Dragon Ball X
Hiya, guys! Well, Part 1 of the first OVA is now out and published, available on my profile. Make sure to read the parts of the OVAs as they come out, because they're canon to the story and are important in the long run. You'll see why eventually.
So, enough beating about the bush. On with the chapter!
000
Like a geyser, water fountained from the cracked, broken road, sending a fine mist in all directions. It sprayed across the asphalt and against the buildings adjacent to the main street, darkening the walls. Kenta didn't even notice the water dampening his hair and clothes as he peered over the lip of the pit, into the crater. There was a lump in his throat, and an even bigger one in his stomach. The energy output from the centre of the crater was enormous. Horus' mercenaries were no weaklings. Primal was nothing.
In the distance, sirens blared, and Kenta gritted his teeth without even realising it. Sirens meant police, and normal Haviens were completely out of their league here. Kenta bit his lip; already people had begun to disregard the danger and gather, looking as one into the pit, where the three aliens watched back. The massive one – who looked like he could wrap his fingers around someone's neck and touch his thumb and forefinger together – grunted, his wide mouth opening to reveal a set of tombstone-like teeth. A green scouter was attached to the side of his face, specially made to fit his specifications. A similar device – this one with a red lens – decorated the cheek of his associate, the tiny alien. He was barely a metre tall.
"Oki. Puchi."
It was the third alien who had spoken. Her creepily wide eyes lay directly on Kenta, as if drawn to him. He shivered; even her voice sounded like poison. It was heavy and lustful, deeper than Kenta was accustomed to, but also smooth and enticing, like wicked honey.
The woman's spongy tongue lashed. She raised a delicate looking finger and touched it to the button on her red Scouter. Kenta saw alien figures flicker across the tinted glass. Suddenly it beeped very loudly, and the rush of foreign numbers settled on a single symbol. For a moment, the owner looked surprised, her pointed ears twitching.
"My, my," she hissed slowly, and then her eyes were back on Kenta. "Aren't you a little toughie?"
"Hey, who the hell are you!" shouted a man somewhere on Kenta's right. Similar demands responded around the crater, and the first man stepped up to the edge, presenting his chest to the three aliens. "This isn't your city to bust up!"
"Get back!" yelled Kenta urgently. The man dully turned his head, taking a second to register the shouted command, but death was already on his way. The massive exterminator in the pit shifted his weight and left the ground; his massive body looked almost silly flying. The weightlessness didn't look possible. It took less than a second to clear the distance between him and the man who had shouted, who didn't even see him coming.
"Move!" grunted Kenta as he threw himself at the helpless Havien. He managed to shove the man out of harm's way, but that left him no time to counter; the incoming mercenary had absolutely no hesitation changing targets, slamming his hammer-like fist into the youth. Kenta let out a brief bark of pain as the attack broke through his hasty guard, before the kinetic energy sent his body hurtling backwards. The solid concrete and steel wall of one of the buildings behind him cracked and exploded into clouds of choking dust and particles. Kenta disappeared under the wreckage. Glass shattered as the entire building swayed, a sixteen-storey apartment block.
People screamed as the tower shifted, but it stayed upright. Most simply stared in horror at where Kenta had been lost from sight. The huge cream-coloured henchman stood with one foot out of the crater, balancing on the slope. He cracked his knuckles against each other and leered at the man Kenta had pushed from his way. He looked big enough to swallow a bowling ball whole.
The momentarily-rescued man had landed awkwardly on the road, spraining his wrist, but that was the least of his worries now. Completely ignoring the pain shooting up his arm, he scrambled backwards as fast as his crab-walk could take him, before reaching a car; the owner had deserted it on the side of the road, preferring to run.
"W-Who are you people?" he cried.
The enormous alien showed off his set of crushing teeth, grinding them together. "You can call me Oki, little man. See you in Hell!"
He stepped out of the crater fully and closed his fist. Just as the Havien closed his eyes and curled into a ball, there was a loud crunching noise. Oki stopped moving and looked around, surprised. Just in time to see the pile of shattered cement blocks and rubble shift. With a loud grunt, Kenta rolled the biggest chunk off his body and staggered to his feet, legs threatening to give way under him. White chalk covered the warrior's body and he was panting heavily, but nevertheless he fixed Oki with a hard gaze.
"Hey," said Oki accusingly. "You should be dead."
Kenta took a painful swallow; his chest was aching from the blow and his back was killing him where he'd hit the wall. "I don't think I'm going to go down that easy."
"I've already taken a fair bit of damage, and I don't have my sword with me," thought Kenta, surreptitiously leaning against the uneven edge of the broken wall. It wouldn't be good to let his enemies see how much the blow had taken out of him. "This won't be easy, especially without anyone to back me up. Three against one aren't my favourite odds."
There weren't many spectators left now, just a few people too thick to realise that they should get the hell out of there. Oki lost interest in the cowering man and turned to face Kenta fully.
"Now!"
"Run, all of you!" yelled Kenta, before snapping into action. Casting off the pain from the collision with the building, he sprinted across the sidewalk and flickered, his body seeming to speed up. Before you could blink, he was in front of Oki, and the giant caught his fist in a heartbeart.
"Ha!" Oki chuckled. "Nice try, little Havien."
Kenta froze, in shock. He hadn't expected a fast enough response to block. Changing tactics, he grabbed the invader's arm with his free hand and used it to pull himself into the air, swinging his right foot around in an arc for Oki's neck. That too was countered just in time. This time, Oki grunted at Kenta's leg struck at the arm he'd used to block the attack. They grappled for a few seconds, Oki pushing back the leg and Kenta struggling to break through his guard.
Their problem was solved fairly quickly, as Oki's compatriot joined the squabble. The tiny alien looked laughably fragile next to Oki's gargantuan frame, but Kenta had no doubt that he was just as dangerous.
The diminutive extra-terrestrial zipped into the air until he had a clear shot over Oki's head, before extending his pointer finger and letting loose with a volley of orange ki blasts. Kenta disengaged from Oki immediately, backflipping wildly along the tarmac down the street just ahead of the ki blasts. They exploded wildly like firecrackers when they hit the ground, shooting sparks and acrid smoke and leaving tiny craters in the asphalt. Kenta skidded to a halt in a crouch, casting his gaze into the air just in time to see the dwarf descend to the ground in front of Oki.
"I-I-I-I-I-I-I'm Puchi!" he trilled dramatically, his voice rather high in pitch and nasally. Kenta breathed heavily as he beheld the two partners; standing behind, the colossal Oki, at least two metres tall and as big as a house. And in front, the miniscule Puchi, complete with helmet and squinty eyes. He barely came up to Oki's kneecaps.
"Just my luck…" grunted Kenta under his breath. "This is not looking good…"
000
"We're out of time," exclaimed Zeang, his bulbous head screwed up in concentration. "They got here a lot faster than we thought they would." Within seconds, he brought up some sort of schematic upon the screen; Arnika still couldn't read it, the letters completely foreign to her. Since the computer had been built entirely based on the CPU design of the Scouter, Zeang still hadn't gotten around to programming the translation yet.
"This won't be easy," said Zeang. "The Trinity is beyond dangerous. They might only have three members, but they're even stronger than the Ginyu Force! Ferris won't be able to take them all on by himself, even at his level. Even with the Kaio-Ken on his side, he's still outmatched."
Another few seconds and the schematic on the screen grew larger, splitting until there was a 3D blueprint projection. Arnika recognised it as an exact replica of Nao City. Zeang's technical expertise with the alien technology astounded her. She felt a pang of jealousy as she remembered just why the man had been part of Frieza's organisation. It hadn't been for his fighting skills.
With the precision of someone who had been doing it his entire life, Zeang manoeuvred his way through the city, pinpointing the location of Horus' men through their high concentrations of energy and honing in on them.
"They're right in the heart of the city," mused Zeang, looking confused. "But this says…that can't be. It doesn't make any sense!"
"What?"
"I'm picking up four significant power levels."
"Four?" gasped Arnika. She examined the screen; the entire 3D map of the city was tinted orange, and sure enough, there were four bright pulses splayed across the main street, blinking incessantly.
Zeang's dexterous fingers tapped at the keys like the computer was a piano, and walls of text scrolled up beside the schematic of Nao City. His jaw almost literally dropped.
"It's Kenta!"
"WHAT?" shrieked Arnika, shoving Zeang out of the way and glaring at the foreign-looking symbols, completely nonsensical to her eyes. "Are you telling me that my brother's fighting those freaks alone? What's he doing there?"
"He doesn't know what he's getting himself into," intoned Zeang gravely. "Kenta might stand a chance against Oki and Puchi, just barely. But if Ursula joins in the fight, he'll be killed for sure…"
000
Kenta's shoes scuffed against the sidewalk as he skidded backwards, arms crossed in front of his chest. He had barely a second to rest before a storm of searing orange ki bullets sliced towards him. Kenta didn't even try to block, simply leaping as far as his legs could take him and flipping rather ungracefully through the air. His legs buckled slightly as he landed. Thankfully, the streets surrounding the crater were almost completely bare now, and for that Kenta was grateful.
Because if anyone was still out they probably would have been killed by now.
Like insanely souped-up firecrackers, the ki blasts exploded in a shower of sparks as they hit the pavement, sending a wave of smoke across the street. Kenta threw up his hands to protect his face from a hail of rubble and razor sharp debris. The smoke dispersed, revealing the remains of the sidewalk; it looked like a warzone.
"Hya!" grunted Puchi as he landed on the top of a street pole; his tiny body perched perfectly on the head of the thin obelisk. "You're actually pretty good!"
There was a tremendous crunching noise followed by a thunderous crack as the street split in two, an enormous rift running down the centre. Kenta sprung to the side to avoid the rapidly developing fissure and then immediately ducked as Puchi's helmeted head came straight for him. The tiny alien missed his headbutt by only a few centimetres, ploughing into the pavement behind Kenta. Once again, the Havien was interrupted before he could counter the strike, as Oki's huge mass barrelled down the now-divided street and lunged at him. Kenta pushed off from the ground and skipped over Oki's punch, running up the giant man's arm and flipping over his head, landing in a crouch. Oki spun, his arm swinging like a tree branch, and smacked Kenta across the face, throwing him several metres away from the deadly duo.
Not half a second later, an orange streak lit up the street only metres from his face. Kenta's eyes widened briefly before the energy expanded into a deafening crackle of sparks and lightning and then everything was a bright white as the ball exploded.
Puchi giggled delightedly as a shockwave rippled through the surrounding area, crushing the concrete beneath their feet like it was Styrofoam. Several cars were blown from the tarmac to smash into the buildings around them. Kenta gasped as a huge SUV skidded along the road towards him and braced his body with ki just in time for the behemoth to fold around him, the metal twisting and knocking Kenta right off his feet. He gave a yell as it rolled over on top of him, completely obscuring the Havien from view.
Smoke billowed from the small crater where Puchi's energy ball had detonated, and the two exterminators stared at the wreckage of the SUV lying a short distance away. Oki nudged his smaller companion, cream fingers each the size of Puchi's entire arm.
"Dead as a space-duck. Not so majestic once they're lying in a heap, eh?"
"You got that right, Oki!" cackled Puchi. He feigned wistfulness: "Shame I had to kill him. So much potential wasted." The alien smirked again, showing off pointy little teeth. "But if he went down that easily, it couldn't have been too much!"
Oki began trudging back down the street to where the third member of the Trinity still waited. Puchi scurried after him, taking into the air and hovering above the tarmac.
"As soon as Ursula gives us the go ahead we can start the slaughter," said Oki, cracking his knuckles in preparation. "I'm looking forward to that part, aren't you?"
Puchi nodded and swooped over to the giant, now level with Oki's shoulder. But as he began to cackle once again, there came a very loud crunch from behind them.
Oki stopped in surprise, looking back. He had to turn his entire body to do so, lacking the neck. Puchi turned as well, and was so shocked that he dropped almost a foot out of the air. The SUV was shifting, rocking back and forth, when suddenly it lifted entirely off the ground, swaying gently as Kenta rose to his full height, the family-sized vehicle held warily above his head. A white aura surrounded his body, but quite suddenly a red spark shot through it. Oki started.
"Wha-? He's not dead at all! That's the second time this has happened to me with this kid."
Puchi landed on the asphalt, teeth bared. "Oi, kid! Why won't you stay dead?"
Kenta breathed heavily, spitting a small mouthful of blood onto the ground next to him. It soaked quickly into the tar, dying it a dark brown. With an uncharacteristic scowl, Kenta turned his glaring eyes on Oki and Puchi. The duo instinctively moved a step closer together.
"Playtime's over. My move," growled Kenta, and the muscles in his arms bulged and his flickering aura swelled even larger. With a loud grunt, Kenta pulled the SUV over his shoulders, and for a moment the enormous topweight of the vehicle threatened to tear the main body directly off the chassis. But then it was careening back over the Havien's head and beginning a direct course for where Oki and Puchi stood waiting.
"HRAAHH!"
Kenta released his grip on the vehicle and it left his hands, rolling several times in the air as it lurched down the street. Oki and Puchi faded from sight as they took to the air in identical movements, and the makeshift projectile missed, ramming into the street and bouncing wildly. The cabin buckled under the weight when it landed on its roof, and all four wheels were ripped from the body, as well as two doors and bizarrely, the steering wheel.
Kenta tore his eyes from the impressive and expensive wreckage, tracking his opponent's movements with expert eyes. They pulled from their ascensions twenty storeys up, hovering alongside the buildings.
"Oh, blast!" shouted Puchi as he saw Kenta staring up at them. "How did he keep up with us so fast?"
Oki raised one of his sausage fingers and jabbed at the button on the side of his green Scouter, quickly isolating this Havien's Power Level and scanning it. The numbers jumped back and forth across the eyepiece, but were going haywire.
"Who is this guy?" Oki stammered.
Kenta's body rippled and his aura focussed under him. With an explosive decompression of ki from the soles of his feet, Kenta rocketed up into the air after his enemies, leaving a sizable crater beneath him.
Oki's Scouter beeped urgently for a moment and displayed a solid number before completely malfunctioning, shooting sparks and smoke and then literally falling apart right then and there. "It was over 90,000!" he yelled, and the next second Kenta was in their midst. Oki's jaw sagged as Kenta fist plunged into his stomach.
Kenta allowed himself a grin of satisfaction as he finally inflicted visible pain onto the larger one. Until now any blows had either been blocked or pretty much ignored. The Havien was already growing weary; he'd been punched almost through a building and then almost crushed under a several-tonne car. He knew that if he hadn't have protected his body with ki, the SUV could have done some serious damage. They may be super-powered fighters, but a significant part of that strength came from the energy in their bodies and its manipulation.
Kenta pulled his fist away from Oki and backtracked quickly through the air until he was at least twenty metres away. The three fighters formed a triangle between themselves; only, two of the corners wanted to gang up on the other. They watched him warily – Puchi's squinty little eyes narrowed and his fingers were twitching. Oki just looked enraged that Kenta had managed to land a hit on him. But both of them had a new look in their eyes now. One of wariness. They'd seen that he wasn't some pipsqueak now.
Kenta's jaw ached from the blow across the face a minute earlier, and the subsequent energy attack from Puchi hadn't done him any favours. He could feel blood coagulating inside his nose. Kenta lacked the stamina of the Saiyans. He had to gain the advantage.
"On their own, neither of these two are at my level," he thought. "That's where their advantage comes from; they can work as a team." Kenta remembered to their scuffle before. As soon as Kenta went to strike one, the other would wade in and distract him. When he tried to attack them, the first would intercept his blow from behind. "I have to get them on their own, or they'll never let me win."
He flickered his gaze past the alien duo to their landing site, several hundred metres away. "And there's still that third one. I don't even know what she's like, but I'm guessing it's not good."
"Enough standing around!" bellowed Oki suddenly. "I'm going to kill you for good this time!"
And with that, he launched forward, crossing the gap in the air and filling it with a fist. Kenta dodged just in time, ducking to the side and descending slightly. He came to a stop on the side of the building, pressing his feet against it and standing against the wall. Grimacing as his head spun, Kenta raised his head to the aliens just in time to see Puchi streaking towards him, cackling madly. His fingers were held at the ready, tips glowing ominously.
"HWOOORRRHH!" he screamed, and then hundreds of orange ki blasts were shooting from his fingers like darts, firing at the side of the building. Kenta sprinted across the surface, weaving madly as energy exploded all around him. The windows shattered into infinite pieces and glass rained upon the street below, and then the ki blasts were firing into the building. Screams and panicked shouts came from within as the office inside exploded with orange energy.
Kenta gathered his energy around his feet and left the wall, spinning in midair before he could regain his flight. Still flying upside down, he stretched both his arms to their maximum length and placed the bases of his palms together. His hands glowed.
"Burning Current!" cried Kenta, and an energy wave of his own burst from his hands. The crimson ki roared at Puchi, who didn't have enough time to block it. Suddenly, Oki dropped from above, placing himself between the beam and Puchi. The giant swung his arm and connected with the energy, deflecting it off at a different angle. The beam crashed into the side of an adjacent skyscraper and blew straight through.
"Oh no!" shouted Kenta as he saw his own attack penetrate the tower. "People are getting hurt. But…if I don't fight all out, I'll only get killed myself. And then everyone in Nao City will die."
There was a colossal groan of steel as the skyscraper snapped in half; the damage was too great to sustain. There came a thousand screams from both in the tower and surrounding offices as the upper half of the skyscraper fully ripped from the base and fell. Every window was crushed under the pressure as it collapsed onto several other buildings, rending straight through them. A cloud of dust and rubble mushroom-clouded into the sky. The sound was louder than anything Kenta had ever heard.
"I wouldn't let my guard down if I were you!" hissed Oki, and suddenly he was right in front of Kenta and lashing out. Kenta screamed in frustration and anger, his rage giving him power. He easily intercepted the blow, and then grabbed onto Oki's forearm. It was about as thick as a tree trunk, but Kenta dug his fingers into the solid mass and found a purchase.
"Leave this planet alone!" he roared, and began to spin, pulling Oki with him. The giant shouted as he was dragged in a wide arc by this Havien youth, and felt the wind piercing at his face as he built speed. With seconds he was a blur, Kenta spinning the behemoth in dizzying circles. Quite suddenly, he let go, and Oki was thrown through the air at enormous speed. He ripped directly through a nearby office, smashing apart desks and partitions before tumbling out the other side, beginning the long fall to the ground below.
Meanwhile Puchi quailed as Kenta turned a murderous gaze on him. The Havien's white aura was beginning to darken significantly, and had a slight red tinge about it. And without Oki to back him up, Puchi was at a massive disadvantage.
Better go on the offensive then.
"Take this!" he screeched, thrusting out his arms and letting rip. The ensuing hellstorm of ki bullets was wild and uncontrollable, shooting in all directions and detonating madly against every surface. Kenta was forced to wheel backwards in the air to evade the worst of it, but not before several buildings took a massive load of damage. Very quickly, rubble and chunks of steel and cement joined the energy blasts. Smoke and dust filled the air.
By the time the air had cleared, most of the surrounding city had been destroyed, and a shocked silence filled the city. On the streets below, the emergency services had finally begun to arrive, and they came by the dozen. Ambulances, firetrucks, and police cars. Sirens filled the air.
Puchi hung in the air, breathing extremely heavily and hunching over. He wretched, but nothing came up. Which was good, because when his species vomited it was not a pretty sight. Kenta was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn that kid," stammered Puchi under his breath. He hadn't expected this much of a fight from such a backwards planet. This made no sense at all. Dimly, Puchi realised that he'd never fought someone like this before. The Havien's power was admirable.
"Looking for me?" grunted a voice, and Puchi's eyes shot open in shock. The voice had come from directly behind him, and it didn't sound happy.
The kick came swift and unforgiving, directly in the centre of the diminutive alien's back. He shrieked in pain, but allowed the strike to knock him far away from the Havien. As soon as he regained control over his flight, Puchi spun in midair, fingers at the ready…
The sight that met his eyes quite literally stopped him in his tracks. The Havien hadn't gone to move any closer, but his hands were together at the base, palms glowing. His aura was surging and flickering like mad.
"Oh…" said Puchi, as Kenta shifted his weight, ready to hurl the deadly energy attack. "Bugger. I guess this is it then…"
Kenta finished charging his attack, and sparks fired from his searing hands. His green eyes - normally innocent and friendly – were as hard as steel as he stared into Puchi's tiny irises.
"Disappear now!" he cried, and bunched up his muscles, preparing to launch the atta-
SWIZCH!
Kenta's face exploded in a fountain of blood as something streaked across the city and impacted with his face. Even Puchi blanched as the Havien was blown right out of the air, spinning head over heels and beginning the long fall to the ground. But then, before he'd fallen even a metre, a purple clawed hand materialised into existence and caught him by the neck.
"Did you quite feel that, boy?" a deep thick voice whispered gently.
"U-Ursula!" gasped Puchi, his heart beating like a drum.
000
Kenta drifted. He was dimly aware of a blinding pain in his forehead and something cold around his throat. Warm blood soaked his face, plugging up his nose and gluing his eyelids together.
"What happened?" he asked himself, but was too far out to think. It was hard enough fighting off the shadows that threatened to entangle his mind. Tendrils of darkness that tickled his brain. Kenta went to smile at the sensation, but couldn't find the energy to achieve the action. It was beyond him.
This revelation rang alarm bells somewhere inside him, but the dark cloud smothered those urgent thoughts and suffocated them. Entranced, Kenta fell back into the darkness. It surrounded him on all sides, closing in with every passing second. Was it the momentary unconsciousness? Or was it something more…? Kenta knew that something was happening to him. Something that he'd never felt before until now.
The cold sweet embrace of death.
It lured him in. The peacefulness of it all. How easy it would be to just let go and drift like this forever.
"No…NO!"
Part of him protested, fighting back against the cloud. It tightened its hold, but Kenta fought back. "Open your eyes. You can't die now, the world is depending on you."
"Why not?" suggested another part of him, the part content with just letting go. "You owe them nothing, after all. Why should you have to fight for them at all? All you have to do is die, and then your struggles will all be over."
"Why should I die?" fought back the noble side. "The coward's way out. I won't let myself fall into that trap!"
"It'll be easier. Just give in!"
"NO!"
The darkness flinched and pulled back. Kenta pressed on, driving that cloud away with every fibre of his being.
Kenta came back in consciousness with a choked gasp, coughing up a mouthful of blood. It ran down his jaw and spilled onto the cold ring around his windpipe. A cold ring he now realised was actually the iron grip of ice-cold fingers. Kenta felt his strength drain his body as if he had a puncture. He couldn't move, and had to be content with a pained breath through his parched lips. It was barely enough oxygen to keep him awake.
"One blow…" he thought dimly. "They almost killed me with one blow."
The owner of the merciless fingers smiled cruelly, and tightened her grip. The boy could hardly struggle, and she liked it that way. Ursula's claws dug into his skin as she held him above the sheer drop to the ground. She pulled the boy closer until her mouth was against his ear.
"You have guts," she said, so quietly she almost couldn't hear herself. "I like that, you know. Pulling yourself back from the brink; I'm surprised you're not dead right now."
The Havien's pulse was very faint under her fingers. She stared lovingly at his blood-soaked face. Ursula's thick veiny tongue unravelled from within her mouth and teased the tip of it against the boy's cheek, feeling the taste of his blood. Then, slowly, she ran the tongue up his face, drawing the red liquid into her mouth. With every inch, the tongue swelled, its spongy surface writhing.
"Can you feel me on you?" she moaned, caressing her tongue around Kenta's chin, lapping up every drop of blood. "Your taste…is alluring!"
Kenta's eyes opened so wide that his entire pupil was visible, the whites of his eyes showing at the top and the bottom. They rolled in their sockets, and a groan escaped his mouth.
"N-no…"
Ursula's tongue stopped its lashing for a second, and she smiled wickedly, unnaturally wide eyes almost glowing with glee.
"What was that?"
Kenta blinked, drawing in breath. "I…s-said…no. Get o-o-off me, witch."
Ursula's fingers tightened impossibly, and Kenta flinched, gasping for breath. Ursula's tongue ran up his face again, its pointed tip poking at every crevasse of his face in broad strokes. It felt horrible and spongy, and by now was stained red with his own blood. The red substance ran from his shattered nose and a wide gash on his forehead.
"I own you now, boy. You belong to me."
The tongue circled his eyes and squeezed partway up one of his nostrils. With every second, Kenta felt something touching his mind. A corrupting snake that wormed into his brain and invaded his thoughts.
"I've met hundreds like you, and they've all met the same end."
Kenta forced his mouth shut as this freak's tongue swept over his lips, as if trying to find a way inside. The veins swelled, and the force on his mind strengthened tenfold. It was impossible to think straight. The darkness was closing in.
"Now, boy…you'll die!"
"NO!
Kenta's eyes slammed shut, and when they opened again his hand had risen from his side, to clamp around this witch's tongue and force it away from his face. The purple muscle writhed within his grasp, but with every ounce of his strength he held it away from him. As soon as it had left his face, the pressure on his mind had been released.
"It was all an illusion," he thought desperately. But still he knew that if not for his last-second willpower, he would have been completely under this woman's spell. And dead.
To his chagrin, Ursula didn't even seem to be taken aback, and her tongue retracted back into her mouth, pulled easily from Kenta's weak grip.
"You're full of surprises," she hissed almost lovingly, pulling Kenta closer. Her fingers were still wrapped tightly around his windpipe, barely leaving enough capacity to even draw the shallowest of breaths. "You've impressed me, child. Not many people can stand up to that and even stay conscious."
Her eyes twitched, and that smile was back. Then, she leaned in close and whispered in his ear.
"I want to see just how much you can withstand. Your mind is strong, child, and I've seen what your body can do to my comrades. But it's helpless before me."
And quite suddenly, she let go.
Kenta dimly felt the wind rushing past his face, and his body fell like a ragdoll, completely unable to stop himself. His energy was all spent, every single bit. The sky was zooming away from him, the ruined upper levels of the skyscrapers around him growing higher and higher. And there, right above him, a mauve-skinned dark beauty watching him fall to his death.
The beauty moved.
One second she was a speck in the distance, and then suddenly her taloned foot was slamming into his stomach. Kenta screamed at the sheer agony of it, as the razor claws drove into the soft skin of his belly. Then the ground was beneath him and Ursula drove him twenty metres into the road.
The shockwave would be enormous, but Kenta didn't even notice it. His entire body was simply on fire with unimaginable pain. Ursula cried out in sheer ecstasy, and she pulled him out of the dark hole and flung his limp body into the air. Kenta spun past the buildings, the wind threatening to tear his face right off his skull. A clawed hand dug into his ankle and then he was being swung around.
000
Puchi flinched in genuine horror as his companion latched her fingers around the Havien's leg. She scared him, that was the absolute truth. Puchi liked suffering and death, particularly when he was the one inflicting it, but he could never quite stomach the extent that Ursula went to. For her, it was her entire reason for being. It reached orgasmic levels.
She went above and beyond. Unimaginable horrors were her speciality, and she could torture someone like no one else could, second only to Lord Horus. He was ten times worse. But Ursula always had that special touch.
The tiny alien felt sick as he watched the carnage. The purple torturess swung the boy at an ungodly speed near the buildings, and his head carved a path through the steel, the metal parting before him. The Havien's screams were ear-piercing, but Ursula didn't stop, just flying across the street and doing it again, the entire time with a sadistic grin on her face. Puchi flinched again as Ursula threw the boy towards the ground. He impacted for the second time, and his arm snapped like a twig when he threw it out to stop his trajectory.
Puchi descended to the ground. He couldn't watch this anymore; he'd kill the boy himself if he had to.
Ursula had touched down a few metres away and she saw Puchi land, shooting him a deadly wink before stalking closer to the quivering body of Kenta. His shoulders wracked and shivered, and as the alienness rolled him over onto his stomach with a clawed foot, Puchi saw the tears pouring from his eyes.
Ursula smiled.
CRUNCH!
The boy screamed again, louder than any time before, as his ribs were shattered by the stomp. It was a terrible sound, so desperate for the pain to stop. Ursula kicked his side and he actually lifted from the ground, landing on his stomach. Kenta's broken arm bent under his body and the bone protruded from the skin, puncturing through.
"Still alive?" cackled Ursula, stomping on the back of his head. It smashed into the tarmac of the road, driving into the ground. She stomped again, and again.
"Soon you'll be begging me to kill you!"
She picked up the boy and tossed him against a building. The Havien bounced off the wall, leaving a smatter of blood, and landed with a thud on the pavement. There was a bright flash as Ursula unloaded an energy burst into his stomach, causing the Havien to lift off the ground and slam into the wall again. He raggedly drew a breath, and struggled to rise on his remaining good arm.
Ursula kicked it out from under him and bent over, plucking Kenta from the ground. She held him by the tattered remains of his gi, forcing him to his knees before backhanding himacross the cheek. Kenta crumpled onto his back, sobbing gently. He didn't have the energy to scream anymore.
"Die, brat!" Ursula whispered, and raised a clawed foot, enormous talon twitching in anticipation. It hovered over Kenta's throat. "It all ends here."
"HYARGH!"
Ursula twisted in alarm, but wasn't fast enough to stop the phantom blur coming from the corner of her eye. She screeched as something hard collided with her jaw, blasting her off her feet and knocking her backwards. She stumbled back along the street, gazing in pure hatred at her attacker.
Puchi gaped in amazement, but barely had a second before his neck snapped and he was dead. The alien's tiny body collapsed to the ground in a heap, motionless. Meanwhile, the shadow that had killed him flipped back and landed between Kenta and Ursula, who glared at the newcomer with evil eyes.
"Who are you to strike me, vermin?"
000
Kenta's eyes were blurred, but he forced himself to see through the pain…
A billowing white cape rippled in the wind that rushed down the street. It hung around the neck of a tall faultless figure, arms folded in front of its chest. A turban sat upon the figure's head, and he wore a tight blue martial arts gi, perfectly fitted to his muscular but slender body. Pink patches adorned the man's arms, standing out against the dark green of his skin.
The corner of Kenta's mouth twitched upwards in a energy-using smile, and he passed out, allowing the darkness at the edge of his vision to creep in. But not before he heard a deep voice answer in response to the question posed.
"The guardian of Haven, who's ultimate fury knows no bounds. My name is Korros, she-devil. Your fight is with me now."
000
SHAZAM!
See you next chapter ;)
