Mountainside Camp - Two Months Later, Late Evening]
The trio had been traveling for over eight months together now. They'd grown stronger, closer, more coordinated. But Andrew had been pushing himself harder than usual lately.
Kuroka noticed it first—the way he'd train until he collapsed, the way he'd stare at that strange device he wore on his ear sometimes (a scouter, though she didn't know the name), the distant look in his eyes when he thought no one was watching.
Tonight, he'd finally pushed too far.
Andrew stumbled into camp, barely able to stand. His gi was torn, his body covered in bruises from whatever training he'd subjected himself to.
Kuroka: (immediately at his side) "Andrew! What the hell were you thinking?!"
Vali: (looking up from sharpening his technique) "You've been throwing yourself ragged for weeks. What's going on?"
Andrew didn't answer immediately. He just collapsed, and Kuroka caught him, lowering him gently so his head rested in her lap.
Kuroka: (softer now, concerned) "Talk to us. What's wrong?"
Andrew stared up at the stars, breathing heavily. For a long moment, he said nothing. Then—
Andrew: "You know… I don't think I've ever told you what I really am. Not from this planet. Not even human."
Vali blinked. **"The hell? I figured you were some kind of monkey yokai or something. The tail kinda gave it away."
Andrew let out a weak laugh. **"Not a yokai. I'm… I'm a Saiyan."
Kuroka: (gently stroking his hair) "A what?"
Andrew: "A warrior race. From a planet called Vegeta. My home planet was destroyed when I was just a baby. I landed here in a pod. My mother and father—my adoptive parents—found me. Raised me as their own, alongside their son."
Vali: "You have a brother
Andrew: (nodding weakly) "Issei. Younger by three months . And I…" His voice cracked slightly. "I sure hope he's training. Because I sensed a power rivaling Albion back home. If something happens and I'm not there…"
His fists clenched despite his exhaustion.
[Meanwhile - Kuoh, Japan - Issei's Room]
Issei finished a sweeping kick into the air, his form much better than it had been months ago. Sweat dripped down his face, but he kept going—push-ups next, then sit-ups, then back to kata practice.
Andrew's voice echoed in his memory: "Remember—work hard, sleep well, and study."
Issei: (panting) "I hope Andrew's happy with my strength. Because I am."
He looked at his left hand, where a red gauntlet had materialized weeks ago during a moment of intense frustration with himself.
Issei: "Now if I can just figure out what this weird gauntlet is…"
Deep within the Boosted Gear, Ddraig stirred awake far earlier than in the original timeline, sensing the intensity of his host's determination.
Ddraig: (thinking) This boy… he's different from my previous hosts. Driven not by hate or ambition, but by a desire to stand beside someone he admires.
[Back at the Mountain Camp]
Albion: (speaking to Vali through their connection) "If what they're saying is true, if his brother is as strong as he claims…"
Vali looked over at Andrew, lying exhausted in Kuroka's lap.
Kuroka: (booping Andrew's nose gently) "Well then, if he's as strong as you say, you don't need to worry so much, nya."
Andrew's expression softened slightly, but then darkened again.
Andrew: "It's true Issei is… a bit of a pervert. But I believe in him." He paused, his mood turning sour. "But that's not what's been eating at me."
Vali: "Then what?"
Andrew took a shaky breath. This was it. The truth he'd been carrying alone for so long.
Andrew: "My home planet Vegeta was destroyed by a space tyrant. His name is Krieeza—a being of immense power who rules through fear and violence. In my pod, my parents left me their last message."
He reached into his gi pocket and pulled out a small device—a data chip he'd salvaged from his pod years ago but never shared with anyone.
Andrew: "I've listened to it a hundred times. But I've never… I've never shown anyone."
Kuroka: (squeezing his shoulder) "You don't have to if—"
Andrew: "No. You're my team. My family. You should know."
He activated the device.
[The Message]
A hologram flickered to life—grainy, damaged, but clear enough. Two figures appeared:
A woman with fierce eyes and armor, her expression urgent.
A man with a widow's peak and a royal bearing, his face stern but with something desperate beneath.
Queen Rhea: "My son… I didn't have much time to meet you. You were just born when this recording was made. I hope one day you'll avenge the Saiyan race—"
King Vegeta: (pushing forward) "It's my turn, woman!"
Queen Rhea: (glaring at him) "We're both talking to our son—"
King Vegeta: (turning to the camera) "Boy, you listen and you best listen well. I don't care what type of life you're living. Please… grow up strong. Avenge our race."
The proud king's voice cracked. Tears streamed down his face—a stark contrast to his usual bearing.
King Vegeta: "Krieeza… he's coming. We can't stop him. Our entire planet… everyone we've ever known… it's going to be gone. You're the last hope. Our young prince."
Queen Rhea: (taking his hand, tears in her own eyes) "We don't know what kind of person you'll become. But we pray you'll be better than we were. The Saiyans… we weren't peaceful. We slaughtered worlds, sold planets to the highest bidder—all for Krieeza's empire. We were monsters."
King Vegeta: "But you… you can be different. You can be what we should have been."
Both Parents: (together, voices breaking) "You're the last hope of our race, our young prince. Make us proud."
The hologram flickered and died.
[The Aftermath]
Silence.
Andrew—the person who always seemed unshakeable, who always had a solution, who helped with everyone else's problems—had tears rolling down his face.
Andrew: (voice barely a whisper) "I'm the last of my kind. My entire race… gone. And they want me to avenge them. But how? How do I fight a tyrant who destroyed an entire planet?"
Kuroka wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a tight embrace.
Kuroka: "You're not alone. You hear me? You're not alone."
Vali knelt beside them, his usual smirk gone, replaced with genuine understanding.
Vali: "We're your team. Your family. Whatever you need to do, wherever you need to go—we're with you."
Andrew: "But Krieeza—"
Vali: "Is someone who needs to be stopped. And we'll help you do it."
Kuroka: "You've helped us when we had nothing. When I was running from devils who wanted me dead, you stood by me. When Vali was escaping his grandfather's control, you fought beside him. You think we'd abandon you now?"
Andrew looked between them—Kuroka's fierce golden eyes, Vali's steady gray ones—and felt something break inside him. All the pressure he'd been carrying, all the fear and doubt…
He let it out.
He sobbed—not just tears, but full, body-wracking sobs. The kind that came from carrying a burden alone for too long.
Kuroka held him tighter. Vali placed a hand on his shoulder.
They stayed like that for a long time.
[Later That Night]
The tears had dried. Andrew sat up, embarrassed but lighter somehow.
Andrew: "Sorry. I didn't mean to—"
Kuroka: (bopping him on the head) "Shut up. You're allowed to have feelings, idiot."
Vali: "So. Krieeza. When do we find him?"
Andrew: (blinking) "We?"
Vali: "You think I'd miss a chance to fight a planet-destroying tyrant? That sounds like the best fight ever."
Kuroka: "He's got a point. And besides…" She smiled. "Someone needs to make sure you two don't get yourselves killed."
Andrew looked at them, overwhelmed.
Andrew: "I don't deserve you guys."
Vali: "Probably not. But you're stuck with us anyway."
Kuroka: "Forever, nya."
Andrew laughed—genuine, relieved, grateful.
Andrew: "Okay. Then… then we train. We get stronger. And when we're ready…" His eyes hardened with determination. "We find Krieeza. And we make him pay for what he did."
Vali: "Now you're talking."
Kuroka: "Just promise me one thing."
Andrew: "What?"
Kuroka: "Stop training yourself to death. We need you in one piece."
Andrew: (managing a smile) "Deal."
They sat together under the stars, three outcasts who'd become family, bonded by shared pain and unwavering loyalty.
And somewhere in the distance, in the vastness of space, a tyrant waited unaware that his reckoning was coming.