An Amity Revived
Chapter Thirteen
The four holes in the middle of the open rectangular board were in almost perfect shape. Sure, some stray particles were left around the area, but overall it was very clear. The items that had created the holes were still located where they have been for many years already. All except for three. One of them was back, but not in the hole. The four materials that actually caused those ditches were still there, though.
The atmosphere that the Saiya-jin was letting off was not a good one. It was not a specific feeling --angered yet relieved, exhausted yet with high spirits-- but it was still not one to be messed around with. The overall emotion, the one he felt the most, was frustration. When he was extremely frustrated, it was never a pretty sight for anyone.
Luckily that was not the case. Toma wasn't extremely upset at all. He was only at the halfway point. Still, he wanted to take out his fury on something since no one was around for him to yell at, no one around to calm him down. He already kicked and slammed and blasted a lot of rocks. It helped. It made him feel better. Now he was in a state of languor. Mixed emotions unconsciously never left him. Still frustrated, but at least he's no longer showing it.
Imagine all the actions the sub-leader did, times two. That was what happened whenever he became too frustrated. Luckily, it only happened once on a planet that was desolated. A long story of how that happened, but it wasn't too important anyway.
Toma's feelings now and earlier came from his previous feelings before he switched spots with Panboukin. Like how he was feeling the emotions he was now, they came without a warning. He didn't want to feel them. But they arrived and dominated him, taking over all his senses. It could be the reason why Toma felt frustrated earlier; he couldn't control it. It angered him to the extreme. Before, he was always careful with his feelings and how he expressed them. Now it seemed to be the most difficult task he had ever done. He failed at it.
"Damn," he mumbled irritably. There was only one rock left untouched. It was a perfect chair with one very smooth surface with an edged semicircle surrounding it. He sat on it and leaned over so that his elbows and knees met. He rested his forehead on both of his palms, staring at the sandy ground. "Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn."
Toma despised the fact that he could only say one word over and over again. However, he needed to silence the quietness that had generated. He dared not say anything that was in his mind or anything not in his mind. Speaking his feelings without mentioning his feelings was the best way --and the only way he could find-- to make noise, without seeming like a fool like when he did while heading over to Bardock's spacepod landing site. No one rubbed it in though --that is, Totepo didn't; no one else had been around-- and he had not reminded him of it. Totepo still knew. No chance in Hell would Toma ever do that again.
Once he grew bored of "damn" he reverted to "shit" and repeated that word. Soon after a very vulgar word arose signaling his anger's current temperature. The pattern went on until he ended it with a very loud outburst of, "God damn it!"
He stood up sharply, hands now balled into the tightest fist imaginable. Worse than the female's had been previously, but no blood was shed. His teeth were near the verge of cracking. He breathed like an angry bull and narrowed his eyes so that they were like a skinny rail compared to an ocean liner. His dark pupils moved from the ground and rolled over to the boulder behind him. Relieving his jaw from pressure he puffed out a breath of warm air and prepared to spin and kick or punch or do something to this rock!
Luckily his eye caught a white aura coming his way before he could do anything at all. Astonishment washed up on his shore. "It's only been two hours! Not three," he muttered. Toma shook his head, and then growled, "That damned bastard. Giving up so soon!"
The sub-leader folded his arms gruffly, easing his scowl to a normal, irritated one. Toma blamed this man coming back for having bad time management. For being tired. For putting this mission off for a while. He always trusted his comrades, so it baffled him that one of them was already returning. He knew that they knew that this situation was way too serious for them to play around with. Hell, even Panboukin wanted to help out! And this had nothing to do with fighting, killing, or socializing. So why was one of them --most likely Panboukin himself-- returning when the time limit hadn't even gone past yet?
Suddenly, yet gradually, Toma's frown transformed to a deep smirk. His tight grip on his upper arms released and was now only lightly touching his skin. His shoulders fell a couple millimeters. His whole entire body eased up when he saw the direction this man was coming from. It was not the way he took when he left for the job, therefore it couldn't be Panboukin. Since Totepo never gave up on anything until all hope was lost, and even then he'd still push himself harder, that could only mean one or two things.
"He did it," Toma chuckled with triumph. "Finally."
He waited patiently with anxiety, keeping his eyes locked on to the aura. Already it had grown five times larger from when he first noticed it. If the other Saiya-jin was coming back with news, hopefully of Celipa's whereabouts, where was the second aura? There was only one. According to the sub-leader's theory, there should be another one right behind the first. But there wasn't. Toma's brows made contact as he mumbled a question of concern and uncertainty.
Several seconds later a figure could be made out, and sure enough it was Totepo. The sub-leader inhaled loudly, showing his nervous concern. Not so long afterwards Totepo descended from the sky with the same blank expression he's always worn. Toma straightened his back and lowered his shoulders, biting his lower lip from the inside of his mouth. He hated the way things were looking now and he pondered what had happened to her and why?
Once Totepo landed safely to his feet, Toma looked at him straight in the eye. The taller Saiya-jin showed no signs of panic or distress. His eyes read no melancholy. Bewilderment struck Toma hard, and in a menacing voice he demanded, "Well? What happened to her? Is she-"
Words did not cut him off. The balding man leaned forward, and another figure rolled from his back and straight into his arms. Sure enough, it was the once missing female. Toma could not say anything but stare in complete shock. She was unconscious. He could tell that she wasn't dead; if she were then no puffs of air could be seen, no pumping of her chest. But they were there, as subtle as it could get.
Toma was both amazed and shocked that Celipa was still alive in the state she was in. There were rivers of blood pouring from various places on her body, dripping onto the ground and the skin of the Saiya-jin holding her. They had already stained her bodysuit to maroon, but there were many rips and tears across it as well. Despite the shredded clothing and most of her body not even covered at all, there were only very few places where he could find skin untouched. She wasn't covered in blood but in dirt. Toma just couldn't believe it. He had never seen anyone like this. Even Bardock never looked this bad after missions!
"Totepo, what happened?" Toma queried in a low voice, his gaze still locked on the battered body of the female. He struggled for something to say without sounding sentimental, but just couldn't. But he realized that he no longer cared about his pride or reputation. "How did she? How did you-"
"What happened, I don't know," Totepo answered in the same volume as the other, but steady and unemotional at the same time. Toma took a step forward and offered to let her off of his hands, which Totepo took the opportunity to do. After he had a good hold on Celipa, Totepo dropped his arms to his sides, not bothering to wipe off the blood. "It looked as though she ran into some sort of attack. Pieces of the Meatsei-jin's building did this to her."
"How?" Toma mumbled, dropping his knees to the ground. He examined everything he could of her, but soon realized that he needed to wipe her up before he could. Totepo never said anything else and just watched silently, his expressions never changing. The sub-leader reached for his upper left arm, but his hands only touched skin. He glanced at it and noticed that it was gone. The cloth that had once adorned his arm was no longer there. "Damn it."
After a few seconds of quiet thinking, Toma exhaled a gallon of air and closed his eyes lightly. When he reopened them he didn't hesitate any moment longer. He threw her up onto his shoulder and stood solemnly, glancing back up at his comrade coldly. "Let's wait an hour for Panboukin. When he gets back, let's hurry up and go home. I don't know how much longer she'll last."
"He'll be back in an hour? What if he isn't?"
"Then, as much as I hate it, we'll leave without him," Toma answered, his face gone serious and stern. Totepo had the expression that he expected this emotion and just nodded. The sub-leader continued on without a second thought. "I'm not sure if she'll even stay alive for another hour."
Totepo nodded again firmly and the sub-leader did the same. Toma walked off towards Celipa's spacepod carrying her on his shoulder solemnly, but stopped abruptly after hearing Totepo's sudden suggestion.
"You go ahead and take her back to Vegetasei. I'll stay until Panboukin returns and catch up with you. What's the use now of going back together if she might be dead once we return?"
Toma closed his eyes and sighed again, knowing that --as always-- Totepo had a good point and ultimately was right. He didn't have a good argument of staying until Panboukin returned, so he made no disagreements. He reopened his eyes, leaving tiny slits and a very small and tight frown on his lower half of his face. "Very well then. I'll see you back home. Be back on Vegetasei as quickly as you can, alright?"
"I will," he promised in monotone. Toma glanced at the Saiya-jin on his shoulder and smiled, saying that not only was she always one to be surprised easily, but was always one to give surprises out. What he didn't say was that she always gave bad surprises and that this one was the worst of the lot.