The inside of Dragon’s ship was sleek, but poorly taken care of; it didn’t appear that he cared too much about keeping tidy. Of course, Puttee couldn’t have cared less, either, so it was up to Gaita to clean up while Puttee familiarized herself with the navigation and computer systems as they left Cretaceous. Their destination was three weeks away. “Are you worried about splitting up like this?” Gaita asked. “There’s no guarantee we’ll see our friends again…”
“That’s true every time you fight someone,” Puttee said absent-mindedly. “So, what do you wanna do while we travel?”
“I want to get stronger. While we weren’t talking, I had a lot of time to think, and it seems like very little of my life has involved me choosing to do things. I’ve been going through life on obligations.”
Puttee smiled. “What? You’ve chosen everything you’ve done! No one was dragging you to Silico, no one forced you to take Joma’s invitation, no one made you hold off Conch with half-done upgrades, and no one told you that you had to follow through on anything you’ve started. The only ‘obligation’ is what you think is right, I’d guess.”
Gaita turned that in her head a moment. “Well, putting that aside a second, I want to be in a position to start making my own choices. Starting with becoming a warrior, not just a weapon or a shield. I want to grow as a fighter, like Torta, Regal, and Svenex, instead of having to wait for upgrades all the time. You think you can help me with that?”
Puttee’s eyes brightened. “I love that! Um…darn, I don’t have any immediate ideas on how to make that happen, but get back to me. Making a living machine is a dream of mine, anyway, so I’d love to set you up with that! Until then, though, I do have some more tweaks I could do to your systems with Bravo parts. That’ll have to do for now. Ok?”
Gaita smiled in appreciation.
Two weeks passed. Puttee and Gaita were deep in the middle of an upgrade, with a procedure that took a few days. Puttee finally got to a stopping point and checked the navigation. The ball they had been going after was no longer still, apparently having been recovered by some enemy faction. It was on a ship headed across their current course.
“The ball is on the move, heading across our path!” Puttee told Gaita. Gaita panicked. “Don’t worry, I can adjust for an intercept course. Just another two days from here.”
“Will the upgrades be done in time?”
“I’ll get it together!”
Two days later, they had arrived within range of the target ship. Gaita put on her spacesuit, sans helmet, and headed to the airlock. The enemy ship was sitting still at the moment, though it appeared undamaged. “Be careful!” Puttee warned.
Emerging into the vacuum, Gaita felt exhilarated at the flight speeds she could achieve with no air resistance. Spinning around, the grandeur of space was fantastic, and she felt like a piece of dust in a vast ocean. Though she knew a battle was ahead, Gaita was of the opinion that one should enjoy things as they happen, and this was something to enjoy.
The ship belonged to the Demon Clan, and inside Gaita could detect two-dozen energy readings. She tried approaching the airlock, which was already open, with multiple suited up Namekians firing chi blasts at her. Puttee blocked them all with her hands and charged past the guards with relative ease. Inside the ship, it appeared that a battle was already underway. Namekians were left dead on the floor, and further in Gaita found some Saiyan bodies, as well. “Look for Saiyan ships,” Gaita told Puttee, using the communicator now built into her.
“Will do!” Puttee said.
Once she got to the bridge, Gaita found the Namekian commander and a Saiyan general engaged in combat. The battle looked intense, though the Namekian had an edge. The violet seven-star ball was thrown to the floor at the head of the bridge. Seeing her chance, Gaita moved as fast and stealthily as she could to the ball. However, she was hit to the floor by the Namekian commander within a foot of the ball. The Saiyan followed quickly, and that fight resumed. Gaita had to dodge a few strikes that were thrown her way, though she was planning to wait for them to tire out rather than join the fight herself.
The Saiyan got ahold of the ball and then transformed into a Super Saiyan. His overwhelming power allowed him to secure an easy victory against his Namekian enemy, chopping her in two with an axe kick. He then activated his spacesuit and kicked Gaita through the glass before flying off to his own ship. Gaita tried chasing him, but he was much too fast, and the ship got away.
“I found a Saiyan ship…” Puttee sounded over the radio. “Now that the Dragon Ball is on it.”
Gaita rolled her eyes. “It’s too far away, anyways. Meet me here so we can chase them.”
“Coming around.”
A moment later, Puttee had pulled the ship over and Gaita got on board. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get the ball,” Gaita said.
“It’s fine,” said Puttee. “This is exactly what we expected when we set out: Back and forth enemy raids, with the Saiyans and Demon Clan uncovering most or all of the balls.”
“True. That said, changing target at this point is a waste of time. The next ball we go after will be uncovered tomorrow. We should really just go after that Saiyan and get this one back.”
“Aye-aye, captain!” Puttee mapped out the best trajectory available to them. “I have a route. If the Saiyan ship stays on that heading, we can get in front of him near a rocky, barren planet in three days.”
“Thanks so much! Let’s go!”
“Already en route! I can spend the next few days fine-tuning those upgrades, since it was a rush job.”
Three days later, they were in close range of the Saiyan ship, and the glorified asteroid he was passing was visible beyond him. Puttee took manual control. “I’ll fly like a maniac in front of him, get his attention.”
“Good,” said Gaita as she began suiting up. “I’ll get him to land it, as planned.”
“You’re great at giving orders!”
“And you need to stop doting on me! It’s getting embarrassing!” Gaita exited the air lock.
“Never!”
Puttee cut sharply across the Saiyan ship a few times until he took notice. The communications board lit up as he transmitted a video message. “How would you like to die for interfering with the Saiyan Empire?” he asked.
“I’d like you to land on that planet there,” Puttee responded.
The Saiyan laughed. “And why should I do that, little girl?”
“First, I’m a woman,” Puttee said. Gaita knocked directly on the glass of the Saiyan’s ship. When he turned to her in surprise, she waved. “And second, so we don’t risk destroying the Dragon Ball when we blow up your ship. You know, since she doesn’t need to breathe and all.”
The Saiyan sighed. “Ok, fine. I don’t know if these things break easily or not, either.” His ship turned to the rocky planet. Puttee cheered and turned towards it as well. Gaita flew beside her, and the sisters shared a thumbs-up through the glass.
A moment later, the group landed. Gaita looked around. “There’s a thin atmosphere,” she noted. “You think you can breathe here?”
“I mean, some people might,” Puttee said, “but I’m not one of them. This is thinner than the top of a mountain!” Puttee emerged from the ship in her suit.
The Saiyan emerged from his ship along with a dozen soldiers; the soldiers wore helmets, but their commander did not. The commander growled as he glared at Gaita, his lips snarled under his thin mustache. “I’m Cavassa, Super Saiyan General of Daikon, and I’m going to crush everyone standing in the way of the crown! Who are you, and what is your command?”
Gaita stepped forward with confidence. “I’m Gaita of Earth, commanding myself!”
Cavassa laughed at the lone warrior facing him. “Attack, men!” he ordered. The dozen Saiyan soldiers charged in at Gaita, attacking her from all sides, while Cavassa watched with a smile. Puttee was worried as the battle started; though she knew Gaita’s upgraded power rating was likely higher than Spats’s, it was not clear to her if it would be enough to face a Super Saiyan enemy.
Gaita was able to tear through the Saiyan ground forces with relative ease. She struck them with a lot of open-handed strikes and continued with her new tactic of blocking chi blasts with her hands. Due to the close range and multitude of allies, the Saiyan soldiers threw a lot of energy bombs. “How…?” Cavassa asked, stunned. “An Earthling, with no detectable chi, and she’s slicing right through them. But it does seem like she’s at her limits.”
As Gaita held up the last soldier by his arm, Cavassa charged in at her, tackling her into the ground. He unleashed a powerful barrage of attacks on her, and Gaita had trouble keeping up at first. Even without transforming, Cavassa was a worthy enemy. With a burst of her forcefield to gain distance, Gaita took the offensive, overwhelming the Saiyan general with her speed. As she continued to increase the pressure, he was frustrated that she showed continued depths of strength. Not wanting to prolong the battle, he transformed, the shockwave of his chi knocking Gaita back a few feet.
With renewed strength, Cavassa once again took the advantage over Gaita, pummeling her into the ground. Puttee started to get worried and recoiled at every hit her sister received. She felt tears form in her eyes, and decided not to hold them back, like she had so many other times. Gaita did everything she could to push herself faster, to put up a better guard, but there was no denying that Cavassa had outmatched her current power rating.
“Thanks, Puttee!” Gaita loudly said once she got some distance. Both Puttee and Cavassa were surprised by this outburst. “I guess I have to start using these upgrades now.” With a smile, Gaita knocked Cavassa in the gut and left him wheezing for breath. Puttee laughed and sighed in relief. Cavassa cursed her and kicked her away, charging up and firing a powerful energy wave to blow Gaita to bits.
With a giggle, Gaita raised her hands up and absorbed the wave in her palms. Cavassa was shocked. “What’s happening?!” he asked as he disengaged the blast.
“You would have noticed sooner, if your men weren’t using so many energy bombs,” Gaita said. “It looks like I just blocked those, right? Now, I can absorb energy and use that to augment my infinite energy generator. I’m now using all your soldier’s strength and your own!”
“It was so hard getting those systems to work together without shorting,” Puttee remarked. “I’m so proud to see it working so well!”
Now empowered by Cavassa’s own attack, Gaita flew back in, overwhelming the Super Saiyan with ease. She switched to open-handed strikes, taking more of his power with every attack. Cavassa wised up to this and started avoiding her hands at all costs, using sheer anger and will to push his power farther.
Gaita laughed. “My attrition tactics are perfected now!” she said. “I never run out of energy, I have a forcefield, and I can take away your strength to add to my own, accelerating your exhaustion. You can’t win! You have no backup or overwhelming strength!”
“I’ll never lose to such cheap tricks!!” Cavassa angrily shouted. With another burst of anger, he pushed himself even further. Gaita was stunned by this burst of power, which she thought he had burned through already. He charged at her, ready to tear her apart. Gaita readied a Chelsea, with a full charge of her generator system and three-quarters of the energy she absorbed that battle, and fired straight through Cavassa’s chest.
Puttee watched as Cavassa’s hair turned back to black and he fell to the ground. Gaita spun back to her sister. “Thanks! I couldn’t have won without you!” she said.
“I don’t need any thanks,” Puttee said, sighing in relief as she felt another wave of anxiety take hold.
Gaita landed and the sisters hugged. Gaita then turned to the Saiyan ship and ran. “Can’t forget our prize!” she said.
Puttee rushed to follow her. “That last attack was quite the gamble, wasn’t it?” Puttee nervously asked. “If he had managed to dodge or was strong enough to survive, you wouldn’t have had the strength needed to win.”
“True. Lucky me our enemy is powered by blind rage.” Gaita found the ball in the command seat and handed it to Puttee. “See! We got one!”
Puttee looked at the ball and saw even more dangerous battles ahead for her sister, battles she couldn’t hide from or ignore. She had worried about Torta and the others in the past, but somehow it felt different with Gaita. She was irreplaceable. Puttee figured the dragon god wouldn’t see her as “living” like the others and bring her back to life if she died. She couldn’t lose her sister again. “Yeah, woo.”
The two left the ship and ran back to their own. Before getting in, Puttee stopped. “Actually, there’s one more thing we need. Let’s scrap this ship; I bet we can find nice alien parts to upgrade you with.”
Gaita looked at the new chi absorbing jewels in her palms. “Ok.” She took to blasting the Saiyan ship to pieces and recovering whatever parts Puttee asked for.
All original story, all original characters! Check out Dragon Ball ‘Redux’!
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Life in the Gutters 