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

[Tami]

"Say, Meagan..." P-Sta walked up. "You don't happen to have any information on the Nagadarr's dealings with the Junjo do you? From the information I've gathered, they tend to meet with the Junjo and sell their slaves and other valuables in secret using some kind of...unknown technology. I scanned over and over any and all information I could, but I couldn't find any leads on whay the heck this tech could be and how it allowed them to completely evade prying eyes for so long. Especially when selling things as large as this ship...."

Meagan shook her head, "I grew up at a time when our planet was sealed off and the Nagadarr were sealed in with us. There was no way to communicate, no way to get a space ship out of the atmosphere, nothing. I have been away from my planet for nearly 6 years, so I guess during that time the Nagadarr found a way to deactivate the trap and/or create a communicator that bypassed the trap and reach the Junjo."

Before P-sta could ask the question, "Yes there was one way to get on and off the planet. But as far as I knew only my Mentor had that power and I know she wouldn't use it to help the Nagadarr. I mean, maybe someone with god level powers might have been able to, but that wouldn't make sense."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Ishtar blinked when the woman responded.

As beautiful as the rest of you. Honest enough words expressing just how much Sarada liked it- or at the least did not mind; and words enough to make the golden-eyed Oni's heart flutter despite itself.

Though it seemed to be more than that if what was being offered across the connection of Aka Manah was to be understood; which itself was at comfort. The more the Oni considered it as well, the tail was certainly far from the worst thing that could have resulted from her lapse in judgement. In fact there was some measure of benefit to having one ... it would just be a matter of learning how to manipulate the thing as she would an arm, or legs.

Something that was then offered by Sarada.

Ishtar nodded quickly.

"Yes I will need to get used to having this ... assistance would be more than appreciated."

Then:

Sarada could feel the bubbly feelings inside Ishtar that resulted from her comment. It was a spur of the moment thought made verbal, one she hadn't meant to say out loud. Not to say she didn't think that -- how could she -- but she didn't enjoy verbalizing all this mushy bullshit that other races feasted on. Still, if it made Ishtar feel better, then it was a sacrifice she would happily make.

"Then, it's settled," she answered when the Oni stated she would need some help controlling her new tail. It wasn't as difficult as some tail-less people might think. It was as easy as learning how to walk -- that was, exercising muscles that one previously had no use for, like an infant exercising its legs to stand upright and move forward. "With enough practice, you'll be able to move your tail with ease. The finer motor skills -- like wrapping it around something to pick it up, or maybe, I don't know, entering a small hole of some kind -- will come with a greater amount of practice." She grinned knowingly.

[KingofPie]

Meagan shook her head, "I grew up at a time when our planet was sealed off and the Nagadarr were sealed in with us. There was no way to communicate, no way to get a space ship out of the atmosphere, nothing. I have been away from my planet for nearly 6 years, so I guess during that time the Nagadarr found a way to deactivate the trap and/or create a communicator that bypassed the trap and reach the Junjo."

Before P-sta could ask the question, "Yes there was one way to get on and off the planet. But as far as I knew only my Mentor had that power and I know she wouldn't use it to help the Nagadarr. I mean, maybe someone with god level powers might have been able to, but that wouldn't make sense."

"A god? Hmm...well, perhaps. Almost anything's possible at this point..." P-Sta grimaced, thinking briefly of the variety of warriors and races that had gathered on Earth alone now on a ship having freed slaves from captivity on deep space. "Perhaps it was sort of a joint effort? Nagadarr and Junjo working on a way to perform their crooked deeds undeterred?!"

P-Sta dramatically scratched his chin, Before shrugging.



"It's safe to say that there's still much to be uncovered by this vile alliance," P-Sta punched a fist into an open palm. "Perhaps our journey to your home world will be the first step to unraveling this mystery, Meagan!"

[Tami]

"A god? Hmm...well, perhaps. Almost anything's possible at this point..." P-Sta grimaced, thinking briefly of the variety of warriors and races that had gathered on Earth alone now on a ship having freed slaves from captivity on deep space. "Perhaps it was sort of a joint effort? Nagadarr and Junjo working on a way to perform their crooked deeds undeterred?!"

P-Sta dramatically scratched his chin, Before shrugging.



"It's safe to say that there's still much to be uncovered by this vile alliance," P-Sta punched a fist into an open palm. "Perhaps our journey to your home world will be the first step to unraveling this mystery, Meagan!"

"I hope so, there are a lot of questions that still need to be uncovered. For example, who hired the Nagadarr to invade Chroma in the first place? And why?"

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Asha'rah looked about her. This was the third time today she had been wrenched without warning into a different place. If she were ever to find herself as a god again, she would keep its emotional impact in mind. Then she turned her attention to the Grand Priest. Considering how she had raised a rebellion against him, she felt remarkably ambivalent towards him. The Grand Priest had always been polite and amiable, and he dealt with Zeno with seemingly infinite patience. That the palace had actually been cut off from communication for an indeterminate time while the angels fomented rebellion meant that they had not been actively against what Asha'rah was advocating for. Yet it was the Grand Priest's administration that had so blind as to be unaware of the reasons for Asha'rah's rebellion till she had smashed her way through the palace gates. The "solution" he implemented to deal with the traitors...avoided the worst outcome, yet Asha'rah could not help but feel a lot more could have been done. Yet she should not judge so harshly, if Sakin had indeed tricked her into rebellion in the first place. All in all, her views on the man with the most effective power in existence remained mixed.

And how did the Grand Priest view her? A tragic hero? An impertinent being who knew not her place? A pawn? A traitor? He would not be remiss in believing any or all such things about her. But the Grand Priest had always been a reserved one.

"Grand Priest. I understand this universe, among others, has been sealed off. What would you have of me?"

He sighs heavily.

“Your forgiveness, first. Things.....were not handled well. Much of that is my fault too. I reacted....poorly to finding out about Sakin’s motives. Yours was not his only betrayal, as he also targeted my children. Vadoss and Weiss survived, I got there in time, but knowing he targeted his own niece and nephew and then ran rather than face me.....”

[KingofPie]

"I hope so, there are a lot of questions that still need to be uncovered. For example, who hired the Nagadarr to invade Chroma in the first place? And why?"

"Well, the Junjo only began their dealings with them....somewhat recently, after it eas certain that the Saiyans would no longer deal with them, so...that rules them out," P-Sta answered. "There are few who have the funds, resources, or interest to hire the Nagadarr for such a long canpaign," P-Sta drew out his datapad and began to sort through some files on it. "A couple of Frost Demons, perhaps, but more often than not they prefer the guise of appearing legitimate these days..."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Meagan thanked Sarada for coming with her to free Chroma, "The Nagadarr are monstrously strong and just as hard to kill. Even the weakest of them could trash this spaceship with little effort. They are giants, the tallest being over ten feet in height. They usually wear armor, head to toe, and carry weapons, lots of weapons. They are each like tanks, walking tanks plowing their way through any obstacle. That is, two kinds of them are. There are three types of Nagadarr, most of the ones you will encounter are the ones we call the Ogres and the Cloven-Feet or Devils. I have seen them move fast, but most times they just trample over everyone and everything. Orgres are the largest, but they are also the slowest. Devils are much faster, and they can jump much higher. "

"The third type of Nagadarr is more humanoid-like. We call them the Demons since they hide in shadows and are very deadly. They rarely appear in public, but we know they pretty much run the whole invasion army. They are also tall, and strong, insanely strong, and fast. They move faster than the other two. If they are looking to take out someone specific, the Demons are the ones who usually do the assassination. Many of our planet's leaders were taken out that way."

"As for Ki, there have been reports of seeing them use it, but its' not something they do regularly. If disarmed and cornered, it is possible they might fall back on Ki blasts, but I have never seen it myself. The one I fought on the Junjo's asteroid base was a Cloven-foot type. I recognized him as the one called Grin, since he was in charge of the prison I was being held at...." Meagan shuddered for a moment, the memory of it still got to her even after all these years, "the prison where he would torture us, myself and my fellow resistance cell members, trying to get us to talk about other resistance cells. That, and the idea of a public execution to further instill fear in my people were the only things that kept us alive. I am not surprised that he was involved in selling my people into slavery."

Taking a deep breath, "Thing is, compared to the Ogres, Grin was relatively small and weak. Yet, if i hadn't stopped him, he still would have destroyed this ship and everyone on it, easily. It took using 3 times my power to do it, and that was only because he wasn't wearing all that much armor."

"They can be taken out. If you can disarm them. One of the tactics most Resistance cells employed was to destroy their weapons, blow up their armories. Or steal their weapons and turn them against the Nagadarr. You, me and the others in our team are each living weapons now. Just don't expect to take out more than a few Nagadarr at a time. And don't underestimate their weapons. They have this odd relationship with technology, it's hard to explain, except that I have never seen weapons so powerful and so deadly."

Sarada listened closely and quietly as Meagan explained in some detail who and what the Nagadarr were and how they fought. Three types: typical foot soldiers, and then the more elite leaders of the incursion group. They used weapons and it sounded like they had some skill in them. When cornered, they resorted to what sounded like simple ki blasts, so it was imperative to finish them off quickly once they had been disarmed. Depending on what their armor was made of, carving through it with her katchin knives shouldn't have been too much of an issue.

The key was to fight fast, fight smart, and not waste time underestimating them.

She remembered sensing Meagan's higher power level earlier when all hell broke loose, but never thought to ask her about it until now. If her estimation was correct, she should have been at around 20K-21K. Impressive; she assumed that was this so-called 'Kaioken' technique the dragon told her she needed to learn to defeat the Nagadarr. It seemed that her training in that regard went according to plan.

Sarada also had a new technique she planned on bringing out once they engaged the invaders. Well, it wasn't new per se, but it was new for her. Tasure's technique, Hitozaru. When combined with Anaxam, her power level erupted to slightly over 56K for only a little while. She wanted to wait until she fought Jagam to really push herself as far as it would go, but the Nagadarr seemed to be good practice dummies.

"Alright. Sounds like this is going to be fun," she finally responded with an excited grin. "These Demons sound really strong, so I think I'll take those if I can find any. I'm sure once the Ogres and Devils start getting nuked, that'll rustle whatever bushes they'd be hiding in. If worse comes to worse," she pulled out the handheld Neural Stunner, "we can just use these on anyone that comes close to overpowering us. They worked on Adam and the robo-sisters, so they should work on the Nagadarr."

Again, this would serve as practice for when she faced Jagam. Every bit of training counted toward success, and liberating her friend's planet was a satisfactory result.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

As Sarada and Meagan spoke about the Nagadarr, a peculiar looking girl was watching them from a distance.



She seemed to be debating with herself, hemming and hawing about whether to go over and talk to them or not. Eventually, she sighed and started toward them.

[Tami]

As Sarada and Meagan spoke about the Nagadarr, a peculiar looking girl was watching them from a distance.



She seemed to be debating with herself, hemming and hawing about whether to go over and talk to them or not. Eventually, she sighed and started toward them.

Meagan looked at her, then at Sarada, "Was she one of the prisoners? I don't recognize her."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Meagan looked at her, then at Sarada, "Was she one of the prisoners? I don't recognize her."

Sarada raised a curious eyebrow and watched the skittish girl creep closer to them with all the enthusiasm of a child going for a root canal. "Maybe? I can't imagine she'd be a would-be slaver," the Saiyan girl answered.

"Hi!" the girl all but screamed when she reached them. "My name is Shadae, Eater of Bunnies!" She reached into the pouch strapped to her right leg and pulled out a small silver box. "On behalf of the Draconians taken by the Junjo and saved by you, I give you this!!" Her words were stiff and unnatural, as if she had been rehearsing this for the last several minutes.

She had.

She all but shoved the box into Sarada's hand.

"Um… thanks. Where'd you say you were from again?"

"Draconia II," the girl answered. She glanced shyly at Meagan, then waited eagerly for Sarada to open the box.

"Huh. Never heard of it."

[Tami]

Sarada raised a curious eyebrow and watched the skittish girl creep closer to them with all the enthusiasm of a child going for a root canal. "Maybe? I can't imagine she'd be a would-be slaver," the Saiyan girl answered.

"Hi!" the girl all but screamed when she reached them. "My name is Shadae, Eater of Bunnies!" She reached into the pouch strapped to her right leg and pulled out a small silver box. "On behalf of the Draconians taken by the Junjo and saved by you, I give you this!!" Her words were stiff and unnatural, as if she had been rehearsing this for the last several minutes.

She had.

She all but shoved the box into Sarada's hand.

"Um… thanks. Where'd you say you were from again?"

"Draconia II," the girl answered. She glanced shyly at Meagan, then waited eagerly for Sarada to open the box.

"Huh. Never heard of it."

"It's huge Universe, might as well open it Sarada." She then turned to the Child, "Hello, this is Sarada and I'm Meagan. We are both happy to have been of help. Are there other Draconians with you?"

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"It's huge Universe, might as well open it Sarada." She then turned to the Child, "Hello, this is Sarada and I'm Meagan. We are both happy to have been of help. Are there other Draconians with you?"

Sarada shrugged and looked the box over. It was a simple silver box with a lock on the front. Of course it was locked -- she doubted the kid realized that one needed a key to open a lock -- so she dug her fingernail under the lip of the top and pushed upward until it opened. Inside was a broken necklace.



She raised an eyebrow and took it out to look at it. The symbols didn't look familiar in the slightest.

"Just me and my momma," Shadae answered. Her eyes were locked on Sarada, watching the Saiyan look the broken piece of jewelry with bated curiosity.

"Thanks? I mean, it's broken, so..."

"Momma says it's important," the girl replied. "Um... and very old, too. Five thousands years old."

"Huh. Well, thanks anyway, kid."

[Tami]

Sarada shrugged and looked the box over. It was a simple silver box with a lock on the front. Of course it was locked -- she doubted the kid realized that one needed a key to open a lock -- so she dug her fingernail under the lip of the top and pushed upward until it opened. Inside was a broken necklace.



She raised an eyebrow and took it out to look at it. The symbols didn't look familiar in the slightest.

"Just me and my momma," Shadae answered. Her eyes were locked on Sarada, watching the Saiyan look the broken piece of jewelry with bated curiosity.

"Thanks? I mean, it's broken, so..."

"Momma says it's important," the girl replied. "Um... and very old, too. Five thousands years old."

"Huh. Well, thanks anyway, kid."

"Seems like the mystery will be solved when you find the other half. Looks like you have a quest. When you figure it out, I'd love to find out. Something that old has to have an interesting history behind it." Meagan glanced at the amulet, then at the child, "Are you sure that this is what your Mom wants? Something this old has to be valuable."

[The Dog]

Shiro unhooked the scanner from Midori's 'maturing' device, taking it over to the laptop and hooking it in to download the info it gathered into it. As she did so, the Midori-controlled half-oval machine clicked along on its six insectoid legs as its hands unhooked the scanner hooked to her power cell.

Passing it to Shiro, Midori said "OK, I've got the information from my power cell." Shiro nodded, and after unhooking her scanner from it, hooked Midori's to it.

As it downloaded in its information into the laptop, Shiro turned to the small robot and asked "So, when are you planning to talk to Erosa about what Adam called 'probable jealousy', likely over your plans with Sarada?"

"I-I don't know. It'll be awkward." Midori said, its hands wringing as the camera looked away.

"Well, you'll have to eventually. You can't just ignore her, or else she might get a little crazy. She is an Id, after all." Shiro commented, and Midori nodded her camera 'eye' as she said "You're right, of course. I'll talk to her after we figure out what happened to my body."

"Good." Shiro replied with a smile before turning to the laptop.

Looking over the information, Shiro's smile turned to a frown as she said "Well, the good news is that your power fluctuations aren't in the realm of danger, and seem to be just your power cell getting used to your new form. Also, your height, increased bust, and generous backside were indeed caused by the maturing device, though fortunately it's gone dormant, so you shouldn't see any more spontaneous increases."

"And the bad news? I have a sinking feeling that there's bad news." Midori asked, and Shiro answered "Well, I wouldn't call it 'bad news' exactly, but I've found the reason for your drastic change in physical appearance."

"Which was?" Midori questioned, and Shiro replied "You know how Adam left a little piece of himself in you to help keep your systems together during the fight against Battersea? Well, its still there, and whatever caused your maturing device to malfunction also affected it, and it seems to have caused the nanomachines stored in the maturing device to not only 'mature' your body, but also change it into its current appearance."

"I see." Midori muttered, the small device she her mind was controlling clicking as it walked back and forth on its thin, insect legs.

After several moments, Midori said "I need to go talk to Adam about this.", and the small device turned and walked away, the cord connecting it to her body stretching to its limit until popping out of where it was hooked into the machine.

Shiro raised an eyebrow as she turned to Midori's body and called "I'll stay here and watch over your body, so be careful!"

"I will!" the small machine said as its pointed feet clicked against the floor of the ship while it moved to find Adam.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"Seems like the mystery will be solved when you find the other half. Looks like you have a quest. When you figure it out, I'd love to find out. Something that old has to have an interesting history behind it." Meagan glanced at the amulet, then at the child, "Are you sure that this is what your Mom wants? Something this old has to be valuable."

"A mystery, huh?" Sarada wasn't one to participate in things like figuring out the history of stuff. That shit sounded incredibly boring and time-consuming; time better spent training, fighting, eating, or mating. Still, from the way the kid was talking, it sounded incredibly valuable, and in possession of a rich history. Things this old just didn't sit around collecting dust. It had to have some kind of story behind it. "Alright. I'm not one for that investigative shit, but I'll go on a quest or whatever."

"Great!" Shadae chirped. She then turned to Meagan. "Yes. Momma said to --"

"--to the nice people who saved us," spoke a woman as she walked up to them.



Sarada looked up from the necklace and beheld the swinging hips and juicy, firm tits the woman was sporting. Also, the horns; she noticed those two. She licked her lips hungrily, and completely missed the woman's smile falter. "It was no problem. There was no telling what those fucking slavers would have done to you guys. Like, shaved those horns off or something."

"Yes," she replied, clearly unnerved by Sarada's penetrating stare. "Well, I am Tymres, The Life Giver, one of the matron mothers of Draconia II. My daughter and I are forever in your debt. If there is anything I can do to repay you, please, just ask."

A slow, perverse grin crawled across Sarada's lips, and Ishtar would suddenly find herself besieged by a wave of aroused, perverted feelings as the young Saiyan considered Tymres' unfortunate offer. "Weeeeell, if you're serious, we can find somewhere private so you can repay me properly," she offered huskily.

"I..." Tymres was taken aback by her forwardness. "I have a... I am taken already."

"Oh." The perverted thoughts didn't cease even as Sarada's enthusiasm flatlined. "Well, never mind."