…
..Where am I?
My hands… why are they... small?
Bua…? (Huh?)
Buuua…? (Huuuh?)
BWAHH!! (I CAN'T TALK?!)
What the hell is happening?!
My slowly adjusted to the darkness around me, I realize I'm on sitting on a couch or something.
Fortunately not strapped or anything.
In front of me... is a screen?
It's showing streaks of light that stretched endlessly through a pitch-black void.
Still, what the hell am I looking at?
Where am I?
I… don't get it… there's too much happening…
Uh...
Wait.
Is that… space?
AM I....
AM I IN SPACE?!
BWAH?! (HELLO?!)
BUAAAAAAAH!! (HELP!!)
In panic, I look around me until I see small console in front just barely within reach.
But when I tried to reach for it, something long and snake-like floated into my view.
THERE WAS SOMETHING HERE WITH ME?!
BUH?! BAAAH?! (S-SNAKE??!!)
I shielded my face as I tried to swat it away, eventually grabbing the snake by the "head".
But then I felt great weakness take over my body.
Ughh... was I bitten?
My eyes finally focused as I noticed what it actually was.
And it was attached to me all along.
…a tail?
My tail?
Haha.
Why do I have a monkey's tail?
Where have I seen that before?
Ah, kind of like Son—
It finally clicked.
My heart rate spiked.
My temples started sweating.
My tail… wriggling uncontrollably.
I… I'm a Saiyan?
———
After some time, I finally calmed down.
I'm a Saiyan infant, inside a pod, flying through space.
Great.
The first part is cool, the second… not so much.
I was a huge DBZ fan as a kid. Goku was my hero! His love for fighting, his honor, his pure heart, and most of all, his relentless drive to grow stronger. What was there not to admire?!
…Well, there was that one thing… but let's talk about that later. (Absent Father)
My destination?
I remember: Saiyans launched their infants to weak planets, letting them kill the native lifeforms and prepare them for the future Saiyan reign. It was one of the tests that every weak Saiyan goes through. Kind of like that story about lions pushing cubs off cliffs and only raising the ones who climb back up.
Messed up… but fitting for a warrior race.
Cool concept tbh.
Still… it would've been cooler if I wasn't the one going through with it!
But fuck, I'm actually a Saiyan now!
This pod and this tail basically proves it!
Speaking of tail…
It feels surreal having another limb. Though I can't control it properly yet, I feel like it opens up a whole new world of practical real-world applications… well, I can't think of much.
Maybe like closing the door when you leave the room, or picking up a coffee mug when your hands are full and too lazy to return for a second trip then end up pickup too much shit that inevitably end up in a clumsy fall that ruins your day?
Anyway, when I tried squeezing it this time, it didn't weaken me like it did awhile ago.
Maybe it's like how your brain stops you from biting off your own finger… like a self-preservation instinct? (That's a total myth, by the way.) And I didn't think it was a part of me at the time, so I squeezed harder than I should?
Hm... I have a weakness now.
As for my memories… they're all still there.
Intact, for the most part.
Recalling stuff feels like it was just yesterday.
———
I remember that morning being quiet.
I was out on walk, like always, when I saw her… the girl I'd passed a hundred times before. Only now, she was cornered by three guys.
I was never the heroic type, and my combat experience is me winning a fake argument I made up in the shower, but something inside me bubbled up.
I really didn't think I had it in me, but it made me step in front of her.
"Enough," I said.
They laughed.
One shoved me.
Another swung.
His punch wasn't powerful... and yet, this fast and stupid swing caught me off guard and struck me like a fucking critical hit. It rattled my skull and made the world tilt.
Who the heck swings before they even speak?
The girl bolted the moment she had the opportunity though.
Good. That was enough. Best-case scenario.
"I'm sorry," I tried to say, lifting my hands in surrender.
But someone grabbed my jacket and threw me down. My palms scraped the pavement.
Alright, this is... I really should have planned this better.
I pushed up.
And froze.
One of them bent down, brick in hand, and looked at me with eyes that rang alarm bells in my head.
"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU GONNA DO HUH?!"
"Shit, No, I—"
He didn't wait for an answer.
He smashed it into the side of my head.
The last thing I heard was a sharp crack. Then a white flash. The world went thin and far away.
I think I hit the ground, and my body felt extremely light.
I heard someone shouting. Someone laughing. My vision blurred as the whiteness took over.
The brick came down again.
Then everything finally went dark.
———
Just thinking about it makes me so fucking bitter. Why did that bastard end me just like that?
I... I wanted to live! I wanted to travel! To fall in love! To have kids!
...To do more. I wanted to do so much more.
Why was my future taken away so casually?
Why was I so... weak?
...
I need… a distraction.
How long is this ride anyway? Can't I make it go faster?
I looked at the console.
Alien symbols. Yup. It would've been non-immersive if it were in English, right?
Any of these for... speed?
Well, only one way to find out.
Beep.
A robotic feminine voice echoed inside the pod.
"Aera-Nekar."
The air turned slightly colder. Heating system? Cooling? Life support? No idea.
Beep.
"Medika Vor'Nekar."
A faint buzzing. I feel a little tingling, but other than that… no immediate change.
Beep.
"Vitar Scanor."
A heart monitor appeared on the glass, pulsing in sync with my heartbeat.
Wow. Look at that—I'm alive. For now.
Beep.
"Vor'Grau."
Beneath the monitor, numbers appeared and flicker rapidly before stopping:
000007
What the hell is this?
Wait... could this be a power tracking thing? A scouter?
So that's my… power level?
Seven?
If I remember right, humans average around five. That makes me stronger than most adults already… and I'm still just a baby. Goku started at two. Vegeta and Broly were in the thousands.
Seven is pathetic compared to others… but power levels show present combat levels, not one's innate potential. Saiyan growth is insane! Goku literally goes from being one of the weakest Saiyans to a being that rival actual gods.
Granted, he was beaten to an inch of his life multiple times… and died multiple times too.
Feeling reassured—and actually excited—I press more buttons.
Beep.
"Vorak Shira."
The lights shut off.
Cloaking? Stealth mode? Quiet Saiyan baby sleepy time? hehe.
Beep.
"VORAK T'SHEN."
Suddenly, the pod came to a complete stop.
The streaking lights in the void collapsed back into what they actually were; stars in the galaxy.
Then, a massive planet filled my view.
I… should not have touched that one.
That must've turned off the hyperdrive… or FTL or whatever?!
The planet's gravity is pulling me in!
UNDO, UNDO, ABORT!
I mash the button again. Nothing.
The pod creaked. It started to vibrate. Falling toward the planet.
Shit. I'm entering the atmosphere.
But wait a second—is this Earth??
No. The continents are… different. Not to mention, the planet looks bigger. Way bigger.
Shit, I just realized—what if the average power levels of the creatures here are around three digits? Four digits? No… what if this planet's completely UNLIVABLE wasteland!?
Great. Curiosity kills the Saiyan baby.
WHY DID I HAVE TO CLICK SHIT?!
I can feel the inside of the pod heating up. Fire started streaking across the glass.
Please have intelligent life. Please have intelligent life. Please have intelligent life. Please have intelligent life. Please have intelligent life. Please have intelligent life. Please have intelligent life.
Then, from beyond the glass, I see… lights.
Not from the stars, but from the planet below.
Which means…
Civilization.
CIVILIZATION!
Cities! Structures! Life!
Not a dead world. And at the very least, not an endless ocean planet like the one in Interstellar.
I wonder what stage of civilization the inhabitants here are at?
My heart started to race from excitement. Ambition. Hunger.
If this life made me a Saiyan…
Then I'll live like one!
But my first goal… survive the crash!
.
.
The little Saiyan in his pod now enters the planet called Gaia—a world home to beings capable of severing space, altering reality… god-like beings.
Let's see where this Saiyan otherworlder will end up.