Brother

Episode 5: Enter the Really Big Explosion

Disclaimer: I don't own Toryama-sama's characters, just James, Ed, the TCA, and the Skeemdians (well, there's more, but that would be spoiling the later parts of this story).

Warning: Sharp language (somewhat sharper than DBZ), violence, gore (more than DBZ), and maybe a little sexual innuendo. I would rate this fic a heavy PG-13, but not R. Enjoy!

"He's gonna get himself killed!"

James thought he was shouting, but everything around him was so quiet. The sounds of the forest, the gentle, hot breeze that reached them down here among the trees, all had fallen aside the moment he had begun to focus. He could feel Vegeta gathering power far above. Nappa and Ed were next to him, arguing over something inconsequential. The words were ignored at his ears, their feelings, the movements, were transmitted to him as though he had grabbed a live electrical wire with their thoughts poured onto it. He decided it was a strange and not altogether frightening experience.

He could feel the power flowing through him, familiar and alien at the same time. A forest fire to candle as it was to all of his previous training. It was such a simple thing, to call the power forth like he never had before. Funny, in retrospect, how easy it was once he had felt someone else do it at such short range.

It felt like his very life force was moving through his blood, reaching his fingers and flowing through his head. It caressed and protected him, fed him the living world and embolded his spirit with the same fire that fortified his body.

There was, he decided, nothing else quite like it.

As the strength came, the panic left him. His heart silently thundered in his chest, like the pounding of his spirit's war drum. His skin still tingled, but his senses where no longer in catharsis. Ed and Nappa were done with their words, finding cover against the assaulting force. Oh yes, that was it... like a dozen black dots of cold hatred laid upon his soul as ice laid upon bare flesh. They wouldn't last long.

Above, Vegeta's scream became something primal; something utterly not of the logical mind. It was not a conscious scream, James realized, but a scream of his body demanding release.

James focused on his life force again, his ki, he suddenly remembered it being called. Yes, this was what ki felt like... just a few thousand times as much power as what he was used to.

Now all James had to do was fly.

He had noticed when Vegeta had pulled off more than "air time" fighting the Skeemdians. As an expert martial artist, engineer, and space craft designer, he could tell when the laws of physics were being left in the dust. The only matter left to him, now that he had all of this raw power, was a matter of actually making use of it.

Above, Vegeta's aura burned with the might of a sun. The sky was already thickening with dust. Surely he could be seen from miles away. James had scant few seconds to get his attention before a mounted rail gun reduced him to only ashes and memories.

----------

Vegeta's aura burned white-hot, the sensation of destruction almost beyond comprehension held just barely in check a rare but familiar sensation to the Saiyajin prince. He had once likened the calling of this power to drowning slowly in a sweet, perfect sensation. The words felt hollow and inadequate compared with the actual feeling. This is why he loved combat so; living on the edge, taking action in situations others would try to talk their way out of. Truly, strength was coveted for the sake of strength and nothing else, for a strong enough man needed no one.

His target was a muddled and dull space, unseen; only remembered. He knew the general direction of the alien encampment. Surely it would be enough to merely get close. Why, if he hit them dead on, there would be nothing left!

Every muscle felt as though it was simultaneously trying to relax and contract at the same time. His skin was electric, crawling across his body like a living thing. His hair was cast aloft by the power flowing from his body, blowing free in a self-generated whirlwind.

Floating there, reaching, for several lonely moments, he prepared for the final attack. Focusing, directing, concentrating. He had to wait until everything was ready, then send it on its way. A little care package from the most powerful Saiyajin ever.

There. It was done.

With a little flick of Vegeta's wrist, the energy nicely organized itself into a ball of violence, a little bigger around than his forearm was long. He held it for a moment, his face unnaturally lit by its violet glow. Emotion welled up inside him as he looked at it. Anger, fear, pride, joy, sadness, all tried to overwhelm him at once, clashing only in confusion. He tightened his already iron grip on them, forcing himself to remain calm... a little angry, but calm in thought. Precise.

As much a warning to his second as a declaration of his superiority, his voice rang out.

"FINAL FLASH!!!"

----------

James felt it. It was rather like when his ears popped after a radical change in air pressure. Something clicked fully into place, a pressure suddenly relieved.

He was done.

James was only a dozen feet above the tree tops. Vegeta was several dozen feet above him, a giant, glowing target. He could practically feel waves of menace flow off the man. Of short stature he might be, but he was not a man to be toyed with lightly.

He was about to call out a warning to the warrior, already knowing he was too late, when the man screamed some incoherent noise and the world flashed white.

----------

The blast seemed to scorch the very sky--stained purple along the path of the energy strike, fading to a dark orange at the edges. Sound ceased to be heard and became a physical thing, destroying all in its path like an angry bear roused from hibernation. Trees larger the buildings James and Ed grew up around were flattened like toothpicks. Clouds hovering nearby from the recent rain, once giant black sponges of watery doom, simply ceased to be.

James blacked out instantly and was thrown clear of the firing point along with Vegeta, who was barely able to assure that he landed safely on the ground. Ed huddled inside his Coat, listing to the world come to a violent, apocalyptic end, like he always knew it would. Nappa formed a ki shield around him, reinforced it, and prayed nothing else had the power to attack him in this hell storm.

The crust of the planet shuddered as if giving birth, and a new sun dawned upon the ground. Energy lashed against energy, twin predators clawing at the bounds their masters' placed upon them.

And death tore through the Skeemdian ranks like the fist of an angry God.

----------

A dozen miles away from the smoking, former target, of Vegeta's attack, the two Saiyajins walked into a natural cave. It was well hidden, blending in with the face of a curious rock formation that looked for all the world like thousands of giant poker chips neatly stacked in irregular piles. I was impossible to see the rock, as every square inch of the formation (all 750 square miles) was covered in low-growth plant life that sprouted leaves, vines, and flowers of every color in the rainbow.

The cave was a good four meters tall at the entrance and hidden directly behind a grove of plants not unlike earth's ferns, except for their ridiculous size.

To the Saiyajins' dismay, Vegeta's attack only destroyed a portion of the enemy's landing forces. Obviously something with more finesse would be necessary. The Prince was tempted to use the Moon Sphere technique, but realized instantly that they would need to get a good head count of their opposition, lest they wear themselves out. The Skeemdian weapons were insanely powerful, and not something either warrior was eager to face while exhausted.

In addition to being an excellent hiding place, the cave held the Saiyajins' space ships. Each was spherical in shape, large enough for one good-sized Saiyajin and a minimal host of life support and navigation. The engines weren't complicated, as the pods were launched from planet based gravity catapults when leaving their home base on a mission such as this.

The Saiyajins retreated into their pods to rest, leaving the humans laying on the floor outside. Neither seemed seriously injured, only bitchy and tired.

James woke up during the "where do we toss their carcasses" speech Vegeta gave upon arrival.

Exhausted and emitting no power signature, let alone leaving a trail, they were safe for now.

Trapped behind enemy lines.

Their only path of escape through their foes.

----------

Dawn, four days later.

James was laying on the ground near the entrance to the cave, looking between the huge ferns into the distance. The Skeemdians weren't dumb, not by a long shot. They had been slowly moving towards the cave, gaining more and more ground each day. Tomorrow they would swarm into the rock formations, looking to exterminate their enemy.

At least there's not Landhoppers. Some Sky Goats, but that's about it. Probably a few thousand Skeeks down there.

To educate the reader: Landhoppers are similar to hovering bicycles, except powered by small ion engines. Very similar to the speeders from "Star Wars." Sky Goats are aerial gunnery platforms, so called because of the chunky design and the four massive energy cannons pointing down from the bottom of the craft. Skeeks are Skeemdian scouts. Compared to the average soldier, they pack less armor and are better trained in stealth skills.

Some things had changed in the former assassin in that last four days. Foremost, his bruises were completely gone, and he looked to be in a much worse mood than during arrival, if that was possible. The biggest changes were inside. He was seeing his entire world differently now, like a near-sighted man finally wearing a proper pair of glasses, he now saw everything clearly.

Ed walked up behind James, watching the distant sky cautiously.

"Sweeper force is moving pretty slowly."

"I noticed." James responded. "They're setting up fire teams, checking for ambushes, the works. We got 'em scared."

It was an observation Ed could have made by himself, of course, but it was best to voice observations to make sure everyone agreed. If opinions differed, it was possible that someone had overlooked something important.

Overlooking important details frequently leads to rapid, bloody death on the battlefield.

"Hit and run?" Ed offered.

"Best tactic."

"I talked to Vegeta and Nappa. They have similar plans."

"So..."

"So..."

Ed sat down next to James. "What have you learned in the last four days?"

James looked at his hand, calloused and scarred. "I'm a lot stronger than I thought I was, and everything is... different. It's nicer."

"You don't look happy about having this control over your ki." Ed pointed out.

"No. I was a killer once, and after this, a killer I will always be."

Ed scratched his chin, in deep thought for a moment. "That's nothing new."

"I've just been thinking we should end this."

Ed nodded in understanding. James wasn't talking about K-778, Korindoth. He wasn't talking about this tour of duty, or his and Ed's work for the Terra Cor Alliance. He was talking about the entire war with the Skeemdians.

For the past year, everything James and Ed knew and lived had been only a memory that fueled their burning hatred to wipe out the Skeemdian race. The careless way in which the large beings made war was appalling. Certainly, James himself had not been much better, and that's why the pair had decided to simply step into line with people who knew better. They took their orders and got the job done.

However, if James was now thinking of going rogue and ending the war, things were about to get dangerous. Very dangerous.

He had been the best of the best in his day. His abilities were called superhuman, and supernatural. He knew more about killing people than anyone else--as far he could prove. Ed was the master of blowing shit up. His resume would have to be carted around on a dolly. Between the two of them, they imagined the war would drag on for a year, tops.

Yet they had dragged their feet, held back on crucial operations, and basically sucked a special brand of ass the entire time.

Yes, the last thing that was different about James was his eyes.

The old James was back. Merciless, driven, and utterly, utterly insane.

The two looked at the approaching Skeemdians, merry plans of mayhem and death rolling about in their heads.

Tomorrow would be interesting.

- TbC