Dragon Ball Z: The Beast Within - CH33

[Escarot POV]

It took us eight months to get to the planet Garlik had picked.

Eight months inside those demonic spherical ships we Saiyans for some reason seem to be so fond of, honestly, I can’t wait to get a bigger ship, even sleeping for most of the trip, and the ride was still awful.

Anyways, the planet Garlik had chosen was called Arxa 9, no idea if there was a Arxa 1 through 8. Probably. But the point is that the planet was perfect for us, it was one of those obscure, barely-mapped entries in the PTO databanks. Listed as “totally unremarkable” and “not worth conquering.”

Something about the climate made it unappealing to buyers.

The planet had barely no locals, no satellites. Just lots of wind, raging oceans, and enough breathable atmosphere to not immediately kill us, but weird enough to make the air feel spicy.

Arxa’s gravity felt lighter than Planet Vegeta’s. Not soft enough to make me feel weightless, but enough to make every movement feel a bit floaty, pool-like. Still, the wind made up for it. Gale-force levels, screaming across jagged cliffs and dragging sand, rocks and salt from the sea into your face every two seconds. Great for resistance training, or if you were into chewing dirt.

And judging by the sound of Okara’s excited tail whipping behind her, she absolutely was.

“So, are you ready to fight?” she asked, grinning like an idiot, her hands already glowing faintly with energy as she bounced on her toes.

Garlik gave a long-suffering sigh. “Is that all you think about?”

“No,” Okara said proudly, crossing her arms. “I also think about food.”

“I stand corrected. My apologies,” Garlik replied dryly. His tone was as deadpan as ever, but unfortunately, sarcasm was still a concept Okara hadn’t fully grasped.

“That’s what I thought,” she said, nodding with absolute confidence, like she’d just won an argument she didn’t understand.

I chuckled. “We’ve talked about this before, Garlik. One day she’ll figure out what sarcasm means, and on that day, she’ll probably kill you.”

“I’m banking on the possibility that I’ll already be dead of old age by then, sir,” Garlik replied.

Okara scrunched up her face. “Are you guys making fun of me?”

“I would never dare,” Garlik said, not even bothering to hide the sarcasm this time.

“That’s what I thought,” Okara said again, doubling down on the same confident nod. She had no idea.

Yeah… Garlik was right. He probably would die of natural causes before she connected the dots.

“So,” Okara said, bouncing on her heels again. “Are we fighting? Or are we eating?”

“Neither,” I said.

She pouted immediately. It was supposed to be an intimidating glare, but all she managed to do was look like someone spoiled her a movie.

I wondered if she realized she was pouting instead of snarling.

“But,” I continued, watching her tail perk up like a radar dish, “I am going to train you.”

The pout vanished. Replaced instantly by an explosive smile that looked like it could break her face in half.

“Really?! On what?!” she asked, circling around me, fists flying in mock punches and kicks. “Hand-to-hand? Ki control? Both?!”

“Neither,” I replied just to annoy her.

She let out a dramatic groan. “Why are you like this?”

I flicked her forehead.

She yelped, rubbing the spot, but I could already see the grin forming again.

“Because you make it so damn easy,” I said. “But if you must know, I’m going to help you learn how to control the Great Ape form.”

There was a pause.

A very brief pause.

Then—

“YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!!! LET’S GO, LET’S GO, LET’S GO, WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?!”

She was bouncing again. Literally. Jumping up and down like she’d just won a lifetime supply of meat. Her energy surged, her tail spun like a propeller, and for a second I thought she might actually blast off into the sky like a rocket powered by pure tail-powered enthusiasm.

Garlik winced as her ki flared. “Are you sure that’s a good idea, sir?”

“Pretty sure, 52%,” I replied, looking at her. “49%.....”

When it came to Okara, I wasn’t sure what made her happier; food or the chance to turn into a massive rage beast with laser breath.

Probably both. In that order.

Still, this needed to be done. Teaching her how to control the Great Ape form wasn’t just about power. It was about survival. The longer we traveled and the stronger we got, the more she would come to need this. If Okara couldn’t control her transformation, she’d be a liability.

She was already enough of a raging monster as she was, we didn’t need to add 60 tons of fur on top of that.

Besides, it was a great card to have if the fighting got tough.

“Go warm up,” I said, walking toward the rocky cliffs at the edge of the shore. “We start as soon as I finish setting things up.”

“WARMING UP IS FOR THE WEAK!” she screamed behind me, already backflipping through the air and tossing fake punches at clouds.

Garlik sighed. “You do know this is going to end with her trying to suplex a mountain, right?”

“Probably,” I said. “But hey, you only live once, let her go for it.”

—------------------------------------------------------------

Three weeks.

Three long, exhausting, loud weeks of trying to teach Okara how to control the Great Ape form without her destroying half the planet or trying to kill Garlik.

It had been fun punching her; everytime I needed to force her back to her normal state, but you could only do something… so much before it got boring.

As far as her progress…

“WHY IS THIS SO DAMNNN HAAAAAARD!?” she screamed, her voice echoing off the cliffs like a banshee with anger management issues.

Yeah. We were making stellar progress. But I had faith we were moving in the right direction.

To be fair though, I completely understood where she was coming from. Mastering this wasn’t something you just picked up after one session and a motivational speech. It took me time, pain, effort, and a whole lot of resentment against my trainers before I got the hang of it.

“You need to focus,” I said, floating around her.

Okara turned toward me, her expression somewhere between ‘how fucking dare you’ and ‘I will murder you’. “Wow, I never thought about that, how could I not see the answer? I just have to focus! That’s incredibly helpful!” she said, voice dripping with sarcasm before she exploded. “THAT’S WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING!”

Did she learn sarcasm in these past few weeks? Or… maybe her problem is not using sarcasm, but knowing when someone else is.

I shrugged. “And you keep doing it wrong.”

“ARGHHHHHHHH!”

She threw a punch into the ground, causing a shockwave that sent sand, rocks and dust flying. Making a few seabirds scream and bolt for the sky.

“And there goes our lunch,” I sighed, watching the delicious birds fly away. This planet had a surprisingly large selection of amazing ingredients.

“Nooo! Lunch is the only good thing I have going on for me right now!” Okara cried, punching the ground once more.

I folded my arms. “Look, the Great Ape form is… a mess of rage and raw instinct. Basically, saiyan biology but on overdrive. You’re not meant to control it in the usual sense. That’s the problem. Everyone tries to clamp down on it, suppress it, wrestle it into submission, heck, I did the same too.”

She grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, “Yeah, well it should listen to me.”

I continued. “First of all, is still you… just more feral, and second, you have to give it direction. Before you transform. Lock onto a goal; clear, absolute, unshakable. A purpose. That’s the only way it works.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!” she growled, hands clenching.

I sighed.

Time to dumb it down.

“Don’t fight the big monkey. Become its friend.”

Okara froze. Her expression shifted from irritation to deep, contemplative confusion.

“…What?”

“Big monkey. Is your friend.”

“Why are you like this?”

“It helps you remember.”

She stared at me, blinking slowly. “I feel you are being condescending with me.”

“How do you know what condescending means?” I asked, but shook my head. “Nevermind that, just try.”

She muttered something under her breath. I caught the words “jerk” and “stupid,” but she didn’t argue further.

Instead, she took a breath and sat down cross-legged on the rocky ground. Her tail flicked side to side, more controlled now, less frantic.

Progress.

“Alright,” she said after a minute. “Big monkey. Friend.”

She said it like she was trying to convince herself, not just repeat what I told her.

That would help her in the long run.

I didn’t tell her to sit down, or meditate, or concentrate. That was her choice. Which meant she was finally starting to internalize it, and walking in the right direction all of her own.

I’m so proud of her.

Smiling, I watched her, letting the harsh wind and raging waves fill the silence. She sat there for about two minutes, unmoving.

And then she opened one eye.

“…So, about that lunch?”

Well, that lasted longer than I expected. “You’re hopeless.”

“But like… really hungry though,” she added, clutching her stomach.

“You’re always really hungry.”

“That’s because your cooking is amazing,” she replied shamelessly.

Flattery. The weapon of the weak.

“You said you wanted to master the Great Ape,” I reminded her.

“I do!”

“So?”

“So I need fuel! Big monkey needs meat!”

Garlik, who had been observing the session from a rock nearby, didn’t even bother looking up from his datapad. “I told you, sir. Training before meals is a pipe dream with her.”

“You’re not helping,” I muttered.

“I’m just accepting the reality we live in.”

I looked at Okara again. She was still sitting, but now rocking back and forth, her hands clasped like she was praying to the gods of protein and carbs.

“…Fine. I’ll make something. Then we go again.”

“Yes!” she pumped her fists into the air.

“But if you lose control again,” I added, “I will cook, and give your portion to Garlik.”

“NO!” Okara screamed. “You can’t do that! That’s evil!”

“That’s motivation for you,” I replied.

Garlik stood up, stretching. “Double rations of your cooking?” he smiled. “Now I’m starting to root for you to fail, Okara.”

“I’ll kill you!” Okara hissed.

“None of that,” I said. “Now go get me some meat, and I’ll start making our lunch.”

Okara immediately beamed. “I will bring the biggest fish there is!”

“Bring as many as you want, I’ll cook them all,” I chuckled.

“I retract my previous complaint,” she said. “You are, in fact, the best.”

I rolled my eyes and headed toward the camp to grab supplies. Honestly, asking Porunga to make me the best chef in the universe is still the best wish I could’ve possibly asked for.