Val flew after Piccolo, determined to keep up with him, feeling like he was just barely and intentionally going faster than she could keep up with. She kept her eyes trained on him, sprinting to keep up with him. At times she would glance down at the ground to get her bearings, spotting a nesting group of triceratops closer to Goku's village among other things in the wilderness below. Thankfully no onikumas. She recalled the way Aiko killed the one that attacked them, stomach still twisting in disgust at her brutal slaying of the beast.
When Piccolo finally landed on a cliff side, she landed next to him, feeling winded but trying not to show it. She distance herself enough from him so she was only a few steps from the edge. She felt a key level of annoyance, looking around the area. She brushed a few stray sweaty hairs away from her forehead. She glanced back behind her, seeing the drop off of the cliff and the village they came from in the distance. She turned back and looked up at him expectantly. Her stomach was twisting, but less so than at the memory of Aiko slaying that onikuma.
"What did you see when we flew?" he asked, tone irritable.
She threw a quick glance back over her shoulder. She shrugged. "Wilderness," she answered. "No snow," she added, more a joke to amuse herself than him.
"On Aviary, you grew up in a desert city," he said. She nodded at the fact. "And then were in an Imperial Army spaceship for years." She nodded again. "Then a few days on Old Namek followed by enjoying your time living at Capsule Corps since arriving on Earth."
She nodded a third time. "And a snowy village for a few days here and there," she added in, shivering at the memory. "What's your point?" she asked, feeling a bit nervous. She clicked her bracelets against each other absentmindedly.
He stood up straighter, moving towards her with purpose. She took a few nervous steps back, but halted when she felt and then heard a pebble she accidentally kicked off the cliff. She threw a quick glance over her shoulder, seeing she was on the edge. Turning back, she felt he was too close. Him being so close made her felt warmer, different from the way her hands would heat up before she placed a curse. His right hand came across her body, gripping her right shoulder with sudden firmness. She grabbed his wrist, ready to try at pulling it off should he try anything. She reach for heat in her hands, just enough to warn him should he try anything. "You've never had to survive in the wild before," he preempted. He tightened his grip on her shirt and shoulder, yanking her closer. He was close, so close, informally close, too close... It made her mind want to wonder. She heated up her hand a bit, hesitating to hurt him without knowing exactly what he was doing. "You have make it back to the village without flying, or else go back to the old man," he stated so bluntly she lost a few precious seconds trying to understand his meaning. Her hand on his wrist even went slack. In those few seconds, he shoved her away from him and off the cliff.
She felt herself falling, resisting the instinct to reach for flight as the ground barreled up to her. She thought quickly, knowing she only had one chance to get this landing right. Tall trees were slowly coming in reach. She used the branches, catching them to slow herself down, even as it yanked on her arms painfully to do so. When she reached the ground, she rolled clumsily. Luckily once she slowed to a halt, she could tell nothing was broken. She felt a bit shaken, throwing up a brief thanks to the Great Hawk Spirit her father had believed in so passionately on Aviary. She looked up at the sky, seeing Piccolo fly off towards village. She stomped her foot on the ground in a huff, but watched him intently so to know which way to go. She stomped forward in the same direction he went, fuming mentally at him for throwing her off the cliff.
She huffed forward, using her temper to charge her run, but that wore out after a few hours. When the sun set, she was annoyed at how cold the temperature got, using the heat of her hands to warm herself up. That did not work long term though and only left her colder in the aftermath. She stomped along, hoping against hope that she could reach the village by nightfall. When she grew too tired and cold for that, she gave up and sunk down under a bush to sleep.
She snapped awake in shock when she felt something warm and scaly wrapping around her. She gasped as she opened eyes, brain needing a second to realize there was a large white snake coiled around her. It came face to face with her, rearing its head back to show her its fangs. It launched its head at her with means to bite. She threw her hand up over her face to block the strike. The snake tried to sink its venomous fangs into her wrist and forearm, but failed. Its fangs slid across her bracelet, across her skin, and off of her. She looked at the bracelet, seeing a shallow scratch in the metal. She saw her skin has no scratches though.
The snake was moving meanwhile. It went for her face once more. She struck it away, rolling and twisting away from both it and the bus she hid in. It hissed at her as she backed away. She debated whether or not to attack it with her meaning it harm. She stomped on it just below the head, still hesitant to kill it. She lifted her foot up cautiously, seeing it squirm ever so slightly, but at least it did not try to go after her. She was up and ran off from the snake and towards the village.
When three days of traveling past, she felt her temper build with every day that she was not able to get back to the village, back to her house, and back to her research. It was such a waste of time better spent researching. Even sleeping was a waste of time as she could not set an alarm, sleeping now tied up to trees with vines she found to keep from falling or pursued by another snake or something worse, only to wake up later in the morning than she would have otherwise.
She could see the village at least getting closer up the hills she would have to climb. She ate only what animals she could hunt or fish, not trusting any of the vegetation for fear of eating something that could poison her. She drank water from streams, heating the water up to fight off any germs in it before she drank it. She craved something, anything else to eat or drink though. She craved a shower, hating how dirty she was and how greasy her hair was getting. She trudged towards the village, slower now, but still more determined to get up there and take her temper out on Piccolo for throwing her off the cliff to fend for herself.
In the late afternoon when she spotted the village up the mountain side. She trudged towards it, hesitating a bit as she saw a nesting group of six adult triceratopses, clutches of eggs on the ground, and a few juvenile triceratopses roaming around and playing with one another. The scene kind of reminded of her Dende and Cargo, making her miss the two of them. She aimed to avoid the triceratopses, but did not want to lose sight of the village. She walked around the edge of their area, keeping one eye on the adult triceratopses and another of the village.
Unfortunately, the juvenile triceratopses came jumping around in her area, hopping around and not caring at seeing the sight of her. They were in her walking path, making her side step around them, putting herself between them and the adults, aiming for it just to be for a few seconds. She watched the adults, with the biggest of the group watching her carefully. She locked eyes with it, but kept walking, quickening her step should she need to run.
One of the juvenile triceratopses came in front of her, but she missed, stumbling and almost tripping over top of it. It cried out plaintively as it stumbled away from her. She raised her hands up chest height. The biggest one pawed at the ground, aiming its head down low. She swore at the sight, turning and sprinting towards the village.
She could hear the sound of the biggest triceratops charging after her. She took a risk to glance back to see that not only it, but also the other five adult triceratopses were after her. She turned her head back forward, trying to speed up without flying. If she could have drawn breath, she would have cursed Piccolo for the stupid get back to the village without flying rule.
Going up the slope slowed her down, but did not slow down the triceratopses, which had her encircled minutes later. She shook her head, hands raised up, not wanting to fight them at all. She resisted the temptation to fly just to get away without a fight. One of the beasts charged her, forcing her hand to engage in a fight.
The first beast charged at her, big horn aimed at her chest. She grabbed it by the horn, shoving it back and away with just enough force to not permanently harm it. Another came at her. She rolled out of the way. A third came up, trying to stomp at her in her crutch. She grabbed its foot, not allowing it to come down on top of her. She shoved it away into the second one, knocking the two of them out. She looked at the remaining three. The biggest one did not look deterred. It looked at the two others on either side of it before looking at her. Both charged at her, two against one. She waited until the final second to move, jumping out of the way. One turned on her. She punched it under the jaw, sending it flying away. The other one was on her. She stopped it, kicking it back and away.
The biggest one managed to sneak up on her. Its largest horn caught her in the left side of the ribs with a pain inducing grunt, launching her up into the air and into the side of a cliff. She caught purchase on a stray root, looking down at the beast, temper blazing that it caught her off guard. She wrapped her right arm around her side. The beast bawled up at her in challenge.
She pushed herself off from the cliff side, flying at the beast. She kicked it between the eyes. It collapsed on the ground beneath her, just knocked unconscious. She wrapped her arm around her side more determinedly to keep herself from drawing too big of a breath. Pain flamed up her left side, even if she was not bleeding from the attack. She gave the unconscious creature a feeble kick, feeling even that jar her ribs. She lifted her shirt up to see the bruising and swelling had already started. She swore in shear annoyance. She looked around at the six triceratopses, still alive, but hardly injured. Injured just enough that she could get away if she moved fast enough.
Moving fast enough became the newest problem. She set her sights on the village. She gritted her teeth as she moved as fast as her rib cage would allow her. She stumbled, managing to hit a patch of flat land before she collapsed to her knees, fighting with herself not to draw the deep breath her lungs were demanding to do. She punched her left fist hard on the ground in frustration.
She sensed first, heard second, and saw third two pairs of feet land before her. She looked up, ruefully seeing Piccolo first. She scowled up at him intentionally locking eyes with him before looking away. She saw Goku second, avoiding eye contact with him. She winced, straightening her back up, right arm glued around her torso. She saw Goku move, watching him dig into his pocket. He dug out a senzu bean, tossing it over to her. She caught it clumsily with her left hand, determined not to lose it. She held her palm open, looking at it. She recalled not once but twice when she was desperate for one, only to be denied it. The desire to throw it right back at him flared up, but sizzled out when drawing the next breath hurt. She swallowed back the bitter taste of jealousy in the back of her mouth. She brushed it off on her shirt before putting it in her mouth, noticing how stale it tasted.
Once she was done chewing and swallowed it, the deep ache in her rib cage ceased. She allowed herself the deepest, longest inhale she had she taken all day. She felt like her strength had been renewed and then some. She rolled up to the balls of her feet. She rolled up her shirt on the left side, checking the bruising and swelling was gone. She stomped towards the two of them and past Goku with a curt, "thank you."
"Why didn't you kill any of them?" she heard Goku ask, plainly curious. She turned to look back at him, seeing him nod down towards the slope at the six triceratopses.
She stopped, shaking her head. "They thought they were defending the young from me after I accidentally tripped on one. That's hardly worth a death sentence," she answered. She recalled the sound the onikuma Aiko killed made when it died. The memory made her shudder. She turned back, heading towards the village at a clipping pace. She felt brimmingly full of energy.
"Where are you going?" Piccolo asked her.
She stopped in her tracks. "To the village. Without flying. Like you commanded." She curled her fists at her sides.
"You flew," he claimed. "Get yourself to the old man."
"Liar!" she snapped, feeling her hands heat up.
"You flew yourself off the cliffside and down at the last triceratops," he pointed out.
She stared at him, breathing in spurts. She played the memory back in her mind, realizing he was right. Without thinking, she launched herself towards him. She went for his mouth, jumping up and throwing her balled up fist at him. She jumped back afterwards, watching him look down at her with a mix of shock and annoyance. She saw his lower lip was bleeding. He raised the back of his hand up, wiping it away. She gave him a cruel look with a twisted smile as she sunk down into a fighting stance.
She went after him again, this time with him fighting back. She kept going for his jaw, trying to make him bleed more. He snarled down at her, without getting a rile out of her. He was not as easy to strike as he was when he was off guard though. He fought back, not holding back. There was no hint of playfulness in this fight like there had been the time they fought to first blood under the Lookout. She felt the energy and then some from the senzu bean fueling her on to keep up with him, blow for blow. She danced around him, fighting 'short' like her father taught her mixed with his orders to fight 'tall' by jumping up and around him. He seemed to try to use his height to his advantage to overwhelm her. She ducked down and around him, trying to move faster to go for blood, win or no win.
On her final duck down, she feigned left, turned right, and jabbed her right elbow between his rib cage. She heard him half grunt, half choke. He back off at that, but only for a few seconds. She pursued him, thinking she had him on the run. He went after her, throwing his shoulder down at her. It shoved her back and hard down to the ground.
She fell back, landing hard on her backside. She jumped back up, not ready to concede in this fight. Goku was there unexpectedly, hands raised up between the two of them. "Stop," was all he said.
"But he-" she started.
"Stop," he repeated, a bit more firmly.
She stood up straighter, staring around him and over at Piccolo, ears drawn back and tense upped for the second they could start fighting again. Her palms itched for it.
"Why are you two fighting?" Goku said, drawing her attention back to him. He looked between the two of them. "You two have been on the same side since Namek, where she was taken in and adopted as one of the Namekians. Even fought alongside each other against Garlic Jr after the two of you decided to stay here on Earth. Yet now that we know the androids are coming and what the future holds, you're at each others' throats when it will be more vital than ever for you two fight together rather than against each other."
She frowned at that, resisting the temptation to admit she was wrong to attack him. She threw a glance at Piccolo, feeling herself blush in annoyance. "I didn't stay for him, I stayed for Vegeta," she revealed, feeling a tinge of missing him, but shook her to remind herself she was still angry with him as well. "He's nothing like my brothers from the Dragon Clan. He's nothing like them, even if we are both Demon Clan. He's nothing like Kami, or Nail. He's no brother of mine," she stated, feeling a flare of vulnerability mixed into her temper. She crossed one arm over her chest and gripped the hydrangea necklace Mori had given her with her other hand.
Piccolo stood up straighter at her statement. His eyes were on her hand clutching the necklace. "You know the first thing Nail saw you as was mainly a brood mare. Even after seeing your memories and realizing how intelligent you were and how capable you were at fighting. Then you grew, but were too naïve about what happened, even after he explained it. He gave in, fearing you would one day regret being stuck on Namek, a planet too primitive from what you were used to. He knew one day you would resent living him entrapping you on the planet, even if you were just desperate enough to get away from Frieza," he stated.
She gaped at him, mind racing. Her breaths came in quick pants. She thought about what her mother had told her growing up, about the Anthromorphic duty to keep another race. She thought about what Asa had planned with her from the moment they were captured: escape and get to another group, offering herself up as the last Anthromorph to them instead. She shook her head. "Better him than Raditz or Frieza or anyone else," she countered, not quite ready to let her noble image of Nail drop so quickly. "You've seen my old memories. You know Asa and I planned that as a means to get away. Besides, the others didn't see me like that."
"Mori saw a what he thought first was a frightened child in need of protection. Then when he heard your story, a hope to save the Demon Clan, even with everything else going on. And when that failed, Mori still insisted you were one of us because he declared you one, so you were to stay seen as thus." She shook her head, not sure what to say to argue against him and what he was saying. "He saw you were better off on Earth though, which is why he pushed for you to stay here. Less primitive than New Namek is. He knew you would resent him, too, if he let you go to New Namek with the rest of them."
When he stopped, she found her voice. "You let it fail," she accused, voice tight. "Nail sacrificed everything in hopes you would stop Frieza and you failed. You failed to take over saving the Demon Clan as Mori expected." She shook her head, feeling her temper wane after she spoke.
He shook his head right back at her. "The Demon Clan is not worth saving. They were what nearly destroyed Namek and caused the cataclysm in the first place. Count yourself lucky that no monsters were born from your brief union. That's all they were, but Mori never knew that because he was born after all but Nail died out. He thought foolishly you would be able nurture out any evil tendencies, just like the Great Elder did with Nail. Count yourself lucky I declined take over the bound as expected," he told her.
She tightened her grip on the necklace, not sure what to do or say in response. "You're still no brother of mine..." she pushed out. She turned to look over at Goku, who had heard probably more than he had expected to in their argument. "I still want stay, if you'll have me," she said shyly.
"The future-" Piccolo started.
Goku interrupted him, "the future has changed. More than the fighter from the future meant to, obviously. It can't be forced back on track."
"More has changed than just preventing your death?" she blurted out the question.
"It doesn't matter," Goku responded to her in a rush. "If you want to stay here and away from Capsule Corps, then stay here as long as you want," he ruled.
She nodded, accepting his offer. "I'm not going back to Capsule Corps," she swore, half unsure how she could manage it long term. She would not go back though for as long as she could help it.
He looked between the two of them. "Can you still stay in the same house together without fighting anymore...?" he added hesitantly.
"I can if he can," she ruled, recalling with a twist in her stomach that Piccolo was supposed to be staying with her in her capsule house as agreed on days ago. It would still have to be agreed to now, even after their fighting. She ran a hand through her hair, cringing at the dried sweat and oil it held. "I'm going to head back there now," she decided.
Goku nodded at her. "And train with us tomorrow?"
She shook her head, with him looking unexpected. "I didn't get to set up when I got here and have fallen behind in my research. I need to do a bit of that before training now."
"Right," he nodded. "Take your time and join us when you can."
She nodded at him, flying towards the capsule house. It was a sight for sore eyes. She was glad to get in there, shower, and get a meal that did not require hunting for a change.
She felt winded after days in the woods and the physical and verbal fighting, but she still went to her second bedroom for research, wanting to get some down, needing to get caught up and keep up with what she missed. She sensed and heard Piccolo come into the house, but did not go to meet him. Nor did he come to her either.
What felt like hours passed. She pushed through her sleepiness, blinking away at her dry eyes to get rid of the blurriness. She slumped over her computer, trying to keep her mind focused on the task at hand. She dropped her chin to her hand, bringing her elbow to the desk to prop it up to keep going. Her head still nodded as she worked... she pushed herself to keep going... to catch up... to stay awake to do it... to... perhaps she should stand up to keep awake...
She had not realized when she dozed off, but fought against the dreams that tried to come, claiming she was up and moving... no... floating... with a bit too much of a bounce... a rhythmic movement... like confident, long, and easy strides... Then falling-
She was shocked awake when she felt something soft beneath her. She took a moment to recall her surroundings. She blinked awake, confused that she was not in her research room, but rather in her bedroom. She looked up, seeing Piccolo towering over her. He was stepping away when she snatched him up by the wrist to keep him from leaving just yet. He matched it. "I'm sorry," she rushed out, eyes closed. "For earlier." She waited for him to say something, anything. When it was clear he was not going to, she added, "and for however me being here has changed the future."
She opened her eyes, looking up at him hopefully. "Just rest," he simply answered, dropping the hold between the two of them. She blinked at it.
She nodded, pulling her hands into her lap. She watched him leave her room. She sighed to herself before laying down herself down on one side of large, cold bed, wondering about how things had changed, why, and what now would become of it. She tried to think of ways she could get the future she did not know out of him, feeling drawn to him and to the secrets he was hiding.