[March] 14th

Age: 732

The boy in front of me had a grayish complexion, not too odd for a low class Saiyan, but it was still a rarity amongst this particular village. His attire was also quite a rarity as well, it was the Saiyan equivalent of a mechanics outfit, the basic barbaric Saiyan attire with coveralls that would fit better on an earthling mechanic than a Saiyan child. In addition to the clothes, which had shown sign of near constant wear, the unknown boy carried a large sack behind him that gave no details away towards what it contained.

His face was eerily familiar, it's a feeling similar to seeing someone in person after only seeing them drawn... It was slightly unnerving honestly. It was his hair that really messed me up, like his hair just didn't fit on his face despite the fact that it was definitely normal Saiyan hair. His hair was just a massive ball that sat unkempt over his head and most of the top of his face. What I could see of his face was mixture of sharp features that came together in an intense expression.

He stared at me with a look of distaste, if I could see his eyes past the veritable mane that sits In front of them I'd bet he was looking at me like a particularly unpleasant meal.

I returned the stare with one of my own.

"....."

"....."

"....Hi?" Annoyance pushed me forward as I decided to try and take initiative in the conversation, since the brat was clearly antisocial or something...

In response the boy bolted with the massive bag slung upon his shoulder and leaving behind a large trail of dust that would make the roadrunner jealous, it irked me for some reason so I chased after him.

My arms pumped at my sides as my legs pushed me forward at a speed that most sports cars couldn't even dream of, it agitated my wounds but not enough for me to really care but it also made me more annoyed.

How DARE this brat run from me after I so caringly talked to him and then, rudely I might add, attempt to sprint away in an obvious challenge of my speed! This would not stand! He would be defeated! He would be humbled and... and.. Why did I care about this so much?

Unknowingly a haze of emotion had begun to bleed into my motivations and began to fuel me, filling me with an almost zealous energy. However, after experiencing it several times over by now, I could feel it even as it seemingly retreated past my emotional senses. It was always there, an almost omnipresent pressure in my mind, but I could attempt my motives from being swayed by the unknown source. My movements slowed to a pace reasonable for an average human before I eventually came to a stop. That might've gotten really bad if the kid was running somewhere far away my wounds could've reopened far away from the village.

A glance up at the sky also told me it was getting quite late and so, with one final glance at the slowly vanishing figure of the boy I turned to go home and end the day.

[March] 15th

Age: 732

I felt sluggish moving through the village today. I had entered that section of healing where your body is sore all over, which was making it difficult to traverse the village in my current state.

The sun had begun to reach its zenith causing it to beat down on my hair adding to my poor mood. Most of my day was spent lazing around and picking up what counted as snacks at the villages nearly empty market, the snacks all consisted of tough meats tasted way too salty to be healthy, and protein dense bars that tasted like chalk. The drinks from the market were mostly all cocktails of protein supplements, alien fruit that tastes like shit, and some other bullshit animal that I don't care to learn about. They all came together to form a flavor that somehow simulated the taste, texture, and flavor of a steak or some other form of meat.

The only reason I ever came to the market before my injury was to meet with the old lady running it. She was a great person to talk to as she would often go on the funniest tangents, plus if I stayed and listened to her talk she'd give me a snack for free. Honestly she was definitely one of my top ten favorite people on this planet, at least that I've met personally.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Currently I was munching on one the snacks she had given me, it was a footlong stick of dried meat that tasted mostly of salt and beef, but also faintly of barbeque. All snacks are pretty large, which mostly adds to some of the more mediocre ones general awfulness, but I had found a method for eating most of the meats that made it pretty tolerable so it wasn't all bad. You sorta had to suck out most of the salt, you could swallow it or spit the salt out since Saiyans could metabolise it pretty easily, then you could deal with the meat itself in any way you want. Otherwise the meat had a strange consistency that reminded me of dirt, or poorly cooked liver. Despite this taste, I've seen Saiyans bite into it like it's a giant slim-jim, like monsters.

As I shiver while recalling the time Toto downed a whole stick of this jerky, my eyes noticed the same boy who ran away last night. He's heading down the same alleyway-street thing while wearing mostly the same clothes but this time carrying an empty bag that's curled up over his arm. What's odd is that this time he seems pretty close to the edge of the village, and he seems to not have any plans of stopping at the border. This time I check if I'm being pushed forward by that odd force, after confirming I decide to tail him. This time it's not out of any real feeling of annoyance or frustration, I'm kinda just curious about where the hell this guy is going with that suspicious bag.

It's probably rude, but honestly there's nothing else to really do while I heal, so without much hesitation I down my snack and set on following him from a slight distance while grimacing at its aftertaste.

...

......

............

I've been trailing him for a while now, we've long since exited the village and now we walk through the wastes of Planet Vegeta. I think this is the farthest i've ever been away from the village, despite that I don't really think I'll be able to get lost. As we walk I sometimes catch myself scanning my surroundings, almost like I'm filling out a mental map in my head. It's honestly kinda cool, If I focus I can remember the exact number of steps I took since I left the village, and if I try really hard I can remember some alternate routes I could've taken while following this guy. All these actions feel totally instinctual as well, seems like I've got an incredible natural talent for navigation, it also seems the kid I've been trailing (calling him puffball for now) doesn't have a talent for knowing his surroundings.

Honestly I'm not really trying to hide from him, but 'Puffball' either hasn't noticed my presence or he's putting on one hell of an act.

We begin to pass through an outcropping of rocks when he finally notices my shadow, or at least that's what I think that jerky motion he did is. His movements slow slightly before he breaks out in an absolute sprint, a thin cloud of dust is the only thing that signifies he used to be here. With a brief moment of thought of if I should stress my wounds, I shoot off after him at rapid speed while pouring ki into my movements.

"I haven't actually ran full tilt for a while... Sorta just used short but quick movements to get around, especially during training. This might actually be a fun little test!" With that I began to watch as my speed slowly surpassed that of a regular humans sprint, then I began to hit speeds that I assumed a horse wouldn't be able to sustain, by the time I had reached a point where I couldn't comfortably move I had begun to reach speeds close to that of a car on a highway. I could see Puffballs hair in the distance, his speed was genuinely incredible on account of his longer legs and slightly better developed body.

From what I had seen of his build he didn't look much older than me so I had assumed there wasn't that much of a difference in our physical traits, despite this he seemed to be outputting far better speeds than I was. This fact caused a great interest to stir within me as I found myself questioning How this boy was using his KI, I wondered how his methods differed from mine and I found myself questioning if there was even a difference at all. Questions for later I supposed

After a short while I began to notice something interesting in the boys movements.

For starters, he was clearly exhausted. He seemed to be sweating buckets, making his exceptionally puffy hair comically shrink from excessive sweat, and he seemed to be on the verge of passing out. More interestingly, despite his apparent exhaustion he didn't seem to be slowing down as he barreled through the reddish pink wastelands of Vegeta like a runaway rocket. It almost looked like he simply couldn't stop, like his legs had been possessed by the spirit of a roadrunner with how they kept him moving forward at a breakneck pace.

We are slowly nearing the outskirts of what I assume to be another district. With a quick glance around I notice there doesn't seem to be much more places to hide from the boys field of view so I decide to flank him from the side in the hopes of staying out of his sight. Despite Puffballs apparent exhaustion, I myself still felt fine. I had barely burned any of my Ki and thanks to my Saiyan biology I was sure I could keep trucking even without the spiritual fuel.

....

There's something off about this district... The buildings in particular unnerve me, considering they seem to be made from the bone of an alien creature. The idea of there being animals that have a skeleton in the shape of these alien looking homes is... Disconcerting to say the least. In an instant I decided to focus on the task at hand, my curiosity would not be denied simply because the buildings looked weird. Puffball didn't seem to mind the buildings at all so it should be fine, though he does look like he's being more cautious.

Ah! I should probably be hiding from the brat right about now, Again I felt a little twinge of awkwardness at my actions but at this point I was too far in.