Val flew after Vegeta, barely managing to keep up with him as he rushed to Frieza's ruined spaceship. It felt a little easier to keep up with him than it had with Nail earlier though. She was only half out of breath when she landed just after him, bending down to pant.
"Good... Frieza is away after all..." he commented, shuffling into the ship, leaving her behind without caring. She rushed in after him, following him around the ship as he searched for the missing dragon balls. "I don't see the dragon balls... they must have hidden them... unless Frieza took them..."
She thought out loud, "the way Ginyu stayed behind, they must be around here."
He looked at her shrewdly. "Those Earthlings will be looking for them with that gadget they have for hunting them," he mentioned. He walked off towards the supply room near the med bay. "They'll be here soon," he said as they walked. "Perhaps I should change into fresh battle clothes." He looked her up and down, especially her bare feet and torn up clothes. "So should you."
She looked over at the spare clothes of varying sizes, wrinkling her nose at the idea, but the idea of shoes did appeal to her. She went a ways away from him, wanting some privacy to clean up first. She held up in the air a set of battle armor that looked like it might do. She figured it would fit her, knowing it would stretch to conform around her figure, even her chest. She paired that with under armor and boots. The boots were the most comfortable of the lot, making her feet feel warmer the second she put them on. She combed out her hair and redid her fish tail braid before putting the gloves on. Those she liked the least, hands feeling constrained.
Once she was cleaned up, she walked back over to where Vegeta was, pocketing her scouter. Leaning against a locker, she was watching him finish getting himself cleaned up and dressed. He gave her a taken aback look. "What? You look like you've seen a ghost," she teased.
"Deja vu," he muttered. Yet then he gave her a shrewd look, asking, "what was that name your pet Namekian called you again?"
"That's none of your business," she refused.
"It's just a name," he replied.
She shook her head. "It was nickname he made up," she lied.
He wrinkled his nose at her, shaking his head. "Never mind..." he grumbled. He looked her over once more. "It was said your mother was a great beauty. I saw her once when I was with my father." She softened her gaze at him. "Guess you got more from your bird father than the average Anthromorph does."
Her soft gaze hardened at how he subverted the compliment she had not wanted from him especially. "Better to be half bird than full ape," she threw right back.
He raised his eye brows up at her, chuckling under his breath. "Who knows what all you've got in you," he responded. She caught his eye, trying not to blink first. "A waste of a planet... a desert paradise, always the perfect weather. Never a rain cloud in the sky, yet enough water to sustain the population..."
"Aquifers," she explained. "Kept hidden away and safe from greedy Saiyans nobility."
"Was the last place we visited before Planet Vegeta was destroyed. The overnight camping trips in the desert were the best, though my father would avoid those trips. Had to take Napa with me instead." He clicked his teeth. "Shouldn't have been destroyed over thoughtless slap of the hand," he admitted.
She looked at him, feeling a connection forming, whether she liked it or not. "Nor should a planet been destroyed over a paranoia about its inhabitants I suppose..." she resigned.
He gave he an arrogant grin. "Oh no..." he shook his head. "That fear of Frieza's is completely founded, and quite real."
She studied him now. "You'll kill him?" she hoped.
"That's the plan, after I get my wish, of course," he shared. "After all, I heard you curse him to die at the hands of what he fears the most. And he fears the death at the hands of a super saiyan." He stood up a little taller, a little prouder. She remembered that curse, done without thinking when she was so angry she could not control herself. She looked down at her now covered hands and forearms, recalling the burns she suffered afterwards. She noticed he was still staring at her. She looked up. He narrowed his eyes. "I know you want the third wish for yourself? What could you possibly want?"
She pursed her lips, unsure if she was comfortable sharing that or not. She reached up to her neck for the vial absentmindedly. Then she recalled it was not there anymore, so she settled her fist over her heart. "Only if he dies..." she confessed vaguely.
"Your Namekian... lover?" he half teased, half genuinely inquired.
"I don't even know if he lives still," she hated to admit to him, face feeling warmer. She reached into her pocket, pulling out her scouter. She held it in her hands, debating about turning it on and checking on him, but at the risk of running the battery dry. She had destroyed the chargers in the med bay, so once the battery was gone, it would be impossible to ever check on him again.
"Where did you get that?" he pressed. "In the scouter I had before I destroyed it, I overheard Frieza complain of all the scouters and their chargers being destroyed."
"I took this one before I destroyed the spare scouters and chargers. The first time I ran away. So I couldn't be tracked," she filled in. She looked down on it, thinking she ought to turn it on and check on Nail, the Great Elder, and Dende after all. "And Moori, the elder in the village I went to, destroyed the rest, so the other villages could not be tracked."
He grunted, drawing her attention back to her. "What do you need that for now though? You can't sense anyone?" his tone hinted at superiority.
She frowned, cocking her head in annoyance. "Nail tried to teach me," she shared.
"Got distracted?" he questioned.
"Like you would know," she countered.
He grunted again. "He's alive. All three are still alive if you must know," he informed.
She breathed a quick sigh of relief. "Thank you..." she breathed.
He snapped his head up, looking out the nearest window. "The Earthlings are coming. We ought to suppress our energies."
She looked out the window herself, seeing Krillin and Gohan outside the spaceship. Gohan had a circular gadget in his hands with the two of them looking down at the ground in keen interest. Vegeta seemed quietly excited when they started digging the dragon balls up from the ground. Krillin started chanting loudly, kind of hard to understand his words from inside the spaceship. After a few moments where absolutely nothing happened, Vegeta cocked his head towards the Earthlings and the two of them slipped outside to watch them. Then they looked over the direction she and Vegeta had come from. She frowned, puzzled when she saw Raditz's brother land in tow with Jheese on the ground. She wondered if somehow one of them had swayed the other to join their side. Raditz's brother wearing a scouter was an odd thing to see. She thought it was only necessary for her.
Raditz's brother and Jheese were talking with the Earthlings before Raditz's brother suddenly sucker punched Krillin, knocking him away. Krillin jumped back, confused. Val frowned, half suspecting Raditz's brother was not as noble as Krillin nor his son made him out to be. When he revealed he was actually Ginyu with a switched body, Val clicked her teeth in disgust at the dirty trick.
Ginyu launched himself at the two Earthlings, fighting with them. Val watched on, not sure what to make of the scene, especially when they upgraded to an aerial battle. Ginyu did not seem as strong in that body as Raditz's brother had been. Meanwhile, Raditz's brother in Ginyu's injured body showed up, telling them Ginyu would not be able to control his body nor energy the way he could. He was in no shape to fight.
Vegeta smirked at the scene, pausing to tell her, "stay out of the way this time." He took off, eyes trained on Jheese.
Val frowned, debating what to do as she watched the Earthlings fight Ginyu and Vegeta fight Jheese. She did not want to just rest on her laurels, so she jumped in the fight against Ginyu, half feeling superfluous since Ginyu could hardly figure out how to fight in Raditz's body against the three of them. She oddly felt like she was hitting with more of her strength while the other two were holding back.
In the midst of the three against one fight, Vegeta blasted Jheese away, killing him. It made the four of them pause their fight while Raditz's brother pointlessly scolded him for being overly aggressive. Vegeta rounded on the four of them next, eyes zeroing on Ginyu. He pummeled him vindictively until he was a beaten mess on the ground. Vegeta was not holding back in his assault either. He went for the kill, while Ginyu went for another body switch, while Raditz's brother went to jump in the middle of the two of them. Raditz's brother managed to override the switch, making himself and Ginyu switch bodies back. Vegeta halted in the air at that, taken aback by the scene.
Ginyu saw Vegeta's delay, turning his gaze on him now to switch. Raditz's brother overrode that as well, tossing a frog into the middle of the switch. Ginyu ended up switching with that instead of Vegeta. Val choked back a laugh at that, trying to hide it behind the sound of a fake cough, at the sight of Ginyu's body hopping on the ground while the frog's body was running scrambling around in a panicked frenzy. Vegeta stepped over to it, oddly holding back as he just shooed it away rather than killing it like Val expected. Val landed on the ground next to him, tempted to go after the frog herself, but it was far enough away and near another frog now that it was seeming less and less worth the chase.
Meanwhile, the Earthlings landed next to Raditz's body in his proper body now, helping get to his feet. Krillin was asking, "say, Goku, don't you have any more senzu beans?"
"No," Raditz's brother groaned.
Vegeta walked over to the three of them, hands on his hips and laughing softly. ""It would be easy to blow you pests away right now," he threatened.
"Vegeta, you lousy..." Krillin grumbled.
"It's okay. He can't kill us now..." Raditz's brother grunted.
Vegeta still looked smug. "You're right," he laughed. "There's the matter of the dragon balls. And the fact that I might need some help fighting Frieza." He sighed. "We'll have to treat Kakarot's wounds and get him up to full power. Bring him inside the spaceship," he bid. He took off to the ship, leaving the four of them behind. "Move it! We don't know when Frieza's coming back!"
They went into the med bay, Vegeta leading the way. Val watched him lead them over to the older healing tank, the more finnicky one that once nearly drowned one of Frieza's men when the person who was supposed watching him had shirked his duties. Val looked around the room, seeing the other healing tank Vegeta destroyed earlier. She hummed, annoyed they would have to put him the older one. "Put him in that one," Val resigned, pointing to it.
Gohan and Krillin did and then stepped back. Val twitched her nose and then gestured them aside. She hooked him up to the machine, not quite like being so close to him and having to touch him in such a small, confined space. "Don't panic when the water covers you. And don't remove the mask, even if it feels constrictive. Just keep breathing normally. If the masks starts sinking in, breathe slower. Do not hold your breath," she advised. She moved back, watching Vegeta at the controls, clicking away at it. An error sounded. He pressed more controls, more firmly this time. She watched him, debating if she should interfere. Another error popped up. He slammed his fists on the controls in frustration. She heard something crack. "Stop," she said firmly, stepping quite closely to him to take over. She had to push his hands away.
He pulled his hands away, recoiling from her. "You can do better?" he sneered.
She yanked her gloves off, finding them annoying anyway. She threw them down on the ground. She took over on the controls, clicking away. The top closed and the water filled the chamber. She watched Raditz's brother lean back, noticing he was tense at first when the water filled up, but then he sat back and relaxed. She took a deep breath, relaxing more herself. Usually first timers panicked more than he had when placed in there. She clicked away on the controls, looking over at the screen that would display how much time remained. It was black. She set it to drain when he was done, but the screen should have displayed how much time was remaining. Where as, it displayed nothing. She looked at Raditz's brother in the tank and saw it was working on helping him recover. She ran her fingers over the small screen, which still had not lit up. She felt a crack she had not quite seen before and felt a slight crackle. She rounded on Vegeta, "you broke the timer!" she groaned. "Now I have no idea how long he will need to recover."
He rolled his eyes. "It was probably broken before," he dismissed. "Likely less than an hour anyway."
She through him a sharp look. "No, it wasn't because I cleaned it last time it was used," she countered. "It hasn't been used because the newer model is preferred." She pointed over at it. "The one that you just had to purposefully destroy after you were healed."
He looked annoyed, answering, "well, that medical machine is older, but it should be adequate. Pity I destroyed the newer model."
Krillin spoke up before she could say another thing. "He won't drown, will?" He was looking over at Raditz's brother in the tank.
"No," Vegeta answered.
"Not likely," Val corrected. "So long as he has someone to watch him just in case." She felt a worrying feeling about who might end up having to do that.
Vegeta scoffed, "he doesn't need a minder. He isn't an infant."
She cocked her head at him disbelievingly. "He's never been in one of those before. He might panic or tug wrongly at his mask or break the healing tank by accident. Considering it's the last working one..." she pointed out.
"Can you watch my dad?" Gohan asked, entering the conversation. She looked down at him. "Please?" he asked with child-like softness.
She sighed softly. She looked around at the three of them, trusting Vegeta the least with it. "Of course," she agreed. She looked right at Vegeta, adding, "considering I'm the only one who actually knows how these machines work." She went over to the chair she had used when she was stuck watching Vegeta a few days ago. She dragged it over to the other tank, bumping the chain on the ground that she had once been attached to. She looked down at it a little too long. He twitched his lips at her snide comment, drawing her attention back to him. He watched her put the chair in front of the tank. She looked right back up at him, not amused. He looked away from her and over to the other two. "Now then. I'll have to get you two some battles clothes as well. They'll provide some protection," he decided.
"Huh? Battle clothes... you mean like yours?" Krillin asked, looking him over and then looking around to look her over. The way he was looking her over was different from how he looked at Vegeta. She met his eyes, seeing him look away quickly, face turning red.
"That's going to feel weird..." Gohan commented, standing there oblivious.
Val watched Vegeta lead the two away, with Krillin throwing out a garbled goodbye before they left. She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms and crossing her legs, resigning to do nothing for at least an hour. She brushed aside the stray hairs away from her face, feeling boredom and unbidden thoughts begin to sink in. She closed her eyes, humming to herself, trying again to sense somebody, anybody-
"Uh, Val?" a voice called from the door. She felt herself snapped alert, eyes open and standing before anything else could happen. Her chair fell behind on the ground. She relaxed, unworried when she saw in was just Krillin. "Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to scare you," he apologized.
She turned away from him, picking up her chair. "It's fine," she responded with grace.
"Anyway, uh..." he started up again. "Anyway, I'm going to go to the Great Elder's to see if I can get the password for the dragon balls. Are you sure you're going to be okay here by yourself?"
She blinked at him, sitting back down and leaning her elbows on her thighs. "Yeah, it'll be boring," she answered. She bit her lip, wanting to ask a question she could not quite voice with him. "Just hurry," she advised, cocking her head toward the exit.
"I will," he responded, grinning broadly. "It's a straight shot from here." He tapped the side of his head.
"Wait," she said, thinking of another question to ask and this time voicing it. "How do you sense for people? Like coming and going?"
He gave her subtly smug look. "Well, you just got to reach for it. When they're showing rather than suppressing energy. Best to start with someone strong that you know really well first. Bridge off of that," he explained.
She nodded, not sure how much she found that explanation helpful. It was better than Nail saying it was like looking for someone who was far away. She rested her hand in her chin and put her elbow on her thigh. "Thanks. You better get going."
"Oh, yeah, I will. Right, see you later," he said, sounding oddly a bit disappointed.
He ran off, with her trying again to sense where he was going. She huffed, annoyed that she still had not figured that out. She flicked her gaze over at Raditz's brother, hoping he would hurry up as well since watching him meant leaving her alone with her thoughts for too long.