[IC] Dragon Ball: Legacy (Mogtaki and Vena Sera)

[Mogtaki]

Kai gave a quick glance to Choi as he spoke up before immediately looking to Yumi who immediately perked up much to his surprise. He didn’t think Choi would come up with anything like that, then again from his tone it sounded as if he had been contemplating a variety of things to sabotage and to conquer. He did still have brains, Kai could at least be thankful over that. If they could get Vegeta on board then that would be great, but getting him to the control room would be a problem if they didn’t want to damage the ship. Scratching his cheek, he looked to Vegeta who sounded as if he might have a little hint of doubt in him Kai shrugged, “I doubt we’re going to be harmed so easily. They’re strong but not that strong and if you make a convincing prisoner then things would go well”.

Choi gave a quick nod over the decisions flying around, seemingly pretty happy that they had decided to go ahead with his current plan. It would be good if all that would go well, the ship shouldn’t be too hard to hack if Vegeta knew what to do with such a ship. Relaxing in his chair a little bit, he let out a sigh before suddenly realising who Yumi spoke about, “Wait, Sayomi? She’s with the rebellion too?” he questioned, scratching his head, “I mean, I guess it makes sense…but we were told she was dead. Guess she left with Korian”.

Viral gave Takeshi a bit of a glare, not at all happy that he had made such a reaction to him wanting to go. There was a variety of reasons to why he agreed to go, he thought for sure that Takeshi would know of a few but it seemed the kid really was oblivious to what was going on; just as well, he didn’t want to have to explain too much about absolutely everything that was going on. Letting out a grunt at Takeshi’s explanation, he looked ahead of himself again as he contemplated a few things, feeling a little concerned about the plan, at least until Takeshi spoke up again. Turning towards him he let out a huff, not willing to give too full an explanation, “I would just rather be doing something rather than nothing! Just don’t get too comfortable if you’re still going to be an obnoxious brat about it all, will you?” he spoke, cracking his knuckles, “I wanted to get out and away from the house for a while. Just remember I will punch you in the face if you start getting cheeky with me just because we’re doing this together.

Shu remained quiet throughout the whole thing, feeling completely worried as soon as he left the house. He didn’t mean to feel this way, there was a variety of things going on in his mind that made him worried and he was just glad that Viral was going with them just incase something went wrong. He was scared for what might happen and what the consequences might had been for them doing this investigation work, how the whole plan might go down and whether Katas truly was going to be okay. It was all so worrying, but Shu could only hope that things would go as planned and that they’d be able to get to the Queen again without so much of another worry over what might or might not happen.

[GambolMuse]

"Take me on board as a prisoner, huh...?" It would certainly free them of suspicion, initially anyways. If he was bound and led in as such he'd hopefully be able to get close enough without having to get into combat. "Well that gets me inside... But what about everyone else? For that matter can we even fit everyone inside the pods? You brought three I'm assuming, and there's eight of us. Even more if you figure your parents will be coming along. That's a lot of people to fit into three tiny ships." The only realistic scenario in that case was to send the pods first and have the small cargo ship follow behind. The latter could land and cause a scene, leaving Vegeta and whoever escorted him ample time to take the controls. In theory that should work, though there were quite a few things that could go wrong as well. "If we use our ship to fly in afterwards then that would get everyone else on. Myself and the one leading me take the controls, while the rest gets the crew into the cargo hold... That still leaves getting them off the ship itself though..."

There was a lot to figure out in a short amount of time. Depending on the size of the Saiyan ship they may even be able to fit the crew on the rebel ship and be rid of them that way. Or, worst case scenario they could keep everyone on board until they were dropped off on another world. Sighing to himself Vegeta rubbed at his forehead, his head starting to ache from the influx of thoughts racing through his mind. "Sayomi...? Yeah she was that woman with Korian. She's definitely in the rebellion, I think his first officer or something." If he remembered rightly she'd been a technical officer of some sorts, handling the more machine oriented parts of the rebellion. There was a lot of mystery, Vegeta realized, surrounding those two. Presumably the other rebels knew a fair bit about their leaders, something to base their character off of. "Speaking of those two... What do you guys know about them? Anything interesting?"

"Oh sure, plenty." Kabocha quipped, shrugging his shoulders. "Though I can't say how much of it is actually true. We hear a ton from some of the Elites, and even the king says something now and again. He's not a very popular guy." Lifting a hand he scratched at his cheek for a moment, mulling through his thoughts at what he could come up with on the guy. "When we were just starting he was still in the military, a commander of one of the largest detachments. I guess the guy was kind of destined to be some big shot. Born to the upper class, pretty strong, got a ton of training from Elites. He's known Yamate for a long time too, though I don't know how. The two of them were close for a while, with Korian being Yamate's right hand man." Seeing the former commander now it was hard to believe he'd once been such an integral part of Saiyan military might. That was probably the biggest reason the king had concerns over Korian, as his knowledge of the military and their tactics could seriously blow up in their faces. "He was the one who led a lot of the original strikes against other planets, back when all of this empire nonsense began. That might be a reason he's so intent on undoing it now..." Kabocha mused, shrugging. "Maybe it's his way to atone. That's a really basic version of it. I've either forgotten a lot or I really don't trust the rest, too much negative propaganda stuff."

So Korian really was just another Elite, or at least he had been. After seeing his behavior around Viral it was difficult to see the guy in a good light, even if he was combating the Saiyans. "So he's a defected commander then? Huh... And he was close to the king..." It was interesting stuff, he supposed. Were it at all possible to speak to the man Vegeta might ask him personally about his past. There could be something in his history that would give them the edge they need to stop the Saiyan war machine for good. "And what about Sayomi? What can you say about her?"

"Obnoxious brat...?" Takeshi mirrored in a mumble. Smiling faintly he shook his head though said no more on the matter, even when Viral threatened to hit him. Had he said it in any other way Viral would be dragging along and moaning about himself, so this was a bit better he supposed. Even with rocky history aside he would have hoped the response would have been a little more favorable, and perhaps that was wishing for too much. Instead of provoking Viral further, intentionally or otherwise, the older boy glanced to Shu. He'd been unusually quiet thus far, and he wondered if his brother had as much on his mind as he did. "Hey... Doing okay?" Takeshi asked, reaching over and gently rapping his hand against Shu's arm to get his attention. "What's on your mind buddy? Worried about something?" Shu had been just fine a moment ago, something had managed to upset him in the very brief time since then. Knowing how sensitive the kid could be it might be any number of things, and it was worth asking then.

[Mogtaki]

Kai gave Vegeta a staring at as if trying to figure out why Vegeta couldn’t work out what to do and how to solve this particular problem they were having. It wasn’t that hard to figure out, he should had been quick to see what they should do before having to wonder about it, “The pods are big enough to hold two people so long as they’re not large, so we can take three of you back with us”, he sighed, running his fingers through his hair, “We could take you, Yumi and maybe Takeshi. They’d be happy with that”. Quite frankly out of all of them, he’d rather not take Shu or Viral. With both being unstable and unpredictable, he wouldn’t want either of them being taken up on this delicate mission, “Once the ship is hacked and we capture the crew, we can signal to your ship and Viral can drive it into the bay…unless you’d rather Takeshi stayed behind and drove the ship in…”

Choi didn’t exactly like that plan all that much, but he didn’t exactly want to bother getting involved with that kind of plan making. If any plan was going to be made, it would have to be one of the others to make the plans this time. Relaxing a little for now once Vegeta talked about Sayomi, he raised an eyebrow before sitting up, scratching his chin, “Really? There wasn’t much spoken about her when she disappeared. A lot just thought she moved to another district”, he sighed, feeling a little unsure when Vegeta’s next question came up, “Us know about…them? Uhhh, well…”

Luckily for Choi, Kabocha spoke up about Korian and his past experiences with the guy. Looking to him as he spoke, he scratched his head slowly and let out a sigh. All that Kabocha said was pretty much the lowdown of the whole Korian deal. It was fairly impressive for someone like the guy, but it was definitely a good reason why the King saw him as a threat in the first place. Nodding a little as he let the conversation carry on, he gave Kai a quick look who soon relaxed himself only for Vegeta to speak up, asking about Sayomi. Looking between them all before slowly sitting up, Choi scratched his neck slowly, “Sayomi? Well…uhhh, she wasn’t upper class. She was average but being female she was still given the Elite treatment, eventually becoming one herself. It’s hardly unusual; female Saiyans can be rare and a strong mother makes for a strong kid. Don’t think she wanted kids all that much though, she loved electronics and technology more than people. Kinda weird, right? A Saiyan that likes tech? Pshh…”

Kai gave Choi an annoyed look before cutting in himself, clearing his throat a bit, “Anyway, she ended up being head of the command centre. She was strong and all that…on the Elite level, but she conducted the raids and strikes that the likes of Korian were sent on. There were rumours that the King kind of liked her too…which were odd, but not too long after that and a fairly horrific strike, she disappeared. It’s most likely where the rumour that she had been deported elsewhere came about, especially when the King barely spoke of her. Guess that’s where she really went”.

Viral wasn’t going to let Takeshi get to him with all of this crap about warming up to him; he had barely done anything with him apart from a mission and a half and already he was assuming he was warming up to the guy. It had been a long time since any of the usual travelling around and getting on with their business had happened, they had only really been near each other when taking him back to have the chip removed and going off to save the rebels. He didn’t need Takeshi thinking things like that; he’d decide whether or not they were getting closer as a team.

Shu didn’t particularly want to be out here, but he did want to go and see his friends when it was for something so important and absolutely vital to what they needed to do to help them. It was a worrying experience, he had felt better when he was in the house because there was food and there was no next step to this whole experience. With a feeling of dread washing over him, he gasped a little when Takeshi spoke up, his hand touching his arm. Looking up at him he frowned a little, looking away and pulling his hands up closer to his chest, “It’s just-…umm…I don’t like the feeling of this at all”, he frowned, shaking his head a little, “It feels bad and I don’t like it. It’s that feeling like I had in with Mister Katas, but worse…”

[GambolMuse]

"It would make more sense to have Viral fly the ship in..." Vegeta agreed, rubbing at his chin. "He'd be too liable to have an episode, and he probably has at least some knowledge of flying the ships. Shu would be there to help him stay settled to some degree, and they'd be with all of your parents." If for whatever reason one of the twins or Kabocha couldn't pilot the ship then perhaps Takeshi could, assuming he had some knowledge of it from his time with the Saiyans. Plus having Yumi there with them would help settle his own nerves, and having her and Takeshi nearby was a bit more reassuring than three strangers. "Takeshi should go in, along with Yumi and I. That seems to me the most reasonable plan," Vegeta remarked, "Besides, honestly if things go south Shu and Viral are the best bets to protect your parents. Given their hidden power they're by far the strongest of all of us. That said... I really hope we don't need to make use of it."

Yumi listened in on the conversation, not entirely certain once more what input she might have on the matter. The plan as it stood though could be better, she felt. "Wait... What if instead of my going with you... Shu goes?" she asked, looking between everyone. "Hear me out. I seem to do a better job with keeping Viral under control than most, definitely better than Shu would. And when he's with Takeshi, Shu is relatively okay. Wouldn't it make more sense then to do it that way?" In part it was her wanting to stay with the Beastman, just for herself in order to ensure he was okay. There was more to it of course too, more legitimate reasons. "I won't argue that Shu and Viral are the most powerful... When they transform. But as they are, especially Viral, they're kind of a wild card in a fight. I can fight, pretty well, without having to change. So why not stick me with the parents and Viral? I can keep an eye on all of them easily enough."

"I guess that makes sense..." Kabocha was a little more comforted by having Yumi near his folks than the prince and commander. She might have a fiery temper but she was stable and wouldn't randomly lash out. To him it was a reasonable request, it made plenty of sense and even simplified things. To get both princes and yet another Saiyan as 'prisoner' seemed more appealing than just one prince, a former test subject and Vegeta. It wasn't his decision to make ultimately, not alone anyways. "Kai? Choi? What do you guys think?" he asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Think we should go with Yumi's plan? I agree with bringing the ship in afterwards, I think we can all agree that's set in stone. But I'd rather her be near our parents than the others, yeah?"

Panicked, that seemed like a reasonable way to describe how Shu was feeling. Like before though Takeshi couldn't see any sound reason why his brother should feel so edgy. They were taking the familiar route to the Queen with no one's knowledge of it, and they had an extra member in tow. Besides, it wasn't as if anything on this planet had really threatened them thus far, wildlife or its inhabitants included. As far as alien worlds went it was fairly pleasant, so then why the concern? Though he did feel anxious himself he didn't think it was the same as his brothers and wasn't going to just brush it aside. "Are you feeling claustrophobic...?" he asked bewilderingly. Brow pulling together the older boy shook his head; dumb question. Out in the open forest with not even a ceiling or walls to confine them, that made no sense. Hoping to alleviate a little worries Takeshi moved closer to Shu until he could set an arm around the boy's shoulders, offering a meek smile. "Nothing bad happened then though, right? And nothing bad is going to happen now." Probably not the best idea, but Takeshi looked to Viral for a little support. "Are you feeling anything off right now? I mean... Like we're in any danger?"

[Mogtaki]

As much as Kai wanted to go with the plan that had been set out before, it seemed Yumi had different ideas. It would had been ideal for Shu to stay behind but from the sounds of it Yumi was determined to have the Princes stick together, despite it probably not being the best of ideas in his eyes. He was concerned with Shu transforming into that creature, if he did that on the ship then they were all dead and that would be it for that. If he could control himself then that was all fine and good, but if not then they were placing way too much trust in a little Saiyan like Shu. Frowning a little, he shook his head slightly before turning to Kabocha, raising an eyebrow as he asked for their opinions, “If Shu doesn’t change, then sure. One Prince is still good”, he spoke before letting out a sigh, “If he can’t keep himself under control…then I don’t know what you want to do.”

Choi didn’t have much of a clue in the matter; he did want to fix it all but there were so many complications to their plans. They just had to trust they were going to get through it alright and hope that nothing was going to go wrong for them all. Scratching his chin slowly, he shrugged a little upon hearing what Kai had to say, “Well, whatever you want! I just hope that kid doesn’t start tearing faces”, he spoke, sitting up a little, “But really, if you think it’ll work then go ahead! Definitely don’t want Viral to go crazy all of a sudden on the ship either and I guess the kid might cause that to happen…knowing out luck. Even with Viral around, the kid still could had kept your parents happy with his strangely happy attitude…seeing as how Takeshi seems so happy all the time around him…”

Shu didn’t like this feeling at all, it felt as if there was more on the horizon for all of them and it wasn’t the end of it all. It was a feeling of dread and definitely something he hadn’t felt before, managing to make him feel anxious and worried that there were worse things happening. Looking up to Takeshi, he shook his head, looking away again, “No…” He couldn’t explain it, but it definitely felt as if Katas probably shouldn’t be hanging around where he was for too long and they should had definitely gone back to check up on him. He was a little scared, but scared for others rather than himself.

Viral didn’t know what to make of the worry that Shu was feeling right now, it wasn’t as if he had any relationships with these people and definitely wasn’t planning on becoming friends with any of them. He hated the thought of having to wear the modified scouter just to listen to them and talk to them, it was just annoying and very inconvenient for his advanced hearing. Letting out a grumble, he looked around slowly before making his way forward to see if there was anyone actually out there. Looking around, he tried to listen out for anything that might try to catch them off guard, but when he hadn’t heard these people in combat before it was hard to tell when they were being sneaky or when they were coming straight for them, “I haven’t felt much lately…but there’s always room for danger to come straight for us. Keep your guard up”.

[GambolMuse]

"Well... We know I'm going onto the ship to hack it, and Takeshi will be one of the prisoners without question. Maybe... Just the two of us even?" Between himself and the eldest prince that ought to be a satisfactory haul. They could fabricate some story if need be, of how the others were killed or some such. It wasn't as though coming back with the two of them was going to be a tremendous failure, at least Vegeta didn't think it would be. "Whatever the case we should wait to run things by the others before we decide. Worst case scenario as I said is just myself and Takeshi come along and everyone else waits aboard the rebel ship." Logistically that seemed to the the least amount of work. Shu and Viral would both benefit to some degree by Yumi's presence, and their being off the main vessel ensured no rampaging beasts to kill the crew. "That way there's three fighters for the parents, and I'd think the five of us are more than enough to take that ship. What do you think Yumi? Would you be able to keep an eye on those two?" She did seem to have a way of calming them, or at the very least keeping their heads on relatively straight. Her cooperation meant this would run much more smoothly.

Yumi acknowledged Vegeta with a sigh, crossing her arms before offering a small smirk in reply. "So I'm babysitting while the men go off and play pirate, is that it?" she asked jokingly. "If that's what you need me to do then fine, I can do it. As long as Viral can fly the ship we should be fine... Because that's beyond me." Frankly she was relatively new to driving cars on Earth, so a spaceship was just slightly beyond her expertise. The plan was sound as far as she was concerned, and it was likely for the best anyways. Too many of them and, should a fight break out it might get messy. There was a small part of her too that held concern over her new Beastman self as well, whether she was capable of a transformation at this point. The thought of warping into something like Viral had made her skin crawl, and reflexively she rubbed at her arms to ease the goosebumps. "Takeshi has been oddly cheerful, come to think of it..." Yumi mused, changing subjects with Choi. Before he'd been a bit more relaxed around Shu, sure, but never like this. It was almost as unnerving as Viral's PTSD or Shu's nervous episodes in a way just because it was so alien to their behaviors. "Any idea why he's acting all funny? You three have seen him more than I have lately."

Viral too wasn't picking up on anything right now, and yet he still cautioned them. Coupled with the fact that Takeshi himself had an uneasy feeling about himself he wasn't too thrilled with their current situation. Like it or not however they couldn't just stop, they had something to see through and needed to move along. As Viral had done the older boy glanced about the area, doing his utmost to locate anything that might tip off attackers. Nothing looked suspicious, and though it was oddly quiet compared to earlier he hardly saw that as just cause to be alarmed. Exhaling deeply he tried to calm his own nerves, figuring if he, Shu and Viral were all high strung then this brief trip was going to be a nightmare. "See? Nothing to worry about," Takeshi repeated a bit weakly. If that were true then what was with the ever growing pit in his stomach? It was a bit frustrating to say the least, he wanted to know exactly why he was feeling this way. This must be how Viral feels, he mused, looking over at the Beastman. No wonder he was always so grumpy.

The turning point for their trip came into view a few minutes later, the same spot that Shu had crashed into T'charrl previously. It was all in their heads, Takeshi told himself, just stress getting to them. Shaking his head he chuckled faintly, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Look at us... Panicked over nothing..." Just as the last word passed from his lips the sound of a rope snapping made him immediately halt in his tracks, and with a turn of his head he saw a rather decent sized log from overhead swinging down right at him. "Crap!" Pushing Shu back as quickly as he could he then turned to the flying log, throwing a punch forward and breaking it down the middle as the two halves flew right on by him, crashing into some standing trees. Baffled by the trap he turned to look at the pieces, giving Shu a funny look. "They trapped the place...?" he asked in disbelief, not recalling anything of the sorts before. One more step forward and another rope snapped, this time releasing a few logs overhead out of a makeshift harness. Takeshi lifted his head in time to see about six tumbling down on top of him, quickly getting buried beneath them.

In unison with the traps going off about half a dozen Kaesstrian soldiers dropped out of the surrounding trees, all armed with various weapons. Each dawned a black cloak of sorts over their bodies, only their arms wielding the weapons and legs visible. One thing worth noting was the insignia on the back of said cloaks though, matching the very same one that was placed throughout the military headquarters. Not a single word was said as the group went into action, splitting into two groups and attacking the remaining aliens. Three dove right in for Shu, with two running towards him at a criss-cross pattern, swords ready to slice at him in a given moment. The third took flight and moved up overhead, armed with a flail-like weapon that he swung about in preparation to use. The remainder of the group made their advance on Viral just as swiftly, though all three moved in at once, two bearing staves and the third a set of knives. With explicit orders to kill the aliens they were giving it all they had, and as the special operations branch of the military they were confident they had the means to do so.

[Mogtaki]

It was quite exciting, really. Making plans against the King was always a fun idea considering Kai always had them whenever he had a bad day. He was sure anybody under the King’s rule had some sort of grudge against him unless they were of the highly elite. Looking between Vegeta and Yumi, he found it a little odd that Yumi was now complaining over the attack plan she put input towards. Scratching his head a little, he let out a sigh as he slowly leaned back, “So everything is good?” he spoke up, looking between them, “Viral will be able to fly it no problem. You wouldn’t be allowed on the Elite force if you didn’t know how to fly Saiyan technology. So long as the kid doesn’t eat you guys, it should be fine I’d think”.

Choi was fair pleased with the plan and from the sounds of it, it wasn’t going to fail that quickly unless something happens on the small ship itself. Stretching his arms out in front of him, he slowly sat up and gave Yumi a curious stare, “Huh? He started acting like that only after he got his brother back…I mean, the first time we saw the kid he was all zombified with his eyes barely open and now it barely seems like he’d even close them. Maybe Takeshi doesn’t want his brother to look like a zombie again?”

Kai let out a sigh, shaking his head, “I doubt that…but we did have a thought that the kid might have something to do with it”, he spoke, looking to Yumi, “It almost seems like the kid is in control of Takeshi, you know? Everytime Takeshi is with the kid, he’s all happy and giddy. What happens when they’re apart? We saw it when he was on our team and he was fair nasty. What happens when you take the kid away from Takeshi, though? Does he change at all?”

Viral grumbled, looking away again and continuing along the trail like nothing was wrong. He did have his doubts, but all those doubts were masked by his own over himself and whether he could actually sense anything. It was very difficult to see passed his own mentality, it was already a very difficult realisation that there was something rather wrong with him that meant the concern of a former enemy. His senses were very vague, he couldn’t quite understand just how to stop them from going all over the place so he could concentrate on his surroundings. He was completely torn apart on the inside, his concern over his own senses had him dreading whether he’d never get over his own problems.

Near enough having a secret panic attack, Viral continued to walk onwards as oblivious as a deer in tall grass. His mind was having a brief crumbling moment as he continued to try and listen out but never heard a thing while the kid was obviously picking up the bad air. If he couldn’t sense something as simple as enemies possibly hiding out, then there was absolutely no hope for him getting back into the swing of things. Why was he even with them in the first place, his mind couldn’t work out why they wanted to bring someone like him along. With his mind gradually wandering, he looked elsewhere for a moment until Takeshi spoke up again, only for the sound of a trap to suddenly spark up his worry. Turning to the log immediately, he jumped back with Shu being pushed the other way as logs collapsed down on Takeshi.

Things were quickly becoming bad, the sight of a variety of soldiers coming at them just made things worse. Watching as several soldiers came for Shu, Viral moved quickly but was immediately cut off by aliens as well. Looking around himself at the sight of all of them, he let out a growl as he turned to confront them, managing to take a knife in the arm before throwing a punch down at one of the stave wielders, the other stave hitting him pretty hard in the head. He was just getting angry, he didn’t know why these aliens were attacking him but with the weapons they had against Shu he felt like he needed to get through them fast.

Shu had an immediate moment of panic when he was pushed out of the way, nearly landing on his backside as the logs came tumbling down upon Takeshi, “Ah! Wha??” It was all a trap, they had been cut off and were now in the territory of killers where they were their target. Panicking, Shu span around to spy the soldiers coming straight at him with blades with his only instinct being to run; however, being cut off he could only make a sudden dash forward and swing out his own stave at their feet, “No! Why are you attacking us??” he asked out, but no response came as their assault became relentless. With only a few seconds to spare, Shu made a sudden mad dash to avoid the third; just as he tried to get away, however, Viral suddenly leaped in at the aliens, aiming to tackle the ones with the blades to buy Shu some time.

[GambolMuse]

"If Viral can fly well enough then that plan sounds solid to me. I'm sure he'll be glad to be involved in some way for a change, it seems like his sitting around really gets to him." There was a bit of skepticism about the Beastman flying though, Vegeta had to admit. He may have learned to operate one while under the control of the collar, but it was possible he could have forgotten in that time period. As for Shu eating them he felt that was by far the least of their problems. The topic of Takeshi threw him through a loop for a moment, not expecting the conversation to change like that. Come to think of it he had been acting rather unusual, almost the complete opposite of what they were used to in fact. "You think he might be acting like that to keep Shu happy?" Vegeta mused, frowning a bit. "Even before Shu was really the only person Takeshi relaxed around, so that's not really different. He's happier than he ought to be though, with everything going on. I get the feeling he's doing that to try and keep his brother happy too." Perhaps he didn't want what happened to Viral to happen to his sibling. Was faking one's own happiness really the best way to go about ensuring another's though? Kai posed a rather curious question as well, one that could pose a problem later on. "I don't want to test that theory..." Vegeta remarked, "Takeshi has always been a bit rough, and if he was as bad as you say without Shu I'd rather not see it for myself."

Takeshi looked to no longer be a factor in this fight, meaning it was now a six on two. Moving with great haste the Kaesstrians split into two teams, each attacking the remaining members of the group. First and foremost was the group striking out at Viral, wielding their staves and blades with deadly precision. The knife user went in first, landing a decent cut right on the Beastman's arm to draw blood. Expecting the wound to make him relent the group was taken aback when instead Viral retaliated, one of the staff users taking a strong hit to his abdomen and being sent backwards. After landing a successful thwack the other staff user went over to help his comrade, the knife wielder keeping himself between the alien and his comrades for safety. They had been told to expect some surprises from these people, and seeing the Beastman hardly acknowledge the gash in his arm was definitely one such surprise. Trying to regather themselves and go in for a second attack the trio was instead left playing catchup as their opponent abruptly ran for the other team.

Swords swung out at high speeds, slicing through the air with a sharp hissing sound at Shu. Both slashes missed, and each alien had to spring back to avoid their legs being swept out from beneath them. The final member came crashing down above the young Saiyan next, though with a quick enough reaction his attack was avoided as well, the heavy metal ball imbedding itself in the ground quite a ways. Temporarily left to struggle with his weapon the two sword users moved to make another attack, picking themselves up and running right at Shu again. Both however were abruptly stopped, being sent tumbling over one another as they were tackled off to the side. Each lost the grip on their weapons as they fell, and soon were jumbled up with Viral as they vied to try and subdue him. One attempted to grab hold of his arms as the other tried to reach for their sword to skewer him. Assuming that Viral was now more than occupied the remaining four all made a move on Shu at once. The two staff users took to the air, trying to fly overhead and get behind him to cut off escape. The sword and knife users meanwhile slowly began to advance on him, also trying to position themselves to block him in.

[Mogtaki]

It was certainly a mystery, Takeshi shouldn’t had been so happy just because he was around his brother. It was strange too; they hardly looked related yet it was only because of their father telling them it was true that they were siblings. Maybe it was because the twins were exactly the same that it was strange, but nevermind. It was still very strange but for now they were going to have to have faith that Takeshi hadn’t actually gone soft in combat and that Shu wasn’t actually causing Takeshi to deteriorate mentally. Scratching his head, Kai looked to Vegeta as he spoke up, shrugging a little, “Who knows whether Takeshi will tell us what he really thinks, but Shu will probably always be a mystery. I don’t see that kid ever getting the courage to talk up whatever goes on in his mind”, he sighed, “Well if you don’t want to see it then I won’t give you an idea about it, but I can probably say that he did carry us through our missions. Shu probably wouldn’t had stood a chance on the missions without going crazy”.

Viral didn’t want to risk Shu getting hurt just incase the worst happened, he was supposed to protect the younger ones and him getting hurt would be a definite defeat. The aliens were fiddly and annoying with them all hosting dangerous weapons, ones that couldn’t be avoided no matter how thick your skin was. Completely ignoring the wound on his arm, he tried to force the aliens down to the ground while making a sudden movement towards Shu; however, with a sudden snatch of his arms the aliens managed to pull him back, “Get Takeshi out! I’m not-“ Silenced by one of the aliens, Viral only made a glance down at himself to stare down the sword that had inserted itself into his abdomen. That was just it, he was defeated by a couple of aliens and what was worse was he had let down Takeshi and Shu.

Shu was in a panic, he didn’t know how to make this work for him as their numbers around him only grew. Viral was not having the easiest time, despite looking a lot better. Shu quickly tried to go to his aid but as he was gradually cut off, he turned to look at the staff users just when he thought he could jump out and into the trees. Looking to Viral, he stared at him with a panicked expression before the worst happened as he was suddenly skewered by one of their swords. A sudden wave of fear washed over him, he hadn’t been able to help his friend at all. As anger and grief suddenly washed over him, Shu dropped his own stave and immediately turned to the aliens, his eyes going red for a brief second before a massive blow to his head knocked him straight down face first into the dirt. The alien with the flail had moved in and managed to strike his target, ending with Shu on the ground and not moving.

[GambolMuse]

"Takeshi open up to us?" Yumi asked skeptically, smiling snidely. "Please, you've got a better chance of him sharing food than saying what's on his mind." In the time she had known both boys it had only been perhaps once that Takeshi had ever shared his thoughts, and by that she meant the more personal ones. He was just a private person, or uncomfortable about voicing them. Whatever the case without some damn good incentive to do so they'd never figure out just what was driving him to act this way. "Don't count Shu out so readily. Even just as he is he's plenty capable of fighting, he's just timid is all." To that she attributed it to his unfamiliarity with the world around them. Especially now that they were traveling through space it was an awful lot to take it. Considering he had just been getting a basic grasp on how their own planet worked it was astounding if he learned anything at all about alien worlds. Kai prompted a curious question; Just what had they done on their missions? On second thought Yumi probably didn't want to ask. Considering what they'd seen Elites and soldiers alike doing thus far she really didn't have to strain her imagination too much to get an idea. "While we're waiting for them to get back what should we do?" A change of subject might be nice, especially if she was going to start to worry about the boys.

The soldiers shared a raucous cheer as they felled the Beastman, the one holding the sword rather satisfied with his blow. As far as they were concerned he was dead, as both the slice in his arm and now gouge in his stomach would surely lead him to bleed out. With a proud grin the Kaesstrian tore the blade out of Viral's stomach, shaking the blood off of it idly. Whilst that happened the other one with sword in hand walked over to Shu's crumpled form. What a disappointment these three had been to fight. They were supposed to be highly skilled, being Saiyans, and yet a basic ambush had proven to be their downfall. Dull as it may have been though, the soldier mused, raising his sword, they had done their job. Raising the blade up over his head he aimed the edge at the young boy's neck, grasping the hilt with both hands and bringing it down at his flesh with a heavy arc. The sword would never reach Shu's neck though, and the Kaesstrians would find themselves in a rather tricky predicament. As the blade descended it abruptly stopped in its swing, and it took a second to register why. The older boy had somehow gotten free and was now crouched over his sibling, hands raised and grasping at the sides of the blade securely, making it impossible to both move back and push forward against his strength.

"Don't you DARE touch my brother!" he shouted, curling his upper lip back to show elongated canines. With a wild look in his eye he pushed the sword up and away from Shu, his hands being bloodied in the process as they ran along the edge. Once his sibling was in the clear the Saiyan grabbed the throat of the Kaesstrian, and with a rage-fueled yell crushed it beneath his grasp, effectively killing the man instantly. Tossing the now lifeless corpse aside he turned to the other five, all of which now solely focused on the boy before them. Much in the same manner they attacked in unison, though with a swordsman down it was now the other swordsman and the knife wielder that charged him headlong. Bristling with fury Takeshi vanished from sight, reappearing behind one of the staff users at eye level. Twisting his body he drove his leg into the Kaesstrian's head, snapping his neck with an audible 'pop' and sending him toppling to the side. Not a second after that his toes touched the ground and he sprung forward, sending a knee right into one of the soldier's abdomens. The hit made him double over in pain, and a hard elbow the slammed into the back of his head, breaking his skin and drawing blood as he toppled over in quite the mess. The remaining three decided it might be best to take to the air, opting to have more maneuverability and speed to deal with this one.

Unluckily for them Takeshi was as equally capable in the air as they were, and in no time flat he was back to going after them. The first unfortunate soul in front of him was the man with the knives, quickly finding himself on the defensive as the Saiyan rushed at him blindly. Slashing away with his knives he was shocked to find he couldn't land so much as a singe hit, slicing only air with each swing. On one cut he had his arm grabbed and twisted painfully, making him drop the knife which was subsequently caught by the boy. In a flash the blade was driven into his throat, and gagging fitfully the Kaesstrian fluttered to the ground in a sorry state, grasping at the imbedded weapon as he struggled for his life. The remaining swordsman hardly had time to notice his friend's demise as he was beset upon by Takeshi next. He would only get in one attempted slice before a hard punch slammed into his chest, collapsing it and crushing anything behind the cavity. Takeshi flipped himself head over heels, driving the back of his foot into the Kaesstrian and sending him crashing into one of the trees, breaking several branches on the way down. Lastly was the staff wielder, the only one of the entire squad remaining. Narrowly dodging a punch he was alarmed to be grabbed by the boy, helpless as they were inverted and sent speeding towards the earth below. Before they both hit the Saiyan let his captive go, watching as he crashed into the dirt, losing his weapon in the process. Far from done Takeshi dropped down so he stood over the Kaesstrian, and with absolutely no care for decency he began to throw punch after punch into the alien, continuing on for a few violent seconds despite the man being well dead and gone. It was only after he'd early driven the alien into the ground that he finally stepped off, panting heavily due to his anger.

Around the area now were the six bodies of the soldiers, all pummeled and broken in a various display of brutality. Takeshi looked around at every one slowly, feeling utterly no remorse for what he'd just done. Trembling from anger he kicked the nearest body away, finally gathering himself enough to go and check on his brother. Before reaching Shu though he crossed paths with Viral, only managing a silent stare as he was much too riled up to speak. The boy took to one knee carefully after a moment of looking at his friend, examining the wound on his stomach carefully. "It'll heal..." he said simply, pushing himself to his feet. Viral had to wait a moment, Shu was the priority. Besides his friend's healing was working again, that wound shouldn't be a bother. Takeshi hurried over to Shu's side, falling to both knees this time. Uncertain as to whether or not he should move the younger boy he reached down nervously, putting his hand on Shu's shoulder as he gave it a small nudge. "Shu... Shu wake up..." he whispered, his voice taught with emotion. "Come on Shu... Don't do this to me... Get up..."

[GambolMuse]

Double Post. To be deleted.

[Mogtaki]

Kai gave Yumi a staring at before he nodded, “I guess you’re right with that”. Takeshi was probably still the same old guy that they knew over the year, it was probably a longshot that it was all an act and all that killing and what not was just because he was in a mood from not seeing his brother. Not thinking much of it anymore, he looked back to Yumi as she spoke up about Shu with a look of curiosity on his face that was sure to stick. He had no idea what was with that kid, he was almost creepy and being timid like that was just as bad. Saiyans were supposed to be fighters, not little cowards who didn’t want to get into a fight at all, “Just timid? Nothing more than that?” he questioned, shifting a little in his chair, “He’s pretty hairy too…it’s strange”. Casting that thought aside for a bit, he frowned a little when Yumi suggested they’d do something only for his eyes to go to his brother and back again, “We just have to wait, that’s all. There’s barely anything we can do right now until Takeshi gets back so that maybe we can see if he’s able to bring our parents here…otherwise, I don’t know what you’d want to do about us”.

Viral could only watch as Shu got the light of day knocked straight out of him, the soldiers ready to kill the boy once and for all. Making one last movement forward, the force of the blade being yanked straight out of him caused a fair portion of blood to spill as the soldiers took their leave with him. Slowly lowering his head, his energy simply drained before he slowly looked back up at Shu, the pain causing his vision to fade as he struggled to move to help; however, it soon turned out he didn’t even need to move. Takeshi had finally made a move, Viral feeling a moment of confusion before things suddenly got hectic. Takeshi was quickly doing what Viral was struggling to try and do the moment he got into battle, killing the soldiers off fairly quickly.

Gargling a low growl, he watched as Takeshi quickly slaughtered the aliens that dared attack them with such haste, but Viral was still confused to why they had even targeted him. Maybe they didn’t want him alive on their planet specifically, maybe it was something else he just wasn’t familiar with that was going on. Slowly lifting his arm to stare at the large gash, he was put off by the noise of one of the soldiers dropping into the trees. He could only let out a half-hearted grown at the sound of it, his foot still trying to move itself to get to the crumpled boy on the ground. He should really check to see if the boy was going to live, he didn’t matter all that much. He could barely move, the sword had damaged his body enough to disable him.

Staring down at his broken body, his attention was taken back to the double-image that could only be Takeshi gradually coming out of his little temper to check on Shu finally, only to get the slightest of glances himself with barely an expression to it. Looking down at himself, he slowly moved his hand from his abdomen and stared at the blood, opening his mouth to speak only to Takeshi to speak first. It was cold, his reaction barely worth noting before he went to have a look at his brother. He was just a shoulder shrug worth of an exchange, it was hardly a big deal that he was in agony and bleeding out while a bump on the head was a bigger concern. Slowly placing his hand back to his wound, the anger from his rejection only rising up to the surface as the words repeated themselves in his head.

That was what those people said to him whenever they did something to him, their concern for his well-being and what he might be feeling during the ordeal being hardly a concern to them at all. What should it matter anyway, it shouldn’t ever be a concern; it was just a few gaping wounds and blood, it’ll heal. Slowly looking off into the other direction, his attention soon went back to Takeshi as he tried to get Shu to wake up again in a poor attempt to find some reaction from the boy. Glaring at him for a moment, his expression changing slightly to a solemn one, “Don’t touch him”, he grunted, his speech slightly slurred, “He’s fine! Like he’d be happy with what you did, though…you who let logs defeat you. How…brilliant. You’ve also made a mess too…it’s just a ‘lovely’ place to die, isn’t it…? You should check for bleeding…”

[GambolMuse]

Takeshi didn't know what to do with Shu when he got to him, still coming down from a bit of a manic rage to think clearly. In perhaps a rather large lapse of judgement he opted to give the boy a small shake, though immediately stopped when Viral spoke to him. Looking at his brother's unconscious form it was all he could do to keep from panicking, retracting his hand and sighing somberly. If he had been paying attention then that fight never even would have broken out and everything would be fine. Out of a whim he placed two fingers on Shu's neck, not that surprised to find a strong heartbeat. "Just unconscious..." he mumbled, holding his brother in a sad gaze. The Beastman had a bit more to say by the sounds of it, and while taunting it was perfectly deserved. The last bit stung particularly, making him feel like proper trash. Shu was okay, so the older boy picked himself up and went back to where his friend lay. Come to think of it did he even have the right to call Viral such a thing? "I'm sorry... I panicked..." Takeshi said lamely, kneeling before Viral. Too distraught over his own folly and the condition of the others he didn't say any more, instead opting to try and tend to Viral's wounds. Though his paw was in the way it was evident it was a pretty good wound. His shirt was soaked in blood and even if he was healing pressure had to be put on it to keep him from bleeding out. They needed some kind of tourniquet or temporary bandage, something to hold until they got back to the house.

Back to his feet Takeshi went to the closest fallen Kaesstrian, looking him over for any sort of first aid. Aside from the clothing which would work there was nothing remotely like bandages. Not satisfied with just that the Saiyan made it a point to check every single body. For the most part it was weapons and tools, smoke bombs, and other curious little items. After a fair amount of sifting through their belongings he happened across a small bag one had hidden on their back. Inspecting its contents he found bandages, a jar of some kind of green jelly like substance and a few splints. "Let me cover up your wound for you..." He wasn't entirely certain what the gel was, but could guess it was either disinfectant or some kind of anesthesia, either way it would be helpful. Opening the bag he placed it on the ground, laying out the contents carefully. With the jar in hand he cracked it open, sniffing at it carefully to make certain that it wasn't poisonous. Assured it was safe he unraveled a fair amount of the bandages, carefully applying the gel to a portion of it that would lie over the wound itself. "I need you to lift your hand for me so I can apply this." Takeshi said, stating the obvious. In his mind he was going over the steps for treating wounds, scarcely recalling what he was shown with the Saiyans. Apply pressure, make sure the blood flow is stopped, and if possible raise the wound so blood doesn't get to it. The last one was nigh impossible, meaning they may have to just sit here for a moment. "Keep talking to me, you've got to stay awake."

[Mogtaki]

Viral knew that with the force that Shu had been hit and how hard he hit the ground, the kid would probably suffer from a bad concussion and damage to his neck; however, he also knew there wasn’t much that could be done right now. Shu couldn’t be moved right now, not unless they had something to rest his head on. Viral, on the other hand, couldn’t move himself no matter how much he tried. It was hardly a problem and could only be a bother to everyone else because he was hurt again, his wounds proving to be hardly anything to bother with as itself. He was trying to act tough and throw away his own concerns, they didn’t matter, but his wounds were still proving to be the biggest pain right now as it could only make him feel heavy and make everything blurry all around him. As he pressed his paw harder over his wound, he looked vaguely in the direction of Takeshi before letting out a huff, “Hmph…was that big dramatic panic attack…” he spoke lowly, still trying to get up but with poor results , “You are…irresponsibly destructive…”

Viral just wanted to lay down, but what he wanted and what he needed to do were completely different things. He needed to get up and find somewhere that wasn’t a predetermined ambush location, he would probably just end up getting stabbed again if he remained here. Losing track of where Takeshi went, he gasped a little when he suddenly spoke again, “…And why? It’ll heal…” he spoke bitterly, choking a few gasps before shaking it off, “You don’t need to care about it! Just get away from me…” Keeping his paw pressed against his wound, he growled lowly as Takeshi hovered around him before trying to swipe out at him with his pressed paw, throwing blood through the air, “Don’t tell me what to do-…!” His injured arm couldn’t keep his weight at all and the sudden movement caused him to lose balance, his uninjured but bloody paw throwing itself to the ground with a weak press, “…I’m done for, just end it…or are you chicken…?”

[GambolMuse]

With supplies in hand Takeshi had every intent to make amends and try to tend to Viral's wounds. Even if he wasn't a medic he knew enough to keep someone alive, and for the time being that would have to do. The lame excuse of a panic attack bought him no favor with Viral, probably making things worse in fact. "Yeah... Sorry about that..." he mumbled, lowering his gaze shamefully. His half-hearted remark from a moment ago came back to bite him, making his already lousy mood drop even more as a result. He'd been more concerned about Shu, he would admit, but he hadn't intentionally meant to offend Viral. Trying then to secure the bandages he had to move back when he was swiped at, blinking at the blood that splattered on his cheek. "I'm sorry... And I'm just trying to help you Viral, you've got a bad wound." If he hadn't been such an idiot he might have been more sensitive to the Beastman's situation and there wouldn't be any problem. Or if he wasn't selfishly clinging to Shu and his happiness to keep his own spirits up then just maybe his friend might be a bit more cheerful. Getting nervous as Viral slipped and nearly fell back into the dirt Takeshi looked at the man with a woeful gaze. "I'm not going to kill you..." he said defensively, moving closer again to tend to the wound. "You're one of us Viral... And a friend... I would never leave you behind or hurt you like those guys did." Reaching around he linked the bandage together, stretching it enough so that the cloth enveloped the wound. "This may sting a little..." As gingerly as he could he pressed the bandage over the wound, beginning to wrap it around Viral's stomach a few more times to secure it before finally looping it through. It would hold even if he moved, but Vegeta definitely had to take a look at him.

"Look... I know it's got going to mean anything, but I'm sorry Viral." Takeshi said, standing up slowly from his spot. "There's no excuse for my passing you over like that, it was wrong of me." In an awkward show of respect and remorse he bowed slightly, having seen a few people in the city do it before. Whether the gesture was recognized or even accepted at least he'd tried, and it was a sincere apology. Looking back at his fallen the brother sighed shakily, lifting a hand to rub at his eyes before shaking his head. "We're going to have to sit here for a bit I guess, until someone finds us..." Neither of the two could be moved right now, even if the others came this way. Though if the others did come they may be able to provide better care than he could for them. Glancing down at his hand the Saiyan raised it skyward with the intent of firing a Ki blast to signal their location. If someone felt the blast then they'd be curious and come investigate... Hopefully. "Maybe this will get the others to come find us..." he added hopefully, beginning to charge energy. Or it could bring about more soldiers, as the case turned out to be. The Ki was made to quickly dissipate as a knife was thrown at Takeshi and he had to duck to narrowly avoid it. Caught off guard he looked around the area a bit panicked, worried about the others being caught in the line of fire if a fight broke out. Off to their right another knife was thrown, and soon a few more joined in its path... Right towards the wounded Viral. Not even thinking about it the Saiyan stepped around and held out his arms, gasping as each of the blades found their way into various parts of his body. One in his stomach, another in his shoulder, two in the legs and one in the arm, it had been a fairly painful and quick attack.

"Come out... You bastards!" he shouted, trying to move and instead groaning as he agitated a wound and spilled some blood. To make matters worse he began to notice his body was becoming numb, his movements a bit sluggish as a result. Losing the ability to fight gradually Takeshi watched ineptly as not one, not two but at least eight more Kaesstrians settled around them, armed to the teeth as the ones before them had been. This couldn't be happening, not now. Everything had been going their way, things were going to work out. Now instead of being on their way it looked like they were in the deep end. Struggling to move himself forward Takeshi raised his one free arm, making a weak fighting stance to get ready to fight. "Viral... Please get up and get Shu... You've got to get out of here..." he warned, his words strained. He knew that moving his brother might be dangerous, but then again so was keeping him here. Right now he seemed to be the sole target, but if they found out that Shu still lived and Viral wasn't dying they'd be in a load of trouble. Chuckling painfully Takeshi began to gather Ki in his hand again, grinning as he got ready to blast away. "I guess it's a good thing he's out... I'd hate for him to watch this..."

A couple of things happened next, seemingly all in a split second. A few of the soldiers began an advance on the injured fighters, weapons poised and ready to strike. As they drew in closer Takeshi silently willed for Viral to honor his plea and get Shu out of here, feeling even his Ki fading as his body began to essentially shut down. Bracing to feel the bite of metal against flesh he cringed when a knife went sailing by his head... From behind him. The blade soared right by him by a fair margin straight as an arrow, driving itself into the chest of one of the soldiers and felling him. Having difficulty putting two and two together at the moment he watched the man struggle to remove the item, amazed when his nearest comrade was also hit with some thrown blades as well. Turning his head to find the source of the attacks Takeshi went wide eyed when he spotted the cause of the counterattack. Katas stood a fair few meters back from them, smiling gleefully as he held in his grasp a handful of knives and some that looked almost like throwing stars. "Katas...?"

"Apologies my boy! It seems like I was a little too late to warn you." Katas said, his tone not quite the chipper one that they'd heard before, but rather a restrained anger. He had a rather puzzled Saiyan giving him looks right now, but there was no time to explain what was happening. Besides, the events would speak for themselves. "Get down Takeshi, you're in the way!" At his command the boy fell to the ground, or maybe it was the blades buried in him. Either way the second he was given clear view the Kaesstrian hurled a few more knives across the open ground, nailing one of the already fallen men and turning him into a pun cushion. Alarmingly enough as the exchange began another handful of soldiers joined the ranks, now totaling nearly 14 strong, including the now mortally injured soldiers. For whatever reason, insanity or courage Katas didn't appear the least bit phased, and that reason became immediately apparent.

Towards the right of the group one of the men let out a shrill yell, then instantly collapsing onto the ground with his uniform soaked in blood. Behind him stood the rather familiar figure of Eslaria, though this time she donned a set of light armor as opposed to her robes as before. In her grasp were two longswords, one of which was now sleek with a yellow blood. Having taken down one of the men in a single stroke the rear portion of the troops turned to engage her instead, moving in as a whole to overwhelm her. Unfortunately for them the Queen was rather good at this kind of scenario, and with two swords in hand she actually moved up to meet the attackers. The first one swung his spear to try and catch her on the side, it being simply blocked by the blade. Another tried to hit her from behind, but reaching behind her Eslaria deflected the swing of the sword with ease. Pushing away the spear next she spun around, making an amazingly quick cut with her sword that opened up the alien's chest, leaving him to fall to the dirt. Again she spun, an arm outstretched as she cut across the air fluidly. That blow was blocked, but her free sword immediately found itself buried in the man's shoulder, making him drop his weapon. Sword freed she pulled it back before driving it right on through her opponent, removing it by kicking him off of the blade. "Kill them all, leave none standing!" she shouted, seeming to talk to more than just Katas.

[Mogtaki]

Viral couldn’t keep himself up, his strength was just draining from him and soon enough those emotions that were supposed to remain hidden were all sparking up. The thought of death was well ingrained into his mind at this point and forcing his mind into submission, his grip slowly slipping from the ground as Takeshi insisted he’d help him out. His mind was buzzing with all sorts of thoughts, the burning of his wound as Takeshi pressed against it clouded his vision momentarily as nothing but memories of the past forced their way into his mind. Takeshi’s form changed into that of a scientist momentarily, the thought that his guts were getting cut open and examined rushing through his mind as he fell into a mild panic, “…Leave me to die…just get away from here…” he muttered, his eyes unfocused as they stared up into the canopy.

Viral wanted nothing more than to just shake this off and get up like nothing happened, he didn’t actually want to die but the feeling of a short life after this simply delivered the dread that near death forced so much upon him. His eyes moved to Takeshi as he slowly stood up, his hand sliding back until he was close enough with his back on the ground, but the gaping wound from the stab had gone straight through his body and made it extremely painful. With a few struggling breaths his head slowly shook from side to side, “…I-It’ll heal. It’ll heal…” he muttered, his mind slowly deteriorating as his condition gripped his mind, “If I was quicker…if I…wasn’t so-…everyone dies eventually. I’m not scared of death…I live for death…I-…!” The sudden feeling of Ki building up shattered the memory that played out in front of him and reality flooded back, his mind disorientated for a moment as he was put on alert for a moment; in the end, it turned out Viral had been put on alert for an entirely different reason as a knife narrowly missed killing Takeshi.

There was little Viral could do, he knew they were under attack but he had no way of moving around without forcing it out; however, that was exactly what he was going to try and do. Forcing every little bit of energy he could into trying to push himself up, he slowly pulled up to try and grab Takeshi to pull him down before suddenly he had moved instead to protect him, taking a series of knives to his body, “No! Why’d you-“ He simply fell to his side, his poor movement and inability to actually do anything had Takeshi getting injured himself and pretty badly too, “No…it’s my fault…why is this happening…?” Looking to Takeshi as he gave his request, he slowly looked towards Shu, slowly making a poor attempt to pull himself forward with odd determination. It wasn’t enough, his hand collapsing under him as he continued to struggle. Agony continued to run through his body as he forced his way forward, trying hard to get to the boy as if in a poor attempt to redeem his failures.

Slowly moving ever so closer to Shu, blood continued to pour from him as his body could only move in a rush to protect Shu. He couldn’t move his legs, the sword had managed to damage his bottom half and with his recovery time hindered he wasn’t going to be able to get up after this no matter how hard he tried. Choking on his own blood, his uninjured arm dragged him ever closer to Shu as the scene suddenly exploded behind him. He could barely make out what was going on, all he could hear was his heart pounding away. The sounds of more soldiers and the fighting echoed in his mind behind the beating of his heart, the smell of alien blood becoming prominent in the air again. His vision continued to fade in and out, his head feeling heavy as he slowly yet gently pushed his chest off the ground. Making one last determined lunge forward, he got in decent distance of Shu but was quickly left in pain. His body was on the verge of breaking down, his mind buzzing with dread and blame as he struggled to stay awake simply to stay alive, fighting off the building agony.

With the battle well underway and the Queen stepping in to show just what made her Queen, the soldier numbers continued to dwindle but there were still enough to keep them from retreating. There was definitely a moment of urgency, it was not a time to doddle and someone else had to help out as soon as possible. The moment the Queen shouted out, through the forest came flying a swift and agile T’charrl flew straight out and into battle, throwing a spear and managing to skewer one of the soldiers into a tree before firing out an arrow with a very quick shot. He still had a cane strapped to his waist, his ground mobility not exactly quick to improve but the medicine they had giving him the energy he needed to get up and moving.

It was a fairly big deal that he was out in battle, but if Katas wasn’t around T’charrl would show off the power of his strange abilities to destroy his enemies. Someone like Katas didn’t need to know about it, he felt it was still something that should be kept hidden. Coming down upon the scene, he looked to Shu and the strange creature that was hanging over him before to Takeshi who was definitely struggling with a few bad injuries, “Oh man…Mother! I’ll be a moment!” Making a quick little spring towards Takeshi, he took hold of his uninjured shoulder and moved around him, looking him over, “Uhhh, keep those in you, but take this”, he spoke, quickly taking out a fairly standard looking bottle. Uncorking it, the smell was similar to moss and apples as he held it up to Takeshi’s mouth, “Drink it quickly, you’ll be able to move but your heart rate will be slowed to slow the bleeding until we can get the knives out…I-I mean, you Saiyan creatures have a heart, right…?” It was all he had left for poison treatment, he had encountered plenty of their blades before but he hadn’t managed to grab anymore by the time they heard of the attack, “…It might make your blood glow blue too for a while i-if you don’t mind that…”

[GambolMuse]

How quickly things had taken a turn for the worse. Takeshi had barely made the move to intercept the throwing knives, ending up pierced by half a dozen by the time they finally stopped flying. Initially there was no real cause for alarm on his part, pain aside. In a few seconds though an unusual feeling swept throughout his body, making him feel rather light headed. In no time flat he'd gone from being in the midst of the battle to utterly useless, collapsing under his own weight onto the ground. Was it a poison that he'd been struck with? Painfully forcing himself to move the Saiyan looked down at the knives, gritting his teeth as he reached down to try and remove one. With his hands being cut up already it was nigh impossible to get a grip on anything, and so he resolved to lie back in the dirt. It wasn't all lost though, they were still in this fight. Just before falling a knife had whizzed by his head, courtesy of Katas. How the man had found them he didn't know, but he was grateful for it. Following the eccentric aliens attacks was a strike by the Queen herself, cutting down a few soldiers like it was nothing. Nothing that was happening right now made any sense whatsoever to him. How had these soldiers known where they would be, and how had they discovered their work to begin with? The fact that Eslaria and Katas were now fighting for them too only served to raise more questions than it answered.

Viral by some miracle was honoring the request to save Shu, but his efforts were to be in vain. The fact of the matter was much like Takeshi the Beastman was simply too weak to be moving about too much. Only a few measly meters from where he had fallen Viral had stopped, looking in a very sorry state as he struggled with his bloodloss. In a fitful attempt to help the older boy urged his body to move, frustrated as the entirety of it felt numb. In the following moment he feared that the worst had yet to come as a shadow loomed over his poor figure. Thankfully it turned out to be T'charrl, moving around as able as ever and looking prepared for battle. Grunting as he was turned over Takeshi looked at the prince in silent question, his eyes shifting to glance at the liquid he was being offered. "No... " Takeshi replied, feebly pushing the container away from himself. "Get them first... I'm fine." If he thought he could manage it he may have laughed at T'charrl's question about hearts. As it was simply breathing was taxing, so all he could squeak out was a small smile. "Yeah... I got a heart... And I think they may have just missed it..." Looking out past T'charrl he spotted a soldier advancing towards them, having slipped past the Queen's wrath. Alarmed that the prince may be hurt Takeshi lifted his hand, fervently trying to focus enough Ki to fire a blast. As the man closed in on them he had only gathered a handful perhaps, but thankfully his attack wasn't needed. Another figure dropped down from the trees above, landing square on the soldier and driving a sword into his back to kill him. It was the general, Garesh.

"T'charrl! See to the wounded!" Garesh said sternly, yanking his blade free of his fallen enemy. Turning around he watched as Eslaria continued to fend off a pair of attackers, and Katas had taken to the air, raining his thrown weapons from above or at anyone who tried to take off. "We'll handle the soldiers, make sure none of these three die, am I understood?" As far as he and the Queen were concerned this group of travelers were akin to their own by now for all they had done. As such leaving them to die was beyond the question, it simply could not happen. With a loud shout to get the blood flowing Garesh stormed into the mess of soldiers, taking on the nearest one to himself. The enemy made a swipe at him with a dagger that the general ducked under, emitting a shrill sound when he was kicked back in the upper abdomen. Again the attacker moved in, swiping a few times at Garesh to try and draw blood. After deflecting a downward strike the general grabbed the soldier by his waist and abruptly lifted him up, tossing him over his shoulder. Rather than sully his blade again he turned about and brought a foot down on the man's throat to end his little tirade. Taking his second kill the general then moved into the bulk of the remaining troops to inflict further damage.

Dancing about on light feet Eslaria was doing as much as she could to take some of the aggression onto herself. Backpedaling a bit to give herself more room she had managed to get into a one on one confrontation. The Queen had to admit, seeing the uneasy look on the man's face as he squared off with her made her feel rather proud. If he fears me, she mused, then I'll use that. In a half step she quickly shifted her weight, pushing herself forward and crossing her arms to swig both swords at once. The soldier used his wings to lift off of the ground, rising to avoid being cut in two. Watching him rise up Eslaria quickly spread her own wings, shooting up after him and trying to skewer the man on the rise. Using his own weapons to deflect the slice he pushed the Queen away, immediately trying to use his position and hit her from behind. When she turned herself upside down by flipping backwards he was caught off guard for a second, narrowly blocking another hit as she brought a sword down on top of him. She tried to use her free one to skewer him again, but as before that was blocked. The two were caught in a deadlock struggle, each trying to make the other lose their grip or knock their weapons away. Seeing no end to it anytime soon Eslaria backed off quickly, though in doing so suffering a small cut to her upper right arm by the tip of the man's blade. Narrowing her gaze angrily the Queen dashed back in, raising both swords up and bringing them down in an "X" pattern. Both were subsequently blocked, though the soldier was unprepared for her to draw a dagger, getting the blade right in his chest. The surprise and pain of the attack made him falter, and the swords found their way buried into his shoulders. Eslaria kicked the man down to the ground, following him to engage the next opponent.

[Mogtaki]

T’charrl was feeling fairly alarmed by everything he was seeing; his friend face down on the ground, the brother of his friend being pretty well injured and some strange creature that was probably their friend looking not at all too good to go. He wanted to help the one who was still conscious and who he was most familiar with, but with Takeshi refusing the medicine he could only question why before giving a quick glance to Viral and Shu, “What…? But you can actually drink”, he spoke, feeling confused to say the least. He had a pretty good antidote to his problems in his hands and simply refusing it was buying precious time. Frowning a little, he looked to his father before reaching to his pouches, pulling out a small vial filled with red liquid, “Then at least drink this, it’ll dull the pain for a while”, he spoke, trying to shove it into Takeshi’s hand before moving towards Viral and Shu cautiously.

He didn’t know whether the guy was dangerous, he didn’t know whether the guy wouldn’t want his help and was quite fine where he was not to mention he looked like he might actually be close to snapping. Being fairly cautious when pulling up his medicine, staring down at the strange creature, “Uhhh…I-I’m here to help…” he spoke calmly, moving around the strange creature to try and not alarm him. He was certainly different compared to Takeshi and Shu, the big hands were certainly the oddest part but the way he hid most of his face behind his hair just made him a little edgy. Looking up momentarily at his mother and father, he felt a little better seeing how well they were handling everything. Getting a quick look at Shu, he knelt down gradually, holding his leg to try and ease his own difficulties as he uncorked the bottle, “Please, you have to drink this…”

Without so much as a glance at the bottle, T’charrl was immediately alarmed as Viral began to move again, growling viciously at the sight of him. Wincing at the sight of him, he moved back a little while keeping the bottle out in front of him, “No! I-I’m here to help! What are you doing??” he gasped, worried that the guy was going to try and attack him, “Can’t you understand me…? I have medicine!” This was bad, the guy was obviously badly injured and yet he was trying to move just to try and kill him.

Viral didn’t know what he was doing, he looked like he was in a trance of some sort or his mind wasn’t completely there anymore. He didn’t understand T’charrl, but he wouldn’t had reacted in such a way if he was conscious. Slowly trying to move, his claws were forcing their way at his wound as if trying to guard it like a crazed animal; however it wasn’t long before he started to show off the animal as he let out a nasty roar, enough to frighten T’charrl enough to just throw the medicine at his mouth to try and get it on. Luckily enough for T’charrl he did manage to get it in him just as Viral was looking to get nasty and luckily seemed to calm down to the point that he was slowly lying down on the spot again.

That just freaked T’charrl out a little too much, his eyes on Viral who was now lying fairly quietly on the ground. Slowly moving up again, he shuffled slowly towards Shu, his eyes still on the Beastman as he was looking particularly still before letting out a sigh as he reached around for his satchels again. From the looks of Shu it appeared that the kid had taken quite a hit to the head, one that would had otherwise killed him if he was weaker. Frowning a little, he gave Katas a quick look to make sure he wasn’t watching before he held his claws just above his head, shutting his eyes as his hands glowed gently. Shu was definitely still mentally with them, he hadn’t lost it and would probably only suffer from temporary memory loss; otherwise, he was mentally going to be okay.

Letting out a sigh he relieved his powers, slowly reaching around for a powder substance, still slightly shaken from what happened with Viral. He slowly rubbed the powder into Shu’s scalp, trying to get his skin to take it in as it gradually became jelly-like before becoming absorbed. It should help ease any pain that his muscles or bones were having to endure go through after being damaged. There didn’t appear to be any swelling to his brain, but the boy definitely had a good bump on his head and his neck had managed to avoid breaking; however, he would require a hard bandage to stop him from moving it. Frowning a little, he reached to a larger satchel of bandages and pads, slowly wrapping Shu’s head up while applying a pad to the bump before moving to his neck, wrapping it up in a much more solid yet softer bandage that would limit movement but make it fine for breathing.

[GambolMuse]

Adamant about waiting to be helped Takeshi all but refused what T'charrl tried to give to him. "Them first... Ah... I can wait." Takeshi hissed, becoming frustrated with the young alien. Eventually T'charrl relented and agreed to the request, albeit leaving a small vial with the Saiyan. It was a painkiller, according to the Kaesstrian, which was admittedly rather welcome news. Opening the bottle he graciously gulped its entire contents down, grimacing as he finished it and dropped the empty container aside. It tasted absolutely foul, which as far as medicine was concerned that meant it worked very well. Making use of his one unaffected arm Takeshi pushed himself into a sitting position, trying his best to battle against the poison that was in his system. It didn't feel lethal as far as he could tell, his pulse wasn't racing. If anything it was a toxin that paralyzed, as his body was terribly sluggish now. With a minimal loss of blood from the wound he wasn't liable to pass out due to that, and the pain being numbed put him in a fair situation compared to the others. To his relief the Prince was seeing to Shu now, presumably having gone to Viral already. The Beastman looked to be passed out, but he was breathing and the blood pool beneath him didn't appear to be growing in size. Hopefully that meant he was beginning to heal and hadn't bled out or passed out as a result. Finding solace in the others being helped Takeshi looked to the fight going on still, watching the adults quickly take charge of the situation. For a relatively weak race, he mused, they were damn good warriors.

The number of offending soldiers was quickly dwindling under the assault of Eslaria, Garesh and Katas. It was expected that the two royalty could battle well, and their prowess shocked no one. Seeing Katas nimbly battling well trained soldiers and bringing down a few on his own was something else entirely though. The eccentric spy seemed to be a little more than just a false businessman, that was for sure. Still using range to his advantage Katas was constantly on the move, refusing to get close as his current weapons made him rather poor at doing so. He was fast to be sure, but the soldiers were just as much so, keeping pace with him. One thing that the strange man had to his advantage though were his seemingly random movements, as well as how he used his weapons. Dashing about aimlessly to avoid confrontation he narrowly dodged critical injury more than once, losing a few hairs in the process but otherwise coming out unscathed. With a bit of distance between himself and his pursuers the Kaesstrian reached into his coat, pulling out a knife with a small package attacked to it. After biting off a bit the package sparked, showing a small fuse beginning to burn on it. With haste and precision Katas threw it at a distant soldier, watching as it dug into his side. Seeing what was attached the man panicked, hastily trying to remove it to no avail. The small bomb went off, leaving only scraps of clothing and a smoldering black crater where the soldier had been standing.

"Damn it Katas! We said no explosives!" Garesh shouted, quickly getting back to the task at hand. Another man was trying to use brute strength to get at him, being a bit larger and stronger than the general. Wielding the earth equivalent of a mace he was pressing down hard on Garesh's sword, making the alien gradually lose his footing as he was driven back. Trying to use his free arms as a means of breaking free he cursed when his wrists were grabbed, unable to use really any of his four limbs now. Gritting his teeth as he found himself leaning back the general began to brace for taking a hit in order to break free. That scenario didn't come to be thankfully, as now it was his turn to have a knife soar past his head, landing in the eye of the brute of a man. That was more than enough to break free, and once able to move Garesh tackled the other Kaesstrian to the ground, impaling him on his sword quickly to end their struggle. The remaining troops did not last terribly long with momentum on their side. Eslaria was as proficient as ever with her swords, her gash scarcely slowing her down as she defeated two more soldiers on her own. Katas had only one man challenging him in the air by this time, and by using the trees to evade any attacks it was only a matter of time until an opening made itself known, and when it was the soldier was left with several sharp objects in his body, making Takeshi's case look trivial by comparison. Garesh felled the final man with a clean strike through his heart, and in just mere moments the detachment of near a dozen and a half soldiers had been beaten by a group less than a third of their size.

Takeshi sat by soundlessly, watching the battle come to a close with earnest surprise. The last soldier being felled brought about both a sense of relief and dread, the latter because they had just taken nearly two dozen lives. Whether they had been the general's men or not in his mind they had just been following orders, and that was no reason to die. The fact alone he'd personally taken six lives was making him feel worse than whatever foreign substance might be working its way through his body right now. Clamping a hand securely over the wound in his shoulder he grimaced at the feeling of the slick blood between his fingers. In an attempt to be of use he'd taken advantage of the pain killer, yanking free the blade to strike at Garesh's opponent. The painkiller had far from nullified everything, and right now his injury hurt like hell. At Katas' approach he looked up at the Kaesstrian, a clear sense of bewilderment on his face. "How did you know...?" Takeshi asked, utterly dumbfounded. "And since when can you fight...?" After having taken the medicine he was beginning to notice its effects, and not that it was necessarily a painkiller. His body chilled slightly, similar to the feeling one got as your body went numb and blood began to flow through it again. He also felt unusually heavy, nearly falling back as Katas knelt down to support him. "The hell's going on...?"

"Katas can fight because he's Garesh's captain of our armed forces," Eslaria explained matter-of-factly. Shaking excess blood from her blades the Queen slipped them into the sheathes on her hips, looking over at Takeshi slightly amused. "You didn't honestly think I would send a helpless civilian into harm's way, did you? As for how we found you, Katas caught wind of a planned attack. It seems that the general had caught on to your plan early on. Katas' secretary turned out to be loyal to the man." Perhaps the boy wasn't nearly as bright as she had pinned him to be. Or rather he was as every bit as slow as she initially thought. Shaking her head the Queen cut across the now strewn forest floor of bodies, making her way to where T'charrl was tending to Shu. The boy looked to be knocked out, and his injures shockingly had not been fatal despite what damage had been done. "He's going to be fine, T'charrl. You've done a good job," she said gently, trying to ease any nerves he may have at his friend's state. She'd seen plenty in her time to know that if someone could take a hit like Shu had, or sustain these injures and not die from them then chances were they'd pull through. Having seen to her son and his friend she finally went to Viral, not nearly as apprehensive as her son had been. Squatting down before the Beastman she looked him over carefully, taking note of the wound on his stomach. "You're a strong man, to try to save someone with a wound like that..." Eslaria smiled as she reached down, ever so lightly drawing back Viral's shirt to see to the wound. "A warrior like yourself deserves a better death than this, don't you agree? Stay with us, let me see the tenacity of you Earth fighters."

[Mogtaki]

T’charrl was feeling a little worried, but he tried to not let the sounds of what was going on stop him from working his first-aid. It was all basic stuff, even the medicine he used. He did hope he was doing it all right, it was a little worrying incase he had done the bandaging too tight. Finishing up with Shu, he slowly turned him into a better position than lying on his face, giving that a quick look over just incase he had broken anything. His nose was a little bloody, but that was normal after some brain trauma in creatures like Saiyans; they didn’t have antennae, so whether they are extremely important was still a curiosity.

Giving Shu’s face a wipe, he let out a sigh before suddenly looking up again as the bomb exploded as his mind was gradually came back to reality. He needed to keep trying to help them all and even if Takeshi was trying desperately to refuse help in favour for the other two. He didn’t know how he was supposed to get close to Viral, even when he was essentially relaxed by the medicine he still had a fierce energy to him. It was rather scary, he didn’t even want to go anywhere near his head to check for further damage other than the wounds he had. He couldn’t help but feel curious to what he was exactly, seeing new types of aliens was always pretty interesting; however, with those teeth he was most likely a pure predator rather than what they were. While Kaesstrians did have sharp teeth, they weren’t all the same and more designed to tear fruit apart.

As the fight soon came to an end, T’charrl slowly shifted himself before unhooking his cane, pushing himself to his feet and leaning on it gently. He looked for any possibility of help and confirmation that he had done something good, frowning a little bit at the sight of Takeshi. He did want to help him, but after his reaction he felt like the guy would rather come to him if he needed help. With a little check upon his stomach and limbs, the Saiyan should be okay eventually if a little weakened. Looking to his father before to his mother, he frowned a little upon her approach before letting out a sigh, “I hope so, I did all I could…” he nodded, looking to Viral a little, “But…umm…that one is…”

There was something really off about him, it was almost like Viral was ready to tear him apart at any moment despite trying to help him. He’d probably be able to have a look at his energy for a little bit out of curiosity, but there was definitely something really off-putting with the way he looked at him. Looking to his mother, he felt a sudden moment of apprehension when she moved towards Viral, moving to trying to stop her from going close to him. She really went right up, even touching his wound and trying to communicate with him, “M-Mother…I-I don’t think he knows what you’re saying…”

Viral just stared blankly into nothing, his mind finding it hard to adjust to what was going on and just what happened. His mind had disappeared for a bit there, he barely knew what was going on or what had even happened; however, the pain had dumbed down and everything felt like it was going on slow motion. Upon seeing the figure approach he slowly closed his eyes, the smell of blood coming from her could only tell him that she was going to kill him. Thinking he was finally going to die, he almost braced himself before that thought soon turned to a moment of confusion as the Queen instead touched him gently enough to simply move his clothing. Opening his eyes slowly again, he stared up at the strange figure, letting out a groan in response before slowly looking away, “…What are you saying…?” he muttered, feeling confused and disorientated, “Who are you people…”