As you're about to read, the other purpose of these side stories is also to relieve my writers block from the main series. Another consideration is that I'd prefer a little more input from reviewers with this stuff, hopefully to the extent the main Worlds Asunder is by the end.
THE DRAGON'S WRATH UPON ALMERAC
'Long have I travelled in pursuit of that awful wizard! Though his own strength is of little concern- he travels with the beast within him after I lost control fighting that Buu creature all those years ago... My sword is sharpened, and the flute's magic still works- here, at the end times, I will succeed. My brother and my friends, I shall avenge thee.'
1 HOUR BEFORE THE WORD
"Preposterous- absolutely preposterous." Maxima, the queen of Almerac pouted to her generals. This army had amassed seemingly for nothing. Thousands upon thousands of Almeracian foot soldiers, tanks, artillery and even foreign donations such as the regiments of Thanagaran, Tamaran and even Earthling resources and manpower were on edge. This was the moment they had all been rushed out of their beds for, to sit and wait behind a super powered queen that was more than a little intimidating for the soldiers below.
Sitting on her portable throne miles away from her capital city, she had a good view of the rift in the sky and the amassed forces of her Empire and others. And despite this, she was just supremely bored. Wearing her typical green armour with knee high boots, elbow length gloves and white flowing royal cape, the red- haired bombshell was in a sour mood.
"Who did that blue haired tramp think she was?! Having the audacity to command me to partake in this little freak-show!" She said to no one in particular, her servers had all been too on edge to pay attention. Turning to her staff, she noticed their quiet fear. Sighing, she thought to herself, 'Oh thee of little faith, we'll wait another hour and then send all these idiots home- and then I'll have that cheeky Bulma wenches head on a pike!' "SOLDIERS, PREPARE FOR BATTLE!" she roared out to her audience. The response was a thunderous war cry like from an Earth- made Greek epic. With a smirk, the empress sat down to view the debacle over the next hour.
1 HOUR AND 15 MINUTES LATER
She re- awoke at night-time, and in fire, her outfit torn with a bruise on her cheek and right arm from where some debris struck her. The flames of some threat had torn her armada to pieces; the thunderous landing of whatever it was caused an earthquake throughout the surroundings. Those in the immediate vicinity that weren't crushed under the weight of the beast were taken by the tremor. Artillery shells and laser blast and more exploded harmlessly against the golden shell of the monstrosity in the dark of night. Maxima looked up; the light of the rift was the only light besides the flames around the field. Her ears vibrated from several screams behind her. She struggled to stand up through her injuries and gazed white- eyed at her attacker. Then she had to cover her ears from the heaven- shaking roar.
The corpses of the immense Almeracian army lay strewn about the broken landscape; to their empress's horror there were a number of spiked tentacles coming out of the creature's limbs and chest all around the area- stabbing into and seemingly... absorbing the soldiers biological matter into itself... no... it was like it was taking their souls. "Now I remember you." Maxima said, shaking the dust and blood off her exposed arms. With a grunt she pushed her telekinesis towards an earthling truck containing explosives, igniting them, and lighting the battlefield up for her to see. Her eyes widened at what she saw; it was a titanic monstrous being, before it seemed like a shadow- a dark vapour, which washed over her army and tore them apart. The creature stood on two massive insect- like legs with clawed muscular arms just as long to match. It had a long tail ending in a sharp spike, Maxima didn't think too long on how the blade alone was as thick as a tank hull. The dark, brown chest though which tentacles spewed from was pulsing from the absorption process- 'the thing consumes organics to grow stronger it seems... or simply because it's hungry?' Maxima thought to herself. The most striking area of the monster's appearance however, was its head. It looked like no more than a skull, with only its black fleshy tongue and red eyes suggesting it was anything more than a corpse. Her spine stiffened and her hair bristled then as she realised she wasn't alone.
"Magnificent, isn't it?" a deep voice said behind her. Maxima spun on her heels and saw nothing... until she looked down at the where the voice came from. "You should be honoured to have your world conquered by us, the Empire of Konats. Even more to have your people's life energies absorbed into the perfection that is our dark God... Hirudegarn!" The speaker was one of dozens; some red- skinned midget sized beings with wrinkled faces and pointed ears and fangs. They were, as far as Maxima was concerned, ridiculous.
Maxima spoke back, ignoring the exploding artillery fire behind her, "Oh? And who are you people then? That thing's trainers?" she finished with a smirk. Her remark caused the entire group of little sorcerers to scowl and clench their fists in anger; however the one that spoke waved a hand to calm them before he spoke.
"We are collectively known as the Kashvar. However, I am the leader designated as 'Hoi.' The new king of Almerac, and soon... heheh everything else." He paused with a look of confusion as Maxima put a hand up to stop him.
"Whoa there, let us not get ahead of ourselves, after all- that would require actually having the strength to slay me, and I believe none of you have the strength- I've fought with Superman you know." Maxima stated matter- of – factly before turning to face the monster rampaging over the fields of battle toward her beautiful capital city. "I'll deal with this creature soon enough, and then you dumbasses will fill out a nice small cell between the lot of you." She leapt off flying toward the red eyed behemoth setting things ablaze with its roaring flame breath. The beast gave a loud growl as a plasma missile discharged on its chest, one of its victims pulled the pin as it was skewered, then gave a pained shriek as a superhuman boot connected with the back of its neck. The Kashvar below marvelled that the Almeracian managed to actually harm Hirudegarn, then returned to their confident smirking faces as the beasts tail whipped around at incalculable speeds to swat the queen out of the air and flying off to her capital city at breakneck speeds.
'My word! I hit that thing dead on as hard as I could and all it did was flinch?!' Maxima hastily thought as she forced her telekinesis to slow her trajectory. The weather suddenly grew grim also; dark clouds obscured the moonlight and stars above with rain and lightning storms coming down upon the land in mere moments. 'Those wizards I assume... Huh?' She slowed to a halt at the glass window of a skyscraper in the city and gawked as the creature had seemingly vanished. 'It can't be... anything that big could not just get up and walk away! It must be 300 feet tall!' She covered her face as a gale force wind blew around her, 'That smoke? It can't be natural!' This was confirmed as the strange purple smoke gathered in front of her before re-shaping into the very beast that attacked her- "MONSTER!" she screamed as she struck forward with a mountain shattering right fist at nothing, but smoke. The smoke billowed around her skyscraper before the structure collapsed in on itself. Maxima spun in the air to see the hundreds of civilians going about their business through the windows standing to watch their queen fight a monster. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" she screamed as a gargantuan black claw tore through the structure and the people like paper. Maxima's anguished cry was blanked out by the cry of grinding metal, shattering glass and the roar of the monstrosity appearing on the other side of the building. The entire top half of the skyscraper was torn off with one swipe of the creature's mighty arms. As the dust settled, Maxima looked up to meet the glowing red eyes of this devil before her. "You... You dare think you can harm anyone under my banner?! You'll see then, and your little imp caretakers! HELL HATH NO FURY THAN A SCORNED QUEEN!" Maxima roared her wild hair and loose clothing wildly blowing as she powered her telekinetic energy up to their maximum. The creature seemed puzzled before screaming in pain as the several hundred tonnes of steel and glass were implanted into its back and limbs. As it refocused its vision on its target, Maxima had already rushed forward and let loose a violent flurry of punches and kicks to the beast's face- each blow would shatter the skyscraper Hirudegarn destroyed twice over, Maxima was gaining ground with attack the beast fell back and its little cries of pain became higher in pitch. "This is what you get, I'll make you pay for the lives of service-" She stopped as she found herself unable to move. "Gah?! What is this?!" she shouted as she noticed her body was wrapped up in the monsters tail. "Idiot! I forgot to strike its tail!" With a squeeze the beast brought Maxima's attention back to it. It grimaced as more tentacles spewed forth from its limbs to pierce the bodies of Almerac's peoples to absorb healing its wounds and more. A slight haze of purple smoke on its back allowed the debris that pierced it to fall below.
Far away in this distance, the Kashvar sorcerers looked on as they also begun looting the corpses of the fallen army. Some of them laughing to themselves about how easy it is these days, Hoi however wondered about something. 'This Janembuu creature is even more ancient and terrible than Hirudegarn, the others do not see and for a time neither did I. Has Hirudegarn gained enough strength to battle that monster after all these decades?' His attention was taken away from him as he heard the screams of his comrades. "What is going o-" His face went as pale as it could, "No... nonono not you!" he shrieked as a blade severed his head from his body. The last sight he saw before his enemy killed him was the littered corpses of his comrades also, the last thought was of his old enemy's return at last- 'You'll still fail...'
With a deep sigh, the new warrior stared down at his foe's corpse, "Three and two... One. Good, Bulma had managed to find a way to keep them dead after all." He huffed as he awkwardly forced his sword back into his makeshift scabbard upon his back, 'wow, Roshi's weighted training clothes sure are tough, you'd think I'd have gotten used to them by now.' The swordsman checked everything was clear, his ocarina was still in one piece- he searched around for any items to help him in case the flute did not work however. Scanning the surroundings, he procured a simply designed frag grenade (of human make) and apologised to a drained corpse as he took an item from its hand. "A Blue Lantern ring, these are the only ones I really ever got the hang of." With a fiery new determination, the warrior sped off, not flying to avoid detection, however he was still an incredible sprinter after all of the Turtle Hermit's training.
Free from this pests assault, Hirudegarn stood up to its full height and huffed as the woman struggled pathetically within its tails grasp. Hirudegarn did not require food (or even other luxuries necessary for lesser beings like air or water), however it had made a little habit of eating those enemies which proved either challenging or had resisted long enough to dwell on its mind. This woman was certainly the latter, as was that green- skinned boy and his pet dragon from all those years ago. His eyes flared a sinister red and he sounded a hungered roar into the city streets to the sound of thousands of native Almeracians running for their lives; Maxima herself drew silent as she resigned to her fate, her best efforts washed over this monster- this dark God- she had failed her people. Maxima resigned to death with regrets. The beast's massive fanged jaw opened wide for the feast before it halted in its tracks with a confused irritation ringing in its skull. Maxima gawked as the beast did, they both looked to the left to see what appeared to be a man standing atop a broken pillar from the broken skyscraper playing a strange flute.
"You picked today to practice your music lessons?!" Maxima screamed out before suddenly being released from the tail's grasp. She immediately didn't waste her chance of getting an attack in- her double handed swing sent the beast straight through a smaller building. 'Huh? It went down so easily...'
"The music will weaken it momentarily, don't let up your attack!" the mysterious musician shouted.
"I KNOW THAT!" Maxima stubbornly roared back before doing so. Or at least attempting, the slight lapse in the man's flute- playing allowed Hirudegarn to revert back into its smoke form and blow off towards the man. Maxima didn't even have time to ponder who the man was before the man lit up with a Blue Lantern form and blasted away from the smoke firing barrages of energy at it as he flew off. "Hmph, he was rude." She pouted before she also gave chase.
The beast reformed behind the man before he could even react, and a swipe of the black claw sent him reeling, were it not for the Lantern energy his bones would be powder from the force. He found himself being caught by the arms of the Almeracian queen not far behind. "Um... thanks." He said, before all of the tanks on the plains and automated mortars and turrets opened fire on Hirudegarn allowing them the time to get away.
"While I'm glad you're leading it out of the city, I think we should work together on this?" Maxima said after swallowing her pride. The man watched her closely even as he righted himself and allowed the monarch to stand comfortably upon the plains they landed on. "That thing won't be distracted forever. We'll start with introductions, who are you and what is that flute for?"
The man nodded with respect for the monarch's quick deduction. "The flute, as well as my sword were built by my people centuries ago to aid a country in killing this foul monster. You'll notice we haven't had much luck in that regard." The young man said. "Here, take the sword. And this grenade, you may need it." Maxima raised an eyebrow but did so without question, uncharacteristically. "I'll get as close I can and play my flute to stun him then you slice his goddamn head off, got it?"
Maxima nodded before replying, "A sound plan. I thank you for helping me defend my people, why your bravery could have made you an eligible candidate for my husband..." She paused as she watched the youthful warrior blush, "One more thing, the creature's ability to turn into smoke pretty much makes it impossible to kill, but I've got a number of hits in- any idea why that is?"
The warrior nodded in understanding, "Bulma believed, and I agree, that Hirudegarn can only make itself vulnerable when it is under emotional stress- either from a difficult opponent or from the magic of my flute- but it also has to become solid during and directly after an attack." Maxima then nodded in understanding also, before her attention was brought to the beast's roar splitting the silence- it had finished with Maxima's little distraction. The warrior flared his blue ring powers once again and began to fly toward the flames in the distance.
"Wait!" Maxima called behind him. The warrior stopped in his tracks and turned puzzled. "My name is Maxima, queen of Almerac. And you are...?"
The young man, barely into his thirties smiled at his forgetfulness, "My name is... Minotia, I don't have a title." He said with an honest smile.
Maxima sped off then, a low distance above the ground as fast she could while Minotia flew on ahead to the beast's eye level. 'You will by the end of this I'm sure, once Maxima is smitten, she gets what she wants."
Hirudegarn had wasted its time with these ants weaponry, reverting to its gaseous state flying back toward that food source in the city again. I flew a couple hundred meters over the scattered wreckage and drained corpses, pausing as it noticed something move among the wreckage and then found itself stuck. The red eyes solidified to see what dared obstruct its travel, only to see its entire gas form encased in a blue hardlight bubble. The rest of it solidified also, curled in a ball the beast screamed a silent cry within the bubble as it effortlessly stretched out its limbs shattering the construct- its legs crashed on the scorched earth with a crash as it showed off its fangs and growled at the young warrior in blue. The distraction however paid off, Hirudegarn found itself yet again within the grasp of that awful music. Fully tangible once again, the beast's red eyes flared intensely. Falling down on one enormous knee, the creature positioned its tail to end the life of this annoyance once and for all. It's attention was taken from again however by the burst of telekinesis around the landscape lifting the several hundred thousand unfired artillery shells and raining them down upon the beasts hide. It growled and snarled at the assault- it was that woman it noticed moving earlier! – all the while incapable of clear thought as the song rang in its skull. Distracted from the noise of the ocarina and the explosions pelting it, it missed the battle cry of a female warrior- and then felt a sharp pain shoot up its spine.
It gave out a pained roar, any survivors back at the city about 2 miles away could hear it just as clearly as Maxima could. Maxima had struck the enchanted blade as deep as her super strength could allow into the base of the monsters spine. With a heave and a smirk, she held on tight and began to force the blade further up the meters thick spine... if the beast cannot be killed, it will be crippled. Hirudegarn would not accept this; it was not merely an intelligent animal- it was a God spoke about in countless scriptures throughout its home universe. It worked through the pain as its roar subsided... and noticed the weakness in their plan. The flute- player couldn't keep a shield up while he concentrated on playing the ocarina! Only its older brother could do that! A great shame it was to the Almeracian queen and the Konatsian youth as the beast bellowed a powerful stream of flames from its maw out at the musician. With a gasp, Minotia stopped playing to form a shield with his ring, the flames were just barely defended against and he fell exhausted from the strain. Wide- eyed from Minotia watched helpless as the ocarina he held fell to the ground also, shattering as it landed... His brother would never have been so careless.. However, the beast was now free from the songs effect, and Maxima was alone against the monster for the second time.
"You bastard! Just give up already!" Maxima shouted before gasping at the newfound strength the beast had found in its legs as it stood straight up with herself hanging off the sword like a doll. "I can't give up now!" she eagerly forced herself onward however she soon found herself lifted off the sword against her mighty grip by the legs between two of the beasts clawed fingers, held as if she were a tiny coin. She was wrong earlier, this is where she had failed her people- 'I suppose I had this coming, Karma I believe the earthlings call it... and to think, I'd never even had an heir to my great throne.' She stared the beast straight into its red menacing eyes without fear and spat at its face. Maxima was a ruthless queen and warrior, not some mewling coward to cry and struggle in the face of defeat. She was better than that. Thankfully so was her companion.
The beast roared its terrible cry again, only with more pain than it had ever felt before. Maxima found herself falling as the beasts grip released, she stabilised herself in the air with her powers and retreated to find her companion doing something wondrous. "You're a genius!" Maxima shouted with a large smile beaming on her fair face. It was Minotia, depowered as he used all of the blue lantern rings power to force a massive fist into the creatures back- and forcing the blade deeper into the creature's massive hide. Now out of sight, the blade was now lost to them, however it brought with it a bonus- now Hirudegarn was always solid and vulnerable as long as nothing ever removed the magic steel within!
"Maxima, now we have a chance! ATTACK!" Minotia shouted before finally charging up his own aura of ki. Maxima looked puzzled at this, before keenly discerning that the man used the Lantern ring only to preserve his own strength for the final battle. Maxima didn't lose her chance; with a deep roar of her own she summoned all of her telekinetic strength to lift the several thousand tonnes of rubble and broken machinery colliding at 100 mile per hour speeds at Hirudegarns' face. The creature growled as it raised a hand to defend itself only to be slammed into its side with both fists from a charging Almeracian queen. Minotia looked on with awe, 'What a woman...' he thought to himself, but the battle was at his hand, finally he had the opportunity he was waiting for. 'Master Roshi, King Kai, Master Piccolo... my time with you was short but I thank you for the skills you've taught me.' With a deep breath, Minotia concentrated his ki for his attack- he was not very strong, not like his masters and certainly not like his older brother but this was it. "KAIOKEN!" the young warrior screamed as a deep red fiery aura flared around him, his very strength raising pebbles and blasting gale force winds around him- he shot off like a bullet into the battle ahead.
Hirudegarn turned through his assault to receive a blunt force two- feet kick to the face stumbling him back. Minotia was fast and small and even though his strength was enhanced, the beast still stumbled back just as far as Maxima's blows made it. Minotia gathered that the two were roughly equal in strength... no, the Almeracian was stronger and had much greater an arsenal at her disposal. Still, the young man pushed on; punching and blasting balls of energy all over the beast just as Maxima was. Though the beast was tangible once more, and Maxima and Minotia were both fighting as hard they could- the outcome was clear, even as the monster was not used to fighting two opponents at once or being unable to turn to smoke and ambush its 'prey'... They were not strong enough to kill it.
"Damn it... DAMN IT ALL!" Minotia cried as stopped for a breather. Even if he pushed his kaioken to the second level as the Kai recommended... it would make no difference. He had done what no other could, bring the Hirudegarn back to its weakest state and still... they were nothing but ants. He paused to hear a scream as Maxima found she was swatted away like a fly with a bone shattering blow from the monster, probably accidental but just as painful. "Maxima!" he cried, flaring his red aura he sped off to catch her. As he did so, Hirudegarn roared behind him- it was now on the warpath. Minotia finally caught up to her speed and decelerated to grab her mid- flight back at the outskirts of the city. "I got you! I have you..." He said then gasped as the Almeracian queen wrapped her hand around his neck and wrung him in for a surprising kiss. "Wha-?"
The beast ran after them, a quick travel for something with legs that long and had managed to catch up to them. With a violent shove of both arms and its tail, Hirudegarn brought the closest skyscraper down upon them. The two screamed as they fell, forced down by the falling debris. The impact struck, knocking them both unconscious. The two landed with a crash, pinned down under several tonnes of glass and steel and bricks.
Minotia awoke 8 hours later to find that Maximas' telekinesis being the only thing keeping them safe after their descent- even now her concentration kept a bubble around them. Still reeling from the energy of sustaining the kaioken for so long, and injured from the attack, Minotia found his voice.
"Hirudegarn is too strong, even after all this."
"I know." Maxima flatly stated.
"Neither of us are strong enough to harm it. And trying to stop it from destroying this world and absorbing its people... would result in our deaths."
"I know." Maxima flatly replied again.
"... Why... did you kiss me?" Minotia asked in the darkness. Maxima was about to reply before an explosion and the sound of crumbling architecture filled their ears followed by the monsters mighty roar. They both paused, before Maxima reached out to touch the young man on his arm.
"Because I didn't want to die without a candidate for the throne next to mine." Maxima stated with a sad edge to her tone, for this was her ultimate humiliation. Her people die in her place and likely so would she when the monster returned, either from its crushing steps or its pincers to absorb people into itself. All the while, she fell in love with the handsome young man who helped her for the past few hours- 'A fairytale tragedy, ha-ha' she thought to herself.
"I came all this way, fought so hard and now I'm useless. I'll never avenge my people or my brothers lives either... We're both people that drew the short straws in life." Minotia said. Out of a small pouch on his hip he revealed a small handheld torch he gathered earlier. Turning it on to get a good look around, he shone it towards the struggling queen.
"AH! Don't shine it in my eyes, you fool!" Maxima said, as she was trying to concentrate. Minotia brought it down as she bid and then sat silent for awhile. The both of them were too weak to fight, or even move the rubble above. The sound of crashing and screaming permeated their small protecting cavern around them. Minotia thought it best to change to a different subject matter.
"For what it's worth Maxima... You are very pretty, back home I'd have been honoured to have you as a bride." Minotia honestly stated rather sweetly. Maxima blushed and brushed if off as Minotia continued, "Ah, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, eh?" The two were forced to laugh then despite the perilous situation.
A few hours later, Maxima found herself accepting a call on her in-ear communicator from an unknown source. "Hello? Hello?!" she shouted into the device. From the quiet above, Hirudegarn had long since travelled onward. "Who is this?!"
"Maxima! Thank Hera you're alright!" a concerned female voice shouted down the phone, Maxima knew immediately who that was.
"Wonderwoman! How did you-" Maxima began before she was cut off.
"ENOUGH! There will be time for talk later, the beast that travels this planet has moved on to a different city, let take your ally and leave before it returns." The grim voice of Brainiac said.
Minotia and Maxima were stunned as the Amazonian princess herself arrived within seconds and with a heave shoved off the tonnes of debris. "Ready to go? And oh, who's this?" Diana asked.
Before Minotia could even extend a courtesy hello, Maxima spoke up "He's my fiancé." Speechless, Diana helped the two up and holding the two weakened warriors in her arms, she flew back up to the opening of Brainiacs' elaborate skull- shaped ship. "There is a medical bridge on the ship, the Coluans will patch you up. We're sorry, but we don't have time to help your people Maxima, the leader of this army is heading for Earth and we'll need all the help we can get."
Maxima went wide- eyed at the thought that something stronger than that beast existed, however she stayed her tongue as her new fiancé spoke, "Janembuu has arrived at last then? Damn. Who knows how much stronger that bastard is now!" Minotia finished. The three passed through the ships airlock to be greeted by Vril Dox himself.
"Indeed, my boy. Tell us... everything you know about what we are to face ahead." Brainiac requested as the engines rocketed to life once again. Within minutes, Almerac was a shrine in the distance, Maxima gasped in shock as her gorgeous planet was now littered with fires from space. Even she could not judge the death toll of her people already from that beast. Minotia and Diana both laid reassuring hands on her shoulders. Brainiac and the remaining Coluans aboard merely observed in silence. Brainiac was probably scheming to return later and take a city as a sample later if the creature his scanners had observed was not finished.
Maxima turned to view Minotia in the face and gripped him in a tight hug before she spoke, "Grudge or no grudge, you came to help me even when there was an even greater threat to face later... Thank you." Minotia nodded respectfully as he pulled away, but Maxima continued as she gripped him suddenly by the collar- "NOW TELL US EVERYTHING YOU KNOW!" Her scream caused everyone on the room to flinch in fear, even as the vessel rocketed at light speeds to Earth... preparing hastily for the final battle.
You can bet your ass Hirudegarn is still a threat and it will definitely return as a villain later... in the side stories. I've already planned his opponent, so bear with me. Minotia instead of Tapion... Honestly, I wrote that down awhile ago. The 13th film is pathetic and the kaiju action is the only thing worth it. So... thanks for the wait- the upcoming main series chapter will be twice as long (released soon hopefully, University is hell)to make up for it.