Authors Note: Thanks for the review Jeff, I really appreciate it. If not to inspire me to update more often (so I don't think I'm just uploading a story to entertain myself hehe) but to point out my flaws better. As for your comment about power levels, I have to apologize. I actually intended to list everyone's power level at least once at some point in the story. And have readings as battles ensued and powers fluctuated. The reason I kinda skipped over this is because I have a secret file with everyone's official power levels (mostly to avoid consistency issues) so what ends up happening is I forget to put them in the story. DBD 3 should resolve this little oversight (as I have dbd2 completed already, just need to format them and upload which is sort of a pain).
"You stupid juvenile piece of shit," Kulner spat out angrily. "I'm going to kill you and your little whore."
I could feel Ayana's body tighten in rage but I simply grabbed her by the arm and pulled her behind me. Not in a protective manner, but rather a vengeful one.
"No Ayana. I told him he'd never lay another hand on you and I meant it." I cracked my knuckles as my ki flared menacingly. "He's mine."
"You can't seriously expect us to all-" Havnar was cut off by Kulner's arrogant retort.
"No...have at me you stupid monkey!" His sneer lit up the by light of the full moon.
I closed my eyes for a moment, centering my ki, then snapped them open in time to see Kulner launch a wide hay maker at my face. I ducked under it slamming a knee into his stomach as I curled my hands into fists. Pivoting around so I ended up behind Kulner I snapped a kick into the back of his knee causing him to drop to a kneeling position.
"Get up, I barely touched you." I commanded him.
Growling he gets up throwing a wild back fist as he turned to face me, but I was miles ahead of him still. In my peripheral vision I saw Havnar flinch before I'd even slammed my counter into his brothers face causing a fresh flow of blood from it. Firing a powerful side kick into his chest I send him flying backwards half a dozen yards before he slides to a stop, the back of his hair caked with dirt. Ki burst into existence as I thrust my right hand forward slinging the destructive energy at him. On cue with the explosion a crack of thunder rumbles. As Kulner drags himself to his feet once more lightning flashes as a wild grin shows the blood on his face dripping down his temple, nose, and even between his teeth. His eyes flicker from fixed on my poised fists, as I'm waiting patiently for him to counter, to Ayana's observing and relaxed pose.
"Don't even try it." I warn him.
No dice. Kulner takes off towards me, before veering suddenly into the sky his hand outstretched for Ayana's leg to swing her around by. I blurred into existence next to Kulner, catching his fist with my nearest hand before slamming my palm into the back of his elbow breaking his arm at the joint. He roars in rage, grabbing me by the throat with his uninjured hand and slamming a head butt into my face. My head snaps back from the heavy skull pounding into it. Then he follows up with a hook kick to my temple that I block quickly, before firing a left cross into his face. I bring my right fist into his stomach and finish with an axe kick onto his back that sends him plummeting to the ground. I don't hesitate for a second. Purple and black ki flares on my hands and I extend them towards the psychopath.
"Shadow Burn!"
The blast slams into his wretched form as he tried to push himself up with his good arm. But the pure pressure of the ki forces him back onto his chest before the actual burning effect of the ki was entered into the equation. Looking into the brightly lit sky as I gather my power to finish the disgusting school board official, I take note how beautiful the moon looks with lightning flashing across the sky. The moon reminded me of Ayana's hair.
The moon.
Something grew in me. It wasn't power, not at first at least. It wasn't rage. It was mass. Pure muscle. Raw animal fury. It burned all over until it escalated to agony. It started at the base of my spine and spread outwards across my spine and legs. Then to my torso, arm, and finally reached my head. I grabbed it in pain as I dropped to my knees roaring. Until the roar morphed. It wasn't one of pain, it was one of fury and instinct.
My nose twitched as an unpleasant smell suddenly came to my attention. I turned in the direction it came from. It was some small, pitiful human. Pale skinned, thin frame, and he reeked of bad intentions. Then one of his palms glowed and something exploded against my bulk. Something that burned. I roar in anger before snatching up this pathetic thing and squeezing. I squeezed until it stopped being alive before discarding it's lifeless form to the side. Roaring in triumph I beat my chest.
Ayana didn't know Déshawn very well. Hell, she hardly knew him at all. She'd only just recently discovered he was an alien to this planet. But this...this development was completely random. He looked up at the sky and transformed into an enormous ape, at least 5 stories tall, 2 stories wide. Bulky, covered with fur, frightening red eyes, and unmatched physical power. He'd just squeezed the life out of that psycho and tossed him aside like it was nothing, then began to beat his chest.
"He's a giant ape now...okay. I can uh...handle this." Ayana announced to nobody in particular. "I'm sure everything will be okay."
Then the apes ears twitched and her hopes evaporated. It couldn't have been the Savoits the beast had heard. They were either frozen in fear or simply staying silent out of intelligence. Either way, it was her the thing had heard. The second it did, the monster turned his head towards her and opened it's mouth roaring. Ayana had prepared a sarcastic remark but she was cut off by the beam of ki that it fired from it's mouth. She yelped and dodged out of the way. Then her mind spoke to her it told her "dodge". She whipped around as a green blast of ki from Tynok nearly connected with her.
"Oh that's low..." she said to herself as she faded out of existence and reappeared next to the gorilla. "Okay boys...you all wanna touch on lil' Ayana?"
Tynok didn't respond verbally. He simply took off after the silver haired beauty. Aprechel joined in after commanding Cersint to help as well. Ayana watched them charge into the sky and noticed, with a pang of gratitude, that Havnar abstained from helping. As she adopted her fighting pose a heavy boulder-like object collided with her back. She screamed in surprise and pain as she was sent pitching forward into the ground headfirst. Aprechel took advantage of her helplessness and catches her mid air before she crashes painfully.
"Oh my hero." She mocked playfully, even as Aprechel spins her into a submission hold leaving her midsection open to damage.
Tynok and Cersint both charge in aiming blows to her torso. No dice, Ayana rotates her palms forward as red ki glows for a moment.
"Blistering Shards!"
The mini bolts of ki tear into Tynok and Cersint like broken glass causing them to retreat in pain, unwilling to endure such damage just for a couple of cheap shots.
"Oh Aprechel dear," Ayana begins. "You think you could release me for just a moment please?"
"And why would I do th-" He stops short as he realizes the giant ape is firing another mouth beam at the pair. He lets her go and kicks her towards the deadly blast before turning and zipping away from it. Giggling Ayana fades away from the attack and blurs in next to Aprechel.
"Your so sweet," she snickers before plowing a knee into his back causing him to jerk in pain.
Slamming the edge of her hand into his opened throat as she sweeps his legs out from under him she drops the pretty boy to the ground with two simple motions. Immediately after the vain man is on his back, Ayana fades out of existence once more. Not because she necessarily knew there was a blast of ki heading for her back. But she assumed the sneaky Tynok would attempt blindsiding her. And she'd been right as Tynok's ever-green bolt of ki slammed into Aprechel from the direction Ayana had just been standing.
"Watch your aim idiot!"
Ayana once again appeared next to the ape. Treating him as a safe point from the five brothers, but she simply was trying to provoke Déshawn's more animal side into firing off more beams from his mouth. Instead of a mouth beam the ape turns and swings a 2 ton backhand at her which she barely has time to put her hands up to block. The sheer force of the attack, even if it didn't manage to damage her directly, caused her body to rocket towards the ground. Turning slowly the ape lifts it's foot and slams it down towards the helpless girl.
"No!" she breathes in a panic attempting to command her damaged form to get the hell out of there.
Something was wrong. His mind was in a primal rage but he could register vaguely if things were supposed to be happening. He had attempted to squish the little female but his foot couldn't hit the ground. Something stronger than him was below his foot and wasn't letting it budge. Roaring it lifted it's foot to see what it was stopping him...
Now Ayana was completely confused. Her sense of friend and foe was thrown into disarray when she saw it was Havnar who'd blocked the ape's stomp. Her mind vaguely noticed how powerful the Savoit must be to physically withstand such force on his own.
"Did you mistake me for Aprechel or something?" Ayana questioned.
"Not like that. I won't see anymore die like that..." Havnar seemed to be speaking to himself, still shaken up over the death of his brother.
Something in her heart stirred. This brother to such evil men had quite a heart himself. Willing to save her life from Déshawn when she herself would've let him die without any hesitation.
"Havnar," Ayana grabbed his attention.
He turned slowly, still not completely paying attention.
"Fight me." She fired off a bolt of ki at him that he swiped away reflexively before shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts.
Ayana stayed on the ground, avoiding fighting in the air, not liking how easily she could be surrounded from every direction. So she used the ground to at least eliminate one angle. As the 4 brothers charged in a pink aura of defiance exploded around Ayana. I'm gonna take you four on in a way that only Déshawn could. And then I'm gonna change him back. The first punch wasn't even close to hitting Ayana. She parried it to her right, cleverly using Tynok's leading punch to intervene with Aprechel's attack. Ducking under Cersint's attack from the rear she snapped a kick into his stomach that sent the pathetic man flying. Spinning away Ayana dodged Havnar's kick for fear of what kind of strength he possessed after witnessing him stand up to the monstrous Déshawn. Slamming a fist into Tynok's kidney, she leaned backwards away from Havnar's follow up attack before planting a fist into his rock hard stomach. The man barely flinched in pain, but his counterattack missed as Ayana flipped over him. Landing behind the large Savoit she fired a hook kick at Tynok, who easily blocked the half-effort kick. Jumping away from the 3 brothers Ayana found herself staring into an orange bolt of ki from Cersint. Not having a second to breathe she was caught off-guard by the blow and sent rolling across the ground. Leaping to her feet quickly, a right hook from Havnar pressed darkness in on the corners of her vision. Then the three brothers leapt away as Déshawn fired another mouth blast at the group. She crossed her arms in a feeble block and screamed in pain as the attack razed her sleeves and the skin on her arms. When it finally subsided she staggered to her feet, blood dripping from her burnt forearms.
"Everything will be just fine." She said quietly to herself again. As if chanting a mantra. "Your not Jimiyu. You can do this."
The attack pressed on again and Ayana danced through it beautifully. Avoiding every blow with serpentine reflexes Ayana managed to score a hit or two herself while she fought to stay alive. Seizing her opportunity when the 4 stopped to reassess their attack pattern on the fluid defenses of Ayana.
"You make no sense," Tynok spat at the ground. "You shouldn't be able to fight all of us at once."
"Keep talking. Maybe you'll run yourself outta breath for me." Ayana giggled and winked.
"Silver haired devil," Aprechel breathed heavily. His stamina obviously not conditioned for long drawn out fights.
"Silver tongued cowards." She shot back.
Havnar didn't seem emotionally impacted by her insult, but it was him that made the first move. He threw a wide right that Ayana ducked under easily, but he'd planned on that. As soon as she leaned under the punch he raised his knee to catch her in the chin. But her unrivaled reaction time brought a block up in time to cope with the blow. However, with her hands occupied Havnar now freely grabbed Ayana and spun once tossing her towards Déshawn's ape form.
"Oh shit."
Just as he noticed the small form soaring towards him, he closed his hands around her. His eyes narrowed as he began to squeeze the helpless female. Suddenly finding air a precious commodity Ayana gasped in agony as she felt the unyielding grip tightening.
"No...!"
It was back. The tiny female was now inexplicably soaring towards me so I caught it. I would squeeze it like the other pitiful man and get rid of her for good. Something stirred in the back of my mind as I heard the little woman gasp in pain. The man hadn't made a sound as I had crushed him. Why would she? Did she value her life so much more?
"No..no no no no...please don't."
She was pleading with me. I hesitated. Why would she think I'd care about her life?
"C'mon Désh...let me go." Her voice was cracking. Upon a closer look into her eyes I was noticing something glistening.
Not like this. Not to die by the hands of the greatest man she'd ever known. She'd fought so hard for him. Why would he kill her? Why would Kami be so cruel? After Havnar saved her from him, he'd still kill her. It hurt so much. The crushing, it was almost as bad as when she realized she had cost him his lover. It almost hurt as bad as when he'd slapped her.
"Please..." her voice was weak. "Please no..."
Almost. She'd almost done it. She'd almost saved the school. She'd almost won Déshawn's love. She wiggled in the ape's solid grip.
"Please Déshy...don't let them win."
"Them" she'd said. Who was she talking about? His eyes scanned the ground. As he scanned he noticed a broken and bloodied figure on the ground. It was that pale man. The one that'd tried to touch this girl...his rage grew. He'd laid his hands on Ayana, had threatened her. He'd hurt her!
Ayana wiggled helplessly. Whimpering in pain, only mildly thankful that the ape's vice grip wasn't getting worse. A small prize to not dying was knowing that this agony of hers wouldn't subside. Then it happened. Déshawn began to shrink, the hair disappeared, the snout receded back into a nose and mouth. Slowly the transformed Sayjin reverted back to his normal state.
I wasn't sure what had just happened. I'd looked up to the sky in preparation to kill Kulner for good and the next thing I know I was holding Ayana's bleeding form. The strangest part was this weird dream I had of me rampaging around the school grounds.
"What...what happened?" I asked, completely bewildered.
"I did it Déshy...I turned you back." Ayana smiled weakly, reaching a hand up to my cheek as tears poured down her face. I looked at her eyes, the look seemed to be one of a woman embracing her death.
"You promised me Kulner wouldn't touch me again," she coughed, blood dripping from her mouth, over her beautiful lips onto her shirt as she did so.
I couldn't believe this was happening. Was this my fault?
"Ayana," I spoke in a controlled voice. Trying to hide the sorrow from her. "I'll make you one more promise."
"Tell me anything Déshawn...I'll believe in you." Ayana's voice was getting weaker. Had I been the monster that tried to squeeze her to death?
"I promise you. You will live through this day. And we will hold each other tomorrow." A single tear dropped from my eye on to her shirt just as her eyes closed.
For what I feared was the last time.
"No..." my voice quaked.
I shut my eyes...not willing to look at a world without those hazel beauties in it. This couldn't be my fault. I can't have done something so horrible to someone so gorgeous. It couldn't be.
"No," I denied once more.
"Poor Déshawn...killed that pretty little thing cause he was just a stupid ape." Tynok taunted me.
"Now we HAVE to take you in," Aprechel laughed. As if rules or regulations were what this fight was even about.
"Shut up..." I growled low. I snapped my eyes open flashing bright emerald pupils at the four officials.