When Val, Kami, and Mr. Popo reached the door to the Shinsenkai, she felt a nervous chill go through as the door opened. She felt like the walls were closing in around them and pressing down on her chest. She intentionally breathed deeply and slowly, trying to bat down the panic.
"You shouldn't have come," Kami told her.
"The water needs to make it," she echoed Piccolo's words, sensing up towards the top of the Lookout, feeling a deep chill go through her, making her worry about him and the others as well. She wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her upper arms. She ran her hand over the bird scratches, recalling getting them earlier today.
"If your curse on yourself has not taken hold, you could die in there. Easily. You're mortal and not a guardian. It's too dangerous," he explained.
"How about as a future guardian then?" she said back.
"You've decided?" he asked, voice picking up.
She did not answer, bringing her hand down to her bracelets in her pockets, ensuring they were still there. She gave a small nod, hoping it conveyed that she had no fully made up her mind yet. She felt a quell of guilt that it was he seemed to perk up at her nod.
Mr. Popo opened the doors and they went in. The weight of the room full of fog and green swirls and what looked like tombstones made her dizzy. She felt a strong urge to run back the others, but pushed it down as the doors slammed shut behind them. Once the door shut, the first attackers struck. Two spirits sent two blasts not at Val, but at Kami, knocking him back. Kami was alright, but shaken and tired. He needed to move, the water needed to move, but the two spirits held fast in front of them. Val felt her hands flame up, she reached for it, blasting at the two spirits, hitting one of them. It felt like she had stuck her hand is a plasma that was both hot and cold, unpleasantly so in both cases. It dissapated with a ghostly shriek. She ran towards the second one with it drifting away from her.
"Don't kill them, this is their resting place," Kami shouted after her.
She halted in her tracks, debating what to do, whether to pursue the spirit or not. "They're already dead. Move the water," she said shortly. The annoyed look he gave her made her mad at herself for being so short with him. "Sir," she added, not sure what else could make it a bit more polite.
"They're in their resting place, so attacking them will only dissipate them, but not kill them. They'll eventually float back together," Mr. Popo explained.
The three started running now, Val resisting the urge to sense for anyone in there, scared to for sense any other spirits. An electric blast caught her in the back, knocking her down hard on the ground. She groaned as she landed, hearing Kami call her name. She shook her head and pulled herself up, rounding herself to see the spirit who had run away floating in front of her tauntingly. "Go ahead. I'll catch up," she called back.
"Val-" Kami started.
"Earth is running out of time!" she shouted back, channeling her frustration and fear of the room and the spirit before her into her shout. "The water has to make it!" She heard her voice echo, sound distorting and twisting as it faded into silence. She gave him a rueful look, which he returned with a nod.
She looked behind her and saw the other two were running now, moving at a pace she could catch up with in minutes after she took care of the one taunting spirit. She raised her hands up, allowing the flames to be there, even if the heat started to bother her skin. She licked her dry lips, waiting to see what the spirit would do before she attacked. She charged towards it, hands out. She struck at it, but swung and missed. The spirit floated back, an eerily laugh came from it, taunting her. It shot an electric blast at her that she managed to dodge. She chased it, jumping up and catching it on the side. It was enough to get it to shriek and dissipate. She stepped away from the floating remains of it, not daring to breathe any of it in. She shook away the flames on her hands and covered her mouth with the back of her hand. She turned around, ready to run after Kami and Mr. Popo to help them.
She turned and stopped, frozen still. In front of her floated eight other spirits in various states. The more recently dead were more corporeal looking than the ones who were dead the longest, looking more faded than the others. She could see behind them from a distance Kami and Mr. Popo still running. The eight spirits did not notice them, or just did not seem to care about anything but her at the moment. It needed to be kept that way. She swallowed dryly, shaking out her hands, but not allowing herself to lose any of the flames. She held on tight to her energy, thinking now more than anything, she would need every drop of it to buy time and survive.
The spirit in the middle spoke in a raspy, womanish voice, "the older guardian spirits might have faded, but that last one was still sharp enough to lead such an unworthy one as yourself into an ambush." Val felt her ears draw back, looking nervously from spirit to spirit. The one who spoke was the most corporeal looking, like a faded version of an old woman who could still fight past her prime. "Once we've dealt with you, we can pursue the others," the woman threatened. "If the last guardian doesn't take care of the current guardian first. I can feel him fading as we speak."
Val sunk herself down into a fighting stance, hands up and ready with the flames. She ignored how dry and itchy her hands were beginning to feel. Eight against one... Those odds were not good. Add in the second she was down, they would go after Kami and Mr. Popo. She felt her stomach drop. She looked back to the door a ways behind her now. She quelled the urge to run away, thinking her father would never have done so, even if he would probably never had been foolish enough to get drawn into such an uneven fight. If her mother or Asa had been there, both would have berated her for challenging such odds. She tightened up her fists, hoping the curse held.
The spirits of the former guardians moved, floating around her. She watched, hardly breathing through her dry mouth as they encircled her. She kept her gaze on the lead one, the woman who had spoken before. "Kill her," she ordered, raising up her own hand, sending an electric shock right at Val.
Val felt it strike her chest, making gasp and draw her hands into her chest to press against the pain. Another blast struck her in the lower back. Another to her hip. Another to her knee, making it buckle. Another and another before she could catch her breath. Then another. Then another and another on repeat as she collapsed onto her knees, feeling pained, chilled, and overheated as she struggled to get a second to draw a deep breath. Another hit her chest, knocking the wind out of her. She felt lightheaded, head pounding. The last strike yanked at her chest, at her energy, making for yet another reason for her to struggle to breathe. She dropped her hands down in front of her knees, feeling herself shake and sweat. She choked down as many deep breaths as she could, anticipating with dread when the next attack would strike her when the attacks seemed to desist. The lead guardian floated up and stopped right before her. Val looked up at her, straightening her back up, even though it meant un-anchoring her hands from the ground. She brought one hand to her necklace, noticing just how close this guardian spirit was. She could easily reach over and grab her.
"All those blasts would have killed a mortal human three times over," the leader commented, looking back down at her, cocking her head. Val could see a blaze of light in the middle of the woman's forehead, between her two eyes. "But you're not human, not from this planet. Perhaps a closer range is in order," she reasoned, bringing her hand up to show a crackling ball of energy.
Val moved, hands flaming and bringing them into the leader's ghostly leg. It made her stomach twist to have her hands inside of her. She pushed her hands to burn, cursing, "call off the others and do not attack me, Kami, or Mr. Popo."
The leader screamed, pulling away from her. She saw the leg she had burned has dissipated, but the rest of the leader still remained. She pulled her hands away, feeling her head swoon. She dropped her hands on the ground to prop herself up. She dry heaved, feeling sweaty and overheated. Through all the physical reactions she was making, she still noticed there had been no pull on her energy when she made the curse.
The leader above her cackled down at her. She felt an itch to cover her ears against the sound. "You can't curse the dead, Anthromorph," the leader warned her. "Even if you can curse yourself." She sent a blast down at her. Val groaned, biting her lip to quiet the sound. "You three, go see if the other guardian needs help with the other two. This will not take much longer. She's near death. Should have been dead already."
Val slumped down on the ground, reaching her hand towards the guardians flitting away. Four remained around her. She tasted blood, which one part turned her stomach, one part soothed her scratchy throat. Their leader floated around her. Val looked up at her through blurred vision, seeing the light on her forehead and feeling an ache seep into her own mind. She covered her ears, clawing at the top of them to get the ache out of her head and the voice of the leader out of her ears.
Meanwhile, the leader kept speaking, "a cursed creation... a true product of your father and mother... raised to fight, even though you lack the warrior's strength your father had... raised to resist... you're not from this planet... you don't belong here... you don't even like living on this boring planet... yet you stay to defend it... you don't want to be guardian, but you don't want to say no either... you hardly desire the man you have... the one you desire holds himself back from you... more fear you for your curses than you will ever know... those you call your friends fear you..."
Val felt her temper flare at the leader's words, which she could not block out. She felt a flurry of energy blaze in her chest, and shouted at her, "shut up!"
She pulled her hands down from her ears, noticing they were wet with blood on her nails from scratching at her ears. She resisted the urge to lick them, disgusted that her thirst tempted her to do it. She shoved herself to stand, feeling a spark of flame in her chest. She pictured her father, Hayate, feeling the flame burn deeper. "Don't talk about my father," she reached for, flames drawing up her hands and arms. She knew it hurt, knew everything that should have hurt on and in her, but right now it did not matter. She was numb to the white hot blaze burning from within her.
"Who? Hayate?" the leader said his name like a taunt.
Val gnashed her teeth, feeling the flames cover her from head to toe. They burned, but were not bothersome. She shouted, rushing towards the leader quicker than either of them had expected. She struck the leader who had gotten into her mind and yanked out her insecurities. The leader shrieked as she caught her, ghostly hands raised up to protect her. Val still got to her, choking and gagging as she was surrounded by the dissipated remains of the spirit. She rushed herself out of the cloud, waving her hands in front of her face.
She was caught short on doing that when she felt a blast of energy hit her in the back. It hurt less than the ones that sent her to the ground minutes before. Rather it spiked her temper which spiked her flames. She struck out at the nearest spirit, not sure if that one had even attacked her or not. It dissipated, not moving quick enough to get away from her. Others sent blasts at her, trying to take her down, but failing. She pursued them, striking them down one by one before any of them could get away.
She felt like the room was spinning when all that remained of the spirits that attacked her was bits of mist floating around her. She gagged, and collapsed to her knees, thinking herself lucky that she would be out of here before they could float themselves back together and attack her all over again. She crawled out from the mist, not sure where she was going, but away from them since she was half choked and gasping for air. She coughed dryly, tongue feeling like grating, swollen slab in her mouth. She leaned against a stone slab jutting out of the ground, closing her eyes and wishing for nothing more than a glass of water to wash the taste of the air down here out of her mouth and throat. Every part of her from her skin down to her bones felt cracked and roasted. The flame she had felt come from her chest had burned out, leaving her shuddering. She needed to move, needed to get up, but her legs would not cooperate. Suddenly, the whole area started to shake and tremble like an earthquake. She covered her hands over her head and hope the shaking would stop. She kept herself still in a tight ball, waiting for the shaking to either end itself or end her.
When it finally stopped, she heard something come towards her. She blinked her eyes open, turning her head pressed against the slab towards the sound. She moved her lips, but no sound came out. Four guardians floated above her, but did not strike her. She took a second to be grateful for that. She looked down at her hands, feeling no pull of the flames. She blinked, almost thinking she saw the ground through her hand, but then felt a sharp pull on her chest. She brought her hand on her chest, grimacing. She looked down at her hand, seeing it whole again. Exhaustion crept through her. Her legs felt like lead. The idea of getting up and moving felt impossible. She watched them, waiting for them to attempt to kill her again.
"The tenth guardian sentenced her to die, but she is still alive," one of the guardians said, floating closer to her. "Perhaps you will be the next guardian after all, if you survive the return to the surface."
He raised his hands up towards her. She covered her head with her hands and arms, but did not feel a shock. Instead she opened her eyes, seeing herself floating upwards. She looked up, in part wanting to fly out of the glow of yellow light surrounding her, but when she tried to move, her muscles seized up and protested. She let herself close her eyes and lay down, craving something to drink, mind fixating on the memory of what the hydrangea water from Old Namek tasted like. She crept her hand up to her chest, tightening her grip on the pendant as she felt herself slow to a halt.
She did not open her eyes, but could sense sunlight and fresh air around her. She could feel the firmness of stone underneath her curled up body as she lay on her side. She could hear cheering not to far away. She could not sense anyone nearby though. She groaned, head pounding, throat screaming, mind fixating over the same thing: water. "Water," she wheezed out.
"Take Gohan, old man," she heard someone say. She could hear someone drawing closer, heavy footsteps, but she could not sense them. She wanted to swear, but her jaw locked up. "Val, get up," she heard a deep voice say above her. She groaned, trying to reach her free hand toward the voice. It barely moved. "You're still alive. Get up." The sunlight above her face was partially blocked from what she could tell with her eyes still closed. She felt a hesitant, rough shake on her shoulder.
She heard other footsteps rush over to her and the other person. "Piccolo, I can't sense her," the other voice said. "I can sense you right next to her, and can even sense Gohan, passed out over there, but not her. I think she's..." he did not finish his thought.
She screwed her eyes shut tighter, forcing her mind to concentrate against the fog. That was... Krillin talking. She groaned, slipping out, "water?" wondering if the sacred water at least made it.
"She's still alive?" she heard Krillin rush out. He shouted, voice sounding farther away, "hey, it's Val! She's still alive and in bad shape. She wants water."
"The sacred water made it," the deeper voice said over her.
She breathed a sigh of relief, feeling herself grow colder, mind growing dumb. She reached her hand towards him, hating how it hardly moved an inch when she gave up. "No, live," deep voice above her insisted.
She felt Piccolo shove her shoulder none too gently. She was rolled onto her back by the shove. She nearly lost her grip on her necklace pendant, but tightened her grip around it to keep hold of it. She groaned weakly, hearing yet another set of feet rushing up to her. "Here, I found a bottle of water," another voice, Mr. Popo's voice this time.
She snapped her eyes open at the sound of water. She reached her hand up for it, desperate for it. "No," Piccolo interrupted, knocking the water bottle out of Mr. Popo's hand.
Val could barely see it bounce out of sight. She screwed her eyes shut tight, furious with him. She felt a stream of insults stick in her throat.
"What are you doing? She asked for that," Krillin said next to him. "She's not like a zombie, is she?" he pressed. "I still can't sense anything off of her."
"Save the insults," she heard Piccolo grumbled over her. "Her thirst is what is keeping her alive. The pain of it. The immediate need. But without any energy, she'll die once that pain passes."
She blinked up at him, trying to see him in her blurred vision. She turned her head away from him, looking over at where the water bottle might be. Her eyes would not focus, so she gave up and closed them. She tried to reach for it, but gave up on that, too.
"So what do we do?" she heard Krillin ask. "Eventually the thirst will kill her without any water. I still can't sense her." He hummed. "Can we just wish her back with the dragon balls rather than push her to drag it out. She looks like she was stranded in the desert for days. Her clothes look all charred, worse than Kami's."
Piccolo grunted, recalling, "she was already wished back with those after she was killed by Frieza on Old Namek."
Krillin kicked a stone nearby noisily. "Oh man..." The silence around them all made her feel a wave of hopelessness. "She has no energy left..." She heard him tap his sides. "I don't have my phone... I can't call Tien to get here... Perhaps then just give her the water then..." he suggested. "A small mercy."
She tried to raise her hand up for it, her throat begging for it. She felt something else snag her wrist up, raising it higher up in the air. The sensation of sharp nails digging into her inner forearm made her gasp. She felt a warmth flow into her. She squinted her eyes open, seeing Piccolo had her arm raised up. She felt her hand above the rest her held go limp, not trying to match his hold. She felt the warmth flow over her, around her, and through her chest. She closed her eyes sleepily.
She felt a hand come down to the bottom of her rib cage, sharp nails digging into her side. She gasped, throwing her eyes open and gripping his wrist as tightly as her weak hand would allow, another choice insult resting in the back of her throat.
He dug his nails into her side and wrist harder. "Quit being a stubborn bitch and absorb that energy. Unless you want to die," he challenged down at her.
She grimaced up at him, leg kicking out. She tightened her grip on his wrist, digging her nails harder back against him. the urge to claw him back was at the forefront of her mind. She closed her eyes shut tight, pushing past the pain and drawing deep breaths as she felt the foreign energy swirl around in her chest. The pain of his nails still digging in her side somehow distracted her, but also motivated her to take in the energy just to get him to let go afterwards. She felt the tiniest spark flame up in her chest become surrounded by the energy from him.
She felt him let go of her side. She allowed herself to breathe slower. She kept a tight grip on his wrist, not wanting to let go of him yet. His grip did not drop on her either.
"Uh, zombies, you go for a head shot, not a side dig," she heard Krillin say through muffled ears. "Whoa, that's weird. It's like there's two of you. But she's got a spark of energy now, too. A tiniest one."
She felt herself drifting away, thirst still hanging about, but less noticeable. She kept her hand tight on his wrist now, determined not to let go of him, of life completely as she fell... asleep...