Act I: The Barbarian Assault
Dec 29, 2014 7:53:56 GMT
Post by Gokan Bushino on Dec 29, 2014 7:53:56 GMT
"And here we have breaking news coverage of the attack in Generica by an apparent army of barbarians being encountered by that nation's special forces team known to the public as the Hero Force...."
brzzzt. And with that, the TV was shut off.
"There's enough of that." The woman, no older than fifty-three, chucked the remote back toward the bed, the device bouncing along the tacky, pastel and gold colored bedding before coming to a halt against the pillows. On the adjacent bed, Aimee grunted scornfully that the images that had captivated her attention for the past few minutes had been suddenly cut off.
"Mom!" she cried, "I was watching Power Princess kick some ass!"
"Aimee, I didn't fly across the country to sit inside this damn hotel room and watch some costumed people showboat and fight!" Aimee looked over at her mother, Lian, and gave her an exaggerated pout before she pulled herself up from the bed and sat on its edge. Her thoughts were interrupted by the horrible, horrible sound of her father, Carl, gargling mouthwash and water in the the bathroom; she shuddered from what sounded like a drowning whale. It was frightening.
Thankfully, there was a repetitious pounding on the door that overpowered the sounds of death that emanated from the bathroom. Aimee moved to get up, but she heard the muffled voice of her brother yelling at someone and remained seated. Half a second later, the door opened, revealing the adopted Saiyan as well as the roommate, Randall. No, he wasn't family, but both Lian and Carl were fond of Gokan's friend. This was supposed to be a family vacation, true, but that didn't mean friends couldn't come along.
"I mean, dude, really? I said a bazillion times that I had the goddamn key and you still go and knock on the door!" Gokan shouted, resisting the urge to pop his friend in the back of the head.
"Man, that don't mean nothin!" Randall replied, "Your dad could've been walking around without pants! I don't wanna barge in and see that man!"
"Fortunately for you Randall, I'm wearing a nice, crisp pair of blue jeans," Carl announced with a slight chuckle as he emerged from the bathroom, "Let's go do some exploring. I still want to catch the light exhibit in the museum downtown; today's the last day before they pack up for Konshorhaven."Later
Downtown Diamond City
Hours after they left the hotel, the group of five emerged from the Diamond City Grand Science Museum, with Aimee and Lian sharing a bag of popcorn. Randall and Carl were empty-handed and Gokan casually munched on a massive, almost comically large, soft pretzel. "I gotta admit tho," Randall started as he turned around to face the family, "That Farday Effect thing was pretty dope."
"Faraday," Aimee corrected moments prior to stuffing a handful of popcorn in her face. And of course, she continued to talk with her mouth full, careful to not let remnants fall out or expose the contents of her mouth in a disgusting fashion. "Ish chall'd the Faruhdah Effeft!"
"Aimee, slow down before you choke."
"Pfft, like that's going to happen. You could deep fry a cow and chuck it at her and she'd manage to eat the whole thing with a single bi...." Gokan paused and looked up into the sky; the world stopped for him and everyone was curious as to what attracted his attention from the conversation mid-sentence.
"Everything alright?" His mother asked as she stepped over and rested a hand on his shoulder, "You look worried?"
"Yeah dude," Randall stopped to reach into the popcorn and grab a handful for himself before he turned back to focus on his friend, "Wassup?" When Gokan was adopted by the Valzul family, he filled them in on who he was and on his various seemingly supernatural or superhuman abilities; they accepted it and went on with their lives. No one knew the scope of Gokan's abilities better than his sister Aimee, though even she didn't know the full scope of what he could or couldn't do. But what she did know, what she recognized, was that look in his eyes. it was something that she'd seen far too often recently. Something was wrong; Gokan's body language told her everything she needed to know.
As she turned to reach out and tug on her mothers arm out of instinct, Gokan tensed. "Get down!" He shoved Randall into his father, which caused the two of them to topple over. In a panic, Aimee latched on to her mom and pulled her down as well. And within a few seconds, hell began to rain down on to the street. Brilliant crimson waves of energy erupted from the sky by the dozens, punching holes into buildings and vehicles alike. A round of explosions ripped throughout the street and overlapped with echoes of the same that rocked off in the distance. Several of these blasts boomed toward the downed group at Gokan's feet, and he did his best to redirect or take the brunt of the blasts into his body. He was knocked off of his feet and into a nearby sedan, denting its rear bumper and the trunk.
"Holy shit! Gokan!" Randall cried out as he witnessed what, to him, looked like the death of his best friend. He tried to move, but Gokan's father held him down.
"Stay down!"
"But Gokan!"
"I said stay down!" While the two were busy arguing, Gokan grunted and slowly picked himself up, much to the surprise of Randall; Gokan's family wasn't too surprised.
"You okay, Gokan?" his mother asked, obviously concerned for the Saiyan.
"Fine. Stay back!" As he stood there, Compression rolled away from his body as he looked up into the sky and eyed the source of the continued barrage of blasts down on the sprawling metropolis: men and woman of all shapes and sizes wielding all manner of weaponry. They were swarming in the sky by the dozens, some flying via their own power, others being held by their allies, and some leaping about.
"They look like those guys the Hero Force were fighting in Generica!" Aimee shouted, practically at the top of her lungs, "Did they lose?"
As the final handicaps ceased to be, Gokan flexed and hunched forward somewhat, letting out a slight shout as he did so. His aura exploded outward and upward, causing the street beneath his feet to crack and cave in, much to the surprise of Randall.
"Holy shit dude!" Gokan never bothered to tell Randall much about his past beyond being adopted, nor did he ever bring up the fact that he possessed ki abilities that allowed him to do pretty miraculous things. The sight of his friend glowing and radiating waves of energy from his body was sure to pique his interest, much as it had of scores of people who attempted to flee from the airborne barbarian horde as they touched down. And while eyes met the Saiyan's body, his power surged to levels that they hadn't touched in a long, long time. And without warning, the Saiyan exploded forward with a single lunge.
His fist cracked a barbarian in the face and sent the mace wielding individual a good two to three hundred feet down the street, his body skipping along the way before it came to a halt near an abandoned pickup truck.
The family took that as a sign to take off and seek shelter back inside the museum.
A reprisal came as they attempted to flee; an axe was aimed at his head. The Saiyan maneuvered beneath the swing and stepped toward his attacker and shifted toward the right as he came back to a standing position. At the same time, Gokan placed his left hand on the arm of the axe-wielding woman to control her swing and quickly followed up with a solid strike to her face as well. The women went flying but was able to recover quickly and hurled the axe toward her opponent. Gokan dodged with a spin, but noticed that there were several people in the flight path of the weapon that would likely be cleaved in half should he allow it to persist. "Dammit!" the retired warrior boomed as he took off, utilizing his superior speed to catch up to the axe and smack it to the ground moments before it chopped a little boy and his father in half. Unfortunately, it was a distraction Gokan couldn't really afford as the axe woman and a friend came down from the sky and drove Gokan through the asphalt.
He retaliated with his Genshihou; a brilliant wave of ki erupted from the crater and launched the two into the air. Gokan then pulled himself from the hole in the ground and was immediately assaulted by a swordsmen who wielded some sword of Cutlass. The first slash nearly cleaved through Gokan's shirt and the second, third, and fourth came in a flurry; Gokan managed to dodge all of the strikes before delivering a flurried combo of his own; several punches struck the man in the face and upper body and were followed up by a powerful kick. The man exploded through a nearby retail store a split second later.
And then they swarmed the Saiyan; five, aimed to attack on all sides. He quickly ignited his aura and surged his ki through his body before taking one massive leap into the air and bounced between the skyscrapers to reach higher elevations.
But they had people who could fly, and he could not. And they pursued him faster than he could jump.
Crimson ki came from multiple angles, and then there was a blue streak across the sky that ripped through several buildings before causing the ground to explode nearly six blocks away.
TBC