Capítulo 3: Ambush
I quickly pressed the scanning button of my scouter. It quickly told me of a power level of 306 approaching my position, fast!
Without hesitating further, I flew up into the crowns of the trees with my attack ball in tow. While I was hiding, I looked down trying to catch a glimpse at the creature that was heading towards me. It didn't take long until a green six-legged creature bursts through a tree splintering it in the process.
Its skin was smooth, and the back was covered in scales that extended to its tail. It had four eyes and two pointy horns or tusks sticking out of the corners of its mouth. It was leaner than I expected but it still was covered in muscles.
It was quite large as well, standing at a height of about 3 meters, not to mention its length from head to tail. There were also its humongous wings attached to its side.
Apparently, in addition to being a heavy muscular creature with tusks, it had scaly wings as well! Luckily for me, one of the wings was unnaturally bent forward and it seemed like it was a recent injury.
It looked around for a moment before looking up before finding me or rather my attack ball since it was a lot harder to hide. Considering its hateful glare there was no doubt that the attack ball was the reason it came here, to begin with.
It opened its mouth before releasing a roar. It wasn't as deeply pitched as I first thought it would be, but it didn't make it any less intimidating.
I couldn't help but gulp, my hands started to shake a bit, but it wasn't just fear… there was excitement and appreciation as well? I didn't realize it but my grip on my arm cannon subconsciously loosened and slipped out of my sweaty hands.
In a panic, I hastily reached for it again only to knock it further away and exposing me to the creature below. Just half a second of hesitation made the retrieval impossible as the creature jumped, twisted its body in the air to smack the arm cannon with its tail into thousand pieces.
I could only look at the falling pieces. Just a small blunder and a moment of inattentiveness would be making my future life a whole lot more difficult. It wasn't anything world-ending, but the loss would be felt at least in the beginning before my strength made weapons obsolete.
Although I thought this way, I didn't feel it as a loss. In fact, I was somewhat relieved as if I got rid of something bothersome.
A snort of the creature brought my thoughts back to the present. Man, I was spacing out in front of my opponent! Come on keep your head in the game Shallot!
I looked down at the creature, not figuratively but physically since I was flying, and realized that it just glared at me angrily.
Without its other wing, it had no chance of reaching me in the air. So, although, I was fearful I couldn't suppress myself any longer.
The curiosity just took over as I knew this was the perfect opportunity to see how much damage a ki blast would do to another living being. Would it be instantly crippled, or would it even make a scratch? Certainly, a strong one like this could at least withstand my amateurish attacks!
I held my palm towards it before redoing the steps I learned today. A ki ball quickly formed in front of my hands before turning more violent as I pumped more energy into it to the point that the amount of ki was becoming difficult to control.
The creature seemed to be surprised by the glowing light that formed in front of my palm and turned cautious as its attention shifted towards me.
I aimed at the creature that was glaring at me before I fired the ki blast. This time I didn't stop supplying it with ki as I didn't want to fire a ki sphere. I wanted a ki wave, my own Kamehameha, so I pushed more energy into it as I poured more energy into it intending to send the attack flying.
However, unlike a ki wave, I instead just shot out ki spheres consecutively. After seeing I failed in creating an energy wave, I instantly cut the draining technique. Still, four spheres sailed through the air at a speed of a thrown baseball. The first was distinctly different from the others as it was bigger and slower than the others.
Since I didn't redirect my aim the first ki sphere was hit by my other spheres just as it was about to touch the ground. The creature had long sidestepped the attack after seeing it being fired.
Two explosions triggered almost simultaneously and concurrently caused the two following spheres to explode harmlessly in the air.
The explosions close to the ground sent pieces of the ground flying away from the impact. The creature covered itself protectively with its uninjured wing but other than getting a bit dirty, the only thing that this attack did to it was making it more cautious.
I should have just hidden and let it focus on the attack ball before I blasted a glowing ball at it, I realized. The creature looked mockingly at me and my attack ball for a second before it bolted away.
"Eh?" I intelligently let out as I saw the creature retreat into the thicket. I dazedly floated for a bit before I decided to follow it from above while turning on the quick scan function of my scouter.
Although the attack exhausted me somewhat, I knew that it couldn't reach me in the air, and I would rather want to know where it lived so I could avoid it in the near future.
I commanded the attack ball to fly down to the entrance of my cave as I flew after the creature. It was fast for its size as it expertly ran through the jungle. Honestly, with its size and it being seemingly airborne it had no business running this adeptly in a jungle.
However, it looked like its legs helped it maintain its balance on almost any surface, while the wings were folded close to its body almost disappearing, though on is poking out since it was broken. If I didn't see its wings previously and if the wing weren't broken, I would have thought it was just a bit thick.
It seemed to have picked up that I followed it as it started searching my figure in the crowns of the jungle, but I hid away as well as I could. I had been following it for quite some distance already.
Though, I feared that I was unable to fool it as it didn't move away for quite some time as it looked around. Suddenly, as if to clear my doubts it sprinted away for a couple of meters before disappearing into an opening in the ground that I would have otherwise missed.
I looked at the location of the opening and saw that it was somewhat on the path the attack ball had taken as it flew towards my cave. I wanted to follow it into the ground and blast it with another ki attack, but I wouldn't be able to fly away as easily, and if it could reach me, it would be easy for it to just stomp or smack me to death.
"I will come for you soon." I decided as I flew away. I had marked its location in my scouter, determined to attack it once I was stronger, but now I should head back. I wasn't strong enough to fight it head-on and the sky had turned dark already.
I was several kilometers away from my cave and I didn't like my chances in the darkness against whatever was waiting for a meal.
I made my way towards my new home through the air. Flying was quite energy-efficient all things considered. I could probably fly around the entire day even with my meager ki reserves, and I would do it as well just for the sake of flying itself.
Honestly, just spending days flying around sounded pretty awesome, but I have to get stronger if I want to survive on this planet and in extension in this crazy universe.
Although it was dark, with my scouter's night-vision it gave me a decent view of the ground, though I have to say that my Saiyan vision was not too bad either. Suddenly a number of 150 popped up on my scouter rapidly heading my way from behind.
I quickly turned around and started flying even higher trying to use the branches of the trees as cover. However, no matter how much I looked I couldn't find the creature that was heading my way.
It was still getting closer, but its movements were getting slower. Since it decreased its speed the closer it got to me, it obviously thought about sneaking up on me and I had no intention of letting it.
I flew higher and just as I was about to break through the cover of the trees, I saw several flying creatures fight each other under the starry night. My scouter told me that I didn't want to mess with them, and I would rather take my chances with whatever might be following me.
I lowered myself under the cover of the trees again and refocused on the power level that was still heading my way.
I increased my speed even further as I headed for my home. I was straining a bit, but I felt how my flying became more energy-efficient as I was pushing myself.
With my increased speed, the creature was speeding up as well. It seems like it doesn't want to let me go!
From time to time, I looked back as I sped through the dark jungle. The occasional plant and fungus glowed in all colors in the dark, so the jungle wasn't pitch black and if I weren't afraid of mortal combat with a creature that was 1.5 times stronger than I was, I would have enjoyed the view.
After flying back for a while my eyes were already used to the darkness, so when I looked back again in search of the creature following me, I managed to see a dark figure entering my peripheral vision. The only problem was that it came from above and not from the ground as I anticipated!
With no time to react, I felt its body crash into mine slamming my front through some branches and into the trunk of a giant tree. I felt its claws tear at my body armor, fortunately, unable to pierce it. It was pressing me against the tree as it supported itself on a branch.
I felt its breath as its teeth touched my neck. Before it could sink its teeth into my flesh, I turned my upper body as much as I could towards the creature while I threw out a back fist at it.
It seemed to have lost its footing as it started tumbling towards the ground while taking a branch or two with it before its figure started gliding through the air into the dark jungle again.
Without thinking about it I panickily fired a ki blast into the direction it glided towards. I could somewhat make out its figure. It was four-legged and between its limps was a thin membrane giving it the ability to glide.
It was fairly muscular, and it sized about 1.8 meters in length. I had no intention of fighting it while it could ambush me, so I headed to my cave, which was now only a few minutes away from my current position.
I didn't forget to let the scouter keep scanning the surroundings, so I would know if the creature was trying to ambush me somewhere under the cover of the trees.
Suddenly another roar tore through the quiet night with a different one following it shortly afterward. It didn't seem to spook my ambusher as it positioned itself between myself and my cave.
I weighed my options, but there wasn't much I could do. I knew that it had better eyes than me. It was faster too. I realized I couldn't just hide away until it left.
It would be better if I killed it now since it might search the area for me and discover my scent in the cave. My attack ball was not big enough to cover the entire entrance of the cave, so I wouldn't have the comfort of being safe.
I could sleep inside the attack ball, but it kind of felt cowardly to do so and I felt embarrassed to even think about it as a viable option. Maybe it was the Saiyan in me speaking up, but I wanted to kill the creature that dared to ambush me.
Although it was faster than me, probably stronger too, I felt like I could seriously injure it with a ki attack.
As I thought of ways I had already locked onto the creature with my scouter. Although it didn't show the height level it was at, it did show me how far away it was. It wasn't moving at all and seemed determined to wait for me.
The area was devoid of stronger creatures, so I should be safe for now. I just need to get rid of it. I silently moved downwards into the cover of the bushes before circling around the ambusher. I made sure to hover slightly above the ground, so I wouldn't make any sounds running on the ground.
I figured that it seemed adept with hunting flying opponents, so it might have a harder time finding me on the ground, though I highly doubted that since even birds on earth were very capable of finding prey in the ground. I just hoped that it figured that I was a purely airborne creature.
It didn't move away from the spot even after I was positioned myself behind it, but I couldn't disregard the possibility that it was following my movement.
I slowly scanned the trees and if it weren't for my scouter, I would have missed its figure. It was lurking on a thick branch high up in the trees. In the darkness, it looked like it was just part of the branch itself, but now that I discovered it, I wouldn't give it time to reposition itself.
I silently flew up from directly beneath the branch, using it as a cover to get closer. It might have predicted me coming this way as I was previously heading to my cave in a straight line, but now it seemed to get restless after finding no trace of me yet.
A dozen meters away, I flew up on the other side of the tree as quietly as I could before setting down on a branch diagonally above it just a few meters away from it. My heart was already racing the entire time I was sneaking up on it.
But seeing it having sensed something as it perked up, my heart skipped a beat. Fortunately, it looked down beneath it. It had taken me only a minute or two to completely reverse the situation, so it wasn't expecting me already behind it.
I created a ki ball and pumped it full of ki as fast as I could. I pulled my hand back and threw it at it like a baseball.
I noticed that it sailed through the air faster than before. My idle thought was quickly interrupted by the explosion triggered by my ki blast.
After being momentarily blinded by the explosion, I noticed a figure exiting the smoke of the explosion. It was sailing to the ground with the blown-up crown of the tree. It regained its composure after a moment before it extended its limbs again in an attempt to glide away.
With no intention to hide anymore I blasted through the air at tops speed directly at it. I squinted my eyes as I flew through the flying splinters in the air. Just a second later my extended fists slammed into its back and like a broken umbrella its body bent backward.
I pushed it as fast as I could before dodging to the side just as I reached the ground. With a bang, it heavily crashed into the ground.
I knew that it wasn't dead yet as the scouter still displayed its power level. I pulled back my arm before forming another ki ball. I quickly threw it into the dust cloud. The creature was already up but dodged a bit too slow.
It was thrown away with the debris and it seemed to be somewhat disoriented. No wonder it was disoriented with the two ki attacks it tanked.
I didn't let it recover as I closed in. I wasn't thinking anymore as I let my instincts take over. No thoughts were wasted on using the environment to my advantage, going for another ambush, or staying back to keep firing my ki blasts.
I just blasted ahead and slammed my fist into its ugly face. Unlike my energy sphere, I felt my ki enhancing my movements, empowering my every move.
I felt my punches getting heavier and my kicks more impactful as I thrashed against my ambusher. Momentarily distracted by the sensation, it took a swipe at me, nearly ripping out my neck.
In close combat, it seemed rather slow. Its limps being attached with a thin membrane was holding it back, I swiftly concluded.
This time consciously putting more ki into my fist, I took another shot at it after weaving underneath another swipe.
Its claw harmlessly sailed above my head as I used my small size to my advantage to get beneath it. My body smoothly transitioned into a jumping uppercut, burying my fist deep into its stomach. Despite its size, it was thrown a few meters into the air as it spat out salvia.
I used the time it was briefly stunned by my attack to create another ki ball before shooting right at the creature. I basked in the warmth of the explosion that was several times weaker than the ones before as I took a breather.
I wasn't used to ki attacks yet, so every move was severely chipping away from my reserves and my stamina. If I wanted to be able to fire ki attacks all day I would have to get more efficient with it, I quietly added that to my to-do list.
The creature dropped to the ground. I observed it for a moment dully noting the power level of it vanishing, indicating its demise. It had an ugly visage and wouldn't be odd for something coming straight out of a sci-fi/horror movie.
I wonder how it would taste barbecued…
Before I could take the corpse with me for a midnight snack, my scouter picked up several other power levels heading my way. Seeing them being close to each other, I would guess that they were a pack. Urgh. What's up with all the aliens targeting me?! I was slowly getting frustrated.
My stamina was draining rather quickly, and I wouldn't be able to do much against a dozen creatures with power levels close to mine. Without hesitating further, I abandoned the corpse and headed towards my cave.
Although it didn't bring me luck the previous times, I still flew up high again using the crowns of the trees to cover me. I wonder if using the ground for cover would be better since any and every creature seems to notice everything hiding in the trees.
Well, maybe it was because all the creatures I encountered until now were the airborne types? It would stand to reason that they would be more used to fighting against other flying creatures. Fortunately, I can really abuse the quick scan of the scouter.
Though the quick scan won't give me any and every power level in the world, it does allow me to track any power level in a kilometer distance.
If it were a newer model, it probably would have a greater range, but a kilometer warning of any power level approaching was already more than I could ask for. It will get useless the higher the power levels since they would be able to cross the distance speedily, but now it was worth gol-
My musing interrupted as my scouter started beeping of a fast-approaching power level of… of 533! Before I could react, I heard something rip through the tree's crown I was flying through. Before the gust of wind reached me, I felt something wrap around me like an iron vise.
The next moment I felt my body dragged upwards, the speed made it straining to raise my head. The claw, I now recognized, around me squeezed and I felt like I was dying. I felt my rips squeak under the pressure.
The pressure increased as the direction I was dragged to suddenly changed. I only distantly registered a roar followed by a screech, but that currently wasn't in the foreground of my thought.
My world was of pain, and I felt the blood rush to my head. It felt like it would just pop any moment because all the blood was squeezed into it.
Another instant passed and two distinct cracks sounded out as my arms snapped like twigs. I would have screamed but the pressure on my torso made it hard to even breathe.
The flying behemoth seemed to have realized that it was killing me and started easing its grip, but the damage was already done.
I was getting dizzy, and my head fell backward without strength in my neck to keep it in place. The exhaustion and pain were hitting me hard. I dully noticed that I was dropped into soft ground. I saw smaller shadows approaching me before I felt several cuts all over my body.
This is the end. Was I given another chance just to die the next day?
Just as I was about to curse my damned luck, something else filled my vision. Even though it seemed so small in comparison to the shadows that were cutting into my body, it fully outshined anything else like a beacon in the darkness.
I don't know what it was but everything else seems to lose its importance in front of its glory. The exhaustion and the pain were less than a sidenote, replaced by the glory of the shining orb and the rising rage.
A rage so primal and intense it fully occupied my mind as I felt my heart pump with an intensity unlike ever before, seemingly wanting to burst out of my chest. My heart filled my body with strength again and then some.
Pure power flowing through my veins and with it the rage spread out of my mind and into my body, a rage commanding my body to act upon it.
I felt my body rise pushing away the shadows that were blocking the view of the shiny orb in the sky. I couldn't contain myself any longer as I roared. A roar announcing my presence to the world, a roar to beckon anyone to dare challenge me!
…
I dazedly woke up feeling my body aching. Every spot on my body felt sore and abused. A muscle twitched from time to time, and I had the worst cramps I ever experienced. I couldn't raise my body easily, so I rolled to my stomach before pushing myself up on the stilted ground next to me.
I sat down for a moment thinking about nothing but to adjust to the pain I was feeling. It took me a while before I recalled last night.
I couldn't help but chuckle. So, this what it felt like to turn into an Oozaru? Honestly, I forgot about the transformation, so I didn't check if any moons were orbiting the planet. A massive oversight, I admitted.
I reached for my left ear, but midair froze as I realized that the scouter was missing. Did I lose it when I transformed? Maybe it got destroyed when that stupid bastard alien bird picked me up to feed me to its chicks.
I will have to use the spare one in my attack ball. In general, it wasn't as great as the other one as it was an older model, but the functions it had were the same only slightly worse.
It could only detect ki up to a power level of 5 thousand, but once Bulma gets her hands on it, she can increase its max detection range.
I slowly stood up and stumbled backward before I fell on my butt again. My stomach was growling. I needed to eat something after last night. The battle before and my transformation certainly took a toll on me.
I stood up again and looked around. My eyes widened as I noticed the shape of the crushed jungle ground being noticeably humanoid. In the distance, I saw a good chunk of the jungle missing, trees were pulled out by the roots and some parts were partly burned down.
I stroked my tail as I was reminiscing about the power that I felt filling me before my mind went blank. A power that elevated me to the top of the food chain of an entire planet.
I couldn't help but feel giddy about it. It filled me with pride knowing about a power that I knew I could master. Despite the pain and the exhaustion, a grin formed on my face as I just enjoyed the view. A grin that slowly turned into a frown.
I didn't know where I was and what the state of my attack ball was. I certainly hope that I didn't destroy it. It wouldn't be a surprise if I did.
I just hope that the bird took me away far enough since an Oozaru wasn't really known for its logical and foresightful thinking and the attack ball was probably too kickable.
I just crossed my fingers in hope that it would negate my rotten luck. It would be really bad if I couldn't get off this planet.
I didn't want to rely on some alien traveler that might or might not come either and who is to say that someone was even inclined to help a complete stranger and a Saiyan at that!
I could only sigh and hope that it was still in one piece. I didn't fly as walking would be more energy efficient and I was already running on fumes. Fortunately, the transformation had healed my broken arms otherwise I would still be lying on the ground.
"Now where should I head to?" I looked around and decided to follow the path of destruction. Oozarus were surprisingly not the subtle type, huh who knew.
I traversed the pit I made with my body and woefully realized that it might take a while until I reach my cave.
…
It took me a while to find my way back to the area where I transformed into an Oozaru. I couldn't help but smirk at the giant tree and the former nest half burned. The destruction that surely came with a casual strike.
I looked around for a bit before I saw a mess of a carcass. A carcass of a giant behemoth of a creature not unlike the dinosaurs that used to live on earth… or rather live on earth right now, I guess.
Its feet were twisted, and the claws broken, as for the upper body, I couldn't really recognize it. The top was halfway inside a footprint. In other words, it was nothing but mush.
"Hahahahahaha" I don't know what overcame me, but just the thought of it all was hilarious. A predator thinking of me as easy prey brought me back to its chicks only to be stomped on and crushed like a bug. To boot the still salvageable parts will become my food now.
Oh, I really like this feeling. Although, not mastered yet, this-this power… its mine!
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A/N: Finally reached 15k words, now this novel can be seen in the ranking! :3 Thanks for all the power stones you have been sending already and the comments you write, love to see the engagement. ^^
I just wanted to let you know that this is going to be a long fic, I am currently aiming for at least 100 chapters with around 4-5k words per chapter. That would total 400-500k words, so this will be at the very least longer than the Broly fic. In that vein, expect a slow-paced fanfiction.
Since I am uploading exclusively on Mondays, my goal will take at least 2 years to reach! That's the plan and plans always change, so if something changes, I will let you know!
For example, in a few months, I will have to take a mandatory internship and then write my bachelor thesis, so I will be preoccupied with that and might not upload for a week or two, to accustom to the new workload.
But hey there is also the possibility that I might upload an extra chapter... lol.
On another note, since I noticed that it is trending with other authors even more so than when I started, I won't drop this.
*Blushing* I shyly rub my collarbone and my neck. I am not like the other authors, but... I will do my best for you! I won't drop this I swear!
In all seriousness, it was because a story was dropped that I started writing myself. I remember being quite frustrated and it just hit me when I thought: If they can't complete their story then I'll just write my own!
Anyway, enough of my rambling hope you have a nice day and stick around. Thanks for reading :3
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