Why Can't You (Book 2)

Escape Planet Namek.

Planet Namek's light was on a short fuse. Lava boiled to the water surface and shot up in great geysers. It would be a miracle if her spaceship had survived. Rikku couldn't give up hope though. Even now she had hope. She stood above Frieza, the menace cut down by his own attack. She had danced and weaved and in the end it was his rage that had blinded him and cut him down. He laid there now... threatening to whither away. "Please, help me." Trying to ignore his pleas Rikku turned her back on him and proceeded to walk away. "You can't leave me here."

She stopped and nearly growled as she turned around. "Why should I help you?" Rikku said trying for cold and callous as he had been in life. She wanted him to suffer, and feel what he had done to those around him. However, there was a nagging poke in her gut that she recognized as sympathy... he was a pathetic and pitiful person."You've shown no mercy. You didn't care when you took Vegeta's life, or the life of the Nameks. So why?"

"Please! I'm asking you to help me not lecture me."

"You're pathetic." Even as she said it she shot her hand forward a ball of energy siphoning from her hand into him. She heard King Kai's mental complaints, but it wouldn't change her decision. Whatever Frieza did now was of his own deciding. He wasn't her problem anymore. "There. That should be enough to get you by. Leave this place and go into solitude. You're on your own now."

With those words foul on her tongue she floated to the sky and sensed he surroundings to find the direction of her ship. Frieza watched her rise, his pride bruised, his anger rising, and with this shred of power that kept him living he snarled and channeled it. "You fool. Do you honestly think you've won? I am Frieza! I am Superior! You're nothing but a monkey!" His energy grew savage and he released it straight at her. "See what happens when you mess with the most powerful being in the universe!"

Rikku felt it coming and with anger and frustration she turned and launched it right back at him with energy of her own. "Frieza you fool!" With her eyes sizzling down at her enemy she watched Frieza's face contort and wither from the sheer force of the blast. She sensed his life force drop and she knew he was no longer a threat.

Wasting no more time on him she turned her head away and made a dash for the direction of her ship. She sensed that Namek was close to exploding and she knew she wouldn't make it in time.

"I got to think of something fast. I need to get off the planet." She searched around. There had been many visitors, surely they had ships of their own. That's when she spotted it. Frieza's ship standing lone and ready for flight. It was in bad shape but with any luck it would get her off and to the closest system. She hurried through the halls and into the control room. The energy inside was low and the signals beeped then died. "No, no, come on you piece of junk!" A roar and a quake had her trembling and she stroked the keys again. "I'm sorry I take it back you're not a piece of Junk. You have to work please!"

Things looked bad. Rikku didn't know what else to do. She would have to try and make it to her own ship. She looked out the window and gasped spotting another ship falling on the cliff side. "A saiyan space pod. Perfect!" She made a jump for it, unconcerned with her destination she tapped the keys and punched the engines. Her heart raced as she left the atmosphere just as the planet exploded. The ricochet send her ship spiraling into space and she didn't know where she was headed. Her wounds from battle left her woozy and delirious and she found herself drifting... into the black.

~Days later~

Rikku grunted as she felt the ship impact. The glass of her window cracked an her door opened. She fell to the ground with a thud and laid for what seemed like hours. She squinted against the brightness of the sun and found herself staring into the eyes of aliens. They skittered and stepped away all afraid. She smiled at the funny clothing they wore. "What luck. I didn't know the circus was in town. I have to...tell Gohan." Her eyes dropped and she fell back into darkness.