Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Variations of Fate ❯ Insurgence ( Chapter 10 )

"So, your experiment on that filthy monkey did not work?" King Cold stated calmly as he sat in his throne on a raised dais, holding a crystalline glass of wine, twisting the stem between his fingers as he looked below at Frieza, Zarbon and Dodoria, one eyebrow raised, lips curling in an evil, simpering look. He lifted the glass to his lips, taking a sip. "Well, since those other Saiyans refuse to go on purging missions, I say it is time we return the beasts to their home planet."

Frieza began to speak, and King Cold held up a hand to silence him. "Frieza, my son, I do have a plan before we do that, however. I have had many of the best scientists in our Empire working on a little project, and doing a little research on Vegetasei. You know, there are requirements for a Saiyan Prince to ascend to the throne..."

As King Cold spoke, Frieza and Zarbon sat on the edges of their seats in anticipation; Dodoria merely sat like a lump on a log, looking numbly up at King Cold.

"Father, what is your plan?"

"It seems, a Saiyan must 'bond' to his consort, and the bonding is essential in how a King rules. We must find some way to sever the Monkey-brat's ability to bond..."

"And you believe this ... this stupidity? This old wives tale?" Zarbon snorted, "What creature actually bonds to another? It's lu--"

"SILENCE! It is true. It seems King Vegeta's power has not grown significantly since the death of his mate, although he can still function as a ruler. Since their 'bond' was severed by death, he has no problems and he cannot be manipulated... But, a Saiyan past a certain age who does not bond can become quite, shall we say, demented? It is easy to 'puppet' them, as you once said of possibly being able to do."

Although Zarbon was still an unbeliever, a sinister grin spread across Frieza's face, "Father, how do we manage this? How can we keep Vegeta from bonding?"

King Cold smirked, "He is still in the throws of Saiyan puberty, it seems, so he will, most assuredly, be receptive to our 'treatments'." He looked towards Zarbon, "In form the Saiyans that they have a mission in two days' time."

"My Prince..." Nappa panted, gasping for breath, his chest heaving from his exertions. "I'm...too tired..." pant, pant, "...to con-tinue..."

Vegeta, half the size of Nappa, sneered as he looked around at the gasping, sweating tired Saiyans, none of whom could even lay a finger on him. Why, he was hardly out of breath! He snorted scornfully and scowled. "Fools, all of you! ... None of you can keep up with my superior strength!"

"Excellency, you are superior, by far," they all panted in unison.

"Are you certain of that?" Zarbon asked nonchalantly from an alcove near the door, one brow raised mockingly. "...Prince...Vegeta, it seems we have not challenged one another for many years. After all, you should return to your home a champion shouldn't you?"

Vegeta scowled, a snarl working its way onto his features, his eye twitching dangerously. His guards had stopped panting, and each in turn narrowed their eyes.

"Of course, I've always pegged Saiyans as the, oh, I don't know ... cowardly type?" Zarbon smirked, flipping the thick green braid over his shoulder. "Of course, being the Prince of Cowards, I'm sure you aren't one..."

This time, Vegeta growled, and launched himself at Zarbon, who, with a shrug, dodged smartly, laughing as the Prince took a nose dive. "Hm, it seems more like the Prince of Morons! I've misjudged you, Vegeta!" He laughs again as he kicks at the Saiyan, hitting him in that ... certain masculine sore spot.

Vegeta groaned, writhing on the floor, and this time rolling out of the way of Zarbon's well-aimed kicks. He grimaced, and then snarled at Zarbon as he got up, "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Well, you did call your own training partners fools, didn't you?" he sneered, still kicking at the Prince. "They're incompetent, I'm not. Those, oh, four wins you had against me? I was letting you win! Frieza's insistence, after all. We can't have the prized exhibition hurting himself!"

"Hey, don't you --" Nappa started, growling and coming to Vegeta's side, only to receive a swift kick in the face by Zarbon.

"Don't try that again, moron!" he shouted, still laughing, and Vegeta took the chance to ram into his stomach and push him up against the wall. It was Zarbon's turn to snarl as Vegeta smirked his classic Vegeta-smirk. Zarbon lunged at Vegeta and the two went for a quick round of punching and kicking. They stopped, circling one another like feral animals, each snarling, growling. Vegeta went at Zarbon first, and again Zarbon anticipated the move, cracking Vegeta's jaw on his knee and hurling him into the wall in return for the earlier favor.

Blood dribbled down Vegeta's chin and out of his nose; he swiped it away with the back of his hand, glaring dangerously at Zarbon. "You'll pay for that..."

A swift kick sent Vegeta up against the wall once more, "I will, will I?"

Vegeta pulled himself up and launched an attack at Zarbon; Zarbon transformed and countered, blasting Vegeta -- yet again -- into the wall. Things continued like that for a while, and Vegeta was getting the brunt of the attacks.

As Vegeta was getting up, Zarbon lifted clasped hands above his head and -- WHACK! -- rendered Vegeta unconscious. The other Saiyans cowered for a moment, and then as Zarbon shifted back, attempted to run over to their fallen Prince. Zarbon held up a hand, smirking, "Don't even try it, you fools!"

He tossed Vegeta over his shoulder and hooked him into one of the regeneration tanks, adding in various 'healing' chemicals. He laughed as he walked out of the room, "Now, you can't say I'm not helping. Don't worry, he'll be better by the time of your mission -- two days. When you return, report to Frieza!"

The Saiyans had been waiting by their Prince's side for nearly two days. A frowning Nappa pacing heavily to and fro, and suddenly Nappa stopped and stalked up to the regeneration tank, peering into it. "It can't be long now, can it?"

The others shook their heads and Nappa frowned.

"My mom always said, 'A watched pot never boils!'" one quipped, earning groans from the other guards.

"No one /cares/ what your mother said!"

"Yeah, I know! Your mother was whore!"

"You're insulting /my/ mom?"

"Yeah!"

"Shush!" Nappa boomed, looking blankly into the tank, "Ha! Haha! I think he may be waking!"

Indeeded, Prince Vegeta was waking, and the others scrambled to open the tank. Vegeta ripped the mask off his face and scrambled out.

"Zarbon put you in!" one of the guards blurted

"Fah! Disgusting!" he spat as he dried himself off. "Why did you allow them to place me in that, you fools?"

"We have a purging mission, Prince Vegeta," Nappa said calmly, "We must depart now -- or else Frieza says there will be consequences."

"Then bring me my armor, you idiot!" Vegeta shouted, his face snarling, twitching. "And then leave!"

"Y-yes, your excellency!" the guard returned quickly with the armor and they all hurried off, except for Nappa. Vegeta quickly put on the Saiyan armor and shook his head, droplets flying off everywhere.

"MOVE IT!" shouted Vegeta.

In irritation, Frieza tapped his foot, "It certainly takes them long enough, doesn't it? Two days? They're worthless creatures!"

"Not worthless, my Lord, but not the strongest or most intelligent. They would be a welcome addition to your lower class soldiers, however. Their bloodthirst is second to none," Zarbon knelt as he entered, and quickly covered his mistake "except, for your own, majesty."

The changeling smirked, "Yes, of course. It is fun to kill, don't you think so, Zarbon? And if you can't kill, it is -- at least -- fun to injure pride, wouldn't you say?"

The green man nodded a smile tugging at his lips at the praise, and walked to his usual place beside Frieza.

"Lord Frieza, the Saiyans have returned," the comsys bleeped.

"Ah, they are returning..." Frieza smiled, "And they are coming straight here!"

The door whisked open, and four of the Saiyans knelt respectfully. Vegeta bowed as he spoke, "Lord Frieza, we have purged Ribros and eliminated its population. Quite useless."

From the shadows, Zarbon snickered, "If they were that useless, it shouldn't have taken you that long! I could have purged it by myself in perhaps, half a day?"

Vegeta snarled at him. "They were useless, but resistant! Besides, I have been able to beat you before! What makes you think you can go in and finish off a whole planet by yourself? You are useless!"

Zarbon smirked, "Me? Why, you're the one who --"

"SILENCE!" Frieza shouted, and then chuckled maliciously, "As much as I enjoy your petty bickering, I would enjoy a match between Vegeta and Zarbon before the Prince must return home. We will settle this tomorrow ... and then, perhaps, Vegeta will have had time to rest from his mission..."

Vegeta growled and left, the other Saiyans following closely behind.

"Now, Zarbon, that is how we settle petty differences on my ship," Frieza smirked laughingly, and motioned for him to leave with a haughty, disdainful flick of his fingers. "I order you to rest before the fight. You are dismissed."

Meanwhile, on Vegetasei, Cuff stood in a defensive stance, facing off in hand to hand combat with Kakarot. The pair circled one another as Ava watched.

"Alright, umm... Kick at me!" Kakarot said cheerfully ... and received a full kick in the face from Cuff, who, controlling himself by hovering above the ground, floated carefully back to the ground as Kakarot landed on his butt, rubbing his forhead.The Saiyan giggled, "Ow! That hurt! But it was good! You're really learning! I might teach you some real energy attacks soon!"

"Really?" Cuff said excitedly, but slowly the smile turned into a frown, "I dunno, 'rot, my mom won't be too happy if I start blowing up the house. Besides, the palace guards'll get a little suspicious."

"No they won't! Besides, I'll teach you how to control it before you can actually use it! That's the way my dad taught me!"

"But ..."

"Cuff, go ahead and learn!" Ava called out, leaning against a rock. "Besides, if anyone gets in trouble, it'll be me. Mom forbade you to come here, but I got off and brought you."

"Alright, then! That settles it!" Kakarot laughed, nodding sagely, "But first, you know what? I've gotta teach you how to fly! You're controlling your hovering really well! That's really one of the first steps to controlling energy attacks!"

"Really? What do I do?" Cuff immediately began hovering.

Kakarot shrugged and grinned, "Well, I dunno," he scratched at the back of his neck, "Just ... fly!"

"But..."

"Well, just try it!"

Cuff sighed as he hovered, and concentrated. "I ... I dunno if it's working..." he fell to the ground and sniffled as he rubbed his butt, "Awh, man ... it's not working!"

"You're trying to hard!" Kakarot said as he helped him up. "Cuff, you just gotta, not really thing about? I dunno...but anyway."

Cuff sniffled and wiped his eyes, "But I can't do it! And if my mom finds out about this she won't lemme come anymore! She doesn't want me to be friends with you! She says all Saiyans are bad!"

"Cuff, that's stupid. Don't cry -- it's a good way to get yourself killed," Kakarot sighed and glowered at him, but he couldn't hold it and smiled at Cuff. "Well, everything'll be okay. So don't worry about it."

"Awh, but she won't let me come!" Cuff whined.

Ava stopped him, "Cuff, don't worry about it. I told you I'd get you here whenever I had a rest day!"

"Uh, you'd better go, Ava, Cuff..." Kakarot gave them a sheepish grin, "Um, my brother's coming ... so you'd better run ... really fast! Go! Oh, uh, Cuff ... practice hovering and stuff...um bye!"

Kakarot sighed in relief as they ran off, and turned as someone clopped down onto the dirt behind him. "Uh... Hey Radditz!"

Radditz crossed his arm and smirked, "Teaching that worthless human how to fight again, Kakarot?"

The younger fixed his gaze on his feet, not daring to look up, "Yes sir."

"You are gonna be in such big trouble when I tell Bardock!" Radditz laughed.

"No I'm not! Dad won't care!"

"Ha! Whatever, Bardock's looking for you, so you'd better hurry home. I've gotta go report to my superiors!" Radditz said, rubbing in the fact that he now had rank, and that Kakarot didn't.

"Yes sir," Kakarot mumbled as he took off.

"Good boy!" Radditz called after him, and went on his own way.