"Aaaugh!"
"Keep your guard up! You're not focusing enough!"
"Maybe, or perhaps my arm is still sore from what happened the first time we fought!"
"Give me that excuse again, and I'll give you something to really complain about."
I gritted my teeth as I begrudgingly got back into a combat stance. This has been my life for the past few months. Ever since Bardock forced me into that first sparring match that caused me to tear the muscles in my right arm, he's had the brilliant idea to train me how to fight better the moment I healed up enough to fight. At least, the moment I healed up enough to fight in his eyes. It's been months now, but no matter how many times he punched me, I didn't feel like I was getting stronger. All that this was doing so far was pissing me off and slowly turning me into a giant, walking bruise.
It really didn't help that this bastard was also dragging me away against my will for this. Whenever he wasn't doing anything and he caught sight of me, he would drag me off by my tail to where we fought the first time and force me to fight him in a spar, this time with no weapons allowed. He always made sure to take away any and all guns I had on my person before he got down to business, which only served to make these sessions more one-sided and more like a one-sided beat-down at my expense. This was nothing like fighting with Turles. This was me being forced to fight an adult, a veteran warrior with decades of fighting experience in the body of a weakling child. I've never been in a more pathetic and hopeless situation. What am I supposed to learn from this?
My time would have been better served to advance my work. I do feel a smidge of gratitude towards my male Saiyan keeper (I refuse to ever refer to him as 'father'), yet that tiny feeling has been overshadowed with more spite at his wasting of my time. Why should I bother training my body when working on Project Silver would help me far more in comparison? I already have a rough outline of a plan and some rough drafts and scrapes of what might be considered blueprints ready, and I've already gotten started with the project. I even have everything I need from watching Broly fight in his spars with Paragus. I just need to get parts and time to work on it, and this muscle head is preventing me from doing that.
Consider my gratitude revoked. As expected from a Saiyan… Eff-ing. Saiyans.
Now I'm here, struggling once again against Bardock, who doesn't even look fazed by anything that has happened so far. He doesn't even look amused. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen his face show any emotion other than that neutral one he always wears. I hate that the most about him. I can never tell what he's thinking because of that. Other Saiyans are easy to read, yet he's one of the few who aren't. Makes him more unpredictable in my eyes, which makes him more dangerous to me and my plans potentially.
"Why haven't you tried to use energy blasts against me?" Bardock asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.
"You know how well that went last time. I'm not destroying my arm again just to get no results." I spat out in an annoyed tone.
"You'll never learn unless you attempt to use it until you finally succeed." Bardock replied.
"That's true for many things, but if something is impossible from the start, then no matter how many times I try, I won't succeed anyway." I responded.
"And how do you know that this falls under that impossible category?"
"I think I'd know that better than anyone at this point." I growled. "I'll only say this once so that you understand. This body is weak, and it will never be able to keep up with the likes of you Saiyans by itself. It's not a matter of refusing to try using energy attacks. It's that I can't use them on my own like this. It's why I don't see the purpose of these training sessions of ours."
"No matter what you may think, you need this. You're weak, that's true. Anyone can see that, and I suppose no one would know that better than you." Bardock began. "However, I don't imagine that you're satisfied with how things are right now. But no matter what you do, it won't mean anything if you don't know how to fight. What use is power if you can't throw a proper punch, or if you can't take a punch and keep on moving? The first fight we had was me assessing your abilities and skill, and you're at a better level than what I expected, but you still aren't on the level. That's why I'm taking the little time I have left before my next assignment to give you more experience. I want to make sure can punch above your weight before I leave. You need to, at the very least, be able to see an attack coming before it comes close to hitting you. That way, you'll still be able to block and counter against those far above you."
"Is that so?" I asked with a raised eyebrow of my own. "And what exactly would you know about fighting people stronger than you?"
"Are you being serious?" Bardock asked me with a slight frown. "I am classified as a low-class warrior, despite my power level."
"Oh, right. Born weak, but grew stronger after the fact, yeah?" I muttered. "What? Are you trying to say that means you fight people far above you in power on the daily."
"At times. How do you think I grew so strong despite my rank?" Bardock said while crossing his arms.
"I don't know. Push-ups, sit-ups, and plenty of juice? Maybe with a side of near-death experience?"
"Ha, ha. Quite the tongue on you."
"What can I say? What I lack in strength, I make it up with plenty of wit. Something you Saiyans seem to be lacking in." I muttered the last part quietly. Perhaps not as quietly as I might have thought since Bardock's neutral frown deepened a little after that. Then, before I could even process it, he lunged at me so fast it was almost like he vanished for a moment. By the time I registered what he was doing, there was already a fist lodged in my gut, every trace of air now exiting out of my mouth along with any bile that came up with it.
"Have some respect. Keep running that tongue, and you'll earn more than a few scars. Insult a high-ranking Saiyan, and they can and will take your life. Learn how to fight the likes of them before you go around showing off the confidence to disrespect them so openly."
Bardock let my now-limp body fall to the ground as I gasped for air. He stared at my pathetic form, he let out a small sigh before shaking his head.
"That'll be the end for today. Tomorrow, try to land a strike that at least grazes me. And take this more seriously if you really want to get stronger." With that, the Saiyan veteran left without so much as looking back at me. After regaining the ability to breathe without feeling a stinging pain in my everything, I slowly got back up while staring daggers at the spot where Bardock had once stood.
"Get stronger my ass. As if normal training can help me. If that were enough, I would have gotten much stronger after Monmaasu." I hissed as I dragged my sorry ass back home.
When I made it back home, Gine was there to greet me. I ignored her. Just a distraction. Always a distraction.
Without giving the woman so much of a glance, I entered my room, which had become a makeshift workshop for me. It was too risky to work on Project Silver too heavily while in the presence of the other Saiyan researchers and engineers. If they ever so much as caught a whiff that I was planning something big, they'd come down on me worse than Bardock ever could, destroying all my research in the process. I can't afford that this late into the game.
Not wasting any more time, I sat down at my desk (or what was the closest thing to a desk that I had on this godforsaken planet where everything that wasn't for warriors or royalty was made of literal rocks) and pulled out my notebook.
"Now then… Let's get back to working on you.." I gave a wide smile that grew larger and larger till it bordered on mania.
I couldn't stop but feel such a grand level of excitement when I looked at the sketch I had in the notebook. A sketch of Broly wearing new, modified armor. This was the key, and I would create it with my own hands. Project Silver, Broly Model. Time to get to work.
With that, I spent the rest of the day working on Broly's new chest armor. You might think making new armor might be simple. It's not. It's really not. I've never made armor before, and now I'm tasking myself with making a set of armor made from Saiyan material, stuff I had never worked with before in my old life, along with other advanced technology I was still not fully used to. Still, sheer tenacity is what kept me going. This was far more complicated than just fixing some programming bug in one of the Frieza Forces' drones. This was engineering technology into Saiyan armor while keeping its original elasticity, all while adding in the new components that Broly needed to help with his control.
Oh yeah. This is what's going to allow Broly to control his power should things turn out exactly as planned. How is a new chest piece going to help him with that? Well, if this works, this piece of armor should work as the perfect limiter for Broly.
It's obvious that Broly's power has the unique trait of constantly fluctuating in a fight due to his emotions until he eventually gets mad and reaches a power level where his power skyrockets to uncontrollable levels. His power is like a faucet that can't be turned off after a period of time. So how do you fix this problem? Simple, really. If Broly can't control high levels of power, then he just needs a way to get rid of that excess energy to return back to a manageable amount.
Now Broly's already using up plenty of energy in the fight. In fact, I believe it's his body trying its best to get rid of all of that energy that allows Broly to use energy so freely and in ways other Saiyans can't, like creating energy blasts with every part of his body. I still remember when he suddenly formed a blast out of his chest and body slammed it into Paragus that one time. But even though he's using so much power, it's not emptying his reserves fast enough. It refills faster than he can use it. That's why he needs some help with that.
That's what this armor is for. Modifying some typical Saiyan armor with some tech, specifically the same kind that lets our blasters draw from the user's energy reserves, should give Broly both a passive way to store and release excess energy and a stronger way to release it in a fight by forcibly using more than he already does. This will also solve another potential problem I believe is possible. Broly's already dangerous to everything thing around him, but this strange, unstable power that's constantly growing is the most dangerous to himself.
A person's body usually only has a certain limit in terms of energy capacity. That's what I've noticed, at least. Whenever Paragus uses too much energy in his spars with Broly, he's way more drained then usual and he can't use as many energy moves either. In fact, I heard him mention how if he used too much energy, he wouldn't even be able to fly and would feel aches and pains. Almost like how a person would feel sore after working out till they're drained.
So a person has a natural limit to their energy and how much they can hold or use. They have a pool they can draw from, and once they use it all, they have to recharge before they can tap into that pool again. But what happens if that pool of energy gets overfilled? I imagine it would be like a water balloon that you fill up with too much water. Broly's body can only handle his natural limit, but he's constantly being forced to have more than that. Eventually, his body won't be able to handle it, and he'll self-destruct. That… doesn't sound pleasant in the slightest.
That's why this is so important. The sooner this limiter gets made for Broly, the sooner he'll be in the clear of the dangers of his energy making him implode. While I don't care about any Saiyan on this planet in the slightest, Broly hasn't done anything to me. He's only been the victim of Saiyans, the same as me, and he's still just a child. A pretty decent one for Saiyan standards. He's quiet and polite outside of combat, so much so it's hard to see him as this universe's version of the Hulk. It's hard to hate him when he's like that, and that makes it hard to do nothing while he's on the verge of dying from his own mutation or whatever the hell is making his power like this.
I still can't figure that part out, by the way. I'm still on the theory train that Broly has some special mutation or something, but I can't prove that without looking at his DNA and comparing it to another's, and I can't exactly do that at the moment. I'm to make weapons and shit, so I'm not exactly allowed to use the advanced medical equipment, and even if I was, I sorta doubt Saiyans have the brains to make something that can help with this. Stupid muscle heads probably don't have any idea what DNA and other medical jargon are. All they care about is punching things till they die.
I felt my hand tighten more around the tool I was holding. Just thinking about them made me furious. I shook my head out of those thoughts. I can't let them distract me. I need to continue working on Broly's limiter armor.
And so, I got to work. I already had the base. I just had to modify it with parts and get it working, and who knows how long that will take. Nothing like this had been done to this level, so I was traversing unknown territory technologically even for this reality. To make things worse, I was having a hard time making sure the armor kept its elasticity, one of the few things Saiyans have made that I can appreciate even just a little. At least I'm not working with pure metal with this armor.
At least, not yet… God this gonna be so much harder once I'm working on the proper Project Silver.
"Orion?"
"Hmm?" I turned around to see Gine peering into my room, worry clear on her face as she stared at me. "What is it?" I asked her in a slightly pointed tone, not liking how she interrupted me while I was working.
"It's just…you've been in here for a long time. It's already dark out." Gine told me. At that, my eyes widened as I turned to look out the window. Indeed, it was night out now. I rubbed my eyes as I pushed down a yawn that was born from seeing the dark sky.
"Must have been too focused on my work and lost track of time." I told her as I turned back to the armor and continued tinkering with it. "Was there anything you needed?"
"No. I just wanted to make sure you got some food before you went to sleep." Gine told me. It was then I noticed she was holding a plate of food.
"Hmm… Leave it here. I'll eat it later." I muttered as I continued working. Gine frowned at that but didn't say anything as she sat the food down next to me. Or perhaps…she did say something, but I had already started to ignore her once again as I zoned out on my work that I couldn't tell you if that's what happened.
Just a distraction. Just keep focusing on what's important. Once all of this is done, it will all finally be over.
"Augh!" I yelped as my hands rushed to my face where Bardock had just punched me. As I tended to what felt like a broken nose, the Saiyan warrior just looked at me with the same face of indifference he always had with me.
"That's enough for today." He told me, not bothering to say anything as he turned his back to me. "Your form has gotten better, but you still have openings. It's preventing you from fully learning these counters and movements. We'll work on those tomorrow."
I didn't buy him any mind as I slowly moved my hand from my nose, which was not actually broken. Somehow. Hurts to breathe through it, though. I watched as Bardock walked away, not even having broken a sweat during that beatdown he handed me. Getting better he says. Yeah right. Still can't touch him. Still don't see the purpose in him teaching me. I rolled my eyes as I started heading back myself.
Let's see… Should I drop by Turle's place to check up on Paragus and Broly? Haven't spoken to them in a few days. Though I could keep working on that armor. But I've been working on it for days straight now. Gine checking up on me sort of made me realize how little I've been sleeping as of late. My eyes are burning, now that I think about it. Did that affect my training? Bardock didn't seem to notice anything wrong yet, so perhaps not. Though soon, it might become an issue.
I ran a hand down my face, dragging down my eyelids as I did. I could rest, but the sooner I get this done, the sooner I can get off this disgusting planet and go search for Earth. Once I get back there, I can return to everyday, normal life. Well, as normal as it can be after everything that's happened.
Man… I haven't even thought about Earth in, what, nearly half a decade now? Does this reality even have an Earth? It's gotta. There's always an Earth or some sort of equivalent in any universe. At least that's what fiction and sci-fi have taught me. I wonder if this universe's Earth is similar to mine, or is it radically different? Is it more advanced than what I'm used to, or is it less advanced? Lord, I hope if I find it it's not still in the middle of the Dark Ages. The last thing I need is to go from living with a bunch of sentient space monkeys to living with stereotypical knights and kings, none of whom can read.
I suppose thinking about that can wait. Not like any of it matters at the moment, even if it's nice to think about home, even if it isn't really my home. It'll be better than this place. A real Planet of the Apes, as I call this dump. For now, I should focus on-
"So this is where you've been, Brother."
I groaned, not bothering to hold it in. Oh dear God, why? Why him? Why now? What have I done to deserve this hell?
I let my shoulders sag as I turned around to see a child half my height with hair that matched his entire height. His face was as smug as ever, and that might have been due to the fact that he had two others trailing behind him. I'd never seen the other two, but they were inconsequential compared to the one that seemed to lead them around everywhere.
"Raditz…" I grumbled to the child with hair that was clearly compensating for something.
"I saw Father coming from here, and you seem to be quite beaten, Brother." Raditz began, his smile twitching with slight annoyance as he spoke. "Tell me, how come Father will sacrifice his time to train a useless speck like you, yet not do the same with his clearly superior son?"
"I don't know. Maybe the same reason I try to avoid you like a plague." I shot back, not having any patience for the annoyance. "I wouldn't take it too personally. Bardock doesn't seem like a great father figure. He'll probably go off on his mission and completely forget about us as he's killing a city of helpless victims. Besides, I don't even want the training. I'll happily trade places with you if it gets him off my back. I'm quite busy with a project for the king, after all."
"Oh, of course. You certainly have better things to do than trying to increase your strength. Tell me, what was your power level again? Oh, that's right. It was-"
"Was there anything you needed, or are you just here to piss me off?" I growled. "If you don't have anything worthwhile to say, I'll be going now. I have better things to do than humoring some mindless fool who can't think for himself."
"-Ah! H-How dare you…!" Raditz yelled as he clenched his fist angrily.
"Am I wrong? You came here just to show off in front of your 'friends', yeah? Show how much stronger you are compared to your elder sibling? Well newsflash, pipsqueak. Get this through your head. I. Don't. Care. You're stronger than me. Your friends are stronger than me. Giant ants on Monmaasu are stronger than me. Everyone knows that. What are you trying to prove? Are you trying to convince everyone else that you're special or something?" I asked before a cruel smile formed on my face. "Or is it yourself that you're trying to convince? After all, your own father won't even bother to train you, instead spending his time training his weak, worthless child."
That seemed to make something snap in Raditz, as one moment he was still standing there dumbfounded next to his friends. The next he was right in front of me with a furious expression, his fist heading right towards my face. I blinked as it all moved in slow motion before what was happening clicked in my mind. The muscle memory that Bardock built into my arms made me move before I could think, raising my arms high enough to block the oncoming strike. The fist connected, forcing me back several feet as my feet dug into the ground. Once I stopped being pushed back by the blow of the attack, I looked back up at Raditz with mild surprise, only to be met with a look of fury.
"How dare you mock me! Don't think yourself better than me just because you are the elder between us! I'll make you pay for thinking you're better than me!"
"Hmph. What an ego… Someone has something to prove." I growled.
"Shut your mouth!" Raditz screamed back as he charged at me. I gritted my teeth as I readied myself for the brat. Damn it. It always ends with a fight with these monkeys, huh? I'm at a disadvantage here, as is the usual scenario in fights. Despite my taunting and mocking of Raditz, he really is a league above me. I'm still much weaker than him, and I don't have any weapons on me to make up the difference. I'm seriously outclassed here. However…
Wham!
There was a certain satisfaction to the sound my fist made when it connected to Raditz's face and stopped him in his track. He took a few steps back and stared at me with this disbelieving look as he gently touched where I hit him. It was almost as if he was surprised that despite my weakness I was still able to hurt him.
"What? Did you think I would just stand there and take it?" I asked with a slight smirk. "Sorry, but I'm not one to accept a beating from some uppity brat like you. Those asshole adults, sure. Can't do anything 'bout that. But you? Ha! I don't care if I'm weaker. I'm gonna make sure you earn this!"
With that, I pounced on the still-startled Raditz, not giving him any time to prepare for my advance. I got right in his face with a sharp elbow before kneeing him in the gut. That seemed to snap him out of his funk since he threw a punch right into my jaw after that. That's when everything just devolved into a pure brawl, no holds barred. I have no idea what the other two kids watching this were thinking. All I knew was that I wanted to shut Raditz up for good here, even if that was extremely unlikely due to the gap in our power.
It was a disgusting display. It was less a fight and more of a slugfest, with the two of us just laying into each other like punching bags. He would slam a fist into my face, and it wouldn't even be a second afterward when I regained my footing and landed my own punch against the arrogant brat. Blood was flying everywhere around us, so much so I was sure my face was covered in both my blood and Raditz's. Lord knows Raditz had nasty streaks of red flowing down his face after I nailed a hard headbutt against the son of a bitch.
Starting out, the fight definitely wasn't in my favor. That was expected when I threw that punch, though. Raditz was far tougher and faster than I was. Even though I managed to block a few of his attacks, some of them did land and when they did, they hit much harder than anything I had been hit by before. His attacks would daze me for a few moments, opening me up to more attacks before I regained my focus and managed to block again. Things weren't looking good. At least at first.
Yet, as the seconds and minutes passed, I began to realize something during this little fight. Raditz was no longer landing nearly as many hits as before during the beginning of the fight. In fact, it almost looked like I was keeping him on the backfoot now! That's when I began to notice what was going on. Raditz, anger growing more and more as he failed to effortlessly kick my ass, threw out a swift kick. Raditz was far faster than me, so I shouldn't have been able to block it. Yet, my arms moved to block before he even finished moving his leg for the kick. And after I blocked the attack, I swiftly countered with another elbow to Raditz's face, which would further enrage him into making another attack.
He was no longer fighting rationally. Now fueled by his emotions, he was now so… predictable. So much so that I was having a hard time believing that this was really happening. But then I saw it. It was only a brief flash, but when Raditz moved to attack, I could almost visualize Bardock during his training sessions. The way he moved there wasn't exactly like Raditz, but that wasn't why I could see him in this fight. For some reason, his words kept ringing in my head the moment Raditz prepared to attack me.
Predict their movements and move to block before the opponent finishes moving. Then counter immediately after. That'll help throw them off guard. That's the best thing you can do in a fight against a stronger opponent. Throw them off guard so they begin making mistakes.
Damn it… Curse that Saiyan. How dare his advice become ingrained in me after having been beaten into these past few weeks. That was the single curse going through my mind as I continued that pattern against Raditz. Predict, block, strike, rinse, repeat. The pattern happened so often that it infuriate Raditz to the point where I didn't even have to predict anymore. He was so angry that he was now sluggish in his approach.
After punching him away yet again, I was just left standing there speechless at what was happening. There in front of me was little, egotistical Raditz. The little shit that got to stay on this planet since he was born strong. Had a high power level that compared to other Saiyans that I saw. The kid who rubbed that shit in my face every day. And yet this was what that resulted in. a panting mess laying on the ground after having been knocked down repeatedly, no longer able to land a clean shot against me due to his overwhelming anger blinding him from being smart and not just throwing blind attacks out. This was what I had to be to not get tossed out? This was what was strong here?
"Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME!?" The scream I let out made my entire body rattle as I dashed over and grabbed Raditz by his armor's collar. "Are you telling me that you're good enough in the eyes of these monkeys!? You!? You can't even fight someone like me! How the hell are you considered strong!? After everything I've been through, I could at least accept that it was because I wasn't strong enough, but if people like you are able to live carefree lives with egos as big as a planet despite not being able to keep up with someone like me is insulting! You don't even know the first thing about fighting! You've probably never even fought with your life on the line before! You're so green you can't even fight properly against a far weaker foe! Who the hell do you think you are, acting so tough!? You're ten years too early!"
I was red in the face due to my overwhelming anger. And as I stared the younger Saiyan boy in the eyes, I could swear I saw a twinge of fear within those black orbs of his. And I could see the face of a demon's that were being reflected off them, too.
That fear didn't stay for long, for Raditz soon collected himself as his stunned and fearful looked turned into a snarl. That's when he dug his fist into my gut, completely catching me off guard. I felt all the air get knocked out of my lungs again as I dropped the boy.
"God…damn…it…again with this shit…?" I groaned as I hunched over and tried to collect my breath again. Seriously, how many times were people going to punch me in the gut like that?!
"Y-You…! How dare you mock me like this!" Raditz screamed. "So you say I'm weak, huh? I'LL SHOW YOU WEAK!"
That's when he raised his hand, and a large pink sphere of energy crackled into existence in a brilliant display of power. It was twice the size of Raditz or me, and it was sitting within his hand comfortably as electricity danced around the orb while ringing out like Raditz had managed to control living lightning within his hand. Now being forced to witness this display that the little runt was showing me, I only had one thing to say in response.
"...Oh."
So this was why Raditz was considered strong, huh? He was strong because he could create flashy lighting attacks?
…Yeah, that's understandable.
"Are you ready, brother!?" Raditz screamed with a wide sinister smile that had been bred with pure cruelty. "HERE'S A PRESENT FOR YOU!"
That's when he threw the ball of death at me, and I was stunned at Raditz's power so much that I didn't even move. How could I move? What could I do in the face of overwhelming raw power like this? It was moving too fast, and it was impossible for me to dodge it by myself. There was nothing I could physically do to save myself. So I just stared at the pink ball of electric death that was soaring right at me. It was all I could do before the orb exploded in my face.
And yes, you heard that correctly. It exploded in my face. It didn't hit me. The explosion hit something, though. The moment it exploded, everything and everyone was knocked away by the shockwave it created. I myself flew several meters before skipping across the ground like a pebble across a lake before I finally slowed to a halt. After the chaos of Raditz's attack settled down, I pushed myself up from the ground to look at what exactly happened. What I saw was Raditz, who was also sent flying, staring at the same thing I was staring at with the same look of confusion and shock.
There, in front of where I had been standing, was Bardock. His hand was extended in front of him with small burn marks now adorning his palm. He had jumped in and blocked the blast for me with relative ease and only a few small wounds to show for it. However, the thing that caught my eye was his expression. He no longer had that neutral, uncaring look from before. He had a furrowed brow and glaring eyes that he showed to both Raditz, and then to me when he spun around to look me dead in the eye.
I hadn't felt chills like this since I saw that alligator monster when I first landed on Monmaase. I didn't know that Bardock could give off such a strong feeling of intimidation. It felt like death was nearing closer to me just from his clearly angry gaze on me.
Yet despite how he appeared, he didn't say anything immediately. He did not growl, nor did he scowl or snarl. He just stared at us with these eyes. You know the type. The parental judging eyes that pierce a person's soul, even when it isn't their own parents giving them that look. Yeah. That look. That 'I'm not angry, I'm disappointed' look that I always hated seeing from my old caregivers. Instinctually, I reacted the same way I would have back in my old life as a child.
"Raditz started it." I swiftly stated faster than I thought possible.
"Wha-!?" The horrified look Raditz dawned on his face when he heard me say that would have been hilarious if it wasn't for the veteran Saiyan warrior (i.e. experienced killer) standing in front of us. The way his face paled in that instant was a moment that made me wish I had a camera so I could immortalize that scene. "Th-That's not true! Father, brother was the one who-!"
"Save it." Bardock cut Raditz off as he let out a tired-sounding sigh as he ran a hand down his face in an exasperated manner. He then shot a look at the other kids who were still watching with dumbfounded, yet also slightly amazed and now fearful, expressions. "You two. Leave." That's all Bardock had to say to get the other two kids running for the hills. Bardock's attention then went right back to us right after. "We're heading home."
It wasn't a request. It was a demand that we couldn't and shouldn't argue against. The way both Raditz and I quickly nodded and followed Bardock along back to the house. With Bardock walking in front of us, the two of us were left walking behind him silently as we glared daggers at each other, the two of us equally bloody from our spat. The moment we made it back to the house, Bardock turned to us. He stared silently before he closed his eyes, took a breath, and then spoke.
"We'll speak later, Raditz. But for now, go to your room and clean up. Your mother and I need to speak to Orion first."
"Yes, Father." Raditz nodded quickly before he ran into the house.
Bardock pushed me into the house as well, and it didn't take a second after that before I heard a gasp of shock and perhaps even horror as Gine caught sight of Raditz and me. Raditz didn't have to suffer through Gine's mortified expression or the questions she wanted to ask, though, as he followed Bardock's demand and ran right to his room. Meanwhile, I was stuck in between the two of the adult Saiyans with no escape in sight.
Great… Just great…
"What in the world happened?!" Gine shouted as she walked up to the two of us. "Why are Raditz and Orion wounded like this?!"
"The two of them were fighting." Bardock told her as he crossed his arms and shot me a look. "It didn't seem to be for any kind of training or fun."
"Gee, what clued you in on that?" I replied snarkily, which resulted in Bardock smacking the back of my head with his hand.
"What in the world were you thinking?" Bardock questioned.
"Would you like the 'before' answer or the 'after' answer?" I asked while rolling my eyes.
That got another snarl out of the warrior, which made me shrug. His intimidation factor had disappeared now that I'd realized why he was angry. His attempt at being a father did not impress me. That aura of a deadly warrior was now replaced by that of a man trying to lecture me with no understanding about what happened.
"If you really want to know, Raditz came up to me after our training and began antagonizing me in front of his friends in an attempt to make himself look better. When I told him how pointless and pathetic that was, he attacked me, and since I was in a bad mood, I tried hitting back. Simple as that."
"Wait, you both did this to each other?" Gine asked with wide eyes. "You look like you were in a fight to the death!"
"It was a fight to the death. Had I not intervened, Raditz would have hit Orion with an attack that would have definitely killed Orion." Bardock gave a slight growl. "I'll have a talk to him about that later, but right now, I want to know why you were willing to go so far. You're the older sibling, and you're far smarter than most. You should know better."
"I should know better?" I repeated before giving an empty chuckle. "I was under the impression that this sort of thing was normal. Where do you think this scar on my face came from?"
"You said that was from an accident in the castle's lab." Gine said quickly as her face paled at what I was implying.
"Yeah, you could say it was an accident. I 'accidentally' pissed off the adults and they got jealous that a weakling like me was smarter than them and got recognition from the king." I told her coldly. "I didn't tell you because you would have pestered me more, and I'd rather not have more annoying things in my life. You're already a headache to deal with."
"Watch your mouth!" Bardock snapped as Gine looked genuinely hurt by my words. "That is your mother you're talking to!"
Oh, you want to go there? Alright. Let's go there.
"No. She's not. She's never been my mother, and I've never seen her as such." I replied emotionlessly. "You're not my father either. I don't have any parents. I never have, and I never will." That seemed to startle Bardock, as his glare became a look of confusion, and maybe even hurt. I laughed out loud when I saw that.
"What? Did you think that I would magically just love you both after being shot off the planet for being trash? Do you have any idea about what I was forced to go through? As weak as I am, I had to survive tooth and nail every damn day for a year on a foreign planet with no one to help me. I nearly died every. Single. Goddamn day! I was almost eaten by ants! Crushed and frozen by snow! Drowned during a light rain storm! I had to KILL someone just to complete that cursed task I was given, and the very memory shakes me to my core! And what was my reward!? Being stuck on a planet full of muscle-brained idiots who treat me like their personal punching bag just because I'm weak! It doesn't matter what I do! It doesn't matter if you both or the king support me! I'm trapped in a living hell!"
"You think you're my parents? That's a lie! Parents don't abandon their children shortly after their birth! Parents don't let their children nearly die before they're even five years old! Parents don't allow others to abuse their children!" I screamed, my voice now becoming hoarse from how loudly and passionately I was screaming. Gine and Bardock couldn't even stop me as I continued to scream at them.
"You know, when I got back and met Gine, a part of me was happy. I was…excited to have a mother. To have a family. I've…never had that before. Not ever. It was something I dreamed about for so long before that childish part of me died long ago. I always had this idea about what parents were like. And you know what? Neither of you matches that idea I had. You're just Saiyans! And somehow that makes it even worse!"
"I hate Saiyans! How could I not after everything I've been through? All the suffering I've been put through is because of them! You're the scum of the universe, killing innocents for your own gain! And I am NOT like you people! I will NEVER be like you!"
What followed that statement was a deathly silence. I was breathing hard after going on that rant, having released everything onto these people that I could acknowledge were not in the wrong. They did not cause any of my suffering directly. But that didn't change how I feel now. Right now, at this moment, I only saw them as one thing. They were Saiyans, and that, to me, meant they were nothing to me. In my eyes, they were just like every other Saiyan. Mindless. Cruel. Uncaring. Ruthless. Monsters. Creatures with no redeemable qualities. Just being reminded of that fact could make me see red. And this was the breaking point.
"...I'm done with you both. This isn't my home. It never was." I muttered as I turned my back to the two of them. "Don't expect to see me again after this. You're not my parents, and I'm not your son."
With that, I walked away. Without even thinking about anyone else, I walked into my room, grabbed my stuff, and left through the window. Family be damned. I never had family in this second life anyway, so there isn't any reason to feel any guilt or pain. Never had a family in my first, either, so it shouldn't affect me at all. In fact, this was refreshing. I could crash with Paragus and Broly until I finished my work. This way, I won't be distracted by anything. No Bardock, Gine, or Raditz to get in my way.
Finally…no more distractions.
However, as I left, a sour taste was left in my mind. That fight with Raditz… I managed to turn that around in the end only because of Bardock's training. I dismissed it before, but perhaps there was something worth considering with it. I gritted my teeth. Like hell I'll rely on Bardock for anything. I'm happy to burn that bridge. Paragus will be the perfect replacement if I ever wish to learn more about fighting techniques. While my weapon will give me the strength to fight back, that fight with Raditz has convinced me I'm going to need more than just raw power if I want to accomplish my goals. I'll need to know how to properly fight, especially against stronger foes like Bardock said.
I felt my fist tighten as I continued to my new workplace. It doesn't matter what happens here. I'll hurt everyone I have to in order to get what I want. I'll burn every damn bridge and perform whatever evil I must. These people are all going to hell anyway. All that matters is getting home. My real home. That's all that matters now.
Back at the Bardock household, unbeknownst to Orion, his disowned parents were left with the emotional turmoil that he left behind in his wake. Gine was in a state of shock that one of her own children hated her so much. Yet the more she thought about it, the more she felt Orion was justified in his feelings. They had abandoned him, even if they never wanted to and wouldn't have if they had a say in the matter. But what ifs did not matter now. What happened in the past happened, and the result was Orion carrying such loathing towards everything Saiyan in nature.
Gine could understand that as a person, but as a mother, the words filled with hatred and spoken with such spite that their purpose was solely to hurt them hit her to her core. Orion was her first child, and now, she's learned that she failed him. Their relationship was never what she thought it was. It had always been broken. And she feared she would never be able to amend it. And that hurt her more than any wound could.
As tears pooled within Gine's eyes and she did her best to not break down and cry right then and there, Bardock was left in a thoughtful state. He was not an emotional man. Not in the slightest. If there was anything true in what Orion said, it was that he was a Saiyan. He fought for most of his life, and that dictated his emotions most of the time. He wasn't the type to be all touchy-feely, and part of him felt that was just how Saiyans are. Was that wrong? He didn't know, and he doubted he would ever get the answer. He was raised like that, and he thought he turned out fine.
But there was something fundamentally different about Orion. He wasn't like other Saiyans. In fact, in his own words, Orion despised Saiyans in their entirety. But that was what bugged Bardock.
Unlike Gine, who focused on the emotional part of what had happened, Bardock thought about what Orion said from a different standpoint. Orion, in that moment and in his frustration and anger, said all of those things purely to hurt him and Gine, and that made a thought resonate within Bardock's mind that confused him in many ways. It was the same reason that he figured it was in his best interest to train Orion as he had been for the past few days. The way Orion acted, the way he spoke and moved, and the pure hatred that sat in his eyes… The way he schemed towards his own goals that Bardock could not for the life of him figure out… The way he focused on a task single-mindedly and threw everything and everyone else to the wayside in order to get what he wanted… Everything about Orion screamed one thing:
Saiyan.