Post by Saito Kito on Jul 14, 2014 17:00:59 GMT -5
Fsssssss
KPAOW
As quickly as it had landed, the small white pods doors opened. It had been several years since Nyu had been on the planet Earth. With the Saiyan’s surrounding the moon and now seemingly comfortable walking on the earth it was an even less ideal time for an invasion. Frankly the only person who seemed to think that an invasion was a good idea was Nyu’s master, Tundra. The icer had been buying time, training, learning, growing. Now it was time for him to make his move. While the Earth was preoccupied with their current threat, he would advance and take the planet out from under the powers that be.
No one would stop him.
Dragon Ball Awakening: Tundra’s Assault
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“Faster Ethan!”
The blond had been pushing his brother ever since their adoption of the Crane school. There was still much work to be done, but the building was coming along. At the very least it didn’t rain inside no matter how bad the storms became outside. The walls were finally reinforced enough to provide the basic insulation needed to survive in the winter. The building on the outside was much to be desired as the décor was still just piles of rubble that once resembled a school. The walls were still covered in graffiti on the outside and the doors were rusted to the point that Kit wondered how he would even open them. Jumping the wall had become their main method of exiting the school.
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“If you aren’t going to take this seriously then I have better things to do!”
Ethan was actually doing quite well. He was already nearly as strong as his brother, although Kit held the lead. Their abilities aside neither one was particularly ready to teach at a school, not a particularly good one anyway. While neither knew what power level was, they were still well aware of their own abilities. Kit had met so many excellent people on his journey thus far and if he were to compare himself to them, well let’s just say some work needed to be done. As Ethan put forth the final thrust for their training session Kit decided it was time to give the boy a break.
“That’s enough. It’s time for meditation”
Meditation, the boy hated that. It was the same thing every time. Kit would lock Ethan in the basement for a few hours so that he could contemplate. This was a regular practice back at the compound, and Kit was not an exception. The quiet echo of the cave below their school was the perfect spot for contemplation. Ethan really needed more mental training than he did physical. He was strong enough to stand toe to toe with Kit, but his strategy of taking a beating and returning the favor was naïve. Begrudgingly the boy took his music and made his way into the basement. The rule was that he could come out when Kit arrived to get him, which normally only took a few hours, giving Kit the chance to get some serious work done. This time however, things were different.
He had begun sweeping the path outside of the school, ensuring that those who happened by would know that the school was at the very least no longer a place to be trampled on. Kit may not have been ready, or capable of, opening the door, but he certainly was going to make sure that the school looked decent for any wanderers. The wind was blowing to the east, his hair and the dirt from his broom doing the same. It ran long ways down the sidewalk whisking up with the wind and giving the air a summer tint. The beauty of the moment was almost lost on Saito who couldn’t help but fall his eyes upon the neighborhood. It was a terrible sub-section of the town. The few people that lived here were squatting on the land, and not for the better.
His mind was instantly torn away as the sound of coughing caught his attention. The hacking noise came from up the street towards the cloud of dust Kit had so carelessly created. The idea that it could bother someone else had not occurred to him, and now from up the street a larger man was walking. His hair and goatee were identical to Kit’s which wasn’t the uncanny part of his appearance. They were roughly the same height, and their muscle build was similar as well. As the mysterious man drew closer Kit found himself regretting the choice to sweep in such windy conditions.
“My apologies sir, can I offer you a drink?”
Stopping a few feet from Kit, the brunette set his small rucksack down on the now pristine ground and smiled. Something about this guy felt right. Maybe it was the fact that he looked almost identical to the twenty seven year old, but whatever it was the man certainly didn’t strike any fear into Saito. He nodded extending his right hand out. His burly arm was covered in a small forest of brown hair, a small difference between the two as Kit lacked that much arm hair. Kit reached for it and as he clasped the gentlemen’s hand his grip became noticeable, he wasn’t just Kit’s physical equal, he too had the grip of a champion.
“The name’s Sekai Konishta, You my friend can call me Kai and I would love a…drink”
Pausing for a moment to cough out another patch of dust he followed up with a laugh. Kit nodded exchanging pleasantries with the man, and then explaining the door situation. Without a second though Kai bent to a crouch and with inertia on his side leapt over the wall without any trouble. Kit of course followed suit, impressed with his new friend’s acrobatic abilities. Kai didn’t just jump over the wall, it seemed as though he flew over it. His body effortlessly cut through the air, and landed unusually softly on the other side.
Kit however landed with a thud as his weights took their usual effect. He was slowly getting used to them, however he had one slight problem. He had lost the key. At the compound it was not unusual to use a lock brace or two, and Kit hadn’t thought it would be a problem. However when he had fallen into the cave with Ethan he had lost the key to his weights, meaning that until he had the opportunity to visit the locksmith, he would be roughly quadruple his normal weight. Really this was good for him, anything that caused his muscles even greater effort would be good for him in the long run. Now basic activities such as cleaning, fixing the school, or going for groceries would cause his muscles to work four times as hard. Basic activities were like a nice warmup before a rigorous training.
Kai hadn’t seemed to notice the weights, or at least he didn’t comment on them. He was too busy looking over the school, which Kit was realizing now more than ever was still in need of some major renovation. Kai slowly paced down the cobbled steps towards the main dojo. He stopped underneath the dead cherry orchids and put a hand out on the trunk. Kit was going to say something about rebuilding the school, but in that moment he realized what Kai was doing there. His emotional pause told Kit everything, and as the birds in the orchid tree chirped he could have sworn he heard them say, welcome back Sekai.
After a few more moments of taking in the scenery, Kai turned around, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. It was awe inspiring to see a man of his strength brought to tears by the sight of his old school. Taking a few bold steps towards Kit he laughed it off, pointing back up at the tree, towards one of the split branches.
“Ever since I broke that branch it has grown the wrong way!”
He said with a laugh, breaking the tension of the yard and causing Kit to chuckle a bit too. The two went inside, and Kit listened to his new acquaintance talk about the good old days. They trained under master Dao, an apprentice of master Chu, who was the apprentice of master Julong. The names were all relatively unfamiliar, but as the conversation continued Kit found himself enthralled in the history. As he poured a warm pot of tea into two clay cups, he was impressed to find that Kai not only had memories, but pictures as well. There the brunette stood, a whopping thirteen years old. It was impossible to imagine that only two decades ago this rotting street corner had been the site for martial artists. It was around the same time they had canceled the martial arts tournament. As they flipped through the pictures, one in particular caught his eye. A teenage Kai was standing next to a target, one that had been almost entirely destroyed. It looked as though someone had caught it on fire, but this was a martial arts school.
“Did you do any special weapons training?”
“Yeah you could say that”
He replied with a laugh, moving on to the next picture. Kai of course was being sardonic, and had no clue that Kit was truly oblivious to his abilities. It wouldn’t take long before Kit would begin inquiring about the training again. The questions started off very simple, what style did you train most in, how often would you exercise? Eventually there were so many open ended questions that Kai couldn’t seem to answer them all.
“Actually I don’t remember most of all that. I tell you what though, I can show you.”
A spar, now that was refreshing. It had been a while since someone new had challenged him in combat. How could he say no? Within minutes the two had finished their tea and were out on the training field. Kit removed his shoes and shirt, it was customary for him to fight with as little weight as possible. The irony of that was no matter how much clothing he took off, the heavy weights pulling at his limbs were immoveable. His half pound sandals hardly felt like anything by comparison, but it would free him up to move more easily.
He looked over his opponent and realized that there had been a change. Where Kai had been roughly his equal in size only moments ago, he was now significantly larger. In addition to that, a now visible flow of energy was pulsating up his arms and towards his chest. This of course was an aura of Ki, but Kit wouldn’t know anything about that. His focus remained on the change in physical nature and prompted him to change his stance. A full on attack wouldn’t be very wise as his opponent appeared stronger than him. He would need to play to the man’s weaknesses.
Sure enough Kai initiated the first move, his now bulkier form clomping through the grass towards Kit. Weakness number one, his larger form was God awful slow. As the hulking man brought his fist down, Kit hopped to the side, maneuvering around the bigger man with a few side steps, and then throwing a jab with his right hand into the giant’s unprotected ribs. Kai coughed, clearly having not expected the attack to fail. He was actually only marginally slower in this new form, but Kit was faster and more coordinated. This however was just a fluke, as Kai turned to face his opponent with a wicked grin. This had been a test of Kit’s movement and he had passed with flying colors, the next strike however would prove that the fight wouldn’t be won so easily.
With one fist already planted on the ground, his right leg had the perfect opportunity to rise up and strike Kit in the abdomen, sending him skidding backwards. He had used his balance from the dropped position to predict Kit’s dodge and prepare a counter attack. His heels ripped away at the grass as the friction brought a burn to the bottom of his foot. How could he have fallen for that? Kai wasn’t as slow as Kit imagined, or really as he should be. Looking the man over again he had grown nearly four inches in height, and his muscles were at least double in size. It didn’t make sense that he could still move with such elegance. Taking his arms off of his throbbing stomach, Kit saw the next attack, a nearby rock being thrown at him. Juvenile, he would expect this from his younger brother. Raising his fist to meet the rock with a punch, Kit demolished it, sending it back at Kai in a thousand tiny shards of dirt and pebble.
“Get serious oof”
Cut off mid-sentence Kit felt the fist of his enemy drive into his throat. His eyes widened as another simultaneous strike knocked the wind out of his lungs. It must have been two or three strikes later before Kit physically hit the ground and the barrage stopped. Kai paused for a moment to ensure his new friend wasn’t dead. Kit was far from it. The attack had stunned him, certainly he hadn’t expected such an expert maneuver and why should he? No one he had ever met was smart enough to use a rock as a distraction, and fast enough to pull it off.
“Why aren’t you fighting seriously?”
Kai asked, concern and irritation in his voice. Kit rose up on his right forearm, his vision blurry from the sudden loss of oxygen. As his senses returned he found that Kai had come to a complete stop, his eyes fixed on the downed warrior. Was he serious? Kit was on the ground after taking a sincere beating and the man wanted to know why he wasn’t fighting seriously? Was it even possible for kit to fight any better than he was? Technique is great, but at some point a person is just faster, stronger, and ultimately better equipped.
“I can sense your power level, you have way more to offer. I get that the weights hold you back but even with them on your max potential is around three or four thousand, and that’s without tapping into the meat of your power. So I ask again, why aren’t you trying?”
What were these numbers? Kits face contorted in genuine confusion as the martial artist picked himself up, forcing his aching torso into the air and back into position. He wasn’t a quitter, and as long as his opponent could fight, and kit could still stand, the fight was on. But he legitimately had no idea what he was talking about. Suddenly in a moment of clarity Kai smiled. It all made sense to him –at least one of them was on board with what was going on-
“Nobody taught you how to access your power did they?”
Kit shrugged his shoulders a bit. He would have spoken, but his chest was still throbbing from being hit. He wasn’t one for unseemly gestures but at this stage a shrug was about all he could muster. Kai nodded, and right before Kit’s eyes the muscles that were so much larger than his own faded back to normal size. As if a balloon was slowly losing its air, Kai was a normal looking fellow again.
”That’s…amazing” He choked out. “…Can you show me…can you show me what you are talking about? What are those numbers? Am I really not giving it my all?”
Kit had thought it was all he could do, the jumping and moving. He had no idea that there was even more too it. Kai let out a hearty laugh and walked over to his hunched friend, wrapping one arm around his shoulder and letting out a bold “Absolutely!”
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“Please, please I really can’t help you!”
“You know, those are a popular choice of last words.”
Snap
The restaurant was empty, and the only one left was the tall alien creature. Nyu stood at roughly eight feet in height. His head nearly touched the light fixtures that dangled from the ceiling. Several people lay scattered around the bloodied hard wood floor, and the alien dropped his last victim. His voice had been nasally and more than a little annoying to listen to. It must have been difficult for people to take the red alien seriously when his words sounded more like a script from family matters. His body too was ridiculous. Although he was tall, he was also magnificently thin. In total he couldn’t have weighed more than 180 pounds. His framed appeared almost fragile, and his armor very apparently foreign. A red turban covered the top of his head, leading downwards towards a similarly colored cape.
Looking around at the mess he had created it became clear that the normal peons of earth were either incredibly loyal, or ignorant as to who was in charge of them. His questions had been pretty straight forward. Where is your leader, I must find the commander of your fleet. Apparently this was not common knowledge to everyone. Looking around the café the place wasn’t exactly the ideal place to find anyone of importance. It was small, crowded –or was- and more importantly the people were all dressed down. What he wanted was a fighter. Someone who was capable of handling their own. Anyone with a power level above a thousand must be in charge, and so the creature pulled out the small device in his pocket. Similar to a scouter, the compass he now held would point him towards the largest power level in the vicinity. Had he been closer to the lookout, the alien would have been in for a rough surprise as the earth warriors were all deliberating on their next move from above. He was not near that location however, and so the compass went off in the direction of a small dilapidated school. The compass pointed towards the training of two warriors. Saito and Sekai.
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Kai had explained, to the best of his ability, Ki. The active energy suppressed inside of every living being. Kit was a prime candidate for utilizing this Ki due to his already disciplined nature. His fist strike was the first major attack he had ever accomplished using Ki and so that had been Kai’s focus. When Kit made the connection he immediately explained that Ki was already active in his body which made the next part of their lesson even easier. Kai explained that the amount of Ki a person was capable of using, plus the person’s physical strength was equal to a certain number. Most human beings didn’t break five PL because of their lack of physical and natural strength. Yet someone like Kit who was excellently trained physically, but poorly trained in the art of Ki, would average somewhere below 10,000. This was a very limited introduction into the use of Ki as Kit would learn.
“Some fighters never are able to access their Ki due to their brain’s functionality, and some alien races don’t even have that natural energy inside of them.”
“Alien races? Like Paozu villagers without a visa?”
“Err…No”
Sekai then explained that Earthlings were but one small race in an overwhelmingly large galaxy. This threw Kit off entirely. From the compound they had been taught that there were humans that exhibited animal tendencies, but the explanation that they were from space had never once been presented to him. It was truly too much to accept. Kai could tell that Kit was reluctant to hear all of this up front, and so he moved back to the introduction of Ki the best way he knew how. With an attack.
“The first attack I learned here at the Crane school was a variation of the Dodompa, or Boom Wave. I’m sure you know that the Crane school goes back thousands of years, and unfortunately the legendary Dodompa was lost to us. In an attempt to recover the attack, one of our previous masters developed a unique attack we have come to call the Spirit Gun”
Looking over towards the large tree that covered over the training area, Sekai raised up his hand pointing it like a child would if they were pretending to have a gun. He stood in silence for a few seconds causing Kit to suddenly doubt everything he had been told. He watched intently as the man’s finger finally provided exactly what he was looking for. A small blue energy formed in front of it in the form of a ball no larger than a marble. The small energy was quite a site for Kit who had never once seen an attack like this performed. A moment later Sekai spoke out loud, grabbing his wrist and releasing the attack with a confident announcement.
“Spirit Gun!”
The beam elongated and fired out from his fingertip, striking the tree branch and sending it falling down to the ground with a crash. Where the branch had been was now the charred remains of the branch. It had been split in half due to a small explosion. The hard oak would have been difficult to crack, and it was unbelievable to Kit that Sekai had fired his physical energy at the wood and not only hit it, but broke it off. Sekai exhaled, lowering his finger and snickering a bit before turning around to face Kit.
“Haven’t shot off a spirit gun outside of my focus state in a long time. I half expected the entire tree to explode”
Focus state. Kit thought back to their fight and was reminded of the energy flowing around Sekai. He must have focused his energy into a physical manifestation around his body much like he did his spirit gun. He inquired further but Sekai insisted that he focus on one technique at a time. If he couldn’t pull together a single spirit gun without the aid of his focus state, he was a lost cause to begin with. Nodding, Kit took his finger and held it in the shape of a gun. His index finger was pointing straight out while his thumb was held up as if representing the hammer of the pistol. At least he felt nothing, except a little foolishness as he was pointing his finger as if it were legitimately a weapon. Focusing energy was easier said than done.
“Close your eyes Saito, and breathe deeply. You can sense your own energy, just get a grip on where it is coming from and focus the energy into your fingertip.”
Saito did just that, closing his eyes tightly and taking a deep breath, the warm summer air entering his nose and flowing down through his lungs. Kit felt the air circulate, and released it through the mouth. After a few times he not only felt the air he was circulating, but another sensation he had never paid much attention to. He had felt it during meditation, but had never pursued it. It was a feeling of calm and relaxation, almost relative to perfect Zen. Was this the energy Sekai was referring to? Before he could answer that he heard his trainer respond. He hadn’t been paying attention so what the man said glanced off of him, but the meaning of those words were made clear as Kit opened his eyes and saw the teal energy flowing gently around him. It was a thin sheet that caused much of what was around him to become blurry as though he were looking through the heat off into the distance. The energy was whipping around him, occasionally brushing against his bare skin sending a chilling sensation across his rippled chest and through to his spine.
“Pick your target Saito, I have a feeling it won’t be there for long”
Kit remembered the stance, putting his index finger and thumb into position. He first aimed for the tree, but after a moment of contemplation decided this wasn’t his target. He would instead focus on the gate that had been giving him so much trouble. The elder brother had tried with all his might to remove that door with no luck. If he had this hidden power all along, why not use it properly? He could feel the energy gathering at his finger tip. Just as though he were breathing he sent the energy from the pit of his stomach, from the back of his mind, and from the depths of his heart into the sole fingertip.
“Excellent Saito, now imagine a trigger in your mind, and when you are ready, pull it. You might want to clamp your wrist to ensure the energy doesn’t have too much of a kickback”
He did just that, his mind set on the target just a few feet away from them. Wrapping his left hand around his right wrist Kit grunted. He hadn’t said the words –which he would later learn was disrespectful to the technique, but of course had no way of knowing- and yet the energy still shot forward, the blue marble orb on his fingertip elongating into a thin beam that flew from his gun and onto the gate. The crack sounded similar to the boom of thunder across Mt. Paozu, and the kick back of the attack still sent Kit backwards. He would stumble back several feet before gathering his bearings and looking at the attack he had used. The gate appeared unharmed, as if the attack had hit it but done no damage. It was disappointing, and so the young man fell backwards landing in the grass on his ass. No sooner had he dropped to the ground did the gate shake, and reveal a large crack down the middle. His blast had removed the rust from the doorway and effectively returned functionality to the entryway.
“I..can’t believe it…”
His words were short, as was his breath. The attack had taken a lot out of him, and Sekai explained that a warrior could use the spirit gun roughly once for every five thousand PL they possessed (Total, unaffected by the use of weights). It was because this attack was based entirely on the capacity of one’s spirit energy, and so the warrior whom had a decent eight thousand on his shoulders was only able to muster the attack ones outside of his focus mode, and had the potential to do it three times when his focus state was active. Which of course led Kit to ask further questions about that. The focus state as Sekai explained was a human’s way of accessing an additional ten percent of their brain’s capabilities. While the average human uses ten percent of this brain power, it was possible to activate an additional ten percent. This ten percent effected the mental perception, senses, physical, and Ki energy output by nearly double its normal capacity. This meant that his current eight thousand could be doubled to nearly sixteen thousand, and that was assuming that the training he had undergone already had not increased it. He warned however that the weights Kit insisted on wearing would decrease his overall power level because of their physical limitations. Even in the focus state his weights would force the limitation on him.
“How about a break for lunch, and then we can continue. I think Ethan will be interested in hearing all of this”
He said, standing up as the energy slowly returned to him. Eating seemed like the best idea, as his energy had created a hole in his stomach. The two made their way inside to enjoy a nice bowl of noodles. The carbs would be good for them moving forward. Unfortunately half way through their first bowl a noise caught their attention. The indignant cries of someone from outside the walls. Heading towards the gate, and opening it –to the surprise of Kit who had never actually seen the gate open- they found what had caused the screaming. A young woman, likely a drug dependent street urchin of central, had been on the opposite end of the street, minding her own business. Unfortunately for her, she was the closes human to what they would soon learn was the largest output of power in Central.
Gripping her neck to prevent further screaming was a thin red alien creature. Nyu. He was hissing some sort of demand to the confused woman. The druggie was confused, and possibly in the middle of a trip which couldn’t have made the situation much worse. As he barked yet another command to find the source of the power levels on his compass, a pebble struck him in the cheek. Closing his eyes for a moment until the stinging subsided, he turned his attention to where the pebble had come from to find both Sekai and Saito staring him down from up the street. He suddenly knew exactly where the power had been coming from.
“Put her down creature, this is your only warning”
Kit bellowed from his spot in front of the gate. It would take him a few seconds to get over there, but he was confident that the creature would put her down. It was after all a battle of two to one, who would fight against those odds. Kit had stepped forward to make his declaration, when he felt the hand of Sekai on his shoulder. Turning to face his new mentor he saw a look of much greater concern on his face.
“It is fortunate we met today Saito. This man…has a power level above my own.”
Sekai had mentioned having a base power level at around ten thousand. The creature in front of them was showing a similar but higher energy output. Kit couldn’t yet feel the difference, but Kai could. He knew the creature in front of them would not go down easily, and without their effort and teamwork, they wouldn’t win. Stepping forward past kit, Kai put both hands on his head, twisting his neck from one side to the other releasing several loud cracks. He then did the same with each shoulder, and the knuckles in his hands. As he walked forward the alien dropped the young girl, who began coughing and struggling to crawl backwards.
“Finally…”
Nyu growled under his breath, a snide smile hitting his face. He had been out to find the strongest man on the planet, and it was obvious to him that this little human, whose power level was barely equal to Nyu’s was the strongest they had to offer. The compass had begun spinning in a complete circle, relating that they had found the largest local power. Nyu assumed this meant the strongest on the planet. His mission was accomplished. Now to kill the man, and return a positive review back to his lord.
“My name is Commander Nyu of the Tundra elite forces. I am here to inform you that your planet is hereby forfeit to our fearless emperor Tundra. No greater being has ever lived nor will ever live again! You will die, and your planet will be enslaved.”
Sekai let out a condescending grunt, his muscles slowly expanding as his body began to enter the focus state. Kit could again see the energy forming around him and knew for sure this was serious. Kai wasn’t playing around, and neither was this guy either. Conquer the planet? Was this common hero stuff? How had he not already encountered crazy aliens in his life? He had little time to contemplate the answer to this question, as Kai, who didn’t reply to the aliens badgering, leapt forward, and throwing a kick at the slender creature. Nyu dodged the attack by leaning to his left, and then countered with his own fist. Their movements were perfect, and neither one was giving way. Kit had assumed by the creatures body type that he possessed no physical capabilities, and yet here he was dodging attacks from the man Kit had been unable to avoid in training. It occurred to him however that perhaps Nyu would be easier to hit if Kit himself were to jump into the fray. Booking it down the street, Kit went in for a punch, only to instantly miss. It must have caught Nyu by surprise however, because the creature was blindsided by a side swipe from Kai’s left hook, and took a dive into the pavement. Getting up on one arm as if trying to stand after the surprisingly well placed shot, Kai went in for a kick to the ribs, one that was stopped by Kit who physically pushed him backwards.
“Never hit a man while he’s down Kai!”
Valiant, naïve, words. Nyu gathered his bearings and used the opportunity to dash forward, circling around to the wall of the dojo, and then running vertically across the wall, as if physics didn’t apply at all to him. Kai turned just in time to counter with his forearm, the two entering a gridlock once again of punches and kicks. Each one giving no quarter. Kit again felt useless. Without his focus state he was simply not in the same league as these two. As they tore through the street with their combat, Kit thought of the only thing he could possibly do. He was reminded of the technique he had learned from Kai earlier. While he was only able to use one per every five thousand, he was at eight thousand. Thanks to their lunch break, he felt as though he had just enough energy to fire off a single attack. He took a hard stance on the broken cement, not wanting to lose his stance as he did last time, and took a deep breath, allowing the energy to make itself apparent, and then form into the palm of his hand. Again he shaped his hand and decided to visualize the pistol itself. The metal gears turning, the hammer pulling back in anticipation of the shot, and the revolvers inner compartment twirling to the final remaining bullet. Once all seemed locked into place, and the blue orb was swirling around his fingertip, the man raised his hand up, not forgetting to declare the attack.
“Spirit Gun!”
This must have caught Sekai off guard as well, because he physically stopped his combat and even took a punch to the stomach. Nyu seemed oblivious to the release of the attack, and with how quickly the orb made contact it was no surprise when the aliens face contorted in pain, and then flew backwards, slamming into the wall of the dojo. The explosion had pushed him backwards and knocked the wind out of him. It hadn’t been enough to incapacitate the alien, but certainly enough to cause him pause. Kit had unintentionally fired too close to Kai who luckily had been struck just before the beams impact. Had he been next to Nyu at the time of the explosion, he too would be suffering from the blasts impact. As things stood he was only a little dazed.
“Kit, watch the friendly fire”
He yelled to the ground, a bead of sweaty blood rolling down his forehead and off the bridge of his nose. He had hit the ground pretty hard, scraping a portion of his upper brow. Kit was breathing heavily, and wasn’t expecting what happened next. His weights were keeping him firmly planted into the ground, so when Nyu’s body after-imaged from where it had been and appeared in front of Kit, he was helpless to stop the attack that was thrust first into his throat, the chest, then stomach, and finally an elbow striking him in the face. The creature’s cape could hardly keep up, whipping behind him in the wind. Kit fell backwards, hitting the ground hard. His hands clenched his throat, and the man curled into a ball. His body hurt in four different places making it impossible to effectively soothe his pain. Kai had since recovered, and had made an attack from behind. Unfortunately Kai was tiring out from the constant strain of focus. The alien creature didn’t seem to be overly inhibited by the fighting. If Kai was at twenty thousand, the alien must have been at a solid thirty thousand, making him more than triple Kit’s fighting ability.
Kit hadn’t noticed it until now, but the alien’s feet were actually three talons, similar to a carnivorous dinosaur. He only happened to notice this because a surprise upward swipe sliced into Kai, causing him to double back and assess his injuries. His black cloak was ripped and bloodied. Kit could only imagine how serious the attack had been, and now felt even worse for lying on the ground as he was. He knew he couldn’t meet the alien’s speed, so he would have to bring the creature back to him, and then overwhelm him with physical strength. Kit cleverly raised his hand, as if he were going to fire another spirit gun, which he knew to be impossible. The key was that Nyu had no idea that Kit was limited to one spirit gun in this fight, and so when he raised his hands and yelled out the words ‘spirit gun’ the alien turned and dashed quickly to intercept the blast and counter. He would however be met by Kit’s open palm, catching both fists in midair. Kit had been watching the alien’s movements throughout the fight. He was actually pretty predictable. Both fists were always flying, so catching each was easy enough. Once he had caught onto his victim, he began to play a game he often played with his brothers, uncle. Clenching the fists and twisting the wrists upward, Nyu let out a shrill screech of pain. Kit was going to break his wrists. This would have worked, had Nyu not bent his head back, and threw it forward into a head-butt. The attack left a bloody bruise on the center of Kit’s forehead, and blinded him temporarily. Nyu had been unaffected, and as the turban came undone it was clear why. Nyu had a single large horn on his head that had been shaved down to a fine rounded nub. It was as if he had hit Kit with a ball peen hammer. and his skull felt it. This was a surprise attack that Nyu saved for just such a close quarters encounter. Thankfully Kai was back up and ready for more, striking Nyu with an extended leg and causing him to stumble to the right.
Kit writhed on the ground, wanting to open his eyes, but so blinded by pain that it would do no good. He couldn’t believe that a head-butt had ended their physical struggle. His body was beaten badly, and now he was suffering from head trauma. This was undoubtedly the most violent fight he had ever been in. Kit regretted his choice to stop Kai from fighting the way he had wanted to in the beginning. Clearly Nyu wasn’t playing by any set of rules, so why should they? This creature needed to be stopped, but Kit hadn’t the abilities to do it. He again felt worthless. It was then, in his despair and pain that he remembered something. Ethan was down stairs. Perhaps a weaker man would have thought this a sanctuary. Three on one would surely have a better outcome. Kit however was not willing to pit Ethan against such a terrifying opponent. If he wasn’t able to face the creature surely Ethan wasn’t and even worse was the idea that any time the boy could give up on his meditation and step out to find his elder brother. God forbid Ethan were to get involved.
Though he would never openly admit it, the thought of his brother in danger brought a sense of strength to Kit, as his power level began to rise. The Ki in his body swirled around his forehead, numbing the pain enough for him to open his eyes. Taking his forearm to wipe away the blood, Kit shakily rose to his feet, slouching over as the weights again took their toll on him. He had never before been so physically tested.
“Hey you psychotic bastard”
He growled, raising his finger back up towards his opponent. He felt the energy, though he wasn’t sure from where. He could fire the attack again, making it the second time in the combat. Nyu, who was now fighting intently with Kai had to make a serious choice. Counter again and leave Kai unattended, or ignore Kit and call his bluff. He chose the latter, jumping back a few feet, and then dashing forward towards the man who was legitimately taking aim. He had called Kit’s bluff, and the shirtless hero was about to show Nyu just how much energy he had stored inside of him. He fired the blast, the small orb elongating once again and flying quickly towards the alien. Nyu, who was surprised at the fact that the attack actually conjured, rose his right hand up, and batted the attack away, which forced him to stop about halfway to Kit. His hand was visibly smoking, and an abandoned house up the street collapsed. Nyu had countered his spirit gun, sending it into the building’s fragile structure, collapsing it. Nyu was about to say something clever about having outsmarted the human, when a sudden declaration struck him in the back. Kai had fired a spirit gun of his own that burned through the alien’s cape and made direct contact with the small of his back.
Nyu dropped to his knee’s coughing out a decent amount of blood that spattered across Kit’s stomach and pants. Had they beaten him? It all seemed so unlikely, but the alien was on the ground, seemingly unconscious. Kit let out a sigh of relief. His hair, which had stiffened in the conflict, dropped back down, and his aura subsided. Kai stumbled forward, examining the body of his victim, and content with his handy work.
“Are you alright Kit?”
Kit nodded, the pain in his head finally returning. The alien had successfully landed a few decent blows that were now rattling around in the poor man’s brain. Wiping a fresh dribble of blood out of his eyes he smiled. He was about to tell Kai that they had just finished the greatest fight he had ever been in. He was about to praise the warriors abilities and tell him that it was all thanks to his training that they had won. He would have said all those things and more, if at that moment the claw of Nyu hadn’t pierced Kai’s back, running him through and exiting through the stomach. Part of Kai’s kidney had been caught on the exit and was now ripped and bleeding on the end of Nyu’s talon.
“D…damn…”
He muttered, his final word spoken clearly as a flood of blood rose through his throat and like a small fountain began to overflow off the sides of his lips. It took only about fifteen seconds for the man to go limp, his head rolling forward, and the weight of his shoulders falling on the alien’s leg that was now grasping at the kidney, squeezing it, causing an even greater blood flow through the organ.
“Is he dead yet? I mean really”
His shrill voice brought some reality to Kit’s shocked demeanor. Right before his eyes, the first martial arts friend he had met outside of the compound was dead. His jaw was locked in place, open and gapping at the unbelievably horrid sight in front of him. Not only had he never actually seen someone die, he had never even had it happen in passing. He never had a grandparent die, or an accidental death at the compound. Kit had never witnessed death, and now before his eyes his new best friend was hanging limp. He almost wanted to reach out and pull him off, in the hopes that he would still be alive, but Kit knew it wasn’t possible. For the first time he could physically feel the energy of the man in front of him, and just like a candle blown out with the wind, it was gone.
“Alright, you shall be spared to spread the word. Inform everyone what you have witnessed here today, tell them about their new lord.”
Empty words. Kit couldn’t even hear him at this point. His own body was convulsing, he wanted to vomit. His muscles shook with anger, and before he could even think of another clever come back or witty remark, his hands acted for him, gripping the reptilian leg, and with all the force he could muster, snapping it in half. Nyu hadn’t been expecting the energy spike, and so his high pitched screams filled the streets as the bone in his leg was snapped clean through the middle. He tried to retract the appendage, but Kit’s grip was too tight, and with another tight twist the man did the unthinkable, he ripped off the leg, just below the knee where it had been broken. Now spirting, the open arteries shot out the magenta like blood, mixing with the blood already covering Kit from his friend. Nyu couldn’t see through the pain, an ironic justice to his earlier attack on Kit. The alien could do nothing more than hit the return button to his space shuttle, calling it to his current location. It would take almost a minute for the pod to appear, and Kit had no idea that a time limit had begun, but as the alien pulled himself back, and drug his sorry broken body across the hot asphalt, Kit caught his friend, placing him gently on his back.
“I’m so sorry friend…I’m…so sorry”
What could he possibly say? He couldn’t believe what had just happened, and yet as his friend lay there, lifeless, he could have sword a smile was stricken across his face. The morbid humor brought a sad chuckle to Kit who had begun tearing up. His breathing no longer under control he dropped to his knees and in the ultimate sign of respect bowed to his friend Sekai, placing his forehead on the deceased for a moment. It wasn’t until the whistle of the space pod came to his ear that Kit stood at the ready. Nyu was dragging himself shamelessly towards the open pod, and Kit’s rage took hold.
“You bastard. You think you can just come to our planet and kill whomever you like. You didn’t even know this man.”
He gritted his teeth, unable to say another word. The only thing he could think about was the rage that he felt, and the urge to end the pathetic creature’s life. He rose his finger and thumb into the all too familiar attack, and stepped forward, placing it against the alien’s temple. Nyu had begun openly sobbing, and probably begging. His words were just a jumbled mess as Kit focused his energy. He felt the bullet fall into the chamber, and felt the trigger shaking in anticipation. Yet, he looked over to Sekai, and as he watched the wind blowing through the only dry part of the man’s coat, he felt something he would have never expected. Mercy.
“Tell your lord that he is no lord of mine. And that if he dares to come onto my planet, I will destroy him”
Pointing the spirit gun upwards he felt the final release of his energy fly upwards into the air. It was now midafternoon, and the combination of his own attack and the blaring sun created an even brighter light. After rising into the air a sizeable distance the attack exploded like a firework, sending a rain of harmless blue Ki droplets falling through the air, as if mourning the passing of the warrior a few feet from him. Nyu used this opportunity to load his ship and mutter some utterance of vengeance before taking off.
Kit knew this wasn’t over, and yet he felt inclined to take on the challenge. It was personal to him, and it was his job to defend the planet from belligerent aliens such as Nyu, or his blasted King. Kit didn’t know it yet, but that encounter had increased his strength exponentially, and would ready him for the trials that were to come. He was finally ready to start his journey, and he wouldn’t hesitate to take Ethan with him.
Kit knew this wasn’t over, and yet he felt inclined to take on the challenge. It was personal to him, and it was his job to defend the planet from belligerent aliens such as Nyu, or his blasted King. Kit didn’t know it yet, but that encounter had increased his strength exponentially, and would ready him for the trials that were to come. He was finally ready to start his journey, and he wouldn’t hesitate to take Ethan with him.