Collab between King Kindred and Chev@King KindredSuper Saiyan? Tabaga thought as she searched her memory for any trace of the term. It rang a very faint bell but she had no idea where she had heard the term before. She looked at the other Saiyan for a moment before speaking. “The term super saiyan is ringing a bell but I can’t place where I heard it, in any case I don’t like using it that much. “Truth be told, I haven’t encountered nearly any of the other races I’ve met here back in my universe. The only one I’m sure I’ve seen before is whatever Darbin’s race is called, I think they called themselves Hera Clan or something.”
She sighed heavily. “I have a feeling that despite whatever similarities our species share, our histories are very different. I’ve never seen that guy with the tail who took off earlier or anything like him before. I’ve never seen whatever that pink thing calls itself before, not to mention the machine man. Everything here is...different from what I know.”
Maize was surprised more than anything to hear that the Saiyan before her had never seen someone of Ovaan's race before. It seemed that she was from a universe where Frieza and his family never "employed" the Saiyan race. They likely never existed because Maize couldn't imagine them existing in a universe and not conquering everything in their path. That universe was lucky, but other than that they seemed fairly similar.
"I'm somewhat familiar with the Hera Clan. My squad and I were fighting some pirates from their race before I ended up here." She felt a mixture of anger and sadness remembering her team. The fact that their enemies took prisoners gave her a glimmer of hope but she didn't know how long their prisoners would remain alive before they joined the numerous piles back there. "But about Super Saiyan. How'd you achieve it?"
Tabaga couldn’t help but shudder at the memory of what had caused her to unlock the transformation. “In my universe, we managed to create an empire. Everyone was treated equally but in the end it didn’t matter. The Saiyan Empire lasted ten years before those armored troopers we saw earlier began their march across our galaxy. We fought them as best we could but they would simply eradicate all life in their path and move onto the next planet and begin the cycle again.”
She turned to look at Maize with eyes that had seen more death than anyone should have. “They finally beat us back to Planet Vegeta after years of fighting and what remained of our warriors tried to hold the line until we could deploy some sort of device that King Vegeta and his scientists developed. We never got the chance though. In the end, it was just Okora and myself in orbit after the planet fell. One of them blasted her and the last thing I remember was this golden aura surrounding me. I guess that was what you call Super Saiyan. I have these brief flashes of myself cutting down the invaders and some sort of massive explosion.”
She shuddered again. “I don’t like the transformation to be honest. Maybe it was the circumstances that led me to unlock it or maybe it’s something else but I’m always overcome by a massive feeling of rage and grief and guilt when I use it.”
As Tabaga explained the circumstances that led to her transformation Maize found herself more and more intrigued by her universe. A Saiyan Empire and a much better one than Frieza's it seemed. Then their armored enemies came and instead of annihilating the universe in one fell swoop they snuffed out life planet to planet. It made her wonder if they were just using the planetary genocides to cover up the fact that they were searching for something. Something that was likely connected to the Imprisoned One. She pushed the thoughts to the back of her head for now as she continued to listen.
The circumstances of their transformations weren't all that different. She lost the people close to her and the one closest to her before her rage and other emotions boiled up inside of her until her lid popped. Tabaga's feelings towards the transformation made sense, especially considering it was still fairly new to her. She was still in Grade One.
"The circumstances of the transformation are the initial trigger, but the Super Saiyan state isn't beholden to it. When I first transformed it was… complicated. I had led a rebellion against the man who raised me. He wasn't a benevolent man or leader. He terrorized the galaxy and for a while I did so as well at his side. The perfect soldier for the perfect tyrant. And so for a while rage, anger, and survival was all I had known and the day that I faced him was the day it was all put to the test." Maize paused for a moment hating to remember this next part. The thought of reliving that pain she felt as she lost the people close to her still wasn't something she could entirely bear. She wasn't sure how she was still holding it together now.
"We defeated his most loyal and strongest soldiers and the battle was for a while on our side until he got tired of playing around and wiped out two of the only four remaining Saiyans in the universe before proceeding to kill every member of my squad. And I stood by helpless to do anything until I wasn't. Those same feelings that you feel and the ones I felt most of my life gave me the power to fight back. The Super Saiyan form isn't about the circumstances of the transformation. It's about channeling those feelings into the power to do something about it. And when you reach that point while in the form those feelings subside and there's an almost too serene calm."
Tabaga listened carefully as Maize explained what her life had been in her home universe and the super saiyan transformation. “I’m sorry for your loss.” Tabaga said quietly. “I lost my squad the day Planet Vegeta fell. It was rough, losing people you’ve fought alongside with, eaten with, laughed and joked with.”
“I’ve never felt calm when I’ve gone super saiyan.” Tabaga said quietly as Maize finished explaining the super saiyan form. “I have a bad feeling that if anyone else had been left I would have attacked them as well. But if what you say is true then I’d like to ask a favor of you.” Tabaga paused for a moment. “Can you teach me how to best use this form?” She asked hopefully. “I don’t want to be a liability in battle and I have a feeling that with the super saiyan form I can help out a bit more. I’d rather not feel guilt and rage and grief when I use it.”
When Tabaga finished Maize decided first to respond to her condolences. "Thank you, but my friends were later soon revived thanks to these wish granting orbs called Dragon Balls on planet Namek. But… now I'm not still sure if they're alive, but seeing Okora and the other prisoners gave me a glimmer of hope. One that I desperately needed. I hope that even the stubborn prince is okay." She sighed. She didn't quite understand why she was being so open, especially about how she was feeling, with Tabaga. She was barely even that way with her squad. Maybe it was because she was also a Saiyan and a woman at that. She was the only one back in her home universe so she never really had a girl friend that could relate to her.
"But yes, I can teach you. I'd say we should head to the arena for this, but the city is already damaged. We can't do much worse to it. First I'm going to teach you about controllable rage. I'm sure you're aware of the Oozaru transformation. I've never once turned into the giant ape. Instead I…"
She flexed her arms at her side and erupted in power. Her hair grew slightly spikier and her eyes turned yellow. Her muscles expanded causing her arms and legs to both grow slightly in size. She continued to speak but this time with a deeper, almost angrier voice. "Enter this state. At first I couldn't control it. I was like a feral animal because I was. But eventually I was able to control the beast within. It made controlling my rage in Super Saiyan a lot easier."
Dragon balls...I’ve heard that before as well. Tabaga thought, although she couldn’t remember where she had heard that term before. She had heard of the Oozaru transformation of course but she herself had never transformed. She watched as Maize transformed into a state she had never seen before. “I’ve never seen this form before.” She confessed.
"I had never heard of it before or seen anyone else achieve it. It might have been the circumstances. I dubbed it my Wrathful Form. But turn Super Saiyan. We Saiyans learn best through battle, right?" Maize said before doing some light stretches as she awaited Tabaga's transformation.
“Correct.” Tabaga said with a faint smile as she took a deep breath and her hair began to turn golden as the familiar feelings of rage, guilt and grief began to form in her mind.
Come on...you can do this again. Just power on through. Tabaga let out a roar of rage and a moment later a golden, glowing form stood in front of Maize. Tabaga was gritting her teeth in an attempt to keep the form stable and to keep her emotions from overpowering her.
Maize recalled the first time she transformed as she watched Tabaga enter the legendary state. The power was there, but still unrefined. But she at least had some control. Now. Time to get her mad. Without any warning Maize's right fist sparked to life with electricity and she sent a quick punch to Tabaga's gut.
Tabaga let out a gasp of pain as Maize’s fist collided with her stomach. She glared at her opponent. “Not gonna lie. That was a cheap shot.” Tabaga growled as she launched a barrage of punches at Maize.
Maize smirked in response and casually dodged or blocked Tabaga's punches as they came. She had potential as a fighter and even as a Super Saiyan. She was still able to maintain control over herself so that was good. Maize was growing tired of being on the defense and decided to step things up a bit on the offensive front.
She let out a roar of rage that sent the air in front of her bursting back towards Tabaga. Immediately after Maize would follow up with a barrage of punches of her own at Tabaga and moving forward with each punch thrown. She had no intention of letting up with her punches and wanted to push Tabaga's rage to the brink.
Tabaga was being forced back by the unrelenting barrage of punches. “Not bad.” She snarled as more and more punches connected. She was getting angrier and angrier as more punches connected.
Maize could feel that her plan was somewhat working, but it just wasn't enough. It was time to bring out her secret weapon, her words. "Is that all you got? It's no wonder you failed to protect your universe and your empire. The one universe that stood a chance and it failed. You failed. Because you're afraid. Afraid of your power, of yourself, of your feelings. Does Okora even know how you feel?" She continued to throw punches in between her verbal attacks quite literally adding insult to injury.
Tabaga’s eyes briefly widened at Maize’s words and then immediately narrowed. “You pushed the Okora button. You shouldn’t have done that.” She growled as her hair began to glow a somewhat brighter shade of gold as she fired more and more punches at Maize, taking careful effort to try and knock out a few teeth or leave an eye blackened or something. Tabaga suddenly shot forward in the middle of one of her barrage of punches and slammed her knee into Maize’s stomach.
Maize was starting to become impressed. She had never fought another Super Saiyan before and the feeling was incredible. She could feel the power emanating from Tabaga's fists with each punch. She noticed her primarily aiming for her face and lifted her arms to block the area, but leaving her vulnerable elsewhere. Tabaga took advantage of this and kneed her in the stomach making her hunch over. It hurt, but this is what she wanted. She had to push the button again.
Maize aimed her palm at the ground firing off a small ki blast that would push her away from Tabaga without any extra effort on her part. She recomposed herself and glared at Tabaga. "Why? Because it's true? You're fighting me, but you're really fighting yourself. You don't think you're worthy of her, do you?"
Tabaga was preparing another close quarters attack when Maize’s words hit her. And they had hit hard. Tabaga’s eye began to twitch for a few moments as the aura around her began glowing brighter and brighter and the flickering of the aura stopped altogether. “She...She died on my watch.” Tabaga growled as she ground her teeth for a moment. “I don’t know how she’s here today...but I swear it won’t happen again.I WON’T LET HER DIE AGAIN!” Tabaga let our a roar of rage and sorrow as the aura around her seemed to flare bright enough to illuminate the entire city for a brief moment. When the flare died down, Tabaga was standing there as the golden aura of the super saiyan transformation burned around her. She seemed deadly calm and serious. “I lost everything that mattered to me once. It won’t happen again.” She said in an oddly calm but still somewhat frightening tone. The Saiyan woman looked down at her arms and at the golden aura surrounding her. “It feels...different this time. I feel stronger than I’ve ever felt before.”
Tabaga's words resonated with Maize except that she had let her friends die again. She was saved but they weren't and now her universe was gone. Would she ever see them again? And if she did would they forgive her for being such a terrible leader? Always getting them into danger and putting their lives at risk. She never felt that she deserved their love or loyalty but they followed her always without hesitation. Maize fought back her own feelings trying not to show Tabaga her own inner turmoil. At least not in the middle of their spar. But her own issues aside she was proud of the results in front of her. Tabaga had did it, with her help of course, and now was time for the fight to really begin.
"Good. Then maybe you could give me a real challenge." Maize exhaled slowly before easing out of her current state and transforming into Super Saiyan. The Golden aura of the form temporarily blazed around Maize as a single tear managed to escape her eye. She thought that she had held down what she was feeling in time but it apparently wasn't the case. The year evaporated in the fiery aura before the aura itself disappeared from around Maize leaving just her with the golden hair to show for it. "Ready?"