Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Rebirth ❯ Earth ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: Well here is the next chapter. I didn't think I could post it so soon, and the next one will take some more time. There are no warnings, except for the excessive cussing (but get real - he wouldn't be our favorite Vegeta if he didn't cuss). The next chapter will be much more violent though. I hope that I didn't make Vegeta too much OOC, but see for yourself.

To Yoshine: Thank you very much! I wanted to post this chapter sooner, but either my computer or mediaminer.org was screwed up, so I wasn't able to. Enjoy this one! for B/V: he will meet her in later chapters (sorry!)

To lil rach: Thx a lot, I really appreciate that. I am glad that you like my writing style as english is not my native language (I was worried I would screw up). B/V will be in later chapters though (hope you are not too disappointed)

Earth

Something is not quite right. I don't know what it is, but I have a bad feeling of foreboding, as if I had lost something important. Tiredly, I open my eyes to check the controls of the ship. What the fuck!?!

Only the red emergency illumination is glowing unsteadily, and everything else is shut down. Either the sleeping system has been damaged, too, or the computer has recognized the mal-function; anyways, I am somewhere in outer space in a broken pod that only has limited oxygen supply. But before I suffocate, I'd starve to death because there are no food supplies on board. What nice options.

Looking around, I try to determine which parts of the life-support are still working. The oxygen refresher is ok, also the climate control. But that's about it. No power unit, no navigation, no communication. Damn it. At least the hull is intact.

What the hell has happened? The computer is a single pile of molten trash, but there is no hole in the walls. Cursing, I unstrap myself. There is not a lot of space to work in, but I do my best. Carefully, I remove the front panel of the computer. The machine behind is to three quarters irreparably damaged, and the rest doesn't look much better.

Muttering all curses I know, I start working with what I have. I'd never thought the time I have spent in the tech-labs as a kid would pay off so much. Granted, that was more than 10 years ago, but I can still remember a lot. Using my ki as a welding torch, I slowly close circuits again, attach loose chips to the main board, and after countless hours of tiresome work, I have finally fixed what is not beyond repair.

Now I'll have to see what is working again. Switching on the computer, I anxiously wait for the results to show up. At first, nothing happens, but then, a hologram of the galaxy flickers alive in the air over the computer. Where the hell am I? The red dot that represents my ship is somewhere at the outer rim of the galaxy, hundreds and thousands of lightyears away from the Aisu-jin empire. Shit, and I have to land here somewhere.

I touch the solar system closest to the red dot, and the map is magnified. I can see a small whitish-golden sun that is surrounded by nine planets, one of them, Sol 5, big enough to have a gravity like Vegeta-sei. But the data on Sol 5 promises not very much, it is a turbulent gas planet, the atmosphere is not respirable, and there are dust storms on the surface that have up to 400 mph. Not very hospitable.

Sol 2, 3, and 4 have better living conditions, but only Sol 3 has abundant oxygen in its atmosphere. Otherwise, there is no data on Sol 3, because the Sol-system is nearly at the other end of the galaxy from the Aisu-jin Empire. I still have no clue how I ended up here, because even with a space pod that is completely intact, it would have taken several months to cross distances like that.

I have the bad feeling that Radditz and Nappa have been destroyed by whatever has hit us, or at least they are as deeply in shit as I am; otherwise they would have already come looking for me. Now I am completely alone, presumably the last one of my race. But before I die, I will try everything in my might to get my revenge on that bastard.

At first, I will have to make him believe that I am dead, then I can work on getting stronger. Then, in a few years, I will return and finally avenge my people. For now though, I will have to hide on that puny piece of rock called Sol 3, and see if I can repair the space pod. That is where the ship is heading anyways. I will only have to make slight course corrections, and then I will be in the orbit of Sol 3.

That damned engine is still not working, so I am forced to do those small changes with my ki, which is an arduous task as the pod is so heavy and I am low on energy as my body has used a lot of it to heal. After a few hours, I have entered the Sol-system and am passing Sol 8. I will have to use the gravitational pull of Sol 5 to slingshot me into the orbit of Sol 3, and this tricky maneuver is going to cost all of my attention. The timing has to be exact; otherwise I might be either shot back into outer space or sent directly into the sun.

A lot of curses later, my spacepod is finally heading towards Sol 3, and I am almost completely drained of my energy. It seems that I have underestimated the enormous gravity of Sol 5, so I had to struggle hard to get out of its reach again. I almost didn't make it.

But now, I can already see Sol 3 as a tiny spot in the black space. It is getting larger very fast, and I have to admit that it is prettier than most planets. Approximately three quarters of its surface are covered by blue water, and above the huge oceans, there are many white clouds, almost like a veil. The continents are a greenish-brown, and there are white caps of ice on both of the poles.

Entering the atmosphere, I prepare for a harsh landing. The rest of my ki allows me to slow the pod down so far that it is not smashed to a pancake on impact, but the contact with the surface is still not pleasant. My head is banged on the ceiling, and I am almost knocked out. Red stars are exploding in my line of vision, I feel very dizzy, and a monster headache is forming in my skull.

Groaning, I open the hatch - only to have water shooting in. Damn it, that is really not good. First, I go through great efforts to no land on an ocean, then I crash into a lake that is not bigger than half a square mile. My life is really fucked up.

I decide that I can't do anything at the moment as I am too weak to lift the pod, so I abandon it. Rising into the air with the last of my ki, I watch my spacepod disappear with a last few bubbles, then the surface of the lake is still again. Curses streaming from my mouth, I head towards the lush greenery that is surrounding the lake. That is really great. I am stranded on a planet I know nothing about, not even if there are sentient life forms around, and I don't have my scouter with me.

First priority of survival in foreign environments is to get familiar with the surroundings and find something to eat. I sniff around to take in all the new scents. I can smell a lot of water, wet soil, and some strong, almost pungent odor. It seems to come from the trees. Alertly, I carefully home in on the scent. To my surprise, I am standing right in front of a tall tree with long, green needles. That single tree smells this strong?

Shaking my head in disbelief, I continue exploring the forest. There are many different types of plants, trees, flowers, and some small insects are crawling around on the floor. I don't worry if they are poisonous or not, because my immune system can take care of almost every toxin, thus the heavy drug dosage for the sleeping mode on Saiyan spacepods. The wind is rustling in the leaves, and every now and then, some tweeting and chirping noises are heard. Could that be communication of the inhabitants of that planet?

Careful to not leave a trail behind, I brush through the vegetation. Some plants are covered by thick thorns, which hints at bigger life forms that are predominately herbivores; otherwise the plants wouldn't need the protection. And where there are herbivores, there are also carnivores that keep the natural balance intact. I am quite sure that on a planet with such a weak gravity life forms can't be strong enough to hurt me, but I don't want to take any risks in my current situation.

Suddenly, there is a tweet right besides me. I whirl around only to stare into a pair of very small onyx eyes. The creature is tiny enough to fit comfortably into one of my palms, it has a short orange beak, and reddish-brown feathers are covering its body. Its feet are made to grab small twigs, and they have tiny claws at the end. The creature cocks its head at me, tweets a little bit, and then takes off into the sky with its tiny wings. I don't think that tweeting pile of feathers is too bright because in such a small head there can't be a big brain.

All of a sudden, I get a whiff of ... blood ... in the air. The familiar metallic scent is almost the same as my own blood, so I can probably digest the creature without any problems. Following the current that is bringing me that lively scent, I sneak through the woods. I can hear some heavy panting, some unarticulated, deep growling, and sounds of a fight.

Finally, I can see the two combatants. They couldn't be more different from each other. The left one is almost as tall as me, has a thick brown fur, walks on four legs, and has sharp teeth that are reddened by blood in its muzzle. The other one is its prey, I assume, because it is small, about 5'4'', and has deep, bleeding bitemarks. But what surprises me the most is its appearance. That is clearly a humanoid species, walking on two legs, using the arms for fighting in lack of other weapons, and having a head shaped almost like mine.

The humanoid also seems to be quite intelligent, it is wearing clothes, and it is holding a very sharp knife in its right hand that is not injured. Seems like there is sentient life on Sol 3, just not very strong people. I watch the fight for quite some time, and it looks as if the furred creature was attacking the humanoid. From its teeth, I have gathered that the creature is a carnivore, one of the bigger predators. The humanoid has no chance against the creature; it is too weak to hurt the predator critically, and it seems to have little to no fighting experience.

Strange. How can any race survive without strength and without fighting? Technology could do that, but how did that single specimen end up here alone? She is clearly a female, a weak female, so why doesn't some male, her mate, protect her?

Suddenly, my ears pick up a string of muttered curses, almost as colorful as the ones I constantly use. So she is talking, and even in a language I can understand. It is some badly scrambled Universal, but I have no clue how such a backwater planet with no space connections can have knowledge of Universal.

Shaking my head, I decide to step in, perhaps I can get some information out of her; and that big carnivore looks quite edible, reminding me of my hunger. I close in on them with the wind in my face so that there is no chance that they smell me. Then, with a quick lunge, I am on top of the predator and a hard fist to the back of its skull kills it immediately.

Their bones are so weak, I didn't even put much force behind my punch, and my hand has gone right into the brain. Cleaning the grey goo off my fingers with some big leaves, I turn around to look at the humanoid. She is frozen in her spot in disbelief. Feh, I really wonder how she had planned on surviving this.

Walking up to her, I pluck the knife out of her stiffened hands, and that seems to break the spell. She looses her balance and plops down on her butt very ungracefully, like a sack of bricks. Then she throws her hands in front of her face and starts crying.

Not knowing what to do with her, I shrug my shoulders and begin skinning the furred creature. Its hide is also very soft to me, but I think for this planet, it is quite strong. Slicing its abdomen open, I clear out the intestines. They are surprisingly similar to humanoid organs, but not quite the same. This creature was clearly built for eating nothing else than meat.

I try some of the still warm flesh, and I am amazed at how tender and juicy it is. The blood has a spicy touch to it that fits quite well to the smell of the trees, not unpleasant at all. Behind me, I hear a high squeal.

"EWWW, you eating that bear raw? That's gross!"

Seems that she's finally pulled herself together. She clearly does not belong into this place because she cleans the dirt off her clothes when she gets up and limps towards me. Not quite knowing what to say, I ask her back.

"Then what do you suggest I should do?"

She looks at me as if I was insane. Her race seems quite developed, because a lot of intelligence is dancing in her eyes, much more intelligence than you need for living your whole life in the wilderness. That would support my theory of a technologically advanced civilization.

"Ehr, start a fire and cook the meat!?!"

Does she think I am completely stupid?

"I know I need a fire to cook, but is there anything that burns?"

Now she looks at me as if I had truly lost my mind. Wordlessly, she gets up and fetches a dry branch from one of the trees. Ah, so they burn wood? Interesting. I've never seen that custom before. On Vegeta-sei, there were only very few trees, and they were sacred. Nobody thought of making a fire with them. We usually used our ki to roast our meals - unless we ate them raw. Blood is rich of nutrients.

Shrugging my shoulders, I get up, too, and collect dry wood. Everything is so light and soft here, I will have to watch my strength to fit in. They probably have never heard of harnessing one's energy, i. E. use ki. Still, she looks strangely at me when I drag half a tree behind. Are they really that weak? On Vegeta-sei, even a toddler could lift a tree as light as this one.

She starts breaking the twigs into smaller bits of arm-length, but she even has trouble with the branches no thicker than my wrist. Sighing, I take the twig from her and casually snap it in half. I proceed with the rest of them the same way, and soon, only the tree trunk is left. With a fast chop of my hand, I make a big crack into the wood, then I tear it in half along the fibers. She stares in disbelief at me while I make some firewood.

"Wha - ... How the hell did you do that ?"

Fed up with her constant questions, I give only monosyllabic answers.

"Practice."

I make a nice pile of the twigs, leaving some for later on. Not wanting to hear her annoying voice again, I place my back between her and the pile and shoot a small ki-blast into the wood, always careful that she doesn't see what I do. Seconds later, the pile is burning brightly, and the smoke is irritating my eyes. Nodding towards the - what did she say? Bear? - I ask her:

"How much do you want?"

She carefully steps towards the dead creature, trying to avoid getting any blood on her. Taking the knife I have left besides the carcass, she cuts off a small piece from the shoulder muscle. Is that all she wants? I watch her as she sticks the meat on a pointy twig and holds it over the fire, slowly turning it. She glances up at me.

"Who are you?"

"Vegeta."

"I am Melissa."

When I don't continue our conversation, she looks down on her half-cooked meat again, watching the twig blacken from the heat. I retreat to the dead creature and start eating myself, not bothering to heat the meat. Like I said, fresh blood has the most nutrients, and after healing from my injuries, my body can use all it gets.

Outwardly, there is nothing left except for the stitches in my back. I will have to get them out soon. All the broken bones I had are healed just fine, too, all except for the two vertebrae at the tip of my tail. They have grown together quite messily, leaving me with a stiff kink in my tail. I hate that bastard. I am reminded of him every few seconds.

Quickly sating my hunger, I tear into the carcass angrily, noticing her disgusted glances at me. Finally, I cut myself a small piece of meat and imitate her way of roasting it over the fire. While I wait for the food to cook, I study her intently.

Her pants and her shirt are quite dirty and torn in many places, and she bleeds from various gashes. The biggest ones are on her left leg and left arm though. That must be the place where the predator got to her first. Her clothes are colored in several shades of brown and green, perhaps trying to imitate the forest, but her lightly tanned skin kills the effect. And together with her bright blond hair, she stands out like a sore thumb. She clearly does not belong into the wilderness.

"Why are you here?"

She looks up again at my question. Apparently surprised at my initiative.

"I am taking part in a survival training. All recruits have to show that they can fend for themselves for a few days in the woods with only a knife as protection. Though I don't seem too good at that."

Averting her gaze, she whispers lightly

"Thank you for saving me."

I only nod, not quite knowing what to respond. Nobody has ever bothered to thank me. We wait silently for our meat to be done, and I am thinking about her answer. Recruits for what? Which recruits would need survival training? Fighters? Perhaps for an army? Perhaps a rescue crew? But why send women as weak as her? Or is she the best this planet has? I hope not, that would be too cruel if I have to spend the rest of my life here.

We also eat quietly. Having finished first, she inspects her wounds quite calmly. Finally, she looks up.

"Do you know where I can wash the blood off me?"

Getting up fluently, I lead her back to the lake where I came from. She just stands there at the edge of the water, looking at me as if she was waiting for something. What does she want now? Isn't she going to wash herself anytime soon? She doesn't make any efforts to get out of her clothes that already start smelling badly.

Wait, is that it? She doesn't want me to see her naked?

Snorting, I turn around. I couldn't care less about some female that is not even my race. Surely enough, I hear her splashing in the water a while later. I take it that there are no big predators in the water here because she got in without hesitation. Or she is just plain dumb.

Finally, she exits the water, and I can smell the blood again. She will have to do something soon, because the scent of fresh blood attracts hunters very fast. I can hear her picking up her clothes, putting on the pants. I have to sigh. She doesn't know anything. Even an alien that has no clue of the planet knows more about surviving in its wilderness than her, a native.

"Just slip in the most important parts of your clothing, the rest will have to serve for dressing your wounds."

She hesitates for a while, then she asks shyly:

"Could you please help me with my injuries, I have never done that before..."

Rolling my eyes, I turn around to see a faint blush on her cheeks. Gripping her clothes from the ground, I walk into the lake until the water comes up to my thighs, and I wash the rags clean from all the blood and dirt. Then, I carefully wring them out and rip them into thin stripes, laying them on a clean stone that has been heated by the sun.

"Come here."

She slowly limps closer, wearing nothing more than necessary to cover her breasts and her nether regions. She doesn't place her full weight on her left foot, but even then, blood spills forth with every step. Finally, she is standing right in front of me. I motion for her to sit on the warm stone before I take up the first stripe of cloth. That task is nothing new to me as I have tended to my own wounds countless times.

"I have to wipe the dirt out of your wounds, so hold still and grit your teeth."

With those words, I dip the cloth into the water and silently heat it with my ki to sterilize it. As weak as she is, she is probably not able to fight some simple viruses or bacteria. When I clean her smaller wounds, she takes in a sharp breath and grows pale, and I can feel her heart beating rapidly. As soon as I reach the one on her left thigh though, she passes out from the pain. Part of me laughs at that display of weakness, the other part is glad to be spared from her whining.

Quickly finishing my task, I wrap her wounds up so that the blood flow is staunched but that she can still move without too many difficulties. Then, I carry her back to the fire and finish the rest of the bear. Seeing that she has not woken up yet, I blast the bones and the blood to avoid attracting other predators. Settling down into a light meditation, I think about my current situation.

Three words are enough to describe it. Completely Fucked Up. My spacepod is somewhere at the bottom of that fucking lake; I probably won't be able to repair it anyways, and the planet I am stranded on has no space travel. I am stuck with a weak, injured female; I have still got that damned chip in me where Furiza can locate me with, and I can't even train properly because I want to learn more about that mud-ball I am stuck on for an indefinite period of time, perhaps the rest of my life. Completely Fucked Up.

But first, I have to get the stitches out. Cursing, I slip out of my armor, then peel the spandex down to my hips where my backbone grows into my tail. The stitches on my lower back are no problem, I can easily grab the threads and rip them apart, but the ones beneath my shoulder blades are impossible to reach. I try getting my hands on them, but as soon as one hand touches them, the other one slips away. I am very frustrated and thoroughly tempted to just send a weak blast at my back, when the nerving voice of the female interrupts me.

"What are you doing?"

Damn it, I thought she would have been out longer.

"Getting the stitches out of my back."

She gets up and limps towards me, grabbing the knife on her way. Wearily, I watch her, not quite sure what she is going to do with the weapon. She probably couldn't hurt me if her life depended on it, but I have learned early on not to trust anybody. Perhaps she is not as unobservant as I thought, because she stops a few feet in front of me and says.

"Turn around so that I can help you. You have already helped me twice, so this is the best I can do in return."

They've got an honor code? That planet is getting more and more interesting. As far as I have seen it, the female seems to think of me to be one of her race, so she probably isn't going to deceive me. Still, I am on my guard while I turn my rigid back to her. She gasps when she sees it and asks with shock in her voice.

"Where did you get all those scars from?"

That fucking bastard has done that to me during my years of serving him both as a warrior and a pet. Almost all of them tell their own tale of pain and humiliation by him - all except the one on my chest, directly over my heart.

After that night of my First Coupling, I had asked Radditz to give me the mark of Vegeta-sei so that I will never forget who I am. He had only nodded knowingly and carved the royal seal into my chest with a steady stream of ki. I will never forget his grim expression as he held his hand over my heart, burning the intricately swung V of the royal family into my skin while mumbling the traditional words that are usually pronounced at the coronation of the prince.

All princes were Marked in front of a huge crowd as the future king when they proved their abilities to rule, but as Vegeta-sei has been blown up, my official Marking had been turned to an unofficial one. There also were no celebrations whatsoever, and because of the previous events, I didn't want one, either. It was just Radditz who witnessed my Marking, but that didn't bother me as he was half of my people still left.

I flinch when I feel her cool fingers on my back, lightly tracing the countless scars. Roughly, I snap at her:

"Stop it. If you want to do it, get on with it. Otherwise leave."

Wisely, she doesn't say anything but starts to work. A few minutes later, all threads are gone and she steps back. I pull the top half of my spandex on again, but don't bother to slip into my armor. Looking up into the sky, I realize that Sol has already moved a great deal towards the horizon, and that within an hour night will fall. The days here are not very long , perhaps nine or ten hours, and the nights can't be much different. So one rotation of Sol 3 takes somewhere between 15 and 25 hors. Much shorter than the days and nights of Vegeta-sei.

Turning towards her, I address her in a friendly manner - for my behavior.

"Get some sleep now, we will share the night watch."

She nods and curls together besides the fire, careful to not lie on her injuries. I sit down on the opposite side of the fire and wait. Soon she is deeply asleep, and not even when I get up and start cutting down trees she wakes up. No wonder she was surprised by that bear. How can they send somebody as unfit for wilderness as her to a survival training?

Shaking my head, I ram some tree trunks deep into the ground and then use some to cover the top. In no time, a shelter stands in the small clearing with the opening towards the fire. It is quite crude, but I guess it is better than nothing. Her pitifully frail body is already shivering from the cold, and it is not in my interest when she dies during the night.

Not bothering to wake her up, I carry her inside and settle down on the opposite side of the fire. The sounds of the forest blend together in a strange mixture of humming, rustling, creaking and occasional chirps. When the sun disappears under the horizon, the pungent odor of the trees becomes more comfortable to my nose; and the air smells cooler, fresher, not as thickly loaded with scents as during the day.

She has never said anything about hiding the glow of the fire, so I guess there is no necessity for that. Or she is simply that ignorant to all dangers. In the distance, I can hear the hungry howl of a predator, but it is nothing to worry about as the wind comes from its direction and it can't smell us.

Suddenly, I perk up. To my right side, there are two creatures approaching. I can hear them stomping through the forest because they don't make any efforts to be quiet. They even talk to each other loudly, and both of them have a strong, distinctively male scent. That would make them members of the same race as the female. Her mate?

"Hey, dude, did ya see tha'? Looks like a fire ta me!"

"Yeah, man, ya're right. I'm sick'n'tired of tha' load uv shit they call 'survival training'! Think we can surprise an' scare them people at the fire?"

"Hell yeah, dude, dat's a great idea. Ah bet dey piss deir pants when we sneak up behinds dem!"

Then it's quiet again. Well, not really quiet, I can hear them move through the thick brushes as they are forcing their way through. What kind of idiots are those? They can't move silently, but plan on scaring others. I can follow their footsteps without any problems, and their scent is blown directly into my face. Their abilities of living in the wilderness are none-existent, and I wonder how they plan on completing their 'survival training'.

Those two males are even worse than the female, and she is clearly not bred to be a warrior. Well, I want to see what they are going to do when confronted with something unsuspected; I love scaring the shit out of people. Silently, I get up, moving stealthily behind a tree. My dark skin and the black spandex swallow all light so that I am almost completely invisible. I have already gotten a feel for the motions in that forest, always swinging in the wind, never resting, and I blend in completely.

The sound of snapping twigs and rustling leaves is coming closer, and with each one of their steps, the ground trembles almost imperceptibly low. Idiots. Complete idiots. Shaking my head, I watch them enter the clearing, heading towards the fire.

"Hey, dude, noone's here!"

Are they serious? They talk like some uneducated third-class-warrior, and they are even dumber than Nappa has ever been. At least he knew how to fight.

"Look, man, there's a hut. We can sleep in there during the night!"

"Super, dude, let's go!"

Before they get to do anything though, I quickly move behind them and clamp my hands on their shoulders with a feral growl. It is really easy as they are a few inches shorter than me with my 6'3''. They flinch heavily, and then start screaming loudly. Amused by their pathetic reaction, I snarl dangerously:

"Shut up or I'll kill you. You're hurting my ears."

Abruptly, they close their mouths, and the scream is echoing behind in the night. I have to say, it is quite funny. Their horror-stricken faces turn slowly around, and I can smell that they are ready to wet their pants. Pathetic. When they see my smirk, they release the breath they had been holding, panting as if they had just done some heavy work. Finally, the brown-haired one gathers his guts to talk to me.

"Man, dude, ya scared us ta death!"

Setting up my scariest face, I decide to have some more fun with those two weaklings.

"That was my intention. Unfortunately, you are still alive though."

Their eyes widen with fear; they stare at me and the brown-haired one starts begging.

"Please, Sir, don't hurt us, we didn't mean it. We are getting out of here as fast as possible, won't we, Rick?"

The other one, even smaller than the brown-haired one, nods fervently, and I wonder how his head still stays on his shoulders. Inside the shelter, I can hear the female stir and get up at the noise. Seems that all the commotion was enough to wake her up.

She pokes her head out of the cabin and looks at the two males that are sitting at my feet. Surprised, she asks:

"Rick? Chris? Is that you?"

They turn around and look at her. I can smell the arousal of them at the sight of the scantily clad female immediately, and a low growl is vibrating in my throat. They don't seem to get the warning though.

"Melissa? Wow, ya look gorgeous like dat! Want ta play wid me?"

I have to keep all my self-control at those words. They remind me of the bastard Aisu-jin. He said almost the same words every time he was going to fuck me. The growling in my throat is getting more intense as I relive my hate for that slimy lizard. I unconsciously power up, and a slight wind is emanating from my form. My fists are clenched, my teeth are gritted, and all my muscles are as tense as coils. All my senses are heightened by my anger, and I am ready for battle. But her voice breaks into my thoughts.

"You wish, Chris. Now get your dick back into your pants and tell me why you are here."

The brown-haired male puffs his chest out, probably to impress her, and starts a whole story of lies.

"Well, Rick an' me, we were sneaking through de brushes, knifes ready, following de trail of a really big buck. De buck was just standin' dere, an' we snuck up behinds him. It had antlers wid 14 ends, imagine dat, a huge beast. I had my knife ready, and wid a huge lunge, I jumped on its back. After a wild ride where I had ta hold on for dear life, I was finally able ta slit its throat. Ya should of seen it, even injured de buck still fought a long time before givin' up. Den, Rick said dat he saw your fire, an' we thought dat we could cook our meat here. Suddenly, we heard a scream, and we hurried ta get here. Dat was where we found him."

With those words, he points to the place where I have stood at moments before. They are such low cowards; they have to impress with lies because they lack skills. The female seems to know that quite well, because she furrows her brows in doubt.

"Really, Chris? Then why are you two so clean, no blood and no scrapes? And why did that scream sound so much like you two? And I doubt that you found Vegeta. I rather think he found you plotting some mischief. And god damn it, stop ogling me, that is disgusting!"

I almost have to laugh at the sullen expression of the two males. They are like children. No, not even children behaved that way on Vegeta-sei. It seems as if the females are the stronger gender of their race, very strange. On Vegeta-sei, it had been the other way round.

Retreating to the darkness again, I leave the woman alone with the two males as she has proven that she can easily handle them. I lean back against a tree and listen to their talking.

They are all recruits for an army, but it doesn't seem to be an army like the Aisu-jin one from what I have gathered. It is rather an army where everybody, and I mean everybody who wants to, can enter. They never have to fight for their lives, they never get beaten half to death, and they think their conditions are harsh when they have to run a few miles and get yelled at. But what did I expect from such weaklings on such a weak planet?

I sit there listening to them fall asleep, and then I wait. The sounds of the forest become familiar to me, and I am surprised at how much peace this place possesses. On Vegeta-sei, the wilderness was harsh, very hostile, only the strongest survived. And sometimes, not even them. The little water, the very same element that is so abundant here, was very hard to find, and very valuable.

Two thirds of the planet were covered in a boiling hot, red desert, where nothing lived except for a few bugs and other insects. Everything else that dared to stay too long was roasted alive under the heated rays of our bluish-white sun. In this harsh environment, my race developed, bred to be the strongest, fighting for domination, fighting to survive every day of their lives.

The hours are passing while I am recollecting my memories of my home-planet that no longer exists. The night stays dark while I ponder over this weak planet I am stranded on.

Sometime in the morning hours, before the sun rises, I sense the female stir and get up. She is careful to not wake up the two males that have laid down together with her in the hut, but not too close to her. A slight wince comes from her as she tests her sore muscles, and she walks around the glowing coals. She looks into the darkness as if she was searching for something, but apparently, she can't find it. In a low whisper as to not waken anybody, she calls my name. What does she want now?

"What?", I growl exasperatedly, and she looks over in my direction.

"You said we would share night watch. It is my turn now, so you can rest a little bit."

She doesn't seem to see me because she is staring at a tree two feet besides me. That race seems to have very dull senses and almost no night vision. Shaking my head, I close my eyes. If there was some danger, it is more likely that I would wake up than that she would detect it.

I am not very tired, but as a warrior, I have learned to get as much sleep as possible at every occasion, because you never know when you will get to rest the next time. Soon, I am in a light slumber where the nightmares I suppress during the day come back to haunt me.

A/N: So, how did you like this chapter? I know, it is a little bit too clean for the heavy rating, but I couldn't think of anything else. Review please!