"Boom!"
With a deafening crash, a gigantic beast fell from the sky and slammed into the ground, leaving a deep, sprawling crater. The beast in the crater fell unconscious, and then its body began to shrink. At last, Raditz's form appeared.
Turles landed at the edge of the crater and frowned at Raditz, who had finished transforming.
"What exactly went wrong?" Turles muttered to himself.
Once the camp was mostly built, Turles had immediately dragged Raditz into experiments with the Great Ape Power. They had already tried several times, but aside from triggering Raditz's transformation each time, Turles still had no clue how the Great Ape Power worked.
He glanced at Raditz, who had woken up and was trying to sneak away, then fell back into thought.
"The approach should be right. A Saiyan's power comes from their tail. I've stimulated every other part of the body, but only the tail reacts to stimulation with cellular mutations. So if the approach is right, then the method must be wrong."
"I've been using Psychic Power to stimulate the tail each time. Why hasn't Raditz sensed the Great Ape Deity's presence? Is the problem with me or with Raditz? Was what I saw back then really just an illusion?"
"No, it couldn't have been an illusion!"
"That figure was so clear. There's no way I just happened to imagine a Great Ape at that moment. There's something I haven't noticed. But what is it?"
The more Turles thought, the more confused he became. Getting irritated, he couldn't help firing a Ki Blast, which struck Raditz just as he was sneaking out of the crater.
"Boss! Please, give me a break!" Raditz didn't lose heart after getting caught. He blocked the Ki Blast, sprang into the air, then landed and hurried over to Turles. With a thump, he dropped to his knees and clung to Turles's leg.
"Boss, I really can't take it anymore! Have some mercy and let me go!" Raditz sounded so heartbroken that anyone who didn't know better would think he'd been terribly mistreated.
Looking down at Raditz, who was clinging to his leg, sobbing and wiping his nose and tears, Turles couldn't help twitching at the corner of his mouth. He kicked the clown far away.
"Get lost!" Before Raditz could look happy, Turles added, "We're continuing tomorrow!"
Raditz's face immediately fell. Dragging his body like a walking corpse, he headed back toward the camp.
Watching Raditz leave, Turles shook his head, looking like he was disappointed in him. Raditz's strength had improved tremendously since he'd started training with Turles, but he always looked as if someone had died. It annoyed Turles every time.
Ignoring the idiot who didn't know how lucky he was, Turles continued thinking.
Ideally, he wanted to draw on the Great Ape Power in his tail without triggering cellular mutations throughout his body and transforming into a Great Ape. It would be like Super Saiyan 4, except he wouldn't need to transform into a Golden Great Ape first. But now it seemed his idea had been too naive. The Great Ape Power could only be turned on or off—at least, with his current strength.
After hesitating, Turles held out his right hand. He steadily released his ki into his palm, mimicking the Blutz Wave frequency of a full moon. When it reached 17 million cycles, the ball of light in his hand suddenly swelled until it was about the size of a basketball.
He gently sent the Artificial Moon into the air, careful not to raise it too high. If Broly saw it, the consequences would be unimaginable!
As the Blutz Waves shone down, the light stimulated Turles's tail. He once again felt that violent urge, and his body gradually began to change.
Turles stared intently at the Artificial Moon overhead, clenching his teeth and doing his best to hold back the transformation. It was difficult, because his will was fighting against his body's instincts—and sometimes, those instincts couldn't be controlled.
"Roar!"
Suddenly, Turles's eyes bulged. He could no longer hold back a roar. His body's instincts had completely overwhelmed his will, and he began transforming into a Great Ape.
In no time, a Great Ape dozens of meters tall stood where he had been. As soon as the transformation was complete, it threw back its head and roared. Energy gathered in its fearsome jaws before it began firing beams in every direction.
Nearby, Broly had been helping organize the camp when he suddenly stood up, his expression grim as he looked toward Turles. He dropped the huge log in his hands and shot into the sky, flying straight toward him.
Flying through the air, Broly spotted Turles rampaging in the distance. He accelerated and rushed straight toward him.
Staring grimly at the Great Ape, Broly realized Turles had grown stronger since his last transformation. His current battle power had already reached one million. Even Broly would have to be careful.
Broly was just about to form a Destructo Disc when Turles's voice came from the Great Ape's mouth.
"Broly, I'm still conscious! Get out of here right now, and remember—don't look at the sky!"
Hearing Turles, Broly first breathed a sigh of relief. Then, instinctively, he started to look up. Realizing something was wrong, he tried to stop himself, but it was already too late. He tried to lower his head, but the Artificial Moon overhead seemed to draw his gaze like a magnet.
Turles, who had regained control at some point, saw Broly's movement and realized something was wrong. He immediately charged toward Broly's tail.
"Roar!"
Another roar rang out, and another Great Ape appeared. Turles rushed up to Broly and had just reached for his tail when a dark shape appeared before his eyes and slammed into his face. After a burst of pain, his enormous body went flying.
"Damn it!" Turles cursed as he flew through the air.
He steadied himself and looked at Broly, who was even bigger than he was. He couldn't help grumbling to himself. Just like in fiction, the more you didn't want something to happen, the more likely it was to happen—and reality was often even more bizarre than fiction.
Turles wasn't surprised that Broly was even more berserk than he was. If Turles himself couldn't stay rational the first time he transformed, there was no way Broly could, given how unstable his mind already was.
That was right. Unlike the last time, after the transformation this time, Turles had quickly regained his senses. He'd only fired one blast from his mouth to vent his frustration, and after that, he'd simply been letting off steam. The transformation still hadn't shown him how to control the Great Ape Power, but he'd forgotten that Broly could sense his ki.
Turles raised a hand and fired a Ki Blast, shattering the Artificial Moon overhead. Then he continued observing Broly.
It didn't take long for Turles to notice the difference between Broly and himself and Raditz.
Broly's transformation was much more complete. Both his size and the increase in his battle power were far greater than theirs.
Turles estimated Broly's battle power had already reached the tens of millions. Broly's normal battle power wasn't even one million, which meant his transformation had multiplied his strength more than tenfold.
"Is the Legendary Super Saiyan really that much of a cheat? Who's the protagonist here, anyway?"
Turles couldn't help grinding his teeth. He had to admit, he was jealous. With Broly's battle power now, Turles would have taken him to mess around with Frieza if only Broly could control himself!
Turles, growing more and more frustrated, was still standing there in a daze when he failed to notice Broly's gaze turn toward him. After all, Turles was the only living thing nearby—and he was huge.
A chill snapped Turles out of his wandering thoughts. He looked up and met Broly's blood-red eyes. The hairs on his body immediately stood on end.
"Uh-oh!"
Realizing what was happening, Turles finally understood his predicament. Without hesitation, he fled in the direction opposite the camp.
"Roar!"
Seeing Turles run, the Great Ape Broly roared again, and an astonishing beam of energy shot toward Turles's back.
Feeling the energy behind him, Turles abruptly twisted aside and narrowly dodged the beam, which passed so close it nearly grazed him. He didn't dare let up and kept running.
Turles was in a difficult position. The transformation had given him ten times the strength, but it had also made him much larger, inevitably affecting his speed and agility.
But he didn't dare cut off his tail. He might still survive Broly's attacks in his current state, but once he cut his tail and returned to his original size, he'd go through a period of weakness. And with only 100,000 battle power, could he really stay calm in the face of an opponent with battle power in the tens of millions?
Turles narrowly dodged another energy blast and felt a little relieved. Fortunately, after losing his reason, Broly was acting on instinct alone and had even forgotten how to fly. Otherwise, Turles would have been in even greater danger.
But this couldn't go on. Even though he'd destroyed the Artificial Moon, it would still take half an hour for the transformation to end. He had to make sure Broly didn't kill him during that time.
Turles dodged the Great Ape Broly's attacks again and again, which only made the already berserk Broly even more furious.
Broly fixed Turles with a fierce stare. His enormous body slowly began to leave the ground, rising a little at first, then higher and higher. Before long, his beastly instincts had restored his ability to fly.
Turles had just been relieved that Broly had stopped attacking when he glanced back and nearly fell out of the air in fright.
"Holy crap!"
Before you continue