1: The Only One
The explosions lit up the sky like fireworks. People screamed. Fire burst to life, the flames licking the surface of everything, from top to bottom. Ships were blown to pieces, well beyond disrepair. The sky was clouded with smoke and blasts, both from the attacking side and the defending side, but it was to no avail. The attacking side was the triumphant winner. Their blasts and explosions were much stronger than the caught-of-guard Saiyans. Lord Frieza was getting what he wanted. As he always did. The termination of the Saiyans was now accomplished, and he sat in his floating chair, smiling that devilish smile down at what little remained of what was once Planet Vegeta. Upon Lord Beerus’s instructions, the planet was no more than a strife and bombed war zone aftermath.
The fire didn’t cease. It kissed the houses and the ships and the people, devouring them whole with little regard for mercy. It took a matter of seconds before the blast from Frieza ate the planet whole, killing everything that stood in its way. Bardock tried everything to stop him. He charged forward, powering up his own blast to fight back while everyone else stood in shock and terror, fear rooting them in place.
“Bardock, no!” Gine screamed, reaching out to him.
But it was already too late. Frieza’s blast sucked in Bardock’s ball of light as if it were nothing, swallowing him as well. Bardock was enveloped in the bright purple orb, dissolving in almost an instant. The other Saiyans followed soon after.
...
Dust and debris clouded the barren and charred wasteland. Houses were crumbled on top of each other, glass and wood and metal all scattered about like a twisted Look-N-See game. Bodies littered the ground in every direction. Black hair and traditional Saiyan armor lay on the ground, stained with what was no doubt blood.
The rocks shifted. A small groan that could only belong to a child emerged from the dead silence that had engulfed the nuked planet. A large slab of concrete flipped over, and a child tumbled out of a small makeshift hiding spot, made by placing four concrete slabs together in the form of a tent of some sort. She fell to the ground, her tail falling limp at her knees. Her small, round black eyes looked around, her face smudged with dirt, scratches littering her bare arms and legs. Her armor was ripped and torn in several places. Her black hair was ratted and mangled, falling around her shoulders and down her back in tangled yet silky waves.
She coughed, wiped her nose with the back of her hand, then slowly got to her feet. Her feet crunched glass, startling her. She yelped and jumped to the side, tripping over something large and ended up falling flat on her back. She winced and reached up to rub her head, then froze when she saw what she tripped on.
A body. It was decorated in blood and cuts, the mouth wide open in a silent scream, the eyes closed tight, as if it was still in great pain even after death. The girl screamed and launched herself backward, scooting away until her back hit something hard and flat. She shrieked and whirled around, half expecting one of Frieza’s soldiers to be standing there ready to nab her.
It wasn’t a soldier. It was a small Attack Ball, dented and ki-blasted beyond repair. The purple glass porthole was shattered, and the door was ajar. The 1.5 m in diameter ball was useless now, so hopes of escaping in it were long gone, if it had ever arrived.
The girl leapt to her feet, realization sinking in. Her father had never liked Frieza. Not many Saiyans did. He was harsh and arrogant. Too entitled. He had warned her that Frieza was no doubt up to something, but at the time, the girl didn’t really believe him. She didn’t think that Frieza would actually destroy the planet. She was wrong. Lord Frieza was as cruel and evil as her father had said. She kicked herself for not believing him.
She looked around her, at the smoke and fire. It took her only a few seconds to piece everything together. Her father and mother had hidden her at the first sign of danger, and now she didn’t know where they were. All she saw was black ask and bright red blood.
Basil was her name. She was only around 5. She was young, and had been around her mother and father her whole life. The idea that her home would one day be destroyed had never occurred to her. She was a child, after all. All she had ever thought about was playing and having fun. Now, she was surrounded by death and smoke, and she coughed several times to rid her throat of the invading ash.
Basil took a step forward, then looked up at the sky. It was slowly returning to the bright blue it once was, but very slowly.
“Anyone?” She called out, her tiny voice a mere baby cry in the blackness that was once her home. Her voice fell on emptiness. Basil turned in a full 360 circle, her eyes scanning every surface available. Panic started to set in. Her heart thumped rapidly against her rib cage, filling her ears with a continuous “Thump! Thump! Thump!”
“Hello!? Mom? Dad?” Basil leapt into the air, hovering a few feet to see farther across the charred planet. No one responded. In the blink of an eye, everything had changed so drastically that it made Basil’s head spin. Her hovering descended until her feet landed softly on the ground. Am I really the only one left? She asked herself, hugging her arms around her body tightly.
Am I really the only one?
