I awoke. My head was tilted at a strange angle against a cold metal wall; cold metal was also under my fingertips as the floor. Raising up, I gently touched the back of my head. Curse that retarded Ginyu. Why was someone always giving me more bumps and scars?
"I'm glad you're finally awake. I've been up forever."
I turned. Krillin sat beside me and Gohan lay asleep on the other side of him.
"How- how did we get here?" I asked him.
"That last Ginyu force guy managed to knock us all out and put us inside Frieza's ship. We had just came back when he appeared out of nowhere and attacked us. Gohan and me had no chance. When we woke up, we were here."
I looked around. We were in a tiny room like a prison cell except there were no bars or apparent restrictions to keep us in.
"It's a force field," explained Krillin. He held up his left hand, showing burns across the palm. "I think it's activated by power readings. I found that out the hard way."
"Gosh, Krillin!" I grasped his hand carefully, making sure he was ok. Thankfully, the burns were minor. "At least it wasn't your head!"
He chuckled and I smiled. "But seriously, Krillin. How do we get out of here?"
"We don't," he said simply. "Believe me, I've tried everything. So did Gohan, before he gave up and went back to sleep. Face it, Ally. We're done for."
I shook my head fiercely. "I can't die here. Not by Frieza's hand. There has to be a way out! What did you say about the force field?"
"It's activated by sensors that read power levels. Otherwise, we could just walk out of here. And we could, if we weren't alive, that is."
"Krillin!" I cried excitedly. "You're a genius!" I kissed his bald head, leaving him stunned.
"I- I am?"
"You said the force field is only activated when someone with a power reading steps in front of it, right? So Nail told me that he couldn't sense my power level. It was as if I were dead!"
"Gokou said the same thing once. And I've noticed it too, but maybe it's just because your power . . . " He faltered.
"Or maybe it's because I'm from a different world! Krillin, this is it! The force field won't be able to sense me so maybe I can walk right through it."
"That's a lot of 'maybes'," Krillin said, not too sure. "You can't, Ally. You'll be fried. It's too crazy."
"No, my friend. This is the only thing that makes sense. The best of both worlds. Power from here, no power from home. It's just gotta work! Wake up the little squirt, Krillin. We're out of here!"
Krillin did as I said without a word, explaining quietly to Gohan what was going on. I stood, squaring my shoulders and surveying the holes from which the force field might spring. It's now or never, I told myself.
"Well, here goes," I said aloud, and we all held our breath as I close my eyes and stepped out of the cell. Nothing happened. No beams came rushing out to electrocute me. I was intact and on the side of freedom.
Gohan and Krillin stared at me, then threw up their hands and cheered.
"What now?" I asked for they were still trapped inside.
"There should be a button or something that shuts off the force field," said Krillin.
"Yeah," Gohan agreed. "I saw one over there behind that panel. That's it. Right there."
I found the button he was pointing to and pushed it. There was a faint humming sound as the force field powered down and shut off. The guys tentatively stuck a foot out and, grinning brightly, stepped all the way across to safety.
"Alright," said Krillin, grabbing my hand. "Let's get going." They powered up and we took off down the corridor.
Danger after danger. Was this how my life in Dragon Ball Z lunacy was to be? That is, if I lived long enough to make a life. What are you saying, Ally? You're not going to be here that long. I'm not staying here long enough to form any sort of makeshift existence. I was leaving as soon as I could. Too many people wanted me dead like Frieza would once he found out who wished on his Dragonballs. And of course Vegeta . . . Girl, what's wrong with you? You've got to stop thinking of that crazy Saiya-jin. Frieza's the target. Frieza's the goal, the focus.
Suddenly an idea hit me like a truckload of bricks. Why hadn't I thought of this before? Here I was flying around inside Frieza's ride home and it had never crossed my mind to do some damage.
"Stop, Krillin!"
Startled, he slowed down. "What is it? Are we being followed?"
"Listen, guys," I said. "I want you two to get out of here as fast as you can."
"Huh? What about you?"
"I'll be fine. Frieza won't be expecting an attack from inside his own ship and I intend to strand him on Namek."
"We'll help!" said Gohan, balling up his little hands to show he was ready.
"No, Gohan. I can do this myself. Promise me you'll get as far away from this place as possible."
"I promise," Gohan said unhappily.
"But, Ally," argued Krillin. "It's too dangerous. What if-"
"Promise me, Krillin!"
"Oh, alright," he muttered. "I promise. Just . . . just don't get yourself in trouble, ok?"
"Krillin, trouble seems to follow me wherever I am. Now go, you two!"
Krillin nodded and I watched them vanish down the hall.
Alright. Down to business. Using the wall as a support, I ambled on alone. There had to be some sort of generator or control panel that I could blow up to disable this ship. I had to elude a few stationed guards but basically the ship was abandoned. Apparently they were either all with Frieza or there just weren't any soldiers left alive.
Finally I found what I was looking for. The area before me opened up into a broad room. In the center was a large, upright cylinder. The power source. And spread along the walls were the controls. The room was deserted.
I smiled a little to myself. All too easy. The next step was finding a way to do the damage. Ah, this would work. I picked up a chair and hurled it at the panel with what little strength I had left. The chair crashed into the controls, sending sparks flying everywhere. Glass shattered and wires lay active and venerable. There was nothing else for me to throw at it and I saw no other choice. I searched within myself, searching for the key I had found when those two Ginyu Force warriors captured me. It came to me quicker than before, I could feel it. Not knowing exactly what I should do, I pointed my finger at the exposed wires and, well, fired. A blue ki shot from my fingertip and caused the panels to explode.
"What the hell was that?!"
I glanced over my shoulder. In the doorway stood Captain Ginyu, a look of pure horror on his face. It turned to pure hatred when he saw me.
"We meet again," I said dryly.
"You fool!" he screamed at me, rushing over and grabbing the folds of my already ripped shirt. "Don't you realize what you've done?! That blast will set off the self-destruct system!"
I laughed blandly. "Good."
He bared his sharp teeth. "I'll rip your heart out!"
"I think not, Ginyu," I said evenly. "You don't have time to mess with me. Go back to your master and tell him what this puny female has done to his precious ship."
Stunned, he dropped me and staggered back. Warning sirens had started up and red strobe lights lit up his shocked face.
I just stood there. "Well? Get going. And one more thing, Ginyu. Be sure that Frieza knows that the same girl who blew up his ship and killed two of his best fighters, also smothered his dream of ever becoming immortal. The Dragonballs won't be able to make his wish for another year and by then, he will be dead."
Captain Ginyu, not taking his eyes off me, backed out of the room and fled.
I began to breathe again, but in vain. A synthesized voice came over an intercom and stated calmly . . .
"Twenty seconds until detonation."
* * *
Krillin and Gohan stumbled out into the bright sunshine. They had heard the voice counting the time away but Ally was nowhere to be seen. They flew a safe distance away to wait and when the voice announced only twenty seconds remained, terror found its way to them. Gokou had felt the disturbance and came running, Vegeta on his heels.
"Stay back, Gokou!" called Krillin. "It's gonna blow!"
"Where's Ally?"
"Inside, Dad," said Gohan quietly. "Ginyu captured all three of us but Ally was able to get out and release us too. But then she wanted to destroy Frieza's ship so she made us promise to go on without her."
"She's in there alone, Gokou," said Krillin. "She managed to trigger the self destruct but I haven't seen her since we split up."
"I'm going in after her."
"Fifteen seconds until detonation."
"It's too late!" cried Gohan.
* * *
The calm announcement that I had twenty seconds- and counting- to live send a nauseating wave of panic washing over me like nothing I had ever felt before. Suddenly the pain in my ankle, the mysterious burns across my chest, and the multitude of bruises were a million miles away and I had one thought and one thought only- to get out of this ship before I was splattered over the ground in pieces. Run! Run! Run! The panic chanted over and over and run I did. I had never ran that fast in my entire life but the panic kept my legs pumping long after blood trailed behind me.
"Fifteen seconds until detonation."
I was crying now, so close to death I felt. A million questions raced through my brain. What would happen if I died here? Would my body turn up back home on the side of the road or in some overgrown field? Or would I simply vanish, never to be known again? Why had the Eternal Dragon picked me? Why was I being forced through hell time and time again? Why? Just plain why, why, why?!
Light! A sob broke through my closed throat and I burst out of the door and into the light. I was outside! Outside the ship!
Run, run, the panic still urged. Get as far away as you can in-
"Ten seconds until detonation."
No, no, no, no. Not enough time. Get going, get going! I heard someone shouting at me, probably Gokou. But I stayed focused on my goal: a large outcrop of rock that could serve as my shield.
Almost greedily I reached it and turned to watch the fireworks.
"No!"
Vegeta stood with his back to me, mere yards from the ship. That idiot! Didn't he know it was about to explode?!
I started yelling at him to get back but either he ignored me or my voice didn't carry over to him because he just stood there in no real concern.
"Fly!" I screamed at him. Gokou, Krillin, and Gohan were doing the same but the Saiya-jin Prince was lost in thought.
"Five seconds until detonation."
He heard that; I saw him flinch. But still he didn't flee, taking a few steps- if possible- closer to the ship. I threw curses at him, every foul word I had heard in my life.
"Four seconds until detonation."
The voice was counting down to our doom now, Vegeta's doom. Then it hit me. I don't know why I did what I did next. Vegeta had been nothing but cruel to me. Even words weren't needed when he would rip me apart with an icy stare. But yet I found myself back on my feet and out of my protective hiding place.
"Three seconds until detonation."
"Vegeta!" I cried and sprinted toward him with all my might.
"Two seconds until detonation."
Everything seemed to slow down. I was running toward him and he sensed something, looking over his shoulder. His dark eyes held the usual pride and contempt until he saw me coming toward him at top speed. Then they widened with something I had never seen in Vegeta: surprise.
He mouthed, "What the-"
"One second until detonation."
In one last desperate move, I threw myself into Vegeta, knocking him to the ground. We were still in the air when everything grew deathly silent right before Frieza's ship exploded. I covered Vegeta with my own body, shielding him from flying pieces of metal. The blast threatened to flip me off of the Saiya-jin Prince but I clung on, living muscle beneath me, to save my own wretched life. I would have surely been smashed to death against the rocks had I not dug my nails into his perfect skin.
Then all was quiet, my heart thumped loud in my chest. Vegeta was breathing in ragged gasps that blew up puffs of dust. I realized I was still on top of him and rolled off in one painful movement. It hurt just to lay there. I looked over at Vegeta who was slowly raising up on his arms.
"Vegeta? You ok?"
He turned over on his back roughly. "Don't . . . you . . . ever . . . touch me . . . again," he growled between gasps.
I stared up at the sky in disbelief. Vegeta got to his feet, wavered, glared down at me, and stumbled off. Gokou and the others came running. Gokou stopped to saying something to Vegeta who shoved him away, baring his teeth. Krillin and Gohan dropped down on either side of me. They had a few scrapes- Gohan had a gash over one eye- but were otherwise unhurt.
"You did it!" Krillin cried, laughing. "Frieza won't know what hit him!"
"Oh, he'll know all right. You didn't happen to see Ginyu escape, did you?"
"Actually, yes. He flew off with ten seconds to spare and got away."
"Good," I said, relieved. "Frieza will get my message then."
"What message?" piped Gohan.
I grinned. "Oh, only that he won't be getting his wish after all."
"You were the one who called the Eternal Dragon?" Gohan's eyes were wide.
I ruffled his hair, laughing. "You'll be seeing your teacher soon, Gohan."
The little boy's face lit up and a huge smile spread across his face. "Piccolo? Piccolo's back? And he's coming here?" He yelped for joy, jumping to his feet, and running over to Gokou who was coming toward us. Vegeta had disappeared.
"Daddy!" Gohan cried, and Gokou scooped him up in his arms. "Ally wished on the dragonballs to stop Frieza and guess what! She wished for Piccolo to be brought back to this dimension! And he's coming here to help us fight Frieza!"
Gokou smiled and looked quizzically at me.
"Ginyu left the Dragonballs unguarded," I explained. "I knew how much we needed help and the deep affection Gohan has for the big guy so I wished him alive and to be brought here."
"Well, it will be great to see Piccolo again," Gokou agreed with his beaming son.
"When will he get here?" Gohan asked me.
I grinned again. "Why, he's here now."