An Unburdened Fury

Chapter 52: Comes Reward

Broly nodded. Just looking at the orb had the hairs on his new tail standing.

"Yeah, my father gave me a run down when I was younger. They're what's responsible for changing us into Oozaru."

"Yes, our eyes absorb the waves and our tails are what cause the transformation itself. The primary source of Blutz Waves is a full moon. A rarity on Planet Vegeta." Sprout looked to the orb in his hand and brought it to Broly's attention. "We Saiyans have long since learned how to produce this energy artificially through this technique you see before you but before I teach you this, you must learn to control the Oozaru itself."

The younger Saiyan tilted his head. He remembered the wild frenzies of his youth. Imagining something similar with his current level of power was offputting. "Something tells me you wouldn't last long if I tried that."

Sprout waved it off. "Even if you were to vaporize me whole, I'd come back quickly enough. This is Hell, it wouldn't do if the prisoners could just die and escape their punishment." He gestured to the edge of the warp. "Like I said earlier, your blasts won't stray from here. They'll disperse far before they escape."

He thought this thing through. Broly was comforted to know that. He wasn't worried about South Kai but he imagined whoever ran Hell had more leeway with what they could do to misbehaving souls down here. Yemma was able to send him down here after all.

"Alright, where do we start?"

Sprout tossed the blast over his shoulder and it flew high into the sky. "We'll be having you transform until you can control the form. Your control will improve with every transformation and I'll give you help as you need it. Also, if you like what you're wearing, put these on." He reached into his top and pulled out a set of Saiyan armor with dark purple tights.

The younger Saiyan looked at the bundle with a frown. He hated tights.

"It's either grit your teeth and put it on now or put it on after you're inevitable left naked by the transformation."

He knew that. As Sprout turned, he quickly stripped down to his underwear and slipped on the tights and armor. The armor was a black and green variant without shoulder pads or the ridiculous hanging pieces whose names escaped him. He muttered to let Sprout know he was done and the older Saiyan turned back around.

"You look like a proper Elite."

He could hear the smirk in the man's voice.

"Fuck off."

Broly made one last adjustment to the armor's fit. That was as comfortable as he was going to get it. "Training seems pretty hands off."

"When 'hands on' gets you killed every time, this is the next best thing." Sprout held up an open hand. "Now let me know when you're ready."

Broly closed his eyes. He thought back on how he learned to control his Legendary state. This would be just like that. He breathed out and relaxed his muscles. With his massive form, it helped immensely when he wasn't bloodthirsty before he transformed.

"Go ahead."

They found what they presumed was Guru's tower quickly enough. Tsuno wasn't kidding; this was the only thing they've seen so far that had some verticality to it at all. As they approached however, they saw a whole group of people there along with one Namekian holding up the entrance. They weren't arguing, the Namekian was stoic, but it was lively on the part of the foreigners.

Kogu said what they were thinking. "Those aren't Namekians."

"They remind me of the Saiyans. They lack a lot of the musculature though." He squinted. "Except for the three eyed one who's staring at us."

"So another group of travelers beat us here." Cooler stated, his expression severe. "This will not stop us."

The quartet landed with all eyes on them. There was a momentary stand off as they stared at one another. Cooler wrote most of them off; they looked pitifully weak. But one of them held his eye. A massive man with orange hair, easily the largest of them all, who stared directly at him. His eyes were cold and lifeless but his gut told him that this one is scanning him. Gathering information in a very precise, very calculated manner unlike the rest.

Like a machine.

"Are they with you?" The Namekian, who stood in front of the entrance to Lord Guru's domain, asked the older woman at the front of the group.

Cooler noted the interaction. She was trusted enough to be the one to speak to this presumed gatekeeper. Not necessarily the leader but important nonetheless. She stared with a open mouth like she'd seen a ghost. She had to be jostled to answer. That was an unusual reaction.

Unnoticed by Cooler, Kogu and Zangya had their own wide-eyed, disbelieving looks. Bujin looked between the duo and the group with confusion.

The bluenette glanced at Cooler and shook her head."No." She replied with a wary stare at them.

He nodded and fully turned to them. While he wasn't friendly before, his demeanor was like ice when he faced Cooler.

"What business do you have with Lord Guru?"

That lit up some alarms. Could the man sense his intentions? These people were magically inclined enough to create wish granting orbs; who's to say they couldn't see right through his act? He glanced back at the large man who had not taken his eyes off of the Arcosian. That was already two potential defeaters to his plans and it was hardly an hour into their trip.

Cooler unintentionally frowned at the implication but shifted it enough to seem as if the Namekian had brought up painful memories with the question.

"Apologies, I am Cooler and you are?"

He crossed his arms and his ever present frown deepened slightly. "Nail. Guru's sworn protector."

"Nail, there's an evil spreading where we've come from and-"

"Save the story-telling." Interrupted the Namekian with a raised hand. "Tell me your purpose."

The Arcosian internally scowled and his fists clenched. This one wasn't as welcoming as his neighbors it seemed. There some movement in his periphery but he couldn't determine if it was in response to him. Still, he kept his head level. It wasn't the first time in his life that difficulties presented themselves.

"Apologies once more." He gestured to the himself and the Galaxy Soldiers who he noted were far too tense. He wanted to sigh. Like he expected pirates to know how to behave. "We wish to gather the Dragon Balls to revive a friend of ours."

Some in the other group perked up at that. Naturally, they made the same connection that he did. They were competitors here.

"Huh, so are we!" The second shortest among them, a bald man with six dots on his forehead, blurted out as he approached them. He held out a hand to Bujin who happened to be closest. "I'm Krillin, nice to meet you."

"Oh, uh." The diminutive Hera nearly jumped at the approach but he returned the gesture. "I'm Bujin, likewise."

That some to ease some of the tensions as most of them approached and introduced themselves. There was even a child among them who approached Bujin with glee at meeting 'another alien species' as he said. Oh, how he hated debasing himself to interact with them so directly. They were nobody that could help them; worse, they were obstacles. Still, he introduced himself and smiled for the cretins.

Bujin looked between the two who approached themselves and compared them to the rest. "So are you two children?"

Krillin gave him a confused look before he chuckled and scratched his cheek. "No, uh, well, Gohan here-" He slapped the hybrid's back."-is a kid but I'm just...not the tallest."

The Heran's face flushed with light embarrassment; he dealt with that misconception a lot back on Hera so to do it to someone else made him cringe.

"Ah, sorry about that. As you probably guess, I'm in the same boat in that regard."

"Don't sweat it!" Krillin smiled as he patted the Heran's back. "Happens less than you'd think."

"You guys look a lot like us, just blue!" Gohan said excitedly as he looked over the diminutive Heran. "Do you just need water like the Namekians or do you eat food?"

"Calm down there, kiddo. Give 'im some space to breath!"

"It's quite alright!" Bujin held up his hands in a placating gesture. "I'm not going to deny someone their curiosity."

In the midst of the suddenly social gathering, Cooler kept his eyes on Nail and the other man. The large man and the blond woman stayed away from the meet and greet; they seemed as equally adverse to what was happening as him. Nail hadn't stray in his vigil against the Arcosian. Out of sight, Zangya and Bulma separated from the group.

Bulma winked at her future self as she broke off from the group. "So what's your name, handsome?"

The swordsman almost smiled at the casual greeting. "Kogu." He gestured to the two men who stood next to her. "And all of yours?"

"Oh, this is Tien and Yamcha." She pointed to the respective warrior before she thumbed towards herself. "And I'm Bulma!"

"Kogu, huh?" Yamcha said with a hand to his chin. "We've got a friend named Goku back home! What are the odds, eh, Tien?" Yamcha tapped Tien's shoulder with the back of his hand.

That little coincidence piqued the swordsman's interest. "Oh? Is he Heran too?"

Yamcha shook his head. "Nah, he's an Earthling." He gave a quick glance to Tien who gave him a subtle nod. Raditz and Nappa warned against mentioning Saiyans on their trip given their reputation in the Galaxy. "Gotta say, odd that pretty much everyone we've seen is humanoid."

"Not really. Pretty much everybody is humanoid out in space." Kogu responded absentmindedly. "Kinda weird if you think about it but I don't know how biology works in general. Speaking of which..." He look at Tien's forehead. "If you don't mind, how come you're the only one here with a third eye?"

Tien frowned. "I do mind-gah!" The martial artist rubbed at the spot on his ribs where the woman elbowed him.

Bulma nervously chuckled. "Don't worry about him, trip's got him grouchy."

"Right."

"You're that woman who spoke with Broly the other day!" Zangya whisper-yelled in utter shock. "Bulma, right?"

"Yes, yes I am." She replied in a more normal tone. The woman looked over Zangya's shoulder. "What's Cooler doing here?"

"I -uh..." She swallowed at the sudden question. "It's complicated."

Bulma blinked and crossed her arms. "I can do complicated." She did a double take. "Wait, where's Broly? Weren't you all together?"

Zangya clenched her fist. She saw this one coming ever since they met eyes. "I'm...I'm sorry."

"What-?" Bulma stopped herself when she noticed the Heran's failing attempt at avoiding her gaze. She took a shaky step back. "Is he...?" She let the question hang as if asking it in full could prevent the answer.

Zangya nodded her as her vision blurred. The last few hours were a whirlwind of emotions and stress whipping her back and forth and of course it came crashing back down to this. "Genome killed him." She lifted her head determined to look the woman in the eye. She'd warned Broly and so saved them all; she dsevered better than cowardice now. "That fucking machine ambushed us and had us dead to rights but Broly...he convinced him to let us all go but he stayed behind."

Bulma engulfed her in a hug. She didn't return it immediately, she wasn't a hugger on the best of days, but she managed to after the initial surprise went away.

"He did that?" She said in a shaky, almost disbelieving voice.

Zangya nodded as they separated. "I almost couldn't believe it myself."

"He told me it'd take years before he'd do anything for someone else.".

"You knew him that long?"

The older woman scoffed a laugh as she wiped a tear "In a way."

Zangya lightly tapped her head as she remembered the mysterious voice was this woman. "Right, time travel."

That got a chuckle out of the older woman. "You came to the right place for him then." Grief was a strange thing when whatever caused it can be reversed so easily. the initial hit was impossible to stop but as the reality of wishes set in, it quickly dulled the pain there. Almost like it was set aside for now, in case things went wrong.

Thus, Bulma quickly regained her bearings. "I don't know if you know but the Dragon Balls here are the real thing."

"Oh, thank Kami." The heran woman practically fell over from the relief. That question had plagued her since Cooler revealed what he knew about Namek. "Last thing I needed was a wild goose chase after...after what happened."

Zangya shook her head. They were already out here too long, she didn't want the Arcosian to get too suspicious. "To answer your first question, we picked up Cooler after he escaped some Androids. He offered help and we took it. Without Broly to keep him in line, he forced his way in."

Bulma quickly turned from grief to righteous anger. "Well, that's crap! What's stopping you guys from kicking his ass?"

The Heran quickly shushed the bluenette as she glanced over to Cooler. "I don't know if we can beat him together and we wouldn't try to fight him anyways." Zangya gestured to the sky. "We think Genome's keeping an eye out for us so we can't risk a fight or he'll come down on us."

The time traveler looked to the Arcosian herself. Twenty years did little to change him. "Do you know what he wants?"

"No but I do know he doesn't want us to revive Broly." She opened her mouth and hesitated a moment. "Admittedly, your group are a wrench in our plans too."

Bulma blinked. "Why? The dragon grants three wishes."

"Wait, what?"

Cooler decided to cut this whole thing short and ask the obvious question. "If we're both looking for wishes, how will Lord Guru decide who to give it to?"

"There's no need." Nail added before Krillin could answer to the monk's disappointment. "The dragon is capable of granting three separate wishes. You will both get what you desire." He gave a suspicious look to Cooler who's own eyes narrowed. "If he deems you worthy."

Sprout closed his hand and the orb bloomed.

He felt the moment the Blutz Waves hit him. His muscles seized and fangs grew in an instant. Whispers of instinct, long held at bay by higher thought, deafened him. Crush. Kill. Devour. The ground beneath cracked as he doubled in size in the blink of an eye and his snout elongated. His ki felt like a volcano erupting and it seeped onto his skin like sludge.

This wasn't anger as his conscious mind knew it. It was primal; more akin to the concept of rage than rage itself. One known by all sentient beings; anger that anger strove to be. It was an old friend and he knew it well. Fur sprouted all over his body. His eyes blanked. He remembered this the first time he transformed on Aciero. The agony of that day was still fresh in his mind only this was stretched out so much longer in time.

Destroy everything.

It roared and it was a monstrous thing. Its arms, great pillars of steel muscle, banged against its chest. With every impact, valleys formed and mountains were birthed. As it moved, ki dripped off the Oozaru's body like loose mud and consumed everything it touched in fire and light. It roared once more and countless blasts, each capable of collapsing stars, shot off its body and tore holes in the sky above.

In its fury, the ape spotted movement.

Weakling. Eat.

One step and Hell quaked. Another and the Oozaru snatched it up in its hands.

"BROLY! LET ME GO!" It screamed as the Great Ape brought the weakling to its mouth. It had its mouth half closed around the morsel when a sudden compulsion forced the beast to stop in its tracks. It tried once more but the resistance never seemed to wane.

'You won't have me.'

A voice spoke in its head and the Ape stopped. He stopped. His hands loosened. The Great Ape let go of the weakling as it brought its hands to his head. A splitting headache had its deafening roars tearing apart the landscape. Below, Sprout destroyed the ball with a wave of his hand and the Oozaru stopped.

Sprout fell back as he waited for his heart to stop beating its way out of his chest. Logic stated there was nothing to fear as he was already dead but he would say there's nothing more logical than being utterly terrified by what he witness. He'd never been planet side when a world blew up but he imagined this was near identical. After a few more moments, he willed himself to stand.

Broly hyperventilated laid on his hands and knees in the center of where the brief rampage took place.

"I...I know this." He mumbled as sweat poured down his head. He looked up at the older Saiyan. "I almost had it."

That couldn't have been possible. He knew this was Broly's first time as an Oozaru. "Don't be cryptic with me, boy."

The younger Saiyan shook his head as he stood back up. "That was just like when I transformed into my Legendary form, only more intense."

A memory resurfaced of the Prince's arrival. It brought a smirk to his face. "I recall Vegeta ranting and raving about, and these are his words, a 'genetic freak making a mockery of Super Saiyan'. Something to do with that?"

Broly nodded. "That golden hair form I've been using is just a Super Saiyan." He explained absentmindedly as he readjusted his armor. "I can go one step further. I just assumed that that was the real Legendary Super Saiyan and I never thought of it further but the Oozaru..."

Sprout quickly connected the dots. "The Oozaru and your 'Legendary' form...you think they're related to each other."

He nodded. "How long until I can try again?"

Sprout created another Blutz Wave ball. "Whenever you're ready."

Author's Notes

A bit of a shorter one this time around but the next scenes I have planned wouldn't fit into this chapter so sorry about that!

Also, I'd forgotten completely that the earth peeps have already been to Namek in this story! Gah! It won't affect the plot going forward, nor do any of you have to do any re-reading, but I'll have to do some edits to previous chapters. Blegh.

Ent out.

Review Responses!

Jutten: Being polite to own the l̶i̶b̶s̶ gods! Lol, thanks for the kind words!

DeMightyLubu: Glad to hear your thoughts on that! Especially since it's a real challenge to make sure everyone is getting their time.

AxDevilman: I saw the opportunity with Cooler and took it, haha. I'm definitely taking this next arc as a good chance to really flesh out Cooler as a character and separate him from Frieza. Also, GvK was pretty fookin badass if I say so myself. Plot was nonsensical but everything between nuke lizard and big monke was *chef's kiss*

fightingchampion: The monke was always the cooler route for me. Nothing beats SSJ4 in my opinion/