Time Warriors Chapter 19
The fastest way to get a Saiyan's attention, other than bribing him with mounds of food, is to challenge him. No matter who the challenger is, no matter the nature of the challenge, no matter what the odds of the Saiyan winning the final battle, the Saiyan will accept it 95 times out of 100. And should this challenger actually order the Saiyan to do something and then issue his challenge, the odds that the Saiyan will take up the challenge increase to 100 out of 100.
The H'trch had no idea they were dealing with Saiyans.
"You will move out of our way- now - or we will destroy you."
Vejiita stood his ground and glared at the aliens, an unpleasant glint in his eyes. "You are going to destroy us?" he repeated, his eyebrow quirking up. "I don't think so."
The alien slowly blinked at the Saiyan as if seeing him for the first time. "Of course," it intoned, a ripple of distaste crossing his granite countenance. "You are softbodies ignorant, unskilled vermin, fit for nothing more than labor or extermination."
"Is that so?" the prince inquired icily, his body taut with suppressed rage. Folding his arms across his chest, Vejiita fixed the aliens with a baleful eye, his glare promising slaughter and carnage to any who dared cross his path. He faced the giants and stood like carved stone, unmoving.
Theo and Elyse leaned on each other and stayed where they had been pushed, screened on all sides by the Earth's defenders. Her breath coming in quick, rapid pants, the older Guardian clutched her daughter's arm and stared in mute stupefaction at the tableau in front of her. Elyse gasped and held onto her mother, trying to shrink into the background.
I can't believe it first Vejiita, now the H'trch
The larger rock creature grunted something to its companion, who responded in kind. Rapid patterns of flickering lights appeared and disappeared on the side of each creature's helmet as they communicated, green slime facilitating their head movements as they leaned toward each other. As it twisted back to look at the little group the alien gestured in their direction, grinding noises accompanying every shift its body made.
"Your insignificant energy readings show that we would not even consider using you for sustenance, let alone slave labor. Strange for warriors which you obviously are, given your physical appearance and low intelligence but apparently true." Another grunting consultation with his companion ended with the larger alien snorting and standing erect, his right paw extended toward them with a small mechanism aimed at Vejiita. "I will take another scan to verify."
"What what did he say, Gohan?" Gokuu asked, his eyes locked on the craggy monster in front of them.
"I'm not sure, otousan," Gohan replied, puzzled, his dark hair glinting in the desert sun, "but I think he just said that we were too stupid to eat."
"That's what I heard," Dron agreed, his blaster trained on the monster's torso and head. He narrowed his eyes and aimed past Vejiita's shoulder, right at the creature's head. "And I don't like anything that thinks it's going to eat me. I say we just let loose right now and be done with them."
"We can't these blasters won't do us any good at all," muttered Allyssa, nudging Dron with her elbow and nodding at the creatures. "The power these puny things project isn't enough to knock gravel off that beast's shoulder. If we're going to hurt them at all, we've got to get past their chi shield and the quickest way to do that is to hit them right in the mouth."
Gokuu and Gohan looked at Allyssa, surprised.
The spacer glanced at the warrior woman over the barrel of his gun, a questioning look in his eyes.
The Gant looked back at them and shrugged, noncommittal. "Trust me. I've seen it done before. It's messy, but it works."
The Saiyans nodded and returned their attention to the aliens. "All right. If we need to, we'll use it," Gokuu said, shifting his weight as he moved into a defensive crouch.
Dron stared at the creatures in front of them. "Fine," he replied, laconic as ever. "I can do that." He hefted the blaster to a more comfortable position. "Any particular place in their mouth?"
Snorting in amusement, Allyssa retorted, "Dead center would be right on target. Preferably when it's open."
As if on cue, the creature paused and dipped its head to glance at the device in its gigantic hand, slowly rotating his head back and forth, and started to speak again. "As I suspected," his translator growled. "You have no energy to speak of you have no skills of any usefulness to usand you have no technology. You are obviously worthless." Raising his head, the giant closed its mouth and peered at the group again, sighting the women's position against the rocks. At the same time, a strange humming sound seemed to come from the alien's chest; it was ominous and threatening, sounding as if the very ground was groaning in response to an invisible signal. The noise grew in volume the longer the creature gazed at them. Gravel and small stones tumbled from the top of the rocks behind the Guardians, causing Theo to look back in alarm.
"Argh what's it doing now?" Gohan muttered, wincing at the noise. "That's awful!"
"It's part of what they do," Allyssa retorted sharply, her face contorted in a grimace of pain as she dug her feet into the soft sand for better balance. "That's the beginning of their attack."
"But those females" murmured the lead creature, the strange humming growing richer in harmonic overtones, "those females are valuable to us." Inflectionless, the creature's translation unit grated, "We have decided. We will take the Time Lords you will tell us where their vessel is and then we will destroy you."
With that, the H'trch commander closed his fist and rumbled forward toward the Saiyans, his bulk shaking the earth, determined to pluck his prize from the offending filth of softbodies surrounding it.
"Don't come any closer if you want to live."
Vejiita stood perfectly still and watched the commander press forward. The prince's threatening scowl would have warned away any normal mortal anxious to live beyond the next few minutes. The alien, however, appeared not to notice and continued forward, oblivious to any danger.
"Agreed," said a cold voice at the prince's shoulder. "We will not let you pass."
Gokuu was standing next to Vejiita, an impressive figure tense with anger and indignation. His eyebrows were drawn together in a severe frown as he unconsciously imitated Vejiita's stance, facing the aliens with his arms drawn across his body. His strong, clear voice carried across the open space between the warriors and the alien's ship, lashing the H'trch commander with its power.
"We wish you no harm but we will protect our own. Come no closer."
The rock giant paused, looking at the Saiyans blocking his path. "You cannot stop us," the commander responded, surprised. "The woman's energy signal drew us to her. We will have the Time Lord, and her ship, and we will take her now. Do not think that your puny efforts will deter us. You will be utterly destroyed." An aura of greenish chi hovered about the alien's hands, pulsing slightly as he examined at the Saiyan warriors. It was completely obvious to the H'trch commander that these people were totally outclassed; why didn't they simply surrender and accept their fate?
"No one threatens me especially not giant walking rocks," Vejiita snarled, his eyes narrowed to dark slits. All at once, the area encircling him was bathed in a flood of warm, golden light, as the aura of a Super Saiyan flared around the prince's body. Vejiita appeared to grow in stature and strength; his leg muscles were corded and tight, his chest strained at the soft protective armor encasing it, and his eyes were as sharp and incisive as green lasers. A knowing smirk slid across his face as he looked at the commander and said in a silken, menacing voice, "Unless you truly want to die, alien, I suggest that you turn around, go back to your ship and leave."
"And I won't let you try to take our friends," Gokuu said in a flat voice. Without warning, a soft detonation pushed out an enormous amount of energy as Gokuu was also enveloped in the golden glow of Super Saiyan power. The large Saiyan likewise seemed to grow and swell in size, his enormous muscles straining against the taut material of his gi. "We don't want to hurt you. You should get back into your spaceship and go away."
The giant stopped his advance and stared at the glowing senshei with renewed interest. "Hn. A miscalculation on our part," he murmured, his granite head bent at an angle to observe the prince and Gokuu. Something resembling a smirk split his face as he said, "Now your strength is impressive quite impressive. You should be able to provide a pleasant diversion for us after all. You will ultimately fail, of course we will still take the females and their ship but the exercise should be particularly pleasant."
"You will take nothing from us," Gokuu responded, shaking his head in reproach. "Our friends are not things to be taken away. They will stay here, with us." His strength poured out from his body in waves, flooding the immediate area with his power. "Just do what we told you to do get back into your spaceship and leave. Otherwise, we will be forced to fight you."
"Commander!" called the smaller granite creature in alarm, gesturing with wide sweeps of its arms. Its translator unit used a rich contralto's voice in contrast to the booming bass of its leader. "One moment, please!"
Piccolo stood next to the doorway of the TARDIS, effectively blocking the entrance to the machine and providing a rear guard to protect Elyse and Theo. The green kami felt some strange vibrations coming from the Guardian women, particularly from Theo vibrations of power that were completely alien to him, wisps of subtle energy that permeated the atmosphere and seemed to keep that incessant humming sound at a manageable level. He was convinced that he should be close to them when the fighting started, if for no other reason than to insure their safety.
But that's not the only reason, he acknowledged to himself. I won't let her get out of control again
"Sh'mg!" the alien commander said, harsh overtones giving his voice an imperious quality. "Stand down and get into the ship. I will kill these softbodies and recapture the Time Lords myself. You will insure that our ship is prepared to take off at a moment's notice. You must also insure that someone is on hand at any time to reclaim the women's vessel."
Recapture the Time Lords ? Piccolo's frown deepened as he considered the words of the aliens. Does that mean that they had captured them before? And why is that thing calling them Time Lords? He looked askance at Theo and Elyse, not trusting their compliant, frightened appearance, recalling how fierce Theo had been in that other plain.
"But commander " the smaller one argued, a lesser version of the breast plate equipment vibrating on her chest. "Sir, may I respectfully submit that the overall commander of the mission should not be in a situation that could place him in danger. Sir, please permit me to assist you in this, and"
"No. You are second in command, and as such, I have need for you in other areas." The commander spoke mildly, but it was if each word he spoke carried a long lash. His second was stoic, yet appeared to flinch slightly under his verbal assault. "Your objection is noted and logged; however, you will still carry out my orders. You will board our shuttle, insure its readiness for a fast departure, prepare a place for our new cargo and assemble a crew to board the women's vessel. Do you understand?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" the second said unhappily. She nodded and bowed to her superior officer, then turned and trotted back to the ship, lumbering up the ramp to the dark interior, looking at the scene in front of the ship, distressed.
He takes too many risks and this time he's gambling with his life and ours. These softbodies are different in nature than others we've encountered
The commander watched her move into the bowels of the ship. When she was completely inside, he turned back to the group of challengers and said, his metallic voice ringing against the hard surface of the shuttle, "Now, then. Which of you will be the first to die?"
The Earth warriors were alert and ready to strike, with Gokuu and Vejiita in full Super Saiyan mode. As the leader of the rock giants turned toward the warriors, yet another noxious, sulfuric odor swept across them, reminding Gokuu of fire, molten rock and Freeza. A likeness of the small lizard despot, screaming in impotent rage and surrounded by fire, swept across his conscious mind.
"Wow," he murmured to himself, frowning as he dug his feet deeper into the sand. "Why am I thinking of Freeza? We're not on Namek."
Never one for introspection, Gokuu shrugged and pushed the image of the little tyrant from his mind, concentrating instead on the large alien. "We've gotta be on our guard," he said as an aside to Vejiita. "This guy looks tough. We don't even know how he attacks."
Vejiita swung his gaze over to Gokuu, then back to the alien. "Wake up, Kakarotto," he growled. "Make sure that no more of these things come out of that ship that is, unless you want to fight them."
"What? Sure, I'll fight anything that comes out of the ship - but who's going to fight that guy?" Gokuu asked ingenuously, puzzled.
"I am, baka!" Vejiita snapped, turning his back on the larger Saiyan. Sometimes, Kakarotto, you are just too dense
"Oh," Gokuu replied, nodding his head. "I figured we'd all fight him. Look, we could all help you this guy seems to respect strength, and if Trunks and Gohan powered up, too"
"No! Fool, we don't need to show him everything at once!" Vejiita snapped, his eyes bright and dangerous. "Leave something in reserve for"
"But, Vejiita, what if"
Vejiita turned on Gokuu, eyeing him ominously, and included the other Earth senshi in his gaze. "Listen and listen well," he snarled. "because I will only say this once. I am fighting this creature, and I will fight it alone. "
"Um yeah, sure, Vejiita," Gokuu said, scratching the back of his head. "Whatever you say."
"Well okay," Gohan said dubiously, eyeing the smaller man. He obviously wanted to ask a question, but thought better of it and kept his mouth shut. Vejiita grunted in response and stared at Trunks and Piccolo, daring them to say anything. The teenager simply nodded his assent he had expected nothing less but the green Namekian scowled and rasped, "Why you, Vejiita? Why not Gokuu? What claim do you have on this creature?"
"If it's any of your business which it isn't this creature threatened me and then dared to suggest I do something for it before it destroyed me." A flash of white, predatory teeth perfectly mirrored his vicious expression. "I allow no one to do that to me."
Piccolo stared at him, nodded, and said no more. His gaze, though, flickered between Theo and the prince and back again, and a glimmer of understanding sparked in his eyes. He shook his head and snorted softly to himself.
This should be interesting.
Eyes glowing ominously, Vejiita stepped in front of the Earth senshi, his aura pulsing in time to his slow, steady heartbeat. "Take your last chance and leave this place," he called, his tone challenging and preemptory. "Once you attack, there will be no turning back."
The commander stopped several meters in front of Vejiita, the lights on the side of his helmet glowing in a regular pattern. "I would say the same to you, softbody," he said with no preamble. "This is your last opportunity to hand over the females and their vessel."
Vejiita sneered. "You are fighting Saiyans, alien. I could care less about these females you're prattling about, but know this Saiyans bend the knee to no one."
The giant shrugged, a slight movement of his massive shoulders, stone plates sliding and crunching together. "Then we will fight for their possession," he said simply, "and you will be destroyed. Then I will take the females and their vessel." He inclined his enormous head toward the opposite side of his ship and grated, "I will fight over there, where the ground is more suitable for battle. Prepare yourself."
"Heh," Vejiita snorted, pushing his power level higher and dropping his hands loosely to his sides. "Prepare yourself, creature, to meet that which made the ugly likes of you."
Good it's about time, he thought, his mind automatically sorting through offensive and defensive positions to use against the alien as they drifted across the sand. Scowling again, he realized that he knew little or nothing about the creatures in front of him; not a good position to be in, considering he was about to be attacked. But someone in that group did apparently knew those things intimately
Woman, he sent, invading Theo's mind, what do you know of these warriors? How do they fight?
Countless replies to Vejiita's question flew through Theo's mind, and all were quickly rejected. I I know them, ouji-sama they are strong and vile and loathsome, and attack with both mind and body. Do not be deceived their bodies are made of rock, not flesh.
Obviously they're made of rock, the prince replied, exasperated. Don't be a fool. Is there anything else you can tell me about them that's useful?
Hot anger bubbled to her lips as she held onto Elyse's arm and looked at the back of the prince with wrathful, narrowed eyes what should she do? If I tell him how to fight these things and he defeats them, I'll be tied to him forever but if I don't and they defeat *him*, then Gokuu or one of the others would save us
She decided. Her face set into an impassive mask, she slowly pulled out of the prince's mind, silent and cold.
Vejiita sized up his opponent, and found him lacking. He's large and probably strong, but not fast and certainly not nimble, the prince thought, watching the rock creature move into the battle zone. This shouldn't take long at all.
"You should have prepared yourself by now, softbody," the commander said, his translator's tones resonant and soft, at complete odds with his words. "So that you know who it is that defeats you, I am H'trch and it is the H'trch, with the aid of the Time Lords and their vessel, who will rule the universe. You will be utterly destroyed!"
"So, you want to rule the universe, do you?" With his power near its midrange, the Saiyan prince leaped into the air above the H'trch, shouting a challenge, and experimentally tossed a small blue ball of chi at its head. Let's see what happens
Surprisingly enough, the H'trch was able to bat the ball of chi away, sliding it harmlessly away across the desert sand. The rock giant swiveled to keep Vejiita in his line of sight and opened his large mouth at the Saiyan, exposing a sulfurous, red maw with rows of pointed teeth.
The smell was horrible Allyssa and Dron started retching right away, staggering blindly about. Vejiita's iron mastery over his body controlled his reaction to the stench. The woman was right, at least about this, he thought, satisfied. Moving into a defensive position, the prince expected a chi blast from the creature's mouth but nothing came out.
Unexpectedly, though, his very bones started to ache and throb, and his teeth felt as though they were shaking in his gums. What the? he wondered briefly then realized that the H'trch commander was suddenly no more than a meter away from him, hovering in midair, his massive forearm slicing toward Vejiita's exposed neck.
"Heh you'll have to do better than that!"
A flurry of blocks and punches followed, faster than a human eye could follow, as the H'trch and the Saiyan took the measure of each other in the air. The commander was trying to use his greater strength and weight to crush the prince, while Vejiita was taking full advantage of his lighter frame and faster responses to pound away at the monster's defenses.
Again and again the two shook the ground and each other with their chi blasts; energy bolts from each smashed into the earth at regular intervals as their fight ranged across a wider and wider section of the desert.
"What's the matter?" Vejiita taunted after a particularly intense clash, watching the H'trch closely as it straightened to face him. "Are you getting tired? Worn out after a little bit of exercise? How do you expect to rule the universe if you have no stamina?"
The H'trch roared in answer, its rage and madness at the audacity of the softbody in front of him causing it to rush forward in mindless fury.
Vejiita smiled mockingly and encouraged the H'trch to attack, his arms spread wide. The creature howled in answer, leaping at the small frame of the prince as if to pulverize it, its hands and feet furiously pounding away at the protective shields of the Saiyan.
"Is he playing with him?" Gohan asked Trunks. They had both levitated above the ground, and were now watching from a comfortable distance away. Each was ready to leap in to assist Vejiita, if it became necessary, but neither one actually wanted to be the first.
Trunks shrugged, his brow furrowed in concentration. "I don't know. I don't think so, but something's really weird out there. I felt this thing a while ago it set my teeth on edge, and I felt like I eh phased for a couple of seconds. Do you know what I mean?"
"Yes, I do I felt that, too, but just for a moment," Gohan responded, squinting out to the battlefield again. "It was odd."
Trunks stared over at him. "That's an understatement. I thought my teeth were going to fall out."
Gohan glanced back, his arms folded across his chest. "Me, too. I hope these things don't have any other nasty surprises for us." He took a deep breath, unfolded his arms, cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Come on, come on, Vejiita, you can do it! Beat this guy for us do it NOW!"
The four non-Saiyans on the ground looked up at him, nonplussed, but the action on the battlefield brought their attention back to the fight in an instant.
A powerful upset punch thrown by the creature was immediately blocked by the prince, who followed up with a forceful front kick of his own to the monster's jaw. An earsplitting *crack* rent the air as the commander's momentum flung him away from the prince, his arms stretched out at his sides, pieces of his jaw flying from his head. He recovered quickly, pulling his arms and elbows into his chest to stop his roll in midair; righted himself, as the circuits flared on the equipment covering his head and arms; and snarling, shot a large stream of red chi directly at Vejiita's heart.
But as the H'trch commanded watched in disbelief, Vejiita disappeared. All the monster could see was a multicolored blur.
What where? the commander thought, now thoroughly angry, his head swiveling from side to side.
"Behind you!" the prince crowed in triumph, sending a chi blast directly into the small of the commander's back. Its concussive power threw the unsuspecting creature off balance and flung him toward the ground; however, Vejiita could see that no real damage was done as the chi shield of the monster held true.
"Damn," he muttered, narrowing his eyes, "that should've ended it. How did I get past his guard before?"
The captain recovered and turned again in midair, his granite face pulled into a rictus of fury. "Enough of this!" he bellowed, "Die, vermin!" With that, he opened his great craw toward Vejiita, concentrating his energy and his power against his enemy, and attacked
"What's happening up there, Gokuu? What's going on?"
Gokuu held one hand across his eyebrow ridge, squinted against the rays of the sun. "They're fighting, Theo. It looks like Vejiita's doing pretty good, too "
"Oh," she said as she leaned next to Elyse, staring into the sky. That's too bad
"Mama Mama!" Elyse whispered urgently, pulling on her arm. "Mama why don't we just leave? We're right next to the TARDIS, you have your key we could just take everyone and run "
"We can't do that, Elyse," Theo replied, turning her head to look at her daughter.
"Why not? We've got everyone here we could just leave him up there, and get out of here "
Her daughter's face was snarled and angry as she looked into the sky; her red hair was flying around her cheeks, and her eyes were dark and troubled.
"Elyse," she said quietly as she gazed at the battle, "don't turn all the way around but when you can, look at the doorway of the TARDIS out of the corner of your eye."
Elyse snuck a glance back at the rocks behind them. "That green man is standing there!" she hissed.
"Right," her mother whispered back. "Your idea is sound, but we have a little problem getting INTO the ship."
"Can't you do something about him?" Elyse muttered, turning her gaze back to the mid-air battle.
"Believe me, I've been trying to," Theo murmured, sliding an irritated look over toward the Namekian. "Unfortunately, he's not suggestible. He's not just an alien he's a kami, too."
The younger Guardian groaned. "A kami? Oh, no so that means "
" that he won't budge. And we're stuck here, at least for a little while."
Her daughter gave her a sidelong glance out of blue gray eyes. "What do you mean by that?"
Theo smiled mirthlessly. "I set the emergency beacon on the TARDIS before we ran outside. If we're lucky, someone is monitoring our timestream, and will hear us."
"And they'd come get us?" Elyse asked hopefully, straining her eyes to see into the bright morning sky.
"Gods above, I hope so," Theo prayed fervently.
Very suddenly, Vejiita started to feel strange aches in his arms and legs again. The pains moved throughout his torso, through his jaw and into his teeth, grinding and throbbing in his body so much that it felt as though his very bones were rubbing together. His skull felt as if it was vibrating, moving faster and faster; and there was something else waiting outside his mind, something that was huge and solid and unmoving, watching for the smallest opportunity to leap into his psyche.
He blinked and abruptly the damaged face of the H'trch filled his vision, the stench of sulfur and death overpowering. Huge plates that acted like hinged jaws opened again, exposing a red, cavernous throat, closer to his own face than he normally would allow but for some reason, he couldn't move and couldn't gather enough chi to
Pain exploded on the side of his head as he felt himself driven down towards the ground. The prince scarcely had time to roll out of his forced dive away from the earth when he realized that energy balls were hailing down on him from above. His chi shield held, but barely the strength of that assault had been totally unexpected and completely out of character given the types of attacks the craggy giant had been using just moments ago.
The prince flipped up and away, putting as much distance between the alien and himself as he reasonably could. I don't understand what
A strange lassitude stole over him, coupled with that grinding, bone shaking vibration that was jarring him from head to toe. Something is totally wrong, he growled to himself; his sixth sense warned him to move, which he did, and again just escaped a chi attack.. Why can't I move?
The reek of the creature told the prince what was going to happen milliseconds before it did. "Moving slower, are you?" jibed the H'trch, using one huge fist to club down on Vejiita's back as the other pulled back to deliver a large chi strike. "It's the beginning of the end for you, fool!" Grinning, the rock monster opened his mouth again, exposing its red magma throat and an odd thrumming sound
I can't move, the prince realized angrily. This thing's going to crush me because I can't move
The rock creature's fist smacked the center of Vejiita's back, throwing his body toward the ground in an unnatural, grotesque position as its chi bathed the prince in an unholy light. Vejiita struck the earth with such force that he sent a fountain of sand and debris hundreds of meters in the air and drilled an impact crater in the ground that was at least fifty meters across.
A horrified silence hung over the warriors as they watched Vejiita plummet into the ground headfirst, the H'trch hovering expectantly over him, charging up for his final strike.
"Vejiita!" shouted Gokuu. "Vejiita, no! Vejiita, get up!"
There was no response from the center of the chasm.
Without a thought for his own safety, the large Saiyan placed two fingers in the center of his forehead and disappeared, only to immediately reappear directly over the middle of the impact crater, shielding his friend's body from the H'trch's strike.
Immediately, a terrified scream split the air.
"Dammit no! No, no, NO! Gokuu, what're you doing?" Theo shrieked. She threw off Elyse's restraining hands and burst out of the defensive semicircle, completely panicked, running flat out to reach the impact crater and Gokuu. "You can't do that you're going to get smashed! Let that baka take care of himself and come back here come back here Gokuu GOKUU, NO!"
"Get back here what is wrong with you?" Gohan yelled, catching her upper arms and hauling her back into the protective ring of warriors, throwing her on the ground. "What do you mean, 'let that baka take care of himself?' We take care of each other here! Also, we're doing this for you I can't protect you if you decide to run into the battlefield!"
"Theo, have you lost your mind completely?" Allyssa hollered at her, a black scowl distorting her face with fear and anger. "What the hell did you think you were doing? Those are H'trch out there, in case you've forgotten do you want us to lose?"
"But he can't do that, he can't stay in the line of fire, they're going to get him, too, just like they got ouji-sama," Theo babbled, words streaming across her lips faster and faster, her multihued eyes pleading at Gohan for understanding, her hair crackling about her as if she was in an electrical storm. "Those creatures use a weird kind of attack and I can help him, but I have to dip into his mind for a moment, and I can't do that without asking, and"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down," Gohan said, overwhelmed at her fervor but trying to make sense of her words. He waited until she took a deep breath and composed herself, slowing her breathing to a manageable pace. He took hold of her upper arms and looked deep into her eyes. "Now, tell me those creatures have a special kind of attack, and otousan's in danger is that what you're saying?"
"Yes, yes!" gasped Theo, nodding her head emphatically and moved her gaze to the H'trch commander. He had a green, sickly glow about his entire body now, and was drawing his arms behind his head to increase his power "Gohan, I must talk to Gokuu NOW, before it's too late!"
The Saiyan gripped her upper arms tightly, causing Theo to gasp and look back at him. In a soft, deadly voice, Gohan continued, "And you knew that these creatures had this attack -- and you knew Vejiita was in danger, just as otousan - yet you did nothing to help him? Nothing?" His fingers dug cruelly into her arms, brusing her skin.
Theo stared at him and felt a cold hand squeeze her heart as the bottom dropped out of her stomach. "Gohan - please - I - " She stared up at him, speechless.
Trunks looked at Theo, his large blue eyes widened in disbelief. "You - you were going to let my father - die? How could you?"
"Mama ..." Elyse whispered in disbelief. "Mama, you didn't ..."
Ignoring the teenagers for the moment, Theo said, a slight tremor in her voice betraying her fear, "Gohan - please - if I don't get to your father soon, we're ALL going to die - "
Gohan's gaze instantly became unfocused and cloudy for a moment, then cleared. His dark eyes held Theo's steadily as he said, "Otousan told me that it'd be okay if you went into his mind to help him. He says he trusts you." Theo heard Gohan's unspoken words very clearly - but I don't trust you.
Theo's jaw dropped. "You can talk to him? Like"
Gohan stared at her coldly. "Of course. Saiyans are slightly telepathic. Nothing like you, I'm sure, but we can still speak to each other." He gave her arm a gentle shake. "Start doing whatever it is you need to do quickly that creature is going to let loose any time now "
"Oh!" Theo exclaimed. She whipped her head around, narrowed her gaze and focused and suddenly found herself inside Gokuu's mind, staring first at the H'trch and then glancing down at the prone body of Vejiita on the floor of the crater.
Or what could be seen of his body, anyway. He wasn't dead, though hurt, yes, but not dead. She could still feel his chi, vibrating and pulsing through the ground.
Giving herself a mental shake, Theo chided herself angrily, thinking, get out of here before he calls you, fool don't dawdle. Get on with it set it and get out. She dove deeply into Gokuu's psyche, careful to touch only what was absolutely necessary, and placed the shield directly around his cerebral cortex.
These creatures use a sonic/mental attack, Gokuu, she sent. You hear nothing, but suddenly feel incredible pain and once it penetrates your mind, you feel weak and disoriented. However, you will be able to resist it now. Good luck.
Thank you, Theo, the Saiyan replied. He sent his own probes, questing at the entrance of her mind, wanting to make contact with her, to understand her a bit more
Horrified, Theo pulled back. No, Gokuu goodbye.
She hastily withdrew, pulling herself out of his mind as quickly as possible and back into her own tightly guarded fortress. She was safe there no one could get in without her permission
--except ouji-sama, she thought, sullen. What a pity he isn't dead yet.
The H'trch commander was amazed at the stubbornness of the softbodies in front of him. While the first one was a strong, capable fighter, he really had no chance once the commander decided to use his sonic attack. All that was left to do was finish him off, and he was that much closer to claiming those Time Lords as his own. With those women and their ship, he would have an unlimited power supply and be able to rule the universe.
However, now the other strong softbody was planted directly in front of him protecting the smaller one, no doubt, the commander thought sourly. Well, he can just have a taste of H'trch chi power as well. He will not be able to withstand my sonic blast and my chi blast together. These softbodies have no idea how to defend against mental attacks.
And that is interesting, the rock monster mused as he wound up to complete his assault, as these individuals actually have some latent mental powers. It is a shame that we will not have the opportunity to study them possibly, they would have been a good race to keep as an energy source. Ah, well that's as it is
The commander finished drawing in the requisite power to obliterate the warrior in midair and the prone form underneath him, and threw it as hard as possible at the aliens. A feeling of smug satisfaction permeated his crust as he watched the sickly green hue envelop the alien and his comrade, becoming as bright as a supernova before flaring out of existence, leaving only
--the aliens behind?
The H'trch blinked, not believing what his sensors told him was true. Not just one, but both aliens were still alive the one on the ground was encased in a protective sphere, while the one floating in midair had just removed his crossed hands from in front of his head and chest, and was smiling now. This smile, though, was vastly different from that of others he had seen in the species this smile was one of victory, an arrogant, insolent smile one with no fear or trepidation about it. One, in fact, that was unnerving to see.
Especially when the commander had just hurled his strongest chi sphere at the aliens.
His eyes green and piercing, Gokuu reached inside himself and raised his power level, projecting more raw energy toward the H'trch. "When you attacked us, you made a huge mistake," Gokuu called, his energy crackling around his arms. "We warned you, alien but you refused to listen."
The H'trch commander felt the increase in energy and realized that this opponent was even more powerful than the last. "You will die, moron!" the commander shouted across the abyss, readying his psychic probe as he prepared for his sonic charge. "You and all those with you!" With that, he flung a blistering chi strike directly at the smirking alien hanging in midair as he continued to pull in energy for his sonic assault.
And this alien, like the last one, disappeared in front of his eyes.
What kind of power is this? the H'trch commander wondered, scanning the air around his body for signs of the warrior. How can I fight something I can't see?
"You must be faster than that!"
A blow to the side of his head threw the H'trch giant off balance, flinging him toward rock cliffs over a kilometer away. Ah, but now I have you, thought the great creature, sighting the Saiyan as he flew through the air. You cannot escape now.
The H'trch opened his cavernous mouth a third time, the stench of brimstone and death flowing from it and now Gokuu recognized the smell. It was the same odor that had assaulted him on Namek the self-same fetidness that had surrounded the little tyrant at the end of their fight, the stench of evil and corruption. Sulfurous and dense and thick with emotion, it attempted to cloud his mind against its true purpose to assault his psyche, leaving his body defenseless against a surprise chi attack from the rock creature.
Not this time, alien.
The burly Saiyan's gaze cut through the confusion and chaos of the H'trch's offensive, and instead targeted the cavernous, scarlet maw hundreds of meters in front of him. With a shout, he recalled Allyssa's advice
-and fired a continuous, concentrated beam of chi directly into the creature's mouth.
The fallout from the explosion was tremendous.
Not only did Gokuu fire at the creature, but Dron, Trunks, Gohan and Piccolo fired at the same time. There was no way of knowing which beam of energy eventually breached the chi shield of the H'trch, but at least one permeated its defense and when that happened, it set off a chain reaction of sorts, resulting in the complete obliteration of the H'trch commander. Pieces of the H'trch rained across the battlefield, nearly indistinguishable from the ordinary rocks strewn about that portion of the desert.
Except that some of the rocks were stained with green slime, rubbed smooth from decades of use.
Gokuu shielded himself from the explosion, then dropped down to the earth to pull Vejiita from the middle of the impact crater. The smaller Saiyan was still unconscious, but breathing a good sign, in Gokuu's mind. Flinging the prince across one massive shoulder, Gokuu placed two fingers against his forehead, disappeared from the site of the crater and reappeared in front of Theo and Elyse.
Theo gasped and drew back, startled, staring up at Gokuu.
"Otousan," Gohan said, frowning, pushing himself between Theo and Gokuu. "You're safe."
"Yeah - thanks to you, Theo. It was your help that saved us," Gokuu said sincerely, smiling down at her.
She swallowed, her eyes flashing between the unconscious form of the prince draped over his shoulder and the affable Saiyan's earnest face. Perspiration beaded on her forehead as she mumbled a reply. "Uh you're welcome, Gokuu. Is he is he "
"Oh, he'll be okay," Gokuu said, bending his head toward the unconscious prince. "We just have to get him back to Bulma's, so we can give him a senzu. I don't have any with me do you have any, Piccolo?"
"No, I don't," the Namekian said, giving Theo an accusatory look. "No one else does, either. And I don't want to alarm you, Gokuu, but he was laying out there for an awfully long time. He needs attention now."
Elyse turned to look at Gokuu, and found herself staring into Trunks' eyes. The teen had a hard, resolved appearance around his mouth as he looked at her. "You didn't know about it, did you?" he asked softly.
The younger Guardian was taken aback, both by his question and the fact that he was less than a quarter meter away from her. "Know ... know about what?" she repeated, blinking at him.
He nodded to himself. "That's what I thought," he murmured, turning from her to stare at her mother with a look that Elyse couldn't describe, but one she knew instinctively she'd never want leveled at her.
Gokuu opened his mouth to reply to Piccolo, but was drowned out by an enormous, blaring sound that came directly from the alien shuttle.
All the armament guns, lasers and laser cannons were turning in synchonous motion toward their small group. Crackling energy leaped between twin antennas as the lasers were charged; plus a sickening, whining sound came directly from the belly of the shuttle as the ramp retracted and closed.
"Oh, shit," Theo mouthed, her eyes enormous as her hands automatically fumbled for her TARDIS key. "We've got to get out of here."
"Damn right," Allyssa agreed, her feet already on their way. "All right everyone into the TARDIS!"
Theo ran for the door, pushed the key in with shaking hands and flung herself inside, closely followed by everyone in their little group. The alien shuttle shook and groaned with the force of the stored energy it released when the H'trch second, Sh'mg, screamed the order to fire, fire, fire at the escaping band of thugs and monsters, the equivalent to human tears standing in her crystal eyes.
"I will destroy you and your friends, Time Lord," Sh'mg rasped in grief, watching the TARDIS wink out of sight moments before her barrage connected with the desert. "I will hunt you down find you and destroy you. You will not escape."