Warning: Some violence ahead.

Combustion

They were about to head to bed when there came a knocking at the door. It wasn't a meek, embarrassed sorry-to-bother-you sort of tapping but a desperate, terrified, oh-Kami-I'm-going-to-die-let-me-in series of pounding. Ox King didn't even bother changing out of his pajamas when he answered and found a badly injured villager at his doorstep.

"What happened to you?" Ox King asked, carrying into the house the wounded man who wheezed, "Th-they've come back."

"W-who's come back?" ChiChi asked, peering from behind Bulma. She ended up with an armful of injured villager while her father rushed out declaring, "Stay put! I'll handle them."

But while ChiChi fussed over the villager, Bulma was more interested in interrogating him for answers. "Who are they? Where did they come from? When did they first attack? What do they want?"

"Red. Ribbon," was all the man said before he succumbed to his wounds.

"Is he?"

A trembling ChiChi nodded. She lowered the man to the floor and closing his eyes, got on her knees and clasped her hands in prayer.

Bulma, on the other hand, decided that "We can't let your dad handle these Red Ribbon bastards alone. Put on your war-bikini, ChiChi."

"B-but dad said to stay put."

"Fine, you stay put. I'm going out guns blazing," the blue-haired girl grimaced. Whatever was in that healing salve ChiChi gave her was working great. If she'd actually stuck around for another day, she would've been good as new. As it was, most of her joints were still sore and walking at a brisk pace made her wince but she could push past this level of pain. She had to.

"No, you are not going anywhere by yourself!" ChiChi was instantly blocking her way, and despite her short stature, the dark-haired princess was stronger than Bulma.

"ChiChi, please! The people who killed my parents might be there, too!"

"All the more why you can't go alone!"

"Then come with me! If your dad catches us, blame me! Tell him I managed to sneak out so you had to run after me!" Bulma herself was trembling with barely concealed rage. She refused to let the possibility of exacting her revenge slip through her fingers just because she wasn't in top condition.

ChiChi glanced from the dead villager to the hate-filled glower of Bulma and finally relented. "Give me five minutes to change. If you try to leave me behind I will catch up to you, knock you out, and drag you back here. You know I can!"

"Yeah, yeah, just get a move on," Bulma grumbled but was visibly relieved that ChiChi would have her back. In the time it took the younger girl to don her armor, Bulma had her satchel strapped on, guns at the ready, and her capsule supplies loaded into the hovercycle. The pair climbed into the vehicle and made good time in their ride down to the village. To their horror, they arrived to find the village overrun with men in the same military uniform as the poachers.

ChiChi watched as her father fought valiantly, his blood-drenched battle-axe cleaving through the invaders with impressive speed. But when she realized a number of the uniformed men were approaching them and Bulma, she squeaked and stumbled backwards until she pressed up against someone.

A quick glance upwards showed her it was just Bulma, whose focus was on the quickly tightening circle of men.

"Make things go boom, ChiChi!" Bulma grinned, drawing a loaded automatic machine gun and opening fire all in the same breath.

The dark-haired princess yelped and covered her ears from the loud staccato, wishing the older girl had stayed put in their house instead of forcing her way down to the village. She didn't want to be in the battlefield, didn't want to see people hurt each other and die. But she heard screams, noticed the pitch were those of women and children, and ChiChi's protective instincts kicked in.

She drew upon her father's ferocity and her own desire to defend her kingdom. It wasn't the most advanced, it wasn't the biggest either, but it was hers and that was enough to summon the warrior within her. As the bladed fin flew and sliced through flesh, a hail of laser-fire rained down on the invaders.

When it became clear that their enemy had retreated, ChiChi found her legs turning to jelly and she fell into an exhausted heap. Bulma gave an equally tired sigh and slumped against her.

"They weren't here," the blue-haired girl murmured. ChiChi couldn't tell if Bulma was happy or sad over the fact.

She didn't have time to ask when her father, a hell-beast in torn pajamas, roared. "ChiChi! What are you doing here?!"

"Who would have thought the dainty little daughter was an equally fearsome warrior like her papa?" An accented voice suddenly said. Both girls turned towards the new comer. They saw a silver-haired man standing beside a brunette, both of his arms sported freshly cast plaster, in a wheelchair. "Pardon Colonel Silver if he doesn't give a round of applause or a standing ovation."

"Who's that other girl? The nurse maid?" Silver sneered.

Bulma opened her mouth to snarl when Ox King cut her off, "What are you doing back here, White?"

"That's General White to you. After you defeated Colonel Silver so utterly, I told you that I'll be back. And I brought reinforcements."

"Well we drove them off!" Bulma snapped.

"The cannon fodder? Don't strain yourself, servant girl. I was referring to the Major."

The ground trembled, the night air echoed with heavy footsteps that grew louder as a large figure slowly made its way closer along the unlit mountain path.

Ox King's grip on the handle of his battle-axe tightened. And when the Major came into view in the dim torchlight, the mountain King hurled his weapon at the sunglass-wearing man's neck. The blade buried itself with the ear-splitting shriek of rending metal. There was no blood that spilled, only brief sparks of arc flashes as the Major slowly, mechanically, reached up to pluck the axe from his throat.

General White only laughed, "Show them what you can do, Major Metallitron!"

"Roger," the Major answered, deep and robotic.

"ChiChi! Run!" Ox King yelled, bracing himself for the large android's fist. His feet dug furrows as he was pushed back from a single punch.

"Dad!" ChiChi screamed, leaping forward to help her father when General White grabbed her by her cape. He yanked, hard, and with impressive dexterity entangled the cape around ChiChi's hands.

"Calm down, little one, the Major won't kill your papa. Just beat him to within an inch of his life, that's all."

"That's if you're not lying!" Bulma suddenly had the muzzle of a pistol trained on the back of White's head. "What do you want from these people, anyway?"

Silver picked up the question, "The Red Ribbon Army just wants to set up a new headquarters for General White's division. We were more than willing to pay rent but Ox King thinks we're trouble."

"He'd be correct," White grinned, one arm deftly reached back to pluck the gun out of Bulma's hand. "But we're only trouble if you don't see things our way."

"You leave. My daughter. Alone!" Ox King had managed to grip the android by the middle and with bone-breaking force, flung the metal man down the mountain road. He charged forward and was shot. Repeatedly.

"NO!" ChiChi shrieked, eyes wide in horror as she thrashed against her captor's grip. The gem on her helmet glowed incandescent and unable to find release, energy began to crackle along the top of the headgear, collecting at the very point of the bladed fin. And in her struggling, she managed to bring her head down just right and the blade struck General White.

Energy surged forward upon contact and exploded across the man's body, rupturing his blood vessels and frying his nerves. The metal fin snapped from the strain and ChiChi was propelled away, sending her careening into Bulma.

"G-Gotcha!" the blue-haired girl panted but ChiChi shoved against her, trying to get to her father and in doing so, knocked Bulma right into Colonel Silver's wheelchair. The impact was enough to loosen the wheelchair's brakes, and the immobile Silver rolled backwards along the downhill slope of the mountain road, screaming on his descent.

"Dad!" ChiChi sobbed.

"This is nothing," Ox King assured her. But the torchlight glinting off crimson trickles suggested otherwise.

There was a wet scream, the sickening crunch of bone, and the squeal of crumpling metal beneath slow but steady footsteps.

The mountain king placed a heavy hand atop his daughter's shoulder, solemnly ordering, "ChiChi, I've sent the villagers away. I need you to take Bulma and run."

"I'm not leaving you behind!" the dark-haired princess shook her head, throwing her arms around her father.

"Someone has to stay behind to stoke the fire."

"But dad-!"

"You need to survive this, ChiChi," Ox King said, tears washing his face of blood and dirt, "Find my old teacher Master Roshi. Train under him, grow stronger, and when you can snuff the flames of Frypan Mountain, come back and reclaim your Kingdom. If the Red Ribbon Army wants our village so much, they can learn to be fireproof for it."

Bulma handed Ox King a capsule and mumbled, "I have more than one hovercycle."

The blue-haired girl revved up her supply-laden vehicle and waited for ChiChi. The dark-haired girl was bawling into one of her father's arm, unable to leave until Major Metallitron's robotic voice declaring "I'm back," forced their hand.

Ox King bodily picked up his daughter, dropped the still-protesting girl into the seat behind Bulma, and decapsulated his own vehicle. The two hovercycles drove off into opposite directions, leaving Major Metallitron staring between father and daughter, trying to decide whom to chase. In the end, the metal man raised his arms on either side of his body. He bunched his hands into fists then promptly launched them.

ChiChi spied the incoming rocket and whimpered about its approach to Bulma, who just screamed profanities and pushed the hovercycle harder, faster, move it move it move it! Another glance back had ChiChi turning around, thighs gripping the seat as tightly as she could for balance. She began firing her laser-beams at the fist, watched in dismay as they simply bounced off.

The rocket hand drew closer and the fingers uncurled, poised to grab them.

But even though ChiChi was exhausted, her eyes blurry from tears, her heart aching in her chest, she grit her teeth and focused everything she had. She wasn't going to let her father's sacrifice be in vain. The gem glowed again as she built up her energy. She ignored the terrified screams from Bulma, waited until the very last second before she let loose a massive blast. It propelled their hovercycle forward and reduced the pursuing rocket into shrapnel that flew every which way.

One shard struck ChiChi's helmet with a resounding crack, fracturing the gem and sending her slamming back against Bulma. The older girl threw an arm behind her, blindly grabbing for ChiChi and securing the younger girl by her cape. The drive down the dark, winding mountain path was bumpy and rough, met with close calls and near-crashes, but they rode on straight until dawn and into the Diablo desert.

A/N: I was planning on taking a short break to build up a buffer of sorts. Then, OMG Lady Lan finished her incredible epic drabble-fic Pandemic. My feels. Just. OMG MY FEELS. It totally put me into a writing mood. So you get this chapter sooner than I expected 8D

Ignoring the whole played-for-laughs aspect of the manga/anime, when push comes to shove the women in Dragon Ball Z become incredible powerhouses. ChiChi may feel a little flip-flop-y with her aggression but she did start out shy in canon. And then we have Bulma who has always been um rather eager to pull the trigger. As always, reviews are loved and appreciated!