It was pitch black in the Saiyan quarters. Vegeta was facedown, only in his blue uniform pants, his green scouter pushed up awkwardly on his face while he snored softly. He had settled into a deep sleep only twenty minutes ago after restlessly waking up every half hour or so. Frieza's base was dead silent, with more than half the men passed out in their quarters from their drinking. It could almost pass as peaceful.
It didn't last long.
All three Saiyans suddenly sat up when an alarm started blasting all throughout base, loud enough so that only the dead wouldn't notice it. That alarm was only sounded during the rare times when Frieza was summoning all of his men, and being late was usually a death sentence. And they were already late by Frieza's standards. Vegeta cursed as they all shot up to their feet and hastily began getting dressed.
"Shit! Where's my scouter!" Raditz yelled in dismay as Nappa quickly yanked a boot on while hopping on one leg.
"You better find it!" Vegeta growled, pulling his armor down before snatching up his white gloves. "Full uniform, imbecile!"
"It was right here-!"
"No time!" Nappa snapped.
He hadn't gotten both words out before Vegeta bolted out the door, though Nappa was soon right on his heels. They easily merged with the herd of soldiers running straight towards the Cold Gathering Chamber, the largest room on base. Though Vegeta had no idea why Frieza was summoning them, he already knew that it wouldn't be good. It was never good. Without wanting to, his mind drifted to Nappa's feeling of unease the night before. He chanced a quick glance over his shoulder. Nappa was right behind him, as was Raditz, but the latter was missing a scouter. It seemed Raditz had decided that the punishment for not being in full uniform was preferable to being late.
Vegeta slowed down just a little bit, until he was running next to another soldier – a short, stocky yellow alien, with long white hair, already out of breath from the short run. Obviously unranked, being in such poor condition. An easy target.
The Saiyan prince made a swift, impulsive decision, and suddenly attacked, striking him hard in the side of the head with a closed fist. The alien shrieked out in surprise, knocked completely off course as he stumbled and came to a crashing stop on the floor, making the men running behind him nearly topple over him. Vegeta easily snatched the red scouter that flew off the other soldier's face when he fell, and then tossed it over his shoulder to Raditz, who caught it effortlessly and slipped it on.
A few seconds later, and the Saiyans finally ran into the Cold Gathering Chamber, as some of Frieza's lieutenants screamed at them all to line up properly. All of the soldiers lined up in neat, ordered lines, in order by rank. Vegeta lined up in the last row, with Nappa and Raditz each on either side of him. As soon as they did, the large metallic doors behind them slid shut and the blasting alarm finally stopped.
Vegeta swallowed heavily, staring straight ahead. He knew just by sight alone that almost a quarter of Frieza's men were on the wrong side of those metallic doors. The thought hadn't been completely formed in his mind, when he heard the screaming outside of the chamber. The slaughter scream. He knew it intimately. It seemed that the punishment for being late this morning was a painful death, which provided a glimpse into Frieza's mood.
The young prince subtly glanced around, catching a still hung-over soldier being forcefully dragged out of the room to join the slaughter. Armor, boots, and scouter were always required when meeting Frieza, and this particular alien was lacking his scouter. Death seemed to be the punishment for that too. The soldier was screaming for forgiveness for the minor transgression. The screams grew muffled when he was dragged from the room, and then ended altogether. Vegeta looked ahead again, but he could feel furious eyes on him. It hadn't escaped his attention that the soldier whose scouter he had stolen wasn't in attendance. Not that he cared that he had inadvertently sentenced the man to death. Better he die than Raditz, after all.
Finally, all the screams were silenced. Frieza casually strolled out from a side entrance, followed by Zarbon, and then Dodoria. When he came to a stop in front of his men, they all simultaneously lowered to one knee. Everyone was tense with fear though no one dared show it. The tyrant looked everyone over, his cold eyes unreadable.
"I was generous last night, granting you all the night off to rest. It seems some men thought that rest extended over into today. I'm sure you all heard what happened to them, and we will leave their bodies in the corridors for the rest of the day as a kind reminder that tardiness is unacceptable. When I summon you all here, I expect you all to be here on time, and dressed appropriately. I will not tolerate anything less. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Lord Frieza," everyone obediently replied in unison.
"Glad we cleared that up then," Frieza deadpanned, his tail whipping behind him betraying his irritation. Vegeta lowered his head to avoid eye contact when the tyrant looked in his direction. He was far from the only soldier who did so. Frieza slowly began walking along the front, studying each man, as though taking inventory of those who were dead outside the doors.
"It has come to my attention that the men in Cooler's ranks outscored all of my men in every meaningful category in the annual reports for my father. I cannot express my disappointment in this, and we will work to remedy these deficiencies effective immediately. My Galactic Army is superior to any other military force in the entire universe, especially my brother's, and it's time we begin raising our standard again."
Vegeta and Nappa subtly exchanged a wary look. That didn't sound good for anyone.
"From now on, there will be a zero-tolerance policy for failure of any kind, or any lack of discipline. Punishment will be severe for anyone who tries my patience, so I don't recommend it. The weak will eventually be weeded out of the ranks, and fresh blood will soon be brought in to replace them. Zarbon is preparing various recruitment missions, which most of you will receive in the coming days.
"But please, don't think I don't genuinely care about each and every one of you. This is a nurturing environment, and I want you all to excel here and reach your full potential. As such, I will make sure there is enough food provided every day for all of you, and that the regeneration tanks are upgraded with the latest equipment for faster healing. In addition, after the completion of ten assignments in a row, each of you will have one night off to do as you please. These changes on my part show my commitment to each of you. I expect the same commitment in return. Understood?"
"Yes, Lord Frieza."
"Excellent. The last order of business is the kind man in the back."
Everyone turned around, and just a few feet behind Raditz was one of Frieza's technicians. The alien was a black beast, hunched over and spikes emerging all over his furry body. He would have looked menacing were it not for the terror in his three wide gray eyes. He raised one hand up, showing a strange device Vegeta didn't recognize.
"His name is Rion, and each of you will meet with him for a few seconds on your way out. The device in his hand will give us a deeper reading on your psychological states. Those who have a score under 40 percent, report to Zarbon after this. In a show of my good faith, we will tailor a plan for each of you to help you with any mental deficiencies. Hopefully with all of these changes, you can all prove that you are better than all of Cooler's men combined. Dismissed."
"Psychological states?" Nappa whispered to Vegeta as they both stood up and got in line to meet with Rion. Since they were already in the back, they would be one of the first to be tested. "What does that even mean?"
"I don't know," Vegeta admitted, frowning as he recalled his personal evaluation with Shimdro. He specifically recalled the shock on the round alien's face with some of his answers to the psychological questions. That wasn't a good sign.
"I think he's referring to suicidal tendencies," Jhainer's soft voice spoke from behind him.
The Saiyans all looked back, and Vegeta blinked a bit at the sight of the young Trikan. Though trying valiantly to hide it, Jhainer was clearly in a substantial amount of pain. He couldn't quite keep the grimace out of his features, and his walking was more like awkward, painful shuffling. More telling, his long, thorny tail was being dragged behind him, like he didn't have the strength to raise it.
"What the hell happened to you?" Raditz asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Fell off my cot this morning," Jhainer replied, an edge to his usually gentle voice.
Vegeta snorted in disbelief. "Got a thrashing from Zarbon for that stunt you pulled, didn't you?"
Jhainer fell in line right behind Vegeta. He then directed his one-eyed white stare directly onto the prince. "Manzin figured out what I did," he softly admitted. "Ratted me out to Zarbon. But don't get too excited, Saiyan. It won't slow me down today."
"I wouldn't count on it, Trikan."
"Anyways, you remember what Shimdro told Frieza, don't you, Vegeta? About the suicide rates being high? Well, while Zarbon was taking a break from beating the life out of me, I overheard him and Dodoria talking. Turns out the suicide rate for Cooler's men is practically zero. You know that probably angered Lord Frieza quite a bit."
Vegeta frowned thoughtfully, and looked towards the front of the line, where Raditz now was. The Saiyan had to bend down to Rion, who put the device up to his eye that wasn't covered with a scouter. He held it there for a few seconds, and then the device beeped. Raditz looked at his number, and then stepped out, pausing to wait for his fellow Saiyans. Nappa stepped up next.
"What if the damn thing doesn't even work and gives the wrong number by mistake?" Vegeta whispered, looking over his shoulder at Jhainer.
"I don't think it matters," the other boy quietly answered. "He said he wouldn't kill anyone over it, unless he's willing to kill over half the men here…"
Raditz and I stayed with you, but the next day, half of the men on base were summoned by Zarbon and killed…
Vegeta looked away as he remembered Nappa's words from the night before. But there was nothing he could do if this little machine output the wrong number. After Nappa was done, the prince stepped forward, and remained perfectly still while Rion put the device up to his eye. It was a dark cylinder with a blinking blue light at the end. The blinking stopped, an uncomfortably bright light scanned Vegeta's eye.
He pulled away and checked the number: 48.
Vegeta exhaled in relief, and then walked out of the Cold Gathering Chamber – only to be greeted by the sight of the morning's massacre. There were body limbs thrown about, blood splattering the otherwise pristine walls. The prince's nose twitched at the sight of all the gore. These men had worked hard for Frieza for a long time, and this was how they died. A not-so-subtle reminder that their lives meant nothing, and that one day he might be splattered over the walls too.
"Thanks for earlier, Vegeta," Raditz genuinely said. Vegeta just grunted with indifference as other soldiers trickled out behind him. He didn't care for either Raditz or Nappa, but he was still thankful there was no Saiyan blood painting the walls. There weren't many Saiyans around anymore, after all.
"What time is it?" Vegeta demanded, looking over at Nappa.
"0709. You still have a little time."
"Probably not," the prince grumbled, warily looking back over at the bloodied wall next to him. "Punctuality is the theme of the day."
"You probably want to leave soon," Raditz said, his hand on his activated scouter. He looked off to the side. "Dodoria's already on the move. He's heading south. Guess that's where it starts."
"Yes," Jhainer chimed in, finally shuffling over to the Saiyans. "He mentioned that to Zarbon this morning when they were talking. Training is on the south end."
Vegeta's face remained indifferent, but his tail tightened around his waist. Almost no one ventured over to the south end of the planet, and for good reason. It was freezing cold there. But if that was where they had to go, then so be it.
"Vegeta," Jhainer's voice cut into his thoughts. The teenaged prince shot him an impatient glare. "We could help each other for the early parts. Be allies."
"Your offer is unnecessary, Jhainer. I don't need help," Vegeta scoffed in disgust. Almost on cue, Manzin and his brother walked past them, both of them eyeing the Saiyan prince with pure contempt. Vegeta sneered at them threateningly.
Jhainer chuckled. "Very well. Have it your way. If you're leaving now, I'll leave with you."
"Fine. I need fresh air anyways," Vegeta grumbled, turning around and walking off down the hall. He nonchalantly kicked aside the severed head of the soldier he had punched earlier. Jhainer followed him, managing to keep pace despite his injuries while stepping around the corpses.
"We're going to see what Zarbon has for us to do, then we'll be over to watch," Raditz called out to Vegeta. The prince just gave an indifferent wave of his hand, not turning around. The competitions were open and anyone was allowed to watch, but it didn't matter to him if Raditz and Nappa were there to see.
"We have just enough time to make it there," Jhainer said, activating his scouter over his good eye once they stepped outside. "Manzin and his brother are already on their way."
"Yes, and Cui is back with Frieza," Vegeta noted, his scouter activated and running too as he glanced back at base.
"Shall we?"
"Hn," Vegeta levitated a little bit into the air. "Try to keep up, Trikan," he taunted, before his powerful blue ki ignited around him.
The prince then blasted off into the sky, heading straight towards the south end of the planet. His scouter beeped as Jhainer immediately followed him. Vegeta didn't look behind him, but he followed Jhainer's distance on the scouter, prepared to defend himself if the Trikan dared attack him from behind. But seconds passed into minutes, and no attack came. Vegeta didn't let his guard down, but he slowly relaxed a little. Moreover, he was impressed Jhainer could keep up with him despite his injuries.
The prince reached up to his scouter, and rotated the display to the current time. He would be early at this rate, and have time to kill. A smirk tugged on his lips as he deactivated his scouter completely, and then he diverged in his path. Jhainer froze in midair, confusion in his good eye as he watched Vegeta head off towards the southwest.
"What are you doing? You're going to be late!" Jhainer shouted after him. But Vegeta ignored him, or maybe didn't hear him at all. The young Trikan grunted a little and shook his head. "Crazy Saiyan," he muttered, before resuming his flight towards the south end.
Several minutes later, Vegeta landed in front of the Ozo Tavern. Like he suspected, none of Frieza's men were there. But that didn't mean the place was deserted. He subtly peeked in through the dirty window, and caught movement inside. The Saiyan withdrew so he was out of sight, and then made sure his black cape was properly secured to his silver armor set. He then ran both hands up into his flamed hair, as though trying to tame it as best he could. When he was satisfied, he walked into the tavern.
Aradeen was busy vigorously scrubbing the floor, grumbling things under her breath regarding drunk soldiers. The pale green skin on her hands, so soft and untainted before she was offered up to Frieza, was getting more and more calloused each day. But, there were worse fates for women in Frieza's service. Between being raped continuously every day for the rest of her life, and serving drunk and obnoxious soldiers, she tried not to complain.
But she couldn't quite keep the flash of exasperation off her face when a pair of white boots settled right in front of her, dirtying the floor she was busy cleaning. Aradeen slowly looked up and made eye contact with Vegeta as he smirked down at her.
"Yes?" she warily asked, her discomfort clear. Manzin had threatened her with her life if she even looked at the youngest Saiyan, but how could she not look at him now? He was the only one there, and he would probably kill her outright if she disrespected him by ignoring him.
"We were rudely interrupted last night, so I don't remember if I told you, but today's my first day of training to earn rank," Vegeta boasted, his arms crossed over his silver armor. "I thought perhaps you would want to wish me good luck beforehand, slave."
"Oh. Yes. Good luck," Aradeen easily replied, trying her best not to show her fear of him. She reached over to pick up her cleaning rag again, when Vegeta kicked it out of her reach.
"And just so we're clear," Vegeta casually said, slowly squatting down in front of her. He leaned in close to her, intrigued when she didn't flinch away from him. "Manzin's days are numbered. I'm going to kill him sooner rather than later. And once he's dead, perhaps…I can get a little more from you than good luck."
"I think you should go…" Aradeen uncomfortably said, looking away from those intense dark eyes. "You don't want to be late on your first day of training."
Vegeta grunted, scrutinizing her delicate facial features. Now he understood why Raditz and Nappa sometimes took women by force. Doing it any other way would take time. But damn, would it be rewarding to see the look on Manzin's face if he got this woman to willingly give herself to him. The prince smirked, and slowly stood up.
"Yes. I don't want to be late," the prince agreed. "And you might want to think about what I said. This is quite an honor for you, after all. I will be a rank 5 man soon, but you will always be a slave girl. Don't forget that." As though to prove his point, Vegeta shoved the container of cleaning fluid over with his boot, spilling it onto the floor. He chuckled at the flash of anger in Aradeen's eyes, though she wisely bit her tongue. "Get back to work, girl. I'll see you soon."
Aradeen glared at his back as Vegeta walked out, shaking her head while she resumed her cleaning. The prince didn't notice as he quickly took to the air, moving as fast as he could to make it to his training on time. He couldn't resist the smirk creeping over his face though. He had hopefully put the slave girl in her place, made her realize how fortunate she was that someone of his power was even looking her way. Soon, he would have her. She would be his personal reward after earning his rank.
It was growing colder and colder the closer he got to the south end. Vegeta grit his teeth as the temperature shifted. It was eating away through his uniform on his arms and his legs, chilling his skin rapidly with his flying speed and forcing him to raise his ki as high as he could to stay warm.
A few minutes later, Vegeta landed where the rest of the squad was. He was the last one to arrive, and lined up next to Jhainer, who just shook his head at him. Manzin leaned in closer to Cui, and whispered something to him. Cui smirked and nodded. The prince frowned, more concerned with the ground than his competition. It was some black, cold, slippery substance, laid out over ice. Unreliable, difficult to get traction with his boots. It was also much colder here than Vegeta had anticipated. Every breath he released was visible in the frigid air.
"You're late, Saiyan," Dodoria's angry voice called out, immediately getting Vegeta's attention. The prince scowled and checked his scouter, looking at the time.
"No, I'm not," he argued. "I'm early-"
"You're the last one to arrive," Dodoria cut in. He slowly walked up in front of them, coming to a stop in front of Vegeta. "That means you're late, monkey boy. I'll see that Zarbon punishes you for that later."
Vegeta clenched his fists, but stayed silent. Dodoria walked backwards for a bit, as though taking them each in.
"Alright boys, I'm sure you all know the rules," he finally began. "Zarbon should've briefed you on the basics, so we'll skip that. The way this works is simple. Every day there is training. You are only excused from training if Zarbon or Lord Frieza gives you an assignment, or you are in a regen tank. Every few days, instead of training, there will be a competition. Win a competition, get a point. Zero points for anything other than first place. Can't show up to a competition because you got an assignment, or you're recovering in a tank? You get zero points. First man to five points will be upgraded to rank 5. You all got it, or is anyone too stupid to understand?"
No one said anything. Dodoria nodded in approval.
"Good then. Because even though it sounds easy, the competitions aren't going to be easy. Each of you can fire ki; big deal. A backwards child can fire ki. Your fighting skills are also a joke on the whole. The goal is to improve all your skills. You'll learn how to handle a variety of weapons. You'll learn infiltration techniques. You'll learn survival skills in the wilderness of a planet you don't know. You'll learn everything you need to handle all kinds of assignments that come with high rank.
"Now, on average, one person dies every time I run this damn thing. That means there's a 25 percent chance each of you is already a corpse. Anyone want to step down?"
Everyone shook their head. Vegeta looked off to the side as more and more soldiers began coming by, forming a sloppy semi-circle behind the four young soldiers. The first day was always the most popular. He doubted any would be there in the end.
"Good. Then let's get started," Dodoria muttered in boredom, taking a bite of something green and crunchy in one hand while he studied a black device in his other hand. When it beeped, he tossed aside what he was eating and reached up to his scouter, activated it, and looked at the teenaged Saiyan. "Gotta log power levels before we start. How strong are you, monkey prince?"
"Stronger than these three, certainly," came the cocky reply.
"We'll see about that…7,100 for Vegeta."
Dodoria entered the number, before directing his scouter to Jhainer. The young Trikan was standing straight, holding his tail up behind him while he stared emotionlessly at Dodoria. The scouter ran, and then beeped.
"7,000 for Jhainer," Dodoria announced, nodding as he logged it. He then redirected his scouter to Manzin as Vegeta caught Jhainer's eye.
"Weakling," the prince whispered, smirking arrogantly. Jhainer chuckled softly and looked ahead again.
"7,500 for Manzin," Dodoria called out. Vegeta's smirk disappeared, and his nose twitched as he glared at the older boy on the other side of Jhainer. Manzin's chest puffed out with pride as he stared straight ahead, his eyes now a bright blue as a grin tugged on the corner of his mouth. Vegeta wondered what color his eyes would become when he was dead.
"And 7,050 for Cui," Dodoria droned on, logging the data in.
"Least I'm not the weakest one here," Cui laughed loudly. Jhainer gave him a look that could have killed.
"Quiet, boy. We'll see which of you is truly weak today," Dodoria snapped, making Cui's laughter immediately stop. "Now because today is the first day and it's oh so special, we're going to start with a competition. That means one of you lucky bastards will get a point right off the bat. Follow me," he ordered, before turning around and leisurely walking away from them.
The four boys behind him quickly followed suit. Even though Vegeta tried remaining apart, Manzin easily wound up walking next to him. Vegeta scowled as Cui came up on his other side.
"What's going on with your punctuality, Vegeta? If you're that eager for Zarbon to knock your teeth down your throat, you could have just asked me," Manzin snidely remarked. "I would've done you the favor, free of charge. I'm stronger than you, after all."
"Ahhh, he thinks he's too good to play by the rules," Cui snorted. "Taking advantage of Lord Frieza liking you, aren't you, Vegeta?"
"Actually, fish-head, I was taking advantage of someone else liking me," Vegeta calmly said, glancing at Manzin out of the corner of his eye. "A female, to be exact."
"Is that so?" Manzin growled, his blue eyes changing until they were black slits as his hair stood on end. Vegeta shrugged nonchalantly, but he couldn't keep the smirk off his face. "And who was this female?"
"I seem to have forgotten her name," Vegeta innocently said, his smirk spreading. "How rude of me. I'll ask her after she's done screaming my name."
Manzin looked beyond irate as he visibly contemplated whether a fight right now with Vegeta would be worth the punishment he'd receive later. Before he could decide, though, Dodoria called them to attention. The four young soldiers lined up properly as Dodoria addressed them again.
"Each of you has been given a different device to enhance your skills. The first competition is to retrieve your device. Whoever retrieves it first will earn a point. All four devices have been hidden here." Dodoria gestured behind him, and was met with four confused stares. Dodoria sighed, rolling his eyes. "Goddamned stupid kids," he growled under his breath. "Look down!"
They all did, and then saw that the black slippery substance stopped right behind Dodoria. Then there was a large, seemingly bottomless stretch of dark liquid. It could have been water, but it was hard to tell. Vegeta tried getting some smell from it, but he got nothing.
"Vegeta's color is blue. Jhainer, white. Manzin, red. And Cui, green. Your device will have a blinking light attached with your color on it. They've all been hidden well, so I hope you can all swim," Dodoria laughed sadistically. "Everyone understand?"
"Yes," they all responded, nodding.
"Good. Now strip down. No armor, no boots, no gloves, no scouters. Hurry up!" Dodoria yelled at them as they each quickly stripped to just their uniform pants, even though he himself was dressed in extra uniform layers to keep himself warm.
Vegeta grit his teeth when he felt the cold wind biting at his bare skin as he pulled down his uniform top. He had limited exposure to this type of weather, especially without his gear. It took effort not to start shivering and display weakness. Looking over at his competition, he saw that Cui was definitely feeling the cold. He had stripped as ordered and was now trying to blow warm air into his cold hands. Manzin looked like he couldn't be more comfortable. With thick black hair that could pass as animal fur covering his chest and back, no doubt he was warm. Jhainer also didn't look bothered at all by the cold. Trika was cold, and the scales on his body were an adaptation to keep him warm.
The four lined up right along the edge of the dark liquid greeting them. Vegeta tried peering down into it, looking for blinking lights. He saw nothing except darkness, and so he took as deep a breath as he could manage.
"There will be no ki use allowed. Understood?" Dodoria asked. Everyone nodded, all four of them leaning forward. Vegeta was already holding his breath. "Go!" Dodoria shouted.
They all dove in at the same time, and disappeared under the liquid. Vegeta felt like he had been stabbed by thousands of knives all at once – definitely water, but it was freezing and almost made him lose his breath. He tried ignoring it as much as possible as he quickly swam deeper and deeper. He could feel the others swimming with him, each of them relentless. They swam on and on for a few minutes, and then one of them apparently couldn't hold his breath anymore and turned around, quickly swimming back for the surface. Vegeta couldn't tell who it was, and he had no time to look. The cold had made him numb to feeling, and he could hold his breath for quite a while. And so he focused on looking for the blinking blue light.
He was so focused on his task that he never saw Manzin coming until the older boy was barreling right into him, slamming into his midsection. Vegeta instinctively opened his mouth, and immediately regretted it. He quickly snapped his mouth shut as he was slammed face-first into a wall of rock, but it was too late. He had a mouth full of water, and even though he forced himself to swallow it, he had already lost most of the air in his lungs. Whereas before he could have lasted almost half an hour holding his breath, now he would be lucky to last a couple minutes.
Vegeta spun around, fighting Manzin off him, barely holding back on using his ki. He slammed his fist into Manzin's face, and was met with a hard knee to the stomach. Vegeta's teeth ripped through his bottom lip completely as he forced his mouth to stay closed. In the split second it took for him to recover, Vegeta felt something snap around his ankle, before Manzin rapidly swam away. The Saiyan immediately went after him, when the lock on his ankle snapped him back.
Vegeta whirled back around, trying hard to see what the hell was on his ankle, but he couldn't make it out through the dark water. He pulled as hard as he could, but whatever Manzin had locked around his ankle did not budge. The prince pulled up and reached down to feel it. It was a metal chain, and by the feel of it, it had been there quite a while. A quick survey of the rock wall showed that there were a bunch of chains hooked up on there. Manzin's brother must have shared this valuable input, no doubt discovered during his own training to make rank.
When Vegeta's hand hit upon what could only be the bones from someone who had long ago died in this exact same situation, panic seized him. He frantically started clawing on the rock wall to free the piece the chain was attached to. He slammed his fists into the wall relentlessly, not feeling the skin of his knuckles being shredded as a result. His lungs were starting to burn, his eyes starting to hurt. Finally, the desperate prince said to hell with it; he would use his ki and blast his way out. He was loathed to lose this competition, but better lose the competition than his life, especially when there would be other opportunities.
Just as he pulled away from the rock wall to summon up the necessary ki, Vegeta saw it. Wedged above him in a small divot was something that was blinking blue.
That must have been his device. How the hell had he missed it? He forced the thought out of his mind. He had found it, now he needed to free it, then free himself, then get the hell out of there. Vegeta gripped the handle of his device as tight as he could and yanked on it, but it had no give. He then braced both of his feet against the rock wall, and pulled back with all the raw strength he had. After ten seconds, he freed the handle – nothing but a handle, but there was no mistaking the blue light blinking at the end of it.
The prince then turned his attention back to the ankle chain. In desperation, he steeled his nerve, and then slammed his fist as hard as he could on his foot, shattering his own ankle. His face turned red as he tried not to breathe, and then he finished the job by breaking his foot for good measure. The pain shot up his whole leg and up his spine, and Vegeta couldn't help the instinctive hiss that escaped through his nose. He rapidly slipped off the lock around his ankle, and then started to frantically swim back up.
He felt rapid movement below him, and knew that someone else was also swimming back up. But the more he exerted himself, the worse the strain was on his lungs, making them feel like they were going to burst inside his body. Against his will, his movements started to grow more sluggish as he gradually began to lose consciousness.
Jhainer finally caught up to the prince seconds later, and noticing that the other teenaged boy wasn't going to make it on his own, he hooked his arm around Vegeta's chest from behind as he propelled them both back up with his powerful tail. Half a minute later, they both broke through the surface of the dark water.
Jhainer gasped desperately for air, and when he could finally breathe again, he swam back towards the edge, pulling Vegeta along with him. When he got there, he flung the limp Saiyan teenager up over the edge with one arm, and then climbed out himself. Vegeta unconsciously rolled over so he was face down as he started sputtering and coughing, his soaking wet body shivering with the exposure to the cold.
"Sorry, boys. No points for second and third place," Manzin taunted, before laughing. Jhainer glared at him as he sluggishly got up to his feet.
"You're a damn coward, Manzin," Jhainer hissed through his razor sharp teeth. "You attacked me from behind while I was trying to free my device!"
"Pay better attention, Trikan," Dodoria chuckled. "The rules Zarbon gave you were that you could not attack each other outside of training and competitions. I didn't give any rules for this competition. I just said whoever came back first with his device would win. Cui came back first, but he had nothing. Manzin came back next, with his device. So Manzin wins and is now ahead by one point. Congratulations, kid."
"Thank you," Manzin said, his eyes bright blue again as he grinned triumphantly. He didn't look fazed at all by the cold, even though he too was soaking wet.
"You all get a short break, but no getting dressed. Stay like you are. We'll begin the day's training in a little bit," Dodoria announced, wandering off to a small container he had off to the side, filled with warm food and beverages just for himself.
Manzin wandered away towards his brother, who was already waiting to congratulate him. Sitting off to the side was Cui, who looked angry that he was the only one now without a weapon. Of the four, he was the worst at holding his breath, and so he was doomed to fail right from the start. Jhainer winced as he gingerly sat down, inspecting the wound on his side that Manzin had inflicted on him. It was a deep cut, and there was dark blue blood trickling out of it.
Meanwhile, Raditz and Nappa were crouched next to Vegeta, who was slowly rolling onto his back. If they had been alone, they would have each tried to cover the young prince with something to give him warmth, which was what he badly needed. There was already ice beginning to form on his tail and in his hair, and he was unnaturally pale. But offering him help now where others could see was a terrible idea, one that would incur Vegeta's wrath later. So they each did nothing but watch as the prince sluggishly started to pull himself up.
"What happened?" he groggily asked, squinting at his fellow Saiyans.
"Manzin won. He's got a point now," Nappa responded. "Jhainer got you out."
"Damn it," Vegeta grumbled, sitting up now. He shook his head rapidly to shake off the excess water like an animal, and then elevated his ki as much as he could to warm up a little bit. It barely helped. He was freezing and was helpless to stop his shivering. Looking down, he winced at the sight of his right foot. It was badly swollen despite the cold, and a sick mix of red and blue. He doubted that he would be able to get it back inside his boot. Gingerly, he pulled his foot up so it was on his left knee to further inspect the damage. "Manzin got me when I wasn't fucking looking. Foolish of me. I should have expected it," he quietly growled, not knowing if he was angrier with Manzin or with himself. "They had chains down there."
"Yes, his brother was bragging about giving Manzin that information. And besides, Manzin got Jhainer too. Seems his brother gave him some real good advice on how to play this," Nappa bitterly added.
"Hn," Vegeta grunted, prodding his broken foot with his fingers and flinching every so often. "That's fine. There is still a long way to go."
"So what did you get?" Raditz asked, sitting down now next to the prince. "Manzin got an invisibility cloak."
Vegeta looked down at his left hand, which was still clutching the handle he had freed. It took some effort to relax his grip enough to inspect it. It didn't help that his hands were shaking from the cold. The young prince frowned, turning it over a few times. It was a black metallic handle with a blinking blue light on the tip. He shook it, squeezed it, tried pressing the tip, but nothing happened.
"What the hell kind of weapon is this? Am I supposed to throw this at my enemy and hope it kills them or something?" he sneered.
"They all look the same," Jhainer suddenly cut in. Vegeta looked over at him, not knowing what to make of the boy saving him. He was grateful to be alive, but not grateful of being saved, and so he said nothing as he glared at Jhainer. If the young Trikan was bothered though by the lack of thanks, he didn't show it. He squatted down and showed the Saiyans what he had retrieved. "See. Looks just like yours, Vegeta, except mine has a white light. And when I hold it tight and imagine where I want to go…"
Jhainer squeezed the handle in his hand, and vanished. The Saiyans all blinked a bit, and then jumped with a start when Jhainer suddenly reappeared right behind Nappa.
"It's a teleporter," he said, a small smirk spreading over his face. "You have to play with it and figure out what yours does, but it definitely does something."
"Hn."
Dodoria then yelled at them all to line up. The prince forced himself back up to his feet, and then gently tried putting weight on his right foot. When he couldn't, he levitated until he was lined up, and then slowly descended down with all his weight on his left leg. He and Cui were visibly shaking from how cold they were, even as they both tried to get it under control. Jhainer wasn't able to fully stand with the wound in his side coupled with the thrashing he had taken early that morning from Zarbon, the marks of which were fresh on his scaled back. He was forced to keep one hand on his side to keep the bleeding under control. Only Manzin was standing easily, but ice was starting to settle on the hair on his body. The parts that weren't covered with hair – mainly his face, his hands, and his feet – were starting to turn white.
Dodoria scanned them all over while he drank something warm from a small wooden mug. He then chuckled.
"What's the matter? You all look like you've been through hell, and we haven't even started!" he mockingly shouted at them. He paused to take another drink from his mug. "Alright, children. It's time to see what you've all got. You're going to each learn to use your new devices in battle, and I will teach you each a new technique for hand-to-hand combat. It's just going to keep getting colder and colder today, boys, so best learn to suck it up and deal with it." Vegeta snorted mockingly, drawing Dodoria's attention. "You got something to say to me, monkey boy?"
The prince snarled out, "I'd like to see you deal with this cold, you fat blob of pink lard-"
Dodoria moved too fast for Vegeta to follow, but the pain that promptly fired up his right leg was intense. The young Saiyan collapsed in a heap, instinctively grabbing onto his broken foot as he bit down on his lip so he wouldn't scream. He forgot that his bottom lip was badly ripped open from his struggle with Manzin underwater. He rolled onto his knees, pressing his throbbing face against the cold black substance of the ground as he willed the excruciating pain in his foot to stop.
"Just earned yourself a worse thrashing with Zarbon, boy," Dodoria casually said, already back where he had originally been standing. "Next time you disrespect me, I'll kill you myself. Lord Frieza might have a fondness for you, but I don't. Now stand up, before I make sure you never get back up."
"Um, Dodoria?" Cui called out, waving awkwardly. "I don't have one of those device things…am I going to get one?"
"Sure, fish boy. When you jump back in and get it yourself, then you can have it. Now, each of you come over here…"
Try as he might, Vegeta could barely keep up in the training that ensued. The cold wind was merciless, and on his damp, half-naked body, it was numbing him and slowing him down. He found it harder and harder to focus on what Dodoria was telling him, even when he was right in his face explaining something. Fatigue was overwhelming him, and when he started feeling hot, he knew that the cold was getting to him. The prince could barely keep his grip on the handle of his weapon as Dodoria screamed in his ear for him to use it. Ki enhancer. That's what it was. Designed to teach him more discipline with manipulating his ki. But even though he tried following the directions on how to use it, nothing came out of it. Finally, in frustration, the teenager snarled that it was a broken piece of shit.
Dodoria then snatched it out of his hand, turned the handle towards the other trainees, who were all practicing new fighting techniques while Dodoria worked one on one with Vegeta. Three strands of bright orange ki emerged from the handle, like ropes. The ki ropes shot out together in a whirlwind and seized Jhainer, Manzin, and Cui each by the throat, lifting them each up effortlessly and flinging all three back into the dark, cold water almost one hundred feet away. Vegeta spent some time attempting to replicate the display, to no avail.
They ended the day with spars. By this point, they were all exhausted. Even Manzin had reached the limits of what his body could protect him from, and was now visibly shaking. Vegeta had lost the ability to focus on even the simplest of tasks. Cui's breaths were coming out in short gasps, his teeth chattering together. Jhainer could barely stand, his wounds from Zarbon and Manzin growing worse as time went on. The spars were extremely slow-paced even as Dodoria yelled at them all to move faster. But they couldn't. Finally, when Jhainer and Manzin both needed more than fifteen seconds to get back up after hitting each other at the same time during a spar, Dodoria had seen enough.
"Alright, you're all done!" Dodoria finally screamed. "Every damn one of you is an embarrassment, not being able to handle a little cold weather! You'll be lucky if I don't tell Lord Frieza to disband the rank qualifying squad this solar cycle, because not one of you deserves to be a ranked man. You all show up here tomorrow at 070X for training, and don't be late. Dismissed."
Vegeta sank to his knees in relief. Tomorrow he would be ashamed that he didn't last longer. But today, he just wanted to get the hell out of there. His room at Frieza's base wasn't fancy, but it was warm, and right now it sounded like pure heaven. Raditz and Nappa were next to him shortly afterwards, Raditz holding his gloves, boots, and armor. The prince didn't resist as they helped him up to his feet, nor did he resist their hands on his own, trying to warm his fingers which were dark blue at the tips. Though they were nowhere near as bad as his feet.
"We'll get you into a regen tank, and that'll take care of everything. Zarbon said they'd be up tonight, so it should be alright," Nappa informed him.
Vegeta nodded, not processing any of that. He got the gist when they took to the air and he mindlessly followed Raditz while Nappa followed him. Somewhere along the way though, his sight started fading. The last thing he remembered before passing out was Nappa slinging him onto his back and feeling the older Saiyan raise his ki to warm him.
When the prince roused later that night, he was laying down on a table inside the medical room, covered in a coarse gray blanket and dressed in a dry, warm uniform. The regeneration tanks were in the adjacent room, but this room was used for preliminary work, to take care of immediate health concerns if the tanks were all taken. Vegeta frowned and tossed aside the blanket, before sluggishly sitting up. His pants were pushed up to his knees, letting him examine his toes along with his fingers. They weren't that sick shade of blue anymore, being now covered with a healing lotion that had apparently done the trick. His foot still looked terrible though. Apparently there was no lotion for that.
Vegeta looked up when the door leading to the regeneration tanks opened, and raised an eyebrow when he saw Jhainer emerge. The Trikan boy had a thick bandage around his side, and the lashes from Zarbon on his back were covered in a healing gel. His blue tail was lashing with anger as he set his sights on Vegeta.
"We're not being healed tonight," Jhainer bluntly told him. Even though he had no pupil, Vegeta still saw the rage in the white of his eye. "Might as well just go back to our rooms until our next assignment, or until training tomorrow, because staying here is pointless."
"We'll see about that," Vegeta growled, forcing himself up on his feet. He limped over, shoving Jhainer out of his way. "They're supposed to let us heal after these trainings. I'm not going in tomorrow with a damn broken foot-"
"Vegeta…" Jhainer warned in his soft voice. He just looked away and sighed as the prince barged on in anyways.
Vegeta froze at the sight that greeted him. There were eight regeneration tanks there, and they were all filled with fluid and different soldiers. But instead of the blue healing fluid, they were submerged in a green fluid. Confused, the young prince frowned, and ignored his instinct to turn away as he limped over to the closest pod for a better look.
He flinched back when the man inside jerked upon his approach. A hand shot out in Vegeta's direction, and the prince immediately hobbled out of range of a potential ki blast, but nothing ever came. Limping closer again, Vegeta suddenly felt sick as he noticed what was really happening.
The man wasn't being healed. He was being disintegrated alive with acid, with most of his skin already dissolved. Desperate eyes locked onto his, as though pleading for help. Vegeta had seen horrible, violent things in his life, but he had never seen anything like this. Swallowing heavily, the prince scanned over the other tanks, and saw that they, too, were all being slowly dissolved to death. They must have been lied to, told they were going to be healed. It was cowardly, even by his standards.
His stomach churned with overwhelming nausea as he looked back at the first man, who was still conscious, even though some bones were now showing. They must have been given stiff paralyzers through their masks to prevent much movement. The young Saiyan made eye contact with him and saw a look of hopelessness and agony that would haunt him for years in his sleep.
He shook his head and turned away, only to bump right into Zarbon.
"You're not supposed to be in here. Did you need something, monkey prince?" Zarbon smoothly asked. Vegeta quickly shook his head. No way in hell was he getting into a tank anytime soon; dealing with his broken foot and his other wounds was suddenly not a problem. Zarbon's eyes narrowed as he looked over at the tanks.
"These men are the last of the ones who scored under 40 percent this morning. They were all highly suicidal. We are just giving them what they wanted," he casually explained. He patted Vegeta on the shoulder, making the young Saiyan flinch in disgust at the contact. "I'm quite pleased I ran into you though, Vegeta. Dodoria tells me you're due a thrashing for being late and mouthing off today. You know where to go, so meet me there in ten."
Vegeta nodded, and then watched as Zarbon left. He glanced back at the tanks, grimacing as they started getting more and more bloodied. He felt sick again, and so he half-shuffled, half-limped out of there as fast as he could manage.
Jhainer was still there by the door when Vegeta emerged, leaning against the wall. "The medical worker told me to wait until the tanks were freed, and that it would probably be a long wait," he explained. "After he left, I went in to see why there was such a long wait. I tried to get them out, but…"
Jhainer shrugged, and looked away. Vegeta had been staring down at the floor, listening. There was a tense silence for a moment as each teenager contemplated the grim situation in the next room, how easily it could have been them in there. Finally, Vegeta looked back up, and they both made eye contact.
"Manzin got you too?" he asked, eager to stop thinking about it.
"Yes. The coward," Jhainer muttered softly, frowning. "I never saw him coming."
"Listen…regarding your earlier offer…" Vegeta awkwardly started. He looked away and cleared his throat. "Perhaps having an ally wouldn't be the worst decision I could make."
Jhainer smirked. "You could definitely make worse decisions, Saiyan."
"It's null and void if we're in direct competition though, just so we're clear."
"Fine by me."
"Fine." Vegeta nodded, and then glanced back at the door. "You going to wait until they're…done…using the tanks?"
"I'm not sure yet. Are you?"
"No." The prince kept to himself the fact that he didn't trust someone not to give him the same fate as those in the next room. "It seems it's my turn for a thrashing."
"Perhaps if you didn't mouth off so frequently, you wouldn't get them so often."
Vegeta chuckled, and then began to limp away. "Mouthing off is the only fun I get to have, Trikan."
Jhainer snorted and shook his head, muttering under his breath in his native tongue about how insane the other boy was. Vegeta paid him no mind as he slowly hobbled out to go take his punishment from Zarbon.
All the while, he hoped that this alliance with Jhainer didn't turn out to be a mistake.