Carter Bane, huh? Now that he had yelled at him, it seemed like the tenderfoot actually was apologetic about his mistake. Or maybe Nase was just that scary, it was left to be discovered. Even though he realized that wanting to beat up a kid isn't really a good look, but he couldn't just let it go within seconds. Carter had flinched hard when Nase hadn't even raised his hand to strike him. Was he just that ready for the hit? For the third time in a row:
Weird. Also, his off-eye glowed when Nase was thinking about hitting him, only causing more suspicion in him. He's never seen any race, earthling or otherwise, that had such a contrast between their eyes, especially one which seems to be some type of scanner. Maybe he was a hybrid like he was... wait, does being a cyborg even count as being a hybrid, or is that something on its own?! Now he was having even more existential dread than he already had!
Race confusion aside, Nase seemed to have calmed down a little after Carter had finally apologized. He began walking with a less tense gripping of his hands and dragging of feet he already was doing. Exhaling audibly, Nase stopped for a moment before speaking to his travel mate in a solemn voice.
"Ok, 'Sir' is really uncomfortable for me, you can just use Nase at this point."Should he have just given this name to this kid like that? Eh, it doesn't matter. It's not like a group of people is going to be hunting him down now 'cause of one kid, right? Right?
Oh no.The southern lands were more of an open area than the previous wildlands they trekked through recently, and since they were avoiding the main cities and houses, they were completely alone and in the open. And Nase
hated it. The fact that if anyone was chasing them, they wouldn't be able to hide or anything didn't sit well with him. But... they've been walking for a while, right? There's no way someone could still be chasing them by this point. Yeah, they would have revealed themselves by now! Nase's thoughts went at ease at that point knowing that nothing would happen to him. Besides, the locals here aren't as criminally-inclined as in Central, so everything was perfect. What Nase didn't account for, was foreigners.
"Huh?"Hearing the sound of motors shutting off, Nase froze in his spot, as if in a trance. Multiple different vehicles had turned off from behind the two travellers and Nase noticed Carter's hesitation as well. Multiple thoughts invaded Nase at once, but the main two kept repeating in his head; who are these people, and what did they want? These presently unseen people had somewhat triggered Nase's memories of his recent events, each being more and more similar as they progressed. The gang of kidnappers, the people who broke into the Capsule Corp. HQ and that one girl's crew that tried to steal from the truck he was in charge of protecting. A whole 3 attempted robberies in the span of 3 days, and these people might be the fourth. Baring and gritting his teeth, Nase stood his ground and got into a light fighting position while beginning to ask Carter a question.
"You know these guys? What are they here for?"Being met with empty silence didn't really make him feel any better.
"Hey! Are you gonna answer m-"Before he could finish his sentence, he got obstructed by Carter yelling out a demand to an 'Axel?' and a huge cloud of dirt pushing into Nase, causing his hair and jacket to drag him backwards. Recollecting his footing, Nase moved his arms from blocking his face and saw the young albino rushing towards one of the guys.
"What the?"Nase noticed a bluish glow come off of Carter's leg right before he kicked the biker far into the air with his hoverbike. Looking at him through the now relaxing dust particles, Nase was basically stuck with his jaw hanging.
What was this kid hiding? Is this how others felt when he released his own ki signature? Continuing to watch the launched man flail through the sky, Nase barely saw Carter turn his head as if in disgust, and began to glow again. Within moments, he had already disappeared again to attack another man. Despite the gunfire that was ringing out into the No Man's Land they were all in, Nase didn't pay attention to Carter that much anymore. Nase had realized by this point that the reason he couldn't sense the drivers that well (other than his own difficulties) was that they were all relatively powerless ki-wise. But when he heard the loud trudging of a man coming into view and felt a signature he could understand, he felt some worry build up inside him.
"What's this guys deal?"It was like he had just walked out of an action movie, and it sure was low budget. A seven-foot man wearing a grey tank top and camo pants came into view with a large piece of metal in his hands. At first, Nase thought he was dragging his hoverbike towards the fight scene, but as Nase's eyes opened up in shock, he realized that that wasn't the case. The B-roll looking man was actually holding a white, two-armed Weapon of Mass-Destruction know as a Railgun. He, with a large smirk on his face, slapped the machine on its side, causing a slow whirring noise to come out of the machine.
"(What the hell is this guy doing here?! Didn't he think that there was only a kid here?)"Turning towards Carter to try and warn him, Nase once again had to shield his eyes as an explosion rocketed dirt and pieces of metal at him.
Since when could this kid use ki? Seeing the now aggressive kid landing next to the carcass of the bike he hit, Nase wondered how much this kid was dealing with as he was a flower-chewing crying mess before and now he was taking out multiple armed opponents in a row.
Does he have some sort of personality disorder? That might explain why he was acting annoying before too. Flashing away the dust ahead of him, Nase saw as Carter stood still for a moment, the final mercenary of the group aimed his weapon at him after moving closer to him. Finally, Carter noticed his opponent as the weapon was to be fire, and Nase began to sweat as the man began to laugh.
"Don't know what you are, kid, but you won't be here for long!"
And with that, the railgun began to charge up. Watching this from afar, Nase watched the mercenary finalize his attack and tried to think of any option he could use to stop him. Weighing through his options, he knew that he didn't have time to waste and just had to find one idea that worked. Unfortunately, he thought of one.
"...Damn it."Immediately going into a runner's 'ready' position, Nase leaned forward and began to charge ki around him. As it continued, Nase felt himself exerting more and more energy from his body up until his eyes began to glow and he hatches in his hands opened without command. After a second, a bright green aura that would be taller than him if he was standing appeared and began to thrash quickly around him. Gritting his teeth, Nase kicked off from his spot with both legs and boosted through the air towards the two fighters, causing himself to begin spinning through the air in the process. Reaching with incredible speed, Nase ould be in between the two by the time the railgun would have actually fired, and unfortunately, that was part of Nase's plan. Seeing the green streak in the corner of his eye, the mercenary steadied himself with his weapon and quickly fired it after his target, yelling out as he did so.
"Consider your goose cooked, kid!"
The pellet was released at wildly supersonic speeds, but it was just late enough that the torpedo Nase had turned into reached in between them. Hovering with his arms like an X over his chest, Nase yelled out as the ammo almost pierced his chest.
"Get the hell back from the kid!"Instantly, Nase's aura glowed an intense green so bright that Nase was completely invisible except for his glowing yellow eyes glaring at him through the shine. The railgun shot stopped right at Nase's arm before the bright light surrounding Nase exploded into the surroundings, blasting both the bullet and the railgun-man a large way away from them. Unfortunately, the KIAI attack was indiscriminate, and sent a huge amount of force and dust towards Carter as well. After the protective manoeuvre had been completed, Nase slid across the ground in a fighting position as the final gunman landed on his back, his weapon landing next to him. Nase was breathing hard, standing in
a battle pose made popular by a legendary Saiyan many many years ago, while the gunman slowly got up, one gigantic stomp at a time.
"Ah... You got some balls, kid. Tricking some delinquent into being your bodyguard... You really are worthy of being my target, eh?"
Hearing his opponent laughing to himself, Nase snarled at the large mercenary ahead of him and quickly refuted.
"B-bodyguard..? Are you insane? The hell do you think this is?! You brought a giant ass gun to fight a teenager!"The man waved his hands around the field with a smile on his face, gesturing towards the carnage around them.
"So, he's just a teenager, huh? What about those three before, huh? Or are you blind to that?"
Looking around, Nase noticed the smoking crash site to the side and the man that was thrown headfirst into a tree. Turning back to the mercenary, Nase sighed in indifference.
"I... don't understand that part..."The man laughed even harder until Nase continued again.
"But the hell are you doing bringing guns an cannons to attack us? What did you get sent here for?"The man picked up his gun and pointed it at the sky. Smirking, he pointed a thumb at himself and flashed his teeth in a devious smile.
"I am a great hunter and mercenary. I take jobs all over the world for the right price! You should be grateful for the chance to meet me before you get taken down. Luckily for you, we were only sent to capture you, so if you come quietly, I won't have to hurt you."
Nase saw from the "hunter's" eyeline that the man was talking directly to Carter as he spoke, causing Nase to feel more like just someone who accidentally appeared during this fight. This upset him greatly.
"Only to capture him? You tried to shoot at him with your cannon! What's non-lethal about that? In any regard, you're not geting away with him, anyway."As Nase looked back to Carter, the man laughed once more and then took his railgun into his hands again.
"To answer your first question, I wasn't going to shoot the dumb kid! Just take out an arm or two. He doesn't need those to live, now does he? Heh, well, you have wasted enough of my time here, kid. I'll be taking my target now."
The railgun in the giant man's arms began charging again and Nase flinched at the sound again.
Crap, what now? "Though I know you probably will try to stop me (Ugh, you hero-types), so I'll just have to silence you right here."
The weapon was strong enough that it almost broke through his energy, what should he do now?! Nase began to sweat again out of worry before he shook his head.
"(No... I can do this. Just... Focus.)"Staying still in his position, Nase waited until the man pointed it at him and readied his shot. As the man lowered the railgun towards Nase, he looked back to make sure Carter wasn't behind him then clenched his fist in anger. After a second of waiting, the cannon was almost primed to fire in front of him. Instantly, Nase went into a crouch and stepped forward with a determined look in his eyes.
"Now!"A ki ball was quickly formed in the air above Nase's hands and with the effort of a man about to die, he sent them to strike the man ahead. Except they didn't. Curving into the ground in time, Nase's ki blasts instead blew up against the ground, causing dust to fly up into the face and eyes of the 'great' mercenary.
"Agh! What the-"
"(Step 1: Lower their defenses.)"Rushing in towards the now flinching hunter, Nase pulled back his fist as he boosted into the air to reach him faster. The mercenary, who just got the dust from before out of his eyes, looked through the smoke in shock to see Nase had already reached him and was seeing him at eye level now. Before her could react, Nase kicked at the air, quickly forcing even more of the dirt into his face.
"(Step 2: Paralyze them)"Quickly pushing his arm forward again, Nase sucker-punched the mercenary in solar plexus, causing spit to fly out of his mouth and his eyes to bulge out of his mouth. The action-man was sent back a couple steps, releasing Nase's fist from his stomach, which still was glowing green, like the rest of his body.
"U-ugh... You little..."
The large mercenary struggled to keep himself standing after the sneak attack, but managed to do so as his weapon dropped from his hand. Still doubled over in pain, the mercenary attempted to save face by looking up at his foe, but he still had his arm wrapped around his stomach in a way to stop the pain.
"Do you really think that
CHEAP SHOT is enough to defeat me?!"
Rushing in again, Nase jumped above his opponent's head with one leg raised over his head. Now glowing an angry jade and speaking out loud, Nase continued his process with the precision and focus of a monk during meditation.
"Step 3: Cripple them."His foot came down with a mighty force on the top of the man's head, causing them to fall down to a kneeling position into the ground while he gracefully bounced off of him in a backflip-type of action. Still in the air, Nase launched himself in front of the sun and raised both hands outstretched into the air. Focusing his energy into his arms, Nase lowered his head to see the mercenary below him and spoke one last time to him.
"Step 4..."The man lifted his head up, just to be blinded by the Sun as Nase finalized his statement.
"Finish them."A gigantic ball of ki appeared above him the size of the midday sun, which sent all of Nase into either blinding light or completed shadow. With a single motion, he absorbed the ki and pointed them back at the ground. The mercenary, seeing this, attempted to reach his weapon as a way to stop him, but seeing the eruption of green light above him as he did so, he knew it was already too late before he even got hit.
"Neutron Supernova!"The attack that Nase had released expanded from his hands exponentially, not only striking his opponent, but crashing into the ground beneath him as well. The laser continued firing until a whole three seconds had passed, and after that, the aura around his body dissipated except for the faintest glow that remained. Slowly hovering to the ground afterwards, the Tuffle warrior put his elbows against his sides and removed his ki signature as he looked down at the now burnt back of Carter's aggressor.
"Gh... agh... uh..."
Seeing the mercenary was still conscious (but still in pain), Nase stepped back from him and just watched from afar. Audibly closing the absorption vents in his hands, he stood up over the now-shaking foe and glared at him, wanting to make sure that he didn't get up and attack them again. Under his gaze, the mercenary actually managed to get up and stand in front of the two of them. Nase folded his arms in disdain as the hunter began to speak to him.
"Y-You're... a monster..."
Immediately, Nase took a hand out and a small blast of ki was created on it.
"Do you want me to prove that or not? This wouldn't be the first time that I've been demeaned today."A mix of fear and anger washed over the mercenary's face as Nase spoke and with that, Nase closed his hand and got rid of the blast as well.
"Thought as much. I will be taking my leave now, unless you want to continue, that is."Still shaking, but now with anger, the mercenary growled at Nase as he spoke.
"Do you think I can let you leave? I am the great mercenary that never loses! I can't let some nobody get passed me with my target like that."
Nase thought about it for a second before walking towards him.
"If you're such a good warrior then you can stand to lose one fight in your record. And besides-"Nase's eyes began to glow sharply as he looked at the man in his eyes.
"...I'm not a 'nobody', I'm the Tuffle street fighter Nase. My name may not have meant anything before, but I'll let you remember it."Walking passed him now, Nase left the mercenary with his jaw hanging as he refolded his arms and lifted his head into the air, letting his hair fall behind him. He realized that his final statement was incredibly prideful, but he felt like leaving with something cool to leave in the heart of that mercenary he had bested. And besides, he already got his ego attacked twice today, might as well raise it back at this point, right.
"Come on, kid. As I said before, I don't have all day for this."
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