Dragonball M, Chapter 1: Silent Menace Aproaches!

[Tami]

“Makes sense. You’ll have to tell me about your home someday. It wasn’t one of the planets I visited during my brief time in space.”

"Maybe someday, maybe when it's safe to do so."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"Flight can be addictive, but it's a little too easy. Walking gives the body more exercise than flying, and without physical exercise, you can't make enough Ki to power your flight."

"Physical exercise won't be an issue," she answered. Especially not when she started to train on her own. She had plenty of ideas for different techniques she wanted to develop, and there was no better time to start than tonight. She could practice those techniques until she got them down pat, while practicing flying until it became second nature. "We tend to train nonstop," she clarified.

[The Chou Lives]

“ I am just wondering, where is our next location?”

[rhyvurg]

Hearing all this talk of flight and auras, Adam takes it upon itself to prove it's innate superiority. It reconfigures into a blob, then bit by bit carefully molds into an elongated shape, one end much thicker than the other. The 'tail' blooms into a small propeller, and a much larger one forms on top of the main bulb. Thus, it has become a helicopter. The rotor begins to spin, followed by the tail, and slowly, shakily, it rises off the floor...then wobbles and overcorrects, spinning wildly and flipping end over end to crash, or rather splat, into a wall. "Perhaps...lessons would be preferable."

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

As she listened, a look of concern and uncertainty crossed her face. There are those who relish sympathy and company at times fo pain or loss. then there are others who prefer isolation, prefer to be left alone to work things out on their own. Meagan couldn't quite figure out Isthar, so for now she would give her space to deal.

But first, Meagan went over to speak briefly with her, "Isthar, if there is any way in which I can be of assistance to you. Please do not hesitate to ask."

Ishtar did not know this one well enough to recall a name. Yet her actions spoke enough to glean an understanding of the woman. She had managed a defense of sorts, with discs of multi-colored Ki. A boon in the wake of the assault launched by Ninlil, and their own... acquaintance. With a weak nod, the Oni signaled her acknowledgedment.

"Thank you."

Jinzi nods and places the arm within a Capsule.

“Whenever you wish it, Ishtar. Now then, I believe Koorimaru is speaking with Ninlil now. Why don’t we go over there and find out what’s what, hmm?”

"Lead the way."

[The Dog]

“Theoretically, they and Adam could fly. Their energies are similar enough to ki that they might have to try harder, but it’s all about the application of energy and manipulating it. They can do that in spades.”

"Well, as long as they can create the equivalent of a Ki Aura, then I can show them how to manipulate it for flight."

"So we could learn to fly? Then I'll definitely need a cape if I can learn to fly, because flying always looks more awesome with a cape!" Midori said giddily, practically bouncing with excitement as she spoke.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Hearing all this talk of flight and auras, Adam takes it upon itself to prove it's innate superiority. It reconfigures into a blob, then bit by bit carefully molds into an elongated shape, one end much thicker than the other. The 'tail' blooms into a small propeller, and a much larger one forms on top of the main bulb. Thus, it has become a helicopter. The rotor begins to spin, followed by the tail, and slowly, shakily, it rises off the floor...then wobbles and overcorrects, spinning wildly and flipping end over end to crash, or rather splat, into a wall. "Perhaps...lessons would be preferable."

"You'd think he'd learn from other people's mistakes," Sarada muttered.

[The Chou Lives]

Hearing all this talk of flight and auras, Adam takes it upon itself to prove it's innate superiority. It reconfigures into a blob, then bit by bit carefully molds into an elongated shape, one end much thicker than the other. The 'tail' blooms into a small propeller, and a much larger one forms on top of the main bulb. Thus, it has become a helicopter. The rotor begins to spin, followed by the tail, and slowly, shakily, it rises off the floor...then wobbles and overcorrects, spinning wildly and flipping end over end to crash, or rather splat, into a wall. "Perhaps...lessons would be preferable."

: Loooks over his work.: “ Rwally creative, extremely so much kiddos. You’ll made yourself really complex in shape though with balance. You could do a easier job if you really did so, focusing your energy into a hemisphere that repulses your body off the ground and keep it in flux by pushing off ground. It would be easier if you made yourself into a cannon ball if silvery Death. As I think that would be a easier shape to maintain a center of balance. As that center is your push which equals lift. Speed is pushing away whichever direction you wish body wise and less push, younland.”

Before all this Chou never trained. His power level, was his naturally. The tricks he did was by reading and understanding, or seeing others do it and copy.:

: Did not want to bring that up now as everyone hates him.:

[Lord Falcon]

The machine. The Truth?

It might have meant more to Ishtar at another time, to muse about the possibilities contained within this machine; one who had traveled with her as the Oni had moved with singular intent. What she spoke of now was ... passing strange. She did not recall an attempt to assuage the flesh during the trek across the ruined floor of the GeoFront, simply the conversation with Nunlil and the painless loss of her arm in the other Oni's defense. And while she had been unsure of Asha'rah's purpose before, she had not believed the ... thing, capable of deceit for no other reason than to simply deceive. Yet ... there had been an opposition to the light this day.

Ishtar knew well what that meant.

The Oni appraised the expressionless mask that was Asha'rah's face a moment before nodding. She had not the desire to beat around the truth, avoiding the lies she was incapable of speaking. And what of it, if this one knew ? It mattered little in the end.

"Creation. Destruction. Opposites, truly. Yet and still they exist as two halves of the whole. You touched the truth of me, Asha'rah. At least the half of it." Though, if this ... machine manipulated the Truth itself it couldn't possibly be that she was simply an automaton. No, no.

"You are more than simply an automaton seeking purpose, Asha'rah. This much is known, now."

Ishtar claimed Asha'rah had touched the truth of her. Half of the truth. Asha'rah had tried to create, and had been met by the opposite. Destruction. Hakaishin. Destruction lay within Ishtar, and had opposed Asha'rah's light, creating "balance" in an imbalanced body. If destruction was just half of Ishtar's truth, then what was the other half? Perhaps they were more alike than either had realized. She also acknowledged Asha'rah as more than a simple automaton, but this came as no surprise. None of the androids here were simply automatons, not even Adam. But Asha'rah had long sensed a history in the night sky.

Why did Ishtar's Destruction feel almost familiar? Asha'rah must have encountered it before. No, wrong, more than that. Such answers lay deeper. She was already different for having touched that truth of Ishtar, subtly so. Had ripping that thief's testicles off truly been an accident? Yes, yes it had, she concluded after a moment. But she'd do it again. Something to meditate on.

"If I was rejected by Destruction, then perhaps if I was met with your other half I may hope to create what was lost."

She turned briefly to the robotic prosthetic that lay on the table before returning her gaze to Ishtar.

"That is, as always, if you desire it."

It would not be easy. From what little Asha'rah had sensed before being reflexively rebuffed, Ishtar was not simply an oni either. If she had lost more than just flesh, creating a hand that was truly hers would require a forging of a different order of magnitude than what was usually required.

[Tami]

"So we could learn to fly? Then I'll definitely need a cape if I can learn to fly, because flying always looks more awesome with a cape!" Midori said giddily, practically bouncing with excitement as she spoke.

"Before you get too excited, you need to try to access your Ki or whatever energy you use and then see if you can control it enough to surround your body with it as an Aura. If you can do that, I'll show you how to fly with it."

[Tami]

“ I am just wondering, where is our next location?”

"Jinzi will let us all know soon." Meagan replied, then she went back to the others.

[Lord Falcon]

"Sister says wisdom is word dumb people use to make comman sense sound special. So that mean Erosa brim with Comman Sense!" Erosa flaunted proudly.

"Even monk who want nothing still want. Only time you want nothing is when dead. You give up on want, you stop life. See....See....you want lot of things. Erosa proud of......Erosa proud of Ashi'ruh." Erosa Beamed. "Ashu'rhi can pet Erosa head whenever want...like living should."

Asha'rah laughed heartily, her orbs bobbing in time with her 'breaths'. Erosa was cute, and funny, and in a strange way it gladdened Asha'rah that the Id was proud of her. When she was done, she reached out and tussled Erosa's hair affectionately.

"Your sense is one of a kind, Erosa."

Was that the first time Erosa had tried to use Asha'rah's name? Yes, yes it was. She obviously wasn't used to pronouncing it, but the effort felt special.

[KamenRaida]

Ninlil shrugs.

“He does not speak of them. Only that once he awoke another sealed away, she would deal with Kami. I never met this other one, but once Kami was entranced, I saw her and took her form and read where her last location was. This I was able to arrive here.”

The myriad possibilities danced their way across Koorimaru's mind. If Fife's only gambit in this situation was to play on the group's sense of altruism by threatening Kami's life, the fact that such a course of action would lead to the downfall of his own ambitions meant there was little for Koorimaru to worry about. After all why he might have arrived here for the Room of Spirit and Time, it was the Dragon Balls themselves that might be able to rid him of the Shimyakugan's time limit.

But, there was a reason why it was Kami who was the Guardian of this planet now, and not Fife. And if that transfer of responsibility could be performed once despite the protestations of the other, who was to say that this being could not do the same?

"I suppose if Fife had been so tight-lipped about this information, it would be too much to ask how he intends for his new ally to 'deal with' Kami. Although your Fife seems to be stretching himself out quite significantly. I can't imagine that he intends to ignore Battersea's tourney, or the Red Raiders attempts to claim the Dragon Balls. I would ask what his plans are concerning those, and where Fife intends to unseal his new ally."

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

An obvious question deserved an obvious answer. Only after she spoke, did he remember he dimly recall her mentioning something about her inability to lie. Not that there would have been any point. Even for one as stoic and reserved as the Oni, it was plain to see that she had seen better days.

He went silent for a moment, connecting Ishtars words. Her antiquated manner of speaking would have taken a moment for the Nevadian to parse under the best of terms, but with his focus fragmented like this.....
"So, that was you who placed that barrier..." He said, eyes downcast, after a moments realization, "If it wasn't for the ki that I could sense surrounding me, I would have wondered if I had imagined your presence."

So it had all come down to Chou's lack of composure in the heat of battle, then. He did not think the Oni the type for sarcasm, or understatement, but that was likely the very limits of that type of expression for her. She had all but confirmed it with the hollow ring of the word 'acquaintance' that had come from her mouth.

That blazing explosion that threatened to engulf those who surrounded him.
The Nevadian had retreated to a safe distance, and between Ishtar and Karine's protection, he had escaped the brunt of the blast entirely. He had been so focused on Karines safety--and so confident of Ishtars defenses--that he had never actually considered the possibility of her neglecting that defense to save the others.
And himself.

"I'm sorry, Ishtar." He said, shamefully, realizing how his overconfidence in her had led him to neglect his friend much longer than necessary. "My skills would have been of no use to you, but had I known you were injured, I would have been there, at the very least."
Almost belatedly, the Nevadian added, "...But why did you protect....Ninlil?"

It was more of a reflex, than a well-thought question. No sooner did he realize it should have been saved for another time, did he realize the words had already escaped his mouth.

The reasoning was lost on the Nevadian. Was it some bond that members of the same species shared? The Nevadian would not take any pleasure in dispatching his own, to be sure, but he would have little qualm about doing it in the heat of battle, if they so earnestly sought to decimate him. And given there seemed to be some tenuous connection to Chou's manifestation, and herself, there was at least a dark implication looming.

"Actually, that's not really important." He added hastily. She was barely able to put on a shirt, to ask her to explain her decisions in the heat of battle, was the wrong way to handle things. It was not her decision that had brought them to this point, merely saved them from even steeper consequences.

The words before, attempts at comfort.
While she could appreciate the attempt, there was no changing what had transpired; and so Ishtar simply chose to ignore it. Held had asked a question of her before stumbling over himself, however ... and it was one she could answer, at least.

"We spoke, as I crossed the field. Ninlil. An Oni sealed away for untold years, freed by the fallen Kami to aid in his conquest. Yet I sensed no malice in her when she spoke of what she did. She was simply offered a chance to remain free; and so she took it."

Ninlil, an Oni who like her, had been displaced. And while Ishtar had left willingly, Ninlil had been banished. Yet in the end their paths had converged to here. And even though the woman had assaulted them all, she had done so in the belief it would secure her freedom.. And in a way, perhaps it might.

Even more however... There was a balance in this reunion... and one the golden-eyed Oni clung to like a lifeline.

"I would not deny her a chance at freedom."

"...Huh?"
He was caught offguard, flat-footed.

His spear? The Spear was an object close to his heart, to be sure. A sacred relic of the Yunikon Tribe of Nevada, one had been entrusted with it as a symbol of his prowess as a warrior. It indeed was a great gift, and a greater honor.

But surely, the honor wasn't so great that he would have so easily left the Oni, going to find a place of proper worthiness to place his weapon, only returning when his--and it's--pride has been satiated.

The very idea would have been pathetic. His concern for such things was so minor that he could scarcely bring himself to think it worthy of response, as grateful as he was for her selfless consideration of him.

"...Your sword?"

He thought back to the battle with Miras, Ishtar and her blade shattering the barrier that had house her, as if it has been nothing more than glass. And in return, her blade apparently had met a similar fate, perhaps during Chou's eruption.

Had Held been even slightly further away as they spoke, perhaps he would have missed the hint of concern on her face, as she asked her question. Even where he was, he was not entirely sure he was not reflecting his own emotions into the situation.

"No, I haven't spoken to Chaun since this morning." He explained, "Although, I am sure he is taking great care of what remains. He's certainly proven himself to be reliable."

An expression of concern grew deeper.

"I could get it for you, if that is what you wish, but....."

He stumbled for a moment, still unsure of how to approach the situation. Perhaps her sword occupied a similar position in her heart to that of the Nevadians spear. He could appreciate the sentiment.

And still.

"Perhaps such things can wait? Forgive me, Ishtar, but you should rest. It's been a long day for all of us, you most of all."

Ishtar shook her head.

Chuan had offered his shirt, and stabilized the woman- along with Ochazuke- before departing for whatever task next called him. And now the boy spent his time in the company of those of a more ... jovial, bent.

Understandable.

"No, Chuan does not have it. It was left where I was first struck down." A pause, as the woman struggled to form the words necessary to explain.

"That sword... Means more than the planet we now stand on."

She shook her head again, then, when the man mentioned rest.

"Rest will not return my arm, or salvage the already tenuous bonds that were snapped here today. Will it?" She asked, because in truth she did not know.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Jinzi nods and places the arm within a Capsule.

“Whenever you wish it, Ishtar. Now then, I believe Koorimaru is speaking with Ninlil now. Why don’t we go over there and find out what’s what, hmm?”

"Lead the way."

Sarada noticed Jinzi leading Ishtar away to see the other Oni. She followed them so she could get her kill once Ishtar asked all her questions.