She looks on at me, unable to find the words she was so desperately trying to speak.
"You still want to go through with this?" I asked, titling my head to the side and raising a cocky brow.
Her breath comes out shakily, obviously frightened by both my presence and my power. Seems instead of just taking the fight out of her, I also managed to make her scared of me.
Not really intentional on my part, but it could work to my advantage. Fear can be a very powerful motivator for some. I just have to make sure that I don't go to overboard or else It may end up working against me.
"Your energy... What are you...?" She asks, looking up at me as if I'm some sort of monster in Saiyan skin.
Well... I did just kind of threaten her... and Saiyans aren't exactly viewed upon nicely by others...
But that is besides the point.
My mouth turns up, giving a small, barely noticeable smile a bit at her question, responding with nothing but silence. After a few moments, she seems to realize that I'm not going to answer and proceeds to ask another question.
"What do you want of me...?" She murmurs, her eyes locked on the two fingers I'm holding beneath her chin.
"I already told you." I replied as I took my hand away, rolling my eyes as I did so. "I want you to be my teacher."
"Why...?" She asks, not understanding my motives. "You already outclass me dozens of times over. I could fight you a hundred times and still not be able to put a scratch on you."
"That much is evident." I said blankly as I stepped away from her.
I put a good ten feet between us, returning to where I previously stood, before starting to pace back and forth, reeling my energy back in just a bit.
The lightning crashing above suddenly slows and then stops as the darkened sky returns to its normal blue color.
"In this state, I could kill you without even trying to." I tell her, not failing to notice the slight flinch she made as she listened to my words. "But how I was before I entered this state, my base form, I wouldn't even be able to put a scratch on you."
"And just what is that state you're in?" She asks, her eyes glancing up towards my golden hair. "I've never seen anything like it..."
"This is a transformation my race can achieve called Super Saiyan." I answered. "A form that multiplies your base power by a significantly large margin."
"Super Saiyan?" She asks, looking quite confused. "And going by the name, I'm assuming that means your species are called Saiyans?"
"Yes, but why does it seem you're having trouble wrapping you head around that?" I asked, tilting my head slightly.
"It's just that I've never heard of your race before. I don't remember any of the Kais creating anything like you." She answers.
Now that surprises me.
But now that I think about it, in all honesty, it really shouldn't surprise me. After all, it's been quite a while since she's been in the realm of the living. Hundreds of millennia if I'm remembering correctly.
"You've been dead a long time, Miss Kaioshin." I tell her.
"Lila... You can call me Lila..." She says, looking towards the ground in thought.
Seems like it's finally hitting her just how long she's been dead. I can't really fault her for it. Just because someone tells you how long you've been gone, doesn't mean that it's fully sunken in yet.
I don't remember the specifics, but I'm pretty sure she's been dead for a very long time.
Five to ten million years.
Give or take a few million.
It make sense as to why she doesn't know anything about the Saiyans. After all, the time of Yamoshi and Cumber were only about thousand years ago if I remember correctly. And if Ancient Saiyans and the time of the Super Saiyan God only go back around a thousand years, then they definitely wouldn't have been around during her time.
As I'm pondering over this, I hear a small groan and I turn towards the sound, seeing Stropo starting to stir.
"As much as I sympathize with your situation, we're running on a timer, so I'll have to make this quick." I said, turning my gaze back towards Lila. "As you are right now, Majin Buu will either kill or absorb you if you went to go fight him right now, that is if you manage to even find him in the first place."
She flinched once more at the bluntness of my statement, but my words seem to be getting through to her this time.
"But if you train me, become my teacher, I will deal with him for you." I told her.
My words cause her to look at me in shock, along with some other emotions that I couldn't quite place. Hope maybe? A bit of weariness.
"You? You want to fight Majin Buu?" She asked, her tone disbelieving.
"Want is a strong word." I replied. "This is simply a deal that I'm offering. You help me grow, and I will deal with the troublesome pink blob."
"You're strong, I'll give you that. But what happens after I help you? How do I know that you'll keep your word?" She asks, bringing up an excellent point.
As much as I know that I'm not going to just abandon her, she has no reason to just take my word for it. And there's not exactly enough time for bonding this time around.
"You don't." I tell her simply. "All you have is my word that I won't leave you high and dry later down the line."
"That's not exactly reassuring." She says, raising a brow.
"I know, but it's not like there's a lot of other options on the table. It's either trust me and train me, or don't and try to find a way to deal with Buu yourself. So far, I'm the best looking option you have." I tell her.
She and I stare at each other for a while before my attention is turned back towards Stropo, who seems to be on the verge of regaining consciousness.
"Times up." I said, reverting back to my base form and turning back towards Lila. "What's it going to be, Lila?"
She stares at me for a few seconds before letting out a defeated sigh, "Seems I have no choice..."
She steps towards me and reaches out her hand. Not expecting it, I smile a bit and I reach out mine in return, both of shaking and accepting the terms of our agreement.
"Nice to meet you, Master." I say to her with a polite smile.
Master... Huh...
Yeah, no...
It feels really weird to call someone that. Probably just gonna go ahead and not call her that as much.
Or at all.
She eyes me for a moment, seemingly trying to ascertain something, before nodding her head and releasing my hand, "Nice to meet you, Zyleth..."
"Urgh... Wha..." Stropo groans, causing the both of us to look towards the aging Namekian.
"Stropo?" I called out, putting on a face of fake concern as I walked over and helped him to his feet. "Are you alright?"
"Yes... Yes..." He said, lightly pushing me away. "What happened...?"
He brings his hand up to the side of his head, holding his head in pain. Probably just a minor headache caused from me overloading his senses.
He should be fine in a couple of hours.
"I don't know. Whilst I was wishing on the Dragon Balls, you suddenly collapsed." I lied to him. "I wanted to wait until you woke up, but I didn't know how long I had until Porunga would disappear."
"The Dragon Balls...? Ah, yes, of course... Perhaps witnessing the majesty of our Eternal Porunga caused me to faint..." He mutters before looking towards Lila. "Is this the friend you spoke of?"
Lila eyes suddenly widened with surprise, not expecting to be addressed.
I quickly saunter over and drape my arm around her shoulders, giving Stropo a wide smile. Lila stiffens at the sudden close proximity, but I pay it no mind as I continue with my friendly facade.
"Yes, it is. Stropo, meet Lila." I said before looking down towards Lila. "Lila, this is Stropo. One of the kind Namekians who helped me in reviving you."
"A-Ah... Thank you so much..." Lila said as she quickly bowed to the Namekian warrior gratefully.
"Think nothing of it, for it was at the request of our Grand Elder. He is the one that deserves your thanks, not I." Stropo replies, giving her a soft smile.
As he stares at her with his soft expression, I narrow my gaze at him. He never treated me that kindly.
Racist... Discrimination...
"Really? Then I should thank him as well." Lila says as she straightened herself out.
"Good idea." I said suddenly, a metaphorical light bulb lighting up in my head.
I need to ask the Guru about that statue of the dragon I need to make in order to create my own set of Dragon Balls. While the knowledge of the process of it is mostly straightforward, the model I'm supposed to make of the dragon wasn't that clear.
"Come on, Lila. Let's go meet the Grand Elder." I said as I wrapped my arm around her waist and flew up towards Guru's house.
"H-Huh?!" She exclaims.
[Word Count: 1,600.]