A/N: Oops. Um, scratch what I said about Adrift not getting powerlevels. I will be putting those up within a week or so. Don't know why I said it wouldn't have them.

Chapter Three - Escape

The wind blew fierce and biting, howling as it plowed through the valley's of the sharp Glacier Peaks. The whiping winds blew the falling snow about savagely making it impossible for the young woman on the balcony to see anything but white. With a sigh she turned and entered her room again shutting the door and locking out the cold. "I hate this planet, I want to go back to Saiya." she said pouting. "I don't even know why I'm here..."

"You're here because you didn't want to be away from me for four months." a man said from across the room. He was sitting at a table bent over a bunch of papers and writing something.

The young woman sighed. "Not that we've had any fun since we got here. It's been non-stop blizzard for the last month and nothing but you working..."

The man sighed. "I told you this was a business trip Hun." he said running a hand through his black hair. "I need to finish up these reports for the morning, and then I've got a meeting with Cooler that'll probably go all day." He looked across the room at Pan who walked over and fell back onto the bed bored. "Why don't you call Bra? Have her come out here."

"And do what?"

"Well..." He sighed, she had a point. Planet Cooler wasn't exactly full of fun. No theaters or malls or anything like that. Suddenly he grinned. "If you want to free up my schedule you could always go talk to Cooler. Tell him you're bored and ask him to spar with you. I'm sure he'll be too sore to move tomorrow. And I'd be eternally grateful for a day off."

"Oh?" she asked sitting up and cocking an eyebrow. "Just how grateful are we talking about here?" she asked coyly.

"Well. Since you seem to like this room so much I wouldn't mind staying here all day." he replied with a grin.

Pan leapt off the bed, walked over to him, and kissed him. "That's the best idea you've had all month 17." she said grinning. With that she turned and left the room.

17 chuckled as she left. Then, with a sigh, he turned his eyes back down to the paperwork. Reports after reports, so annoying! Why did they even need him for this? Didn't they have paper pushers for this sort of thing? And it wasn't like Cooler even cared about what was happening in the other parts of the universe. 17 closed his eyes and tilted his head back. "Boring, boring, boring." he muttered.

"Well, maybe I can help with that." a voice said from the door.

17 lowered his head and opened his eyes again. Standing in the doorway was a blue skinned woman with long red hair that glistened in the light. She had purple eyes, was only about four foot tall, and wore the normal blue and yellow armor of a non fighter. "Shiva, what's up?"

"Not sure exactly sir. I received a call from Saiya earlier, it was Ms. 18. She said to tell you the guest she's been expecting has arrived..." Shiva was obviously confused by the message, but 17 knew.

"Thanks Shiva." he said with a nod and a wave. She nodded and left. Now 17 was happy that Pan was gone, she'd be to nosey. The Android stood and moved over to his communications console. It took a moment to break through the storm and a few more seconds to get through on Saiya. Finally 18's face filled the screen. "I got your message. How is she?"

"Eating." 18 laughed. "I've got the cover set up already too."

"Good. Listen, I heard this morning that Kakkarotto, Gohan, and Videl are on their way back to Saiya... I still think you should talk to one of them. If any of the other Masters would understand, it would be those three."

"I'll think about it."

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Lightning flashed overhead as the constant downpour continued. "God, I hate this weather." Frieza said, his tail whipping about behind him in agitation. "Non-stop rain for months, not a single ray of sun shine. I'm tempted to move my palace to another location." He glanced behind him at the large monitor as the sound of chuckles reached his ears.

The large monitor displayed Cold, larger than life, and sipping some wine. "I did warn you, didn't I?"

"Yes, yes, you did." Frieza said with a sigh and turning around. "It just feels like I'm drowning, with this water falling constantly." He shook his head. "Anyway, what's this about father? I thought you had important business on Earth?"

"That's where I am." Cold said. "I'm simply collecting reports at the moment. But tomorrow I'm expecting a visit from someone... important."

"Oh? Do tell father, do tell."

Cold grinned. "Inferna's coming by. I think she's finally going to join the Empire. Her galaxy is all that's left to claim, and then we'll have all four."

"You're kidding? She's finally going to join? Took her long enough. What made her change her mind?"

"She's getting old." Cold said with a shrug. "But that's not why I contacted you. I was wondering if you'd found that Human yet... what's his name? Tao?"

"No, not yet. He's a slippery one. I just got a report in a few minutes ago from Kanassa. Seems he attacked them looking for some kind of ancient relics of theirs. Something called Soul Spheres. I don't know, but he's up to something."

"I'd say." Cold said nodding. "Your brother called me earlier, told me what it was that was stolen from that temple on Arlia. Something call the Soul Forge."

"Soul Forge? And now the Soul Spheres... that can't be coincidence... But how could they be on separate planets?"

"The ancients perhaps?" Cold said with a shrug. "He could be after something of theirs, putting it back together. Like that earring thing we found on Meat. What is it again? Potoro?"

"Potara, father, Potara. And you could be right. I'll send out the Ginyu force to track down the reports and find him, Zarban's had no luck. I wish his Father was still alive, Zarbon was far more useful, even if he was weaker."

"Good. I'll speak to you again after my meeting with Inferna." With that the screen went blank.

He stood there looking at his reflection in the screen for a moment. The sight of himself in his fourth form, he'd taken to remaining in it a few years ago, made him wonder how much longer it would take for him to reach the fifth form like his brother. He smiled at that. Once it happened he'd become the fourth strongest being in the universe. Only Vegeta, Kakkarotto, and Gohan would be stronger than him then. Then he'd be able to make that annoying Cell eat dirt for once. "Well, it's not that important. I have other matters of more importance."

Frieza turned and floated out of the room and into the main hallway. His throne chambers were down the hall to the left but he turned right as his destination was elsewhere. "Perhaps I should reconsider Ginyu's request for replacements for Guldo and Burter. It has been five years since Guldo died and three since Burter's death. The three of them have dropped in performance over that time... Not sure if Zarban is their type though, but Dodarla, she's as bizarre as them, nothing like her father."

Frieza rounded a corner and came to wait at what appeared to be a dead end. However, the floor opened up and he began to float down. There were only a few elevators in the palace, most of them were just chutes that you had to float up and down on your own. After a few moments he emerged through the ceiling on another floor, the chute he'd taken was a direct route from the top floor to the bottom. The hall he'd emerged into was long and dimly lit. He flared his aura up slightly to brighten the way.

He floated past several doors with small windows but ignored them. He'd nearly reached the end of the hall, passing several other halls along the way, before finally stopping. Turning he pulled open the door. Inside the chamber was one man chained to the wall with special shackles designed to hold stronger people. He looked almost like a Sai-jin or Human, except he was bald, and antennas, and was green. "Well hello again Nail." The man simply grunted and glared. "Heh heh heh. My, my, where are your manners? It's polite to say hello."

"Piss off Frieza." Nail spat.

Frieza shook his head and laughed lightly. Suddenly his tail whipped out and the point slammed into and through his abdomen and poked a hole in the wall behind him. Nail coughed and spat up purple blood onto Frieza as the Changeling pulled his tail back out, also covered in blood. Frieza crossed his arms as he waited for Nail to regenerate. At first the Namek had avoided doing so in an attempt to die so Frieza wouldn't get the information he wanted.

That had been corrected when Frieza had shown the Namek a handful of the other prisoners and said he'd kill them all if he didn't regenerate. Nail thought he was bluffing until Frieza had blasted off one of their heads. That had changed the Namek's attitude quickly, as Frieza had hoped. The Changeling smiled as the wound healed. "Now, Nail, let's start over. Hello."

Nail growled and spat more blood onto Frieza's face. The Changeling narrowed his eyes and his fist shot forward smashing into Nail's stomach with a loud crack. "You are trying my patience Namek. Now, once more. Hello."

Nail smirked. "Fuck you."

Frieza raised an arm and pointed the finger at one of Nail's knees and then blasted a small hole through it and then aimed at the other and blasted a hole in it as well, the whole time Nail screaming despite not wanting to. "If you wont be civil, Namek, than neither will I. So let's get to the point, shall we? Where is your planet?"

"Sorry Frieza, but you'll get nothing from me." Nail said raggedly as his knees healed. "I'll never tell you where Namek is, I wont let you slaughter my people."

"You are beginning to annoy me Namek." Frieza said coldly. "You still have a few hundreds years of life left in you, and I'll never die. You'll break eventually. Everyone does." Frieza paused for a moment and then smirked. "Though I could speed things up a bit, couldn't I?"

Nail looked at him confused as the Changeling turned about and floated toward the door. "I shall be back shortly Nail. And then I will learn what I want to know." and with that Frieza vanished out the door.

Nail let out a sigh of relief at the short reprieve though he was worried about what Frieza was up to. "I can't let Frieza know where Namek is, no matter what. If I do then the wish will have been for nothing and my people will be destroyed. It was Guru's last desire to have Namek hidden from those who did not know it was there to protect his people, I will not fail him, no matter what."

Nail waited in silence for several moments. His mind tried to prepare itself for whatever Frieza had in mind. Several moments passed and still the Changeling did not return. Nail was beginning to think that, perhaps, Frieza had been bluffing. Or maybe he'd been called away on something. That's when he realized the cell door had been left open. "Frieza, you fool! I knew it was only a matter of time before you slipped up, and now is my chance!"

Nail turned his head toward his left arm and fired twin beams of energy from his eyes cutting off his hand and freeing the arm. In an instant he regrew his hand and then did the same to the other arm. With both arms freed he blasted off his feet, cringing at the pain, and floated free and regenerated them as well. Nail pushed his power as low as it would go and stretched his senses out for nearby powers.

His mind cringed as it found dozens of other people within the cells around him, all of varying strengths, and all of their energies laced with pain and suffering. "I wish I could help you but I'm afraid I cannot my friends. I must escape from here in order to keep my people safe, they must come first."

Sensing no powers of any threat Nail moved from the confines of his cell and turned down the hall. He moved quickly down it to one of the adjacent corridors and turned down it as well. He could remember feeling Frieza's approach for the first few years, he'd always kept his senses open then, and always Frieza came straight down the hall. His best chance was to go a different way.

He moved down the hall quickly and took a right at the next intersection. After going for a while he made another left. At the end of the hall he glanced up at the ceiling and found an opening. He frowned, flying up would mean needing to raise his power to a detectable level. "Surely there has to be a stairway or an elevator somewhere."

He turned to go back and then felt Frieza's power enter his range of sensing again and moving toward his former cell, and with a few other powers with him. "Damn, no other choice." Nail raised his power slightly and began a slow ascent up the chute. As he went he kept his senses trained on Frieza and the others with him. He'd gotten at least half-way up before he felt a minor spike to Frieza's power and then one of the smaller ones vanished.

"Find him now!" Frieza shouted. Nail grinned and continued his climb. A moment later he felt two of the low powers nearing his location and looked down. A second later he heard shouts that they'd found him and, with a silent curse, powered up completely and shot up the rest of the chute in an instant.

He broke through the door at the top and emerged into one of the upper floors. He could feel a few powers in his general area but nothing to worry about. With a quick glance around him he picked a direction and shot off that way, his green aura flaring up about him quickly. As he moved he made several turns at random looking for an exit as more and more powers began to gather behind him.

And then two high powers smashed into his senses from in front and above. Quickly he pulled to a stop intending to turn back but the ceiling a few feet away exploded downward and two forms descended down. The first was a tall man with a blue-green skin tone that was much closer to blue than green. He had long dark green hair that hung down to his waist and over his shoulders. His father had always tied it back but Zarban preferred to let it hang loose. His armor was white and brown with a blue white cape. It was, in fact, his father's old armor.

Floating down with him was a woman with dark pink, almost purple looking, skin. She had several small spikes on her arms and the top of her head, pointy ears, and blue lips. Like Zarban she wore white and brown armor but had no cape. She was a little shorty than him and her arms were thicker. Both had smirks on their faces as they looked at their prey. "Look what I found." she said.

"Looks like a lizard to me Dodarla." Zarbon replied. "I like fried lizard."

Dodarla cracked her neck. "Sounds good. How bout we make some?"

Zarban smirked and let out a cry as he clenched his fists. His armor, shorts, boots, and gloves all bulged massively and then shrank down some. Nail took a step back at the rush of power. The increase wasn't as great as other transformations he'd encountered, only about a third, but it still made this alien a bit stronger than him. And it made him rather ugly. His arms and legs were now massive and his face deformed, the nose now missing.

With a grin Zarban shot down the hall at Nail who just barely dodged around a fist aimed for his face. Quickly he brought his knee up and smashed it into the large alien's stomach and then backhanded him through a wall. Turning he blocked a punch from Dodarla before blasting her in the face with a quick KI blast. His two attackers out of the way for the moment Nail shot off down the hall again, both warriors soon trailing after him.

At last he reached a wall with a few windows showing that it led outside. Once more his eyes flashed and twin beams of energy cut loose and through the wall creating an opening for him. He passed through the hole leaving the warm confines of the palace behind him and emerging into the raging thunderstorm outside. The rain pelted against him as he moved quickly toward the ground and trees. Landing he pushed his power down again and started running.

"Shit!" he cried jumping off to the left and moving quickly as a large orange blast of KI surged down and smashed a massive crater into the forest floor. Nail was thrown a few dozen yards and through several trees before landing on the ground hard. He pulled himself back up shaking his head. With a grunt he ripped a piece of wood out of his abdomen and pitched it aside before fixing his injury. Once more he was back on his feet and moving.

He could still feel the two of them in the air searching for him. Their scouters would be useless, they wouldn't be able to tell him apart from the wild life. So their eyes scanned the forest for any sign of the running green man, not an easy task when the trees were green as well. Nail blended in far too easily for their tastes.

"Dodarla, you go left, I'll head right." Zarban replied in a deepened voice. "Fire off some shots as you go, try and flush him out."

"Right." she replied with a nod. The two split up and moved off in search of the Namek. As she went Dodarla fired several pink blasts of energy down at the forest below her blasting out sections several yards across. With each blast she got more and more annoyed. Finally she raised both arms above her and charged a large blast and pitched it down. The explosion rocked the entire planet and blasted out an area three hundred yards across. At the edge of the span she spied her prey regrowing an arm.

"Found him Zarban!" she shouted out before diving down toward him.

Nail growled and turned toward her, charging energy in his palms quickly intending to blast her. He never got the chance. Another voice rang out from within the trees and a few dozen yards to his left. "Dodon Ray!" Nail's eyes widened as he felt the power spike rapidly and then a large stream of golden energy tore free of the trees straight for Dodarla. The alien raised her arms to block the powerful attack which exploded upon impact and flung her backwards. She fell, smoke drifting off of her body, and power dipping down quickly.

Zarban reached the area a second later and saw no sight of the Namek or the person who'd attacked Dodarla. Dropping quickly he checked for a pulse. "Good, she's just out cold." he said changing back to normal and thumbing his scouter. "This is Zarban, sector 6, Dodarla is down and I've lost the target."

"Damn it!" Frieza's voice cried over the line making Zarban cringe.

"There's more, Master Frieza. The Namek wasn't the source of the attack that downed Dodarla. I heard the attack name, Dodon Ray. Tien has never left Earth, that means that..."

"Tao!" Frieza roared. "That wretched Human has made a fool of me for the last time! Zarban, contact Ginyu, tell him to find the Human and kill him!"

"And the Namek?"

"I want him alive!"

"Yes sir."