Going Native: Seeing Red (Patreon)

“Stay small,” I told my body, fighting against the transformation that tried to overtake me as I stared up at the Power Ball. My teeth grew, sharpening into fangs as I grit them hard enough they could shatter, a vein bulging out near my eye, one had already burst in my eye from the strain. I felt myself grow another inch, fur growing on parts of my skin. 

“Stay small,” I repeated, trembling with exertion. It was like trying to make my heart stop beating -- going oozaru in response to blutz waves was a natural reaction, just like a surge of adrenaline before a fight, or drooling when you were hungry and a huge meal was in front of you. I mean, it was a little different because of the whole, you know, becoming a giant ape but the principle was the same. 

“S-stay...small!” I bit out, sweat dripping down my face as I fought the growth. In response to my words, I grew another inch. That one proved to be the point of no return, I grew another inch, then a foot, then a yard and the next thing I knew I was over a hundred feet tall despite fighting the transformation with every tooth and nail that I had. 

The sigh I let out hit the walls of the crater I was in with explosive force, sand spilling down in an avalanche to cover my boots. Grumbling to myself, I pulled myself free before I undid the transformation, feeling myself shrink back down. Again, I tried to fight it.

I tried to keep hold of that feeling of power that the oozaru form offered, that intoxicating feeling that made me feel like I was invincible. My body shrunk just as fast as it grew, the transformation following biological triggers, only to hesitate when I approached my normal height. 

“Hrrrg!” I grunted, gritting my teeth, my vision tinted red not just from my oozaru form, but I’m pretty sure another blood vessel popped in my eye. I grasped that feeling of power with all my strength, trying to keep hold of it as the transformation began to fade. I felt it slipping between my fingers like grains of sand, no matter how tightly I squeezed, I couldn’t keep hold of it. 

Then the transformation faded entirely. Sweat poured off my body, my exhaustion enough to drive me to my knees as I ignored more displaced sand that flooded over my hands and feet. My breathing was ragged, my body pushed to its absolute limit. It felt that way for the past two days of this training. 

Worse, I had absolutely no idea if I was doing it right. I couldn’t tell if I had made any progress at all. I gained better control over my oozaru form, but that was about it. And it was useless against what resided in that mountain. 

Even still, I wiped my face with my forearm, pushed myself back to my feet and looked up at the Power Ball hanging overhead. I braced myself against the transformation, slowing it to a crawl. The feeling of power began to course through my veins, my bone-deep exhaustion vanishing without a trace, replaced by strength. My senses got sharper, I could feel my strength doubling, then tripling and so on. 

It was possible. I just had to figure out how to harness it. “Ahhhhh,” I let out a low groan as I furled into myself, clenching my hands so hard that my palms bled. My fists shook from exertion, my nails growing longer, fur appearing on my arms. “HNNNNNGGH!” I grit my teeth, trying to push the transformation down, clutching at the power that it gave me, trying to separate the two. 

The fur on my arms began to recede, leaving behind bare skin. That was progress. I was making progress! Now, to keep going…! “Ugghhhh,” I groaned, feeling the power of the oozaru form begin to slip out of my fingers like smoke in the wind. Just a little bit was enough, all I needed was proof that it was possible. That would convince Vegeta to give me a little more time to master the technique. I needed something to prove that I hadn’t wasted two days. 

“Come on,” I yelled, feeling myself start to transform again as I kept hold of the power. The instincts of the oozaru form bashed against my control, demanding that I let go and lay waste to everything. It was like I was fighting on two fronts and I was losing on both of them. That never stopped me from pulling out a win before, and I wouldn’t let it stop me now. 

I grew an inch, then another, but fur didn’t grow anywhere I could see. My teeth were a little too sharp, my vision was tinted red, there were traces of the transformation but I think I was keeping the worst of them at- then I grew another inch, forcing me to clamp down on transformation, losing my grip on the power and felt myself weaken as I shrunk. 

“No,” I had time to curse as my control over both weakened until I was forced to choose to maintain control over my oozaru form. I shot to over a hundred feet tall, nearly losing my balance since my tail was still fed through the armor to protect it. I stumbled back, breathing heavily, probably breathing in more sand than air at this point. 

Slowly, I nodded to myself, “again.” I told myself, forcing myself to shrink back down, clutching at the power with all of my strength. Again, I tried to maintain control of both, only to manage neither. Exactly like I had for the past two days with no rest. 

“Still stuck on that, huh?” I heard a voice ask, making me lookup. Bardock floated down the deep crater I used as my training ground, peeling off a black mask as he did so. Up above us both were one of the shields around the HQ to keep out a glass storm that raged on the surface of the planet. Already, the effects of the storms were having an effect on the planet -- wildlife and plants were being flayed alive, the same for our soldiers if they didn’t get back soon enough. 

Now, we were forced to rely on rations and corpses for food, our supply line our lifeline to continue fighting on this planet. 

I tried to speak but my throat felt like it was lined with sandpaper, forcing me to nod my head instead. I coughed a few times when Bardock answered, clearing my throat so I could say, “it’s possible. I’m so close, but I just…” I didn’t know how to put it in words, trailing off in a frustrated huff. 

Bardock nodded, looking like he believed me. “I saw, you can hold the transformation off for about a minute now.” He said, getting a disbelieving look from me. 

A minute? That was it? It felt so much longer, though. It felt like I’ve been down here for forever and a day. 

Bardock tossed a water bottle at me, I caught it and gulped down the contents, not realizing how thirsty I was until water rushed down my throat. “How much longer do you think it’ll take?” Bardock asked as I poured some of the water on top of my head to cool myself down. 

I looked down in response, which was all that Bardock needed to know. A sigh escaped as he scratched at his scarred cheek. “We’re running out of time, Tarble. Ran into Vegeta today,” he said with some amusement, “well… let’s say that I doubt we have another day before he decides he’s waited long enough.”

A day? No, less than a day. It was nearly nighttime now. That… “I can do it,” I insisted, my lips pressing together into a thin line. “I just need a little more time, then I can do it.” The image of it was so clear in my head, the form that I strode to achieve, but the road getting there wasn’t as simple as I thought it was. 

Bardock let out a huff, “I actually believe you.” He told me, getting a sharp look from me. “The others are saying it’s impossible, so they’re searching for stuff like a way in or intel on what exactly we’ll be facing, but I think it’s possible. I just don’t know if you can do it before I get executed-”

“I can,” I interjected, my hands curling into fists as I forced myself to my feet. I felt like one giant pulled muscle, my body screaming for rest but I’ve spent years ignoring my limits pleas for me to stop. “I just…!”

I didn’t know how to put my relationship with Bardock into words. He was my caretaker before he became my teammate, and most of that time I thought he was trying to murder me. For years, I followed his orders, no matter how little sense they made until I found myself obeying without thinking about it. I trusted him as my leader. I trusted that he wouldn’t throw my life away unless there was no other choice.

I trusted Bardock. Period. 

Vegeta, my brother by blood even if no one acknowledged it, wanted to kill him. 

“Yeah,” Bardock agreed, knowing what I was trying to say. “I got overeager. I saw an opportunity and didn’t think it through. Guess King Vegeta and his clone have it out for me.” 

“Why?” I asked, not sure what exactly what ‘why’ I was asking him. 

Bardock fell silent, taking a seat on the sand as he offered a careless shrug. “I have my reasons for killing Nappa,” he answered without answering my question. Something churned in my gut, my jaw clenching at the half answer. He purposely wasn’t answering my main ‘why.’ Why did he think King Vegeta and Vegeta were out to get him?

Saiyans didn’t have a law of justice. The general consensus was on murder was ‘you should have been stronger to stop yourself from dying.’ Bardock killing Nappa was hardly against our laws, but he was right, Vegeta did seem to have it out for Bardock. So, maybe the better why was why they were out to get him?

But that wasn’t why my stomach churned as I wiped my mouth, finishing off the water. It seemed as much as I trusted Bardock, he didn’t trust me anywhere near as much. 

I pushed the issue to the side, not wanting to think about it anymore. I had bigger problems to worry about -- like my suicide mission without mastering this new technique. I took in a deep breath, blinking a few times before I looked up at the Power Ball hanging above. The transformation started instantly, forcing me to brace myself against the rage of the oozaru form while trying my best to keep hold of the power. 

I focused on the feeling of that power coursing through me, searing the sensation of my power doubling and tripling and quadrupling and so on into my brain. That was the key. If I could tap into that feeling, then I could do this. I struggled against the transformation, seconds ticking by as I ignored Bardock watching me. 

I fought against it with everything that I had, I struggled to maintain my hold on my sanity, stopping the transformation and keeping hold of the power, only for the latter two to slip out of my hands when I nearly lost my grip on the first. I found myself over a hundred feet tall again, biting back a frustrated growl as I renewed the fight again, and again I was met with the same result. 

“Hm,” Bardock hummed, sounding amused. I glared at him, seeing him smirk in response. “Do you know what your problem is?” He asked in a tone that told me that he apparently knew the secret to the technique. I let out a sigh, knowing exactly what he was about to say. 

“”You think too much,”” I said at the same time he did. Luckily, he was more amused than annoyed at me mocking him. He pushed himself to his feet, brushing sand off his butt as he walked over. “How confident are you that you can do it this way?” He asked, approaching me.

I hesitated before I answered. I knew it was possible. I was absolutely certain of it. I could feel myself keeping hold of the power despite not being a giant ape, so it could be done. I just had to figure out a way to keep it. 

“I’m certain,” I confirmed with a nod. Bardock looked at me for a long moment before patted me on top of my head. 

“In that case,” Bardock started, “you need to stop thinking and let your body do the work for you. Going at it like this won’t do any good, you need a fight to make up break through your limits.”

Ummm...who...exactly was I going to fight, in that case? “Put this on,” Bardock said, smacking a mask over my face, a small bubble forming around my head to keep shards of glass out of my eyes and ears. They didn’t hurt that much, but they were irritating as all hell to dig out of your ears. With that, Bardock secured his own mask before we flew upwards through the shield that covered a mile-wide crater that was just as deep. 

"Where are we going?" I asked as we plunged into a raging glass storm. Sand and glass battered us at every angle, so thick that I couldn't see Bardock's face when I glanced up. I couldn't even tell which direction we were going. Bardock didn't answer in favor of continuing to go up. We left the dust cloud, it continued to rage underneath us, telling me we were in low orbit, just below the clouds.

The horizon was a mess of flashing lights as the Reach struggled to keep ahold of the planet. Our fleet bombarded the surface of the planet, supporting our armies as they advanced to clear through the resistance. We had conquered large swaths of land, slaughtering armies and civilians alike since not all managed to evacuate in time. Some places still held out, like the mountain, though there weren't many left already. 

This was the last planet before we hit a shield world, so it was going to serve as a staging ground. Armies on this front were being sent here along with their fleets, before long we would hold this planet by virtue of outnumbering the Reach a million to one. 

"We're going to find you a decent opponent," Bardock informed, a hand going up to tap his scouter before he flew off back down to the surface, heading towards a major battlefield. A port city under siege by the army, though calling it a city was a bit of a stretch at this point. Only a few buildings remained upright  The number of buildings still standing could be counted on one hand, and by the end of the day, I’m doubting that any would as the army bombarded the city. 

There were no clear lines of which force occupied which part of the city. I saw blaster fire traded from street to street, tanks rolling up and leveling buildings as drones flew above the city, battling it out for air superiority. The city had a washed-out look to it now, having suffered glass storms for nearly a week, wearing down all the paint and shine a city had. Now, it was a dull gray of concrete, black with soot and smoke where it wasn’t. 

At the center of it all, as it fired a missile from its shoulder that took out an entire city block, the heat from the blast illuminating its dark armor. A vanguard unit.

“How strong is it?” I asked, staring at my new enemy. It didn’t have the silver outline, so it wasn’t an enhanced scarab. Cautious excitement hummed in my veins. It was a vanguard unit, but, with my oozaru form then I could win. If what I needed was a kick in the butt to tap into that power without transforming, then this would do the trick. 

“70,000,” Bardock answered before he pressed his scouter to the side of my face before pulling out another deep green one. I confirmed the power level with a tap of my fingers, stretching some to get the last traces of exhaustion from my body. “Do you think you can win? Without backup?” He asked, making me pause. 

The technique I was thinking of...it could multiply my power by ten, easy. So, my power level would be 65,000. So, I would be at a disadvantage, though a small one. One thing that I noticed with the fight between Vegeta and the scarabs was that hundreds of points in power level got treated similarly to single points back when I was fighting saibamen. So, that 5000 pl difference wouldn’t be as much as it sounded. 

“I can win,” I said, confident in my victory. A few short years ago, I would have stared at Bardock like he grew a second head that started singing if he tried to put me against a vanguard scarab. Or I would have assumed that this was his newest tactic in getting me killed. Now that I was stronger, that I had hundreds of fights underneath my belt, now that I could control my oozaru form, I felt confident. 70,000 power level or not, I could win. 

“Then get down there then. Our side is getting slaughtered,” he said, a smirk on his face as I blasted off towards my new enemy. Was our side getting slaughtered? I could never tell in city battles. As I flew, I turned on the friendly-enemy function, the Frieza-force soldiers highlighted with purple while non-Frieza-force were highlighted with red. There was a lot more purple than red, but the purple seemed to be dying in droves as the vanguard unit reduced another block to a crater. 

I needed to grasp that power. I needed to do it without the Power Ball either, the form I sought was connected to the oozaru from, but the Power Ball was a crutch. I blasted towards the vanguard scarab, summoning ki to my palms as I reached deep within myself, searching for that massive well of power that lurked within. 

Nothing. I wasn’t feeling the pressure yet. I threw the ki blasts at the vanguard, the black scarab twisted midair, sensing the attacks to blast them away with a shot of plasma. It was no contest between the ki and plasma, forcing me to duck below the attack as I sailed forward, feeling the heat on my back. I gathered more ki in my hands, feeling my heart rate start to pick up -- there was no way that it wasn’t. 

I was fighting a vanguard unit on my own. No backup. The only times we had taken one down before was with a team effort and we were all in oozaru form, so none of us remembered the fight afterward.

“I can win,” I told myself, clasping my hands together, gritting my teeth as I searched for the power of the oozaru form, only to find nothing. “Ka…” I clasped my hands together, dodging another blast of plasma that came close enough that my hair got singed. “Me…”

The vanguard didn’t sit and wait for me. Its thrusters grew by half, blasting forward to meet me. It’s shoulder pads lifted up, revealing a half dozen missiles that it wasted no time to launch at me. 

“Ha...me…” I bit out, dashing to the side to see that the missiles homed in on me. The ki in my hands compressed just as fast as I poured ki into it, making it more volatile and unstable. Especially when I dove into a hollowed husk of a building, one of the missiles not managing to follow me through and exploding. An explosion shook the world behind me, heat and dust washing over me as half a block was reduced to ashes, killing allies and enemies alike. 

The vanguard darted in front of me, intent on cutting me off, but instead, it offered a perfect target. It raised its arms to fire off a blast of plasma, but I thrust my hands out first, “HAAA!” A torrent of blue erupted from my hands, a ball of ki racing towards the vanguard scarab. It hit dead center, enveloping it full of light as I rapidly approached it. 

“I can win!” I shouted, still flying forward, rapidly closing the distance between us until I nearly flew face-first into the scarab. I came close enough that I noticed that there wasn’t so much as a scratch on its armor. I was too weak to hurt it. But that would change. That would change soon enough. I flipped over the scarab, twisting mid-air to fire off a ki blast directly into its scarab, only for its legs to shoot out at me faster than I could blink. I felt pain in my arm, but I completed my attack. 

An explosion rocked the scarab, putting up smoke that hid the missiles. I thought they would have completed their path, but it seemed they were smart enough not to home in on the one that fired them. I wonder how many scarabs fell for that tactic before they implemented that bit of software. Forced to retreat, I dashed off, the missiles still following me. 

Again, I searched for the well of power inside, digging deep as my heart began to pound against my ribs so hard that it threatened to punch through them. My shoulder stung, hot blood trailing down my arm from where I got stabbed, my shoulder pad doing nothing to stop the damage. Still, it didn’t surge from deep within granting me awesome power. It wasn’t enough. Not yet. 

As I sailed through the air, diving into another building, I twisted to look behind me, uncaring when I went through a wall. Dozens of ki blasts erupted from my palms, most of them missing but some of them hit and that was enough. Light-filled my vision, flames washing over me as a weird wall of air traveled through me as some of the missiles detonated. The building I flew in was demolished, the explosion taking out a quarter of the city it felt like as I sailed through the flames, gritting my teeth to power through the heat, shooting forward like a speeding bullet. 

I escaped the explosion, my armor fairing worse than I did. It glowed in some places, the material melting onto my skin that felt more uncomfortable than painful. Searching for the missiles, I flew some distance, firing around the city to discover that the explosion had detonated all of them. Good. Now, where was the scarab- 

It didn't take long to find it. The vanguard scarab hung above the city, small blasters forming along its shoulders and legs that fired off dozens of needle-thin blasts of plasma, each one hitting a Frieza-force soldier in the head, killing them instantly. Its hands were normal blasters, each once firing at saucer-shaped drones in the sky above, helping establish air superiority for the Reach. 

It had completely forgotten about me. Or it thought those missiles would be enough to kill me. That was...infuriating. 

"Come on," I hissed, trying to grasp the power of the oozaru form. I felt it deep within, but I couldn't coax it out of me. What did I have to do to harness it? I was already fighting a vanguard scarab! Was it not enough? I- 

No, Bardock is right. Now wasn't the time for thinking. I needed to crank up the pressure, put myself in a do or die moment, and hope that the awesome power within me decided to appear. 

"Ka...me...ha...me...Haa!" I screamed, launching the ki attack at the scarab, throwing my all into the attack. It turned around long before my attack came anywhere near, one of its blasters firing to meet my Kamehameha. The matching blue attacks clashed against each other, light dancing in the fading light as I poured more and more ki into my attack, trying to force the plasma back. 

Only the plasma pushed my attack back. First by an inch, then a foot, then ten, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't so much as stall its advance towards me. Tsking to myself, I cut off my attack, flying out of the way of the plasma blast that carved a building behind me in half, crushing a detachment of Frieza-force soldiers below. 

I wasn't going to win in a power contest, that much was clear. 

"Come on then!" I shouted at the scarab, my face twisting into a snarl as I rushed towards it. Ki coated my hands, sharpening into a wicked point about six inches from the tip of my middle finger, the edges just as sharp. I spun out of the way of a plasma blast, then another as I rapidly closed the distance between us. A wordless roar ripped from my throat as I neared. 

The plasma gun compressed into a sword that rushed to meet me halfway. It moved so fast I could barely follow it, little more than a blur as it rushed towards me. 

If this wasn't enough...then I was going to get cut in half. 

I moved to block the attack even as I noticed a distinct lack of power surging through my veins. The blue ki that covered my hand met the edge of the vanguard's sword, sparks flying as they clashed. I felt the sharp bite of pain in my hand, the familiar sensation of a blade lodged in bone, but it was better than getting my hand cut off, that was certain. The ki coating my hand managed to stop it from going any further, but that was it. 

"Weak," the vanguard commented, a plasma gun forming on its shoulder, a light blue pinprick of plasma seemed to be all I could see. If I didn't move right now, then I was going to die. 

Again, the power of the oozaru failed to manifest as I lurched forward, careless of the blade sawing through a bone in my hand so I could kick off the scarab. My feet impacted against its chest, pushing it back ever so slightly. That was enough with my sudden shift in position that the bead of plasma only grazed the side of my skull instead of punching through my forehead. The smell of burnt hair filled my nostrils as I darted backward to put some distance between us. The miniature gun proved to be quick on the reload as it fired another bead of plasma that I couldn't entirely dodge. I bit back a shout of pain as it carved a tunnel through my thigh, the intense heat cauterizing the wound so it didn't bleed. 

I couldn't win in close quarters combat either, I realized, going back in for a second try. This time, I went to deflect the blade instead of trying to block it, having significantly more success with that as the sword sailed overhead, cutting my hair in half. I would look stupid, but I couldn't bring myself to care. "Rahhh!" I shouted, striking at the scarab, my ki coated hand carving a line down it's armor, sparking going up. All I managed to do was create a thin groove that smoothed over instantly. Undeterred, I attacked again, staying so close that the shoulder gun couldn't get a sho- 

I forgot about the legs, I realized a moment too late. The legs from the scarab on the vanguard's back lifted up, firing off two yellow blasts of energy. Both of them punch through my stomach, my armor doing absolutely nothing to slow them. A strangled gasp escaped me, but even as agony radiated from my gut, I kept my hands coated in ki long enough to block an overhand swing meant to cut me in half. I felt the blade slice into my hands, but they held even as I shot down towards the ground. 

I gathered myself, fighting through the pain like I did so many times before, managing to slow my fall just enough to make sure I didn't die on impact. I busted through the street, landing in the sewers some dozen feet below. The dust obscured me for a moment, but I saw the bright blue light behind the cloud. After everything I had done, I doubted that it was heaven. I grit my teeth, pushing through the pain, and flipped myself out of the way of the attack. Heat washed over me, digging a hole where I was a second before. 

"You dead?" Bardock asked in my ear, somewhere up above. From the sound of it, he got involved in the dog fight in the skies to alleviate his boredom. 

"Not yet," I answered, wiping blood from my mouth. This wasn't enough either. I was losing the fight, that much was certain, but if I fled right now, then I would survive. That wasn't enough. I needed a do or die situation. 

Sucking in a deep breath, ignoring how the holes in my stomach burned, I clasped my hands together, "Kamehameha!" I shouted, launching the ki attack to announce my survival. Almost instantly, I felt the scarab stop my attack dead in its tracks, but I expected that. I cut off my Kamehameha, throwing myself to the side as I dodged the stream of plasma. It followed me as I flew close to the ground, carving along the street before I turned into a building -- I thought since it was filled with Reach soldiers that it would stop, but it carved the building in half, making it collapse on itself and kill everything in it. 

If I couldn’t overpower it, and I couldn’t beat it in a CQC, then that left being tricky. 

As the building collapsed behind me, I summoned upon my ki, still trying to coax the power of the oozaru from me. “Riot Javelin,” I said, flying upwards as I formed two of the attack in my hands. Thanks to my scouter, I knew exactly where the vanguard was. 

“Wait, I never taught you that- have you been stealing my techniques?!” Bardock demanded, sounding like I actually caught him off guard. Despite it all, I found a small laugh bubble out of me as I prepared myself for what could be the final clash. My near misses were getting closer each time. After this...I was done for. 

“Sorry, the Reach is jamming our com-kishhhh,” I said, ending the call. If Bardock was going to save me before, then he wasn’t going to now. I didn’t have a safety net anymore. Good. 

As soon as I burst through the cloud of dust that covered a couple of blocks, I saw the vanguard. It picked up on the energy reading of my attack because it whipped around to face me. It turned its blaster to me again and fired off another shot, this time I threw one of the Riot Javelins, waiting for it to slam into the plasma blast before I threw the other one. 

Bardock designed the Riot Javelin for this moment, to take advantage of the opening enemies provided when they were stationary, waiting for their attack to finish him off. It funneled through the plasma blast, uncaring of how powerful it was before the first one began to lose its steam. The bulge in the displace plasma kept going, the second still fresh and it kept going all the way to the source of the plasma. 

I dodged out of the way of the plasma blast just as the second Riot Javelin impacted, causing a huge explosion. My scouter picked up on the vanguard thrown backward through the air but unfortunately still alive. Knowing that this was my only shot, I raced forward, forming another Riot Javelin in my hands. 

The vanguard had the same idea. It blasted through the smoke that hung in the air, revealing that the bottom part of its arm was gone for a few short moments. Liquid metal capped over the missing limb before stretching out, replacing everything below the elbow. Some parts of the body thinned to do it, but the result was the same. My last-ditch effort managed no lasting damage. 

Even still, I pressed myself forward, “Riot Javelin,” I roared, throwing the attack, unsurprised as it washed over the vanguard’s chest. The arm that was metal from the elbow down lengthened into a sword, it raced towards me at speeds that I could hope to dodge. If it didn’t happen now, then I was-

My thoughts were cut off when the sword stabbed through my stomach, folding me in half. I bit back a scream, looking into its yellow-tinted eyes to see that they were filled with nothing. Whoever was in the suit, they were gone. That was...irritating. The Reach- 

Again, any rational thought was wiped from my head as I felt the blade shift inside of me. In every direction, I felt needles as thick as my finger erupt from the blade, skewering my insides in a dozen places. Blood lurched out of my mouth, filing the mask that covered my face as I struggled to remain conscious. I looked down to see some of the needles poked out through my armor, all of them bright red with blood. 

“Die,” the vanguard said, the needles drawing back into the sword before it began to wrap around me, gripping me fully so I couldn’t escape. I gripped its arm as hard as I could, trying to do...something. I could do it. I had to be able to do it. I- 

The scarab threw me down, everything was a blur as the wind roared in my ears. I felt myself slam into the roof of a still standing building, I punched through the top floor and through the next fifty floors, each just as painful as the last, until I slammed into the bottom hard enough that the entire foundation gave way. The building collapsed, hundreds of thousands of tons falling down on top of me, the dust so thick that without my mask I would have suffocated.

“Tarble, you alive?! Tarble, speak to me!” Bardock roared in my ear, my mask filled with blood so I couldn’t respond. 

I...couldn’t do it. What...that was...what an absolute joke. I fought for years, clawed my way up from barely avoiding an infiltration mission to mid-class. To becoming the second strongest on Bardock’s squad. I mastered my oozaru transformation, I was so close to becoming elite-class. And...my second lease on life...thrown away because I couldn’t pull a power up I knew existed out of my ass. 

Despite it all, despite my lungs filling with blood because I’m pretty sure they got stabbed too, I laughed. It was a wretched gargling sound. 

“N-not yet,” I rasped, commanding my body to move. I pushed against the rubble that fell on top of me, every movement making me increasingly aware of the puddle of blood forming around me. Even as weak as I was, I felt the rubble shift, but not enough. It still wasn’t enough. No matter how hard I pushed, it still wasn’t enough. 

“You are? Good, I’m coming your way to save your dumb ass. Stay there and don’t die,” Bardock ordered, his tone unusually serious. 

I coughed, more blood filling my mask. So, I was also looking at drowning in my own blood as a possible death. I...should wait for Bardock to save me. If he went oozaru, he could win. If he got to me fast enough and tossed me into a healing pod, then there was a chance I could survive. But...that would mean...I wasn’t going to be able to go on the mission. I was the second strongest member of his squad, it was already a suicide mission to begin with, but without me...

No. No, I wasn’t going to let that happen. I wasn’t going to let myself die here. I wasn’t going to fail at something I know can be done. I- No, enough thinking. It was time to do or die. 

I cupped my hands, the flickering light of my ki illuminating the pitch-black darkness I found myself in. I took in a breath that sent waves of agony coursing through me, “ka...me…” I coughed, the ball of ki in my hands growing stronger. “Ha...me…” It was nothing compared to the ones earlier, but it would do the trick. 

“Ha!” I yelled, shooting upwards and carving a hole in the rubble. I forced myself up, using my fading ki to float, to my feet. As the attack faded, having done its job, I looked down to see...huh...that was a lot of blood. My blood. 

“You idiot! Stay down, and let me deal with-” 

Say something cool, “d-don’t get involved in my fights.” Nailed it. I turned my attention to the sky above me, the vanguard scarab hovering directly above. Did I hit it with my attack? I hope so. I licked my lips, the taste of copper heavy on my tongue as I glared up at the scarab. My hands curled into fists, blood flowing out of me in rivers -- it could have just floated there and I probably would have died soon enough. But that wasn’t enough for it. 

Both of its arms and chest melded into one giant plasma cannon. As strong as it was, there might not be much of a city left when it hit. Or me, for that matter. 

“Just sit back, and watch me do this,” I told Bardock, glaring at the scarab. I was going to do this. I had to. Death was absolutely certain if I didn’t, and I was going to live. No matter what. So, success was the only option. I had to do it. I-

I let out a breath, closing my eyes as I pushed my thoughts away. No thinking about what-ifs, success or failure, or anything like that. I turned my attention away from the fight, ignoring the growing orb of plasma that was about to lay waste to this city along with the armies. I focused solely on that feeling of power that the oozaru transformation offered. The exact moment I felt the strength flow through my veins when I transformed.

I imagined it flowing into me again, trying to imagine it flooding my veins so my strength would increase tenfold. I imagined it working again and again and again. I pictured the well of power in me surging up to fill my flagging strength and make me stronger than ever. A thousand times, I imagined it working. 

On the thousandth and first time, I summoned upon that power. For two days, I became intimately familiar with it, I felt my strength grew as I began to transform without the aid of Blutz waves. In my mind, time seemed to slow down as the ball of plasma leapt from the gun, a giant torrent of plasma racing towards me, but it seemed to move at a snail’s pace. 

I sucked at juggling in my past life. Generally, anything that involved hand-eye coordination, I failed at. It was a random thought but one that lead me to a much more relevant one. 

Why was I trying to juggle three things at once? I failed every time I tried before, in this life and the last. I mean, I could physically juggle with this body, but what I was trying to juggle, physical stuff didn’t matter. It was all mental. Stopping the transformation, maintaining conscious thought, summoning upon the strength of going oozaru -- doing all three was too much for me. I juggled all three and one was dropped eventually. 

But, these things were physical balls. They were aspects of a problem. If juggling all three was too much…

Then how about juggling two and a half?

I felt a red mist descend on my mind, a primal fury boiling in my chest as the rage of the oozaru infected every thought. The pain from my wounds was lost in a sea of agony. It felt like my blood was boiling in my veins, so hot that I could combust at any second. The only thing worse than the pain was the maddening rage. My face twisted into a snarl even as I cupped my hands to my side, a growl rumbling from deep inside me. 

“DIE!” I screamed, forming a Kamehameha and launching it at the piece of fucking shit alien that stabbed me. Our attacks clashed, mine looking more purple as I poured my rage into the attack, feeling the sudden awe-inspiring strength fill me until the point of overflowing. Lightning crackled where the attacks met, clashing against the fucked up building around, getting dust and other shit on my eyes. 

I managed to stop the attack dead in its tracks, but that wasn’t enough for me. I was getting my ass handed to me all this time, and now it was my turn to get my licks in. “FUCK! YOU!” I roared, blood sloshing in my mask but I was beyond giving a crap. I pushed the attack back, a crazed grin appeared on my face as I finally made some headway. “FUCK YOU!” I screamed again, pushing the scarab back even more. 

A wordless scream of rage, pain, and hate ripped from my throat as I put my all into the attack. The plasma was pushed back by another inch, then a foot, then ten and by that time I already got the ball rolling so it was too late to stop it. My attack washed over the scarab, carving a line through the clouds behind it. And yet, the piece of shit didn’t have the decency to die like that. My scouter still picked up its presence within my attack. 

“That’s good,” I said, cutting off my attack as I leapt up with enough force that the ground cracked underneath me. “You went and scrambled my guts, and I’m lookin’ to return the fucking favor!” I yelled, punching through the sound barrier, closing the distance between both of us in a split second. My attack hadn’t even faded by the time I was on top of it.

It definitely felt my attack this time -- parts of it glowed a cherry red, the bottom half of its arm was gone again. I managed to take off a leg too. Good. I hoped it hurt. 

I punched the vanguard in the face, metal cracking underneath the blow, something in my hand giving way but I didn’t care. All I cared about was that sweet, delicious feeling of fucking up its face. The scarab shot to the side -- before, I doubt I would have been able to follow it with my eyes, but now it seemed to be moving almost painfully slow. It tried to correct its path with its boosters, but that barely managed to slow it down before I was on top of it. 

I looked into its eyes, seeing shock behind the yellow-tinted lenses a moment before I flipped and axe-kicked the scarab in the chest. The thick armor warped underneath the blow, unable to absorb it, before the scarab shot down to the ground through a building like I had moments before. 

Unlike the scarab, I was a firm believer in double-tapping. I raised both hands above my head, my ki a dark purple as forced it into a ball. It wanted to show off by taking me out with a city? Well, two can play at that game. I couldn’t care less about the Frieza-forces still in the city, they should blame themselves for being stupid enough to stick around on my battleground. 

The ball of ki got bigger and bigger as I poured more and more power into it, ignoring Bardock shouting in my ear. Whatever it was, it could wait-

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a flash of green a split second before it hit the ball of ki above me. Before, when I was so very weak, I wouldn’t have been able to dodge, but now I managed it easily. The blast of green energy sailed harmlessly by -- my cruel smile twisting into a snarl of rage as I whipped around on the source. 

A woman that almost appeared to look like a saiyan if it weren’t for its reddish skin tone. Its hair was long, black and wavy, its lips full and bright red, its eyes just as black as its hair. All of that played second fiddle to the black and green skin-tight outfit that clung to it with white boots and gloves. At the center of its chest was a white circle with a symbol inside of it. A green circle with two bars on top and below it. 

The Green Lantern symbol. 

“Oh shit.”