[Namek] Defense of the Ancients

[Kaden]

“Well, I have to hand it to you,” Kaden shook his head as he and Sophia stepped from their ship. “When you do something, you do it all the way.”

“Well you know me.”

The hustle and bustle of the Namekian starport was appropriate given the gravity of the situation. As Kaden cast his gaze around the shifting crowds, he wondered why the invasion had no hit him harder. Both he and Sophia had signed up on Earth and had shortly been shipped off and in all the time spent between then and setting foot on Namek, Kaden had not really questioned his participation in fighting off an invasion.

It struck him as odd, given the frustration that lesser events had given him. There were some serious doubts that still floated through the recesses of his mind from Friend or Foe and being captured by Gamer, but none of that seemed to be factoring into his enrolling in a resistance. As he cast a glance to the girl at his side, he couldn’t help but think she were the reason. She always seemed to make their situation seem bright

With that thought in mind, Kaden couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt for selfishly saying they should travel to Namek. He still had business on the planet and though he was willing to take both of them to another planet in pursuit of that, he hadn’t actually said anything to Sophia about it. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the girl, he was simply too unsure of it to start talking to other people about it.

“Any idea what we’re supposed to do now?” Kaden asked his partner as his mind continued its endless internal monologue.

“I guess we… report for duty? That’s a thing, right?” Sophia scanned the spaceport, looking for something to magically tell them where they needed to be. Fortunately, she found it. “How about we start over there?”

“You mean the big sign that says ‘recruits this way’? Genius.”

“Well… wait. Maybe we go that way?”

Frowning, Sophia pointed to another sign that instructed any recruits with combat experience to go in another direction. A third and fourth sign took “warriors” and “troops” in more directions. As the duo strolled towards the exit of the spaceport, they encountered more and more signs, all of which seemed to say something different. Finally Sophia spotted a large “information” sign. Tugged on Kaden, she directed him towards a desk with a dozen uniformed attendants answering questions and handing out pamphlets.

“We don’t need information,” the courier countered. “Let’s just go be warriors. That sounds way better than being a ‘troop.’”

“Don’t want to stop and ask for directions? Really?” The ex-priestess shook her head and clicked her tongue. “I wasn’t expecting you to be so cliché.”

Mouth agape, Kaden searched for an appropriate response. When none came, he simply shut his mouth, shot the girl a mock glare, and made his way to the information desk. There was a bit of a line, but it moved quickly with most of the attendants simply pointing someone towards one of the various signs throughout the area. When Kaden and Sophia’s turn arrived, they found themselves being attended to by a diminutive, yet powerfully built human man.

“What do you need?” he started.

“Information, actually,” the courier tried to be amiable, but it didn’t play.

“Great. A smartass. What information do you need?”

“Well… we’re not really sure where we’re supposed to go,” Kaden clarified, indicating himself and Sophia as he spoke.

“Are you stupid? There are signs everywhere. Next!”

“Ah… I…” Kaden tried to collect his thoughts as the person behind him tried to step forward from the line. The courier continued speaking before he could be pushed aside. “The signs. Right. That’s kind of the problem.”

“Reading’s your problem? Can’t help you there, son. And I thought I said next.”

“No!” Slamming his hand on the information desk, Kaden fought the urge to raise his voice. The sound of Sophia’s stifled laughter behind him didn’t help. “Look. We need… there are a lot of signs and none of them are particularly helpful. We don’t know if we’re ‘warriors’ or ‘recruits’ or ‘troops’ or… whatever else you may have signs for.”

“The hell didn’t you just say so?” Shaking his head, the small man pulled a scouter from under the desk and fastened it to his head. He quickly inspected Sophia, then Kaden. The courier had to stop himself from grinning too broadly when the little man rechecked his powerlevel twice. “Well… it looks like you two are warriors. Follow the signs.”

“Thank you,” Kaden nodded and proceeded to walk away as quickly as possible. “There,” he turned to Sophia once they were out of earshot from the information desk. “I asked for directions. Happy?” Instead of responding, the girl simply stifled another laugh at his expense.

As the two of them followed the indicated direction, Kaden couldn’t help but read aloud a pamphlet he had grabbed from the information desk. The Namekians, it seemed, were a long-lived species that were generally peaceful. They naturally stayed in small villages, working the land and living with nature. The pamphlet called those who were able to help defend these peaceful aliens, some whom had been alive longer than humans could even imagine.

“Welcome to the militia.”

[Sophia]

“Right, so…” Kaden folded the pamphlet that he had grabbed from the officer’s station and stored it away in one of the inner pockets of his jacket, “…we’re set to go, right? Fighting the good fight?”

“Yeah, definitely,” Sophia shrugged her shoulders, trying to match Kaden’s strides and paying attention to little else. Things were moving a little fast, she had to admit, but she felt contentment with her situation that she hadn’t felt since…she had to think a bit about it, but she hadn’t been content since before her father died. All it took was an old friend suddenly appearing at her place of business, suddenly back into her life, and offer to take her off to fight some distant war on another planet. The thought seemed as ridiculous as ever, but it worked nonetheless.

All they had to do at this point was fight. Sophia was good at fighting.

Several thoughts struck her at once, however, upon examining her situation further. It had been a long time; a very, very long time since she had even lifted anything over fifty pounds, let alone fight someone else to the death. It had been even longer since she had thought about forming even the simplest ball of ki. When she thought about it, she was so far beyond the point of “being rusty” that she was basically starting again from scratch.

And she was expected to protect a foreign race from super-powered aliens and mutants and Kai-knows-what-else. Needless to say, the thought mortified her to the bone, so much so that she found herself clutching at Kaden’s wrist tightly. “Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no…”

“…what’s the matter?” the courier spoke through a wince, wringing free his wrist from Sophia’s death-grip. “Oh wow, your face is really pale.”

“Kaden,” she whispered frantically, her face mostly obscured by the hair that fell as she lowered her head, as if that would make her invisible. “…what the heck am I doing here?”

“…what?” Kaden merely blinked. It was a reasonable reaction, all things considered.

“What am I doing here!” she spoke again, this time her voice more closely resembling a shout as she reached over to grab both of the man’s shoulders, shaking him lightly. “I sucked at fighting before, and that was, like, two years ago! I’m so not ready for this! I don’t remember anything, Kaden, I don’t remember!”

Kaden opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out initially. It seemed that the gears in his head were working overtime to determine just what the hell this crazy woman was going on about. “Uh…h-hey, calm down, or…something. This just occurred to you?”

“I didn’t think about it!” Sophia shouted, letting go of her friend and taking a couple steps backwards. “I mean, how often does a girl get to take a vacation, anyway?”

“Well…” the courier put a hand on his hip, looking to the sky. He genuinely appeared to be thinking over his options, though the motion seemed to stem from frustration or impatience. “I don’t know what to tell you, Soph. We can’t exactly go back now. Are you sure you’ve forgotten everything? It hasn’t been that long.”

“I…well,” Sophia paused to consider the question. She had died, maintained her spirit, trained under one of the most renowned teachers in the universe, and came back to life. When she reconsidered, it didn’t seem likely that a year or two would obscure all of her training. She held out her hand, closed her eyes, and concentrated…she didn’t even have to open her eyes back up to know that she at least remembered how to use ki. “Okay, so I’m not totally useless. But still!” She walked back up to Kaden and shoved an index finger into his chest. “You should have reminded me!”

“How is it my…I was just…” the ki specialist sighed and shook his head. “You’re right. You’re completely absolved of any wrong-doing or lack of forethought. Can we go on, now?”

“Yes,” Sophia responded, quite sure that she had won. With that out of the way, they were free to…they were free to… “Where are we going, exactly?”

“That’s what I was asking you to begin with.”

“Oh. Well…I don’t know,” the ex-priestess shrugged. “We should go protect a village. Or something.”

“Well…yeah, we’re going to do that,” Kaden breathed another sigh. He sure seemed to have trouble making up his mind. “Well…let’s find a smaller village. The bigger ones probably have enough security, anyway.”

“Makes…sense,” Sophia guessed. “Is there a map, or something?”

“I’m sure someone around here can show us around.”

“Alrighty.”

***

Sophia and Kaden arrived in pretty good time, considering they arrived by jeep. The village was small enough to be assigned just two warriors—in this case, Sophia and Kaden, and that wasn’t bad, all things considering. Kaden hopped out of the vehicle first and helped Sophia out, tapping the jeep to signal its departure. As it sped away, the pair turned to face the village at the same time. It was fairly quaint, only containing a small field in which they surely farmed for some sort of crop, and just a handful of houses surrounded it. It was fairly unassuming, but deserving of protection nonetheless.

“Think anyone’s home?” Kaden inquired as they began walking towards the village.

“Sure doesn’t look like it,” Sophia shook her head. “You think we’re too late?”

“Could be,” the courier shrugged, stopping to look around. Sophia decided to wait for him. “But then again, everything just seems too…neat. I don’t think anyone’s been here for a while.”

“Maybe everyone’s inside.”

“Or maybe the militia sent us to a ghost town,” Kaden laughed…or maybe it was a scoff. It was hard to tell. “It figures. We left Earth because we were tired of doing nothing, and now we’ve been sent off to do exactly that.”

“Well, we won’t know anything unless we look around,” Sophia patted him on the shoulder and continued onward. She could have sworn she heard something off in the distance, but she shrugged it off.

[Chubbs Story Account]

A small, circular door opens up from underneath a blanket of dust, in response to the noises in the world above. A humanoid in yellow clothing pokes his head out at ground-level and looks at the woman.

Silence.

The vault door is slammed down and a siren goes off; loud and excited voices are heard inside.

The doors of the various huts are thrown open as a number of invaders leap out into action.

There are six total. Two wear a loose, intricate armor; four wear a clean, yellow robe.

Silence.

||Kaden, as you have Ki Sense, the CA values of the six are as follows:

The two in armor - 6000 each
The four in robes - 350 each||

[Kaden]

There was a sizeable silence that filled the air between the attacking aliens and the militia warriors. The last thing either of them expected to find was a small force of the invaders. A ghost town? Sure. Tiny village in need of protecting? A definite possibility. Some crazy trap-door-that-leads-underground? Not even in the top ten.

Though Kaden’s preferred method of operation would have been to try and initiate some kind of dialogue with the invaders. While he knew he had the ability to make big explosions to fall back on, his belief that life should be preserved whenever possible had not changed. He understood, somewhere in the recesses of his mind, that he may have to alter his personal definition of “whenever possible,” but that would be at a later point in time. As the four robed invaders raised their arms in unison, his thoughts turned to one thing only.

Before Sophia even had a chance to not-swear, Kaden Dashed into the girl, picking her up as he shot across the ground. Though the village had been relatively small, in order to enter it from any side, one would have to pass between two large, dome-like structures. For Kaden, that meant he was about to crush Sophia against the side of one such structure. A hastily thrown ball of ki removed that as an obstacle.

A tangled mass of limbs sprawled across the floor of what turned out to be a house as the two humans slowed to a stop. Kaden’s body ached in protest to the sudden Dash, but it was a welcome alternative to the eruption that filled the space they had previously occupied. Pulling himself to his feet, Kaden’s eyes lit up with ki as he scanned their surroundings.

The village itself was nestled between two… Kaden wasn’t sure exactly what to call them. Plateaus might have been appropriate; whatever they were, they were a common feature on the many islands that dotted Namek’s watery surface. Regardless of what they were, it meant that the village was naturally walled in by rock on two of its sides. The only entrances, aside from directly above, were lined with large housing structures.

Being as small as the village was, it was easy for Kaden to track the movements of the invaders as they approached, though that made the courier all the more frustrated that he hadn’t noticed them to begin with. Placing a hand to the ground, a Pulse of energy escaped the courier’s body. He could feel the energy spread throughout the landscape around them, his Ki Sense forming a map in his mind. Even without his Sight, his eyes would have lit up.

“Sophia,” the courier spoke in an almost frenzied whisper. “We can go that way.”

“Which way?” the girl asked as she turned her attention to her partner. The ex-priestess had taken it upon herself to watch the entrance Kaden had created so they wouldn’t be surprised a second time. She followed Kaden’s outstretched finger to a doorway behind her. “What’s over there?” she whispered back.

“There’s this, like, series of tunnels that run through that rock. Looks like they go from one end of the village to the other with a bunch of different exits and… stuff.”

“So your plan is to run and hide in some rocks?”

“Well when you put it that way I sound like an idiot,” he paused so that he could shoot the girl an offended look. “I was thinking: they got the drop on us, why don’t we return the favor?”

[Sophia]

“Okay, so…” Sophia spoke as the pair entered the tunnels that Kaden had mentioned. She turned to him and winked with a smile. “Walk into the creepy tunnel, check. What’s our next objective?”

“Oh, so this is a military operation, is it? I see, I see. Well, lieutenant, I’m thinking we can snake our way through these tunnels and, you know, get the drop on these guys. I can track them pretty easily, so we’ll just pick our best spot and take it.”

“Wait, I’m only a lieutenant?” Sophia frowned.

“Right, because that’s totally what I wanted you to get out of all of that,” the courier couldn’t help but grin. He turned her slightly by pulling on her shoulder as he passed by. “But come on, we should hurry. It’ll take ‘em a while to find us, but it’s not smart to stand around and take chances.”

Sophia realized that they would be descending into a tunnel, one that was supported only by a few beams of wood and the very ground that it was dug out of. What she couldn’t anticipate, however, was the unsightliness about the whole thing. It was dark and damp, with less room to move around than what she would have liked. The tunnels seemed to be very purposely carved out to provide safety for the villagers, but it was quite evident that they didn’t exactly expect to use them so extensively. The healer shrugged most of her concern off as being paranoid, but a portion of the emotion couldn’t help but hide somewhere in the back of her consciousness.

Kaden didn’t appear to mind any of it, however, although it was hard to read his face as he looked straight above, his eyes taken over by that…Sight thing that he did. Sophia didn’t really understand it fully, but she knew that when it came down to it, Kaden was more reliable than a GPS when it came to finding things, just so long as they had a ki signature. While he was focused on tracking down their attackers, Sophia did the only thing she could do—make her way through the tunnels and make sure that the courier didn’t run into a wall.

The paths split up into several larger corridors, ones that Sophia would have felt much more comfortable traveling within, but Kaden pulled her by on the “main” path every time she tried to change direction. He apparently knew where he was going, so the healer decided to just let him do his thing. Just as that thought crossed her mind, the courier made a complete stop and looked to their right, though to Sophia it just looked like a solid wall. “There are people over there.”

“…right,” the blonde woman merely shrugged. “Should we worry about them?”

“Let’s hope not,” Kaden sighed. “It’s likely that the invaders haven’t found the tunnels yet, but you never know. I guess it’s time to put our ninja skills to use.”

The idea sounded fair enough, so the pair went to work, going about their paces with more grace and silence than they had previously attempted. It occurred to Sophia that perhaps one of the invaders had similar ki sensing capabilities as Kaden did, but she also supposed that the courier would realize if these beings were counter-acting their movements. In short, the ex-priestess felt as though she was just being led around in the dark, which wasn’t too far from the truth. Kaden held out an arm to stop Sophia’s progress, just short of another corner. “Alright…they’re in the next room.”

“‘kay,” Sophia nodded, nearing the edge and trying her best to peek around the corner. There was no telling who or what they were going to face, and they weren’t going to know unless they just charged in or tried to use…craftier means. Of course, the craftiest mean that Sophia could think of was the equivalent of a child trying to peek through the door crack. As she did, she spotted green-skinned beings gathered in the next room, but couldn’t determine much more than that before she got scared and moved back before anyone could possibly see her. “Okay. I don’t think they saw me.”

“That was smooth. Very sneaky,” Kaden whispered. “Could you see anything? Are they our invaders?”

“Well…I’m not sure,” Sophia responded with a shrug. “The one I saw looks kind of like that Mal Nova guy we saw in Dante’s Abyss. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.”

“Me neither,” the courier responded. “But…now that I think about it, they’re probably the missing villagers. I think Mal Nova was a Namekian.”

“And if they aren’t?” the ex-priestess inquired after a moment of hesitation.

“Well…” Kaden pondered the thought, but resigned with a shrug. “I doubt we’d be able to negotiate. I doubt they’d just laugh and call it a misunderstanding.”

Shuffling could be heard in the next room, and silence again took over. The pair exchanged worried glances, and with little alternative options available, Sophia decided to take a peek around the corner again. She did so, but instead of spotting the supposed Namekians huddled in the room, she just saw the bright glow of a ki ball being charged. She turned around as quickly as she could and placed her back against the wall frantically, as if that would turn back time. “Okay. I think they saw me.”

“Yeah, we saw you,” a voice sounded.

“We can hear you, too,” another chimed in. “The female’s voice echoes. A lot.”

Kaden shot Sophia a glare before returning his gaze to the corner. “I guess we’ve been caught. Are you the villagers?”

“Yes,” the original voice spoke. “Now show yourselves. Slowly.”

Both warriors stood up and rounded the corner slowly, holding their hands up. Sophia took a breath before speaking. “We’re not with the invaders.”

“We figured. You don’t look like any of them,” the Namekian holding up the ki ball nodded. “But strangers you still are, and during troubled times, we cannot afford to take any chances.”

“We’re here to rescue you,” Kaden pulled that line out of Star Wars, Sophia thought before she settled into a more relevant train of thought. “The militia sent us. We entered the tunnels to escape.”

“We also thought we could take them by surprise,” the healer added carefully. “We thought the village had been deserted…”

“If you’re lying, I’ll fire,” the Namekian spoke sternly.

“I doubt it would take much ki before these tunnels cave in,” Sophia said.

“Considering the circumstances, I think that’s a risk we’d be willing to take.”

“Look, we’re not lying,” Kaden sighed. “If we were here for you, we would have found a better way to flush you all out. There would also be more of us.”

“And I would be wearing a robe,” Sophia added.

“Well…” the elder turned to look at his people, who merely stared on in fright. “I suppose that’s good enough,” the ki in his palm shrunk, still giving off light but without the foreboding attitude it carried before. He motioned towards a ladder behind them. “This leads just outside of the village. It’s been placed inside a hollowed-out tree, so it’s hard to find.”

“If they aren’t looking for it,” the courier breathed. His eyes flicked up and around for a few moments before returning to Sophia. “They’re not far. This is as good an opportunity as any.”

“Ready when you are, captain.”

[Kaden]

The stark contrast between the surface of Namek and the interior of the tunnels and caves caught Kaden quite off-guard. Since there didn’t seem to be a night-time or, really, any precipitation to speak of, he just kind of assumed that underground would be the same as above ground. The damp, almost moldy smell that permeated the tunnels, however, begged to differ. The courier would have liked to educate himself on the purpose of the tunnels, but the Invaders drawing nearer made him more than a little weary.

“It looks like they know where the entrance to the tunnels is,” Kaden said as he tracked the aliens’ movement with his Sight. “Seems like they’re headed right for that hollowed-out tree.”

“Should we go cut them off, then?” Sophia asked.

Instead of answering, Kaden lets his eyes wander about the rock around him, taking as much of the tunnels’ layout as possible. There weren’t any ideas coming to mind that he really liked. The addition of the hidden Namekians didn’t simplify their situation. Keeping them in the tunnels wasn’t a great idea; the idea of creating a cave-in with unneeded aggression had already been discussed. Trying to get them out of the village, though, could create more problems for everyone. The last thing either Kaden or Sophia wanted to do was put innocent people in more danger than they were already in.

“You guys know these tunnels, right?” Kaden turned to the Namekians. “Getting out wouldn’t be a problem for you?”

“Of course not,” came the expected reply.

“You have an idea, Kaden?”

“Not a great one.” The courier ran a hand through his hair and took in a deep breath. “I’m going to go out through the tree entrance while you lead the villagers out the way we came in. I should be able to distract them long enough for you to get them somewhere safe.”

“And I’m supposed to just leave you here to deal with some aliens by yourself?” The girl looked pretty unhappy as she jabbed her finger into his chest. “I told you, Kaden, we’re in this together. You got my back, I got yours.”

“Listen, Sophia,” Kaden lowered his voice and half-turned away from the Namekians that were present. “I wou—“

“We can still hear you,” one of the Namekians said. “We have really good hearing.”

“Gah. Fine,” the courier sighed and glared at the Namekians. Speaking at a normal volume, he continued, “I know you can take care of yourself. I’m not trying to, like, get you out of harm’s way or anything. I’m trying to keep them out of harm’s way. Distractions mean being big and flashy and that’s pretty much the only thing I can do. I trust you to get them to a safe distance and get back in time to save my ass.”

“If you’re just saying that…” the girl warned, her glare softening.

“You kidding? I’d rather take on a thousand of those aliens than piss you off.”

“Darn right.” She sighed, straightened herself, and turned to the Namekians. “You heard him. Let’s get moving.”

“Start moving when you hear the signal,” Kaden said as he began moving towards his exit.

“And what signal will that be?”

“A lot of really big explosions.”

[Chubbs Story Account]

The world keeps spinning.

||Let the fireworks begin.||

[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.”

[Sophia]

A flash of light came, illuminating the spaces within the cave quite adequately, even by the stray beams that shined through the cracks of the hatch. Sophia laughed and shook her head, garnering a lot of strange looks from the Namekians. It probably seemed like an odd reaction for such a trying time, but the ex-priestess couldn’t help but be amused at the courier’s flare for the dramatic. She supposed that was what happened when a person is able to produce obscene amounts of energy with relatively little effort. Regardless, that was the signal that they had all been waiting for, so without wasting much more time, Sophia motioned toward them all with a wave. “Come on, I think that means ‘go.’”

The group muttered amongst themselves, clattering about in hesitation, though they needed little more motivation to get moving. Nothing more than their life was depending on their ability to scurry along their underground tunnels, but Sophia merely wondered if she was strong enough to save them all. Being left alone to ensure the safety of an entire village would have been a challenge for Sophia at her peak, let alone the sorry state that she found she was in after taking an incredible amount of time off from the whole adventuring scene.

The sounds above resembled fireworks, a sight that she had only seen a few times, but the loud pops that shook the very ground beneath them were hard to forget. Whatever Kaden was doing up there was obviously working, meaning that it was more important than ever for her to succeed. She took one look over her shoulder to ensure that everyone was following in line, and although many of them looked a bit dizzy with concern, a quick head count told her that everything was going according to plan.

Of course, Sophia had been using her human GPS for the trip into the caverns, and making her way outside without him proved to be a taxing task, if only because she had paid little attention to where they were actually going beforehand. She was positive that they had only gone straight the entire trip, but the different branches that turned in either direction caused the slightest bit of hesitation. Then again, she figured that a wrong turn would not have gone unnoticed by the villagers, if only because they were the ones who built it.

All breathing became more rapid and heavy as they neared the exit, and as the sounds of battle above seem to lessen with every step. Sophia knew that it was impossible for Kaden to shoot ki beams constantly, but it eased her already frayed nerves knowing that the aliens had to dodge explosions just to stay alive. That made it more difficult for them to think to check the tunnels where they resided. Sophia turned around more fully to address the crowd, though her pace remained as brisk. “Okay, I think we’re nearing the tunnels now, but try to keep moving when we’re outside. Kaden won’t be able to stop them forever.”

As soon as the words left her lips, she turned around. The light from the exit shined against the wall, signaling their near escape, but a shadow had cast itself and thoroughly ruined Sophia’s day. She stopped fully and put her arms out to stop the progress of the ones who trailed behind. The shadow grew fuller as the figure appeared to be nearing, and it took her all the willpower left in her body to avoid backing up. If she was going to save everyone—anyone—she was going to have to make a stand at some point. Kaden, as strong as he was, couldn’t make the difference alone.

The shadow blinked, then Sophia. When she opened her eyes, one of the robed figures descended upon her, arms extended as the alien floated towards her with surprising speed. Sophia gasped and fell backwards, regaining her balance only by breaking the fall with her hands. Upon realizing what had happened, she shifted her weight and sprang upwards with the strength in her arms, thrusting her legs up towards the alien’s torso as it passed over the woman. Heels dug into skin, the impact obviously felt through the cloth armor that the…thing wore. The invader bounced off of the ceiling and cracked against the floor as it landed.

Her eyes flicked over towards the entrance—none of the others seemed to follow. She looked back down at the alien she had just attacked. It was out for the count, it appeared, which concerned Sophia, but not enough for her to do much about it. She had hit the invader with as much force as she could muster, but that alone wouldn’t have knocked it out. Kaden must have worn the guy down before it made its way down to her. With a shrug, she looked back at the villagers. “Stay here. I think there are more out there…if there are, then I won’t be able to save all of you,” she turned to walk towards the exit, but stopped and tilted her head back before she left. “Oh, and watch out for that one. If the little jerk wakes up…well, deal with it. He’s probably too weak to do much.”

Sophia emerged from the caverns and looked around, her eyes taking a moment or two to adjust to the new level of light—she hadn’t noticed it before, but the planet had more than one sun, which seemed problematic in a way. She was fine, however, and had more things to worry about as she opened her eyes more fully. Two invaders, the other ones wearing robes, floated overhead, leering down at her. One was still in the cave, but the other was nowhere to be seen. She hoped that Kaden had taken care of it, but she remained aware of its absence regardless. She tightened a fist as she looked between the two enemies. “Why are you here? Why are you doing this?”

No sounds came immediately, and only gurgles came eventually. Sophia frowned as a moment’s worth of disgust flashed across her face, but she settled into a more traditional, stoic expression as she continued. “Well…it doesn’t matter! I’m not letting you into this cave!”

The two robed figures tensed and slowly looked towards one another. One expressed a shrug while the other merely shook its head. Sophia blinked, unaware that she was slowly floating upward. The pair suddenly snapped their attention back towards the girl, and flew towards her with increased speed. The healer sunk into form, one that she had learned from Kaiousama all that time ago, but she remembered the basics. She awaited for them to arrive, but she was surprised to find that they weren’t aiming for her and descended upon the cavern rapidly. “H-hey!” she turned around and stuttered out the command in her most threatening voice, but she failed miserably with a cracked voice. “Come back! You’re supposed to be fighting me~!”

She charged a quick ball of ki in the palm of her hand and threw it at the one on the left and flew after the other one as soon as she released it. The Namekians seemed pretty able to protect themselves if necessary, but she didn’t want to take any chances. The bolt of ki exploded on the invader’s back and sent him spiraling towards the ground, while Sophia managed to catch up to the remaining alien and grab him by the back of its cloak. With a grunt, she turned around and tossed it back up and released another ball of ki. The attack collided with its target, and a small explosion ensued.

Sophia breathed a sigh, but immediately regretted letting up as the other alien charged her. She lowered an elbow in order to block the alien’s punch, and turned to block an imminent kick with her knee. As they floated there in mid-air, she threw her open fist at the invader’s face, but it lifted its free hand to grapple the blow. As the other alien adjusted and appeared to ready to engage in combat once again, Sophia began to panic. With a deep breath, she reared her head back and swung it forward, cracking her skull against the opposing skull. A gurgle burst forth, and although the attack left Sophia dizzy, she grabbed the front of the alien’s robe and swung him around and towards its ally.

Without thinking much about it, she pressed her palms together and charged azure energy as fully as she could. The aliens collided with each other and became entangled in midair. With a scream, she thrust her palms forward and released all the energy she had gathered in one beam. The light that ensued made it difficult to determine what had happened exactly, but she could at least tell that the attack hit its mark. As the smoke cleared, nothing remained. With a cough, she looked down at her hands in shock. She had never been able to do that before.

“Oh no!” she gasped, flying towards the cavern once more. “I’m not done!”

- -

“What…” Sophia blinked as they looked upon…whatever it was that they were looking at. It definitely was some sort of computer room, but it was difficult to grasp exactly why it was there, let alone what it was used for. “What are you expecting to find, exactly?”

“Hell if I know,” Kaden muttered, looking around with as much awe as Sophia had managed. “I mean…it’s a computer room. There has to be something important here.”

“Something to help the cause of justice,” Sophia said with a giggle. She approached the nearest console and glanced at the screen. The text on-screen was in a language that she couldn’t understand. The healer sighed and looked toward Kaden, who was still looking around. She looked back. The buttons on the keyboard just sat there neatly, just waiting to be pressed. Really, it would have been a shame if they weren’t touched in any capacity. After all, that’s what they were there for. “Okay…what, exactly, do I press?”

She spoke softly enough to avoid Kaden hearing. With a deep breath, she touched a button on the bottom left corner. It seemed like a good button to start with, but nothing happened. She clicked her tongue and frowned as she inspected the other buttons present. She pressed another. And another.

Her fingers finally fell upon a red one right in the middle. Suddenly, red lights flashed along the walls and the console began to beep loudly. With a gasp, she frantically pounded the remaining buttons until everything went back to normal. After a few moments passed, she sighed. “Don’t even say anything, Kaden.”

“What? I didn’t say a word!” he protested.

“You were looking,” Sophia shook her head. “I can feel your look.”

After another moment or two, the text on the screen in front of her changed. Her eyes returned to the screen and lit up immediately after seeing a language that she understood. “Oh! Eureka!”

[Chubbs Story Account]

The technology throughout is strange, but reminiscent of that in this corner of the galaxy. There are parallels.

A small device crackles to life, from the corner of the room, spitting out the strange language of the aliens. It is indecipherable.

*BUFF* [Kaden or Sophia] An Enemy Communicator (Indefinite) - A device that spits out the language of the enemy. It appears to be one of their communicators. Considering it was found at an intelligence facility, this may offer a valuable glimpse into the Invaders' plans.