Battle Lost

Chapter four

Not for Sale

Krillin tried to force his eyes open. They opened about halfway, but then immediately closed again. His head felt heavy and he let it sink onto his chest.

"What happened?" He asked himself. His throat was dry, and his voice came out a hoarse whisper. Krillin's arms were soar and still pinned behind his back. His mind was cloudy, but he vaugly remembered Vegeta's eyes burning into his and then feeling something stinging him in the back....

Of course. They must have given him something that had knocked him out, a tranquilizer or something. Krillin tried to open his eyes again, but they refused to budge.

"Come on Krillin, get it together..." Forgetting about the cuffs, Krillin tried to stretch his hurting arms. He was reminded by the sharp feeling of an electric shock. Now, his eyes snapped open. Not that it made much of a difference. The human fighter was propped up against a cold wall and wherever it was, it was almost pitch black. There was only a very thin shaft of light near the floor on the other side of the room.

Krillin looked at it for a minute and then decided that that was where he needed to go. He tried to stand up.

"Come on, I can do this." He told himself. He braced his back against the wall and tried to scoot up it like that, sense he couldn't use his arms or his hands. After several tries he managed to get into a standing position.

"O...kay...Lets..go." Krillin took a step forward and immediately felt dizzy. He stopped and stepped back to the wall.

"Damn it..." Cursing he tried again. He stopped again, but this time it wasn't because he was in danger of falling over, it was because he heard voices.

"........My last offer. Twenty thousand, and you're lucky I'm even offering that. If its level wasn't as high as it was then I wouldn't even offer you two thousand for earth trash like it," One voice was saying.

"Sorry sir. That one in there is Zolomon's new pet. He's coming to pick it up after he's done with the rest of the inspections. I'm guessing to use it for that harebrained research of his. Besides, its out cold. Probably will be for days," said another. Krillin knitted his eyebrows in confusion. What on earth were these people talking about? He wasn't sure but he definitely felt sorry for what ever poor creature these two people were talking about, apparently discussing buying and selling it.

"Research!" The first voice exclaimed. "Something with a ki level of 3,500 is not a research specimen. Something with that level would make an excellent labor slave, its a perfect worker for my colony."

The two voices continued to argue. *Ki level of.......3,500???!!* Krillin thought with a wave of realization. He did a quick power scan of himself. His senses told him what he had not wanted to discover: His current power was around 3,500. They were talking about him.

Krillin felt sick. Whoever was out there wanted to buy him....like he was nothing more than a....

"Slave..." Krillin said out loud. "This is what Vegeta was talking about..." Sweat began to form on his forehead.

"Okay....I don't have to panic. I can get out of this," Krillin said, trying to reassure himself. Somehow, he would have to get out of the cuffs, out of the cell, find Gohan, and get the heck off that awful planet.

*That'll be easy...Well, first thing's first. Gotta get these things off...* Krillin tried to power up to snap them off, but the shock cut him off. He tried again, and again until he could barely stand from the pain. Someone banged on the walls of his cell and yelled, "Keep it down in there!!"

"Damn..." Krillin swayed uneasily. If he kept doing that he would end up either unconscious or dead. He needed a way to cut through the middle section of the cuffs so that they wouldn't sense the resistence. He thought for a moment and then smiled to himself.

"Bingo!"

Outside, the two voices were still arguing, creating just enough noise to cover up what Krillin was about to do. Keeping his voice low, Krillin concentrated on bringing his internal energy to his hands.

"Ki...en..zan..." He whispered. The white energy in his hands grew stronger. Krillin positioned his tied hands so that the palms were facing one another. Now, this was the tricky part. He had to make the Kiezan powerful enough to saw through the cuffs, but small enough so that it didn't tear a huge hole in his back. Slowly, the disc shaped energy began to form.

Through the wall, Krillin heard an electric beeping sound. The second voice paused the argument for a moment.

"It's energy is raising." Krillin almost halted right there. He held his breath. The other replied.

"So what, those restraints will stop it. I didn't know it could raise its ki."

"Yeah, Lord Vegeta mentioned it to Zolomon and Zolomon told me. It shouldn't raise too high."

"You see what I mean, the ability to raise one's power at will could be very useful to me. Perhaps I could use it as a colony weapon.." The voice trailed off thoughtfully.

"For the last time, its not for sale!" The two went back to arguing. Krillin let out a sigh of relief and went back to work. He scowled a bit. He didn't like being called an it.

Now that he had enough energy, the earthling began forming a sharp edge with it. He sharpened it slowly, taking care not to make it too big. The disc began to spin. It spun faster and faster, then finally Krillin heard the sound of tearing metal. The kienzan's sharp edge slowly began cutting through the connecting strip of the cuffs. The light from it lit up a tiny portion of the cell. Krillin could see that over where the strip of light was, a thick metal door stood menacingly. That was the next obstacle.

Suddenly, the cuffs sparked and the kienzan hit the circuitry. Krillin could begin to feel the blade spin as it came closer to his back. That was close enough. Now that the circuitry was destroyed, Krillin could do the rest himself. He stopped the kienzan.

"At lease let me go inside and take a look at it. If its a sickly little thing I won't bother you anymore." The first voice whined. The second voice sighed.

"Fine. I'll let you take a look, but just a look. Then you can talk to Zolomon if you absolutely have to have this one."

"Thank you. Now that wasn't so hard was it?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Krillin drew his breath in. With the kienzan gone the cell was pitch black again, but he could hear the door opening. Quickly, he powered up and snapped to cuffs off. No time to stretch now. He leapt up as far as the ceiling would allow him to. The door opened.

Two creatures stepped in. One of them was dressed in the usual Saiyan armor. A scouter, like the one Bulma had repaired, was fitted over one eye. That explained how they knew what Krillin's level was. It was a strange looking thing. It looked a bit like an Earth alligator except that it didn't have the reptilian scales.

The other one was garbed in some weird looking, shiny green fabric. It looked a bit human, only it was pale purple and had tiny horns growing out near the edge of both its eyes. Light flooded the cell as they looked around. The purple being scanned the cell area slowly.

"Well, where is it?" The creature demanded.

"It was....uh.....in here a minute ago. Here human, human, human, human, human." The alligator thing sang. Krillin bit back laughter. He was hovered in the left corner near the door. Neither of the two aliens had noticed him. He started to slowly fly towards the door. He was almost there but....

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The alligator creature's scouter beeped at the ki Krillin was outputting to fly. Both aliens turned around. Krillin quickly landed and backed out the door. He flashed the aliens a peace sign.

"Sorry. Not for sale." They ran towards the door, but Krillin slammed it shut in their faces. He could hear them pounding on the other side.

"Open this thing! What are you waiting for!" The purple one was whining.

"I can't! The control panel is on the other side!" The alligator one yelled back.

"You idiot!!"

Krillin laughed to himself and dusted his hands. Still chuckling, he turned around.

And found himself staring into three more guards. The sneered down at him. Krillin laughed nervously.

"Trying to escape, huh?" One of them asked him. Krillin put his hand behind his head.

"Um.......how 'bout we talk this out like nice.......civilized......uh.....alien...people." The threesome just laughed and began to close in on him.

"Or not..." Krillin powered up to his maximum and raised his defense. "O-ho! Tough guy, huh?" What appeared to be the leader laughed loudly and then swung a punch directly at Krillin's head. Krillin ducked and swung his elbow into his attackers stomach. The guard froze and his eyes bugged out. Krillin held his position, waiting for the moment to be right to attack again.

That moment came when the guard he had just elbowed grabbed Krillin's arms. Instead of being forced back, the last Z fighter used it to his advantage. He swung back and then kicked straight up. He used his right leg to knock the big guard upside the head; then when his arms were free he finished his flip and bounded to the side.

The guard he'd attacked stood for a moment longer, then fell. The other two looked at the earthling in shock.

"Why you..."

"Get him!" The guards rushed at him. Krillin stood ready and waited.

"Okay! This one, I learned from Goku!" Krillin formed a fist.

"Rock!" He put energy behind the fist and slammed it into the first guard's face. The guard yelled angrily and brought his hands up to his broken nose.

"Scissors!" This time, Krillin extended two fingers in the shape of a V and jabbed them in the second guard's eyes. The guard stumbled blindly.

"Paper!!" Using as much strength as he could, he hit both guards flat palmed in the chest, knocking them back into the wall. With all three out of commission, Krillin wiped his face with the back of his arm and let a quiet breath out.

"Good thing they were weak.....Gohan!" Krillin looked up and down the hallway, half expecting to see his younger friend. Not seeing the boy, Krillin concentrated instead on Gohan's energy.

.......

......

.....

"Gotcha!" Krillin cried happily. He started silently down the hallway, keeping his power low......

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Vegeta stood quietly. He was in a bent position with his right arm crossed over his chest touching his left shoulder. In front of him was a large chair, black and positioned so the back of it was to Vegeta. All that was visible of the occupant of the chair was a hand which was absentmindedly twirling a glass of wine. One either side of the chair stood the two odd looking beings who Vegeta had been talking to earlier, when Krillin and Gohan had first arrived. The were facing Vegeta. The fat pink one had a disgusting smirk on his face while the quiet blue alien stood with a pouty look engraved on his features.

Finally, the being in the chair spoke.

"So tell me Vegeta....Why is it that you are planning on going to Namek?"

"I have some business there that I need taken care of," Vegeta replied without taking his eyes off the ground or changing position.

"And what business would that be?" The voice paused to take a sip of the whine. "For those dragon balls that are said to be so powerful?" Vegeta gulped.

"Sire, I-"

"Quiet. No doubt you're curious how I know about them." The voice seemed happy at the Saiyan prince's discomfort. Vegeta didn't answer. *Who cares? He probably heard Radditz's message on that stupid scouter of his,* Vegeta thought, though he didn't say it outloud.

"Well, I overheard the little message from Radditz." The being took another sip of the wine. "Such a shame he was killed by that earth trash. And one of the very few of your race left....thanks to that unfortunate meteor. That was a shame, wasn't it Vegeta? Lucky you were on my ship at the time."

"Yes sire." Vegeta was fuming inside. He knew it was no meteor that had destroyed his planet. It was really this......this creature.

"Well, those dragon balls caught my interest. The prospect of being the most powerful being in the universe forever you see. I'll be leaving for Namek shortly. Vegeta, you did keep some of those weaklings you fought on earth alive, didn't you?"

"Um...yes. Two of them. I brought them to the slave trade," Vegeta said quietly.

"Go back and get them. Bring them here." The voice laughed again. "I have a feeling that they will be helpful in our search."

Vegeta gritted his teeth. "But they don't have anyway of locating them. What good are they? And besides, one of them is getting his memory erased-"

"Then you'd better hurry before it's completed. They have to have some method of finding the balls. Otherwise how would they be able to find them on their own mudball planet?" The voice stated. "Bring them here."

Vegeta suppressed a sigh. "Yes sire." He straightened up and turned around. Angry, he began to walk from the room.

"Oh and Vegeta."

Vegeta froze and tried not to let his anger overwhelm him.

"I'm starting to get the feeling that your loyalty towards me is beginning to waver. I hope that's not true. You aren't that stupid, even if you are a monkey, eh Vegeta?"

Vegeta bit his lower lip and balled his hands into fists. "Yes Frieza." Vegeta stalked out of the room. The voice laughed, then polished off the wine in the glass.

"Zarbon," The voice barked. The blue alien turned his emerald eyes towards the chair.

"Didoria." The fat alien also looked at the turned chair.

"Take a ship. I think little Vegeta needs a babysitter. Make sure he does what he is told. Go after him."

"Yes Lord Frieza." Zarbon and Didoria bowed and then followed the way Vegeta went. Vegeta stepped into his pod, ready to take the short trip back to the slave trade. His mind was filled with thoughts of his betrayal.

*Frieza may be right about those two knowing a way to find the dragon balls. First stop is the slave trade. But then its right on to Namek.* Vegeta smiled as he thought to himself and blasted off, unaware that someone was tailing him.