For a few seconds we didn't need our scouters to light the way. The panicked blasts that followed the realization of what kind of situation we were in gave us all the visibility we needed to process just how fucked we were. Between the fear and adrenaline coursing through me I hadn't caught up with the fact that I was moving or fighting until I had cut through my forth victim, the bugs jibbering pieces flying back into the mass of flesh rising up from the ground to meet us.
My thoughts flew in a thousand different directions at once, my instincts taking the reigns for me while the thinking, human part of my being took the time to look for ways to escape, ways to survive. A line of those same disgusting maggot men fell upon me from above, attempting to meet their primary host with us at the center. They were obliterated in an instant by a distracted wave of Jell's hand, the commander focusing on keeping the mass of the creatures from pulling us into a melee we couldn't hope to endure. If there was any question in my mind about his capability as a warrior it disappeared the moment things had grown as desperate as they had.
Living among them, I had never forgotten that Freeza Force represented the most powerful and feared fighting force in the whole of the galaxy. It was a horde of planet destroying killers forced together by fear of a god among them, and a shared sense of cruelty and greed. Today I was reminded of why this was the case.
"Cover my back!" Called out one of my so called "allies" as he powered up some kind of large energy attack, blinding red light shining in his palms.
"Got it!" Replied another, the blue alien hastening to his friends rear in time kick a bug in it's non-existent face, his attack buying necessary time for the other cut a path for them through the attackers. A laser lanced through the ceiling of the hive, killing at least a hundred foes but leaving another opening for hundreds more to crawl through. The battle resumed for them mere instants later as the mud-covered horde harrying us only seemed to grow more agitated.
In spite of the mistake I still found myself distantly envious of the raw strength behind each of their movements.
The Naldinnian warriors could have been legends of old among the people they once called kin, their strength far outstripping the common and plentiful people of Naldinnas. They each fought dozens of the monsters they had been warned about for generations, meeting mindless hunger with the grim determination of rats backed into a corner. Survival was earned, and each of them was determined to earn it. With fear strengthening their limbs they tore through individual foe after individual foe, meeting the swarm with a sense of teamwork and comradery I was certain hadn't existed until moments ago.
I might have admired that if I didn't find myself so clearly outside of it. They had been quick to make a circle, covering each others weaknesses and blind spots and they were swarmed from all angles, their comradery from a past with each other I could only guess at seeing them through an otherwise perilous situation. Twice I had to dodge out of the way of stray attacks, one of which I had to direct one of our assailants in front of to survive, the attack charring my fingertips even as the alien freak in my grasp turned to ash and dust. I didn't bother complaining about it, and I only let a particularly feral and unnecessary backhand to a charging opponent show my feelings on the matter.
They were only a sideshow compared to our leader.
To the animal, instinctual part of myself he was a demon, a monster furiously proving it's own fury against that of our common enemy. Every flourish of his arms ended in the fire and destruction of a hundred foes, every kick and every punch sending a wave of bugs flying back from the force with which they landed.
It was only the nature of the enemy we fought against that gave him any pause, gave me any concern to my own continued survival.
They were more than a group of individuals fighting for a common goal, they were a single being split up into an unrecognizable swarm of determination, hunger, and survival in it's purest form. Every soft, pliable creature sent screeching into the abyss was replaced by a dozen more, each more eager for the kill than the last and each fully uncaring for the sweeping destruction our commander was capable of and willing to unleash.
The sound of flesh being messily parted seemed to follow me with every movement as things grew worse, more compact. I eventually found that I didn't need to aim or even properly direct my attacks to kill them effectively. The growing burning sensation in my arms told me my energy was starting to flag, my panicked attack at the start of the battle coming back to haunt me. Strangely it didn't bother me, the growing pain and fear rising inside me only becoming a distant comfort, something I could recognize and fight alongside. It was simple survival.
Just as that sense of comfort began to settle in however, it disappeared, shattered in an instant by what might have been a somewhat intimidating roar of rage on anyone who wasn't a prepubescent girl. The general lack of awareness and forward thought washing over me now breaking way to the knowledge that all risk I had been taking on to myself would be for nothing if Apara didn't survive this.
"Bring me more!" She screamed, her voice hoarse and her breath coming out in gasps as she did as all Saiyan's were want to do. I could barely hear her over the sound of so much constantly undulating flesh, but I could tell she was farther than she should be, likely caught up in her own bloodlust.
Immediately I halted my forward movement, letting a few dozen oozing foes pass me by, their momentum keeping us apart from each other just as well as any attack would. For a brief moment I considered leaving her, but even as I considered it I knew I needed her. She was an opportunity even the pessimist in me knew not to pass up. The thought of relying on those as ignorant as the crew for further protection brought bile to the back of my throat in a way even our current enemy couldn't quite match. I spun around on a dime, my sword cutting through three more opponents even as I ducked away from three more.
I was flying towards the main horde before I could blink, my eyes stinging with whatever fluid they called blood, by the time my eyes had closed I was already upon them.
I blasted past a wall of hundreds, using their soft flesh and relatively slow movements to my advantage. Even with my powerlevel now likely only a few dozen points above their own they could only barely react to me as I plowed through the first of them, my boots meeting one of them in the chest, a staccato boom sounding at our contact.
I felt a disturbing number of soft, wet digits attempt to seize hold of me as my new makeshift shield and I pushed past them.
In any other situation it would have been impossible to lock onto her while being so directly involved in the battle, but the same nature of their energy that let them conceal their numbers so readily made them easy to sort through, Apara shined through them like a beacon in the darkness. She was falling behind, her lack of raw strength and eagerness to fight leaving her on her own as our group had steadily made our way upward in an instinctual retreat. When I finally got sight of her she was wounded, burned, and wearing a smile full of bloody teeth.
To her credit she was managing better than I would have expected her to. She clearly hadn't listened to me as well as she should have about conserving her power, the ki inside her burning lower even than my own, but she had adapted in her own way. Her hands were clasped together in a makeshift hammer, and blue flame seemed to flicker from them as she swung her newfound weapon into foe after foe. She didn't so much as bother approaching each foe as she allowed them to come to her static position, absorbing attack after attack only to reply with a single swing of her arms, leaving a trail of burned limbs and screeching maggot men in her wake.
The only movements she bothered to make where to attack, and to dodge the scattered energy blasts coming her way, her static position making her a comfortable enough target for the bugs to risk friendly fire amongst themselves. Even still many of them hit, the blasts scorching her armor and slowing the girl down that much more. If we weren't both covered in mud, blood, and guts I don't doubt I would have seen a fresh patchwork of burn marks and cuts covering her exposed flesh. I had no doubt she would have fought to the death without a second thought, only regretting she couldn't have ended the battle in her own victory.
"Girl!" I growled, shoulder checking a maggot aside as I did, focusing on keeping my momentum even as the wall of flesh around us seemed to close in ever further. I had to dodge to the side as yet another energy blast came my way, the attack clearing off a foe I hadn't noticed managed to latch onto me in all the commotion.
My mind raced through what seemed like a thousand half formed plans before I focused on the only one that seemed even vaguely doable with the strength I had left.
She was halfway through screaming "What!" when I slammed into her stomach, the strike coming with just a hint more power than I necessarily needed to use. I grinned at the sound of her strained gasp, before taking off even more quickly to the chamber floor with one arm wrapped around her. My clenched fist tore through the torso of a maggot as we passed it by, taking it along for a far less gentle journey than I was giving the Saiyan girl.
I felt a laser tear through my shin, the attack catching me just as I dodged a flying tackle from below.
"If you wanna live to fight past today you'll listen to me!" I screamed, half out of rage and half out of pain.
I noticed I started hitting the limits of my strength when we nearly made it to the nearest of the tunnels breaking away from the large chamber we found ourselves in. Even as I pushed myself to the limit and beyond the bugs behind us seemed to get ever closer, their slow pursuit seeming more and more considerable with every passing moment. The bugs ahead of me soon started landing blows I couldn't easily ignore, their flesh scraping against my own with increasingly painful success.
"Fine!" She half screamed, half giggled.
The now clearly visible bones laying across the floor, and the steady approach I was making to our escape gave me the strength to continue as my adrenaline started to fade, even when sight was no longer an option, a stray attack tearing the scouter from my face and leaving me blind to the world surrounding us. It didn't matter, I could fight in the dark better than anyone on our crew. I pushed forward, blasting forward just as the feeling of enemies at my heels reached it's crescendo.
When we finally reached the tunnel it was at a speed that nearly matched my own at full strength.
"Blast the tunnel apart behind us!" Mercifully she was quick to listen, her power pushing to it's own limits as she sent a line of pure ki down our path as I spun through turns and drops on a dime, barely avoiding our pursuers on several occasions. The tunnels lit with one continuous line of small explosions, each sending what seemed like tons of the semi liquid, semi-solid matter into collapse around us.
I managed to keep pace for a mile and a half before I finally collapsed, our bodies crashing to the earth and carrying on for another dozen meters before we finally came to a stop.
As the bliss of unconsciousness took me I nearly chuckled into the mud seeping past my lips. Once again in the belly of the beast.
Why do I feel at home?
Power Levels-
Dennis- 256(Currently 89)
Apara- 78(Currently 40)
Jell-1358(Currently Unknown)
Naldinnians- 300(On Average)(Currently Unknown)