Post by Sallot Retas on Jan 1, 2017 16:25:32 GMT
Two years ago...
What system was this again? Honestly, did it really even matter? It was just one of several that had earned the attentions of the expansionist Saiyan Empire. And to these warriors, it was just another tick mark on an otherwise long list of systems to either bring to heel or destroy. For one among them, though, it was far greater than a simple mission of destroy and conquer, it was a moment to shine, to meet the challenge head on and without an ounce of reservation or mercy. Deployed within his pod, the individual ship traveled alongside five others, Saiyans like himself, most weaker, one stronger. Delivering a hard bite to the biscuit he held in his hand, Sallot gazed out the front view window of his pod, devouring his day's rations as the planetary system came into full view. Nine worlds in the habitable zone of their massive, blue sun, each housing the shared might of a rebellious grouping of species that thought themselves worthy of demanding their autonomy from the Saiyan Solar Empire, a mistake they would soon realize in full.
"Remember boys, hit hard and don't give them even a moment to try and figure out what's happening." The voice of their commander came crisply over the shared scouter communication channel between each of the warriors. It was their final order before they'd enter the atmosphere of the first planet, the last order given before they would be unleashed upon the first, unsuspecting planet of humanoids, where the warriors would engage in the wholesale slaughter of an entire species before moving onto the next planet. The call was met with unanimous agreement from each of the other three, Sallot being the last to reply as the fourth warrior in order. "Like a walk in the park." Sporting a terrifying smirk as he spoke over the comms channel, the black-eyed Saiyan input his own specific coordinates, each of the five pods immediately breaking off from one another to enter the planet's atmosphere at seemingly randomized locations.
With the initial goal of causing as much disorganized destruction as possible laid out clearly before the warriors, Sallot found his muscles quaking with anticipation, hoping for a right and proper challenge to await him on the planet's surface. Its inhabitants had been strong enough to produce fighters capable of halting small, single or two-team skirmishes on other, distant mining planets but here and now, they would face the full might of some of the Empire's finest warriors, and with the lunar cycle nearing its full completion the pitiful conglomerate of rebellious planets would find themselves staring down a far more formidable foe than they'd ever faced before. Anticipation and excitement alike gripping the purposed warrior, Sallot drank from his water ration before bracing himself from entry, feeling the immediate rip and pull of the planet's atmosphere superheating the exterior of his pod.
Feeling the pressure of gravity and friction alike crash against his pod, the trail of raw heat that followed his pod through the sky would act as the visual herald to the arrival of this planet's subjugation. Sallot's own pod aimed at a massive population center, the spherical ship made no effort to adjust its course as it came careening towards the surface, smashing through skyrises and homes alike until the ground itself came racing to meet the pod. Reverse thrusters engaged, almost immediately halting the ship's descent so that it failed to impact the earth at terminal velocity. With a grand thunderclap of deafening noise, Sallot's arrival was rewarded by a massive crater formed at the impact area of his ship. Pressure seals began releasing themselves, a series of long, high-pitched hisses filling the air as he rose from his seat, all but throwing the pod's door to the earth.
Appearing from within, the Saiyan's dark eyes squinted as he adjusted to the brightness of the world, pausing only to take in a deep breath of the fresh air this world offered. Feeling his muscles stretch and his bones pop back into place, a wicked snarl of a smile decorated Sallot's hard features. He pressed a single fingertip against the side of his scouter, enabling its search function in an effort to locate the nearest high power levels. A series of ascending blips filled his ear until the scouter halted its search, producing a low, audible tone of confirmation. Ten, there were ten respectable power levels nearby, meaning there were ten dead men nearby. Making absolutely zero effort to conceal himself, the Saiyan ascended to the sky from his pod, much to the confusion of the city's denizens as they risked nearing the impact zone of his space pod. Palm outstretched to the nearest grouping of civilians, the warrior unleashed a horribly destructive blast of pure ki, consuming the screaming bodies of those who had been foolish enough to dare a chance to catch a sight of the pod's pilot.
The immediate results of the wanton destruction was as it always had been, screams of terror and the unrestrained echoes of distant sirens announcing the arrival of some unperceived disaster. Yes, disaster, that was a good way to summarize his arrival to this planet. The very thought brought a smile to the warrior's hard-lined features as he aimed another destructive blast at a nearby tower. A blinding blast of indigo expelled itself from his fingertips, crashing hard into nearby buildings, causing several to outright explode, while others collapsed from the sudden throw of debris in every direction. A blip appeared on his scouter, confirming the movement of one of ten power levels his scouter had identified upon arrival. "I've ten near my location, one...no...two approaching me at this moment." Reporting the situation over the scouter comms, Sallot chose to lower himself to the ruins of the city streets below, arms crossed over his chest as he decided to await the arrival of his would-be challengers.
Grinning when his eyes caught sight of what his scouter had shown him, the distant vision of two humanoids flying directly towards him gave the Saiyan cause enough to extend his hand their direction. Unleashing a sudden flurry of ki blasts that would blot out the sun, the indigo orbs sought the destruction of those who would dare approach the Saiyan warrior. The two approaching warriors halted in their flight, immediately dipping and diving away from what they could, unleashing their own counter-blasts against his own to buy them time enough to escape the blasts of ki sent their direction. Satisfied enough to see his immediate opponents were at least this capable, the Saiyan's tail twitched about his waist with the anticipatory thrill of battle-lust. Rewarded by their crashing appearance on scene, Sallot found himself staring down the disgruntled faces of two, human-like alien males, each wearing some manner of training gear.
"Just who the hell are you!?" One man spoke for the both of them, not that his question would be met with the answer to Sallot's identity. Rather, the Saiyan only smirked before his back foot propelled him with such a speed that it left an afterimage of himself behind. Appearing before the one who dared address him with anything less than an apologetic regard and a beg for mercy, the Saiyan warrior clenched his fist and brought it hard against the alien's stomach. The blow was sufficient on its own to set the man's eyes rolling to the back of his skull, cause his organs to burst, and his body to be sent flying hundreds of feet, skipping across the ruined pavement of the roads. Pivoting on his toes, the Saiyan turned his attentions to the still paused second warrior and extended his palm directly towards the alien's face. "Goodnight." With a single well-wish for the foolish, would-be savior of the city, Sallot met the pitiful thing with an all-consuming blast of raw ki, completely destroying the organic lifeform without so much as the Saiyan breaking a sweat. It was an outright no contest that left the Saiyan wanting.
Again, his scouter set off a series of beeps as several more humanoids approached, nearly a dozen flying in to surround the man where he stood. Delivering to them a bored scowl, Sallot tapped the side of his scouter to check their power levels, none of these had been members of the original ten he'd been notified of. Truth be told, he didn't even need his scouter to tell that the soldiers surrounding him were trash, the blasters they wore on their wrists and the sluggish movements of their flight was proof enough for him. "If you want to live, run away now, and I might just give you a head start." The Saiyan issued the only warning these low-class warriors would receive but of course, he found himself instead met with pointless resistance as the dozen aimed their blasters at him, unleashing a volley of pitiful attacks that dusted up the area surrounding the invader.
"Hmph...garbage." His voice rang like a death toll, signaling to each of the men around him that their attacks had been for not, revealing in full just how futile their resistance had been when the smoke cleared at last. Surrounded by the aura of his own ki, there wasn't even a scratch to be shown on the Saiyan warrior. Pointing a finger at one of the twelve, Sallot released a straight line beam that skewered the first fool through the heart before he vanished, only to reappear behind to others. Panic gripped the soldiers as they looked over their shoulders, fear plain in their eyes as Sallot grabbed their heads and slammed them hard against one another, a sickening crack of shattering bone filling the air as their bodies went limp in death. Immediately recognizing their fatal mistake, the remaining eight took to the skies, hoping to flee from the invader. Donning an almost sadistic smile, Sallot chased each of them with a volley of his own, indigo balls of energy chasing down and vaporizing every last warrior as they screamed in their flight.
Basking in the moment, Sallot rose to the skies once more, checking his scouter at a constant to look for the approach of the remaining eight, substantial power levels in his designated district. Apparently, the show had been enough to catch the attentions of the city's elite, for four of the remaining power levels were found approaching him at a far faster rate than any of those before. Grinning, the Saiyan hoped for a challenge worthy of him truly unleashing the bulk of his power on this world. After all, what was the value of invading another system if it didn't even possess a single fighter worthy of a Saiyan's true power? Hovering hundreds of feet above the city streets below, Sallot looked to the arrival of his latest foes, overjoyed as he witnessed the rise of their power levels when they appeared on the scene.
Flexing his muscles, an anxious lust for true combat took hold of the black-eyed Saiyan when he noticed the rise in power from each of the four combatants who stood before him. Judging by what the scouter revealed, they'd make for a decent warm up, if not for an outright challenge, assuming they could muster enough skill to properly face the Saiyan on four fronts. Extending his palms to his sides, Sallot stood as if he welcomed their arrival. "Well...shall we get started?" His voice dripped with violent desire as he addressed his latest round of guests and the sheer intensity that surrounded him was enough to cause hesitation among the four fighters. Catching sight of their hidden fears, Sallot scowled and decided to take matters into his own hands, leaping forward in flight to reach the first of four.
Cocking his fist back, the Saiyan feigned a punch before throwing his body into a loop, bringing the back of his heel hard against the top of his enemy's head. The result sent the fighter careening to the ground but still alive, hopefully. Surprise gripped the other three and saw them set upon the Saiyan in an instant, the flurry of blows so fast and mighty that the battle sent shockwaves across the planet's sky. Those who watched with fear in their hearts below would see only brief instances of the battle, the warriors in whole pausing only as long as it took to deliver a powerful blow. What could be heard, though, was a fit of almost wicked laughter, its origins being the same black-haired Saiyan who invaded this world alongside four others.
"Yes. Yes. YES!" Sallot's voice cried out with joy as he felt a fist crash hard against his face, delight overtaking the man while facing a group of foes that were worthy enough to at least force him to defend himself. Had this just been some other pissant colony without a single fighter worth their weight, he'd have been more displeased than anything else. Returning the fist with a crushing blow from his own knee, Sallot leaped away in the air and launched a volley of ki blasts that lit up the sky with blinding explosions. The fireworks, both beautiful and deadly, saw the full combined strength of those he fought, a return volley crashing hard against the Saiyan's own attack that pulsed shockwave after shockwave to the earth below, streets cracking and buildings crumbling from the sheer ferocity of the battle overhead.
Rushing through the smoke, Sallot rewarded one of the warriors with a hard fist to the stomach, followed up with a reaching kick to the temple. Again, cracks could be heard and left the Saiyan's delighted features waning for a brief moment. Watching the body of the slain foe fall directly to the earth, never to rise again, he folded his arms over his chest and scowled. "Pity...I must've gotten a bit carried away." Like a child who'd accidentally broken their favorite toy, the moment of distraction allowed one of the raging warriors to charge straight down the Saiyan's throat. Pulled out of his dissatisfaction, a bright grin lit up the warriors' face as he deflected the blow with his forearm and snatched the warrior's own wrist, twisting and snapping it before throwing the fool through a nearby skyrise. "That's the spirit! Use that anger, harness it boys! Because it's the only thing that'll give you a snowball's chance in hell of beating me." Cackling with his words, Sallot looked to the warrior he'd just thrown, pleasantly surprised enough at seeing the warrior take to the skies almost immediately. The boy had some real fighting spirit.
There were two others, though, and as he looked to the one he'd just hurled away, the others came to fill the gap, blasting the Saiyan's back with a series of low-powered ki. "Gwuagh!" Surprise biting him hard as some measure of pain screamed from the Saiyan's back, Sallot gave a deadly retort by spinning away from the rest of the volley, launching his own shotgun blast of raw ki straight for the two who'd thought an attack of that caliber could kill him. Rocketing back to the one whose wrist he'd shattered, the Saiyan brought down a hard hammer fist on the boy's skull, crushing the organic lifeform beneath him in the span of time it took to blink one's eye. Ruthless in combat, the thrill of it all resurged in the Saiyan, consuming him with a deadly desire to cause even greater destruction than he had before.
For the remaining two, they would receive the full, disgruntled frustrations of the Saiyan they'd come to fight. His scouter panicking by the time he turned to face those he'd pushed away with raw ki, it announced that another two power levels were approaching from afar, their powers far greater than those he'd fought in his designated zone thus far. If the scouter was right, then he'd have to put these last two down quickly if he hoped to fight on even ground with a pairing of even more dangerous opponents. Vanishing from his aerial position, Sallot bull rushed the remaining two, both warriors still disoriented from the payback blast he'd awarded them. Grabbing one by the face, and extending his palm towards the other, the telltale shine of ki shown from both of his palms. "Thanks for the warmup." Smirking, Sallot released the full extent of his power on both warriors, vaporizing both in an unceremonious send-off that'd leave him ready for the arrival of the final two.
Gathering his ki about him, Sallot wasted no time in charging every bit of strength he had in him, meaning to meet his approaching foes head on, and without a single wasteful motion. Leaping upon them the moment they arrived, the Saiyan found himself on truly equal footing between both fighters, his initial blow deflected and replied with a crushing blow to his ribs. The air knocked from his lungs, Sallot snarled and turned with the blow into a headspin, unleashing a volley of ki in every direction. Sallot arrested his movement and charged back into the fray, crashing his own fist hard against the one who'd been foolish enough to strike him, delivering a blow powerful enough to break bones. Following up the initial attack with a gruesome series of combinations, the Saiyan halted only long enough to deliver a decapitating ki blast to the warrior's face and ducking away the moment he felt the air around him shift with the movement of another.
A swift kick grazed just mere inches from his head as the man spun hard, delivering a sweeping kick to his opponent's legs and a debilitating elbow to the fighter's gut. The combination sent his opponent crashing to the earth but he'd find no respite in the dirt as the Saiyan set upon the alien with a crushing series of attacks, meaning to keep up the pressure. In a moment, though, Sallot found both of his fists clasped by the warrior's open palms, and a hard headbutt crashing against his forehead before Sallot's own gut was hit with a hard knee. Sent flying backward and through a countless number of storefronts, the city became a genuine battleground for these two titanic fighters. One fought for his planet, while the other sought to destroy it.
Bellowing with a Saiyan's proud roar, Sallot reappeared from the rubble of a crushed building and beset himself upon his foe. A flurry of nearly invisible movements clashed between the fighters, craters forming beneath their feet with every deflected blow, the shockwaves caused by their very movements sending earthquakes through the earth. It was a terrible, beautiful sight to behold for any who watched with an appreciation for genuine battle. Both combatants clashed with everything they had in their bodies but both knew that a simple showing of strength wouldn't suffice, not in this battle. This was one to the death, and both men had a will to live that would both inspire and frighten any who came to understand precisely how deeply that desire ran.
Seeing his opportunity in a thrown kick, Sallot grunted through the blow as he braced himself, hooking the alien's leg between his ribs and arm. Biting through the pain of what he was certain was a bruised rib, the Saiyan grinned. "Time's up." Slamming his fist into the warrior's shin, Sallot both felt and hear the leg snap, delighted at the pained howl of the warrior as he fell to the earth. Like an executioner before the sentenced, Sallot stood over his prey, palm extended before offering a final salute to the warrior. "Maybe next time...well...if there were a next time." Bidding his enemy adieu, Sallot unleashed an earth shattering explosion of ki from his fingertips, consuming and vaporizing his final enemy. It was a fitting end, considering the threat this fighter had posed, maybe if he'd come with the original group of fighters, the outcome would have been different but one-on-one like this? The fool hadn't stood a chance on his own, not with Sallot coming with the sole intent to lay waste to this entire system.
Relaxing his stance, Sallot took to the skies once more, hovering over the city that had been his battleground. Tapping the side of his scouter to chime in on the comms while simultaneously aiming an open palm at the city below, Sallot unleashed a storm of raw destruction. "Sallot here. Zone Three has been cleared, I'm moving on to the next area." Reporting his success, Sallot was met with the brief acknowledgment of his team leader before receiving further instruction. Pulsing with power, Sallot propelled himself through the skies to rush to the assistance of his nearest teammate, the weakest in their group. With one zone down, and the others sure to fall over the course of the rest of the day, this would be but the first in many planets that would crumble beneath the might of the Saiyan Empire.
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"Last planet boys, then we're back to Vegeta for a round of drinks." Vocado, the team's commander called back over the comms channel as the Saiyans departed the second to last planet in their solar conquest. With eight planets under their belt of conquest over the course of the last week, this one would prove the gem of their efforts, for on it housed the system's own equivalency to a royalty. In the eyes of some, this would've been the heralding of a thankfully quick end to a mission. For Sallot though, it would hopefully offer him the greatest challenge yet. Of each of the eight planets they'd already conquered or destroyed within this system, only two had bothered to offer him a respectable challenge in his designated zone. Hopefully, if all panned out correctly, they'd be met with a proper resistance this time, maybe even the threat of failure. The very notion excited him and had the Saiyan warrior grinning from ear to ear over the prospect of it.
Pulled from his moment of reflection as the communication channels opened up with back and forth banter between the team's warriors, Sallot only scoffed with a light humor before resting his chin on his fist. "Yo, Sallot. Just do me a favor and leave a couple of the stronger ones for me, alright?" The voice belonged to one of the younger warriors, not the weakest of their number but he was still a far cry from matching the Saiyan whom he addressed. Chuckling over the comms channels, Sallot decided an apt reply for the youthful warrior. "If you want to try your hand at them, then be my guest. You'll have to beat me to them first, though, and we've all seen how slow you fly." The retort gave rise to a fit of controlled laughter from the rest of the Saiyan team in flight, and a frustrated babble of a reply from the youth that hoped to eat from Sallot's scraps. The laughter faded though when the first pod began its atmospheric entrance, followed by the four others.
Unlike on each planet before, this one demanded an immediate usurping of the system's throne, requiring that the Saiyan team as a whole land in the planetary capital, to cause as much destruction as absolutely possible. As expected, the moment their pods entered the atmosphere, the scouters that came standard with the pods' sensory functions began exploding with energy readings from the capital city. Grinning at the near innumerable mass of yellow blips on the radar, each one representing a power level of at least seven-hundred, Sallot found his blood running hot with excitement. "Looks like we've got a target rich environment, boys." Nearly laughing with his words, Sallot's pod plummeted to the earth alongside the four others, craters caused by their impact.
Without hesitation, each of the warriors departed their pods in a haste, their individual positions already met with resistance from the planetary defense force. Ki blasts lit up the sky, and evasive maneuvers of every variation were improvised by the Saiyans who took flight. Sallot, alongside another Saiyan, grinned at the sight of their pursuers, both of them pausing their flight to unleash a devastating storm of energy blasts on their would-be attackers, consuming all but the strongest in a flash. "Shit's already getting exciting, isn't it?" Briefly glancing at the wild-haired Saiyan woman who stood mid-air alongside him, Sallot smirked. "They're trash...but at least it'll make for some fun before the real fighters show up. I needed a warm up anyway." Replying in kind, Sallot and Maize took to a bull rush into the mass of soldiers on the ground below them.
Fists, feet, and ki alike flew from the pair of Saiyans, cleaving, crushing, and vaporizing every last soldier that was foolish enough to rise to challenge them. Some were stronger than others, requiring a set of attacks to destroy them but the bulk of them were weak enough to be dispatched with a single blow. Not exactly what he'd been hoping for on arrival but it was better than nothing. Ducking beneath an almost dangerous blast from a nearby foe, Sallot saw the act returned in kind with a devastating attack of his own, vaporizing countless buildings in the process. In the distance, the battles of the rest of their teammates could be heard, all with resounding success as more buildings crumbled beneath the onslaught of the Saiyan invaders.
Those series of brutal successes would soon be met with an appropriate, violent reply by the planet's host defenses, in this case, in the form of their own elite warriors. Their scouters screaming with only a momentary warning, Sallot and Maize alike went wide-eyed, vanishing from their current positions on the city streets, just in time to dodge a massive blast of raw ki. The strength of the attack alone was enough to send shiver down one's spine, and had Sallot looking to the sky to find where it originated from, and there it was. Just as a pair of Saiyans had come to this section of the city, so too had a pair of the humanoid race's warriors arrived to drive them off. The combined power levels of both warriors was vexxing enough to cause even Sallot a moment's hesitation of attacking. Both were stronger than Maize, and both combined would certainly be more than a match for the aspirant elite that he was.
"You go right, I go left, then we meet in the middle?" Sallot proposed his desired course to his fellow warrior, looking at the woman long enough to receive her nod before they both dared to enter combat again. Both Saiyans launched themselves into the skies, parting ways to divide the enemy warriors from one another and to give them a proper chance at success. For Sallot, he took the strongest of the two, a man whose apparent power level would be more than sufficient in giving the young warrior a run for his money. The pair of them clashed in a moment, and Sallot felt precisely how much physical power this alien had by the sheer force he exerted in deflecting the Saiyan's initial attack. Pivoting in the air, Sallot launched another attack, only to have it deflected yet again. The sight itself was insulting and caused the man to grit his teeth in a challenge, just in time to be on the receiving end of a counter attack.
Dodging what he could, Sallot blocked where he could not, unleashing a sudden burst of ki from his hands to gain distance and time alike. Charging forward, a feigned attack became a real one when his punch delivered a shot of ki instead. An explosion rocked the atmosphere and the Saiyan surged forth, slamming a hard fist against the alien's face before following up with a hard kick to the man's ribs, sending the being flying. The attack bought him time enough to catch a glance in Maize's direction, seeing the woman being pressured to such an extent that he doubted she'd be able to stand on even ground for long. Bearing his teeth in anger, he knew the woman would have to survive long enough for him to kill his current foe if they had a hopes of surviving this skirmish. Debating his next course, the man settled instead on bringing his ki within his right hand, beginning the charge of a Hail Mary attack meant to end his current foe in a single blow.
The plan would soon find itself crumbling, though when his opponent had recovered and renewed his attack on the Saiyan. Desperately blocking, Sallot attempted an escape to purchase himself time enough to charge his attack, only to be met head on by his opponent. Casting aside the notions that this would be a fight he could win with a single attack, the Saiyan unleashed his ki blast against his enemy, only for the fighter to dodge by flying upwards. Pursuing the movement, Sallot's calloused fingers wrapped around the alien's ankle and hurled the fighter beneath him, giving chase at frightful speeds. Meeting the man with fist and foot alike, Sallot pummeled his opponent with everything he had, delivering a relentless barrage of attacks.
Powerful as the barrage was, it wouldn't see his opponent finished just yet, as a counter kick sent the Saiyan flying skyward once more. Somersaulting through the air, Sallot just barely managed to regain his composure before his opponent was back on him, a flurry of fists testing the man's own defensives, bringing the Saiyan to his absolute limits. Grunting with rage and delight alike in facing an opponent who could pressure him like this, Sallot side-stepped an incoming fist, long enough to grab hold of it and slam his elbow hard against the alien's face, dazing his opponent. Hearing an explosion behind him, his scouter reported an absent power level, Maize's power level. Panicked in that moment, Sallot consumed his immediate threat with a devastating ki blast before turning to face where his ally had been battling.
Maize was limp, held by the collar of her battered armor by her opponent, bloodied and beaten to a lifeless pulp. Snarling, Sallot charged across the sky to meet this enemy head on. Empowered by a Saiyan's rage, the warrior crashed a hard fist against the alien's face, forcing him to drop the body of his fallen comrade. Taking hold of the woman, Sallot lowered himself to the earth once more, laying her body against the cold earth before glaring back at his aerial foe. Launching ever skyward, his target was obvious, the same man who'd struck down his compatriot. Death in battle was a glory to be savored by all of the Saiyan race but for their allies, the death of any Saiyan would result in the destruction of an entire world, and Sallot would see to it that it became a definitive reality.
Meeting his foe mid-flight, Sallot ambushed the alien with a brutal onslaught of pure, unadulterated rage. Black eyes alight with the fury of the Saiyan race, his canines looked like fangs, ready to rip flesh from bone as he gritted his teeth. The barrage he unleashed was unprecedented, pressuring his opponent to such heights that the alien could barely manage to sustain his guard, and that was precisely how he wanted it. Bringing another hard fist against the alien's block, Sallot followed the attack with a dipping kick for the fighter's hip, crushing bone beneath the blow and sending the alien careening back to the shattered earth beneath them. Pursuing with a murderous rage alight in his gaze, Sallot continued to pummel the body of his foe, creating a crater beneath them that continued to expand with every string of blows he could unleash. No longer able to formulate a coherent set of words, Sallot's voice instead bellowed with an animal's roar, announcing the impending doom of his enemy.
Sallot felt his opponent's body give as the alien tried so desperately to defend himself, another blow causing the figure's guard to lower, just barely. Mounting his opponent in that moment, Sallot descended even further into the pit of rage as he took the opportunity for what it was. Slamming a ruthless hammer fist on the alien's guard, he felt the body grow limp beneath him, opening the figure's full face to his blows. Screaming his rage for the fallen, Sallot continued to beat the humanoid's face until it was nothing but a puddle of mush beneath his fists, and his shoulder's heaved with exhaustion. Voice crackling and growling, his roars became low grumbles, ceasing only after the Saiyan rose back to his feet, turning heel to return to the body of his fallen comrade, all in time to come face to face with his original foe.
Thunk!
The sound was sickening and telling of what had come to happen. Meeting the green gaze of the opponent he'd thought he killed, Sallot looked to where he felt a pool of warmth forming at his chest. Short of reaching his heart, he instead saw the man's fingertips buried up to the first joint into his flesh. Both confused and enraged at the sight, Sallot felt the pain the wound brought him, and with the pain, came the anger. Grabbing the wrist of the hand that sought to impale him, Sallot feigned a moment's weakness, only to surprise his foe with his continued defiance. Squeezing the wrist he clasped, the Saiyan slammed his other fist hard into the alien's face, once, then twice, and then thrice. Feeling the bones in his enemy's wrist begin to snap, Sallot ripped the elongated nails of his foe from his body and brought the limb directly beneath his elbow, shattering the forearm before slamming the body of his enemy hard against the earth.
"See, there's something..ugh...important that you didn't know." Grunting through the pain of his injury to instruct his prostrated enemy, Sallot pulled on the being's shattered arm, slamming him with an overhead arc into the ground once again. "When a Saiyan puts you down..." Indigo light then began to shine from Sallot's left hand, signaling the demise of his enemy as the Saiyan hurled his disoriented foe into the sky. Unleashing his charged energy with a mighty roar, the sky was polluted with his raw power, vaporizing the last enemy he'd face on this planet. Scowling as the earth shook beneath him and he heard the death screams of his enemy, Sallot's power waned, leaving him with enough to stand and little else. "...you fucking stay down." Vision blurring, Sallot's body collapsed to the earth, his senses dulling just slow enough to let him hear the victorious explosions of his nearby teammates, the dead body of Maize being the last he saw of that pitiful planet.
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Days later, on an Imperial ship, a Saiyan stirred from his artificially induced slumber. Starting with a roar, Sallot rose from the bed he'd been settled into to recover from fatigue and injuries alike. Fists clenched, and one carrying the reflexive summoning of his ki, medical sensors of all sorts screamed out in alert to the Saiyan's awakening. Medical staff rushed inside, coming face to face with the enraged warrior, his teeth gnashing and chest rumbling deep with the rage he'd felt in a battle he could've sworn was just moment's before. "Where the hell am I!?" The Saiyan roared for an answer, slipping from the edge of the medical bed he'd been sleeping in, bare feet touching the cold surface of the ship's medical bay floors. Those who entered stammered and held their hands up, waving at the man to beg him to calm himself but nothing seemed to work, until another figure entered behind them, older, grizzled, and recognizable.
"Calm down Sallot, you're back on the main vessel." Vocado's voice called out the frenzied warrior as the Elite came to stand between the medical staff and Sallot. His black eyes dialated with rage, Sallot barely managed to hear the Elite's words but they were enough to stay his hand, and the destructive ki he'd held in it. "Why? What happened!? Where's everyone else!?" His voice distraught in his confusion, Sallot ignored courtesy of stations and demanded answers instead, for the last memory he had was of the battlefield, and the light vision being that of the body of his fallen comrade. Maize! Where was Maize? The thought took hold of him like a vicegrip, panic overwhelming the young warrior as his ki began to swell once more, the indigo hues mirroring the tumultuous storm of emotions that welled up within him. "Where is she Vacado? Where is Maize!?"
The aspirant Elite's words gave Vocado pause, enough that the bearded Saiyan could muster little more than a low grumble at first, giving Sallot all the more reason to grab a tight hold of the rage that ate at his stomach. Approaching his team commander, Sallot's black eyes were alight with a dangerous flame, and his hand reached out to take hold of his commander's armor by the collar. "What happened to her, Vocado!?" Again, the young warrior demanded his answers, this time he was met with the steely gaze of Vocado's dark eyes. A lone hand clasped itself around Sallot's wrist and pulled the boy's grip from him so that he could answer properly. "She's dead, kid. When we got back to you, you were the only one still breathing." His commander's answer struck Sallot like a brick wall, and left the young warrior in a fit of denial. "Bullshit! She was still breathing, god damn it! Why the hell are you lying to me!?"
Sallot roared in his fit of enraged denial, he was certain that she'd still been breathing when he set her down to continue the fight. What the hell happened that'd have left her for dead. Maybe? Maybe she was dead when he set her down? Maybe he'd already been too late when he'd rushed to try and help her? The questions continued to swarm his mind, overwhelming the warrior enough that his ki reflected in kind, creating a maelstrom around the man. Staring his commander in the eye, Sallot's eyes went white in that moment's rage, the loss of a teammate with whom he'd traveled to countless systems, and fought, even more, battles alongside consuming him. Sallot's roars filled the air, and his ki exploded around him, completely uncontrolled. The outburst earned a fellow warrior's hand, hard against the back of his neck, leaving Sallot to slump, unconscious once more.
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Weeks went by, and a funeral awaited the return of the successful invasionary force once they reached Planet Vegeta. Of the five who left in their pods, out to conquer or outright destroy the enemies of the Empire, four returned on their own strength, and one ready to face the funeral pyre. It was a depressing affair, even if it was meant for the instilling of pride in those warriors who arrived in attendance. Maize had been little more than a common bit of fodder for the Empire after all, so what honors could be expected for her in death? Sallot attended in kind, of course but made no mention of honors, strength, or courage in battle. No, the aspiring warrior instead kept his silence. His grief for a loss of a comrade had already been expunged in his own bouts of hateful anger and demands to return to the planet where she'd died so that he could glass its surface.
Alone, except for the presence of those with whom he'd traveled on the mission, Sallot was later called, not by his family but instead by the commission itself. For the warriors of the Empire, there was little down time, particularly those who'd proven themselves successful on missions. But it was not in the company of his team that Sallot went to face his next assignment, he was alone this time, devoid of those he had come to almost consider brothers in combat. A warrior both ruthless and unpredictable, there would come another means of proving his worth to the Empire, of deciding how shrewd he truly was or was not. This next assignment came instead as one to travel to a distant planet, one where the Empire had decided to set its interests in hunting down potential enemies, or traitors. Sallot would be sent to Earth, with strict instructions to find any of the Empire's own operatives, and to seek out potential threats to neutralize before they became unmanageable. In a sense, it was espionage, and the notion sickened him enough to cause the warrior to nearly rail against the commission in protest.
But of course, for one like himself, far from the titles of royalty, there was nothing he could do but accept. Set to his course, Sallot begrudgingly did as he was bid, taking time off enough only to continue recovery from the wounds he'd sustained in battle and to refresh his mind. Unfortunately for him, the death of a comrade as close as Maize would be a thing ready to haunt his dreams for many nights to come. Licking his wounds with time, Sallot ignored all comrades clear up until the date of his departure. One lost friend was enough to warp the mind, and he made the decision there, as he stepped within his pod once more, never again would he allow another comrade to affect him as Maize had. Instead, he would see to his missions and his training, for if ever there came a time where he might call another "Comrade", he would make certain his power was beyond comprehension so that death would never be even so much as a concern of his to keep. Black eyes focused on the vacuum of space, Sallot's pod was jettisoned from Vegeta's atmosphere, set on a course direct to Earth.
What system was this again? Honestly, did it really even matter? It was just one of several that had earned the attentions of the expansionist Saiyan Empire. And to these warriors, it was just another tick mark on an otherwise long list of systems to either bring to heel or destroy. For one among them, though, it was far greater than a simple mission of destroy and conquer, it was a moment to shine, to meet the challenge head on and without an ounce of reservation or mercy. Deployed within his pod, the individual ship traveled alongside five others, Saiyans like himself, most weaker, one stronger. Delivering a hard bite to the biscuit he held in his hand, Sallot gazed out the front view window of his pod, devouring his day's rations as the planetary system came into full view. Nine worlds in the habitable zone of their massive, blue sun, each housing the shared might of a rebellious grouping of species that thought themselves worthy of demanding their autonomy from the Saiyan Solar Empire, a mistake they would soon realize in full.
"Remember boys, hit hard and don't give them even a moment to try and figure out what's happening." The voice of their commander came crisply over the shared scouter communication channel between each of the warriors. It was their final order before they'd enter the atmosphere of the first planet, the last order given before they would be unleashed upon the first, unsuspecting planet of humanoids, where the warriors would engage in the wholesale slaughter of an entire species before moving onto the next planet. The call was met with unanimous agreement from each of the other three, Sallot being the last to reply as the fourth warrior in order. "Like a walk in the park." Sporting a terrifying smirk as he spoke over the comms channel, the black-eyed Saiyan input his own specific coordinates, each of the five pods immediately breaking off from one another to enter the planet's atmosphere at seemingly randomized locations.
With the initial goal of causing as much disorganized destruction as possible laid out clearly before the warriors, Sallot found his muscles quaking with anticipation, hoping for a right and proper challenge to await him on the planet's surface. Its inhabitants had been strong enough to produce fighters capable of halting small, single or two-team skirmishes on other, distant mining planets but here and now, they would face the full might of some of the Empire's finest warriors, and with the lunar cycle nearing its full completion the pitiful conglomerate of rebellious planets would find themselves staring down a far more formidable foe than they'd ever faced before. Anticipation and excitement alike gripping the purposed warrior, Sallot drank from his water ration before bracing himself from entry, feeling the immediate rip and pull of the planet's atmosphere superheating the exterior of his pod.
Feeling the pressure of gravity and friction alike crash against his pod, the trail of raw heat that followed his pod through the sky would act as the visual herald to the arrival of this planet's subjugation. Sallot's own pod aimed at a massive population center, the spherical ship made no effort to adjust its course as it came careening towards the surface, smashing through skyrises and homes alike until the ground itself came racing to meet the pod. Reverse thrusters engaged, almost immediately halting the ship's descent so that it failed to impact the earth at terminal velocity. With a grand thunderclap of deafening noise, Sallot's arrival was rewarded by a massive crater formed at the impact area of his ship. Pressure seals began releasing themselves, a series of long, high-pitched hisses filling the air as he rose from his seat, all but throwing the pod's door to the earth.
Appearing from within, the Saiyan's dark eyes squinted as he adjusted to the brightness of the world, pausing only to take in a deep breath of the fresh air this world offered. Feeling his muscles stretch and his bones pop back into place, a wicked snarl of a smile decorated Sallot's hard features. He pressed a single fingertip against the side of his scouter, enabling its search function in an effort to locate the nearest high power levels. A series of ascending blips filled his ear until the scouter halted its search, producing a low, audible tone of confirmation. Ten, there were ten respectable power levels nearby, meaning there were ten dead men nearby. Making absolutely zero effort to conceal himself, the Saiyan ascended to the sky from his pod, much to the confusion of the city's denizens as they risked nearing the impact zone of his space pod. Palm outstretched to the nearest grouping of civilians, the warrior unleashed a horribly destructive blast of pure ki, consuming the screaming bodies of those who had been foolish enough to dare a chance to catch a sight of the pod's pilot.
The immediate results of the wanton destruction was as it always had been, screams of terror and the unrestrained echoes of distant sirens announcing the arrival of some unperceived disaster. Yes, disaster, that was a good way to summarize his arrival to this planet. The very thought brought a smile to the warrior's hard-lined features as he aimed another destructive blast at a nearby tower. A blinding blast of indigo expelled itself from his fingertips, crashing hard into nearby buildings, causing several to outright explode, while others collapsed from the sudden throw of debris in every direction. A blip appeared on his scouter, confirming the movement of one of ten power levels his scouter had identified upon arrival. "I've ten near my location, one...no...two approaching me at this moment." Reporting the situation over the scouter comms, Sallot chose to lower himself to the ruins of the city streets below, arms crossed over his chest as he decided to await the arrival of his would-be challengers.
Grinning when his eyes caught sight of what his scouter had shown him, the distant vision of two humanoids flying directly towards him gave the Saiyan cause enough to extend his hand their direction. Unleashing a sudden flurry of ki blasts that would blot out the sun, the indigo orbs sought the destruction of those who would dare approach the Saiyan warrior. The two approaching warriors halted in their flight, immediately dipping and diving away from what they could, unleashing their own counter-blasts against his own to buy them time enough to escape the blasts of ki sent their direction. Satisfied enough to see his immediate opponents were at least this capable, the Saiyan's tail twitched about his waist with the anticipatory thrill of battle-lust. Rewarded by their crashing appearance on scene, Sallot found himself staring down the disgruntled faces of two, human-like alien males, each wearing some manner of training gear.
"Just who the hell are you!?" One man spoke for the both of them, not that his question would be met with the answer to Sallot's identity. Rather, the Saiyan only smirked before his back foot propelled him with such a speed that it left an afterimage of himself behind. Appearing before the one who dared address him with anything less than an apologetic regard and a beg for mercy, the Saiyan warrior clenched his fist and brought it hard against the alien's stomach. The blow was sufficient on its own to set the man's eyes rolling to the back of his skull, cause his organs to burst, and his body to be sent flying hundreds of feet, skipping across the ruined pavement of the roads. Pivoting on his toes, the Saiyan turned his attentions to the still paused second warrior and extended his palm directly towards the alien's face. "Goodnight." With a single well-wish for the foolish, would-be savior of the city, Sallot met the pitiful thing with an all-consuming blast of raw ki, completely destroying the organic lifeform without so much as the Saiyan breaking a sweat. It was an outright no contest that left the Saiyan wanting.
Again, his scouter set off a series of beeps as several more humanoids approached, nearly a dozen flying in to surround the man where he stood. Delivering to them a bored scowl, Sallot tapped the side of his scouter to check their power levels, none of these had been members of the original ten he'd been notified of. Truth be told, he didn't even need his scouter to tell that the soldiers surrounding him were trash, the blasters they wore on their wrists and the sluggish movements of their flight was proof enough for him. "If you want to live, run away now, and I might just give you a head start." The Saiyan issued the only warning these low-class warriors would receive but of course, he found himself instead met with pointless resistance as the dozen aimed their blasters at him, unleashing a volley of pitiful attacks that dusted up the area surrounding the invader.
"Hmph...garbage." His voice rang like a death toll, signaling to each of the men around him that their attacks had been for not, revealing in full just how futile their resistance had been when the smoke cleared at last. Surrounded by the aura of his own ki, there wasn't even a scratch to be shown on the Saiyan warrior. Pointing a finger at one of the twelve, Sallot released a straight line beam that skewered the first fool through the heart before he vanished, only to reappear behind to others. Panic gripped the soldiers as they looked over their shoulders, fear plain in their eyes as Sallot grabbed their heads and slammed them hard against one another, a sickening crack of shattering bone filling the air as their bodies went limp in death. Immediately recognizing their fatal mistake, the remaining eight took to the skies, hoping to flee from the invader. Donning an almost sadistic smile, Sallot chased each of them with a volley of his own, indigo balls of energy chasing down and vaporizing every last warrior as they screamed in their flight.
Basking in the moment, Sallot rose to the skies once more, checking his scouter at a constant to look for the approach of the remaining eight, substantial power levels in his designated district. Apparently, the show had been enough to catch the attentions of the city's elite, for four of the remaining power levels were found approaching him at a far faster rate than any of those before. Grinning, the Saiyan hoped for a challenge worthy of him truly unleashing the bulk of his power on this world. After all, what was the value of invading another system if it didn't even possess a single fighter worthy of a Saiyan's true power? Hovering hundreds of feet above the city streets below, Sallot looked to the arrival of his latest foes, overjoyed as he witnessed the rise of their power levels when they appeared on the scene.
Flexing his muscles, an anxious lust for true combat took hold of the black-eyed Saiyan when he noticed the rise in power from each of the four combatants who stood before him. Judging by what the scouter revealed, they'd make for a decent warm up, if not for an outright challenge, assuming they could muster enough skill to properly face the Saiyan on four fronts. Extending his palms to his sides, Sallot stood as if he welcomed their arrival. "Well...shall we get started?" His voice dripped with violent desire as he addressed his latest round of guests and the sheer intensity that surrounded him was enough to cause hesitation among the four fighters. Catching sight of their hidden fears, Sallot scowled and decided to take matters into his own hands, leaping forward in flight to reach the first of four.
Cocking his fist back, the Saiyan feigned a punch before throwing his body into a loop, bringing the back of his heel hard against the top of his enemy's head. The result sent the fighter careening to the ground but still alive, hopefully. Surprise gripped the other three and saw them set upon the Saiyan in an instant, the flurry of blows so fast and mighty that the battle sent shockwaves across the planet's sky. Those who watched with fear in their hearts below would see only brief instances of the battle, the warriors in whole pausing only as long as it took to deliver a powerful blow. What could be heard, though, was a fit of almost wicked laughter, its origins being the same black-haired Saiyan who invaded this world alongside four others.
"Yes. Yes. YES!" Sallot's voice cried out with joy as he felt a fist crash hard against his face, delight overtaking the man while facing a group of foes that were worthy enough to at least force him to defend himself. Had this just been some other pissant colony without a single fighter worth their weight, he'd have been more displeased than anything else. Returning the fist with a crushing blow from his own knee, Sallot leaped away in the air and launched a volley of ki blasts that lit up the sky with blinding explosions. The fireworks, both beautiful and deadly, saw the full combined strength of those he fought, a return volley crashing hard against the Saiyan's own attack that pulsed shockwave after shockwave to the earth below, streets cracking and buildings crumbling from the sheer ferocity of the battle overhead.
Rushing through the smoke, Sallot rewarded one of the warriors with a hard fist to the stomach, followed up with a reaching kick to the temple. Again, cracks could be heard and left the Saiyan's delighted features waning for a brief moment. Watching the body of the slain foe fall directly to the earth, never to rise again, he folded his arms over his chest and scowled. "Pity...I must've gotten a bit carried away." Like a child who'd accidentally broken their favorite toy, the moment of distraction allowed one of the raging warriors to charge straight down the Saiyan's throat. Pulled out of his dissatisfaction, a bright grin lit up the warriors' face as he deflected the blow with his forearm and snatched the warrior's own wrist, twisting and snapping it before throwing the fool through a nearby skyrise. "That's the spirit! Use that anger, harness it boys! Because it's the only thing that'll give you a snowball's chance in hell of beating me." Cackling with his words, Sallot looked to the warrior he'd just thrown, pleasantly surprised enough at seeing the warrior take to the skies almost immediately. The boy had some real fighting spirit.
There were two others, though, and as he looked to the one he'd just hurled away, the others came to fill the gap, blasting the Saiyan's back with a series of low-powered ki. "Gwuagh!" Surprise biting him hard as some measure of pain screamed from the Saiyan's back, Sallot gave a deadly retort by spinning away from the rest of the volley, launching his own shotgun blast of raw ki straight for the two who'd thought an attack of that caliber could kill him. Rocketing back to the one whose wrist he'd shattered, the Saiyan brought down a hard hammer fist on the boy's skull, crushing the organic lifeform beneath him in the span of time it took to blink one's eye. Ruthless in combat, the thrill of it all resurged in the Saiyan, consuming him with a deadly desire to cause even greater destruction than he had before.
For the remaining two, they would receive the full, disgruntled frustrations of the Saiyan they'd come to fight. His scouter panicking by the time he turned to face those he'd pushed away with raw ki, it announced that another two power levels were approaching from afar, their powers far greater than those he'd fought in his designated zone thus far. If the scouter was right, then he'd have to put these last two down quickly if he hoped to fight on even ground with a pairing of even more dangerous opponents. Vanishing from his aerial position, Sallot bull rushed the remaining two, both warriors still disoriented from the payback blast he'd awarded them. Grabbing one by the face, and extending his palm towards the other, the telltale shine of ki shown from both of his palms. "Thanks for the warmup." Smirking, Sallot released the full extent of his power on both warriors, vaporizing both in an unceremonious send-off that'd leave him ready for the arrival of the final two.
Gathering his ki about him, Sallot wasted no time in charging every bit of strength he had in him, meaning to meet his approaching foes head on, and without a single wasteful motion. Leaping upon them the moment they arrived, the Saiyan found himself on truly equal footing between both fighters, his initial blow deflected and replied with a crushing blow to his ribs. The air knocked from his lungs, Sallot snarled and turned with the blow into a headspin, unleashing a volley of ki in every direction. Sallot arrested his movement and charged back into the fray, crashing his own fist hard against the one who'd been foolish enough to strike him, delivering a blow powerful enough to break bones. Following up the initial attack with a gruesome series of combinations, the Saiyan halted only long enough to deliver a decapitating ki blast to the warrior's face and ducking away the moment he felt the air around him shift with the movement of another.
A swift kick grazed just mere inches from his head as the man spun hard, delivering a sweeping kick to his opponent's legs and a debilitating elbow to the fighter's gut. The combination sent his opponent crashing to the earth but he'd find no respite in the dirt as the Saiyan set upon the alien with a crushing series of attacks, meaning to keep up the pressure. In a moment, though, Sallot found both of his fists clasped by the warrior's open palms, and a hard headbutt crashing against his forehead before Sallot's own gut was hit with a hard knee. Sent flying backward and through a countless number of storefronts, the city became a genuine battleground for these two titanic fighters. One fought for his planet, while the other sought to destroy it.
Bellowing with a Saiyan's proud roar, Sallot reappeared from the rubble of a crushed building and beset himself upon his foe. A flurry of nearly invisible movements clashed between the fighters, craters forming beneath their feet with every deflected blow, the shockwaves caused by their very movements sending earthquakes through the earth. It was a terrible, beautiful sight to behold for any who watched with an appreciation for genuine battle. Both combatants clashed with everything they had in their bodies but both knew that a simple showing of strength wouldn't suffice, not in this battle. This was one to the death, and both men had a will to live that would both inspire and frighten any who came to understand precisely how deeply that desire ran.
Seeing his opportunity in a thrown kick, Sallot grunted through the blow as he braced himself, hooking the alien's leg between his ribs and arm. Biting through the pain of what he was certain was a bruised rib, the Saiyan grinned. "Time's up." Slamming his fist into the warrior's shin, Sallot both felt and hear the leg snap, delighted at the pained howl of the warrior as he fell to the earth. Like an executioner before the sentenced, Sallot stood over his prey, palm extended before offering a final salute to the warrior. "Maybe next time...well...if there were a next time." Bidding his enemy adieu, Sallot unleashed an earth shattering explosion of ki from his fingertips, consuming and vaporizing his final enemy. It was a fitting end, considering the threat this fighter had posed, maybe if he'd come with the original group of fighters, the outcome would have been different but one-on-one like this? The fool hadn't stood a chance on his own, not with Sallot coming with the sole intent to lay waste to this entire system.
Relaxing his stance, Sallot took to the skies once more, hovering over the city that had been his battleground. Tapping the side of his scouter to chime in on the comms while simultaneously aiming an open palm at the city below, Sallot unleashed a storm of raw destruction. "Sallot here. Zone Three has been cleared, I'm moving on to the next area." Reporting his success, Sallot was met with the brief acknowledgment of his team leader before receiving further instruction. Pulsing with power, Sallot propelled himself through the skies to rush to the assistance of his nearest teammate, the weakest in their group. With one zone down, and the others sure to fall over the course of the rest of the day, this would be but the first in many planets that would crumble beneath the might of the Saiyan Empire.
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"Last planet boys, then we're back to Vegeta for a round of drinks." Vocado, the team's commander called back over the comms channel as the Saiyans departed the second to last planet in their solar conquest. With eight planets under their belt of conquest over the course of the last week, this one would prove the gem of their efforts, for on it housed the system's own equivalency to a royalty. In the eyes of some, this would've been the heralding of a thankfully quick end to a mission. For Sallot though, it would hopefully offer him the greatest challenge yet. Of each of the eight planets they'd already conquered or destroyed within this system, only two had bothered to offer him a respectable challenge in his designated zone. Hopefully, if all panned out correctly, they'd be met with a proper resistance this time, maybe even the threat of failure. The very notion excited him and had the Saiyan warrior grinning from ear to ear over the prospect of it.
Pulled from his moment of reflection as the communication channels opened up with back and forth banter between the team's warriors, Sallot only scoffed with a light humor before resting his chin on his fist. "Yo, Sallot. Just do me a favor and leave a couple of the stronger ones for me, alright?" The voice belonged to one of the younger warriors, not the weakest of their number but he was still a far cry from matching the Saiyan whom he addressed. Chuckling over the comms channels, Sallot decided an apt reply for the youthful warrior. "If you want to try your hand at them, then be my guest. You'll have to beat me to them first, though, and we've all seen how slow you fly." The retort gave rise to a fit of controlled laughter from the rest of the Saiyan team in flight, and a frustrated babble of a reply from the youth that hoped to eat from Sallot's scraps. The laughter faded though when the first pod began its atmospheric entrance, followed by the four others.
Unlike on each planet before, this one demanded an immediate usurping of the system's throne, requiring that the Saiyan team as a whole land in the planetary capital, to cause as much destruction as absolutely possible. As expected, the moment their pods entered the atmosphere, the scouters that came standard with the pods' sensory functions began exploding with energy readings from the capital city. Grinning at the near innumerable mass of yellow blips on the radar, each one representing a power level of at least seven-hundred, Sallot found his blood running hot with excitement. "Looks like we've got a target rich environment, boys." Nearly laughing with his words, Sallot's pod plummeted to the earth alongside the four others, craters caused by their impact.
Without hesitation, each of the warriors departed their pods in a haste, their individual positions already met with resistance from the planetary defense force. Ki blasts lit up the sky, and evasive maneuvers of every variation were improvised by the Saiyans who took flight. Sallot, alongside another Saiyan, grinned at the sight of their pursuers, both of them pausing their flight to unleash a devastating storm of energy blasts on their would-be attackers, consuming all but the strongest in a flash. "Shit's already getting exciting, isn't it?" Briefly glancing at the wild-haired Saiyan woman who stood mid-air alongside him, Sallot smirked. "They're trash...but at least it'll make for some fun before the real fighters show up. I needed a warm up anyway." Replying in kind, Sallot and Maize took to a bull rush into the mass of soldiers on the ground below them.
Fists, feet, and ki alike flew from the pair of Saiyans, cleaving, crushing, and vaporizing every last soldier that was foolish enough to rise to challenge them. Some were stronger than others, requiring a set of attacks to destroy them but the bulk of them were weak enough to be dispatched with a single blow. Not exactly what he'd been hoping for on arrival but it was better than nothing. Ducking beneath an almost dangerous blast from a nearby foe, Sallot saw the act returned in kind with a devastating attack of his own, vaporizing countless buildings in the process. In the distance, the battles of the rest of their teammates could be heard, all with resounding success as more buildings crumbled beneath the onslaught of the Saiyan invaders.
Those series of brutal successes would soon be met with an appropriate, violent reply by the planet's host defenses, in this case, in the form of their own elite warriors. Their scouters screaming with only a momentary warning, Sallot and Maize alike went wide-eyed, vanishing from their current positions on the city streets, just in time to dodge a massive blast of raw ki. The strength of the attack alone was enough to send shiver down one's spine, and had Sallot looking to the sky to find where it originated from, and there it was. Just as a pair of Saiyans had come to this section of the city, so too had a pair of the humanoid race's warriors arrived to drive them off. The combined power levels of both warriors was vexxing enough to cause even Sallot a moment's hesitation of attacking. Both were stronger than Maize, and both combined would certainly be more than a match for the aspirant elite that he was.
"You go right, I go left, then we meet in the middle?" Sallot proposed his desired course to his fellow warrior, looking at the woman long enough to receive her nod before they both dared to enter combat again. Both Saiyans launched themselves into the skies, parting ways to divide the enemy warriors from one another and to give them a proper chance at success. For Sallot, he took the strongest of the two, a man whose apparent power level would be more than sufficient in giving the young warrior a run for his money. The pair of them clashed in a moment, and Sallot felt precisely how much physical power this alien had by the sheer force he exerted in deflecting the Saiyan's initial attack. Pivoting in the air, Sallot launched another attack, only to have it deflected yet again. The sight itself was insulting and caused the man to grit his teeth in a challenge, just in time to be on the receiving end of a counter attack.
Dodging what he could, Sallot blocked where he could not, unleashing a sudden burst of ki from his hands to gain distance and time alike. Charging forward, a feigned attack became a real one when his punch delivered a shot of ki instead. An explosion rocked the atmosphere and the Saiyan surged forth, slamming a hard fist against the alien's face before following up with a hard kick to the man's ribs, sending the being flying. The attack bought him time enough to catch a glance in Maize's direction, seeing the woman being pressured to such an extent that he doubted she'd be able to stand on even ground for long. Bearing his teeth in anger, he knew the woman would have to survive long enough for him to kill his current foe if they had a hopes of surviving this skirmish. Debating his next course, the man settled instead on bringing his ki within his right hand, beginning the charge of a Hail Mary attack meant to end his current foe in a single blow.
The plan would soon find itself crumbling, though when his opponent had recovered and renewed his attack on the Saiyan. Desperately blocking, Sallot attempted an escape to purchase himself time enough to charge his attack, only to be met head on by his opponent. Casting aside the notions that this would be a fight he could win with a single attack, the Saiyan unleashed his ki blast against his enemy, only for the fighter to dodge by flying upwards. Pursuing the movement, Sallot's calloused fingers wrapped around the alien's ankle and hurled the fighter beneath him, giving chase at frightful speeds. Meeting the man with fist and foot alike, Sallot pummeled his opponent with everything he had, delivering a relentless barrage of attacks.
Powerful as the barrage was, it wouldn't see his opponent finished just yet, as a counter kick sent the Saiyan flying skyward once more. Somersaulting through the air, Sallot just barely managed to regain his composure before his opponent was back on him, a flurry of fists testing the man's own defensives, bringing the Saiyan to his absolute limits. Grunting with rage and delight alike in facing an opponent who could pressure him like this, Sallot side-stepped an incoming fist, long enough to grab hold of it and slam his elbow hard against the alien's face, dazing his opponent. Hearing an explosion behind him, his scouter reported an absent power level, Maize's power level. Panicked in that moment, Sallot consumed his immediate threat with a devastating ki blast before turning to face where his ally had been battling.
Maize was limp, held by the collar of her battered armor by her opponent, bloodied and beaten to a lifeless pulp. Snarling, Sallot charged across the sky to meet this enemy head on. Empowered by a Saiyan's rage, the warrior crashed a hard fist against the alien's face, forcing him to drop the body of his fallen comrade. Taking hold of the woman, Sallot lowered himself to the earth once more, laying her body against the cold earth before glaring back at his aerial foe. Launching ever skyward, his target was obvious, the same man who'd struck down his compatriot. Death in battle was a glory to be savored by all of the Saiyan race but for their allies, the death of any Saiyan would result in the destruction of an entire world, and Sallot would see to it that it became a definitive reality.
Meeting his foe mid-flight, Sallot ambushed the alien with a brutal onslaught of pure, unadulterated rage. Black eyes alight with the fury of the Saiyan race, his canines looked like fangs, ready to rip flesh from bone as he gritted his teeth. The barrage he unleashed was unprecedented, pressuring his opponent to such heights that the alien could barely manage to sustain his guard, and that was precisely how he wanted it. Bringing another hard fist against the alien's block, Sallot followed the attack with a dipping kick for the fighter's hip, crushing bone beneath the blow and sending the alien careening back to the shattered earth beneath them. Pursuing with a murderous rage alight in his gaze, Sallot continued to pummel the body of his foe, creating a crater beneath them that continued to expand with every string of blows he could unleash. No longer able to formulate a coherent set of words, Sallot's voice instead bellowed with an animal's roar, announcing the impending doom of his enemy.
Sallot felt his opponent's body give as the alien tried so desperately to defend himself, another blow causing the figure's guard to lower, just barely. Mounting his opponent in that moment, Sallot descended even further into the pit of rage as he took the opportunity for what it was. Slamming a ruthless hammer fist on the alien's guard, he felt the body grow limp beneath him, opening the figure's full face to his blows. Screaming his rage for the fallen, Sallot continued to beat the humanoid's face until it was nothing but a puddle of mush beneath his fists, and his shoulder's heaved with exhaustion. Voice crackling and growling, his roars became low grumbles, ceasing only after the Saiyan rose back to his feet, turning heel to return to the body of his fallen comrade, all in time to come face to face with his original foe.
Thunk!
The sound was sickening and telling of what had come to happen. Meeting the green gaze of the opponent he'd thought he killed, Sallot looked to where he felt a pool of warmth forming at his chest. Short of reaching his heart, he instead saw the man's fingertips buried up to the first joint into his flesh. Both confused and enraged at the sight, Sallot felt the pain the wound brought him, and with the pain, came the anger. Grabbing the wrist of the hand that sought to impale him, Sallot feigned a moment's weakness, only to surprise his foe with his continued defiance. Squeezing the wrist he clasped, the Saiyan slammed his other fist hard into the alien's face, once, then twice, and then thrice. Feeling the bones in his enemy's wrist begin to snap, Sallot ripped the elongated nails of his foe from his body and brought the limb directly beneath his elbow, shattering the forearm before slamming the body of his enemy hard against the earth.
"See, there's something..ugh...important that you didn't know." Grunting through the pain of his injury to instruct his prostrated enemy, Sallot pulled on the being's shattered arm, slamming him with an overhead arc into the ground once again. "When a Saiyan puts you down..." Indigo light then began to shine from Sallot's left hand, signaling the demise of his enemy as the Saiyan hurled his disoriented foe into the sky. Unleashing his charged energy with a mighty roar, the sky was polluted with his raw power, vaporizing the last enemy he'd face on this planet. Scowling as the earth shook beneath him and he heard the death screams of his enemy, Sallot's power waned, leaving him with enough to stand and little else. "...you fucking stay down." Vision blurring, Sallot's body collapsed to the earth, his senses dulling just slow enough to let him hear the victorious explosions of his nearby teammates, the dead body of Maize being the last he saw of that pitiful planet.
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Days later, on an Imperial ship, a Saiyan stirred from his artificially induced slumber. Starting with a roar, Sallot rose from the bed he'd been settled into to recover from fatigue and injuries alike. Fists clenched, and one carrying the reflexive summoning of his ki, medical sensors of all sorts screamed out in alert to the Saiyan's awakening. Medical staff rushed inside, coming face to face with the enraged warrior, his teeth gnashing and chest rumbling deep with the rage he'd felt in a battle he could've sworn was just moment's before. "Where the hell am I!?" The Saiyan roared for an answer, slipping from the edge of the medical bed he'd been sleeping in, bare feet touching the cold surface of the ship's medical bay floors. Those who entered stammered and held their hands up, waving at the man to beg him to calm himself but nothing seemed to work, until another figure entered behind them, older, grizzled, and recognizable.
"Calm down Sallot, you're back on the main vessel." Vocado's voice called out the frenzied warrior as the Elite came to stand between the medical staff and Sallot. His black eyes dialated with rage, Sallot barely managed to hear the Elite's words but they were enough to stay his hand, and the destructive ki he'd held in it. "Why? What happened!? Where's everyone else!?" His voice distraught in his confusion, Sallot ignored courtesy of stations and demanded answers instead, for the last memory he had was of the battlefield, and the light vision being that of the body of his fallen comrade. Maize! Where was Maize? The thought took hold of him like a vicegrip, panic overwhelming the young warrior as his ki began to swell once more, the indigo hues mirroring the tumultuous storm of emotions that welled up within him. "Where is she Vacado? Where is Maize!?"
The aspirant Elite's words gave Vocado pause, enough that the bearded Saiyan could muster little more than a low grumble at first, giving Sallot all the more reason to grab a tight hold of the rage that ate at his stomach. Approaching his team commander, Sallot's black eyes were alight with a dangerous flame, and his hand reached out to take hold of his commander's armor by the collar. "What happened to her, Vocado!?" Again, the young warrior demanded his answers, this time he was met with the steely gaze of Vocado's dark eyes. A lone hand clasped itself around Sallot's wrist and pulled the boy's grip from him so that he could answer properly. "She's dead, kid. When we got back to you, you were the only one still breathing." His commander's answer struck Sallot like a brick wall, and left the young warrior in a fit of denial. "Bullshit! She was still breathing, god damn it! Why the hell are you lying to me!?"
Sallot roared in his fit of enraged denial, he was certain that she'd still been breathing when he set her down to continue the fight. What the hell happened that'd have left her for dead. Maybe? Maybe she was dead when he set her down? Maybe he'd already been too late when he'd rushed to try and help her? The questions continued to swarm his mind, overwhelming the warrior enough that his ki reflected in kind, creating a maelstrom around the man. Staring his commander in the eye, Sallot's eyes went white in that moment's rage, the loss of a teammate with whom he'd traveled to countless systems, and fought, even more, battles alongside consuming him. Sallot's roars filled the air, and his ki exploded around him, completely uncontrolled. The outburst earned a fellow warrior's hand, hard against the back of his neck, leaving Sallot to slump, unconscious once more.
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Weeks went by, and a funeral awaited the return of the successful invasionary force once they reached Planet Vegeta. Of the five who left in their pods, out to conquer or outright destroy the enemies of the Empire, four returned on their own strength, and one ready to face the funeral pyre. It was a depressing affair, even if it was meant for the instilling of pride in those warriors who arrived in attendance. Maize had been little more than a common bit of fodder for the Empire after all, so what honors could be expected for her in death? Sallot attended in kind, of course but made no mention of honors, strength, or courage in battle. No, the aspiring warrior instead kept his silence. His grief for a loss of a comrade had already been expunged in his own bouts of hateful anger and demands to return to the planet where she'd died so that he could glass its surface.
Alone, except for the presence of those with whom he'd traveled on the mission, Sallot was later called, not by his family but instead by the commission itself. For the warriors of the Empire, there was little down time, particularly those who'd proven themselves successful on missions. But it was not in the company of his team that Sallot went to face his next assignment, he was alone this time, devoid of those he had come to almost consider brothers in combat. A warrior both ruthless and unpredictable, there would come another means of proving his worth to the Empire, of deciding how shrewd he truly was or was not. This next assignment came instead as one to travel to a distant planet, one where the Empire had decided to set its interests in hunting down potential enemies, or traitors. Sallot would be sent to Earth, with strict instructions to find any of the Empire's own operatives, and to seek out potential threats to neutralize before they became unmanageable. In a sense, it was espionage, and the notion sickened him enough to cause the warrior to nearly rail against the commission in protest.
But of course, for one like himself, far from the titles of royalty, there was nothing he could do but accept. Set to his course, Sallot begrudgingly did as he was bid, taking time off enough only to continue recovery from the wounds he'd sustained in battle and to refresh his mind. Unfortunately for him, the death of a comrade as close as Maize would be a thing ready to haunt his dreams for many nights to come. Licking his wounds with time, Sallot ignored all comrades clear up until the date of his departure. One lost friend was enough to warp the mind, and he made the decision there, as he stepped within his pod once more, never again would he allow another comrade to affect him as Maize had. Instead, he would see to his missions and his training, for if ever there came a time where he might call another "Comrade", he would make certain his power was beyond comprehension so that death would never be even so much as a concern of his to keep. Black eyes focused on the vacuum of space, Sallot's pod was jettisoned from Vegeta's atmosphere, set on a course direct to Earth.