Chapter 4: Consumption and Regurgitation
It was another pure white, completely tiled and circular room, that greeted the female Saiyan and her newest pet. A single, large and curved table occupied the very centre, while various equally sized cupboards were fixed to the two side walls and floors. A large oval window at the back wall, presented a magnificent view of outer space. 'Oh thank Kame,' Videl breathed to herself, realising that this must be the ship's 'mess hall.' For reasons beyond her comprehension, she'd trusted the Saiyan's baiting, and followed like a little lamb, ready for the slaughter. The Saiyan walked with a natural, content swing to her hips. She just wasn't in the mood for physical persuasion. It was so much nicer when she got her way, exactly how she wanted it.
"Sit," the woman even managed to coo that one single word, over her shoulder. Her arm lazily gestured at one of the several, empty chairs. They were completely ergonomic in design, as Videl soon found the back support quite pleasing. After a moments hesitation, of course.
"Now, let's see what we can fix for you. Before you wither away." The Saiyan relentlessly explored each and every cupboard; lifting jars of various substances, sniffing at odd pastes and liquids before slamming one door and trying the next cabinet. Videl could only watch nervously, wondering if any of these strange delicacies were even fit for a human. But at last she noticed a plastic container filled with the beige and brown gunk her captor had already brought. This Saiyan seemed to ponder a moment over it, before finally offering the entire jar to her lamb.
"Try this." Only to sneakily add as small, accepting hands gripped securely over the glass. "Hopefully it doesn't burn."
As Videl's eyes widened, the Saiyan just smirked. Reassuringly? As if that was anymore convincing! Bravely, Videl sniffed at the odourless contents of the jar, watched on by the Saiyan. Well, what else did she have to lose? Digging her hand in, she found the sloppy, porridge texture to be ice-cold. Just like everything else on the ship. But she no longer cared. Bringing the handful of gunk to her chapped and sore lips, she gingerly flicked her tongue out. It tasted like the protein shakes her dad liked to drink.
"It's how I keep my figure!" She heard him jokingly say, in his rude, obnoxious and loud voice. Like he was an ongoing television advert for keeping fit.
"How is it?" The sudden female voice tore the memory away, and Videl blinked, staring down at her messy hand.
"Fine."
The Saiyan continued to talk, but Videl couldn't register the words. Instead, stubbornly, she began to shovel handful after handful of the slimy, porridge…whatever it was, into her eager mouth. Anything, to hear her father's voice again.
"You've got to train harder Videl!"
She almost choked, but shovelled another handful despite hardly even swallowing the previous portion.
"How'd you expect to win the next tournament?"
Her tears stung. It was involuntary, and unstoppable. She begun to choke on both the food, and her emotions, and yet tried her best to keep shovelling.
"You see these? THESE are what you call muscles!"
As a sudden gasp caused her to almost swallow down the wrong windpipe, Videl struck out against the table in a panicked state, and knocked the jar over. Even as it rolled off the table, and crashed next to her feet; the female Saiyan, just calmly watched on.
"That's it." Her voice rung out, oddly serene.
Right on cue, the human started to violently retch. Pushing the chair back and turning to the side, she bent over her knees, clutching at her stomach as it rejected the last few seconds of activity. Apparently the food and memory combination hadn't gone down too well. A hand smoothed over her back, encouraging the regurgitation in a stroking movement.
"Spit the venom out."
She didn't just puke. She puked until her emptied stomach hurt like hell, cried out, and then puked some more. And the Saiyan just encouraged it more. Hushing and soothing. Videl could even feel the woman's smile, burning her back.
"All of it."
At last, the human merely gasped for aching breaths. It felt like a thousand claws had scratched her innards, and yet, she very oddly, begun to laugh. It was entirely against her nature, and it felt like the sound was not even her own. But as she straightened her spine, she could breathe again. Her lungs greedily inhaled breath after new breath, and her eyes had finally stung with the last tear.
"You see?" The Saiyan finally removed her hand, to simply slide her rear over the edge of the table. Videl hardly even realised she'd leaned closer, until there came that strong, sniffing sound again.
"You smell much better." Abruptly, she straightened. Her tail fluidly unwrapped from her waist, to flick like a whip cracking the air behind her. "And here comes the cat."
The strong smell of approaching blood, caused the woman's tail to twitch once more, before the male came into view. Only when the predator was sure that he'd found the ki he was looking for, did he freeze outside the mess hall, and cock his head to stare through the doorway. He was forced to squint one battered eye, and cradle a limp, very broken arm. But he still seemed intent on continuing his stormy war path through the ship.
"I'd stop right there if I were you, Gohan."
Following her calm threat, was the sudden thump of Videl's upper body, both slumping and hitting the tabletop. The female Saiyan briefly looked over her shoulder, before returning her serious glare back to the Halfling.
"Now look what you've done."
"Kari," he spat the name in a hoarse, exhausted but accusing voice, and took a limping step forwards. It was answered by an energy wave, that forced the teen back against the far wall in a pushing globe of luminescent light.
"I asked you nicely." She eyed him carefully as he submissively slumped against the wall, taking a moment to control her erratic breathing, and wincing at the clear pain he was enduring. He could smell the vomit from a mile off. It had disturbed him beyond control, even now. "You know I hate to repeat myself
"What have you done?"
"Only what you neglected to do," Kari answered quite simply. "I fed it." She didn't give him the space to retort. "But you're hardly in the position to question me. Right now, you should be in the middle of apologising. For endangering both yourself, and your superiors."
For a moment, he just dared to glare back, until her unchanging, serious expression finally broke him. Gohan hung his inferior head in shame.
"That's better." Her plump rear slid off the table edge, and she sauntered closer. Eyes examined each of his wounds in an unconcerned spectatorship. At first, her lips parted, teasing him with the expectation of words. Instead, he felt the sharp sting of her palm. Gohan's head snapped to the side. A light spray of crimson spat from his mouth, and re-decorated the wall.
"Now get out of my sight."
It was a beautiful, late spring afternoon. The sun was shinning. Late buds were flowering. School bells had run their last bell for the day, and so the distant sound of children playing in the nearby park, was now carried by the luke warm breeze.
Videl only wished she could share their carefree laughter.
The wheels of her training bike spun round and round in a blue of light grey, and another bead of perspiration joined the rest, on her soaked head-band. Her personal trainer kept an eagle eye's watch over current status, accompanied by encouraging shouts in her left ear. He had to. The father of the teenager was paying him an obscene wage, just to keep the girl in perfect shape.
"Can you smell it, Videl? The gold of the champion's belt?"
She panted an initial response, followed by a vague and strained, "yeah!" The trainer laughed, tapping his finger on the controls to increase the pressure on the bike wheels.
"But you lost it Videl!"
Panting louder, she cycled faster. Lifting her rear off the saddle and clenching tighter on the handlebars.
"You couldn't even make the semi-finals!"
And faster.
"You let him beat you."
And harder.
"You think you're tough enough to get it back?"
And faster still.
"GO! GO! GO!"
The burning pain was just part of the mountain she had to climb. An obstacle she could overcome, if she was strong enough. She had to be. There was no such thing as 'if,' only when, how, and where.
The scene faded out to the cheers of a hungry crowd, as the final two semi-finalists of the World Martial Arts Tournament, responded to their arena calls. A bald and relatively lean man was first up, opening his arms wide to the mixed reception of the crowd. He needed no introduction.
"In the red corner, the return of last year's unbeaten finalist. YAaaaMUuuuu!"
The announcer drawled the name, driving the crowd wild as he stalled the start of the highly anticipated fight with the usual formalities. It would be the battle of the year. Thousands of bets were riding on just this one, special match.
"In the blue corner. She may be our smallest and youngest contender at only sweet sixteen, but she sure packs a punch! Yes folks, you guessed it! Here she is. The Champion's daughter. VIDEEEEEL SATAaaaaN!"
The crowd roared, as the short, raven-haired teenager, modestly stepped up. Avoiding even glancing at the crowd, she pounded her bandaged fists into the chalk dust box, and then smacked the knuckles together. Technically, she shouldn't even be competing in the tournament. Her birthday had been last week, months after the official signing up deadline. The rules stated that anyone still under sixteen by that deadline, had to wait. It was silly really, and proof that being the daughter of the Great Hercule Satan, had it's benefits. He had helped defeat the Saiyan invaders after all, almost ten years ago. The 'Champion of the Earth' title still hadn't washed off, mostly thanks to how he clung to it. So her birthday had been officially celebrated in a huge publicity scandal. When it came to the real day, her father had forgotten. It didn't matter. She'd earn his respect one way, or another.
"RIP HER APART!" Shouted a massive, hulking giant of a man, from the side of the ring. Yamu just smiled calmly to her brother, and pounded his bare fist into the adjacent palm.
"Patience Spopovich."
"I GIVE HER 10 SECONDS! AHAHAHAA!"
Videl, despite being in full earshot of the conversation, just took her place in the central ring. The rules were simple: the first competitor to either be knocked out of the ring, or more literally knocked out, was declared the loser. She'd practiced a dozen different ways to gain the advantage, and a swift victory. But she instantly neglected her game plan, as a faint and confident grin lifted her pout. This one she would toy with. Feign weakness and then WHAM! Straight between the eyes. Just like he deserved. Her blood boiled at the pleasant thought, and then, the bell rung. But the echoing roar of the crowd faded out into a tense, white noise, followed by a single, shrill scream of pure horror. The image shone pure white, and through her fading vision, she slowly fell. Body bouncing on the arena floor, half hanging off the edge, half clinging on for more.
A constant, digital beep accompanied the silence of a drip, introduced the next image. In a small armchair beside the hospital bed, sat a large, tanned man. He was famously recognisable just from his thick, black afro-perm, and long, straight black moustache. Hercule Satan hadn't passed a single gene over to his daughter, save for the generic colour of her hair. A thick and rather heavy leather belt weighted down further by a gold, circular plate, adorned the man's thick waist. He never left home without it. Even in the small chair, where he was uncomfortable enough trying to squeeze his muscular form into the minimal space; the belt never abandoned him. If that didn't get rid of it, then the nurses had no hope, as they secretly wanted to whine about hospital regulations. No one spoke to the champ that way. He did want he wanted, when he wanted. Right now, he was insistent on never leaving his daughter's side. He was going to be there the moment she woke up.
"So, you're finally waking up."
The rhetorical fact wasn't spoken by the gruff voice Videl expected to hear, as her eyes fluttered open for the umpteenth time. Quite the contrary, as her ears registered the even-pitched, familiar female voice lined with those sultry layers. Her eyelids fully lifted, and she stared up at the stark, plain white ceiling.
"You'll sleep your life away."
'Good,' was all Videl could think, as she took a deep breath, and slowly encouraged herself to face the next situation. As she sat up with the support of her elbows, her eyes rested on a sight she'd never expected to witness.
Kari relaxed on the bright red leather of a reclining sofa, feasting on a flat bowl of what looked like over-sized, bright blue and very plump strawberries. She still wore the silky gown from before, but it was the object her bare leg draped over that gained the most attention. The tall Radditz was beyond content, lounging happily on the floor beside his mate. His shoulder gratefully supported the weight of her thigh, while his hands both held and massaged her dainty foot and calf muscle. It took a moment of thorough scrutiny to realise that this was the same man from before. The only real give-away was his prominent display of thick, long, porcupine black hair. And his bare chest, proudly adorned by a thick spread of dark, curling hairs. Only this time, it looked like he'd been in a very vicious fight. Several bruises marked the taught skin covered bulging muscles; but in particular, the fresh purple bruising over his left eye and cheek. The wounds hardly seemed to bother him though, and when he felt the human's eyes lingering stare, he blatantly ignored the attention. Entirely focused on his woman, he placed a series of aggressive, flesh-kneading kisses, against her calf muscle. Kari just gazed back at the Earthling, and shrugged a shoulder casually while her adjacent hand smoothed through the thick mane of her mate affectionately.
"You'll have to excuse Radditz. It's… just that time of the month."
That had to have been the oddest thing to hit Videl's ears, in a long time. Drawing her knees up to her chest, she visibly flinched, making a silent 'yuck' sound with her scrunched up face. Public displays had always offended her, but this was beyond just a peck on the cheek or two people holding hands.
"Did you beat him up too?"
The woman expelled a short, genuinely amused cackle, at the girl's naïve suggestion.
"Not this time," she tossed the remainder of the fruit she'd need nibbling on, into her parted lips, and chewed while watching the human's every reaction very carefully. So the narrowing of Videl's confused eyes, didn't go unnoticed. "You can thank your…master. For that." It was almost as if the 'm' word had pained Kari, who sighed after having to practice it's use. The confusion spread to the human's curving upper lip, in a silent but obviously defensive snarl.
"He's not my master."
"Suit yourself." Kari ignorantly inspected her next, fruity morsel. But rather than devour it herself, she offered it down to her well-trained 'mate.' He didn't just devour it from her palm without a second's hesitation, but also made sure he sucked on each of her five fingers. The woman just smirked, licking the fruit juice from her pout a moment, before attentively staring deeply into her man's eyes. The ownership was beyond clear.
"That's enough," she abruptly nudged his bruised cheek with her leg, despite the oxymoron of her calm and even loving tone. "It's time. I've made my decision."
As the male automatically stood, and obediently strolled to the exit without her even having to order it, Kari slipped her gaze to the human. Videl instantly averted her eyes, and swallowed hard. Clearly this woman was in charge here, but what did that mean for her?
The Earthling was guided into yet another room; the various beeping of computers and blinking lights suggesting it was the main control area. Yet another large window looked out to the depths of space, while another, large and blank screen, hung from the ceiling. Radditz was already seated around the equivalent of a circular 'coffee table,' next to another, black-haired man. They seemed to share certain rugged and sharp features, particularly the narrow nose, prominent bone structure, and almond eye shape under heavy, dark and low brows. But the new face was cleanly shave; his complexion smoother overall and his hair shorter. At least in comparison to Radditz. It still spiked in various high, unnatural directions. The two set of dark, matching eyes, followed the human as she was led to the centre of their meeting area. Without warning, Kari's usually soft countenance showed it's other face, as she placed two palms against Videl's shoulders. Her knees stressed under the force of the commanding weight, and she found her place at Kari's feet.
Two more pairs of footsteps found their place in the room; one was heavy and brisk, while the other stumbled and was unsure of itself. A large, bald man with a cruel and twisted face, literally dragged a beaten, leaner man in comparison, behind him. As eyes met, recognition settled in. But Videl's captor said nothing; not even as the other, cruel and ugly Saiyan, shoved the boy forwards, right into the central table. He fell forwards without delay, knees hitting the hard floor with a thump, and upper body slumping over the raised surface. Videl inwardly winced. It were as though her captor was being punished and placed on some, odd trial. As she looked up to the two seated men, she caught the subtle twitch of the un-named one's brows.
"Third rank," the even voice of Kari broke the tense silence, as soon as the fourth male had taken his seat. "You have committed three crimes of insubordination. Firstly, the assault of your superior rank. Secondly, the breaking of strict laws. And thirdly, the failure to follow your orders. How do you plead?"
The young man breathed heavily; his back lifting and falling brutally against the table as he hung his head.
"Guilty."
"General," the woman lifted her gaze to the man next to Radditz. His eyes met hers straight on, and his chest puffed as he inhaled a deep breath. "Have you any words in the defence of this recruit?"
"No." Kakarot looked away. There was no shame greater, than a trial that often led to the stripping of both rank and pride. A shame that would burden his family name for generations to come. Despite it all, and with all these personal afflictions aside, there was nothing he could do. His son had committed a crime the moment he'd declared responsibility for his actions, which he had continuously failed to carry through.
"Look at me," Kari ordered, directing her voice to Gohan once more. Evidently struggling to lift the burden of his own shame, his head at last tilted. Eyes at first came to glare at the object of his insubordination, before steadily lifting and settling on the more appropriate female. Videl just wished that the floor would open up, and swallow her existence there. "I've known you since you were a baby. I saw you take your first steps, and consistently climb the ranks. I can see how you are not in your right mind."
Again, and without any warning whatsoever, Kari declared her dominance over the human. Her foot pressed against her back, and Videl found her spine curling to bow fully against the floor; forehead touching the cold tiles. Both Radditz and Nappa grinned, the bald man especially enjoying the entire spectacle.
"In two days, I've accomplished what you failed to achieve within triple the hours." Kari only paused, to lift her gaze in the direction of the demeaning snicker. Before the sound could dare interrupt her further, her palm lifted to shoot a mild ki-blast into the face of the offender. Nappa felt backwards out of his chair, rolling with the force in a series of grunts or growls. It took him a while to find his place in the circle again. Kari failed to notice, or care.
"You expressed a wish to initially study the Earthling." At last, Kari's boot vacated it's pressing against Videl's spine, and her back instantly relaxed back into it's natural curve. There was a brief silence, as the four males eagerly anticipated her continuation. Kari always had possessed an impeccable skill with words. Her hands found the curve of her hips, while her light stare tormented Gohan a moment further. This was it. The moment she would strip him of everything he'd worked for. Just like that.
"I've decided to sponsor your research."
To be Continued…