Even without the ability to sense Ki it was easy enough for Ryuhei to find Dyce, all he had to do was follow the explosions. They had begun after he had flown away from the dojo, leaving Master Goichi in the care of the other students as he headed in the direction his teacher said the alien was, as he had approached the downtown area. It seemed like Dyce was fighting someone or something, giving Ryuhei some hope that he may have allies in the fight to come just like his master had said.

As he arrived on the scene it was to find a battle already underway, unsurprisingly. Dyce was flying towards a figure with a dark red cloak over lighter red robes, the alien throwing a punch that impacted some invisible force between the two of them that flung both combatants away from each other. As both fighters recovered, the man in red seeming to suffer the worst from the exchange, they both began to taunt each other until Dyce threw an energy blast that his opponent dodged.

Using the alien’s distraction as an opening, Ryuhei flew towards Dyce and threw a roundhouse kick at the side of his head from behind, the alien’s reactions allowing him to turn towards the attack and see it coming at the last second but not dodge. Ryuhei’s shin impacted the side of Dyce’s head, sending the would-be conqueror tumbling along the ground. When he came to a stop and pulled himself back to his feet the alien looked mostly unhurt, the only signs of the attack being a few extra scuff marks on his armour and an incensed look on his face.

“Do none of you insects know how to stay dead? I thought I crushed you after I gutted the old man.”

The reminder of what Dyce had done to Master Goichi caused anger to flare up in Ryuhei’s chest, but he beat it back down and focused on opponent before him. Without a word the martial artist charged forward, flying along the ground and striking out with a straight punch which Dyce blocked with crossed arms. Ryuhei then flowed into a rising knee that struck the underside of Dyce’s arms, pushing the block up and apart and opened up the alien’s chin to the snap kick that followed it.

Dyce grunted in pain as his head snapped back from the attack before jumping back and planting both hands on the ground as he flipped away from Ryuhei. Once he was back on his feet he began to levitate and flew backwards while rapidly firing energy blasts from an outstretched hand. Imbuing his arms with ki Ryuhei covered his head and blocked the barrage of attacks before flying after Dyce, giving pursuit as the alien attempt to fly away from the battle.

Grisha had been gazing up at Dyce when the Zandol raised his hands to the sky. Obliviously, he was waiting to see what the alien would do, having no idea that he was preparing to detonate North City. A strange human then darted before the green man’s face and screamed some strange gibberish. His body then erupted in a blinding flash that made Grisha hiss as he tucked his face into his arm. The glare lingered before his eyes like a hallucination even with them closed. He heard the alien scream in disgust and cracked his eyes, peering over his arm at the creature as the glare started to fade from his eyes. It was so sudden and unexpected, but another human had rammed a weird metal battering ram into the alien. The green man crashed into the street, and then there was an explosion!

The Saiyan’s mouth fell open in awe. What even was that? Thrusting his fists into the air, he cheered barbarically, “YAAAH!”

His celebration was short-lived as the annoying vegetable emerged from the flames. Grisha lowered his fists and growled. He could smell its burnt flesh, and it hadn’t smelled like grilled zucchini or any plant he had ever smelled. But what the alien and vegetables had in common despite their green color was their foul odor. Police girl unloaded shell after shell on the creature with her boom stick. The sheltered Saiyan couldn’t believe what he was seeing, and his fists clenched in excitement. She was kicking that damn thing’s ass!

Grisha was grinning. His tail was flicking happily behind him until his teeth vanished behind another stunned expression. There was a girl with a tail, but not just any tail, a tail like his! He peered over his shoulder at his ape-like appendage and grasped it in his hand, bringing it around to the front to compare (sizes) similarities. Brown, fuzzy, and flexible; there was no denying it. His eyes gazed widely upon Okora while she was enthralled in battle. It was the first time he had ever seen someone like him. For so long he had been the only one. Tears beaded in Grisha’s eyes. He found his family!

Releasing his tail, Grisha lunged into the fray and while Okora was focused on beating the Zandol, Grisha intercepted her, gathering the smaller Saiyan into his arms. His arms locked around her in what was a devastating…hug.

“Grisha have baby sister!” the large Saiyan wept. “Grisha no longer alone!”

His tail creepily coiled around her own tail—tail hug! It was as if the battle with a world conquering extraterrestrial species wasn’t as important in that moment. Grisha was convinced that he found a relative. Wait until he told Lena!

---

Dyce had lost his confidence. The fighters he had swore he had put down were swarming him like hornets. He was overwhelmed! As the alien started to flee North Capital and his pursuer (Ryuhei), he was losing concentration. His mind was in a panic! He had to stretch them out and get rid of them one-by-one. They were nothing when he fought them separate. Grinning wickedly, he hoped that he was able to bait Ryuhei away from the others. If they both fled a good enough distance, then he could turn on him and destroy him once and for all.

That’s right. Follow me overconfident worm. You think you’ve won. You’re in for a rude awakening! Dyce thought as he started to concentrate ki within his hands.

Erika watched as Okora as a female monkey tailed alien slammed her foot into the green alien's head, like a humanoid version of her own bike assault. The villain went down and the female continued the onslaught with her own energy blast called a mega explosion. It was certainly pretty to look at, but unfortunately it wouldn't be enough to bring this guy down.

She turned to her momentarily while she looked back with a cocked eyebrow and her shot gun in her hands. Apparently she had gotten inspired by her own bike ramming and felt sorry for her loss of vehicle before launching herself back at the alien.

"Eh, the government will pay for it so no real skin off my nose, though Dr. Tread is gonna have a fit most likely. Ya, that will be fun." Erika sighed and for the moment just watched as the next guy fought, apparently the skinny kid would know be known as Magnet Boy since he seemed to have a supernatural power to control metal. The kid didn't seem to be that much of a fighter compared to them but his skills certainly made up for it. Unfortunately he wasn't able to finish him off either and the alien started to fight back. But then another guy appeared she had not seen before.

Like a good number of the others this guy seemed to be a real fighter and martial artist and was quick on his feet. Finally feeling the pressure the alien started to panic and was trying to leave their gang up party. Erika grit her teeth in annoyance, if he managed to get away they would lose their best chance at stopping the menace. "Oh no you don't you piece of-" Erika was about to give chase with the new guy when suddenly dumb-o the ape-o decided now was the best time to have a little friendly tussle with smaller monkey girl.

"-The heck are you doing oversized buffoon!" Erika slung her shotgun behind her back and stomped over toward the incredibly large saiyan as he bear-hugged the poor girl. Dang he was even larger up close but Erika was never one to let the size of something intimidate her. All she saw right now was that this large man-child was preventing a valuable combat asset from doing the job that needed to be done, helping her stop a homicidal alien from wiping out human life on the planet, because he wanted to lock...tails.

Erika stomped over, her eyebrows twitching in irritation knowing every moment they were delayed was a moment their quarry would have to get away. She thought about trying to pry his arms off but she doubted she had the strength to do that; however this large ape of a man was acting like a child, so perhaps the appropriate action was to treat him like one. She floated up so her face was level with his took her left hand and yanked on the big man's cheeks to try and force him to look at her, and cause a little pain as well.

"Hey manchild, do you know what a pain in the butt you're being right now?" She tried her best to make her cyan eyes burn into his dark grey ones. "I want you to let go of the nice young woman so that we can take down a really bad guy. Ya hear me you overgrown punk! Now snap to it!"

Erika gave the most commanding glare and military voice she could muster and internally hoped he got the memo. Well even if he just got mad at her he should let go of the other girl so that they could get to chasing the bad guy, cause she would have to be quick to make sure he didn't grab her if it came to that. Seriously, having to deal with this was more annoying than getting beaten up by that alien, maybe she should have just gone after him instead but having as much of their fighting strength available was probably more important. Hopefully someone else would be heading off to give chase while she dealt with rocks for brains...and muscles.

Okora was about to go after the alien once again and unleash complete hell on him when she suddenly felt herself enveloped in a...HUG?! Who the hell was hugging her at a time like this?!

“Grisha have baby sister! Grisha no longer alone!”

What the?! He thinks I'm his SISTER?!? She thought with a mixture of fear, revulsion and honestly just a tiny hint of pity at the realization that suddenly came to her. Wait...does he even know what or who he is? Hold on just a second...what in the...I thought I cut that damn thing off, why did my tail regrow?! And what the hell is touching it?!

Okora was paralyzed by a mixture of fear and complete and utter shock as she felt Grisha's tail "hug" hers for lack of a better term. She tried desperately to worm her way out of his grasp as Erika commanded him to let her go. She stopped struggling for a moment as an idea came to mind and she silently shot Erika a look to let her handle the situation. Despite her revulsion towards her own species and the small amount of revulsion she felt towards herself if she was honest, the rock headed buffoon might be useful.

"Listen...uh...Grisha. You see that green guy who's trying to get away? He wants to kill everyone. Including me. You know what happens if he comes back and kills me? You'll be alone again. I'll help you fight him but you need to let me go so we can stop him." Okora forced a smile to her face. "Will Grisha help Okora fight the green man?" She asked carefully. For the love of all things holy please let me go! She thought.

Yang breathed a small sigh of relief. His newfound allies had apparently seen the opening he created with the Taiyouken and jumped on it. From Erika crashing her bike into him, to the tailed woman and two young men giving their contributions. Yang's eyes lit up ever so slightly when the alien appeared to turn tail and run. That could only mean he was on the ropes, there was indeed hope after all! However Yang found himself briefly distracted by the antics of another tailed person appearing to snatch the tailed girl into hug. There was some... banter between them and Erika? They were a little far for Yang to hear clearly. Either way they couldn't let Dyce escape.

"Hey!" Yang yelled after moving a bit closer to their position, "Now is not the time! He's trying to escape!" He didn't stick around for a response and instead took off to give chase. Unfortunately Dyce had gotten a little ways away during that time and so Yang would have to really make up the distance some how. The question was: How? That was when he spotted something in the distance. A figure? Looked like it, but they were too far away to recognize. Whoever they were, they'd come from the opposite direction and were clearly cutting off Dyce's escape route. It wasn't until their Ki lit up with white only to suddenly shine a silvery blue that Yang realized what was happening.

"MASTER!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, trying to pick up the pace. He didn't sound very excited or celebratory this time, instead he was worried, knowing what the Master's plan was and wanting to do everything in his power to keep him from doing it.

---

Meanwhile, both Dyce and Ryuhei were shooting toward the position of a lone figure floating silently in the sky. His tattered cloak blew wildly in the wind as he watched the approaching alien. Soon enough he put up both his wrinkled hands and used them to form a sign with his fingers, "Rin..." came a voice from within the cloak. The wind seemed to pick up around him and an aura of white Ki wrapped itself around his body, "Pyō, Tō, Sha..." his white aura appeared to suddenly erupt into a shining silvery blue, "Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen!" with that last syllable the man's aura brightened further only to explode into a darker violet aura. As the wind howled around him his cloak blew away from him, revealing him to those watching.

He was an older man, in his sixties at least, perhaps more. He wore only a pair of tight black shorts accompanied by tattered bandages wrapped tightly around his hands, forearms, shins and feet. He had short, greyish white hair that swirled in the wind. He had a hard stare, a white goatee on his chin and a distinct scar on on his left cheek. The rest of his body, though wrinkled and frail with age, was covered in callouses from a lifetime of training and even a few other scars on his chest and back that likely each came with a story of a previous hard fought battle. But all at once, the frailty vanished, and the old man's physique suddenly expanded into a more toned and muscular appearance. The wrinkles of age melted away, and as the man's eyes began to glow red, a third eye opened on his forehead and also glowed red.

"It's about time we put you down!" he said, his voice sounding grizzled and with a commanding tone. He lunged forward, as if vanishing in the process only to appear again to slam his kneecap into the alien's gut. The old man followed this with a flurry of blows so fast it was almost as if he struck with four arms instead of merely two. He ended the flurry with a sledgehammer blow meant to send the invader crashing back down to the Earth.

"Haaaa...." the old man chanted, bringing his arms together, nearly touching his hands at the finger tips to form a distinct shape, "KikoHOOOO!" he howled, sending a diamond shaped column of concussive energy hammering down on the alien, "KikoHOOOOOOO!" he yelled again, and again another concussive energy blast slammed downward. The old man stood his ground, continuing to repeat the attack. In truth, he was no match for this adversary. His attack would hold the alien in place for a while, but he would emerge from it still alive and intact. But just holding the alien in place, preventing an escape, that would have to suffice. Master Feng had already resolved himself to his decision, and he would continue to unleash his full power even if reduced his frail old body to dust, "Ki... ko... HO!"

"NO MASTER! DON'T!" a voice yelled, Yang closing in and finally close enough to be heard. Sure enough Feng's disciple made it to his side, "Please Master, don't exert yourself any further! I'll stop him now!" Yang jerked his body to face the direction Dyce had fallen in, similarly holding his arms in the same fashion as his Master, "Kikoho!" both master and student yelled in unison. The others needed to hurry. Even working together, Yang and his Master would only be able to hold Dyce down for so long.

---

Kin watched as Ryuhei engaged with Dyce and his mind was racing through what his next move would be to aid in stopping the alien menace. When the alien took off and Ryuhei followed, Kin immediately flew at high speeds in their direction, Dyce was trying to split them up and try to take them down individually. He wasn't going to let that happen and hurried after the two fighters. He was sure if his allies would follow as well, but he was still confident with him and Ryuhei putting up a good fight.

He noticed that a third person had met up with them ahead and he appeared to be an older man and was the master to one of his allies. That was good, it meant more help in fighting this foe. This martial arts master began to use some powerful technique that Kin had never seen before and began to try and subdue the alien menace with the aid of his student. Kin saw this as his chance to get in a direct attack while the alien was being subdued.

Kin charged up energy in his hands and the glow became bright. He had only used this technique in battle only once and now was the best time to use it.

"Electro-Bull!" he shouted and a giant bull made of pure electromagnetic energy shot out of his hands and flew at Dyce. The attack moved at insane speeds and hit the area where the alien was being subdued by his allies' technique. The technique hit Dyce and caused a big explosion bathing the area in bright green light.

Ryuhei could do nothing but stand by as the barrage of energy blasts fired down on Dyce from the two fighters above. Once they had left the city, Ryuhei and another martial artist chasing Dyce as he fled, they had been cut off by an older man who then proceeded to hammer the alien into the ground with columns of concussive force. As they got closer the fighter who had followed Ryuhei rushed over to him, calling out in panic towards what was apparently his master before joining in with attacks of his own.

Whatever they were doing it certainly seemed effective, but the tone of the other fighter’s voice had him worried, as did the strain in the old man’s shouts that grew more pained with each attack. For some reason the repeated ki blasts felt less like a finishing blow and more like a desperate last stand.

As he watched another person approached from the city. As he got closer Ryuhei recognised as the young man in the red robe and cloak who had been fighting Dyce as he arrived. Using the alien’s current predicament as an opening, the young man charges up a large attack that detonated over Dyce in an explosion of green light, interrupting the repeated blasts of the other student and master and hopefully putting a stop to this once and for all.

Without a ranged attack of his own there was nothing Ryuhei could do for now, nothing he could contribute. All he could do was wait and see what the outcome of these attacks were and be ready to strike at close range should Dyce still be standing.

-The heck are you doing oversized buffoon!

Grisha glanced over at the blonde who marched over toward him, his grip tightening possessively about Okora, the closer she came. Erika’s shouting and insults weren’t helping her situation as the large Saiyan began baring his teeth at her like an affronted hound. Who did she think she was? For a brief second, he saw Lena’s image flash over Erika, causing him to frantically blink his eyes to clear it. Erika and Lena were both blonde and blue-eyed…and short; and both seemed to like bossing him around. Grisha snapped out of it when Erika grasped his cheek and gave it a tug. His eyes were wide in momentary shock. What the? As she started throwing demands in his face, Grisha’s cheek muscle tightened until it went rigid and straightened from her grasp. He aggressively growled at the cop, “Little girl not Lena!”

Listen…uh…Grisha…

His dark eyes angrily peered down at Okora as she spoke about the Green Man. He knew very well who she was talking about even without her needing to point him out. When she told him about the Green Man wanting to kill her, the giant’s scowl hardened with malevolence. “No one hurt baby sister…”

The Saiyan set Okora on the ground and rested his hand upon her head. His palm practically clutched her skull like a basketball. “Grisha protect. Baby sister must come home. Meet family.”

Hey! Now is not the time! He’s trying to escape!

At the puny human’s indication, Grisha glanced to where he saw shrinking in the distance a fighter and the alien. He arched his lip in disgust. The coward was trying to run, but he wasn’t going to let him escape smoothly—at least so he initially thought. Grisha turned from Okora and his next step shattered the concrete. The large Saiyan launched into a sprint as he raced after the enemy in pursuit. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Okora had told him. If anything happened to his new baby sister, then he would be alone again. At the same time, Grisha couldn’t help but smile brightly. He couldn’t wait to show Lena!

---

Dyce was pinned upon the ground. The old man’s diamond blast keeping him from moving. He couldn’t believe what was happening. Eyes wide and littered with red panicky veins, as much as he tried to escape, the old man wasn’t giving him a chance. The initial attacks had felt strong, but then there was an odd change. They were growing weaker. Smirking as the ground continued to flatten in a diamond shape beneath him, Dyce knew that the old man would give out soon.

His smirk then vanished when he heard a second shout. Kikoho! It felt as though the earth was trying to crush him. His bones started to crack, and he swore his body would soon flatten. “Aaaaarrgh!” the alien screamed in pain and hysterical frustration. He couldn’t go down like this! Not to this planet full of weaklings!

The Zandol’s eyes were then assaulted by the green glare of an energy construct descending upon him. When the electrobull struck, the volts passed through his stretched body, ripping and incinerating it in a green blast. The alien’s energy signature vanished as the green glow faded in the diamond-shaped crater.

Grisha had arrived to the scene after the events, and he gazed over at the diamond-shaped crater. Leaping over to it, he crouched grasping the edge and peering inside. If the Green Man had been in there, he was gone, and there wasn’t much left but a few fragments of burnt armor. Grisha’s face sank unenthusiastically. He had been hoping to get a chance to avenge his baby sister, but so many meddling humans had beaten him to the punch.

Standing, Grisha gazed up at Yang and his master, and then his attention was drawn to a distant white streak through the atmosphere. It looked like any jetstream an airplane or jet would leave behind, but unknown to them, it was Dyce’s ship fleeing into the cosmos. Grisha scratched the back of his head for a moment, and then suddenly remembered. Now that the battle was over, he could take Okora to see Lena!

---

Power Level Award:

Ryuhei Takagi – 455
Erika Beryl – 455
Kin Zoku – 455
Yang Wuxin – 455
Okora – 455
Grisha – 455

Battle Award:

Technique Slot +1

GM Notes: When you come up with a new technique to add to your arsenal, please inform the GM so that they can review it and approve it for use in the game. You can always role play how your character acquired this new technique. Perhaps it comes from their eventual training? Sparring? However, you choose to acquire it is up to you. They can just automatically know it without any training montage needed.

---

Kin starred in amazement at the sight of where Dyce had been defeated by their combined efforts. He had to admit that he was not sure that they could win, but it seemed that he was wrong. He then felt fatigue start to set in and he lowered himself to the ground and staggered a bit upon landing on the ground. He was glad that the alien threat was over with and he could soon rest. This battle had definitely taught Kin one thing and that was him needing to train more to get closer to mastering his powers and be prepared for more insanely powerful foes.

He had not used his electrobull technique in battle before and he was still surprised at the technique worked as well as it did. He looked at the others to see if any of others were hurt or needed help recovering from the battle.

just then another person appeared and Kin turned to look at the arrival. this new person asked what had he missed and Kin almost laughed.

"Oh nothing really. Just some genocidal alien menace who wanted to murder millions of people and blew up a city. You know the usual" he said jokingly. Once they were finished here then Kin would try to focus on his training and push himself to get better with his mutant powers. This battle showed that he couldn't get complacent with growing the strength of his abilities.

Okora watched as Grisha took off after the Alien along with a number of the others. "Well, that worked well." She said quietly as she dusted herself off. A moment later, the area where the others was lit up with a series of flashes and a bright greenish glare. A moment later the alien's energy signature vanished. It's...It's dead! Holy crap they killed it! She thought in amazement. One on one that thing had managed to take down everyone it had gone up against but together...they had managed to beat it.

Never thought of joining a team. If we hadn't all joined together that thing would have wiped out everyone on the planet. She thought as she flew over to the crater where the alien had met it's demise. She turned to look at Grisha and tried to figure out why he had helped them. He was clearly a Saiyan, but in her experience the people of her planet were killers. He could have killed her when he had her in the bear-hug but he hadn't. What kind of Saiyan was this?

"So." She said as she raised her voice to be heard. "What do we do now?"

He was… gone. After everything that had happened, the destruction of an entire city at the hands on one man, the dojo being attacked and both him and Master Goichi being defeated it all seemed a little too easy for the would-be conqueror to lose like this. No, not just lose, but be completely and totally wiped out.

Ryuhei kept expecting it to be a trick, for the alien to appear from somewhere and attack them, but as the second turned into minutes and nothing happened it began to set in that things were really over.

A couple more people showed up, a large muscled man and a young woman with monkey tails and a pale skinned man with spiky hair, asking what had happened and what to do next. Ryuhei didn’t have an answer for them, he was still coming to terms with the fact that they had actually won and that no one had even died during the fight. After a couple moments of silence he snapped out of it and began looking around at everyone who was gathered around the crater.

“Is anyone hurt? Does anyone need a doctor?” The question reminded Ryuhei that he wasn’t exactly in top condition at the moment himself. A short rest after his first fight with the alien wasn’t enough to fully heal his injuries and his body was still battered and bruised, not to mention the fact that Goichi was probably still bleeding all over the dojo and refusing to go to a doctor. “I need to take my Master to the hospital; anyone who is hurt should come with me.”

Yang breathed heavily, fatigue and exhaustion beginning to creep up on him. Did... did they win? Was he really gone? For a moment he was convinced it was too good to be true, that any moment the conqueror would appear again completely unscathed and launching his city-ending attack to kill them all. But the attack never came. He never reappeared. It was true, then. They actually scraped out a victory. Through his heavy breaths, Yang allowed a smile to appear on his stoic face. It was over! Finally over! But his wasn't the only breathing he could hear, and when the second set of breathing seemed to stop, Yang spun around in alarm.

"Master!" he cried, having to lunge forward and catch Feng before he dropped from the sky complete. Yang put his master's around his shoulder and floated them down to the safety of the ground. A few of his new allies had gathered around to ensure their victory. But Yang was too preoccupied with his master at the moment, "Master what were you thinking? I told you I had it! You could have stopped!"

"Had to... be sure..." replied Feng, his voice nowhere near as strong or commanding as it had been during the battle. Instead his tone sounded weakened and... and tired, "I'm... proud of you... Yang."

"Why are you talking like that? We've won, you just need to rest and regain your strength." it seemed the disciple had not yet realized it. By then, Ryuhei had mentioned taking someone to the hospital. Yes! A doctor! That was what Master needed, "Just a moment, I'll go with you, but would you mind helping me carry my Master?" he heard a weak chuckle from Feng.

"My fate... was sealed quite a while ago... no amount of medicine will change that." he said, even as his breathing began to slow already.

"How can you just give up like that?" Yang demanded, now starting to look angry, "Just because you..." his voice trailed off and finally the realization hit him like a speeding truck. The Seals... Master had used them not once but twice in one day. And at his age, that could mean only... and that was when the warrior's face became streaked with tears, "It's my fault..." he lamented, "If you hadn't needed to heal me then-" but he felt a hand weakly reaching up to grasp his shoulder.

"Then... I would have used it in battle and we'd still be here anyway..." Feng said, wanting to assure his disciple that he was not to blame for this. Apparently using the technique even once more was enough to seal his fate, regardless he still would have ended up here, "Besides... I'd already decided long ago... a warrior's death was more preferable than dying in some sick bed somewhere."

"But... but the Seals. My training isn't finished." Yang's anger had subsided, replaced now only with sadness and regret.

"Fear not..." Feng said, his hand reaching into a pocket only pull out a small book, "...far to the North, there's a temple. A great and powerful wise man resides there. He was my own Master, you must convince him to train you. You and anyone else you bring with you."

Yang took the book, "What... what is this?"

"...The truth." Feng whispered, his eyes closed and the warmth started leaving his body. At about that time, his breathing stopped altogether. Master Feng, founder of the Crane School... was now dead.

Yang had layed Feng on the ground during their conversation. He stayed knelt over the body, eyes closed. But suddenly he spoke up, "We weren't good enough... I wasn't good enough!" he voiced raised as he continued, "This won't happen again! I'll make sure I'm strong enough to stop all this death from happening again, I swear it!" but then, he began to calm down once more, "I'll help take whoever needs to go to a doctor, but I'm going to that temple after that. Anyone who wants to can accompany, but make your decision soon because I'm leaving within the hour and I don't plan on waiting for anyone to catch up."

As it turned out Erika hadn't needed to try and remove the big ape as the other fighters had managed to take care of the alien. It was a little disappointing she hadn't been able to deal the final blow but she had done her duty and stopped the alien from blowing up another city. It was too bad she hadn't been able to do it sooner.

As many of the fighters cheered in triumph Erika could only frown. It had taken too long and many lives had been lost as a result. A new potential fighter appeared afterward but she wasn't too interested in that. The only thing that had her attention at the moment was the chrome dome and his dying master. The old guy certainly had been ballsy, like a true hero he had given his life to save others, if he hadn't been there to pin the alien down who knows what might have happened. She thought about saying something, anything but kind words and that crap really weren't her style.

Then Baldy started shouting about about how they sucked, as if all the death had somehow been their fault. While he ended on a nice sentiment about training to prevent something like this from happening again, Erika could feel a vein pop on her forehead. There was something about him that was pissing her off.

"Don't get ahead of yourself you egotistical narcissist! Just because you get stronger doesn't mean you'll be able to save everyone! No matter how strong you get don't ever delude yourself into thinking you could save everyone! Save all you can but never be so full of yourself that you think you could prevent everything!" Erika knew she wasn't being fair, but her feelings, always near the surface, easily boiled over.

She grit her teeth, clenched her fists and turned around to stomp off. She was pissed, not really at Yang, but at herself. As usual despite her best efforts things had not turned out great, sure she, in a way, had saved North Capital with her bike but everything before that had happened regardless. Despite all the power she had been given, she was still weak and people had died. She knew it wasn't her fault but...she remembered a similar situation in the past and that was what had worked her up.

Suddenly a drone appeared in front of her, one of Dr. Tread's drones. It buzzed annoyingly in front of her as if irritated, well the voice that came from it certainly was.

"Erika...did you blow up another bike!?" Erika grimaced as she plugged her own ears. "Blast it Erika you might be one of our favorite projects but that doesn't mean you can just wreak whatever you feel like without consequences! Sure the government is footing the bill but soon they'll stop doing that if you keep up your reckless pace!"

Erika considered blowing up the drone but that would certainly be going too far, besides, she was very reliant on Dr. Tread, like it or not. "I'll, try not to but people's lives always come first."

"Which I understand, but I'm sure there are better ways than ruining a state of the art air cycle! Well in any event, you're due back to the lab for a check up anyway. Also while some of my robots collect some samples from the blast site I can see on the screen I might just be able to give you a genetic upgrade as well." Other drones appeared in the area which headed straight for the crater to collect samples form the corpse, if there were any to collect. "I'll have to keep an eye on these other individuals, they seem like good research materials considering the fight they must have put up, course if the bike was intact I would have better data to work with."

Erika stopped acting like a child and looked back at all the fighter that had gathered. If it hadn't been for them, none of them would be alive right now.

"Oh, I don't remember that one in my previous data, hmm I do believe he is an actual android! Fascinating! Anyway you had best hurry back as soon as possible so we can get to work."

Erika stood for a moment though, thinking about what to do. She took some steps back toward the group so she could easily be heard. "Hey, so thanks for stopping him...eh don't know if I'll see you losers again but stay alive or whatever...this is stupid I'm going home, never really liked people anyway." Erika scratched the back of her head then started to fly away as if to keep her distance from everyone else. It tended to work out best that way.

The large Saiyan looked over at Yang as he embraced someone who Grisha could feel had passed. The old man’s ki had slipped away and watching the bald man mourn over someone he cared so dearly about made Grisha feel uneasy. He imagined himself in his place, holding Lena. Grisha knew his attitude would have been entirely different if Lena had died in his arms. Just thinking about it made his hands shake. He would have gone berserk! Grisha might have seemed primitive compared to everyone else, but he was familiar with death. An old one would pass in Kousetsu Village every now and then, and there would be a funeral.

There was a short blast of air at Yang’s back. Grisha’s shadow cast over him as the giant knelt and rested his large hand upon Yang’s bald head. It was meant to be a comforting gesture—and secretly, Grisha just wanted to touch his shiny dome (good luck). “Better place,” Grisha told Yang. It was what Lena always told him. When people die, they always went to a better place—at least the good ones did and the old man seemed like a good person. Retracting his hand, Grisha stood as he solemnly peered down at Yang: “Old man rest now.”

After paying his respects, the Saiyan turned. He had his own people to return to and protect. He saw that Erika and Okoro had arrived, and a large grin expanded on his face upon seeing his little sister. It then vanished upon hearing Erika’s off-handed dismissal. She might have been shy about appreciating her new friends, but it was lost in translation with the simpleton. He still hadn’t gotten over how she had yelled at him earlier. Grisha’s hands clenched into fists and he growled at her, “Grisha no like stupid girl either!”

Suddenly, Grisha lunged, and it wasn’t at Erika. He passed right by her to once again capture Okoro in a rock-hard embrace. Grinning happily as his tail enthusiastically whipped behind him, Grisha told her: “Baby sister, come meet Lena!” Without giving her a chance to protest, he tucked Okora under his arm and lept into a sprint toward the frozen north.

Kousetsu Village

Lena was sitting at her favorite window, people-watching as her mind wandered over where Grisha had run off to this time. He talked about some green man, which had disturbed her a little, especially with how he had returned from Mt. Tengoku. He had looked like a survivor of a great explosion. Tobias was outside shoveling the snow away from the entrance of their dome-shaped home when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He stabbed the shovel into the ground and looked to his right. Squinting into the distance, he saw a large arch of snow rising into the air, and it was headed right for him! Blinking in disbelief, his blue eyes widened in panic. Ditching his shovel, he ran over to the door and managed to get his hand upon the doorknob when suddenly Grisha slid to a halt before the home, and a wave of snow followed. The snow and ice painted the entire face of their home white and buried the path Tobias had made. White, excited plumes were leaving Grisha’s mouth as he panted from his long run and announced, “Grisha has baby sister!”

Tobias resembled a snowman grasping the door, and when he turned his head, the ice cracked away to reveal his red, angry face. Lena was startled by the ice that abruptly covered her window. “Grisha?” she queried. Leaving the window, she ran over to the door and opened it only to find a wall of snow dumping into the house. With a startled squeak, she jumped out of the way and gazed at her father who was still scowling and covered in snow.

“Grisha’s back,” Tobias irritably confirmed.

Lena’s face lit up and she ran passed her father to see Grisha holding Okora up—much like a lion cub in some famous Disney movie. The people of Kousetsu curiously gathered around. Tobias’s eyes widened in horror when he saw Okora’s tail. “No…” he breathed in dread. Not another one. He already couldn’t stand Grisha. Now there were going to be two? Lena’s mouth fell open in awe at seeing Okora. Grisha had a sister? Really? They both had tails but they didn’t look alike. But wait, there were others like Grisha?

“Grisha…how…what’s going on? You have a family?” Lena questioned in confusion.

Grisha only proudly grinned.

---

Kin's feeling of success was soon squashed when his attention turned to see the old man die. He had been the one who had helped them stop this alien menace, but it seemed like the effort had taken its tool on him. This made kin sad and then he watched as Yang began to talk about how they had not been good enough and how he was going to try and get stronger to prevent this from happening again. He understood Yang's mindset, but his rant caused Erika to go off and Kin rolled his eyes at her outburst. This group certainly wasn't the easiest to hang around with and he wondered if he would have to team up with them the next time some threat to the world showed up again.

He then saw the drones show up and begin to speak to Erika and he raised his eyebrow curiously. It looked like the woman worked for some government agency and he heard the drone talk about keeping an eye on them. Kin would have to keep an eye for any of these drones spying on him and with his electromagnetic abilities he would be able to disable any drones that were getting too much info on him.

Kin turned to look at the others and gave them a nod.

"Thanks for helping with this threat. We did our job and prevented more death from happening. You all were real heroes today, I'll probably see you around sometime" he spoke and when he finished speaking he took off into the air at incredible speeds towards home. While he flew his mind was thinking back to the battle especially the instance in which he had used his Almighty Force technique to defend against Dyce's attack and caused a massive shock wave. He had not expected something like to happen and he wondered if he could find some way to implement the technique for a more combat oriented style. The alien had been far stronger physically than he had been and that meant he would need to find a way to develop his techniques to help fight against stronger foes.

---

When he finally made it home he landed down a block away from his house and thanks to the recent battle he felt tired and found his landing to be rough. He had not been paying too much attention to his surroundings as he walked to his house. When he came to his home he heard someone speak behind him.

"Oh my God! Kin you're Magnatar?!" Kin quickly turned around and saw his friend Rand standing just right outside his front gate.

"Shhh! Don't speak so loud!" Kin said urgently.

"This is the coolest thing ever!" Rand replied ignoring Kin's plies.'

"Okay, I'll explain everything, just come inside and be quiet before the whole neighborhood knows who I am!" he exclaimed and hurried inside with Rand following close behind as they hurried up to Kin's room so that he could explain the whole hero stuff.

Okora closed her eyes in exasperation as Grisha grabbed her unexpectedly and took off towards the North. Not again. She thought. As much as she wanted to punch him in the head for once again grabbing her, she knew that in a straight fight she would most likely end up on the losing side considering how much energy she had used in the fight against the alien. Hopefully Grisha was taking her towards this "Lena" person who had apparently been taking care of him. It could be a village full of people for all she knew.

She kept her eyes closed as she continued on the unexpected ride. She didn't say much during the trip, only muttering once in a while as a bug hit her in the face.

When they finally arrived at the destination, She opened her eyes to see a village full of curious people staring at both her and Grisha and a moment later she found herself held above Grisha as if she was a prize and he was showing her off. She took a quick opportunity to look around and saw a man covered in snow next to a small dome house and a woman who was staring at Grisha in astonishment.

“Grisha…how…what’s going on? You have a family?”

Okora managed to finally wriggle free of Grisha's grasp and landed on on her feet with a faint smile as she brushed some of the snow that had accumulated on her and wiped a few bugs off her.

"Hello...I...Uh...Truth be told I wasn't expecting to be here. My name is Okora and it's nice to meet all of you." She said as politely as she could considering Grisha had just grabbed her and ran.

Lena and Tobias gathered with the other villagers, surrounding the new monkey. She blinked her eyes when Okora revealed that she hadn’t expected to visit the village. Tobias had finished patting the ice off his sweater when he shot a scowl at Grisha. “Probably because she isn’t really his sister after all. I saw the way he was holding her. He probably snatched her up because she has a…” His eyes lowered to Okora’s tail. “…tail.” The fact she had a tail made his accusation rough. Grisha was the only one who they knew had a tail. But then again, no villager from Kousetsu had ever left the village. There could have been an entire village of monkey-tailed people…but then they had found Grisha in a space ship. Just trying to connect the dots was giving Tobias a headache.

Lena stepped over to Grisha and gazed up at him. Resting her hands upon her hips, she frowned and asked, “Grisha, did you steal this girl from her home?”

Grisha blushed in embarrassment. His eyes fled away from Lena’s as he nervously grasped the back of his neck. “Uh…no home. Baby Sister help Grisha fight Green Man. Grisha show her family.”

The green man again. She didn’t even get a chance to see him. Lena’s eyes narrowed at Grisha and her cheeks puffed some. Taking her cross-hairs off the giant, she faced Okora and held out her hand, “My name is Lena. And that’s my father Tobias. We’re sorry if Grisha took you from your home. He doesn’t mean any harm. I’m sure he got excited to find another person with a tail and wanted us to see you. We thought Grisha was the only one.” Lena then thought, It’s nice seeing another girl! “Would you like to stay and have something to drink? I can prepare coffee, tea, or hot chocolate with snow puffs (their marshmallows).”

“Stay and eat!” Grisha happily exclaimed. “Lena cooks best!”

Lena blushed and hid her glowing cheeks behind a lock of her blonde hair. “I’m not that good.”

Tobias then protested, “Oh no. If she has an appetite like Grisha, then we’ll be eaten out of house and home!”

Grisha stomped over to Tobias and glared down at him. “Grisha hunt! Find lots of food.”

“It’ll take a whole village to cook it all!”

Grisha smiled and turned toward the gathered Kousetsu natives. “Village feast!”

The villagers muttered among themselves before some of them started to nod. It had been a while since Kousetsu had a feast. Grisha grinned proudly and then at Tobias as if to jab at him. Tobias rolled his eyes and headed for the house.

“Whatever. Just clear all the snow from the front since you wanted to undo my hard work,” he griped.

Lena smiled at Okora, feeling excitement building in her chest. Another female. If she was like Grisha, then she was strong. She wondered what she was like.

Ryuhei wasn’t sure what to do with the scene playing out before him; a young martial artist held his master as the old man passed away, though he had no visible injuries he seemed to have exhausted himself in trying to keep Dyce pinned, giving his life to keep the alien from escaping. There wasn’t anything any of them could do other than stay quiet and give the pair the time they needed to say what needed to be said.

In the aftermath it was a young woman who responded first, yelling at the young man and saying something that, although true, probably could have been said more gently or said later. The next to approach him was the new arrival, who then turned to the rest of them and offered to help take Ryuhei’s master to the hospital. The reminder of Master Goichi’s injury, momentarily pushed to the back of his mind by what had happened, snapped Ryuhei out of his hesitance and caused him to move.

Ryuhei stepped forward and placed a hand on Yang’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. Your master saved all of us; I came here expecting to die fighting Dyce, but we’re all alive because of him.” Stepping back and turning to Korvus he nodded to the other man as he accepted his offer. “Okay then, follow me. We were attacked at out dojo and my Master was injured; it’s not life threatening, but he should still see a doctor as soon as possible.”

Rising into the air and preparing to leave, Ryuhei directed his parting words towards Yang. “I’ll be back as soon as I can and then I’ll accompany you to this temple; I want to get stronger as well.” With that said he nodded towards Korvus to signal his readiness and flew away from the battlefield in the direction of his master’s dojo.