"Well, as fun as that was," Zarbon began, being the killjoy as always, "but it's back to work with us now."
It had been a couple of hours even now, and yet there was still an unconstrained eagerness that was lying around the four witnesses, and even overflowing out into the rest of the ship's crewmates in the moment too. Pache was no exception to the rule, she had been near-pacing to walk off some of the energy zipping around her body and forcing her tail to whip around.
"What next?" Pache spoke up, though the large and excited rounds of her eyes glimmered with a kind of energy that had just suddenly begun to leak into her expression.
The pale blue skinned male quirked a brow, tilting his head and assessing her with mild interest. "That's new," but it appeared that she had no clue what he was speaking of, judging by the way she stared blankly and clearly bewildered. "Nothing," He shooed most casually before folding his arms back into their usual place, "after things conclude here, we'll be setting course to a new planet."
"Conquest?" She inquired, approaching Zarbon a bit more with the newfound wonder of an impatient child, "eradication?"
He fell silent to the questions that continued to come at him rapid fire. Had that display had affected her that much? She had seemed so groggy and tired before, but it appeared that something that typical to him had managed to charge her metaphorical battery. Curious, but expected, it was the power of the most powerful man in universe, of course. "Potentially both. It depends on the greeting we receive."
"Both..?" She followed him down the hallway; by this point, pestering Zarbon with questions had become little more than the status quo.
"For example, a while back - the mass of men that we lost," He reminded, immediately managing to jog Pache's memory. It was hard to forget considering it was also the first day she sent Zarbon reeling over the way she talked to Frieza - though unfortunately not the last. "The initial mission was simple conquest, but that race," He hummed as he mused, searching for the correct words to describe them, "whether their stupidity, their pride, or both, they refused to surrender. As punishment for their ignorance, they were eliminated down to the last persisting one of their kind."
Pache recalled Loqua and the group discussing that. Apparently it was a woman at that. "Why not them too?"
"Lord Frieza has his reasons, but taking the most promising member of each race is his typical approach."
So he took the best, then demanded they be better through competition. It did sound like a solid plan, and though the thought initially crossed her mind of if they refuse to cooperate, well, the display that she just watched explained that quite thoroughly.
"I understand," She replied, albeit still wrestling with her own thoughts and personal curiosity on the matter.
"Good, now go prepare. It won't be long."
The planet was relatively close-lying to what used to be Planet Vegeta. It was a pleasantly warm and pink sky lying over the stretch of milky orange grass. The clouds leaned to a red-like pink from the depth of light on the planet, and the vegetation took on a sweet milky yellow texture.
The place just appeared so soft and generally welcoming, that being there created a certain warmth in the body. Perhaps it was just Pache feeling this way, as the others seemed to step off of the ship with little trouble and little need to hesitate. It made her wonder if maybe there was something around affecting her or weaving trouble into her own genetic makeup.
She looked around at all the others that persisted into the seemingly empty planet. Tamarind had come along, probably antsy from not being able to participate in the destruction of Planet Vegeta, and Zarbon and Dodoria seemed to prefer hanging back for the time being whilst the other troops piled onto the planet to set about their usual work. It almost felt like this was some sort of test for she and Tamarind, who were kept around during the extermination of the planet, but hadn't really worked together closely in an actual normal mission. That being said, she really didn't know what Tamarind was even capable of.
'But first...' She trailed to herself, rubbing her hand over her abdomen, 'Why..?' It was a feeling of congealed warmth now evolving into an uncertain heat.
Tamarind paused, turning her head back towards the stagnant girl with a quiet yet intense stare, searching her with thorough attention.
"I'm fine!" Pache assured, waving her off and forcing a certain expression to make her continue on. Pache had never even met her eyes, her expression lazily drooping to her shoes instead before returning to her stomach. She sucked in a deep breath - whatever it was, she would just have to deal with it. More than that, this was the first opportunity in a while that she had out in the field, and the first time she ever had with Lord Frieza present to potentially watch her progress. She had to make the best impression.
The troops all proceeded deeper into the planet, splitting up and trying to cover as much ground as possible. It was strange, the place practically empty as if the locals here had known they were coming.
Homes that looked roughly like warm-schemed wood, or much like foreign trees were scattered around and every single one of them empty.
Pache gulped hard and ran her tongue to cure the rapid drying taking place. She was practically shaking, and not from the adrenaline of being on an empty planet. Everything was... still. Deathly still.
It all happened in an instant, no moment to usher in the sudden change in tempo, and no warning that anything would happen. The first wave of ki came crashing down against the battlefield, sweeping soldiers instantaneously along as ash or blackened remains. Whoever wandered this planet, it was clear at this time that they were skilled in ki above all. The colors ranged, but most of them matched the warm appearance of the planet to a T, and most importantly, it was powerful.
For someone like Pache, most ki attacks of varying powers were nothing to worry about, but she couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong here, something aside from the bodies of those surrounding her dropping or being wiped from the map entirely.
As the grounds and vegetation began to catch fire, the light of the inferno blazed up against the scape of the land, doing little but making the place feel more and more... familiar.
"Don't just stand there," Tamarind demanded stiffly. It seemed she was holding out pretty well - her tail was something to be feared, and it appeared to carry most of the power in her body. It was powerful enough to deflect the ki attacks, but more than that, whenever it collided with something nearby, the weight and impact that crashed down snapped the trees and shattered the ground with relative ease. "You're freezing."
Pache nodded firmly, her hands lighting with her own warm ki as she adjusted the mode of her scouter. There was a cluster of power radiating in one central area. No wonder everyone was taken off guard, they were practically on top of one another for a time, it looked like they were one concentrated entity, rather than many. Now, though, they were scattering, and in their volume, they were coming directly at them all. "Get ready!" Pache alerted to those of them remaining.
Up over the horizon, cloaked with burning energy of varying colors that cloaked their forms and their bodies, forms were found approaching in a crescent-moon-like formation that surrounded the area from every vantage point from left, front, and right, leaving only retreat as an option, should they decide to move.
The white haired girl stepped back firmly, her legs beginning to quiver under his form as her tail tightly coiled around her thigh.
These inhabitants...
They ranged in color from a citrusy yellow-orange, to a peachy orange like herself, to even a grapefruit pink. Every single one of them carried forms of horns and prominent white hairs with her own signature backdrop of black replacing normal 'whites' of eyes and a ring of yellow defining the iris.
'They're... like me.'
What did that mean?
Was she still free? Of course, because the freest place in the universe was undoubtedly placing under Lord Frieza.
What else did this mean..?
That she would have to kill them or convince them to step down? Of course that was the only option, but then...
"Lord Frieza has his reasons, but taking the most promising member of each race is his typical approach."
The words of Zarbon permeated the fear and pause in her mind with a rather ugly truth rearing its head. Should she decide to placate their attempts at resisting, there was the chance that any of their well-performing warriors could inject themselves into her place.
Abruptly, within the chaos, Pache pushed off from the ground, sailing backwards against the current, and aiming to withdraw away from the battlefield.
'It's expected,' the thought passed Tamarind's head, confirming her suspicions. She shifted to look back at the retreating girl, all the while, that monstrously strong tail Pache had previously observed sweeping the area. It almost seemed to move autonomously, gripping one of the incoming warriors around the neck by its scorpion-like shape coiling tightly around their necks. The tip of the tail pressed firmly against the weak point in the neck, and with that intensifying vice grip, their head was detached promptly from their shoulders.
Very few monsters had the ability to brave the brutality and carnage against their own people.
Tamarind looked down at the beheaded creature that dropped from her grip, her tail deflecting any of the incoming others whilst she observed. She had already seen that ki was their strong suit, but the vast majority of them seemed to suffer in hand to hand.
"Hm..?" Her beige eyes caught sight of the twitching of the beheaded body, its hand continuing to move, and its head even sliding back towards it. Like an elastic band, the ends reattached, forming a a functioning person once more. The darker skinned woman, turned her view around her. This wasn't an isolated case, it was constant; every single one of them sustaining damage from battering attacks, slashes, or even ki, seemed to reattach themselves like pieces of magnetic rubber.
"Lord Frieza!"
"What are you doing retreating?" Dodoria practically gawked to her reappearance. She was supposed to be out in the field. Did she have the nerve to abandon her task, defy Lord Frieza, then return barking his name in that tone.
"Shut it," She shot back. There were soldiers of Frieza on the battlefield at that moment, all of them being eliminated because of ignorance, but because of inability. There was no doubt in her mind, that if these people were just as she assumed they would be...
She gripped against her abdomen tightly, feeling the imprint of the orb pressing out against her skin at the beckon of her palm.
"Lord Frieza!" She called again, pushing many of the lingering soldiers out of her way and barreling into the lift. She hardly even waited for the platform to boost her, only flew directly up through the elevating tube until she burst from the top of the opening.
"What is the meaning of this?!" This wasn't the first, not even the second, but the third time she had approached with Lord Frieza with such reckless abandon of her manners and etiquette. There were only so many times he could save her, and in this particular instance, he even attempted to snatch her up by the arm once more. "Do you not have a job to do?"
"Stop!" She desperately snapped against his grip, pulling and snatching with so much force against his resistance, that it appeared that her arm may be able to tear itself apart.
"Lord Frieza! You have to change your method of attack!"
The nerve of this girl was truly astounding. To demand Lord Frieza of anything was like asking for him to kill her, and with Zarbon gripped Pache this way, she was not only putting herself through the course of a Russian Roulette game, but she was dragging him along with her.
"I have to?" Frieza began whilst slowly turning around in his seat. It always amused him when people attempted to make demands, and in most cases it would trigger his sadistic behavior to urge him to toy with them just a moment longer before delivering a divine punishment equivalent to their disrespect. In a way, it was almost like allowing them to dig their own grave.
"Yes!" And she continued? Maybe it was the adrenaline pouring into her system, but rather than shrinking back like that frightened rabbit, she continued forward. "Lord Frieza, these people! They're like me!"
Well. Wasn't this an interesting development?
Zarbon relaxed his grip, incidentally allowing Pache to wriggle so violently free whilst the tear in her arm reattached itself with the bounce of elastic.
Frieza relaxed his posture, his head tilting now. Ordinarily there would be much more pleading along with such a desperate desire to save one's people. There would be bargaining involved, a grief-stricken refrain of some multi-step plan to ask that they be spared and that the mission be a forced conquest, despite no desire of the inhabitants to step down.
"You want me to spare them?" He clarified, leaning back with intrigue. He had heard over the scouter that they were approaching without any desire of stepping down, so would he spare them? Most likely not, no - their insolence would have to come with a weighted price. Still, the reasoning would, if not anything else, interest him.
"No," She asserted, coming down to her knees affront him to offer respect for her transgressions. "They... they have no interest in surrendering themselves to you, my lord."
The bitter taste of such a hefty lie burned her tongue. She had no clue if they would change their mind about withdrawing to Frieza, and in a sense, she could feel the encroaching guilt of genocide crushing her as she spoke these words for her own sake. It was also true that should she not gear to this result, majority of his soldiers would be lost to an easily avoidable clash.
Was that a twinge of excitement raising in his chest? What a cruel desire for one to condemn their own kind. He would assume that not even Zarbon and Dodoria could be happy with watching genocide, or more, practically begging him to do it more efficiently. A twisted smirk lined his painted lips, his body leaning forward as his hand dragged the length of her face.
She could feel the grazing of his claw-like nails down the outline of her jaw, coming to the point of her chin. Every inch of her body felt to stiffen with the sudden cold shiver, like every inch of his frigid soul was now freezing her over despite him barely touching her skin. It was a cold burn, like frostbite, a stinging touch that translated directly into an indiscernible mix of exhilaration and striking fear. As her head was slowly risen for her eyes to meet his own, she felt her blood slow and begin to run cold in her veins.
"What do you wish to have done?"
It was the question unexpected - the inquiry of just what she had come bursting in to confront him with, but to her mind so rushed with an unnamed excitement, it felt like he was offering one personal request.
She couldn't help the feeling of a relieved beginnings of a smile just faintly beginning as she spoke, practically breathless from her seizing nerves, "L-Lord Frieza, please... destroy them with your own hands," She managed to speak after a moment of fishing her words out from her tightening windpipe.
A/N: Ahhhh and the descent into madness begins. ;-; RIP.