Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Fight for Survival ❯ Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - Doors

My armour clattered to the floor and my clothes heaped on top. The scene inside was horrendous, the white walls and flooring was no longer white, but streaked and splattered with red, bits of flesh and bones heaped in random spots both on the floor and walls. I paled considerably at the scene. Several men on the inside were sweeping what was left of the man into piles.

"Your training partner was an elite in his majesties royal squad of planet sweepers. He fought and slew hundreds of thousands of the Hutuckian fighters on planet Tuck by himself which lasted a total of 3 weeks. Against one 15 year old girl" He paused "He lasted 13 minutes before she ripped him to pieces in a rage that could possibly only be matched by the top 5 of the royal elites. That is why you are taking his place in the squad by an order of the king himself. You are the youngest to be ever let into the royal elites, by half a year."

After the time it took this man to complete his short speech, I had composed myself and picked up my clothes and looked up at the man. "Well what now?" I had said sounding defeated. He shifted his vision from the room down to me "Now? I will take you to your new quarters, it will have a bigger living room size than this one, but it will have no training room." I nodded. There wasn't much else to do, but to go along with it.

We walked through the huge palace, through what seemed like hundreds of corridors and up hundreds of stairs, the time taken must have been an hour or two. The scenes changed, corridors didn't, just the doors. There was the average looking brown, rectangular wooden doors with silver handles, each one with a silver sliding tag in the middle of the door with a name. Then the scene changed as they travelled a few floors upward, the rectangular doors turned a darker shade of golden-brown and were glossy and new looking all with the same design but in gold colours and then finally we came to my room, a few floors above.

The tall man stopped outside my door and I stopped next to him and looked at the door while he rummaged through the pockets of his coat and pants. The door to my room was appealing, it was dark brown stained a dark wine red, but there was no handle, the corridor was dimmed more than the others. I looked up to the man just as he was handing me something. A card, blood red, a colour that matched the door and I didn't know what to do with it.

"What does this do?" I looked at it curiously while he rolled his eyes "It's a key to get into your room be inserting it into here" he pointed to a slot in the wall just to the side of the door, next to where the handle would have been.

"Now, stay in your room, someone will be here soon to pick you up, to take you to your new teams dining room, to get introduced. Then after your meal your expected to go to train with them, so get into something that will absorb maximum damage, they don't play around like your last victim did. Any other questions you would like to ask?"

Is shook my head, I was actually kind of excited and with that he turned and walked off the opposite way. I turned to my card and hoping it was the right way, I inserted it into the slot and I jumped it made a noise and said in a masculine mechanical voice "State your name" rather quickly and I hesitated for a moment "Karou" I said rather nervously and the door slid open quickly and I stepped inside.

The moment my foot hit the floor, the rooms light flickered on and it was about as bright as the dimmed corridors and the voice sounded in my room. "Welcome Karou to your new home, what would you like me to do?" My eyes widened and I realised that this was a voice operated room, I swallowed before speaking, more confident this time "Well what can you do?"

It seemed like the voice hesitated, unsure of how to answer the question "I can do anything inside this room you would like. I can also send calls to the outside for services, such as cleaning and someone to bring food. So what can I do for you?" So many thoughts crossed my mind at once, I didn't know where to start "Can you run the shower at a warm temperature, I'll tell you if it's too cold of warm" there was a silence and then the sound of running water the mechanical voice sounded "Temperature set at 20 degrees celsius"

I wandered towards the sounds of the water running and I entered what looked like the bathroom, it was certainly bigger than my last one. There was a bath, shower both looked like they could fit two people, a toilet and a sink, none of them had taps of any kind. So I took of the shredded bits of clothing off and slipped into the water, that was quite cool.

Again the voice sounded "Shall this temperature be set to default?" I wasn't sure that I liked the idea of the room talking to me, but it sure was an interesting thing to have "Umm, no this is too cold, but it shall do for now, the injuries I have are burns, so this is fine" I wondered how much the of the sayian small talk it could handle, I figured that small talk took a little longer to understand as it paused again "I understand this setting shall last for 4 days or until you request it changed"

After 30 minutes of relaxing in the cool liquid the shower stopped and yet again the voice sounded "Word has been sent that your pick up is on the way and will be here in an estimated 38 minutes, also recently cleaner, `Tracy', has entered your quarters you may see her in the bedroom" I smiled slightly and dried, wrapping myself in a towel and wondered out of the bathroom with my old clothing and into the large room that was all my, kitchen, dining room and bedroom which also had the front door and another side room on the opposite of the room.

The odd looking girl looked up at me, she was a pale blue and had dark blue hair, all tied up in a bun. She wore a frilly maid dress also a shade of blue and she smiled up at me and bowed "Good afternoon miss, I am just doing a routine clean up, if there is anything you would like, don't hesitate to ask" and then she saw the rags in my hand. I grinned and scratched the back on my head of hair that was long over grown "could you dispose of these for me?" She walked over swiftly and took the rags from my hand "Certainly miss, I have assorted your luggage and have thrown out all of your old uniforms, now that you have been promoted in rank you will receive new uniforms by the time you get back. I shall see you tomorrow" I nodded and then she left and I dried myself and put on my new uniform and then I was ready to go.

"Computer, how long until my pick up arrives?" and as an after thought I quickly I added "Is it ok to call you `computer?'" I sat on the bed "You may call me computer if you wish. Your pick up arrives in approximately 11 minutes" I sighed, what was I going to do? I looked at my long scruffy hair; I had not cut it since I accidentally singed it off with a ki blast back at my old apartment, it looked terrible for weeks and I swear the servant had a laugh ever time she came with a meal for me.

And so I located a pair of scissors, with the help of the computer and then chopped off my hair until I had shaped it the way I liked. It was short, the front stuck upward to the left on the left side and the right hung over my forehead and the rest of it stuck out in other directions, mostly downward, but a few at the back on top of my head suck upward and to the back. I thought it looked a bit weird, but it was a hopeless case before it even started.

I was just finishing the last touches and shaking the bits of loose hair from my new cut when the computer spoke "Your pick up has arrived, can I open the door?" I looked at the mess on the floor "Ummm if whoever comes to drop off my uniforms is a maid can you get her to clean this?" There was yet, another pause "I have called a maid to come clean up" I smiled "Then you may open the door" The door swished open and I stepped outside in my uniform and new haircut. I felt proud of my effort and was looking forward to the night ahead.

Door swished behind me as I looked at the gruff looking man, who was kind of, well what was the word… short. Actually, he was slightly taller than me, but looked a whole 10 years older. This was one person who looked like someone not to mess with.

Without a word he started walking and I caught up and walked next to him, concentrating on looking at the floor, tile by tile swished past and my neck was staring to get sore. There was silence between us beside the memorising echo of our foot steps, until my stomach gave a grumble. I scratched the back of my head and gave the man a weak smile, who didn't even bother looking but scowled and I dropped my hand and sighed looking ahead of myself.

"What is your name child?" I looked at him quickly "Karou, sir" I figured respect was on this mans No. 1 list and I had been right in doing so. He nodded but said no more, it bothered me and a question was tugging at my jaw, making it twitch and so I gathered my courage "And, may I ask, if it's not a bother, who you are?"

He almost fell over with surprise at my question, his eyes open wide and he seemed slightly angered "What?! You don't know who I am!?!" I was defiantly confused "No, I don't. Should I?" He straightened and got back into character, this time with his hands behind his back "I am the leader of our squad, the squad call me Vegeta, but to everyone else I am Prince Vegeta or His Majesty." He looked down at me, head never moving, just to see the expression on my face. Well he got the expression he was looking for. Complete surprise and I thanked our god the good idea that I used respect when forming my sentences when addressing this man. The only thing I said before we made our destination was "Wow".

Standing in front of the door, you could hear the racquet going on inside. He turned to me "Now be careful, both at dinner and in the arena, these soldiers may play around at the table and in spare time, but in the arena, caution must be used or you'll end up in the regeneration tank for the night" I nodded.

A lot of nodding was needed when coming into new places, it showed that you understood and that you had respect for the person, that way you didn't annoy them. Or that you're just plain too lazy to talk or you didn't hear a word they said because it wasn't worth hearing.

He pushed open the double wooden doors, that were the same as my quarter's doors, but they had handles that were a maroon colour more than red. The group of men were having the time of their lives throwing a shoe around, trying to catch someone off guard, of which someone was caught. The shoe hit Vegeta square in the face and knocked him over. I looked down at him, he looked as if he were going to kill someone as he stood with the shoe in one hand, he stomped over to the group and hit one by one over the head with the shoe, before throwing it into the owners chest, making him fall over.

"Hey Vegeta, what's up? Where's Snap?" Said the one that had thrown it at him, he had his hands behind his back and was grinning. He was rather tall, lightly built and he looked similar to the man that had shown her to her quarters, but not as intelligent looking. He had short hair and wore the standard battle armour of a royal elite. Vegeta looked annoyingly at him.

"Men, as you may or may not know Snap is dead." There was a murmur in the small crowd, but Vegeta went on "He underestimated his opponent and acted foolishly in battle, that is how he was defeated" The mood had changed from playful to a serious understanding. Up until now no one had noticed that I was still standing in the door way a bit nervous of their reaction when they find out that this man, Snap, was the one I had killed in a fit of rage

"Hey Vegeta. Who's your friend?" All eyes focused on me. So many males eyes on me made me divert my eyes and shift my weight nervously. Vegeta walked over to me and nudged me in while closing the doors. "This, is Snap's replacement, her name is Karou" Again murmurs entered the group. "But Vegeta, surely she is much too young to be in our level of skill" This man was much shorter than the first, but quite a bit bulkier than him. Vegeta expression grew cold as he glared at the men "That attitude Spinark, is the same that got Snap killed, after all, she was the one to defeat him."

After that, it seemed I had gained some respect from the small group of 7 as we sat for dinner. There was much talk going on while the food came out, I sat to the left of Vegeta while he sat silent, watching the group. And then we dug into the mounds of delicious food all of the fruit fresh and in small amounts and all the meat mounded up high and half bloody, the way any sayian would like it. We all ate and drank our fill until the table was left with meat scraps and a few pieces of fruit.

I talked with several members of the crew. They talked about their past missions while I talked about my past life and the way Snap died. They understood, and they were content with the way that he had died, knowing that it was his own faults as a warrior to kill him and because of it, they were all wiser. Finally, Vegeta stood from where he was sitting and walked towards a near by door, everybody, automatically followed and so I tagged along too.

The walk down was silent and everyone looked deadly serious. By this time I had guessed what was up, it was time to train. I was excited and I was scared. What if I'm not so powerful and I just got lucky, what if I fail tonight? Will they kick me out and will I go back to the way I was, training alone, in solitude?

Deep in thought I didn't notice Spinark looking at me. He nudged me and whispered "Hey, don't be so nervous, we're just going to test your abilities and then, we'll work from there" One of the men I talked to earlier turned to face us, his square jawed face turned into a confident smirk "Yeah, I'll test your abilities, in the threshold section" He punched his hand and Spinark looked at him "Hey! No mercy, right? Keep it fair like everyone else and stick to our unwritten rule" Spinark nodded. Obviously the `unwritten rule' was more of a group understanding, a way to push the limits.

The square jawed man, I think I remembered him as Squatoff walking backwards and still smiling dropped back next to me "Hey girly, if you last the 4th round, I'll take you on a tour of the palace, that way you know everywhere to go and you know all the best spots for your days off" I took this in slowly, digesting every word and looked up at him "Why, what's the forth round?" He paused a moment, it seemed he had to try to remember what it was "I believe that's the `all outer' as we call it. We all fight at the same time with anybody until there's a last person standing and then that person gets to fight with the prince" I looked at the prince. He seemed not to notice anything that went on. He tolerated and then trained. That was it.

"What if no one's left standing?" He was slightly quicker at answering this time "Well, no one fights him, but it leaves him in a slightly angered mood." I nodded in understanding. I wouldn't blame him. So then I promised myself to do the best I could. "Done" I stated and he didn't nod this time, but just walked away with no acknowledgement what-so-ever. I was kind of happy that he didn't nod, so many people had nodded in this day it was going to give me the shits.

And yet we all pushed through another door, like all others on this level, but with a black emblem burnt into the centre. It looked something like a sort of big cat, that's outline had been done all in red that was wading in blood from the out linings.

It was a large out door arena, obviously only for the royal elites to use for training. But there were a few people in the stands, people who liked to watch them train. They could be friends, family of even politicians.

I jumped slightly as a hand placed itself on my shoulder and I looked behind me to see it was Vegeta standing there. I looked back as the hand disappeared "who are these people?" he moved to the side of me and stood, arms across his chest picking out people in the crowd her recognised. "The group to the left are mates and family that just come to watch because they've got nothing else to do. The group on the right there are probably reporters, because they are not sayian and are crowded around in a way to hide cameras and things. To get a glimpse at the new kid on the team" He glanced down at me and then back to the stands "The small group in the middle is that of the Royal house, my father, King Vegeta, he most probably here to see you fight. Then the few groups left around are probably just some random drunks that are lost" there was a moment of thinking and he turned and left.

I smiled and more as a thought to myself I spoke "better not let them down, eh?" and turned, ready to start the games.

Everyone gathered around Vegeta and he was speaking to them, words of the crowd, what he expected. Everyone understood his words and moved off to stretch for session 1. I turned about to do the same, when Vegeta grabbed my arm "I what is expected of you should be made clear" I nodded "One. Keep fighting until the end. Two. Don't hold back and three do anything to win… Exceptions are blowing up the planet or blowing up the palace etc." I nodded again and his grip was released as he backed away from the area and flew into the stands, sitting next to his father, exchanging a few words, but nothing else.

All rounds had been explained to me in the short talk Vegeta gave the group, the first round consisted of just sparing. Relaxed and simple that gradually grew more complicated and aggressive as it went on. The second was change partners and a team game of 3 rounds- the last pair to not have touched the ground wins. Which the guys will play `rock, paper, scissors' to decide who got the kid as their partner. The third round is the same but it is against the prince and it lasts only one round, the winner doesn't need to compete in the forth round until the last player out of the remaining and then they battle until one remains. The fifth round, if it were to come to that, which it only does once every year, is a play off between the prince and the remaining warrior.

I looked to each member of the team, trying to figure out their weaknesses by their physical features. The information ran through my mind like a computer would processes information.

On the left there was Squatoff, the already mentioned, square jawed man, very short hair, he didn't seem too bright in conversation. That is until you start talking about his past battles, you could tell there was more intelligence then he was letting on. His uniform seemed a little short for his tall size and it exposed the lower part of his ribs, there was a weakness she could work on.

Moving next to him, on the right was a bloke who I hadn't talked to yet, but I was sure that talking to him was not going to be pleasant. His name I didn't know but his nickname was Spikes he was an average sized man, averagely built, just an average looking sayian. This man seemed to only talk about women which I new, did not mean anything good in my books and I had caught him several times already whispering to other members, looking in my direction. This one I had to look out for, I had a bad feeling about him.

Next was Spinark, the short pudgier guy was as I thought of him. He looked like a normal old grandpa to me, chubby with a beard, slightly grey and eyes that showed that they had been through everything. The only part of this man that looked as if were a weakness was high cholesterol foods and cancer (Cancer is very, very unlikely for a sayian, but there have been reports of a few cases which only happen about 3 or 4 times out of a year).

The most serious in the group was Cabine. He would spend most of his time standing to the side and listening, sometimes laughing at the jokes and pranks of the others. He didn't seem to be as violent as the others, of which could be used to her advantage if it were exploited the right way.

I squatted down and stretched my legs, analysing the information gathered so far, twisting and turning it every possible way and then turning it inside out. I moved into a sitting position and then positioned myself into a sideway splits, my legs in a dead straight line and slowly, deathly slowly, moved until I had gotten into a handstand. I did a few push ups like that and then stood up properly and stretched some more, staring into space, just thinking of all the possibilities, good and bad.

She was suddenly snapped out of her world of thoughts when a loud gruff voice filled the air and I looked up to see Vegeta in the middle of the crowd. "It is time to begin!"