Legacy

Vegeta smirked as Tercres rushed for him. The younger saiyan was certainly strong, seemingly close in power to Frieza when the tyrant had fully powered up, and this looked to be without any transformation to super saiyan. Impressive as it may have once been, Vegeta had fought against Buu, and this power was insignificant next to that monster. Still smirking Vegeta merely sidestepped the first punch, before effortlessly blocking everything Tercres threw his way.

Watching Vegeta block more and more of his blows without any discernable effort should have frightened Tercres to back off. Before he could however his mind seemed to go fuzzy, like it had after he defeated Cooler. Slowed for a fraction of a second in confusion, Tercres didn't notice Vegeta had gone on the offensive until a gloved fist smashed across his face and sent him back several yards onto his back. Quickly flipping to his feet, Tercres had no time to act before Vegeta was on him again, hammering him with punches that he could never seem to stop. Gasping for breath after a blow to the gut, Tercres thought to himself 'so he truly is strong,' right before a two handed hammer blow flew past his upraised hands and sent the saiyan ten feet underground.

Bursting forth with a growl, Tercres locked eyes with his tormentor, only to reel in confusion as Vegeta turned away from him. As if sensing his disbelief, the prince spoke "You aren't worthy of my time, whelp," more arrogance creeping into his tone, Vegeta continued, "I doubt you even killed Cooler, you're so pathetic!"

Tercres' mind had cleared to an extent after his cratering, but at the prince's words the cloud rolled back into his mind, and rage filled him like never before. He could handle attacks on his ability, but to question his word and his honor about a battle was something Tercres could not abide. Widening his stance and taking a step back, Tercres gritted his teeth as he brought both hands back near his right shoulder, and channeled all his energy into an attack. "RRRRRRRR," He growled, as a roiling red and orange aura seemed to spring up around him. Vegeta had turned and now awaited this new development with the same arrogant expression on his face as before. Sensing he couldn't hold it any longer, Tercres thrust his hands forward, and screamed as he unleashed the ruin flare, a massive red-orange energy flashing forwards and expanding to fill his vision. Tercres forced himself to keep feeding energy into the attack, continuing to scream as his body felt like melting from forcing out so much energy so quickly.

When he lowered his hands and finally surveyed the results, he was met by a massive divot in the Earth, a directional crater that could fit a few mountains with space to spare, with the land all around twisted and blown away by the power he'd just unleashed. His vision began to fade as his body slipped into unconsciousness, but before Tercres knocked out a figure entered his vision. Swallowing heavily he found the strength to murmur, "impossible," before finally succumbing to fatigue, his last sight that of Vegeta, apparently not even scratched by his attack, and with glowing blonde hair and cyan eyes.

Fifteen Years Prior

He loved sparring with his parents, it was the best part of the day. Following lectures on math and the saiyan people, Tercres' parents would take him outside and teach him the kata of the saiyans. His father showed him how to fight like a saiyan elite, while his mother demonstrated the techniques of the low class saiyan soldiers, and the two of them would work together to help him meld the styles together for his own katas.

This day he was to fight his mother, while his father observed and critiqued. As the two began the preliminary engagements, Tercres felt something different about the fight from normal. His mother seemed to be slower, and he saw openings in her stance. Sidestepping a flipping kick, he dove under the follow up fist and rolled past a stomping foot before shooting to his feet and launching himself with both fists extended into his mother's midsection. With a "whoomf" she collapsed, and declared the fight over. Looking down at her son with pride, she explained to Tercres, "You have surpassed me in strength, my son," with pride gleaming in her eyes, she continued "You must keep improving, to make your destiny and avenge the saiyans."

Her praise filled Tercres with happiness, but the second part of her statement befuddled the child, "destiny? Avenge the saiyans?" he asked, brow scrunched in confusion. His father, walking over from his position observing the fight, had heard everything. His eyes filled with old anger and sorrow as he bade Tercres sit and listen. "Do you wonder why you never see other saiyans besides us?" he asked his son. When Tercres indicated he did, his father nodded and continued, "We used to be a strong race, we worked for a tyrant called Frieza and lived on planet Vegeta." Seeing that Tercres understood he went on "But soon before you were born, Frieza betrayed us, and destroyed the planet, killing almost all the saiyans." At this, Tercres began to tear up a little, eyes becoming watery from sorrow, which gradually turned to anger that someone would kill all that were like him. Looking up, Tercres met his father's gaze and the man resumed his talk, "Frieza feared that a saiyan would rise up like the legends of old, and become a super saiyan of unmatched power and potential, and for this he drove us nearly extinct." The story was finished, but the saiyan elite had more to tell his son, "You are the last son of Vegeta, Tercres, you must become the legend and kill Frieza." Tercres had heard the tale of the super saiyan before, but only now did he understand why he had been told the story so many times. Meeting his father's gaze, Tercres drew himself up to his diminutive full stature and boldly swore, "I will become the legend, and avenge our people!"

Within a few months of that moment, Cooler found his parents, killing them both and plunging Tercres into a world of naught but pain and darkness. Through the first several years, when the pain was unbearable and death beckoned with open arms, Tercres clung to his parents' words, embracing the pain as a step to ascension and turning away from death. The dream of the super saiyan kept him alive, and gave him hope in the dark. Until that is, the day that he heard that Frieza had been killed.

When the news spread throughout the PTO that Lord Frieza had died, at the hands of a saiyan no less, Tercres found himself without a direction, with no light in the darkness. His goal of redemption became one of personal revenge, to kill Cooler for his parents. He could no longer avenge his people, he could only hope to take revenge for his parents. But even that faded, after several more years of abuse Tercres merely wanted to kill Cooler in exchange for his own tortures at the frost demon's hands. With years, he grew closer and closer to his goal, but the legendary super saiyan seemed to fade into the recesses of his mind.

No matter the punishment he endured, Tercres never flagged in his belief in saiyan superiority, in his saiyan pride. And the fighting skills instilled in him by his parents where what kept him alive in the first place. Every planet provided a new proving ground to test his abilities and his skill, and with every battle Tercres refined his techniques and added to his repertoire. The fundamental nature of his fighting style remained unchanged from the distant days he spent learning it from his mother and father however, adaptations and new additions merely adding to his base approach. While he never thought of it, Tercres was the sole remaining practitioner of third class saiyan combat techniques.

It didn't take long for Tercres to realize that as a saiyan he was reviled and feared by many, both inside and outside the Planet Trade Organization. Under such scrutiny, one lesson was indelibly pounded into him, both literally and metaphorically: to reveal weakness is to invite pain and punishment. Cooler himself gave Tercres one of the first lessons in this; it was why half of his jaw rang metallically when struck. After he had recovered from the lizard's first lesson Tercres quickly grasped the best solution: do not show weakness. And so he became "Tercres the grim," Cooler's saiyan planet-killer. As he strode the halls of PTO ships, he heard the murmurs: "I heard Cooler tore his tongue out!" "He doesn't need to eat or sleep," "Maybe he's Cooler's robot!" Tercres was always hearing new rumors, 'for better or worse,' he thought, 'they can't confirm anything, and so they have nothing to use against me,'

The rumors about him not needing to eat or sleep were common, side effects of the precautions Tercres took as the sole saiyan in the fleet. Before he became one of the strongest warriors in the universe, he feared for his life should he eat communally or sleep where others could find him. Thus he took meals covertly, and slept in hidey holes far removed from the normal ships' quarters. The acts became habit, and even when he could blast the whole ship to hell, crew and all, Tercres still slept in carefully concealed and specially locked personal cabins when not on missions.

The purge missions themselves were not what appealed to Tercres. The chance to test himself and grow stronger never failed to appeal to his saiyan instincts, and thus he relished the battles with planetary defenders. The slaughter that followed would interest him to a varying degree depending on the technological level of the planet, as well as what sort of fight he found beforehand. A pitiful showing preceded a genocide of weak fools who couldn't even defend themselves, while a good fight left him detached from the grunt work, only doing it as what must be done.

After the purging, the quiet solitude always relaxed the saiyan. The time alone, without any observers or tormentors, was almost as satisfying as the most hard fought of his battles. The solitude wasn't the only appealing part of the post purge wait; Tercres used the opportunities alone to power up and check his strength. Despite Cooler's insults to the contrary, Tercres was not stupid, he knew that Cooler would eliminate him if his power seemed to be approaching his own, one way or another. Preventing this meant keeping his true power hidden most of the time, lowering his strength from a level unparalleled by all except Cooler down to one comparable to the rest of the PTO elite soldiers. Yet every time he unleashed his full energies, Tercres could feel himself getting closer and closer to Cooler's strength.

Present

Unconscious and lost in a haze of memory, the battered Tercres stirred feebly in Vegeta's grasp as the older saiyan hefted him over his shoulder and took off for Capsule Corp. When Tercres' ki began to elevate Vegeta slowed momentarily, prepared to act to counter aggression, but when the young saiyan's energies rapidly returned to normal and Tercres remained unconscious Vegeta flew on at his previous pace. While crossing an ocean the prince's thoughts wandered back to the earlier "spar" with the strange saiyan. 'It's like sparring with Raditz, or Nappa,' he thought, 'maybe both; this weakling fights like a hybrid of saiyan styles.' Narrowing his eyes, Vegeta continued to muse 'maybe the woman or the boy can pry more out of him,' as his home came into view and the Trunks both flew to greet him 'and help with the limp body on his shoulders,' he thought, Vegeta's thoughts kept on circling back to the boy's familiar stance and forms.

Vegeta did not answer when either Trunks asked what happened. Nor did Bulma receive any more information herself. After she finished putting Tercres back into his room, Vegeta merely indicated with a tilt of his head to follow then left the room to seek out the two Trunks. After the whole family stood before him and he was confident his young son was actually paying attention Vegeta started to speak. "He is holding back information," At this point he crossed his arms and tilted his head slightly, the effect being a look of pondering, "I will not attempt to find out more from him." Seeing the looks on their faces Vegeta quickly continued, "-You will have better luck in that," at this nodding at his family. At this the young Trunks began to grin, "Can I talk to him?" Vegeta merely looked at Bulma, he knew Trunks was stronger than Tercres, if slightly, so it was up to the woman. Bulma looked at her boy, then at the older version next to him and his father, before opening her mouth "If you're careful honey, we don't know much about him so stay alert okay?" Her child beamed at her, before scampering off to his room, shouting "Thanks Mom!" over his shoulder as he departed.

With that exit, the future Trunks turned to his father, "what made you tell us this?" he asked curiously, aware that Vegeta would only have told them all this for a reason. Glancing at his child from a different timeline, Vegeta stayed silent for a moment, before uncrossing his arms with a sigh, "he fought like Nappa and Raditz did," Looking at Bulma before she could interrupt he quickly finished "he is the sole remaining user of the third class saiyan techniques, and the last aside from myself to know the style of the saiyan elites." Finished, he walked out the door. The hum which filled the building shortly thereafter clued the Briefs in to his location.