Regal approached the engine room and sighed. “Scallop!” she called angrily. “You know it’s time to train! Will you finally start adhering to my schedule?”
“Working with a weak-willed traitor like you makes me sick!” Scallop called from her nest on the other side of the door. Regal had offered her a sleeping quarter, but Scallop refused to rest near Regal.
Regal sighed again and unlocked the door. “You don’t have admin privileges on this ship. You do realize how polite I’m being, asking you to come out on your own?” She approached Scallop and dragged her by the arm out of the engine room.
“Your manners show your weakness of heart, and your resorting to violence shows your weakness of character!”
Regal ignored the rest of Scallop’s indignant rant. She had long accepted that the former Demon Clan member was looking for any excuse to lash out. She certainly had a bleak-looking future, and likely was struggling with her decision to leave all her friends and family behind. But Regal’s patience was wearing thin, despite being understanding of the situation. She made many attempts to be supportive and friendly, to ease tensions in some way, and Scallop rejected her each time.
So, this had become their daily routine. Regal threw Scallop into the gravity chamber, far on the other side, and turned the gravity up to 100G. The shift caused Scallop to stumble and fall on her return trip to attack Regal. “Once more, I advise you to follow me in retraining your body from the basics and work on your forms today,” Regal said. “I’ll admit, you’ve made progress at this level, but you won’t survive 110G next week at this rate.”
“Shut up and die!” Scallop yelled, getting back to her feet and charging in at Regal with stunted movements. Regal blocked her attack and continued to interact with Scallop’s assault as if she were a training partner helping her with her blocking systems. She held onto her frustrations and saved them for the sparring match later in the day. Regal certainly had plenty of frustration with Scallop, because of the incredible optimism that her presence on the ship afforded her. Having Scallop at her side meant Regal had a chance of defeating Malacol, in her mind, and only because she genuinely believed that was Scallop’s uncooperative, bratty attitude so intolerable. Two months had passed this way. The two were no closer to getting the second ball they were chasing, and it soon looked like either the Saiyans or Demon Clan would gather the rest.
The security alert went off. After the last time the Rainbow Stocking changed course without telling her, Regal put in place a series of alerts to ensure she stayed up to date on the ship’s course and the location of enemy vessels. Knocking Scallop away, Regal turned the gravity down and went to the control seat. There, she saw that this time, the alert was warning her about a trio of ships heading for them. “Looks like more of your friends are here to play,” said Regal as Scallop entered the room. Several teams of Demon Clan hunters had attacked the ship over the last couple of months, looking to kill Scallop as a traitor. None were a particular challenge for Regal, though she was angry with the time they wasted.
“We’ll be fine,” said Scallop, who turned the forcefield on. “I’ll take care of this one.”
Regal rolled her eyes. Scallop always said this, and never was able to keep that promise. She went to the airlock and grabbed her spacesuit. She tossed the other to Scallop. “Get ready.”
“Why?” Scallop asked. “They won’t exhaust their weapons charges against the forcefield for at least half an hour. I refuse to wear that inferior Earth garb unless I have to.”
Once the enemy ships were in range, they opened fire, pelting the forcefield with lasers and plasma charges. Regal calmly sat by the airlock door, waiting. As Scallop said, it would likely be a half-hour or more, since she didn’t want to risk damaging the Rainbow Stocking. However, this attack was different. Instead of trying to destroy the ship where it stood, once the enemy ships were on top of the Rainbow Stocking, they fired continuously on the forcefield, pushing it away from themselves. With a carefully organized assault, the Demon Clan pursuers were actually able to direct the Rainbow Stocking’s path, pushing it towards a nearby planet. Getting up to the command seat, Regal got a better read on the situation and tried taking evasive action to get out of the controlled path. Unfortunately, her meager skills as a pilot were unable to match the precision and teamwork of the enemy ships, which changed their angle of fire to keep the Rainbow Stocking in line.
“What are you doing, you idiot?!” Scallop yelled at Regal. “Get us out of this! Did a dog teach you how to fly a ship!?”
Regal’s focus was pulled back and forth sharply from trying to pilot the ship and her extreme anger at Scallop for choosing this moment to be insulting, and so she had little recollection of what she said or did as the ship was pushed into the atmosphere. Soon, the Rainbow Stocking had crashed into the surface, with the three ships quickly afterwards depleting their weapons charges against the forcefield.
The planet was cool, and they landed in a vast forest. The sky was clear. The Demon Clan ships hovered around the Rainbow Stocking, and soldiers poured out and took positions. Regal turned to Scallop and growled. “Did you really think all that yelling was helping?!” She shot out of the command seat and went for the door.
Scallop followed. “You’re just a dimwitted, ill-equipped moron who…” Regal tuned out the rest. It was nothing she hadn’t heard before, though she did feel she should have been more prepared as a pilot. But she cheered herself up as she thought of a plan.
Regal and Scallop emerged from the ship with over a dozen mutant Namekians waiting to tear into them as soon as the forcefield came down. Regal removed the four-star ball from her pocket, to everyone’s surprise, and swallowed it. “If you want it, you have to kill me!” she announced.
Scallop was incensed. “You idiot! Why would you—” Regal grabbed Scallop and threw her towards the forcefield. Just before she hit it, Regal used the remote to turn it off, causing Scallop to crash into the soldiers on the other side. The Demon Clan soldiers quickly rushed in at Scallop, who struggled a moment in her shock. After regaining her wits, she started deflecting all the strikes coming at her, and soon had fought her way back to her feet. With a few quick strikes, she slew all her attackers. Looking around, she found that the others had all been defeated by Regal, successfully using the distraction to pick them off. Scallop scowled. “I demand an apology!”
Regal laughed. “You were fine in the end.”
Out from the lead Demon Clan ship came an imposing officer, tall, with lighter skin. “Oh, no,” Scallop said. “It’s Radula!”
“Should I be worried?” Regal asked.
“Mantle would have been,” said Scallop.
Radula laughed. “I always pitied the soldiers who had to work for Mantle!” she said. “And since you’ve killed all of mine, I’ll personally be taking both your heads back to Malacol!”
The three took their stances. Before the battle could begin, however, sounds in the forest made it clear there were others surrounding the three aliens. “Wait,” Regal told Scallop. From the forest appeared a large group of Namekian warriors with four arms, four antennae, and crowns of horns on their heads, the native tribe of this planet.
One of these warriors stepped forward, cloaked in grey robes with a red cape affixed to her neck like a scarf. “I am Chamma, head warrior!” she introduced herself. “I don’t care what any of you Demon Clanspeople are doing. You could be invading this world. You could be in-fighting. You could even surrender to me right now, it wouldn’t change the fact that I will kill you right here and now. There is no mercy for demons!”
Radula laughed at her audacity. “Please, listen—” Regal started to say.
“Like I’d accept your mercy!” Scallop snapped. As Regal had guessed, Scallop was not prepared to handle this sort of pressure. “I’ll kill everyone in my way! I am my own Namekian, and I will not be threatened by some backwater lowlifes!”
Regal cursed Scallop and tried to stop her as she lunged at Chamma. Radula got to Scallop first, slamming her into the ground. “Malacol wouldn’t accept it if I let these wimps kill you for me!” Radula said. Several of the native Namekians caught onto and swarmed Regal, pulling her away from Scallop and Radula.
Radula overwhelmed Scallop with her sheer ferocity, opening up with a full force attack and not relenting in the assault. Outside of this, she and Radula were also pelted by chi blasts from Chamma and her warriors. Already beyond stressed with this entire ordeal, Scallop felt completely helpless with this attack from all sides, and she couldn’t stand it.
Radula growled and released an explosive wave, repelling the native assault. Chamma rushed in and engaged with Radula directly, while three others charged in at Scallop. Though Scallop was still on a razor’s edge, she found her attackers manageable. “I’ll kill you all!” she told them.
Frustrated with how even the fight felt with Chamma, Radula growled in anger. She got some distance from Chamma and pointed to Regal’s battle. “The other demon there is going to slaughter your warriors at this rate!” she said.
Chamma looked over at the battle. “Indeed, that one looks superior to their abilities,” she agreed.
“So you should go take her down while I kill this one here, right? What does it matter to you as long as we all die?”
Though disapproving of a Demon Clan member telling her what to do, Chamma was worried what Regal would do to her fellow warriors. “You three!” she called to her warriors fighting Scallop. “Come with me! We’ll make quick work of that one over there! Once that’s done, we’ll come back and concentrate our efforts on these two!” The soldiers nodded and followed Chamma’s retreat towards Regal. Radula rushed back in at Scallop once more.
Regal was struggling with her battle, having to hold back so much. She had no interest in killing, or even injuring, her attackers. “I’m telling you, I’m not a—” Regal continued to explain, before she was interrupted by another punch to the face. Chamma and her three fellows joined in the battle. “Chamma, I’m not in the Demon Clan!” Regal told her. “Neither is Scallop! She defected from the Demon Clan, and we’re being hunted for it!”
Chamma scoffed. “Seems more likely to me that the loser Grand Elder’s pawn joined the winning side,” she said. “Or maybe you’re trying to take over. Either way, no one would be dumb enough to believe one of Malacol’s children would turn against her!”
Gritting her teeth, Regal focused all her efforts on defense, bemoaning how undignified she was. She had also wondered how genuine Scallop’s rebellion was these last two months, but felt convinced it had to be real. “I’ll kill you if you don’t put up more effort!” Chamma told Regal.
“You’ll never be able to,” Regal said. “I’m more worried about Scallop.”
Scallop, still frazzled, was on the defensive from the imposing Radula. She was alone in that battle, surrounded by enemies on all sides. The past two months, she had been trapped on a ship with Regal, who she still believed would kill her once she was no more use. Out in space, all her former friends and allies were hunting her down. She was alone and had no way forward.
Radula slammed Scallop in the gut and then kicked her down into the ground. She charged up a powerful energy bomb and threw it into the crater, causing a massive explosion that rocked the planet. She laughed as she descended to the center of the pit. “You were always a sorry excuse for an officer!” she said. “Like you’d ever amount to anything!”
Blinking, Scallop realized that was supposed to be Radula’s big show of force. The battle had been difficult, but she had been sure Radula was holding back; Regal gave her even harder fights in training sessions, slowed down by 100G of added weight. For a moment, Scallop caught herself feeling on the same side as Regal, but immediately put that thought aside. With a chuckle, Scallop got back up and popped her neck, feeling stronger.
Radula laughed. “What, you think you’re going to—” Scallop interrupted Radula’s condescending threat with a knee to the head. With a concentrated, intense attack, Scallop drove Radula back through the forest. Eventually, she backed Radula into a large boulder and beat her into it.
Scallop charged energy over her fist. “Who’s amounting to what?” she asked. “Now, I’ll do you the kindness of sending you to death with your favorite technique! Barbas!” Scallop slammed her energy-clad fist through Radula’s head.
Scallop looked to the sky and roared. While she stood there, reveling in self-congratulations, Chamma rushed in and attacked her from behind. Scallop was knocked through a few trees, which then fell on her. “That one there is proving gutless,” Chamma said. “I’ll collect on Radula’s promise before going back there.”
Scallop shot back up. “I’m not afraid of you! I’ll kill you just like I killed her!”
Regal was initially pleased to see Scallop defeat Radula, but became concerned once more when Chamma separated from the group. She tried following, but the native warriors held her back. She was desperate to go aid Scallop and ensure her survival, but she was reluctant to let loose on these misguided warriors. Part of her knew she would think and act the same in their position.
Scallop cried out in pain as Chamma devastated her in battle. Hearing it, Regal was reminded how important Scallop had become to her. With a glint in her eye, Regal started dispatching with her attackers one by one, leaving them unconscious on the forest floor. Someone was going to get hurt and lose that day, and it wouldn’t be her.
Chamma held Scallop by the throat, another hand pulled back for a strike through the heart. Even limp in this death grip, Scallop scowled with indignant anger. “I’m really gonna love killing you!” she said. “Then I’ll kill Regal, and we’ll see who’s on top!”
Chamma sighed at the myopic attitude of the damned and thrust her hand forward.
Regal arrived and stopped it, just a few of Chamma’s nails piercing Scallop’s skin. Chamma was shocked at the sheer force applied to her wrist. Regal pressed her thumb into a pressure point in the wrist of the hand Chamma held Scallop with, causing her to release Scallop. Looking down, Regal sighed. “You have so long to go before you could kill either of us.”
Chamma regained her composure and repelled Regal with her other two hands. “Why are you helping the Demon Clan?!” she demanded to know. “Especially such a sloppy, poor excuse for an officer like her!” Scallop growled and fired a beam from her mouth at Chamma, who responded with a beam of her own, placing all four of her hands together to fire.
Regal stood in the middle of these blasts and was enveloped by massive explosions on each side, knocking Scallop and Chamma away. Once the smoke cleared, Regal was standing there, stock still. Chamma felt intense intimidation. Scallop briefly felt moved. “Stay out of this!” she yelled at Regal. “I’m just about to get serious!”
“Have some pride!” Regal snapped angrily. “Accept defeat when it comes! You have to stay alive, because you’re the only reason I have any hope of defeating Malacol! Being at my side means you have nothing to prove to me. I can’t imagine what it took to defect from your mother and her army.”
Scallop felt small, overcome with the warmth of Regal’s kindness.
Regal turned to Chamma. “I’m done here,” she said. “I now want to leave and continue my mission to kill Malacol, as my mother, Melodica, birthed me for. If you still want to fight, then I’ll kill you like any Demon Clansperson, but I’d rather not.”
Chamma looked again at the seemingly changed Scallop. “You can go,” she said.
Regal was satisfied. “Get up, you,” she barked to Scallop. “Be ready to train within the hour; you’re clearly not ready for the enemy yet.”
Scallop wiped her eyes. “I’m far superior to most of the Demon Clan at this point!” she said indignantly.
Regal scoffed. “Does that paltry ranking satisfy you?”
The two continued to bicker as they boarded the Rainbow Stocking, and Chamma watched them leave with a growing sense of wonder.
All original story, all original characters! Check out Dragon Ball ‘Redux’!
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Life in the Gutters 