/ ❯ Power Struggle ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4

The child lay on his back in the middle of his bassinet, scowling, his tail twitching angrily. It had been quite some time since he had received his last bottle and he was very hungry. Angry, he squeezed his large black eyes shut, opened his mouth wide, and began to wail as loud as he could. He waved his tiny fists in the air and kicked out with his feet in desperate hope that someone would see and come to feed him. His vision became blurry and tiny tears began to roll down his cheeks. He began to scream even louder, arching his back against the soft padding beneath him, but to no avail. Face red and tear-streaked, he rolled over onto his belly. He began to pound the soft cream-colored padding of the bassinet, his clenched fists making soft thumping noises as they sank into the thick material. His tail lashed out furiously behind him as his hoarse cries pierced the air.

Finally, exhausted from hunger and crying, he flopped onto the soft padding and listened to the rapid beating of his heart. His tail lay limply beside him, the tip twitching every now and then. Each breath scratched at his raw and aching throat; he swallowed several times to alleviate the pain. The child rubbed weakly at his face as he felt the sting of drying tears. He slowly closed his eyes, lulled to sleep by the quiet hum of the machinery regulating the temperature and humidity of the bassinet.

He awoke a few hours later to the dull, throbbing pain of hunger in the pit of his belly and immediately began to cry weakly. Still sniffling, he managed, with some effort, to prop himself upright. He studied his surroundings with wide, dark eyes. The spherical lid of the bassinet and the large accordion like cable attached to it were a familiar sight to him, but the room surrounding it was not. Curious, the child leaned forward, pushed himself up on his hands and feet, and then slowly stood upright. He carefully and slowly began to shuffle towards the side of the bassinet, arms outstretched and tail waving wildly back in forth behind him for balance. A few teetering steps and he was able to lean forward and rest his hands on the transparent lid. The lid slightly distorted the room and tinted it a dull green. He pressed his face against the glass-like material to cut out the glare from the overhead lights, and peered at this unfamiliar room.

It was small, drab, windowless, and dimly lit. There were several small tables covered with a multitude of shiny instruments, miscellaneous electronic pieces, and bottles and tubes of all shapes, colors, and sizes lining the wall nearest to him. A small computer panel was rooted in the floor near his bassinet, which was, as far as he could tell, the only one in the room. His breath began to fog the glass-like material, and he shuffled to the right, his nose leaving smear-marks on the lid. He squinted to see the end of the room farthest from him. In the dim light there appeared to be one large and several small pieces of machinery set against the far end of the wall to his right. On his left-hand was the door panel and another small table, this one empty. From what he could see, there was no food, and he sensed that there were no people in the nearby vicinity.

Frustrated, he pushed himself away from the lid and let the glare from the lights obscure the room outside. He started to turn away when movement caught his eye. Face brightening, he whipped around and ended up face-to-face with his own reflection. He cocked his head in mingled surprise and confusion, and was startled when he saw the figure do the same. He began to scowl as he studied the figure's unruly mane of black, spiky hair and thick black eyebrows scrunched together in a scowl over his large black eyes. Believing the reflection to be his brother, the child growled playfully, crouched low to the ground, and pounced. His "brother" followed suit. The child collided head first with the hard lid of the bassinet and fell backwards, stunned. He gently rubbed at the large red lump forming on the crown of his head with one shaky hand. His lower lip began to shake, and he began to scream in pain. Several minutes passed, and sensing-with what little understanding he had of the cruel world he had been born into-the utter futility of his tears, the child began to calm. Still whimpering a little, he wiped the tears off of his face with the back of one small, chubby hand, and sent a menacing glare at his brother, who apparently had disappeared.

He sniffed a few times and stared, wide-eyed, at the spot where his brother had been just a few moments ago. All he could see was the far side of the room. The child craned his head around, but his brother was nowhere in sight. Unsettled by the sudden disappearance of his twin, the child wrapped his tail around his waist protectively and began to suck his thumb, his eyes wide and darting back and forth as he searched the room. He jumped as one of the small machines gave a loud, protesting screech and hummed to life. Frightened now, he scuttled to the center of the basinet, eyes never leaving the machine at the far end of the room. His hand ran across the familiar pockmarked texture of his teething ring, and without slowing, he crawled past it and snatched the ring up with his tail. Finally reaching the center of the bassinet, he plopped down on his rear. Eyes still darting from one side of the room to the other, the child absentmindedly took the small white teething ring from his tail and began to gnaw on it thoughtfully.

He suddenly bit down hard on the small ring and hunched over in pain as a sharp cramp clenched his empty stomach in a vise-like grip. He flopped over onto his side and curled into a tight little ball, his eyes clenched shut. The loud grumbling and groaning of his stomach reverberated against the lid of the basinet and seemed to echo endlessly in his tiny ears. The cramp finally subsided, and he lay panting on the soft padding of the basinet, the teething ring clasped tightly to his chest. A few tears slid down his cheeks and dropped onto the padding of the basinet, where they left little wet marks on the soft material.

Stomach still aching dully, the child slowly eased up into a sitting position, drew his knees to his chest, and wrapped his tail around his legs. He began to weakly suck his thumb and rock slowly from side to side, the motion calming him and easing his aching head and stomach. An errant strand of hair fell in his eyes, but he didn't move to push it away. He looked downward and focused his gaze on the tip of his tail, trying to lose himself in the short brown hair that covered it. His tail twitched in sympathy to his hunger, and he removed his thumb from his mouth and gently wrapped his fingers around the small appendage. He stroked the soft, thick brown hair with his still damp thumb, causing a shiver to run up his spine. Hunger forgotten for the moment, the child continued to study the hair covering the tip of his tail. He bent forward to get a closer look and giggled as the tip of his tail twitched, tickling his nose.

A sudden feeling of desperation pervaded his mind, making his smile disappear. Sighing, the child released his tail and looked upward. The dim lights above made a small corona around the accordion-like tube affixed to the top of the bassinet, and he stared at the softly glowing ring, letting the light obscure the room around him.

He remembered awaking for the first time in this strange new room. Before he had even got a chance to examine his strange new surroundings, the door to the room had hissed open and a dour, pockmarked attendant with sunken eyes and scaly green skin had entered pushing a tray of bottles in front of him. The man had stopped next to the bassinet and, assuring that its occupant was on the other side of the dome, pushed the small square button that opened the lid.

The child, unaware of the events soon to follow, had crouched and leapt at the attendant, who calmly reached into the pocket of his greasy, dirt-streaked tunic and pulled out a small black rectangular device with a large red button in the center. Impassively, the attendant had pushed the button, causing a blinding purple light to shoot out from the device and envelop the pouncing Saiyan infant. Paralyzed from head to toe, the child had fallen in a small heap onto the padding of the bassinet. The man then had proceeded to grab one of the bottles from the tray with a clawed hand and hurl it at the child, striking a glancing blow to his head. Laughing at the infant's discomfort, the attendant had stood back and watched with sadistic delight as the child struggled to rise.

The same attendant came again to feed him later and, undaunted, the child pounced at him again, only to receive the same cruel treatment. This sequence of events occurred several more times, and each time the attendant arrived to feed or clean the child, he was even crueler and more abusive than before. Sometimes he would greet the child with another paralyzing shock from the small rectangular device and then give his tail a vicious tug. Other times, the man wouldn't come for a long period of time, and then tease him by waving the bottle back and forth outside of the bassinet.

However, never before had the attendant been this long in coming to feed him. The child's stomach growled, and he moaned in hunger. He almost welcomed the return of the attendant and the subsequent abuse if it meant that he would be fed. A flurry of bright white stars flew in front of his eyes, and he rubbed at eyes weakly. His thoughts were becoming muddled and his vision blurry. Grasping his belly with one rubbery hand, he began to sway back and forth. Finally, he fell over onto his side, blissfully unconscious.

* * *

The hiss of the door panel sliding open didn't rouse him from his deep, coma-like sleep. The child lay on his back, the rise and fall of his chest barely perceptible. A long, thin shadow fell over the unresponsive infant and lingered for a moment. Its owner quietly bent and pressed the small, softly glowing button on the side of the bassinet. The lid quietly hummed and rose, and a pair of gentle, long-fingered hands carefully slid beneath the child and lifted him from the bassinet. The figure cradled the unresponsive infant to his chest. Freeing one hand, the figure carefully slid two fingers into the child's armpit, feeling for a pulse. It was weak and erratic, but there nonetheless. Relieved, the figure adjusted his grip on the child, reached down into the pocket of his long white tunic, and pulled out a small bottle. He brought it up to eye-level and smiled as he watched the milk slosh back and forth in the little container. The figure then proceeded to carefully maneuver the nipple into the child's mouth.

Acting on instinct, the child opened his mouth and began to suck weakly at the bottle. The instant the warm milk began to flow freely into his mouth and down his throat, his eyes snapped open in surprise, and he began to suck at the bottle with such vigor that the figure began to fear that the child would rip the teat right off the bottle. Completely oblivious to everything except the milk pouring down his throat and into his previously empty belly, the child sat up and grasped the bottle in both chubby little hands and ripped it from the long orange fingers that held it. He tilted the bottle up and drained the last few drops from it, pulling it from his mouth and shaking the bottle up and down to make sure. He was still ravenously hungry, but the milk had been enough to renew his energy and satisfy his dry, aching throat.

"My, my, if I had had any idea that you would be this hungry I would have brought more bottles with me," the figure chuckled.

At the sound of the voice the child's head snapped around and his body stiffened. His eyes narrowed menacingly at the figure's shadowed face, and his tail, hair bristling, began to whip back and forth in anger. A look akin to fear passed over his face but was soon replaced with a look of pure hate. A growl sounded low in his throat. The empty bottle, now forgotten, dropped to the floor with a dull, hollow thud.

Looking at the child in mingled fear and confusion, the tall, thin man began to speak, "Shh, shh, I'm not here to hurt you. Here," he said as he backed up, letting the light fall fully on his face, "don't you remember me?"

The child paused, features softening, and cocked his head to one side. He slowly examined the man's face, taking in the large amber eyes, smooth orange skin, and the soft wisps of green hair partially obscuring a large white bandage that was wrapped around the man's forehead. Confused, the child sat back and stared at the man. He was strangely familiar, yet the child could only scantly remember when and if he had ever seen him before.

However, the child could sense that this man meant him no harm, and he didn't resemble the other cruel attendant in the least. Satisfied that this was not the attendant who had been torturing him for the past few days, the child sighed contentedly and relaxed completely in the man's arms.

Pazru smiled as he watched the child's tail wrap securely around his wrist. He reached down into his pocket again and began to speak gently to the child. "Good, I knew you would remember." Pazru pulled a small yellow bar from his tunic pocket and brandished it in front of the infant. "Judging by the way you drained that bottle I would hazard a guess that you're still fairly hungry, and it's about time that you started on some solid food."

The infant scowled in puzzlement at this strange new object the man held in his hand. He glanced distrustfully up at Pazru, who smiled and held the bar out to him. The child leaned forward and sniffed at the strange thing in Pazru's hand, wrinkling his nose at the strong, slightly oily scent.

"Yes, I know, it's not the most pleasant thing you'll ever smell and it tastes nearly as bad, but it is good for you." Pazru looked away as if embarrassed and said quickly and quietly, "And it's all I could get my hands on at the moment." He looked down to see the infant, one thick black eyebrow cocked, staring at him in total incomprehension.

Pazru sighed and, smiling, moved his hand so that the bar was nearly touching the infant, who, after giving him another wary look, snatched it from him. The child held the little yellow bar up to his face and, scowling eyes on Pazru, tentatively licked the bar. Pazru laughed at the look of total disgust that crossed the infant's face. The child began to spit and rapidly move his lips and tongue over his teeth, trying to remove the bitter, grainy taste from his mouth. Pazru began to laugh even harder, and the infant stopped what he was doing to glare up at him and growl. The young man quieted immediately, covering his mouth with the back of his free hand in order to suppress the giggles. However, the utter seriousness of the infant's expression started him laughing all over again.

The child's scowl deepened and, still glaring at Pazru, he took a large bite from the bar and swallowed it whole, causing him to choke. Pazru immediately stopped laughing, turned the child face-down, and pounded the heel of his hand against the child's back. The offending chunk of food shot out of the child's mouth and across the floor. Coughing, the infant struggled until the young man set him upright again. He shot Pazru a menacing glare and proceeded to take another bite of the food bar.

Pazru grabbed his hand and received another growl for his troubles. "Take it easy, little guy. Chew, that's what those sharp little choppers are for, though I'm sure Scleren and the nursery attendants would surely disagree."

After several tries, he managed to wrench the food bar away from the growling child. "It also helps to take small bites. "Here, watch me." Pazru lifted the bar to his mouth and, ignoring the baby slobber covering the half-masticated piece of food, took a small bite. He slowly chewed the chunk of food with his mouth open so that the child could see what he meant. The only response to his efforts was an urgent, angry growl from the infant.

"Okay, okay, it's your turn," he said as he broke a small piece off of the bar. He handed it to the scowling infant, who angrily snatched it from his hand and lifted it towards his mouth, intent on swallowing it whole. "Ah, ah, ah," Pazru scolded. "If you don't chew that it's back to bottles for you."

The infant scowled and stuck the small chunk in his mouth. Looking upwards towards Pazru, he began to chew open-mouthed and very forcefully, spraying a mixture of saliva and food onto Pazru's face. The child swallowed noisily and smiled smugly. He then crossed his chubby little arms over his chest and smirked at the young man.

Annoyed and slightly amused at the same time, Pazru wiped the mess off of his face with the back of one hand and smeared it onto the side of his tunic. "Better," he said and smiled wryly.

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