"Warning, severe hull damage detected. Warning, severe hull damage detected. Warning..."
It hung in the air all around him, the scarlet eye of God sat above, while from behind blinked his eager apostle, flickering in and out as if not to upset its god in its prayers. Red light beat down on his chest and back, one side scorching while the other a dull, neutral heat. The blinking light at his back did not act alone, a cacophony of sirens wailed behind it like a choir singing their prayers to the air, all acting as one singular entity. All trying to warn him. And at the front, a lone voice chirped and trilled at him in a female monotone, a sound that only grew with intensity as his eyes stopped ringing.
"...Severe hull damage detected."
"Severe hull damage detected."
"Severe hull damage detected."
For a moment, Frieza frowned. He couldn't feel anything. No, that wasn't quite right. He hadn't gone numb to the world around him. The heat from the bloodied star above his head, the blinding light as it shimmered off of the golden-brown sand and reflected against his metal limbs- those things he could feel. No... He felt, but he didn't feel.
For a moment, he simply stared out towards an endless expanse of desert. His eyes running over dune after dune, searching for something to focus on and finding the world completely and utterly barren. 'I'm in shock.' He thought vaguely, blinking for a moment as his eyes slowly drifted up, following something. Black in its coloration, thick and heavy with dark smog- metal burning, smoke from another wreckage some few miles away. 'I'm in shock.' Even his thoughts felt distant, echoing as though they were coming from hundreds of miles away, and from behind the blaring siren, they might as well have been. 'That can't have happened. I simply can't accept it and I'm going mad because of it! That must be it! I'm in shock!' And slowly, ever so slowly, that numbness to his emotions began to wear off and he felt it. It was small at first, a tiny pinprick of something building up in his chest, it poked through his sternum and like blood, began to blossom out from his Bio-Gem, filling his form with a new kind of heat.
And then he laughed just once. A shocked, nervous, almost mirthful laugh escaped his lips as he moved for the first time in what felt like centuries. Metal limbs responded to his commands sluggishly at first, but he slowly turned to look back at the wreckage behind him. Once, a towering pillar of beautiful, titanium as black as deep water, built to traverse the cosmos, designed to fly in the face of gravity and made to last for more than a thousand years... Had become nothing more than a few segmented chunks of smoldering iron. All in a single instant, this thing which had acted as his salvation, his sole respite, the very thing that kept him going had been destroyed. He remembered the crash. Oh, he remembered it vividly. He'd moved to turn his ship out of the way but the thing had not been built for maneuverability. It was a colony ship, it went very fast in one direction.
It wasn't designed to dodge, and even if it had been fast enough to do so... He would have been hard pressed to avoid the other craft. It had been driven by a madman, reentering a planet's atmosphere at that kind of speed, only an idiot would think to go so fast. Even for an escape pod.
His whole face tightened with a grin he could not explain. Maybe it really was insanity taking its hold over him, maybe he really had lost his mind after all this time, after all that had happened to him. All the suffering he'd faced, all the losses he'd accumulated over the year since his defeat on that dreadful world had finally pushed him over the edge and he had thrown himself fully and completely into madness! But even as those thoughts came through his mind, he knew to dismiss them outright. He hadn't lost his mind. No, he hadn't had the luxury of being insane. A madman wouldn't know what he'd lost, a madman would laugh as if there wasn't a care to be had!
But Frieza? Frieza knew all too well what had been taken from him. And as he grinned, he felt his whole body tense with power. Lightning arced up his chest and through his inorganic limbs, threatening to completely disable them as it did. All the while the ground began to quake as his fists formed and tightened in front of his face. The blossom that had started in his chest had spread, it had finally reached his mind. Power ripped from his body and took shape, a mauve flame of light erupting around him as he screamed with fury-
"WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU! I'LL MAKE YOU DREAM OF HELL!" A thunderous explosion blasted the sand away from Frieza's form as he shot into the ground and launched himself towards the smoke in the distance, "DO YOU HEAR ME?! YOU HAD BETTER HOPE WITH ALL YOUR HEART THAT THE CRASH KILLED YOU, BECAUSE IF I CATCH YOU I'LL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!" Every hope he'd had was on that rocket. This had been his one, his only opportunity to escape this wretched world and it had been stolen from him by- by- by some stroke of dumb luck?! By a pilot who hadn't the faintest idea of what he was doing?! No! Someone would pay! He wouldn't stand for this! He couldn't! Everything he'd worked for all these months- this past year- all the meaningless, meaningless... bullshit they'd put him through on this world- all of it was suddenly gone! Like it hadn't even mattered!
He was right back to where he started!
"What the hell happened?" Bendez asked, cupping his hand over his face and observing one of the two trails of smoke left behind by the crashes, "A technical error?" He pauses for a moment to look back at Ford, who was doing the same, watching the other one. The old man was silent for a moment, observing his side of things. Bendez didn't like it when he went silent like that, it meant that Ford was thinking carefully. And when he does that, it means he's got bad news.
"If it was," Ford licked his lips a bit nervously, "We're probably going to find out very soon. I doubt Frieza's taking his crash very well," And then as if to punctuate his words, the two men paused as the sound of screaming in the distance finally reached their ears.
"And here we go," Merce muttered, standing between the two men and glancing between both wrecks, arms crossed. Below him, Yota was staring dead at the wreck that Ford was focused on, her eyes filled with worry.
Before any of them knew it, a vibrant purple beam of light tore from Ford's wreckage and blitzed past the Plateau entirely, passing over their heads with enough force following behind it to blast the sand back and force it to billow around them for a moment before it was sent off, transformed into a massive tornado of sand and dust. The amethyst blur raced beyond them... And very soon came crashing down onto the other ship. Bendez frowned as he watched it, shaking his head, "It wasn't a problem with our ship was it, Ford?"
The older man shook his head softly, "No," He responds quietly, focusing on the other wreck, "There were two vessels up there. Frieza must have hit the other guy. Or... The other guy hit him."
"Should we be worried?" As soon as he spoke, a silence settled over all four of the villagers, one only broken by Merce.
"About Frieza himself? No. About whatever crashed with him... We should get everyone back inside," Merce seemed distracted as he spoke, keeping his eyes locked onto the open air. He squinted and Bendez followed his gaze. He tried to, at least. But try as he might, the old man couldn't see what the younger one could, "I don't think our new friend came down here alone."
CRACK
The millisecond that Frieza touched down, the sand around him exploded into the air like someone had carved a knife through the desert. And anything that hadn't been blasted away was turned to glass. For the first time in a whole year, Frieza was absolutely and completely enraged- and more than that, for the first time since facing that giant worm when he first arrived, he was able to bring the full brunt of his power against something.
Sand drifted through the air like ash. Slow, like snow, it fell through the air around him. For a moment, there might have been peace. Moving this fast, so fast that light vanished, time felt almost as though it was standing still. His head drifted, eyes scanning the area faster than sound until at last, he saw what he'd hoped to see. From the wreckage, a man stood against a twisted and melting doorframe. Body like a lizard, Frieza might have mistook him for one of Cooler's servants if it had not been for his color. He was dark, a deep grey color that was dotted with odd orange blemishes. Frieza wasn't sure, but they looked like bloodied bruises.
Blood dripped from a wound on his head, but the Zaltian- yes, that was the name of his species- did not seem perturbed by it. Instead, his eyes had gone wide with shock, and Frieza could just about see his mind putting the pieces together as he took in Frieza's form. The Emperor might have laughed, if he wasn't so fully and completely infuriated. The man had realized his mistake, but it was far too late to take it back.
Beneath Frieza's feet, glass cracked and then split apart into thousands of shards as he shot forward.
But the man was not so slow, and before Frieza reached him, the man's own aura exploded around him and he reached an arm up to block Frieza's attack, preventing the Arcosian from bashing his face in, but not from punching him through the metal of his ship. The Zaltian soars through the titanium exterior of the escape pod and embeds himself inside of it on the opposite wall. He moves to free himself from the metal, but Frieza is quicker, appearing before him in a matter of nanoseconds, this time getting the chance to wrap a metal claw around his face.
The dark skinned alien screamed as Frieza dug his metal claws in. His hands reached up and tried to pry the fingers from his face, but the Arcosian's grip tightened as he leaned forward, shoving the man by his head through the metal, "Do you know what you've taken from me?" Frieza asked, his crimson eyes bearing down into the Zaltian's dark ones, "DO YOU?!"
Frieza yanked his arm back before throwing it forward. The Zaltian's head banged against the metal and it creaked but didn't budge. He did it once, then twice, and on the third time, the titanium bent and split open, tearing the escape pod apart as though it were no better than a tin can. Pulling his arm back one more time as the man struggled vainly in his grasp, Frieza forced the man's body through the hole he had made with all of his might and the pair spilled out the other end and slammed into the ground.
It was then that he let the alien go, floating higher into the air as black energy crackled in his hand. There was an intense popping noise as the electricity in his cybernetics surged through them, trying to regulate the flow of energy Frieza was pumping into his arm. Too much more, and it might break. But Frieza couldn't bring himself to care about it. Even if he became merely a torso again, he would tear this man apart. No force could stop him now.
But it seemed that his enemy was not as defeated as Frieza had thought. The Zaltian's eyes snapped open and he lunged for the Emperor. Injured as he was, he wasn't going down without a fight. He raced towards Frieza and pulled his fist back. As he flew, the Zaltian's hand filled with a kind of energy of his own, forming a golden colored dagger of light.
"Oh yes, do feel free to give me something to work with!" Frieza said, letting a small grin play at his lips, his eyes widening with nothing but indescribable rage, "Its much more rewarding when they squirm!" He swiped his hand in front of him and the black ball of energy suddenly changed, its shape flattening and becoming a wave of crackling purple and black light which trailed just a bit behind his palm. As it swept before his vision, the attack vaporized a mile of sand and blasted the alien back. The man recovered quickly, but even that wasn't fast enough as by the time he managed to focus on where Frieza had been, the Former Emperor was already behind him.
Planting a kick to his head, Frieza sent the man sailing across the sky before launching himself forward to follow. The Zaltian turned, extending his other hand out and blasting Frieza with a massive beam of golden light. Frieza smirked in reply, increasing his speed while crossing his arms under each other. The attack struck him head on, literally so as he flew directly through the beam. Emerging on the other side unharmed, Frieza heard the man speak for the first time since they had begun.
"-Damn-!" He grunted as Frieza emerged from within his beam. But before he could say more, Frieza's hand lunged and grabbed his neck tightly. By now, they were close enough to the Plateau. That would be a perfect place to end his life, because it was probably where Frieza would live out the duration of his own. At that thought, the Arcosian felt fire surge through his chest again and his face tightened with rage. Frieza's other hand reached up faster than light could reach it and locked around the man's neck as well, squeezing as tightly as he could while shooting forward. After an instant that surely felt like an eternity to the man in his grasp, Frieza slammed them both to the ground outside of the Plateau. Now, there was an audience for his death.
Once more, the pair hit the ground with force, only now the Zaltian's exhaustion had caught up to him. Frieza lifted him above his head as he stood, and despite the difference in their size, the Arcosian had no less problem now than he would have if the man was several feet shorter. Tightening his grip in one hand, he pulled the other back, pointing all of his fingers forward as if to make a skewer. Around him, the villagers who had been going inside all stopped and turned to stare. For some, this was an affirmation of fears they had shared over the past few months, for others, they understood his pain- they knew how angry he must have been to lose his chance at leaving. And for those who truly understood him, they were the only ones to start moving forward, because they were the only ones who might have been able to save the newcomer's life.
Two small beings stood in front of a large blinking console. Embedded into the ship itself, the console was made up of a singular large computer screen and rows of blinking red, green, blue and yellow buttons. Rasin stood closest to the console, his fat, pudgy fingers tapping against the buttons directly beneath the screen, causing the sleek black thing to light up, revealing a crisp image of the world directly beneath the brothers. Miles below them both, they saw a rather surprising sight; Garkos had been beaten even worse than he had been when they left him. Not too grand a surprise, they supposed, Amond had battered the man pretty badly in their battle. He was already close to dying as it was, anyone could have harmed him.
What was more surprising, however, was his assailant. It was small, roughly a bit taller than the brothers, but no bigger than five feet. It's arms and legs were a glimmering coppery color that shone so brightly in the sun that it obscured their view of much of his body. But one thing was certain, beneath them was an Arcosian.
Long black horns jutted from their head, and beneath that was bright purple Bio-Gem. His skin was a bit darker than average for an Arcosian, but that was probably a side effect of the sun. He almost resembled a member of the royal family, but just as soon as the thought entered their minds, it was gone because...
"Ah, see here? A power level of only 140,000. In this form, at least," Lakasei pointed over his brother's shoulder, and Rasin seemed mildly irritated as he did, brushing his twin's hand off of him. Still, Lakasei seemed unperturbed, "If we were to attack together, we would be more than strong enough to destroy him, wouldn't you agree, brother?"
Rasin falls silent for a moment, frowning, "I am unsure, brother. Something about this one seems oddly familiar to me..." Due to the position of the craft, they were viewing the events unfolding beneath them from behind the Arcosian, obscuring his face, "It is as though I've seen him before..."
"You worry too much." Lakasei chuckled, leering at the screen, watching as a female Native of the planet approached the Arcosian, attempting to placate him, "Besides, imagine the reward. After all, this planet has an abundance of new slaves for Lord Turles and the prisoner. If we kill an Arcosian and take his body back to our Lord, coupled with the slaves and Garkos he'll surely reward us even more than we had hoped!"
Rasin sighed, "I suppose you have a point, brother... although..." He turned, looking past his brother and towards the vessel. The dropship they had taken was not particularly large. It could comfortably house themselves and around thirteen other people. It had been made for intersolar travel, and was outfitted with a lightspeed engine, a small kitchenette, a medical tank and precisely one bedroom. Just because it could house fifteen, didn't mean that it was made to. In all reality, it was built for short journeys between planets. Though as it stood, they could reasonably transport an extra fifteen slaves to Crusher Capital itself, or they could bring them onboard Amond's ship, The Branch, risking Amond taking credit for their capture, "I don't think we have enough room to house that many slaves, wouldn't you agree?"
Lakasei grinned with wicked glee in his eyes, and his brother returned it. The impish pair of purple skinned creatures turned their gaze back to the console, and Lakasei spoke, "Yes, I think it would be best if we thinned the herd a little."
"Then shall we?" Rasin asked, cocking his head slightly as he did.
"Not quite yet, brother. No need to risk killing Garkos, lets hold off until the woman moves him from the Arcosian. And while we do..." Lakasei tapped a button on the console and the doors that led into the dropship directly slid open. Lakasei approached the door and Rasin stood not long after, coming to a stop not far from the edge of the opening, just behind his brother, who placed his palms together. A dark purple aura shot around him as he began to charge energy between his palms, "Let us prepare our attack on the Arcosian. If we're smart, we can wipe him out in but one strike!"
His brother nodded, his grin not faltering as he put his own hands together and began to charge as well.
"Woman..." Frieza said dangerously, only taking his eyes off of the man whose neck was being constrained for a moment before refocusing on him, "Choose your next words carefully." He commanded, tightening his grip as the Zaltian tried to fight him off, "If you've forgotten, with the destruction of that ship I am no longer obligated to do anything for you."
"I'm not going to make you, Frieza," Hoda said softly, "You have a right to be pissed."
"But..?" Frieza growled, there was always a but with her.
"But... You shouldn't kill him. I don't think what happened was personal, and even if it was... Maybe you should... Talk to him about... Why he's here and if there is anyone else coming?" She offers, slowly reaching one of her metallic limbs up and setting her hand on his arm. Frieza considers for a moment, silently staring up towards the man, the only indication that he was even thinking about her proposal being the fact that his grip was alternating between closing his windpipe and letting him breathe just enough to not pass out. After a moment, the Arcosian hissed.
"I hate it when you have a point," Throwing the man to the ground, Frieza gave him time to gasp for air and cough up the sand that inevitably rushed into his lungs before extending his finger down towards him. A glistening pinprick of purple light shot through the air and hit the ground to the left of the Zaltian's head, nearly killing him, but missing just barely, "Well then, you heard her. Get on with it, my questions are just the same as the ones she proposed. Are you alone, vagrant?"
The man coughed, spitting up a wad of blood onto the desert sand and turning until his body was facing the dirt so that he could cough more. Frieza watched as a mixture of blood, sand and mucus spilled from his throat. He'd hit him hard, but had it really been that hard? But then, as he thought about it, a memory came to him. He'd been blinded by his rage when he'd first landed, but the man had been bloody and beaten well before Frieza had arrived. While the man coughed, Hoda came to his aid, gently patting his back and asking if he were alright. Once the man finished coughing, she asked his name.
"Garkos..." He sputtered, looking at her, then darting his eyes at Frieza. Frieza grinned as he did. There was loathing in those eyes, a kind of raw, black hatred that could only be given by someone that Frieza had tormented personally. It was a look he'd grown accustomed too over the years, and one that had yet to lose its luster even now, like a pearl made from pure onyx, "So... You aren't dead after all..."
"Fortunately not. Though I'll admit that it was a good effort by my dear brother, it was surely lacking," Frieza replied, face still twisted in that cruel grin that only made the man below him glare more, "Now then. I've been so kind as to answer your question, so do me the same courtesy and answer mine. Ah, and if you're feeling uncooperative, I have no reservations in blasting you to smithereens where you stand," He glared at Hoda, who shot her own glare back, "No matter what she has to say about it."
"I'd listen if I was you," Merce spoke up, stepping a bit behind Frieza now, "Frieza can attest, I don't care much for outsiders, especially not when they nearly crash hunks of metal into my home. You start talking, or else."
"So... You've turned these people into slaves too," The man almost looks sad, but Frieza chuckles at his misreading of the situation, causing his sorrow to transform back into rage just as soon as it was gone. But before either man can speak, Bendez and Ford make their way to the center as well. The elder of the two knelt down to check over Garkos' wounds, causing the man to wince in pain as he poked one of his ribs. Frieza laughed again at that.
Bendez stopped to stand a bit away from Frieza, and the Arcosian turned to speak when he noticed Yota not far from her grandfather, "Oh please, tell me you're not going to try using her as an excuse to save this poor fool's life. I might not look it, Bendez but at any moment I could snap and kill everyone here," For an instant, his eyes went wide. Frieza might have appeared calm, but that anger was still present, hiding just beneath the surface. Bendez took a small step backwards as he noticed it, his own eyes going wide. It had been quite some time since Frieza had seen that expression on him... Or any of the villagers in fact. And as he saw it, he turned his eyes away, as if that look of terror that he'd grown to love on so many other faces disgusted him, "I've only been so cordial because Hoda made a good point."
Bendez took a step forward again as he noticed the new change in Frieza's demeanor, tightening his jaw before speaking, "All I'm going to ask... is that you don't do it in front of the kids," Frieza's eyes widened again, but this time it was out of surprise. Cocking his head a bit, the Emperor moved to speak but the chief shook his head, "I'd be mad too. Plus it isn't like I can make you do anything anymore, you're out of our contract now... I just don't want anyone else to have to see it."
Ford had dragged the man away by now with Hoda's help, and Frieza snapped his attention over to the pair, "And them?"
"They're taking him inside so you can question him away from everyone else." Bendez replied with a nod, "I don't like it, but at the least we can give the man a more proper place for it than the desert."
Yota looked on with small eyes before darting off to join her mother. Both men knew exactly why she did too, the girl couldn't help herself anymore. A new stranger to bother about all the questions of the universe, and more importantly, one who would not be long for this world. Frieza smirked, "Fine then, shall I see you inside as well?" He asked, stepping away from Bendez as he did. The older man shrugged and gave him a smile.
"Someone's gotta corral the rest of the village inside."
Frieza picked up the pace of his walk. He enjoyed the reprieve from his anger that the others had provided, but now it was time to get serious. Glowering, the Emperor walked forward silently as Bendez began shouting orders to the others.
He was about halfway between Bendez and Yota when it all turned purple.
Imagine, if you will, a tower. Tall, immaculate, and set on so grand a scale that it dwarfs all things around it, as though the very world itself existed only to serve the needs of the structure. Pristine, it shines so brightly that it is as if it was reflecting light, but in truth its blinding purple gaze was drowning all the light around it out, even the sun could not compare. Built from ornate amethyst stone, it washes out the red sunlight of the world and turns its lights darker, bathing all who see it in mauve shade.
That was how Bendez would describe what he saw. A tower so large that it extended far into the sky, making even the Plateau that had once seemed so daunting appear as if it were no bigger than a thumb against a sand pit. It extended high into the air, and Bendez knew it must have extended low into the dirt as well.
It existed for only the briefest of moments, and then it was gone. As though it had been only a dream seen in the faintest hours of the night, it flickered away, but its memory hung in Bendez's mind for a moment, staining the space behind his eyelids with its luminosity. Two incongruent feelings came at that moment. Relief seeped through his chest and filled his heart as he saw that Yota, though she seemed terrified, was completely unharmed by the attack, as were Ford and Hoda, as well as all the others in the village, who stood just as their leader did, stock still with fear.
And fear came like a punch to the gut as Bendez's eyes trailed down from where Yota sat in the sand, coming to rest at the point where Frieza had been... and finding it completely and utterly vaporized. The sand hadn't even been turned to glass as it sometimes had been when Frieza shot it. Rather, it was like Frieza, and everything around him, had simply ceased to exist. The sand surrounding where the tower had been began to sink into the hole left behind by the energy, and it didn't look like it would be stopping any time soon.
Merce spoke first, he was faster than Bendez in so many ways now, "EVERYONE! GET INSIDE! GET INSIDE NOW!" He ordered, staring high into the air at something that Bendez didn't see, not immediately at least. Following his friend's gaze, the older man's eyes widened slightly as he spotted two small creatures hovering more than a mile in the air. Their size was hard to gauge from his position, but they couldn't have been much bigger than himself, in fact they almost seemed to be a bit smaller than him.
Immediately there was a dash for the Plateau. As soon as the words shot out of Merce's mouth, the stunned villagers reacted quickly, as they had been taught to do for generations. These things were no better or worse than the Sandwalker, or a dunemaker who had gotten too close to one of the children, the villagers knew how to handle danger, even the kind they were unfamiliar with. But as they began to run, Bendez felt something in the back of his mind. It was like a weight had come down on his mind, a memory from one of the times he had seen Frieza wielding his strength, striking him with sudden horror as he opened his mouth to scream.
"WAIT! NO! SCATT-" The word died in the wind as the other creature reared his own hand back and flung something towards one of the rushing people. Another tower of light erupted from the ground as Bendez looked on in terror. This one hadn't been as tall as the other, but it was wider. Not as bright, but just as deadly. It struck the ground with such force that it even threw Bendez from his feet, and it erupted with such speed that no one caught within had the time to even realize what had become of them.
It killed more than thirty. Men, women, children, the light killed with no thought given to what it struck, all were equal lambs to its indifferent gaze.
When it faded, less than a second later, Bendez hadn't even the time to process what had happened as he scrambled to his feet. Merce was beside him, and Bendez felt heavy metal hands helping him stand, but he didn't register them. Instead, his eyes were locked dead forward, staring in horror at Yota.
The girl was on the ground, shaking and staring towards the crater where Frieza had once stood. Her eyes were wide, the golden orbs turning fuzzy with tears as she stared helplessly into the abyss where the man had gone. In her shock, the girl seemed to have gone completely blind to events around her. Hordes of people rushed around, but all of them were much too far to help Yota, and even if they were... They were terrified for their own lives, for the lives of their own children. And as they rushed past, they blocked her from the view of her much closer parent.
Bendez's feet took off towards her, and he nearly stumbled in the sand as they worked. His mind had gone off into some distant place now, all of the worries about whether or not Merce should be the one to grab her, or if his body could handle running in the sand at this age slipped from him, only instinct remained. And with instinct, came fear. "YOTA!" He roared over the drowned out screams of his people, "YOTA! MOVE!" His voice boomed across the desert, and the girl's attention at last snapped up to look at him, but she did not budge.
Merce's voice raised to a shout from behind the older man, trying desperately to get over the chaos, but Bendez only barely registered him as he ran in single-minded determination towards his granddaughter, "You get her! I'm going to try to stop these two!"
Merce stepped back from Bendez, watching the older man's metallic legs strain to break into a sprint towards the girl for only a second before shutting his eyes. He'd been studying Frieza's abilities for a few months at this point, trying to replicate them. He hadn't the faintest idea of how it worked, at least at first, Frieza had been ever so slightly forthcoming about the way some of his powers operated, mostly so he could gloat whenever Merce failed to use one. Now though, the man prayed to all the Gods across all the worlds in the universe that, just this once, one of the abilities would work for him.
He tried to blot out everything else around him, something easier said than done. In the time since he'd started trying to learn how Frieza did what he did, his senses had begun to increase dramatically. And now, surrounded by the terrified screams of his people, his friends, individuals he'd known ever since he was born, the man could barely focus. He heard them all, every terrified shriek, every call for a father or a mother, every dying gasp from those unlucky enough to not have been completely vaporized- it all hit him again and again, every voice coming down like they were made from stones. Slowly though, he pushed their voices down, and the stones eventually turned to pebbles as he began to feel it, his energy. It surged around him, through him, coursing from his organic torso and pumping through his cybernetics. They sparked in protest, and for a moment his people's screams came back to him, rushing in like falling water. He took a breath, and the noise retreated.
And now, just like how Frieza had done it, Merce extended his hand up...
When another explosion tore the world in half. And another. And another.
High above it all, the rain of death looked more like fireworks. Explosions rattled the ground in tune with the thrusting of their palms. By now, it had become a game to the brothers, to see which among them could kill the most villagers. At some point, those on the ground seemed to gather that running in the same direction in a large group was a bad decision, and now they were scattered across the sand like tiny red ants running for their anthill, hoping for safety. The brothers did not attack their hill, having them all trapped in the stone would make it all the easier to capture the ants when it came time. But for most, they would die like ants, crushed beneath their boots. When one of their Scouters went off, detecting a power level of maybe a hundred and thirty, the brothers wasted not even a second in turning their attention towards it. Not because they feared its attack- such an insignificant power level was no threat to either of them- but because they knew that capturing him as a slave would only cause problems. He was too weak to be a threat, and too powerful to be enslaved.
"I hit that one, brother!" Rasin cackled, sneering down towards the ground.
"Yes, but did you kill him?" Lakasei asked with a cruel smirk on his lips, "After all, Garkos intercepted," Beneath them, the man that Rasin had aimed at had just barely avoided his death when the Former General darted forward, grabbing him and covering him with his body, taking the brunt of the attack himself. Lakasei's eye flickered to the screen in front of him as his and his brother's Scouters suddenly pinged to life once more, "Irritating that he seems to still have some fight in him..." The power reading wasn't much compared to Garkos's full power. In fact, he'd dropped by a hundred thousand units.
"A power level of fifty thousand is hardly enough to be of danger to us, even so..." Rasin extended his hand down towards the man, "Perhaps we should knock him out before he manages to cause any trouble?" This time, the brother clenched his fist and a much more powerful color of energy formed inside of it. Vibrant red light crackled in his palm, and Lakasei thought for a moment, focusing on the ground.
Now that their assault had ended for a brief moment, the Zaltian was starting to power up, raising his energy to the highest he possibly could with the intent of fighting them even when he knew he was outnumbered and outmatched. Lakasei knew why, of course. It was the same reason he couldn't bring himself to leave the Cohbrins on the ship- he just had to protect others. Even if it meant his death, he'd buy the primitives here just enough time to try and hide in the desert. Weakness like that was easy to exploit, and even easier on a man like Garkos, one who prided himself on being so charitable.
"Yes, brother. I think it would be beneficial," Lakasei nodded and floated beside his younger sibling. Both men shot their hands forward in unison, but the younger brother fired first. As Garkos rose through the air, he crossed his arms over his face- he wouldn't risk allowing the attack to hit the ground and kill anyone else. But that had been his mistake, as when his arms uncrossed, the elder brother's delayed attack came down with tremendous force and power, blasting the man back into the dirt beside a pair of the villagers.
Lakasei frowned in annoyance as the man shakily began to stand, "Hit him again, brother!" He commanded, "This time with a bit more strength."
Far beneath the horrors, a beast floated in darkness. Slowly, its eyes opened. They were small and red, like someone had taken a needle and stuck the darkness twice, drawing insignificant pinpricks of blood to the surface. High above those sanguine dots, light scattered down into the cavern, becoming lost somewhere on the way down and swallowed by the black, leaving just enough of itself left to allow the beast to see.
Vaguely, the thing became aware of a gentle rustle around its form, and as though in a dream, the thing turned and swiveled its head around, then looked up. There, it saw the beginning of endless falling sand. Like rain, the grains fell around his knees and submerged his legs. And slowly, the great horned thing became aware of what had happened to it.
And what was still happening above.
The ground above it beat endlessly, as though the Gods themselves had taken to drumming their fists against it. Thunderous cracks and great booms split the air above its horns, and the thing slowly became aware that it had been attacked.
And as the world above quieted, he growled softly.
"Who would dare... Who would DARE TO STRIKE ME!?" At once, a sparkle of brilliant fire washed over his body and he turned his head towards the opening. With rage and anger the likes of which only a hurricane could match, Frieza launched himself from the sand. Faster than lightning, illuminating the entire cavern as he went, the Emperor flew upwards with such force that it was as though the Gods themselves had struck, toppling the cavern behind him with his aura alone. But even as he flew, he felt something in his chest. A feeling he had never felt before. The attack- it hadn't just been against him. His face contorted in a new kind of rage then, one targeted both towards those who had struck him, and at himself for worrying about others.
And as he neared the top, there was one final strike, and the sky above went awash with crimson.
Her small arms came around his neck and shoulders more tightly than they ever had, and Bendez felt his heart break. Blonde hair blew into his face as he pulled her close, but the old man couldn't bring himself to care. She'd seen too much today, far too much for any little girl to see. Yet, as he held her small form in his arms, relief washed through him just the same as sorrow did. They were similar like that, coming through his body like two rivers, converging in his chest, "Yota..." He breathed quietly, "Its okay, I've got you."
"But... Uncle Merce and- and- Friez..." Her voice cracked open like a vase had been smashed. He fought to hold back his emotions as he heard it, his face scrunching up as he forced himself to his feet.
"I know, I know... they're tough, we can't worry about either of them right now, let's just focus on getting you inside..." He whispered, and he took one single step forward before Garkos hit the ground to his left. At first, Bendez had thought it was another of the men's energy attacks and he braced himself, clutching onto his granddaughter as hard as he could while she screamed. Eyes shut, he waited for the light to wash over him too, only hoping that it would be quick for his granddaughter, but it never came. Instead, the sand beneath their feet shifted a bit as Garkos shakily got to his feet.
"You two..." He coughed, blood rushing from his lips and dyeing the grey skin around his lips a sickly orange, "Run... wherever it is you think you'll be safest- go there, now! I can't stop them... But I'll hold them, as long as..." He staggered forward on his feet, swaying unsteadily in the wind. Bendez watched a glimmering blue aura start to envelop the man's body as his eyes narrowed, his face contorting with raw effort, "I can." His voice was unsteady, less like he was finishing his promise and more like he was trying to convince himself.
Bendez had no other choice but to believe in him. Holding Yota close to his body, he turned until he was facing the Plateau again and pushed her head into his shoulder. He didn't want her to see any more of the death surrounding them. What little remained of the bodies was too awful even for a man to witness, let alone a little girl. Those who had survived the explosions were no better off than their loved ones who hadn't. Thrown from the force, some had hit the Plateau and shattered themselves against the sturdy rock, while others had been burnt and blistered by the heat of the blasts. Bendez forced himself not to look at any of them, for he knew he'd recognize every lost face.
Bendez ran as fast as he could. His feet slid and threatened to fail him as the loose sand beneath nearly threw him off balance. Something shook beneath his feet, but the man didn't let it stop him. Metal gripped the sand beneath tightly, and his bent but didn't buckle. Single minded in his goal, the man pushed forward. And for a moment, he saw them. Merce- somehow, Bendez hadn't seen him move- had managed to reach the cave entrance and had started corralling survivors inside, and beside him was his daughter and Ford. Only a few yards laid between them, and Bendez's eyes narrowed, he was going to make sure that his granddaughter made it.
And then behind him, the sun itself tore open.
Yota screamed when it happened. Her eyes had been buried in her grandfather's shoulder. Tears had come freely then, she heaved and sobbed into his shoulder for what was a girl of her age meant to do otherwise? She had never seen death, never felt the cold grip of fear, or had her heart beating so hard that her chest felt like it might explode. Even out in the endless wastes which surrounded her home- she knew only peace, had only known peace for her entire life.
Even when her dad had died, she had been far from the battlefield that day. She had been at home, in her bed with her mother, hearing a bedtime story, waiting gleefully for her father to return home and tell her all about the day he slayed the Sandwalker. She longed for that feeling now, the warmth of her blankets, the warmth of her mother's hug felt like a distant memory. Like something she would never get back.
And she cried, sobbed into her grandfather's shoulder, wailing. The fear in her voice was not so distant, the anguish in her voice was louder than anything else, even the roar of blood in her ears or the thunderous boom of the blast which had surely killed Frieza, of the attack which had surely killed her uncle, of the attack which would surely kill her and her grandfather too.
Because she had opened her eyes when it came down. It was like the sun. Red and burning, just looking at it was enough to dry her tears and set her face alight with searing red as though she had been sunburnt, but did nothing to assuage her terror. The blood red light came first for the man that Frieza had brought in earlier. It enveloped him entirely, and just as it had done for all of the others she had grown to know, it took him. He no longer existed, just as Frieza and just Merce, he was gone, taken by the bleeding red eyeball like they had been taken by the pillars. From where that man once was, the eyeball turned its gaze onto her and her grandpa.
Swelling like the sun did just before it set behind the ground, the thing grew in size and scope, taking the very ground as it did. Horrible cracks and jolts of lightning sprung off of the orb as it grew, turning the ground to glass seconds before it consumed that same ground, acting as the Dead Sun's announcer. Just as it had for everyone else that she loved, it wouldn't even spare the sand. She screamed when it came for them. She wasn't sure what she screamed, only that it was a word, and only that she screamed.
Whatever she said, it caught her grandpa's attention, but he didn't stop moving, not immediately, anyway. He ran for another second, then his grip on her tightened and he looked behind them, towards the approaching wall of death. It moved so fast, she couldn't even really keep an eye on it. It swelled and swelled like it would never stop, and it came for them at such speed, like it wasn't merely an eyeball or a sun. Like it was a giant gaping mouth, its teeth made of red lightning, its hunger greater than any Sandwalker.
And her grandpa looked back, and he stopped running. He didn't say anything when he did, he only hugged her one more time.
She screamed when it happened. When he threw her as hard and as fast as he could. She shrieked, because what else could she do? No longer in the protective, warm steel of her grandfather's arms, she was thrown through the air, and she flew as far away as he could get her to fly.
And as she screamed, she saw him smile at her, taking one look and closing his eyes before the red light came over him
And took him, like everyone else she loved.
It was like metal grinding, how it came from her mouth. The single word that encapsulated everything that was wrong with the world. Her shrill shriek drowned out everything other than what the light had touched. It spread only a few feet further before it vanished from view, and yet those few feet took everything from her. Red light blotted him out, and as Hoda screamed, he was gone.
Her daughter, coated in dust, struck the ground a second later, landing on her back and sitting straight up as soon as she did, her small eyes unable to pry themselves free from the spot where, at one time, her grandfather had stood. She had more resolve than Hoda did. She went still, frozen in time with an expression like her tears were stabbing through her eyes to escape. It was an expression that her mother had shared once, more than a year ago. When her husband had died, she had gone still in just the same way, but now, as her father left her, she could do no more than to scream. She walked forward briefly, some motherly instinct propelling her to grab her daughter up, to hold her in her arms and to cry with her, but as she did, she stumbled, and her knees came coated with sand.
Like all things her cybernetics touched, it was numb to her.
It was like metal against metal, the way her throat tore open. Like someone had carved a rusted blade through old steel, there was a grinding, heavy shriek.
And then once more, the colors of the world changed, but now the circumstances were different.
Something rose from the ground now. It was small, and only its shadow peaked out from within the blinding, swirling fire that surrounded its form. Like a blanket of vibrant purple, the light churned around him, sending rolling blankets of wind across the desert with more force than had ever been before. For an instant, it was like a sandstorm had brewed around them, blinding and choking the air before Hoda, and then at once the storm had passed. No, not passed. Instead, they were at the epicenter of it. Blotting out the hellish red sun, a vortex of golden brown sand swept the air around them, surrounding them in its darkness.
From within the flames, a face made its presence known. Black lips and purple skin with pink flesh surrounding the eyes, which had two teardrops of blood centered in them, at once they were insignificant and yet gargantuan. He looked at her, but not on her. In a single moment, those red things absorbed the entire scene which surrounded him, seeing her, Merce, Ford, Yota, and then finally the crater's edge which now housed her father's ashes. In that crater, he saw something, and his piercing eyes took on a new kind of expression. No longer did they merely simmer with striking anger, now they burned as though they were suns themselves. Blazing in their intensity, his face soon reached to match them. Teeth bared themselves and at once, his eyes were no longer red hot with anger, they had gone white with rage.
It had been only a piece of silver. All the others, their arms had been bronze, gold, the color of the desert, stained that way by a millennia in the sun and the sand. But his? His had been silver. It stuck out from the sand, jutting like some twisted mechanical thing, not far from Yota, and Frieza suspected that it had been all that had survived of the man. Within the crater which had been his resting point, laid another; Garkos, the Zaltian. He bled, a sickly orange blood that stained against his grey skin, a pool of it forming in the sand beneath him. He did not move, and Frieza didn't stop to see if he was still breathing. It had not been him that had attacked them.
That image came to his mind again, even as the Emperor tried to ignore it. A single silver hand, jutting out from the edge of the sand as though it were begging for help. Something came to his chest again as he thought of it, and his eyes shifted again, seeing it in all of its malignant glory. He knew the sensation that came to him, but he could hardly understand it. 'Why?' Muttered something far in the back of his mind. 'Why?' It said louder, more at the forefront now. His hands shook- they shook! 'WHY?'
Why did he care?
'Why? Why?! Why do I feel this?! It has no bearing on me! I am Lord Frieza! I am the Emperor of the universe! I have nothing but loathing in my heart for all of these worthless, worthless creatures!' And yet, he couldn't stop the flow tearing through his body. A flow that he had felt time and time again, when those beneath him saw fit to intrude on his life. It was a strong feeling, the kind of shaking, blinding emotion that tore away all sense of reason from him. The kind that pushed him to exterminate entire races, the kind that had brought him to murder and to destroy with no regard for anything in his path.
The kind of rage that had always been there. Beneath every calm smile, beneath every poor interaction he'd ever had, the kind of simmering, boiling hatred that had always stuck itself into his chest, like a mold against his ribcage it grew and shrunk the more moisture- the more blood it had. It was a feeling he knew all too well, but now it had changed. It was different. The mold had grown so greatly, so fiercely that it stuck between his ribs and had begun growing on his very heart-
'WHY?'
Why did it change upon seeing that arm? Why had it only grown when he had seen Yota's tear-stricken, dirt covered face? Why did it bubble when he looked upon the hordes of faceless and nameless bodies around him? Why did he care? These people were not his property, they had not been his unwavering servants, they had not done anything for him, no- they had been his single greatest source of rage and yet.
He was angry for them.
It was different than anything else he had ever felt. Every other time that this feeling had come over him, it had always been self-serving, always been about something that affected him directly, this was the first time that he'd ever felt this way for something other than himself. He tried to shake the rage off, tried to calm himself and to turn his nose up at all of this, to leave and yet every time he shut his eyes that broken silver arm flashed in his eyelids, those tearful eyes found their way into his brain and dug into his mind with talons. Every time he even thought about abandoning it all, the mold grew as his blood boiled. Eventually, he could fight his anger no longer. He wanted to hurt.
Slowly, his head tilted up to the sky, where he had been struck the first time. Above him were two small beings. They were shorter than him, smaller, weaker. Worthless things that would be gone from his sight in a blink if he so wished.
The first one yelped when he appeared before him. Frieza had moved so fast that it took the wind a moment to catch up with him, and when it did, both of the insignificant worms were thrown back by his mere presence. The first one's eyes widened, first with terror and then with understanding. Frieza's lip twitched when he saw that shift in his expression. He wanted to smirk, but no. No, his emotions had gone entirely out of control, he could not even take joy in seeing the horror that spread across this little thing's face. And now, staring down at this tiny, worthless little thing, his face had gone entirely cold.
"Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-" His language was as worthless as the rest of him. Words failing him as he came to grasp his mistake, Frieza knew that reaction well. So many of the worthless things that he had killed had acted the same in their final moments. His lips moved again, and Frieza did not move, letting him speak, for they would be his last words, "You're supposed to be dead," And then, just as all the others had, all of the billions that had come before him, and all of the billions that would come after, the worthless thing raised his hands, pleading, "Pl-Please! L-Lord Frieza! I-I-I had no idea it was you! It was his idea to attack! Please, Lord, have mercy on me!"
Frieza's face changed then. No longer was it cold, frozen in one state of absolute indifference, acting as a counterweight to the volcanic magma that sludged through his chest, no. Now he sneered with nothing less than contempt. It, for this thing no longer deserved to be known as a he, was a worm. A sniveling, cowardly thing that if it had worked for him he would have destroyed upon first glance. Fat, bulging fingers clasped together in front of its face, the digits writhing together like chubby rat tails as a sickening, pleading expression formed on its face, "Mercy?" Frieza asked softly, cocking his head just a bit. His voice was anything but calm. It didn't shake, it didn't raise even an octave, it was as confident as it had always been. But it was not calm. Beneath it, cutting under its words like a knife skimming under water, was nothing but malice, "Yes, I suppose you do deserve mercy, don't you? You've been such a good sport." Contempt faded, and he felt himself smile softly.
It looked to him, eyes wide with hope. They widened further, and further, and further until they were bulging from its sockets. Blood spurted from between the thing's lips as Frieza cocked his head, focusing harder. They were so easy to pop, lesser races. A bit of concentration and suddenly their organs squelched like water balloons filled with blood. Its was purple. Frieza's eyes moved up now, tracing a line through its body now that he had finished with the lower intestines. He could feel each organ like it was in his palm. Telekinesis was a useful skill, with nary a thought Frieza could kill. Its stomach burst open, and its lungs collapsed, yet he still filled with air as his eyes widened further. But Frieza had promised him mercy.
His fist clenched, and its eyes widened until they could widen no more.
Pop.
Frieza didn't watch the gore fall as his head turned to the other one, "His was a mercy," At last, Frieza felt the anger starting to subside. The volcano had ended its eruption, now all that remained was to clear away the magma and build the world anew, "I wonder how long I'll let yours last. Hours? Days?" He turned to him more fully now, his entire body shifting to face him as his head remained still, "Perhaps I'll let you live a good year before I finally drop you into hell? After all, you've done something to me that I simply cannot forgive. These worthless fools below me were..." He trailed off, feeling his own heart implode with pain before he shut his eyes and smiled, forcing those feelings down, "Unfortunately, under my protection. Yes, I had a very good deal with them going, and it had expired just today too. If only you had come tomorrow." The lie came out as easily as his breath, but it could only fool the one before him.
The thing stared on in horror at where his twin had been, then raised his hands up, but not to plead. Instead, it moved in a manner as if to placate, "Wait! I-I- we- I- your ship! We saw your ship trying to leave, saw it be destroyed! Spare me and I- I can take you to ours! Its nearby! I can fly you anywhere in the universe that you'd like, Lord Frieza!"
Frieza frowned, considering it. Then, still frowning, he locked eyes with the alien again, "That Zaltian down there." Frieza stated, his voice returning to cold indifference as he did, "Why did you follow him?"
"He was a prisoner of Lord Turles!" Seeming a bit more relieved than his brother did, the creature spoke quickly, eager to please, "And a rebel, of Lord C-" His eyes went wide, and he corrected himself, "Of your great empire, Lord Frieza! He was the leader of a great rebellion that had recently been crushed! One of the most vital an-and important pieces of the rebellion! Without him and his squadron of fighters, my Lord, there never would have been any uprising!"
"A squadron you say?" Frieza smirked as the little thing nodded.
"Yes my lord! Many of them have perished by now but-"
"Then he could certainly fly a ship, couldn't he? If that's the case then I simply don't see a reason that I need you," The thing panicked as Frieza reached forward, but Frieza didn't hurt him. Instead, he took hold of the Scouter sitting on his wrinkled, almost raisin-like face and plucked it off. Settling it onto the organic side of his head, Frieza tapped it twice and smirked. Their conversation was being monitored. Clicking it again, he traced a path through the air and spotted the ship nearby, putting a signal out in case its masters lost it. Pulling the device back off, he spoke, "Oh but, one other thing," Frieza said as the small man inched away from him, causing him to stop dead with an expression that read of both horror and terror, "Were you really the one behind the attack?"
Seeing his chance to potentially escape Frieza's wrath, the small man frantically shook his head, "N-No, Lord Frieza, that was my brother, Lakasei, I wanted to-"
Bshoo.
A thin dot struck the man's chest and easily pierced his armor. He hadn't even seen it coming, Frieza had moved too quickly, as he often did, "Then you shall be granted the very mercy he so desperately begged me for. You've been a wonderful informant but..." Another glimmering purple light formed in Frieza's finger. The man had hardly a chance to scream as dozens of death beams tore through his body. Tearing apart every one of his vital organs one by one as they did. But Frieza hadn't lied, he was offered a mercy. His body went into shock quickly enough, and if it hadn't then he had died quickly when Frieza's final Death Beam penetrated his skull, "I really have no use for such worthless creatures." He chuckled to himself, then frowned again.
Sighing, the Emperor watched his body fall before tapping the Scouter and holding it close to his lips, "I'm not sure who's listening to this but allow me to make myself exceptionally clear. I am Lord Frieza, I am no ghost, and I can assure you that you and everyone else involved in your little gang of Space Pirates have insulted me tremendously on this day. Let me be clearer. I have every intention of taking that shuttle of theirs, finding you, and killing every single last one of you. I would suggest running, and if you are foolhearted enough to stay, I would suggest you tell every man under your command to pray for forgiveness." Frieza hissed into the mic, "Because unlike your Gods, I will not be dispensing it."
Glass slid between his fingers.
Crunch.
Fifteen. There were only fifteen people left when the smoke cleared. Ten children, three women, two men. And of those two, one was him. Ford sat in what had been Bendez's office, his hands clasped together as he hunched forward, shaking his head. He didn't feel quite the same kind of emotion as everyone else did. He was sad, he knew that for certain, but he also knew that the people needed strength right then. His emotions were funny like that, they could turn themselves off when a crisis was in play. He'd probably sob his eyes out in a few days, thinking of all the memories he'd shared with Bendez, but now was not the time for it. Now they needed a plan, they needed level heads.
He couldn't grieve, couldn't let himself fall down that hole that he'd been in so often over the decades. He'd outlived so many people in his life. Women he'd loved, parents he'd adored, men he'd known and now, now he'd outlived a man that was like his brother, or maybe his son. He'd known Bendez ever since he was young. He could still imagine him as a toddler, before his augments, before he took on the mantle of chief. It was like it was the other day, how clearly he could picture it all, he even remembered a time when Bendez had been a young man... he frowned, feeling his eyes starting to betray him. He sighed heavily, blinking them back as he felt all the eyes on him.
Surrounding him were faces familiar and not. Frieza sat at the back, crossing his arms and staring out of the doorway, into the dark hallways that had made up his home for the past year. He had only agreed to be here because he wanted Ford to change his limbs around. He was going to transform before he left. Merce stood not far from him, crouched down next to Hoda and Yota, who both had been a struggle to get inside. Neither had wanted to move away from Bendez's resting place. Eventually, Frieza came and plucked his arm from the carnage. The metal had been twisted, burnt black by the strike that killed him, but it was all that they had of the man now. The girls surrounded the limb, alternating between sobbing and silence, and sometimes Merce joined them, but he didn't cry. Last, Garkos. Unlike the others, he sat, but not because he wanted to. His leg was broken, or else Ford suspected that he'd stand.
"There aren't enough of us to rebuild," Ford admitted, "Sure, we could live out here, we've got less mouths to feed and I'm certain that Merce could bring back more than enough game to do it, but those kids won't be growing up into anything. We'd have three, maybe four, generations before inbreeding became unavoidable, and then we'd either die off or mutate into somethin' wrong," He sighed, shaking his head, "Much as I hate to admit it, our only option now... Is leaving."
"And go where?" Merce asked, his face twitching with anger as soon as the last word comes out, "Our people have been here for a thousand years, Ford. We don't exactly have any clue where the other colony ships went, and I doubt whoever sent our ancestors gave any instructions about coming back."
Ford shrugged, "Like I said, we could stay here. It won't be my generation that gets affected, won't be yours neither. But there ain't enough of us to keep going like this. There's no future here anymore," His head turned, glancing at Frieza. The man didn't face him, still focused on the hallway leading out, but his head did turn ever so slightly, acknowledging Ford's gaze, "You know anywhere we can go?"
"The shuttle those idiots arrived on isn't large enough to fit you all." Frieza replied plainly, "And I have no intention in bringing you with me." His voice was flat, drained of all life and color. It was a unique tone, Ford noticed. He'd never heard Frieza use quite that level of coldness before, it was almost as if... "Even if I did," Frieza sighed, turning to look at the group, who, aside from Yota and Hoda, all had focused on him, "I've never seen anything quite like your kind before. Even without the mechanical limbs, I have no idea where you've come from or where you could go. There are agricultural planets I could drop you, but such rural worlds aren't likely to accept outsiders, and I doubt you'd acclimate to city life well."
It was true, Ford wasn't sure if his people would even be able to understand life without struggle, without the hardship of the desert sun, but without a leader... Without a future to look forward to, there wasn't a reason to stay here any longer either. Just as he bit his lip, a new voice spoke up. He'd been silent ever since the battle had ended, the only sound that came from him was the occasional labored breath, a harsh wheeze that Ford suspected came from some form of broken rib. He'd been able to do what he could for the man's injuries, but Ford's understanding of organic bodies was limited only to how best to fuse flesh and metal. Repairing bones, he could do... But it was not easy. And as the men's wet, hoarse voice croaked, Ford cringed internally.
"It... Was my fault that the Crusher... Corps..." Taking a long, labored breath, the man barely managed to continue, "Came to your planet," He coughed, then swallowed, "My escape pod is highly damaged but... the long range communicator can be used to send a message to my allies... if we contact them, they'll be happy to take your remaining people with them... I can't promise your future, but... I can promise you a new world, one... With many refugees just like you..." Trailing off, his eyes turn to Frieza and shoot him a glare. An act that usually provided the former emperor some kind of sadistic satisfaction was met only with a cold, detached stare. As if he was trying to distance himself from everything around him.
"Yes yes, I've killed many people," Frieza waved him off, "I have no qualms with waiting a bit longer, so long as you don't perish while you send the message out," Frieza's emotionless glare switches then, like someone had struck a match, his anger lit up the room, "Because you still owe me for destroying my last escape attempt, and you are going to pay me back by taking me to end this 'Turles's' life."
"I owe you nothing!" Even exhausted, Garkos managed to snap at Frieza, "Saving these people, leaving this world and returning to my rebellion against your brother is all that matters to me now. I will deal with you when-"
And before he could finish speaking, Frieza crossed the room. Ford had grown used to Frieza's impressive displays of power by now, but it surprised him no less when it happened. Lifting the man by one hand, the alien had forcibly silenced him, gripping him by his mouth. Ford could see tiny scratches of blood forming on the man's cheeks as Frieza tightened his fist, "You will deal with nothing. I will be the one to remove Cooler from my throne, and when I finish with him I will stamp out whatever insignificant resistance that he has managed to cultivate in the YEAR since I have been absent-!"
"Enough!" Ford's eyes snapped to the new voice, widening as they did. Hoda had stood up and turned to face them all. Her face looked like death. Streaks from where her tears had cleaned off the dust which had been kicked onto her face in the battle stood out, heightening the look in her eyes as she glared at both Frieza and Garkos, "No more. Not today," She commanded, and Frieza growled, preparing to speak again when the woman lifted a finger of her own, shaking her head, "That man tried to save as many people as he could! He was going to throw his life away to protect us while you were underground, nowhere to be seen!" Her voice shook.
"Bendez died because this one stood next to him," Frieza replied, glaring back at her, "He deserves not an inch of your mercy, Hoda!"
Her eyes closed, and she took a deep breath in. Her whole body shuddered like she was ready to implode on herself, and then she let it go. Ford had never seen it before, but for the first time in her life, Hoda just didn't have it in her to be angry. She shook her head, her tears welling again before she gently reached a hand up and brushed them aside. She shuddered again, breathing, and then looked up at Frieza again, "Maybe not. Maybe I want you to kill him. Maybe I'm so mad that I just need someone to blame... but that's not what my father wanted, and it's not what my father would do," She looked at Ford, then at Merce, "If he's dead, then by law it falls to me to lead the village, as the only one of his family left, isn't that right?"
The men exchanged glances. It had never happened before, there had never been a female chief in the entire history of the village. But then, Ford supposed, the village's history was over with. Why not set a new precedent now? "Yes." He nodded, "With the death of your husband last year, and your father today, that leaves you as the last one who can carry the lineage."
"Then my first order is that you put him down," She looked to Frieza, who looked like she had told him to put a gun in his mouth. Eyes wild, blazing like an animal that had been set alight, but before he could speak, she continued, "Please, we need his help as much as you do." Her eyes softened, "And I don't want anyone else to die today."
Frieza's eyes twitched, turning towards Garkos. His other hand clenched tighter into a ball, so tight that it began to shake. His own face was twisted, as though he was furious at something more than Garkos, something more than Hoda... and something he'd never been angry at before. Ford couldn't imagine what passed through Frieza's mind as he stood there. His shoulder reared back as if to strike the man down...
And then he dropped him.
Garkos hit the ground, looking more shocked than hurt even as his injured leg bashed the chair on its way down. He stared up at Frieza for a moment, but the man only sneered.
"I'm finished here," Frieza announced, "Ford, with me. I'm sure this one can set up his little broadcast on his own," He glared down at Garkos, then his attention darted to Hoda, "And as for you. Speak to me like that ever again and I promise, I will end your life. You- both of you- continue to breathe only because I have deemed it necessary. You would do well to be gracious," He snapped at them, head darting between the pair as if unsure which one he was angrier at. Eventually, he settled again on Hoda, "Bring him to me when you're finished. He will be my pilot." And then he turned, and then he was gone.
A/N: SO! I lied just a little bit about the whole "being done by early September" thing, but hey, we're finally back! And I have a more consistent schedule to offer everyone! I intend to alternate between posting this, working on my section of Strings of Fate (for my Ao3 readers, you should take a look at that... in a few months, we're going to be going back over the whole story and remaking early segments of it), and posting Monitale rather regularly from now until the foreseeable future. What this means for all of you is that I will be posting Defrost every other month from now forward. I have a new writing schedule I'm trying out and it seems to be working so we'll hopefully see a lot more progress on my stories.
Now then, I haven't gotten any reviews from anyone recently, so nothing changes there but if anyone has anything they'd like to say about the story, I am always happy to hear your thoughts and some of you might even get a response in the next chapter! But for now, I'm going to get into power levels.
Jinga and Bellu- wait no, that's their abridged names. Sorry they're so actually forgettable that I forgot their real names, hang on... Ah yes
Lakasei and Rasin- They each have the same power level of about 100,000, but their attacks were capable of hurting a suppressed First Form Frieza, who had a power level (at that moment) of 140,000, how is this? Well, using the power level model I use, Ki attacks actually have the ability to be stronger than their wielders, especially when charged. You might remember this fact from Piccolo and Goku's battle with Raditz. In short because the brothers had charged the initial wave of attacks, the Energy Towers had each a power level of 200,000.
If they had both shot Frieza, he would have been killed because his full power in this form with his weaker Cybernetics is only 250,000.
So yeah, he was in danger there for sure.
As for Garkos, the amount of damage he took had put his power level to less than 50,000, up to 70,000 when he powered up. Still not nearly enough to deal with both of the brothers.
And Merce- 130, same as Roshi in the original Dragon Ball. He was already stronger than average if you remember from earlier, but after studying Frieza a bit, he picked up on using energy, just not vert well and... He definitely isn't going to be beating anyone post OG Dragon Ball. Hell, he'd even struggle against current day Roshi.
Well, that's everything for now so...
Until Next Time, True Readers!