Going Native: Loss of Sanity (ch. 82) (Patreon)

Vegeta and I clashed above the ocean, sending a shockwave out that blasted the water back. It surged away, forming a tidal wave that stretched out in every direction, and it was joined by others as my brother and I traded blows.

The taste of blood was heavy on my tongue. I could hardly feel the impact of the blows that I took from Vegeta or from the ones I gave him in turn. There was nothing said between us as we fought. There was nothing left to say. Vegeta refused to listen to reason, his pride clouding his judgment. He was determined to either die with his honor intact or kill me to secure his place as heir. He wouldn't allow anything else.

I slammed my fist into his face, following it up with an elbow to his temple that knocked him away. I blasted off after him, intent on pressing the advantage as Vegeta left a wake in the ocean he flew over. Vegeta recovered nearly instantly, launching a ki ball at the ocean below us and sending thousands of gallons of water up in an explosion. I knew his plan, so I made use of the cover as well. Ki swirled to my hands before I thrust them forward, sending ki blasts through the surge of water.

Vegeta didn't return fire. I realized that a split second too late when a spiraling disk of purple ki raced towards me from below. I clenched my jaw the moment I saw it, jerking my head back to narrowly avoid being beheaded. The Destructo Disk sailed upward, only managing to cut a few hairs and that was it. Flipping back, I looked to the ocean just in time to see Vegeta surge upwards from the water, sending up hundreds of gallons.

The water exploded outwards when we clashed, causing a rainbow to form that we fought underneath. "My own techniques?" I spat at my brother, delivering a devastating punch to his kidney before following it up with an uppercut that was narrowly avoided. Vegeta twisted, going for a roundhouse kick at first before he turned it to a high knee when he saw that I was ready to counter. I chose to accept the blow with my forehead and repaid it by punching Vegeta in the gut, forcing him to fold over my fist.

I lashed out with my own knee, trying to catch Vegeta in the nose, only for him to catch the blow and push off of it to give himself distance. "It's a useful technique." Vegeta stated, the words sounded like praise but his tone said that they were anything but. "Rest easy, little brother. After I kill you, you will leave behind a legacy."

Kill or die. That was my choice. Even if I beat Vegeta now, it would change nothing. The moment his wounds mended, he would force this confrontation again. If I banished him, then he would come back to reclaim the throne. If I left, he would hunt me down to the end of the universe to not suffer a threat to his claim as heir. For the first time in a very long time, I found myself stuck in a situation that had no winning option.

Either I kill my brother or be killed by him.

"Damn you, Vegeta," I snarled at him, closing the distance between us to resume the bout. We fought in a blur, attacking and countering seamlessly as we flew through the air. It was next to impossible to keep track of our surroundings. I only realized that they had changed when I was knocked down to the planet and instead of water, my body tore through tons of rock instead. Vegeta followed me through the tunnel that my body carved out.

We clashed within the mountain, careless of our surroundings. It was too dark to see him, but it mattered little. Both of us had mastered ki sensing at this point. At this close, it was a simple task to sense our opponent’s movements.

I jabbed with my left, a feint, before going low with my other fist. It buried itself in Vegeta's gut, sending him flying through the mountain that groaned around us. Though, not without delivering a counter — by kicking me in the side of the head — that prevented me from pressing the attack for a split second. I felt warm blood drip down the side of my face, rubble falling all around us.

"Spiral…" I began, cupping my hands to the side. The ki illuminated the darkness of the mountain, making shadows dance as the Saiyan-made cavern collapsed in on itself. Vegeta hovered across from me, quickly adopting a familiar stance and dark purple lightning began to discharge as he readied his Galick Gun. "BUSTER!" I shouted, thrusting my hands forward and launching the technique at Vegeta.

I heard him shout his own attack before the two clashed in the middle. The ensuing explosion blasted away the mountain we resided on, sending tons of rock flying if it wasn't instantly vaporized. However, despite Vegeta's power, there was no contest between the two attacks. My ki was hyperdense, far more so than normal ki. It was like throwing a rock into the ocean and expecting the ocean to stop it.

My Spiral Buster surged forward, racing towards Vegeta faster than he was prepared for and —

I hesitated.

The Spiral Buster faltered for a split second, giving Vegeta all the time he needed to dodge the attack when he realized he couldn't stop it head-on. With the mountain collapsing around us, he had plenty of room for it. Vegeta sailed upward, deftly avoiding the falling rock. I clenched my jaw, ending the technique before I followed the path it had carved out of the mountain. Rock fell like an avalanche, but I escaped the mountain unharmed as what might have been Planet Vegeta's highest mountain fell to fifth or sixth place.

I couldn't hesitate. Vegeta was not someone I could fight without taking seriously. This wasn't a spar between us like the last time we had fought. This was a fight… and if Vegeta had anything to say about it, then only one of us would walk away.

A flash of light brought my attention above. Vegeta fired off another Galick Gun. A quick one, so it wasn't especially powerful.

A Riot Javelin formed in my hand before I launched it upwards. The torrent of dark purple ki exploded outwards, letting me travel up unharmed. Vegeta cut off the technique, letting the Riot Javelin sail by him. I fell upon him, raining blows on Vegeta. He was prepared for it, but I still managed to land a kick — the back of my heel slammed into his cheek, making his head snap to the side as blood erupted from his mouth.

Even so, Vegeta recovered. He grabbed my leg, yanking me towards him in an attempt to plant a fist in my gut. I caught it with my hands, lessening the impact. Our gaze met during the clash, both of our eyes blazing yellow.

"You're going to kill me because you're jealous?" I spat at him before Vegeta turned sharply and flung me away. I righted myself, ready to counter the high knee aimed for my throat that immediately followed.

"I'm going to kill you because you're in my way!" Vegeta countered with a snarl. "Have you truly forgotten what it means to be a Saiyan? Did you truly believe that being in the Royal Family meant we would never come to blows?" Each word was punctuated with a half dozen blows. Each dodged or countered, just as Vegeta countered my counters. "Our grandfather killed our ancestors for the throne. Our father killed him for it. Now, I will kill you for it."

I grit my teeth, catching a punch before I slammed my fist against the bottom of his arm near the shoulder in an attempt to dislocate it. I succeeded, but it was a temporary victory because Vegeta smashed his other fist against my nose, flattening it in a spray of blood. Though, it was better my nose than him taking out an eye like he had tried to. Vegeta spun sharply, lashing out with a kick in an attempt to drive me away to slide his arm back into the socket. He still managed to even though my foot caught him in the bottom of his jaw with a high kick.

"It doesn't have to be this way!" It was pointless, but it was so maddeningly frustrating that I couldn't stop myself from saying the words.

Vegeta recovered, flipping back before descending on me with an axe kick. A feint. When I went to counter, the flat of his other foot slammed into my face. "You're a fool if you believe that, Tarble. Do you really think you can just walk away from the throne, and that would be it?" He snarled at me, pressing the attack with a fury of blows. "You would command the Saiyans and me due to your position as Supreme Commander. Our people would look to you and wonder why you aren't king."

He delivered the words at the same moment he delivered a punch to my gut. Bile rose in the back of my throat, but I still countered by lunging forward and smashing his nose with an elbow.

"You…" I bit out, grabbing him by his armor before flying directly down to the planet below. All the while I pummeled him with blows and accepted them in return. "You were preparing for this."

We were talking past each other all this time. It was never just about becoming the heir. He was trying to kill me to validate his claim to the throne. He was going to kill me to prevent me and my deeds from undercutting his reign as king. Our father naming me the heir was simply the final straw… but…

"You were planning to kill me," I accused, slamming my forehead against Vegeta's, stunning him before I pulled back and punched him, a flicker of raw rage fueling my attacks. Vegeta struck the ground, propelled forward because of the added momentum. I didn't follow him down, recoiling from the revelation. "No matter what, you were going to try to kill me?"

My heart ached, but it was more numb than painful. It was disbelief. Vegeta wasn't acting out of blind passion. This… this wasn't planned, but he had premeditated my murder. No matter what I said, this was always going to happen.

Vegeta rose from the rubble, standing tall as he looked up at me. "Don't act like you didn't intend to do the same. It's beneath you," Vegeta spat.

I scowled, "That's the thing, Vegeta. I wasn't." My knuckles were white I clenched my fists so tightly.

"Then you are far more naive than I could have imagined," Vegeta responded, his eyes meeting mine without a shred of remorse in them. I slowly lowered myself to the ground, meeting his gaze without flinching or blinking.

There was only one word that could describe what I felt.

That word was betrayal.

I touched down and started to stride forward, my anger growing as my face twisted to match Vegeta's snarl. "I'm going to beat the shit out of you, Vegeta." That was my declaration before I sprung forward, closing the distance between us with explosive force. Vegeta began to counter, but he was caught off guard by the ferocity in my blows. My fist tore through his guard, planting itself in his diaphragm until he was completely folded over my fist. Grabbing him by the back of his head, I kept it in position to knee him in the face hard enough he was launched off the ground.

Dazed, he could do nothing as I grabbed onto his ankle as he flew up, catching him. Gritting my teeth, I recalled the fight with Froot and infused Ki into the ground under my feet. Swinging down with all of my strength, Vegeta let out a strangled scream as he impacted, the stone managing to retain some level of integrity upon impact. He recovered instantly, twisting in my grip to kick me in the face. Or try to, at least, but he managed to force me to let go even as I dodged the kick.

"Glad to see you're finally taking this seriously," Vegeta remarked, a deadly edge in his tone. Veins bulged in his neck and I felt his power swell. I knew what it was. I was just surprised to see it. A cruel smile found its way into Vegeta's face, even as a tear of blood dripped from his eye. I said nothing, merely settled in my stance. One that Vegeta mirrored.

It would seem that Vegeta had reached up to Stage Twenty with the Wrath State.

For the first time in nearly a decade, Vegeta was stronger than me.

There was nothing to say anymore. The two of us darted forward and clashed in the middle with explosive force. Dust and rubble shot up and out, raining down on the planet as we continued our fight. I felt Vegeta's increased strength as it translated to raw power. Three million PL wasn't a gap in power that I was sure that I could close with skill and technique.

What I did know was that I could see the strain it was having on Vegeta's body. Meaning that this just became an endurance match.

A roar ripped from my throat as I punched Vegeta in the face, and felt him counter with a blow to my ribs. I felt them creak from the strain, but they held firm as we fought. The scenery began to slowly change again. The mountainous backdrop gave way to cast planes where the ground was completely flat in every direction. Then that too shifted to the ancient ruins of what had once been a truffle city.

Eventually, even the sky began to darken above as we fought in front of the half-moon.

"Tarble!" Vegeta roared, punching me in the mouth hard enough that he knocked a tooth loose. My suit was severely damaged, but my connection to the Warworld remained strong.

"Vegeta!" I roared back, grabbing him by the ears and slamming my forehead against his — not once, not twice, but three times before I planted a foot in his gut, only to have him slam a fist into the side of my knee. It didn't break from the attack, but the tendons stretched dangerously.

The endurance match had gone on for some time, but neither of us showed any signs of flagging. Vegeta had slowed down some, but he stubbornly remained in Stage Twenty of the Wrath State. It didn't matter. Once he did drop out of it, he wouldn't be able to manage the Hold the Wrath State at all in all likelihood. Whereas I was stuck in Stage Ten. When he faltered, victory was mine.

However, that fact hadn't escaped Vegeta either, so he fought that much harder.

A ki spear came to life in my hand before I thrust it down at Vegeta, attempting to skewer him. He effortlessly batted the ki spear away, going to counter with a spiraling ki disk that came to life in his hand, intent on cutting off my arm. Only I countered him in return, lashing out and diverting his hand with my free one. We both were close and we seemed to have the same thought because we both reared back our heads and slammed them together.

The shockwave of the impact stirred up the endless sea of sand we found ourselves in at some point. The location of our first and only spar. Sand and dust were stirred up, but we thought nothing of it as we continued.

An alert from the Warworld stole my attention away for a moment, costing me a heel kick to my temple, so I shoved it away and blocked the connection. Blood dripped down my face, both new and old, but I still pressed forward to deliver a powerful punch to Vegeta's liver and followed it up with a right hook that was countered by him elbowing me in the diaphragm. My lungs rebelled, expelling any air I had in them, but I forced myself to take a breath as the fighting continued.

Ki gathered in my hands before I started launching ki blasts at Vegeta, forcing him to back off while I regained my breath. Dozens of them raced by him, lingering in the air. "Hellzone Grenade!" I shouted, clenching my hand before the grenades raced to a single point of origin. Vegeta was enveloped in the explosion, but he was unharmed. That was proven when he flew forward before the light had even begun to fade, surrounded by a bubble shield. Another one of my techniques.

Maybe Matillo had a point about keeping them in reserve and not sharing them so freely.

Vegeta cupped his hands to the side, his shield becoming filled with discharges of lightning before he dropped it the moment the technique was complete. However, that slight delay was enough for me to prepare an attack of my own.

My own Galick Gun surged forward, slamming into Vegeta's with explosive force. Lightning discharged from where the attacks connected, pure energy carving lines through the mountainous sand dunes. Burnt glass marked their path as the two attacks temporarily struggled with each other.

Mine surged forward with ease after killing Vegeta's momentum. Three million points wasn't enough to overcome how dense my ki was. Despite losing ground, Vegeta fought to push my Galick Gun back. I grit my teeth, pouring more into my technique…

Then I cut it off.

Vegeta's Galick Gun surged, overcoming the vestiges of mine, but I gave him no time to savor the victory. I darted to the side, avoiding his attack and closing the distance between us. He realized what had happened a split second too late because I was able to deliver a powerful axe kick to his collarbone. I felt something shift underneath my foot, telling me I had broken it, but that meant little. Fighting with broken bones was the expectation at this point.

Following the attack up, I spun sharply, building momentum before I kicked Vegeta in the face, knocking him away from me. He righted himself a second later, prepared to counter me as I went to press the attack.

Only for a blast of purple to cut us both off before we could clash. Both of our attention snapped to the source, and there I saw it was Frieza sitting on his throne that floated a few hundred feet over the desert. He held up a pointer finger, an amused smile on his face as his red eyes blazed. The sight caught me so off guard, I nearly failed to notice the fact that he wasn't alone.

King Vegeta floated next to him, his expression troubled. Behind them were aliens. Each stood on a metal disk in a bubble of some kind while wearing official attire.

"Oh, Tarble — it seems you were having so much fun with your big brother that you forgot something," Frieza remarked in a singsong tone. And he was right. I had forgotten something. I had absolutely no clue what he-

The Peace Talks.

"I-..." Words failed me for a moment as I looked at Frieza, unsure what to say. He looked fine since he had both hands, and the mark across his torso had healed. However… I didn't sense any ki coming from his left arm. Was he using a mechanical one to cover up that he had been dismembered? "My apologies, Lord Frieza. But… don't the Peace Talks begin tomorrow?"

Frieza let out a laugh, "I suppose I can't blame you for being unaware, but the two of you have been fighting counter to the Planet's rotation. It's been a full day since you've begun," Frieza informed. I… me and Vegeta had been fighting to the west. I had noticed it was nighttime, but I had thought that was because we fought over to the night side of the planet rather than fighting against the planet's rotation.

My gaze darted to the dozen aliens behind Frieza. The representatives of the Federation based on the pins they wore. The Federation was hundreds of races strong, but these twelve were the chosen representatives. "Please forgive my tardiness, in that case. If you take no issue with it, then I am ready to begin." It wasn't the impression that I wanted.

To that, Frieza smiled dangerously, "That won't be necessary, Tarble. We've already concluded the Peace talks." He informed, catching me off guard. Already? I expected them to take days. Maybe weeks. I suppose Frieza being there had helped scare the Federation into agreeing with whatever he wished.

"And the terms agreed upon?" I asked, biting the inside of my cheek. This… I… I missed my chance to win the peace for-

"It was rather simple, Tarble. For the next thousand years, the Federation will waive importation fees on all Trade Organization merchandise as well as cover shipping fees, waiving any liability on the Trade Organization's behalf," Frieza explained and the words just seemed to… wash over me.

There was a small pause as I waited for Frieza to continue, but he didn't. It took me a few seconds to realize that. Then a few more to understand that was the peace deal.

"I…" I trailed off, a sinking feeling forming in my gut as I slowly started to feel sick to my stomach. There weren't words. My mind tried to form them, but they just wouldn't come. Frieza laughed loudly, apparently delighted.

"The Federation will become our most loyal customers Tarble! We'll pay off the expenses of the war in a decade with this deal," he announced, laughing harder. My stomach clenched and it felt like I was going to puke.

That… this…

This couldn't be real. My mind rejected it. It rejected even entertaining the possibility that was the peace deal that trillions had died for. That I had killed countless people with my own two hands for. That wasn't a peace deal that could in any way validate the war and those that died for it. It wasn't even a step towards building a future that would justify the war.

"Is that it?" Vegeta bluntly questioned, our fight practically forgotten. I was glad he asked it because I don't think I could so much as speak. I was left reeling from the information. "What was even the point of going to war with the Federation then?"

Frieza chuckled, "That was a defensive war, Vegeta. They attacked us. It works out perfectly! The Federation will be our customers, and with the production planets we've taken from the Reach, we'll produce all sorts of merchandise! Ovens, spaceships, soft drinks, we'll even sell them weapons and slaves!" No. No, he could not…

"I knew going to war with the Reach would pay off. I really do have to thank you, Tarble — if you hadn't inadvertently created the Federation, I would have had to deal with Cooler's nagging for centuries about betraying the Reach to take back the planets they developed." Frieza continued, and he had to know what he was doing. "It was so much faster and less costly than developing our own production worlds. We can even resell the planets they renovated for us for a vast increase in profit than what we sold the planets to them for."

Stomach acid churned in my gut, rising up my throat, and even swallowing it down couldn't help the burning sensation in the back of my throat.

Ovens. How many people have I murdered over ovens with a Trade Organization logo?

"But, enough about that. I'm far more interested in what this is," Frieza informed, looking between Vegeta and I. "Vegeta? The Prince? Would you be so kind to inform me why you're fighting with your baby brother?" He knew the reason. I could hear it in his voice and saw it in King Vegeta's expression.

He was humiliating us to drive the point home to the representatives of the Federation. For all of our strength and power and influence in the Trade Organization… we were nothing to Frieza.

Vegeta ground his teeth together and for a moment I thought he wouldn't answer. Then he spat a mouth full of blood to the side, the glob of red falling hundreds of feet to the sand below us. "We are fighting to see who will be the heir to the Saiyan race," he answered shortly.

Frieza made a sound as if that was somehow news to him. King Vegeta trembled, his hands curled into fists as the Federation exchanged looks. Then Frieza nodded, "I see. I see… how… underwhelming."

King Vegeta snapped, turning to Frieza with a snarl on his face. "I'm doing what — " he began, and I saw Frieza move. He raised his hand, looking to King Vegeta, my father, and aimed a finger at him. Frieza's smile grew and I acted.

Not to save my father, but my brother.

"Don't!" I shouted, tackling Vegeta as he rushed to interfere. It slowed him down enough that there was no stopping it. I caught a flash of light out of the corner of my eye but by the time I looked over, King Vegeta had been completely enveloped by purple energy. The attack faded from view a second later, but…

When it faded, there was nothing. Nothing left of my father. Not even ash.

"Nooo!" Vegeta screamed, a sound of grief tearing from his throat as I held him back with increasing difficulty. "FATHER!"

"We can't do anything for him, Vegeta. If you try, you'll get yourself killed," I told him, but I don't think he heard me.

The sound of Frieza laughing caught my attention, "There! Much better! Now you're fighting to the death to see who will become King of the Saiyans! Much more dramatic, don't you all agree?"

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Vegeta screamed in my ear, but I could barely hear him over the sound of my heartbeat thundering in my ears. He struggled to get past me, but I couldn't allow that.

None of it mattered at this moment. Not that we had been trying to kill each other moments before. Not that trillions upon trillions of people had died in a war to advance the Trade Organization’s bottom line. None of it. Right now, the only thing that mattered was getting through this situation.

I flew down, tackling Vegeta to the ground below. We crashed through a mountain of a sand dune, making it wash over us. Vegeta lashed out, catching me in the face with the back of his fist. My head snapped back — I had been so preoccupied, I didn’t notice Vegeta’s power swelling. It was skyrocketing.

“Vegeta, swallow it,” I hissed at him, grabbing him by the throat and pushing him through the sand to arc a long line through the desert. It washed over us, but it gave us some distance between us and Frieza. “I know. I understand. But if you do this, then Frieza will exterminate the Saiyan race. He will kill us all. You will be the king of nothing,” I finished, punching Vegeta in the face and sending him through another sand dune.

My father was dead. Killed by Frieza. We weren’t close. We hadn’t ever been. First I was too weak, then I had walked away. I didn’t love him… but I could have. Now that the war was over, we could have reconnected. That was stolen from me now. Vegeta, on the other hand…

Vegeta rose to his feet, his face twisted into a furious snarl of rage. Veins throbbed, his teeth gnashing together as he tried to control his breathing. Grains of sand began to swirl as they were blasted back from the power that he gathered. My heart sank when his raven black hair flashed gold for a fraction of a second.

“He killed him, Tarble. He killed our father,” Vegeta bit out, tears welling in his eyes. I had never seen him cry before. I honestly thought he wasn’t capable of it. Yet, it would seem the sting of the betrayal that he had suffered at our father’s hand wasn’t enough to wash away what they shared. Vegeta had loved our father. Looked up to him. Admired him. He had shared years with our father. As many as I had shared with Mom.

His power surged, his hair flashing gold as it drifted up, gathering in locks. Tears dripped from his eyes, but the power he gave off lifted them up before they could fall. “Frieza killed him,” he repeated, looking at me. His eyes shifted from yellow to turquoise and his hair flashed once again.

“I know,” I told him, my voice grim. “But you can’t go Super Saiyan, Vegeta. If Frieza sees, he will kill us all because then… then we’ll be a threat rather than his entertainment.” It wouldn’t work. I could see that. I didn’t blame him either. I just couldn’t let this happen. We failed to kill Frieza in the Vega system. We weren’t ready to kill him now.

Vegeta took a step forward, “I… I… I DON’T CARE!” Vegeta threw back his head and screamed the words, his power surging. Sand and dust washed over me, a glow of golden light shining in the darkness filled my vision through it all. Vegeta began to rise and I rose with him, thinking as fast as I could, but I knew it was too late. It was all just falling apart.

I reached out to the Warworld and sent out a message. A risky gamble, but it was the only card I had left to play. I gave the order to evacuate the planet. Me and Vegeta were dead, but the Saiyan race didn’t have to die here. The others could escape. They could hide. Then, one day, they could kill Frieza in our place. To do that, though, they had to survive today.

“Vegeta…” I trailed off when we rose above the dust and sand.

Tears still dripped from Vegeta’s eyes, but he was surrounded by an aura of gold. His black hair shone with the same color while his eyes were colored turquoise. His armor was scuffed and broken, but the Royal Family insignia was still displayed proudly over his heart. He was a Super Saiyan. The first of us to become one. I was almost proud underneath the horror of everything that led to this point.

“Move,” he growled the word out, sounding like a rabid animal trying to restrain itself.

“Vegeta, you need to run. Try to get off of Planet Vegeta with the others,” it wouldn’t work. That ice-cold part of my brain that I had grown so used to listening to, it practically became my normal thoughts. “You’re a Super Saiyan. Run now, train our race, then come back stronger.” It was the best I could come up with, but it wouldn’t work. I knew that. I did. I just…

I didn’t want my brother to die.

“Tarble,” Vegeta said, taking in a breath, closing his eyes for a brief moment. When he opened them, his gaze bore a hole through me. As if he was looking at Frieza through me. “You run,” he countered, drifting forward. “I’ll hold Frieza off for as long as I can. You flee with those that you can gather. Train them. Be their King.” My heart clenched in my chest as I realized what this was.

Vegeta was telling me goodbye.

He reached out, placing a hand on my shoulder and it was the most difficult thing I had ever done to meet his gaze. He gave my shoulder a slight squeeze and a nod, “I believe in you, little brother.”

“Ve-” The words died in my throat when Vegeta’s head snapped to the side, struck by an unseen force before blood splattered across my face. I flinched back, my heart sinking to my feet. Had Frieza-

Vegeta began to drop like a stone, his grip on my shoulder slipping. I reached out to grab him and found that he was dead weight. The golden aura faded quickly but his golden hair remained for a moment, revealing blood-soaked hair. It dripped down, soaking it before fading from view when Vegeta’s hair went black.

All I could hear was the thundering in my ears. Air refused to enter my lungs. My gaze was locked on the wound on the side of his head. I could see the blood, the white of bone…

No.

“Vegeta?” I heard a pathetic voice whisper as I reached out, cupping the side of his head. Blood soaked my palm, dripping down my wrist as I turned his head to look at me. Vegeta’s dark eyes looked back at me, wide open.

Lifeless.

“N… no…” I lowered to the ground, dropping like a stone. I laid him down in the sand, a Medicine Ball forming in my hands that washed Vegeta in purple healing light. His blood dripped into the sand underneath it, dying it red. My heart stopped in my chest, almost as if someone had reached out and gripped it with an ice-cold hand. This… no… no, this…

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something enter my range of vision. With wide eyes, I looked up to see Frieza, who looked down at Vegeta with a deep frown. His lips moved but it took a moment to click that he was speaking.

“-fun. Seems like Vegeta tried to save my life, taking a bullet for me. How droll,” Frieza remarked, holding up a metal slug. I looked to it — a slug about an inch wide and two long. On its surface were engravings. Engravings that I recognized. For hours upon hours upon hours, I had watched Narra make similar movements as she carved those symbols into my soul.

Then the slug vanished.

“That…” My tongue felt wrong in my mouth. Heavy and clumsy. My thoughts felt muffled, my hearing too. It felt like I wasn’t in my body anymore. “That’s Canda’s Nth metal slug,” I heard myself say as I rose to my feet. I looked down at my hands, seeing the blood on them. Vegeta’s blood. My brother’s blood.

This didn’t make any sense. Why… why was my brother dead? Why was he dead? Why had he been shot in the head with a Nth metal bullet from a dead comrade’s gun? I… needed answers. I needed to know.

I think Frieza said something, but I wasn’t listening. I reached out to the Warworld and demanded answers. It scanned the planet for all Nth metal -- there wasn’t much. Just what was in my suit and necklace, and a small amount that was a few miles away. The Warworld gave me the exact location.

Wasting no time, I blasted towards it. I pushed my speed to its limit, heading towards the Nth bullet that was enchanted to return to the gun that fired it. I hadn’t known Canda as well as some, but I had known her. She was a member of the 501st. She had been for years. There was no way I wouldn't recognize that bullet.

I didn’t even care that I was risking a bullet to the head just like Vegeta. My head was empty except for the thought of finding the gun. Finding the gun and the person that pulled the trigger.

It didn’t take but a minute to find it. It laid in the sand in a small crater, half-buried. As if someone had thrown it away as hard as they could to get rid of the trail. There were no footsteps, so it was a flyer that murdered my brother. In the crater was a railgun, a Nth bullet in the chamber to be fired. It was Canda’s gun. There was no mistaking it. How? How was it here? Canda had died in the Vega system with the others—

The Warworld answered my question. Footage from a drone played in my mind, feed to me by the connection I had with the Warworld. It was a short clip, barely a few seconds long but there was no mistaking it. It was impossible to.

I saw Fasha picking the gun up, bracing it against her shoulder. I saw Bardock and Tora with her.

It was too much. It was just too much. I didn’t even realize I was moving until I arrived at my destination. My mind felt like it was felt with fog clouding every thought. My blood felt too hot in my veins… none of it felt real. It felt like I was trapped inside of some hellish nightmare.

I flew down into an ancient building that had once been inhabited by the Truffles. The floors gave way like nothing until I reached the bottom floor that was half-buried in sand while moonlight streamed in from above. I landed in a crouch in a small crater, but as I rose, I met the gaze… the gaze of Fasha. Of Tora. Of Shugesh. Of Borgos.

Of my team.

“Tarble…” Fasha started, looking stricken as I walked forward out of the crater. Her dark eyes met mine, and I saw it in her gaze. I saw it before she spoke. “I’m sorry.”

She did it. She murdered Vegeta.

Tears blurred my vision, my heart felt like it was being ripped into shreds. A heart-wrenching sound of grief escaped my throat as I gripped my head in my hands, trying to make sense of it all. Trying to find some other explanation for what was going on. My tears felt hot on my skin as they raced down my cheeks and I stumbled a step forward, nearly falling over because my legs didn’t feel like they had any strength.

“Ahhh…” I groaned, my hands curling into fists as I grabbed handfuls of my hair. “Ah…” It wasn’t a sob. It was something too broken to be a sob. I couldn’t breathe. Air refused to enter my lungs, leaving me gasping for breath.

All of it… all of it was for nothing. My father was dead. My brother was dead. The Saiyan race was going to be exterminated. The war was for nothing.

It was all too much.

Something inside of me snapped.

Power flooded my body. I knew what it was even before I saw the golden aura that rose off of my body in wisps, or the light that cast long shadows in the ruined building. I saw it in their eyes. The look of awe. And fear.

I was a Super Saiyan… and I only had one thought in my mind.

“I’m going to kill you!”

...

You have no clue how long I've waited to write this chapter. This was the scene that gave me the idea for Going Native in the first place. It's changed a fair bit over the past year or so, but at the core it's still the same. Goku had rage, Vegeta had desperation, Broly had grief and Tarble has betrayal.

Vegeta betrayed him. His team betrayed him. Even Frieza betrayed him. Everything he fought for betrayed him. And, in a way, Tarble betrayed himself by betraying everything he stood for.

All that foreshadowing and build-up. All for this one moment to drive Tarble to become a Super Saiyan. I ended up writing this thing up in one sitting, I was having so much fun with it. The next chapter will be the finale for Going Native. I'm just going to make it as long as it turns out to be. After that, it's an epilogue. Then it's done at 84 chapters.