The city loomed all around Isala. From horizon to horizon was a sea of clumped-together buildings, between which people skittered like ants. The view was interrupted only by the great screw-like pillars embedded in the ground below, their rungs filled with other houses, other people, while at the top sat the rest of the city. Between its layers, she could just catch bright lights, the zooming of updated tech, while looking below, all she could hear was yelling and see the rickety ladders that allowed the trough-dwellers to traverse their own homes.

"This planet sucks." Isala announced to the woman who stood beside her. While Isala might just have fit in, with her battleworn battlesuit, the Supreme Kai of Time stood out like a sore thumb in her pristine Kai gear. "Why are we here?"

"We're her for a very important lesson." The Supreme Kai told Isala, smiling as she took her hand and flew towards one of the pillars. The Saiyan initially resisted the attempt, but relented and followed beside her. "Remember what we talked about before, when we had tea?"

"...yeah." Isala glared at nothing in particular, as they drifted closer to the pillar and she got a closer look at the various denizens. There were only a handful of each kind that matched, all scrambling across each other like rats in the rush to get to their homes. They could scarcely be called that, since they seemed to her to be little more than makeshift walls that provided their denizens with only the privacy a pair of curtains could provide.

"That's what we're here for!" The Supreme Kai flew closer to one of the pillars and pulled open the curtains. The interior of the apartment was little more than a nest of materials, a crate filled with all manners of clothing, and a stack of bowls that seemed to have been licked clean. The only thing that didn't serve for sitting on was a small gray device that sat on the floor, whirring faintly while It projected a 3d image above itself.

It displayed a series of clips of the Frieza Force diving through atmospheres, training together, unleashing ki blasts. It was interspersed with phrases like "The Frieza Force's Finest", "Find money. Find purpose. Find a whole new life." and "Glory to Frieza!". Isala wrinkled her nose, and not just because of the metallic scent lingering in the air. The image quality eventually degraded as it came upon a clip of her and her old squad, turning some city to molten slag, then started again.

"You took me here to see some stupid video?" Isala asked, as she turned away from the repeating image to face the Supreme Kai. "What kind of lesson is this meant to be? Oh, by the way, you worked for him, did you know that, because look, here's proof. I know, okay?!" She clenched her fist tightly, resisting the urge to blow something up while the Supreme Kai smiled up at her.

"I know you know, Isala. That's not why you're here. He is." The Supreme Kai stepped to the side, revealing a figure climbing up the ladder to the apartment. He was about four foot tall, as stout as he was tall, with four two-fingered arms and a face embedded into his torso. He was clad in a pair of pants attached to his sleeves, patchworked together, and he wiped his brow as he pulled himself into his apartment.

His eyes drifted between the two strangers in the apartment and settled on Isala. He stood there for a coupe of moments, then screeched, clasping his four hands over his mouth and trembling. His tremors got worse and worse, his head shaking as he tried to tear his eyes away from Isala, but they couldn't. His eyes started to turn bloodshot as he crumpled to his knees, whimpering and sobbing at the mere sight of her.

Isala watched the rapid breakdown of the stranger with a mix of unease and annoyance. "What the...what's this guy's problem?" She asked, glaring back at him as she folded her arms.

"He's scared. I think he's been scared for a very long time." The Supreme Kai said, as she stepped up beside the panicking stranger and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. Just a sliver of his discomfort was soothed, but still he shuddered under the touch. "Don't you recognize him?"

Isala stared at the creature for a few moments longer, before something flickered in front of her mind. "Yeah...hang on, isn't he a Thraskian?" She asked, and took a step closer. The stranger stumbled backwards with a cry, closer to the edge, and she stopped. "For crying out...yeah, he's a Thraskian. I..." She hesitated. "I wiped out his planet with my team. So, what, this one got away?"

The Supreme Kai nodded. "He was just coming back when you arrived on Planet Thrask. He saw what you were doing to his people, and he escaped." She said, faintly stroking the frozen Thraskian's shoulder. "And he's been very brave every day since then. Haven't you...um...what's your name?" She asked, interrupting his gaze with her own.

"T...Torian." The Thraskian uttered, his voice flanging and weak. "I'm Torian."

"I'm Chronoa." The Supreme Kai introduced herself, then gestured to Isala. "And this is Isala. She's a Saiyan."

Torian's eyes flickered between the pair of them, his heart slowing and his voice steadying. "She...she killed my people. My family." Isala looked to the side.

"I know." Chronoa nodded. "And I know you haven't been able to stop thinking about them, have you?" She asked, as the light of the projector lit up the man's face. He shook his head. "How have you been coping since then? You've got your own place to live. I bet you've got a job. You're still alive. There's got to be something keeping you so strong."

"I must keep living." Torian said, with conviction in his voice for the first time. "When a Thraskian dies, it is said that their afterlife is determined by how well their family lives. It is something my father always told me. Torian, you must succeed. For your grandmother. For your little cousin. For all the family. So I became a pilot. I worked hard. Made my family proud. And now all of my family is gone. And they all must rely on Torian." He clasped his arms around himself. "I must keep living."

Chronoa smiled while Isala's frown deepened. "It sounds like you're doing good, Torian. Is that why you keep that here?" She asked, pointing at the projector. "To remind you to keep strong?"

"Yes." Torian nodded. "But...Lorxa, she says I spend too much time with it. We play chess to get me away from the projector. She says I do not get more moves, for having more arms, but it seems fair to me." He chuckled sadly and chanced a look at Isala, then looked back down. "You seem kind, but why did you bring that monster here?" He asked, his voice trembling. "It hurts to look..."

"I brought Isala here because she isn't a monster. She's just going through some tough times, like you." Chronoa said.

"She cannot know times like me..."

Isala clenched her fist tighter.

"Isala knows exactly what you're going through." Chronoa asserted. "Because the thing that happened to you? It happened to her, too. She was there when her home planet was destroyed. She's the last Saiyan."

"Good."

"Good?!" Isala snarled at the kneeling man, as tears built up in the corners of her burning eyes. "Nothing about this is good! Every time I close my eyes, I watch my friends die! I hear the screams of an entire planet, and every one of them that came before it! It's not a good thing. It will never be a good thing!"

Torian looked into Isala's eyes and shook his head. "Forgive me. I did not realize...did not think. I cannot stop hating you. But nobody deserves to feel the way I do. Or you do. Nobody." He looked at his trembling hands and sighed. "Please leave. People are on their way to see me."

Chronoa nodded. "Thank you, Torian. But, one more thing before we go." She said, as she pulled down one of Torian's sleeves to reveal an arm painted in cuts, old and new, the flesh between them bruised blacker than night. "Who did this to you?"

Torian's mouth bobbed in search of an answer, then he sighed. "It is...local creature. They call themselves Hammerscrew, head of Hammerscrews. They heard of me being a pilot, and wanted my help. They wanted to hurt people, and I will not. So they went to where I work, the taxi service, and they beat me. Take money. When I do not have money, they take my belongings." His eyes drifted over his mostly-empty apartment. "When I do not give that, they hurt me." The sound of scraping echoed up into the apartment. "They come. Leave. Please."

"Well...I guess we could. But first, let me give you a hand for being a good host, even though we just dropped in." Chronoa said, as she placed her hand on Torian's shoulder and a green glow surrounded him. It took just a few moments for his flesh to knit together, sealing the cuts as though they'd never been there. The black bruises faded, turning back to healthy blue flesh as Torian's eyes widened at the sudden lack of pain. "All better." She giggled. "Well, Isala, do you think we should go now?"

Isala stared at the wounds that had just canvased Torian's arms, his words and his pleading and his panic fresh in her mind. Her tears had been held back, but her fist was still clenched, and she shook her head.

"No. Not yet." Isala flexed her fingers. "I want to meet this Hammerscrew first." She said, as she stepped passed Torian and he stood up, quickly moving deeper into the single-room apartment.

"Please, don't, they're dangerous." Torian pleaded. "Even for a Saiyan, the-"

Torian was interrupted by the loudest scrape yet, as a figure crawled over the edge of the apartment. They were seven feet tall, their skin a spindly metallic carapace that was vaguely humanoid, save for the digitigrade legs that ended in piercing spikes that dragged as they moved. Their face was made of several moving parts, resembling a face but not nearly so fluid. When they spoke, it was in a muffled screech.

"We've come for you, Torian. Your money or your flesh." Hammerscrew said, as they held up an oversized hand tipped with razors.

"No." Isala said, as she stood before the much taller creature.

"No?" Hammerscrew chuckled. "Do you know how thi-" They were interrupted by its right arm being torn off in an instant. They squealed while Isala crumpled it up into a tiny ball, then turned it to ash with a blast of energy. "You da-" They were once more stopped, as Isala hopped up and dropkicked them in the center of their chest. They flew backwards, arcing over the horizon. Just as they would have crashed into another pillar, she was behind them, and stomped them down into the ground.

Their unnatural voice echoed through the district until they hit the ground, their chest caved in thanks to Isala's boots. She leaned down where she stood, her eyes boring holes into theirs.

"Be good." Isala said, as a little golden disc appeared over one of her fingers.

"You...have...no...ri-" Hammerscrew screamed again, as Isala flicked her finger back at the disc split one of Hammerscrew's legs down the middle, from its hip to its spike.

Isala raised an eyebrow.

"Y...yes..." Hammerscrew whimpered.

The denizens of the undercity had crowded around the sudden, violent display and were staring at the victorious Isala. She stepped off of the mauled crime lord and pulled her sedge hat to cover her eyes.

"Spread the word." She told the crowd, then disappeared.