Revenge

"King Frieza, should we hunt down the Saiyans who haven't returned?" Zarbon asked.

"Mr. Zarbon, leave Prince Vegeta's squad alive. Take care of the rest," Frieza said before turning his flying chair around.

"Oh, and tell young Vegeta that his planet was unlucky and got destroyed by a meteorite." Frieza paused, then continued.

"Understood, King Frieza." Zarbon and Dodoria hurriedly bowed in reply.

Kakarot's ship had barely escaped Planet Vegeta when another spacecraft detected it on its way to Earth.

The view closed in on a ship identical to Frieza's. Inside, a crocodile-headed man was reporting to someone who looked a lot like Frieza.

"King Cooler, we just detected a Saiyan in a single-person spacecraft. Should we shoot it down?"

Cooler stood by the window, flicked his tail, and sneered to himself. "Frieza really is useless. Didn't I hear he was going to wipe out the Saiyan race? How did one slip through? My little brother is truly incompetent."

After a pause, he asked, "Did you check its power level?"

"Reporting to King Cooler: its power level is two. I'll go destroy it right away."

Cooler waved his subordinate off, rejecting the suggestion. "Forget it. That's Frieza's business. Leave it alone."

With that, he turned and left.

"Heh. A power level of two."

A soft laugh echoed through the air.

And so, Kakarot escaped death once again, his ship vanishing into the void.

Reke had no idea what had happened on Planet Vegeta.

He had just flown up to the monster and could finally see it clearly.

The monster was covered in rocks, as if wearing armor. One eye took up most of its face, and it stood on two hands and two feet, like a small mountain.

Now it was looking at the insignificant creature before it with that single eye, wondering why the little thing had flown over.

"Monster, I'm sending you to your grave today. Pick a better life next time."

Reke moved above the monster and swung a punch at its head.

The monster seemed to sense the threat of the blow.

It twisted to one side and swung its left fist at Reke.

Reke hadn't expected it to react so quickly. He had no time to change his move.

He could only twist his body with force, driving the motion from his waist, and meet the monster's left fist with his right foot.

"Boom!" A tremendous crash rang out where they collided.

After that exchange, Reke hurriedly pulled away.

"Damn, why is this bastard so tough? That armor's not just for show."

Feeling the sting in his right foot, Reke cursed under his breath.

Reke was still looking for another opening when the monster swung its right hand at him, its energy locking onto him at the same time.

An energy blast came hurtling from its mouth.

Reke dodged its right hand, but the energy blast was already right in front of him. He could only channel his ki into both arms and cross them to block it.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Driven backward by the blast, Reke smashed through several hills and was embedded in the mountainside.

Reke was dumbfounded. He hadn't been injured by the attack, but anyone could see he was at a disadvantage.

The monster had suppressed him from the start. He couldn't even fight back.

"Damn it, I refuse to believe this. I'm going all out today!"

Burning with rage, Reke felt his blood begin to heat up.

He didn't bother with any technique. He charged straight in, going head-to-head with the monster.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Reke didn't try to circle around behind it. After clashing with his left hand, he followed up with his right, then kicked at the monster's left knee with his right foot.

At first, Reke could still feel the sting. But after a few exchanges, he grew more and more excited.

Every blow grew stronger than the last.

At first, Reke was the one getting knocked back. Then the monster began retreating under his attacks.

It had all happened in just a few short minutes.

One moment Reke had been suppressed; the next, he was the one dominating his opponent. The change had come so suddenly.

Reke slammed a punch into the monster's chest, cracking the rocks covering it. A small fist-shaped dent appeared on the left side of its chest.

"What's wrong with me? I could've finished it quickly. Why did I hold back and trade blows with it?"

Reke was deeply confused. He wasn't the type to mess around.

At first, he really had been outmatched by the monster. Even though his power level was higher, he was weaker in raw strength, which was why he'd been at a disadvantage.

But halfway through the fight, Reke had already been able to completely suppress the monster. He could have even finished it off.

Yet he hadn't. Not only that, but as the fight went on, he held back more and more, using at most just enough strength to match or slightly surpass his opponent.

At that moment, Reke thought of Kakarot and Vegeta.

Both of them were reckless to the extreme, and so was the half-breed Gohan.

Whenever they gained the upper hand, they acted like idiots, with one thing on their minds: play around.

It was as if being reckless was a Saiyan trait. When things went their way, they got reckless; when things went badly, they got even more reckless. (Except for Future Trunks.) The rest were all a bunch of screwups.

Reke understood now. It was his Saiyan blood messing with him.

"Damn it, you think you can control me? This is my body. I'll do whatever I want with it!" Reke roared.

After knocking the monster back again, Reke didn't charge in. He forced himself to resist the urge.

Ki began gathering in his hands from all over his body. Reke didn't want to keep playing around with it.

He locked onto the monster's head and fired an energy wave.

"Boom!"

The monster's head exploded instantly. Its headless body fell backward, flattening countless trees as a cloud of dust rose into the air.

After finishing off the monster, Reke sensed its ki disappear and didn't spare it another glance.

He kept a small part of his attention on his surroundings, while focusing most of his mind inward.

He felt his blood growing hotter and the urge to fight growing stronger in his mind.

Reke struggled to control his emotions, suppressing his battle lust as hard as he could and forcing himself to calm down.

Before long, his forehead was covered in beads of sweat. It was clear he wasn't having an easy time.

The sky gradually darkened.

Only then did the tension in Reke's brow slowly ease. He opened his eyes and let out a long breath.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his small hand and smiled faintly.

"Damn, this Saiyan blood really is cursed," Reke grumbled to himself.

Still, despite his complaints, it sure came in handy.

Standing there with a hand on his chin, he suddenly thought of Broly.

The Legendary Super Saiyan.

Reke had once envied his bloodline. Now he felt nothing but relief.

He thought he finally understood why Broly went berserk as soon as he started fighting.

Even with Reke's ordinary bloodline, he had to struggle to keep it under control.

As for a monster like Broly, whose power kept growing nonstop, all Reke could say was that he wanted no trouble with him.

No wonder the original story by the old master said that the Legendary Super Saiyan either lost his mind and became a madman who knew only destruction, or exploded from within.