A/N: Hi guys! I'm putting this here to let you know that I've gone back and re-edited Prince of Slaves, for those of you who may not have seen the note I put up as it was only there for a short time. Some scenes and one more prominent plot element have been cut from the story, and the rest has been changed or moved around to a lesser extent. There are fewer chapters and many of them end in different places, but you don't necessarily have to start from the beginning again, provided you pick up on what I changed. Ultimately, I realized I could tell the story without it, and going back over everything helped a bit with the writer's block I've been struggling with.
That being said, I hope you enjoy the chapter, and onward with the story!
"You're asking how I used my IQ of two-hundred and seventy-three to make my son a weapon from Earth's middle ages? It's a secret," Mom said, winking.
"This is... I can't believe you did this! I thought I'd never be able to have anything like my old one. You're the best, Mom!" I blurted, sheathing the sword and wrapping my arms around her.
"Anything to see that cute smile," she said as she withdrew, pinching my cheek.
The memory passed came and went, unbidden, and I felt my insides coil with rage.
"Come again?" Goten queried, putting his hand on my shoulder.
"He. Took. My. Sword. I can't fucking believe it," I said. Why, why had I put it down? The one time I hadn't recapsuled it or slung it over my shoulder like always and somebody stole it.
It didn't take having guts to steal something from me – it took having no fucking brain. That sword was not some trinket. My mother had made it for me and it was probably the most indestructible weapon of its kind in the whole galaxy. And that asshole had dared to put his hands on it.
Even an idiot could see that it was a powerful blade. Maybe Daikon had taken it to defend himself; maybe he'd taken it specifically to piss me off. If he'd taken it to sell at some later point I'd never see it again. After I'd already lost the one my father had given me.
I was glad Goten was holding onto me and not the other way around because otherwise his shoulder would've been crushed.
"Are you sure he took it? Is that the same one you sparred me with? It's special, right?" Bardock prompted.
"Special?" I said. "It's something that piece of shit isn't fit to touch. It was a gift from my mother and it's the only one of its kind."
The room was deadly quiet. The only thing I could hear over my own heartbeat was Goten's, drumming away apprehensively. He clutched onto my arm like he could sense my anger and didn't want me to do something rash.
I tore away from him and marched for the door, pushing Korravi aside as I went through. My beeline down the hall was followed by several pairs of footsteps.
"Hey, Trunks! Hold on!" Gohan called from behind. I didn't stop until I reached the ship's main exit, shut tight with the emergency bulkhead.
"Computer, override default and open the door," I commanded. Recognizing my voice print, the computer did as asked and, releasing the air seal properly so as to avoid another surge, the door slid open.
It was windy. High up as we still were, there were bound to be air currents, clouds here and there although the main mass of them below hid the planet's surface from view.
"Yo, slow down buddy!" Goku exclaimed as the others all rounded the corner. I placed one hand on the wall next to the opening beyond, posture half towards and half away from them.
My eyes went from stare to stare until I met the woman's.
"You," I said. "I don't know what the story is between you and that guy, but you sure act like friends to me. You're the only one here who knows him so if you have any idea about what he plans to do, you'd better tell me right now."
Once again, all I got was silence.
"Are you deaf? Answer me!" I demanded. I moved away from the exit and approached her, drawing close enough to enter her personal space.
"If you won't help," I said lowly, "then I'm going to find him myself, and when I do, I'm going to take my sword back and run him through with it."
She seized me by the neck and spun us around, my back slamming into the wall as her hand clenched the area where my throat and jaw met.
"Trunks!" Goten shouted, but I stopped him in his tracks with a look. He slowed, halting his advance to help me, as did Goku and Gohan.
Korravi held me less than a foot apart. There was no anger in her eyes, just uncertainty, like she really didn't know any more than I did. Even if my close-range vision was less than perfect, her irises were so black that I couldn't see where they ended and her pupils began.
Maybe I'd been wrong. Maybe... we had met before?
I grabbed her forearm with both my hands and pulled myself up a little so that my windpipe was less constricted, although her fingers still pressed on my jugular veins.
"If you help me find Daikon... I promise I won't hurt him," I said.
"And what's your word worth?" she answered.
"Not only have I kept my word so far, what alternative do you have to believing me? The four of us would be enough to subdue you easily. And then... I'd go get Daikon with one of them instead, and I don't think they're as fond of him as you. Is the debt he owes you that important... to put up with him?"
"He's not the one who owes me, Prince of Saiyans."
I was starting to feel a little lightheaded from restricted blood flow. "What does that mean?"
"Trunks," Goten warned in the background.
"You have no right to hang life or death over him. Not while he's under my protection," she said.
"He... doesn't seem like the giving type. What makes him... worth protecting?"
There it was: anger, subtle as her shoulders tensed further. "Tell me what makes you worth protecting. Why should anyone die for you?"
I'd never asked for that or wanted it. Had happened anyway – and I knew I wouldn't be able to bear it again.
"Help me," I said. "Help me find him. If he listens to reason... if he listens to you... we don't have to be enemies."
"Trunks, I swear to god! She has five seconds or I'm -" Goten began and stopped when she started to move.
Rather than drop me, she lowered me back to the ground and released my throat. But I was wobbly on my feet and unintentionally fell forward a bit.
And then things got weird because instead of letting me right myself, I felt her arm go around my back and pull me into a snug embrace, pressing me against her armoured chest.
"What in the hell are you doing," I blurted in my slightly bruised voice, her heartbeat deafening in my ear. But just as I finished I realized we were moving, and I couldn't get my footing under me because there was suddenly nothing to put my feet on, the doorframe going by and –
And we were rocketing down through the air, watching the exterior of the ship become a rapidly shrinking blot behind us. The sun winked out from view behind it before we spiralled into a cloud.
The green sky above was swallowed by a heavy grey fog and the sensation of cold water broke against me with a hiss. The woman was still holding me, still pulling me, but after passing through the clouds she slowed down and I pushed away before catching myself in the air.
Looking around, I attempting to regain my bearings.
Everything remained dark as it had been inside the clouds, except I was being rained on instead of falling through the condensation. Below me, an endless gridlock of indiscernible smears of light and metallic shapes stretched towards the horizon in all directions, seeming to shift here and there in what were probably clusters of vehicles and people moving around. Towers and buildings stood as tall as blades of grass from this distance, but the image was a thousand times bigger than Planet Vegeta's capital or even Earth cities I'd seen from overhead, so huge I felt already lost. The only thing that punctured my awe was the foul scent drifting up and around the sky, almost strong enough to taste.
Trunks? Hello? Are you alright? Gohan asked me telepathically.
I'm fine, I replied.
We can still sense you a little – we're on our way down.
Don't worry about me. I can handle myself. We can still stick with our original plan, except I have one extra person to track down.
For his own safety I doubt he'll be trying to expose his identity, but he could still get caught and raise an alarm.
There was a short pause. Bardock and I are going to be searching for information on the Namekian – by the way, he says you'll find Daikon, one way or another.
Duly noted.
I think - ... Hold on.
"Hey. We can't stay up here," Korravi's voice cut in. "They have patrols monitoring the skies and will be here in minutes."
When I looked over she had pulled her mask down, floating several feet away.
"Hey," I echoed back. "Thanks for that little stunt, by the way – you could've made things simple with a 'yes' after trying to strangle me."
She turned her head left and right. "We need to go," she repeated.
And with that, she was soaring off again towards the city below.
"Hey!" I called after uselessly. After a quick glance back, I proceeded to follow, jetting off at a pace just controlled enough not to lose track of her.
Having rain splatter in my face the whole way down wasn't pleasant, and it made it harder to keep my eye on the woman, who appeared no more than a moving black shape against and already shadowy background. I lifted an arm up to help shield my eyes as we descended.
When we got to building level the two of us had considerably slowed, not trying to draw too much attention. I caught up to her as she began to levitate down, and my feet hit the ground seconds after hers.
I took a deep breath and regretted it as I scanned around at the district she'd landed us in. It wasn't as busy as what we'd gone overhead earlier, evident by the people who gave us passing looks as we'd landed, and not full of wealthy high-rises. Rather, we were surrounded by shorter towers and stocky metal shacks populated with dormant spacecraft and machinery – part shipyard and part junkyard. Local denizens tinkered left and right, trading and selling or repairing. The type of place Mom would have a heyday in, and somewhere I could probably lose hours myself, although it smelled strongly of burning wires.
However, I couldn't explain the feeling that things seemed... subdued. Watchful. People were talking but not as loudly as one would expect. It was during that thought when I noticed the familiar armour-donned groups visible in the crowd; walking or standing still but there nonetheless. PTO.
All were aliens of varying shapes and sizes, some humanoid and some not, and all had weapons. As I trailed after Korravi, trying not to stare at the soldiers more than necessary, I noted that a few of them had blasters I'd never seen before. Large and round, like miniature metal cannon guns, two-handed for the average-sized warrior.
I took a few long and fast steps until I was at my companion's side instead of behind and cast her a look. She looked back from behind the mask.
"Do you know what those are?" I said, gesturing with my head slightly in the direction of a PTO cluster who had one of the strange firearms. If she'd been on Pimien fending off PTO, or had worked for them until Father had declared war, maybe she had an idea.
That prospect was dashed when she shook her head slightly, not taking her eyes away.
"You can sense the energy of others, right? That's what scar-face said. Can you sense Daikon?" she asked.
I turned my head forward and concentrated. As my sixth-sense expanded, the sheer mass of life the planet held was exposed to me like a crashing wave. Millions of sparks swallowed individuality into a teeming conglomerate, negating any chance that, unless he raised his energy, our target could be spotted so easily.
"No. You two were able to hide yourselves from me before, so I'm not surprised. I was hoping you might know where he'd be likely to go," I said, looking back at her.
"He can't leave the planet unless he steals a ship. He... could have taken mine. But he didn't." She pursed her lips. "He doesn't know how to fly it, but that wouldn't stop him."
"What does that mean then? He took my sword – why?"
"Your blade cut me in my ape form. He may think he can kill you with it."
"So he wants to lure me out alone into unfamiliar territory to kill me, is that it? That normal behaviour from him or am I just lucky?"
She chuckled. "Both. And there is a chance he holds something against you."
"You going to explain to me what that is?" It was safe to say that he wouldn't be the first person to have a vendetta against my family that I'd had no part in starting. I examined our surroundings once again for a moment, side-eyeing someone who passed by too close before turning back to her. "Is it about him being a third-class and me royalty? He is third-class, right?"
"Not since travelling with me." She waited for a response and when I merely raised an eyebrow, she smiled.
"I'm a deserter," she said.
I stopped in place and she kept walking for a few steps before halting herself, gazing back over her shoulder.
She said something else, but her voice was too quiet under the din of the machinery and movement around us.
Deserter. Perhaps the only thing worse than being a castaway like my uncle. The name referred to a Saiyan who rejected the royal family, rejected their people and status, declared themselves apostate from their race. A deserter could be someone bitter at their king or their home, or someone who had abandoned their team on the battlefield and ran rather than face death. It was a title associated with cowardice and dishonour.
In the old days before Frieza, when there hadn't been such a wide universe to disappear into, deserters were caught and beheaded. Now, few could be bothered to search the cosmos and hunt them down, but there was no safety for them if they returned to Planet Vegeta.
By the time I'd refocused, the renegade herself stood in front of me, waiting.
"You two are deserters," I voiced, keeping my voice low to not stand out. "I knew something was off about you."
"Not wise of you to take us along, then."
I really wasn't in the mood for smartass commentary. "Makes sense that you didn't bother telling me before – having an allegiance to the Prince of Saiyans is convenient for you now."
Something distracted me behind her, a looming shape moving our direction. She followed my gaze and turned around before the both of us were shuffling back, moving with the rest of the crowd that parted to let the levitating craft through.
It was large and hardly aerodynamic, but its slow passing made it clear that it wasn't meant for space travel. It was just small enough to fit through the street and more closely resembled a garbage collector than anything else. But once it drew close enough I could see that the back was exposed to the air, a pair of metal lattices protruding horizontally and generating strips of laser in the wide space between them like a cage.
On the inside were people, huddling away from the bars to avoid being shocked. A prison transport.
Suddenly, I realized the place we ought to be looking for Saiyans was probably the most obvious one.
If Daikon had really been trying to lure me out, then he would be more likely to find us instead of the other way around. We so far had no way to track him, anyway; but something we could track was literally right in front of us.
"Hey," I began again. "Deserter or not, I have an idea. And I'm going to need you to listen and follow me."