Chapter Nine - The Battle for Tanaria

"The only one who will die today is you." Hotaru returned slipping into a combat stance. Yamcha, Akira, Sango, and sora all did the same.

Recoome laughed again. "You want to fight me? Oh, that's funny! Did you forget how badly I beat you on Namek?"

"That was Namek, this is now." Hotaru replied as she braced her body. "Itsutsu Kinryoku!" There was a loud crack and flash as her silver arua flared to life around her, the sand blowing up and away as her hair flapped in the wind. "And here and now wont go the same as Namek!"

Recoome grinned. "You're right there! This time their wont be any Sai-jins to save you!"

"Enough!" Sango cried. "I was still a child the first time you came... I can't even remember that day but I still have memories of the trip here. Memories of the pain and sorrow you caused!" Sango's body tensed, her hands clutching into fists as she stared at Recoome. "Thanks to you all I have left of my parents are the stories of others! They stood with Hotaru's father so that I could live... I wont let their sacrifice be in vain! Yottsu Kinryoku!" Another crack sounded as a silver aura flared savagely to life around Sango.

"If you want this planet..." Yamcha said, his eyes narrowing. "Then you'll have to go through me, through us. And I'll let you know now, beating us wont be easy! We won't lose to the likes of you, with or without Goku you're going down! Sanjuu Kinryoku!"

Recoome laughed and shook his head. "Big words for such a little man! My power is over a million now, I'm even stronger than Captain Ginyu was! You can't defeat me!"

A light blue aura had formed around Sora as Recoome spoke. Her eyes were closed and her head turned down slightly. "Perhaps." she said after a moment, softly and gently. "There is a possibility that we will not make it through this night. Those of us here in the city may not see the next sunrise." She raised her head slowly, her eyes opening and locking onto Recoome. "But we wont just roll over and die. We will stand. We will fight. And we will take you with us!"

Yamcha turned his head and watched with interest as Sora's thin blue arua flared up looking like a spotlight beneath her feet. Her braided hair blew madly above her head in the breeze as her eyes began to glow orange. Slowly her blue aura shifted orange as well. And then the glow spread from her eyes and engulfed her entire body. Yamcha could feel her power increasing and Recoome's scouter was reading the buildup of energy as well.

The now orange aura around her swirled and pulsed as it snaked up from the ground into the sky. A moment later there was a flash and the aura seemed to shatter setting glittering bits of light away from Sora's body. Yamcha swallowed, even tranformed Sora wasn't as powerful as Recoome. Her appearance had only changed slightly. Her eyes were now solid orange, her hair was still silver though it was now tinted blue slightly, and she had a tiger like orange stripe reaching from under her hair, across her cheeks, and under her eyes.

Still, Yamcha couldn't help but smile a little. "It's like a Super Tanarian." he said softly.

"Super Tanarian eh?" Sora said glancing over to him and then smilling. "Sure, why not? It's better than 'Transformed State 1' at any rate."

"I'm not sure how much help I'll be in this battle." Akira said softly as he shifted his stance and looked over to Sora.

A moment later she nodded. "You're right... and Kavar will need help protecting the people of the city. Go, we'll deal with Recoome."

"Yes my queen." And with that Akira turned and blasted off into the city to find Kavar and the others that had come with Recoome.

Recoome watched him go while grinning and then turned his eyes back to the four still standing before him. His scouter still had each of their powers listed. /The guy's the weakest, only just under a hundred thousand. Miss "Attitude" on the end is almost a hundred and fifteen thousand. The Princess is nearly three hundred ninety thousand. And the Queen... Just over eight hundred twenty thousand. Heh! They think they can fight me/

The large warrior flexed his arms and arched his back stretching. "Okay, I've let you spout now, it's time to have some fun!" His eyes roamed over the four warriors as he crouched and then suddenly shot in at them. Sora moved to block the punch she saw coming but wasn't quick enough and Recoome's large right hand connected with a crack to her face sending her flying backward. With a grin and a flash of blue he shot after her, his aura trailing behind him and three streaks of silver giving chase.

Hotaru thrust her arms forward as she flew and fired an orange orb of energy which slammed into his back knocking him down into the ground only a foot below him. He slid through the sand and then off the beach and through the dirt of the forest for nearly a hundred hards before stopping. As he started to stand back up Sango and Yamcha appeared above him and dropped quickly slamming their feet into his back and driving him back into the ground.

With a laugh he pushed his arms against the dirt below him and pushed. He stood without trouble flinging both people off of his back. Before they even saw him move Recoome had cloeslined them both catching their necks in the crook of his elbow. He flew straight ahead for a few feet before passing between two trees slamming both Sango and Yamcha into and through them before stopping. They continued forward several yards before falling to the ground unconcious, their silver auras fading away into nothing.

Recoome turned to go find his other two opponents and was met by the feet slamming into his face sending him sailing through the trees, out across the beach, and then out over the lake before falling down into it. Hotaru and Sora shot up above the trees and then shot down toward the lake where they'd seen Recoome go. There were two simultaneous explosions of water as the two plowed down into the lake. A moment later there was a blinding flash of red from within the lake, the surface bulged up, and then the water exploded upward into the sky.

At the base of the quickly refilling lake stood Recoome, arms and head thrown back, grinning. In a flash of blue he shot up after Sora and Hotaru. The two women regained control of their flight just in time to block a large punch. The three of them floated there like that a moment, and Sora sensed Akira's power sky rocket. Then the three of them began to move in a flurry of punches, kicks, and last second blocks. The night sky over the lake lit up with flashes of orange, blue, and silver as thunderous cracks resounded across the city.

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Akira cast a glance back as the others began to fight Recoome but soon returned his attentions to the city before him. His eyes widened in suprise as hundreds of dots began to glow throughout the city, and then hundreds more followed. A second later gold, orange, red, blue, white, and purple streams of energy were surging up rapid fire from the city toward the four attacking warriors floating in the sky. Akira then grinned is he realized what was happening. /The warriors from the tournament! Yes! These four may be stronger than all of us but... I don't think they can take three thousand people at once/

"Kavar!" he called out as he reached the battle. "Call up the guard! It's time we give these four a proper welcome!" The female in the group turned toward him and scowled but Akira wasn't done with his orders. Looking down into the city where the tournament fighters were he called down. "All Tanarians capable of fighting and willing to help, up here with us!"

"You still don't get it!" the woman called. "You've already lost, just make it easier on yourself and..." she stopped as people began to fly up through the trees around them. Ten, fifty, a hundred, two hundred, five hundred, a thousand, in a matter of moments the sky was full of Tanarians, their auras pulsing about them. As she looked around more warriors descended from above in vest like armors, Kavar floating down beside Akira, already transformed and with the Enhancer still on.

"It's tradition among my people..." Kavar began crossing his arms. "To know who we're about to fight with. I am Kavar Osonda, last of the Taraganins and head of the Tanarian palace guard."

Akira smirked as he crossed his arms as well. He knew Kavar was up to something... "I am Akira Sakamoto. Son of Kenta and Hitomi Sakamoto, brother of Queen Sora, and head of the Tanarian army."

The woman smirked as she looked at them. Such defiance and determination in their eyes. This would truly be a good battle, their numbers made up for their lack of power... She was looking forward to this. "I am Erzix." she said simply. She pointed toward the Zarbon look alike and said, "That would be Wyver." She then motioned to the two black and white guys. "They are Omta and Pinda."

That's when Akira felt the power building up down on the ground. He cast a quick look down and saw the girl from the tournament, Aiko, with that unusual aura of hers around her. She was also obviously charging an attack, one that Akira recognized as the one she'd used on him. Only this time it was far more powerful and still building in power. /Incredible, I had no idea there were fighters of this level on Tanaria... Well, I can't let myself be outdone... now can I/ he thought grinning.

He turned his eyes back to Erzix and the other three and his grin grew. "Well, now that we're introduced I should warn you, you still don't know what you're dealing with."

"Oh really?" Erzix asked. "Well, let me tell you I know exactly what I'm up against. You see, unlike that oaf Recoome I can sense power levels, so can these three. Like that girl down there charging that attack. Very impressive, but not enough."

Akira raised an eyebrow. He'd not expected that. But it didn't matter. "It wasn't her I was referring too." he said. He moved his arms and crossed them before him and then began to quickly move them in an unusual pattern before him. "Allow me to introduce you to the greatest move of the Light Order, the Shika-Shidou." Suddenly his arms stopped, held straight out at his side, palms pointing up, all but his index and middle fingers closed, those two were pointed up. "Shika-Shidou..." he closed his two fingers as he called the last part. "Kyoujaku!"

There was a spark of dark blue from his chest and then his aura exploded savagely to life around him. His muscles and chest bulged, his neck thickened, and veins stood out across his body. /The Kyoujaku's dangerous to use for too long, especially the way I'm going to use it... but if defeating these four means my life, then so be it/ He thought as he crossed his arms over his chest again. His dark blue aura flared and pulsed as it swirled around him and then shrunk into his body, his hands now moving through a new set of motions.

Kavar's eyes widened. "Akira! Don't!" he cried pulling back. Erzix raised an eyebrow wondering just what the guy was up to but wasn't worried.

"Shika-Shidou..." he breathed softly. "Iryoku!" He cried as his eyes snapped open, pure white, as he threw his arms and head back screaming. His dark blue aura exploded outward and then shifted to pure bright blinding white. As he relaxed and Erzix got a good look at him again, his muscles had returned to normal but the veins still stood out across his body. His eyes were still solid white and seemed to be glowing. His hair was floating up over his head and glowing white as well as it flapped leisurely. His now white aura danced about him punctuated with sparks of blue and gold electricty like energy now and again.

Erzix floated backward in shock and disbelief... "What... but... how! His... his power!"

Akira answered her in a voice much deeper than normal. "The Kyoujaku technique of the Shika-Shidou doubles the user's power by forcing it to overproduce energy. It's very taxing on the body. The Shika-Shidou Iryoku is similar but different. It uses spirit energy to push through to the power hidden within, the power of our sealed away forms, and pulls it out by force allowing for up to a 20 fold increase of power, mine is only ten. However, it's far more taxing on the body as it takes constant spirit energy to sustain.

"Added on top of the Kyoujaku, while making me 20 times more powerful than normal... it's almost certainly death, even if I were to stop using it right now. The damage has been done, I probably wont see the morning. But neither will you! Aiko, fire!" he cried.

That's when Erzix remembered the girl below. As she turned to look down the girl called out... "Wakusei Taihou!" The energy blast exploded forth from her hands and surged up at the weakest of the four, Pinda, who was caught entirely offguard. Before he'd even gotten his arms out to block it, the attack slammed into him and tore off through the sky and into space taking him along with it and incinerating him along the way. As the attack died off Aiko stood there panting.

While still shocked at the loss of one of their own, Akira shot in with a burst of white and slammed his fist into Erzix's jaw sending her sailing away. "Kavar, deal with the other two!" he called back as he shot after Erzix again.

By the time Akira caught up with Erzix again she'd recovered and brought her arms up to block his incoming punch. It cracked against her arms and sent her flying backward again but she recovered faster this time and charged in at him as he came at her. The two over the palace and their fists cracked into the others, their punches meeting halfway between them. They pulled back from each other and then vanished.

A half dozen explosions sounded through the sky as flashes of white and blue light up the night like day. There was another loud crack and Erzix was sent hurtling toward the ground. She slammed through several trees and then down nearly ten yards into the ground before stopping. Meanwhile Akira had gathered energy into his hands. As soon as he felt her stop ploughing into the ground he began to unleash a rapid volley of white Ki blasts. Each one exploded savagely as it hit the ground blasting out a larger and larger crater and sending debris flying everywhere.

After a moment Akira stopped the rapid fire and held his arms above his head charging a large blast. Once it was ready he brought his arms down and fired the large Ki blast. A second later it slammed into the ground, the energy bulged, and then it exploded violently, the wind whipping past him and launching rocks over a mile into the air. As the debris began to settle he floated there panting searching for some sign of his opponent's Ki. /Damn... I hope I hurt her good... I'm pretty spent now... and my power is starting to slip. Ah! Damn! My... chest... hurts.../

He floated down to the ground as his white aura faded slightly. As his feet touched the ground he dropped to one knee still panting but trying to regain his energy. That's when he felt Erzix again. She was definately weakened by the assualt, but it wasn't enough, she now had the strength advantage.

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As Akira blasted off after Erzix Kavar motioned to the warriors with him surrounding the two attackers still floating there. Omta and Wyver gazed about them cautiously looking for a sign of attack. "This isn't going as planned." Omta said. "This was supposed to be an easy mission... Can you feel those powers fighting Recoome?" Wyver nodded. One of them was actually stronger than Erzix. That hadn't been in the planet report...

"So, who exactly do you work for?" Kavar called. He was trying to buy a little time while the warriors got ready. They were all fighters, yes, but most of them weren't part of the military. They'd never been trained to deal with a situation like this.

"That's none of your business." Omta replied.

Wyver smirked as he flicked some of his hair back over his shoulder. "I'd tell you to ask someone in the afterlife but there wouldn't be anyone there who'd know anyway, except others of the army who'd fallen, and you wouldn't get an answer from them anyway."

Kavar tilted his head slightly and thought about that for a moment. "Then it's not one of the four... er, three Empires." he said after a moment. "Princess Hotaru said there was some kind of big conspiracy going on. So then, you work for Raven and whoever she's with then?"

Both Omta and Wyver looked shocked that Kavar knew that much. "Impressive." Wyver said crossing his arms as he recovered. "Yes, Queen Raven is one of our employers."

Kavar said nothing as he continued to think. This Raven had to be fairly powerful, strong enough to evenly match Cooler at the least, but then, Recoome was a little over a third Cooler's strength now. So if he was only a flunky... then Raven was probably about Frieza's level of power, her unknown mate would have to be weaker than Cold though, or they'd just show themselves and attack head on. "Why exactly are you here?" he asked at last.

"Resources." Omta replied with a shrug. "Don't know exactly why they need so much of everything, not exactly in the loop you know. But there's at least a dozen teams out there going from world to world gathering resources, we just happen to be the newest."

Kavar frowned a bit but was about to say more when a series of explosions began in the near distance. He, Omta, Wyver, and the floating warriors all turned to look as Akira rained Ki down upon his opponent. Noticing that the two before him had their guards down now he motioned quickly to the others and then charged in swiftly, as did several dozen others. Before the two aliens knew what was coming there were nearly a hundred people attacking each of them.

There was a loud cry and a shockwave of power from Wyver, the stronger of the two, which blew everyone away from him, including Kavar. The Taraganin's eyes widened in shock at the Anubian's new look. His arms and legs had swelled to massive size, as had his chest, and his face was now quite different. Larger, lacking a nose, and rather ugly. Kavar cursed under his breath, he'd not expected a transformation. Not one of this power at least... things were not looking good.