The next day, Lila and I went back to the clearing for our daily training. However, this time she decided to start asking me questions in the middle of our spar, which was strange, but I didn't think much of it since I just decided to use it as an opportunity to help improve my ability multitask.
Her questions ranged from a variety of different topics, such as my childhood, how many planets I've visited, if I ever interacted with any other alien species besides the Namekians...
I didn't mind any of her questions, as it seemed natural that she would be curious, though I did have to tell her a few fibs as to not reveal just how much blood I had on my hands.
"So, I'm curious..." Lila says as she grabs my wrist and shifts it slightly so that it completely misses her face, "...you've told me about all your experiences with the Super Saiyan and Saiyan God transformations, but you haven't said anything about Evil Saiyan."
Using the suddenly shift of momentum to my advantage, I pick up my hind leg and try to catch her chin with my heel. Her eyes widen just a bit, but she quickly catches it and shoves me away from her, causing me to stumble a bit before I manage to regain my footing.
She looks down at her hand, wiping away the scuff mark that I left before she looks back up at me and asks, "Why is that?"
Seeing that I managed to leave at least a modicum of damage, I surge forward and strike at her as I grunt out an answer to her question, "That's because... I don't have... any experience with it!"
Her brow creases with confusion, "But I thought you said that you accessed the transformation before?"
She ducks a kick I send at her, along with the follow up sweep, to which I close the distance immediately as to not give her any ground.
"I did... I just don't remember!" I grunt as I strike at her head.
She cocks her head to the side and looks at me with confusion before suddenly striking out her palm. Her strike hits me right on the chin and I stagger back a bit, feeling slightly disorientated from the hard hit.
"Don't lose focus." She says.
My eyes widen into saucers as I feel a sharp pain suddenly coming from my side. I look down and I see Lila's hand digging itself into the soft spot under my ribs, four of her fingers positioned slightly upward so that they're pointed towards my heart.
"You lose focus, you die." She said before removing her hand.
I groan as I fall onto my knees, the pain immense. I rub my side to try and dissipate some of it before I look up at her with narrowed eyes.
"I think you're enjoying way more than you're supposed to..." I said to her, my tone anything but amused.
She smirks and shrugs her shoulders playfully, which causes me... much irritation.
"Maybe. Now go back to the part where you said you don't remember anything." She says, expecting me to say more on the matter.
"What else is there to say?" I groan as I stand back up on my feet. "My vision went black and I woke up on Cooler's ship. The only reason I know transformed is because of the recordings that were taken."
Actually it was because of Astral, but that was technically a recording he showed me. And Cooler also had recordings as well, I saw them whilst scrolling through the Cooler Force's database, I just never watched them.
"Do you think you can show me these recordings?" She asked.
I raised an eyebrow, clearly not expecting her to ask that. To be honest, this entire conversation was a little unexpected. She's never shown an interest in my ability to transform before.
Then again, it hasn't even been a couple of weeks since we've started training, so I haven't really gotten a firm grasp on her training plans.
"If you want to see them, I would need to get aboard Cooler's ship. And he could be halfway across the galaxy by now." I said before stepping towards her, holding out two of my fingers.
"What are you doing?" She asked, placing one of her fingers on one of mine, halting me from reaching her forehead.
"It's a technique that I developed. Sort of an advanced form of telepathy where I show you a glimpse of my memories." I explained.
I've used this only once since I've developed it, and it was against Shugesh after he smacked Old Man Gohan into a wall. Apparently I gave him night terrors for weeks.
Good.
He deserved every second of them.
"Oh, memory sharing?" She asked, her eyes widened.
"You know of it?" I asked.
"Some of the Kais used to do this instead of speaking verbally. Saves time on long winded explanations." She replied with a nod. "Usually it's supposed to be contactless, but I'll give you some credit since you managed to develope it on your own."
Y'know, even when she's paying me a compliment, it doesn't feel like she's paying me a compliment.
Lila put her hand down, allowing me to place my two fingers on her forehead.
I send her glimpses into my memory, showing her the time Astral showed me the recording during our second conversation. I left out some parts, of course. If I didn't, she would be seeing a lot of confusing things in my peripheral vision, namely an endless void and a spectating god that I would rather not have to explain.
After showcasing my memory in its... semi-entirety, ain't that a damn oxymoron, I remove my fingers from her forehead and look at her curiously as she puts on an inquisitive face.
"A... A Frost Demon...?" She muttered before looking up at me with a gaze I don't quite understand. "This Frieza that enslaved the Saiyans was a Frost Demon?"
"Is, he's still alive, but yeah..." I replied, looking at her strangely as I wondered why that mattered. "Why, what's wrong?"
She doesn't hear my question, as her eyes look as if she's somewhere else. I furrow my eyebrows at her, wondering why she was acting so strange.
"Lila?" I called out her name as I snapped my fingers in front of her face.
Hearing her name, she shakes her and finally snaps out of her trance, looking back up at me, "It's nothing... Um, so... this Evil Saiyan transformation, can you transform into it at will?"
I pause, the thought of asking her why she was acting so weird passing my mind, but I moved on despite her odd behavior. If she wanted to tell me, she would've told me.
"I can." I answer, nodding my head.
"But you never did." She responds.
"I have not." I shook my head.
"Any particular reason?" She asks.
I pause for a bit, not because I didn't want to talk about it, I just needed to find the words to explain it.
"Every time I try to access the form I feel that my control over myself slipping. Like all my power and emotions will just erupt the second I actually transform." I tell her.
"Mm-hmm..." She hums.
She looks down and turns away, pacing back and forth as she seems to be lost in her own thoughts again. My eyes follow her, going left to right more than a few times, but just as I was about to speak up, she started talking.
"Remind me what Evil Saiyan is again." She says.
"It's a transformation based of the user's selfish desires. As Saiyans, we strive for power above all else." I reply.
"And so Evil Saiyan makes you strive for more and more power?" She asks, stopping her pacing and looking at me with a questioning gaze. "I'm guessing to an almost obsessive level?"
"It's more complicated than that, but that's basically the gist of it, yeah." I nodded, agreeing with her statement.
She nods and steps towards me, looking at me up and down before bringing her hand up high before bringing it down, smacking me hard on the top of my head.
"What the-?! OW!" I exclaimed, rubbing the top of my head. "What the hell was that for?!"
"You're an idiot." She said, looking at me with a criticizing gaze.
"Yeah, that wasn't exactly in question, but do you mind at least telling me exactly why I'm an idiot?!" I asked, still rubbing my head from the smack she gave me.
Jesus, that hurt. It's like she used all the power she had to try and literally smack some sense into me.
"I suppose you've been trying to figure out how to transform without losing control? I'm guessing by doing the same thing you did to gain control of your other form, trying to control the sudden influx of your rising emotions?" She asked.
"Yeah, why?" I asked back.
Lila then closed her eyes and brought her hands together, bringing them to her lips before taking a very deep breath.
"Zyleth, the reason why you are having so much trouble with the form is because you are trying to suppress it the very foundation of which you need to transform. You can't transform into a form based on selfishness if you refuse to let yourself be selfish."
"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused as to what she was trying to tell me.
"Okay, before, when you telling me the ins and outs of Super Saiyan, you said that it relies on two things, anger and a certain power level of power. You also said that even though you accessed the form without the emotional trigger, you still had to deal with the anger that comes either being a Super Saiyan, right?"
I nod my head before what she's trying to say finally hits me.
Seeing my eyes widen slightly, she smiles a bit and continues, "You get it now, right? Like Super Saiyan, you can't master it in your base, you have to actually transform and get used to the form through experience."
And in that last sentence lies the issue...
"Yeah, that's makes sense, but there's a problem." I tell her, letting out a sigh as I shook my head. "Even though you're probably right, I can't just transform into an Evil Saiyan."
"Actually, that's exactly what you're going to do." She says without an iota of hesitation.
Her blunt response to my question causes me to look at her as if she had just lost her mind.
"Are you seriously telling me that I should transform into a volatile transformation and just rampage across the universe?" I asked, not understanding what kind of logic she was using. "Who's gonna stop me from wiping out the entire galaxy? You?"
She can't even measure up to me if I transformed into a Great Ape, my weakest transformation, and that is only twenty times multiplier. What the hell is she going to do against a transformation that boosts me two-hundred and fifty times my base?!
"No, I'm not, because you're not going to rampage." She replied with such high confidence that I had admired it for brief second before looking at her as though she had gone completely insane.
"...You didn't inhale any of the fumes coming from the ship's thrusters after our test flights, did you?" I asked.
"What? No. Why would I--?"
"No reason." I interrupted, not wanting to explain the intricacies of getting high to what is, essentially, a god.
She looks at me with confusion for a few moments before shaking her head and saying, "Look, from what you've explained to me, Evil Saiyan isn't inherently evil. It's a form that brings out a Saiyan's deep desire for power, right?"
"Yeah. What's your point?" I asked.
"My point is that if your sole desire is power when you've transformed, then you're not going to be any different than how you're acting right now." She replies.
That explanation just made me even more confused than I was previously. Seeing this, Lila rolls her eyes and explains it further.
"Zyleth, if Evil Saiyan doesn't make you evil, then it just brings out what you already are." She says before grabbing me by the shoulders, her fingers digging into my skin a bit. "I'm saying that you aren't a tyrant, Zyleth. You aren't a mindless, unreasonable killer. You're a scum bag that lies and manipulates people to get what you want, but you're not a barbarian out to cause misery."
Hearing this, I think I finally understand what she's trying to get at and I shake my head, denying her words.
"Lila, I appreciate the sentiment, but what you're saying just doesn't apply here." I said as I grabbed her hands and pulled them off my shoulders.
"And why doesn't it?" She asks.
"Did you forget what you saw in my memories? The second I transformed, I lost control and--"
"You what?" She cut me off before continuing with her own words, "You sadistically beat the tyrant that almost killed your mother? That enslaved you, your planet, and your entire people? You ask me, it's exactly what he deserved."
"That's not the issue here. The issue is that I was completely out of control." I tell her.
"Were you?" She asked, raising a brow at my statement. "I don't remember seeing anything like that in your memories."
That threw me for a loop. Were we watching the same memory? Because if we were, I am a hundred percent sure she wouldn't be saying any of that.
"Zyleth, putting aside your sadistic actions and the... substantial amount of structural damage you caused, did you really lose control? You didn't hurt anyone in except Frieza when you went on your so called "rampage", on the contrary, you were hyper fixated on him."
I open my mouth to refute, but I couldn't. Because she was absolutely right. The entire time, I was solely focused on fighting Frieza.
"You're right..." I muttered.
"Of course I am." She said with a lighthearted grin. "When am I not?"
Her smile falls and she suddenly grew serious. Taking a step closer, her hands fell from my shoulders and she instead placed them against my chest.
"You're not a killer, Zyleth. Not really. All the transformation does is make you more you. So just think of the yourself right now, only a little bit more selfish and blunt... If that's even possible..."
I couldn't help but let out a chuckle on that last dig she made. "Always got to say something slick, huh?"
"Look who's talking." She responds with a small smile, the hand she had placed on my chest forming a fist and she softly shoves me away. "Go ahead and transform. I'll be here."
The thought of transforming into Evil Saiyan again caused a cold shiver to run down my neck. I wanted to argue. To find some reason as to not transform, but everything she says made sense. And the thing about it, I don't even know why I'm so nervous about the Evil Saiyan transformation in the first place.
Maybe it's because when I lost control the first time, it left a bad impression. Or maybe it's because I thought I would end up like Cumber, battle hungry and always wanting to fight no matter what happens to those around me.
Or maybe it's because I'm more like Cooler than I initially thought.
I always commented on his need of wanting to be in control of everything. And here I am, afraid of letting myself achieve something that would be nothing but a benefit because of my fear of losing control control
But maybe letting go isn't so bad... At least every once in a while...
I close my eyes and take a deep breath before searching deep within myself, trying to find the familiar spark of that dark power somewhere deep inside.
I dig through the layers, falling deeper and deeper into my own subconscious, eventually finding that familiar darkness. I reach out and grab hold of it, feeling that familiar cold chill run up my spine as the dark energy washed over me like ice water.
I feel myself starting to slip away and I instinctively start to fight against it, desperately trying to hold on to my mind, to my sanity. The dark energy starts to slip away from my grasp and I suddenly hear Lila speaking to me in my mind.
"Don't fight it. Don't be afraid of it. There's nothing to be afraid of. I promised you that you'll be the strongest Saiyan who ever lived... You want that don't you? To be the strongest Saiyan who ever lived? This is what you have to do... What you have to allow yourself to do... So do it... Be Selfish... Let go..."
Her words, her voice causes me to relax and I allow myself to let go, feeling myself sinking deeper into my own mind, feeling nothing but an endless stream of dark energy that begged for little else other than to be released.
I bring that stream of dark energy inside of me, feeling it flow throughout my entire body. My heart pulses with it, my veins bursting, my nerves on fire.
I feel a presence and I open my eyes, seeing not the sight of Lila or the calming scenery of the planet I was previously on, but the glowing bright crimson eyes of the Great Ape that seemed to be staring right back at me.
Almost instinctively, I knew that this wasn't just some ordinary Great Ape that was looking at me. This was my Great Ape. This was me.
"ROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!"
---
[General POV]
On the outside, Zyleth's body suddenly erupted with an enormous volume of dark ki, the wind blowing and pushing everything around him in a chaotic torrent of overwhelming darkness.
"Zyleth!" Lila yelled out as she tried to push back against the force of his power, but it proved fruitless as she was unable to stop herself from being pushed back by the unexpected maelstrom.
Blown off at high speeds, Lila tried to orientate herself upright, but was unable to do so with how fast she was flying through the air.
The harsh winds eventually slammed her against the side of the mountain, causing her to groan in pain as she tried to push herself out.
"ROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!"
Without even getting the chance to properly register what has happening, there was this sudden sense of dread that filled her body as a loud roar erupted from where Zyleth had been standing.
This wasn't like anything she had ever heard before. The waves of pure power that came from this primal roar caused the hair on her arms and legs to stand on end, almost as if her body was in the presence of a predator.
Suddenly, the wind finally seemed to dissipate, allowing her to dig herself out of the mountain.
Not hesitation even for a moment, she dashed towards him in a panic, landing right behind him. She saw that he looked different. His hair, while not a different color, seemed to have grown longer. It reached around the middle of his back, and it was even more wild and unkept than before.
Lila also felt the large amount of power and pressure emanating from Zyleth's body, and it both shocked and frightened her.
After all, what if she was wrong? What if she had pushed him into this only for her to have turned him into the uncontrollable beast he was afraid of turning into?
With no choice but to press forward, she hesitantly stepped towards him as she called out his name, "Zyleth?"
She saw his body suddenly tense up at her voice before turning around and facing her. She saw him looking at her with a cold demeanor that left her feeling frightened.
The red eyes he now sported locked with her own, causing a slight gasp to escape her lips.
This wasn't like the red of the Saiyan God form she had witnessed weeks ago. These were darker. Almost blood-like in color.
"Are... Are you in there...?" She asked hesitantly.
Zyleth looked at her for a moment before his mouth slowly formed a small smirk, letting out a slight chuckle at her question.
"Were you expecting someone else?" He asked, his voice deep, almost gravelly, but there was no mistaking that lighthearted, teasing tone he always took with her.
---
Current Power Level:
Zyleth (Base) - [5,979,000,000]
Zyleth (Evil Saiyan) - [1,494,750,000,000]
[Word Count: 3,448.]