Thinking wasn't my strong suit. Never was really. Ironically my new body agreed, what existential terror I felt was instead put into my improvements. I healed at a near rapid pace and soon grew bored of the endless tunnels of stone and made my way above. I had to train and that meant shooting lazers. I also had to train up my monkey form, at least try to get a semblance of control over it. The squidizens, well, not like they could follow me around if I wanted to ditch them.
I made sure to have my spaceship stay in orbit, far from me just in case once I got to the surface. Moving through tunnels at a near sonic speed was exhilarating and likely unpleasant for the squidizens I likely passed. Not my problem though. I broke through to the surface, my body exalting at the fresh air and the bright sun above.
It was like, the moment I breathed in I felt connected to nature somehow. I enjoyed it for the moment. The caress of the sun was so warm like a hug. I savored it as I looked over the vast land set before me. The various sized stone towers were a perfect shooting target. So, I began.
With a grin I burst as fast as I could, nothing was held back as I blitzed through the towers. I moved more on instinct. My body rapidly evolving as my perception struggled to catch up. I grinned and laughed. Inwardly glad my gushing energy vaporized any bugs unlucky enough to cross my path.
I imagined being chased. Zipping and moving through hail of gunfire and everything I could think of. From missiles to full on flak fire from a whole war front. Then, I began to imagine a copy of me moving intent on hitting me as I moved. The two of us were in a deadly game of catch as my movements increased.
Of course, just running was boring, but I needed the obstacles for now. Once I felt comfortable with my mobility, so much so I could stop at sound breaking speeds and turn on a dime did I feel satisfied. The first few times I felt like my organs were thrown into a blender, but hey I got better. Now I just felt a nice little whomp of breeze as sound played catch up.
Days hunting and sleeping as I pleased. A lazy life, nothing else on this planet could threaten me. It was both a pleasing thought and an annoying one. I thought of the door and my blood boiled at what may lie behind. Soon.
Something I noticed was my new work ethic. I was always, near constantly working to be stronger. I wonder if it's because of my knowledge of what could be possible. I often felt my blood boiling when I remembered what I can of the old show, and of all the media I already know of. Even the smallest snippets of what's possible like further super Saiyan forms almost sent me into a maddening training frenzy.
I wanted to get stronger. I needed to get stronger. It was like an addiction, an addict seeking satisfaction, the knowledge that such power could be attained acting as an enabler. I had no intention of reining those feelings in. Instead, I leaned into them like a frothing beast. Every day was, plus ultra to say the least. The moment I began to test my ki blasts, well. The planet changed.
It was addicting to smash into the planet, to blast away the natural stone towers. Seeing how far I can blast energy balls into space. I needed the explosions, a surge of ecstasy flowing through my veins like a shot of adrenaline. Every time I hit something and felt the warmth of the blast on my skin.
I was likely mad. Sometimes I'd just laugh and release as many ki bolts as I could into the surrounding landscape. I didn't care what I looked like, or what it was doing to the planet and those likely below. This was my power and I wanted to use it, abuse it even. Which meant, when the moon came, well… I was almost too excited.
Despite my likely improved mental state, I rampaged. I smashed and hollered, breathing out blasts like a true Kaiju and shooting beams from my eyes. I was less in control and more like letting the animal within loose. An apt statement as I essentially levelled an entire hemisphere of the planet.
I woke up feeling more refreshed than I ever had. And so, the cycle continued and continued. Some days I would move to the side of the planet where the moon was shining and transforming, but doing it too often left me unnaturally fatigued and listless.
These months I spent in blissful destruction netted me many benefits. I felt infinitely stronger, in fact I felt so strong that I felt I was at my limit. I felt like a game character that vastly over levelled the zone by farming experience. Which meant a growing sense of wanderlust began to build over the need to fight. I wasn't quite sure if I was ready to face the giant squid warrior boss, but I was willing to test to see if I can fly in space. I could, just barely.
The solar system was strange, a single sun, a single planet, a single moon. The further from the planet I went, the more the eerie feeling of something being wrong heckled me like an opposing sports fan. I needed to go past that door. Or so my instincts told me, and I was certain it wasn't just mind whammy nonsense. Plus, when I got to the very edge of the atmosphere well, it was not pleasant. I could fly around in the vicinity for a while, but it was like an arctic dive, which wasn't pleasant at all. I doubted I could survive in full vacuum for long as I was, not sure if that would change in the future.
I had telepathy now, and telekinesis though it was redundant or rather useless. Likely a result of the mind drilling from that giant squid warrior. I learned the scream I used wasn't just a physical thing, but a conceptual thing. When I tested it, animals simply stopped moving. Those close died, but those farther still had beating hearts. They just didn't respond to stimuli at all.
I dubbed it 'Soul Howl' just to be cool. Training it exercised a strange muscle in my being that I couldn't quite place. It also really messed up my throat the first few times, but again I got better. Once I figured it out, I had a whole new thing to train I went for it like a workout enthusiast realizing they forgot leg day.
Which evolved into more intensive training for my telepathy and my new telekinesis. Fine for fetching beers, if I had any to fetch, but not much else. From there went my ki blast improvements from simple to the more absurd. I figured just volleying ki blasts, although cool could use an extra pizazz to it. How though was the hard part.
Making them spin was cool, and if I prepped up the attack out, I could send a volley of arrow headed spiraling shots with far greater speed and penetration. I also could make them bloated and wobbly which would slow them down, but drastically improve the explosive force. One man battleship here.
The true winner of my tests was loading. I figured out I could load them. Which meant I could form the ki blasts and compress them down. Either into spiral arrows or blobs and have them hover around me with no risk of self-detonating myself. The better part was I could somehow refund some of the cost if I found I didn't need them. It did take some concentration, it was also fairly, flashy.
But instead of sending volleys of blasts at the speed of hand I could unleash a sky shattering salvo. It was getting to the point where Kaio kens effects were getting less impressive. In fact, it felt like my body was adapting to it in a strange way. Which also meant as a training tool and even a special technique it almost felt moot. But, I also felt like I was missing a key aspect, or something. I didn't know much about the technique, so I made sure to keep my training on it short for the most part. If anything, each gear shift left me feeling more worn than previously, sometimes I swore there was an additional tension or numbness in my body that wasn't there before. Something that made me less likely to abuse it.
Still, who else could say they could pull out a huge power boost like that? It wasn't big, but I could force more force out than normal, but it wasn't that impressive.
My last little bit of gained knowledge was, odd. I found out why yelling like you were constipated was a thing. Not just to waste episode time, or as filler. Which it was. But it was like… Like the universe only gave me so much energy and by yelling and forcing the ki inside me to circulate fast it would draw it in faster.
It was entertaining to imagine myself mugging the universe for money, but it was a little hard too when I was squatting and yelling like I didn't have enough fiber in my diet. I could also use it to overcharge giving me a tad of an energy boost for a bit. It also had all of the promised crazy events like floating rocks and lightning. This was probably because the universe was pissed, I was mugging it. Well suck it up! It's my energy now!
Though, overdoing it had significant diminishing returns. Like when you take a kid's lunch money, and he just takes less money with him every day until he stops. It also did give me bad constipation later, so there was that…
Less so knowledge was my newfound partnership with my inner monkey! It wasn't a control mastery thing, nope. More of a, Hey bro! Bro! thing… Like those bromances of olden days, despite us being female. Eh… whatever. Girls can be bro's too… when we're not trying to kill each other.
It was less that I was in control and more like playing a co-op game. Which was awesome. I shoot lazers! She monke punches! A true partnership. Sometimes she'd let me take control of the monke and I could rampage, whereas she would lazer and beam. I learned much from her excellent skills, like being friends with a pro fighting game gamer. Whereas she learned from me about control and fancier stuff.
Unfortunately, with my skills capped for the time being, I had to go back to ground. The squidizens, let's just say they didn't enjoy my training nearly as much. The whole underground was essentially rebuilt with smaller caverns caving in and tunnels shifting as I smacked around the planet. I figured they'd be upset, but they were even more fervent in their worship.
I know I sensed even heard them occasionally with my expanded telepathy as they watched me use the planet like an oversized punching bag. Except they seem to have come to the conclusion that I was preparing, rightly so, somehow. Preparing to go past the door in the depths. Which I was, and was ready to go, after indulging in the worshipping gazes of my followers.
In the months I had been gone the whole underground had changed. Squidizens were actively walking around the tunnels. At times they even took out probing tentacles with casual ease as they turned the larger and better lit tunnels into farms. Their clothes were almost refined now, even making me feel intimidated at times.
My own clothes were less than stellar after months of smashing and blowing things up, despite my near pristine boots. Were they magic somehow? I wasn't sure, but I loved them. A few smaller villages tried to give me newer clothes, seeing as I probably needed them. Except I doubted they could stretch to my full monkey length. Which meant I was stuck with my torn and ripped onesie. It wasn't exposed to anything yet and was still PG so it's not like it mattered anyway.
I felt odd moving through the tunnels back down to the door. The squidizens almost always pointed me in the right direction as I mozied down. They were moving with purpose, healthier even. Their strange squid eyes seemed to have a growing glint of passion that wasn't there before. Hope was blossoming in the species as they worked together to reinforce tunnels and caverns.
Everywhere I went I made sure to alert them to the oncoming cataclysmic battle. They moved in a near tide whenever I spread the word. Bowing and scraping they believed my words as if from the gods themselves. It was nice, but also… frustrating?
Seeing them talking, gesticulating and laughing. The children moving around in the caverns, the joy present. The more I saw, the more annoyed I got, and I wasn't sure why. It came to a head as I crossed into a cavern much like any other. A fight was taking place between two squidizens. A stupid argument it was.
I didn't even bother processing what they were saying as I watched them push each other and yell each other. Ignoring me as I stood just feet away. All around squidizens backed off. Their eyes watched me in fear and awe. It was as I watched them fight that it occurred to me. Agency.
They were becoming their own people. Where once they had been near constantly suppressed by the giant squids that suppressed them. Then I gave them freedom from that oppression. Given them tools and strength and even technology. They had progressed so far. And I had been gone for months.
I had missed their first failed attempts. Missed likely the first major political event. Missed so many firsts. A strange sensation, like a mother missing her child's first word. I suppose this would be a child's first murder? At least not a murder pressed on them by me.
I sighed and felt odd. Whatever… I blasted my ki out, just enough to make the wind billow. The two-fighting oblivious squidizens turn to look in my direction. One of them even has the audacity to chastise me, only for it to die as its beady eyes fall on me. The other one was smart and immediately slammed on the floor in full kowtow. Even somehow crawling backwards letting their face scrape on the ground as they go.
It was, incredibly impressive! He even left a trail of blood as he went! The other one noticed my gaze and turned to watch him crawl away. I expected him to copy him. He didn't. Better yet, he shook in anger. So much so that he didn't even look at me as I called out to him.
"Oi…" Nothing… I frowned and looked around. Everybody had stopped breathing. Right, vivisection time. I shot a thin beam into one of its legs and began cutting it up. It looked at me and I could see the fear washing away the anger. For in that moment, it new it had well and truly fucked up.
It was a slow process. It was still screaming until the final moment. Resilient little fuckers. I felt no pleasure though, only a growing annoyance as I looked around. They looked away and bowed. I wasn't one of them. Never could be. It was stranger still when I considered how powerful I was.
I think I could blow up the planet now. In all intents and purpose, I was a god. At least to them. There planet was in my hands whether they liked it or not. They were all in the palm of my hand. Toys, living dolls of flesh for whatever I want.
It was almost like…
I reached out and felt their faith. Like twisting threads trying to chain me. Constrain me. I flared as I gripped my hand, gripping the threads in my hand. Nothing happened immediately. Instead, I felt myself closer to them than before. No, not closer. More like I felt like I could see them. Like I was a giant flaming eye watching their every move.
It was a simple thought on my part that sent me along the threads and into the eyes of those around me. Another sent me moving along to various people moving. In an instant I saw an entire society. In my hands I held their lives, their fates. I expected a trill of sadistic pleasure to roll down my spine at the thought of control. Of having their lives be decided with a mere thought on my part.
I didn't. I felt disgust. A revulsion so great it roiled into the threads. I felt every believer reel under my disgust. In that instant I could feel them feel me watching. My eyes bored into their minds eye as I bled into them my revulsion. With a snort I cut the threads, shunting them off like spider webs attached to my hands. I watched them flutter away as the squidizens stared into space lost.
I walked off and further into the depths.