Going Native: Sound of the Past (ch. 45) (Patreon)

"Are you sure about this?" Narra questioned as I laid back in a chair, some weeks after having decided to deal with my half-forgotten human memories. Candles filled the room with a scent that was almost unpleasant, but very pungent. On the floor were symbols, some of which I recognized by the movement that Narra made when she was carving them into my soul. 

And, so far, I had no reason to doubt that she was doing what she claimed she was doing. My right hand, the hand she had finished, was immune to magic. 

I settled into the chair, thinking about it one final time before I nodded, "I'm sure. Are you?" I asked her, having learned through context clues that the ritual that she was going to perform on me wasn't done on outsiders. 

Narra nodded as she took a seat next to me, a steaming cup in her hands. "I have given what you said back on Antiople a great deal of thought. I… have decided that I will do whatever it takes to end this war before Nakka becomes Night Mother. Even if it means I am vilified by my people -- I will not allow Nakka to make these choices. She's not capable of it and it would destroy her." 

She looked down at the steam cup in her hands for a long second. "But I am. I wish it weren't so, but I can make those choices. So I will," Narra decided, her voice firm. She looked up at me, her eyes as dark as the void of space, "This ritual you are about to undergo is an ancient one. All the members of my race undergo it. It is a right of passage, of sorts." 

I peeked up, interested in the specifics. "Why?" I questioned, wondering if it was something like King Vegeta's cape flare technique -- something that the creator thought was awesome and forced it to be passed down. Or if the ritual actually had some use. 

"Because it opens our hearts to the planet, allowing ourselves to act as conduits for its magics. The ritual itself… it purifies the soul. And in doing so, the magic and enlightenment create a power. For me, it is my ability to directly interact with a soul of a living being. For Nakka, she can hear the inner voice of all things." 

I blinked, "So I could end up with some kind of power?" I asked, not sure how I felt about it. It was definitely the Saiyan in me that rebelled at the idea of being handed a power-up. I worked my way from the absolute bottom, I pushed myself to create every technique, and going on a magical trip inside my soul was going to grant me a special power? 

"It is a possibility. In truth, we are missing the ritual. Instead of searching for enlightenment, we are dealing to deal with the remaining memories of your previous life. It is said that the gifts are bestowed by the planet, but that is unlikely to be the case. If it is enlightenment, then you are unlikely. If it's the magic, then I would say that it is likely," Narra explained, her gaze drifting to my hand. The one immune to hostile magic. "The exact nature of the gift is determined by a variety of factors such as personality, heritage, but, in your case, given the engravings on your hand and the type of magic your soul has already been exposed to… I expect it will be some manner of resistance." 

Mulling that over for a moment, I gave a slow nod. "It doesn't matter. If I get a power then I get a power. Either way, I need to deal with my memories while I still can." 

"Are you ready to begin?" Narra asked, holding out the steaming cup for me to take, already knowing my answer. Wordlessly, I grabbed it and took a quick glance at the deep amber-colored liquid before lifting it to my lips. 

A bitter taste washed over my tongue but I swallowed it all the same until the cup ran dry. Passing it back to Narra, I could feel the heavy substance pool heavily in my stomach. And there I felt a warmth pool that slowly spread outwards. My eyelids grew heavy, the sound of Narra muttering in her native language that couldn't be translated grew distant and I could feel a warm blanket crawl over my mind that plunged me into the depths of unconsciousness. 

I felt my body enter a deep sleep but my mind was just barely aware. Aware enough that the sound of Narra speaking was the only thing I could hear. 

"Prince Tarble, you must picture yourself. Your face, your hair, your height, scars, and clothing. Picture yourself standing in front of you," Narra spoke and I obeyed. It was easy enough given how often I was seeing pictures of myself for promotions or TV shows. 

A short child-like body. Short spiky black hair with a lock drifting down between my equally black hair. Defined arms and legs wrapped in a blue body undersuit with my armor over it. Black and white armor with the family royal crest over my heart. Underneath the suit and armor were scars. A long one across my torso, a line of pale flesh, with another two that nearly intersected around my shoulder -- each over cutting into my heart. Another on my thigh, that one from Bardock, with a few others scattered about from six years of near nonstop combat. 

"Now I want you to step into the body that you have created," Narra continued. I saw the body I created in my mind and put myself inside of it, so I saw through its eyes. It was surprisingly easy. I'm guessing because of the magic and tea. "Once you do that, I want you to tell me what you see." 

I looked around in the fake body for a moment, "I see darkness. It's everywhere." 

"Do you see anything in the distance? Anything at all?" Narra asked, making me frown. I looked around myself, trying to find a spot that could be called 'in the distance' and apparently found one. A speck that slowly grew, taking the shape of a familiar ship. The flagship to the fleet. 

"I see Mom's flagship," I said. 

"Fly towards it. Enter it and tell me what you see," Narra instructed. I obeyed, flying up first then towards the ship. Steadily it grew larger until it utterly dwarfed me in size. The ship itself was ugly as ever -- a massive brick with guns slapped everywhere on it. The image was only reinforced by the full gray coloring. The ship didn't have a real name -- Mom called it Flagship and no one bothered to challenge her on the name. 

Finding an airlock, I floated towards it. To my surprise, the doors slid open as I neared, letting me inside. As the doors behind me closed, the one in front of me opened, ignoring the entire repressurizing process. Stepping inside, I saw familiar gray hallways. If anything was different, it was that the gray floor and walls were cleaner. 

"I'm in the ship. It looks normal," I told Narra. 

"I want you to walk through the hallways. Tell me what you find," Narra said, her instructions becoming rather vague. But, at the same time, she was in her element and I was out of mine, so I obeyed. I picked a direction and started walking, looking for something that would strike me as odd or worth mentioning. 

I stepped through a doorway, and only instead of seeing more hallways like I should have, I was in the mess hall. Well, one of the mess halls. A large open room, roughly a hundred yards long and about half of that wide, completely filled with tables that were attached to chairs. But, more noticeably, those chairs were filled. The 501st sat and ate while a projector screen used one wall to display the show Hero-force. I saw Elery screaming for blood at the front, only this time she was joined by dozens of others. 

"I'm in the mess hall. The 501st is here," I told Narra, looking around the place. I saw Mom winning an eating contest against Fasha. Oddly, Vegeta was there watching. All the while Broly was laying on a pile of food, his stomach overstuffed so that it strained against his armor, as he stared up at the ceiling with a blank expression that could best be described as victorious. 

“Do you see anything out of place? Something that clearly doesn't belong? Something that you don’t recognize?” Narra questioned, making me frown as I glanced over at Vegeta. He had never stepped foot onto the ship, but, for that matter, neither had Bardock. I found the scarred saiyan leaning against a wall, the Team gathered around him as they talked, slight smiles on their faces. 

As my gaze searched the mess hall, my eyes landed on a creature that I didn’t recognize. Four legs, white fur with black streaks and spots intermixed with a hint of brown thrown in. A snout shaped face, floppy ears, and a bushy tail while blue eyes looked at me with excitement. Its tail bounced, thumping against the floor-

A dog. I was looking at a dog. After six years, after seeing so many other species, I had forgotten all about dogs. 

The dog got up, its mouth opening as it panted in excitement. I thought it would come up to me, but instead, it turned and walked away towards a door that wasn’t supposed to be there. The door opened and closed behind the dog. 

“There was a dog -- a pet animal. It left the room,” I told Narra, my feet bringing me towards the door. 

“Follow it,” Narra ordered as I neared the door. Like with the dog, the door slid open, revealing a long hallway. Far off in the distance, so far I could barely see it, was a door on the other end of the hallway. The dog looked over its shoulder, somehow meeting my gaze despite the incredible distance that separated us, before it walked through the door. 

I walked forward, my lips pressed together into a thin line. A sense of unease filled me as I walked, a pressure bearing down on my shoulders that made each step more difficult than the last. Even still, I kept walking, accepting the challenge and pushed through it to reach the door. Time seemed to stretch and warp until it was impossible to tell how long I spent walking. It could have been second or it could have been days. 

I hadn’t felt that sort of timelessness since way back when I was in the tank for three years. 

But, eventually, I reached the door. Only this time it didn’t open for me. The seal of the door stubbornly remained closed. My eyes narrowed as I reached out to the door, wedging my fingers into the seam and began to pull and I felt pain. An odd pain -- almost as if it was a distant echo, an echo of agony, but half-forgotten. And I was used to ignoring pain so I simply pried the door open. 

Light seemed to refuse to enter the room I exposed. There was only an inky black darkness that seemed to swallow everything that it touched, yet it refused to spill forward. Instead, I stepped into it. I felt it wash over me, robbing me of my sight and sound. My heart lurched in my chest, but my feet continued to move forward, aimless in my destination, but there was a certainty with the action that I would eventually arrive at it. 

I felt a wet nose pressed against my hand, something brushing up against my side. It should have scared me, but it didn’t. Of its own will, as if it was a practiced action, I reached out and placed my hand on top of the dog's head. My fingers scratched at its ears and its neck and I could feel contentment radiate off the dog. 

Rascal. His name was Rascal. 

Rascal led me through the darkness, taking me towards a speck of light that pierced through the heavy fog of black. Slowly, the light grew closer, forcing the darkness around me to be dyed various shades of gray until it was pure white. Following Rascal, I found myself standing in a white room. Utterly featureless beyond the corner marks that showed I was standing in a box. 

Letting go of Rascal’s fur, I turned around to see a person was standing behind me. A mop of black hair, a too-thin face with dark blue eyes peering at me. He seemed to drown in his baggy clothes, pictures, and names that weren’t familiar to me. He looked young. Very young. Beyond his first growth spurt, but not his second-

A teenager. On the young end… old distant memories surfaced, pulled up to the surface by relevance. Fourteen. The kid in front of me was fourteen. 

I died pretty young, didn’t I?

Rascal left my side, walking over to the person… the previous me and curled up at his feet. The previous me sat down in a beat-up looking office chair that hadn’t been there a second ago, lazily petting Rascal with a hand while his other was stuffed in his hoodie pocket. 

I couldn’t remember his name. My name. The one I had before I was Tarble. 

“So… not sure what I did to get reincarnated as a Saiyan, but that’s pretty cool,” He said, offering up a hesitant smile, looking unsure of how to start. “And reincarnation is a thing. That’s… a thing.”

“Are you aware?” I asked, wondering exactly what was going on. Was I actually talking to the past me? Or was he just some kind of representation? 

“Sorta,” He shrugged, looking away from me and focusing on Rascal. Why could I remember his- my… the dog’s name and not mine? Or his? Or whatever? “That magic stuff that the lady is pumping into us kinda… pushed all the pieces that were left together to create me.”

“So we’re not the same person,” I ventured, making Him give a hesitant nod. 

“No. I know what you went through, sort of, but it's like watching a movie. It’s not the same as experiencing it myself. What happened when we were human, those memories, that’s who I am. Who you were.” He answered, glancing up at me before quickly looking away. 

“Huh,” I muttered.

“So, what now?” He asked, petting Rascal’s stomach to the dog’s enjoyment. His tail thumped a million times a second, his tongue sticking out as he constantly shifted as if he wanted his entire stomach petted at once. “We cross the streams, merge together, or what?” He asked, looking up at me. 

I didn’t know. Until this moment, I wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted to do about my human memories. Only that I wanted to do something with them. As the years ticked by, the memories of my human life grew fuzzier and fainter. At the start, I had remembered nearly everything, but now… now all I could really remember was my dog’s name. I had been running out of time to do anything about the memories, so I jumped at the opportunity to do something. 

I looked down at my hands for a moment before I looked Him in the eyes. I didn’t recognize Him. Not in the slightest. He didn’t look like a warrior. Too skinny and he was too open with his expressions. He…

He wasn’t me. 

“You’re… who I used to be,” I told him, silently coming to a decision in my own mind. I wasn’t human anymore. “You aren’t me.”

“Yeah?” He said, sounding caught off guard by my revelation. The more I spoke to him, the more I looked at him, the clearer that became. He, whoever he had been, wasn’t me. Not anymore. Too much had changed. I had changed. Six years later and we were completely different people. 

I took a step forward, a knot of tension that I had carried for the past six years eased out of me while my hands curled into fists. He looked at me warily, glancing down at my fists, and that wariness quickly turned to fear when his gaze met mine. He must have seen it in my face, realizing what decision I came to. 

“Hold up-”

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me,” I interrupted, my voice hard. Rascal looked up, looking confused why the belly rubs had stopped before he looked at me and let out a low growl. “Without you, I probably wouldn’t have made it past my first mission.”

“What-”

In a blur, I crossed the distance between us and buried my hand into his chest. He scrambled back, falling into his chair as his hands tried to rip my hand free. He looked at me with eyes filled with horror and confusion, as if he couldn’t possibly understand why I was doing this. And he couldn’t. He was human. 

And I was a Saiyan. 

Memories flowed into my head, but I felt a strange sense of detachment as I saw them. As if the memories belong to someone else rather than me. As if I was watching someone else's life rather than mine. Memories of sitting in a room that reeked of antiseptic and bleach, watching a woman waste away on a bed until the harsh sound of her heart monitor flatlining echoed. 

Memories of a man walking out and leaving behind a crushing sense of abandonment. Only for that same man to come back after the woman had passed, claiming that he had changed… only to bring more crushing disappointment when he proved that he hadn’t. 

No wonder I was so desperate to have a family. Queen Teach, King Vegeta… they were my second chance at a real family. 

I pushed the memories away, shifting through them to find things that were useful. Techniques, information, and the like. All the while, He clawed at my hand in his chest, trying to push me away while Rascal bit down on my leg, shaking his head back and forth as he tried to protect his master. I found a surprising amount -- most of it would be useless, but I took hold of it all the same. Ripping my hand free, I yanked out the memories and they took the form of a small white ball. 

He fell back, clutching at his chest while the white ball was crushed in my hand, the memories flowing into me. Becoming my memories. 

“Why?” He hissed, glaring up at me with hate rather than fear. I was glad for it. It proved that even in my previous life, I wasn’t a coward that begged for mercy. “Fuck you. Thanking me and stabbing me in the fucking chest, fuck you, you fucking piece of shit,” He spat at me. 

“I think it’s time I stop pretending like I’m still human,” I said, walking towards him. He tensed and Rascal still bit down on my leg, trying to whatever damage he could. He was a good dog. “So, thank you for all you’ve done for me so far… but this is where we part ways. You aren’t me and I’m not you.”

A door materialized before me and I stepped through it. The door vanished behind me, sealing away the human memories forever. 

“This is goodbye.”

…

“That’s me!” Elery shouted, pointing at the screen that clearly showed herself. Yet, as she looked at Olaive, Kakarot and Broly, all she saw was doubt. "We have the same name!" Could it be any more obvious?! 

The show in question was Hero-force and the latest episode introduced a new character. Her. Princess Elery. 

"Yeah… but she's a princess, and she has a mask and a cape and stuff," Kakarot noted, sharing a look with Olaive before both shook her head. She wanted to punch them both in the face. How could they not believe it's her? 

"I am a princess," Elery corrected, wanting to clear that up. She couldn't care less what that idiot Vegeta said about it. She was a princess. "And we have the same scouter!" 

Broly looked like he was barely paying attention in favor of watching the newest episode of Hero-force. It had been pretty annoying having to deal with his constant questions about it, especially when he asked them during the show, but now he was silently enjoying it. He had even been impressed by her collection of action figures. 

"She's Prince Tarble's little sister though. So unless your brother is Prince Tarble, then that can't be you." Olaive pointed out, making Elery go very still as she considered that. That… made an unfortunate amount of sense. Was it really not her? Was it really just a coincidence that the new character shared her names?

Or… unless… her older brother… was Prince Tarble of the Hero-force?! 

Elery gasped, all the pieces coming together in her brain all at once. She grasped the sides of her head, her jaw dropping as the realization settled heavily on her. Brother was Prince Tarble. They were the same person!

"He is!" Elery turned to look at Olaive and Kakarot, who simply blinked at her outburst. "My brother is Prince Tarble!" How was it possible? It didn't add up! Brother was leading armies and stuff while Prince Tarble was flying around being a hero? How was it possible that he was in two places at once? Had he discovered some sort of technique that let him split himself in two? 

She had to learn that technique. With it, she could put a Not-Elery in her place when she had to do boring stuff while the real her could go do fun stuff. 

"You're just saying that because you want Princess Elery to be you,” Olaive pointed out, making Elery scowl. 

“It is me!” She argued, wondering why that was so hard to understand. It was clearly her and Brother was Prince Tarble. Why couldn’t they just accept obvious facts? “Let’s go find Brother so he can tell you,” Elery said, going to fly to wherever Brother was, only to be stopped when Broly finally spoke up. 

“What about the episode?” He asked, looking between here and the screen, clearly torn on what to do. Not that he needed to be because he made a really good point. Elery nodded, taking a seat with Olaive and Kakarot to watch the rest of the episode. It was a fun one -- Not-Her kicked a whole lot of butt and the Reach ran away scared.

She wished she got to fight the Reach. Brother hadn’t let her or any of the other kids to go fight on the Shield Worlds. Elery never even got to see the surface of the planet, much less fight the Reach. That was super annoying, but when Brother became Not-Brother, she hadn’t argued the point when he said that they weren’t ready for that battlefield. 

Elery was already able to enter the second level of the Wrath State, but she couldn’t control it very long. Kakarot could, and so could Broly, but she was doing better than most of the other kids. But it hurt. It really, really, really hurt. More than cutting off her tail, which had grown back. It hurt more than that by a hundred. 

It made learning that the Wrath State had ten levels really scary. 

But Elery managed to extract a promise from him that they would get to fight on other planets, so she guessed it was okay. 

Once the episode had finished some minutes later, Elery grinned from ear to ear as she grabbed hold of Kakarot and Olaive to prove to them that Brother was also Prince Tarble. “Come on,” She ordered, impatient to rub her victory in their faces. They obeyed, getting up and Broly did the same. 

Flying up, the four of them raced through the halls, intent on finding Brother. However, as they flew, Elery saw a gray skinned alien being cornered by a couple of other saiyans. They pushed her around, making her fall. Normally, Elery would have flown right by without a care. But when she saw the funny looking alien curl up into a ball, a thought struck her. 

What would Princess Elery do?

So, she drop-kicked one of the kids in the face. He flew back, flying away thanks to her momentum. With a wide smile on her face, Elery fell upon the two others. One managed to block a punch with her forearm, but she was unprepared for Elery to slam her head into hers. As a loud thunk echoed through the halls, Elery punched her in the stomach before slinging her into the remaining saiyan boy, who looked like he had absolutely no idea what was going on. 

“In the name of Justice, Elery of the Hero-force commands you to stop!” Elery shouted, planting her hands on her hips as she puffed out her chest, mimicking the words Not-Her had said. 

“Why’d you do that?” One of the boys snapped, wiping his bloody nose on the back of his white glove. “If you wanted to fight then you shouldn’t go sneaking up on people!”

“It’s called an ambush! They happen in Hero-force all the time,” Olaive pointed out, earning a confirming nod from Elery. That made the three Saiyan's eyes widen. Elery knew that look of pure panic. 

“You missed the new episode,” she informed. “But they’re going to be playing a rerun soon,” she added, offering them hope when they looked disappointed. 

“Awesome!” The three of them cheered, flying up and heading to the mess hall that they had just left, leaving the funny looking gray alien alone. She stopped being a coward and looked up at them fearfully. Elery really didn’t get aliens. Even if you got hit, why wouldn’t you at least hit back?

Then she blinked, “Ah! You're a member of that species with that alien that took out planets!” Elery blurted excitedly. She had been trying to find them to ask how they did it, but they were never anywhere to be found. 

The alien flinched badly, which was really weird. “I… My Mother did that! I-I would never-” She started, making Elery frown. 

“Why not?” Olaive questioned, sounding just as puzzled as Elery felt. And that seemed to make the alien really confused. 

Elery nodded, “I would totally blow up planets if I could. Like that Frieza guy,” she added. She couldn’t wait until she was strong enough to start blasting planets left and right. Though, at that, the funny looking alien looked really scared and curled into herself like a coward. “Your Mom is really tough and cool. Why are you being so wimpy?”

The alien at least glared at her for the insult, “Because what she’s doing is wrong. You don’t understand, Mother… Narra… she destroyed their souls.” She explained as if that was supposed to mean anything to her. It didn’t. 

“So?” Kakarot voiced their opinion, tilting his head at her. 

The alien’s lips thinned as she forced herself to stand, “It’s wrong.” She insisted like that was a reason to not do something. 

“It’s war,” Elery argued. “Brother says it's a really good thing that your Mom’s magic is so strong because if it wasn’t then a lot of people on our side would have died.”

“Maybe it would be better if we did,” the alien argued with a shake of her head. “I would rather die than do anything like that. Narra went against everything that-”

“I don’t care,” Elery bluntly interrupted, startling the alien. “If you don’t want to do those things, then go die on your own. Don’t kill everyone else because your afraid,” Elery told her, making the alien flinch. Just like that, Elery felt her interest in the alien dry up. Maybe she would have better luck with Narra about teaching her how to take out planets. 

With that, Elery flew up and Olaive, Kakarot, and Broly joined her, leaving that weird alien behind. They darted through the hallways, flying over the aliens that filled the 501st and the army. Everyone seemed to be really happy, Elery noticed. Ever since they came back from the Shield Worlds. 

There were also a whole bunch of saiyans flying around with them. Some fighting and arguing or challenging aliens to fights. 

“Tarble will probably be at the tech lab. He’s been there a lot since he became a general,” Kakarot pointed out, making Elery nod. From what Brother had told her, he was getting a fleet designed just for his army. Elery didn’t really care for the details, but knowing Brother, the fleet was going to be super tough. 

They shifted their destination, heading towards the tech lab. The doors slid open, revealing a white laboratory that was segmented with thick walls and thicker glass layered with force fields. A place where the aliens in the 501st could tinker with stuff. Elery didn’t really get it, but they seemed to enjoy it. 

Elery spotted Brother walking next to Technician, a hologram of a ship before them. She beamed, darting over, and slamming into him as hard as she could. Brother didn’t even flinch, and in a split second, Elery took her rightful place by hanging off his shoulder. 

“Brother, you’re Prince Tarble!” She informed him, wondering why he had never told her. 

He gave her a small smirk like he was laughing at a joke that only he seemed to understand. 

“Yeah, I am.”