Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Panthera tigris tigris ❯ Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or anything related to it... nor does my esteemed co-author

**A/N: Well, I'd like to thank the TWO reviewers who took the time to lend a little constructive criticism to this story... Even though the number is small, I'm very grateful to Sony and DuchessEricka for taking the time to read *hug* You're consideration has been noted.

**A/N#2: I'd like to send out a warm thank you to my co-author, though over seas at the moment, has helped me a great deal with this chapter. He caught quite a few (though I hate to admit it!) mistakes I made while writing this. Thanks a lot big brother *smile* you're awesome.

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She turned to her right. No. To the left. No! Her back. NO! Her stomach. NO NO NO! She just couldn't fall asleep. Vegeta's smell was clinging to her skin still, the entire scene being rewound and replayed in her head over and over again. She had thought about taking a shower, but that would definitely awake those in the house. Aria sat up and looked out the window above her bed. It was close to sunrise, and the fingers of sleep had not even reached out for her. She looked down at the beach. Maybe a dip in the icy waters sooth her.

She grabbed a cotton robe from the closet and snuck down the stairs, wincing as her feet met with the floor boards creating an irritating creak even under her minimal weight. Slipping out the front door and down to the beach, she removed the robe, clad in a pair of hot pants type underwear and her tank top from before. Taking a deep breath, she trod out until she was about knee deep. Closing her eyes, she dove, the chill of the waters immediately seeping to her bones. Ignoring the cold, she surfaced again and paddled out. The water was now well past 5 feet above her height in depth, and she stopped, treading water. She lay lazily on her back, staring at the fading stars. She hummed quietly to herself, as she searched the skies for something.. anything to peak her interest. It was then that she felt the soft murmur in the water. Almost like a vibrating. She weighted herself to treading water again and faced towards the shore line. There was a very dull light under the surface, not very far down, but her sharp eye site caught it non the less. Her eyes glazed a bit, her cat like ability taking over as she focused in on the light. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Aria took a deep breath and plunged below the glassy surface. Following the light, hoping her oxygen wouldn't give out, she swam down, and under an underwater ridge of the island. Going further down, she almost smirked when she saw the cave opening. Swimming through, she found herself in a passage. Thankfully, it widened, creating a space where she could breath freely. She surfaced, gasping gratefully as the air reached her lungs. She looked around, and noticed that she had surfaced in a small pool of sorts. Swimming to the far side, she pushed herself out of the water into the chilled air. The cave was strangely smooth and rounded, beautiful colors bouncing off the walls. Walking to the edge of the platform she was on, she looked down. About 10 feet down, nestled into the rocks, was a metallic pod. It was the shape of an egg, smooth surfaced, with a thick blue glass window. Below the window were strangely etched letters, but Aria knew what they said. Climbing down, she went to the pod and wiped her hand across the glass to remove the condensation. She smiled.

"So Archly, this is where you ended up." she laughed softly, irony flooding the sounds from her chest.

"Of all the places... you end up on the one rock that I do.."

*FLASH BACK*

Gods she was hungry. She felt as though her stomach had eaten all the way through to her back, leaving an empty black hole in its wake. She'd give anything for some kind of sustenance. She had left her home planet for many reasons, the only thoughts were to join the Galaxy Army. She had wanted adventure, suspense, the thrills she had heard about from travelers who had visited her planet as a little girl. But, she had failed there. The Army had put her through a series of tests to see if she was strong enough to survive their intensive basic training programs. In strength, she was far superior to the other's testing out, as well as agility and reaction times to battle situations. The Galaxy Army was more than happy to accept her, until one of the drill sergeants was found, his throat in ribbons. They had question Aria, and she simply stated that he had suggested the doctors remove her tail, as it would only get in the way. She had cried when they threw her out of the compound. She had cried like a child deprived of their favorite possession. They had wanted to take away the one thing that had made her unique compared to the rest of the recruits, and they blamed her for retaliation?

All she had to her name was the gunblade slung over her shoulder, the clothes on her back, and the tiny space pod she had managed to trade her last few cases of rations for. She had managed to find a small drifting planet, not too far from her own, and decided that was as good a place as any to stop for a while. She had hoped to find a friendly species there, with food in hand, but again luck was not on her side. It seemed the planet was completely devoid of life. A drifting corpse as it were, and the smell of death still lingered in the stagnant air. How long ago the populace had died, she did not know, nor did she care. She was desperate for food of any kind. Her stomach did not even cringe when the thought crossed her mind that if she were to happen upon a dead body, she would feast like royalty. It was then that she heard the clatters and bangs in the distance. Her head shot up, and she took off like a bottle rocket towards the sound. Climbing over a small grouping of hills, she perched on the top, to see a small critter sitting in a glade, his legs crossed, surrounded by machinery. Aria raised an eye brow and her tail swept from side to side. He smelled like water and lichen. She examined him carefully. He could be no more than 4 and a half feet tall, slender build, a long main of emerald hair lay down his back to partially cover a slinky tail which had a rutter looking appendage on it. She squinted her eyes, and saw the evidence of gills behind small pointed ears.

"Aah. Aquatic life form. Interesting."

The creature stood and walked over to another grouping of equipment, checking their status. What these things did, she did not know, nor did she care. Her only thoughts were that maybe he would make a delightful meal. Her stomach growled in agreement. She crouched lower, her knees bent in attack stance. Without another thought, she pounced. The creature simply reached his hand out, and Aria found herself suspended in mid air.

"What the-" she started, but the creature cut her off.

"Did you really think I'd let you eat me?" He asked, turning back to his equipment.

"How did you-"

"I'm just that good. Now if you don't mind, I have some work to do." He said, his voice calm. Aria could barely contain her anger. The little abomination was making fun of her! She tried her hardest to squirm out of whatever hold he had on her, but to no avail. She growled and hissed at him, but he barely noticed as he continued to tinker with his machines. Finally, after an hour of trying, Aria gave up and let her limbs hang loosely in the air.

"What are those things anyway?" Aria asked as he bent over one of his toys.

"The last remenence of a lost race." He mumbled.

"What?"

"I am the last of my species, and these are all I have left to remember my former glory by."

"What are you talking about?"

He sighed and finally turned to face her. Aria almost cried at the look in his eyes.

"My planet was destroyed years ago, along with everyone on it. Except me. I was a few hundred light years away, in a state of cryo-sleep, searching for a more inhabitable planet. You see, our oceans were drying up before our eyes. My kind cannot live without the water. When I returned, I found nothing but a mass of floating debris. My home, my family... all gone."

"Why cryo-sleep?"

"Well, you see, my species age with the travel of space and time. Without the cryo, I would have died." He turned his face away and continued with his machines. Aria almost felt sorry for him, until he sauntered over to a small metal case and opened the lid. The smell of food hit her like a brick wall.

"Oh, are you hungry?" He asked innocently, obviously enjoying the torture.

"No."

"Your stomach seems to say differently." he said, his face stuffed with meat. Aria floated quietly, watching as he filled his stomach, crumbs falling all over the place. What a waste.

The sun had set, and the creature had curled up in the bed of grass to sleep. Aria watched him drift into whatever dreams danced in his head, and as quietly as she could, reached around her back for her back up gun. Her gunblade had fallen off her shoulder some time before, but she wasn't concerned. Gripping the weapon in her hand, the beast stirred, and she froze. But, his breathing slowed a little and she allowed herself to move again. She slowly brought the weapon to the ready, the site focused in on his legs.

"Bang."

"So, this is what an Archly looks like." Commented the stout round man, his oily pimply skin creasing in a smile of delight as he held the creature up by the tail, a slender collar around its neck to prevent whatever mental telekinesis it had.

"Ya. What about my money?" Aria asked, her arms crossed. She was in no mood to stick around the smelly space ship for longer than she had to. More than anything, she had wanted to get back into her pod, and get as far away from the little creature as she could. After she had shot him, she had fallen to the ground with a hard thump. She had remembered reading a poster at the Galaxy Army compound about how merchants were willing to pay large sums for Archly technology, not to mention an Archly itself.

"Well lets see, he IS injured, but I suppose I could over look that."

"Whatever. Money."

"Yes yes. Will ten thousand credits do?"

"Ha! I'm worth at least six times as much!" the creature squeaked out as the merchant squeezed his tail hard. Aria glared at the man.

"Does he speak the truth?"

"Fifteen thousand."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"Fine fine. Seventeen and that's my last offer."

"Lets go Archly, I'm sure there are other people out there who want you just as badly-"

"Ok! You'll get full price. Sixty thousand credits.." the man mumbled angrily.

"Smart man." Aria said as he slapped the money into her palm.

"You're a fool you know." The Archly said as Aria stepped out the door. She turned her head back to grin at him.

"Maybe. But at least I'll have food in my stomach, and not be a personal slave." She smirked and walked out.

**END FLASHBACK*

That was 15 years ago. She had heard rumor that the last remaining Archly had somehow escaped while on route to a galactic military experiment lab, blowing up the ship, and retreated as fast as possible. He was a devious little being, she gave him that. She stare into the glass, noticing the collar was still around his neck.

"Good thing." She mumbled to herself. She was in no mood to deal with his tricks. She inspected the pod, looking for the anti-cryo control panel. If he was here on this planet, then that only meant that she had a second chance to cash in on his profitability. She had to be careful in her inspection of the pod. It was common knowledge that any and all cryo-chambers, space bound or not, had a safety feature, that if immobile for more than 2 weeks time, a sudden movement would cause an explosion, annihilating everything in a 200 mile radius. The last thing she wanted was to be blown to bits. Finding the series of buttons to the side of the cryo-pod, she hit a few key numbers, disabling the safety feature, and the pod door swung open, the acrid smell of the cryo chemicals hitting her nose. She coughed slightly and watched as the little Archly fell from his confines. She knelt next to him and rolled his body over.

"Wake up little Archly." she whispered, shaking his shoulder. His eyes fluttered open, and Aria was surprised to see a look of relief flash in them.

"Well its about damn time.... Oh, hello Aria.... Long time no see.."

**A/N: Wee! Chapter 4 complete! I just wanted to say thanks to my big brother for his help on this so far *smile* you're awesome old man. As always, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! I'll love you forever if you do this for me! Thanks a ton! I'd also like to make it known, that after this chapter, if I don't get more than 5 reviews, I REFUSE to update... reviews are like heroin for an author so common.. feed the addiction!