Two children sat on a sandy beach under a sky of endless stars.
"Ryu, you really need to work on your temper," the girl sighed.
"It's not my fault, Tora!" the bandaged boy snapped back. "They keep insulting Slifer! calling him a lesserlizard, of all things!"
Tora blinked slowly. "…Ryu. He does kind of look like one though?"
"SLIFER IS A MAJESTIC DRAGON!" Ryu roared like a tiny general delivering a speech. "He's long-lived! Powerful! Fierce! His bloodline is supreme much like his majesty the Emperor and—"
"—he'll supposedly become some ancient mythical terror if he keeps eating things. A being with unlimited potential. Yes, yes, I remember." Tora rolled her eyes, glancing at the tiny red creature squeaking in his palms. "He's still smaller than my tiger cub. Really cute too, you must admit"
"That's because he's still a hatchling!," Ryu puffed his chest. "Just wait. After a few molts, he'll be bigger than three adult tigers."
He continued rambling passionately about Slifer's potential… until the night suddenly burned bright.
A blazing streak tore across the heavens.
Tora's mouth fell open. She put her hands on his face with frantic excitement.
"Ryu! Look! A fallen star! Quickly! make a wish!"
Ryu scoffed. "Hey watch it! and you know that doesn't actually—"
But she was already clasping her hands, eyes shut in desperate sincerity.
Ryu stared. Then sighed.
"…Fine."
He closed his eyes.
"I wish Slifer would grow faster… so I can prove everyone wrong."
He could already imagine it; His majesty Black Dragon Emperor looking at him and his powerful partner. Speaking in a proud tone "What a powerful red dragon. Fitting for my clansmen, you will become my right-hand man."
Mid-delusion, He peeked at Tora, then mumbled,
"I also wish idiot Tora would stop pestering me."
His lips softened. He felt a pink sensation swirling in his chest.
"…and I wish to protect the people I love."
He took a quiet breath.
"For that, I wish… to become one of the strongest pathwalkers out there."
As the two kids closed their eyes in prayer, the "fallen star" kept descending towards the vast Nam Ocean.
———
The pod's alarms finally screamed.
Okay that settles it. I'm not landing, I'm crashing!
Surely they added a failsafe landing system or something... right?
I know Saiyan tech is durable and I have lots of faith in it… but I'm not Saiyan-durable... wait, shouldn't I be Saiyan-durable now? My main worry is that skull might live... but my what about my brain? That was another story.
Think of it as dropping your PC on the ground. The PC case might live but the expensive stuff inside gets fucked.
Is this seriously part of their 'trial by fire'?!
I continue to panic.
If the baby doesn't survive the crash, it just doesn't deserve to live?! Is that how this works!?
All of a sudden, the world warped.
The horizon twisted.
The air rippled.
My stomach feels like it's been turned inside out.
For a second, it felt like dozens of unseen eyes were boring straight into me. Staring into my soul. Looking at every molecule of my body.
As if searching for my purpose.
As if asking who I was.
My head felt like it was about to burst.
Then… the discomfort quickly disappeared.
The gazes stopped existing... like hallucinations.
Gone were the sinking feeling I had a few seconds prior.
What the hell was—
Land.
I could see mountains.
No time to think.
The ground rushed up to meet me.
I look around, no seat belt. No handles. No anything.
Fucking Saiyan tech, don't you guys have any safety standards??
So I did the only thing I could.
I curled up, with my tiny arms guarding my head.
Heart pounding.
Every Saiyan's first challenge…
BWAAAAH!!!!! (BRING IT ON)
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The mountain roared.
Rock shattered. Trees tore from the earth. The hillside collapsed as shockwaves tore the terrain apart. The pod plowed deep into stone before vanishing beneath an avalanche of soil and shattered boulders.
Dust clouds swallowed the night and covered parts of the forest.
Then slowly… silence returned.
Pebbles rolled. Smoke drifted.
One side of the mountain now lay ruined.
Amidst the rubble, a tiny hand emerged...
As well as muffled voice from beneath the earth.
bwahaha! (I win!)
———
What was that thing that just landed…
A child?
The hooded figure watched as the Saiyan infant climbed out of the rubble, laughing at the sky as if celebrating its own survival.
A tail? some sort of Symbiote arts?… interesting.
"Doesn't seem like a threat," he muttered. "I have more pressing matters to attend to."
He turned to leave—but froze.
An overwhelming surge of power erupted behind him.
The infant seemed to be in trance. It was transforming.
"…It seems I was mistaken."
——
A FUCKING FULL MOON. YOU'VE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME.
His consciousness began slipping. He couldn't stop looking at the full moon.
I MUSN'T turn..... into.... ₘₒₙₖₑᵧ...
swallowed by rising fury, boiling wrath. Rage flooded his veins. His body broke and rebuilt itself endlessly. Bones thickened. Muscles swelled with monstrous vitality. Black fur spread across his skin. His face stretched forward into a beast's muzzle, four jagged fangs gleaming beneath the moonlight.
The Great Ape stood.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAR!
The night trembled beneath the beast's declaration of existence.
But as quickly as the terror came, blood followed.
SLICE
The world itself seemed to split. The wind screamed. The trees, the skies, the clouds. Severed.
Pain exploded across the ape's body as a huge gash opened along its side.
It howled in agony.
ROOOOAAAAR!
Yet it didn't fall.
Blood poured, but the Great Ape endured.
"Impressive vitality," the hooded man mused, now standing behind the ape. The tips of his fingers emitted great peril, giving the illusion of a glowing sword as he drew his hand across the air.
He sliced again.
Another diagonal tear split across the beast's back like an invisible blade.
The Great Ape staggered, its massive frame trembling. It swung wildly, fists slamming down with blazing speed and earth-shattering force.
The hooded figure didn't even flinch.
Each strike of the ape's fists was casually deflected, redirected, or carved away by the hooded figures two fingers, which was extended, like a sword. Dust and shockwaves filled the forest, craters appeared as hits were deflected but the cloaked warrior had not even moved from his original position.
"Hm… no combat techniques. Pure instinct," he muttered. "I've never heard of Symbiotic Martial Arts transforming the whole body into a beast.. is it truly just an infant?"
The ape bellowed, furious at being unable to land even a single blow. Blood dripped down its wounds. Its chest heaved. Its rage twisted into something even more primal.
Then it inhaled.
Energy swelled inside its jaws, building into a burning sphere of destruction.
The hooded man's eyes finally widened beneath his cloak.
"That… is quite dangerous."
He finally made his first step and vanished.
In the next heartbeat, he appeared directly beneath the ape's chin. His fingers curled into a tight fist.
Blue light surged towards the heavens.
CRACK!
His uppercut exploded upward like a cannon.
The Great Ape's head snapped back. The growing beam sputtered out. Its massive frame wavered, knees buckling, consciousness shattered.
The beast collapsed.
The earth shook one last time.
Finally, the night was quiet once more.
Or was it?
"…Tch. Found me already?"
Figures flashed into the clearing, five powerful presences snapping into place around him in perfect formation.
Five Masters.
"I wasn't aware the higher-ups sent a beast for support?" one of them said, eyes flicking to the massive corpse slumped nearby.
"Forget it," another barked. "It didn't seem particularly powerful. Probably wasn't ours. If it was, he would have needed his Martial Mind."
Their attention snapped back to the hooded man.
"It came at a very convenient time," one Master sneered. "Our hero can't stand seeing innocents harmed. Looks like our little prince finally crawled out of his palace."
The hooded man exhaled slowly.
"Persistent idiots."
Something changed.
Heat surged through his body. His skin fissured with fine cracks as his Martial Heart awakened, veins igniting with a deep orange glow. The pressure hit like a physical blow... air compressing, shadows thickening, the forest itself bowing under the weight of his intent.
Killing intent.
Not wild.
Not sloppy.
Focused—clean enough to make the Masters' instincts scream.
The glow sharpened, burning bright yellow as his Martial Heart climbed higher. Leaves flattened. The ground trembled. One Master took a half-step back before realizing it.
He was going to attack.
They knew it.
He laughed.
"Only bought Five with you? Terrible mistake."
The Masters ignited their own Martial Hearts in response, auras flaring as they prepared to meet him head-on.
Then—
He vanished.
"He disappeared!"
"Don't break formation!"
"Where is he?? I can't feel his killing intent!"
"Damn it, I can't see him!"
Moments later, they realized.
"...Did he run away?"
The dumbfounded masters stared at their leader.
"Ehem… find him!"
Without hesitation, all five Masters launched forward, Martial Hearts roaring as they tore through the trees in pursuit.
They vanished into the forest one by one, their auras pulling farther and farther away.
The clearing fell silent.
And then, there was nothing.
Only the ruined land in the mountainside.
Only the fallen giant.
Only the slow, weak breathing of a dying warrior.
Finally, the Great Ape's body shrank… fur fading… jaw retracting… muscles dissolving until all that was left was a battered, bleeding infant.
A baby with a tail.
——
Minutes later…
A group of children cautiously approached the devastated landscape.
They stared in disbelief at the ruined mountainside, tremors still echoing in their bones.
"W-what happened here…?"
"That's! a baby…??"
The oldest girl took a step forward. Despite fear tightening in her throat, she forced herself to move.
She was the eldest, after all.
And there she saw him; He was tiny. Covered in cuts. Barely holding onto life.
And... he had a tail.
"W-what is he…?"
"Should… should we leave him?"
The girl bit her lip.
"No," she said firmly. "We're taking him back."
She lifted the wounded Saiyan into her arms.
"He'll die if we leave him here."
The others hesitated... then nodded.
And so, under the silent moon and shattered earth…
The invader of Gaia, wrapped in a blanket, was carried away by children and taken back to their home.