Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Panthera tigris tigris ❯ Chapter 9

TheBoy: Ok, here's the next chapter, it took me awhile to get my co-author off of her lazy ass and get started, I provide ideas, and read the chapter prior to posting it to make sure that it flows good, and have her elaborate on things if I think there is a need. As you all could see I'm sure it took a little longer to get this one up than the others, and I apologize for that, like I said it took awhile to get SaintMe started on this one.... hopefully we won't have a repeat of this long of a wait in the future.....

Oh and reviews.... feedback is very nice being positive or negative, I can never seem to get enough.

SM: He's right about a few things... 1) me being a lazy little bitch *grin* and 2) REVIEWS ARE LIKE HEROIN! Its an addiction. So ya... I apologize for my laziness... so enjoy the chapter!

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Aria stalked through the C.C. residential building, her boredom feeling as though it would eat her alive. She had been itching to spar, but Archly had been gone for a full day with Piccolo, and Goku wasn't allowed to "come out and play". Apparently, his female was very strict about him. So that only left Vegeta, but he had been avoiding her, and she wasn't sure if it was up to her to make the next move. She hated uncomfortable situations as much as the next person, but even being within scent distant was enough to make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

Damn males.

So now she walked through every inch of the residential housing, picking up photographs of Bulma and her family without real interest. She flipped through "fashion" magazines in the living room. Some of the clothes were interesting, but not for her. She walked down the hall way, passing up the kitchen, deciding that maybe she would take a walk outside. Fresh air was always a good thing. She had just reached the backdoor when there was a rather loud bang coming from the basement. Her curiosity peaked.

Aria found the door to the basement, and upon opening it was hit by a wall of thick smoke. She waved it away as best she could and made it down the stairs in time to see Bulma standing 5 feet away from a piece of flaming machinery; fire extinguisher in hand.

The blue haired woman emptied the white contents on the machine and growled. Aria laughed, causing Bulma to turn her angry glare on her.

"What?"

"Don't you dare laugh at me!"

"Hey, I didn't mean any harm. What are you doing anyway?"

"Its none of your business. This is my private lab. Get out."

Aria curled her tail a little, annoyed that this woman would think her lower than herself. But, Aria was never one to take orders, especially from a lower species bitch like her.

She hopped down the last few steps, ignoring Bulma's screaming, and bent down to take a good look at the machine she had been working on.

"Get away from that!"

"What is this? One of those house bots?"

Bulma blinked. If she hadn't been working on it earlier, she would have never recognized the bot in its current state.

"I'll take that as a yes. I see what you did wrong here. It might have been the fire, but it was probably your dumb fuck mistake. The positronic relays are polarized. Not to mention the sub-cortical pathways are fused. (**A/N: THANK YOU DAVE ANEZ!)"

Bulma shoved Aria to the side. She was completely shocked. Aria was right. Bulma turned to look at her, eyes wide; Aria simply shrugged.

"I've had basic robotic program training."

Bulma ground her teeth. It was so beneath her to ask someone for help, especially someone like HER, but she knew that without it, this bot wasn't going to be finished any time soon.

"Hand me the screw driver, would you?"

~~~~~~~~

"Ok, what is it now?" Piccolo asked gruffly as he stood behind Archly, his arms crossed over his chest. Archly had stopped dead in his tracks, his head tilted slightly, sniffing.

"There's something on the wind that I haven't smelled in years. Come on! It's this way!"

"Don't think for one second that I'm going to-"

But Archly had already disappeared through the brush. Growling loudly, Piccolo gave chase.

He found him standing in a small clearing. There was an old capsule house, half of the roof missing from it. It was a simple structure, obviously used a minimal amount of times. Outside was an old fire pit, bits of charred wood still in it. Archly stood still again, sniffing the air.

"Alright, what do you smell?"

"Silver."

"What's so special about silver?"

Archly didn't answer him. Instead, he stepped into the domed building, digging through whatever the previous owners had left behind. Piccolo stood in the doorway and watched as Archly searched in a desperate manner. Finally, he sat down and crossed his legs, holding up his prize.

It was a silver medallion, a picture of St. Christopher indented on it.

"I haven't held pure silver in my hands for ages..." his voice sounded far away as he gazed at the coin between his fingertips, his eyes glittering with joy.

"There was silver at the deepest parts of our oceans at one time. It was almost as precious as life itself. You know what this means, don't you?"

"Obviously not."

"It's a sign of good luck my friend! We're going to have a very pleasant evening!"

~~~~~~~~

Bulma sat back and watched as Aria soddered wires and computer chips together. She had given up on the repairs herself a long while ago, deciding to let Aria take her best shot. The warrior woman was now bent low over the robot, protective goggles over her face, her orange and black tail swinging back and forth.

"Aria?"

"Yes?" she sounded annoyed.

"Where did you get the training for this stuff?"

Aria stilled for a moment, thinking over her reply. She did not want these people to know too much about her. After all, she had every intention of selling off the strongest beings this planet possessed eventually. Taking a deep breath and pushing the goggles atop her head, she gave the best answer she could.

She was honest.

"When I was much younger, I left my home planet to join the Galaxy Army."

"The what?"

"They're too far for you humans to have heard of them. It doesn't matter really. But, with training came the basic knowledge of mechanics. Robotics just happened to be on the syllabus."

"Oh. So did you make it?"

"Did I make what?"

"Did you get in?"

Aria sighed again. This woman asked too many questions for her liking.

"No."

With that, Aria turned back to the work at hand.

"I can see why Vegeta likes you." Bulma said softly, almost in regret.

Aria froze a second time.

"What are you talking about?"

"I've seen the way you two look at each other. Its so obvious."

"What's obvious?"

Bulma snorted and leaned back, crossing her arms.

"I'm not stupid Aria. You two have the hots for each other."

"The what?"

"She thinks that I am lusting after you." came Vegeta's gruff voice from the stair way. Both women jumped and turned.

"The only way I would go near her would be to beat the insolence out of her."

Aria glared at him, but caught the mischievous look in his eyes. So, he was ready for her again. She'd play his little game.

"That's if you could catch me. If I recall correctly, our last match had you hunting but coming up with nothing."

"If I recall correctly, it was you running like the coward you are."

"Well if you want to get technical, you were the one who was flying and shooting ki balls at me like the maniac you are!"

"Will you just shut up! Get out! Both of you! I don't have time to listen to you two flirt!"

Bulma was very angry by now. She never told anyone, but she found Vegeta almost irresistible, even though he was a bastard, a liar, a complete ass, and every other curse she could think of. Aria shrugged her shoulders, pulled off the goggles, and walked up the stairs past Vegeta. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she dared him to follow.

And Vegeta never backed down from a dare.

~~~~~~~~

Piccolo sat cross-legged next to the fire he had made in the old pit near the building. Archly was sitting across from him, bottle in hand. Occasionally he would take slow sips from it, but not with as much vigor as before. His eyes were intent on the fire, watching as it lapped against the dark sky in an infinite dance. In his other hand, he thumbed the medallion he had found. It was indeed a symbol of good luck on his home planet, and he wondered what the fates would bring him that night.

Silver was, as he had said, sacred in the early Archly culture. Even though his species had grown away from religion into a purely scientific existence, the old temples and statues his people had constructed of the beautiful material were reprocessed into medallions or other jewelry. With it, they carried on with the smallest belief that it would bring divine fortune. Slowly, the beliefs as well as the jewelry disappeared for unknown reasons. For those that were left, they circulated among the people. Those who had found, won, or inherited them never seemed to be without their hearts desires. But that was long ago, and he himself knew better than to trust in a long dead religion. Though, he still wondered...

With a passing thought, he wondered what Aria was doing. Had she discovered the origins of her alien lover yet? No, probably not. She would have come to claim him by now if she had. Archly closed his eyes and reached out to her; to see what she was doing. Ah. There she was. Archly nearly smiled when he sensed the release of pheromones between her and Vegeta. With a shake of his head, he left them to their devices.

"Why didn't you're people come to Earth earlier?" Came Piccolo's gruff voice, startling Archly from his thoughts.

"Oh um.. Well, as I've said, Earth is a prime choice for habitation. Upon further study though, I found that many of the creatures of your oceans were far too dangerous for immediate population. It would have taken time to find the best ways of coexisting. And well... I came home too late." he said, closing his eyes.

Piccolo was silent, apparently accepting Archly's answer.

"I suggest we sleep. We still have a long way to go."

Piccolo grunted and lay on his side, facing away from the little imp.

Upon opening his eyes, Archly's hearth nearly leapt into his throat. Falling from the sky, many miles away, but clearly visible, was what looked like a shooting star. But this was different. Much different. A tail of light blue streaked behind the object as it came towards the planet.

Light blue.

The signature result of a cryo-pod entering orbit.

Archly sighed and lowered his eyes back to the fire. So they had hunted him down. Finally caught up with him. He wondered how long it would take for it to make itself known.

"So much for divine fortune."

He took another long pull off of his bottle.