Pride Rekindled: Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Davik tapped on the console of his pod, pressing buttons on the holographic display as he began to manually guide his descent into the atmosphere of Planet Grinn.

Planet Grinn was one that Cooler had specifically left alone while the species inhabiting it built up its infrastructure. Last time it was monitored a little over twenty years ago, their population had been shooting up drastically and it was estimated that in a little over a decade, the entire planet would be colonized.

So why exactly was Davik seeing nothing but forest as his pod breached the planet’s lower atmosphere?

He frowned, clicking the button on the side of his scooter and putting it into scanning mode.

“Hmm… interesting.” He muttered.

“What is it Davik? You see a cow you wanna fuck or somethin’?” A burly voice taunted, and he sighed as he realized he had left his communicator on.

“Why would he want anything to do with your mother Buri?” Pumm asked his friend.

“Oi! I'll have you know my mother's more of a pig than a cow! Haha!”

Davik barely held back a sigh at the byplay between the two morons who had been assigned to accompany him. Buri and Pumm were relatively weak members of the crew, but still far from the weakest. They couldn’t hold a candle to him however, and the only reason they spoke to him like they did was because they knew he couldn't care less.

For someone as powerful as Davik, depopulating a planet such as Grinn could be done in the literal wave of a hand. There was no reason anyone should have been sent along with him. Unfortunately for his sanity, Orishi had decided that Buri and Pumm should accompany him as ‘assistance’.

Personally, Davik believed the captain was just hoping Davik would snap and kill the two morons, freeing up space back on the ship that was wasted in their presence. It was just too bad for him that Davik was more than used to dealing with idiots, Buri and Pumm would likely survive the trip.

Provided they didn't kill each other with their stupidity.

Davik ignored their words as he always did instead scrutinizing the readings he received from his scouter.

There was a single notable power level, a little above six thousand. Nothing that should be extraordinary, except for the fact that the population of Grinn was extremely weak, ranking in the low tens when it came to power level. Even in twenty years, there was no way they could have shot up in power by such a large margin.

Which meant whatever was responsible for the reading, was likely also responsible for the lack of colonization on the planet.

Luckily for him, he would have no need to search them out, as it seemed whoever or whatever it was had noticed their pods entering the atmosphere. They were heading right for their designated landing spot. They would likely meet them the moment they landed.

Davik deactivated his scouter and as he leaned back to wait out the next few minutes of travel to the planet’s surface, he couldn’t help but think things had gotten much more interesting.

Grinn’s Surface - Papri

“We are approaching the landing zone of the pods.” Bot rang out in her ear as Papri’s flight neared a rocky clearing between several mountains.

“I can see that.” Papri retorted as she set down on top of a cliff. She turned her gaze upwards, relief filling her as she spied her salvation descending from the heavens, crashing down on the rock below and shaking her atop her perch.

There were three of them, attack pods with the symbol of the Planet Trade Organization emblazoned on their front glowed red from their entry. They let out a loud hiss as their hatches began to open, allowing their occupants to exit.

The first one out was a short, muscular blue alien with lighter blue fanlike appendages on his head. Papri had seen a few members of his race before she was stranded, but she couldn't recall their name.

The second to emerge was much more familiar, with his distinctive elongated skull and bright orange colored skin speckled with green markings. A Fruitian, one of the most common races in the PTO. Not exactly known for their power, but their intelligence was usually above average.

(This one didn't look that smart in Papri's opinion, but there was a few outliers in every race she supposed.) 

The last one out was like nothing the Saiyan had ever seen before. He had dark grey skin that emphasized his rigid musculature and piercing eyes as orange as her own. Twin jet-black horns stretched up to the sky from under his dark hair, flaring outward a few inches from the tips to better gore his enemies.

Unlike with the other two, Papri instincts screamed out at her the moment she laid eyes on the man, and her hand shook as she brought it to her scouter.

Papri's scouter, being as old as it was, couldn't get a one-hundred percent accurate read on their power levels, but she was able to receive as rough estimate from the flickering yellow numbers in her right eye.

The Fruitian was a little below eight thousand while the blue one was around fourteen. An issue, but if she was smart, she would be able to deal with him before the fight dragged on too long.

She turned her scan to the grey one, and her eyes widened as the text on the blue glass became fuzzy before starting to fizzle.

She looked away in a hurry, ‘He’s making my scouter short out! How strong is this guy?’ 

Papri's scouter was rated D-Class. Theoretically, it could read power levels up to one-hundred thousand before any issues occurred. In practice, her scouter was old and hadn't been repaired in a while so that number was more iffy than normal. She would bet it would have trouble reading above seventy thousand in its current condition.

Still, that meant…

‘No, there's no way.’ The Saiyan reassured herself as she prepared to fly down to meet the three aliens, ‘It's probably just malfunctioning. There's no way someone that strong would be sent to this rock.’

She very carefully didn't ask Bot to double-check her scans. After all, even if the horned one was that powerful, she could just become an Oozaru and crush him. There was no need to psyche herself out.

She came in slowly, doing her best not to surprise any of them, only to find she didn't need to as they were already facing her by the time she arrived. Deciding it was better to put on a friendly face instead of just demanding they take her away with them, Papri did her best to plaster a smile on her features.

“Hello!” She waved as she landed directly in front of them, “I’m so glad you’re here! I’ve been looking for a way off of this rock for years!” She said happily.

Three sets of eyes locked onto her tail, wrapped tightly around her waist.

“A Saiyan?” The grey-skinned one muttered in surprise, “How in the world…”

“What’s an ape like you doing out here?” The orange one interrupted mockingly, and Papri’s smile froze on her face, “This is Lord Cooler’s territory. Frieza’s slaves aren’t welcome here!”

“Maybe she’s lost Pumm, you know how shit they are at directions. Barely have a single working brain between their entire race.” The blue alien grinned.

“Ha! Good point Buri! It’s been so long since I’ve seen a shit-slinger that I forgot how stupid they could be!”

Papri's eye twitched and immediately all of her fake friendliness disappeared, “What the fuck did you call me you stupid piece of fruit!?”

Pumm laughed tauntingly, a menacing grin stretching his face, “I called you a shit-slinger because that’s what you and the rest of your race were. Shit-slinging slaves to Lord Cooler’s younger brother. The weak one.”

Cooler, Frieza’s older brother. So Bot’s earlier scans were correct. What did they mean by his territory? Everyone knew that the West Quadrant and Grinn by extension belonged to Frieza.

Papri’s mind registered the insult a second later, and the Saiyan snarled as her pride flared at the alien’s remark, “I am nobody’s slave! Least of all that three-foot tall tyrannical piece of shit! I am a Saiyan! Our pride won’t allow us to serve anyone but ourselves!”

The Fruitian laughed again, “That don’t mean much anymore bitch. That pride of yours isn’t worth shit these days.”

Papri didn’t take the time to dwell on the comment. Instead, she took a deep breath, before, “Bot.”

“Yes Papri?”

“We’re going with Plan B.” she grinned as she prepared herself, gathering her energy into her legs.

“That certainly did not take long. I will do my best to provide support.”

“Who are you talking to over there?”Buri called out mockingly, “Are there more shit-slingers on this rock? Are we going to have to go monkey-chasing?”

The Saiyan took a breath, tightening her tail around her waist, “Nobody you need to worry about! In fact, you won't have to worry about anything pretty soon!”

Before the alien had a chance to parse her statement, Papri flung an arm forward, sending a beam of violet ki surging forth at the group.

Buri cursed as he and the grey one dodged the attack, the latter doing so with a concerning aura of nonchalance, but Pumm wasn't able to move in time and her beam slammed into his side, exploding violently.

Papri leapt forth, releasing the ki in her legs as the ground cratered behind her, rushing towards the cloud of smoke with a battle cry.

Pumm met her half way, rushing from the cloud with a snarl on his face. The Fruitian’s armor was scorched as well as the skin on his right arms but it was clear that her little starting shot had done little to damage him.

They met in the middle of the clearing, sending a shockwave bursting outwards as their fists slammed into one another. Pumm immediately went on the offensive, throwing his hands forth with blurring speed in an attempt to end the fight before it began.

Papri grunted as Pumm’s fists slammed into her guard again and again, feeling the sheer weight behind his attacks. He was strong, stronger than her that was for certain.

But not by much.

She waited for an opening in his attacks, before ducking down and bringing her fist up in an uppercut that slammed against his jaw, eliciting a grunt of pain. She dodged to the side of a retaliating fist, and kicked in his ribs, sending him staggering slightly.

He snarled at her, “Little upstart monkey bitch!” He brought a hand to bear, shooting an orange beam of ki towards her.

Only it didn't hit her, instead it slammed into the ground in front of her, sending a large plume of dust in every direction, obscuring her vision. Papri brought a hand in front of her eyes, “Tricky fucker.” She muttered as she kept her guard up, wary of any attack.

“Incoming from the left.”

Without hesitation, Papri fired a wide ki blast off in the direction Bot had indicated. She smirked as Pumm let out a scream of rage as her attack hit home, pushing him away. This time however, she wasn’t able to follow up, as he sent a much larger orange blast her way, forcing her to deflect it.

By the time the orange ki had been slapped away, Pumm had disappeared from her vision. She looked around through the lingering dust, searching for her opponent, when her instincts screamed at her.

She looked upward, just barely getting her hand in the way of the orange orb of energy that had been aimed at her. She pushed it away, letting it fly harmlessly into the distance, only to curse as it was replaced by another one of similar size, this time coming from her left. She deflected that one, only to need to block one from the right. On and on it went, right, above, behind, in front, the ki blasts came in a steady rhythm, not much power behind them but certainly enough to make her wary.

Soon enough though, it had become repetitive, simply slapping away the weak ki blasts as they came to her was boring and Papri huffed as she sent another one flying away, ‘He’s just gonna keep throwing shit at me?’ The Saiyan thought in irritation as she brought her guard up, deflecting the orange blasts as she saw them, ‘Guess he's running out of tricks.’

“Papri, behind you!”

“Gotcha bitch!” Papri turned in horror as Pumm’s voice sounded out from behind her. How the hell had he gotten back there so quickly!?

As she turned to him, she caught a nasty fist to the jaw, sending her reeling. She couldn’t bring her hands up in time to block the followup kick to her ribs, or the knee to her chin. She was barely able to dodge the fist aimed at her face, but Pumm just used the opportunity to grab her long hair, pulling on it roughly as he brought her in…

And into a ki blast aimed directly at her chest.

It exploded, sending her flying away clutching her scorched armor. She hit the ground roughly, flipping twice as she tumbled before simply sliding through the dirt. Papri slid across the ground for some distance, before she regained her equilibrium and planted her hands against the ground, flipping herself back up into a standing position. She huffed, sweat dripping from her brow as she glared at her opponent.

That combo was nasty, and she could still feel her bones creaking from the force of his punches. She couldn’t afford to let him close in again, she’d have to finish this fight at a distance. Her mind went back to the ki blasts the Fruitian had put out, they hadn’t been very strong apart from that last one, and even that was weak by her standards, maybe…

“I’ve got an idea.” Papri told her AI as she took up a fighting stance once more, glaring at the cocky expression of the bastard across from her, “I just need an opening."

“I am afraid I am incapable of creating an opening, Papri. I do not have a body.”

Papri sighed as she exerted her ki, a glowing purple aura springing to life around her, “I know that idiot. I’m just thinking out loud. I’ve got this.”

Before the AI had a chance to respond, Papri sprung forward in a complete contrary to her earlier thoughts, racing across the clearing with incredible speed and causing Pumm’s eyes to widen in surprise. She pulled her fist back in a telegraphed attack, and as Pumm’s hands came up to block, Papri smirked, shifting her stance and bringing a leg back instead.

Her kick impacted his crossed arms with a crunch as one of the bones in said forearms broke with the force of her kick. As Pumm let out a screech of pain, staggering backward to clutch at his broken arm, Papri used the momentum of her kick to transition into a backflip. She placed one palm against the ground, using it to hold herself up as she pointed her other hand towards Pumm’s abdomen.

“HAAA!” With a shout, a beam of purple ki emerged from her hand, slamming into the alien’s midsection and blasting him away from her.

“That was not a very effective attack, Papri.” Bot spoke into her ear as she flipped herself upright once more. She took a deep breath, holding her hands out at her sides as she gathered her ki,  “The damage of your ki upon the alien’s person was negligible.”

“That was the opening.” She stated simply as Pumm landed face first in the dirt across from her, before letting out a breath, “HAAAAAA!”

Her aura flared higher than ever before as the Saiyan began powering up, rising to over thrice her size. She brought her hands in front of her, the heels of her palms clicking together as purple sparks began to drift between them. Those sparks soon changed shape as a glowing ball of purple ki formed in her joined palms, growing larger as she added more and more of her energy to it.

It grew rapidly and soon the attack was much larger than her own body, the edge of the orb just barely above the ground, before Papri began to focus. The orb quickly began to shrink as the Saiyan exerted her control over it. Sweat beading on her face as she brought the size of her attack down until it could fit comfortably in both of her palms, all the while she continued adding ki to it, draining her reserves and causing its color to shift from a light purple to something much darker as it became denser and denser.

Finally, just as Pumm had managed to regain his bearings across from her, her attack was complete. The Saiyan checked her aim once more, before she grinned ferally as she brought the ball of humming energy to bear.

“HELL CRASHER!” She shouted as she sent the extremely dense orb of ki flying forth. It raced across the length between her and Pumm with incredible speed, and the alien had just barely managed to stand by the time it was almost upon him.

Pumm’s eyes widened at the approaching attack, before they narrowed as he glared at her, “You think a weakling like you is gonna be able to beat me with this!? Don’t make me laugh!” He snarled as he brought his non-broken hand up to deflect it. The moment his skin made contact with the orb, Papri grinned, ‘Gotcha fucker.’

The Saiyan clenched a fist, exerting her will on the ball of ki and unraveling it and forcing it to expand. Pumm’s scream of pain and surprise was quickly drowned out by the high pitched keening of her ki as it grew to its full size, eclipsing his body several times over and dyeing the entire area they were in a dark purple.

Papri brought a hand over her eyes as an immense amount of dust was kicked up from the explosion. That didn’t get rid of the feral grin on her face as she took in her work, the hill sized ball of ki larger than anything she had managed to put out outside of her Oozaru form.

As the dust from her attack dispersed, Papri nearly laughed as she caught sight of Pumm lying face down in the dirt, skin and crumbling armor scorched from the strength of her ki. One of his arms, the one he had used to try to deflect her attack, was completely black and while she couldn’t tell if he was dead or just unconscious, she knew that it was unsavable in its state.

“How’s that for weakling? Huh?” She panted out as she powered down.

“Well done Papri. However, my sensors indicate you have used more than half of your available energy in that single attack. I would remind you that there are still two more opponents you must face, both of them much stronger than the one you have defeated.”

Papri groaned, shaking off her tiredness as she turned to face her next opponent, the smirking blue alien s who had been watching from afar the entire time. She glared at him as she spoke to her AI, “Shut up Bot. I’ve got thi-!”

“You know,” Buri's voice sounded out behind her, “you never did answer my question.”

Papri brought a hand to her face numbly as the right half of her vision suddenly returned to normal, losing its blue tint. Her fingers came into contact with skin, missing the glass and plastic that by all rights should have been there, and she was filled with horror.

Her scouter was gone. Bot was gone.

Papri turned her gaze to Buri, horrified eyes locking onto the device he now held in his hand. She growled kicking off as she raced towards the blue-skinned alien to get it back.

She stopped short as Buri gave her a smirk, before crushing the scouter in his grip the the sound of cracking plastic and shattered glass.

Papri stared at the fragments of her scouter where they lay scattered on the dirt, focussing on a small blinking piece of tech that was quickly losing its luster, ‘Bot’s datachip…’

Her throat clenched as she struggled to tear her gaze away, and she could feel tears sting her eyes as she struggled not to cry. She grit her teeth hard enough to taste blood, and swallowed roughly. It was stupid. Papri knew that. Bot was just some glitching AI that she had grown attached to, easily replaced by any real AI personality core found on the PTO network. She knew that.

But he was hers. She had built him, had grown fond of his seemingly sarcastic remarks and odd way of talking to her and had actually been thinking about getting him a body once she got off of this rock! He was hers and they had taken him! They had taken him from her!

“Gah!” Papri clutched her skull as a spike of pain shot throughout her head, and then another, and another, growing to the point that it felt like someone was taking a drill to her skull. She fell to her knees as her aura flickered out, spandex digging into the rough rock below her as she gripped her head in pain.

What was going on with her!? Her head swam with pain and her body felt like it was burning from the inside out, her ki bubbling just below the surface of her skin as it yearned to break free. It was growing, building within her until she was full to bursting, and then it grew even more, pushing against her skin and crackling with anxious desire for something.

“I wasn’t expecting you to defeat Pumm like that. He wasn’t the strongest, but he was usually pretty smart when it came to fighting.” Buri walked closer to her as she breathed heavily on her knees, her black mane covering her face, “Makes sense though, the bastard always was just a bit too cocky when he got the upper hand.”

Papri could barely hear him over the sound of her blood pounding in her ears. Her fists clenched in the dirt, carving furrows in the hard earth as she shook from the feelings welling up inside of her. Her mouth was dry, and yet that didn’t stop the drool from escaping her open lips as she panted.

“Aw what's wrong? Is the little ape sad that I broke her toy? That's alright, back on the ship, they're practically a dime-a-dozen!” He laughed, “Once we get you fitted with a collar, you'll get one much better than that shabby piece of shit!”

“Of course, we’ll have to find whoever it was you were talking to first.” He said absentmindedly as he stopped in front of her kneeling form, “Can’t just let them get away when we could get two slaves for the price of one. Especially not Saiyans.”

Everything clicked back into sharp focus all at once, and every thought in Papri's head, every single iota of her very being, all screamed one thing…

Kill.

“Or maybe we’ll just kill them if they’re weak. Orishi already has more than enough weak slav-” Buri’s words were cut off as Papri suddenly lunged forward, slugging him across the face with a snarl on her lips.

Despite his apparent speed, Buri was unable to dodge her attack and was sent flying back and upwards from the force of her punch, body soaring into the air as his hands came up to clutch his face. Not willing to give him a moment of respite, Papri flexed the muscles in her legs and jumped upwards, her aura burning back to life around her as she soured towards his recovering form with a battle-cry.

Buri uncovered his face, allowing Papri to see the rage in his eyes as he looked towards her, “What the hell-!?”

Once again his words were cut off by the Saiyan’s fist, this time slamming into his gut. Armor shattered around her fist even as Buri curled around it. He recovered quickly, letting out a gurgled shout as he threw an uncoordinated punch to her face.

Even in her berserk state, Papri was easily able to dodge the attack by tilting her head to the side, allowing his fist to ruffle her hair harmlessly on the way past her face.

She immediately retaliated, slamming a fist into his jaw and stunning him, before bringing both of her hands over her head, slamming them down onto his back in a hammerblow.

He shot downward like a rocket and Papri wasted no time in following him. Her cloak whipped around her at a rapid pace as raced towards her falling for, catching up to him in no time. And as Buri tried to regain his bearings, Papri gripped his face with her hand, fingers digging into his skin as she forced him down even faster than before.

Mud and rock alike splintered around Buri’s body as they impacted the earth and she dragged him along, carving a deep furrow in the ground. His hands clawed at her hand in an attempt to dislodge her, but whatever power was infusing her made her too strong, and she snarled as she tightened her grip even further.

“RAAAHHHHHGGGG!” She screamed out as she flew forward, aiming straight for the side of the mountain just up ahead.

They slammed into it, and Papri grit her teeth, tasting blood in her mouth as she dragged him upwards by his face, before pushing him forward into the rock which cratered around his body.

As her hand left his head, he attempted to regain his bearings and sit up, but Papri simply slammed her fist forward, knuckles cratering his face and pushing him back against the rock.

She threw her other fist forward, rage building even further as it failed to break through his thick skull, and repeated the process once more.

“DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE! YOU FUCKING BASTAAAARD!” Her fists slammed into his face again and again, bones crunching under her knuckle and red and purple blood, a mix of Buri’s and her own, flying in every direction.

Every blow pushed him further into the mountain and shards of rock and stone flew past Papri's snarling face as she destroyed her own hands on her quest to punch through his face. By that point, Buri's struggles had all but ceased. His hands still clawed at her own and his legs still kicked underneath her, but it was weak, a dying whimper of a man not long for this world.

Deciding to speed up the process, Papri planted her knuckles one last time into his mangled features, before lifting a hand and focusing her energy, causing it to burn brightly with glowing purple ki.

“AARGGH!!” She screamed out as she brought the hand down, fingers splayed straight at his face.

Said face, as well as his head and a good portion of the mountain behind it, ceased to exist under the power of her attack. Papri herself was blasted backwards from the force, spinning wildly as her unprepared body was propelled into the air.

She righted herself in midair and turned her eyes back to where Buri had been. She smirked at what she saw as the smoke from her attack cleared.

Buri, as well as a good portion of the mountain behind him, had been almost completely disintegrated to the point that only bits and pieces of his armor remained. The rocky face creaked, before tumbling the rest of the way down, burying whatever was left of the alien under the rubble.

Even if he had survived her onslaught, he would surely suffocate underneath all of that dirt and rock.

Good.

Papri breathed deeply, looking down at her hands which were still shaking with the power infusing her, before continuing on slightly past them, widening at what she saw mere centimeters away from her boot.

There, softly gleaming in the evening light, was Bot’s datachip.

‘The chip…’ She thought as she picked it up with shaking hands, ‘How the hell did it get all the way over here?’

More importantly, how was it still intact?

“Why exactly is that datachip so important to you, Saiyan?” Papri whipped her head around, rage filling her once more as her eyes came into contact with the third member of the trio, the grey-skinned alien.

His orange eyes looked at her impassionately as he floated in the air with crossed arms, “It is simply a modified ship personality. Poorly modified at that. You would do better to purchase one once you have earned your freedoms back aboard the Vistri.”

The Saiyan grit her teeth as she stowed the chip into her boot, “I'm not going anywhere with you!’

The man sighed, “Unfortunately, you don't have a choice in the matter.” 

Powerful energy filled her once more, and Papri lunged towards the stoic man, amethyst ki flaring out around her as she let out a battle cry…

And her eyes bulged out of her skull as the horned man was suddenly standing in front of her with a fist planted in her gut, the crunch of her breaking ribs sounding in her ears. Her stomach clenched, and she wasn't able to stop the hacking cough from escaping her mouth.

She tasted blood on her lips, and she looked down to find a trail of crimson liquid staining the front of her armor and pooling on the dirt below. Her body shook, tremor wracking her form as she struggled to remain standing.

She tried to dredge up the energy she had been feeding from moments before, but she felt nothing. She was completely out of energy, whatever force had been filling her nowhere to be found.

“You're strong, kid. Especially for a Saiyan your age.” He said simply as he stepped back, looking down at her where she fell to her knees, “But you're not that strong.”

Papri just barely managed to turn a glare on him. She huffed, blood leaking from her split lips, “Fuck… You…” She spat a glob of the crimson liquid at him, only for it to fall into the dirt mere inches from her face.

He snorted, “You're gonna need that spirit where you're going. Hopefully Orishi doesn’t beat it out of you, I wouldn’t mind having a fighter like you around.”

And then a fist slammed into the side of her skull and everything went black.