Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z, or the characters of Akira Toriyama's creation. I do however, own the story, and the characters of my own creation.
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As the burst of energy flies at Vector, he creates a portal in front of him that the energy flies into, not damaging Vector. Shade continues on his flight path, and when he is within range of Vector, he swings his sword again, but this time without energy. Vector ducks under the blade, and once it passes, he uppercuts Shade in the jaw. Shade stumbles back a few feet, while Vector fires a blast at him. Before the blast gets too far, Vector creates a white hole behind it, propelling it at unbelievable speeds towards Shade. The blast connects with Shade's chest armor, and sends him flying back into the castle.
Lenora charges at Vector, to assist Shade, but Tarah jumps in front of her, and kicks her in the stomach. Lenora rolls back, and fires a blast at Tarah. The projectile slams into her upper torso, explodes and sends her flying back. Tarah smashes into the wall, and slides down it. Once she hits the ground, she pulls herself back up, and charges right at Lenora. Lenora flares up her energy field, and puts it up as a barrier between the two of them. Tarah gathers her energy into her hands, and focuses it into a small blast. As soon as it has formed, she pulls her hands back, and hurls the blast at Lenora.
But as soon as she throws the blast, Lenora lets down the energy field, and flies off to Tarah's left side. The blast impacts with the ground, and explodes. Debris is flung everywhere, and as Malena and Shadow fight with S'kur, their vision is clouded. S'kur closes his eyes, and uses his keen senses to locate Malena and Shadow's position. Once he has located them, he crawls up underneath them, and with his back spines, launches them at the Saiyans. Shadow is able to hear the sound of rushing air as the spines are coming at him and Malena, and he is able to push Malena out of the way before they hit him. The spines pierce Shadow in multiple places, and he screams out in pain.
As Malena recovers, she sees S'kur below Shadow, preparing for another spine attack. She puts her energy into her hands, and fires it at S'kur. S'kur is hit with the blast, and he is flung against the castle. Shade is just recovering, and notices S'kur smash into the wall next to him. Shade jumps back, and swings his sword at S'kur. S'kur's tough reptile skin repels the blade, and he then lunges at Shade. Taking him to the ground, S'kur begins to snap at Shade's face, razor sharp teeth inches from tearing his flesh apart. Shadow manages to pull out one of the spines that had pierced his arm, and charges it with energy. He throws the spine at S'kur, which pierces his back. S'kur howls out in pain, reaches back with his right hand, and swings it at Shade's face. The razor claws dig into Shade's skin, and twists his head to face to his right. Shade then kicks S'kur off him, sending him back into the castle wall.
Shade gets back up, and holds his sword at his reptilian foe. Charging up his energy, it cycles through his sword, replicates, and then flows back into Shade, thus doubling the energy. After the energy reaches a sufficient point, Shade fires it in a blast right at S'kur. The blast connects, and it blows a hole in the castle wall. Shade opens his senses, searching for S'kur's energy. Sensing none, he assumes he is dead, and then turns around. Looking at Vector, he prepares for another round.
What he realizes though, is that Vector is not alone. S'kur is floating next to him, with his shirt missing, and his pants now torn shorts. "Nice trick you have there Shade, you would have killed S'kur had I not acted and pulled him out before the blast obliterated him." Vector turns to S'kur, and nods. S'kur then charges back at Shadow and Malena.
Cracks of impact are heard just above as Lenora and Tarah clash. Lenora is putting forth an impressive display of offense, while Tarah is maneuvering safely through her attacks. Lenora manages to miss with a kick, but then surprises Tarah with a hammer punch. Tarah is sent hurtling towards the ground, and smashes into S'kur just as he had leaped at Shadow and Malena. The ground crumbles beneath the fighters, and they all fall into the sewage system below. Vector is the first to get up, followed by Shade. They look at each other, and fire off two blasts.
The blasts connect, but don't explode as Shade and Vector pump more energy into them. For a while, the blasts don't give either way, putting both opponents at a stalemate. Then Shade reaches for his sword again, but Tarah makes it to her feet, and jumps at him. Rolling into a flip, she grabs the sword before Shade can, and throws it into a wall. Shade growls at her, and puts both hands up to block the oncoming explosion. The blasts finally erupt, destroying most of the sewer system, and scattering all the fighters.
Shade gathers the team and travels to another opening and leaps out of the sewer in to a newer section of the city. As he looks around he smiles. Looking at the rest of the team he sees that Shadow has bandaged his gaping wounds and is still standing. Lenora is for the most part unphased but her clothes are a little ragged. Malena is in pretty much in the same boat, and except for a few wounds of his own, Shade is going well.
"Okay we have to try something new these guys are too good to keep fighting them head on, they're not like any of the groups we've fought in the past." He says trying to take over leader as best as he can. "We are in an area which was just under construction so we've got some heavy equipment near by so we can smash them with it. We can also take a lesson from them, every body keep a look out for every one else. We have to cover each others asses. Now before they get here we should scatter and pick off our targets." As Malena and Lenora take off to find good vantage points, Shadow hangs back, he looks at shade and smirks, "I've got an idea bro."
Several minutes later Vector steps out of a portal near the largest piece of equipment, and is soon followed by the rest of the group. As he walks out S'kur is tightening a bandage over his only noticeable wound. The group looks around seeing an empty street and then suddenly metal beams and blasts start raining down on top of the group. They scatter and look toward the source, as Lenora and Malena continue to attack from above. Vector forms portals for the two sending them to the roof while he searches for the males. As he looks he sees one flying down to ward the end of a street, and turn a corner.
As Vector turns the corner on foot, he sees the two in new armor and clothes , yet now Shadow's face is shaved and both men have the same wounds across there faces. They turn to see Vector, and one grabs the sworn and rushes him. Vector assumes that it is Shade. He swings with the sword aiming for Vectors neck. Vector ducks under the blade and punches him in the stomach. Shadow then leaps up and flies off.
Malena and Tarah continue trading blows as they fly around, until Malena crashes into a building. As Tarah flies in for a hit Malena unleashes a powerful blast. Tarah tries to defend, and Malena then follows the blast with a head butt to the chest, sending Tarah back. During this Lenora is knocked back by a hammer punch, and sent off the roof. As she falls the reptilian attacker follows. S'kur pounces down on Lenora and is body checked before he lands.
As S'kur is sent flying back he is grabbed by Shadow and thrown in to the air. Followed closely by a large energy beam, called by Shadow "Gallet Gun", he blocks with his arms and flies back at the Saiyan with a roaring hiss. Lenora gets up and locates Shade. "Thanks Shade, why'd you get new clothes?"
"Me and my brother decided to look as much alike as possible to throw them off." He responds quickly. "Lets get this spiny bastard."
"Shadow?" Lenora asks as S'kur lands and the two men start to fight. Lenora jumps in and the two begin an all out assault on the large lizard man. As the three fight Tarah is knocked back and almost strikes S'kur's spines, but adjusts her fall to hit the ground. S'kur starts to turn but is attacked by a kick from Shadow. Tarah pushes her self up and deflects Malena's incoming energy blast, and charges for an energy attack of her own. Malena fires again, and as their energy beams connect, Vector and Shade fly past and as Vector passes Shade, Shade uses his sword to fire an arc of energy in Tarah's direction.
As Vector moves to form a portal, Shade increases speed and strikes Vector across the chest releasing an explosive amount of energy. The explosion rocks Vector sending him flying in to a building and back out it again, smacking into the wall of the next one. Shade charges his energy and fires a massive Gallet Gun using the sword to double his energy. As it strikes Vector, he is only able to fire his own blast to counter Shade's attack.
Tarah continues countering Malena's beam, and as they fight Lenora leaps to Malena's side. Aiding in the energy beam, the two femme Saiyans over power Tarah quickly. The two women then rush her as she is sent flying back. They begin pummeling her with punches and kicks and she blocks as much as she can but the two get several hits in on her for every one she blocks. When Shade and Vector's beams explode Shade is sent flying back and throws the sword to Shadow. Vector flies at Shade with his chest still smoking, and charges for an attack. Shadow catches the blade and begins using it in his current combat with S'kur.
Shadow swings scraping the side of the blade across S'kur's chest making an eerie screech. The entire fight between S'kur and Shadow changes as Shadow's fighting style alters with the addition of the sword. Not to mention the increase in his power due to the blade. S'kur growls or at least makes a noise as close to a growl as he can. Tarah tries to get off a shot against the two but is taken aback by one or the other every time. The one thing on the minds of Duke's mercenary crew right now, is that things are starting to turn around.
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Duke's mecenaries seem to be holding their own against the Saiyans, so much so that they may actually defeat the elite group. Next chapter goes back to the fight with Duke and Vulcan. Expect a lot of surprises, and one big shocker. Who wins? The Saiyans or Duke's mercenaries? Read the next chapter to find out!