Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Shadow in the Twilight ❯ Chapter 16 ( Chapter 16 )

Chapter 16

Later that evening…

A few minutes before the show's start, the two members of the royal Saiya-jin family settled into their reserved box seats in the arena. Upon their entrance, all the attendees automatically had risen to their feet to acknowledge the royal presence of both King Vegeta and his sole heir, Prince Vegeta.

"Your majesty and your highness! A pleasure to see you both, as always!" An all-too-familiar, lightly accented voice greeted them from one of the side box seats.

"Zarbon! You are here? We received no prior word of your arrival!"

I'm going to personally draw and quarter whoever didn't notify us in advance of this bloody popinjay's arrival, fumed King Vegeta to himself. "What brings you here?"

The blue-skinned dandy smirked. "What else? Lluvia and her entertainers, of course! I make it a personal point to see that lilac-skinned lovely and her fellow entertainers perform, wherever and whenever I possibly can! When I discovered that they were appearing here, well, I just couldn't pass up such a golden opportunity!"

The spotlights hit Lluvia as she stood with her back to the bulk of the audience, arms crossed in front and legs standing slightly apart. She was wearing a short skirt and a sparkling camisole top covered by a sequined, cropped jacket. Her feet were shod in ankle-high, stiletto-heeled boots, which made her long legs look even lengthier.

The lights also lit up Tristan, who was facing the audience with synth-guit at the ready. A black leather vest was the only coverage across his smooth bare chest. As was his custom for good luck, he'd secured one of Jenika's scarves around one of his pants legs just above the knee.

The two of them stood like this until the last vestiges of audience noises petered out or were shushed by their compatriots. Lluvia turned around with theatrical deliberation, building up the tension and anticipation throughout the arena. With a slight tilt of her head, she slowly reached up with her left hand to adjust the tiny mouthpiece sticking out of the MAARCU.

"To quote a very talented and sage musician: 'If you didn't come to party, don't bother knocking on my door!'" She affixed a confident smile on her lovely face as her eyes scanned outward over the audience.

"You say you haven't been rocked in a long, long time…"

Tristan jumped in with a slashing riff…

"Oh, good hard rockin' is so hard to find, baby!

Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you shout,

Your homemade love done knocked me out, baby!

The fiery passion in her voice was evident as she belted out the words to the opening song. The initial force of it jolted the majority of the audience nearly out of their seats. As she sang, Lluvia pranced and vamped up a storm, parading her seductive body around the arena's perimeter in time to the music, flirting and teasing with nearest members of the audience sitting in the lower tiers.

Your momma sure done raised you right,

When it comes to home cookin', you eat every bite!

Take your sweet time, we've got all night,

I'm gonna show you how to rock me right…

Even Bardock's jaw involuntarily dropped open at this hard-rocking number. Tristan and Lluvia had not rehearsed this song with the others earlier in the day, but it was obviously one that the two of them could dredge up without a rehearsal and effortlessly hit their marks every time they performed it.

Rock me right, c'mon and rock me right,

Rock me right, I'm gonna show you how to rock me right…

Zarbon thought he'd attended enough of Lluvia's performances to have acquired a little expertise on the subject, but he could already feel that this night's show was going to be far different from all the others he'd previously seen. The air in the arena was already crackling with pure unbridled electricity. King Vegeta was shocked by the raw energy and charisma pouring out in oscillating waves off this female.

The Saiya-jin prince was also initially taken aback. From all outward appearances, she'd given no indication that she'd been aware of his late night incursion into her quarters. Nonetheless, he couldn't help but sense an underlying note of defiance and challenge in her rehearsed movements.

As if in response to the sound of her husky contralto, the palm of his nearly-healed right hand started itching like crazy inside its new glove.

She was seething inwardly, but Lluvia was wise enough to know that by channeling her anger into her craft, she could afford herself a physical outlet for her fury and create a mesmerizing show at the same time. And the majority of the audience would be none the wiser for it.

She told her troupe that this night's performance was going to blow out all the stops and she was determined that they'd deliver the goods to the max. These Saiya-jins were going to be treated to a rarity.

Tonight, The Shadow Entertainers were going rock the house down!

The show just took off from that opening number and didn't let up once. The numbers were infinitely sexier, edgier, and more daring than the previous night's lineup. Connore's percussion was never better and it set the energetic pace, keeping the level of excitement high throughout. Tristan responded with improvised licks and riffs on his instrument that were like nothing else he'd ever done before. Following their leads, all the other musicians and dancers kept the energy level and heat cranked up high.

Lluvia closed out the first hour's portion by performing a wild solo flamenco taught to her by a member of the Neo-Rom, or space gypsies. Accompanied by Tristan's superlative synth-guit playing, she clapped and stomped across the floor like an untamed elemental creature. For this number, she wore a long black wig secured to the top of her head with a brightly colored scarf. Another long, fringed silken scarf tied around her hips flared about her lissome form as she spun around. The heels of her specially made calf-high boots hit the floor in quick, blinding tap patterns, sending sparks off the floor whenever they made contact. Her silvery chain flashed and sparked in the spotlight in time with the music. Lluvia tossed her head about in fiery defiance, her hands and wrists tracing seductive patterns in the air around her body.

She completed the dance with arms and head thrown back in a pose reminiscent of a triumphant warrior. The deafening applause washed over her as she slowly brought her arms back down to her sides and looked out once more to regard her audience. After completing a slow graceful curtsey to the Saiya-jin royals, she came back up to quickly wave a brief acknowledgement to the balance of the attendees and bounded off stage and back into the dressing room to change. She brushed past Bardock without offering him a perfunctory glance.

When the lights came up for the intermission, Zarbon slowly reached up with a shaking hand to touch his sweat-tinged brow and glanced dazedly around to find most of the audience doing the same, including the two incredulous Saiya-jin royal males seated near him.

"Extraordinary," he whispered to himself. It's as if they put everyone in the audience into a fevered trance for the last hour!

"Zarbon!" Frieza's minion turned to look questioningly at King Vegeta. "What just happened here?" Even the Prince's previously implacable face was shiny with perspiration.

"Your guess is as good as mine, your majesty! I've never been a witness to this side to their repertoire!" Zarbon pursed his sensuous lips together and emitted a low appreciative whistle. "And to think that was just the first half of their show!"

"Lady Lluvia?"

She turned at the sound of the formal address and found a young slave runner standing expectantly just outside the doorway to the dressing room.

"Yes? What may I do for you?" Lluvia stepped further into the hallway, her eyes making note of Bardock's large sulky presence. He was leaning with his back against the far wall, arms folded across his chest, and looking like he wanted to be anywhere else but there.

"Please, milady. This is from Lord Zarbon." The runner handed off a data card to her. "He said to make sure that no one else but you gets this. Lord Zarbon said that this data card contains the contract you require to perform for Emperor Frieza." Lluvia watched from the corner of her eye to see Bardock suddenly lose his insouciant stance.

Big Saiya-jins with even bigger ears, she thought to herself.

"Thank you for bringing it to me." She was about to return to the dressing room, when the runner spoke up again.

"Oh, Lady Lluvia! Lord Zarbon is also requesting the pleasure of your company after the performance. His majesty, King Vegeta, is hosting a late supper, which will be attended by a number of local dignitaries. Lord Zarbon would like to have you as his special dinner guest, if you don't mind." The boy looked up anxiously at her pensive face as she mulled over the request in silence. She stood for a few moments, studying the data card. Intently watching the thoughtful expression on her face, Bardock was inwardly praying that she would decline the invitation.

Finally, Lluvia brought her head up and looked at the runner. "Tell Lord Zarbon," she took a small breath, "that I would be delighted to be his dinner partner this evening! Just let him know that I will meet him at the royal palace dining room at 2100 hours. That should give me enough time after the show to make myself presentable!"

"Zarbon, you seem to have acquired the most knowledge about this troupe's artistic director," observed the Saiya-jin ruler. "Who is she, really?"

"Actually, I have only been acquainted with her for a relatively short period of time. The only hard and fast information I've been able to unearth about her was that she and her friend, the synth-guit player, hailed from a planet in the Orion quadrant called Xenobiron. I'll admit that I've been less than unsuccessful in getting her to reveal more about herself. Lluvia tends to be somewhat close-mouthed about her past." He grimaced slightly, recalling her repeated rejections of his numerous advances. The green-haired fop was most keen on adding Lluvia to his personal collection of sexual conquests. Her stubborn resistance to his best laid-out blandishments after all this time was an unspoken source of frustration to him. "As you can see, she's quite beautiful, but as headstrong a woman as I've ever run across!"

Prince Vegeta critically scoffed. "You must be losing your famous touch with the ladies, Zarbon! Whatever happened to the direct approach? After all, isn't that what Frieza recommends in such a situation?"

As he listened, King Vegeta didn't bother to hide his disapproving frown at the mention of the despised Ice-jin's name. Since Prince Vegeta's mandatory conscription into Frieza's service several years ago, the Saiya-jin sire had grown increasingly unhappy with the detested lizardoid creature's influence on his son's attitude.

"With all due respect, your highness, Frieza's methodologies do not apply in all given instances. From the first time I met her, Lluvia has exhibited a strong independent personality. But mark my words, she will eventually come to see things my way. I am a most patient man when I know the final victory will be that much sweeter!"

"Feh!" snorted the prince. "Waiting for a female to make up her mind? You'll grow long in the tooth before that one comes around, Zarbon!"

The second half of the show outdid the first, if that was possible. Adarath and Lluvia opened the second hour by performing a torrid apache tango. Raoul sang out the passionate lyrics from the sidelines, the heat in his silky voice never sounded better. The dance reflected the turmoil of two people who couldn't decide whether they wanted to passionately make love or beat the living crap out each other.

The dance part of their performance was heated enough on its own, but the addition of the staged sparring moves made it brilliant in its execution. It almost appeared to the onlookers like the dancers were making violent contact, but all the practiced blows were stylized stunted gimmickry. At one point, Adarath threw Lluvia's body high up into the air where she did a full quadruple body twist. When he caught her by the small of her back with one upraised hand, she suddenly bent limply backwards, giving the illusion that her spine had been broken by the impact. A collective gasp passed over the audience. Adarath brought her down onto his shoulder where she slowly spiraled down feet-first around his torso and extended forward leg to end up in a heap at his feet. In the next move, he reached down to forcefully grasp her wrists and pulled her back up onto her feet to spin her around the floor, fully recovered.

Where did they learn to do that?

If it wasn't hot enough in the venue already, the temperature jumped at least twenty degrees with that one maneuver.

Bardock's surging heart jumped back into its normal rhythm. As he watched the thinly veiled sexual movements between the two, Lluvia's wisdom in having a non-hetero as her dance partner became apparent to him. The evening breezes carried the musky scents of arousal wafting off the bewitched audience towards his nostrils.

A half dozen numbers later, Lluvia participated in a spirited hip-hop number, as choreographed by Soledad. Lluvia and Morgana backed her up as Soley sang the bouncy, flirtatious lead:

Gimme a beat!

The three females snapped and popped in unison, all the while emoting and mugging with a boatload of attitude at their audience.

Nasty
Nasty boys, don't mean a thing, huh
Oh you nasty boys
Nasty
Nasty boys, don't ever change, huh
Oh you nasty boys…

The males in the audience squirmed and fidgeted visibly, while the female Saiya-jins whooped elatedly, clapping and jumping about in their seats. This was a funny, sexy song and upon its completion, the Saiya-jin females' enthusiastic vocal hoots could be heard over the vigorous applause.

The next to the last number was set up to be a showcase for Tristan's synth-guit virtuosity. The band had taken to the arena floor and was tearing it up with a heart-thumping medley of hard-rock songs. He jumped and pranced around the floor, at times playing his instrument while on his knees, slashing and forcing sounds out of it that kept the heart racing with each mighty riff. Sweat was pouring off him as well as off Connore, Sylvane, and Raoul by the time they all finished.

Kami!

I can't believe the pace they've kept up thus far!

Unbelievable!

Awesome!

Fantastic show!

Lluvia had changed into a form-fitting silvery bodysuit and a silver shaggy Mylar wig for her solo final number. She stood watching the musicians with a great deal of pride as they pounded through the rocking medley. Every single one of her group had risen to the "A-list" challenge tonight and they all deserved every bit of praise for their efforts. If nothing else, tonight they certainly proved their claim to being the best damned entertainers in the galaxy!

For once, Bardock wasn't watching the compelling action out on the arena floor. The silver-clad female had been shunning him as she'd been for the duration of the evening's performances. He was furious with himself for not doing a better job protecting her and especially for not telling her the truth. In hindsight, he knew that to defy even the spoiled prince was to court certain death. But death would have been a great deal less agonizing than to have seen that look of disillusionment swimming in her eyes.

Before walking out onto the darkened arena floor, Lluvia had stood alone in a small alcove near the entrance with head bent forward as if in prayer. She closed her eyes in concentration and began to hum a quiet tune. Hearing the music, Bardock watched closely as something amazing occurred before his eyes.

The glittering chain hanging about her waist matched her serenade with its own humming song and began to glow with a powerful summoned energy. The tiny links liquefied into a globular, snakelike form, which slithered off her waist, coiled downward around her wrists and over her hands. It completed its quick transit to stretch itself out, transforming into to a long silvery baton, approximately three-quarters her height in length. Lluvia's energy output had now risen to a staggering level, accompanied by a pulsing, violet aura swirling about her silver-clad body.

Anyone in the audience who were still sporting their scouters during the bulk of the performance had made note of the unusually high increase in the energy readouts whenever the lilac-skinned dancer made an appearance onto the arena's floor.

Once the band had moved off to the side of the arena and the lights dimmed, she strolled purposefully onto the arena floor and stood for a moment with eyes closed, the silver rod held outward from her body.

"Watch out, here I come," she softly whispered into the MAARCU's microphone. On cue, the musicians started cranking out a techno-pop dance number, with a heavy emphasis on Connore's synthesized drumbeat.

Lluvia began with some basic twirls and throws up and around her body, keeping to the rhythm of the infectious music. As the tempo picked up, the twirls and tosses became more inventive and more daring. Strolling bouncily around the perimeter, Lluvia broke into a skipping-hopping dance movement, matching the song beat for beat. Upon completion of her circuit, the percussion became more insistent, more demanding.

In response, she began to incorporate some practiced, lightning-fast kata maneuvers into the dance. The long baton's rotations became a flashing blur and the forced air it was kicking up around her and into the nearby audience felt like it was generated by a huge turbine. The whole exhibition was a study in grace, power, and control; beautiful and deadly in its implementation. Her accompanying soaring leaps and spirited flips were like poetry in motion to the enraptured audience.

"By Kami's staff," muttered Zarbon under his breath. "Whoever she's fighting in her mind has already been defeated ten times over!"

Lluvia's finishing move was a spin so fast that her body transformed into a single, molten column of quicksilver in the midst of the arena floor. With the spotlight shining on her, she seemed to disappear from view as the music faded out. The silvery stick hovered unsupported in the air for half of a second before falling; its clattering upon the floor was the only sound left in the dazed, silent arena.

Where'd she go?

How'd she do that?

It seemed the entire audience had involuntarily held its collective breath during her dance until that precise moment. The spotlight from the far end of the arena suddenly threw itself upon a figure lingering in the entrance to the arena floor. Bardock was standing in his usual spot, mesmerized like the rest by Lluvia's performance, when the song ended and the far spotlight landed unexpectedly on him. He blinked and squinted in surprised irritation at the intrusively bright white light and brought his hands up to shield his assaulted eyes.

"Excuse me, Bardock." He nearly jumped clear out of his skin at the sound of her soft voice behind him. "But you're hogging my spotlight!"

Lluvia ducked under his upraised arm and casually sauntered back out into the silent arena to retrieve the silvery rod. Standing with stick in hand, she turned to where the Saiya-jin royals were seated and deferentially bowed towards them. As she straightened her stance, a lone male voice called out from the stunned audience, "Yu-vee! Yu-vee!"

This initiated a chant, grown outward from its source and quickly spread out in concentric wavelets throughout the venue. Much stomping and clapping accompanied the loud vocal ovation. She cupped her hand over her eyes to seek out the instigator. Once located, Lluvia pointed to Toma and elatedly waved back to him, Ceripa, Raditz, and Totepo, flashing them all a bright, grateful smile.

The rest of the entertainers joined her on the floor to take their final bows and to acknowledge the lusty cheers of audience, which was now on its feet, enthusiastically applauding, whistling, and hooting.

"Incredible!" whispered King Vegeta, more to himself than to anyone in particular. "I have never seen anything like that!" Just a 'humble entertainer', indeed!

"She moved so…so fast!" the Prince croaked. If he'd been sweating during the first half of the program, he was positively drenched by the conclusion of the program. His dark eyes narrowed as he stared directly at the small silvery figure. I don't care what anyone else thinks…that female is a lot more powerful and dangerous than she lets on!

Rock Me Right - Susan Tedeschi

Nasty Boys - Janet Jackson