Vibrations ran through Frieza's hands as he gripped the rails of the Sand Strider. Even through the usually dull sense of touch that Frieza's cybernetics gave him, he could feel the rattle of the machine deep inside of his bones as its engine worked overtime to roll along the sand. The whole cage rattled, like the Strider would come apart or explode at any moment, and given that only six months ago it had been completely destroyed, it would have been completely understandable if the thing did erupt into some fiery explosion. It had been reconstructed only a few weeks after its initial destruction, but Frieza distinctly recalled the first time he rode in it- it didn't shake this much. Hence why he'd told Ford to look into building brand new ones instead of constantly rebuilding this one. It took some convincing- supposedly this thing had been in the village for generations- but the old man relented in the end. He'd already constructed work on them and had tasked Frieza with finding more metal to build them. Though Frieza wasn't sure where he would manage to scrounge the material, Hoda had mentioned something he intended to look into.

In any case, the pair rode out into the desert, and Frieza let out a sigh of relief as air rushed through the rebar cage and blew into his face. Merce too seemed relieved as the Arcosian looked over at him, the man's eyes closed for only a moment as he breathed out, then opening them to refocus on the endless desert ahead of them. Frieza too shut his eyes, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed over his body. The metal would heat up in the sun, providing the Emperor with some warmth as he took a nap, and the sunroof above his head would shield his eyes, giving him adequate shade. Who knows how far Merce intended to drive them after all, it could be a number of hours before they had to do anything.

But just as Frieza had gotten comfortable in his seat, Merce spoke up. His voice was drowned out by the wind, even though he was shouting, forcing Frieza to have to straing to hear him. "Hey! So when we get out there, you just follow my lead!" Frieza opened one eye at the man, offering him a small glare as he did so before letting out an annoyed grunt and sitting up, fully opening his eyes. An arrogant smile came over his face, his lips twitching into a thin line as his eyes twisted into a contemptuous glare.

"Ohohohohoho! Don't worry about me. I can handle it myself. I have my methods, you just worry about getting me to the beasts and loading them up when we're done." Frieza waved his hand at the man, dismissing him while rolling over. Merce, of course, shouted at Frieza, but the tyrant merely chuckled, easily blocking him out thanks to the wind roaring in his ears. If he couldn't kill him and he couldn't leave him here to die then he could at least annoy him. And that would have to be enough for now, as the tyrant let his eyes close, waiting for the time when he'd be woken up, letting the hot desert air turn cool as they raced through it, heading for parts unknown...

It was a while before the men came across their first Dunemaker. Long enough that Frieza had ended his nap and been wide awake when Merce begrudgingly pointed out a smaller-sized plume of dust a few dozen feet away from the Sand Strider, the cloud being wide enough that it had, supposedly, been an entire family of the Arthropods. Frieza hadn't bothered to check. Nor had Merce, as by the time he'd thought to try and discern how many were present, the Tyrant had already leapt from the cab of the Strider and took to the air, snagging his waterskin as he went and dragging a long drink from it as he raised high into the afternoon sky. Even now, Frieza could recall the skin-bleaching feeling of the sun as it beat down onto his form. It was hot on the ground, but Frieza had some protection in the form of the bars that made up the Sand Strider's roof. There, in the sky, the sun was remarkably oppressive. Even though he'd only been up there for a few moments, his skin prickled like it was being cooked alive.

Even so, Frieza knew he wouldn't have to be up there for long if he was quick. He shot his hand down towards the family. A wide grin split his lips as a twinge of light flew from his palm and pressed into the sand between the behemoths, giving the multi-legged beasts no chance to react, knowing that the beasts would retreat into the dirt as soon as they felt threatened. And by the time the Dunemakers noticed it, it was too late. A sizeable blast erupted from beneath them, one large enough to be seen from a distance, but not one that was too large. Frieza's plan had been to blast their undersides, which were soft and fleshy compared to their carapaces, and kill them easily while having the side-effect of blowing them out of the sand and into the air so he could collect them quickly and return to the car before the sun melted him.

Unfortunately, the Emperor had overestimated these creature's abilities, or he'd simply used too much power. The orb blasted apart the sand and the desert to kicked up like ocean spray. So far, so good, or so Frieza had believed. But what had rained down in the next moment wasn't the full bodies of dead creatures, rather... Bloody chunks of Dunemaker. A leg, still wriggling, slammed into the dashboard of the Sand Strider, nearly stabbing Merce with it and showering him in the creature's sickly colored blood. Frieza meanwhile had caught a rather large segment of torso. Glad for the fact that the cybernetics weren't his real hands, the Arcosian quickly went to store it in the back of the car, but Merce had other ideas. He'd stepped outside, raining insults down on the former Emperor. It had taken all of Frieza's willpower not to throttle him then, but he knew that if Merce didn't come back, Frieza wouldn't be allowed back in either, and a fate like that- trapped on this wretched planet under the boiling sun- was not a fate that he could allow.

Apparently, a single half-charred torso and whatever else they could scrounge up wouldn't be enough for the village or the men. So as much as he wanted to, Frieza wouldn't be getting off so easily. Still, he didn't have to take what Merce had given him, and so he declared that the next time they spotted a group, they would be Merce's responsibility to hunt.

It wouldn't take nearly as long to find another set of the creatures, but that time had gone about as well as their first. It was hardly as spectacular as Frieza's display against the creatures, but Merce's efforts were just as vain. By then, a dust storm had formed behind the men, one of the gargantuan ones that blotted the horizon out and turned it impossible to see for miles, Frieza was thankful that they were still a few dozen miles ahead of it, but he hadn't been paying attention to that as they drove. No, he was as eager to escape the heat of the setting sun as a child would be to escape their lessons for that day, and he was twice as diligent, watching the horizon like a bird of prey, hunting for even the slightest movement. And like the child who finished his homework as quickly as he could, Frieza's hard work paid off and he eventually spotted what he was looking for. A dust cloud, one a bit smaller than the first- only one Dunemaker this time. Merce had tried to get Frieza out of the car to shoot it, but the Emperor waved him off. He would honor his promise to himself and the cyborg, if Merce didn't like his tactics, well, he could hunt them himself. Besides, Frieza had done his part of their job. He'd spotted the cloud, now it was Merce's turn to do the work.

And so the man had done just that. Grumbling and muttering to himself, thinking his voice would be hidden behind the roaring wind and rumbling engine, Merce drove closer to the creature. Even when asked, Frieza simply turned his head to face the other direction when Merce needed help holding the car steady. And so, one hand on the wheel and the other hand readying to stab into the beast, Merce lunged down into the sand, letting go of the wheel as he jabbed his claw into the Dunemaker's form, getting sucked under the sand as the creature reared back and howled in pain. Frieza never knew such things made noise, and he surely wished he'd never found out after hearing the ungodly sound. Like the screech of a dying animal merged with the metallic screech of metal on metal. The beast's awful mandibles opened wide and it dove into the sand, carrying Merce away with it. Frieza laughed at first before noticing the car about to spin out. Quickly, he'd lunged for the wheel and, wobbling as he went, pulled the Strider into a stop.

As he did, Frieza breathed a sigh of relief before pausing... And quickly shooting up and out of the Strider, hunting the sand for the Dunemaker and his annoying ally, once again reminded about the predicament he would find himself in if Merce died. Just as Frieza was preparing to use telekinesis to blow away the sand around where he assumed Merce had gone, the man flung from the sand, bucked off and thrown away from the beast somewhere beneath the ground and into a nearby dune. Frieza hadn't bothered to try blasting the beast then, it was so deep underground that he knew he wouldn't get a clear shot.

Which brings them to now. The sun hung low in the sky, its burning gaze dulling behind the horizon, casting wide shadows across the ground and tinging the air and sky a glorious yellowish orange occasionally sprinkled with dark clouds. A few miles away, the dust bowl rages on but refuses to move... At least, not in their direction. It heads west, away from the men. Frieza was thankful for that, it would be safe enough to sleep here for the night at least. As much as he hated the idea of camping, it would be far more bearable this way, without the threat of dust covering him. He'd already gotten too much grime in his skin just from riding along in that hideous vehicle, it would take at least two baths before his skin was clean again- and that was with these gaudy clothes covering his body.

The silence of the campsite was only broken by the gentle crackle of the fire and the soft sizzle of cooking meat. The charred remains of the Dunemaker Frieza had shot earlier might not have been enough for the village, but it would provide Merce with enough energy to keep going without dipping into their reserves, which worked fine for Frieza. A small smirk formed on his face as the man knelt down, skewering the meat with his claw before sitting back down on the metal folding chair. At least his efforts had gotten them some gain.

As for the folding chairs, they'd brought two and set them up on opposite sides of the firepit, one so each man could have their own space while being able to sit close to the flames. After Bendez and Frieza's excursion, the Arcosian had carefully made sure to demand certain amenities be added to their survival supplies. Chairs, sleeping bags and two tents, at the minimum. He'd had enough sleeping on the ground for a hundred lifetimes, he'd die before he'd let himself be subject to that indignity again.

Slowly, Frieza's smirk died as the silence settled back around them. The awkwardness hung in the air like a blanket, one so thick that even Frieza felt smothered. It might have been cooler than it had been when the sun was up, but somehow, Frieza felt even less comfortable in front of the fire. The worst part was that it wasn't even Merce doing it. The other man had mercifully decided to avert his gaze away from him, but somehow... That wasn't helping matters.

After a moment, Frieza stood to leave. He wasn't hungry, he could go another few months before his body started clamoring for food again. Besides, he intended to get up early in the morning, the earlier they got started again, the more time they had to look for more of the beasts and the less time Frieza might have to spend outside in the godforsaken heat. But as he took a step, Merce's gruff and irritated voice cut through the air: "Wait..." Even his voice sounded like it was dragging its feet.

Frieza could relate. Talking to him was low on his list of things to do, and for a moment, Frieza nearly kept walking. It would have been easy to ignore the man, but he sighed. Slowly, he turned around to face the other man and rolled his eyes while settling his hands behind his back, using his left to hold his right wrist. "What? Going to yell at me again for using too much power?" Dryly, the man steps forward. "Or perhaps you're going to get angry about earlier. Its not my fault you're incapable of capturing even one of these pathetic creatures."

Merce flares and Frieza's lips twist up, a cruel look settling on his face. It was hell out here, but if nothing else, Frieza could torment his companion to take his mind off of the task that had been thrust upon him. But then, the man shuts his eyes. "No... No, you're right." He nods, spearing another chunk of charred flesh before skewering it into the fire, gently turning the meat from side to side as he let it reheat. "I screwed up on that mission. Even though you could have at least held the car steady... Its my fault, and its not the first time." He admits quietly as the chunk of meat sizzles softly. Pulling it from the flames, the man holds it in the air to let it cool. "The village..." He looks at the piece of meat blankly for a moment, his eyes narrowing like his words were about to stab him. "Its been starving for a while. You know that, but what you don't know is that I'm the only person who's been going out these last few weeks. Bendez has his hands full keeping the peace, Hoda's doing all she can to keep us from dying of thirst, Ford's too old and you... We don't send you out often enough for this kind of thing, but even if we did-" The meat, suitably cool, finds its way into his mouth and interrupts him as he takes a bite, tearing stringy, fatty pieces of meat with his teeth, easily biting through the nearly melted carapace- "You don't know how to hunt them at all, do you?"

Frieza stood for a moment, considering his question. He would have preferred to answer dishonestly. Claiming that he knew what he was doing and pretending like he'd only vaporized the creatures they'd spotted earlier in an effort to screw with Merce might have sounded fun on the surface, but he stopped himself. Frieza took his seat again and sat forward, letting the gentle heat of the fire wash over him. He hated being so close to it after the boiling day, but when the sun vanished over the horizon, the heat left with it. He didn't know why exactly, he'd read somewhere once that it went underground, but Frieza didn't know much about desert worlds to be able to know if that was true. He took a breath in. "Alright. No, I don't know how to hunt them. It hasn't been something I've had to do for months, and its not like I'm used to being forced to do menial tasks like this where I'm from."

Merce scoffs before letting out a half-laugh while nodding. "Ah yes, the fallen King." His tone changes, reverting to the one Frieza was used to- less like a man and more like a teenager trying to get a rise out of their betters. Frieza felt his mouth turn up as he bared his teeth in a snarl, but before he could speak- "But no, I get it." Merce nods, dropping the tone and even his half-grin as his eyes look back down at the meat. "No one bothered to sit down and tell you what the job was, I'd imagine. Bendez probably gave you a few pointers, and sent you out here, right?"

Frieza rolled his eyes but nodded and sat back in his chair. "What's your point? So I don't have the knowledge about this that you do." He looks up at the man now, looking him dead in the eyes, staring across the flames. "That's why you're here, isn't it, to help me? You find them, I kill them. Or that's what I thought Bendez wanted from our forced partnership."

Merce went silent for a moment, then stood. Beside him, the meat was nearly gone, a scrap or so left. He moved back to the Strider for a moment and rummaged around through it. Frieza watched him as he looked through the car, lifting his eyebrow at him. At first, he thought he was ignoring him. It wouldn't have been the first time, and it wouldn't have been tolerated if he'd been anyone else, but then Merce took a step away from the Strider, holding up a rather large sack, made from the skin of a Dunemaker- its soft underbelly, probably. He quickly moved back to the chair, sliding it back a few paces away from the flames before taking a seat and setting the bag down in front of him. He rummaged through it for a moment before producing something. It was thin, rounded, stick perhaps the length of Frieza's forearm. Along the top of it was a thick strand of something that looked like hair. He showed it to the man, letting him see it before speaking. "My point is, we're not working together. If we want to do this, then you need to know how to do it and I... I'm gonna have to teach you." Then, a small grin plays over his face. "Starting with this."

The two men stared at each other for a moment.
Then another.

"Are you... Gonna ask me what it is?"

"Oh no, I was just enjoying watching you look at me grinning like an idiot."

"You're not funny." Merce sits back in his chair.

Frieza scoffs, smirking at him. "Really?"

He stares dead for a moment before letting out a tiny scoffing chuckle. "Alright well maybe a little funny." He mutters, sitting back up again as he once more focuses back on his task. In the gloom of the fire, his face took on a much more serious expression as the flames casted shadows against it. "But right, these are high grade explosives. The doc makes them out of some stuff we usually mine from the reservoir cave. You light one up-" Merce extends his hand forward, bathing it in the fire as he stands, causing the spark at the end of the explosive to light up, it casting sparks on the ground like hot metal being grinded against stone- "And then you toss it-!" He hurled his hand back before throwing it forward, throwing the small thing ahead by a few paces.

A beat passed, and after a moment the thing erupted, creating a pitifully small explosion in the dirt, but one that caused the sand in the dune to shoot up, scattering it for a few dozen feet! For a moment, the emperor looked on with confusion. That thing was pitifully small, but it packed a hard enough punch to easily cause one of the creatures to be blasted apart. What could it have possibly been used for? Mining, maybe, but hunting?
But then he thought about it. These creatures tended to consume sand but they still needed to breath, so they'd usually stay only a few paces below the surface, causing them to kick up ripples through it when they moved, which meant...

"You use that to blast them out of their hiding places? Surely that'd kill them."

"Yeah it would, which is why we don't use it on them directly." He smirked. "Dunemakers, see, they tend to travel in herds. The ones we've been meeting are probably males or small family units that were either thrown out of the herd or fell behind." Frieza listened intently as the other man spoke, his tone growing more comfortable as he walked over to the remaining piece of meat and picked it up. "But!" He holds it up. "Notice anything about the one's we've seen today?" Then, before Frieza could answer, Merce continues. "They were headed west." He points off towards the horizon. "All of them." He steps around the crackling fire and stands at the edge of the dune the pair were camping over, towards where the sun had set. "If it were just the one I failed to hunt, I'd just assume it was a rogue, but we saw three others this morning. I'm willing to bet a herd came through here earlier. If we can catch up to them, we could blow the roof off of them with my explosives and then you could-" He turns around and points at Frieza, and the Emperor realized he was mimicking his Death Beam. "Child killing technique- Child killing technique-" He mimed a firing motion with each sentence, pretending to blast Frieza then the fire.

But the emperor's eyes narrowed. "Don't do that." Standing, the alien hissed like a snake who's tail had been stepped on.

"What?" Merce scoffs. "You were going to use that magic of yours to kill that kid, or did you forget?" Stepping towards Frieza now, Merce glared into the Arcosian's eyes. In his Fully Sealed Form, the pair of them were almost perfectly eye-to-eye. "Because I haven't. I know what kind of person you are." He whispers. "And as much as we need each other, I don't need to treat you like you're not a monster."

Frieza stared at the other man for a moment, measuring his response. Easily, he could kill him now. Even easier, he could threaten him until he agreed to never speak another word in his presence ever again. But Frieza knew that both of those would be stopgaps at best. Killing the man would only leave the Arcosian without a chance to escape this world, and threatening him would work but... Only for a time. These people. They didn't know respect. It was paradoxical in a way, how easily he terrified them and yet how casually they disregarded their fear to speak ill of him while in his presence. How even their children made rumors of him, none flattering, only a few meant to scare their peers from him.

Threats were a band-aid. It was time he pulled it off. If fear could not keep them in line, then perhaps it was time for a different approach.

"I don't care what you think of me." His eyes fell, losing their anger in an instant. "But." Then they flare up again and the man leans forward ever so slightly, using their height difference to his advantage, forcing the other man to feel small, even if only a little. "If you want me to work with you, I will not tolerate any further disrespect." His tone was low like a predator growling at a scavenger. "You may treat me as an equal." He growled softly. "Or as a better." Head cocking to one side, his tone shifted, from a snarling predator to a stern CEO. "But not as a lesser. Not as long as you want me to help you. Am I clear?"

Merce looked down for a moment, then taking a step back from the Arcosian. He stayed there for a moment, as if thinking of something. Eventually, he sighed. Taking a breath before looking back up at him, he spoke. "Alright." He nodded once, looking the other man in the eye before extending his hand out, fingers together, a handshake. "Deal."

"Deal." Frieza returned the nod and took the other man's hand. The pair shook just once before stepping away, Frieza immediately turning towards his tent, the green fabric reflecting the dimming light of the fire, inviting him to escape the world with absolute darkness. Merce though, he stood there for a moment, looking towards the retreating alien, watching him go. After a moment, he vanished behind his tent's curtains, leaving the small figure alone in the night. Frieza didn't know how long Merce stood there, probably only a few moments, but it didn't matter to him. But as he left, the other man stared out at him, thinking.

Merce watched him vanish behind the curtains, letting out a sigh. He loathed him. That alien was the epitome of everything Merce hated in the world. He was arrogant, he was demanding, he was a threat to his people. From the moment he'd arrived, Merce had seen him as a ticking time bomb. A wild animal- and worse, a cornered one. Every day he stayed with them was a day he came closer to killing one of them. He'd nearly killed a child not long into his stay, blasted a hole through several layers of their ship's hull and nearly killed who knows how many others in the process.

Hoda had been right earlier, though Merce hated admitting it, even to himself. The man had gotten better since that first week. Hoda felt they would be safe around him, so long as they took care to make themselves scarce when his gaze turned annoyed.
Maybe she was right. Maybe all he needed was to have his boundaries respected.

Merce's look hardened for a moment. How dare he demand that his boundaries be respected, when he violated any and everyone else's? How dare he make any demands of them after nearly killing a child? Anger swelled in his chest like a sack of bile. That monster, that disgusting, awful creature deserved nothing.

But maybe that was wrong.
Maybe Hoda was right.

Merce hated the man. But he was still a man. Still a person.

And like any person, he had feelings, he had boundaries. He had emotions.

Merce didn't have to like him, didn't even have to think better of him. But in that moment, he took a breath and resolved himself. If nothing else, he would try to respect the man's feelings. His way wasn't working, Hoda was right. Just this once, he'd try it her way. And when he opened his eyes again, a silent promise was made. That alien... That man was still a man.

And he deserved to be treated like one.

"Ready the car!" Frieza orders, stepping onto the dashboard of the metal cage, using his hands to support himself as he prepared to launch out. "Once you blow their hiding place out, I'll blast them and we'll be done here!"

"Actually!" Merce called out, shouting to be heard above the wind. For a moment, Frieza considered ignoring him and jumping anyway. It would have been rather funny if he had, but the man stopped and glanced back at Merce, waiting for him to continue. Who knows, maybe he had some other insight to give. After all, last night had ended... Abruptly. The cyborgs locked eyes with one another before Merce spoke. "I was thinking! We kill these guys here, we have to transport them back, meat goes bad in a few weeks, we're back out here!"

"Yes I suppose we'd have to find more of them then, wouldn't we?" Frieza replied dryly, jerking his head in a half-shrug. "What of it?"

"What if we herded them? Me and Bendez have thought about doing this in the past, but we never had the power to do it ourselves. You though, think you can keep them all contained in a small area and force them to follow us back to the Plateau?" Merce asked.

"To what end? You haven't got a way to store them." Frieza asked, glancing behind them as he does, staring dead at the gigantic plume of dust that was slowly gaining on them. Dunemakers. It hadn't taken very long for the men to spot the herd they had talked about the day before, a fact Frieza was thankful for. He wouldn't be spending any longer than he had to out here after all.

"They tend to graze in one spot for a while before moving again. I figure its worth a try to attempt to corral them, don't you?"

Frieza sighs and rolls his eyes. "I suppose its worth a shot. Just make sure I can actually see them, and get ready to lead us back to the Plateau." Frieza commands, and Merce nods before flashing him a thumbs up. "Oh right, one other thing." Frieza's left eye glows, and both of Merce's eyes glow as well. "This way we can better coordinate."

"...How did you think of this before me?" Merce's voice came through much clearer than it had before, even the roar of the wind barely dulled it. This was thanks to the communicators built into both of their skulls. Giving the men a chance to communicate long distance, with zero chance of miscommunication.
Frieza hated using it, hated the idea that they had put anything in his head... But allowed himself a devious smirk at Merce's question.

"I've used technology like this before. What? Yota hasn't told you all about Scouters yet? Ask her when we get back, I'll appreciate the break." He quips before quickly blasting away from the man and high into the desert sky. Like a a burning star, Frieza strikes through the air. He stops just below cloud level, sighing as he does. While it wasn't nearly as bad as yesterday, today was still blistering. Sweat dripped from his shoulders and back, but Frieza ignored it as he focused on the ground below, letting his energy flow through his body, forcing it to pool at the edge of his shoulders. It felt weird, not pumping it all directly into his palms, but he knew better than that. The cybernetics weren't built for that kind of energy storage, they'd explode if he tried it. 'Come now, hurry it up...' Frieza thought to himself as he watched Merce- who's vehicle was barely larger than an ant- race far ahead of the Dunemakers and, once he was far enough from them, unleash what must have been hundreds of the explosives from the back of the Sand Strider. For a brief moment, Frieza felt a twinge of concern. How many of them had Merce been carrying with them? More importantly, how was he so confident driving like a maniac with so many explosive devices tied to their only mode of transport.

Thankfully, Frieza chose to disregard these thoughts as-

A volcano of sand erupted, even Frieza's eyes widened at the blast radius and he quickly yanked his face coverings up to protect his mouth and nose from the dust that followed him up here. It was insane to see, so much of the powder all the way up here, surrounding the man on all sides. It only lasted a moment, but in that time it felt as though he had been blinded for hours.

Frieza almost wished it had really blinded him once it was gone.

There had to have been hundreds of bodies, all wriggling and writhing over top of one another, now all exposed to the bright light of the surface. Dunemakers generally chose to swim just beneath the sand, something about them escaping the sun- Merce had informed him of it earlier, though Frieza had hardly been listening- so they didn't immediately notice that their hiding place had been exposed. Not that it would matter. That many bodies at once, it would be impossible for them all to bury beneath the sand again, giving the Arcosian a chance. He pulled the scarf off of his face and sucked in air. It was still stiflingly hot up here, and though the clothes saved his skin from the sun, they hardly did any favors in the heat.

He focused on the ground below him. Merce's plan had taken the Arcosian almost by complete surprise, but he sighed and shut his eyes. He didn't have good control over his energy in his True Form, but in his Fully Sealed Form he might have a chance. The purpose of these forms for his species was energy conservation, true, but his family in particular had changed their reason for being: Energy control. His power especially was so great that Sealed Forms was almost a requirement- and he had learned to become very good at controlling his power in this state.

Thus, his eyes opened again not a few seconds later and his hands shot down towards the ground, then their stance widened to encompass as many of the beasts as he possibly could. Just as he was ready, twin titanic blasts of energy erupted from each palm and tore through the sand like gargantuan pillars of moving light. The beasts at the edge of the herd instinctively moved away from Frieza's attacks, corralling them into the center, transforming the mass of bodies into an even greater one. The Emperor grit his teeth so tightly that it nearly looked as though his veins would burst at any moment, as though his teeth would break apart like shattered glass. The pressure was intense. His whole body strained against itself. His unnatural, cybernetic, limbs... They weren't able to handle the stress of so much energy flowing through them. Or rather, they were barely able to. They were designed to take some strain, but not for an extended period of time.

As much as he liked Merce's idea...

"Its not going to work!" He announced over the communicator. "I'm abandoning this! Get ready to collect the bodies!" He ordered.

"Wait, why not?!" Merce shouted over the line, his voice hardly audible over the rush of water that was the falling energy. Or perhaps it was so quiet because of the strain in his mind. Either way, Frieza spoke through his teeth to reply.

"Don't question me! I'm the one with the power here! I know my limits and I can't keep this up the whole way back!" It wasn't just that. Frieza also wasn't sure how long he could keep the columns from breaking through into the core of the planet. Even as they flew at high speeds, forcing the energy to carve through newer, fresher, layers of rock every second, his control wasn't enough. Eventually, the planet would be destroyed if he continued.

Merce fell silent and Frieza could picture him in his mind, seething with undo rage. No doubt thinking some horrible thought about his-

"Alright." Merce said softly. "Do what you can, just try to avoid vaporizing them this time. I don't know if we'll find a meal like this again in time."

Frieza immediately dropped the pillars and his hands fell in front of him as soon as he did, exhausted. But he quickly clenched his fists before splaying his fingers out in front of him. As the beasts below scrambled apart, all heading in dozens of different directions, Frieza narrowed his eyes. His ability to control a steady stream of energy was poor, but his family had one technique that they were exceedingly adept in.

A spiderweb of light crackled from his fingertips, six beams in total to start, all of which struck six Dunemakers through their abdomens, carving through their primitive brains with all the ease of a plasma cutter through hot steel- even leaving tiny melted spots in the armor where they had been shot. But the Emperor was fast. He didn't stop there. Another six fell, then twelve, then eighteen more. Purple waves of light from the sky like rain, dropping more and more bodies as he went.

A third of the herd was gone before the beasts had the opportunity to scatter, all struck down from the heavens. If the sun was an oppressive God, then Frieza had come to be his angel, striking down the unclean in service of the true believers. Once they had been killed, the Emperor set himself down and, begrudgingly, assisted Merce. So many carcasses couldn't be loaded onto the Sand Strider at once, even using the extra attachment used for holding bodies, but Frieza had a solution to that. He extended his hand out and focused on the remaining few beasts. After a moment, they floated into the air as though drifting through water. Frieza's body might not have been able to handle his full power, but he telekinetic skills had gone undamaged in Cooler or Goku's attempts to kill him.

"Right, you lead the way there. I suppose I'll fly." Frieza waved him off dismissively, smirking back at the mountain of bodies. Frieza had been concerned that his power was starting to fail him, but no. He was as grand as ever.
And he loved it.

"You sure?"

Frieza snapped his head over to the main, bewildered. "What?"

"I... Saved you a seat." Merce crossed his arms. "We didn't catch all of them, so we'll have to come back out here again in another month, probably, but... Well..." He looks at the pile as well, smiling softly at it. "This is gong to save everyone, which was our goal so..." His smile fell a bit as he motioned towards the passenger's seat with his head. "Figured I'd try saving you a seat. You know... A... Reward for doing good today."

"Hm." Frieza smirked. "Well, it would be rude of me to turn it down, though you could have been a bit less patronizing about the way you described it. Besides..." He shuts his eyes, wiping sweat away from his bio gem. "I'd be lying if I said I wanted to fly back there. Its far too hot for that in the sky." And while he could move at light speeds... He didn't know the way like Merce did. Then, he glanced at Merce, frowning. After a pause, the Emperor shook his head. "Well, get in. He ordered. "We've got quite the journey ahead of us, and I want to get there before any of this goes bad."

The two men clambered into the Strider and headed off in the opposite direction, blissfully, horribly, unaware that a dust bowl had once again erupted a few miles behind them, rapidly approaching their location...

The storm raged. The eyes of God stared out from the center of the cloud, washing hate out over the world. A hungry dragon, the storm flew forward on leather wings. It soared over the fleeing herd of Dunemakers, a cloud made from the darkest depths, it blotted the sun, granting the beasts beneath some recompense from its heat, though they were belted by the dust, rattling their spines as though by bullets.

Nearly, it paid them no mind.

Nearly, it had been so focused, so focused on the one man more than a dozen miles ahead of it.

But as the cloud passed them, only a canyon remained where the Dunemakers had been. As though the earth itself had been torn away from the creatures.

The storm raged, its eyeless form gazing upon the fleeing Sand Strider. Its sightless form seeing only one man.
The man that had nearly killed it.

The man who would be its meal.

"Open the gates."

Merce's voice sounded strange in Frieza's ears. Metallic, with odd reverberations in his tone. For a moment, Frieza questioned if maybe the villagers also replaced their vocal cords with cybernetics, but he knew that wasn't the case. In reality, it only sounded that way because of the long range communication system. Frieza hadn't seen it from this angle- the only other time they'd used it was when he and Merce were calling earlier. Now that he was calling Bendez, Frieza was left to watch it on the sidelines. It was almost fascinating... And oddly disconcerting to see only one half of a conversation.

"Yeah... Yeah- No he didn't shoot me." Merce sighs. "And yeah... We got..." He looks behind him at the gargantuan pile of bodies the pair had brought with them. "A lot. More than enough for the next few weeks if we get it in now."

Frieza rolled his eyes. "Does he have so little faith in me?" He crossed his arms. "Really Bendez, I'm appalled that you would assume I would shoot Merce." Smirking, Frieza speaks loudly, to the point where his words are probably being picked up if Merce's irritated look are anything to go by. "Because if I would have finished the job if I had."

Merce stops to glare at him, but Frieza just smirks wider. He wasn't serious. Well, he was serious about finishing the job, but he probably wasn't going to shoot Merce right that moment, and Merce seemed to pick up on this as he rolled his eyes... And then paused, narrowing them. "Wait... What do you mean you-"

A rocky grumble erupted from the area in front of the two men and both of them flicked their attention to the opening rock face. In the months since its construction, Ford had implemented hydraulic pistons into the rock. Powered by a field of solar panels, they were just barely able to force the boulder they'd placed over the entrance to the Plateau open. With grinding metal and the unfortunate scraping of rock on rock, the door eventually opened, spilling natural sunlight into the cavern and exposing...

Frieza's eyes widened.

There must have been more than a hundred bodies standing there. He noticed the men first. They, who had been away from their new home, rebuilding their old one so Frieza could fly it, stood in the doorframe like zombies. Ones that had been dead for far too long. Gaunt faces and sunken eyes, with their cheekbones poking out- as though their muscles had all but rotted away, leaving them as little more than skin pulled over bone. It wasn't only their emaciation which surprised Frieza though, but also how tan they had become. These people were naturally brown skinned, but the men were far darker than the women or the children. The men looked like they had been dipped into frying oil while the women, and even the children were almost pale by comparison.

As for the women, they weren't nearly as poorly shaped as their husbands, fathers, sons or brothers, but they were still skeletal in nature. Their faces were haggard and sunken, their hair scraggly. Only the children, who huddled out in front of their fathers, staring forward towards the piles behind the men would hungry, ravenous eyes, seemed even slightly healthy. And even then, they were painfully thin. Their eyes hadn't sunken, but their clothing clung loosely to them, hanging off their small bodies like torn flesh.

Even they hadn't escaped the suffering of their village. Their parents had sacrificed as much for them as they could, but it hadn't been enough. Despite starving themselves, despite skipping meals, they had only barely managed to keep their children alive.

Frieza had seen them all before, of course. He knew of their broken, underfed bodies, their almost undead shapes... But this... This was the first time that he had truly seen them. In the light of the sun, all of their weakness was brought to bare. In the darkness of the cave, they had all almost blended together. But here, as a mass of dirty, rail-thin bodies, they were more distinct than they had ever been. The Sun, like God, threw away the cloaks they had used to disguise their situations. It revealed their true forms.

Desperate. Broken. Miserable.
In need.

Beside him, Merce stood stoic... Until he didn't. Face falling, the man turned his head away and covered his face with one hand, as if trying to hide himself-
And he was, Frieza realized.

He was trying to hide the tears he was shedding.

The two parties stared at each other for a moment. It stretched on for years. As though neither side was willing, or able, to speak. And just as Frieza was about to do something, a young boy was pushed forward by his father. Frieza paused, looking at the man with a strange, confused expression. He was clearly the one starving most, so why didn't he go first? He didn't speak, but the man did. In a voice like death, he barely managed. "Go get something boy..."

Merce moved to grab the cart full of carcasses that the men had loaded up, but something compelled Frieza to move first. His hand extended towards the child with his palm up. The entire congregation tensed for a moment. The men, exhausted as they looked, seemed ready to bolt at any moment. Towards the danger or towards the boy, it didn't matter. Even though they were beaten, even though they were exhausted, the men would die for their children. Tired female hands came quickly to grab their children and yank them back, vainly trying to protect their most vulnerable from the wrath of the demon. Even the boy stopped dead in his stumbling tracks, frozen in terror as Frieza's hand glinted in the harsh sun.

Flesh tore as it was split. A torso wrenched itself free from the rest of the pile that floated just behind Frieza. Dripping with crimson, sickly gore, it floated forward and Frieza's wrist twisted to take hold of it. Blood dripped between three pronged fingers as the Arcosian clenched it between them. Then carefully, a spark of purple light pounced from his hand and enveloped the meat for only a moment, dazzling the world in a flash of amethyst. It vanished as quickly as it came. A candle in the wind.

He let it go, its sizzling gristle disgusted him, but he paid that no mind. It floated from his metallic palm, and over to the boy where it hung in suspended animation.

Wind blew through, the steam of the meat followed it as the boy stared, as though uncertain if the gift was real.

Then slowly, his hands extended to take the morsel. He held the meal close to him for a moment, glancing down at it and then back to Frieza.

The Emperor simply regarded the child. He didn't speak, nor did his face give away his intentions. It was the boy's turn now to do with the morsel as he wished. As far as Frieza was concerned, his duty had finished.

Quietly, the boy gave the Arcosian a tiny yet uncertain smile before quickly turning away and scampering back to his father. Once he did, the gates had opened. The village poured forth from the shadowed safety of their home and quickly surrounded the men. Gaunt and uncertain looks had fallen back into smiling cheers as the adults quickly surged forth. This harvest was more than the village had ever seen in one hunting trip, and the men cheered for Frieza as they approached.

Guarded, Frieza pulled away from hands slapping his shoulders and back. He'd politely or impolitely refused handshakes, yet could do nothing as children with fathers dying of starvation rushed forward and pulled his legs into hugs. Women passed him with thank-yous and kind smiles, twice over as they left with their meals that they would prepare for their husbands.

Merce too received the same treatment, but he, unlike Frieza, accepted the hugs offered by women, the handshakes given by men and the cheers of the children.
He, unlike the Emperor, had felt this feeling before.

And as the crowd moved past him with their cries of thankfulness, a strange feeling took hold in Frieza's chest. He couldn't explain it.
It was nervous and angry, excited and joyful, terrifying and anxious and elating all at once. It was like pride, he thought. But that didn't fit either. This was more than that. More than any of it. This was...

New.

New... And good.

It felt good.

And though he didn't know it, a small smile had taken root in his features as the people passed him. A smile which made its way into a grin, and a grin that didn't really leave his face for hours more.
He felt good. It felt good to help these people.

He couldn't explain the feeling, and he'd never felt it before yet...
It was the most wonderful feeling in the world.

Author's note: Gentlemen, I have decided to do something new for this chapter. Originally, it was going to be one large chapter- 15k+ words in total, a real monster of a chapter, just like the first chapter of the Cold Arc was.

As you can see, there is not one big chapter here.

There are two.

I split them in half as a test. Do you guys prefer the singular GIANT SIZED chapters? Or do you prefer that I break them apart like this? It won't effect the amount of content you get but it will effect how that content is read. Its up to you all to decide how you prefer your content. In any case, the next chapter probably won't end up being very big anyway. I originally was going to skip over this content and go right to the parts where these plots have been resolved but I realized midway through that chapter that this more low-stakes stuff was necessary for the development of the plot, so I hope you guys are alright with one more chapter of slice of life/low stake storytelling, because that's what's coming next.

(So, hi, this is me in the future typing. When I actually broke them apart, they turned out to be a lot more massive than intended. So enjoy 18K words worth of content for the next few weeks! In the future, I intend to have significantly shorter chapters coming out if you guys prefer them broken up this way. I genuinely have no clue why or how this stuff gets so big, I swear.)

And coming soon too. Since it will hopefully be only like 5k words in total.
And that's not the only thing coming soon. Like I said, I wrote half of the final chapter of The Desert Arc (I'm calling this an arc now) before I wrote this chapter, so expect to see that within a reasonable time frame as well. After this Arc completes...

We'll be moving into familiar territory, so for those of you who are seeking more action focused adventures... Oh don't worry, they're coming. But first, an announcement. One I'll make after this Arc is over with.

Now then, onto the reviews!

(Taken from FanFiction)

radesl: Great story, i wait for more

Me: Sorry to keep you waiting for so long

SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta: A new deal, huh? Is Cooler going to train with Goku?

Me: To answer this question, you'll have to keep reading. Though if you pay attention to the final line, you might get an answer...

(Taken from Ao3)

BlueMoods17: Very good chapter! I was listening to Cooler's Revenge soundtrack while reading and the combined experience was just *chef kiss * magnificent

Me: I'm not sure why I didn't respond to this last time, but here I am now instead lmao. Glad you're enjoying it! I take a lot of pride in my action scenes in particular, so it makes me happy to know that they're doing well.

knowAll: Remarkable Chapter!

Loved this!

I am so! Curious to see what new deal Cooler has!

And its very interesting seeing the differences in how to lead that each FD demonstrates.

Plus, some new, even if small, info about the Empire such as the removel of "undesirable" traits. Which, yikes, but not surprising.

And very proud of Salza for standing up to his beliefs.

Thanks a ton!

Me: Glad you're loving it!

You'll learn about the deal as time goes by.

As for the leadership part, I know I shouldn't tell you this but... I'll admit, that's actually a major running theme throughout all of Act 1 of this story, so keep an eye out for more of it going forward! You might be pleasantly surprised~

Empires are often pretty yikesy, but Frieza's Empire is substantially less yikesy than others! Well, aside from the
Genocide
Racism
Murder
Removal of undesirable traits
Slavery
Etc

Other than that its great!
Aheh... But you'll learn more about that part later.

Can't wait to hear more from you!

Alright well that's everyone. I hope you enjoyed reading this! Can't wait to see you all again really soon! Sorry about the four month wait it takes way too long to write these ahahahahaha byeee

And as always
Until Next Time, True Readers!