…Where am I?
My hands… they're small.
Bua…? (Huh?)
BWAHH!! (I CAN'T TALK?!)
What the hell is happening?
As my eyes slowly adjust to the darkness, I realize I'm on some kind of chair.
In front of me is a screen showing streaks of light stretching endlessly through a pitch-black void.
I… don't get it… there's too much happening…
Wait.
Is that… space?
I'M IN SPACE?!
BWAH?! (HELLO?!)
BUAAAAAAAH!! (HELP!!)
My eyes dart wildly around the tiny interior until they land on a console ahead of me.
I try to reach for it when something long and snake-like floats into my view.
BUH?! BAAAH?! (S-SNAKE??!!)
I panic. Until I notice it's attached to me.
It's… a tail?
My tail?
My mind went blank.
Why do I have a tail?
Then something clicked. My heart rate spiked. My body started sweating. My tail... wriggling.
Am I… a Saiyan?
———
After some time, I finally calm 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's not to admire?
…Well, there was that one thing… but let's talk about that one later.
My destination?
I remember: Saiyans launch their infants to weak planets, letting them kill the native lifeforms and prepare them for the future saiyan reign. One of the tests that every Saiyan go 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.
Still… it would've been cooler if I wasn't the one going through with it!
I'm actually a Saiyan now!
This attack pod and this tail are all the proof I need.
Speaking of...
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 real world applications... well I can't think of much, maybe like closing the door when you leave the room, or flicking off the a switch when your hands are full?
Anyway, when I tried squeezing it, surprisingly it didn't weaken me like it did in the anime. Maybe it's like how your brain stops you from biting off your own finger... like self-preservation instinct? (that's a total myth, by the way)
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 jogging, like always, when I saw her... the girl I'd passed a hundred times before. Only now she was cornered by three drunk guys.
I remember I didn't think much but something inside me bubbled up.
Something inside me made me step in front of her.
"Back off.", I said.
They laughed. One shoved me. Another swung. His punch wasn't fighter level stuff, just fast and stupid. And yet this fast and stupid swing rattled my skull and made the world tilt. The girl bolted the moment she had space.
Good. That was enough. Best case scenario.
"I'm done," I tried to say, lifting my hands in surrender.
Someone grabbed my jacket and threw me down. My palms scraped the pavement.
Damn that's embarrassing...
I pushed up.
And froze.
One of them bent down, with a brick on his hand, stared at me like I'd personally insulted his pride, and spoke to me with his alcohol breath.
"DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?"
He didn't wait for an answer.
"No, I—"
He smashed it into the side of my head.
A sharp crack. White flash. The world went thin and far away. I hit the ground and my body stopped feeling like mine. I heard someone shouting. Someone laughing. My vision narrowed to a circle.
The brick came down again.
Then everything went dark.
———
Just thinking about it makes me so fucking bitter. Why did those bastards end me just like that?
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.
I need... a distraction.
How long is this ride anyway? Can't I make it faster?
I focus on the console. Alien symbols. Yup... why was I expecting English?
Well… only one way to find out.
Beep.
A robotic female voice echoes inside the pod.
"Aera-Nekar."
The air turns slightly colder. Heating system? Cooling? Life support? No idea.
Beep.
"Medika Vor'Nekar."
A faint buzzing. I feel a little tingling, but other that that.. no immediate change.
Beep.
"Vitar Scanor."
A heart monitor appears on the glass, pulsing in time with my heartbeat. Look at that, I'm alive... for now.
Beep.
"Vor'Grau."
Beneath the monitor, numbers flicker rapidly before stopping:
000007
My… power level?
Seven?
If I remember right, humans average around 5. That makes me stronger than most adults already... and I'm still just a baby. Goku started at 2. Vegeta and Broly were in the thousands.
Seven is pathetic too... 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 Saiyan 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 somewhat excited even, I press more buttons.
Beep.
"Vorak Shira."
The lights shut off.
Cloaking? Stealth mode? Quiet Saiyan baby sleepy time?
Beep.
"VORAK T'SHEN."
Suddenly, the pod came to a complete stop.
The streaking lights in the void collapse back into stationary stars.
A massive planet takes up 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!
In panic, I mash the button again. Nothing.
The pod creaks. Vibrates. Falling towards the planet.
Yup. We're entering the atmosphere.
Wait a second, is this Earth?? No. The continents are... different. Not to mention the planet looks bigger. Waaaay bigger.
Shit I just realized, what if the average power levels here are at around three digits? four digits? No... what if this planet's completely UNLIVABLE?
Great. Curiosity kills the Saiyan baby.
I can feel the pod heating up. Fire 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
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 at what stage of civilization the inhabitants here are??
My heart starts racing, not from fear, but excitement. Ambition. Hunger.
If this life made me a Saiyan…
Then I'll live like one.
But first... let's see if I survive the crash.
The Little Saiyan in his pod were now entering the planet called "Gaia", a world home to beings capable of altering reality, severing space, altering reality... god-like beings.
Let's see where this Saiyan otherworlder will end up.