A/N: It's been about a week since my last update and that is probably going to be the regular pace from now on. I really appreciate the reviews. They are really motivating and I'm glad this story is getting such a positive response. Thanks for your support.
Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ.
Warning: This chapter contains typical manga style bullying.
Chapter 18
"There he his! Get that little runt!" Behind a middle school building a small, preteen boy, with black, bowl cut hair and blue eyes, could be seen running for his life. He was being pursued by a group of, what could only be described as, delinquents. The boy was not an imposing person. In fact, one might say that he was rather small and frail for his age. He had bruises on his face, presumably from the delinquents, and was breathing hard as he fled.
"You've done it now loser! We'll make you suffer!" His tormentors called after him. They were gaining on him and he was running out of steam. He knew that if he didn't figure something out fast, he would fall to the mercy of his pursuers. He looked behind him to check the distance between them and turned a corner. As he looked forward again, to his horror, his pathway led to a dead end. He looked around frantically for any escape, but found none.
"Well, well, well, nowhere to run now little lapdog." The bullies gloated as they rounded the corner. The boy turned around to face them while raising his fists. His whole frame, from his hands to his legs, were trembling from fear and exhaustion. The delinquents laughed at his attempt at a fighting stance.
"HAHAHAHA! Oh man! This pipsqueak thinks he can take us on! That is rich!" The leader ridiculed him for trying to stand up to them.
"You wouldn't even stand a chance against one of us, let alone our gang!" One of the others added.
The kid looked at the gang of bullies in front of him. There were 5 of them, all older than him and definitely bigger. He didn't stand a chance and he knew it. He tried to put on a brave face, but couldn't keep the slight trace of tears from creeping into his eyes. This made them jeer even more.
"Awe, is the poor baby scared? Tell you what, I'll give you a free shot. Now you can't say I'm not a nice guy." The others snickered at this.
The boy was weak and he knew that, no matter what, he would never be able to do any sort of harm to these thugs. Still, one thing to be said for him was that, if nothing else, he had guts. He gritted his teeth and rushed at the leader of the gang, with his fist cocked back. Before he could land his punch, his target brought his knee up into the kids' stomach, stopping him in his tracks. He fell to the ground and his tormentors laughed.
"Hey, you guys saw that right? This kid just tried to assault me. I doubt anyone would complain if I had to cripple him in self-defense."
"Yeah, you right Tony. Not to mention take his money for the compensation." The largest and dumbest of the gang responded.
The smaller boy lay on the ground, clutching his stomach, grumbling something.
"What was that?" Tony asked, putting a hand to his ear.
"You, said you'd give me a free shot." He groaned weakly.
"And you believed me? Man, what an idiot!" Then he started kicking his victim while he was down. "You think that you can say no to me? I run this school!" The other delinquents started kicking the downed kid as well. "When I tell you to run my errands, you should feel honored! You think your special just because you've got a hot sister? You aint nothing in this school! All your good for is to be my gopher!" Every sentence was punctuated with another kick from each delinquent. "That's why we call you our lapdog! Lapdog Lapis! HAHAHAHAHA!" The boy had curled up in a ball to try and minimize the damage, but the pain was to much. All Lapis could do was hope that they got tired before the actually killed him.
"What do ya think Tony? Should we break his scrawny legs?"
"Yeah, that might teach him a lesson. Pull his legs out." They all stopped kicking Lapis and began to forcefully uncurl him from his fetal position.
*Knock*
A loud knock sounded on the wall, causing the bullies to stop and look around. Standing just behind them, was a girl who looked to be about 11 or 12. She wore a school uniform with a long skirt and a blouse that stopped at her midriff. Her hair was blonde and stopped at her waist, and her eyes were the same blue as Lapis' eyes. The eyes were her most striking feature. Not merely because of the crystal blue coloring, but because of the cold fire that raged within them.
The gang looked at her for a moment. Even though the girl was smaller than all of them, something about her made them all wary. Tony was the first to speak. "Well, looks like we don't have to break your legs after all, Lapis. Your hot sister has come to play with us inste…"
A fist to his face not only cut off his sentence, it also made him do a full back flip before landing on his nose. The blonde girl turned her attention to the largest of the delinquents and he stepped back in fear. She grabbed him by the ears and rammed his head into her own. Causing the large boy to collapse.
The 3 other bullies were shocked by this little girl dispatching with their leader and top fighter. Before they could think about how to respond, the wrath of the female was poured out onto each of them. She grabbed one of them by the throat and slammed him against the wall.
"You think you can hurt my brother and get away with it?" She spoke with a quiet rage while squeezing harder and harder on the delinquents' throat. "I'll show you just what happens when you harm what I care about."
At this point the other two guys snapped out of their stupor and tried to get the girl off of their friend. One boy grabbed her by the arm but her elbow shot up into his chin, making him reel back. she released her hold on the ones throat and then rounded on her new victim. She grabbed his shirt, pulled him in close and began pummeling his face. She moved so fast that, by the time the final bully pulled the girl off of his buddy using a full nelson, both the fist and the face were bloody messes.
The boy held the girl off the ground to prevent her from escaping. This was a bad move for him, since this allowed her to kick the inside of his knee hard enough to make it bend the wrong way.
"GYAA!" He cried out, dropping her as he collapsed to the ground clutching his knee. As he writhed in pain on the ground, the girl aimed a soccer ball kick to the boys head, knocking him senseless.
Without paying any mind to the carnage she caused, she walked towards her brother, using her downed opponents as stepping stones. She knelt down and put a hand gently on Lapis. "Are you ok?"
The boy refused to show his face to his sister. "Why did you come Lazuli?" His voice was laden with pain and shame.
Lazuli gave him a look of annoyance. "You're my brother dummy. I'll always come for you."
Lapis laid there silent. The groans of the fallen delinquents sounded in the background, but neither twin paid them any mind.
"Well, anyway…" Lazuli brushed some hair from her face. "We should be going home now. Are you able to walk?"
Lapis rolled over and tried to make his way shakily to his feet. He got up for about five seconds before falling down again. Without a word, Lazuli picked him up, and slung him over her back in a piggy back carry. She walked away, once again stepping on the fallen bullies, and began making her way home. Her brother pressed his face against her back and stayed silent. She began to feel something damp where his face was, but chose not to comment.
"Hey, how about we get burgers tonight for dinner?" She felt Lapis nod. "Cool. I took the wallets off those guys, so free meal, right?"
They quickly reverted back into silence, but Lapis had a single thought on his mind. One day Lazuli. One day, I'll be strong enough. Then I can protect you. I swear.
Break
"HRAAAH! DIE YOU STUPID BLONDE BIMBO!" Alex came after 18 with a vicious onslaught of punches and kicks. She was brutal and powerful, yet lacked finesse. Her imprecise strikes were unable to touch 18, who had very little waste in her movements. Even with this apparent difference in skill, the alien was still keeping her opponent on her toes.
"Is that jealousy I hear?" The cyborg taunted as she continued to dodge the wide swinging punches. "I don't know why your mad at me, I didn't give you that cheap bleach job." 18 was a very methodical fighter. She knew how to keep her cool and mess with her opponent. Right now, the girl she was fighting was strong. She might even be stronger than her. The only thing that was saving 18 from her devastating blows was that the angry albino lacked any real technique. She was a brawler, and the best and easiest way to deal with a brawler was to get them angry, and wait for your chance to strike. Luckily for her, Alex got angry pretty easily.
"GRAAAAHHHH! I'LL RIP YOUR ^*(&* # HEAD OFF!" Her kicks became more erratic. She cocked her fist back and 18 found her opening. She dove in and aimed her punches into her gut with the speed of a machine gun. Then she knocked her upwards only to follow on with a flurry of kicks. She finished her attack with a ki blast and Alex went crashing to the ground, breaking up the concrete as she fell.
Alex lay where she fell, growling and glaring up at her opponent. "Ok, you wanna play dirty? WELL THAT'S FINE WITH ME YOU 8^( %!" She took off full speed again to engage her enemy.
Meanwhile, Pearl and Erasa were watching the fight from the top of an overturned car. Erasa was stunned to say the least. She had no idea what was going on in the fight, but the anger of Alex was pretty scary for her. Pearl, on the other hand, just sighed. "Huuh, she really does have a temper you know."
"U-um… Seems like it." Erasa responded uncertainly.
"Alex is really strong but every time someone taunts her, she loses it and smart fighters know how to use that. The girl up there is probably the worst matchup for her too. She's got that cool beauty style that's really hard to ignore and Alex hates that the most."
"Shouldn't you help her then?" Pearl gave Erasa an odd look. "I-I mean, she is your sister, isn't she? What if she gets k-killed?"
"Oh! Haha! You're sweet, but don't worry about that. She'll be fine, I think she just wants to blow off some steam anyway." The cheerful twin replied easily.
"But…"
Pearl cut Erasa off. "Why don't you tell me more about the shopping district over in that payappapa island place? That sounded pretty interesting."
"You mean Papaya island? Well, it's a pretty big tourist place. I think if you're going anywhere on earth it's probably the best place for vacations. The shopping is just amazing! I got this super cute top…" As the young blonde kept talking, her nervousness began to fade. Sure, the person she was talking to was an alien invader, but she didn't really seem all that hostile. Pearl was pretty nice, even if she was involved in a plot to annex the earth. Maybe if the earth got conquered, she could apply for a job with the empire. She wasn't big on space travel, but she wondered if maybe they had, like, a reporter internship.
As the girls chatted, Alex and 18 were continuing their bout. Alex was getting more and more frustrated by the fact that she wasn't landing a hit. This in turn, made her an easy target for 18s' small counterattacks. A ki blast here, a roundhouse kick there, a few taunts about here clothing choices, and 18 could see that the fight was in the bag. The damage was slowly building and Alex was starting to slow down. The cyborg saw this as her chance and tried move in for the finishing blow. This time as she dove in however, crystal spikes erupted from Alex's skin, slicing 18s' clothing and limbs before she could pull back.
"HAHAHA!" The albino laughed maniacally. Her skin had gone from white, to sparkling like a diamond. There were jagged, rough spikes all over her body. The largest ones came out of her elbows, shoulders and wrists. "Did you really think you were gonna take me out!? I was only slowing down so I could activate this form!"
18 looked at her enemy and flipped a stray strand of hair from her face. "I like the stripper glitter. It really goes with your hair."
"WHATYOUSAY!" This time when she rushed at the blonde, 18 had a much harder time dodging her. While her swings were still just as wide and erratic, the crystalline protrusions made up for that. She couldn't just try to dodge anymore, she actually had to start blocking. As a result, her skin started to get cut from the attacks. For her, this was truly worrisome. Her skin was supposed to be nearly impenetrable and yet, here she was, slowly getting cut to ribbons.
"IT'S TIME TO DIE!" Alex jumped up and aimed a flying elbow drop at the blondes' head.
18 quickly made an energy shield, which not only deflected the attack, it also broke several of the spikes on her body while sending her flying back. Alex recovered and looked at herself while growling. She focused her energy to regenerate her broken weapons. Not the best sign for the cyborg.
"…And there's pretty much a whole culture centered around chibis and pretty much anything cute. We have whole stores for that kind of thing."
"No way! That sounds amazing! I should have come to earth a long time ago!" Erasa was filling Pearl in on some of the finer points of earth culture. Apparently, she was a huge fan of small, adorable things, and Earth plushies were right in her strike zone.
"Ok, next question, what is earths most delicious food?"
"Hmm. That's a tough one. Let me think about it."
"By all means, take all the time you need." A third voice entered the conversation, making Erasa jump and Pearl sigh.
They turned to look at the new comer. He was a tall and imposing figure. His head was that of a goat, complete with 2 curly horns protruding from his head. He had shaggy goat legs and cloven hooves. The part of his face that wasn't covered by fur was a dark red, as were his powerful arms.
"Oh, hey Garet. What brings you here?" Pearl asked the man as innocently as possible. She already knew he was only there because they hadn't finished their job fast enough.
"Why are you sitting here conversing with this earthling rather than aiding your sister? Do you not wish for the emperors' glory to envelope this planet as quickly as possible?" The goat man asked.
"Whaaaat? Psh, of course I want the empire to spread. I just think that, you know, two on one is a little unfair, that's all. Alex can handle herself, and besides, Erasa has a lot of knowledge about earth culture. I was just learning about the planet to better serve the emperor." Pearl hoped that Garet would accept that.
"I don't believe that his lordship has need of information on 'chibis' and 'fashion malls'. They sound rather barbaric." He turned to Erasa and raised his hand to start charging a blast. "If that's all the information she is good for, I suggest we eliminate this little distraction and help your sister."
Some people might think that the blonde would be used to near death experiences by now, having had 3 previously just today. But she was still terrified of the boiling red energy aimed at her face. Pearl's eyes widened at Garets' threat and rushed between the two, holding her hands wide to protect Erasa.
"She's a non-combatant Garet! If you harm her, you will be assaulting a potential citizen of the Jade empire without reason. I will personally make sure the emperor hears about it." Her cheerful demeanor was replaced by one of seriousness and determination. The Goat lowered his hand and the energy dissipated. He smirked at Pearl.
"You and I both know that the emperor cares nothing for the beings that infest his empire. But if you insist, I will comply. Now, are you going to help me and your sister kill that woman?"
Pearl let out a sigh. "I guess so. Erasa, go find some place safe." Erasa nodded and hopped off the care to run home. "You know," Pearl said to Garet. "This isn't very sporting."
Break
18 was doing well in her attempts to take control of the fight. She noticed that the crystal spikes, though sharp, were at least breakable with energy. She created small energy fields around her fists, like boxing gloves, and continued her plan of maximizing on Alex's mistakes. She was able to successfully parry and counter the aliens' attacks while doing significantly more damage than she was before. Her energy gloves broke through her crystal armor like glass.
"Gogh!" She had caught Alex with a punch to her side. "I-is that all ya got?"
"Let's find out, shall we?" She moved in and landed several quick jabs to the face, but before she could follow up with her right straight, a hoof impacted her head and she went flying.
*Cough* "I had her Garet. Stay out of this."
"I take orders from our lord, not you. He has ordered us to exterminate these insects and that is just what we'll do. Set aside your flimsy pride and we'll be done in a matter of moments."
18 didn't know what hit her, she was starting to get annoyed that every time she was about to finish this alien, something else popped up to stop her. She got up and was immediately surrounded by three people. She saw the twins and noted the newcomer. I guess the whole fair play bit is over with. That's fine with me.
18 dropped to her stance, but before she could do anything, all three fighters attacked her. Pearl was zipping back and forth like a pinball, hitting 18 with every pass, while Alex and Garet were hitting her with everything they had. They left her no time to recover, no room to dodge. She was effectively helpless against their attacks.
Pearl passed by, delivering a punch to the face. Alex followed up with a blow to her gut, and Garet jumped up and kicked her hard to the side, sending her flying through several buildings. 18 laid dazed for a moment, then all three beings appeared above her, each charging a powerful beam. She wasn't sure that her forcefield would hold against all of them. They fired and 18 closed her eyes.
"SOLAR FLARE!" A familiar voice yelled and a bright light blinded the 3 invaders. 18 was grabbed by her wrist and dragged out of the line of fire.
18 opened her eyes and looked up to see a bright light, shining off of an immaculate dome. There standing heroically before her, was nearly four feet of pure manliness, the very embodiment of cool, was none other than…
"Hey, 18. Um, come here often?" Goh, no Krillin that was such a stupid line! How about, 'What's a place like you doing in a girl like this?' Oh wait, that doesn't sound right. 'Your place or mine?' No, it's way too soon for that! Ooh, I got one that'll work for sure.
"You really should be careful with energy blasts. I'd really hate for a booty like yours to be ruined."
"Excuse me!?" 18 roared.
"W-w-wait! I meant beauty like yours', not… Goh, man." The bald midget hung his head.
18 rolled her eyes. "Riiight. Look, Krillin is it? Thanks for helping me and we can flirt all you want later, but right now I think you should get out of here."
"Huh, why? I came to help." Krillin had made his way as fast as possible to the action. He praised his luck, for once, at coming across 18 again, even if she was about to be killed. Still, he totally saved her, so that was awesome. But now she wanted him to leave? She must really hate him.
"I know you want to help, but I don't think there's much you can do. You're nowhere near these guys level and you'll only get in the way."
Krillin furrowed his brow. "Look 18, I appreciate your concern, but I'm used to this kind of pressure. I've always faced stronger opponents and I won't stop now."
"Look you don't understand! They. Will. Kill. You! If you run now, you might stand a chance."
Krillin turned toward the three aliens who had started to recover from the solar flare. He rolled his shoulders and got into a fighting stance. "Well, I've already died twice. After that, there really isn't much to be afraid of. Besides, even if I only get them off your back for a few minutes, that's a few extra minutes that you're safe."
18 felt a slight blush come to her cheeks. Maybe this guy isn't half bad.
HEY! WHOEVER TRIED TO BLIND ME, YOU ARE SO DEAD!" Alex looked at 18 and the newcomer. "Oi, baldy! Was it you!" Alex eyed the short monk with serious loathing. She was ready to use his head as a soccer ball.
"Yeah!" Krillin yelled back. "Maybe it was! What are you gonna do about it!?"
"OH, I'LL TELL YOU WHAT IMMA DO ABOUT IT! IMMA…"
"Dibs."
Alex and Garet stared at Pearl.
""What?"" They both asked, confused.
"I call dibs on the short one." She explained.
"What does 'dibs' mean?" Questioned Garet.
"Oh, well, it's like saying I get to fight him first. It's an earth thing. It's basically a law here that if you call dibs on something you get that thing, or the first turn with it at least. Erasa explained it all to me."
"Such a strange law." He mused. "Very well, Pearl you may have 'dibs' on the short one. Alex and I are more than enough for the woman. Kill him quickly though." The Goat man was very serious. Pearl saluted then suddenly vanished, only to reappear in front of Krillin. She leaned over to look him in the eye with an intense stare.
"I'll be taking this, thank you." She put one hand on either side of his head and once again vanished, along with the dwarf. 18 lashed out but only hit thin air.
"Krillin!"
"I wouldn't worry about him. You've got your own set of problems here with us." Garet sneered.
18 realized he was right. The girl that took Krillin was strong, but she was the least hostile of the three. Krillin should be ok. On the flip side, the fact that the speedster was gone evened the odds for her considerably. Even though her body was worn out, she still had unlimited energy. She could just defend against them with her shields until their energy ran out. It was a risky strategy, but she didn't have much choice. The goat man was nothing like Alex. He was calm and very technical. He wouldn't rile up so easily.
Alex charged her and she barely had time to put the shield up. Garet came in from behind and literally smashed the forcefield to pieces with a ridiculously powerful blast.
"What!?" 18 was shocked.
"An interesting strategy. It is very similar to Rubios signature combat style. Pity for you I know how to get past such techniques. There is no point in explaining that to you though." He raised his hand to deliver the finishing blow. 18 tried to get some space, but Alex grabbed her from behind, her spikes digging into 18.
She created another forcefield which pushed the angry twin off of her. She maintained the shield and put as much power as she could. But now, not only was Garet charging an attack, Alex was readying a blast of her own. She didn't know if her barrier would hold up as both blasts were fired at her.
Just before they impacted, her blue energy shield was reinforced with a green one. The energy was familiar and she new exactly who had come to her aid.
"Sup sis? Thought you could use some help." 17 floated above the three combatants smiling.
Break
17 dropped down to float next to his sister. "17, what are you doing here?" 18 was grateful that he rescued her, but now, he was in danger too.
"What? Can't a guy come to visit his sister?" He looked casually at 18 who was frowning. "Fine, you got me. My girlfriend asked me to help 'protect planet earth'. Also, I don't go by 17 anymore. It's back to Lapis now. Besides, dummy, you're my sister. I'll always come for you."
Lapis turned to the goat man. "You cool if I take on the goat?"
18 grimaced. "Be careful. He can break through my energy shield. I don't know how strong he really is."
"It's cool sis." He said reassuringly to 18. Then softly he muttered. "I can protect you this time."
Faster than even 18 could track, he sped towards Garet and aimed a punch at his face. The goat man caught it but was surprised when Lapis grabbed his wrist and started spinning him around, releasing him into a building.
"I'm not really into animal cruelty, but I'm pretty sure aliens are a grey area."
Alex didn't really like Garet, so it didn't much matter to her that he was tossed around like a ragdoll. She did have a score to settle with the cyborg though. Both the females were worn out. 18 had received quite the physical beating earlier and Alex wasn't much better off.
"You look pretty tired there, blondie." She taunted. "I doubt you'll be able to use your ballet moves now." The white alien reformed all the crystal on her body into gauntlets. "Let's see how your pretty face deals with these." She pounded her fists together.
The cyborg knew that the girl was right. She was physically worn out, but that didn't mean she wouldn't be able to best this angry little girl. She formed the forcefields around her hands and the two began to slug it out.
Meanwhile, Lapis and Garet were floating above a building trading blows at high speeds. The shockwaves were incredible as each blow of the Goats' was stopped by one of the cyborgs own. Lapis hadn't been spending his days since Cell doing nothing. He realized that his lack of power put not only himself, but also his sister in danger. He had trained hard so that nothing like that would happen again. This Goat man was strong, but he made one huge mistake. He went after my sister.
18 decided to stop playing around and take the fight seriously. Grabbing the goat by the horns, he rammed the rams head into his knee, causing blood to issue from his nose. He then ripped off the horns and landed a spinning back kick to his temple.
Garet went reeling and was struggling to stay airborne as blood dripped from his mouth. "W-what are you?"
"Heh, what am I? That's easy. I'm the brother of the person you just tried to kill." He said with narrowed eyes. He appeared behind his opponent and roundhouse kicked him in the arm, breaking it in the process.
"Gah!" He grunted in pain as he grabbed his arm. The cyborg formed a ball of energy over his head and brought it down hard on the goat. The energy pushed Garet down into the ground before exploding.
Lapis Landed over his victim and looked down at his bloodied state.
*Cough* "You'll regret this. If you think defeating me will save this earth then you are…"
"Yeah, see here's the thing billy goat. You're boring me." The cyborg formerly known as 17 blasted Garets head right off. "And this whole invasion ruined my date night." He grumbled to himself.
Break
18 and Alex were both a mess. They had dropped out of the air, but neither one was willing to relent. Even though 18 wasn't able to dodge as many blows, she was still avoiding a good amount, weaving in and out, striking with precision against Alex, who was surprisingly sturdy. She knew that she was chipping away at the aliens' endurance and, even when she was in serious pain from the few blows that landed, she refused to back down. Alex on the other hand, wasn't dodging anything. She planted her feet and took on all the attacks 18 poured on.
"I won't fall to someone like you!" She shouted as she threw her fists. "I'll show you what real power is!"
While Alex was yelling, 18 was able to land a devastating kick to her temple. The alien staggered and before she could get her guard back up, 18 hit her with an uppercut to the chin. Knocking the angry girl out cold. "Spare me."
Break
Krillin wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed.
"So, you aren't from the tribe of chibi?" Pearl asked, noticeably disappointed.
"Um, no. I'm just short."
The girl slumped over in a depression.
Poor girl, she seems nice enough. Maybe I can make a deal with her.
"Ahem. Well, I may not be a chibi, but I happen to know of a rather rare and valuable chibi emperor. If you promise not to do anymore harm to the earth, I will tell you where he is."
"Deal!" Pearl didn't even have to think about it. Her collection of small, cute things was rather small itself, but if she could add a living specimen to her cuddly friends…
"Ok, well, you can find him…" Forgive me Chiaotzu.
End chapter.
A/N: Sorry if it seemed like 17 and 18 finished off their opponents too quickly, but keep in mind that 18 is one of the strongest people in the universe in cannon. She makes Frieza look like a chump. She only struggled because they triple teamed her. Also, 17 has been training so I'm putting him between Vegeta and Piccolo right now in terms of power and Garet is not nearly as strong as Sapphire or Rubio. Hope you enjoyed reading. Next chapter will be Zangya vs Turk. It should be fun.
Garet- Garnet, Capricorn. He is of the same race as Moro, though obviously, he is not a wizard.