Chapter 35:
The group stared at the alien parasite before them, a nightmarish foe who had caused panic across the entire planet. Each of them had differing reactions; Bruno shivered, most likely knowing of Starro's reputation. Deadshot shook in place as he clenched his weapon tightly, too scared to even lift it. The rest acted in a similar fashion, with only Cado clenching his fists out of nerves.
"What's the matter?" Starro questioned, stepping forward slightly. This caused a few people to step back in fright. "All of that bravado, and you continue to cower before me like rats?" He chuckled. "This planet truly is pathetic."
Cado rolled his eyes, stepping forward and putting on a brave face. "Yes, yes. And then you'll go on about how 'Oh, I'm so superior!', or 'You can't defeat me, puny Earthlings!' News flash, the whole superior alien conqueror thing was already done an invasion ago. I can handle a parasite like you."
Swinging his axe, the others saw the air was displaced from the swift move, the street being split in half while several buildings were cut down immediately. Starro looked amused. "Yes, yes. I know of your little attack from the Kryptonians. Though, it makes it even more pathetic that a dwindling race could fail to conquer you."
Cado's smirk died as he stared blankly at the alien, bristling at the insult. "What was that?"
Starro ignored the Saiyatonian, looking at the rest of the shivering group. "You know, I was able to pick up something from one of my spores. Specifically from your 'mate', Bulma. A fascinating mind, to be fair. Surely smarter than many of the flies on this planet. I wonder... have you told anyone else about all of you coming from a different uni-"
A fist was smashed into his face, sending the conqueror flying as they he dug his feet into the ground. Seeing a blur in his vision, Starro quickly got out his axe to swing down. Cado - quick as a flash - brought out the Dragon Sword to block the swing. Feeling the titanic strength of his opponent, Cado deflected the blow long enough for the blade to barely pass his shoulder, nicking some skin.
Not wasting the opportunity, the Saiyatonian Spartan-kicked Starro backwards, allowing for some room to be made between the two. They were both silent as they circled each other, resembling two wild animals, ready to pounce.
Cado jumped forwards first, being too slow to avoid a right-cross to the chin that reversed his momentum. Fixing his jaw mid-flight, he caught himself in the air, turning to avoid the axe-swing that sliced several buildings into two. Taking this opportunity, Cado blurred forward, hitting the conqueror in the abdomen with a cascading blast of ki, pushing him off of his heels.
Starro made his advance into close quarters, pushing through the blasts. He made to land a right-left cross combination before uppercutting upwards, but Cado systematically deflected each attack, firing off his heat vision to deflect the oncoming axe-swing, and then again into his opponent's eyes, almost blinding them.
Hoping to gain an advantage, Starro detached a starfish off of his body to throw at Cado, who stopped his attack to aim at the projectile. Once it was vapourised, however, the warlord was given enough time to grab his opponent's ankle and yanked him up, eventually slamming him into the ground and denting it with his body. Cado fired his Desctruction Beams from his vibrating eyes, but it took only one hand to halt the attack. Seeing his hand injured, Starro used the other to swing him sideways into another building, destroying it.
Starro was suddenly blasted back as he was bombarded by a multitude of ki blasts, his body doing its best in resisting the onslaught but - surely - still feeling the sting of Cado's attack. Powering through it, Starro allowed his right arm to become further damaged in favor of getting within reach. Just as he was about to swing his axe to where Cado was, a fiery uppercut interrupted him.
"Shoryuken!" Cado yelled, finishing off the combo with a double axe-handle that knocked him on his back, stunning him. Bringing his sword out, Cado flew forward to stab the starfish-themed villain, but he moved faster than expected. Axe out, he swung in a circular position, Cado narrowly deflecting more and more of his blows. Eventually, a loud
crack rang through the air, causing Cado to move back and inspect what had occurred.
He gaped as he stared at the now broken Dragon Sword, the blade suddenly flipping in the air and landing by its point, piercing the ground next to the available audience, who jumped slightly. The Saiyatonian glared at the amused Starro.
"Oh, I'm sorry," the villain chuckled. "It looks like I broke your little toy."
"So, you got jokes, now?" Cado retorted, tucking the hilt under his armour.
"Well, after being attached to so many of you Earthlings, I think I've gained what you may call 'a sense of humour'? Yes, that's what it's called."
Cado smiled. "Well, then. Let me tell you a joke. How much force is used to bludgeon a person to death?"
Starro seemed to frown. "I don't- GAH!" He was interrupted by Cado zooming downwards, creating a powerful shockwave that deafened most of the audience and absolutely destroyed the ground that they were standing on.
The onsuing smoke was clearing, showcasing Cado beating the shit out of Starro, drawing what looked to be black blood.
"Enough until you can't hear them beg for mercy," Cado finished, digging his opponent deeper and deeper into the ground. "Funny, right?"
"N-Not real- dammit!" the conqueror exclaimed, doing his best to catch Cado's fists.
"Tough crowd," was the response, as Cado threw off his opponent's fists and warped behind them, grabbing him from behind and suplexing him, hard. Hand out, Cado fired off an Apex Cannon that made Starro fly.
Halting himself in mid-air, Starro noticed his chest exterior cracked and damaged. Growling, he sent out a telepathic attack, hoping to rip his mind into shreds.
Feeling the attack, Cado mentally blocked the attack, his teachings in Torquasm-Vo aiding him. "That won't work!" he exclaimed, flying forward to continue the fight. The Saiyatonian was put on the defensive. Starro left-crossed Cado in the face, leading the tyrant to kick him in the chest and sent him flying backwards. He flew forward, swinging his axe to bisect him, only for him to catch the blade, using his strength to shatter the weapon.
Eyes wide, Starro was left open to the devestating combo that left him disorientated, allowing Cado to kick him upwards and cup his hands together. "Ka... Me..."
Seeing blue light starting to gather into his opponent's hands, Starro grabbed onto his body and threw what was practically a sea of starfish towards him, trying to ensnare or control him. "You think I will let you charge your attack?!" he questioned, furious.
Cado didn't answer, warping away to give himself more room. "Ha... Me..." Seeing the sea of starfish become more and more prominent, he kept moving, not allowing any of them to touch him. Attack complete, Cado smirked as he warped again.
Starro growled upon seeing him disappear again, avoiding his hail of starfish. "Where the hell did he go no-" Seeing blue light shine off of his body, he turned around. "Oh... shit."
"HA!" Cado yelled, firing off the blast as he aimed his hands towards Starro. The conqueror roared in pain as he was blasted upwards, the beam carrying his body upwards. The force and power tried to tear him apart, his regeneration being the only thing that was keeping his body in place at the moment.
Cado kept the Kamehameha going for a few more seconds, before the attack ceased. He would've allowed himself a small smile of success if he was actually successful. Starro was still alive. He could feel it.
Blasting upwards, he made to continue the battle.
XXX
(Gotham)
Batman's injured muscles seemingly moved with a mind of their own as he ducked, dodged and evaded blows from multiple assailants. For the past five minutes, the caped crusader had been in the fight of his life. Dozens of Gotham's citizens had flooded the streets with the sole purpose of attacking him. It was obvious that the starfishes attached to each of their faces were causing them to work in unison. They were essentially stripped of their free will, which made it harder for Batman to fight them.
The injuries he'd received from Cado still weren't fully healed, needing time and rest to properly heal. Two things he did not have at the moment.
But he didn't rest. Even if his body was bruised or broken, his will wasn't. He would keep fighting the good fight. Whatever it took.
He grunted as his mind focused on the task at hand. Concetrate, he chided himself. With normal thugs or villains, Batman wouldn't hesitate to dispense brutal punishment to incapacitate them. But this crowd of attackers was filled with innocent civilians, some of them even being children. A punch or kick too hard could seriously injure them. With that in mind, Batman had been pragmatic, choosing to stay on the defensive instead. Unfortunately, that came with a great deal of personal risk to his health.
After evading yet another failed tackle, Bruce hopped onto the roof of a nearby car hoping to get a better vantage point of his terrain. His teeth grit as he saw more and more citizens stampeding into the streets. All the knockout gas he had used had been for naught. He snarled, wondering how the city had gotten infected so quickly with these parasites. But that was a question for another time. This was a losing battle and he had to escape.
Just as he was about to continue fighting, he noticed a green hue envelop him and the possessed civilians. What the-
It came closer and closer, forcing him to roll and dodge out of the way, seeing civilians rise from the shockwave and fall, bodies broken from the fall. He withheld his grimace, prefering to observe what the possible UFO was.
"Ow, ow, ow!" a voice called out in pain. Floating painfully in the air was Green Lantern, shaking his head. "Damn Kryptonians! What the hell is it going to take to get rid of them?!" Suddenly, several Batarangs were thrown his way. They exploded against a shield he'd managed to conjure out of reflex.
"Oh, come on?! I'm out here saving your asses from an alien invasion, and this is the thanks that I get?!" he yelled angry. He aimed his ring at Batman, only to pause, eyes narrowed. "Huh. Batman, right?"
"And they say I'm the detective," Batman sarcastically remarked.
Green Lantern blinked. "Who does?"
Batman growled, eyes squinting because of Green Lantern's bright green aura enveloping him and the other oncoming hostiles. "Will you quit flashing me?!"
The man chuckled. "Ha! Flashing you..." He turned around. "Damn, looks like this Starro guy has gotten his way around here too. Don't worry, I can fix that!"
His energy formed into a giant duster and dust-pan construct set. The two went around, scooping the possessed civilians into the dust-pan. Pretty soon, they were all gathered into a pile, a large cage forming around them to keep them inside.
"And that's the end of that!" Green Lantern then turned back towards Batman. "I'm Green Lantern, by the way."
"I thought you were black," came Batman's response, which wasn't something that he was expecting.
Green Lantern frowned. "Nah, that's the other guy." A thumb was gestured towards him. "I'm the handsome one."
Batman scowled. "Want to tell me why you flew all the way from up there and crash-landed here?"
Green Lantern's eyes widened upon remembering why he came down the way he did. "Oh, yeah! Well, I was coming back after a certain bastard got in the way of me doing my business. Then I had some other stuff to take care of, out in space. But, realising that Starro wasn't going to be stopped anytime soon, I decided to pop in and save the day, as usual. I, however, was stopped by Superman-"
"Who I assume is possessed by one of these... Starros?" Batman figured out, scowling even further.
"Yeah. Pretty much." Green Lantern winced, holding his arm. "Yeah, turns out that Starro has him - as well as several others - under his control. But I think that the Big Blue is the one that's the most dangerous. Bastard got me with a cheap-shot."
"How soon will he arrive here?" Batman questioned. A blur seemed to answer his question, a shockwave being produced from the motion. Green Lantern was suddenly flying back, flipping all the way.
"Gah, he punched me in the face!" the man cried out, flying into an oil tanker and causing it to explode.
Eyes wide, Batman made to move, only for him to get caught by the neck and slammed into a building. The perpetrator was none other than Superman, with a Starro starfish on his face.
"Oh my God, a goth! I thought I burned down all the Hot Topics in this city! Where do they keep coming from?!" the Kryptonian spoke, which confused Batman, despite everything. Sure, the possessed seem to talk, but all they muttered was, 'You will become part of Starro!', 'Serve Starro!' Superman's dialect seemed... off.
Green Lantern groaned from where he laid. "Oh yeah. He apparently has some weird American schtick going on. So... either he's forced by Starro to do this or..." He groaned, shuffling from where he was, "Dammit, that hurt... or he's really like this."
Using a Batarang, Batman cut part of his costume off to escape Superman's grip. He ran back, leaping and twisting to throw several smoke pellets to buy him time. They exploded at the possessed Superman's feet, producing blue smoke.
Batman hid behind a building as he discretely observed the situation, putting an oxygen breather to his face to protect himself from the smoke.
"What happened?" Superman questioned over the smoke as he floated through it. "Did you drop your 'Nightmare before Christmas' DVD over there?" Blurring forward past the smoke, he instantly appeared in front of Batman.
"Holy shit," was all the Dark Knight muttered, shooting a grapping hook to escape. However, Superman blurred again, catching the hook before it could fly off.
Superman chuckled menacingly. "Come on. Am I being punked?"
Snarling, Batman moved quickly away from the building, throwing Batarangs as he leaped back. Not impressed, Superman caught them before it could hit him. His Starro eyelid observed the projectiles. "Hey, wait a minute. This says made in Chin-"
They exploded in his face, merely irritating him than doing any actual damage. Batman used his grappling hook again, this time successful in zipping away onto a nearby building.
Superman walked forward, clearly visible this time. "You know, I just came to talk. But honestly, I'm feeling so attacked right now!"
It was odd, Superman's supposed monotone voice having emotion behind it; a stark contrast to the usually possessed person. But even Batman knew that Superman's attitude wasn't usually like this.
The Kryptonian was able to fire off his heat vision through his Starro eye... somehow. This caused Batman to narrowly dodge, throwing a canister mid-way. It landed on the ground in front of the alien, expanding and producing an intense soundwave. Irritated, he stepped onto the canister and crushed it, blurring forward immiediately afterwards.
He grabbed Bruce's left wrist, halting his progress painfully. Batman made to kick at Superman, but broke his leg in the process. The Kryptonian simply gave a small palm thrust that sent him flying back. Before he could connect to the building that was in his way, he was caught by the neck by Superman.
"Okay, let's try 'good cop, bad cop'," Superman muttered, lifting the man up effortlessly. "You talk, and I'll buy you a dark, black latte at Starbucks." His eyes narrowed. "That's what your kind likes, right?! God, you sicken me."
Batman grunted, shuffling to escape the alien's grip. "Look who's talking. I'm Batman," was all he managed to get out.
Not his best words, but he was choking. So he worked with what he got.
"Bad cop it is," Superman decided. "Now, spill, or I'll deport you."
"B-Behind you," the Caped Crusader gasped out. Superman managed to turn and see Green Lantern levitate in the air.
"From the shoulder beyond the wrist, look out Superman, it's my fist!" After his exclamation, green chains sprouted out from his ring, trying to ensnare the Man of Steel. Dropping Batman, Superman did his best to veer and dodge each oncoming attack. However, he was quickly entangled in Green Lantern's chains.
As Superman gritted his teeth to escape, he paused upon looking at Green Lantern. "Oh my God, now a witch?! Go back to Wicked, Elphaba!"
Green Lantern ignored the comment and had a smirk on his face, knowing how to push his buttons. "Hey, what's with the giant 'S'?" He pretended to think about it for a second, before he answered, "Wait, wait. Don't tell me. You're from Spain."
He chuckled as Superman grew more pissed, struggling to break the chains. He decided to drive the nail into the coffin. "'Now, let us go, to Europe! And we shall save the Spanish!"
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. There was a crack, before Superman flexed and burst from the chains, forcing Green Lantern to erect a force-field to protect himself, while Batman narrowly dodged the force.
Superman's Starro eye narrowed. "You say that again, or any of the individual words that make it up, and I'll kill you. Then I'll fly around the Earth so fast that it'll turn back time, and I'll kill you again."
Green Lantern made to speak Spanish, but Batman interrupted him. "Stop provoking him."
"Can't. Too fun," was the immediate response. He paused as a shadow came above them, allowing them to see Superman come crashing down on them. Acting quickly, Green Lantern erected a force-field around himself and Batman, letting them fly away from the force. The ground cratered as they kept on ascensing, only to come back crashing down as Superman appeared above them and performed a double-axe handle, sending them crashing down.
The force-field bounced like a balloon, before Superman punched it again, causing it to shatter into tiny green shards. Acting quickly, Batman skillfully maneuvered himself back on the ground.
"I think I pissed him off," Green Lantern noted, managing to stabilise himself mid-air.
"He's not the only one," Batman retorted.
Superman made to fly again, aiming for the two, but he was hit by a speeding blur. Before he could get his bearings together, he was hit a couple more times, knocking him down roughly. The blur stopped in front of Green Lantern and Batman, revealing himself to be Flash.
"Whoo! Good thing I came just in time!" Flash noted, before cradling his hand. "Ow! The guy's like a brick wall!"
Aquaman landed beside him from leaping off of a building, carrying an unconscious Tula over his shoulder. "Yes, it is good we came to your aid in the nick of time."
Green Lantern stopped, pointing at the new duo. "Uh, who's the vibrating dildo and the walking sushi?"
Both turned to glare at him. "And who exactly are you supposed to be?" Aquaman questioned, glaring at the insult.
"I'm Green Lantern." At their blank gazes, he got a tick mark on his head. "Seriously? Intergalatic police officer? Wielder of the most powerful weapon in the universe?" Seeing that their faces were still blank, he sighed. "Maybe I do need to hire a public relations person, like Carol suggested."
"A public relations person?" Flash repeated the words in disbelief. But then as he mulled over them in his head, seeing that it sort of made sense. "Why didn't I think of that before?"
"Enough!" Batman exclaimed, already annoyed with the chatter. "If you could help us with our main problem-" he gestured towards the still flying Superman "-then that'd be great."
Flash paused upon seeing the possessed Kryptonian, slumping his shoulders. "Aw, man. But I don't want to fight Superman. I literally just got done fighting a possessed Atlantean!"
Suddenly, a BOOM! was heard as Superman flew forwards, causing Flash to react and carry Aquaman and Batman away, while Green Lantern flew away narrowly. The ground cratered again the Kryptonian flew after them.
Dropping the two down, Flash ran back, running in circles around Superman, who stopped in mid-air. A tornado was created from the motion, causing him to be raised slightly. Pushing him higher and higher, Flash ran left and up a building, leaping off from the highest point to hit Superman.
Unfortunately, the Kryptonian managed to slap him in the air, causing him to come crashing down and hit the ground painfully. Green Lantern chose that time to construct a gatling gun, causing it to fire dozens of rounds at the approaching alien. His Starro eye lit up, causing his heat vision to burst forth and incinerate each round available.
Boxing gloves with spikes appeared on his hands as he flew forth, hoping to get into a physical brawl with the Man of Steel. The two punched forward, creating a shockwave that blew the majority back. The constructed glove shattered, causing Green Lantern's hand to throb as Superman decked him in the face, making him fly backwards.
He wasn't done, however, as he flew forward to grab his leg. "Goddammit..." Green Lantern muttered as he flew down, swinging with all his might as he smashed the ring-bearer onto the ground, cratering it loudly. Then he swung him around, causing the space cop to scream as he picked up speed.
"Me and my big mooooouth!" At the last word, he was thrown towards the others, bashing through a nearby fire-hydrant to do so. Batman rolled out of the way as Aquaman ran forth, commanding the water from the broken fire-hydrant and sending some of it forth as a concussive wave towards Superman.
Breathing deeply, Superman released a blast of frost breath, freezing the attack completely. But Aquaman ran up the mini-glacier, still commanding the other half of the water into an icy trident. Grabbing it, he leaped into the air and stabbed down, causing Superman to swiftly dodge.
Yanking it up, he twirled the construct around skillfully, holding it at a pose. Aquaman charged forth, keeping Superman at bay with his make-shift trident.
Flash shook his head as he groggily stood up. "Okay, that was a dumb idea." Seeing Aquaman tangle the Kryptonian, he shook his head. "Okay. New plan."
As the two superhumans fought, Superman eventually reached out to grab the tip of the ice trident, halting Aquaman's movements. But the King of Atlantis didn't let that deter him, and he kicked outwards at Superman's knee, causing it to nearly buckle. He then launched a roundhouse kick that landed on the Starro on his face.
Superman stepped back from the force, before righting his body. "So where are you from? China? Japan? Those two always have weird things going on with their sushi."
Growling, Aquaman threw a punch that Superman caught, allowing him to clench it in his hand and forcefully apply pressure, a crack ringing through the air. The Atlantean grunted as he struck out with his other fist, receiving the same result. He was steadily brought to his feet, the pain eventually becoming too much for him. Superman's Starro eye glowed, ready to incinerate him.
However, Flash blurred forward and struck out, hitting him with punches and kicks at high speeds that the Kryptonian's body was able to feel. Releasing Aquaman from his grip, he struck out again, but missed the speedster again, who carried Aquaman out of the way.
The king managed to stand upright again, tending to his broken hands. "Hey, could you turn all of the ice back to water?" Flash asked, holding the man by his shoulder.
Aquaman frowned, confused. "What good will that do?"
"Just do it!" Flash demanded, running around in a circle to build up energy.
Shaking his head, Aquaman did just that, turning his trident and the mini-glacier Superman had made into ice. As Superman made to fly towards him again, Flash came through with a lightning bolt on hand, throwing it towards the water surrounding the alien.
Superman grunted in pain as he was electrocuted, the Speed Force lightning hitting him with more juice than a regular bolt of lightning.
Flash turned towards Batman. "We need flashbangs! Big ones!"
Eventually having an idea as to where the speedster was going with his plan, Batman nodded. Reaching into his utility belt, he brought out the most powerful flashbangs he had on hand. Throwing them towards Superman, he managed to yell out, "Close your eyes!"
The group did just that as Superman roared in pain, his Starro eye shifting in agony due to the intense light. Batman's built-in lenses had already protected him from his own weapons, with a much more powerful flash blindness than normal flashbangs.
Grunting as his speed healing was doing its best to heal the damage to his eyes, Flash turned towards to a (to him) blurry Green Lantern, who wasn't hard to miss. "You hit him low and I hit him high!"
He didn't wait for the ring-bearer to respond, as he ran in the opposite directions at high-speeds, building up speed. Soon, buildings, monuments and cities became a blur to him as he kept on moving, eventually running across water.
"Come on, come on..." Flash muttered, hoping to build up his ultimate attack. His body vibrated at intense speeds as he kept on pushing himself. The Infinite Mass Punch wasn't something he liked to pull off often, mostly because it was still an untested move, and mostly because his hand ended up getting fucked up as a result. Hell, he wasn't even sure if it would work now. But he had to pull out all of the stops now in order to stop the possessed Superman.
Roaring in exhertion, he ran across the planet, lightning sparking off of his body as he performed his global lap. Vibrating fist raised, he essentially ran back into Gotham the opposite way, seeing Green Lantern form a battering ram construct to bash into Superman. The intergalactic cop charged forward just as Flash neared them.
The battering ram managed to knock Superman off balance for but a moment. Which was all Flash needed.
His fist struck the back of Superman's head, slamming him into the ground with an intense shockwave that shattered all of the windows of nearby buildings. Seeing the produced shockwave, Aquaman quickly reacted and covered Batman, using his own body as a shield.
The air was shaking, but things were almost silent as Flash panted, seeing Superman face-down into the ground. Green Lantern flew next to him, landing on the ground as he stared.
"... Holy shit, that actually worked," he commented, holding out his hand for a high-five. Panting, Flash grinned as he high-fived him, only to wince as he did it with the hand he struck Superman with. "Shit, shit! Son of a bitch, that hurts..."
Acting quickly, Aquaman stepped forth and turned Superman over, ripping the Starro starfish off of his face. He tossed it top the ground, stabbing it with a quickly-created ice shard. He sighed in relief, nodding towards the gathered heroes.
"Good job," he noted, causing Flash to beam.
"No prob, partner!" Flash exclaimed, making Aquaman shake his head in tired amusement.
XXX
(Space)
The silence of space was deafening as the two aliens fought. Cado took a punch to the chin that sent him floating back. However, he only needed a few seconds to recover. Returning with a powerful right-hook towards Starro's face which sent a shockwave out through space, he sent the conqueror further and further into space, eventually nearing Earth's Moon.
Focusing on Starro, Cado held an Apex Cannon in his hand. He was about to fire it as he neared, only for Starro to act quickly and swing his axe his way. Changing tactics, Cado slammed the ki attack - which was still in his hand - towards the axe, the two grinding for dominance.
Roaring, Cado pushed forward and made the axe shatter from the force, causing Starro's eyes to widen. He eventually placed it towards Starro's chest, blasting it as he sent the starfish-themed villain towards Mars' atmosphere. He nearly shattered the planet just by impacting it.
Cado landed on the planet's surface, tail twitching. He got into a stance as Starro managed to recover, his body slowly regenerating.
"Mars... it has been millennia ago when I invaded this puny planet,"he remarked, ignoring Cado for a brief moment to observe the seemingly empty planet.
"Invaded... You killed the populance on this planet?!" Cado snarled, briefly ignoring the bit on 'milennia'. It looked like there was life on Mars, and this monster wiped them out.
Starro seemingly shrugged, not bothered. "Of course. What, does the reminder that your races being wiped out bring sympathy for the now dead Martians? Don't weep for the dead, they have no place under my rule."
Cado clenched his fists, knowing that he hit the nail on the head. The fact that this... this freak wiped out an entire race - no. Races. Multiple planets had fallen victim to Starro's mind-control and conquest, not just Mars. He wouldn't allow that to happen to Earth. Both as a survivor of genocide of both of his races, but also as a protector of Earth.
Getting his mind in the game, he ducked under a sudden right-hook and landed a normal but successful uppercut, which sent Starro sliding back on his heels. The Saiyatonian took the opportunity to swoop in, striking left and right and eventually knocking him into the ground.
Holding his hand up and gathering energy, Cado performed the Kongo Kokuretsu Zan, bringing his fist down upon his opponent.
Mars was almost shattered, the planet shaking from the attack as a massive crater formed around them, thousands of tons of debris unearthed by the attack. Purple light was visible from those who decided to look at the planet.
The dust cleared, allowing Cado to see that Starro had seemed to catch the punch, struggling to push the Saiyatonian back. Eventually, however, he did, Cado having to fly back a good distance. Hand out, he fired off a small ki blast into Vilgax's chest, exploding and sending him backwards.
Cado got to his feet as as they both immediately prepared themselves. The two sprinted forwards at the other, Cado striking Starro right across the cheek and Starro doing the same across Cado's left side. As they stalemated each other, Starro used his left arm to bash Cado across the front so hard that it cracked his armor and sent him off the planet briefly.
Staring at the moon as he flew back, Cado eventually decided to allow the Oozaru transformation to trigger itself. His face becoming more narrower and ape-like. His eyes turned crimson his snout developed, His armour started to grow along with his body, becoming more proportionate.
Starro stared up at the giant Oozaru version of Cado, who gave a menacing roar. "Is that all. A giant monkey?" Starro scoffed. "How utterly unimpressive."
And then Starro started to grow in size, seeming to below Cado's own height, until he not only matched it, but slightly eclipsed it. Now Cado was staring up at the massive size of Starro, who glared down at his opponent.
"Much better," Starro muttered, before blasting Cado back with his eye blast. He floated in the air, getting his bearings together as he snarled. Floating, Starro moved below Mars and started to push it towards him. Once he was in sight, Starro grunted as he grabbed the planet, throwing it in Cado's direction.
Deftly moving out of the way, Cado zoomed in and decked Starro in the face, stunning him for but a moment. Grabbing his head, Cado tossed him towards Venus, firing off a mouth beam to push him back. As Starro collided with the planet, Cado flew forward, snarling ferally.
Grabbing bits of his shoulders, he threw hails of starfish towards the flying Cado, expanding to an small enough size to attack. The Saiyatonian lashed out at the buzzing starfish, striking one down before getting blasted by others. His armour was slightly getting more damaged as it was wittled down. His fur got burnt more and more as they kept attacking.
Cado kept on swiping at them, but they moved in too quickly, moving away before he could destroy them. His movements were fast, but his size was slightly cumbersome. The Oozaru form made his body trade power for speed and technique. If he was in his base form, he could deal with the approaching army of starfish efficiently. Now, they were nothing more than annoying pests to him.
Starro took that opportunity to shoulder-tackle him, causing him to gasp out in pain as he gave a hasty swipe with his hand, a move Starro ducked under as he gave Cado's face a blast of energy, causing him to howl more in anger than in pain.
Starro stared back at Earth, an evil grin appearing under his helmet. "It seems Astrild has mobilised my slaves and is in position. Good. Once she's crushed the last of Earth's resistance, the planet will be mine!"
XXX
(Earth)
"I swear to God, I'm going to kill this woman!" Zatanna yelled in anger, casting another spell that her opponent easily dodged.
As she and the others gathered together to attack the oncoming wave of possessed individuals, some seperated and were dealing with what looked to be the shepherd to all of these sheep. Their opponent was female, whose skin was white as snow. Black and green armor covered her body from nearly head to toe. Her hair was gray and stood up straight. The black eyeshadow that covered the upper half of her face stood in stark contrast to her hue.
"Oh, yeah. How's that coming for you?" Bruno retorted, him and his men using guns to try and keep the woman contained.
She glared at him. "You wanna go?!"
"Bitch, please. Don't think that just because Cado likes you doesn't mean I won't fill your body with lead!"
"Will you all shut up and focus?!" Poison Ivy yelled, annoyed. Vines upon vines were summoned, some thorny, some sleek and deadly. However, they did nothing to the mysterious woman, who grabbed some of them and tore them apart, making Ivy hiss in anger.
"I am Astrild Storm-Daughter, herald of Starro the Conqueror!" the woman roared in triumph, swiping her arm and causing a sudden gust of wind to knock back all of the shooters. "Kneel before my lord and he will make your servitude bearable!"
Zatanna grit her teeth in anger, seeing that Astrild was toying with them. They had been fighting for a good while, and weren't able to put a dent her. Not only was she a skilled warrior, but was also extremely powerful. She immediately knocked out Mr. Freeze and Deadshot immediately, leaving only her, Harley, Ivy and the Intergang goons to try and slow her down. Which wasn't successful at all.
"sniahc gnidnib nommus I, em ni detstevni rewop eht yb!" Zatanna called out. Glowing chains formed from magic were wrapped around Astrild's body, woven tight enough to keep her subdued for a while.
Zatanna wasn't done yet. "Gninthgil fo stlob nommus I, em ni detstevni rewop eht yb!" The sky turned dark immediately as clouds quickly gathered. Bolts of lightning started to rain down from above, striking the bound herald.
Astrild smirked. With a simple flex, she broke out absorbing the lightning bolts in the process. She stared down at the surprised Zatanna, scoffing. "Your magic is weak, sorceress."
In a blur, Astrild held her by the throat, sneering at Zatanna's struggling face. She uselessly tried to kick at the herald, but she laughed, absorbing some of her life-force. The sorceress felt weak as she felt her life leave her body, making it more and more colder.
Astrild laughed upon seeing the weakening Zatanna. "Oh, don't worry. If Starro has had his fill with planet, I'll absorb its life-force for myself! Soon, others will be joining you soo-"
Suddenly, Astrild caught a bullet that was aimed for her. She turned around, annoyed. "What now?"
Standing on top of a building, sniper-rifle aimed on his shoulder, was Deathstroke. He kissed his teeth as he leaped off of the building, hastily dodging the beam of energy that struck where he previously was. He landed on the ground, his armour taking most of the force away. He held dual pistols in his hand, aimed straight at the herald.
Scoffing, she dropped Zatanna. "More of you vermin come crawling out. What insanity possesses you to fight against Starro the Conqueror?"
"I'm sick of alien invasions," Deathstroke noted, keeping his body calm in order to do battle. "Plus, interrupting Starro's plans means pissing off an old man who hasn't learned to kick the bucket yet." He placed one of his guns on his waist.
"Hmmph." Astrild stepped forward slowly, assured in her victory. "To my world, I was raised as a goddess. That title still follows me, to this day! And now, you ants come challenging me, when you can't even scuff my armour! What hope do you have?"
"I'm an athiest," was Deathstroke's response, causing her to growl at him. He dropped a smoke bomb from his waist, obscuring Astrild's vision slightly. She blurred forward, dispersing the smoke and seeing the assassin seemingly vanish.
She raised her hand to catch the sword in her bare hands, a pistol aimed at her chin. She halted Deathstroke's motions, making him grunt as his sword was shattered easily. "Did you really think that would work?" she mocked, sneering.
Deathstroke simply smiled behind his mask. "No." And fired his shot.
Astrild let him, already knowing that bullets wouldn't harm her. That is, until she felt it stick to her body. Confused, she looked and saw that it was a dart, rather than a bullet, that he'd fired at her. She pushed him back and made to advance on him, but paused, a feeling of dread passing her.
"W-Wha-" she muttered, feeling her body being drained of energy. Astrild held up her hands, seeing them shake. "W-What did you do to me?!"
Growling in pain, he stood up. "A pretty little present from Luthor. He made it, sold it on the black market and eventually, it landed into my pocket. Cost me a lot, but it was worth it. I won't bore you with the details, but I really hate being double-crossed. So, if I stop you, and Starro is miraculously stopped, I know it'll piss off Savage."
"What did you do?!" Astrild yelled, making to step forward, only to start writhing in pain as she fell to the ground. She could literally feel the energy she had absorbed to be vanishing. Not just what she'd absorbed from the witch, but all of it. From absorbing planets, people... She had never felt like this before, not even when she had overexerted himself in battle. It was to the point her limbs couldn't even move. Her puckered lips made to curse at Deathstroke, but lacked the breath to even say a word. Her eyes were rolling, and darkness was threatening to overtake him.
"It zaps you of the energy use. Typically, chemical energy for humans in the food we consume. It increases our metabolisms and causes us to die from it. What I did was add bits and pieces from Savage's stash. Should be enough to kill you."
"You... damn... filth..." was all she managed to say, her eyes rolling into her head as she fell onto the floor, spasming slightly. Then, she fell still.
He sighed, nodding his head. Good thing I managed to score one of those bullets. Luthor doesn't make 'em much, and they're definitely not cheap.
XXX
(Space)
An elbow to the face had Starro flying as Cado shot off mouth-beams to incinerate the small starfishes. He swerved his head, managing to get a good chunk of the swarm. Starro came back, this time carrying Venus with both hands as he smashed the planet into Cado's face, dazing him slightly. The conqueror kept on smashing it into the Saiyatonian's head, bits and pieces falling off of the planet.
He finished the combo off wih a beam from his eye, pushing Cado back. Grunting, Cado used his mouth-beam to push back, steadily gaining more ground. The two kept on firing their attacks, trying to gain more ground on each other.
Starro kept on adding more and more energy, pushing Cado back even further. Seeing the increased energy, Cado swiftly cut off the beam and swerved left, the beam scorching a large part of of his face and leaving a nasty wound on the side. Blood floated in space as Cado snarled at it, the liquid of life seemed to be mocking him. He narrowed his eyes as something bumped into him. He discretely turned around, seeing what it was.
It was the broken handle of Starro's axe, with some of the broken blade still attached to it.
Starro floated forward, content in his victory. "Concede, and your servitude to me will be painless." A starfish appeared on his hand, ready to control him. As he approached closer, Cado used his tail to quickly wrap itself around the handle and shove the broken weapon forth, the jagged edge piercing Starro's central starfish eye.
Starro gave a screech of pain that made Cado wince. Not because he was feeling pity for his enemy, but because he felt it mentally. It was some sort of pyschic shout, which left Cado slightly disorientated. But he pushed forward, taking the opportunity.
Starro tilted his body back, dropping the starfish in his hand. This allowed the Saiyatonian to move towards Starro, heading to his head. Gripping what felt like his neck through all the armour and odd alien physiology, Cado roared as he used his strength. Starro's head suddenly began to tear and groan, the helmet digging into his body.
Not letting up - even when Starro started to dig his hands into his eyes and try and gouge them out - Cado kept applying pressure, until he snapped Starro's neck, the shockwave powerful enough to even move through space.
Taking his head, Cado opened his maw and roared down Starro's open visage due to his helmet, firing off a mouth-beam that was ongoing for a few minutes, the Oozaru not letting up for even a second to allow Starro to come close to regenerating properly.
Starro's steadily growing screams of pain kept going, until the felt silent. Still, Cado wasn't satisfied. He started to spin the weakened conqueror in his hands, picking up speed as he kept on spinning and spinning. Until finally, he tossed Starro into the direction of the sun.
Maw opening and alight with ki, Cado fired one more powerful mouth-beam, the blast hitting Starro's body and pushing him towards the sun. He kept on going until he couldn't see Starro's body, feeling it hit the surface of the sun and burn it to ashes, especially with the beam's ongoing energy.
Eventually, he ceased the beam, feeling Starro's energy deplete. Suddenly, the Starro starfishes that still remained seized up, and then fell like puppets without strings, seemingly motionless.
On Earth, the same thing was occurring. Those possessed by Starro starfishes fell to the ground, the starfishes sliding off of their victims' faces. All across the world, those who were few and still unpossessed watched as strangers, loved ones, and even animals were freed from the clutches of Starro. Even the corpses that contained a starfish to their faces had the alien parasites fall off their faces, their hold no longer there.
Cado sighed in relief, an odd sight in his Oozaru form. It's over.
Finally managed to get it done.
I'll be honest, I was trying to form the chapter for a while, but the general outline was still vague. It was only after a while I started to get into it.
Hope y'all liked the chapter. At least I'm updating my stories a little more frequently, so there's that.
While a little short, the fight between Cado and Starro came from me seeing the trailer of Godzilla vs. Kong 2021. That got me so hyped!
As for the bullet Deathstroke used to kill Astrild, it was a little out of the blue, but I essentially used the fact that it would be something that a genius villain like Luthor could and would come up with something like that, given the motive, technology at hand (as well as using material for the technology from different sources, which will be expanded upon soon) and nick-nacks that Vandal Savage has kept, due to living for so long. So roll with it.
Yeah, the filler arc is ended. So the Themyscira arc starts around next chapter. Got big plans for that.
Guest Review time:
1.) Glad you liked the arc, and hoped you liked this chapter. And hopefully, I'll be able to hit the bar with this story.
2.) I get what you mean, but Cado - obviously - isn't adhering to that ideology now. Eventually, he will. But not now.
3.) Probably not, no. As I have no plans for her.
4.) It doesn't really change much, but thanks.
5.) Kryptonite followed Cado as he went to the DBZ universe. A little unexpected, but gotta keep things interesting.
6.) I get what you mean, but Darkseid is such a big player that him not attacking Earth early on wouldn't make sense. Plus, if I held him back until later parts of the story, either people would be like, 'Oh, why isn't Darkseid introduced? He's our favourite villain! Use him! USE HIM!' I'd rather have those kinda questions answered rather than 'Why is Darkseid beaten by the JL now? He's so much more powerful!' etc. The avatar usage makes it easier to answer.
7.) He doesn't fight.
8.) I'm using DBZ Broly, not DBS Broly. I made it obvious.
9.) The argument will be addressed later on.
10.) Thanks, hopefully I can keep pumping more chapters for the story.
11.) Eventually, he will.
Now, with that out of the way, gotta address some bits.
i) A guy/girl named aymenadeeb81 came up with the idea of allowing Cado to use the Wrath State/Ikari Form that Broly used in the DBS movie. Now, I was hesitant to use it, since there's still a lot of unexplained stuff about it (how it's so powerful, how Broly managed to achieve it at all, etc.) but - when I first read the request - I did like it. Plus, I do like the form. So, I'm planning for Cado to use it. Obviously, not at the snap of a finger, but he will learn it.
ii) Same person also convinced me of Cado absorbing the same radiation as Superman, due to the same stuff of half-Kryptonians having the same absorption rates in the comics. I was a little sketchy, but decided to change it to that.
Thx to all those who f,f,r and r the story. Appreciate all of the support. Flamers can fuck off.
Read and Review!