Bring Every Bullet, Leave Behind The Guns

It is often hard to believe that time passes differently for different people at different times.

Time is invariably the same, unchanging, and thereby constantly in motion.

The fundamental linearity of the Universe needs this.

DEMANDS it!

Requires that after one must come two and that it shall never return to one.

Two is two, and then begets three.

This is a shame really because one was as jovial as they come.

It's funny how a happy, smiling child can be smiling at one.

Crying at two.

And dust come three.

The dust will never cry again, let alone smile.

This is an irrevocable part of me, the brutality of time.

"Silver is a smitten fool, and meagre in both will and capability."

The man had once said this - purposely within earshot – without an ounce of consideration for me.

I didn't care, since I wasn't meant to, I decided I wouldn't.

…even when it hit below the belt.

"A tragedy, yes, but not for child or Kura. The entire race should be struck the title of warrior when one of that so-called stock dies in something as simple as childbirth!"

That one is odd, because to my memory – memories I shouldn't even possess – the sequence I witnessed was blood, blood, and blood.

I replied in kind too, with cry, cry, and cry.

Sometimes one, two, and three are the same… that doesn't make things any easier.

It isn't even all that consistent in any way that helps, the ten days on Vampa certainly prove that.

In one, I arrive.

In two, I am hunted.

And in three, I am confronted.

Maybe that isn't correct, two was a little more complicated than that, but it fits the bill.

Two led to three, no doubt about it.

I have always been fascinated with time, and how you can't turn it back.

I've thought about it a great deal, and I've concluded that there are some things that you can never change.

That's why, everything I have yet to do is infinitely more important than what I have done.

It's funny, that man said so much, but the thing he had forgotten to say to anyone was the one that hurt the most.

I entered my transport pod and sunk it in an oddly complacent pond on this disgusting, disturbing world.

I got lucky that day, as the pod was just damaged enough to accept my credentials and activate its life support capabilities.

It saved me from that fucking beast.

And in a weird way, it'll probably get me killed as well.

A final, redacted report from fellow prey. From the man himself.

Even though it shouldn't have, in a million years it should've ceased to exist, but it found its way to me.

ONE.

"Report from Commander Magenta… no, I can't fucking do this. Not now, not today. Another child I killed, another fucking kid! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KEEP IT TOGETHER?! HOW AM I TO LIVE WITH MYSELF? An Ape I said, another fucking animal in ground I said, wouldn't shed a tear for the lot of them… FUCK!" The man kept going, sobbing a little now, more than I'd seen before.

"I THOUGHT I WAS BETTER! I REALLY FUCKING DID, BUT NOW I CAN SEE WHAT I'VE BEEN ALL ALONG!"

"I was never better! I haven't done anything but regress further into myself; the monster! I kill children that trust me, while that girl, that ape child can spare little creatures – beyond alien to her - with true compassion in her heart!"

I guess it was my turn to cry.

TWO.

"I'm going to send this to her, she… no, you deserve to hear this Silver. I am a monster, I'll tell you that myself, but you aren't. You can never allow yourself to be, because I can say without a doubt, you are so much more in so many amazing ways than I can ever be."

"I never understood the compassion and care your mother showed for you, it became a seed of hatred for which I could never properly apologise, and for pouncing on the poor woman's death like the demon I've always been."

"I could never fathom the care you showed to Cress, but my amusement at his teasing was always genuine, nothing could wind the boy up like you."

A true smile took to his face and found a similar kinship with mine.

"I can't guarantee that he won't be listening in, so I'll be brief now, just remember one thing."

Magenta took a pause and pointed lightly above his head.

"Don't trust the biggest monster above our heads… and just take care of yourself kid."

The message ended, just like that.

THREE.

"And just like that you fucking bastard, I'll kill you."

…just like that, I think I might be about to die.

***

***

***

"Thinking are we boy? I wonder what about though. Do you really think you'll die at the hands of a child-murderer frolicking off to bare-bones planet inhabited by slugs?"

Paragus suddenly interrupted Cress' meditation, something he'd wagered he'd need a great deal of before his pod landed in a few hours.

"Well, I am a child, aren't I? At least it'll have been an apt death, which is more than I expect for you, what with daft-cunt killers in such short supply."

Cress immediately came to a decision best likened to the sentiment of 'fuck it.'

"Funny, but I'd hardly call you a child, you've gone toe to toe with my own son."

Paragus pressed a button, since Broly was the definite source of all the anxiety that Cress held at the moment.

"Funny, I'd hardly call that a qualification."

Cress, however, did have a way of channelling anxiety.

"Enough games, prepare to land."

"Huh? Why now? I still have some time to go."

"About that, I was just thinking about how much of a hero my son is, and how heroic his deeds must be."

"Right, like the time he murdered his commander and bitched out of the planet to avoid the consequences."

"Wonderful, absolutely correct, that's practically my report to the king about your actions verbatim."

"I should've expected that, so what would Broly do now?"

"I think my dear child would bravely escape the malfunctioning pod about to beset him and heroically penetrate the atmosphere of Namek with his body alone."

"…"

"Nothing to that? Wow, well, fair enough. As a reward, I'll tell you that the pod's inhibitors will fail in about 20 seconds, which will give you about 10 seconds or so to jump out before it crashes into Namek at near unfathomable speed."

"…"

"Seriously? Right, I'll actually start the countdown now. Remember to take good care of that scouter, because if I lose track of you for even a second… well, you know precisely what happens.

"…good, gives me a chance to lumber up before I finish this and come back to end you."

"Good luck with that."

Transmission quickly cut out, a warning countdown with only ten seconds remaining on it began ticking down on the screen that Paragus was on.

Cress quickly put the oxygen filter into overdrive and opened the hatch to the pod.

He quietly folded the all-important scouter and put it in his mouth, firmly sealed behind his teeth.

He knew the momentum of the ship and his own when breaking into the atmosphere would be something truly monumental. Something that his skills in flight would not be able to negate at this juncture.

It was also very likely that the damage done to the planet below would be near catastrophic, as the pod's impact may very well eviscerate almost a third of the planet's surface.

*CLICK*

*BOOM*

*WOOOOOOOSSSSSHHHHHH*

The pod began accelerating towards Namek at insane speeds, with barely a moment to spare for Cress to have spun around the opening to the opposite direction to that of the planet. And oddly enough, to put even the shields into overdrive.

He jumped out the second the pod entered the atmosphere.

However, the nine before had been sufficient to give him a plan, a plan that would put at risk everything.

He didn't know why he'd thought to do this, and he didn't understand why he would ever risk himself and his family for the sake of a people he'd never even met.

The best course of action would have been to reduce the momentum with a series of horizontal movements and exerted beams of Ki to eventually be able to fly and safely bring himself down on the planet.

This would've been sane.

And beyond devastating to half of the planet.

Instead, Cress sped towards the pod, which was mere seconds away from crashing.

'Death should come to those who deserve it.'

This was the sentiment Cress had embraced on his way to Kanassa, more worried than anyone at never having killed a soul and hoping he'd never truly have to.

'I'm not a hero, that I can never be and would never hope to be… but I can't abide by this. Death at this scale of so many innocents, will not happen at my hand.'

With that thought in mind, he took his one shot at what may have been suicide. Perhaps he'd already decided the second he turned the shields on at overdrive.

'Death is mine doll out, at my will, and mind to withhold where I can. That is the killer I must be if indeed I am to be one. If I am willing to kill, then I must be willing to save.'

He took a position he didn't think he'd be taking this soon, and especially under such dire conditions.

His mouth was sealed, but his mind was active.

He gathered energy with ferocity, preparing precisely the amount that was absolutely necessary.

And with that, he began.

'KA'

'ME'

'HA'

'ME'

'HAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

A concentrated ball of energy left his hands faster than he could fathom as he was hurled backwards, and faster still, a deafening shockwave enveloped him and knocked him right out of consciousness.

***

***

***

"So, this is what it means to be a hero…"

"This?"

"Seriously!"

"Fucking- WHY?!"

The great dream landed me in a Universe different to my own… or at least, that's the only bastion of hope left in my heart as I was surrounded by the corpses of my people.

The dream was supposed to take me somewhere, to a place where I could become a hero. A path that would instil in me some notion of my potential and what I had to become.

So, this is what I am, a hero at the cost of losing everything. A hero with nothing to save.

"No. I, the Dreamwalker, the hero of the Ladians, Pirro, refuse this."

"The hero I must become won't be at a cost to my people, it mustn't be."

"If my people are to die, then so will the Saiyans. Every last one of them."

I still remember how tapping into my Dreamwalker felt for that very first time, as I manifested it to teleport in this 'Dreamworld'.

Pity that it took me so long to arrive on this planet, Earth they call it, with rumours of a higher magic.

To think I could've avoided so many scars if I'd just come here first.

*BANG! BANG! BANG! *

The drilling noise of these bullets enveloped me as I was surrounded by the puny inhabitants of this planet.

It had taken me several years, but I was more than strong enough to deal with this planet.

Especially when it could only assemble some foolish old men and a paltry force waving a red ribbon at its head.

I was just about to come into possession of the Dragon Balls, when I saw a giant dragon rise in the sky, half a world away.

"No! Piccolo must have taken them! We shouldn't have focused on this monster; he'll just be replaced by a stronger one." Said the one vaguely referred to as Roshi, and his words gave me alarm, a silly notion in hindsight.

Nonetheless, enough to make me rush over there, the dragon having dissipated moments before I arrived.

Standing in front of me was a… slug? A green looking slug monster, barely reminiscent at the back of my head.

"Looks like you were too late, you disgusting slop, I have regained my youth. My reign shall be long and prosperous, especially when I grace the beginning with the death of a rotten visage like you. What right do you, or any of the foolish Earthlings have to the fruits of my labours? TO MY DRAGON BALLS?!" The pompous idiot known as Piccolo spat.

It took only a moment for me to think and promptly realise… this was a Namekian. Only, his strength was barely comparable to that hermit race.

Another realisation struck me as soon as the other one sunk in, this one more important to me, and good enough that a smile came to my face.

"So, you aren't immortal?"

"It would only be a foolish attempt, what with how these balls work, not that it's any of your concern. You are a corpse in waiting with my current strength, and I am very much in the mood to reward your patience."

"My, my, mighty King Piccolo, I presume you know who made these balls then? And could give me what I need?"

"Quiet, I tire of this."

Piccolo unleashed a beam directly from his mouth in an effort to annihilate me.

A foolish exercise in futility.

*BOOM*

I swatted the beam away; it was almost fascinating how weak it was.

Before he could respond, I silently vapourised the cretin below the neck, expecting an answer from him, but unfortunately, he wasn't nearly as tough as I'd expected.

"…I should've killed the dragon." The pathetic little shit whispered in befuddlement before dissipating.

I remember my anger building up then, as it so often does now, but that might have been the beginning.

And then that fucking carpet had to show up right in front of me.

A creature, dark as the night, with flesh that seemed immaterial and empty in a way hard to define quickly walked towards me.

"HOW DARE YOU KILL KAMI!"

"What?"

"The guardian of this world, the creator of the Dragon Balls! He had his life connected to Piccolo, he's dead, are you satisfied?!"

I was taken aback for a second, but not a moment too soon, rage had overcome me like never before.

I had invested a great deal of time on this planet, and now I had nothing to show for it. The only choice I had left was to go to Namek and see if they could make me the wish-granting orbs of my desire, but the sins of Earth remained.

They had to be cleansed.

With a wave of a hand, the being in front of me with his carpet was gone.

I quickly took off and arrived in front of the army and the old men.

Perhaps it would've entertained me, quenched my fiery rage to let them get a few last words in, but all I felt like doing was wiping the obnoxious old men from existence.

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

The barrage of bullets began anew.

The smell of fear manifested in the air as the bullets simply bounced off me.

*BOOM*

A simple eruption of Ki annihilated the lot of them.

"Everything you do is futile. Everything."

I said as much before teleporting away with my resurgent Dreamwalker abilities.

"I would've left anyway, just to prove it."

END OF CHAPTER 14