Papeera : The Elusive Saiyan

Chapter 1 : The Unknown Alien

In the small village of Hungura, a small child races through the neighborhood market. "Mommy!" Cried little Talio, "Look what I found!" The boy weaved in and out of the market stalls; swerving to avoid vehicles, and dodging shoppers all around him.

He slows and eventually stops when he sees a beautiful woman standing before him. After wrapping his arms around her leg, he asks the woman, "Mommy, what are we having for dinner tonight?" He peeks into the bins of Red Space Shrimp, and starts to whine. "Not these shrimp again! we've eaten nothing but these for the last 2 weeks."

Talio's mother gets a sad look on her face as she tries to explain to the young Asparagian that they are poor, and are lucky to be able to eat dinner every night at all. "Ever since your father disappeared, we have barely had enough money to pay for our little hut. But luckily, your father worked with this man, and he has been very kind to us for the many years of your father's absence."

All of a sudden, there is a bright flash of light, as a mysterious object flies across the sky. "Mommy? what is that thing?" Talio Cries in fear, as the sky is lit up by this unknown object.

"I'm not sure, my son, but we should get back to our home quickly!" Talio and his mother scurry off into the distance; sucked into the mass crowd rushing away from the market. As they approached their little hut, they discovered a unique sphere laying in a crater a meter away from their home. Terrified, Talio's mother ran away in fear. But Little Talio was curious.

His mother screamed in terror as Talio got closer to the mysterious object, but Talio wasn't afraid. Right as he was about to touch it, a high pitched computerized voice rang out. "Papeera, you have arrived at destination Asparaga." The boy stopped, and was startled to see the front of the sphere opening.

A bright light shot out of the sphere, and as his eyes focused, he saw the outline of a young female, with knee long hair. The lights fade out, and a beautiful teenager squeezes out of the pod. The armor on this young girl intrigued Talio, as he had not seen anything like it before. But before he could say anything, the woman grunted, "Damned space pod. these things never were big enough to fit even the smallest of our kind"

Talio's mother, gathering herself, appears behind her son, as he stares at the mysterious figure that has crashed on his planet. He soon realized his mother was too scared to speak, so he began to introduce them. "Hi! I'm Talio, and this is my mother. You must be an alien. Is that a spaceship? What do you eat on your planet? What color is the sky? Do you like red or bl--" His mother cuts him off. "Talio. This wonderful young lady just arrived. Let's not bombard her with petty questions."

The Woman looks at Talio's mother, and asks, "I'm gonna need a place to stay. I was in a hurry to get off my planet, so I forgot to bring my equipment. " Without breaking a sweat, Talio bursts with energy.

"YES! Finally. Someone who can be my friend. Please mommy, can she stay with us? Please?" Talio begged his mother to let the alien stay with them. Eventually, his mother agreed, and Talio grabbed the young lady's hand and dragged her inside to show her the little hut he calls his home.

His mother follows them inside and begins to scramble around the kitchen. With another person to feed, she has to come up with something for dinner, or she might anger the alien! She reaches into the cupboard and pulls out some rice, and some dried fruit, which she had been saving for Talio's 8th birthday, but this seemed important enough to use her stashed food.

Talio and his new friend sat down on his bed, and he looks at the woman with a gleam in his eye. "I know we just met, but I really like you." The young woman turns away and blushes. "Oh really? Well, I am a little older than you, and you don't even know my name. But you wanna hear a secret?" The young lady giggles. "I'm going to be honest with you, I kinda like you too. I'm Papeera by the way."

She stands up and walks out of the room, leaving Talio stunned, as he dreamed of his first real friend. His mother calls for him, but it isn't until she comes into his room that he hears her. "Dinner's ready honey, we don't want our guest's first meal to be cold, now would we?" He rushes into the kitchen, just to get another glimpse of Papeera.

The three sit down at the kitchen table, and begin to eat the food that was prepared for the guest. After a long while, Talio's mother breaks the silence, and asks Papeera, "I'm sorry about the meal, I would've liked to have a lot more for you to eat, but you see, my husband disappeared a few years ago, and ever since then, we have been struggling to get by"

Papeera takes another bite. "Mmm. This is amazing. I haven't eaten this good since I was a small child. I'd say around Talio's age. How old are you Talio?" He struggles to count his age. "One, Uh, Two, Three, what comes next? Oh! Four! Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten.... ummm...Eleven! I'm Eleven!"

Papeera looks at Little Talio and smiles. "Aww. I'm only 13, but my race reaches their prime when they are very young. Or so I'm told." Her complexion changes, as she remembers her childhood. "You see, I'm from the planet Vegeta. I'm part of a race of mighty warriors that kill and sell planets. But as a child, I was unlike the other Saiyans. I loved fighting, but I was gentle, and kind; a trait rare and shunned by Saiyans. So I was banished from Planet Vegeta."

Talio's Mother looks at Papeera with sympathy. "That's terrible. How could anyone punish a child by banishing them?" The Young Saiyan continues. "Actually, many babies have been exiled from planet Vegeta. However, my mother and father hid me away, and trained me to become a strong fighter. My older brother was trained, and became one of the best hunters of our race. and my younger brother was sent to a planet named Earth to destroy all life."

The mood in the room changes, as Talio's mother realizes what this could mean. Terrified, she cries out, "You were sent here to destroy our planet. Oh no. First my husband, now this? Why can't my little Talio have a normal life." She begins sobbing, but Papeera moves over to her, and she puts her arm on her host's shoulder.

"Don't worry. Unlike my brothers, I'm not a killer. I had to leave planet Vegeta before I was found, so I fled here, because soon, a group of Saiyans will arrive to conquer this planet. I actually came here to train fighters to stop them. And I'm not sure how much time we have, but I sense a strong power in your son. " She turns to Talio. "What do ya say little buddy? How bout tomorrow we go out and start some training"

And so they finished their meal, and went to sleep. The next morning, Papeera was awakened by Talio standing over her. "Can we start the training yet?" Papeera stand up, puts on her armor, and the two disappear into the sunrise to begin intense training, preparing for the battle of the planet.