Dragonball M, Chapter 3: In Blood, Bone, and Ash! The Way Forward Unlocked!

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Another security agent walks in and whispers to Grinthorn. The man narrows his eyes and stands.

“I believe we are finished here. Thank you, all. Until we meet again. I have...an issue to contain.”

With that he taps a wrist watch once and seemingly vanishes, teleporting through technological means instead of magical.

————-

Suddenly, standing not ten feet in front of the dapper man and his mob is President Cohn Grinthorn. The president looks the mob over before addressing the man.

“State your business, interloper. My patience for antics today...is thin.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Time rewind.

OT: This is for Cleric.

“This is GP courier ship Thanatos. State your name, your emergency, and a rundown of your situation.” States a rough sounding male voice.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Sarada's imperial class space cruiser had just left the planet Tabaga, a world colonized by over 12 million pure and halfbreed Saiyans living in harmony. She had become aware of their existence when they reached out to her about a week ago asking for assistance and to express a desire to join the Empire. She, of course, accepted and left right after concluding her business on Earth to check things out. It just so happened to be in the same star system as Langal, so a quick portal trip cut down on travel time immensely.

After speaking with the planet's leaders and commingling with the people, she decided that it was best to bring them into the fold. The process was going to be an extensive one. Paperwork had to be drawn and signed, and an election had to be held so the people's voice could be heard and taken into account. If all went according to plan, Tabaga would become the seventh world in the Saiyan Empire. Yet another world and millions more lives to concern herself with, but these Saiyans were peaceful and friendly. Actually, they had quite a sterling reputation as ones who helped their neighbors in times of need and never caused any trouble themselves.

If anything, it wasn't going to be the headache she feared.

There were ten royal guard ships accompanying hers as protection -- if her ship was attacked, she really couldn't do much to defend herself. As Sarada was planetside handling business, the royal guards were posted in the planet's upper atmosphere so that they had all possible angles covered. One of the ships noticed something strange and went to check it out.

One of the neighboring worlds had come under attack suddenly by what looked like a pirate ship. "What the... people still pirate these days?" one of the pilots sneered. "Let's head over and check it out."

The guard ships were incredibly fast and agile. It crossed the distance between worlds in only a few minutes.

His co-pilot checked the star map as they rapidly approached. "Hm. Looks like that's... Vumpu. Huh? That's just a junk world. Who the hell would want to plunder that?"

"Who knows?" He slowed up just shy of the entering orbit and sent a scouting drone to check things out. Cloaked, it scanned the planet as it descended. What it caught was startling.

Fang grabs as many Emp bombs as he can hold and steps off the ship. He then goes about using them to render the Metalmen immobilize, and goes to work snatching up their children.

"One of the pirates is kidnapping children down there!"

"****." The pilot chewed his nail and thought about what to do. "Her Highness would want to go after them, but this may be best left to the GP." Even as he spoke, the ship was leaving. "Crap. I'm going to follow them. Contact Her Highness and fill her in. I know she's gonna want a piece of this."

The co-pilot nodded and contacted Sarada's ship as the pilot recalled the drone. He activated the cloaking mechanism on their ship and started to follow the pirates.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Another day had gone by without hearing from Ishtar. Another day had gone by without Sarada's beloved Oni returning to her. She was certain that wherever she was, she was safe and working on getting herself together. Having said that, it was hard sleeping by herself again. Aka Manah being silent wasn't anything new. Whenever they went to different timeline without the other – such as when Sarada went to the Tournament – it didn't transmit their feelings until after the connection had been re-established.

Still, having it be this dead and this quite for this long was unusual. It didn't feel right. She occasionally wanted to contact her and ask if she was okay, but had to remind herself that she couldn't.

It had been months since she had last seen her. She had been spending that time diving into her duties and working hard on the Meat Market construction project, securing building grants and organizing the city demolition, as well as finalizing housing plans for the people who lived there. It was a nice distraction, plus she actually made a lot of work done.

One of the other things she managed to accomplish was getting Parsley to move in with her and Pinach. It took her a few days, but she did it.

She immediately regretted it.

Those stupid brats would not stop crying. They cried in the morning. They cried in the afternoon. They cried at night, when she – after having a long day and no sex – was trying to sleep. When she got into bed, she was tired and wanted to sleep. What she didn't want to do was listen to two snot-nose, self-centered assholes cry and weep and bitch and moan about pointless **** that didn't matter. No one cared that there was a loud noise, Garnish. Grow a set and shut the **** up.

She, of course, kept this to herself. Apparently, screaming at two babies wasn't proper etiquette. Tch. When did the Saiyan race get so soft?

It was early in the morning. She had just woken up and was enjoying a nice glass of whiskey on her balcony. She sensed Parsley heading her way and sighed. I hope she's alone.

Sadly, she wasn't. In her arms was her son. As soon as Parsley landed, the snot cooed and reached for her. Sighing, she took the boy in her arms. Immediately, he started yanking on her hair. “Grrrr.”

Mama Parsley laughed at Sarada tribulation and poured herself a glass. “Cherish this moments, Auntie. It won't be long before you have your own little ones.”

“Tch. Mine won't be this annoying.”

“Hmph.”

“I'm serious.”

“You don't know much about babies, do you?” When Sarada was quiet, she smirked. “Thought so. Consider this training.”

Sarada mumbled something and reach to pull her hair out of the boy's grip. “Any word from Avoca?”

Any and all mirth disappeared from Parsley demeanor. “No,” she answered tersely. “I told her our children would be coming home two months ago.” That she was talking through gritted teeth, she was very upset.

“Um, she probably found The Triumvirate. You know how we can get when we start training.”

“I know.”

This was apparently a big deal. Sarada didn't think much of it, but apparently it was something mothers thought was important. “Well, you can push her **** in when she gets back.”

“Yeah.”

She could see the worry on her face behind the anger. Sarada didn't want to think it herself, but the chances of Avoca having some kind of mishap and either crashing on a planet with no way off – Kami forbid – dying weren't quite zero. **** always happened. Sarada hoped that wasn't the case, but it wasn't possible to just completely rule it out. “Hey, why don't we get lunch? It's been a while, hasn't it?”

Parsley gave a half-smile and a nod. “Sure. I'd love...”

When she trailed off, Sarada raised an eyebrow and followed her line of sight skyward. There, she saw an entire fleet of familiar looking ships descending from above. “Shit, not again.”

“Again?”

“Those ships are the ones that Blizz and the other one brought with him last year.” She handed little Mais off to one of her servants, then leaped off the balcony. “Come on!”

Parsley sighed, drained her glass, then leaped off to follow her.

As they neared, they watched the largest ship slow to a halt about a miles above the tallest skyscraper in Kakarot City. Two figures flew out of the top hatch and quickly made their way down to the center of the city.

Letchee and Daroga touched down in the middle of a busy intersection. Immediately, they were surrounded by Saiyans, the number of which quickly included Sarada and Parsley. “Ah, the Saiyan Queen herself.” The former bowed magnificently at the waist.

“Who the hell are you and what do you want?” she inquired snappishly.

“I,” he answered as he straightened, “am but a humble servant of the all-powerful Lord Tundra. The name, I'm sure, has no meaning to you, but I assure you that he is very interested in your kind.”

“And you,” Daroga followed, “in particular. You are, after all, the killer of his two children, Blizz and Cooled.”

Her eyes widened briefly before her gaze cut to the ship above them. She didn't sense any other levels of note onboard; strange, considering Frost Demons couldn't lower their power without transforming. Or untransforming... or whatever. “Hmph. Those two weak embarrassments? I guess that's why he didn't bother showing up himself, huh?”

Letchee chuckled mirthfully. “Not at all. Our Lord has many, many more important things to do than entertain his attention with weak fools such as the apes that infest this planet.” He shook his head, as if listening to a child talk about nothing. “Now then, enough pleasantries.”

Parsley narrowed her eyes. “Planning on killing us, hm? You'll find that task far more difficult than your attitude indicates you believe.”

“Hm?” He shared a glance with Daroga. “Princess Parsley. I once believed that those foolish Tuffles had done you in. Glad to see I was right, for a time anyway.”

She snorted. “Enough pleasantries.”

Sarada attacked first, firing a blast at Letchee, then leaping to engage Daroga. Parsley dashed to handle Letchee.

They were both at least twice as powerful as either sister; Daroga was three times as powerful as Sarada. That meant nothing with Super Saiyan, but she decided to get this man's measure before killing him for good.

He had six arms, which was odd, but he was clearly a Draconian. “Never thought I'd see another Draconian again.”

“Indeed.” They traded blows. Automatically, it was clear that he had the clear and definitive advantage. Not only he was more powerful, but had four more arms to work with. Sarada was completely unable to block all of his strikes and had to resort to parrying and dodging if she could. Which was few and far between. “You are not the first Saiyan I have met in my life.”

She wanted to ask him what he was talking about, but the blows were coming in fast and hard and she was having too much trouble trying to defend herself to think of something witty to say. She grunted and managed to slip behind him. Pressing her hands against his back, she detonated a pair of powerful blasts at point-blank range.

Daroga was shot forward, but managed to right himself. He was none the worse for wear, with only a singe on his back to show that she had actually scored a hit. “His name was Vocado. I assume he was named for this world, or perhaps it was named for him.”

He knew Vocado? She frowned and drew the ultra katchin knife Parsley gave her a while ago. “The second,” she answered. His journal mentioned being taken in by a race of dragons after his fight with Glacier two thousand years ago.” Draconians were incredibly long-lived. They could easily live for tens of thousands of years.

“I see.” He took note of the knife, then charged forward. “The Dragon's Scream!” he bellowed before unleashed a massive megasonic roar. Sarada was knocked out of the air and subjected to hundreds of shards of glass that rained down from the broken windows above her. Everyone stopped and covered their ears, squirming with discomfort.

He cut off the scream and exploded forward. Sarada was still staggered, so she was completely taken by surprised and had each arm and leg grabbed by one of his arms. He still had two arms free and laid heavy blows into her vulnerable body.

She coughed up gobs of blood with each punch that landed. She could feel her ribs crack and snap. The knife slipped from her grip. Her tail unfurled from her waist and wrapped around it before it fell out of reach. Like a scorpion, it lashed out and stabbed the knife into his torso.

He grunted and used one of his free arms to grab her tail. It squirmed in his grip like a snake. He punched her in the torso with enough force to almost pierce through her back, then used all six arms to slam her into the ground with extreme force.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Sarada was face down in a deep crater of broken pavement. It was hard to breathe. She was sure one of her lungs was punctured and was filling up with blood. ****. I'm getting fucked up here.

Daroga stepped toward her and stood over her. “In his infinite mercy, Lord Tundra has offered a boon to you in advanced, to delay the inevitability of your death. If your claim of being a Super Saiyan are true, transform now and spare yourself and your race.”

She heard what he said just barely over her rattling breaths. Her confidence was shattered. There was no way she could defeat Daroga without transforming. Grunting, she pushed herself up to her knees. Just doing that felt like a herculean task that expended more energy than she could afford to waste.

Saiyan Grit. Her lung closed, ribs knitted together enough to secure her innards, and her bleeding stopped. She stood tall and gritted her bloody teeth. “You want me to transform? Fine!” She roared and let her golden power flourish to life. Golden-haired and wreathed in a regal flame, she narrowed her eyes.

Daroga inclined his head and looked her over. “Yes. This form is the same as the one Vocado showed me years ago. Impressive.”

“Hmph.”

“You should be thankful. As a Super Saiyan, you've saved your race. For now.”

“I don't think so!” She roared and exploded forward, ready to pummel Daroga into a fine paste.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Sarada's imperial class space cruiser had just left the planet Tabaga, a world colonized by over 12 million pure and halfbreed Saiyans living in harmony. She had become aware of their existence when they reached out to her about a week ago asking for assistance and to express a desire to join the Empire. She, of course, accepted and left right after concluding her business on Earth to check things out. It just so happened to be in the same star system as Langal, so a quick portal trip cut down on travel time immensely.

After speaking with the planet's leaders and commingling with the people, she decided that it was best to bring them into the fold. The process was going to be an extensive one. Paperwork had to be drawn and signed, and an election had to be held so the people's voice could be heard and taken into account. If all went according to plan, Tabaga would become the seventh world in the Saiyan Empire. Yet another world and millions more lives to concern herself with, but these Saiyans were peaceful and friendly. Actually, they had quite a sterling reputation as ones who helped their neighbors in times of need and never caused any trouble themselves.

If anything, it wasn't going to be the headache she feared.

There were ten royal guard ships accompanying hers as protection -- if her ship was attacked, she really couldn't do much to defend herself. As Sarada was planetside handling business, the royal guards were posted in the planet's upper atmosphere so that they had all possible angles covered. One of the ships noticed something strange and went to check it out.

One of the neighboring worlds had come under attack suddenly by what looked like a pirate ship. "What the... people still pirate these days?" one of the pilots sneered. "Let's head over and check it out."

The guard ships were incredibly fast and agile. It crossed the distance between worlds in only a few minutes.

His co-pilot checked the star map as they rapidly approached. "Hm. Looks like that's... Vumpu. Huh? That's just a junk world. Who the hell would want to plunder that?"

"Who knows?" He slowed up just shy of the entering orbit and sent a scouting drone to check things out. Cloaked, it scanned the planet as it descended. What it caught was startling.



"One of the pirates is kidnapping children down there!"

"****." The pilot chewed his nail and thought about what to do. "Her Highness would want to go after them, but this may be best left to the GP." Even as he spoke, the ship was leaving. "Crap. I'm going to follow them. Contact Her Highness and fill her in. I know she's gonna want a piece of this."

The co-pilot nodded and contacted Sarada's ship as the pilot recalled the drone. He activated the cloaking mechanism on their ship and started to follow the pirates.

Later, Sonata is in a room with Qaztoh on the Black Dragon. Qaztoh is on the ground, and he is stomping her repeatedly in the face." Do you have any idea what you done, you F@#king frog!" Sonata said in anger

" Because of you, and Nadila. The others are rebellion against me. Refusing to follow my orders. I took you kids in, recuse you from trouble homes," Sonata said.

" Took you kids off the streets. I gave you kids here home, and this is the thanks I get? I will punish you and use you as an example to the other kids to not disobey my orders," Sonata said.

Von walks into the room and sees Sonata stomping on Qaztoh's blood cover face. Von grabs Sonata. " Sonata, please stop. she's had enough. " Von said.

" Let go of me Von, Don't you see I'm dishing out punishment to our engineer here? Now, unless you got something F#$king important to tell me. I suggest you leave," Sonata said.

" I do it's about planet Vumpu?" Sonata said.

" And what about it? Talk, I don't have all F@$king day!" Sonata said.

" Well, one of the Metalmen children we kidnapped on that planet just happens to be the step-son of The Black Sheep's right-hand man Marsrito the Grey Izakiria!" Von said.

Sonata stops stomping Qaztoh, and he turns white as a ghost. " Von, telling me your joking? Tell me it's just an f@$king joke," Sonata said in fear.

Von lowers his head." It's no joke, Captain. I made a miscalculation. I had no idea that Marsrito had a son on planet Vumpu until it was too late," Von said.

"Now I fear that he's coming for us. We are royal F#$k captain. You heard the horror stories about what this guy did to an entire intergalactic crime who killed his pet?" Von said.

" Yeah, I know. I heard the stories. They say he supposedly an unstoppable force of nature. That if you have the misfortune of encounter him," Sonata said.

" The last thing you will see is him staring at you," Sonata said.

" Yeah, he slaughtered an entire crime syndicate because they killed his pet. Imagine what he's going to do to us, we kidnapped his f#$king son!" Von said in fear.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

“This is GP courier ship Thanatos. State your name, your emergency, and a rundown of your situation.” States a rough sounding male voice.

" My name is Araxat. My race The Toadians' Kingdom on Qacriea was taking over by a Tyrant name Killrog. My race is currently rebelling against him and his forces the Replitas. We're fighting against them with high tech weaponry, but I'm afraid it isn't enough." Araxat said in an eerie calm tone.

" It's a bloodbath right now, and the Replitas' regeneration makes them difficult to deal with," Araxat said in an eerie calm tone.

[MrSandman]

Another security agent walks in and whispers to Grinthorn. The man narrows his eyes and stands.

“I believe we are finished here. Thank you, all. Until we meet again. I have...an issue to contain.”

With that he taps a wrist watch once and seemingly vanishes, teleporting through technological means instead of magical.

————-

Suddenly, standing not ten feet in front of the dapper man and his mob is President Cohn Grinthorn. The president looks the mob over before addressing the man.

“State your business, interloper. My patience for antics today...is thin.”

"Fine day indeed." The Salesman tipped his hat in response, smiling in a manner that Grinthorn would find....to a degree, rather mocking of his former visage. ".....But you've seen some better days haven't you mister president."

With an exaggerated gesture, the man swung his cane out and pointed to the crowd. "There was a time when the hearts and minds of an entire nation were putty in your hands.....Now look at you. Reduced to begging, hiding and scheming. Its a shame....a darn shame. Bartering what isn't yours."

Letting his cane come to a rest on front of him, the man leans on it with both hands. "But no matter...I'm not here to chastise...this is a message. I had hoped it delivered to the others but as well, but we can....settle for you. Look around, hearts and minds so easily turned against you....Enemies biting at your heels while you parade a facade of superiority. No need to deny...I know a facade when I see one." The man grinned from ear to ear.

"The Guardian of this world comes, unseat the pretenders and bring back the age of human dominion. Avalon rises....and there is no place there for dragons." He let the last word slip from his mouth like a piece of meat, then stepped back and motioned with his hand.

The crowd closed in past him, his body vanishing under the swarm of humans as the charged in on the man....screaming, swinging weapons, biting, clawing.

[grampagen]

OOC: NEver mind I guess I just missed it

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Sasheem stared up at the massive creature. Phoenix never did make much sense to him. If a bird that big was constantly on fire, it should be nice and crispy not mighty and majestic. Either way, there was no point in dwelling on that now, when the bird had some pertinent...and surprising information.

"Two questions....First off, an imposter?! Who the hell else knows about this?!" The Majin questioned, folding his arms as he glanced up at the Phoenix in dismay. "And secondly, if you knew you were dealing with an imposter, why didn't ya roast 'em?!"

“A fierce woman bearing the Tiger School style and some of the Crane came here. She did not seem an imposter until the end, when she fled to the Lion Shrine location after taking all the Phoenix secrets. She came saying she was Zxu’ro ‘s student.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Fine day indeed." The Salesman tipped his hat in response, smiling in a manner that Grinthorn would find....to a degree, rather mocking of his former visage. ".....But you've seen some better days haven't you mister president."

With an exaggerated gesture, the man swung his cane out and pointed to the crowd. "There was a time when the hearts and minds of an entire nation were putty in your hands.....Now look at you. Reduced to begging, hiding and scheming. Its a shame....a darn shame. Bartering what isn't yours."

Letting his cane come to a rest on front of him, the man leans on it with both hands. "But no matter...I'm not here to chastise...this is a message. I had hoped it delivered to the others but as well, but we can....settle for you. Look around, hearts and minds so easily turned against you....Enemies biting at your heels while you parade a facade of superiority. No need to deny...I know a facade when I see one." The man grinned from ear to ear.

"The Guardian of this world comes, unseat the pretenders and bring back the age of human dominion. Avalon rises....and there is no place there for dragons." He let the last word slip from his mouth like a piece of meat, then stepped back and motioned with his hand.

The crowd closed in past him, his body vanishing under the swarm of humans as the charged in on the man....screaming, swinging weapons, biting, clawing.

A pulse of old magic, pre Earth magic, magic older then Universe 15 ripples and the entire crowd around Grinthorn falls to the ground, unconscious.

The President is unharmed, tilts his head to the side and looks at the Salesman.

“All sorts of stupid, aren’t you? A clause in my binding: anyone tries to harm me, well, their intent is turned back on them. It’s why the last time they went after my dragonballs instead.”

He steps out of the unconscious pile and moves like a predator towards the other man, the smile growing a bit wider, eyes faintly glowing.

“Avalon? Ahh, a wretched hive of stupidity and bigotry now. What a shame. Felled by an angry dinosaur long ago and silenced for thousands upon thousands of years. Paltry magic for a paltry place that should stay dead. Tell your would be ‘guardian’ that the world doesn’t need your ilk anymore. Our current batch of magicians is more than fine. Avalon should stay in the ground where it belongs.”

His grin widens unnaturally so.

“Unless you really think you can take me out? Shall we see? Give me your best shot.”

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

OT: So is Ishtar gonna sense that magic, Cleric ?

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

OT: So is Ishtar gonna sense that magic, Cleric ?

Which one?

The infection in the city, the pulse, or the island where Other Grinthorn is?

Yes to all three regardless.

[grampagen]

Beyond the tiny collection of ruins, the only landmark of note that Shōchū could make out from a brief scan of the environment was a large peak off in the distance. Before it, was nothing but wasteland, sickened dead trees speckled here and there with the occasional ruin of something poking from the snow.

The darkness made it difficult to see anything else....save perhaps the flickering of some far off lights. A reflection of star light off the snow perhaps....or something more.

Ochazuke however, was digging deeper then the facade offered by the frozen land.

Underneath, Ochazukes senses briefly made contact with latent energies flowing beneath the ground.....and his skin crawled. It was everywhere, stretching on for miles.....like a network of veins under a pale white skin. Spiritual energy, corrupted by negative emotions and forces still alien to him. The souls of untold multitudes that had perished here in an age long past.

All flowing towards the mountain in the distance.....from which he can also detect the a faint but familiar reptilian taint.

As his senses reach further and deeper.....he feels something below take notice.

There, set upon the peak in the distance. Set against the howling snowstorm, the burning grey pronounced a maculate spot.

"I've found him."

But then there was something else. Twisting towards that same peak, the energy embedded deep within the Earth had been embedded with something else. Cold, exposed, as if plucked from drowning, the spirit of this place carried a foul resonance despite the omnipresent chill where the spirits of the departed lay.

But they were not dead.

"...be on your guard," Ochazuke said. "We're not alone. There is something watching us."

As if responding to his voice, the vague shape of a human head peers around the corner of the door. Zaofan can make out human features, but only barely from his distance. He can't be sure....but it seems like its looking straight at him.

"Uh...guys..." Zaofan held Bojack at the ready. Despite his training, he felt a chill spread through him. "Guys! It's...it's looking at me."

Ochazuke slowly turned to match his Martial Brother's line of sight. A barely humanoid shape, drifting.

Zaofan's eyes widened. Completely beside himself, he nervously hailed the entity with a raised hand.

"Hello there! Nice night for a walk!"

He'd seen a handful of gods. A demon that ate through a katchin floor. Shot an optic blast at a fixture of fragmented Time.

These were all things he could make sense of, thanks to the guidance of the others. But this...

Please don't be evil, please don't be evil.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Which one?

The infection in the city, the pulse, or the island where Other Grinthorn is?

Yes to all three regardless.

OT: The really old magic that Ishtar will want to learn ... but hey. 3/3 ain't bad.