Chapter 6: Memory

In a remote rocky field, something odd could be seen. Pink smoke was swirling and condensing into one singular point. The smoke condensed itself further and further until the silhouette of a humanoid could be seen. As the last of the smoke was assimilated, a humanoid figure could be seen standing there, clad in his original white pants, now unblemished. 

As he opened his eyes, Kai had a frown on his face and sat down. His shoulders slumped as he seemed disappointed. After a few moments, he seemed to get an idea and stood up. 

'I couldn't take him in a fight, but that doesn't mean it's hopeless. If he was truly out of my league, I wouldn't be alive right now. I still have a chance.' Kai thought to himself. Anger had clouded his judgment causing him to rush in without a plan, ending in defeat, so he had to take another approach. 

When Kai was being beaten and realized he would lose, he felt something instinctual well up inside him, but before he could act on that feeling, he was defeated.

Kai surveyed the area and saw the scouter was missing. 'He must have taken it after beating me. I should wait until night and check out the cave we stayed at. He still hasn't completed his task, so he should be excavating those ruins still. I shouldn't approach until he's asleep so his scouter doesn't see me, although he might not be wearing it.' Kai planned his next course of action. 

Since Kai had some time to spare, he decided to try flying like Nuyal had done before he dealt the finishing blow. 

'It looked kinda similar to what I used in space but much stronger. Let's start with that.' Kai thought. 

Focusing inward, Kia began commanding his energy to lift him. At first, nothing happened besides a breeze around his body, but he felt he was on the right track. Holding that feeling for a few moments, he was rapidly losing energy, but his feet lifted an inch off the ground. When he stopped holding onto the feeling, he immediately landed back on the ground. 

Kai was breathing slightly harder than before, but he had a large smile on his face. 'It worked! I need some practice, but I should be able to fly with this!' Kai thought, imagining himself soaring through the sky. 

Looking at the sky, Kai realized he burned more daylight, experimenting with flight than he thought, or maybe his regeneration took awhile. It was sunset. Only a few more hours until he'd carry out his plan. Nervousness mingled with excitement inside Kai as he thought about enacting his revenge for not just his betrayal but for the sound beating he was given. 

He sat against a stone near the crater as he went through the fight mentally and tried to critique his performance. Not knowing much about fighting was working towards his detriment here, as he really didn't make much progress. He knew his anger led him to make many mistakes, and not having a plan of attack definitely didn't help. 

"No," Kai said aloud, sighing, "Even if I fought perfectly, he is just too much stronger than me."

After subduing the first beast and killing the second, he became overconfident. He knew he needed to play this carefully. 

–

Hours passed, and it was now nightfall Kai was getting tired of waiting, but he decided if Nuyal was at the cave, he should be asleep by now. Moving through the wilds quickly, Kai retraced his steps as best he could and eventually found his way back to the ruins they were excavating. 

Kai slowly approached the cave entrance. He knew that once he got closer, there was a chance Nuyal would notice him. He began second-guessing his decision to go after Nuyal again so soon after getting beaten. Steeling his nerves and remembering the beating he took, he reached the cave entrance. Creeping up slowly, he saw the dead body of the monster he killed was partially skinned and taken apart. 

Kai stepped past the corpse and made his way further, hearing the light crackle of a fire. Shadows danced along the walls as he noticed more crevices and hiding spots than before. His imagination betrayed him as he worried Nuyal could be hiding in any one of them. As he fully made it back the their makeshift camp, he realised he was alone. Nuyal was nowhere in sight. 

'Shit where is that bastard?' He thought to himself. Just as he relaxed and began to take a better look around, he heard boots crunching against loose stone from the entrance. 'Fuck!' Kai's heart began beating as he quickly dashed to one of the shadows obscured and quieted his breathing. 

"...Yes, sir, I finished the excavation and will be returning soon. Yes, I'm sure I checked everything. No, I don't need…" A soft beep and then light swearing could be heard as the footsteps approached Kai. "God damn it, I don't need a babysitter! I could've handled this on my own. First, that brat, and now this? This whole thing is a shitshow!" A voice he recognized as Nuyal was muttering to himself as he passed Kai's hiding spot. 

Kai's anger spiked as he saw Nuyal again, but he forced himself to slow his breathing. He knew he had to get this right. He only had one chance to do this. Nuyal continued walking before sitting down against the wall and taking his scouter off. He sat motionless, staring into the fire. As he sat, he began dozing off before snores could be heard over the crackle of the fire.

Kai couldn't believe his luck and stayed extremely quiet. Choosing to observe him for a bit to make sure it wasn't some kind of trap. After some time had passed and Nuyal hadn't moved, he dared to begin moving. Creeping closer and closer to him, Kai got right next to him. The soft snores stopped for a moment as Kai stilled nearby. Nuyal exhaled loudly before continuing to snore as Kai left out a breath he was holding.

'Well, here goes nothing.' He felt his anger rush up at what Nuyal had done to him, and using the same move that killed the monster, he jammed his hand into Nuyal's mouth, extending his hand and arms to directly attack his organs. 

Nuyal's eyes flung open, and he began thrashing. Before he could throw Kai off he felt a heat begin to erupt in his stomach. 'I may not be able to make a crater with this yet, but I bet even this small of a blast will hurt this close.' a sadistic grin appeared on Kai's face when he saw the realization of what he was doing on Nuyal's face. 

In the second or two it took for Kai's blast to fire, Nuyal was not only just thrashing. Kai quickly felt a burning sensation as Nuyal blasted an energy beam straight out of his mouth, vaporizing Kai's entire arm and making his blast fizzle out. 'Shit!' Kai screamed internally as he fell back, clutching his arm. Quick on his feet, Nuyal reached out and grabbed his throat, lifting him up.

"You thought you were so clever, huh, brat?" He spat out. He prepared another blast and destroyed Kai's head from point-blank range. Kai's headless body fell to the ground. Kai's thoughts were a mess as he tried to figure out what to do. His head regenerated almost immediately, but he could still feel his arm particles floating around inside Nuyal. From the ground, he tried to sweep Nuyal's legs, but it was like hitting a steel wall. Nuyal raised his foot and prepared to crush Kai's leg. 

Before he could destroy another limb Kai felt that same instinct as before. He was backed into a corner and saw no way of winning. Almost without thought, he gave in to that feeling. 

Nuyal suddenly recoiled as if struck and dropped his foot. Pink rubbery substance began to flow out of his mouth before moving around and covering his body. He thrashed around as Kai watched in a mixture of fascination and horror. After a few moments of this, Nuyal became still before the glob of pink shrunk down and flew to Kai. As it connected with him he felt an overwhelming amount of power and memories flood his system. Everything that made up Nuyal was now his. His body flashed before he felt himself stretch and reform. 

When the transformation was complete, Kai inspected himself and found he was very tall now, and while he still wore his white pants, he now had Nuyal's armor on his torso. Armor now had a sense of familiarity since Nuyal was a member of the Frieza force. 

'Wait, Frieza Force!' Suddenly, Kai's sense of familiarity peaked as the new memories from Nuyal awakened memories of his past life. Flashes of late nights staying up and watching his favorite show as a kid flew through his mind as he processed the new information. As his mind settled, he fully realized the situation he was in. 

'So am in the world of Dragon Ball… And I'm definitely a Majin or whatever race Buu is. Did I replace Buu, or is he here too? Regardless, I don't recognize this planet from the show, so I have no guarantee it won't be destroyed by some overpowered fighter like Broly or Frieza.' Kai pondered to himself what he needs to do next now that he knows where he is. 'Best-case scenario is I find Earth and join the main cast, but I'll need more absorbs too if I want to stay ahead of the power curve…' 

Kai sat in the cave and stared into the now-smoldering fire pit. As he continued to contemplate his next move, Nuyal's scouter began blinking.