Lonely Hearts Muyo Act 1: Arrival Prologue: No Need for Violent Wars & Rude Awakenings! Hisakatakami, the lone moon of Planet Kovensei. At one point in the history of the Kovensei-Jin, this luminous spherical mass in the night sky was like their Sky God. During times of harvest, they would look to the full moon and bow to it, leaving large shares of their crops for their god. However, on this night, their moon-god had betrayed them, bringing great devils to decimate their cities. For this, they rebelled against their god. For this, they had to kill their moon-god. Kovensei's nights were known across the galaxy for being among the darkest in existence. However, this one solitary night shone bright as day, as pieces of Hisakatakami rained down onto the burning landscape. The Kovensei-Jin's capital city, Korudoren, was completing the daylight illusion by falling into a tempest of fire. The courthouse, chieftain's hall, and even the observatory where the missile was fired to destroy Hisakatakami; they were all awash in fire, if not already burnt to the ground. Amidst the hellstorm, the Kovensei-Jin fought with their lives; fighting back the invading demons who had done this. Fighting back against the infamous nomads of the galaxy, the Saiya-Jin. Surprisingly, the Kovensei-Jin were firmly in control of the battle, despite the imminent death of their city. Unlike most of the victims of Saiya-Jin invasions, the Kovensei-Jin had managed to find what gave the Saiya-Jin their power -- the light of the full moon. Using their only means possible, a Hawk's Eye Missile, they had done the unthinkable and destroyed the holy image of Hisakatakami. Without the moon, the Saiya- Jin could not use their horrid powers of transformation, and were now mere soldiers battling against the amazingly powerful artillery of the people of Planet Kovensei. Of the four teams of Saiya-Jin, only seven of the twenty soldiers remained... -------- //Gotta get away! Gotta get away! No way out! Gonna die! Gonna die! Gonna Die! GONNA DIE!!!\\, the thoughts of a young Saiya-Jin soldier raced. The last survivor of his team, he had gotten separated from the rest of the troops when Hisakatakami had been detonated. Now, fatigued and bleeding, he ducked and weaved in and out between the rubble of Korudoren, dodging enemy fire as he fled. The rifles utilized by the Kovensei-Jin were surprisingly strong, and were actually capable of piercing Saiya-Jin armor. This in mind, the soldier was forced to keep on his toes. As the soldier stepped out into the open for a brief second, it became clear just how torn up he was. The black and olive-green armor that protected his upper body was cracked and broken up on one shoulder, and the plates covering the sides of his legs were completely destroyed. The tight-fitting black pants that were standard-issue for a low-level soldier like himself were torn up to the knee on the right leg. The deep brown fur of his simian tail was singed at the end. The tail itself was much too sore in the middle to wrap around the waist for security (as many soldiers often did in battle) without causing excruciating pain. The hair of the Saiya-Jin, usually spiked out in several directions, was now nothing more than a dark brown mass matted to his scalp with sweat and drying blood. His face was a mess, a severe cut above left cheek gushing with blood and the rest a smear of dirt and ash. As the young soldier strained to see through the thick choking smoke of the burning city, his reddened eyes became dry, blurring his vision. Standing out in the open, one more thing became clear about this Saiya-Jin soldier... ...he was only a boy of no more than eighteen years old... //Kuso! Where could the others have gone off to!?\\, thought the nameless soldier as he frantically looked around for someone he recognized. The scouter clipped over his left ear suddenly beeped to life, interrupting his thoughts. Looking in the direction of the arrow on the lens of the device, the soldier noticed a pair of Kovensei-Jin who were attempting to sneak behind him. Rifles raised, they fired two quick bursts of energy that scorched the air behind them. Thanks to the scouter, the young Saiya-Jin was able to duck the blasts in time and seek quick cover behind a smoldering pillar of what used to be a massive bank. As he caught his breath, two more blasts exploded against the thick stone of the pillar, deafening the soldier with the high-pitched whine of the hits. //Bakayaro!\\ shrieked the Saiya-Jin in his mind as he raised his right fist to chest level. Clenching the fist until the fingernails gouged the skin, forcing blood to squirt from the palm, he focused his ki energy into his hand. Fist glowing, he waited for an opening in the gunfire, then dived out and rolled behind the moderately high wall of flames to his left. As the Kovensei soldiers raised their guns to fire again, the Saiya-Jin pulled his fist back and thrust it forward, opening his palm in a bright flash of light. The flash lit up the dim, firelit rubble as it burst towards both Kovensei-Jin. The pair of soldiers screamed, then disappeared behind the rush of ki, torn apart in a violent explosion that caused the ground around the blast to jolt. The Saiya-Jin then began to allow his thoughts to race again as he took off through the thick fog of smoke. //Not gonna last long here! Gotta find a way out! Must get back to the pod! But where is it!? KUSO!!!\\ cursed the young Saiya-Jin to himself as he now stumbled through the thick smoke, gasping and coughing as he went. In his single-minded determination to escape, the Saiya-Jin soldier didn't notice his scouter telling him that there were two more Kovensei-Jin who had already spotted him. Had it not been for a rifle blast that clipped his ear in a small spray of cartilage and blood, the soldier might not have seen them at all. Still running, the nameless boy turned and lit the sky with two small bursts of ki that hit near the riflemen who fired at him. The two soldiers paused their assault only a moment before more gunfire rained down on the Saiya-Jin yet again. In the thick black clouds, the soldier knew he couldn't aim well enough to take out his two snipers, and leapt behind the fallen foundation of an apartment complex for safety. Unfortunately, he hadn't noticed that the complex was built right next to a steep hillside, and found himself tumbling uncontrollably down the steep, jagged hill. The nameless soldier fell, tumbling over and over on the sharp rocks of the hillside. He could feel his body bruise and his flesh tear on the jagged stones. Screaming was all he could do as he fell limply for what seemed like ages. Finally, the soldier's back slammed hard against a large, flat rock at the bottom, next to a small stream. The young soldier winced in pain as he staggered to his feet. Standing in the ankle-deep water, he looked slowly up the steep hillside to the ruins of Korudoren. Exhausted, yet relieved, the soldier cracked a wry smile, suddenly realizing that his nightmare was over. He had reached the edge of Korudoren and was now free of the snipers, the gunfire, and the tempest of flames that had now ravished the city and its pathetic people. Feeling the cool water against a light cut in his lower shin, the soldier realized how thirsty he had become after his dash through the smoke. Kneeling down, he dove his dirty, bloody hands into the water and brought small handfuls of the liquid up to his face. After several greedy handfuls of water however, he suddenly began to notice how...salty...the water was. Looking down, he noticed a red tint to the water that he had originally passed off as an illusion cast by the fire behind him. Taking a look upstream, he noticed an image that both shocked and horrified him. Only about ten feet away was the body of a fellow Saiya-Jin soldier. "Oi!" called out the nameless Saiya-Jin as he staggered over to his fallen comrade. Not hearing an answer, he called again. "Oi! Can you hear me?" Still no answer. As the young soldier walked up next to the fallen Saiya-Jin, he realized the horrible truth. This soldier was dead, shot through the neck by a Kovensei rifle. The dead soldier was not one of the young boy's team, though, as he failed to recognized the now-still face. But the sight of a fellow Saiya-Jin dead was still frightening. In horror, the soldier stumbled backwards, suddenly feeling that sense of security vanish. His scouter beeped a warning almost simultaneously with a bright flash and ear-splitting shriek emitted behind him. As soon as the Saiya-Jin turned, he saw a bright flash and felt a raw, searing pain digging _through_ his right shoulder. The young Saiya-Jin let out an agonizing scream of torment as he flew back and tumbled to the ground, blood spraying through the gaping wound that was just above his ribcage. Clutching at his shoulder with his left arm and feeling the blood drain from the gaping wound, he staggered to his feet and looked up to see one of the most frightening images he could imagine. The weapon that had killed more Saiya-Jin in this botched attack than any other: the dreaded tripod beam cannons that were the specialty of the Kovensei-Jin...and this one was pointed straight _at_ him. Hearing laughter to his left, the soldier looked over to see another Kovensei-Jin standing about ten meters away with a rifle aimed right at his head. No sooner did the Saiya-Jin try to run did the Kovensei-Jin pull the trigger. Though the bolt didn't hit his head, it tore through the soldier's left knee, scattering cartilage and blood all over the pale brown grass. The soldier stumbled and collapsed to the ground in a heap, reaching now for his knee with his one good arm. "Sinful being. Your time has come to die," gloated the Kovensei soldier as he raised his rifle to finish off his adversary. //Bakayaro bakayaro bakayaro bakayaro...\\ "Bakayaro!" shouted the Saiya-Jin as he managed to block out the pain in what was left of his right shoulder long enough to bring up his arm and fire a sizeable blast of ki straight into the torso of his enemy. The Kovensei-Jin screamed, wrenched in midair from the force of the blast, and fell to the ground, his bluish blood gushing from where his torso had been cleanly impaled. The Saiya-Jin then turned his attention to the beam cannon, focusing whatever ki he had left into his left hand and releasing a small, sputtering beam that hit directly down the barrel of the cannon. While the cannon wasn't destroyed, the barrel was fried and the beam had come through the other end, killing the Kovensei-Jin operating it. With both of his assailants dead, the Saiya-Jin simply lay there, gasping for breath. After what felt like an eternity, the soldier slowly tried to stagger to his feet. As he stood, he noticed a pain in his left leg, but did his best to ignore it. However, after only two steps, he dropped again to the ground with a sickening thud. Laying there on the ground, the soldier could feel his blood rush from the two wounds in his shoulder and knee. Not only did it stain the grass, but he could feel a puddle well up all around his body; he could feel the deep red fluid pressing against his face as he lay splayed on the ground. Helpless, the Saiya-Jin could do nothing more than lay there and listen to the hell that had seemingly moved from the city to where he had collapsed. By the beeping and the random flashes on the cracked lens of his scouter, the soldier could tell that the battle raged on, with at least two more Saiya-Jin remaining. But he knew it was a struggle in vain, as all around him, he could hear enemy gunfire. A sudden fearful realization overtook the soldier. //I cannot defend myself. If they find me, I'm certainly dead!\\, he began to think. The more he listened, the more he began to panic. //I'm going to die for certain! This is not how I wanted to die! I didn't want to die like another nameless soldier! This was not the fate I wanted! I DIDN'T WANT TO DIE IN A WAR!!!\\ The fear became too much. Still lying in his own blood, the soldier threw his head back and screamed. It was a chillingly terrifying scream. A scream that was savagely earsplitting and panicked. It echoed. It echoed on through the valleys, and seemingly...through space itself... -------- Kiyone Makibi awoke to a loud, startling sound. Jolting awake, she laid there for a second, trying to find the source of the noise. Looking over on the table next to the chair that she had draped her GP uniform on, she heard the persistent beeping of her GP-issue watch. By the fast rate at which it was beeping, Kiyone could instantly perceive that the incoming call was important. Outside the small studio apartment she shared with Mihoshi, the sky was still dark, and at least three hours away from daylight; adding to Kiyone's frustration, as she hated having to wake up so early. Sighing, she sat up and, reaching over to the futon next to her, nudged Mihoshi sternly to wake her. "Mihoshi? Mihoshi, wake up, we're getting an urgent call," Kiyone groggily urged. Mihoshi snored sharply in response and rolled over, oblivious to Kiyone's nudging. Kiyone stood up slowly, stretching as she got to her feet. As she stretched, the long nightshirt that draped loosely over her body did little to compliment her slim figure. Yawning, Kiyone began thinking about exactly what had woken her. //That noise. That sound that woke me up. Couldn't have been my watch, the blasted thing's too quiet. It sounded much more primal...almost like...a scream.\\ Yawning again, Kiyone drifted slowly over to the table where her watch rested and scooped it up in her hand. Pressing a button on the side of the watch, a small holographic message was displayed with the time and source of the call. When Kiyone read the source, she gasped. "Mihoshi! Get up quickly! We're getting an urgent call all the way from Megami!" Kiyone shrieked. Startled by her partner's shouting, Mihoshi suddenly sat up awake. "Megami? Isn't that your homeworld, Kiyone?" Mihoshi asked drowsily, rubbing her eyes. "Yes, now will you hurry up!?" Kiyone shouted again, already getting dressed as she barked out commands to Mihoshi. As she hurriedly got into her Galaxy Police uniform, thoughts began to surge rapidly through her head. //What could it be!? What could be so important as to summon us all the way to Megami!?\\ Tenchi Muyo! c Anime International Company (AIC). Licensed by Pioneer Animation, Inc. & Viz Communications. All Rights Reserved, or as otherwise directed by them. Created by Hayashi Hiroki & Kajishima Masaki. Dragon Ball Z c Bird Studio/Shueisha, Toei Animation. Licensed by FUNimation Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved, or as otherwise directed by FUNimation. Created by Akira Toriyama. This fanfic is not meant to infringe on any copyrights, it is simply here as a fan's tribute to the Tenchi Muyo! and Dragon Ball series.