Victory School Sparring

[Zach]

Zach remained on his knees next to the master until he was sure the man was all right and then climbed back to his feet with him. Thankful to see that their bout was over, he smiled to Diane and started to laugh.

“Don’t I know it. You could have done some serious damage if that beam went high.” Zach chuckled. “But uh, I can help but notice you tried to get in the way of that beam. You should have let him hit me and taken advantage of the distraction.” Zach added. “It’s kind of why I’m here after all.”

Turning to the master, the boy chuckled again at the comment about not protecting his stomach. “Heh heh, if I did that then my head would be open. I wouldn’t ant to risk getting dazed and be open all over when I can just take hits to one of the toughest parts of my body.” the blonde replied, justifying his style of fighting.

“Thank you for the fight sir.” Zach added as the man headed inside. He then turned to Diane and folded his arms up behind his head to stretch out his middle and help relax away the tension. “So, what now?”

[pacfud]

Diane thought about Zach's comment. "I suppose you're right..." she admitted, "It's just that I'm not used to letting someone else take the hit. I was getting beat up at least once a month back when I lived on Vegeta!" she laughed, remembering all the escape attempts she tried back at the Saiyan Academy. It seemed like such a long time ago. Something caught her eye and she turned away from Zach, not seeing his reaction to her statement.

What caught Diane's eye was the glare from the rising sun, she hadn't noticed it during the fight but now it was extremely apparent. She could hear the birds chirping, and up in the mountain range one could see all the way to the horizon. The beautiful orange giant called the sun was waking from it's slumber, casting a morning glow on the land. It reminded Diane of her first morning here at Victory School, the sheer majesty of the sunrise leading her to believe she was in heaven.

[Zach]

Keeping his arms folded up behind his head, Zach continued to stretch out his middle, happy to feel the aching slowly start to subside. He listened to her reply, nodding in acknowledgement but still didn’t want to see his partner getting thrashed when that was his job. If they didn’t each stick to what they were good at, one or both of them could make a mistake and who ever they were fighting might not be as easy on them as Abuul. But then something struck him as odd about her reply.

“What what? Vegeta?! Why on Earth would you ever want to go to that dump?” he asked, one of his dark eyebrows raising in puzzlement. It hadn’t occurred to him that she could possibly have been on that rock for the past few years, she was too civilized.

Well, regardless, you have me to beat up on and get beaten up so you don’t have to worry about it any more.” he added and stepped up next to her, arms still up.

[pacfud]

Diane was confused by Zach's strange reaction to her statement about Vegeta. Turning to face her partner once again, Diane decided to tell him the whole truth about her history. "I'm surprised it never came up before..." She began. "Remember when I told you I left earth a few years ago? Well it was because my deadbeat Saiyan dad decided to turn up and kidnap me... For the past four years I've been at the Saiyan Warrior Academy. I only escaped recently." She tried to keep it as short as possible, not wanting to ellicicit sympathy.

Diane carefully studied Zach's expression. It was strange for someone to describe Vegeta as a "dump" and take such offense to the mention of the place. It was as if he had some sort of vendetta- Uh oh... Diane thought. Why didn't I see it before? It was saiyan's who destroyed our town, it should have occured to me that he might hold a grudge... Diane hoped this revelation wouldn't put the brakes on their partnership.

[Zach]

If Zach’s life had been a sitcom the audience would be hearing the sounds of tires screeching and then a car crash inside Zach’s head. The boy just stared for a good minute, his brain refusing to process the possibility that someone who could act so civilized could be one of them. Indeed, he was quite sure she was trying to joke around with him, except that the joke wasn’t funny in the slightest. Slowly as he started to process again, Zach’s expression went from light and jovial to a serious mask of disappointment and even a hint of anger.

“You didn’t just say that… I know you didn’t just say that.” Zach uttered and slowly unclasped his hands. His muscles were twitching and he lowered his arms to his sides but if anyone who didn’t know Zach was watching it looked very much like he was going to hit someone. He didn’t however, the boy had enough self control to keep from doing anything rash, especially since Diane was a girl, his chivalry demanded nothing less. He did however stare at her with a look that could have melted steel.

“You are saying that your father is one of them?” he finally followed up and clenched his fists. “Do you have any idea what they are? Any idea how I feel about them? For what they did to our home… Any?!” he shouted but quickly paused and turned away.

“Of course you do, you ran away after all… Well at least you have that much going for you. Must be the human half.” Zach grumbled and stood with his back to her, fuming.

[pacfud]

Diane expected Zach to be angry, but he was absolutely livid. He was acting as if she had personally betrayed him. At first he seemed to find it hard to swallow the news, his facial expression changing as his emotions went on a roller coaster ride. Even his body language betrayed his fury. He was trembling slightly, and it seemed like he was repressing a powerful urge to hit someone. Diane frowned, realizing exactly how much of an impact this made. Zach blamed the entire race of saiyans for the the destruction of Townsville.

"I hate my dad." Diane said quietly. "I hate the bastards that destroyed our farms. I also hate all the elitist, self-righteous pigs who i had the displeasure of meeting during my stay on Vegeta..." Diane took a step toward Zach, trying to get him to hear her words. "As much as I hate these people, to condemn an entire race to your hate, because of the deeds of a few... Well thats like burning down a field of wheat because you found a patch of weeds." Diane shook her head, surprised that she used the metaphor, but she continued. "I wan't revenge on those people as much as you do, but just because we saw one side of the saiyans that we couldn't forgive, there's still another side that we're completely ignoring!" Diane was getting heated now, her voice carrying across the courtyard.

"So yeah, maybe I'm a saiyan. And maybe it is the human half of me that wanted to leave their planet so bad. But it was the saiyan in me that gave me the strength to persevere. It's my pride that stopped me from giving up when I was knocked down. It's saiyan blood that's the reason I'm standing here now! So you can get up on your high horse and judge an entire race for the same reason that the saiyans judge the humans. You think they are all brutes, barbarians, uncivilized. They look at humans as dirt, because any time we get a chance to change their minds, a few jackasses come along and make us look bad. So what's gonna happen if we keep up this cycle of hate? One day we're going to find out that underneath all of the facades, we're really exactly the same. By then, it'll probably be too late."

Diane closed her eyes, she could feel her throat tightening. She was getting emotional, but refused to crack here. The fact that Zach would hold such strong anger towards her because of her race hurt her. The words were still swimming around in her head, but she couldn't keep talking for fear of breaking down. She decided to cut it short. The anger and sadness was apparent in her voice as she spoke out her final line. "Just think about what I've said." She asked, turning around. As she walked back into the dojo, a single tear slid down her cheek.

OOC: I'll take PL please.

[Zach]

As Zach stood with his back to Diane, trying to sort things out, she maneuvered beside him and tried to talk sense to him. He wasn’t listening though, at least not all of him. Most of his mind was back on the question of how someone with Saiyan genes could act so civilized and the same answer kept popping up, it had to be her human half. He heard her storm off and shuddered as a long lost emotion seemed to roll up his spine, regret. He wouldn’t admit it of course but he knew he’d said some hurtful things.

And hour or so later, one of the school’s porters was sent to Diane’s quarters and hand delivered a note:

‘Diane, I don’t regret what I said to you but you must understand, I don’t hate you, please believe me. I want to save you from becoming like me. I know what I am, hate filled, bitter and angry but I’m ok with that. It’s too late for me to change who I am. You don’t have to be that way though and I want to make sure you don’t turn into me. I know what you were trying to say to me in the court yard and it’s good that you can think that way. And when the times comes, I’m going to make sure you don’t fall into the same black pit I’m in. When we find those creeps, and WE will, I don’t want you involved. If you kill them you’ll become just as bad as I am. You’ll have your vengeance, but it will be through me. Even if it’s just for the sake of saving the innocence of your human side.

I am going to leave for a few days to clear my head, I don’t think you’ll want me around anyway. Stick close by the dojo and I’ll be back soon.
See you later fur ball.
Zach’



{Topic concluded. I'll be requesting Power Level modification.}

[Gray Callahan]

1900 PL each.