Chapter 23.
Mercy.
It was a day like any other when the Saiyan attack first started.
Tuffle citizens were working hard for their families, enjoying a sunny stroll at the park, or simply trying to get through a day like everyone else.
Then a shattering roar acted to the prelude of a white flash followed by an explosion.
Skyscrapers toppled down onto houses, and before anyone knew what had happened, mighty Oozaru were rampaging through streets and smashing through buildings as though they were made of paper.
It was fitting, that the first blow against the Tuffles should be mirrored for the last.
Ten years later, the Oozaru would attack again. This time, to finish the job.
And with the decade-long cycle nearing its renewal, the full moon had changed phase and wouldn't be a problem for another ten years.
Garagus had been sitting on the roof of a wrecked building, watching for the last Saiyan to fall beneath the roof line, indicating the transformation was wearing off, and they'd be too exhausted to move for a while.
He alone took this responsibility, as he was the only one trained to keep his control if he took a glance at the moon by mistake.
"Garagus! How's it looking up there?" After getting a thumbs up from him, Rhuba turned to her mother. "It's clear, we can go now."
Cressin and Rhuba climbed from the desolate room they'd hidden in.
It was once an office, decorated with nice furnishings and plant life. Now, like with the rest of the city, it was not but rubble and broken memories for the people who lived there.
"I still think coming to the city was a bad idea." Rhuba climbed up to sit beside Garagus. He looked half asleep from keeping watch all night and day.
"I'll check around for dangers, you keep an eye on him." Cressin dropped her travel bags and only left with her gathering pouch in case she finds anything useful.
Rhuba sat against the wall with Garagus napping against her, using her lap as a pillow as she stroked his hair.
Despite the terrifying few days they'd lived through, traversing through a city while the rampaging Saiyans destroyed everything in sight, the afternoon did seem rather peaceful.
Especially when the only sound to disturb the silence was the breathing of a sleepy Garagus.
When Cressin returned, she agreed to give Garagus the rest of the hour to sleep before they had to move again. But in the end, the three of them ended up sleeping for another three hours.
The sun looked like it was nearing setting by the time Cressin shook the sleeping pair awake.
"We need to get out of the city before the others wake up."
"yeah yeah," Garagus yawned, lifting himself up and nudged Rhuba while she curled up in her blanket. "Where are we heading?"
"A river cuts through the city, we'll follow it to the coast."
Rhuba slapped herself awake before picking up her bag and following her mother's lead.
She noticed Garagus reaching into his bag and popped open a nut.
"Share."
"Get your own."
"Shaaare!"
"Nooooo!" Garagus got into a slapping fight with her as she tried to steal his food. It was easy to keep her at arm's reach, but she started climbing on him. "Hey, your daughter is being a pest!"
"Well stop enabling her," Cressin replied, walking on ahead. "And keep your voices down."
Rhuba was crawling along Garagus' arm before he swapped hands with the nut.
"Look, I'll give you half if you get off."
"Deal." Rhuba dropped from him, skipping with glee as he snapped the nut and gave her the bigger half.
An action that didn't go unnoticed by the mother. Who simply rolled her eyes as he not only ignored her advice but did the opposite.
Still. In the ten years since the war began, she'd watch those Saiyan children grow into adults. The way they play together hadn't changed much over the years, but at least Cressin knew she could rely on them in a pinch.
The city was eerily silent as the Saiyan trio walked through the once-bustling streets.
Other than the sounds of their footsteps, the only sound was some loose rubble attempting to settle.
Cressin stopped dead, staring at the moving rocks.
"What was that?" Garagus and Rhuba joined her in her ponder.
As the mother and daughter stayed behind, Garagus walked over and lifted a steel beam out of the way and shifted a few rocks before revealing a buried corridor, and inside were survivors of the latest Saiyan attack.
Just over a dozen Tuffles, terrified, sweating from fear, covered in dust and cowering from the Saiyan staring down at them.
His tail swished and coiled around his waist as he considered his next move.
"What is it?" Rhuba called over, noticing him preparing for a fight.
Garagus didn't want to put Rhuba and Cressin at risk.
But staring at the Tuffles, none of them appeared armed. There were children with them.
"It's alright," He called to Rhuba, waving for her and Cressin to stand back.
Once they were clear, he jumped into the corridor.
The Tuffles inside screamed and cowered in fear at his presence, alarming the Saiyan women outside and drawing them in.
"Garagus?" Cressin's eyes filled with rage as she laid eyes on the people who attempted to kidnap her daughter. She was angrier though that Garagus would dare to hold her back. "What are you doing?"
"I said to get back." He told her. "They have children."
Cressin's eyes locked on the kids. She could see their fear. As a mother herself, the maternal instinct to protect was conflicting the hate she felt at the Tuffles for what they did to her own child.
"Fine…" Cressin's voice was a low growl as she climbed back out.
Garagus started moving away huge chunks of rubble until the way was clear.
Looking back at the terrified Tuffles, he gestured for Rhuba to follow him. Cressin was hesitant, but she turned her backs on the Saiyan's long-time enemy.
"Your mercy will get us killed someday," Cressin told him.
"I'm not afraid of children."
"Nor am I." Cressin grabbed his arm. "But they don't stay young forever."
"Look at them." Garagus pointed to the survivors slowly coming out of their hiding place. "By tomorrow we'll be gone from here. If they follow us…" He considered his next words. It tastes wrong to promise to kill someone who he just saved.
"They won't follow us." Rhuba insisted, leading the march. "Let's just keep going."
Cressin and Garagus were still having a clash of leadership. But both agreed that staying with Rhuba was more important, so they followed her in silence, both trying to push the last few minutes from their mind and carry on.
It didn't take too long for Cressin to retake her position as the leader of the march through the city. Rhuba returned to the middle with Garagus either beside her or at the back.
The formation meant that if someone attacked from behind, Garagus would be closest to react to the threat.
And if someone attacked from the front, all three would be able to see the assault coming and react at once.
However this time, Rhuba in the middle noticed something that the others missed.
Cressin spun around and watched with Garagus as she ran off on her own down an empty street.
Chasing after her, they caught up when Rhuba knelt to lift up a naked and unconscious child.
There were scrapes on her knees and palms, her feet were filthy and her tail was twitching pathetically as she took weak breaths.
Cressin looked around at the surrounding damage. It was a good chance the local destruction was caused by her while under the influence of the moon.
"She must have turned back this afternoon. Poor thing must be exhausted." Cressin offered to take the girl, but Rhuba pulled her close.
"I have her." Her eyes were wide, as she looked between her mother and Garagus, ready to bite at anyone's hand that got too close.
Garagus stood over, staring down and wondering what they should do with her.
During the rampage, she could have gotten separated from her parents by miles. And if she's not Alpha born, her parents wouldn't even be aware she's gone until they wake up.
"Don't move from here, I'll be right back."
"Wher-" Before Rhuba could even ask, Garagus had shot off and started flying down the street.
Her attention went back to the girl.
Reaching into her bag, she was about to grab her white blanket, but after a second of consideration, went for the brown one to wrap around the girl for warmth.
"And there I thought you were going to share." Cressin chuckled. "If I had to guess, Garagus is off searching for her parents."
"What if… what if he can't find them?"
"Then I guess, we'll have to watch her until we find another troop."
"another troop?" Rhuba watched the sleeping girl. It was the first time in her life she felt a dire need to protect someone so fragile.
If they don't find her parents, giving her to another troop could be a huge mistake.
"Could we keep her?"
"Rhuba…" Cressin was done with children for a good while. Garagus and Rhuba are more mature, but they're still a pain to put up with. Adding a girl no much bigger than a toddler will just make things more bothersome than they have to be.
"Let Garagus see if he can find them first." It was clear to Cressin that Rhuba was not listening to a single word. At the very least, Cressin crouched down to show her how to properly hold someone so small. "Support the head, and don't let her tail fall between your body and arm."
"It's wrapped up with her legs, she's fine." Rhuba carefully tried to stand up, with her mother's help getting to her feet. "She's so light."
"So were you." Cressin leaned in and kissed Rhuba's cheek. It almost freaked the young woman out, which made her laugh some.
Soon, the sky sounded like it was being ripped apart as Garagus shot down and landed next to them.
"Everyone okay?" He asked, walking over to check the girl.
"What are you doing?"
"Just looking for a small dot on her collarbone." Pulling the quilt away, he found the mole. "Good. Her parents are coming."
"You found both of them?"
"No, I found the father first. He thought I was trying to steal his food, tried to fight me, I punched him out. The mother caught me waiting for him to wake up and she attacked me…" He gestured a punch to the head. "Holding their tails in each hand until they woke up, we had a short conversation and cleared everything up. They should be on their way."
"mum-a…" The girl struggled inside the blanket. When her eyes opened and landed on three strangers, she tried even harder to escape, but her arms and legs were so sore after reverting back from the Oozaru form.
"Calm down, it's alright… Calm down!" Rhuba was getting just as agitated as the girl. "m, mother?"
Cressin watched with amusement.
After all, Rhuba was a handful. So standing back and watching as Rhuba tried and failed to control a little Saiyan was a treat.
"Oh this brings back memories." She sighed, watching the girl actually manage to break out of Rhuba's grasp and start climbing down her arms.
"Pepper, your parents are coming. You'll be fine." Garagus tried to help, but the girl waved her arm to punch him. "Hey, you won't like it if I hit back. So relax." He again tried to grab her before she fell from Rhuba's arms, but after biting Rhuba's hand, she did drop and tried to escape.
Cressin grabbed and lifted the girl by the base of her tail, leaving her limp body hanging as she gave the child a sharp swat for being a brat.
"That's how you deal with children." Cressin chuckled, handing the paralysed girl to Rhuba, making sure she kept a firm hold on the girl's tail. "You should remember these lessons well, sweetie."
Rhuba's face was bright red as Garagus grinned at her.
"Not funny."
"I'm not trying to be funny." Cressin spotted a pair of Saiyan adults running down the street. "Here they come."
Rhuba took another glance at the girl. Her eyes were wide open but distant. She's physically docile with her tail clutched. But her helplessness triggered an even stronger want to protect her, even if she does try to escape first chance she gets.
It's almost sad to pass her own so soon.
"Pepper!" The woman yelled, charging up with her husband locking eyes with Garagus.
As the two men had a stare off. It was clear they were daring, no, hoping another fight would happen.
Garagus knew it hurt the other man's pride to be beaten by someone nearly half his age. If only he knew he was facing an Alpha born, he might not be so cocky.
"Where did you find her?" The mother asked, holding the timid girl by her hand as she hid behind her legs.
"She was lying on the ground around here. Rhuba found her." Garagus stated, giving her a pat on the back.
"Yeah…"
Cressin picked up the blanket and offered it to the girl.
"Make yourself something to wear," She grinned when the girl reached behind to cover her stinging bottom. "Don't be a brat."
Even the girl's parents were laughing. As far as they were concerned, it was a learning experience that will make little Pepper tougher.
"Good of you to watch over her, but we best be getting back to our troop." The mother started to pull her daughter along, then her husband broke eyes with Garagus long enough to follow.
As Cressin and Rhuba walked the other way, Garagus waited the extra second before turning his back on the strangers.
"Oh, look. She missed some." Said the faintest voice from the mother.
Cressin, Rhuba and Garagus turned to see the mother, father and daughter running down the street.
Then with deadly strength, they swung at the group of Tuffles making their way across the road half a mile down.
The screams were awful, but it was too late for even Garagus to do anything. He'd arrive in time to hear their final gasps of air, but nothing more.
To orphan a Saiyan girl to get vengeance for strangers would just be further senseless bloodshed.
But even still, it took both Rhuba and Cressin to lower his arm.
He didn't even realise he had taken aim at them.
A ball of energy that could kill all three of them.
In the end, it was best just to let the final day of the Saiyan Tuffle conflict, a war they'd spent all their time avoiding, simply be forgotten.