Kiwi sat in a large chair in the castle's foyer, restraining his urge to barge back into the conference room and bitch-slap King Vegeta upside the head. He WAS Zarbon's bodyguard, and the royal pain was forcing him to disobey a direct command from Freeza himself.

Besides, Kiwi thought wryly, he enjoyed listening to Zarbon and Vegeta shout at each other.

He reached down and began to pick absently at one of his olive boots, having nothing better to do. This went on for a few moments, until he heard footsteps approaching. On instinct, he reached for his scouter, tapping the grey button lightly and looking over his shoulder.

A Saiyajin with absurdly long black hair was standing there, lathered with sweat and garbed in battered black and orange armor. The numbers on Kiwi's scouter cycled for a moment before coming to rest at a steady seventy two thousand - not half bad.

The Saiyajin didn't seem too happy as he looked directly at Kiwi. "What you lookin' at, squid head?" he asked in a rough voice.

"A sweaty monkey," Kiwi replied, noting the Saiyajin's tail, which was wrapped about his waist.

"Watch your lip, squid-head," the Saiyajin warned. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

"Not in the slightest."

The Saiyajin looked surprised. "Surely you've heard of Raditsu, son of Bardock."

"Actually, no."

"Well, show some respect, Squiddy."

"Kiwi to you," Kiwi said dryly.

"Don't get insolent with me, you purple freak, or I'll flatten you!"

Kiwi stifled a laugh. "I hate to tell you, but your power level isn't even half as high as mine," he pointed out. "I'm at twenty one thousand."

Raditsu's face paled a little bit. "Sure," he said, but he sounded a little less certain. "And I'm a Super Saiyajin."

"I didn't come here to pick fights," Kiwi said tiredly. Raditsu was beginning to irritate him. "Just get out of here and let me alone."

A frightened-looking pageboy pushed past Raditsu and rushed away. Kiwi watched him curiously, wondering what his hurry was.

"There he goes," Raditsu muttered. "That kid's always hanging around here with some stale bread."

"Maybe he's feeding the birds."

"I don't think so," Raditsu replied dubiously. "I should follow him one of these days."

"Doesn't concern me," Kiwi shrugged. "I'm just the bodyguard."

"Then why aren't you in there with Zarbon?"

"King Vegeta threw me out."

"He's been acting strangely lately," Raditsu remarked. "Ever since you and that green-haired freak showed up."

Kiwi laughed a bit. "That about sums up Zarbon."

Raditsu tilted his head a little. "What's your blue lizardboy doing with him, anyway?"

"I have no clue," Kiwi shrugged.

"Anyways, I'm outta here. See ya 'round, squid head."

"Don't call me that," Kiwi said instinctively, but to no avail, as Raditsu had already turned and strode away.

-----

Zarbon was apprehensive as he watched King Vegeta pace across the conference room. Something didn't feel right - perhaps it was the presence of Basil and the other six burly Saiyajin Elites that made him nervous. Or perhaps it was King Vegeta's choice of stiff, formal black garments rather than his typical royal blue cape and pearly-white armor.

The armor had irritated Zarbon a lot - it was the similarities between the racial garbs that triggered this feeling. Both sides used almost the same type of elastic body armor, with slight differences - While the armor worn by Freeza's men tended towards white and gold or white and tan, accompanied by flaring shoulder plates, the Saiyajin armor seemed to lean towards black, with orange, green, or gold shoulder straps.

"I am still not satisfied, Zarbon," King Vegeta finally announced. "I will not settle for a quarter of the conquered planets."

"Three eights, then," Zarbon offered.

"I will settle for no less that half."

"That's acceptable," Zarbon shrugged. "And the peoples?"

"I will take half of them for my slave trade."

"Now hold on a minute there. Freeza won't accept just half of the conquered species - three quarters for Freeza, a quarter for you."

"Unacceptable. Half, or I will take them all."

"Now you're just being rude," Zarbon noted.

"I believe we've just about exhausted the potential of this conversation," King Vegeta announced in a chilly tone. "Basil, show my dear friend Zarbon to his quarters."

A huge hand clamped down on Zarbon's shoulder, but he brushed it aside and strode from the conference chamber without aid.

-----

"I don't like it, Kiwi," Zarbon mused as they sat in their shared quarters, with Kiwi sitting on the top bunk of the bed. "King Vegeta drives a hard bargain, and he's immune to my irresistible charm."

"Maybe you aren't as charming as you think, Zarbon," Kiwi remarked.

"Don't talk nonsense," scoffed the blue ambassador. "I'm the most charming guy in Freeza's ranks."

"I've seen you transform, Zarbon, remember? You're not too charming then."

"That's the exception."

"Sure it is," Kiwi replied dryly.

A loud thud from below caused Kiwi to straighten sharply. "What was that?" he asked.

"I have no idea," Zarbon said warily.

A loud roaring noise reached Kiwi's valves, and he tilted his head to listen. "Sounds like an animal," he noted.

Suddenly, the door flew open, and a short, balding Saiyajin in the black and tan of a low-class warrior appeared, his face frantic. "The Super Saiyajin is loose!" he screamed. "Hide!"

"Super Saiyajin?" Zarbon repeated, coming to his feet. "What have you monkeys been hiding?!"

But the terrified Saiyajin had already ran off.

"Dammit!" Zarbon bellowed. "That royal piece of shit has been keeping secrets!"

"What?" Kiwi blinked. "What's a Super Saiyajin?"

"I have no clue," Zarbon said shortly, "But I'm guessing it's an absurdly powerful Saiyajin warrior. An insane one, most likely."

"So we have to fight it?"

"Probably."

Hopping off of the bed and pushing past Zarbon, Kiwi stepped out into the hallway. He was blandly aware of the eviscerated corpse of a Saiyajin warrior at one end of the hall, but for the most part, he was intent on tracking this Super Saiyajin's ki.

"Check the scouter," Zarbon ordered.

Kiwi touched one finger to the scouter's switch, and numbers began to cycle across the blue surface of the visor, finally settling into six power readings: one thousand, one thousand four hundred, five thousand fifty, three thousand nine hundred, nine hundred forty six, and an astounding seven hundred and fifty thousand. The purple soldier could only gape in awe at the massive power registering on the scouter.

"Well?" Zarbon said shortly.

"It's reading a seven hundred and fifty thousand," Kiwi said, still mystified.

"Yours must be broken," the blue ambassador snapped.

[Oh, there's nothing broken about MINE, bitch,] Kiwi thought to himself. "Check it," he suggested.

Zarbon shrugged, tapping his scouter lightly. Numbers began to flash across the red visor of his device. Kiwi could see Zarbon's jaw dropping slowly. "Impossible," the green-haired man declared.

"A power even stronger than Freeza," Kiwi murmured.

And suddenly, the power flickered down into a mere one hundred.

"What happened?" Zarbon shouted in surprise.

"It's masking its ki for some reason," Kiwi surmised. "There's no other explanation."

"This is too weird for me," Zarbon muttered. "I'm going to sleep." Turning off his scouter, Zarbon trudged back into their quarters.

Kiwi was even more confused than Zarbon. Why had the Super Saiyajin suddenly dropped his power level? Clearly, something was terribly amiss here.