AND DINA SPAURK ADVANCES TO THE QUARTER-FINALS!
"I'll be damned, your baby actually pulled it off!" Kaset teased over to Ayeva, his tone a jovial and impressed concoction.
"..."
"Wow, so nothin'? Man. That's cold."
"..."
Kaset waved his hand in front of Ayeva. "Uh..."
He then poked her.
Instead of sparks, countless holos of stars and hearts shot out of her. Kaset drowned in them.
Opposite the arena, for the first time in 60 seconds, amidst the deafening cheers of the audience (and despair-ridden screams of the Selaine Fan Club), Kora took a breath.
"(She made it…)"
She slumped back, feeling as though she'd just run a cross-continent marathon.
"(And I'm the stronger of the two of us. I know for sure, now. But…)"
The image of the inflamed Dina's blast ripping the sky apart, in tandem with her refusal to stay down, caused another drop of sweat to fall down her face.
"(She's made more progress in seven months… than I have in 17 years…)"
"Hey, Kora?"
Archi made a motion over her eyes.
"He~y Kora?"
People began giving Archi looks. It wasn't his fault that her name just-so happened to mean something rude.
"Hey-"
"What?"
"Ghh-" Archi stammered, put off-guard by her sudden death glare. "M-my match... Just wanted to check in case you'd miss my match daydreaming..."
"Er… no, of course I wouldn't. I've only seen you spar with Captain Tarubei, weaker bozos, and myself, so I don't have a proper gauge for your power right now."
The russet spandex-clad saiyan gave a sharp grin.
"I mean, I don't wanna brag, but I had my battle power taken recently and..."
"Wow, you too?"
Archi raised a brow. "Wait, I thought you followed that 'Power Levels are Bullshit' philo-"
"I don't want you to brag, either! Gee, we just have so much in common, don't we?"
"oh... ow."
Kora groaned. "I'm just toughening you up before you fight. Gods, If words are enough to hurt you right now, you're screwed."
"Well, if tough love's the best I can get right now, I'll take it…" Archi mused, scratching the non-existent itch behind his ear. "Still, we've got 30 minutes before the big show, so I could grab some grub if it'll help you stay focus-"
Kora perked up, blank-faced and wide-eyed.
"Grub, yes."
"Got it!" Archi snickered. With that, the broken shoulder pad-clad saiyan went forth, leaving Kora by her lonesome again.
"(... It still feels surreal. Not just her, but… I've gotten stronger in this year alone than I have over the course of my life.)"
She now knew the source of that growth, that question having been answered a few months prior.
"(Saiyan Pride, huh…)"
[ OP: Granrodeo ‒ Remember Your Passion ]
The Depth of Saiyan Pride! Visit to Planet Vegeta!
{ 8 MONTHS AFTER THE WHEMAE-T'S ANNOUNCEMENT }
"BLESS THE HEAVENS! BY WAY OF MINE HUMBLE REQUEST, GOOD SIR TRUNKS HATH GRANTED US ACCESS TO THE SPLENDOROUS SAIYAN HOMEWORLD!" Tarubei howled victoriously. Her casual clothes were missing, and in unobscured display was her decorative pre-age armor; a in-between mixture of mineral battle-gear from the Sadala era and hide from the era of tribes.
"REALLY!?" Archi squeaked.
"VERILY SO, DEAR ARCHI!"
The burly boy visibly shook with excitement.
"I'M GOING TO PLANET VEGETA!" he cheered, jumping up and down with his captain.
"YES! WEEP WITH JOY 'TILL THE FLAMES OF YOUR BEATING HEART RAGE NO LONGER, O PROUD CUB!" Tarubei girlishly hollered.
After too long a time, they paused. Oddly enough, the third present party's silence spoke the loudest.
"Dear Kora, does your soul not yearn for the warm embrace of your homeworld like that of Dear Archi?"
Arms folded, she shrugged. "I don't have the best memories of (that dump) Vegeta."
Archi gawked at what he deemed a heretical statement, but Tarubei's eyes softly spoke of understanding.
"Methinks this venture of ours shall create brighter mementos yet, Dear Kora," the small soldier guaranteed.
At her master's vow, the tall, black and green-chassis saiyan sighed. "Who knows. Besides, discounting the obvious answers inside, why was Planet Vegeta thrown under so many restrictions in the first place? Everywhere else seems easy enough to enter and leave, even the rift that Frieza popped out of."
"My personal inquiry bore fruit in form of a ternion," Tarubei replied, opening a gate with access to the rift. "Firstly, the volume of patrollers fostering a grudge toward Vegeta renders it prone to vile battles stained in animosity."
"Wait, a grudge against the prince, the planet, or the king?"
"Yea."
"... Wait, I get it."
"Though you've previously answered this for yourself, its inhabitants, too, are no-doubt a source, as our very nature stands at odds with the security of Conton; for if a Saiyan has the prospect of a great glory placed before them, THEIR FIRST INSTINCT IS TO SEIZE IT FOR THEMSELVES!"
"(Doesn't help that people on Vegeta are jerks, for the most part)," Kora thought, ears covered for the abrupt shouting that she'd grown a 6th sense for.
"And then there's…"
Trunks rushed into his office in a frenzy, slamming and locking the door.
"SHT, SHT, FK, FK…" he muttered in desperation, taking every ounce of info on the "Bejita-Sei" rift and tossing it into a pile. Outside, the commotion grew louder.
"BARDOCK'S THERE!?"
"N-NO, OF COURSE NOT, IT'S JUST SOME NOBODY WHO LOOKS LIKE-TRUNKS! SITREP!"
"NINETY-FIVE PERCENT!" he screamed overshoulder, continuing his search.
"THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!"
"YOU ARE KEEPING SOMETHING FROM ME, YOU OLD COOT!"
The door shook violently.
"Is that G-file hiding from me, dammit!?" he grimaced, eyes pleading as he trashed his own desk. The commander spotted a long, rolled-up object off to the side, lunged, cast it into the pile, capsule'd them all, and blasted the capsule itself to hell. He sputtered in-between dragged breaths.
The door then tore off its hinges, and he squealed.
"The third reason is ambiguous, but it regards the Supreme Kai of Time," Tarubei concluded with a finger on chin, as she and her two cubs now sailed through space and time. "As such, its urgency is doubtless. TIS WHY WE MUST RELISH THIS RARE PRIVILEGE WITHN'T A MODICUM OF RESTRAINT!"
Archi kept a small smile to himself all the while. It was cute, so Kora flew in closer.
"This is your first time visiting Planet Vegeta, right?" she asked, and a nod on his end answered.
"I never got to live there. All I knew until now was that it's where my parents were born, and so were all the Saiyans. Especially the greats."
"Look, I know you've got high expectations, but for your own sake, dial them back. You'll only be disappointed if you don't."
Archi shrugged. "The place could be a total dump for all I care, I'd still be proud to call it home!"
"I'm not exactly talking about the scenery, Arch."
The thought of the less-dignified, nay, scummier saiyans throughout history came to mind.
"... eh, they're probably just a bit more uppity than your average patroller, right?"
Kora sighed; Archi was at the age where he should be crushing his own dreams.
"I'll let you see for yourself."
Tarubei suddenly sped ahead, an excited grin across her face. It signaled to them both that the destination was close, and they followed.
Sure enough, the portal suddenly sealed, as red skies and rocky huts revealed themselves. The terrain was thick with the sounds of meat and bone being hacked, menial chatter of the denizens comparing their conquered civilizations and defeated warriors as if stock prices and game scores, distant explosions interwoven with clashing limbs, and several escalating disputes that would soon join them.
Planet Vegeta, Age 736.
Kora breathed in the air. Two years in Conton had spoiled her; the borderline-noxious musk and rot of the warrior species' planet had stopped being her normal, and while it hadn't smacked her in the face like it had Archi, it was far from pleas-
"AH, WHAT A GLORIOUSLY-PLEASANT AROMA!" Her master decreed after a hearty whiff. "NOTWITHSTANDING THE NIGH-MILLENNIUM INCURRED LAST I WALKED SIMILAR PLAINS, THIS YET BE THE STENCH OF ENDLESS WARFARE ON WHICH I WAS REARED!"
"(Of course…)"
"NATHELESS, O PUPILS, OUR ACQUAINTANCE DEMANDS HASTE FOR THE TIME BEING!" Tarubei marched forth, compelling the two forward. "ONWARD!"
Every other step, Archi and Tarubei failed to heed Tarubei's command. Vendors, huts, butcher stands, even conversations were assailed by the two's curiosity.
Kora trailed them, maintaining her distinctive frown all the while.
"(She's gotten that much stronger in 3 months…)"
She recalled a point where a mere brush past Dina revealed how rapidly she was sealing the gap between the two. Despite Kora's murderous new regiment, the half-blood seemed fine; she was even chatting it up with the pugnacious human she'd been training with.
"(Dina's been training on that Earth rift as of late, with the old lech who helped Kakarot… THAT training only lasted for EIGHT months, and a Saibamen would wipe the floor with the result. But she's inching her way to me, despite everything I'm doing. Is it because she's closer to her homeworld?)"
Her onyx eyes burned ahead. "(Well, this is my chance to find out.)"
She'd been too preoccupied to notice the unwanted attention the three had received by the tailed bystanders. No doubt initially drawn to Tarubei's endlessly triple digit-decibel tone and lack of a tail, but they'd stayed on her.
Tarubei unfortunately noticed.
"THAT'S RIGHT, KORA! YOU'VE RECENTLY ARRIVED AT THE DAWN OF WOMANHOOD, HAVE YOU NOT?! HOW GOES YOUR PURSUIT OF A MATE!?"
"GAH…!"
The captain's blare horn voice was no longer a magnet for ire-glazed eyes; they were now more a dinner bell for hungry ones.
Kora went pale. "ugh…"
Archi fortunately ‒ ? ‒ noticed.
"HEY, SHITHEADS…" he growled, veins coating his face and eyes blank in a rage.
He then jumped into a scrap.
"WATCH YOUR DAMN EYES! SHE AIN'T YOUR PIECE'A MEAT, YOU WORTHLESS PERVS! Y'KNOW- THAT DOES IT! I'M MOPPIN' THE FLOOR WITH YOU BASTARDS!"
"(Wait, 'YOUR'?)"
"AH, HOW SPLENDID IT IS TO BE FOUGHT TOOTH AND NAIL OVER FOR THE SAKE OF ONE'S HAND! TRULY, THE JOY OF MAIDENHOOD!"
"(Sure, if you're a sadist…)"
"I'VE FOREVER ETCHED INTO MEMORY THE DAY MY BETROTHED LET LOOSE A BLAZING ROW FOR MY HONOR, AND AGAINST A STRONGER ADVERSARY, NO LESS! WE MARRIED WITHOUT HESITATION UPON DUELSEND!"
"Wait, you were married? What happened?"
"A sennight past would've been our anniversary…"
Kora turned to stone.
"TH-THE GUY! OR GIRL! OR WHATEVER WE'RE ABOUT TO MEET! H-HEY ARCHI, STOP SCREWING AROUND! WE'RE GONNA LEAVE IF YOU DON'T HAUL ASS!"
"-AND ONLY I GET TO STARE AT HER A-" Archi looked up from what was now a pile of clinging-to-life bodies like a mongoose. "Oh, got it!"
"So who IS this person, anyway?"
"PLACING FAITH IN AYEVA AND I'S RIGOROUS RESEARCH, THIS WOULD BE A DESCENDANT OF MAYHAPS THE MOST HARD-FOUGHT WARRIOR I FACED IN THE ERA OF WAR FROM WHICH I DERIVE!"
Kora looked over in interest as Archi gasped.
"(Maybe Bardock!? Ooh, or King Vegeta!? Maybe it's someone one of my or Kora's parents knew!)"
They arrived at a hut, and Tarubei inhaled.
"SHOW THYSELF! O' GALLANT PILLAR OF THE JAGGA BLOODLINE!"
Someone emerged from the adobe, and the two prodigies stood breathless.
Revealed was a large saiyan ‒ Archi's height, if not a centimeter taller ‒ with blue battle-armor held by yellow straps, a scar across his forehead, and hair similar to Archi's, if Archi's doo was a bit smaller, scrapped the curled side-bangs, and didn't stop receding until every inch of his head bar the back of it could reflect sunlight.
He stared at the three.
The three stared back.
[ BGM: Hiroyuki Sawano ‒ Fist ~From the Worthy Tiger With Love ]
"THUS HIS LINEAGE LIVES ON!" Tarubei screamed, pulling the tall saiyan into his domicile by the hand. "REJOICE, TOTEPO! I COME BEARING COUNTLESS TALES OF YOUR ANCESTOR'S VALOR!"
"(Do you know who that is?)"
"(I think Frieza's sea urchin kills him…)"
"Hey! The hell's this about!?"
As Totepo silently flailed, a plump saiyan and his short-haired cohort interrupted Tarubei's attempted Dragon Ball Storytime # -240.
"Totepo, you know these freaks? They look like a bunch'a elite shitheads!"
Tarubei snapped her neck over.
The two stared at the one. Archi also stared.
Kora stared into her palm.
"PANPU'S KIN, NO DOUBT!"
"WHUT THUH- HOW'D YOU KNOW THAT NAME!"
"YOUR SIZE SPEAKS VOLUMES, GOOD SIR PANBUKIN! WHY, YOUR FOREMOTHER WAS THE LARGEST WARRIOR I'VE EVER FACED IN COMBAT!"
Panbukin froze.
The woman beside him looked on in disbelief.
"WHAT THE HELL'D YOU SAY ABOUT MY FOREMO-"
"WHY, YOUR FOREMOTHER WAS SO WIDE, MASSIVE FORMS OF ROCK WOULD ORBIT HER LIKE NOTHING AS SHE'D BEAR HER VAST POWER UPON THE FIELD OF BATTLE! A SIGHT TO BEHOLD, AS IF SHE WERE NOTHING SHORT OF A LEGGED CELESTIAL BODY!"
"ARE YOU JUST GONNA LET HER SAY THIS SHIT TO YOU!?"
"SHUT UP, SERIPA!"
Totepo had long fled the scene.
"HER WEIGHT, WITHOUT NEED OF TRANSFORMATION, WAS NO LESS THAN THAT OF A GREAT OOZARU, WITH TWICE AS MUCH WRAPPED WITHIN EVERY MIGHTY BLOW SHE'D GRANT HER ADVERSARIES!"
Panbukin was on the verge of a stroke.
Seripa had sunk to the floor in a sputtering mess.
Tarubei's tone shifted. "Sadly, I've no such pleasantries to speak of regarding your forefather, Lady Seripa."
"(I-I'M SAVED!)"
"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"
"YES! STRIKE ME WITH EVERY INTENTION OF STEALING THIS LIFE OF MINE, SO THAT I MAY ONCE-MORE RELISH IN FAIR LADY PANPU'S FANTASTIC HEFT AS IN THE DAYS OF OLD!"
"RUAAA~!"
Panbukin's eyes had gone white as the two "sparred," Tarubei sharing her war stories all the way.
Archi stared, wide-eyed.
"... you wanna go somewhere else?"
"ㅤㅤ," Kora replied.
"... oh."
Kora had jumped ship the moment Tarubei started dropping the sick d̶i̶s̶s̶e̶s praises.
After making her way past a good dozen sickos, she made it to her destination.
Now, she blankly stared at the isolated pile of rock and rubble. She still knew this small region of the planet like the back of her hand; no doubt about it.
"(This was where my home would be.)"
A light frustration began rising inside her. Kora half-heartedly kicked a rock.
The already blood-caked young girl slid across the ground on her shoulder, now a few hundred meters from the massive sliver of bone plating-coated meat she'd taken home. It was snatched up by a small tailed boy in similar armor, who started quarreling amongst another of smaller stature. In a rage, the girl shot back up and, as if teleporting, darted into the skirmish, briefly contesting with the two others in a savage, almost-even infight which she'd go on to lose.
Bleeding from his face, the slightly-taller of the three stared down in a rage.
"YOU DON'T EVEN NEED THIS, YOU BITCH!" he yelled, now bleeding as well.
"I EARNED IT!" Kora screamed back, as feral as the boy. "GIVE IT BACK, FATHER HAS TO KNOW IT'S MINE!"
"FATHER FEEDS YOU, ANYWAY!"
"THAT'S DIFFERENT! GIVE IT BACK!"
The two began to go at it again, less siblings and more starved beasts.
And then the carcass began to move again. The two's feral eyes darted toward the source; despite being the most wounded, the youngest of the litter had started to dig in. All that stopped their mutual advance toward him was the way he desperately ripped into it.
For some reason, they stopped and let him eat. Angrily, but still.
Then a weak ki blast sent him rolling, shocking the pair. Preceded by a looming shadow, a tail swat sent the elder brother spiraling to the other direction.
"Pathetic whelps, struggling THIS hard."
There stood her father, now shifting his gaze toward her and silently demanding an answer.
Kora initially struggled to form words.
"I… I killed a gorge-maker… i-it was s-stro…"
A hair descended upon her, and she braced.
It landed atop her forehead.
"You should be spending more time with your mother, Kora."
"But I…"
She was promptly brushed aside.
"On your feet, Ganbo! Kiniki! We'll be sparring today."
As the two stood up ‒ the elder Ganbo with a malice-engraved expression ‒ her father smirked. He liked that look; it meant progress.
As it transpired, the little girl dejectedly welled up, before storming off.
As she did, Kora kicked a rock as hard as she could.
[ BGM: The Pillows ‒ Bran-New Love Song (TV-Size Instrumental)]
It went straight through the rubble and across the horizon. What little that was still standing came crashing down in a loud, dust-ridden heap.
"..."
Kora sighed. She spun around and sprawled out across the remains, watching the clouds pass.
"This is where all that got you, dad. A stack of rocks in the middle of nowhere."
Her original objective was slipping away. Then again, she WAS resonating deeper with her old home.
Resonating resentment.
"Did you ever even EXIST in this timeline?"
She thought back to how decrepit her new rival was, the day they'd met each other under night. Fists balling, she actually found herself jealous of how fond Dina was of the place she'd lost.
She, herself, never felt it. Not love, not even even pride.
With that, seething beyond boiling point, Kora kicked herself up.
"Where's your damn Super Saiyan NOW!?" she yelled impotently, kicking a bigger rock even higher.
Being alone meant she could act out like the angry, still-very-much-teenager she still was.
Being alone by her childhood home meant her dad went down in history as a nothing with a name that no one remembered, despite every effort he put in. So did her mother, so did her brothers.
"It's… YOUR FAULT I'm like this!" she hollered, tossing around more rubble. "ARE YOU HAPPY NOW, YOU STUPID JERK!?"
Directly, indirectly, it didn't matter. The pursuit of that form led to all of their deaths.
She stood, stomping her foot as if waiting for the rocks to answer. Apparent that they were ignoring her, she got angrier.
"IT WAS ALL USELESS, ASSHOLE! USELESS!"
She tried to kick up more rubble, and wound up falling on her ass. She started welling up. Again.
"WHERE ARE YOU NOW, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!?" Kora screamed to the ground, as if it would answer.
"Um.. right here…"
She turned.
A small saiyan in a domestic outfit bashfully revealed herself.
"Please don't kill me."
.
.
.
"How… long have-"
"I heard a crash and got curious."
.
.
"all of it, then."
"Yes."
Kora had a mental heat stroke and died.
"Hah, look at the lil' tyke go!"
The aforementioned tailed tyke gulped down the entire tub of the golden drink, moving on to the last of the meat and veggies.
"I've never seen something as small as him go through so much food!" one of the many burly warriors in rugged, reddish-brown rags whistled, most refusing to touch the meal just to see how much the kid could make disappear. "That's the belly of a hundred pugs!"
"Hah, you bozos really impressed by a tot's appetite? That lunch's a kiddie meal on Vegeta!"
The others looked over in disbelief. "O-Oh, shut your mouth, Jakima!" a crustacean-looking gladiator hissed.
With a similar albeit darker tail, and dark-teal, obnoxiously-long rocker hair, the woman wolfed down her side of the worn table's morsels and gave an arrogant laugh. "Aw~, you're gettin' shown up by a baby!"
Low chuckles emanated from the rest of the table, and the warrior shook his exoskeleton'd paws.
With a massive grin, she reached over and pet the little saiyan's head. "That's right, little guy, You're gonna need all that fuel! Grow up big and strong, so you can make us saiyans prou-"
The little guy smelled more food hovering above him and clamped his jaws onto it.
.
"YA LIL' SUM' BITCH, WE'RE THE SAME DAMN SPECIES! LET GO'A ME!" she yowled, shaking and whirring her arm in a rage. His refusal to release aroused a chorus of giggles, until she stood back up and beat the others with her new ArchiMitt.
"Dog'onnit, I got a match comin' up, too. Damn-near broke my maulin' hand, ya lil' dumbass!" Jakima griped, ruffling the little Archi's hair after far too many attempts of prying him off.
" 'D compare ya to the big ones I used to catch n' roast near the geyser lakes back home, but, I wouldn' be makin a lick'a sense to ya, would I?"
Archi shook his head. "Mh-mh."
Jakima sighed dejectedly. "Even though we're from the same damn planet…" She contemplated something, hands on hips.
"... since yer prolly never gonna get back to Vegeta…" she knelt down to the boy.
"IMMA show ya what bein' a Saiyan's all 'bout!"
"#33! BEGINNING MATCH!"
"S'not my dang'on name, but, no-doubt they're callin' me, kiddo. Keep yer eyes open, n' I'll show ya how I… how WE do things on Vegeta."
That match, Archi witnessed a match he'd never forget.
Despite her opponent's tricks, she took every strike head-on and overpowered them single-handedly. Even when things got dire for her, the warrior held a maniacal, determined grin and kept on pummeling until the deed was done.
Every match afterward was much the same.
If she took to the skies, it was because the opponent was up there. If she ran, it was because the opponent was running. If she took a step back, it was because the opponent was THAT strong; and soon enough, she'd take a step forward, and push THEM back.
Unrelenting honesty and bravado. The young Archi fell in love with it.
"Look at YOU, ya stud! You're 'bout as tall's me now, 'f not a grain taller!" she laughed, before noticing the now-seasoned boy's affliction.
"What's with the face, ya scamp? Can't have ya gettin' sick now, can we?"
Archi couldn't stop himself from clamping up and going red, for some reason.
"... Oh hol' on… OH NOW I SEE IT! You're all lovestruck by some lucky gal, ain't ya!"
Archi went redder, triggering a mocking giggle.
"Well ya see, kiddo… that just ain't how a Saiyan oughta act. 'Specially not a man."
The kid's eyes shot back up.
"'F'ya see a lady who catches yer fancy, drop the shy crap! Charge head-on or charge back-on home, dammit! Balls out!"
"Uh… but what if she doesn't like-"
"AND!? F'SHE'S WORTH THAT MUCH TO YA, YA'D DAMN-WELL BETTER MAKE HER LIKE YA! THINK A GAL'S GONNA FALL HEAD-OVER-HEELS FOR SOME PUNK WHO HANGS 'EM UP AFTER ONE TRY!?"
"Y... YOU PROMISE THAT WORKS!?"
"NEVER TOLD A LIE BEFORE, NOW, HAVE I-"
"I LOVE YOU, JAKIMA!" he howled, going in for a motivated cuddle.
"NO WAY IN HELL!" she roared, slamming him into the ground by the head.
In that instance, Archi's pride as a Saiyan was sealed.
And now, it was being tested.
For context, solely by virtue of his appearance, Archi had been confronted by, for all he knew, every saiyan on Planet Vegeta. While that abrasiveness got his Saiyan blood pumping…
"SAND!? SERIOUSLY!?" Archi hissed before knocking his adversary's block off.
"HeY lEt Go A tHaT iT's ImPor…" Archi slurred before going to the ground for a moment. A last-second flick of his grabbed tail ended the fight.
Archi stood in place as the saiyan who shot him in the back shook in horror.
"Going for the eyes!?" Archi growled before breaking his foe's hand. "What kind of sick, depraved, lunatic bastard does something like that?"
Archi stood in place as the saiyan who kicked him in the balls shook in horror.
Of course, he reached a breaking point.
"ALRIGHT THAT'S IT!"
Archi grabbed the throat of a lowlife who tried to lunge at him with a hidden weapon.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!? HUH!?" he roared, somehow louder than Tarubei. "YOU'RE REALLY GONNA CALL YOURSELF A SAIYAN WHEN YOU PULL SHIT LIKE THAT!? HOW CAN YOU EVEN LIVE WITH YOURSELF!?"
As the lowly one silently quaked at the power difference between the two, Archi threw him away in disgust.
"You're no Saiyan. NO SAIYAN WOULD USE ANY CHEAP SHIT LIKE YOU DO. Go die or something, scum."
"Well aren't YOU high-strung, kid."
He turned.
Facing down, the opposite end of the farmer's market path, stood another saiyan. Black RIT armor with dull yellow shoulder pads and waist plates, a dark-blue spandex as pants, a large scar across his left cheek, and hair not-at-all distinguishable from Kakarot's.
"(Is that…)"
"You seem awful confident in what does and doesn't make a Saiyan. Honestly, it's starting to piss me off."
"... You're not 'him'. Your armor's different."
The saiyan raised a brow and prepared to press.
"No, don't worry about it. If you're gonna fight me too, then just come at me." With an ill-tempered smirk and a curling finger, Archi beckoned the challenger forward. "I'll show these gutless bastards how a Real Saiyan does things."
The opposition chuckled deeply, rolling his shoulders and loosening his neck.
[ BGM: Shunsuke Kikuchi (Kurenai Kirio remix) ‒ Solid State Scouter ]
"If you insist."
Then he charged. Archi stood proudly, ready to fight.
Then he slid down, lobbing a ki blast. A wave of dust blasted across the market, before the blast flew at Archi.
"That's so cheap!" Archi scowled, bobbing his head to the right, out of the blast's way,
And into the scarred saiyan's kick.
Archi angrily darted his eyes.
"Tch. You're a tough sonova bitch, that's for sure!" the scarred saiyan jested, Archi retorting with a grab-and-throw that sent him back across the field. With a smirk, catching bearings with a backflip and almost skipping backward as the pain in his kicking leg wore off, the bastard watched as the scarlet-clad saiyan charged with a speed that he'd never seen in his life. However, Archi's reeled-fist posture was one he'd seen a thousand times throughout the course of his life, so with a burst of speed, he made a preemptive dodge, betting on the attack in mind.
"(HE DODGED!?)"
Archi watched the other saiyan shot under his straight right, before a two-legged kick sent him into a brief tumble.
"(Guess it's all the stops for this overgrown punk…)" the scarred saiyan sweat, before Archi growled with his own blast in hand. His opponent scanned for something useful before laying eyes on a vendor salesman.
"Hey bud, you look tough. Tag in for a sec," he said nonchalantly, before throwing him at the blast in its own mid-throw, sending the unfortunate victim hurdling away. All the while, over the light, the saiyan had leapt, coming down onto Archi's now-raised face with a double axe-handle strike.
Archi glared up, blood trickling off the other saiyan's two bruised ulnar borders.
"(... whelp.)"
In an attempt to kick away off the larger warrior's chest, the scarred saiyan was grabbed by the legs, hoisted into the air as Archi lifted a knee to the sky in a jump, and…
A suspiciously Kakarot-like crater was left in the aftermath. His legs then were grabbed, tucked under Archi's arms, and the man went 'round and 'round in a giant throw, before crashing through half the bazaar. His shoulder pads were broken by the end of his flash-window shopping, before he slid across the ground back-first in a stop.
"... heh… hehehe…"
The scarred saiyan, with a chunk of meat between his teeth, saw white blobs.
Despite his fractured back, for no reason other than to see how much more he could do against the boy, the man stood up.
"Hell kinda freakshow did you escape from?" he mumbled, tearing the meat off its bone and swallowing it whole. He took a step forward, and would've crashed back down, had his hands not reached out and grabbed a piece of hanging white cloth.
"(One more hit an' I'm through.)"
Seeing the scarred man still clinging on, from halfway 'cross the plaza, Archi glared.
"Hey! You still wanna keep this up?"
"What kinda stupid question is that, kid? I'm still standing!"
The man was weird; he used the underhanded tactics he did, yet there he was, standing back up with resilience. Still, it would've been rude to keep the fight going for any longer.
So Archi rushed forward.
Bardock waited, fist in hand.
However, as he dug in his heels, the elastic cloth holding him up broke off its rack, giving off a hearty snap.
As it fell, an idea came about.
"(... no need to end it like this just yet...!)"
With that, the scarred saiyan threw himself over the counter behind him, barely dodging Archi's attack before the two scurried across the entire marketplace. Every attempt to punch or kick the weaker saiyan was met with another cloth, or a piece of meat, or worn battle armor, or some other schmuck. The market became his final weapon against the stronger and faster Archi, who was getting pissed to the point of repetition.
Finally, underneath a larger fabric shawl over the marketplace's side, the saiyan escaped view; yet, with the way his shadow stained the ground, his location was glaringly obvious.
Archi emerged with fire in his eyes and a fist just-about ready to go through his adversary.
However,
The scarred saiyan slashed the cloth at the oncoming attack, wrapping around Archi's fist and, with a full-force yank and bathing himself in raging-yellow ki, sending the scarred saiyan's knees careening into his face full-throttle.
Archi's head actually moved back, that time. Flipping over him, the man let out a cackle at the sight, before the pain in his knees set in.
"Gyaa-"
Once his feet hit the ground, the pain really set in.
"KH… AAA…" he hiss-laughed. "Just what the hell are you made of…"
He looked up to see the armorless saiyan towering above him. He merely sucked his teeth and accepted whatever came next.
The hand that extended toward him, however, was sideways.
"Huh?"
Archi's free hand wiped the blood from his nose; he'd been hit in that region 3 times throughout the fight's course, and he only landed a single hit on the perpetrator.
"It's over," he sulked. "You win."
The armored Saiyan thought about it, then tied the bloody cloth around one of knees. He kicked off it, affirming a job done well-enough.
"Save it. I don't need to be given a win."
"I'm not giving you anything. You're weaker than me, but you were able to land that many hits, and even drew blood. I lose."
"Well aren't you a good sport?"
"There's no need to be an asshole about it, just accept it."
The scarred saiyan scoffed. "You're one weird kid. If our cases were switched, I'd've killed you when we first met."
Archi prepared to respond, but the saiyan walked past him.
"Follow me. I'll feed ya, my wife's a bitchin' good cook."
"(You... you just threatened my life…)"
Archi shrugged and followed suit. There was food to be eaten.
"You really don't need to-"
"If I do this, you'll owe me a favor," the miraculously-resuscitated Kora insisted, stirring the ingredients inside the shoddy Vegeta-Sei pottery within her arms and mashed edible, seedless plants (that not a single Saiya-jin on Planet Vegeta could ever come up with a name for) with her tail.
"Honestly, I wouldn't-"
"I won't believe you until I make you swear on the pride of your clan."
The small saiyan cook raised her hand. "I can just do that right now-"
"NO, THAT WOULDN'T BE RIGHT!" Kora spun 'round, before returning to her broiling. "I have to beat you at your best, or I'm robbing you of your dignity."
"You're pretty orthodox for someone so young, Kora…"
The pot kept boiling.
"I-I MEAN YOUR NAME, I-I'M SAYING YOUR NAME, I DON'T MEAN TO-"
A bowl appeared before her.
"Here. Eat."
The skirted saiyan obeyed and downed the soup.
"Mh…! Mmmh!"
Kora didn't blush.
"I had no idea someone of your stature could cook!"
"Hey!"
"I solemnly swear on my clan's pride I won't tell a soul of what I heard!"
Able to brush off the prior remark, Kora nodded, and prepared to walk off.
"Wait! Won't you stay a bit longer?"
"Sorry, but I don't have much time. I need to find... something, or my trip here won't amount to anything."
"... trip?"
The tall saiyaness reminded herself.
"Yeah, I came here from Conton. I thought you knew."
"I... honestly thought you were just an elite that needed space. But that doesn't change anything! You did something for me, so I'm just returning the favor!"
"S-seriously, I'm on a mission, I can't just-"
"Let me cook for you."
Kora stared.
.
Kora found herself in a seat.
"what the hell was that"
She thought of getting back up, but she feared… whatever else the otherwise-weak saiyan chef had up her nonexistent sleeve.
"(I'm not gonna get anywhere, at this point…)"
She'd only spent about an hour on the planet, but she hated every moment. Except this one, but it didn't count; there wasn't anything very "Saiyan-Like" about it, at least from what she pictured.
"(Well I'm not GOING anywhere for a while… might as well ask something.)"
Thankfully, they got on a name-to-name basis abnormally quick (Planet Vegeta-wise), so she could be a bit more formal.
"Hey, Ms. Gine…"
"Hm?"
[ BGM: Hiroyuki Sawano ‒ The Way This Fleeting Life Is ]
"Do you… do you take pride, living here? Even in your role?"
Gine nervously laughed. "Well that's a heavy question…"
"Sorry, forget about it."
The cook continued to stir.
"... It's not very forgiving, I know. The low class aren't much more than bodies, and a lot of us are subservient to the strongest person around. If you're born into a role, you're stuck there, no matter what, until the day you die. Little grows here, so compared to other planets, it looks pretty drab… and the things we do to those other planets are awful. That sounds weird to hear from a saiyan, I know, but… There isn't much to be proud of. Not at face value, anyway."
Kora burrowed her head into her arms on the table.
"But…"
She glanced back up.
"We're reliant on each other. No matter how much those higher up want to deny it, no one here lacks a purpose. Say, no matter how weak they're perceived, if a saiyan can fight, they're worth something. If not that, we can sell things to provide for others. Cooks like me make sure things are split evenly, and we make things just a bit tastier! Even if all they offer is an extra pair of arms to throw them into a pod and off to a resuscitation world, all saiyans have worth."
Gine turned with a bowl of her own soup.
"But best of all… we can't hate each other."
"What?"
"It's what makes us Saiyans the best! No matter what's done to us by someone else, even if we dislike them with all our hearts, once we've gone at it a few times, we can't bring ourselves to hate them. Deep down, we'll always respect what the other Saiyan's done to come as far as they have; in power, in their craft, it can be as simple as fact that they're still alive. Even if we can't acknowledge them face-to-face."
Kora's outstretched hands received the bowl, the saiyan herself never breaking eye contact.
"And that's…"
Gine snapped her fingers.
"Saiyan Pride!"
"I get why… I mean, how else are you supposed to beat someone stronger… but, doesn't it hurt your pride as a Saiyan?" Archi asked the hobbling scarred saiyan, keeping his pace.
"I don't get how knowing how to survive is supposed to do jack shit to a guy's pride. You think standing there and taking a lethal blow when you don't need to is something to be proud of?"
"I…"
"Kid, just know I'll wish I COULD strangle ya if you say yes."
"... I wasn't gonna say yes."
"Well there ya go-"
The man suddenly tripped on raw agony and fell. Archi's shoulder spared him a faceplant.
[ BGM: Hiroyuki Sawano ‒ ZipangU ]
"Tch! Lay off, brat! I'm fine!"
"So? You're pissing me off with how slow you're going!"
He groaned and went along with the support.
"... So is that what you'd call Saiyan Pride? Survival?"
"What, now every jackass we haven't conquered yet has Saiyan Pride? No dammit, it's how WE survive. If we see somethin' we want, we find a way to take it, we TAKE it, and we'll make it ours, the way we damn-well please. Even if it's some big-britches bozo standing in our way, we'll play the role that suits us 'till we can take the advantage, if that takes a minute or a century."
The scarred saiyan grinned through the pain.
"The means don't matter. A 'TrUe SaIyAn' makes his own damn means and accepts the consequences with dignity, regardless of any'a that low-high-whatever-class bullshit!"
He looked at his subconsciously-raised fist and felt stupid.
"(Hell just came over me?)"
"... Yeah. Yeah, you're damn right!"
The man looked up to see Archi's beaming smile, and cringed.
"Heh. What, is that all it takes to psyche you up? Some pretty words?"
"Tch- shut up!"
The armored Saiyan chuckled like the smug bastard he was.
At the sound of it, against Archi's will, a faint smirk ticked up the corner of his lips.
"You know, you remind me of a few people. I knew this Saiyan as a kid, who raised me up and made me who I am. Way grungier accent, but she believed a lot of what you did, just a bit differently."
"She as stupid as you?"
"Can it. There's also my new master, she's way louder than you are but with the same idea of what a Saiyan is."
The saiyan gave Archi a look. "What's with all the women you're comparing me to? I look like some kinda broad to you, asswipe?"
Archi dropped him enough to cause an involuntary stomp. The cloth over his knee went deep-red.
"AS I WAS SAYING…" he proceeded, over the scarred man's hissing.
"The last guy's something of a legend back over the rift. You look a helluva lot like him, too. Even sound like him."
"Would ya screw up his legs, too!?"
"If he SCREWED with me, yeah!"
"Well who is this magic fairy man you Time Jerks all suck up to?"
Archi grinned.
"A revolutionary badass named Bardock."
.
.
.
"What?"
Bardock looked at Archi like he was stupid.
"Uh, kid?"
"Yeah?"
"Who's the kid?" Kora asked, eying the boy in the orange incubator.
"We're thinking of naming him Kakarot."
"Oh. Well that's original."
"Yeah, the mother next door's gonna name her child Kakara because of it. Bardock's gonna thrash her beau next time he sees him. I couldn't stop him if I wanted to."
"Oh. Neat."
"Mh-hm."
"... wait, who-"
The sound of an argument drew their attention. It wasn't the first, or fourteenth, or any number in between, but it was the only one with such distinct voices.
"Oh, there he is now!"
"Oh… oh gods."
Upon investigation, there they were.
"-be on a name-to-name basis with some schmuck I just met!?"
"It's just common courtesy, asshole! You couldn't even give me your name before you went at me!?"
"You sure as hell didn't give me one after accepting, you smug dumbass!"
"I-Eh-Stop making sense, ya bastard!"
"What, you wanna go for round two right here!?"
"YOUR LEGS ARE TWO STEPS FROM HELL, WHADDAYA MEAN 'ROUND TWO'!?"
"YOU THINK THAT'LL STOP ME, RUNT? I'VE HAD INFECTIONS OLDER THAN YOU!"
"Bardock."
"Archi."
The two immediately looked over.
"Ghh… !"
"... what?"
The next time Bardock spoke, it was with a lump of food in his cheek.
"L'mme g' d's straigh'... you're BOTH from that rift doohickey?"
Kora nodded. "Less investigation, and more of an expedition. It's THAT idiot's first time being here, actually."
"Heh. So what, this shithole's a vacation spot now?"
"Of course not. We just had a hunch that being here, our homeworld, would help us find a way to grow stronger, in one way or another."
Bardock looked over.
"MA~N! This stuff's hearty!" Archi yelped, still devouring his serving. "It's like 8 bowls of the grub I'm used to! Who made it?"
"Your friend, actually!"
The two witnessed a now-feral Archi lift the entire pot and chug, as if it were water in a desert.
"Doubt the big one's gotten anything outta this, then. 'Sides how to listen, and he'll probably forget that, soon as he's gone."
"Maybe that's all he needed. After all, I'm a bit closer now to my own answer, just listening to Gine."
"Like what? Recipes?"
Kora paid him a scowl.
"... Pride. Saiyan Pride."
Bardock slowed down a bit with his meal.
"... what'd she say?"
"For one, we're reliant on each other, and the roles we each play. And we can't bring ourselves to hate each other… once we've fought, at least. There's always a latent respect between all of us." She smiled. "It's given me a lot to think about."
" 'Course she'd say something like that." Bardock took his last hit of the soup, a small upward crease across his lips before he wiped. "Weirdo."
Kora scoffed. "She IS pretty odd for a saiyan, isn't she?"
"But there's something she left out."
The saiyaness's attention was ensnared. Thus, the scarred man continued.
"If there's an obstacle in our path that we don't like, we'll change ourselves to meet the challenge, even if it means putting ourselves through hell. And in time, we'll bend that obstacle to our will. Doesn't matter if it's a planet, or a battlefield, or new tech…"
"... what if it's a person?"
Bardock chuckled deeply.
"ESPECIALLY if it's a person. That 'latent respect' mumbo Gine talked about? Mix that with how we survive, and you've got the way we Saiyans get to know each other. If we're strong enough not to snuff the other out before then, that is."
"... The Super Saiyan."
"Wha?"
"That's my obstacle. It was my father's, and my brother's. One lost himself to it, and the other died closing in on it."
"Kid, that's a-"
"And I'm the only one to meet it, face-to-face." As she spoke, her sharp onyx eyes seemed to eat the light around them.
"... holy shit, you're dead serious."
Kora clenched her fist.
"I've gotta change myself to meet 'that obstacle,' right? That's what we Saiyans take pride in?"
Bardock laughed. "You've got more than a few screws loose, brat! Sure, go for it!"
Kora smiled confidently.
Then Gine butted in for a sec.
"Oh, so you're doing it for your father?"
"(... huh?)"
It hit like a truck.
Bardock teased his wife for her "obvious" question, and Gine bashfully countered. But the details were blurred to her, thrown in a state of shell-shock silence by a statement.
"I…"
She hated everything he did.
Respect? To death. But he was capable of overworking saiyans. That shouldn't've been possible, and it was as cruel as one could imagine. She didn't want to THINK about following in his footsteps.
"(Is… is that even my goal? Or his?)"
But before she could send herself into despair, she gave it even more thought, and added a new ingredient she'd sorely lacked.
"He's where it stems from, sure. But I'm doing this for myself."
[ BGM: Hiroyuki Sawano ‒ Melancholia (Start-2:05) ]
Gine perked back up, as Bardock raised a brow.
"He was obsessed with becoming a Super Saiyan, and it carried over to everyone in my family. If anything, it ate them… us, whole… yet nothing ever came from it. Every waking moment, I studied it, and trained myself to the bone toward it, and used the pain of loss and everything, yet it never made a difference. But one day, I met someone who helped me see it for what it was."
She placed both fists across her chest.
"I don't want the form. I hate it. I hate what it did to my family. I want to kick its ass, as myself, to prove that it's possible. To me, to my family, to everyone with eyes."
"(... heh. I guess I really am doing it for them, huh?)"
"AND IT'LL BE ON MY OWN!"
"WITHOUT THIS FORM!"
"AND THERE WILL BE NOT ONE BLOODY THING YOU CAN DO OR SAY ABOUT IT!"
"(Oh. Yeah…)"
"EVERY MINUTE YOU'RE NOT ON A TREADMILL, EVERY SECOND YOU'RE NOT HAMMERING DOWN ON A SANDBAG, EVERY MOMENT YOU'RE NOT BREAKING A SWEAT, I'M ONLY GETTING STRONGER."
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!"
"And there's also…"
"... I mean it. This meant a lot to me… all of it."
"COUNT ON IT!"
"The 'Super Saiyan' in particular… they're making me work for it. Harder than I thought they could."
Kora actually blushed, thinking of her with a fist in her palm. Her expression was a twisted amalgamation of a maiden in love, and a starving hunter thinking of its next meal.
"They've earned my respect. I wanna be able to crush them as a Super Saiyan. In fact…"
She grinned sinisterly. "I think I like adapting to her challenge."
Gine looked visibly uncomfortable. Bardock shared the sentiment.
"Y'know, up until now, I was curious what was on the other side of that rift. But if the folks back there are as loopy as you, I might just start warning everyone else," he chuckled. Kora sifted through her hair in embarrassment.
"I got a bit carried away, sorry…"
"But make no mistake, kid. If anyone can do it, it's the bastard that can think of it with a face like THAT."
At the encouragement, Kora couldn't stop herself from beaming like a kid. A brief, forceful nod ensued.
The look tugged at Gine's heartstrings. It made her even more excited to begin rearing another sweet, life-filled baby.
The desperate sound of battered breath and rapid footsteps pulled everyone's attention.
"BARDOCK! THIS IS BAD!"
The scarred saiyan stood, he and his wife fully-attentive toward the mullet-clad, sky blue-armored man at his door coated in sweat.
"Toma!? What's wrong!?"
"THERE'S NO TIME! THE GANG'S BEING HELD UP!"
Gine's expression went fierce. "Bardock...!"
As if she'd transferred that energy to her beloved, Bardock exhumed the feeling tenfold. "LEAD THE WAY!"
Archi paid Kora a glance.
"Mh," she nodded.
[ BGM: Hiroyuki Sawano ‒ Fist ~From the Worthy Tiger With Love (Start-0:49)]
Archi paid Kora a glance.
"Mh…" she couldn't bring herself to nod.
"She just won't shut up! We can't take her down, either!" he yelled, pointing to the source.
Totepo looked invested for some reason, Seripa was teetering on consciousness, and Panbukin held back tears.
"-YET IN THAT SOLEMN SPANS OF TIME, SPARED NEITHER WE GALLANT WARRIORS A NITHER AS WE STARED THE GOOD LADY DEATH DOWN! YEA, BY MERE MIRACLE DID I EMERGE VICTORIOUS THAT HEART-POUNDING DAY, FOR IF NOT FOR HER STUPENDOUS PUDGE, THE FIST VERY WELL WOULD'VE SHATTERED-"
"... Toma, that's a kid."
"SHE'S GOTTA BE AT LEAST 1000! NO ONE STILL TALKS LIKE THAT, NOT EVEN THE DAMN NOBLES! BESIDES, HOW ELSE WOULD SHE KNOW THIS SHIT!?"
On a hunch, Bardock turned his head.
"... yes, she's with us," the saiyaness responded, walking up to her.
"Alright, captain, we're ready to go."
"BUT I'VE YET TO DIVULGE GOOD SIR BARDOCK'S FOREFATHER!"
"Wait, hold on." The scarred man approached. "What about him?"
Tarubei opened her mouth.
And paused.
"N-nay, I could've sworn he'd have tales of splendid valor, yet… it seems my memories merely stem from the sight of his corpse. Even his name is lost to me."
At that, Bardock gave out a dejected chuckle, head to the ground. "Figures. Like anyone from my shabby-ass bloodline'd amount to anything."
Kora, Archi, even Tarubei stifled a giggle.
"Hey!"
"No, no, it's just that…"
Archi raised a thumb.
"You'll be dead-wrong, someday."
Tarubei deployed the gate, its loud whirrs dampening Bardock's plea to go on.
"FARE YE WELL, O PROUD WARRIORS!"
"We'll be back once we get hungry!" Archi shouted.
"Thanks!" Kora shouted.
And with that, the three bizarre visitors departed.
The father of Goku kicked a rock. "Damn teases."
He looked back at the gang. "So what the hell's Panbu's problem?"
"MY FOREMA'S A HERO!"
Seripa shot up.
"YOUR FOREMA WAS A FUCKING FATASS!"
"WELL SHE SURE AS HELL DIDN'T EAT BABIES, DID SHE!?"
"Mh…" Toma turned to Bardock. "So Totepo an' I's ancestors fought a god."
"WHAT?"
[ BGM: Hiroyuki Sawano ‒ Melancholia (2:06) ]
{ PRESENT DAY, PRESENT TIME }
Reinforcing old beliefs, in tandem with new teachings, the two had trained harder and, more importantly, better, than they ever had before.
Archi stood below a balcony. The young man now donned a russet body suit up to his neck, with broken yellow shoulder pads held on by leather straps.
"Hey, Kora! You're awake, right?"
It was 3:00 in the morning.
"Of course I am! Just finishing up!"
After a wait, the door to her apartment slid open.
"How is it?"
Over a black full-body suit resembling Archi's, her armor was now a dark-gray hybrid of traditional battle armor and chef's garbs akin to those that Gine donned; she even had a skirt, open at the front to ease kicks and the like. Gone was her black and green color scheme, as bright blues carried out across the armor's major highlights; her chassis straps, for one. Despite the changes, the three forward-facing, claw-like engravings stemming off the top of her armor's chest remained; now, however, two more etchings were present.
"I guess I just like blue, now."
"Ni~ce," Archi cooed.
"(Feel like I could've worn a parka and you'd've said the same thing…)"
Archi quickly cleaned himself up. "So is there anything else you wanna get out of the way before this kicks off? Any last-minute training?"
"Nope. I'm done with the last bits of cram study that I feel like I needed. And we won't get any stronger than we are, now." Kora punched his arm. "Especially not you, you big jerk! Were you training behind my back!?"
"Hehe, uh… if you're sure you're ready, let's not waste anymore time!"
Though still a bit grumpy over Archi's advancement, Kora got over the brunt of it.
After all, she'd made insane progress, as well.
"Yeah. I'm ready to finally wrap things up."
AS THE FINAL TILE IS SHOVED BACK INTO PLACE, IT'S TIME TO ONCE-AGAIN SEND 'EM STRAIGHT INTO OBLIVION!
Trunks raised both hands, left and right.
NEXT MATCH OF THE SECOND HALF: STUDENT ARCHI! VERSUS! STUDENT KAZIKUM!
With her small armory of food almost depleted, Kora watched intently.
"How's it going?" Dina asked, taking a seat next to her.
"... I'm fine. Amazed that you still are."
"Right? But… sorry to say, I think your mate's in over his head."
Kazikum exited the dark, yellow-red dots blazing in perpetual anger all the while.
"That unit on stage right? He's absurd. Downright unhinged, even. It'd be a miracle if the goof walked outta this one with both his arms."
"Good."
Dina swiveled. "wot?"
"We Saiyans get stronger the more we have to struggle. If 'he's' as tough as you're telling me, that's just perfect. Besides…"
The left dragons screamed, a russet blur announcing his entry.
"Archi's already strong."
The tiles cracked as he landed. Four broken waist plates hang around him, like a feudal warrior's belt-guard.
"A fair amount stronger than I am."
"BRING OUT YER DEAD!" he howled at a volume that made his master blush, as his aura exploded.
Kazikum grimaced, hands emerging from pockets as he took a hunched-over stance ready to lunge at his prey.
"Tch. Do you ever shut your fucking mouth?"
Archi balled both fists with a grin, taking a forward stance that was simply ready.
"Wanna see me back it up, bud?"
WITH THESE TWO WALKING TANKS JUST REARING TO GO AT IT, THERE'S NO NEED TO FURTHER DELAY!
The announcer's hand cleaved through the air.
CUT LOOSE!
The two charged, roaring.
[ ED: Pay Money to My Pain ‒ Weight of My Pride ]
7/8/2024 PATCH NOTES: Moved the opening down to the chapter title. Corrected inconsistencies regarding Tarubei and Planet Vegeta, which is not Planet Sadala. Made the vegetable joke more belligerent for reasons. Changed Totepo's height comparison from Kora to Archi. Jazzed up some of Archi's dialogue. Made a saiyan's weapon hidden. Changed Kora's older bro's name to Ganbo because it just flows better.
1/25/2025 PATCH NOTES: Added a bit more to Gine.
EyyyyyyYo, OP Here.
I LIED to you. To your fucking FACE, and you ATE IT UP.
yeah please forgive me, i just needed to get this out before the fight. hefty word count too, jeez
It's just that I saw the perfect opportunity to get the Kora and Archi chapter regarding Saiyan Pride; right before Archi, Kora, and a tuffle get into things. They both got some well-needed development, so I don't regret holding up the fight; if anything, THIS would've been a bigger regret. The existence of it will also cut down on flashbacks, so that's a nice bonus.
It's also another dive into how just having a different way of thinking about things can make you stronger. Hell, just hearing something you already "know" from someone else can do wonders for your mental. Still, that applies more to Kora, cus Archi's gonna have to learn the hard way.
That Bardock fight? Yeah that's probably gonna be the last time I use tactics for like a month. It was a ton of fun regardless, and for once, I gave Archi a semi-decent showing (I still fanboyed over Bardock all throughout tho.) Our next fight is gonna be unga bunga, and I can't wait to get into it.
I felt like giving a saiyan the wacky woo-woo Southern U.S./Tohoku accent (depending on where you live), so enter Jakima.
Uhhhh yeah that's about it. Next Match: Artichoke maims Pepper and Vice Versa (for real this time), unforseen hijinks ensue.
See ya.