The Cycle of Death, and Rebirth: Nothing Gold Can Stay
In the months that followed the relocation of Tatenen, Ishtar had not been idle.
Her first priority had been the task of explaining -- and introducing -- the Elemanti to their new home and patron, Nevanlinna. So once the introductions to the Archon had been made, the two women made the trek to each of their tribes. A process that had taken several weeks, and had gone quite well as the tribes, all eleven of them, had taken to Nevanlinna with an endearing amount of naive curiosity. The only downside to this curiosity being that, as the first of her species that any had ever seen, the questions they had for her bordered on endless. To Nevanlinna's credit however, she fielded each and every one with the grace, and aplomb one might expect from proper royalty.
After the questions finally trickled to a stop, the Elementals satisfied and Nevanlinna wholly exhausted, Ishtar turned her focus toward the restoration of Tatenen's satellite. With Illargi destroyed however, there was no restoration to be had regardless of how potent the energies of Vaikuntha were. A dilemma that found itself the focus until a solution from Nevanlinna herself was offered:
Simply find a new one.
A thing that was rather simple in hindsight, and yet one that had been overlooked in favor of, perhaps, trying to restore Illargi to life with the Dragonballs. With the much simpler, and much faster alternative in place however, it was simply a matter of selecting a suitable candidate. Something that was similarly easy given how well-traveled Ishtar was; and in no time at all a candidate was selected from a list of adequate moons; and one in particular stood out: [url= https://img1.goodfon.com/wallpaper/nbig/3/83/planet-fantasy-colorful-sci-fi.jpg]Hellenia[/url]. Once, it had been home to a species Satyr-like creatures, though in the years that Ishtar had stood upon its surface the once-verdant world had suffered a series of volcanic upheavals, leaving it little more than a smoldering grave-world. A perfect choice for relocation, and once it had been approved -- something that did not take long at all -- it was only a matter of acquiring it.
Though given the progress Ishtar had been making since coming into her Mother's boon, it did not take as much out of her to repeat what had been done with Tatenen.
With that done, and finally free from pressing obligations now that the Elementals were safe, with their new home along with its satellite were in the process of mending; the next thing the Oni prioritized was ... attempting to mend [i]herself[/i].
She was not, however, prepared for it.
The things she had learned from Zurvan, and Shek'hinah, about her past and how she came to be were not simply an obstacle to carefully navigate. They spanned far further back than simply a few thousand years, all the way back to the moment she was conceived, and the truth these things offered would change everything she had thought she'd known about herself. So when she dropped the barriers, and dredged it all up from the depths in an attempt address them ... move past them. She couldn't, and the more she labored to, the more she attempted to put one foot in front of the other and simply forge on ahead; Ishtar could only keep circling back to a single question. One she began to fixate on, as the realization that her whole live had been artificially constructed based on a future [b][i]others[/b][/i] wanted for her; and as much as she recalled them saying she could simply renege ?
She realized that they had all known that was impossible. Which mean that the question, the one she had long-thought she had discerned the answer to, after accepting ... choosing, who she needed to be, was now something she was no longer sure of.
[i]Merely a puppet ...[/i]
It was this uncertainty, along with the other things she had learned -- pertaining to magic, and how it was perhaps influenced by things beyond the veil -- that began to haunt her; and quickly overwhelm what barriers she managed to erect in an attempt to compartmentalize and press forward as she had done so many times before. She began spending her nights sitting up and not in her lover's embrace, as she attempted to reconcile these thoughts ... it until the strain of it all caused the golden-eyed Oni to simply pull away entirely, hoping that seclusion would afford her the space and time to mend, or at the least compartmentalize. Yet ultimately, it failed; and when Sarada stepped in, unable to simply sit by and watch as the Oni she loved began to spiral ... she failed too. Her reassuring words, and attempts to literally beat sense back into Ishtar doing little more than accelerate the spiral. So Ishtar simply shut down, and unable to stop herself herself to be consumed wholly by the uncertainty she now felt, the nights without sleep became weeks. With no signs of improvement, and no answers -- from either Sarada, or those close to her -- the downward spiral seemed endless. Which became a free fall, once she realized that thanks to the Aka Manah, what she was suffering was being shared ... putting a monumental strain on Sarada's own shoulders.
Nearly driven mad by this, and everything else, it reached the point where Ishtar simply could not take it anymore. The urge to flee, as she had after the destruction of Illargi consumed her, and she simply knew she could not remain. Not here, on Vocado, or on Earth ... or in this Universe at all, until she had found a way through this. So one night she made the decision to do just that. Though even as sure as she was that her presence had become little more than a burden, and leaving the Universe behind until she could mend the fragments of her now fractured psyche; Ishtar did offer Sarada [i]something[/i] before she fled:
A simple promise. One the Oni sealed with a soft kiss ... before vanishing into thin air as if she'd never existed at all.
"I will return, Sarada ... I love you."
Master of Mystical Martial Arts
Avoca flew East, passing over seemingly endless miles of barren land. She wasn't sure if anything had ever been on this world. That diner back there apparently was a figment of her hunger-stricken imagination; yet, she felt as if she had just eaten two days worth of food in only a few hours. If her naturally high metabolism wasn't already burning through it, she would have felt like ****.
[i]It's all the same,[/i] she lamented silently. Maybe this was why those other three people never came back – they all died of boredom after flying around this empty, barren rock for what seemed like days.
[i]Hm? What's that?[/i] About five hundred feet up ahead, she spotted what looked like a man standing on top of a mesa. He was alone, unsurprisingly. As she got closer, she saw that he had a tail. [i]He's a Saiyan![/i] Meaning he must have been the second of the three. Either that or she was about to run into an insane person.
She landed on the mesa, about forty feet behind him. “Hey!”
He didn't answer. His back was to her as he seemed to be gazing intently on the valley below them.
She sighed tersely. “Hey, jackass, I'm talking to you!”
He turned his head slightly and scowled. “Another to challenge me. Very well.” Without another word, he turned his head and continued looking at the valley. “Try again.”
“Try agai--” Before she could finish, an intense pain shot through her torso. She doubled over and fell to her knees, gagging and gasping for air. It suddenly felt like she had just gotten the wind knocked out of her, but that was impossible. He never laid a finger on her!
As she wheezed, she heard him chuckle.
A soft growl escaped her while rising to her feet. “Why you!” She dashed toward him. Her fist reared back, intent on striking him square in the back.
Suddenly, she found herself hurtling uncontrollably toward the atmosphere at such speed that she would soon by flying into outer space if she didn't do something and quick. She gathered as much power as she could and expelled it in a bust of air pressure to act as a counter-force to her ascent and stop herself.
Her chest heaved from heavy and deep inhales. “Just what the ****?” He still hadn't moved at all, at least not from what she could see. “I'll show him!”
She roared and powered up. She was so much more powerful than him; the last two times were just lucky shots, without doubt. Speeding over to him, she unleashed a torrent of strikes that were far too fast for the much weaker Saiyan man to see, much less dodge.
Or, so she thought.
He parried several. Those that he wasn't in position to parry, he dodged with ease. Those that he couldn't dodge or parry, he outright blocked without budging an inch. His movements were fluid, like water or even air itself. Every time she seemed to get him in a bad spot, he somehow worked his way out and had her tied up in a knot.
She growled and shot back. “Take this!” She fired a massive energy blast the size of the entire mesa at him.
As it hurtled toward him, he seemed indifferent. Certain death was nearly on him, yet he made absolutely no move to move out of the way or otherwise defend himself. Then, at the absolute last possible moment, he raised his hand and flicked the blast away with his finger.
Avoca's blast flew over the horizon, where it exploded.
“Impossible!” It just couldn't be real. This guy was nothing compared to Avoca. His power level was down right pathetic. In fact, she was pretty sure it couldn't have been any higher than five. He was...
It suddenly dawned on her.
She hadn't been fighting any average, run-of-the-mill Saiyan man.
This was the legend. The greatest Saiyan fighter their race had ever known.
[url=https://i.imgtc.ws/KGYAGpe.jpg]Beatz, the Legendary Fighter![/url]
Beatz, like Buffet, was a mystery. His origins had been disputed several times over. One consensus was that he was born to low-class parents and developed some kind of disease that prevented him from gaining strength. This led to him having a power level of only 4. He was assumed to have lived prior to the age of the Meat Market, thus why he wasn't made a slave.
No one really could explain how his skilled passed over into the mystical. Some said simple training, but no amount of training could replicate his supposed feats. Whatever the case, one thing was certain: he lived up to the legend.
“So, you understand now?” he inquired when she didn't attack for some time.
“Tch,” she grunted. “This shouldn't be possible. Your power level is so low.”
“Power levels are nonsense,” he retorted gruffly. “Saiyans have become far too reliant on numbers to measure fighting prowess. Everyone should know that no number can truly measure a Saiyan's might. And that power without skill is nothing.”
She could have retorted that skill without power was also nothing, but he disproved that long before she even had the thought.
“Now then, what will you do?”
She frowned. She couldn't just give up, not after coming all this way. Parsley believed in her, and she didn't want to let her down and return a loser. But, Beatz was impossible. No matter how much she powered up, she couldn't even lay a finger on him.
[i]I think I'm going about this the wrong way.[/i] She was trying to overpower him and it wasn't working. Perhaps she needed to try matching him skill for skill.
She breathed out and let her power fall, plummet to dangerous levels no sane person would even consider. It dropped until she matched his, four.
Like this, she felt weak and feeble. Also, incredibly slow. “Alright, let's go!”
Beatz smirked and chuckled. “Now you're getting.” He suddenly sprinted upward, literally running on thin air. He was actually running on the bundles of air molecules and using them as steps to reach her. She herself was having trouble even staying in the air, and was in no position to actually stop him.
Was it one punch?
It felt like hundreds, but he only actually threw one. Maybe it was the air pressure from that single punch that was hitting her. Or maybe it was more of his mystical martial arts bullshit. Either way, it fucking hurt and knocked her out of the air.
Her eyes cracked open and beheld standing in midair. Standing, not floating. His arms were crossed and he was carrying a disappointed look on his face. “Is this the best the Saiyans these days have to offer? Pathetic.”
She pushed herself up into a sitting position. “Tch! I'm not the one who can't even fly. You're pathetic, not me!”
“Oh? Then if you're so powerful, why haven't you laid a finger on me?”
She had no answer. If there even was one, it eluded her. She was faster, stronger, more powerful than him. By all logic, she should have turned him into a smear and a memory with one punch. She didn't get it, and it showed all over her face.
“Still confused, hm?” Beatz shook his head and slowly walked down toward her. “You depend too much on power. So much that you ignore your skill. Until you accept that as fact and are prepared to do something about, I can't teach you. Move on, woman. Brocado is waiting.” He stopped when he was fifteen feet above/away from her. “North.”
He was gone, vanished without a trace.
Avoca groaned and rose to her feet. Her chest, torso, and back her killing her. She was pretty sure she had at least a few broken ribs. “Ugh. Why did I agree to this ****?”
Brocado, the final legend was waiting for her due North. That was fine. Only one problem.
“Fuck, which way is North?”
You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost: Part 5
Steam erupted from Sasheem's pores, a plume of blue smoke forming over him as he erupted like a humanoid volcano. A wave of ki surrounded him an the Snake Mistress' body, expanding outward in a circle. It collided with the various crates and construction equipment stacked on either side of the warehouse, eradicating anything it touched. The floor began to crumble as Sasheem erupted into a roar.
Lao looked over to his mage, panicked, "Hurry, you fool, the Mafuba!" The Mage barely registered his employer's words. He stumbled backward on his feet as the wave of ki began to increase in speed, a bright, white hot blinding light flashing before his eyes. All he could think to do to stop it was hold out his hand and continue to feebly cast the Mafuba properly before it was too late.
"Ma--Mafu..." the mage stuttered, before realizing, to his horror that his hand had vanished. The pain was delayed, but upon this realization he began to scream...and then he was no more.
"No! NO! Everything that I've built..." Lao shook his head furiously, the searing wave of ki before him. "It can't end this WAAAAAAAAAAAY!" he screeched as he too was blasted apart. Soon enough, the entire underground warehouse save for the area Sasheem and the Snake Mistress stood in had been destroyed and the fountain it lay under crumbled and caved in much to the surprise of the startled park goers.
The wall of ki had dissipated, and Sasheem stood breathing heavily, his anger not quite subsiding but slowly becoming more tempered. It was a brief ping on anger, instant, not boiling. He'd never acted so rash since absorbing P-Sta but the thought of her dying again was enough to stir something he hadn't quite felt in his entire existence. Concern over the life of another. The notion almost pissed him off even further.
But something...wasn't right. Sasheem looked above him...there was a hole in the ceiling now where the fountain had caved in, the wave of ki, demolishing the rubble and keeping him safe...but there was also...the odd blue cloud. Had...he made that? It appeared to be formed form the outpouring of steam he shot forth in anger...but now it was taking shape all on it's own.
First arms...then a head...then legs...antennae. It was clear to Sasheem that the cloud that formed before him was....himself in a way. The coloring was darker and his proportions slightly wider...but it was still him. Soon the steam faded away and all there was was another Majin, staring back at Sasheem.
"Oh...oh ****," Sasheem muttered, not quite sure what to make of this. It was him for certain, but...something was wrong. He could feel something emanating off the other him like a rotten stench, stronger than the miasma he had waded through earlier. Malevolence.
That didn't seem right...it wasn't like he felt any more like one of those stupid do-gooders on the Lookout. But the him glaring back at...himself, seemed to just lack something. Sasheem shook his head and tried to understand just what happened. Everything amped up too quickly. The two Majin continued to glare daggers into eachother for a minute. Then, without a further word....Evil(er) Sasheem took off, flying upward out of the fountain hull, towards the park.
Sasheem was silent for a moment and didn't immediately follow...instead he looked towards his mentor...but she was nowhere to be found. Did she vanish completely? Perhaps she went back to the afterlife...perhaps she had left to stop the other Sasheem. He wasn't sure, but now she was gone...right when he had more to ask of her. But he didn't even had time to dwell on that...he had to see what the Sasheem was up to.
"Hey...Hey!" The (original) Majin called up to his duplicate as he floated up into the sky to observe the park, it's patrons staring up at him, nearly frozen in place in either fear or curiosity. "What the hell is up with you anyway?!" Sasheem asked. "At least answer back, dumbass!"
Evil Sasheem merely glanced at the original, before glancing back at the crowd.
"Yeah, I think they're stupid too! Think they'd know better than to stick around after a fountain caves in, but hey! What the **** are you supposed to be anyway? Sasheem never really asked for siblings so he's half inclined to wipe you out and splatter you on the pavement here and now. But if you just stop lookin' stupid and say somethin', maybe we can come to some kinda agreement," The Majin concluded. Like sending him packing to Vocado for instance. That'd be hilarious.
The more reserved Sasheem remained silent, quietly observing the people below. He stood motionless, without so much as a single twitch...until a large group of park-goers began to hightail it, running back to their cars after apparently having sated their fill of gawking. The second Sasheem simply raised a hand, ki gathering in his palm.
"What, you're gonna kill 'em?" Sasheem asked, almost finding it amusing. "You can if you want. Just remember the stupid M-Fighters are gonna get on your case..." Sasheem trailed off, idly watching as his counterpart fired off a blast, giving the fleeing people hoping to make a quick exit, a quick end instead.
"Eh, well whatever..have fun," Sasheem shrugged. "Ain't Sasheem's problem...That is...Sasheem number one's problem," the Majin insisted. Gotta let his 'brother' know the established ranking. "Just don't make us look bad..." he stated, placing his hands in his pockets and beginning to fly off. Finding Balon was his next goal and locating him shouldn't be a problem so long.
But...
The screams of the people scrambling for cover amidst the blasts now reining down upon them was the most irritating noise he'd heard in his life. If it persisted he'd hear it for miles. But again...wasn't his problem at all.
"MOMMY!" he'd hear a voice shout. Kid who gave him cookies. Shame that Sasheem ate them all. If he had more, maybe his duplicate would stop. Maybe not. He couldn't really care less. He turned around, watching the kid run to his mother who scooped him up and stumbled backwards as she tried to run. His counterpart turned to them, raising a hand in the air.
Sasheem gritted his teeth together. ".....****. ****. ****!" Sasheem sighed heavily, wishing he had something to hit his head against as he turned around, hands still in his pocket, heading back towards his clone. The other Sasheem glared down at the civilians impassively as ki began to form in his palm once more...only to dissipate as his wrist was grabbed by Sasheem.
"Alright stupid, chill the **** out..." Sasheem said, exasperated, The Evil(er) Sasheem just turned around to glare at him. "We're both pissed off at what happened to Sensei, right? But we can't just-"
"Katchin Mode," the other Sasheem stated, his skin coating itself in the metal as he gave his counterpart a viscous headbutt. Sasheem's head rocked back, discombobulated, his eyes swirling as he let go of the second Majin's wrist.
"Can't say I wasn't expecting that..." Sasheem trailed off, his head reforming into it's original shape as he also uttered, "Katchin Mode!" and with one sudden motion, gave the other Sasheem a headbutt in return. The sound of the clashing metal reverberated loud and the shockwaves, knocked the people still in the park for whatever reason, off their feet.
"Heh...hehheh..." the second Sasheem began to chuckle, displaying an emotion other than stoic silence for once.
"Yeah, laugh it up all you want, moron!" Sasheem grinned, chuckling himself. "We both knew this **** wasn't about to end any other way!"
Legendary Super Saiyan Brosé
Avoca found north and started flying. She was still thinking about her encounter with Beatz and the point he made. She depended too much on her power and didn't make use of her skill. When she thought about it, he was right.
She would be the first to admit that she wasn't the best hand-to-hand fighter. Actually, she couldn't think of any Saiyan who really focused on their CQC skills; many preferred to work on their ki techniques. She had been spending her time perfection ki manipulation, so she had no time to work on hand-to-hand.
[i]I feel like I'm missing something, though. No way just being a martial master can let him just fucking walk on air like it's nothing.[/i] She supposed that, if she made it past whatever test or trial or whatever Brocado had in store for her, she would find out once she started training with them. If she could learn how to do even half that ****, she could start pulling her weight around Vocado.
She flew until she noticed a lone building. That wasn't really anything new. Except, unless she got hit a lot harder than she thought, it was moving. She squinted and stopped flying. “...yep. It's moving. **** me. I've had it with all this stupid bullshit.” Sighing more heavily than she had possibly in her entire life, she quickly descended.
It, thankfully, wasn't moving on its own. [i]That [/i]would have eclipsed her weird meter. There was a man under the building, carrying it on his back about as easily as she carried Parsley after an all-night bender – the woman could hold her liquor for ****. “Um, hello?”
“Yo!” came the reply from under the building.
“Brocado?”
“That's me, little bro! Just a sec.” The building shot into the air, allowing the man under it to hustle out of the way before it slammed into the ground. “What's happenin', broette?”
[url=https://i.imgtc.ws/aFC3jL3.jpg]Brocado... was a lot smaller than she was led to believe.[/url] The stories were very simple. He was a Saiyan who never stopped training and had gains the likes of which had never been seen before in mortal history. His body was supposed to be jacked, ripped to the absolutely max. Saiyan women across all worlds fantasized about meeting a man with a physique even half as impressive as his.
This... was nice, but it wasn't what she was expecting. She hoped to see muscles on top of muscles that would make her question her sexuality the first second after laying her eyes on them.
This wasn't it.
“I'm Avoca. I'm here to train under you and the other two legendary Saiyans.”
“Oh, yeah?” He walked around her slowly, eyes scanning every inch of her form. Every so often, he would poke her somewhere.
“Eep!” she squeaked when he poked her butt.
“Hrm. Your glutes are way too flabby, bro.”
“Hands off the butt, pal!”
“Huh? Flab is a no go, bro. The best physique has only 10% body fat. Any higher or lower than that is unhealthy for us Saiyans. Here, follow me.”
She expected him to lead her inside. When he instead lead her away from the building, she raised an eyebrow and followed after him.
Brocado led her about three hundred yards away from the building he had been carrying. “Okay, watch this. The perfect physique.” He clasped his hands together. “Brace yourself, little bro.” [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUhVCoTsBaM]With no further warning, he flexed.[/url]
It was like an energy bomb exploded right in her face. The force created by Brocado flexing his muscles knocked Avoca off her feet and flung her away. She landed and skidded and rolled to a stop.
The entire planet was shaking violently. The very heavens themselves trembled like newborn fawns at the absolutely force of Brocado's perfect physique. Yes, even the gods themselves took notice, nodding with approval at the almighty divinity of the Brocado.
Emerald power swirled around him like a fire as his muscles swelled to their peak.
[img]https://i.imgtc.ws/16usZey.gif[/img]
As soon as his flex peaked, it began raining. But, this wasn't any ordinary rain. The very heavens themselves wept over the beautiful sight they were blessed and privileged to bear witness to. The sun bowed, lowering just enough to be noticeable to anyone paying even a modicum of attention.
This was it. In all its majesty and splendor. This was the full, unadulterated, complete Legendary Super Saiyan Brosé!!
Avoca attempted to bear witness to this once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, but it wasn't possible. Because of the power being put out by the Master Flex overwhelmed her senses. Also, all of the blood in her brain suddenly gushed out of her nose like twin faucets. She fainted, falling back and landing on her side.
Some time passed before she finally came to.
“Still alive, eh?”
It sounded like Beatz.
“Ugh... what happened?”
“Congrats, Broheem,” Brocado said. “You survived the Master Flex. That was the last time.”
“The other three that came before you were vaporized,” Beatz explained. “By surviving, you prove that you're at least a little hardier than they are.”
Buffet mumbled something in between bites of a whole sheep. Just... an entire sheep, wool and all.
“Get some sleep and drink plenty of water, Broseph. We start training in the morning.”
She actually wasn't even sure if this all hadn't been a dream this whole entire time. She was half-sure she was going to wake up in her own bed in the morning. “Yay. Good night.” She passed out again.
Whatever the future held in store, there was no fucking way anyone was going to believe her.
Fucking ass, man.
Araxat and Killrog Part 2
Over the next few days, Araxat and Killrog spend time together. Araxat shows Killrog tricks using her telekinesis. " Wow, I never seen a Toadian do that before. That's amazing," Killrog said.
Araxat crosses her arms. " Please do not call me that. I'm not a Toadian. I'm an Intoadian, and my kind is vastly superior to those green and gold skin frogs," Araxat said.
" Wait, so you, not a Toadian? You could have fooled me. So this isn't your homeworld?" Killrog said.
"I originally came from a planet called Amperior, and 28 years ago I came here to Qacriea To help the Toadians with their population problem. A problem which my kind had already solved long ago," Araxat said.
" So, how are you going to go about doing that?" Killrog asked.
" It's a work in progress. Okay, that's enough sightseeing for today let's get you home." Araxat said.
Araxat takes Killrog home. ( The Amphintis Empire thinks I'm mad for trying to help the Toadians. I don't blame them,) Araxat thought.
( Why should I help those who slaughter and prosecute my kind in the past? Maybe it's because I believe they deserve a second chance," ) Araxat thought.
( That Replita maybe when the time comes when he's older I could make use of him in my goal.) Araxat thought.
Legendary Training Camp I
The building was a gym. A fully equipped gym, complete with sauna, shower, and full assortment of weights no less than fifty tons a piece. Avoca got the chance to become very, very acquainted with this place over the six months she spent training with The Three.
The training was difficult. The days lasted 48 hours, over twice as long as Vocado's days. It was a uniquely strange feeling, being up that long. Once she got used to the extreme difference in time, she spent her days eating, training, and sleeping. So, no different than how she usually spent most of her days.
To understand how The Three legends existed and how their abilities worked, she had to strip herself of all conventional knowledge. She had to forget everything she thought she knew about the Saiyan race. She had to forget about depending on power, and to instead depend on her mind. She needed to make her body her slave, and beat it into submission to surpass what Saiyans thought was possible. Then, and only then, could they teach her.
First was Buffet. The secret to his extreme hunger was simple. His metabolism was hyper-active, over one hundred times that of a normal Saiyan. Meaning he could eat the same amount as thousands of Saiyans and still be hungry.
It was literally impossible for her to speed up her metabolism, so she had to find a way to circumvent that. Buffet knew how; he taught her how to convert large amounts of matter into energy. The method he taught her wasn't difficult in theory, but practice took her weeks to hammer down. Her hunger hadn't changed, so eating food to gain power really didn't help her much, as her body wasn't specifically designed to hold that much power yet.
Buffet's was.
“C'mon,” he said between chews of the extra large steak he pulled from his pocket before he lesson began. “You can do better than that. Just eat it.”
“It isn't that simple,” she scowled.
“Sure it is. Just eat it.”
There was a globule of energy sitting on the ground, radiating brightly like a small sun. Buffet told her to eat it. That really wasn't the simplest thing to do. It wasn't exactly edible. She sighed. “Alright, fine.” She scooped it up in her hand and brought it up to her mouth. Like this, she could hear it humming; a sound she never heard before. In fact, she wasn't even aware they made sounds outside of however the **** someone described an explosion. Kablooie or some ****.
She sighed again and opened her mouth. It was like trying to eat a ball of gelatin. It wobbled around in her hand, forcing her to simply bite into it.
It exploded, making a kablooie noise right in her face.
“Ahahahahaha!!”
“Grrr shut up!!” She wiped the soot off her face and shook it out of her hair, then formed another blast. This time, she shoved the entire thing in her mouth. It felt like she was trying to eat fire. She swallowed it before it had the chance to explode. “Gah!”
“There you go!” He fired a blast of his own at her. “Try this!”
“Wha—” She opened her mouth, catching it, and swallowing it just like she did her own. This time, something...strange happened. Instead of feeling like she was trying to chew fire, it felt... cool. It went down a lot more easily. When it did, she felt more powerful than she had before. Not much, but just enough to notice. “Wow.”
He muttered something while chewing on a hamburger. Another blast came her way, followed closely by another.
The same thing. She caught them both, swallowed them, and enjoyed the boost in power that came with it. Buffet's lesson in turning matter to energy had been combined with her own uncanny ability to manipulate another person's ki. She was gaining power by eating and absorbing attacks.
“Aw yeah!”
Training with Brocado consisted of one thing: lifting weights. When she wasn't lifting weights, she was drinking water to stay hydrated. As she had heard countless times – until she was sick of hearing it – hydration was the key to positive gains, bros.
When she started, she could only lift around thirty tons. Each day, she focused on a different body part: legs, arms, back/chest, and even her butt. She was reluctant about that last one, since she knew that Parsley was going to throw a bitch-fit. When she tried to explain, Brocado wasn't having it. Blah blah blah, perfect fizeek trumped everything.
It was no use arguing, so she silently hoped that her ass didn't lose too much weight.
As the weeks passed and she slipped into a second nature routine, she noticed that she was getting jacked. Nothing too extreme, thankfully, but it was enough to make even her own mouth water. She hoped that seeing this new six pack and these thick thighs would be enough to make Parsley forgive her for shaving an inch or two off her backside.
“Brocephus! Lookin' good Brovoca!”
Avoca had been flexing in the mirror, admiring her new gains when Brocado walked in from a session in the sauna. “Thanks, bro. These gains are sick.”
“Damn right they are. Now, it's time for me to teach you the Master Flex.” He had her follow him outside. “When you do the Master Flex, you're invincible. It unleashes the fully breadth of Super Saiyan Brosé and increases your power to unfathomable heights. Me myself, I guess my power would rise into the tens of trillions.”
Tens of [i]trillions[/i]?! She sure as **** believed it. It seemed like the entire universe was shaking when he first unleashed Super Saiyan Brosé. Getting a boost of that caliber – even if it wasn't nearly as much as Brocado – sounded good as **** in her mind. “Alright, lay it on me. I'm ready to get invincible!”
“Slow your roll, Bromine. I should mention that Brosé is only active when you flex.”
…
“...huh?”
“Yep.”
How the... how the hell was this in any way useful?! A technique she could only use while flexing? Could she even fight while flexing?
...No, she couldn't.
****, what a useless thing... hold on. She supposed she could use this as a defensive ability. If she was invincible, then she could be a tank for someone.
Alright... she overreacted. There was some merit to this. She just needed to think outside the box a little. “Okay, let's do this.”
“Alright!”
The Master Flex was simple. She just had to flex all of her muscle simultaneously to their fullest extent. It took her a few tries, but when she got it, something amazing happened.
Her body was hard as katchin, and just as indestructible. Her muscles bulged and quivered subtly. When the Master Flex was in place, her body immediately and automatically became covered in a thin film of baby oil. When the sun hit her, she shone like a star in the night sky; the brightest, most ripped star to ever exist. The ground trembled as it bowed to her glistening magnificence.
Brocado whistled profoundly and circled around her. As he did the day they met, he poked various parts of her body. Unlike that time, there was zero give anywhere.
He grinned and gave her a thumbs up.
Lastly came her training with Beatz. The lesson he wished to inculcate on her was by far the most difficult, because it seemed impossible. Evasive Divorce was a concept that allowed the user to literally divorce their ki from their body. In other words, it would let her appear to be in several places at once, while actually being nowhere near there.
It was quite the nifty technique, if she could ever actually master it.
The preparation for it was slow and tedious. It required that she spend days meditating, for hours each day. She already had complete control over her ki, but Beatz said she needed greater than complete, whatever that was supposed to mean.
Day after day, she sat in the same spot, eyes closed and focusing very narrowly on her breathing. Breathing was the key to ki – heh – and thus the key to Evasive Divorce.
“Let your ki flow like the breeze,” Beatz would say every so often. “It should resonate through space like ripples in still water.”
His cryptic mumbo-jumbo wasn't helping any.
Days, weeks passed without her making any progress. It was frustrating, but she wasn't going to give up without at least doing it once.
One day, five months after she arrived and three months after beginning her training with Beatz, she finally got it. When she was meditating, she felt a... rift in her body and her ki. She focused on that rift, forcing a rip that tore the two apart like two halves along a seam. This created a near perfect copy of her that was sitting beside her.
Near perfect because it was red and transparent.
Beatz smiled and nodded.
“Whoa.” When she spoke, the copy mimicked, but didn't make a sound. Every move she make, it made the same simultaneously. [i]Oh, I can make use of this.[/i]
It was weird. She could feel her own power standing right in front of her. It really felt like she was in two places at once.
To remarry – for lack of a better word – her ki and body, she placed her hand inside the copy. It was drawn back in automatically.
Finally getting it right felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
“Well done,” Beatz commended. “Evasive Divorce is one of my most complex techniques.”
“Sure as **** felt like it.”
“Mm. Now then. Let's put your new power to the test.”
She nodded and stood across from him.
The training she had endured the last few months had immediate dividends. She was better able to keep up with him, far better than she could when she first tried. She still couldn't lay a finger on him, but the gap between them was a little narrower than before.
Legendary Training Camp II
She spent one more month with The Three, continuing her training with Beatz, eating with Buffet, and pumping iron and flexing with Brocado. Avoca felt like a new Saiyan. She was more powerful than she had ever been in her entire life. New skills in her repertoire had her feeling like a dangerous fighter again, someone worthy of fighting alongside Sarada and Parsley. [i]Can't fucking wait to show off my new power to everyone.[/i]
The hatch to her pod opened. Before she entered, she turned and bowed to The Three legendary Saiyans. “Thank you again for training me. It's been an honor being your student.”
“It's been real, Brovoca!”
“Yes. You've done well,” Beatz added.
Buffet mumbled something while chewing on a mouthful of whale meat. Where he got the whale from, no one knew. There were no oceans on the planet.
“Bye, guys. Hope the next Saiyan that shows up is up to snuff!” With one last thumbs up, she got into her pod and took off. Destination, home. [i]Parsley, here I come! Ah, ****! I missed our kids coming out of the pods. ****, she's gonna kill me!![/i]