I was a bit occupied, that's why there wasn't chapters these 2 days.
--
The artificial moon had long since faded, yet the Great Ape remained.
Suspended a few feet above the ground, the massive Oozaru sat in a lotus position, defying gravity. Its breathing was slow, the air shifting with every inhalation.
Kami floated nearby on his carpet, observing the beast with a mixture of awe and concern.
"He searches for the beast within," Kami murmured, clutching his staff. "But the silence has lasted too long. It seems like there is something more to him than it seemed..."
The Great Ape did not stir. He remained lost in the abyss of its own soul, leaving the rest of the universe to fend for itself.
--
The jungle was burning.
The air smelled of burnt fur and blood. Broly stood in the center of the clearing.
His eyes had turned a fierce, glowing yellow.
A Belurian heavy walker, a four-legged tank the size of a building, swiveled its cannons toward him.
Broly walked toward it. Slowly
The cannons fired.
Broly walked through the smoke. He was untouched. His green aura flared, expanding around him like a giant. Though he was still physically a child, to the eyes of the terrified Belurians, he seemed to loom larger than the trees, a titan made of pure rage.
He reached the walker. He grabbed one of the massive legs.
With a simple, jerking motion, he ripped the leg off.
It was carnage. It was systematic, efficient annihilation.
I watched from behind the cover of my own ship, panting. My Ki was flaring, my body tense.
"He's clearing them," I realized. "He's drawing all the attention."
The Belurian army was panicking. They were turning their backs on us to focus on the monster.
"This is it," I hissed. "The window is open."
I turned to the squad. They were a mess. Nappa was leaning against a tree, blood pouring from his head wound. Toma was trying to stabilize Zuto, who looked more dead than alive. Raditz was curled in a ball. Vegeta was firing pot-shots, trying to stay relevant.
"Everyone!" I shouted, my voice cutting through the explosions. "Get to the pods! Retreat! Now!"
Nappa looked up, wiping blood from his eyes. "Retreat? We don't run, Runt! We fight until—"
"Look at him!" I pointed at Broly, who was currently vaporizing a platoon with a wave of his hand. "He isn't distinguishing targets anymore! Once he's done with them, he's coming for us! Get Zuto in stasis and go!"
"I'll handle Broly," I added, my voice grim. "I'll calm him down and bring him back personally."
Nappa staggered forward. He grabbed the back of my head and slapped me. Hard.
SMACK.
"Who do you think I am, kid?" Nappa roared, his pride stinging more than his wounds. "I'm the Commander! You don't give orders to—"
I turned slowly. I didn't yell. I just looked at him.
Anger, cold and sharp, flashed in my eyes. Nappa froze. His hand hovered in the air.
A cold smile touched my lips.
"How are you going to be of any help when you're that beaten up?" I asked softly. "You're bleeding on my boots, Nappa. Go."
Nappa opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked at my eyes, then at Broly destroying the army.
"Fine," Nappa grunted, trying to salvage his dignity. "Get the kid. Don't die."
"I won't" I said the truth. I wouldn't die. I was safe on earth. But I hope it won't come to that, I would really all this power back.
He grabbed Zuto by the belt, threw him over his shoulder, and lumbered toward his pod.
"Toma! Raditz! Move!"
Toma didn't need to be told twice. She scrambled into her ship.
Raditz was already gone, his pod engine revving before the order was fully out of my mouth.
That left the Prince.
Vegeta stood his ground, watching Broly with a mixture of jealousy and fury.
"I am not leaving," Vegeta spat. "If that low-born mutant can fight, so can I! I will not be outshined by—"
I didn't have time for this.
I walked up to him.
"Go, you cocky brat," I muttered.
I grabbed the Prince of all Saiyans by the back of his armor and the seat of his pants.
"Unhand me!" Vegeta shrieked, kicking his legs. "This is treason! I will—"
I threw him.
He sailed through the air and landed perfectly in the open hatch of his Attack Ball.
I hit the remote override on the exterior panel.
"Launch sequence initiated," the computer chirped.
"You will pay for this, Cress!" Vegeta screamed as the hatch slammed shut.
His pod blasted off, followed by Nappa, Toma, and Raditz.
Silence, or relative silence, returned to the immediate area.
I let out a breath. "Okay. Just me and the monster."
"And me."
I spun around.
Ruca was standing by her pod. She hadn't moved. Her arms were crossed, her face set in a stubborn scowl.
"Ruca," I groaned. "Get in the ball."
"No," she said.
"I don't have time to argue!" I shouted, gesturing to the battlefield where Broly was finishing off the last enemies. "He's almost done! Get in the damn ship!"
"I'm not leaving you alone with him," Ruca shot back. "You're exhausted. If he turns on you, you're dead."
"I have a plan!" I lied. "But I can't do it if I'm worrying about you!"
I marched toward her. "Get in the pod, Ruca. That's an order."
"I don't take orders from you," she hissed.
I reached for her, intending to throw her in just like I did Vegeta.
Ruca saw it coming.
She raised her hand. She didn't aim at me.
She aimed at her own ship.
"Flash."
A beam of energy shot from her palm. It slammed into the engine intake of her Attack Ball.
BOOM.
The pod exploded. Metal shrapnel rained down around us. The ship was a smoking wreck.
I stopped dead in my tracks. My jaw dropped.
"What the fuck?" I whispered. "Oh my god!"
I stared at the burning wreckage, then at her.
"You..." I stammered. "You destroyed your ride home? Are you insane?"
Ruca shrugged, though her hands were trembling slightly. "Now I can't leave. Oops."
She stepped up to me, her chin high.
"We fight together, Cress. Or we die together."
I looked at her. I wanted to scream. I wanted to shake her.
But underneath the frustration, a terrifying warmth spread through my chest.
"Ugh," I shook my head, a desperate laugh bubbling up. "You're too reckless."
"I know," she smirked weakly. "We can share your pod later. Or Broly's. Assuming we survive."
"Assuming," I agreed.
Then, the ground stopped shaking.
The explosions ceased. The screaming stopped.
The Belurian army was gone.
I turned slowly toward the clearing.
Broly stood amidst the burning wreckage. His chest was heaving. His uniform was torn, revealing the massive muscles of a child who shouldn't exist.
He slowly turned his head.
His yellow eyes locked onto us.
There were no other life signs. No other targets.
Just me. And Ruca.
He took a step toward us. Then another.
The killing intent hit me like a physical wave. He didn't recognize me.
I swallowed hard, dropping into a fighting stance.
"Well," I muttered, watching Broly walk toward us. "This is a bit scary..."
"Broly," I called out, keeping my voice steady despite my heart beating louder and faster. "It's me. Cress. Look at me."
Broly stopped ten meters away. He tilted his head, like a dog listening to a whistle it didn't understand.
"I'm not an enemy," I said, stepping forward slowly, hands raised, palms open. "I told you to look at me."
I was gambling. I was betting everything on the weeks of quiet conversations in the barracks, the nods in the hallway, the shared silence. I was betting that the bond I had carefully cultivated was stronger than this rage of his.
Broly stared at me. For a second, the green aura dimmed.
Then, he roared.
"GRAAAH!"
It was a roar of annoyance. He moved.
One second he was ten meters away. The next, he was in front of me.
My eyes widened. Fast.
I didn't have time to dodge. I crossed my arms, Bracing myself for the impact.
WHAM.
It felt like being hit by a hammer.
Broly's fist slammed into my guard. My arms didn't break, but my body couldn't handle the momentum.
I was launched.
I flew backward, crashing through the burning remains of Belurians.
I bounced, skidded, and finally came to a halt in a pile of ash.
"Gah!" I coughed, tasting blood. My forearms were numb. My chest felt like it had been caved in.
I scrambled to my feet. 'Okay. talking didn't work.'
Broly was already moving again. He leaped, closing the distance in a single bound. He raised both hands, clasped together like a hammer.
I vanished.
I reappeared behind him.
"Wake up!" I screamed, driving a kick into the back of his knee.
It was a solid hit. It should have buckled him.
Broly's leg didn't even bend. He spun around, swinging a backhand.
I ducked. The wind pressure alone ruffled my hair.
I countered. A flurry of punches to his ribs.
I was hitting him with everything I had. My fists were blurring. Each strike was precise, aimed at weak points.
Broly took them. He didn't block. He didn't flinch. He just looked down at me, his yellow eyes bored.
He reached out and grabbed my head.
"No," I choked out.
He lifted me off the ground. My feet kicked uselessly.
He squeezed.
My vision went white. The pressure was immense. My skull felt like it was about to crack.
Then, a beam of red light slammed into his face.
BOOM.
Broly's head snapped back. His grip loosened just enough for me to slip free.
I dropped to the ground, gasping for air, clutching my head.
I looked up.
Ruca was standing, her hand extended, smoke curling from her palm. She was breathing hard.
"Let him go!" Ruca screamed.
Broly turned his head slowly. The blast had scorched his cheek, but the skin was already healing. He looked at Ruca.
He smiled.
It was a cruel, feral smile.
He dropped me and walked toward her.
"Ruca, run!" I yelled, staggering to my feet.
She didn't run. She charged.
She wasn't as fast as me. She wasn't as strong. But she was agile. She slid under Broly's guard, aiming for his tail.
She grabbed it.
"Got you!" she shouted, squeezing the tail with all her strength.
For a normal Saiyan, this was game over. The tail was the weakness. The off switch.
Broly paused. He looked down at his tail.
He frowned.
Then, he flexed his tail muscle.
It whipped Ruca into the air.
"Gah!" Ruca screamed as she was thrown like a ragdoll. She slammed into a tree, sliding down the trunk. She hit the ground and didn't get up immediately.
Broly turned back to me.
I stared at him.
I had been naive.
I thought I was smart. I thought that because I knew the lore, I could fix him with a few kind words and some mentorship.
I was an idiot.
This wasn't a shonen anime where the power of friendship solved trauma in twenty minutes.
Broly charged.
I met him.
We clashed in the center of the clearing.
It wasn't a fight. It was a massacre.
I dodged a punch, but the shockwave threw me off balance. Broly grabbed my leg. He slammed me into the ground. Once. Twice.
I fired a point-blank blast into his chest. He walked through it.
He grabbed my arm and twisted.
CRACK.
I screamed. My left arm hung limp, dislocated at the shoulder.
He punched me in the gut.
I fell to my knees, retching bile and blood.
I looked up. Broly stood over me, raising his foot to stomp on my head.
This was it. Game over for the clone.
"Get away from him!"
Ruca.
She hit him from the side. She tackled him.
She couldn't move him, but the impact made him stumble. His foot missed my head, stomping into the mud inches from my nose.
Ruca was on his back, pounding on his head with her fists. She was screaming, incoherent with rage.
"Don't touch him! Don't you dare touch him!"
She was crying. Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the dirt.
Broly reached back, grabbed her by the hair, and threw her.
She crashed into the mud next to me. She groaned, trying to push herself up, but her arms gave out.
"Cress..." she whispered, looking at me. "I... can't..."
Broly looked at us. Both of us broken. Both of us defeated.
He raised his hand. Green energy gathered in his palm. An execution blast.
I looked at him.
I looked at Ruca.
Then, something cold and hard settled in my chest.
I can end this, I realized.
I had one arm left. I had just enough Ki.
I could summon a Kienzan. A Destructo Disc.
He wouldn't dodge. He would try to tank it. And the Kienzan didn't care about durability. It would slice him in half. I doubt he was perfect Cell level durability at this moment.
I could kill him. Right now.
He was a threat. He was out of control. If I killed him, I survived. Ruca survived.
My hand twitched. I started to form the disc.
'Do it,' my survival instinct screamed. 'Cut him down.'
I looked at Broly's face.
Beneath the glowing eyes, beneath the snarl... I saw a terrified child.
I remembered Kami's voice.
"Trust is the hardest thing to build. But it is the only chain that holds."
If I killed him now, I proved that he was just a monster, and I was just another handler with a leash.
I dissipated the energy in my hand.
"No," I whispered.
I forced myself to stand up. My legs shook. My arm dangled uselessly.
I walked toward him.
Broly watched me. The green light in his hand pulsed. He was confused.
I walked right up to him. I stopped inches from his chest. I had to look up to meet his eyes.
The energy ball was buzzing next to my ear. The heat was intense.
"Broly," I said.
My voice was quiet. Calm.
"Look at me."
Broly stared. His face twitched.
"You are scared," I said. "It's loud. It's bright. You want it to stop."
I reached out with my good hand.
I didn't strike him.
I placed my hand on his chest, right over his heart.
"I am here," I said. "I am not leaving. I am not fighting."
I looked deep into those yellow, void-like eyes.
"Trust me."
The silence stretched for an eternity. The green light flared, threatening to vaporize my head.
Then, Broly blinked.
The yellow faded. The pupils returned, dark and wide.
He looked at my hand on his chest. He looked at my broken arm. He looked at Ruca bleeding in the mud.
Horror washed over his face.
The green aura vanished. The energy ball dissipated.
Broly stumbled back. He looked at his hands. They were shaking.
"Cress?" he whispered. His voice was small. Broken.
"I'm here," I said, staying steady.
"I... I hurt you," Broly stammered. Tears welled up in his eyes. "I didn't mean to. I... the noise... it wouldn't stop..."
He fell to his knees, burying his face in his hands. He started to sob. Great, heaving sobs that shook his massive frame.
I let out a breath, my legs finally giving out. I sat down heavily in the mud.
I looked over at Ruca.
She was staring at me. Her eyes were wide, filled with a mixture of shock and awe. She had seen me choose the hard path. She had seen me walk into the fire without a weapon.
"You're crazy," she whispered, a weak smile touching her lips.
"Yeah," I agreed, looking at the crying boy. "I guess I am."
I reached out and patted Broly's shoulder.
"It's okay, kid," I said. "We survived. That's all that matters."
Broly looked up. He looked at me with a devotion that was terrifying in its intensity.
--
The evacuation was silent.
Broly had stopped crying, but he moved like a puppet, following my hand signals without question. I guided him to his pod, punching in the coordinates for Planet Vegeta.
"Get in," I said gently.
Broly climbed inside. He looked at me one last time, his eyes pleading.
"Sleep," I ordered. "When you wake up, we'll be home."
He nodded and closed his eyes. The hatch hissed shut.
I turned to Ruca. She was leaning against the wreckage of her own pod, holding her ribs.
"Yours is toast," I noted, gesturing to the smoking remains of her ship.
"I noticed," she grunted.
"Go with Broly," I said. "His pod is a Heavy Assault model. More legroom."
Ruca stared at me as if I had just suggested she fly home without a ship.
"Are you joking?" she asked. "Get in a pod with the ticking time bomb who just tried to peel my face off? No thanks. I'll take my chances with you."
"My pod is standard issue," I argued. "It's built for one person. It's going to be cramped."
"I don't care," she said, limping toward my ship. "Move over."
I sighed. "Fine."
We climbed into my pod.
It wasn't just cramped; it was intimate. The seat was designed to hold a single Saiyan snugly against the G-forces. With two of us, it was a puzzle of limbs.
I sat first. Ruca climbed in after me. She had to straddle my lap, her legs hooking around my waist to fit. Her face was inches from mine.
The hatch closed, sealing us in the dim red light of the cockpit.
The air was already getting warm.
"Comfortable?" I asked dryly, wincing as her armor pressed against my dislocated shoulder.
"Shut up," she muttered, resting her forehead against my chest plate. She sounded exhausted. "Just fly the damn ship."
"Yes, ma'am."
I initiated the launch sequence. The thrusters fired, and the G-force slammed us back into the seat. Ruca let out a small gasp of pain, her grip tightening on my shoulders.
I didn't push her away. I didn't complain.
As we broke the atmosphere and the stars streaked into lines of light, I looked down at her. She was already asleep, passed out from the trauma and the adrenaline crash.
I let out a short, quiet laugh.
--
The observation deck was bathed in the cold light of a nearby nebula. Frieza sat in his hover-chair.
"The audio logs from the Belurian surface are... chaotic, Lord Frieza," Zarbon reported. "Commander Nappa ordered a retreat. But the recording from the rear guard..."
He hesitated.
"It sounds like madness, my Lord. Screaming. Explosions that exceeded standard parameters. And then... silence."
Frieza took a sip of his wine. "And the energy readings?"
"Spikes," Zarbon said. "Massive, erratic spikes. One signature in particular... it fluctuated wildly. It reached levels that rival the Ginyu Force."
Frieza set the glass down. The boredom that usually clouded his eyes was gone, replaced by a sharp, predatory focus.
"The large child," Frieza mused. "Broly."
"Yes, my Lord. The boy Paragus hides."
Frieza drummed his fingers on the armrest.
"The Legend," Frieza whispered. "Super Saiyan."
For years, he had dismissed it. A bedtime story. A myth monkeys told themselves to feel important.
But power like that? In a child? It wasn't natural. It wasn't just a mutation.
It was a threat.
Frieza stood up. He floated to the viewport, looking out at the vast, empty darkness.
"They are becoming troublesome," Frieza said softly. "King Vegeta thinks he is clever, hoarding these anomalies. He thinks he is building an army."
He turned back to Zarbon. His red eyes glowed.
"If they come back alive," Frieza commanded, his voice devoid of any emotion, "we will have to address this."
"Shall I prepare a detention cell?" Zarbon asked.
Frieza laughed. It was a high, chilling sound.
"No, Zarbon. Detention is for unruly pets."
He looked at his hand, flexing his fingers.
"We are past the point of discipline. If the boy is indeed the Legend... then we cannot risk letting him grow any further."
Frieza smiled.
"We should get rid of him."