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

[Tami]

Finally, she saw it. Something Ochazuke likely saw much more easily, but she could not allow herself to be fooled and blinded any longer. With the truth revealed, she knew how to proceed.

A timelock, she marveled. One that was keeping her from being damaged. That fact proved one thing: that she was locked in a fixed point where she was uninjured. Meaning, in all likelihood, she didn't need to eat, sleep, drink, breathe, or bath. It was the perfect status effect, one where even the natural progression and processes of her body would fail to take hold.

"Hm, I see. A child wishing for her perfect life to come to fruition. There was a time when I would have wished for the same, for everything bad that happened to my family to be undone and for us to be happy again. Then, I grew up and realized that such is impossible. Or, it was. You figured out. And all it took was eight dead universes. Impressive. Very nice."

As she spoke, her mind wandered else, with a message of instruction. 'She has a time locked body. Persist in your efforts, but know they will not have any affect,' she told the others. Then, she focused on one person. 'Etrina, you're the only one of us who can undo this. Focus. Calm your rage and act. We don't have time for anything else.'

With that done, she floated upward, ax in hand. "However," she said to Midori, "I can't allow you to finish. And I certainly won't let you take Pants." She exploded forward, intent on slicing into Midori with her ax.

"Jinzi" Dash thought to herself, then looked around, "Damnit, if ah only had powers like the others, maybe ah found see where he is. Is he even here?" she doubted she coudl do anything more to Midori, so she made up her mind. Turning towards the entrance, she ran out as fast as she could, determined to search the whole dang place if possible in order to find him. Wasting no time, she moved like a flash searching everywhere. It is unlikely that she has ever ran as fast as she was running now.

[KingofPie]

“Dragon balls are mighty but often limited in scope and cannot effect those more powerful then themselves directly unless allowed, most of the time. Since rewriting everything is out, thanks to all of you, these custom made dragon balls of my own will create a utopia timeline that should have been. One she cannot touch. One I’ll be happy in. My family, my Ishtar, and maybe you all will be there too.”

She drifts upwards and towards the energy barrier keeping the vacuum of space at bay, the dragon balls with her.

Parsley, you see the Orobourous of temporal energy within now, constantly circling itself.

A Time Lock.

SWING!

Blizzar didn't know how exactly this time blade worked, precisely...but after being patient enough and listening to all that transpired, he figured now was the perfect time to use it. time manipulation, custom dragon balls. This woman was insane. An alternate daughter of Jinzi and Meagan...who would've thought, hmm?

But now was not the moment to dwell on such things. Blizzar had rushed in and imitated Kenbo's stance, hoping whatever temporal halting powers the blade still had left could be used one last time.l as he swung the blade.

[MrSandman]

Finally, she saw it. Something Ochazuke likely saw much more easily, but she could not allow herself to be fooled and blinded any longer. With the truth revealed, she knew how to proceed.

A timelock, she marveled. One that was keeping her from being damaged. That fact proved one thing: that she was locked in a fixed point where she was uninjured. Meaning, in all likelihood, she didn't need to eat, sleep, drink, breathe, or bath. It was the perfect status effect, one where even the natural progression and processes of her body would fail to take hold.

"Hm, I see. A child wishing for her perfect life to come to fruition. There was a time when I would have wished for the same, for everything bad that happened to my family to be undone and for us to be happy again. Then, I grew up and realized that such is impossible. Or, it was. You figured out. And all it took was eight dead universes. Impressive. Very nice."

As she spoke, her mind wandered else, with a message of instruction. 'She has a time locked body. Persist in your efforts, but know they will not have any affect,' she told the others. Then, she focused on one person. 'Etrina, you're the only one of us who can undo this. Focus. Calm your rage and act. We don't have time for anything else.'

With that done, she floated upward, ax in hand. "However," she said to Midori, "I can't allow you to finish. And I certainly won't let you take Pants." She exploded forward, intent on slicing into Midori with her ax.

She bops Ishtar’s nose with a finger and then gestures.

“Farewell.”

Midori jumps upwards, and after a moment lands back in the same ruined lab Charco destroyed as before, eyeing the rest of the group with glee. Completely nude and unharmed, she gestures down to the hole.

“Might want to get her. She’s a bit banged up, and it’s time for me to go. My villainous monologue distracted you all long enough for Plan B to finish. I was worried there for a bit when Charco blasted everything, but you were all too eager to sit and listen to me gloat and draw upon righteous indignation. Idiots. Make them look one way, so they don’t see another.”

From within the computer she had been using, the one protected by a Dreadnaught Heart (the barrier had withdrawn, but still protected the computer behind her) seven glowing objects emerge from a tray under the computer and float to her.

With a grim nod, Etrina directed her attention to somewhere in the group....and then towards the enemy above them. Her hand holding the small device slipped behind her back quietly.

"Hey.....Your not going to walk away without letting me have a shot are you." From this distance, even Midori could feel the burst of ice magic forming behind the mage. Etrina smiled. "You wanna know something.....I Understand. The way you think. I lived it once......When your temporally invincible. Mine was a bit different, but in the end it all came down to the same thing.....life gets boring when you can't die." The Mage exploded from the ground, flying up and towards the escaping girl.

"I had to fight, tooth and nail, til my sanity was all but spent to get out of that hell. That's where we're different......you just don't care anymore....AND THAT'S WHY YOUR PISSING ME OFF!"

In a moment she was upon her, and with an overly dramatic motion Etrina pulled her magic infused hand from behind her back. "SO BE A GOOD LITTLE GIRL AND look this way." The mage reach out with lightning speed and tapped Midori on the nose. "Boop." Then with another over dramatic spin she slide aside.

It was at that point that Midori felt something poke into her back, followed by an explosion of rainbow colored light emerging from her chest. Behind her, Erosas form materialized into view, holding tight to the handle Etrina had been holding in her hand until just recently. With a click of the hilt, a beam of multi colored energy burst forth....cutting right through her chest and emerging from the front, materializing into a dazzling energy blade.

"Atropos, a gift from a dear friend.....who just so happened to have killed me a few dozen times with it." Etrina smiled. "Geez......guess even the master will fall for the same trick huh."

Time around the blade cracked, its energy disrupting the very nature of Midoris time lock.

[grampagen]

Ochazuke, you know what these are.

Dragon balls.

But twisted, so very twisted. Temporal energy lay within them, and your keen discerning nature sees them for what they are.

Each one created by the death of a timeline, focused into and locked into the sphere, kept alive instead of turned to stone by her Creational Energy.

Each glowing sphere swirls with twisted energy, a different sacrificed universe to make it, each a bit different in size and color, and you can only fear the type of chimera dragon such an abomination will create when summoned. Apparently, the computer behind her had been showing directed temporal and Creational energy to further stabilize the spheres and, with the time Midori bought by monologuing, they finished.

It seemed that even within the forge of creation and all of time at his fingertips, the Doctor still found his means limited. Dragon balls. His head lowered, the still of his meditational focus given to furious trembling. How many worlds have you twisted to get to this point? How many still?

His efforts zeroed in, firm in the seat of Banjakuza. Of their manifest nature he was aware, not only insight toward the deeper nature of these horrid baubles, but where and how they linked to that horrid presence among them. A fixed point in time. Now that he had an unobstructed view of what made up the Doctor's resistance, he found the points where he may begin to gradually strip them apart.

Where these artifacts splay themselves out, they too brushed against the crafted web of his Meditational Field; Despite the familar shape of these seven orbs, the structures of bastardized Creation muffled the host of screaming living energies of the departed voices within them. Even from this distance, he could hear them clearly.

The energies of the facility lead back to you. The path to the Doctor like so many others was one drawn in blood; the chrome sheen may as well have been spattered with rust. But this facility is but a tool for you to channel your efforts, isn't it?

Ochazuke began to draw upon the same medium the Doctor had used to sow these heinous deeds, tapping into of the Creator's Intent that manifest in the living make of the complex. And used as a tether for Taikyokuken, drew in the latent composite of energies toward himself.

Give me your energy.

OOC: Genki Charge: 4 ; Technique unfolds next post

[grampagen]

“Dragon balls are mighty but often limited in scope and cannot effect those more powerful then themselves directly unless allowed, most of the time. Since rewriting everything is out, thanks to all of you, these custom made dragon balls of my own will create a utopia timeline that should have been. One she cannot touch. One I’ll be happy in. My family, my Ishtar, and maybe you all will be there too.”

She drifts upwards and towards the energy barrier keeping the vacuum of space at bay, the dragon balls with her.

Parsley, you see the Orobourous of temporal energy within now, constantly circling itself.

A Time Lock.

BGM - Back-Up

Ah. The Doctor deigned to move. Over and above to pontificate no doubt.

So much the better. Now he had an unobstructed course.

Once these walls went down.

The first time he craft Zxu'ro's collective sphere, it was an act of certainty. But now his heart bled, and weary though he was to do it, to his mind this was a purely clinical transaction. Numbly , it did not register on an emotional level.

Lives claimed.

Six timelines yoked by false promises. Its peoples, its hopes and dreams held ransom. Though they had been enemies, by necessity they had saved them to stem Zurvan's bleeding. The seven pulsating spheres lashing with the tortured essences of countless more fallen people; and these were the distilled essences the Doctor thought were worth preserving. How many more had fallen to the wayside and were deemed unworthy?

To Ochazuke, it was immaterial. Ogatan Charco had died for this.

Life owed.

With a grim nod, Etrina directed her attention to somewhere in the group....and then towards the enemy above them. Her hand holding the small device slipped behind her back quietly.

"Hey.....Your not going to walk away without letting me have a shot are you." From this distance, even Midori could feel the burst of ice magic forming behind the mage. Etrina smiled. "You wanna know something.....I Understand. The way you think. I lived it once......When your temporally invincible. Mine was a bit different, but in the end it all came down to the same thing.....life gets boring when you can't die." The Mage exploded from the ground, flying up and towards the escaping girl.

"I had to fight, tooth and nail, til my sanity was all but spent to get out of that hell. That's where we're different......you just don't care anymore....AND THAT'S WHY YOUR PISSING ME OFF!"

In a moment she was upon her, and with an overly dramatic motion Etrina pulled her magic infused hand from behind her back. "SO BE A GOOD LITTLE GIRL AND look this way." The mage reach out with lightning speed and tapped Midori on the nose. "Boop." Then with another over dramatic spin she slide aside.

It was at that point that Midori felt something poke into her back, followed by an explosion of rainbow colored light emerging from her chest. Behind her, Erosas form materialized into view, holding tight to the handle Etrina had been holding in her hand until just recently. With a click of the hilt, a beam of multi colored energy burst forth....cutting right through her chest and emerging from the front, materializing into a dazzling energy blade.

"Atropos, a gift from a dear friend.....who just so happened to have killed me a few dozen times with it." Etrina smiled. "Geez......guess even the master will fall for the same trick huh."

Time around the blade cracked, its energy disrupting the very nature of Midoris time lock.

Within the Doctor's chamber, Zaofan stood, ready to act as his Mistress sprung into action. The chamber grew cold, and her body was wreathed in the shifting magics of that Majin transformation, but the strong-willed voice that rang out was unmistakable. You made a big mistake thinking you could tie her down, heh!

It was about then he felt a familiar stirring beneath his feet. A shiver, a pulse, as alien as the very facilities around them but oddly warm, familiar. Looking down, he felt the course of intent, turning his head as if following a stray whisper.

Then the walls burst open, split in an instant by cold exit wounds that all but let them hot slag.

The thunderous mechanical roar of blazing guns shook the facility, flying to catch up to the massive bullets punching through the far wall. Flanking fire rained down upon the Doctor's barrier and her seven misshapen Dragonballs as Ochazuke tore through the long belts of ammunition designed by the inventor's own hand.

The rusty-black tips of propelled katchin gleamed white as they passed, shrouded in a particularly resonant energy. Wrest from the same source the Doctor drew upon, they were now repurposed to empower Ochazuke's lethal intent. Ishiki Toei reinforced the bullets, wreathing the spiraling tips with the nullifcation energies of Kongosho. The thoroughness of his examination had specifically attuned and targeted to the various frequencies to nullify them.

One burning shot after another, sent careening from two burning barrels. Aimed by the specific resonance that channeled through Nail's Artifact, they hellfire they spat gave voice to the downtrodden and the departed alike.

And though perhaps Ochazuke might not slay the twisted serpent under its own power, perhaps it would move Jormungandr's jaw itself forcefully closed over its own hide and leave this eater of worlds to bleed out upon a fixed axis.

OOC:
Genki Charge: 5; derived from the Doctor's Facility used to fuel the effort of;
Taikyokuken: manipulation of external energies, interfaced with;
Banjakuza: granted insight to the nature of the Doctor's aura and machinations, feeding into;
Kongosho: Nullification property, attuned to;
Ishiki Toei: Enhancement of bullets, aimed by;
Nail's Artifact: pointing the way to the Doctor herself.
Spirit Bomb Bullets have fired!

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Sarada's arm was pulsating, a red hot pain searing through every vein, filling every muscle fiber with a fire that burned her at the core. She remained on her knees, sweat pouring down her face. I don't remember all this when he did it! The combination of his technique and hers was a hellish one. She was sure that mixing ki and life force wasn't supposed to be done, which was why it was a last resort.

Through eyes squinted because of pain and blinded because of sweat, Sarada looked up at Midori as she floated high above the battlefield, the seven glowing orbs following her. Etrina and Blizzar tried their hand at undoing the time lock Parsley said she had around her. Sarada couldn't see it, but that was the only explanation for why nothing they threw at her stuck. It was why Ishtar suicidal move was ultimately rendered pointless. "Someone help Ishtar!" she shouted over the din of hellacious combat. Parsley leaped into the fray, honeyed words glazed with sugar flowing from her mouth in that sickeningly sweet voice that she used when twisting the truth to her own purposes. There was a mote of honesty, but it was drowned out by the deceptive words of a manipulator. Tch.

There was a lull. And when there was a lull, something either really bad or really good was about to happen.

Like waves of fire from an angry god, gleaming, white hot streaks of lead exploded through the wall and pelted Midori and the dragonballs around her. The source? Who else but Ochazuke, wielding not one, but two massive machine guns he absconded from somewhere. "Holy ****!" she shouted as she ducked her head down to avoid being hit.

Heh. Stupid bitch. The irony was so pointed, only an idiot could miss it. The Doctor interfered with their lives at some point or another to ensure they were the most powerful versions of themselves possible. In doing so -- and thanks to her own aggravating and riling monologue -- pissed them off enough to want to kill her dead. Like she said earlier, there were less painful ways to commit suicide, but Sarada was glad she picked this way.

It was almost time. She rose to her feet, sweat dripping down her face to the point that it puddled under her. She grinned shakily and held her right hand with her left. Slowly, she started to diffuse her own life force into her hand. The coalescing of the vital energy with her rampant, fire hot ki burned like the sun. She grunted and clenched her teeth. "I'm almost ready," she said to no one in particular. "Just... give me an opening." Preferably where that damned dreadnaught heart was.

Midori was going to pay dearly for her arrogance.

OOC: Next post

[KingofPie]

“Dragon balls are mighty but often limited in scope and cannot effect those more powerful then themselves directly unless allowed, most of the time. Since rewriting everything is out, thanks to all of you, these custom made dragon balls of my own will create a utopia timeline that should have been. One she cannot touch. One I’ll be happy in. My family, my Ishtar, and maybe you all will be there too.”

She drifts upwards and towards the energy barrier keeping the vacuum of space at bay, the dragon balls with her.

Parsley, you see the Orobourous of temporal energy within now, constantly circling itself.

A Time Lock.

This was all in all pretty fun to Sasheem. Multiple fireworks, explosions, dead allies. It was like going to the movies for free! But, it was high time he stopped kicking back and relaxing...beside,s he was out of food. No reason he couldn't try to get more, however! The Doctor's base was a treasure trove of random assorted pieces of junk he could turn into food. Those evil objects of doom she held behind her...Sasheem didn't see why they would be any different...okay maybe he did, they seemed ominous.

But how ominous would they be if they were to turn into...say...a seven piece set of donuts? Apple filling. ...It was worth a shot anyway. The Majin zapped the false dragon balls with the hope of turning at least one into a pastry.

OOC:
Majin Metabolism: 4 posts remaining

[Yun Lao]

Eva and Jack look at each other before Jack responds.

“Ahh, sorry, did ya say the Doctor?”

"Yes. Doctor Sazerac Absinthe. I suppose you could say he is the leader of our organization?" She tilted her head in thought, "Are you familiar with him?"

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Yes. Doctor Sazerac Absinthe. I suppose you could say he is the leader of our organization?" She tilted her head in thought, "Are you familiar with him?"

“No. The only Doctor we know is a creepy kidnapping killer, so we were worried.”

Eva nods.

“Please, follow me into my parlor.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

This was all in all pretty fun to Sasheem. Multiple fireworks, explosions, dead allies. It was like going to the movies for free! But, it was high time he stopped kicking back and relaxing...beside,s he was out of food. No reason he couldn't try to get more, however! The Doctor's base was a treasure trove of random assorted pieces of junk he could turn into food. Those evil objects of doom she held behind her...Sasheem didn't see why they would be any different...okay maybe he did, they seemed ominous.

But how ominous would they be if they were to turn into...say...a seven piece set of donuts? Apple filling. ...It was worth a shot anyway. The Majin zapped the false dragon balls with the hope of turning at least one into a pastry.

OOC:
Majin Metabolism: 4 posts remaining

It fails, the balls remaining as they are.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Jinzi" Dash thought to herself, then looked around, "Damnit, if ah only had powers like the others, maybe ah found see where he is. Is he even here?" she doubted she coudl do anything more to Midori, so she made up her mind. Turning towards the entrance, she ran out as fast as she could, determined to search the whole dang place if possible in order to find him. Wasting no time, she moved like a flash searching everywhere. It is unlikely that she has ever ran as fast as she was running now.

Eventually, she gets far enough out of range to long his comm unit. He doesn’t respond, but she’s getting a general direction from a deep down ship docking bay.

[Twiliteknite06]

Hops had heard enough, trillions dead and she barely bat an eye. He scoured his belt’s compartments looking for anything that could break her time lock, if anyone was killing Midori it’d be him. After all, the people he now joined knew a Midori, but this exact Midori had destroyed his timeline, and held him captive. She was who he was sent after when he was cut off from his home and then from the Time out of Time where the time patrol existed with the Supreme Kai of time. “Ki-driver!” He called out activating the belt as it began to absorb his ki. He bagan to channel it into his rapier as both the belt and the blade began to glow a soft blue. “Seeing as how I can’t take you in for your crimes against time, I’ll have to end your existence!” He called out, following Midori through the whole and dragon balls aside, he focused on Midori, the Energy around him starting to spark as he channeled all he had into his Ki-Driver. He’d only get one shot, and he needed to make it count. A man out of time and a being trapped in every time. The two were a match made in Hell.

[Tami]

Eventually, she gets far enough out of range to long his comm unit. He doesn’t respond, but she’s getting a general direction from a deep down ship docking bay.

Moving fast, it doesn't take her long to reach the docking bay and find the ship where the signal is coming from. Dash heads inside, using her senses to try and home in on his location.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

The explosion is contained, for sure, a shaped charge almost directed right at Midori. Ishtar will eat some of it, but the majority is taken right at Midori’s face.

For a third time the facility is rocked, the explosion not quite on par with Charco or her earlier blast, but close. A massive hole firms and the two fall into it, plunging into the depths of the facility a few hundred feet below, ending in another space dock with a few ancient shuttles still inside.

Ishtar, you’ve been hurt, bad. Surprisingly all your limbs are intact, but overall you’ve been burned bruised and battered by the explosion and everything hurts. In fact, if you did t know better, you would almost think Midori had helped protect you somehow.

As to Midori.........

The woman rises up and smiles at the wounded Oni, no visual damage done. She walks over and shakes her head over Ishtar, flipping her hair back she leans over and sighs.

“That was close, silly fool. Be glad I helped you survive. Maybe now you can understand.”

She bends down and kisses Ishtar’s forehead, grinning into her eyes completely unharmed save her clothes are gone. Body wise Midori is quite beautiful, but the look in her eyes and her smile belay that beauty.

“The truth is I’m Time Locked, Ishtar. I cannot age. I do not need to eat or drink. This physical vessel before you literally is locked in time, little love. And when something is locked in time, well, that means you cannot damage it, you cannot alter it, you cannot destroy it. Not even your pretty Hakai energy can beat time. Blow me into space, toss me into the sun, try to transmute me, nothing works. In all my vast travels I made myself truely, and utterly, immortal. And even if you somehow did, well....that’s what my new heart and the nanites are far. Contingencies within contingencies.”

She bops Ishtar’s nose with a finger and then gestures.

“Farewell.”

What Ishtar suffered next, did not matter. The Oni had done what she meant to.

The Dreadnaught hard had exploded magnificently, a flaming crimson rose against the backdrop of nothingness; and with a twist besides when she felt Held's offering -- a swirling, rippling torrent of piercing energy -- strike her just below the heart. And as she fell, the golden-eyed Oni couldn't help but hope it was enough ... so one could only imagine how disappointing it was, when Midori simply stood back up. Leaving Ishtar a smoking, battered husk in a crater some hundreds of feet below. Yet as broken as her body was, as cloudy her mind, there was enough left in her to listen, and even attempt to speak when Midori patronized and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"... u ... understan ..."

In the end however, it was too late. The Doctor ... Midori, was gone.

And though Ishtar attempted to follow, it was all she could do to simply sit upright; let alone provide the means for her own deliverance ... leaving all the time in the world to think about what it was the young girl had said: Maybe now you can understand. Yet the Oni could not help but ask herself through the haze of concussion was 'what ?'

What more was there to understand ?

Consumed by a desire to chase after a possibility, she had literally killed her own source of happiness, and love; and from there she had destroyed eight timelines ... universes. All that she would what ? Create a simulacrum of what she had ? It was madness, the course she had set for herself. No care or concern for the well-being of others beyond what she could make use of for her own ends.

... ever r ... eally loved ? ... care ?

It would seem not.

The Oni coughed, and blood stained her chest. Though when she looked down with unfocused eyes. It seemed she was already covered in it. From the hole Held had punched through her, undoubtedly. How curious she'd not noticed until now. Though there was a plan beginning to form; and though it would be ultimately futile ... Ishtar forced herself to lift her hands and set shakily to work.

It was obvious, after all, Midori had never once cared for all the suffering she created. It was she, that needed to be made to understand.

Time around the blade cracked, its energy disrupting the very nature of Midoris time lock.

About this time, a blood-red rune appeared on Midori's forehead, and she'd hear an -- admittedly weak -- Oni whispering in her ear. '... I offer this gift, in the hope you understand.' And in the end it was a simple thing. No attack, or attempt to obfuscate, and deceive. Simply Ishtar attempting to create a psionic link, bolstered by her own life-blood ... that she might force Midori Pantaloons to experience all Ishtar herself had suffered in her one-hundred thousand years of life.

So that the girl might come to understand by force that for all her talk, Midori had never truly understood why her Ishtar had tried to stop her.

[KingofPie]

It fails, the balls remaining as they are.

Nothing?! Bah...Sasheem then stood up, all the weight gained from his devouring a food causing him to wobble slightly...before promptly running out the door....but not before attempting to place a small fragment of his ki onto Midori, to set up his next move.

"Huff...huff" Sasheem wheezed, unused to his current size, rendering him briefly unable to fly. He figured in this state, he could barely squeeze through the Coldlight's doors. "Huff....huff..." the Majin continued to pant, his wheezing decreasing as he picked up in speed and began to drop the weight he had gained. As he picked up the pace, he began to activate his Mamba Boost, flying throughout the asteroid in a circle, following the paths others have taken in order to circle back around the room they were fighting Midori in...and then leaving to start the circuit all over again.

OOC:
Majin Metabolism: 3 Posts remaining