After the not-so-appropriate gesture, Shen exited the Galactic King's office. Launch, beside him, hid her face with her hands, feeling more embarrassed than the man himself.
In the hallway, they rejoined with Jaco, who was back to his old self. "Yo! So what's up? Did you join our organization? How did the talk with the king go?"
"It went well, but what do you want from us?" Launch said, needless to mention she was uninterested in his antics.
"A rude way to speak to a super elite, but whatever. Listen, I've just been told through my headsets to look over the two of you for a while. during this period i am to help and guide you... Aren't the two of you happy about it?!"
Unlike the girl who was unamused, Shen was impressed by Jaco's enthusiastic personality, not sulking or angry about the minor setback he had faced earlier by the same pair of humans who he had now been assigned to.
Having already forgotten about the insignificant embarrassment and moved on.
The two guys; stared at each other, eye to eye, understanding the other's sentiments. "Haaahahahaha!!!" Shen began to laugh, a second later Jaco getting the hint joined in.
One alien, one human, got a hearty laugh together. The girl failed to understand the humor.
After the laugh, Shen said "You're a funny one. True, we are so honored at you teaching us that we may cry right here... So, what we waiting for? let's go!"
"hmm agreed, no point standing here!"
.
.
.
Over the days, the three of them—Launch, Shen, and Jaco—traveled to different planets and regions of the galaxies to complete various missions, ranging from unfolding scamming rackets, capturing robbers and drug smugglers, to stopping terrorist schemes...
Those tasks were almost too easy, so not worth mentioning.
However, the same couldn't be said for the predicament the group was facing currently. Even to Jaco, it was by far the most difficult moment in his entire life as a galactic patrolman.
In the vacuum of space, their ship was enveloped by a humongous shadow, darkness obstructing the view from the transparent windows. Looking up, two massive objects loomed above them, glowing in the vast deep space.
Suddenly, the two balls moved. There was a slight moment just now, then again like the eyes of an enormous creature, its pupils shifted positions.
"Didn't I warn you we shouldn't come here? Look at that monstrosity... We're done for if it sees us!" the cowering voice of Jaco came from behind the front seat, when in fact he was supposed to be handling the ship.
"Now it's too late to keep complaining. We're already here," Shen plainly remarked.
Launch also agreed. She added, "Yeah! Jaco, you wimp. We have to deal with it. That's the mission."
"Look at the situation we're in! How can you be so confident? I know the two of you are strong, but even if it's the both of you..." The experienced patrolman halted and then went on,
"All those who have ever partaken in this mission have either failed miserably, or worse, died miserably. That's without exception. In its path of destruction, this menace has doomed planet after planet. Countless lives have fallen victim to its rampage."
Zooming out from the ship, more and a little extra more; one could thoroughly witness the ginormous creature in its entirety.
It looked to be a squid, obviously not your normal one, but a space monster, about the size of a large asteroid, capable of wiping out civilizations. This monstrosity was quoted by many as the titanic Cattura (A/N- original creation).
"The reason we chose this mission is precisely because it is dangerous. Until now, very few patrolmen have dared to accept this challenging task. With danger comes thrill and excitement. Experience is also gained in the process... So believe me, we will complete this mission—even if the cost is, we lose you in the process. Now, give us the oxygen mask."
"Huh? wait, what did you—Not so fast. You went on to say something very dangerous in the end portion there, didn't you?"
"Minor details. Don't worry about it."
"Hey, don't skim over it as if that's a very normal thing to say."
. . .
"Oi! Quit ignoring me!!!"
Yet Shen still continued feigning ignorance. "Don't get stuck in unnecessary details. Hurry up, there's no time to waste. Thankfully, that monster, hasn't noticed us yet," he said in a hushed voice.
"Tch, fine! Do as you please. If I die here, it's on you." Jaco swore under his breath. "Why, even though I was against it, do I have to risk my life like this?" Though he said this, he was maneuvering the space ship to Shen's desired location.
At the same time, he clicked a button on the ship's control panel. After he did so, a square hidden space, likely a locker was revealed near the entry of the ship. Shen noticed this. "Launch, let's go. The masks are ready."
The pair of Earthlings put on the masks kept prepared in the locker. It was the latest transparent face covering, composed of a thin outer layer with insides containing a liquidly gel-like substance.
Additionally, at the back of the hidden locker was some kind of red button, which when pressed by Shen, activated some sort of mechanism.
Gradually, the heavy door of the ship slowly slid open as harmless white smoke leaked from its corners. Still, the procedure wasn't complete. There seemed to be yet another door beyond the first one.
Shen and Launch, not particularly astonished by this, normally stepped onto the area in the middle of the two doors. Simultaneously, the first door behind them closed, the same as it opened.
They were seemingly trapped between the doors. This was an intentional quarantine precaution to prevent air from getting sucked out when the main door was opened in the vacuum of space.
Now, in the cold of space...
[Launch, we will communicate telepathically like this from now on until we defeat that oversized squid.]
[Roger!] Launch nodded at Shen's suggestion, her mouth not moving an inch. It was convenient to have such a skill.
[By the way, it sure is cold here.] Shen commented.
[Bear with it.] the girl plainly replied.
[Well you obviously wouldn't know what it feels like when you can regulate your temperature with magic.]
[Then do the same with your own psychic powers. You must be able to do it, right?]
[That's... That is surprisingly a good idea. Let me try.]
Shen immediately focused his mind on it. 'Psychic powers are a relatively underutilized and mysterious power in the Dragon Ball series, comparatively less fleshed out than Magic or Ki.'
' I'm sure the time manipulation that one of Frieza's top men uses is also a kind of psychic ability. Not only that, the powerful mercenary, Hit, from Universe 6, also uses this same power. possibly I can also awaken those kind of powers if I train hard enough on this path...'
Having such thoughts, Shen tried harder to create a sort of barrier around his body—something like a thin shield that would separate himself from his surroundings, for his skin to minimize direct contact with the cold deep space and preserve his body heat from dissipating.
Shen concentrated, and after a while, he managed to attain somewhat of a successful result. An invisible armor that had a faint sizzle blanketed his body. the man was naturally pleased with the result, Launch shared this feeling with him, congratulating him. [ Great, didn't i tell you.. i knew you could]
Following the small achievement the pair started to inspect their target extensively.
As a consequence of its size, the squid didn't notice the puny humans. The two of them also didn't carelessly get up close to it, so as not to alert it of their presence. Only from a distance would they observe and fight when the time was right...
Inevitably, that right time came, promptly commencing after the two were done devising a simple strategy.
Launch was the first one to make a move; streaks of darkish electricity zapped from each of her palms, colliding against themselves...
Its glowing eyes certainly were useful, but playing an even bigger role were those small hair-like follicles which it was entirely covered in. Actually, they each were individual tentacles.
Those innumerable tiny things functioned as its sensory receptors that, not unlike antennas catching radio frequencies, detected any change in its surroundings.
Clearly, there was a caveat, as had the tiny things been properly functioning as they were supposed to, the intruding galactic patrol ship would have been detected long ago.
Therefore, the condition was that, for the tentacles to reliably serve their intended purpose, the squid needed to be actively trying to detect potential threats. If not, the scope of its detection capabilities was compromised, limited only to its immediate vicinity.
Due to the lack of any serious threats posing harm to it on a regular basis, it had become habitual for the squid to remain in a relaxed state, and so it was the case right now. It wasn't readily expecting any change in its laid-back atmosphere.
However, to its surprise, a strong shock of electricity woke it from its drowsy mood. The switch had been pressed to the active mode, yet right now, it was hard for the creature to act upon the information it was receiving.
The thunder didn't stop with a single strike. One after another, its body was bombarded with heavenly tribulations...
[Takes this, takes this, and this—this! Wahahaha!!] Like a maniac, the girl hectically threw lightning after lightning, yet the squid wasn't just going to take it all in like a champ...
Having already located its target, it raised one of its tentacles and lunged the long, slimy thing toward them.
This forced the girl to stop her rampage and avoid the attack.
Immediately after the two had just avoided one large tentacle, two more rapidly came their way from different directions. The large suction cups in the front sections of its tentacles pulled people in like a vacuum. A slight mistake could be dangerous. Those things barely missed the two humans.
[Launch!!] Shen telepathically called to the girl, and with slight amusement, he asked, [So you still want to engage this monster by yourself??]
[Oh, shut up... Fine, you can join!] the normally stubborn girl responded, a little sweat dripping from her forehead.
[A good judgment... I will distract it, you just focus on attacking.]
[Understood!!]