The many matches commenced, each Galinian against the next. Each pair was a bunch of tough-looking wimps that couldn’t bring the other one down with their own foot. Master Link blushed in embarrassment at his “troop”. 

The only time there was a fair fight, was when Rayne stepped up. She easily tripped the orange little man and got him in a powerful head lock- making him powerless to breathe or revolt against her. “Lovely job, Princess Rayne!” Master Link applauded with the rest of the weary soldiers. I applauded my sister with a small jump- trying to keep still. She panted slightly, but smirked- knowing it wasn’t a big deal. “All right, you’re up next, sis” she smirked, stopping at my side. I gulped slowly and then glared at my opponent. “Thanks” I writhed, stepping out into the clearing. Master Link smiled as me and the big blue guy stepped out. “All right- are you ready?” “Hai!” we both responded. I tried straddling my legs and hunching down, so I could jump up if he struck. “GO!” Master Link yelled, and the troop yelled in an uproar of cheers and yells. The big blue guy swiped at my feet, trying to catch me and pick me up from there- I jumped high, knocking him upside the head with the back of my foot. He stammered over, but caught me in midair in two of his hands. I kicked, trying not to make any noise declaring I was desperate to escape the match. My tail smacked at his knees, making him the slightest bit weak. “LET ME GO!!” I screamed in an uproar, powering up and breaking free since the light of my Ki blinded him. The troop stopped cheering- they’d never seen such a thing! (Since full Galinians don’t have the power to- well- power up) “TAKE THIIS!!” I squinted, blasting him with an energy blast that knocked him out of the ring. “STOP! STOP!” Master Link declared with worry in his eyes. The other soldiers whimpered at me. I smirked at Rayne and she grinned an evil smirk back at me. Master Link ran for the wounded member of the troop, making sure he got to his big blue feet safely. “All right- today’s cession is over” he grunted, trying to help the big blue man. Rayne and I walked off, wiping what little sweat we had from our brows.

“Gods, Ryver! It really WAS necessary to power up, wasn’t it!?” she growled in sarcasm. “Oh, Rayne- C’mon! He was 3 feet taller than me and could put a hole through my head! I had to” I bowed my head as we walked on through the lively “village” of Galinians in our area.

 

Tenchi always had lunch at the lake- and with my father’s permission, I joined him. Rayne, as usual, stayed with Daddy for lunch in the dining hall- inside for the rest of the day practically.

I walked towards the foggy grassland around the calm waters. Tenchi’s shadow was dimmed in the murky waters- it wasn’t always that musty in the water, and I was beginning to get suspicious as to what was up. “Tenchi?” I asked, stepping up behind him as he sat. He turned with his mouth full of his water-crest sandwich. He gulped it down and blushed a bit and took me by my hands- as a beckon to sit down with him. I did as his notion explained. I smiled at Tenchi and he smiled back- I leaned over and kissed his fleshy cheek and smiled out at the foggy lake. “It isn’t this dark and gloomy” he scowled, hesitating to eat again. “Hn- something isn’t right” I squinted at my bubbly reflection. “Anyway, how was your day so far?” he asked me. I sighed heavily and turned towards my fiancé – “I sparred today. Rayne believes I shouldn’t have powered up and beaten my opponent so bad, but- he was so big and he had no idea. We have a new teacher, too- he’s quite nice but- too sensitive about his troop” I brushed a stray lock of hair away from my cheek and bent my head low to my chest. Tenchi picked by chin up off my chest and turned my stare towards his wild eyes. “I don’t know why you continue to depress yourself by fighting like this! I can’t bear to see you go through such pain- trying to live the life of your mother” he paused softly. I frowned at him and turned away. “How DARE you say I’m trying to live like my mother! What was wrong with HER life!? I’m only fighting like this because I know that Rayne and I are made of better than just sitting around eating grapes all day! I know that we can help our people fight against those who put our race down! I don’t want to loose hope in my people- and so Rayne and I will lead them on to victory” I stopped revolting against Tenchi because I knew he knew I was right. He shut his mouth and put his lunch away. “I’ve heard talk, Ryver- about the Saiyans” he held my hands and glared with worry in his eyes at me. “What about them?” I snarled sourly under my breath. “I mean, I KNOW we have a bond with them but- they always seem to have SOMETHING up their sleeves” I added, my tail thrashing about behind me- sensing Tenchi’s Saiyan tail all in a quiver. “Something about their King, Vegeta- and your father. Sounds like some kind of feud” his voice faded as I peered over closely at him. “Over what?” I blinked fiercely, my ears intent. “Something about Halflings like you and me- they don’t really like it because they think that people like us become a disgrace to their kind and that we’re more like mutants than Halflings” he said, bending his head further towards his chest. “MUTANTS!? Why those no good” Tenchi grabbed my arms and held me close to his scrawny chest. “Try not to think about what they think of people like us- it isn’t important” he whispered calmly in my ear, holding me closer to him.

I smiled up at him- trying not to look unhappy or insulted by such remarks. Tenchi wore this red bandanna around his forehead- he said it belonged to his father and that was all he had left to remember him by- I teased him about looking like a “True Samurai” or something along those lines- he’d just smile and say nothing.  

 

My nerves were festered with such talk of “Halflings” like me and Tenchi-it made me train and spar harder every day- I barely talked to anyone before we trained every morning. My friendliness with Master Link faded and I began to doubt he had the strength to carry on as our trainer. I took on the big blue Galinian again and again- I later discovered his name was “Big Turke”- and I thought it fit him quite nicely.

I worried my father and friends as the days passed faintly. Tenchi stayed with me, regularly, every night as our wedding day drew nearer and nearer- but I barely talked to him or did anything of the sort. He became worried as well- and the more I didn’t talk, the more people feared that I was slowly disappearing.

 

 It was an early, crisp morning- I rolled over to put my arms around my fiancé- but when my face was impaled with crumpled sheets and a cratered pillow, I became worried. “Tenchi?” I yawned-by there was stillness in the dark. I sat up, lagging my tail and feet over my side of my bed. “Tenchi?’ I spoke clearer. Still, silence. I shuffled to the door and pried it open groggily- the lights were turned down low and there wasn’t a guard in sight. I looked about the hall, stretching my limbs as I walked wobbly out into the dimmed light. I knocked weakly on Rayne’s shadowy door and waited for her to come about- my eyes felt so swollen and full of sleep I hadn’t gotten yet. “Rayne?” I coughed in a gurgle. “What!?” she answered the door with a pair of squinty eyes. “Where’s Tenchi?” I sourly asked with a crackly voice. She growled and replied, “How should I know!?” and slammed the door in my sleepy face. “OK” I yawned and began to shuffle down the darkened hall. “Daddy” I called in front of the large doors. He answered his door with a creak and another pair of squint eyes confronted me. “What is it, my child? Go back to sleep” he yawned. “But Daddy!” I coughed groggily with swollen eyes, “I can’t find Tenchi!” I raspily yelled. My father rolled his scaly, crusty eyes and slapped his tail against the back of the door. “I’m sure he just went out for an early morning snack, dearest- now go back to sl”- there was a frigid sound of yelling and screams- the smell of sulfur flooded our underground palace. “Daddy!” I tugged at his arm, fully awake now- with a stern voice. “What was that!?” he snarled, snaking out into the dimmed hall. My tail thrashed about and a sense of worry blew over my expression. There was a jolt of the ground, and I saw my groggy sister run down the hall to meet my father and I. “What’s going on here!?” she said with wide and fiery eyes. I peered from Daddy to my sister with such worry.

“TENCHI!?” I yelled with an echo down the hall, running as fast as my bare feet could take me. “RYVER! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT’S UP THERE!” my father hollered, bounding after me, and tugging Rayne along with him.

I jostled up the stairs as fast as I could and emerged onto a dirty, musty plain that smelt strong of sulfur and stung my eyes with heavy smoke. “TENCHI!?” I cried again, trying to navigate my way through the heavy and low clouds. I heard faint screams die after they grew near- shadows darting for the underground homes and villages all around me. I was worried for my people, and more worried about where my Tenchi was. “Ryver!” Rayne coughed after me- tugging my father by his weary arm- I could hear his choked cough echo through the low clouds strongly. “Daddy!” I turned in the maze of smoke. I could see Rayne and him confront me almost immediately. “You can’t stay up here, Daddy”- “No! I sense my people are in danger, and I must protect them” he said strongly, his voice trailing off in a wheeze. Rayne left his side and took me by my arm. “You stay here for a moment, Dad- Ryver and I are gonna get to the bottom of this” she tugged me after her with such anger in her force. Rayne’s eyes were cold and hungered for the shadow of not only sleep, but also peace on her home- I was hungry for the safety of my people and the peace for them- also, for the will to keep my family and Tenchi safe. I could see two tall shadows- broad and tall in front of Rayne and I. Rayne squinted, her tail thrashing about at her side. My eyes were dry and swollen with fear I didn’t know was needed here. A faint cackle was shoved in our face as the smoke cleared slowly. Rayne and I approached the clearness in the air, and the two shadows were revealed to be two tall men- shelled with Saiyan armor and secured with a belt of their Saiyan tail. Rayne released me from her grasp and stepped up towards them both.  “Ryver, stay back” she snarled, lowering her head and clenching her fists.

 

“No good Halflings” one of them spat out of the side of their mouth. I arched my back and looked at them with fury in my eyes. “You said it” replied the other, readying a single hand with his Ki illuminated around one finger. “RAYNE! Watch OUT!” I shouted, and she stepped away. The blast faded, but the Saiyan’s smirk did not. “What do you want?!” she snarled through her teeth- her eyes glassed with fiery anger. “We just came to wipe our disgrace off this planet- meaning the whole thing” one hissed. I stepped up on my numb and bare feet. “What ‘disgrace’ are WE to YOU!?” I yelled, and echo stabbing at their backs and piercing the silence over the ghostly plains behind me. “Well, well! If it isn’t the princesses of the land!” the silent one remarked- realizing who Rayne and I were. “Who needs mutant trash like YOU runnin a place like THIS!?” the other added strongly with evilness. “That DOES IT!!!” Rayne launched an energy blast at the one that ceased to talk- but he blocked it, sending it off into the foggy smoke. I remembered my search for Tenchi, and my heart sank- I felt like I would go weak in the knees and collapse that instant, but I knew I had to stay strong.

“Ey, Princess! Here’s ya boyfriend!” the obnoxious one pulled his hand out from behind his back- my heart sank, falling in the pit of my stomach- my voice was stolen and my eyes began to swell with my festered nerves. There, in his bloody, charred hand was the carcass of Tenchi- his face smudged with ash and his throat gouged with blood. I could see his chest had been torn apart by flames, and that his whole fleshy body had been singed with fire. My voice flew back through my watery lips strongly, and I felt my knees drop as I sank. “NOOOO!!!!!!” I screamed, my eyes festered with blinding tears. The body of my fiancé was thrown at my knees as I gripped the frigid and burnt grass. “TENCHIII!!!!” my eyes wept with thousands of tears- one after the other rolled down my cheeks, staining his pale complexion. “NO!! TENCHII!!! NO!!!” I screamed, gripping his collar and pulling his corpse close. “No-no” I wept again and again- almost like a chant as I rocked back and forth.  Rayne’s mouth dropped when she saw his body- her jaw quivered with fear. My father stepped through the clouds and shadowed my quivering shoulders. “He is gone, my child” he softly spoke. I just clutched Tenchi closer and lay my head down on his fleshy cheek. “Let him go, Ryver” my father beckoned my name. I sniffled, my tears falling away in utter silence.

I remembered the bandanna around his forehead and untied it from his perspired head. My tears stained it, along with his sweat from trying to fight them off, from what I could configure. I tied his bandanna around the locks of hair on my left side and stood, letting Tenchi go- and trying my best to stay brave. “If you kill us like you have my fiancé, my people will kill you all” I hissed, stepping close to Rayne. “Oh yeah? Well, what if we wiped YOU out now instead!?” said the silent one, letting an energy blast sprout in his hand.  I stepped back along with my father and Rayne. “No- you won’t” I smirked, and looked towards Rayne. Her scales had rabidly begun to sprout and pour over her body- a muzzle growing as her teeth and claws scraped at the ground she knelt on. A few minutes later, Rayne stood as a full dragon- hissing and batting her wings at them. They didn’t seem too frightened at first, like they could really take her on- but when she shot plumes of fire at them and tried squashing them under his big dragon feet, they knew it couldn’t be possible. Rayne tried gouging their eyes out if she could pin them and get close enough- but she needed help, and that’s when I decided to take my father’s place in the fight and try my hand as a Halfling still. I powered up and shot a full Ki blast in one of their face, blinding him to his knees- Rayne devoured his flesh and spit out his bones later. I tried to use my sharpened Ki blasts on the other, prodding him in his weak-points. I shot him again and again with the blasts, trying to make him retreat to his knees- I kicked and swatted him, trying to continue my own battle but- Rayne helped me out by taking him by his foot and slashing his chest open. The two Saiyans were no more, and when Rayne returned to her regular form, we triumphed together over their deaths.

 

My father tried to ensure that all of our people were safe after the fight was over. The smoke had finally cleared by the afternoon, and we’d gone on with the day as much as we all could. I, however, could never feel the same after seeing Tenchi slaughtered and dead. I stayed in my room the rest of the day, not eating at all- for the next few days, I just lay in my bed with the lights turned off so even the sun couldn’t seep in from the world above. Rayne and my father didn’t try to help me because they knew it must’ve been tough to have his body thrown in my face.

I pounded on the wall and corned by body up in a boxed corner- just weeping and crying until the stains wouldn’t rub off when I looked in my mirror. I felt so lifeless and blank- the image of his pale face haunting me again and again when I tried to show my presence outside my room. I wore his bandanna still, night and day- never wanting to let him go, even thought I was told to.

I knew there had to be something done- we had a special “bond” with the Saiyans, and I didn’t understand why they were getting all disgraced over Halflings like Rayne and I NOW! I was angered, and thought someone needed to go to the planet Vegeta and declare how enraged we all had become- people strong like Rayne and I! But I would never show my face to that outside world again; not after what those Saiyans had done to my Tenchi…

 

“Princess- it’s been nearly a week now! Please come about!” my only nanny knocked upon my shadowed door. When Rayne and I were barely two, father hired a Nanny to watch over us-since the war between the Lethnaks blazed on, and we couldn’t risk getting killed like he did with our mother by his side. “Go away” I crustily opened my mouth and croaked through the crack in the door. “No I won’t, Princess- because I know you’re stronger than this” she sternly snapped. She always had a way of brining my rowdy spirit out of me. “Tenchi’s gone!” “He was chosen to leave, and he left for a reason- your fait!” she tried to lift my faith in whatever it was inside of me. “I was supposed to MARRY him, Nanny!” I growled, standing and pounding on the closed door in the dark- my tail thrashing about after being so numb in the dark for so long. “He’s GONE! If he has left, Princess, then don’t you think that’s a sign you weren’t meant to spend eternity together!?” she hollered back- my eyes glassed over as I sank to the floor. I could feel my tears stain my bare knees as I cradled my lower body. My shoulders quivered as I softly cried. “It was just the Saiyans that made him leave, Nanny- not fait” I coughed. “But he was out there before you could get to him- he had left you safe in your bed, knowing something was wrong. So he followed his instinct and protected you and his people to the fullest. He didn’t die just because of some nasty Saiyans! He died because he was protecting you and his people from feeling as much pain as he did- he was willing to make sacrifices, and he did. This is Tenchi’s sign to move on with your life, and be happy- not locked in your room forevermore over him” her voice sank down with me.