Ch. 89: Core Girls Set the Stage!

"RRGH! I can't make my wish!" Frieza whipped his tail against the ground in frustration, remembering what that old Namekian said. "There must be some secret to unlocking their power! A password, code, or ritual to release the dragon, that only Namekians would know." He shouted. "I could scream! Curses! I have all seven Dragon Balls right here and they're entirely worthless! 

Now, I need a Namekian to show me how to use them..." Frieza finished his tirade, frustrated beyond reason. At this point, he was seriously thinking of just destroying the entire planet, Ginyu along with it, just to deal with the feeling churning the pits of his stomach.

"Check the scouter, Lord Frieza. There's bound to be one or two Nameks left." Ginyu advised, ignorant to Frieza's destructive thoughts.

Frieza did as Ginyu suggested, checking his scouter. 'Beep. Beep.' The scouter beeped, signifying nothing. Just an empty rock in that direction... Facing another way, Frieza tried again. "The rest of the Ginyu Force is in that direction. Perhaps Vegeta or one of his new friends can tell us what we need to know? There was a Namek with them, if I recall." Frieza remembered vaguely. So far, there wasn't anything else on this rock. It might end up being his last chance.

"Uhh!?" Ginyu exclaimed, checking his scouter. The power levels were fluctuating, meaning that the fighting had already started. "It's best not to stop the men once they get started. I'm sure that if we keep looking, we'll-" 

Frieza cut him off. "Oh... Hey, there we go. A small band of Nameks in quadrant three. Two of them, due north. The third is leaving... going east. Impressively, they seem to have avoided detection before now. I guess my men weren't nearly as thorough as they should have been, searching the planet. I guess it's my lucky day. The fact that I run a ship of uselessly incompetent fools has actually come in handy for once, wouldn't you say?" Frieza wondered, thinking of the punishment that he would later dole out to the remainder of his crew.

Ginyu pumped his fist, "Lord Frieza, just give me one hour and I'll find out everything that you need to know about the Dragon Balls."

But Frieza was already fed up with his subordinates. Even Ginyu could mess up sometimes. In Frieza's eyes, it wasn't worth the risk.

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, Captain, but I think I'd prefer to handle this myself. I've dealt with so many Nameks by now that I've figured out exactly how to... should we say... extract their secrets. You know, the key isn't in hurting their bodies, but breaking their spirits. You stay here, Captain. Keep my Dragon Balls safe." Frieza climbed into his carrier.

Ginyu saluted the short tyrant. "Right! You can count on me. I'll guard them with my life!" He answered immediately, not daring for a second to question Frieza's orders. Frieza was fine with that. Despite his shortcomings, Ginyu was Frieza's strongest tool. Born strong, but easily dominated due to his weak character, Ginyu'd always excelled at everything he did. In training and combat, especially, the captain's power grew ten times faster than any of Frieza's other subordinates. He was like a weak puppet that Frieza could order around and make crush all of the other puppets. He felt safe leaving the Dragon Balls in such a physically able person's hand. 

"Ready or not, Nameks! Here I come!" Frieza shouted, laughing maniacally as he sped off to torture the last remaining Namekians on the planet. Once he was finished with them, maybe he would find the one who was running away and torture them to celebrate...

...

"Mistress wants you guys to mess with time!" Shay's voice echoed through the Well, where all of the currently free Core Girls were gathered. 

Each Core Girl was a literal part of Hanna's power. In other words, the more powerful they grew, the higher Hanna's maximum power would technically grow, though it wouldn't really matter that much, since power beyond a certain point was basically just dangerous, with no real upsides.

But none of the Core Girls really cared about the fact that there wasn't any point in growing Hanna's power beyond where it currently was. They just cared about helping Hanna however they could, which meant growing stronger as fast as possible.

As a result of that dedicated mindset, the average Core Girl's schedule was... rough. Eight hours a day of strict bedrest. Eight hours a day of strict training. Six hours a day of assorted chores, from cleaning and repairing the mansion that Hanna had built for them all to live in, to foraging for whatever magical foods happened to be growing on the Core, to overseeing the other planets that Mistress had left in their care. It was a tough, time-consuming job, even with their ever-growing numbers. Mistress had told Chelsea to make sure that none of the girls burnt themselves out, though, so each girl had two hours of free time tacked on during their chore time.

These two hours could be used however the girls wanted, so long as they didn't leave the Core Universe that Mistress had built, but lately, every single girl had chosen to do the same thing with their extra time. They'd watch Hanna through the Well.

Even though time in the real world went by ten times slower than time in the Core, the girls never had a single complaint about seeing their Mistress through the portals that the Well provided, but the Well provided other things also.

"What does Mistress want, Little Sis?" Chelsea asked Shay through the portal.

The girls had their own little hierarchy. The first Core Girl ever created had been Chelsea, and she was also the girl that Hanna had left the most energy with before she'd taken off for Earth. That made her the leader. She was the one who set the schedules for the other girls, as well as took on the all-important duty of 'setting the stage' for Mistress whenever she asked. It was an incredibly important duty, and all the other girls envied her, but Mistress had given Chelsea the position, so they all respected her immensely.