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

[Miburo]

Asha’rah’s monumental form fell away, leaving her robotic body to float down. Flesh manifested, hair like clouds and skin burnished by the creation of countless suns. Eyes, her own real eyes, took in the devastation around her.

Anger was not a common emotion for Asha’rah. Wrath came to her as gradually as the tide, but flashes of anger? Such was not part of her nature, or so she thought.

Did she hold disdain for Hammer? Yes. Would she have killed him regardless? Yes. But when she had laid eyes on the mad god, fallen before he ever ascended, something fundamentally shifted within her, quickly and abruptly. She had hated him with a passion, and had striven to bash his corpse until there was nothing left but mush. Killing him still served a greater purpose, of course. But her reasons had been…selfish.

It was only now, amidst the dust and gore of victory, that Asha’rah noticed the roiling weight in her spirit, stress building within her since coming to this world. The bones of the First Race. The cursed soil of the Cairn Yard. A whole world of people driven mad by the failure of the gods that made them. By her rebellion, and all its unintended consequences. There were many losses during the War in the Heavens, many brave souls lost. But it had been a war of ideology, and the victor should have been able to take a few millenia to clean up the fallout. Non-combatants, the more primitive races, had been left in peace as far as possible. Even then, the cost was great. Yet here lay the ashes of the folly of Asha’rah’s own army. A mad God of Destruction, sealed away to rot, his madness allowed to permeate the land and turn brother against brother. A God of Creation on her side had done this, perhaps thinking to finish the job later once the war was won. More than any other, the responsibility for this world’s ruin lay upon Asha’rah’s shoulders. She had barely needed an excuse to snap.

In the end though, Asha’rah’s anger had not been for the mad god.

Everything began to lose focus. Her cheeks grew wet. And so it was, that on a ruined world, a fallen god wept. She wept for the twisting of innocence. She wept for the untold billions lost to a war they had never known was being waged. She wept for herself, for even here, even now, she would still walk the same bloody path if need be. Perhaps her scathing words about unworthiness had not been just for Hammer either.

Tears of golden light rolled from Asha’rah’s eyes. And everywhere they fell, new life sprouted. Grass, fresh shoots, small insects. Greenery and fresh springs spread around her, giving way to a pool of water and new oak. Holy was this meadow, standing as an oasis in this dead world. Long would it shelter the meek and weary who gathered in its embrace.

When she was done, Asha’rah stood, eyes red but breath close to steady once more.

“Held, I believe I owe you an explanation when we return.”

The Nevadian nodded his head in agreement, "Fair enough, but before we get to that..."

He gazed at the robotic body before him, appraising her with his eyes.

"....Have you always been able to do the whole, umm...."

The Nevadian expanded his arms far above his head, as he stood on the balls of his feet, slightly raising his height.

"Giant thing?" He continued, dropping into his normal posture, "That's got to be a fun trick at parties....Huh."

The Nevadian stroked his chin thoughtfully, as he furrowed his brow, recalling something from long ago.

"Come to think of it, I do remember seeing a giant...err--you, I guess-- shaped thing when we all met up at Jinzi's place for a split second. I mostly wrote it off as having too much to drink along with swamp gas reflected off of an orbital balloon near Venus or something causing an optical illusion.....Guess not, huh?"

Still....Jeez. I almost feel sorry for Hammer. All that trouble just to get put down like that. Then again, in his state, it was probably a mercy.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Typically tough Saiyan, Meagan thought, "Considering how Saiyan's eat, I wouldn't be so quick to pass judgement on another."

Praxat answers over her communicator inside her mech saying " ah besides my tongue being strong enough to support multi tons , hit with a lot of force and just being generally sticky." " this is because of my saliva which acts as both a liquid and solid. " " when it hits something if the saliva is flowing forward then it would act like liquid. "


" when I retract my tongue is it's on something and my saliva is flowing backwards than the saliva thickens and acts more like a solid making harder for something to separate from my tongue." " imagine trying to pull apart fingers stuck together with peanut butter or what you would consider to be really sticky." " I have practice to control the flow of my salvia so that my tongue doesn't accidently stick to things." " besides that my tongue is use mostly to taste things. "

" my tongue is sensitive to taste and those worm things tasted funny." " they tasted like well giant worms , but the also had a metallic taste to them." " there was also another taste to them a taste that was awfully foul." " it was a very unpleasant taste, and taste I have never experience before not even on earth." "the adhesive force of my tongue greatly exceeds my body mass "

my body can detect chemical changes in the air. " " when I was build my mech out of parts of those mechanical birds my skin detect chemicals coming from them that were synthetic and not natural. " " in other words these chemicals my skin detect from those things were manufacture. " " I'm not even sure the chemical I detect is even from this planet."

" it might have been made from alien chemical not from this planet." " however I'm not a chemist." " so I can't say for certain. " " I just know that something isn't right about the chemical I detect from those things."

OT: Praxat can do that one Ghoulies scene with her tongue . she can actually wrap her tongue around a person's neck tight enough to were they would suffocated. not only that but she could possibly cut of the blood flow to a person's brain.

[MrSandman]

Wilhelm walked up and carefully laid a hand on Asha’rah’s shoulder.

“Can’t...dwell...on the past. I know...loss. Pain. Hurt. Failure. Need to keep moving, need....to find balance. Peace with the past. Not even...gods....can go back, we can only...move forward and be....better.”

He looks at the oasis that Asha’rah created and a tender smile curls his lips.

“Life....in pain. Beauty....where once was....madness. How wonderful.”

He nods and leaves, motioning for the group to follow him back to the vehicle.

"Well....Despite the abhorrently bad luck of waking dead gods, I think this little trip yielded some useful knowledge. I'm confident I can replicate the cairn spell matrix at least to degree I could build my own at home....small scale of course." Etrina remarked as she took stock of her notes. "Not that I need it, Trash is better incinerated then buried...better for the environment I'm told. Too many trashy beings get sealed away for others to dig up later."

"Well now he'd an even bigger mess though...good thing we're leaving cuz I would not wanna be cleaning this up." The unmistakable voice of the White Etrina drew the mages attention to her shoulder just in time for the foci to make a landing.

In the span of a moment, Etrina noticed the incandescent blue aura that surrounded the little foci as a sudden wave of weakness and nausea hit her like a truck. Tilting, Etrina crashed to the ground in a heap while the white foci toppled down in surprised and rolled a bit before coming to a stop nearby.

"ow...." Etrina let out a groan, but remained immobile and face down. "A little help..please."

[Cyke]

Parsley raised an eyebrow at Zaofan for two reasons. One, he must have had one of the most sensitive stomachs she had ever encountered. While she was thoroughly disgusted by that frog girl's insistence on sling her gross tongue everywhere, she was by no means even close to losing her lunch in the way that Zaofan seemed to be teetering toward. As a man who commanded a kitchen like he did, she would have assumed he would have had a stronger stomach.

Evidently not.

Two, it seemed that he still hadn't discerned the fate of this P-Sta. Sasheem wasn't necessarily being up-front about it, but surely he should have noticed that something was different. "You still haven't figured out that Sasheem killed whoever this P-Sta person is supposed to be?"

Zaofan stops dead in his tracks, his eyes narrowing in on Parsley. He utters a brief laugh and a faint smile, but alternates between looking at Parsley and turning his head to Sasheem. "Hah. Wait. Hah? Wait, but no..." His face keeps switching between confusion and process, as if Parsley was playing a joke on him. But there's also no refutation yet, either.

He stops for a moment as his thoughts race. The refined speech. Katchin mode. Sasheem had been a killer before, but they got along well enough in the past, better than Sasheem had with most of the others. And what Zaofan understood as his jovial nature, it was hoped, would be a sign of the Majin's own reformation. But it is still Sasheem.

"...is... is this true? Sasheem, did you... did YOU kill P-Sta?"

[KingofPie]

Zaofan stops dead in his tracks, his eyes narrowing in on Parsley. He utters a brief laugh and a faint smile, but alternates between looking at Parsley and turning his head to Sasheem. "Hah. Wait. Hah? Wait, but no..." His face keeps switching between confusion and process, as if Parsley was playing a joke on him. But there's also no refutation yet, either.

He stops for a moment as his thoughts race. The refined speech. Katchin mode. Sasheem had been a killer before, but they got along well enough in the past, better than Sasheem had with most of the others. And what Zaofan understood as his jovial nature, it was hoped, would be a sign of the Majin's own reformation. But it is still Sasheem.

"...is... is this true? Sasheem, did you... did YOU kill P-Sta?"

"Heh..." Sasheem began to chuckled. "Kill is a bit of an overstatement, but I wouldn't call the state he's in living...It's a technique called absorbtion or as Sasheem likes to put it; a loophole into regaining lost power. P-Sta's the first and only victim. Sasheem wants to gather the rest of his destructive power on his own, absorption was a last resort...but he has to say, watching you go about like a dope not picking up on anything was so damn hilarious that it almost makes it worth it!" The Majin chuckled loudly.

"Gee, I wonder when P-Sta's gonna show up! We could sure use his help!" Sasheem mocked in a voice imitating Zaofan's. "HAHAHAHAHAHA" Sasheem doubled over laughing, falling onto the ground.

[Cyke]

"Heh..." Sasheem began to chuckled. "Kill is a bit of an overstatement, but I wouldn't call the state he's in living...It's a technique called absorbtion or as Sasheem likes to put it; a loophole into regaining lost power. P-Sta's the first and only victim. Sasheem wants to gather the rest of his destructive power on his own, absorption was a last resort...but he has to say, watching you go about like a dope not picking up on anything was so damn hilarious that it almost makes it worth it!" The Majin chuckled loudly.

"Gee, I wonder when P-Sta's gonna show up! We could sure use his help!" Sasheem mocked in a voice imitating Zaofan's. "HAHAHAHAHAHA" Sasheem doubled over laughing, falling onto the ground.

It hurt. Both that P-Sta was lost and that Zaofan was played for a fool, this entire time. Betrayed several times over.

"P-Sta was my friend! YOU! Were my friend! How could you?! All those times I fed you! All those times we fought together!"

Zaofan rushes to Sasheem, picks him up by the neck, and slams him against the wall. Through gritted teeth, he demands, "Release him Bring him back! NOW! Or I swear to Kami, the undead will be the last thing you'll have to worry about!" He looks the Majin in the eyes, his own eyes beginning to glow and cackle with crimson energy.

[KingofPie]

It hurt. Both that P-Sta was lost and that Zaofan was played for a fool, this entire time. Betrayed several times over.

"P-Sta was my friend! YOU! Were my friend! How could you?! All those times I fed you! All those times we fought together!"

Zaofan rushes to Sasheem, picks him up by the neck, and slams him against the wall. Through gritted teeth, he demands, "Release him Bring him back! NOW! Or I swear to Kami, the undead will be the last thing you'll have to worry about!" He looks the Majin in the eyes, his own eyes beginning to glow and cackle with crimson energy.

Sasheem wasn't prepared to defend himself so suddenly against Zaofan's sudden assault. The Majin was slightly confused as to why the chef was so upset. He supposed being late on the uptake upset some people. Still his anger about the P-Sta situation still made for some hilarious entertainment.

"Friends...?" Sasheem asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement. "Let Sasheem tell you this right now, he hated all of you equally. More or less. Those who could cook such as yourself he had some degree of respect for, he'll admit. Now would it save you when Sasheem eventually decides to eradicate your planet? Unlikely, especially with this little outburst...." the Majin spoke, activating his Katchin mode to avoid any further pain...and perhaps to add insult to injury.

"While you're at it, you might wanna question the friendship of your so called allies too," Sasheem sneered. "The rest of 'em knew this entire time but none of 'em bothered to clue you in. Or do anything about it. The oni wouldn't even hesitate to try and kill Sasheem right now regardless of P-Sta's status. But none of 'em have layed a finger on the Greater Annihilator. Know why? 'Cause Sasheem's useful at the moment. And he'll continue to be unless do something REALLY stupid and bring the undead to the bunker by powering up."

Sasheem wrestled his right arm free and raise it, forming a fist and ready to retaliate quickly if need be. "So before this gets ugly, how about you cool it? The stupid space cop ain't never comin' back! And neither will the princess if ya keep up your big baby tantrum..."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Parsley watched the back and forth between Sasheem and Zaofan with a bright, amused smile. The rage permeating from the chef, the total lack of regret or sympathy from the Majin; they both clashed and conflicted with no hope of reconciliation. There was only one recourse, and that was to come to blows.

If there was one thing she enjoyed more than fighting herself, it was watching other people fight. Has highly charged as the situation was, this was sure to be a bloody, potentially fatal affair. Those were always the best.

Damn it. He would have to mention the princess. That's for sure going to diffuse the situation.

Well, the fun seemed to be winding down. Unless Zaofan was in love with P-Sta, there was little chance of him pressing the issue with the princess' life on the line.

How irritating.

[Tami]

Sasheem wasn't prepared to defend himself so suddenly against Zaofan's sudden assault. The Majin was slightly confused as to why the chef was so upset. He supposed being late on the uptake upset some people. Still his anger about the P-Sta situation still made for some hilarious entertainment.

"Friends...?" Sasheem asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement. "Let Sasheem tell you this right now, he hated all of you equally. More or less. Those who could cook such as yourself he had some degree of respect for, he'll admit. Now would it save you when Sasheem eventually decides to eradicate your planet? Unlikely, especially with this little outburst...." the Majin spoke, activating his Katchin mode to avoid any further pain...and perhaps to add insult to injury.

"While you're at it, you might wanna question the friendship of your so called allies too," Sasheem sneered. "The rest of 'em knew this entire time but none of 'em bothered to clue you in. Or do anything about it. The oni wouldn't even hesitate to try and kill Sasheem right now regardless of P-Sta's status. But none of 'em have layed a finger on the Greater Annihilator. Know why? 'Cause Sasheem's useful at the moment. And he'll continue to be unless do something REALLY stupid and bring the undead to the bunker by powering up."

Sasheem wrestled his right arm free and raise it, forming a fist and ready to retaliate quickly if need be. "So before this gets ugly, how about you cool it? The stupid space cop ain't never comin' back! And neither will the princess if ya keep up your big baby tantrum..."

Meagan, now out of eyesight of the commotion, picked up on it through the noise they made. Pausing in her forward motion, she considered going back but decided that getting involved would serve no purpose. With that, she continued heading towards the room where the Princess was sleeping.

[Cyke]

Sasheem wasn't prepared to defend himself so suddenly against Zaofan's sudden assault. The Majin was slightly confused as to why the chef was so upset. He supposed being late on the uptake upset some people. Still his anger about the P-Sta situation still made for some hilarious entertainment.

"Friends...?" Sasheem asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement. "Let Sasheem tell you this right now, he hated all of you equally. More or less. Those who could cook such as yourself he had some degree of respect for, he'll admit. Now would it save you when Sasheem eventually decides to eradicate your planet? Unlikely, especially with this little outburst...." the Majin spoke, activating his Katchin mode to avoid any further pain...and perhaps to add insult to injury.

"While you're at it, you might wanna question the friendship of your so called allies too," Sasheem sneered. "The rest of 'em knew this entire time but none of 'em bothered to clue you in. Or do anything about it. The oni wouldn't even hesitate to try and kill Sasheem right now regardless of P-Sta's status. But none of 'em have layed a finger on the Greater Annihilator. Know why? 'Cause Sasheem's useful at the moment. And he'll continue to be unless do something REALLY stupid and bring the undead to the bunker by powering up."

Sasheem wrestled his right arm free and raise it, forming a fist and ready to retaliate quickly if need be. "So before this gets ugly, how about you cool it? The stupid space cop ain't never comin' back! And neither will the princess if ya keep up your big baby tantrum..."

Zaofan roars through his shut teeth in response, his eyes glowing more intensely despite Sasheem's advice, all while still holding onto his neck against the wall. "Now I know who to fight when it comes to protecting Earth! Not Jagam! Not some evil Namekian! Just you! And only you!"

"Come ON. There has to be some semblance of good left in you! All those times we had together, couldn't be from a fundamentally evil place! Get your **** together, man!"

He throttles him even further. "And don't! Don't you dare bring up the others! You could've been forthright with me! But you enjoyed it all the way! Great Annihilator -- more like the Great Alienator!" Okay, so as fleet-footed as Zaofan could be, he isn't exactly the same in comebacks.

But, for all of Sasheem's previous brainlessness, the part of him that is P-Sta made sure to hone his mind as effectively as his combat skills. Zaofan still holds tight on Sasheem but turns his head in disgust. He doesn't want to admit that Sasheem has a point. His breath is heavy between words, and he lets go, exhaling deeply to signify without words that Sasheem is right about the Princess and the undead. "Rar! The mission is more important. But don't you dare think that I'm going to let this slide, you hear me? The instant we get back to our universe, it's you and me." The energy in his eyes die down to nothing.

Zaofan lets go of his hold, and releases Sasheem from pinning him against the wall. He turns around to head for the door, but then quickly turns around for one more punch to the face, even if that face is made of Katchin at the moment.

"'The Great Annihilator?' Try it, and I'll show you the 'Great Amputator.'" Yeah, that's better, Zaofan. And he feels better, too. He calms himself and turns back towards the door. "Now come on. We have a job to do."

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Meagan, now out of eyesight of the commotion, picked up on it through the noise they made. Pausing in her forward motion, she considered going back but decided that getting involved would serve no purpose. With that, she continued heading towards the room where the Princess was sleeping.

Praxat who is near the room where the Princess is sleeping reels her tongue back into her mouth and gets out of her mech . Praxat then wraps her tongue around her mech and lifts it high off the ground with her tongue. when she sees Megan who is heading to the room where the Princess is sleeping. Praxat was just about to head to the armory carrying her mech with her tongue.

of course she could just pilot it there but Praxat wanted to prove that she wasn't bluffing about her tongue being capable of support multiple tonnage . Praxat puts her mech down and puts her tongue back in her mouth saying" oh hi there Megan.

[KingofPie]

Zaofan roars through his shut teeth in response, his eyes glowing more intensely despite Sasheem's advice, all while still holding onto his neck against the wall. "Now I know who to fight when it comes to protecting Earth! Not Jagam! Not some evil Namekian! Just you! And only you!"

"Come ON. There has to be some semblance of good left in you! All those times we had together, couldn't be from a fundamentally evil place! Get your **** together, man!"

He throttles him even further. "And don't! Don't you dare bring up the others! You could've been forthright with me! But you enjoyed it all the way! Great Annihilator -- more like the Great Alienator!" Okay, so as fleet-footed as Zaofan could be, he isn't exactly the same in comebacks.

But, for all of Sasheem's previous brainlessness, the part of him that is P-Sta made sure to hone his mind as effectively as his combat skills. Zaofan still holds tight on Sasheem but turns his head in disgust. He doesn't want to admit that Sasheem has a point. His breath is heavy between words, and he lets go, exhaling deeply to signify without words that Sasheem is right about the Princess and the undead. "Rar! The mission is more important. But don't you dare think that I'm going to let this slide, you hear me? The instant we get back to our universe, it's you and me." The energy in his eyes die down to nothing.

Zaofan lets go of his hold, and releases Sasheem from pinning him against the wall. He turns around to head for the door, but then quickly turns around for one more punch to the face, even if that face is made of Katchin at the moment.

"'The Great Annihilator?' Try it, and I'll show you the 'Great Amputator.'" Yeah, that's better, Zaofan. And he feels better, too. He calms himself and turns back towards the door. "Now come on. We have a job to do."

Sasheem's head turned slightly as Zaofan decked him in the face. The Majin didn't quite feel the brunt of the impact due to his Katchin mode, but it was enough to make him crack his neck some.

"You can try and fight Sasheem once we get back if ya want, but the fact of the matter is this; the next big threat to come to Earth is out there. You saw it in your future vision, you saw it in the power just two Threshlings held. Sasheem meanwhile's taking his conquest slow, he doesn't wanna attack the Earth or any other planet just yet, nah..." the Majin began

"You really wanna risk putting your entire planet in danger, just to save your friend, go right ahead. See how much the team misses it's Demon of Destruction when the time comes..." Sasheem grinned.

[Cyke]

Sasheem's head turned slightly as Zaofan decked him in the face. The Majin didn't quite feel the brunt of the impact due to his Katchin mode, but it was enough to make him crack his neck some.

"You can try and fight Sasheem once we get back if ya want, but the fact of the matter is this; the next big threat to come to Earth is out there. You saw it in your future vision, you saw it in the power just two Threshlings held. Sasheem meanwhile's taking his conquest slow, he doesn't wanna attack the Earth or any other planet just yet, nah..." the Majin began

"You really wanna risk putting your entire planet in danger, just to save your friend, go right ahead. See how much the team misses it's Demon of Destruction when the time comes..." Sasheem grinned.

Zaofan's back is still turned to Sasheem, though he stops momentarily. OOoof! The arrogance...! The self-satisfaction! And, unfortunately, his point. Sasheem's power is considerable, and useful. Zaofan's never been one to brag about his own power per se, but there was no questioning Sasheem's might and abilities, especially in the face of all these cosmic threats.

Zaofan clenches his fist, and then snaps his right hand in the air, the motion to denote that Zaofan doesn't have the time or the patience to deal with this. But his open hand in the air turns into a fist with his pointer finger out, as he turns one last time to Sasheem. "We do NOT trade lives here! Not while I'm around!"

He furiously turns back and resumes his angry strut, unable to hold his control for much longer. He turns the corner, heading to the mess hall, grabbing a bowl and spoon and angrily dumping a ladle full of Cream of Pteradactyl. He searches the cupboards and the fridge. "DAMMIT. This place better have beer!" Instead, he grabs a cup of water.

Zaofan slams the bowl and cup down to the table, slams himself similarly onto his seat, kicks his feet up on the table to tilt the chair back, and chomps down on the stew. "Hangry" doesn't begin to describe it, though, despite the undead and the blood and the worm corpses and his vow to remain vegetarian for a few days, clearly his appetite for meat has returned.

[Ptrvc]

Jack turned his back to Sarada and Ishtar, suddenly extremely interested in Asha'rah and Head's conversation

"Forgot you could do that giant-robot-thingy...that's gotta be...trippy?" The young man hazarded, "I ate a weird mushroom once and thought I grew giant, but I'm pretty sure that was the mushroom."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Parsley smiled satisfactorily. Sasheem and Zaofan were going to fight, when they back to Earth. Yes, that was a very good thing. She was going to make sure she had a front row seat to that one.

She followed Zaofan into the kitchen and found the meal he and the mutt prepared for her. It wasn't warm, so she found somewhere to heat it up before preparing to eat. "You seem to really care about whoever this P-Sta is. A brother in arms, perhaps?" she said as she warmed her Cream of Pteradactyl on the oven.