UNSUBSTANTIAL

BY IMOSHEN

Chapter Two

The next few hours consisted of nothing but training. After my prince had announced I was going to be the fodder, he turned and entered his chamber. He has given orders for Nappa to train me so that I wouldn't be a complete embarrassment to the Saiyan race. Nappa for all his attempts at stupidity is one of the best tacticians I have ever encountered. I had in another moment of unnatural curiosity asked him why he no longer trained with our prince. He simply stated that the prince had learned all he had to offer. He was afterall the prince's private instructor, until our prince surpassed him in power. Then began to train, or rather beat the crap out of me. In the interest of honing my pathetic skills and reflexes.

Two hours into it, I managed to take him by surprise and actually took him down for all of three seconds. Had he not been using a ki shield I would have taken out a big chunk of his chest with that particular hit. Ironically enough he called a stop to the training. I was hovering in air, and slowly lowered my battered body until I could touch the floor. He looked me over for a bit and said we were going to train without ki for the remainder of our time. I questioned the validity of it and he answered by saying that I need to get a better understanding of my body. That, while I had managed to hit him, it was luck not skill that landed that blow. Then he began to dissect my fighting form. I HAVE to start keeping my mouth shut.

An unimportant medical lackey called our training session to an end. Some lame excuse on how we need to go to the regeneration tank to be at our maximum before leaving on our mission. Nappa barked something to the lackey and just before he was vaporized, the lackey blurted out that it was by Lord Freeza's command. I made the remark, 'Well he should have just said so to start with." Nappa found this hilarious and we had an odd moment of shared comradely. We did end up reporting to the med labs.

One thing I have to say in favor of this entire damned situation is the efficiency in which the med slaves work. I got into the regeneration tank after they had taken a hair sample and in less than three hours was out. My body felt a bit lighter, results of increased strength from training with Nappa. I was aware of the fact that while I had been in the tank they had taken other DNA samples from me and various other statistics. I saw Nappa's large form still floating in the tank next to me. A small humanoid creature approached me and handed me a drying cloth. I must have been showing my annoyance because it didn't stay long. Still I had taken the cloth and began to wipe my face with it. A moment later, using Ki, I flashed dried my body.

Another of the medical lackeys brought me a body suit and armor. I looked over at Nappa while I dressed and noticed that there were two med slaves logging in a lot of information about Nappa into their handsets. This confirmed my earlier suspicions. Curiosity had reared its ugly unnatural head and I reached over and grabbed one of them as they walked past me. "What are you doing with that?" I wasn't entirely sure what it was I was asking so the general question would probably get them babbling.

"Lord Freeza has instructed us to gather genetic information on the Saiyans." the lackey answered.

"Why?"

I squeezed a small bit on the slaves shoulder, and felt it give in a bit. The lackey screamed and all movement ceased. Damn, I had forgotten my increased strength. Still, damage has already been done and judging by the fear in the lackey's eyes would most probably have it answering all my questions just to be released. Not exactly what I was planning to do, but it was still effective. Two larger slaves came near us and I fire a small ki blast at them. It wouldn't kill them, but they would be needing to use the regeneration tank soon themselves if they wanted to prevent permanent damage.

"We are only following orders." the lackey stuttered. I squeezed a bit harder. I must have been showing my eagerness to take out my frustration on it because it quickly answered. "We were told to take DNA readings and samples to compare with data when you return from your mission." I wasn't convinced this was the entire tale so I began squeezing just a tiny bit more. You can't fault your instincts in battle and mine were telling me this was a half laid trap. "I swear it! That was all we were told to do!"

"Raditz release him." The order was given in his usual bored voice. I did as I was ordered to immediately. My prince had entered the room and walked over to the tank holding Nappa. " Open it." Three med slaves rushed over and began the draining process. I looked to our prince and he glanced at me then returned his attention to Nappa. When they finally drained it and Nappa dragged his sluggish body out of the tank, my prince announced we would be leaving immediately. I wasn't surprised.

Walking down the corridors toward the launch bays, our prince briefed us on the planet we were to purge. Half-purge, our prince said showing obvious annoyance at this. We were to eliminate all life on two of the larger landmasses but take 'samples' of life from the smaller ones. Why the hell WE were being sent on a slave mission was beyond my capacities, apparently they were beyond Nappa's as well because he asked.

Our prince told us that Freeza had already sent two other squads out to do this but they had been 'destroyed' by the natives on the two larger landmasses. Not wanting to waste anymore of his resources on this latest obsession, he decided to send us in. If the local populous eliminated us then he will go see for himself if the life forms on the planet would be worth the effort of keeping or if he should just destroy them outright. Yeah I guess everyone needs a hobby.

When we reached our designated ship I was actually partially grateful for it. Traveling in those space pods maybe fine for small aliens but with the exception of our prince, it made space travel damn near unbearable for us. Being cramped in for extended periods of time did not make for a happy monkey when it landed. I like to believe this was done on purpose. We were assigned a team of scientists and given a small fighter squad. By small I mean thirty additional aliens with the capacity to use ki as a weapon. It's not like we needed them, but they were cannon fodder for the initial landing. Including the pilots and technicians needed to maintain the ship; I wondered exactly how it was Freeza expected us to bring anything back. It might have been bigger than the space pods but it wasn't really that much bigger when you consider all the unnecessary baggage we were taking. Well, if you take the cannon fodder out of the equation we have room for a very small sample of that life the mutant wanted. I wonder if those idiots realized they were going to die on this mission.

Our prince walked aboard and went straight for the control room. All of the mutant's ships follow the same basic design, so it didn't require any major thinking to find it. He announced we were leaving immediately and to launch the ship. The aliens at the helm nervously looked to one another. My prince vaporized a few of them without any care as to what position on the ship they served. The remaining ones were quick to began doing as he ordered. My prince glanced to Nappa and then left. Sometimes I envy that between them. Most of the time it annoys the crap out of me. Nappa then found out exactly what positions we were now in shortage of and designated those duties to the other aliens. I wouldn't call these lackeys slaves because they weren't. They were more or less in the same situation that we were, just about all the aliens that weren't slaves held this particular honor. Although the mutant considered us less expendable compared to them. Goes to show how low they rank in importance doesn't it?

One of the lackeys carefully approached me and explained that there were a few duties that were specialized to those aliens my prince had destroyed. So filling those in without a representative of that species was not going to be possible. Why it approached me instead of Nappa did annoy me, I raised a hand to vaporize it when I felt the stronger Saiyan's hand on my shoulder. He didn't say anything but I was inclined to control my urges. How he did this baffled me almost as much as his control of his temper, he was doing something so contradictory to his nature that it made me hesitate. I asked what the duties assigned to those alien were. It responded by saying it was some technology that maintained the ships engines, since this was a prototype ship. Nappa's hand left my shoulder and I felt my anger surge. Nappa said that it had one minute to get a replacement or it was going to die. It got on its scouter and quickly attempted to get the nearest alien here. It wouldn't matter though, if Nappa didn't kill, I was. Being screwed around royally doesn't exactly leave you feeling any charitable towards anyone else. I'd take instant gratification every time.

My intentions were once again plainly readable because Nappa laughed and said that if I destroyed it, the prince would have ME filling in that position. And THEN we would all be fucked floating in space. The laughter stopped just as suddenly as it began and he told me we needed to go get some more training in. Well, at least I was going into more familiar settings here. I could always use an increase in power. I asked if there was a regeneration tank installed on this ship. There was but it might be a small bit confining for my and Nappa's larger frames. My tail unraveled and lashed out grabbing the alien by the throat and lifting it in the air. I brought it close to me, until it's stench reached me, I ordered it to increase the dimensions of the tank and have it done immediately. Then flung it back were it crashed against three others. I knew they would beating themselves senseless trying to fulfill that order while getting Nappa's orders done as well.

We made our way down to the training room and were so absorbed in our sparring that we never noticed when the ship actually departed. I, for once, would not be needed the tank when it was over. Only a few broken bones that I could easily set myself was my reward for the day. I used ki to hover to the mess hall, no sense in putting pressure on them until they were set. Nappa did not join me; he left, with his own set of fractured bones, to report to our prince. If we continued using this as our training schedule I would physically surpass our prince's maximum in a few weeks. Luckily, or unfortunately, depending on how you chose to look at it, our prince didn't rely on physical strength alone. He balanced his ki perfectly with the raw power our Saiyan body's can harness. THAT particular skill was still far into the future for me. Even Nappa could do it; it was another sharp distinction between our classes in Saiyan society. I had to strive to reach it; it can to them easily, naturally, like eating.