Chapter 12:
"It's like this whole damn town gone back to the turn of the century!" Trunks cried out as he followed Katie. She was running faster than Trunks, stopping randomly and turning from time to time. She was trying to lock onto Greed or Insanity's Ki but she'd only get a tiny spark here and there. This town was messing with her senses.
"I noticed when the diner turned into an old bar!" she called back, finally stopping, "I can't get a lock on them…"
"Well let's get off the ground and look for them from the sky, alright?"
"Good idea."
Both Saiyans kicked off and flew up into the cold air and started to fly around the town. Unable to see their homunculi friends, or sense them, Katie screamed.
"What the hell is this?! They can't be dead! …C-can they?"
"Calm down Katie." Trunks said, floating closer to his wife, "I'm sure they're… alive." His attempt to make Katie feel better was pathetic, but she breathed in deeply.
"Well yeah… they're homunculi…" she nodded.
Just then, a loud, ear piercing screech rang out, making Trunks and Katie cover their ears as they looked around for the source of the cry. There, in the distance, was a flock of birds. But as they got closer, it was visible they weren't normal birds. Katie lowered her hands.
"What are those?" Trunks asked, squinting at the odd birds. Katie shook her head.
"I don't know… not like any bird I've seen before…" there was another loud screech from above them, and when they looked up, more of the strange birds were surrounding them. Hundreds of these birds circled them in a tight ball, and that's when Trunks realized what they were seeing.
They weren't birds at all. They had wings, but they were, in fact, giant spider-like creatures. There were hundreds, and the body on each one was the size of a large dog. Each of the eight legs were hanging down, almost straight, and appeared to be 5-feet long. They were all pitch black.
"I'm getting sick of this!" Katie powered up just short of hitting Super Saiyan level and started blasting at the nearest spider-bird. Trunks followed her example, but it seemed every one that was hit and destroyed was replaced by another.
"Are we even making progress?" Trunks called to Katie, but she didn't reply. She was too pissed at the moment to do anything but blast at the monsters circling her.
Trunks kept blasting as well, growing more and more irritated. He powered up more, right at SSJ level, and formed his attack.
"I'm taking you freaks out! Buster Cannon!" he shouted, throwing the signature attack forward and destroying at least a hundred of the spider-birds, "Katie come on, I made a path!"
"Right behind-" one of the larger spider-birds rammed right into Katie, making her scream and fall fast, hitting the ground hard enough that it broke the pavement. It happened so fast Trunks could only watch in a silent shock for a moment.
"Katie!" he flew down and stood over her protectively, but when he turned to face the horde of beasts, they were gone.
Trunks lowered his power back down, reverting to his normal form as he knelt beside Katie. She was unconscious, and her left arm, where the spider-bird had hit her, had two large, perfectly round holes on it. It had bitten her.
"Katie? Come on, wake up." Trunks shook her lightly, but she didn't respond, "Dammit… if only we had some Zinzu beans…" Trunks ripped her left sleeve off at the shoulder and tied it tightly around the bite wound, "You're gonna hate me for that later."
Katie made no response. She was alive, but she was deep asleep now. Trunks scooped her up, and deciding it would be both easier and safer, stayed on foot as he continued the search for Greed and Insanity. Hopefully nothing else would interfere with the search.