(Individual Lies here! Just wanted to apologize for the tardiness of this chapter. Life happens, as it is said. And life has been happening like crazy for me, lately. But only involving work. So…less social life and more overtime. Hm…Anyway, I'd also like to once again thank ShadowMajin. He beta'd this chapter, and helped me polish it up. It was originally pretty messy and I wasn't too satisfied with it. So, thanks! And now…without further rambling, I present to you…)
Chapter Five: Guarded
"Now I want you, when you're gone and now
it's like you're holding something just in front
of me. Well then, I can't allow this to become
another one of those times that I'm left in the
cold, dead. There's no compromise."
Disturbed: Guarded
DBZ
A stillness descended upon the area as Seripa struggled to her feet. Her entire body was aching and she was certain Turles had broken most of her bones. Everything hurt. She couldn't think of a single thing that didn't hurt as she teetered where she stood, staring between Turles and the newcomer. The scar on his face (the little of it she could see) was curiously similar to Bardock's. But she knew from the shape of the man's chin and how much broader his shoulders were, that he was not her former mentor. She wasn't sure about his height, but the newcomer also seemed a little taller than he had been.
She left them plenty of space and sat down heavily in the sand, her body screaming in protest and making her growl in pain. Clutching her sides, Seripa looked between the two of them as the silence stretched on. Judging by the look on his face, Turles was still in shock that the man had just spoken to him like that. The newcomer kept his grin firmly in place and didn't move from his position. His crimson cape flapped behind him in the fierce wind that only seemed to be getting fiercer.
Turles narrowed his eyes and smiled slightly. He folded his arms, mirroring the newcomer's stance.
"I don't think I heard you right. What exactly did you say?"
"I think I'm the guy that's about to kick your ass." He repeated, chuckling afterwards.
Turles frowned. "Wrong answer." He lunged forward, moving much faster than Seripa could track.
By the time her eyes caught up to him, he was hovering before the newcomer with his right fist firmly planted in the man's exposed jaw. Her eyes shot wide open when she saw that he was still grinning and unfazed. In fact she thought that Turles' fingers were beginning to look a little bigger than normal.
"Well, what's the right answer? Certainly not that you're gonna kick my ass, right?"
Turles slowly withdrew his shaking fist, his dark eyes wide as he flew back away from the man a few feet, before touching his feet down into the sand.
"Who the hell are you?"
The newcomer chuckled and unfolded his arms, reaching up to pull the dark helmet from his head. Long black spikes of hair fell down to his shoulders and he looked upon Turles with stern, coal black eyes. Stretching from the corner of his lips and up to just below his left eye was a scar that did, in fact, greatly resemble Bardock's. But in the center of this man's forehead was another scar; this one was in the shape of a jagged X.
He quirked a brow at the confused expression upon Turles' face and his grin faded slightly.
"You don't recognize me, kid?" a slight hint of disappointment in his tone
"I am not a kid!" seethed Turles, his hands clenching into tight fists at his sides.
"You certainly do act like one."
"Fuck you!"
"Now you're acting like Bardock," the newcomer said with amusement.
"FUCK YOU!"
Turles flared his blue aura around his body and lunged forward again. This time he launched into an all-out attack, but the newcomer easily dodged every punch and kick that was thrown his way. To Seripa it looked like he was just taunting the boy. Like at any second he was going to subdue him with one hand.
The newcomer watched as Turles launched a kick towards his face. This time he didn't dodge. He merely raised his hand up, curling all his fingers save for his index and thumb, and caught the toe of Turles' boot between the two digits. He flashed a grin up at the stunned boy.
"Quick to anger just like Bardock, too. Damn, the similarities are crazy. But he possessed much more potential than you do. Not a single one of your attacks was aimed to deal the most damage. You're attacking blind and recklessly, putting too much faith in your strength. If you fight with your head rather than your muscles you would do significantly more damage to your opponent."
Seripa could only stare at the man. There was no doubt in her mind that he was Tettuce, Bardock's former mentor. And he was clearly very powerful. Much more powerful than her mentor had been.
Suddenly the man, Tettuce, flicked his wrist and Turles was slung into and through the hull of the ship. He grimaced and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he stared at the newest hole in the hull.
"Damn,I threw him too hard," He was still for a moment, before he shrugged, "Eh, fuck it." He turned then to face her, lowering his arm and pressing a button on the side of his helmet, which he had tucked under his arm before the fight had begun. The helmet suddenly broke apart and shrank into a single, flat, and square plate of whatever the thing had been made of. He started walking towards her, sticking the plate/helmet into the front of his armor.
"I'm assuming you're Seripa?" he paused before her, folding his arms and arching a brow. His red cape flapped behind him in the still-blowing wind; it was showing no signs of letting up, either. His thick mass of hair was being tousled by the wind, as well.
She frowned up at him and rubbed the back of her glove against her blood-stained face in an effort to wipe some of the blood away. It was a fruitless endeavor, though, as much of it had already dried. So she was left with an ugly magenta blotch of crust across her face. Despite this, though she would've stood to better greet the man, but the pain she was in was nothing compared to the wave of weakness that suddenly overtook her. So, she remained sitting in the sand, forced to crane her aching neck to look at him.
"And I'm assuming you're Tettuce." she stated, rather than asking.
He smiled slightly and knelt down before her, "Very astute. Bardock mentioned that you were probably the cleverest member of his team. He's obviously very fond of you."
Tettuce arch a brow in confusion as she quickly lowered her gaze to the obsidian-colored sand beneath her. The other shot up when she closed her eyes tight and lifted her hands to cover her face. He was surprised by her reaction, to say the least. He stared at her for a few moments, before shrugging and moving forward to pick her up.
Seripa felt him moving to pick her up and tensed briefly, before relaxing. She made no effort to resist. But when she felt him pause and pull away she opened her eyes slowly. She looked up at him to see him staring at the ship curiously. She frowned and followed his gaze with a confused expression written across her bruised and bloodied face.
"What is it?"
"The kid's power just shot up tremendously." He stood up and turned to fully face the ship.
She frowned and looked back at him just as he was standing. Turles must've gotten hold of some of that wretched fruit of his, she thought bitterly.
"How do you know?" she asked, suddenly realizing he wasn't wearing a scouter.
"I can read it." He glanced down at her when she didn't respond, noting the blank look on her face. He smiled slightly, "I'll explain later."
"YOU WILL DIE NOW!" They looked back to the ship in time to see Turles shoot from out of the ship and drop down before them, the impact of his landing sending sand flying all over Seripa. Somehow (much to her chagrin) it completely missed Tettuce.
Ignoring the sand and the murderous glares being sent at him, Tettuce grinned.
"That's an impressive increase in power, kid. But you still don't stand a chance against me,' he stated, matter-of-factly.
"What makes you so certain? You don't have a scouter so how could you possibly know that I don't stand a chance?" Turles was seething, barely restraining himself from attacking the man.
Seripa, meanwhile, was crawling backwards as fast as her beaten body could carry her. She had already gotten a feel for the brat's brutality once and she was in no hurry to experience his newest boost in power.
Tettuce grinned again and cocked an eyebrow.
"Kid, you just don't get it. But you're lucky I'm willing to explain it to you." He paused to see if Turles would say anything, but when he didn't he continued, "See, if you were to measure your power with a scouter right now, your power reading would be somewhere between 25,000 and 27,000. You are very powerful now. Seripa and the others wouldn't have had any chance at all."
"Yeah, I woulda slaughtered them all just like I'm about to slaughter you!"
"You still don't get it!" Tettuce snapped, his grin gone now and his eyes narrowed dangerously.
Turles growled at him, seeming unfazed by his attitude change. "What don't I get?"
"Why doesn't your power scare me, kid? You obviously agree with my assessment of your power, because you haven't tried to claim it was higher. So why doesn't such a high power have me shaking in my boots?" Tettuce was obviously struggling to maintain his patience at this point.
He was met with another growl, "Because you're fuckin' stupid, apparently!" Turles was tired of holding back. He had the power now, so he was going to tear this bastard apart. Sure he had bested him earlier, but thankfully when he had been casually thrown into the ship he had ended up in the cargo hold, lying in the ruins of one of the crates he had loaded full of fruit. All he had grabbed was a handful of mush, but it had worked enough to give him another boost in strength. He was confident now that he could take the guy down.
Tettuce closed his eyes and slowly shook his head, sighing sadly. "It's such an obvious answer, too. I guess that's another thing that sets you apart from Bardock. He was much more intelligent than you could ever hope to be."
"THAT'S IT! FUCK YOU!" Turles was alight with raw ki as he lunged at Tettuce again.
He never stood a chance.
Turles had rushed headlong into his attack prepared to fight with everything he had. Thrusting his fist towards the man's exposed jaw he was jarred when his punch was blocked by the littlest finger on Tettuce's right hand. The fact had barely registered before he heard the man speak.
"The weak never do recognize strength without a show of force. I always forget that," he sighed out the last part, a note of pity obvious in his tone.
Without thinking, Turles brought his other hand around to bear, and fired a massive blast point-blank into Tettuce's face. The resulting explosion sent both he and Seripa flying backwards.
Turles managed to regain himself and landed atop the ship to watch the plumes of sand descending upon where Tettuce once stood. He had to allow himself a chuckle at that. He could hardly believe it, and was still somewhat reluctant to allow himself to believe that he had taken the man out.
For good reason, too, as he heard a voice beside him say, "Impressive explosion. It would have been much worse had I not taken the brunt of the attack."
Spinning around Turles came face-to-face with a completely unscathed Tettuce.
"You probably would have even destroyed the ship and everyone else around you," he continued with a smirk.
"Bull shit! You must've dodged at the last second. There's no way you could have survived that!" Turles snapped, fighting to keep his voice from trembling at the same time. "N-no saiya-jin is that strong!"
"I am." he responded coolly. "You've obviously forgotten that I'm Tettuce."
Turles' eyes widened first in recognition, and then widened even more so in horror at realizing just who in the hell he had been fighting. His body seemed to give out on him as he sank to the ground heavily.
"No wonder you never looked like you were trying." He mumbled as he stared blankly at the sand beneath him. "I never stood a chance."
"Nope. Sorry, kid."
The rage was back with a vengeance as a blue aura exploded around Turles' body, sending sand flying high into the sky.
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" he jumped up and shot at Tettuce, his fist drawn back fully, ready to swing it forward and deliver a crushing blow to the irritating man.
Again, Tettuce never seemed to move. But Turles was obviously struck a powerful blow as his body doubled over in response to what appeared to be a blow to the gut. His head recoiled back and he staggered, his aura vanishing from around his body. He stumbled for a moment, a look of dazed confusion upon his face. He looked at Tettuce who just shook his head. Then Turles' head snapped back from an unseen blow and he fell to his back, his black eyes rolling into the back of his skull.
Seripa was shocked to say the least. She had assumed Tettuce would be much stronger than Bardock had been, but this was a level of strength that she couldn't compare to anything she had seen before amongst the saiya-jin. The only thing she could compare it to…was Frieza's power. She felt a tremble run through her body, as she shuddered at the thought. A saiya-jin with power comparable to the lizard's. It was beyond anything that she could have ever possibly dreamed of.
"Tettuce…"
He turned away from Turles' helpless form and looked down at her curiously.
"What?"
"Are you as strong as Frieza?"
Tettuce arched a brow and chuckled quietly. He shook his head in response. "No, I'm not. I'm strong, yeah. But Frieza is beyond anything I've achieved."
Seripa's newfound hope instantly evaporated. So the lizard was even more powerful than she thought. She really needed to stop under-estimating her opponents. Bardock would have beaten her black and blue for making that fatal mistake.
"Can you train me?" she asked with a tired sigh.
"You can't be serious." Tettuce responded automatically. He quirked a brow as he walked over to her, kneeling down before her once more. Only they were much closer to the ship now. Seripa was sitting only a few yards from the ramp leading into the ship.
She frowned, her lips curling up, as she very nearly growled at him. "Of course I'm serious!" She struggled to her feet, barely resisting the urge to cringe and clutch her aching body parts. She stood weakly, but firm-footed, with her shoulders squared and her violet eyes glaring with an impressive intensity with how injured she was. "I've never been more serious of anything in my life."
Well, there was that one other time. But that hardly counts, right? After all, Kak- she shook her head lightly, almost as if she were shaking away her fatigue. She focused her attention on Tettuce again. She couldn't let anything from her past distract her. She had to let those memories go, just like Bardock had told her to do in her dream.
Tettuce gave her a long look before he scoffed, "Well, aren't you just a determined little kid."
"I'm not a kid."
"Come on, you couldn't be any older than Turles."
"I'm 25."
"…Damn. You look more about 19 or 20."
"I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted."
Tettuce laughed and glanced up as an ovular ship descended leisurely from overhead. It resembled their stolen cruiser, Seripa noticed, but much sleeker. It was obviously a newer model than theirs.
"And here's our ride."
She tore her gaze from the somewhat intimidating ship and looked at him, "Who are you working for?" she asked tensely.
"Her name's Aurah. If you've ever heard the name Vogan, than you should know that she is his daughter." He watched the ship as it slowly circled around and descended slowly towards them.
"Vogan's that eccentric dracon, ain't he?"
"No, that's Vvvogahn. Vogan is-er, well, was anyhow, a Gylderian Lord who fought fiercely to garner allies against Frieza. Many consider him an eccentric, as well." He chuckled and glanced back down at her. The ship touched down, sand kicking up and blowing all around them. But it never touched them, seeming to circle around them, instead.
"Yeah, I've heard of him, too. Did he die?"
"Yeah. The same day our race was slaughtered."
Seripa's eyes widened. "What?"
"Vogan was on Vegeta meeting with a member of the royal family. Ah, Lord Spinac if I remember correctly. He was hoping to help free our race from the clutches of the lizard. And guess who wouldn't have any of that?"
Her blood suddenly turned to ice. "What are you saying?" She hadn't missed the way he asked that question. It suggested that there was more to it than she was aware.
"Frieza destroyed our world to destroy Vogan, not our race. We were expendable."
"But wait…then…" she frowned in confusion. "Why did he send Dodoria to murder us on Planet Meat?"
Tettuce sighed. Behind him the ship's hatch had opened and the ramp descended to the sandy ground.
"That has more to do with me and Bardock than it did with you and the others. You wouldn't have been spared either way, so it really doesn't matter." He glanced behind him as several groups of aliens exited. They formed into three rows, with ten to a row, behind Tettuce. Once situated they all put their hands behind their backs and took an attentive stance.
"What do you mean?" Seripa asked, bringing his attention back to her.
"Frieza is trying to kill me. He targeted Bardock, you, and the others to flush me out." He sighed again, "He wants me to try and attack him blindly, assuming I will do like any of our brothers and sisters would, and try to kill him. He's right in that I want to kill him. But he's wrong in assuming I will attack him. As much as I'd like to, I'm much smarter than he gives me credit for." He smiled slightly.
Seripa stared at him blankly. Her head was swimming with this information. Her race had been decimated for political reasons and her and her friends had been killed in an attempt to flush out Tettuce. She, Bardock, Toma, Borgos, and Shugesh had all been used as bait. She collapsed, her broken body finally giving out on her.
Before she had fallen more than a few inches, Tettuce scooped her up, "Don't be leaving me now. You've remained conscious this long, you can hang on until we get inside the ship so we can get off this miserable rock."
"Whatever you say," she sighed. She leaned against his chest, thinking of how he felt nothing like Bardock. She was weaker and more fatigued than she thought, she mused. Why else would she be thinking of him like that?
Tettuce turned to address the aliens still waiting behind him. "Tend to the wounded and get them safely aboard either ship. It doesn't matter which, because we're taking both. I want this one here, though," he nodded his head towards where Turles still lay unmoving, "I want him where I can reach him, just in case. Do whatever is necessary to make sure that ship is space-worthy. We are leaving immediately. Now go."
While they all rushed off in different directions to attend to the different jobs, Tettuce walked past them up the ramp and into the ship. Seripa glanced back at where Turles still lay just as one of the aliens picked him up and carelessly slung him across his shoulder. She grinned before settling down and closing her eyes. They opened immediately as a wave of darkness threatened to crash over her.
"You're not taking any chances with Turles, are you?" Seripa asked after they had been walking for several minutes. She was growing wearier as time drew on and she was nowhere near ready to sleep, yet. Making conversation would help keep her awake.
"Trust me on this: he won't be waking up anytime soon. Not for a few weeks, anyhow. Having him put aboard this ship is just a precautionary measure."
Seripa couldn't help but grin. It served the little brat right in her mind. He needed to be put in his place. She still couldn't fathom how he could have been Bardock's brother. But then, she also would not have imagined the man that was carrying her to be the very man that had trained her mentor.
Speaking of training.
"You never answered my question, Tettuce."
"What question?" he asked, resisting the urge to grimace. He wasn't stupid; despite wishing that she had, he knew that she had not forgotten.
"Are you going to train me?"
"Do you know what you're getting yourself into?"
She frowned at him answering her question with another question. But at least he was asking the right question.
"I know the odds are against me."
"Girl, you don't even know." Tettuce said with a shake of his head.
"No, you're right. I don't know what I'm up against, because you've already proven my theory of his power, wrong. I watched him destroy Vegeta with a flick of his finger. I can't even guess at the power needed to do that. I don't know the scale of his strength, but I'll take whatever help I can get to close that distance, nonetheless. When the time comes, I will stand before Frieza with everything that I have and I will do anything and everything I can to beat him into the dirt."
"And if all of that isn't enough?"
"Then at least I can say I tried."
Tettuce stopped walking. She blinked in confusion and glanced up at him. He was staring at her with the most confused expression she had ever seen.
"Why would you pass up a chance on living in peace?"
"I'm the last remaining member of my team. Someone has to avenge them and I'd rather it be me. Besides," she gave a sad, half-hearted smile, "were it any one of them, they'd want to do the same exact thing. Besides, I highly doubt there will be any peace anywhere so long as Frieza continues his reign."
"That's true," Tettuce agreed, albeit reluctantly, "You know, I've never encountered such a close-knit group as yours. I must say that I am surprised that Bardock of all people was your captain."
Seripa frowned at him. "Why does that surprise you?"
"When I knew Bardock he wasn't that much different than Turles was. From the way you talk about him, I gather that he must have changed considerably since my exile. I don't know how he trained you, but from what I can gather so far, he must have started using his head before his muscles."
"He was smart, if that's what you're saying."
He laughed and started walking again. "I've always known he was smart, but he was also very stubborn and quick to anger. Bardock has made more trips to a rejuvenation chamber for attacking in blind anger than anyone else I've ever known."
"That doesn't sound like the same Bardock I knew. He was stubborn, yes, but he always made it a point in our training to make sure we knew to attack with purpose and direction. He told us never to 'shoot aimless or attack blindly.'" She frowned and glanced up as Tettuce stepped onto the bridge.
"Yeah, sounds like he's changed quite a bit since I've last seen him."
She frowned at the way he spoke. Did he not know that Bardock was dead? She was about to ask him when she noticed the silver-skinned woman sitting in the throne at the center of the bridge. Her eyes widened at the luminescent sheen of the woman's sleek skin. Had the woman not been wearing a heavy golden cloak, Seripa was sure the woman's skin would have blinded her completely. She also vaguely noted that the woman had long tendrils of pearl white, dread-locked hair. Her eyes, though, they stuck into her memory. It was difficult to ignore the fact that the woman's eyes were gold irises with a blue luminescent pupil, all surrounded in a sea of pale blue.
So this was a Gylderian? Seripa was beyond impressed by the beauty that literally radiated from the woman before her.
Tettuce paused before the woman, quite obviously Aurah, and knelt carefully in a low bow, doing his best not to jostle the injured woman in his arms.
"Tettuce, love, you do not have to bow."
He grinned at the woman, "Even I must maintain the formalities, my lady."
She quirked a brow at the way he said the word 'my.' She had barely caught the subtle emphasis he had placed on the word. He had clearly wanted no one but Aurah to hear it. He had almost succeeded, because Seripa had just barely caught it.
"If you wish." She rolled her eyes at him before turning her luminescent hues on the woman in his arms. "You must be Seripa," she smiled at her; a kind and warm smile. The smile a mother would give a child.
She nodded, wincing slightly. Briefly distracted by the disarming attitude and beauty of the woman, she had forgotten about her aching body.
"Oh dear," the woman frowned and leaned forward in her seat, "You are in serious need of medical attention."
The saiya-jin woman laughed quietly, "Like you wouldn't believe." She sighed and gave the woman a weak stare, "Yes, I'm Seripa."
"Good. We've been worried we wouldn't find you. When we first learned of you and your comrades on Meat, we were told that all four of you had died. When we arrived and found only three bodies, we wondered briefly if your body had even been left behind. But we knew you were alive once we found the space pods and saw that one was missing. We have been searching the galaxy for any signs of your survival. You are an elusive saiya-jin, I'll give you that." Aurah said with a soft laugh.
Seripa grinned weakly, "Well, I survived. Barely, but I did." She sighed, shifting a bit in Tettuce's arms to ease the pain of her battered body, "But how did you find out about me and the others being on Meat?"
Aurah's smile faded slightly and she glanced from her to Tettuce. Seripa frowned and glanced up at him, too.
He sighed and moved forward to carefully place the injured woman in the identical throne next to Aurah's.
"They found out because of me," he said as he knelt down in front of them, looking at and addressing Seripa.
"How did you find out, though?" she asked with her frown still in place.
"Bardock told me."
Seripa stared at him in open-mouthed shock. Bardock had told him? Bardock had broken the Royal Law and contacted an Exile. And not just any exile, either. He contacted Tettuce, the Exile. The one person that would have resulted in Bardock's immediate execution had anyone found out. She frowned again, looking at the man kneeling before her. Something had just occurred to her…
"Why in the hell were you exiled?"
Tettuce stared at her with a raised eyebrow, before chuckling low. "So there are people in the universe that don't know about my past."
"Leave the past where it belongs, love." Aurah said gently. She turned to Seripa and leaned close to her, lowering her voice so the others on the bridge could not overhear her words. "Tettuce was exiled for challenging King Vegeta for the throne."
"What? Really?" she couldn't help but stare at Tettuce now. She had never before heard of anyone daring to challenge the King.
"Yes," he answered before Aurah could, "It all deals with Frieza, though. I disagreed with the treaty between him and our people. I made this clear to Vegeta on multiple occasions. I warned him that if he didn't sever the treaty with him, then our people would eventually be destroyed." He sighed and lowered his gaze to the floor. "I was an advisor to the throne and he always turned his nose up to my advice." His jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. "One day I was finally fed up with it. When I told him that he should end the treaty, I followed by saying that if he didn't, then I would challenge him for the right to be king."
"What'd he do?"
Tettuce smiled slightly and continued, "At first he laughed, but when he realized I was serious he had me escorted from his chambers. He neither accepted nor rejected my challenge, saying only that I was a threat to the throne." He sighed again. "He knew I would have won the challenge and that very few of his elites could stand against me. So he requested that Frieza send some of his strongest men to assist with my exile," he paused and glanced up at Aurah for a moment, then turned his gaze to Seripa again.
"Who could he have sent that can stand against you?"
A tense expression came across his features and he looked down again. "He only sent two men that I will never forget: Ginyu and Recoome."
She drew in a quick breath, her eyes widening again. She remained silent, though, allowing him to continue.
"They were much stronger than I was back then, but even now I'm none too sure of my chances against them. Back then all it had taken to render me unconscious was a slap from Recoome." His eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched again. He was silent as he fumed, recalling the memory of that day. "One measly slap, and I was down. The next thing I knew I was waking up on a space station in a completely different galaxy. Within a week I was employed by Lord Vogan and the rest is history."
Seripa was silent for a few moments. She wasn't really sure what to say to all that. She was also beginning to have a hard time focusing on anything. She sighed wearily and leaned back in her seat. She still had some questions she wanted answered, though, so she kept quiet about her injuries.
"That explains your exile, but why does Frieza want you dead? What did you do that sent him after me and my team?"
Tettuce flinched at her words; or, more accurately, the way she said that last sentence. He grimaced and glanced back at her.
"I should probably mention that I'm a general of Vogan's army. Well, I'm a general of Aurah's army now." Again, he sighed and glanced at the silver-skinned woman. She smiled at him and he smiled back before continuing. "I am also the most powerful General in the universe, and when he went after Vogan he wanted me to die, too. Normally I would have been with Vogan anywhere he went, but in this case he adamantly refused to let me accompany him to Planet Vegeta." Again he grimaced. "It was like he knew what was going to happen, but that's not it. He left me behind because of my history with King Vegeta and the rest of the royal family.
"When Frieza discovered that I was not going to be on Planet Vegeta with Vogan, he ordered your team to Planet Meat where he had Dodoria and his team awaiting your arrival."
"And you know this how?"
"You aren't the only one with marvelous hackers, Seripa," Aurah chimed in. She smiled at the confused expression upon the saiya-jin woman's face. "That's how we found you: we detected the one known as Broco hacking Frieza's main servers, which we also happened to be hacking. That was how we discovered the real reason behind Frieza's attacks, and where you were. It all worked out rather nicely, save for one little detail."
Seripa quirked a brow at the other woman, "And what would that be?"
"Frieza's people were monitoring both hacks the entire time. If it wasn't for my ship being much faster than his, he would have beaten us here for sure."
"Lady Aurah."
She turned from Seripa and looked across the bridge at a black-skinned young alien who was saluting her. She sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Burgah, what have I told you about saluting me? I am still not my father."
"My apologies, my lady."
"It's fine. What is it?"
"Ma'am, the ship is ready for take-off. Communications have been linked with the other ship as requested, and they, too, are ready for take-off."
"And the damage to the other ship?"
"Nothing can be done about the damage until we have returned to Gylder, my lady. However the force field generator aboard the ship has been altered to provide a more localized field."
"Around the holes in the hull?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good. Then take-off, Burgah."
"Ma'am." He turned and sat down, immediately setting to launching the ship.
Seripa had quietly listened to the exchange as she thought about everything she had found out that day. Her head was still spinning when Aurah looked back to her. She looked at the gylderian woman for a moment, before looking down and holding her head. It was hard to meet that woman's luminescent gaze for too long without getting a headache, she realized.
"You should get to recovery, Seripa."
She shook her head, but that just made it hurt worse. She winced and glanced up at the stern expression on Aurah's face, making her frown now.
"Seripa, go to recovery." Aurah spoke with a tone of authority, making the saiya-jin woman blink in surprise.
"Uhm…"
"I'll take her." Tettuce stood again and carefully scooped the much smaller saiya-jin into his arms. "I'll be right back, Aurah."
"Of course." She smiled up at him and he smiled back, before turning to leave the bridge. He made it to the second level before Seripa spoke again.
"Wow."
"What?" he asked as he stepped into the recovery wing of the ship.
The room was filled with wall-to-wall rejuvenation chambers. That surprised Seripa, but at the same time she should have expected it since this cruiser was much newer than the one she had briefly been captain of.
"I've never met a gylderian before, so I'm still in awe of Aurah's beauty."
Tettuce chuckled as he set in a chair beside one of the tanks. "She's only half gylderian, actually."
"Really? What else is she?" she asked. She watched him as he got the chamber ready for her, setting the timer on it when he was done. It didn't take him long, she noticed. These tanks were much newer than the one she'd had to use several times on her ship.
"That's hard to explain, actually." He frowned and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, see Aurah used to be two people."
Seripa gave him a blank stare.
He grinned, "I told you it's hard to explain. Anyway, Aurah used to be two people many years ago. When I first met her she was a saiya-jin girl named Letta, and a gylderian girl named Surah. Both of them fell in love with me and I fell in love with them, as well."
She continued to give him a blank stare.
He chuckled and opened the hatch to the chamber before continuing. "It happened about seven years ago. Surah was sent to a frontier planet for negotiations, and Letta accompanied her as a bodyguard."
"Wait, if they both loved you why would they go anywhere together?" she asked, speaking finally. She pulled her damaged battle jacket over her head, wincing as she her felt her broken ribs shifted around and pressed into her sides again. She let it fall to the floor and stood weakly, reaching out for a support as she lost her balance.
Tettuce caught her arm gently and slid his arm around her waist for support. "They had grown up together, so they were very close friends. They both knew that the other loved me and they both knew that I loved both of them. It was a triangle, yes, but we all maintained our distance. We weren't sure what to do about it, so we left things as they were. I never touched them and they never touched me."
"Until they became one person." She said, raising one eyebrow slowly. That wasn't any different than what Bardock probably would have done. So far it seemed that he had picked up a lot of his views from his mentor.
"Yep," was his simple reply.
"And how did they become one person, exactly?" she asked, urging him to continue with the story.
He laughed again and stepped back away from her as she started pulling her under armor off.
"That's the strangest part of this story," chuckled Tettuce, "and I very much doubt that you will believe a word of what I'm going to say."
"I've heard and seen weird shit most of my life. The idea of two people merging to become one person is a new idea, though. But I believe you, because like I said, I've heard and seen some weird shit before." She winced as she stepped towards the awaiting chamber, shivering at the cold air of the room upon her naked flesh.
Tettuce watched her, his eyes never wandering to places they were not welcome to gaze upon, as she made to step into the chamber. Almost instantly she collapsed forward. He reached out and casually caught her shoulder.
"I think the story will have to wait until you are healed up. No need in delaying your recovery, right?" he grinned at her sour look, "You picked up way too many habits from Bardock."
She flushed, hating herself the instant she felt the heat in her cheeks. She shoved away from him and scrambled into the chamber, quickly and carefully crossing her arms across her chest, concealing her bare breasts, and crossing her legs.
"What does Aurah plan to do?" Seripa asked tersely, changing the subject quickly.
Chuckling, Tettuce stepped back from the closing hatch, "She plans to help the saiya-jin race recover and flourish out on a frontier planet."
"Frontier planet?"
"Yeah, some planet called Earth."
"Earth? That's a stupid name," she remarked as she placed her oxygen mask over her nose and mouth. The instant suction startled her, as it always did. But the pure oxygen was welcoming to her no doubt severely dusty lungs. The hatch shut, sealing with a hiss.
"I agree, but it's not really a bad planet. A little primitive, but the people there seem to progress quickly. Which somewhat makes up for their weak nature, I suppose." He shrugged and folded his arms across his chest as the chamber began to fill with liquid.
"No good fights, then," she responded, her voice muffled by the oxygen mask. "Why did she pick that planet?"
"For its beauty," he grinned, shaking his head slowly. "It must be the gylderian side of her coming out."
"How'd she find it?"
"She was tracking an infant that had been sent out just before planet Vegeta exploded. When she hacked his ship she discovered where he was being sent to and more or less fell in love with the planet once she saw it for herself," he rolled his eyes at the memory. By then the chamber was half-filled.
"So one of the newborns lived, eh? That's good." She shrugged. "So what's the little tyke's name?" she shivered inside the chamber. The cool healing liquid felt good on her skin, but it was cold enough to give her the shakes.
"Um, damn." He frowned and glanced down thoughtfully, "I wanna say his name was…Kaka…something." He looked back up at her, "I'm not that great with na-" he paused in mid-sentence when he noticed the strange look in her eyes. The clear liquid was rising around her face.
"Kakarott?" she asked slowly, almost timidly. There was a look in her eyes that spoke of simultaneous hope and disbelief. Why, Tettuce couldn't fathom in the least.
He furrowed his brow and nodded, "Yeah, that's the name. How'd you know?"
Slowly her intense gaze softened and she slowly closed her eyes. She wanted to cry, but she knew doing that inside the chamber would be a horrible idea. But she had to answer Tettuce.
"That's Bardock's son. My son."
She immediately slipped into darkness, her brain shutting down finally from the day's events.
Tettuce folded his arms across his chest as he regarded the now unconscious woman in the chamber.
"I see now. So that's why Bardock's so fond of her." He shrugged and sighed. "Well, I guess I don't see any reason why I can't train her. Damn."
DBZ
(Individual Lies here again! Glad to see that this story is interesting to more than a few people. I was a little bummed to see that only one person had chanced a guess to my question in the last chapter, but I was happy to note that that guess was correct. So, congratulations to StephanG for his correct guess and on receiving the imaginary cookie. Also, I may slow down considerably in posting chapters for a while but I will never abandon this story, so fear not! We are seriously short-handed where I work. And by that, I meant that three people are covering four shifts and maintaining the operation of a freaking water treatment plant, and continuously are being shat on…*ahem*…My apologies. Whew, ventin's great ain't it? Hahaha! As always the reviews are appreciated and I hope that you all continue to enjoy this story.)
