Chapter Forty-Three, Part Three

The ravenous light of the Great-Ape's ki blast faltered as it touched Etrigan's ashen wisp of flame. Pulled into the fire, as if by a terrible gravity, the blue-white beam vanished against the slow progress of the Demon's attack.

"Unless you regain yourself, this contest is superfluous," Etrigan followed his miniature flame through the air, a casual approach toward the ape's enraged face. He danced around the mindless fists that came his way and shook his head. "But you refuse to listen, so there's nothing more to discuss."

The Demon swelled in size, until he stood a head taller than Goku's changed state. His taloned fingers snatched out, wrapped around the ape's wrists. A subtle squeeze, a twist that brought an ominous creak of bone. Panic and fear flickered through the beast's reddened eyes.

"Your body is strong, but physical might can only go so far," Etrigan increased the pressure, until the Great-Ape's legs dropped from under it.. Ki filled its mouth, but the Demon planted a knee into its jaw. "You might consider removing this beast from your repertoire."

The Great-Ape shook its head, dazed by the Demon's blow. It struggled to reset its feet, but Etrigan planted a second knee into its wide gut. Air whistled from the ape's lungs as it toppled back, arms released as a taloned hand grasped its throat.

"Sleep now, my little primate," Etrigan pulled his fist back and flashed his teeth. "Do this again, and I'll have to amputate!"

Thunder sounded as Etrigan's knuckles pressed into Goku's skull. The aftershock rippled through the ground, contained by Merlyn's spell before it did any real damage to the planet. The Great-Ape's eyes rolled back, lost to white as it began to shrink in size. Foot by foot, it lost height and fur, until an unconscious Goku took its place.

"Gather him and the wounded woman, we'll treat them both on Garnib," Merlyn walked through the air and squinted around the battlefield, until his gaze fell on Thaedus and Allen. "You're welcome to join, though your injuries can be dealt with by the symbiotes in your bodies."

"That woman is a prisoner of war…" Thaedus' words faltered as Etrigan turned his shark-toothed smile in his direction. "I'll send Allen along to keep watch over her… once she's healed, I expect her to be taken into custody."

"We shall see," Merlyn shrugged and motioned to Allen, his other hand already occupied with the creation of runes. "Come, Cyclops, my time is more valuable than you can begin to imagine, and my Master has finally returned."

– – – –

"It looks like Merlyn is off-world somewhere," Dan scanned the surface of Garnib and shrugged his shoulders. He would likely be back soon, and it gave him time to summon his latest rewards! "System, begin the mass summon… now!"

Bright light filled the space around him, the regular herald to a system activation. Five craft manifested from the void and Dan realised his mistake. Four of the five were shaped like sailing ships, clearly not prepared to appear in the cold grasp of space.

Biofield extended, he wrapped all five of the ships in its grasp and accelerated toward the planet below. He scanned the decks, where some startled crew gazed at the open heavens in horror. Hopefully no one would be permanently damaged by their brief exposure.

Only one ship was crewed by humans, and it was this vessel that held Dan's gaze as he lowered four of the ships into Garnib's ocean. The fifth was settled onto the beach behind him, almost forgotten as Dan held a red haired man's gaze. 

Dressed in a wide collared coat over a poorly buttoned white linen shirt, he was absent an arm. Dan barely noticed this casual appearance as a wave of mental force followed the man's gaze, straight into his fortified mind. This red haired human was a predator, powerful beyond most beings Dan had encountered. 

"Who are you?" The man's voice held a compulsion, a command to answer promptly and with the truth. He shifted his gaze to the icy shore, a frown on his lips. "What is this place?"

Dan resisted the unusual mental force and ignored the man's question as he inspected the other ships. One black sailed galleon had a crew of skeletons on her upper deck, while a familiar human was imprisoned in her brig. A second, larger ship carried an even stranger crew. Half men, half sea creature, they clicked massive claws and vicious teeth as they examined their surroundings.

The last two he'd summoned were more technologically advanced. One still had the shape of a standard sailing ship, covered in a thick layer of monstrous hide. Below this defensive layer, energy weapons bristled from turrets while a blue glow emitted from thrusters at her rear.

The final ship was the only one to resemble a 'standard' spacecraft. Rounded metal over a rusted frame. A blue skinned man stood on the bridge, an arrow in hand as he ordered the men around him to ready their arms.

"Yondu…" Dan smiled at the man through the hull of the man's pirate ship. At least he'd drawn one group with some experience in galactic piracy. "The others are still good, at least the ones I recognize…"

The Black Pearl and its sometimes Captain, Jack Sparrow. The Flying Dutchman, crewed by the damned. Even the Saucy Mare, something from a television show he'd all but forgotten. Dan's gaze returned to the one armed red-head. He could name the other ships, or their captains, but this fellow eluded him.

"I asked you a question…" the red-head's voice battered against Dan's mind with more force, unable to make its way past his mental barriers. "Who are you, and where are we?"

"My name is Dan-EL, the one that summoned you here," Dan lowered himself through the air, until he hovered face to face with the overbearing pirate. "As for where you are… this place is another world, far removed from the ocean you once called home."

"Summoned… another world…" The man tilted his head, frown even deeper on his face. "What if I wished to return home? Would I need to defeat you first, or will you simply let me go?"

"I'm afraid that if you were summoned by me, then you're considered dead in the world of your birth," Dan laughed as the man's pressure doubled, a weight that attempted to bend his knees. "But, IF you're willing to serve, I can promise to help you find your way back home."

"Dead?" another member of the man's crew burst into a round of laughter, echoed by the others within earshot. "What in all the oceans could kill our Captain Shanks?"