Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Phoenix Chronicles ❯ Dance Lessons ( Chapter 7 )
--- The Phoenix Chronicles ---
Chapter 06 - Dance Lessons
He looked up at the girl zooming through the sky above him, a carefree and very happy look plastered across her face, obviously pleased in her new mastery of the gravity defiance that is Ki-based flight. 'I should probably stop her so we can train some more,' he thought to himself, 'but I don't really want to put her in a bad mood... Ah well, I'll let her have her fun for now.'
This decision made, he walked over to a nearby tree and sat down in the shade it provided, back against its trunk, as he watched her aeronautic display. So engrossed in the show was he that he didn't notice the figure approaching until he spoke, [How's your girlfriend's training going?]
Almost on instinct alone, he replied, [She's not my girlfriend] before looking over at the speaker. He saw one of his brother's friends, who'd all become almost brothers to him when Korin died, smirking at him.
[Just keep telling yourself that, and maybe one day you'll believe it,] he replied both knowingly and teasingly at the same time.
[Don't see you with anyone,] Kaen snorted back defensively.
He just shrugged before saying, [As much fun as this is, you never answered my question.]
Kaen sighed before looking back to the sky again, watching Pi swoop gracefully through the sky, before replying. [Well, as you can see she's learnt how to fly now, but it took her longer than I thought it would to master flight, considering how quickly she started flinging blasts around. Also, her forms still need a little work, but she's not doing too badly all things considered...]
[If she needs work then why aren't you doing anything about it?] he interrupted.
Glaring mildly at him, he paused before responding, [Because she's in a good mood now, and I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts.]
[While what lasts?] a pleasant, and all-too familiar, female voice asked.
He jumped a little bit before looking in the direction of the speaker, groaning inwardly that he failed to notice that she'd finished her fun, before saying, [Nothing Pi, don't worry about it.]
She frowned, saying, [You were talking about me, weren't you?] directing her glare at the other guy, who hurried off making some excuse that involved him being needed elsewhere. With one target gone she glared at Kaen instead.
Sighing inwardly, he thought, 'Well, it was nice while it lasted,' to himself, before saying out loud, [I said don't worry about it. Now, do you want to train, or do you want to argue?]
She turned thoughtful for a moment, seemingly weighing up the pros and cons of both choices, before saying, [Alright then, what sort of training did you have in mind?]
He merely smirked and dropped into a stance before replying, [I think you can figure it out.]
She mirrored his smirk as she jumped back and took a stance herself, and time seemed to stand still as the two waited for the other to make the first move. They stood there for several minutes before Kaen's impatience finally got the best of him, and he charged forward. The two battled non-stop on the ground for a moment, Kaen obviously having the upper hand but not acting on it, before their fighting lead them to take flight, still locked in combat. Growing tired of her lacklustre performance, Kaen chose to capitalise on her more-than-obvious, to his eyes at least, flaws in style, and within seconds she was sent flying towards the ground.
She managed to stop herself before she hit the ground, and glared up at him with fire in her eyes, barking out, [What was that for!?!]
He glared back, folding his arms across his chest as he said, [That was for your pathetic performance. I know I trained you better than that, and I expect better.]
Her glared wavered slightly, unnoticeable to all but the guy it was directed at, as she replied, [I was just getting warmed up...]
He shook his head and sighed, saying, [No you weren't. I know you better than that. Just... just go home. And when you get there, could you send Oran or Lime out? Right now I think they could give me a better workout than you...]
The fire in her eyes returned with a vengeance, and she growled out, [WHAT!?! There is NO WAY that those five-month-old BRATS are better than me!] As if to get her point across, she threw a blast at his head the second she finished.
He didn't even bother to block, or to move, he just tilted his head aside at the last minute, and the blast sailed past him. Inwardly smirking, but keeping his mask of disapproval on, he said, [So, now you're aim is off too huh? Maybe I should give up while I've still got at least some faith in your abilities.]
This comment only served to make the girl madder, and without so much more as a cry of defiance she took to the sky, firing blasts all the while, fully intent on inflicting serious harm to the current, and usual, focus of her ire, him.
He just smirked and started flying backwards, weaving in-between the blasts as he did so, watching as her anger, and power level in turn, rose by the minute. Eventually, the blasts started coming too hard and fast to simply dodge, so he began firing back blasts of his own to detonate them before they reached him. Eventually they both tired of this little game of Ki dodge ball, both stopping their blasting at the same time, and Kaen smirked again as she charged him, their aerial battle resuming stronger than before, this time with neither having any obvious advantage.
However, due to her large amount of Ki usage, Pi began to tire first, but still refused to give up. Eventually, she almost passed out from exhaustion in midair, beginning to plummet back towards terra firma, but like always, Kaen was there to catch her. The last thing she saw before sleep claimed her was his smiling face, and the last thing heard was his voice saying, [See, I knew you could do better.]
*****
The Namekian ship flew unerringly towards their next destination, one which, luckily, it's pilot, had managed to locate fairly quickly, but unluckily, was still two weeks away. Said pilot, the Namek Flute, was currently meditating in the chair in front of the controls, while his unofficial co-pilot, the female Namek Viola, mimicked his actions in a chair nearby. Said female opened her eyes slightly, taking in the form of the male next to her, before quickly shutting them again, but the male in question was oblivious, and possibly even asleep, although it was hard to tell.
Meanwhile, the Saiyan mercenary Kaen was, as per usual, in the unofficial training room doing his warm-ups, under the watchful eye of his female counterpart Pi. Upon finishing his warm-up, he looked over at her and called out, "Care to do a bit of light training with me, like what we used to back home?"
She smiled, replying, "I'd love to!"
Nodding, and smirking in a way that only a Saiyan could, he fell into a stance, waiting her move. She fell into stance herself, mirroring his smirk, a smirk that any Saiyan would wear when given the chance to fight, and thought to herself, 'I know him well enough to know that his hot-blooded nature will make him attack, so I'll just bide my time...'
Noticing her apparent mindset, he just growled, "So be it," before charging, and swinging in for a right, albeit fairly slowly, at 'start of a Saiyan fight' speed. Her smirk became wider, and she grabbed his arm, using his momentum to throw him over her head. He landed on his hands easily, and swung his legs back in an attempt to knock hers out from under her, but she just jumped back and took a defensive stance.
Swinging back to his feet in the same motion, he charged again, faking another right and bringing his left knee up, to which she used her elbow to block his knee, realising the punch was a decoy, and used the force to punch into his ribs. He jumped back a bit, a smile on his face, one that only she ever saw, as he thought to himself, 'She's gotten better.' Raising his right hand in a beckoning, 'come hither' gesture, he called out, "Are you just gonna let me do all the work?"
In response, she stuck her tongue out at him and jeered, "I know you will anyway," before stancing again and making the same gesture back at him. His grin returned full force as he charged her, Zanzokening so as to appear to be attacking from both sides at once. She adapted quickly, using a roundhouse kick to keep them both at a distance, and after determining the real one, throwing a double kick in his direction. He spun to the side, her feet sailing past him harmlessly, and swung a backhand at her in the same motion, but she curled into a ball and hit the ground to dodge the blow, springing back to her feet moments later.
Standing there loosely, he smiled at her again, that same smile, as he said, "You've improved."
She smiled back in turn, replying, "And you're still as impatient as ever."
Taking his stance again, he said, "It's a shame there's only so much you can do while onboard a ship this size, but let's take it up a notch anyway."
Her face suddenly brightened with remembrance, and she chirped, "I know what we can do instead!"
A mild look of confusion crosses his face, and he raises an eyebrow before replying, "Oh?"
Her excitement showing, she continued, "When I was trying to track you down I found this really neat trick!"
He stood up, raising the other eyebrow, and replying with mild disbelief veiled in his voice, "Really?"
She nodded, saying, "Yeah, it needs two people to do it, and its supposed to make us really powerful!"
His eyes light up at the mention of the word 'powerful,' and his voice fills with enthusiasm as he replies again, "Really?"
Nodding again, she says, "I've never seen it done before, but a Natamoru traveller told me how it can be done."
He paused, scratching his chin a little as he mused, "Natamoru... I don't think I've ever heard of them before..."
She paused for a moment too, thinking a bit before saying, "I think their home world is further north in the galaxy."
He nodded, saying, "Ok then... so... what do we need to do?"
She paused again to remember, before explaining. "Ok, first we need to stand about 5 metres apart like this, arms facing away from each other..." She stood with her legs bent outwards a little, her arms both pointing right with her outstretched fingers together, "Then, we need to take 3 steps towards each other saying 'Fu-' as we do this..." She took three steps, knees out and heel facing each other, whirl winding her arms up and across her chest. "Next, we say '-Sion' as we do this..." She raised her right knee across her body, throwing her arms over her chest again. "Finally, we say 'Ha' and do this..." She lowered her knee a distance away from herself, bending towards the left with just her index fingers outstretched as she whirl winded her arms again until they rested above each other in the air a little ways further left than her left foot. "And we've gotta make sure our fingertips meet in the middle."
His face darkened slightly having seen what was expected of him, several choice remarks running through his head, but he ignored them all, simply replying, "O... k..."
She pouted a little, saying, "I know that look, you think it's a joke don't you?"
Several more choice remarks ran through his head before he sighed, knowing full well that there was no way for him to win this argument, and just muttered, "Don't say I never do anything for you woman..." before looking back at her again and saying, "Alright then, let's give it a try."
Pi smiled at this, moving Kaen's arms around like a doll until he was standing in the right position. Wisely saying nothing, he noticed the Namek's standing in the doorway, and glared at them. While Flute had a neutral expression on his face, the laughter in his eyes was more than evident, and Viola, unable to remain as stoic as her male counterpart, was laughing quietly.
Pi moved roughly five metres away from him, taking her position to mirror his, and asked, "Ready?"
Focusing his mind on what needed to be done, and shutting out the Namek's from his sight, he nodded, thinking, 'As ready as I'll ever be to make an arse of myself...'
Their first 25 attempts at the dance did not go over well, with missed steps and tripping on both their parts, their fingers never managing to make contact, perhaps for the best. By this point, Pi sat on the floor heavily, slightly disheartened at their constant failure, and Kaen crouched down next to her, placing his arm around her in a comforting gesture.
She seemed upset, and a little angry, her eyes seemingly filled with tears, as she muttered, "He said if we shared a bond it would work... maybe we don't have one..."
Holding her close before any doubts could take root in her mind, he whispered for her ears alone, "Hey, let's have none of that. You know as well as I do that these things take a while to learn. Remember how long it took us to get you flying? Look, let's just take a rest, and try again when we're more refreshed."
She smiled a little as the memories came back to her and nodded, saying, "Yeah... you're right..." before putting her arms around him, if for no other reason than to assure herself he was really there.
*****
Feeling a little weird at this display of affection, Viola wandered off back to the controls, Flute in tow, and they both sat down in their respective places. Flute spoke up first. "Too bad they didn't connect their fingers any of those times, it would have been amusing..." It was obvious for all but the densest of people that he knew more than he was letting on.
Viola raised an eyebrow as she looked over at him, saying curiously, "Why'd you trail off there?"
"The Fusion Dance technique has a lot of potential, but causing an error in the steps and connecting fingers makes the fusion process much trickier," he added.
Her face filled with confusion as she replied, "How so?"
"I am more than certain our companions will at least be able to complete the dance sooner rather than later, but doing so correctly will be another matter, so you will see soon enough," he ended.
Her face fell, as did her voice, as she said, "Is that all you're gonna tell me?"
"The effects of a misplaced Fusion Dance are random at best, what it will achieve is impossible to say," he supplied.
She blanked for a moment, her eyes distant, obviously thinking about something, before bursting into laughter. He raised an eyebrow in question before asking, "What do you find so amusing?"
Managing to contain herself for a moment, she said, "Just... trying to picture what they'd look like..." before laughter consumed her again.
He nodded slightly, a smirk on his face, before saying, "However... these are only tales I have heard of the Fusion Dance, until now I have never known how it was done, nor if it truly works..."
Her laughter subsiding, she noticed something about the way he said that, but with nothing to base her judgement as to what it was off she said nothing, instead saying, "I wonder if they're rested enough yet?" before the two head back to the rear of the ship.
*****
Finishing her drink, Pi stood up and rested slightly against the wall as Kaen looked over his head at her from his position lying face up on the floor. She smiled a little, saying, "Ready to try again?"
He swung his legs up, and used the momentum of that alone to back flip into a standing position, before looking over at her again and saying, "Whenever you are."
She smiled, and the two moved into position at their ends of the room, both of them either not noticing the pair of Nameks standing once again in the doorway, or ignoring them. Viola whispered softly, her voice loud enough for only Flute to hear, "Here we go again, time for round two."
Glancing over at each other, the Saiyan pair nodded together before looking forward and raising their arms outward. They moved through the steps of the Fusion Dance together, first stepping towards each other, swinging their arms and chanting 'Fu-', then raising their knees and throwing their arms out chanting '-Sion' and finally leaning towards each other to touch fingers with the syllable 'HA!'
Flute visibly cringed, for while the two had finally managed to finish, he'd noticed a misstep, and after the white light that filled the room had faded, a rather old and misshapen figure wearing an odd yellow and black vest with white pants stood where the Saiyans once had. Almost the second the light died, a dual voice started cursing in Saiya-Go. Flute just shook his head, muttering more to himself than anyone else, "Fortunately the Fusion Dance effect wears off in half an hour..." before the two Namek's clapped their hands over their ears to block out the noise.
*****
For half an hour, a constant string of curses easily long enough to reach all the way to Vegeta-Sei and back several times fills the ship, no single curse ever having been uttered more then once. The Nameks sigh in relief when the pair split apart again, glad that the cursing is finally over, and Pi starts giggling uncontrollably, saying "It actually worked! We messed it up, but it works!"
Kaen sighed to himself, glad to have his own body back instead of the misshapen one they shared up until moments ago, before smiling back at her and saying, "Yeah, it worked. Now that leaves me wondering what it'll be like when we get it right..."
"Well, we didn't get the body to work properly, but we shared our minds..." Pi said quietly before blushing and bowing her head.
Kaen simultaneously pales and blushes as he hears this, the thoughts that filled his head at her mentioning of the word 'bond' before returning, as he thinks, 'Oooh no, please don't let her have seen that...'
His hopes turn out for naught as Pi blushes some more, thinking, 'I can't believe he thinks I look like that when I'm naked' and quickly leaving the room. Before she gets too far, however, she comes back in and stands in front of him, pausing as if she was going to say something, before blushing again, slapping him, and hurrying away, Viola following after her.
After standing there, mouth agape, for a moment, he sighed and dropped his head, sitting down heavily on the floor, and muttering, "All things considered, I guess I got off lightly..."
Flute, who had watched most of the spectacle, approached Kaen before saying in as close to an understanding voice as any Namek has ever used, "I suppose sharing a mind can make such things unavoidable..."
Kaen sighed again before looking over at the Namek and replying, "It could have been worse. At least we both know we're thinking the same about... certain issues..." before trailing off, obviously feeling a little weird talking to a being that he thought, up until a few weeks ago, was completely asexual.
Viola walked over to Pi, a slight smile on her face, as she said, "Care to tell me what that was about?"
Pi looked up at her for a moment before saying, "It's nothing..."
"I have had... similar... experiences in sharing thoughts, chances are whatever you are worried about most right now, is what she saw most of..." Flute said, still with that understanding voice.
Kaen dropped his head again, muttering, "That's what I'm afraid of..."
Viola looked back at Pi, saying, "No-one, not even you, slaps someone for nothing."
Pi, in turn, blushed a little again, and muttered a little, but her voice was so low that the words were inaudible even to Viola's superior hearing.
Flute raised an eyebrow, saying, "That bad?"
Kaen said nothing, junk sinking down a little lower.
Thinking aloud, Flute said, "It was either to do with another woman, or something just as lewd I assume..."
Kaen just muttered in a barely audible voice, "She's changed a lot these past twelve months..."
Viola leaned in closer, saying softly, "What was that?"
"He was thinking of how I would look naked..." Pi muttered again. "... I'm not angry...just..." She blushed again.
A look of confusion filled her face for a moment before it was replaced with a knowing look, and she replied, "I think I understand."
Flute nodded, saying thoughtfully, "Hmm, I get the picture. I don't think she's mad at you, probably embarrassed."
Kaen nodded in turn, saying, "Doesn't make things any easier though..."
Pi tried to stop blushing a little to talk to Viola, but was failing miserably. Reading more into it, Viola smirked and said, "Is that all you're embarrassed about?"
Her embarrassment suddenly replaced by anger, Pi barked out, "Wouldn't you be if Flute started to imagine what you looked like without your clothes on?"
Viola backed away a bit, hands raised defensively, and refrained from saying 'Too late...', instead answering, "Well... that would... feel... weird... Personally, I'd rather not know."
She sighed, saying, "That's my point..."
"Well..." said Viola, "what are you going to do about it?"
She sighed again before replying, "Try to not become terribly embarrassed when I see him next..." and causing Viola to laugh a little.
"So, what are you going to do about it?" Flute asked.
He sighed, saying, "Try not to think about anything for the next... forever..."
"Well you seem to act without thought in most part. But back to the dance, despite your error, your combined powers raised considerably, if you were to complete it properly, you would be hard to stop." Flute responded knowingly, with a hint of humour in his voice.
Glad to be on a new topic, and slightly offended at the Namek's offhand remark about his thought capabilities, he looked up, noticing the mirth in his eyes, before replying, "I noticed too."
"From here on out when you perform the dance I will stop you if I note an error, to prevent further mishaps," Flute offered helpfully.
Kaen raised an eyebrow in response, saying, "That's assuming she even wants to anymore."
He shrugged, saying, "She's a Saiyan, I am assuming the prospect of greater power is just as appealing to her as it is you."
The Saiyan male grinned a bit, saying, "Let's hope so."
*****
Kaen looked up, noticing Pi standing in the doorway, looking at the floor, her cheeks still slightly red, and searched for the right words for a while, before saying, "Are you... we... ok?"
She gave a slight nod, saying, "Do... Do you want to try again?"
He nodded, before saying, "Only if you're sure."
She nodded again, smiling at him, and he smiled back for a moment before standing, and the two took their positions again, this time under the watchful eye of the Namek male. However, his offer was never needed, as this time they moved in perfect synch, even their breathing paced to match each other, and as the bright white light that bathed the room for a second time faded, a perfectly fused being stood in it's centre, his outfit the trademark fusion warrior outfit, his face clearly Kaen's, but his eyes were Pi's, and his hair was a cross between them both, still with Kaen's trademark flame look, but with the added feature of Pi's shortish hair hanging down.
Taking the site of the new being in for a second, Flute asked, "So, what shall we call you know?"
After throwing a few punches into the air at super fast speed to test his new strength, he paused in thought for a moment, before replying offhandedly, "I guess I'd be Kai," in a dual voice, this time a perfect synch of both Saiyans.
Flute nodded, saying, "Impressive," before turning to Viola and adding, "Perhaps it would be in our best interest to learn this technique also." Viola, in turn, looked at this new being, Kai, for a moment, in slight awe at his strength, before turning to Flute and nodding firmly.
Kai looked between the two, amusement evident on his features, as he said, "Oh, now that you've seen it work you wanna give it a try huh?"
Removing his turban, cloak and mantle, Flute simply responded, "That would be correct." After removing her cloak, Viola moved into position.
Kai smirked slightly, saying, "This should be interesting..." before continuing to test his limits.
Flute looked over at Viola, saying, "Ready?"
Looking back, she replied, "As I'll ever be..."
The two extended their arms, and, despite feeling rather silly for doing so, copied the movements they'd seen carried out by the Saiyan pair. The same white light filled the room once more, and this time there stood a male-looking Namek in the centre, with short red hair, wearing the same outfit as Kai wore.
Kai stopped in his tests to glare at this new being, before muttering, "Figures they'd get it right first time... they've been watching it for hours now..."
The combined voiced of Flute and Viola replied from behind a smirk, "After watching you both fail at it so many times, we had an advantage."
Glare still on his face, Kai barked out, "Got a name pretty boy?"
The answer was short, swift, and to the point. "Fatiel." This was followed by a quick punch or two to test his new speed, and it was a testament to his newly enhanced senses that Kai could even see them as more than unrecognizable blurs. After testing his speed, Fatiel just muttered, "An interesting development indeed."
Kai smirked again, saying, "Feels kinda weird doesn't it?"
With a shrug, Fatiel replied, "Perhaps, but it provokes thought also."
Kai's smirk turns feral as he says, "Up for a real test?"
Fatiel smirked in kind, saying just, "Indeed," before returning to the console to meditate, both to test their new awareness, and to piss Kai off.
Fatiel was successful on both counts, and he smirked as Kai's face dropped, both in disappointment and disbelief, before he started cursing to himself softly in Saiya-Go.
Shrugging, Kai went back to his tests, before noticing something off about his Ki. Forming a ball of energy between his hands much like both halves of him had done in their younger days, he was surprised when, instead of the fire red of Kaen, or the earth-colour of Pi, an deep orange ball formed there, one that gave off much more heat than Kai would have expected. Reabsorbing the ball, he muttered to himself, "Well, that's an interesting development..." before returning to his tests again.
*****
Half an hour soon passes, and Kai returns to being Kaen and Pi, followed shortly by Fatiel's return to Flute and Viola. Kaen smiled over at Pi, saying excitedly, "Now that was cool."
Pi nodded, smiling back, and saying, "See, I told you it was!"
Turning thoughtful, he said, "I never thought our elements would fuse as well..."
She stuck her tongue out at him, replying, "Fire and earth makes lava."
"I know that!" He snapped, albeit without nearly as much force as anyone else would have received, "but I still didn't think that would happen."
Still smiling, Pi let her thoughts drift to what Kaen was thinking while they were fused, and, upon noticing her semi-vacant look, Kaen immediately began worrying to himself, thinking, 'I hope I didn't think anything bad this time... How unfair if that, getting in trouble for your thoughts...' but making sure to keep this worry from showing. Suddenly, he noticed her blush and bow her head, and he groaned to himself, saying out loud, although still soft enough for only her to hear, "What was it this time..."
She stood up and faced him, and without warning threw her arms around his shoulders and kissed him. Not a kiss on the cheek like she normally did, but a proper kiss, right on the lips. Despite the shock he felt at this, he wasted no time before kissing her back. After a few minutes she broke the kiss, before smiling, giggling, and trotting off, leaving him lingering.
One eyebrow raised, he watched her leave, thinking to himself 'What brought that on? I don't remember thinking anything that would result in that...' Once she was a safe distance away, he murmured, "What's up with her..." before shaking his head and saying, "I've shared a body with her, and I'm still no closer to understanding her..."
*****
Flute sat staring out over the emptiness of space, his expression still stony, if not seemingly worried. His mind was still trying to process the information of the Namekin he received during his time fused with her, but he was partially perturbed by a small, lingering thought. 'Was she trying to picture me naked?'
*****
Viola, trying to put as much distance between herself and Flute as possible, was currently sitting in one of the rooms at the back, staring out the window much like her male counterpart, a slightly lighter shade on her face than normal. 'I can't believe I was... I blame Pi for this...'
Suddenly, Pi sat down next to her, still beaming.
Dropping her thoughts after one final one, 'To speak the name is to invoke the power...', she turned to look at Pi, taking in the girl's obvious good mood, and saying, "I take it there were better thoughts this time?"
The girl just smirked and winked at her before replying, "He was thinking only of fighting techniques, but it gave me an opportunity to do something I wanted to do for a long time, and still blame him."
Viola looked at her funny for a moment before bursting into laughter, and Pi joined her shortly after. Containing herself for a moment, Viola managed to get out, "You're evil."
She just poked her tongue out, saying, "I'm Saiyan."
Viola just shrugged, saying disinterestedly, "I fail to see the difference..."
Pi started laughing again, and Viola managed to keep her serious look for a few moments before resuming her laughter herself.
And thus, with the sound of laughter of two females, and the confusion of two males, the ship sailed on towards its next destination, the third dragon ball awaiting them.
End Chapter 06
To be continued...