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

[grampagen]

The four flounders sat flat, their oblong eyes opaque as they sizzeld upon their small platters filling Balon's house with the scent of savoury heat.

It was the loudest sound between the clink of cutlery and a subdued chewing as all the chatter stopped. All the while, the chef stared daggers across the room at the Majin.

The cork shot forward, hitting Sasheem in the eye. He didn't flinch as his face maintained a heavy frown upon noticing there wasn't enough food.

He spent the rest of this little luncheon sitting just slightly apart from the others facing the opposite direction.

Samson nods his thanks, sipping the tea. Marron does so as well, though quickly excuses herself as she has business in Capital City.

“Sasheem asked to be trained on the Dragon style, and I agreed. He has proved a.....difficult student, but still quite teachable.”

. "...take care Marron," Zaofan's said to her, his tone light as she made her exit. As soon as the door shut, his fork fell flat on the table and he turned his attention back to the Majin in their midst.

"Master Balon, do you know what he did?!" His chair slid back, and he was poised to move in an instant. "It doesn't matter if he might wear your colours today, changing shapes for him is as easy as a Snake sheds its skin!"

Still, the Dragon School Master, the Last on Earth, stated his case, and Zaofan only wished his tone wasn't so measured, so patient; so composed!

"Sasheem admitted it himself. He's using all of us, especially you! What do you even see in him?!"

At Ochazuke's words, he scoffed, "Just goes to show that that dumb headband of yours has been cutting off the circulation to your brain for some time now..."

The Majin folded his arms. "Sasheem's not only sought knowledge, he's been taking it in, ever since you and the other Moron-fighters started your time trips."

Pushing through the soften flesh with a pair of chopsticks, Ochazuke peeled the fillet off the flounder, and stripped it to the bone. Fins, scaleless skin, and aromatic flesh fell away on one side.

"I suppose you have choked long enough upon the refuse of eons," he said, "Why would you bother to bear the burdens of a divergent one?"

The methodical process by which he dismantled the fish continued when he flipped it over, until a flattened crown was all that remained, set atop exposed unadorned spine and ribs.

As he prod it to the wayside, it seemed to slither to the edge of his plate.

"Still, it is refreshingly honest for you to acknowledge your place stands far from the battle."

He gestures to a data pad lit up on the table.

“The location of the Phoenix Shrine is closest. It’s about five hundred miles away on a remote and uninhabited island.”

"See? If you won't believe me, at least listen to the last dragon," Sasheem kipped-up, standing to his feet, nodding with somewhat surprising respect as Marron walked past to make her leave. "But more important than Sasheem's incredible aptitude for learning, is that shrine, right? Hopefully you two came prepared..."

"'Hopefully we came prepa-'" Zaofan sputtered, "you arrived later than we did, and after ducking out on us on that asteroid no less! And leaving Officer P-Sta behind in the wreckage~" The nerve of this guy! The only reason the GP Officer had returned at all was likely some million-to-one cosmic accident!

Meanwhile, Ochazuke poured a cup of tea, his head bowed slightly as Balon spoke. The closer they came to realizing their goal, the more mindful he became of the weight of legacy; he imagined that Zaofan's rising gall in Sasheem's proximity resonate to a similar degree. Beyond the burden of responsibility for the matter of those lost days, Ochazuke had a specific, personal stake in this.

The Map of the Shrines, after all, had come from another student of Zxu'ro that also came near to a resolution, only to fall short.

“I have learned the location of Master’s secret. However.......I am shamed to say I do not know if I am worthy to take the final step alone. Zaofan was slain and I find I....feel responsible. I would claim the Master’s legacy with him should the dragon balls return. If they cannot...then I shall attempt it myself.”

The smallest ripple, spread wide, creates all the greater a divergence. Yet that Alternate World carried itself in echoes within this one, and that glimpse of that doomed future was with him ever since. Yet for the shouting and bluster at the other end of the table, the opportunities realized by this small gesture of discovery roused a quiet excitement within him. The dryness of the tea seemed to sharpen his senses; he would not miss a thing.

"Then we should move swiftly towards our discovery, then. The spirit of the shrine has been left waiting long enough."