The Boss

Tehran’he labored under the Vegeta Sun, letting sweat pour profusely from the pores hidden between her scales and body armor. Kicking an invisible opponent numerous times, she suddenly shot into the sky, practicing evasive maneuvers she learned from the King. Duck, weave, twist, curl tight, and dive bomb. Throwing Beam Balls in every direction, she let a storm cloud appear.

Deciding on a whim to try out her new trick, she shot down into the dust cloud and began to swirl as fast as she could, letting grit and sand fly everywhere, blinding her ‘opponent.’ In an instant, she flew higher and searched downward. It had created a swirl of dust, but she knew that if a living thing had been in the dust cloud, their body would have acted as the eye of the storm, pointing out their position in a way that Tehran’he could be unnoticed.

Letting off several thin, purple beams at near light speed from her index finger, she enjoyed the lines it made on the hard-packed ground. She imagined with relish what it could do to human flesh and bone. Shaking herself to let the salty fluids fly from her face, she smiled, flush with her ‘victory.’ Seeing the landscape turn reddish-purple, the changeling decided she was done for the day and flew off towards her ship, ready to relax and get herself ready for a new practice session tomorrow.

Stopping perfectly in front of her small inter-spacial vehicle, she went inside and sat on her bed, trying to go to sleep, but unable, adrenaline still pounding out a vicious drum beat in her ears. Glancing around, she saw how untidy the place had gotten and resolved to give it a quick tidy up, in the hopes of making herself sleepy. As she began to clean off her table, she noticed something. A nondescript envelope that hadn’t been there before was now lying in front of her. She flipped it over and saw an unfamiliar insignia.

Curiosity quickly led her to open the letter, despite common sense telling her it was a trap. There were a lot of people who didn’t like her now; Tehran’he had made several enemies in her voyages across the cosmos.

Opening the letter, she saw another basic, unimportant sheet of paper inside, along with a map of what seemed to be a nearby town. Disregarding the map for the moment, the changeling opened the letter and read its contents. The more she read, the more she wanted to know.

Changeling,
There is a town about ten minutes south of where you live called Damona City. It has a relatively large population for its size – about 5,000 residents.
Now, I know you don’t care about them one way or the other, but my boss here, well; he didn’t hit it off with these people see. Don’t like them much. And I’ve heard about you. Stuff travels fast. Especially when it involves your species. No offense.
But anyway, we’re willing to pay you 600 Zeni to kill the whole lot of them. My boss was specific about it, though. Either poison their water supply – River Zworanga – or kill them all in pitched combat. I myself don’t care either way.
Now, as proof that we will pay you; go to the tree in your backyard. There, you’ll find a red pouch with half of the pay in it. And if you’re considering skipping out on us… well, let’s just say we may or may not have something you may need.
Best wishes.

Tehran’he put down the letter slowly, laying it on top of the map. Walking outside, she thought. Who are these people? Why do they need me? What am I now missing? Stepping outside, she walked over to the single tree for miles around. Underneath, just as promised, a small plush change purse held 300 Zeni, and a note that said, “Don’t try to cheat us.”

The next day, Tehran’he grabbed the map, decided the right way to fly, and zoomed off south to southwest for Damona City. Soon enough, she saw their buildings. From an aerial view, it was clear that this was an agricultural village, because the river was extremely fertile. Even from thousands of feet up, Tehran’he could see what looked like miles of farmland.

Lighting down a little ways from the entrance, she glanced at the people walking to the river with water buckets. These were just normal people going about their business, completely unknowing of the doom that would soon befall them. For a moment, Tehran’he considered just burning the city to the ground with her Fire Breath; it would get the job done quicker and she could have her money by the end of the day. Nodding slightly to herself, the changeling flew low over the town, doing a quick circular to see what spots in the area would cause the most damage. After two circles, she was set.

Flying across the town at a terrific rate, she let her Fire issue from her mouth in an ungodly stream. The blaze quickly spread and Tehran’he, not waiting to see the results of her work, simply boomeranged back to her own home. For the next several hours, she congratulated herself on such an easy victory and did little to no exercise that day. And she slept soundly, knowing that soon she could get an actual pod where more than one person could fit. Perhaps she could even…

The rest of the thought was lost to the changeling’s snores. Early the next morning, she woke to the sun shining in her face. For a moment, she wondered why she was so happy; then she remembered. The thought made her positively ecstatic.

She walked out the door, ready to take a quick zoom around the countryside, perhaps shoot down what game she could. Tehran’he was running low on her meats. But when she went to the tree to collect her money, instead, she found another note. In a hasty scrawl, she made out:

Changeling,
You failed. My master is angry. You cannot possibly think that was enough to stop 5,000 people who lived near a RIVER! Good Lord, I thought you were smart! Get back there and do it right, or you will never leave Vegeta!

Crumpling up the sheet of paper into a wad, she threw it as far away as she could in anger and frustration. Of course! Why hadn’t she remembered the river? Starting to blast off in the direction of the town, she changed her mind at the last second. “I’ll run,” she sound to no one, and began to pump her legs, sprinting across the plains, getting exercise while at the same time thinking on what to do next.

She watched the plains as they quickly became a blur. Trees became shrubs that became grass that became plants that became insects. It was all one large indecipherable image to her, not that she was focusing on the landscape anyway. Her unshakeable thoughts were on what had went wrong, and how to fix it.

The note hadn’t said how many people had died, but surely some had. Perhaps several hundred were now in the graves prematurely. If so, that lightened the load a great deal. Slightly saddened, though not nearly as much as she had been, the changeling put on an extra bust of speed to hurry along to the town that would soon be no more than a memory and several thousand bodies fertilizing the already rich land with their blood.

Reaching the city, the changeling decided to poison the water supply like the mysterious ‘Boss,’ recommended. Though why he couldn’t do it himself still eluded her. Shaking this thought from her head, she searched quickly, before realizing the best way to do it. There were hundreds of pounds of fresh fertilizer for use lying by the farms.

Without considering how this could affect anyone else who used the river, the changeling quickly and methodically threw all of the waste into it. By the time she was done, having to travel from one side of the city, which had the farms, to the other side, where the river was, she was completely exhausted. Jumping into the air weakly, she zoomed off home, hoping that her job was done, but knowing deep down, she had only once again slimmed their numbers.

The next morning, she spent several hours devising methods on how to kill them all. Though she dearly wanted to murder them all directly, even the changeling knew that multiple thousands of people could overcome her by sheer weight in numbers at this point. So realizing fire and disease wouldn’t kill them off, she decided another plague: famine.

Before heading to the town, she went to the little tree to pick up her customary mysterious letter. As usual, the writer had horrible handwriting and was in a bad mood.

You know, you’re a real piece of work! Like throwing fertilizer in a river’s gonna kill them all? You dumbass! All that did was feed the fish that live in it! I’m regretting choosing you, and if I regret it, you’ll regret it more. Now you had better get it done this time, or my boss will have to come have a word with you. And you won’t want to meet him. He-he-he.

Tehran’he noticed with some grim satisfaction that he hadn’t put a beginning or an ending. They were getting right to the point. The changeling hadn’t like formalities anyway. Or niceties. Or being nice, for that matter. Stuffing it in her pouch slung on her back, she flew off into the morning rays, letting the sun shine upon her back.

Getting to the city at this point was now commonplace, so she barely even thought about the trip. All she considered was the best way to destroy the crops and make it look like an accident. Frowning, she thought about the powers she had acquired over her few months of training. Realizing that she would once again have to use her fire, she considered what destroying the food would do. The people would have to dip into their stores to stay alive. Thousands would become underfed. Perhaps 500 or more would die from starvation.

But of course none of this would happen anytime soon. Tehran’he would be forced to meet this mysterious ‘Boss’ that she was supposed to hate and fear. Well, King Vegeta had taught her a nice little trick that she was sure would destroy the ‘Boss.’ Then she would be free to do what she wished to the land, take the Zeni at her leisure, and leave this wretched planet, once and for all.

She needed to go back to Frieza.

She needed to return home.

For many minutes, Tehran’he thought about Frieza, and wondered where she would be had she not been found and recognized for her brilliance in battle. Shaking these nostalgic memories of her childhood from her head, the changeling stopped about a hundred feet behind the farm. Taking in a huge breath, she blew out with all her might, a screech filling the night that sounded like metal rubbing against metal, a man injuring his pet, a teacher scratching her nails down the chalkboard. Every loud unearthly sound that seemed to pierce the eardrums came from her mouth at that moment.

And the fire she let loose wasn’t red, orange, or even yellow. It was a blue so beautiful, that one would have thought it as the true image of fire. It filled the rows of stalks, catching like the wildfire it would soon prove to be. Shooting across the countryside, smoke filled the skies, causing a false night to fall upon the village. As some brave souls stepped outside and saw the cause of the smoke, they wailed loud and lamenting.

Others heard their cries and stepped out to see what was causing them to cry so. Seeing the blackened remains of their once-great agricultural lands, some fell to their knees and wept openly, letting their salty tears pool upon the floor, causing streaks to form along their faces and dribble to fall from their nostrils.

But at that moment, Tehran’he was personifying her nickname and had not heard their cries. For through the smoke and clouds, the female Changeling was now sneaking away as a Thief in the night.

Long before the sun rose on the fourth day of the changeling’s task, a loud crashing sound coming from her door roused her from her pleasant slumber. Mumbling curses to whoever dared wake her up, she opened the door. For a moment, she was confused. Standing before her was a man so wide, she couldn’t see the ends of him past the doorway.

He was slightly balding, in a jogging suit that was oddly perfectly clean, as though he had just put it on. He also wore several gold rings around his pudgy fingers that seemed to gleam, despite the lack of sun. “Admiring them, are you?” the man asked, clearly self confident to the point of arrogance. “I got them for quite the large amount of Zeni, but well worth it, don’t you agree?”

Clearly not expecting an answer, he instead marveled the changeling for a moment, before saying, “You didn’t kill them.” The changeling suddenly realized that she was staring at the mysterious and powerful ‘Boss.’ “I told you to do it,” he mumbled, almost to himself. “You have the power, that much is obvious. But you didn’t do it.”

Tehran’he took a threatening step forward. In each hand, a ball of Ki energy was whizzing at speeds so great that it almost looked alive. The man eyed the balls warily. “I normally aren’t afraid of such a weak attempt at Ki, but I have seen how you use it. It is…” his voice trailed off, apparently unable to find a good enough comparison.

“I don’t know who you are, who you are working for, or why you hate these people. All I know is that you are ordering one of the most powerful people in the galaxy to do your bidding and I refuse!” One of the Ki balls disappeared with an extremely loud explosion. Wincing, the changeling glanced at her hand. She had unintentionally made a fist, causing the ball to pop like a balloon.

After a moment’s hesitation, she made another one, and glanced up. The ‘Boss’ had his finger at the changeling’s neck, crackling with Ki. “I happen to be an extremely powerful man myself. Would you like to know what this one finger can do?” The changeling coolly stared at it, then looked into the man’s eyes. All he saw staring back at him were endless holes. There was no depth. Not even anger stared back at him. It was like he was already dead to her.

Unconsciously, the man shivered. Smirking, Tehran’he asked, “Do you really want to play this game? I’m not sure how quick that would kill me, but I’m certain I’ll have enough time to burn you to a crisp. But I don’t think you’re all too sure, are you? Would you like to find out?” Swallowing visibly, the man’s finger slowly went down, and the electricity left. He may be dangerous, but he liked life as much as the next man.

“Now, I want you to tell me why you came here.”

The man hesitated. A thought suddenly invaded the mind of the changeling, making her jolt at the thought of it. “You aren’t in charge here, are you? You’re taking orders from someone?”

No response.

“Who are you working for?!”

The man’s lips stayed tightly shut.

Tehran’he had her tail whip around the man’s back, crushing him under her death grip. Bringing her arms up to chest level, she tried again. “Now, I’m going to press these very hard into your chest area. You won’t die from it if you give me information- though I promise you the pain of it will increasingly hurt.”

The visitor’s eyes darted around the room, hoping for something, anything, that could save him. But no such luck. Like a cowboy branding a pig, the changeling left a mark upon the man’s chest- in this case, a large, circular hole. As he screamed and begged her to stop, she only pressed deeper. The Beam Ball was nearly half in when, exhausted, he muttered, “King Vegeta.”

Though she had heard perfectly well, the changeling asked, “What?” for she had no idea what the man meant.

“King Vegeta hired me. He said it was a test of your resolve or something related to it. I only do what I’m told. He promised me mountains of gold!”

The changeling viciously spat out, “You’ll be lucky to get a fair hearing where you’re going.” And without a second thought, she plunged the Ball deep into his chest, where it reached his heart. The energy reacted badly with it, causing him to convulse for several seconds, before he lay still, dead.

Dropping his body mercilessly upon the dirt, she quickly searched and found the remaining 300 Zeni, along with the key to her space pod. She then flew off towards the palace, a burning rage inside her at this betrayal by one she had, only the previous hour, considered a good friend.

Within minutes of sunset, she reached the palace and barged in, quickly dispatching the guards at the door with two well-placed Mesposos. Flying through the halls as though Death Himself were chasing her, she reached the throne room instantly. Punching it with all her might, the door groaned under her fist and burst open at the second hit. She was surprised to see the King was sitting nonchalantly, despite the fact his fancy doors were now lying on the floor in a heap.

”You hired someone… to get me to do your bidding… like some common… UGH!” Unable to create a coherent sentence, she merely let off her steam by shooting out an incoherent word. King Vegeta glanced down on her, eye raised in what almost looked like a pitying glance.

“You still don’t understand? And yet you were one of my brightest students. I knew you would be angry at what I did, but to be completely clueless?” He shook his head, and then continued. “The village I had you attack didn’t pay their taxes to me, nor do they show me any allegiance. They were the perfect group for my test. I couldn’t have you attack someone loyal to me; it would cripple my forces.”

“But anyway, I did this so you would learn to think on your feet. What have you done for the past five days? You tried to figure out how to subtly wipe out a group of multiple thousands of people without anyone arousing suspicions. And you did wonderfully. As of today, less than 2500 members lie in a village that only last week was 5400 strong. I know this because they complained that I was somehow turning ‘the gods’ against them or rubbish like that. I imagine in the next two to three days you would have completely eradicated them.”

“But that is neither here nor there. Whether you choose to finish them or not matters little to me. You have succeeded in your, if not final test, more of a critical thinking review. If you wish, you may leave at any time after you leave this place.”

Staring at the King in dumbstruck awe, all she could do was nod dumbly. The thought that she had killed thousands of people for a simple test was unthinkable. The fact that their own King organized and orchestrated their executioner was even more mind blowing. After nearly a full minute of silence, Tehran’he spoke.

“I suppose I will go finish my job.” Shaking with the total release of emotion that she was unable to release in any other way, she left the hall, walking dazedly back towards her space pod. After a while, she jumped into the air and flew silently along the air currents, lazily moving in sync with the birds as they shot off for wherever they were headed.

After an hour or so of this calm, mind-refreshing experience, the changeling felt calm and secure enough to go home, so she shot off for the little pod once again. When she reached the home, she got into the bed, stared at the ceiling for a moment or two, thinking she’d probably never fall asleep with all the thoughts rolling around her head, fighting for dominance.

But within seconds, her snores rocked the pod itself. They lasted from when she fell asleep, which was sometime in the afternoon, to about sunrise the next morning. Waking up happy and refreshed, the changeling yawned for a moment or two, before smacking her lips and getting up. Walking around her ‘yard’ for a bit, she looked to see if anything unusual was there. As it turned out, there was. The body of the man she had killed still lay eagle-spread on the ground, staring sightlessly ahead.

The changeling considered giving his body back to King Vegeta, before another idea hit her. Smirking, she picked up the man, slung him over her shoulder with an absolute Herculean effort and, practically moaning under the effort, flew into the sky. Considering the extra two hundred to three hundred pounds slowed down the changeling considerably, it took her near until noon to reach the city. Finally, gasping for breath, she dropped his body upon the ground.

Seeing as she was barely two feet up, nothing gruesome happened to the body. He just fell, conked his head on the floor, and lay there, quietly bleeding. Tehran’he then lay down next to him, pulled her pack off, and began to eat all the food she had packed in there. Tehran’he would need a lot of energy for what she was about to do, and she had wasted too much dragging that load across the plains.

About a half hour later, she was replenished. Slightly surprised no one had seen her yet, she got to her feet, then shot into the sky. Around five hundred feet up, she called out in her most powerful and carrying voice: “People of Damona,” she began, “You have been unfaithful to King Vegeta, who has caused these plagues to befall your lands. As you still have not yielded to the great king, I have been forced to annihilate you!”

Putting her hands out in front of her, she let them charge up full of Ki. A dark, octagonal shape came from her hands, black in color, but cracking with purple kinetic energy. When it seemed that the black glowed, she let it loose, in an explosion that decimated the city.

By the end of the day, thousands of people would have heard of Damona City’s demise. But none could put a hand on the culprit. It had seemed the one who did this had up and vanished. And that was the honest truth about it, for by then, Tehran’he was lost in the sea of space and time, headed for a quick visit to Earth, before a long vacation on Frieza.

Word Count: 3873

man you guys are really fast typers i gotta typ faster too

193,650 zeni pl ki

38 bp