The sky was black, bordered with a dark green and blocking out any chance of sunlight spreading itself over us.  The wish was being made, that much was certain, but the only part we didn’t know was:  Who was getting wished back?

            When we’d flown off of Sky Palace, Kami had no idea who was to be wished back, and neither did the rest of us.  Now, almost half an hour earlier, the wish had been made, and still we had no clue who’d be coming to aid us.  Whoever it was, their help would be greatly appreciated.

            So we stood there, just behind a small group of rocks and boulders, the lights of the Western Capitol glimmering dully in the darkness.  Nikita was the only one out in the opening in front of the rocks, all alone in the giant open field Kami had designated as the drop point of the Caprians.

            I could feel the spaceship of the Caprians grow nearer every second, and with every passing moment, the giddiness I felt in my stomach grew larger.  I was never nervous going into a fight, I’d been in too many for that, but I always got butterflies in my stomach, there was just nothing I could do about that.

            As we waited we all concentrated on pushing down our power levels, to such a level that the scouters the Caprians possessed wouldn’t pick us up.  We were doing a good job actually, if I hadn’t been right there with everyone, I probably wouldn’t have been able to pick us up.  Still, the feeling grew.

            “Nervous?”  Arsenia asked.

            I wasn’t looking at him, so I didn’t know he was speaking to me until I looked him in the eye “Uh, not really.”  I stammered out.

            “Good.  There’s no place for that here, not now.”

            I nodded, and Gideon interrupted both of us.  “Shaddup guys, they’re here.”  Everyone turned to face him, and he pointed straight up towards the dark sky.  We all looked up, and we all saw a bright yellow streak race across the sky, starting off in the south, and gradually moving towards our position.  We all stood up, and turned to face the approaching menace.  The feeling in my stomach was shattered, replaced with a feeling of anticipation and even a little pleasure.

            Almost as soon as we’d turned to look out into the sky, the black wall that’d consumed the heavens faded away, the wish had been made.  No sooner did the sky colour return to the normal blue though, then it was set aflame by the crashing spaceship.  It was on us in less than a second, rocketing in a brilliant blaze of blue, red and orange flame.

            The ship connected with the ground just a few hundred metres away from where Nikita was standing.  The impact rocked the ground with such force I was almost blown off my feet by the impact.  I managed to keep my footing throughout the crash, and protect my ears from the bang from the collision.  A wave of dirt, grass and rock was hurled violently from the epicentre of the crash.  Luckily the rocks we hid behind blocked out most of the debris, but dust had saturated the air, invading my eyes and causing them to water.  I brought my hands up to protect my face, but was mainly unsuccessful.  I wanted to just make an explosion of ki to destroy all the dust near me, but that would give away our position, so I restrained myself and took it like a man.

            After a few seconds, the filth and various other items settled back to the ground, the shaking stopped, and we all fell dead silent.  We all backed up against the nearest rock formation with the least possible sound emitted.  No one dared move a muscle.  We weren’t really scared (I wasn’t anyways), just excited by the task ahead of us.  I guess that’s why Kami and Krillin had chosen us; we weren’t scared by new challenges, just thrilled by them.

            Karnai was on my right, and Gideon on my left.  Both of them seemed calm and relaxed, in fact Gideon even offered me a weak smile to lift my spirits.  I tried returning the favour, but just couldn’t manage it, too tense I guess.  The only sound that could be heard was the light breathing of the two beings beside me.

            We waited for almost two minutes, just standing frozen in place against the rock, no one moving or speaking in the slightest.  Gideon broke the silence, bending over to me and whispering, “Kennard, I need you to climb up the rock and take a peek at what they’re doing.”

            I nodded, took in a deep breath, turned around and began climbing the rock ever so slowly.  It took me a few seconds, but I reached the top without a sound.  When I scampered onto the upwards-sloping top, I remained flat against the ground and crawled slowly to the edge.  Once I’d arrived at it, I slowly pushed my eyes above the rim of the rock and peered out into the open field beyond.

            The first sight that caught my eye was the spaceship.  It looked to be over 500 metres long, and at least 100 metres tall, like a miniature skyscraper.  It was designed in the basic oval shape reminiscent of the old Freeza empire flagships.  It was capped with a small, silvery dome at the summit of the ship, which I assumed was the bridge or main viewing area.  There were no clear exit areas or doors, or any open spaces yet, which meant they hadn’t left the ship.

            As big as the ship was though, the crater it had created was even larger.  The impact had made an incision in the Earth at least 400 metres deep, with a diameter of a kilometre and a half.  Parts of the crater and the ground surrounding it were in flames, giving off a less than pleasant smell I could whiff from nearly half a kilometre away.

            After surveying the actual ship, I looked around for Nikita.  She was pushing his power signature down like the rest of us, but not to the extent I couldn’t pick her up.  She was standing just a few feet from the border of the crater, covered in soot, dirt and dust thick enough to make her blonde hair dark brown.  She looked like a little kid who’d been playing in the mud for a few hours, it was actually quite humorous, but I didn’t have time to enjoy the absurdity of the situation.

            Nikita and I both waited patiently, staring at the huge round object in anticipation.  Nothing on the ship moved for the longest time, like it had been derelict for hundreds of years, so I was about to crawl back down the rock and report to Gideon.  Suddenly though, there was a huge blast of steam out of one of the vents I hadn’t seen on the side of the ship facing Nikita.  Then a crack appeared near the base of the ship, and I realized it was a hatch, slowly opening up.  After five seconds the door opened completely, revealing nothing but a cloaking blackness inside the ship. 

The lack of light within the ship didn’t prevent me from sensing the beings within though.  I felt ten of the Caprian beings residing just behind the blanket of black.  I squinted tightly, zeroing in on the open doorframe, just waiting for them to make an appearance.  They didn’t disappoint either.

            Out stepped the first of the Caprians, a tall, red-skinned individual with long blue hair, sort of like Jeice from the old Ginyu Squad, except taller.  He wore a new brand of armor unlike Nacran’s group had.  It followed more of the Freeza style armor; a black base, with yellow “ribs” spread across the torso and kneepads, and basically a thick black cloth everywhere else.  Contrasting heavily with the red skin of the individual it gave him an almost comic look.  He had a green tinted scouter on his left eye, which was displaying numbers in some foreign language, most likely Nikita’s power level.

            The Caprian took a few slow, definite steps forward, slowly surveying the landscape for a few seconds before coming across Nikita and locking his eyes on her.  Once he’d cleared the door sufficiently, another figure stepped out.  This one was the exact opposite of the first.  Instead of red skin and blue hair, it possessed almost transparent blue skin and a ruby red mane.  It was slightly shorter than the first, but most likely they were related, they had very similar looks, and identical clothing.  The second ones face was slightly thinner and its chest was much larger, so I assumed it to be female.  The pair slowly took position next to the door, one on each side, their eyes fixated on Nikita throughout.  Once they’d planted themselves next to the door the third being came out.

            This one was far more imposing than the other two, which was quite a feat.  It was far more humanoid than the other two, with lightly tanned skin, spiked blonde hair, and a build that went far beyond any of the Z warriors’.  He must’ve been at least 8 feet tall, shoulders a metre across, and a huge head that looked the size of my torso.  His sleeves were cut off just below the shoulder, showing off his tree-trunk arms.  His legs seemed so big they had to rub against each other every second he walked.  His power was nothing to mess with either; by my account he was the strongest being so far.  He moved much more quickly than the previous two, almost jogging a few metres ahead of the door and pressing his blue scouter in order to get a reading on Nikita.

            As soon as he exited, four other creatures sprinted out of the darkness of the ship and into the bright morning sun.  All four of the beings looked remarkably similar, and then I realized they were Kalandrilians, a sort of insect/reptilian race.  They had elongated craniums with small pink dots on their teal skin, armor identical to the first two beings, and three fingers and toes on each appendage.  The Kalandrilians had previously been some of the front-line grunts of Freeza’s army, and when Yoorabit came to power later, they jumped ship and became grunts of the Caprian army.

            The four of them took up defensive stances behind the gigantic third entity.  None of them seemed to take notice of Nikita at all; they were far more preoccupied with the surrounding landscape, like they somehow knew we were planning an ambush.  It was when I saw this I realized how smoothly they all moved.  It was like a well-greased engine, running in complete perfection without a single word.  Compared to these guys our group looked like a bunch of schoolyard bullies.

            I chuckled, but was soon cut off as another being peered its ugly head out of the spaceship.  This one had obviously seen its share of battles.  He was obviously of the same race as the huge warrior as he had the same size and facial definitions; but you could tell just by appearance this guy had had several near-death experiences.  His face was scarred badly, with what seemed like fire burns permanently etched into his skin.  His armor (obvious mementos) were nearly torn to shreds, and seemed to belong to a much older model, almost before the Freeza empire.  He walked with a slight limp, and you could almost feel the pain he felt with each step, it was shown in full detail on his face.

            This one gimped over behind the four Kalandrilians, looking out into the sky.  I could still sense two more power levels inside the ship, so I didn’t bother to report to Gideon yet.  After a seemingly eternal wait, the last two beings stepped out of the ship.

            The first one was the only true Caprian of the group.  His skin was purple, his head large with the telltale two horns of the Caprians.  He looked nearly identical to the (second) most notorious Caprian, the old Captain Ginyu.  His armor clashed with his skin just so it gave him a dark and menacing look.  His face was set grimly, like he was permanently grieving a loved ones death.  After he stepped out of the way the final person inside the ship came out.

            As soon as I laid eyes on him, a strange feeling of nostalgia hit me, like I’d seen him somewhere before.  It took me a few seconds before I realized whom it was.  Zarbon.  The right hand man of Freeza for countless years had been seemingly re-incarnated.  This last being looked exactly like Zarbon, facial features, build, everything I remembered about Zarbon from my time in the Room of Spirit and Time was matched by this last person, right down to the jewellery and armor.  I stared in awe at the most recent addition of the group, unable to tear my eyes away.  Soon though, his aura overpowered me, and I realized that this man must’ve been Yush, the one Kami spoke of.

            I found it kind of humorous that there was only one true Caprian in the entire group, and yet we referred to their army as “The Caprians.”  I guess Yoorabit was that powerful, so much so that every other species was fearful of his power, I really didn’t want to meet him.

            I told myself to get off that rock and tell Gideon what I’d seen, but something held me in place, something that didn’t want me to leave just yet.  My eyes drifted to Nikita, who was staring down the huge warrior that stood in the front.  Yush walked up slowly beside the gigantic mass of muscle and whispered something into his ear.  The big one pushed the side button on his scouter a few times and Yush backed off to behind the four Kalandrilians.

            When the power reading came out on Nikita the large one laughed loudly and chuckled out in a deep, roaring voice, “100.  That’s all its at Captain Yush, a pathetic 100.”

            I watched with interest what Yush’s response would be.  It came a few seconds later.  “Who’s our weakest man Blanka?”

            I stored the name of the big one away for future reference as he replied “Private Diamond.”  Yush just nodded in some sort of signal.  Blanka bellowed “Diamond, step forward.”

            One of the small Kalandrilians approached Blanka and shouted, “Yes sir!”

            Blanka just nodded off in Nikita’s direction and said quietly “Kill her.”

            A smile spread across the face of Diamond, and I thought I heard him reply “With pleasure.”  With that he cracked his three knuckles on each hand and slowly began approaching Nikita.  I thought she would immediately fly away and force the others to follow, but instead she stood her ground as Diamond stepped nearer and nearer.  “This is going to be too easy.”  He said with a grin the size of the Western Capitol on his face.

            Once he got within five feet of her, he suddenly sprang, shooting forward with lunging fist.  Nikita dodged with one of the most graceful manuevers I’ve ever seen.  As the fist and body of Diamond approached the femme fatale, she arched her back in reverse and let the fist fly over her torso and face.  Diamonds momentum carried him even further, until his entire body was centred over the curved form of Nikita.  Right before he regained control of his body, she flung her left leg up and planted her foot viciously into his stomach.  I saw the air rush out of his body, but even I didn’t have time to relish the attack.  She followed it up less than a second later with a roundhouse from her previously grounded right foot.  The kick landed straight on Diamonds cheek, sending the Kalandrilian flying at a hundred miles per hour into a small boulder almost straight across from me.

            When his body connected with the limestone surface of the rock, it broke the top of the stone clear off, halting Diamonds flight pattern.  Nikita landed back on the ground a split second after the collision with all the noise of a dead cat.  Instantly all the Caprians eyes went wide with shock at Nikita’s quick combination attack.  I almost laughed at them for thinking that she would let her true power show so quickly.  I knew Nikita was probably nearing a power level of 15,000, so that meant that Diamonds was probably near 10,000 or so.  From what I could tell, all the Kalandrilians power levels were near the same, which meant they would be no problem at all.

            Blanka licked his lips at the thought of the new challenge presenting itself.  Yush didn’t seem overly surprised; more like he knew it was coming.  All the others just stared at Nikita in anger and injured pride.  After a few seconds, she really blew their chops.  She flipped the big bird to them in all its glory, right at Yush’s face, and then she proceeded to laugh her brains out.  I smiled; she was doing a good job.

            Almost instantly all the Kalandrilians and the older version of Blanka shot off after Nikita, as did the red skinned (male) of the pair of twins.  Nikita just crouched and as all the Caprians reached her, she shot off in a blast of white ki.  The five that had gone after her all crashed into the ground she’d previously occupied, causing a huge explosion and a new crater to be formed.  Nikita sailed away at her fastest speed, but it wasn’t nearly fast enough.

            The “real” Caprian zanzokened out of view almost as soon as his associates had failed in catching Nikita.  He reappeared directly in front of the female warrior before she’d even covered a hundred metres.  She was forced to stop in her tracks, and vainly flung a fist straight at the Caprians face.  He easily caught it in his left hand, and with his free one punched Nikita extremely hard in the stomach.  She retracted her outstretched arm, and coughed up a small amount of blood.  The Caprian was unfeeling though, and brought both his hands up and then down on Nikita’s head.  The blow propelled her down to the grass below at a suicidal rate.  She clashed with the ground in a violent cloud of dust and blood.

            When the smoke cleared she was lying unconscious, her clothes torn, her mouth covered in blood and her ki signature faint.  The Caprian remained high above her, his hand extended palm-forward, a small energy blast forming in his hand.  My heart tensed up, and then shot up into my throat.  I couldn’t scream out to get his attention, so I did the next best thing.

            I think I incinerated the rock I’d been resting on with my ki as I shot away from my starting point towards the Caprian.  He caught sight of me right before I was upon him, but he was far too surprised to protect himself.  With all the speed I’d built up and the strength I threw into the attack, the fist I struck the Caprian with was possibly the most powerful attack I performed that day.  It connected with the right side of his jaw with such impact the sound echoed for several seconds.  He must’ve been thrown a good kilometre and a half before his body made contact with a slanting rock face that shattered apart with the collision.

            I quickly dropped down next to Nikita to make sure she was all right, but I didn’t have any time to check, all the baddies who’d first attacked Nikita were now zeroing in on me.  I dropped into my fighting stance in preparation, and I caught Gideon and the rest flying full speed towards me out of the corner of my eye.  I realized that I’d just given up any chance of a sneak-attack, but if given the choice, I would’ve done the exact same thing.  There was no way I was going to let Nikita get killed, not now, not when everyone needed one another the most.

            So as the approaching onslaught came nearer, a feeling of eerie calmness swept over me, and I knew I would be prepared for anything these damn Caprians would bring.