Val flew at a sprinter's speed to the Lookout, sensing up around both behind her and up there, even if the effort did give her a bit of a headache, along with the thin air giving her a bit of dry mouth. She had left Krillin, Gohan, and Marron behind, feeling a twinge of guilt for doing that, but time was of the essence. If the sacred water was not distributed to the Earth in time, the people and animals who were infected were going to stay infected. Plus with Garlic Jr.'s four fighters, the Spice Boys down at the Kame House, that meant he was up there all alone, but who knew for how long.
She wished once more Vegeta was here, thinking how he would play to his strengths, including his brute strength and power to stop him. She debated how she could use her own strengths, her looks and her hands. Her stomach twisted as she landed on the Lookout, seeing the place a mess. She felt her temper flare at the sight of a downed evergreen tree. She slipped off her bracelets, sliding them securely into her pocket. Not wearing them after so long of wearing them felt odd, like part of her own soul was missing. She ran her hands over wrists, missing the mild pressure the bracelets exerted against her skin. She sensed around the Lookout, finding an obvious one that was stronger than hers, but also feeling relieved when she could sense Kami and Mr. Popo, but it was difficult. It was like trying to sense them through a thick fog, which made her worried something bad might have happened to them.
She stood up taller, ready to fight, but figured her best move would be to try and get the sacred water through other means first. She would need to get it and get out before the Spice Boys came to Garlic Jr.'s aid so to speak. She might be or might not be a match for him, but she was certainly not a match for all five of them either.
She entered the Lookout, trying to walk quickly but calmly. She went into the throne room, keeping her face blank, when internally she felt her temper flare at the sight of a small, light blue alien sitting on the throne like it belonged him. She stepped forwarded, putting on a fake surprised face to see him there. She raised her hands up by her hips. He was looking at her, puzzled by her presence. Yet he also looked at her quite similarly to way she had seen other men, even Yamcha, look at her before. She brought a hand up to her hair, playing with it, which felt like a pointless maneuver. It kept his attention though. It also allowed her time enough to see the light blue bottle with a yellow band and dark blue gems around its middle. It was sitting right next to him by the throne. It had to be the bottle of sacred water. "Who are you? Where's Kami? Where's Mr. Popo?" She moved her hands in such a way that seemed to tremble a bit. She could sense the other two, somewhere nearby, but she dared not look around for fear he would catch on to her act.
"The two of them, are shall we say, indisposed," he answered with a laugh. She watched him curiously, trying not to grimace at the sound of his grating voice. She reminded herself not to look challenging and to not look around. "You're looking at the new guardian of the Earth," he added, raising his hands up and looking amused with himself. "I'm Garlic Jr."
She took on a pleasant face, making herself smile. "Oh, good," she tried to answer in a way where she sound pleased. She stepped closer to him, the urge to snatch him off Kami's throne burning inside of her. "Earth needs a stronger guardian, a firmer one. One who can keep those humans in line."
He leaned forward suddenly. She stopped, trying not to look ready to fight, but rather spooked. "And who are you? How is a human woman able to be so strong, let alone get up here?" he asked her.
He thought she was human. She allowed the deception to put a pleased look on her face. "Well..." she started, weaving lies into the truth. "I'm Val. And I was supposed to be the new guardian of the Earth, but it seems like there's been quite the upgrade," she said, trying to keep her tone as flirtatious as possible, even if she was cringing under the surface. She moved towards him again with him watching cautiously yet with his mouth slightly parted. She knelt down, bowing stiffly before him like she had seen Bulma and the others who were infected by the black water mist did for the Spice Boys. "Allow me to be at your service instead," she requested.
She stared forward at his feet, but saw out of the corner of her eye that the sacred water right there next to him. All she would need to do is reach out and grab it and run. Or better yet, grab him by the ankle, pushing up his pant leg to get at bare skin and curse him. He spoke, jarring her out of her thoughts. "My dear, how were you not affected by the black water mist?" he asked.
She looked up at him, parting her lips. The way he was looking at her, she could tell he was one part cautious, one part attracted to her. She brought her right hand up, swiping away at her bangs by the dip in her hairline. "I was swimming, and must have been underwater when it was dispersed over the Earth," she answered, recalling the birds that had attacked her. She reached back to bring her braid in her right hand. "See, my hair is still even a little wet from it." She saw the sacred water so close now. His bare ankle closer. She sensed again for Kami and Mr. Popo, worried why she could sense them, but nothing else.
He looked down at her right side, but did not reach out for her hair. "You know, even if you missed the initial mist, a bite or a scratch from an infected person or animal would have infected you anyway. Being that you are from this planet after all," he pointed out.
She resisted frowning at that, thinking of the bird that had managed to scratch her. She also resisted the urge to look down at the scratches on her upper right arm as well. She could feel though that it was partly exposed with her arm up the way it was. She smiled up at him and loosed a small laugh she hoped did not sound fake. She pulled her right arm down as she spoke, "well, aren't I lucky then that that didn't happen then." She risked raising herself up taller on her knees before him. She kept her attention mainly focused on him, and the rest focused on sensing Kami and Mr. Popo. "Allow me to serve you without needing those silly purple eyes or fangs." She brought her left hand up to her mouth, stroking at her lips with her fingertips to distract him. It reminded her it had been a while since she last had something to drink.
He leaned down closer to her when she did that, giving her an unexpected opening. So she moved. She smacked him across the face before she threw herself down at the sacred water, left hand all but wrapping around the neck of the bottle. She felt a sharp tug on her right arm, yanking her back and away from the bottle. She swore under her breath as she dragged away. She looked up to see the lead fighter of Garlic Jr.'s had her in hand.
"Ah, Commander Spice, you made it," Garlic Jr. praised. She looked back seeing, the other three fighters with him. "Vinegar, Salt, Mustard," he greeted them. "How are things on the Earth?" He jumped up and stepped closer to them, bringing the sacred water with him.
"Total chaos, my lord," Spice answered. Val tried to bring herself closer to the sacred water, but she felt him jerk her back by her arm, and then grabbing her by the braid and yanking on it. He shoved her right shirt sleeve up to her shoulder none too gently, revealing the bird's claw marks, scabbed over now, but with dried blood around the wounds. "This one was scratched by something or someone, but did not give into the corruption of the mist," he observed. "She was one of the fighters who escaped from the Kame House when we went to ambush them there. Not sure where the other three got to."
"Now how could that happen?" Garlic Jr. asked, stepping up over before her, holding the bottle up tauntingly. She jerked, trying to get free, only to be held back with a firmer hand. "I thought you said you were human..."
"I am human," she lied again, eyes trained on him unblinking. She kicked herself mentally, wishing she had made her move sooner, before the four fighters showed up.
Garlic Jr. shook his head up at her. "A human would be infected," he caught her in that lie. "Perhaps you lied about becoming the next guardian of Earth as well," he added with a maniacal laugh.
"Perhaps we can ask a friend of hers," Spice suggested. "Come on in here," he bid an unseen person down the hallway.
She struggled in Spice's hold, feeling her hands heat up. She did not have her bracelets on. She thought about what curse to place on him and how to word it as she brought her hands up to his bare forearm. The words stuck in her throat however when she saw Piccolo come down the hallway, eyes colored purple. He had puncture marks on his neck that had not healed like they should have. His mouth stayed in a snarl, moving in time with his hissing breaths. He looked like a feral animal. She let go of Spice with her right hand before breathing, "no..." She struggled to get loose, thinking all she would need was the bottle to save him.
"Sir, Piccolo has been infected and has decided to join our side," Spice said, twisting with her to hold her in place. "Perhaps he knows what she really is," he suggested. "Piccolo, do tell us about this little sweetheart."
Piccolo looked down at her, snarling. She met his eyes, shaking her head. "She's not human," he confirmed. She closed her eyes, feeling like a stone dropped in the pit of her stomach. "She's an anthromorph from the Planet Aviary. A refugee on this planet. And was adopted into the Namekian Demon Clan, of which remains her, Kami, and myself."
"A what now?" Garlic Jr. asked.
"An anthromorph," he answered. "The closest human term to it would be like a chimera, a blend who knows what aliens races scattered from across galaxy in her ancestry. Besides Aviarian and Anthromorph, not even she knows what all she is."
Garlic Jr. looked her over, nodding up at her scratched arm and the dried blood on it. "Perhaps more than one something in there stopped you from being corrupted," he reasoned.
She brought her hands back up to Spice's forearm, not daring to look at Piccolo. She opened her mouth to speak a curse, but before she could get a word out of her mouth, Piccolo's hand shot out towards her and took her by the wrist. "Be careful," he warned. "She's also an enchantress, and she's not wearing her bracelets right now, which means she can curse you."
She looked up at him, annoyed by the added betrayal. She reminded herself it had to be the blackwater mist's doing. "I'll save you," she swore. She twisted her wrist in his hold so that she could grab his in tandem. She could have sworn he understood her, beyond the mist's control when she felt his grip tighten without digging his nails into her flesh. She mirrored it. "You, Kami, and all the rest of the planet," she added, feeling a drive in her chest to mean it.
"Awe, what a touching sentiment," Garlic Jr. said, even though she would not let him draw her attention away from him. "It's too bad though, now that I know that I know you're both immune to the blackwater mist and an enchantress, I can't let you get in the way of my plans. Especially after how you dove for the sacred water earlier." She saw him pull something out of his cloak out of the corner of his eye. "I was saving this third vial to entrap Piccolo, but since he's on our side now," he preempted. "Entrapping you instead would be a good course of action."
She felt Spice let her go, followed by a sharp pull towards Garlic Jr. and away from Piccolo. She tightened her grip as hard as she could, digging her nails into his skin in an attempt to hold onto him. The pull doubled, yanking her away from him. The next thing she knew, she was surrounded by glass around, seeing the narrow neck of a glass vial above her. She looked around the area, seeing that she had shrunk to size to fit in the glass prison. She saw a larger than life Garlic Jr. holding her up and shaking the vial. She was unstable and fell down on her backside in the vial. She heard him laugh, the harsh sound echoing in the glass. She slammed her overheated hands down hard on the glass, hoping to shatter it, but failing. She heard more laughter and muted voices around her as she felt him tuck her into his cloak. She stood up, releasing more flames from her hands, trying to crack the glass and get out without really thinking about it.
"Val!" she heard a voice to her left shout.
She dropped the heat, feeling the flames dissipate around her and making her feel a little overheated and thirsty. "Kami!" she shouted in shock. "Mr. Popo!" She saw both of them entrapped in the same glass vials. Now she figured out how she managed to sense them but not see them. She slammed her fists against the glass, trying to get out and get to them.
"Save your energy," Kami advised. "You won't be able to fight your way out of there." She dropped her hands down to her side in distaste, not quite wanting to give up that easily. "What's happened? Where are the others?"
She shook her head, telling him everything from the time she left the Lookout to their present situation.
"You came alone? That was foolish," he chastised.
She reached into her pockets, putting the bracelets back on since she could see no reason to keep them off anymore. She felt safer, more secure with them on. "Time was of the essence," she countered.
"Yes, but now it is not only of the essence still, but now you are trapped as well," he pointed out.
She huffed, not saying anything else back. Instead, she sat herself down at the bottom of the glass vial, leaning her chin on one hand, debating what she was supposed to do now, and wishing Vegeta was still on planet. She wished even harder that Piccolo had not been infected. She looked down at hand that clung to him, wishing she had not let go after all.