us." She concluded. It was time to get serious again.
Goku held an arm out in front of him as they continued on their way.
"There's this insane energy coming from up there." He replied.
With a simple nod, she grew her lead on him.
From behind, Goku caught a glimpse of a red shiny object that peeked out from under her new suit.
Rosemary looked over her shoulder to make sure he was still nearby, and slowed down again to let him catch up with her.
She noticed that he seemed fixated on her neckline, blushed profusely, and hugged her chest in response.
"Doesn't that get in the way?" Goku curiously asked and pointed at the pendant flapping about on its leather band. "You know, that gem that you're wearing."
Rosemary fell back and took the stone in between her fingers to stop it from slapping against her, then struggled to tuck it back into her chest plate.
"I suppose I should tell you that I haven't been one to fight until very recently," She went on to explain. She swore that she'd mentioned it already but chose to put it past her. "I never have been, I'm different from the average Saiyan."
She went back to looking ahead of them.
"Also, I've been, er… closely monitored by one of Frieza's top men for quite some time now, and locked up in countless holding cells before that."
She coolly placed her arms back at her sides. "Anyway, this was a very special gift, and the only possession that I have left from back home."
"It must have quite the meaning if you're wearing it at a time like this." Goku replied.
Rosemary gave him a firm nod, and frowned.
'Special gift, huh.' A playful grin snuck its way across Goku's face. 'I wonder how close those two really are…'
"So, you think still he's up for it?"
Stunned by the question, Rosemary's eyes widened.
"I-I'm not sure I understand..." She dismissively responded.
Goku laughed.
"That was from Vegeta, wasn't it?" He teased.
Rosemary's glare hardened. Perhaps she was more like Vegeta than she gave him credit for - she didn't seem to like being the target of mockery, either.
"It was." She answered in a more rigid tone. "What of it?"
"I never really took him as the type to give nice things to people." He jokingly giggled.
"Y-You think so?" She bashfully blubbered and turned her face away as she felt it flush. "I suppose you just don't know him like I do. He used to be very kind."
"Oh, come on!" Goku nudged her further. "He had a thing for you, it's so obvious! You can't tell me you haven't thought about it even a little bit with all that time you had!"
"To know something is based on facts!" She snapped back and ducked her pink face into her shoulder so he couldn't see, humiliated. "That's quite a statement you're trying to make… It could very well have been just a sentimental gift. Vegeta never used to be nearly as cold as he is now."
Eyes forward, the two of them had found the scene of the fight in due time. From a far away glance, everyone was in rough shape, but Rosemary was more than thankful that everyone had still been alive.
"This is it, Goku, and please believe it when I say it this time!" Rosemary told him sternly. "Frieza is leaps and bounds above Captain Ginyu, he is single handedly the most powerful being this universe has ever encountered."
"Alright, alright, calm down," Goku hushed her. "Like I said, don't let it get to your head."
