Chapter 7: Monkey Business
Furion
The Saiyans were a race of natural born fighters that were no strangers to my people. They were mercenaries, doing anything, including destroying entire worlds, for money. Some even did it for their own personal pleasure. However, their own greed turned out to be their downfall as one of their clients, the heir to the Cold Empire, Freeza, destroyed their planet, Vegeta, wiping out the entire race save for a few. The Saiyan prince Vegeta was on a mission at the time, as were his two servants, Nappa and Raditz. A Saiyan rebel, Turlis, who had been banished from planet Vegeta earlier, had set up a colony on another planet for him and his few hundred followers. These were all killed off in a separate incident. Then, finally, there was a Saiyan child, no more than a day old, who had been sent to Earth to conquer it as he grew up. This child, the brother of Raditz, was injured upon landing on Earth and subsequently forgot his mission and, because of this, he grew up to be the savior of the earth and the greatest warrior the universe had ever known. His name was Goku and it was he, with the help of the Saiyan prince Vegeta, who finally defeated all the heirs of the Cold Empire. It had been on our first planet Namek that Goku had defeated the destroyer of his race, Freeza, and on our new planet Namek that he and Vegeta had destroyed his brother, Koola. This was over a hundred years ago. By now, the Saiyan blood should have been diluted through generations of interbreeding with humans, seeing as there were only two surviving full-blooded Saiyans at the time, Goku and Vegeta, but there was Joel, a statistical impossibility, a full-blooded Saiyan. And now, there was Jin.
We were taught, as we grew up, to fear them, to never engage them in combat and, of course, we learned of their Oozaru transformation as well; which occurred when a Saiyan who still had a tail looked at a full moon or any good substitute. The elders back on Namek said that when they transform, it was as if they go crazy, losing all control and destroying whatever they can. That, according to my Master Trump, was not true. There was just a peerless bloodlust that rushed through a Saiyan's blood at all times and when they transform it magnifies immensely. All that happens is that they have a somewhat crazy urge to destroy everything in their path when they transform. Unless there was something for them to focus on destroying, they'd go on a senseless rampage, just to fill some sort of biological urge.
I was at the apartment of Jin's family when I first sensed Joel's ki. Jin's mother had just gone through all the theatrics of a mother greeting a long lost child. He had a difficult time explaining his tail to everyone. Normally I would have been interested in the discussion, but Joel's ki patterns puzzled me at first I thought he was just training back at the ship because, for a while the patterns were normal, as if he were training. His ki rose and then dropped a little while later. It went along this pattern for half an hour before his ki dropped so low that I couldn't even feel it, which was very unusual.
"So, Furion, you're the one that my Justin calls his best friend?" asked his mother, suddenly.
"Maybe..." I replied, still trying to find Joel's ki. Jin almost fell over with that one.
"C'mon Furion!! You know you're my best friend, man. We trained together!" he cried.
"I thought that you reserved that title for Nikita," I retorted with a grin. He shook his head furiously.
"No, no Furion, you've got it mixed up. Niki's my girlfriend, you're my best friend, "he explained.
"Justin, you even have a girlfriend?" queried his mother, causing a large sweatdrop to fall from my spiky haired friend's head, "you didn't mention that." While Jin tried to get himself out of the predicament I had gotten him into I focused in on Joel's ki.
It had risen, once more, to normal levels and stayed there for quite a while before dropping sharply. It was almost as if he were in a real fight...
"Furion, somethin' botherin' ya?" came Aren, breaking my concentration, "you look distracted." I nodded.
"Aren, do you sense Joel's ki?" I asked. The kid shrugged.
"I still haven't gotten that ki trackin' thing down yet. Why?" he said.
"I think he went to fight the aliens without us," I whispered. Aren was shocked.
"Aw man!! Jeran and Niki are with him!" he cried. The mentioning of Nikita's name caught Jin's attention. Suddenly, there was a tremendous leap in Joel's powerlevel. The numbers on my scouter kept rising and when it broke, left me in a state of shock. Jin and Aren's scouters both shattered as well.
"One hundred and sixty thousand!!?" exclaimed Jin, rising to his feet. So, Jin had been reading Joel's ki all along. His old friends noticed the tension in the air.
"What's wrong, you guys?" asked Cris.
"How could Joel's ki be so friggin' high!?" inquired the dark skinned Saiyan, ignoring the question. There was only one possible reason, and, in the distance, my sensitive ears picked up a monstrous bellowing that confirmed my suspicions. "The idiot went to fight without us!" Jin continued, running to a window, "Furion, Aren, let's go!" We left, Jin leaping from rooftop to rooftop, while Aren and I put all we had into our Buku-jutsu techniques in order to keep up with him.
As we drew closer to the outskirts of the city, the bellowing became audible to Aren and Jin and they halted immediately.
"What's making that sound, guys?" asked Aren, who was visibly shaken.
"It's Joel. He's transformed into an Oozaru," I answered, and after seeing my friends' puzzled faces I proceeded to elaborate.
"So that's how Joel's ki got so high," realized Jin, peering down at his own tail. I knew what he was thinking. He was wondering if he could turn into an Oozaru also.
"Hey! You guys!! Up here!" yelled a voice from above. We glanced up and saw Nikita, with one hand holding on to a wounded Jeran and her free arm she waved at us. She slowly descended onto the rooftop that Jin stood upon.
"Are you guys alright?" queried Jin, hurrying up to them. Nikita shook her head.
"Things are bad. Joel's fighting a guy called Scipio, who's as strong as your Master Trump. Joel's losing..." she began.
"Not anymore," interjected Jin, "If that guy's only as strong as Trump then he doesn't stand a chance against the Oozaru."
"The what?" came Jeran. I landed beside Jin and sighed.
"Long story," I said, "Nikita, you'd better get her to a Rejuv tank quickly. That burn doesn't look too good. The brunette nodded and was about to leave when Jin called her. She turned back and they stared at each other for a second.
"I...just wanted to apologize for making you...you know...do what you did...and it won't happen again," he said, stepping forward, "and...I'm definitely not angry with you for it". Before Nikita even got a chance to respond, Jin took her in his arms and kissed her. Nikita's face promptly grew bright red and a joyful smile graced her face.
"It's n-no p-problem Jin..." she stuttered, the smile still on her face. The pair continued watching each other all 'lovey dovey' and I decided it would be best for me to step in before Jeran passed out.
"Well, I really hate to interrupt this obviously human moment, but Jeran does seem to be in an awful lot of pain," I said, finally getting their attention off of each other. Nikita kissed Jin quickly on the lips and flew off, with Jeran, back towards the ship.
We continued on our path and when Jin ran out of rooftops to cross he leapt high into the air, where I caught him.
"Thanks for the lift," he stated with a grin, as we flew into the desert. Landing there would be difficult. The desert was a wasteland; the ground was shaking violently causing waves of sand to form heading outwards. The sky here was dark, the only light coming from a few bolts of lightning and an extremely bright ball of ki floating high above us. It was really a sight to behold, but at the same time it was scary. I was sure that I, with my powerlevel of 12,397, could have done this to the desert using every last ounce of my power, killing myself in the process, but the overgrown ape that was now Joel was just walking and shaking it. I really didn't want to be there right then, but I had no choice as Jin told me to drop him off behind Joel. It was then that we saw for the first time, the true extent of the Oozaru's power. Whereas he could shake the entire desert by walking, the epicenter of his earthquakes caused the land to literally tear itself apart. Rocks were falling off of mountainsides and often the mountains themselves, which were to the east of the desert, were splitting apart. Joel's roaring and the crashing of the mountains assaulted my sensitive eardrums.
I dropped Jin onto a stable piece of land and Aren and I landed beside him. The large, brown form of the Oozaru was seemingly unaware of our presence; fortunately for us, he just trampled after someone. The man, we assumed he was Scipio, rushed frantically away from Joel at full speed, but it was no use. The Oozaru's legs were too big for him. With just a steady trot Joel caught up to him. Right before Joel was on him, Scipio turned at the last second and shot at him with a ki immersed jump kick. Joel tried to catch him in the air, but the warrior moved quickly. He struck Joel's stomach and bounced right off, falling to the sand underneath the Oozaru's hovering foot. Joel brought his whole weight down on Scipio's motionless body. A sickening crunching sound snapped through the air, as a muffled scream came from under Joel's paw. He screwed his foot like he was putting out a cigarette, before lifting it to the side of Scipio's body.
To our great surprise, the black haired warrior was still alive, twitching with movement, his arms and legs left in deformed positions. Joel watched him like a cat watches a mouse before it eats it; saw him squirm onto his side and then with a great push, onto his stomach. I was more amazed than anything when he pushed himself up from the sandy ground. The pain was clearly visible on his face, yet he got up, using only his right arm as his left was immensely disfigured. One would think that Joel would finish him off right then and there but all he did was continue to stare at Scipio.
"Jin!" I heard Aren shout. I turned to face my companions and gasped when I saw Jin. He was crouched low, his spiky hair and his tail flailing around wildly. His gloved hands clutched aimlessly at his face and I swore that I could hear him growling.
"Jin...you alright?" I asked. The large vein pulsing in his forehead told me that he wasn't. His breathing was hard and laboured.
"I...I feel strange..." he hoarsely whispered, "I...ugh!!" His muscles expanded suddenly and even through the thick, blue armor I could see the outlines of bulging veins in his arms. "I think I'm transforming..." he continued.
"Jin! Fight it!! Will yourself not to transform!" I yelled. After all, it was just a substitute, not the full moon he had looked at, he could fight it. Couldn't he?
Eventually Jin's muscles shrank back to their original size and he slowly stood up. There were still veins in his tense neck and he was sweating profusely, but, otherwise he seemed alright. So, a Saiyan could resist the transformation if it was a substitute. I was glad. I didn't want to be in the middle of two killing machines, especially two who had it out for each other.
I turned my attention back toward Joel, who was still staring at Scipio. For a second, I thought that he considered letting Scipio live, but I was mistaken. With a sudden backhanded smack the Oozaru sent the already broken fighter skating back into a sand dune. Joel clenched his huge right hand into a fist and brought it heavily down on Scipio's limp body. Just before he made contact, my ears picked up a buzzing sound and suddenly his fist stopped in midair.
We looked around to find what had prevented the Oozaru's victory but found nothing. Joel seemed the most confused. He pushed down his fist down, but it wouldn't move. I then realized that whatever was blocking Joel was small enough to hide behind his fist. The ape seemed to realize this as well, as he brought his arm back. Sure enough there was something in the way. Or rather, someone. A short man stood in his way. Not so much stood as floated, he just hung in the air, not moving at all.
He was bald, short, but extremely buff and he wore a strange armor and cape. He had his head turned to look at the downed Scipio, who was unconscious behind him and then slowly, oh so slowly, he turned to face the Oozaru, displaying a bloody left eye. He examined the ape like a judge in a bathing suit contest and finally grinned at him. Joel became enraged and was bringing his left foot to kick him when he zanzokened. He reappeared in front of Joel's chest, by his heart. My furry companion didn't have time to react, just time to see the bald guy hit him. He used one fist, one measly, effortless punch to send Joel flying!! And I mean flying. Jin, Aren and I had our jaws dropped in surprise when Joel's massive body soared over us and landed a few miles away!
The Oozaru's body smacked into the ground at suicidal speeds, whiplashing his neck and leaving him immobilized for a few seconds. Joel roared slightly and then pushed himself up from the ground, looking for his attacker. It wasn't difficult to find him; he wasn't exactly hiding from Joel. He was just confidently hovering toward him. Joel tilted his head to one side before opening his mouth and firing a ki beam from it. The explosion that resulted was awesome, and it threw all three of us off of our feet. I didn't see the bald guy anywhere, so I assumed he'd been hit. Boy did I assume wrong. A ki blast was hurled at Joel, who easily blocked it. Oozaru Joel began to growl ferociously when he saw who sent it. The bald guy hovered inches from Joel's snout, hands on his hips laughing at the Oozaru.
The oversized ape roared in disgust and then swung a wild fist at him. He didn't move to avoid it this time. Instead, he blocked the large fist with his forearm! Baldy then pushed the fist away, spinning the Oozaru right around, and fired a small ki blast, with his other hand, at the base of Joel's tail.
Moving surprisingly fast for his size, Joel twisted himself forward, keeping his tail safe, but in his awkward position the ki blast edged across his chest, scarring him. The ape roared in pain and rage as he charged into Baldy yet again. The intended prey zanzokened, causing Joel to stagger forward. Baldy reappeared behind Joel and kicked his gargantuan frame forward causing him to stumble and fall, leaving his tail wide open to attack.
"Destructo Disk!" was what the bald man cried, and a cylinder of energy formed above his right outstretched palm. He threw the attack with such force that even my sharp vision couldn't catch it in mid flight. The blast cut straight through the base of Joel's tail and, as the fuzzy shaft of the tail fell to the ground, Joel began to shrink and soon he was back to his normal size; blood gushing out of the stump of his tail. The bald man landed in front of Joel's naked and battered body.
"Amazing..." whispered Jin in awe. I knew how he felt. I had never seen such power or speed in a single entity before, but this man possessed skill and power far beyond our range.
"As much as I feel that you deserved victory against Scipio, I couldn't let you do it," said Joel's assailant, raising an open palm toward the grounded and unconscious Saiyan, "But imagine what my daughter would say if her fiancé had been killed and I did nothing to prevent it." Before I could stop him, Jin zanzokened between Joel and his would be killer, arms stretched out, preventing the man from getting a clear shot at Joel.
"Sorry...can't let you do that!" he yelled, as an orange ball of ki appeared in the man's open palm, "He dies by my hand only!" There was a long, tense silence in the air for a while as Jin stood before him defiantly, but then the man clenched his fist making the ball of ki disappear.
"One Saiyan after another. It hardly seems fair," he said with a chuckle, "I'll spare his life on one condition." He didn't even give Jin a chance to accept. "Scipio seems to want to talk to you. Listen to what he has to say," he said.
"That's it?" queried Jin. The old timer nodded. Jin glanced over at me before moving to where Scipio lay. I immediately seized his spot between Joel and the old guy.
Scipio lay in a pool of his own blood quite a ways off from us, but of course I heard them perfectly. Jin stood over his body and stared down at him.
"What?" he asked, impatiently.
"Come...closer..." Scipio gasped, clawing weakly at Jin's boots with his good hand. Jin stooped down closer to the fighter's mouth. "Change..." whispered Scipio. Jin was puzzled.
"Change?" he asked, "change what?" Scipio tilted his head to face Jin.
"Change..." he repeated, and then with an obvious final effort added, "Now!!!" With that, a white beam erupted from Scipio's lips and hit Jin in the face at point-blank range. Jin's body was pitched into the air and he landed directly in front of me, spasming violently. Scipio's body was also shaking violently.
"Jin!!" I cried, kneeling down beside him. The bald guy casually made his way to Scipio's body, lifting it over his shoulder when he arrived.
"Don't worry, your friend is alive," he reassured me, "I can feel his ki. Guess Scipio just wanted to leave something for you to remember him by." I checked Jin's pulse just in case and I gave a sigh of relief when I found it. By the time I looked back, our enemies were gone.
"Hey, Furion!" called Aren, flying toward me with Joel's body in tow, "Can you explain what just happened here?" I peered back at the desert, which was now almost destroyed, as I heaved Jin's body over my shoulder.
"Aren, I think we won," was all I could say as I pushed of into the air.
CHARACTERS RECRUITED INITIAL P/LVL
----------------- -----
SOUNDTRACK: THOUGHTLESS by Korn
Furion
The Saiyans were a race of natural born fighters that were no strangers to my people. They were mercenaries, doing anything, including destroying entire worlds, for money. Some even did it for their own personal pleasure. However, their own greed turned out to be their downfall as one of their clients, the heir to the Cold Empire, Freeza, destroyed their planet, Vegeta, wiping out the entire race save for a few. The Saiyan prince Vegeta was on a mission at the time, as were his two servants, Nappa and Raditz. A Saiyan rebel, Turlis, who had been banished from planet Vegeta earlier, had set up a colony on another planet for him and his few hundred followers. These were all killed off in a separate incident. Then, finally, there was a Saiyan child, no more than a day old, who had been sent to Earth to conquer it as he grew up. This child, the brother of Raditz, was injured upon landing on Earth and subsequently forgot his mission and, because of this, he grew up to be the savior of the earth and the greatest warrior the universe had ever known. His name was Goku and it was he, with the help of the Saiyan prince Vegeta, who finally defeated all the heirs of the Cold Empire. It had been on our first planet Namek that Goku had defeated the destroyer of his race, Freeza, and on our new planet Namek that he and Vegeta had destroyed his brother, Koola. This was over a hundred years ago. By now, the Saiyan blood should have been diluted through generations of interbreeding with humans, seeing as there were only two surviving full-blooded Saiyans at the time, Goku and Vegeta, but there was Joel, a statistical impossibility, a full-blooded Saiyan. And now, there was Jin.
We were taught, as we grew up, to fear them, to never engage them in combat and, of course, we learned of their Oozaru transformation as well; which occurred when a Saiyan who still had a tail looked at a full moon or any good substitute. The elders back on Namek said that when they transform, it was as if they go crazy, losing all control and destroying whatever they can. That, according to my Master Trump, was not true. There was just a peerless bloodlust that rushed through a Saiyan's blood at all times and when they transform it magnifies immensely. All that happens is that they have a somewhat crazy urge to destroy everything in their path when they transform. Unless there was something for them to focus on destroying, they'd go on a senseless rampage, just to fill some sort of biological urge.
I was at the apartment of Jin's family when I first sensed Joel's ki. Jin's mother had just gone through all the theatrics of a mother greeting a long lost child. He had a difficult time explaining his tail to everyone. Normally I would have been interested in the discussion, but Joel's ki patterns puzzled me at first I thought he was just training back at the ship because, for a while the patterns were normal, as if he were training. His ki rose and then dropped a little while later. It went along this pattern for half an hour before his ki dropped so low that I couldn't even feel it, which was very unusual.
"So, Furion, you're the one that my Justin calls his best friend?" asked his mother, suddenly.
"Maybe..." I replied, still trying to find Joel's ki. Jin almost fell over with that one.
"C'mon Furion!! You know you're my best friend, man. We trained together!" he cried.
"I thought that you reserved that title for Nikita," I retorted with a grin. He shook his head furiously.
"No, no Furion, you've got it mixed up. Niki's my girlfriend, you're my best friend, "he explained.
"Justin, you even have a girlfriend?" queried his mother, causing a large sweatdrop to fall from my spiky haired friend's head, "you didn't mention that." While Jin tried to get himself out of the predicament I had gotten him into I focused in on Joel's ki.
It had risen, once more, to normal levels and stayed there for quite a while before dropping sharply. It was almost as if he were in a real fight...
"Furion, somethin' botherin' ya?" came Aren, breaking my concentration, "you look distracted." I nodded.
"Aren, do you sense Joel's ki?" I asked. The kid shrugged.
"I still haven't gotten that ki trackin' thing down yet. Why?" he said.
"I think he went to fight the aliens without us," I whispered. Aren was shocked.
"Aw man!! Jeran and Niki are with him!" he cried. The mentioning of Nikita's name caught Jin's attention. Suddenly, there was a tremendous leap in Joel's powerlevel. The numbers on my scouter kept rising and when it broke, left me in a state of shock. Jin and Aren's scouters both shattered as well.
"One hundred and sixty thousand!!?" exclaimed Jin, rising to his feet. So, Jin had been reading Joel's ki all along. His old friends noticed the tension in the air.
"What's wrong, you guys?" asked Cris.
"How could Joel's ki be so friggin' high!?" inquired the dark skinned Saiyan, ignoring the question. There was only one possible reason, and, in the distance, my sensitive ears picked up a monstrous bellowing that confirmed my suspicions. "The idiot went to fight without us!" Jin continued, running to a window, "Furion, Aren, let's go!" We left, Jin leaping from rooftop to rooftop, while Aren and I put all we had into our Buku-jutsu techniques in order to keep up with him.
As we drew closer to the outskirts of the city, the bellowing became audible to Aren and Jin and they halted immediately.
"What's making that sound, guys?" asked Aren, who was visibly shaken.
"It's Joel. He's transformed into an Oozaru," I answered, and after seeing my friends' puzzled faces I proceeded to elaborate.
"So that's how Joel's ki got so high," realized Jin, peering down at his own tail. I knew what he was thinking. He was wondering if he could turn into an Oozaru also.
"Hey! You guys!! Up here!" yelled a voice from above. We glanced up and saw Nikita, with one hand holding on to a wounded Jeran and her free arm she waved at us. She slowly descended onto the rooftop that Jin stood upon.
"Are you guys alright?" queried Jin, hurrying up to them. Nikita shook her head.
"Things are bad. Joel's fighting a guy called Scipio, who's as strong as your Master Trump. Joel's losing..." she began.
"Not anymore," interjected Jin, "If that guy's only as strong as Trump then he doesn't stand a chance against the Oozaru."
"The what?" came Jeran. I landed beside Jin and sighed.
"Long story," I said, "Nikita, you'd better get her to a Rejuv tank quickly. That burn doesn't look too good. The brunette nodded and was about to leave when Jin called her. She turned back and they stared at each other for a second.
"I...just wanted to apologize for making you...you know...do what you did...and it won't happen again," he said, stepping forward, "and...I'm definitely not angry with you for it". Before Nikita even got a chance to respond, Jin took her in his arms and kissed her. Nikita's face promptly grew bright red and a joyful smile graced her face.
"It's n-no p-problem Jin..." she stuttered, the smile still on her face. The pair continued watching each other all 'lovey dovey' and I decided it would be best for me to step in before Jeran passed out.
"Well, I really hate to interrupt this obviously human moment, but Jeran does seem to be in an awful lot of pain," I said, finally getting their attention off of each other. Nikita kissed Jin quickly on the lips and flew off, with Jeran, back towards the ship.
We continued on our path and when Jin ran out of rooftops to cross he leapt high into the air, where I caught him.
"Thanks for the lift," he stated with a grin, as we flew into the desert. Landing there would be difficult. The desert was a wasteland; the ground was shaking violently causing waves of sand to form heading outwards. The sky here was dark, the only light coming from a few bolts of lightning and an extremely bright ball of ki floating high above us. It was really a sight to behold, but at the same time it was scary. I was sure that I, with my powerlevel of 12,397, could have done this to the desert using every last ounce of my power, killing myself in the process, but the overgrown ape that was now Joel was just walking and shaking it. I really didn't want to be there right then, but I had no choice as Jin told me to drop him off behind Joel. It was then that we saw for the first time, the true extent of the Oozaru's power. Whereas he could shake the entire desert by walking, the epicenter of his earthquakes caused the land to literally tear itself apart. Rocks were falling off of mountainsides and often the mountains themselves, which were to the east of the desert, were splitting apart. Joel's roaring and the crashing of the mountains assaulted my sensitive eardrums.
I dropped Jin onto a stable piece of land and Aren and I landed beside him. The large, brown form of the Oozaru was seemingly unaware of our presence; fortunately for us, he just trampled after someone. The man, we assumed he was Scipio, rushed frantically away from Joel at full speed, but it was no use. The Oozaru's legs were too big for him. With just a steady trot Joel caught up to him. Right before Joel was on him, Scipio turned at the last second and shot at him with a ki immersed jump kick. Joel tried to catch him in the air, but the warrior moved quickly. He struck Joel's stomach and bounced right off, falling to the sand underneath the Oozaru's hovering foot. Joel brought his whole weight down on Scipio's motionless body. A sickening crunching sound snapped through the air, as a muffled scream came from under Joel's paw. He screwed his foot like he was putting out a cigarette, before lifting it to the side of Scipio's body.
To our great surprise, the black haired warrior was still alive, twitching with movement, his arms and legs left in deformed positions. Joel watched him like a cat watches a mouse before it eats it; saw him squirm onto his side and then with a great push, onto his stomach. I was more amazed than anything when he pushed himself up from the sandy ground. The pain was clearly visible on his face, yet he got up, using only his right arm as his left was immensely disfigured. One would think that Joel would finish him off right then and there but all he did was continue to stare at Scipio.
"Jin!" I heard Aren shout. I turned to face my companions and gasped when I saw Jin. He was crouched low, his spiky hair and his tail flailing around wildly. His gloved hands clutched aimlessly at his face and I swore that I could hear him growling.
"Jin...you alright?" I asked. The large vein pulsing in his forehead told me that he wasn't. His breathing was hard and laboured.
"I...I feel strange..." he hoarsely whispered, "I...ugh!!" His muscles expanded suddenly and even through the thick, blue armor I could see the outlines of bulging veins in his arms. "I think I'm transforming..." he continued.
"Jin! Fight it!! Will yourself not to transform!" I yelled. After all, it was just a substitute, not the full moon he had looked at, he could fight it. Couldn't he?
Eventually Jin's muscles shrank back to their original size and he slowly stood up. There were still veins in his tense neck and he was sweating profusely, but, otherwise he seemed alright. So, a Saiyan could resist the transformation if it was a substitute. I was glad. I didn't want to be in the middle of two killing machines, especially two who had it out for each other.
I turned my attention back toward Joel, who was still staring at Scipio. For a second, I thought that he considered letting Scipio live, but I was mistaken. With a sudden backhanded smack the Oozaru sent the already broken fighter skating back into a sand dune. Joel clenched his huge right hand into a fist and brought it heavily down on Scipio's limp body. Just before he made contact, my ears picked up a buzzing sound and suddenly his fist stopped in midair.
We looked around to find what had prevented the Oozaru's victory but found nothing. Joel seemed the most confused. He pushed down his fist down, but it wouldn't move. I then realized that whatever was blocking Joel was small enough to hide behind his fist. The ape seemed to realize this as well, as he brought his arm back. Sure enough there was something in the way. Or rather, someone. A short man stood in his way. Not so much stood as floated, he just hung in the air, not moving at all.
He was bald, short, but extremely buff and he wore a strange armor and cape. He had his head turned to look at the downed Scipio, who was unconscious behind him and then slowly, oh so slowly, he turned to face the Oozaru, displaying a bloody left eye. He examined the ape like a judge in a bathing suit contest and finally grinned at him. Joel became enraged and was bringing his left foot to kick him when he zanzokened. He reappeared in front of Joel's chest, by his heart. My furry companion didn't have time to react, just time to see the bald guy hit him. He used one fist, one measly, effortless punch to send Joel flying!! And I mean flying. Jin, Aren and I had our jaws dropped in surprise when Joel's massive body soared over us and landed a few miles away!
The Oozaru's body smacked into the ground at suicidal speeds, whiplashing his neck and leaving him immobilized for a few seconds. Joel roared slightly and then pushed himself up from the ground, looking for his attacker. It wasn't difficult to find him; he wasn't exactly hiding from Joel. He was just confidently hovering toward him. Joel tilted his head to one side before opening his mouth and firing a ki beam from it. The explosion that resulted was awesome, and it threw all three of us off of our feet. I didn't see the bald guy anywhere, so I assumed he'd been hit. Boy did I assume wrong. A ki blast was hurled at Joel, who easily blocked it. Oozaru Joel began to growl ferociously when he saw who sent it. The bald guy hovered inches from Joel's snout, hands on his hips laughing at the Oozaru.
The oversized ape roared in disgust and then swung a wild fist at him. He didn't move to avoid it this time. Instead, he blocked the large fist with his forearm! Baldy then pushed the fist away, spinning the Oozaru right around, and fired a small ki blast, with his other hand, at the base of Joel's tail.
Moving surprisingly fast for his size, Joel twisted himself forward, keeping his tail safe, but in his awkward position the ki blast edged across his chest, scarring him. The ape roared in pain and rage as he charged into Baldy yet again. The intended prey zanzokened, causing Joel to stagger forward. Baldy reappeared behind Joel and kicked his gargantuan frame forward causing him to stumble and fall, leaving his tail wide open to attack.
"Destructo Disk!" was what the bald man cried, and a cylinder of energy formed above his right outstretched palm. He threw the attack with such force that even my sharp vision couldn't catch it in mid flight. The blast cut straight through the base of Joel's tail and, as the fuzzy shaft of the tail fell to the ground, Joel began to shrink and soon he was back to his normal size; blood gushing out of the stump of his tail. The bald man landed in front of Joel's naked and battered body.
"Amazing..." whispered Jin in awe. I knew how he felt. I had never seen such power or speed in a single entity before, but this man possessed skill and power far beyond our range.
"As much as I feel that you deserved victory against Scipio, I couldn't let you do it," said Joel's assailant, raising an open palm toward the grounded and unconscious Saiyan, "But imagine what my daughter would say if her fiancé had been killed and I did nothing to prevent it." Before I could stop him, Jin zanzokened between Joel and his would be killer, arms stretched out, preventing the man from getting a clear shot at Joel.
"Sorry...can't let you do that!" he yelled, as an orange ball of ki appeared in the man's open palm, "He dies by my hand only!" There was a long, tense silence in the air for a while as Jin stood before him defiantly, but then the man clenched his fist making the ball of ki disappear.
"One Saiyan after another. It hardly seems fair," he said with a chuckle, "I'll spare his life on one condition." He didn't even give Jin a chance to accept. "Scipio seems to want to talk to you. Listen to what he has to say," he said.
"That's it?" queried Jin. The old timer nodded. Jin glanced over at me before moving to where Scipio lay. I immediately seized his spot between Joel and the old guy.
Scipio lay in a pool of his own blood quite a ways off from us, but of course I heard them perfectly. Jin stood over his body and stared down at him.
"What?" he asked, impatiently.
"Come...closer..." Scipio gasped, clawing weakly at Jin's boots with his good hand. Jin stooped down closer to the fighter's mouth. "Change..." whispered Scipio. Jin was puzzled.
"Change?" he asked, "change what?" Scipio tilted his head to face Jin.
"Change..." he repeated, and then with an obvious final effort added, "Now!!!" With that, a white beam erupted from Scipio's lips and hit Jin in the face at point-blank range. Jin's body was pitched into the air and he landed directly in front of me, spasming violently. Scipio's body was also shaking violently.
"Jin!!" I cried, kneeling down beside him. The bald guy casually made his way to Scipio's body, lifting it over his shoulder when he arrived.
"Don't worry, your friend is alive," he reassured me, "I can feel his ki. Guess Scipio just wanted to leave something for you to remember him by." I checked Jin's pulse just in case and I gave a sigh of relief when I found it. By the time I looked back, our enemies were gone.
"Hey, Furion!" called Aren, flying toward me with Joel's body in tow, "Can you explain what just happened here?" I peered back at the desert, which was now almost destroyed, as I heaved Jin's body over my shoulder.
"Aren, I think we won," was all I could say as I pushed of into the air.
CHARACTERS RECRUITED INITIAL P/LVL
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SOUNDTRACK: THOUGHTLESS by Korn