"Love And Hate Come Through The Same Door"
Tale Thirty Nine---The Giant Failure?---
Rating: T
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She heard the filth that passed for Crothian king laugh at her. She was sure the laughter was directed at her because not soon after he was finally done displaying his sadistic titter, he spoke to her. This was all too familiar, and the thought of Darken crossed her mind.
"You do understand I won't enjoy your downfall before our Giant, hm?" he said with more than but a trace of cruelty in his voice.
She decided to spare her energy but to waste it on pointless jabber. She looked at him, showing a pitiless smirk. She enclosed one hand around the other's wrist, feeling the strength of her armour, relishing in the moment right before the kill. She had missed this. Oh, how she had.
The Askran Zoria ignored her, smiling wider. "It would surely cost me to see you, or your human friend go. Why, the last human I kept in my collection died twenty years ago—"
"Sixteen, Lord King Askran Zoria," the fatass king's left-hand suggested.
"Sixteen what?" the king wondered impatiently as he'd turned towards his subordinate.
"It's been sixteen years, Lord King Askran Zoria," his subordinate told him accordingly, bowing before his master the Lord King. Yamuna Tacra folded her arms, her impatience growing. The Giant did the same.
"Sixteen years since what? My last bath? I know that," the king disputed.
"Sixteen years ago your last captive human died, Lord King Askran Zoria."
"…" Zoria touched his face in thought. "I knew that." The king turned his attention back to the arena. He blinked. "Get back in your positions, dumbasses!" he barked at his guards, at the Giant and at the Saiyajin warrior at the centre of the arena, tediously kicking up dust. The Giant's foot connected with Yamuna Tacra's back and she ate dirt before she realized.
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"So Jello," the Great Saiyaman said as he took a sip from his coffee. "What were you doing in a place like that at a time… well… like that?"
The youngster at the other end of the table smiled at him. "Just hanging out."
"At a place like that… and a time… like…?" Goten said, still wearing his disguise, drinking from behind the blinded pane of his helmet which clouded over by the hot damp, rising from the cup he held in one hand.
"Uhuh," Jello replied as he drank from his coffee.
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Gohan drank from his coffee, not noticing much of what happened around him. Pan didn't eat her breakfast with her usual zest. After having dug through half of her second serving, she sat back and let out a sigh. Gohan didn't pick up on his daughter's hint to talk and continued to read his newspaper. Videl turned towards her child from the kitchen counter, stirring a small porcelain spoon in her tea.
"Anything the matter, cookie?" she asked.
Pan shrugged her shoulders, shoving the bowl of cereals further away from her. "Kaasan," she began, then looked at her mother for assurance. "Do you ever dream?"
"Well, as a child I dreamt of becoming the best martial artist who ever lived, why?" Gohan looked up from his paper briefly, glancing at his wife. He smiled, then continued to read.
"No, not that kind of dreaming," Pan stated. "I mean… nightmares of sort." Again, Gohan looked away from his daily, opening his mouth to speak. Videl beat him to it. "You have nightmares?" she asked.
"I'm not sure," Pan said. "…" She stood from her chair and grabbed her blue backpack to head for school. "Forget I said anything. It's nothing."
Pan was far too young to speak like that. It wasn't the nightmares that worried Videl, it was the way Pan told her to forget about them. Gohan took another sip, flipping a page.
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She got up quickly, her teeth bared, growling, steaming mad. How dare that artificially enhanced thirty foot whatever it was? Her scowl grew deeper once she realized he was taking out his energy on Aera. Aera didn't seem able – or willing, whatever – to fight the Giant off. Yamuna Tacra took a dash, and dove for the Giant's heel, only to realize the foul thirty-footer had conjured some sort of force field to keep her at bay. How dare he? Oh, she'd show him!
She gathered her energy, focusing it into a small ball of chi. She noticed her strength had increased dramatically as the ball was now far bigger than her head, where before it had been about half the size of her hand. She smirked. He was not going to like this. She moved her free hand over the ball of chi, making it grow finer and hold a greater density. This was the kind of energy she had refined purely for the very few healer idiots who thought they could outsmart her by conjuring an energy field. She wondered for the slightest of a moment why Aera wasn't conjuring a similar field to protect her from the Giant. Perhaps she wasn't able to?
The Saiyajin woman released the blast the very instant she was able to. This should at least shatter his force field, if not himself also. The sphere connected with the energy field and everything proceeded as planned, except that the field was still up. She understood the field hadn't disappeared when she ran into it and felt a surge of energy sizzle through her, making her convulse and cry out in pain. Aera was taking the greater deal of the beating, unable to move yet she seemed to be holding up quite well in spite of it.
How the hell could she fight a monster if he was hiding in some shell, beating up some helpless wench unable, unwilling to defend herself? Yamuna Tacra roared, releasing a series of smaller blasts, which were all pointlessly absorbed in the force field. She huffed, grinding her teeth. "Coward! Fight me!" the Saiyajin shouted with furious incapability.
The king snickered, and although it filled her with unease to look away, she turned her attention towards him. She glared and uplifted herself with her chi, to level with the Askran Zoria. "If it's a fight to the death you want," she sneered. "You got it." She lunged for him, with but the same meagre result she got when she surged for the Giant, a force field blocking her way. She fell to the dusty arena ground, and screamed, more in frustration than pain. " What the hell do you want, Crothian scum?"
The king laughed. "I want a Super Saiyajin, of course!"
She collected herself again, pushing up from her knee. Her body felt scorched but she didn't give in to the pain she was in. She kept her glare focused on that so-called king of all these filths gathered at the arena. "You think killing some meaningless human will do the trick for you, Zoria?" she said with a impertinent tone of voice. "You got it wrong. Besides…" She started to collect her power. "That stupid wench isn't even fully human."
"Ha!" the Askran Zoria retorted. "Prove it."
"Be careful what you wish for, king," she said with a contemptuous laugh.
"I said prove it! Festering Saiyajin!"
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"There you are!" a voice said. The voice belonged to a young boy, whose hairdo was probably as strange as the one he'd addressed the words to. The Great Saiyaman looked at the boy, whose hair was some odd shade of green, cut into a Mohawk. His skin was as dark as Jello's, as were his eyes. Apart from the haircut, they looked alike.
"Pie!" Jello said. "What are you doing in this part of town by yourself?"
"I'm not on my own," the boy replied. "Stu is outside, having a smoke." The boy tugged on Jello's black shirt. "Let's go." Goten watched them from behind his protective helmet, securing his identity as the Great Saiyaman.
"Not so fast, little brother," Jello urged. "First I want you to meet someone."
"But what about Stu?"
"Forget about Stu. Stu can wait outside." Jello flipped his bangs back, grabbed his brother by the arm and sat him down. "Meet the Great Saiyaman, Pie. He's our new drummer."
"Our new what?" Pie exclaimed.
"Your new what!" Goten echoed.
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The indistinct time she'd spent in her dungeon, Yamuna Tacra had often tried to speak with Aera. The healer however, often refused to speak openly, for whichever vague reason. At the time, Yamuna Tacra had not thought much of it, and it had annoyed her. One morning, she recalled, the Healer spoke to her mind, and somehow managed to gradually teach her to do the same. She still wasn't too good at mind-speak, or whatever it was called but she was sure enough she'd be able to connect to the Healer wench and let her in on her plans to disrupt the force field.
This was a rather powerful, perhaps complex kind of energy field. Had the Giant conjured it? Yamuna Tacra wasn't too sure he had. The Giant seemed rather dumb. It held a big, double bladed axe in one claw, yet seemed to prefer kicking Aera instead of simply beheading her. The Saiyajin knew an axe like that could do its dirty job in but a few measly seconds. What was keeping the Giant? Was he really that stupid or was he playing some peculiar game?
:Healer! Transform!: the Saiyajin said to Aera through telepathy. She still wasn't really able to form entire sentences but felt this was more than sufficient.
Aera did not reply. They looked at each other from between the Giant's legs, as if the force field wasn't there. Aera shook her head. Angrily, Yamuna Tacra nodded, convincing the pale girl it was the only way. Aera let her head hang in the shackles that kept her. She closed her eyes.
She could never say no to the killer creature, murdering her family, her loved ones, and caging her in this unholy life. There were too many secrets, too many lies. She could not make it right. Aera kept her eyes closed. Murass-sama. Murass-sama, please. I will never be pristine. I will never be pristine again. I will never be good enough, strong enough, right enough. Murass-sama. Murass-sama, where are you? I cannot do this on my own. I cannot do this. She felt the dragon roar, bellowing inside of her. It screamed and lashed out and she felt the power tower high over her, in blue golden wings that clasped together like an embrace, energy surging, gushing out of her haphazardly. Shackles were torn, falling to the ground with a dull clash. Aera let out a shriek but felt it muffle against the roar of a beast she had chosen to awaken for reasons she refused to acknowledge. She could not control this beast, she could not call it back to her mind and body that normally caged it. The dragon was stronger this time, bore more fury, more rage. Eyes of golden looked up and about, looked down. Another cry was heard, and she felt air pour out of her, like a storm that caught up unexpectedly. No. This must stop! I cannot do this! Murass-sama, help me! Murass-sama, guide me. Murass-sama, please. Please, please…
Yamuna Tacra staggered backwards at the power displayed before her. The Giant stood tall, unmoving, absorbing the energy that erupted from the draconic creature that could not match its size but came close still. The Saiyajin had never felt a surge of supremacy this strong. The energy that emanated from Darken didn't even come close to this kind of chi. Was it even chi? It felt so lifeless, it felt as if not of this world. Was this Aera's dragon? It couldn't be! Aera's dragon was a friendly one, one the healer wench was able to control. Then what in the name of Murass was this? And where the hell was Murass anyway?
The Giant turned towards the compelled Saiyajin and the latter looked up, looking into the machine's eyes. Its eyes radiated, glowing. Was it smirking at her? Again, the dragon, suspended behind the Giant on lustrous wings, howled.
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"So, what do ya say, Great Saiyaman?" Jello said with a grin. The man's younger brother looked almost as confused as Goten, though the latter was able to hide it behind his head covering.
"Hm, I don't know," the Great Saiyaman said. "The Great Saiyaman is not politically engaged. Joining some music group would compel…" Goten stopped mid-sentence. How would Gohan say this? He'd gotten it down this far but now what? Gohan always knew what to say! How was he going to get himself out of this? The Son let his head hang for a minute, pondering with confusion. He sighed.
"Okay, what the heck. I can at least give it a try?" he said eventually.
"Great! That's settled then!" Jello said, showing a peace sign. His kid brother simply stared, still not really getting any of it.
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The Giant kept its artificial eyes locked on the Saiyajin girl. Slowly, by the rythmn of the dragon wings that clasped behind it, the Giant opened its robotic mouth.
"You will die, Saiyajin."
Only because Yamuna Tacra was on guard she could see the dragon's beak move. "You will die," it said to her. What? How was any of this possible? What had these foul monsters done to Aera? The Saiyajin looked about her, wondering what to do, whom to address her words of anger and confusion to. She could hardly sense the blade of an axe wielded above her, landing, and she jumped out of the way, barely able to steer clear from the sharp end of the massive weapon. The Giant's feet shifted, and she knew he wasn't done attacking just yet. What in the name of Murass was going on? She screamed as the axe came down again, skimming her carmine hair. She wasn't sure what to think as the winged, sapphire creature moved in unison with the Giant like some messed up dancer.
"Healer! Damnit, snap out of it!" she shouted.
"You will die for your insolence," the dragon's voice thundered in unison with that of the Giant. What kind of trickery was this? Again, Yamuna Tacra dove out of the way, this time flanked by the spiked tail of a beast she thought her friend.adHasHnnfkfkf
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A/N: Aera, the pacifist no more? We definitely need more Briefs family story-time in ensuing episodes. I've been focused on the Sons too damn much. Expect some Muten Roshi in the next chapter, too.