Originally Posted by
Sub-Zero MKA
It seemed she had run Cancer off. Either that or she ran out of time and Sakin called her back. Regardless, she had succeeded. It was only one out of the three targets, but that was one too many. That it was Parsley's daughter that was taken made it even worse. Her sister, whether she knew it or not, had entrusted those kids’ safety to her. To have let even one of them slip through her fingers was a hard pill to swallow.
“You better run, bitch,” she muttered, but with none of them fire she usual spoke with. Failure had dampened her spirits. “I have to get them back.” Pinach and Rutaba were nowhere to be found on Ruco. They wouldn't have left, so the only reason was they were taken. Them, along with Garnish, had been taken for leverage against her and Parsley.
“Your Highness!”
Sarada looked up and saw Senerg and Mato running up to her. Kumara was struggling to get out of the former’s arms the moment she saw her.
Sarada met them halfway and graciously plucked her daughter up. “The God of Destruction is gone. Ran off or got called back. She shrugged one shoulder and stroked the baby girl on the cheek with her tail. “She still managed to get away with Garnish.”
“What? Why?”
“Leverage. Sakin either wants me and Parsley to join his side or help him.” She still remembered vividly the vision Tiamat showed them months ago. She and the other Super Saiyans were standing beside the Asha'rah/Genesis amalgam. It was specifically noted that they were completely loyal to it. There was no better way to ensure that than kidnapping family members.
“Tch. Coward,” Mato spat. “What now?”
“We finish this.” Even though Cancer was gone, that didn't mean they were out of danger. There were still enemies that could attack. “I'm taking the kids and keeping them in Vaikuntha. They'll be safer there than here. Where's Mais?”
“Here I am!” The boy had been playing the a patch of dirt by the palace. He came running up, as happy-go-lucky as ever. Looking at him, she would have assumed he had already completely forgotten what happened in Ruco. That or had suppressed it already. “Where's Garnish?”
Or not.
She wasn't sure how to explain it to a four year old in a way that he could understand. She didn't want to lie, but didn't want to tell him the whole truth, either. “She got lost,” she said as she grabbed his hand. “Don't worry. Me and your moms are going to get her back.”
“...Oh.”
She sighed and activated a portal to Vaikuntha and stepped through. She opted to leave them in the care of the Turrip Saiyans. If nothing else, they could keep them occupied with their... science shit and what not. “Be good,” she said as she dropped them off. “And don’t worry. Everything will be okay.”
After that, she sped toward Ilargi to check on Parsley. By that point, she should have been mostly, if not completely, healed. Sure enough, she found her rising to her feet, albeit shakily. “Ah, you’re okay.”
“Y-” Whatever response she had died when Sarada landed beside her. “What happened to you?”
Sarada frowned, then remembered that she looked slightly different than normal. “E Bekon did... something to me. Connected me with the entire race. Whatever it was, it made me strong enough to fight off Cancer.”
“You... fought off...” Parsley trailed off and did that thing where she started mumbling under her breath as she was obviously putting the pieces together. With her sublime senses, she should have been more than able to connect the dots and help Sarada figure out what had happened to her. “It’s God Ki,” she eventually said. “You’ve transcended.”
“Trans...cended.” Suddenly, it all made sense. That was the word Auroc used to describe Beast God, Wolf God, and Last Daughter. It was impossible to sense their ki - at the time - and they were incredibly strong. Sarada had become a Saiyan God. “I did it.”
She remembered the conversation she had with Grinthorn about a year and a half ago.
At that time, Alakazah was just another in a long line of people who had doubted Sarada. She had heard it all her life. “You can’t”, “you won’t”, “just give up”; she had heard it all before. When she listened to the naysayers, she didn’t. She proved them right and wallowed in her own misery. It was only when she stopped listening to what others thought she could do and listened only to what she herself knew she could do that she actually started making some progress. She had a lot of help along the way, but none of it would have matter or made a difference if she didn’t believe in herself first.
She became a god even when doing so for a mortal was “exceedingly rare”. She couldn’t wait to rub it in that prick’s face. Though, as much as she wanted to relish in her newfound power, the present situation had put a damper on her mood. “We’re in trouble. Cancer... escaped with Garnish.”
As feared, the colored drained from Parsley’s face. “Wh...what?”
“It was right after I ascended. They had some kind of teleportation technique. I destroyed the upper body, but the lower half had already teleported, with her in tow.” She looked at the ground, a heavy frown on her brow. “They also took Pinach and Rutaba.”
Parsley was silent for a very long time. Doubtless, she was struggling to reconcile her motherly instincts with the more logical half. “Sakin wanted all three kinds for leverage against us,” Sarada continued. “I don’t know why, but I figure it has something to do with Eva’s and Tiamat’s visions.”
“...Okay.”
Sarada swallowed and reached out to touch her shoulder. She was shaking badly, like a newborn lamb trying to rise to its feet and walk for the first time. “We’ll get them back. I promise. They’re safe. Sakin needs them alive to use against us.” To her, it was a simple calculus. Sakin couldn’t use hostages against them if those hostages were dead. Roughed up, sure, but they’d still need to be alive, and that was all that mattered. To that end, she felt confident that they would get them back.
Parsley could only nod numbly.
Sarada’s frown deepened. “Come on. Avoca and Tasure are waiting. I left Mais and Kumara here where they’ll be safe.” She opened a portal out of Vaikuntha and onto Ruco and led her out.
“Parsley! Thanks gods!” Avoca ran up and checked her over. There was quite a bit of blood caked on her neck and breastplate, but her injuries had healed nicely.
“Sakin has Garnish,” Parsley said in a hauntingly quiet voice. She glanced at Tasure. “You need to check in with Totoma. Sakin wants leverage against us; his family will be targeted.”
Sarada hadn’t considered that until Parsley said something. “I’m going to check things out around the Empire. If you and Avoca want to go ahead and head to Earth, I’ll catch up.” With that, she left them to reunite and went to check on her remaining soldiers.
It was a horror show. The Arcosian vampires left very little standing in their wake. Corpses, severed body parts, and absolute destruction littered the ground. The previously white sandy beaches were stained crimson and scorched black from the desperate and futile struggle against the invaders. So many of her soldiers were dead. A clump of hundreds was piled high near the shore. That seemed to be where the battle started.
Sarada could only walk helplessly through the carnage, knowing there was nothing she could do about it until their dragonballs reset in a few months. Until then, they would have to do their best to rebuild and move on.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a woman laying on the ground. “Neva!” She kneeled down by the fallen body of the Threshling Princess and gave her a shake. “Come on, wake up.” Without thinking, she gave her a portion of her energy to help her get back on her feet.