I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.
Chapter 13: Keeping a Secret
I trailed behind the group, as I was supposed to look like the runt of the litter so to speak. We had been flying about twenty minutes, about a fourth of the way around the planet by my guess, seemed a little smaller than Earth. I could have cleared that distance in a minute or two at full power, but for obvious reasons I didn't. Hell, it wasn't easy fighting while holding back my power so much. It was even harder keeping it from my teammates as I could already see the suspicious looks, mostly from Fasha. Tora and Shugesh seemed to accept the fact that I had torn apart that group of rebels so easily, but then they weren't around to see the fight. Borgos just grunted and ate, and Bardock's focused, grim look never really changed. We raced through mountains and across wide lakes and small oceans to get to the destination, one that was highlighted on my scouter now that I actually turned it on. Fasha kept giving me the suspicion glance though, I suppose because of my silvery aura. That and I had a nagging feeling that she did more than just fiddle with her scouter when I was battling the rebels.
We came up on a large city, but most of it seemed to be run down. On top of a hill stood a large fortress, with a big cannon sticking out of the ground about a mile away from the actual base.
"That's it guys! Let's concentrate our attacks on the mountain, I don't think we'll be able to get in and easily disarm it. The Treme language is pretty complex," Bardock ordered, powering up a hand blast. He fired it right away, watching it streak towards the cannon's mountain base. It exploded quite short of the target, what looks to be some kind of bubble highlighted itself for a moment.
"A shield generator!" Tora pointed out a small few antennae poking out from the ground, just around where the shield probably was. Heh, if only I could use a little more power, that shield wouldn't have a prayer.
"Damn, we need to get in there!" Bardock shouted, "Tora, you take Shugesh and Borgos and start taking out the capitol! Fasha, you're with me! I'm gonna need your hacking skills! Hey kid, stay out here and watch the perimeter! Most of the troops are in the city so you shouldn't have a problem!" he barked his orders and took off towards the complex that was stationed behind the cannon's shield.
I stared at them as they departed, feeling kind of left out. Shouldn't have a problem? There's nothing here! I settled for tracking their ki signals and listened to the scouter audio. Tora and the other guys were tearing up the capitol, pretty heavily judging by some of the explosions I was hearing. Bardock and Fasha were fighting off a little resistance, but were inside the control center. I looked at the cannon from the air, wondering why someone would make such a terrible thing. I didn't have much time to think about it before something red started to light up inside the cannon.
My scouter started going nuts, "Imminent fire detected, suggest clearing the area!" Then it darted over towards where the thing was aimed, several continents away.
"Firing target sighted, destruction of main government city assured. Suggest evacuation, one minute until firing sequence complete!" Oh no, if that thing fires, it'll wipe out not only the government's city, but also the innocent civilians living there, and there is a lot of them. I've got to stop it! But how am I going to without showing some of my power? Damn, then I'll be discovered and me and Vegeta may not ever get home to stop the Zerg! Damn, what do I do? Maybe they died before though and it would be letting history fulfill itself.
"Firing sequence in fifteen seconds!" The mental pictures of pros and cons to acting and not acting started to flash through my head, until I could barely take it anymore. Fuck it, it's the right thing to do, I decided being discovered wouldn't be as bad as having the deaths of millions of innocents on my hands because I didn't take the chance to act.
"Firing in five, four, three,.." I shut off the annoying scouter and released some of my suppressed power, causing the lands to shake and everything standing on the ground to get blown away in the dust. The red beam came flying out of the cannon, and I stood in its path. The mountain started to crumble directly beneath the cannon, it apparently didn't get much use. I powered up with what I could in the amount of time I had, and knocked the beam upwards at an odd angle. It sailed up, following it's own path, but then it started coming down, almost straight down. I flew under it and bashed the end of it towards the close distance. The force of the beam hurt my hand a little bit as I hadn't even powered up to ten percent of my full power. The fact that it was synthetic energy didn't help either. The beam continued, hitting a piece of land that was deserted as we flew over it, creating a huge explosion that came my way very quickly, and I extended my ki outward with my arms and legs to block the destruction. It worked, but it hurt a lot since I didn't have time to put a safe amount of power behind my shielding.
The beam discontinued after a few moments, and the cannon shut down, pointed upwards a little more now. The mountain it sat on couldn't handle the power output very well and had broken apart in some places. As for me, I was feeling a little sore, the beam was strong enough to shred my armor and tore up my jumpsuit. Some of my own warm blood trickled down my cheek, and I quickly noticed that this time I was beginning to soak in my own redness as I winced a bit at a large gash across my head. I sighed and dropped my power level again, back to what felt like twenty-two hundred. I cursed slightly because I had left the Senzu beans back at the apartment. Then again, if I turned up injured that might add to relevancy.
-
More of the capitol buildings exploded, and the fighting ceased shortly afterwards as I sensed the crew start to come back my way. I sat down on a rock on a cliff a little below from where we first split up, overlooking the destruction the beam created. I had to give the rebels a little credit, that beam did its job; luckily I showed up and sidetracked it a bit. The crew was within sight range, and I could hear shouting.
"Kid where are you?"
"You better not be dead!"
I stood back up, firing a small and weak blast to show my position, as my scouter had been destroyed during the attempted shielding. Fasha and Bardock showed up first, and gasped slightly when they saw me. I suppose I was a little tore up, I was actually bleeding in many spots. Even my tail was bleeding a little bit, but I had been put through worse.
"You okay kid?" Bardock asked, slightly surprised.
"Yeah, I'm okay," I said softly, groaning a little bit. I didn't have to try to fake it, not that I could act hurt anyway, it was rather obvious.
"Do you know how lucky you are that that blast didn't vaporize you. Float any closer to it and you would have been ripped apart!" Fasha screeched, shaking my shoulders a little bit.
"Let him be Fasha, we're all lucky that the cannon misfired. Whoever made that thing didn't put it on stable enough ground. That must be why the cannon suddenly shot upwards during the firing, I thought for sure it was going to hit the Tremens' capitol and take it out," Bardock said, sighing at the blast impact.
"Looks like the kid tried to counter blast it. Though it probably didn't do much to protect him, it might have saved his ass," Fasha grinned, giving my rear a slight slap with her hand.
"Rebel scumbags. I heard they captured even the commoners and forces their own people into slavery along with old government officials and troops. That and they killed off all trade with Frieza's empire. Supposedly they would take the shipments for themselves and then kill all of Frieza's officers with bombs instead of fighting them head on, the cowards. Lucky for them that Frieza didn't step in sooner," Bardock spat at the ground. A single energy shot rang out, and a tiny blast hit the ground in front of us. I looked up to see a Treme rebel, holding a fancy looking rifle.
"You monkeys should not have interfered with this! Now you are going to pay, and soon shall the government. I'm sure you know what this thing is and what it can do, so I suggest you call off your men before I kill you!" the rebel snarled, pointing the rifle at us, mostly Bardock and Fasha.
"That's the new prototype energy rifle! Capable of taking out even a Frieza elite, what the hell are you doing with it?" Bardock demanded. Instead the rebel fired, and struck him through his armor, right side of his chest. Bardock collapsed, his ki fell rapidly, but he was still alive. Fasha screamed and knelt down to him.
"Now girl, call off your men, or I'll finish the job!" the rebel ordered with a bright smirk. I didn't even think about it and stepped into the path of the rifle, the Saiyan in me cried out for justice. This also put a stop to any sort of suppression, and my energy surged a bit in anger.
"No kid, d-d-don't!" Bardock whispered, still awake, but falling fast.
"I suggest you step aside monkey boy. Unlike your friend, you are not going to survive one hit from this!"
"No shithead, you're the one who's going to die!" I yelled at him, stepping straight forward in a confident walk. I walked calmly towards the rebel, who wasted no time in squeezing the trigger. The tiny blast hit me dead on above my heart, no effect. I wished I had a camera to capture the look of shock on the rebel's face. He pulled the trigger again, and got the same reaction.
"Your weapons can't hurt me, see you in hell!" I shouted, letting loose much more of a ki blast than I needed to. Nonetheless, the rebel and his weapon were nothing but dust afterwards. I grunted slightly and walked back to Bardock, who had passed out now. Fasha was looking at me in fear. I smiled slightly and put a finger to my lips, shaking my head, and hoping I could trust her to be quiet. I had just saved her ass, so I could only hope she could honor my request in return. She gulped and nodded, turning on her scouter. I dropped my power quickly, back to lower than it had been, after all I was hurt. When she initially turned it on, it was a seven-digit number. Tora and the rest showed up a few minutes later, wondering what happened.
"A rebel showed up with a new style rifle that packed a serious punch. He shot Bardock, but the kid blasted him before he could react," Fasha said before I even tried to explain.
"Looks like the kid got a little roughed up, musta been that big ass blast I seen. Don't worry kid, happens to the best of us. A quick trip to a recovery tank will fix ya right up!" Shugesh slapped my back a little harder than I wanted it touched at the time, again I saw him hold his hand slightly in pain. Serves him right for hitting me.
"Let's contact the Treme Government and get Bardock and the kid to a recovery chamber," Tora ordered, turning on his scouted. It beeped and flashed at him for a few seconds, before he scooped Bardock up over his shoulder and lifted off.
-
I had to admit, I was a bit nervous when they told me the liquid was synthetic Saiyan DNA to make me better. After all, I wasn't exactly like other Saiyans. Sure the basics were down, and the deepest powers were the same, it was the transformation gene though that struck me apart, and now that couldn't even happen. But I recalled that Old Kai had been messing with my DNA a little bit, he might have fixed this. After all he saw that I would come to him for training in the first place, for all I knew he could see this too. That and Goku had gone through this before his fight with Frieza, being without the transformation gene was probably like missing the tail I suppose. The doctors had me strip down to nothing and climb in the tank, something I refused any help on. Bardock was placed in the other tank, oxygen masks were placed on both of us. The doctors told me I would probably fall asleep during the process until the healing was over. For some strange reason, I didn't, even as the fluid around me soothed my body and it begged to sleep. So I stayed awake, allowing my eyes to dart around to the random presences in the room, and also to keep an eye on my suppression. It could have been bad if I were to fall asleep under a monitor.
Most of them were Treme doctors, occasionally monitoring the computer in front of me, along with Bardock's. The crew stopped in a time or two, mainly Fasha and Tora, I heard them say that Shugesh and Borgos went out to party and feast. About three hours after being put in the chamber, I heard a distant beeping sound. It turned out to be Bardock's tank, signaling that it was done. The doctors brought in his torn clothes, seeing as they didn't have any other clothing available that would fit us. That's odd, why am I taking longer? Must be an old style or something. Bardock glanced over at the tank and grinned slightly, he picked up what looked to be a microphone.
"Don't worry kid, you'll be outta there and partying soon. Hell, maybe Fasha will let you sleep with her again after your cleaned up!" he said. Fasha, who happened to be in the room at the time, punched him across the cheek, getting a grin in return from Bardock. After that everyone left, the doctor's mentioned that it would take a few more hours for me since I was supposedly weaker, but he wasn't sure since Bardock's injury was worse. I figured it out quickly, but couldn't voice my opinion. Since I'm suppressing my energy so much, it can't help out in healing me faster, guess I better keep playing along. I'll probably get a decent strength boost out of it as well. So I repositioned myself and began to meditate, concentrating my powers to a more suppressed level. So far it had been working, but I had been slipping up. A few times during this, I slipped a bit and some ki lightning went around the tank, but no one was there to notice.
Interlude 13.1 –Suspicion-
"Man, they sure do have good food here, despite this place being such a dump after their wars with the rebels!" Shugesh declared, shoving more into his mouth.
"Any food to you is good. I don't know how you and Borgos can tell, you shove it down your throat so fast!" Tora snorted, "What's our next mission here Bardock?"
"Well, the rebels have been mostly wiped out. There's only a few pockets of resistance left, and the Tremens said they could handle it. My orders were to remain here until tomorrow; Frieza and Prince Vegeta are coming in the morning. I guess they wanted to meet with us or something, maybe a little recognition for once," Bardock muttered. Fasha, who had kept very quiet during dinner, took this chance to speak up.
"Hey guys, don't you find it strange that Verto managed to wipe out those rebels and come out unscathed?" she started. She had mentally promised Verto that she wouldn"t say anything about the incident with the rifleman, but she was still curious, she had mainly done that in fear.
"Maybe the kid is just more Saiyan than you gave him credit for Fasha. You must have worked that bashful behavior in one night," Tora chuckled.
"Well, it was a little strange. But it's the incident with the rifleman who shot me that gets my attention. Before I passed out, I saw him block that rebel's path of fire. There had to be a full nine and a half seconds for the rebel to figure out where to put the hole in his head, and that was before I passed out. Did the guy fire Fasha?" Fasha was a bit taken aback by the question from Bardock, and at first unsure what to do. But that smile on Verto's face told her not to rat on him. Something about that boy was special, and if he had secrets then he had them for a reason, and she would respect it for now.
"No, no he didn't do anything besides shout threats. The kid took the advantage of it and got him when he dropped his guard," she said softly.
"You see Bardock, another cocky warrior that thought he could best a Saiyan was proven wrong. It certainly isn't the first time you've gotten beat up and we had to bail you out!" Tora laughed. Bardock glared at him sharply, but kept quiet.
"Well guys, I'm gonna turn in," Fasha said, getting up from the table and walking away as fast as she could.
-
About two hours later, Verto was released from the healing tank. Instead of eating though, he went straight to bed, again having to share a bunk with Fasha. She didn't mind, having the kid around wasn't too much of a pain, and he appeared to be a pleasant person if and when he ever opened up. She lay back to back with Verto, but remained awake, nagging feelings about this began to get to her. She had taken a quick peek at her scouter shortly after he emerged, his level at a flat twenty-seven hundred. It was quite a jump, but it didn't really surprise her. She herself had once jumped seven hundred points coming back from a nasty mission. But she thought it as strange that his level stayed so, low. Granted she didn't think much of the kid's power at the time, but she had seen what he could do, and ability like that with only a level of twenty-two just didn't fit. Even elites don't fight as clean like that kid does. The kid's blows were so precise, and the accuracy of them could only come from one of two things: Personal training from Frieza, or decades of experience. She highly doubted the first one; the kid seemed to scowl a lot whenever Frieza's name came up. She reasoned that he couldn't have been trained by him anyway, he didn't act like it. The second couldn't have been possible though, even Bardock didn't fight like that, and he was easily in the top ten as regards to fighting ability among the Saiyans. Only the King himself could probably match Bardock's ability, if the two ever faced off that is. This kid made them look like rookies, and that was saying something.
She got out of bed, and retrieved her scouter, something told her that she needed to see the kid's level when he wasn't awake. She turned it on, and the number on it fluctuated a little bit, in the upward direction. That wouldn't have made her jump, the fact that it was a seven-digit number did. It read over one point five million and rose to two million pretty quickly before hovering around there. The scouter blew up a moment later. The explosion noise was minimal and didn't wake anyone in the room. She gasped slightly, trying to calm down. How the hell can his power be higher when he's asleep? And how the hell can it be that fucking high! She pondered this one while laying back down next to him, shaking a little bit in fear.
That explains why his power shifted so much, he knows how to control his ki enough to mask his power even from a scouter. That's why that bitch Clerpe didn't do anything except break her own hand, and she had a power level higher than he did at the time! Just how strong is this kid, man what am I doing here? We should be packing up and getting the fuck outta here! That kid could blow us all to dust with a breath. She trembled some more in bed as she thought about this, not wanting to sleep. Verto shifted in bed, turning over and pulling his arm around her in a protective hug, scaring Fasha shitless until she remembered the kid was asleep. She lay stiff as a board then, not wanting to wake the kid and have him realize she knew about his power. He'd probably crush my head with a flick of his finger. Man, what if this kid goes off the handle when he meets Frieza, then what? He'll kill the kid and all of us for sure, damn we're screwed either way! She eventually released her fear and went to sleep, but stayed ready just in case Verto woke up.
-
I woke up in the cushioned beds that had been provided for us. They only expected five Saiyans, so I had to sleep with Fasha again, not that I minded. We started out back to back, but somehow my arm ended up around her stomach. I blushed slightly and removed it, noticing she felt really stiff, like she was nervous. I quickly checked my ki level, noticing it was rather high because the bed slept so well. It had made me comfortable, therefore I lost a grip on my ki level during sleep. I quickly lowered it, hoping no one picked up on it, they'd probably faint. The room was empty, it looked like the guys had already gotten up and I currently sensed them on the other side of a wall. I yawned and stretched, putting on what remained of my bodysuit top. The sleeves were blown off during the blast, and the rest was just torn in a few places, so it still had a muscle shirt look to it. The armor plate however had been cracked enough that the Treme staff didn't bother giving it back. I sat on the edge of the bed, picking up my discarded boots and putting them on. I sighed, today was going to be a tough day of control. Bardock told me last night that Frieza and Prince Vegeta were coming out to meet us. The Treme government was supposedly throwing a banquet for Frieza's prompt action to send us there. I didn't know how I was going to be able to control myself with Frieza around, the mere mention of his name set a fire in my blood. Well maybe if I just have to meet him for a minute and then leave it won't be so bad. Anything more than a word or two and I may not be able to control myself.
I sighed again, stretching out my ki sense to see if the purple-headed freak was there yet. He wasn't, but my senses did come up on an extremely fearful feeling ki, and it was sitting right next to me, completely awake.
"Fasha?" I asked, a startled woman's body stiffened when I spoke, she almost sounded like she was crying in fear.
"You ok Fasha?" I asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"K-k-kid, I mean Verto. Sorry, I meant to call you by your name," she stuttered.
"That's ok, what's got you so jittery?"
"If I told you, would you kill me?" she asked. My eyes narrowed in a flash, and I figured that she might have seen or sensed something.
"No," I remarked, removing my hand and looking down at the ground. She got up and stared at me. I had already gotten used to the fact that she slept without much in the way of clothes on, but it still caused me to blush a bit. That and if she was fearful of me, it probably gave her a degraded feeling.
"Since no one is in here, how the hell can you be so strong?" she whispered. So that's what it is, seems I didn't do that good of a job covering that up, must have been the damn bed. I could tell she wanted to scream, but that would more than likely get everyone else's attention.
"So when did you figure that out?" I asked.
"During the battle yesterday. Sorry kid but those fighting skills are just too polished to be a low level," she whispered.
"Well, I was kind of hoping to keep that a secret a little longer. Who else knows?" I grumbled.
Fasha sighed slightly, "Bardock is suspicious of it, but hasn't said anything. I pulled out a scouter last night while you were sleeping, and it read two million before it blew up! What the hell are you?" I scowled, When it rains it pours.
I grinned, "A Saiyan." She slapped me across the face sharply. I saw it coming and moved my head enough so she wouldn't break her hand on impact, leaving just a red mark on both my cheek and her hand.
"Bullshit! And don't tell me you couldn't have dodged that!"
I sighed, "Do you really want the truth? As long as you don't tell anyone, I'll tell you," I said calmly.
"Maybe," she snorted. I sighed again, that would have to do.
"Fine, I'm a Saiyan from the future. Me and a few others got sent back in time during a lab accident. We're going to find a way home, but we have to blend in until then," I quickly said.
She didn't seem to buy all of that, "Continue, what about your freakish strength?" I frowned slightly at the word freak, and she melted back into fear.
"S-s-s-sorry Verto, sir, I didn't mean it like that," she stuttered in surprise. I put my hand up, silencing her words instantly.
"No that's okay, you don't need to be afraid of me. I suppose you have every right to consider me that. We came from about forty years in the future, after the Saiyan race is all but gone. Don't ask, but at that time, the only Saiyans remaining are all Super Saiyans, and in reality they are beyond that in regards to power," I began.
"You mean strong enough to defeat even Frieza?" she gasped.
"More than that, let me give you an example. In my current physical state, if I were to fight Frieza at his maximum power, I'd probably plow him over, and that's if I took it easy on him, very easy. I'm not sure I would even have to power up," I said, putting my fist to my palm. Fasha looked like she was going to faint.
"Look, I'm not going to hurt any of you. I really don't like to hurt others, but I will if I must. Understand I'm just trying to get home with my friends and family," I said, putting a hand on hers.
"I'd hate to see you transformed then," she muttered.
"Actually that's kind of a problem, I can't, into a big hairy ape anyway," I grinned before frowning in the back of my head. Ah crap, I just had to say that didn't I?
"Huh?!" she sounded stunned.
"Long story, very long," I put up my hands in defense.
"One more question, and then I'll shut up and keep your secrets. Who trained you? I've never seen such a polished fighter before. Even for a power that you're talking about, since you obviously know how to hide it," she frowned slightly.
I smirked a bit, "That current short stack of a prince is the one that trained me, Vegeta. Remember the man that claimed to be my father? That was him. He's just as strong as me, I might be a little stronger, but not much," I smirked slightly. Fasha looked like she was going to lose it, but instead she calmed herself and slipped on her pink bodysuit.
"Look, just don't mention it to anyone and try to pretend that we never had this conversation. I'm doing my best to blend in but it's a little hard okay? I wasn't kidding when I said I wasn't used to being around Saiyans, can you help me out a bit?" I asked with a small smile of hope. She nodded slowly, getting the rest of her gear on.
-
Fasha kept her word and didn't say anything, even as Bardock asked her what we were talking about, apparently she screeched a bit loud.
"What did you do kid, touch her down low? That would explain that slapping sound and the red mark on your face!" Shugesh pointed and laughed. Fasha threw her boot at the fat Saiyan, hitting him in the head.
"Well guys, the Tremens should be bringing us some food here pretty soon. We'll go down and wait in the banquet room," Bardock suggested. He seems a little more open and nicer today, wonder why. We all agreed, six stomachs growled slightly, and mine was one of the louder ones. Bardock led us down the shiny hallway we were in last night; the Tremens really treated their guests well. We were led to what appeared to be a grand dining room, with a large table. Instantly the smell of food invaded my nose and I wanted to run straight to it. I was really hungry since technically I hadn't eaten in a week. Stasis apparently curbs your appetite, that or it takes longer for the stomach to wake up. At the end of the table were six chairs set out for us. The Treme workers were still putting food on the table, and there was a lot of it too. Most of it I didn't recognize, but a lot of it was meat, something I learned Saiyans preferred over everything else. That was no surprise, all my life I had preferred meat.
"Go ahead and be seated, Lord Frieza should be arriving in a few hours," a servant said, giving us the go-ahead. I had to admit, the food was good, but I hadn't eaten for over a week, anything would do at this point. The other Saiyans at the table ate just like I expected, fast with little in the way for manners and nil for chitchat. I shoveled down food right and left, even drawing a few looks from my comrades.
They actually looked impressed, "Wow, I don't think Shugesh or Borgos can eat as much as you kid!" Tora exclaimed.
"I'm a little hungry I guess," I said with something that tasted like chicken hanging from my mouth. The servants came back, asking if we wanted wine.
"No, water only. The last thing we're going to do is meet Frieza and the prince while drunk!" Bardock said. After finishing my first off-planet meal so to speak, I felt quite full and satisfied. My power supply completely replenished itself and might have been a little higher after healing in the tank. What felt like twenty-two didn't quite feel correct, but I wasn't sure.
"Okay lug heads, Frieza's ship lands in about a half hour. First thing we are to do is get a fresh batch of uniforms before we meet with him. I'd rather us not look like a bunch of misfit Saiyans who don't deserve any good missions, and not a word is to be spoken. Unless of course he asks you directly, is that understood?" Bardock asked. We all nodded slightly, mine wasn't quite as absolute but I got the point across.
"Get outta my face until then!" Bardock snarled. That's more like it. The group chuckled slightly, and we all began to depart.
"Hold up kid, I need a few words with you," Bardock said, causing me to flinch a little bit. Great, what now. The rest of the group shrugged it off, except for Fasha, she looked scared, but complied and left.
"What is it sir?" I asked.
"I know your hiding your power, a measly twenty-two hundred wouldn't stand up that rifle blast I heard go off. What is your actual power level? I'm a big boy, I can take it. Fess up, because I know it's higher than mine," Bardock started as he kept his back turned. Damn, he's good; I see where Goku gets his brains when it comes to fighting.
"I don't have an accurate number, sir," I said truthfully.
He spun with anger in his eye, "What is that supposed to mean?"
Okay, time for a really good lie to cover this up. "I just never tested it, I was afraid someone would find out and treat me differently."
"Oh, well test it right now. I'd like to know," Bardock said, turning on his scouter. It hung on twenty-seven hundred, before I shifted my feet slightly. It jumped to eight thousand so fast he couldn't even blink. Shit, I barely slipped anything out this time, time for another lie.
"Whoa," he said, "Is that just the tip of the iceberg kid?"
"You have no idea. Please don't tell anyone, especially not Frieza! I was hoping to be one of his top soldiers in time, I just needed to get some battle experience before I applied," I lied badly in a whiny voice.
"Alright I won't tell anyone, not even Frieza. You just have to make sure to keep that in control. Wow, I've never seen such control in a Saiyan before, not in regards to ki!"
"Gee thanks, maybe me and you can have a sparring match someday on the same level," I suggested, knowing it would take a hell of a long time before he would be even close to me. I heard a loud roaring noise overhead, and a few familiar and higher ki signals inside it, along with plenty of lower ones. The big one that stood out was obviously Frieza. I sensed a low power just like Vegeta's in there, meaning the prince rode along. There were a couple others that were higher than Bardock. The rest were nothing.
"Looks like he's here. Just don't say anything unless he asks it of you, we'll get you some new clothes while were in there," Bardock said, leading the way out the door.
-
Frieza's ship looked just like the one I had seen during my escape from Earth, the one he was standing on when he blew it up. My stomach started churning in many knots when the doors opened. Frieza wasn't coming out though, a few of the other strong powers came out instead. One was pink with blue and brown armor, with spikes on his head instead of hair. The other was teal skinned and relatively humanoid in appearance, his hair was a dark green as well and his armor was light green in color.
"Captain Bardock, you and your team are to meet with Lord Frieza right away," the green one said. I recognized them, but their names escaped me. Bardock led the way up the ramp, not saying a word to the two; despite they were obviously higher in rank and power than him. We walked down a long hallway before the pink one stopped and opened a door to a large chamber; a cold and dark ki lay just beyond it. We entered the room, I stared knives at the chair that was floating in the middle of the room, or rather, who sat in it. I sensed Vegeta in the room as well, the young version. He nodded at us from his spot next to the wall, but glared at Frieza as well. Frieza waited until all of us were in the room before turning around. Bardock had to take lead and bow to his knee first. I only did because I wanted to get out of this without incident, though my control was wavering a bit.
"You may rise, Bardock I presume? Pleasure to meet you and your crew finally," Frieza said in just as chilling a voice as I had remembered, except that he was still in his first form.
He leapt out of his chair, "Well done disposing of the Treme rebels, you shall be paid quite well for it, I will see to that. I'm afraid I haven't had the pleasure of meeting your crew before today, I've heard so much about them," Frieza said as he started walking down the line.
"This must be Tora, strong. Friend of yours since childhood I hear, equally loyal as a soldier," Frieza claimed as he stepped on by.
"Borgos, and his partner Shugesh, quite a lethal pair from what I've heard. Outstanding marks in the academy, and considering you were all third class, which is something to be quite proud of. Who do we have here?" Frieza had stepped down to Fasha now; my feet twitched a little as I was starting to have trouble holding a grip on ki suppression.
"Ah yes, Fasha isn't it? As deadly a woman as I have ever seen, was she father to Raditz, Bardock?"
"No, sire," he answered very shortly and kept his attention ahead.
"I'd almost hate to be slapped by her," Frieza laughed as he stepped right in front of me.
"And who is this, I'm afraid I don't recognize you," he said in his crackly voice. The mere thought of him made me want to rip a couple of cows apart and then eat them. Him standing right in front of my face was getting to be more than I could handle. Also he wasn't quite as intimidating as before, his first form was actually a shorter than me now.
"That is my newest crew member, name's Verto," Bardock said for me. I heard Vegeta mutter out what seemed like a question, but he seemed to hold his tongue. That didn't stop his mouth from dropping for a split second when he heard my name, something I managed to detect out of the corner of my eye.
"Ah I see. He was the one who single handedly wiped out most of the attacking forces at the fort yesterday, according to what the commander said. Looks like a runt to me, but looks can be deceiving," he glanced at Vegeta this time when he said that. His finger went for his scouter, turning it on right to me. Damn, gotta control this. The number blipped around a bit before coming to a stop at fifty-eight hundred. Shit.
"Good power for such a small boy! Yes, I may have a place for you in a few years once you hit your prime. You and young Vegeta over there could make a decent team," Frieza said, turning around. I let out a slight breath of relief, getting a better grip on my power. Suddenly he spun back around and threw a punch toward my neck, and without thinking I blocked it. He grinned slightly and fired another one to the other side, which I blocked as well. His scouter didn't even flinch from my number though. I was keeping my ki locked down and relying on my physical prowess, something that was more than enough for Frieza, even though he was quite obviously holding back.
"Yes, I see you have excellent skill as well to be able to read my attacks at such close range. Quite a kid you picked up here Bardock," Frieza laughed slightly. Damn, I better not block the next one. His next punch was also un-announced, and came straight at the gut, much faster this time. I saw it coming in time and brought my arm up with a partially attempted block. He hit dead on, and it did not do a damn thing, I expected more from Frieza. I faked a gasp before dropping in pain right away, holding my gut and playing possum. Instantly all the Saiyan ki levels in the room jumped up, but no one dared move. I cried out in fake pain, adding to the effect. Bardock seemed to be really struggling not to do something, as was the rest of the crew, except for Fasha. She was the most restrained one, and I had a pretty good guess as to why. But the tiny prince is what really caught me, his ki was barely being held back, and I could almost hear him growl.
"You're dismissed now, take that low level miracle trash with you. Suit him up into something, appropriate!" Frieza said, heading back to his chair.
"Yes Lord Frieza," Bardock said without hesitation. I stopped groaning in pain long enough to see that Frieza was holding his hand protectively, causing me to grin in and out of fake pain cries.
Bardock came over to me and picked me up over his shoulder, "C'mon on kid, you might need a healing tank now," he said walking out the door.
"Zarbon, bring me some hand lotion! My hands are a bit dry from touching such a trashy monkey!" I heard Frieza say, lighting up Vegeta's ki like the fourth of July. He kept it back though, years of control must have been drilled into him to maintain his temper, because anywhere else it did not hold back so well.
-
Bardock kept me over his shoulder until he came into some sort of laundry room. I kept up the act of fake pain the entire time. I eventually started to get really tired of it, so I slowly turned it down and seemingly toughed it out.
He dropped me on the floor; "Alright knuckle heads get changed and let's get the hell out of here!" Bardock fished around in the laundry and tossed me a royal blue colored bodysuit, just like the one Kibito had made me. Then he tossed me armor, white gloves and boots. The armor was just like the style I had been wearing, except it was white with gold. You could almost call it the same as what I had before, except for the shoulder pads.
"What's this for, I thought I was supposed to wear low level armor?" I asked.
"You just got promoted," Bardock whispered. Everyone else was given the same thing they had been wearing, only a cleaner and less version of it. Slipping on the gloves, the feeling of the full get up made me feel really unbeatable.
"Why did you hide your power from us?" Tora asked first.
"Leave him be Tora, he has his reasons," Bardock snapped before I could answer.
"Sorry Bardock, but there is quite a difference between twenty-two and fifty-eight hundred you know! We have a right to know why!"
"The boy hid it for his own reasons, and we will respect that. Kid, you're riding with Fasha again, try not to crush her head," he said spinning on his heel. I staggered a little bit towards the door, assuring the rest of them that I was actually in pain.
"You need a heal chamber before we go kid?" Shugesh asked.
"No he doesn't, he can tough it out!" Bardock answered for me. Shit, he knows I'm faking it. We walked out of the ship, allowing me to give a slight glare to Zarbon and Dodoria on the way out, as I had finally remembered his name. We flew straight for our landing sites and got in without much for words. Once inside and shut up in our pod, Fasha put her hands underneath my armor plate and slowly took it off.
Then she rubbed the spot that Frieza had punched, "You big faker, that purple freak didn't even hurt you did he?" She asked with a sly smile with a slight twinkle in her eye.
I grinned slightly, "Was it that obvious?"
"Actually you did pretty good to cover that up, I was a little concerned when you blocked his two hits. I could barely see that though, and when he punched your big gut here, I heard a slight snap, and it sure wasn't from you like it sounded. He was holding his hand slightly afterwards," she giggled slightly.
"I would have loved to tell that freak exactly what I thought of him right then and there, but its easier to handle a situation if you prevent it first," I explained.
"Well you little worm, let's see you prevent this situation. I've got to put up with you in this tight ass place again! It's a week back to Vegita, you know the drill, give me something to dream about! Try not to snap my tail bones though!" I sighed as she handed me her tail and she took mine, Well, that didn't go too badly.
Power levels:
Verto (released power to block Treme Rebel beam cannon): 10,000,000
Verto (suppressed after heal): 2700, later 5800
Verto (sleeping): 2,000,000
Bardock (after heal): 7500
Tora: 5650
Shugesh: 4650
Borgos: 4450
Fasha: 3050
Frieza (form 1): 530,000
Prince Vegeta: 6000
Zarbon: 23,000
Dodoria: 21,000
A/n: I probably didn't need to list that many levels, but it keeps everyone up to date.