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

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

He produces a strange piece of tech that projects a star map, showing her where The Workshop has been.

“Not worse per se, different. Shattered where our golem guards within our buildings. Pocket dimensions held thousands of them within our walls. Behemoths were smaller than Dreadnaughts, but terrifyingly ferocious. Between three to five meters tall normally.”

"Hm, smaller means more agile." Inanna commented, before making a mental note of the Workshop's last known location.

"Though one supposes, as long as they're more manageable I won't complain overmuch. Plus, the golems themselves weren't overly problematic in the end, it was the threat of the facility itself self-destructing that we were forced to flee. Though not without stealing a considerable amount of the First Race's modified Katchin ... and several more things besides."

The golden-eyed woman couldn't help but chuckle at the thought.

"Ahh, in any case. The Dreamwalking you mentioned will be useful in the days to come. I'd like to get a measure of what's needed to deal with Eldfen when the time comes." She continued then. "Though the first stop with be to deal with Kyuubi."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Hm, smaller means more agile." Inanna commented, before making a mental note of the Workshop's last known location.

"Though one supposes, as long as they're more manageable I won't complain overmuch. Plus, the golems themselves weren't overly problematic in the end, it was the threat of the facility itself self-destructing that we were forced to flee. Though not without stealing a considerable amount of the First Race's modified Katchin ... and several more things besides."

The golden-eyed woman couldn't help but chuckle at the thought.

"Ahh, in any case. The Dreamwalking you mentioned will be useful in the days to come. I'd like to get a measure of what's needed to deal with Eldfen when the time comes." She continued then. "Though the first stop with be to deal with Kyuubi."

“Then meditate with me, please. We shall match our energy signatures and from there I shall show you within your mind our method of Dreamwalking.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

It was a short flight from where Sarada and Mais arrived to the town of Cask. Much had changed in the last five years, as was to be expected. She would have been more surprised if it hadn't changed since the last time she had been there. The population seemed to have doubled, from five hundred to around a thousand. Not bad for a small, out of the way village.

Sarada landed and walked the rest of the distance into the town. Heh. To think that this was where my rise to greatness first started. Just like I said all those years ago.



To think, that was only a few days after she failed her graduation test at the CTC and was doomed to a life of slavery in the Meat Market. The confidence she had in herself and her abilities to get stronger away from the environment that led to her downfall was more desperation and empty hope than any real pride in herself. That it worked out in her favor seemed to be a twist of fate. Had Eva not interfered, she would have remained in the Meat Market until Mato freed the slaves some months later. Would she be as strong as she was right that moment had things played out naturally?

...

Probably not.

Well, there was no point in playing the what-if game. Life played out how it did for a reason. And that reason was made very clear by Midori Pantaloons three years ago.

She sighed mentally.

They stepped inside the tavern where she met up with the likes of Jack, Ochazuke, and Meagan. "Now, let's see if we can't get something to eat."

There are several types of stews, meats, and breads available alongside an assortment of fruits.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

As they started flying after Araxat, Cyanna replied to Killrog's question. "To be honest, she's either the most stubborn, self centered old lady in the galaxy, or she has completely lost her heart, her sense of compassion. I'm no expert of the psychology of Toadians, or what did you call her, and Intodian, to know if she is beyond reach or reason. I hate it when people get so powerful that they think they can dictate who lives and who dies, it's not right, it never is. I also hate it when the only way to deal with these people is to kill them. Not sure if I ever actually killed anyone, at least not directly or intentionally." her face contorted into a wince of discomfit as she spoke, "even during the war on my homeworld, even despite all the horrible things done by them, all I ever wanted was for the invaders to vanish, to go back to where they came from."

"When someone attacks you, you attack back in self defense. If it keeps happening over and over, the self defense becomes hatred and anger. You want them to stop hurting others, but you also want them to pay for what they did. Araxat is setting herself up for that, for being the one hated enough to have the whole planet go after her. She is cornered, her ego won't let her stop and say 'I'm Sorry', the crimes she committed won't let the others on this world let her off without being punished, harshly. She may think herself so powerful that nothing scares her, but that should. I suspect she could have done so much good if only she realized that there was more than one way to solve problems, and that doing so compassionately could have made her a hero instead of a villain. Villain's don't tend to survive for long when they make enough enemies. though many heroes also die in the process."

As she stopped speaking, her mind wandered to thoughts of Charco and to her own reaction to news about what happened to him. It made her realize that she was speaking from experience, that she was not only grieving, but far more angry then she ever remembers being. That her lashing out back at Morgana's home was her own deep seated desire to lash out at Rex. A part of her wanted to destroy him, to rip him apart. Another part of her didn't so much as she just wanted Charco back, she wanted to talk to him, to be with him. Both parts are still there, fighting within herself even as she struggles to stay focused on waht is happening here and now.

With a shake of her heard and brief sigh, she forcibly shoved those thoughts back for now. After she finished helping Praxat and her people deal with Araxat, then she can go back to Earth to face up to what had happened.

" From my experience on Earth, the psychology of Toadians is pretty much similar to that of Earthlings. Don't know about Intoadians through." Praxat said.

" If what Araxat told about Intoadians consider themselves superior to Toadians is true. Then are a snobbish society. However, I'm not sure that's the case," Killrog said.

The group would arrive in a desert in Sufrica. Where Araxat is just standing there." Grandmother, you don't have to do this where's your compassion?" Praxat said.

Araxat responds by firing a blast of psychic energy from her hand, which Killrog protects Praxat from. The blast tears through Killrog's body. Obliterating half of it.

Killrog regenerates. " Araxat, have you lost any sense of compassion you once had?" Killrog said.

Araxat takes off her shades and red scarf to reveal her empty eye sockets and her forced unnerving smile." I was compassionate once, and it got me nowhere. I did many great things, and I did so compassionately," Araxat said.

" However everything did was all of the naught when that fucking bitch, Yaztoh Zorak ripped out my heart and stomped on it. Her and her horrible rules. That bitch abolished the space program. An act that left many planet colonies of the Kingdom of Swampa without supplies or goods," Araxat said.

" Not only that, but she outlawed trading between races on other planets. She made it illegally for Toadians living in Lisia to leave. She put a hefty tax import tax on all goods being ship from Lisia to colony continents. And, if the colonies didn't pay," Araxat said.

" She cut them off all resources from Lisia. I tried hard to get her to listen to reason to talk to her compassionately, but she never listen to a damn word I said. She just blew all my compassion back in my face. Araxat said.

" Yaztoh showed me that all my compassion was meaningless in the end. That's why she had to die because there was no other way. Most of her children also had to die to make sure there wasn't another Yaztoh," Araxat said.

" My current goal is to bring balance, to fix everything that dreadful woman Yaztoh had ruin as during her reign. Please understand I'm only attempting to weed out the bad, to make sure that there isn't another Yaztoh," Araxat said.

" By what attempt to wipe out half of all life on the planet. That's insane! We're are not going to let you do that," Praxat said.

" Since you insist on getting in the way. you leave me with no choice!" Araxat said.

Araxat mechanical right-hand starts glowing, and suddenly a flash of blinding light appears. When the light fades. A massive 100-meter mech appears in Araxat's place. Praxat uses Lightning Storm on the mech, but it has no effect.

The mech smacks Praxat aside hard enough to turn the desert below her into a giant crater. Praxat gets up and coughs up blood. " Compassion is for fools. The only way to get things done is to be cold and emotionless," Araxat said.

Killrog fires an explosive beam at the mech, which it easily deflects." You're wrong. That's not the way to go about things. The old Araxat would realize that" Praxat Killrog said.

The mech then punches the air and suddenly creates a portal. Which it's right arm disappears through. Another portal opens up in front of Killrog, and before he can react. he is hit blow so powerful.

That it plows him into the ground like a missile." That side of me is dead. I got rid of it. That side of me was a weakness," Araxat said.

" There's a saying if you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you. You don't realize this, but you have become like the one person you have a deep hatred for, Yaztoh. I was thought by a very wise Toadian named Melina Luue long ago when I was young, that one should never let hatred or anger consume them!" Althena said.

[Yun Lao]

The meat tsunami didn't last terribly long under the assault from the veiled stranger's makeshift weapons, the various moans and grunts of pain before being bopped back into re-death.

Of course all good things certainly had to come to an end, and with a loud clang and a nasty snap, the arms were annihilated once they came into contact with an armored carapace.

With a sickening snap and crackle, the makeshifts club were messily broken upon the iron hide of their new challenger. Looking to the shattered limbs with what one could consider disappointment, the stranger tossed them aside before issuing a long, slithering wheeze to their opponent. Regardless of if their verbality was construed as a challenge or greeting, a surge of energy could be felt emanating from the drifter, possibly a power level of sorts, but it felt too strange, too alien, to be so certain.

The bandages obscuring their face bulged and throbbed as something fought to escape and with the ripping of gauze, a long pink tendril shot forth like a whip, wrapping around the head of the knight-like being. The organ went taut, threatening the crush the armored helm, yet this was the bandaged stranger's full intention as, like a winch cable, they began to pull their foe towards them.

[MrSandman]

As Morgan fell towards him, Zaofan held her close, and though his embrace was warm, his body was tense as his heart frantically pounded. We have to get back to the others, we have no idea what else could be waiting.

"You must have been so scared up here, alone for so many long years, " he said softly. Slowly, he pulled back, his hands upon her shoulders as he looked Morgan in her eyes and spoke firmly.

"What will happen, even if you lock your memories away? That doesn't mean the world around you will disappear. This is something you know better than anyone, Morgan."

"You're scared. I understand, believe me I do," he said, his voice choking under the anxiety. "But the thing about nightmares is, you can't walk away from them unless you wake up first."

"We might've been strangers to this land, but now that we know that there's danger here, that means we have to do all we can to stop it. That means we need you to guide us forward."

The sounds of battle died down, replaced by a bloodcurdling scream he could hear even within this cloister, and the flash of panic carried within the ki signatures outside. "You know what will happen if the darkness escapes and falls upon the rest of the Earth." Yet as sounds of anguish passed, a faint grin spread across Zaofan's face as he nodded to the sorrowful familiar.

"My friends are strong. That's part of the reason we came here, after all. We were lucky to find the Queen's favourite Familiar," he said. "So let's make a deal. You show us the rest of Persephone's kingdom, and when we're done here, you can come home with us."

"...." Morgan paused, silently thinking upon his words.

"....your all so stubborn......you don't understand, just you being here is upsetting the balance of this place. It may already be too late to reverse it.......your risking more then your life by continuing." Morgan pauses, folding her arms and glancing towards the fall wall. "...but the other intruder......he could cause just as much damage. I suppose...*sigh*.....I suppose we have no choice."

"I'll....do my best to guide you.....but only until we find the one your looking for and get him to leave, then your leaving too and your taking me with you.....and we'll make sure nobody can come back here. Understand?" Morgan looks Zaofan dead in the eye.

Lifting his fist before him, slowly it stilled, and spread to an open palm. The ethereal flame of Karura no Kaen fell upon the Mage. Burning invisibly upon the spiritual impediments encroaching beyond the veil, that uncanny matter that settled into the Mage's all too sullied flesh, Ochazuke sought to immolate the dark powers rendered into this form.

"The Queen..." he said. "Focus. What happened to the Queen?"

Slowly restoring this man to reason - if he could - it was a gambit to further separate this Mage from his fell magic to hear him speak.

"Why did you attack us? Who sent you?"

"No...Please.......I can't...." The creature makes gasping noises as it attempts to breath, but the energy manages to allow him some respite. "....Queen? Yes.....I.....the Queen....."

Fixing its two beady eyes upon Ochazuke, the creature attempts to answer. "Did I...Attack you? No...I...I had no control......I couldn't see...I....." It shook its head, tentacles flailing as it moved. "The Queen, I...I was part of the Royal...gurr....the Royal Guard......Protectors of the Queens Tomb......we.....ruururhhh..........we were....sealed within to guard it until....it was time....."

He starts clutching at his throat. "...rrh.....it hurts....I can feel it growing again......dark power....bleeding from my queens tomb.....it changed us.........UUURhhhhhrhr........please.....while i'm still sane.........end it......I don't want...to go back..."

The creatures gaze fell off behind Ochazuke, where Zaofan and Morgan now stood, the faintest trace of magic in the air around them. The handmaiden eyed him, not with fear, but with sadness.

"L...Lady Morgan........at least...I can rest knowing you....Urrrhhh...UURRRHHH..........WWWRRRRRRRYYYY! !!" Void energy began billowing from his chest as it began to take his form again, pushing through even the attempted purification from Karura no Kaen.

[Yun Lao]

OOC: Since it was probably lost in the chaos and I'm motivated, time for a revised post.
----

With a primal roar, the beast attempting to block the energy with a combined blast of his own. Both attacks met, sparking a flood of energy that began tearing the walls of the hive asunder and bringing down rock and debre all around them.

Slowly, Rexs beam began pushing him back.

A back step, followed by the grinding of dirt under its feet as the force pushed him backwards. "You.....You don't know what your doing.....you blind halfwit.....all your bluster will mean nothing if you continue to stomp about and let them walk here. I've seen......Geehhh....the things i've seen......in the places you could never reach......what they did to our kind....."

The monster was now pressed against the wall of hive, cracking behind him.

"What they still does....deep....in the mountain........I was keeping them in check.......I was....ERRRRRGHHHH!!!"

With a thunderous explosion, the Megalo Cannon finally blew through the creature and detonated against the wall. In a flash of light and sound, his body evaporated into nothingness....along with a sizable half of the hive structure, and several layers of rock behind it.

Beyond the now vaporized rock walls, the destruction abruptly stopped at a barrier of dark green material...the outer wall of some buried construct. He had succeeded in punching a small hole in it, but only one small enough to see what appeared to be aged broken down machinery of an unknown nature. With the walls of the hive down crumbled, and the energy of his adversary gone, Rex would realize that his posse had decided to long since vacate the area.....and a smaller exposed gapin the distance that seemed to led beyond the outer shell and the slowly vanishing pinprick of energy more then suggested where they had gone.

"The mewlings of a pathetic weakling!" He spat out at the ashes of his fallen adversary. All that bluster about power and strength and only when things got tough did the whelp mention such things as if expecting those excuses to spare his miserable life. Rex didn't care, he was far too furious to contemplate on the words of a dead traitor. In hindsight, he could see why humans fell to the temptations of this power, yet for his own kind to succumb knowing the consequences made his blood boil. Had his system of ruling been so weak to fall apart upon his "death"? Had there been no other to guide his species as the new Strongest?

The clouds of fukushuu dispersed and Rex's humanoid form descended to the battered floor of the chamber. The matters of his thoughts troubled him more than any supposed threat the weakling had shrieked about. Rex would destroy them all the same, starting with the old man and his dolls. Locking on the faint energy signal, he made his way after them.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

There are several types of stews, meats, and breads available alongside an assortment of fruits.

An alluring cornucopia of mouth-watering smells emanating from the kitchen like a tantalizing aphrodisiac teased the two Saiyans ever-empty stomachs. Sarada shot out of her seat and moved swiftly to procure some food for them both. In the distance, she could hear her nephew banging on the table and chanting, “Meat meat meat meat meat meat meat!!”

The boy's behavior in public was still a work in progress. The fact that he wasn't running around trying to fight the locals was a miracle in and of itself. The younger the Saiyan, the more hyperactive and rambunctious they tended to be. At least he was better than his sister, who often introduced herself to new people by punching them as hard as her tiny arms could muster.

She returned to the starving boy with two armfuls of food. Meaty stews, carefully roasted pork, chicken, turkey, and beef, and several pieces of fresh bread.

The boy immediately dug in, eschewing simple table manners in favor of shoveling food in his mouth at an alarming and startling rate. Startling for everyone else; food vanished off of Sarada's plate so quickly, it seemed to just disappear into the ether.

Worried murmurs started to ripple through the bar. She could feel eyes starting to drift over to herself and her nephew. I wonder if any of these people recognize me. It didn't matter if they did or not. She hadn't spent a whole lot of time there, or Earth in general. At best, she expected someone to recognize that there was another girl with a monkey tail there some years ago.

Ah well. “Is it good, little man?”

He stopped just long enough to smile and nodded.

Her gaze lingered on him for a moment longer. The maternal feelings she developed for him and Garnish while trapped in Parsley's body still lingered. How could they not? She breastfed them, put them to sleep every night and said good morning to them when they woke up every morning. Even if it only amounted to them growing closer to her sister – as was how it should have been – it left her feeling excited for her own pending motherhood.

The next five months couldn't pass by fast enough.

In the meantime, she would steal time with her niece and nephew whenever she could. She wished Garnish could have detached herself from her mothers long enough to come with her, but nah. Maybe next time.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

" From my experience on Earth, the psychology of Toadians is pretty much similar to that of Earthlings. Don't know about Intoadians through." Praxat said.

" If what Araxat told about Intoadians consider themselves superior to Toadians is true. Then are a snobbish society. However, I'm not sure that's the case," Killrog said.

The group would arrive in a desert in Sufrica. Where Araxat is just standing there." Grandmother, you don't have to do this where's your compassion?" Praxat said.

Araxat responds by firing a blast of psychic energy from her hand, which Killrog protects Praxat from. The blast tears through Killrog's body. Obliterating half of it.

Killrog regenerates. " Araxat, have you lost any sense of compassion you once had?" Killrog said.

Araxat takes off her shades and red scarf to reveal her empty eye sockets and her forced unnerving smile." I was compassionate once, and it got me nowhere. I did many great things, and I did so compassionately," Araxat said.

" However everything did was all of the naught when that fucking bitch, Yaztoh Zorak ripped out my heart and stomped on it. Her and her horrible rules. That bitch abolished the space program. An act that left many planet colonies of the Kingdom of Swampa without supplies or goods," Araxat said.

" Not only that, but she outlawed trading between races on other planets. She made it illegally for Toadians living in Lisia to leave. She put a hefty tax import tax on all goods being ship from Lisia to colony continents. And, if the colonies didn't pay," Araxat said.

" She cut them off all resources from Lisia. I tried hard to get her to listen to reason to talk to her compassionately, but she never listen to a damn word I said. She just blew all my compassion back in my face. Araxat said.

" Yaztoh showed me that all my compassion was meaningless in the end. That's why she had to die because there was no other way. Most of her children also had to die to make sure there wasn't another Yaztoh," Araxat said.

" My current goal is to bring balance, to fix everything that dreadful woman Yaztoh had ruin as during her reign. Please understand I'm only attempting to weed out the bad, to make sure that there isn't another Yaztoh," Araxat said.

" By what attempt to wipe out half of all life on the planet. That's insane! We're are not going to let you do that," Praxat said.

" Since you insist on getting in the way. you leave me with no choice!" Araxat said.

Araxat mechanical right-hand starts glowing, and suddenly a flash of blinding light appears. When the light fades. A massive 100-meter mech appears in Araxat's place. Praxat uses Lightning Storm on the mech, but it has no effect.

The mech smacks Praxat aside hard enough to turn the desert below her into a giant crater. Praxat gets up and coughs up blood. " Compassion is for fools. The only way to get things done is to be cold and emotionless," Araxat said.

Killrog fires an explosive beam at the mech, which it easily deflects." You're wrong. That's not the way to go about things. The old Araxat would realize that" Praxat Killrog said.

The mech then punches the air and suddenly creates a portal. Which it's right arm disappears through. Another portal opens up in front of Killrog, and before he can react. he is hit blow so powerful.

That it plows him into the ground like a missile." That side of me is dead. I got rid of it. That side of me was a weakness," Araxat said.

" There's a saying if you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you. You don't realize this, but you have become like the one person you have a deep hatred for, Yaztoh. I was thought by a very wise Toadian named Melina Luue long ago when I was young, that one should never let hatred or anger consume them!" Althena said.

" Don't you dare compare me to that, bitch! I'm nothing like her!" Araxat said. Araxat's mech portal punches Cyanna, Praxat, Althena, and Killrog.

Praxat gets up from the devasting blow along with Althena and Killrog. She and Althena then both go into Boost mode and attack Araxat simultaneously along with Killrog. However, even with their combined power, they can't put a dent in the Mech. Out of the blue, a bunch of drones appear and start blasting at the Mech.

" Okay, this is weird. Why are those drones attacking my grandmother's Mech?" Praxat said.

Praxat, Cyanna, Killrog, and Althena can hear Uraxat's voice coming from one of the drones." Listen up while you all have been busy fighting this machine. I have been looking over its schematics!" Uraxat said.

" First, my mother is using her self as a power source for this machine. Second, it has a force field around it that absorbs kinetic energy. However, it doesn't produce this force field itself. From going over its schematics, this force field is produced by an outside source," Uraxat said.

"This outside source is six mechanical towers. These towers should be close to the Mech's proximity. Uraxat said as she gives Cyanna, Praxat, Althena, and Killrog intel on the Mech.

" Hmm, how exactly is my grandmother powering this Mech? Is she using her own bioelectricity?" Praxat said.

" That would be a negative," Uraxat said.

" If it's not her bioelectricity. that would mean that's she's powering this Mech using her...." Praxat said.

" Her psychic energy. Araxat is using her own psychic energy to power this thing!" Killrog said.

[grampagen]

"...." Morgan paused, silently thinking upon his words.

"....your all so stubborn......you don't understand, just you being here is upsetting the balance of this place. It may already be too late to reverse it.......your risking more then your life by continuing." Morgan pauses, folding her arms and glancing towards the fall wall. "...but the other intruder......he could cause just as much damage. I suppose...*sigh*.....I suppose we have no choice."

"I'll....do my best to guide you.....but only until we find the one your looking for and get him to leave, then your leaving too and your taking me with you.....and we'll make sure nobody can come back here. Understand?" Morgan looks Zaofan dead in the eye.

"Believe me, we're no stranger to uh...tipping the scales, so to speak," a small, mischievous grin broke through the panic that ensnared Zaofan, "For better or for worse, sometimes that's the only way to make a change when things seem like they're stuck the way they are."

Leaning in, he added with a short wink, "probably why you decided to bring us here, yeah?"

At last, they seemed to have reached terms, and in the darkness behind these empty, magical walls, Zaofan steeled himself. "For so long, Morgan's been looking out for the needs of everyone else. Maybe, this time, we can do something you want. Lead the way!"

"No...Please.......I can't...." The creature makes gasping noises as it attempts to breath, but the energy manages to allow him some respite. "....Queen? Yes.....I.....the Queen....."

Fixing its two beady eyes upon Ochazuke, the creature attempts to answer. "Did I...Attack you? No...I...I had no control......I couldn't see...I....." It shook its head, tentacles flailing as it moved. "The Queen, I...I was part of the Royal...gurr....the Royal Guard......Protectors of the Queens Tomb......we.....ruururhhh..........we were....sealed within to guard it until....it was time....."

He starts clutching at his throat. "...rrh.....it hurts....I can feel it growing again......dark power....bleeding from my queens tomb.....it changed us.........UUURhhhhhrhr........please.....while i'm still sane.........end it......I don't want...to go back..."

The creatures gaze fell off behind Ochazuke, where Zaofan and Morgan now stood, the faintest trace of magic in the air around them. The handmaiden eyed him, not with fear, but with sadness.

"L...Lady Morgan........at least...I can rest knowing you....Urrrhhh...UURRRHHH..........WWWRRRRRRRYYYY! !!" Void energy began billowing from his chest as it began to take his form again, pushing through even the attempted purification from Karura no Kaen.

Standing over the creature so racked with pain as it writhed in the snow, Ochazuke visibly started when plain words reached his ears. Spoken from behind the mass of feelers, it was distinct as it was sound rather than the psychic echo that raked through his very flesh. There yet exists some reason within this cruelly twisted shape.

And yet his technique was failing, the Dragon's Fire of purification beset as if standing astride a vast ocean to immolate the surface of its dark dredge.

Kei'i-Ken.

If he could not purify the creature by removing the force that possessed its psyche, he would attempt to appeal to the reason of the man within and illuminate the Royal Guard's soul in his last moments.

"Concentrate," he said. "The Queen's tomb. What's inside the Queen's tomb?"

As he spoke, the bleeding shadow within the Mage did not escape his attention, nor did the sudden reappearance of their Familiar guide and his martial brother. "We're back! I can't believe we- hooOOOH MY GOD."

You and Morgan...the Void...is there a connection?

Not since he first beheld the Black Fire of the Destroyers had he encountered so volatile a power; though the ancient mountain stood, it seemed as if the very forces which held it fast were the very same corroding the very matter they stood upon.

Awaiting the reply, he withdrew a few steps. Squaring off and set in a firm stance, he dashed his palms together, and began to concentrate.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

An alluring cornucopia of mouth-watering smells emanating from the kitchen like a tantalizing aphrodisiac teased the two Saiyans ever-empty stomachs. Sarada shot out of her seat and moved swiftly to procure some food for them both. In the distance, she could hear her nephew banging on the table and chanting, “Meat meat meat meat meat meat meat!!”

The boy's behavior in public was still a work in progress. The fact that he wasn't running around trying to fight the locals was a miracle in and of itself. The younger the Saiyan, the more hyperactive and rambunctious they tended to be. At least he was better than his sister, who often introduced herself to new people by punching them as hard as her tiny arms could muster.

She returned to the starving boy with two armfuls of food. Meaty stews, carefully roasted pork, chicken, turkey, and beef, and several pieces of fresh bread.

The boy immediately dug in, eschewing simple table manners in favor of shoveling food in his mouth at an alarming and startling rate. Startling for everyone else; food vanished off of Sarada's plate so quickly, it seemed to just disappear into the ether.

Worried murmurs started to ripple through the bar. She could feel eyes starting to drift over to herself and her nephew. I wonder if any of these people recognize me. It didn't matter if they did or not. She hadn't spent a whole lot of time there, or Earth in general. At best, she expected someone to recognize that there was another girl with a monkey tail there some years ago.

Ah well. “Is it good, little man?”

He stopped just long enough to smile and nodded.

Her gaze lingered on him for a moment longer. The maternal feelings she developed for him and Garnish while trapped in Parsley's body still lingered. How could they not? She breastfed them, put them to sleep every night and said good morning to them when they woke up every morning. Even if it only amounted to them growing closer to her sister – as was how it should have been – it left her feeling excited for her own pending motherhood.

The next five months couldn't pass by fast enough.

In the meantime, she would steal time with her niece and nephew whenever she could. She wished Garnish could have detached herself from her mothers long enough to come with her, but nah. Maybe next time.

Rose is spotted near the bar, cleaning the surface. The girl, now older, seems happy as she chats with a customer.

[MrSandman]

"Believe me, we're no stranger to uh...tipping the scales, so to speak," a small, mischievous grin broke through the panic that ensnared Zaofan, "For better or for worse, sometimes that's the only way to make a change when things seem like they're stuck the way they are."

Leaning in, he added with a short wink, "probably why you decided to bring us here, yeah?"

At last, they seemed to have reached terms, and in the darkness behind these empty, magical walls, Zaofan steeled himself. "For so long, Morgan's been looking out for the needs of everyone else. Maybe, this time, we can do something you want. Lead the way!"

Standing over the creature so racked with pain as it writhed in the snow, Ochazuke visibly started when plain words reached his ears. Spoken from behind the mass of feelers, it was distinct as it was sound rather than the psychic echo that raked through his very flesh. There yet exists some reason within this cruelly twisted shape.

And yet his technique was failing, the Dragon's Fire of purification beset as if standing astride a vast ocean to immolate the surface of its dark dredge.

Kei'i-Ken.

If he could not purify the creature by removing the force that possessed its psyche, he would attempt to appeal to the reason of the man within and illuminate the Royal Guard's soul in his last moments.

"Concentrate," he said. "The Queen's tomb. What's inside the Queen's tomb?"

As he spoke, the bleeding shadow within the Mage did not escape his attention, nor did the sudden reappearance of their Familiar guide and his martial brother. "We're back! I can't believe we- hooOOOH MY GOD."

You and Morgan...the Void...is there a connection?

Not since he first beheld the Black Fire of the Destroyers had he encountered so volatile a power; though the ancient mountain stood, it seemed as if the very forces which held it fast were the very same corroding the very matter they stood upon.

Awaiting the reply, he withdrew a few steps. Squaring off and set in a firm stance, he dashed his palms together, and began to concentrate.

"......Humbert." Morgan hesitated a moment before speaking. "It is you...isn't it. Its ok, you....you won't have to endure it for much longer."

Bolstered by the effect, the creature whom had once between known has Humbert seemed to supress his mental anguish even though the void burned in him with greater intensity, "My...My lady....."

"But you must tell me....What has happened to the others? And the Queen?"

Humbert let out a pitiable sob. "The Tomb.....we...we protected it as long as we could.....but its been too long.....far too long.....the seals have weakened, leaking energy....we didn't know until it was too late. The others are gone......I can feel them nearby. It won't....won't be long before they come too."

Humbert lifts his head to face her. "The Queen Still rests....above the old ones chamber, the mechanism is damaged....only a Morgan can restore the seal now.....and bring life back...to Avalon...and our Queen..."

"Then....its as I thought....." Morgan nodded slowly, then turned to Ochazuke.

"Please.....let Humbert rest now. If there is to be answers, then I am your guide...Its my responsibility." Morgan voiced, before returning her gaze to the lost one. "....I'm sorry......May the old ones.....keep you safe in the next life."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Rose is spotted near the bar, cleaning the surface. The girl, now older, seems happy as she chats with a customer.

Is that... yeah it is her. Rose, the girl whose capture united several of the M-Fighters together for the first time. Looking back on it, Sarada wouldn't have been surprised if that was all Eva's doing, in a bid to bring them together into one place. Years later, the girl seemed happier and none the wiser of her place in history.

Her dishes were clear, but Mais was still eating. This was a perfect chance for her to say something. "Stay here, brat," she told him as she stood and made her way over.

"Rose? It's been a while, hasn't it?"

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Inanna hummed softly. "Good good, wouldn't want the Saiyan Queen's spouse to not look the part on her wedding day~" the whole Empire was watching after all, not simply those who had assembled in this room. Though in looking around it seemed that not simply mortals were in attendance.

Oh my.

When Maiz began the ceremony though, something quite strange took place, and for a moment Inanna was visibly caught off guard when Sarada began to wax poetic -- or as much as was possible for the Saiyan -- and express to everyone, everyone just how much she loved. A thing that was by any measure, worth far more than the ring that was not a moment after, slipped carefully onto her finger. Which was among other things, endearing, and very, VERY arousing.

"I might breed you in view of the guests, if you keep that up ..." the golden-eyed woman whispered, softly.

With a gesture from Maiz however, what she might've said next was cut short.

"Oh ... hm ?" Inanna said, before realizing it was her turn to speak. "Oh ... well~" she paused, and exhaled softly. "I doubt I can compete with what my Little Love's just offered ... an expression of true love offered by a Saiyan worth far more than Katchin ... but as I've watched you change and grow from when we first met, I can say with absolute certainty that in all the years of my life I've not met a soul as brilliant as yours; and I love you, Sarada. From the tip of your tail, to the tallest spike of your Super Saiyan hair, I love everything about you. The way you fight with nothing held back, and how you express your emotions so subtly. How you never shy away from the truth, and how you'd never abandon those you care for even at their worst, or fail to cheer them up with that infectious charisma of yours." And Inanna herself had certainly experienced some terrible 'worsts', but that stalwart and damnable charisma of Sarada's had always managed to keep her sane a little while longer, until she could figure out what she needed to do. To the point where Inanna was sure Sarada could make a rock work a little harder at being a better rock, if she put her mind to it.

"I love you, Sarada; I always will. And I'll never refrain from saying it ... and showing it."

Realizing with surprise that she hadn't brought a gift with her, her eyes widened after she finished speaking and chuckled nervously, as a band of interwoven alloys and a rough cut diamond manifested and was quickly slipped over Sarada's finger. "I can't uh ... I wasn't really aware we needed to trade uh ..." Inanna stammered, obviously embarrassed before whispering, "my intended gift ... it's a multiform."

Inanna was never shy about expressing her love for Sarada, nor did she hesitate to let the Saiyan Queen know how much she loved her. The thought of being taken by the seven foot tall Oni in front of everyone shouldn't have resulted in the... excitement that rippled through her entire body, but at this point, there was very little her love could have said that wouldn't have aroused her.

She smiled knowingly up until Maiz spoke, giving Inanna the chance to speak. Even if she wasn't bound by biology to speak the truth, Sarada knew that every word she spoke was the truth. Not to toot her own horn, but she was what she was. She wasn't someone to turn her back on her friends, not matter how far they had fallen. If there was a chance to help them, she was willing to take it. It was why she decided to listen to Eva and not hunt Rex down and kill him for taking over Charco's body. There was a chance – a tiny one – to save him, and she didn't want her thirst for revenge to ruin it.

As for infecting people with her charisma, well, she couldn't speak to that herself. She just decided to take Inanna's word for it. Though, given how many of her friends showed up willing to another planet just for her, there was clearly something she was doing right as far as they were concerned.

She wanted to tell Inanna that exchanging gifts wasn't really a thing, but she was too choked up. A ring that gave her the ability to split herself into multiple forms... what a beautiful gift. She could already see herself running a train on her.

Erm... training. She could see herself using this ability to train more effectively. If she could figure out how to beat herself, then she could beat anyone. And it'd help her fight more effectively if she could react to her own mistakes. And it would help with that pesky reckless endangerment thing she always put herself in.

And of course, there were the practical uses for multiform, like being able to work and spend time with her family at the same time. This was, literally, the greatest gift Inanna could have given her up until their wedding night.

“It's perfect,” she uttered, voice slightly warbled. She was not about to cry, so she didn't know what that was all about. “Thank you, love.”

Maiz picked the ceremonial knife and bowl up off the table and handed Sarada the former. She sliced her palm open and let her warm crimson blood pour into the bowl, just enough to mostly cover the bottom. She then handed the knife to Inanna so she could do the same.

“Once you've added your blood to Sarada's, take a sip to complete the life-bond,” Maiz told her.

[MrSandman]

OOC: Since it was probably lost in the chaos and I'm motivated, time for a revised post.
----


"The mewlings of a pathetic weakling!" He spat out at the ashes of his fallen adversary. All that bluster about power and strength and only when things got tough did the whelp mention such things as if expecting those excuses to spare his miserable life. Rex didn't care, he was far too furious to contemplate on the words of a dead traitor. In hindsight, he could see why humans fell to the temptations of this power, yet for his own kind to succumb knowing the consequences made his blood boil. Had his system of ruling been so weak to fall apart upon his "death"? Had there been no other to guide his species as the new Strongest?

The clouds of fukushuu dispersed and Rex's humanoid form descended to the battered floor of the chamber. The matters of his thoughts troubled him more than any supposed threat the weakling had shrieked about. Rex would destroy them all the same, starting with the old man and his dolls. Locking on the faint energy signal, he made his way after them.

~Deep within the Mountain Complex~

Agravain could feel the force of the energies unleashed all the way from deep within the complex.

Despite the situation he couldn't help but smile internally. That damnable Hive and its abominations had been a thorn in the side of his expedition since they arrived. That the foolish lord arrived when he did was but a easily exploitable bit of good fortune. Morgan had been correct in her deduction of the egotistical reptile, with the proper application of flattery and subservience he was swayed to their side without too much issue....even if he did suspect something, nothing he said was really a lie.

Just an omission of truth.

The power of this land was not Agravains to take, but nor was it the reptile King...or the self proclaimed lord of the wastes. This land is, and always will belong to the one true sovereign.

"Move faster....Assuming he's not dead, it won't be long before either of them catch up. We must make it to the heart of the mountain before any more distractions." The man urged his servant on as they moved swiftly through the forgotten halls and chambers. They had enough of a head start, even if his stalling tactics fall through....they just need to....

"F'thu Mnthas!" Came a shout from the hall ahead....as a bipedal squid entity lurched from the shadows, and then another, and then several more beside. Agravain grimaced as the path ahead of them was slowly blocked, and more of them were literally coming out of the walls on either side of them.

Without a second though, he reached within his clothes and pulled out his pendant....letting it hang in the air, visible to the congregation advancing upon them.

"HALT! I come bearing the sign of authority....I am Agravain, Last Magi of the Grey Thorn!" The pendant visibly flashed with contained magic, and for a moment the beasts gave pause. "I come to fufill the order handed down by our great queen...long overdue. Stand Aside!"

Agravain could not prevent the sweat from building on his brow. The presence of the old guard was to be expected, again....as Morgan predicted. But their condition was even worse then he had been led to believe....and he had no idea if they would still respond to the old authority, or if they still had minds with which to do so.

With frighteningly slow and methodical movements, the swarm closed in around them....

~~~~

Further behind, Rex was making his swiftly towards their location....or at least as swiftly as one without knowledge of the layout could.

It was at this point he encountered Morgan, or at least....a Morgan. She had been seemingly waiting at a junction in the tunnel system and stood to attention as Rex arrived.

"My Lord." She began. "Apologies....Lord Agravain had to move to a safer area amid the conflict. I was advised to wait here until your arrival and guide you to him." She motioned in one of the tunnel directions. "Also, Congratulations on your Victory."