A Small Step Away From Forever (Invite, welcome back Edoma)

[Thread PL: 23,582. Heavy Weights ON, Weighted PL: 5895]

"This is it, this could very well be my only chance to escape. I'm in no condition to fight, and who knows if I'll be this lucky again. That being said, I suppose luck is a poor word to describe anything that has happened to me." Edoma thought to himself. The alarms blared again, snapping him out of his moment of contemplation. Now all he could think was, "How did it go so wrong so quickly?" But he knew it didn't, in fact it took quite some time before he found himself a prisoner.

10 Months Prior - First Month

Edo was training in the north, once again feeling as if he had gotten nowhere. His tail still stung when he grabbed it, his signature Cherry Bomb felt stagnated, and his Dura Cannon actually seemed to be getting weaker. As he walked through the frosty woods, he decided to see what the old man was cooking up, thinking some food would do him good. Not to mention there was still their conversation about the Silver Lake, and of course the thought of blooming into a warrior caught his attention. However despite whatever progress he makes in training, let it not be said, as the young hybrid made it to town, that his sense of direction improved at all. He had no idea where he, the old man, or his partner were. The teen asked around, however no one knew who he was talking about, of course it didn't help that his descriptions of the old man, were just that. That said, Edo did manage to find a group of two men, drinking a hot coffee that offered a real answer.

"You lookin for an old man huh?" one asked, giving his tablemate an odd look.

"Uh, yes, he's pretty big, grey hair, I'm supposed to meet him to talk about... Becoming, a, warrior." the teen replied, trailing off on the last three words. He felt silly when he said it out loud, not to mention, these guys probably didn't care. This was actually a little uncharacteristic of the hybrid, he slight distaste in humans usually kept him from saying anything more than one sentence. Still to his surprise, the second man had an answer.

"I think I know who you're looking for, he's set up around that corner over there, wearing a white coat, can't miss him."

Edo made a small smile of stifled excitement, and as he thanked the two men he shot off around the corner. However, as he walked away, he could have sworn the two men gave him the most nasty glare, one pulling out a phone. Still he paid no mind to it and went on.

As Edoma rounded the corner, he saw a decently sized clinic, with a picture of an old man reading "Dr. Phillip Richards M.d." So not quite what he was after but this did tip him off that old man may have been a bit too basic of a description. The teen didn't get time to leave, as the very same doctor shown in the picture hurriedly burst through the door.

"Oh my god are you alright young man what-" he started to shout in panic, however as he glanced at the line of brown fur stretching from Edo's waist, he took a small moment to slow down. "What happened." he finished, this time much calmer.

Edoma on the other hand was confused, what could he possibly be freaking out about? As he examined himself, the answer soon made itself obvious, his arms and legs were covered in cuts and bruises, and a few burns on his hands. "Oh this, I'm fine really." he said hurriedly, remembering his previous experience with doctors.

"Oh no please, let me at least look at you." he said, almost all of the worry gone from his voice. The teen figured wandering around aimlessly was getting him nowhere, and while he only slightly ached for the most part, the cold did make his injuries sting quite a bit. At the very least, he'd be inside and warm, so he went in the clinic. Again, he swear he saw a look of disgust on the doctors face. "So tell me young man, how did this happen?" he asked, now sounding a little cold. The young fighter told him about how he was out near the mountains training, and may have pushed himself a little too hard. "Oh a saiyan and a fighter, what are the odds?" he asked himself aloud. He then looked into Edo's eyes, "Half saiyan anyways." he grumbled. The doctor's phone began to ring, and he excused himself. Edo decided now would be a good time to look around, as this was actually the first time he'd been in a human doctor's office outside of Valley Village.

However just as Edo began to notice the finer details Dr. Richards came in, now smiling oddly enough. "So training you say? You'd be surprised how many of those cases I've gotten. If that is indeed all it is, then I'd suggest just some simple wraps and that's it." he said in a much more jovial tone than before. Needless to say the teen was taken aback, when he first walked in he got the feeling this doctor straight up hated his guts. Of course, he didn't really care what some random human thought of him, and just casually accepted the help. As he got up to leave, his arms and legs covered in a clean white bandage, the doctor called over to him. "One more thing! You said you were training right? Here take these." he held his hand out with a small cup contain little red pills, each with an orange spot on them.

"What are these for?" Edo queried, eyebrow raised.

"Like I said, you're not the first case of over excersion I've seen, take one of these next time you train. They're a supplement for warriors like yourself."

While he didn't initially trusted these odd pills, the young fighter did like being called a warrior, and graciously took them. He then decided to try one more time to find his friend, before finding a place to stay.

That morning felt excessively cold, even for the northern mountains. Still, Edoma had to get his morning training out of the way. The teen made his way into the mountains, and started practice on some unfortunate trees and piles of snow. Then he remembered what that surprisingly nice doctor gave him. He stared at the cup quizzically for a moment, still a little uneasy, though he did say it was just a supplement, not to mention he had obviously given this to others before and was still a doctor.

Throwing caution to the wind, he gulped down one of the pills. Almost immediately he felt a massive, unreal amount of power surge through him, so much so he could hardly contain it, causing his hair to stand on end without him even knowing, and the snow around him to be blown away by the sheer force of his presence. It was without a doubt the most incredible feeling he had ever experienced. He began firing blasts at a nearby cliff face, the energy seeming to effortless flow out of his hands. A mischievous grin slithered onto his face, as an idea crept into his mind. He shot up into the sky, and held his hand towards the ground. He then fired a Cherry Bomb down towards the snow. Forget bomb, with he impact he made with that attack, it was more of a nuke than anything. The hybrid then realized the usually feel of hair on his neck was gone and got excited. He pulled a strand of hair down to eye level. Still black. Edo actually sighed with relief, if the legendary transformation of super saiyan was reduced to a pill, he may have actually cried.

After his usual training time ended, the pill was still going through his system, making Edoma feel refreshed, and energized, but still a little sore. This was the first time in a while he felt like he was actually getting somewhere. Despite the high energy going through him, he figured it'd be best if he went back to searching for his friend, though will about the same amount of luck. To make matters worse, that night, it was painfully obvious when the pill wore off, literally. His body ached from the day's events and training. This went on for the next two days, train, supplement, look for a cart of food hoisted by some old guy. Day four the doctor was kind enough to give the teen four more pills to last the week for free. Each day brought the incredible feeling of power, each day rising higher and higher. Still all good things need to come to an end, and Edoma was out of pills. The day after he ran out, his training did not quite go as planned, in fact he felt incredibly sluggish and drained. That being said, the day still seemed fruitful, perhaps there was still some pill left over in his system. Still, it couldn't hurt to ask for more, which was exactly what he did. The week of training went by like the last one, only now, while the power was there, but unlike before, it didn't seem to get any higher. This was to say the least a minor concern, however there were still no side effects, and the rebound after they wore off still was just slight fatigue and soreness, with only the occasional headache.

This time, Edo was debating whether or not he should go back for more. "Sure they aren't hurting me, but I do think this is getting a little excessive." he thought to himself. He decided to actually ask the doctor himself about it. Over the past two weeks, the two had become quite chummy, though every now and then Edo would swear he saw that look of just pure hatred he saw the first day they met, but it was always for just a split second, and he had no proof it was directed towards him.

"I see..." Thought Dr. Richards aloud. "Edoma, I'm afraid I haven't been entirely honest with you." he began. Edo took a sharp breath, afraid of what was coming next. "These pills were made specifically for you, or rather people like you. With all the alien races out there, you see hybrids all the time now a days. This pill is meant for half saiyans half humans like yourself, and they suppress the human DNA, bringing out more saiyan power. Now you say you felt your power peak yes? I believe you just may need something a little stronger." with that said, he pulled out a small box of seven pills, this time red with a yellow dot in the middle. Edo felt a little relief, as well as fearful of what a higher dose would do. That being said, the thought of suppressing his human DNA sounded very nice. Unfortunately he didn't even think about if that was the case, why was his hair still growing. "Now Edo," the doctor began snapping the young warrior out of his distraction. "I'll give these to you, but I must warn you while proven safe, these are rather new, so you may have some side effects." After a short to to consider, the teen accepted the pills, under the condition that he kept the doctor posted if anything serious happens.

The next week was incredible, more power, more energy, more fun. Edoma's previous goal had completely slipped his mind in his power filled stupor. Even during the nights the fatigue was lighter. That was until the last three days of the month. The pills started to wear off faster, his head started killing him, he found it hard to focus without the pills. He then realized why. Somehow the yellow dotted pills were switched with orange dotted. Edo didn't even know how he managed to get them switched in one night. He was positive that he had yellow spotted pills. Still he decided it was best to keep to the orange pills for now rather than just stop. It wasn't enough though, the power stopped coming day one, his headaches came back and were much worse. He wanted more, he NEEDED more. His power level plummeted by the end of the month. He dragged himself, shaking even more than just shivering from the cold, to doctor Richards. The doctor looked at him, not a hint of worry in his face, just contemplative. "Edo, I want you to come with me, I think you need to see something." Edo was taken through the cold until the two came across a large warehouse. "The truth is Edoma, I'm not just the owner of a clinic, I work with a group of people that make and test pills like the ones you've been taking. If you'd like, you can come here every couple days or so to help out. What do you say Edoma?"


Month 2


Edoma found himself laying face up on the motel bed, the offer was too good to be true, and too risky to be trusted. Still for the past month he's trusted this doctor, even with an experimental pill. Speaking of, he was already jittering ever so slightly, his power level felt low as well. This was where the problem lie. Doctor Richards said that the pills won't be as effective now, and that eventually they may have no effect at all and instead do more harm than good. With that in mind Edo hesitantly agreed. The next day he would approach the doctor, telling informing him of his decision. The doctor was thrilled to hear it, perhaps even too thrilled, and brought the teen back to the warehouse. He walked into the large room, walls, obviously not part of the original building, were set up to divide the building up.

"First Edo," Doctor Richards began. "I'm going to hook you up to this machine designed to read your power level. To make things simple it'll round up to the second digit, so if you're a hundred it rounds to the tenth, a thousand to the nearest hundredth, and so on." The doctor pressed a few sensors to Edo's body, then pushed a few buttons. The machine whirred to life, then beeped a few times before a green 24000 appeared on the screen. Being able to sense energy, the teen could tell it was just a little high, but did enjoy thinking he was half a thousand stronger than he was. "Now then," the doctor interjected. "I'm going to give you the third and final pill we made for your particular scenario, err situation." Edoma swallowed the pill, once again filled with that wonderful power from before, and again even more so than the last pill. the machine beeped again and a new number was shown. 42000 the young warrior was shocked and excited, he had no idea that the pills were giving him that much of a boost. He was also scared ever so slightly, at the idea of what could happen without the pills. He then had another thought.

"Uh doc, my weights usually bring my power level down, how does that thing know my real power?"

"Of course, it knows your real power," the doctor laughed, "It's programmed for that exact purpose." It made sense, if a computer was any sort of advanced, it would easily detect the weight difference. Regardless, the power felt amazing, like he could punch a mountain out of existence without even trying. He wondered just how much his blasts would do was well. To his dismay though, he was forced to wait before he could test out his new-found strength. The wait was less than pleasant, with the hybrid shifting in place, just begging for an outlet for his elevated power. His wait was then made even more unpleasant, when he almost found an outlet.

"What is that fucking monkey doing up here!" one of the other workers shouted. Edoma was fuming, his power rising in anger. The machine beeped once again, now reading 48000, of course Edo didn't notice the doctor fiddling with the buttons. If he had, this whole situation just might have been avoided.

"Excuse you?" the teen piped up.

"I asked what you're doing upstairs monkey! Better yet, what are you doing on our planet, just leave, or how about you just die!" he damn near screamed. This was... new to say the least. Edoma Soya was taken aback by just how hateful the man was. Sure, he himself was not a fan of humans, but he had no real reason to wish them all dead.

"Sir please leave immediately!" the doctor shouted at the man.

"What are you doing siding with a saiyan Phil!" the man retaliated, and he stormed off.

"Sorry about that Edoma, you see, Jack over there was in the capitol when it was attacked, lost everything. They’re disgusting..." the doctor trailed off, his voice now quivering. Edo gave him a contemplative look. "People who think one is like the rest I mean, as a man of science and medicine I find such behavior repulsive." While the doctors’ kind words made, the hybrid feel a bit more at ease in the room, though that did bring a thought to the forefront of his mind. the looks he swears sees the doctor give him, along with the general feel he got in the warehouse that he was not wanted. For the first time in a while, Edoma was scared, the anxiety of the building catching up to him.

"Listen Edo," the doctor began, seeing the wheels turning in his patient’s mind. "Why don't you go outside, get some air, and test out that new power of yours." this brought the teens spirits back up, and he happily obliged. However, as Edo was walking out, he couldn't help but overhear a conversation.

"I know how you feel Jack, but we want him to feel comfortable here."

"Why?! Why not just put him where he belongs, in a cage!"

"Jack! I know how you feel, but we all agreed that we wouldn't let ourselves get carried away with personal feelings."

This made Edoma feel far more relaxed, even compared to what the good doctor had said. Unfortunately for him, he missed yet another thing that could very easily saved him from what was to come.

"Besides, once he trusts us, think about how much better it'll be when we can lock him up, hell I'm sure you can convince doctor Richards to let you do it yourself."

The tests continued, each time Edo would come in, take a pill, have his power level measured, then be aloud outside to test his abilities. For a month, this went on, with Jack and a few others voicing their strong "opinions." Luckily, Edoma had the doctor to put his mind at ease, or at least as far as he knew. The only real issue, were nights. Now sleeping arrangements weren't the problem, the doctor graciously let Edo stay in the clinic. However, it was the insatiable lust for power that kept the teen writhing in his sleep. He knew when the pills wore off, leaving him high and dry. He craved for them, the pills, and the power they brought were the only things he could think about as he tossed around in a cold sweat on the bed.

The start of the third trimester brought even more bad news. Doctor Richards told Edoma that the pills were once again starting to be too little to sustain the energy, and continued use could result in permanent damage.

"Have a look here," he began pointing at the power level machine. It beeped to life as usual, showing the usual 24000. "This is your normal power level, right?" He then pushed a few buttons. It then flashed to 56000 "This was the highest your power ever was on the pills. Though we've noticed the past few days," now 52000 "You've been slowly building an immunity to the pills. If this keeps up, not only will you gain less and less power, but..." he hesitated before showing the next number, "This could be your new base power." 18000... "And that's only with another week of this treatment." he said blankly. It was like this didn't mean anything at all to this man. Edo put his life into the doctor’s hands and now he learned that he may slowly lose the power he worked so hard to achieve. The young warrior started to panic slightly, running his hands through his ever-growing hair, now reaching just to the middle of his eyes. How was he supposed to get stronger, his human half stopped him from getting anywhere, and the pills stopped his human half from impeding his progress. Now he had to go without them, go back to being the stagnated disappointment he always was a couple of months ago,

"It doesn't have to end here though Edoma, there is something beyond the pills, but I warn you, it'll be much more dangerous, but far more rewarding if it works, you may even reach 100000." That got the hybrid's attention, a whole hundred thousand? "Please take some time to think it over." With that, the practitioner left the room, leaving Edo to his thoughts.

"All that power, I could be the strongest there is, at least on this planet. I could beat Dura easily, maybe even reach the legends..." Edoma found himself pondering aloud. To his comfort, the doctor was nice enough to leave Edoma a sleeping pill to help him finally have a restful night’s sleep. That what he was going to do, he was going to sleep on it. Because as much as he wanted the power with almost every fiber of his being, the remaining fibers were screaming that this was a bad idea. The doctor stressed that this would be dangerous, maybe he should cut his losses before he got hurt. This confused the hybrid for a moment, before he realized, that wasn't just his human instincts, but his saiyan instincts as well.


Month 3



Maybe it was time he listed to his human instincts for once. On the one hand, he could become super strong, get control of his tail and oozaru in a matter of days, but on the other hand, what comes after pills? It was too risky and not to mention...

"Oh shit.... Oh shit!" Edo found himself exclaiming aloud. He forgot why he was in the frozen north to begin with. Ayumu was going to speak with him, two months ago! He's probably on the other side of the world by now. Edo wasted no time, even skipping his usual morning round of training to set off to the south.

Of course, before that he decided to let the good doctor know he would be opting out of helping with the warehouse, as he was currently trying to find someone. He understood the teen's reasoning and wished him well, with a final warning that the side effects from going cold turkey could be a little strange, saying that he was welcome back at any time. Edo thanked him and began heading towards where he hoped his friend would be waiting, most likely smiling with relief, while Hana would scream her head off about how worried he made them. It was a good dream, filling the hybrid with warmth, matching the warmth that spring would soon bring.

"Spring already huh?" he thought to himself. "Well almost anyways." He certainly wouldn't miss the snow. However, he was still in the bitter cold of the mountains, causing his legs to shake, his eyes stinging and the wind caused them to tear up, not to mention the slight scars around the lids reminding Edo of their existence. However, as he went, a strange uneasiness started to fester in the pit of his stomach, his legs now shaking from something other than the cold. He knew this feeling, his body missed the meds.

"No! I can't go back, it's too dangerous and I need to find... I need to find..." Edoma stopped, resting himself on a nearby evergreen. His vision was ever so slightly blurred, the ground he walked on felt like it was spinning. He slowly melted into a huddle on the grass and snow. If he went back he could make the feeling stop, he could get strong again, and it'd be like nothing bad ever happened.

"But that's what do you into this mess in the first place." he said to himself. Literally in fact. The teen's face shot up, and met his own. It was without a doubt him, only his tail was gone. He closed his eyes and shook his head clear. When he looked, his clone was gone, but now everything was spinning again. This must've been the strange side effects the good doctor was talking about.

"If we go back now, we'll only end up hurting ourselves more." he heard himself say again. This time, Edo wheeled around to see himself sitting against the opposite side of the tree. The momentum of the spin was enough to make Edo fall, receiving a face full of icy mud.

"Don't listen to him," a much lower voice rumbled above him. "We need to get stronger! This is the quickest way!" it roared. Edo turned again, slowly this time, to see a massive ape, with brown fur, and hair reaching his eyes on his head.

"I get it now, you two really are me, the saiyan and human halves.... What?" he found himself slurring a loud.

"Look at us! We're a mess, a pathetic and disgraceful mess, we need to get our power back." growled the ape.

"And this is not how we do it! For once I think the gorilla is right but now about how we should do it." argued the human.

"He's only saying that because he's afraid. We are warriors, we charge into battle, not away from it."

"And remember that time we've literally won no battles since we got here?" this caused the ape to howl with rage, slamming a fist into the ground.

The real Edoma didn't care for what either of them had to say at this point, he just wanted both to shut up. He curled himself into a ball, clasping his hands around his ears, though it did nothing to silence the two warring voices in his head. Then he remembered why he left in the first place. It wasn't to avoid the meds, it was to find Ayumu and Hana. Upon the realization, the two figures completely disappeared, for real this time. This allowed the teen to pull himself up, and continue his way.

It was a good while until Edoma made it to any other town that wasn't the one that started this whole ordeal, a few days in fact. The excursion left him hungry, thirsty, and dying for just one more fix. Now the town he found could help two out of three of those problems, however, he could feel his power decrease, as his withdrawal increased. It was without a doubt the worst week of his life, and that’s including the time he nearly had is eyes blown out of their sockets by a completely different old man than the one he was looking for, and to top it all off this was only week one, he had a three more to go before he would hit rock bottom, then another four weeks before he would experience true hell for six months straight. For now, though, he was left a twitching, tweaking, mess, slowly being drained of his power from starvation, dehydration, and sleep deprivation. The trifecta of "ations" was starting to take their toll on the poor hybrid day in and day out, getting just enough of each to keep himself alive. To make matters worse, no one would help him, each town would leave the sixteen-year-old to fend for himself, alone, dying, nearly powerless. However, the crowning jewel of this masterpiece of disaster, where the nights. As the month ended, the two voices would show up again, fighting, screaming, serving as a grim reminder of how bad a position the teen found himself.

As he left his latest town, he sort of drifted about, not particularly paying attention to where he was heading. A small part of him knew exactly where he was going. He was going to food, water, and possibly the most important, power and restoration in general. Sure enough, he found himself in front of a familiar door, and was greeted by an old man, whose sly malicious smile, appeared warm and inviting to a dazed Edoma.

Month 4


"Well don't you look a mess." sighed the doctor, a slight hint of malice seeping into his voice. Edoma couldn't pick up on it, in fact he was so lost in his little drug deprived daze, he could have been slapped in the face and probably wouldn't have cared. "You were gone a whole month, and we didn't even get to ween you off the meds. Come on let's get you back to the warehouse." Doctor Richards brought the teen back to the familiar sight of the warehouse, where his sweet soothing meds laid waiting for him. He was so lost that all the shouts of monkey this and monkey that, all sounded like a warm welcome from the various doctors and scientists. This was where he needed to be, where he would gain his incredible power, or at the very least be brought up to normal. He didn't even notice when he was brought into a completely different room, and even if he did, it wasn't like he could resist, not with a hand holding the long stretch of brown fur to keep him still. He couldn't even feel the pain, or anything at that point.

That was until he felt a short sharp sting in his upper right arm. He bolted up, his senses returning to normal, the room around him slowly spinning back to normal, until soon everything was as it should be. The teen's head was pounding, his stomach felt like a record player, constantly spinning inside him. "What... was that..." breathed Edo.

"You've been off the meds for a month, your body was practically in shock, and your energy was damn near zero. I just injected you with something that'll help stabilize you."

Edoma fell onto the smooth leather bed. "Great, then just give me a few of those and I can go again."

"Edoma, I don't think you understand." the doctor began, his voice sounding, almost happy. "This isn't something you can just take for a bit and be ok, like with everything, there will be side effects. You need to stay here and rest. Maybe even get some more of the medication in your system?"

"Stay?" the hybrid slurred, the apparent side effects of his latest injection taking hold.

"Yes stay. Besides, I've watched you for a while now, not including this past month. You're fed up with not getting any stronger."

"I am." agreed the young warrior matter-of-factly.

"You need power."

"I do..."

"So, stay here, and let us make you powerful."

Again, Edoma was too dazed to think clearly, however, this time was much more comforting, his body feeling a warm tingle, lulling him into a feeling a security.

This time though, the teen was beyond pills, as his body was already acclimated to the effects. So, to his dismay, he was given a syringe every day. Luckily, he was told that as he progressed, he would receive the injections less often, most likely next week only needing them every other day, then only once a week. For now, though, he had to deal with daily pricks, including Jack and his usual bigoted spouting. It wasn't too bad for the first few days, as Edo was still slightly dazed from his previous ordeal. To Doctor Richards amazement, it only took four days until Edoma was more or less back in his normal state of mind, which led to an interesting week.

As Edo reached his normal power, he was brought out to a large open clearing. The weather was starting to warm up, back to the point where the cold didn't really bother him.

"Hello T-32," greeted a young woman, dressed in a white lab coat and khakis.

Doctor Richards leaned in close, "Don't worry about the name, we've had a lot of test subjects, and a few of the scientists here prefer to keep to code names to avoid familiarity for when they move on. just remember... T-32” It certainly wasn't the flimsiest thing Edo ever heard, but it was off putting none the less.

"Today we'll have you fight against another subject." As she spoke, a man, sporting scruffy black hair and dark eyes came into view. He wore a black bodysuit, with white boots that looked more like slippers. He was a good bit larger than the teen, though after a month of malnutrition, he was sure he looked smaller than usual. "This is B-17, he'll be your opponent. When you hear the bell, you will begin."

A loud ding resonated through the clearing. Without any hesitation, almost at the exact same time, the two fighters charged each other. Edo could sense his power was lower than his opponents, but not too much that he couldn't hold his own. In fact, he found himself ever so slightly faster, though his punches seemed to do very little.

"T-32 blast him!" ordered the scientist. Without a moment’s thought, Edoma raised a hand and fired at the larger man. This caused a much more notable effect. The fight went on like this for a while, the two would trade blows the scientist shouting orders, which the two would follow without hesitation.

"And stop!" she shouted. The two halted almost immediately, and once again at the same time. "T-32 prepare for injection." So, he did, only one pinch later, and Edoma was filled with an intense feeling of power, his hair once again standing on end, the fatigue on the fight now gone. He laughed with relief, having severely missed this feeling. The larger man waited for his own injection, but instead was only given a loud ringing.

Edo shot off, kicking up a cloud of dust in his wake. The larger man on the other hand took a split second before he charged as well. This time the fight was almost comically in Edo's favor.

"B-17, blast him!" it took him a few seconds, but the larger combatant fire a large, though ultimately ineffective blast at the teen. The young hybrid just plowed right through it, paying the minor stinging burns no mind. In a show of immense speed, he then appeared behind B-17 and gave him his own blast to the back of the head. This cause him to fly forwards.

"Again B-17” This time though he didn't comply, instead charging fist first into the younger opponent. Edoma easily dodged the punch, grabbing his opponent by the arm.

"T-32 brake his arm." This time the doctor ordered. Edo followed without a second thought, and slammed down to the ground. Sure enough, a sickening crunch echoed through the clearing, causing both the doctor and scientist to cringe, the doctor more so.

"B-17 retaliate with a blast now!" shouted the scientist in a stern and almost furious voice. He stood up, wincing as he did so in pain. Once again, he did not follow the order, only cowered in fear of the floating teenager. However, before any more orders could be given, the bell was once again rung, and the two separated.

"Very good T-32 go inside and rest." stated the scientist in a blunt tone. "As for you B-17, I think it's time we moved on. As Edoma walked towards the warehouse, a sickening thought creeped into his mind, like a storm cloud forming in his brain.

"What did I just do?" he thought a loud, his voice quivering. He looked back, and notice something about the man being dragged away. His opponent, who was now just staring horrified at the ground, with a black mop of hair, and almost black eyes, was he a saiyan?

Edoma found himself sitting on the leather bed again, the events of the day playing over and over in his mind's eye. "What did I just do?" he found himself repeating to himself over and over. This went on for a couple more weeks, he'd get an injection one day and just train or be examined, then the next day he would fight, be injected again, and then ruthlessly beat his opponent to the ground.

Not to mention every fight there would be different orders, each time getting increasingly intricate. "T-32 blast. T-32 right punch. T-32 dodge to behind the opponent the left kick to the head." They even learned his signature move. "T-32 use the red explosive blast." Well sort of, they obviously didn't know it was called Cherry Bomb. When injected, he wouldn't care, but as soon as the fight was over, and the opponents were either escorted back, or dragged off, the same question brewed in the young warrior’s mind. "What did I just do?" To make matters worse, Jack now wasn't the only one shouting at him, some now going as far as to hit him with blunt objects, of pulling his tail, some going as far as to stomp on it. Edoma had no idea what this place even was anymore. Even Doctor Richards was now being cold and distant, only referring to the teen as T-32 instead of Edo or Edoma. He couldn't leave at night either, as the last words he'd hear would be "T-32, stay put and sleep."

"T-32." One of the scientists broke him from his trance like state. "It's time for your next fight. This had to stop, but how, every time the drugs wore off, the teen found himself hardly able to move. Then an idea came to him, he could use the power of the meds to help him escape. How was another question. Sure, he could with great difficulty ignore the orders when the fight started, but after the injection, there was no questioning the words that came out of anyone's mouth as long as they said the damn codename. He didn't even know what would happen if he tried to disobey. Even when the drugs wore off, leaving him twitching, sweating, and hurting, the orders still echoed in his warped mind.

So, he fought, and went as brutally as he would against the previous opponents. this one was another saiyan, this one female, looking a little younger than himself. They fought, they were given orders, only this time, they were both injected. This was it, if ever Edoma Soya was going to escape, it was now.

"J-15 axe kick, T-32 dodge to the back." The girl raised her leg up as instructed, and Edo moved behind her as instructed. THAT was it, an order vague enough that he could interpret it in a way that would help him escape. The teen went behind her all right, far behind her. He dodged as instructed, and went behind her as instructed. Even with his poor sense of direction he knew he was running away from any sort of city or town, further into the highlands, but anywhere was better than where he was. He did it, he escaped, as long as no one said that damn name, he was safe.

Despite managing to get away, Edo still had other problems. First and for most, if he did get far enough away, what would happen when he goes into withdrawal again, his body screaming for him to go back to fix itself. Not to mention, even if he could fight those symptoms, if the side effects from last time resurfaced, he would have to deal with the hallucinations of himself fighting in his brain. The worst part though, was one thing he didn't count on, was the next order given to his opponent. "J-15, find and capture T-32."

Month 5



After what felt like an eternity of running, Edoma finally fell to his knees by a nearby rock formation. He considered just flying off, but that would have probably caught at least one wrong eye his way. Regardless, he figured he’d be safe here. He had gone further into the Yanzubit Highlands, the hint of warmth brought by April was replaced with a searing cold brought on by the wind. Actually, it was probably going to be May soon if it wasn’t already. Soon the mountains will be at least somewhat hospitable. That was a good sign to say the least, he’d been in tight weather related situations before, surely, he could survive this one until June comes around. Of course, the weather was only a minor issue compared to the mob that was most likely looking for him, which is dwarfed by yet another problem. Side effects and withdrawal. Luckily, he had until nightfall to figure something out, or just get a camp going.

As expected, Edo got no sleep that night, he was too busy tossing and turning on the hard ground. He didn’t even make a fire, fearful that it’ll be seen by anyone looking for him. Surprisingly, the teen managed to go a few days without even a single person finding him, at least, not any real person.

“So, why’d you leave?” he heard himself ask. Edoma looked up to see the human version of him staring down at him. “You said you wanted to get stronger, right? Now look at us…” he sighed drearily.

“What happened?” the ape growled.

“Go away…” Edo cried softly to his imaginary compatriots.

“Why are you mad at us? Why didn’t do anything.” Sneered the human Edoma.

“Please just go!” he cried louder this time.

“I know what happened, we agree that we didn’t bring this upon ourselves.” Snarled the ape.

The real Edoma looked up, staring into the red eyes of the Oozaru, his eyebrow cocked in a quizzical expression.

“This whole thing is your fault, and we’ve had enough.” Growled the human.

Edoma then felt a fist connect with his chin, causing him to fall onto his back. He shot to his feet and charged his human half, who dodged effortlessly out of the way, leading the teen to fall from the plateau he was originally resting upon. However, before he could start his descent, a large brown furred fist crashed into him, sending him flying back into the cliff wall. Of course, this didn’t leave an imprint in the cliff, not that the high teenager noticed. He sprang up into the air and shot a Dura Cannon into the chest of his ape version. He did stagger back, but the attack only did about a tenth of that in normally would, not to mention the teen completely forgot about his human half, who grabbed onto the ankles of his hybrid counterpart. He swung him in a full circle before sending him flying back to the ground. Edo looked at his two opponents, for the first time they were both visible at the same time. Had this been real, and not an opposing force, it would have been an awe-inspiring site, seeing a human staring cold and menacing down, with a large ape roaring behind him. Still, Edoma felt the urge to keep fighting, not only to protect himself, but to prove he could beat both his saiyan half and human half. He leapt back up this time to target the human, who was able to block each hit blow for blow without any trouble. Any time Edo would get close to landing an actual hit, the ape would smack him away. That was how it carried on, he’d focus on the human, the saiyan would save him. He’d focus on the oozaru, he’d endure the hits, allowing the human to make a critical strike.

It was brutal, almost sad to watch, which someone was. A woman wearing a black body suit and white boots, the code “J-15” on her back in red bold font. She watched, a confused and sad expression on her face. To her, all he saw was a teenage saiyan-human hybrid flailing around, swinging his fists, and firing energy blasts at nothing. It was his real-life opponent from the day he escaped. She didn’t intervene, at least not immediately, just watched.

Edoma was completely oblivious, in fact, this was probably the happiest he’d been in a long time. For the first time in months, he was in a battle that was pure and clean, even if he was being completely trashed. He loved it, his old cocky smile returning to him, and he spat out a little blood coughed up from the fight. That actually scared his onlooker, she too saw his cough blood, which meant that it was very real, or she was now going too long without her injections and was somehow hallucinating with the older teen. Still Edo charged in, a look of sheer glee on his face, feeling the freest he had ever been the past few months. Even if it was fake, he truly felt like this his fight, with his own power. Then it hit him, that’s what the human was talking about two months ago, it was true they wanted power, but Edo wanted it to be his own, not some pill or injection. That being said, it didn’t help the young warrior with his fight, the two were in perfect sync, battling almost as a single unit. The fight dragged on for hours, until the sky grew dark, and the air felt like winter again. J-15 was still watching, taking sharp gasps whenever the fighter would cough up blood from his fake stomach hits.

Meanwhile in the hybrids’ brain, the incredibly one sided battle raged on, he was still unsure how to beat the duo. He’d go to blast the human, then get stomped into the ground by the oozaru. So, then he’d try to go for the oozaru’s eyes, only to receive a punch to the gut from the human before he could react. He didn’t know who to focus more. Surely, it’d be the human, he’s the weaker one of the two, but the constant throws and blows to the weaker areas argued otherwise. The oozaru was a bigger target, but with a blaring weakness in the form of a tail. Regardless of who he went for, the other would be perfectly ready. It was as if he was fighting one person instead of two.

One fighter, one unit, one person… “That’s it.” He said to himself. He figured out how to beat them. They aren’t two separate people, they really were one and the same, two sides of him that made one Edoma. He smiled, his teeth practically dyed red from blood. He raised his fist to attack, but was stopped by a small, soft hand.

The two were gone, now just a small teenage girl holding back his fist. She didn’t look at him, only stared at the ground, her face twisted in pain. As Edo was brought back to reality, his muscled ignited in an inferno of pain, his bones felt like they could crack at any minute, his head was pounding. A tear rolled down his cheek. He couldn’t tell why he was crying at first. Maybe it was because he figured out how to beat the two halves, or maybe because he now remembered they were never real to begin with, or it could have simply been because he was caught.

“Very good J-15” Doctor Richards commended. Edoma turned to face the doctor, his face now contorted with rage and betrayal. “Now J-15, T-32, do not under any circumstances look up at the sky. Edo’s mind went blank for a brief moment, followed by the thought of doing anything but looking up. But why was the question. Then it hit him, the only reason the doctor would be afraid of a saiyan looking at the night sky was simple. The full moon was out, and if he looked at it, he would have been able to escape again. “Now then, I could very easily order you both to come home and leave it at that. But J-15, you didn’t actually say anything when you found him, and T-32, your week of vacation wasn’t ordered at all. So now this is happening.” Edoma went to strike the doctor, however was very quickly tackled to the ground, along with J-15. The older teen looked over his shoulder to see two armored men pinning him to the ground, another two of J-15. He went to shake them off, however, a paralyzing surged through his body, as a third person, this time the female scientist from before, clenched his tail in a vice like grip. The team then started to kick the two repeatedly, laughing as they did so. The two were now limp but still conscious. As an extra security measure, the scientist put a tight clamp on Edoma’s tail, leaving him in immobile agony.

As the group made their way back to the warehouse, the doctor spoke up. “I’m sure you realized by now that I haven’t told you the truth, at least not all of it.” He began, “I’m sure at some point you noticed the odd looks everyone was giving you since day one. Personally, I was ready to give you chance after our first month knowing each other I really was.” He sounded sincere enough. “However, your actions proved to me that you were more monkey than man. With no regard to your wellbeing, you searched for power, from medicine I said could be dangerous. And like the stupid monkey you are, you said consequences be damned, I’ll take the power.” His voice then grew angry. “It makes me sick, no regard for anything but power, all of you! AS far as I’m concerned you and your race can burn. And to be honest that’s not what bothered me the most about you. When I told you, the pills suppressed your human DNA, you jumped at the opportunity. You don’t care about humans, not even your own human half!” he yelled, he then went over to Edoma, and pulled him up by the hair. “You’re disgusting! A disgusting freak!” he roared, sending a fist into the teens face. “I always said do no harm, but that was to humans, not monsters like you barbaric monkeys. I’d kill a thousand of you to protect one of us.” He growled lowly.

They soon made it back to the warehouse. However, instead of the cold but soft leather bed, Edo and J-15 were brought downstairs, into a large but short area, with thick metal cages, each one home to a sickly looking saiyan, though with an occasional alien of other origins in a couple of others. J-15 was thrown into a small cage with her code on top, whereas Edoma was tossed into the one next to the T-32 “And never forget this trash, you’re name down here, is T-32, nothing else!” and the doctor stormed off.

Edo shook his head clear, realizing he was not alone in his cell. With him was a tall, and unhealthy levels of thin man, sporting dark eyes and red hair.

“So, you’re T-32 huh? Heard a little bit about you.” He said, his voice hoarse and high. “You got my buddy killed.”

“A don’t kill him! The new all get punished!” J-15 shouted, her voice was surprisingly deep for a girl her age anyways.

“Shut it J! I’ll do whatever the hell I want to this little shit!” he announced, bringing a foot across the teens face. Edo didn’t fight back, he was too busy trying to comprehend where he was and what was really going on.

“A, I don’t think he’s fully there, might want to save the beat down for later.” Said a much more masculine voice, this one sounding aged and raspy.

“Where is here anyways?” the hybrid asked.

“Hate to break it to you T, but this is a prison for saiyans, and other alien races that humans don’t like.” Replied the elderly voice.

The tall one scoffed, “So pretty much any one that hurts them rather than protects them. Let me guess little shit, Doctor Richards got you here. He was my guy too.”

“That’s what they do…” sighed J-15, “they make you feel welcome for a little bit, then slowly show their true selves to you. By the time you realize that the whole place is filled with xenophobic assholes, you’re already hooked to their killer mind control meds.”

“Killer? Mind control?” Edo repeated confused.

“Oh yeah,” began another voice, this one also female. “They start by making you feel amped and powerful, and they do actually promote energy flow, but what they don’t tell you is that you feel powerful, because of how rapidly you gain and lose energy because of it.”

The old man chimed in again. “Next thing you know, you can’t get enough of it, without it you feel powerless, but with it, you’re slowly drained until you can’t put up a proper fight. Then they bring you to this god forsaken place, and slowly feed you some weird drug that makes you highly susceptible to suggestions and commands, all by using your code name and giving a command.”

“Then what?” Edo inquired.

The older man sighed. “Then after their done putting you through different drugs, they either managed to break your mind and turn you into a mindless soldier for them, or they break your body, see that you’re no good to them anymore-“

“And then kill you like they did my friend! Al because he couldn’t bring himself to fight you! You happy kid!? You happy!?” A Screamed, sending his foot into Edo’s ribs. Each kick brought a soft whimper from the teen, until A winced in pain, the fell back onto a small metal cot. “God DAMN those pills!” he exclaimed in a pained voice.

“Leave the boy be A, he’s been through enough.” The older man chimed in once again.

“Yeah really… When I found him he was flailing around at nothing, actually would have looked pretty good if he wasn’t randomly coughing up blood every thirty seconds.” Noted J-15.

This made A, quickly look down at the cringing teen. “So you get hallucinations too if you’ve been off the stuff for too long. What did you see?”

“What,” Edo coughed, “What do you care?”

“I’d, actually like to know too.” J muttered quietly.

“Fine,” the hybrid began, sitting himself up. “I was fighting against my human and saiyan half.” This caused a small murmur through the cages, even from the prisoners that hadn’t spoken before. “What’d I say?”

A picked the young warrior up by the hair, teeth bared in pain as he did so. “Shit, you are a hybrid, less obvious than me though. Damn, the first half breed in a while to not just die, and I’ve already fucked our relationship up.” He then scoffed upon seeing the teen’s pitiful look, then gave it a swift punch. “Don’t get the wrong idea… It’s just… Damn it!” He went back to his bed and rubbed his temples. “I always hated being the only one to survive, as bad as it sounds, I wanted another one here.”

“You know he didn’t actually kill B right? It was them.” The other woman reminded Edo’s attacker.

“I know… that’s why they put him in here though, they knew I’d want a piece of him. I can’t believe I actually bought that garbage.”

“What is this place? Really. Why do these people hate us so much?” Edoma asked his new cellmates. Normally he couldn’t care less about how humans saw him, but to torture and drug someone who never really did too much damage, he at least wanted to know why.

“You remember the attack in the south capitol?” asked A.

“That was months ago.” Breathed Edo dumbfounded.

“Yeah well, stuff like that really affects people, what would you do if Vegeta was attacked? Would you drop after only a few months, or even a year?” “You’d hate them too, maybe more than they hate us.”

This gave Edoma a thought, this man was obviously not a pure saiyan. “So what’s your opinion on humans?”

This brought out a sigh from the former attacker before answering. “Let me tell you something T, I’ve lived on this planet for twenty four years. I’ve been among them all my life. They aren’t so different from us in that they too are simple creatures. I’m here because I’m a simple creature like them, just not like them enough to mean anything. I tried my best to tell them I wasn’t like you. But one taste of the power that pill made me feel, even proved myself wrong, so here we are.”

That literally made no sense for the younger hybrid, he knew humans weren’t worth fighting with, physically or verbally. Why waste the breath and time with them in the first place? If anything, this only worsened his view on humanity. That being said, it did put A into a bit of a better light for the teen oddly enough.

Two guards then came in to drag the boy from the wrong cage. “Alright A-29 you had your fun. T-32, this is your cage, and your home, you are not to leave until ordered otherwise.” And they laid him down on his own cot in the cell next to A-29. So, this was his home now. It all made sense, the dirty looks, the machine only rounding up numbers, and reading through weights, it was all a setup to lull Edo into a false sense of security. Now here he was, curled up on a small cot, having gone almost another month without the drugs, his body screaming on this seemingly unending roller coaster of addiction.

Month 6


It could easily be said that Edoma Soya was a boy of routine, at least in the mornings. Half a year ago, he would wake up, train for a little bit, eat, maybe train some more, then go out and see what was going on with the world, which was where his routine became more of an adventure, seeing what the planet had to offer him after years of just landing in one spot.

Now Subject T-32 could only be called a creature of routine. Wake up, be fed, be injected with all sorts of needles, forced to power up until he was close to passing out, then taken outside to fight the other victims of this madhouse. Of course, his obedience was tested each time, and with heightened security after what happened last time. He even had a nice new metal ring on the base of his tail, put there to stop him if he tried to run again. It was actually very simple, if he ever took his orders out of context as a method of escape, someone would push a button, and the ring would contract tight enough to immobilize the teen without causing permanent damage. As an added bonus, Edo found out what happens if he consciously tried to disobey orders. Now he had never actually experienced a solar flare right in front of him, but the searing light followed by the blaring shriek in his ears, each causing his head to feel like it was splitting open each time, he imagined that was close to what it was like, only somehow worse. It never lasted too long though to his relief. This was his new routine, and would be until the end of the year.

It was only broken in the middle of June when the not so kind doctor came to visit him one day. He had requested that Edo be put into a small room where the two could talk in private, though with a nice strong wall of glass between the two. The doctor sat in a black office chair in the opposite half of the room from the young hybrid. The reflection of the glass actually gave Edoma the first chance in a long time to look at himself. His once scruffy black hair was now shaggy and messy, reaching well past his nose when wet, and touching ever so slightly on his shoulders. They did let him shave the pubescent facial hair that began to crop up, by which of course they did it themselves. His face had become thinner as well, losing a little bit of its softness, his eyes looking less fierce and more narrow. The light burn scars around his eyes were now much more visible than before, almost giving him a light brown racoon mask with occasional tan streaks.

“You can relax T-32, I only want to talk.” The doctor began, almost too gently. Edoma complied, not that he had a choice to begin with. “You already know I wanted to let you go, but did I ever really tell you why?”

“I don’t care.” Replied the teen coldly.

“I mean I think you’ve realized by now that we don’t get a lot of hybrids, contrary to what I told you before about the pills and such. You’re a rarity, that could’ve gone either way. If you favored your human side, I would have either turned you away before the rest of my associates learned of your existence, or maybe just recruited you and tried to make you one of us instead of one of them… or I suppose one of you would be more precise. Instead you embraced your filthy saiyan blood, completely denounced your human heritage. If you had just a shred of decency in you, I may have let you go! In fact, you know what?!” the doctor shouted, throwing his hands in the air. “Let me give you a chance to prove me wrong, if not then prove my entire point. Why did you keep taking the pills? Hell, why take them in the first place?”

Edoma took a long moment of silence, he realized lying wouldn’t actually get him out of here, and his pride, what was left of it anyways, told him to if nothing else stay true to himself. “I took them because I need to get stronger, every day I train, I feel like I’m being held back. Yes, by my human genetics. Meanwhile the whole world seems to be getting stronger in leaps and bounds, and here I am, a former elite, stuck as the best of the worst, which is just a nicer way of saying, you’re weak but at least you’re not on the bottom!” he finished, adding a mockingly happy tone at the end.

The practitioner rose from his seat and slammed a fist into the glass wall. “You see! Did you just come to this planet so you could be better than us? Well guess what? Humans will always beat you, if not physically then mentally, you’re all a bunch of savage primates!”

This time Edo stood up, not wanting to be looked down upon. “And you’re a bunch of hypocritical maniacs. I may not like you humans, but I don’t go around kidnapping them and force them to take whatever drugs you’ve been shoving in me. Besides, didn’t you tell me when you first got here that people like you are disgusting to you?!”

“I never said people like Jack disgusted me, I said people who think one is like the rest disgust me, and that is you saiyans! All you see in every human is a frail waste of space, even when it’s just a passive aggressive distaste like yours, it’s all the same in the end!”

Edo scoffed, “So you are just a bitter old hypocrite.”

“Ok then how’s this, T-32, tell me why you came to this planet in the first place.”

“Easy.” The hybrid began, even before the meds could take effect, “I came to find my human mother.” He said cold, but proudly.

“Probably to beat her into submission to prove how worthless she was.” The doctor scoffed to himself. That was where Edoma drew the line. He sprang to his feet, and sent a fist flying through the glass, leaving a jagged fist sized whole, and deep red cuts on the teens’ arm and knuckles. He didn’t even know why that of all things set him off, really, he didn’t even know what he would do if he ever found his mother, he probably didn’t know when he was twelve either. Doctor Richards was left speechless, now backed up against the wall furthest from the glass barrier. Without another word, Edoma walked out of the private room, and back into his cage.

That night he got no sleep whatsoever, this time not due to any side effects of the drugs or other victims making noise. Instead it was the metal ring on his tail tightening itself, followed by two of the workers dragging the paralyzed teen to the testing room.

“A bit of a violent streak today T-32?” the female scientist that held the fights said almost wickedly. “We usually see that it subjects that don't get enough sleep, This should help you get some much needed rest." she finished wickedly, holding a syringe filled with blue liquid.

Month 7


“Come on just a little longer.” He thought to himself. “Just a little longer and I’m free.” Edoma was currently in the main floor of the warehouse for some new drugs they were testing. Truthfully this was their most interesting one so far. They were hoping to make it so they could order him to raise and lower his power level on command. Now of course as the months went on, the teen was far too stubborn to just sit and wait, he had made previous escape attempts since his second excursion into the mountains. That being said, they all ranged from laughable and pathetic, to literally unnoticed due to how amazingly bad they had gone. This was mostly due to his energy being so drained all the time. Still, this was an exact two months since the doctor brought him home, two lunar cycles since he was given the order not to look up into the sky. Now by an astounding miracle, the young hybrid found himself in the only room with a window, and even more amazingly, in the same direction the moon rose from. Even if he drained down to a power level of one, that would be a level of ten thousand, more than enough to free himself and his fellow aliens. His size alone would make it difficult to contain him at the very least.

The white orb seemed to take an eternity to rise tonight, he was actually worried he would be brought back downstairs too early. An hour later and still no moon. He was on the right side wasn’t he? All too soon, one of the scientist went to escort him back down to his cage.

“No, it’s too soon!” he thought. He had to stall them somehow. The teen decided that faking coughing fit would hopefully by him enough time. He forced a dozen hacks from his lungs, though the scientist just looked down at him skeptically.

“Really T-32? That’s got to be the least convincing cough I’ve ever…” but the scientist paused when Edo actually, and very unintentionally, coughed up blood. The scientists halfheartedly propped him up onto the table, and not a moment too soon. The full moon visibly made it’s trek across the sky.

Edo smiled wildly. “Oh, you stupid humans, I almost feel bad you.” He laughed maliciously. His muscles then began to budge out from his black bodysuit. “I’m going to pay you back for what you did to us tenfold!” he roared, his voice absolutely dripping with glee. A few of the scientists shouted orders, though now it was too late, the teen started to grow in size, and in furriness. One of them tried to trigger his tail lock, while some others attempted to restrain him, though each to no avail. The ropes snapped, and the tail lock completely shattered. Edoma had become the fearsome Oozaru, his upper torso pressed up on the roof of the warehouse. His bulk easily managed to bring down most of the walls set up. This was the most cognitive he’d been as the great ape, since for once this was what both he and the gorilla wanted. With a mighty bellow, the ape pushed his arms and head through the ceiling, causing a monkey sized hole to shatter into the surface. He gave the panicking humans an evil toothy grin, and began kicking the remaining equipment, completely destroying the large vats filled with whatever they had been injecting him, and the other victims of the facility. One of the security guards managed to find a blaster, and fire it at the teen oozaru. The blast did sting, but was more annoying than painful. The ape responded by opening his mouth, and firing a pale red beam down at the guard. Edo beat his chest with a victorious howl, and proceeded to level the entire building.

Now it was time to free the other saiyans, get more oozaru on his side helping him take his revenge. The great ape cleared the rubble, and began founding on the floor of the former warehouse. The tile floor cracked to reveal a layer of stone sectioning off the two floors. In his more humanoid state this would have posed a problem, but it only took Edo a few dozen hits before he could completely remove the barrier. However, instead of new allies, the oozaru found nothing but dozens of empty cages. This didn’t make sense, where were his companions, they were going to escape together, all in their own oozaru transformation.

“Stupid boy, most of them didn’t have their tails,” a familiar voice said from behind him. Edo turned to find a freshly repaired glass wall, now a few inches thinner than before, with Doctor Richards sitting leisurely on the other side. Edoma roared in anger, and slammed his fist into the new barrier, though with no affect. “I see now letting you keep yours is more trouble than it’s worth.”

The teen roared again, throwing yet another punch into the wall, however he noticed his hand was now completely human. He took a sharp inhale, then felt his tail bone. Something was missing. The doctor held up the appendage, smiling wildly. Edo began punching, kicking, even screaming at the glass wall, but nothing he did would leave any marks. “Give it back! Give it back you bastard!” he cried, furious tears streaming down his face. The doctor only laughed, and made his way out the door into the warehouse. Edoma turned to go through his door, only to realize it was gone, he was stuck in a concrete room, his only exit blocked by a thin sheet of heated sand. He punched it, kicked it, blasted it, but nothing would even scratch the mockingly small barrier between him and freedom.

“If you want to leave,” the doctor said again from behind the young warrior. “just take one of these.” Edoma slowly turned around, to see a lone red pill with an orange dot in the middle, laying in the middle of a small wooden table. Whatever feeling it stirred in the teen, whatever caused this unknown feeling, made the boy scream and cry, his escape attempt only leaving him more trapped than before.

“Time for your medicine… monkey? Saiyan! T-32 wake up!”

Almost as if he was never asleep to begin with, Edoma shot up from his cot, greeted by one of the scientists holding a needle.

“So it was a dream, at least that explains a few things.” Edoma wasn’t bothered by the dream, at least not initially. It wasn’t until he had a visit from the female scientist, also known as the fight overseer.

“Did you enjoy your nap T-32? I’m sure you must think that a strange punishment for such violent behavior, but I always love the looks on their faces when they realize their glorious escape was nothing but a dream.” Edo looked at her confused. “Oh, you don’t get it yet? It’s not 100% perfected yet but I engineered that little vial of fun. Everything we do is designed to make you feel empowered while actually weakening your mind and body. That one is more for the emotional aspect of our subjects, giving them a ray of hope, only to have it taken away by their own brain, poetic if you ask me.” She snickered.

Edo couldn’t bring himself to say anything, not that he knew what he would say even if he did. His face just remained blank, only a single silent tear rolled down from his scarred eyes. For a brief moment, the hybrid could taste freedom once again. Not only that, but these psychos managed to invade his dreams, the one place he hoped to be safe. It seemed bi monthly escapes were too much to ask for though. After that, the day went on almost too normally, and eerily enough almost exactly as he dreamed it, only this time the window was completely blocked off. Turns out these scientists and doctors weren’t actually stupid enough to leave a perfectly good view of the moon open. Edo didn’t talk, he didn’t fight he didn’t eat, he didn’t really do anything but internally scream at himself for his stupidity. That night, when the inmates were left to sleep, J-15 made her way over to T-32.

“You’ve been unusually passive. Are you ok?” she asked placing a hand on the bars. She was ordered to be the sleepless guard, completely forbidden from touching the locks or following any other order until ordered otherwise by the original commander. Regardless of all this, Edoma didn’t answer, only turned to face the girl, a grim look plastered to his face.

“J! What are you doing?! They’re going to kill you if they find out you’ve been talking to one of us while on guard duty, and I’m not letting this asshat get another one of us killed.” A-29 whisper is a harsh and angry voice.

“I’m worried about him, he’s never not put up at least a little bit of a fight. T, what happened?” she asked, more worried than before.

“Easy, the drugs are finally getting to him, now get back to patrol!”

“T please.”

“Damn it Tarcha get away from him!” With that he put a hand to his mouth, sucking his teeth audibly as if he had just burned himself.

The lights shot on, waking up the other inmates prematurely. “What’s going on?” Edo inquired, finally breaking his silence.

“I said her real name…” A replied horrorstruck, his face even paler than before. “I just killed both of us…”

“Why what happened?” the teen asked this time more urgently.


Month 8


The three subjects in question were strapped down onto separate plastic tables. Edo and J-15 struggled against the rough leather bindings, however A-29 just stared blankly at the floor.

“Well on the bright side,” Doctor Richards began, “You’ve shown us that we have a little more testing to do before we can allow one of you to be a guard. Still A-29 I thought you knew better by now. Thanks to you all our progress came to a screeching halt, then immediately sent back to square one.” He grumbled lowly, more annoyed than angry.

An hour earlier…

The lights shot on, waking up the other inmates prematurely. “What’s going on?” Edo inquired, finally breaking his silence.

“I said her real name…” A replied horrorstruck, his face even paler than before. “I just killed both of us…”

“Why what happened?” the teen asked this time more urgently.

A dozen guards came rushing down to the cages, followed by a few doctors and scientists, including Doctor Richards.

“You know, we give you animals a lot of freedom all thing considered.” Said the scientist that held the fights outside. “We let you talk almost completely unregulated at night. We only have one rule. What would that be again A-29?”

A-29 mumbled in response.

“What was that A-29?”

“Don’t call anyone by their real names…” he muttered horrified.

“That’s right. We’re gracious enough to give you savages a new name, one that helps you behave more civilized, but once you hear that saiyan trash name, you undo everything we’ve worked hard for. See watch,” she turned to face J-15.

“J-15 kill A-29.” She didn’t move from Edo’s cage, only trembled slightly. “J-15 I order you to kill A-29!” Still nothing, was freedom really as easy as hearing your own name? It couldn’t be, it just couldn’t, it was too simple. “See? Now she’s useless.”

Edo quickly stood up, hoping to hear the one word that would hopefully free him.

“T-32 say nothing until instructed otherwise!” called Doctor Richards. Of course the doctor knew what he was going to do, he’s observed him for months, got to know him, knows how he thinks, how he acts.

“That actually gives me an idea doctor, let’s take T-32 with us, show him what happens if he brakes the one rule he can’t ever brake.

So the three were dragged here. Then strapped down as they were now.

“First, why don’t we start with J-15.” Said the fight overseer.

“Tarcha.” She growled just audibly enough for those present to hear.

“Come again?”

“My name,” Tarcha almost snarled. My name is Tarcha you heartless bastards!” she cried. With that, she was released from her table. She bolted for the door, tears streaming down her face. She was easily caught, Edoma could sense she didn’t have enough energy to do anything substantial. It was odd, his energy sensing originally seemed to be dulled after the first month trapped in this god forsaken place. However, now it seemed back almost in full swing. She didn’t struggle, even once a completely new syringe went into her neck.

“Well Tarcha,” the overseer began, putting a disgusted emphasis on her real name. “I was going to be nice, but after that little display I decided to only inject you with enough to paralyze you.” She then looked over to A, “A-29, kill J-15 now.” She sneered coldly.

As soon as the command was spoken, A was freed from the table. “I’m so sorry Tarcha.” He breathed, then slowly walked towards the girl in question. She couldn’t speak, she just lay on the floor convulsing ever so slightly. He then pressed his foot onto her neck, “I’m so sorry.” A sickening crunch echoed throughout the room. Edo went pale, he couldn’t breathe, his fingers were going numb from shock.

“Very good A-29, now we can’t have a rule breaker like you sowing discontent, so…” he then received the same paralyzing serum. “T-32, now you kill him in the same manner.”

Edoma was released from the table, he stared on in horror as his body seemed to move on its own. He gave A-29 the most apologetic look he ever gave anyone in his life. “Don’t worry about it T,” he grunted in a pained voice, “This isn’t your fault this time, it’s mine.” He gave the teen a cocky grin, “Besides, now I’ll get to be with Tarcha and Sparga.” His voice grew hoarse. Edo laid a foot on the older man’s neck. “I’m just sorry I never got to learn your name, I could’ve freed you too.” Edo began to apply pressure. “MY NAME IS BRASSEL YOU HEAR ME! NEVER FORGET IT!” Snap…

Edoma Soya was left staring down at the two dead bodies lying next to each other, one even killed by his own hand. This couldn’t be the first time he killed someone, was it? It couldn’t have been, he was a saiyan, killing is nothing to a saiyan like him! As a former elite, he had to have killed dozens of people before, right? This was nothing new, right? But he wasn’t a full blooded saiyan, just like the person he killed with his own foot. Then he realized, this may not have been the first person he killed, but it was the first person he actually cared about that he had killed. Tears of grief streamed down his face, why did this bother him.

“Very good T-32.” He heard the good doctor declare, snapping him out of his stupor. Edo didn’t kill these two, Brassel didn’t kill these two, they did, they killed them! Edo screamed with rage, his tears turning from grief to anger. The tail clamp slammed shut, sending electrified needles through his body. However, this wouldn’t be the first time he did something like this, but it would be the most he’s moved since last time. His legs screaming in agony, he managed to shoot himself towards the doctor. He wheeled his fist back, the muscles feeling like they were being thrown into a fire, followed by the feeling of nails being torn from his skin as he planted a heavy punch into the doctor’s stomach. He then collapsed to the ground, too pained to continue his furious rampage. To make matters worse, the doctor barely managed to pull himself up, but not without the help of the security guards. The remaining guards took turns beating the teen into submission, not that it took long with the agony emanating from his tail.

“I guess we’ll be losing three subjects!” screamed the doctor, grunting in pain.

“Wait a minute…” called the fight overseer. “Did you not see that, the amount of power the boy must have had just then? We can’t lose such a valuable asset. And besides, it’s not like he’s now useless. T-32, quietly and calmly return to your cage where you belong.” The young hybrid pulled himself up, the tail clamp letting up as well. He then walked quietly to his cage, even going as far as to lock himself in. A few of the other victims asked him what happened in there, or where the other two were. He didn’t answer, not that he could bring himself to even if he wanted. He just lay on his cot, staring up at the concrete ceiling keeping him from freedom. That was it, his final chance of escape, this time not a dream, and he blew it. Little did he know though, next month would present the key to his elusion. After that, it was just a matter of finding somewhere, anywhere that was safe enough for him to stay. As he drifted to sleep, haunted by the images of what just happened earlier, a small smile creeped across his face. That anger, that freeing rage, felt incredible, his power felt like it soared higher than the pills ever made him feel. Not to mention he finally got to punch Dr. Richards in the gut, he certainly won’t be forgetting that anytime soon. Neither of them.

Month 9


Edoma stopped putting up a fight the events of last month still plaguing his thoughts, on the drugs, off the drugs, fighting, sleeping, eating, the sound of his former cellmates’ necks snapping, once under his own foot, filled his ears. He lost any will to resist. It was over, this was his life from now own, all because of what happened almost a year ago, now, plus knowing his races’ heritage Edo was sure there was more trouble out there that he didn’t even know about. He had since moved cages, being told that the exposure to others was impeding his progress too much. Doctor Richards ended up surviving, though was usually here to be treated in the second floor. The teen didn’t even know this place had a second floor to begin with. Apparently, it was offices and rooms for the scientists that stayed there 24/7, plus a few actual medical rooms for situations like this. Really the teen should consider himself lucky, had he killed the doctor, they probably would have no choice but to kill him on the spot as well. Now here he was in solitary confinement, cement walls, one door, no windows, but a slightly nicer bed, and a little sad excuse for a bathroom. His hair had grown ridiculously long though, the front nearly reaching his chin, and the back resting on his shoulders. His face was hardly visible past the curtain of black strands covering him. He looked over at the first mirror he’d seen in months, brushing the scruff out of his green orbs. Due to his compliance, he received ever so slightly better treatment, including a slightly better meal each day, giving his face a bit of it’ softness back. The scars around his eyes also were more faded again, though still visible to his dismay. Really dismay was the only word to describe himself right now. That and a single question that constantly rolled around in the back of his thoughts.

“Have I ever actually killed anyone?” It was a good question considering the past events. He felt so ashamed for letting such human emotions get the better of him, especially with his current view of the species being lower than usual. Still he asked himself this day in and day out. If anything, really the teen grew numb to all this, the drugs had their usual effects, making him feel amped when really, he was probably slowly going brain dead. His obedience would get tested, usually in a fight against another victim, then at night when his body would cry out for more drugs, he’d twitch and toss in his bed, screeching in pain. It was all just part of his daily life now. By technicality, they succeeded it braking down a sixteen-year-old boy and turning him into a mechanical killer if given the order. That was until one day when a large rumble shook the facility. Was it an earthquake? Screams followed close behind the shake. It could be, humans like to scream at natural disasters. However, the screams didn’t sound frightened, more confrontational. He heard blasts in the distance, was there an actual attack? Edoma ran to his metal door hopeful.

“Wait…” he thought, “what if this is just a ploy, or a setup for another experiment, or worst of all just another happy dream.” Another quake, this time causing miniature cracks in the ceiling. Real or not This could be his ticket out of here. Of course, that was if his door would magically unlock itself, though what happened next was a close second. The ceiling furthest from the door collapsed, bringing down a few of the workers and their machinery with them. Edo tried his best to climb out but was too weak to fly and the hole was just too high for him to climb. That said, hid did notice a familiar remote in the pocket of one of the workers. He pulled it out, it was small, with three buttons and a large knob. Above the knob was a little screen reading I-65, he turned it the knob clockwise, the screen switching to read M-37. A sly smile came to the hybrid’s face. He turned the knob until the screen read T-32. Now was the gamble, he didn’t know which button did what, but he still had to try. He decided to avoid the red one, usually safe to assume those are bad. So he pressed a little blue one. Nothing happened. So then he tried the green one next to it. Sure enough, his tail lock slipped off and fell to the floor with a clatter. Edoma flexed his tail, laughing almost maniacally happy. At least now if he was caught, he wouldn’t be in paralyzing agony.

That being said, judging from what Edo saw through the hole, he was very likely the least of the warehouses worries. What appeared to be a group of ki using mercenaries were now laying siege to the warehouse. He couldn’t tell why but he honestly didn’t care either, as long as he could finally leave. One of the workers stirred, before waking up to see the teen staring menacingly down at him. He scrambled to climb out of the hole, but it was far too late. Low power or not, Edoma certainly had enough strength left over in him to beat a noodle limbed scientist, especially with the exhilarating feeling of his tail being free once again. Leaving the man bruised and bloody the teen used the crumpled heap of a man as a stepping stone to escape his hole.

It was utter pandemonium up here, the second floor was now very apparent, half of it was scattered to the ground. He saw a familiar face just barely keeping himself from falling through the floor of one of the medical room. Edoma made his way upstairs barely avoiding falling bits of roof and window. There he was face to face with the man that led him straight to this mess, Doctor Phillip Richards.

“T… 32…” he grunted, holding his abdomen in pain. Edoma didn’t give the man time to give an order, instead picked him up by the collar of his lab coat, and brought him over to what was once most likely a window outside. The fall itself wouldn’t kill him, but the teen knew it’d be hard to flee a bunch of mercenaries with a broken leg, or a broken anything at that rate. The doctor didn’t panic, he just smiled pulling out the tail lock remote, and pressed the red button. Edo paused his journey to the window. He looked around skeptically, waiting for nothing to happen. Doctor Richards pressed the button again, then glanced at the teen’s tail, his face dropping with horror. “T-T-32!” he stammered terrified.

“Go ahead,” the teen growled in a low but furious voice. “Tell me to put you down, I’d be glad to.” He wouldn’t even need the order, as the doctor was now dangling over a warehouse height fall from the hard ground.

“No no no Edo please!” Again, the doctor’s face contorted, realizing his possible mistake. “T-32 put me down on the floor?”

Apparently, Edo didn’t count as a full name, as the teen literally threw the doctor onto the floor. Though in reality, Edoma couldn’t tell whether it was the order, or because he honestly didn’t want to drop him that he actually listened. “Thank you! Now get me out of here!”

“You didn’t say Simon Says,” Edo said, a small weak smile creeping onto his lips. “I’m leaving Doctor Richards, I’m leaving and you’re going to stay here and pay for what you’ve done.”

“No, no you can’t do this!”

“You said my name doctor, you remember what the price is for saying one of the filthy monkey’s real name is don’t you?” the teen said coldly. The teen headed for the former window.

“Ed- T-32 please! Don’t do it!” that wasn’t a real order. “T-32 please!” neither was that. Edo jumped from the window, the doctor’s pleas growing fainter. “T-32 you can’t leave me here!”

“Yes, I can…” The fall did hurt, in fact he probably broke something, but a nice layer of snow managed to make the fall bearable to the young warrior. He looked up to see a red yellow and purple sky, the sun just peeking over the mountains, then two things occurred to him.



For starters, Month 10 had literally just begun.

Secondly, Edoma realized that there were very likely still victims trapped inside. What was he supposed to do now? He probably broke his leg in the fall, and even if he hadn’t he was in no condition to fight against anyone remotely capable. Still how could he just leave them there? They suffered just as much, some more than he did. He looked back at the warehouse, a few small explosions erupting through the walls. He had to go, he could always come back when he was back to full health then save them. Yes, that was it. He’ll save them after he recovers.

"This is it, this could very well be my only chance to escape. I'm in no condition to fight, and who knows if I'll be this lucky again. That being said, I suppose luck is a poor word to describe anything that has happened to me." Edoma thought to himself. So here he was, running from the blaring alarms, explosions, mad scientists, all on a wounded leg. “I’m sorry everyone.” He said to himself, referring to those he left behind. No one pursued him, no one was giving him orders to come back, this was true freedom, he didn’t care about the cold, he’d deal with the side effects when they came, for now all he needed was to find someplace where he was truly safe. He ran, or more accurately, jogged with a limp, until he literally collapsed from exhaustion. After a moment of rest, he set back off, putting as much distance as possible between himself, and the probably destroyed warehouse. He didn’t know how long he ran for, a few days, maybe more, a perfectly reasonable amount of time healthy, but in his current state, it was a torturous marathon.

He went from jogging, to full on limping, then eventually to literally dragging himself through the snow. He only stopped when his arms refused to move. He gasped for air, lungs burning with the cold, his left leg now swollen almost comically, a large purple spot formed below his knee.

“Where am I?” he wondered. His head was spinning, not only due to the side effects, but also from sheer lack of air. It was surprisingly clear, save for a small cottage. It didn’t have any lights on, and even if it did he had no idea who it belonged to. He decided to peer inside. Empty, not a single piece of furniture, just wooden walls, and a hard-stone floor. As odd as that was, it was second to what the teen saw next. A large wooden slab, looking very well taken care of, carved to have perfectly symmetrical edges. A light white dusting brought on from the snow. It looked like a grave marker, a masterfully crafted one at that. The teen brushed off the powder to get a better look at it, figuring it was mark the person that once lived here.

“Here lies Edoma Soya, a young budding fighter, who never got to flower into the warrior he could have been.”

Edo, ma. It felt like forever since he heard or even seen his full name. Edoma.

“My name is Edoma.” He said to himself. He then realized he never owned a small cottage in the mountains, or anywhere for that matter. So whose was it? Did it belong to whomever put the grave here? No, that wouldn’t make sense, it looked like it was kept in good condition, with at least weekly upkeep, that or it was just that well made. Looking down at it wistfully, he picked up a small rock, and carved in a crude “T-32” underneath his name, then put a single line through it. Edoma then made his way inside, the more important realization hitting him. “The world thinks I’m… dead?” It was cold, but no colder than it was outside. The teen managed to find an old red blanket under the window he originally looked through, and wrapped himself up in it, shivering slightly. He then huddled up in the corner, not sure what to do next other than to keep off his aching leg. He was just going to sit for a while, sit and wait for, anything really. Just for something to come get him, for him to wake up back in the warehouse, or maybe even wake up ten months ago, when none of this was even a concern for the young fighter. Of course, none of that happened, he just sat and waited for him to wake up from a dream he wasn’t having. He really felt like he was gone forever. He may as well have, the world probably forgot about him by now.

That night he had one more striking hallucination, with the same “people” as always. The human Edoma, and the Oozaru Edoma.

“So are we really free now?” asked the human.

“I don’t know, maybe.” Confirmed the real Edo.

“But we didn’t free our brothers and sisters.” Rumbled the oozaru.

“What was I supposed to do? It was either escape while I could, or probably die myself.” The original replied.

“Plus, think about this, for starters our door was completely sealed. Now we could have gone back later sure, but we had a broken leg, which still hurts,” Edo felt his leg twinge upon mention, “so if we had gone back, and even managed to free some of the other victims, all we’d be doing is needlessly risking both ours and their lives. Our leg would’ve have slowed them down, giving the scientists or whoever was attacking plenty of time to capture of kill us and them.”

“We could have at least tried!” roared the frustrated ape.

“Please…” sobbed Edo.

“We would have died, and not even in any sort of dignified way!” retorted the human.

“We would have died in battle!”

“We would have died in the middle of a fire fight, running, or more accurately, hobbling for our lives trying to save a bunch of others that may have been worse off than ourselves! This wouldn’t be the battle we valiantly lost our lives in, it would have been pathetic!”

“Would you two shut up!” cried the teenager. “We don’t know what happened to the others, maybe they died or maybe some managed to escape in the chaos too. We escaped, we’re mostly unharmed, and we’re al- alive…” he trailed off. His gaze was drawn to the window closest to his grave. “We ARE alive.”

“Kind of sucks no one knows it though.” Sighed the human.

“Agreed.” Grunted the ape.

“Maybe we should try and find someone we knew, or at least someone that could help us.” The human suggested.

“No.” declared the real Edoma. “We’ve been gone for ten months, that’s one month of waiting, maybe another month of searching then possibly one more before being declared dead. If that’s the case, then that grave could very well have been there for six or seven months. In a generally wet environment, that piece of wood would look far more aged than it did. Someone has been making sure it stayed that way” This was all very level headed, especially considering the teen was not exactly in his right mind. Still, he was set, and that was all that mattered, and it was enough to put him on track. “We’ll wait here, whoever had been taking care of the grave will come back, and then we’ll…” What? What would he do, he hardly had the strength to stand let alone walk, and while water wouldn’t be too much of an issue with all the snow around, food would be another hurdle entirely. Would he even survive until anybody, if anybody, actually came? At full health and two working legs, he absolutely could survive on his own.

The next three days were actually bearable compared to his previous escapes. Whether it was due to the fact that he was no longer being held captive, that he managed to escape and hopefully instill some fear into the man who helped put him there, or just the freedom in general, Edo just felt clear during the days. Nights were still a bear. Every night he would toss and turning, his body aching for the drugs that hopefully had been destroyed in the attack. He would just huddle in his blanket, praying for sleep to finally take him away for the night. To his dismay though, his dreams gave him no respite, showing images of his grave, with the subjects paying him their respects, along with some people he’d swear he’d seen before, but it’s been so long he couldn’t think of their names. He’d run over and shout that he was alive, but they could never hear him. Then the nightmare would end with Doctor Richards ordering him to step on his neck, claiming he was now ruined from the attack. Morning were no picnic either, as soon as Edo woke up, he’d be greeted with a searing pain in his left leg. It was obvious he was no medic, the flimsy wrappings held together with a stick as a makeshift splint was probably doing more harm than help. A whole week, and nothing, nothing but what little food he could scrounge, drinking melted snow, and nights that made him wish the meds were back. Eventually his positive demeanor left him as quickly as it came, leaving him a disheveled mess, craving the drugs again, only remembering how good they made him feel. The purple bruise of his leg was looking worse by the day. He’d had enough, he just wanted whoever put this here to just come and save him, or to wake up to a fresh needle of withdrawal relief. After a couple more days, he stayed huddled in the corner, waiting for either to happen. He took another glance at the window leading to his grave. Then a thought came to him. He hobbled outside to take a look at his grave again.

He kept going back to the words written on it. A budding fighter? Bloom into a warrior? Why did that phrase sound so familiar to the teen? What was he doing before he died to the rest of the world? What exactly was he after? He knew why he came to earth, he always remembered that, to find his mother. How was he going to do it? Beat up an old guy in the village his mother was from. But he’s too strong. So he had to get stronger right? How was he going to do that? By blooming into a warrior, how was he supposed to do that? What did it mean? As much as they confused him, they added a whole plethora of other feelings. Hopeful that someone had faith in him, then immediately disgusted with himself that he let them down, then just depressed that he may never get to live up to his epitaph. He kneeled in front of his own grave, doing his best, but ultimately failing to hold back a river of tears.