Yellow

“Found you!”

Tarble’s voice echoed several times through the green wooded forest. A fat red bug with four furiously flapping wings passed by the boy’s face, and he swatted it away impatiently. “I see you! Please come out!” he shouted earnestly.

Begrudgingly, a small figure stepped out from behind the old, moss-covered trees. He was short, only half as tall as Tarble, and he looked nothing like the boy. His skin was pale, smooth, hairless, with a round, polished head, and two beady eyes and a small maw of a mouth decorating it with sparse efficiency. Tarble beamed when he saw the boy approach him. He was Tarble’s best friend after all.

“How did you see me?” the alien boy asked.

“It wasn’t very hard. You don’t blend in with the trees, Budo.”

“Hey, that wasn’t me!” Budo said in an annoyed voice. “I was just hiding behind this weird thing. Look!”

He ran off back into the trees with the light scamper of a forest animal. Tarble followed him, digging his boots deep into the soft soil as he ran. It smells nice out here, Tarble thought, ''like everything is alive. The air is so crisp, not like back home. I wish we could live out here instead.'' Tarble shook his head. ''No, it’s dangerous out here. The Nagamushi monster could come and eat me at night. It’s not safe. But it is very beautiful.''

Tarble followed Budo into the trees. Many dead, rotting branches and fallen trees littered the floor and he had to walk over them carefully, lest he step on one and it break on him, sending him falling to the turf. There were many sharp, thorny plants grasping to the surface, and the boy was in no mood to get several new cuts to go with the old ones he had acquired in these hours of play.

Ahead of Tarble was a circular object, one which looked very alien in the lush, sparkling foliage that was its surroundings. It had been white once, he could tell, but time had dulled its outer shell to modest, pale yellow. Thin red moss was growing on one side of the ball, and a bird had made its nest on the very top of the thing. Tarble saw Budo standing next to it, and the similarity was uncanny. The young alien boy looked very much like the strange ball. Tarble’s pink lips parted and let out a few giggles of delight. He felt a little ashamed laughing at his friend like that, but he could not help himself.

“I guess I saw that through the trees,” Tarble laughed nervously. He scratched the back of his head and flicked his tail. “You must forgive me, Budo. Please! I didn’t mean to offend you.”

Budo chuckled. “It doesn’t matter, Tarble. I was hiding behind it anyway. You found me fair and square. But what do you think this thing is?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s an old car that got lost?”

Budo scrunched up his face like a wrinkled space prune. “How would a car get so far out here? Besides, this doesn’t look like any cars I’ve ever seen.”

Tarble shrugged, his furry tail moving about as if on its own accord. It got like that when he tried to think too hard.

“I’m going to go ask dad. You want to come?” Budo asked the boy.

Tarble shook his head. “I want to stay out here for a while. I’m enjoying the air.”

“Suit yourself,” Budo replied before scurrying off once again.

Tarble kicked the thorny grass out of his way until it was just the bare soil beneath his feet. Then he let himself drop to his knees, close his eyes, and breath in the sweet air. ''It’s so stuffy back home. All the factories make it harder to breathe.'' Tarble sighed. He wished he never had to go back home. Opening his dark eyes, Tarble glanced at the yellow object ahead of him. It looked as if it had crashed against the large tree it was leaning up against. The tree was massive, so tall that Tarble couldn’t even see the top of it. But it was unharmed. Unlike the branches or the small trees which had fallen all around, this old stalwart stood strong and tall, proud and resolute. Tarble stood up and walked up to it. The boy found it was covered in much green and red growth, snaking up its trunk like thin pieces of rope. When Tarble reached out to touch it, he caught a glimmer of light coming from his left. He jumped back, afraid at first, and then noticed it to be the yellow machine. On this side of it, there was a black and red window reflecting its sheen off of the rising sun.

Tarble was enthralled by the thing. He reached out to touch it, and when his finger lightly brushed its metal hull, the window shot forward. Tarble leapt back like a frightened animal, prepared to run away at a moment’s notice. But then he saw that the window was not shooting forward. The door it was a part of was simply opening. Tarble relaxed his shoulders and laughed to himself for becoming so afraid over nothing. Why is my first thought always to get scared? He stepped forward and peered into the ball.

Inside was a cushioned seat, and numerous computer panels lined the walls. When Tarble stepped inside, the computers lit up and began humming. I thought this was an old car, Tarble thought, surprised. So many computers in a car did not make sense. ''No, this is something different. Something alien! Something cool!''

“Greetings, Prince Tarble! Where would you like to go?” a simulated voice suddenly asked him. When it did, a map of the solar system popped up and blinking lights started floating around the inside of the room as if Tarble was in the middle of some three-dimensional map. ''How does it know my name? And why did it call me Prince Tarble?''

“What…? Who are you?” Tarble asked with caution.

“I am the shipboard AI for this vessel,” the voice replied. “I have been assigned to help you navigate the stars, Prince Tarble.”

“How do you know my name?!”

“Your father programmed me,” the thing replied.

Tarble’s eyes widened and he had to sit down. Father, he thought. ''My real father. Could it really be true?'' Tarble had lived with Budo and his family ever since he could remember. But he was not one of them, he knew. He looked nothing like them. He acted nothing like them. He was different. But now he had proof - he had validity. And he had questions.

“Who is my father? Where is he? What does he look like?” Tarble shot back. “Please, take me to him!”

A picture of a tall man with brown hair and a brown beard flashed onto the main computer screen. He wore white and red armor and had a cape. He looks like me, Tarble realized. The man before Tarble wasn’t another egg-head like Budo. He was one of Tarble’s kind. The boy let in a small, sharp gasp and he felt his heart pounding in his chest upon seeing the picture.

“Your father is named King Vegeta. He is the ruler of the Saiyan race.”

“My father… a king?” Disbelief and wonder saturated the boy’s voice. “But if he’s the king, then please can’t you take me to him?”

“I am sorry, but King Vegeta’s last known location no longer exists. Please try another destination,” the voice droned.

Tarble felt adrenaline pumping through his veins. ''Father’s a king… and I’m a prince. Was it true? How could it be true?'' He finally could glimpse at what his father looked like. And yet, he could not meet him. He did not understand what was going on. ''Why did father send me away? What did I do? Does he hate me? Maybe he doesn’t want me. Why else would he do this to me?''

“Can I send him a message? Can we search for him?” Tarble asked politely.

“This ship does not have the ability to send long-range messages. However, I do have a local video of King Vegeta on my harddrive that he requested I play for you when you come of age.”

“Play it, please!” Tarble said a little too loudly. He was excited. His heartbeats were ringing in his ears. He felt lightheaded. He just wanted to see his father. He wanted to know what was going on. Nothing else in the world mattered to him.

A video took over the active monitor. On it was Tarble’s father in the same clothes the boy had seen him wearing in the picture. He had a stern look on his tired face and his arms were crossed.

“Tarble, my son. I am your father, King Vegeta, ruler of the Saiyan race, the most powerful warriors in the galaxy! I have sent you to a far-distant planet because you are weak.”

Tarble gulped and felt his face burn hot with embarrassment.

“It is unfit for a king of my stature to have a child who is not a warrior. It would bring a great dishonor to my family. If you manage to grow in strength as you get older and clear that planet you are on of all life, I will allow you to return to Planet Vegeta. But only if you have proved yourself to be a capable warrior. If not, you are not to return home. A weak son is no son of mine.”

Tarble’s eyes watered. He felt an emptiness in his stomach and in his chest. It was growing hard to breathe again, even though he was out of the city. ''Why am I so weak? I don’t want to be weak, father. Please, let me fix it. Let me come back. I’ll be strong for you, father. Please.''

Tarble’s thoughts were nothing. No one would hear them, least of all his father. Feelings were meaningless. But the sadness of his father’s rejection was too much for him to take. He was ready to run out of the pod when the video continued playing. “This is your brother, Vegeta. He is a strong boy, a capable warrior, and one day he’ll be king after I am gone. He is continuing my bloodline with honor. If you want to do the same, Tarble, train. Grow strong. Become a fearsome Saiyan warrior. Remember your heritage! Do not dishonor me.”

Tarble placed his index finger on the edge of his lips, softly chewing on the nail. His eyes were wide as pools of water as he watched the video. He saw his brother, Vegeta - a boy younger than Tarble was now. He had a smug look on him, and when father mentioned Tarble, he seemed to spit in disgust. Why do they hate me? He wanted to see them. He wanted to talk to them. He wanted to ask for their forgiveness. They were his true family, his father and brother, and he so desperately wanted them in his life. He wanted to meet them and apologize for how weak he was. He wanted to tell them he would get stronger. He wanted them to let him come home. He wanted them to love him. Tarble blinked tears from his eyes as he watched the picture of Vegeta fade.

“Tarble!” a voice rang from outside the pod.

The boy Saiyan jumped in momentary fright before realizing who was calling him. It was Ebio, Budo’s father. Tarble wiped away the tears from his eyes and breathed in several times to try and compose himself. He didn’t want the alien to see him crying. After a moment, Tarble stepped out of the pod and bowed to the older being.

“I’m sorry, father! What do you need?”

Ebio was taller than Tarble, but only slightly. His face was round, puffy, and wrinkled. His body was fat as a gourd and his fingers were like small clubs. When he walked, he breathed heavily, as if every step took great strength. “Tarble, my boy, what are you doing inside that contraption?”

“Father, I… I was just exploring. Budo and me found it, and… and…” Tarble stammered. He was afraid of Ebio. He was just afraid in general. Tarble was not a very brave person. It made him feel ashamed and empty inside.

Ebio pressed him, “And do you know what it is?”

Tarbled bowed his head, closing his eyes so that Ebio wouldn’t see the tears coming. “I-it’s mine.”

“Right you are. It was what carried you here as a baby.”

“I know, sir. The video inside told me.”

“Ah, the video,” Ebio said with a grin. “The one where your father said you could return home if you grew strong and killed us all?”

Tarble opened his eyes, forgetting his sadness, and looked directly at Ebio. “How do you know?!”

“I’m the one who found you. I watched the video many years ago. But since you were so young, I didn’t think you were a threat to us,” Ebio shrugged. “I’ve raised you to be a gentle, polite young boy, Tarble. Haven’t I taken care of you like a son, Tarble? More than that father of yours ever did, I’d say.”

“Yes, father,” Tarble replied to his fake father. Granting Ebio such a title felt wrong now that he had discovered who his real father was, even if Ebio had truly raised Tarble like a son all these years. The boy knew, in his blood, that it was wrong. “But couldn’t I go and see him? You could come too! I could tell my real father about how nice you are and how you raised me!”

Ebio shook his head violently. “No, my boy, it can’t happen. King Vegeta - as he was called - can’t ever see you again, I’m afraid. He is dead.”

“Dead?” Tarble repeated, softly. The emptiness in his stomach was biting into him now like a hungry snake.

“Along with the rest of your kind. They were killed in a war several years ago. I’m sorry, Tarble. There is nothing any of us can do. What is done is done, and what is dead is dead. You are a Saiyan like your father, but you are not a bloodthirsty savage like him. You don’t have to face the same fate. Come here, my son,” Ebio gestured for Tarble to come forward, and the young boy did so at once.

Ebio embraced Tarble with a tight, warm hug. ''He’s my real father, Tarble thought. And I’m his son. He called me his son. He loves me, truly.'' Tarble hugged him back. As the hug went on, however, Tarble felt the warmness between him and Ebio fade like a passing shadow. ''But it’s wrong. I have a different father, a different people. I’m one of them, not one of Ebio’s kind.''

Tarble let go of Ebio and stepped back. “I-I think I need to be alone for a while, father,” he said in a voice as politely as he could muster. “I’ll be home for dinner, I promise.”

Ebio nodded. “Very well, Tarble. Take your time. Come home when you are ready. We will be waiting for you.”

The round alien nodded and then waddled off. Tarble could hear him breathing for some time. Once it faded, Tarble felt a shiver run down his spine. ''I’m alone. I’m the only Saiyan left.'' Tarble sat up against the huge tree that his spaceship had crashed into and hugged his thin, furry tail between his arms. It was strong wood, tall and noble. It was the king of the forest. And like Tarble, it was alone. He had just learned who his real father was, and then it was taken from him, snapped away like a fell trick. Vegeta was dead. Tarble would never meet the king. He could never ask for his father’s forgiveness. As Ebio had said, what is dead is dead. But it didn’t make him feel better. He felt sad, hopeless, small. He didn’t know what to do.

The young Saiyan boy felt guilt wash over him as he remembered his father’s message. ''I’m not a warrior. Father must have been so disappointed in me. I let him down. I let all of the Saiyans down. I’m a failure. I could have been a strong prince, like my brother.'' But he wasn’t. He was weak. He was a coward. He was frightened by the smallest things. And he was ashamed. Tarble didn’t want to be any of those things, but they came naturally to him. ''But I’m a Saiyan too. A Saiyan at heart. I have to be.''

Tarble stood up. He didn’t know if there was a heaven or a hell, but Ebio’s people believed in both. He didn’t know which one his father would be in, but it didn’t matter too much, he supposed. Both the good and the evil could watch the actions of the living, Ebio had told Tarble once. That way, Tarble knew he had to act good even when he was alone.

“Father… wherever you are… I’m sorry I disappointed you,” Tarble spoke to the colossal tree. “B-but I want to make it up to you. I want you to be proud of me, father. I-I… I know I’m a Saiyan. I’ll try to be a warrior for you, father. I’ll try to be strong.”

Tarble knew what he had to do. Waves of terror washed over him. His cowardly heart was screaming at him to turn back, to go home and forget the Saiyan race. They were dead, after all. What did it matter? ''It does matter. I want father to be proud of me. I need to be something more than a failure for once.''

So Tarble took a step forward, trembling all over. He was not going back home to Ebio, Budo, and the rest of the family. He was going deeper into the forest to find that beast the planet’s residents called the Nagamushi Monster. Tarble knew the tales. He knew about how many thousands of people it had killed. He knew how dangerous it was. But he had to prove himself. He needed to be a warrior. He needed to show the world that he wasn’t a coward, that he wasn’t yellow.

It was raining hard by the time Tarble found the Nagamushi’s lair. The ground had turned to a muddy sludge and his boots were covered in it. Tarble knew this was the Nagamushi’s home for when he had been much younger, Budo had taken him to this place to frighten him. While they were sitting outside, Budo started hurling insults at the cave entrance. He was brave, then. Fearless, even. I wish I could be like that. But then there had been a rumbling sound and the two had seen a pair of dark red eyes pop up in the darkness of the rocky entrance. When that happened, Budo and Tarble had run off crying and begging for the monster’s pardons. But that had been a long time ago. Tarble wouldn’t be running away this time. He was going to kill the monster and make his father proud.

Tarble stepped forward, wiping rainwater from his eyes. He glanced upward and saw the sky had turned grey and black. Lightning was cracking across the murky sky like a flaming sword. How quickly the weather had changed. Just a few hours ago, it had been sunny and green and peaceful. And now he was in the midst of a ferocious storm.

“Hey, monster! I’ve come here to kill you! Show yourself! Get ready to face the power of a Saiyan!” Tarble shouted with all the courage he could pretend to possess. The cave entrance was covered in sharp rocks and the bones of many an animal decorated it like grim ornaments. Tarble even thought he saw streaks of blood trailing into the pitch blackness within. “Hey, is anybody in there?! I’m going to kill you!” Tarble shouted with even more boldness.

Annoyed, the boy picked up a nearby rock and threw it into the cave. He heard the thing bounce around in there a few times, its sound rattling and echoing throughout the expansive rocky hole inside. Tarble cocked his head, waiting for the dreaded monster to come out so he could beat the life out of it.

Then, he heard a hiss. It was a terrible thing, sounding of death and hate and malice. Tarble’s courage washed away with the rain as soon as he heard it. His courage was gone; his resolve dead. He turned to run when, out of the corner of his eye, the Saiyan saw two red eyes coming from within darkness of the cave.

Tarble screamed.

As soon as Tarble started running, he heard the Nagamushi Monster come racing out behind him. It brushed aside trees as if they were toothpicks, even as Tarble struggled to move through thorny bushes and pools of sludgey mud. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw something that looked like smoke coming after him. It was atramentous and vaporous, though the two piercing eyes stood atop it, burning red with hunger, gave it life. It didn’t look like any animal Tarble had ever seen. I’m not a warrior, he told himself as he ran. ''I’m not a Saiyan. I don’t want to be strong. It’s too hard. I’m too scared. I want to forget everything. I want to go home.''

Tarble could not stop running, even as he felt his legs cramp up and burn with pain. It was his life if he stopped. He couldn’t die. He couldn’t visit his father in the next world like this. He wasn’t ready. So he kept running. But the Saiyan felt the inky beast bearing down on him still. He turned back to look at it again and saw a mouthful of sharp teeth come shooting at him. He ducked under a branch as the monster bit into a tree branch ahead of him. He went running in another direction to dodge the beast, but in a blink of the eye, the thing was back on top of Tarble. He ran this way and that, zigzagging through the trees and slipping on the mud as he went. Still, the Nagamushi pursued him. Still it hunted him. Still it wished to taste his blood and feast on his bones.

The rain had become a vicious, screaming torrent of droplets, and now Tarble could barely see a few feet in front of him. The murderous beast slithered behind Tarble, pushing trees aside and flinging mud everywhere. After what felt like ages of running, ages of panic, and ages of numb hysteria, Tarble saw the great tree ahead of him. He was nearly up against it when he noticed it. It was the same tree that his space ship had crashed into, the same tree that stood so tall above the others. It was a strong tree, standing firm in the midst of the howling storm. It did not shake like the others. Tarble shivered and then ran behind it, hoping to hide from Nagamushi.

What came next was not quite a boom and not quite an explosion. Wood splinters flew about like knives in a drunken tornado and Tarble felt the stinging pains of cuts forming across his wet face. The rain washed away his blood, but it did little to quell the fear that stuck in his throat like stubborn taffy. Tarble felt another massive shudder and more wood fragments went flying about. He looked up and saw the black, slimy skin of the monster lumbering over him, past the ruins of the once-great tree. As it passed over him, drops of the slime hit Tarble in the face and hair, causing him to vomit profusely into the mud. Then, Tarble looked back up again, instinctively raising his right arm to cover his face. As he did, the boy felt the the bone in that arm snap like a twig. He felt no pain, only cold numbness shoot across his body. The feeling was sickening, horrifying. Tears came to Tarble’s eyes as he realized what had happened. He dropped to one knee, but could not move. The Nagamushi still continued forward, as if it had not seen him. He watched it go, heaving his small chest up and down, sucking in whatever air he could get. It was becoming hard to breathe. Too hard to breathe. The air did not smell so sweet as it had that morning.

When the Nagamushi’s tail came to Tarble, he did not react quick enough, and the giant appendage hit him squarely in the ribs. The Saiyan boy flew back from the force of it and crashed against the remnants of the great tree. He felt wooden splinters cut into his soft flesh along his back and legs. He felt himself wince, but he felt none of the pain. Only the cold and fear could he feel then, and as spots started to cloud Tarble’s eyes, he found it more and more difficult to breathe. He saw no Nagamushi any longer. Did it lose my scent in the rain? He did not know. He could not know. His head was swimming. And then it all went black.

A silver glint of sunlight was shining off the yellow-crusted space ship. Tarble blinked open stinging eyes to see the shine hit him across his pale, weary face. His black pupils dilated and he felt tears coming to his eyes, so he looked away. Sitting up, Tarble let out a short gasp of pain. With his left hand, he reached down and felt his ribs. ''They hurt so bad. They must be broken… I need to get help. I need to find Budo and Ebio and...'' He tried to stand up, but he couldn’t. His right arm was positioned at a weird angle when he looked at it. Trying to move it, Tarble felt a sharp point of pain hit him. He gasped again. That was surely broken as well. He could hardly think through the pain.

So the boy sat there, looking at the space pod that had carried him to this planet as a child. I’m the last Saiyan, he realized. ''They’re all dead. Ebio said so himself. I’m not like the others. I’m not a warrior. My father would be so disappointed in me.''

No, he heard another voice speak up in his brain then, ''everyone is different. The Saiyans are gone and you are not. You don’t have to be like them.'' And maybe he didn’t, but Tarble was too tired to think about it. Why had he come with Budo into this forest? Why couldn’t they have just stayed home with his sister, Gure, and played at the house. He would have never found out about his past that way. He would have never become so sad.

I’m a coward, he knew. The pain hit him in another wave and Tarble had to grit his teeth to stop from yelling out. Why did I have to be born a coward? He looked around him to the bits of wood and bark that lay around him. ''The tree protected me from the monster. It was big and strong and noble. And it did what I couldn’t do.'' He turned around (moaning in pain as he did) to glance up at what had now become of the great tree. He saw a trunk that looked liked shredded paper, branches and leaves torn asunder and ripped apart in ugly fashion. And he could see its top now, a jagged, gape of cracked and spiked wood. It did not look so noble now. It was not half as tall as it used to be. It wasn’t the king of this forest any longer, Tarble knew. But it’s still alive.

The tree is strong, Tarble told himself. Its roots go deep, and under the ground there is still life in it. So long as the roots remained, so too did the tree. It was not dead, just broken, shattered, beaten. Like me, he thought, feeling his arm gingerly. I'm not dead either.

The sky was streaked cyaneous and white. Birds were chirping. He saw the life in the forest again; green stalks poking up from the brown, wet dirt; water standing on the tips of blades of grass; small animals digging in the ground to find a meal; fat red bugs buzzing about hanging purple-blue flowers and sucking out their nectar. All of this had survived the storm, had survived the Nagamushi. Like him. He’d survived the storm too. The Saiyans weren't all dead. Not yet. I’ll be like the tree, Tarble thought. ''I’ll stand through this storm. And I’ll survive.''