Location: Earth Spacecraft Black Bird, Approaching Planet Beryl

It really was quite amazing how quickly technology had developed, Jeene Quark mused as she tinkered with some of her equipment, making sure her gauntlets and boots were just so. She was in a small lab room on the ship that had transported them so many light years in such a short time. The Black Bird was a relatively small spacecraft, with a distinct triangular shape, which just showed that everything had to be spheres. Like its name the Black Bird was colored like the night so it could easily slip through space undetected thanks to the inclusion of a set of sensor jammers on board. Stealth was the name of the game as the ship hurled through space.

The ship had a special drive system that created essentially a tunnel through space-time which the ship had hurled through on its trip to Beryl. A trip that could have easily taken months a ship's generation ago had been reduced to a few days. The ship had exited the slip-stream a good ways from the planet however to make sure the last leg of the trip could be done undetected and so far the ship had made it. They had seen no other ships on their way there but most likely the invaders had already landed a long time ago so it was not exactly a surprise. A final few adjustments with some micro tools fixed into her engineering gloves and her armaments were fixed to her satisfaction.

"There finally complete!" She beamed, unaware at how disheveled she currently looked, a product at having worked almost non-stop since she got on board, making sure ever last circuit and piece of equipment was just how they should be, plus her own tinkering with, especially customizing her multi-launcher and skate shoes. The girl really didn't know when to quit. Her revelry was interrupted however when Rufus came bursting through the door.

"Qwirky get your butt in gear we're about to land on that wasteland of a planet." The werewolf yelled, much more loudly than he needed to causing Jeene to have to cover her ears. "Get out here now or I'll drag you out you grimy little human!" Rufus growled menacingly and Jeene instantly knew he was not joking around.

"Right, right be out in a second," she quickly put most of the equipment into capsule form and put on her special combat equipment.

"Tch, your kind of a second is too long, come here!" Rufus grabbed her roughly by the arm and towed her away before she could take any longer, thankfully most of the important stuff was ready to go.

A voice came over the ship as the two made their way toward the ship's landing ramp, located at the bottom, front of the ship. "Welcome to planet Beryl, home to various metals, wastelands, and various mining operations." The voice came from the pilot of the ship who would stay with the craft at all times. "The Berylians are quite a hardy bunch so I've heard. You should probably head toward the nearest city from our landing zone, Onyxtite, see if you can't get some information out of the locals, unless they've already been enslaved or something. Well I'm sure you crazies know what to do, hopefully I'll see all your ugly mugs, with a few exceptions, within a week."

The ship made its way through the atmosphere rather smoothly to avoid as much heat up and friction as possible to not give their position away as the ship headed toward what appeared to be a deserted valley. The location would lessen the chances of the Black Bird being spotted while the operatives investigated.

Jeene and Rufus made it to the loading ramp area just as the ship managed to touch down on firm ground. Rufus threw her aside, thankfully her reflexes saved her from a fall and crossed his arms menacingly. "Tch about time we landed this bird, I want to find these so called aliens and kick their sorry asses into the next galaxy."

Jeene sighed, Rufus could be a hard individual to deal with.

What a surprisingly dull planet. I mean, all the buildings are so... white. And it's all very clean. It's almost Arcosian in terms of colour scheme; I was honestly expecting reds, greens, blues, purples... maybe not sas'inht, since they can't see particularly small wavelengths of light such as that (I believe they call it "ultraviolet" for some reason?), but something to show off a little at least. I'm mildly disappointed. Still, there are a lot of people here - mostly humans (though some may be the modified humans they call "androids", which are actually cyborgs), a few Majins, and some odd race of... well, there are of course creatures that are native to Earth, and I believe that this race (or collection of races, more accurately) has a tendency to resemble humanoid versions of said creatures. There's a fair few of their sort around as well. No Namekians, though, and no demons, at least not yet... I'll have to keep looking out for the latter in particular. That said, I also need to ensure I pick and choose the right people to talk to. Otherwise, I may end up tipping off the buyers about my investigation, and all of a sudden, this planet's been swarmed with agents looking to shut me down before I can even open shop, so to speak.

What, in God's name, was he doing on this desert planet?

Half of it was dry, and the other half was a desert, and here he was staring at a massive approaching sandstorm from the opening ramp of his starship, his Invictus. A small craft, it could comfortably hold him and three guests, though if he rationed out space and food, he could fit twice as many. The gray-haired Hilura gazed around, squinting his eyes against the light of the planet's twin suns, and the light reflected by its sandy surface. With his ki-enhanced body and subsequently enhanced senses, it was hard for him to bear all of the excess light, but he had no idea how any of the more powerful races - Namekians and Majin came to mind - could bear it, given the levels of ki-induced power they commonly displayed.

Mister Hilura: It would be in your best interest to go to planet Beryl, post-haste. The message he'd received a week ago had explained. I would reccomend a landing-zone near Onyxite, as it is common for sandstorms to ravage the region and thus could hide your ship. Anonymous had said, likely ignorant of what was known throughout the galaxy as 'Humans and their toys'. You'll understand why your presence is required soon enough. Good luck. No name, no helpful advice, just 'good luck' and then the message was over.

Dredge shook his head and stepped off of the ramp, swiping his hand through his gray hair and sinking his feet a few inches into the shifty surface. He turned around and held up a small device, he pressed the one prominent button and his ship vanished in a plume of smoke and a comical 'poof!', before it cleared to reveal a small, bright green capsule. He bent down and picked it up, before he stuffed it in his back pocket.

Standing up straight, the tan man stretched his back with an audible 'crick', and groaned as it popped.

Okay... Fastest way to the city is to fly... But not many humans fly, so... I guess I walk. Had it not been for the atom-sized robots flowing through his veins, he probably would succumb to the heat by the time he got there, but they and his enhanced body would keep him going long enough. Granted, his ki in base form was something approaching pathetic to most other races, but for a human? It was astounding, only reached - and exceeded, even - by the ancient warriors of many, many ages ago, and few of them had to 'cheat' like he did.

He yawned, going to be a long day. The gray-haired warrior decided that, if he didn't find anything in a month, he'd head out. There was always something to do in the West Galaxy.

Android 58 slowly walked to the ramp of the spaceship that they had flown to Planet Beryl and tried to get a sense of the planet that she and the others had landed on. Not much to look at, She thought to herself as she looked across the landscape. To her it looked like nothing but a desolate wasteland.

Figures. I'm having a nice time on earth and they decide to send me to a wasteland. I wish they could've sent us to Namek or something. I have always wanted to take a look around there, see if anything's interesting.

She looked up as she heard the pilot's voice and sighed as she walked down the ramp and slowly checked her memory banks to see if she had the directions to the city of Onyxtite. She did of course but it never hurt to double check.

"Well guys, I guess I'll see you in a while." She said with a smile as she walked past the first two to leave the ship. "If you find anything or if anything finds you just feel free to give me a holler." She said as she slowly rose into the air as she prepared to fly to the city.

Baal followed the other off the spaceship and looked around the at the planet's environment.

"I wonder if this world has any tough fighters to challenge. With it being a wilderness you can probably expect there to be some kind of trouble" he said with a dark voice as he had his battleaxe rest against his shoulder. This was his first time visiting an alien planet and the place was very different from his home realm or earth. When he heard Rufus talk about wanting to kick some alien butt, Baal laughed amused at the anthro's arrogance.

"I'll be sure to give you some after I destroy the strongest ones. We wouldn't want you to end dying too soon" he said laughing Rufus as he looked around to see if there was a city close by.

"So I find the nearest city and ask around, and if the people are already enslaved and their masters attack I can destroy them, got it" he said as he took off into the air and flew right after Android 58. The ride to the planet was long and he was looking to possibly get his combat skills a good work out.

Rufus ignored Android 58 for the most part but when Baal gave him that snide comment about leaving him the weaklings Rufus flew into a rage. "As if you walking pile of steak! I can beat you into the afterlife and back so don't come crying to me if you run into some muscle head!" Rufus was not just barking, he had ever confidence he could beat the big demon in a fight however, confidence never decided a brawl and certainly Rufus was not an idiot.

"Ya whatever go and ask the locals, I'm going hunting. I'll sniff them out soon enough." Rufus spat on the ground, watched as the moisture made a wet spot that dried up almost instantly. Looking toward up out of the valley, he decided to run upward and spot the nearest set of mountains to be his first search grid. Unlike the Android and Demon, the Anthro decided to merely run really fast and he was incredibly quick on his feet.

"Be careful you three!" Jeene called out to the retreating figures of Android 58 and Baal in the sky, their destination obviously being Onyxtite, and to Rufus who was speeding away in another direction. Jeene glanced around the desolate landscape, like the pilot had said mostly rocks and minerals with little else to see except the occasional bush, there was obviously no Oasis around this section. Frankly Jeene had wanted to remain on the ship to tinker some more but her superiors had ordered her to join in the search probably because they really wanted some human representatives involved in the mission.

"Well better get going I guess. At least now I can test out my new baby." With a childish grin Jeene took out a blue capsule and tossed it on the ground. Out popped a small, Oval shaped craft with sleek wings and a rocket based engine for increased speed. Cracking open the transparent cockpit which looked like glass but thankfully was not, Jeene jumped in and booted up the system. "Lets go for a little test run shall we?" With a quick check and a few switches and buttons, the small personal craft rose up in the air and she started to search around, using the various instruments on the vessel to scan the surrounding area.



The city was half-ruins by this point but the remaining Berylians were putting up quite a good fight. The City was one of the few population centers not yet completely taken over by the invading force. The crustacean like natives scurried around, many of them armed with beam rifles as they attempted to fight off the various alien species that comprised of the invading force. Many of the invaders were wearing the traditional battle armor of the World Trade Organization but there were a few exceptions who appeared to be letting the other aliens fight on the front lines.

One of the main reasons the Berylians had not yet fallen in this city was that most of the more powerful exoskeletons were located in this City which was one of the main processing centers and therefore had more access to power and exotic materials for birthing nests. A beam weapon bounced off the exoskeleton of a metallic looking Berylian soldier who in turn shot down the alien who had fired the shot. A Berylian with gold in his exoskeleton, one of the city leaders watched in silence. Despite the brave fight there was little doubt it would not be much longer before this last bastion of defense would be overrun and the planet enslaved completely. "Blast it, to think we will once again be the servants of a tyrant, still we will make sure they pay heavily for this outrage!"

While the other members of the team were making plans to head to Onyxtite City, Light was just waking up from a nap. Wiping the sleepiness from her large eyes, the Void Demon made her way to the ramp of the ship, yawning when she reached it. She was a bit late and only caught a glimpse of the rest of the team moving towards Onyxtite city. "Hey, I'm not as fast as you guys! Wait up!" She said as she followed the silhouettes of her team mates, yawning as she flew.

I've found my way to what appears to be an Earth-based alcohol dispensary building, apparently labelled "The T-Rex Bar". Certainly, there's a lot of presumably-alcoholic beverages in here, though I can't imagine what relation poles have with a building of this sort. Maybe "bar" is human slang for something else. Or maybe it is the something else. I should figure that one out at some point.

I do not expect to be on this planet for more than a week before moving on. However, I have not come unprepared either: I've acquired enough local currency, here called "zeni", to last twice my expected stay, this including not only the money for food, but also for additional trinkets and treats if so desired. One of those may well be semi-frequent drinking sessions; the consumption of various fruit wines is a relatively recent tradition in Arcosian history, given that acquiring even the base ingredients was a challenge on Old Arcose, and alcohol itself was all but unheard of. We've acquired a knack for making and consuming high-quality alcohol since then... will human equivalents match up, I wonder?

'What'll it be, Arcosian?' the merchant asks me as I take a seat at the bar. Glad to know my race is recognised, and there's fast service here, if not the most polite; if he knew who I was, he'd be a lot more respectful. Then again, the entire point of my being here is to not be recognised, up to and including the lower portion of my mask opening up to accept sustenance (though this tends to be a standard feature of more recent models of this mask). I take a moment to look at the drinks on offer, shortly deciding to go with something called a margarita, showing an image of a drink with a similar colour to myself. Call it self-indulgence, if you will. The process of forming it apparently involves multiple other drinks being poured into a metal container, including lime juice, and a slice of the same lime being wiped round the edge of the serving glass to allow... salt to stick to it? I believe it's salt, though it might also be sugar. Partway through this process, the server asks me if I want it frozen, putting on a fairly pleased grin for some reason. I think he thinks he just made a clever joke. More importantly, though, I feel the need to ask how he intends to speed up a rather slow process, to which he explains that in this case, "frozen" means "blended with ice". I suppose that makes some sense, so I agree to it-

'Well look at the little robot face guy right here!'

The chairs in this place swivel, apparently; I find this out when I swivel round to face- aha. Exactly the sort of person I was looking for: a large, bright red demon, with his arm linked into that of a human female. By his demeanour, though, probably not the exact person I'm looking for - he seems far too uneducated to be involved in something like this. And too drunk. Apparently, our constitution lets us Arcosians "drink other races under the table", or so I've overheard from some of the more worldly servants in the royal palace; I imagine this fellow isn't too far off from his breaking point. The woman's half-passed out already, it seems.

'Can I help you?' I ask politely. Or, well, as politely as I'm willing to, which perhaps isn't as politely as he wants, given that his absurd, mocking grin only gets wider, and he leans in, breathing alcoholic fumes directly into my face, fortunately filtered by my mask to preserve me from the smell. 'Ooh, a posh bastard, aren't we?' he asks. 'Arrogant, too. You know, we don't like your kind here, xeno.'

I take a quick look round him, then say 'I only see you berating me. And who is "my kind"? Posh bastards, arrogant people, or Arcosians?'

'Pff. And cocky. Ya see this, Felli?' he says to his companion. 'He's just asking for an ass-whooping!'

'Pssshyeahbish, y'r j'st too CCKKAAAAWWWckkckky, PFNAH!' she exclaims. Yes, definitely too drunk to be here.

'Okay, Ian,' the barman says, 'you've had your fun. Stop harassing the customers.'

'Oh, yeah? What if, uh, what if I have some beef with this guy?' the demon called Ian states, clearly amused by himself and his ranting. 'Maybe he's gone and pissed me off, right? Maybe I feel like he, uh, needs some uh... y'know, what's the word...'

'Re-education?' I helpfully supply.

'Yeah, that,' he says, pushing the woman on to a seat as he cracks his shoulder tendons. I hum slightly, then stand up on the chair, noting that a lot of nearby drinkers are paying attention to us now.

'Uh- sir, please sit down, he does this quite a lot, he won't try anything if you just-'

'No, no, I'm going to prove a point,' I respond, pressing a button on the side of my mask that opens up the lower portion of the mask, exposing my mouth and jaw to the open air. 'By all means, "Ian", give me your best shot. Right here,' and I point to my chin briefly before folding my arms.

'Ya see that, folks? Too cocky for his own good,' the demon yells out loud. 'Just for that, I'm gonna give him my world-famous Windup Special Punch! Get ready, punk, you're goin' through the roof!'

'Yea'b'sh, yo're gone through th'roof, HAHHAHA!'

'Ian if you break my roof-'

'Then what, barkeep? What'll you do to me?' he asks, already spinning his fist in preparation for a potentially very strong uppercut. He at least knows something about momentum, then... but his technique is sloppy, and it's already painfully obvious that, though he possesses enough ki to prevent harm from most civilian arms, he has nothing like the amount needed to be a threat to any real combatants. I subtly tilt my head up in preparation to receive the blow, and as a taunt, until finally, he gives out an almighty roar, and brings the fist rushing up into my lower jaw.

Something cracks audibly, though I barely feel the hit. A half-second later, Ian gives out a particularly high squeal of pain and pulls his hand away, the bones in his fingers shattered on impact, and the phalanges already swelling up.

'What the- how- oh God, my hand-'

'Pffwow, thassit?' the girl asks. 'Whatta looo... loossrrrr...' she finishes, finally collapsing to the floor and snoring loudly. The demon grits his teeth, and points a finger from his good hand in my direction, claiming that I'll "pay for that"; at this, the... "barkeep", I think he said? Finally says 'Alright, Ian, you had your fun and got your injuries, now get out of here.'

'Ah- if I may?' I say quickly. I want to see if... yes, I knew it. He's weak enough that my telekinesis is able to affect him directly, even though he struggles to break free quite viciously. That said, I maneuver him until he is level with the open doorway, then quite casually toss him through it, hearing rubbish bins clatter on the other side of the street a moment later. The onlookers applaud at my display; a bow and a hand flourish only increase the applause, until it eventually dies down again, and they return to their previous conversations.

'Yes, yes, well done, sir, and thank you for dealing with him... now seriously, sit down, you're scuffing the chair leather.'

...oh. I suppose that is quite uncouth of me. I quickly mutter out an apology and take my seat again, noting that the margarita is finished and sitting in front of my chair. It is... nothing like as green as I expected it to be. More of a pale yellow. I take a sip, and ahhhhhyyyyes, that is definitely a drink. There is definitely alcohol in that. Ah. Hum. Erm.

'This isn't great.'

'It's based on tequila, what'd you expect?' he asks, before crossing himself with a shake of his head. 'Eh, I shouldn't be too hard on you. Ya took that punch like a champ, you know?'

'Yes, I do. Does "Ian" threaten to begin fights often?' I ask curiously.

'Ehh... I mean, he was a semi-regular for a bit, but he only started showing up daily to be that much of a jackass a couple of weeks ago,' the bartender elaborates. 'Somethin' to do with, uh... not getting in on that trip, I think.'

Oh. Oh ho. Now I'm intrigued. 'Which trip was that?'

'Uh, to space, to try and figure out who's been capturing all those planets. Why, what's the- huh... nice armour...'

Oh, damn. The cloak's fallen open. 'Thank you,' I say, casually moving the outer layer of clothing back into a cover-all position. 'It's one of the newer models.'

'Yeah... sssay, what're you doing here on Earth, anyway? I'm sure Arcosians don't usually bother coming here, right?'

'...I'm afraid that's none of your business.'

'Tch. So cold... ah, get it? Cold? Eh?'

Oh, that was why he was smiling to himself earlier. The association with chill, after... hmm. 'Despite what Frieza's prominence may have implied, we don't all have a cultural association with the cold, unfortunately for your sense of humour.'

'Eh, you could have at least pretended it was funny.'

'I could have,' I agree, turning to look back at the doorway. I'm still preoccupied with what the barkeeper said earlier... if that demon did have some association with something relating to the buyers of those planets, then it may well be in my best interests to go after him. And if I go after him now, I might just catch up with him... I quickly pour the contents of the margarita glass into my mouth, oh wow yes ahem that is an alcoholic drink indeed, and the salt certainly does not help, then place the glass neatly on the counter and begin counting out zeni coins to the barkeeper. After about half a minute of doing this, he eventually says 'Uh, that's about three... four times as much as the drink actually cost, you know...'

'What are you talking about? There's nobody counting this money out to you, and you certainly didn't accept it in exchange for telling nobody that an Arcosian was ever here, which they of course weren't.'

He allows me to continue counting for another few seconds, then places his hand over the pile of coins; the bribe accepted, I pocket the remainder, then walk out of the bar, hearing the barkeeper exclaim 'Woah, where'd all this money come from, was I even talking to anybody just now, what...?' as I leave. Next stop: the alleyway on the opposite side of the street. It's time to go demon hunting.

Well, that would prove to be an interesting development.

Barely ten minutes after he landed, he heard another ship went roaring through the skies, almost like its pilot was testing its limits. And over the roar of a ship's engines, and the slowly building howl of the desert winds and flight of its sands, he heard the sounds of war. Blasterfire, death cries, the whole nine yards.

Oh... Well then, I guess I'm in for a treat. He grinned, his pupils dilating as he focused on the distance, and just barely saw a war-torn city coming up over the horizon. Smoke was billowing up from it, and he saw WTO soldiers flying through the air, engaging the natives. That answers one question, at least. The new question was whether or not he'd last long enough in a straight-up fight against WTO soldiers, or if there would be enough around to force him to power up.

Deciding that caution was now to be thrown to the wind, Dredge slowly levitated into the air.

I guess we'll find out. Thought the gray-haired human, before he blasted off towards the city with a deafening sonic boom, his nanite-influenced, electric-blue aura slowly building up around him as his ki flowed within him.

Android 58 flew across the sky and she took a moment to savor the feel of the wind against her hair. She enjoyed flying, it was one of the few times she felt like she could accomplish anything. She could sense Baal directly behind her and she raised her voice slightly as she scanned the area.

"My sensors are picking up fighting up ahead. Looks like the natives are putting up a bit of a fight against whoever decided to attack this ball of rock." She called to Baal as she picked up speed and saw the sight of a city that had nearly been turned to rubble. She narrowed her eyes for a moment as she analyzed the situation for a moment. "There aren't that many defenders left and the invaders are wearing a symbol that looks really familiar. I can't place it however."

She turned to look at Baal. "You ready? Looks like we've got a bit of a fight on our hands." She said as she took aim at one of the invading solders with her finger blaster.

Baal ignored Rufus' angry words and just kept on flying after the android. Earthlings were so hot-tempered and egotistical, it was no wonder that so many of them died by getting themselves into horrible situations that they couldn't handle. Either way the anthro didn't impress him and he didn't respect those who weren't proven warriors until he could judge their skills. Android 58 then said to him that her sensors had picked up on what was happening in the approaching city and of the attack. Baal laughed when she asked if he was ready, he had been ready hours before they landed on this dry planet.

"At last some poor souls to unleash my fury upon, I was born for this fight!" he shouted back at the android with a smile as they came to the war torn city and Baal could see their enemies ahead. Baal picked up speed and made a sonic boom as he broke the sound barrier. His target was one of the solders and he had his axe at the ready. He smashed into the unsuspecting enemy with incredible force and sent the alien crashing into buildings. Using the element of surprise Baal quickly speed blitzed another WTO soldier and cleaved the being's head with his Axe.

"I can see future for all of you and that future is death!" he roared and used his Demon Breath technique to create a large jet of flames that engulfed several soldiers in its path and started burning them alive. His blood was alight with the excitement of battle and Baal was ready for a long and brutal fight.

Hrmph. He's not stuck around, has he? I've got the mask helping me with its HUD, but even then, he's sort of just gone. I expected him to be more badly injured than that, and the surprisingly complexity of the present system of alleys I'm in is not helping either. But, then again, there's a simple solution to this problem: covertly, I hover upwards until I am far above the city, making sure nobody is looking in my direction, then have the mask's visual sensors zoom in somewhat to give me clearer views of the individual people below me. It doesn't take me much longer after this to rediscover Ian's location - he's not particularly close to where I was, but he is headed towards a group of other demonic-looking individuals, presumably his friends and/or fellow gang members, to the number of five. I imagine they won't be much more troublesome than Ian himself, frankly; either way, I float over to a rooftop near the group, and listen to their conversation briefly:

'Damn, your hand got messed up! What happened?'

'Uh- alright, so I was in the bar, right, and I was with this smoking babe-'

'No you fuckin' weren't...'

'I WAS, thank you-'

'Was it Felli? Everyone knows she's a fucking drunk slut half the time.'

'SHADDAP I'm telling a story... okay, so I was with a hot babe, we were having a good time, and then some asshat xeno comes out of nowhere, with this huge iron rod-'

'Like mah penis, heh.'

'-and just tries to smash my head in. And I'm like, "fuck that noise", and just punch it in half, which is how this happened. And THEN, with my other hand, and also feet, I beat the fucking SHIT out of that douchebag, and tell him never to come back to Earth again! Or the Demon Realm, since that's where we're, uh, originally from, so yeah.'

'Sounds embellished. How drunk are you?'

Now's a good time to intervene, I think. As he's been talking, I've been quietly descending until I'm stood atop a post just away from them, arms crossed; now, with my position set, I reveal myself by confidently stating 'Far more drunk than is healthy for a demon, I imagine.' All six of them turn to face me, Ian with a look of mild terror on his face that has so far gone unnoticed by his companions. 'And for the record,' I continue, 'the actual progression of events involved him confronting me out of nowhere, giving me his "world-famous Windup Special Punch", and breaking his fist on my chin. And then I threw him out of the bar.'

'...sounds embellished.'

'How we got here is unimportant. Let's get straight to the point: you have information I want, Ian. Give it to me freely, and I'll let you live; the rest of you, leave if you value your physical well-being.'

'Bah! You can't tell us what to do, poshie!' one of the gang members yells, backed up by an 'Uh- uh- y-yeah!' from Ian. 'You got the drop on me last time, but I've got my bros with me now! There's no way you can beat all of us!'

'If you're so confident, then by all means try to attack me,' I state, stepping down from the post to the ground, arms still crossed over my chest.

'Alright, boys, GET HIM!' their coward of a leader yells, stepping back as his fellows take the charge. If Ian's the leader of the group, then these five demons are almost certainly weaker than him. In any case, however, the power difference is likely to be meaningless; even stood stock still, all of them are moving far too slowly to be even vaguely threatening. With a slight sigh, I shift my arms so that the cross now reaches to my shoulders, then fling my arms out, forming a shockwave-esque kiai that throws out a wave of force around me, billowing my cloak and blasting away the nearby debris. The demons are thrown away from me like so much dust, impacting into nearby walls hard enough to knock them out, with one skidding down the alleyway past Ian. Before he can so much as turn, I am upon him, slamming him into the alley wall with one hand clamped over his mouth, and myself hovering so that I am visor-to-eye with him; his struggles to free himself are in vain, especially with one hand out of commission.

'Now, Ian,' I begin with a voice as chill as the grave, 'here's how this is going to work. First of all, I'm going to prove that I will make good on any future threats I direct toward you.'

I grab his flailing hand, the one that wasn't injured before, then take the middle finger of it in my fingers and snap it back upon itself with a twist. Frankly, this is the most efficient way to get my desired answer out of him. His scream of pain is muffled under my hand, of course; I can't have him revealing our location before I've gotten what I want.

'Secondly, I'm going to ask you politely, just once, about a very particular subject. Possibly more than one question on the topic. If you fail to respond satisfactorily, within a time period as deemed sufficient by myself, or if you attempt to alert any passersby of what transpires here, I will continue to injure you until such time as you are dead, unconscious, or otherwise amenable to my requests. Do you understand?'

He nods vigorously, albeit stifled under my hand; with the ground rules laid out, I shift my grip from his face to his shirt, and quietly ask 'So, I've been told you had something to do with a recent mission from this planet, involving determining who the buyers of those planets sold by the World Trade Organisation are. Would you care to explain what said mission was about?'

'Uh- w-well- u-u-uhhh...' he stammers nervously. Too slow.

'Five, four-'

'NonoNO, please, I'm trying to-'

'Three, two-'

'ALRIGHTALRIGHTstopstopstop, it was uh, it was, it was for this, uh, do you know of, um... uh... the-the Earth Defense Force...'

'...I do now. Go on.'

'W-well, they, uh, had tryouts... f-for um, th-this mission, right? And, u-u-uh, they were going to, ah, t-to investigate the... uh... th-the buyers.'

I wait a moment, considering what he's said, then ask 'And you're still here because...?'

'I, uh... I mean, that is, uh...'

'Five.'

'Ohgodn- uh, I w-wasn't, um... considered... for the position... due to-'

'You're too weak.'

This is responded to with a low groan. 'I-I pushed for it...'

'But no. And you call yourself a defender of Earth?'

'...n-not being part of the EDF might've also h-had something to do with it.'

'You're a disgrace to your kind if you thought you'd manage something so obviously foolish. Final question: did they mention what planet they were headed to?'

'P-planet...? Oh- OH, y-yeah they did, uh... I think it was... Buh, bu-bu-bu... fuck, what was it, what WAS IT-'

'Shush.'

'S-sorry. Um... Buuuuuuuuuhhhh... Ba, Be, Ber- BERYL, it was Beryl, that was it!'

Ah, of course. Planet Beryl, home to the crustacean-like Berylians, a race enslaved by Frieza during the WTO's run. So, all I need to do is head there.

'Thank you for your help, Ian. And now the final stipulation to our agreement: tell nobody that this happened. Tell your cronies to tell nobody, as well. If it slips out that I was here, I'll know who did it. And I will come back for you. Understand?'

'Y... yes...'

'Good,' I finish, letting him drop to the ground, and walking out of the alley as he begins to sob lightly. There are some people in the universe who cannot walk anything like as well as they talk, and others who are utterly contemptible in their attitude to said walking and talking; Ian just so happens to be an unfortunate combination of the two traits, leading to little more than a playground bully of a demon. The lowest of the low, and ever more spiteful for it. What's the word used by humans... "pathetic", I think.

But that's irrelevant now. I have my information, and I know where I must head in order to continue my investigation. Let's hope Beryl is as simple to handle as this planet turned out to be.

The arrival of Android 58 and Baal to the city was a scene of chaos as the two started to hammer into WTO ex-soliders. The Berylians watched in awe as the two started to rip into the ranks of enemy, temporarily disrupting the enemy ranks, especially when Baal started to roast some of them alive. "Who the heck are these guys!" One of the WTO aliens snarled as a group of soldiers made some space to regroup.

"Came to die with these crabs did ya?" They scoffed, trying to look as brave as possible when some of their comrades got instantly killed. Still there was plenty of them left over to fight. Because Baal looked like a more threatening target most of them turned to target him, while trying to be wary of his large axe of doom. "You should know not to mess World Trade Organization!"

Interesting they still seemed to consider themselves WTO soldiers despite the organization's fall. A few aliens in the distance watched with interest as their 'fodder' entered combat while the Berylians cheered the arrival of the Android and demon. They were content to watch for the moment to see just what these new arrivals could do.

Meanwhile in the sky Jeene was flying around in her aircraft, making careful recordings of the surrounding area. The battle in the city already firmly encoded in the craft's memory banks. She stared at her instruments, thinking that something was off. "Surely that can't be their entire force, there are barely enough to take a city as big as Onyxtite. Also I have yet to locate any enemy spacecraft. How can this be?" Jeene considered helping out at the city but it was more important for her to find out the true strength of the invaders and locate their ships if possible. Hitting the afterburner her small craft zipped through the sky at an astonishing rate in an attempt to locate the 'real' enemy.

Rufus had already made it to the top of a nearby mountain to get a view of the area. It was somewhat depressing to see miles of open land with nothing but the occasional rock and shrub. What was on the mountain itself was much more interesting. There was a mining operation going on and Berylian workers were being forced into hard labor for the precious minerals and metals in the mountain. It had not taken long for Rufus to sniff out some worthy prey as he sneaked around the mine. "Heh, let those idiots fight to their hearts content some small fry, I'm going to get to the boss around here."