Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ RipTide ❯ 17 ( Chapter 17 )
Chapter 17
"There," Adrian shouted, pointing ahead. "That's the coliseum there!"
Sdhoirm, Zafira, and Adrian now with Hitomi in his arms swooped downward to land on a large hill overlooking the stadium. They could see guards stationed all around the outside, most likely to make sure they didn't get in.
"We don't want to kill anyone, or cause more trouble if we can help it," Zafira whispered. "But Vegeta's in the stadium, and Vaya's somewhere inside...how are we going to get in?"
"What if there's an upper window or something?" Hitomi suggested, wincing at the pain in her legs.
"They'd almost certainly be locked," Zafira sighed.
"It's worth a shot," Sdhoirm shrugged.
There was a short burst of bright light, and Sdhoirm disappeared. A golden-brown hawk screeched as it soared into the sky.
Sdhoirm flew as a hawk all around the stadium, checking for windows. At last he found them; there were a small configuration of glass windows on the opposite side of the coliseum. He flew in for a closer look, then swooped in a circle to turn back.
"There are at least five windows on the other side," he said after he had returned and transformed again. "But they're all locked. We need a key."
"There's one just inside the door," Adrian said excitedly. "Hitomi and I saw it before when we were exploring the city."
"But there are guards all the way around the gates," Hitomi sighed. "We can't get in; that's the problem."
"We need to think of something quickly," Zafira murmured. "There isn't much time left."
~*~
Weak...so weak...All she could do was hug herself to block out the biting cold air that blew against her pale skin. She was slowly healing from the wound, but that didn't help her. She had lost so much blood! And even while regaining her strength, those bastards threw those strange chains on her. She couldn't budge now, and the way those guards roughly handled her had left rips and tears in her royal gown. She shivered and hugged herself close.
Vegeta...Those bastards took him... They'd surely kill him and there was nothing she could do! She balled up her fist in anger and covered her face to hide the shame of her shed tears. There was an echoing chuckle from behind the bars.
"Ah, so this is the little bitch that Vegeta screwed to get a prince, huh?" She slowly looked up and glared at two guards that had just arrived. The other licked his lips, "Yeah, I don't blame him. That's a fine piece of ass she's got there."
The other chuckled, "Hey pretty. Maybe if you behave, we'll overlook killin' you and make you the guards' trophy, eh?"
Vaya hissed, those assholes were asking her to abandon her mate to be some whore that they passed around! She cursed them and their mothers. The guards jeered and laughed, "It'll be a lot better than what your husband's probably goin' through right now."
One guard nudged the other and chuckled, "Why don't we have a little fun now? She can't fight back with those chains and the captain surely won't say anything, he promised to give us our share of women before the rest of the saiiyans were wiped out anyway."
The other chuckled and they proceeded to open the gate.
~*~
"Zafira, give me your hands," Sdhoirm said grimly. "Concentrate with all your might on your connection to me."
Zafira obeyed, while Adrian and Hitomi watched in silent wonder.
"What are you going to do?" Zafira asked. She trusted him completely, but she was curious about the plan he had in mind.
"I'm going to give you enough of my transforming powers to change you into an animal...a cat, specifically," Sdhoirm explained. "Then I'll become a falcon; it's smaller than the hawk, I can slip by the guards easily. You follow me down the hill and sneak into the stadium hall. I'll fly up and grab the keys; you catch them and put them around your neck. Hopefully you'll be able to sneak out without attracting attention."
"All right," Zafira nodded.
As Adrian and Hitomi watched, Sdhoirm took Zafira's hands and closed his eyes. Then the two of them began to glow brightly; they shrank smaller and smaller and began to change form. When the light faded, Sdhoirm had become a small gray and black falcon, which immediately shot up into the air and swooped downhill. Zafira, now in the body of a sleek white cat, followed swiftly and silently on foot.
~*~
None of the guards took notice of a small white cat that slunk along the wall into the stadium, or the storm-colored falcon that soared silently over their heads through the huge doorway.
Sdhoirm quickly caught sight of the keys hanging on a hook high up on the wall. He circled until Zafira positioned herself below. Then the falcon flitted down and grabbed the keys in his beak. They were heavier than he was, and Sdhoirm had to lower himself quickly for fear of dropping the metal ring. He struggled but managed to hover in front of Zafira, who stuck her head through the ring. Sdhoirm let go of the keys, and they hung from Zafira's neck like a collar.
Moving very slowly, Zafira managed to sneak back out of the stadium hall without making a sound. Sdhoirm flew back up to the hilltop and waited until the white cat made it up as well.
The cat and the falcon changed back into Sdhoirm and Zafira.
"Okay, first part accomplished," Sdhoirm breathed. "Now we have to get inside. The windows can be unlocked from either way, for some reason...but this is a good thing. Adrian?"
"Yeah?" Adrian asked hopefully.
"I've got a big job for you. I want you to stay here and guard Hitomi."
Adrian's jaw dropped. "Protect Hitomi? C'mon, Sdhoirm, just because I'm a teenager doesn't mean I'm stupid!"
"I know," Sdhoirm muttered absently as he watched Zafira examine the keys.
Hitomi was upset as well. "Sdhoirm! You can't just leave us here!"
"Eh..."
Finally Zafira stepped in. "You will stay here. Hitomi, you are in no condition to walk, let alone defend yourself if you have to. And Adrian, being her mate, it is your duty to guard her."
"But that's my mother and father in there!" Adrian cried.
"They're our children," Sdhoirm suddenly hissed. "How do you think we feel?"
Adrian's mouth closed, although he still looked betrayed.
"All right." Sdhoirm took Zafira's hands again and the white glow surrounded them...but this time, two hawks soared into the air once more. They took off towards the other side of the stadium.
Once they found the windows again, Sdhoirm took one key in his beak and carefully hovered, tilting his head to fit the key into the lock. He flipped his head back to turn the lock...
Nothing. It was the wrong key.
Sdhoirm dropped the keys and Zafira caught them in her beak, and tried another key in the same way. Still nothing.
Third key...nothing.
Then, on the fourth key, they heard a click and the window moved a little. Sdhoirm pushed the glass with his feathered head and beat his wings in the air. The window creaked and swung inward, allowing the two hawks to gain entrance to the upper coliseum.
They were in.
~*~
After the two reverted back to their original forms, they were greeted with two guards flying face first into the wall. The two gawked and hurried down the hall to an open cage to see a bleeding Vaya leaning against the cage, glaring and growling while holding the wound on her side.
Sdhoirm tried not to smile, but couldn't help his pride and the two rushed up to the queen to check her wounds. Almost immediately, Vaya fell into her father's arms and held him tight, "They have Vegeta...they'll kill him!"
"Shh shh...we'll take care of that, but we've got to get you to safety," Sdhoirm spoke soothingly. He looked at Zafira with a concerned look. She merely said, "You'll have to transform her and yourself and get her out of here. I'll be able to defend myself until you return." Suddenly, they heard the roar of a crowd.
"Vegeta!" Vaya yelled, trying to pull from Sdhoirm's arms and aid her mate, but he held her tight. He looked back at Zafira and nodded, "You'd better be in one piece when I return."
Zafira smiled lightly and watched as father and daughter took off.
~*~
Vaya was soon safely out of the coliseum and up on the hill with her son and daughter-in-law. Sdhoirm as a hawk soared back in through the window to find Zafira where he had left her, but smirking.
"I took the liberty of freeing our comrades while you were gone," she informed him once he had changed back. Seeing the look on Sdhoirm's face, she smiled and added, "And I told them to stay put until we carried out the plans."
"You're brilliant," he breathed. "And I've already got another idea."
"What are you going to do?" Zafira asked once more.
"A transformation...one I had hoped I wouldn't need to use..." Sdhoirm murmured, as if talking to himself.
Zafira paled slightly, but she nodded.
~*~
Back on the hilltop, Adrian was trying to take care of both his mother and his mate at the same time. Hitomi was unable to move; that was a good thing, because Vaya kept trying to fly back to the stadium to help Vegeta. However, the chains and her wounds had taken away much of her strength, so Adrian was able to keep her in one place.
Soon the two hawks came flying back and changed into Sdhoirm and Zafira again. Vaya jumped up and tugged frantically at her father's shirt.
"What are you doing? Why aren't you helping Vegeta?" she cried, sounding almost hysterical.
"Vaya, calm down!" Sdhoirm said, grabbing her shoulders. "We're going to do it, but we need your help, and Adrian and Hitomi, too."
~*~
In the stadium, the guards had tied Vegeta to a wooden board in the center of the stadium. On side of the stadium was for the spectators, and the other side was a large screen for messages and easier viewing. Vegeta's arms were spread out, and the guards drifted just out of reach, mocking his fury. The crowd roared and screamed with anticipation.
Captain Ginyu was down in the stadium arena. Since he knew that the threat of Sdhoirm and Zafira was still very large, he wanted to get rid of Vegeta as soon as possible. In light of this decision, the Ginyu leader had decided to skip the public stoning spectacle and go straight to the big finish.
"Archers, take your positions!" the purple giant ordered.
Ten strong warriors, each armed with a bow and a quiver full of arrows made from a strange bright metal, stepped into line parallel to Vegeta's wooden board. Vegeta watched them, hatred burning in his obsidian eyes.
"Ready!"
The archers pulled out their arrows.
"Aim!"
Ten arrows were fitted into ten quivers. Vegeta continued to glare darkly at them, refusing to show any fear. The arrows were drawn back with deadly accuracy...
Suddenly, there were screams and shouts of terror, and a shadow fell over the arena. Every pair of eyes looked up to see what had caused it. Captain Ginyu's mouth fell open; his eyes were wide.
A colossal green dragon soared overhead, and made a landing in the middle of the stadium. The fire lizard had enormous bat-like wings connected just above its shoulder blades. Four powerful limbs with spear-like claws crouched low to block Vegeta with its armor-scaled body. A huge coiled tail cracked like a thunderbolt and knocked the archers flying. The dragon raised its head, showing teeth like swords and eyes like glowing red orbs. But most shocking of all was the fact that the Saiyan Prince was sitting on the dragon's back.
"ALL RIGHT, EVERYBODY FREEZE WHERE YOU ARE!" Adrian yelled at the top of his lungs. "I'VE GOT A DRAGON HERE AND I'M NOT AFRAID TO USE IT!"
The members of the Galactic Revolt continued to flee for their lives, so Adrian snapped his fingers. Smoke billowed from the dragon's spiked nostrils as it opened its mouth and blew a fireball, torching the coliseum exit.
Every spectator stopped dead. Captain Ginyu was frozen over in a corner of the arena, slightly dazed and very shocked.
Adrian slid down off the dragon's back to release his father from his chains. Vegeta was gaping at the dragon the entire time.
"Is that...is that..." was all he could manage to his son.
"Yeah, Dad, it's Sdhoirm," Adrian grinned. "Just hop on up and relax. We've got everything under control."
The images of the saiiyan prince, king and the dragon soon fizzled out and were replaced with images of the former saiiyan queen.
"Visitors of Planet Frost. You have been lied to! The Ginyu and their Galactic Revolt are nothing more than a band of bigots who want control of the galaxy! Their leader, Captain Ginyu himself was Frieza's top killer before we even met him! Here is the true reason the saiiyan prince went on a rampage earlier today," Zafira spoke and the image switched to Jeiyce and Hitomi in his fortress. Her clothing was ripped and he was lying on top of her before snapping her leg, resulting in a loud snap and a scream from the prince's mate. People in the audience winced and gasped. The orange-skinned Ginyu smirked, "Now you can't run."
The image ended and Zafira's face appeared again, "Judge us now. Do you see us as cold-hearted killers that destroyed your homes, or the misjudged creatures who have suffered for the sins of their forefathers?"
There was a many-throated gasp and the crowd began murmuring and talking to each other in surprise and betrayal. Captain Ginyu sensed he was losing his grip on the alien refugees, and he pulled himself together and blew a whistle.
Almost out of nowhere appeared three more Ginyu members: the short, four-eyed Guldo, the tall, blue Burter, and a new one who was almost Burter's size with a shock of red hair on the top of his head.
"DON'T LISTEN TO THEM!" Ginyu roared to the people. "THEY ARE SAIYANS! THEY CAN'T BE TRUSTED! ONCE THEY HAVE YOUR CONFIDENCE THEY'LL SLAUGHTER YOU ALL OVER AGAIN! DON'T YOU REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED THE LAST TIME THEY MADE THIS ARGUMENT?"
The talking increased. The spectators were now split evenly; half were willing to trust the saiiyans, and half still believed in the Ginyu's ideals.
The dragon scanned the arena seats, and let its gaze come to a rest on Captain Ginyu. It made a rough snort then blew a thick cloud of smoke out of its mouth.
Zafira suddenly spoke up, "Can you really trust a man who wants to cause nothing but destruction? Our people have killed under a tyrant's shadow, but we have learned the error of our ways. Can Ginyu be trusted? If he kills us, what's to stop him of accusing other races of being unfit to live?"
There were more mutterings of agreement from the crowd. The saiiyans were winning them over...
"KILL IT!" Captain Ginyu suddenly shrieked at his men, ignoring Zafira. "I DON'T CARE HOW YOU DO IT, BUT I WANT THAT CREATURE DESTROYED!"
Guldo, Burter, and the red-haired one, Recoome, charged forward.
The dragon let out an ear-splitting shriek. Adrian turned to his father.
"You have to follow me now," he said quickly, draping Vegeta's arm over his own shoulders and sliding the two of them off the dragon's back. They touched the ground just as the dragon reared, beating the air with its powerful wings. A wind equivalent to a hurricane threatened to sweep out every person in the stadium.
The dragon rose off the ground and maneuvered itself so that it landed behind the windswept Ginyu Force, facing away from the stands. The audience members recovered from the windstorm and, too amazed to be angry, watched in suspense.
Dragon and Ginyu team eyed one another for a few tense moments. Then Captain Ginyu let out a roar of anger and they dashed forward once again.
The dragon hissed, opening its mouth to display a smoking red throat. Acid dripped from its fangs, burning holes into the ground. The clawed forearms flexed intently. The fire lizard made no other movement until the Ginyu Force was in range. Then its spiked tail flashed out and cracked like a whip, and suddenly Recoome fell in two pieces.
The three remaining Ginyu members screeched to a halt as the crowd gasped. But the dragon wasn't giving its enemies time to reconsider. It pulled its head far back on its long, snaking neck. Then it snapped its head full forward in one swift, fluid motion, shooting a jet of flame straight at the remaining Ginyu warriors.
Guldo nearly had a heart attack as he saw the flame burst forth from the dragon mouth as if in slow motion.
"STOP!" he screamed in panic.
Instantly time stood still. Guldo bounded quickly out of range of the fiery blast. Turning back, he scanned the scene with disbelief. The dragon's jaws were open in a roar of fire, its long necked arched in a serpentine curve. Captain Ginyu was in the air, just barely evading a blast that wasn't aimed for him. But even the "fastest in the universe" wasn't fast enough. Burter had been engulfed by the blazing inferno, and Guldo could see the dark outline of his former teammate, half-disintegrated by the blast.
Unable to stop time any longer, the short Green Ginyu exhaled in a rush.
When he looked back up again, his heart jumped into his throat, for the dragon was staring straight at him, catching his gaze in a piercing ray of red. Guldo tried to stop time, but he had fallen under the dragon-spell. All the great creature had to do was use one foreleg to send Guldo flying into the coliseum wall. He didn't move again.
Three down, one to go.
Captain Ginyu knew he was in danger. He had lost his squad and was coming dangerously close to losing his control over the people entirely. Plus, the dragon was following his movements with its head, like a snake before its charmer...back and forth, swaying steadily, not bothering to fly after him, just waiting for him to come within reach. So Ginyu tried a last-ditch attempt to save himself and his plans.
"MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS!" he cried to the spectators. "YOU MUST FIGHT WITH ME! THE SAIYANS HAVE SENT THEIR DRAGON DEMON TO DESTROY US ALL!"
But nobody moved. They remembered how the dragon had blocked them from its whirlwind, how it had only destroyed the exit when it could have killed them all instead. And this animal was indeed under the saiiyans' command...but they saw nothing wrong.
One by one Captain Ginyu was met with a refusal by eyes. He couldn't believe it.
"ARE YOU ALL BRAIN-DEAD?" he roared furiously. "I ORDER YOU TO GET OUT HERE AND FIGHT!"
Each and every alien in the coliseum now saw Ginyu for what he was. Shocked expressions turned to ones of anger and fury at being tricked and played upon like fools or little children. The insults and shouts that had once been directed at the saiiyans were now directed at the purple horned leader instead.
Too late, Ginyu realized his mistake. He racked his brain trying to think of a cover, but once again the dragon didn't give him the chance. Without a warning it leaped into the air with a roar and snapped Ginyu between its front teeth. He began to scream and struggle frantically, but the dragon tossed him straight up into the air and stretched out its neck, mouth open wide. Then Captain Ginyu's screams and evil schemes ended abruptly as the massive jaws snapped shut.