Minerva sits in a chair between two beds that both Zucca and Lotus rest in. Timidly sitting with his arms resting around his legs is the very same frost demon that had brought the unconscious Zucca back to Atlantia. She sighs as she looks at the condition both of them were in.
"Ha... One faints without warning while the other goes on a bloodbath against the locals and knocks herself out." Shaking her head she glances at the timid little frost demon, "Thank you for bringing her back... um?"
"I-I'm called Xeadas," The frost demon introduces himself. While alone he seems like he would be rather normal, however when around other people his awkwardness and timidity reveals itself. Despite being one of the 5 people of the frost demon tribe to successfully make it through all 1-3 star bounties and gain the freedom to fly freely, he still suffers from his withdrawn personality and unable to look other people in the eyes. Oddly enough Minerva finds his personality amusing and quite different from the usual attitudes of superiority and arrogance most of their kind possesses. She is definitely interested in learning this little guy's secrets, but first she needs to tend to both of her slumbering companions.
"Well Xeadas, I still appreciate you bringer her back to me and providing us a place to rest for the time being." Minerva nods her head in gratitude at the kind Xeadas.
"N-no problem," Xeadas smiled awkwardly. Being praised or thanked is an unusual thing for the young frost demon, for normally even those of his own kind keep their distance from him, with a few among the top often looking down on him. "Will t-they be okay?"
Minerva glances at both of the sleeping saiyans and shakes her head, "I think they just need some rest, but I'm not quite sure. We will just have to wait for now.
Xeadas nods his head silently, but a moment later he asks a curious question, "You three are strong right? Strong enough to complete all 10-star bounties and get permission to leave your continent?"
She glances at the curious boy and nods, "Yeah. We spent years training and hunting, even dying on multiple occasions to get where we are. Although our environment wasn't nearly as bad as this places. We really didn't need to sail or swim everywhere."
"What's was the continent like?" He asks.
"Endless clouds and rain, legions of undead warriors with power far more than you would expect from corpses."
"Undead? Like skeletons or zombies?" Xeadas was kinda interested.
Minerva nods, "Both. Some were really vicious and could tear you to shreds in an instant. So finding out how to get the drop on some of them required you to be creative. Eventually at some point even those kinds of foes could be overpowered by pure raw power."
"Awesome!" Xeadas exclaims in admiration, "That is much more preferable to this place. Everything you have to hunt can take days to even weeks before they would surface and even then you would have to kill them before they can flee back into the deep. Fighting these things in their own environment is considerably difficult than on land or in the air. Plus at random times the goddess of the sea would occasionally throw storms at us that range from tornadoes, tsunamis, and even full blown hurricanes that possess blades of wind that can shred unlucky warriors to pieces. I even got caught in a few of them myself."
"Sea goddess?" She asks intrigued, "If I had to bet my money on it, she would be one of the so called shadow dragons guarding the path to the administrator's castle."
"That's possible..."
She glances at Xeadas who sits there quietly, "So... have you taken advantage of the limiting environment to train and adapt to it?"
"Excuse me?" He tilts his head.
"You know, go out into the sea and train yourself. Adapt to the ocean environment while slowly killing your way deeper." She starts thinking about every way she can to make fighting in the ocean easier, for she has no real patience to wait for her prey to surface, "I think that if you equip yourself with weighted clothing and dive into the sea you can train and adapt your body to the water and pressure as you delve deeper. I believe that even then you can eventually fight on even grounds with the denizens of the deep."
Xeadas ponders about it momentarily, "Why didn't I think of doing something like that? If I slowly assimilate myself to the ever changing currents and depths I shouldn't have as much trouble navigating the seas as the fish themselves. Maybe even reaching the legendary temple of the sea goddess that cannot be reached from the skies or surface of the sea. Thanks!"
Minerva chuckles at the oddly excited Xeadas, "No problem. One thing we saiyans know is finding more ridiculous training methods and environments. People may call our race savages and violent brutes, but to us growing stronger and fighting worthy opponents is something we desire down to our very core. It's people like Frieza and his fear of our potential that drove us into servitude and mass genocides."
Xeadas nods his head in understanding, he has a apologetic look upon his face at the mention of the forced genocides Frieza had driven the saiyans to commit. It's in their nature to fight, but without the freedom to do it with their own free will, they became nothing more than trained hounds for an ungrateful owner.
—The Beast Within—
For as far as the eyes can see lies a sea of green grass rising up to his waist. Above him the stars and a large full moon he is able to look at oddly enough without turning into a great ape. Lotus is definitely confused at where he is and how he got here. Is this still part of Paradise he asks himself.
"Hehehehehe! Hahahahaha! Welcome to the sea of your consciousness young warrior of the proud and mighty saiyan race!"
The voice echoes from out of nowhere with nothing to be seen in any direction. Lotus looks around quickly trying to find the source but is unable to find anything no matter where he looks.
"You have regained that which you had lost, the name of your birth, Lotus. The purity of the beast blood within your veins grant to you power like no other, a gift only for those whose beast blood has reached a certain threshold. Those who do not possess at least a purity of 50% or higher shall never know the come to realize the potential of this ancient and primal power without purifying their bloodline. You possess the apex of purity within your bloodline, driven to desire challenges far greater and opponents far more frightening than comprehension. Those who cannot follow the path of the beast need not fear for the ascension of legends still remains available for those who possess the will and means to pursue the power."
"Super Saiyan?"
"Correct. Both paths lie available to those who possess the blood line purity. You young saiyan must conquer your inner beast in order to tame and wield this power as your own."
Lotus tilts his head, "Conquer and tame? How?"
"Like this," The voice echoes out and the world begins to quake. In the distance the a beast begins to rise from beneath the sea of grass and tower over the small saiyan warrior, eclipsing the moon from his view with it's massive body. Lotus steps back as he recognizes the colossal beast before him as the great ape. It's fur as black as the night and it's sinister red eyes glowing within the darkness.
"Great ape?"
"Yes. The other form the represents our proud race. A trial and power one must overcome to learn to control and wield freely. A Saiyan's tail is their honor and dignity, to lose it is to shame your heritage and ancestry!"
Lotus swings his tail and holds it before his eyes, stroking it gently with his hand and nods his head, "I agree. I will kill anyone who threatens to remove this tail of mine."
"That is great my little alter ego! Such ferocity is befitting of your people, unlike the timidity that our predecessors suffer at the hands of that pathetic would be emperor. You must complete this trial so that our merging can be complete."
"Our merging?" Lotus as as he stares at his great ape self standing in the distance.
"Face me! Conquer your inner beast and tame the power within you! Stake your life on the chance that you can succeed and awaken the next level of power available to you!" The great ape roars so loudly that the earth around them begins to tremble. Taking a deep breath Lotus lowers his stance and readies for the fight. He possesses neither fear nor hesitation at the thought of fighting the massive beast before him.
"I could ask for nothing more. Hahaha!" Lotus dashes at the great ape representing his inner beast fearlessly and leaps up to deliver a punch to the beast's large head causing it to stagger back only a single step. Leveraging off the ape's chest he leaps up and drops a vicious kick downwards at the top of it's head. Moving it's head to the left it avoids the blow and smacks him away with it's palm and starts charging after him. Lotus immediately jumps back after hitting the ground and recovering to avoid the giant punch that crashes into the ground. Leaping back again, then to the left he avoids to rapid stomps of the great ape's feet.
"Try this!" He cups his hand to his side and starts charging up his Kamehameha Wave. Ever since he selected the random option in the Warrior's Compendium and learned the Black Kamehameha Wave, most of his ki based attacks started taking on the properties of the black colored ki to his displeasure. However as long as it doesn't affect the power and functionality he doesn't take it to mind. The ape tries to crush him again with another punch, but he leaps up while stile charging up the blast and launches it directly into the beast's face.
"Kamehameha!"
The blast connects causing a large explosion that sends the beast flying back a few meters. Rising to it's feet it lets out a loud and angry roar before charging up ki within it's jaws. Lotus sees the attack and starts charging up another Kamehameha Wave and fires it at the same time the great ape fires it's own beam. Once the beams collide an explosion erupts and knocks both of them away.
"Owww! That hurt more than I thought! Isn't this suppose to be a dream?"
As Lotus recovers and gets back to his feet, the great ape him comes smashing down from the skies above just barely missing him by inches. He leaps back to avoid a stomp and jumps up at the beast and delivers his favorite combination of punches, kicks, and finishing it off with a fully charged tyrant lancer that explodes into the beast's chest sending it back. Charging up a riot javelin in each hand he throws them both at the beast as he is falling back and watches as the two hit and explodes.
"Man this beast me isn't as tough as I..." Before he could finish a giant palm emerges from the smoke and smacks him hard into the ground forming a massive crater. "Uhh... spoke too soon..."
The great apes charges out of the smoke and kicks Lotus as if he were a football and fires a volley of ki blasts at him midair from it's jaws. None missing their target. The blasts send Lotus spiraling into the ground and skipping across the ground finally when he is more than ten miles way from the beast. He struggles to his feet trying to catch his breath, body bruised and battered far more than it was moments before. Before his can recover the great ape has already caught and throws another punch.
"Great..." He jumps over the punch, lands on it's arm, runs up along it, and finally delivers a kicker directly to it's head and jumps back a distance away as it staggers and begins recharging his ki with maximum charge. once his ki is recharged he fires a volley of ki blasts at the great ape and temporarily blinds it long enough for him to charge up two more riot javelins and blind sides it when it just recovered from it's small stagger. After the blast he flies at the beast swiftly, grabs it by the tail and swings it overhead and crashing it into the ground.
"Hahahahaha! Great little saiyan child that is me! This is how ferocious a beast warrior should be! Hold nothing back and fight until your body cannot handle it anymore!"
"Hehehehe!" Lotus laughs maniacally as the fight is extremely thrilling and exciting to him. Rather than focusing on the damage his body is sustaining, or the stamina he is losing at a constant pace, he fights on throwing everything out of his mind. This life has given him something the life he had before lacked, thrills, adrenaline! Danger and excitement like no other! Nothing else matters to him at this point in time.
" COME ON! Keep this fight going!" He charges at the ape avoiding blasts, punches, slaps, and even stomps. Throwing himself at it's face and delivering a left hook, a right hook, a rising kick followed by a round house kick right into it's forehead. He then proceeds to aggressively fire of three quick ki blasts to it's face and leaps back in time to avoid getting smashed in between the beast's two palms that clapped where he once was.
He continues to tangle with the beastly ape for the next hour of non-stop hitting and receiving vicious attacks, his body nearly on the verge of falling apart. The beastly great ape is in no better condition. His months of training his personal instincts have led him to dodge attacks that could have rendered anyone else in critical condition. The ape had taken many of his attacks, he had taken just as many of it's attacks as well. Both boy and ape reaching the absolute limit their bodies can take before falling. Both on both of their faces, a savage smile.
"Hahahahaha! This is it! A fight worthy of any true saiyan! A young saiyan warrior more beastly and savage than myself. You are most definitely worthy of the pure beast bloodline within you! Hahahaha!" The great ape version of Lotus laughs aloud, proud to become one with the young saiyan warrior it towers over.
"So does this mean I pass your test?" Lotus asks still struggling to breathe. The beast laughs and nods it's head furiously. It then cringed in pain.
"You are most definitely worthy of the bloodline within you. I offer to you my existence. Now, let us merge and become one! Let us become the true beast warrior of our saiyan race, the Ape Warrior."
Both Lotus and his great ape counterpart connect their palms together and are engulfed in a bright red light. The dream world around them begins to shatter like glass slowly until only a single meter around them remains. With a flash everything returns to darkness.
—Paradise's New Predator—
It's been three days since Lotus' coma began. Zucca had long since awakened from her sleep and continued to explore Atlantia while occasionally checking on Lotus with worry. Minerva had long since shared with her the relationship between the two and had come to respect and admire his heritage. After all Aikon had risen from a mere low rank saiyan into one of King Vegeta's most reliable subjects during his years in service of the kingdom. Although their saiyan race had been reduced to a population of barely over 3000 saiyan youths, the race still continues to live on and will thrive with powerful warriors like Lotus and his sister around.
"I'm going to check up on him before I head out." Zucca says as she heads into the room with Xeadas following behind closely.
"He was kinda struggling at first but stabilized earlier. I think he was suffering from some sort of nightmare." Says Xeadas as he glances towards the bed, but he stood still stiffly when he notices that Lotus has disappeared. "He is gone!"
Zucca rushes over to the bed in panic and looks around, "He was just here!" She shouts out towards the exterior of the shelter ,"Minerva! Lotus is missing!"
Minerva bursts into the room shortly afterwards and searches the room, "He couldn't have gotten far!"
Before the could do anything else they start to feel a strange and powerful energy reading coming a short distance from Atlantia. The sounds of explosions can be heard as well as fearful screams of a large sea creature. The three rush off to investigate and when they arrive are shocked at what they find. A very furry Lotus with his black fur covering most of his body with the exception of his head and chest crouched over the remains of a massive fishmen. Savagely tearing off pieces of flesh and devouring it raw. The three move back slowly, afraid of what he had become and what he could be after awakening from his coma.
"What has happened to him?" Zucca asks, "He has become a new kind of monster..."
"Lotus..." Minerva looks onto her brother with worry as he continues his meal.
Lotus stops his meal briefly and glances back at the three as they look at him with mixed feelings. His face and hands completely drenched in blood and chunks of meat.
"Hm?..."
Author Notes: Xeadas is Galician for the word frost.