Dragonball M, Chapter 2: Lighthouse! Across the Shores of Shattered Time!

[Ptrvc]

Ochazuke pushed his way forward, wading waist-deep in gnarled flesh and bones as he stepped through. Seizing one wretched corpse, he buried his fingers sharply through flesh, its sloughing liquid threatening to loose his grasp as he swung it round.

In a few moments he was free, loosed from a pile of still gagging corpses, twisting and moaning and managing only the most ineffectual movements; spasms of shattered limbs, shoulders supported by flattened ribcages, and legs dragging opposite where the head faced where crowns touched their ankles.



Seething, he at last rejoined the group proper, grinding his teeth silently as he dropped the corpse to the ground where it was summarily swallowed by the dirt.



The putrid fiends sought to absorb ki, that energy loosed apart from their forms which were animated by...something else. He had figured that out soon enough, and had relied solely on his martial skill to stave off the hordes, and though the shed blood resolved itself and falled from his person when the magic was rendered, the memory of decay yet lingered, and he would not reciprocate in speech, Ochazuke guarded from the threat of the scent falling upon his tongue.

This one atop the hill, silent behind his mask, promised answers should they follow along. With the limit in vehicles, he would reserve carriage for the injured and the vulnerable.

Wordlessly he approached Ishtar. He said nothing, and whether it was the fatigue of the battles or simply to acrid smell of the corpsed air, Ochazuke's features strained silently.In his hand he had one of the Enseiji fruits Evangeline acquired from parts only thought mythical. Perhaps it would be a familiar sight to one who tended the Hell Orchards, but for the moment he was reluctant to inquire.



Keeping track of their benefactor from above, Ochazuke took off to flight between the Biker and the capsule cars. If what he said was true, the upper levels of awareness in his Battle Meditation would only work to the contrary, for the deeper perception required he use of his ki. Still his perceptions, while limited, were no less sharp as he surveyed the landscape and took in the shape of this planet's ruin.

"Spooky, huh?" Jack asked Ochazuke, as he flew nearby. "Believe me, I would know, Eva and I visited a lot of the less pleasant places in the afterlife, and this place makes them look positively cheery."

"How has everything been with you anyway?"

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Ochazuke pushed his way forward, wading waist-deep in gnarled flesh and bones as he stepped through. Seizing one wretched corpse, he buried his fingers sharply through flesh, its sloughing liquid threatening to loose his grasp as he swung it round.

In a few moments he was free, loosed from a pile of still gagging corpses, twisting and moaning and managing only the most ineffectual movements; spasms of shattered limbs, shoulders supported by flattened ribcages, and legs dragging opposite where the head faced where crowns touched their ankles.



Seething, he at last rejoined the group proper, grinding his teeth silently as he dropped the corpse to the ground where it was summarily swallowed by the dirt.



The putrid fiends sought to absorb ki, that energy loosed apart from their forms which were animated by...something else. He had figured that out soon enough, and had relied solely on his martial skill to stave off the hordes, and though the shed blood resolved itself and falled from his person when the magic was rendered, the memory of decay yet lingered, and he would not reciprocate in speech, Ochazuke guarded from the threat of the scent falling upon his tongue.

This one atop the hill, silent behind his mask, promised answers should they follow along. With the limit in vehicles, he would reserve carriage for the injured and the vulnerable.

Wordlessly he approached Ishtar. He said nothing, and whether it was the fatigue of the battles or simply to acrid smell of the corpsed air, Ochazuke's features strained silently.In his hand he had one of the Enseiji fruits Evangeline acquired from parts only thought mythical. Perhaps it would be a familiar sight to one who tended the Hell Orchards, but for the moment he was reluctant to inquire.



Keeping track of their benefactor from above, Ochazuke took off to flight between the Biker and the capsule cars. If what he said was true, the upper levels of awareness in his Battle Meditation would only work to the contrary, for the deeper perception required he use of his ki. Still his perceptions, while limited, were no less sharp as he surveyed the landscape and took in the shape of this planet's ruin.

Ochazuke, looking at the landscape as they pass, has never seen something look so....old...before. Mara’s shrine was old, but this place......even the rocks looked ancient.

Here and there, his trained eyes could pick out the old, now defunct, ward stones that kept the dead asleep. Embedded deep into the various rock out roppings, he could almost admire the simplicity and care taken in their design and function.

Because he’s paying attention, he is the first to see on the horizon as they exit the desert Wastes and rocks to enter a flat salt bed, a city on the far skyline. One that is defiantly a ruin if he had to guess. Their new friend drove towards the city, angling at a downed roadway it seemed.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

The city is......old. The dust and debris has rusted, the metal twisted, the old signs worn down.

It’s human-ish, the architecture reminiscent of their own Earth, but with subtle differences in style and advancement. Like a weird mixture of old and new, familiar but different.

Other than the light sound of their engines, everything is eerily silent as they enter the edges of the city, their ally leading them around the outskirts instead of into the city center.

[KingofPie]

The city is......old. The dust and debris has rusted, the metal twisted, the old signs worn down.

It’s human-ish, the architecture reminiscent of their own Earth, but with subtle differences in style and advancement. Like a weird mixture of old and new, familiar but different.

Other than the light sound of their engines, everything is eerily silent as they enter the edges of the city, their ally leading them around the outskirts instead of into the city center.

Sasheem sits up in the passenger seat, a look of awe on his face. "Sasheem changes his mind...there's a chance this planet doesn't completely suck after all!" He stated, pointing towards the dilapidated buildings. "Look at that! Completely in ruins! It's almost like art in a way..."

[grampagen]

"Spooky, huh?" Jack asked Ochazuke, as he flew nearby. "Believe me, I would know, Eva and I visited a lot of the less pleasant places in the afterlife, and this place makes them look positively cheery."

"How has everything been with you anyway?"

High above the field now magically purged of rot, Ochazuke felt the rush of air pass around and through him in the course of flight; finally, he could suffer to breathe the stale air of this ruined world unimpeded.

"It was far too soon for a young man to pass into death, though I suppose any condolences spoken are now meaningless," he said with a small smirk.

As they sped along he kept his senses alert, attuned to the changing landscape, to Jack's remark of this strange world they found themselves in, Ochazuke replied further, "You can sense it too, everything surrounding this place is steeped in death as if it was redundancy." His gaze narrowed as they moved ever over the horizon. "Nothing left but the echo of everything since lost..."

The heavy silence that followed would be the only answer he would provide to Jack's inquiry.

Ochazuke, looking at the landscape as they pass, has never seen something look so....old...before. Mara’s shrine was old, but this place......even the rocks looked ancient.

Here and there, his trained eyes could pick out the old, now defunct, ward stones that kept the dead asleep. Embedded deep into the various rock out roppings, he could almost admire the simplicity and care taken in their design and function.

Because he’s paying attention, he is the first to see on the horizon as they exit the desert Wastes and rocks to enter a flat salt bed, a city on the far skyline. One that is defiantly a ruin if he had to guess. Their new friend drove towards the city, angling at a downed roadway it seemed.

Though he could not magnify his sense to more thoroughly inquire, the first step of meditation is initial mindfulness; laid to observe, his faculties still would receive.

"So much death. Even the ocean has dried," he remarked. "Some ancient force keeps this traveller's road alight, but where is its destination?"

The city is......old. The dust and debris has rusted, the metal twisted, the old signs worn down.

It’s human-ish, the architecture reminiscent of their own Earth, but with subtle differences in style and advancement. Like a weird mixture of old and new, familiar but different.

Other than the light sound of their engines, everything is eerily silent as they enter the edges of the city, their ally leading them around the outskirts instead of into the city center.

Surveying the cityscape, it had the shape and form of the modernist sensibility, yet what life had lived here, if it were indeed human as the man and bones seemed to indicate, was not recognizable. Flying past a dilapidated sign, his immediate impression was that it bore no element of the familiar; beyond the utilitarian geometry, not a single recognizable marker of human culture as he'd known.

Still that was only the veneer, the sensibilities of the city had at its core the same sort of foundation. The road leading to the heart of the city, Ochazuke dared venture a bit higher in his flight as he looked at the city from corner to corner.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Praxat looks at the city saying " just think of the discoveries that can be found there." " like ancient technology and information on a entire ancient civilization . " " that city much be research for science!" " I can just imagine what information that city must hold."

Praxat looks the others and then ally saying " so one question before we got here was it just you on this planet or they other living beings?" " I need to check it out ." " I have to gather information from that ancient city and conduct research." " I maybe able to use that city's ancient technology if there is any."

" to make a portal to get us off this planet. " " of course what I make could also have the slight chance of fusion us all together into one hideous blob." " it could also possibly go horribly wrong and create a miniature black hole." Praxat looks at Ishtar saying " I mean what I said earlier good job dealing with those skeletons ."

" what I was going to do my or my not work after all science is never prefect." " there's room for margin of error." " one slight miscalculation of my plan could have blown all as up in a fiery inferno. " " well thank goodness that didn't happen."

" as I didn't get to execute my plan. " " I guess your way was safer since there wasn't a chance of us all blown up in a fiery inferno. "

[Ptrvc]

High above the field now magically purged of rot, Ochazuke felt the rush of air pass around and through him in the course of flight; finally, he could suffer to breathe the stale air of this ruined world unimpeded.

"It was far too soon for a young man to pass into death, though I suppose any condolences spoken are now meaningless," he said with a small smirk.

As they sped along he kept his senses alert, attuned to the changing landscape, to Jack's remark of this strange world they found themselves in, Ochazuke replied further, "You can sense it too, everything surrounding this place is steeped in death as if it was redundancy." His gaze narrowed as they moved ever over the horizon. "Nothing left but the echo of everything since lost..."

The heavy silence that followed would be the only answer he would provide to Jack's inquiry.

"Still as talkative as ever I see..."

The city is......old. The dust and debris has rusted, the metal twisted, the old signs worn down.

It’s human-ish, the architecture reminiscent of their own Earth, but with subtle differences in style and advancement. Like a weird mixture of old and new, familiar but different.

Other than the light sound of their engines, everything is eerily silent as they enter the edges of the city, their ally leading them around the outskirts instead of into the city center.

*Whistle*

"It's like the corpse of a whale picked clean by carrion birds. Only the bones of a civilization long since past."

Gonna guess there's a lot more of them skeletons sleeping beneath the rubble in that place. If there were as many as there were in a random field, than in a city... Jack shook his head and continued flying, deciding to forestall any urge for conversation for the time being. The last thing he needed to be doing right now was waking up another horde of undead monstrosities and abominations.

Best let them lie.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

"Still as talkative as ever I see..."



*Whistle*

"It's like the corpse of a whale picked clean by carrion birds. Only the bones of a civilization long since past."

Gonna guess there's a lot more of them skeletons sleeping beneath the rubble in that place. If there were as many as there were in a random field, than in a city... Jack shook his head and continued flying, deciding to forestall any urge for conversation for the time being. The last thing he needed to be doing right now was waking up another horde of undead monstrosities and abominations.

Best let them lie.

Paraxt looks at Jack saying " so Jack would you or any one else like to go with me to investigate that city for science? " " just thinking of the possibility of discovering anicent technology and information makes me giddy"

[Tami]

The city is......old. The dust and debris has rusted, the metal twisted, the old signs worn down.

It’s human-ish, the architecture reminiscent of their own Earth, but with subtle differences in style and advancement. Like a weird mixture of old and new, familiar but different.

Other than the light sound of their engines, everything is eerily silent as they enter the edges of the city, their ally leading them around the outskirts instead of into the city center.

It brought back memories, but even at the war's worse it never was quite this bad. Not letting it distract her too much, Meagan focused on her driving, following the one who had saved them. As she drove, she felt her stomach lurch slightly in a delayed reaction tot eh stench of the previous battle. It took all her will to not let it show, to stay focused.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

The man leads them through the outskirts to the other side of the city until they take an off ramp and several short turns, leading down to place that looks slightly more alive.



Some few trees are dotted around as the small fresh water lake or reservoir comes into focus. Here, this small section of the city seems.....cleaner. Less ruined. Less like a tomb, though the weight of ages is still present. After another ten minutes, they pull up to this isolated spot, which appears to be a bunker of some sort.



The driver pulls over and shows the bike away in a small locked shed and motions for them to park or land within the area.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

High above the field now magically purged of rot, Ochazuke felt the rush of air pass around and through him in the course of flight; finally, he could suffer to breathe the stale air of this ruined world unimpeded.

"It was far too soon for a young man to pass into death, though I suppose any condolences spoken are now meaningless," he said with a small smirk.

As they sped along he kept his senses alert, attuned to the changing landscape, to Jack's remark of this strange world they found themselves in, Ochazuke replied further, "You can sense it too, everything surrounding this place is steeped in death as if it was redundancy." His gaze narrowed as they moved ever over the horizon. "Nothing left but the echo of everything since lost..."

The heavy silence that followed would be the only answer he would provide to Jack's inquiry.



Though he could not magnify his sense to more thoroughly inquire, the first step of meditation is initial mindfulness; laid to observe, his faculties still would receive.

"So much death. Even the ocean has dried," he remarked. "Some ancient force keeps this traveller's road alight, but where is its destination?"



Surveying the cityscape, it had the shape and form of the modernist sensibility, yet what life had lived here, if it were indeed human as the man and bones seemed to indicate, was not recognizable. Flying past a dilapidated sign, his immediate impression was that it bore no element of the familiar; beyond the utilitarian geometry, not a single recognizable marker of human culture as he'd known.

Still that was only the veneer, the sensibilities of the city had at its core the same sort of foundation. The road leading to the heart of the city, Ochazuke dared venture a bit higher in his flight as he looked at the city from corner to corner.

Because of this, he sees the great wounded city is large, easily as large as Capital City back hiome. Almost the entire city is rust and ruin, but a faint glimmer on the other side shows a lake and some few living trees. A portion over there seems less ruined than the others too, and Ochazuke sees the biker angling his way towards it.

Some small speck of life remains, it seems.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

When Erosa let Sarada down next to Ishtar, the young Saiyan immediately leaned over and gave the Oni a peck on the outline of her jaw. It wasn't much, but the little things always made for the biggest impacts. Her love had had a difficult time trying to get that runic spell together, only to have all of her hard work undone in mere moments by those insidious creatures. "You did... the best you could," she assured her softly. So well that the next time, she was sure to get it right the first time, and they'd be back home in no time. There was nothing that sounded better than her large, ultra-comfortable bed in Vocado's palace right now. With her love right next to her, of course.

She let her focus shift from Ishtar to the view of the ruins outside. Everything was dead. Not just dead, but ancient. The rocks, the sky, even the waters of the oceans had dried up ages ago. Her dark brow fell downward. Just where were they? Where had Jagam managed to send them with his last ditch effort? Surely, his spell couldn't have managed to send them this far, to another universe entirely? There had to be another explanation.

Yet, what was there? Her portal generator didn't work, meaning it couldn't contact the nodes on any of the Saiyan worlds, which would have been impossible if they were in their universe.

Magic was so powerful, it could send them to other universes...

Perhaps...

Perhaps she was wrong about it. Maybe there was some use for it outside of turning people into stuffy old bastards who turned their noses up at everything that didn't align with their narrow-minded world view, like those assholes at the magic library Etrina took them to. Clowns.

Anyway, Jagam's spells gave her more trouble than she cared to admit. If she could meld it with her own fighting style, then that would make her all the more dangerous going forward. She'd be better able to protect the Saiyan empire from any and all threats going forward. Even a simple healing spell that could be cast on a whim, saved for when she was at death's door, would be an invaluable asset.

"I...," she started reluctantly. Despite the solid reasoning in favor of it, she still didn't want to take the time to learn all the groundwork, new phrases, and all that nonsense. "I want you to teach me some spells. Grrr. There's still a lot I need to learn about ki and my place as a fighter, but adding magic to my arsenal will only make me a better warrior."

She was sure that Ishtar would have said yes had she left it at the first part, but she needed to enunciate the second part aloud, if only for her own benefit. I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm a warrior, not a trickster, damn it!

The mysterious rider led them through seemingly endless ruination and eventually into a city. While the technology and architecture was similar to Earth -- compared the the relatively few examples she had seen -- it was still a barren wasteland. Dilapidated buildings lurched as far as the eye could see. This world... this entire world was nothing but ruin!

But wait! They soon came up to an area that was more alive than any other they had been in thus far. While the stench of age still permeated, the pungent odor of death did not. It was cleaner, more vibrant. There was even a lake nearby. Soon after entering this area, the rider stopped by what looked like a large shed. "I hope they have food in there," she muttered as she waited for the transport to land.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Paraxt follows the others to the bunker , but complains saying " Darn it I really badly want to check out that section we saw eariler. " " okay this bunker better have anicent text I can look at , and anicent technology I can examine "

[KingofPie]

The man leads them through the outskirts to the other side of the city until they take an off ramp and several short turns, leading down to place that looks slightly more alive.

"Hmm...whoever wrecked this place missed a spot," Sasheem boted, leaning back and kicking his feet up on the dashboard again. "Sasheem would be glad to rectify that..." he began to yawn. "But after we find out a bit more about this place first..."

Some few trees are dotted around as the small fresh water lake or reservoir comes into focus. Here, this small section of the city seems.....cleaner. Less ruined. Less like a tomb, though the weight of ages is still present. After another ten minutes, they pull up to this isolated spot, which appears to be a bunker of some sort.



The driver pulls over and shows the bike away in a small locked shed and motions for them to park or land within the area.

"Bah, here already?!" Sasheem sighed, barely able to get his snooze on. Hopping out of this he car he glanced around their surroundings and asked, "Wonder if this place is anything like that weird possible future vision you guys saw? Looks like it's just as dire," he stated in a somewhat amused tone.

[Tami]

"Hmm...whoever wrecked this place missed a spot," Sasheem boted, leaning back and kicking his feet up on the dashboard again. "Sasheem would be glad to rectify that..." he began to yawn. "But after we find out a bit more about this place first..."



"Bah, here already?!" Sasheem sighed, barely able to get his snooze on. Hopping out of this he car he glanced around their surroundings and asked, "Wonder if this he his place is anything like that weird possible future vision you guys saw? Looks like it's just as dire," he stated in a somewhat amused tone.

"This is not the future, not our future." Meagan, having parked the car, leaves it behind. As she walks, she places her hand on her stomachs, feeling uneasy, queasy. The air is better here, perhaps it is the difference that made her nausea act up. In either case, she used her own Ki to deal with it as she approaches the stranger who lead them here.