"Backhand!" Cui shouts in unison with his hand.
The wave of slug-jin in front of him are blown off their feet. The slug-jin still standing in the sparring room hesitate to counter. Cui snickers at their fear.
"I was looking for a challenge, but I suppose that was a bit much to ask. I am a Frieza Force Elite after all!"
With a super speed combo too fast for his foes to follow, Cui downs each and every one of them. Cui brushes his hands while the pained groans of the slug-jin fill the room.
"How about you, brat? You come to feel the might of my fist against your ugly little face?"
Videl steps onto the mat with a Satan style warrior's stance. The icy air condensates her breath. "Shut your trap. Every noise that comes out of you makes my ears want to bleed."
Annoyed, Cui half-heartedly readies himself. His bare chest begins to respond to the freezing air, hardening his nipples like bullets. "It looks like that healing pod closed those wounds of yours up nicely, let's fix that." He laughs like a villain.
Videl responds with a disgusted growl. She shakes her head, then makes the first move. She quickly closes the distance with a hovering leap.
"Satan K-" Her foot meets the air.
The bored Cui effortlessly evades with crossed arms. "You're unworthy of breathing my air. Begone!" He launches her across the room with a single swift kick.
Videl bounces once from her hands and feet before landing propper. She holds back the urge to grasp her stomach due to the excruciating pain. "Don't think you can do me in that easily!"
"You don't stand a chance kid. Give it up before I break your scrawny little neck." Cui dusts his shoulder, uninvested in the duel.
Her hands come halfway to clasping her throat just thinking about it. Patting her cheeks, she regains her composure. Once prepared, she charges in. Cui doesn't even move this time. She puts everything she has into this next strike. Though she does not target his body, instead she sharply slide-dashes directly into a single toe.
"Secret Satan Special kick number four!"
"Gweh!" Cui convulses in response to the unexpected impact. "You little!" Cui has no time to finish. Videl's fingers have already made their way into his eyes. "Gahhh! You dare use such cowardly moves on me!"
Cui holds one hand over his eyes and the other in front of him, swinging it haphazardly in a vain attempt to defend himself. He takes a single step back, but trips over his pants, which had been lowered during his blindness. He slams his head into the wall behind him causing great agony.
Raising his pants, he stumbles forward. "I'll tear you to pieces!"
"Over here!" Videl shouts from his right side.
Cui blindly flails in the direction, but she has already run around him. By the time he feels her feet upon his head it's too late. She grasps his tendril like fishy-mustache in each hand and yanks with all her might. "Hwaaaaah!" he screams like a prodded cow. He bolts across the room until he smashes his own face into the wall. Videl keeps her grip as if she were riding a bull.
Desperately Cui slides his head along the edge of the room, carving a path in its wake. Just before reaching the corner, he pulls away. Videl struggles to keep atop his bulging purple head. Each thrashing he makes challenges her endurance.
Finally, Cui lifts a foot off the ground and pulls it back, readying to kick her off by force. Anticipating the strike, Videl leans back as far as she can. Her maneuver pulls his head into place just in time for his kick to collide with his own jaw. The force freezes him for a moment, in the next his body drops to the ground like a felled tree. Videl releases as he does, landing gracefully on her feet.
Cursing, Cui sits up. He chuckles insanely to himself as if broken. He spins his head around to reveal a crazed bloodshot face with a murderous smile.
"Alright girly! You win! Con-grat-u-lations!" Cui stumbles toward the girl drunkenly. "Go ahead everyone! Applaud, please!" The downed slug-jin nervously clap during his approach.
Videl had been waiting calmly, but now displays great concern for her wellbeing. Before she can step back, Cui's hands firmly grasp her shoulders. All she can do is stare back at the face of insanity and hatred.
"You win!" He shakes her. "You win! You win! You win! You win! You win!" His hands move around her throat. "A trip straight to the afterlife! AHHAHAHAH!'
Videl flails all her limbs like tentacles as foam spills from her mouth. Her eyes roll back into her head. The crazed Cui savagely chokes out the five-year-old for embarrassing him in a karate fight. With a whimsical toss he launches the paralyzed girl into the air and catches her by the ankle. He mouths a melody while he thrashes her against every wall, ceiling, and floor in sight. Each impact rattles the already pulverized child.
With a sudden pause, he raises her up so that her head meets his own. Her whole body quivers uncontrollably. "Serves you right, you cheating little brat! Haha- huh?" Cui's body twists violently backward like a screw. Firmly grasping his bald little head is the hand of a giant orange demon man.
"It's commander Zeeun!" the slug-jin begin to chatter.
"Commander?" Cui's rage disappears, replaced by apprehension.
The large, mostly nude, leather-clad orange demon of long flowing hair strips the girl from his hands and tosses her aside. "You, ugly fish man. You are having a contest of strength, are you not?"
Cui nods nervously.
"I am commander Zeeun of the slug-jin. I accept your offer."
"Thank-" Is all Cui can say before the monster's fist collides with his nose. The impact sends shockwaves abounding. Blood splatters and teeth fall to the ground. Cui's pristine and glorious face is turned to a bruised and bloody mess.
Zeeun drops Cui's unconscious body to the ground like a used rag. He exhibits neither interest nor disinterest in the battle, only a blankness. His eyes then lock onto Videl. He rolls her onto her back with his foot, then plants it on her chest.
"You were defeated by this creature?" He stares deeply into her shaky eyes.
"I-uh, N-uh… Y-Yes..." She struggles to say.
"Then you are weak. You are not worthy of becoming slug-jin. You should be disposed of." His dead but intense eyes speak no emotion.
Helplessly she stares back, tears forming in her eyes. The monster's violent aura crushes her spirit.
"That is my judgment, but it is not that of Lord Slug's. He keeps the weak like you alive for the sake of that green one. It is a pathetic existence to be you." He lifts his foot from her chest and places it beside her. He leans in claustrophobically, his face directly above Videl's.
Her fear turns more toward confusion.
"Why are you here?" He says sternly.
Videl gasps faintly, unprepared for his interrogation. "I'm not here because I want to be. You guys kidnapped me, remember?" Her voice is soft and trembling.
"That is not what I meant. Why have you ventured from your nest child?"
Videl nervously ponders, then answers. "I'm here on a mission. I promised my dad that…" She stops herself. Her intuition tells her it would be bad to expose too much to him.
Zeeun stares back silently for half a minute. "I see. Abandon him, as he'd abandoned you. Only then can you become strong."
"He didn't abandon me!" She lifts herself till her nose touches his and abandons her caution for her swelling emotions.
"You're fooling yourself little one. Your words compound your fragility. Hiding behind them will hinder your healing."
"You don't understand… He died. He died Protecting everyone." Her anger mixes with sorrow.
"Hmm." Zeeun pauses briefly in thought. "You tell a confusing story. But I will tell you one thing, he died because he was weak."
Slap. Her hand collides with his cheek. It hurts her hand more than it hurts his face. Her emotions swell even higher. Tears and hatred boil over.
"If you follow a dead man, you'll go no further than his grave. His weakness becomes your own."
"Shut up! You don't know anything! And I don't need a bone-headed brute like you breathing on me, get off!"'
With that, he obliges. Though even standing a few meters away, his towering height retains his dominance. "Walk on the path paved by your own feet, only then will you be strong." With those final words, he vacates the room. He creates his own exit as he does.
"Go Commander Zeeun! You're the coolest!" one of the slug-jin shouts after him.
Videl lays furiously on the ground. She draws the hidden photograph of her father from her boot and pulls it to her face. After muttering something, she puts it back. Shortly after she kicks the lump of Cui beside her.
"Geh! Don't hurt me!" He lets out a pathetic squeal.
"Hey, Fish-face, hurry up and take us to the healing pods. Starting tomorrow I want to do some real training, and you better be ready!"
As they roll out of the room, a single slug-jin crawls after them.
"Where are you going?" his comrades call out after him.
"If someone as strong and cool as Lord Cui is that determined to be even stronger, then I will follow his lead!"
The other slug-jin look back with confusion, but do not stop their determined brethren.
In another room in a distant corner of the ship, two green slug men observe a star map together.
"You see, that's where we are now. Since we couldn't capture Planet Frieza 448, we were unable to obtain a new outer shell." Slug lectures Piccolo on recent events.
Piccolo silently nods, his face fails to convey anything other than absentmindedness.
Slug continues, Paying no mind. "As I was telling you earlier, this ship is intended to operate as a planet cruiser, so without a planet, we're sitting ducks. That's why we need to maintain our distance from these borders." He moves his finger along Frieza's Imperial border.
Piccolo double nods in acknowledgment.
"So naturally, our current objective is to find a suitable planet in this area. What are your thoughts boy?"
Piccolo triple nods in acknowledgment.
Slug narrows his eyes. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? Have you gone stupid on me?"
"Huh?" Piccolo jumps, startled by the change of tone. "I uh, yeah I agree with you."
"Hmmm!" Slug extends his arm across the table to grab Piccolo's glass of water. He then pours its contents over the boy's bald green head. "You haven't heard a goddamn word I've said! The insolence of the youth today!"
"I'm sorry sir" Piccolo blushes bashfully. His shoulders pull together tightly to make himself smaller.
Slug pats him on the head. "Water under the bridge. Just pick a planet in the grey area. Then we'll set course."
"You want me to pick? That seems like a lot of responsibility." Piccolo tilts his head down while looking up to Slug.
"Haha! I've got a funny feeling that you'll get us a winner. Take your time, there's no rush." He pats Piccolo on the back with his still extended arm.
Piccolo groans with uncertainty. He still holds a grudge against Slug for his villainy, but can't ignore the warmness of the old man in front of him now. Piccolo gazes across the map.
"Mr. Lord Slug, why is someone evil like you being so understanding?" Piccolo asks the question on his mind as he searches with his eyes.
"Bah! Don't make me sound like a softy!" Slug blurts an outburst, but he soon falls into pondering. "...I suppose you do have a point. I can't really explain it myself, but for some reason, you remind me of myself."
"Is it because we're both green and have antennas?"
Slug grumbles at the surface level observation. "I mean something on the inside. Your strength aside, there's a part of you buried deep down that resonates with me."
Piccolo frowns slightly. He wants to say I'd hate for that to be true but he holds his tongue. However, He doesn't need to hold it long. His attention is drawn to his realization. He had caught the map at an angle familiar to him. The stars all line up to the map he'd seen at the beginning of his adventure. Memories of the purpose of his journey surge within him. Instinctively his hand darts to the exact coordinates.
"Here" His finger is extended so that the tip touches the surface of a world he barely knows.
"Ehh?" Slug leans in for a closer look. "Namek..." Slug pulls away, staring at the dot sternly. "No. I refuse to ever step foot on that dead world."
Piccolo widens his eyes in shock. "Dead world?"
"I'm sure you've heard the stories before. The Namekian people were all destroyed long ago in the great calamity."
"The great calamity?"
"Yes, the great calamity. The one that destroyed our people. Long ago."
Piccolo clenches his fists in frustration. "I can't accept that! I have to know for sure!"
"Jeez, don't get so emotional over people you don't even know." Slug dismisses Piccolo's plea.
Tears begin to well up in the young Piccolo. "But, My dad!"
"Dad?" Slug raises a brow curiously. "If he were on that rock I wouldn't hold out any hope. My own father perished on that pathetic spec of dirt. It embarrasses me to this day."
"No that's not it! I just thought… With the help of the dragon balls…" A tear rolls down Piccolo's face.
"Ahhhh..." Slug finally understands. "I'd give up on that too. No Namekians means no dragon balls."
"But, we don't know for sure that there aren't. We could at least try. If there are any, you could have a wish granted too."
The last comment hits Slug. He finally debates the destination in his head. "I did give you the choice. Perhaps it is destiny that we see the land of our people. If anything, it seems we could both do with a little closure."
Piccolo smiles with gratitude. "Thank you!"
Slug gives Piccolo a firm pat on the back. "Don't mention it kiddo, now let's go relax. It's going to be a long month before we arrive."