Stranded for years on a rock so very far away from her home, Papri had often found herself gazing up at the stars, praying for some sort of rescue or relief from her desperate situation.
And it did come. Only it did so with a collar around her neck and a master to look to for orders; with pitiful rations and weekly beatings that left her gasping for air and clutching at broken bones as the laughter of tormentors rang in her ears.
Even in a hopeless situation, a Saiyan's pride would allow them to do great and momentous things, things other races could only dream of, things other races were jealous of. Papri would cling to her pride no matter the cost, even as the boots and fists of her enslavers attempted to wear her down to nothing.
On a lightly populated planet so very far from any other, a humble farmer was awoken from his well-deserved slumber by the ear-splitting sound of something exploding near his house.
Shimoshi shot up in his bed, reptilian eyes blinking in sleepy confusion, "Huh-What!" He looked around in the darkness of his room, searching for the source of his sudden wakefulness and finding nothing.
Nothing except for the glow of a fire in his backyard, piercing through the darkness via his window.
He rubbed his eyes tiredly, trying to wake himself up while beside him his wife did the same. She yawned as she sat up, looking around and seeing the same thing that he had, "Honey, the field is on fire."
"I can see that dear." He yawned as he shucked off his covers, scaled feet meeting the hardwood floor, "Sounded like something exploded too. Probably woke up the whole damn neighborhood."
And indeed, he could just barely see the flicker of his neighbor's house lights coming on outside. He pressed a button on the wall near his head, wincing as bright lights were emitted from the various bulbs around the room.
Sounds emanated from the other side of the wall to his right and his wife groaned, "Well it woke the kids up." She joined him, standing from the bed as she opened her mouth in a wide yawn, "I'll go try to get them settled down."
He nodded as he put on his coat, pulling it over his shoulders and zipping it up at the front, "Alright. I'll guess I'll go and see what caused the ruckus. Hopefully nothin's too damaged." He said as he followed her to the living room where his kids were likely already waiting.
He was proven right as a chorus of tiny voices greeted them the moment they stepped into the room proper.
"Papa! Papa! Tell Lao that we aren't all gonna die!" His daughter, Swey, pleaded at him with fat tears in her eyes.
"But Dad! What if it was a bomb or something?" Lao said with unconvincing worry.
He sighed lightly at his oldest's smirk, clearly just trying to make his younger siblings more nervous than they already were.
"It's not a bomb Swey." Shimoshi reassured her as he walked towards the front door, "Lao is just trying to get you riled up." He gave his eldest a look, "Which he better stop if he wants to go out with his friends this weekend." That wiped the smirk off of his face.
"Do you want me to come with you?" His wife offered as he reached the door, through the look on her face made it clear that she would really rather not.
He waved her off as he grabbed his lantern off of the wall, rotating the small dial on the side and causing a bright yellow light to begin burning in its chimney, "No, you stay here and put the little ones back to bed. I'll handle it. Probably just some damn space rock again. Call Jirr and tell him to bring his hose to keep any fires from getting out of hand."
"Be careful daddy! Phimi told me she heard Krakir in the woods the other night!" His youngest said, big eyes blinking in fear.
He chuckled, patting her lightly on the head, "Don't worry sweetie, no silly old Krakir is gonna get me. Your old man is made of tougher stuff than that. Why, I bet their claws can't even pierce my scales!" He boasted.
He gave her a short hug, reaching over to do the same with the others before standing and making his way to the door, "I'll go and check on the noise. You three be good for your mother."
"Stay safe honey!" His wife called out to him as he made his way outside. He gave her a wave, closing the door behind him as he stepped out into the moonlit night.
Dead grass crunched lightly under his scaled feet as he made his way past the gate into his field. His face turned down in a frown as he observed his field and the crops in it, noting that they were much lighter than ever this year. That was unfortunate, he should have cycled the crop before now, the yield would be even lighter than it was the previous year.
Although the giant crater that he could just now see the edge of might also put a damper on that.
"Hey Shim!" A voice called out to him, and he turned to find his neighbor, Mill making his way over, a rifle slung over one large shoulder, "Your field's on fire." He joked as he came to stand beside him.
Shimoshi made a show of looking around, scratching his head, "Well I'll be damned. It sure is Mill."
He slapped the taller man lightly on the shoulder not occupied by his rifle, "C'mon. Let's go see what caused that big boom. I don't wanna be out here all night." He said as he began walking.
"Right behind ya."
"Moon's bright tonight." Mill observed, and Shimoshi nodded absently as he stepped over a particularly big rock, moved out of place by the crater forming, "Good light for shooting though."
He looked over to the larger man with a queer glance, "Why'd you bring that thing anyway? Expecting the meteor to fight back?"
Mill just spat off to the side, "Well yeah. Who knows what kinda trouble we could get into out here. Krakirs, Balreps, aliens."
Shimoshi sighed as they grew closer to the edge of the crater the meteor had left, "There ain't no such thing as aliens Mill, I keep telling you this."
"Oh yeah?" Mill challenged as he reached the lip, "Then what's that?" He pointed down to the center of the crater, and Shimoshi's eyes widened at what he saw.
There, sitting completely unscathed apart from some slight scuff marks, was a space pod. It was circular, greyish-white metal with no distinctive marks apart from the round glass face, dark red and murky enough that he couldn't see into it from his position several yards away.
"Well would you look at that." Mill said in slight awe as the two of them took in the clearly foreign machine, "That looks like a spacecraft to me Shim."
Shimoshi ignored the man as he cautiously made his way down into the center of the crater, stumbling slightly at the sloped edges.
The moment he got near the pod, he jumped back several feet in surprise as a loud hiss emanated from the strange machine, and he watched warily as the dark red face opened slowly, steam rising from the interior.
When nothing else happened, and the area was bathed in silence, Shimoshi slowly crept closer to the pod, hands coming up warily with claws at the ready to slash at anything that attempted to get too close. Nothing happened as he reached it, and he slowly, ever-so slowly opened up the hatch, peering inside curiously. His eyes widened at what he saw.
It was a child, around four or five by his reckoning, though it was not of any species Simoshi had ever seen. Pink and fleshy instead of dark and scaly like his kin. A wild mane emerged from its head like that of the Krakir that stalked the forests of his planet, and a similarly colored tail was wrapped around its waist.
It was also very small, much smaller than even his youngest and Shimoshi momentarily wondered if it was malnourished but he put it out of his mind. It looked healthy enough.
As he leaned down to gently pick the child up, he noted the odd armor it was wearing. Jet black with white trimmings and lined yellow bits on its stomach and shoulder pads. The material reminded him of a mix between rubber and plastic, stretchy yet durable, and the boots and gloves seemed to be made of the same material.
He cradled the child in his arms, observing as its nose scrunched cutely at the sudden movement, before making his way out of the crater.
Mill came up beside him, resting his rifle on his shoulder, "What was that you said about aliens." He snarked as he observed the tiny form held in his neighbor's arms.
"Oh shut it." Shimoshi said quietly as the child opened its eyes, orange orbs peering inquisitively from under dark lashes. They darted around, taking in his every feature, before locking on to something up and over his shoulder.
He looked to where it was gazing as Mill came to stand beside him, quirking a brow in confusion, "A kid? Why the hell would the invasion forces send a kid first?"
Shimoshi just barely held back from smacking the man, not wanting to drop the fragile creature in his hands. Flesh instead of scales or fur? Who had ever heard of that?
"There ain't no damn invasion force Mill." he sighed, "It's probably just one of those superhero things. Ya know, the ones our kids watch?"
Shimoshi readjusted his hold on the child as it began squirming in his hands while Mill made a sound of recognition beside him, "Oh I see. You think she's some sort of space refugee from her home planet."
Shimoshi hummed lightly, wincing as the child's squirming increased, "Something like that. Maybe not a superhero, but I can't see any other reason for them to send a kid down here."
"So what do you want to do with it?" Mill asked, "Should we call the military? Or maybe we should take it to the hospital first?"
Shimoshi shook his head, "Let's take care of the fire first. It's gonna get out of hand at this rate."
As he said that, he couldn't help but wonder where Jirr was. The man lived close by, so he should already be there with his hose by now.
'Probably can't find it again.' Shimoshi thought to himself, 'I swear that man's mind isn't what it used to be.' He winced again as the child nearly rolled out of his arms.
Seriously, what was up with this kid and it's squirming?
His thoughts were broken by a soft sound of thumping. Shimoshi looked around for the source, seeing nothing around him but crackling fires and his friend, before he looked down at the bundle in his arms in confusion.
'Is that… a heartbeat?' Shimoshi thought to himself in shock as he stared down at the child in his arms. Its chest pumped up and down, making him think he was right in his assumptions. Its eyes were wide as it stared past him as it had been doing since he retrieved it and…and…
Weren't the eyes orange before?
He yelped as a sharp pain made itself known on his arm, and he looked down in bewilderment to find several large gashes on his forearm even through his thick jacket and hard, slowly seeping dark blue blood into the leather and the ground below.
He looked down at the child, recognizing it to be the culprit by its clawed hands that were still reaching out to him. It's once mostly flat teeth had sharpened, becoming much like his own as it bit at the air in search of flesh.
As it swiped at him again, Shimoshi dropped the child to the ground, stepping back in fear as it convulsed wildly. Its clawed hands stretched it to the sky, grasping towards the moon, red eyes wide with some animalistic urge.
His fear only grew larger as the child did the same, the strange armor upon its body growing with it. Black fur sprouted from bare skin, breaking through with sprays of blood that quickly healed over.
"What the fuck!?" Mill shouted as they backed up quickly as the child continued growing, quickly eclipsing the side of the crater that its pod had landed in, growing up into the night sky. It rose upright, muzzled face turning towards the sky as its mouth opened in a silent roar.
From beside him came the cracks of Mill's rifle as the man fired wildly into the growing beast. Arcs of yellow energy slammed into its form only to splash off harmlessly, scattering into random particles.
Mill turned to him, wild panic in his eyes, "I-I'll go get help!" He shouted out, "Here!"
He tossed his rifle to Shimoshi, before beating a hasty exit, rushing back toward the city where sirens were emanating, the whole settlement no doubt alerted by now.
Shimoshi held the rifle limply in his fingers as he stared up at the beast. It seemed it had finally stopped growing, standing at a massive height dwarfing all but the tallest buildings in the city.
Black fur bristled as it roared, the sound deafening Shimoshi as it beat on its chest, and his dread grew as a red glow began emanating from its open maw, growing larger by the second.
It let out one final roar, and from its mouth emerged a beam of blood red energy, wider than should be possible. It set the night sky alight with its sinister glow as it raced toward the city miles away. The very planet itself shook with the impact and Shioshi lost his footing, peering with horror as the once massive piece of populated land was reduced to nothing more than smoking cinders and burning fire.
"Spirits…" Shimoshi muttered numbly, staring at the destruction a single attack had wrought. He looked down at the rifle in his hands, feeling a hysterical laugh bubble up in his chest at the thought of even attempting to use it.
The demon roared to the sky once more, beating its hands against its armored chest as its blood-red eyes glowed in the light of the fires its attack had created. The roars soon transitioned to laughter as the demon reveled in the destruction it had wrought.
The laughter ceased as its gaze suddenly turned downward, seemingly noticing him for the first time despite his close proximity, and Shimoshi could almost swear its feral eyes lit up with a sadistic glee as it took in his terrified expression.
As the demon raised its foot, intent to stomp him out, Shimoshi wondered what being they had enraged for them to send such a creature from the heavens.
And then its foot came down, and Shimoshi wondered no more.
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