Deep in Neptunian space a large war ship called Dreadnought is in high orbit above a purple gas giant that is orbiting twin stars. Inside the ship, there is a large mostly empty cargo hold with giant support beams everywhere and thick steal platted walls. The only thing breaking up the heavy steel construction of the bay is a cargo door big enough to let small space craft in and out, which takes up most of one of the walls and on the opposite wall an over sized personnel door. Inside two warriors stand motionless facing off against one another, on opposite sides of the bay, staring menacingly at one another. One of the warriors is Vaughn a Ryūjin male standing 180cm tall, with long jet black and stark white hair, lean incredibly toned physic, tan skin that is lighter than normal for a Ryujin, 6 small horns that stick up threw his hair 2 of which are broken, a line of dragon scales running down his arms and long pointed ears. He is wearing tight fitting black stretchy pants and matching top with no sleeves, green boots and a green sleeveless jacket. The top and pants have wear marks on them from where there would normally be weapon holsters but nether fighter has any weapons on them. The other fighter Barak is a stocky Neptunian standing 174cm tall with smooth light blue skin and classic Neptunian dark blue markings all over his body, bulky muscles, short spiky brown hair and ears that look similar to fish fins. The Neptunian is topless, wearing only baggy white full length pants with a long red tied belt and grey shoes.

The very moment Vaughn’s eyelids start to move to blink, Barak takes off charging at Vaught who an instant latter does the same at Barak mid blink. Once they are a third of the way across the bay, aura bursts out of their bodies as they leap at one another. Barak pulls his right arm back and Vaughn his left, both take a big swing at one another. Their fists meat in the middle of the room, with a boom they hit creating a shock wave of aura. As they fall to the ground together they swing with their other arms, again their fists clash with a boom and shock wave of aura. As soon as their feat hit the ground they each spring back away from the other and fire consecutive aura blasts. As the blasts collide between them, they explode in bright bursts obstructing their vision, some of the blasts manage to make it through the sea of explosions only to get knocked away by aura charged hands, sending them off into the walls and roof where they explode. Vaughn stops blasting and moves to a defensive posture, looking around to see where Barak will come from. Barak bursts out of the cloud of aura made by all the blasts, getting right in Vaughn’s face punching him in the gut so hard it makes him bend over. Vaughn counters by grabbing his forearm with both his hands and spinning around before throwing Barak like a hammer toss. He smashes into the far wall back first arms and legs out like a star. Vaughn runs at Barak who pushes his torso away from the wall with his hands so he is at a 45 degree angle when he fires twin aura beams back to the wall to launch himself at great speed. The two collide once more; furiously attacking one another with an unending stream of punches and kicks, changing targets with every attack trying to find and opening in each other, neither gaining ground on the other.

“Warmed up yet?” Barak jests.

“Are you?” Vaughn questions as he takes a deep breath, preparing to activate his Ryujin Warrior form.

Aura starts to swell around his body as his muscles get larger, his horns grow larger, skin next to his scales turn to scales and all his skin starts to glow with aura. A smirk comes over Barak’s face as he kicks his shoes off before he shifts into his Hulk form. His height increases by 30%, his bulk increases by 400% and his skin colours switch, now dark blue with light blue markings.

Vaughn is the first to attack, he blitzes around behind Barak kicking him in the back, Barak unmoved turns around jabbing at Vaughn. Barak continues to attack Vaughn with powerful punches, forcing him to use his superior speed to dodge the attacks rather than block them. Charging his foot with aura Vaught leaps into the air kicking Barak in the jaw causing his head to snap sharply right as blood spits from his lip. Without looking Barak grabs Vaughn’s leg and throws him sideways into the wall to Barak’s right. With a deafening bang Vaughn hits the wall sideways getting the air knocked out of him. He picks himself off the ground and takes a deep breath before firing a large aura blast at Barak who casually lifts his right hand blocking the blast with the palm of his hand. Aura explodes out of Vaughn as sprints after his attack, surprising Barak by getting so close, he then starts to pummel Barak who tries to counter attack but is just too slow now that Vaughn is pushing his form this far. Barak surprises Vaughn by firing an aura blast from his mouth giving him just enough of an opening to land one good punch of Vaughn knocking him back. Barak exhales as he starts to shift into his Speed form, his skin returns to normal, his body becomes slimmer than his base form, his feet grow longer as his legs snap creating a new joint giving him legs like that of a dog.

The pair charge at one another at blistering speed, they exchange a furious flurry of punches, blocking, dodging and countering until Vaughn breaks the deadlock by getting an uppercut to land on Barak’s chin sending him flying high up to the roof. He flips mid air planting his feet on the ceiling, now 5 stories up, he launches himself of the ceiling hurtling back towards Vaughn he shifts back to his hulk form tackling Vaughn into the ground so hard blood spits from his mouth. Vaughn with his hands already charged blasts Barak off of him before springing into a back flip back onto his feet. They charge at one another again, the ground shaking beneath Barak’s feet when they hear the personnel doors open and jump back away from each, as a tall Variant male with mid-length blond hair, walks through. Vaughn looks at him furiously; raising one arm he sends an aura blast at the Variant.

“You were told not to interrupt Goran!” Vaughn shouts as the blast flies through the air.

Goran counters with a blast of his own; the two attacks hit mid air, exploding with a small bang.

“It’s important, Krystal has requested a favour.” Goran says looking at Barak.

“Well in that case, I will be right with you.” Barak says to Goran.

Barak shifts into his aura control form, his body returns to its base size, his arms get longer, his forearms swell, aura begins to visibly flow around him making a light glow, the makings on his skin grow larger connecting to one another and start to glow bright blue.

“Oh no you don’t!” Vaughn shouts throwing his arms down. “Aaaahhhhhhh!”

Vaughn shifts to his Ryūjin Rage form, his aura begins to change to a deep, blood red colour as his skin begins to glow red. Aura starts to flow out of his body with such force and volume that is looks like he is on fire and his scales start to crack and bleed, he continues to push the form to its limit, as he reaches the upper limits of his power he brings his hands up to his chest forming a circle in front of his heart, spreading his legs into a bracing stance.

Barak makes fists with his hands and holds them at his waist as waves of aura run down his arms into his fists creating incredibly dense aura around his hands. Barak thrusts his hands forward, bringing them together, palms touching as he yells “Moeru yari” sending an aura beam at Vaughn.

Vaughn keeps his hands in a circle as he throws them forward yelling “Tamashī no taihō” as he sends a counter aura beam back at Barak. The two beams clash in the middle of the hanger creating a concussive shockwave, pushing Goran back out the door a step. The two poor every bit of power into their attacks that they can muster but Barak has a slight upper hand, as his beam slowing pushes Vaughn’s back. With one last push Barak’s beam engulfs Vaughn, slamming him back into one of the heavy support beams, creating a 30 degree bend init.

“You two really need to learn how to take it easy. You are going to destroy the ship one of these days. One of my repair guys is going to need to fix that now.” Goran says shaking his head.

“No chance.” Barak responds.

“Sorry Vaughn, looks like you will be the Prince’s body guard again.” Barak says insincerely.

“You mean baby sit him. I swear, if that man grabs my ass one more time, I don’t care how much his dad is paying us, I’m breaking his arm!” Vaughn says annoyed.

“Fine, but if he sends the royal guard after you, it’s on you.” Barak replies laughing.

“Whatever, those maggots could not hurt me even if I was asleep.” Vaughn says confidently, pushing past Goran on his way out.

“So what help does Krystal need?” Barak asks.

“She is wants to borrow one of our combat shuttles to take on a mission.” Goran answers.

“On a mission? She retired years ago.” Barak says puzzled. “Prepare Black Lightning and have her fully stocked for a long voyage. You will have command of the ship while Vaughn and I are gone.” Barak orders.

“Right away.” Goran replies.

Next Chapter: Chapter Five: The Green Brothers