Chapter 3: King of the Jungle

I was feeling anxious.

I was feeling anger.

I was feeling shocked.

I was feeling pain. So… Much… Pain.

While I despaired in my emotions in my emotions, one of the bigger tigers began to approach me menacingly.

'They're gonna eat me.'

There was no if, and, or buts about it. Judging by the amount of droll leaking from their mouths, they intended on feasting meaning I had 3 choices.

1: I could run… But they were tigers and was a cripple.

2: I could freeze. But then, they would eat me.

3: I could fight.

Seamingly in all 3 scenarios, death always followed.

My second chance at life.

Is this how I would let it end?

Hell no. Not in this lifetime, and not in the next.

I promised myself that I would survive, have kids, and live a happy life. On top of all of that, I had a mother to get back to.

Just imagining the tears on her face... It filled me with rage.

I had to kill these tigers. I had to kill the Androids.

I had obligations!

My blood began to boil.

Using all of the strength that I could muster, I lifted myself off the ground, stood tall on my two feet, and stared him in the eyes.

Slightly intimidated, the dominant tiger stuttered in his movements, as if to reveal a brief moment of uncertainty.

Looking to my left and right in that small window of time, I saw something metallic glimmering.

Realizing that the shiny object was my sword, I then ran as fast as I could to my only means of self-defense.

I knew that turning my back to a cat was a terrible idea, but realistically, when I looked at it from a human standpoint, that weapon was what was gonna allow me to get out of this damned place alive.

As if noticing what I was doing, they quickly broke out of their slight daze, and both began to give chase.

"*ROAR*"

As I ran, I heard the sounds of their powerful and heavy legs marching closer and closer to me... Until…

"*slash*"

"Agh!"

Ripping right through the fabric of my jeans like paper, one of the tigers lacerated my right calf, causing me to trip over a log I intended to jump over mere moments ago.

Barrel rolling, I crashed into the tree I originally claimed which caused all my prior injuries.

I could already feel my warm blood start to leak down into my shoe.

Laying right next to me is what I had risked it all for. With my left hand, I quickly grabbed the sword, slipping it right out of its scabbard, preparing to defend myself.

It was just as heavy as it was before, but I was damned if it escaped my fingetips.

As I looked up, I noticed the 2, instead of attacking me, began to circle me like sharks.

"Come on! What are you waiting for!?"

I screamed as blood dripped into my mouth.

I had 1 good eye, leg, and arm. But I'd be damned if I went out like a side character.

My taunting had seemed to be working as the smaller one had stopped what it was doing, and began to growl.

"What? You mad? Then show me! Do something!"

While the bigger cat only looked annoyed, the smaller one began to dash toward me. As it did, I felt a weird sensation in my core.

It was strange. In the heat of the moment when my life was on the line, all the fearful feelings I once had disappeared and was now replaced with an alien feeling.

I knew it wasn't despair… But… Joy?

Was I losing it because of my lack of blood?

No… Joy wasn't a feeling strong enough to convey my emotions.

What I was feeling… was the euphoric feeling of what it was like to be a Saiyan and It flooded my body with endorphins.

Although I was half-blind, I felt like I could see clearer.

I could hear clearly. I could hear the entirety of the forest and all its creatures.

Could even hear the heartbeat of my enemy as it approached closer and closer.

The monstrous beast was permeating malicious intent that I could almost feel physically.

Raising its mighty pa, it attempted to strike its hand down to crush my bones as if they were twigs.

Although I had confidence in defeating the feline head-on, an overwhelming sense of vertigo overcame me, causing gravity to temporarily dominate my being.

Losing my balance, I felt my body falling forward. With just enough wherewithal, I pivoted my foot so I would land on my back. As I was falling, I stuck my left arm out and pointed the sword toward the sky, predicting the tiger to be on top of me

"*slash*"

Because I was falling, I had managed to avoid the tiger's grasp, impaling it in the stomach, its most vulnerable point.

Because of its running momentum, the piercing attack turned into a slash as its organs began to pour out of its body which in turn, poured all over me, spilling its rancid blood and bile onto my person.

"*Roar*"

It squirmed in pain, momentarily forgetting about my existence, falling on top of me.

As its organs leaked, I could hear sloshing sounds coupled with the feeling of warm fleshy chunks falling on top of me.

The larger tiger, realizing what had happened, gave a mighty roar of dominance that shook the very earth beneath us and could probably be heard from miles away.

Underneath the now-dead tiger, I struggled to breathe as all of its weight collapsed on top of me.

I didn't know how much it weighed, but it was undoubtedly enough to make breathing a problem.

'I can't breathe.'

Instead of panicking, I was starting to get angry again. Angry first from my lack of oxygen, then my predicament overall.

Every time I attempted to inhale, blood would make its way into my lungs.

"I can't breathe!"

I voiced.

That anger turned into malevolence. My internal thoughts turned into audible ones subconsciously after hearing that roar. How dare it have the nerve to get angry after I was only defending myself? It had no right.

With those thoughts, I began to feel a tingling sensation down the middle of my back as I attempted to push myself off of the ground.

The more anger that started to build, the more strength within me started to manifest. It only increased as I heard the other tiger's footsteps come closer while I struggled to get up.

First I had been tossed into the forest. Then, I was attacked by a flying chicken tender. Now, I was being suffocated by a corpse, not being allowed an inch to move. This was not how I was gonna die. I refused!

"Get! Off of me!"

Screaming at the top of my lungs, I felt the tingling sensation multiply 10 fold.

"*boom*"

With an explosive burst that surprised even me, I launched the animal carcass into the air as if it was as light as a basketball. All of the strength that had been lost previously had been recovered while all of my fatigue began to disappear.

'What... What is this? This… Power. It feels amazing.'

I thought.

Waves of euphoria washed over my body, while simultaneously, the wounds that I had received prior began to painlessly cauterize as if I was healing somehow

My right arm snapped back in place while my leg and chest lacerations began to stitch themselves back together rather gruesomely. On top of all that, I could now see with both of my eyes.

That's not the only thing I took note of.

Surrounding my body was a thin yellow aura that had strange sparks of electricity pulsating from it.

Said electricity was making all the hair on my body stand up as if I had been polarized.

Looking down at the sword in my hands, I realized it now felt lighter than a feather.

The blood that I was drenched in had been blown away in all directions with the initial explosion of power I exuded.

Lights, electricity, a surge of power... I knew what all these 3 things in combination meant.

'This is Super Saiyan… And this feeling that I'm feeling coursing through me is Ki.'

"*Rawr*"

As if hollering for me to acknowledge his existence, the tiger that was hunting me gave me a death glare, but I noticed something about it. Its threatening aura had switched to that of a cautious one.

Although that may have been the case, it didn't look like it had any intentions of running.

'Good… Cause I have no intention of letting you go.'

I was gonna kill this cat, and I was gonna do it today.

Perhaps the power had gone to my head, but I felt instinctively that on a primal level, this enemy was weaker than me.

To describe it in more tangible words, It felt like I was physically bigger than it is now… Even though I knew for a fact that I was the same height.

Walking towards the cat while holding my sword behind me, I stared into its eyes. As I did, I realized that our roles were now swapped, and he knew it.

But at last, it was a tiger. If backed into a corner, it would never choose submission.

Unhinging its jaw like a snake, it came charging at me like its dead mate once had with the intent to consume the entirety of my upper half.

"Perhaps if I died, you would be able to rest easy tonight… But I won't. Rest assured, you'll be put to sleep through… Today."

With a mighty horizontal slash, as if slicing through the wind, the tiger's sabertooth teeth along with its entire jaw had been sliced cleanly.

Looking down, I realized that I had slashed so quickly that there wasn't even blood on my blade.

Falling to the ground, the tiger began to struggle to stand. I wasn't about to allow it to get up.

Running up to it, I gripped my sword with two hands, and stabbed downward so hard that I felt three puncturing sensations. The first one was obviously piercing the tiger's skull. The second one was my bare hands and the hilt of the sword impaling its brain, causing its head to explode from the force. The last puncture was my sword going into the ground, as if I was King Author, but in reverse.

"Told you…"

I smiled.

Pulling my sword out with a slight struggle, I put it in its scabbard and took a deep breath.

Once I did, my superhuman transformation deactivated, siphoning all of my strength.

Falling to my knees, my eyelids became heavy.

My breathing, slowed.

'This… This was… Educational.'

That was my final thought before I closed my eyes for the final time.

There was only so much energy this little body of mine could exert.

The world went dark while my face hit the ground…

(A few hours later)

A ray of sunlight beamed through my eyelids.

"Mmm."

'Why is this ground so uncomfortable?'

I internally complained, opening my eyes.

When I did, I saw the carcass of the tiger that intended on eating me earlier surrounded by a whole bunch of flies.

'God… That smells terrible.'

Getting up with my stomach rumbling, I picked up my sword and walked over to where the scabbard was.

Holstering it, I threw it over my shoulder and thought about the event that happened last night.

'I really almost died.'

I thought as I looked at the newly developed scar on my chest.

Surprised that my wounds were now healed, I became lost in thought.

'I transformed… Into an actual Super Saiyan.'

The Super Saiyan transformation. I was the youngest in history to ever achieve. Goten and Trunks from my memory hadn't achieved this form until they were twice my age… Physically, anyway.

Yet here I was.

I couldn't help but smile at my achievements. Not only had I managed to survive, but I also managed to achieve something that no one else could.

Squeezing my hands into fists, I felt that I had gotten stronger. Currently, I felt better than I ever had.

This sensation of power… It felt… Addictive in a strange way. I wanted more. I need more of this feeling. So much so that I could feel my fist throbbing.

With that thought process, I realized that this wasn't my brain that concocted these feelings, but my DNA.

'I understand it now… Fighting… It feels like a drug. And I want more of it.'

Although these were my thoughts, I wasn't dumb enough to challenge the androids. If I thought about it critically, I still didn't know how to fly or even sense KI. Above all else, The Super Saiyan form was a 50x multiplier.

I didn't know my power level, but I knew it was nowhere near enough to defeat Frieza. After all, if a person thought of multiplying a power level of 2 by 50, they would only end up with a strength rating of 100, albeit, I was most likely a lot stronger than that considering that my father was a Sayian Elite.

I was uncertain of how strong I was now. I had no point of reference. But I knew that for my age, if Androids and the z fighters didn't exist, I would have probably been the strongest on this planet.

I needed more training, and on top of that, I needed a foundation. Martial arts.

"*grumble*"

But before I could think about that, I needed food.

"Now… Let's try this tree one more time."

This time, the sword on my back no longer hindered me from climbing. In fact, I barely even noticed its weight.

I even climbed the fruit tree far faster and exerted way more energy without any drawbacks.

Before I knew it, I was already at the top of the tree, fruit in hand.

'To think… If it wasn't for that damn bird, I wouldn't have unlocked Super Saiyan.' I shook my head.

'But even so, if I see him again, I'm gonna eat him.'

I thought while gritting my teeth.

Grabbing 2 bundles of banana coconuts and hanging them on my sword, I slid down the tree at a surprisingly fast speed.

Landing back on the ground, I began to fill my stomach to my heart's content.

The fruit tasted amazing. It had the flavor profile of peanut butter while maintaining all of the traits of a banana. Its seeds had a complementary nutty flavor and crunch.

I gorged myself full of them until there was 1 meaning, which was a statement to behold considering the fruits individually were as long as my sword.

"*sigh*"

"That was amazing."

No longer hungry and no longer thirsty,

I began to plan out the remainder of my day.

Digging a hole in the ground, I buried the two tigers and started to build a campsite, building a tent made from vines, branches, and leaves, making sure to gather firewood so that I could prepare for nightfall.

After gathering more banana coconuts, which contained high water contents, it was now well into the evening.

I sat on the ground, crossed-legged with one intention in mind. To gain an understanding of Ki.

Breathing calmly in and out, I tried to reflect on my foggy memories of the past. If Gohan wouldn't teach me, another version of him would.

'Alright… In the anime, in order for Videl to learn Ki control, Gohan told her to quiet her mind, and relax.'

Concentrating for 30 minutes straight, I was in a state of stillness. I become completely submerged in the nature around me. I was at peace. True peace.

'Next, I think he told her to slowly draw the energy from her body while maintaining her composure.'

For this part, I slowly started to feel for that overwhelming pool of energy that I felt yesterday.

But instead of snatching it, I slowly began to pull from my reserves from within.

Resting my palms on my lap, making sure to face them to the sky, I began to imagine my energy communing with my hands.

Within a few minutes of attempting, I no longer had to imagine. I was starting to actually feel my Ki. I was beginning to feel a warm stream flowing through my arm. Said warm stream was incomparable to any sensation I ever felt before. I was well past invested at this point. I couldn't help but smile.

'It's working.'

I thought with a toothy grin.

It was almost like I could physically visualize it. Two ki orbs in the palm of my hands, pulsating.

'Wait… something's off.'

I acknowledged something as I was meditating. The sun had gotten ridiculously bright when it was supposed to be set by now.

Peaking with my left eye, I almost jumped in surprise.

"What the hell…'

The two Ki orbs that I thought were only in my mind previously were now larger than me, riddling me with enough surprise for my eyes to almost pop out of my head.

"Ha! I did it!"

At that moment, I felt genuine joy.

With a child-like thrill invested in me, I almost began to jump up with joy and lost focus.

'Alright… Alright. I need to calm down and analyze what's going on.'

Putting on my critical thinking cap, I tried to capture every detail of what was going on.

'It's weird... I can actually feel them, even with my eyes closed.'

This was taking spatial awareness to the next level.

Deciding to experiment a little, with little effort, I was able to move them up and down.

'This is definitely different. It feels like my hands are two magnets. I can control the intensity they accelerate…'

Then, an idea popped into my head.

'I wonder how fast I can rotate them.'

(Gohan's POV)

"*yawn*"

Sitting up from my bed and stretching out, I could smell something delicious.

"Gohan! Breakfast!"

Mom yelled, as she usually did to wake me up.

"Coming, Mom!"

Quickly getting dressed, and throwing on my training Gi, I got up and made my way to the kitchen.

Sitting at the table was my mother pouring up two glasses of milk for me and herself wearing her pink checkboard apron.

"Rise and shine."

She smiled, which I promptly returned.

After Dad passed and the androids came, I noticed that smiles from my mother had become a rare occurrence.

"Hey, mom. What'd you make today? Looks good. Smells good too!" I grinned.

"Miso Shiru. I made some pancakes too! I even put some of my homemade jam on it too."

"Oh, Boy! My favorite. What's the special occasion?"

I asked.

"It's in celebration of you getting your first disciple, of course." She replied.

"Ah. I kinda forgot about that."

I said, grabbing the back of my neck.

"What do you mean? How could you forget something so important? Haven't you been telling me how excited you've been to meet him?"

"Haha. Ya got me there. Maybe it's because I'm still a little tired." I said taking a seat.

"So?"

She gave me a curious look.

"Hmm?"

"Tell me about him. What was Trunks like?"

In her question, I had to think for a moment.

Trunks… He was interesting and hard, to sum up in just a few words.

"Well, to put it to you straight, he's an interesting guy."

"What's that supposed to mean? Do you not like him or something?"

She asked while raising her brow.

"N-No. It's not like that at all. What I mean by interesting is that he's... Different. He's a bright kid."

"Bright? Well, that's expected considering his mother is one of the smartest people in the world."

"Yeah… He's also kinda mature for his age. I mean, when I talk to him, it's kind of like I'm talking to someone older than me in a strange way." I said, taking a few bites of my food.

"That is something… But you were pretty bright yourself when you were his age. You shouldn't underestimate yourself like that. Anyway, I thought you were gonna bring him here to train or something. Where is the little man?"

Before I put another spoon full of rice in my mouth, I froze for a second.

'Crap…'

In the few seconds that I didn't speak, my mom got suspicious.

"It's a simple question. Why'd you freeze up like that, huh?" She asked, leaning forward with a pout that caused a bead of sweat to fall down my face.

'Do I lie to her? No… If I do, she'll kill me.'

No matter what the secret was, my mother always found it out, one way or another.

This was especially the case when it came to me.

"Well… Haha. About that."

…

…

…

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY HE'S IN A JUNGLE!?"

Her face turned red while her teeth became like a parahana's.

"Wait, mom! let me explain!"

"WHAT IS THERE TO EXPLAIN?! YOU LEFT A LITTLE DEFENSELESS BOY IN THE FOREST TO FEND FOR HIMSELF! HOW IRRESPONSIBLE COULD A PERSON BE?!"

"Well, he's not totally defenseless. I gave him my sword."

"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME, YOU NOT ONLY LEFT A CHILD ALONE IN THE FOREST, BUT ON TOP OF THAT, YOU GAVE THIS TODDLER A SWORD? YOU EXPECT HIM TO DEFEND AGAINST A DINOSAUR WITH A SWORD!?"

"But mom-"

"NO BUTS! GOHAN, I WANT YOU TO GO AND RETRIEVE TRUNKS AND BRING HIM HERE, THIS INSTANCE!"

(A few minutes later)

"*sigh*"

'I honestly don't see what the big deal is. As long as he doesn't go to the mutant side of the jungle, he should be fine.'

The jungle I left Trunks at was the exact same jungle Piccolo had left me when I was a kid. There shouldn't have been any problems with him being over there.

"Huh?"

I sensed a high Ki signature off in the distance. Too large to be Trunks'. Problem was, the Ki was in the direction of the jungle.

Moving as fast as I could, I had to make sure that Trunks was safe.

Rocketing through the clouds, I made sure my senses were on high alert, checking for every living lifeform in the area.

'Shoot.'

Trunks was nowhere in sight.

'This can mean only one thing.'

His life was in danger.

Descending down and agilely avoiding all trees and vines, I arrived at the area of the Ki signature. And what I saw shocked me.

'That-that's Trunks?'

Hovering over the child who looked like an almost completely different person, I was baffled at his mere 18-hour transformation.

He now had a scar on the left side of his face. He also had one on his chest. His shirt was completely torn off, revealing his slightly muscular body.

It was easy to see that he had a brawl with one of the mutants and had grown from the experience.

He was sitting cross-leg with two Ki orbs double the size of his body in each of his palms.

"H-how?"

How on earth did this little boy manage to grasp the concept of Ki without any guidance or prior knowledge.

It was inconceivable to even me, a person that had achieved similar feats.

I watched as the boy managed to maintain an admirable level of concentration.

'Those Ki orbs… I don't see any flaws in them nor do I sense any outward signs of deterioration.'

I then looked back on my younger days and realized, this boy at his current age was comparable to the me of only a few years ago.

Although the me of a few years ago couldn't compare to the me of now, the fact that he had no training and evolved to this level was insane.

Without realizing it, a new hope had been ignited in my heart. Perhaps this child within the next few years would be able to achieve Super Saiyan.

No. That was without a question in my mind.

It was then, curiosity started to weed its way into my mind.

'initially wanted to interrupt… but now I'm curious, just how far can he go on his own?'

I knew my mother wanted me to bring him home to train, but now, I couldn't do that. The situation changed. I needed to see how far this Trunks kid could go on his own. And I intended on waiting an entire 6 months to see with my own eyes.

Concealing my Ki, I landed on a nearby tree and watched on.

(Trunks' Pov)

Spinning my Ki orbs faster and faster, they began to move the wind around me.

"*wosh*"

The dirt underneath me began to push outward more violently, but that was when I decided to stop. If I was gonna continue on with this exercise, I was gonna have to do it away from my new homefront.

"*sigh*"

Breathing in and out, I envisioned slowly dispersing my energy into the atmosphere.

With every breath, my orbs got smaller and smaller, and gracefully, as the seconds passed, they started to become translucent until they finally disappeared.

Feeling a little light-headed, I leaned on the tree behind me for support.

'That was… A lot. I didn't expect that to be so draining. Then again, it is my first time doing something like this.'

I smiled, wiping the sweat off of my forehead.

"Tomorrow, flight."

(3 months later)

It had been quite some time since I left home. I didn't know exactly how much time passed, but what I did know was that I was getting bored.

As I levitated above a pond with my legs crossed, I reflected on how I could challenge myself further.

'I don't really have to worry about the animals here anymore… But I do need a way to stimulate my mind.'

For the past while now, I had been at the top of the food chain, even killing a couple of dinosaurs, which looked a lot less derpy than I remembered. In fact, the creatures here looked like they were ripped out of a movie.

'I guess I could stop delaying it. Since I have nothing else to do.'

I was, of course, talking about a grander level of Ki control.

These days, I could shoot Ki blast like any other person, but that was as far as my Ki control went. For the past month or so, I had been pushing my body to its utmost limits and as a result, my muscles were now finely toned while I had grown a little. Strangely enough, my appetite increased to a ridiculous amount. I was certain that I could eat an entire deer in one sitting.

As for greater ways to control my Ki, I concocted a few ideas.

In my findings, I realized that Ki worked as a muscle. The more you abuse it, the more cultivated it becomes. But in order to actualize one's full potential in regards to Ki, it was best that an individual increased one's vessel. Or at least, that's what I took from Gohan suggesting that I work on my body before he trained me in Ki. He had no reason to lie, so I took his information as gospel.

Beginning immediately, I summoned a yellow Ki orb in the palm of my hand. I then demanded that it start to float around my orbit.

'Okay… Looks like it's floating smoothly. Time for another one.'

With the same hand, another Ki orb was formed.

Telekinetically, I made it orbit as well and continue this process until I reached my peak, which was 13 orbs.

To shoot a Ki blast was simple. But to simultaneously keep 13 of them orbiting around you without breaking concentration was a difficulty level I wasn't aware existed.

Just to make sure they wouldn't collide, I had to flex every muscle in my body.

'This is objectively harder than squatting boulders… I just hope they don't blow up on me like they initially did.'

I thought, reflecting on the moment I demoed this technique.

(2 months later)

Again, I found myself levitating over the freshwater pond. My hair had become so long that it was well past my shoulders and reached down the midsection of my back.

I wore a thin black sleeveless shirt that I had sewn myself from a giant velvet bat which was the same material my pants were made out of. Around my waist, a tiger skin was draped while around my neck was a necklace, made from the very same tiger that almost took out my eye.

As per usual for me at around this time, I was meditating. This time, the amount of Ki orbs I could control at once had reached a personal record of 45.

I was proud. With my current level of control, I felt like I could bend the world. In fact, I could.

Like piccolo, my father, Frieza, and cell, with the manipulation of my Ki, I could reach objects from afar, propelling them and any direction I saw fit.

The idea of using large rocks for the sake of training Ki control did cross my mind, but I found using my Ki orbs to be far more effective. Perhaps, I discovered a new and more optimal method in Ki control.

To that, I didn't know. But what I did know was that all of my hard work would eventually pay off.

"*hoot*"

Just like that, a sound that I hadn't heard in a long time had made its way to my eardrums.

Opening my eyes with spite, a very familiar large bird had flown directly over my head, casting down a humongous shadow from far above.

Although angered, I couldn't help but to smile.

"*grumble*"

"Oh, you stupid, fucking, bird. You showed up at the wrong place, at a very bad time."

I grumbled while touching the scar on my face.

Dispersing the highly explosive orbs around me, I drew my hand to the hilt of my sword with excitement in my heart.

Unfortunately for the bird… I had recently discovered a salt mine. And I just happened to be very very hungry.