Happy New Year, everyone! As a treat, I've decided to update today. Did I ever mention that this technically the last chapter? I admit I've slacked off on this story for way too long; it should've been completed years ago. After this, all that's left is the ending, which will (should) explain why the story is written in italics. Enjoy!

Months passed and it was the same ordeal: Gine refused to kill and Bardock would get angry, thus fueling an argument between the two. At first, it was entertaining to watch the two saiyans argue, as both were as stubborn as a boulder. However, as the days and months rolled by, it began to get annoying.

Despite this, Gine grew to admire and like her crewmates, and they liked her too. She and Fasha were practically at the same level; Gine being weaker by a narrow margin.

Bardock grew restless with the girl. It had been almost four months and she still refused to kill, even though they were on their second purge together as a squad. He snarled in contempt at the thought of her. He couldn't deny to himself that he grew to tolerate her, like her even, but she was still annoying and infuriating as ever.

The purge on the alien planet was nearly finished, and then it would be time for them to return back home, where they would wait for further instructions. Tora floated above his fellow Saiyan friend and groaned. She was doing it again.

"Never have a seen a Saiyan so dead set on not killing." He grumbled to himself, landing a few feet behind her. Pressing a button on his scouter, he saw that there were at least seven power levels in the general area. He rolled his eyes and concentrated his energy into his palm, creating a blue orb. Gine was currently engaged in a fight with two of the aliens, and from what Tora could see, they were almost evenly matched. In fact, it seemed as if the female warrior was struggling against her opponents. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

For the past couple of weeks, the inhabitants on the planet were relatively weak; most of them dying from a single energy blast or beam. None of the ones that they encountered were up to par with them. However, the ones that were against Gine were almost as strong as her. Tora pressed the button on his scouter again, glancing around the area. He raised an eyebrow as he saw power levels increasing up to his level, then decreasing. It happened a few more times before Tora shut off his device to reboot it.

"Perhaps its a malfunction. There's no way these creatures have powers that match up to ours," he concluded, pouring more energy into his orb. He made sure to be mindful of his fellow Saiyan, and blasted his beam into the area. His scouter flashed continuously after its completed reboot, and Tora decided to focus his eyes on it while he heard screams in the distance, followed by the explosion that his attack left. There were about three of the higher power levels left, their energy unwavering. However, the other four seemingly disappeared. He smirked in triumph, closing his eyes and nodding to himself; they were probably dead. None of these aliens could ever match up to a Saiyan warrior!

"Tora, behind you!" Fasha's voice ended his triumphant thoughts as he shot his eyes open. Before he realized what was happening, he felt a blow on his neck, sending him into a state of unconsciousness. The numbers on his screen were increasing rapidly, reaching a level of ten thousand. That was the last thing he saw before his vision blurred and he felt his body hit the ground.

Gine was afraid to blink. She felt that if she did, she wouldn't be able to evade a hit or throw a counterattack against her opponents. So, she didn't blink.

Despite this, she was thoroughly enjoying the fight. These fighters she encountered had attacked her suddenly, and she could tell that they were evenly matched with her. It was giving her a thrill and she felt herself smiling. These warriors were so serious; they didn't speak to her, taunt her, or even so much as spit on her. All they did was fight her.

Dodging a roundhouse kick, she threw a punch to the alien on her right and staggered a bit when it went through a clone of him. That alone gave an opening to both of her opponents as they sent a powerful punch to her ribs, combined with a close-ranged ki blast to her face. Dazed, Gine fell to the ground and held her side, where she was sure that a rib had fractured. It was painful to touch and she could feel the bruise forming already. She hissed and stumbled back to her feet.

Unexpectedly, the two aliens continued their onslaught. They threw all they had at the Saiyan warrior; kicks, punched, blasts, and beams. One stray blast hit her scouter, destroying it. A shard of the glass fell in her eye, blinding her temporarily. She quickly yanked it out to regain her visibility, narrowly blocked a ki blast aimed at her chest. She deflected it and threw a counterblast their way.

In the distance, she could hear voices chanting something and saw a glowing light. It grew bigger and Gine hesitated before powering up her own special attack that she only used on occasion.

Her mind briefly wandered to her father's impressed look when she created it. It was a mixture of not only his, but also her mother's, special attacks that they created themselves. She never named it, for she never truly cared about attack names. She would rather just create it and shoot it to defeat or severely injure her enemy. Plus, there was a slim chance that she would never have to use it often.

Electricity crackled from both of her forearms and down her wrists, taking on a teal hue in her palms. Gine continued to pour energy in her blast, glancing at its abnormal shape. Instead of an orb, the energy took on an erratic shape, much like a hexagon as it had 6 sides. She watched in the distance as her opponents' blast grew bigger. Growing desperate, she brought her palms closer together to finish charging up. With a shout, the two aliens launched their attack.

Powering up to her maximum, Gine's aura shined even greater. She smirked almost evily as she shot her own blast, careful to not recoil from the impact of the two waves. The two different colored attacks were at a standstill, each warrior at their apex strength, and they were practically equal. However, the smirk from her face disappeared, as she was suddenly punched by an unseen enemy. That gave the two aliens the opening they needed to overpower her attack, and thus utterly defeat her.

Having the air knocked out of her, Gine hissed in pain, unable to move from her spot in the air. Forcing herself to look up at her attacker, she was surprised to find it to be a hard feat. She saw that this new alien was glowing in a purple hue and holding his palms out towards her. Realization dawned on her, as she tried to move out of the way from the oncoming blast. The alien seemed to strengthen his telekinetic ability, keeping Gine immobile. She gritted her teeth and glared at him, not liking the feeling of being controlled against her will. The Saiyan watched warily as the blast came closer to her. In just mere seconds she would be nothing but dust.

She almost closed her eyes until she remembered an old piece of advice her father once gave her...

"Saiyans are not afraid of death; instead, they welcome it. Instead of shying away from it, they open their minds, arms, and eyes wide, as if beckoning it to envelop them. You are not a real Saiyan if you fear death. Welcome it, Gine, or that fear will be your undoing."

Gine left her eyes open and focused on the blast heading straight for her body. She raised her power, slowly but steadily. She gasped audibly from the pain it was causing her. The Saiyan warrior felt her insides burning as her body fought against that forced paralysis. Her breath hitched as a shock went down her spine. The pain she was feeling right now was unbearable, to say the least. If only she thought of forcing against the paralysis earlier, perhaps she would've had a chance of avoiding the blast that was only a couple feet away from her body.

Disregarding her father's words that gave her the little strength that she had regained, she closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the heat of the blast to take her away into Otherworld.

But it never came.

All of a sudden, Gine felt her energy return back to her and her body went tumbling down to the ground. Dumbfounded, she opened her eyes to find Fasha engaged in a very serious fight with the alien, and the blast that was about to take her life was...gone. Gine furrowed her eyebrows in confusion before she realized how close she was heading towards the ground, head first. "Oh no!" was all she managed to yell out before another body collided with hers, bringing her potentially devastating fall to a halt.

Her savior floated down to the ground and gently steadied her on her feet. In the background, Fasha and Borgos' yells could be heard, followed by the clashing of blows and blasts. Making eye contact with the one who protected her, she blinked. He wore his signature green and black armor and gold tipped boots.

She blinked again.

And she blinked for a third time. He glared at her, "Is there something in your gotdamn eye, wench?!"

"Bardock?"

"You dumbass! You could've died for being so dumb! What is wrong with you? Tch, useless woman," said Saiyan snapped at her, before mumbling curses. His fists were clenched and his armor was sullied with the blood of his enemies, no doubt. Gine raised an eyebrow as he continued to spew profanity at her. If he hated her so much, why did he save her? If she was an enigma, what in the world was he? To Gine, her male companion was far more complex than she was, in regard to personality. But, a small smile appeared on Gine's face as she realized that Bardock did, indeed, care for her in some way. If he didn't, she would have been dead already by now, right? And his hands were so gentle when steadying her on the ground...

Seeing as he was about to fly back up to join the final battle they would engage in on the planet, Gine jumped on Bardock suddenly, startling him. She wrapped her dainty arms around his back tightly, nuzzling the back of his neck softly. Saiyans never hugged, but Gine absolutely loved them. And she didn't really care how Bardock would feel about the hug at the moment. Her arms tightened around his waist once again before she let go. Just because she wasn't concerned about how he'd react to the gesture doesn't mean she was in a hurry to find out.

"Thank you for saving me, Bardock." Gine got on her tippy toes and kissed his cheek before scurrying away and giggling like a little girl. If Gine wasn't sure about having a crush on her fellow Saiyan before, she sure as hell could confirm it now.

If only she had stayed a little longer with Bardock, perhaps she would've seen the blush that covered his cheeks and the small, almost nonexistent, smirk that appeared on his face mere seconds after she left.

"Agh, women..."