Chapter 9: Failure to Communicate

Trunks, the Supreme Kai, Leon and Avien reappeared in the rocky outcrops of the western outskirts of North City. From the rocky high ground, they could see the grey mushroom cloud looming over the southern part of North City. A giant ship hovered in the sky north of the city. It somewhat reminded Trunks of the spaceship Frieza had used to travel to Earth, but it was larger and triangular shaped. It appeared to have multiple weapon systems and could likely carry several hundred personnel.

"They must have hit a military depot," Leon suggested.

"Would make sense," Trunks agreed. "But if Paragus has no use for the human race, why not just destroy the entire city?"

"Are you complaining?" Avien asked sarcastically.

"It just doesn't make sense," he clarified.

"Either way," Shin said, "there's no reason for us to wait to see what they do next. Trunks and I will deal with the initial wave of soldiers. Leon, you and Avien protect the people from the soldiers that get past us."

Leon and Avien nodded, and then their green and red auras erupted around them as they flew off towards the city streets.

"We should waste no time with them," Shin told his half-Saiyan friend.

Trunks nodded.

Together, their blue and light purple auras fired away toward the northern skies of North City.

High above North City, Trunks and the Supreme Kai floated between the massive ship in front of them, and the city below. They noticed that at the northern edge of the city, multiple personnel pods lay scattered about the ground. They hadn't been able to see the pods from their rocky high ground west of the city. Trunks and Shin both knew that Leon and Avien would have their hands full dealing with the ground forces that were no doubt already raiding the city.

"How many soldiers do you think they sent into the city?" the Saiyan asked.

"Probably a few hundred, judging by the size of the personnel carrier pods they deployed," the old Kai replied. "I hope that Leon and Avien can handle things, but if we damage the ship, perhaps it will draw out some of the ground force."

"Should I just simply blast the thing out of the sky?" Trunks asked.

"The explosion would kill more people than save," Shin replied. "However, perhaps if we cause enough damage we can force it to land, or, at the very least, draw out their forces. Perhaps we can learn what their plan is as well."

"I'm on it," Trunks said evenly as he began a series of hand motions in front of his upper body.

Shin watched as the young Saiyan moved his hands through several quick poses in front of him. His hands moved at incredible speed, before Trunks' forearms crossed in front of him, partially covering his face, and then shot forward, outstretched in front of him. His palms were open, and his thumbs and index fingers touched, forming a diamond shape between the thumbs and index fingers.

"Knock, knock," Trunks sneered.

A blinding, bright energy ball with sun-like rays instantly fired away from Trunks' outstretched hands and plowed into the front of the spacecraft, causing a massive explosion to the nose of the ship. Shin noticed that after the explosion cleared, the exterior hull was badly torn and mangled, leaving a gaping hole and sporadic fires where the blast had impacted.

"That should get their attention," Trunks said softly.

"One hopes," Shin said to himself. He was, as always, amazed but never surprised by his friend's subtlety (or lack thereof).

However, Trunks' method worked. Immediately, sirens began to sound onboard the spacecraft, and smoke continued to billow out of the large fracture in the hull. The two floated patiently in midair, expecting soldiers to immediately be dispatched to investigate the cause of the explosion. They were disappointed to say the least. They both dodged in opposite directions as a large blue pulse shot rocketed between them from the ship.

"They're actually shooting at us?" Trunks shouted to Shin as he maneuvered out of the way of follow up shots.

"I'm not quite sure what you were expecting after you shot first, my friend," Shin shouted back as he dodged.

"We have to put that thing down," the Saiyan instructed. "Otherwise, their missed shots are gonna end up causing some real damage."

Shin sidestepped a pulse shot as it flew by, but focused every ounce of his telepathic power to catch the shot telekinetically as it flew by. As he managed to grip the pulse shot, he rotated in a circle to strengthen the shot's centrifugal momentum and released the shot back at the side of the spacecraft.

The Kai's shot hit solidly into the port side of the spacecraft, causing more black smoke to erupt from the inside of the ship.

"Nice shot!" Trunks exclaimed. "That was a neat trick."

Following the Supreme Kai's improvised cannon fire, the spacecraft ceased firing pulse shots at the two warriors.

"Did you disable it?" the Saiyan asked curiously.

"Not likely," Shin replied. "I am going onboard, my friend. I am going to try to force it down at some distance north of the city. From there we can destroy it, or at least prevent it from being capable of operation."

"Be careful, Supreme Kai," Trunks said, reluctant to let Shin go in alone. "I'll draw them out and keep them busy."

Shin nodded, then looked towards the spacecraft and disappeared.

Within seconds of Shin teleporting into the ship, soldiers began flooding out of the smoking fortress and flying towards Trunks. Trunks remained stationary in the air apart from drawing the Z Sword. As the soldiers closed in on the Saiyan warrior, he counted a loose estimate of fifty soldiers. He noted that they were of various alien races, and all wearing – some more appropriately than others – different variants of Saiyan armor.

"That's him!" one of the soldiers barked as the group neared. "You! Who are you?!"

"I put a big hole in your ship and all you want to know is my name?" Trunks taunted. "Look, I don't have a lot of time today, so we're going to skip the small talk. I can tell by looking at you all that you aren't Saiyans. So I just want to know: who is your Saiyan commander? What's his name?"

The soldiers exchanged glances, visibly surprised by Trunks' knowledge of the hierarchy.

"We don't answer to you, kid," the same soldier replied, indicating some role of authority.

"Why are you here then? What do you want with the Earth?" Trunks' voice became harsher, demanding an answer.

"I told you!" the lead soldier shouted as he leaped to attack.

The soldier flew forward and attempted to throw all his weight behind a punch towards Trunks. In the instant of time that followed, Trunks managed to sense the soldier's rather miniscule power level. Of course, it was only relative to his own. Trunks knew he clearly outmatched all of the foot soldiers in the group. He noted that while the soldier moved at perhaps eighty percent of his potential, it was as though the soldier was moving in slow motion to him. Trunks spun clockwise to his right and out of the way of the soldier's punch. However, as Trunks completed the rotation of his spin, he easily lifted and lowered the Z Sword in his right hand in a smooth, swift fashion.

As the soldier's body lunged past Trunks, the top third of the Z Sword's razor sharp blade fell through the soldier's neck, slinging a small mist of blood in the direction of the swipe. The rest of the group watched in horror as their comrade's lifeless body and head fell separately past Trunks and down to the Earth below. A light coat of the soldier's blood dripped from the tip of the Z Sword into the open sky below them. Trunks floated motionlessly; his body bladed slightly with his left shoulder toward the group of soldiers, and the Z Sword in a low ready position behind him.

What happened in an instant to the group of soldiers, seemed like it took forever for Trunks.

"I think we have a failure to communicate," Trunks said morbidly, easily intimidating the group. "Now, I don't want us to lose our heads over this. I just want to ask some questions, ok? So, who's the next guy in charge here?"

The group remained silent, beads of sweat visibly running down brows.

"Commander Saidi won't let you live, you know?" one of the soldiers finally spoke up.

"Shut up, you fool!" another shouted at him. "You know what happens to traitors."

"Well, you saw what the alternative looks like," Trunks replied evenly. "I have no intention to kill you. That will be up to you. All I want is some answers. So, who is Commander Saidi?"

"Enough of this!" the self-appraised element leader cried. "Commander Saidi would have us killed just for hesitating to attack him… Kill him!"

On the soldier's command the rest of the group charged Trunks at once. Trunks immediately brought the Z Sword forward in a diagonal slice upwards, cutting the first soldier to reach him in half. As the soldier's body fell towards the ground below him, the blood spray from the slice smeared onto the faces and scouter lenses of the soldiers behind where he had been. There was a brief hesitation from the group following the shock of another comrade being struck down in an instant.

"So much for group think," Trunks said grimly.

One by one, as the group of soldiers attempted to attack him, Trunks effortlessly dodged and counterattacked with the Z Sword, sending streaks of blood onto the rest of the group and severed body parts to the ground below.

Several soldiers attempted to surround Trunks, hoping to get an upper hand by attacking at once. As they encircled him, Trunks stabbed the tip of the Z Sword into a soldier that had more soldiers behind him. Trunks floated in a somersault over the impaled opponent, dragging him and the blade of the Z Sword vertically through the soldier behind him. Trunks immediately vanished leaving only the two halves of one soldier, the impaled other soldier, and a rain cloud of blood to fall to the ground below.

The group of perhaps fifteen remaining soldiers halted their assault partially from the shock of the stranger's brutality on their comrades, but also to locate where the stranger had gone.

"Catch," Trunks said just loud enough to get their attention.

The remaining group looked in his direction just before taking the full explosive force of another energy attack that Trunks fired their way. The close range explosion caused Trunks to cover his face with one arm. He watched what was left of the soldier element fall lifelessly to the Earth below. Trunks lightly pounded the hilt of the Z Sword with his off hand to shake the blood from his sword before wiping the remaining blood off on his pants leg and sheathing it.

Leon and Avien had only moved a few blocks into the west side of the city before they began to hear gunfire and panic from the streets ahead.

"What is going on?" Avien asked curiously. The gunfire was a foreign sound to her.

"Sounds like the military and law enforcement elements that are left are doing what they do best," Leon answered. "Let's see what it looks like."

He and Avien took to the air and flew west only a city block before they saw the carnage that unfolded below them. What few defense forces the city had left were bunkered behind whatever hardened structures they could find along the streets in an attempt to keep the invasion force at bay. Leon estimated that there were at least two hundred invaders fighting throughout the city streets. He noticed that the different alien races that undoubtedly made up the invasion force were outfitted with various styles of the Saiyan armor that Bulma had given him when he fought Buu a year before.

"They don't seem that strong," Avien said, interrupting his thoughts.

"No," Leon agreed, his glare never leaving the chaos on the streets below. "They don't. But they're still strong enough to shoot energy blasts at the defense forces and dodge bullets. That's something."

"Let's just blast them from the air," she suggested, looking at him.

Leon's eyes still studied the ground layout below them.

"We could," he said slowly. "Although we don't know if anyone is left in the buildings around them. If we start blasting away, we could end up hurting more people than we save."

"Then what the hell do you suggest?" she asked impatiently.

"I suggest we get them to leave the streets so that you can blast them to your heart's content without blowing up a bunch of bystanders in the process," he answered pointedly.

"Fascinating!" she replied sarcastically. "And how do you suggest we do that?"

Leon rolled his eyes and looked at Avien. Her look implied she wasn't impressed with his decision making. He silently resolved that she could get over it.

"Follow me," he said as he flew down towards the streets.

She exhaled loudly and took off after Leon's green aura trail.

As they flew over the ground troops Avien followed Leon's lead as they launched precise, harassing energy beams into the crowd of enemy soldiers below them. As their energy attacks hit the ground below, the blasts tossed enemy soldiers from their feet. After clearing a long stretch of street with harassment fire, Leon and Avien looked back to see a large swarm of enemy soldiers flying after them.

"I think they want to play now," Leon shouted to Avien.

The two stopped their flight and waited for the swarm of soldiers to catch up. Leon estimated they had attracted at least seventy of the enemy soldiers. As the soldiers caught up to them, the swarm began to disperse and surround Leon and Avien, forcing the two to stand back to back.

"Guess we get to see how strong they are now," Leon said aloud. "So far, I'm not that impressed. Although, there are an awful lot of them."

"Bet I beat your count two to one," Avien said over her shoulder.

Leon considered the bet.

"I'll take that," he agreed.

They began fighting off soldiers together as enemies attacked the two from all sides. A soldier flew in to punch Leon, but he blocked the punch with his forearm. Immediately Leon counterattacked with an uppercut to the jaw. As the soldier's body lurched backwards, Leon flew up slightly to bring an axe kick down into the soldier's sternum. The impact sent the soldier flying towards the ground and into a parked vehicle, crushing the metal frame in around the soldier.

Avien managed to catch the foot of a soldier who attempted to strike her in the abdomen. After catching the man's foot, she maneuvered inside the man's thigh and pulled his groin into her raised knee. The soldier coughed heavily over her shoulder. While the man remained momentarily stunned, she placed her hand on his abdomen plate and fired a red, concentrated energy beam through the soldier and into the crowd behind him, easily defeating several enemies with the blast. The close range explosion caused her to brace slightly, and she noticed it caught Leon's attention as well.

She smiled over her shoulder at him. Unfortunately, as she did, she caught the boot of another attacker in the side of the face. The impact sent her spiraling toward the ground with a slight whistling sound. She hit the ground hard, causing dust and debris to launch up into the air.

"Avien!" Leon shouted angrily.

He turned around and launched a large, green energy wave into the soldier responsible, immediately incinerating the soldier and taking several limbs off the soldiers in the group behind him. After the attack, Leon unleashed a wave of energy around his body, pushing the ensuing horde away long enough for him to fly towards the spot where Avien went down. As he flew toward the street, the remaining group of soldiers gave chase behind him.

He glanced back at the group behind him, then back to where Avien had hit the ground. To his surprise, a red energy wave headed his way. He instinctively dodged to the left, rolling around the incoming attack, and looked back to watch the resulting explosion kill several more enemies. He looked back at the energy wave's origin and saw a winded Avien standing with her hands in front of her. He landed next to her noting the few scrapes and bruises she had gotten from the fall.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he put his hand on her shoulder.

"Of course," she lied, reluctant to show any weakness.

Leon could easily tell she took a hit from the fall.

"Stay next to me okay?" he asked. "We'll keep them in front of us this time."

"Sounds great," she said, rubbing her shoulder. "How many you got so far?"

"What?" Leon asked confused.

"How many have you beaten so far?" she clarified. "I think I've gotten fifteen just with energy attacks. Sixteen if you count the guy I shot through."

Leon laughed as he looked back up at the group of soldiers reorganizing and headed their way.

"You may win your bet," he said, looking back at her.

"How many do we have left?" she asked.

"More than a few," he said calmly.

She was still catching her breath. Leon stood in front of her as what was left of the group of soldiers began landing on the street with them.

"You know, you're stronger than I thought you were," she conceded.

"Yeah, Trunks says I can lift a bus," he joked, although he knew she wouldn't get it.

"Okay, I'm ready for round two with these guys," she said as she began to breathe normally again.

"Right, keep them in front of us this time," he instructed.

"Got it," she concurred.

Two soldiers flew forward attacking at the same time. Leon stepped under the soldier's punch and sunk his fist deep in the man's gut. At the same time, the other soldier had tried to punch Avien in the face. She sidestepped the soldier on his inside, driving her elbow deep into his throat from the soldier's own momentum. Leon continued to lift the soldier up with his fist until the man was above Leon's head. He noticed that Avien had moved around the soldier she elbowed to the throat and was moving counter clockwise around the man. He dropped his fist from under the soldier he held up, quickly moving in front of the soldier holding his throat in agony. Avien stepped in under the falling soldier and sent a small, quick energy beam straight up through the man, while Leon unleashed another energy wave into the choking guard which sent him flying into the group behind him. The resulting explosion blew the choking guard in half and defeated several of his comrades. Avien dropped the dead soldier above her to the ground beside Leon.

"Not bad," she complimented him.

He smiled down at her, impressed with her creativity.

"Not bad," he repeated. "I think we're even now though."

"Aww, is no one left?" she asked.

They looked around the empty street. Within seconds, more soldiers flew in from the west.

"We've found them," they heard one of the soldiers say aloud. "Engaging now."

"Shit!" Leon cursed. "They're using radios."

"And?" Avien asked openly.

"And there's no telling who they're broadcasting to," he explained. "Paragus could know everything that's going on right now."

"Surrender now, and we won't kill you," the same soldier instructed.

"You'll understand if I find that to be a bit hard to believe?" Leon asked sarcastically. "Between you blowing up cops in the street and destroying military bases, I just feel like there's a small gap of trust between us, you know?"

"Surrender. I won't ask–," the soldier repeated but was cut off.

Leon launched an energy beam that took the soldier's head clear off and crashed into the building wall across the street. The resulting explosion caved in the wall toward the street crushing a few soldiers that were in the wrong place.

"Stay behind me!" he shouted at Avien.

Leon and Avien readied for another round of combat with a seemingly endless wave of soldiers. However, just before the soldiers rushed the two, they seemed to all lose interest in Leon and Avien completely. Several soldiers pushed their headset against their ear, apparently in an attempt to make sure they were hearing their orders correctly.

"What are they doing?" Avien asked.

"Giving us a break," he answered. "Let's get out of here and back to the street where they were assaulting the defense forces. It will give us a breather and help clear off some of the street."

Without waiting, the two took flight. They flew over and past the soldiers that had cornered them on the street. As they flew back towards the west side of the city, they noticed that none of the soldiers had chased them into the air.

"Why aren't they following us?" she asked Leon.

"No idea," he answered back.

As they neared the section of the city they had flown over on the way in, they noticed that they had managed to draw away most of the ground forces that had been besieging the city earlier.

"At least we slowed them down," Leon commented.

"Yeah, but there's still nearly a hundred of them," Avien reminded him.

They looked at the streets below for a moment. They noticed that all the fighting had stopped.

"Why have they all stopped?" Avien asked.

Leon looked around the city. Everywhere, the remaining soldiers began flying up out of the city and back towards the north side of the city. In the distance, the spacecraft they had seen from the rocky outcrops west of the city was listing to its starboard side rather heavily. They could see traces of smoke fuming from the nose and port side of the ship.

"Maybe they're leaving!" Avien exclaimed. "Maybe Trunks threatened them into leaving."

Leon watched the spacecraft curiously and patiently. It almost seemed that the ship was lower in the sky than it was earlier. He continued to watch the ship and all the soldiers that were flying in its direction.

"They aren't leaving," he said suddenly as he figured out what was going on.

"How can you tell?" she asked him.

"They're staying… permanently," he answered. "Let's go!"

Together they chased after the soldiers fleeing the city towards the spacecraft.

Trunks searched briefly for Leon and Avien's life forces to ensure they were holding their own in the city. After reassuring himself that they were fine, he turned his attention to the crashing spacecraft north of the city. Whatever the Supreme Kai had done, the thing was well on its way to crashing into the nearby snowy ridgeline. Behind him, Trunks could sense the remaining troops that had left the city were now flying his way.

"That wasn't as difficult as I had expected," the Supreme Kai said as he suddenly appeared next to Trunks.

"What did you do?" Trunks asked him.

"I only modified their pilot and engineering settings to my liking," he answered innocently. "The results should only ground the ship."

While the Supreme Kai admired his handiwork and watched the spacecraft fall from the sky, Trunks turned his attention to the small army that flew their way from the city. The remaining soldiers still numbered at least a hundred by Trunks' count but they were too late to stop the fate of their ship. The Supreme Kai watched emotionlessly – while the soldiers watched in horror – as the remaining troops abandoned the doomed spacecraft. The starboard side of the ship crashed heavily into the ridgeline, erupting snow and smoke high into the air around it. As gravity and momentum took their tolls on the hull of the ship, the alarms and subtle hum of the craft's internal power systems began to fade leaving only sporadic fires and smoke emitting from the ship.

Shin smiled to himself.

"That should get the Saiyan's attention," he suggested to Trunks.

"So much for the subtle approach, I guess," the Saiyan replied. "If Paragus didn't know we were here, he sure as hell does now."

"We still need to find out how many Saiyans are left and where they plan to invade," the old Kai reminded. "As Broly and his father draw nearer, it will become increasingly difficult to anticipate the weaker Saiyans' movements."

"Got it," the half-Saiyan agreed. "Now I just need to find this Saidi guy."

"That's Commander Saidi," a foreign voice interjected.

Trunks and the Supreme Kai simultaneously turned their attention towards the warrior who corrected them. Trunks immediately knew the warrior was a Saiyan. Besides the fact that the Saiyan had made it to Trunks and Shin's position well ahead of the remaining soldiers that had abandoned the crashing spacecraft, Trunks could sense the warrior's relatively larger power level. However, Trunks still felt sure that the Supreme Kai alone was more than powerful enough to deal with the Saiyan. For Trunks, it would be a piece of cake.

Commander Saidi had dark green upswept hair, much like Trunks' own father's, but noticeably without the extreme peak in his hairline. Saidi's green eyes had a slight crazed look to them, but Trunks reasoned that it could be due to his uneven eyebrows that appeared to have been scarred on the left side of Saidi's face. Saidi had a similar build to Trunks' own, but was noticeably shorter, perhaps five feet, two inches or so, Trunks guessed. He wore the familiar black suited Saiyan armor that Trunks was familiar with, but the shoulders appeared to have reinforced shoulder guards that Trunks had not seen in his lifetime. Perhaps the strangest feature on Saidi – as far as Trunks was concerned anyway – was the furry, dark green tail that seemed to wrap around Saidi at the waist. The green color still created a noticeable contrast to the black and dark brown armor that the Saiyan wore about his torso.

Trunks and Shin exchanged equally confused looks.

"You bastards will pay with your lives for what you have done to my ship," Saidi continued. "I have no idea how life forms with your kind of fighting power managed to slip under the radar, but soon it won't matter."

Trunks took a moment to take in Saidi's initial response. Either Paragus didn't know about Trunks and Gohan, or he didn't bother to tell his commanders. Trunks wouldn't put it past Paragus to lie to his own. After all, he had only used Broly to try to get rid of anyone standing between him and ruling the universe. Why would he treat anyone else any different?

"What do you want with the Earth?" Shin asked, feinting ignorance. "Why are you here?"

"What does it look like, old man?" Saidi barked. "We're taking over."

"Who's we?" the Supreme Kai continued questioning.

"If I let you live long enough, you can find out," the Saiyan replied angrily. "But first you must pay dearly for destroying my ship."

After the short dialogue, the soldiers that had abandoned the ship with Saidi had finally caught up with their leader. Trunks noticed that they were surrounded by a horde of at least one hundred fifty soldiers. However, he also noticed that Leon and Avien were closing on their location fast and just outside the ring of soldiers that surrounded them.

"Supreme Kai," Trunks spoke up. "If you don't mind, please help Leon and Avien deal with the soldiers. I'll take care of Saidi. I don't want us to expend more time or energy than necessary."

"You'll deal with me?" Saidi shouted. "Are you kidding me?"

"Be careful, Trunks," Shin told his friend.

"I'll be fine," Trunks said seriously.

Wasting no time, Shin fired a series of energy blasts into the three nearest soldiers and flew straight into the horde in the direction of Leon and Avien. The majority of the soldiers took off after the Supreme Kai leaving only a dozen soldiers behind with Trunks and Saidi. Trunks looked around at the remaining soldiers with some sympathy for what would inevitably come next.

"This is your chance to walk away from all this," Trunks told the group. "I know you aren't going to, but I don't want you to say I didn't give you an opportunity."

"Kill him," Saidi grunted.

Before any of the guards could move, Trunks vanished completely. Saidi looked around frantically to try and locate his enemy. As the Saiyan looked around, he suddenly was startled by a warm, wet liquid that splattered across his cheek.

"What the hell?" he asked as he touched his cheek.

It was blood. Saidi's heart sank as he looked at the soldier that had been floating in the air to his right. The soldier had just as horrified a look on his face as Saidi did. The soldier's body had been sliced in half diagonally. The finely clean cut had thrown blood spatter onto the edge of Saidi's face. In the split second, it seemed like time stood still. Saidi's eyes darted between the soldiers that had surrounded the young Earth warrior. All of the dozen soldiers had looks of fear and death about their faces. As time seemed to pick up pace, the soldier's bodies slowly began to separate in the air displaying their mortal wounds. Each of them had been cut down in an instant. Their lifeless body parts separated and fell harmlessly to the ground below.

"Wh-what are you?!" Saidi gasped.

"I'll answer your question if you answer mine," Trunks sneered.

After defeating the surrounding soldiers, Trunks had teleported behind Saidi and now floated back to back with the Saiyan commander.

As Leon and Avien flew closer to the crowd of soldiers it seemed like they were getting closer much faster than they should be. Suddenly, they could see the Supreme Kai flying towards them.

"Supreme Kai?" Avien asked confused.

"This way!" he shouted as he rocketed past them.

A massive group of soldiers closed in on them.

"Like he said," Leon said as he grabbed Avien's wrist and picked up the speed pulling her behind him as they flew after the Supreme Kai and away from the horde of soldiers behind them. Avien squinted her eyes as their speed increased. She was impressed by Leon's incredible speed. After catching up with Shin, Leon slowed down and released Avien's wrist so that she could fly with them.

"I have an idea," Shin shouted to Leon and Avien.

He communicated his plan silently to the two of them telepathically. After a moment of explanation, the Supreme Kai and Avien broke off from following along with Leon. Leon turned to face back towards the group of soldiers chasing him. He gripped his right wrist in front of him channeling as much energy into his right hand as possible. As the group of soldiers flew nearer, they realized he was charging energy for an attack and collectively began preparing to defend from Leon's blast. After Leon's attack was ready, he fired it directly at the anticipating group of soldiers.

Simultaneously, Avien and Shin fired concentrated red and purple energy attacks from the flanks of the group. Several soldiers immediately took notice of the massive energy attacks headed towards them from the sides and diverted their attention away from Leon's attack to defend from the sides. As confusion took over the group, their divided defenses weren't enough to withstand the three sided energy attack. As the red, green and purple waves of energy met in the middle, a massive white energy explosion resulted, incinerating most of the group and leaving the remaining soldiers injured and completely demoralized. The few dozen remaining soldiers stood no chance against Shin, Leon and Avien.

Saidi watched in agony as the explosion in the distance destroyed the majority of his remaining invasion force. He turned around in the air. Trunks had floated away to put a short distance between them. As Saidi faced the half-Saiyan, his gaze fell past Trunks to his broken spacecraft. The battered hull lay on fire against the snowy hillside far down below them.

"You…" Saidi said through gritted teeth. "You're a dead man. You really have no idea what they'll do to you."

"How many of you are there?" Trunks asked directly.

"Piss off," Saidi spat. "You'll never beat all of us."

"Maybe not," Trunks agreed. "But I know for certain that I'm going to beat you."

"Just because we outfit them in our armor doesn't make them Saiyans," Saidi taunted. "You know I'm not as easy as these low-life scum that I sent to conquer the city."

"I'm counting on it," Trunks replied, his eyes narrowing.

Saidi let out a prolonged shout as he expanded his aura and channeled his energy, creating a dark green aura around him. Trunks gave his enemy a bit more distance, gauging the depth of the Saiyan's power. As Saidi's power grew, Trunks was anxious to see if the Saiyan had found the power to become a Super Saiyan yet. However, at the same time, Trunks knew he shouldn't draw the fight out any longer than necessary. He was trying desperately to get the enemy to talk. His telepathic probes throughout the day had proven to be ineffective as the only thing his enemies had on their minds was fear – an indescribable fear of Broly. Trunks hoped that if he could demoralize Saidi enough, he could get the Saiyan to tell him about what was to come.

When Saidi's shouting and impressive light show had subsided, Trunks decided that Saidi was strong enough to become a Super Saiyan, but apparently didn't have the motivation. Trunks knew that transforming into a Super Saiyan would be a gamble. If he did transform it would end the fight quickly and might demoralize Saidi enough to get him to tell Trunks what he wanted to know. On the other hand, doing so could entice Paragus to call off the invasion and simply destroy the Earth to get rid of any possible opposition without a fight. He decided that the risk was too much. He would have to do things the long way.

Trunks began to relax his constrictive nature, allowing his power level to even out naturally. As his power grew, Saidi's scouter began to flicker to life and display read outs – however, false – about what Trunks was capable of. After reaching the point that Trunks' power level evened, he focused his power. As more energy channeled its way through his body, Trunks' power continued to grow. Seven years ago, Trunks and Saidi would have been almost even in power. The harsh years had been good to Trunks' power.

Saidi lunged forward and swung hard at Trunks who simply disappeared and reappeared behind Saidi.

"Over here," he taunted the Saiyan warrior.

Frustrated, Saidi turned and flew towards Trunks in attempt to kick him in the face. Again, Trunks disappeared and reappeared, causing Saidi to chase him.

"You can't run all day!" the Saiyan cursed. "Eventually, you'll have to man up and fight me."

He took another swing at Trunks expecting the half-Saiyan to disappear on him. Saidi was taken by surprise when Trunks easily blocked his punch with a rock solid forearm. The impact actually hurt Saidi's small finger a little. Trunks floated forward quickly and shoved his knee deep into Saidi's abdomen. The Saiyan lunged over Trunks' knee and grunted loudly. Trunks removed his knee from Saidi's gut and struck the Saiyan's back with his elbow. The massive blow sent Saidi rocketing towards the ground below. The Saiyan hit the ground so hard that he created a shallow crater and a small debris cloud from only dirt and snow.

The impact cracked Saidi's armor and completely broke off the left shoulder plate. The Saiyan spat up blood onto the snow around him in the bottom of the crater. The warm, purple plasma melted away the snow quickly and stained the ground.

"You're a half-Saiyan, aren't you?" Trunks asked calmly.

Saidi looked up from the ground. Trunks stood above him at the outer edge of the crater. Saidi spat another spot of blood onto the ground in front of him and stumbled to his feet. He could feel a deep muscular bruise in his left shoulder where the armor plate had broken and held it briefly with his right hand.

"Who are your parents?" Trunks asked curiously.

"Go to hell!" Saidi shouted back. "Why do you ask so many damn questions anyway?"

Trunks remained silent.

Enraged at his inadequacy, Saidi powered up again and flew towards Trunks. The Saiyan engaged Trunks and launched a barrage of punches and kicks that Trunks easily dodged or deflected. Trunks allowed the offensive to continue for a few moments so that Saidi would get tired. When he felt his enemy becoming tired, Trunks sidestepped Saidi's obvious right cross and caught Saidi's wrist with lightening speed. Before Saidi could react, Trunks struck the Saiyan invader's elbow joint inward with an open palm, instantly breaking Saidi's right arm.

The Saiyan warrior screamed in agony and instantly dropped to his knees. Saidi's entire right arm had taken a beating and was now broken. With his enemy on his knees on the ground, Trunks was certain that the fight was over and Saidi was broken. Not far away, the Supreme Kai, Leon, and Avien landed in the snow and watched.

"This fight is finished," Trunks declared softly.

"I can still kill you!" Saidi grunted between breaths and groans.

"How many Saiyans are coming here?" Trunks asked.

"I'm dead anyway," Saidi whined. "Why do you think I want to tell you anything?"

Trunks drew the Z Sword from his sheath. Saidi's attention immediately switched from the dire pain in his arm to the blade in his enemy's hand. Trunks decided to show a few of his cards.

"Let me re-phrase this," Trunks said as he moved closer to Saidi. "How many Saiyans are with Paragus?"

The surprise of Trunks' knowledge of Paragus immediately showed on Saidi's bruised face. Saidi dropped his head and put his left hand over his face. He ran his hand through his hair and took off his scouter. Saidi dropped his scouter on the ground next to him. It's blinking lights continued to function.

"How do you know who Paragus is?" Saidi asked evenly.

"Paragus rules an empire," Trunks reasoned. "Everyone's heard of him."

Saidi shook his head. Trunks was immediately suspicious of the Saiyan's new-found calm, but needed to find out what Paragus was planning.

"No one this far north has heard of him," Saidi argued. "We found that out along the way."

Saidi smiled demonically at his last statement.

"You knew that I was half-Saiyan when you saw my blood, huh?" he continued. "Guess I'm not the first Saiyan you've seen. The way you fight, I'd wager there's more than a little Saiyan in you too."

"Trunks!" Leon shouted as he ran over. "Trunks, the devices they wear on their heads have transmitters in them!"

Trunks turned his attention to Leon long enough to comprehend his warning and then looked back at Saidi whose demonic grin had only grown. Trunks and Saidi both looked down at the blinking scouter on the ground. Saidi reached for the scouter with his left hand, but Trunks quickly released a small energy attack into the snow incinerating the scouter and blowing off a few of Saidi's fingers in the process. The Saiyan shouted loudly in pain again.

"You son of a bitch!" he cursed. "Are you going to torture me until I tell you? Is that it?"

Trunks contemplated it.

"Trunks," Leon pleaded, shaking his head no.

Trunks looked down at the broken Saiyan. As he focused on Saidi's thoughts, several of his questions were answered.

"Paragus is your father," Trunks told him.

Saidi looked shakily up at Trunks.

"Your mother was part of a race of people he conquered," Trunks continued as he sheathed his sword. "You never knew her… I'm sorry."

"Shove your sorry," Saidi cried as tears swelled in his eyes.

"Paragus sent you to conquer North City," Trunks explained. "You really don't know what his plan is, do you? I expected he wouldn't tell you certain things, but he really hasn't told you anything, has he?"

"He'll kill me for failing to take the city," Saidi cried to himself. "Do you think he knew that it would end like this for me?"

Trunks looked at his fallen enemy, curious about the sudden change in demeanor.

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "How many other Saiyans are there, Saidi?"

"It doesn't matter," the Saiyan conceded.

"Why is that?" Trunks asked.

"Because the only one that matters is the one that is going to destroy this world," he explained. "His name is Broly…"

"We've met," Trunks cut him off.

"And you lived?" Saidi asked. "I am impressed. In that case you don't need me to tell you what kind of fight you are in for."

"No, I don't," Trunks snapped. "Are you going to tell me how many Saiyans are on their way here?"

Saidi sat silently for a moment but then looked up at Trunks.

"Trunks, is it?" Saidi began. "You are a Saiyan aren't you? In fact, you're half Saiyan?"

"Which one of those is your question?" he replied sharply.

"Are you a Saiyan?" Saidi asked hesitantly.

"Half," Trunks answered, feeling sympathetic.

"I see," the fellow Saiyan said humbly. "At least I was beaten by a Saiyan…"

Trunks felt his sympathy grow for the Saiyan. He felt at least there was some understanding between them. As irrational as it sounded in his head, there was a sense of civility between them that Trunks knew was absent from almost all of the enemies he had faced over the years. In a way, it was sad. He considered that they were the last of an entire race and found themselves fighting each other when perhaps they had a common enemy in Saidi's brother, Broly. He pushed aside his philosophical thoughts.

"How many Saiyans are on their way to Earth?" he asked finally.

"No more questions," Saidi said finally. "Kill me and get it over with."

"Fine," Trunks sighed.

Trunks attempted to read Saidi's mind, but the entire process was starting to give Trunks a headache. Perhaps there was a limit to how much mind reading he could do? It certainly didn't help when the participant wasn't willing. Despite how hard Trunks tried, Saidi was determined not to think about the other Saiyans… Only his failure. Saidi seemed completely consumed by his failure to please his father.

Trunks gave up on trying to pry answers out of Saidi's mind. Soon enough they would find out how many Saiyans were coming anyway. Saidi had revealed that he was tasked with taking North City, so perhaps part of Paragus' plan was to capture the major cities. That would make sense. If that was the case, Trunks knew it was time to move on. He turned and walked away from Saidi with his friends.

"Where the hell are you going?" the Saiyan called out. "You can't just leave!"

Saidi fell into a sickness of grief, consumed by the anger of his own failure to fulfill his mission. Saidi slowly got to his feet.

"You won't leave here while I'm alive!" he shouted.

Trunks and his friends stopped from walking away. Trunks turned around and the others followed his lead.

"You're finished Saidi," Trunks told him. "Don't make this worse than it already is. Paragus will send Broly to hunt you down. If I were you, I'd figure out how to get that ship running again and get off this planet and as far away as I could."

"You can't stop him, Trunks," Saidi argued. "You can stop the Legendary Super Saiyan. No one can!"

"I've seen it done before," Trunks stated. "We'll figure it out. Maybe then Broly won't find you. But if you ever come back to Earth again causing trouble, I'll kill you myself."

"Then I'm dead either way!" Saidi shouted.

He shouted as he charged up energy into his bloody left hand. It was too late. Saidi fired a green energy wave at Trunks and his friends. Trunks immediately became a Super Saiyan to overpower the attack and keep his friends safe. He fired an energy wave back at Saidi's and forced the wave all the way back to its origin. When the attack exploded in front of Saidi, the Saiyan's body was blown apart in an instant.

No sooner had the dust cleared, than Trunks and Supreme Kai exchanged glances. They could sense the nearing dark power over West City. Trunks' entire thoughts and concern immediately surrounded his mother's safety. They could also sense Gohan's Super Saiyan power in South City. Gohan had his hands full.

"We have to go," Super Saiyan Trunks told the others. "Now."