Chapter Forty Nine
Frieza sat to himself on the golden throne, sipping on the wine he had imported from one of his vineyard planets personally for the weekend. His father and brother had been on his ship for just three days and he had already downed the majority of the bottle after dealing with the arrogance that definitely ran in the family. There had been a reason he had left home and hardly returned. Although he had escaped to his quarters, the Arcosian prince knew that the peace would not last long. Before long, either his father or Cooler would send word for his presence. It was only inevitable.
Taking a sip of the alcohol from the chalice in his small hands, Frieza took in the flavor of the wine as it swirled in his mouth. Swallowing it, the Arcosian rolled his eyes as the sound of banging on his door disrupted him from his thoughts. Clearing his throat as the door opened, the youngest son of King Cold snarled as he watched Pikuntae, one of Cooler's soldiers -he could tell the difference by the more nimble set of armor that his men wore -enter the room.
"Prince Frieza," The alien began cautiously, bowing in respect as he felt the tension in the room. Waiting until Frieza stepped forward and allowed him to speak again, Pikuntae reached forward and handed the small emperor a communication device. "Lord Cooler wanted a word with you before the meeting with you and the king later on this morning. He told me that it was most urgent that I reach you."
Frieza frowned at this as he snatched the device from the minion and turned away, back towards the comfort of his throne. 'Of course he said it was most urgent.' He thought to himself as he shushed Cooler's soldier away with the sway of his hand. Opening the device when the room was empty, a hologram of Cooler flashed across the screen.
"Brother." Frieza said, rolling his eyes as his brother's hologram smirked at him and the conversation began. "To whom do I owe the honor?"
"Younger brother, it has been a while since we last saw each other." The deeper voice of Cooler replied to Frieza's sternness. "I see your tail grew back to its normal length… you know how things get when we're both seeing red." The older Arcosian boasted, intent on further irritating his sibling. Scanning his brother for a second, Cooler then finished with another stab. "And still needing that primitive restrictive form to contain your strength, I see."
"Is there a reason you had to speak with me or were you just hellbent on further grinding my gears, Cooler?" Frieza barked sternly, interrupting his brother's taunting. "It's bad enough I have to act like I'm enjoying your presence to make sure father isn't riled up."
While his entire family were known as freaks when it came to their strength in comparison to other Arcosians, there was no denying that Cooler was the prodigy of the family. Cooler was a deadly fighter who had been fighting under their father's leadership since he was only a year old. While Frieza and King Cold required restrictive forms to contain their dormant power when not in battle, Cooler's nearly flawless control over the tainted ki coursing through his veins allowed him access to every ounce of energy in his body at any time. It was how he had discovered a far more powerful form beyond his unrestrained true form. It was how Frieza had nearly lost his life the last time he had challenged his older brother to a brawl.
"If you weren't such a bothersome prissy, maybe you would have made things interesting for father when he needs to decide on his successor." Cooler insulted his brother with another laugh. Continuing, the oldest son of King Cold proposed an offer to Frieza. "Whatever you may believe, I was just going to offer a friendly preposition as a means to humor our father during this big ceremony of his. One of your men face off against the enforcer of my Armored Squadron?"
"A gladiator fight, you say?" Frieza replied, flashing a devilish grin identical to the one Cooler had flashed earlier. Snickering confidently, the younger tyrant rubbed his chin as he answered. "You wouldn't want to see what happens when an endangered species is forced to fight for its survival… would you, my brother?" Frieza snarkingly retorted.
"Don't tell me you think of bringing a monkey to fight against one of my most prestigious killers!" Cooler spat out in both shock and disappointment, flaring his nostrils at Frieza's suggestion. Clenching his fist at his younger brother, the purple alien countered. "Wouldn't Ginyu or one of his men do for a better showing? One of the baboons will only stink the hall up."
"Captain Ginyu and his men were shipped out for an extraction mission earlier this morning if I'm not mistaken. Even then, if I do have to offer one of my soldiers' lives, why would I not pick one I care least for?" Frieza admitted coldly, shrugging his shoulders. "Don't tell me you fear that one of my Saiyans will defeat your best men? Maybe we should let father decide the fate of the loser."
Cooler flumed at the accusation and although a hologram, Frieza could have sworn he could see the aura flaring at his brother's rage. Pointing at his brother, the older tyrant calmed himself and rebutted coldly.
"You send that monkey into the pit with my general's top enforcer and I will be sure to have father a new trophy to hang on his wall." The Arcosian warned with clenched jaws.
"I'm sure my fighter will bring sheer entertainment, win or loss." Frieza calmly said, standing on his decision as he closed the device before Cooler could say anything else. Then, using his scouter, he rang for the prince of monkeys himself. Maybe he would humor himself and see how capable his favorite baboon had become recently.
The prince of Saiyans pulled the snug fitting armor over his wild head of hair and down to his chest. Making sure that his skin could breathe, he adjusted the pauldrons of the armor so that he could move freely and pulled his fresh set of boots onto his feet. Setting his scanner's radius to his preferred setting as he exited the locker room, Vegeta walked right over to Frieza, who he saw was having a discussion with Zarbon and Dodoria it seemed as the Saiyan approached.
"Lord Frieza," The Saiyan greeted respectfully with a salute. As three pairs of eyes turned to face him, Vegeta waited to say more until he knew it was fine to speak.
"Ahh, Prince Vegeta," Frieza replied teasingly, his voice higher than usual -something that obviously meant the Arcosian had drunk more than enough alcohol to feel lifted. "I hope you came ready to battle. A loss would only serve as a big disappointment."
Vegeta tensed at this but played it off boldly. Smirking devilishly, the prince replied confidently to his boss. Each of the Saiyans knew what disappointing Frieza meant.
"A Saiyan is always prepared for battle. You had enough faith in me to pick me over any soldier in your army…" Vegeta replied sternly enough to make Frieza intrigued. Smirking confidently in the faces of two of the tyrant's most trusted men, the Saiyan didn't put much thought into why he was chosen over even Dodoria, yet alone Zarbon. "I'm representing not just myself but you. I won't disappoint you, Lord Frieza." He made sure to add stingfully the same way that Frieza had stressed his title.
Zarbon laughed at this before turning to look down at the young Saiyan. Raising a finger to his own scouter, the Lukban right-hand man of Frieza set his device to SCAN mode and took stock of the prince's power.
"So, you've eclipsed 15k, have you Vegeta?" Zarbon exclaimed, congratulating the Saiyan on the monument. Pulling his green ponytail so that it lay over his right shoulder, the alien warrior smirked. "That's nice for someone of your race, I suppose."
"Yeah, 15,000…" Dodoria said, playing along with Zarbon's teasing. Crossing a pair of large pink arms across his chest, the chubby general snickered wickedly. "That's stronger than even your father clocked in at. Look what happens when a Saiyan actually tries instead of just running their mouth."
Vegeta groaned irritably, his eyes locked onto Dodoria as he took the insult face on. Knowing that causing a scene would be silly with not just Frieza but his father, brother and hundreds of their loyal followers surrounding him, the prince shot back with an insult just as sharp.
"I'm sure we're all curious to see what happens when you decide to simply run." The Saiyan said after a stressed sigh, rolling his eyes in annoyance. Already very much accustomed to the treatment, Vegeta was not going to just sit back and not defend his race's honor. "Not that I want to cause a spectacle during Lord Frieza's celebration but I am not Tullece, Dodoria… Call us whatever names but I won't tolerate the slander of my people."
"My, my…" Frieza interrupted before tensions could flare even moreso, his blood red eyes flashing menacingly at the two soldiers as he stepped forward with another sip of wine. "It seems you are ready, Vegeta." The Arcosian said, noting the vigor building up. "Be sure to entertain us, we're in the presence of many of our business's sponsors."
The prince nodded at Frieza's words before taking his leave. Dodoria was notorious for causing messy situations and Vegeta didn't need any of that at the moment. Searching through the large crowd for friendly faces, it took longer than he would have thought but the Saiyan prince finally came face to face with Nappa after nearly brushing past Chaya and Tullece unknowingly.
"Vegeta," The general greeted the stronger Saiyan prince with a salute in an area otherwise too crowded for him to bow. Much taller and larger than the average soldier, Nappa stood out like a sore thumb and Vegeta was glad for this otherwise he would have missed his comrades in a sea of armored aliens. "Are you ready for battle? Got any clue on who you're up against yet too?"
"You know Frieza never tells us anything," Vegeta replied sternly while rolling his eyes. Continuing, the Saiyan added. "He just tells us what to do and puts the credits in our accounts."
"That sounds about right." Tullece added, walking with his hands on his elbows above his head. Hearing both of his stomachs growl, the young Saiyan folded over dramatically. "This is a party right? What gives? When are we going to eat?" He grumbled irritably.
"You can say that twice!" Nappa snickered with a sinister undertone. "I would kill for a steak right now." He added.
With four Saiyans, that meant eight very large stomachs to fill and after a long morning of training and lunch being pushed back because of this whole debacle, then Vegeta and the others only hoped that the chefs had come with their best.
"I'm sure they are waiting for King Cold to arrive from his quarters before we're served." Vegeta answered his comrade's pleas. Sighing knowing that he didn't have much time to eat, the prince finished. "Frieza's a sick individual for making me fight on an empty stomach."
A/N: Just a bridging chapter to get this saga going. If anybody can guess who this fighter is, maybe we get an early upload next week? This entire movie just shows us not only what other Saiyans have going on, but sets up our story's 'Z' Arcs. I plan to dive deep into the physiology and background of the survivors of the destruction of Planet Vegeta. Says for Vegeta, we never get to see how such a tragedy and the aftermath effects and obvious racism that Frieza's followers treated their race with, so I'd like to show how that affects the Saiyans from Raditz as I've shown to Saiyans like a young and rash Tullece (son of the traitor of the PTO btw), a female Saiyan that had to act as the glue to the remains of her race, an experienced and cold veteran in Nappa and a crowned prodigy in Vegeta.