Dumon did a couple back flips in quick succession then leapt up into the air and on a windowsill. He and Misael were learning exactly how deadly any form of Maldorian monkey could be. They may not have claws or really sharp fangs as some other Maldorian animals did, but they had opposable thumbs. Meaning if they got their ape-hands on a weapon, say, a machine gun and a couple snipers for example, they could start shooting at you. And even for barians, dodging bullets was incredibly hard.
"Ok, HOW DID THEY GET SNIPERS?!" Misael yelled as he took cover behind a dumpster.
"My guess? They defeated some army men and took them." Dumon said as he quickly joined Misael.
"Idiot humans," Misael snarled as he quickly sprang up and blasted some of the Maldorians with an energy ball.
"It's not their fault. The Maldorians are a greater foe to us than Astral World was." Dumon said.
"Still," Misael growled.
Dumon quickly peeked out and accessed the situation and their surroundings. He was so glad he had an eidetic memory because he had three seconds to look around before he had to duck again to avoid getting a bullet in his head.
"Alright, here's the plan," Dumon hissed, "There's a barrel labeled gasoline to nine o'clock. I have a lighter in my pocket, before you ask, my adoptive father gave it to me for my twelfth birthday so that's why I have it. I'll make a diversion, you get to that barrel and try to soak the Maldorians with it. Once you manage that, we run, and I flick on the lighter and throw it at them. If needed, create an energy shield but not unless necessary because we need to conserve our power so we don't get too tired out and start making foolish blunders later in battle."
Misael was impressed at the brilliance and simple efficiency in Dumon's plan, but then again, he expected nothing less. "Understood." he said.
Dumon nodded and leapt out from behind the barrier. The Maldorians, drawing their attention away from Misael, openly fired at Dumon who nimbly avoided the bullets. Misael ran as quietly as he could to the barrel. Thankfully it wasn't empty. Picking up the barrel, he threw the contents on the Maldorians. Dumon managed to dance out of the way but the Maldorian animals were soaked. Misael and Dumon both dashed off. As soon as they were far enough away, Dumon flicked the lighter on and threw it at the Maldorians. Worked like a charm.
Now they just had to hope that Maldorians didn't flock to this place like moths to a, well, flame.
…...
Alit was having a good time.
He was taking out every Maldorian he came across and loving the extra sparring practice. Beating up bad guys was twice as fun when he had his best friend beside him, enjoying it almost as much as he was.
"Alit, Maldorian above you!" Gilag called.
"Got it!" Alit replied as he knocked out a Maldorian crow that tried to dive-bomb him with an energetic punch. "So, when Nasch said we should 'take downtown' did he mean for us to protect civilians that live downtown too?"
"I think the military's taking care of that." Gilag replied.
"Ah, okay then." Alit ducked as another crow flew at him and he slammed it into a wall. "Hey, Gilag?"
"Yes?" Gilag grunted as he became engaged in a sort of wrestling match against a Maldorian elephant.
"Why do our lives always involve fighting? Why can't we have some peace and relaxation for once? Why can't we just have an easy life for at least a few years without wars or amnesia or-?"
"Anything else that tends to happen to us?" Gilag finished, "I guess we were just cursed from birth not to have much time to kick back and have fun. And I doubt it's completely Don Thousand's fault. He didn't orchestra most of our past lives all that much, just Vector's and all our deaths."
Alit ax-kicked a Maldorian wolf. "Yeah, oh well I guess. I just... you know what? Let's talk later when we're not beating the shite out of Maldorians."
Gilag nodded and flipped the Maldorian elephant on its back. He jumped up into the air and jumped on its chest. There was a crunch and the elephant went still. Gilag sighed, "I personally don't like the fact that they take the form of animals. The Maldorian raccoons keep making me think of Ponta." his eyes widened. "OH SHIT!"
"What?" Alit asked as he decked a Maldorian anaconda.
"I forgot to visit Ponta! He still doesn't know I'm back yet!" Gilag worried.
"Where did you leave him last?"
"Uhh... near my number ruins. I told him I would be right back after I went to Barian World with the rest of you guys then..." Gilag went misty-eyed.
"Then?"
"I- I don't remember anything after I went through the overlay network."
A Maldorian gorilla chuckled. Alit and Gilag looked at it, confused. The gorilla grunted, "You are weak. Foolish. Flimsy-minded."
"Hey! Shut up!" Gilag snapped.
"Forgetting that so easily." the gorilla grunted again.
Alit and Gilag's eyes widened. "Do you know what happened to us?!" Alit demanded as he kicked a Maldorian panther.
The gorilla snorted. "Yes. Few Maldorians have heard the mission report. I have. You were supposed to die. Shame you didn't."
Alit scowled at him, "Yeah? Well guess who's not so weak, buddy! We survived your little assassination attempt. How does that make you feel?!"
"Not mine. Wish it was. Bokur Sassilis' plan. You still are minor inconvenience." the gorilla said off-handedly.
"Bo-what?" Alit asked as Gilag said, "Minor inconvenience?!"
"Yes." the gorilla grunted.
"Alright, he's not going to tell us anything else." said Gilag.
"Agreed." Alit said and throat-kicked the gorilla. It fell over gasping and Alit ax-kicked it in the neck. He looked down at the lifeless corpse. "Do you think he was telling the truth?"
"Probably." Gilag said.
Alit frowned then shook himself. "Ah, well, let's just have fun while beating the snot out of these guys! Whoever takes out more Maldorians has to have loser buy them ice cream!"
"You're on!"
…...
Vector frowned as he saw the steel iron door. Seriously? The Maldorians chose the most obvious place in the freaking area as their hideout?! Mind you, the barians' base on earth was called the BARian so he couldn't talk.
It had been almost too easy to find the Maldorian's base. You know, since there were about seventy Maldorians guarding it and there were Maldorians going in and out. WERE being the key word, he had kinda killed the guards and any other Maldorian he saw and the others had shut the door when they saw him coming. Apparently they didn't know a single thing about him. Close the door when he wanted to get at you, and he'd blow it up and start the bloodbath sooner. He laughed maniacally. This was going to be so much fun.
His eyes glowed red and the metal door exploded, metal bits flying everywhere. A bunch of Maldorians looked on at him in terror. Some were in their apparent true forms. Vector smirked. So the energy field was beginning to take effect, that meant the barians would be able to take their own true forms soon.
Vector grinned sadistically. Oh, this was going to be the most fun he had in fourteen years.
…...
"Step on it, Nasch! And keep the motorcycle a little more level!"
"I know how to drive a motorbike, Merag! Better than you do, by the way!"
"Yeah, well it seems you're more than a little rusty! And they're gaining!"
"I'm going a 90 miles an hour!"
"Then kick it up to a hundred!"
"You're already complaining about it not being level enough! Driving is harder than you think, you know!"
"Well, I'm a little busy blasting these freaks so just shut up and drive!"
"You started this conversation!"
Merag reached back and shot a crimson beam at the horde of Maldorians chasing them. "Just shut up and drive!"
"What do you think I am trying to do?!"
"Don't start that again!"
"You started it in the first place!"
"Don't pin this on me!"
"But you started it!"
"And you went forward with it." Merag said as she reached out, ripped a stop sign off the post and hurled it at the maldorians.
"What was I suppose to do, ignore you?"
"Yes!"
"Okay."
"Hey! Nasch!"
"..."
"Nasch!"
"..."
"NASCH RYOUGA REGINALD KASTLE KAMISHIRO!"
"WHAT?!"
"You weren't answering me!"
"You told me to ignore you!"
"I didn't mean now!"
"How the hell was I supposed to know that?"
"You should've!"
Nasch banked a corner with the mob of maldorians followed. He skidded and the motorcycle went horizontal as he and Merag leapt off, went behind a barrier, and threw a small, round object at the maldorians. It exploded on contact, taking out all of the Maldorian horde and some of the surrounding street.
"I told you pretending to fight with each other would keep them off their guard." Merag smirked.
"Yeah, yeah, although it was getting stupid towards the end." Nasch replied. He suddenly froze and looked down at his baria lapis. "Time to bariaphose."
"Finally!" Merag sighed.
"Ready?"
"Hell yes!"
"Bariaphose!" they yelled together and they shifted into their true forms.
"Am I the only one who thinks that's cheesy at times?" Merag asked.
"Hey, it gives us more focus than when we don't say it and when we're in an environment that we are barely able to transform anyway, we need all the help we can get." Nasch said.
"Speaking of help..." Merag said slowly as she jerked her head to the growing mass of maldorians that had gathered.
Nasch closed his eyes and summoned a sword. The emperors had a sort of interdimensional storage room where they kept weapons and their cloaks which both contained crystals with powerful chaos energy so they could hone in and summon their own weapons and cloaks since both were a pain to lug around all the time. "You take the ones on the right, I'll take the ones on the left."
"Deal." Merag said as she too conjured a sword.
Nasch 'smirked'. "Time to let them know why Barian World is considered one of the strongest powers in the universe."
…...
*Much, much time later after the battle...*
Dumon flipped through the damage reports, "Only 324 fatalities on our side, all things considered, that's not that bad. And only 47 of those are civilian deaths."
"It would've been better if it was 0, but this is war. How many maldorians did we kill?" Nasch asked.
"So far, there have been 859 counted." Dumon reported.
"How did so many come to earth and stay hidden without anyone noticing? Can't they only come during a full moon?" Merag asked.
Dumon nodded. "Yes, but who says they can only open one portal during each full moon? The good news is that they do not appear to be able to teleport or open portals naturally like we can. They seem to be having to use technology."
The barians had gone back to the BARian after the battle was over. Dumon took care of all of their major wounds and they were all relaxing and recovering.
"Anyone have anything else to report?" Nasch asked.
Nobody said anything for a few seconds, then Alit exclaimed, "Oh yeah! I almost forgot! A Maldorian said that some Bokur-whatsit was responsible for our amnesia problem 14 years ago!"
"WHAT?!" the rest of the barians, minus Gilag, yelled.
"How the f*ck did you forget to mention THAT earlier?!" Misael screamed.
"Hey, it just kinda slipped my mind!" Alit protested, "Anyway, a Maldorian gorilla said that we they tried to assassinate us, but it failed. He also said someone called... uh, Gilag? What was it again?"
"I think it was Bokur Sassy pants or something." Gilag said.
Dumon appeared deep in thought. "Hmm, judging from the context, I think Bokur might be a Maldorian rank of some sort. Probably high level considering they actually enacted this Maldorian's assassination plot. I think you botched his or her real name, Gilag, but at least we have some idea of what happened to us."
"I AM SO F*CKING KILLING THOSE FRIGGING MALDORIANS!" Misael and Vector screamed at the same time. They both looked at each other in shock.
"My, my, my, your life must've sucked," Vector smirked, "What? Your parents abuse you too?"
"YOUR PARENTS ABUSED YOU?!" Misael, Gilag, and Alit all yelled; they had missed out when Vector mentioned it the first time.
"Yeah," Vector shrugged and looked away, "I have to remember to use broken beer bottles when I'm next torturing someone."
Misael frowned and crossed his arms, "I suppose mine did, in a way. They never hit me but they did... other things."
Vector snickered. "Aw~ Misa-chan! We have something in common now~"
"Shut the hell up you bat f*ck crazy psycho!" Misael snapped.
"Let's hug and bond now~" Vector leapt onto Misael and hugged him.
"GET THE F*CK OFF MY YOU FRICKING SOCIOPATH!" Misael shouted as he blasted Vector with an energy ball. Vector simply laughed as Misael chased him around the room. The others were fairly surprised those two could still beat up on each other after the recent taxing battle.
Dumon rolled his eyes and sighed, "Here we go again."
Merag smiled at him and he grinned back. "I break them up, you get the first aid kit?" Merag proposed.
"Agreed, my queen." Dumon said as he ran upstairs. Nasch sighed and smiled. He could finally say for certain that those fourteen years hadn't changed the emperors much and while they still had the memories, they were still the seven barian emperors. Perhaps a little emotionally scarred, but otherwise, fine. Nasch frowned again as he recalled Alit''s revelation. So the Maldorians had done that to them, huh?
Nasch ground his teeth. Those slime-sucking creatures would pay, he'd make sure of that.
Matarra: Alright, I'll admit it, the battle was cut short because I don't really like writing fight scenes. There will be more battles in the future and I'll try and make those much longer because more than just fighting will happen in them. MWHAHAHAHA!
Dumon: *a little queasily* What are you planning to do?
Matarra: *evil snickering* Just wait and see, just wait and see.
