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28
Blood against blood
We walk for a while on the stony ground of this planet, which grows increasingly horrible by the second.
With each step, I dip my feet into the damp earth and drag my tail in the dust, refusing to be distracted by the feeling of going in circles. Everything is the same. The Palace vanished into the distance, and even that minimal point of reference has been lost. This is an immense desert in a storm. There are no houses, no villages. It is impossible to imagine a complex life form that could live in this disaster.
Our men would undoubtedly have had enormous difficulty following us. I now understand why Cooler recommended that they stay in the Palace, where they would have gyms and banquets at their disposal. He also advised me, with a further unsolicited advice, to leave my throne at court to avoid damaging or dirtying it. I am fairly certain that he wanted to keep it safe in case he won, but that will not happen. I have no intention of playing, this time. I will crush him like an insect, and show him once and for all that no matter how much he tries to match my level, I am always superior. His blood has no meaning. He must tremble before me, like all the others.
He stops suddenly, as if we've reached the battlefield, but I see nothing around except a blanket of dust. I hate this place, I hate Cooler, and I hate having to fight in such pitiful conditions, but I guess he can't offer me anything better.
He turns and crosses his arms over his chest, silent. The moment has finally come: it's just me and him, Frieza and Cooler, brothers who could have created a bond since they become two, but they didn't. And I don't care. I don't want his affection, I don't want his friendship and I don't even want his complicity. He is only one of the many obstacles that will stand in my way of total domination, and when the time is right, I will sweep them away without mercy.
In an instant, I have a crazy idea. There are also the scouters at stake. If Cooler had them, it wouldn't be a problem, since he would end up straight in the coils of the interception system that Gichamu is implementing. I could follow him at any moment and know his plans...
I tense up. To do that, I would have to lose this challenge, and I'm not going to let that happen. I refuse to let him win, even if it's for a good cause.
He smiles, as I knew he would.
«I come here every day at this time,» he states. He has to shout for his voice to reach me, and it's louder than the howling wind. «I train hard and then take a long break meditating on the throne that I built right here behind me, as I told you.»
«I don't care about your daily routine,» I interrupt him. I'm about to urge him to just fight, but he beats me to it.
«Tell me, have you trained since we parted ways?»
«Why would you care?» I cut him off. I don't know what he's up to, but his attitude seems really off. There's something about him that makes me feel uneasy. He's stalling. Is he waiting for the right moment to surprise me? He's got another thing coming if he thinks he can trick me like this.
«Did you?» he demands.
«I don't need to train» I state firmly. I tense my muscles and swing my tail, ready to pounce. «Do you mean to fight or speak? Because we can chat at the Palace, while we decide which planets you're going to give me.»
He closes his eyes and smiles, as if he's dealing with a spoiled brat, but something happens. When he opens his eyes again, I catch a glimpse of his gaze, a careful look that I shouldn't have noticed. Without waiting, I follow his eyes and what I see leaves me speechless.
Something is rising in the sky, and beyond the wall of dust, it is barely visible. It looks like a planet, but it is still too little exposed to be able to tell. I am most surprised that I do not recognize it; when we docked, approaching from deep space, the planet Cooler Number One seemed to be well isolated from all the others, and I am certain I did not see any in the vicinity.
I don't understand. I look back at Cooler, but he ignores what we've both just seen and gets into an attack position.
«I won't attack you from behind and in this condition. Transform, and let's start.»
I don't need to be told twice. I summon all the energy I have, and the wind carries away sprays of the purple aura that surrounds me. The power inside me builds, grows, accumulates, and suddenly explodes together with all my anger. When the transformation is complete, I take off my battle suit and let it go, watching it under my eyes as it is dragged away by the wind.
As usual, the power brings back to life my repressed instincts and the desire to annihilate takes over me. I will not show any mercy to this arrogant scum.
«Get ready. It will hurt» I warn him.
He nods mockingly, and it's too much.
I lunge at him, cutting the wind in half, my fist crashing into his crossed forearms in front of his stomach. I act swiftly, wrapping my tail around his leg and dragging him back. He's helpless, forced to grip the ground as I pull him away.
I let him go in midair, but before I can catch him again, he disappears and reappears behind me. This little trick of his is well known by now: I dodge his tail before it even touches me, leaping to the side.
His blow misses, raising a column of dust when it hits the ground. I seize the moment and move away, dashing blindly through the debris. My tail grabs onto something, and I feel the weight of his body at my mercy once again.
As the dust clears, I see that I've grabbed his tail. Without hesitation, I throw a punch that hits him right in the middle of the shoulders. Cooler spits out a jet of dark blood, but I have no intention of giving him a break. The adrenaline burns in my veins, his pain intoxicates me, and I want him to feel more. More!
«Suffer!» I scream as the second punch cracks his ribs and the tip of his tail grabs my leg, trying in vain to free himself. «Suffer, you filthy bastard, suffer!»
He's helpless. He can only take my punches until my knuckles hurt, and then I let him go.
He falls forward on his knees, his back to me. As he tries to get back up, I immobilize him again by wrapping my tail around his neck. I feel the softness of his skin and the squeeze sends a shiver through me. I contract my muscles so much that they burn. In that moment, that softness becomes the hardness of his esophagus, his fingers desperately trying to loosen my grip.
I take a step forward, and only now does the wind really bother me.
«What a shame I can't hear you scream in pain» I growl in a frenzy. I walk around him until I'm face to face with him, my head down. «You have no idea how I crave it, Cooler. For all the times you thought you could be my equal. For all your useless words. Now look at me!»
I lift my tail, and his head immediately follows. When his eyes meet mine, I see something in him that I've never seen before: blind rage, burning resentment. Hatred. These feelings fuel mine. I loosen my grip slightly so he can speak.
«I see you on your knees, at last. I've waited my whole life for this!» I laugh in his face. «I could rip your head off and let you die like the filthy dog you are.»
«Why don't you do it, then?»
The words hit me like a slap.
Why don't you do it?
I know exactly why I'm hesitating.
I refuse to answer him: anything I say would be wrong. I kick him hard in the stomach, making him choke and unable to speak.
«Shut up» I order him. «And suffer!»
I hit him again, and again, and again. I unleash all my anger on him, and Cooler is forced to endure my wrath in silence, unable to muster even the strength to react. He's a puppet in my hands, a helpless body that I could shatter in an instant if I wanted to.
Then, he does it again. Between one punch and the next, I can't help but notice his eyes sliding upward. This time, I'm certain he's checking on something. This stuns me for a moment, but when I look up again, I'm left speechless.
That planet is rising in the sky. I notice the wind is calming down: the storm is losing intensity, in step with the advance of that immense celestial body that is about to take over the sky completely.
I don't know what this means, but I know I don't like it. There's something wrong with that planet, and Cooler has looked for it with his eyes twice, which proves it.
I let go of him and he falls, face down on the ground, trying to get back up on his own.
«What is that?» I demand. He looks up, his hands on his knees to recover from my punches, and smiles.
«I told you to study your opponent well before his secrets become your downfall. That goes for me too, you arrogant little shit.»
«What do you mean?»
«You'll find out soon. Very soon.»
The wind is visibly fading, the atmosphere is changing, and I don't like it one bit.
Cooler isn't moving. He's waiting. Something is about to happen, that's obvious, but I can't understand what, and suddenly a sense of menace takes hold of me. I take a step back: now the light of the Star is starting to fade, covered by the advancing enormous planet.
«Are you impatient?» he taunts me, getting back on his feet and stretching his tail.
«I don't know what you're up to, Cooler, but it's not going to work.»
He doesn't answer. The silence is deafening, more annoying than the wind. I almost miss the storm when it stops completely and the dust falls back to the ground, settling on the white earth.
It's strange that I've gotten so used to the wind. My body is having trouble adjusting now that it's stopped. I move to make this horrible feeling go away, but I quickly realize that something is wrong; I don't know what it is, but I can feel the sensation it gives me. There's a weight on me. I feel heavy, as if a ton of weight is being loaded onto my back.
I raise my head to the sky. The light goes out almost completely, the planet advances, and I feel heavier and heavier as it does.
«What's going on?»
Cooler doesn't answer me. He just smiles, knowing he has trapped me in his deadly web, and he doesn't seem to feel what I'm feeling at all.
«Cooler» I demand, but I can't continue. The weight becomes so intense that I double over, and I'm suddenly on my knees, arms outstretched against the ground to keep from crushing myself.
«Cooler!»
«What's wrong? Have you lost all your speed? All your fury?»
I stay on my knees as long as I can, but I eventually give in. I bend my arms and prop myself up on my elbows and knees. My lungs are empty and my muscles are tense with exhaustion. I feel like I'm carrying the weight of the entire planet on my back.
«Wha...?»
«You can't even talk?» he laughs.
I've never felt more humiliated in my life. I would spit all the insults he deserves if I could, but my lungs are squeezed under the weight of this sudden gravity, and I can't.
«Well, I guess I owe you an explanation» he states, taking a few steps forward. «I know you're ignorant and you've always had someone to study for you, first Granium and now that Nemanian, so I'll explain in simple terms: my planet gravitates in a crossed orbit with the planet Roika, which we have right above our heads at this moment. They are in sync: once a day, always at the same time, they are so close that they almost touch each other. Do you know what this means?»
He's waiting for my answer, but I can't speak and he knows it well. He's just teasing me, and this ignites my anger.
«It means that gravity increases. The closer two celestial bodies are, the stronger the force of gravity on them becomes. Incredible, isn't it? Oh, right, you can't speak... too bad. I'd really like to know what you have to say right now.»
I don't think he'd like what I have to say, but he'll have to find out for himself as soon as this situation is over. For now, I'm staying put, muscles tense, resisting the force that's trying to make me collapse.
«I'm sure you have many more questions» he walks around with an air of confidence that I can't understand. «First of all, gravity doesn't bother me, but if you asked why, you'd prove to be stupid. This is what training very hard gets you. I chose this planet on purpose: why build gravitational chambers when you have an entire planet that transforms into it?» he laughs. «I even asked you if you'd trained, even though I didn't think you had. And it shows. I knew you wouldn't be able to handle the Dance, just as I couldn't the first time. Oh, and yes, of course the Palace is isolated from all this. My engineers can be just as good as yours, with the difference that I don't waste their time and resources building me wonderful flying chairs. That's why I have you, at no cost.»
I refuse to sit here and listen to him without doing something about it. I clench my fists into the ground and, when I try to stretch my arms, I feel my triceps contracting to the point of spasm and the weight on my shoulders pushing me down. I have to be careful not to lose my grip. If I do, I'll find myself crushed to the ground, and that's not an option. Not in front of him.
Meanwhile, Cooler is deliberately infuriating me. He continues to walk and talk as if nothing had happened.
«Did you really think that was all I could do against you? I took a risk. I wanted to see how far you would go, what you would do, if you would really kill me. As I presumed, you didn't, but I didn't quite like what you said, little brother.»
The kick comes faster than I anticipated. It hits me in the side with a force that defies gravity. It almost makes me lose my balance, and I have barely the strength to avoid it.
«Who's on their knees now? How does the dust taste like, Frieza?» he laughs, triumphantly; all the loathing he has always kept hidden now surfaces inevitably.
I'm waiting for a second kick, but it doesn't come. Something even worse happens: Cooler's foot brushes my back and then presses down deeply until my muscles give out and I'm crushed in the dust, cheek against the ground, arms that finally stretch out, feeling the relief of released tension.
«More comfortable, huh?» he taunts me. «Now that you're relaxing, you should be able to talk.»
«You dirty bastard» I growl, realizing he's right.
«Maybe it was better when you were silent.»
Now that the wind has stopped, I can see in the distance a throne of rock emerging from the desert. He crosses his arms.
«I could unleash all my fury on you, but that wouldn't make me any better than you were, raging against a helpless body» he says. «So, I won't. Yet I feel so angry at your ingratitude and selfishness.»
«Ingratitude...» I laugh, despite the difficulty. He looks at me again, his anger evident in his eyes.
«If you had a brain, you would truly be the most powerful being in the Universe, but you don't. You may think you're powerful, but you're just a stupid, boastful idiot. All it takes to destroy you is a tiny bit of intelligence. Frieza, remember these words of mine, because I want them to be the last thing you think about before you die: you are the failure of our Clan, the shame of Arcos. The Half-Legend.»
«You have no idea what's going to happen to you when I break free» I spit through my teeth.
«If you manage. I could tell you how long it will last... or I might not. I'll think about it back at the Palace, while I tell your men how the battle went and after polishing my new chair.»
He smiles. He definitely notices my reaction when he mentions my men. I am filled with fury at the thought of Zarbon and Dodoria knowing what just happened.
Then Cooler says his last words before he leaves. Words heavier than gravity, well-timed so they can pierce me to my core.
«Your words will be your epitaph. You wanted to get rid of me, and you'll be remembered as a loser. That's what you deserve. Now die.»
Without another word, he takes flight and sprints toward the Palace, leaving me behind incapable to say anything else. I don't think I would, anyway. My eyes widen in disbelief at what I just heard. I thought I was the only one in the world who knew these words, and that means only one thing: I refuse to accept that my secret was never mine alone.
Next chapter:
The legacy of the arcosian