#11
Bits of smoking rock rained down all around Seven. He stood breathless, his hand outstretched. Cords of spirit energy crackled around his arm before dissipating into the air. Through the thick mass of smoke he heard a loud crack.
A moment later a gargantuan slab fell sideways, dragging half the mountain with it into the desert sands below.
A great plume of displaced sand crashed against the rock beside him like ocean waves. Behind him, Rallor's harsh sun sat firmly above the horizon in the southwestern sky. Its fiery rays beat against his back and beads of sweat trickled down his face, splattering on his chest. The young Saiyan was ragged from the efforts of his training.
He never trained in a desert before, but there was something about it that felt familiar. Sorn had been an arid world as well, but not nearly as bad as Rallor. There had been belts of green and a large ocean in his northern hemisphere. Maybe the heat and sand was a climate his body was meant to handle. Since throwing in with Amboss's pirates, he read many books on Planet Vegeta and Saiyan history. Planet Vegeta had been a world similar to Rallor, the difference being that it was nearly three times bigger, which much more gravity.
After joining Amboss's Pirates, Seven had gone to Amboss for training. The big purple oaf had literally just laughed him off and told him that he wasn't a master and to figure it out himself. Seven spent most of his time aboard the Blushing Maid, where there wasn't exactly any room to practice his energy manipulation. So, anytime he got some open space on a planetary pit stop, he took it.
Flight had been the first thing he mastered after watching the others. The principle wasn't hard. The act just took some concentration. Levitating was easy, but he was still practicing actual flying. He had to master exerting the right amount of energy out of his feet and limbs, or risk spinning out of control.
After listening to the crew members talk, he had picked up the Galactic Common language with ease, but many still laughed at his strange Saiyan-Sornian accent. Most of the time, aboard the ship, he spent reading and doing research. He did a lot of exercises, like had in his cell, but they did little than keep him in shape.
Determined to keep pressing his training, Seven clenched his fist, gathering a vast amount energy into it. His hand trembled as the power coursed through his veins, collecting into a single point. Arcs of electricity rose from his fingers, sputtering and snapping through the air. He brought his arm back and thrust it forward. A white beam erupted from his palm, shooting out into the desert.
No longer was it a wall of uncontrolled energy, but precisely concentrated beam.
The attack cut a swath through the sand, turning it to glass in a long line. Somewhere, out on the horizon, it impacted, a great black and gray smudge of smoke and dust rising up towards the heavens. He fell to one knee after the expenditure of energy. Wiping away sweat with his forearm, he smiled at the glittering groove in the desert. He was getting stronger.
Perhaps soon he could challenge Amboss again, for his freedom.
Nyra laid sideways on the rock, eating a hard bread as she watched the black haired pirate train. He had his armor off and stood shirtless, a sheen of sweat covering his muscular frame. She could tell by the way his body was developed that he was still just an adolescent: a damn kid. Well, one with an impressive build at least.
During his exercises, he had shown a tremendous amount of raw power as he blasted an entire mountain to smithereens and broke a hundred boulders with his bare fists. They were feats that even she would have had a hard time accomplishing, yet he did it so effortlessly.
Still, she didn't like the idea of killing a kid. Maybe it was female sentiment or something like that. but the thought made her feel queasy. Regardless, she couldn't let a kid with that much power intervene in their efforts to capture Captain Amboss. She had no doubt Kascade could wipe the floor with him, but if Kascade had to fight someone as notorious as Amboss at the same time, well things would get sticky.
She finished the last of her hard bread and took a long swig from her canteen. She felt comfortable proceeding, as he seemed so distracted-looking longingly into the desert. His focus and all the still tumbling stones meant he wouldn't see or hear her coming from a mile away.
Despite that, she kept in a low crouch-weaving around the pieces of shattered rock he had left behind him his rampage. She paused, waiting in the shadows as he plopped down on a boulder and hung his head low, clearly exhausted.
There was never a more opportune time to garrote someone. She pulled the wire and two wooden dowels from her belt pouch and crept forward. Once behind him, she put a dowel in each fist and brought it down over his head, arms crossed. With all of the strength she could muster and a solid stance, she yanked back. The wire pulled taut against his throat.
It pressed in on all sides and she heard the distinct gurgle of him trying to draw breath when he could not. As she expected, he stood up and brought her with him dangling off his back. She wrapped her legs around his arms and locked them together firmly. He struggled, trying to unpin his arms like a wild animal, bucking and trashing. Despite his efforts, he couldn't toss her from his back.
She flexed all her muscles, tightening her hold. Spit flew out of her teeth from the exertion as she tried pull the wire through his flesh and into his windpipe. She could see crimson pouring out onto his chest, but she hadn't made much headway, only breaking the surface of his flesh.
What in the nine hells is this guy made out of?
He started backing up, gaining momentum. It was a long way to the rock face and she pulled so hard she felt as if her shoulders were going to dislocate. Still, he kept moving, despite her focus and power. It didn't make any sense. All the others had gone down.
They reached the rock wall and he slammed her back into with a jump from his powerful legs.. She felt the air escaping from her own lugs as her chest was pressed hard and held there. He wanted to crush her. She didn't know how this was happening, but she could feel her efforts waning. Wisps of white energy began to pour out of his body and he exploded with power. Heat engulfed her and she let out rageful scream.
"Die already, you son of a bitch!" she shouted.
He crouched and then leaped backwards, smashing her so hard against the edifice that time that it started to crack. Chips of stone showered her and she felt her arms give and leg lock loosen for the first time. Such an extended exertion on top of the pain was too much for her.
The weakening of her hold proved to be detrimental. He slipped his arm out of her lock and took hold of her wrist. His fingers were like crushing vices and before long she was tumbling through the air.
Her back suffered a third collision, this time with the ground. That alone made her cry out. He drove his knee into her chest, silencing her and driving all the rest of the air out in a low wheeze. He pinned her in place and she writhed, trying to get away. She couldn't move him, even though he probably weighed less than she did. She beat at his leg and his stomach over and over again, but it was like punching a durasteel statue.
Air-never did he covet it so much.
Seven could feel the blood trickling down his neck and onto his chest. His chest heaved for sweet oxygen as he held his attacker down with one knee. They weren't very strong, at least not strong enough to move him.
He had just reacted and wasn't sure how he had even gotten them off him. He hacked and coughed, his throat aching terribly from the wire she had wrapped around it.
Naturally, the next step would have been to start asking questions, but a lance of pain shot through his leg. He glanced down only to see a knife buried to the handle in his thigh. He wanted to scream, but his throat was raw and he stifled it with a deep breath. The pain proved to be the last resort and he could feel his body trembling.
Kill them. Such dishonor attacking a Saiyan warrior when their guard is down. Such cowardice, the King's voice said.
He lost it, swinging at his foe's head over and over again. The tenth punch landed too high and he knocked their helmet off, which went tumbling down the rocks and landed on top of a sandy dune below. He cocked his fist for an eleventh punch, but caught sight of their-no-her face.
Her cheeks were all puffed up and bloody, most likely from his punches. She had light violet skin and a tousled mop of bright yellow hair. Both her eyes were the deepest of purple, and he could see them filling with tears of pain. There was something about his foe being a female that deflated his anger in that moment.
His hand fell instead to the handle of the knife, which he pulled out of his leg and tossed away. It rattled as it tumbled down into the sand, right next to the helmet. He took his knee off of her and grabbed her by the straps of her armor, dragging her back to the rock face, limping the entire way. She didn't struggle, not any longer, her body limp like a sack of grain. With one arm he hefted her up and pressed her against the wall, so their faces were level. He stared into her purple eyes, pressing his nose against her nose.
"Who are you?"
Her voice sounded muffled through puffed cheeks, "N-Nyra."
"Why did you try to kill me?"
"There's a bounty on your boss's head. I'm a bounty hunter. I was taking you out so you didn't intervene when my comrade arrives," she said.
"You're pretty honest."
She spat blood into his face. "Of course, I'm not pirate scum like you."
He let go and she dropped to the ground. There wasn't any time to waste, he had to get back and warn Amboss that bounty hunters were on their way.
"W-What are you?" she called out.
He stopped, glancing back over his shoulder. That was the first time anyone had ever asked him what he was. He guessed she had underestimated him.
"I'm a Saiyan."
