Chapter 13: Reuniting with the Enemy

Tuesday 23rd January Age 792

The hectic Christmas in the mountains seemed far behind Noca as the month went on. His journey to West City continued, but progress had been a lot slower than Noca had hoped. The injuries he sustained during that time had remained, although they had started to heal. The leg injury was the toughest because Noca was certain that a bone had been broken, at least that's what he thought. Noca wasn't walking well and felt like he was dragging himself along on the journey. Parsley City was his closest city but even then, he felt that he would have to divert from his main path to even drop by.

The young Saiyan continued to ration his food and couldn't remember the last time he had a decent meal. He had no idea how much longer he had left on the journey and had to be careful with all the food he had. He was honestly surprised that he had lasted a month with that food.

Noca's path had brought him to an open grassy area where there didn't appear to be anything for a while. Some plateaus, rocks, small crater like holes, and in the distance some sort of forest area. Noca kept walking on through the area, heading straight for the trees. Maybe, if he were lucky, there would be fruit on those trees. He tried to speed up but there was a bit of pain in his leg and he had to slow down again. He cursed silently and kept on at a weak pace.

As he got closer to the trees, Noca noticed that it wasn't as forest-like as it appeared from a distance. It seemed like a wall of trees. Noca knew he had to keep going on in that direction because as far as he had been told that was the direction to West City. A part of Noca made him hope he was close but considering he had never really had access to a map of the world he wasn't at all sure how far West City could be from those mountains.

Noca managed to reach the trees and noticed that while there were a few, he could sort of see through them, and it appeared to be another open area, Noca looked around some more. To the left, the line of trees led down to a river, and to the right, it seemed to wrap around. Noca thought to take the direct path and started to make his way through the trees and to properly see what was on the other side.

He certainly didn't expect to see what was actually on the other side, but it appeared to be a large garden, with a big fountain, and some neat paths that led up to the largest building Noca had ever seen. It was like a palace. Noca looked around and backed away slowly, hiding away in the trees again, he didn't want to be spotted. Whoever lived there must be very rich, and judging by the wall of trees, secretive, they may not want any sort of visitors.

Noca thought about trying to move on and go around the place instead, so he could be safe. As he backed off though his stomach started to grumble and Noca realised he really needed to have some real food. He looked around the garden again, trying to be sure no one was there and looked over to the back door of the building, or one of the backdoors. The teenager knew he didn't have much choice and figured that he should chance it at the mystery house. Maybe the owners are generous. He started to walk up the path to the house.

He approached some steps at the end of the path and started to climb them, heading for the door. The Saiyan inched closer to the door, anxious about being caught. He pushed the door, hoping it would open right away but nothing happened, it was clearly locked. Noca leaned in, looking through the glass, trying to get a sense of who may be inside, hiding. It appeared empty. Almost abandoned. Noca decided to take a chance and knocked on the door lightly a few times. No response. There wasn't a bell around, so he knocked again, harder. Again nothing.

Noca looked towards the door handle and in through the window again before one last look around the garden. He took a deep breath, clenched his fist, and smashed it into the door handle breaking it. The door inched open and Noca gently pushed it, stepping inside and limping through a large dining room area. The young Saiyan looked up towards the huge ceiling, he had never been inside a place as big as that mansion. It was unreal. Noca knew he shouldn't make enemies so decided to try again to see if anyone was around.

"Hello!" He called out, taking a second to see if there were any responses, "Is anybody there?"

There was no answer. It was very strange and Noca's anxiety continued to grow. He was beginning to worry. His exhaustion, hunger, and pain were getting to him and he really hoped he could find some sort of ally. Noca stumbled on through, heading down the hallway. As he continued on down the hall, he heard a loud crash sound come from the end. Noca froze on the spot. He took a breath, swallowed, and continued.

Without warning, a huge man jumped out from one of the doors and swung for Noca. The young Saiyan hopped back managing to get to safety and landed on his good leg. He sprung forward from that step and went straight for this man. He aimed his fist for the stranger's gut, but all that connected was the stranger's fist with Noca's face. The boy was knocked off of his feet and hit the ground, sliding along the floor up the hall. He winced and let out a small cry of pain.

Noca let out a pained grunt as he moved, attempted to get to his feet and watched as the stranger started walking back towards him.

"Who the hell are you?" Noca asked, his questioned answered by a voice through a speaker.

"You two have met before," the voice said. Noca looked around, confused. He recognised that voice but couldn't place it. He looked back to the stranger and narrowed his eyes, trying to spark his memory. It didn't take him long to figure it out. It was the big android fighter that Omega had activated that Noca and #17 fought outside Holline's village.

Noca quickly got to his feet, pushing through the pain. His fists clenched and he moved into a stance, as best as he could, preparing for a fight. He knew Omega had to be around there somewhere and, after all the trouble he put them through back then, Noca wasn't going to turn down the idea of putting a stop to whatever he was planning. Noca stepped forward, while in his stance, and felt a sharp pain through his leg and he lost balance for a second.

"You don't look like you're in the best shape, young man," the voice said over the speakers, Noca was now aware that it belonged to Omega.

"What gave it away, the ripped clothes or the blood?" Noca snapped back.

"You're not in any position to be sarcastic, Delta here won't have a hard time putting you down," Omega replied, chuckling to himself.

"You rebuilt him?" Noca questioned, "Doesn't mean he's stronger."

"You, and your friend, Android #17, foiled my plans for that village, I had to abandon the area! Now, Delta will teach you a lesson!" Omega yelled through the speakers and as he did Delta charged forward.

The android grabbed Noca by the head and flung him back down the hall, towards the dining room. Noca flew through the air and crashed into the large table, breaking it and falling to the ground. He winced and moved slightly, feeling the pain from the impact and the broken bits of wood jabbing into him. He tried to move out of the mess, but Delta walked over and lifted him up by the front of his shirt and punched him back down into the ground. Noca let out a yelp of pain and writhed on the ground. Delta stood over the boy and grinned, menacingly.

"I knew you would be no match for him this time," Omega's voice called out through the speakers, "I'll take great pleasure in watching him end you."

Noca was allowed time to stand up, although his balance was terrible. He wobbled on his feet for a second and then tried to move forward, only to be kicked in the chest. The strength knocked Noca off of his feet again and he flew back into the wall, cracking it. He slumped to the ground and groaned. He felt incredibly faint and could hardly move. He barely had the energy to lift his head. Delta started to walk over, taking his time, loosening up his shoulders. Noca could feel tears coming to his eyes. He had never been in this much physical pain before. He tried clenching his fists and tried to push himself up off of the ground, sliding his back up the wall, knowing he had no control over his balance in that moment.

Delta was practically in front of him again and Noca was ready for an attack, but he had nothing in him to stop it. Omega's cackling was cutting right at Noca's soul, he knew there was nothing he could do to silence him.

"Once I'm done here, I can return to those mountains, those villages, do what I want with the people," Omega was teasing Noca, making his final moments as painful as they could be. "I'll torture them, hurt them, kill them. Especially those friends of yours."

Noca grit his teeth and pushed himself off of the wall, towards Delta, and swung with his right hand, trying to land some sort of hit, but Delta just caught Noca's arm. The Saiyan cursed out loud, he started to feel like a real failure. Delta tightened his grip and swung Noca across the room again, the teen smashed against the door frame that led to the hallway.

Noca did his best to move back to his feet and started to limp down the hallway, leaning against the wall all the way.

"I love to see you squirm!" Omega called out, laughing maniacally. Noca grit his teeth.

"Shut up!" The teen yelled. Omega just laughed more.

"Oh, have you still got some fight in you?" Omega questioned. His cackles were still stuck in Noca's head. "Delta! Hurt him some more."

Delta rushed to the hall and started sprinting down there towards Noca. The teen only had the time to turn around and see Delta smash right into him, with Noca flying further down the hall and smashing through a door, into a laboratory-like room. He quickly scurried behind something, doing his best to ignore the pain.

"I can still see you, child," Omega said, "But I'll let Delta have his fun. He likes the chase."

Delta entered the room and quickly looked around for the boy. Noca tried to stay as still as he could and calmed his breathing. He attempted to clear his mind and refocus on his power, try to bring it out so he can at least fight back and get away from this place. His attention was drawn too much to the pain he was feeling. There was no way he could keep his mind clear and do what was needed to fight back. He opened his eyes and sat back against the desk he was hiding behind. His emotions were getting the better of him. He felt like he was failing everyone, failing himself, and more importantly, failing his mother. He let out a quiet sob and put his head in his hands.

"I can't do this…" He whispered to himself. His fists clenched around his hair and he rocked on the spot a little. Delta was getting closer.

"Unfortunate that you won't get to see what I'll do to the people you care about," Omega spoke up, clearly trying to get a rise out of Noca. He was confident and sure of himself, and Delta. There wasn't an ounce of doubt in his mind that Noca's life would come to an end. "I've gotten good and what I do, so many villages bowing to my will, so many unworthy people put down. That mountain region will slowly come to accept me as their leader. Or I'll continue to make examples of those who are weak."

Noca was beginning to make assumptions based on Omega's rambling. He gently let go of his hair and started to think over what he had said. He ran over some of it in his head. Omega had been doing this for a while, he had attacked more than one village or town in those mountains. He had killed many people. So, did he do it?

Noca grabbed onto that thought and threw all logic out for the moment. Omega had said enough to make Noca sure of something, even if there wasn't necessarily any evidence to prove that there had even been a trace of Omega near the Kayu village. The young Saiyan couldn't shake the thoughts. His emotional state was already becoming pretty unstable, and Omega may have helped push it over the line.

Noca stood up. Delta turned to face the boy, now wearing a blank expression on his face as he continued to piece information together in his mind. Delta didn't notice as he moved slowly towards the teen that some of the liquid inside tubes in that lab had started to rumble, like there was some sort of minor tremor happening. He failed to notice that Noca's hair and clothes had started to move, just a tiny bit, as if there was a breeze around him. Nor did he notice that Noca's eyes were briefly changing colour.

"Did you do it?" Noca muttered.

"Speak up boy, I want to hear your final words as you accept your fate," Omega called out. Noca continued to look straight from where he was standing.

"Did you do it?" He asked, louder, with more ferocity in his tone. Omega chuckled lightly.

"I have no idea what you're talking. Elaborate, child," Omega ordered. Noca's aura burst out in that moment causing Delta to flinch lightly. Noca seemed completely oblivious.

"Did you kill my mother?!" Noca screamed out. Omega was unable to give his answer in time as a gold aura illuminated the entire room, smashing glass, shaking everything, cracking the walls and causing the speaker system to malfunction. Noca gripped onto his head, clearly feeling overwhelmed, and possibly hurt by everything going on. He screamed out, his voice echoing through the whole room.

Delta grit his teeth, clenched his fists, and charged towards the unsuspecting Saiyan, but in the final moment before that android could make contact with the teen, Noca's energy exploded from within and Delta was blown to pieces right there and then. The entire room was destroyed and the electronics throughout the whole building started to play up, with things exploding all around.

Noca had a new sense of focus, but all sense of reason and self-control had gone. His hair was standing on end, just threatening to change to a golden colour, while the aura remained flared up. Noca turned to face the doorway and stepped into the hallway and rushed through the building, heading somewhere. He was ignorant of any injuries he had sustained, as well as the damage he caused. He had someone to go and see. Noca eventually bursts into a large office-like room on the top floor and right at the end he spots Omega, frantically working on his computer and stuffing files and things into a box. He pressed the box, quickly capsulizing everything and stood, frozen on the spot, eyes fixed on Noca.

The teen growled and screamed out.

"YOU KILLED MY MOTHER!"

Noca's hair flashed golden and his energy exploded from within, again. Omega, fortunately for him, was at a safe distance and was only knocked off of his feet, but close enough to his escape route, managing to rush away. He ran on down a hallway as the house shook and fell apart around him. He reached a small one-person jet and jumped in, fired it up and flew away as light shone from within the house before it crumbled down on itself. Omega looked back, wide-eyed and terrified. He knew there was power inside that boy but never that much. He had no idea, but more-so than ever before, he was intrigued, excited, and motivated. He turned forward, looked down at a small data-pad he was holding and even though the screen was cracked, he could see the energy readings were off the charts, but appeared to be frozen at a previous reading. Omega's brow furrowed as he saw a message at the bottom that read 'TRACKER DISCONNECTED.' Omega cursed but couldn't stop the small smirk that formed when he looked back over the previous readings.

"This will enhance everything."

Meanwhile, as Omega got away, flying off into the distance, silence fell over the demolished mansion. There was not a sign of movement anywhere. Eventually though, a couple of planks of wood moved and Noca's hand poked up out of the rubble. He had to push past a desk and some other broken things before he got to freedom. He wobbled on the spot and looked around at the disaster that lay around him. He had a perplexed expression on his face and appeared completely unaware of what had happened. All he knew was he was in intense pain, bleeding, and need to get going.

He stepped down away from the rubble, turned back to look at the mess one last time, and turned towards his destination once more.


Characters Seen/Mentioned in this Chapter:

Noca (OC)
Omega (OC)
Delta (OC)
Holline (OC) – Mentioned
Android #17 – Mentioned
Emna (OC) – Mentioned