DBZ Story #4: "Berter Beginnings: A Ginyu Force Outlook"

Part 21




"So, you ready to head into space?"

"I suppose so…"

"You look nervous. You're not gonna vomit, are ya?

"No, I'm fine."

"You're gonna like the life of a space fighter. It's full of action, adventure—"

"—and booze!" The Ginyus laughed heartily. Berter just scratched his head.

"Seriously, men," started Ginyu, getting out his last few laughs. "We don't have time to joke around. It's almost launch time and we aren't even in our pods yet. Berter, right? You go and head over to Freeza's ship. We'll arrive at our destination in about 2 ½ days, or 70 hours (28 hrs/day). And if you happen to encounter Freeza, be sure to bow deeply and address him as 'Lord' or 'Master'. Got that?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good man. You're learning already. Well, men, let's hustle!"

The initial takeoff had been a bit turbulent. The main engines caused a bit of rumbling during the launch, but things became smooth when they exited the atmosphere. Berter brought himself to one of the violet-tinted windows and looked to his Hachuurui, now nil but a faint, glimmering ruby in the space. He felt awed to be seeing such a thing. He hadn't imagined that this was how the planet actually appeared. The Tokage pressed a palm against the domed window and watch as the last sights of his home faded into the blackness of the void. "From my home on the Saurian Planet into the unforgiving cold of the outer space…" He sighed.

"Hey, you."

The young man turned to meet a familiar-looking Azureman. "Oh, it's you again. Hello."

"You are Ginyu's newest addition. Am I correct in saying so?"

"Yes. You must be the Azureman the red humanoid spoke of."

"That I am. You must be pretty special, getting on that Force…"

"Not really. He seemed to just be picking at random…"

"That Ginyu…" Zarbon approached the Tokage and raised his arm to touch the lizard's shoulder, though due to their differences in height, fell short and resulted in resting his hand on the taller's chest. Berter stiffened under the unfamiliar warmth, but the Azureman did not withdraw.

"I'm going to tell you a little something about that Minotaurus, the 'good' Captain Ginyu, so pay attention." Zarbon lowered his voice. "Ginyu's a madman, a pervert who primarily picks on handsome young men not much taller than himself, but just because you're ugly doesn't mean you're safe. For your own personal well being, don't do anything to get him mad; it'll save you a lot of pain. However, if worse come to worse, no matter what terrible things he might do to you, always uphold your pride. It's the one thing he can't break. That is, if you don't let him." The smaller man then backed off. "Now, come on. I'll show you to your temp quarters."

It was strange. This was the second time someone had warned him of the fury of his leader. He was beginning to wonder if he should be concerned with his well being. So far, there hadn't been any troubles— There hadn't been a reason for any—, but if this was any indication of what was in store for him, it certainly wasn't a welcome one.

Seventy long hours spent travelling through the dark, dark space… Berter spoke with Zarbon whenever they met, but those times were few and far between. Zarbon was oft at Freeza's side and had little time for chitchat, but when he did, the conversations were mostly forewarnings concerning the bullman captain. The destination had finally been reached, and the giant space vessel was making its landing on the deck of Freeza Planet No. 79. The Ginyu Force was the first to depart and the first to arrive, and were all lined up and waiting for their master's entry. Berter, on the other hand, was just awaiting permission to leave. He had been told by Zarbon an hour prior to touchdown time to stay in the temp barracks until further notice.

"Hey, you," came a familiar voice from outside his door. "Come on out. Time to leave."

The door whooshed as Berter stepped into the corridor. There was Zarbon, that old blue-skinned beau, but who was that beside him— A small, pink, horned creature inside a hovering vessel? "What are you doing?" The Azureman spat. "This is Lord Freeza! Show your respect!"

What?! This is him?! ……Oh! The Tokage bowed quickly and deeply. "Master, forgive me. This is my first time seeing you…"

Freeza smiled. "It's quite all right. You shouldn't be so harsh, Zarbon. After all, he's new. So," Freeza hovered a little closer. "You're Captain Ginyu's new man?"

"Yes, sir."

The pink tyrant pulled his face into a smile once again. "Be sure not to disappoint him or myself."

"Of course, sir." He bowed again.

"Now, come along. The rest of your team is expecting you."

"Welcome to your new home, buddy!" Recoom threw his arm around Berter's side. "This is Freeza Planet No. 79! When you're not out 'preparing' planets with the rest of us, you'll spend most of your days here."

"That's right," Jeice added. "You'll love it. This place has everything! You can build some extra muscle in the weight room, go to the rec room play a game or two, or our personal favorite: head over to the bar and drink the night away!" The Ginyus laughed the good laugh.

"Drinking jokes aside," Captain Ginyu puffed out his chest. "It's very unstylish to loiter, which is exactly what we're doing. Our man here needs a battle jacket, so let's go suit him up."

They escorted the Tokage to a locker room of sorts. The bullman captain took it upon himself to accompany him into the actual room; the others awaited their return in the corridor. "Take off that shaggy garb of yours," commanded the Captain, searching through the individual lockers for the gear he'd put aside. "We've got some new stuff for you to sport."

'Shaggy'..? Though a little thrown off by the comment, Berter disrobed. Ginyu stole a quick glance over his shoulder at the near nude man. Despite being a bit top heavy, he had a runner's body—that much was certain. The attire he picked out would look great on him. "Just fold those old rags up and set 'em on that bench beside you. Ah! Found it. Here put these on." He tossed him a pair of black pants, white boots, and two bangles, then went about detaching the battle jacket. "So, how's the fit?"

"The pants are… a bit tight…"

"You're just used to those baggy pants your kind wear. Give it some time. The wrist guards will really accent the ensemble, I think."

"Perhaps. …What are these white things you've given me?"

Somehow, he wasn't surprised. "They're called boots. You wear them on your feet."

Berter slipped them on. "How very… uncomfortable."

Ginyu shrugged. "Hey, unless you have toes on all the sides of your feet, you're wearing them." A metal shifting sound signified the release of the armor. "There we go." The Captain brought the battle jacket over to its new owner. "This is your battle jacket. Just stretch it over your head and put your arms through. …Hey, not bad. That's it, then. Wait here." Ginyu exited the locker room.

"Men," he began. "May I present to you, our newest member… Berter!! ………" Ginyu poked his head back into the room. "Hey, that's your cue!" The Tokage emerged, a little embarrassed.

"Hey! Pretty awesome!"

"Definite '10' on the style meter!"

"Snazzy!"

The Ginyus applauded their sharp dressed man, who smiled politely but didn't really see what there was to clap about. A loud, gurgling sound interruped the acclamation. "Hey, Cap'n, how 'bout some eats?" Recoom asked, clutching his stomach and grinning awkwardly.

The Captain chuckled a little. "Sure, why not? This'll give newbie here a chance to show himself off. Besides, I'm hungry, too. To the mess hall, then."

"This place has got the best food around! Of course, you can't get any ursine meat here, but it'll do."

"What's an ursine?"

"It's a big, grizzly land mammal hunted for food and fur on Planet Kyokutair," Ginyu replied.

"And don't mind him," Jeice added. "Everytime we come here, he goes on and on about how nothing is as good as the flesh of Kyokutair animals."

"I didn't think it was all that good, personally," Guldo threw in his two cents.

Recoom shook a finger. "That's because you all didn't give me time to pick out a nice, fat one. You were all complaining about the cold, so I just picked out the first one I saw—a sickly, old female—to make you guys happy."

"Don't misunderstand." It was Ginyu's turn to speak again. "You did make us happy… when you said you were ready to head back." Jeice and Guldo laughed. That one even drew a chuckle from Berter. "Let's face it: We're all from planets with much, much warmer climates than your planet. Of course we wouldn't be able to deal with that arctic cold."

"Of course. How inconsiderate of me…" He turned his head, feeling notably insulted. "So, then, Berter..?" He turned to the younger man, trying to change the subject. "How d'you like this place so far?"

"…I can't say. I've only seen your launching pad and this dining hall. It was strange, though, on that ship. I felt as if something was amiss."

"You're just a little homesick. That's understandable," the Kaijin analyzed with a non-chalant air. "Don't worry about it. That's just how men grow. Hey, that sounded really good. Make sure I write that one down, you guys."

Recoom laughed. "Who're you foolin'? You probably had that one planned for years."

"So what if I did? It helped, didn't it?"

"Okay, okay. Calm down, you two." Once again, it was Ginyu to play the role of Dad. "Hurry and finish up, you guys. I have to move on with newbie's training."

"This is where your training ends. If you can get through this without breaking, you'll be set for the rest of your days here. Welcome to desensitization training."

"Desensitization? What are you planning?"

Ginyu did not reply. Instead, he went to the opposite wall and pressed a small button, an openway to a comm system. "Send her in."

A few seconds later, two guards escorted a sickly looking humanoid child into the room and left. The small girl took a look at the Tokage and Minotaurus and promptly scooted herself as far away as she could in a scared little huff. Confused, Berter turned to his captain and asked, "Sir, why is this child here?"

"A training tool. She's here to die."

"What?!"

"You'll have to get used to doing things like this in the future, so put here out of her misery, already."

He turned to that little girl, who had her knees drawn up to her chest and was sobbing softly. "You can't expect me to—"

"Yes, I can. We are soldiers of a conquering god. Killing lower life forms is part of our job. Just think of this as if you were hunting one of your dinosaurs."

"I'm not going to eat a child…" The young man growled. Ginyu was becoming a bit fed up with the other man's refusal, but gave it one last go.

"You have so much potential. I really don't want to have to kill you, but I will if you're disobedient. It's up to you. What's more important in your eyes: your own life or that of a child that you've just seen? Either way, someone's going to die today."

Berter looked at that frightened pup, angered that he had been ordered to extinguish her life. He didn't have that right. No one did. Then, his thoughts shifted to Ginyu. Maybe, just maybe…

"And don't think about doing anything as suicidal as trying to fight me," Ginyu called him out. "You may have been born super-strong, but you don't have half the experience necessary to tangle with me. Now, this is the last time I'm going to tell you. Blast that girl to Hell!"

No way out of it, then. Slowly, he approached the small child and stuck out his hand. "...I'm sorry."

Her shriek would forever echo in his mind. How it must have felt, to be enveloped in that hot energy and feel one's body be burned to nothing. All that remained of the small child was a puff of black smoke.
In the background, Ginyu nodded in approval. "Good man. You're one step closer to being a top-notch space fighter."

"Don't call me that," snarled the young man. "Good men don't kill people. It would have been different if she had been an opponent, and we agreed mortal combat, but that… that was outright murder." He hung his head. "…The gods will never forgive me…"

The Captain shrugged. "Whose gods? Your only god is Freeza, and to him, this sort of thing is a good work, so stop complaining. You've still got X many 'training tools' left to destroy."

"You guys should have been there! He was blasting people left and right. Men, women, kids, little old ladies… KERPLOW!! I did good to pick this fella, I did! Good man!"

The Captain threw back a bottle of beer, excited as ever, though more due to the alcohol coursing through his veins than with his new member's actual deeds. The other Ginyus just laughed. Berter, meanwhile, silently stewed. Thirty-six lives had been destroyed by his hands, and those horrible people had the gall to laugh and joke about it.

Ginyu had purchased a round from the bar to celebrate the day, and he and his men retreated to the rec room for a drink (though, technically, that was against the rules), chasing out the lower riffraff dwelling there at the time. "We had a bit of a rocky start at first," the bullman continued. "But then, he got right into it. BLAM! POW!! KA-BLOOEY!! I don't know how many he managed to kil--"

"Thirty-six."

The others turned to the blue man. "You had me kill thirty-six people today…"

Ginyu blinked then raised his beer bottle in a congratulatory fashion. "Thirty-six! A good number!"

"And still, you go on like that..." Berter was growing even angrier now. "…I loathe you…"

Ginyu lowered his arm and looked at the young man with mild surprise. The other men just gaped. That alone would have gained anyone else a trip to the rejuvenation tank. The Captain glared at Berter, then turned back to his drink. "What do you want..?" he asked. "You did your job well, so I congratulated you. Isn't that good enough?"

The Tokage abruptly stood up and plowed his fist into the table, smashing it in two. Recoom, Jeice, and Guldo frantically tried to calm him down. The last thing any of them wanted was for him to enrage Ginyu, for his safety as well as for the morale of the team, but he wouldn't hear of it. He bore his fangs as he practically roared in his captain's face. "You laugh about making a murderer of me?! How can you…?! No, how dare you!! You jest like that… You… You're evil!!"

The Captain looked up at him for a moment. "No, not evil," came the calm reply. "Just professional."

What happened next was the worst thing he could have possibly done. Before he even realized it, his fist was colliding with the Minotaurus' skull. The other men knew there was no doubt about it—that kid was going to die. Ginyu's head bobbed back a bit from the force of the blow, but he quickly righted himself and laid eyes on the aggressor. Still as calm as before it had happened, Ginyu stood from his seat and stood erect to meet the taller lizard man.

One blow to the stomach was all it took to bring him down. Berter hadn't remembered even seeing him move. All he knew was that he was facedown on the floor, couldn't breathe very well, and that everything was getting dark.

"I'll excuse the ignorance of youth only once!" Ginyu growled from above. "If you ever try anything like that again, you'll wake up dead!! Got that?!"

He didn't hear a word of it.

"Um, Cap'n…" Recoom took the risk of speaking at such a tense moment. "…He's not moving…"


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