Post by Cato on Jun 24, 2023 20:17:31 GMT -5
SUPER SAIYAN? ... NOT!
| Cato's PL: 525,000 (105,000 - x5 (Oozaru) Active |
| Cato's PL: 525,000 (105,000 - x5 (Oozaru) Active |
What made a Super Saiyan?
A brilliant flash of gold and near-madness. At least, that's the only experience of it Cato could remember. She never saw what had caused Lottus to explode with power, never figured out what separated a powerful Saiyan and someone with the potential to ascend to legendary status. If Lottus was the archetype of what a Super Saiyan was, then it clear required anger--but if that was the case, why hadn't it happened for Cato yet? She had been plenty angry and plenty bitter for months after Hatchi. She had even grown a little in strength, and yet still, she was no closer to being a Super Saiyan than she was when she was helpless to save Lottus from himself.
She had been quite sure upon witnessing the transformation that the world was better off without powers like that. But, if the android's words were true, and those powers were now inevitable, even expected, then she couldn't be left behind. She had always been the weakest amongst peers since coming to Plant, and that could no longer remain true. Not while the planet was in such short supply of reliable friends, and enemies seemed to lurk around every corridor.
If the Saiyans remained stagnant on Plant, they would die out. Their warrior culture would fade, replaced by one which saw value only in personal advancement. Earthling martial artists were like that, and some of them were respectable, but that wasn't the Saiyans. War was inevitable, whether somewhere across the stars in a bid for expansion, or right at home. If she had learned anything about Plant, it was that a coup attempt was never far away.
She had spent hours in the Saiba Wastes, trying to raise her ki high enough to shatter past her limits. She had put her body through greater stress than it had been under since Hatchi, forcing out so much energy it began to rattle her very bones. But her power remained as it had been: she was mighty, in the eyes of most Saiyans. But she was as far from ascending now as she had ever been.
It was only when she had reached her limit, nearly exhausted herself, that she finally gave in to a sneaking suspicion: that perhaps that was the hidden wisdom behind her family's superstitions. Perhaps giving in to the primal mind of the Oozaru, as they had done in ritual for generations, would provide some new path to power. Lottus had barely seemed more civil than a wild Oozaru in his own transformation, and while the same couldn't be said for the Chancellor's minion... she was more like Lottus than she would ever be like him.
She forced a surge of ki into an unsteady hand, forming glimmering light of a power ball in her hands. Doing her best to forget everything she had learned of the Oozaru, to ignore Lottus' lessons in control, she hurled it skyward. For the first time since Hatchi, she drank in the blutz waves, and let the horrifying transformation overwhelm her.
At first, she wasn't sure if her body could handle it. Her mask snapped off, clattering to the ground as her body began to grow and contort, and slowly she led her mind slip away. Her last thoughts were to the power she hoped to unveil, before a very different series of thoughts swarmed to the forefront. From then on, the Oozaru only cared about wanton destruction. It longed for a war that it was light-years away from, craved battle from warriors who would never find it. Its isolation, here in the midst of the Saiba Wastes, made it angry -- and soon enough, it began to shell the landscape with powerful blasts of molten red ki, tearing up the debris and sending shockwaves across the land.
Yet, however horrible a rampaging Oozaru might have been--the stunt had brought her no closer to ascending. There was no Super Saiyan here. At this point, there was barely even a Saiyan.
A brilliant flash of gold and near-madness. At least, that's the only experience of it Cato could remember. She never saw what had caused Lottus to explode with power, never figured out what separated a powerful Saiyan and someone with the potential to ascend to legendary status. If Lottus was the archetype of what a Super Saiyan was, then it clear required anger--but if that was the case, why hadn't it happened for Cato yet? She had been plenty angry and plenty bitter for months after Hatchi. She had even grown a little in strength, and yet still, she was no closer to being a Super Saiyan than she was when she was helpless to save Lottus from himself.
She had been quite sure upon witnessing the transformation that the world was better off without powers like that. But, if the android's words were true, and those powers were now inevitable, even expected, then she couldn't be left behind. She had always been the weakest amongst peers since coming to Plant, and that could no longer remain true. Not while the planet was in such short supply of reliable friends, and enemies seemed to lurk around every corridor.
If the Saiyans remained stagnant on Plant, they would die out. Their warrior culture would fade, replaced by one which saw value only in personal advancement. Earthling martial artists were like that, and some of them were respectable, but that wasn't the Saiyans. War was inevitable, whether somewhere across the stars in a bid for expansion, or right at home. If she had learned anything about Plant, it was that a coup attempt was never far away.
She had spent hours in the Saiba Wastes, trying to raise her ki high enough to shatter past her limits. She had put her body through greater stress than it had been under since Hatchi, forcing out so much energy it began to rattle her very bones. But her power remained as it had been: she was mighty, in the eyes of most Saiyans. But she was as far from ascending now as she had ever been.
It was only when she had reached her limit, nearly exhausted herself, that she finally gave in to a sneaking suspicion: that perhaps that was the hidden wisdom behind her family's superstitions. Perhaps giving in to the primal mind of the Oozaru, as they had done in ritual for generations, would provide some new path to power. Lottus had barely seemed more civil than a wild Oozaru in his own transformation, and while the same couldn't be said for the Chancellor's minion... she was more like Lottus than she would ever be like him.
She forced a surge of ki into an unsteady hand, forming glimmering light of a power ball in her hands. Doing her best to forget everything she had learned of the Oozaru, to ignore Lottus' lessons in control, she hurled it skyward. For the first time since Hatchi, she drank in the blutz waves, and let the horrifying transformation overwhelm her.
At first, she wasn't sure if her body could handle it. Her mask snapped off, clattering to the ground as her body began to grow and contort, and slowly she led her mind slip away. Her last thoughts were to the power she hoped to unveil, before a very different series of thoughts swarmed to the forefront. From then on, the Oozaru only cared about wanton destruction. It longed for a war that it was light-years away from, craved battle from warriors who would never find it. Its isolation, here in the midst of the Saiba Wastes, made it angry -- and soon enough, it began to shell the landscape with powerful blasts of molten red ki, tearing up the debris and sending shockwaves across the land.
Yet, however horrible a rampaging Oozaru might have been--the stunt had brought her no closer to ascending. There was no Super Saiyan here. At this point, there was barely even a Saiyan.
Cato tries to become a Super Saiyan by transforming into an Oozaru! This obviously doesn't work. One last angry Oozaru thread as the era of the giant monke comes to an end.
TWC: 690
TWC: 690