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

[Mogtaki]

Shu gasped when Takeshi patted his back to get him moving, looking back before carrying on with his way. Takeshi wasted no time in talking to him and was quick to compliment on his work yesterday, his eyes looking up to him and then to his thumbs up. He didn’t know if he was just trying to make him feel better or if he was being genuine about it, giving him a quick look back away from his thumb before giving a nod. “I guess it was good, because Mister Viral didn’t get bad damaged too bad”, he spoke before he shook his head, “No quick enough, though. Mister Viral still got hurt, so that’s a bad. Need to be faster, but no very fast like other people”. When he thought about it he was definitely pretty slow compared to the others, especially when he wasn’t very good at flying. He wasn’t very good at a lot of things compared to the others and it constantly showed. “You sure I be good partner in battle? Might be bad and things happen that be bad! Then you get hurt…what if you were Mister Vegeta’s partner? He really strong, so that be good choice for keeping watch”.

T’charrl tilted his head a little, finding it slightly harder to pick up on the language when Haku wasn’t really speaking clearly. He was trying to understand, but it was difficult when he needed clear words to understand what he was supposed to be hearing. “Umm, well…I think it will be okay. We are stronger than we were when we killed the other one, I guess. At least I feel stronger…” He didn’t have a way to check whether he actually was stronger, but he felt healthy meaning his blades were going to be healthy too and should accomplish a lot of slicing up and general killing. Frowning slightly when Haku asked about his power working on those creatures he looked up momentarily as he scratched his cheek. “I don’t know, but I wouldn’t want to use it. It’s bad that I use it for attacking, anyway. It’s too dangerous and can hurt someone…”

Keeping mostly quiet Viral kept his eyes forward, focusing on what was ahead before he looked to Yumi when she spoke to him, eventually groaning as he looked away again. “Feels like daggers…but I’ll still be able to fight. I’ve had worse and could still fight before”. So long as he didn’t get caught out he would be able to do what he needed to and kill these creatures. He could ignore the pain while he was fighting so that was no problem, it was just the loss of blood he experienced that might mess with his head a bit. So long as there was no large temperature change he should be able to deal with it, but he definitely didn’t want to get to the point where he would end up struggling and having to call for assistance. Going over his various thoughts about the battle he tried to keep his mind off it, eventually giving Yumi a glance at her suggested battle tactic. “We’ll need to keep to a position where we can see everybody and not have anyone deviate from the group. We can’t keep too close, we may get ambushed from below by a larger entity, so watch your surroundings and don’t be afraid to run. We can easily chase those things down while they’re distracted…I have my doubts that they’re intelligent enough to see we’re obviously playing with it…”

[GambolMuse]

"Hey... I screwed up there, okay? Not you. At least you tried to help the guy," Takeshi argued, sighing before shaking his head in disgust with himself, "And you're still faster than me buddy, you know that. Hell, you're apparently braver than I am too." All over a stupid bug, of all the things for him to be afraid of. Shu had done something he hadn't been able to and arguably Viral was able to fight today because of the little guy's help, that was huge. It was a good thing he'd have his brother with him today too for that reason, even if he was more comfortable fighting these creatures. "I think he's fine on his own, he's the only guy without a partner, you know? And hey you kept Viral from getting really hurt yesterday so I know I'm safe with you. And I won't screw up like yesterday either, I've got your back." And anyone else during this fight, he wasn't going to screw up and let someone get hurt because of him again. Vegeta would probably be fine on his own, he was strong and smarter than any of them, he could handle himself. T'charrl had Haku with him too for whatever that was worth, they should be fine which left his place with Shu.

"I feel a little stronger too, I guess. A little bit of training helps," Haku said with a meek smile, "But a worm's still a worm, no matter how strong the worm gets." He couldn't shake that even now that he was thousands of miles away from the instructors, from all of the other troops who treated him like such. If he ended up playing second seat or backup to T'charrl then that was fine, he'd gotten to the point where he'd accepted that as his lot in life. He'd never be one of the Princes, really strong or respected, and he'd never be some high ranking soldier either. "Oh, well we should be fine still, you don't need to do any of that. Besides... Maybe when they close the rift the monsters will go too, we won't even have to worry about killing them all." That was if that worked, no one knew what was going to happen when the rift was closed. Haku was just happy he didn't have to go over to the other side himself and do it, the whole fighting these monsters was stressful enough without that.

Making Viral fight in this state wasn't right but they had little choice. They needed him for this, and even if he was weakened he was still perhaps their best chance at sealing the rift for good. If he stumbled during the fight because of his wounds she would try to be right there to help him, and if he needed to take a break because of his injuries she'd step in his place. Yumi was more than prepared for this, and even if she didn't have access to so many Beastmen powers like the others did she'd pull her weight still. Nodding at Viral's take on the creatures she smiled confidently, "Right, if we mix it up and keep them guessing I doubt they'll know what to do. Still need to be careful though, even dumb things are able to hurt you." Like some of the big lugs at a few dojos, mountains of men who couldn't dress themselves likely but sure packed a wallop. Just because something wasn't as smart as you didn't mean you should take it easy, there was always a chance to make a mistake. She was confident they would be fine and this would work, but she was expecting plenty of trouble along the way. "I want to figure out where these damn things are coming from already, know what we're really up against," Yumi muttered, pushing herself along and picking up speed, "I'm sick of them attacking people, it's time we start attacking them."

The scouts signaled for everyone to slow their pace as they neared the village, or where the village had once been. Up ahead was nothing but open land, a noticeable barren patch of dirt among the otherwise sprawling fields. Following the lead of the scouts everyone would stop several hundred meters away, too uncertain about whether or not they should approach. Among themselves the scouts discussed what their move should be before deferring it to the ones who would actually be fighting, figuring their part was done for the time being.

[Mogtaki]

Shu stepped to the side when Takeshi snapped back at him, staring up at him with a frown before looking away. He didn’t know if he had done bad judging by Takeshi’s reaction by evening mentioning it. He didn’t want to make him angry, but it seemed Takeshi was still trying to give him compliments except it sounded condescending. Maybe he really didn’t think he was very brave, he wasn’t sure what he meant with that kind of tone. Feeling particularly nervous about the fight ahead he wondered whether he should at least try and display real bravery rather than just thinking about helping Viral, even though that’s what he thought being brave was. Maybe it had something to do with being strong and being able to fight by yourself, but he really wasn’t sure. Feeling a little uncomfortable and confused he had his doubts, his thoughts going to whether Takeshi should go with Vegeta, but Takeshi thought otherwise. “Oh, if you think so…I mean, if you two together, things get dead real quick. Shu no very strong, so maybe bad idea?”

T’charrl smiled and nodded at first but then looked very confused, not understanding what a worm was or why it had anything to do with what both of them were saying. “Um, yes…yes. Yes?” It was true that something was always going to be something and always be identified as such, but he didn’t understand what the point Haku was trying to make. Feeling ultimately confused and wondering whether Haku thought he was strong enough he just tried to put it out of his mind, sighing lightly as they continued on. “I guess so. I still don’t know how those creatures work and why they can’t just go for good. They have a life force, but no spirit, which is weird…” he sighed, lowering his head. “I’m so confused. What are they made of? Are they like us or are they fleshy weapons that have an instinct planted in them that they follow? Too many unusual things…”

Viral ultimately didn’t care if he had to feel pain, he wasn’t a coward who would fall at the mere feeling of it. Once these injuries were gone it would just be the pain he would have to deal with and that was something he could definitely do. As he continued on he expressed what kind of tactic he thought was best, but of course he was treating them as wild animals first as that was what they essentially acted like at this point. “’Dumb things’ are even more dangerous than a sound of mind opponent because they are unpredictable. Don’t think a lack intelligence makes them any less of an opponent…” Continuing along the path he looked back at the scouts when they gave a signal, slowing down as they did. When it became clear that they would soon need to stop he turned to face the scouts, narrowing his eyes before looking ahead. Seemed their destination was up ahead, but the scouts didn’t want to endanger themselves just in case those creatures were still there. Looking into the distance once more he simply sighed, preparing to go again. “If you don’t want to endanger yourselves, then keep a fair distance. If these creatures are here then we’ll take care of them and if not we’ll move on…”

[GambolMuse]

"You and Viral killed the bug thing pretty quick too, didn't you? And you're plenty strong buddy, I know you are. Wouldn't be asking to fight with you otherwise, you know?" Crap, now the little guy was going to be thinking he was useless wasn't he? That was Takeshi's own fault and he knew it, treating his brother like he had to rely on him for everything. How else was he supposed to keep Shu from changing though? If his brother didn't fight then he wouldn't risk changing, yet keeping him from battling seemed to cause even more problems. There had to be a way for him to do both here and he'd try finding it, so long as his trying didn't result in Shu going all ape and crazy. Stopping with the rest of the group Takeshi rubbed at the back of his neck again as he tried to find words for his brother, figuring he ought to try and build Shu's confidence a bit before the fight. "Hey, remember when we fought that big thing on Namek? How we flew around together and you blasted it?" he asked with a smile, "How about we try that again? I mean I don't think blasting will kill them, but it's something we can do together, yeah? Or... We can just smack 'em around."

Haku didn't know what to say about the creatures as it was far from his expertise. They had no souls? That sounded... Creepy. If that was true as T'charrl said then it kind of made sense they couldn't kill the things yet it also made him wonder how they even existed in the first place. "So... What? Are they just... Puppets?" Living, breathing puppets with big sharp teeth and claws but puppets nonetheless. Up ahead the scouts called everyone to come to a halt and Haku's nervousness returned as they did so, wondering if they had managed to find the rift so soon. While no one could see from the looks of it he didn't notice the unmistakably empty land before them, much of it discolored like something had recently been on it, smothering the grass. Had there seriously been a village here just before? How did an entire village just up and disappear like that? He'd seen villages vanish before sure but there was always rubble left over, they had never just up and vanished like this. Feeling awfully nervous again he looked around the area as he rubbed his hands together, almost paranoid now they might be attacked. "Uh... You feel anything... Weird?"

"Fair point, I won't underestimate them." Viral wasn't wrong there, plenty of idiots managed to somehow fight purely because you never knew what they were going to do; some people always tried the same thing when fighting however, some people you knew exactly what they would try if 'A' didn't work, or if 'B' didn't work, she'd fought enough to notice some had certain ways of going about things. Maybe it was impossible to apply that to these creatures but it went to show dumber fighters were usually predictable. With the group having stopped at the arrival of the village she kept close to Viral, her ears twitching at every little sound in anticipation. It certainly looked like something had been here until recently, all the patches of dirt among the grass suggested as much. After Viral's warning to the scouts they began to slowly advance on the area and, with luck, were on their way to find the creatures as well. On a whim she took a whiff of the air around them to try and find some kind of trail, frowning when there was nothing whatsoever from the village. So if there really was a village here then there wasn't a single trace of it left, meaning it had either been wiped out entirely or, more eerily, no longer existed on the world. A small part of Yumi had hoped the rift wasn't a real thing but now she wasn't so sure.

[Mogtaki]

Shu didn’t know if that was anything to be proud of, it wasn’t as if it was something that Takeshi was any excited about after all. He really didn’t react very well after they killed it and didn’t say anything after everything was done, only ending up fighting with Viral and Vegeta instead. “Ooh, you can still fight with me, but are you happy to fight with me?” he asked him curiously, keeping his head low and his gaze averted, “I mean, do you trust me to be good at fighting with you?” He really didn’t know the answer or whether Takeshi was going to be truthful about it, he certainly had a knack for giving him the answer that Takeshi thought he wanted. Sighing lightly he looked back at Takeshi when he spoke about the battle instead, staring at him a moment before slowly looking away again. “O-Okay…okay, we do that again. It should go well, it should…” he spoke, thinking about it, “…It be all okay, maybe. I-I feel I can do it! Good at fighting, right…?”

T’charrl was pretty drawn to the place they had arrived at, finding it to be the most unusual sight he’s seen in a long time. While everyone else was seeing it as a large area where everything had been taken away, he could see it was more than that. Gazing over the area in silence he gasped when Haku spoke again, looking down at him before out at the area once more. “Uhh, I-I don’t know what I’m feeling, honestly…” he spoke, looking around slowly at the area, “It’s like…there was nothing ever here…” There wasn’t really any spirits wandering around like they might had done before, especially after a struggle of some kind. There was just nothing, no sight of the people that apparently lived here before. Frowning, he looked around again before lowering his head, scratching at his knuckles. “It’s really creepy. Where did they go? Really to this other place…? I don’t know their energy well enough to identify anything…”

Viral knew it was best to keep the scouts away from the problem area, knowing if they ended up wandering too deep they might end up becoming casualties themselves. If even one of them ended up dying because he told them to leave, however, he would end up in a much worse state. Not only would he be seen as a failure but it would be his fault for sending them to their deaths. Turning back to the village again, or the lack of one, he growled lowly, walking towards it momentarily before turning to Yumi. “I doubt they would had gone very far, but you won’t be smelling them out”, he spoke before looking to the village’s spot again, “The village was most likely removed because this is a conduit for whatever they’ve been setting up. Where ever they’ve put it, they’ve probably transferred it to their realm or something. There was barely any struggle here and you can see that clearly, so we’re on the right path…”

[GambolMuse]

"Buddy, would I be asking to fight with you if I didn't think you were good?" Takeshi asked, smirking as he reached over and ruffled Shu's hair, "I wouldn't waste my time if I didn't think so, you know? So yeah, I want to fight with you." Besides even if Vegeta was pretty strong he was just a pain in the ass, he'd probably have to listen to the guy correcting him the whole time. Whatever the guy said would probably be right too given his penchant for being a know it all, but that was the last thing he was wanting to hear during a fight. With their arrival at the village, or where it had been anyway, it was probably a good idea to get some battle plan into place. "Yeah you're good at fighting, I already said that buddy. And you know what? If you don't wanna fly around blasting stuff how about we try something else? Got any ideas?" He was the one always dragging Shu along and making him do what he thought was best so maybe it was time he let his little brother do the thinking. Was he skeptical? Of course he was, he'd never let Shu really think for them before, but this was the kind of thing he should be doing right? Stop babying the kid and let him think for himself. Hopefully right now wasn't a bad time to start with that.

Haku had hoped for some kind of answer from T'charrl on the subject of the village, some idea of what they were seeing. It was a good thing his friend wasn't noticing any spirits he supposed, that meant no one had been killed here right? But then that made the disappearance only creepier, it meant all these people were still alive somewhere. Well... Maybe alive. Rather unsettled he rubbed at his arms as he looked around, goosebumps dotting his skin as he became paranoid about an attack. No one had a clue what happened here and no one knew whether the monsters were even present or not, they were flying completely blind. "I d-don't know... Are they even alive? If they were taken by these things... Oh man..." Haku was finding himself very much wishing he could be back at the ship right now, or even the village, anywhere but here. If he ran away though then he was leaving T'charrl by himself and he'd likely be okay but he'd be a terrible friend for doing something like that. "So uh... Are we saving these people too? Or are we just uh... Closing the rift? I mean we don't even know if they're alive..."

"I noticed... It's like no one was ever here..." Yumi mumbled, frowning as she tried again to pick out even the remotest of traces. Absolutely nothing, the only smells that might show some of the natives were around came from the scouts with them, nowhere else. "A conduit...? So they needed it for something?" Did they need the village itself or the people? They weren't just closing the rift here, they had to try and save whoever had been taken through as well. With the fear of the rift closing on them already weighing heavily on her mind the thought of having to stay longer didn't sit well with her; leaving the people behind because of her own fears wasn't okay, she had to try and help. Heading towards the empty land there was certainly a disconcerting feeling that washed over as they entered the area, stopping at the first empty lot and toeing the dirt with her boot as if to test it. "It's just so strange, thinking that an entire place vanished without a trace..." Had more villages been taken too? They had no way of knowing, the Chieftain himself said villages weren't regularly in contact with one another. This was going to end up being a very, very long day.

[Mogtaki]

Shu raised his shoulders when his hair was ruffled, his eyes tight shut before he slowly looked up at Takeshi again. “I guess…and not…just because…” he muttered as he slowly looked away again. He hoped it was because Takeshi wanted to fight with him and wasn’t just trying to protect him or something, especially when he was supposed to be strong enough to defend himself by now. He wasn’t a little weakling, but he still had his doubts since if he wasn’t then Takeshi would probably ignore him. Hearing Takeshi yesterday made him wonder what Takeshi wanted from him and whether it was just for someone to protect. He was a little scared, he didn’t want Takeshi to get bored of him especially when had spent most of his life without true family. He was going to have to hold onto him tight and keep close to him as much as possible if only to make sure he really did want him around. “Uhhhm…I wanna fly around! I want to shoot things and be strong…I want to be able to beat them too!”

T’charrl was probably having the hardest time with this situation, but he didn’t want to end up freaking out in front of everyone just because he was having a slight bout of confusion over this area. To see a place that was just gone with no trace of life, just shells made him wonder if this was a completely different dimension they were looking into, yet didn’t know that they were. Keeping his freakout to himself he frowned as he looked to Haku, generally unable to answer. “…I don’t know if they’re still alive. Maybe they are, but…I-I don’t know…” he spoke, looking down at his claws, “I hope they are. If it turns out they are dead I would still like to make sure their spirits are in this dimension and not stuck in that place”. It was awfully difficult for him and nobody else was going to be able to help him with these kinds of problems. Sighing lightly he looked to Haku, staring at him as he slowly tilted his head. “I-If they’re still alive, yeah…yeah, we should. But we’re also not allowed to cross the portal so the Beastmen have to find them and fight and-…there’s so much we have to do in such a short time…”

Viral thought for sure that this area was cleared on purpose, not just because there was a village. If the other village hadn’t been touched it obviously wasn’t a purge, they would had taken them too. This area was needed to be cleared, but now they just had to find out whether it was supposed to be a single clear or if there was a path elsewhere that lead them in a line to another area like this. He didn’t know if there was a pattern, he couldn’t get in the air to see nor could he risk sending someone else up there instead. Growling in frustration he looked around, slowly heading towards the empty area with the others. “If they wanted rid of the race, they would had found that other village for sure. It’s hardly a coincidence that they’re gone”. Looking around the empty area he tried to look for a pattern, maybe the sign of a struggle as well. There was nothing that said anything, just blank land with nothing left of it. “…Whatever happened, there was barely any struggle. They did this as quickly as possible to not alert the rest anything else that was in the area. What I want to know is where did they go and how do we get there…” If they could find that they could find the portal, he was sure. They needed to get to the other side somehow, but he had no idea how to do such a thing. “Is this…portal possibly larger than we thought…” he muttered, letting out a groan before looking around again, “There could be another area, or we’re right on the correct area. We can’t see the area from the air, not without making somebody an open target…”

[GambolMuse]

Viral had a point with that, there had to be some reason this village in particular was taken above the others. The one they had come from wasn't terribly far off, it could just as easily have been that one. Was it purely chance? Yumi didn't know and nor did anyone else and the implication that there was something more going on here made it rather uneasy. No matter how she tried too she was unable to pick up any trace of the inhabitants, it was as though they had never existed to begin with. "If it's here though... Where is it? You'd think we could see it by now..." Yumi muttered, frowning as she looked further along, off towards the trees. Nothing, while she hadn't a clue exactly what it was they were looking after she was certain there were no portals to another dimension here, or if there was it was tiny, much too small to steal a village. "I can take a look from the air if you want, maybe I'll spot something a little further away?" Least she could do, at this point it was all their trying to just find the damn thing. Slowly rising up into the air Yumi put her head on a swivel, casting glances in every direction to try and find anything that looked remotely out of place. Even from up high however nothing stood out, not a single thing seemed to be amiss.

"Y-Yeah... But uh... I mean we can do it... Right? It's not like this is our f-first fight..." It was their first time dealing with some rift, portal, whatever the heck this thing was supposed to be. Haku wouldn't say it aloud but he was terribly grateful he wasn't one of the ones having to cross over, he'd probably soil himself from being scared so silly. Kill the monsters, close the portal, save anyone stuck on the others side, T'charrl was right when he said there was a lot that needed to get done. Haku still didn't know how they would accomplish even one of those goals let alone all of them. Rubbing his hands together nervously he saw how everyone was beginning to split up to look around, Yumi taking to the sky herself to get a different vantage. All he could do was stick by T'charrl and look around, he was much too strung up to wander away. Biting his lip as the search went on Haku sighed and glanced back the way they had come, wondering if perhaps the rift might be in the other direction instead. Could they have waited at the village? Considering suggesting as much he turned back to speak to T'charrl, stopping himself and looking back again. He had just seen a glimmer hadn't he, or was he seeing things? Looking back again he furrowed his brow in concentration, his eyes widening when he did indeed see a shimmer in the air behind them, some several meters away. Uncertain what it was he gasped as the glimmer began to expand, reaching back and tugging on T'charrl's arm uneasily. "T-Tcharrl?!"

A lot happened in the span of just a few seconds. The glimmer which Haku had seen had spread in mid-air, going from a tiny spark to a massive glow, encompassing several meters in every direction. As the light spread a sound similar to the tearing of fabric broke the silence, and once the light had reached its full sized a low yet loud growl came from the tear. What seemed to be shimmering air took form as a black void took its place, replaced then by what could only compared to a window into another world. Where the area around it was green and lush the world through the portal was almost barren, the ground an unusual purple and gray, dry and cracked like the harshest of deserts. The sky on the other side was tinged red as well, and a notably dry heat seeped through the rift into their world. Another low growl was emitted and then seemingly out of nowhere one of the creatures crawled through, then another, then a third. It seemed the beasts had been waiting for the rift to open as fairly soon over a dozen had emerged, fangs barred and eyes trained firmly on those before them.

So that was it then? A rift that could be opened and closed on command, how very intriguing. What manner of power did they use in order to do this? Vegeta wanted so badly to know but he doubted any of these beasts would oblige him with an explanation even if they were capable of doing so. At least their search had ended, now for them to get to work. "Seems like we've been graciously handed our target, isn't that considerate?" Now they had to make a path for Viral and the others to get through, and right now the only thing keeping that from happening were the beasts gathered at the foot of the rift. Starting to approach it he watched as the creatures howled and snarled at him, lowering themselves onto their haunches threateningly. Simple beasts, nothing more, even if they were of a hive mind. With a howl from one of the pack four of them launched themselves into the air and at Vegeta, claw and fang barred with intent of tearing him apart. All four came down on his location with an audible thud and yet they only found dirt in his place, snarling and looking around in confusion until one of them was sent flying as Vegeta reappeared, flipping himself over and driving his knee deep into one of the creature's necks, slamming it into the ground with a choked snarl.

"Finally! Something to do!" Eris shouted enthusiastically, taking off immediately to get into the fray. Going after the beast that Vegeta had kicked away she threw herself at it as it tried to get up, rolling along the ground with it as she tackled it back down. With jaws snapping at her she grinned and punched it hard in the side of its head, doing so several times and leaving it in a daze. Pushing it away with her legs she jumped up once again and came down on its neck, driving both feet down on its throat and crushing it. Maybe they couldn't kill them in this world but she'd make damn sure they would feel pain, that much she could do. Preparing to strike it again she frowned when the beast vanished beneath her feet, turning to smoke and watching as said smoke traveled back to the portal, seeming to vanish into it without a trace.

Yumi made it a point to quickly get into the fight as well by flying down after one of the beasts, trying to take a little pressure off of Vegeta. Throwing a Ki blast just to distract it she landed on its flank and spun around with a kick, lifting it up off its feet and running beneath it, grabbing one of its legs and throwing it back down towards the ground. Orion was below her now and with a roar on his part he threw a powerful fist skyward, the beast's body folding slightly at the point of impact before it was sent back up towards her, where she raised a leg and kicked it back down yet again, sending it smashing into the ground below. Dropping out of the air she bounced lithely on her feet as it struggled to stand, spinning on her heel to avoid it as it charged her with jaws snapping furiously. Letting it double back after her again she reached out and placed her hands on its head this time, flipping up onto its back and driving her heel down into the back of its head, knocking it over and its face slamming into the dirt.

"Looks like its time to kick some ass, ready buddy?" Takeshi asked, grinning as he grabbed Shu by the hand and helping his brother onto his back. If the others needed to go through the portal then it was probably best to pull the creatures away from it, and he and Shu would work well as bait, flying around together. "We're gonna go make some friends, hang on!" Dashing over towards the portal itself he smirked as several of the beasts looked up at the two brothers, a few going as far to raise up on their hind legs and swipe at them. Well out of their reach the older boy amassed some Ki in his hand and threw it down at them, causing the creatures to scatter from the blast. Even if it wouldn't hurt them it still did the trick, and now several of them were angry at him and Shu. "We're gonna play tag with these things, hope you're ready!" Lowering himself just enough to nearly be attainable Takeshi waited until they were close before rising up some more, flying himself and Shu away from the portal, dragging some of the creatures with him.

[Mogtaki]

Viral didn’t know where the opening for this so-called portal might be or if it even existed at all, whether it was just a quick flash to get everything to their dimension that did it or if something swallowed the village up. It was hard to tell when the ground was fair flat with little disturbance despite the fact that many were probably here before. Maybe it was during a time where the residents would be asleep and not roaming for maximum capture, otherwise the other village would had heard about it without a problem understanding what happened. He was confused for sure, but it wasn’t as if everybody else was too. Mentioning getting to higher ground he frowned when Yumi suggested she should take to the air, groaning lowly as he looked away. It was probably already too late for them, they had all probably fallen into some sort of trap and was simply being spied upon by now just for approaching the area. Maybe it was just his growing paranoia, but they had probably found the right place to try and find the location of these creatures.

T’charrl frowned, tilting his head slightly before looking away again. “Yeah. I don’t want to die because I was scared and doubtful, after all”. He didn’t like it when his confidence was being shortened because of pessimism, it made him wonder why there was a reason to be pessimistic in the first place. He knew it was probably best to be quite high spirited and not think death was inevitable. Deciding to look around like the rest of them he kept on guard, feeling like he might end up finding he was only making him more vulnerable. Frowning, his antennae twitched for a moment before he turned around quickly when Haku pulled at his arm, gasping when he saw the strange mass appearing under a strange power. Pulling back a few steps he quickly unsheathed his arm blades, holding them out. “Oh dear…I guess they found us…”

The change in the air was immediately noticed by Viral and very quickly he turned around, seeing the rift starting to form. It was just as he thought, they had been around here for probably a while. Growling in anger he unsheathed his cleaver, watching as the portal opened in a rather threatening manner before showing what was on the other side. He didn’t expect there to be that much of a difference between this world and that one, he thought maybe it would had been like a mirror to this world rather the complete opposite of a reflection. Partially he was concerned about it, seeing it as a foreign entity, but the other part of him was finding he didn’t want to go in there after all. It was an ugly looking world and he didn’t find himself feeling like he was wanting to go in there at all. Watching as the mass of monsters came tumbling out he immediately bolted for the portal, sidestepping one of the monsters and cleaving it completely in half horizontally as he ran on without looking back. Following after Eris he looked back to Yumi, watching as she was managing to deal with one of the creatures herself as well. “Don’t bother with fancy moves! Just get to that portal!”

Shu was startled by the sudden appearance of the portal, immediately panicking but ceasing when Takeshi took hold of his hand. He didn’t expect the creatures to come so soon so this was a little frightening, certainly managing to make him feel a little worried that he might not be able to help. Holding onto Takeshi’s head for a moment to get balanced on his back he looked to the opening portal before to Takeshi, nodding quickly. “Okay! Okay! I do it good! No wanna make friends with them, though!” Keeping a hold of Takeshi as he took him into the fray he watched as Takeshi tried to bait the creatures with Ki, frowning at their reaction. Well this was going to be difficult and if he couldn’t do much then he was just going to have to wait until Takeshi gave him a good target. Looking back at the creatures he quickly turned his head towards Takeshi, briefly nodding. “O-Okay! I get!” Looking back at the creatures he quickly started throwing roughly spherical Ki blasts at the creatures, trying to get them to keep following them.

[GambolMuse]

Using some Ki to assist in her attack Yumi took a swing at the beast's neck, and while Ki itself wasn't dangerous to them her hand acting like a blade most certainly was. With a clean slice she cut right through and took off the creature's head, watching as it turned to dust and vanished from sight. When she heard Viral yell at her she nodded, turning and racing after him towards the portal. A handful of beasts were still looming by the gate yet that was quickly helped by Shu and Takeshi flying by, playing bait for them to get an opening. Smiling through the nerves she was feeling she waved to Orion to follow, falling in behind Viral and leaping for the portal. Just the sight on the other side was unnerving enough but they had to do this, the rift wouldn't close any other way. Not sure what to expect she placed her arms in front of her face and closed her eyes, flying through the rift and for a good moment feeling utterly weightless. That quickly changed however as she dropped to the ground with a thud, taken aback from the change in gravity. It was nothing serious as she could stand and move without much issue but it had been sudden, as was this dry, hot air they were now engulfed in. Were they in Hell, or was this just a really lousy world?

So these things were a little faster than Takeshi remembered them being, he was putting on a decent amount of speed and they were pretty much keeping pace. Good thing they couldn't fly at least, for the time being the air was their friend. "That's it buddy! Just like throwing rocks, just keep lobbing them!" Trying to keep steady for his brother the older boy frowned when two of the beasts broke off from the pack, and a quick glance showed they were doubling back towards the portal, trying to get after Viral's group going through. "Tch..." Putting on the brakes he came to a sudden halt before turning and dashing back, several of the beasts below slipping at the quick change of direction. Figuring he could blast them with some Ki he reeled back and threw a blast, nailing one in the hind and making it stumble, falling and tumbling into the dirt comically as a result. The second was drawing nearer however and blasting the portal might not be a good idea. He wasn't needed to handle that one however, Vegeta was on it and swiftly knocked it aside. "Alright, kick it's ass Vegeta!" Takeshi shouted, redirecting again and continuing to lead the creatures around in circles.

"It's not a game you dolt, stop playing around..." Vegeta grumbled, frowning as he watched the brothers zip on by, the herd of beasts still in tow. Moving on the beast he'd knocked aside he watched it climb to its feet and howl at him, all kinds of foul liquid spewing from its maw as it screamed. Gathering Ki in his hand he threw a small blast right into its jaw and watched as it stumbled, unharmed but dazed from the hit. Taking the brief window he dashed in and drove his knee right into its skull, following it promptly with a kick to the side of the head that lifted it off of its front legs. Dropping his body down he reeled back his right arm and again gathered Ki, throwing a hard punch that combined with a blast, smashing the beast into the air and sending it flying some several meters away before slamming back down into the ground. The creature which Takeshi had blasted was now upon him as well, and with a quick jump he narrowly avoided being caught in its jaws, landing on its back before aiming and blasting its head at almost point blank range, causing it to fall and slide along the ground as a result. It wouldn't kill them, but then they couldn't kill them anyways, this was only to buy time.

Haku, now visibly trembling, was trying to force himself to fight. While the Princes and Vegeta had the majority of beasts occupied there were still a handful running free, and with their job to protect the scouts he couldn't well stand by idly. Looking to T'charrl in hopes he might take the lead he gasped when one of the creatures howled at them, rearing up on its legs before charging. Raising his fists up he swallowed nervously before charging forward himself, yelling as he closed the distance with the beast. He intended to smash it as he'd seen others do before yet when it opened its mouth he quickly gave up on that, instead darting up abruptly to avoid becoming lunch. The creature had to take a wide turn to readjust its path and snarled up at him, squatting down and taking a leap to try and pull him out of the air. Not knowing what more to do Haku created a sizable ball of energy and hurled it down at the creature in mid-air, driving it back to the ground and burying it in a small crater as his attack blew apart the ground. "T-T'charrl? Uh... Little help please?"

Eris couldn't explain what it was about this world, it just felt... Wrong. She had been to plenty of worlds before and she'd never felt anything like this, she didn't even know what to call it. Her palms felt clammy and the hair on the nape of her neck stood tall and, despite not seeing any enemies, she swore there were eyes on them. Grinning she told herself it was just nerves, they were in an unknown place against a new foe, it wasn't so insane that she might be a bit wound up. "So here we are, time to kill these things!" They might well be doing that if there was anything immediately visible, but there wasn't. Looking around the barren landscape she tried to spot any small sign of movement and found none, wondering if perhaps the rift wasn't supposed to dump them here. Looking back at the portal she noticed then the ground on the other side, dry stone rumbling and breaking from some unseen force. The heat seemed to grow suddenly as well to the point where it felt like they were beside a fire and at the last possible moment Orion tackled her to the ground, a searing beam flying over the spot where she had been standing seconds before. "What the hell was that?!"

If anyone had been wondering where the creatures were on this side they were now getting their answer. From the shale-like ground several of the beasts burst up from the layers below, clawing their way to the surface with bone-shaking screeches. More were surfacing further away, and once one took a look beyond the portal they could see why. A massive creature stood above all the others on four hooved legs supporting a thick, muscular torso sporting two thick trunk-like arms, four claws on the end of it. The creature's head was long and sported several rows of fangs, many of which jutted out from its lip. Staring down at the group at the portal it let out a bellowing roar, slamming its front legs against the ground as it gathered red energy in its mouth, firing at the back of the portal and shattering it with ease. As though it knew what it had done its lips curled back in a smile, letting out a guttural growl as the smaller beasts began to converge on the group.

[Mogtaki]

Shu was trying hard to keep balanced on Takeshi while firing off these Ki blasts, but it was turning into quite a difficult time when he couldn’t really see where Takeshi was going. He just had to assume he was going to turn one way or the other and lean slightly, keeping his tail wrapped around Takeshi securely so he wouldn’t go flying off. When Takeshi made a sudden stop he bumped into his back, shaking his head before giving a look back again. That sure did make him disorientated, but Takeshi dashing back again once the beasts caught up threw him off even more to where he had to look around again. “Ooh! Remember I’m here!” He certainly was having a hard time keeping the pace now but it seemed Takeshi had it covered anyway, him and Vegeta was doing well too as Takeshi wanted to join in with him. Definitely feeling a little disorientated after that he watched Vegeta fight one momentarily before suddenly gasping when he realised he was still supposed to do something, quickly twisting around and tossing a ball of Ki which hit one of the monsters right in the face. “What do we do now?? When we hit them real good?”

T’charrl had the equipment to deal with these monsters, but he was still finding it rather hard to find the nerve to go straight up to these beasts and drive his weapons through them. Maybe it was their rather disgusting features that made him scared like some primal response to something dangerous, but the problem with that was he was supposed to be stronger than them. Trying to conquer his instincts he bolted straight for one and drove his weapon right into its mouth just as it was about to attack him. Throwing the pretty dead creature aside as it disappeared he looked to Haku when he called out his name, seeing him trying to blast the creatures into some sort of oblivion, even if it wasn’t the correct one. “Uhhh, m-maybe you can help me too!” he spoke quickly as he dashed over, swinging his arms around to slice the stunned creatures, “I’m finding it hard to not run away…”

Once Viral was through the portal the sudden awful feeling that washed over him had him stunned momentarily, as if he had just walked into a net and couldn’t get out. He didn’t know what it was that had him feeling like he was trapped, but it was making him feel quite angry as if he wanted to tear the area apart. He had to get over it and concentrate, he couldn’t let this place control him. Growling lowly he looked back at Yumi when she arrived before to the other two, seeing that they had all made it through. Now all they had to do was get through this place and destroy the source of this plan. Slowly gazing over the strange landscape he gasped when there was a disturbance deep within the dry ground, immediately looking around before making a grab for Yumi. “There’s something underground!” By the time the already cracking earth was beginning to break open was quickly heading back, moving to avoid the eventual emergence of the enemy.

Viral was temporarily stunned by the combination of the emergence of the monsters and struggling to adapt to this atmosphere. It was disorientating and throwing him off completely. Trying to recover mentally and physically he rubbed his head before looking to Yumi to check to see if she was alright. Of course it had been an ambush, but that wasn’t the worst of it. There was a massive monstrosity towering over them now, showing just why its entrance was so grand and flashy as it shook the ground with a simple stomp. This was all an ambush and they had walked right into it. Barely getting a moment to move after its almighty stomp it soon unleashed a mass of energy, the portal completely destroyed as if it was made of glass. He should had expected it, there was no way they would had ever been able to get through so easily without being ultimately lead into a trap. In a fit of rage Viral immediately dashed straight for the attacking monsters, swiping his weapon with great ferocity as each beast came close. “I’ll rip you to shreds for this!!”

[GambolMuse]

"I know buddy, just hang on! Gotta keep them moving!" Takeshi answered back as he continued his flight, glancing back to make sure the monsters were still at their heels. So far so good but he wasn't sure how long they were going to chase, they just had to keep it up to make sure everyone got through the portal. Thankfully their game of cat and mouse had done the trick, all four of Viral's team had managed to pass through without much trouble. "Ready? I think now we can get down and kick some ass." Making sure they were a decent ways from their pursuers Takeshi landed on the grass and eased Shu off of his back, giving his neck a roll before flashing his brother a thumbs up. "You've got this buddy, let's keep close and don't take on too much at once, got it?" What did they still have, six of them? Plus whatever the others were fighting so probably quite a few, and more still could come through the portal. Trying not to get overconfident he bade his time until one came close enough, watching its mouth open in an attempt to sink its jaws into him. Reaching out he caught the upper and lower halves of its jaw, grunting as it came to an abrupt halt before tearing its lower jaw and punching it in the face, knocking it over and causing one behind it to stumble, which he promptly kicked to knock away as well.

"Y-You're telling me! At least you c-can fight them!" He didn't even know how to kill these things as they were supposed to be impervious to Ki attacks. You could still hit them sure but it didn't do anything other than confuse them for a second. With those blades of his T'charrl was managing to literally cut them down, which was far more than he could say for himself. Watching the display he inhaled deeply to steel his nerves and, somehow, try and convince himself to get into the fray proper. Going back down to the ground he shook when one of the monsters came after him, not knowing how to react other than to throw another blast in its face. Stunned but not undeterred it continued charging, howling blindly as it sought Haku as its next meal. Making himself smaller he threw himself at its legs and managed to trip it up, quickly turning and jumping on it, smashing away with his fists as it was fallen on its side. It took a moment but soon the creature vanished into smoke and Haku, shaken but shocked he'd killed one, was left sitting there dumbly.

Could you chalk up nerves to this feeling of dread as they passed through the portal? Yumi hadn't thought they would even be able to pass over, or she had hoped they would be unable to yet here they were. She tried to tell herself it was no different than going to other worlds as they had so many times before, that it was no different and they would be fine. Even as the creatures began to come up from the ground she was confident they would be okay, they were the same things they were fighting and knew they could handle them. When the massive beast showed up however it became apparent that this was not par for the course and things were going to be very, very different on this side of the rift. As if things were not stressful enough the giant creature had amassed some kind of energy and she had figured they were going to be blasted, preparing to dodge the attack until it was shot at something else entirely: the portal. Sounding like a window shattering the rift they had passed through promptly fell apart, the single door to get out of this place vanishing with the blast. Letting out a triumphant roar the larger creature raised up on its haunches in celebration, all of the smaller beasts now converging on their position. They were trapped then, that was that. No going back.

So they were stuck here then? Fine, that just meant they had a bit more fighting to do. If they died fighting then oh well, that was their purpose in life. Where Yumi seemed to be having a small crises Eris was eager to get moving, beaming as she followed Viral's lead into combat. "They're stuck here with us! Remember that, you've doomed yourselves!" she shouted, leaping at the first beast and knocking it to the ground. With it howling in her face she raked her claws across its throat to silence it, noticing something shocking as she did so; the wounds which she had made bled, a dark purple liquid seeping from the injuries. Indeed Viral may notice as well, for each beast he cleaved it would leave behind a shredded corpse, the creatures were not disappearing anymore. The creatures seemed to notice this too as there was a second of hesitation from them which only served to embolden Eris more. "Scared? Oh it's okay, I'll make it quick!" Charging at another creature she slid beneath it as it barreled over her, slashing one of its legs and causing it to crash down. Orion was there in a moment and crushed its skull with a mighty blow, leaving her to deal with the next one in her way.

Were they really stuck here? No, they couldn't be, Vegeta had said there would be a way out if worst came to worst right? So they just had to find that way, whatever that might be. With the others off fighting Yumi knew she wasn't being of any use standing there gawking, everyone else must be worried too even if they weren't showing it. Running off towards Viral she jumped at the nearest creature and landed on its back, waiting until another tried to jump at her and promptly dodged, trying to take off in flight to do so. Shockingly her body wouldn't do as she wished and she remained planted, having to physically jump to avoid being bit. Baffled by that she scrambled back up when another tried pouncing on her, spinning her whole body and catching it in the mouth with a powerful kick that broke bone, catching another and with some reasonable effort managed to hoist it up and slam it down in its back, grabbing a leg before spinning it around with herself as the center and hurling it into another. Why couldn't she fly here? Was she out of energy? That didn't seem right as she wasn't tired enough, so what gives?

Blast it, the worst case scenario had come to pass hadn't it? As soon as the portal began to flicker Vegeta had made the correct assumption whatever link there had been was severed, and to make matters worse another near dozen creatures had come through before that. If there was no way of igniting the rift from their side it fell to Viral and his to do so, and to contend with whatever was on the other side. An ideal situation it was not but they couldn't change that now, they had to roll with the punches and hope for the best. "Tch... Clever bastards, lying in wait," he mumbled, vanishing again as a creature jumped at the spot he'd been at and found itself getting a mouthful of dirt and rock. Reappearing he smashed his foot down on the top of its skull for the killing blow, burying its head in the hole before disappearing again to confuse the beasts. Ki may be an ineffective weapon but you could use it for flight still as Takeshi had, or to increase your speed and keep the beasts guessing. At one's flank now he fave it a modest kick that knocked it back, promptly chasing and smashing two solid punches into its side, giving a second kick that audibly broke its neck. They were fairly easy to deal with one on one like this but there were many more to go, and now everyone would be distracted by the portal's closing.

[Mogtaki]

Shu was as ready as he could be in this situation, there was nothing he couldn’t do in a fight that didn’t involve hitting the enemy so that was just going to be his tactic. If he could hit the creatures hard enough he might be able to make them disappear, but he really didn’t know if he could do that. He would still try his hardest, but it was a matter of fact that these creatures were huge compared to him and a punch from a tiny fist probably wasn’t going to do much to them. Getting off Takeshi’s back he looked down at the ground briefly before to the creatures, squeaking in surprise before his eyes quickly darted to Takeshi. “Too much at once?? We really fight all them??” He thought he was just trying to keep them distracted, not round them all up to fight. As one creature decided to come after the pair he gasped and quickly jumped back as Takeshi decided to take it on. Watching Takeshi brutally attack the creature Shu ended up backing off, keeping low to the ground before trying his hand at attacking one of the creatures. With a quick run up to one Shu soon backed off when its side quickly showed it was much larger than he thought it was as it came close, only to end up blasting it back with a very quick but erratic blast of Ki energy. “No!! Go away!”

T’charrl was trying his best so it wasn’t fun for him either, he was just trying hard to keep it cool to prevent injury. He may have weapons, but he didn’t have the bravery the others did for fighting these kinds of creatures. If the others were managing the logic was that he should be able to be able to fight as well, but he wasn’t particularly feeling very confident. Managing to finish off one of the stunned creatures by stabbing its neck he looked back to Haku he seemed to be managing fine, at least better than him. He didn’t have that kind of strength when he was normal so Haku had nothing to complain about. Haku always seemed to compare himself to the top Saiyan warriors which did manage to annoy him, like someone who always complained they’re terrible but they’re one of the best at their field out there. Going straight for the next monster before it could even turn its attention towards him. Throwing his arm around to try and stab the creature he ended up getting his blade chomped down upon, but in retaliation he quickly threw his other arm around and forced his other blade into the creature’s throat to try and get it to let go.

Maybe if they killed that creature it would bring the portal back, there was no reason why they would be stuck here when those creatures had made it through so often before. Viral was angered to the point where he showed little care in how he was killing these creatures, only that he was going to slaughter them all. After another great cleave through one of the creatures he raced onto the next, seeing the fear it showed before he tore right through it. Stopping for a moment he looked back at the others, seeing the two other Beastmen managing but noticed Yumi was having a little bit of trouble with something unrelated to the monsters. He had little to care about regarding that, instead he turned to the largest creature. He was going to kill it for this disgraceful action and make it pay for shutting down that portal, he was going to wipe that disgusting smirk off its face. Not letting go of his cleaver he raised his paws over his head before firing a sunbeam straight for the largest creature.

[GambolMuse]

"Well either we fight em or we hope they won't eat us, I'm gonna go with kicking their ass," Takeshi said as he set down, easing Shu off of his back. "I know you can kick butt, you did with that thing before, remember? Well time to do it again!" These things were intimidating in their own way but he wasn't afraid of them, he could fight and not have to worry about holding back. Breaking one of their jaws didn't phase him remotely, and when he kicked another away the only thing he felt was slight irritation that they were trying to just pile on. Feeling the wind at his back from an explosion Takeshi appraised the work Shu had done by blasting one of the creatures away, grinning before dashing after the one he'd struck. Throwing a fist down in its side he slammed it into the ground, placing the flat of his palm against its skin and blasting it at point blank, sending it deep into the ground and into a shallow pit. One of the ones Ki didn't work on then, but sure did feel good blasting it anyways. Another one of the creatures came boring down on him with its claws extended, trying to swipe at him and knock him down. reaching out with both hands he managed to catch its arms and stop it, throwing it to the floor before kicking it and causing its mouth to open in a howl. Quickly gathering Ki he smirked as he blasted right down its throat, causing the creature to swell before popping.

What was he supposed to be doing right now? He'd barely managed to deal with one and now there were even more, how were they supposed to win this? With everyone else fighting Haku knew he couldn't run off, and the scouts weren't in need of help so that wasn't a valid excuse to fall back either. Biting his lip as he looked around for a target he saw T'charrl getting into it with one of the creatures, paling as it chomped down on his arm. Racing over to try and help he diverted his path only slightly when another began going after his friend, throwing his entire body at its side to try and knock it off course and barely managing to do so. Being one of the plated beasts it was quite painful to slam against as he had and the world spun for a second thereafter, even as the creature came after him and knocked him into the air with its head. Gasping at the sharp pain and at being winded he did the only thing he could think of and caught himself in mid-air, the creature responding by trying to jump up after him. On purely instinct he cocked back an arm and let loose a punch on its head that sent it careening back the way it had come, dropping after it and driving his feet into its back, cracking the hard shell encasing it before giving it a blast for good measure.

Baffled by her lack of Ki and ability to fly Yumi gave up on it for now, finding that was the least of their worries. Small crowd of beasts aside there was the massive one to contend with too, the one which had blown apart their ticket back home. They needed to kill it but before they could even try all of the small ones had to be dealt with first. There was one saving grace in all of this, she had Viral along with her, and she supposed Orion and Eris as well. The fact they could actually kill these creatures now too was a big welcome, it meant they weren't fighting a losing battle. Finding herself a foe she ran after one that was chasing behind Viral, scooping up a rock along the way and hurling it at the beast's flank to distract it. When she managed to close the gap she darted to the side when it swiped at her, bouncing right back in and slicing along its side with her claws, drawing blood in the process. It was bigger than her, they all were, and perhaps stronger, but that wasn't anything new. If an opponent had size and power on you then you used speed, and if speed didn't work you made them create an opening, make them make a mistake. Smiling with some degree of confidence Yumi bounced back and forth on her feet, zig-zagging as she ran back after the creature. When she was within striking distance she had to lean to one side and spin to avoid its swinging claws, reaching out and slicing one of its eyes, leaving long tears along the side of its face. As soon as she got her footing down she went back in again, balling her hands into fists and slamming one into the back of the creature's head, driving her other up in a heavy swing that broke several ribs and knocked it away into a rock formation that crumbled on impact.

The great beast saw fit to let the underlings fight or now, there was no reason for it to be involved. It had taken away the way for the beings to get home and now they were stranded, faced with their might and no hopes of escape. They weren't despairing as it had hoped but soon they would, and it would relish their despair as they killed them one by one. Three of them were preoccupied but one seemed determined to come after it, and even thought itself fit to kill it. Noticing the strange energy being shot at it the beast reeled back and fired another blast of its own, the two energies colliding with a thunderous clap before exploding, caking the area between in a cloud of smoke. As it cleared the beast was snarling with pleasure at Viral, another grin plastered on its face as it flexed its claws, as though saying "Come and get me." With a loud roar it smashed its hooves into the ground and knocked up rubble, grabbing a piece that flew up before hurtling it at Viral. It would play before ending Viral's miserable existence, there was no fun in killing him so quickly.

The portal may be closed but it would reopen, it had to. If there was a means to open it once then there still remained a means to do so again, they only had need to find it. Focusing on their side of the battle Vegeta was confronted with a pair of creatures once again, scowling as they roared at him, some of their saliva landing on his boots. "Disgusting... Shame I can't kill you, I'd rather like to know what else is inside of you." Vanishing he moved in between them, throwing both arms back behind him and smashing his forearms into the snouts of the beasts. Spinning then on his heel he kicked one in the jaw before leaning and kicking back behind him, repeating the motion to the other. With both dazed momentarily he reached out and shot a concentrated Ki blast through each, piercing one and managing to partially pierce the other, its plating causing problems for that. Taking advantage of the hole he'd made however he punched into the wound and repeated the attack again, firing through it and pulling his arm to the side, his blast acting like a blade that cut the creature in two.

[Mogtaki]

Shu didn’t know what Takeshi was thinking, believing in him like that. He couldn’t do this, he wasn’t strong like the rest of them or had weapons that could harm these creatures. He was too scared to use his own weapon because it meant he would have to get close and even then all it would do was bop the creature rather than kill it. With little understanding of how strong he actually was he ended up cowering more than anything, even after the blast he delivered to the creature. He was not confident at all, especially when Takeshi wasn’t exactly being clear to him on what he believed his abilities were. Retreating for now he watched Takeshi come in after the creature he had blasted, watching him briefly battle with it before causing it to become embedded into the ground. Maybe he could do that too if he had the confidence, but he was so small. Watching as one of the creatures exploded into a cloud of smoke from Takeshi’s attack he slowly looked around before letting out a squeak as he quickly started running away from a creature that decided he was small enough to eat.

T’charrl was trying to get out of the grip of this monster but it was proving to be pretty tough and not willing to let go over a simple stab wound. It was holding on pretty hard, he pulled at his arm before trying to force it to let go again, driving his free blade into the creature once more before suddenly Haku came flying in. He had managed to prevent an ambush which definitely would had ended badly, practically bullying the creature before blasting it with Ki energy. Still remaining quite stuck he quickly raised his secondary arms and quickly started to scratch at the creature’s eyes. The creature had decided to watch its assistant in the double-team get taken down a level and was distracted from trying to tear T’charrl’s arm off, but now it was pulling back again as its more vulnerable spots were being torn up. Managing to get his arm free he pulled out his other blade before swing his blades around again, tearing at its face.

Viral didn’t even think about his own energy reserves when he blasted that off that sun beam, he just wanted that thing to die and was willing to do what he could think of to do it, even if it was spontaneous thinking. It was that thing that had destroyed the portal so it was that thing that was going to pay. Lowering his paws after firing he glared through the smoke, watching it clear and instead seeing the creature had actually managed to equal the hit out and was still standing. Glaring at it momentarily he swiped his blade to the side to clean the loose blood from it before slowly sheathing it. That thing was going to get torn to pieces and he was going to do it slowly so it could witness its own demise. Snarling, he watched as it decided the ground itself could be used as a weapon rather than waste the energy, his eyes narrowing as it threw the ruined earth straight for him. If it wanted to fight him specifically then fine, he was going to accept its crude gesture. Lowering himself at first he soon sprung into the air, narrowly dodging the attack as he held a clenched paw to his chest. If that monster thought it could bully him because of his size then he was going to make the match even. With a harsh glow surrounding his body it soon expanded rapidly before out of the glow stomped the massive mecha Enki, advancing on the now equally-sized creature without a care for the smaller ones below. “You wanted a fight, I accept it!”

[GambolMuse]

Things looked to be going okay on their end, Takeshi just hoped the others were doing as well on the other side. Blowing apart one of the creatures he tried to get an idea of how everyone else was faring, seeing Vegeta doing okay on his own and Haku and T'charrl managing together as well. Then there was Shu who was running away from one of them, something that struck him as odd. Racing after them he managed to overtake the creature, grabbing his brother beneath his arms and scooping him up to get him away. "Why are you running buddy? You can kill these things too, I know you can!" He'd try to get Shu to fight even if he wasn't wanting to, he knew his brother was capable of this. Setting the younger boy back down he stood beside him, holding a hand outstretched and poised as he fired a Ki shot off at the creature coming after them. "The ones with the armor, we gotta either smack them really good or blow them apart, remember?" Takeshi asked, seeing the beast stumble from the blast but keep coming at them, "I'll keep it busy, you kill it alright? You'll figure it out." Stepping in front of Shu he stuck his tongue out cheekily before jumping to the side and throwing another blast, baiting the creature to come after him. As not to make Shu have to chase too much he simply dodged around the same small spot, trying to keep the creature from leaving with the occasional smack or blast.

Would it have been asking too much for the creature to just roll over and die then? Apparently, because all Haku had managed to do was piss off the creature it seemed. Backing off as it climbed back to its feet he bit his lip uneasily, unsure of what more to do now as it came back at him. Deciding to hold his ground he quickly gathered what Ki he could and tried blasting the beast right in the face, gasping as his attack did nothing and the creature barreled into him. He had only just barely gotten his arms up to absorb the tackle, rolling across the ground painfully as he tumbled along. Before he'd even come to a complete halt the creature was on him, his hands shot up and he caught its neck as its jaws snapped menacingly, trying to get a mouthful of his flesh. "G-Get off of me!" he growled, finding himself unable to do much of anything from this spot. He was too small to really push it away and he didn't dare try getting Ki for fear his hands might slip and he'd be eaten. With a grunt of exertion he managed to push the creature's head up just enough before moving himself just to the side and letting go, feeling a small wind as the beasts head plummeted beside his own and buried itself in the dirt. With some room to breath now he placed both of his hands on its stomach and with a yell channeled quite a bit of energy to them, firing up and sending the beast high up into the air, his blast managing to penetrate its soft underbelly and pierce it as a cloud of smog was left in the sky.

So one of these people wished to fight then, how amusing. Prey was so much more interesting when it didn't just roll over and die. Hissing with delight as their energies canceled each other out the beast watched Viral as it hurled a chunk of rock at him, eyeing him curiously as he jumped over it and made some odd motion. Then came the glow, and the creature had no clue what to make of the display, watching with both amusement and trepidation as the glow grew in size. Once the light faded what was left was no longer the small being but a large one, as large as it was and looking as though it was made of some metal. Sneering at the machine before it the creature roared and slammed its fists into its chest, charging ahead after Viral as it amassed more energy in its mouth. As the distance closed the creature swung its head from left to right, aiming at Enki's legs to try and immobilize it before rushing through its own attack, attempting to grab hold of the machine and tear it to shreds. It didn't matter how much larger Viral had become, he was as good as dead the moment they passed through the gate, so were the others.

[Mogtaki]

Shu didn’t know how to handle one of these creatures chasing him like this, whether it be to keep running away until it got tired or to try and fly away where he might possibly be safe. The enemies he typically fought didn’t look this scary, even the giant bug from the night before wasn’t that scary because he wasn’t the only one at stake. When it was just himself that needed saving he preferred to flee, especially when he was the only one in danger. Looking back briefly he gasped when he was suddenly picked up by Takeshi, squirming at first as if he didn’t realise it was him who took him up. “Ah! No! No I can’t!” he squealed, even though he knew Takeshi probably wouldn’t understand what he was feeling. He was so confident and knew how to deal with opponents, but Shu was scared and tiny.

When he was back on the ground again he quickly looked in the direction of the monster, gasping when Takeshi blasted it. “I-I remember…b-but…” He really didn’t have the confidence for this nor did he think he had the strength to take down one of those creatures, but if Takeshi thought so then maybe there was a chance he could manage. He hoped Takeshi wasn’t lying to him to simply get his confidence back, only for him to charge in and end up getting seriously hurt or eaten. When Takeshi suddenly went off again Shu let out a squeak, watching him go after the creature once more as he blasted it, luring it to go after him instead. Groaning as he hesitated he remained on the spot for a moment before suddenly running after the creature, not knowing what exactly he was going to do until he got to it. With the creature distracted he moved in around its side, not feeling too sure on how to approach this before immediately throwing himself straight at the creature’s side, throwing a punch as hard as he could hoping it would do something.

T’charrl wasn’t so mad at himself for getting caught, but rather his anger was all being directed at the creature itself for thinking it could take him out so easily. He could worry about how he was feeling later, just now he had to get rid of the creature before it could try and munch at him again if blindly. With its eyes torn away he once again threw his blades at its face, trying to do more internal damage he eventually managed to get it to back off enough to get under it as it reared up and drive his blades up into its chest, forcing it back down before it finally disappeared. That was harder than it should had been, but he wasn’t like the others so it was the best he could do while keeping in control. Looking up as Haku disposed of the creature just as easily as he could had all along, he just needed to actually think of fighting. Meanwhile he was feeling quite worn out just from that one struggle, his strength hardly comparing to the others when he was normal.

Viral knew he was going to have to be careful where he stepped with Enki, but he was going to drag that monster away from the others before it could try to advance anymore. Advancing towards the creature he narrowed his eyes as it tried to intimidate him, roaring at him before making a charge. Running straight for it as well he watched its movements in which it was immediately hoping to trip him up, but seeing that from a mile away he instead made Enki do a forward flip, finishing off with a heel being driven downward to try and bury the creature into the ground. Unlike the creature he didn’t lose speed when controlling a large body, he was able to control Enki just the same way as he could fight without it.

[GambolMuse]

Takeshi didn't know how to help Shu here, he didn't know what he could say or do to prove to his little brother he was strong. Nothing aside from seeing himself would probably do and yet the older boy still had issue resigning himself to let Shu fight; overprotective, a selfish desire to not be alone, whatever it was he had a hard time letting Shu be in danger. But he knew he had to get over it, he'd been told so enough and had known even if he didn't want to admit as much. For a change of pace then he made himself bait, luring one of the creatures after him and leaving an opening for Shu, trying to coerce him into throwing a hit. It took a little while but soon enough it happened and when it did the punch was one hell of a strike. The first sign it had gone well was the noise of smashing plate, the creature's armor being easily shattered under Shu's strength. The hit didn't stop there though as it apparently slammed right into its flesh beneath, sending the creature flying into Vegeta who was a ways off, being chopped in two by his attack as a result. Well that had gone very well, Shu'd all but killed it with one blow and that guy had finished it off, that had to have done something.

"Like hell you can't fight, you just knocked that thing silly!" Takeshi argued, gesturing to the cloud of smoke before pointing at Shu, "I told ya, you're strong! I wouldn't be wanting to fight with you otherwise, I know you'll keep me safe, like I try keeping you safe, you know? I trust you buddy, now show me what you can do!" Getting all fired up the older boy found them another opponent, one of the shell=less beasts circling the group looking for an opening. Again he baited it along with a few small blasts, grinning as he drifted backwards and out of its snapping maw. When he got closer to Shu again he sidestepped a swipe before kicking out and breaking the limb at the joint, for good measure giving it a swift kick to the ass to knock it towards his brother. "Last one you smacked, this one you blow up! Let some Ki loose!"

It had to be the adrenaline making him fight because as soon as the creature was dead Haku was back to shaking like a tree in the wind. He'd killed what, two now? Or helped with two anyway, that was a lot more than he expected to be doing here. On the bright side they were winning this battle on their end and the creature's numbers were steadily dwindling. Optimism quickly changed to worry and fear when he at last noticed that the portal was now gone, staring at the empty space where it should have been before looking at the others in confusion. They were all fighting on but surely they had noticed too, what were they supposed to do now? Even if they killed all of these things here there was still the matter of getting their friends back, how were they supposed to manage that? Nervous he rushed back to T'charrl's side, looking at him uncertaintly, "Uh... W-we're winning, but..." he said breathlessly, pointing to the empty air before glancing again at the fighting, "What do we do...? Can we do anything?"

Taking away mobility made prey easy, once this mechanical thing lost its legs it was as good as dead. With that in mind the massive beast fired downward only to destroy the ground where Enki had been stood, growling as it was kicked in the back and nearly toppling over from the surprise blow. Catching itself and managing to stay upright it snarled furiously at Viral and turned on him, letting out a howl before smashing its hooves against the ground, chasing down its target in anger. Once it had gotten within distance to do so it swung its claws out at Viral in an attempt to tear him apart, to take a limb or two off, anything. Whatever this change was didn't matter, it could easily kill it. Failing to land a successful strike with its swipes the creature let out another roar, a telltale red glow forming at its maw as it prepared to again try and fire at Viral, this time from a far closer distance.

[Mogtaki]

Shu didn’t know how well he would do attacking this monster, but he was flying in anyway with the hope that he would be able to do something at least. His attack should hopefully be enough to take it down, it had to be or he was going to be in a bad position. With a great charge in he managed to hit it, striking it hard enough to shatter its outer shell and send it flying straight for Vegeta who finished it off. Shaking his head quickly after landing again he looked to Takeshi momentarily before to the smoke, still momentarily doubting his abilities. “Shu strong…? How do Shu strong...” he muttered, wondering if he had actually managed to do all that really or if he just got lucky. It had been a long time since he had been able to prove himself and hadn’t been having any luck with Krom so it was hard to feel confident. Whether that was just a fluke that it managed to happen he wasn’t willing to sit around and think, especially when he was still in danger. Gasping when a creature got too close Takeshi was already on it, disabling the creature for him to shoot. Groaning in hesitation he raised his hands to charge his Ki before firing it off in a beam that nearly knocked him completely off his feet.

T’charrl really should try and help the others, but everybody had everything under control. There was nobody struggling with anything right now and everything was under control. Rubbing his arm he looked to Haku who decided to come down to his side, frowning when he questioned their role. It wasn’t as if he knew, he couldn’t do everything that the others could which left him pretty useless unless he could get close enough to attack. “I can’t do much…I can’t do much at all without nearly getting killed”, he spoke lowly, shaking his head, “If you concentrate on fighting you can fight really well, but if I try to get close I’m going to lose a limb. I’m not very good at Ki, I’ve had no practice with it for a long time but everyone’s a natural fighter! These creatures are out of my league completely…”

Viral was trying to keep on top of the combat, he didn’t want that monster getting the upper hand even once. He wasn’t even in good energy when he summoned Enki and using it still required his own energy and physical strength to guide the machine and use its abilities. Balancing his attack just right be managed to avoid the swipe altogether and deliver a powerful kick, the monster’s own weight being used against itself to make the damage much worse. As it decided the only way it was going to manage a successful attack was to full on charge at him Viral pulled up Enki’s arms and used close combat techniques to avoid the claws while taking the impact of the massive paws on the most armoured part of Enki’s forearms. Pushing back each time Viral moved to the offensive again, only stopping to notice it was going to try and blast him apart. If he tried to retaliate with his own beam the explosion would catch them both, maybe even compromise the safety of the others who were still on the ground. With a quick few steps forward Viral threw Enki’s arm out, its metallic shell opening up and expanding into a shield. He was going to use the shield to deflect the attack elsewhere, knowing the blast might harm the others if he simply avoided it.

[GambolMuse]

Watching the creature be knocked away was pretty awesome and Takeshi found himself grinning like an idiot watching the sight. Laughing when Shu still questioned it he gave a thumbs up, about to shout something before spotting another creature running after his brother. Intercepting it himself he baited it about before crippling the beast with a kick to the leg, knocking it in Shu's direction for him to finish off. Hoping his brother would manage he watched eagerly as Shu released a strong blast that engulfed the monster in its wake, drowning out its howl as it was vaporized by the blast. All that was left behind from the attack was singed grass, the beast itself completely gone in the wake of the attack. "See? How's a weak guy go and do something like that huh?" Takeshi asked, beaming as he moved to Shu's side and gave him a pat on the back, "I'm almost bummed there's not much left, you know? I wanted to see you kick more butt!" As it was they were making fairly easy work of what they had here, these creatures were terribly simply to kill. He had to wonder though what it was like on the other side and how their friends were faring; the portal was closed, once they killed their quota it was probably going to be a waiting game. That was more annoying than anything as Takeshi loathed the idea of having to sit around while the others were still fighting. "Ready to finish them off bud? Let's get one more for the road."

"A-And you think I'm any good? I'm panicking here!" Haku argued, smiling uneasily as he shook his head, "I g-got lucky was all, I can't fight like they can. And it's not like we n-need Ki to fight them, didn't they say Ki doesn't really work on some?" He thought T'charrl was some warrior prince, so why was he so nervous about fighting? Not that he had much room to talk when he was still shaking a bit over the ordeal but still, he didn't have the sort of pedigree that his friend had. To their benefit anyways the number of monsters on their side was few and they were killing them easily enough, though the same probably couldn't be said for those on the other side. "You're a natural fighter too... S-so... Let's fight!" Haku said meekly as he tried to psyche both himself and T'charrl up, "I want to be able to tell your f-folks how awesome you were here when I meet them. S-So let's get these things, okay?" He wasn't too sure why he was suddenly so for fighting these things when earlier he wanted nothing more but to hide, but now he was determined to stay and duke it out. With few of them left Haku went off for the nearest on his own, hoping T'charrl would follow as he smashed into it with a shoulder tackle, groaning as it felt like he'd hit a wall but still managing to knock over the beast.

The creature could just overwhelm whatever this machine was, it might be large but that meant nothing to it. It had the strength to tear whatever it faced to shreds, it had done so many times before and would do so again. Snarling as it slashed away at Enki its claws struck its arms repeatedly, resulting in little more than glancing blows that left some scratches. With that not quite working it took a different approach and gathered more energy, attempting to fire it off point blank and reduce Viral to ash. Again however it was foiled as its blast hit not Enki itself but a shield, the energy ricocheting off of it and, coincidentally, hitting a large group of the smaller beasts, reducing them to little more than burn stains on the ground. Realizing what it had done the beast let out a howl of fury, its eyes staring through Viral with malicious intent, a raging desire to kill. Taking another series of swings at him to try and rend him to shreds it began pushing him back towards the others, or trying to, hoping that he may make a mistake if the others were put in danger as well.

For their part Yumi, Eris and Orion were doing fine with the battle. The creatures were not terribly difficult to fell there were just a lot of them, more than anyone would care to fight. Thankfully their ranks weren't replenishing but that didn't help the numbers in their favor either, still easily two dozen remained, even with the massive beast blowing some away in its attack. Weaving through two that came after her Yumi extended her fingers and struck out at its neck, burying them and drawing blood before following that with a chop to the same spot, opening the wound further and leaving the beast as good as dead. The other behind her she flipped backwards and landed on its back, fighting to keep her balance as it reared off in an attempt so shake her off. Grabbing hold of its shell she used her free hand to punch at the back of its head, repeating it until there was a cracking sound of bone and the beast promptly stopped struggling. It was brutish, fighting like this, but there was little other option when they had no weapons and no Ki. Not that the others seemed to be having much issue, she just wasn't used to it. Failing to notice one of the creatures barreling up behind her she was blindsided by its charge, yelping as she was tossed off her opponent and into some rocks, her body smashing them apart as she rolled to a stop. It hadn't done serious damage but she was winded and the beast was still coming, mouth agape and drooling in anticipation of a meal.

Eris had left her beast to deal with Orion when she saw Yumi be struck, racing across open ground to reach her in time. Just barely making it she slammed her body into its side to knock it away, not giving it a moment's respite as she chased after it and grabbed hold of its leg. With a malicious grin she spun herself and the creature around with great force, letting the beast go after a few rotations and hurtling it into another, causing both to tumble away and down a decline some ways off. Rolling her neck with a crack she glanced briefly at Yumi to make sure she was okay before going after another, dropping onto all fours when it charged at her and slipping beneath it. Laughing as it stumbled and tried to circle back at her she lunged forward and drove her claws into its face, raking out its eyes with ease and leaving it blinded. Ignoring the gracious amounts of blood now caking her hands she took another swipe, this time at its throat, spinning and kicking its head for good measure and nearly taking it off in the process. Good thing there were plenty to go around, she'd been cooped up in that cell for far too long and was more than ready to let loose.

Orion for his own part was enjoying himself, even if it wasn't as obvious. They were made to fight and had been sedentary for almost two weeks before they had been released, this was his first real taste of combat in some time. He may not fight with the finesse that Yumi or Eris displayed and he didn't have some magic machine like Viral but he had his own means of fight, namely his massive physique. It wasn't just for show, he was handily fending off two beasts at a time with his bare hands, pushing and knocking them away with single blows. Finding one of the beasts trying to blindside him he reached out and caught its jaws and with a shout lifted it and threw it high into the air, ignoring it briefly as another tried to grab hold of him. Letting it bite down on his arm he ignored the pain and smashed a large fist into its head, practically caving in the skull and causing its hold on him to release promptly. Kicking away the limp body he craned his neck to spot the falling beast and cocked back an arm, throwing a punch into its gut as it fell and causing the creature to split in half on impact, a bit of blood landing on his person as it fell apart. The faintest of smiles played on his lips at the smell, it felt good to be doing this again.