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An hour and twenty minutes later… Zarbon and Frieza had been fighting fiercely for the last eighty minutes, with Frieza in his second form and Zarbon in his transformed state. Zarbon had lasted much longer than anyone had expected, and even Frieza, angry with Zarbon as he was, had been impressed. Zarbon was in his monster state, but even with the impressive, increased strength in his advanced state, he was no match for Frieza. However, he only had to last ten more minutes (according to Dodoria’s watch, the official timepiece) before the fight was officially over. Frieza had said ninety minutes, but Zarbon knew as well as anyone that Frieza did not always play fair. When Frieza wanted something or someone badly enough, he would do whatever he had to do to get it, even if it meant someone else getting hurt or killed. He was hanging on by a thread, as they would say on planet Earth, and he knew it. He was not sure, if he could take much more of Frieza’s abuse. But he had to do it for Chestra; he could not let her wind up in Frieza’s clutches. Frieza had been absolutely mercilessly, repeatedly landing blows and ki attacks upon the hapless head commander, although Zarbon himself had managed to land in a few good blows and break the tip of Frieza’s long tail. But Frieza had held the upper hand the entire time, and Zarbon and everyone else knew it. He took quick glances at his fellow officers, seeing the stunned and shocked faces of Jaden and Dodoria, the terrified, anxious expression of Chestra’s face, and the small, devious smirk of Balair’s on his face. Zarbon could barely breathe now, and he so desperately wanted to pass out and give into the blackness threatening to swallow him whole, the cool, dark void that would relieve his pain. Frieza held his opponent in the air by his throat. He sneered when he saw Zarbon's monster face bloodied, bruised, and broken. Zarbon had a gigantic egg-shaped lump on his left eye, and blue blood was flowing steadily from his mouth. His nose was broken and crooked, and blood was cascading down from it as well, dribbling into his swollen mouth, and coating his lips. Zarbon's other eye was swollen shut, and there was a large purple patch of bruise covering it. His soft, beautiful emerald tresses were tangled, torn, and disheveled. And Frieza would not show him any mercy, even though it was obvious to anyone watching that Zarbon was near death. Jaden, who rarely ever spoke for anyone else in Frieza's forces, finally had enough. "Alright, Lord Frieza, you've made your point to Zarbon! He's had enough; he's more than learned his lesson. Let him go now; you won't be able to replace him so easily." Frieza glared at his only female Top Elite officer. "I can replace anyone that I wish, Jaden, including you. No one is indispensable here; anyone can easily be replaced. All of you are pawns, and I am the player; remember that." Dodoria and Balair were similarly shocked by the damage that Frieza had done to their Head Commander. At first they had enjoyed watching the fight, and Balair had been secretly hoping that Frieza would kill off that glorified dandyish fop that Chestra seemed to like so much. But now that Zarbon was about to die, Balair realized that if Zarbon died, Frieza would definitely have Chestra for himself. Balair trembled, for he knew that he would have no chance against Frieza himself, if he wanted to fight his lord for Chestra. Frieza's lungs were resistant to Balair's vaporizing attacks, and Frieza could kill him before the Sistrai warrior had finished vaporizing. Balair gulped; not only would he not be able to bed Chestra, he would lose his bet to Ginyu and have to wear a dress and perform that freakish Dance of Love, risking his life in front of Frieza and his father. Jaden would just love to see him humiliated like that; if he was lucky, however, maybe he could kill her before the Biannual Full Staff, Meeting, Fair and Banquet. Maybe... Dodoria rasped, "Sire..." "Don't be a fool, Dodoria," Frieza told him sharply. "Zarbon, this pretty boy Head Commander of mine is not worth sparing." "That I agree with," Balair whispered wholeheartedly, and Jaden growled when she heard him with her excellent Rybanese hearing. Frieza glared into Zarbon's now-disfigured face. "I am going to arrange your face before your death, Zarbon, so that not even Chestra will want to kiss it." Zarbon said defiantly, for he figured that Frieza was going to destroy him anyway, "It will not matter to her!" Frieza laughed cruelly. "And how do you figure that?" Zarbon wheezed, blood still flowing from his swollen mouth, "She saw me when I transformed into my strongest form when I was sparring with Dodoria one time. She saw me in my ugliest moment, and she still loves me. She still wants me." Frieza smirked. "How nice that she sees you for more than the pretty boy beast that you are, Zarbon, but it won't matter. She is mine, and what I want, I get. You should know that by now, Zarbon. Only one can have her, and that will be me. She is beautiful, brave, and bold, and she will please me in my bed night after night. She's young, but not too young. I can hear her moaning my name now. Chestra is perfect for me, a woman who will someday bear me a strong son to rule in my stead..." Zarbon hissed, "If that ever happens, may that son rise to kill you!" Frieza rewarded Zarbon for his curse by slamming him into the ground hard. He then moved in front of Zarbon in a flash, and he coiled his tail around Zarbon before he could escape. Frieza stood up proudly, evilly, as his tail tightened around Zarbon's throat and torso. "Any last words, Zarbon? Any special messages that you would like me to deliver to my little Chestra?" Frieza purred. Zarbon tried to speak, but his usually smooth tongue failed him. His tongue simply refused to move, for its owner was too terrified now to speak a word. Frieza chuckled softly, as the others watched on with a mix of horror and fascination. Zarbon, through his agony, noticed a spark of pity in Jaden's eyes on her usual unfeeling face. He knew that she and Chestra had become close. Ah, at least Chestra wouldn't be entirely alone when he perished, that was if Frieza allowed Jaden to live... *Forgive me, Chestra, for failing you, for not being able to protect you, like I promised that I would...* "ENOUGH, LORD FRIEZA! LET HIM GO!" The three Top Elite Officers whipped around quickly to see an agonized Chestra standing behind them, shaking. Jaden had never seen the usual cool and collected recruit so shaken and horrified. Chestra did not acknowledge any of them, not even Jaden, her closest friend. She called out to Frieza, "Lord Frieza, let him go, and I mean it! Don't you hurt him anymore!" Her facial features danced together in a mix of fear and anger. Frieza turned towards Chestra, with his tail wrapped around Zarbon. He grinned at her. "Ah, Chestra, I am glad that you were watching. Now you get to see the weakling that Zarbon The Pretty Boy really is!" Chestra growled, her jade green eyes darkening to such a dark shade of hunter green that they were almost black. "Release him now! He cannot fight you back! Let him go! I won't let you hurt him!" She balled up her fists, and she crouched in an offensive position. The tiny fighter knew that she had a better chance of seeing Jaden and Balair marry each other than her defeating Frieza, but she would not let him hurt the only man that she had truly come to love. Frieza narrowed his eyes at her. "You dare to challenge me, little girl? I hate to hurt you, Chestra, dear, since I do plan to take you as my mate." Chestra hissed, "I am not becoming your mate, Lord Frieza! I thought that things would be different here, but here I am facing the same situation as before! You are no better than some of my past masters! I am not going to become your new toy, and if you want to fail me, or even kill me, fine! At least I will die with some dignity. You are not going to touch me, and if I live, I will choose my own mate, my own man. You may be the mightiest warlord in the universe, but even you cannot change or control a woman's heart! You will not taking me against my will, nor will you hurt Zarbon! Let him go! If you want to bully someone today, then face me! I am not as strong as Zarbon yet, but I can give you a good fight before you destroy me! You will release Zarbon and fight me if you want to hurt someone!" Jaden, Balair, and Dodoria all stared at her with their jaws nearly reaching the ground. None of them would have had that much nerve to mouth off to Frieza like that, not even Jaden, the most smart-mouthed and defiant of the Top Elite officers. The three Top Elite officers wondered how much longer Chestra had to live. Jaden, with her mouth still wide open in shock, shook her head in pity; Chestra was one of the few real friends that she had in her life, and she was going to miss the unusual girl. Balair, with his jaw dangling in mid-air, moaned, for he was certain that Frieza would disintegrate Chestra on the spot before Balair had a chance to get her into bed. What a waste of a fine wench and virginal delights, delights that Balair had hoped that he would be the first to sample. He hated Zarbon had beaten him to that pleasure before him. Curse that pretty boy fop! Dodoria just hung there with his fat jaws swinging back and forth, thinking nothing, and saying nothing. When he was finally able to form a conscious thought, he thought that killing the girl off would be a waste, but Frieza was in charge here, not this little brat. He had liked the girl, but Frieza was his liege and lord (and potential lover someday?), and no one talked to the changeling of his dreams that way! He was the first to close his mouth and open it again to snarl at Chestra, "How dare you speak to Lord Frieza that way! I don't see why he would want a disrespectful little girl like you when he could have someone mature and handsome and manly like me!" Jaden's and Balair's jaws dropped even further when they heard Dodoria's words. Frieza's jaw had also dropped down to the middle of his chest. Zarbon's damaged eyes bulged as wide as they could at his colleague's words, and Chestra stared at Dodoria as well. Jaden was the first to speak. "Dodoria, did you just happen to admit that you have the hots for Lord Frieza?" Balair groaned, "Dodi, please, please don't tell me that you think of Lord Frieza in that way--please tell me you were kidding, please..." Jaden quipped, "Bali, that's the first time that I ever heard you say 'please'! Makes me wonder if your lust for Chestra has gone to what little brain that you do possess! Perhaps Dodoria's thing for Frieza is affecting his mind as well." Dodoria and Balair both turned on Jaden then. They both shouted in unison, "Jaden, you can go to hell!" "Excuse me, gentlemen, but must you use such language?" A masculine, cultured voice similar to an English accent interrupted them at that moment. Frieza's jaw dropped even wider. "Father! What are you doing here?" The other officers wanted to know that answer as well. King Cold ordered his son, "Frieza, let Zarbon go--and let him have Chestra, if he so desires her." All three Top Elite Officers fell over backwards, with Dodoria hitting his head hard on a rock. However, since Dodoria was hardheaded, it did not affect him. Dodoria decided that now would be a good time to flee, for he had not meant to blurt out his desire for Frieza the way that he did. He was eternally thankful to King Cold for showing up. The fat, pink, spiky-headed minion ran away as fast as a monster with his girth could. No one noticed or cared that he left. Frieza, after recovering from the shock of his father's sentence, narrowed his eyes and said edgily, "No way, Father. Chestra is mine, and I will destroy him for intervening. I know that you desire her as well, and don't think that I won't hesitate to challenge you as well." King Cold ignored his son's threat for now. He turned to Jaden and Balair. "I order you two to leave immediately. I have a private matter to discuss with my son." Balair didn't think twice. He scuttled away as fast as he could, and he blasted off into the air like a rocket. Jaden was uncertain, as to whether to leave Chestra alone with the two most dangerous men in the universe, or to risk certain death at King Cold's hands. Rising to her feet, she looked at King Cold and dared to speak in an unusually shaky tone: "Should I take Chestra back with me?" King Cold glowered at Frieza's only female Top Elite officer. "Have Chestra retrieve her Zarbon from Frieza, and then all three of you will leave. This matter is between Frieza and I alone. Go." Chestra didn't hesitate to rescue a dying Zarbon from a stunned Frieza, who by then had unwrapped his tail from his opponent's body. Chestra gently lifted Zarbon onto her shoulder, holding him close. "Don't worry," she whispered. "I will take care of you." Zarbon only moaned in response. Jaden called to Chestra, "C'mon, let's go!" She was already hovering in the air. Chestra slowly rose into the air with Zarbon on her shoulder. Zarbon had his one good arm looped around her small waist. Within minutes, they left for the Medical Section of Frieza’s mother ship to put Zarbon in one of the rejuvenation tanks. When Frieza and King Cold were alone, Frieza sneered nastily, "So, Father, you wish to fight me for Chestra as well." "No, son," King Cold told him evenly. "Neither one of us will have her, and neither one of us can have her. We both must forget the girl, and it is a pity, for it has been a long time that I had a virgin. Ah, I can remember the last virgin that I had that, a lovely little Gemstarian girl with such eyes, the eyes that were like--" "She's not a virgin anymore, father! Zarbon deflowered her before either one of us had the chance!" Frieza wailed like a little boy. "WHAT?" King Cold cried out indignantly. "Well, never mind, it don’t matter now, since we couldn't have bedded her ourselves anyway." "Father, please," Frieza scoffed. "Why can't I have Chestra? I want her, Father, and I don't care what you say! I will make her mine!" King Cold frowned darkly at his son. "You want to mate with her, go ahead, but you'll be mating with your own daughter!" Frieza himself fell over backwards just then. He slowly raised his horned head and moaned, "My-my daughter? I have no offspring that I know of--surely, the women that I had been with would have told me." "Not if they didn't want you to know. Not if you had taken one of them against their will. Do you remember that favorite little concubine that I gave you for a birthday present, from that planet that we managed to enslave." Frieza grinned then. "Ah, yes, I do remember. Taurelia, her name was, a lovely cat-woman, with both humanoid and catlike features. Such a lovely long, swishy tail that I would caress and kiss for hours. Such beautiful ruby hair! She was from planet Catzini, a Catzin girl. Ah, she was a virgin, as well, the first virgin that I ever had...so wonderful being her first man...even though she fought me and swore that she hated me. She claimed that I raped her, when I knew that she had wanted me from the start!" And then Frieza's face twisted into an ugly mask of hatred. "She escaped from me one night and fled away to Kami only knew where. I never saw her again, but to teach her a lesson, I blew up her entire planet! That surely taught the little witch to refuse the great Lord Frieza!" King Cold told his son quietly, "Do you not notice what a strong resemblance that Chestra has to Taurelia, same features and body structure, except that Chestra's hair is divided into colors, and her eyes are green, not crystal blue like Taurelia's were?" Frieza shuddered then. "No, no, I could not have lusted after my own daughter! Not even our race commits incest, Father! How did you discover this information anyway?" King Cold sighed, "I was planning on making her mine, but I wanted to know if she could give me children, so I had some of your lab technicians remove hair samples and skin cells from her bedcovers when she was out training with Zarbon--"--King Cold ignored his son growling at the mention of Zarbon's name--"and I had them run DNA samples on her hair and skin cells, and the head technician informed me that her DNA was similar to mine. We tested her DNA again, along with yours, Coola’s, and mine and there is a ninety-nine point ninety-eight percent chance that she is your daughter. She wasn't Coola's or mine, and her DNA is closest to yours. And we are for certain that Taurelia was her mother, thanks to some old DNA samples of hers. Now why Taurelia abandoned her daughter is a question that we'll never have the answer to. So congratulations, son, you're a daddy." King Cold couldn't help chuckling at that sentence, and Frieza glowered at his father. "Just great! You mean I challenged that pretty boy head commander of mine for my own daughter? I finally find a woman that I want to keep permanently, and she turns out to be my child! What next--Jaden saying that she's in love with me?" King Cold smirked, for he had heard Dodoria's accidental confession of desire for his son. He wisely decided, however, that his son was having a bad enough time as it was, so he decided not to tease Frieza about it. Frieza groaned, "What are we going to do? Should we tell her the truth?" King Cold said thoughtfully, tapping his cheek, "Perhaps, we should, for as far as we know, she is your only child. She would be the heiress to the Cold Empire, if something happens to you and Coola, who is the first heir, and while I would prefer a male heir, she would be strong and fierce enough to run it. She is technically, a princess, a future queen, possibly. But I can think of more compelling reasons as to why we shouldn't tell her." "Such as?" Frieza wanted to know. "I do have an heir now, Father, albeit a female one, but an heir none the less. Ah, what a pity, for I did want her so badly, and now I can't even look at her with lust. This will take some getting used to." "And a few cold showers," King Cold quipped. "Believe me, son, I've had to take at least five of those earlier. Getting back to the subject, there are several reasons why we can never let Chestra know of her true heritage. Coola would try to kill her off, and he has no children yet that I know of. If he dies before producing an heir, the Cold Empire will go to you--provided that you were not the one to murder your brother--and then it would go to your Chestra. Second, I know that the other Top Elite officers are vying for your position, and they will believe that you intend to give it to Chestra, whether you intend to or not. For anytime that you did a favor for Chestra, the others would give her a hard time because they think that you did it out of nepotism. Remember the hard time that some of your soldiers gave Ginyu when you first promoted him to Top Elite and gave him his own force? Some still think that he's only there because he's your cousin. Some may even try to kill her, and then you do have many enemies yet, son, who would use her to get to you. It is far better for all of us concerned that Chestra does not know of her heritage until we either a) both die, or b) Coola dies without an heir, or c) Coola gains an heir. I have a few trusted officials that can tell her about her heritage should both of us perish--and yes, son, someday, we will both die, whether we like it or not." "So that's it?" Frieza fumed. "We leave her alone and let that pretty boy take her as his mate? I can and will forbid him from having her; I can still kill him!" "You will not kill him!" King Cold ordered his son sternly. "Regaining your Head Commander's goodwill will strengthen his loyalty and the loyalty of your other subordinates. Do not allow your pride to guide you son; use common sense. And if and when Chestra does learn of her heritage, she will think fondly of you for thinking of her happiness. She is your daughter, son." Frieza growled and stamped his feet like a chastised little boy, signs that he was yielding the argument to his father. "Very well, the fop can have her! I can easily find another woman to please me, although virgins are hard to find these days anywhere in the universe! He better treat her right, however, or I will break his effete neck--" King Cold chuckled. "Now that sounds like a father! A father wanting to protect his daughter, how touching! I feel the same way about my sweet little girl, Snowflake, such a darling that my favorite wife, my third wife, Caldair, gave me! She could become as strong as Chestra someday you know, and perhaps you and Coola will have a strong sibling to stand by you..." Frieza secretly gnash his teeth in angry jealousy. He had had Balair examine Snowflake for her power level last week, and when he realized that Snowflake was strong enough and wise enough to try to take Frieza's empire from him someday, he had been furious. He had planned to do something about Snowflake once he had finished his business about Chestra. He hated that his father continued to have more children, children that could someday become as strong as Frieza and Coola themselves. In fact he hated that fact so much, that he occasionally had his half-siblings killed off from time to time, along with their mothers, if the women involved had any chance of producing more strong children. Coola himself also had a few of their half-siblings assassinated, when their ki levels proved to be high enough to be a threat. Both Frieza and Coola secretly feared that any of their half-siblings could rise up one day and destroy them to take the throne to the Cold Empire. King Cold had never suspected that his sons would dare to have the nerve to kill off their own family members, although both Caldair and Sequoia had voiced their suspicions to their husband many times. Neither one of the two wives mentioned trusted Coola or Frieza. Caldair especially didn't, as she feared for her daughter's life because of her two oldest stepsons. Frieza grinned to himself; he had one advantage now over his perfect older brother: he, Frieza, had a child, an heir, something that Coola did not have. And while he could never publicly acknowledge Chestra's paternity, not even to her, or even treat her any differently from the others, he could see that she was protected and allowed to advance in his army. He didn't like the possibility that any children that she would produce would likely have Zarbon's genes in them, but to become a grandfather would be...interesting. King Cold's scouter beeped, and he pressed a button on it, hearing a woman's smooth purring through the device. "Caldi, darling, what is it? Yes, I've heard that you're off your period, and you have no idea how happy that makes me! No, really, you don't. You have a little 'private party' planned for us? Ahh...that just makes my day, my love. No, my love, I really don't have anything important to do other than come home to you. I just had this little family matter that I had to discuss with my son, Frieza, but it's done with now. I'm coming home, my love, Daddy's coming home!" Frieza openly gagged in disgust at King Cold sweet-talking his third wife. His father ignored him. King Cold said with an embarrassed grin, "Well, son, it's time I was off! My sweet little Caldi's finally off her period, so I'll be occupied for a while! Contact my head commander, Brutu, if you need me, other than that, I'll be busy for a while. Farewell!" And with that, King Cold burst off into the air and flew back towards his ship. Frieza retched, thoroughly disgusted with his father and his active sex life. Why was it his father could have almost any woman he wanted, and he, Frieza, had to wind up pursuing his own daughter? This really had been a lousy day! The deadly warlord made a mental note to go ahead and buy that "comfort planet", Algor, which held a myriad of exotic whorehouses and brothels. He did need some comfort after all of this mess. Ah, well, time to get the grittier business out of the way. He called through his scouter, "Balair, please take this urgent message to Head Commander Zarbon immediately. Yes, he is still going to be my Head Commander, and yes, I will allow him to live. No, I don't know anything about Dodoria wanting to jump my bones, as you so disgustingly put it! I hope that Dodoria doesn't view me that way...Ugh! Anyway, tell Zarbon that Chestra is his, but he better treat her right, or I will vaporize him, and no, Balair, I am not giving you the pleasure of letting you vaporize him yourself..." |