Chapter 7 Beast
Alright! My laptop is FINALLY fixed! No more waiting for my turn on a computer, no more getting kicked off while I'm writing, I can write as much as I want to and I stayed up all night to get this chappy done! WOOT!!* leaps for joy!*
But before you read the story, I'd like to give a special shout out to two very special fellow writers whom I come to totally adore. To the always amazing Strefe, one of my most frequent and most appreciated reviewers along with the ever wonderful Cr3at1v3M1nd25. Thank you guys so much for your reviews, you really inspire me to keep on writing! I absolutely LOVE you!!
And now, I'd like to welcome my surprise guest, *smiles cheerfully*who has currently been hiding here ever since the event after the awesome latest chapter of my buddy, Strefe's, fanfic, here's Prince Vegeta!
Vegeta-How insulting! I am most certainly not hiding!
Me-Pffft, please, we both know you snuck out of the GR when Strefe wasn't looking which, FYI, was very un-princely.
Vegeta-And how could you possibly know anything about royalty you insignificant pesant woman?!
Me-Alright, before anything else let's get one thing straight, my name is Ani. Call me 'woman' again, and I'll make you regret choosing my abode as a hiding place!
Vegeta-I am not hiding!*then smirks arrogantly,* And I seriously doubt you have the power to do anything against me, woman
Me-*Glares at Vegeta a second before taking pen and scribbling down on a piece of paper*
Me-*looks up with a satisfied smirk* not only are you weaker than Goku, but you're weaker than Hercule too.
Vegeta-*gets a surprised reaction that quickly turns to rage.* "sweet little bumble bee, I know what you want from me!?!?!" *clamps hand over mouth, utterly shocked at hearing his voice, then glares demandingly at me*
Me-"Well, since I am the author here, I figured that if you can't say anything nice to me, then I'd make you sing one of my favorite songs every time you'd speak. *smirks evilly* it sounds even more adorable coming from you, by the way.
Vegeta-*face flushes red with anger and embarrassment* "Dup-i-dup-i-do la da! Dup-i-dup-i-do la da!" * grits teeth in rage and goes super Saiyan* "My heart skips a beat When you walk in the room! I go boom, boo-" * instantly clamps teeth shut, and charges up a chi blast.*
Me-"ah,ah,ah,* wags finger* you so much as lay a finger on me and I won't change you back!."
Vegeta-*reluctantly powers down and crosses arms in a huff. Also refusing to open his mouth*
Me- there, now you just patiently wait here, and I'll ponder on whether or not to fix your voice. You'll get my answer at the end of this fic.
Well, hope you guys enjoy!
It was still early into the evening when Tarble reached the hut that he shared with his mentor. After he dropped Gure near her village, he decided that he'd apologize to Sukuma for his behavior earlier at training, and hopefully things will get a little better between them. But once he arrived to his destination, his stomach was doing flips with nervousness. And all the thoughts that raced in a whirl around his mind did nothing to help sooth him.
What should he say?
Was Sukuma still angry at him?
Would he hear out his apology?
………would he even care?
Tarble forced his thoughts to come to a halt, and took in a deep breath, raising a fist and knocking on the door.
"S-Sukuma?" Tarble started with uncertainty, "…It's me…"
Tarble heard no answer from the inside. Was his teacher ignoring him? If so, then he was still angry. Nevertheless, Tarble was determined to try and have Sukuma hear him out.
"Sukuma, if you please, I'd like to talk to you." Tarble stated, putting his palm on the door, hesitantly pushing it open and stepping inside.
"I wanted to apolo-"
He stopped himself when his eyes only meet with the dark empty room of the hut. Sukuma was nowhere to be seen.
At the sight of this, Tarble a little disappointed. He'd hoped that Sukuma would be here waiting for him so he'd be able to get this situation done and over with, but then he felt relief. This would be a perfect opportunity to use the time it took for Sukuma return to think of how he should start the apology.
Tarble could wait up, even if it took all night for Sukuma to come back.
Tarble walked in, picking up a glass jar, he gave it a little shake. And a soft, golden glow from the three Solarisects that resided inside the container lit up the single room.
He stretched his arms to get rid of the uncomfortable chinks in his shoulders and back, and then removed his armor. His chest was already feeling tight enough without having something constricting around it.
Then, he set his armor near the fire pit that rested at the center of the hut, and sat down on one of the two beds. Finally, he put his elbows on his knees, rested his chin upon folded hands, and closed his eyes. And he let his mind go to work.
He pondered if he should wait and let Sukuma say something before he said his part when he arrived, or if it should be he to speak first. He played mental pictures in his mind, and either way, they both end up the same…. In disaster
With the kind of man Sukuma was, a hard, proud, most affront person Tarble had ever known, and Tarble distinctly remembered many times before when he'd even think the word 'sorry', Sukuma would get really irritated at him. So maybe this whole thing would just make him even angrier.
Now, the more Tarble thought about it, the more he dreaded Sukumas' return.
*CLINK!*
Tarble was startled from his thoughts and leapt off the bed, "Sukuma?!"
He looked around, but Sukuma wasn't there, he was still alone. So what made the-
*CL-CLINK!*Bzzzt!!
He looked over to the small round table, his eyes meeting with the rooms only light source were he saw that one of the Solarisects had half of its body out from under the thin covering, and was flapping its four golden yellow wings while wiggling forward to get itself free.
"Hey!" Tarble rushed towards the table to keep the little bug from getting away, but it was too late. The glowing insect finally broke free of its glass prison and flew rapidly around the room. Tarble manage to quickly reseal the jar to keep the last Solarisects from following, and then proceeded trying to recapture the buzzing escapee.
Tarble kept his eyes locked on the bug, trying hard to keep up with it without damaging anything within the hut. But no matter how close he came to catching it, it would always dodge away from his grasp with bursts of speed. This kept up for a while, and Tarble was beginning to get frustrated.
"Get back here!" Tarble demanded. He made a rush at it, thrusting his arm forward, hoping to catch it in his hand, but before he could get his fingers over it, his arm suddenly followed the insect through an open window, and he collided with wall surrounding it.
His face stung a little from the impact, but Tarble shook it off and ran outside around to the back of the hut.
He found that it had landed, its glow dimmed so not to be seen by its predator while it rested its wings after the chase inside the hut. It appeared to not have noticed him yet, so Tarble crept up silently, his hands poised and ready. Tarble actually felt a smile on his lips; he'd get it this time! even his tail was wagging in anticipation.
1……2……3…..
"GOTCHA!!"
Tarble pounced upon it, but the Solarisect suddenly flashed with a bright light that made Tarble close his eyes. He kept going on though, until his hands hit the hard surface of the thing the little glow bug landed on, and he was careful to cup his hands so as not to squish it.
He blinked the dots out of his eyes, and leaned over his hands, and parted them just enough to let him peek inside and view his prize.
However, he was soon disappointed to find his hands over an empty space.
He looked around himself for a moment, and then looked up. Sure enough, there was the Solarisect flying high into the air. It's golden glow seemed brighter to him somehow, and it flew so gracefully, as though it were dancing to celebrate its newfound freedom…..
…he just decided to let it go.
Sighing heavily, Tarble looked to see what exactly the glow bug landed on before, he'd been so focused on catching it, he really didn't get the chance to pay any sort of notice it. The surface of it was smooth and hard, and it was completely white.
He stepped back and realized that it was the space pod.
Tarble had always seen it here; it was the same one that he and Sukuma arrived to Raudo in many years ago.
'The same one that your father cast you away in'
Tarble closed his eyes, he still felt bitter about the reasoning behind his being on this planet, but he had to put those feelings aside now. What was done was all in the past, so there was no use in trying to change it. All he could do now was move forward, and he could do so with Gure at his side.
With that, he opened his eyes, looking over the space pod. He'd never been inside it since he was an infant, and ever since then Sukuma never let him near the thing. It was their only form of transportation around and he was a bit paranoid about its well being. But despite that, all in all, he was rather curious about it. And Sukuma still hadn't arrived yet….
Maybe he could take a little peek
He walked around to the front of the pod, looking at its single ruby colored window. He'd seen Sukuma open it many times before to do maintenance checks inside, he'd just waved his arm at the front and-
*SSSSSHHHHHTT!!*
The door opened with a hiss, revealing its interior.
Honestly, there was nothing all that special about it. The walls inside of it were white and padded, there were some control panels, but it was still puzzling to him. How could someone operate it? While it looked really mundane, it also seemed very complicated. Maybe he'd understand it better if he viewed it from the inside.
He made a quick glance around the area, once he was sure he was alone, he carefully put a foot inside. He'd only be a minute, and Sukuma would never have to know. He stepped further inside, looking around, at the center it looked like a large heavily padded chair that looked as though it was built into the walls.
Tarble moved in further, reaching out a hand and putting it on a counsel to help him keep balance as he tried to climb all the way inside the pod.
*CLICK!*
Tarble froze as he felt something give under his palm, and he quickly removed his hand from his position. An action he immediately regretted as bright, white light flooded his vision.
Tarble yelped in pain and stumbled off the pod, rubbing and blinking his eyes to clear away the sparkling green and yellow dots that swam before them.
Once he finally got his vision back, he looked back into the space pod, making sure to stay clear of the light as he searched for the button he pushed.
He found it, and his eyes widened as he read the label…
MOON PROJECTOR
Tarble gave gasp and kept his eyes averted to anywhere but the sky.
Sukuma had warned him that he should never look at a moon if one should ever show. His reasoning behind it the elder kept to himself with that irritating answer he had heard so many times before, 'I'll tell you when you're ready'. Tarble made a move to quickly turn off the projector, but movement on the ground suddenly caught his eye. And once his glanced down, he came to an astonishing sight.
He could see his shadow.
He could only stare at it in wonder, was this coming from the moon? He never thought anything could shine bright enough during the night to leave one, but there it was. His dark silhouette was there on the grass, which in turn, was bathed in beautiful silver light.
Raudo didn't have a moon; its nights were instead filled with glowing bugs like Solarisects, and also by flowers and plants that stored their energy by basking in the sun all throughout the day. And by nightfall, soft glows gave light all throughout the lands and dotted the skies.
Tarble then look at his arms, they seemed to shine as the unfamiliar silver light graced him with its touch. Then he remembered something, Sukuma told him once that he had seen the moon before.
He had asked about the moon after Sukuma told him to never view one, what it was like, he didn't know what it was. And and his mentor explained about how beautiful and majestic it was, and how a single glance would be able to fill a Saiyan with intense power.
Tarble didn't really understand what Sukuma meant, but he felt a little cheated. How could something that sounded so wonderful be so dangerous? He wanted to witness the moons beauty too, feel for himself the power of it.
And view it in all of its full, bright glory
EARLIER
It was just beginning to get dark since after the Princes' heated departure, and Sukuma sat alone inside the hut he made for the two of them. He had planned about staying up for the prince, and trying to have a more civil conversation about the ordeal.
But shamefully, his courage for confronting his highness was deteriorating. And considerations to abandoning the hut for another place to spend the night until the morning began to cross his mind.
Before he made a decision however, a messenger from the Raudian village had come to Sukumas' hut with a beckoning to come to the house of Jabaru and Nonda, the village leaders. For what reason, he didn't know. But he figured he might as well go and see what was going on. It wasn't often that the two leaders, whom he actually began to consider as good acquaintances, would call him over.
And this would be a good chance to help him get his mind off of the previous events.
Something was odd though, once he reached the village; all of its inhabitants seemed to be more wary of him than usual, most even glared at him. This made him a little curious, but not enough to really care to ask.
Though once he arrived to the home of Jabaru and Nonda, they seemed a little worried. Apparently, their daughter hadn't returned home as of yet, which was very unusual for her as she always made sure to return home before it got dark.
That wasn't why the called for him though.
They summoned him to their home to discuss certain violent events that had happened earlier to three village boys. Whose parents were saying that the reasons for their condition were dealt by the hands of prince Tarble.
Once Sukuma heard their accusations, he laughed. It wasn't possible for his highness to be anything but soft to anyone or anything, and he told them so. But once the boys presented themselves to him, he was in every way astounded.
Though they had been dressed up, Sukuma could just as easily tell that they had been beaten up pretty badly, bruises and cuts decorated their little bodies, it even seemed that it hurt them to even breathe.
The prince had done this?!
Sukuma knew that he'd been angry, but he never imagined that he'd ever be angry enough to inflict this kind of damage upon someone.
It really wasn't looking good for the two Saiyans' but before anything else was said, the door to the house was opened and the familiar body of Gure walked in with a few words to say about the whole situation.
Apparently, the boys had been teasing her, and the eldest of them also knocked her down. The young prince had only been defending her. They had only brought their state upon themselves.
That seemed to take the tension off of Sukuma and his charge, and turn it to the three guilty looking boys.
Once the boys and their families left the premises, Jabaru and Nonda rounded on Gure with questions of their own.
She replied to them that Tarble had needed to be in her company, and they stayed together as long as they needed to. And once he was calmed down enough, Tarble had brought her back and dropped her off at the outskirts of the village. And that the prince was going back to the hut that Sukuma shared with him before she apologized for coming home so late and sent herself to bed.
Sukuma was relieved, at least now he knew that the boy was safe at the hut…
But what now?
It would most likely be a very tense atmosphere to endure if he returned right away, what if the boy was still angry? What should he say to him?
He took in a deep breath, and willed away some of his Saiyan pride to ask advice from the only person he knew and trusted enough who undoubtedly might have had dealt with a situation like this before.
"Nonda, may I ask something of you?"
Nonda smiled kindly at him, "of course Sukuma, what would you like to know?"
"My prince and I didn't exactly part ways on the most best of terms, and I have my suspicions that the situation may still be a bitter one." Sukuma explained. "And well, since you have a young one of your own, I thought you could possibly advise me into what would the best way to make this as easy as possible, for the both of us."
Nonda nodded, humming in thought, "well, the best way to approach an uncomfortable situation is just to listen to each other, regarding one another's feelings with fairness and caring."
"Ah….I see…" Sukuma started, sighing heavily.
"You seem to be rather worried, Sukuma," the Raudian woman stated,
"I wasn't really brought up to favor things such as sensitivity."
Nonda gave him a kind smile, setting a small gentle hand upon his own large one. Sukuma tensed at the contact, but didn't move and say anything about it, allowing her to continue.
"I know you care for him, Sukuma," Nonda said. "It may be unnerving, and hard to endure, but just make the effort to try, for his sake as well as yours. You'll see, everything will get better in the end.
Sukuma felt the corner of his mouth turn up in a small smirk. Well, Nonda certainly did have a way to lessen worries, and he'd give her that at least.
*KABOOOM!!!*
A loud eruption suddenly made the entire house shake, and a loud, deafening roar soon followed after.
"What in the world was that?!" Jabaru demanded just as another force caused tremor ran through his home.
Sukuma heard another roar, and this time he recognized it. It was one he heard many times before, but how could there be one here. The only Saiyans' that were present on Raudo were prince Tarble and himself.
Then, he realized that the space pod back at the hut had a holographic moon projector installed inside it, but the prince knew he was never allowed to touch it without himself being present, he wouldn't dare to disobey that rule.
But as he ran outside, what he saw was enough to change his mind about his charges adherence.
For there he saw the familiar, giant bulking form of a large wild beast, and even from miles away, seeing it in an out of control frenzy was enough to chill him.
…..An Oozaru…..
"Oh no…" Sukuma whispered. Table was messing around with the pod and now he turned into a giant Ape. He hadn't even begun going over the training for the Oozaru yet, and now, the prince was a wild animal, lusting for the destruction of everything around him.
" Jabaru, evacuate everyone in the village!" Sukuma ordered.
The Raudian man looked up at the Saiyan in surprise, "what? Why?!"
Sukuma pointed across the lands, to the rampaging Oozaru, "there's your reason!" he told him, "now get a move on!"
The leader visibly paled at the sight of the Ape, and quickly rounded up a few more hands to help with the evacuation.
Sukuma was about to fly off to confront the Oozaru himself, but then a voice stopped him.
"Wait Sukuma! Take me too!"
Sukuma turned, seeing Tarble's young friend Gure. "Forget it girl," he told her, "you would only be more trouble than help to me now."
"But Tarble is in danger with that thing out there!" Gure insisted, fear for her friends safety rising with each passing second.
Sukuma turned back toward her, his single eye set with a look of determination, as well as anger, and fear. And the next words he said to her sent her world coming to a freezing halt.
"That thing is prince Tarble!"
Me- …well, Tarble's just having all sorts of bad things happening left and right today huh? And what about Gure? Just another large(and quite violent) part of Tarbles' life she didn't know about. Tarble didn't know either, so I guess Sukuma's got some explaining to do if things settle down.
And way, I hope you all enjoyed-*gets whacked in the head* OW!! What the, oh, sorry Vegeta, I completely forgot about you.
Vegeta-*refuses to answer, but his glare speaks for him.*
Me- right, so I guess I have to change you back now, but you have to promise you won't lay so much as a finger on me after I do!
Vegeta-*nods*
Me- do you swear upon your honor as a Saiyan prince?
Vegeta-*hesitates, as if say 'drat!' then nods*
Me- alright, here you go,*takes pen and scribbles words down on some paper*
Vegeta-*is silent for a moment. A bit wary, then takes the plunge* you are a terrible writer and I whole heartedly loathe you!*flees before I can say anything*
M-hmm, if I wasn't so tired I'd probably chase after him… oh well.
Anyway, I hope you all liked it, and sorry I took so long. But now that I have my laptop back, I should be posting more often now. Well, nighty- night now.