Chapter Text
EXT. DEEP SPACE
The void of space pulsed with the ancient hum of distant stars, their light a faint dust across the vast, inky canvas. Through this cosmic silence, a single, burning pod tears a violent, chaotic path. It spins, a fiery comet out of control, breaching the atmosphere of an unfamiliar world: Calyrex.
Inside the cramped, smoke-filled interior, a figure slumped in the pilot's seat. A young Saiyan warrior, his face a canvas of bruises, his armor scorched and broken. This is Elite, and he is unconscious, his breath a shallow whisper in the rattling metal shell.
Emergency lights flash a stark, alarming red, painting the cabin in a frantic glow. The walls groan and shriek, each shudder sending fresh tremors through the damaged craft. Shards of broken glass, weightless in the zero gravity, dance in the blinding sweep of warning lights.
"Proximity alert. Atmospheric entry in five seconds. Hull integrity: seventeen percent." The ship's computer, a disembodied voice of cold logic, cut through the din.
A faint stir. Elite's fingers twitch, a reflexive clenching.
Memories, sharp and brutal, flash through his mind in quick, jarring cuts.
Bardock, his uncle, bloodied but defiant, shouting at someone unseen.
The relentless, hellish explosions raining down on Planet Vegeta, each impact shaking the very core of his being.
A child's piercing scream, echoing in the chaos.
Then, the cold, metallic gleam of Frieza's ship, a silent predator hanging in orbit, casting an apocalyptic shadow.
And finally, an overwhelming, suffocating darkness.
Elite gasps, his eyes snapping open, glowing with a momentary, wild panic.
ELITE: "Never again..."
he rasps, the words a raw whisper, more to himself than to the dying ship, reflecting a determination to not let history repeat itself rather than escape.
The pod begins to spin with renewed violence. Outside, the majestic, terrifying curve of Calyrex dominates the view through the cracked viewport. Oceans, vast and glittering, give way to jagged mountains veiled in swirling storm clouds. One of the most technological planets, the beautiful Calyrex.
The pod becomes a fiery meteor, ripping through the Calyrexian sky. Flames engulf it, licking at the damaged hull. Lightning, thick and brilliant, crackles around it as it plunges headfirst into a colossal thunderstorm. Rain hammers against the pod's outer shell, a deafening drumbeat accompanying its descent. The friction generates a searing heat, turning the air around it into a furious, roaring inferno.
Inside the cockpit, the computer's voice was grim.
AI: "Stabilizers offline. Crash landing sequence initiated."
Elite's good arm, the left, shoots out, fingers desperate for the manual controls. His right arm hangs useless, a searing pain shooting through it. He growls, a primal sound of frustration and pain, gritting his teeth, as he forces the joystick with his uninjured hand. Through the fractured, spiderwebbed windshield, a dark, sprawling forest rushes up to meet him, a sea of ominous green.
The trees on the Calyrexian forest ridge sway violently as thunder grumbles, a low growl in the heavens. Then—
BOOM!
The impact is cataclysmic. The pod slams into the mountainside, tearing a massive trench through ancient trees and unforgiving earth. Rocks explode outwards, debris scattering like shrapnel, sending flocks of terrified birds screaming into the night. Finally, with a shuddering groan of tortured metal, the pod rolls to a smoking, grinding halt, embedded deep within a shallow, jagged crater.
Silence.
A heavy, ringing silence, broken only by the hiss of cooling metal and the gentle patter of rain.
Inside the wreckage, Elite's head slumps forward, his chest heaving with ragged breaths. A thin trickle of blood snakes its way down his brow, tracing a path over his bruised cheek.
The groaning of the settling metal walls echo through the cramped space. A fine mist of rain begin to leak through the shattered main hatch, dampening the scorched interior.
Steam rises from the wreckage.
The forest is quiet once more, a profound stillness settling over the scarred landscape. But in the heart of the newly formed crater, a faint, ominous orange glow emanates from the crash site. Half-visible on the side of the mangled pod, a scorched insignia—the Saiyan crest—once stood as a testament to the warrior race now seemingly lost to the stars.
The faint, rhythmic thump-thump-thump of approaching footsteps drift through the rain-soaked air, growing steadily louder in the distance...