Noticed an error in chapter 1 - I forgot Nappa had hair at that point! I fixed the mistake, so Nappa's not bald in this (yet).
"Power, respect, legacy…it will be all yours, son. You were born with an extraordinary battle power, and it's only destiny that you will stake your claim as the highest being on the food chain..."
The words of the deep, gruff voice resonating in Vegeta's head were enough to wake him up from his slumber. In his estimation, he'd only slept for four hours at the most, but that wasn't important. There was far too much work for him to do. Vegeta leapt off of his cot and grabbed the armor he'd discarded on the floor before his slumber. After quickly slipping it on, Vegeta walked over to his locker and opened it up, letting out a low gasp at what he saw. Or rather, he didn't see – the armor that Frieza ordered him to stop wearing was gone. The prince growled low in his throat before retrieving his scouter and slamming the door shut.
Vegeta turned around and went to the door, glancing at Nappa and Raditz before he hit a button to open it. They were both still asleep, earning a mental scolding from him. Vegeta hadn't eaten since yesterday's purge and his growing Saiyan body was demanding nourishment, so he headed to the mess hall. As he walked, he slipped his scouter on and hit a few buttons to shuffle through communication links. He stopped once he reached the scouter code he was looking for: Frieza's. What he wanted to ask was what he did with his old armor, but he was sure the list of things smarter to do than that spanned several pages. He overheard him blathering about some wine and winced at his throaty chuckles before shutting the link off.
There was quite the commotion in the mess hall when Vegeta stepped in. The hall was a plain, grey room, filled with black tables occupied by dozens of soldiers in the Galactic Army. Several of them were standing up, giving their attention to a confrontation between two soldiers.
One soldier, a boy donning red skin and long, white hair, evaded a punch from the humanoid solider in front of him with little effort before leveling him with a kick that sent him flying halfway across the room. He was spiraling in Vegeta's direction. The prince simply grunted and then halted his flight with a swipe of his arm that knocked the man into the wall to his left. The other soldiers scrambled away from the scene, wary of Vegeta's already notorious temper.
Vegeta smirked in the other fighter's direction. "Marking your territory, huh, Jeice?"
"That weakling thought he could take my grub," the red fighter said in his high-pitched, heavily accented voice. Jeice was only a few years older than Vegeta and had garnered a reputation in the army as an exceptionally skilled fighter, capturing enough attention for Frieza to call him up to live at the home base.
Vegeta took a seat at the table where the confrontation occurred and grabbed the unsightly, brown piece of meat on the tray in front of him. Jeice sat across from him and downed a bag of blue beans. He chewed them loud enough to draw glares from the group of soldiers sitting in the adjacent tables.
"So I hear ya planet got blown to bits," Jeice crudely remarked through a mouthful of beans.
Vegeta merely grunted in response. "Not like it makes much of a difference. I'm still Lord Frieza's underling either way," he said, the bitter resentment obvious in his tone.
"You're talkin' like it doesn't give you plenty of perks," Jeice replied as he poured a couple of beans out from the bag. He drew his palm out and in almost an instant, the beans caught on fire. Seconds later, he blew the fire away in a single breath and indulged in his newly fried beans.
Vegeta watched the display with intrigue, as that was one of his abilities that caught everyone's eye to begin with. "Easy for you to say; I have to pester him just to get a planet that can even make me perspire."
"Well, duh, cuz he wants you to stay alive for some reason."
Vegeta's eye twitched at that statement. The young prince hated being reminded of how much Frieza favored him. The last thing he wanted to be considered was a pampered brat. "Don't be absurd. We all know the real reason. To top it off, now I'm stuck dragging two other Saiyans around."
"Oh c'mon now, kid," Jeice snickered, "Don't be getting' a big head on ya now." He stood up and continued to laugh when he saw the angry snarl Vegeta was giving him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I got an assignment of my own. I hear the strongest fighter at this place has a power level of 10,000!"
Vegeta growled at Jeice as he watched him grab his bag of beans and leave the mess hall. His dark eyes were filled with anger and envy, yearning to get assignments like Jeice's instead of being stuck serving as Frieza's errand boy. Vegeta put his piece of meat down and marched out of the hall. He used his scouter to try to track Jeice's power level to follow him. He was walking at a faster pace, bumping into a few irritated soldiers along the way. When he saw Jeice heading for one of the exits, he quickened his pace.
"Jeice, wait!" Vegeta called out.
The red boy turned around and gave Vegeta confused look. "What? I ain't gonna take ya with me, if that's what ya gonna ask. Lord Frieza would have my head."
"No, it's not that," Vegeta replied, though he was almost tempted to do just that. "But how have you been getting Frieza to assign you to better planets?"
"I dunno," Jeice replied with a shrug. "Just askin' him nicely, I guess. And besides, you know the drill on their weekly power level evaluations. They should be givin' ya planets based on how strong you are."
Vegeta glared down at the floor. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what Jeice was telling him. It was painfully obvious that he was getting different treatment. Jeice saw the desperation in Vegeta's eyes and tried to come up with some sort of logical solution.
"Uh…I'll tell ya what. When you're done with whatever planet Frieza just gave you, just tell him ya want to fight one of his soldiers, either at your rank or above you," Jeice explained. "Even if ya don't win, Frieza might deem you worthy or whatever if ya put up a good fight." Jeice shrugged one more time before turning around and leaving the building.
Vegeta's tail waved excitedly behind him. "Oh, I'll win," he said with a smirk. A good fight was something he'd been missing for quite some time. Seemingly on cue, Vegeta received a transmission over his scouter.
"Vegeta, report to Lord Frieza's throne room at once," rang the voice of Zarbon over Vegeta's scouter.
Vegeta sighed and headed towards the throne room. He marched through the already opened doors and saw Nappa and Raditz kneeling before Frieza, Zarbon, and Dodoria. Vegeta scowled, stepped between the two, and mirrored their respectful gesture.
"Zarbon, would you mind retrieving that thing you presented to me earlier?" Frieza humorously asked.
"As you wish, Lord Frieza," Zarbon replied. He walked to one of the rooms behind Frieza and came back with a set of armor. Vegeta's strong eyesight allowed him to immediately recognize the red insignia on its left chest plate. The three superiors couldn't suppress their laughter when they saw Vegeta gasp at the sight of it.
Zarbon handed the armor to Frieza. "Thank you, sir," Frieza politely replied as he examined the armor. "What to do with this, indeed."
"Frieza, w-what are you-" Vegeta blurted out before he was interrupted by a blast from Dodoria that hit him directly in the face. Vegeta flew back several feet and rolled on the floor, clutching his face in agony as he felt the sensitive skin burn raw around his eyes.
"That's Lord Frieza to you, and don't speak out of turn!" Dodoria sneered.
Nappa winced uncomfortably as he kneeled. It was his sworn duty from King Vegeta himself to protect the prince, but now he was completely powerless to do so. It was killing him inside to watch him get pushed around so blatantly. He turned his head to the side and watched as Vegeta staggered to his feet. The boy clenched his fists tightly and glared at Dodoria with intense hatred. Nappa knew exactly what was on Vegeta's mind and shook his head, his own silent warning. Vegeta conceded and sunk his head before we walked forward and resumed kneeling.
Frieza was still looking at the armor, either not being aware of the exchange or just not caring. "This crest of yours is such an eyesore. Honestly, I'm not sure why you're so attached to this thing, young lad."
"I already gave it to you, what else do you need with it?" Vegeta asked through clenched teeth.
"Vegeta!" Nappa hissed in admonishment.
"Dodoria?" Frieza asked, not taking his eye off the armor. The scaly, pink minion smirked and nodded. Dodoria sprung forward and violently slammed his knee into Vegeta. Vegeta was so small that Dodoria's leg nearly engulfed is entire body. Nappa and Raditz instinctively sprung to action, while Dodoria moved behind their prince and wrapped his arm around his jaw. It was smother nearly half of his face.
"You monkeys better stand down unless you plan on joining him," he warned. Vegeta clutched his massive arm with both hands, shaking in his grip both in pain and rage.
Frieza finally raised his head to face the three Saiyans. "This armor and, more importantly, the meaning it carries for you bodes nothing but a distraction." Frieza casually tossed the plate to the floor and raised his finger, which emitted an orange light. "It simply must go."
Frieza fired a beam at the armor that instantly charred it to flames. Vegeta's muffled growls could be heard over Dodoria's arm and the other two Saiyans closed their eyes to avoid the sight. Vegeta was squeezing his fists until they were nearly as white as the gloves around them as he watched what was left of his dignified royalty go up in smoke.
"How unfortunate," Frieza cackled. "Now your precious 'royal armor' has gone the way of the rest of the Saiyans. Is there a problem, boy?" Dodoria relinquished his grip on Vegeta and carelessly shoved him to the floor. Vegeta let out a series of harsh coughs and staggered back to his knees. Despite his diminutive size, he already had a glare that could murder, and it was pointed directly at Frieza.
"Such rage! If I didn't know any better, I'd judge from that look on your face that you want to take your problems out with me." Frieza's smirk turned sinister as he added, "I heard your conversation with Jeice a few minutes ago over the scouters. I don't appreciate that mouth of yours."
Vegeta's face paled as he remembered a specific allusion he'd made. The darkness cast in Frieza's eyes was enough to make Vegeta have to stare at the floor. "And you know what I really don't appreciate? The implied threat that you so freely and carelessly attach to every statement you make regarding me behind closed doors. You may be as daft as you look, but I know you at least have a sharp memory. Repeat to me what I and Zarbon warned you of yesterday."
"If I forget my allegiance or act out of place, swift action will be taken," Vegeta hoarsely replied.
"You're more transparent than a scouter, Vegeta. Maybe I wouldn't notice if you eased up on the blatant disrespect, but you despise me. Yes, it pains my heart to say it, but it's the truth. I give you the benefit of the doubt, for you're a child, barely above a toddler. You have a natural inability to demonstrate rational thought," Frieza coldly examined. "The only reason you even attempt to obey me is because you know of the difference between our powers. After all, what is power but the most natural form of authority known across the universe?
"But know this – you will only ever gain as much power as I dictate. I control you, boy, and your only purpose is to serve as a useful soldier to do my bidding." Frieza motioned for Dodoria to return to his side. "Do you know how it is that these two have become my two right hand men? Or how the Ginyu Force have become such elite lieutenants? Or hell, how your 'friend' Jeice has no trouble getting strong worlds to conquer? Because they know the pecking order and their place in it. You will never be anything more than a slave. Don't ever forget that." The usual politeness was absent in Frieza's voice. His message was clear.
"Yes, Lord Frieza," Vegeta reluctantly spat out.
In just an instant, Frieza closed his eyes and smiled. "Boy, all of that solemnity was beginning to put a damper on everything!" Vegeta nearly rolled his eyes. "Now that we have all of that ugliness pushed to the side, onto more pleasant matters. The three of you have an assignment that begins today! As I previously said, you are to purge Planet Actinidia of its innocents to bargain with the stronger fighters. As an amendment to that order, you may combat the warriors, since I'm sure they'll try to put up a fight. But that's all. If you can help it, do not kill them."
Zarbon tossed a black remote at Nappa, which he easily caught. "That's a controller. Press the green button at the bottom right and then input the number of however many warriors are left on the planet. That will bring in ships to send them away to the training planet," Frieza explained.
Zarbon handed Nappa another device. "Give this to their king, who bears the planet's namesake. Lord Frieza will engage in negotiations with them via this holographic device. Once they surrender, press the button."
"It's not a very large planet, and even the stronger fighters shouldn't be more than you can handle, and thus I expect this to be done in two days. Am I clear?" Frieza asked.
"Yes, Lord Frieza," the three Saiyans replied."
"Very well. Dismissed. Don't disappoint me, now!" The Saiyans rose to their feet and exited the room. Just before Vegeta left, Frieza added one last thing. "Oh, and Vegeta. As extra incentive for you to do a thorough job, you will earn a training session with yours truly if it's done in a day. Accounting for the length of the round trip, I'll know."
"Yes, Lord," Vegeta replied, unable to hide the eagerness in his voice.
As Vegeta headed for the building's exit, Raditz walked up to him. "Prince Vegeta, I'm sorry about y-"
Raditz's pity was cut off by an elbow to the gut. He clutched his stomach and sank to his knees, coughing harshly in pain. Vegeta sneered down at him before walking away. Nappa shook his head and offered Raditz a hand. Raditz grabbed it and was effortlessly lifted up to his feet by the elder Saiyan.
"I think there's a few things I need teach about interacting with Vegeta, kid," Nappa snickered.
"I've never seen a guy with so much pride," Raditz said, spitting out blood.
"You'll get used to it."
They stepped outside and flew over to a launch pad a few miles away from the building. Vegeta was already waiting there, impatiently drumming his hand along his space pod. "Thought it was gonna take you fools forever to get here."
"Sorry about that, I had to make sure this kid could keep up," Nappa quipped.
"Hey, I was following you just fine!" Raditz snapped.
"Watch it, kid! Vegeta's not the only one you oughta show some respect to. Foolish third-class…"
Vegeta snickered at the exchange. He pressed the button to open the pod's door. "I wanted to go to a planet to get some training in, but I want to meet Frieza's deadline. Let's hurry up." Vegeta hopped in his pod, and the two other Saiyans stepped into theirs.
Once Vegeta was inside and the door closed in front of him, he hit a few buttons on the control panel to his bottom right and an electronic voice prompted him. "Destination?"
"Planet Actinidia," Vegeta replied.
"Destination set to: Planet Actinidia, West Galaxy, Section 5837YZ"
Vegeta folded his arms across his chest as he felt his space pod blast off into the sky. The tension in him rose, and more importantly, so did his thirst for blood. In just a day, he had built up enough frustration for a lifetime and was eager to take it out on some unsuspecting Actinidians. Hopefully a few would actually put up a worthwhile fight.
Several hours later, the Saiyans arrived. Vegeta stepped out of his pod and immediately examined the atmosphere. The sky was a dark shade of purple, and the air was cold enough to make even a Saiyan shiver. He uncomfortably hissed when a gust of wind blew his bangs into his eyes. Raditz stepped out, though Vegeta was ignoring him and waiting for Nappa. The burly Saiyan left his pod with a few items in his hand.
One of the items was a red device. He raised it up and pressed a button that produced a holographic projection of the planet's globe. Vegeta levitated to reach eye-level with the projection. He raised his finger at it and swiped it to the left, making the globe spin in the same direction. He then pointed at one particular location, the simulated touch prompting a graphic that gave information about the area.
He did it several more times before he folded his arms again. "Alright, since I'm trying to beat the deadline, we'll split up to make things quick. Nappa you take this place," Vegeta directed, spinning the globe and pointing at a location. "It's south of here. There's a pretty big amount of people there and the average power level is middling - barely over 1,000, which you should take care of with a few of those blasts of yours."
"Of course. Oh man, I can't wait to see these freaks scream when they see me!" Nappa excitedly yelled.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, now," Vegeta snickered. He gave an annoyed sigh before turning to Raditz. "And you, there are quite a few places on the entire east side of this planet that are filled with weaklings. I'm sure even you could handle them. Try not to get yourself killed."
Raditz groaned at having his inferiority spelled out so bluntly, but nodded. "Right, Vegeta."
"I'm going directly to their king. When I'm finished, I'll inform you on my scouter. You two better be done when the time comes," Vegeta explained, with a stern warning in his tone. They both gave affirmative replies. "And let's get this done soon, boys."
Nappa pressed a button to turn the projector off and placed it under his armor plate. The three Saiyans flew off to their respective destinations. Vegeta flew with more energy than usual. In all honesty, he wasn't fond of Frieza's training sessions, mainly because the tyrant didn't have much interest in doing anything other than firing beams at him to test his reflexes, or giving him tactical advice. But he was strong enough that the end results helped raise his power. He'd occasionally show him some hand-to-hand skills, and he was certainly better than that effeminate bastard, Zarbon.
Over the next few hours, Vegeta feverishly flew towards the planet's kingdom. As he torpedoed through the sky, he rained powerful energy blasts down at any unsuspecting collection of buildings looming hundreds of feet below him. He had to make his presence known, of course. The little Saiyan cruelly laughed when he heard the shrieks of civilians caught in the crossfire.
He soon eased up on the assault in order to save his energy. And when he heard several explosions go off in the distance, he assumed it was Nappa, which meant he was causing enough of a commotion to make at least somebody aware of their presence. Vegeta normally hated Nappa's lack of subtlety, but it was forgivable in this case. The smirk on his face grew - he knew the worthwhile fighters would be coming to him soon enough.
A few minutes later, Vegeta's scouter beeped. It detected a few power levels straight ahead. "Excellent," Vegeta said to himself. The power level was 3,000, which definitely was good enough to give him a warm-up. Vegeta himself was a little over 6,000. He exploded energy around him and blasted down to ground. He was in a wasteland, with nothing but cliffs and rocks ahead of him for miles. He still had a ways to go before reaching the kingdom, but this would do.
"Show yourselves, freaks!" Vegeta called out to the sky.
Minutes later, Vegeta's scouter alerted him to several power levels coming to him at a rapid pace. All of them with levels similar to the one he detected earlier. Vegeta looked up and saw several fighters gathered in the sky. They dropped to the ground, each in individual stances and prepared for battle. Vegeta observed them closely. These aliens were all purple – scaly, unsightly beings with large eyes and what looked like tubes protruding from each side of their head in place of ears. There were five of them, all wearing black martial arts gis.
"So are we just going to stare at each other or are we going to fight?!" Vegeta yelled, squaring his shoulders for battle.
One of the five fighters looked frightened and turned to the man besides him. He was shorter than the others, likely a young fighter. "O-oh crap! I think I've heard of this one before!"
"He's wearing the same armor as the soldiers in the Cold Empire. They've sent them after us, huh?" the other fighter said.
"That's right, and you fools better stand down. I've got two other men purging this planet as we speak, and if you don't plan on surrendering to Lord Frieza's demands then we'll wipe this whole planet of you ugly fish freaks!" Vegeta challenged.
"Over my dead body!" one of the warriors declared.
The anxious fighter swallowed heavily in his throat. "Now I remember his name! He's Vegeta…a Saiyan!"
"A Saiyan?! Dammit, it looks like we'll have to take him very seriously…."
"You're smart to be terrified bh me, rodent," Vegeta boasted. "Like I said, you should stand down, but if you want to be stubborn I'll happily oblige!"
"Fool, you may think you're strong, and you may be a Saiyan, but we outnumber you five to one. The only one who needs to surrender is you!" one of the five fighters said.
The young warrior took a few steps back, swallowing heavily in his throat. He'd heard stories about the Saiyans before and knew that they lived for nothing but fighting and bloodshed. Vegeta may have been pint-sized, but just his mere presence was fearsome. "This is stupid! I don't know about the rest of you guys but I'd rather stay alive!" The young fighter flew off into the sky.
"Dammit, Cui, get back here!" the fighter next to him yelled out.
A sadistic grin made its way to Vegeta's lips. Fool, he thought to himself as he blasted off into the sky. He chased after Cui at a breakneck pace was in front of him in just a few seconds. Cui stopped dead in his tracks and was left stuttering like a scatterbrained fool. Vegeta phased in front of him and then clobbered him with a kick to the face. The other four fighters took off after Vegeta before Cui even hit the ground. Vegeta raised both of his fists and channeled a lethal amount of energy to them. Just as it seemed that the warriors were primed to surround Vegeta and leave him open to a gang beatdown, he fired an explosive array of blasts, rigorously swinging his arms around like a wild animal.
The blasts weren't exactly precise, but they hit everything within hundreds of feet of Vegeta, including the fish-like fighters. The blasts had enough power to even topple the giant rocks around him, leaving clouds of smoke. His opponents were left in a frenzy as they tried to make out their surroundings, but Vegeta had already been in this circumstance enough times in his short life to maintain his bearings. He could see their silhouettes behind the thick clouds of dust. Now he could pick them apart one by one.
Vegeta slammed his knee into the first fighter he found. He quickly responded with a flurry of punches, but Vegeta was so short and nimble that he evaded all of them without breaking a sweat. Then, with ruthless efficiency, he fired a blast into his face that happened to knock him into another one of allies. While Vegeta was laughing at those two guys, he allowed himself to be blindsided by a kick to the skull that knocked him to the ground.
Vegeta cursed his lapse of concentration. He was dizzy, as the fighter's foot hit him directly in the temple. Three warriors flew after him while he rubbed his head. Vegeta flew back, but they charged at him with great speed. He blocked one of their punches, but another one almost immediately struck him in the chest. Though he was hurting a bit, Vegeta smirked. The fools gave him the separation he needed, allowing him to fire two energy blasts from his hands that knocked a pair of fighters flat, and then with great speed he zipped up to the third one and clashed with him directly.
They exchanged a staggering amount of attacks – some hit, some landed, and all of them ate away at their energy. The Actinidian nailed Vegeta with a kick that leveled half of his body, but the young prince stayed calm and dove right at him. The two fighters collided head-to-head, and the Actinidian got the worst of exchange. And then to top it off, Vegeta nearly crushed his skull with both of his fists.
However, just when he was finished with that one Actinidian, the other two followed him. Vegeta threw strategy away and flew at them head on, but all he got for it were two punches to his stomach. Then, one of the Actinidians fired a blast to Vegeta's chest that sent him back to the ground. He immediately sprang back up and saw another energy blast heading straight for him. Rather than dodge it, Vegeta swung his small leg back and, with all his might, kicked the blast right back at the Actinidian. He used so much strength that the blast hit him before he could even dodge it. One of the other Actinidians then charged at him, but Vegeta slammed his fist straight into his stomach. The Actinidian doubled over in agony and fell to the ground.
Then, Vegeta flew up and fired two blasts with varying degrees of strength at his two opponents. One Actinidian was sent several yards back, while the other remained within a short distance of Vegeta. The prince zipped to him and then delivered a debilitating chop to his waist, applying enough force to dig into his flesh. Vegeta laughed at his blood curdling scream and, with blood dripping on his fist, punched the warrior in the jaw to knock him out cold. With him taken care of, Vegeta flew to the other fighter and jumped behind him, chopping him in the back of the neck with enough force to knock him out, but not kill him. The last two fighters were persistent, however, and stood firm.
Vegeta floated confidently in the air and smirked at the two Actinidians as they gathered their Ki. They couldn't match up to Vegeta's strength even combined, so he knew he could make easy pickings of whatever they mustered up. They fired two huge energy waves, the light bright enough to blind Vegeta. However, he remained calm and cupped both of his hands together, charging his own energy. It burned violently around his hands, producing sparks of electricity.
"GALLICK GUN!"
Vegeta fired an explosive energy wave back at them and its power overtook the other two blasts, deflecting them and hitting the two Actinidians before they could escape. Its collision with the ground triggered a huge explosion of light and dust, which Vegeta had to shield his eyes from. When the smoke cleared, all that remained were four unconscious future soldiers of the Cold Empire lying in a crater.
Vegeta narrowed his eyes and surveyed the area. He focused his sights on a boulder he spotted far off to the right. Only needing a small fraction of his power, Vegeta blew the boulder to pieces with an energy blast. Cowering in the rock's wake was the younger fighter who tried to flee earlier, Cui.
Vegeta chuckled and flew down to him. Cui shrieked and tried to run away, but Vegeta instantly caught up to him and slammed his foot onto his ankle, shattering it on impact. The fish-like warrior was hissing in pain and trying to clutch his ankle while Vegeta glared down at him.
"You contemptible piece of trash; at least those four other guys had the balls to fight me head-on instead of running away like a coward!" Vegeta chided. He remained stationary but didn't relinquish the pressure on Cui's ankle. He removed his foot after chuckling at Cui's murmuring for a few more moments. He didn't give him enough time to grovel, however, as he grabbed him by one of the antennae hanging from his chin to force him to his feet.
"Now, you're going to help me drag your friends here and lead me to where your king lives. If you don't, I'll have no problem letting you discover what your entrails look like before I burn you alive. Am I clear?" Vegeta ordered, his face only inches away from the trembling Cui. The Actinidian grit his teeth for a few seconds, and in response the impatient Saiyan prince viciously yanked his antennae.
"Okay!"
"Good." Vegeta let go and turned around to face the crater he created. "I'll carry two of them, and you'll carry the others." He rolled his eyes and added, "You do it right now and I'll pretend to ignore that pathetic excuse for a blast you're charging up behind my back."
Vegeta heard a few foreign curses behind him while he flew down the crater. He grabbed two Actinidians' feet in each hand and floated a few feet in the air, waiting for Cui to do the same. He was flying just a tad too slow, causing Vegeta to harshly order him to hurry up.
"F-follow me," Cui said. He flew into the sky and Vegeta did as directed.
"And if you're leading me to a trap, to hell with Frieza's order. I'll blow this entire planet to bits myself," Vegeta warned. He was unconcerned with the two Actinidians dangling precariously from his hands.
When Vegeta could see a large, red structure accompanied by buildings in his field of vision, he tossed the two Actinidians in his hands high into the sky. Cui heard it happen from behind him and was startled, yelling, "Hey, what the hell are you doing?!"
Vegeta ignored him and fired a rapid stream of energy blasts at the city below him, demolishing dozens of buildings and killing God knew how many people in the process. Cui gasped in horror at the brutal display of violence from the Saiyan lurking dangerously behind him. Truth be told, he was more worried about what was going to happen to himself than his fellow people. A few seconds later, the two Actinidians came down from their ascent and landed safely in Vegeta's grasp once more.
"What the hell are you staring at?!" Vegeta snapped at Cui, who was looking at him over his shoulder with terror. He hastily swung his head back forward and heightened his flying speed.
"I-It's here, Saiyan. Just follow me," Cui said when they reached the red building. He flew downward and Vegeta followed his path. As he flew down, Vegeta noticed a fleeing survivor and smashed his knee into the back of his head, knocking it clean off of his shoulders. When he landed, he dropped the two fighters and pressed the buttons on his scouter.
"Nappa, do you hear me?" Vegeta asked.
"Yeah, I'm here, Vegeta," Nappa replied over the scouter.
"How are things going on your end?"
"I wiped most of these freaks out. A few of them gave me some trouble but I flattened them."
"Perfect. Even you're smart enough to follow the coordinates on my scouter, so join me here at the kingdom," Vegeta replied.
"Yes, Vegeta."
Vegeta grunted and looked for another link. "Raditz, are you alive?"
"Yes, Vegeta," Raditz drawled with a hint of irritation.
"Watch your tone, weakling!" Vegeta harshly replied. "Come here at once. Follow the coordinates on your scouter."
"Yes, sir."
Vegeta shut off the communication channel and returned his attention to the building in front of him. "Hey, King! Get the hell out here or I'll burn this shitty excuse for a kingdom to the ground!" he screamed while impatiently tapping his feet on the ground.
Cui recognized the Saiyan prince's short fuse and rushed forward. "King Actinidia! Please come out!"
"Looks like you've got a brain in that disgusting head, fish-face," Vegeta snidely remarked.
Two large, metallic doors at the building's entrance slid open, revealing a tall, muscular Actinidian warrior. He wore shiny, silver armor and donned a cape, looking at Vegeta with contempt. Another Actinidian followed him, and this one was wearing a sparkling dress. Vegeta smirked. It was hard to tell since everybody on the planet looked exactly the same, but he assumed it was a female, and his wife. Vegeta smirked at the extra leverage that was presented before him.
"You're one of Frieza's men, aren't you? I should've known that disgusting, loathsome lizard would lay his treacherous hands on this planet instead of accepting my refusal," the King sneered.
Vegeta snickered; he was preaching to the choir in that regard. But Vegeta had a job to do, and this guy was the primary obstacle. "My men and I have killed over half of your population, and I easily took care of some of your strongest fighters. You can either surrender and make a deal with Lord Frieza, or end up just like the others."
"I don't negotiate with terrorists, you rotten monkey!" King Actinidia snarled in response.
"So impudent," Vegeta muttered as he ran his scouter. The number he received was 6,000, which both annoyed and excited Vegeta. Though he was sure he would come out on top in a fight, such an evenly matched battle could go on for ages, and he'd never reach Frieza's rigid deadline. It would be a fight to the death, which would leave Frieza extremely displeased and render the mission pointless.
Vegeta's scouter went off, and the power level indicated it was Nappa. He turned away from the King and spoke into the scouter. "Nappa, are you close?" he whispered.
"Yeah, I can see this castle thingy," Nappa replied.
"Can you see me?"
"Nope."
"Good, that means you're on the other side," Vegeta replied, deviously smirking. "Fly to the other end of the building." He lowered his voice to almost a mumble and added, "The queen is standing behind him. Snatch her and come to me."
"Already ahead of ya, Prince."
Vegeta nodded and turned to the King. He got into a fighting stance. "Alright, it looks like I'm going to have beat compliance into you."
"As you wi-"
The King's words died when the tall, muscular Saiyan warrior dropped in behind him, making the ground shake. He snatched his wife with one of his massive hands and flew away before King Actinidia could get to him.
"Get off of me, you monster!" she shrieked as Nappa fled to Vegeta.
"Chrysanta! What are you doing with her?!" King Actinidia demanded.
Vegeta smirked and raised a finger, which began to glow with a bright orb of energy. "I'm sure it would be a shame if your precious queen lost one of her fingers. If you don't give in to Lord Frieza's demands, I'll blow her limbs off as slowly as possible until you swear allegiance."
"You will not!" the King retorted. He raised his arm and gathered an energy blast in his palm. "Let her go this instant!"
"Wrong answer."
Nappa forcefully raised the woman's right hand, and then Vegeta fired a ray beam that blew her index finger clean off. Her scream was loud enough to echo through the air, forcefully piercing the tube-like ears of the King. His eyes were filled with total hatred at the sadistic joy Vegeta took at her pain. Raditz arrived shortly after, and he was both surprised and intrigued by the display. He knew the basics from the scouter transmission and admired the control his two superiors had over the situation.
"Look at how badly your fellow amphibian beast is hurting! Are you going to continue to try to play hero?" Vegeta inquired.
King Actinidia growled and looked at Cui, who staggered back. "H-hey, don't try to drag me into this, he'll kill me!"
Vegeta and Nappa both laughed boisterously at kid. "This bastard may be a coward but he's smart, unlike you," Vegeta said. He turned to his comrade. "Nappa?"
Nappa once again raised her hand, which was shaking violently in his grip. King Actinidia, sick of the violence, charged at the three Saiyans. Vegeta unleashed an animalistic scream and fired an energy blast that brutally smashed into the ruler, making him spiral into the red castle. He smacked into the brick surface and caved into it, teetering on the edge of consciousness.
Vegeta irritably hissed. It looked like this guy was stubborn enough to let his wife be tortured to avoid Frieza's clutches. He was eager to break Frieza's deadline far ahead of time to earn the training session and maybe even a shred of dignity. It was time to break out his trump card.
Vegeta raised his palm and gathered a significant amount of energy. A bright, wipe orb formed about it, alarming Nappa and Raditz.
"Whoa, Vegeta, do we really need to bring it to that?" Nappa asked.
"Silence!" Vegeta snarled.
Vegeta waited for the king to get up from the rubble. He stumbled forward and was shocked to see what Vegeta had raised above his palm.
"This is in artificial moon!" Vegeta proclaimed. "If I blast this into the sky, I and my two other men will transform into gigantic apes that can level entire civilizations and reduce you to a wad of chewing gum between our feet! Not only will we become too big for you to handle, but our power will increase tenfold! So, what's it gonna be, fishface?!"
King Actinidia stared at Vegeta, and then looked back at the queen, who was in tears as Nappa had her seized in his grip. He was backed into a corner, and it didn't matter how many warriors he could summon against such savage monsters. After letting only a few moments fly by, Actinidia lowered his hands and sunk his head.
"Fine. I surrender."
"Good," Vegeta said, relinquishing the power ball. He panted heavily, but didn't give any other indication of weakness, also ignoring the sweat drenching his forehead even in the frigid weather. He'd lost quite a bit of power summoning the ball, and if the King got any funny ideas he would be in no condition to defend himself.
"Raditz," Vegeta called. He motioned his head towards Cui. Raditz nodded, leapt towards Cui, and drove his knee right into his waist. Though he was great deal weaker than the purple alien, he was able to deal a formidable amount of damage by blindsiding him. He slammed his foot on top of his back to seize him.
Nappa let go of the queen and retrieved two of the devices from under his armor. One was a black remote, which he handed to Vegeta, and then he presented the other projection device to King Actinidia. "Now, you better not try any funny business, 'cause Vegeta here can summon that ball back up in a flash." It was a lie, but it was hard for desperate men to call a bluff.
Vegeta sat down and pressed the buttons on the remote per Frieza's instructions. He estimated how many space pods he'd need to call up while also keeping a watchful eye on Nappa and the King. He could see a miniature, holographic projection of Frieza, which at least indicated that the negotiation process was underway at the moment. Vegeta looked back at Cui, who was squirming beneath Raditz's boot. He flashed that evil smirk again.
"You better get used to your new home, freak."