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

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Then:

Parsley considered what Ishtar had to say silently. The subjects in question, her alternate and her kin, were ones she knew intimately, far better than Parsley did. When the offering was finished, she swept a hand through her hair. "So, do you believe we will actually your alternate in the flesh?" If a person had nothing to gain outside of sating their curiosity, then a simulated battle may not have been enough. Far be it for her to make an opinion on that matter, though. Her Saiyan blood hungered for battle -- even if she picked her battles better than most Saiyans -- making her view on the matter biased.

Marduk, on the other hand, was far more pressing indeed. He was the one who warded the mechanical heart powering the abominations, making his magical prowess substantial. That he apparently harbored a grudge against Ishtar was concerning. Two stones against one bird, potentially. "I suspect my anti-magic will be of help in the battle against him." That she knew nothing about him wasn't encouraging, but that was part of the fun.

"There is a small chance, as a species we suffer from an oft times detrimental curiosity. That I have both shown my hand prematurely and stolen her own might cause her to ... look in." Ishtar conceded, after a brief moment's consideration. "Marduk however ..."

Ishtar was quick then, detailing both what abilities he might possess, how they had first come across the Oni attempting to purchase Ereshkigal at a a Junjo Black Market for the purpose of cannibalism -- to empower himself, undoubtedly. She further went on to elaborate on how because of his previous ... successes ... he had far outstripped Ishtar herself in terms of raw power even then, before emphasizing the grudge he seemed to harbor, after his arm had been sliced clean from his body by Kenbo. In conclusion she then pointed out how, more dangerously than the things mentioned previously: that he had been working for some time -- at least a year perhaps longer -- in the Ancient Laboratories they now headed to.

Summary completed, Ishtar shrugged. "All that said, I will be surprised if he is not in attendance ... and while I have a promise to keep on his behalf ... you are perhaps the best equipped of us to confront him directly."

Now:

"Pactmaker, you've arrived." A Familiar voice whispered to Ishtar mind as she stood in the void of space.

A familiar taste disrupted Ishtar's focus, and a lance of energy that might have otherwise been deflected glanced off of the Oni's Katchin Horn and caused her head to jerk backwards.

Cthylla ... you are late.

Though with the Voidling's efforts, the task of defending the ship became a mere trifle. Bolts of energy deflected away even as the Void-Spawn proceeded to annihilate the ships responsible ... and for the first time since this ordeal began in full a calm swept over the glowing-horn Oni; the monotony of the moment -- a gesture left, a tug right -- afforded her a chance to simply do and not think near as much as she might have otherwise. Though there was one thing that happened to pass through Ishtar's mind, and it gave rise to a silent chuckle.

How passing strange ... the calm I now find in combat ...

“Keep it up, Ishtar! Held, take the controls and get us to that main asteroid. I’m deploying my....questionable device.”

He quickly leaves and goes to the maintenance bay, capsules something, and then moves to the shuttle docking bay and starts setting something up within it.

“Ok everyone, hold on to your butts! I have no idea if this will destroys us or not, so here’s hoping! Ishtar, Cthylla, get back in the ship! Deploying Null-Rot Chaff bomb in 3, 2, 1........”

Waiting until all parties are back in the ship, he then deploys his weapon.

When the call came to return, Ishtar gave it no heed.

Instead, she focused her senses on the ancient Dry Docks, and cast them wide. Only to find that the asteroids here were well older than this Universe ... and held within machinery and alloys so ancient as to be completely unknown; and understanding the secrets such a place might harbor, her golden-eyes fixed themselves upon the asteroid furthest from the soon-to-be blast radius and she disappeared without a word.

“The scanners have located a docking entrance we can use. I’ll drop you guys off there. From there it’s on foot. The altered chaff will only keep working for about another five minutes, then the remaining defenses and ships will be back in the fight. That’s the best window I can give you to get cleanly in. The rest will be up to you. Oh, and it looks like those factories and asteroids are about as durable as can be, so blowing them up won’t be easy, if even possible.”

In between his banter with Held, the Coldlight is piloted into a hanger bay. A docking tube connects the ship to an access door into the facility, and after a few tries, the facility base door unlocks and is open.

You just need to walk down the tube into the facility.

“Last stop, folks. Grab you gear and you better all be ready for pickup once I get back from kicking the rest of the armada’s ass. No one’s allowed to bite it, understand?” Jinzi says, glancing at them all.

It was about this time Ishtar returned to the others, appearing in a suffusion of light within the confines of the Coldlight. Clothing coated in a fine layer of dust, ice -- as the moisture on her skin had slowly frozen in vacuum -- and a sphere of the queer alloy she had 'tasted' within the asteroids around them; she looked as if she had been busy.

"I will see to it that the others return in one piece."

With that, Ishtar made her way into the Doctor's Lair.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Parsley and Sarada stepped inside the facility. From there, there was no going back. If anyone had any second thoughts or sudden cold feet, it was too late to see about them. From that point on, the only direction they could go in was forward.

Forward. To victory or to death.

The Saiyan Way.

Parsley glanced around, getting a feel for their surroundings. It wouldn't be long before the festivities started. Might as well make herself at home. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. When she opened them, her irises were enshrouded by a dark red glow. The uncanny powers of Observational Insight revealed to her all that transpired on the base within the last week, as far back as she could see with perfect clarity. If The Doctor was hiding anything in store for them and their fated clash, she would know it.

[Tami]

Althena then takes out what seems to be a strange tube with swirling energy inside of it , ( Meagan, Praxat gave me something ,and I don't know what it is. I'm wondering if what she gave me is dangerous? ) Althena said telepathically.

There was no response, Althena will have to figure that out on her own.

[Tami]

“You’re a Warrior. Go and kick some but, Dash. I’ll manage here.”

"Good luck." Dash then headed out, following the others into the facility.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

There was no response, Althena will have to figure that out on her own.

Althena heads into the Facility. Meanwhile, in the Maintenance room. Praxat actives and turns her Jobox to automatic. She then selects her mech,( I'm sorry everyone but can't join you all right now. There's something I need to do first,) Praxat thought.

Knowing it's risky to use a Jobox with only one energy stabilizer. Once the Mech is out of the Jobox. Praxat quickly turns the Jobox off. She then gets to work on her mech.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

"Good luck." Dash then headed out, following the others into the facility.

Before the five-minute window is up Praxat finishes repairing the Coldlight and then races towards the facility in a high tech makeshift battle armor. An armor she made from the parts of her mech. The armor she's wearing doesn't seem to be all that powerful. " Nice armor Dash," Praxat said.

[MrSandman]

A familiar taste disrupted Ishtar's focus, and a lance of energy that might have otherwise been deflected glanced off of the Oni's Katchin Horn and caused her head to jerk backwards.

Cthylla ... you are late.

I am not bound by time, so I cannot be late.

The response came with a subtle hint of amusement, very subtle in fact.

If anything is late, it is time itself for not bringing you here in haste.

Another of the broken hulks ignited in a firestorm of void energy.

The half wrecked ships seem much weaker, and the void beams start tearing them apart. Interestingly, the whole ships, ancient as they are, seem immune to Void energy as any beams slide off their shields and armor. Nor can they be teleported into.

In fact, teleportation within the factories seems near impossible. On Dash’s scanner screen an abundance of data starts pouring in, the main chunk being that the asteroids are laced with a mineral that is almost identical to Katchin, but just slightly different (like Parsley’s ax in-fact). Harder, even, because it seems to channel energy more efficiently, giving the material a further durability while also providing a field that inhibits teleportation within the facilities.

More ships pull into the open space from decaying dock yards as Jinzi rushes back up.

“Ok everyone, hold on to your butts! I have no idea if this will destroys us or not, so here’s hoping! Ishtar, Cthylla, get back in the ship! Deploying Null-Rot Chaff bomb in 3, 2, 1........”

"As you wish." Cthylla answered, now standing on the bridge of the ship with only the faintest trace of energy dissipating around here to mark her void shift there. Etrina poked her head through the entryway while Erosa tilted sideways on her chair to watch what was about to go down.

"Null-Rot Chaff? Sounds like a skin con-" Etrina was cut off by the result.

The shuttle they arrived on exits the Coldlight under A.I. control and boosts off towards a cluster of four of the bigger, complete, ships. After about fifteen seconds, it blows up and a nexus of swirling green and purple energy, dispersed alongside a glittering cloud of familiar but somehow different Chaff, expands outward in all directions, swallowing the four ships and sending out massive shockwaves that cross the entire area.

The Coldlight heaves and jerks about, warning lights glaring and alert klaxons blaring as Jinzi and Held try to keep it together. After several seconds the entire ship goes dark, the Coldlight dead in space.


Jinzi counts to ten, then taps a button on the dashboard and suddenly light flares back up as emergency power flares through the Coldlight. Images pop up on the screen and the four ships the shuttle went towards have been reduced to less than atoms.

The ships closest to those four appear to be slowly being eaten away by something as their energy protection has failed momentarily.

Half the wrecked ships have fallen apart and are also being eaten away, and power fluctuations all across the factories denote a similar failure. For the moment, the Coldlight sails alone, the only ship still mobile.

Jinzi chuckles nervously.

“Well......better than I hoped. A dash of Null Energy from Terra, a pinch of Tech-Rot from another timeline, add a dose of First Race disruption Chaff and stir in a crap ton of Capsule Corp high end explosives. Bake until done.”

He looks at the group, sweating.

“The Coldlight is hurt, so Praxat start doing internal repairs. I wasn’t entirely sure my plan would work without killing us, so......yeah, kind of waited to see what the defenses would be like first. Figured now or never. Glad the GP listened and added in the last minute extra magical warding on the ship. It’s what kept the Tech Rot and Chaff from effecting the ship.”

He glances back and moves the ship forwards.

“The scanners have located a docking entrance we can use. I’ll drop you guys off there. From there it’s on foot. The altered chaff will only keep working for about another five minutes, then the remaining defenses and ships will be back in the fight. That’s the best window I can give you to get cleanly in. The rest will be up to you. Oh, and it looks like those factories and asteroids are about as durable as can be, so blowing them up won’t be easy, if even possible.”

After crawling out from under her chair(having threw herself under there in true cat heard a loud noise style), Erosa let out a nervous gao as Jinzi explained what needed to be done.

"Five minutes.....I can work with that." Etrina, having steadied herself in the doorway, fixed the hood of her robe and gathered with the others on the bridge.

[MrSandman]

"Well, I guess that was a certainly clever enough." Held replied warily, wiping sweat from his brow, "I'm sure he never expected you to try and kill yourself on the offchance it would inconvenience him for a few minutes."

He flashed a thumbs up at his friend. "Well done."

He looked out the view port at the dead, immobile carcasses of the enemy armada, halted for the moment, with those unlucky enough to be caught in the radius of the explosion being consumed entirely by Jinzi's bomb.

I guess now the real game begins, though.

"I call dibs." Etrina stated nonchalantly, to nobody in particular.

"I guess if anyone has to use the restroom, this is the best tim---" He began, before double taking.

"Blow them up?!" Held could scarcely believe his ears, "I want to take over this place. I mean, who has the deed? The Doctor? Can I just move in and call dibs? I don't see why I can't save the plane--err, universe--and take the natural resources the world has to offer me! I don't know what it is, but the fact we can't just blow it up tells me whatever is up here is valuable enough."

He paused for a moment, looking at his comrades. "Dibs. I clearly called dibs. You all heard it, you are all independently my witnesses, you took to long to respond and that's now a verbal binding agreement."

Jinzi shrugs.

“If you want the creepy and ancient shipyard-slash-experiment who knows what place, it’s all yours. So long as the Doctor loses it.”

He quirks an eyebrow.

“Of course you’ll need help deciphering everything.”

Etrina let out a sigh, rubbed her fingers against her forehead and then chuckled, and for a moment only Ishtar could feel something happen. A small, inconsequential change....but one none the less.

"Trying to call dibs with a time mage....too bad, I'll always call it first." Etrina chuckled to herself. ".....Don't worry, I'll keep you two in mind when I sell it, top on the list too...." She gave Held a wink and Jinzi a pat on the back before moving on to the mission.

[KingofPie]

Sasheem stretched his arms and placed them behind his head with a yawn. This place looked ominous, dark...Just his kinda enemy fortress!

"How long do you jabronis think it'll be before Doctor Dumas sends out his vanguard?" The Majin asked, peering around for anything interesting in the gargantuan base.

"Well, I guess that was a certainly clever enough." Held replied warily, wiping sweat from his brow, "I'm sure he never expected you to try and kill yourself on the offchance it would inconvenience him for a few minutes."

He flashed a thumbs up at his friend. "Well done."

He looked out the view port at the dead, immobile carcasses of the enemy armada, halted for the moment, with those unlucky enough to be caught in the radius of the explosion being consumed entirely by Jinzi's bomb.

I guess now the real game begins, though.

"I call dibs." Etrina stated nonchalantly, to nobody in particular.

Durive, riding atop Anubis waved to the other Durive, riding atop Anubis as he taped a citation to Etrina's ankle and left on a flash.

"I guess if anyone has to use the restroom, this is the best tim---" He began, before double taking.

"Blow them up?!" Held could scarcely believe his ears, "I want to take over this place. I mean, who has the deed? The Doctor? Can I just move in and call dibs? I don't see why I can't save the plane--err, universe--and take the natural resources the world has to offer me! I don't know what it is, but the fact we can't just blow it up tells me whatever is up here is valuable enough."

He paused for a moment, looking at his comrades. "Dibs. I clearly called dibs. You all heard it, you are all independently my witnesses, you took to long to respond and that's now a verbal binding agreement."

Blizzar briefly shook his head, thinking he had seen double. His mind quickly regained focus as he soon enough join the others, entirely focused on the mission at hand.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

They enter into this darkened room, the door sealing behind them as the Coldlight retracts the docking tube and takes off back into space.

Parsley, Ochazuke, your various means of observation seem...dulled. Parsley, you only get a few fuzzy images of the Doctor, some weaponized machines, and one Arcosian looking creature.

Ochazuke, your senses can only see that there are two ways to go. Left seems to go downwards, and you get a sense of despair and sorrow and pain from there. Right leads towards the Doctor, according to the Namekian Artifact.

[Tami]

Parsley and Sarada stepped inside the facility. From there, there was no going back. If anyone had any second thoughts or sudden cold feet, it was too late to see about them. From that point on, the only direction they could go in was forward.

Forward. To victory or to death.

The Saiyan Way.

Parsley glanced around, getting a feel for their surroundings. It wouldn't be long before the festivities started. Might as well make herself at home. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. When she opened them, her irises were enshrouded by a dark red glow. The uncanny powers of Observational Insight revealed to her all that transpired on the base within the last week, as far back as she could see with perfect clarity. If The Doctor was hiding anything in store for them and their fated clash, she would know it.

Dash, coming up behind Sarada, spoke softly, "Anyone in favor of moving in fast an hitting em hard? Or are we gonna take the slow an cautious path?"

[grampagen]

*snip*

They enter into this darkened room, the door sealing behind them as the Coldlight retracts the docking tube and takes off back into space.

Parsley, Ochazuke, your various means of observation seem...dulled. Parsley, you only get a few fuzzy images of the Doctor, some weaponized machines, and one Arcosian looking creature.

Ochazuke, your senses can only see that there are two ways to go. Left seems to go downwards, and you get a sense of despair and sorrow and pain from there. Right leads towards the Doctor, according to the Namekian Artifact.

How curious. The atmosphere of these corridors was decisively oppressive, a phenomenon he had not encountered in the greater nebula that housed the Doctor's Lair. An effect of the alloys smelted by the shipyard's forge, perhaps? Or was this by a particular design?

"There are two paths," Ochazuke relaid, his tone particularly grim. "I can lead the way to the Doctor...though it has become quite clear that he is not alone. There is something else here, deeper in the heart of the facility. A presence filled with...anguish and despair."

Ochazuke drew in a long, slow breath, and as he did, he reached out his field of sense-awareness yet again. Trying to glean answers from these halls is fruitless. But Ishtar had said this was the nursery of stars. Silently, he sunk back on his heels, searching for a certain resonance within the stellar matter with Muhen Seikai Keihatsu*. These nascent energies, could it be called living presence in this place? Might they yet form some subliminal will?

Returning to the more immediate matter, he spoke to it directly.

"We'll need two teams," he said flatly, before asking "Parsley, have you found any other information?"

*Muhen Seikai Keihatsu interfaces with the living will of a planet; would a cosmic body also have a genius loci of sorts?

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Dash, coming up behind Sarada, spoke softly, "Anyone in favor of moving in fast an hitting em hard? Or are we gonna take the slow an cautious path?"

" I'll go with hit wit the move fast and hit em hard route," Praxat said.

Althena crosses her arms." I believe we should take a slow and cautious path," Althena said.

[Sion Reaver]

They enter into this darkened room, the door sealing behind them as the Coldlight retracts the docking tube and takes off back into space.

Parsley, Ochazuke, your various means of observation seem...dulled. Parsley, you only get a few fuzzy images of the Doctor, some weaponized machines, and one Arcosian looking creature.

Ochazuke, your senses can only see that there are two ways to go. Left seems to go downwards, and you get a sense of despair and sorrow and pain from there. Right leads towards the Doctor, according to the Namekian Artifact.

Once the infighting ceased(if one could call it that) it was back to the thick of things. The whole place set Aleka on edge when she got there but she wasn't sure what in particular besides the obvious of being in enemy turf. She couldn't guess what they would face inside once it came time, their foe was already clever enough to create all matter of things and here they were closer then ever.

She tried to touch some of the material here, to see if she picked up anything remotely useful.

How curious. The atmosphere of these corridors was decisively oppressive, a phenomenon he had not encountered in the greater nebula that housed the Doctor's Lair. An effect of the alloys smelted by the shipyard's forge, perhaps? Or was this by a particular design?

"There are two paths," Ochazuke relaid, his tone particularly grim. "I can lead the way to the Doctor...though it has become quite clear that he is not alone. There is something else here, deeper in the heart of the facility. A presence filled with...anguish and despair."

Ochazuke drew in a long, slow breath, and as he did, he reached out his field of sense-awareness yet again. Trying to glean answers from these halls is fruitless. But Ishtar had said this was the nursery of stars. Silently, he sunk back on his heels, searching for a certain resonance within the stellar matter with Muhen Seikai Keihatsu*. These nascent energies, could it be called living presence in this place? Might they yet form some subliminal will?

Returning to the more immediate matter, he spoke to it directly.

"We'll need two teams," he said flatly, before asking "Parsley, have you found any other information?"

*Muhen Seikai Keihatsu interfaces with the living will of a planet; would a cosmic body also have a genius loci of sorts?

If was nothing else, the scene almost reminded her of the horror movies where people split up and were horribly butchered. Ochazuke was suggesting a split reminded her of that but she couldn't fault the logic behind it in this case. It sounded like there was someone here that needed help, but what? A prisoner? Something else. Time was of the essence which made it more annoying, time was a luxury they didn't have ample amount of.

"I agree. It's frustrating we're so in the dark however.." She grunted, crossing her arms. "The question is how do we split of who be more effective of facing the doctor versus checking out this disturbance. Did you feel anything else by the one with sorrow?"

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

How curious. The atmosphere of these corridors was decisively oppressive, a phenomenon he had not encountered in the greater nebula that housed the Doctor's Lair. An effect of the alloys smelted by the shipyard's forge, perhaps? Or was this by a particular design?

"There are two paths," Ochazuke relaid, his tone particularly grim. "I can lead the way to the Doctor...though it has become quite clear that he is not alone. There is something else here, deeper in the heart of the facility. A presence filled with...anguish and despair."

Ochazuke drew in a long, slow breath, and as he did, he reached out his field of sense-awareness yet again. Trying to glean answers from these halls is fruitless. But Ishtar had said this was the nursery of stars. Silently, he sunk back on his heels, searching for a certain resonance within the stellar matter with Muhen Seikai Keihatsu*. These nascent energies, could it be called living presence in this place? Might they yet form some subliminal will?

Returning to the more immediate matter, he spoke to it directly.

"We'll need two teams," he said flatly, before asking "Parsley, have you found any other information?"

*Muhen Seikai Keihatsu interfaces with the living will of a planet; would a cosmic body also have a genius loci of sorts?

OT: Ohh......how intriguing.

IC:

Deep, as if something stirred from a great rest, Ochazuke gets a faint stirring of....something. Old, ancient, long past it’s time but lingering still. A sense of millions of hours forging, creating, birthing an endless stream of ships, machines, and other things fills his mind. Of creation for creations sake, not for malice or greed or love, but for the pure purpose of creation.