Going Native: Eyes filled with Awe (ch.15) (Patreon)

To avoid any confusion for when you see the word elephant -- it’s a placeholder so I can easily find and replace it with another word. There’s going to be a poll later to determine the name of Tarble’s new attack, so vote for your favorite one!

…..

“Someone was tapping on the glass of my healing pod. The vibrations ran through me, almost enough to break me free of the deep sleep I found myself in. My eyes fluttered, letting catch a glimpse of green healing fluid, but not much else. I tried again, my eyelids feeling like they were made of lead before I gave up after a few seconds-

“Wake up!” Someone yelled, banging on the surface hard enough that the glass cracked and the entire pod shook. My eyes shot open, though I had to blink a few times to see that it was Vegeta hammering away at the tank, a small leak of healing fluid from the cracked glass. 

“Vegeta?” I questioned, swallowing a yawn as I shook off the vestiges of sleep. I stretched out my arms, hearing a few muffled pops before I cracked my neck. Since I spent so much time in a healing pod, I could roughly guess that I had been in here for some time. Longer than normal for me. 

“You’re up. Finally. You’ve been out of it for a month,” Vegeta scowled, doing the draining procedures so the healing fluid began to drain out the pod. An entire month? Not counting my time in the gestation tank, that was my longest stay in a healing pod. So far, at least. 

Then I recalled why I was in the healing pod in the first place. My hands went down to my broken armor, using a bit of ki to open it up to inspect my stomach. Just above my bellybutton was a thin long line where the scarab stabbed. Though, there didn’t seem to be any other scars from where he turned my insides into a pincushion. 

The action brought my attention to my hands. Over the years, due to constant abuse, my fingers became a little crooked from the constant breaks and fractures. Now they were all straightened out, so someone must have reset them while I was out. My attention was stolen when the pod cracked open, letting me get out to see that Vegeta was staring at me with an odd expression on his face. 

An odd mixture of pride and jealousy. Before I could ask what was wrong, he held out a necklace with a...oh. Yeah. The green lantern. I killed it, didn’t I?

Numbly, I took the necklace, feeling the deceptive weight to the small green ring. The necklace was made of beads of some metal that didn’t look like aluminum-

“It’s Nth metal,” he informed, getting a sharp look from me. Nth metal? The stuff the Thangarians used? “I got it from Father,” he said, smirking at my stunned look. “Don’t look so shocked. You’re the first saiyan to ever kill a green lantern. It would be an insult to your honor to give anything less.”

Numbly, I looked down at the necklace, a sense of awe filling me. Nth metal was incredibly valuable. I didn’t know all of its properties, but its what gave the Thangarian empire their strength. It allowed people to fly with enough of it, and stuff like that. So, it was probably little more than a decorative piece since I could already do that, but that didn’t change it was one of the most coveted metals in the galaxy.

Then the ring...one of the most powerful tools in the galaxy. I looked at the emblem emblazoned on the front, an emblem that inspired hope and fear to everyone in the galaxy. For the briefest of seconds, I considered putting it on. At my absolute strongest, I hadn’t been able to put so much as a scratch on its shields. I dismissed the idea in favor of putting the necklace on, displaying a fierce grin for Vegeta to see. 

“Does this mean…?” I asked after a moment, my heart going still in my chest. Vegeta’s smirk became a full-blown smile. He looked happier than I did as if the universe itself had proved him right and everyone else wrong. It took a moment for confirmation to sink in, and even as it did, it would be days before I really believed it. 

I was being welcomed into the royal family. The thing that I fought to achieve for so long, from battlefield to battlefield, from planet to planet, nearly dying more times than I could possibly count. The gallons of sweat and blood I spilled, the hundreds of bones I’ve broken -- I pushed myself to my absolute limit in every fight, clawing and biting for every single scrap of strength, and each time I came back a little stronger. 

All for this. To be able to call my father, Father. To call my mother, Mother. To call Vegeta my brother. To have a family. 

And it was being handed to me. 

“I…” I started, not having the words. I don’t know what I was trying to say. A hand reached up to my necklace, gripping it so tightly that I spared a worry that it might break. King Vegeta was welcoming me into the family because I killed a green lantern. I was the first to do it. That was the merit that made him acknowledge me. 

But I wasn’t the one that killed the green lantern. Not really. It was the Guardians. They turned the ring off, which made the bubble shield disappear. Before that, my attack wasn’t doing anything. I’m pretty sure they saved my life too because I saw it take aim at me, a second later and I would be the dead one instead of it- instead of Kaylar. 

“Not yet,” I decided more to myself than to Vegeta. I couldn’t accept my place now. Not based on a misunderstanding. I stared at Vegeta, his shocked expression turning grave as he met my gaze. “I’m not elite-class yet. I know it could take a few years, but I don’t want to earn my place by getting lucky once.”

Vegeta didn’t say anything, his expression serious, so I continued, half rambling to get my thoughts out. “I can’t accept being a part of the royal family how I am now. I-, if you still want me, I can accept it when I’m strong enough. But not before. I...I’m sorry.” I finished lamely, feeling that words weren’t enough. Joining the royal family was something that I desired since I found myself in this life, but...I couldn’t accept it. Not when it’s been handed to me. 

He let out a small breath, “I suppose you wouldn’t have gotten this far without growing a spine at some point.” Vegeta accepted my decision with a firm nod, sounding disappointed but not unhappy. A smirk played at the edge of his lips after a moment, “though, I suppose we won’t have to wait much longer. Here, take this.”

I caught the scouter he tossed my way, a sinking suspicion on what he was trying to show me. I attached the deep red scouter to the side of my head, switched it to self-scan and pressed the button. The power level reader went up. And up. And up and up. The milliseconds that it took to break through six thousand seemed to last an eternity. After four years, I was nearly used to a small jump in pl after a major fight or spar. 

But the scouter blew passed 6500. Then it hit 7000. My heart went still in my chest as the scouter kept going. It went passed 7500 in a split second. It hit 8000 but it still didn’t stop. It only took a second before it read 8450. It stayed there, blinking at me, marking myself as a priority threat. 

That was nearly a 2000 point jump. By far the biggest jump so far. 1550 points. That’s all it would take before I hit elite-class. 

“Oh,” I muttered, stunned by the jump in strength. I didn’t really feel that powerful compared to before. I was stronger than Bardock now. I was nearly as strong as Queen Teach, and she was the strongest mid-class. Actually, at this point, she was probably elite-class too. “Wow.”

Vegeta let out a short laugh at my reaction, sounding genuinely amused by my dumbfounded expression. “That does sum up most people’s reactions so far,” he commented, crossing his arms. “Most saiyans don’t see jumps in power like that until they hit their second growth spurt,” he informed, getting a slow nod from me. 

Saiyans grew in bursts. For the first twelve years, we looked like four years old. At twelve, we had our first growth spurt, growing to appear eight years old. Then, at sixteen, we grew into full-sized adults, and it was there that the biggest jump in power came from. An adult body could handle greater strain, its reach was longer, it was more powerful and so on. After that, at twenty, there was a final growth spurt that was much smaller, as if to finalize some changes. 

A saiyan with a power level of over a hundred was considered mid-class, so by the time he hit his second growth spurt, his power level would be over 5000. The exact jump in power varied from saiyan to saiyan but most experienced a jump between two or three thousand. And I hadn’t even experienced my first growth spurt yet. I wouldn’t for another f-...eight years since the time in the gestation tank didn’t count.

Vegeta let out a small breath, “but, if that’s your decision, then at the very least we won’t be waiting long. Now, come on little brother, you’ve been asleep for a while and the situation as changed.”

...You know, after four years of war, I was used to getting punched. I wasn’t used to getting punched in the feelings. 

Swallowing back emotion, I nodded, “what’s changed?” I asked as Vegeta dramatically turned around, his red cape fluttering out as he went to walk out the room. I fell in line behind him, only for him to glare at me over his shoulder as he slowed- oh. 

Swallowing back more emotion, I walked beside my brother before he answered. “For starters, the Reach blew up planet D’xe,” he informed causally as we stepped out of the medical bay. It took a split second to process that, and upon seeing my confusion, Vegeta explained as we walked. “They detonated some manner of an explosive device inside the planet’s core. It shook itself apart, killing our armies and theirs. We were one of the few to make it off.”

That was...kinda insane. They blew up a planet? “They wanted to deny us a staging ground to attack planet Sereall. And prevent Lord Frieza from reselling the planet,” I muttered to myself, my mind racing. Having spent years behind enemy lines, I learned the value of supplies. A fleet, especially one the size of on in the Frieza-force, needed near-constant maintenance, supplies, and fuel. Not to mention the food, water, and ammo for the armies they transported. 

Destroying planet D’xe meant that the staging ground for our invasion of planet Sereal had to be pushed back to planet...I don’t remember. The one with the pink sky. That stretched our supply lines rather far. Stretched supply lines had a nasty habit of snapping when tugged a little too far. For a small squad like the one I was on, it didn’t really mean much being cut off. For an army that numbered in the millions? That was very different. 

I caught Vegeta giving me an odd look, prompting me to shrug my shoulders, “I learned a lot about this stuff from Bardock…” I trailed off, it suddenly clicking what Vegeta said earlier. “Is my team…?”

Vegeta’s expression soured at the mention of Bardock, but he nodded all the same. “They’re all alive. Wait, no, there was that low-class pilot. He hasn’t come back yet, so he’s probably dead.” 

Leek was dead? That was...not that surprising, I guess. As the planets ramped up their defenses, his skills as a pilot meant less and less as we were forced to base jump to planets to avoid getting shot down. I guess he either got shot down, or he didn’t make it off the planet in time. I would have to get the story from Bardock later. 

“Anyway, we’ve been prepping our assault on planet Sereall here,” there was a hungry edge to his voice, his expression becoming a little more sinister. “There is going to be a great battle coming, little brother. Frieza has assigned ten fleets to the assault, and the armies number in the hundreds of millions.”

Fleets? I questioned as we walked by a window. I stopped where I was when I saw what was on the other side. The vacuum of space served as a black backdrop behind thousands of ships. Tens of thousands, maybe. Nearly all of them were the standard saucer-shaped spaceships of varying sizes, but there were more than a few other kinds mixed in. Some were shaped like bricks, others were elegant and soft curves, while one was a liberated beetle shaped flagship. 

Just looking at it, I could believe what he said. The standard fleet in the Frieza-force was somewhere around a thousand ships, give or take a few hundred. There were thousands hovering around a planet that my team had conquered. In those ships were armies, heavy weaponry, drones -- everything we could possibly want when assaulting a planet. And…

“How prepared is the Reach?” I can’t imagine that they were unprepared. If Lord Frieza is pulling this kind of firepower and numbers from the other fronts, then he must think it was necessary. He intended planet Sereall to be where the Frieza-force breaks through their defensive lines, to carve our way through their core worlds. 

Vegeta cackled, telling me all that I needed to know. Despite myself, I felt a grin tugging at the edges of my lips. 

“Our probes tell us that they’ve reinforced the planet heavily. They’ve recalled five of their fleets and stationed a number of their scarabs there.” Vegeta explained, excitement clear in his tone. 

“So, they want a deceive battle,” I theorized, tearing my gaze from the incredibly powerful force we had gathered. We started walking again, all the while I tried to picture the battle to come. The Reach would have defense platforms. In orbit and on the planet. A dozen vanguard scarabs would be enough to stall an army, but if they had hundreds...or thousands… “This could determine the outcome of the war.”

I can’t imagine the Reach would be so short-sided to put all their chips on us not taking Sereall, but if we did take it, and quickly, that would put them on the backfoot. Provided that the invasion never lost its momentum, we could end this war in about ten years or so. Maybe less. 

“Yes, that is what the admirals have been saying,” Vegeta confirmed with a nod of his head as we walked. A group of saiyans approached from the other end, right up until they saw us. They dropped to a knee, bowing their heads low as we passed. As soon as we walked by, I heard them whisper to each other. 

“That was the low-class prince,” one whispered to another, his voice tinged with awe. That nickname...was sticking around, was it?

“Did you see that necklace-” A bulkhead door cut off the response from the woman, her voice filled with wonder. 

I glanced behind me, caught off guard by the sheer reverence in their tone. It was like they were meeting a celebrity or...well… I guess since saiyans didn't care to create any form of entertainment besides fighting, I was the closest thing to a celebrity my race had. That was...weird. 

"Don't waste your time with them," Vegeta chided. "If you stop and stare at everyone that gives you the respect and fear you're due, you'll never do anything at all." 

"Right," I agreed, moving on from the subject even as I saw a six-armed furry alien come to a stop before stepping out of our way, his feline head bowing out of respect when he looked at me. "When do we attack?" I asked, returning the nod and tried not to think about how weird it was to have this kind of respect aimed my way. 

"Soon. We depart when Frieza shows up," Vegeta answered, getting another sharp look from me. 

"Lord Frieza? Is he participating in the attack?" I asked, surprised by the news. So far, he played a relatively minor role in the way. More often than not, he was filling in the role that the Frieza-force did -- taking planets to be sold to customers, though instead of purging the natives, he enslaved them. Those natives, rather than being sold on the galactic market, were turned into soldiers.

"Perhaps. Some think so, but I doubt it. He's probably here to watch," Vegeta dismissed with more than a little venom in his tone. Though, that was in line with what I've heard about Lord Frieza. 

"Well, if he does participate, then we can't lose," I figured with a small shake of my head. Lord Frieza was so powerful that his power level was unknown. Despite advancements in scouter tech, none could measure the sheer breadth of Lord Frieza's might. All we knew was that his power level was at least 10 million. 10 million. At least. He was more than a thousand times stronger than me. At least. 

Vegeta huffed but didn't argue the point. None could deny that Lord Frieza was one hell of an equalizer. 

"Well, it looks like the little Super Saiyan is up from his nap," I heard Fasha announce her presence before Vegeta could respond. I looked over at her as she crossed a hallway, Shugesh behind her with a broad smile on his face. She reached out to rub the top of my head, and, now, I realized that I was stronger. It wasn’t so much that she seemed to be moving slow, but it felt like I had all the time in the galaxy to dodge the action.

I didn’t, though. She rubbed the top of my head hard enough that I’m pretty sure I was missing a few hairs by the time she was done. “And look at that, you have a trophy and everything-”

“We were speaking,” Vegeta cut her off, looking down at Fasha even though she had about two feet on him. Fasha glanced over at Vegeta, her friendly smile still there but her gaze was sharp as a knife. I glanced between them, it was impossible to not notice the tension between them. Well...given that last time I was conscious, Vegeta was trying to execute Bardock, and apparently, he was still alive, so I’m guessing something went down while I was in the pod. 

“My apologies, my prince,” Fasha said, her tone so polite that it was clear that she was being sarcastic. Vegeta glowered at her, her mocking not going unnoticed. I didn’t say anything at all, more shocked than anything. What happened while I was out? Fasha mocking Vegeta, to his face no less, was the very last thing I expected her to do. And she wouldn’t do it unless she felt like she could get away with it. 

“But,” she continued, turning her attention back to me, “I thought that since you’re up, you’d like to come with me to the mess hall. The rest of the team is there,” she explained, then glancing back at Vegeta, “yours too.”

I nodded, wanting to get Bardock’s take on all of this. Then I realized who was with me. Just because Bardock was alive, that didn’t mean that Vegeta didn’t want to kill him.

“I’ll come,” Vegeta announced, striding forward, forcing Shugesh to step out of the way or Vegeta would have gone through him. I started to follow a split second later, Fasha resting a hand on the top of my head as we walked together. She sent me a smirk as she patted my head, reaching down with her other hand to inspect my trophy. 

“So, this is a Lantern ring,” Fasha muttered, nearly strangling me to bring it closer to inspect. “Never thought I’d see one up close and personal.”

“That’s the most powerful weapon in the galaxy?” Shugesh commented, sounding disappointed. “Wheres the battery?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, letting them inspect the ring. “But it’s stronger than it looks. Kaylar nearly killed me with it,” I explained, looking up at the ring for a moment. I was kinda out of it when she aimed it at my face, but even still, I could recall her speech with perfect clarity. 

“She managed to overpower the no-kill setting on the ring that the Guardians set. It started to glitch out and say stuff like ‘extreme willpower detected’ and if she hadn’t died, then she was going to kill every member of the Frieza-force and the Reach on her home planet,” I explained, smiling lightly at the memory. I’m pretty sure I said a lot of things when I was fighting, but her retort had been flawless. 

“Sounds like someone has a crush,” Fasha teased while Shugesh snickered at my expense. I shot both of them a look while I pulled my necklace out of Fasha’s grasp-

“Of course he doesn’t! As if any saiyan would want to mate with an alien!” Vegeta snapped, glaring at all three of us as he whipped around, spinning on his heel. 

“I don’t,” I said, wanting to cut off a retort that I knew was on Fasha’s lips. “She…” She was going to kill me. And my team. And everyone else. She wasn’t just going to clear the planet, but she was going to take the fight to the Frieza-force and the Reach at the same time. She was going to take on the entire galaxy. If I had to put my thoughts on her in words, then… “Kaylar was a worthy enemy.”

“High praise coming from the Super Saiyan,” Fasha continued to tease, ignoring Vegeta’s outburst, who just huffed in annoyance while nodding. 

“I’m not the Super Saiyan,” I protested with a shake of my head. The Super Saiyan was a myth...oh. 

Well...I guess that explains why my partial transformation didn’t work like I thought it would. I was missing a pretty big step. I had to be a Super Saiyan first. 

“Enough dawdling,” Vegeta snapped, walking faster towards the cafeteria. At that, we all rushed to obey, turning a corner. Vegeta walked next to me the entire way, edging out Fasha. I don’t know what happened, but they really didn’t like each other. 

After that, it didn’t take long to reach the cafeteria. As soon as we entered the sizable room made to serve thousands of soldiers at once, it seemed to fall silent. Borgos stood up, bringing our attention to the table that Bardock had claimed before we started walking towards him. It felt like every single set of eyes was on me, that every whisper was about me. I didn’t need my enhanced hearing to know they were talking about the ring around my neck and how I got it. 

“You’re up. Finally,” Bardock said to me, but his gaze never left Vegeta. His arms were crossed, leaning back in his chair while a mountain of used plates and bowls flanked him. I glanced between them, feeling...uncertain but unsurprised. 

My team and my brother didn’t like each other. And I didn’t like that. 

Bardock stared at me for a moment as Tora went to pack me on the back hard enough that he probably would have broken my spine a couple of years ago. Borgos shoved a plate of food in my direction, munching on his own meal. Bardock’s eyes dipped to the ring hanging around my neck before his nostrils flared, not out of annoyance. 

“Elephant,” he said, earning a blink from me. 

“What?” I asked, not sure what he was talking about. 

“That attack you used on the Green Lantern. Call it elephant,” he said, smirking at my surprised expression. I mulled over the name, thinking that it fit it pretty well. I nodded, accepting the name to my new technique. It was better than anything I could come up with on my own. 

“What happened to Leek?” I asked as a saiyan around Vegeta’s age walked up to him. His hair was crazily long, dipping down past his waist in thick spikey locks of hair. Bardock glanced at the two as they talked before he answered. “We don’t know. Are coms got cut on...the last planet we were on, and we never heard from him before the planet collapsed on itself. It’s been a month with nothing, so he’s probably dead.”

Oh. Well…”I hope he went out like a warrior, at least,” I muttered, grabbing some of the food stacked up on the plate and munching on it thoughtfully. I wasn’t exactly close to Leek. He was never on the ground, in the thick of it like the rest of us, but he was more than just a ride to and from missions. 

“Hm,” Bardock agreed before he turned his attention to the saiyan with the really long hair. “Raditz, let’s go. Gine was wanting to talk to us. As a family,” Bardock said suddenly standing, getting Raditz, his son apparently, to turn around. Judging by the expression on his face, Raditz was caught just as much off guard by the sudden announcement as I was. 

Raditz glanced at Vegeta, who barely noticed as he glared at Bardock, “er, sure?” He said, glancing at Vegeta, probably to make sure he didn’t make his disagreement known with a ki attack. When he said nothing, Raditz started to walk away with Bardock, only for him to pause, glancing at me over his shoulder. 

“And don’t you go twiddling your thumbs until we attack Sereall. Find something productive to do-” Bardock started but he was quick to cut himself off when Vegeta prepped a ki attack in his hands, his face twisted into a snarl. 

“Know your place Bardock, or do I have to remind you over it?” He spat, the raw hate in his tone catching me off guard. “My brother is stronger than you now. You don’t have the right to give him orders,” he snarled, so furious that I half expected him to let loose his attack and kill everyone here. 

Bardock frowned, but cocked his head to the side, “oh? I’m still his team leader, aren’t I? And he’s not a member of the royal family yet.” He commented and, it was really weird what my brain decided to latch onto during that exchange. Yet. I wasn’t a member of the royal family yet. Bardock fully believed that I was going to become an elite-class. That was oddly reassuring, in a way. 

But the rest of his retort implied he knew I wouldn’t accept Vegeta’s offer to be raised into the family. 

“You-” Vegeta cursed, the light glowing brightly as he prepared to fire his attack off. I saw Tora go tense, ready to either attack or dodge, while I knew the others were doing the same behind me. The thousand or so others, the ones nearby looked nervous, while the ones further away seemed confused about what was happening. 

If Vegeta would have fired his shot, we would never know because of every single scouter in the room, in the entire army, beeping to display a message. 

Lord Frieza’s ship has entered the system. 

Instantly, the light from Vegeta’s ki attack died. The palpable tension between them vanished, replaced by a very different kind of tension. Lord Frieza was here. That fact seemed to give the air itself weight that barred down on all of us. On the faces of aliens, I saw cold sweats appear on foreheads, a few shuffling in their seats. The mere fact that he was in the same system as us was enough to plunge a cafeteria filled to the absolute brim with soldiers from countless different species into total silence. 

Then my scouter beeped with another message. A message that also appeared on Bardocks and Vegeta’s scouters. 

Report to Lord Frieza’s ship. 

“Oh, shit,” I muttered, summing up the situation rather nicely. I had been summoned to Lord Frieza’s ship. How did he know I was using this scouter? I just got it! And, more importantly, why would he possibly be summoning us? Could it be about the Green Lanterns? Oh...oh no…

Just because my species thought that the more powerful opponents the better, that didn’t mean that opinion was shared with the rest of the Frieza-force. Actually, most would consider fighting several extremely powerful opponents at once a bad thing. Was Frieza one of those aliens? Had...oh no…

“Did the Green Lanterns declare war on us?” I asked, turning to Bardock and Vegeta, who looked just as lost as me. Had me killing Kaylar provoked the Green Lanter Corps?! Even with Lord Frieza, fighting the Reach and Green Lanterns at the same time could only end one way. Bardock cocked an eyebrow at the question before he shook his head, putting my fears to rest. 

“No. The story they’re going with was that it acted on its own,” he dismissed as he started making his way to the door. If people were staring at me before, then they certainly were now. Fasha patted me on the back as we walked by, her expression grave. The others looked the same, though Tora gave a reassuring nod to me and Bardock. 

So, they were telling the truth. The only problem was, it sounded like a lie. Maybe that was what Lord Frieza wanted to speak to us about?

“Tarble,” Vegeta said as we neared the door, eyeing my ruined armor. “You can’t greet Frieza dressed like that.” He pointed out, and he wasn’t wrong. Saiyans weren’t ones for appearances, but when you’re meeting someone like Lord Frieza…

“But we don’t have any-”

“You there, slave,” Vegeta snapped at one of the onlookers as we made to leave the cafeteria. A ferret looking alien snapped to attention, clearly confused at who Vegeta was addressing, but then it realized he was talking to it. 

“Slave-? But I’m not-” It started to protest, but Vegeta kept going. 

“Fetch my brother new armor and an undersuit. Now,” Vegeta growled, the or else going unsaid as we walked out the room. “We will be at the docking port. Don’t make us wait.” He ordered as we strode through the door, the alien looked stunned but an expression of resigned acceptance appeared. 

“Y-yes...master…?” It muttered before the bulkhead doors slid shut behind us. As soon as it did, I blew out a small breath, glancing at Vegeta and Bardock. Both looked completely calm, pointedly not looking at each other, but I knew their minds were racing just as fast as mine was. 

“So, there haven’t been any signs that the Green Lanterns are jumping in?” I asked, breaking the heavy silence. Both of them glanced at me, while Vegeta shook his head, Bardock spoke. 

“None. But, I’ve heard they’re raising a ruckus over Frieza ramping up his slaver tendencies, and he’s stepping on the toes of a lot of neighbors,” Bardock said with a small shrug. “Nothing certain though. The biggest thing holding them back from declaring on us would be that they would be allies by proxy with the Reach. A lot of bad blood there, and the Guardian’s have long memories.”

Vegeta scoffed, “cowards. They should simply attack the Reach as well.”

I nodded, thinking that would be best for the war effort. A three-way fight sounded a lot better than a two vs one scenario. 

“That’s a can of worms that they don’t want to open,” I guessed, frowning as we neared an airlock. “Because if we hate the Green Lanterns more than we hate each other…” Then the Green Lanterns would certainly lose. There was a good possibility of it too since the Reach and Trade Organization were business partners for centuries and four years of war didn’t erase that history. 

“What is a worm?” Vegeta asked, giving me a hungry look. Ah, we left the cafeteria before we could eat. 

“It’s a small bug about the size of my finger. Slimy and they live in the dirt,” I answered distractedly, coming to a stop at the airlock. A moment later, I heard the sound of footsteps and labored breathing. Glancing over, I saw the alien from before rushing towards us, armor and clothing in his hands. 

“You’re late,” Vegeta commented, making the alien flinch as it hunched over, panting. 

“Y-” It started to snap at my brother but thought better of it. “I am sorry,” it spoke, swallowing a sharp retort. Vegeta smirked before he turned his attention back to me as Bardock continued into the airlock. “Get dressed, we’ll wait for you on the other side.” With that, it was just me and the alien. 

“Thanks…” I said, taking the clothing and armor from it. This was really awkward, wasn’t it? “Just avoid Vegeta for a couple of days, and he’ll forget about it, okay?” I offered weakly, shrugging off my broken armor, cracked wristbands and shinguards. 

“Will that work?” It asked, sounding hopeful, looking away as I got dressed. My undersuit was a solid black full-length one now, fully covering my arms and legs. My armor was the same model as before, so feeding my tail through it was just as uncomfortable as it always was. After everything was replaced, I tested my limits as I gave it a nod. 

Truth be told, I had no idea. “Probably,” I said instead. “Just avoid him, and maybe ditch your scouter. I don’t think he has your name or anything, so you should be in the clear.”

“Thank you tiny saiyan!” It said, its tail wagging happily behind it. “Don’t let Frieza kill you, tiny saiyan!” The wold alien panted, turning around to leave me to my potential fate. Not wanting to keep the others waiting, much, much, much less Lord Frieza, I quickly stepped into the airlock, slapped on a mask and air tank, and started the decompression process. With a few moments, I was floating in space, spotting Barock and Vegeta waiting for me. 

“Let’s go,” Bardock said, flying upward to Lord Frieza’s ship. Even in the sea of ships that hung in high orbit of the planet, it was impossible to mistake Lord Frieza’s ship. It wasn’t the largest, the most imposing, the most elegant or anything. A simple saucer-shaped ship, a design so similar to the standard ship, only the colors were off. Instead of yellow floaters and windows, they were a deep purple. 

My heart started to pound in my chest with every inch we flew closer to Lord Frieza’s ship. If space wasn’t so cold, I probably would have started sweating. His ship was at the center, surrounded by much larger ships, one of which seemed impossibly huge, bigger than a city on D’xe, but I couldn’t look away from Lord Frieza’s ship.

It didn’t take anywhere near long enough to reach it, but at the same time, the short minute-long flight seemed to last for three eternities. Eventually, we reached the airlock that cracked open as we approached. Flying inside, I looked at the sealed bulkhead doors as the room pressurized around us. I think it said a lot when none of us removed our masks until the door before us opened. 

Inside was a small yellow alien with a head shaped like a sideways oval, almost as wide as its small shoulders. A pair of antenna rested between its far apart eyes, its wide mouth was stretched into a pleasant smile. It hovered in the air, but it was easy to tell that we were probably the same height. 

“Greetings, saiyans,” it said, its hands resting behind its back. It wore Frieza-force armor, though a different model than mine. It was a deep green on the shoulder pads, and a small section covered its stomach. It wore some sort of skirt that didn’t stretch far enough to cover its green boots. “Lord Frieza has been expecting you.”

With a lingering glance on me, or rather my necklace, the alien turned around and started floating down a hall. We followed in silence, the tension nearly unbearable. Each step brought us closer to Lord Frieza, the silence as we walked was deafening. At the end of the hallway, I saw a simple, but large door. I didn’t know how I knew, but I could feel Lord Frieza on the other side of that door. Every single hair stood on end like I was being zapped with electricity. 

As we approached, the door slid open. The first thing we saw was an alien kneeling on the floor, the sounds of heavy sobs reaching my ears. The alien nearly looked like a saiyan woman, only its skin was a deep blue marked with weird-looking symbols up its exposed arms, reaching its face all the way up to its solid black eyes. 

“I don’t know why you’re crying, girl,” a cold voice casually remarked, sounding more amused than annoyed. “I’ve kept every promise that I’ve made so far, have I not?”

The alien tried to control its sobs, wiping tears away as it’s bottom lip trembled. It gave a shaky nod, daring to look up as we entered the room. My gaze drifted to where it was looking, seeing the back of a floating chair, the tip of a stark while tail dangling out of it. It was obvious who sat inside it, elevated above everyone else in the control room. 

“B-but-” It tried to argue, swiftly looking down at the floor as it knelt with both knees on the ground. 

“What did I promise when I arrived at your barren planet?” The voice of one of the most powerful living beings in the galaxy interjected. 

A sob wracked the alien’s body before it managed to answer. “You promised that you would destroy our cities if we did not give our magic users to you,” it answered. It was obvious where this was going. 

“And did I keep that promise when you refused?” The voice questioned, knowing the answer. 

“Y-you did,” the alien sobbed. 

“What did I promise you would happen if you tried to escape?” The voice questioned casually, uncaring as the alien broke down in another wave of tears. This time, it took it much longer to answer the question. 

“You p-promised that y-you’d kill half of us at random,” the alien answered. Judging by the tormented sob that ripped from its throat, I’m guessing something that it cared for didn’t survive the decimation. 

“And I did exactly that. Such a shame about your mother, I was actually hoping that she would be one of the lucky ones,” the voice commented, its- his tail flicking back and forth lazily. “My point is that I’ve kept every single promise I’ve made to you so far, haven’t I?” 

The alien swallowed a sharp retort before it nodded slowly, “you have...Lord Frieza.”

“Is it asking for too much for you to believe me when I promise you that you’ll be reunited with that adorable little sister of yours once your role is done?” Lord Frieza asked, almost sounding wounded by the lack of trust. 

The alien visibly steeled itself before answering. “It is not, Lord Frieza. P-please forgive me for my doubts,” the alien said, bowing so low its head nearly touched the ground. 

Lord Frieza didn’t answer in favor of spinning his chair around to face the three of us. His throne blocked the view of his lower half, all except his tail hanging out of the edge. His skin was a stark white, except for black lines that traced his eyes before stretching down over his sharp cheekbones and all the way down it his jaw. His jawline was strong, his chin jutting out stubbornly so it almost looked like it point. 

Instead of hair, the top of his head was a glossy purple orb, then same was true for his shoulders with a thinner bar of it that covered the top of his forearm. He was fairly muscular, similar to my and Bardock’s builds over ridiculously muscled like some saiyans were. 

He...was smaller than I imagined him. I could tell even though he was sitting in a chair that hovered above us. 

“One of the first lessons daddy taught me about power was to always keep your promises,” Lord Frieza said, his smile just a little too sharp, his eyes dark red eyes practically glowing as he looked down at us. “No matter how small, ridiculous, or difficult -- you always have to do exactly as you say. Otherwise, no one will ever take you seriously.”

Now that he was looking at us, I...the only thing I could compare it to was a memory I recalled from before the tank. I was in an ocean, some kind of boat next to me. There was no land for as far as the eye could see all around me, in every direction. Then, for no reason, it occurred to me that I had absolutely no idea what was beneath me. That the ocean was miles deep, so dark that the sun’s light couldn’t penetrate the darkness and I had no idea what was down there. 

Meeting Lord Frieza’s gaze was a lot like that moment. 

“Thank you for the lesson, Lord Frieza,” I heard myself say, dropping into a bow. I lowered my head, thumping my fist against my heart. 

Lord Frieza let out a small laugh, “hohoho! How very polite of you,” he commented and...that laugh...really didn’t fit him at all. “A funny thing about you saiyans -- I believe you’re the first who can call me by my proper title without grimacing Tarble.”

I looked up sharply. Somehow it shocked me that he knew my name. He called me up here, but, if I had to put it into words, I figured I would be beneath his notice even if I was standing right in front of him. 

Then he turned his attention to Bardock, “hello again Bardock. You haven’t disappointed at all since the last time we met. Your team has been employees of the year for...ten years now?” Lord Frieza asked with a small chuckle, "and Ginyu was so sure he was going to beat you this year."

Bardock bowed his head similar to how I did a moment before, "you honor me, Lord Frieza."

"Not at all," Frieza dismissed with a wave of his hand. "I simply recognize good work when I see it. Hm...I suppose you are entitled to a reward." Lord Frieza said, his smile a little too sharp to be called friendly. "What would you like Bardock? Another planet? You did use your last reward on a weak planet for your son to purge… Perhaps something for you rather than your family?" 

Oh, yeah. I forgot that Bardock had a second son that went on an infiltration mission. When no one said anything about it after a couple of years, I just assumed that he died. 

"The only thing I can ask for is more challenging missions, Lord Frieza," Bardock said. It was only because I was so much smaller than him that I saw the grin tugging at the edge of his lips. If I had to describe his expression in a word, it would be satisfied. The same look that he wore when s plan came together and we were victorious. 

"Hohoho!" Lord Frieza let out a laugh that came from his stomach, despite how it sounded I think it was a genuine laugh. "And this is why you're my favorite monkey Bardock! I try to give you a reward for your hard work and you ask for more work." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vegeta go very still at that. So still it was like his heart went still in his chest. 

"But, if it's work that you seek…" Lord Frieza smiled at us, "then perhaps a promotion is in order? Ginyu, please come in." 

My stomach started to do flips in my stomach. I wasn't just meeting Lord Frieza, but Captain Ginyu as well?! 

No sooner than the words left Lord Frieza's mouth, Captain Ginyu appeared. The doors slid open behind us, I looked over just in time to catch a glimpse of a blur rush through the crack. It flipped over us fast enough I felt displaced air rustled my hair, and when I looked back, Captain Ginyu settled into his signature pose -- his arms fanned out, the tips of his fingers pointed to the ground while he was crouched down. The only difference was, it wasn't a purple-skinned alien with black horns. 

Instead, it was a large alien with stark white skin, except for large black marks that surrounded it's glowing red eyes that fanned out into matching points at its temple. Its hair was long, brushing its shoulders in a wild mane. It was clean-shaven, revealing a confident grin -- it almost looked out of place on the fierce-looking body immaculately dressed in a Frieza-force armor. It made the thick spikes emerging from one vambrace, which kept a long chain with a hook on it in place, stand out that much more. 

"How can I be of service, Lord Frieza?" Captain Ginyu said, turning to Lord Frieza. 

“I wanted your opinion on something,” Lord Frieza said, his tail lazily flicking back and forth. “How do you think Bardock would fit in the Ginyu squad?” 

Bardock’s head snapped to Lord Frieza and I heard Vegeta suck in a sharp breath next to me. I just blinked in surprise as Captain Ginyu gave Bardock a once over, pinching his chiseled chin between his thick fingers as he hummed in thought. Bardock was going to join the Ginyu force? Wait, but what about our squad? What-

“Hm, the saiyans will make up a significant portion of our forces over the next few years, so it would be nice to have a saiyan for diversity reasons...and I know Bardock does good work despite his power level…” Ginyu said, his mannerisms and his body clashing rather terribly. I couldn’t help but wonder who that body once belonged to before Captain Ginyu stole it. Then he nodded, apparently satisfied. “I think Bardock would make an absolutely wonderful addition to the Ginyu squad!” 

I looked up at Bardock to see a smirk that all but consumed his face, his gaze not looking at Ginyu but something far off in the distance. “I’ll happily join if you accept me, Captain Ginyu,” he said, doing another small bow and I head...grinding teeth? I glanced over to see a deadly glare pinned on Bardock. I guess it was because now he couldn’t kill him without any consequences anymore.

I still didn’t understand the chain of command, but everyone knew that the Ginyu squad was only second to Lord Frieza himself. I also didn't know where Vegeta, or myself for that matter, stood on that chain but I'm guessing by the sound of grinding teeth that he wasn't high enough to kill Bardock. That was.. great, actually. 

I'd much rather Bardock be on another team than risk Vegeta killing him at a moment's notice. .

“One thing first!” Captain Ginyu blurted suddenly, getting a look from all of us, Lord Frieza included. “I must see you pose! Posing is quite possibly the most important aspect of being a member of the Ginyu-force! The entire Frieza-force- no, the entire galaxy knows us for our signature poses. I’m afraid that if you can’t do that much, then I cannot allow you to join.” 

I…what?

While I was trying to wrap my head around that, Lord Frieza chuckled lightly as Bardock nodded. He glanced at me for a split second before he nodded at Captain Ginyu. “Fine. What do you want me to do?” He asked, stepping forward. 

Captain Ginyu seemed to think for a moment before he nodded to himself, “stand behind me and go like this.” He said, T-posing with one leg raised to his waist, his expression deadly serious so I swallowed the laugh that tried to escape me. Vegeta did the same from the sounds of it with a little less success while Lord Frieza watched on, his expression betraying his amusement. 

Bardock cocked his head for a moment, his hesitation getting a narrowed eyed glare from Captain Ginyu before he explained. “I don’t mind, but with the rest of the squad, wouldn’t I be in the center?” He asked, earning a blink from Captain Ginyu followed by a nod. 

“You would. Otherwise, Reccome would block sight of you,” Captain Ginyu confirmed. 

“Then, if I’m in the center people would notice me first, and with your new body they could get the wrong idea that I’m the leader of the squad.” Bardock elaborated, sounding as serious as he did when he was laying out a plan to take out an entrenched garrison sitting on antimatter grenades. 

Captain looked so shocked you’d think Bardock punched him in the gut, “you’re right! I didn’t think about that at all. I was in my old body for so long, I completely forgot that people wouldn’t instantly recognize me. In that case-”

“We,” Lord Frieza calmly interrupted, though not sharply. “Seem to have gotten sidetracked. Do you accept Bardock as a member of the Ginyu-force?” 

Captain Ginyu gave a firm nod, “I do. We’ll have to finalize some things and introduce him to the rest of the squad, but I know they’ll welcome you with open arms Bardock! And maybe now we can finally start getting employee of the year now!” He said with a good-natured laugh, smacking Bardock on the shoulder hard enough I’m pretty sure he broke Bardock’s arm. Oh, no, he just knocked it out of the socket.

“Excellent, then I suppose that leaves the matter of leadership with your old squad,” Lord Frieza pointed out, his gaze drifting to me. “I believe Tarble would be a suitable candidate.”

“What?” I blurted before I could stop myself, looking from Lord Frieza to Bardock. Bardock glanced at Lord Frieza first, then at me, his eyes narrowed into a glare. I take it that I wasn’t his first pick to fill in his shoes. Which was fair, because I wasn’t my first pick to fill his shoes. Tora was clearly the best choice since he was, you know, the vice-captain. 

“Ah, modesty,” Lord Frieza commented, looking like a cat right before he swallowed the canary whole. “I trait I admire in others, but never found much use for myself.” Well...at least he was self-aware? Then he tilted his head slightly like he couldn’t quite understand something. I just stared back, caught completely flat-footed by Lord Frieza himself. 

Why would anyone think I should be leading a team of mid-class saiyans?

“He’s been in a healing pod for the past month, Lord Frieza. I don’t think he knows, yet,” Bardock explained, earning a puzzled look from me. Then I glanced at Vegeta, who hadn’t said a word so far, only to see a scowl so entrenched on his face I was half certain he was stuck looking like that. 

“Know what?” I asked, making Lord Frieza nod to himself. Then his throne began to drift down from the platform he was on, my heart trying to lurch out of my mouth when I realized he was coming towards me. 

“Ah, I see. You see Tarble, you’ve become rather famous while you were asleep,” Lord Frieza explained, a jewel lighting up in his throne to reveal a hologram of...me? Yeah, it was me. It was a little hard to tell with all the blood and dust over me. The hologram showed me prepping an attack, the elephant, before it slammed into Kaylar’s shield then killing her. 

“That video has been making the rounds across the galaxy. Everyone loves watching Green Lanterns die, after all,” Lord Frieza said with a small chuckle. “You already had considerable fame before that -- the low-class prince! So determined that he got himself beaten to death every day for months, destroyer of Rockoroad at three months old, and his battle power grows by leaps and bounds! From low-class to elite-class! Some have even started calling you the Legendary Super Saiyan.”

“I…” I was famous? I mean, some saiyans knew me, but I figured they were mocking me. But… “I’m not the Legendary Super Saiyan,” I denied with a shake of my head. I could picture what a Super Saiyan looked like -- a golden aura, turquoise eyes and the strength to shake a planet apart with its presence. That wasn’t me. Not even close. 

“I see,” Lord Frieza said, sounding pleased. “Though, the point still stands. Now the galaxy knows you’ve killed a Green Lantern. You, Tarble, have become a very important mascot for my company. When people think of Saiyans, they aren’t going to think of Bardock or your king. They’re going to remember the boy saiyan that struck down a Green Lantern. They’re going to think of you, Tarble.” 

Lord Frieza chuckled again, “and I wish to use that influence. I’ve lifted the population cap on your race. From three thousand to three million now that this generation is out of your gestation tanks. In another three years, that number could be three billion. Or more. The saiyan race will one day make up a considerable portion of my army, and I want you to be their face.”

I swallowed thickly, trying to wrap my head around what he was saying. Me? The face of the saiyan race? That was...flat out insane. But...he…wanted me to be like Bardock. Despite only having a power level below 5000, Bardock was the employee of the year for years. When people thought of Saiyans, they thought of him. Lord Frieza wanted me to fill in his shoes in every single way. 

He wanted me to become employee of the year. He wanted me to become a leader that could win against impossible odds every single time. He wanted me to be Bardock. 

“I...I won’t let you down, Lord Frieza!” I stated, snapping off a salute as I felt an incredibly heavy weight settle on my shoulders. The burden of leadership. I stole a glance at Bardock to see he wore a neutral expression, but when he caught my look he gave me a small nod. I couldn’t believe I had his approval for leadership, especially when Tora was his best friend, but I think he was glad I was taking this seriously. 

And I was taking this seriously. If what Vegeta told me was true, then this war was really starting to ramp up. The battle for Sereall was going to be a bloodbath, and I was going to be leading B- my team into that meat grinder. Just like Bardock, I was going to have to make sure that we all came out of it alive.

“Polite, modest and earnest. If you keep it up Tarble, you might change my opinion on you monkeys,” Lord Frieza said, his throne drifting back over to the alien that still rested on the floor. I managed to stifle a twitch at the racial slur, but Vegeta let out a huff that was nearly lost to the sound of him grinding his teeth. “Get up girl. With that business out of the way, I believe it’s time for you to do your part.”

As the alien scrambled to its feet, Lord Frieza turned to us. “Join me on the observation deck. We’re about to depart,” he informed, flying over to the platform he resided on before. Captain Ginyu walked towards him, stepping up the platforms. Bardock followed a second later, with me following Bardock. He slowed just enough to place a hand on my shoulder to give it a firm squeeze, his expression deadly serious. 

I nodded at him, confirming that I was going to take care of the squad. No matter what, I wouldn’t let any of them die. 

Once we were all on the platform, the alien girl included, we began to rise under the effect of some kind of gravity well. The observation deck proved to be an energy shield similar to the ones back on planet D’xe. Looking around, I saw...oh. That was a lot of ships. 

Before, I only caught a small glimpse of how many ships we had in this grand fleet. There just weren’t thousands, but tens of thousands. They seemed to stretch on for as far as the eye could see, the smaller ones hanging in lower orbit while the capital ships hung above. I didn’t know much about ships, but I could recognize some classes -- capital ships, transports, cruisers and dreadnaughts. If we had even a fifth, no a tenth of this kind of firepower on D’xe, we would have taken it in a day. Or less. 

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Lord Frieza asked, catching my naked amazement. “I’ve had our ship docks working tirelessly for years now. We have an additional twenty fleets, and this will be some of their maiden voyage.” I could believe that, easily. 

“Some?” I asked, sweeping my gaze over an incredibly large spaceship. It was shaped like an arrowhead that must be a mile long at least. 

“Three additional fleets, while the rest are being sent to reinforce the other fronts. Oh, and I did give one to my older brother as a gift,” Lord Frieza said, laughing at a joke that only he knew. I didn’t try to understand as I struggled to wrap my head around that. We had...thirteen fleets here? How big was this army? It had to number in the ten of millions at this point. Maybe a hundred million. 

“Wow,” I said, more or less summing up my thoughts. That weight that settled on my shoulders seemed to get that much heavier. This battle...wasn’t going to be anything that I had ever experienced before. The sheer scale of it was absolutely unreal. I was seeing it with my own two eyes but I barely believed it. 

“Now, girl, I believe it’s time,” Lord Frieza said, bringing our attention to the alien. It looked over us, its eyes lingering on me before it nodded. It turned towards the empty space before us, spreading its hands out wide as it began to chant in a language I didn’t know. Wisps of green smoke began to emerge from its hands as its chanting grew louder. The louder it chanted, the more wisps of green smoke emerged until it was glowing with it. Then it was shining with a bright green glow. 

Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see other glowing lights coming from other ships. I would have looked, but there was something happening in the distance. A green flame floating despite all logic, flickering there for a moment then it began to expand. Only it didn’t get bigger. Like taking a match to the center of a piece of paper, the flame spread outwards rapidly. For a moment, I was confused about what exactly was happening. 

Then, once the flame spread far enough, I saw a planet. A planet that made of metal -- any trace of green or oceans were stripped away in the name of progress. Even so far away, I could see the systematic lines of districts, the planet several shades of chrome. However, the planet Sereall didn’t hold my attention for long. 

Hovering in orbit around it wasn’t one defense platform. There weren’t two either. There wasn’t even ten. There were twenty of them arranged in circles in defensive positions. Supporting it was the Reach’s grand fleet. It wasn’t as numerous as our own, but that didn’t make it any less impressive. 

There were thousands of ships arranged in defensive positions. The larger ones served front and center, dominating the formation while hundreds of smaller ships surrounded them to serve as support. At the very center of the formation was the biggest flagship I’ve seen in the past four years of war. The arrowhead-shaped ship had nothing on it. It was the shape of a scarab, but it was big enough that you could fit two of them inside. 

It seemed that it wasn’t a one-way view, because they began to shuffle ever so slightly. A golden light around Sereall began to form -- a shield. They had a shield that covered the entire planet. They had to be pretty confident that it would hold if they went out of their way to make sure that a sizable planet was completely covered. Not just covered, but even from so far away I could see that the shield was layered. 

And we thought the mountain was going to be a tough nut to crack. 

The green flame continued to spread outwards, the alien girl visibly struggling with exertion. Lord Frieza spared it a look before he spoke a single word. 

“Advance.”

Every single ship moved in unison, like a wall of artillery. The only thing I could hear as we moved through the portal was my heartbeat thundering in my ears. The flames stretched over miles, letting the entire grand fleet fly through at once. We continued to sail forward, the only sound in the observation deck was the aliens labored breathing, struggling to maintain the spell. 

As we drew near, I saw things floating between us and the Reach armada. Mines. They were going to bleed us for every inch. I saw countless pricks of light that could only be their weapons going hot, but they didn’t fire. Either we were out of range, or they were waiting for some unspoken signal.

“Stop.”

As Lord Frieza gave the order, the grand fleet came to a halt, all of us having cleared the portal. No sooner as he gave the order, the alien girl collapsed in a heap, out cold. I couldn’t bring myself to look away from our opponents to see the portal collapsing behind us. Our escape was cut off. 

“Kikono, please bring up some oxygen masks and retrieve...whatever her name is,” Lord Frieza ordered, breaking the oppressive silence. I barely noticed as the yellow alien from before put a mask in my hands, or that I put it on my face as it retrieved the unconscious alien. My mind was stuck on one thought. 

This was unreal. This battle...I couldn’t begin to imagine the sheer scale of what I was looking at. This..this had to be the biggest battle the galaxy had ever seen, right? Tens of thousands of ships, on both sides, defense platforms and...between the smaller ships were scarabs. Thousands of them, more than I had ever seen before. 

Vanguard scarabs enhanced with silver scarabs. In the distance, I saw my first special class scarab. Its chest armor was a deep purple, the same shade as Lord Frieza, though it was trimmed with silver. An enhanced special class scarab. I wasn’t close enough to scan it either, but I probably shouldn’t in the first place. With this much force, my scouter would probably blow up. 

I...had to lead my team through this? Was that even possible? And this was the battle for control of space, what was the ground battles going to look like? How many scarabs did they have planetside?

“Please lower the barrier,” Lord Frieza ordered his tone calm. Smug almost. Instantly, the barrier dropped, exposing us to the vacuum of space. A small movement caught my eye and, somehow, I managed to bring myself to look at something other than our enemies. 

I saw Lord Frieza raise a hand, a single finger outstretched. At the tip of it, a dark purple ball of ki formed, no bigger than the beads that made up my necklace. Black lightning crackled around it for a moment, it grew bigger for a split second. I glanced back at what he was aiming at just in time to see a thin purple beam rush towards the Reach’s armada. 

Lord Frieza swiped his hand to the side, the beam of light following the movement until it drew a line through the Reach defenses. 

Then there was light. 

There were no explosions in space, but that didn’t detract from the sight at all. Balls of light formed around where Lord Frieza fired off his nameless ki attack, Ships exploding with enough force that they caused a chain reaction. The explosions spread, far further than they should have, until the Reach armada was left decimated. With a single movement, he cut their numbers down to a third. 

But that wasn’t what made my jaw drop and my blood turn to ice in my veins. 

Once the light show was over, the space around Sereall littered with debris only did it become clear that Lord Frieza hadn’t just hit their ships and defense platforms. He had hit the planet itself. The golden shield was down, unable to withstand Lord Frieza’s might, but the same could be said for the planet as well. 

Where Lord Frieza’s attack touched, the metal planet glowed at the edges where it began to slowly drift apart. 

Lord Frieza had cut Sereall in half. 

“Well then. I think that’ll do for my debut,” Lord Frieza said, laughing loudly as Sereall and the defenses meant to protect it fell apart. 

…..

This chapter is one of the scenes that inspired me to write this story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.