Hey there groovy people of the Internet, I'm going in a bit of a different direction with this chapter. Now I know you're going to raise your eyebrows at the first part of this chapter but just hang in there, I promise I'm going somewhere with this. The ride isn't over yet.

The Other Side of the Looking Glass

The explosion rocked the entire complex, shattering glass and crumbling walls, it left nothing but destruction in its wake. The beakers in the lab trembled and shook, some even crashed to the floor. Stumbling he snatched the nearest beaker before it fell off the counter. He's done it then, just as he said he would. How did it come to this?

The events played in his mind with such clarity they hardly seemed to have occurred in years long since passed, but rather they felt as though they had just transpired before he walked into his lab.

He and his brother had been young when the icejin came. His people were of peace, the pursuit of knowledge and the achievement of prosperity. His entire planet, his small planet, had mastered the art of working as a community to ensure that none were starved nor uncared for. But when those monsters rained from the sky all their work and progress disintegrated overnight. By morning the planet his village was in chaos. Everyone sought to flee but no one had anywhere to go. His people accepted the universe as it was, and felt no need to explore space and thus they did not possess any method of space travel.

The icejins were particularly merciful - he later realized - for they were in sore need of doctors to heal their wounded, and scientists to develop their weapons and ships. But regardless they gave every soul a choice – live or die. His parents had chosen to die. Equipped with poisonous venom found on his planet they fashioned small dart guns. They boldly strode into the icejin camp let the poisonous darts rain down. If only they had known that icejin were naturally immune to that particular poison.

They were captured at once and made example of in the village center. They were hoisted by their arms above a large fire while the icejin's took turns aiming at them with their kai blasts, making a game of striking his parents as they squirmed while the flames bit at their ankles.

His brother was much too young to remember that day, but he still saw those flames in his nightmares. He had watched as a blast cut through one of his father's arms, leaving him to helplessly dangle by the other arm as the flames engulfed his legs. He still heard his mother's wail of anguish in the silence as she was struck over and over. His brother was far too young to remember any of it, but he would never forget it.

Another member of the village took them in - and some said that man was part icejin himself on his fathers' side, but he did not take them in for the love he bore them and he put them straight to work. He and his brother had grown up scrubbing floors, plowing fields, harvesting the crop. They would toil until they could no longer bear to stand, then they would be beaten relentlessly until they stood again. His brother was slowly consumed by hatred and it deepened every day.

The icejin still occupied his planet but as long as they healed their wounded and produced new weapons or tools they were allowed to retain their planet. The icejin would roam the villages, killing as they pleased while they laughed and sneered at the natives. If only I had noticed sooner. The way he would look at them as if they were heros, the way he would steal glances out the window in hopes he would catch a glimpse of them as they went by. But I didn't notice. I was too busy keeping my nose to the grindstone to ensure we would be fed that night.

After an especially hot day in the fields my brother collapsed from exhaustion. I ran to his side but our guardian reached him before I did. My brother was plucked from the ground by the collar of his shirt before he was shaken violently back and forth. But as he was being shaken he let out a deep chuckle, a diabolical chuckle, that made the hairs on my neck stand on end and the rigid hand of fear gripped my heart. With a glimmer in his eyes my brother's hands shot forward and grabbed our guardian by the hair. Roaring with fury they both toppled to the ground.

As the rolled around in the dirt I rushed forward but my brother had found his footing before our guardian had and my brother promptly stomped his small foot down on his throat repeatedly. Our guardian choked loudly and for a moment my heart sank. But as I was about to move to grab my brother away a blast of light shot past me and found its mark upon the body on the ground. In an explosion of blood our guardian's head had burst like a melon under gunfire.

I had stood in a stunned silence as the icejin approached. They praised my brother for his battle prowess and offered to take him aboard as a recruit. My brother was ecstatic and as he bounced up and down with joy, droplets of blood rained off him.

I was transfixed, frozen in time as I watched a monster born before my eyes. But would not believe it. My eyes clearly saw my brother before me, his features identical to mine. He was young, angry and lost. He had no parents to look up to, and as much as I tried to be a good role model he never seemed to understand why I made us endure the hardships we did. We had nowhere else to go, and any orphans would be snatched up by the icejins in a heartbeat. After everything we went through, it was all in vain.

He looked up at the icejin and saw strength where I saw malice, he saw honor where I saw deceit, he saw heroes where I saw monsters. My brother was all I had left in the world and so I followed him as he trotted after the icejin as a puppy follows its master.

My brother's hate fueled his rage in battle and he soon surpassed all other recruits, young and old. The icejin saw great promise in him and he was rewarded for his loyalty. He was assigned to help oversee the construction of the new arena, for something called the intergalactic games.

The idea was simple; Coax the participation of the greatest fighters in the universe by kidnapping something they held dear. The fighters would eliminate each other one by one, ridding the icekin of enemies as well as providing a chance to utilize their dead bodies for research. The afore mentioned research would be funded by the revenue brought in by the audience, by the people who would come from far and wide to watch the massacre. Venoms, self-regenerating cells, specially adapted organs, weapons, and sets of armor were among the materials collected from the deceased.

Labor to build the arena came from all across the universe; they were all captives taken by the icejin's as they invaded countless worlds and like us they had been given a choice. Several billion laborers died in its construction; their bodies imbedded in the walls they had built. It was a sickening prospect. But my brother was beyond the threshold of right and wrong. He gladly beat the slaves into submission, gladly ended millions of lives, and gladly built the walls that would end a million more. Alas, he was my brother and I was too weak to be completely alone, too weak to chose death.

Once the arena was completed he was given a position of 'honor', one that could only be performed by the most ruthless of soldiers. I was still so naïve, I still believed he was the same young boy he used to be. But I now realize that boy had long been dead.

I never had any skill in the art of combat, nor the stomach for it. Although I did have an aptitude for science and research came to me with ease. When I received cadavers to work with I did my best not to think about the families they were leaving behind, especially their 'prize' whose fate now rested in the hands of some other ruthless warrior. I tried to only think of them as things, as the inanimate object they had become, and at first it was hard but over time it got easier. It's a miracle I still have my sanity.

I conducted my research with the best intentions. From the self-regenerating cells of one particular warrior I was able to mass-produce special red foam that would seal wounds and clean cuts. It couldn't regrow limbs but it greatly decreased the amount of pain suffered when such grievous wounds were inflicted. I concocted numerous anti venoms from fallen arachnoids, I produced a dart that would stun instead of kill, I produced a pill that would cleanse the blood stream of arachnoid venom, and I was even able to devise a healing tank whose waters could slowly mend any wound and heal any life form.

Even after all my work, I was still surrounded by suffering and death. Even after the icejin empire suffered a grievous blow with the death of Frieza our work still continued. Where I would only devise nonlethal weapons and methods of healing my fellow scientists would produce weapons of mass destruction by the millions and innumerous amounts of 'incurable' poisons. I was fighting a losing battle. And today it seems I lost.

When the icejins retreated to heal the wounds inflicted upon their empire they sold Meuhvachador to the reptalthians, a prospect that had left his brother ill at ease. To my eyes the reptalthians and the icejin were one in the same, but his hatred for them grew with each passing day. He felt betrayed, abandoned. I guess I had lived with those feeling for so long I didn't know what anything else felt like anymore. As his anger rose he took to torturing his prisoners, something he had never done before, and he enjoyed it thoroughly.

That was when he came. My brother knew his reputation, he was once beloved by the icejins and the once spoke of him as if he were a god. But he had turned traitor and greatly contributed to the death of Frieza and thus the fall of the icejin empire. I took his initial readings when he arrived. He was certainly powerful, and his prize possessed an intellectual integrity like none I had ever seen. But my brother took it upon himself to torture the poor fellow and his prize, as if it would somehow avenge Frieza.

I could no longer ignore the evil and hatred within my brother. I knew he had to be stopped. For the first time I engaged in developing a lethal weapon. For the first time since my parents died I felt like I had a purpose, toiling away in the lab for countless days and nights without rest. This whole planet and its evil must be destroyed, only complete and utter destruction can cleanse this place of its sins.

When my brother flung the door wide I felt my heart drop into my ankles, he knows. But he did not, and he confided in me that he was going to destroy this place. No words can express the relief I felt at that moment. For the first time in our entire lives we were on the same page. As I opened my mouth to tell him of my plan he spoke, declaring that he had a plan to set him lose. He would destroy this place. My brother had two escape pods ready, in the launch bay. We were to be the only survivors. He had been tranquilized as he tried to escape the inferno that blazed in the arena; his prize was at the mercy of Medon.

Medon…

She had been a gift from lord Frieza, to show how pleased he was with the arena. She was humanoid in appearance but she was hollow, her eyes lifeless, and not even her heart made a sound as it silently pumped blood through her veins. The icejin had broken her long ago. She obeyed every command without question, carrying them out in silence. When commanded she could put almost any lifeform into a trance. She could make their mind see, hear, and do anything she said, anything they commanded.

Although his prize had proven more difficult to control Medon was still able to bend conform the intelligently stubborn mind to her will, locking it away. At first Medon was unable to sever the connection between willpower and motor function, and so it had killed a meuhvache, one of the last remaining females, and destroyed a server room. But confining the mind to an internal slumber they were able to lock it away in a hibernation chamber.

Then Medon set her sight on him. As he lay tranquillized my brother stated they only needed to pull back his eyelids to expose his retinas for Medon to grasp a hold of his mind. Through a series of internal battles and torments they worked him into a rage. Then confining him to a hibernation chamber on the other side of the arena his mind lay dormant, unaware of the passage of time as the rage inside his mind frothed like a feral beast.

He brother declared he would remove the kai inhibitor release him from his sleep and let him tear the place apart. He gave an evil chuckle at the prospect of him killing his prize before he realized their location.

And as promised I could fell his rage from the other side of the facility.

Vegeta.

At first I hated that man, that monster. But he is not so unlike myself. The icejin took our parents, our planet, and our lives. My brother and I built this place of sin, for it to be cleansed I knew we had to go with it. I thought of all the lives my brother had taken, of all the victims of his torture, and of the woman he had imprisoned. Medon was known to break the mental stability of her victims. Once her connection with them was broken they could no longer distinguish between the dream realm and reality.

There is little time.

Snatching the device from the table, checking its parameters and setting the timer he prepared. With an exasperated sigh he looked around his lab. He had tried to save lives, but he only doomed them to further torture.

Leaving the room he headed for the hibernation chamber. Every few steps another blast would rock the compound and the walls would waiver. The hallway echoed with the sounds of pounding fists, creatures desperate to escape.

In due time.

Racing down the hall he followed the maze of turns and lifts that took him to the dark recesses of the facility - hallways long since abandoned. The sound of his footsteps echoed off the walls around him, the sound of his exhausted breaths rang loudly in his ears.

Finally the door was before him, the dust brushed from the handle by his brother's visit. Quickly entering and locking the door behind him he armed the device. Setting it in the corner he quickly slammed his hand on the door lock and released the woman from her slumber.

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Fatigue suffocated Bulma's brain as she tried to think, she couldn't seem to open her eyes. She tried to move her limbs but sleep held them firm, only her heart seemed to be in motion. As she lay there, staring into the darkness of her own eyelids, she became aware of a sound in the distance. At first it was a soft rumble but it was quickly raised to a thunderous roar. Confused Bulma tried to sit up, but she only succeeded in ever so slightly moving her head. Her mind whirled faster, her muscles twitched as they came to life, and her eyes fluttered open.

At first the world was dark, only shapes and shadows danced across her vision. Then they began to take form, coalescing into the distinctive outline of a meuhvache standing before her. At first his features seized her heart with the cold hand of fear, her back tingled sharply and her mind flooded with memories of her torture. But as their eyes met she realized something was different; there was no evil in its eyes, only sadness.

Then her feet slipped and her knees slammed into the glass before her. Only then did she realize she had been standing. Bracing her arms on the side of her prison she rose back up, her legs shaking violently beneath her. With a hiss glass before her parted and air gushed in. Breathing it in deeply her muscles slowly stabilized. Taking a small step her knee buckled beneath her weight and she fell forward. As the floor came rushing up to meet her the meuhvache caught her beneath the armpits and hoisted her up. Taking her arm and wrapping it around its thick neck it pulled her along.

As it half pulled, half dragged her across the room her mind raced. Where is Vegeta?

A distant ticking sound caught her ear and she turned to face it. In the corner a small sphere seemed to glow in the darkness. An indicator screen flashed brightly with each tick but she could not mak out the display. A bomb? She could not be sure.

As the door before them swung open the meuhvache pulled her into the hallway before proceeded through a maze of corridors and lifts that left Bulma dizzy. As their current lift hummed quietly as it ascended a loud roar shook the building. The lights in the lift flickered suddenly and for a moment the lift stopped. Then it dropped.

Bulma felt as though her stomach had lodged itself in her throat as she felt the lift begin to freefall beneath her feet. But the drop only lasted a few seconds before the lift caught and continued to climb. Falling to her knees Bulma retched loudly. The meuhvache stepped back tentatively as she lost the remnants of her last meal.

When the lift came to a stop again she was able to pull herself to her feet and stumble into the hallway. As she held the wall for support she felt the hair on her arms stand on end as goose bumps spread over her body. Swallowing as she raised her head she came face to face with the small redheaded child from before. Screaming Bulma stumbled backwards, clawing at the meuhvache when it grabbed her. A horrific drowning sensation flooded her mind and headed ached painfully, her limbs trembled and her eyes squeezed themselves shut. She felt the arms of the meuhvache sweep her off her feet and she felt its body sway as it continued running down the hall.

When Bulma opened her eyes the child was gone, and the hall empty other than them. Then the meuhvache stopped by a monitor jutting from the wall. As it set her down she grabbed a nearby doorframe for support. It quickly typed in a line of commands as another roar shook the building yet again. Then, with a loud click, every locking mechanism in the surrounding hallways disengaged.

The sharp contrast from emptiness to chaos was instant. The door had all flung open and their inhabitants flooded into the hallway. With a loud bellow the meuhvache grabbed her arm while waving its other hand for the creatures to follow. The hallways shook as their procession stormed through, gathering up what must have been hundreds of creatures as they passed.

Then at last they came to a halt outside a large gate, like the door of a hanger. The meuhvache pushed it wide to reveal rows and rows of space pods, as far as her eyes could see. Pulling her forward he shoved her in one and slammed the door. From the rumbled the enveloped her little ship she could tell all the other creatures were doing the same.

A small display embedded in the door prompted her to select a planet. Her heart skipped a beat as she typed in Earth and watched an image of her home planet appear before her eyes. The pod requested confirmation and as her hand reached out to confirm the building gave another shuddering rumble.

Her fingers curled sharply, just barely avoiding the screen, as her a single word rang out through her entire being, Vegea.

He was not perfect. He could be hard headed and down right infuriating, but he had risked his life for her. He could have abandoned her here but he didn't. And she wouldn't abandon him here either. Bracing her shoulders against the back of the pod she shoved forward with her legs. The door popped open and she fell on her backside, but she leapt to her feet and ran back out the door.

As pods began shooting off behind her she stumbled with every rumble of their takeoff but she managed to keep her footing. She did not know the hallways like the meuhvache did but she ran ahead anyway. As she ran she noticed a trail of blood beneath her feet. Slowing to stop she gazed down at the streaks. Following the trail with her eyes she saw a door ahead was propped ajar, and a pool of blood had dried before it.

As a chill ran down her spine she approached. As she grew closer she say the bloodied body of a meuhvache within the room. As she edged around the corner of the doorframe she cried out in horror as she recognized the beast on the floor. Dropping to her knees whilst letting out a wail of anguish Bulma reached forward with one hand then sharply drew it back, clutching her hand to her chest. It was the hand that had been crushed, the hand that had been healed by the beast on the floor in front off her. Its wings that had once been tucked in so tightly were sprawled across the floor, coated in blood. Her gentle eyes were lifeless sockets.

Crying out Bulma's mind flashed back to this very room, to the door opening and her tormentor walking through the door. She remembered the blood gushing between her fingers and under her nails as she ripped that bastard's evil eyes from his sockets. But they had not belonged to the bastard.

"Mama moo," Bulma cried out as she sobbed hysterically. I did this. I killed her. I killed the only creature in this whole arena that tried to help me. Oh god, what have I done?

Hauling herself to her feet she ran as fast as her feet could carry her. Her eyes blurred with tears and when she ran straight into a hard surface she never saw it coming. Wiping her eyes she gazed up at the object that had obstructed her path. Her heart fell to her ankles as she gazed up at Vegeta. Her skin prickled as his blood red eyes met hers.

His eyes aren't red…

"V-V-Vegeta?" she stammered, her voice catching in her throat as he stood before her. His nostrils flared as his foot flew before him, catching her square in the jaw and sending her flying down the hallway. As she bounced against the floor her shoulder gave a loud snap as it took the brunt of her weight, leaving her in agonized tears by the time she rolled to a stop. As Vegeta advanced toward her she desperately crawled backwards, her hand slipping in the pool of Mama moo's blood.

As the back of her head hit the hard stone floor tears flowed freely from her eyes. I'm surprised I have any tears left to shed. But as she lay there in misery, her jaw shattered, her shoulder crushed, her head leaking blood, Vegeta appeared above her. Her jaw could not form the words so she pleaded with her eyes and for a moment Vegeta just gazed down at her.

But the moment passed and Bulma could only watched as he raised his white saiyan boot before swiftly bringing it down over her eyes.

The pain that exploded from her brain was excruciating. For several moments she could only lay there.

Wait…I should be dead. My skull should be crushed beyond recognition. How is it that I can feel anything?

The pain had not ebbed by the time Bulma managed to open her eyes. She founded herself once again strapped to a cold metal table. As she tried to move her head the pain exploded once more.

"Now, now. You mussst not move" a voice hissed in her ear. As she pried her eyes open she watched as a scaly claw extended over her vision, reaching up to her forehead and yanking out a syringe. At last sweet unconsciousness swept up and pulled her into its longing embrace.

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His dissent back into consciousness left him dazed and confused. All around him faces were peering down. But at the foot of his bed his own face starred back at him, but as his mind slowly returned to its senses he realized it was his brother. His brother stood with his arms crossed, glaring at his with those red eyes.

"He'sss awakeee," a voice said snidely. The reptilian head of the lead researcher appeared before him. "A traitooor you areee," he hissed angrily.

What went wrong? I freed them. I sent this place free. I sent them home. I freed her. What…

"It seemsss that even wheeen someoneee knowsss of Medooon and her powersss they still fall viiictim to theeem," Crone chuckled, "to deeeath with youuu."

He watched as his brother strode around the bed until he was next to him. He set me up. He ratted me out. He betrayed me…

He felt his whole word crash to pieces around him. His brother, his own brother.

"When you opened the releassse for the chaaamber it was Medooon insideee. Ssshe ssseized your mind asss ssssoon asss you releasssed her," Crone continued, the scratching of his pen on paper growing louder.

"The sssaiyan wasss never ssset free, nor was hisss woman. Medon has been having fun with theeem," Crone said as he finished writing and set the clip board down on a nearby table.

"Round fooour is about to beeegin. I hope you're reeeady."

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Our hero Bulma's torment never seems to cease. Has Vegeta betrayed her, turned on her? Or is some other trickery afoot? A well intentioned meuhvache granted us a glimpse into his endeavors, was all his work in vain? Find out next time on Dragonball Z!