Chapter Sixty-Eight: What Became of Farla And Kaydra

(A/N: Raspberry and Blueberry belong to DBZ, and they were minor minions of Frieza. If anyone remembers, in the original DBZ, Raspberry, the humanoid alien, and Blueberry the doglike alien, tried to gather the Dragonballs for themselves so that they could take over the galaxy. They forced Bulma, who had been on Namek at the time, to help them find the Dragonballs. She led them to a giant mother crab, a crab that she had barely been able to get a Dragonball from herself. Raspberry and Blueberry were tricked into thinking that the crab's eggs were the Dragonballs, and the angry crab killed both of them.
Okay, enough DBZ background info. In this story, Raspberry and Blueberry are members of the Berry Bunch, along with three of my new characters, Chinaberry (named after a bright yellow berry that looks good, but is very poisonous), Strawberry, and Blackberry. Most of the members of the Berry Bunch have made it his or her main goal in life is to get into the Elite, but none of them are strong enough to do so. They slave after the Top Elite officers and try to curry their favor, but the Top Elite mainly uses them and looks down on them. At this time, the Berry Bunch was taking their turn running the prison ward.)

1PM (Frieza Stellar Time) 3PM (Astorian Galactic Time) on Frieza's Mother Ship in the prison ward…

"I don't understand why that woman has been allowed to live," Raspberry scoffed, picking his teeth with his unkempt nail.

"She hasn't spoken a word since the day that Commander Balair took her away," Blackberry, a giant shiny black blue rat-like alien with a shock of bright yellow hair and fluorescent orange eyes, commented. Blackberry, unlike other rat-like creatures, had no hair, but instead had the smooth, slippery skin of a seal.

"I've heard that Commander Balair screwed her good and proper quite a few times before he went to help clear Calmag," Blueberry, the doglike alien commented. "She is cute though; I wouldn't mind boning her myself."

"Must you be so crude?" Chinaberry asked. She resembled a tall, Chinese girl, with an eight-inch-long graceful neck, long, glossy black hair with white streaks, saffron-tinted skin and delicate feminine features. Always classy and regal, she was considered to be the most beautiful out of the Berry Bunch. She was from planet Cara-Camay, and all of her people in the Cara Tribe had unusually long, graceful necks.

"She's nothing more than a zombie…is quieter than a statue…she may as well be one…" Blackberry's voice trailed off.

"I feel sorry for her," Strawberry sighed mournfully. She resembled a strawberry-colored cat with long mint-green hair on her head and an elegant, swishy tail.

"Why? She's nothing more than another one of Commander Balair's whores," Raspberry snorted contemptuously.

"She's pretty enough to join the Ginyu Girls," Chinaberry said kindly.

"Nah, she's too old," Blackberry contradicted.

"Maybe not. She's not much older than Eclipse," Strawberry told him.

"Eclipse is in her mid-twenties," Blueberry pointed out.

"True, but this lady doesn't look much older," Chinaberry asserted.

"Poor thing. Not even an Astorian deserves to become Commander Balair's newest concubine," Strawberry snapped indignantly. She had a strong hatred for Balair, since he had raped her three years ago. Strawberry had tried to report him, but Dodoria had backed up Balair's claim that she had seduced him, and Frieza had not believed her.

"Don't worry too much about her; Commander Balair's likely to kill her as soon as he comes back. No woman has ever lasted very long with him; he gets bored with his new playthings almost as soon as gets them," Raspberry quipped, feeling no real pity or sympathy for Balair's newest concubine.

"Still, he doesn't deserve her. He's nothing but a prick," Strawberry said sharply. The others sighed; they sympathized with Strawberry's anger at Balair, but there was nothing that any of them could do to avenge her. Balair was stronger than all five of them put together.

Strawberry looked at the Astorian princess with pity in her clear, mauve catlike eyes, as she peeked through the small, barred slot in the heavy steel door. The Astorian princess was sitting in a corner, her sky-blue eyes blank and unseeing. She seemed to be comatose, only her eyes were open. She was huddled in a fetal position, and she was very thin, so thin that her bones poked out from her thin, pale flesh. Her whitish-gold hair was now lank and limp, the color of a yellowed, dingy cloth. Her once plump, rosy cheeks were sunken and nearly sallow. A thin, gray blanket, rougher than burlap, was covering her scantily clothed skeleton form up to her neck.

Strawberry knocked on the door and said softly, "Princess Farla? Princess Farla Chloe? I have your meal for you. Princess Farla?"

Farla did not respond.

"Princess Farla?"

Silence.

"Princess?"

Farla did not move or respond to Strawberry's promptings. Finally, Strawberry unlocked the door, and she entered Farla's cell. She crept over to the zombie-like Farla, who sat more still than a statue. Strawberry gently nudged Farla's shoulder. She and Farla had formed a sort of bond over the past few weeks; Farla had responded to her positively, although she had not spoken since the first night that Balair had raped her. Farla would usually smile weakly when Strawberry would come to her cell to talk to her, but this time she did not even turn to look at Strawberry to acknowledge her presence.

"Princess Farla?"

Strawberry lightly touched Farla's neck, which had once been slender, but now, was scrawny, and felt for a pulse. Farla's skin was colder than ice water, and Strawberry cried out in horror.

"Sweet Kai!" she gasped.

It took her a few seconds to realize that Farla would never respond to her again.

Or to anyone else.

Strawberry had a superb sense of smell, and she smelled something pungent and stale. She threw back the sandpaper-like blanket and screamed.

For in Farla's clasped hands, was a long, sharp bone from a meal that she had previously eaten, and that bone had been plunged deep into her heart. Ocean-blue blood seeped gently from her chest, coating the bone and dripping down into her lap. Farla's hands were clutching the bone that she had sunk into her heart, as if she were clinging to a life raft.

She seemed to have been dead for several hours.

"Sweet Kami," Strawberry whispered tearfully. "Oh, that poor daughter of hers! That poor little girl!"



A doctor's office on Frieza's mother ship...

Kaydra Chloe was lonely. She missed both sets of parents, her old parents and her new parents. She hoped that Miss Chestra and Mr. Zarbon would come back to her soon; they had been kind to her, and she had already formed a bond with them.

She also hoped to find her mother, for she loved her the most and missed her so much.

Miss Chestra had not told her that her mother was dead, so Kaydra held hope that her mother was still alive and well somewhere. While Miss Chestra and Mr. Zarbon had been raiding Calmag, she had been placed in the care of Doctor Katsen, the muddy-brown, fat catlike creature with bright green eyes and black belly, tail, and paws. Doctor Katsen was in charge of the entire Medical Division of Frieza's forces, and he had been kind to her, a sort of new uncle.

Kaydra had a horrible nightmare after her nap, a dream of her mother sitting in a dark, cold cell. In this dream, she had seen her mother plunge a sharp, pointed bone into her heart, saying that she had no more reason to live. Kaydra had screamed at her in her dream not to die and leave her behind, but her mother had not heeded her. Mamma had stabbed herself with the bone.

She was now crying hard in Dr. Katsen's arms. The doctor was patting her back and telling her that it had only been a bad dream.
But she felt deep in her heart that it hadn't been. She knew that it had really happened, just like she felt that the dream with the red monster hurting her mother had really happened.
But she had to find out for sure…

Two hours later in Frieza's private dining room on his mother ship…

"Lord Frieza, do you read? Lord Frieza, sire, are you there?"

"Yes, I am. This is Lord Frieza speaking." Frieza put down his glass of wine and spoke through his scouter. He caressed his private dining table lovingly with one slender white finger. The table, made of a rich, reddish wood with dark black veins from planet Cara-Camay was smooth and shiny. The wood was expensive, coming from a small timberland on that planet. Frieza was glad that he had enslaved that particular planet, instead of clearing it. Camayan wood was rare and valuable and sold for high prices on the intergalactic black market. The polished dining room table was one of his favorite symbols of his extreme wealth.

"Sire, a distressing event has occurred. Princess Farla Chloe, one of the Astorians that we took captive from planet Dijon, has committed suicide in her cell, using a bone to stab herself in the chest."

"Oh," Frieza remarked calmly. He was enjoying a succulent piece of poultry, a delicious, moist pheasant-like bird that had been imported from planet Cara-Camay. Frieza took a sip of blue-tinted white wine, relishing the dry flavor. He asked serenely, "Anything else about this, Raspberry?"

"Not much, sire, other than Strawberry seems to be very upset over the whole incident."

"Tell her to get over it," Frieza told him coolly. "Farla was just an Astorian and Balair's whore. It is only Balair that will be upset; he'll have to find himself a new playmate, but I'm sure he's had plenty of women while he's been raiding Calmag."

"Sire, what about the child?"

"What child?"

"Princess Kaydra Chloe, the Astorian princess that Commander Chestra adopted, sire. What is to be done with her, now that the mother has died?"

Frieza shrugged, taking another sip of his favorite wine. He looked fondly at the gigantic, gold ring with three large rubies set in a triangle. Crowns of sparkling black gems surrounded each ruby, and in the middle of the triangle was the crest of the Cold family, the crest of an iceberg. He sighed to Raspberry though his scouter, "She's Chestra's problem; I gave the child to Chestra to indulge her. However, have Dr. Katsen send the child to me; I will inform the brat of her mother's demise."

"Very good, sire. Over and out." Raspberry's voice disappeared.

Frieza sighed again, as he ran his snowy finger along the rims of the eighteen-karat gold plates that he always ate his meals off of. He was glad that he had his dining room redecorated. Frieza loved showy displays of material wealth, for it complemented his power and status. He looked around his dining room contentedly, noting the red velour wallpaper decorated with gold stars and elegant silk, sheer black curtains that framed the windows of his dining room. The floor was blanketed with a thick hunter green carpet that had a four-inch pile, plushy and deep. The carpet was spotted with small white dots crossing it in a zigzag pattern. The chairs at the expensive table were made of whitish wood streaked with silver, another rare hardwood called "whilver" that had come from Cara-Camay.

Cara-Camay was a planet well known for it's rare wood goods and fine foods, and it was because of these scarce valuable resources that Frieza had decided to enslave the planet and force the people to submit to him. There were two tribes there, the Cara tribe and the Camay tribe, two peaceable tribes who had lived in harmony with each other since time on that planet began. Frieza knew that most of the Camay people were loyal to him, but the Cara people were opposed to his rule, although they did not dare to contest it.

He decided to contact Zarbon to see how well the clearing of Calmag was going. Surely one of his minions must have captured Princess Tayla Chloe by now. But before he could turn his scouter to Zarbon's channel, he received an urgent message:

"Sire, please come quickly! Princess Kaydra Chloe is firing ki blasts all over the ship, demanding to know where her mother is! She is headed towards the prison section now, sire, and she's nearly killed three men!"

"WHAT???" Frieza exclaimed, as he spat out his sip of wine. "Arrest the brat at once!"

"Two men have already tried that, sire."

"Fine, Kiwi, I am coming," Frieza huffed. Just like an Astorie to interrupt a good meal. He wondered if Tayla Chloe would be that much trouble when she arrived.



"I…want…my…MAMMA!" Kaydra Chloe screamed, as she fired a shot towards the last minion who had tried to arrest her. "Where is she? I want to know, and I want to know now!" The little blond girl was crying and throwing a huge tantrum, as she flew throughout the corridors of Frieza's ship with the speed of a flying cheetah. Dr. Katsen was frantically chasing the girl down, trying to stop her, trying to calm her down, but the moment that she had felt that something awful had happened to her mother, she had fled from his laboratory and escaped towards the prison section of Frieza's ship.

Kaydra continued to fire reddish-blue ki blasts at her would-be captors, shooting the bolts of light from her tiny hands with ease and grace. One of her blasts crashed into a water pipe, causing it to burst open, and now a waterfall of precious water was flowing down the halls, reaching up to a depth of five feet. Some of the tinier minions, were frantically being swept away by the waves. Kaydra paid them no heed, as she flew above the rising water, sailing gracefully in the air, searching for her mother. Kaydra had been hunting for her mother for the past few weeks, but she had been confined to certain areas of Frieza's ship, so she could not search the entire spacecraft for signs of her mother's existence until now.

Finally, she reached the section of the prison ward where important prisoners would have been held. The prisoners were climbing up the bars and walls of their cramped cells in order to escape the rising water that threatened to engulf them. Kaydra flew around the prison ward, calling out desperately for her mother. Several of Frieza's soldiers went as far as to fire laser guns at the child, but Kaydra easily put up a Shield Field (taught to her by her father), and it deflected the ki blasts. She also used Mirror Shield on them, deflecting their lasers back onto her pursuers.

"Kaydra! Princess Kaydra, please stop!" Dr. Katsen cried in horror, as he, who could also fly, flew above the rising waters to try to catch up with her.

"Leave me alone!" Kaydra screamed at him. "I want Mamma!"

Finally, Frieza appeared, floating above the waters, which had finally stopped rising. Calmly, he ordered his minions to open the water grates to drain the water back into the pipes between the floor and ceiling of the next floor to be returned and purified. When the water had receded, the ground was soaked, along with many prisoners and minions. Thankfully (or not so thankfully, depending on how anyone looks at it), no one had been killed or drowned.

Frieza screamed at Kaydra, "LISTEN, BRAT! STOP THIS BEHAVIOR AT ONCE! LAND NOW AND SIT DOWN! YOU HAVE MUCH EXPLAINING TO DO! DO SO BEFORE I BLAST YOU!"

A terrified Kaydra knew when to quit. Meekly and tearfully, she landed on the wet, gray stone floor of the prison ward. She sat on the floor, huddled into herself and began to sob loud and hard.

"I want Mamma! Or Miss Chestra! Where are they?" she wailed, with gigantic clear teardrops rolling down her plump, pale face.

Frieza's expression was stony, unreadable, as he flew swiftly towards the crying child. The prisoners shuddered, as he flew by them. He was in his first form, very fierce looking, as he landed near the sobbing little girl. The minions and prisoners immediately pitied the child, even though she had caused so much trouble. Dr. Katsen choked, pulled at his collar and cried out:

"Sire, please don't harm her, please! She's just scared, and she wants her mother!"

"Shut up, Katsen!" Frieza roared. "When I want your opinion, I will pry it out of you!"

"But sire…" Katsen protested.

"Quiet!"

He stared down at the wailing girl, who was sitting on the floor before him. The child's whitish-gold hair was tangled now and dirty. Her dress, a nice silk, pink dress with a red, felt rose on the pink belt, was soiled and soaked, soaked from the bursting water pipe. The evil tyrant turned on his scouter, and it beeped several times. Frieza looked down upon her imposingly, with his expression still indecipherable.

Frieza raised his left hand into the air, and then he flew his hand and arm at the child, as if trying to strike her.

"No, sire!" Dr. Katsen screamed. "She's just a child!"

Frieza's flying hand swept towards a sobbing Kaydra, and the little girl cowered, hiding her head between her chubby knees, bracing herself for the blow that was sure to come.

And then to her surprise-and the surprise of the spectators-Frieza's hand swept her up, scooping her into his arm. Frieza pulled the girl close to his armored chest and held her close, and he used his other hand to pat and stroke the child's back. Kaydra's body shook and trembled, as Frieza cuddled her close, holding her tight, as a father would.

Everyone's jaws dropped at this display, this extremely rare display of kindness, from one of the cruelest men in the universe. Frieza continued to pat and rub her back, as Kaydra continued to cry.
"I'm not going to hurt you, child," Frieza purred. "I don't want to hurt you now; I want to help you. I am sorry that I yelled at you earlier, but I was worried that the water would drown all of us. You're safe, little girl."

Kaydra looked at this imposing monster strangely. "Do you know where my mamma is?" she asked.

Frieza whispered, "Your mamma is dead, sweetheart. She died not too long ago, and I am sorry."

"MAMMA!" Kaydra screamed, and she began to cry harder, her tears streaming down her cheeks and tapping against Frieza's armor. "Why'd she die and leave me? I dreamt that she stabbed herself with a bone and died! She left me behind! I have no pappa, no mamma, and no baby brother! I want to go home! I want my family!"

"Kaydra, shush," Frieza cooed gently. "We are going to be your new family now. Miss Chestra likes you, and so does Mr. Zarbon. And I like you, Kaydra."

Kaydra looked at Frieza skeptically, while the entire crowd in the prison ward wondered in their fearless tyrannical leader was mentally disintegrating. Dr. Katsen made a mental note to move up Frieza's biannual head examination; he was long overdue for one.
Kaydra's sobs slowly began to cease. "I miss Mamma," she moaned.

"I know that you do," Frieza told her softly, in such a cooing voice that the others didn't know that he knew how to use. "I know that it hurts, Kaydra, but she is gone, and you must accept that. Your mamma wouldn't want you to cry for too long. She'd want you to be happy, right?"

Kaydra tearfully nodded.

"And you must be brave, little one. We will take care of you, okay? You can even call me Uncle Frieza."

"UNCLE Frieza?" the entire group in the prison ward exclaimed.

"Sire, I do believe that you are due for your biannual head examination," Dr. Katsen asserted.

"Katsen," Frieza said evenly, "despite popular opinion around here, I am not going soft in the head, nor am I losing my brilliant mind. I pity the child and I want to help her. Katsen, see that this little girl gets a good meal and have it sent to my dining room. I will take the girl with me there. Come, Kaydra, you will stay with me until Chestra and Zarbon return. Hopefully they will return with a new friend for you." Katsen pulled a small radio out of his lab pocket, and he summoned some orders for dinner through it immediately.

"Who will this new friend be?"

"A young auntie of yours named Tayla Chloe," Frieza told her with a smile. "She is very strong, did you know that? And so are you, my dear; you and Tayla will grow up and become strong warriors for me."

"Why for you?" Kaydra wanted to know.

Frieza chuckled. "I am the most powerful creature in the universe, my dear. There is none that can even match my power; I literally rule the universe and everyone in it, but there are some that don't recognize that. My soldiers, such as Chestra and Zarbon, fight to protect my reign, so that everyone in the universe will benefit from my rule. I do so much, little one, for so many people, and I need strong people like you to ensure that it will continue to happen. I will take of you, and all you have to do is follow my orders and grow up to become big and strong. You have a high ki level for a child your age, which pleases me. There are many good things for you, sweetie, if you fight for me and be my warrior. I reward those that serve me and make me happy. And if you make me happy, I will see that you are happy. Everyone is subject to me, but I am not a cruel man." (Several of the minions quietly snickered at Frieza's last sentence, but Frieza's deadly glare [unseen by Kaydra] silenced them.) Frieza purred, "I like you already, Kaydra, and I will take care of you, along with Chestra and Zarbon. You will be happy living with us, I promise you."

"I miss my family," Kaydra sighed mournfully after Frieza's long speech. "'Specially my mamma."

"I know, my dear, but we will be your new family," Frieza assured her. Kaydra, an affectionate child by nature, threw her tiny, plump arms around Frieza's neck, hugging him tightly, nearly strangling him. If he had been anyone else, his subordinates would have started to tease him, but as he was Frieza, no one dared to say a word.

Frieza tolerated the embrace; he was not overly fond of children, despite his kind words. However, he thought that perhaps he could grow to like Kaydra in time…maybe even love her. Until then, he knew how to put on a good act.

"I like you, Uncle Frieza!" Kaydra gushed enthusiastically, putting aside her grief for her mother for the moment. "I'm very hungry. Do you think that we can eat now?"

"Sure," Frieza told her pleasantly. "Our meals should be waiting for us in the dining room by now."

He set her down gently, and he took her chubby hand in his, and then they both walked out of the prison ward, not paying attention to the shocked expressions of Frieza's subordinates. When they were safely out of earshot, Dr.Katsen sighed, and Raspberry spoke:

"What exactly is our master up to now?"

"I don't like the looks of this," Dr. Katsen admitted. "It is not like Lord Frieza to be that kind, especially towards an Astorian child. Our sire must have plans for the little one."

Strawberry commented, "I pity the child, I really do. I think Lord Frieza should have just sent her home to Astoria, if he wanted to do the right thing for once."

"He doesn't want to do the 'the right thing'," Blackberry retorted bitterly. "All he wants to do with her is raise her to be another mindless puppet for him. She'll just be another one of his flunkies, like the rest of us! Frieza will just use her and throw her away, the way that he did with the members of my race! And he'll do the same thing with Princess Tayla Chloe, should he get his greasy hands on her! He's nothing more than a corrupter, a user, and an abuser! He destroyed my race, and I have been forced to slave after him and those Top Elites ever since. If I was stronger, I would show him a thing or two for killing my people-"

"ZIP! BLAST!"

A cloud of blackish-gray smoke emitted from the dark pile of melted ash that had once been poor Blackberry. The other Berry Bunch members shrieked in horror, particularly Strawberry, who had been a close friend of his.

Kiwi was standing in the doorway of the prison ward, holding a laser gun that projected black curls of smoke from its barrel. Kiwi strolled into the prison ward, casting a threatening look upon everyone in the prison ward, prisoners and minions alike. Kiwi hissed angrily at everyone:

"No one maligns Lord Frieza's name, or even thinks of harming or rebelling against him! There are no races here, and there are only two kinds of people: those who are loyal to Frieza and those who are not. Those are not loyal to Lord Frieza and don't serve him faithfully are those who will die, just like Blackberry, the fool! Thinking that he could smear our Lord Frieza's name and even think of rebelling against him. Only those who are faithful to Frieza will live, and those who dare to oppose him shall perish, just like the Astorians and Calmagians will! The Astorians have been a thorn in Frieza's side ever since his beloved mother, the dear Queen Frost, was brutally murdered by Shalila Chloe, the witch who rules Astoria. All those who try to thwart our great lord and leader will perish! Let Blackberry's demise be a lesson to everyone here today: that not only Frieza will destroy those who are disloyal to him, but his loyalists will obliterate any dissidents as well."

And then Kiwi raised his fist into the air and shouted proudly, "Long live Lord Frieza forever! Everyone shout with me, or suffer Blackberry's fate!" He swished his gun around the cell threateningly.

"Long live Lord Frieza!" everyone, even Dr. Katsen and Strawberry, shouted with as much false enthusiasm as possible.

"That's better," Kiwi cooed, pleased. "The Berry freaks can clean up the remains of their friend. Farewell." And without a trace of regret for what he had done, Kiwi strolled out of the prison ward.

A/N: Kiwi is not my character; he belongs to DBZ. He was a minor minion of Frieza that Vegeta had killed before he killed Dodoria. If anyone has any background info on him, please let me know.

Sorry it's been a while since I updated. So much going on, but I hopefully will be able to update this more often, and the other two stories "Chestra" and "Be Careful For What You Wish For."

*insert shameless plug here* Some of you who have read this story have also read Chestra, but take a look at "Be Careful" too if you have time.

"Be Careful For What You Wish For" only has two chapters, but hopefully it is funny. Master Roshi is desperate for a woman, a permanent woman in his life. He is inspired by the story "Pygmalion and Galatea" a Greek mythology tale that Juuhachigou (Android Eighteen) reads to Marron one night. With this inspiration, Roshi goes to a toy story with his friends Oolong and Umigame (the turtle) to buy a fashion doll for Marron's birthday, only he also decides to get one for himself. Yes, he buys himself a fashion doll, a Barbie ripoff named Candy Apple, and with the Dragonballs, he wishes her to come to life. She is everything he has asked for...and nothing like what he expected. Once Roshi's new amour enters his life, Roshi's life will never be the same again!