Unpleasant Memories (16)

"They're getting closer and closer!" Aspa said, his speed also picking up with his fear.

The jungle floor was uninviting as Olivia struggled to keep up with Aspa. It was early in the morning so the Oozaru transformation couldn't be relied on and their opponents had varying power levels. While on paper, the absence of ki in the Grino's seemed to leave the Saiyan's with an overwhelming advantage in battle. The raw strength of the Grinos was not factored in and as a result, lead to the unpleasant situation now.

Each battle squad was composed of 3-5 members depending on the number of youths in a particular generation, this squad would run a series of controlled test missions before having an induction mission with a senior member in the Saiyan community then they would progress to actual missions.

"Missions" being Emperor Freiza's codeword for interplanetary genocide and slavery, then selling planets to the highest bidder at various Space Auctions.

Celery weaved through bushes, trees and animals in the densely packed woods, the contents of the mission plan replaying in her head.

[Exterminate Grinos on Planet Ranch!] Rank-F

*Grinos are lower-level lifeforms with an absence of ki.

*Although they have considerable physical capabilities they lack the necessary intelligence to properly use it to their advantage and as a result, can be picked off easily.

*Grinos have a very strong pack mentality, it is rare to find Grinos in groups less than 2.

*Grinos are also very territorial, Grinos commonly fight each other for land, initiating battle by roaring

Celery felt like the intelligence of the Grinos or lack thereof was severely exaggerated and their strength was downplayed excessively. On top of that, the mission plan failed to mention the existence of hybrid Grinos that were much more powerful than the average 5-foot Grino. This type of misinformation although uncommon was very significant, in reality, not all the races that Freiza enslaved would whole-heartedly work for him and as a result, things would slip through the cracks like this.

Celery had seen 7-feet 'Grino Elites' and a 9-foot 'Grino King', that even an elite and hardened Saiyan warrior was unable to defeat. She was worried that even if Paragus found their way to them, he wouldn't be able to do anything.

"Celery? Is that you? Why are you here?" Paragus asked,

"Paragus! Olivia is in danger!" Celery declared quickly.

"What! Is she ok?" Paragus asked his face contorting.

"She is for now but I don't know how much longer!" Celery said hastily

"Which way?"

"North West!"

Paragus charged in the aforementioned direction, using his little ki to propel himself further, he would rather be there early and run out than be late and have some ki remaining.

Paragus ran with his heart pulsating in his chest, he couldn't bear to lose Olivia, not after everything they had been through, not after everything they had planned for each other.

"Please be safe" he muttered hopefully.

....

Aspa looked behind him fearfully, he noticed Olivia's shortness of breath slowly enlarging and her running form became less and less pronounced, she was getting tired. Under normal circumstances this would not be an issue, however, there were multiple muscular tall humanoids chasing them after killing their strongest ally.

The situation was dire.

Aspa looked at Olivia again, he knew what he had to do.

If Olivia was to survive then he would have to either divert the Grino's attention or grab hold of Olivia himself. While thinking about this Aspa's hands began to shake erratically, his countenance fell and he felt a rising feeling from his stomach.

"I-I-I can't do it!" Aspa tried to convince himself many times but he didn't believe, he knew he couldn't save Olivia.

Olivia panted desperately, she too knew she couldn't keep this up for long but her pride as a Saiyan stopped her from asking Aspa, the weakest and most cowardly among them, for help.

The Grino King roared irritatedly.

At a staggering 9 foot height, he began bellowing at high speeds.

In response to this, all the Grino Elites that were following the Grino King dispersed into the woods leaving the Grino King to make an isolated charge against the Saiyans.

Not even a minute later, the Grino elites appeared in numbers tenfold what they had previously, all the Grino people chasing the Saiyans with untapped anger.

"What did you do to anger them this much?" Olivia asked with the last of her strength.

"I-I-I'm not sure when I saw the Grino king I couldn't help but scream!" Aspa said, the ominous image imprinted in his mind giving his legs new strength.

Olivia's eyes widened.

"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" Olivia roared temporarily ignoring her circumstances.

"Didn't you read the mission plan?!! You initiated a territory battle! With the Grino king no less!" Olivia said completely incensed.

The Grinos were not capable of coherent speech so the Grino King had no clue what Oliva was saying, he, however, did know that when Olivia started screaming it was a direct challenge to his authority and his lineage.

The Grino King had two choices.

1. Kill the girl and rely on his subjects to capture the boy later.

2. Keep chasing both of them until they either ran out of stamina later or reach a dead end.

The Grino king was confident he would be able to outlast the two Saiyans in a prolonged battle but he didn't want both of them to get away, he would be much more content if he managed to kill at least one of them.

The Grino King elected to kill one of them.

The ominous screeching from the slit on the Grino king's head stopped as he bent his waist forward and watched Olivia's movements keenly, Olivia put her left foot forward and pushed off in a similar pattern to what she had been doing before, seeing this the Grino King leapt forward catching Olivia at the back of her movement arc. Hearing a disturbance behind her, Olivia turned around to see two thick pitch-black arms motion towards her. Fear arose in her heart as the unwillingness to die overtook her.

Ki burst out of her body with prime motivation, Olivia didn't know how strong she needed to be to defeat the Grino King she just wanted to be strong enough to escape.

Olivia's fist slammed into the Grino King's head with a solid crack, completely reversing any momentum the Grino King had and even more, he was sent flying.

Olivia released a breath she did not realise she was holding, she stood valiant watching the Grino King fly away from her, landing a severe blow on her oppressor with her own two hands.

Aspa looked back after hearing a loud thud only to be completely caught off guard.

Olivia was completely surrounded by Grinos.