Escarot

I stood where I was, watching the dust settle over what used to be solid ground. It seemed my last punch had packed quite the punch, no pun intended.

Okara was still down in the crater, half-buried under loose debris and broken stone. One arm was sticking out at an awkward angle, that reminded me of a cartoon I used to watch back on earth, fingers twitching every now and then. Breathing steady. Out cold.

I exhaled through my nose and rolled my shoulders once.

“That lasted longer than I expected,” I muttered.

Behind me, I heard the familiar tap of a staff. Pybara.

“You have done well,” he said.

I glanced at him, then back at Okara.

“Yeah,” I replied. “She’s gotten better.”

That was putting it lightly. The teleporting, the size manipulation, that weird Blutz Aura thing—she had picked up way more than I expected in such a short time. If I hadn’t learned how to use the power of the Great Ape without transforming into one, I would’ve lost this fight, easily.

I shook my head slightly.

Didn’t matter.

Pybara stepped beside me, looking down at the mess.

“For now,” he continued, “there is little more I can teach you.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“That it?”

He nodded once.

“That is it.”

No speech. No weird metaphor about rivers and flowing energy.

Huh…

I liked this version of him more.

“So training’s done,” I said.

“For now,” he repeated.

Of course.

I crossed my arms, glancing up at the sky for a second, then back down.

“I’ll come back,” I said. “There’s still stuff I want to learn.”

His eyes shifted slightly, amused.

“I know you do, we do have some cool techniques, or as the younglings say, sick moves.”

I snorted.

“Yeah.”

I jerked my head toward Okara.

“She figured out instant transmission before me. I’m not letting that slide.”

“She has a certain… directness,” Pybara said.

“That’s one way to say it.”

We stood there for a moment, nothing else really needing to be said.

Training was done.

That was it. Meaning it was time to go back to Planet Vegeta, and see how to solve the entire Frieza situation, I wasn’t worried though I still had a lot of time ahead, and I had made a lot of progress thus far, in a year or two, I could see myself as a Super Saiyan, in which case the Cold Clan wouldn’t pose a threat.

A low groan cut through the quiet.

I looked back down.

Okara’s arm twitched again, then she shifted under the rubble, coughing once before pushing a chunk of stone off her chest.

“…That fucking hurt,” she muttered.

I smirked.

She sat up slowly, one hand on her head, blinking like her brain hadn’t caught up yet. Then she looked at me.

“Are you ever gonna let me catch up, you fucking bastard?” she asked, then laughed, even as she winced. “I was pretty sure I had you now… but fuck me I guess.”

I shrugged.

“You tried your best, and that’s all that matters.”

She squinted at me.

“Don’t say it like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re giving me a consolation prize.”

Hehe, she was right.

“True true, butttttt, look at the bright side! You turned into a giant ape without a moon or a power ball,” I said. “That’s not a consolation prize. That’s insane.”

Her grin came back immediately.

“Right?!” she said, her ego eating that compliment like a fish. “That took forever to figure out, but I’m awesome just like that!”

“I can imagine.”

She stretched, then pointed at me.

“But you just had to ruin it.”

“You talk too much,” I replied.

“Fuck you.”

“And that’s what separates the super strong from the average.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Asshole.”

“Cry about it.”

She barked a laugh at that, then kicked a loose rock toward me.

“I’m serious though,” she said. “I thought I had you pinned with that last hit.”

“You almost did,” I admitted.

That made her pause.

“…Wait, really?”

“Yeah,” I said. “If I didn’t block properly, that would’ve ended it.”

She stared at me for a second.

Then her grin got wider.

“Damn,” she said. “I’m getting close.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” I replied. “You still got knocked out in one hit.”

She clicked her tongue.

“Details.”

We stood there for a bit, the usual back-and-forth settling into something easy.

Same as always.

She finally stretched again, cracking her neck.

“So,” she said, glancing around, “we done here?”

I looked at Pybara. He gave a small nod.

“Yes.”

That was all he said.

I looked back at Okara.

“Yeah,” I said. “We’re done.”

“Finally,” she muttered. “If I had to sit through one more meditation session, I was gonna punch someone, no offense I enjoyed my time here but enough is enough, a growing saiyan needs a certain amount of violence around them.”

I glanced back at Pybara.

“Thanks,” I said.

He inclined his head slightly. “You are welcome.”

I turned back to Okara.

She was already focusing, her posture shifting just a bit.

“So, where is our ship?” I asked, and Okara snorted.

“Screw that, let’s teleport there!” she said, puffing her chest proudly. “Space travel is for peasants!”

I… well, would you look at that, I am jealous of her. God damn it.

“Fine,”

“Good.”

She closed her eyes for half a second.

Locked in.

Then—

Everything snapped.

No movement.

No travel.

Just—

Gone.

And then we were somewhere else.

Planet Vegeta.

“See?” she said, stretching her arms. “Way faster.”

I rolled my shoulders once, adjusting to the shift. That was probably one of the coolest things I had ever experienced, by a wide margin.

“…You locked onto my little brother?” I asked, turning my head slightly.

Okara shrugged. “Strongest one on the planet. Like his brother, he’s a freak, so easy to feel from across the universe.”

Fair enough.

He had gotten stronger, much stronger, his power was increasing without any stimuli, just breathing was enough to increase his power it seems.

In a few years, he would be a problem to handle… I really hope sparing his adorable face doesn’t end up with mine getting flayed by a super powered murderous muscle machine.

“Good choice,” I muttered.

We stood in what looked like part of the training grounds near the inner structures of the planet—open space, reinforced flooring, a few broken sections here and there.

My baby brother was sitting on the ground, messing with a chunk of broken metal like it was a toy, completely unbothered by the fact that his presence alone warped the air slightly.

And next to him—

Bardock.

He turned a few moments after we appeared.

His stance shifted instantly—guard up, body angled, ready to move. His scouter flickered as it tried to process the sudden spike that had just dropped into his range.

Then he froze.

Recognition hit.

“…The hell?” he muttered.

I smirked slightly.

“Miss me?”

Bardock straightened, but the tension didn’t fully leave his posture. His eyes moved between me and Okara, then back to me again, like he was making sure this wasn’t some kind of trick.

“You just—” he gestured vaguely at the space behind us, “—appeared, is this a vision– no, no, it’s real.”

Okara grinned.

“Yeah. Cool, right?”

He ignored her.

Bardock crossed his arms, looking me up and down like he was checking for something.

“…You look different,” he said.

“Training,” I replied.

That was enough explanation.

He grunted slightly, accepting that. Then his expression shifted. More serious.

“There’s been… some problems.”

Of course there had.

I tilted my head slightly.

“Go on.”

Bardock glanced at Broly for a second, like he was making sure the kid wasn’t about to explode, then looked back at me.

“The former Queen,” he said. “She escaped.”

That made me pause. I made sure to leave her in a state of healing that would take far too long for her to ever recover.

“…How?”

“Inside help,” he replied. “Couple of loyalists we didn’t catch. They broke her out of the healing wing, and then she started destroying things.”

I clicked my tongue softly.

That was sloppy.

I should’ve just killed her, instead of thinking she could be rehabilitated to be Vegeta’s mother, so that I didn’t have to find a surrogate for the God of hairline recessions.

I should’ve dealt with her when I had the chance. I will next time I see her.

“She didn’t leave alone,” Bardock continued. “General Nappa was one of them.”

That got my attention. I had completely forgotten about Nappa, and now that I think about it, it makes sense he helped them, he was extremely loyal to Vegeta when alive, despite all the abuse he had to endure which would explain why he was helping the Queen, he was a loyalist down to the bone.

“Nappa?” I repeated.

He nodded.

“Yeah. Him and a few others. They took a ship.”

I already knew where this was going.

“And?” I asked.

Bardock’s gaze hardened slightly.

“They took the kid too.”

That… makes sense, with Vegeta she could probably try to instigate a coup or the Saiyan equivalent of one, I’m still not sure how our politics work, or if we even have politics other than: Monkey strong, monkey rule, monkey happy.

“…Well fuck,” I said.

“Yeah.”

Silence settled for a second.

Okara shifted beside me.

“Wait,” she said, frowning. “So the old Queen, her brat, and a bunch of traitors are just… gone?”

“Pretty much,” Bardock replied.

“And no one stopped them?”

Bardock looked at her flatly.

“I tried, I got my tail handed back to me in a fucking platter, the beatdown you gave her made her quite powerful.”

She clicked her tongue.

“Weak.”

I didn’t say anything right away. Just stood there, processing it… there was much to think about, this little stunt could be detrimental to my entire plan.

Kayle escaped, and instead of leveling this entire planet to the ground, which I am pretty sure was within her power to do so, she just left.

Took Vegeta.

Got help from Nappa, and left.

That wasn’t just a prison break. It had layers to it…

This was a move.

A calculated one.

And there was only one place she could go that would actually matter.

“…Frieza,” I muttered, realizing just how much sparing her life would probably cost me.

Bardock’s brow furrowed.

“You think she’d go there?”

“Yes.”

I had zero fucking doubt.

Because if she wanted power back—or revenge—there was no better option.

Sell me out.

Tell a lie big enough for the Emperor to believe, all she needed to do was touch the right buttons and the rest would follow naturally, it wasn’t hard.

All she needed to do was to give Frieza a reason.

“…That’s a problem,” Okara said.

“Yeah,” I replied.

Bardock crossed his arms tighter.

“So what now?” he asked. “You want us to go after them?”

I shook my head.

“No.”

They were already gone. Even if we chased them now, it wouldn’t matter.

The move had already been made.

What mattered was what came next.

I looked at Broly.

The kid had stopped playing with the metal piece and was now staring at me, happy, using the ancient language of the babies to tell me he was happy to see me.

I crouched down slightly, meeting his level.

“…You behave?” I asked.

He blinked once.

Then grabbed the metal chunk again like the conversation was over.

I snorted.

“Good talk.”

I stood back up, turning to Bardock again.

“Keep doing what you’ve been doing,” I said. “Watch him. Train your team. Don’t let anything else slip.”

Bardock nodded.

“Got it.”

Then he paused.

“…You’re not surprised,” he added.

I shrugged slightly.

“I was expecting something to go wrong, this was on me for sparing her.”

Ruthlessness was mercy upon ourselves.

“Fair.”

Okara stepped forward slightly, cracking her knuckles.

“So what now?” she asked. “We just wait for them to come back with friends?”

I glanced at her.

“…Something like that.”

Because if Kayle did what I thought she did—

Then this wasn’t over.

Not even close.

And whatever was coming next—

Was going to hit a lot harder than anything we’d dealt with so far. I better contact Cooler.