The sound of birds singing and the waves washing against the beach filled the exhausted group of fighters lying in the sand with a sense of relief and tranquility. It also helped ease their aching, battered bodies and allowed them a moment of well-earned reprieve from the hell that they'd recently been put through. Even if it only lasted for a few minutes, it was a breathing opportunity they were truly grateful for.
"You know… this position feels kind of familiar to me," Gohan spoke weakly as he lay there with his cheek pressed against the soft grains of the coast.
"What… lying flat on your face and bleeding out after a ridiculously tough battle?" Zangya asked, able to see the teen clearly from where she was currently positioned, blood dripping out of her many open wounds and the spears lodged in her back. "I'm pretty sure all of us have been in that position at least once in our lives. Am I right, Vegeta?" The Hera barely had the strength to turn and glance over at the Saiyan Prince, who was also lying sprawled out beside them.
The flame haired man, one eye shut and the other open, groaned in agony, "I… am… literally… going… to die."
Gohan laughed a little at the man's raspy words, "That's kind of grim, don't you think? Besides… I bet I'll die before any of you guys do."
"Really? How much?" Zangya asked quickly, at the same time eyeing the boy curiously.
"Hmm…how about… fifty zeni?" the half-Saiyan replied jokingly, at the same time an amused grin came into play, "And a coupon for a free coffee and cake at Don Jon's."
The blue-skinned female's eyes lit-up excitedly, "You're on."
"Hate you," Vegeta groaned while glaring across at the grinning duo, "Hate you both."
"Oh, cry me a river," Paprika wheezed with a half-dead look on her face. It was pretty much the same look all four of them were currently wearing. "At least you don't have a massive hole in your stomach after just healing from having seventy percent of your skin melted off of your body."
Zangya chuckled weakly at the Makyan's current predicament, "I can beat that. I still have six, five meter spikes sticking out of mine."
"I've got pins and needles all over, and my back feels like it was just pressed up against the sun," Gohan muttered, trying not to pass out from the bolts of pain shooting through his muscles.
"Really? Let me see," the Hera spoke, craning her head a little. When the demi-Saiyan rolled over and showed her his newly acquired 'tattoo', the orange haired woman cringed. "Geez. A few more centimeters in and you would've been cut in half." She could literally see his vertebrae sticking out of the black, charred patch of skin exposed to the air. "Can you still feel your toes?"
The hybrid moaned, "Uh-huh."
"Okay, good," Zangya exclaimed, breathing a sigh of relief. "Just hang in there for a little bit, Gohan. I'm sure someone will come along and give us a hand eventually. I'm so exhausted right now I can barely even wiggle a finger."
After the group's little exchange of words, hoarse laughter suddenly filled the air. When everyone glanced in the direction the noise was coming from, they saw Vegeta's body shaking and a massive smile of pride drawn across his face. Obviously still in agony from the spectacular thrashing he'd received, the flame-haired man then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, giving himself a temporary shot of morphine to the jabbing pain where his arm used to be.
"What's so funny?" Paprika asked tiredly, not really sure she wanted to hear his answer.
Taking a few more breaths, Vegeta spoke up, "After all these years… after all the bone breaking training I had to go through… it took an enormous alien from outer space attacking the earth to finally push me to the next level." The prince then leered competitively in Gohan's direction. "I've finally closed the gap between us, brat. You're no longer the only Saiyan to have truly ascended to the second level."
The demi-Saiyan smiled right back, "That's great, man."
"You can definitely tell how happy he is from the way he's grinning," Zangya said while shaking her head. "Seriously. He looks like a kid who just came out of a candy store." She then glanced across at her friend to see him still staring in the prince's direction. "It seems as though you've got a lot more work ahead of you when you get home."
"Yeah. A lot of work." He was happy that Vegeta was able to ascend to the second level. However, his instincts and warrior's spirit told him that he needed to push himself and become even stronger. If there was a third level beyond the form that he'd attained, then he needed to train even harder if he was going to reach it.
It was personal honor and pride talking to him, and his ears were wide open to every word.
While they were still lying there, unable to move, Gohan turned his gaze towards Paprika to see the Makyan glaring at him. As soon as his eyes fell on her, the white haired girl frowned distastefully.
"What?" she asked.
The teenager beamed as soon as he was certain he had her attention, "Thanks so much for the help, Paprika. You really saved us back there."
Narrowing her eyes, the Makyan shut them and turned away, "Don't mention it. Just remember, this battle doesn't change anything between us. I'm still pissed at you… and I'm still going to kick your ass one of these days."
Understanding this much, the young demi-Saiyan gave a weak chuckle and nodded towards her. "And thanks for saving my little brother. If you hadn't jumped in when you did, I'm pretty sure he would be dead right now. I'm really grateful for that."
His second offering of gratitude was received with a much softer and agreeable response from the normally hostile fighter. Looking across at the teen to see his kind, gentle smile glued onto her, Paprika quickly rolled her head away and grunted, her expression reflecting a sense of bashfulness and discomfort. "You're welcome." Thanks to the way she'd moved her face out of view, Gohan couldn't see her eyes as they started to shimmer and the small smile that appeared on her face.
The group only had to lie there for a couple more minutes, after which they were shortly joined by the rest of their friends. Dropping down from the sky around them, the elated and smiling faces of the other Z-warriors came to stand before the four fallen fighters. As soon as they touched down, Videl wasted no time in breaking ranks, rushing forward and dropping to her knees beside her best friend.
"Gohan! Gohan! Are you alright?" the raven haired tomboy asked, gently taking him by the shoulder and looking him over. She cringed when her eyes landed on his back. "Whoa. Yeah. You're not alright." Far from it.
The hybrid smiled warmly at his concerned companion, "Don't worry. I'm alright. Just a little sore."
Krillin, who was standing beside his wife, gave the exhausted teen with the char grilled spine an amused once over, "You took a concentrated kill shot in the back. That must have hurt like hell."
"Oh yeah. Definitely. My body's deep fried," Gohan exclaimed, giving a little chuckle before cringing painfully. "Ah-ha-ow. It hurts to laugh."
Videl's expression saddened as she knelt there, "I'm sorry. It was stupid of me to get in the way."
Sensing her sudden change in moods and seeing her respond in a dejected manner, the half-Saiyan lying on the ground smiled and, using whatever strength he could muster, reached over and took her hand. "Hey… it's alright. Everyone was having a rough time out there. Don't go beating yourself up over it. Besides… there was no way I was going to let that thing kill you." His words, though raspy and low, brought a smile back to Videl's face and filled her heart with reassurance. But just before she could say anything in response, Gohan winced again and directed his gaze towards his belt. "I should still have some Senzu beans left. They're on my left side."
"Oh? Yeah. Sure." Acting quickly, Videl reached over and began rummaging through the teen's belt. When she eventually got the bag, she yanked it out and emptied it into her open palm. She blinked when only three rolled out. "Umm… this is a problem." She then showed them to Gohan, who considered the collection of miracle seeds for a moment.
A smile then appeared and he gestured upwards, "Give them to Paprika, Zangya and Vegeta."
Videl and the others reacted to his instruction with surprise, "Eh? W-What about you?"
"It's okay. I'll be fine as long as I don't move. Just make sure the others get them first…"
Processing his words soon drew an admiring gaze from the raven haired fighter.
It was a statement that put a grin on Yamcha's face, who shared a look with Tien and the others. "That's Goku's kid alright."
Doing as requested, Videl moved over to the Makyan first and slipped a bean into her mouth. Making sure she chewed and swallowed it, she then looked on in amazement as the gaping wound in her body closed up and life slowly returned to her face. As she started to get up, the human teenager then moved over to Zangya, where she, Android 18 and Piccolo proceeded to remove the spears from her battered body. After a long and painful procedure, they then gave her a bean so that her multiple puncture wounds healed and her strength returned. This then led their attention being directed over to Vegeta, who spoke up just as the raven haired girl was moving to give a Senzu to him.
"Don't give me a bean," the man snapped.
Videl recoiled at his response, "Huh? Why?"
"If you haven't noticed yet, I'm still missing a fucking arm. While I'm sure those retched things are ideal for restoring a person's vitality, I doubt they have the ability to regenerate limbs," the prince stated, glaring across at the group while Zangya got to her feet.
Rubbing the soreness out of her shoulder, the orange haired woman looked down at the two fallen Saiyans curiously, "Oh yeah. If you take a Senzu bean now, it will just seal up the wound and it'll take forever to have your arm reattached." The Hera's words had the rest of the group scrunch their faces up discomfortingly at the issue. As soon as that concern was raised, Zangya began searching the area, "It couldn't have gone too far."
Giving a thoughtful grunt, the slightly battered Android 17 turned his attention to the decimated countryside beyond the beachhead they were gathered on. "Even if it didn't, how in the world are you going to find it in all that mess?" The once pristine countryside was now a deep-fried wasteland. It was a miracle there were still a few trees and plateaus left standing.
"There's a good chance it could've been disintegrated in all the explosions that were going on," Tien spoke, earning a grim look from a couple other members of their team.
Being helped up onto the shoulders of Krillin and Android 18, Gohan cringed a little. "That would kind of suck."
Undeterred by the comments being thrown this way and that, the Saiyan Prince frowned distastefully and continued blurting out hints. "I was a Super Saiyan when I lost it… so it probably should still have some residual energy left inside it," Vegeta informed, giving them a clue as to how they could track down his missing extremity. "If it's out there, you should be able to find it."
However, just before any of them could throw themselves into action and begin a search, all eyes turned skywards when a pair of tiny figures suddenly descended from the clouds. Landing on the beach a few yards away, an excited Goten and Trunks jogged forward with a familiar looking accessory in their hands. The lavender haired child grinned when he stopped before the group of battered Z-fighters and showed them their prize.
"Hey, dad. Look what we found in the woods!" the boy chirped, holding up his father's gloved arm.
"It was sitting out there in the open glowing, so we grabbed it before any animals could," Goten also stated, both of them appearing proud at having found the prince's limb intact.
Faces reflecting astonishment, the Z-fighters then watched the kids jog forward. When they got close enough to the strongest members of the team, Zangya quickly confiscated the arm and turned around, where she saw a couple of the human fighters, namely Videl, Chiaotzu, Krillin and Yamcha, lean away at the sight of the appendage. Tien, Piccolo, Android 17, Android 18 and Paprika on the other hand were unfazed and simply looked on as the Hera inspected the limb and turn to the owner. When she saw Vegeta sit up, she gave him a lopsided grin.
"We're… gonna need some help putting this back on," she remarked, earning a nod of agreement from the exhausted prince.
Even though they were the most powerful fighters on the planet, all of them were completely abysmal at the art of surgery and healing.
They needed professional assistance.
While the group began making plans as to what their next courses of action would be, Goten noticed that another member of their group was back on her feet. Grin appearing on his once confused expression, the spiky haired child quickly rushed over to the green-skinned girl with a spring in his step and a joyous giggle in his voice. "Paprika! You're okay!" He immediately skidded to a stop in front of her.
The white haired girl, arms folded, smiled down at the child, "Of course I am, runt. Didn't I tell you that I would be alright?"
"Uh-huh. You did," Goten nodded, beaming at his friend as she stood there proudly in the sand. After several moments of smiling though, the child's expression suddenly changed and, tilting his head observantly, quickly leaned forward to whisper. "Uhh… Paprika?"
"Hm? What is it?"
"Umm… y-your shirt…" the boy murmured and nodded down to her chest discreetly, at the same time cupping her hands in front of him timidly, "You're nakey."
At first perplexed by his words, the girl then looked down to see what the problem was. As it turns out, when she jumped in to deflect the blast fired by Zeru, her entire top as well as most of her front had been incinerated in the beam. As soon as she recovered from her brush with death, she'd been so hasty in jumping in front of another of the alien's attacks that she'd forgotten to repair her clothing.
Now that she was conscious and fully healed, all of her skin and extremities were back in their rightful places… all of them.
Looking up with a start, the Makyan saw that all of the fighters in the area were staring at her. It was a sight that had the teenager shriek and cover up her chest. The second her eyes fixed on the group, she watched as every single one of them turned away and started acting nonchalant, save for Vegeta and Android 18. Both of them just looked away to glare somewhere else.
Face glowing brightly Paprika quickly focused her ire on the one she blamed for pretty much everything in her life. Poor Gohan didn't even see it coming, "YOU! You knew?!"
The teen, hanging off of his friend's shoulders, recoiled slightly at her sudden shout, "What? N-No!"
"You pig! You could've at least told me!"
"Honestly, after everything we had to go through today, having a naked upper body was the last thing on my mind!"
"Yeah. I'm sure it was." Turning away while making certain her ample bosom was covered, Paprika sneered, "Did you get a good look? Huh? Pervert!"
"I swear, Paprika! I didn't!" Gohan defended weakly, unable to stop the sweat pouring down his face. "Please. You have to believe me." If he was able to move, he would've quickly backed away a few steps and put his hands together in a humble gesture. Unfortunately, he could do neither of those things. All he was capable of at the moment was hanging their over Krillin and Eighteen's shoulders and feel uncomfortable.
With her face glowing red and a fierce glare still in play, the incredibly irritated Paprika then focused her glare on the others standing around her. When she did, all of the male warriors quickly averted their gazes once again, leaving the girls standing there and looking awkward. Trunks was also blushing quite a bit, whereas Goten continued to stand in front of his friend with that ever-innocent look reflected in his gaze.
Several seconds of huffing later, the Makyan then made a decision. "Whatever." She then powered up and shot into the sky, disappearing over the horizon.
Staring after her until her vapor trail faded away, Goten turned to look back at his older brother, who breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well… that could've been a lot worse."
Thank Kai she didn't slap him or anything. As he was, he wouldn't have been able to take a finger poke, much less a backhand.
Unbeknownst to the group, as they were all standing around the beach and recovering, the sparkling dust that was the monstrous invader's remains cascading to the earth proceeded to purify the landscape. Wherever the shining particles landed, plants began to grow and water returned to the rivers and lakes, at the same time the life energy of the planet was returned to the soil.
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