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

[Sub-Zero MKA]

“Two years ago or so.”

“Color is wrong. Namek isn’t just an endless green and blue. There are reds, oranges, and not three suns! There are only two, and no my family wasn’t even there. Not my wife, or sons, not anything. He’ll, I didn’t even see any female Namekians while I was there.”

“No, just great Magic’s. Wish granting, prolonged life, elemental enhancements, etc.....”

That... that went against everything she thought she knew about Namek. She had never been, but she studied it extensively. She knew there were three suns, and knew for an absolute fact that Namek was a giant sausage fest.

She was about to argue with him when he spoke again...

“Namek has two suns, not three. There are more colors then just green and blue, and for magic’s sake, there are female namekians. As to your saiyans, why? The Saiyans are all but gone. Hell, I was surprised to see the Doctor with so many, much less a few on Earth. I thought the species was damn near extinct.”

...

Near extinct. No, no, that wasn't right. He was shocked the Doctor had 31 Saiyans, meaning that - to him - there were far less.

"There are 25 million Saiyans, at least, in the universe that I know of," Sarada retorted. I know this because I read the census just a few months ago."

She looked him in the eye. His skin was all wrong for a Namekian. He his planet had two suns. He had a wife, and claimed that no one knew him when he arrived at Namek. According to him, the Saiyans were nearly extinct.

All these things were wrong, yet he spoke them with absolute certainty.

There was only one solution.

"You're from another universe. The Doctor snatched you from your home universe and brought you to ours. That's why everything seems wrong to you."

[Tami]

“Everyone thought I was crazy. The Doctor was the only one who actually said he could help, what was I supposed to do?”

"Ya read the fine print, then keep looking for a better deal. You got sold a bill of goods and nearly got yourself killed in the process." Dash, sounding exasperated.

"You know," Cyanna spoke thoughtfully, "there are others in the Universe who could help you get back. Many would have done it for free."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

With a nod, Meagan took another step, then turned and quickly moved back, giving him a warm kiss. Pulling back, "You stay safe too. I love you, Jinzi."

“Love you too.”

He smiles again and then turns back to a computer terminal, typing in some algorithms.

“Adam, when you can I’ll need you back at base to help me out on this.”
He says into a comm unit before continuing.

[Tami]

“Love you too.”

He smiles again and then turns back to a computer terminal, typing in some algorithms.

“Adam, when you can I’ll need you back at base to help me out on this.”
He says into a comm unit before continuing.

Meagan then lifted off the ground, floating outside before flying off towards the Lookout. As she did, she went invisible and kept her energy signatures virtually undetectable.

[KingofPie]

“Color is wrong. Namek isn’t just an endless green and blue. There are reds, oranges, and not three suns! There are only two, and no my family wasn’t even there.

"..."

Not my wife, or sons, not anything.

"..."

He’ll, I didn’t even see any female Namekians while I was there.”

"..."

A groan of annoyance began to rumble from within Blizzar. Why didn't he see it before. From the Oni's report of the Doctor, it should"ve occured to him that this would be a likely scenario. It's just one that he wished he never had to deal with.

“No, just great Magic’s. Wish granting, prolonged life, elemental enhancements, etc.....”

"Wish granting is something unheard of to you, is it...?" Blizzar asked of Pike. The rest of what he had said all but confirmed that the Doctor had a deep knowledge of Earth's secrets, known to only select individuals. But more pressing right now was the matter of where and when this Namekian was pulled from.

"I see," Ochazuke said. "Then humour me. Tell me of the Namek you are familiar with."

Far be it for him to speak on the matter any more than half-heartedly, but just a glance at Pike, his form was familiar yet stranger to the few he'd known. But the shape of galactic politics might yet affirm a budding suspiscion in his mind.

"A commander of Saiyans. How unusual," he said. "Especially with the recent exposure of the Slave Trade, I'd be more inclined to believe it would be the other way around."

“Namek has two suns, not three. There are more colors then just green and blue, and for magic’s sake, there are female namekians. As to your saiyans, why? The Saiyans are all but gone. Hell, I was surprised to see the Doctor with so many, much less a few on Earth. I thought the species was damn near extinct.”

"Damn it," Blizzar swore with an irritated sigh.

She looked him in the eye. His skin was all wrong for a Namekian. He his planet had two suns. He had a wife, and claimed that no one knew him when he arrived at Namek. According to him, the Saiyans were nearly extinct.

All these things were wrong, yet he spoke them with absolute certainty.

There was only one solution.

"You're from another universe. The Doctor snatched you from your home universe and brought you to ours. That's why everything seems wrong to you."

"Alternate universe or alternate reality?" Blizzar questioned, only half sure there was any real difference at this point. "Perhaps even an alternate timeline where Namekian evolution diverged in a completely different direction for one reason or another," Blizzar chimed in, shaking his head.. "The distinction is thin, admittedly. Ah, there are...regulations for dealing with situations such as this. I don't think they can pay me enough to enforce them."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Parsley was alone ... and perhaps not unexpectedly, she seemed melancholic.

"Hm."

Following through on what Sarada had pulled back from some moments before, the golden-eyed Oni was quick to approach the despondent woman ... catching the tail end of a softly muttered sentence that caused her eyebrow to raise in curiosity.

" ... m I alive ?"

How curious. Was she wondering why she was among the living ?

Clearing her throat to announce her presence then, Ishtar waited patiently for Parsley to acknowledge her before lifting her hand in greeting. An awkward moment passing between them before the Oni eschewed the pleasantries. "Hello, Parsley. I noticed you were alone and ... do not look as well as you should, given the fight that just took place." Another moment passed, awkwardly, before the golden-eyed Oni asked then.

"Is something wrong ?"

It was, of course ... that much was clear. A Saiyan after a good fight was hardly ever so downtrodden ... and yet as much as the Oni wished to ask outright, she understood well enough how hard it was for a Saiyan to engage in discussing their feelings. So it seemed only proper to allow Parsley a moment to say what was troubling her, in her own words.

When the Oni sounded, Parsley reacted somewhat strongly. Her head whirled around, eyes wide and tear stained. The suddenly, exaggerated movement nearly through her entire body off-balance and almost caused her to fall off the edge of the Lookout, but she caught herself in time.

She sat awkwardly on the ledge, staring up at the blue Oni with a curiously unnatural - for her - expression. She was unsure of what to say. Oh, she heard what was asked of her. "Is something wrong," but was unsure of how to answer. It was a stupid question, regardless.

Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. The truth was there, right there on the tip of her tongue. She knew that she wasn't okay, just like she knew that anyone with eyes and a brain could also. Yet, she couldn't say so. Was it because she didn't want help? That was the old Parsley's way, certainly; but the old Parsley was dead, still inhabiting the grave her sister had her pitched into unceremoniously.

"Why do you care?" she decided on as a reply. It wasn't spoken with the cold, biting tone of bitter derision that Parsley used to be capable of. It was a simply question asked in a matter-of-fact way. Why did Ishtar care, when her sister clearly didn't.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"Alternate universe or alternate reality?" Blizzar questioned, only half sure there was any real difference at this point. "Perhaps even an alternate timeline where Namekian evolution diverged in a completely different direction for one reason or another," Blizzar chimed in, shaking his head.. "The distinction is thin, admittedly. Ah, there are...regulations for dealing with situations such as this. I don't think they can pay me enough to enforce them."

Sarada really didn't see the difference between an alternate universe and alternate reality and alternate timeline. To her meager understanding, they were all basically off-shoots of another established universe. The point was, when all that confusing shit was stripped away, this Namekian wasn't from here, and had been taken from his real home, another universe/timeline/reality away.

"This crap is confusing," she huffed while rubbing her temple. "The point is he's not from here. The doctor took him from his home and brought him here. We need to figure out how to send him back."

[grampagen]

A groan of annoyance began to rumble from within Blizzar. Why didn't he see it before. From the Oni's report of the Doctor, it should"ve occured to him that this would be a likely scenario. It's just one that he wished he never had to deal with.



"Wish granting is something unheard of to you, is it...?" Blizzar asked of Pike. The rest of what he had said all but confirmed that the Doctor had a deep knowledge of Earth's secrets, known to only select individuals. But more pressing right now was the matter of where and when this Namekian was pulled from.


"Damn it," Blizzar swore with an irritated sigh.


"Alternate universe or alternate reality?" Blizzar questioned, only half sure there was any real difference at this point. "Perhaps even an alternate timeline where Namekian evolution diverged in a completely different direction for one reason or another," Blizzar chimed in, shaking his head.. "The distinction is thin, admittedly. Ah, there are...regulations for dealing with situations such as this. I don't think they can pay me enough to enforce them."

Sarada really didn't see the difference between an alternate universe and alternate reality and alternate timeline. To her meager understanding, they were all basically off-shoots of another established universe. The point was, when all that confusing shit was stripped away, this Namekian wasn't from here, and had been taken from his real home, another universe/timeline/reality away.

"This crap is confusing," she huffed while rubbing her temple. "The point is he's not from here. The doctor took him from his home and brought him here. We need to figure out how to send him back."

The reaction of the Saiyan Queen and the GP Patrolman made the matter they were dealing with all the clearer.

"This Doctor deals with lost souls, his promises an idle ransom," he remarked, "Knowing how hard the desperate will fight with little expenditure on his part..."

He cut short his words with a terse, biting exhale. World to world, space to space, it is all the same. What mad ambition possesses this man?

Unfolding his arms, he raised a hand before him, pointing two fingers towards Pike's throat and heart. "You seem familiar with how the Doctor works. Enough to identify his killing stroke when you came to, two black needles of a poisonous alloy. You're fortunate that our friend was able to reverse their effect with a similar technique after this betrayal."

"You're short of allies, and may yet be on borrowed time. What does he want? And can you figure out how to find him?"

[MrSandman]

Asha'rah settled upon the lookout. Strange though President Grinthorn appeared, the political machinations of local leaders were generally not for the gods to interfere with. Self-determinism through selecting their own forms of government was a crucial step for each species to take, for good or ill. Just as she found it...unadvisable for the Saiyans to choose their monarch through gladiatorial combat, so too did she find Grinthorn a strange choice for elected office. But the humans of Earth had a far greater stake in their leadership than Asha'rah ever would. If they cared not to remove Grinthorn, Asha'rah wasn't going to do it for them without further cause.

With the immediate threat to Earth over, she had time to attend to personal business. She made her way to Etrina's room and knocked.

"...Door is Open. Come in."

Inside, Etrina sat quietly at a desk...flipping quietly through the pages of a tome. There was a tired look on her face, as though she hadn't gotten much sleep recently. Nearby, tucked neatly away in a small blanket....was a glowing Magicite crystal the goddess would recognize very well. Impliments around it would suggest that Etrina had recently been treating the crystal with some strengthening catalysts. Instructions left behind by Chrona after the incident. Though things were progressing well...it seemed the Id had yet to make her reappearance.

....and despite following the concluding treatments to the letter, the mage seemed to be losing more and more sleep in recent days.

".....Asha'rah, Hello.......could you pass me the blue book on the table over there........and the calipers too please......"

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

“Don’t ask me what he wants. Listen, I was given a job: play support and doorman for the others if they needed help. If all went well, I get a few magic Knick-knacks or powers of what have you, and then get to go home. Pyrus was promised a trip home too. So was Dame Iceni, though she don’t seem around anymore. Can’t tell you what the hell the demon wanted, or Koolard or Daiko though I expect both them and the other saiyans were promised loot and riches and slaves. Now, to finding him.....maybe. A thin maybe, once the barrier around the planet goes down I can maybe track and reverse my portal spell that brought us here.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

“And I also don’t know shit about alternate universes or timelines or whatever. I just know that this place isn’t home.”

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

"...........I have reevaluated my previous statement. You are reckless AND gullible." Cthylla stated with not an ounce of hesitation. "I had assumed your judgement of my cause had been made after careful consideration....but now I've come to realize that you simply like to take risk. Know this, bond Ishtar, nothing is given freely and nothing is taken without cost. Keep making pacts with outsiders and you'll find you've no nearly enough soul to satisfy them."

Cthylla broke her neutral expression for a smile. ".......of course I am the exception. You may trust my judgement."

"Now then.....what is done, cannot be undone. Let us see...." Cthylla reached up and cupped the onis cheers in her hands and pulled her face forward as if she was preparing for a kiss.....only to stop short to stare into her eyes. ".....Golden eyes........Eyes are the vortex to the soul. Yes....I can see the fragment here. It has a tie to the void....the whispering you hear is the voice a void being....which one I cannot discern."

Cthylla released her face. "This could present a key in the same way as your pact with the threshing lesser god....hear its whispers but keep wary. Remember...The being on the other end offering power is not your friend."

"I will concede to recklessness. Thousands of years of stagnation has engendered that in me ... yet gullibility implies I believe all that is said, and offered." Ishtar replied. "The whispers have provided the means to harness the Void Energy inside of me, and to kill a Void Creature ... or Creatures, one must know how its power source works."

The joke did not go unnoticed however, yet before Ishtar could do more than chuckle, The Oni found Cthylla almost uncomfortably close.

What she had to say after her appraisal however, was certainly something that had been considered.

"A key ... yes." The Oni nodded. "A means to understand, and a means to sate my curiosity of a thing I have little experience with in my one-hundred thousand ... and, er ... one years of life. That it is not wholly benign, this entity is something I had suspected however. Surely not all Voidling can be as respectable as you. Or as ... hands on."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

“Don’t ask me what he wants. Listen, I was given a job: play support and doorman for the others if they needed help. If all went well, I get a few magic Knick-knacks or powers of what have you, and then get to go home. Pyrus was promised a trip home too. So was Dame Iceni, though she don’t seem around anymore. Can’t tell you what the hell the demon wanted, or Koolard or Daiko though I expect both them and the other saiyans were promised loot and riches and slaves. Now, to finding him.....maybe. A thin maybe, once the barrier around the planet goes down I can maybe track and reverse my portal spell that brought us here.”

That was just a more detailed rehashing of what he had already told them, so Sarada was inclined to believe him. A way home with an head full of magical secrets was enough to coerce this Namekian into doing what the Doctor wanted. Yet, once he failed, his life was expendable. Perhaps the attempt on his life was to keep him silent, or to express his master's displeasure.

At any rate, he was safe for the time being. Not only that, he was willing to attempt to reverse his portal spell to send them to the Doctor. "Good. The moment the barrier is down, we'll get started on that effort." She wasn't sure how long that would take, but there was a lot of debris up there, so it would likely take time. "In the meantime, we need to get ready. If the past battle was any indication, there's no doubt he'll have more foot soldiers at his disposal when we arrive."

“And I also don’t know shit about alternate universes or timelines or whatever. I just know that this place isn’t home.”

"That makes two of us."

[KingofPie]

The reaction of the Saiyan Queen and the GP Patrolman made the matter they were dealing with all the clearer.

"This Doctor deals with lost souls, his promises an idle ransom," he remarked, "Knowing how hard the desperate will fight with little expenditure on his part..."

He cut short his words with a terse, biting exhale. World to world, space to space, it is all the same. What mad ambition possesses this man?

Unfolding his arms, he raised a hand before him, pointing two fingers towards Pike's throat and heart. "You seem familiar with how the Doctor works. Enough to identify his killing stroke when you came to, two black needles of a poisonous alloy. You're fortunate that our friend was able to reverse their effect with a similar technique after this betrayal."

"You're short of allies, and may yet be on borrowed time. What does he want? And can you figure out how to find him?"

“Don’t ask me what he wants. Listen, I was given a job: play support and doorman for the others if they needed help. If all went well, I get a few magic Knick-knacks or powers of what have you, and then get to go home. Pyrus was promised a trip home too. So was Dame Iceni, though she don’t seem around anymore. Can’t tell you what the hell the demon wanted, or Koolard or Daiko though I expect both them and the other saiyans were promised loot and riches and slaves. Now, to finding him.....maybe. A thin maybe, once the barrier around the planet goes down I can maybe track and reverse my portal spell that brought us here.”

"Now, was that so difficult to tell us in the first place?" Blizzar asked, half mockingly. With this information, it was settled then. "If you intend to keep your word, and you have little reason not too now for a couple of reasons, than I suggest you be ready to produce that portal spell as soon as possible."

"There is someone on this planet with great power who seeks to interrogate you," Blizzar informed him. "If he were to do so...I've got an inkling that you would very much not enjoy that. Luckily for you, we've managed to stall his attempts to incarcerate you until two weeks time. Hopefully that barrier can be dispersed before then..."

[grampagen]

“Don’t ask me what he wants. Listen, I was given a job: play support and doorman for the others if they needed help. If all went well, I get a few magic Knick-knacks or powers of what have you, and then get to go home. Pyrus was promised a trip home too. So was Dame Iceni, though she don’t seem around anymore. Can’t tell you what the hell the demon wanted, or Koolard or Daiko though I expect both them and the other saiyans were promised loot and riches and slaves. Now, to finding him.....maybe. A thin maybe, once the barrier around the planet goes down I can maybe track and reverse my portal spell that brought us here.”

He truly is in the dark. Nearly as much as we are.

"All the better if you can retrace his steps," Ochazuke said, "A man who reneges on his promises should be held to account."

For the moment, he withheld that there was a means to return them home the Namekian, ironically, was not privy to. Albeit, it would take a year. I doubt we have that time.

"The barrier was created by the chaff of your supporting force as they burned in the atmosphere. You're the insider, Pike, so if you want to get home, tell us what we are contending with here."

“And I also don’t know shit about alternate universes or timelines or whatever. I just know that this place isn’t home.”

"I would advise you stay alert and keep your wits about you, then, or it will be your grave."

"Now, was that so difficult to tell us in the first place?" Blizzar asked, half mockingly. With this information, it was settled then. "If you intend to keep your word, and you have little reason not too now for a couple of reasons, than I suggest you be ready to produce that portal spell as soon as possible."

"There is someone on this planet with great power who seeks to interrogate you," Blizzar informed him. "If he were to do so...I've got an inkling that you would very much not enjoy that. Luckily for you, we've managed to stall his attempts to incarcerate you until two weeks time. Hopefully that barrier can be disperses before then..."

Two weeks?

"...then we need to disperse the barrier before Grinthorn makes his move. Few secrets hide from him, cheh."