Post by Vennel on May 30, 2015 19:20:44 GMT
[Heavy Weights On]
Planet Vegeta. The ruby gem of the Solar Saiyan Empire. It is here, that our story begins, but not with who you might think. One of the few Saiyans who's primary profession was not that of a warrior, Doctor Kabaj, stalked down the long hallway of the building Saiyan children were kept in. Kabaj stood at about five-foot eleven, balding with hair cropping out on either side of his head, like a reverse tonsure. It was his job to look after new borns in their incubators as they grew to an age above infancy, and then were sent off world. Today there was a new batch of Saiyan children to be sent off world, their planets predetermined by both their power level and the ministry.
"Tch, let's see..."
Kabaj looked into the large room with the different Incubators lined up, small stasis pods where Saiyan children were essentially kept to grow as if still within the womb for periods of time so that their first moments could be forged by the obstacles of the planet they were sent to. They were all of low class or otherwise sub-elite status, where as Elites were allowed to train for a period of time before they were sent on missions as a full fledged combatant.
This particular room that Kabaj found himself in, was home to the first-class new borns. Saiyans born with a powerlevel high enough to put them above the rest that warranted they may serve directly under elites, or born with a low power level despite elite parentage. And of the Saiyan children in this room, only one was of age today.
"There you are.... Vennel, huh?"
Reading the inscription on the Incubator he opened the seal, causing the incubatory fluids to drain from it. The Saiyan child, startled by the sudden change began to cry in confusion as Kabaj reached in and grabbed the child.
"Hey, settle down."
Surprisingly, the child stopped for a moment, looking up at the aged Saiyan with teary eyes as silence fell over the room. Kabaj was confused that the child was so responsive, but decided it better to count himself lucky. Moments later, another doctor, came through the door way to the room.
"Oi, Kabaj, you got the kid yet?"
Doctor Choibok, he was another of the Saiyans on the medical staff. He was much shorter than Kabaj, standing just over five feet tall by two inches and with a long unruly mane of a hair style. He had come by to assist Kabaj in collecting the young that were old enough to be sent to their destination worlds.
"Yes, there's only one today from this room."
"I see. Well, let's gather up the rest of them and head to the launch pad, shall we?"
"Yeah, yeah."
Kabaj muttered under his breath as he carried the young female Saiyan child out of the room. Like many Saiyan children who were not strong enough to be classed as elites, their parents typically didn't care much for them after being born. Most Saiyan parents met once or twice to mate, but typically did not make much else of the physical relationship. And Vennel was no different, her parents were both second class warriors, and while their child was born stronger than either of them were, she was nothing out of the ordinary, and her parents had gone back to their warrior life styles. But they play a very inconsequential role in this story, merely the loins by which Vennel was conceived.
On the Launch pad, the last of the children was secured in their space pod. Each child given a set of the elastic armor and clothing to wear, most of which were based either on their class, or any spare armor their parents could afford them if they cared enough. But given the nature of the materials the attire was made of, it would stretch and grow with them, hopefulyl being the only clothing the children would need. With the pods each sealed, their destinations were set in a computer by the two doctors. And with the push of a button, one by one, each attack ball was thrust into the sky, reaching up like tiny marbles propelled into the vast ocean of space, set with a singular purpose. For some children, this was a one way trip, in all actuality a death sentence, for others, it was what would define them as a Saiyan for the rest of their lives. A barbaric practice to be sure, when considered by those foreign to the Saiyan life style, but it was a practice kept from the ancient times that Saiyans served the Planetary Trade Organization. It proved to be such an effective means of culling the weak from their young, and finding those who would be truly worthy of the name "Saiyan."
One lone pod soared through the sky, a confused and bewildered female Saiyan was inside, as she banged against the clear port hole of the attack ball, the vast expanse of space rushing past her. This was of course, Vennel's pod. Her first day truly awake and in the world, and she was being thrust to her potential doom. The onboard computer kicked in, and, upon noticing it's occupant was awake, began to secrete the tranquilizer gas that was responsible for inducing the hibernation-like sleep that was so necessary for long term space travel.
As the gasses filled the tiny area, the little Saiyan's eye lids began to grow heavy, sinking back into her chair as the embrace of sleep took hold. The Saiyan child passed away into a deep slumber, as her pod continued it's journey. It's destination was an as of yet unnamed planet, but the Saiyans had taken to calling it Planet Euka.
Euka was a large Jungle planet covered in vast landscapes of dense foliage, some ares of it's jungle surface reaching as tall as several hundred feet tall. It was also unique in that, in the time it took for half a year to pass on planet Vegeta, it was a persistant day time on the world. But the other half of the year, it was night. It also lacked any natural satelites in it's orbits, but every 7 years, it's orbit around the binary solar system it's paths crossed close enough to another planet that could produce sufficient blutz waves. So while this planet had no moon of it's own, and the one it did have was so rare, it would certainly be a struggle for the young Saiyan to survive. This was a sign that either those who assigned the world to her, had high hopes for her, or felt the planet was perfect for sending Saiyans unlikely to survive the culling anyways. But we already know what eventually happens to Vennel, don't we? However, what we don't know is what happened to the girl during the decade it took for her to return to Vegeta.
CRASH!
The sudden jolt of the crash landing from the pod was enough to wake the Saiyan child, who slept through the previous alarms the onboard computer used to awaken it's passengers. As she opened her eyes, her mind starting to perceive everything around her, the alarm still blaring as she leaned up against the port hole to see her surroundings. Of course, she just saw the crater, the dirt of it's curved walls being her only comfort. But the weight of her body triggered the opening mechanism of the hatch and the small Saiyan tumbled out of the pod. Looking up, she partly expected to see the same colored sky as she had back before she was put into the attack ball, but was puzzled to see instead, a dense canopy of leaves blocking most of the sky. What little light made it's way down, piercing through the miniscule breaks in the canopy, to illuminate the area.
The small Saiyan child began to climb up out of the crater, though it was made hard for her, as her clothing seemed to be very heavy for her. Indeed, her clothes were made of weights that were designed to make up for the lesser gravity of her destination, so that her body wouldn't have such a hard time adjusting to the gravity on Vegeta. And while that wouldn't be enough on it's own, it would keep her body from atrophying so much that she'd be unable to at least stand and slowly rehabilitate herself to the home world. But somehow, despite the weight and the steep incline of the crater, she managed to work her way up, higher up the wall, before coming to the top. And what she saw was even more mysterious to her.
Trees, gnarled roots, and other vegetation was so densely packed that the closest thing that resembled traversable terrain was what almost looked like a hallway, where the bark of the trees, and the growth of the plants bowed outwards. It almost reminded her of what felt like a few hours ago, when she was carried down the hall way toward the launch pad. Standing on her feet, the young would-be warrior slowly walked down the path, climbing over and under the roots that otherwise mad eit troublesome to walk the terrain. But her stomache growled, and she hungered for food. She hadn't been used to needing to eat, as the nutrient rich incubator fluid had kept her well nourished like a mother's womb.
But now she needed to figure out what to do. Her natural instincts told her that, in such an area, perhaps food could be found on the plants, perhaps a primitive survival instinct that still existed in their species. Finding one of the large trees, she climbed up it's bark, and noticed a strange, pulsating, sack that was on the side of the tree. Indeed, there were several of these sacks, each more like the last, the motion managed to captivated Vennel's attention. Poking at the one close to her, it seemed to wiggle back at her touch, she thought it was a fun reaction, and poked it again. Only thist time, the sack burst open!
The strange sack bursting open surprised and startled the young Saiyan, causing her to lose her grip and fall off the tree. A good thing too, because she just narrowly missed the payload inside the sack. As it turned out, the sack's spray was highly acidic, as it sprayed with such force and at such a speed that it struck the tree nearby it instead, and burned a sizable chunk of it's bark away. Thankfully it wasn't enough to cause the tree to collapse just yet, but it certainly seemed to weaken greatly, and any further losee of it's trunk or additional force might cause it to crumble. Being so young and so unused to what was going on, Vennel was too terrified to know what to do next. Her instincts were to kill something that attacked her, but it was a tree, it wasn't food. And what she thought was food on the tree, ended up nearly melting her. She didn't like it here, she hated it. She wanted to go home, but- where was home?
Hours past as the young Saiyan wandered down what seemed like a pathway, her stomache growling obscenely as she hungered for food.
"I want food...."
The poor girl whined. She didn't know what to do, or what was safe to eat, her tail dragging on the ground behind her as she didn't know what else to do with it, and the energy to keep it suspended above the ground was too taxing for her. But soon, she came to a clearing. The clearing was about as large as the crater she came in, but without the crater, obviously. Short grass that had recently begun growing seemed to take root in what looked to be recently disturbed earth. But naturally, Vennel took it as perhaps a safe place to rest. Asmall, wilted, dead tree seemed to be erected in the center of the clearing, and she thought maybe it would provide a land mark to call a place to stay. Maybe she could move from this location, on to others in her search for food. And to her surprise, similar pathways like the one she walked down seemed to extend out from around the tree line that formed the border of the tree line.
However, as if the entire world was out to get her, the tree began to move, as she set foot in the clearing. It wriggled back and forth, menacingly probing the air in her direction. Vennel's expression turned from one of confusion to alert, as suddenly the tree seemed to rise into the air, the ground beneath it breaking and falling away as the tree revealed a large root- wait, it wasn't just one root, it was many. And at the base of the roots, as a large circular mouth, like a giant leech. But beneath the roots, lay a large tube, that lead to the top of an enormous bulb that breached the ground. The large plant screeched, writing as it had been disturbed and began to charge Vennel with an intense speed.
Vennel shrieked at the sight of the carnivorous plant, as she quickly turned back to run the way she came. It was now painfully clear, though, as she looked behind her to see if the large bulb was still following, just what this pathway was. It was the path left in the wake of the monsterous bulb, as it's bulbous rear seemed to perfectly fit between the trees, long tendril-like roots extending from the bulb acting as dozens of tiny legs, as they propelled it along, pushing off the different trees. Vennel, however, reacting on instinct, leapt up into the trees that surrounded the pathway, using her tail, her arms, and her legs, to help her rotated from swinging from branch to branch, to leaping off each branch.
But the plant didn't stop or show any signs of slowing down. It continued to gnash it's tiny teeth, screeching as it crashed through the foliage under toe (or under bulb, perhaps). But as Vennel continued to make her way through the tree tops, her tail caught hold of a branch that started to fall almost as soon as her body weight was put onto it. Using her momentum, she swung up from under the branch, and up onto the next tree in front of her. Looking over her shoulder to see what that was about, the tree that gave way started to collapse, just as the large bulbous creature started to pass by. It seemed that Vennel had, in her haste, made it back to nearly where she started, the large tree that was nearly felled from before with the acidic plant finally tumbling down with the weight of her body under it.
With a deafening squeel, as the beast was unable to resist the large tree's trunk, despite how much it tried, it seemed to fall silent. However, it didn't take long before the bulb started to move again. Apparently, now that Vennel had stopped moving, and was so far up in the trees, the creature had given up. It's large bulbous rear sank down into the ground, the long tendril-esque feelers ccting as many arms and digging down below the fertile soil. The creature then seemed to remain still, making that area it's new home.
The poor Saiyan girl, a good ways off by the time she had stopped to see what had happened, let out a sigh of relief to see the creature not moving anymore. The felled tree would most likely prevent it from continuing down her current path. Turning around she made her way back to the crater where her pod lay. Before, she felt like the pod was a prison, but now it seemed to be the most comforting thing in the world to her. At least in side it, everything wasn't out to try and kill her, and she liked that. She liked that a lot. Hopping down out of the tree line, she landed with a thud on the soft dirt of the crater, and crawled inside the pod. The pod door closed behind her, but with no destination set, it remained still, motionless. The day's excitement and the lack of food taking it's toll on her, she began to drift to sleep, no longer having the energy needed to remain awake. Maybe tomorrow, she would have better luck, the small Saiyan hoped.
There was a stillness in the air, one that to most would seem natural and pleasant, but here on this world, likely meant something terrible was about to happen. Suddenly, through the trees, a rumbling was heard, something big was moving. Suddenly, high above the trees, a girl not much taller than three feet burst out of the canopy into the open air above a clearing.
As she hung in the air momentarily, a large form burst out from the tree line. One of the bulbous plants, it's rooted tentacles probing the air, and pulling it forward all the while, in hot pursuit of a meal. The girl's small fram, hit the ground, as she had run out of tree line to use for cover. But as she landed, she felt the ground beneath her shift and change. But this wasn't the first time she'd dealt with this before. The girl shot up into the air, and remained suspended there, hovering in the air. Lucky she did so, as just moments after she shot up, the ground was breached, another group of tendril roots shout out, adding a second of the predatory plants to the fray.
The creatures screeched at the little Saiyan girl, who fell down from her position in the air, landing on the bulb of the first creature. The creature's long tube-like neck prevented it fromr eaching back to strike her, instead, causing it to rush at high speeds off into the jungle, with the other beast in hot pursuit of it, clearly sensing Vennel's presence. But Vennel had learned, over the past two years, of a way to kill them. On the backs of the bulbs, were small holes used for nutrient absorption, when underground, from the soil. However, these holes had a thin membrane that prevented them from filling with soil. Rearching back, the savage Saiyan girl, threw her fist into one of the membranes, and fired off a blast of ki into the creature. The creature let out a ear piercing squeel before convulsing in place, and then falling still. However, there was another not far behind it, so Vennel dropped into the small hole that she had opened, into the bulb of the beast.
The other plant gnashed it's teach at the hole, trying desperately to get to the meat it desired so dearly. But Vennel was smarter than it, reaching out with her arm and firing another blast of ki at it's mouth. The beast was wounded, rearing back from the sudden attack, before regaining it's composure. However, that small moment was all Vennel needed, as she leapt back out, rising into the air again, and landing on the back of her quarry. From there, it was a simple matter of repeating the process, as she rode the beast as it scrambled for a way to shake the tiny girl off of it. It came to a large shallow pond before the Saiyan girl ended it's life.
Motionless, the creature lay there in the water, as it began to settle around them. The Saiyan girl surveying her kill, before going into the hole in it's back, now freed from the membrane she had opened, and began to carve away at the 'meat' inside of it. Inside the bulb, was tender plant material, that she had found was indeed edible, but only just. The planet in her years there, seemed to have no sign of life beside the large plants that came in so many varieties. But knowing little else, she had come to accept it.
However, as she finished eating her fill, she emerged from the hole, to find humanoids surrounding the pond. At first, her response was defensive, as she looked around at each of the beings, their numbers counted, perhaps maybe a dozen at first glance, but they were garbed in nothing but clothes made from foliage and armed with crude spears. Vennel relaxed, as soon as she realized they weren't making any hostile advances, and looked very different than the plant creatures she was used to. Instead, they were almost reptilian, they seemed to be. Their forms were similar to hers, though with no tail, but their bodies were covered in brightly colored scales. And as she sat there, pondering what they were doing, one came toward her, stepping into the water.
It began to speak to, or about her, in it's native tongue, so clearly Vennel had no idea what it was saying, but for some reason it seemed to encourage a cheer from the rest of the lizards. Then, it turned to her, offering her his hand, while taking a knee, and bowing his head. The rest seemed to follow suit, dropping to one knee in show of honor. It seemed that slaying the large beast was something that caused a great deal of reverence. Being the curious little girl she was, and this being the first time she'd seen creatures that weren't hostile toward her, she decided to take the alien's hand. She was then lead out of the pond, and over to the tree line.
Vennel wasn't sure just yet where they were taking her, but she didn't feel like, after that display, they were going to be quick to challenger her. Not to mention, her hubris lead her to believe she could take care of them easily, since she'd seen not hide nor hair of them over the past two years, leading her to believe they remained hidden. Once they were upon the tree line, they climbed up the trunks, where as Vennel gently ascended upwards. Her action was met with gasps of wonder and awe, seeing her fly without device. As she passed them however, they continued to climb, and appeared to be trying to lead her somewhere. Landing amid the canopy, she took to following them as they traveled through the great trees much as she had come to do before she figured out how to control her ki, which even she didn't fully understand.
After hours of travel, she finally came to what appeared to be a larger tree gathering, but the tops of the trees had been leveled, their trunks worked down to a flat, planar level, and small huts errected on their tops, with various branches and vines forming a "ground" to be walked upon while this far up. Vennel, of course, had never seen anything like it before. But it appeared to be a settlement formed by these tribesmen, that they lived in. There were easily three times the number of the group that originally found her, living in the settlement, and many came out of their wooden huts to see what the hunters had returned with.
To their shock and awe, it was a pale, fleshy being, small to boot, and with an odd furry tail. Vennel of course, saw the aliens as the odd ones, but to them, she was the first not of their kind to be seen, and also to not be a carnivorous plant. Many of the vilalgers either feel to their knees, prostrating themselves in her rpesence, or flat out bowed before her. She had no idea why this was happening, but the hunters showed her to the largest hut of the village. Once she'd entered, a larger lizard sat atop a large stone, adorned with colorful beeds and a much more elaborate attire, with painted leaves. The other aliens bowed in his presence, as he stood, to observe his guest. Looking the girl over, and sniffing at her, he pulled his head back, with a strange expression of confusion on his face.
For a time, the aliens spoke among themselves, leaving Vennel incredibly confused, and wondering what to do. Sure, she could use her ki and attack, probably kill them all and see what they tasted like, but to be honest, a part of her was just relieved to see other life forms. The aliens however, seemed to have come to a stop, as her thoughts drifted to what to do. They looked at her, before one of them picked her up, her thoughts brought back to the present as she was confused and rather irrate to be handled in such a way. But they then placed her on the large rock in the hut. The ornately dressed alien removing his beeds and draping them over the young Saiyan girl's neck and body. Confused, they then lifted the rock, and marched her out into the center of the village, where villagers seemed to praise and cheer for her. Many brought her offerings of strange foods she'd never seen, juices, and colored colothing.
What Vennel didn't seem to understand is for some reason, the aliens were treating her like a god. She was certainly confused, but she could get used to the treatment. But after the day's long efforts, she was growing tired, and promptly curled up on her mobile rock and began to sleep. What happened next, was a mystery to her for sure, but she didn't seem to care much either way.
Vennel had grown accustomed to her life on this jungle world. She'd since learned to understand the aliens and their language, more or less. The aliens, upon seeing her slay one of the large bulbed monsters, had taken her for the avatar of the deity they worshiped, a god of war and the hunt. While she very much doubted she was some diety's avatar, she wasn't about to tell them otherwise. Indeed, she'd grown to like being treated as a god, and worshiped as such. She'd learned to lead them on hunts after the creatures, or more accurately they began to immitate her with their hunting tactics as she went out on her own.
She however, was very much not fond of the constant presence of the aliens, they felt that her appearance before them was a sign of their god's favor, and that meant that to grow stronger they needed to be in her presence. And despite her insistance, they usually tended to follow her when she went out hunting. Had it not been for the fact that she could have anything she wanted to upon asking, she likely would have left them long ago.
However, today was a day unlike others. Today was a day that she would encounter something curious to her. When her 'tribe' as she had come to calling them, was out on a hunt for the great plantaen monsters that stalked it's junkles farther from their normal hunting grounds, she encountered strangers. Strangers of another tribe. They looked almost identical, however with scales that were duller in color. The tribe was numerous, and their hunters seemed to be much larger in physical build. It was while she was hunting, and the hunters tailed her, that she saw the hunters ambushed by the rival tribe.
Vennel, however, thinking them at first for others from the village tried to stop the blood shed at first, but then realized it was a tribe altogether different. She quickly learned this as her attempts to end the fight were met with confusion at first, and then aggression as the more aggressive of the two tribes turned their focus to the fleshy tailed girl instead. What they didn't expect, was that Vennel was nothing like the inhabitants here, and they would learn the hard way what it was like to try and stop her. The largest physically built rival tribesman lunged at her, with his crude spear at the ready, to which Vennel merely thrashed with a swipe of her arm, before extending her arm fully and letting loose a blast of ki. The blast of ki tore the reptillian man's head clean off, immediately this intimidated his companions, causing some to fall back, while the hunters that came with Vennel slew them. She was intrigued, and later learned that this other tribe was a long standing rival of theirs, and there were others that inhabited this planet.
Their tribe was often attacked by the other tribes, as their members were physical inferior to them, but thanks to her they thought they had a chance. That was why they went beyond their normal hunting grounds this time, emboldened by their god's avatar, and thinking that she could lead them to victory, and they took her actions that day as proof of it. But something about this didn't sit well with her. She had come to survive this place through her physical strength and tenacity, not relying on others. And that was exactly what they were doing, relying on her to make up for their short comings. But being the young, impressionable child she was, she took that to be the proper way of things. And so, with their enemies slain, many of them took their fallen enemies' bodies as trophies, offering their corpses to Vennel in tribute for her victory. Thrilled by the aspect of a new type of food to try, one that wasn't a plant of some sort, she feasted on the flesh of the fallen aliens. And to her surprise, it was good. Really good. So much so, she wanted to eat more of them.
She questioned the lead hunter, asking about the other tribes, where they may have lived, how far away, questions of that nature. He seemed unsure, but knew the general locations based on their boarders and safe hunting grounds, and where their hunters often encountered rival tribesmen. Vennel was pleased, she would hunt these areas, and she'd locate where they lived. However, upon hearing this, the aliens around her took this as their god's decree to slay their rivals. A war cry resounded amongst the strongest of the tribe, as they were excited to once and for all be rid of their opposition. When in truth, Vennel just wanted to eat meat.
However, her desire for meat was cut short, by the same hunter she had asked before telling her the process of locating the other tribes may take some time. As it seemed that they had little else to go off of than vague understandings of what areas were safe and what weren't. But Vennel didn't care, she'd figure a way to get meat if she wanted it bad enough. The hunter nodded, rejoining the others. A motion was put forward to host a feast, to begin celebrations for the start of their campaign. Vennel of course encouraged it, as more food was never a bad thing as far as she was concerned, her high metabolism almost constantly keeping her in a state of hunger with the insufficient amounts of meat in her diet, which is what Saiyans had steadily evolved to require a large amount of in her diet.
The night went on for several hours, tribal dancing, offerings, tributes, even a reenactment of Vennel's first encounter of the tribe, albeit more played up as if she had descended from the heavens and smote the plant creature. While not a perfect reenactment, it was entertaining to her. So Vennel didn't much mind the poetic liberties taken with the piece. All in all, it was an enjoyable evening. Though, once she had eaten her fill, and had grown bored, she fell asleep. Even though she had gone to sleep, the festival still went on. When next she awoke, she'd be awoken by drums. The drums of war.
Lights danced across the canopy of the tree tops as fire burned what appeared to be the remnants of a village down. Vennel sat in the center, feasting on the corpse of a fallen lizardman, while others were engaged in combat with the remaining aliens that fled. It had been already a year into the campaign, which to Vennel, was merely getting actual food. After tasting meat for the first time, it was something she was never going to go away from, if she could help it.
Since the campaign had begun, several settlements of rival tribes had fallen, or been assimilated. She had formed a small empire, their territory expanding, and their home village now something of a small town with actual houses. They'd advanced beyond simple spears, having developed bows and arrows. It was surprising how quickly their technology advanced in the short amount of time since Vennel had begun her warpath. Through conquering and adding the strengths of different tribes to her own, she had managed to increase the collective amount of people working towards technological advancement, as several simple tools began to be employed. And yet, despite all this, Vennel couldn't care less. She could have accomplished this all on her own, and technically did. All she did was go from place to place, gaining information from each village on other neighboring territories and then finding the next "buffet" of aliens.
Standing up, Vennel tossed aside the discards from her meal that she was working on, and surveyed the damage. This town had been one that was beyond incorporation to her forces, as they had opted to fight to the death, a trait she admired, because it meant there was little resistance to eating them. The three foot tall Saiyan girl walked through the smoking ruins of the small tree top village, stepping over the burning corpses of writhing aliens before coming to the one that had quickly become the leader of her "troops." He turned to face her, the same hunter who she had first talked to about starting this whole adventure.
"So, do we know where the closest tribe is from here?"
"I-I'm not sure. Though, avatar, our warriors must rest. It has been far too long since-"
Vennel cut him off with a stern gaze, one that he feared greatly, seeing as she was supposedly the incarnation of a god. Though, the image was a bit comical, as a tall scaled humanoid roughly six feet tall, was afraid of a girl literally half his size.
"Y-yes, we do. It is to the north, we can reach it one day's time."
"Good. Then we leave tomorrow. Make sure our warriors rest and eat before I awaken."
Nodding nervously, the hunter left, as he returned to the rest of the warriors. Meanwhile, Vennel walked back to her previous location, which was identifiable by the circle of discarded bones and body tissue she found unappetizing. On her way back, she grabbed the burning corpse of a fallen soldier, unsure and uncaring if they were one of her own soldiers, or the enemy's. Sitting back down, she tore into the tender leg meat, and spat out the scale-covered outer layer, before biting into the muscle and tendons that she found so entrancing.
The next day, Vennel awoke to the sound of a camp fire and the smell of of decay. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment, before she pushed herself off the ground and let out a wide-mouthed yawn. Wandering over toward the sound of the camp fire, she saw many of her soldiers eating food they likely pilfered from the food stores of the village they just sacked. One of the reptiles looked up and immediately stood to attention, an act that caused an almost instantaneous chain reaction of the rest standing up, ready for whatever would happen next.
Vennel lazily yawned again, her tail swaying behind her idly as she sniffed the air, and then turned towards the north of their position.
"Well then, let's go."
They all looked to one another nervously, before nods or grunts of affirmation rose from the group. Vennel tasked tracking their quarry to her right-hand man, who took them to the north, splitting their main force up and spreading it about, so that they would better attract attention from rival hunters. Thankfully, this strategy seemed to work quite well as there was typically no communication between tribes as they didn't know exactly where one another lived. It was a very war-like race, that seemed to be too primitive or afraid to try trading outside their small settlements, which were essentially just large families.
And true to form, it didn't take long until Vennel noticed one of the groups get attacked, as she followed them from the sky. Throwing down a barrage of ki blasts, with little care for friendly fire, it also acted as a means of signalling to the others that was where the action was happening. And just as with the others, the attackers quickly saw what was happening, and as many others were, seeing what looked to be light or fire rain from the sky was a total shock to their system.
Immediately, the enemy forces began to retreat, what was left of them. And the survivors of her own forces there, charged after them for a bit, to continue to drive them toward their home where ever it may have been. Vennel of course, kept a bird's eye view on the retreating tribal hunters, and was able to figure out where their tribe's home was located. Firing off a barrage of ki blasts at the tree-topped village, it signalled to her forces where to turn their attentions.
It wasn't long before Vennel's assault and her hunters had arrived, and the slaughter began. Many of her own hunters died, some of the other tribe's surviving hunters were captured, fewer of them swearing loyalty to their new 'goddess' and were ordered to be executed. The proceedural murder and mayhem began anew, as Vennel layed waste to the otherwise helpless aliens before her. Her breakfast was ready.
However, with the continued slaughter, and the lack of reprieve as she lead her forces on what was a blitz krieg around the world, elminating all opposition, they began to grow weary, and even distrust their god-queen. To them, while divine, she was killing them slowly but surely, many of their close comerades and friends dying to even her own attacks with her reckless fighting style. Discontent slowly grew through the ranks, and it was only a matter of time before things began falling apart.
Darkness. The months of night were always so dark on this world, because of the lack of a natural satelite. These were when the tribes usually had prepared stock piles for it, as it was nearly impossible for the sapient race on the planet to find anything in the night. But this wasn't so for Vennel's tribe. Well, it may have been appropriate to at one point have called it a tribe. But after years of conflict, expansion, and integration, she had formed a burgeoning Empire. It spanned most of the northern hemisphere. And little did it's inhabitants realize, but thanks to her involvement it's people had advanced farther than it could have hoped in such a short time. Truly, they should be thankful at least for that.
However, their peaceful lives had been shattered by the ever hungering stomache that demanded meat to form the back bone of her diet. And the dark months were the most bloody for her, as her followers were without a way or a means to see long distances or even fight their opponents accurately. They suffered vast casualties, despite always emerging ahead with Vennel at the helm. However, most of their losses came from the careless attacks from their mighty goddess of war. And dissent sowed across the ranks, as many inducted tribes had different pantheons or ideas on worship entirely. Many of them were far from keen on this warrior life style, and as they were incorporated, the transition was not as smooth as one would hope.
Indeed, talks of rebellion had started, hushed whispers at first, but eventually entire cabals meeting after Vennel had fallen asleep to discuss ways that she could be killed. But each was too scared to try anything short of a sure-fire plan, and those seemed impossible. Their tools had always seemed ineffective, she could generate and release fire from her hands, and her strength was unparalleled despite her size. But one thing had been learned over time. Her tail was a source of weakness. She had once been grabbed by a small, curious child who saw it as something soft and moving and wanted to touch it. The reaction sent the small girl to her knees, almost paralyzed and unable to react. But they knew that they would need to get close enough to her before trying such a thing, as failing to succeed would end their lives no doubt.
And at this time one such meeting was taking place, as the leaders from different tribes that had risen to handle the governance of the various jungle regions met to discuss how best to remove the Saiyan child. The talks went long, but eventually a plan was decided upon, and they would enact it soon. For despite all the advancements that came to their societies in such a relatively short amount of time, her constant need for blood shed and meat to eat, made their way of life unsustainable. People went hungry without hunters to actually hunt, as they were all conscripted into the war force that followed the young girl. Food stocks were comprised largely of beasts slain on campaigns during long periods of travel, or from women and children gathering fruits from the local flora.
And when the hours had passed, and Vennel had awoken, she was startled awakened, as she felt a pair of hands clasp down on her tail. Crippling weakness spread over her body as she nearly went limp from the pressure, as she was hoisted into the air. Her eyes nervously darted around the room she was in, to see several of the reptilian aliens had gathered, each wielding a short spear or knife, as the one who held her up let out a victorious cheer. Her body was weak, and her voice shook, as she spoke to them.
"Wha-what is happening? Wh-why are you all doing this?"
She was legitimately afraid, for the first time in her life she felt afraid of what was to happen. She was powerless for only the second time in her life around these people, and they seemed intent on something dastardly.
"Behold, people of the Avatar! The Avatar has been made helpless. The gods have no sway over us, for we have surpassed their Avatar with our superior cunning. No more shall we be subject to her whims and destructive needs. We, the people, will control our own fates."
What? Were they going to kill her? The one that held her up, had gotten the attention of others who had been sleeping moments ago. Many of them seemed to cheer with joy, others seemed fearful still, that they may be offending their gods. However, Vennel cared about none of this. She was filled with anger, but powerless to act. She watched the crowed through half lidded eyes as she struggled to just remain conscious through the unbarable pain.
Her eyes darted through the crowd, trying to recognize anyone, anyone at all, that might be able to help her freed. She saw several members, children, or other warriors, who seemed worried about her being treated in such a way, and an idea struck her.
"H-help me... please..."
It was strange to see, the mighty warrior she was in such a helpless position. And speaking as she had, she soudned no different than a defenseless child. The one carrying her seemed surprised at first.
"I- I'm sorry. If.. if you let me go, I promise I will change. I did not r-realize I had h-harmed you in s-such a way. Please... I beg of you... I'll do anything you ask. Y-you have my word..."
The one holding her tried to remain strong willed, determined. But many in the crowd now seemed to be in uproar. They were not so determined to anger their gods, or harm a small girl as defenseless as she was. And she had given her word that she would change her ways. Many thought they were quick to act rashly, and that they should pray now to their gods. A much smaller group, seemed in favor of ending her now, but they were being drowned out by the growing crowd in favor of her release.
Reluctantly, the one holding her cried out.
"SILENCE! Very well, if you swear, to change your ways, to cease this endless blood shed, we will forgive you."
She nodded weakly, having expended much of her will power and strength in her last statement. With a solemn nod, the reptilian man released her. And just as soon as he had, she felt her strength surge back into her, her fury renewed as she turned around immediately, and thrust a hand into his chest, and lit him ablaze as she let loose a blast of ki.
The crowd that had gathered there to watch her fall, had their hopes destroyed. They watched her beat him, they watched her break him, they watched his last defense deployed. And there was not a man among them who would let himself be heard. But from the crowd, from their collective fear, arose these broken words: "We are the dead."
Standing atop the fallen body of the man who had held her, she flashed a rage-filled gaze to toward the crowd.
"It is clear to me that you all can not be trusted. Let this be a lesson to any who tries to have me killed. As I can not trust you all to live in my presence, then I have no choice."
Gathering her energy into her hands, she let loose a blast towards the group of warriors who had first surrounded her in her sleep. She struck one in the chest, before the others scattered. She could very well have killed them all, but she could not be bothered. She rose into the night sky, and took off into the jungle. She would have to settle elsewhere, and make trips to the village if ever she wanted to interact with them again. Isolation was all that was left, and a powerful lesson was learned today.
Her empire had expanded much further in the time since she was nearly been killed for her actions. But she now lived alone, in a cave far from the tree-top home. She'd grown stronger too, as she was forced to rule them with an iron fist, nevre backing down, killing those who seemed hesitant. She cared little for their lives, as she felt betrayed by them. She was incapable of seeing why they had done what they did, or how it was validated. She had learned since her first day here that only yourself could be trusted, and that it took personal strength and perserverance to survive these dense, deadly jungles. And she had managed it just fine. Their weakness, their dependence on eachother to form large hunting parties to take down just one of the large bulbous beasts was proof of their ineptitude. And this train of thought was further reinforced by how they often times suffered losses.
Indeed, she didn't realize that her strength came from her almost innate sense of ki control that many Saiyans found themselves either able to do immediately, or were merely very adept at learning it. To her, it simply looked as though her trials had made her stronger, and they were weaker for it. And now that they had grown to fear her, many had grown tougher and meaner, as they followed in her mind set, more or less, while others grew more docile, weaker, and easier to manipulate. Truly, their people had almost lost the will to live, as they grew weary. But today was a special day, it was the day that the sun would finally set, and night would fall for the remainder of the year.
Vennel stepped out of her cave, looking up at the last hours of the twilight sky, as the sun slowly faded over the horizon. She decided that today, she needed to pay her subjects a visit, especially since she was hungry. Since she no longer spent her time there, she mostly left them alone to continue expanse of the empire, so that they could bring her tributes, of fallen tribesmen be they enemy tribes or their own fallen. They were prepared for her under her super vision as well, seeing as she had grown too paranoid of them to allow them a chance to poison her in some way.
So rising into the air, she flew over to the tree top village that had since become something of the capital of the fledgling empire. Without her to lead the charges though, expansion had certainly dropped off, and was only really carried out to expand their meat stores to appease their "violent savior." And as she soared over head, and lowered herself into the tree tops, her presence was noted by all those there. Those nearby immediately fell to their knees, painting a scene reminiscent of her first arrival before this species. However, it wasn't reverence and awe that made them so. They now prostrated themselves from fear, too cowardly to stand up for themselves after watching her violent display so long ago.
She walked with a purposeful stride, as she headed to the village center, where a large alter to her stood erected of broken bones, and an ornamentally prepared carcass of one of the large plantae creatures. Before the alter, laid an ornate throne-like chair, made from the trunks of the immense trees upon which their city rested. Night had finally fallen over the world, the only lights she had to depend on now being the torch lights that lined the path ways of the village.
"Bring me my meal."
She made her demand flatly, it was routine for her, but every day that she did, the aliens bowed their heads and went about their lives, as a messenger flew to the larder to tell the cooks they were required to prepare Vennel's meal. Slowly, the head chef emerged from the kitchen, bringing forth a large stone, and behind him, came several other attendants, who carried wood, and a fire starting kit. Setting up a cooking fire, and a small table with no surface over it, the head chef brought out a large stone to lay over the table, providing the cooking surface. He then turned to leave, in order to get the meat to prepare, when Vennel rose a hand to stop him.
"No, wait...."
Her eyes scanned the crowd. It had been far too long since she last made an example of someone, and the crowd seemed to have waned in their fear of her. She'd come to know that fear was the only thing that could keep these aliens under control, and without it, they were likely to betray her, and after all she'd done for them too. She couldn't have that. She wanted to find someone adequate. And after gazing at the crowd, several parents moving to hide their children from her gaze, and many more adults turning their gaze away as well. But one boy caught her eye, he glared back at her. He looked familiar, but she couldn't say why for sure. It could have just been because they all looked alike to her, more or less that is.
"Him. I wish to eat him."
At first the crowd was silent, the boy's reaction turning from a angry glare, to a petrified look of horror. His parent seemed resistant, pleading with Vennel to reconsider, as others in the crowd looked away, too ashamed that they were powerless to stop this. They all knew that if she wanted, Vennel could make it happen herself, and no amount of resistance mattered.
"Restrain the parent. I want them to watch while their child is sacrificed."
A gasp arose from the crowd, as they awkwardly looked to one another, as if they were trying to figure out who should be the one to kill the child. The parent screamed, begging for Vennel to reconsider, but her mind was already made up. The parent was restrained, as per her request, and one of the hunters of the tribe stepped forward. Looking away as he brought his short spear to bare, and thrust it into the child. With a final gasp, the child took his last breath, before falling limp to the floor.
Grimly, the chef collected the body, and began preparing it's meat for Vennel. But while this happened, the parent of the child seemed to break free of the guards' hold, and came at Vennel, rushing her. The parent had lost it's mind, with nothing left to live for, having their old child taken from them and forced to watch. They tried a last ditch effort, in hopes to perhaps avenge their son, brandishing a hidden blade. But Vennel was faster, and more alert than she could have hoped. Her hand reached up and caught the blade as it coming at her, catching the would-be assailant's arm. She glared at the one who tried to attack her, her other hand came up, and lit up, ki leaping out of her palm and striking the alien at point blank range.
But Vennel's eye caught something, before she released the now smouldering corpse of the alien. There was some sort of large light shining on the flat of the blade. It seemed spherical, and it was in the sky? She'd never seen something that bright in the night sky, as darkness had fallen. It was almost like a small, faintly glowing sun. She turned around to see what it was with her own eyes. But that was the last of her conscious thoughts. The spherical object, a passing planet coming close enough to the planet's orbit to reflect the sun's light down on the world. She felt her heart rate increase, pumping hard and loud in her ears, the throbbing of her heart drowning out her thoughts. Her eye's seemed to roll back, as their color reddened, and her face changed, a snout growing on it as hair began to sprout over her body.
The aliens all fell back, in horror of what was happening, but equally confused. Vennel's body began to grow larger, rapidly growing taller, wider, and harrier. Before long her body towered above the small city, the weight of the village's tree trunk supports unable to support her. The entire city began to crumble down, the reptilian crowd letting out cries of horror and panic, as they clambored to try and remain above the tree line, but all failing to manage it. They came tumbling down, many being crushed under the falling buildings as Vennel yet grew, towering above the tallest trees in her great behomoth form. Her great ape transformation complete. A monsterous roar boomed out from Vennel's transformed body.
To many of the aliens, this would be the last sight they would see before they were crushed under the tantrum the ape threw. Many who managed to avoid both the crumbling of the city, and the thunderous foot falls of the monster who was formerly just a little girl, took this as the final act of an angry god, who had lost all patience with them. Some even fell prostrate and began to pray to their god, hoping this may quell Vennel's rage. But it was to no avail. Her maw opened letting out large blasts of ki that demolished whole chunks of the forest.
But this was only the beginning of what would be the end of their species.
The once verdant jungles of the world lay tranmpled, or long since burnt to the ground. Vennel flew through the skies, looking for any sign of the aliens that once seemed to make up the planet's population. But just one year ago, she last recalled getting herself some food, and then suddenly she blacked out. And when she'd come to, the night months had passed and it looked like some massive catastrophe had come through and wiped out nearly all life from the planet.
So for the past year, she'd been busy scouring the world for any sign of surviving aliens, to feed her hunger. And every now and again she managed to find isolated groups of the creatures hidden among the remains of large trees, where once large swathes of Jungle once stood. But lately, she'd been having no such luck. And to make matters worse, she was out of food to eat, which meant that she'd likely starve at this rate, and that thought scared her, that she might be defeated by a lack of food rather than anything else. And now that she was spending her time hunting for food like this, she found herself thinking back on what could have done this. At first she thought perhaps that someone grabbed her tail and caused her to pass out? But that wouldn't explain why she blacked out for such a great length of time. And not to mention, what could have desolated the world so completely?
Most of the alien life forms were gone as if they all suddenly went extinct, which also made her wonder just what happened. And those she had seen, were all deathly afraid of her. And more recently, she entertained the idea that she some how did this, and that last attack on her life filled her with so much rage that she just went on a rampage for that long. But even then, to not remember a length of time that greatly? It just seemed far too unlikely.
But that's when she saw it, a light in the distance. It lit up a portion of felled and rotting trees on the barren plains that made up most of the landscape now. Curious if it was a sign of the alien life, she took off toward it. The strange thing, the light wasn't like that of a fire, it was a pale white color, which intrigued her. So as she came closer to it, and saw a strange metalic sphere buried in a crater, with a handful of the reptilian tribesmen surrounding it, she lowered herself down to the ground.
The sphere seemed to have had several fallen tree branches surrounding it in a very deliberate manner, implying it was some sort of alter to the aliens that now lived around it. The aliens however, quickly noticed her arrival, and the fear in their eyes was clear as day to her. She approached them with a hand, the short Saiyan girl's hand alive with a glow of it's own, her ki enveloping it. The Aliens, figuring their lives would end if they did nothing, reacted desperately, charging at her. However, their endeavors were in vain, as she extended her arm forward and unleashed a wave of ki that ended their lives rather succinctly. They fell to the floor, one after the other, and ordinarily this would have been the point in which Vennel would begin cooking them, but the metal sphere is what intrigued her most. Approaching, it had a large familiar red tinted circular window in it. But she couldn't exactly recall at first what it was.
But then, suddenly, like a ton of bricks it hit her. This was what she arrived her in. It was her home for a large portion of her younger years, before she'd met the aliens of the planet. Approaching it she touched it, and the hatch released from it's hold with a gentle hiss of pressure change. The hatch slowly opened to reveal the aged interior. Had this truly been here all this time? She considered herself lucky that it remained intact all this time, even despite what had caused the wide spread destruction of the world.
But when it opened, a mechanical voice began to speak to her.
"Urgent Message awaiting. Beginning playback."
"This is Beeta, chancellor of interplanetary acquisitions, of the Solar Saiyan Empire,"
The play back voice was distinctly feminine, and had a different tone to it. It wasn't the raspy, almost hissing sound of the aliens she knew on this world, sounding more like her own voice. She was shocked to hear such for the first time on this planet, but the voice continued on before she could fully absorb the sudden news that others like her existed.
"According to the mission log, you should have either exterminated the local population by now, or enough of it that they will go extinct on their own. That, or you will have died long before this message ever reaches you. If you have found that the planet's population is sufficiently depleted, climb aboard this ship and return home. The process is simple. Merely sit aboard, and the pod will return you home."
Home? Was it true? She had had enough of this planet now, since the population was so sparse and the vegetation lay nearly gone as well. She needed food and this thing said it would take her home. A part of her felt like she could trust it, though. And what was the worse that could happen? If it failed, then so be it, but if not, then she could find out where this home was.
The message ended, cutting out and the ball fell silent again. So, without further delay, she climbed aboard, and the pod sealed itself shut behind her, sealing her within it. Slowly the pod's systems seemed to come to life, as if being inactive for so long made it sluggish. But sure enough, the pod lifted into the air and shot out, toward the stars above. Vennel looked out of the port hole, and watched as the planet that had been her home for so long quickly fell away into the distances behind her. She was headed "home" where ever that was. She wondered where it would be exactly, and how long that it might take, but as she pondered that, she began to fall asleep, as the pod's hybernation cycle started up.
It was the last time that Vennel would have conscious before she awoke on planet Vegeta. When she'd arrive, she'd spend some of her first years there just adapating to Saiyan life style. But the time off world was designed to teach any true Saiyan who would find success among their own people. It taught them essential lessons that every Saiyan would need, and by the time they would be deemed ready, their pods would be sent a message. And if her results on that planet were any indication, she'd go far in the empire. But just how far, yet remained to be seen.
17 Years Ago
Planet Vegeta. The ruby gem of the Solar Saiyan Empire. It is here, that our story begins, but not with who you might think. One of the few Saiyans who's primary profession was not that of a warrior, Doctor Kabaj, stalked down the long hallway of the building Saiyan children were kept in. Kabaj stood at about five-foot eleven, balding with hair cropping out on either side of his head, like a reverse tonsure. It was his job to look after new borns in their incubators as they grew to an age above infancy, and then were sent off world. Today there was a new batch of Saiyan children to be sent off world, their planets predetermined by both their power level and the ministry.
"Tch, let's see..."
Kabaj looked into the large room with the different Incubators lined up, small stasis pods where Saiyan children were essentially kept to grow as if still within the womb for periods of time so that their first moments could be forged by the obstacles of the planet they were sent to. They were all of low class or otherwise sub-elite status, where as Elites were allowed to train for a period of time before they were sent on missions as a full fledged combatant.
This particular room that Kabaj found himself in, was home to the first-class new borns. Saiyans born with a powerlevel high enough to put them above the rest that warranted they may serve directly under elites, or born with a low power level despite elite parentage. And of the Saiyan children in this room, only one was of age today.
"There you are.... Vennel, huh?"
Reading the inscription on the Incubator he opened the seal, causing the incubatory fluids to drain from it. The Saiyan child, startled by the sudden change began to cry in confusion as Kabaj reached in and grabbed the child.
"Hey, settle down."
Surprisingly, the child stopped for a moment, looking up at the aged Saiyan with teary eyes as silence fell over the room. Kabaj was confused that the child was so responsive, but decided it better to count himself lucky. Moments later, another doctor, came through the door way to the room.
"Oi, Kabaj, you got the kid yet?"
Doctor Choibok, he was another of the Saiyans on the medical staff. He was much shorter than Kabaj, standing just over five feet tall by two inches and with a long unruly mane of a hair style. He had come by to assist Kabaj in collecting the young that were old enough to be sent to their destination worlds.
"Yes, there's only one today from this room."
"I see. Well, let's gather up the rest of them and head to the launch pad, shall we?"
"Yeah, yeah."
Kabaj muttered under his breath as he carried the young female Saiyan child out of the room. Like many Saiyan children who were not strong enough to be classed as elites, their parents typically didn't care much for them after being born. Most Saiyan parents met once or twice to mate, but typically did not make much else of the physical relationship. And Vennel was no different, her parents were both second class warriors, and while their child was born stronger than either of them were, she was nothing out of the ordinary, and her parents had gone back to their warrior life styles. But they play a very inconsequential role in this story, merely the loins by which Vennel was conceived.
On the Launch pad, the last of the children was secured in their space pod. Each child given a set of the elastic armor and clothing to wear, most of which were based either on their class, or any spare armor their parents could afford them if they cared enough. But given the nature of the materials the attire was made of, it would stretch and grow with them, hopefulyl being the only clothing the children would need. With the pods each sealed, their destinations were set in a computer by the two doctors. And with the push of a button, one by one, each attack ball was thrust into the sky, reaching up like tiny marbles propelled into the vast ocean of space, set with a singular purpose. For some children, this was a one way trip, in all actuality a death sentence, for others, it was what would define them as a Saiyan for the rest of their lives. A barbaric practice to be sure, when considered by those foreign to the Saiyan life style, but it was a practice kept from the ancient times that Saiyans served the Planetary Trade Organization. It proved to be such an effective means of culling the weak from their young, and finding those who would be truly worthy of the name "Saiyan."
One lone pod soared through the sky, a confused and bewildered female Saiyan was inside, as she banged against the clear port hole of the attack ball, the vast expanse of space rushing past her. This was of course, Vennel's pod. Her first day truly awake and in the world, and she was being thrust to her potential doom. The onboard computer kicked in, and, upon noticing it's occupant was awake, began to secrete the tranquilizer gas that was responsible for inducing the hibernation-like sleep that was so necessary for long term space travel.
As the gasses filled the tiny area, the little Saiyan's eye lids began to grow heavy, sinking back into her chair as the embrace of sleep took hold. The Saiyan child passed away into a deep slumber, as her pod continued it's journey. It's destination was an as of yet unnamed planet, but the Saiyans had taken to calling it Planet Euka.
Euka was a large Jungle planet covered in vast landscapes of dense foliage, some ares of it's jungle surface reaching as tall as several hundred feet tall. It was also unique in that, in the time it took for half a year to pass on planet Vegeta, it was a persistant day time on the world. But the other half of the year, it was night. It also lacked any natural satelites in it's orbits, but every 7 years, it's orbit around the binary solar system it's paths crossed close enough to another planet that could produce sufficient blutz waves. So while this planet had no moon of it's own, and the one it did have was so rare, it would certainly be a struggle for the young Saiyan to survive. This was a sign that either those who assigned the world to her, had high hopes for her, or felt the planet was perfect for sending Saiyans unlikely to survive the culling anyways. But we already know what eventually happens to Vennel, don't we? However, what we don't know is what happened to the girl during the decade it took for her to return to Vegeta.
* * *
CRASH!
The sudden jolt of the crash landing from the pod was enough to wake the Saiyan child, who slept through the previous alarms the onboard computer used to awaken it's passengers. As she opened her eyes, her mind starting to perceive everything around her, the alarm still blaring as she leaned up against the port hole to see her surroundings. Of course, she just saw the crater, the dirt of it's curved walls being her only comfort. But the weight of her body triggered the opening mechanism of the hatch and the small Saiyan tumbled out of the pod. Looking up, she partly expected to see the same colored sky as she had back before she was put into the attack ball, but was puzzled to see instead, a dense canopy of leaves blocking most of the sky. What little light made it's way down, piercing through the miniscule breaks in the canopy, to illuminate the area.
The small Saiyan child began to climb up out of the crater, though it was made hard for her, as her clothing seemed to be very heavy for her. Indeed, her clothes were made of weights that were designed to make up for the lesser gravity of her destination, so that her body wouldn't have such a hard time adjusting to the gravity on Vegeta. And while that wouldn't be enough on it's own, it would keep her body from atrophying so much that she'd be unable to at least stand and slowly rehabilitate herself to the home world. But somehow, despite the weight and the steep incline of the crater, she managed to work her way up, higher up the wall, before coming to the top. And what she saw was even more mysterious to her.
Trees, gnarled roots, and other vegetation was so densely packed that the closest thing that resembled traversable terrain was what almost looked like a hallway, where the bark of the trees, and the growth of the plants bowed outwards. It almost reminded her of what felt like a few hours ago, when she was carried down the hall way toward the launch pad. Standing on her feet, the young would-be warrior slowly walked down the path, climbing over and under the roots that otherwise mad eit troublesome to walk the terrain. But her stomache growled, and she hungered for food. She hadn't been used to needing to eat, as the nutrient rich incubator fluid had kept her well nourished like a mother's womb.
But now she needed to figure out what to do. Her natural instincts told her that, in such an area, perhaps food could be found on the plants, perhaps a primitive survival instinct that still existed in their species. Finding one of the large trees, she climbed up it's bark, and noticed a strange, pulsating, sack that was on the side of the tree. Indeed, there were several of these sacks, each more like the last, the motion managed to captivated Vennel's attention. Poking at the one close to her, it seemed to wiggle back at her touch, she thought it was a fun reaction, and poked it again. Only thist time, the sack burst open!
The strange sack bursting open surprised and startled the young Saiyan, causing her to lose her grip and fall off the tree. A good thing too, because she just narrowly missed the payload inside the sack. As it turned out, the sack's spray was highly acidic, as it sprayed with such force and at such a speed that it struck the tree nearby it instead, and burned a sizable chunk of it's bark away. Thankfully it wasn't enough to cause the tree to collapse just yet, but it certainly seemed to weaken greatly, and any further losee of it's trunk or additional force might cause it to crumble. Being so young and so unused to what was going on, Vennel was too terrified to know what to do next. Her instincts were to kill something that attacked her, but it was a tree, it wasn't food. And what she thought was food on the tree, ended up nearly melting her. She didn't like it here, she hated it. She wanted to go home, but- where was home?
Hours past as the young Saiyan wandered down what seemed like a pathway, her stomache growling obscenely as she hungered for food.
"I want food...."
The poor girl whined. She didn't know what to do, or what was safe to eat, her tail dragging on the ground behind her as she didn't know what else to do with it, and the energy to keep it suspended above the ground was too taxing for her. But soon, she came to a clearing. The clearing was about as large as the crater she came in, but without the crater, obviously. Short grass that had recently begun growing seemed to take root in what looked to be recently disturbed earth. But naturally, Vennel took it as perhaps a safe place to rest. Asmall, wilted, dead tree seemed to be erected in the center of the clearing, and she thought maybe it would provide a land mark to call a place to stay. Maybe she could move from this location, on to others in her search for food. And to her surprise, similar pathways like the one she walked down seemed to extend out from around the tree line that formed the border of the tree line.
However, as if the entire world was out to get her, the tree began to move, as she set foot in the clearing. It wriggled back and forth, menacingly probing the air in her direction. Vennel's expression turned from one of confusion to alert, as suddenly the tree seemed to rise into the air, the ground beneath it breaking and falling away as the tree revealed a large root- wait, it wasn't just one root, it was many. And at the base of the roots, as a large circular mouth, like a giant leech. But beneath the roots, lay a large tube, that lead to the top of an enormous bulb that breached the ground. The large plant screeched, writing as it had been disturbed and began to charge Vennel with an intense speed.
Vennel shrieked at the sight of the carnivorous plant, as she quickly turned back to run the way she came. It was now painfully clear, though, as she looked behind her to see if the large bulb was still following, just what this pathway was. It was the path left in the wake of the monsterous bulb, as it's bulbous rear seemed to perfectly fit between the trees, long tendril-like roots extending from the bulb acting as dozens of tiny legs, as they propelled it along, pushing off the different trees. Vennel, however, reacting on instinct, leapt up into the trees that surrounded the pathway, using her tail, her arms, and her legs, to help her rotated from swinging from branch to branch, to leaping off each branch.
But the plant didn't stop or show any signs of slowing down. It continued to gnash it's tiny teeth, screeching as it crashed through the foliage under toe (or under bulb, perhaps). But as Vennel continued to make her way through the tree tops, her tail caught hold of a branch that started to fall almost as soon as her body weight was put onto it. Using her momentum, she swung up from under the branch, and up onto the next tree in front of her. Looking over her shoulder to see what that was about, the tree that gave way started to collapse, just as the large bulbous creature started to pass by. It seemed that Vennel had, in her haste, made it back to nearly where she started, the large tree that was nearly felled from before with the acidic plant finally tumbling down with the weight of her body under it.
With a deafening squeel, as the beast was unable to resist the large tree's trunk, despite how much it tried, it seemed to fall silent. However, it didn't take long before the bulb started to move again. Apparently, now that Vennel had stopped moving, and was so far up in the trees, the creature had given up. It's large bulbous rear sank down into the ground, the long tendril-esque feelers ccting as many arms and digging down below the fertile soil. The creature then seemed to remain still, making that area it's new home.
The poor Saiyan girl, a good ways off by the time she had stopped to see what had happened, let out a sigh of relief to see the creature not moving anymore. The felled tree would most likely prevent it from continuing down her current path. Turning around she made her way back to the crater where her pod lay. Before, she felt like the pod was a prison, but now it seemed to be the most comforting thing in the world to her. At least in side it, everything wasn't out to try and kill her, and she liked that. She liked that a lot. Hopping down out of the tree line, she landed with a thud on the soft dirt of the crater, and crawled inside the pod. The pod door closed behind her, but with no destination set, it remained still, motionless. The day's excitement and the lack of food taking it's toll on her, she began to drift to sleep, no longer having the energy needed to remain awake. Maybe tomorrow, she would have better luck, the small Saiyan hoped.
* * *
2 Years Later
There was a stillness in the air, one that to most would seem natural and pleasant, but here on this world, likely meant something terrible was about to happen. Suddenly, through the trees, a rumbling was heard, something big was moving. Suddenly, high above the trees, a girl not much taller than three feet burst out of the canopy into the open air above a clearing.
As she hung in the air momentarily, a large form burst out from the tree line. One of the bulbous plants, it's rooted tentacles probing the air, and pulling it forward all the while, in hot pursuit of a meal. The girl's small fram, hit the ground, as she had run out of tree line to use for cover. But as she landed, she felt the ground beneath her shift and change. But this wasn't the first time she'd dealt with this before. The girl shot up into the air, and remained suspended there, hovering in the air. Lucky she did so, as just moments after she shot up, the ground was breached, another group of tendril roots shout out, adding a second of the predatory plants to the fray.
The creatures screeched at the little Saiyan girl, who fell down from her position in the air, landing on the bulb of the first creature. The creature's long tube-like neck prevented it fromr eaching back to strike her, instead, causing it to rush at high speeds off into the jungle, with the other beast in hot pursuit of it, clearly sensing Vennel's presence. But Vennel had learned, over the past two years, of a way to kill them. On the backs of the bulbs, were small holes used for nutrient absorption, when underground, from the soil. However, these holes had a thin membrane that prevented them from filling with soil. Rearching back, the savage Saiyan girl, threw her fist into one of the membranes, and fired off a blast of ki into the creature. The creature let out a ear piercing squeel before convulsing in place, and then falling still. However, there was another not far behind it, so Vennel dropped into the small hole that she had opened, into the bulb of the beast.
The other plant gnashed it's teach at the hole, trying desperately to get to the meat it desired so dearly. But Vennel was smarter than it, reaching out with her arm and firing another blast of ki at it's mouth. The beast was wounded, rearing back from the sudden attack, before regaining it's composure. However, that small moment was all Vennel needed, as she leapt back out, rising into the air again, and landing on the back of her quarry. From there, it was a simple matter of repeating the process, as she rode the beast as it scrambled for a way to shake the tiny girl off of it. It came to a large shallow pond before the Saiyan girl ended it's life.
Motionless, the creature lay there in the water, as it began to settle around them. The Saiyan girl surveying her kill, before going into the hole in it's back, now freed from the membrane she had opened, and began to carve away at the 'meat' inside of it. Inside the bulb, was tender plant material, that she had found was indeed edible, but only just. The planet in her years there, seemed to have no sign of life beside the large plants that came in so many varieties. But knowing little else, she had come to accept it.
However, as she finished eating her fill, she emerged from the hole, to find humanoids surrounding the pond. At first, her response was defensive, as she looked around at each of the beings, their numbers counted, perhaps maybe a dozen at first glance, but they were garbed in nothing but clothes made from foliage and armed with crude spears. Vennel relaxed, as soon as she realized they weren't making any hostile advances, and looked very different than the plant creatures she was used to. Instead, they were almost reptilian, they seemed to be. Their forms were similar to hers, though with no tail, but their bodies were covered in brightly colored scales. And as she sat there, pondering what they were doing, one came toward her, stepping into the water.
It began to speak to, or about her, in it's native tongue, so clearly Vennel had no idea what it was saying, but for some reason it seemed to encourage a cheer from the rest of the lizards. Then, it turned to her, offering her his hand, while taking a knee, and bowing his head. The rest seemed to follow suit, dropping to one knee in show of honor. It seemed that slaying the large beast was something that caused a great deal of reverence. Being the curious little girl she was, and this being the first time she'd seen creatures that weren't hostile toward her, she decided to take the alien's hand. She was then lead out of the pond, and over to the tree line.
Vennel wasn't sure just yet where they were taking her, but she didn't feel like, after that display, they were going to be quick to challenger her. Not to mention, her hubris lead her to believe she could take care of them easily, since she'd seen not hide nor hair of them over the past two years, leading her to believe they remained hidden. Once they were upon the tree line, they climbed up the trunks, where as Vennel gently ascended upwards. Her action was met with gasps of wonder and awe, seeing her fly without device. As she passed them however, they continued to climb, and appeared to be trying to lead her somewhere. Landing amid the canopy, she took to following them as they traveled through the great trees much as she had come to do before she figured out how to control her ki, which even she didn't fully understand.
After hours of travel, she finally came to what appeared to be a larger tree gathering, but the tops of the trees had been leveled, their trunks worked down to a flat, planar level, and small huts errected on their tops, with various branches and vines forming a "ground" to be walked upon while this far up. Vennel, of course, had never seen anything like it before. But it appeared to be a settlement formed by these tribesmen, that they lived in. There were easily three times the number of the group that originally found her, living in the settlement, and many came out of their wooden huts to see what the hunters had returned with.
To their shock and awe, it was a pale, fleshy being, small to boot, and with an odd furry tail. Vennel of course, saw the aliens as the odd ones, but to them, she was the first not of their kind to be seen, and also to not be a carnivorous plant. Many of the vilalgers either feel to their knees, prostrating themselves in her rpesence, or flat out bowed before her. She had no idea why this was happening, but the hunters showed her to the largest hut of the village. Once she'd entered, a larger lizard sat atop a large stone, adorned with colorful beeds and a much more elaborate attire, with painted leaves. The other aliens bowed in his presence, as he stood, to observe his guest. Looking the girl over, and sniffing at her, he pulled his head back, with a strange expression of confusion on his face.
For a time, the aliens spoke among themselves, leaving Vennel incredibly confused, and wondering what to do. Sure, she could use her ki and attack, probably kill them all and see what they tasted like, but to be honest, a part of her was just relieved to see other life forms. The aliens however, seemed to have come to a stop, as her thoughts drifted to what to do. They looked at her, before one of them picked her up, her thoughts brought back to the present as she was confused and rather irrate to be handled in such a way. But they then placed her on the large rock in the hut. The ornately dressed alien removing his beeds and draping them over the young Saiyan girl's neck and body. Confused, they then lifted the rock, and marched her out into the center of the village, where villagers seemed to praise and cheer for her. Many brought her offerings of strange foods she'd never seen, juices, and colored colothing.
What Vennel didn't seem to understand is for some reason, the aliens were treating her like a god. She was certainly confused, but she could get used to the treatment. But after the day's long efforts, she was growing tired, and promptly curled up on her mobile rock and began to sleep. What happened next, was a mystery to her for sure, but she didn't seem to care much either way.
* * *
1 Year Later
Vennel had grown accustomed to her life on this jungle world. She'd since learned to understand the aliens and their language, more or less. The aliens, upon seeing her slay one of the large bulbed monsters, had taken her for the avatar of the deity they worshiped, a god of war and the hunt. While she very much doubted she was some diety's avatar, she wasn't about to tell them otherwise. Indeed, she'd grown to like being treated as a god, and worshiped as such. She'd learned to lead them on hunts after the creatures, or more accurately they began to immitate her with their hunting tactics as she went out on her own.
She however, was very much not fond of the constant presence of the aliens, they felt that her appearance before them was a sign of their god's favor, and that meant that to grow stronger they needed to be in her presence. And despite her insistance, they usually tended to follow her when she went out hunting. Had it not been for the fact that she could have anything she wanted to upon asking, she likely would have left them long ago.
However, today was a day unlike others. Today was a day that she would encounter something curious to her. When her 'tribe' as she had come to calling them, was out on a hunt for the great plantaen monsters that stalked it's junkles farther from their normal hunting grounds, she encountered strangers. Strangers of another tribe. They looked almost identical, however with scales that were duller in color. The tribe was numerous, and their hunters seemed to be much larger in physical build. It was while she was hunting, and the hunters tailed her, that she saw the hunters ambushed by the rival tribe.
Vennel, however, thinking them at first for others from the village tried to stop the blood shed at first, but then realized it was a tribe altogether different. She quickly learned this as her attempts to end the fight were met with confusion at first, and then aggression as the more aggressive of the two tribes turned their focus to the fleshy tailed girl instead. What they didn't expect, was that Vennel was nothing like the inhabitants here, and they would learn the hard way what it was like to try and stop her. The largest physically built rival tribesman lunged at her, with his crude spear at the ready, to which Vennel merely thrashed with a swipe of her arm, before extending her arm fully and letting loose a blast of ki. The blast of ki tore the reptillian man's head clean off, immediately this intimidated his companions, causing some to fall back, while the hunters that came with Vennel slew them. She was intrigued, and later learned that this other tribe was a long standing rival of theirs, and there were others that inhabited this planet.
Their tribe was often attacked by the other tribes, as their members were physical inferior to them, but thanks to her they thought they had a chance. That was why they went beyond their normal hunting grounds this time, emboldened by their god's avatar, and thinking that she could lead them to victory, and they took her actions that day as proof of it. But something about this didn't sit well with her. She had come to survive this place through her physical strength and tenacity, not relying on others. And that was exactly what they were doing, relying on her to make up for their short comings. But being the young, impressionable child she was, she took that to be the proper way of things. And so, with their enemies slain, many of them took their fallen enemies' bodies as trophies, offering their corpses to Vennel in tribute for her victory. Thrilled by the aspect of a new type of food to try, one that wasn't a plant of some sort, she feasted on the flesh of the fallen aliens. And to her surprise, it was good. Really good. So much so, she wanted to eat more of them.
She questioned the lead hunter, asking about the other tribes, where they may have lived, how far away, questions of that nature. He seemed unsure, but knew the general locations based on their boarders and safe hunting grounds, and where their hunters often encountered rival tribesmen. Vennel was pleased, she would hunt these areas, and she'd locate where they lived. However, upon hearing this, the aliens around her took this as their god's decree to slay their rivals. A war cry resounded amongst the strongest of the tribe, as they were excited to once and for all be rid of their opposition. When in truth, Vennel just wanted to eat meat.
However, her desire for meat was cut short, by the same hunter she had asked before telling her the process of locating the other tribes may take some time. As it seemed that they had little else to go off of than vague understandings of what areas were safe and what weren't. But Vennel didn't care, she'd figure a way to get meat if she wanted it bad enough. The hunter nodded, rejoining the others. A motion was put forward to host a feast, to begin celebrations for the start of their campaign. Vennel of course encouraged it, as more food was never a bad thing as far as she was concerned, her high metabolism almost constantly keeping her in a state of hunger with the insufficient amounts of meat in her diet, which is what Saiyans had steadily evolved to require a large amount of in her diet.
The night went on for several hours, tribal dancing, offerings, tributes, even a reenactment of Vennel's first encounter of the tribe, albeit more played up as if she had descended from the heavens and smote the plant creature. While not a perfect reenactment, it was entertaining to her. So Vennel didn't much mind the poetic liberties taken with the piece. All in all, it was an enjoyable evening. Though, once she had eaten her fill, and had grown bored, she fell asleep. Even though she had gone to sleep, the festival still went on. When next she awoke, she'd be awoken by drums. The drums of war.
* * *
1 Year Later
Lights danced across the canopy of the tree tops as fire burned what appeared to be the remnants of a village down. Vennel sat in the center, feasting on the corpse of a fallen lizardman, while others were engaged in combat with the remaining aliens that fled. It had been already a year into the campaign, which to Vennel, was merely getting actual food. After tasting meat for the first time, it was something she was never going to go away from, if she could help it.
Since the campaign had begun, several settlements of rival tribes had fallen, or been assimilated. She had formed a small empire, their territory expanding, and their home village now something of a small town with actual houses. They'd advanced beyond simple spears, having developed bows and arrows. It was surprising how quickly their technology advanced in the short amount of time since Vennel had begun her warpath. Through conquering and adding the strengths of different tribes to her own, she had managed to increase the collective amount of people working towards technological advancement, as several simple tools began to be employed. And yet, despite all this, Vennel couldn't care less. She could have accomplished this all on her own, and technically did. All she did was go from place to place, gaining information from each village on other neighboring territories and then finding the next "buffet" of aliens.
Standing up, Vennel tossed aside the discards from her meal that she was working on, and surveyed the damage. This town had been one that was beyond incorporation to her forces, as they had opted to fight to the death, a trait she admired, because it meant there was little resistance to eating them. The three foot tall Saiyan girl walked through the smoking ruins of the small tree top village, stepping over the burning corpses of writhing aliens before coming to the one that had quickly become the leader of her "troops." He turned to face her, the same hunter who she had first talked to about starting this whole adventure.
"So, do we know where the closest tribe is from here?"
"I-I'm not sure. Though, avatar, our warriors must rest. It has been far too long since-"
Vennel cut him off with a stern gaze, one that he feared greatly, seeing as she was supposedly the incarnation of a god. Though, the image was a bit comical, as a tall scaled humanoid roughly six feet tall, was afraid of a girl literally half his size.
"Y-yes, we do. It is to the north, we can reach it one day's time."
"Good. Then we leave tomorrow. Make sure our warriors rest and eat before I awaken."
Nodding nervously, the hunter left, as he returned to the rest of the warriors. Meanwhile, Vennel walked back to her previous location, which was identifiable by the circle of discarded bones and body tissue she found unappetizing. On her way back, she grabbed the burning corpse of a fallen soldier, unsure and uncaring if they were one of her own soldiers, or the enemy's. Sitting back down, she tore into the tender leg meat, and spat out the scale-covered outer layer, before biting into the muscle and tendons that she found so entrancing.
* * *
The next day, Vennel awoke to the sound of a camp fire and the smell of of decay. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment, before she pushed herself off the ground and let out a wide-mouthed yawn. Wandering over toward the sound of the camp fire, she saw many of her soldiers eating food they likely pilfered from the food stores of the village they just sacked. One of the reptiles looked up and immediately stood to attention, an act that caused an almost instantaneous chain reaction of the rest standing up, ready for whatever would happen next.
Vennel lazily yawned again, her tail swaying behind her idly as she sniffed the air, and then turned towards the north of their position.
"Well then, let's go."
They all looked to one another nervously, before nods or grunts of affirmation rose from the group. Vennel tasked tracking their quarry to her right-hand man, who took them to the north, splitting their main force up and spreading it about, so that they would better attract attention from rival hunters. Thankfully, this strategy seemed to work quite well as there was typically no communication between tribes as they didn't know exactly where one another lived. It was a very war-like race, that seemed to be too primitive or afraid to try trading outside their small settlements, which were essentially just large families.
And true to form, it didn't take long until Vennel noticed one of the groups get attacked, as she followed them from the sky. Throwing down a barrage of ki blasts, with little care for friendly fire, it also acted as a means of signalling to the others that was where the action was happening. And just as with the others, the attackers quickly saw what was happening, and as many others were, seeing what looked to be light or fire rain from the sky was a total shock to their system.
Immediately, the enemy forces began to retreat, what was left of them. And the survivors of her own forces there, charged after them for a bit, to continue to drive them toward their home where ever it may have been. Vennel of course, kept a bird's eye view on the retreating tribal hunters, and was able to figure out where their tribe's home was located. Firing off a barrage of ki blasts at the tree-topped village, it signalled to her forces where to turn their attentions.
It wasn't long before Vennel's assault and her hunters had arrived, and the slaughter began. Many of her own hunters died, some of the other tribe's surviving hunters were captured, fewer of them swearing loyalty to their new 'goddess' and were ordered to be executed. The proceedural murder and mayhem began anew, as Vennel layed waste to the otherwise helpless aliens before her. Her breakfast was ready.
However, with the continued slaughter, and the lack of reprieve as she lead her forces on what was a blitz krieg around the world, elminating all opposition, they began to grow weary, and even distrust their god-queen. To them, while divine, she was killing them slowly but surely, many of their close comerades and friends dying to even her own attacks with her reckless fighting style. Discontent slowly grew through the ranks, and it was only a matter of time before things began falling apart.
* * *
2 Years Later
Darkness. The months of night were always so dark on this world, because of the lack of a natural satelite. These were when the tribes usually had prepared stock piles for it, as it was nearly impossible for the sapient race on the planet to find anything in the night. But this wasn't so for Vennel's tribe. Well, it may have been appropriate to at one point have called it a tribe. But after years of conflict, expansion, and integration, she had formed a burgeoning Empire. It spanned most of the northern hemisphere. And little did it's inhabitants realize, but thanks to her involvement it's people had advanced farther than it could have hoped in such a short time. Truly, they should be thankful at least for that.
However, their peaceful lives had been shattered by the ever hungering stomache that demanded meat to form the back bone of her diet. And the dark months were the most bloody for her, as her followers were without a way or a means to see long distances or even fight their opponents accurately. They suffered vast casualties, despite always emerging ahead with Vennel at the helm. However, most of their losses came from the careless attacks from their mighty goddess of war. And dissent sowed across the ranks, as many inducted tribes had different pantheons or ideas on worship entirely. Many of them were far from keen on this warrior life style, and as they were incorporated, the transition was not as smooth as one would hope.
Indeed, talks of rebellion had started, hushed whispers at first, but eventually entire cabals meeting after Vennel had fallen asleep to discuss ways that she could be killed. But each was too scared to try anything short of a sure-fire plan, and those seemed impossible. Their tools had always seemed ineffective, she could generate and release fire from her hands, and her strength was unparalleled despite her size. But one thing had been learned over time. Her tail was a source of weakness. She had once been grabbed by a small, curious child who saw it as something soft and moving and wanted to touch it. The reaction sent the small girl to her knees, almost paralyzed and unable to react. But they knew that they would need to get close enough to her before trying such a thing, as failing to succeed would end their lives no doubt.
And at this time one such meeting was taking place, as the leaders from different tribes that had risen to handle the governance of the various jungle regions met to discuss how best to remove the Saiyan child. The talks went long, but eventually a plan was decided upon, and they would enact it soon. For despite all the advancements that came to their societies in such a relatively short amount of time, her constant need for blood shed and meat to eat, made their way of life unsustainable. People went hungry without hunters to actually hunt, as they were all conscripted into the war force that followed the young girl. Food stocks were comprised largely of beasts slain on campaigns during long periods of travel, or from women and children gathering fruits from the local flora.
And when the hours had passed, and Vennel had awoken, she was startled awakened, as she felt a pair of hands clasp down on her tail. Crippling weakness spread over her body as she nearly went limp from the pressure, as she was hoisted into the air. Her eyes nervously darted around the room she was in, to see several of the reptilian aliens had gathered, each wielding a short spear or knife, as the one who held her up let out a victorious cheer. Her body was weak, and her voice shook, as she spoke to them.
"Wha-what is happening? Wh-why are you all doing this?"
She was legitimately afraid, for the first time in her life she felt afraid of what was to happen. She was powerless for only the second time in her life around these people, and they seemed intent on something dastardly.
"Behold, people of the Avatar! The Avatar has been made helpless. The gods have no sway over us, for we have surpassed their Avatar with our superior cunning. No more shall we be subject to her whims and destructive needs. We, the people, will control our own fates."
What? Were they going to kill her? The one that held her up, had gotten the attention of others who had been sleeping moments ago. Many of them seemed to cheer with joy, others seemed fearful still, that they may be offending their gods. However, Vennel cared about none of this. She was filled with anger, but powerless to act. She watched the crowed through half lidded eyes as she struggled to just remain conscious through the unbarable pain.
Her eyes darted through the crowd, trying to recognize anyone, anyone at all, that might be able to help her freed. She saw several members, children, or other warriors, who seemed worried about her being treated in such a way, and an idea struck her.
"H-help me... please..."
It was strange to see, the mighty warrior she was in such a helpless position. And speaking as she had, she soudned no different than a defenseless child. The one carrying her seemed surprised at first.
"I- I'm sorry. If.. if you let me go, I promise I will change. I did not r-realize I had h-harmed you in s-such a way. Please... I beg of you... I'll do anything you ask. Y-you have my word..."
The one holding her tried to remain strong willed, determined. But many in the crowd now seemed to be in uproar. They were not so determined to anger their gods, or harm a small girl as defenseless as she was. And she had given her word that she would change her ways. Many thought they were quick to act rashly, and that they should pray now to their gods. A much smaller group, seemed in favor of ending her now, but they were being drowned out by the growing crowd in favor of her release.
Reluctantly, the one holding her cried out.
"SILENCE! Very well, if you swear, to change your ways, to cease this endless blood shed, we will forgive you."
She nodded weakly, having expended much of her will power and strength in her last statement. With a solemn nod, the reptilian man released her. And just as soon as he had, she felt her strength surge back into her, her fury renewed as she turned around immediately, and thrust a hand into his chest, and lit him ablaze as she let loose a blast of ki.
The crowd that had gathered there to watch her fall, had their hopes destroyed. They watched her beat him, they watched her break him, they watched his last defense deployed. And there was not a man among them who would let himself be heard. But from the crowd, from their collective fear, arose these broken words: "We are the dead."
Standing atop the fallen body of the man who had held her, she flashed a rage-filled gaze to toward the crowd.
"It is clear to me that you all can not be trusted. Let this be a lesson to any who tries to have me killed. As I can not trust you all to live in my presence, then I have no choice."
Gathering her energy into her hands, she let loose a blast towards the group of warriors who had first surrounded her in her sleep. She struck one in the chest, before the others scattered. She could very well have killed them all, but she could not be bothered. She rose into the night sky, and took off into the jungle. She would have to settle elsewhere, and make trips to the village if ever she wanted to interact with them again. Isolation was all that was left, and a powerful lesson was learned today.
* * *
1 Year Later
Her empire had expanded much further in the time since she was nearly been killed for her actions. But she now lived alone, in a cave far from the tree-top home. She'd grown stronger too, as she was forced to rule them with an iron fist, nevre backing down, killing those who seemed hesitant. She cared little for their lives, as she felt betrayed by them. She was incapable of seeing why they had done what they did, or how it was validated. She had learned since her first day here that only yourself could be trusted, and that it took personal strength and perserverance to survive these dense, deadly jungles. And she had managed it just fine. Their weakness, their dependence on eachother to form large hunting parties to take down just one of the large bulbous beasts was proof of their ineptitude. And this train of thought was further reinforced by how they often times suffered losses.
Indeed, she didn't realize that her strength came from her almost innate sense of ki control that many Saiyans found themselves either able to do immediately, or were merely very adept at learning it. To her, it simply looked as though her trials had made her stronger, and they were weaker for it. And now that they had grown to fear her, many had grown tougher and meaner, as they followed in her mind set, more or less, while others grew more docile, weaker, and easier to manipulate. Truly, their people had almost lost the will to live, as they grew weary. But today was a special day, it was the day that the sun would finally set, and night would fall for the remainder of the year.
Vennel stepped out of her cave, looking up at the last hours of the twilight sky, as the sun slowly faded over the horizon. She decided that today, she needed to pay her subjects a visit, especially since she was hungry. Since she no longer spent her time there, she mostly left them alone to continue expanse of the empire, so that they could bring her tributes, of fallen tribesmen be they enemy tribes or their own fallen. They were prepared for her under her super vision as well, seeing as she had grown too paranoid of them to allow them a chance to poison her in some way.
So rising into the air, she flew over to the tree top village that had since become something of the capital of the fledgling empire. Without her to lead the charges though, expansion had certainly dropped off, and was only really carried out to expand their meat stores to appease their "violent savior." And as she soared over head, and lowered herself into the tree tops, her presence was noted by all those there. Those nearby immediately fell to their knees, painting a scene reminiscent of her first arrival before this species. However, it wasn't reverence and awe that made them so. They now prostrated themselves from fear, too cowardly to stand up for themselves after watching her violent display so long ago.
She walked with a purposeful stride, as she headed to the village center, where a large alter to her stood erected of broken bones, and an ornamentally prepared carcass of one of the large plantae creatures. Before the alter, laid an ornate throne-like chair, made from the trunks of the immense trees upon which their city rested. Night had finally fallen over the world, the only lights she had to depend on now being the torch lights that lined the path ways of the village.
"Bring me my meal."
She made her demand flatly, it was routine for her, but every day that she did, the aliens bowed their heads and went about their lives, as a messenger flew to the larder to tell the cooks they were required to prepare Vennel's meal. Slowly, the head chef emerged from the kitchen, bringing forth a large stone, and behind him, came several other attendants, who carried wood, and a fire starting kit. Setting up a cooking fire, and a small table with no surface over it, the head chef brought out a large stone to lay over the table, providing the cooking surface. He then turned to leave, in order to get the meat to prepare, when Vennel rose a hand to stop him.
"No, wait...."
Her eyes scanned the crowd. It had been far too long since she last made an example of someone, and the crowd seemed to have waned in their fear of her. She'd come to know that fear was the only thing that could keep these aliens under control, and without it, they were likely to betray her, and after all she'd done for them too. She couldn't have that. She wanted to find someone adequate. And after gazing at the crowd, several parents moving to hide their children from her gaze, and many more adults turning their gaze away as well. But one boy caught her eye, he glared back at her. He looked familiar, but she couldn't say why for sure. It could have just been because they all looked alike to her, more or less that is.
"Him. I wish to eat him."
At first the crowd was silent, the boy's reaction turning from a angry glare, to a petrified look of horror. His parent seemed resistant, pleading with Vennel to reconsider, as others in the crowd looked away, too ashamed that they were powerless to stop this. They all knew that if she wanted, Vennel could make it happen herself, and no amount of resistance mattered.
"Restrain the parent. I want them to watch while their child is sacrificed."
A gasp arose from the crowd, as they awkwardly looked to one another, as if they were trying to figure out who should be the one to kill the child. The parent screamed, begging for Vennel to reconsider, but her mind was already made up. The parent was restrained, as per her request, and one of the hunters of the tribe stepped forward. Looking away as he brought his short spear to bare, and thrust it into the child. With a final gasp, the child took his last breath, before falling limp to the floor.
Grimly, the chef collected the body, and began preparing it's meat for Vennel. But while this happened, the parent of the child seemed to break free of the guards' hold, and came at Vennel, rushing her. The parent had lost it's mind, with nothing left to live for, having their old child taken from them and forced to watch. They tried a last ditch effort, in hopes to perhaps avenge their son, brandishing a hidden blade. But Vennel was faster, and more alert than she could have hoped. Her hand reached up and caught the blade as it coming at her, catching the would-be assailant's arm. She glared at the one who tried to attack her, her other hand came up, and lit up, ki leaping out of her palm and striking the alien at point blank range.
But Vennel's eye caught something, before she released the now smouldering corpse of the alien. There was some sort of large light shining on the flat of the blade. It seemed spherical, and it was in the sky? She'd never seen something that bright in the night sky, as darkness had fallen. It was almost like a small, faintly glowing sun. She turned around to see what it was with her own eyes. But that was the last of her conscious thoughts. The spherical object, a passing planet coming close enough to the planet's orbit to reflect the sun's light down on the world. She felt her heart rate increase, pumping hard and loud in her ears, the throbbing of her heart drowning out her thoughts. Her eye's seemed to roll back, as their color reddened, and her face changed, a snout growing on it as hair began to sprout over her body.
The aliens all fell back, in horror of what was happening, but equally confused. Vennel's body began to grow larger, rapidly growing taller, wider, and harrier. Before long her body towered above the small city, the weight of the village's tree trunk supports unable to support her. The entire city began to crumble down, the reptilian crowd letting out cries of horror and panic, as they clambored to try and remain above the tree line, but all failing to manage it. They came tumbling down, many being crushed under the falling buildings as Vennel yet grew, towering above the tallest trees in her great behomoth form. Her great ape transformation complete. A monsterous roar boomed out from Vennel's transformed body.
To many of the aliens, this would be the last sight they would see before they were crushed under the tantrum the ape threw. Many who managed to avoid both the crumbling of the city, and the thunderous foot falls of the monster who was formerly just a little girl, took this as the final act of an angry god, who had lost all patience with them. Some even fell prostrate and began to pray to their god, hoping this may quell Vennel's rage. But it was to no avail. Her maw opened letting out large blasts of ki that demolished whole chunks of the forest.
But this was only the beginning of what would be the end of their species.
* * *
1.5 Years Later
The once verdant jungles of the world lay tranmpled, or long since burnt to the ground. Vennel flew through the skies, looking for any sign of the aliens that once seemed to make up the planet's population. But just one year ago, she last recalled getting herself some food, and then suddenly she blacked out. And when she'd come to, the night months had passed and it looked like some massive catastrophe had come through and wiped out nearly all life from the planet.
So for the past year, she'd been busy scouring the world for any sign of surviving aliens, to feed her hunger. And every now and again she managed to find isolated groups of the creatures hidden among the remains of large trees, where once large swathes of Jungle once stood. But lately, she'd been having no such luck. And to make matters worse, she was out of food to eat, which meant that she'd likely starve at this rate, and that thought scared her, that she might be defeated by a lack of food rather than anything else. And now that she was spending her time hunting for food like this, she found herself thinking back on what could have done this. At first she thought perhaps that someone grabbed her tail and caused her to pass out? But that wouldn't explain why she blacked out for such a great length of time. And not to mention, what could have desolated the world so completely?
Most of the alien life forms were gone as if they all suddenly went extinct, which also made her wonder just what happened. And those she had seen, were all deathly afraid of her. And more recently, she entertained the idea that she some how did this, and that last attack on her life filled her with so much rage that she just went on a rampage for that long. But even then, to not remember a length of time that greatly? It just seemed far too unlikely.
But that's when she saw it, a light in the distance. It lit up a portion of felled and rotting trees on the barren plains that made up most of the landscape now. Curious if it was a sign of the alien life, she took off toward it. The strange thing, the light wasn't like that of a fire, it was a pale white color, which intrigued her. So as she came closer to it, and saw a strange metalic sphere buried in a crater, with a handful of the reptilian tribesmen surrounding it, she lowered herself down to the ground.
The sphere seemed to have had several fallen tree branches surrounding it in a very deliberate manner, implying it was some sort of alter to the aliens that now lived around it. The aliens however, quickly noticed her arrival, and the fear in their eyes was clear as day to her. She approached them with a hand, the short Saiyan girl's hand alive with a glow of it's own, her ki enveloping it. The Aliens, figuring their lives would end if they did nothing, reacted desperately, charging at her. However, their endeavors were in vain, as she extended her arm forward and unleashed a wave of ki that ended their lives rather succinctly. They fell to the floor, one after the other, and ordinarily this would have been the point in which Vennel would begin cooking them, but the metal sphere is what intrigued her most. Approaching, it had a large familiar red tinted circular window in it. But she couldn't exactly recall at first what it was.
But then, suddenly, like a ton of bricks it hit her. This was what she arrived her in. It was her home for a large portion of her younger years, before she'd met the aliens of the planet. Approaching it she touched it, and the hatch released from it's hold with a gentle hiss of pressure change. The hatch slowly opened to reveal the aged interior. Had this truly been here all this time? She considered herself lucky that it remained intact all this time, even despite what had caused the wide spread destruction of the world.
But when it opened, a mechanical voice began to speak to her.
"Urgent Message awaiting. Beginning playback."
"This is Beeta, chancellor of interplanetary acquisitions, of the Solar Saiyan Empire,"
The play back voice was distinctly feminine, and had a different tone to it. It wasn't the raspy, almost hissing sound of the aliens she knew on this world, sounding more like her own voice. She was shocked to hear such for the first time on this planet, but the voice continued on before she could fully absorb the sudden news that others like her existed.
"According to the mission log, you should have either exterminated the local population by now, or enough of it that they will go extinct on their own. That, or you will have died long before this message ever reaches you. If you have found that the planet's population is sufficiently depleted, climb aboard this ship and return home. The process is simple. Merely sit aboard, and the pod will return you home."
Home? Was it true? She had had enough of this planet now, since the population was so sparse and the vegetation lay nearly gone as well. She needed food and this thing said it would take her home. A part of her felt like she could trust it, though. And what was the worse that could happen? If it failed, then so be it, but if not, then she could find out where this home was.
The message ended, cutting out and the ball fell silent again. So, without further delay, she climbed aboard, and the pod sealed itself shut behind her, sealing her within it. Slowly the pod's systems seemed to come to life, as if being inactive for so long made it sluggish. But sure enough, the pod lifted into the air and shot out, toward the stars above. Vennel looked out of the port hole, and watched as the planet that had been her home for so long quickly fell away into the distances behind her. She was headed "home" where ever that was. She wondered where it would be exactly, and how long that it might take, but as she pondered that, she began to fall asleep, as the pod's hybernation cycle started up.
It was the last time that Vennel would have conscious before she awoke on planet Vegeta. When she'd arrive, she'd spend some of her first years there just adapating to Saiyan life style. But the time off world was designed to teach any true Saiyan who would find success among their own people. It taught them essential lessons that every Saiyan would need, and by the time they would be deemed ready, their pods would be sent a message. And if her results on that planet were any indication, she'd go far in the empire. But just how far, yet remained to be seen.