Bustin' Makes Me Feel Good (x20 Gravity)

Crickets chirped in the unkempt growth surrounding an old, dilapidated home. The wide, double doors hung off their hinges on the barn just a short distance away; its paint had faded to a dull orange-pink. The tops of trees rustled in the wind that swept up the path that was the narrow dirt road leading from the highway. Nocturnal hunters flew through the empty air, soon followed by the squeal of their captured prey before its life was snuffed out in an instant.

The small rumble of a lone scooter broke the tranquility of the moment. Its single head lamp shone a pitiful distance up the path, and blinded any onlookers as to the identity of its driver. None too slowly, it pulled up front of the home and drove in a tight half-circle, before its engine was cut off by the leather clad driver. She gave her eyes a second or two to adjust before stepping off from her vehicle, and removed her helmet.

Laverna stretched, her hands up towards the beautiful moon in the sky above and her tail in the opposite direction. A long, whining groan escaped her throat as she worked her tired muscles back into working order. One hand ran through her unruly hair, unmatting and fluffing it back up around her horns after it had been restrained by the helmet for so long. Her large, brown eyes turned upwards towards the celestial body that watched over her, then fell back to the home with a red gleam.

As though to match the hybrid's Saiyan blood, a great feeling of dread washed out of the home and over the landscape. It couldn't hide. It couldn't run. The fight was inevitable, and that brought a smirk to her lips as her power built, rose and skyrocketed in eager anticipation and anxiousness. An empty, hollow wail filled the air; a warning against this intruder that she must leave before blood be spilt.

The hybrid continued to ready herself slowly, and unzipped the leather jacket she had worn to reveal the white undershirt and uniform; HELL read on its front in bold red letters. Her attention then came to the watch worn on her wrist, with its extra dial turned to the roman numeral II. The extra weight placed upon her body by this device only stirred her Saiyan blood further, and she practically itched for the fight to come.

She casually stepped towards the home, sniffing the air as she did. The strong scent of the dead was unmistakable. Her footsteps fell loudly on the failing stairs that lead up the porch, but she had never reached the door before it was flung open with another loud, echoing wail that fled off into the trees behind her. Laverna grinned and bared her teeth, then returned such a gesture with her own guttural roar before diving into the home. The door slammed shut behind her again.

The poltergeist met her with a chair thrown across the room, one which she caught with a headbutt that shattered the old wood. The old floorboards creaked and gave way underneath her heavy boots, as she leapt through the air and swung with a wide left hook that caught only air. The dusty light fixtures that hung from the ceiling and walls flickered before bursting to life, and she screamed in shock and pain while covering her eyes with her arm. Another chair caught her by the waist, with its legs entangled in her own and pinning her against the rotting wall she had been pressed against.

"Leave me alone!" The voice came from everywhere and nowhere, but despite its tricks, her eyes bore down on the figure of the spirit standing at the doorway leading into the next room. The hybrid's eyes glowed a deeper red, and the spirit returned with nothing less than a glance of fear.

Laverna tore the furniture binding her apart in seconds, then leapt after her quarry in the next room. The walls shook with anger and despair, but she continued on unfazed. The rug rose up from the floor and entangled her legs once more, only to be torn and burned by the bolts of energy that flew from between the hybrid's horns. Above the spirit-made traps along the floor, she flew up the stairs to the second floor, and snatched a piece of the wooden banister off its supports as she neared the top.

A large dresser was flung at her at the top of the stairs, which was broken apart with a loud crash. Her vision obscured by moth-eaten fabrics, the hunter flung her weapon down the hall, and was rewarded by a scoff and a wail of pain as the walls of the home shook in anger. Another bolt of energy burned away her veil, and she resumed the chase with a look of reckless abandon and glee in her red eyes.

In the narrow hallway, she deftly avoided the first door to fling open by its own power, but crashed through the second without losing any of her momentum. It was the third, then fourth barrier placed in her path that slowed the hunter, and gave the spirit the opening it had needed to mount its counter attack. Its death wail rung out again in defiance of the one who sought to impose the rules of the afterlife, and a great wall of force rolled down the hallway. She lost her breath for the weight that struck her, and was pushed quickly towards the wall to her back. With a loud cry, the Ogre fought against the spirit's might, but was unable to stop herself from colliding with the wood paneling, then through it and into the open air outside the home.

Here, the poltergeist's power faded, and she righted herself to float gingerly outside and watch as the hole patched itself with the remains of the ruined furniture and banister. Laverna breathed, and picked the shards of wood from her hair for a moment. Her tail coiled and flexed anxiously, but she needed to think and process what she had learned. The spirit was bound to the home and wouldn't- or couldn't leave. This much seemed clear, at least.

"Poor thing." Her voice cooed in honest pity for the deceased, despite the venom of rage and excitement that dripped from her tongue. Again, her gaze was pulled upwards, towards the light of the moon that fell down from above. Her breathing quickened for a moment, until she controlled herself with two deep breaths and tore herself away from the heavens. "I'm sorry, but this isn't going to be pleasant." She called out a little louder, then grit her teeth and clenched the muscles in her abdomen as her power rose again.

Inside the home, the spirit gazed curiously through a window. Its home no longer intruded upon, some semblance of sanity had returned to the featureless figure. However, whatever this moment was, it was short lived as its rage built again, just as the hybrid careened towards its home with her horns lowered.

Laverna closed her eyes and let her other senses guide her, as the world around her turned to chaos. Filled with the sound of splintering wood and the spirit's wailing, the air around her turned from cool to warm to cool again as she exited out the other end of the home. She landed in the dirt and spun around quickly, and flew again as fast as her power would carry her. Like a red wrecking ball, she crashed through the foyer and kitchen, and landed outside again. The spirit's wailing only grew louder now.

"Stop! You're ruining it!" The spirit's cries fell on deaf ears. The hybrid turned around again, and again and again, she tore through the home with the weight of her body. Before long, the old home creaked and struggled to support its own weight, and the spirit's agonizing wails had drowned out all other sound from the surrounding woods.

The hybrid yelled loudly enough to rival the spirit she had hunted, and dove for the home one more time. This time, her aim was towards the central support in the middle of the structure. If the spirit had no anchor to draw power from, she thought, then it would return more easily. So, she flew, her horns boring through the old, rotting walls and splitting the beams with ease. However, she had never reached the central most support, before the weight of the water heater pulled from the basement struck her and sent her rolling across the floor.

Rage and grief both hung heavy in the air. When it was she was able to open her eyes again, the spirit stood over her, twisted and change by malice and holding up the metal cylinder to strike her again.

She grinned, as her blood boiled in her veins, and instinctively tried to sweep the spirit's legs out from underneath it with her own. Such a tactic was bound to fail, of course, and her momentary loss of control cost her another blow to the head, one which ruptured something and lead to the smear of her own blood across the side of her brow. With rage filling its featureless face, the spirit swung downwards again, but much to its surprise, the hunter's hand had caught its weapon before the metal could reach flesh.

"Not bad!" A brief giggle rose from beneath the water heater, and the spirit's weapon was wrenched from its grasp and tossed aside as Laverna leapt to her feet and tackled it. It wailed again, and hollow fists were brought down with untold emotional weight, but she persevered passed the heavy blows against her back. She growled, and though the walls around them buckled and sought to hold the spirit in place, where it was safe and comfortable, she pressed and pushed and made her slow progress with it caught in her arms.

"Let go, dammit!" Laverna screamed, practically pleading with the deceased as her boots dug into the wooden floorboards as they splintered ever further. However, the spirit wouldn't let go. This was its home. This was where it belonged. Rage drove it to act, and one of its fists came to the unsecured tail connected to the base of the hybrid's spine...

She yelped, loudly and in obvious pain as the sensitive appendage was pulled. However, while her blood carried within it Saiyan genetics, she was far removed from that particular weakness. Her power leapt dramatically, and a heavy headbutt into the spirit's collar stunned it, then her fist followed with another blow. Then another. The third was enough, with the unbridled power she had conjured up, to remove the spirit from its place, and the translucent figure was launched across the room and out one of the holes she had opened up in the side of the structure.

The hybrid acted quickly, and leapt upon her quarry with a loud roar. Her eyes filled with rage and strength, and despite the spirit's objecting pleas, she ran with it. She ran out of the building with its throat in her grip. She threw it to the ground with a quaking force, and planted her boot on its chest.

Behind her, the home quivered and shook, and eventually, succumbed to the damage that had been dealt. It fell, to a pile of rubble that filled the air with dust and debris and fond memories.

The spirit wailed ever more, but its source of strength was gone. Underneath the hybrid's foot, it struggled in vain as its body shrank and weakened. However, the feeling of its hand on her tail was still fresh. The hybrid scowled and lowered her head. A faint line shone from her brow, from between her horns.

The bolt tore through the weakening spirit with ease, and her job was done. Laverna breathed, and though her heart still pounded away in her chest, she did eventually calm. Her brown eyes returned to the sight of the ruined home, and brimmed with some regret. It had been a beautiful home, she thought.

Such a shame...

By the time that mortal law enforcement had come to investigate the noise complaints and made their report, she had gone. The job was done. The deceased had returned to the afterlife, one way or another. As the morning sun rose on the stretch of highway, the hybrid peered at a roadside diner with idling hunger.

Gravity Trainig x20. 2,084 word count.