Power, get more power.

"C'mon mom!" The child's voice rang out gleefully. They had been wandering the streets looking for his new school.

She couldn't help but smile, this place was a miracle. Almost too good to be true. But that's what it was. As she held her sons hand her mind couldn't help but wander back to that fateful day. The day a monster came from the skies.

It had been a beautiful day, her planet had always been sunny and bright, thanks to its two suns. Vast plains and forests dotted the world, with small cities and villages in between. It had all gone wrong when what looked like a meteor had struck outside one of the largest population centers. People rejoiced, meteors often brought valuable minerals. But this one brought only death.

When the killings started no one knew what was happening, this thing had showed up and obliterated an entire city square in the span of a few moments. People, her people, had tried to resist, but it was futile.

She remembered when she first saw it. Him. Armoured in strange materiel, wild black hair and red markings along his face. One of the things that would haunt her the most was his face. His blood smeared mouth. The chunks of flesh between his teeth. He looked so like them, so young. But he was nothing like them.

When she first fought him it had been with five others, some of the strongest on their planet. That five became four, then three. She isn't ashamed to say she ran at that point. The monsters mocking laughter trailing off behind her as he killed the rest of her comrades. That laugh still haunted her, making her wake in cold sweats.

It took four hours for her race to die. She had fled to the mountains, hoping to hide from this apocalypse. But whether by fate or design she was saved for last. Just her and her infant son. She had hid him behind a rock, telling him to shush. Maybe the monster wouldn't be able to find him. The lie helped make her feel better.

He was there, behind her. Just waiting. He was covered in blood and soot, a twisted and hateful smile on his face. And then he spoke. His voice was unique, rough, her people had fair voices, said to be a gift from their creators. but his came out in a mocking rasp.

"You can't hide from me." one of his gore drenched hands moved to a glass piece over his eye. "This tells me exactly where you are. Your friend too."

She had hoped to say something witty, or defiant at that point, to deny him. But all that came out was a choked sob.

"Why..."

"Because I can." He told her.

The fight was brief, he fought to cripple her rather than kill, first an arm, then a leg, until he finally put her down with a punch to her ribs, shattering them.

She stared into the gathering ball of energy in his hand. She didn't want to look into his eyes. Those cold soulless eyes. It might have been the end of her, if not for her son. Her brave, idiot son.

He ha launched himself from his hiding spot, hoping to land a sneak attack. It didn't work. The eye piece the monster wore dinged and suddenly he twisted, grabbing the child's leg and slamming it down in front of him into the dirt.

Her boy was strong though, he was up in an instant. Tears streaming down his face as he stood in front of her. She wanted to scream at him to run, but her voice wouldn't work, her throat clamped in terror.

She expected him to kill him then, like he had done to so many others, but he hesitated. The boy ran at him, beating on his chest, yelling at the thing to leave them alone. It just stood there, unmoving its face blank. Before he struck.

She thought that he had killed her son then, but she could tell he was still breathing. The monster still stood there, not moving, before those eyes landed on her. Slow steps brought him over to her. She tried to beg, to plead, but he grabbed her by the mouth, silencing her. The pain as he lifted her made her black out.

When she woke next she was in some kind of metal pod, straps restraining her. Her son was on her lap, strapped to her chest with a strange mask over his face. The monster was in front of her, working on some kind of wired panel. She tried to speak but only a croak came out.

He noticed her then. A strange look on his face before pointing to a blue button on the side of the pod.

"When you land, press this." It told her.

"What?" she manage to get out.

She was ignored as he went back to work at the panel, taking out a black box type of machine before crushing it in his hand.

She was too afraid to move so she simply stared at him. His blue eye piece was gone. and his face looked troubled.

"You need to be stronger." It told her in its rasping voice. "Get more power."

He grabbed another strange mask. She tried to resist as he strapped it to her face, but he had a firm grip on her. When that was done he pushed a few more buttons and an airy gas started flowing into her mouth and nostrils.

The thing stepped back and pressed one last button and a hatch began to slowly close. "Get stronger." it told her once more.

As the pod began to lift she couldn't help but stare into his eyes through the red glass, as he stared back at hers, his face blank. And then whatever gas was flowing into her body finally took effect as the pod lurched and heaved, blasting off from the planet.

What she didn't know then but knew now was that the monster had been something called a "Saiyan." A race of ruthless warriors that traveled to planets and killed off all life before selling them to the highest bidder.

This siayan had spared her, and her child. She wished she knew why. It didn't matter anymore though, that was nearly a decade ago. She had a new life to look forward to. A new life in the time patrol.

The sound of her son gasping an whimpering brought her out of her reverie, her eyes looking forward in amusement. That amusement quickly turned to dread.

It was the monster.

The same face, the same hair, the same eyes, the same armour. But he wasn't the same anymore. His face had more scars and lining to it, his eyes looked tired, less hateful. But it was still him. Her heart began beating rapidly, her throat closing in terror. Her son backed away until he came to her waist, turning and hugging her, hiding his face in her stomach.

Like so long ago he stood there. Doing nothing, watching her. Waiting. She would have ran if she hadn't been rooted to the spot by terror and old rising nightmares.

He finally spoke, his voice a deeper rasp, rougher than last time.

"Are you lost?" He said.

"...What?" She managed to choke out.

One of his hands raised and she tensed, waiting for an attack.

"The academy is back that way, four streets down on your right."

She said nothing, a tense stare off. Her scared red into his unconcerned brown.

He shrugged, turning and walking away. She couldn't believe it, he was here, the saiyan that had exterminated her race like they were nothing.


"Wait! Please!" She called surprising herself.

He stopped and turned around, facing her once more. His tired face blank and waiting.

It took her a few moments to get passed the lump in her throat, so many feelings coursing through her before she finally spat it out.

"Thank you, so much..." Her voice was thick with sincerity and other emotions.

He didn't say anything, or acknowledge what she was thanking him for, she didn't know if he remembered her at all.

"You should get going. Your son will be late." And he was off once more. Walking away.

She learned what his name was later, at the registry. A saiyan named Targos. Her monster finally had a name.