Ascension, Part 1

by edgarmash79

Peace had once again returned to the multiverse after the events of Dragonball Z. Goku is eagerly awaiting a new Martial Arts Tournament to enter his new protégé, Uub, whom he had spent the past six years training with. Little does he know that there is a growing threat from Universe 11 that may become a threat to the whole multiverse.

14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – "A vow of revenge! A look into Kelerot's past."

An old familiar battleground…

Goku and Kelerot appeared in a desolate area with several tall rock structures decorating the landscape. Kelerot walked around for a moment observing the area and a smile crossed his face.

"This was where Vegeta and I fought for the first time years ago. We like to use this as training grounds whenever we sparred," Goku said, laying his hand on one of the rock structures. He could see the top of it where he stood poised to fight Vegeta and could almost see an image of the two of them at the top of the opposing rocks. He flew up to stand on that same spot and glanced down at Kelerot.

"Up here!" he shouted and Kelerot turned to his voice. He nodded and flew up to the spot where Vegeta had stood before and he knelt down on one knee, placing his hand on the rock's surface.

"This place holds a lot of sentimental value to you. I can feel the history of battle through the landscape," he said, closing his eyes and smiling. Goku looked impressed. He knelt down himself and could feel a tingly sensation come over him as he too felt the energy around him, breathing a sigh of satisfaction.

"Yeah, I can definitely feel it too," he said and Kelerot stood up again.

"You build up enough experience with combat that you get a feel for things like this. Now then, shall we begin?"

"Whenever you're ready," Goku said and clenched his fists. Kelerot closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He felt his power surging forth inside him and he raised his hands slightly, hovering them over the earth below and Goku could feel that as well.

A sudden burst of energy shot out from Kelerot and it almost blew Goku off the rock pillar. He had to steady himself and power up just to stay still and his eyes widened. What energy control!

Goku also noticed that there was no aura of energy surrounding him, yet he felt his power just as clearly.

Goku closed his eyes and began to focus his energy. Kelerot grinned as he felt a sharp increase in Goku's power and he nodded, anticipating the start of the fight.

"Nice, your power has a nice feel to it," Kelerot said and took up a fighting stance.

"Yeah," Goku said, smiling as well. He and Kelerot both disappeared and reappeared with fists colliding against each other. Goku brought up his arms to block Kelerot's fists but each strike was heavy and pushed Goku back. He was surprised at how sharp and how impactful each blow was and moved around to gain an advantage to counter Kelerot's blows, which were blocked. They flew around the landscape, using the terrain around them to bounce off the rocky pillars and they tagged each other with punches and kicks that haven't been able to connect with one another. Kelerot began to increase his movement speed and began tagging Goku in certain areas with his fists, driving him back. Goku, feeling himself backed up a bit, decided to start taking it up a notch and let out a yell, focusing his power even more to flare his hair up and channel energy into his golden glow. He powered up past his Super Saiyan form into Super Saiyan two, electric sparks dancing around his body as his hair spiked up considerably and it looked more rigid to Kelerot as he stared at it for a moment.

Goku's movements were a lot faster, but Kelerot was able to keep up with them without a problem and he blocked more of Goku's blows as the hits were coming in faster this time.

"Surely this isn't your full power?" Kelerot asked.

"Not quite yet. It wouldn't be fun going all out yet," Goku said and Kelerot caught Goku's fist.

"It'd be easier for me if you did go all out, though," Kelerot said and let go. Goku flew back a moment and paused, staring at him.

"You really want me to escalate this quickly?"

"Of course. I'm eager to see how strong you really are," Kelerot said and Goku landed on a rock pillar below him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, powering back down to his base form.

It had been a while since he last made use of his divine energy but he could still remember how to tap into it. He relaxed his body and focused his energy inward and his aura changed to a crimson color. Kelerot felt a shift in Goku's power and his eyes widened out of intrigue as he saw Goku's power increase exponentially. He saw his hair and eyebrows change color from black to red and his muscular structure decrease to a leaner physique.

"Fascinating," Kelerot said, smiling.

"It's called Super Saiyan God," Goku said after he opened his eyes. He looked at his arms and hands and the feeling rushed back into him. He nodded and grinned. "I'm glad I could still do this since it's been a while."

"You were worried you had lost that ability?" Kelerot asked.

"Yeah," Goku nodded. "I spent so much time training Uub I started to worry I'd lose the ability to channel divine energy. Thankfully my body remembers these things quite well."

Kelerot smiled. "I assume it is the same for Vegeta and Broly?"

"Vegeta, yeah. Broly never trained like we have but he's got a ridiculous amount of power on his own that he might not even need it yet he's still able to fight on even footing, probably against Lord Beerus himself."

"Forgive me for asking this, but how strong is Lord Beerus?" Kelerot asked. Goku paused, cocking an eyebrow.

"That's a good question, I never got to test him at his max power before," he said and Kelerot closed his eyes.

"I see," was all he said and he took up his fighting stance once more. Goku readied himself as well and Kelerot immediately went on the attack with a punch that Goku narrowly blocked with his forearm, otherwise he would've been knocked squarely in the head. Kelerot moved in such a way that Goku had to gamble on a forward attack to raise his arm fast enough to block it. His speed's increased dramatically!

Kelerot moved around lightly and nimbly, feinting his punches as Goku was able to block the real ones incoming, but his movements were so sharp and so strong that they were easily pushing him back. Goku tried to clear some distance between them but Kelerot was constantly in his face as he flew back, a determined look on his face. Goku went on the offensive this time and Kelerot began blocking all of Goku's shots with only one finger, grabbing his fist with nothing but a thumb and an index finger, locking it in place. He hit Goku's pressure points along his arms and shoulders with a few quick thrusts from his fingers and sent him flying back with a palm thrust to the chest. Goku regained his momentum and flipped back a few times to land on his feet, holding his chest. He looked at the spots Kelerot tagged him at and looked back with a bit of concern. What did he just do to me?

He began to feel his arms become heavier from the pressure points Kelerot hit and felt that he had to start pushing his power even higher. Clenching his fists, he let out a growl as he heightened the divine energy in his body. Kelerot was about to fly down to continue his attack but noticed that Goku was increasing his power and paused.

The pressure of changing to his next form looked obvious on Goku's face as his muscles grew bigger, back to their normal size. His hair began to change colors and his aura shifted from red to blue. He let out a scream that echoed across the landscape as his power burst outward and his hair changed to a bluish tint. When the energy settled, Goku stood before Kelerot with his hair spiked upward again and a shade of blue that was almost like an aquatic color that shimmered against the coming night as the moon shone overhead.

"This is Super Saiyan Blue, the Super Saiyan level of Super Saiyan God," he said, his breath calming itself down again. He grinned at Kelerot with a determined look and Kelerot nodded.

"Is this your highest power?" he asked.

"Technically, but I have ways of bringing it up even higher than that," Goku said.

"Fascinating," Kelerot said again with a grin and he landed in front of Goku. They had moved around back to the lower levels and were surrounded by the rock pillars. Goku went first and he disappeared in a high speed burst. Kelerot did the same and the two clashed fists against each other, levelling the terrain around them with each blow.

The two kept at it before Goku began feeling his movements slowing down a bit, if only for a moment and he gritted his teeth. I should be much faster in Blue, why am I slowing down?

Goku could feel his punches missing Kelerot by a fraction as he dodged and redirected them away from him and tagged Goku in the face with a few jabs that knocked him back a moment. Goku felt desperation creep up in the back of his head and felt that he had to start using his Kaioken technique if he's ever going to match Kelerot blow for blow.

He nodded and paused, concentrating hard on his energy. He had to bring back the memories of when he needed to use his Kaioken technique and could easily push it to a tenfold multiplier without pushing his body too much. Twenty times was the threshold of his power but he wasn't sure if he could bring himself to that point after such a lengthy break of not using divine energy. He had to be sure he could still maintain control of his power and use Kaioken before he decided to increase the multiplier.

Kelerot felt an even greater shift of power in Goku as both red and blue auras were swirling around his body, as if one layer of a flame was burning above the other.

Grunting and growling, Goku felt his body tense up and could feel the surge of power again. He could also feel where Kelerot had hit him in his pressure points and focused his power to compensate for the increase in weight that made it feel like his arms were being pulled down to the earth by a giant magnet. He let out a scream as his power burst forth and erupted across the area, shaking the ground around him. The pillars of rocks were blown away as he screamed out once more and his aura flared a crimson red around his already impressive blue aura. When his focus reached its apex, he smiled, chuckling under his breath.

"Yeah, I still got it," he said and Kelerot cocked an eyebrow. He began to smile a bit more as his excitement grew. This is getting good. Keep going higher, Goku, show me your power.

"This is what's called the Kaioken technique," Goku said and Kelerot's eyes widened a bit with fascination. He looked at Goku with awe and smiled.

"This power you're showing me, it's a wonderful sensation," Kelerot said and raised his arms into another fighting pose. He made a "come over here" motion with his hand.

Goku disappeared and with his sudden burst reappeared behind Kelerot to attack his blind spot. Kelerot was quick enough to catch Goku's fist and shift his body with a rapid high speed burst to sidestep and Goku kept up his attack. He was moving faster, his movements were sharper and more precise, and Kelerot was blocking far more often this time. He was so enthralled with this fight that he didn't care about his Delving technique at all. He felt good in this fight that he couldn't stop smiling as he was fighting Goku and the two moved in consecutive high speed bursts across the landscape, disappearing and reappearing. They launched a right hook at each other that connected, the shockwave of their fists colliding blew away the area, shaking the earth below and blowing away all the rock pillars and Kelerot stopped, glancing down. Goku noticed the same and Kelerot frowned a moment.

"Oh. We seemed to have destroyed your training grounds," he said and Goku laughed.

"Don't worry about it, there's plenty of places to train," Goku said and Kelerot nodded, smiling again.

"Of course."

They went right back at it and Goku once again felt his movements beginning to feel heavy and sluggish and Kelerot used this moment to hit Goku hard in the gut and knock him down to the ground with a heavy chop to the face. He crashed hard into the ground and Kelerot landed a few feet away. He strolled over to where Goku had landed and saw that he went quite far into the ground. He focused his energy and lowered the gravity to the point where a lot of the debris and rocks floated up in the air and he gently nudged them aside as Goku floated up from the crevice. He was momentarily unconscious but he snapped back to it and shook his head. He glanced around and was surprised at what he saw. He tried to move but it was proving rather difficult. It felt like he was swimming but wasn't gaining any traction or movement and he began to panic a bit. Kelerot brought the gravity back to normal and Goku fell with the rocks back to the ground, crying out in pain for a moment, holding his head. He got back to his feet and looked around, confused.

"What was that? I couldn't move my body," he said and Kelerot stood with his hands behind his back.

"I reversed the gravity in the area to get you out of that pit I sent you to," he said and Goku's eyes lit up.

"Reversed the gravity? You can do that?"

Kelerot nodded. "It took a long time to master but I learned how to control all aspects of gravity and how it works. You noticed your movements were slowing down as we were fighting, right?"

Goku could still feel his arms as though heavy weights were added to them and tried to lift them up. He realized he needed to put in some effort to bring them up and his eyes widened.

"What did you do to my body?" Goku asked, worry in his voice. Kelerot walked over to him and tagged him quickly in the same pressure points that he hit him earlier and Goku grunted slightly from the impact, yet he felt his arms immediately get lighter as his movement returned to normal and he couldn't conceal the shock and excitement on his face.
"Woah! That's an amazing ability!"

"Attacking pressure points with precise strikes was one of my Master Daikon's specialties. He was a genius fighter with an endless supply of wisdom. That and perfecting energy control to maximize your power at the right moment. I didn't start learning how to control gravity until I served time at the Galactic Prison."

He closed his eyes and frowned when those words left his mouth. He conjured a few balls of energy and set them floating around to provide light for the two and he sat down on a rock that had fell around the impact crater. Goku sat down on another rock a couple feet away and he could see the hurt and anger in Kelerot's face.

"So why did you kill all those people?" Goku asked.

"Perhaps its better I explain from the beginning the events that led to my time in prison," Kelerot said and he crossed his arms.

"The beasts that I talked about earlier that attacked my people; we called them the 'demons of Gardenia'."

He glanced up at the moon for a moment and grinned. "I haven't gazed upon a full moon in years. I forgot how beautiful they look."

"Yeah, it used to be a problem for us Saiyans a long time ago," Goku said. Kelerot raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"We used to have a tail, the Saiyans of this universe I mean. I don't know the whole details but whenever we looked at the full moon, our body goes through a huge transformation and we become giant apes. My memory's still fuzzy about all the times I transformed but as I got older I can sort of remember vague glimpses. The first time it happened to me I accidentally killed my grandfather. I almost killed a lot of people at the World Martial Arts Tournament when I was a kid but thankfully my old master Roshi was there to stop me from going on a rampage."

Kelerot was a little taken back from this.

"I had no idea Saiyans from this universe had such primal features. You must look a bit like I do when you're transformed I assume?" he asked and Goku crossed his arms, getting a good look at Kelerot's facial features. He remembered back to his first fight with Vegeta and Vegeta's great ape form and a smirk appeared on his face.

"Yeah, there is a bit of a similarity but your face doesn't look that aggressive, not like Vegeta's was," he said and Kelerot instinctively looked at where Goku should've had a tail and noticed there wasn't any.

"Has something happened to make you lose your tails?" Kelerot asked.

Goku nodded. "I had mine removed for good. Vegeta's was cut off during our first fight, and Broly's must've had his removed as well back on Vampa, probably by his papa or something. Gohan was born with one too but it too had to be removed for good. It's really hard for us to control ourselves when we're transformed but Vegeta was able to."

"I see," Kelerot said. He glanced up at the moon again. "The moon on Gardenia had an effect on our crops, but it also carried with it a darker nature. Once in a while, whenever a full moon would show up, it showed up as something different. It was a phenomenon the elders called a 'blood moon'."

"A blood moon?" Goku asked.

"Yes," Kelerot nodded. "The moon shone with a dark red glow that painted the skies and the lands crimson and the first time it happened I was very little. I'll never forget the horrific screams that came afterwards when I first saw a blood moon."

Planet Gardenia, Universe 11, Age 748…

My mother and I were waiting outside our home as we usually do for my father to come back from tending the fields. I was only four years old at the time, but I could still remember mother's beaming smile every time she saw him come back with a bag full of fresh pickings from the harvest that day. A lot of my friends' families eagerly welcomed the men from the fields with their harvest.

"Welcome home, just in time before the sun sets completely and the moon comes out," she said as Kelerot's father laid down two large bags in front of the house. Kelerot ran up to him and he was lifted into his father's arms.

"Guess how much I have in those bags," he asked and Kelerot shook his head.

"Papa, can we watch the moon come out?" Kelerot asked and his father nodded.

"It'll be a while before the moon shows up so why don't we eat first and then we'll watch the moon and stars all night. How about that?"

"Yay!" Kelerot shouted, raising his arms in the air.

As we ate that evening, we could gradually hear the pained cries of the creatures that had later attacked our village. I saw my father's face grow more worried. I never saw him look so scared before but the more the creatures howled in agony, the more unnerved he got.

"Papa, what's wrong?" Kelerot asked.

"Get Kelerot to the shelter under the house, hurry!" Kelerot's father yelled and his mother nodded quickly, grabbing Kelerot to pick him up.

"Mama, what's going on? Why's papa so scared? What's wrong with the boars outside? Are they in pain?" Kelerot was full of questions but his mother was too focused on getting him to safety that she was paying more attention to his father while holding him tight.

"Keep him safe, I'll secure the crops with the other farmers as quickly as possible. I only hope we lose a few this time," he said and ran out of the house. Kelerot could see other figures run out as well and the air began to feel different as an eerie red light was shimmering outside.

"Mama?" he said and Kelerot's mother covered his eyes, running down to the next room to uncover a trap door hidden underneath the carpet, unhooking it to open it up with her free hand.

"Don't look at the strange light, Kelerot. Stay calm and don't say another word, understand? Your father will be back shortly."

"Ok," Kelerot said.

Even through the closed trap door I could still hear them, the boars that became demonic creatures whose shrieks of pain and agony pierced my ears. They were filled with bloodlust, malice, death.

We waited for hours as we listened helplessly to their shrieks, but my father never came back. We waited as long as we could until we passed out from exhaustion and we woke up the next morning. When we climbed back out, mother immediately went to search for him but was met with a horrific outcome.

We lost over a dozen farmers that night, some brave enough to fight back with their tools. They managed to kill one of the mutated boars but it looked like it had got the best of at least three of them in the melee. We searched far and wide for my father only to find him some distance away, only there wasn't much left of him as those things tore him apart. It was the first time I had ever seen death up close. I ran to the carcass of the dead creature and took out my anger on it. I don't know what came over me but I didn't react out of fear. Those things killed my father and I wanted them to suffer for it. Mother didn't know what to say and she watched in silence and grief as her son took his aggression out on a dead body.

The elders of the village brought us all together and vowed that we must sacrifice our time and energy spent harvesting our seasonal crops to build walls strong enough to prevent those demons from attacking us should the blood moon ever show up again and the men who had miraculously survived began working on building and fortifying the village. Despite my small frame and my youth, I vowed to help them out, stubbornly refusing to be sent back home to stay with my mother. I wanted us to stay alive and be strong enough to fight back against those creatures but they kept saying the same thing over and over again.

"Kelerot, we can't fight those demons. You'd be torn to shreds like your father," said one of the survivors.

"They won't get away with it! They took papa away! They took papa away and I want him back!" Kelerot screamed, tears flowing down freely on his face as he wiped his nose, breathing heavily.

He walked over to a pile of farmer's tools and picked up a pitchfork that was considerably longer than his small frame could handle and almost fell back from the weight of it. He steadied it in front of him and almost hit several of the adults as he swung around with it. One of the elders grabbed the pitchfork and held it down as Kelerot tried to break free of the elder's grasp.

"Let go! I want to kill them!" Kelerot screamed, grunting as he pulled back hard but the elder's grip was stronger, holding it in place. He had a look of anguish as he saw the rage on this young boy's face and he shook his head, glancing at the others while they were working on assembling the barricade.

Kelerot pulled so hard that he lost his grip and fell back on his rear. He quickly stood back up and saw one of the boars that had transformed back into its more docile self and he glared at it.

"You! You killed papa! Give him back! Give back my papa!" Kelerot screamed as he charged at the boar, who reacted instinctively and panicked, running away while squealing and the elder sighed heavily, holding up the pitchfork.

"That boy's going to get himself killed if we don't calm him down," the elder said.

"Maybe we should kill those boars so they don't come back and transform again if another blood moon shows up," the survivor said and the elder shook his head.

"We're farmers, Qukes, we're not hunters. All we can do for now is keep this village safe until the next blood moon."

Qukes sighed in frustration. "Elder, we don't know when the next blood moon will show up. A month from now? A year? How much time do we have before another massacre hits us? What of the other villages? They must've suffered the same fate we did!"

"Your concerns are noted and reasonable, Qukes," the elder said and signaled a couple of survivors.

"You, go and bring the boy back here. And you, make your way to the neighbouring village and spread the word about the boars. Tell them to prepare for the next blood moon. Meanwhile I'll convene with the council and begin to study this phenomenon that's affected our moon and figure out the cause of it."

The two volunteers nodded and rushed out of the village quickly.

Present day…

"I never got very far outside the village before one of the adults brought me back, kicking and screaming," Kelerot said with a bit of a chuckle. Goku was mesmerized by Kelerot's story and had a bit of sadness as he stared at him.

"So you guys didn't have any way of fighting those creatures then?" he asked and Kelerot shook his head.

"I was fiercely determined as the days went by. I guess that was the first time my desire for fighting kicked in. I wanted to fight them, I wanted them all dead. I wanted revenge for my father.

"I begged the adults to see if anyone would teach me how to fight but none of them knew how. I set up some practice dummies at the back of my house and started whacking them with a stick I found on the ground, just hitting them as hard as I could. My mother was growing more worried about me as time went on and I wasn't eating as much. I grew obsessed with fighting that she put a stop to it. That was also the first time I ever hit someone and I still regret it to this day. It was also the first time grief finally hit home as I came to grips with the reality of my father's death."

Age 750, Universe 11…

The Elders did as much research as they could in the phenomenon of the blood moon but due to the rarity of the event they had nothing conclusive. All we could do for now was fortify the village with a barricade to keep the demons at bay and hope that it would be enough. We lacked the resources to build a large enough enclosure to keep both the crops and the villagers safe, so we had to make a sacrifice and keep ourselves alive long enough to replenish what had been lost should another blood moon occur.

That year was also the first time Master Daikon showed up on Gardenia.

There were several knocks heard at the main gate and one of the villagers looked to the elders in confusion.

"Are we expecting visitors from the neighbouring village, Parsnip?" Qukes asked and Parsnip, one of the Elders, shook his head.

"Trading season isn't for another two weeks. Go and see who it is and hope they're not hostile," Parsnip informed him and Qukes walked up to the front gate and opened up the window to look outside. Standing was a man in layered garb with a scruffy beard and long jet black hair, staring back at him.

"Can we help you?" Qukes asked.

"I've unfortunately become marooned on this planet and your village was the first piece of civilization I noticed. Are you able to provide shelter?" the strange man asked and Qukes quickly shut the window.

He turned around and walked quickly to the Elder.

"He doesn't look like anyone I'm familiar with. He's not a Saiyan like any of us."

Parsnip looked perplexed but Qukes still maintained a determined face.

"Should we take him in? He seeks shelter," Qukes asked.

"We shouldn't trust anyone who doesn't look like us. Let the neighbouring village deal with him," the Elder said and Qukes frowned. He quickly walked back to the gate and opened the window.

"The Elder doesn't want non-Saiyans in the village, stranger. You'll have to seek out the next village which is due south of here," Qukes stated and the stranger's eyes widened.

"Did you say Saiyans? Are you of their race?" he asked and Qukes eyed him curiously.

"We're a village of Saiyans. You're on the planet Gardenia if that helps. Your reaction seems to indicate that you're familiar with us?"

"Of course I'm familiar. I'm a Saiyan as well. My name's Daikon," the stranger said and Qukes looked back, slightly disgusted by what he heard.

"You dare make jokes, now? You look nothing like a Saiyan and I don't appreciate being mocked in such a fashion. Now go away."

Qukes slammed the window shut and Daikon sighed, turning around. Qukes peeked through the window to see where Daikon was headed and saw that he was setting up camp near a forested area to the west of the village.

"Tch, that damn fool's going to get himself slaughtered by the demons should the next blood moon show up," Qukes muttered to himself as he walked away from the gate. He gasped in surprise when he saw Kelerot standing a few feet away.

"Kelerot! Don't scare me like that. What do you want?" Qukes asked.

"Who was that you were talking to?" Kelerot asked.

"It's none of your concern. You and your mother need to get your tools ready for the harvest. We'll need to get to the nearest field as quickly as possible before nightfall, the Elders are predicting a full moon tonight. We pray that it's not going to be a blood moon."

"If it is a blood moon, I'll make sure mother and the others stay safe," Kelerot said and Qukes shook his head, leading him back to his house.

"You're not strong enough to handle the demons when they mutate, Kelerot. Don't throw away your life for such a reckless decision. Be smart and stay out of danger. Your mother wouldn't be able to cope losing another loved one."

"I'm not a coward, Qukes! I've been practicing using our tools as weapons to fight them back. I'll see to it they die before we do."

Qukes sighed heavily, staring at Kelerot. "Foolish boy," he muttered under his breath and walked away.

We worked as fast as possible before nightfall to gather the crops. We managed to load one field's worth onto the cart before the moon came out but we were still quite a distance away from the village. The elders who volunteered to help pushed the carts as quickly as possible but then we started hearing those same horrible cries from the demons like last time. The day we dreaded had come again and we saw the blood moon rise up over the horizon.

I saw the transformation happen before my very eyes this time. For a moment I felt sorry for those creatures and the pain they had to endure as they changed. Their eyes looked like they were crying for help until they started crying tears of blood as their physiques grew. An extra pair of legs grew out from their sides and both their teeth and claws grew. They shrieked; cries of bloodlust resonated across the area as they stampeded all around us. There was no method to their attack, no pattern. They rampaged wildly and attacked anything that moved in front of them.

I grabbed a tool to defend the group but mother grabbed me and made a run for it. I screamed in protest, wanting to fight them off but she wouldn't listen. Next thing we knew one of the demons tackled us to the ground.

"Mama!" Kelerot cried out. She grunted as she tried to get back up but screamed as she felt the pain surge through her leg. One of their hooves had trampled over her leg as it ran them over and she looked around in a panic.

"Just stay close to me, I'll keep you safe," she told Kelerot and he was trying to squirm out of her grasp.

"I'm getting us out of here, mama," Kelerot said and began to stand up, helping his mother to her one good leg.

"We'll take shelter in the trees, out of sight," Kelerot said, heading in the direction of a wooded area that looked dark enough to conceal themselves. It didn't seem as though these demons were attacking anyone specifically, only that he saw a few other Saiyans get trounced underneath them and one torn in half from two of them pulling at him from opposite ends. Kelerot winced at the sight and had to pick up the pace if he was going to make it.

He didn't notice one of the tools the elders had dropped earlier and caught his foot against the shaft of it, tripping him up. He fell with his mother on top of him, the two crying out as they fell forward. It was at the same time that one of the demons screeched as it turned to rush in their direction.

"Kelerot, run!" she cried out to him but Kelerot couldn't move.

"I can't get free!" he yelled and she tried to move off of him but gasped when she felt something hard jab itself through her back. Kelerot's eyes looked on in horror as he saw one of those large tusks skewering his mother through her back. She looked down at him with tear stricken eyes and blood coming out of her mouth, caressing his face with her hand. It felt like time had slowed down considerably in that one moment as Kelerot saw the life fade away from his mother's eyes. The demon kept moving onward with his mother still impaled on his tusk and he screamed in fury and agony at the creature.

He grabbed the tool on the ground and ran as fast as he could to pursue the creature, who had gained a considerable amount of distance away from him. It shook its head vigorously to throw its victim off and Kelerot saw his mother fly off the tusk several feet to the side. But he was so focused on the creature that he continued charging forward, hoping to catch it off guard before it noticed him.

He was too consumed in his rage that he failed to notice another demon charging in his direction from the side. Kelerot was still screaming as he charged forward and when he caught up to the demon, he impaled it with the end of the tool, what looked like a mix between a shovel and a hoe. The creature screamed from the impact but it ran off with the tool still embedded in its side.

"Come back! Fight me!" he screamed and from the corner of his eye he saw the other demon stampeding towards him and his face grew pale, his eyes widening in horror.

A figure appeared in front of him and fired some strange beam of light at the creature from his hands. Next thing Kelerot noticed when the light faded was that the creature was no longer there. The figure moved around at such speed that he looked like a blur. He disappeared and reappeared, taking out a few other demons in the process with physical attacks that baffled Kelerot. He had never seen anything like it before.

The remaining creatures scurried off elsewhere, moving their chaos to a different area of the planet. The figure stared off in the distance, observing their movements and taking a few deep breaths. Kelerot stared at him in disbelief but caught sight of his mother's body lying face first in the ground a few feet away and he ran off to her.

He rolled her over onto her back and saw the lifeless gaze in her eyes. He buried his face into her blood-soaked chest and wailed, holding her tightly. The figure calmly walked over to him and sighed, frowning. He knelt down and looked at the woman's face for a moment.

"I'm sorry, kid," he said, putting a hand on Kelerot's back. Kelerot gasped in shock and turned around to face him.

"Y-you killed those demons," he muttered.

"Yes. I've never seen anything like that before and before I knew it, those things were rampaging all over the place," he said and Kelerot stared at him, his face getting angrier.

"Why didn't you help us?! Why didn't you kill those things before they attacked us?! Why didn't you save my mother?!" he said, trying to fight him, but all he was doing was flailing his arms, batting his fists at the figure. He stood up and grabbed Kelerot's hands, holding them in place. Kelerot screamed and grunted, trying to free himself but the figure simply stared down at him.

"Your punches are too weak to do anything, boy. You let your anger get the best of you and where does that lead you? You'd be just as dead as she is," the figure said, nodding to Kelerot's mother.

The few Saiyans who had managed to survive ran up to the figure and some winced at seeing Kelerot's mother lying dead on the field. One of the elders walked over to the figure and signaled the others to join up with him.

"Get Kelerot back to the village, quickly. We can't waste time not knowing when those demons will come back," he said and one of the farmers picked up Kelerot's mother in his arms and carried her back.

"Go with him, Kelerot, that's an order," the elder said and Kelerot stared back at him, glaring furiously.

"GO, NOW," the elder commanded and Kelerot broke off into a run back to the village. The elder sighed and stared at Kelerot with a saddened look on his face.

"Another orphaned at such a young age," he said and the figure turned to look at Kelerot as well. He stared back at the elder.

"Where are your warriors? Where are those who are supposed to protect your village from those things?" he asked and the elder looked away in disgust. He glanced back at the figure.

"We're nothing but simple farmers, stranger. We till the lands, grow our crops, and eat as much as we can to fill our large appetites. If we knew the art of fighting and combat, this wouldn't be a problem."

"But you're Saiyans!" the figure yelled. "Fighting should be a natural instinct borne in each of you! That boy should've been able to fight them off at his age without difficulty, or at least you of your caliber should've killed those creatures the moment you saw them!"

The elder stared back at him. "Yes, we are Saiyans, but whatever crazy idea you have of us being fighters is asinine. We don't have the time to learn how to fight, we need as much time as we can to regrow what we have lost. You've seen firsthand what kind of destruction those things are capable of. We lost months worth of food that we need to survive."

The figure had a stunned look on his face as he stared at the elder. He began to walk away to join up with the other farmers on their way back to the village.

"Wait," the figure said. The elder turned around as he joined up with him.

"Let me teach you how to fight. It's the least I can do to help. I hate to see more of those kids lose their families because they lacked the knowledge to defend themselves. At least that boy has determination but lacks discipline."

"Your offer is generous but like I said, we don't have that kind of time. We must tend to the injured and gather inventory of what we had lost and what we managed to harvest today," the elder said and the figure stopped in front of him.

"Then I will protect your village until your people are capable of fighting on their own. I insist on teaching them how to fight. I have a distinct feeling that you will grow stronger in no time."

The elder paused for a moment and stared ahead at the farmers, some carrying dead bodies back with them, some holding each other up due to injuries they suffered and he sighed.

"Let me confer with the other elders on this matter. We'll reach a decision by tomorrow's eve. You're welcome to stay at our village until then. My name's Parsnip."

"Daikon," the figure responded. Parsnip narrowed his eyes.

"Why do you have a Saiyan-like name? You don't look anything like us," Parsnip said.

"I've travelled from a great distance in search of students to teach my fighting arts to. It just so happens that I've stumbled upon a Saiyan planet in this universe."

"So you are an alien, then?" Parsnip asked and eyed Daikon cautiously.

"I guess there would be reason to be suspicious since I look different than you do," Daikon said.

"Are there other worlds like ours? Other Saiyan civilizations?" Parsnip asked.

"I'd be lying if I said you're the only ones out here," Daikon said with a smile. "But it's a lot more complex than you'd realize. For now, I think the matter of helping your villagers out takes priority. I hope you'll allow me to teach your people the art of combat and how to channel energy like I can."

Daikon channeled energy into a ball that he floated above his hand and Parsnip stared at it with his mouth wide open.

"By the gods, how is this possible?" he asked, reaching out to touch it but felt the heat come out of the ball and retracted his hand.

"You conjured light out of your hand with such ease," Parsnip said and Daikon chuckled a bit.

"Well, anyone can do this if they train hard enough. If you let me teach you and your people, you'll eventually do this as well," Daikon said and cancelled the ball, the light fading away.

That's how Daikon came to live with us from that day on. The farmers were eager to learn how to fight under Master Daikon's tutelage, but when it came to me, he refused.

"You won't teach me? Why?" Kelerot asked and Daikon stared down at him.

"Because you're not ready, boy."

"I am ready! I'm ready to fight and protect the village from those demons when the next blood moon comes out," Kelerot cried out but Daikon simply turned around and walked away to lead the other villagers to an open area so he can begin training them.

"Teach me to fight!" Kelerot pleaded.

"Not until you're older, kid. You're not ready," Daikon repeated and ignored him as he walked onward.

Kelerot growled and went to throw a punch but Daikon caught it without looking, catching Kelerot's fist in his hand. He sighed and let go. Kelerot stood there, tears streaking down his red face and he balled his fists so tightly that he was drawing blood from his nails digging into his skin.

"The boy clearly wants you to train him," elder Parsnip chimed in but Daikon raised his hand, shaking his head.

"Until he understands the true purpose of fighting, he isn't ready. Give him a few years to grow and mature and maybe he'll understand. For now he needs someone to look after him."

Parsnip nodded and walked over to Kelerot.

"Come, we'll get you settled in with Qukes. He's agreed to look after you and the other children provided you help him with house and field work."

"I want my house," Kelerot said, staring up at him.

"You're not old enough to look after yourself. I understand the turmoil you're going through; we all are. What you need right now is someone to take care of you. You need time to calm down and mourn."

"NO! I need to fight back! I need them to pay for what they did to us!" he yelled and darted off in a dash to the outside of the village.

"Kelerot!" Parsnip cried out. Kelerot had already gained some distance from the village before Daikon approached him.

"Let him go. He'll have to learn the hard way if he intends on fighting back. He isn't doing himself any good if he's pushing people away."

"You sound as if you've had experience in this matter, Daikon," Parsnip said and Daikon nodded.

"My purpose is to provide the tools and knowledge necessary for your people to survive and work together. However I can't help those who aren't willing to understand themselves."

Kelerot kept running until he reached the field where dried blood had caked the grass and soil and he stared at it for a moment. He saw one of the demons who had changed back to a simple looking boar-like creature no bigger than a Saiyan adult and he charged after it. The creature panicked and began running away.

"You killed them! You killed them all! Come back here and die!" Kelerot screamed and he ran as fast as his skimpy legs could take him but he wasn't gaining any distance on the creature and he found himself out of breath.

He collapsed on his hands and knees and began pounding the dirt, screaming in anger and anguish. The creature that had run off slowed down and turned around, sniffing the air and the ground around it. It dug up a truffle that was in the soil and walked over to Kelerot holding it between its teeth. It dropped the truffle in front of him and quietly grunted. It walked over to his side and nuzzled him.

Kelerot jerked away in surprise and glared at the creature, who gave him a sad, pleading look. He couldn't understand what this creature wanted, but he lunged at it and began hitting it with his fists, which didn't do a whole lot except make the creature grunt in response. It moved away from Kelerot's flailing fists and nudged him again.

"Stop it! Let me kill you!" he yelled and the creature nudged the truffle towards him again. Kelerot couldn't understand what this creature wanted but he picked up the truffle regardless. The creature grunted again and quickly ran off towards where he had dug it off and looked back at Kelerot.

"What do you want from me?!" Kelerot yelled, glaring at the creature. It grunted and began digging up another truffle from the ground and nudged it towards him. Kelerot walked over to the soil and the creature continued digging up truffles, which surprised him.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" he asked. The creature then moved over to the trees and bumped it a couple of times with his thick skull. The tree branches shook and several fruit dropped from above, almost hitting Kelerot on their way down. He moved out of the way and stared at the creature as it seemed to enjoy giving him food items.

Kelerot looked down at the fruit, which had an orange-yellow color to them. He picked one up and noticed how smooth it felt. The creature ate one of the fruits on the ground and Kelerot could catch a whiff of the juice inside and he smelled the sweetness of it wafting through his nose. This in turn made his stomach growl and he started to care less about his anger and instead took a bite out of the fruit and his eyes widened at how delicious it tasted. He ate one fruit after another until he had consumed nearly all of what had fell from the branches and he sat down on the ground.

The creature was still lingering around, watching him eat the harvest he uncovered for him and Kelerot eyed him cautiously.

"Why are you helping me? You killed my people. I lost my mother and father because of you," Kelerot said and the creature walked over to him, lying down in front of him. Kelerot reached up with a fist, ready to punch at it again, but couldn't bring himself to do it. The creature rolled over onto its back and left is belly wide open for him. Kelerot was shocked at this sight and carefully lowered his hand down to the creature's stomach and instinctively began petting it. He didn't understand why he was doing it, only this felt like something he needed to do at the moment. The creature squealed happily and Kelerot actually began to grin for the first time in a while. He closed his eyes and then began to remember last night's details more accurately. One thing that stuck out the most were the cries they made when they stared at the blood moon. Remembering them more clearly, those were screams of creatures terrified of what they were becoming.

His eyes opened wide and he stood up. "I have an idea!"

He ran as fast as he could and the creature was following beside him, but he stopped.

"Don't follow me, you'll only cause trouble. Stay here."

The creature obliged and trotted back to the truffle garden he had discovered, digging up more trinkets out of the ground.

Kelerot had made it back to the village and ran over to elder Parsnip, who was in the middle of learning how to fight with Daikon.

"Elder Parsnip, I think I know what's wrong with the demons!" Kelerot shouted. The group stopped and Daikon paused.

"Have you calmed down for once, lad?" Parsnip said as he approached him.

"Get everyone here, I discovered something!" Kelerot cried out. Parsnip looked to Daikon who grinned and nodded, motioning him to continue onward to help Kelerot.

When the surviving farmers and villagers gathered together, Qukes helped Kelerot sit on his shoulders to give him enough height to see everyone.

"What did you discover?" Parsnip asked.

"I think they didn't mean to attack us," Kelerot said and the other villagers looked at each other, some in confusion at Kelerot.

"But how do you know that? You wanted them dead and we'd be willing to help hunt them down if it meant preventing them from changing again when the next blood moon comes out," said one of the farmers.

"Why the sudden change? They killed your mother and father. A lot of the kids lost their parents from this and I don't blame you for wanting them dead. I think we can live a safer life without those demons running around," said another and Kelerot nodded, frowning.

"I know. But when one of them gave me fruit from the trees, I think it was telling me it regretted losing control," Kelerot said and Daikon stared at the group with his arms crossed.

"They are still wild animals, don't forget that," he said and Kelerot turned his head. Qukes set him back down on the ground and Daikon approached him.

"If I teach you all to fight back, how will you make use of these skills? I cannot foresee teaching this village if their intention is to hunt those creatures to extinction. If what you say is true, they are more afraid of you than you are of them. I see a lot of potential in you, boy. You've adapted quickly to the reality of the situation without giving in to your anger, yet I still sense some reservation in you. How can I be sure that you are ready to receive my instruction in the art of fighting and survival?"

Kelerot stared up at him and wanted to say something but looked away. "I, I don't know."

"An honest answer I can accept. You're still in a fragile state of emotion. This sudden discovery hasn't given you the time to mourn your loss."

Daikon's words stung when Kelerot heard them and he immediately turned his gaze over to the body of his mother. Her face looked peaceful, even though it was still stained with her blood, and Kelerot hadn't fully cleaned her blood off his face either. He couldn't hold back the fresh set of tears that came down on his face and Daikon put a hand on the boy's head.

"Tell you what, if you can pass this test I'm giving you, I will teach you everything I know about how to fight and how to make the most out of your physiology. There is a lot about yourselves you don't quite know yet and I will help bring that out of all of you."

"What must I do?" Kelerot asked.

"Befriend the creature that killed your mother," Daikon said, which surprised Kelerot. "If you truly believe that her death was unintentional and a result of something beyond anyone's control, then you will look past your anger and prejudice and accept that what happened was no one's fault. Accept that these deaths were blameless and grow from this experience."

Kelerot's eyes widened as he looked at Daikon nervously.

"I, I don't know if I can," he said and Daikon smiled.

"You can, just believe in your potential, believe in your determination," he said and walked back to the training grounds. The villagers that had joined him earlier regrouped in front of him to resume their training and Kelerot sighed, staring at him. Qukes put a hand on his shoulder.

"Go wash up. We'll set up the pyres after sundown," he said and Kelerot nodded quietly.

When the pyres burned the bodies, the adult Saiyans who watched the flames burn quietly hummed a funeral dirge while some of the women mourned and wailed. Kelerot was quiet the whole time, staring at the burning body of his mother on the far left pyre. Daikon watched in fascination at the whole process, intrigued by how the Saiyans in this village conducted funeral rites and seemed to celebrate their dead passing on. He casually walked away to his camping area he set up the night before and sat down by an open flame he built himself with a small amount of energy he channeled. He watched the villagers eventually retire to their homes and looked on in sadness at some of the now empty houses that once had Saiyans inhabit them. He wondered what was going to be done with those but ignored it as he lay down to sleep the night.

The following day, Kelerot set out to find the creature. He had one of the adults accompany him to make sure he'd avoid getting into any trouble, and some of the other orphaned kids decided to tag along. The youngest was a boy named Chard, who had taken a liking to Kelerot since he too lost his mother the same night. There were other orphaned boys and one orphaned girl as well, a girl about a year younger than Kelerot named Perilla. The other boys were Gourd, Spinac, and Renkon.

Perilla liked Kelerot a lot but she wouldn't admit to it. She was jealous of the fact he still had his family after hers was taken from her during the previous blood moon. She'd often tease him for being too attached to his mother but Kelerot ignored it for the most part. However when she saw that his mother's dead body was carried home in the arms of one of the adult farmers, her heart sank and she wanted to comfort him, yet was a bit scared of the amount of anger he was displaying.

Qukes stopped when he could see in the distance a herd of those creatures and held his arms out to stop the group of children.

"I can see several of them up ahead. Stay low," he said and crouched down in the grass. They had reached an unplowed area of the open fields pass the ones they had tilled to plant their crops. The tall grass, at least tall enough for the children to hide well, provided some concealment for Qukes as he stared at the herd.

"Those look like the creatures from the other night," he said and Kelerot scanned the herd, wondering if he saw the one that dug up truffles and brought him fruit the day before. It was hard to distinguish one from the other, but he could see that one of them still had a significant injury from when he drove the tip of the farming hoe into its side. The blood looked like it had dried up but it was still very noticeable as the creature was digging up something from the ground and eating the grass around it. It pulled up and ate a bunch of roots and Kelerot felt his heart sink.

His body began to tense up and both Gourd and Spinac turned to look at him, then glanced at Qukes.

"Is that the demons that killed the grown-ups?" Gourd asked and Qukes shook his head.

"I can't say for sure. Kelerot, what do you think?"

"One of them is from the night my mother died, it's the one that I attacked with the farming hoe," he said and looked ready to charge forth. Perilla glanced at him.

"Don't go making an idiot of yourself and running off, you'll scare them away," she said.

"Can't we just call them over or something?" Spinac chimed in and Qukes pursed his lips, glancing down at him.

"If we cause a lot of noise, that's guaranteed to scare them off. If we approach them carefully, they might not see us as a threat. But I will take point. You all stay close behind me. Let's hope they won't start stampeding again."

Qukes slowly stood back up on his feet and the children did the same. Chard tugged at Kelerot's robe.

"Awe they stiww skawie?" Chard asked. Kelerot frowned.

"I don't know if they are scary, Chard. If they attack us again, we'll have to run back to the village and have Daikon fight them."

"Let's go," Qukes told the group. Spinac and Renkon stayed together, while Gourd and Perilla were close behind, holding hands with Chard in between them. Kelerot was immediately behind Qukes leading the children and they began walking slowly towards the herd. As they drew closer, the herd started walking away, as though by instinct and Qukes raised his hands in the air.

"Please wait, we don't want to hurt you," he told the creatures and they slowed down. He glanced down at the children.

"I think they can understand us," he said and Kelerot walked over beside him. He stared at the injured one and clenched his fists, feeling his heart beating faster.

"Easy Kelerot, they might pick up on your anger," he said and Kelerot tried to relax his fists. Qukes had with him a bag full of some of the crops they managed to harvest before they were attacked and he pulled out a large sized vegetable, shaped like a turnip. He tossed it in front of him and it landed a few feet between Qukes's group and the herd. One of the creatures walked over to the plant and sniffed at it. It then began to take a bite out it and sat down to eat it whole. Qukes breathed a sigh of relief and pulled out other vegetables, handing each one to the children.

"Here, take this to that injured one and let it eat," he said to Kelerot, handing him a plant shaped like a parsnip. Kelerot took the plant with a slightly shaking hand and walked slowly forward.

The other children, save Chard since he was still too young, were all handed plants to feed the herd and they each approached a different creature. Perilla was the first to quickly gain the creature's trust as she pet its head while it ate the plant from her hand. Gourd, Spinac and Renkon eventually were able to get the creatures to feed from them as well, though they had to put their plants on the ground in front of them first. They got to pet them as well. Chard stayed close to Perilla since he felt he was safer near her than any of the other children.

Kelerot simply stared at the injured creature and gripped his plant tightly in his hand. He still felt his anger rise and the creature backed away a couple steps, sensing his hostility. It didn't seem to care much for the other creatures trusting the group but instead grunted a shrill whine as it looked away from his glare.

The children began to notice and they all waited in anticipation to see how Kelerot would handle the situation. Perilla wanted to help, but Qukes shook his head. She scoffed and crossed her arms, glancing occasionally at Kelerot to see if he was going to feed the creature or not. She caught sight of another creature coming in from the forested area and it approached the injured one and Kelerot and she grew a bit concerned.

"Kelerot, there's another one coming!" she said suddenly and was worried she spoke too loudly, which made the injured one wince from the noise and almost run away. Kelerot could see the other one coming his way and noticed that it resembled the one who dug up those truffles earlier and he felt his body relax a bit. The creature walked up to him and casually took the plant out of his hand, bringing it over to the injured one. It let it drop from its jaws in front of the injured one and grunted at it. The injured one grunted in return and Kelerot could tell that they seemed to be communicating with each other. Perilla seemed the most fascinated of the group as she saw the creature help out the injured one and it walked back to Kelerot, taking his wrist in its jaws.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Kelerot asked, and the creature led him over to the injured one. Qukes was a bit surprised watching this unfold and he gazed at them quizzically.

"It seems they have some degree of intelligence to them. If I didn't know any better I swear this one can tell there's tension between Kelerot and that injured creature and wants them to bond."

Kelerot stopped before the injured one as it was still eating and his hand was led up to the top of its head by the less timid creature. It let go of Kelerot's wrist and he rested his hand on top of the creature's head. He paused for a moment, feeling the apprehension rise up within him again and he stared at the creature that led him here. He jerked his hand away and turned around.

"I, I can't, I'm sorry," he said and began to run. The creature grunted sadly and looked up pleadingly at the other children as Kelerot bolted past them. Perilla approached the two creatures and spotted the gaping wound that was still fresh on the side of the one eating the plant and stared at it with a saddened expression.

"Poor things, the pain you must be going through," she said as she glanced back at Kelerot. She stared at him with a frown and began to run after him. She was slightly faster than he was and caught up to him, tackling him down. He spun around to go away but she pinned him down by the shoulders.

"Stop being such a dummy-head and pet it!" she yelled and Kelerot scoffed, looking away. She grabbed him by his robes and began shaking him.

"It's not their fault! They don't want to kill us! Why can't you see that?!" she said and she began to cry.

"Perilla," Kelerot said, stunned at the emotional outburst.

"Idiot! Idiot!" Perilla cried out, her hands shaking. She pulled him up and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"I won't forgive you if you attack those creatures! I won't, you hear me?!" she cried and Kelerot couldn't figure out what to do. He was left speechless and he looked up at Qukes to find out what to do and Qukes didn't say anything. Perilla kept holding onto him and Kelerot eventually put his arms around her.

"Your mama would've been very upset if she saw you like this," she said and Kelerot frowned. She broke free of the hug and stood up, pulling him to his feet in the process. She put her hands on his shoulders and stared him in the eyes.

"I hated that you still had a mama to take care of you. I hated that I could still see how happy she was to take care of you that I was afraid to ask her to take care of me too. I didn't want to take her away from you out of jealousy."

"Perilla…I'm sorry," Kelerot said and Perilla punched him in the shoulder as she often has in the past, something Kelerot had been used to and he winced from the impact, holding his left shoulder.

"Ow."

"I don't want you to be angry and do something stupid. Now go pet the creature," she said and grabbed Kelerot by the hand, dragging him back to the others. Kelerot stopped and jerked his hand free. She glared at him but noticed that he was grinning again.

"I, I can do this," he said and swallowed, approaching the injured creature again, who had finished eating the plant. Kelerot was hesitant at first, but then eventually put his hand on the creature's head and began to pet it. The other children gathered near him and gave him some encouragement as Kelerot smiled a bit more. Perilla gently punched him in the shoulder again, giving him an encouraging smirk.

Present day…

"Daikon trained us day in and day out along with the few farmers who volunteered with us. Perilla and I quickly became the best students, surprising the adults at how much we learned, but Master Daikon wasn't without his harshness. As nice as he was outside of training, he was severe and didn't abide cowardice and emotional outbursts. He wanted to test me to make sure that I could steel my emotions, otherwise they'd put me at a disadvantage. I had Perilla to thank for helping me out as well and we'd spar often. Chard, the youngest of us orphans, eventually grew old enough to join us in the lessons. He was a very slow learner but Daikon always said how often slow learners have the most potential to be the best fighters if pushed in the right direction."

The energy balls that Kelerot conjured up as sources of light faded away and he could see the stars shine brightly in the sky. There was no other source of light for miles and seeing the night sky so clearly made him feel nostalgic. Even Goku was fascinated by the night sky as he stared up.

"You know I once saw a sky just like that years ago with my Grandpa Gohan," Goku said, standing up to stretch his arms and legs. Kelerot cocked an eyebrow for a moment.

"Grandpa Gohan?"

"The first person to find me when I landed on Earth as a baby," Goku said. "I named my son after him. He was one of the first people to teach me martial arts before I met Master Roshi."

"It must be an interesting experience having more than one teacher," Kelerot said and Goku crossed his arms, grinning.

"Yeah. I had a lot of teachers over the years. Roshi, King Kai, Kami, Whis. I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for them."

Kelerot closed his eyes, sighing. "I've only ever had the one, but I will always be grateful."

"So how did you end up in Prison, then? I can't think of how you would've gotten in trouble with the Pride Troopers if you're not a bad guy from what you've told me," Goku said and Kelerot had a sad smile on his face from what Goku could notice. He conjured up another energy ball and let it float in between the two. The illumination shaded part of their faces as they looked at each other.

"Right, I should get to that part."

Kelerot paced slowly back and forth in front of the energy ball, hands behind his back.

"Daikon would occasionally warn us about the dangers outside of Gardenia because I began to grow curious about what was out there. Seeing someone that looked different than us sparked my interest and I wanted to know as much as possible from Daikon where he came from and what other planets were out there. But every time I asked, he'd change the subject or tell us to get back to our exercises when we weren't working the fields.

"The next blood moon did come and we were prepared this time. We held off the creatures who mutated into the demons from the last time and I was able to kill one of them when it almost got to Chard. I felt a great deal of regret but Daikon reassured us of one of our first lessons about survival. It's a kill or be killed world out there beyond the safety of the village and we have to remember that. As much as we want to care for those creatures, we can't show signs of weakness or hesitation when they lose control. Killing them in self-defence was a merciful act and I think they understood that. The more we understood each other, the more we realized that sometimes killing them was necessary.

"One day, Saiyans from the neighbouring village to the south of ours paid us a visit and told us of visitors who came to Gardenia the other day. That was the first time I heard the name Pride Troopers being uttered. They said there were Pride Troopers paying us a visit because they intercepted a signal from an unknown device that entered their galaxy and wanted to investigate, having traced it to Gardenia."

Planet Gardenia, Age 772…

The blood moon phenomenon that occurred on Gardenia didn't have a distinct pattern to it after much research. There was a two year gap from the first blood moon, which happened shortly after Daikon's arrival, but the one afterwards didn't show up for another four years. Sometimes we'd see small gaps of two to three months, sometimes a lengthy gap of three to four years. Six years had passed since we last saw a blood moon and I haven't seen one since I left Gardenia. Three years prior to my departure, I discovered the ship that Daikon crashed on the planet with, and I brought it to him.

"Master Daikon, I found this while on an expedition with a farming team to survey a new field to grow a forest," Kelerot said and Daikon sighed, frowning.

He pursed his lips and walked over to the wrecked craft, putting his hand on it. It felt rough to the touch, its smooth surface long since abandoned to rust and grime.

"I figured this was going to come up sooner or later, Kelerot," Daikon said, glancing at him with a small grin on his face.

"There've been rumblings of one of the villages in the south cooperating with the Pride Troopers to build ships to launch off the planet so we can enter the Galactic Trade Market and become official members of the Galactic Democracy."

When Daikon was cleared of any wrongdoing, the Pride Troopers helped ease our curiosity about the universe that lay outside of Gardenia. They educated us at length about their cause, their sense of Justice, that they answer to Toppo and Belmod, their God of Destruction. They taught us about the Galactic Democratic Federation and that if we do our due diligence and uphold the laws of the Federation, we can gain membership status and enter the Galactic Trade with other planets and increase our ability to grow crops and usher in a new era of peace between worlds. They grew very fond of our farming capabilities and were intrigued by how dedicated we were, not only to farming, but also to combat.

When we completed our first ship, I eagerly volunteered to take part in our first galactic mission, loading our best crops onto our cargo hold and join up with our team. The Troopers helped ease us into training with their equipment and technology and we were ready within two years. I begged Perilla to come with me but she hated the idea of moving away from her village.

"Don't you want to see Gardenia from way up there?" Kelerot asked and Perilla scoffed with a laugh.

"I can see Gardenia fairly well when I fly up in the sky, dummy," she told him and took to the air. Kelerot followed her and she took off in a burst of speed, forcing him into a race with her. He smiled, knowing how good she was at her speed and channeled a burst of energy to propel him forward and blow past her. She grinned and the two raced around the planet, circling around it a couple of times before they stopped and stared down at South Village's launch pad. She stared at it with a grim look on her face.

"You're really going in that thing, aren't you?" she asked and Kelerot stared down at the ship with a beaming look of pride and confidence.

"I dreamed a long time ago of flying among the stars in the sky and seeing what lied beyond this world. Now that dream can become a reality thanks to the Pride Troopers."

His body shook in surprise when he felt Perilla's hand grab his and bring it up to clasp it with her other hand.

"Promise me you'll come back," she said with a serious expression and Kelerot chuckled a bit.

"I'm being serious, dummy!" Perilla yelled and Kelerot nodded.

"I know you're serious about this. You're serious way too often," he said.

"Then make your promise," she said and he nodded again.

"I promise. I'll only be gone at most a month before we come back, hopefully with good news."

She quickly flew over to him and gave him a kiss before turning around to quickly head back to their village. Kelerot was taken by surprise from this and felt his lips. Her lips felt soft when she kissed him and he couldn't help but blush a bit from the sensation and grinned as he watched her leave his line of sight.

We were gone for three months, unfortunately. When we were escorted by the Pride Troopers to an outlying world near our system, we were shocked to see how devastated it had been due to horrible weather conditions. It reminded me a lot of the blood moon and how often the creatures attacked our crops. We assessed the situation and devised a plan to help build protective shelters so they can grow vegetation and harvest food safely without succumbing to the radical climate. The people were eternally grateful for our help and it left an impression on the Pride Troopers when we completed our work and headed back home to Gardenia.

Perilla was as upset as I expected her to be when she saw me return after I promised her I'd be back within a month, but I knew she was happy to see me again. We gained official membership into the Federation and we were eager to help other worlds, and they in kind. We were given a list of laws that we needed to abide by and there was a zero tolerance for any wrongdoing. We were left to continue helping out other worlds through the Trade market and I volunteered as much as possible for the next year or two until one mission changed everything.

Planet Gardenia, Age 775…

Perilla had her arms wrapped around Kelerot from behind him as he sat on the bed. He wanted to stand up but she held him in place, her face buried into his back with a smile.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked.

"To South Village for the shuttle launch," Kelerot replied and she squeezed him even tighter.

"Let it leave, you can go on the next one," she said calmly. Kelerot took her hands and lowered them off him, standing up. She covered herself in the blanket as he put on his clothes and she sighed, staring at him.

"You know I can't do that, Perilla. This one's rather important since they need some extra muscle to traverse an uncharted section of the system. We heard from a source close to the Pride Troopers that there was a planet that had materials capable of speeding up the growth of our crops."

She frowned in response. "Something about that sounds too good to be true. You know that, right?"

Kelerot nodded. "It's worth a look anyway. If we suspect we were misled we'll double back here as quickly as possible."

"You should have Daikon accompany you," Perilla said. "You need all the strength you can for this mission."

"Since when do you doubt my fighting ability?" Kelerot asked, turning to face her.

"I can't help but worry about you every time you leave," she said, staring at him. He always felt uneasy every time she gave him that look but he smiled in return and stood confidently.

"I've got two of the best of our group coming with me on this one. Sprouts and Renkon have been really good, I trust them to help me out."

He waved at her before he walked out of the house and the last thing he saw was Perilla's warm smile framing her face.

I'll never forget that face, it's been etched in my head for so long. Every night I think of that face before I fall asleep, hoping that I'd come back home to see her again.

We launched into space yet the planet we needed to travel to had forced us to navigate through shaky terrain. The sensors picked up ionic activity that would've disrupted our ship's systems if we didn't compensate for them. We were restricted to our backup systems due to the residual ionic energy messing up our main navigational systems.

South Village had a lot of Saiyans that trained with the Pride Troopers and a crew of pilots and engineers were ready and able to work the ship while we conducted our missions. The crew assigned to us warned us about another ship coming into sensor range and we thought it might've been a Pride Trooper cruiser escorting us to our destination, but when it came into view, it wasn't anything we had seen before.

The ship was large and menacing, something that sent alarm bells in the back of our heads. We told the pilots to turn around and head back to Gardenia immediately but due to the ionic storm that temporarily shut our main systems down, our backup system wouldn't give us enough power to escape in time. The three of us who volunteered for this mission needed to be ready for what was coming and next thing we knew the ship fired on us, disabling us. We were sitting ducks before we even realized we became sitting ducks.

The large ship, angular and imposing, descended towards them. Kelerot could see it eclipse their ship within seconds and grinding noises could be heard above as they were coming in.

"Sprouts, Renkon, get ready, we're taking down whatever comes through that door. The rest of you stay here and get on repairs immediately when we engage the intruders."

Sprouts was one of the adult farmers, one of the first to train under Daikon along with myself. Renkon had sworn a brotherhood oath with Spinac and said he grew close to one of the women of South Village. If Perilla and I weren't together, I was likely seen often with Renkon and Spinac. Chard and Gourd were still struggling in their training but they eventually became really good at their fighting. I hated that Perilla kept refusing to go with us but she later confessed that she was actually scared of travelling in such a confined space and kept praying for my safe return. She confessed a lot of things to me that day too, and it was the first time I ever heard her say how much she loved me.

It was a surprise to hear her say that, but I figured we were getting very close and that our friendship was more than it was on the surface. I was hopeful that this wouldn't be as bad as I anticipated and that we'd come back to Gardenia as soon as this was over.

Kelerot, Sprouts, and Renkon all powered up, flashing white auras surrounding them and they rushed to the source of the noise. When they saw a circular cut slice through their hull with an energy beam, it fell onto the floor and several dark-clothed figures emerged. Kelerot picked off a couple of them with energy blasts while Renkon and Sprouts provided support and they got to the first wave with precise energy blasts.

"Let's take them out before they get desperate," Renkon said and Kelerot nodded.

"Indeed. Let's get going. Get on the repairs as quickly as possible, we'll buy you some time!" Kelerot yelled at the crew in the cockpit and the three of them jumped up into the entrance of the invading ship.

They were greeted with energy blasts from firearms and the three Saiyans rushed through, punching and kicking them down. They had a distinct advantage fighting off these men but as they progressed through the corridor to the next room, Sprouts took a shot to the head from a stray blaster bolt and he lost his footing, falling down to the wall.

"Sprouts!" Kelerot shouted, rushing over to him while taking out a couple who were firing in his direction.

"Ow, that one hurt," Sprouts said, and noticed that the energy bolt cut through the side of his head, causing him to bleed profusely. Kelerot ripped off Sprouts's sleeve and bundled it up to press against his head.

"You should get yourself back to the ship and have the medic look at it," Kelerot told him.

"I'll be fine, it's nothing."
"I can't take any chances with this," Kelerot said, pressing the cloth to Sprouts's head. "We've overstayed our welcome as it is and I hope they got navigation fixed so we can get out of here. Renkon and I will deal as much damage to this thing as we can before we're out of here."

"Okay. Be careful, Kelerot," Sprouts told him and Kelerot stood up.

"If I don't get back to you within thirty minutes, assuming the ship can move again, get going and return to Gardenia."

"But what about you?" Sprouts asked.

"Renkon and I will be fine. When you see Perilla again, tell her…"

Kelerot stared ahead at the firefight. Renkon was holding his own, fighting off a few of them with brute force due to his larger stature. He developed a large physique over the years while training with Daikon and Kelerot was always impressed by how strong Renkon was.

"Tell her 'thank you'."

Kelerot ran off to join Renkon and they began clearing the hallway to the set of doors that led to the next room. Sprouts felt dizzy as he stood up and made his way to the hatch that connected the large ship to theirs and he carefully made his way down.

When Kelerot and Renkon arrived at the doors, they opened up for them. Standing before them was an imposing figure with thick body armor and spikes protruding from his face. A few others that looked like him stood around him as he looked down at the mess of bodies that lay behind Kelerot and Renkon and he cocked an eyebrow. He began clapping his hands with a sinister grin on his face.

"I must applaud your resistance, you've put up quite a fight against my crew," he said and Kelerot stood ready with a fighting stance. Renkon cracked his knuckles and stared defiantly at the figure.

"Captain Kurtain, what do you want us to do with them?" one of them asked. Kurtain brought a hand to his chin and stared at the two Saiyans for a moment. He then waved his hand as he turned around.

"Kill them, I don't care how. Then raid their ship and take it down for parts. We can probably fetch a good price for what's there."

"With pleasure!" he said and they began moving on Kelerot and Renkon. Renkon caught their fists and twisted their hands, causing the two to fall to their knees, while Kelerot engaged with a slimmer-looking crewman, who was able to put up a fight.

"Renkon, these guys are a lot tougher! Be on your guard!" Kelerot shouted and he caught a punch to the face that almost knocked him down. Kelerot staggered back a few steps and wiped the blood from his mouth with a smile, motioning the lanky man to come forward again.

Renkon defeated the two he grabbed and moved down to engage the others, who were slightly tougher and he was fighting off three at once. He took a few shots from their fists and kicks and he was backed into a wall before he fired off an energy beam that blew one of them back to the far wall of the room the Captain was in and Kurtain easily stepped aside as the crewman flew past him. He observed the fighting with intrigue and sat down on a chair, resting his head on his fist with a smirk on his lips.

Kelerot eventually knocked out his opponent and dashed over to Renkon to lend him a hand and they both managed to knock out the other fighters, leaving Kurtain with three others behind him. He stood up and raised his hand to hold them back, smiling the whole time.

"I haven't seen skilled fighting like that since the Pride Troopers," Kurtain said, unlatching his cape to let it fall behind him as he approached the two Saiyans. "Did they teach you how to fight?"

"We didn't learn from the Pride Troopers, but it would be nice if they were here to take you down," Kelerot said, standing ready beside Renkon and Kurtain laughed.

"The Pride Troopers have no jurisdiction over the Linen Pirates," Kurtain said and Renkon glared at him furiously.

"I've had enough of this loud-mouth!" Renkon shouted and he rushed at Kurtain.

"Renkon, wait!" Kelerot shouted but Kurtain's movements were so sudden and fast he hadn't had time to register what happened. Next thing he noticed was Kurtain's hand around Renkon's neck, holding him up at least a foot off the floor with a piercing glare and a toothy grin.

"You're skilled against us Pirates, I'll give you that. But you're nowhere near my level," Kurtain said and he pierced Renkon through the chest with his free hand. Kelerot watched in horror as he saw the hand burst through Renkon, jutting out of his back and blood trickling down onto the floor from the hand.

Kurtain pulled his hand out and threw Renkon to the side like a ragdoll, the limp body rolling a few times before stopping by a console in the room. Kelerot glared at Kurtain, building up energy in his hands. Kurtain made a "come here" motion with his blood-stained hand and Kelerot aimed his hands at the ship's interior instead. Kurtain's smile faded as he noticed what Kelerot was doing.

"I'll take this whole place down with me unless you let us leave," he said. Kurtain lowered his hand and stared down at Kelerot.

"You're in no position to give me instructions, whatever you are," Kurtain said menacingly.

"He looks like one of those, what do you call them? Monkeys? Didn't we have monkeys like that back on Bas?" one of the Pirates said and Kurtain chuckled a bit.

"This one's too ugly to look like a monkey. Before I kill you, would you at least grace us with your name?" Kurtain asked and Kelerot smirked.

"I'll make you apologize for that monkey remark first of all. Second, I'm a Saiyan from Gardenia and the name's Kelerot."

"Gardenia?" Kurtain said, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a planet not too far off from our sensors. Let's head there after we dispatch this freak and serve his head on a pike to his loved ones as we take all their stuff," said one of the Pirates and Kelerot glared at him. He flew straight at him but was blind to Kurtain's attack, a simple chop to the back of Kelerot's neck that knocked him out mid-flight and sent him to the floor. Kurtain flipped him over onto his back with a foot and he stared down at him.

"What do you think, Captain? Do you want me to do the honors?" one of the Pirates said and he raised an outstretched hand to aim an energy blast at Kelerot's unconscious body. Kurtain squatted down to get a closer look at him and gently moved the pirate's hand away.

"Bind him for now, I'll figure out what to do with him later. You can dump the other one off the ship," Kurtain said, grinning up at the pirate.

Just as Kurtain stood back up on his feet, the ship began to shake and Kurtain frowned, glancing back at the monitors in the room. One of them showed a sensor sweep of the ship's outer hull and the ship that they boarded detached itself from their hull and began to move.

"Damn! They're escaping! After them!" screamed one of the Pirates but Kurtain raised his hand.

"Don't bother, they're not a threat. They came out of an ionic storm, which was a stupid decision on their part so let them squirm their way back home for all I care. At least we won't have trouble finding Gardenia after we've taken care of what we need to do first. They were just unfortunate to run into us when they did."

Kurtain chuckled as he stared down at Kelerot and the other pirates joined in for a laugh.

"Shelves, resume course to planet Cellar, we've got some cargo to unload. Let's hope they have the money ready. I'd hate for exchanges to go south."

"Aye-aye, Captain!" Shelves said, saluting Kurtain and he led a couple other pirates to the control room to resume the ship's movement. Two grabbed Renkon's dead body to drag him out of the room while Kurtain lifted Kelerot to hoist him on one shoulder. He walked over to where their brig was and threw him into the room, locking the door behind him.

When Kelerot came to, he noticed the unfamiliar room he was in. He groggily stood back up on his feet and walked over to where he could see a door and tried to open it, but with no luck. He tried to channel energy but was having difficulty due to the nature of the injury he suffered from Kurtain's blow. He was hit much harder than he anticipated and realized how weakened he was as a result. He did what he could to barge into the door but was unsuccessful in getting it open. He looked at the panel but had no clue what any of the buttons did. He tried pressing a few but nothing seemed to happen. One of them did end up being a communicator and a voice came out from the intercom.

"What?"

"Hey, what's going on here? Where am I?" Kelerot asked.

"Hey Captain, he's awake," said the voice on the other end and Kurtain's voice came on a moment later.

"Your name was Kelerot, correct?" Kurtain said.

"Yes. Where am I?"

"You're on my ship, in the brig to be more specific. We're on our way to planet Cellar for an important exchange. We could use some extra 'collateral'."

"Collateral?" Kelerot asked.

"Yes. I don't think the people of Cellar would mind an extra servant on top of our goods. So long as we can smuggle this beyond Pride Trooper surveillance, we'll make a huge profit off of this, plus an extra bonus if they accept you as a way to sweeten the deal."

"I'll die before I'm made to serve anyone!" Kelerot yelled and Kurtain laughed.

"That ain't your choice to make, monkey. You're my cargo now and I choose what to do with it. I couldn't care less what the Cellars do with you but the less time you spend on my ship, the better."

The communicator shuts off and Kelerot banged on it out of spite. He leaned forward on the door and sighed. He walked around the room, unable to see anything other than a small cot to sleep on, a toilet, and lights dimly illuminating the room.

It had been several hours and Kelerot felt his hunger get the best of him. He needed to eat a lot to keep his strength up and realized that these pirates weren't going to feed him anything anytime soon, knowing they were just going to dump him as soon as they arrived on this planet. He sat on the cot, looking up at the ceiling and sighed heavily.

"Perilla…"

When the ship touched down on the planet's surface, the door to the brig opened and two of the pirates came in. They grabbed Kelerot by the arms and dragged him out of the room. He couldn't find the strength to put up a resistance and as much as he struggled to escape, the two pirates had a firm grip on his upper arms. They brought him to Kurtain who stared down at him with a smile.

"You should fetch us a pretty sum," he said, tapping Kelerot a couple times on the cheek, chuckling as he did it. Kelerot quickly head-butted him and it managed to do something to his face, as Kurtain recoiled, clutching his face. He grunted in pain as he held his nose and glared at Kelerot. The other pirates were about to rush him but Kurtain raised his hand, holding his nose with the other.

"I want this monkey freak off my ship as quickly as possible, then we'll set course for Gardenia right afterwards," Kurtain said, rubbing his nose, checking to see if it had been broken. There was a bruise left on the bridge of it and a bit of blood had trickled down, but he was pretty sure that Kelerot hadn't hit it hard enough to break it.

He led the crew outside the ship, dragging Kelerot behind him and they awaited their meeting with the Cellars. The Cellar leader, a toad-like humanoid with spikes along the ridges of his head, walked over to Kurtain and gave him a salute with his hands to his chest, tapping it twice.

"Welcome, Captain Kurtain! You've come with good intentions, I take it?" the leader asked.

"Indeed. Bring the goods out," Kurtain ordered and four pirates walked back into the ship. A couple minutes went by and they came out two by two, each carrying a large metal box down the ramp. Kelerot kept struggling but the pirates holding him down maintained their grip. The Cellar leader glanced occasionally at Kelerot and cleared his throat.

"What is with this creature? He seems problematic," he asked.

"I am throwing this on top of the goods for a bonus, say 15 percent?" Kurtain asked and the leader's eyes widened.

"That was never part of the original agreement. We requested these goods smuggled across Trooper monitored territory, not some ugly furry thing we have no use for."

Kurtain belted out a laugh. "But look at this face. This is the face of a dedicated servant! He will do your bidding, won't you?"

Kurtain grabbed Kelerot by the back of his head and Kelerot yelled out in pain from the strength of his grip. Kurtain chuckled as he let go of his hair.

"Like hell I'm going to be a servant!" Kelerot yelled and tried to struggle out of their clutches but one of the pirates kneed him in the gut.

"Be quiet!" said the one that kneed him.

"You must think I'm a fool if I'm going to take someone like this who is unwilling to do as he's told," the Cellar leader said and snapped his fingers. A Cellar brought over a case which the leader opened and several bars of a precious-looking metal shone brightly in Kurtain's face.

"Your payment, as promised. Take this…thing…and get out of my sight."

Several ships above them decloaked before their eyes and Kurtain's face grew pale for a moment, looking up at them nervously.

"Captain Kurtain! You are surrounded! Step forward with your hands in the air and surrender!" came a deep booming voice. The hatches of the ships opened and a few of the Pride Troopers exited the ships. Kurtain glared at one of them, recognizing him with his large white mustache covering his mouth, his reptilian like eyes staring down at him. The other two, a slim rabbit-like humanoid and another with a beret on his head and a device attached to the side of his face covering his eye descended with a regiment of Troopers all dressed in their red and black spandex uniforms.

"Toppo…" Kurtain muttered under his breath.

The two that held Kelerot let him go and stood ready to fight the Troopers and Kelerot collapsed to his knees. The Pride Troopers didn't seem to notice him at first, focusing on the Cellar leader and Kurtain. Kurtain glanced back at Kelerot, then at the Pride Troopers and a grin came over his face. His grin faded as he stared at Kelerot.

"You, you set me up?" Kurtain said to Kelerot, who glanced back in confusion.

"What?" Kelerot said and Kurtain pointed a shaking finger at him.

"You promised the Pride Troopers weren't going to be involved! You led us into a trap!" Kurtain yelled accusingly and Kelerot's eyes widened.

"Everyone be quiet!" Toppo commanded.

"Come with us quietly or there'll be trouble!" the rabbit-like one stated, arms crossed. The one with the beret stood ready while the rest of the Pride Troopers surrounded the pirates and the Cellars.

"Hey, you got us into this, get us out of it!" Kurtain yelled at Kelerot and Toppo glanced at him.

"You masterminded this?" he said and Kelerot's face grew paler by the minute.

"I-"

"Justice must be served this day! Seize them and bring them in!" he commanded and the Troopers began advancing on the pirates and the Cellars. Kelerot glared at Kurtain, who returned the glare with a sinister grin. Kurtain whistled to the pirates and they began attacking the Pride Troopers to distract them while he began to make his way back to the ship, while the Cellars tried to grab the metal boxes to run away from the area as quickly as possible.

"Justice Flash!" Toppo yelled and fired a barrage of small energy blasts from his outstretched hand, each finger firing a hail of energy balls at the Cellars. It hit the metal boxes, destroying them, and took out a few Cellars, who ended up scattering all over the place. Some were taken down by a few of the Troopers while the rest managed to escape. Kurtain had to dodge and avoid energy blasts from the one in the beret and they had a brief scuffle, both showing an equal amount of strength and speed, while the rabbit-like one made quick work of the pirates with blazing fast movements that Kelerot couldn't even see. He hadn't learned how to track that level of movement yet and was at a loss for what to do. When he tried to leave the area to return to the ship, the rabbit-like one sped up to appear in front of him.

"Where do you think you're going? Trying to weasel your way out of this, eh?" he said and Kelerot's eyes widened.

"Please, you don't understand! I was captured against my will and forced into this! I had nothing to do with this!"

"Spare me your lies, evildoer!" the rabbit-like one said and Kelerot managed to summon up a few reserves of strength to channel energy and fly away. The rabbit-like one quickly intercepted him and knocked him back down to the ground.

"You and your pirate friends have scoured the galaxies long enough!" he said and pinned Kelerot down on the ground. Kurtain gave the beret wearing Trooper the slip and quickly made his getaway in the ship. Toppo fired a barrage of energy blasts at the ship as the hatch closed, which a few pirates managed to escape into after they had knocked out some of the lesser strong Troopers to escape. In total, half a dozen pirates were knocked out, while a small group of Cellars had also succumbed to the Trooper's attack. Kelerot was brought up to his feet by the rabbit-like Trooper, who bound him in energy binders, holding him by his arms and neck.

"You're going away for a long time, evildoer, I guarantee you that," he said.

"Good work, Dyspo," Toppo said.

"Who would've thought we would apprehend one of Kurtain's biggest accomplices? To think this one orchestrated their smuggling operation," Dyspo said and Kelerot stared back at him.

"What are you talking about?! I'm innocent, please believe me!"

"A criminal's pleas and words are always hollow and deceitful," Toppo said and Dyspo nodded in approval.

"General Toppo, I've surveyed the area and I'm counting four Troopers knocked out of commission," the one in the beret named Kahseral informed him. "They are being taken to the medical ship as we speak. We've been able to apprehend six pirates and eight Cellars from this operation alone. Seems like we were fortunate to have stumbled upon Captain Kurtain's co-ringleader. Once we extract all the info we can from this one, we'll have no trouble apprehending Kurtain for good."

"Thank you, Kahseral, proceed with the recovery," Toppo told him.

Kelerot couldn't believe what he was seeing and hearing. The whole time he had been led to believe that the Pride Troopers meant a great deal to him, that they helped usher Gardenia in to a better and prosperous future, only to now be falsely accused of working with a pirate he had never met before who captured him to sell as a slave.

"Please, listen to me! You have to believe that I had nothing to do with any of this! You're jumping to conclusions! Take me to my home and I will have my friends vouch for me! Please, I need to go home to Gar-"

He couldn't finish as Dyspo knocked him out with a hit to the back of the head. He shook his head.

"They never change, do they?" he said and Toppo nodded.

"We'll prep him for the tribunal. Kutlerie will be pleased to see a criminal such as this one serve time in our Galactic Prison," he said and they brought Kelerot onto their ship.

When Kelerot regained consciousness for the second time, he found himself decked out in prisoner garb, his wrists and ankles bound in energy binders. He stood before a trio of Pride Troopers, the faces from earlier, plus a couple new ones.

"Present the final criminal before me," Kutlerie stated. Toppo signaled to Dyspo and he led Kelerot to the front of the desk.

"Read the charges," Toppo ordered Dyspo.

"This criminal is charged with co-conspiracy to commit a class alpha violation of goods transfer, illegally traversing Trooper protected space with wanted fugitive pirates, smuggling contraband materials used to create planet destroying explosives, and resisting arrest. If the criminal confesses to these charges and provides information on his alibis, his sentence can be reduced, otherwise he will serve the full sentence of twenty-five years with possibility for parole in fifteen."

"You understand the charges as they have been read out to you?" Kutlerie asked him. Kelerot stared at all of them.

"I…"

"Do you understand what you are being sentenced with?" Kutlerie asked again, his tone losing a bit of patience.

"It would seem the criminal is unwilling to confess," Toppo said and Kelerot felt his heart beat so fast he thought it was going to burst from his chest. He felt pain in his wrists and ankles from the energy binders being so tight, but even more so he began to feel the pain in his stomach from the lack of food and he was close to passing out from both the hunger and the pain in his head and body. The shock of the whole situation left his head spinning. He couldn't think straight anymore nor could he think up the words to speak to plead his case.

"So be it," Kutlerie said. "You are hereby stripped of identity, status, title, and/or individuality you possess. You are no longer designated by the name you were born with. You are now the property of the Pride Troopers and issued the number you shall be henceforth known by: 312-1984. The guards will escort you to your prison cell and instruct you on meal times, lockdown, recreation time, and assigned duties. Hearing adjourned."

Kutlerie hit his gavel on the table and stood up. Toppo, Dyspo, and Kahseral gave him a look and saluted him before they left the room. Two guards entered and brought Kelerot with them to his cell. He was lined up with some of the other pirates who glanced at him and began laughing among themselves, grinning around them. The Cellars weren't as enthusiastic as they looked around nervously at their new surroundings while Kelerot was too shocked to say anything, looking dejected and defeated as he was led to his cell. His vision felt blurry as he walked, as if he wasn't aware of his surroundings. Nothing looked or felt remotely real to him anymore and he screamed in his head hoping this was all a bad dream that he needed to wake up from.

When they brought him to his cell, they undid the bindings and shoved him in, the door closing behind him. Kelerot fell to his knees and put his hands to his face, eyes wide in fear, doubt, and confusion. He couldn't bring himself to think straight yet, only the dreaded realization that he was now a prisoner, sentenced to serve for a crime he didn't commit.

His shocked face morphed into an ice-cold stare as he looked at the wall in front of him, where a mirror hung showing his reflection. All traces of happiness and joy were long gone from the face that was reflected in the mirror, for Kelerot could do nothing but feel a burning sense of anger and malice in his heart. The image of Toppo, Dyspo, and Kahseral looked faint in the mirror's reflection and Kelerot burned those faces into his head, gritting his teeth.

Present day…

Goku couldn't believe it either, as he looked at Kelerot with his eyes wide in surprise.

"Wow," he said.

"When the Pride Troopers accuse you of committing an evil act, their word is absolute, no matter how much you plead with them. If they think for a moment you've broken the law, they will put you in prison and leave you there," Kelerot said, staring at him.

"Gosh, I don't know what to say. I'm sorry you had to go through all that," Goku said, arms crossed.

"The first few weeks of my sentence were rough. No one knew what a Saiyan was, only that I was the 'monkey freak' or 'monkey scum' I was eventually known as.

"But that was when I discovered something about us Saiyans that we didn't realize before. I got into a fight with one of the pirates and he beat me up pretty badly. I thought I was going to die for sure this time but the guards found me and brought me to the medical room to heal me back to normal. Next thing I knew I felt my strength grow. Doing things around the prison felt easier, lifting weights felt better than when I started, and the next fight I found myself in, I was holding my own a bit more until I got jumped by a few more inmates, and ended up almost dead again.

"When I recovered a second time in the medical room, my strength was even greater than before. I quickly realized how useful this became, but then I started to run into a problem. I asked myself 'what if I get too strong for them to fight against?'"

"So you do have similar traits that we do," Goku said and Kelerot nodded.

"Yeah. Every time I healed from near-fatal injuries; I felt my power grow. I began to think of ways I could gain advantage of this tactic and I made the grim realization that the only way I could easily gain strength was to put my body on the line each time I'd fight. I began to make use of Master Daikon's training and controlled my power, training myself on how to raise and lower it at will. I improved considerably on that and deduced that I could lower my power just enough for the other inmates to critically injure me so I can recover and gain a boost.

"It was for a brief moment, but I did sense Toppo's power, as well as Dyspo's and Kahseral's. I knew they were strong beyond anything I could possibly imagine, and I knew that if I was ever going to fight them and avenge myself, I'd have to build myself up to be stronger than they were. I sacrificed my body over and over and over again, getting stronger each time. I eventually lost track of how often I did it that it just became second-nature to me. I didn't really know how strong I had gotten until I went face to face with Jiren.

It was also during my time there that I discovered the ability to control gravity. It was difficult at first because of how complex the energy was with gravitational waves, but it helped with weight training. I trained my techniques every single day while I was in my cell and in the recreation area lifting their weights. I would channel gravity into each weight to make it heavier and it helped build my core strength as much as possible. I got to experience many different aspects of gravity techniques that I began mental training to uncover the various opportunities. Of course, I wouldn't know for sure until I was able to test them against the other prisoners as I fought them. I trained with it just enough not to make myself known to the others how strong I had become but I was considerably pleased with the results."

Goku was stunned as he listened to Kelerot tell his account during his stay in prison and he frowned.

"Are you sure what you did was wise? I know I would never put myself on the line like that to grow strong. What about all those other prisoners? Weren't they strong fighters?" Goku asked and Kelerot sighed.

"They were strong, no question. But when you grow strong to a point where those strong prisoners become a joke, I realized that my strength didn't need to peak. I needed to be absolutely sure I was strong enough to take on the top fighters of the Pride Troopers, otherwise I wouldn't be able to pay them back for what they did to me.

"I somehow encouraged the warden to set up these little fighting matches for sport and entertainment, knowing that it would help control the chaos in the prison from when I first arrived. I was able to somehow befriend Tupper and Vuon after they arrived at the Prison, even though they represented what I had grown to despise the most."

"But you don't have to seek revenge though. Your master taught you the importance of not seeking revenge and giving in to your emotions, remember? There has to be another way you can clear your name and help them understand that you did nothing wrong," Goku said and Kelerot shook his head.

"The more time I spent in that Prison, the less likely I was ever going to see Master Daikon, Perilla, and my friends ever again. All I had to go by were Daikon's teachings but emotional control, knowing what I had been through, proved pointless. I heard rumours from other inmates that Kutlerie continuously denied their parole and it made me suspicious about the way he was running the prison. My suspicions were confirmed when he denied my parole after I 'confessed' to my crimes. He was never going to let any of us leave the prison because he had grown so hungry with power that he ruled us like a dictator. When he told me that Gardenia was destroyed, it cemented my decision to leave. It wasn't my intention to kill anyone while I escaped, but Kutlerie's little scumbag Satula sent out a distress signal to the other Pride Troopers that I was escaping and I felt that destroying the prison was my only recourse, not only to shut them up, but to free those prisoners from a fate they had no clue they were suffering from. I did them a courtesy and spared them a lifetime of misery and imprisonment."

Goku wanted to protest, but he remembered long ago during his time as a child fighting the Red Ribbon army that there was some degree of relevance to what Kelerot was saying. Crippling their military when he took the lives of those soldiers in self-defence meant that there was some sort of sympathy for this situation but he kept his grim look on Kelerot. Something about this felt wrong to him, knowing how desperate a vengeful person could get based on his past experiences fighting others. He stood up and Kelerot was forced to stand up as well. He could sense a bit of tension rising in the air as Goku stared at him, frowning.

"You don't think I did the right thing, then?" Kelerot asked.

"Of course not. I wouldn't have killed those other prisoners like you did," he said.

"If you were in my shoes, you'd know you'd have done the same thing, Goku," Kelerot said, staring at him.

"But I'm not you, though. I can't understand what you could've gone through, but I know there had to have been some other way to make things right and help the Pride Troopers understand your situation. I don't like that you got falsely accused, but you don't strike me as the kind of guy who'd want to take revenge so easily like you almost did with those boars who accidentally killed your family."

Kelerot glared at him. "You don't know the Pride Troopers like I do."

Kelerot clenched his fists and Goku felt as though they were going to fight again, only more seriously this time.

"They're good people who are just doing their job, why take that away from them?" Goku asked.

"Because Toppo took everything from me. I lost my identity, my individuality, and my home, all because of him. I learned through my delving technique that Toppo himself was the one who destroyed Gardenia and I aim to find out why."

Goku's eyes widened from that.

"His twisted sense of justice made him careless about what he perceives as good and evil and only sees things two-dimensionally. It became even more clear when he became a God of Destruction and destroyed my home. I will find out why if I have to go through every single Pride Trooper to do it."

Goku felt like he was in a bit of a bind now. When he sensed Kelerot's power, he was overcome with an overwhelming feeling of dread mixed with anticipation, much like how he felt when he first engaged Jiren at the Tournament of Power. Seeing a powerful fighter like Kelerot stand before him gave him that exhilarating feeling again, the way he always felt when a strong opponent comes his way. His urge to fight him and test the limits of his strength began to rise once more and he wanted to engage Kelerot for real this time.

Yet only this time he had a lingering sense of doubt in the back of his head, as though fighting Kelerot didn't seem like it would produce the same outcome. The longer he stared at him, the more unsure he became about engaging him physically and he couldn't wrap his head around why. Maybe it was intuition? Maybe the lingering aftereffects of Ultra Instinct might have remained deeply ingrained in his subconscious?

It was then that he and Kelerot felt another presence fly down towards them and Goku knew from the energy that it was Piccolo. Kelerot stared at him in silence as he saw him land and Piccolo stared at him for a moment.

"Goku, is everything alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, we had a brief fight but mostly it was us talking."

Piccolo glanced at Kelerot for a moment and he felt a lot of pressure from his energy overwhelming the area with tension. He gritted his teeth. I haven't felt a power like this since Jiren.

Kelerot powered down, turning around to walk away. "I've told you all that I remembered, Goku. I hope you'll understand my position eventually and make the wise choice not to interfere. You're a good person. I'd hate to have to fight you for real this time."

Kelerot took to the air and flew back in the direction of Papaya island. Goku stared at him for a while as Piccolo had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"What monster did we welcome to our universe this time?" he asked.

"He's incredibly strong, but he's not a monster. I think he means it when he said he wasn't going to hurt us or the planet. I am a little worried now for the Pride Troopers if he ever goes back to his universe. If he does go, there's no telling what he'd be capable of."

Piccolo's eyes widened a bit.

"You don't mean."
"Yeah, he might actually be as strong as Jiren now. Maybe even stronger."