Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Shadow in the Twilight ❯ Chapter 33 ( Chapter 33 )

Chapter 33

"Your next appointment has arrived, your highness," Nappa sarcastically announced into the intercom, sneering down in undisguised disdain at the small alien female. Lluvia slowly turned her head to look at him and hurled such an intimidating look into the taller man's eyes that, for a second, the Elite bodyguard felt the quick, icy breath of death pass over him. Then the door to the specially constructed training dome hissed open and Prince Vegeta's two battered sparring partners stumbled out of the room. One was grimacing and clutching his deeply bruised and slightly dislocated right shoulder, while the other gasped raggedly for breath, gingerly nursing his severely contused left ribs.

As they passed Lluvia on either side, they stopped to exchange a questioning look to each other over her forward-facing head. Both of them automatically sniffed the air in her perfumed wake. The one with the bruised shoulder cocked his head, as if something in Lluvia's scent suddenly triggered a wisp of a long-shelved memory. Rather than continue their joint exit towards the local infirmary, the two Saiya-jins stared after her figure, watching her walk into the training room with her bright head held high. Nappa stayed at his post by the door, as he always did during the Prince's sparring matches. This, combined with the ningen female entering the training area, struck the two of them as extremely out-of-place.

"Hey, Cebolla," whispered the first Saiya-jin to his comrade. "Isn't that little chickie one of those Shadow Entertainers?"

"She's not going to spar with the prince, is she? Sweet blessed Kami! He'll make total mincemeat out of her!"

"Don't know about you, pal, but the infirmary can wait! I'm going up to the observation deck and check out this bout!"

"I'm right behind you! Who knows? She might just surprise everyone and give the royal brat his long-overdue comeuppance!" The Saiya-jin with the bruised left side chuckled at the ridiculous thought causing a stabbing pain in his wounded side and making him wince in the middle of his laugh. "Hell, I'd give a month's worth of pay-credits to see that happen!" he said once the worst of the pain had subsided.

"Shit, pal! I'd give up two months' pay!"

Cebolla grinned through his pain at his injured companion as they turned and labored up the adjacent stairway to the training dome's outer observation deck. "Let's get a move on, buddy, before we miss the whole thing!"

The outer observation deck of this particular training dome was situated around the upper part of the building as a braced catwalk. Concentric handrails ran on the inner and outer circumferences of the deck, which could easily hold the weight of even the heftiest of Saiya-jins three-to-four deep. The topmost part of the dome itself was made of a seamless, transparent version of the dome's metallic material. The combatants inside could set the access feature for either one- or two-way viewing. The one-way view setting allowed the outside observers to look down discreetly on the fights, but the combatants themselves would only see a frosted light, if they ever bothered to look upwards. Since most Saiya-jins usually enjoyed showing off their fighting skills to one another, the two-way setting was the one most commonly employed. As a rule, the fighters liked to feed off their audiences' expressions, whilst listening to the shouts of encouragement or taunts picked up by the outside audio feed.

Prince Vegeta had his back turned to the entrance and was occupied with removing his sweaty tank top when Lluvia stepped over the raised threshold into the room, halting just inside of the entryway.

"Where is he, Vegeta?" Her question dripped icicles into the pungent, sweat-laden air. He emitted a small, unheard-by-her chuckle at the sound of her voice.

"You mean, your friend?" He responded just as coolly, showing his scorn by not bothering to face her, as he toweled himself down and donned a drier, dark blue tank top. Under other circumstances, she might have admired the sculpted beauty of his battle-hewn, muscular body, but all she could think about was getting Tristan out of there and back safely into the arms of his family.

"Do cut the crap, prince-y, and let's get down to brass tacks. I've swallowed your contrived bait. Now produce him, unharmed, or I don't fight!"

Lluvia watched as the prince walked casually over to the far wall's intercom unit, pressed the button, and spoke into it. "Nappa, bring the musician here!"

I'm going to wipe that stupid, friggin' smirk off your face, Vegeta, if it's the last thing I ever do! Lluvia thought as she glared venomously at the prince.

Cebolla and Puerro finally reached the top of the stairs and were surprised to find their favorite, and usually unoccupied, spots on the observation deck already taken. The king himself had arrived upon the scene, along with his personal guard, Zarbon, and several others they didn't know. Cebolla and Puerro both made small bows to their king, who didn't see them at all. He, with all the others around him, was staring intently downward, listening to the ensuing conversation taking place on the training room floor. Captain Apio was far more concerned with the fact that someone had wasted no time in leaking out this piece of sensitive information, for in just the few minutes' time since their arrival the observation deck was filled to capacity with excited and inquisitive Saiya-jins. It was common knowledge that a Saiya-jin's legendary desire to fight or spar was only surpassed at times by his or her capacity to consume mass quantities of food. And watching an interesting sparring match, especially one involving a royal combatant, was almost as good as participating in one.

For once, King Vegeta and Zarbon were of the same mind.

It's just as I feared, thought the king, as he pursed his lips into a thin, annoyed line. He's gone and provoked her by using her friend as bait. What the hell is my son thinking?

The king was concerned that his son would quickly defeat the lilac-hued dancer, and more than likely, kill her in the process. Then his aspirations to keep her on Vegeta-sei as his royal concubine would die with her.

A fight? A puzzled Zarbon wasn't sure he'd heard it right; maybe his hearing had momentarily failed him. This is sheer madness! Has the prince lost his mind? I know that Saiya-jins are obsessed with fighting, but why would he want to fight Lluvia, of all people? He recalled suddenly hearing how royal Saiya-jin males like to spar with a female in which they're interested in as a form of foreplay and as a test of her strength, but quickly shoved the distasteful thought away. Certainly, the prince had more sense than to attempt to take a female he knew Zarbon clearly wanted for himself.

Zarbon's blue forehead was breaking out in tiny sweatdrops, as he gripped the railing in front of him with both hands with a death-tense force. That hotheaded …! She's going to get herself killed; I just know it! And if she does, I'll never get a chance to sample her delightful charms in my bed! Shit! That obstinate brat of a Saiya-jin prince is going to ruin everything for me!

Within a few minutes, a disheveled Tristan was roughly shoved into the training room and tripped over the threshold's small rise. Lluvia ran over and caught him before he made contact with the floor. Vegeta moved in a few feet to better observe the two of them.

"Yu-vee!" Tristan cried, throwing his arms around his friend, hugging her tightly in relief. "They…they tricked me! They said that you needed to see me and like an idiot I went with them and the next thing I knew…" Lluvia shook her friend slightly, breaking off his hysterical babbling and forcing him to look her directly in the face.

"Tris! I know, and I don't care about all that! Are you all right?"

He gulped and calmed himself down, nodding. "Yeah, I'm okay. But Jen and the baby…"

"Are just fine, I made sure of that before I zipped over here," she said, while giving her friend a secret wink, away from Vegeta's glaring scrutiny. A relieved grin found its way onto Tristan's stubble-covered face.

"I knew you'd come through for us, babe! You've never failed us yet!"

Frowning, Prince Vegeta cocked his head towards them when he overheard Lluvia's assertive statement. What was that? Did something happen to his guards at the infirmary? How can she sound so confident?

While Lluvia conversed reassuringly to her friend, the prince briskly stalked back over to the intercom and punched the ON button. He ordered Nappa to find out what had happened to the two Saiya-jin warriors that he had assigned to detain the musician's family inside of the infirmary. After a few moments' silence, Nappa haltingly responded, with a strange tone in his voice.

From the corner of her eye, Lluvia caught the Prince's reaction to his bodyguard's report, and her mouth curved slightly in satisfaction. Seeing that arrogant jaw of his drop open in disbelief was most rewarding!

It's…inconceivable! Vegeta thought incredulously. Surely, there must be some mistake! She couldn't have taken on two of my best, handpicked Elite warriors and disabled them to the extent that they're both in regen tanks? Only a Saiya-jin or one of Frieza's highest followers has that kind of strength, not some bloody ningen dancer!

"So, how did you do it?" Lluvia and Tris simultaneously turned their heads towards the prince's inquiry. Lluvia took a few steps forward and protectively placed herself in front of Tristan. She stood with legs slightly apart and arms folded, facing the prince with a defiant look in her eye.

"Didn't your folliclely-challenged informant out there already tell you?" A near-Saiya-jin smirk bent the corners of her pouty lips. "No? Well, to make a long story short, let's just say once I flashed my sweet little bazooms at your two goons," she said, hooking her thumbs into the armholes of her top and waggling her fingers to emphasize her pert breasts. "Why, those sex-starved boys just came a-scamperin' after me, thinking that they were actually going to get themselves a tasty slice of alien 'tang! What they got instead was their two tails in a knot--several, in fact--on top of a whole new definition of 'pain'! A word to the wise, Veggie-breath: Never, ever try to pit two over-sized dumbsticks against a mere, weakling female like myself! The results will hardly be healthy or pretty-for them!" Lluvia brought her hands down to hip level and twisted her palms upside-down behind her back towards her friend. "'Quarantine', my ass!" she hissed under her breath.

Snorting with laughter, Tristan automatically slapped at her palms with each of his own, one downswing at a time, saying, "Oh, man! That'll teach these characters to mess with you, babe!"

Gak! Vegeta was livid. "You mean to tell me that they left their assigned posts to…to…"

Lluvia cast a scathing look towards the irate prince. "Although, technically speaking, your two associates didn't really abandon their stations at the infirmary. It's just that, they now happen to be on the inside…looking out!"