Apara woke up in the mud, not knowing when she had fallen unconscious, but she was certain it hadn't been long. She didn't move as she considered the past few days, the past few hours. The human's deal with her flashed through her mind. She was supposed to protect him when he had made her strong enough to do so, but she hadn't anticipated he would go through such effort to protect her before he had even started. She supposed this proved he hadn't been lying.

She stood, brushing off what muck and viscera she could manage, before looking around. The tunnels were much the same here as they were everywhere else, only harder to make out with only her scouter to light the way. Dennis lay half-buried in a nearly unmoving heap, his body stained red and black by wounds and mud. His chest rose and fell silently, and the armor on his left shoulder had snapped off somewhere in the earlier chaos. She sighed, walking up to his body and seizing one of his legs, before dragging the carcass off and away from the half collapsed tunnel they had come from.

He looked...less than he did when he was conscious. When he was awake she could feel strength in him, some forgone part of her instincts acknowledged him as a threat, even if it was a non standard one. Asleep it seemed whatever it was about him that made the hairs on the back of her neck rise disappeared outright. His presence seemed even less noticeable then the numerous but ultimately simple individuals of this swarm. Was this a hint he was weaker than he let on? Or was it proof he was being honest about how much stronger he had become over his time as a slave?

She did not know, but she was inclined to believe the latter.

The scouter pinged as it picked up activity in the distance, likely another battle group meeting resistance. Regretfully there didn't seem to be any of the bug creatures nearby. She was more than ready to test her mettle against in the same manner as she had earlier. They could take blows better than they should have, but she had been delighted to discover she could pull them apart much more easily, just pop their little heads off and leave the body to flail angrily somewhere. She smiled to herself at the thought. Earlier she had left at least four of them in such a state inside that chamber.

It had been a good day.

She walked, dragging Dennis along for nearly a half hour before she stopped to think about her situation. What was she supposed to do now? The leadership had been clear no one would come back to help, and she couldn't fight any more than a few while she was protecting her soon to be teacher. Did she wait for him to wake up? No, that didn't sound right. She had no idea how long that would take, and the others might try and blow up the tunnel they were in before then. Try and link up with another battlegroup? That didn't sound right either. The crew didn't seem to like her, and she doubted they liked Dennis enough to look after him. She huffed.

She could be fighting things right now, and here she was waiting for someone else before she could get back into it! What's worse was she had to outright avoid it. She was ready to leave him before the man's promise once again sounded in her ears. With gritted teeth she continued on. She could become more than a low class warrior, so it would have to be worth it.

Thinking about how not to be in a fight annoyed her, but she supposed it was necessary to be part of better ones later. In the few times her mother had visited the pod she was born in, she mentioned the feeling of the world coming apart as a response to her own power. It was described as an experience close to godhood, or at least the kind of godhood weaker species seemed to believe in. She had always wanted to feel that way.

She shook her head, refocusing on her task, or lack thereof. With no real option presenting itself she continued her march, the body whose leg she was grasping lightly in her hand noisily scrapping against the mud, and leaving a notable trail behind them. She supposed she would find a safe..ish place to leave him. If he died she could chalk it up to bad luck, and if he lived it was further proof this whole thing was an alright idea.

Her ears perked up at the sound of a sharp intake of breath, her trudging advance coming to a halt as the human twitched awake. The presence of danger surrounding him returned somewhat as Dennis stood, frowning. His hands dug under the armored plating at his chest, pulling clumps of dirt and dried blood out as he looked her over.

"...It would of been easier for you to pick me up." He sighed, before he stilled somewhat. He was acting strange as she waited for him to finish cleaning up. The human was looking around sharply, his eyes seeming to catch on to things she couldn't. A question was on her throat before he turned back around to face her, the motion interrupting her words. Some kind of realization was on his face.

"How long was I out?"

"Hour or so. Hasn't been anything interesting going on since you fainted." His eyes snapped back to her at the light jab, before he smiled, seeming to pick up on something she hadn't.

"Nothing interesting eh?" The sarcasm in his tone set alarms off in her head. What did he know? And how did he know it? More interestingly he seemed to ease up a bit.

As he removed the last manageable piece of grime from the space between his under-mesh and chestplate, Dennis sat down, leaning against the wall and taking out a small tube of nutrient paste. He ignored her questioning look stretching out and biting away a chunk of the tasteless mush on hand. Her stomach growled at the reminder of food. When he finally spoke it felt like a small eternity had passed, the man smirking at her expression.

"Fine, I'll give you a hint... and a small lesson on Freeza Force while we're at it. Does your scouter have an overlooking map?" At her nod he continued. " Go ahead and open it up, tell me what you see."

Her fingers hastily turned a dial on the device at her head, the process taking longer than it should thanks to her lack of experience on using the damned thing. Her first one had broken years ago, and this planet had been the only opportunity she had ever gotten to have a second. Eventually she saw a blank surface with thousands of small dots littered around it. If she focused long enough on any of them names would start popping up. They all seemed to be moving inward, towards a single location in the center of the map.

"So they're all moving to the same place? It makes sense, the bugs have to nest somewhere." The lazy grin on his face seemed to grow with every word.

"We cleared out hundreds of nests before the other crews even got here. It wasn't even a real issue for most of them. But if you had a way to watch the first attempt on this planet you'd know that's only the beginning of the fight anyway. We might've gotten to the hives easier, we might have killed more of them than we did the first time, but things are going about the same way. Only difference is, we've made it further inside their holes."

"Or, well... some of us have. The commanders of the Deligent Frost seem to have all taken it upon themselves to slow down, and let the other crews take the lead.'

Apara looked back at the scouter, noticing for the first time that some of the groups did seem to be taking longer than necessary to move forward.

"Why would they do that?" She asked, brows furrowed as she refocused on the map.

"Credits. I'm not familiar on the law behind purging planets, but I do know that as the only surviving crew on mission we would have salvage rights to the ships that can't be manned, any slaves aboard them, and of course any wealth they might hold. There's a reason most crews don't like each other beyond generally being assholes. I bet the new captain is just itching for a way to prove himself the right man to be in charge, and why not open things up with a big payday for all of us?"

Credits? What did a credit chip matter beyond it's ability to buy food or shelter? She had been informed she would receive a generous amount for the world she was supposed to purge, but it had been a matter of proving her value to the Saiyan race over something so trivial.

Her confusion must have showed, because Dennis was quick to explain. "Not every species is as obsessed with combat as yours is, many of them are focused on the kind of comfort they can buy with credits. Whether it be opportunities to breed, eat, sleep comfortably or even to simply buy control of something. To some fighting is a means to an end, to most even. I wouldn't worry about it, it's too common a goal in this universe. Instead you should be thinking about what this means for us. I doubt the other crews will be all willing to take that lying down, and even at their worst I doubt the bugs can kill them all before it's handled."

"Instead think about how many of them we'll have to kill to get those credits."

His hands found the back of his head, and he stretched himself out, hissing as a few wounds reminded him of their presence.

"We've got about two hours before they reach the center of what I believe is the main hive. Our group was supposed to burn out these tunnels but with the trouble they ran into they aren't going to get here for a while. This is a rare chance for us to catch our breath and think this through. If things are about to get as bad as I think they are, you'll thank me once the real fighting starts.

After looking over the map a few more times she had to admit things did seem to be going the way he was saying they were. But that only left room for more questions.

"How do you know all this? You became a warrior the same time I did, and you lost your scouter. So why is it that you seem more prepared for this betrayal than I am? How could you tell where everybody was going to be and why when that's something only the commander's and the captain would know?"

His hand slowly rose, palm up to her. He gave a meaningful look to her scouter, and after a moment of thought Apara tossed it to him. With a quick squeeze it nothing but sparking electronics in his hand. Just as she was about to complain a small ball of energy lit up the tunnel they were in, and Dennis paused, deciding what he wanted to tell her, and what he wanted to keep for himself. She didn't know whether to be frustrated at the secrecy, or excited about it.

"Being able to manipulate energy is something many species seem capable of, even predisposed towards. That's a clear enough fact for everyone to see, even if most on the crew don't seem to speak of it. What they don't seem to know is this manipulation isn't bound to yourself. If your good enough at it, there's no need for scouters or any kind of technology to tell you how strong someone is. Do it right and you'll know where they are. "

Apara stared at him, looking for some hint of falsehood to catch. Nothing strange about his face seemed to hint at the possibility, but she wasn't good at reading people. Especially aliens, even if they looked like Saiyans there was no telling if the looks on his face didn't mean something completely different. But... It didn't seem unbelievable, or impossible.

In reality she really only had one question.

"Can you teach it to me?"