[8] Group XTREME - FoF Production Ruins

[Burter Jr]

10. Android 18
13. Raditzu
19. Bardock

While discussing what to do next, Bojack is shot in the head by a sniper rifle.

You can go anywhere. The bright light in the sky is in the direction of the watchtowers. That's what made the zombies leave.

The production building is now in ruins

[Bardock]

Three bursts of fire ripped through the air, painful to the saiyan?s augmented hearing.

?The false moon!? Jack hollered, pointing. Bardock?s giant hands clasped his ears against the gunshots, but looked towards his power sphere?or at least, where it was supposed to be. The ball of artificial brute waves had dissipated; its light fading to nothingness. Without the warm bath of ambience, the two saiyans could not maintain their state of Oozaru. Bardock could already feel himself reverting to his anthropoid form. The heavy blanket that had clouded his mind was slowly lifting, leaving no veil to the mental anguish he was feeling. A half-ape, half-saiyan voice growled in pure disgust. Raditzu?s fun was ending, and he wasn?t the least bit happy about it. Android 18 was startled, her enormous perch suddenly shrinking down to its normal size. She had little choice but to hop off and float back to the ground?where they were waiting.

The regression of the saiyans couldn?t have come at a worse time. The army of mindless minions was increasing in force, and threatened to overrun the quartet by force of number. Raditzu was still in mid-reversion, and unable to make the leap from normal form to ascended Super Saiyan in the narrowing window of opportunity they had to defend themselves against the thrall. Eighteen?s fists were covered gooey decay. She was being forced back into the fray, lacking the assistance of her beau until he was himself again, but the femme fatale was fierce. Jack, aside from having pointed out what must have been obvious now, was still nowhere to be seen, a disembodied voice that floated above the din of moans and tormented snarls the zombies wailed.

They were dead. The odds were stacked too high against them.

Just as all seemed lost, a brilliant white radiance flashed from the direction of the watchtowers, their structural silhouettes illuminated by the blinding light. The zombies began to shriek, an ear-splitting noise that made Bardock?s stomach drop. They didn?t like it. Not one bit. The horde began scattering like leaves in the wind, fleeing the blanket of light they so despised. The brightness was warm, inviting. The saiyan could feel a heavy burden being lifted from his shoulders as his body was washed in the alabaster glow. By now, he and Raditzu had fully returned to their normal everyday selves. Eighteen glided to her boyfriend?s side, while the pirate pushed his way to regroup with the others. The elder saiya-jin was on the floor, hands and knees touching the cold, ravaged metal. His whole body was shaking. With what, he didn?t know.

?Just when it was getting good,? Raditzu fumed, disappointed that his good time was at an end. His face screwed up with disgust. ?Where are my pants??

Momentarily distracted from the light, he stalked off to go retrieve his clothing, fully exposed to all those who cared to look. Just as the Spanish-tongued fighter had finally caught up with his companions, his flaming orange hair an unmistakable beacon over the rubble, Bardock was finally forcing himself to his feet. His face was set grimly. Things had not gone well. And they were about to get worse.

?What the hell did you think you were doing? You could have killed us!? an accusatory voice rang out. Bardock knew exactly who it belonged to, and exactly what was coming next. He turned to face the enraged android as she stormed up to him. It was his fault she?d suffered those rank wraiths. Channeling all of her anger into a single fist, she reared back her arm and swung with every last ounce of force she could muster. Had Bardock not turned his face into the punch at the last second to slight the blow, she would have likely broken his jaw. As much as he deserved it, he was going to need his face in one piece for the times to come. Nonetheless, it hurt like hell. He?d been the anvil to her hammer on one occasion before, and he had not forgotten how much stronger than he the android really was. The saiya-jin kept his face turned away for a moment, a large red welt swelling up where he?d been struck. After a moment, Bardock turned to face her. Eighteen?s face was flushed. Once more, the fighter was unable to interpret what she was thinking. He thought he might have sensed a hint of what might be betrayal, but his guesswork counted for little at the present.

He moved his lower jaw to ease some of the soreness. His black eyes stared hard into hers.

?I?m?sorry.?

The words were foreign to him in that context, much less having any sincerity whatsoever. He opened his mouth to say more, but nothing would come. That would have to be enough. Two simple words?they?d been hard enough to say, to admit his folly. The fighter harbored enough regrets without adding another to the pile. It almost seemed like a futile attempt. Any chance at friendship was likely ruined. Without waiting for her reply, he evenly sidestepped her. He did not want to fight her, and he suspected neither did she. Raditzu was coming back anyway, and his presence seemed to command all of her attention and rightfully so. Bardock was unsure about the inner workings of the relationship, but they genuinely seemed to need each other. He was happy for his son. Thinking about the two of them made Bar think about Katel?

?So?? the long-haired saiya-jin began, doing a weird little hop as he slipped his pants on, the armor already donned. The pre-clothed jiggle, if nothing else, was a sure sign of total indiscretion. Bardock mentally shrugged. He didn?t see what the big deal was. ?What?s the plan, boys and girls?? the son continued, shaking his ebony mane from his face.

?You?re pretty good at running the show. You figure it out,? his father said simply. ?As long as I get my fight with Kao.?

There it was again, the woman noted. That name. ?Kao.? Was that what had made the black-haired fighter go crazy?

At that very moment, a sharp sheeww sound hissed, and Jack?s form staggered before falling over, lifeless. Bardock?s eyes followed a quick movement, completely missing the trajectory and only seeing the final destination. A bullet had buried itself in the steel, the remains steaming. It had passed cleanly through the pirate?s head, the entry point a neat little hole, while the exit had a chunk of skull and brain matter missing. They had little time to ponder their comrade?s fate before his body began to shimmer and fade, the ?corpse? no use in the game now that its owner had been eliminated. Bardock couldn?t summon more than an ounce of pity for him. He?d barely known him, but it was dirty to be felled by a sniper. Still, none of them had been on guard.

The sight reminded Bardock of Kakarotto. Unfortunately, his youngest had surely suffered far worse and slow a fate than that of the vampire. He tightened his fist against the anger, resolving to keep his head clear this time, now and forever until the game was over. No more people would suffer his mistakes. Katel, Burter Junior, Goten?he wouldn?t let them down. Nearby the body, a glint of metal glimmered, instantly occupying his fickle attention span. The saiyan knelt to pick it up, becoming completely ignorant of the presence of a nearby killer and the recent death of Jack. The three gunshots had undoubtedly come from the sniper, a calculated move. Maybe Brim was not so steel-faced after all.

It looked like a scouter, only there was no screen. Since his own battle device was safely secured in its capsule, the roughneck fitted the little machine to his ear and pressed the button. A red light flashed across his line of vision, immediately beeping with scrolling data and blips. It was a holographic battle visor. Sweet. He clicked the button again, and the light withdrew back into its projector. This would come in handy. Bardock once more focused his attention on his two remaining group members?team XTREME.


OOC: One. I hope I didn't overstep my bounds, 18.

[Raditzu]

When one is fully immersed in the slaughter of hundreds of all but defenseless zombies, it is easy to miss what?s happening around you. For example, the ringing of three gunshots and the destruction of the small orb that was maintaining a transformation. All Raditzu really registered was the fact that he was getting a lot smaller and the zombies were growing a lot bigger. As he shrunk, Raditzu made sure to take advantage of every second he had. Hefting one of the zombies over his head, Rad tossed the undead fiend into a pile of his comrades. They were bowled over, but more soon stumbled forward to replace them. Fighting on even terms with these things, in terms of size, was going to be little more than troublesome. Within seconds, Rad?s shrinking form was overwhelmed with these stinking soldiers.

The long-haired warrior turned to 18 to ask for a bit of help, but the androidess was gone. Scanning the battlefield, Rad saw several zombies being shredded by someone. He assumed it was 18 and sighed inwardly. He was in trouble, he knew it. And this wasn?t the kind of trouble he could just smash with a hammer-sized fist, which was unfortunate for Raditzu as that was something he was quite capable of doing. Being bludgeoned by a rotting limb shook Rad from his mental wanderings and brought him back to the matter at hand. Or rather, the several thousand matters at hand. The Saiya-jin attempted to transform into a Super Saiyan, but found that, while he was still in the middle of reverted, he lacked the ability to do so.

?Thhhshhsh dthdn llthhh ghhd.? Raditzu attempted to form words, but only succeeded in imitating the zombies around him.

Now things were starting to look bad. The long-haired warrior didn?t often worry about winning a fight, but he was worried about this one. He could feel bits of flesh being torn from his arms and torso. These things were skinning him faster than a pack of crazed piranhas. Something Raditzu could say from experience. It was actually a pretty funny story. If the long-haired wonder were in less of a pinch, he would have recounted it to himself. As Rad swung a slightly larger-than-average fist into the face of a zombie, a piercing wail hit his ear. The wailing soon grew to near deafening proportions and the zombies were suddenly taking off. Rad scanned the area, trying to find the source of whatever was causing the zombies to flee. His eyes settled on (or tried to) a brilliant light flashing from over the horizon.

By the time the light receded, most of the zombies had taken off. Pulling back a humanoid hand, Rad flung a ball of ki at the back of a retreating corpse, shattering the unfortunate soul? err? soulless. With that taken care of Rad turned to the rest of his group. They had all congregated around the ruins of the hallway this whole debacle had started in. The now naked saiyan looked around to see Bardock and 18. 18 looked somewhat nonplussed while Bardock seemed to be finishing his mental breakdown. Rad didn?t particularly see what the big deal was, but he wasn?t the one who could have been stepped on. As it was, being giant apes had worked out well for the quartet. Otherwise they would have been caught by that ridiculously massive army of zombies in their standard forms.


?Just when it was getting good,? Raditzu fumed. A cold draft suddenly reminded him of his current state of dress. He turned towards 18 to direct a question at her, then immediately stopped. It would be far wiser to simply ask himself. ?Where are my pants??

Debris was everywhere. While Raditzu thought he was standing about where he had dropped his clothing, he wasn?t sure. Brim really should have provided everyone with some kind of uniform or something. His pants had probably suffered a fate similar to that of his poor armor. The protective covering had received quite a beating from Vegeta. Without his metal binding ability, searching for his pants and armor would have been a difficult task. The armor was pretty easy to find, as its intricate designs and shining silver hue made it stand out from the rest. The pants were another issue altogether. They were a dull black and made of fairly loose material, meaning they could be just about anywhere. Rad was forced to employ all of his scavenging skills before he turned up his lost clothing. He hurried back to the group while pulling them on.

?So?? Rad started. He had to do some adjusting as he approached. Getting comfortably settled was a very important thing to a man. ?What?s the plan, boys and girls??

?You?re pretty good at running the show. You figure it out,? his father said simply. ?As long as I get my fight with Kao.?

A low whistle escaped Rad?s lips. He would have expected that kind of response from 18, but not his own father. Oh well, it was probably just that time of the month for the elder saiyan. As Bardock had spoken, 18 had approached Raditzu. She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off. A sharp hiss shot through the air. Raditzu acted almost instantly, diving on top of 18 and pulling her to the ground with him. A sharp twang of metal on metal quickly followed and Rad leapt up to his feet. Both he and Bardock were scanning the horizon, looking for any telltale signs. A glint shone off in the distance, but vanished almost as soon as Raditzu had seen it. It looked like they would have at least a moment of safety, but they would not be caught off guard again.

?Tch? lame.? Rad looked over Bojack. It didn?t take an ME to realize that the pirate wasn?t going to be getting back up. ?Maybe we should get out of here.?

Rad pulled out the map he had taken from Cell. The ?Group XTREME? he had written on it in charcoal was slowly fading away. How ironically appropriate. Rad turned one direction, checked his map, then turned another and checked it again. The map was surprisingly well detailed, and getting his bearings turn out to be a simple task. The saiyan?s eyebrows arched when he realized that the strobe of light that had chased away the zombies had come from the direction of the watchtower. It was possible that that tower was, in fact, the origin of the brilliant light. At the very least, the old man would know where the light had come from. The trio didn?t have much else to go on.

?Alright, Group XTREME? let?s move out!?

Rad rolled up his map and point dramatically in the direction of the watchtower. Both Bardock and 18 turned to see what Rad was pointing out, as he had not discerned his findings to the rest of them. With their attention distracted, the long-haired saiyan put a hand on each of their shoulders and they all vanished. When they appeared, at the watchtower, they were somewhat surprised to find themselves in the middle of a gaggle of winged beings. This was definitely not what Rad had been expecting to find. He waved to one of beings nonchalantly.

?We late for the party??

OOC: We're all at the watchtower now.