[OOC and Sign-up Thread]

Far above the dark side of planet Artil, a small, circular ship hovered silent and invisible. Inside the space craft, General Haakon made the final preparations for the initial incursion onto the unsuspecting planet. His crew had been surveying the planet from above for some time now, but there was only so much information that could be gathered from afar; it was time to initiate more invasive measures.

In a little less than an hour, Artil's annual meteor storm would take place, and a group of advance scouts would enter the planet's atmosphere with it as a disguise. As long as their place of landing was chosen carefully, the inhabitants of Artil would not suspect a thing.

A few crewmen tracked the movements of the meteor cloud hurtling through space on a large monitor in Haakon's control room. The general, a real beast of a humanoid, resembling something akin to a minotaur, watched it with anticipation. From what his team had been able to gather about Artil thus far, it seemed Cooler had made an excellent choice for his 260th planet. And Haakon felt deeply honored that he and his men had been chosen to carry out the acquisition. The ship's sensors had been able to detect a few slightly above-average power levels on the planet's surface, but so far there appeared to be no one capable of standing up to his troops, meaning if all went well, the planet would be his by the end of the month at the latest.

On the other side of the ship, four units of four Vaksir scouts each prepared to be inserted into Saiyan-style space pods for descent onto Artil.The timing of the pods' launch was critical, as they needed to use the incoming meteor shower as cover. If they entered the planet's atmosphere too far outside the main shower, their presence might be detected by the technologically advanced species that dominated Artil. With their trajectory predetermined and the swarm of space-rocks closing in fast, the Vaksir did one final equipment check before crawling into their cramped space pods.

Later, back in the control room, a twenty-second countdown appeared on Haakon's monitor. What resembled a grin appeared on his bovine face as the clock ticked away. He mouthed the last few seconds, and as soon as the counter reached zero, he watched on the external viewing panel the large stream of meteors shoot past the ship. Mere moments later, vibrations rocked the ship as the scouts' pods were fired out.

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Down on the planet's surface, in the heart of the Artillian capital, citizens watched with glee as dozens, if not hundreds of bright meteors flashed through the planet's atmosphere, lighting up the night spectacularly and providing a worthwhile show they had all been waiting a year to see. Little did they know that more than space-rocks descended upon them this night. Amongst the shining meteors, doom befell the hapless planet.

Music thumped, people screamed, and the large city square was filled with bright, changing lights. There were beautiful golden, paper streamers stretched from building to building, and a large stage was set in front of the city hall.

Daijen stood amidst it all, and it gave him a headache. He'd been invited by a distant friend, one he hadn't known very well, and at first he'd declined. He'd only reconsidered at the last second, because he felt it'd be a good opportunity to blend in with his people, but really the oppressive stench of surrounding bodies was overwhelming.

With so many lights, the meteor shower was barely visible, and Daijen pushed his way through the crowd in disguist. Long ago, in the day, he'd lost contact with his friend, but it didn't matter. He wasn't going to stay any longer. A muffled shout rang out as he pushed his way through the crowd, but it was swallowed by the ever increasing din of the thousands of Artillians.

After just a few minutes of shouldering his way past people, Daijen had made it to the outskirts of the festival, where the lights were spaced farther apart, and the streamers were non-existant. He pushed his hands into his pockets and he hunched as he clacked down the worn cobblestone street.

A few drunk stragglers hailed him, but he nimbly dodged past, not wanting to inebriate himself. The men hardly noticed his refusal as they stumbled by, and they roughly burst into an undecipherable song. Daijen sighed as he continued down the road.

He wasn't paying much attention, until suddenly he came up on a guard rail. Looking down past it he saw a small river, chortling through a few houses. A little to his left was a bridge, but he paid it no mind, instead focusing on the water.

He visualized the river as flowing Ki, and he closed his eyes at the image. It was unstoppable, destructive, and beautiful, and he harnessed it in his body.

Daijens mind strayed deeper into the Ki of his own body, and a sudden flux of the Ki surrounding him brought him to reality sharply. He looked straightened up sharply, and performed an eyeblurring turn around.

Despite what he felt, he could see nothing, and it passed instantly. Daijen felt the strange impulse to look up, at the sky, and he did so. The sight of the meteors was amazing to behold, but to Daijen it represented something more. The yearly coming was predictable, amazing, and it held a promise. The promise of new life, and he treasured that.

As abruptly as it came, the feeling passed, and Daijen lowered his eyes back to the river. The brief sense of Ki he felt was gone, and most likely he'd accidently released it himself.

Even during a time of celebration there was no rest for Darthirii, always on duty as Watcher of the streets of Artil. Now, he raced through the streets with a small unit at his command, hot on the trail of a Shiruian thief.

The rodent-like humanoid in question had used the distraction of the meteor shower festival to sneak into one of the PSRD's, or Primary Scientific Research Division's warehouses and nab... something. Darth and his men hadn't been told what exactly was taken, just that it was of significant value and should not be allowed into Shiruian hands. The thieving bastard had used his race's superior ability to mask his power to get in undetected, and it was purely by luck that a passing guard had spotted him on his way back out.

The guard was found dead, a hole blasted straight through his stomach, meaning this rodent's powers extended beyond just stealth.

Darth and his small team of four Watchers, being relatively close by, were immediately put into pursuit, with instructions not to let up on the search until it was certain there was no possibility of recovery. Whatever that meant.

At any rate, Darth and three of his men plowed through the crowded streets with determination, while the fourth scaled walls and crossed rooftops, giving the team a higher vantage point. They were moving in the right direction, supposedly, but they had lost sight of their target.

As Darth rounded a corner as per his higher comrade's instruction, he felt a twinge pass through his mind, and he stopped suddenly. He looked up grimly at the sky, watching the meteors pass through the atmosphere.

The men behind him nearly plowed into Darth's back. "What's up, Kel?" one asked. "We gotta keep moving, or we'll lose that rat-bastard," chided another. The other two failed to suppress chuckles at that.

"Yeah..." replied Darth absent-mindedly. Something didn't feel right all of a sudden, and the feeling of uneasiness seemed to come from above. But Darth pushed the feelings aside, marking them as nothing important, and resumed the chase.

The crowds thinned out as they moved farther away from the epicenter of the festival, and Darth and his men were able to move faster.

A beep came from Darth's pocket, and he retrieved the small communicator tucked away there. "Watcha got?"

"Caught a glimpse of the target. He just ducked into the city drainage system."

Darth nodded, though to no one in particular. He skidded to a halt and pressed a button on the device. A holographic panel popped up with a keypad. He entered a code, and an isometric map of the immediate area appeared. "Only one exit from here, unless he's moving against the current farther back into the city, but I doubt that. Come on."

Darth put the communicator away and leapt into the air. His men followed his lead, and the met up with their already airborne comrade. "This way!" called Darth, and he shot towards the edge of the city.

As Darth and his squad flew through the air towards the outskirts of the city, the feeling from before returned, and he looked to the sky again. Only this time, there was something to see. He came to a sudden halt once more, and his men flew past him, stopping just ahead. They turned to him with expectant looks.

But Darth was focused on the distant sky. Meteors still rained down, but something else entered Artil's atmosphere as well. Coming from the complete opposite direction and at a totally different angle of declination, a bright orange sphere rocketed towards the ground. Whatever it was, it was much, much closer to them than any of the meteors.

I don't like this... something isn't right.

The glow around the object faded until Darth could no longer see it, but moments later a plume of dust and debris rose into the sky, signaling the object had landed.

The others had followed Darth's gaze and had seen it as well. "What... what do you think it was?" "Was it a meteor?" "But it came from the other way."

"You guys can handle things here. I'm going to go check out...whatever that was," said Darth.

"At least one of us should go with you!"

Darth shook his head. "No sense in any of you getting in trouble for abandoning the mission." He grinned. "At least I can weasel my way out of any disciplinary action. Besides, I think I can handle it."

Knowing better than to make Darth explicitly define that as an order, the other four took off through the air in pursuit of their target. Darth, on the other hand, shot through the sky at full speed towards the extra-terrestrial object.



The object had landed on a small spit of land inside a lake. The lake was located in one of Artil's thickest forests, and if it weren't for the dust still settling in the air, Darth may not have been able to track the landing location.

Darth descended and touched down next to the large impact crater and peered down into it. His eyes grew wide as he saw what was at the center. A large, round pod of some kind, scored and charred from the trip through the planet's atmosphere. Darth's hand immediately shot for the communicator at his side. He pressed a few buttons and the holographic screen popped up again, this time showing a blip indicating whatever entity sat in that pod.

Darth pressed a holographic key, and the device attempted to gain a power reading. It wasn't very high, and it was fading. Whatever was in there was in rough shape. Even if it meant harm to Darth or Artil, it wasn't going to accomplish much in its state.

Darth slid down the slope of the crater and came to a stop next to the pod. He jumped back a little when the seal of the pod's one door broke and air hissed out. The door opened, and Darth peered inside.

He saw Tai, broken and battered. "What the...?" He reached into the confines of the space ship and took Tai into his arms, pulling him out. He floated to the top of the crater and set Tai on the ground.

"Hey... can you hear me? Hey!"

Daijen was walking down a dark alley, far from the festival. Even now, it was still going strong and so many people in one place was making him sick. He wasn't paying attention to much, his feet sending soft echoes along the dusty cobblestone, and occassionally he let out a deep breath.

His chest was constricted tightly, his Ki not flowing smoothly. Something was unsettling him, and it was more then just the people. None of the Artillians were using Ki. It was forbiddon to do so around so many innocents, but despite that Daijen felt Ki.. somewhere. He simply couldn't pinpoint it.

Though he was a decent tracker, the meteor shower, and half of Artil was out tonight. That meant he wouldn't be tracking any specific Ki until one had subsided. He looked back towards the illuminated city. No way was that going to be over soon. Next he turned his gaze upwards. He noted the swirl of the meteors, and it brought a small smile to his face.

Something caught his eye though. Descending through the sky at a rapid pace was something. It wasn't a meteor. It couldn't be. It was flying from the opposite direction, and it gave off a faint pulse. Daijen watched as it struck outside the city.

His curiosity rose. Without paying attention to the buildings around him, he gathered his Ki, and he leapt from the ground. Small cracks appeared in the cobblestone from his explosive start, but he was already flying through the air, heading for the mushroom like dust cloud.

It took a few minutes, but he arrived fairly quickly, putting power behind him. As he neared, he set out with his senses, attempting to discern a power reading. Nothing showed up, and he shook his head. Probably was a meteor shot off course by a collision. None-the-less, Daijen shot forward.

He came up on a small lake, hidden amongst the trees, and a small stretch of land at the center was where the object had crashed down. Daijen coughed as dust and dirt filled his mouth, and he drew his shirt up over his mouth. He flew through the dust, and he let his Ki loose, falling several feet to the ground.

"Hello? Is there anyone there?" Daijen yelled. He thought he saw something, on the cusp of the crater, but he couldn't be sure. The thick forest was blocking out the wind, leaving dust to settle farther from the hole, where it hadn't been burned up.

Kaylian glanced up at the sound of someone coming through the trees. She rolled her eyes before staring back down through the clearing dust at whatever had almost fallen on her. The last thing she needed was someone intruding on her meditating.

Deciding it would be best to just leave before any confrontation was made she slid down the side of crater-like hole, bouncing slightly on her feet and rising into the air. She looked back down at the hole before shaking her head, just as some man came out of the trees.

(Sorry, it's so short but I'm trying to get the feel of the rp before posting longer)

Kujo sat alone in the woods, watching the meteors. He looked around, nothing but grass and tree's. The odd insect noise and animal howl was heard, but other than that nothing.

"Alone again." Kujo sighed. Small scurry footsteps in the grass were heard. Kujo looked down beside him, and to his surprise he saw a rabbit like creature, nibbling on his hand. He softly grabbed the rabbit in his palm's, and looked at it. Kujo smirked, and brushed it's thin fur.

"You are bold, creature." he said softly. He looked around, one last time to see if anyone was around. He felt safe and gave a warm smile and continued petting the small creature. It gave off a purring noise, and snuggled against Kujo's steel like skin.

6 minutes pass, and he continues to pet the small beast. Suddenly he starts hearing of other voices, he hesitates. "I cannot be seen with this creature!" he thinks to himself. As the voices and footsteps become louder, Kujo thinks...

"Sorry little guy." he throws the bunny creature into the air as far as he can, it zooms out of sight. Two Giganto's come from the bushes, and greet Kujo. "KUJO! How is it that I, Glrukoa finds you in these bushes? The chances of this is almost nothing!" Bashji stands up, and pounds on his chest. It's like a salute of some sorts. "I suppose the chances are favored tonight... What are you doing out so far from camp?" The one named Glrukoa pounds his chest as well, "We're hunting for the great Showers of the Night. Trying to find big Yraghji, (Bear like creatures, have a lot of meat on them) but... we have yet to find one. This makes I, Glrukoa feel disappointed."

"Well, do not let me, Kujo, stand in your quest. Be gone with you, and safe journey." He says quickly. Glrukoa nods, and continues to walk off along with the unnamed Gigante deeper into the forest. Kujo sighs, and holds his hand out, flat palmed. The bunny like creature lands hard on his hand, but these small critters are known for their durability. OR so Kujo thought. When he looks down at his palm, all he see's is blue gooey looking blood. He sighs, and sits down.

"Alone again."

Kaylian glanced down, hovering now in the air, at the strange thing that had almost ended her life. A meteor is what they called it, she recalled, at least, that's what she thought.

Glancing over her shoulder she saw, in the distance, the mountain it had taken her but half an day to get down from. She chuckled slightly at the memory of her nine-year-old self climbing that mountain and getting to the top in 3 months time.

"You should go down there and check it out!"

She stiffened slightly, glaring down at the watch on her wrist, the only piece of technology she allowed herself to indulge in. And the rather annoying voice admitting from it was that of her 'partner' Megama. The Old Woman had programmed her into the watch so that she'd have some one to 'talk too' on the long journey.

"I think not. It's but a simple annoyance that might take my attention away from the task at hand," Kaylian muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Come on, Kaylian! At least check it out!" Megama chirped.

As the strange humanoid at Darth's feet began to visibly come to, Darth heard a call from above.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

His gaze shot up to the source of the voice, and he narrowed his eyes. The dust was beginning to settle, and he could make out the figure in the air, though Darth could not recognize him. He looked like a civilian, but what would a civilian be doing way out here? And this man could fly, too, which meant 'ordinary citizen' likely was not an accurate descriptor.

Darth straightened, keeping his eyes trained on Daijen. "Kelaesar Bralld, Sheraestrandi Division Seventeen," he said in an official-sounding voice. And then he returned the question. "Who goes there?"

Before Daijen could reply, the alien at Darth's feet stirred, and began to speak. For a moment or two he spouted what Darth could only call nonsense, talking about WTOs and Minuses and whatnot. Darth listened with a very confused expression. Tai's breathing increased heavily, and before long he was unconscious again.

Darth scooped Tai up into his arms. He was in need of serious attention, so Darth would have to see him to the medical ward back in the capital. He floated up into the air, carrying Tai, and hovered in front of Daijen. He studied his fellow Artillian's face for a moment or two, understanding the power Daijen held. He also figured it would do no good to treat Daijen like an idiot, as he would an ordinary passerby. Darth opted for a vague explanation instead.

"This... man... crashed into the ground inside that pod down there. He's pretty beat up. I'm taking him back to Artil."

Darth became vaguely aware of another individual hovering in the distance, but she had made no effort to become known or involved in the incident. Given her aloofness, Darth was confident she had no relation to this alien man, and so he would just leave her alone.

The lieutenant was about to power up and shoot off towards the city when the communicator in his pocket chirped a few times. He recognized the specific sound as one that needed his attention. Holding Tai with just one arm, he reached into his clothes and produced the device.

The familiar holographic window appeared in the form of something resembling radar. Four red blips were making their way towards Darth's location. They were far off, still at the edge of the scanner's range, but the device indicated their power levels were abnormally high. Using the standard numeric code Artillians had grown accustomed to, each of these registered at just under eight hundred, almost one hundred times the power level of the forest's known top predators. To Darth, a power level of 800 was almost meaningless, but their presence worried him, and they were moving quickly.

Having nearly forgotten about Daijen, Darth suddenly turned to the warrior again. "There's something coming. Something powerful. You should go." He turned to the girl in the distance. "You should get out of here as well!" he called to her.

Slowly, he floated back to the ground and set Tai down gently. He placed a hand on Tai's chest and concentrated hard. A dull red glow surrounded Tai's body as Darth infused a fraction of his won energy into the alien. It wasn't much, but it would awaken Tai and keep him conscious. Darth couldn't afford to take him back to the city and leave these incoming beings unchecked.

By now he could feel their presence, but only slightly. He looked back down at his communicator, then gazed into the dark depths of the forest in their direction. He decided he would wait here for them to arrive, or chase them down if they changed course. That way, at least for now, he could keep an eye on the alien man.

Kaylian glanced towards the man who had called to her and raised an eyebrow. "Given...the circumstances," she said softly. "I'm afraid I cannot leave." She looked back at her watch. "How many, Megama?"

Four, Kaylian.

She smirked. "Four? Judging by their power levels they aren't very strong...but their numbers worry me. Why send four? Are they possibly after him?" She gestured dismissively towards Tai.

Most likely, ma'am. In what I thought was a rouge meteor turned out to be a space ship of some sort. They are possibly after the humanoid that exited the ship. Therefore it isn't a problem to us.

"Wasn't a problem to us. I've judged their speed and they'll be here before I even have time to power up and get away. So now, this is my issue too. Besides...we can't let a bunch of men take care of something like this. They'll likely mess it up," Kaylian rolled her eyes at the thought, slowly powering down until her feet touched the ground.

You have a point, Kaylian. Please try and not get killed.

With intensity Darth stared at the rather hard line of trees separating the small clearing from the rest of the forest. The faint power signatures were drawing closer quickly. Whatever these things were, Darth had to find out what they were up to.

He glanced down at his device again, the holographic radar-like display still active, showing red blips indicating the positions of the incoming objects. Darth narrowed his eyes at the screen as the red dots slowed significantly, then stopped altogether. Something was amiss. The dots mingled around each other for a few moments, but drew no closer to the clearing. Then, without warning, they took off at a 90-degree angle to their previous heading, apparently attempting to avoid the clearing altogether.

"Damn!" Darth cursed. They must have sensed the presence of those gathered in the clearing. As far as Darth could tell, all of the power levels in the area were heavily suppressed--or simply not that impressive--so whatever those things were, they likely sported technology akin to Darth's, or had highly acute senses.

Leaving the others behind, Darth stuffed his communicator back into its pocket and dashed through the air in the direction of the beings. His toes skirted just above the water surrounding Tai's crater, creating a large V-shaped wake. Reaching ground on the other side, Darth's feet struck out one after the other, carrying him faster than most eyes could see. He darted into the cover of the forest, following the faint traces of energy these things left behind as they ran.

Suddenly, the powers were no longer ahead of him. Now, they were all around him. Surrounding him. Closing in. It was dark, but even so Darth could see no trace of them. He could hear no trace of them. It was like they were invisible.

A bright orange blast of energy came out of nowhere and struck Darth's left shoulder. He gasped as the burning impact sent him spiraling through the air and onto the soft, mulchy ground. He was on his feet in the next instant, and saw a second blast come from a different direction. With a grunt of disgust he swatted it aside, and it smashed into a nearby tree branch, severing the limb completely.

Darth countered by firing a small ball of his own energy into the darkness, but it struck a boulder in the distance. More orange blasts came from behind him, and he jumped into the air to avoid them. As he looked up, a shape formed above him. It was a humanoid, although it was utterly reptilian, with spindly limbs, scaly features, and cold, yellow eyes. The thing clasped its hands and swung down on Darth, smacking him back down into the ground with an impact that would have broken a lesser man.

As Darth regained his feet, three more of the reptilian creatures seemed to simply materialize in front of him, and the fourth landed softly on the ground beside them. Together, they bore down on him, speaking no words, but with bloodlust in their eyes.

Darth assumed a fighting stance, ready to take them on. They had caught him by surprise, but their power levels indicated no threat. At least, not yet. Because they were beginning to power up. The ground in the immediate area began to rumble slightly as their power levels skyrocketed, doubling, tripling, quadrupling, and more. When they were finished, Darth estimated them each to be in the range of four to five thousand, but he'd have to check his device to confirm that. No point in doing that, because even the four of them together wouldn't be enough to take him.

With lightning speed, the four creatures attacked, raking their claws through the air, trying to tear Darth to ribbons. But the Artillian lieutenant was far to quick for them, deflecting what blows he could avoid altogether with ease. But if he wanted to win quickly, he was going to have to raise his fighting power.

Knocking his assailants away, Darth hopped back. "I don't know what you guys are up to, but you picked the wrong fight tonight. Haaaah!" A blazing red aura surrounded Darth, and his power shot through the roof.

The four creatures seemed unimpressed at first, but realization dawned on them as their opponent's power level continued to rise, far beyond their own.

Without missing a beat, Darth sprang at them. Three scattered, but one unlucky lizard took a devastating punch right in the face, sending him sprawling. It would be a few minutes before he would get back up. Darth assaulted the other three, treating them like playthings as they desperately fought just to keep balance, let alone land any blows of their own.