Going Native: Touch of Evil (ch.37) (Patreon)

"We have to fight!" Elery shouted, not caring who was attacking them. The Reach, the Frieza-force -- it didn't matter! Brother cared about this planet for whatever reason, and that was all the reason Elery needed to kick the butt of whoever was attacking. 

Next to her Olaive nodded fiercely. "Yeah! Let's go show them who's boss!" Her rival looked ready to fight, eyeing the drop pods hungrily as thousands of them began to rain down from the sky. An army was landing on Planet Vegeta, like the Team did to Reach planets. Looking at them streak across the sky, rushing towards the ground…

Elery felt nothing but excitement. At long last, she would be fighting on a battlefield. She was going to partake in the great fight known as war and she couldn't wait. All the other saiyans seemed to enjoy it a lot and now she couldn't finally find what the fuss was about. 

"A single fleet," Jerkface commented, looking up at the sky. His gaze drifted over to the drop pods before he pressed down on his scouter. Elery wished she could do the same, but Jerkface broke hers. "And the army is trash. This isn’t Frieza's doing. If it was, then he'd be here to wipe us out himself." He sounded weirdly reassured by that. 

Before she could ask him why they just didn't beat up Frieza anyway, Jerkface looked at her with blazing yellow eyes. "I'll deal with the army while my father takes out the ships. You lot can entertain yourselves what the scraps that manage to flee." Elery opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off before she could begin. "If you try to join the fight, you'll die. I won't suffer their presence any longer than necessary so I won't hold back."

An image of his fight with Not-Brother filled her mind. Of the massive explosion that had rocked the planet and she could barely watch the fight, it was so intense. 

Elery hesitated. And the fact Kakarot and Olaive did too was really telling. 

Jerkface didn't wait for her answer. He turned his back to her without another word and blasted off in the direction of the drop pods. It didn't take long until he was just a spec in the distant speck in the distance. Elery watched him go, feeling insulted, disappointed, and...scared at the idea that she could be killed because Jerkface didn’t want to hold back. 

“We should regroup with our teams,” Kakarot spoke, looking up at the sky.

Elery made a face. She didn’t want to fight with people that kept calling her a baby. However, Kakarot gave her a small frown as he glanced down at her. “If they’re attacking...doesn’t that mean that they think they can win? They might not have expected your brothers to be here, but...that means that they think they could kill us even if King Vegeta was here.”

Olaive nodded, “that makes sense. We should group up and start looking for cowards that ran away from the fight.” Elery still didn’t want to, but if she disagreed now, then she would be the jerk that didn’t want to do what everyone else did. And she didn’t like it when others didn’t do what she wanted them to, so she especially didn’t want to be that jerk. 

“Okay…” Elery said with some reluctance. The three of them turned around, the few others from their group. Well, it could be fun beating up bad guys with everyone else. 

“Wait!” One of the boys from Jerkface’s team shouted out before they could take off. Elery looked over her shoulder to see that it was Scar-Face. He gazed seriously at her, his lips thinned as lights flashed in the distance as an orbital strike hit the ground some distance away. “Take us with you. I want to learn Prince Tarble’s techniques while I still have the chance.”

“But you're on Jerkface’s side,” Elery pointed out, making the group of ten glance at each other before they realized who she was talking about. 

“He’s left us, so I don’t think he would care,” Cool-Hair explained, and Elery didn’t think she was wrong about that. Jerkface didn’t seem like he cared about anyone but himself. And maybe Brother.

Though… “What about all of them?” Elery asked, pointing down at the countless saiyans who began to leave the clearing to find cover or to chase down stray drop pods. “Should we take them with us? If we did, then we could have a super huge army!” Elery liked the idea a lot. Princess General Elery. 

The others shrugged their shoulders. “They can do what they want,” they dismissed the thousands below altogether. Elery nodded, accepting that answer easily enough before she turned around. 

“Come on!” She waved at them to follow as they blasted off into the distance, keeping one eye upward. The fleet was continuing to fire down upon the planet, really big explosions lighting up the distance and Elery wished she still had her scouter. If only to figure out what they were shooting at. Elery knew that there were other cities, but they were mostly empty. 

“We should go to my Mom’s house. She’ll probably take everyone there since it's out of the way,” Kakarot shouted over the rushing wind. Elery nodded, leading all of them from the front because of her super awesome technique to go faster. They blasted through the air, racing towards the cliff that Kakarot’s Mom lived in. As they rushed in from above, Elery saw that they weren’t the first with the idea. 

A group of aliens had landed near the cliff. They were completely surrounded by the hundred saiyans she trained with, and they wore expressions that aliens tended to wear when they were scared of fighting. Even still, they stood back to back and aimed their weapons at those that surrounded them, but didn’t dare to fire. Not when everyone was arguing who would get to beat them up. 

However, Elery spotted Kakarot's mom, who watched the chaos. From what she understood, she wasn't that strong, but everyone did what she said anyway. Because she was a grown up? Elery just did what she said because everyone else did and Brother told her to. 

She looked up as they approached and looked happy to see them. "You're alright. I was worried about you. Matillo and Queen Teach have gone to organize the other children, so you should be getting orders from them soon." 

Elery smiled at that. So they would get to fight in war after all! Then she turned her attention to the squad of aliens that watched with fearful expressions at the saiyans arguing who got to beat them up. "What about them?" 

"They landed not too far from here. I think they might have been blown off course. The children were very insistent that they should deal with them but they can't seem to decide who exactly," Kakarot's mom explained with a faint smile. Elery recognized it as the smile that people had when there was something wrong, but they were pretending that nothing was. 

Elery looked at the squad, then at the saiyans that surrounded them, a frown tugging at her lips. Then one Saiyan punched another, and she got an idea! 

"Let's have a competition!" Elery shouted, drawing some attention to her but her shouting was lost in everyone else shouting. So, to get everyone's attention, she broke through the encirclement until she was near the squad of Frieza-force. They flinched back, aiming their guns at her. Elery looked at them, but she wasn't very impressed. 

Kakarot thought these guys would be strong… but they looked pretty weak to her. They were so weak that they had to use guns. All of them looked funny too, but mostly weird. Like they were trying to look like saiyans but messed up really badly. It was kinda funny. 

Elery turned her back to them to address everyone else since they were looking at her, thinking that she was going to steal the prey. "Let's have a competition to see who gets to deal with them!" She repeated, and this time everyone heard her. The other saiyans glanced amongst themselves, their arguments stopping as they considered the idea. 

"Why should we do what you say, you baby?! I'm the strongest! I should be the one that fights them!" Arch-Enemy #1 said, flanked by her other teammates. 

Elery glared at them, "you're not the strongest! I'll prove it by kicking your ass!" She shouted, jabbing a finger at her Arch-Enemies/Teammates. 

Kakarot's mom rushed in, pulling her away from the Frieza-force guys behind her and put herself between them. For a moment, Elery thought she was going to take them for herself, but instead she spoke. "I think Elery's idea is a good one. Since Prince Tarble of the Hero-force thinks it so important, don't you want to fight together as teams?" 

Eww! No! She was supposed to beat up her Arch-Enemies, not fight with them! 

But, to her dawning horror, everyone seemed to like the idea. Her gaze darted to her enemies to see them looking back at her with the same disgruntlement. Before she could protest, the prearranged teams began to group up in preparation. Even the people from Jerkface's side had split up into two teams. 

Again, she couldn't protest because everyone else would just call her a baby. If she could fight on Olaive or Kakarot's team, then she wouldn't mind too much. With no small amount of reluctance, Elery flew over to her Arch-Enemies in preparation for the competition. Arch-Enemy #1 scowled right back at her as she approached. 

"Just stay close to us. We'll fight like one big fist that punches everyone in the face," Arch-Enemy #1 said, a fierce grin on her face as she punched her palm for emphasis. Her hair was cut in a bob with one lock of hair drifting down until it reached the tip of her nose. So it was less cool than her and Brother's lock of hair which only went down to their eyebrows. 

Arch-Enemies #2-4 voiced their agreement but Elery was silent. Her gaze darted to the team that had already fought in one competition already. They were strong, but Elery knew that they were tired. Then her gaze drifted over to Kakarot and Olaive. They had been close enough to hear what Jerkface had told her. Then Elery turned her attention to the other fifteen teams of five. 

Jerkface's words echoed in her head, making her hands curl into fists. An uncomfortable truth squeezed at her heart and made her tummy clench. 

If she fought them all, then there was no way that she would win. But hanging back and not throwing herself into the fight felt wrong. There had to be a better way than his Scar-Face and the others did it. 

"Follow me!" Elery told her Arch-Enemies. "I have an idea that'll make sure that we win!" While Elery spoke, Kakarot's mom moved the prizes off of the battleground. They didn't have much time before the competition began. 

Arch-Enemy #1 gave her a sharp look before her eyes narrowed. We'll, more than they already were. Now it just kinda looked like she was squinting at her. "Do you think it'll work?" She asked, not even asking what the plan was. 

Elery blinked at the weird question. "Course I do? Why would I want to do a plan that wouldn't work?" Before Arch-Enemy #1 could tell her how good of a point she just made, Kakarot's mom stepped into the center of the clearing where the prizes were earlier. 

"There are a few rules for this competition," she decided. Elery couldn't wait until she was so strong or an adult so she could start deciding rules. "There is no killing allowed and for your team to be victorious, every member of your team must be conscious and able to fight." Her words made a bunch of the other saiyans look at their team, glaring at their weaker members. 

Kakarot got glared at a lot. Elery wasn't sure why though. Sure, he was kinda weak, but he was really good at techniques and Brother always said that there was more to a fight than power levels. 

"Ready?" Kakarot's Mom asked, looking around. "Begin!"

Countless fights broke out before Elery's eyes as some groups turned on whoever was closest while others rushed towards a particular group. She recognized every attack that was being prepared as fights broke out all around her. However, despite the chaos, Elery had eyes on two groups -- Olaive and Kakarot's. Taking in a breath, she formed a bubble shield to protect her from any stray blasts. 

"Follow me," Elery ordered, darting into the tick of the fight to find Olaive first. Elery didn't look behind her to see if she was followed by her Arch-Enemies. Regardless of if they followed or not, she was going to stick to her plan and throw herself into the fight. 

A ki blast hit her shield, knocking her off course, but it held strong. She turned around to find out who attacked her, only to see that the idiot that had got taken out by someone else. The two teams turned on each other and clashed above her, leaving Elery forgotten. She puffed out her cheeks, glaring up at the ones that had attacked her then forgotten about her a second later. 

But there was a saying that Brother told her. The mission, the team, then pride. She had a mission right now so she would have to beat them all up later. 

Turning away, Elery blasted forward, spotting Olaive. Her team were engaged with another, clashing as two units. Her lips tugged into a smile when she saw that Olaive's team was still at full strength. Her eyes found an opponent -- a weakened team down to three members already. Looks like she found her first opponents while Olaive was mopping up that other team. 

"Come-" Elery started, dropping her shield, only to be hit with a sound. She looked over, far off in the distance, that battle pausing for a moment as everyone else did the same. A really far ways away, in the direction Jerkface went in, a massive explosion of light seemed to push back the darkening sky. Elery recognized the kind of explosion, having seen it before when Not-Brother went to war. 

It was for that reason Elery recovered first and knew what was coming in a matter of seconds. While her prey was distracted by flashy explosions, Elery shot forward. With a grin on her face, she raised a fist, her target sensing something wrong before he looked over at her. His eyes widened right before her fist slammed into his face, sending him flying away. 

That alerted the others, but Elery was already moving. She darted to the second Prey, she had enough time to react. Prey #2 threw up a forearm to block a jab at her face. She scowled at her, "that's not fair! You can't attack us when we're not paying attention!" She shouted, frowning at Elery like she was some kind of cheap-shot taking cheater. 

"Yes I can! Brother says that you can't get distracted on the battlefield!" Elery defended her surprise attack, throwing a kick towards the girls face. Prey #1 had recovered, moving in with Prey #3 to surround her. Elery grinned as she broke off from Prey #2 and formed a bubble shield around herself. If her timing was right, then- 

It was. The shockwave of the explosion reached them. Even though they were pretty far away, the shockwave was more than a funny feeling going through them, but it hit like a wall of wind. Her prey were surprised by it, bracing themselves against the wall of wind. In that moment, she threw herself back into the fight. 

Dropping the shield, Elery spun sharply and kicked Prey #2 in the face while she cupped her hands by her side. Not wanting to give her position away, Elery was forced to whisper, "Kamehameha…!" Before she launched the ki attack at Prey #1. He reacted really fast, throwing up a bubble shield, but Elery felt the quickly made shield crumble under her attack when she used Prey #2 as a springboard to launch herself closer to him. 

Her attack washed over him and when the beam of light faded, Prey #2's smoking body fell downwards to the ground. He tried to maintain his flight, but his consciousness faded, making him plument. One down, two left. Prey #2 and 3 rushed her from both sides and Elery welcomed the challenge. The awe from the explosion was quickly wearing off from everyone else, so the noise of countless fights surrounding her erupted once again. 

This was what she wanted, Elery realized as she blocked a punch, countered, only to be forced to back up when Prey #3 attacked her from the side. Her blood sang in her veins as she scored a kick to the stomach, her fists flying in blurs as she fought off the remaining two. Pain blossomed in her back when one of them managed to kick her, then in her face where one punched her, but Elery repaid those attacks in full. 

A good fight. Fighting Mom and Brother was like trying to climb a mountain when you couldn’t fly, but every time you thought you made some progress, the mountain got bigger. 

Elery tasted blood in her mouth as she shot forward, focusing on the fight- Her heart dropped when Prey #3 took a ki blast to the back. Her eyes darted to the source to find that it was a saiyan from some random team. He shot a smirk at her before he raised his hand to take aim at her, only to be kicked in the gut so hard that he folded in half around the boot of… Arch-Enemy #1. 

So her team had followed her. And they were screwing up her fight- oh… wait… they were supposed to fight as a team. Elery forgot. Even still, Elery turned her attention to her final opponent, intent on taking her out before anyone else could. Prey #2 glared right back at her before she flew over, closing the distance in the blink of an eye. 

Elery rushed to meet her halfway, weaving around a ki blast that wasn’t aimed at her but at another team. She even took the opportunity to kick one saiyan in the face as she flew by, just relishing the fight. “I’m gonna kick your ass!” Elery shouted happily, throwing a punch that was caught by Prey #2, while Elery caught a punch thrown at her. Prey #2 glared at her while she grinned fiercely. The Elery threw her arms out wide, opening up Prey #2's defences before she craned her head back and head-butted the other girl. 

"Ugh!" Prey #2 grunted, unprepared for the sudden assault. Just like she was unprepared for Elery to grab her by the shoulders, crane her head back so far that her feet could have touched the back of her head, before Elery's forehead slammed into hers again with a heavy thunk. It hurt her brain, but, based on how Prey #2 staggered, Elery figured it hurt her more. And that made it worth it. 

"Yeah!" Elery happily cheered, punching Prey #2 in the face as she ducked underneath a wild swing. She had this in the bag! With a fierce grin on her face, Elery punched Prey #2 in the face again, snapping her head to the side. She almost flew away from her, but Elery caught her by the armor. Holding her up, Elery slammed her fist into Prey #2, her head snapping back from the blow. Then she hit her again. And again. And again - 

Wait. "Oh," Elery realized as she hesitated to punch Prey #2's bloodied face, her white gloves covered in it. She wasn't fighting back. Why wasn't she fighting back? "Are you dead?" Elery questioned, feeling really worried. Kakarot's mom said that there was no killing allowed and she didn't wasn't to get disqualified. 

"What's the plan you were talking about," Arch-Enemy #3 asked, floating by her. Her team took up a defensive position around her. Elery dropped Prey #2, the other girl falling to the ground with a busted face. Elery looked over to Olaive, just in time to see her team mopping up another. Perfect. 

"Olaive!" Elery shouted, waving at her rival. Her rival's team turned to face her, ready to fight while Olaive did the same. Elery darted over, leaving her Arch-Enemies behind for the moment so no one else could listen in on her secret plan. "Let's have our teams team up to beat everyone else! Then, when it's just us, we could have a second competition between us!" 

Olaive's eyes lit up at the prospect of fighting her again, just like how Elery was excited to fight her rival again too. She seemed to consider it for a moment before she nodded. "Yeah, I don't don't see a problem with it so long as you don't steal any fights from us," Olaive agreed. And now while everyone else would be fighting with groups of five, they would fight with ten!

Elery felt rather proud of herself. This was kinda like what Jerkface was talking about earlier, wasn't it? Fighting smarter instead of harder. 

"I won't! What about Kakarot?" She asked, their group forming up with some reluctance. 

"His team already lost. Kakarot got taken out and beaten up," Olaive informed, making Elery frown. She wanted to have a three way fight between their teams, but Elery guessed there wasn't much she could do about that now. 

With a fierce grin on her face, Elery threw herself into the fight with Olaive's team fighting by her side. The next few minutes were a blur of action and fighting that was only broken up when Elery clashed against familiar faces. 

This was fun. That thought repeated in her head as she punched Scar-Face in the face. She felt kinda bad about it. Be was already tired from fighting his own competition, but Brother said that the battlefield doesn't care how tired you are. She hoped that they could fight again when he was rested up. 

And, in the end, her plan worked. The numbers began to dwindle as more saiyans fell out of the sku, unable to get back up. They gathered at the sidelines, healed by Kakarot's mom with a Medicine Ball. One by one the teams fell, until only two remained. Her and Olaive's. 

"Hehe!" Elery grinned, covered in splatters of blood from her enemies. Olaive met her grin from across from her. "Now-" 

"W-Wait!" Another voice shouted out right before they could begin the clash that would decide the winner. Elery paused, looking over at the source, and saw it was one of the funny looking aliens that they were fighting over who got to fight them. With everyone's gaze on him, the alien stepped forward and tried to control his obvious fear. He was...stupid? Brother had a word for it, but Elery couldn't remember what it was. Brave, or something.

"I… would like a clarification about the rules," he requested, looking at Kakarot's mom. "We will fight the victor...but..should we win...what happens?" 

Kakarot's mom looked caught off guard by the question. Elery didn't know why because the answer was obvious. 

"Then you fight the runner up, of course!" Olaive answered, sounding like she thought that was the stupidest question that she had ever heard. And it kind of was. 

The funny looking alien pressed it's lips together. "And is this fight to the death?" He asked, keeping his voice level. 

"Duh! How else are we supposed to eat you?" One of Elery's Arch-Enemies pointed out, earning nods all around. 

"We could just eat their arms and legs though. Borgos says that his arm isn't really his arm, but it's some kind of fake. We could give them fake arms and legs," Elery pointed out. And instead of looking thankful that they were only going to get their limbs eaten, and get new ones later, the weak aliens looked at her horrified. 

"Whose Borgos?" Olaive asked but before Elery could answer, the funny looking alien spoke again. 

“You…” He started, his voice a low whisper. “Really are evil,” he spoke more to himself than to anyone else. Even still, his voice carried. His team behind him flinched, trembling as they looked around at the saiyans that surrounded them. “I thought… children are meant to be pure and innocent. I thought that you could be saved… but down to the core, you saiyans are evil.”

Elery scowled at the alien. Why was he calling them names?! “Well, you’re dumb! And weak,” she shouted at him, wanting to fly down there and punch him in the face. But she hadn’t beaten up Olaive yet. 

“I didn’t agree with this mission… but now I see that it must be completed. Spirits guide me,” he spoke, his voice full of grief. Then he dropped his gun because his hands began to glow. Kakarot's mom reacted instantly, darting forward in a blur that Elery could barely follow, closing the short distance between her and the squad of funny looking aliens. It was impossible to see if she got them because a blinding white flash of light filled the clearing. 

Elery narrowed her eyes, trying to peer through the blinding light. Her vision was filled with after images, but once it began to fade, Elery saw the squad of funny looking aliens standing on a white platform as they flew away. Her prize was getting away! We'll, most of them. One funny looking alien stayed behind and he was holding Kakarot's mom back with a white barrier, but the rest were getting away.

"You're not getting away so easily! Olaive! Follow me!" Elery shouted as she blasted forward after her prize. Seriously, what were they thinking?! They were supposed to wait until she had beaten up Olaive so she could beat them up! 

"Elery, dont-" Kakarot's mom shouted as her and Olaive's teams took off after the group of four, but Elery wasn't listening. Kakarot's mom was already taking one of her prizes, and now the competition was messed up, she had to chase down the prizes quickly before the others realized that they could jump in the fight. 

Elery growled to herself, going her further beyond maximer speed. "Get back here, you… you… you half-tail cowards!" Elery screamed the most vile curse she could think of at her fleeing prizes. She pulled ahead, leaving her team behind, closing the distance between them. It was slow, but her progress was steady. And it didn't go unnoticed. 

The funny but stupid/brave alien turned around to look at her. His saiyan-like face was set in a look that reminded her when Brother became Not-Brother. His light blue face made his black eyes stand out a lot, while his short hair was a dark purple. The flying white platform slowed a fraction, much to the screeching disent from his comrades. 

"Begone spawn of evil," he sneered at her before his eyes glowed white, as did his hands. A ki blast of white light shot from his hands, but Elery dodged it easily. 

"Your attacks suck!" She taunted, cupping her hands to her side as her teams finally caught up with them. "Kame… hameHa!" She shouted, quickly launching her attack. It rushed towards the aliens and all the while,Olaive flanked right, a Destructo Disk floating above one of her palms. "Hey, they're mine-!" Elery started to shout, only to cut herself off. Her attack slammed into something, halting, before it started to be pushed back. 

Olaive launched her Destructo Disk, the rest of her team following suit to prep their own attacks while Elery's Arch-Enemies did the same. Why was everyone trying to interfere with her fight?! Regardless of her protests, the attacks slammed into where the aliens were floating, explosions rocking the air, blocking her view of who got them. Then, through the smoke, Elery saw a white bubble, like her own bubble shield, protecting the funny looking aliens. 

The four of them inside had their hands out, fueling the shield. The action seemed to exist three of them because they were gulping down breathes, while the Stupid/Brave-Alien remained firm, glaring at her. Elery smiled at him, glad that no one had stolen her victories. He didn’t smile back. 

“Talo, we should get out of here!” One of the funny looking aliens whined, proving himself to be a coward that didn’t want to fight. They were only saiyans in looks. Except for the one called Talo apparently because he shook his head, maintaining the shield unflinchingly. 

“No. We ran from the mission to start with, but you heard them Blink. They’re everything that the High Priest said that they were. Can you call yourself a Purifier with pride knowing that you let such evil fester in the galaxy?” Talo asked his comrades, shaming them to fight. 

But, something about that didn’t make any sense. 

“Whaddya mean you ran from your mission? Didn’t you want to fight us?” Elery asked while Olaive and her team spread out, preparing another wave of attacks. 

“We broke off from the main force. I believed that genocide is unacceptable, an unforgivable evil. I intended to save you along with those children. Only… only for you to fight over who would get to kill and eat us! I cannot allow such a race to exist!” He shouted at her, and despite how seriously he spoke, Elery couldn’t help but laugh. 

She cracked a smile, “you went from saying genocide is really bad to saying you were going to do it in like two sentences. Brother says that ideals are worthless unless you’re willing to stick to them no matter what.” Talo flinched like she had hit him, his resolve wavering. But he founded it again a moment later. Good. She didn’t want to fight cowards. 

Cupping her hands to her sides, Elery formed another Kamehameha, and that was the signal for the fight to begin. The shield dropped for a moment to let Talo to cup his hands together, an action mirroring her own, before a ki blast of pure white launched at her. Elery sent her Kamehameha right back at him, meeting his Fake-Kamehameha halfway.

And a savage grin tugged at her lips when she felt that there was completely no contest between their attacks. The tip of her ki blast punched right through his, racing towards him. All the while the others launched their attacks. A massive explosion rang out when they hit something, but Elery didn’t think it was another shield. 

Elery heard something behind her and reacted instantly, just in time to see a white blast race by where she had been a second earlier. Flipping around, she formed a Bubble Shield, and in that same moment, another white bolt hit her shield. The source was Talo, who was somehow behind her now, and had a weird white ball floating above his shoulder while his hands glowed white. 

“We’ll compete to beat him up. The rest can handle his team,” Oalive said as she flew beside Elery. Elery nodded, accepting that. She would rather share an enemy with her rival than her Arch-Enemies and her rival’s team. 

“Yeah! Whoever beats him… I’ll get my Brother to teach them the Spiral Buster!” And because it was a competition, Brother would have to teach the winner. And since she would be the winner, Elery would finally get to learn the awesomest technique ever. It was a foolproof plan. 

“Really?! I’m gonna kick your butt!” Olaive shouted, launching herself at Talo with Elery right behind her. This time Elery formed a Destructo Disk in her palm, launching it at Talo.. He thrusted his hands out, and some kinda really weird symbol formed between him and her attack. A circle with a couple of skinny ovals that connected in the center to make a roundish triangle. It looked kinda cool, but it was super annoying because the moment her attack hit it, the Destructo Disk vanished. 

With growing anger, Elery rushed forward while Olaive flanked to the side. She craned back a fist, intent on punching through the weird symbol, only for that weird ball thing hovering above his shoulder to spit out a white blast that had nearly hit her earlier. 

Elery spun out of the way, intent on continuing with her momentum, only for Talo to disappear right when she got close- “Behind you!” Olaive shouted when Talo vanished. Elery reacted, but this time it was too late. Every trace of strength vanished from her limbs when she felt white hot agony flood her body as Talo grabbed her tail. 

“I’ll make your death quick, young one,” Talos stated and Elery felt anger bubble in her chest. She got her tail grabbed. Again. This wouldn’t have happened if she had the Wrath State! Or… or… or if she had listened to what Jerkface said. She… rushed into things again, hadn’t she?

Gritting her teeth, Elery flooded what strength remained to her hand and formed a ki blade. Sharpening the edge, Elery twisted around and swung back at the same time. Pain unlike anything she had ever known flooded through her as the sharp edge of her ki blade sliced into her tail, severing it. Elery welcomed the pain because it came with her strength. 

“OUCH!” Elery screamed, slashing at Talo, who looked dumbfounded as he held her tail. He cried out in pain as she slashed him across the chest, blue blood spurting out. “THAT! HURT!” She continued to scream, pouring ki into her hands to blast Talo, only for him to disappear. Again! 

“You cut your tail off!” Olaive shouted, aghast as Elery searched around for that… that… that Jerk! He made her cut off her tail! She was going to kill him! “Does it hurt?” 

“No!” Elery lied, in the worst pain of her life. Worse, it felt like her tail was still there, but it wasn’t. Elery didn’t like that. Olaive seemed to sense that she was lying because a bright purple light filled her vision and the pain began to diminish where her stump of a tail was. It was the worst wound she had ever suffered before, and she could feel the Medicine Ball draining her strength to close the bleeding stump. 

Before Elery could thank her rival, another light caught her attention. Down below was Talo, cupping his hands together while the weird ball thing that was on his shoulder was now hovering above his hands. Only now it was a bunch of different colors in the rainbow swirled together. The big issue was that he was looking at their teams, who were winning against the three others. 

Elery’s eyes widened, noticing what he planned to do the same instant that Elery did. As one, they flew down, putting themselves between him and their teams. Elery didn’t know how to put it in words, but it was like they could read each other’s minds. There was no other way to describe it. Because there was no other explanation on why they had the same exact idea for a new technique. 

Throwing out their hands, they formed a wall of ki, much like the weird symbol that had stopped their attacks and protected Talo. Large and thick enough to protect their teams from the attack. At the center, it was layered, making it even stronger. 

“Purifying Light!” Talo shouted before his colorful attack launched from his palm. It filled Elery’s vision, a massive attack. And, again, she and Olaive had the same idea. Their shield expanded, covering up more room. A second later, the attack slammed into their shield with enough force that Elery felt it in her bones. 

Gritting her teeth, a low grow escaped her throat as she poured more ki into the wall, intending to make it utterly unbreakable. She felt the sheild get push back against the unrelenting torrent of multicolored ki. Elery pushed back, putting every ounce of strength into pushing back, but it wasn’t enough. Inch by inch, the attack pushed her and Olaive back. 

Until the shield began to buckle at the fringe. Eating away at their wall until the edges got closer and closer with every second. 

“No!” Elery snarled at the attack, willing the shield to hold. Her arms trembled from exertion, her teeth threatened to crack from how hard her jaw was clenched. “NO!” She shouted again, as if the attack itself would vanish if she shouted loud enough. But, in the end, that wasn’t the case. And teamwork, as much as Brother claimed it could make your attacks stronger, it could also make your defenses weaker. 

Olaive’s side of the shield crumbled, the rainbow light washing over her until only Elery remained for a brief second. In that second, an emotion that Elery had never felt before gripped her heart. 

Fear. 

Without the support of Olaive, Elery’s shield buckled underneath the attack. She closed her eyes, waiting for the pain that would end her life. But...instead... she felt… warm? It felt like she was standing in a pool of warm water, or something. Was dying supposed to feel like this?

Then, without any warning, the feeling vanished, which startled Elery enough that she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Talo’s dumbfounded face in the distance, staring at them with a slack jaw. Was she not dead? Elery looked to her side to see that Olaive was staring back at her with similar confusion. Elery shrugged her shoulders, completely lost. 

“That- how! How are you still alive! The Holy Light destroys evil and wickedness!” Talo shouted at them with disbelief. Oh. Maybe that was why they weren’t hurt? Or dead?

“Because we aren’t evil! We’re saiyans,” Elery shouted at him before she blasted off, rushing to close the distance between them. This time, there was no weird symbol that appeared between him and her fist. Talo barely moved, looking like he didn’t even notice her. What he did notice was her fist slamming into the side of his face. 

Today was a day of firsts, Elery learned. Elery was used to fighting people stronger than her. Brother, Mom, and the Team. Even those that were weaker than her, Olaive, Kakarot and her Arch-Enemies, they were at a comparable level of strength. 

Talo wasn’t.

Elery’s eyes went wide as she felt his head break against her fist, warm blood splashing over her face as Talo’s body went limp before it began to fall to the ground. She looked down, watching him fall until his body hit the ground with a splat. She was frozen solid for a moment, stuck in the pose that she had punched with, her mind struggling to understand what just happened. 

She killed him. 

“Oh,” Elery muttered, looking down at the body. The first person she had ever killed. Then she turned her attention to those still fighting behind her. 

“I guess I’ll have to hold back,” Elery noted before she blasted off to rejoin the fight. She couldn’t wait to tell Brother what happened while he was away. 

…

So, I’ve got some questions on why I decided to go with an Elery POV. Basically, Elery’s POV is important because she’s an untainted saiyan -- she’s not influenced by lessons downloaded into her head or memories of a past life. Elery’s mentality is what the baseline is.

That, and I want to focus on developing secondary characters because Tarble’s character arc is nearly completion until he hits Earth. Or I’m trying to make you care for her before I ruthlessly kill Elery off. It’s one of those two