Well, here's chap 9, up and posted finally. Please R&R, you know the drill

The folly of brash inexperience is a danger to he that wields it. The problem is that the danger is hardly self-contained…

Chap 9: The Folly of Inexperience

The next morning the new four were up early and gone before the sun had fully risen.

"So where're we headed?" Trunks yelled over the roar of the engine after they'd driven a long while. Unlike the nine, the four could all fit in one vehicle and since Tari obviously despised horses, they'd settled on taking a car. The Technican girl had seen to it that there was plenty of gas tucked along with their supplies.

"To Death's Wake, on the Sangren Fields," Tari called back. "We haven't as far to go as the others." She found a large circular clearing in the middle of the trail and cut the vehicle's engine. "Remember the three smaller Spheres they told you about? They're not Spheres anymore. They've somehow manipulated their energy to form themselves into three living creatures: the Alpha, Ultima and Omega Weapons. We're going after the Alpha, which supposedly resides at the Wake." The four filed out of the jeep-like vehicle, stopping for a break and lunch.

"Is that going to be our first battle?" Kurama wanted to know.

"Doubt it," she replied. "The blobs are all over the place. We'll see action before we get that far, which is good: you need to understand the limitations you're going to have to function with."

"Speaking of limitations," Rose cut in from her spot leaning against a tree, "-what was that about males not being able to use magic here?" Everyone stopped their moving to pay closer attention; Tari shrugged her bony shoulders.

"They can't, but that really doesn't affect this group at all. Kieci has the guy magic users, and they are the ones at a disadvantage with the loss of their spells. All of the guys we have draw their energy from their life force, so the special attacks they have come from that and not magic."

"What's the difference?" The older woman wanted to know.

"Well, magic and life force are two totally separate things. Take your Dragoon magic, for example-- you draw that from the core Dragoon spirit you wear, and that jewel is connected to your life force. You siphon off power from your body itself to do those types of spells. It's the same with Kurama's plant manipulation and so on. Life force, ki, spirit energy...what ever you call it, it's all the same thing. Magic is just magic. That's why this set can still function normally, with the exception of the Dark's limitations. Now," she lugged what looked like a cooler out of the undercarriage of the jeep. "Who's hungry?" The others came to her at that, all except Trunks- he was staring at the trees with a frown on his face.

"You know, we really seem like our mission isn't important," Tari was saying as she pulled lunch out of the cooler. "I mean, Kieci insisted they get chain mail and extra weapons for everyone in her party. I didn't think it was necessary, seeing as how this will only take us a week. Not only that, we've got Alpha and by the sounds of it, he's a pushover."

"It would not do to underestimate our enemy," Kurama said quietly. "I have seen others make that mistake and the rate of their survival is not a promising percentage."

"We'll be all right," Tari said stubbornly, "-assuming you guys are as good as they say you are." She ceased talking and took a large bite of her sandwich.

Trunks still hadn't joined them. He kept staring out at the trees, his fists clenched. Anxious, he turned to the others.

"Does anyone else feel that?"

"Feel what?" Tari asked. "The only thing I feel is hungry." She didn't seem to be genuinely interested. "What's the matter, Wonderboy? I don't see anything. Why don't you stop staring and eat something-- I wouldn't want you to faint from weakness later on." The half-Saiyan's cheeks went slightly red and he turned back to the forest, still looking uneasy. Kurama picked himself up off the ground, dusting off his white pants as he took a small bite of his food. Walking over, he stood beside Trunks.

"What do you sense?" he questioned.

"Well, it's weird. Usually I sense only power levels...you know, how strong someone is. This just feels wild. Wild and strong...definitely not an easy one." Trunks replied. He closed his eyes, tapping into his sixth sense to try and figure out what was headed their way.

"You can't sense the Dark, regardless of what you could do at home," Tari called smartly. "You don't have royal--"

"My father was a prince," the boy snapped, cutting her off. "I'm telling you, something's coming." From the midday shadows of the trees, there came a roar and a distant sound of crunching leaves; the rest of the four were up now, their lunch wolfed the rest of the way gone and forgotten. Rose drew her sword; Kurama pulled a long stem rose out from underneath his hair.

"That doesn't sound like a blob," Tari whispered. Everything had gone quiet, except for the cracking of branches that was getting nearer. She held up her hands, and Rose noticed she wore gauntlets that covered her arms from her elbows to the tops of her hands. A quick flick of each wrist and four six-inch steel claws slid smoothly out of the metal near her knuckles. When she noticed her looking she smiled slightly and said "I'm not good with long weapons."

Whatever was coming was getting dangerously close. Remembering what Tari had said to him just before they'd left, Trunks stepped away from Kurama and readied himself. Before anyone had time to ask what he was doing there was a sudden burst of wind and a flash of golden light. When it died a full Super Saiyan stood where Trunks had: golden energy flickered around his body like fire, casting light into the crevices at the edge of the clearing. His hair had turned into a dark shade of glittering blonde and was whipping in some unfelt breeze; when he opened them, his eyes were bright turquoise blue instead of navy.

"...the Hell are you doing?" Tari growled, somewhat unnerved by the waves of power that the boy was radiating.

"You said that the first one was mine, right?" A nasty little smirk settled briefly on his lips, though it faded back to a scowl as their enemy came rushing through the trees.

If the four had expected anything, it wasn't what came at them just then. The creature was huge, twelve feet at the shoulder, and it stood on its hind, trunk-like legs. Its leathery hide was dark gray-- its eyes were a beady blood red. The thing resembled a giant bull, for it had a bull's enormous curved-out horns just above its eyes. At their base the horns were as thick as Rose's thigh, making them obscenely large for the beast's somewhat small head. It could not have been a vegetarian, though-- it had a predator's forward-facing eyes and a snarling muzzle crowned with jagged teeth. Each of its paws was the size of a plate and rimmed on one side by silvery, seven-inch claws.

"Behemoth," Tari choked. She subconsciously took a step away from it. "They didn't even give us a warm-up."

"This one's mine," Trunks growled. He extended his arms out in front of him, his first four fingers touching to form a diamond-like shape. A shimmering ball began to form there, though the Saiyan suddenly began to look worried. Regardless, he kept calling forth his energy until it was the size of the behemoth's head. Once it was ready, he let it soar.

The behemoth roared in fury as the blast hit it in the chest and shattered, shooting small beams of energy into the forest. Several trees fell on the edges of the clearing as the arrows of Trunks's energy tore threw them.

"It bounced off," he gasped. They were forced to scatter as the beast dropped to all fours and rushed them. Tari dove one way, Kurama another. Trunks hovered into the air, closely followed by Rose. There had been a short flash of black light when the boy had fired, and Rose had gone Dragoon: she now had full plate armor of black covering her entire body and huge, glistening metal wings sprouting from the steel covering the backs of her shoulders. She was one of Albert's companions, a friend and fellow hero from his world.

The behemoth was angry about missing and leapt after Trunks, its powerful jaws snapping. The Saiyan extended two fingers and shot small beams at the thing's eyes, darting higher to avoid its teeth at the same time. These blasts connected, and blood flew. The creature beast-screamed and dropped back to all fours, pawing at its ruined eyes.

"There," he called down, pivoting in midair, "How was that?"

"Not bad," Tari yelled back; a moment later she had to dart away again as the behemoth came after the sound of her voice. Rose and Trunks hovered down side by side.

"We need to kill this thing," Rose said wisely, "One beam wasn't enough to get through its hide, but maybe two will work. When I call up my Death Dimension you channel your energy into the spell. Got it?" The Saiyan nodded.

The Dragoon raised her sword above her head. Almost immediately bands of black energy began to swirl around the rapier's blade, rising above into a strangely dark noon sky. Trunks made to follow suit and tried to call more energy into his hands. A small golden ball came, though as soon as it was as large as his palm it flickered and disappeared. He frowned and tried again. The same effect came the E"second time.

"What's wrong?" Rose demanded, though she was watching the behemoth. The thing whirled in fast circles, sniffing desperately for a target.

"Nothing," Trunks lied. The Dark's limitations were nastily clear to him now: he couldn't even pull a simple energy blast into his hand. That meant his transformation had burned too much of his power and now his energy was running low. Considering he was used to about ten times the energy he'd used, that was bad. Since his normal supply was gone, the Saiyan did the only thing he could do: he drew the power straight from his base life energy itself. This was a dangerous practice. If one drew too much the body, out of juice to keep itself functioning, would shut down. Deciding Rose didn't need to know that, Trunks called forth the golden ball and said nothing.

"Damn," Tari gasped, sneaking past the behemoth as it lunged. For some reason the thing wheeled to face Trunks and Rose. Lowering its head, the thing pulled back its hackles in a dagger-toothed smile and charged.

The Saiyan was looking up as he slid the golden ball into the column of Rose's black Dragoon spell. She watched as well, nodding her approval of the immense increase in power that the boy's energy was giving her. Neither of them saw the beast bolting at them, not until the ground rumbled under their feet--and by then it was too late.

Yayness! I know SOMEONE'S reading it b/c I have a review, and the stats are pretty good…so please, just hit the magic button below! More soon!

-K-