[Namek] Defense of the Ancients

[Kaden]

The hollow-tree entrance to the underground tunnel system was accessible via a simple rope ladder. As Kaden pulled himself up the rungs, he tried as best as he could to keep an eye on the approaching invaders. Of the six of them present, only two seemed like serious threats. Serious threats to him, at least. He wasn’t sure what the Namekian villagers could handle and Sophia’s early concerns about being out-of-practice still tugged at the back of his mind. If worst came to worst, and it was absolutely necessary, the courier was confident that he could simply unleash as much of his power as possible and wipe out the aliens before they managed to do any harm. Just eviscerating them, and probably a significant amount of the small village, wasn’t his ideal solution, though.

The space inside the tree was quite cramped, Kaden discovered. At the base was, what appeared to be, a crudely fashioned door, not unlike a dog door someone might install in their own home. The idea of crawling through a door to meet some dangerous aliens, though, wasn’t very appealing. While he wasn’t usually the kind of opt into overly-dramatic exhibitions, he was trying to create a distraction, and crawling towards the enemy wasn’t exactly what he had in mind.

To Kaden’s surprise, the aliens seemed to know exactly where he would be coming to the surface. The four weaker, robed aliens and circled the tree while the two in armor stood closer to the bulk of the village, not too far off. Taking in a deep breath to steady himself, Kaden began gathering in his energy. The four weaker aliens were moving together, all closing in on the tree as one. Unfortunately for them, that was exactly what Kaden was waiting for.

With a dramatic cry, energy Flared from Kaden’s body, exploding outward in every direction. The hollowed tree shattered under the force of the courier’s ki, its bark becoming organic shrapnel. The four robed aliens tried to leap away from the expanding sphere of energy, but were unable to out-pace its expansion. Caught in the blast, they were hurled high into the air.

As splinters rained down around him, Kaden’s glowing eyes swept across the battleground. The two armored aliens met his gaze, but remained at a safe distance. Their stances were relaxed, but the courier could see the frenzied flow of energy streaming through their bodies; regardless of how they appeared, they were both prepared to fight at a moment’s notice. If they continued as they had, letting the robed invaders do all the work while they observed, the courier would have to make sure to keep an eye on them.

Recovering in mid air, the robed invaders fit the ground on their feet and shifted into combat stances. As he had observed before, the four aliens were moving together, obviously well-practiced in moving as a unit. Kaden caught fleeting glimpses shot from the robed aliens to the armored ones; it seemed that they were all communicating with one-another, but the courier had no idea how. He knew there were people who could speak directly into another’s mind, telepaths, but couldn’t be sure whether or they possessed such an ability. Being aliens it was also possible that they could simply communicate in ways that a human couldn’t follow.

The first alien to move came from behind the courier. To someone without Ki Sense, that would have been the correct move to make. Against Kaden, though, it didn’t really matter who made the first move, he had been preparing his energy for an immediate response. As the robed alien neared, Kaden spun towards him and thrust both hands forward. A torrent of cerulean energy burst forward, enveloping the alien attacker.

The other three robed aliens moved in response, each prepped to strike the courier. Before any of them could land a blow, Kaden Dashed directly backwards, shooting between the two armored aliens as he did so. He had hoped – and was very thankfully correct – that they wouldn’t make a move against him, more interested in watching how he fought. All the invaders spun in unison to follow his movements.

There had been two reasons for the courier’s maneuver. Firstly, he thought it would be best to engage the enemies from where he could physically see all of them, regardless of his Ki Sense ability. Secondly, they would now have to physically pass him in order to make their way towards Sophia and the villagers. While he wasn’t physically intimidating, he would show them that taking him lightly would be ill-advised. Taking in a deep breath, he drew upon every Saturday morning cartoon he had ever seen.

“Aliens!” he thrust a finger forward. “Your tidal wave of invasion is about to crash against the rocky shores of justice! If you think I’m just going to stand by and let you do whatever you want, you’re in for a rude awakening.” Hooking his thumb back at himself, Kaden fixed the closest alien with an icy glare. “I won’t forgive you for the damage you’ve done to this village.” With a dramatic wave of his arm, the courier Dispersed energy into the air around him, making it appear as though wings momentarily sprouted from his body. “Prepare yourselves!”

During his display, the four robed aliens had once again taken up position in front of their armored allies, each one looking ready for combat. Kaden happily noted that the alien he had blasted earlier was definitely showing signs of fatigue. While he hadn’t given it his all, for fear of killing the alien right then and there, it had definitely been one spicy meatball.

Not wanting to give them a chance to strike, Kaden prepared his next attack quickly. With his energy Dispersed throughout the battlefield, he could trigger any number of effects from virtually any direction he chose. The simplest, and hopefully most intimidating would be first on his list. From directly above the four robed aliens, a ball of ki shimmered into existed, the Dispersed energy gathering around those four spots. After a moment of charging, each ball shot downward, crashing into the aliens.

One of them had the presence of mind to evade the attack, but the other three were driven into the ground by the force of the blast. A cloud of dust and dirt obscured Kaden’s line-of-sight momentarily, but he could sense where each alien was just fine. The alien that had avoided his first attack would be the sole target of his second. Energy gathered just in front of the alien’s head before shattering into a small explosion. Stunned by both the speed and proximity of the human’s attack, the alien was caught off-guard by a direct assault from Kaden’s outstretched hand. A beam of bright blue ki crashed into the alien’s body, throwing him from the cloud of dust. The robed alien would have continued his flight had one of the armored aliens not interceded on his behalf.

Stepping forward, the closest armor-clad invader physically thrust his fist into the courier’s beam, breaking its flow and saving his ally from further assault. In the same instant, the other armored alien burst forward, crossing the distance between himself and Kaden with remarkable speed. Leaping backwards once more, the courier erected a shimmering barrier of energy in the alien’s path. Crashing against the curtain of ki, the alien was halted long enough for Kaden to make a counter-attack.

Slamming his hand against the ground, Kaden coaxed a spark of energy to weave through the ground, directed straight toward the invader. With the ki barrier in place, an in-direct attack seemed like the best course of action, and the aliens hadn’t seen that particular technique yet. From directly below the alien, ki Erupted upwards, sending him tumbling end-over-end into the sky.

There was another lull in the action as the aliens regrouped. Whether by decision or by order, the robed aliens abandoned their aggressive poses, allowing the armored invaders to step up to the front line. It wasn’t surprising; Kaden’s display had shown a blatant and overwhelming disparity between their strength. Even with four of them, it didn’t seem like they would be able to deal with the courier’s exceptional control of ki.

Just as the armored aliens looked as though they were about to attack, they all stopped. Their heads shot from one end of the battlefield to the other, each one of them scanning for something. The courier assumed that they had all heard, or been informed of through other means, that Kaden was alone and Sophia had made an appearance at the other end of the village. As though trying to confirm the courier’s suspicions, the four robed aliens quickly nodded to each other and then bolted forward, trying to skirt around the courier in as wide an arc as possible.

Swearing to himself, Kaden took a second to gather energy. The scar on his chest burned as he tore energy from it much faster than his body was accustomed to. Focusing the energy into a compact ball, the human took aim and fired as quickly as possible. A thin stream of ki shot from his fingertips, cutting through the robe and flesh of his target’s torso. Once the beam had penetrated the alien, Kaden twisted his wrist with a sharp jerk and the beam rapidly expanded in width; a significant chunk of the alien’s torso eroded, filling the air with the stench of burning flesh.

The other three robed aliens darted between the various houses and buildings of the village as they made their way past the courier. Kaden turned over the idea of firing through the buildings in his way to get at the aliens, but decided to leave the village as intact as possible. He trusted Sophia to be able to handle those three on her own. With one of them gone and the other not at a hundred percent, the ex-priestess’ training should make things easy enough. With the robed aliens out of sight, Kaden turned his attention to the remaining invaders.

With his attention turned to the weaker invaders, Kaden had left himself completely open to his actual opponents. The two armored aliens came at him from the sides, one diving low and the other staying high. While Kaden had been able to duck under one of his attackers, the second slid across the ground and drove both feet up and into his midsection. The force of the impact tossed the courier into the air like a ragdoll. Though he had put on a good show up to that point, bouncing helplessly across the grassy soil definitely caused the armored aliens to reevaluate their opponent.

As he picked himself off the ground, Kaden struggled to catch his breath. He was more than capable of dishing it out, but when it came to taking it, he would be the first to admit that he came up a little short. This would be a definite case where the best defense would be a solid, unrelenting offense. That, he thought to himself, shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

His eyes alight with energy, Kaden scanned the air around him. There was still a reasonable amount of energy Dispersed around him, it would at least be enough for his purposes. He couldn’t imagine that the aliens had any way of sensing his energy, otherwise it didn’t seem to make sense that they would energy send those weaker, robed aliens to be pummeled by his energized assault.

Instead of attacking from separate directions, the aliens opted to launch their second sortie from differing distances. One of them stayed back, charging a ball of ki while the second dashed forward to engage the courier directly. Dealing with the former would be much easier for the ki specialist.

With a flick of his wrist, Kaden fired an arrow shaped bolt of energy. The arrow crashed directly into the ball that the armored alien was charging, Breaking the energy and shattering the ball. Bewildered, the invader stared at his hands for several second, obviously trying to understand exactly what was going on. With that momentarily taken care of, Kaden turned his attention to the other assailant.

Though the aliens were definitely faster than Kaden, and they had seen how their blows affected him, they were obviously wary of the explosive power he could generate at a moment’s notice. Unfortunately for them, they had only seen the tip of the proverbial iceberg. All things being equal, Kaden was fairly confident that he could defeat the aliens. Unfortunately, things were not equal.

These aliens were obviously well-trained and had some method of communication that Kaden was unable to figure out. They had probably spent a good deal of time operating as a team and, given long enough, would figure out the extent of Kaden’s abilities and how to deal with them. On the other hand Kaden, though gifted in his ability to gather information through Ki Sense, had neither the same experience nor training. Additionally, the aliens probably possessed a great deal more stamina than the courier; he was well aware that physicality was not his strong suit.

In close quarters, the alien struck out at Kaden, jabbing with a well aimed fist. Abandoning any kind of defense, Kaden grunted as the invader’s knuckles cracked along his jaw. Stepping through the blow, the courier’s hands shot forward, jabbing against the alien’s armor at the shoulders. Tiny blue flares of ki illuminated his fingers as he twisted his wrists, Locking the alien’s ki momentarily. The second blow to come from the now-Locked alien hit with much more manageable force.

As the ranged alien had done – and like pretty much everyone Kaden had ever Locked – the melee invader looked bewildered at his appendages, able to feel that something was off. Sadly, he wouldn’t have too long to ponder the position he had been put in. Stepping even closer to his opponent, Kaden thrust his palms against the alien’s armor. The two locked eyes, both acutely aware of what was about to happen.

A brilliant blue hue enfolded the two warriors as energy poured from Kaden’s hands. An odd noise, presumably one of pain, escaped the alien’s lips, but it amounted to naught. Washed away in the flow of energy, the armored invader landed, lifeless, halfway across the village. The courier’s breathing came slow and heavy as he watched his victim crash into the ground.

Turning his focus inward for a moment, Kaden could feel a familiar ache in his arms. It always started as a sort of warm sensation, spreading through his limbs as though his very blood had become heated. Though it started as something pleasant, like the gentle caress of a lover’s hand, it slowly became much more… sinister; the lover, it seemed, had something more devious in mind than simple petting. His muscles would burn and his very skin felt as though it were about to crack and peel. While it was not something the courier would voluntarily experience, he didn’t have much choice in the matter.

Shaking off his moment of introspection, the courier’s Ki Sense flared up as the remaining armored opponent began charging another ball of energy. What struck Kaden as remarkable was that the alien soldiers could watch one of their own fall without missing a beat. The robed invaders hadn’t stopped when Kaden shot one of them down, and now the armored alien was about to launch an attack against someone who had dropped his ally in a single shot. If it had affected their morale in any way, they did a damn good job of hiding it. He supposed as much should be expected from soldiers prepared to invade an innocent and relatively defenseless village.

The blast that came towards Kaden was, in his mind, laughable. As he gained more experience fighting those with similar abilities, it had become increasingly apparent to Kaden that his ability not only to control and manipulate energy, but generate his own stores of it were far from normal. With no more effort than it would take to exhale, Kaden overpowered the enemies attack and returned the effort two-fold. Though the alien didn’t appear particularly happy about the exchange, it was easy enough for him to evade the assault. As he dodged to his right, however, the smallest hint of a smile played at Kaden’s lips.

He had had more than enough time to prepare his Dispersed energy while dealing with the other armored invader. Some of the Dispersed energy coalesced into a ball behind the invader, a ball which propelled forward. As it shot forward, it began growing in size, collecting energy as a snowball would snow. The ball collided with the alien’s back, throwing him face-first into the dirt.

Reacting quickly, the alien rolled forward, using the momentum from the blast to help close the distance between himself and Kaden. As he tried to climb to his feet, though, the last of the Dispersed energy weaved itself into a thing strand of energy, Lashing first around his wrist and then around his ankle. The energy grew in size as the bond between the alien’s limbs was pulled tight. Helpless, the invader fell once more to the ground.

As he looked up, the alien’s vision was filled with the ratty, worn sneakers of a simple courier from Earth. Though he didn’t like the idea of striking down a helpless opponent, he knew the restraints he had created wouldn’t last forever and was sure that the invader wouldn’t hesitate to attack once more, given the chance. Taking in a deep breath, Kaden slammed both hands to the ground, unleashing a mighty Tempest of ki.

The whirling energies consumed the prone alien’s body. In mere moments, the alien’s was reduced to nothing more than a charred husk. Falling backwards, Kaden stared up at the sky as he panted for breath. It had been a while since he had expended such energy and had been unprepared for the physical toll it would take. His entire body screamed in protest to his latest endeavor and he feared what would happen should more aliens come upon them. Though he would have been happy to just lay on the grass and let his body rest, a welcome voice rang out.

“Oh my God… Kaden! Are you ok!?” came Sophia’s voice. The girl was understandably concerned, seeing Kaden’s bodying lying prone on the ground.

“Heh… yeah, I’m fine,” the courier tried to laugh through the pain. His jaw ached more than he was willing to let on. “Just been a while, I guess. Dealing with these guys was more tiring than I thought it would be.”

“So here I am, worrying about you when you’re just lying down on the job?”

“You know me,” the courier slowly pulled himself to his feet. “Looks like you handled things on your end.” There were a few scrapes and bruises to be seen on the girl’s body, but other than that she didn’t look any worse for wear. “How about the villagers?”

“They’re fine,” the girl assured him. “No serious injuries. At least none that I couldn’t take care of.”

“So… the village is safe and justice triumphs once again,” the courier’s tone was quite melancholy as his eyes darted from one fallen alien to the next. Whatever had driven his actions, he couldn’t call it justice. “Or something like that. Any ideas on what to do now?”

“Are there any villagers left?” When Kaden confirmed that there were not, Sophia stopped to consider her options. “Oh!” she suddenly exclaimed. “When we first got here there were more of those aliens. They were underground. And there was a door.”

“Of course,” the courier rubbed his palm across his face, amazed he could forget something like that. “It was over on the other side of the village. We should go check it out.”

Though they raced through the village, prepared to search for the small, circular door, their objective was clear as they approached. The small circular door lay open in the ground, no sound or light coming from within. Hesitantly, Sophia approached, craning her neck to try and see as far through the door as possible. Though Kaden assured her that there wasn’t anyone inside, he couldn’t exactly blame the girl for being cautious. Taking a deep breath, Kaden got down on his knees and simply stuck his head through the door.

Though it was completely dark on the other side of the door, the light from the suns of Namek and the illumination provided by a hastily constructed ball of ki took care of that problem. The door opened up to a small… room of sorts. There were all kinds of monitors and screens and what were probably alien computers. There looked like three, maybe four banks of monitors, each with an odd kind of keyboard attached to it. Kaden surmised that it was some kind of forward base-of-operations, probably for gathering information or relaying communications. Whoever had been operating the consoles had almost certainly escaped while Sophia and Kaden helped the villagers.

“So… any thoughts?” the courier asked his partner.

“Might as well poke around. Who knows what we could find.”