Chapter: 3

Acala felt a sense of weariness seep into her bones. The healing agent was doing its work perfectly, but the strain of uncontrolled transformation was taking its toll on her. She closed her eyes, letting the steady hum of the pod lull her into a state of half-consciousness.

When she opened her eyes again, it was morning. The sky was blue and clear, and the sunlight shone on her face, causing her to let out a sigh of comfort. A light breeze brushed past her face, making her snow-white hair flutter. The air was fresh with the smell of wet earth and dew on grass; it lifted her spirits considerably.

Who said Saiyans couldn't enjoy nature?

Acala closed her eyes, leaning back into the earth below, a soft smile tugging at her lips... then, her smile froze.

Something didn't seem quite right. She was lying on the ground and looking up at the clear sky... wasn't she sleeping in a pod?

Acala jumped to her feet, her crimson eyes scanning the surroundings in puzzlement. Grassy fields stretched as far as the eye could see, morning dew resting on bright green blades. A wind blew through the field, making the grass flow like waves on a clear green ocean.

The view was quite good. It was a place she would've been reluctant to destroy, but what the hell was she doing here?

"Did I die again?"

She muttered to herself, bewildered. Her hand instinctively went to her waist, feeling the spot where the flesh had been missing. The wound was completely healed. Her ribs, too, felt intact.

Did the wretched girl, Spina, kill her in her sleep?

Unlikely. Acala didn't think the weakling had the guts to try something like that. If that were the case, she would have felt something. Even if the girl blasted her head with an energy bomb, the pain would have jolted her out of sleep for a moment. This must be a dream, then—no other explanation.

She clenched her fist, feeling the tension causing her muscles to tighten against her limb. At least she was back to full power.

If this was a dream, it was incredibly vivid and far too realistic for her liking. She took a step forward, the soft grass folding under her boot. The ground beneath felt oddly firm, not like the soft, yielding soil of Xarrack. She knelt, brushing her fingers against the blades of grass.

It was all real, down to the last blade of grass jutting out of the earth.

Acala stood up and continued walking, her eyes scanning from one end of the horizon to the other, looking for any sign of life. She had barely made it ten feet from where she first opened her eyes when a faint rustling sound reached her ears. The sound grew louder and louder until finally, the green curtains parted, and a strange creature appeared before her eyes.

'A rabbit?'

A snow-white rabbit, although...

'It's frickin' huge.'

It was almost as tall as her!

Acala stared at the extra-large-sized white rabbit peacefully eating an extra-large blade of grass. Perhaps it was a mutation, or maybe it was a native species to wherever the hell this place was. But there was one thing she was sure about...

GROWL~

She was hungry.

The humongous rabbit seemed like a nice enough morsel, and she was already thinking about how to start a fire. Should she cook it? Or eat it raw? Either way was fine with her—a Saiyan could stomach pretty much everything... well, not other Saiyans... maybe?

Her stomach growled again, and the sound alerted the giant rabbit. Its long fluffy ears shot up straight in vigilance as it finally noticed the hungry Saiyan staring at it.

Acala's initial impression of the rabbit was a weak herbivore at the bottom of the food chain. Stupidly humongous, but still weak and a herbivore. But after one look at its blood-red eyes and rows of shining white teeth, as it kept munching on the greens, she knew it wasn't an ordinary rabbit.

The Saiyan and rabbit stared at each other for an instant, each discerning the other's intentions hidden deep beneath the surface. They were both hungry and ready to try something delicious for breakfast.

But for this weakling to want to eat an Elite Saiyan Warrior...

"Ya' arrogant little—"

Before she could finish speaking, the large rabbit leaped into action. Its powerful legs propelled it into the air with a soft 'thud,' kicking up a mixture of wet soil and grass as it closed in on the Saiyan.

"Tch..."

Instead of moving out of its path, she raised her hand, palm facing forward.

"HA!"

As energy crackled around her hand, it intensified slowly until, with a single shout, a crimson-red energy ball shot toward the rabbit leaping through the air.

The energy blast struck the rabbit dead center in its chest, creating an explosion that sent chunks of earth and grass flying into the air. She lowered her palm a moment later, sure that whatever this oversized creature was, it didn't stand a chance against her attack.

When the dust settled, the rabbit was sprawled on the ground, motionless and possibly lifeless. The rabbit's red eyes were wide open, and its body lay still like a corpse.

"Not so tough after all,"

Acala muttered, a small smirk tugging at her lips. She reached down and felt the fading warmth of the creature's body. It was definitely real and definitely dead.

GROOWWWLLLL~

"Alright, alright."

Sometimes, she suspected that her stomach had a brain of its own.

At that moment, the rabbit's shredded body started to turn into dust, leaving behind two cherry-sized red orbs. The orbs emitted a weak, scarlet radiance, making them stand out in the ash pile.

"What the—?"

Acala looked down at the two orbs and blinked. Was her stomach making her hallucinate? Or did her breakfast just turn into ash?

She reached down, grabbing the light orbs in her hand. They weighed practically nothing but emitted a light amount of heat, small enough to render a warm sensation on her hand but not enough to cause any harm.

Before Acala could examine the orbs, they suddenly disappeared right before her eyes. She blinked hard, hoping everything disappearing at her touch had something to do with her bad eyesight and not because she was turning into Midas 2.0.

"Just great."

Her palm was still empty.

"My breakfast's gone too now..."

GGRRROOOOWWWWWLLLLLL~

Her stomach screamed.

Acala's eyes twitched in irritation at the continuous protest of her stomach growing louder with every growl. The grassy field was in disarray from the shockwaves of the energy blast, and the once serene landscape was now marred with a giant crater and scorched earth. The quiet aftermath of the explosion was soon interrupted by a faint rustling sound that grew louder with each passing second.

The grass parted all around her to reveal a horde of rabbits, in black and white, each one as massive as the last one she had just killed. They had encircled her, or perhaps the noise had drawn them in from all directions, either way, their red glowing eyes were unsettling.

"Come for more, have ya'?"

She growled, clenching her fists tightly so that her arms bulged from the steely muscles expanding to fit her needs.

Acala took a deep breath, and with a roar, she powered up, her aura flaring around her in a burst of transparent energy with flickers of red mixed in between. The rabbits didn't flinch; perhaps they had confidence in their numbers, or perhaps they were dumb enough to believe that their overwhelming numbers were a serious threat to her.

The first rabbit lunged at her with surprising speed, its spring-loaded feet propelling it forward like a missile. Acala stomped hard, cracking the ground underneath, twisted her waist, and delivered a hard kick to the side of the creature's head that sent it flying back into the horde.

More rabbits charged, and Acala found herself in a whirlwind of fur and claws. Her size wasn't any larger than the rabbits themselves, but it allowed her to move with grace and precision.

Days and weeks at a time spent in the simulation capsules, not to mention all the combat doctrines crammed directly into her underdeveloped brain, caused her more violent instincts to overtake the rather peaceful nature she had inherited from her past life's memories. Not that any of those were still intact or accessible.

Energy blasts erupted from her hands, creating small explosions that scattered the rabbits and discouraged their attempts at ganging up on her. Despite her efforts, there seemed to be no end to the horde, and she realized she needed to change her approach to survive.

Gathering a small amount of energy under her feet, Acala leaped into the air, hovering some distance above the ground. She extended her arms, aiming at the horde, focusing her power into a single, devastating attack.

"Let's see how you handle this!"

She shouted, unleashing a massive energy wave that swept across the field.

The blast tore through the rabbits, each of which disintegrated in a blinding flash of light. When the dust settled, the once-green field was now a scorched wasteland, and the horde of rabbits was no more. The ground was covered in ashes and glistening red orbs of light.

Acala descended back to the ground, heaving a breath from the exertion. In the best of conditions, she could use an attack like that no more than four or five times, but now she was hungry and her body was burning through energy like a forest fire.

She looked around, not seeing any other threats for the time being. She let out a sigh of relief, her body relaxing slightly.

"Guess that's it, then—"

GGGRRRROOOOOWWWWWWLLLLLLL~

"Urgh!"

She groaned, her stomach growling in protest, but she was no closer than before to finding anything to eat. As she pondered what to do with her stomach, a faint glimmer caught her eyes.

The ground was littered with ashes and red orbs that she couldn't be bothered to pick up. She wasn't sure if they would simply vanish again. However, this time around, there seemed to be some strange ones in the mix—bright purple ones, a bit larger than the red ones she had picked, but they gleamed with the same light nonetheless.

Acala approached a pile cautiously, reaching down to pick them up. The moment her fingers brushed against the red orbs, which were piled over the purple ones, they vanished just like before. She paused, reconsidering her options, before picking the purple ones off the ground anyway.

"They're gone too..."

The purple orbs vanished just like the red ones, and for some reason, Acala felt like punching something just for the heck of it. There were more on the ground, hundreds more maybe, but what did it matter? They would vanish just like the others anyway.

She glanced around the field once more, hoping to find more clues about where she was and how to get back to her pod. But for now, she had to find something to eat.

A burst of energy later, Acala was back in the air, climbing steadily to reach an altitude from where she could see the whole plane if possible. Who knows, civilization might be closer than she imagined.

Just when she thought she spotted the barest glimpse of a forest in the distance, there was a sudden pain in her neck and she began to descend rapidly.

'Huh?'

Her jaws were unclenched but no voice came from her mouth. She caught the sight of a pale figure falling alongside her, and with one last look at the figure's severed neck, her world vanished into darkness.