"Don't think of it at first like having an extra pair of eyes. You already know how to direct your energy, and if that little display in the caverns meant anything you're pretty good at it. Instead I want you to try and release a stream of energy outside of your body." Dennis was talking again, and like every time he chose to speak his words immediately encapsulated her. In every conversation they had had over the past days he never failed to be direct about what he was trying to accomplish. There was always something to be gained from what he had to say. She could appreciate that even as she followed his orders.

It wasn't hard to direct her power outward, even if it felt like a waste of energy at a time and place where holding onto it was considered "important". She was facing the human, her eyes closed as she focused on "sensing" power. Not that the visibility was all that much to begin with. Once her supposed teacher had dropped the light he was giving off from his hands it was impossible to see him. His voice echoed into the tunnel they... waited in. She wouldn't admit how much it felt like they were hiding from a fight.

"You don't need any real amount of ki to pick up on everything else in a large enough area, the hard part is knowing how to tell it's there. I discovered it like this through trail and error. Make sure you keep a hold of it, keep the flow moving around you. If you let go you'll waste it." Apara didn't voice her annoyance, but she guessed Dennis figured it out anyway when he laughed at her.

"Your energy is a part of yourself, and like any other part of yourself that isn't damaged or broken, you'll feel when it's touched." She stiffened as a chill went up her spine. It was almost like when the not-Sayain had her grab his hand. An exchange that might have had more meaning than the action itself. It was like recognizing a limb you didn't have before. Suddenly it wasn't just the power she pushed outside of herself, it was the blood flowing through her veins, the life toughening her skin and making her fists hard enough to break stone she might have struggled with earlier in life.

It was also the life of the being she now knew was a few steps to her right. His energy was different than her own, and it gave her what might have been more insight into what he was. His power was like oil. It was a coiling, slippery mass that briefly intermingled with her own. It didn't feel right. Something about it told her he enjoyed not being known or recognized, not being seen until he was already in control.

A dim orb of crimson light revealed Dennis' face, the energy extending just beyond his fingertip.

"Good. You know where I am. That's a start. Can you feel anything else?" She nodded at him, closing her eyes again and trying to bring that same recognition outward, this time without her energy flooding the area around her. It was there, inside the deprivation of senses that their temporary shelter provided that she saw battle in a way she never had before. She saw the thousands of identical signatures she could only assume belonged to the inhabitants of this planet, and the hundreds more that were distinctly recognizable. Some closer to hers, some more pure, and others not unlike Dennis' own.

It was dozens of minor skirmishes and hundreds more that were battles for survival. Each would flare and fade as damage was exchanged, jumping up and down as crew members and bug alike exerted themselves. The only indication she got of anyone winning was when one signature disappeared in its entirety, and another would be left alone as it looked for a new opponent. Even that was hard to tell through the sheer weight of numbers the enemy brought down on them. Apara looked up at her teacher.

"It's happening all around us." From any other child of any other species her voice cracking would have been a hint at fear.

For Apara it was exciting.

"Is it time to join in?"

Dennis craned his head upward looking into the rock above them and beyond. He exhaled, before looking back at her.

"Yeah"

Redan of Naldinnas grimaced, his hand plunging into the open chest wound of a Freeza Force warrior. The pained wheeze and the sudden struggle dislodging him from his place as he slid several yards into the yawning expanse of the mountain they had been charged to clear, the sentient he was fighting sliding with him. When they finally stopped he stood, firing an energy blast into his opponent's head.

"Fuck!" He hissed, looking down with a mix of apprehension and distrust at the exchanges of energy blasts whistling into the dark for as far as the eye could see. The lack of natural light they were now experiencing only made it easier to witness some small withering piece of the battles going on even in the deepest parts of the mountain. cheered with the rest when the plan was revealed. Standing in the lightly showering rain alongside Commander Jell and his comrades Fleek and Dalnan he was happy to celebrate the opportunity for a near fortune coming his way.

Now he was sinking into the mud he stood upon. Forced to trudge along as they went into the main hive of his people's most ancient enemy or face death from the beams firing out into the open air at anyone or anything that felt like cutting that corner. It didn't seem like much worth celebrating after that. The boom of thunder and the crack of lightning above as the rain only came down harder dampened his spirits and his uniform further.

"Not the glorious battle you were expecting, recruits?!" Commander Jell's voice cut through the howling wind, his laughter quick to follow. Their leader was at the head of the pack, advancing steadily downward at a pace they were hesitant to match but scared not to match. The terrain itself was manageable, but it easily hid the bugs from sight, and the scouters didn't warn of their presence until they were all but walking over the creatures.

The gray of his skin had all but come to match the terrain around them between the mud and guts they had all clawed through on the secondary hive they had cleared. It was getting no better now. He never came to a full stop, only slowing or slightly changing the direction of their advance to cut down the bugs the others had missed as they made their own way downward.

It was a task Redan had no envy for, and it only made it clear why Jell was in charge. The idea of rebellion, trying to force their way into being commander, was quick to disappear at the sight of Commander Jell reaching down the loose skin the bugs used as mouths and peeling one of the strangely durable creatures into two twitching pieces, the liquid and viscera sputtering outward into an arc around them.

They had run into several groups of warriors that weren't crew already. Most of those at this edge of the battlefield had failed to push forward because they had been wounded. With their guards down it was little trouble. Even if occasionally someone had some fight to them.

The Diligent Frost were taking their time, clearing out any resistance on the edges as they descended toward the center. It had the dual purpose of removing the stragglers and giving the fighting at the center time to die down. The commander mentioned people had been sent to scramble the comms, giving them the ability to move without consequence. Redan thought it was smart. The danger was in whoever they found over any united force.

The bloody slog continued for thirty minutes more before they ran into real resistance. A woman leaning against an outcropping of rock, her uniform half destroyed by the wear and tear of battle. Scouters identified her Immediately.

Commander Pomveley-15158

Menacing Chilled

Powerlevel: 956

She had silver hair framing a face that would have been attractive under different circumstances. A line of yellow blood was dripping from her chin, and one her eyes had been burned out with a stray blast. She was clutching a wound at her side, but her powerlevel had everyone but Jell on edge. Her green-blue skin was pale from her injuries.

"Slow. No wonder you Diligent Frost types lost on this world. If you're quick, you can get down there before things are finished." Her voice was strained, and while her words were sharp they didn't have any real weight to them. Jell didn't move to respond. For a moment the two commanders only stared at one another.

She tilted her head, before looking to the battlefield, her gaze searching for something. It didn't take long for her to find it. With a sharp intake of breath she looked back at them. Her eyes met Jell's own, and there was an understanding between them.

"Greedy Bastards!" In an instant both commanders were moving. The warriors blurring into a flurry of motion the rest of them could barely keep up with just a few feet from the ground. Dalnan, ahead of the rest of the group, moved forward as Redan ducked towards an outcroping of rock. He kept an eye on his friends while he moved. Jell likely wouldn't need the help, but some supporting fire would smooth things out more quickly.

Fleek didn't move, lowering himself in the mud and looking for an opportunity to strike.

"Keep your distance!" Redan yelled, both making space between him and the largest threat and looking for a chance to fire off a blast. "We need to-" His scouter chimed a warning as something approached from the air. He looked up the steep cliffs, they had been moving down, ready for a hidden or lucky enemy only to choke. The sight of the small form of the child in their squad rocketing towards the ongoing battle catching him off guard.

"Finally!" She screamed, her high pitched roar echoing into the expanse around them. Redan could only watch in shock as she caught Pomveley in the back of the head with an axe-kick. The woman dropped a few inches on surprise alone before she sent an elbow backward, shattering the Saiyans nose but failing to stop her from continuing to rain ineffective blows against the female commander's back. The commander may have been able to kill the child in an instant, but she couldn't split her attention away from Jell without letting him strike a decisive blow.

Redan was stunned.

The girl? How the hell did she make it out of the hatchery? He had heard she was from some kind of special "warrior" race, but to think she could survive as long as she had with that power level was insane. The last he had seen of her she was surrounded on all sides with-

"Hey."

Redan twisted around with a gasp, moving just fast enough to catch sight of the fist quickly finding it's way to his throat. He choked on a cry for help as the human they had been planning to kill threw him into the near liquid mud surrounding them at all sides, his assailant's bodyweight forcing him under in seconds.

Redan struggled, sending only a single energy blast out before Dennis' body twisted around his own. He felt something sharp meet the soft flesh underneath his ribcage, before it was buried at an angle into his lung. His struggles grew more desperate as the seconds passed, weakening only when the oxygen stopped traveling through his blood, before finally stopping altogether with a sharp twist and sudden pull.

The last thing Redan felt before life left him was his scouter being pulled away.

Authors Note: Landshark.