Dragon Ball X

Guardians of Tranquility

Hi there.

Ok, as I mentioned last chapter, it's announcement time. It's not too big, but meh, I'm still calling it an announcement. Anyways, here it is. I've been putting the final touches on the part 1 of 4 of the first Dragon Ball X Movie/OVA, Kingdom Crushed (And yes, I'm aware that OVA stands for Original Video Animation and that it is by no means a video or animated, but it is original, so there…). I've actually been really slack lately, as you might have noticed, but this OVA has been taking up a lot of spare writing time, and so far is shaping up to be my best work as of yet. I'm publishing it soon (more like soon-ish) so keep your eyes peeled.

So, back to the main reason we're here…

On with the chapter!

000

Shallow breathing echoed around the inside of the cave, punctuated by irregular footsteps. The owner grunted and staggered sideways, falling against the wall of the cave. He had extremely pale yellow skin and oily, bronze coloured hair. The man clasped at his right forearm; rich purple blood soaked between his fingers and ran down the lifeless appendage.

"Have…to keep going," he whispered through clenched teeth, and he straightened up and continued staggering further into the cave.

Before he'd gone ten steps there was a glaring flash behind him and a staggeringly bright yellow orb fired past his shoulder, pulling to a stop a mere ten metres away. Its shining mass lit up the cave like the sun, exposing every orifice, and the wounded man cried out in alarm, throwing himself to the rocky floor, stuffing his fingers in his ears…

The next second, the orb collapsed in on itself, shrinking to the size of a pea before exploding outwards, sending a ring of searing energy burning from its centre. The light cut through the walls of the cave like they were butter, simply blasting the rock to particles. It was accompanied by a deafening sound, impossible to describe in mere words. The man lay flat on the floor, and felt the heat of the ring burn at his bare skin as it went over him. It had missed. But the sound cut into him like a knife, the sheer volume forcing into his blocked ears and blinding him.

"Go back, you witch!" he shouted, as the sound died and the light faded. The man tried to rise but collapsed, sobbing. The purple blood now covered his arm like a sheet of paint, and he couldn't see. The sheer sound had rendered his eyes and any sense of orientation and direction useless. "Leave and go to wherever you came from!"

He didn't hear the response. Nor did he see his enemy as she strode regally through the cave towards him. Her clawed feet snatched at the ground with each step, the razor sharp ivory talons clicking against the stone. A soft sadistic chuckle escaped between her mauve-tinted lips. She was tall and slender, an ice-cold beauty with an ice-cold heart.

The wounded man clutched against a stone jutting from the wall, staggering to his feet as his mind cleared and his sight eventually returned. His breathing was ragged and uneven, broken every few seconds by uncontrollable heaves. Blinking heavily, he turned his misty eyes to his pursuer. The light was poor and her entire upper body was in darkness. She raised an arm, and delicate probing fingers brushed across his glistening forehead.

"Who are you?" the man whimpered, and the fingers pushed harder against his skin.

"I? I am your extinction." Her voice was low and smooth, a teasing tone, and it all was over. The fingers closed tight around the man's head and picked him easily from the ground, throwing him far into the cave. A humming ball of energy followed a second later, and blinding light seared from the deep, illuminating every wall. A sound like an explosion echoed through the cave and then the walls themselves were disintegrating as energy hurricaned in all directions.

When the dust settled several minutes later the cave was gone, simply blown away by the ki attack. What had been in darkness for untold time was now exposed, and in the centre of the rubble stood a slender figure. She had luscious black hair sprouting from her scalp, pulled back very tightly to form a tail of hair down her back. The woman's skin was mauve, and she lacked eyebrows. Unnaturally wide eyes with no lids stared from the centre of her face, one of them covered by a sheet of red glass. Pointed ears sat on each side of her face.

The woman wore a sort of coat, dark purple armour that covered her torso and lower stomach, but apart from that she was completely bare. Large talons grew from her feet, three on each leg.

The woman touched the device on her eye, pushing a button. The sun reflected from the glass, but she didn't notice.

"Lieutenant?"

A deep voice issued from her earpiece, and the woman's lips widened into a smile. She always craved that voice.

"Lord Horus," she said in her seductive tones. "My mission has been completed. Planet Hive has been salvaged."

"…Good. Every planet I attain is yet another blow towards Frieza and his organisation. You've performed well."

The woman hissed in joy, a rolling tongue lashing from within her mouth. Small veins ran over its surface. "Thank-you, Lord Horus," she whispered, quivering. "Shall I return to you now?"

"…Not quite. I have another mission for you to finish first."

The woman's tongue rolled back into her mouth with a snap, the cheekbones rising in glee. She loved being beside her master, but the hint of another assignment enticed her even more.

"So soon? You spoil me."

There was a teasing chuckle. "Listen closely…"

A few minutes later, the woman murmured her assent, and ended the communication. Her talons clicked excitedly against the ground, and she opened her mouth and cried to the air.

"Boys! Come to me, I have something of a surprise to tell you!"

Two shadows streaked across the sky towards her, from opposite sides, before descending towards the Lieutenant. Together, they formed Lord Horus' trump card, his most valuable and skilled squadron. The Trinity.

"What's up, Ursula?" grunted the larger of the two newcomers. He was enormous, with cream coloured rubbery skin and thick fingers.

Ursula's thick tongue tasted the air, saliva dripping from it like water from a sponge. "Primal is dead. We're to take his place and complete his mission. We leave for Planet Haven at once."

000

Kenta stared with wide eyes across the surface of the steel table, and felt simultaneously threatened and confused.

"What's wrong?" he stammered, exchanging a glance with Ferris. The other man's eyes were fixed on Rhuna, worry etched across his forehead. That didn't bode well at all.

"Who is this Horus?" asked Geani sharply, as expressionless as usual. Before anyone could answer, there was a deafening crash as Makurin slammed his fist onto the table. It crumpled around his hand and twisted horribly, the steel mangled. The Saiyan's pitch black eyes flashed angrily.

"Damn this!" he shouted, and suddenly he was on his feet, stalking away towards the wall. A silence followed in his wake, and Makurin stopped a foot away from the door, visibly struggling to control himself. When he spoke, his voice shook. "This is it then, it's over. All for nothing. We may as well have let Primal kill the world."

"That's enough!" snapped Arasha, stepping forward. Like Geani, she wasn't letting anything slip, in perfect control. "Calm yourself, Saiyan. How dare you suggest such a thi-"

"You don't know!" retorted Makurin without even turning around. "If you did, you wouldn't say that…Horus is evil. He's…he's wicked. To the core. If he's the one behind this, then his eye has captured this planet already."

"He's right," said Blitzo without emotion. He hadn't moved an inch and spoke without conviction. "Quite frankly…we'd have been lucky with Frieza."

Kenta was shaken, and he could tell he wasn't the only one. He'd never heard any of the Saiyans admit defeat before. Even over the smallest quarrel they would continue arguing until they emerged victorious. Makurin's reaction – and even worse, Blitzo's - was freaking Kenta out.

"Does he really think we have no chance…?"

"You're being foolish…" said Geani quietly, cold disappointment in his voice. "Both of you. You're not yourselves. How can you, a Saiyan – one of the last remaining of the ultimate blood-knight fighting race - give in so easily? I refuse to believe that it's over yet."

"Neither do I," said Ferris resolutely. He hadn't taken his eyes off Rhuna, as if trying to reassure her. After Makurin's outburst, Rhuna looked considerably less shell-shocked, as if some of her load had been taken off by it.

Suddenly another voice came to life, as Dr. Sonny Billany looked around at them all, eyebrows furrowed. "Hold on a second. I don't know if I'm missing something here or what, but I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who's a little confused. Who exactly is this Horus guy? Why's everyone freaking out so much?"

Kenta nodded without realising it, and he saw Don and Ferris both begin listening intently at Sonny's question. Even Geani's eyes were blazing with curiosity.

Zeang waited a moment before answering, once it was clear that none of the Saiyans were about to. Makurin still looked one negative thought away from blowing something up in the world's most destructive temper tantrum.

"Where should I start…?" said Zeang hesitantly. "Like Frieza, Horus is something of a galactic tyrant. One of the head honchos in the universe, you could say. His organisation, the Planetary Trade, is a lot smaller than the World Trade Organisation run by Frieza, but just as notorious. The two are rivals, and they hate each other's guts."

Kenta was beginning to feel chills. By the sound of it, Horus was on the same level as Frieza in terms of power, and he'd heard enough horror tales to know that that sort of skill wasn't something they could compare with.

Frieza, after all, had destroyed Planet Vegeta effortlessly. Kenta thought of the intense pride and determination that was present in the three Saiyans he knew. Frieza had slain thousands of them in an instant.

"So why don't they just try and kill each other?" Kenta asked. He was aware of how shaky his voice sounded. Thankfully, no one commented on it.

"Who knows?" replied Zeang. "I'd guess it was because each is scared that they'd lose to the other. Others say they secretly enjoy the competition. But whatever the reason, they're constantly at odds over planets, and they both have their advantages – Frieza believes in power through sheer numbers, and employs thousands to do his bidding. Horus, on the other hand, values skill. His personal army only has perhaps four hundred warriors. But each one is powerful. I'd say that Primal would be of average strength for someone in the Planetary Trade, perhaps a little on the stronger end."

"So…what's going to happen now?" murmured Sonny. "Will they attack?"

Zeang sighed, and picked up the Scouter from the mangled table. "Primal had time for a single word before Ferris killed him. 'Send'. He was trying to tell Horus to dispatch another exterminator to finish the job."

"So they're coming."

The words cut through the air like a chilled blade. Every eye in the room turned to Blitzo, and he stared straight back. He looked defeated already. "Horus won't stop until Haven is his. It's over."

He stood up and his chair fell backwards to crash on the floor. Stony-faced, eyes averting those of everyone else, Blitzo strode to the exit and shoved Makurin from the way, before wrenching open the door and stalking out. The door slammed shut behind him, leaving those behind in a stunned silence.

"What power is this?" muttered Ferris, barely loud enough to be heard. "What sheer nightmarish strength is enough to cow even a Saiyan?" He looked up, turning to the greatest voice of reason of those not native. "Zeang…?"

Zeang didn't move. His bulbous head hung forward like a great weight, features sagging. It was if he had aged ten years in seconds, but his eyes remained sharp and focussed. Slowly, he looked everyone else in the eye, one by one, and then his eyes closed and he shook his head.

"I don't know what to do," he admitted, "and I don't know what to say to make this seem any less terrifying."

Kenta jumped as the door closed again. He flicked his eyes to the entrance but no one had entered. Confused, Kenta looked around, and then he saw. Arnika was gone.

"She's gone after Blitzo," he thought, shivering. The Saiyan's abrupt departure seemed to have made the room colder. Blitzo, the strongest of them all, who had defeated Denkuma when no one else could, had lost hope already.

The mere possibility of Horus' intervention had sucked the spirit right out of him.

000

Arnika slammed the door behind her, shattering the glass in the frame. The entire wall shook.

By the time she'd followed Blitzo from her lab, he'd already disappeared, but she knew exactly where he was going. Arnika turned her head to the West, and just as she suspected she could already sense his energy signature.

The smell of salt lingered in the air as Arnika reached the prairie next to the city. Across the empty field was the Chigiri Cliffs, dropping sharply away to the ocean. Determined, Arnika marched across the stretch of tangly grass and found a lone Saiyan at the edge of the cliff, staring into the midnight sky.

"Blitzo!"

Blitzo didn't take his eyes from the rolling ocean, stoutly ignoring Arnika, who moved in front of him. He looked depressed, like he'd given up hope already.

"Hey!" snapped Arnika, and poked him hard in the chest. She was furious. "What the hell is up with you, Blitzo? So this Horus guy is sending his blokes around to mash our kneecaps? Are you seriously going to just let him kill everybody?"

Blitzo was silent, staring over the edge of the cliff. The stars reflected dully in his pitch black eyes, but they didn't twinkle or shine. The gentle crashing of the waves against the bottom of the rocky drop echoed up to them.

Arnika slapped him.

The crack of her palm smacking against Blitzo's cheek was deafening. Blitzo froze, shocked, as a red welt shone on the side of his face. Arnika stared at him with an ice-cold scowl; it was the most awful expression Blitzo had ever seen on her face. She hit him again, this time on the opposite cheek, and his jaw tensed.

Like a snake, the Saiyan's hand rose and caught Arnika's third strike, grasping her wrist tightly. His steel-shattering grip closed around the woman's arm, but she didn't flinch.

"Let me go," she said quietly and venomously.

"No."

His reply was guttural and low, and the wild and terrible instinct inside him flared. Arnika attempted to twist out of his grasp and failed under Blitzo's strength.

"Is there anything else you wanted to ask me?" he growled, leaning in so his face was in hers. The man's upper lip was raised at the corners, like a rabid dog raising its heckles.

"Only this; who are you, and what have you done with my husband?" Arnika said defiantly.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you do, Blitzo. I think you do! The Blitzo I know would never give up like you have. You're a Saiyan, for God's sake. Where's your pri-"

"You don't know anything of Saiyans!" shouted Blitzo ferociously.

A tortured silence fell between them. Arnika stopped struggling to free her arm and stared at Blitzo with a glare of disappointment. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Blitzo felt disgusted with himself. In the entire time they'd known each other, from the day they'd met, there hadn't been a single time that he'd ever raised his voice at her. They'd never fought, not seriously. They'd never even really argued at all.

But the rational side of Blitzo was quivering beneath the enraged emotion at the forefront of his mind.

Before Blitzo's physical bulk, and the knowledge of what he was capable of – the sheer ease that he could slaughter anyone in his path – any normal person would have cowered immediately. But Arnika had never been one to back down before someone talking down to her. Her fiery and unrelenting personality was part of what made her so attractive to him.

"What, Blitzo?" she hissed, swinging her hair over her shoulder, unafraid. "What don't I understand about your race?"

Blitzo's chest was heaving, and his grip tightened. The bones in Arnika's wrist felt like they were about to snap, but she didn't let it show on her face. She couldn't even feel any pain, she was so angry at the man she called her husband.

"I am the last of my species," Blitzo began. His jaw was extremely tight, and his words came out slurred and fierce. "Don't lecture me on pride and honour. You don't understand for a second what my race has been through. We are not barbarians who think nothing but fighting. We are not primitive apes who jump into battle without a second thought! You speak of my heritage, and you command me to march to war with an opponent who is impossible to defeat, assuming that I'd be able to simply power to my max and blow him away. You speak of my pride like it's something you can just pick up off the ground! Yes, we love to fight! It is a part of us as breathing is to you. But my people are not fools! We know our limits. We know when it is time to fight and when it is time to not. If Saiyans were as one-dimensional and irrational as you so obviously think, we would have become extinct a long time before we did."

Arnika was still, her piercing green eyes level with Blitzo's black ones. "Is that what you think?" she whispered poisonously. "Is that what you think? That I don't know who you are? That I can't see what you feel underneath? How dare you?"

She glared meaningfully at his crushing fingers around her wrist, and he let go angrily, before taking several steps back and scowling at the ground.

"You're stronger than all of us," said Arnika. "You could defeat anybody on Haven. You're the best. But now that someone better's come along, are you just going to quit and give in? I know who you are, Blitzo. I know that you're not a barbarian, not some mindless ape. And what I know is thatyou're not a coward. Never, in a million years. You accuse me of thinking of you as some goon, an empty shell who thinks of nothing but fighting? What shit."

Blitzo flinched as if she'd struck him again, and took another step back. There was a crash from below as a wave broke against the rocky cliff, and a gust of wind blew the misty vapour over them.

"I can see into you," murmured Arnika, not breaking eye contact once. "I know better than anyone who you are. You're not just a Saiyan, Blitzo. You know compassion. You know kindness. It's what makes you who you are, and that's who I fell in love with. Not the warrior. Not the victor. The person. That's who I love, and that's who I've loved since the day I met him. I've never stopped, not once."

She knew even as she spoke the words that they had been among the truest she'd ever spoken, and for a moment her anger waned and her voice softened. "Why are we fighting, Blitzo? I've only ever had fun around you. Even when Denkuma was about to kill me, the first and only person I thought of who could save me was you. Not Makurin. Not Ferris. Not even my own brother. You. So why are you acting like this? All aloof and cold. It's not who you are. I know who you are."

"Do you?"

It was like he'd shrunk. The Saiyan's voice was small and thin, shaking. Arnika had never heard Blitzo speak like that before. It scared her. His eyes were empty.

"Do you really know who I am? Even I don't. But at least I have some idea…"

He looked at her.

"We all look back on it like it was just a day at the beach. But it wasn't. My entire species was murdered, Arnika. Wiped from existence by an omnicidal maniac. Horus will do the same to this planet. This isn't like Denkuma; these guys are entire leagues above all of us; their power is akin to that of physical Gods. I don't want what happened to the Saiyans to happen to your people. But I don't know how to stop it. I...I just don't know. What can I do?"

"You can fight!" shouted Arnika. "You can fight, because the only other alternative is sitting back and letting him slaughter the world. You say that you don't want the genocide of the Saiyans to happen all over again? Well, guess what; the Haviens don't stand a chance alone. We need to fight. That is what we can do."

Blitzo didn't answer, just stood shaking, fists clenched and teeth bared. And then, to Arnika's complete shock, she saw a glistening in his eye, and a tear slid from the black abyss. He growled angrily, but couldn't stop more from coming. The drops ran down his jaw like shards of ice, sliding over his upper lip and into his open grimace. The Saiyan closed his eyes, but the tears sprang from between the lids.

"I-I'm sorry…" he murmured, lurching his head as if to shake off the tears. "I know that…that it's useless to give in. But I'm terrified for you. You act like you're not scared, and that scares me. I'd rather die than lose the ones I love. You, least of all."

He chuckled humourlessly. "It's not very Saiyan-like of me, is it? Speaking of giving my life for another. It's not really something my people practices. Nor is showing fear, or giving in. I guess I'm just not the right one to carry on their legacy. I don't deserve that privilege."

Blitzo closed his eyes and was silent, listening to the lapping water. And then he felt a warm pair of arms wrap themselves around his waist, and Arnika pressed against him. Her head was heavy against Blitzo's neck, but he didn't mind.

"You're more deserving of that legacy than any Saiyan ever was," Arnika whispered, tightening her grip. "And you can save Haven from Horus and his men. Don't let them get your spirit down, you hear me?"

Blitzo was stunned, but nodded slowly. Arnika took a step back and smiled briefly, before pecking him on the lips.

"I'm going to bed," she said quietly. "And if someone else crawls in next to me, I'll know that they're the hero I always knew they were."

She stepped around him and walked slowly away from the cliffs, towards the city in the distance.

"Goodnight, Blitzo. Know that I love ya."

She disappeared without another word. Blitzo didn't watch her leave, continuing to stare out at the ocean. He could still smell the salt of her tears, although they might have been his own.

"You mean the world to me, Arnika," he thought. "And if defending the world is what it takes to save you…then I guess that's what I'll have to do."

Blitzo shivered; a chilling wind had blown in from the sea, and clouds broiled in the sky over the water. A massive wave struck the cliff, blowing a wash of spray into the air and over the edge, showering Blitzo with vapour.

The cold reminded him of the deep of space, travelling through the abyss to distant planets. To wipe out life, that had been his mission. Alongside thousands, he had once been a harbinger of destruction. An exterminator, working for a madman.

"I don't know how many have died by my hand. But despite it, I've been given a second chance. A chance at peace and a life with treasured friends."

In his mind's eye, he remembered. That fateful day, his final hour on Planet Vegeta.

"Yo, Bardock! What's happening?"

Vegeta had been destroyed shortly after, along with the spiky-haired Saiyan that Blitzo so looked up to. Gone, forever. Frieza's wrath could not be stopped.

"This isn't a joke, Blitzo. The Saiyans are extinct. All except for you three."

His old life had been destroyed that day as well. And he had indeed been given a second chance. Chance – or perhaps fate – had happened upon a trio of young warriors that day. Their lives had been spared. And he could not let that go to waste. He could not die at the hands of his enemies.

"So quickly you forget. I'm a Saiyan, the ultimate fighting race. No one can match us. We have things you don't."

He'd met his new allies. His new friends. Companions, for life. Kenta and Ferris. Don. The Eternal Warriors; Geani, Mataro, and Arasha. Their leader, Hamasan, who had eventually given his life to hold Denkuma off. His son, Korros, an atoner.

And Arnika. His partner and wife, who shared so many happy times with him.

"Leave…her…alone."

Blitzo flinched as another spray of water hit him, but with it came a sense of realisation and resolution.

He would not just let them invade. He wouldn't let them destroy everything. He had been spared from death by fate. He wouldn't let them take that away from him.

"No, I really mean it; I'd never had thought I'd be able to be with someone like you. You're…perfect, and awesome, and…incredible."

He would fight.

Blitzo straightened to his full height, fists clenched, and raised his face to the sky. The old fire was back. The spirit that drove him every day was once again alight. A surge of energy rushed across the prairie and tore at the wind itself, as the Saiyan who was hidden became unveiled.

"Bring it on, Horus!" shouted Blitzo, his voice magnified by ki. It rolled over the water. "I'll take down you and every single one of your goons. If you want to take Haven…you'll have to go through me!"

Two hundred metres away, Arnika felt the rush and heard his voice. With a smile, she kept walking.

000

A quiet yawn and a grumble escaped Kenta, and he slowly opened his gummy eyes, feeling the softness of the pillow beneath his head and the sheet over his body. A small warm bundle lay in the bed next to him, head resting on Kenta's bare chest, near his neck. Kenta smiled foolishly and placed his arm around her body, her flawless skin warming his fingers.

Rachael Billany had a slim body, small and petite, with a fox-like face and delicate features. Like her brother Sonny, she had hazel eyes which were now hidden under closed lids. Kenta watched her chest rise and fall as she slept, an affectionate smile plastered across his face. He was infatuated. The two of them had only been going out for two months, which had felt like a dream to him whenever he was with her. Like Arnika and Sonny, Kenta and Rachael had been best friends through school, but it had taken him years to confess how he'd felt the entire time. She'd returned his feelings with gusto.

Kenta blinked himself to full awareness, lifting his head from his pillow and stared sleepily around the room. It had been nine days since the finale of the World Martial Tournament, when the revelation of Horus had been discovered. But nothing had happened yet. No aliens had invaded, but Kenta had heard Ferris telling Rhuna that it was only a matter of time before their enemy arrived.

For now, however, it was if Primal had never even appeared. The radiant sun of the new morning poured in through the window and saturated the bedroom, reflecting off the spotless white walls. Kenta lived a short distance from his sister and brother-in-law, his modest but still enormous house easily paid for using both the royalties of his book (one of the most read works in Haven history) and the spoils of his father's riches.

The light filling the room helped wake him up, and Kenta looked at the glowing display on the digital clock next to the bed. It read 7:29am.

Kenta shuffled deeper under the sheets, hugging Rachel tighter. She sniffed loudly, and sleepily opened her eyes. Dark glossy hair fell around her face.

"Ugh…morning," she sighed distastefully, half-lifting herself from the bed before collapsing back to the comfortable springy mattress. Her eyes looking up as high as they could go, she tilted her head back and stared at Kenta upside down. He laughed.

A blaring alarm shouted from the clock as it ticked over to 7:30. Rachael grimaced and tried to sink even further into the covers as Kenta whacked the button atop the clock, ceasing the klaxon.

"I hate that alarm," said Rachael, and let out a great yawn, her jaws parting like those of an alligator. "I'd much prefer to sleep."

She dropped her head against the bed roughly, before slumping her body across Kenta's, looking at him through dull eyes. Kenta stroked at her cheek with the back of his fingers. Her skin felt soft and clean under his own.

It took another twenty-five minutes to work up the motivation to get out of bed, and a further ten for Rachael. Kenta polished off a quick breakfast before stepping up to the front door, fully dressed and ready to go.

"I'm off," he called back over his shoulder. "Are we still going to Papio's tonight?"

"Yep. Don't be late, 'cause I sure will be."

Kenta shook his head as he closed the door behind him, laughing. Rachael made a habit of being late for everything, no matter its importance.

The Havien looked around for anybody looking his way, but the street was deserted, so he lightly touched off from the ground. The air below his feet swirled in a ring around him, but then he was gone, flying high into the air above the rest of the city. As he broke the canopy of buildings, Kenta tipped his head back as far as it would go and closed his eyes, simply relishing for a moment the sensation of the wind rushing past him. His body felt weightless.

Kenta shouted in sheer ecstasy as he broke the clouds, the puffy white masses parting as he tore through their wispy mass. His voice was quickly caught on the wind and ripped away but he didn't care. Yelling as loud as he could, Kenta spun and looped in the air, the sky his playground.

Far below, the collection of buildings looked like a postage stamp, but with seconds that was gone as Kenta left Grandiose City far behind. In moments, the sprawling skyscrapers transformed into rolling fields and lush forests. Kenta took a second to judge the currents around his body before letting himself fall, twisting until he was streaking towards the ground head first. He pulled out of the dive just before he hit the ground, skimming across the grassy plains as if he were a jet plane. Blades of wind sliced the air as his arms, held out wide on either side, cut through the sky.

It was impossible to describe the feeling one got while flying. A sense of freedom unrivalled by anything. After all, when you could take to skies at will, what was out of your reach? If you wanted to go somewhere, you went. And even that immense sensation was dwarfed by the thrills of the flight, the feeling of air beneath you. Kenta breathed in deeply as he coasted over some pastures; far below, a herd of cattle stared thickly up at him, as if unable to believe their eyes.

As the warrior crossed the surface of the planet, it was if the stress of the past week was evaporating on the wind. He felt elated, and such was the thrill of his flight that he suddenly felt able to defeat Horus' army single-handed.

Kenta closed his eyes again, smile running rampant across his face. In the distance, he could see some more skyscrapers reaching to sky. Nao City, third greatest of the five Chief Cities. It had been rebuilt after Denkuma's wrath had blown it to the ground five years earlier, but was now back in full standing. Kenta took in the might of the city from afar, hovering in the sky. It seemed like the perfect picture.

The peaceful image was shattered in an instant.

Kenta gasped and stared wildly into the blue sky as he felt it. A massive concentration of energy was moving towards him from above; he could feel it as easily as if it were right next to him.

"They're here…"

Then he saw them. Like meteors, three burning red spheres fired from the atmosphere, trailing tails of some sort of blue smoke behind them. The smoke mapped their trajectory perfectly, hanging in the air like stains.

Space pods. They had to be. The pods streaked towards the ground, and Kenta saw with a shock that they were heading directly for Nao City. Who knows how much damage the beings inside would do?

With an explosion of energy, Kenta charged desperately for the city.

000

Ferris spun sharply as Zeang let out a shocked gasp, and was at his shoulder immediately as the big-headed alien began typing feverishly at the keyboard. Arnika joined them a second later.

"What? What is it?" she demanded, and Zeang spoke quickly. He stood before a large screen with alien figures all over it. Arnika couldn't read a word.

The computer had been designed by Zeang, modelled on the Scouter they'd taken from Primal. It did much the same thing, only more powerful and with much better accuracy.

"So soon?" whispered Zeang. "I didn't expect them to get here so fast…"

Arnika's stomach dropped. "Horus' men?"

Zeang nodded. "This is catastrophic. According to this, they're coming down on Nao City. By the time we get there they'd have destroyed the whole thing."

"I'll go now," said Ferris immediately, and strode from the room. Arnika leant down closer, not taking her eyes from the screen despite her inability to read the text.

"Who are they? Are they strong?"

Zeang nodded gravely. "I'm afraid so. He's sent the Trinity."

000

"The Trinity? What's that?"

Kenta gaped in shock as he beheld the carnage before him. The three pods had impacted in the main street, blowing apart the surroundings like papier-mâché. A crater sunk into the ground before him, and the air was filled with screams as people swarmed away from the site of the wreckage.

Kenta ran to the brink of the crater and look within.

"The Trinity is formed by Horus' three strongest exterminators. They're loyal only to him, and all three are completely ruthless."

The pods were buried in the rubble, but even as Kenta watched they let out an identical hiss. The pods were white all over, with a red dome on one side. Suddenly, the pods unfolded, a door appearing on the side of each.

Three warriors stepped out.

Furthest from Kenta was an enormous man, with sickening cream-coloured skin and no hair. His neck was so thick that it looked as if his head just sat upon his shoulders, and his fingers were all like sausages.

The complete opposite, the alien on the other side of the crater was tiny. He was also bald, with dark green skin and squinty little eyes. Around his head was some sort of dark blue helmet.

"Oki and Puchi work as a team. They complement each other's attacks perfectly and in combat are deadly. I don't think anyone's ever gone up against them alone without coming away severely injured. And that's if they survive at all."

They were both wearing yellow armour around their bodies, which Kenta recognised as the space armour that the Saiyans and Zeang had worn when first arriving on Haven.

But the third member was the one who really got to him. She – for it was a female – was extremely tall, with pale mauve skin and large unblinking eyes. She too wore the space armour. A long tail of hair hung down her back.

"But that's not the worst of it. The captain of the Trinity…she's Horus' right hand man, his Dragon and lieutenant . I've heard of what she's done…she's powerful and remorseless. Someone to be terrified of…"

The woman turned her head and looked Kenta directly in the eye. A long writhing tongue curled from between her dark purple lips and tasted the air. Thick veins covered its surface.

"Ursula."

000

They're he-e-e-e-e-e-re. The invasion has begun!

Whew, that was a long one. Made up for last chapter, I think, which was kind of short and disconnected. So, tell me what you think in a review. I love reviews.

More fun stuff! If you'll run along to my DeviantArt Account, Animaster2195, I've gone ahead and uploaded some pictures of the characters on DBX. I used an anime character designer to make them since I can't draw to save my life. So have fun looking at them.

So yeah, Horus is pretty bad news, unfortunately for our heroes. But is he really that terrifying? And who's this Ursula? Can Kenta defeat the Trinity all on his own? Find out next time on Dragon Ball X!