As Zero went through the motions of his strikes he imagined his father at the end of each blow. If he was going to take out the old man he needed to do so with devastating power and ensure that victory would come at no cost to him or Ryme, especially Ryme. He would never be able to live with himself if he failed to finish his father and it was taken out on Ryme. Sweat flew from his fist as he made his last swing finishing the motions of his material arts. How many changelings even studied this form of fighting he wondered, most he knew counted on their telekinetic powers or energy-based attacks like Ryme did. It made sense for most of them if not all since they were so strong compared to other races. After all, it was his energy blast that had won his fight against the Majin Liari and not his physical attacks. It just further backed his feeling that he and his brother had different styles of fighting for a reason. They picked up on what the other lacked, that was not to say they did not have similar skills or things they both were equally good at. They just had always played off each other's strengths. Zero was more into feeling his opponents crush under the weight of his attacks while Ryme enjoyed demolishing them with Ki-style combat. Due to this, Zero had often become the one to be the distraction which lead to his brother getting a good shot. This only worked so many times in a single fight before the opponent they face caught on, but still, even if they figured it out Zero's strikes were deadly though they lacked the range of Rymme's attacks could be more effective if he used something he had been keeping secret. A toxin his body produced. If he was able to plan ahead and land a good blow with it he could infect the target with a toxin that made their opponent use more energy on an attack by making their bodies fight off the toxic liquid that would run through their bloodstream. He was not sure how effective it would be in a serious battle as he only tried it a few times throughout his life back on Frost. It was how he helped his brother out with some bullies one time. They all looked down on his brother and they would rue the day they did soon enough. Soon they would have combat power, capital power, and manpower to take control of their family's business and then the PTO. Now that he was done with his training exercises Zero took a seat in the center of the room. He cleared his mind and start to do what was called Astro training. This was what fighters who had high levels of combat experience would do as often as they could. They would have mental fighting with a person they imagined. For Zero that person was typically his father Chiller. Today would be no different. The meditation began to get deeper as he slowly cut off his sense, something that was dangerous to do if he was not in a place that was safe. However, he knew his brother was around and Master Babadi would be likely watching his student. Right now magical training be damned, it was time to see how he stood against his father this time around. His mind brought him back to Frost, he was within the halls of his company building and finishing his last meeting of the day. In this mental situation he had to meet with Echo, they often started in this fashion. After all, this company was one of the levels of achievements he was after. First, take the company then kill his father. It was time for a board meeting it seemed. With this type of training he was not merely envisioning himself he was living this as if it was happening currently in real life, where his body was. He was so deep into the meditation he could feel the chilling temperature and felt cold for the first time in a long time. He WAS home on Frost and this was a new day as if he had fallen asleep on Earth and woken up on Frost. As if his adventures on Earth were all a dream and this was what was real. This was what it meant to be a Changelings, or Frost Demon, or whatever they were calling his race these days. The names were not as wild as names for other races.

The doors opened sliding in half as the group of assorted races entered the briefing room. The company was known as Ika Industries, a technology-based company that specializes in parts for scouters. In detail, they manufacture the power supply for them. The business meeting today was to go over the latest numbers, this was a monthly thing that occurred going over data sheets, marketing, reviews, new models, and upgrades. Most would seem to dread these things, but Zero, he cared for it, he wanted to learn all he could before taking his father's position. Currently, they were going over how sales were seeming to go down in terms of personal sales, but the Organization sales were rising. This told them fewer people were buying them for personal use and gaining jobs or joining factions that were providing them. All in all the data showed they were losing money due to it. They needed to try a new marketing strategy. The overall sales of the Scouter did not matter to Ika industries mostly because their money was with the scouter company itself, and they already sold all the annually needed numbers to make product goals for the year. Not to mention they also had a hand in communication devices like phones, watches, hologram projectors, etc.




The only reason they attended was due to this being an investor meeting to see how the product was doing. It was clear to Sawa that the next step was for the scouter company to try and lower the prices they paid for bulk orders of their gear, which meant either they'd disagree and work out a new deal or Ika Ind. was going to have to find another place to do business with, the latter being likely after selling all stocks, or buying out the company and offer bulk sell orders only. It was too early to tell which would be the proper action it also was not his job to decide such actions. His father Chiller was the man to make this choice, either way, he decided to lead the company would affect the future of what Zero would have to deal with when he took over. Once the meeting was done Zero exited last, as a show of respect to the senior members of the board, these weak fickled old hags only offered knowledge and insight on how the top brass acted compared to his father. They were not as daring or pressing when it came to deals, they lacked the backbone. Still, they were just as respected as his father, something that troubled his father deeply.


"It was a pleasure to see you all again, look forward to attending the fall summit." Zero's words were soft and warm, a front to his true nature, this would allow those over him to assume he was naive and easy to prey on, while the opposite was to happen. Once everyone had left he looked at his assistant, "Ready the transport. We will be stopping by Echo's. It is time to collect his rent." Nodding the human would scatter off while Zero remained within the briefing room. Looking out of the glass window he looked down unto the city, he wondered just how much longer he would have to play the helpless son who was trying to please his father, running around as he wished until his father would retire and leave him the company. He was reaching the end of this little game. Squeezing his fist as they rested behind his back, he'd let out a sigh, and headed down to the main floor. After entering the elevator he took it all the way down to the lobby, his mind wandered off to the thought of just blasting a hole into his father's head and taking it from him like that. It would be easier to take over in such a way but less satisfying.




Zero wanted to take the company over by swaying their own board of investors that he was the man to lead the company, while slowly buying out the stocks of others gaining full control of the company from under his father's name. Zero already owned a few clubs on the planet and turned them into five-star nightclubs. He rented out the buildings to other big names like singers and actors for performances, Echo was a DJ that was throwing a huge party at his club and had sold tickets to cover the cost of renting the building out and paying for the staff for the night. Of course, all purchases of drinks were pure profit for Zero, he was making enough money from the rental to cover all costs for running the building for the night and the payment for the staff who did not work for tips. The sale of drinks would further boost profits, and with two different types of clubs doing events like these he was able to rake in a lot of zenni, which in turn he would invest further into buying out other small businesses like chain restaurants and start-up companies where he would gain 35% of their company for his investment, this would allow him to bring in other sources of income to start his plan. He had saved up plenty in the various galactic account throughout the universe.


The elevator doors slide open, and the Frost Demon headed straight to his car, once within it his driver would drive off, and his assistant handed him a datapad showing him his schedule, after meeting with echo he had to go see the construction of his home he was building. Living in a hotel was nice, but it was harder to run operations and strike business deals from a hotel room, it looked cheap and tacky. After confirming his plans and ensuring he was on time he handed the datapad back. "Thank you, Teresa. After we collect from Echo you're free for the night my dear." She nodded with a smile showing her excitement in the most subtle way. "Thank you, Lord Ika, a pleasure to work for you as always sir." Zero chuckled, "Oh my dear you flatter me, how is your mother doing? " Her mother had come down with a terrible cold a few weeks back, he made her take time off to deal with it, her mother was all she had left. Truly he could not stand such weakness, however, to convince his employees that he was someone trustworthy and someone to respected he acted with kindness. It was not like he was unable to do without her, in fact, it freed him from having to act as much which was nice.


The car came to a halt, and the door opened. Zero smiled as he placed a hand on Teresa's shoulder before exiting the car. "Looks like you'll have to tell me about it later." She nodded as she followed behind him, as they headed for the door the doorman and bouncer would open the doors for them "Good afternoon Lord Ika, the event stage is all finished, they are about to do sound checks and start stocking the bars. Everything is going as planned sir. " Zero smiled as he looked up to the two large Aliens, even with all those muscles they only bore a power level of 900 or so if he had to guess, how pathetic though they did the job. Entering the nightclub the lights were all on, allowing one to see the black steel beams that ran across the ceiling with no problem, these beams held the lights and speakers for the events, strobe lights, and various colored beam lights. Speaker was also mounted on these beams which allowed for the sound waves to spread out further before reaching the ears of those who attended, allowing a clear sound which allowed him to spend less on speakers of higher quality or larger speakers.


Other than all the lights and speakers the black tile floors were shining, freshly waxed for tonight's event, and solid wood bars and plenty of metal tables and chair were scattered around the upper levels. The lower level was mostly a large railed area slightly raised off the ground which was classified as the dance floor. The place was looking nice, Zero was pleased. On the stage was the dark-skinned Alien, Zero walked up to the young alien, they were childhood friends from their fighting club, he too came from money but wanted to be something different than what his father had planned for him. It was understandable, though Zero would not want to be a doctor these days either, what a boring occupation. Everything was dealt with with healing tanks or some super pill.


"Ah my friend, things are to your liking I assume? Hahaha," He'd laugh as he walked over to the man, Echo set his headphones down and scream out. "YOOOO ZERO MAN! Bro thanks, this place is KILLAAAAA. I can not thank you enough for allowing me to rent this place out maaan, tonight is gonna help me get exposure for sure!" Echo offered his hand for a shake, and Zero accepted. "Yes yes, I do imagine that it would, I worked hard to bring this place to fame. You will get all the exposure you want after tonight, and if you fail horribly I still profit HAHAHAHA" Zero jokes wearing a grin, he knew that Echo was going to do well, he would not of let him rent out the place if he was not. To make a real profit he had to show his club had a certain level of performers and Echo being a new coming to the music scene was a good start for his club to get the coverage he needed from the media off world. It was free advertising, he was making money and gaining more clients all in one night. "I'm just here for the renter's fee, you do have it do you not?" Echo shook his head. "Come now bro, you know me better than that. And do not worry it is clean." He pulled out a datapad and pressed a few buttons that the data pad Zero had given back to Terresa would ding. "Transfer complete Lord Ika, it is cleared." Zero peeked over his shoulder looking behind him as he was pleased with the news. "As promised you may retire for the day my dear, Thank you for your wonderful help today. I owe much to you." The woman blushed before she bowed and spoke. "Thank you, sir, enjoy the rest of your day."


Zero waited until the girl left before they got down to the real business at hand. Once they heard the doors close, Echo walked back to the stage and started playing one of his songs. The two would then walk over to the bar as Zero walked behind it and fixed them a drink. The next bit of conversation between the two would be purely telepathic, a neat trick he picked up along the way which always allowed him to talk about his underworld actions in public without others knowing what they were speaking about and without being recorded. This also ensured that in the event anything was discovered by the feds he knew who to kill. Zero was in the business of pushing underground military grade Ki cannons. These cannons were tools that were able to gather greater ki from the wearer of the device than the normal models on the streets. Of course, they were attained from robbing an armored military transport in the core world's space area. A Very dangerous business, which was while Echo's cover as a musical man fit perfectly. He could book events where the transports would take place and then back to Zero when they were collected.

The bottle opened up freeing the dark brown liquid from within it, as it poured into a small clear glass up, with three cubs of ice slowly becoming chilled. Zero handed a cup over to Echo and poured another glass for himself, it was time to get the true reason for their visit underway. Opening up a mental connection the changeling would bring the cup to his lips before pouring his drink into his mouth, the taste was of excellence. "So, how went the job I assume good, or else you would not be here." Echo chuckled as he lowered his cup back to the bar. "Everything went well Zero, they are starting to beef up security though perhaps we should wait for a few months before striking again. In that time I'll start looking into other transports and see what else is moving around the galaxy, with the world of worlds being blown up alow of people are thinking it is safe to just live out here or started to build large ships and stay in those mostly. The sound of ice swirling in a cup was noticeable slightly while echo spoke, of course, the music was playing and the staff was still working. Zero set his glass down and rapped his finger, he did not like the idea that the blasters would stop coming in for a while, but it did allow him to raise the price of them now, nodding his head Zero looked over to Echo. "Very well, let me know what you find. However, I do not think I need to remind you what happens if I hear you're selling to others. " Echo sucked on his teeth. "You know better than that man, we've been friends for a while since kids even." Zero finished his drink and placed the cup onto the bar top. "That's exactly what worries me, you're long overdue for a betrayal in this game. I assume the good or with your music gear? " Echo nodded and Zero offered his hand to shake it. The business here was done. "I'll trust you'll be happy with the payment and bonus you'll find in your stage room. Take care old friend and good luck tonight." This statement was said out loud and Zero headed for the door. Now it was to more pressing matters, Zero walked outside of his club and looked around. He looked over to his left to the larger buildings in the city. Each one was an empire of money and one that he wanted to control. Soon, everything would start to fall into place it all started with his father's business though.


Zero's body would start to rise into the air until he was even with the rooftops, and a reddish tinted aura would start to swell around his body before he'd blast off into the night, it was time to go find his father and set everything into motion. It was a work day, early evening his father was likely closing up some deals and then handing onto the frosty lake to enjoy the chilling breeze. Zero would head straight to the lake and search for his father, sure enough, there his hover yacht was over the icy water. Lowering down to craft Zero would touch down on the nose of the object, and his father's guards would bow as they greeted him. "Lord Zero, please excuse us we had no idea you were on your way, w-we will gather the usual for you, sir." Zero walked towards them his tail swaying back and forth, "Now now, no need for all that, how long have you three known me? If I recall since my birth you have been working for my father, some of you even watched over me if I recall correctly. Thank you, but I shall be fine. I'm only here to talk to father."

"Of course Young Lord, your father is just downstairs. " Then guards stood back up standing straight, it was nerve-racking for them to deal with Zero out of the blue like that, mostly because of how his father treated his men, he was the typical abusive man he has grown to hate, Zero walked past the guards and headed downstairs to meet with his father, he was sure that his father felt his power level when he had gotten closer and was already expecting him. His father was sitting down listening to music and drinking, enjoying himself as a businessman. It had long been since his father had done more than just training, keeping up with the basics Zero was sure he could take him in a fight right here and now, but he wanted to take everything from his father at his father's strongest talents. "Ah, father they said you would be down here but I did not expect you to be all alone. Today's meeting was a tad bit concerning haha. Perhaps we should buy them out eh? Change the way scouters are even used. " His father lowered his drink and spoke out in a deeper voice than Zeroes by a lot. "Oh Zero, here to kill me? No not your style to openly fight and leave the guards open. Who cares about the scouter contract we have the power supply contract for so many other devices so there is no need to worry, I was actually thinking of getting out of this before they went under in full. " Zero would chuckle at his father's guess, he was not even trying to pretend that Zero would not do such a thing.

Zero walked over to an empty chair on his father's left side. Taking it Zero would just sit and look over at his father. "I see, so that's what your plan is then. Sounds like a good enough plan do you think that you can get the others to do the same and make the company crash? If all investors pull out that they have nothing baking them and we get to twist the story making it seem like they simply do not trust in that product anymore. Whatever they chose to do Zero was sure that it would lead them in the right direction, but he had to bring it up to the investors first. "Echo is performing at my club tonight father, you should go see him perform. " Zero knew it was falling on deaf ears but still, it would be easy to gain some type of advantage if his father entered the club, pictures audio recordings anything would help to sway others to his side.

It had been a week since Zero had spoken to his father since then Zero had purchased him a large house. Some would call it a Mansion but it did not feel like it to him. Though with his current height. it was rather tall and large. Perhaps it would do for himself and his staff. It would make more sense for them to stay with him so they can be more efficient at being with him when work started. On top of that, he could further put on the face of someone who truly cares for them as a person and boss, such a tiring act but one that would pay off in the long run. it was not like he would make them do work when they were off, after all, he'd hardly see anyone then once he got back, it was usually pretty late in the evening. His meeting with Echo had borne fruit, he received confirmation everything had gone well with reselling the gear. It was time to start his take over, but to do that he needed to prove his strength to his father, and counter him in business, Zero had a plan to do this. He had gathered enough money to buy out the majority of the stockholders, of course, it was because of the funds he recently got but it was what it was, and this was business. That would come tomorrow, today he was going to train in case his father would challenge him to combat after the takeover. Zero would enter his mansion and walk directly towards his training room. He had Ordered a gravity chamber and was waiting for it to come in, however, it had yet to come in, no matter Zero would use it later when it came in. For now, he would simply do some workouts, lift a few weights maybe, and practice his ki manipulation. Entering the room the small Frost demon waved off his people, "Leave me I have much to do."

Zero entered the room and sealed off the door, he stripped himself of his cape and started his training process. Zero walked to the center of the room, lifting his tail upwards three spheres of energy would form, they were about the size of a softball, emitted a darker red color, and started to swirl around him. They now circled around his body and were changing shapes and sizes at the same time, his goal was to get them to each be a different shape and size from the others all at the same time. the first step of this exercise was to constantly feed ki into the spheres, and constantly be moving them around yourself, this alone was hard to do and was the basics of this exercise, to change the shapes, while feeding the ki and moving them well, that would be a bit harder to do for anyone, he had never mastered this exercise, but it did always improve his ability to control his ki. And so, it started he'd start with trying to change the sphere into a square and the second into a triangle, the third would become a diamond, the shapes were given, now it was time to move change them one at a time he focused on the square trying to change it to a diamond while maintaining concentration on the others as they circled around him. Sure enough, he was able to do so, the following would then happen with the others, but the triangle became a square and the original diamond became a square, the change in shape would keep going on over and over again, once he felt comfortable with this he'd move on. It was time to try to adjust their sizes while changing shapes all at the same time, this part was harder as sometimes the ki blast would touch and explode, a good way to ensure concentration was perfect.

The three spheres would grow at the same time, becoming the size of basketballs before they started to flow down the changing of shapes, so far so good. It was not until Zero tried to make one of the spheres larger that he stopped moving a smaller one and the two blasts met. An explosion would occur and Zero would be forced onto the floor, his eyes opened as he looked himself over. He had a few scuff marks but nothing else, he'd sit back down and close his eyes and start the entire process all over again. One by one he'd make the ki blast and change the shapes and start to circle them around him, the ki blast would start to grow and shrink in size. His goal remained the same but he failed, again and again, the pain of failure with each explosion was starting to get piss him off, but he was sorely missed himself. After an hour of failure, he'd moved on to something else. It was time to start increasing his body's power. His endurance was already tested with his ki training but now he needed to enhance his stamina and his muscles.

He'd walked over to the center of the room and taking a fighting pose, he'd start swinging into the air and practicing his strike with his tail. It was a combination of a flurry of assault from his arms and legs that would typically finish with a sharp turn of his body that allowed his tail to move like a whip. The sheer speed of his attacks was pretty good from what he saw in others, though he was no fool, he knew they had beings that could kill him with a flick of a finger. He was okay with that for now, he had no reasons that he could think of to even be within that area of people such as this. His current goal was just to beat his father in need and be strong enough to defend his property, he could also cut out the middle man from stealing shipments if he grew strong enough. He'd keep training his combos for a few more hours before exiting his training room. Gathering his items he'd walk to his room and get ready for bed. Tomorrow was the day.

The following day Zero waits 15 minutes before a board meeting starts, within these 15 minutes he buys out the company from under his father's nose. A swoop that took about 5 minutes totals put Zero as the majority shareholder. He already had 10% from his father and would inherit the rest of his father were to die which would have brought him to 55% of the company. His father's 45% was truly what kept him on top, his shares amounted to the total of the rest of the board members. Zero, however, was able to attain another 35% allowing him and his father to sit on equal terms. All he needed was one more percent, to take the company over in full, he had struck a gruesome deal he was going to have to pay in full later. He'd buy 2% from this guy, and once his father was out of the picture and Zero gained his shares he would gift the man back 10%, a large portion of the company. It was something he did not wish to do but had to do. Entering the meeting room applause filled the room, his father sitting at the head of the table was confused. Smirking Zero would alk up to his father. "You're in my seat father, would you be so kind as to move from out of it?" His father confused for a moment looked over to his assistant, he turned a datapad over to show Zero was now the owner of Ika Industries. His father would chuckle as he stood up and placed a hand out to Zero. "Well done, I guess this means I'll have to kill you later to retake my company. Very well have your day." With his father gone, Zero took his seat and conducted business as usual, he knew that sometime soon he and his father would have to battle to the death, but until that time came Zero would do as he needed. He also felt it was time to branch out, return to the core worlds, and see what awaited his company out there.

When he entered his home however there his father was, his staff had been killed and laid in a pile on the floor, and even Echo had fallen to his father. This was no Surprise but at last, he did not see Ryme anywhere around which was a good thing. His fourth stood there in his true form which showed just how much his father was not playing around this time. "You thought you could embarrass me and take everything I built and not pay for it the same day? I raised you better than that Zero. You will know truly what it feels like to be beaten in full. Now.." His father appeared behind him in an instant, which was all he needed to send Zero hurling through the air and crashing through his kitchen, and landing in the training room of his Mansion. The pain he felt was unreal, all that from a single kick? His father was not even going to let him assume his true form, which meant he needed to make an opening to do so. Zero stood to his feet as fast as he could wiping a line of purple liquid from his mouth. He had taken some serious damage already. Lifting both hands he fired three shots from each hand for a total of 6, sending each of them at his father's direction attempting to cause some damage and a smoke screen. Zero then immediately began to call on his true power, his true form so that he could stand a chance against his father. It was then Chiller sprung out from the smoke with a hand stretched out as he flew through the air wrapping his palm around Zero's face and slamming him through a wall before slamming him into the ground. Chiller then wrapped his tail around Zero's throat as he pulled Zero up and sent a devastating punch into Zero's core causing the already choked Zero to squirm in pain as blood pooled out his mouth and onto his father's tail. With anger in his eyes, his father twisted and slung Zero upwards sending him crashing through several stories until he curved slightly before hitting the roof.

Chiller slowly followed up through the whole chuckling as he reach the top. "Oh my dear boy, do you think I will allow you the time to even achieve this form before I end you? Perhaps your brother will learn from your mistake, or perhaps I should pay him a visit after I am done with you. Before Zero could even speak a large ball of energy was shot into him, crashing into his entire frame and as it did he felt his entire body slowly starting to burn up. With a gasp of air Zero found himself back on Earth in the room he was using to train, blood was at his lips, and his entire body ached all over. He was leaning forward on his hands and knees. If he needed to breathe he would be gasping for air. This form of training was super effective but left the user very open to the dangers their minds could conjure up. This training had shown him he was still very far away from taking both the company and besting his father in combat. The takeaway here was that Zero would need to be in his True Form and have it under control if he was to take his father out alone. Perhaps with Ryme, they could do it before then but from this exercise, he was not sure. One thing was clear to him though. No longer could he and Ryme just coast along in their training. They would need to pull together and train together and push each other to their limits every week. He still thought they should train separately to work on their tactics, which left Zero at a disadvantage since Ryme was the Tactical one of the two. However, Zero was slightly stronger than his brother when it came to their power levels.

Zero pulled his datapad out and noticed that his meditation had taken him three days to go through. His body was hungry and thirsty, he felt weak and needed to fuel himself and get healed up. As he exited the training room Zero had set a new fire within himself. It was time to become more serious and start making bigger moves. They had their ship, they had the means to start forging their army and gather powerful beings to work under them Liari was one of them. Soon, and he meant soon he would set out to conquer his first planet. The only question reaming was which one? Vegeta? Earth? Namek?

WC 6,027
TWC:7,406