The Lost Jinzouningen Saga
A Dragon Ball Super Z spinoff by Deaku
Story 03 ~ Invader
Lore pushed through the dense underbrush that covered the forest floor. As he forged onward, Lore fought down the urge to scream in pure frustration. I could always fly out of here, but I chose to take this route. So I'll suffer through this until I reach the end. Lore was trying to get to some ruins that were close to the northern mountain range. He had decided to cut through a forest instead of taking a road around it, thinking that it would save time. Was he ever wrong, it was probably taking Lore twice as long to get to his destination.
Another thing was bothering Lore, ever since he entered the forest something felt wrong. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. He scanned the area several times, revealing nothing out of the ordinary. Still, the feeling just wouldn't go away. Lore continued on despite his uneasiness and entered into a large clearing.
"Finally," Lore said to himself, setting his backpack down and looking around. "I wonder where I am? Guess I'd better try to figure that out before I go any further."
He began rummaging through his stuff. You think with all the different systems Gero installed in my body, he could of at least put in some navigational gear. Finally locating what he was searching for, Lore pulled his map and compass out of the pack.
After sitting and studying his map, Lore was able to figure out his general location. He was still somewhere in the middle of the forest, but he had somehow managed to stay on course. Now if he could keep sight of the northern mountains, everything would be fine.
Checking the time, Lore noticed that it was almost noon. "Well, since I've already stopped, I guess I'll make myself lunch."
~~~~~
After he had lunch, Lore decided to take a break. The weather was nice, so he had decided to enjoy it a little before continuing to plow through the underbrush. Lore was now drawing on his sketch pad. He wasn't the best artist in the world, but still, he was proud of his artistic ability.
"Not bad," Lore said, looking at his drawing. "Not quite as good as Kaa-san, but not too bad at all."
Lore's attention was suddenly diverted to an extremely loud noise coming from the air above him. It sounded similar to an airliner, except that it was much louder. Looking up, he saw an enormous fireball shoot across the sky. It disappeared as it passed over the mountain to the north. Lore then saw a flash of light from the direction the fireball had disappeared.
"Cool, a meteor!" Lore exclaimed, "It looks like it came down just over the mountains. I think I'll go check it out." Lore decided to leave his stuff in the clearing, since he thought it wouldn't take him long to check things out. Taking to the air, Lore flew towards the mountains curious about what he would find.
~~~~~
"What did you wish for when that shooting star went by Marron-chan?" Goten asked with a big grin on his face.
"Goten-kun!" Bra scolded, as she punched the young man in the stomach "Your not supposed to tell people what you wished for! If you do, it won't come true!"
Marron smiled as she watched Goten apologizing to Bra, acting more hurt than he really was. Truthfully, she hadn't made a wish, she was too surprised at seeing a shooting star in the middle of the day. That thing must have been at a really low altitude if we saw it. If it was that low it probably impacted somewhere. I wonder where? Marron's thoughts were interrupted by voice from behind them.
"Hey you guys!" Juuhachi-gou called from down the path. "Lunch is almost ready, you better get to the picnic tables before Gokou and Vegeta eat it all!"
"Race you guys back." Goten said as he started running.
"Hey, that's not fair, you got a head start!" Bra yelled as she took after him.
Marron just shook her head as she rose into the air and flew toward the picnic area.
"I don't remember Goten saying that flying was allowed." Juuhachi-gou said with a smirk as she caught up with her daughter.
"He didn't say we couldn't either." Marron answered back, smiling. She then put on a burst of speed, intending to win this race.
~~~~~
It took Lore about twenty minutes to get to where the meteor had impacted. It had landed in a snowy valley, deep within the mountain range. He was now standing on the edge of the crater, which was about a half mile across by his estimation.
"Good thing it landed way up here in the mountains. If this thing had come down in a city, a whole lot of people would have been killed." Lore said to himself as he surveyed the area. Turning his attention to the meteor, he was surprised that it was still in one piece. One would think that it should have shattered on impact. This thing doesn't look like it even cracked when it hit. Another thing that Lore thought was strange was the shape, like a teardrop. That's certainly strange, I doubt it formed that way naturally. Also, the bottom half is a lot darker than the top, but that might just be because it was scorched on the way down. Still, it just doesn't look natural at all.
Lore was distracted from his thoughts when he heard a clicking sound behind him. Spinning around to see what had made the noise, He saw a metallic glint. But before he could focus on the source, there was a flash of movement and something swung at him. Jumping back to avoid whatever it was, Lore landed halfway down the side of the crater. After regaining his footing, he felt a stinging sensation on his chest. Looking down he saw a tear in his shirt with a redness spreading out from it. I'm cut? Kuso! What in the hell just sliced me?! Even though the wound was very minor, it was the fact that he was cut that had Lore so surprised.
The familiar clicking noise drew Lore's attention to the rim of the crater, he then got a look at his attacker. It appeared to be some kind of enormous insect, with a light blue carapace. It looked vaguely like a spider, but the front legs ended in metallic looking scythes. Lore scanned it trying to figure out what the thing was. Life-form Unknown. was the only response he got from his internal computer. Tell me something I don't know you stupid computer! With a hiss the creature leapt down at Lore preparing to strike again, he preformed a back flip to avoid it.
"If you want a fight, then you got one!" Lore yelled, as he landed further down the crater wall. Putting a hand behind his back, he started building up a minor energy blast, hoping the thing wouldn't notice.
The creature let out an angry screech and leapt at him again. Lore let loose with his energy blast, striking the thing directly in the face. It exploded, covering the area in a dark purple haze.
"Maybe that was a bit of an overkill." Lore thought aloud, brushing himself off. He then heard multiple clicking sounds behind him. Turning, Lore saw seven more of the arachnid creatures skittering towards him. They all hissed angrily and jumped at Lore, their scythes poised to strike.
"C'mon guys, what ever happened to 'take me to your leader'?" Lore said as he ducked and rolled out of the way, then spinning back around to face his attackers.
The creatures just kept pressing their attack, forcing Lore to dodge them or get struck by their blades. Lore attempted to strike them with energy blasts, but he found himself having to dodge around too much to fire a properly aimed shot. The creatures proved themselves very agile, as they dodged around the few blasts he was able to fire. Lore then tried physical blows, but those proved to be even less effective. As soon as he would knock one down another would attack him before he could blast it. Also, getting in close just provided the things with more opportunities to slice him with their blades. Kisama! I'm going to get cut to ribbons if I'm not more careful! Lore then remembered another weapon he had that might prove effective against the arachnid creatures. After jumping back to what he considered a safe distance, Lore turned to face his opponents.
"So, you guys like to cut things up? Well, I can play that game too!" Lore screamed, extending his laser swords from the top of his wrists. Up till now, I've only used these to cut through debris in the ruins. I guess now's the time to use them for they're true purpose.... to destroy my enemies.
He then ran at the creatures as they charged him. Lore sliced the first two in half, stabbed the third one, then dodged around the others. Quickly turning around and charging again, He was able to chop three more. Lore jumped the last one's attack and brought down both his energy blades upon it. After checking to make sure that all of the things were dead, Lore relaxed a bit. I should have done that a lot sooner, I wouldn't have got cut up so much.
As he deactivated his swords, Lore noticed that the bodies of the arachnids were disintegrating. That's rather strange. Nani?! Suddenly, Lore detected an enormous energy building up from the inside of the meteor. Everything started shaking as it began to glow and cracks started forming on the top half. Lore raised him arms up to shield his face as the meteor exploded.
~~~~~
Gokou dropped his plate, which he was filling up for the fifth time, when he suddenly felt a dark power to the north. Whatever the power was, it was growing.
"What the hell is that!" Vegeta exclaimed, jumping up from where he was sitting.
"What's wrong you guys?" Bulma asked
"A dark power just appeared somewhere north of here Mom." Trunks answered. He had felt the power too, but didn't know what to make of it.
"Do you think we should check it out Gokou?" Rinriku asked, staring to the north.
"Yeah, let's go!" Gokou called out as he flew into the air. The rest of the warriors soon followed.
"Matte yo!" Bulma screamed, "Who do you think is going to clean up this mess?!"
"It must be serious if Gokou didn't even try and finish his meal." ChiChi said as she watched the group disappear from site.
"Do you think they'll be alright?" Videl asked as she cradled Pan.
"Of course they will." Bulma assured her, "When all of them are together, they can handle anything."
~~~~~
After the dust cleared, Lore looked back at the meteor. He was shocked at what he saw, an huge monster was now standing atop what was left after the explosion. It's lower body was like a scorpion but where the head and claws should be, it was a humanoid upper torso. But it still possessed the scorpion-like claws and an insectoid head with three eyes, it's carapace was blood red. I thought the last ones were big, but this thing is enormous! Where the hell did these things come from anyway?
The creature began to look around, when it's gaze fell upon Lore the creature roared and jumped towards him. Taking to the air to avoid it, Lore fired off several energy blasts. But the energy bolts simply ricocheted off the thing's armored body. Cursing under his breath, Lore tried to scan it in hopes of finding a weakness. Life-form Unknown. I already know that! What I need to know is if it has any weak spots! No Weaknesses Found In Subject's Biological Structure. Well, isn't that just perfect!
"Chew on this!" Lore fired an large energy blast using both hands. When the beam hit, it pushed the thing back a few feet, but there was no obvious damage. "Come on, don't you know supposed to explode when you get blasted like that!"
Lore then decided to fire another energy blast. The creature roared, raised a claw and fired a blast of it's own. It's beam overpowered Lore's, forcing him to try and dodge. Lore succeeded in dodging, barely. The blast had came so close to striking him, that it burned away half his shirt. The creature raised it's other claw and fired again.
"Time to show you one of my other tricks!" Lore yelled down at the creature, facing his palm towards the incoming energy blast and bracing himself.
I hope these things work like there supposed to, I've never had any reason to use them before. The blast hit, the red lens on Lore's palm functioned as planned and began absorbing the energy of the attack. It's working, alright! When it saw that it's attack had failed, the creature roared in anger.
"You want it back? You can have it!" Lore screamed, throwing out his other hand and releasing the absorbed energy. The energy bolt struck the creature and exploded in a bright flash of light. But when the dust cleared, the thing was still standing, apparently unscathed. This isn't working, I'm going to have to try a different tactic.
Lore dove down at the creature, dodging around the it's claw swipes, he slammed his fist into the it's face. Lore found himself reeling back instead of the creature. Damn, that hurt! I'm not reading any damage, but the vibration that just went through my arm didn't feel right. While Lore was rescanning his left arm to see if it actually had been damaged, the creature took advantage of his lapse of attention. Slamming it's claw down on top of Lore, the creature sent him flying into the ground at high speed.
Raising it's tail up, the creature sprayed a green liquid at Lore, who was able to roll out of the way before the stuff hit him. The unknown liquid instead hit the spot where he had been and burnt a large hole into the ground. That was too close! That junk almost got me.
Seeing that blasting and punching don't work, I think it's time to bring my swords back into play. Deploying his swords, Lore again charged the creature. Evading it's attacks, he made several slashes at the creature's chest. Lore's attacks had very little effect other than making some slight scratches. This isn't working either! I might as well be using toothpicks against this thing. Wait, I know what I could do. I'll try striking it's underside, that always seems to work against these kinds of things in the comics.
Lore dropped to the ground and rushed underneath the creature. Swinging his arm in an uppercut motion, Lore put his full strength behind the sword strike. But before he could connect, the creature's tail somehow swung around underneath it's body and hit Lore with the force of a freight train. He was sent hurling across the crater, hitting the ground hard enough to create a trench with his body as he slid.
Lying there half buried, Lore heard a strange sound coming from the creature. The noise sounded like laughter and it sounded as though it was coming closer. So it thinks it's won, as much as I hate to believe it, that bakemono may be right. Lore was finding it difficult to get his body to respond to his commands, several of his systems went off-line when the creature last struck him. I got one more thing I can try, if it doesn't work, I'm toast. Now, if my body will just get with the program.
All Lore's systems kicked in and he blasted up out of the ground, causing the creature to rear back. As Lore flew higher he brought his arms to the front, parallel to each other and fist closed, pointing towards the creature. Bolts of energy began arcing across Lore's arms as heat sinks extended up from his shoulders. He received a message from his computer. Warning! Warning! This Weapon System Is Untested! Which is exactly why I didn't use it before. But I'm going to test it now, so just shut-up! As Lore's energy was building, the creature let out an earth-shaking roar and let loose with an energy blast from both it's claws.
"SUPREME CANNON!" Lore unleashed his attack and energy erupted from his outstretched arms. The creature's energy blast was annihilated as Lore's attack burned through the air towards it target. It struck and the creature howled in pain as it was enveloped in the scorching energy, the monster disappeared in a flash of light and an enormous explosion.
Lore didn't have time to celebrate however, as he felt several systems beginning to loose power. Power Surge! Systems Switching To Protective Shut-down Mode. No! Not here, Not now! Lore felt himself beginning to fall, but was caught by the explosion's expanding shock-wave and flung back into the air.
Even though he was now out of the range of the explosion, Lore was now hurtling uncontrollably through the air. Both his flight and motive systems were now off-line, all he could do was watch as he fell to the ground. At the velocity that he was falling, Lore wasn't even sure that he could survive the impact. Lore then saw something flying towards him at great speed, but his systems went completely off-line before he could figure what it was.
~~~~~
"What in the world happened here?" Chamuya wondered aloud, as he and the other Z Senshi stared at the enormous crater they had just arrived at.
"Something big that's what. This thing has got to be a couple miles across at least." Answered Rinriku.
"What do you think made it Trunks?" Bra asked, staring up at her older brother.
"I'm not sure." Trunks answered. "Possibly an explosion during a battle."
"But the question is, who was doing the fighting?" Juuhachi-gou added.
"Maybe it was Piccolo-san." Gohan stated, "I thought I felt his energy in this area when we were flying here."
"If it was him, where could he have gone?" Goten asked.
"I don't think we should worry." Gokou told them. "If Piccolo didn't even stick around to tell us what had happened, it must not have been very serious."
"But what about that dark power that we all felt?" Marron replied, as she looked at the crater.
"We can ask Piccolo about it next time we see him. But for now, let's get back home, I didn't even get to finish eating before that dark power showed up.
"Is your stomach all you ever think about Kakarott?" Vegeta questioned as they all started toward home. Yarou Namekian! How dare he take the battle for himself!
~~~~~
From Lore's point of view, he seemed to be floating in a sea of pure blackness, with no sight or feeling. Such was the result of his system wide shut-down from the power surge earlier. Eventually, His senses and motive systems came back online. Lore sat up, feeling a bit dizzy, but still in one piece. I don't think I'll try that again anytime soon, having everything shut-down is something I can do without. At least I was able to destroy that monster. Huh?! Lore looked around at where he was, he was back in the clearing he was resting earlier, right next to his pack. How in the world did I end up back here/ There's no way the explosion could have thrown me all the way back here. Wait, that thing I saw flying at me at me before my vision went out. It wasn't a thing at all, it was a person! But who was it, why did they bother to save me? Most importantly, where is this person now? Lore stood up and tried to scan the area, but he found his scanning ability was not functioning.
"C'mon, work!" Lore exclaimed, whacking himself in the head. Scanning system off-line, system wide repairs at 50%. "Ah man." He lamented.
Looking down at himself, Lore decided that he had better change clothes before he did anything else. Seeing that his current outfit was burnt and shredded nearly beyond recognition. As he pulled some new clothes from his pack and began to change, Lore took time to study his external wounds. The bleeding had already stopped and the lacerations inflicted by the smaller creatures were already beginning to heal. By the looks of it, there won't even be any scars after everything is finished healing. That's good, I'm not sure how I would explain having such large scars if somebody asked about it.
"No reason to hang around here any longer." Lore told himself, as he finished changing. "I guess I better get moving if I'm ever going to get to those ruins." He picked up his pack and resumed his journey through the forest, still wondering who his mysterious benefactor was.
~~~~~
Piccolo watched from a nearby tree as the young man left the clearing. So, it seems that camper boy was a Jinzouningen after all. Vegeta would have himself a royal fit if he knew about this.
Piccolo had spotted the boy as he was meditating on a cliff high above an old stretch of road. Recognizing him as the one he, Trunks, and Juuhachi-gou had saw about a month prior, Piccolo decide to follow him. He had sensed no evil from the kid, but decided to follow him just to see what he was up to. Piccolo found it rather amusing as he watched the young man attempting to get through the forest, though he wondered why he didn't fly over it, if he really was a Jinzouningen.
After a couple of hours, his quarry stopped in a clearing and started to prepare a meal. So Piccolo decided to continue his meditation next to a nearby stream, since it seemed that the boy wasn't going anywhere for a while. A short time after, a meteor shot by. Even though Piccolo saw it, he decided to ignore it and go back to his meditation, figuring that the kid would ignore the thing as well. But since the young man was a Jinzouningen and lacking any kind of ki, he was able to fly away without notice from Piccolo.
About half an hour later, Piccolo was brought out of his meditation when he sensed a dark power suddenly appear in the mountains to the north. After checking the clearing, he saw that the boy was gone, but Piccolo knew where he probably was. Taking to the air, Piccolo flew towards where he had sensed the dark power, at the highest speed possible. When Piccolo arrived at a large crater, he saw the source of the dark power. It was some kind of enormous insectoid being, but the Jinzouningen was nowhere in sight.
Piccolo was about to attack, when suddenly, the boy shot up out of the ground and high above the creature. He then unleashed a massive energy beam destroying the insectoid and causing a massive explosion. But the attack apparently did something to the kid as well, as he was sent spiraling through the air. Piccolo was able to catch him before he hit the ground, but the kid had already gone into unconsciousness.
Piccolo then sensed the rest of the Z Senshi rapidly approaching from the southwest. Better get this kid out of here and back to his campsite. Things might start to get complicated when the others get here, especially if Vegeta finds out that this kid is another Jinzounigen. Throwing the boy over his shoulder, Piccolo masked his ki and took the him back to the clearing. I may tell Gohan about this later, but I think I'll just let the others wonder about what happened here.
Piccolo decided to leave the kid alone and not confront him when he awoke, since he didn't seem to be intending to hurt anybody. Hell, it's the least I could do for him, he saved me the trouble of having to fight that bug. Piccolo watched the young man disappear from view, then flew out of the area. Jinzouningen just seem to be crawling out of the woodwork these days.
~~~~~
In deep space within the remnants of a ruined planet, an ancient evil that was long thought to be destroyed, had awoke from it's long slumber.
"My Lord, we have just lost contact with one of our planetary probes."
"What planet?"
"A planet on the galactic rim, I believe it's inhabitants call it Earth. The scouts, the relay crystal, and even the Guardian seem to have been completely destroyed"
"So, it seems that beings with the power to oppose us still exist. But the game shall begin anew, regardless of those who may try to stop us. And a glorious game it shall be, with me as the victor."
The End
Hello again everybody, Deaku here. I hope you enjoyed Invader, but don't worry there is another story coming your way. In the next chapter, Lore attempts to help the victims of a kidnaping, but finds that the kidnappers are more than they seem.
"Isn't that just great, another preview that says I'm going to get my cybernetic rear kicked again."
C'mon Lore, I didn't say anything about a fight.
"Yeah right, that preview practically screams out that there is going to be a fight."
If you don't like it, how about we do this. At the end of the next chapter, you can do the preview.
"Really, Yosh’!"
*sigh* Anyway, please stay tuned for the next chapter of the Lost Jinzouningen Saga: Rescue.
