Going Native: Touch of Inexperience (ch.36) (Patreon)

I had plans for this chapter. Somehow, a scene that I intended to take up about two thousand words became five thousand. I don’t even know how it happened. Things kick off next chapter, I promise. 

...

Elery watched the space ship go upward towards the sky until it disappeared behind the clouds. She clung to Mom’s back, frowning up at the sky as she watched her brother disappear. She was only stopped when a hand reached back and ruffled her hair hard enough that Elery was sure that she was missing a couple of hairs now. 

“What’s with you, Elery?” Mom questioned. Elery batted away the hand or tried to at any rate. Mom was a lot more pestering than Brother, so she didn’t let up until she was satisfied in torturing Elery for an answer. 

Elery stubbornly refused for a few seconds, intent on looking up at the sky, trying to will the clouds to part so she could see Brother going to that other planet and to see him come back. However, Mom was relentless. “It’s embarrassing…” Elery admitted, trying to keep her voice down so Not-Brother wouldn’t hear her. 

“What is? Did you and Tarble have a fight or something?” Mom asked as she turned away from the landing pad to walk toward Not-Brother. Which was the last thing Elery wanted, and she wanted to admit the problem even less. 

“Brother...is really strong…” Elery started at last in a voice just above a whisper. She knew that. Old Man, Mom, and the Team always reminded her that Brother was stronger than them. Elery didn’t really get it, but over time she learned that Brother had two people inside of him. There was Brother, who played with her and saved her tasty foods. Then there was Not-Brother. Not Not-Brother that didn’t think that she was a princess, even though she totally was, but Not-Brother who…

Who could be really scary. When they were on a planet and the scouters told Brother that he had to go to war, Brother went away and became Not-Brother. Who didn’t smile, or entertain her or anything. Not-Brother would pretend to be Brother, but they were too different. His eyes were really cold, his gaze cutting right through her and his eyes were that mean yellow color that she didn’t like.

Brother was really strong, but Not-Brother was super strong. And he was really scary...but...not to her. Not-Brother tried to not be scary to her or the team or anyone else that was on their side. At least, he wasn’t before. Then, back when they were sparring...she thought she was fighting Brother, but she was actually fighting Not-Brother. But his eyes weren't yellow…

Could it be that Brother was losing some unseen fight against Not-Brother for control of his body?!

“He is,” Mom agreed, walking over to Not-Brother, who scowled in her direction. “And he’s only going to get stronger, so you better step up your training or you’re going to get left behind Elery.” At that, Elery scowled as she clung to Mom’s back. 

An image of the fight that Not-Brother and Not-Brother had flashed before her eyes. She had put up her really powerful Bubble Shield to watch the fight with the others, but they were all swept away when the explosion’s aftershock hit them. How much stronger would she have to get until her techniques did that instead of  small explosions?

“Did you hear me Elery? Do I need to clean out your ears?” Mom questioned, making a shiver go down her spine. 

“No!” Elery quickly refused with a shake of her head. Her ears still hurt from the last time that Mom had cleaned her ears. It was like she was trying to stab her brain or something. It really hurt. “I don’t. And I’m going to get way stronger than Brother. And you too!” Elery declared, earning a chuckle from Mom. 

She reached back and rubbed her head again, “well I look forward to it. I could always use another training partner.” Mom said before they finally reached Not-Brother that refused to acknowledge her princessness. 

“Mother,” Not-Brother greeted with a nod of his head. 

“Vegeta. What are you going to do with the time left home?” Mom asked, coming to a stop. Not-Brother’s gaze darted upward in the direction Brother had left, raising her hopes that he was already back, but he wasn’t. The jerk was trying to trick her and it almost worked. 

“I was planning to spar with Tarble, but it seems that he had other plans,” he commented, making Elery’s eyes narrow. “I’ll check in on my troops, I suppose.”

“Have you passed on those techniques yet?” Mom questioned, making Not-Brother look away. “I know it’s weird, but Tarble isn’t wrong about this. None of them are going to live to see the end of the year unless they get those techniques and the Wrath State. We can’t afford to waste time on them developing their own.”

Elery scowled, knowing that she was included in that ‘they.’ She totally would survive until the end of the year! She didn’t need the techniques or the Wrath State, she just wanted them because they were really cool and awesome. 

“He’s just giving them away,” Not-Brother argued with a shake of his head. “It’s completely backwards.” At that, Mom sighed as she nodded. Elery frowned at the conversation. She liked Brother sharing his techniques. It meant that she got to learn them. 

“I know,” Mom repeated. “But think of it as them learning a foundation so they can develop their own techniques down the line so they won’t keep needing to learn them from Tarble.”

“That sounds like something he would say.”

“That’s because he said it.”

Not-Brother let out a small huff that was almost a laugh. But for frowny people like Not-Brother, it might as well be one. She learned that from Borgos when she kept trying to get him to talk. Then, without any warning, Mom reached back and grabbed her by her armor before holding her out towards Not-Brother. Their eyes met before Not-Brother’s eyes narrowed when she stuck her tongue out at him. 

“Why don’t you take Elery with you? She already knows them all, so she can help you teach them,” Mom pointed out. Elery’s first thought was to say no because she didn’t like Not-Brother, but she gave the idea a quick think. If she taught the other elite-kids...didn’t that kinda make her like Brother. 

“Yeah!” Elery exclaimed, “I know all kinds of techniques! Bet I know more than you!” She added, earning a long sigh from Not-Brother. He looked at Mom as if asking if he really had to before he nodded reluctantly. Elery recognized it because that same expression appeared on the Team's face when Elery saw them and wanted them to play. 

"Fine," Not-Brother agreed after a long moment, unable to find an excuse to not take her in time. 

"Good. I figured the two of you needed to spend some time together," Mom commented. "I have to go...talk to your father about the other kids and get some food for when we deploy." Elery wasn't an idiot. She knew that when Mom said talk, she meant fight. 

"Bye! Don't die and beat up a Vegeta!" Elery said, escaping Mom's grasp and sending her a smile and a wave. She couldn't remember which Vegeta Mom would be fighting. There were too many. 

Mom let out a huff of laughter before she floated upward. "I'll be sure too," Mom said, giving both of them a smile before she blasted off. Once she was a spec in the distance, Elery turned to Not-Brother, who turned to her. 

"Do you actually know any techniques?" He asked, sounding doubtful. Elery scowled at him, crossing her arms as she looked away sharply. 

"I do! And I'm not going to show you any of them cus' you're mean and I don't like you," Elery informed, sneaking a peek at him, expecting No-Brother to break down and beg to learn her techniques. Instead, he simply shook his head as he let out a sigh. 

"Don't fall behind. I won't wait for you if you do," he warned, ignoring her. 

"I won't fall behind!" Elery started forcefully, glaring at Jerkface. After so long, Elery had no idea how bitter the taste of defeat was until she tasted victory. "You better make sure I don't leave you behind," she warned as she floated upward. 

Jerkface cocked an eyebrow, "and how would you manage that when you don't know where my troops are located?" He asked, making her frown because he had a point. 

“Shut up! I’ll follow you until I see them then I’ll zoom right past you!” Elery decided, picturing it in her head. They would be flying neck and neck until they saw the troops doing whatever they were doing, Jerkface would try to race ahead but he would be no match for her speed! She smiled at the thought while Jerkface simply sighed. 

“I don’t know how Tarble puts up with you,” he commented more to himself than to her. He floated upward, ignoring her indignant ‘hey’ as he looked down at her. “If you don’t keep up, I’ll make sure an animal eats you.” 

“I-” Elery started to bluster that she would feed him to an animal, maybe the Sky King, after she kicked his butt, only for Jerkface to blast upwards. She quickly gave chase, going her max speed to close the distance, only for Jerkface to speed up as well so that the distance between them didn’t close at all. Elery frowned, going her maximer speed, the wind hurting her eyes, her scouter helping some but not enough, as her hair was blown back, but even then the gap between them didn’t close. 

Gritting her teeth Elery pushed her maximer speed even further beyond. Her vision blurred until she couldn’t really see anything and her face started to get pushed back. This...she had an idea! Thrusting out her hands, she formed a ki ball like a Destructo Disk, but she made it like a cone in front of her face. The ki shield protected her face, letting her go even further beyond that previous further beyond. 

Even still, it wasn’t enough. 

Mega-Jerkface remained in front of her the entire way. They neared a field that her scouter picked up a whole bunch of power levels, and even when she tried her super-smart maneuver, she still wasn’t able to close the distance. Elery frowned deeply, frustration bubbling in her chest. As Supreme-Mega-Jerkface came to a stop, Elery continued forward, aiming a kick at his face. 

He dodged it easily, which didn’t surprise her but it was really annoying. Especially when he began to mock her. “I’m not Tarble. I won’t entertain your delusions of grandeur. I’m the most power saiyan alive, and-”

“No! No, you’re not!” Elery refuted, glaring at Ultra-Mega-Supreme-Jerkface. “My Brother is!” She shouted above the field filled with a bunch of other kids fighting. 

Ultra-Mega-Supreme-Jerkface smiled smugly at her, “then why did he lose?” He asked, talking about their fight. Elery’s hands curled into fists, wanting to punch him in his really stupid face. 

“Brother didn’t lose!” Elery argued but she knew it wasn’t true. Brother had said it himself that he lost...but...but…! “He let you win!” She accused, jabbing a finger at him. It was the only explanation. There was no way that Brother would ever lose at anything ever, much less a fight. He was way too strong. He was practically invincible and he could take on entire armies. Prince Tarble wasn’t even close to being as strong as Brother. 

That was the wrong thing to say. Elery knew it in her gut when Scary-Jerkface’s face twisted. Anger radiated from him as he glared at her for saying that. Elery tried to keep the sudden bone-chilling fear off her face, but she knew she didn’t manage to do it. For the briefest second, Elery thought he was going to hit her for saying that, like how Not-Brother hit her. 

Scary-Jerkface opened his mouth to say something to her, only to pause for a second. And in that second, Elery seized the initiative.

“Sorry,” Elery apologized. She hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings. She just wanted him to shut up. 

Jerkface gathered himself before he let out a long breath. “Consoled by a child…” He muttered to himself with a shake of his head. He looked down at the field below them and for the first time, Elery bothered to pay attention to what was going on below. 

It was an utter mess. A whole bunch of saiyans all down there. More than she trained with like a million times over. Some of them were fighting, some were eating and the rest were doing both at the same time. Which was a really awesome skill she needed to learn. However, what she noticed was that some of the kids had really familiar hairstyles. 

“Kakarot?” Elery muttered, flying down to, ignoring Sensitive-Jerkface. She saw his hairstyle -- it was really funny looking so it was easy to spot even among a whole bunch of saiyans. From there, she spotted Olaive and a few others from her class. Elery turned her attention to some of the ones that stood across from them, then took in the stretch of land that they stood on. 

They were fighting. Both sides were injured, but not too badly. The battlefield looked like it suffered the most. The people she didn’t recognize suffered a close second. 

“I wanna join!” Elery announced her presence, making all of them look up at her. “What are we fighting over?” She asked, landing next to Olaive, her rival nodded as she settled into a stance. However, it wasn’t her that answered. 

“It’s not fair that you get to fight with Prince Tarble! We want to switch!” A saiyan with long hair that looked really soft shouted. 

“You can’t switch!” Olaive shouted right back, looking like she was about to walk over to smack some sense into the boy’s hair. Olaive said something else, but Elery wasn’t paying attention. She glanced up to look at Sensitive-Jerkface, who looked down at them all with a very blank expression. But, after dealing with Not-Brother, Elery learned to recognize the hidden anger in his eyes and how his hands were clenched into fists so tight that they trembled. 

Instead of blowing them all up, Sad-And-Sensitive-Jerkface lowered himself. The fact that she was looking up alerted everyone else to his presence. When he touched down, Elery saw some pale faces on the other side as they looked at Sad-And-Sensitive-Jerkface warily. The silence spread from where he landed until, within a minute, the clearing that was once filled with noise was incredibly quiet. 

And she really had to cough. 

“You,” said Sad-And-Angry-Jerkface, turning to look at one of the saiyans on the other side of him. “You want to leave my army? I’ll give you one chance to explain why before I execute you for desertion.” The saiyan that he singled out paled, glancing at the few that flanked him, only for them to take a step away to avoid getting blasted with him. 

The saiyan hesitated for a moment before his eyes narrowed into a glare. “Because we want to learn techniques!” He declared, apparently accepting his death and determined to voice his opinion as his final words. “All of Prince Tarble’s troops got to learn a whole bunch of techniques and we haven’t learned any! And...and Prince Tarble is the Arch-Nemesis for the Reach, so he’s going to get all of the really awesome fights!” 

Elery shifted from foot to foot as she shook her head. It wasn’t like she didn’t get why everyone thought that Brother was Prince Tarble. It was a really easy mistake to make. But Prince Tarble wore a mask and talked in a really funny way and he was the leader of the Hero-force. Brother was in charge of fleets and armies and stuff. Even Mom listened to Brother when he said to do something, so she was pretty sure that Brother was more important to that Frieza guy. 

Sad-And-Angry-Jerkface nodded, crossing his arms as if he was making a promise to not blast anyone. “Then we’ll have to change that, won’t we?” He asked, smiling a smile that could be mistaken as kind. “But I won’t waste my time teaching trash.”

One of the saiyans that had walked away from Long-Soft-Hair suddenly found his courage. “We aren’t trash!” He snapped at Sad-And-Angry-Jerkface, “we’re the elite-class!”

“You’re weak,” Scary-And-Angry-Jerkface refuted flatly. “And if you think a power level is all that matters in a fight, then you’re sorely mistaken. I might as well kill you now and save us all some time,” he threatened, earning nervous glances even as saiyans settled into their fighting stance. A tension unlike anything Elery had ever felt before seemed to fall upon the clearing as his words carried. 

Because Brother was gone. 

Scary-And-Angry-Jerkface let the tension soak in as he turned his back to them to look at his troops. "But that would be a waste," he said after a too long pause. "Instead, who gets to learn my brother's techniques will be decided...by a free for all. The last hundred saiyans left standing will be my commanders and receive the highest honor of being assigned to my personal taskforce." 

"But-" some started to argue, but Scary-And-Angry-Jerkface cut them off. 

"War is different than any combat you've expirenced so far. It's a mess. Strength matters less than you would think and at times it all come down to dumb luck if you live or die," he spoke, his voice level but it seemed to carry over the field. "Not all of those hundred left standing will be the strongest, or the smartest, or the most competent. But if you can win this battle than it shows me you have what it takes to fight in a war that's completely beyond you." 

He paused for a moment. "I'll be generous enough to give you a hint on how to survive so pay attention because I won't repeat myself: A saiyans mind is their greatest weapon," Scary-And-Confusing-Jerkface said, giving that a moment to sink in. Once that moment passed, he spoke a single word. 

"Begin." 

At once, the entire clearing exploded into chaos. Saiyans turned to those standing next to them and started fighting, only to be attacked from behind by others. The familiar sounds of explosions rang in her ears, wind hitting her face as she watched thousands of saiyans fight in one big mess. 

A smile tugged at her cheeks as her gaze landed on one Saiyan with a scar on his cheek. She lunged to go attack him, only for a hand to grab her by the back of her armor. It stretched a bit, but not enough to let her escape and join the chaotic fight. "Hey-" she started to shout ut, only for 

Scary-And-Confusing-Jerkface to fly up with her dragging behind him. 

Elery turned around, biting down on his gloved hand to make him let her go, and it worked. Her teeth hurt a bit, but it was well worth the price for her freedom. However, before she flew back down there to join the fight, she noticed that Olaive, Kakarot and the others had followed them up. 

“Unless you want to follow me in battle, then don’t get involved. This is for my soldiers only,” Jerkface told her as he looked down at the thousands of battles raging down below. Elery looked down as well, her hands curling into fists. She wanted to fight, but she didn’t want to follow Jerkface. Maybe she could go down there and fight then get Brother to make sure she stuck with him?...No…

“...Fine,” Elery decided reluctantly, pouting as she watched the fights she could be taking part in. 

“Good.” Jerkface said, looking down. Already some were laying on the ground defeated. Elery didn’t think they were dead, though- “Which ones do you think will win?” 

The question from him caught her off guard, making her glance at Kakarot and Olaive, who simply shrugged in response. Elery pressed down on her scouter-

“Hey!” Elery shouted when Super-Duper-Ultra-Mega-Supreme-Jerkface grabbed her scouter with a hand and crushed it after yanking it off her face. She glared at him before launching an attack, aiming to kick him in the side of his head, but he effortlessly caught her foot. Unlike Brother, when he grabbed down, he did it hard enough to hurt. 

She sucked in a breath before she wound up her leg and tried to kick him again, only to freeze in place as his black eyes flashed yellow for a moment. 

“Didn’t you just hear me? There’s more to winning than power levels. Mother and Tarble have clearly been too soft on you,” he said more to himself than to her. And despite her fear of his yellow eyes, she kicked him in the face. Or, at least she tried before he lazily tossed her to the side. 

“Tarble and Mother care about you, which is the only reason why I’m bothering with you,” he growled at her, his voice nearly lost in the explosions below. “Do you honestly think that you could ever actually hurt me just throwing yourself at me?” He asked, making Elery frown. 

No. She didn’t. Jerkface...was just too strong. Almost as strong as Not-Brother, who was stronger than Mom, who was stronger than the Team, who was stronger than Lotuce, who was stronger than her. But…!

“I bet we could land some hits on you if we teamed up!” Olaive announced before she flew over next to Elery. Kakarot joined not a second later, floating on the other side of her. Elery smiled so wide that her face hurt as she settled into a fighting stance. The others that had joined them originally made no move to join them. 

“No, all you’ll manage to do is to die together.” Jerkface dismissed, not even looking at them as he continued to watch the chaos down below. By now, some others had joined them in the air and the battlefield was expanding. “I’ll ask again -- who do you think is going to win?” 

Elery stared at Jerkface for a long second, thinking that the question sounded a lot like something Brother would ask her.  Her lips thinned before she looked down at the chaos below that she wanted to join in on. She was struck by how different it was compared to how Brother did things. 

There was no teamwork that Brother insisted was so important. Her eyes found one saiyan who looked like he was teaming up with another saiyan to take down a third, but as soon as their common enemy was defeated, they started fighting each other. That same story was repeated hundreds of times, over and over and over. 

“How am I supposed to know! They’re too many!” Elery decided, wondering if this was some kind of trick question to make her look dumb. 

Jerkface spared her a glance before he pointed down at one saiyan. It took her a moment to figure out which one he was pointing at, but she spotted a saiyan with short spiky hair with a scar that cut through one of his eyebrows at an angle. Elery watched him for a moment and saw what Jerkface was talking about. 

The saiyan wasn’t standing out and he spent more time maneuvering than he did fighting. The few times that he did fight were short bouts, usually surprise attacks or cheap shots. The number of defeated saiyans at his hands steadily ticked upward but no one gave him a second look as he moved on, constantly moving across the battlefield. 

“Because Tarble is close to you, I’ll teach you something that it took me years to learn,” Jerkface said, bringing her attention back to him. “How you fight matters more than how hard you fight. You need to be aware of every detail on the battlefield and exploit every advantage.” 

“That sounds like something Brother keeps saying,” Elery noted, earning a nod from Jerkface. 

“He’s better at it than me,” he admitted. “Our father tried to drill that lesson into my head, but I was too stubborn to listen. It’s only recently that I started to...hm. That doesn't matter,” he said...but Elery got the feeling that it mattered a lot, but he didn’t want to talk about it. Her gaze landed on the scar on his neck and wondered if that had anything to do with it. “The point is that you can’t brute force your way through everything. You have to use your head and think.”

Jerkface glanced at her, “otherwise, if you keep fighting as you do...then you’re dead the first time someone isn't there to protect you.” 

Elery started to bluster, only to fall silent as an uneasy sensation gripped her. She could still feel Not-Brother punching her in the stomach hard enough that she fell to the ground, curled up where she was hit and waiting for the pain in her stomach to go away. Not only that...Elery hadn’t won a fight until they came to Planet Vegeta. Brother, Mom and the Team were too strong for her. 

She only started winning when her opponents got way weaker. 

"He's conserving his strength and pacing himself. That's what I'm looking for. That's what you need if you're going to survive. If he went all out at the start, even if he defeats a thousand others, he's going to lose the moment he fights a fresh or stronger opponent. Watch him and learn." Maybe-Not-A-Total-Jerkface instructed. 

And she did. Minutes turned into hours as the fight below them raged. As every minute ticked by, dozens were left injured and out of the fight. Some rejoined later, but most stayed on the ground. Some of them were out cold from their injuries since they weren't moving at all. Elery followed the boys fight as hours began to go by and the numbers of fighters began to dwindle. 

It didn't take long to see what Somewhat-Jerkface meant. As time went by, others began to tire themselves out. Scar-Face was still fresh while those that he fought were exhausted. And as time went by, it became increasingly clear who else had the same idea as Scar-Face. 

"She's going to win too!" Elery pointed out a girl with a really cool hairstyle. It was kinda short on the sides but down the middle it was spiked upward. Somewhat-Jerkface looked over at where she was pointing just in time to see Cool-Hair send one saiyan into another before beating both of them up with a few punches. 

“So you can learn,” he commented lightly. Elery glared at him before she grew determined to find all of the other ones that fought like that just to rub it in his stupid looking face. Elery quickly found three others, and she noticed that all of them fought in a similar way. The actual fighting couldn’t be more different, but how they approached fighting was alike. 

And, despite herself, Elery started to understand what Somewhat-Jerkface meant. He was showing her what Brother had been telling her for ages. 

More time passed as the fight drew to a close. There was no explosive finale like she wanted, but, as the sun started to go away, there were a hundred saiyans left standing. Then Jerkface gave the order for them to fight until there were only ten left.

Scar-Face, Cool-Hair, Soft-Hair, and seven others that she hadn’t seen fight. Which was really weird because she saw others that fought like them- had they lost?!

Those ten floated upward so they flew in front of Somewhat-Jerkface. All of them were sporting injuries, some worse than others. Somewhat-Jerkface held out a hand before a dark purple light emerged from his hand before he tossed it up. A Medicine-Ball. Intense purple light washed away the wounds on the chosen ten, but not just them either. Everyone below had their wounds healed by the Medicine-Ball. 

Yet...there were some that didn’t get up, and it looked like their wounds were staying? Why wasn’t it working on them?

“You ten are now a part of my personal task force. You’ve done well so far, but now the bar has just gotten higher,” Somewhat-Jerkface spoke, looking over the ten who marveled at their vanishing wounds. “Because I have no patience for weak trash. If you want to keep this position, then you must become stronger.”

He smirked, “here is your next challenge. The ten of you must become the strongest out of the twenty-four thousand eight hundred and eighty-three down there. Your position can be challenged by anyone of them at any time. And, out of the ten of you, the strongest of you will serve as my right hand.”

Ahhh...boring stuff, Elery thought disinterestedly, looking down at the battlefield to see a bunch of saiyans up and running. Yet, her gaze landed on one that wasn’t moving. He laid down in a puddle of blood, his wounds weren’t closed and he seemed really pale…

Oh…

He was dead. 

Elery blinked once. It was the first time she saw a body of a saiyan. And the few bodies that she saw before were in the refrigerator when the Team found a race that tasted good. It looked a lot different than she thought it would. 

“Yeah...we hear you, Prince Vegeta,” Cool-Hair said, sounding excited for the prospect. Scar-Face nodded while the others also voiced their agreement. 

“Elery,” Kinda-Jerkface said, getting her attention. “Teach them my brother’s techniques. Only the one’s he’s given permission for.” Elery nodded as she floated forward, putting her hands on her hips as she puffed out her chest. 

“I’m Princess Elery!” She introduced herself, ignoring a long suffering sigh by Jerkface behind her. “The first technique I’ll show is the super cool Bubble Shield!” She followed through with a basic shield, “you push your ki out your hands into a shield like this: fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!” 

“What’s ki?” Scar-Face asked, earning a shrug from Elery as she formed her bubble shield. 

“It's what my brother calls your inner energy stuff,” Elery answered, making Scar-Face’s eyes widen as he nodded eagerly. They were quick learners, Elery saw as the ten of them quickly managed to form a shield. 

“Next is the Kamehameha!” Elery said, clasping her hands to her side. “Brother says that it's a good base for you to create your own techniques, so don’t stick with this one forever, or I’ll beat you up,” she warned. “You gather your ki like this: hmmmm! Then you make it smaller and pack more of it in your hands like this: HMMMMMMMM!” Then she thrusted her hands out to the side, “then you go HA!”

Her Kamehameha wasn’t as strong as Brother’s. Yet. She waited for the others to give it a try and each of them managed it on their first. It was a rather simple technique, but it was one that got stronger with you, which is why Brother still used it. 

“Up next is the Destructo Disk!” Elery said, holding out her hand as a disk of bright blue ki. “You flatten your ki like this: squish! Then you spin it really fast like: FWOOSH! After that, you throw it! Brother can expand it when it hits something, but I don’t know how to do that yet,” she admitted. 

After that was the Medicine-Ball-

Elery’s thoughts came to an abrupt halt when, as she formed the technique, a bunch of ships jumped into view just above them, visible thanks to the clear sky. A whole bunch of ships, higher than she could count easily. She blinked a few times at them, wondering if Brother had brought them back from wherever he was. 

That thought was put out of her mind when beams of light began to fire downward, slamming into the ground with massive explosions that made her heart jump to her throat. 

“We’re under attack by the Reach!” Elery shouted, readying herself for a fight, only for Jerkface to shove her to the side as she glared up at the ships above. Rage was etched into his face, which was twisted into a snarl. 

“Those aren’t Reach ships,” he corrected as he formed ki blasts, firing them at a laser that was aimed at the troops below, a bright light blinding her for a second, making Elery wish that she still had her scouter. 

“We’re being attacked by the Frieza-force!”