Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Shadow in the Twilight ❯ Chapter 39 ( Chapter 39 )

Chapter 39

Prince Vegeta lunged at her again, but this time, Lluvia was prepared for him. Putting her newly acquired knowledge of his subliminal signals to use, Lluvia blocked, parried, or avoided his newest flurry of jack-hammer hits altogether, further irritating the already maddened Saiya-jin prince. His sole consolation was the sight of her falling back beneath his blows.

As his frustrated pummeling continued to drive her backwards, she saw an opening and took it. She jinked to her left, making the side of his left fist brush past the tip of her right ear, and slam into the wall behind her. The force of the blow undulated outward from the point of contact and the resultant vibration shuddered throughout the dome. Before long, the trembling could be felt under the soles of those standing on the observation deck. As enthralled as they were by the fight, this minor incident did not immediately send up a red flag with anyone in attendance. To them, the slight shake in the building was attributed to the prodigious strength of their prince; something of which to be proud and hardly to be feared. Besides, the walls always tended to shake a little during any really good spar.

While his follow-up right cross passed through yet another afterimage, Lluvia dropped into a balled crouch and launched herself headfirst between Prince Vegeta's legs before he was aware of where she'd gone. When he spun around to face her, the underside of his pointed chin was introduced to a two-footed mule-kick, which whipped his head back and sent him reeling backwards. Wanting to put some distance between them, Lluvia quickly stood up and danced in a sidestepping motion towards the center of the floor, keeping her eyes affixed on him as she readied herself for his next move.

Opting for a new gambit, Prince Vegeta leapt high into the air, gaining additional momentum by bouncing off the curved ceiling near the top of the dome. As he rapidly descended, he gathered up his strength for a single two-fisted down-strike that could easily level any Saiya-jin Elite. Surprisingly, Lluvia made no move to avoid his blow; instead, she merely braced herself to receive the inevitable, standing with one foot in front of the other, and her knees slightly bent. Her only protection was her forearms, poised in a raised "x" over her head, ready to meet the prince's blitzing attack.

At this, Puerro held his breath, watching the forceful arc of the downswing come down from just behind Prince Vegeta's head onto the woman's crossed forearms.

Instead of buckling from the crushing impact, as all watching assumed she would, Lluvia's rigid body became a natural conduit, allowing the induced kinetic power of the blow to channel right through her from the point of origin and down into the floor itself.

The quaking that now shook the dome and the standees on the observation deck was increased tenfold from the earlier one. This time, it was noticeable enough to make the majority of the observers stop whatever they were doing and grab either onto a piece of railing or their neighbor for support. Numerous eyes nervously glanced down at their unsteady feet, as they bounced and slid on top of the catwalk's groaning and bucking surface.

Unbeknownst to all there, the training dome itself had become the reluctant third party in this coerced competition. The construct had been specially made with a mixture of materials, all of which were proven to evenly absorb and contain the volatile energies expended from innumerable Saiya-jin sparring encounters. Composed of many minerals gathered from various plundered worlds, these alloys had been incorporated into similar types of buildings throughout the Saiya-jin and Ice-jin empires. By volume, the greatest component used in this particular metallic amalgam was a mineral called monaxium, which had been discovered on a far-distant planet called Terraflora.

A score of years prior, had the Planet Trade bothered to check with the few physicists and geologists residing on Terraflora, they would have been informed that monaxium, when left in its natural, crude state, was quite harmless. However, once superheated, purified, and forged with any other ore, its molecular makeup would eventually become highly unstable. The Terrafloran scientists had confirmed this after documenting several long-term, controlled studies with tiny amounts of monaxium and the results were consistent.

They discovered that this potential danger could rear its ugly head in a matter of centuries or decades; for once monaxium's maximum saturation point was reached, its molecules would start breaking down, causing its energy-absorbing properties to quickly deteriorate and, depending upon the amount of monaxium involved, this instability would render explosive and catastrophic consequences.

Ironically, on the very day that the scientists had assembled in one of Terraflora's central buildings to discuss by what method they could safely extract and dispose of the potentially dangerous monaxium within their own buildings, they all died together, crushed by the weight of the tall edifice as it collapsed, a direct result of an invading Saiya-jin's single and deadly accurate ki blast. And thus, the only existing documentation, containing the painstaking culmination of several decades' worth of monaxium studies, literally went up in smoke.

Prince Vegeta hovered in the air for a couple of seconds, then flew backwards a ways before lightly touching back down to get his bearings once more.

No one has ever remained standing after that concentrated attack, his warrior's ego cried in vexation. What the hell kind of creature is she? Why, this is like some bizarre practical joke, set up to embarrass me in front of my father and all of Vegeta-sei!

Once she felt certain that the last of the rippling force had completely passed through her, Lluvia slowly lowered her smarting arms to her sides and stared over at the heavily sweating prince.

I'll wager you've never seen that defensive trick before; have you, Vegeta? she silently inquired. I picked up a lot more than just fancy footwork from my time spent at Diamond Lil's place.

Even without his scouter, Puerro had felt her sudden surge of unfettered ki energy pass clean through him when she'd earlier released it. To him, it was a most amazing and frightening feeling, and he'd wondered if anyone else had sensed it. The sergeant was a realist, knowing his own fate was sealed, regardless of the outcome; but if anyone stood a fighting chance to emerge victorious against the prince, it was that lilac-skinned female. He just knew it!

"Yes, yes, YES!" shouted an excited Puerro, pumping his fists in the air. The motion made his bruised shoulder ache even more, but he didn't care. "What'd I tell you, Cebolla? Isn't she everything I said she'd be?"

His companion merely folded his arms and pouted slightly. "The match isn't over yet, buddy. But, I'll have to give that little ningen she-devil her due. She's definitely held her own so far." Dropping his voice down in warning to the sergeant, he added, "I'd suggest that you put a damper on your enthusiasm, Puerro. It's not a good idea to be cheering so loudly for an opponent of the prince, you know."

"Go suck on sour grapes, old pal! Now you know I wasn't exaggerating about her fighting skills! Face it, you're just pissed off that you're gonna be shelling out a whole lotta credits to me if she wins!" Puerro then stuck his tongue out towards his friend, followed by a very loud raspberry. Perhaps that one hit to the head he'd received from the prince during their earlier spar was making him a little more reckless with his words than was prudent, but what the hell!

Cebolla quickly clamped his hand over Puerro's mouth, hissing, "Well, at least, I'm not the one who's going to get my ass royally blasted into the next dimension for flapping my lips so much about it!" Fearful that the monarch had overheard Puerro's careless declaration, Cebolla dared a furtive glance at King Vegeta, who, thankfully, appeared to be far more absorbed in his son's battle with Lluvia than in anything else.

Half-wits, the both of them, thought King Vegeta, as he briefly tuned into the two Saiya-jins' discussion. No wonder my son likes to use them as punching bags; they're hardly fit for much else. However, it seems that Puerro was not overstating Lluvia's abilities. Her resiliency in this battle has truly rivaled that of a Saiya-jin! My son had better pace himself or else he'll become vulnerable should she decide to mount a concerted attack, he observed critically.

During this short interlude in the action, Zarbon was also pondering, not so much on the battle itself, but on his latest dilemma.

Not only has Lluvia stood up to the prince's best moves, he thought, surprised by the revelation, but from where I'm standing, she looks unbelievably calm and not the least bit winded from her exertions. All the years she spent training as both a dancer and as a martial artist must've pushed her physical stamina into a higher level of endurance! Dammit! He suddenly swore to himself. After I'd transmitted last night's encrypted report to him, I could detect by the tone in his voice that Lord Frieza's most eager to meet Lluvia; now, more than ever! And once he does, then what? He mentioned that Captain Ginyu's squad was starting to look a little ragged around the edges, and Lluvia could be the infusion of new blood that just might replenish the luster they've been missing as of late. Now, that could turn out to be not such a bad idea; she'd always be close at hand, and maybe their ridiculous posing would improve from her choreography… Ack! What the hell am I thinking? I don't want anyone else to have her!

The dandy's mind abruptly flashed onto one particular member of the Ginyu Squad. A posturing, bantam rooster of a warrior, Jees was reputed to be as much of a lady's man as Zarbon himself. And the last thing the green-haired rake wanted was for his Lluvia to be working too closely with that red-skinned playboy!

Apio's sharp glance kept switching between King Vegeta and Zarbon. The Saiya-jin king's expression was one of tight-lipped concentration. However, the blue-skinned fop's grimaced guise was anything but, as he continued to wrestle with his inner demons.

Tired of waiting for Lluvia to make the next move, the Saiya-jin prince swiftly gathered a ki ball into his cupped right hand. She watched with a wary expression as the glowing, destructive orb rapidly grew in size until it overflowed his opened grip. Sharply twisting at the waist, he cocked his arm back for the wind-up pitch.

"Now," he sneered, though he knew she couldn't hear him. "Let's see you handle this!" With a fierce cry, he threw all of his weight into the release of the ki ball.

Lluvia quickly enveloped her body with her ki aura in a solid, protective shield. Just as the ki ball reached her, she brought her arm up and swatted at it with the back of her hand, sending it up and away towards the top of the dome, where it exploded upon contact.

None present noticed that the metal glowed a moment longer than normal, or that the intense radiance was of a slightly different color than usual. Growling and waving his arms all around him, Vegeta quickly gathered and hurled at least a dozen more ki balls in her direction. Lluvia repelled all in rapid succession, brushing them away as if they'd been hardly more than a few swarming nuisances.

The resultant explosions violently rattled the dome, causing a multitude of tiny fissures to appear in the transparent section of the building, originating from the spots where all the deflected ki balls had struck. Quite different from the usual light the metal gave off when heated with ki, a faint glow rose from within the cracks for a few seconds; but it too, went unnoticed. In addition to these newly-formed fissures, several of the moorings supporting the observation deck finally came off from the turbulence. Around the dome, the deck loudly groaned in continued metallic protest, due to the weight of the Saiya-jins packed heel-to-toe upon it.

A worried Captain Apio could feel the tilt under his booted feet becoming more pronounced, especially after the last series of tremors. "King Vegeta!" he fearfully shouted, once their perch stilled its shaking motion for the moment. "Sire, we must get you off of this deck at once! It's becoming too dangerous to stand upon! I am concerned that it will give way totally the next time!"

"I will not leave, Apio! As long as my son is still fighting down there, I will stay!"

"Yes, of course, my liege! But may I propose that we get everyone to hover off the deck in the meanwhile, just as a precautionary measure?"

The king nodded slightly, acknowledging the wisdom of Apio's suggestion. "Make it so."

Most of the observers were secretly relieved that the royal order had been given to get off the catwalk, and didn't waste any time grousing about it. Within seconds, they were all floating off of the catwalk, packed tightly together in mid-air, jostling against each other and jockeying to gain a slightly better view than the ones around them.