Chapter 1: An unlikely alliance
Justin
We stared at each other for a while, neither of us willing to make the first move. I knew Joel too well though, my patience far exceeded his own, and with little doubt he would be the aggressor. That was more than fine with me. Even though I felt a bit intimidated (I still remembered my first encounter with Joel), I was a great deal stronger than I was back then.
"Well, newbie, you've got some balls!" exclaimed Joel, assuming his fighting stance. I started a little bounce, like a boxer warming up in the ring.
"Yeah that's what your mama told me," I countered. Joel's face broke out a sly grin.
"Touchy!" he said, "I'd better warn you, no human can defeat me!" I didn't listen to him. He would try to get me to doubt myself. There were still lots of techniques that I hadn't mastered yet, like Buku-jutsu, the art of flying.
"Put up or shut up, monkey boy!" I shouted. Joel merely laughed and suddenly began the festivities. He flew at me at what I assumed to be at his full speed but I was sorely mistaken when his speed increased tenfold, surprising me greatly, and sent a wild hook punch my way. I was barely able to duck under the uncoordinated attack and reciprocated by driving my right foot into his chest. The blow sent him spinning away from me, but soon he regained his composure and punished me by lodging his fist in the middle of my face, breaking my nose. I skated backwards on both feet from the force of the blow, grasping my nose in pain. I recovered quickly and dove into Joel, my green aura covering me. Obviously, he hadn't expected me to move so fast because he barely had time to bring his arm up to block the jump kick I sent at him. He was forced to take a few steps backward to keep his balance.
He looked at me with newfound interest, almost as though he hadn't noticed me before. I knew he was going to say something so I beat him to it.
"You're pretty good, monkey boy," I commended, taking my fighting stance, "but you know if that kick had connected it would've been over." Joel smirked.
"Bullshit!" he cried, going into his stance once more, "I must admit though, you might actually provide a challenge!" He said this while bringing forth his blue aura and began to power up. I waited patiently as he did this, trying to think up a good strategy to win. Joel didn't realize who I really was, he knew me as Jin, the lone wolf, the mysterious, trouble making human, but at the end of this fight he would.
When Joel finished his powerup, he rushed straight at me. I must admit, he caught me completely off guard with his next move and if he had attacked then and there he would have dealt some serious damage, but he decided to showboat and it cost him. He stopped right in front of me, surprising me, but instead of attacking me directly, he jumped into the air. At the apex of his jump he did a somersault and began to fall at insane speeds, elbow first, towards me. This attack left him extremely vulnerable and being the good boy that I was, how could I resist?
I leapt into the air after him and, as he fell, I closed my hand around his left ankle and hurled him to the ground. I zanzokened after his freefalling body and, just before he hit the ground, I used my foot to guide his head into the rocky surface, uprooting a few chunks of earth in the process. I did a few backflips and landed a few metres away from my opponent, in my fighting stance, skating backwards just a bit. "Might...provide a challenge?" I asked with a smirk. I watched as Joel rose to his feet slowly. The glare he gave me sent a chill up my spine. Suddenly, he zanzokened. I tried desperately to track his ki and when I did it was too late. I swiveled to my right to face him and was greeted by the sight of his fist closing in on my face. The hit propelled me into the air, spinning uncontrollably. When my ears stopped ringing I heard Joel power up a ki attack.
"Kame..." he began, gathering energy into his cupped hands. What!? Joel thought he could power up faster than I could? I shifted myself in midair and powered up an attack taught to me by my Namekian masters. This attack was ideal because it could be pulled off at full power in a short period of time.
"Makou-sen!!!" I shouted, whipping my cupped hands forward. The green beam flew toward my Saiyan rival.
"Hame..." he continued, watching my beam intently, "Ha!!" The blue beam that erupted from Joel's hands was twice the size of my own, but I didn't care. When our beams collided I felt the recoil immediately and I knew that my adversary felt it as well. Despite the size of my Makou-sen attack, it put up quite a fight against Joel's Kamehameha, but eventually I felt my strength begin to wane. I let go of my attack and zanzokened before the blue beam could hit me. I reappeared on the ground a few metres away from Joel.
A sudden breeze picked up causing my belt and my opponent's hair to flail around wildly. His tail was wrapped around his waist, as usual, as he turned to face me. There was a slight grin on his face and I didn't like it. I decide to resume the battle as I zanzokened and reappeared in front of him. Immediately Joel began to block the flurry of punches and kicks that I sent his way. Our hyperfighting upped in pace when we let our auras consume us. Joel retaliated with his own onslaught of attacks and I was able to block and evade them with little difficulty. I found my own attacks striking Joel's open palm, his forearm or maybe even a clenched fist of his own. Only rarely did we actually land any of our blows. The hyperfight only lasted for several seconds, which seems like an eternity to those who can move at half the speed of light, and only ceased when Joel and I punched each other simultaneously in the cheek, sending us skidding back toward our respective sides of the arena.
The arena was all natural and was carved, over time by the elements, entirely out of rock. At the four corners of this arena were four natural rock spires. This place had seen many a battle and this one was probably the most intense it had ever seen.
Again a grin crossed Joel's lips and this caused me to shout in anger, giving Joel a glare that possessed the essence of pure malevolence. I ran into him at full speed, catching him off-guard, and launched him into the air with an uppercut to his chin. He crashed through three rock plateaus in succession and then crash-landed on the hard, rocky surface. I didn't stop there. I leapt into the air, rubbed my palms together and then shot out my Renzoku rapid-fire energy blasts at my grounded opponent. I filled the sky with my blasts and they all curved as they headed for Joel. About thirty of the blasts struck him. Before the smoke even cleared I powered up my Makou-sen. I cupped my hands at my abdomen's level and the little ball of ki that had appeared there began to grow.
"Makou-sen!!!" I shouted, whipping my cupped hands toward Joel. The beam traveled quickly and parted the smoke, giving me a view of Joel, who was now struggling to rise. He turned his head at the last second and a scared look swept his face as the Makou-sen drew closer. There was a huge explosion when the beam hit him, and he was thrown into the air along with rock debris, just as I had expected. I thought about sending another Makou- sen but I decided against it. It'd probably miss and I might need the ki later on. It was then I remembered that I couldn't fly. I dropped down onto a rock plateau and, from there, pushed off into the air after Joel only to receive a devious kick to the side of my head as he had zanzokened right in front of me. I fell out of the sky like a swatted mosquito and, before impact with the ground, he zanzokened directly above me and elbowed me down. I hit the ground so hard that a crater the size of an Olympic swimming pool formed around me. Immediately I pushed myself up and, in a rage, flew straight at him with such speeds I had never known. A trail of fire followed after me, and my green aura consumed my enraged body. I extended my arm and my fist collided with Joel's open palm as he caught my punch. The force of the blow, and my speed, propelled us straight into the academy's assembly building, which was over twenty miles away from the arena. The students who were there got quite a scare when we burst through the wall. We only stopped our uncontrollable flight when we crashed into the reinforced titanium foundation. My gi was in ruin and Joel's uniform had become rags. My body was screaming for me to just stay where I lay, but I ignored the pain and did a cat's spring to my feet. Joel was already standing.
"Why!?" he asked, breathing heavily, "why won't you just die!!??" I grinned. I had finally done what I wanted to do. I had wiped that stupid grin off of his face. His fists shook in anger.
"Not bad for a human, eh monkey boy?" I queried, taking the time to snap my broken nose back into place. I shot a few quick jabs at empty air to flaunt my speed. "Not as easy as it was two years ago, isn't it?" I continued. Joel seemed confused.
"Whaddya mean?" he inquired, "two years ago?" He knotted his eyebrows and waved his tail around. Suddenly, his eyes grew wider in realization. "Justin!?" he exclaimed. I gave him a smirk. I received great satisfaction from his confusion. I didn't give him time to think, though, I rushed him then and sent a fist at his cheek but had long since zanzokened. He reappeared off to my left and punished me by bringing a ki charged fist to my back causing me to scream in pain. I staggered forward and zanzokened before he could follow up his assault. I reappeared directly in front of him and sent a barrage of punches and kicks, which he dodged with ease. He sank his fist in my abdomen breaking a few ribs, and followed up with a spin kick, roundhouse kick, front kick, right-left punch, knee into axe kick combo, which I collected in full. I fell to the floor a bloody mess.
"It wasn't supposed to be this way Justin. I'm surprised I was able to toy with you this much," said Joel, walking up to my grounded form, "how you escaped those bastards from the Cold Empire is a mystery, but you made the biggest mistake in coming back here!!" I struggled to rise to my feet and when I did, I began to chuckle softly.
"What's so funny?" he asked, stopping in his tracks. The smirk returned to my face as I let my green aura bathe me.
"Actually Joel, I'm surprised that you haven't even realized..." I began, as I began to power up for the first time for the fight, "that I'm the one who's been toying with you!!!" The entire assembly building shook violently as a result of the power I was letting off. Immediately after my powerup we engaged in another hyperfighting melee. We rained blows on each other and soon we even ceased trying to block each other's attacks. We just hit and got hit. Our blows sent shockwaves all throughout the building. We moved quickly, clearing out desks, chairs and even people who just happened to be in our way.
Suddenly a voice came over the intercom, ordering us to cease our fight immediately. It was the new headmaster. We ignored him and kept at our melee battle. At times we were so close to each other that our green and blue auras merged. The headmaster repeated his warning three times but still we fought on. Joel and I had both been grappling with each other and were now punching the shit out of each other. We were about to hit each other the finishing blow when a voice stopped us.
"Stop!!!" it commanded. Our fists halted just micrometres from our faces and we both turned to see to whom the voice belonged. It was a girl. She had waist long, blonde hair and had a scouter attached to her ear. She was about my age and she wore the same type of blue padded armored uniform that Joel had started off our fight wearing. She hovered into the assembly hall through the large hole that Joel and I had made upon entering it.
"You two have disobeyed direct orders from the headmaster! You are to cease any combat or face severe punishment! Do I make myself clear?" she shouted.
Suddenly, the little screen over her eye began to operate as Joel shot into the air straight at her. She gave a devilish grin as the rising numbers on her scouter came to a halt.
"Okay then." she said, flying down at him. The girl casually evaded his quick punches and then sank her fist into his chest. I gazed on in utter surprise when I saw the imprint of her fist bulging out of Joel's back. Her blow sent him jetting to the ground and he landed heavily right next to where I stood. His body twitched violently on the floor and I stared at him in pure shock. She passed her hand through her long blonde hair and smiled at me wickedly. Who was this girl? She seemed to read my mind.
"I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself," she said, giving me a slight bow while Joel picked himself off of the floor, "you can call me Jeran. I'm the leader of the Garden gang." I swore under my breath and clenched my fists in anger. I could feel her power and knew it was way above my own.
"You little..." was all I could think of saying, "you interrupted..." She smirked.
"Are you gonna disobey direct orders as well, Jin?" she asked me. I swore yet again. What should I do? It was then I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Joel.
"Jin...Justin," he started, "I know you hate me...and I don't blame you, hell!! I hate myself, but...let's call a truce for now, so we can finish up our thing later. This bitch is gonna pay for hitting me. So...you in?" I shrugged his hand off of my shoulder in disgust, but thought about what he asked me. Should I give up? No!! I had learned long ago that that was not an option. But I didn't enjoy the idea of aiding my sworn enemy either. However, I had waited two whole years for this showdown and I was not going to let anyone stand in my way, even if it meant helping Joel out this one time. I stared up at her and gave her a wry smile. "Idiot..." I said, nonchalantly. She grew annoyed. "What was that!?" she shouted. "You heard me...you're an idiot to think that I'll take orders from you," came the reply. She raised her right palm and powered up an attack. "Sorry you feel that way, Jin. See you later boys," she said with a somewhat sultry tone. She then fired the ki blast our way. Joel and I stared at it for a second, then at each other. All of the students who were quietly spectating vacated the building immediately. The both of us grabbed each other and then we both blurred out of sight.
CHARACTERS RECRUITED INITIAL P/LVL
JIN 460
JOEL 440
SOUNDTRACK: CRAWLING by Linkin Park
Justin
We stared at each other for a while, neither of us willing to make the first move. I knew Joel too well though, my patience far exceeded his own, and with little doubt he would be the aggressor. That was more than fine with me. Even though I felt a bit intimidated (I still remembered my first encounter with Joel), I was a great deal stronger than I was back then.
"Well, newbie, you've got some balls!" exclaimed Joel, assuming his fighting stance. I started a little bounce, like a boxer warming up in the ring.
"Yeah that's what your mama told me," I countered. Joel's face broke out a sly grin.
"Touchy!" he said, "I'd better warn you, no human can defeat me!" I didn't listen to him. He would try to get me to doubt myself. There were still lots of techniques that I hadn't mastered yet, like Buku-jutsu, the art of flying.
"Put up or shut up, monkey boy!" I shouted. Joel merely laughed and suddenly began the festivities. He flew at me at what I assumed to be at his full speed but I was sorely mistaken when his speed increased tenfold, surprising me greatly, and sent a wild hook punch my way. I was barely able to duck under the uncoordinated attack and reciprocated by driving my right foot into his chest. The blow sent him spinning away from me, but soon he regained his composure and punished me by lodging his fist in the middle of my face, breaking my nose. I skated backwards on both feet from the force of the blow, grasping my nose in pain. I recovered quickly and dove into Joel, my green aura covering me. Obviously, he hadn't expected me to move so fast because he barely had time to bring his arm up to block the jump kick I sent at him. He was forced to take a few steps backward to keep his balance.
He looked at me with newfound interest, almost as though he hadn't noticed me before. I knew he was going to say something so I beat him to it.
"You're pretty good, monkey boy," I commended, taking my fighting stance, "but you know if that kick had connected it would've been over." Joel smirked.
"Bullshit!" he cried, going into his stance once more, "I must admit though, you might actually provide a challenge!" He said this while bringing forth his blue aura and began to power up. I waited patiently as he did this, trying to think up a good strategy to win. Joel didn't realize who I really was, he knew me as Jin, the lone wolf, the mysterious, trouble making human, but at the end of this fight he would.
When Joel finished his powerup, he rushed straight at me. I must admit, he caught me completely off guard with his next move and if he had attacked then and there he would have dealt some serious damage, but he decided to showboat and it cost him. He stopped right in front of me, surprising me, but instead of attacking me directly, he jumped into the air. At the apex of his jump he did a somersault and began to fall at insane speeds, elbow first, towards me. This attack left him extremely vulnerable and being the good boy that I was, how could I resist?
I leapt into the air after him and, as he fell, I closed my hand around his left ankle and hurled him to the ground. I zanzokened after his freefalling body and, just before he hit the ground, I used my foot to guide his head into the rocky surface, uprooting a few chunks of earth in the process. I did a few backflips and landed a few metres away from my opponent, in my fighting stance, skating backwards just a bit. "Might...provide a challenge?" I asked with a smirk. I watched as Joel rose to his feet slowly. The glare he gave me sent a chill up my spine. Suddenly, he zanzokened. I tried desperately to track his ki and when I did it was too late. I swiveled to my right to face him and was greeted by the sight of his fist closing in on my face. The hit propelled me into the air, spinning uncontrollably. When my ears stopped ringing I heard Joel power up a ki attack.
"Kame..." he began, gathering energy into his cupped hands. What!? Joel thought he could power up faster than I could? I shifted myself in midair and powered up an attack taught to me by my Namekian masters. This attack was ideal because it could be pulled off at full power in a short period of time.
"Makou-sen!!!" I shouted, whipping my cupped hands forward. The green beam flew toward my Saiyan rival.
"Hame..." he continued, watching my beam intently, "Ha!!" The blue beam that erupted from Joel's hands was twice the size of my own, but I didn't care. When our beams collided I felt the recoil immediately and I knew that my adversary felt it as well. Despite the size of my Makou-sen attack, it put up quite a fight against Joel's Kamehameha, but eventually I felt my strength begin to wane. I let go of my attack and zanzokened before the blue beam could hit me. I reappeared on the ground a few metres away from Joel.
A sudden breeze picked up causing my belt and my opponent's hair to flail around wildly. His tail was wrapped around his waist, as usual, as he turned to face me. There was a slight grin on his face and I didn't like it. I decide to resume the battle as I zanzokened and reappeared in front of him. Immediately Joel began to block the flurry of punches and kicks that I sent his way. Our hyperfighting upped in pace when we let our auras consume us. Joel retaliated with his own onslaught of attacks and I was able to block and evade them with little difficulty. I found my own attacks striking Joel's open palm, his forearm or maybe even a clenched fist of his own. Only rarely did we actually land any of our blows. The hyperfight only lasted for several seconds, which seems like an eternity to those who can move at half the speed of light, and only ceased when Joel and I punched each other simultaneously in the cheek, sending us skidding back toward our respective sides of the arena.
The arena was all natural and was carved, over time by the elements, entirely out of rock. At the four corners of this arena were four natural rock spires. This place had seen many a battle and this one was probably the most intense it had ever seen.
Again a grin crossed Joel's lips and this caused me to shout in anger, giving Joel a glare that possessed the essence of pure malevolence. I ran into him at full speed, catching him off-guard, and launched him into the air with an uppercut to his chin. He crashed through three rock plateaus in succession and then crash-landed on the hard, rocky surface. I didn't stop there. I leapt into the air, rubbed my palms together and then shot out my Renzoku rapid-fire energy blasts at my grounded opponent. I filled the sky with my blasts and they all curved as they headed for Joel. About thirty of the blasts struck him. Before the smoke even cleared I powered up my Makou-sen. I cupped my hands at my abdomen's level and the little ball of ki that had appeared there began to grow.
"Makou-sen!!!" I shouted, whipping my cupped hands toward Joel. The beam traveled quickly and parted the smoke, giving me a view of Joel, who was now struggling to rise. He turned his head at the last second and a scared look swept his face as the Makou-sen drew closer. There was a huge explosion when the beam hit him, and he was thrown into the air along with rock debris, just as I had expected. I thought about sending another Makou- sen but I decided against it. It'd probably miss and I might need the ki later on. It was then I remembered that I couldn't fly. I dropped down onto a rock plateau and, from there, pushed off into the air after Joel only to receive a devious kick to the side of my head as he had zanzokened right in front of me. I fell out of the sky like a swatted mosquito and, before impact with the ground, he zanzokened directly above me and elbowed me down. I hit the ground so hard that a crater the size of an Olympic swimming pool formed around me. Immediately I pushed myself up and, in a rage, flew straight at him with such speeds I had never known. A trail of fire followed after me, and my green aura consumed my enraged body. I extended my arm and my fist collided with Joel's open palm as he caught my punch. The force of the blow, and my speed, propelled us straight into the academy's assembly building, which was over twenty miles away from the arena. The students who were there got quite a scare when we burst through the wall. We only stopped our uncontrollable flight when we crashed into the reinforced titanium foundation. My gi was in ruin and Joel's uniform had become rags. My body was screaming for me to just stay where I lay, but I ignored the pain and did a cat's spring to my feet. Joel was already standing.
"Why!?" he asked, breathing heavily, "why won't you just die!!??" I grinned. I had finally done what I wanted to do. I had wiped that stupid grin off of his face. His fists shook in anger.
"Not bad for a human, eh monkey boy?" I queried, taking the time to snap my broken nose back into place. I shot a few quick jabs at empty air to flaunt my speed. "Not as easy as it was two years ago, isn't it?" I continued. Joel seemed confused.
"Whaddya mean?" he inquired, "two years ago?" He knotted his eyebrows and waved his tail around. Suddenly, his eyes grew wider in realization. "Justin!?" he exclaimed. I gave him a smirk. I received great satisfaction from his confusion. I didn't give him time to think, though, I rushed him then and sent a fist at his cheek but had long since zanzokened. He reappeared off to my left and punished me by bringing a ki charged fist to my back causing me to scream in pain. I staggered forward and zanzokened before he could follow up his assault. I reappeared directly in front of him and sent a barrage of punches and kicks, which he dodged with ease. He sank his fist in my abdomen breaking a few ribs, and followed up with a spin kick, roundhouse kick, front kick, right-left punch, knee into axe kick combo, which I collected in full. I fell to the floor a bloody mess.
"It wasn't supposed to be this way Justin. I'm surprised I was able to toy with you this much," said Joel, walking up to my grounded form, "how you escaped those bastards from the Cold Empire is a mystery, but you made the biggest mistake in coming back here!!" I struggled to rise to my feet and when I did, I began to chuckle softly.
"What's so funny?" he asked, stopping in his tracks. The smirk returned to my face as I let my green aura bathe me.
"Actually Joel, I'm surprised that you haven't even realized..." I began, as I began to power up for the first time for the fight, "that I'm the one who's been toying with you!!!" The entire assembly building shook violently as a result of the power I was letting off. Immediately after my powerup we engaged in another hyperfighting melee. We rained blows on each other and soon we even ceased trying to block each other's attacks. We just hit and got hit. Our blows sent shockwaves all throughout the building. We moved quickly, clearing out desks, chairs and even people who just happened to be in our way.
Suddenly a voice came over the intercom, ordering us to cease our fight immediately. It was the new headmaster. We ignored him and kept at our melee battle. At times we were so close to each other that our green and blue auras merged. The headmaster repeated his warning three times but still we fought on. Joel and I had both been grappling with each other and were now punching the shit out of each other. We were about to hit each other the finishing blow when a voice stopped us.
"Stop!!!" it commanded. Our fists halted just micrometres from our faces and we both turned to see to whom the voice belonged. It was a girl. She had waist long, blonde hair and had a scouter attached to her ear. She was about my age and she wore the same type of blue padded armored uniform that Joel had started off our fight wearing. She hovered into the assembly hall through the large hole that Joel and I had made upon entering it.
"You two have disobeyed direct orders from the headmaster! You are to cease any combat or face severe punishment! Do I make myself clear?" she shouted.
Suddenly, the little screen over her eye began to operate as Joel shot into the air straight at her. She gave a devilish grin as the rising numbers on her scouter came to a halt.
"Okay then." she said, flying down at him. The girl casually evaded his quick punches and then sank her fist into his chest. I gazed on in utter surprise when I saw the imprint of her fist bulging out of Joel's back. Her blow sent him jetting to the ground and he landed heavily right next to where I stood. His body twitched violently on the floor and I stared at him in pure shock. She passed her hand through her long blonde hair and smiled at me wickedly. Who was this girl? She seemed to read my mind.
"I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself," she said, giving me a slight bow while Joel picked himself off of the floor, "you can call me Jeran. I'm the leader of the Garden gang." I swore under my breath and clenched my fists in anger. I could feel her power and knew it was way above my own.
"You little..." was all I could think of saying, "you interrupted..." She smirked.
"Are you gonna disobey direct orders as well, Jin?" she asked me. I swore yet again. What should I do? It was then I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Joel.
"Jin...Justin," he started, "I know you hate me...and I don't blame you, hell!! I hate myself, but...let's call a truce for now, so we can finish up our thing later. This bitch is gonna pay for hitting me. So...you in?" I shrugged his hand off of my shoulder in disgust, but thought about what he asked me. Should I give up? No!! I had learned long ago that that was not an option. But I didn't enjoy the idea of aiding my sworn enemy either. However, I had waited two whole years for this showdown and I was not going to let anyone stand in my way, even if it meant helping Joel out this one time. I stared up at her and gave her a wry smile. "Idiot..." I said, nonchalantly. She grew annoyed. "What was that!?" she shouted. "You heard me...you're an idiot to think that I'll take orders from you," came the reply. She raised her right palm and powered up an attack. "Sorry you feel that way, Jin. See you later boys," she said with a somewhat sultry tone. She then fired the ki blast our way. Joel and I stared at it for a second, then at each other. All of the students who were quietly spectating vacated the building immediately. The both of us grabbed each other and then we both blurred out of sight.
CHARACTERS RECRUITED INITIAL P/LVL
JIN 460
JOEL 440
SOUNDTRACK: CRAWLING by Linkin Park