Cooler absently watched space whizz by overhead as he looked through the domed window above him. A part of him wanted to go out there and embrace the endless vacuum. It would've surely been more welcoming than his current predicament.

The resounding thump of King Cold's goblet hitting the table drew Cooler's attention back to their cabin. The prince looked down, first to his father, before averting his eyes as Cold was peering at him with an analyzing stare.

"How is your shoulder?" King Cold asked.

"It is nothing. A bit sore, but I'll manage just fine," Cooler responded.

"It doesn't look like nothing. You could've lost your arm." Cold's tone was harsh and filled with reprimand. "Look at me."

Begrudgingly, Cooler cautioned a glance at his father. Though Cold's tone was rigid, Cooler found himself shocked at the concerned expression on his father's face. As disarmed as he was, Cooler managed to stammer out, "I'll be fine, father."

King Cold nodded solemnly and leaned back into his chair. A beat of silence crawled upon the two as they sat awkwardly. After some time, though, Cold found words once again. "Do you think I frighten easily, Cooler?"

Cooler offered the slightest chuckle at even the notion, but as Cold's demeanor remained rigid, the prince pulled back his humor in favor of better decorum. "You are the most powerful person I've ever met. You inspire fear. You don't yield to it."

"Those are kind words, my son, but untrue." Cold paused to sip from his wine and then look contemplatively into the swirling liquid. "I have known fear many times in my long life. I feared my father, King Shivr. I feared rule when I was made the king of Arcos. I even feared my own failures as a leader, as a ruler, and even as a father."

Cooler listened intently. It didn't strike all too surprising to know of Cold's fear of the previous king and of ruling Arcos. Shivr was long dead before he'd been born, but he'd heard plenty a tale of the king's cruelty. After his untimely death, the planet's infrastructure and faith in the crown had been at an all-time low. But, what followed in Cold's explanation, Cooler wasn't prepared for.

"I still remember the day that we discovered Frieza's body – broken, shattered, and cast away to the void of space. I had never feared the death of my children before that moment, but that was the single greatest fear I had ever experienced. All the money, all the soldiers, and all the power I had in the universe couldn't protect my son from slaughter. I could not protect my son and that wounded me more than any attack I'd ever faced."

Cold stood from the table and walked over to a nearby wine rack. His movements were swift, but Cooler noted the way he wiped at his face. In all his years of life, Cooler had never once seen his father anywhere near the verge of tears. As much as it unnerved him, Cooler decided to chalk this moment of weakness up to Cold's incessant drinking.

When Cold returned to the table, he sat a goblet in front of Cooler. "Drink it. It'll take your mind off the pain." The tone and Cold's looming presence over his son didn't leave room for disagreement, so Cooler gratefully took a long sip. But instead of returning to his seat far across the table, Cold took a place on the tabletop close to his son.

The king didn't drink from his wine. He only sat there, that ever contemplative expression on his face. "I felt that again when I saw you," he said.

"You did?" Cooler asked all of sudden. The words rushed out before he could give them thought, and he immediately regretted them. Before he could take them back, though, Cold continued.

"I did. I had grown concerned for you and Frieza long before I had set out from Arcos. I didn't know what to make of anything. Then, we're there on Imecka. I get word that there had been signs of a fight and that they had recovered your body from the scene. I wasn't prepared to see you covered in blood and dirt. It took me back to Frieza and that crushing fear was on me once again, and I still had one son unaccounted for."

Cold turned on the table then, so that he was looking directly to Cooler with their eyes locked. "I found no answers on Imecka, and my fear has not eased, Cooler. Frieza is still missing and I may very well lose my mind if I do not learn what has become of my son. You are all that is left of that mission to Earth, so tell me now. Where is Frieza?"

"He's on Earth," Cooler answered.

Cold's question hadn't been unexpected. From the moment his father had beckoned him, Cooler had been turning over ideas in the back of his mind. It wasn't his most fleshed out story, but it was the best that he could come up with on short notice.

Cooler proceeded to spin a tale to his father, explaining that shortly after they had arrived on Earth they had been blindsided by an attack led by Vegeta. In the time since the events on Namek to the Earth invasion, the Saiyan had been gathering an army and preparing to take on the PTO for revenge. In the ensuing fights, their cruiser had been destroyed and all of their men decimated. Cooler and Frieza had been able to successfully fend off the Saiyans, but they were attacked with poison before they could get the upper hand. Frieza succumbed to the poison first and was captured. Vegeta aimed to make the tyrant his slave, like Frieza had done for Vegeta for so many years. Cooler, though, had been able to get away using one of the spacepods. He landed on Planet Imecka, hoping to seek treatment for his poisoning, but was instead attacked. He finally succumbed to the poison just before Cold had arrived.

"The poison that they use weakens us by draining our energy and subjecting us to complications with breathing. The doctor and I were just about to discuss treatment when you arrived to summon me. As long as they can keep subjecting Frieza to it, they can keep him as a hostage indefinitely," Cooler finished.

Cold remained silent throughout the explanation, and now he sat there unmoving with his eyes focused solely on Cooler. It was as if he was trying to see clean through his son. Under his father's scrutinizing gaze, Cooler's body yearned to squirm, but he resolved himself to look steadfast. After what felt like an eternity to Cooler, Cold finally looked away and released an audible sigh.

The king calmly stood from the table. "Very well then," he spoke. He lifted the goblet in his hand and paused before taking a sip. He held the cup, watching intently as the liquid slowly began to boil and steam. His expression morphed with the growing temperature, slowly contorting into one of rage until the very goblet dripped from his hand in puddle of molten liquid.

"This Saiyan wants war. I will give him ruin."

Frost groaned as she climbed out of her spacepod, stretching her back as she did so. "I should've asked for the newer model," she griped while taking a look at her surroundings.

Her pod had managed to create a mild crater in what looked to be a forest. On first glance, she could see the foliage and trees thrown aside on impact, but then, the glint of a nearby overturned tree caught her eye. Curiously, she drew closer and rubbed a hand across what should've been wood.

"It's metal? Where the heck have you landed, Turles?"

Curiosity piqued, the princess took to the air and sped off in a random direction. As long as the corps had been on this planet, there should've been ample time for them to unleash the Tree of Might. It unsettled her to see no sign of its growth in the horizon. She didn't even have her tablet to help zero in on the Crusher Corps spaceship. For a moment, it seemed that locating them would be like finding a needle in a hay stack.

However, a few minutes of flying was all Frost needed to take note of a lone figure hovering in the distance. Boldly, she rushed for them and her concern was quickly replaced as she made note of the familiar body armor and hair of her Saiyan friend.

"About damned time," she crooned coming to a dead stop at Turles's backside. "Where the hell have you been, Turles? We're on a schedule or have you forgotten? Hello?!"

As she spoke the Saiyan remained motionless, constantly staring off into the distance.

Growing annoyed, Frost moved forward and almost slapped a hand on the Saiyan's shoulder to urge him to turn around. But before she could do so, she was stilled as four figures practically materialized out of nowhere. Cautiously, Frost looked around to make note of the rest of the Crusher Corps encircling her and Turles.

"Guys? What's going on?" she spoke nervously as she made note of the stony expressions on their faces. The corps had always been some of the liveliest people she'd known, and their blank expression chilled her to her core.

And then, Turles turned to face her. The Saiyan's expression wasn't blank, though. Frost was quick to move away from him as Turles looked on her with the most sadistic expression she'd ever seen. The Arcosian princess didn't have to wait for what would happen next. She knew trouble had found her.

Without a second thought, Frost's aura suddenly flared with an explosive wave. The sky was drawn to a pinkish hue before the explosion rang out. In the ensuing chaos, Frost darted out of the sky like a rocket. Terror written all over her face, the princess rushed through the forest below and reached her spacepod in no time.

She climbed in, closed the door, and was already initializing take off before she looked through the window. Her heart skipped a beat as she noted all of the Crusher Corps standing at the crater's edge and looking down on her. The pod had only been able to levitate a few feet off the ground before all of the corps fired off energy blasts, igniting the pod in a destructive explosion.

Out that explosion, Frost stumbled with minor marks on her skin. She took to the air again in her best attempt to flee, but didn't make it too far before being greeted on either side with the twins, Rasin and Lakesei.

They wasted no time diving on the princess, leaving the trio to tumble through the air in a chaotic ball. The twins managed a few good hits on Frost before she could slap them both away with thunderous roundhouse kick. But the twins were quickly replaced with Amond. The bruiser rushed down on Frost with a body slam that took the princess down into the metallic forest.

The two crashed explosively, leaving a crater and an open clearing in their wake. Frost was clearly rocked from the attack and left wide open as Amond launched her into a nearby tree. The princess bounced violently off of the metal and would've dropped back onto the ground. But Daiz appeared out of nowhere with punishing knee to her abdomen that pinned Frost against the tree.

Still dazed, Frost was left wide open as the punk warrior unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks across her body. Finally, Daiz leapt aside just in time for Turles's Kill Driver energy ball to careen through, pushing Frost and leveling a mile of forest before erupting in a violent explosion.

After the lightshow and smoke filtered out from the attack, the Crusher Corps crept up on the blast zone and looked around curiously for any signs of Frost. But it was Cacao who lifted into the air and made note of a city off in the distance. The crew followed the cyborgs lead as they took off in pursuit.

Cooler sighed audibly as he absently stared at the gray ceiling of the infirmary.

"How much longer?" he griped and looked down the length of his body to the bird doctor working at a computer at the end of the examination table.

The creature made a squawking noise that Cooler didn't understand before standing from his post. He removed the probes attached to the prince's body and allowed Cooler to sit up. He took his seat back at the computer and began tapping away at the keyboard, testing Cooler's patience to no end.

"It is a very good thing that King Cold brought us to a suitable outpost. My resources were very limited on the spaceship," the doctor informed.

Cooler silently agreed. The moment of weakness his father had shown in their first meeting yesterday was far removed from any emotion Cold had offered since. The king was now in war mode and was preparing to unleash utter oblivion on planet Earth. That plan started with gathering as many men as Cold could.

"I have been able to gain a better understanding of this poison that you've been exposed to – this seeds of Lemures. It seems to act by attacking the body's means of energy production, chipping away at the body's most basic functions to the point a person can no longer move or even breathe. What's interesting about your people, Lord Cooler, is that you have two means of energy production: aerobic and anaerobic. That's why, under normal circumstances, breathing is purely optional. It seems that the poison has hindered your ability to produce energy anaerobically, though. Ironically, your body isn't used to breathing so often – especially during bouts of physical exertion – so your lungs are weak and often get exhausted from overuse. This is actually quite the interesting study."

Cooler glowered at the creature, not liking his overenthusiastic tone. He didn't like feeling like some lab rat. "I don't care about all the underlying science. I just want to be fixed. Do that instead of just studying me."

"Well, my lord, it's not quite that simple," the doctor urged and then promptly gulped as Cooler's eyes began to glow. "What I mean is that this specific poison doesn't really offer a path to healing. This is truly a lethal substance, and purely by your biology, you've managed to survive. I have no way of knowing if this is temporary or permanent. You could improve with time – as you have mentioned your symptoms have gotten slightly better – or the poison could eventually begin attacking your aerobic system as well. As you know, PTO doctors don't often see Arcosians, so my knowledge in how to even treat you is very limited. My best advice is that you return to Arcos to seek attention from Arcosian physicians, who are more versed in your biology."

Cooler sighed and cast his glance away from the doctor. He wasn't going back to Arcos. First of all, his father would never allow it. He could already imagine the response: "Frieza is suffering through the same illness that constricts you. As long as he suffers, you will do the same." The prince wasn't even going to waste his time being brought under his father's ire, especially with tensions so high. Besides, Cooler truly didn't want to return. The gap between his and Goku's power levels had already shrunk considerably since Namek. More wasted time could possibly place the damned Saiyan as Cooler's superior, and that would not be accepted.

"That will not do, doctor. What other options do I have?" he asked, trying to resist sounding defeated.

The doctor nodded his head, probably understanding all the same. Without proper examination and treatment, Cooler could only hope to manage the symptoms of his ailment. Medication could be provided to alleviate constriction of his airways and stave off his wheezing. Weekly screening should be performed to insure that his sickness isn't growing any worst. And daily breathing and training exercises should be performed to strengthen his lungs and keep his body at a certain state of energy production.

"Lord Cooler, I understand that you are a powerful person, but I feel that you'll find that your capabilities have been severely impaired – possibly even to a point of disrepair. You must understand that you may never reach the level of physical ability you had prior to this exposure, even with the best of treatments. This is a multi-systemic attack on your body that is likely to never be fixed with modern medicine. I am truly sorry for what you may have to endure."

Cooler walked out of the infirmary feeling weaker than he did when he entered. A bottle of pills in his hand, he strolled across an open courtyard. Around him, towers and bridge ways littered the air of the PTO compound. He watched soldiers mill about, some casting cautious glances his way and others trying their best to remain unnoticed. He didn't care about them, though. They'd be led to Earth soon enough and would likely die in the invasion.

Cooler made it to his living quarters and entered the lavish space. It wasn't as nice as his accommodations back home. He dared to think that it wasn't even as nice as his suite on Imecka. But he didn't care much for luxuries at the moment. He moved over to his bed and took a seat, opened his hand, and stared at the medication in front of him.

The last time Cooler could even remember taking pills was when he was a child and came down with Blizzard Fever. Queen Chilla had spent night and day with him in his room, humming sweet songs and fretting over him like the child he was. But Cooler was no longer a child. He didn't need his mother's sweet songs. And he didn't need these damned pills. He slammed the bottle onto his bedside table and launched out of an open window.

With a look of determination, Cooler darted into the purplish sky of the planet. That bird knows nothing! I am Cooler. I won't be felled by some damn poison. I will conquer this just as I have conquered every other obstacle in my path.

In no time, the frost demon had cleared the planet's exosphere and made it out into space. From his perch, he looked down on the planet, the big purple marble out in a sea of darkness. Cooler had the power to erase everything in front of him. He was not someone that could be brought down by illness. There was no way.

Despite himself, Cooler began to guffaw, thinking of how he'd torture that damn bird for lecturing to him. He was unstoppable.

And then, his laughter was hitched. All of a sudden, it fell like any hint of air in his lungs was dragged out of him. This wasn't one of his wheezing fits, he realized. This was his body yearning for something that wasn't there. He had never felt this before and he started to feel his vision go dark again, Cooler reached out with his mind to the first thing he could sense. In an instant, Cooler was brought out of space and was lying in the dirt out in the wilderness of the planet. He gasped desperately for air, looking around until his eyes landed on some giant wolf-like creature. The monster snarled at Cooler, looking ready to bite his head off.

With little more than a flare of his aura, though, Cooler sent the wolf fleeing with its tail between its legs. The prince stood from the dirt, having re-established his breathing.

Your body will want to revert back to what's normal when you're at rest. Lord Cooler, you have to fight this instinct until it has been replaced with a new one. Just tell yourself, "In. Out." Over and over until you don't have to anymore.

"In. Out," Cooler spoke in time with his breathing. He looked out into the distance before releasing an audible sigh. An aura wrapped around him then before he darted out into the distance with an inner monologue of In...Out...rolling over and over again in his mind.

Frost did her best to move quiet as a mouse through the building. Jumping between floors and floating down hallways, but it seemed every move she made, she always found the same result.

She peaked around a corner and quickly straightened back up, narrowly dodging being seen by Amond. The princess gulped in fear and quickly darted down the hall and through an opening the floor just as the stoic corpsman rounded the corner.

This is crazy. What has happened to these guys? Frost navigated her way through the building, skirting a couple more close calls until she had reached the building's roof.

Releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding, Frost walked over to the roof's edge and looked out at her surroundings. It was a huge, modern city that had obviously been left to ruin from some kind of fighting. A planet like this surely had some kind of transport, right? Maybe if she could find it, she could get the hell off of this planet.

"Going somewhere, princess?"

Frost turned to the voice, watching as Turles casually strolled across the roof to her. "I feel that we haven't fully caught up, yet."

"Why are you doing this, Turles? I thought we had a deal. I thought we were friends," Frost snapped.

"You did and we were." The Saiyan stopped his stroll and folded his arms. "But my boys and I have a new purpose now, Frost."

"You hate the PTO. You hate Frieza. You would've given your life if it meant bringing them down. What purpose could you possibly have that would make you throw all of that away?" Frost clenched her teeth as she looked around Turles to see the rest of Crusher Corps moving onto the roof. "And what does any of that have to do with me? Just let me go and go back to whatever your new purpose is."

Turles shook his head. "I can't do that, Frost. We've given ourselves over to the Tuffles, and our purpose is to help them grow by all means necessary." The Saiyan lifted his hand and an ooze lifted from his skin that contorted into a malicious face and seemed to laugh at the Arcosian princess. "We have to give you the gift, Frost. It is the only way."

The Saiyan turned his head to his corpsmen. "Take her."

On cue, the quartet rushed forward. Frost took to the air to evade them, but was quickly swarmed. Desperately, the princess swung around at her accosters. Amond was first swatted away with a punch, followed by Daiz, and then Rasin. Cacao managed to pull her into a full nelson while Lakesei snatched at her legs.

Frost watched in horror as Turles moved closer to her, his ooze extending to touch her. Even Lakesei and Cacao had the substance pulling from their skin as well. With a primal scream, Frost flared her aura, knocking Cacao and Lakesei away. Turles, though, only had a moment to be shocked before the princess darted across to him and launched the Saiyan clear through the building with jab to the skull.

The princess's eyes were quickly drawn downward. She had only a moment to throw both hands outward and catch the energy volley launched at her from below. The attack pushed Frost higher into the sky before she managed to swat it aside. As soon as the energy left her vision, it was filled with Daiz.

With relative ease, Frost dodged the punk's punches. But the difficulty ratcheted up when Amond joined the fray, followed by Cacao. The foursome darted around the sky, thunder claps booming sporadically, before Frost took a punishing jab to the jaw by Cacao. As she reeled, Amond darted in with a headbutt that drew blood from the princess's mouth. Daiz rushed in for a final blow, but Frost dodged at the last second, much to the punk's surprise.

Frost spun with a heel kick aimed for the punk, but she was stopped mid-attack as Rasin and Lakesei darted upward for a joint tackle. The princess was thrown back in a tumultuous tumble. Before she could stop herself, she rebounded off the still form of Turles. Her eyes widened in shock as she realized once again that she was surrounded.

Turles slammed a fist into Frost's ribs, forcing the princess to curl in on the attack. Amond rushed over with knee into her chin that sent Frost skyward, only to have the twins speed over with a joint dropkick that sent Frost back down. Cacao met the Arcosian royalty with a shoulder slam that guided her right into Daiz, who mirrored the cyborg as they clashed with the princess smashed between them. Eyes glazing over, Frost was wide open as Turles reappeared with a backflip kick that speared Frost into the ruined street below.

Buried in her crater, Frost lied unmoving as the Crusher Corps floated out of the sky. Slowly, the soldiers trekked toward the crater. The princess within the rubble stirred and gently pushed herself up. Blood running from the side of her mouth and a gash on her forehead, Frost looked up from her pit to see the corps standing along the rim of the crater, each staring down at her like a piece of meat they couldn't wait to devour.

"Fighting is futile," Turles spoke as the ooze began pulling from his skin. His crew mirrored their leader and their collective goo began crawling into the crater. Frost sneered as she tried to stand, only for her leg to give out. With a hiss, she pushed herself away from the ooze in desperation.

"I am Frost, Cold's daughter and princess of Arcos!" Frost cried as she tried to crawl up the other side of the crater, the ooze drawing ever closer. As she scaled the rubble and nearly made her way out of the pit, a lone figure standing at the crater's edge stopped her.

Frost's eyes raked up the legs of the man, noting the metallic shine to his body, until she was eye to eye with the man. He offered her a sick smile before pointing his hand down at the Arcosian. "Now, you are a Tuffle," the man's robotic voice demanded before his hand turned to a metallic liquid and rained over Frost.

Cooler released an animalistic snarl as he slashed his hand through the frigid air around him. In an instant, the icy landscape in front of him was sent into a violent storm as massive glaciers tumbled over and frozen lakes were ripped into snowflakes. The young prince watched the destruction cascade before him as he looked on impassively. Then, his face shifted to one of rage as he moved to swing another arm around.

"There you are," the soft voice spoke, pausing Cooler before he could destroy more of the snowy, barren land of Arcos.

The prince turned to the voice and found his eyes on the queen as she casually strode through the snow, the softest of smiles dotting her lips as she looked upon her son.

"You're not looking to destroy our home, are you?" she asked with a hint of humor.

Cooler scoffed and turned his back to her again. "What is it?" he responded.

The soft crunch of the snow followed as Chilla calmly stepped around her son and then knelt down so that they were eye to eye. "What bothers you, my little icling?" Cooler cast his eyes to the side and Chilla sighed. "Is it your brother?"

Cooler's jaw tightened as he tried to keep his words clammed up, but one glance at the thoughtful eyes of his mother pulled them right out. "That planet was supposed to be mine. I worked a whole week to secure it and then Frieza just comes along and takes it. Everything always just falls in his lap while I do all the work. It's not fair."

Chilla moved closer to her son and took a seat in the snow next to him. She gently patted the ground next to her and Cooler got the hint. As mother and son sat side by side, a comfortable silence settled on them. Then, Chilla finally spoke. "Frieza is a special child. The gods saw fit to bless him with extraordinary gifts and he takes full advantage of his position, that is for certain."

Cooler rolled his eyes. He'd heard enough of his father bragging on the prodigal child. He could do without listening to his mother as well. Before he could speak up, though, she continued.

"But you shouldn't overlook the benefit in struggle, Cooler. A life of privilege lends a life of obliviousness. It's the trials we face that make us stronger and wiser." Chilla leaned over and wrapped around Cooler, pulling him into a hug. "Don't fret over what is unfair, my son. Instead, best it and rise above it. Okay?"

The prince nodded, solemnly.

"Good," the queen smiled and then promptly pinched Cooler's cheek. "Now, come to dinner!" she added before leaping up from the ground while Cooler rolled around in the snow, holding his cheek.

The distant sound of Queen Chilla's laughter filled Cooler's mind as he pressed himself up from the floor with another pushup. He couldn't resist smiling at the memory, but the smile was then wiped away as his breath hitched. With a groan, Cooler began chanting in...out...again, having lost the mindset as he daydreamed. After completing his pushups, Cooler sat back on his knees, his heavy breathing filling the room. The sound of it disgusted him, but instead of focusing on his current physical state, Cooler chose to think on the words of his mother. That was one of the last conversations that they'd had before her passing. He would come to need the advice for many years afterward.

After completing his exercises for the day, Cooler stepped out from the training area into a large corridor. On either side of the prince were long hallways, but what was directly in front of him was a row of massive windows greeting the sky above.

Casually, Cooler walked closer to the window. But he wasn't entirely met with the barren sky of the planet anymore. Instead, dozens of space cruisers loomed in the air, left in a levitating state just above the compound because all the docks had already filled. Cold's men had begun to arrive and the day of invasion was growing ever closer.

"I'll best this sickness, and soon enough, Goku, I'll best you," the prince demanded.