|
An hour later… “This place stinks,” Balair grumbled, wrinkling his lizard-like nose at the strong, pungent smells of rotting plants and foul, dark water that was part of the Sime swamps. The sky was grayish black, and the ground was black, muddy, and sticky with stunted plants barely peeking out of the ground. His red lizard body was covered from waist-down with black mud, after he had fallen into a mud puddle, which turned out to be a ten feet deep pool of a mixture of quicksand and tar. If he hadn’t been able to fly, Balair would have drowned in the muck. Dodoria complained, “Did we already die and go to hell? Because this place sure looks like it could be it! I hope that snake that bit the tip of my finger off earlier wasn’t poisonous.” He inclined his giant, pink, spiked head towards the corpse of a glowing red snake that he had killed for ripping the tip of Dodoria’s index finger off with its three fangs. The red snake had two long silver wings and was a fast flyer before he had been destroyed. Jaden said nothing; she had been healed physically, but she was still dispirited from the tortures that she had endured earlier three days ago. She was anxious and sulky, and she had not said a word to anyone since she had emerged from the healing tanks. Frieza had forced her to accompany him and Balair and Dodoria to help find Chestra and Zarbon. She cursed mentally, as the metal band of her restraining collar rubbed painfully against her blue scales, pressing them into her flesh underneath. Her two tails were slightly torn at the inner sides, for earlier with her two appendages, she had squeezed to death two snakes of the same breed that had attacked Dodoria. Her proud Rybanese head was hung down, as she silently hoped that the hapless lovebirds had the good sense to flee Sime already. “Zarbon is going to pay dearly for this—for stealing my woman! How dare he?” Frieza roared, as he, Balair, Dodoria, and a collared Jaden stepped out of the ship on the muddy, mucky ground of planet Sime. “I will see that he dies a most wretched death for this! Balair, Dodoria, do you two pick up anything on your scouters?” “Not yet, sire,” Dodoria admitted. “Tell me though, sire, is it really necessary to kill off Zarbon? You could just torture him until he agrees never to touch Chestra again; he has upset you, yes, but he would be very hard to replace.” “All of my men and women are dispensable, Dodoria,” Frieza reminded him coolly. “You just told us earlier, sire, that Jaden would be hard to replace—“ Dodoria blurted out on the subject that he still strongly disagreed with his beloved master on. “I said hard, Dodoria, not impossible. And if Jaden doesn’t behave herself, she will be joining Zarbon in the next dimension once I eradicate him. Balair, you have the best sense of smell out of all of us; your olfactory abilities are equivalent to a Saiyan’s or better, so do you smell anything?” Balair sniffed the air with his superb Sistrai sense of smell; the Sistrai race and the Saiyan race had the best olfactory abilities in the Rosetta Galaxy, and both races could smell scents from dozens of miles away. The heinous Sistrai warrior grinned when he picked up a scent—a female scent. “Ah, a woman…” he purred. “Maybe this planet isn’t a total wasteland, after all. It’s been a while since I’ve had a woman…” “BALAIR!” Frieza screamed. “Can you for ten minutes think of anything besides sex? Forget your raging hormones and tell me what race or being the scent belongs to!” “Don’t sweat it, Bali, almost all life has been eliminated from this planet anyway, and even you couldn’t have mated with any of the Sime women,” Dodoria pointed out. Balair sighed, and then he chuckled softly. “I recognize the scent alright; it’s definitely female, very familiar. Hmmm…it smells like a female who had just made love to her man, a very intoxicating scent, but would be better if the male had been me.” He turned to Frieza and chuckled a bit loudly, “Well, sire, I hate to say this, but that feminine scent happens to belong to Chestra; it’s definitely her odor. Looks like Zarbon or some other man broke her in before you had a chance to. Pity, what a shame.” “Broke her in? I bet anything that Zarbon mated with my woman, took her virginity which was meant to be mine!” Frieza hissed, his features twisted in an ugly mask of malice. “Balair, tell me you are lying—immediately!” With sweat beading on his red, scaly brow, Balair stammered nervously, “I wish I could say I was, sire, but it does smell like Chestra—and she just had sex with someone.” “Curses, curses, curses!” Frieza roared. “I was going to be her first man; I should have been her first, and Zarbon dares to take what is rightfully mine! He has some nerve; I gave him everything, we grew up together, and I took him on as my head commander and right-hand man, and this is how he repays me! He could have picked one of the Ginyu Girls, but no, he has to take an untouched woman, a woman that I meant to have for myself!” He stomped on the ground, like an angry little boy. “Balair,” he said finally, “do you know the direction of that scent, of Chestra’s scent?” “That I do, sire,” Balair said, a bit triumphantly. “Follow your nose, Balair, and find my woman! Jaden will remain here with me. Dodoria, you will go with Balair; find my woman!” “Do you still wish for us to spare Zarbon?” Dodoria asked. “For now, yes, just find them both, and capture them. Jadenia and I will remain here until you two find them. Jaden will learn what happens to those who defy me, and I will demonstrate that with Zarbon. Contact me on your scouters when you find the runaway lovebirds, and we will come wherever you two are at.” “Yes, sire!” Balair and Dodoria told him. At Zarbon’s space pod… Zarbon had Chestra settled on his lap, as he desperately tried to start the engine on his space pod, so that he and his new love could flee before Frieza could find them. He was cursing and grumbling because the engine had just failed. Chestra looked about helplessly because she knew nothing about technology, and she could do nothing to help her mate, as Zarbon frantically tried to press any and every button that he could in hopes that the engine would somehow start up again, so that they could leave. Zarbon was panting, with sweat running down his handsome face, and then to his and his lover’s relief, they both heard an engine whirring. Chestra cried out happily, “You did it, Zarbon, you did it!” She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, kissing him fervently on his lips. Zarbon laughed in relief, “Let’s get out of here!” He pressed the button that would launch them into space, but before the pod could take off, a ki blast coming from nowhere hit the pod. Chestra shrieked when she looked through the small round window of the pod and saw Balair’s familiar face, and she also noticed Dodoria with him. Both men began to bang on the silver pod, and Dodoria fired a ki blast at the pod’s door. The door cracked open a bit, but it was still locked. Balair stepped close to the crack of the door. “Go away!” Zarbon ordered both minions. “This does not concern you!” Before Zarbon and Chestra could plan what to do next, a dusty, red mist flowed into the pod, and within seconds the mist solidified itself into Balair, who was now wedged between the lovers and the control panel. Chestra huddled closer to Zarbon, not wanting to be any closer to Balair than necessary. “Hello, Head Commander,” Balair purred. “You and our little VR have a date with Lord Frieza. I suggest you both step out of the pod immediately.” “And I suggest that you go to hell,” Zarbon told his colleague coolly as possible. Balair snorted. “You don’t have a chance right now, Zarbon, and you know it. Dodoria could easily blast this pod into fragments, so if you want to challenge us or whatever before we defeat you, we better step outside.” Zarbon grumbled, “Very well, but you two gorillas will leave Chestra out of this.” He shot Balair a look that could decimate planet Sime, and just for a moment, the normally arrogant Sistrai warrior flinched. Balair meekly vaporized himself again, and he floated through the crack of the pod door in his gas form. After easing Chestra off of his lap, Zarbon kicked the door open, almost fully prepared to fight Balair and Dodoria. Zarbon was about to launch himself at Balair, but Dodoria hit him hard in the back of his head with his right fist. It wasn’t hard enough to make him pass out, and when a disappointed Dodoria tried to hit him again, he wound him punching himself in the face. Before Dodoria could stop himself, he inflicted blows onto his only body, his face, neck, and pudgy stomach. An unseen force was controlling his fist, as the fist, which seemed to have a mind of its own, repeatedly attacked its owner, socking him hard all over his corpulent, pink body. “Curse that Chestra!” Dodoria roared out loud. “I forgot about her blasted telekinesis! Stop it, woman, I command you!” Chestra slowly and determinedly stepped out of the damaged space probe, still keeping hold of Dodoria, as she used her mind to control Dodoria’s fist. She tried to keep her mind focused on keeping Dodoria occupied with harming himself. Meanwhile, Zarbon and Balair were engaged in an all-out battle of fisticuffs, as Zarbon quickly managed to break Balair’s arm, rendering Balair’s vaporizing abilities useless. A furious Balair kicked Zarbon in his stomach, while Zarbon landed his fist in Balair’s face. Balair whipped his tail across Zarbon’s face, and Zarbon cried out in pain, for Balair’s tail was as effective as a whip. He quickly recovered enough, however, to land a roundhouse kick onto Balair’s jaw, breaking the jawbone. The Sistrai warrior snarled, as he shoved Zarbon to the ground, but Zarbon leapt back up and rammed his fist into Balair’s yellow eye. Before Balair could retaliate, a sharp voice echoed throughout the cave. “That will be enough, Balair! He is mine to deal with now.” Balair meekly released Zarbon and stepped away from him, as Zarbon gaped at the speaker in utter horror. Chestra grew so terrified that her concentration broke, allowing Dodoria to be free again. Dodoria would have given the girl the beating of her life if it had not been for this speaker’s presence. “Frieza,” Zarbon said as bravely as possible, even though he knew that he was about to meet his end. “Hello, Zarbon,” Frieza told his head commander coolly, as he calmly stood in the shadows of the cave with his tail around Jaden’s neck. His tail was holding Jaden’s neck only loosely enough, so that it wasn’t strangling her, but tight enough to where Jaden couldn’t escape without the risk of Frieza strangling her on the spot. Jaden cursed the ki-restraining collar that kept her from using her abilities; she could not even shape-shift. “I’ll tell you what, Zarbon,” Frieza said evenly. “You let me have VR Chestra, and I will spare you, plus allow you to keep your position as my head commander. You can easily find another woman; I want VR Chestra for myself. I’ll even find a nice young female for you to breed and mate with. You should be thankful for my mercy, Zarbon, had you been anyone else, I would have destroyed you on the spot. Now what do you say?” “I’m not letting you have Chestra,” Zarbon told him as steadily as possible through gritted teeth. “Chestra does not wish to be with you.” Chestra was pale and trembling, but she had to help her mate. Trying to keep a calm, steady tone, she said, “He’s right, Frieza.” She deliberately did not address him as “lord”. “I don’t love you, and I don’t wish to be with you. I love Zarbon, and I’ve become his mate. You yourself can easily find someone else who would be willing to be with you. All you are doing is causing hurt and pain between you and Zarbon. Your relationship and friendship with him is too important for you to take a woman from him that he loves, that she loves in return.” “She has a valid point there, Lord Frieza,” Jaden dared to say, and she was rewarded with Frieza tightening his tail around her thick, collared neck. Jaden chortled and gasped for air, barely able to breathe. Frieza looked directly into Chestra’s worried pale green eyes, the color of spring Earth grass. He smiled, a cool, deadly, silky smile that sent shivers down the spines of all of the cave’s other occupants. “Chestra, my dear, why do you wish to waste your time with Zarbon? I am more powerful and stronger than he is, and there is so much more that I could give you that he couldn’t. I’ve suspected that you’ve already lost your virginity to him, which disappoints me because I wanted to be your first man. Sadly, that can’t be helped now, if that’s what happened.” “It did happen,” Zarbon said. “I did take her.” “He did,” Chestra said calmly. “And I have no regrets about it.” The entire cave became still, so still that a feather from a bird in the cave could be heard hitting the floor. Everyone was afraid of Frieza’s reaction now, and they wondered just how long Chestra and Zarbon had to live. Frieza did not say a word, but his smile was gone. He slowly released Jaden and thrust her to the ground. Jaden wasted no time in scurrying away as far as possible from Frieza; she was not about to challenge him again at this point. “Zarbon,” Frieza said evenly, calmly. “I should blast you into green fragments on the spot for taking what should have been mine to claim. However, I am going to offer you a chance to have her, since you’ve already deflowered her. I still want her, make no mistake, and if you lose, she’s mine forever. You and I will go outside of this cave and fight. I will fight at my full strength, and so will you in your transformed state. You won’t defeat me, of course, but if you can last ninety minutes with me at my full strength, I will let you have Chestra, and I will never bother her again as a potential concubine or mate. But if you die, or are so severely wounded that you can’t fight anymore, or if you give up, she’s mine. Sound fair?” “Don’t do it, Zarbon!” Jaden ordered. “It’s a trick. No one has ever lasted more than half an hour with him at full strength and lived to tell about it!” “Zarbon, there has to be another way,” Chestra protested. “He’s toast,” Balair said bluntly. “Zarbon, you may as well as surrender Chestra to him now while you’ve still got a body to breathe in,” Dodoria told him. “No girl’s worth it. You can find someone else.” “Chestra’s worth it,” Zarbon told Dodoria calmly. He then took a deep gulp of breath and looked directly into Frieza’s eyes and said, “I will agree to your terms, provided that you keep your word.” “You know that I will, Zarbon,” Frieza told him, smiling his deadly smile once again. “I will be outside waiting for you. You better transform before you live this cave, for I will be in my second form. See you in ten minutes.” And with that, Frieza levitated gracefully out of the cavern. Jaden walked over to Zarbon and told him roughly, “You’ve got guts, Zarbon, I’ll give you that, but you’ve just made yourself an appointment with Enma Daiou. Frieza does not play fair, you know that.” “Shut up, Jaden!” Dodoria snarled. “Don’t you dare insult our liege like that!” Chestra was relieved to see that Jaden was alive, but scared now for Zarbon. “Jaden, are you okay?” “Other than this cursed collar, yeah. Other than knowing that your boyfriend’s about to become a crispy critter, yeah. Other than Bali and Dodo still being alive, yeah. Other than—“ “Jaden, I’ve think that you’ve made your point. I am sorry that Chestra and I were not able to help you,” Zarbon told her. “Don’t worry about it; at least you two got to get some from each other before your impending death. Hope it was good for you two. If you don’t last, what do you want written on you gravestone?” “Don’t talk about dying yet, Jaden. Wish me some luck because I’m going to need all that I can get.” Chestra hurried over to Zarbon and kissed him deeply, fervently on his lips. “I wish you luck, all the luck that I can wish, my love,” she whispered, as she kissed him again. Zarbon wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back just as hard and firm. This went on for about three minutes until Jaden spoke up, “Um, excuse me, lovebirds. Zarbon’s got to transform, and Zarbon, I suggest that you start now. Chestra, I hope that you’ve already seen Zarbon in his ugly state ‘cause it’s not a pretty sight.” “I have,” Chestra told her friend quietly. “And it does not matter to me.” Zarbon released his new love, and he walked away from everyone to an open space in the cavern to begin his hideous transformation. On planet Ice in King Cold’s bedroom… King Cold was lounging in bed with two of his most favored concubines, Izri and Cana. Izri was a cat-alien (from the near-extinct Hemitor race, which King Cold had eradicated ten years ago) who had saffron-colored fur and long dark blue hair on her head that came down to her waist. Her kitten face was exquisite with a cute, little pink cat nose and large glowing green eyes. Her rosebud lips were pouty and succulent, and King Cold couldn’t stop kissing them, as he stroked her silky body leisurely with his right hand, as she lay in right arm. The humanoid woman, the long-necked Cana, who was a Cara woman from the Cara race of planet Cara-Camay, was resting in the crook of King Cold’s left arm, her soft, cotton-candy pink hair brushing against King Cold’s shoulder. She was tall and willowy with the pink hair and deep violet eyes that King Cold greatly admired. Cana and Izri were among King Cold’s favorite women next to his third wife, Caldair, his current favorite wife, who was Cana’s older half-Gemstarian and half-Cara cousin. Caldair was the mother of King Cold’s favorite daughter, Snowflake, a fourteen-year-old girl who had the potential to one day become as strong as Frieza. Caldair herself had long fire-red hair with gold-highlights, clear snowy skin, the Cara long neck and velvety violet eyes, and the Gemstarian crystal blue teeth, peach-blue skin, and poisonous diamond nails (which she had only used twice in her life as weapons). Caldair was a fine warrior in her own right, although she had not fought in any real battles since King Cold had made her his wife ten years ago. She was King Cold’s favorite woman, and he hated the one Cara trait that made her have a two-week menstrual period (common with Cara women, who could easily live on only one-quarter of the blood that they carried in their bodies at a time). He loved her because she was brave, caring, passionate, and very unselfish; she was completely understanding of King Cold’s immense sexual appetite, and she enjoyed being with him and loving him. She never objected to the other women that her husband slept with, as long as she remained one of his favorites, and that the other women made him happy. It was she who had recommended Cana to him when she had been unable to have sex with him for a long time years ago due to a severe illness. King Cold was mentally counting the days until he could be with her again. He had his two other wives, Cicada and Sequoia, with Cicada being his current queen and from his own race, but he only liked them, not really loved them the way that he did Caldair. Queen Cicada (whom King Cold had married ten years after the first queen, Queen Frost, had been destroyed) was a gracious woman, but reclusive and aloof, only coming out to play in her private concerts with her excellent singing and musical abilities. She and her husband rarely saw each other, which suited them fine, as Cicada was barren and unable to bear children after their one son, Frigidar, died as an infant under mysterious circumstances when the baby boy had sickened quickly and succumbed to death. Giving birth to Frigidar had rendered Cicada barren. Cicada suspected that Frieza had a part in her son’s demise (which she was right), but she couldn’t prove it. Cicada had become a hermit since her son’s death many decades ago. She and King Cold had only slept together five times over the past sixty years or so since their son’s untimely demise. The humanoid woman, Sequoia, a strawberry blonde with maroon eyes from the Camay race of planet Cara-Camay did all of the queenly duties that should have been Cicada’s to handle, and she did them well, almost to the point of driving her subordinates mad. She was a perfectionist with a sharp tongue, and the main reason that King Cold had married her was because of her superb business and organizational abilities. She managed and ran all of King Cold’s businesses under his supervision, and she helped to plan missions and determine which planets could be conquered and which ones should be left alone. She had unsuccessfully tried to convince King Cold to talk Frieza out of leaving planet Astoria alone, for she had decided after the infamous Battle of Chloe, that Astoria was not worth risking people’s lives for. She was also the one who had convinced King Cold and his sons by Queen Frost that an intergalactic spy system would prove useful to them in finding new recruits and learning about new planets. That plan had been her most brilliant and successful one yet. Unfortunately, Sequoia’s prowess in business and organizational skills did not extend to the bedroom, and she was a cold and unsatisfactory sexual partner because she thought that sex was a waste of valuable time. She had only slept with her husband eleven times since their marriage fifteen years ago, and the less her husband wanted sex, the better it was for her. Sequoia was not much to look at anyway; her blond hair and maroon eyes did not enhance her looks, and she had the giant Camayan ears, which were the size and shape of CDs, which King Cold did not think helped her looks any. Ah, when would Caldair be off her period? Until she was, he would have to satisfy himself with Cana and Izri, who did manage to please him almost, but not quite as well as his favorite wife. He lay with his two women in his gold-plated whilver bed with gold sheets and covers. He heard a buzz on the intercom on his whilver nightstand next to his bed. “Cana, answer that please,” King Cold said in a bored tone. Cana pressed a blue button on the intercom, and a squeaky voice echoed through the speaker. “Sire, are you there?” “Renyou, I told you never to interrupt me when I have company,” King Cold said edgily. “Is this something that can wait?” “You told me to inform you the minute that I got the test results back on VR Chestra’s DNA sample, Your Majesty.” “Very well, Renyou, I was waiting for those,” King Cold said in a calmer tone. “Now what are the results?” Renyou told him everything, what race Chestra was, whether she was mating-compatible with him or not, whether she could bear him children or not, and some background information that greatly interested the King of the Cold Empire—and disappointed him. “Ah,” King Cold sighed. “So I can’t make her one of my women then. I can’t say I’m not disappointed; I really wanted this one too; she seemed to be so much like Caldair and so feisty too. I’ll have to tell my son this right away, for he wanted the girl for himself. Thank you, Renyou, now is there anything else? I have to leave right away.” “Yes, Your Majesty, on a happier note, Lady Caldair is off her menstrual period, and she hopes to be with you soon.” King Cold allowed himself to smile then. “Good, well it will be much easier to get over VR Chestra then; at least I can mate with Caldair again. Goodbye for now, Renyou.” He leaned over Cana and turned off the intercom. He then told his two girls, “Cana, Izri, I am sorry to cut things short, but I have to leave immediately; this new development about VR Chestra is something that I must inform my son about at once.” “Have a good journey, Your Majesty,” Cana told her mate cheerfully. “Farewell,” Izri told him, with a bit of tightness in her voice. She was immensely jealous of King Cold’s other women, and she had not been happy when King Cold announced that he planned to add the strange recruit named Chestra to his harem. Izri desperately wanted to become King Cold’s fourth wife and replace Lady Caldair in his affections. She was glad that Chestra would not be joining King Cold’s harem, ever. King Cold arose from his bed, and he headed to his shower. Cana was basking in the afterglow, and Izri was sulking because Lady Caldair was off her blasted period, which meant that King Cold would once again turn all of his attention to his favored third wife. “Curse your cousin for going off of her period!” Izri hissed after King Cold turned on his shower. “He’ll forget we exist once he goes to her bed again.” “Izri, stop it,” Cana commanded furiously. “I know that your race is used to two-partner-only relationships, but you will have to accept the fact that King Cold has seventy other women that he needs to keep happy. And do not malign my cousin; she is a good woman and our king’s favorite.” “Someday, I will become his fourth wife, if it’s the last thing that I do,” Izri snarled. “Not if you keep up your foul temper, you won’t,” Cana replied, as she dug around for her slip. “He must be so disappointed about VR Chestra. I saw her with Head Commander Zarbon, and she seems like a nice young woman; Lord Frieza’s Head Commander is fascinated with her, it seems, but he wouldn’t have had a chance if Renyou hadn’t made his announcement. Now neither Lord Frieza nor King Cold can have her. Sad, but it seems that Our Majesty’s son will suffer more than his father will over it.” “We’ll see,” Izri grumbled, as she dug around for her robe. “At any rate, I’m glad that she’s not coming to live here.” Cana was glad too—for VR Chestra’s sake, because Izri could be a vicious, dangerous woman whenever her jealousy flared. |