More than 1,000 years ago…
A weak, pale child sat – shaking violently among the reddish-brown rocks and the thickly billowing black smoke. He lifted a dirty white hand to his face as to wipe his teary eyes. He gently touched the cut above his left eye which had just stopped seeping scarlet blood.
Something pulled at his heart – something was calling out to him.
He sniffled as he turned and crawled over the adjacent rocks and peered down. He scanned the landscape as something caught his eye – a small flash of light. He leaned forward to obtain a better view as the rocks from beneath his hand gave way, sending him tumbling head over tails down the hill. The boy landed in a cloud of dust. He coughed as he brushed silt off of his naked chest and his crudely tailored pants. Looking around, he saw his prize resting a short distance away. He walked over and knelt down beside it – it was an argent pendant with a black sphere in the center; it hung on a black cord. It was this that was calling to him.
Brushing a few strands of long, smokey silver hair out of his face, he reached a trembling hand out to grasp the amulet. Just as his fingers grazed the necklace, he felt a shock – like something that was so cold it seemed to burn the skin. The child cried out and jumped back behind a rock, whimpering. He peeked out from his sanctuary to see the pendant floating and emanating a onyx aura. He stood and shivered as he noticed that the temperature had dropped considerably. The only warmth he felt was the tugging at his chest. He looked timidly at the pendant and then around him at the lifeless planet: his planet, his destroyed home.
I’m the only one left.
The terrified child stepped toward the mystical necklace and reached out once again. He pulled his hand back slightly as he thought about how the amulet had burned him before. Glaring at the pendant in determination, he grabbed it and bit his lip so as not to cry out as it burned his hand. After a few seconds passed, the pain died down and the boy studied the necklace’s delicate detail closely. He placed the pendant about his neck and looked around once again. Sighing, he started walking.
12 years pass…
The young man bit his tongue and shut his eyes as to not cry out in pain as the whip contacted his bare back.
“Move it, dorei!” the saiyan warrior ordered, viciously kicking the boy. The youth slammed into the ground and looked up with hate in his eyes.
“My name is not dorei,” the boy said defiantly.
“Yeah, like I care,” grumbled the saiyan as he continued walking. The warrior yanked the cord that bound the young man’s wrists, dragging him along the ground. The boy struggled to stand, but to no avail. The saiyan then whipped around and kicked the boy once again. “Get up!” he yelled, anger quickly rising, “I said move it!”
The boy stood as his necklace fell into place on his chest. The saiyan smiled. “That’s better.” The warrior began walking again, but stopped as the cord in his hands went taut. He turned and stared in rage and disbelief at the boy who was standing – unmoving.
“My name is Ja’aku,” the boy said coolly.
The saiyan jerked his head back in shock. “How dare you?!” he bellowed as he raced forward, black hair streaming behind him. Ja’aku looked up at the approaching warrior. As the saiyan closed in, an ebony aura exploded around the boy, sending the saiyan flying back into the ground. “What the…?” the saiyan said quietly. Never had he seen any considerable power in a dorei – never had he seen or heard of a power like this ever in his life. He clicked the scouter at his left ear and gasped as the numbers continued to rise – greatly surpassing his own many times over. “Ah!” he exclaimed as the device shattered.
Ja’aku rubbed his now-free wrists and looked to the fallen warrior. His silver hair now appeared more black – much like the aura that surrounded him. Ja’aku slowly walked towards the stunned saiyan as he began to speak:
“Your kind doesn’t deserve to live,” the youth started. “You prey on the weak and destroy any who cross your path – whether they resist or beg at your feet for mercy. All you care about is the profit you will make from the planet and any inhabitants that you can sell into bondage,” he said, so disgusted and horrified that his voice a mere weak whisper – almost laughing in disbelief. Ja’aku stopped in front of the saiyan. “So, tell me – how much did you get for my planet? We could barely live off of the planet itself – you couldn’t have gotten much, if any, profit.” Ja’aku knelt down and stared with a childlike innocence into the saiyan’s eyes. He shook his head. “Why?”
The saiyan backed up. “Look, boy – I don’t even know about your precious little planet – or what’s left of it. I was simply given orders.” Ja’aku looked up as the saiyan stood. “So, if I were you, I’d shut my mouth and do what I was told.”
Ja’aku closed his eyes and brought his head down. He gritted his teeth and shivered with anguish and fury. The saiyan smirked and reached out as to grab the boy by his hair and to yank him to his feet. As his hand drew near to the boy’s head, Ja’aku snapped his eyes open and looked up. The saiyan pulled his hand back at the sudden movement. Ja’aku took a deep breath.
“No more.”
The saiyan gasped and took several steps backward as the boy powered up to an energy level greater than the measured one from before. The boy’s growl became a scream as he continued to increase his power, black aura rising from him like fire. The saiyan kept on retreating, step by step, shaking at the boy’s unfathomable strength.
“Onyx gale!” Ja’aku screamed. The black fire aura swirled around his kneeling form, gaining speed with each revolution. Finally, the churning energy burst out in numerous directions, striking the saiyan and flinging him into the ground once again. Ja’aku leaped up and lifted his right hand. “Tempest orb!” he yelled. An inky sphere of raw energy formed in his hand. The saiyan’s eyes grew wide with fear as the ghostly pale being launched the orb…
Ja’aku looked around him at the deserted city dwellings. Bodies of Saiyans lay strewn about him in every direction. He gazed down at his Death Fire pendant, the little trinket that had given him so much power. He glanced up once again. They brought it upon themselves – it was their own fault that this happened. Never again will they do this. Ja’aku began to walk off. Never again…
4 centuries pass…
Ja’aku looked around him at the countless bodies of Saiyans. A handful of other races were thrown in amongst them – minions of the new tyrant, Frieza. He decided he could wait for Frieza to come to him. In the meantime, he would slowly wipe out those troops that were sent out to exterminate races for the tyrant’s organization, the Planet Trade. Ja’aku looked back on his earlier battle. The Saiyans are becoming stronger. he thought. He had used both his Onyx Gale and his Tempest Orb, yet those had not been enough. While in midair, he heard the pendant calling to him. He screamed out a new attack – “Death Fire!” He remembered the feeling as his black fire-like aura tore away from him in every direction, as if repulsed by the very sight of him. He watched and marveled at the beauty of the inky flames as they flowed around every living soul in the vicinity. He smiled now to himself. Like liquid fire…
Ja’aku walked among the rubble for some time. Eventually he came to a still body. His inquisitive nature got the best of him as he knelt down next to the opalescent form. Ja’aku admired the beauty of the creature’s mottled slate-blue skin as he realized that it – she – was still breathing. The race of this planet, he thought, looking at the female, I was too late to save them. She may very well be the last one. An icy hand gripped his heart. The last one, just like me… With that last thought sealing the woman’s fate, Ja’aku gently lifted her off of the ground and proceeded to make his way back to his home – his own destroyed planet which he still held so dear…
A white ceiling greated the woman’s eyes as they opened slowly. She lifted her head and looked around the room. She was lying in a large bed that was on the far side of the room. As far as she could tell, she was alone. She sat up, pushing off the black sheets that covered her. She blinked her eyes a few times, once or twice using her nictitating membrane, still waking up. Eventually she stood and walked to the door of the room. Opening the door, she peeked outside. Seeing no-one, she made her way out into the hall. Wow, she thought as she walked through the corridor, it looks as if the entire place were carved out of ice… Ahead of her the hallway ended with a spacious room with a throne at the far side. In the throne a ghostly pale being relaxed, idly swinging one of his tails about, the side of his face resting upon a balled fist. He looked over to her and jumped in his seat when he saw her watching him.
“So I see you’ve awakened,” Ja’aku said to her, regaining his composure. She said nothing in return.
“I assume you’re feeling better than when I found you,” he tried.
“What am I doing here?” the woman asked. She looked around the room. “And where is here?” she added.
“Frieza’s troops attacked your planet. I defeated his men, but I believe you to be the last of your kind. I ask for your forgiveness in my not being able to protect your people.”
“You haven’t answered my questions.”
Ja’aku frowned. And here I am, trying to be polite… “When I found you, you were unconscious. You probably would have died had I not taken care of you!” Ja’aku took a deep breath and leaned back in his seat, calming down. “We are on what is left of my planet, which was destroyed exactly like yours. This building was used a control center. I have reclaimed it from Frieza’s men and now it is mine.”
The woman stood, digesting the information. Finally, she looked to Ja’aku. “So what now?” she asked. Ja’aku thought a moment.
“I’d like to know your name.”
“My name is Nozomi. And what is your name?”
Ja’aku gave a slight grin. “You may call me Ja’aku.”
–
Ja’aku looked into the mirror as he thought about the events that had occurred earlier that evening. They had talked over dinner, describing their homes and people before they had been taken away. Nozomi’s people had been an aquatic race, spending most of their times in the oceans, but had started dwelling on the land as the waters became crowded. He hadn’t been surprised of this information – her skin and hair color, the nictitating membrane, the poison-tipped fins at her wrists – all these fit an aquatic species. I wonder if the venom is similar to mine, he wondered, remembering the poison-tipped spikes that accompanied his tails, wrists, and ankles – gifts of his pendant – that he rarely used. He told her of his people, or what he could remember, at least. It was so long ago…
He smiled at his reflection, feeling the same warmth now as when he walked Nozomi to her room, bidding her good night and pleasant dreams. He unfastened the clasp of his cape and removed it from around his shoulders. Ja’aku continued to think about Nozomi, fiddling with his pendant’s black cord. He picked the pendant up to look at it, but dropped it with a yelp as it burnt his hand. He stared at his hand in shock. That hasn’t happened for more than four hundred years…