I decided to do this story in one-person view. So unfortunately for those who loved my multi-character pov, you will most likely be left wanting.Oh and by the way, I do not claim to own any of the usual DBZ characters from the origainal story lines sigh once again it's a conspiracy by my hamster and myself to make up another story to hopefully delight you. Enjoy!

Edit: Sorry guys the site was having problems with me updating this story. SO I had to delete it and re-post it. I extended the third chapter as a consolation for you..thanks to those who've reviewed, I really do appreciate it.

Unsubstantial

by Imoshen

Introduction

I once believed that I could, by sheer will alone, accomplish whatever it was I wanted. Time however, has absolved me of this illusion. Will alone shall never be able to do anything but give you desire. And this will never be enough to truly accomplish anything.

You need not only strength, but also a cunningness of mind, and a willingness to sacrifice whatever is necessary. Only then does willpower matter. I have spent so much time pulling from my desires that I neglected the other necessary elements.

Power I have strived to get. I believed I held it until someone stronger came and showed me differently. Surpassed so effortlessly by them that I began to question the value of the strength I did have. Nevertheless, I continued to harness it whenever and however it was possible.

Cunningness of mind I had difficulty with. I was held in idioticity by the draw of power. So straightforwardness was always my way of call. This was also the quickest way to defeat. It took me years to finally understand the way I went about it was the wrong way. Watching those of importance around me, I slowly began to develop the strength of my own mind. Of course only those stronger than me were considered important enough to watch. This proved to be a point in my undoing later.

Sacrifice is something that goes hand in hand with power. Only the degree of it ever changes. I was so unwilling to hold anything back in my pursuit that I destroyed myself. I had overindulged in this aspect. So I had in effect had to stop sacrificing. Learning to give value to what never mattered before is one of the most unnerving experiences I have ever felt. It was also one of the most required.

Chapter one

Submerged

We were called to the mutant's presence again. This could only mean that we were in for another session of humiliation. Usually he would only call for our prince. So the fact we were all called confirmed it. What had we done now?

I made the mistake of voicing that particular thought out loud. Nappa, the only other sayian next to our prince and myself, told me to shut up. He not only out-ranked me in status, but also power. I was the weakest of us and it burned me to know it. I did as he said.

My tail still puffed out in anger, I couldn't do anything about it though. Even wrapped around my waist you could see it. Well only if you had a tail of your own so can recognize the signs. HE could and did, and gave a smirk. He knew I hated it when I lost control of my tail. It was another sign of lack of power. Proof that I wasn't an elite. They had no problem with limb control. Damn it!

We met our prince steps away from the entry to the mutants favorite control site. My prince barely spared me a look, but turned to ask Nappa why he was here. We both started at his question. Nappa told him we received a communications signal through the scouters to come. He was not pleased to hear this. Apparently our prince did not plan for us to share or rather witness this round of humiliation.

The scowl on his face deepened and you could see his muscles tighten. Then suddenly his whole body just relaxed. It was as if our summoning didn't matter. This made Nappa and I both tense up. The only times I have ever seen our prince do this was right before someone died a very agonizing death.

The doors leading into the chamber opened and I caught a glimpse of slaves rushing to clean the remains of whatever creature displeased the mutant this time. Our prince flared his power a bit, and my scouter blinked for a moment. He meant to get our attention not to let the mutant know we were here. This was our cue to fall in line.

Nappa took his place slightly behind our prince and to the right of him. I went a pace behind Nappa and to the left. We all held empty faces as we entered the room. Every time I come in here I feel the overwhelming urge to go Oozaru and stomp every living thing to a pulp.

To do that we need the power of the moon. But floating in the spaceship as we are, the moon's light doesn't hold the same power and if we were planet fall. Some conditioning put into us when we began to travel the stars early on. Now generations later, that same safeguard cripples us. At least we didn't have to worry about tearing apart the ship. Well not in our giant ape form at least.

Our prince stopped fifteen feet away from the mutant and to my continued fury kneeled. We, like good obedient monkeys copied his movements, although our heads were in a lower submission form. All I will be able to see for the remainder of this 'assembly' is the floor. We, Nappa and I, cannot lift our heads unless the prince orders us to. And that will only happen if the mutant tells him to.

"Prince Vegeta," the mutant began, "I have another mission for you."

His words were cryptic and it raised all my alarms. There was no reason for all of us to be here just for simple orders.

"What are they" our prince hesitated a fraction of a second before finishing "Lord Freeza?"

That fraction might as well have been an hour. The mutant on his hover throne tisked out loud. I saw my prince's tail tip twitch. Damn it! I had kept my head lowered the appropriate distance, but my hair fell forward enough to let me raise my eyes without being caught doing it.

I had hoped that this little breech in protocol would only earn us a beating at the hands of one of the mutant's favorite lackeys. Some temporary pain and discomfort and then we'd be stronger after we healed. It was for this reason that our prince began this game in the first place.

"Now, now my little prince is that anyway to talk to your Lord?" Freeza said rather than asked. I wanted at that moment to lift my head and see this bastard's face as he talked down to our prince. From the shield of my hair I saw Nappa twitch as well. Who said we never agreed on anything?

"I meant no disrespect Lord Freeza." the lie slipped smoothly from our prince's lips. I suppose I should be grateful that I'm ignored during these sessions. I have no way near the skill to be able to hide my true thoughts like that.

The mutant laughed, amused. So, no beating this time. I felt somewhat cheated by that. I wanted to take the brunt of the beatings this time so my power would increase the most. The mutant called to his favorite of the two lackeys, Zarbon. The blue-green skinned alien moved in close and leaned into the mutant.

I could never be that comfortable being so close to that. Never. Zarbon laughed and it made my skin break out in goose bumps. I wasn't scared of having my brains smashed out of my head by either of his lackeys. No matter how much they looked down to us, we were one of the most valuable assets the mutant had. And we knew it. It allowed us a lot of leeway with the rest of the ship.

So whatever the mutant had in store for us, most likely would be as close to destruction as he could manage without actually killing us. This left such a broad scope open. As Saiyans we didn't fear death, exactly. We accepted it as a part of our aggressive heritage. Dying in the heat of battle and taking out your enemy in the process is the ultimate honor to us. I could not remember ever seeing or even hearing of a Saiyans dying of old age. That would be the biggest dishonor to our kind. Waste of not only potential but disrespectful to our very nature.

I was brought out of my unnatural musing by the mutant finally giving our new orders to the prince. A solders a solder and orders are orders. It doesn't matter what you're doing, you can always tell when orders are being handed out and you snap to attention.

"You will then report to the head scientist after your recovery. Is that understood my little prince?"

Damn, I had missed hearing the first part. But the part about the scientist did make my head hurt and my blood pump a bit faster. Nervous me? Yeah, those people freaked me out more than the mutant sometimes.

"Yes lord Freeza. Will that be all?" Our prince asked. There was no sly insolent comment hidden in his voice this time. Nothing. And I could kick myself for my inattention. I had obviously missed something very important in those moments.

"Yes. You may go now and I want you to report to me directly when you return from the scientists." the mutant's last words.

We waited until our prince had risen, then as one, we rose as well. He gave a small quick nod of his head and we gave a more formal bow. This made the lackeys snicker, and that made me boil. If given a choice between tearing out their hearts in this form or tearing them apart in Oozaru form I would have to go Oozaru. There's just a level of satisfaction that you can only get when you're in that form. I think I would be too caught up with just killing them to get fulfillment, they would die too quickly. But in Oozaru, the extended hunt would almost guarantee me that.

After the doors to the chamber closed behind us Nappa turned to our prince and immediately began to question the orders we've just been given. This was fine with me, since I didn't hear the majority of it. I was glad that I wouldn't have to ask what they were. My prince already question my mental capacities a time or two.

"Shut up already Nappa." our prince said.

"My Prince, you can't seriously be thinking of following those orders. To give our bodies over like that. We're warriors not slaves!" Nappa's indignation was clearly heard.

Now I REALLY hated not paying attention. I wondered if I asked now what the orders were, would my prince vaporize me on the spot? But I didn't have to ask, the prince answered Nappa.

"We will follow those orders." He waited until we were in our wing of the ship before saying anything more. "As I said; we will follow those orders but up to a point. I see no reason why all of us have to comply."

His silence gave me a feeling of foreboding. When they both turned and leveled me with a calculation stare, I knew I was in serious shit. Nappa had his usual evil smirk on his face but his eyes were laughing at my expense. I looked to my prince and his face held its normal bored look.

"My prince?" I ventured and actually manage to hide the fact I was nervous from them. Nappa starting laughing. My prince smirked, pleased with himself.

"You don't know what the orders are do you Raditz?" he questioned me in a way one would question the slow of wit. I certainly qualified as that right now.

"I do not understand them, my prince." Well I was already in deep shit, what's a few more inches in the long run? I did notice that my prince actually used my name. Instead of calling me low-class warrior or Bardock's brat, laced heavily with distaste.

His smirk widened a bit more. "Yes, for the simple fact that you were dosing off instead of being at attention, you will be the one the scientist get. That should teach you to better mark your surroundings, Raditz." He said my name again. In the three years since I have been at his side he never used it. And now it fell from his lips as if it always had before. I was more wary of what I had fallen into.

I still had no idea what our mission was but I knew I was being offered as the sacrifice. My tail puffed up again and Nappa's laughter got louder.

"Maybe after this is all done, you can learn to control that tail of yours." Nappa said in between his chortles. " That's if you still have one afterwards."

What do you say to something like that? Let me rephrase that. What CAN you say to something like that? Say, and not get the shit beat out of you while you were saying it. Damn it, I gotta learn to pay more attention from now on.