The Vicious Gods Wrath
Chapter 8 - Mastering Thy Self
Two Weeks Post-Resurrection, PTO Command Ship
"Given the specifications I've given you Professor, how quickly can you replicate this machine?"
Sitting in his personnel quarters, far from the prying eyes and ears of the rest of the ship, Sorbet asks the foremost scientists still employed by the Empire, a Doctor Kafka working as the head of their R&D department. Not for the first time since he's been forced to speak with her at regular intervals does he grow annoyed by the lizard woman's attention span. Specifically how she tends to spend a few minutes ignoring him or forgetting that he's there entirely as she considers an answer.
"The design is quite simple and efficient indeed," She speaks up, not bothering to look at him. "Though the technology is somewhat more primitive than our own, it's gravity altering capabilities should allow for some very intense but useful training."
"I'm well aware of that Professor," He tells her through grit teeth. Though he's no scientist, any fool could understand the basic principle of how it works the broad strokes of the machine's capabilities via the spy bots information acquired from the computer of Vegeta's Earthling wife, among many other things.
"What I need to know is how quickly you can make a replica of it?"
"Creating a replica will be child's play, I can have a fully functional unit done in 36 hours at the latest."
He smiles at the news. "Excellent, I want you to make this our lab's top priority Professor. I'm sure you're aware of out deteriorating situation and a machine like can raise the troop's powers to levels they've never thought possible. We will need this to change our current losing streak."
She gives him a mumbling yes of some kind. "Understood sir, although, I was looking forward to tampering with the capsule and cybernetics technology you also sent me first..."
"All in good time Professor, if you prove yourself capable of this task, then you'll be spearheading those other projects with all our resources at your disposal," Sorbet promises with genuine sincerity and concludes communications with her. In a rush, he practically runs through the hallways to immediately inform Lord Freeza of the good news. He's all too aware of the bad first impression he left on his master despite aiding in his return to the living world but this will surely help improve his standing.
Making his way through the hallways of the ship and saluting some soldiers he meets on his way, Sorbet finally reaches Freeza's quarters in no time and tries to knock on the door when the master's voice calls out to him.
"Enter,"
He stands there, surprised and hesitant as he wonders how Lord Freeza knew anyone was going to knock, let alone that it was specifically Sorbet. Regardless, he does as told, entering the room to find Freeza performing clapping push-ups over and over. Underneath him, Sorbet spots an actual puddle of sweat forming beneath his master.
Not wanting to conclude his training just yet, Freeza's eyes look up to Sorbet and his lips curl into a smirk. "Since you're here, that must mean the gravity machine data has arrived at our scientists, hasn't it?"
Sorbet clears his throat before answering. "Yes, sir, our top scientist Professor Kafka is working on it as we speak and it will be complete in 36 hours."
"Excellent, more than enough time for me to get back into shape." Admits Freeza before speeding up his push-ups.
"I'm surprised you're already doing your workouts, sire," Admits Sorbet. "I had thought you'd spend more time learning this Ki sensing power."
"I've already mastered it," Freeza reveals as though it's the nothing of worth. "How else do you think I knew it was you? Which reminds me, I'll have to make sure the rest of our forces start learning how to suppress their powers as well."
"Suppressing our powers?" He asks again, earning a sigh from his master.
"Take a look at through that horrid device on your head,"
Pressing the scouter mounted on his left ear, Sorbet aims it towards his exercising master and gasps in shock upon seeing its reading of 5. "That- that's impossible," He blurts out with his jaw hanging open. Freeza laughs at his reaction.
"How have you done this, my lord? After all those failed attempts I thought-"
"That I had quit? Truth be told I nearly did," His master concludes the exercise and wipes his brow with a nearby tower. "However, a few days ago after a particularly annoying attempt, I tried something different."
5 Days Prior
"Again," Commands Freeza with a low, threatening growl to the four-man squad of soldiers standing next to one another before him while he sits in a meditative crouch. After giving his new second in command, Sorbet, the specifications of the training tools he requires he has spent the past few days since his return trying to grasp the intricacies of Ki. As proven by his enemies, one's power can be controlled by the users own will, either becoming exponentially stronger by focusing it on a single point or virtually nothing to avoid detection and to make one appear weaker than they actually are.
This knowledge has evaded Freeza for most of his life, forcing him to depend on copious transformations to either lower or raise his power just to keep it in check. Never mind the need for a scouter to track down enemies or to have the faintest idea of their strength level. The blame for this comes from both his father and his own arrogance, for most of his life, bar Beerus, and Cold, Freeza was the most powerful being in the universe. Even in his weakest form, none could even remotely challenge him. He never saw a need to ponder these questions or even train as his power was absolute, so why bother?
Now he sees the folly of this approach, cursing himself and the pampering of his annoying father from holding him back. If he were smarter, he could've been more than ready enough to defeat the Super Saiyan and prevent the chain of events which lead to his creation. With his gravity machine not yet and no other forms of relevant training at his disposal, not that he CAN train for the Namekian Piccolo apparently has someone keeping an eye out for his Ki across the entire span of the galaxy, Freeza continues trying to achieve this "Ki sense" before moving onto anything else.
If only it were so simple.
"I said again!" He snaps and they all momentarily and unsurprisingly snivel in fear before quickly returning back into formation. Doing as commanded, they clench their fists and begin raising the awareness of their power levels up. Freeza closes his eyes, putting his full attention into trying to sense this rise in energy. Yet, as with every other attempt, he simply cannot feel it. Like a blind child trying to see once more, he merely reaches out into a nothingness hoping to catch some vague thing that will help him, somehow. He clenches his fists, getting more annoyed by this hurdle, the perpetual shouting of the soldiers does little to help his temper.
He wants to simply let his power lash out and eviscerate the four of them as if it will somehow solve his problem. Yet he can't, not because he doesn't want to, but because of the limited amount of soldiers present on the ship and the prospect of bringing in a replacement could allow another spy into their midst. Instead, the tyrant bites his lip and exhales before raising his hand. They all fall deathly silent.
"You may leave, I've no more use for you today," He tells them with a calm surprising even himself and the instant he's alone, the pent up frustration comes out into a single punch through a nearby wall "
"Damn it all! Why can't I do it?!"
He pulls his hand back out and stares at it, his whole body shaking with barely restrained fury. At first, he considered that the problem lied with the first soldiers he asked to help him learn it, however, as he switched from the various crew members ranging from Sorbet to even the janitor, he could not sense their powers either.
"What am I missing?" He asks himself, frustration somewhat giving way to desperation. "Vegeta wasn't able to do it under my watch, at least, I assume so yet he knows it now. The other Saiyans and their spawn know it, the Namekian knows it, even the lowly Earthling's who conspire with them know it. It cannot be a biological limitation..." His voice falters with the possibility of this being true as if a sudden, painful stab pierced his insides.
"Can it?"
Placing his hand on his chin, Freeza stands as still as a statue as he contemplates the possibility of this. While his biology is factually more powerful in its durability and adaptiveness than any known in the universe given his many instances of surviving injuries or illnesses capable of killing lesser beings. It could come at a cost to his energy, a sort of evolutionary deficiency created for the purpose of balance.
But the more time he spends thinking about this, the more the possibility frustrates him. The very concept that he, a superior life form from a species of worthless scum tethered to environmental suits, is restrained in some way is preposterous. Yet, the fear of this being true clings to him like a parasite eating away at him from the inside out.
Once more, the desire to simply lash out and annihilate all in his path rears its ugly head and Freeza with great difficulty tries to force it back down. But he knows he has to channel it into a physical act and quickly lest it get the better of him. Then he notices a single bottle of empty wine at the desk, a small luxury he allows himself during the very few breaks he takes in-between training.
With a swift motion of his hand, he releases a beam of energy from his index finger and breaks the bottle to pieces, then he blasts at those pieces, and the pieces after that until it is effectively vaporized from existence. A small calm lessens the furies of anger burning inside him, and with calm comes clarity, he looks at his smoking index finger and how he can release energy from it at will yet he cannot actually control it to the same degree as his enemies on Earth.
That is when an idea comes to blooms in the recesses of his mind.
"Maybe..."
Extending his open palm, Freeza forms a small, purple ball of Ki hovering above it. He positions himself back into his meditative crouch and closes his eyes, focusing on the energy forming the ball. For how can one sense the power of others if he does not truly even understand his own?
Before moving on to anything else, Freeza simply lets the orb hover there while he tries to get a feel for it, and by extension the energy flowing through his body. Like a foreign language, it escapes him entirely at first but hours upon hours pass and slowly but surely, he starts to sense the energy. Wanting to test it further, Freeza mentally commands the orb to levitate around the room as a test to see if he's cracked the code or simply encountered a fluke.
Though he finds some difficulty in sensing it, at first, he adjusts quickly as his familiarity with the minutia grows. He commands it to speed up, causing it to quickly dart all over the room and around its maker and he can sense it perfectly, snatching it just as it flies towards his face.
"Let's try something else." He rubs his hands together like a naughty child who's discovered something with endless possibilities.
Placing the orb back into its original position, Freeza stiffens up as he puts more of his energy into it, increasing its size and power. He has done such a technique many times before, but always entirely on instinct as a sort of sixth sense, one he could never entirely grasp. Now it's different, now he can somewhat feel the flow of energy throughout his body as it leaves to the orb, empowering it.
A few more hours of this pass until he feels comfortably certain he's nailed down the process of raising energy. Then, he switches over to the reverse. He pulls energy from the ball as a way to get a feel for decreasing power instead of growing it. More hours pass until he's comfortably certain of his ability to decrease power, now he can make the orb as massive as the room or as tiny as a speck, all while being fully aware of the energy flow.
Now came the ultimate test: on himself. Telekinetically sending a scouter to his palm, he programs it to keep track of his power level and verbally comment on any rises and falls in his strength. With a long sigh, Freeza closes his eyes and returns his energy to a sense of normality, then he remembers the sensation of draining the life from the orb and applies the same principle to his own, internal energy for his entire body.
"Power Level: 800,000"
Five minutes pass.
"Power Level: 100,000"
Then two.
"Power Level: 5,000"
Next, it is thirty seconds.
"Power Level: 150"
Finally, but ten more seconds.
"Power Level: 1"
Freeza smirks at his accomplishment before doing the opposite, using the same feeling he had for the orb, he increases his power just enough to make it noticeable but not enough to give his location away. Initially, his power climbs back up to 500, then 10,000, then 75,000 and finally, 500,000.
The first sound to come from Freeza in what seems like an eternity is a relieved sigh, a small thing but a greatly liberating one. For now, he is free of his fears and anxieties and most important of all, his anger. Freeza would even go so far as though he's regained a semblance of old control he took for granted before.
Flexing his muscles to loosen them up after spending hours in the meditative stance. He telekinetically pulls the scouter towards himself once more and through it, contacts the commander of the squad he earlier dismissed. "Commander Ziber, I require the assistance of you and your men, return to my quarters at once."
They promptly reassemble with the same nervous, sweating, and fearful faces Freeza has become quite accustomed to in his many decades of ruling and is entirely indifferent too. With his hands behind his back and a smirk on his face, Freeza commands them, "Raise the awareness of your power levels for me."
Ziber and his men nod and yelling as their white auras flare spring to life, Freeza's remembers the lessons he's learned about his own energy and tries to apply the same principle to the troops.
The moment of Truth,
At first, he feels nothing and if this happened earlier mere hours ago, he would've quickly lost his temper. But the sense of control over his own power, though still far from refined or mastered, remains a steadfast fact in his mind, keeping him calm and focused. After a few minutes, he feels their energies with ever increasing clarity and with greater more effort, he begins to feel everyone on the entire ship.
Present Day
"Incredible Lord Freeza!" Sorbet blurts out in amazement. "To think there's an ability such as that out there and we were totally unaware of it!"
"You can thank my families horrid dependence on those scouter's for that," Freeza disdainfully comments on the Empire's reliance on that particular piece of technology. "Once our army learns of this skill, they will no longer have a use for such devices to scale an enemies power."
"You want us all to have it Lord Freeza?" Inquires Sorbet, as he is surprised that his master would share this ability with anyone, much less make it mandatory for his entire army.
"I no longer have the luxury of an endless horde of soldiers as I once did, if we are to become better than we once were, we must learn new abilities and make our soldiers truly formidable. The days of worthless grunts barely any stronger than a loathsome Earthling are done as far as I'm concerned." Freeza states with no room for argument. "Besides, I need worthwhile soldiers to take on the mighty defenders of Earth while I claim my true prize."
"I've no doubt you will succeed, sire,"
"Of course I will," Freeza leans into his chair with a satisfied smile. "It is only a matter of time and self-control until I do."
Much like how John Matrix lied to Sully when he said he'd kill him last, I (kind of) lied when I said I wouldn't get another chapter out for a while, but seriously though, don't expect many updates for the next 2-3 weeks from me. Irregular one's at best.
Now, if you're wondering why King Kai hasn't discovered Freeza yet with him fiddling around with his ki, Freeza is doing it calmly without making a big deal of it. If Freeza raised his power in standard DB fashion with a big ass aura and a loud shout, King Kai would be on him in a second.