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

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Praxat goes back to her lab after removing the electrical disruptor. Praxat then places the electrical disruptor on her desk and tests to see if the alarm is working. " Testing 1, 2,3 okay is this working can anyone hear me. This is Praxat and I have urgent news there is an intruder at Capsule Corp," Praxat said through her intercom.

Praxat sets her video camera that's hooked up to her computer to live feed. " The intruder was recently in my lab, and they stole several of my blueprints. I have physical evidence that I will be broadcasting live from my lab," Praxat said through her intercom.

Praxat uses her UV flashlight to reveal the three fingered claw/finger marks that are around her lab." Others at Capsule Corp, If you all can see this on my desk is a common Black Market electrical disruptor. I took this off the powerline the security system was running on. According to the various tools I used to examine it, this device was disrupting the security system," Praxat said.

Praxat points at the three fingered claw/finger marks. " As you all can see, if you're watching? That there are three fingered claw/finger marks around my lab, these marks are being shown by a UV Flashlight," Praxat said.

The live feed that Praxat is streaming from her lab is running at a frame rate of 720 frames per second, and being converted to 60 frames per second.

[Tami]

“With Karis.”

Jinzi slowly sits up, hand ghosting over the back of his head.

“That.....that......troglodyte!”

He looks up, eyes hard.

“No one messes with my mind, abuses my good will, or tries to hurt my friends! Gero better start running!”

He starts frantically tapping at his wrist watch with a manic gleam in his eyes.

Her inital impulse was to throw herself at him. A mix of emotions, relief that he was back to normal, guilt over not realizing something was wrong sooner, anger over what had happened ... it was an enormous effort of will to restrain herself.

"Brother Jinzi, is it alright if I punish Gero? Really, really punish her for what she did to you? Or, are you going to punish her yourself?"

She then turned to Held and Sarada, "Thank you both for saving Jinzi. "

[Sub-Zero MKA]

“With Karis.”

Jinzi slowly sits up, hand ghosting over the back of his head.

“That.....that......troglodyte!”

He looks up, eyes hard.

“No one messes with my mind, abuses my good will, or tries to hurt my friends! Gero better start running!”

He starts frantically tapping at his wrist watch with a manic gleam in his eyes.

Sarada's confidence in Held had grown and solidified after he saved her life. So she had complete faith that he would be able to save Jinzi from... whatever Gero had done to him.

And her faith was rewarded. Jinzi shot up, spitting a three syllable word that she had never heard in her life. It sounded like an insult, but she wasn't sure. "I knew you could do it!" she said, slapping Held hard on the back. "How are you feeling, Jinzi?"

Her inital impulse was to throw herself at him. A mix of emotions, relief that he was back to normal, guilt over not realizing something was wrong sooner, anger over what had happened ... it was an enormous effort of will to restrain herself.

"Brother Jinzi, is it alright if I punish Gero? Really, really punish her for what she did to you? Or, are you going to punish her yourself?"

She then turned to Held and Sarada, "Thank you both for saving Jinzi. "

"It was no problem. Though, I didn't really do anything."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

His lips pressed together, a characteristically grim expression spreading upon his face. "We'll likely have to move out shortly," he said, "there's another presence directly below this facility, and it's started moving."

Ochazuke took a sharp inhale, and a heightened focus fell about Parsley and Wilhelm as he applied Kei'i-Ken. "We have what we came for, but right now we need to get Karis out of there."

This was the sort of dramatic exit a certain other eccentric tended to pull when the whim suit him. But this was rather a grand, petty gesture, and for all she had to hide, she seemed bent on throwing everything once exposed. What are you playing at Gero? Slowly, he knotted his fingers together, a long exhale leaving him as he cracked his knuckles. "If she's the one controlling it as a response, then you're the only that she hasn't accounted for, Parsley. I don't know how much time we have..."

With that he lift off from the laboratory floor and started flying back to the main Geofront laboratory. As he got closer, he increased his focus on the mass sequestered waiting within the Earth as it approached.

A presence coming from underneath, without doubt at Gero's beck and call. It seemed that she was laying it all on the line with her back suddenly pressed against the wall. If this was her trump card, then they needed to be prepared for anything.

"If she's allied with these Red Raiders, then this perhaps is her means of making an escape." She removed herself from behind the desk as Ochazuke also made his exit. Yet, when she reached the door, she headed in the opposite direction. "If it is, then her ignorance of my presence will cost her."

She ventured deeper into the maze of laboratories and offices. She had a hunch on what was about to happen. She could have been wrong, but there were plenty of bodies to rectify that if she was.

[Miburo]

Sarada frowned tepidly. "I won't claim to know even one of Jinzi's employees, nor have I ever been to Capsule Corp outside of the few times it was necessary. She seems to just have come out of nowhere, but Meagan met her some time before." She shrugged.

"I guess none of us would have given Gero a serious glance until we fought Incenio." Held said with a shrug, "But even so, talk about a coincidence. No sooner do we stop one a universe over, the one over here gets uppity...It's like a hivemind or something."

Still, what the hell does this one want? The other one was working with Incenio on something...Is she working on something similar?

"Is that not the enemy fought during the tournament.....the multi formed creature of science?" Cthylla commented from nearby, haven't opted to simply listen to the others until the name was brought up. "Had we known we would have tracked her down immediately.....I will rectify this, please give me the locations of all the closets." Cthylla asked.

Held looked at her, a puzzled expression on his face, followed by understanding.

"Oh! No. That was Incenio." He explained, "The woman he was with, was Char Gero...Who, I guess in this universe is--well, was--buddies with Jinzi."

He laughed slightly.

"Although, I don't know what kind of buddy throws a mind control device in your brain for...well, who the hell knows."

He moved to say something else, before pausing.

"Wait...What's that about closets?"

[Miburo]

Sarada frowned tepidly. "I won't claim to know even one of Jinzi's employees, nor have I ever been to Capsule Corp outside of the few times it was necessary. She seems to just have come out of nowhere, but Meagan met her some time before." She shrugged.

Her inital impulse was to throw herself at him. A mix of emotions, relief that he was back to normal, guilt over not realizing something was wrong sooner, anger over what had happened ... it was an enormous effort of will to restrain herself.

"Brother Jinzi, is it alright if I punish Gero? Really, really punish her for what she did to you? Or, are you going to punish her yourself?"

She then turned to Held and Sarada, "Thank you both for saving Jinzi. "

"Well, my ship isn't going to rebuild itself." Held replied with a laugh, scratching the back of his head, "But don't worry about it. I wouldn't be much of a Best Man if I didn't bother with the occasional assist when the time arises, would I?"

Still, I guess maybe Gero was in a hurry, or didn't think we'd be able to extract it so quickly. I was half worried she'd...have a mini-incenio hiding, waiting to be activated when I turned the chip off or something.

[Miburo]

“With Karis.”

Jinzi slowly sits up, hand ghosting over the back of his head.

“That.....that......troglodyte!”

He looks up, eyes hard.

“No one messes with my mind, abuses my good will, or tries to hurt my friends! Gero better start running!”

He starts frantically tapping at his wrist watch with a manic gleam in his eyes.

"..Uh...What's a Karis?" Held replied, pursing his lips as he attempted to make sense of his explanation. "Actually, what's a Tr--Nevermind, it was obviously some sort of insult."

Well, atleast he seems back to normal.

"Uh, maybe you should sit down for a moment, Jinz." Held continued, laughing nervously as he watched the frantic moments and psychotic eyes of his friend, "I mean, you're fine but that was a bit of a moment, don't you think?"

Sarada's confidence in Held had grown and solidified after he saved her life. So she had complete faith that he would be able to save Jinzi from... whatever Gero had done to him.

And her faith was rewarded. Jinzi shot up, spitting a three syllable word that she had never heard in her life. It sounded like an insult, but she wasn't sure. "I knew you could do it!" she said, slapping Held hard on the back. "How are you feeling, Jinzi?"



"It was no problem. Though, I didn't really do anything."

"What can I say?" Held replied with a bashful half shrug, "Once you deal with evolving poisons spread throughout a body and whatnot, something like this is childs play."

He laughed, "Still, I wonder what Gero was hiding that was worth the effort to try and stop Jinzi like this?"

[MrSandman]

Warmth.

What does it mean to be warm, to one who has lived their life in the cold. Is it something that can be described in more then a word.

The elders, they tell me to warm myself by the fire...but no matter how close I reach the freezing bite of the air holds fast to my skin. My mother holds me tight, but how can I be warmed when she herself is cold to the touch. The earth is frozen, The water is solid ice, thicker then stone walls.....nothing can grow, and the only food comes from the fish we manage to pull from the icy depths in the short time we can keep the waters open. I barely eat, my mother even less...but we make due with what we have. Everyday we work to survive, only to survive....nothing more. Survival is all we have here......hidden away at the roof of the world where the great scaled monsters can not hurt us.

Instead.....its the cold that kills us, the only constant in this place. It cuts through clothes, skin and spirit....slows your movement, grinds away you will. We fight through it as best we can, but not everyone lasts....the sick always die, the elderly always die. Some wander off into the wastes alone, because they cannot stand the cold any longer.....they die too.

......but what is cold.....to one who has never been warm....

I think, that thought is what keeps me going.....as long as I never feel what its like to be warm, truly warm....I will never miss its absence. A man who was born blind can live in ignorance, but a man who was blinding will forever know their loss.

Maybe that.....is why they wander off to die. Because they remember what it was like....

...

When a child becomes an adult in my tribe, they are sent to the mountain that overlooks the village, They pack enough food and materials to last one night, and go with a more experienced member of the tribe......and they stay there for a single night before returning. This was a test, in a sense, to see how well the new adult could survive. It weeded away those without the fortitude to last the wilds...but not at the cost of life. We never worried about having too many mouths to feed....the land often solved that issue for us. But hunters were needed, and celebrated among our people.

On my 16th birthday, I was to be taken to the mountain....my father as my guide. This year had been especially harsh for us. Colder, more dangerous then usual. Two hunters had not returned from their trips to the south....and the fish were less plentiful then ever. My mother starved herself to pass what little food we had to me and my brother. Day by day...I watched her grow weaker, thinner. I often tried to deny her efforts, but she would hear none of it.

"You'll never be a hunter if you've not the strength to move." She would tell me. "Eat, starlight."

I promised her I'd become a hunter, that I would pass the night in one piece and become a hunter she and the tribe could depend on.

...I was no naive.

The day of the trail, the edge of a blizzard was slowly rolling over the land. Father had scouted a small spot on the southern face of the mountain that would make a good camp to last the night. He promised he would always been nearby, close enough to help if I needed it.....I packed what materials I needed, water, blankets. I packed some food, but found a little more then what I had stashed away hidden in my bag.

My Mother smiled, the thin skin on her face showing her cheekbones.

I smiled, but inside I felt cold. I promised her once more I could come back a hunter, gave my little brother a reassuring pat on the head....and once my father was prepared as well, I set out for the campsite.

I still remember them.....even now....waving their hopeful goodbyes. I remember how proud they looked. I remember.....

I never saw them again.

The hike across the snowy tundra lasted for 2 hours, then another hour to hike up the mountain face. The wind was howling by the time I reached the cave my father had told me about...it had been where he had stayed during his own trail many years ago, and had personally scouted it before my trail to make sure it was still usable. Years would have made it a den to wild animals in another place....but my father told me this was just as he left it all those years ago.

It helped that this mountain was not a place anyone ever went to under normal circumstances. The wind always made a strange sound as it passed, altered by the many caves and crevasses until it made an unearthly sound. My people called it "The Howling Giant".

The Blizzard soon dropped its full might upon the area, but I had thankfully made the journey to the cave in time to escape it...until I needed more firewood at least. My father stayed nearby, but only to watch quietly as I set about my tasks. Preparing a place to sleep, starting a fire, maintaining it, preparing food. Sometimes he would point out a mistake, but he never moved to help....that was not his role. Survival was my task, and if I ever wanted to be a hunter I could not always depends on others.

Once everything had been set up, he finally came over to join me by the fire....and we talked. While the wind howled outside he told me stories of the time he took the trail here. Of the many things he had to do under the watchful eye of his mentor.

Gradually the wind died down, and while I was adding what remaining of my initial wood to the fire...my father walked to the cave exit and stared out for several moment.

I don't know what he saw....I never found out, though I had many likely guesses. But for a moment, he squinted hard into the distance and told me to wait in the cave...that he would be back in a couple minutes before promptly exiting.

I never saw him again.

Blissfully ignorant, and more importantly....alone to my own thoughts, and lay down on my blanket next to the fire and stared up at the roof of the cave. A layer of ice covered the wall and roof of the cave...within it I could see my own muddled reflection...distorted, but I was by no means perfect to begin with. Before I realized....my eyes slide shut, banishing my reflection from my sight as I fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Ḭ̵̺̽̀́̒͝͠ ̸̻̬̳͙͇̭͋̃̇̄̈̕Ņ̶̳̺̪͍͔̔͋̂̊̓͆E̵̺̜̰̥͌͐͗̄͘͝V̸̨͍͖̤̙͇́͑̔ ̳͕Ȩ̶̺͙͔͌̓̅̚R̷̢̉̌͝ͅ ̷͚̞̫̙͖̗̙͕́͛̊̍̉S̷̳̖͓̘̻͖̠̅ͅÄ̶̢̞̞͓͎̟̎̃̕W̸̗͓̺̫̒̔̽ ̯̲ ̴̧̨̟̝̤̟̉̂̎̋̈́͝H̸̳̱̯̣̣̋̍̈́̉͑̈͘Ẹ̸̡͔͎̝͈͖͑̑͜R̸͚̤̅͆̐͗̓̂͝ ̨̜͖̗ ̴̟̾̔̽Ā̵̰̻͕͆̊̑̅̔G̷̢̟͚̮̮̹̓̍̉À̸͇̜̣͈̖͇̃I̶͉͙̎N̸͇͓̜̜̉̑ ̻̝̫̥!̷̧͈͎̹͖͉̍͝

Fhtagn gof'n

[MrSandman]

"I guess none of us would have given Gero a serious glance until we fought Incenio." Held said with a shrug, "But even so, talk about a coincidence. No sooner do we stop one a universe over, the one over here gets uppity...It's like a hivemind or something."

Still, what the hell does this one want? The other one was working with Incenio on something...Is she working on something similar?



Held looked at her, a puzzled expression on his face, followed by understanding.

"Oh! No. That was Incenio." He explained, "The woman he was with, was Char Gero...Who, I guess in this universe is--well, was--buddies with Jinzi."

He laughed slightly.

"Although, I don't know what kind of buddy throws a mind control device in your brain for...well, who the hell knows."

He moved to say something else, before pausing.

"Wait...What's that about closets?"

"You stated that she must be living in a closet. I sought to test your hypothesis." Cthylla stated rather bluntly, then....she seemed to put on a puzzled expression. ".....Yes....implanting a physical object is entirely too invasive....I found subtle emphatic manipulation worked much better on the doctor in getting him to create my suit. In hindsight, I should have been observant for existing physical manipulation vectors. No matter....she is obviously an enemy. I propose immediate termination."

[bruceleegreyhulk]

On board the Black Diamond Sonata is having a chat with Zoul." Okay here's the full plan. 1st I'll send a message to my brother to meet me on a desolate planet. 2nd Zoul, you will get to vantage point where you can spot my brother and snipe him from afar," Sonata said.

Sonata drinks a cup of whiskey." 3rd I will pretend to have turn over a new leaf. 4th I will attempt to subdued as part of a distraction. 5th I will switch places with him and send a message to GP, and give them bogus information that will have them on a wild goose chase," Sonata said.

Zoul spins his revolver around." you really thought this through huh?" Zoul said.

" Of course I did. This is going to be like during the war. He made one hell of a team back then, didn't we Zoul!" Sonata said.

" Yeah we sure did Sonata." Zoul said.

" Yeah I remember during the end of the war when I scared that F$%king arrogant Commander of the terrorist group who start the war shitless,"

" Yeah you took on his powerful and heavily armor giant mech with just your plasma knife. You demolished the bastard's giant mech with just a plasma knife," Zoul said.

" Hell yeah I tore his mech up, because of me that F$%king bastard won't be start wars anytime soon," Sonata said.

[Tami]

" I'm more than content to live in the present, but I also want to help others. For me seeking to know what is to come wouldn't be for myself. It would be so that I can help others," Althena said.


Althena sits down." However, I doubt my Clairvoyance can actually see into the future, and it's not the thing I want to work on with my Clairvoyance. What I want to improve about my Clairvoyance is my Psychic visual communication. The problem is that the sound I provide with my visualizations are pretty much broken and have static to them," Althena said.

The old man sat there in silence, seeming to look, not at her but through her. Using his staff to lean on, he stood up slowly. "Show me this broken communication of yours." With that, he seemed to blur out, then reappeared some distance away. Still within visual, but barely within audio range.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

The old man sat there in silence, seeming to look, not at her but through her. Using his staff to lean on, he stood up slowly. "Show me this broken communication of yours." With that, he seemed to blur out, then reappeared some distance away. Still within visual, but barely within audio range.

Althena relays a visualization of a memory she had to Andron. The memory is her as a little girl two thousand and ten years ago. In the visualization Althena is in a swam like area surrounding by older kids that seem to be trying toss rocks at a bug alien like wolf creature. That wasn't bothering anyone.

Althena is protect the creature and even as a little girl she's muscular, Which makes her body quite different from the older Toadian girls that are surrounding her. The older Toadians and Althena seem to be saying something in visualization but much of the sound breaks up and is static with only young Althena yelling at the others to leave poor creature alone being clear in her native tongue. One older Toadian kid attempts to hit the wolf with a stick but Althena grabs him.

However, in the visual Young Althena ends up grabbing too hard and ends up crushing the older Toadian kid's wrist. It's not clear what the Toadian is saying to Althena in the visual thanks to the sound breaking up constantly. However, her skin color turns red which is a sign that she's angry at Althena. Next visualization is the older Toadians pointing fingers at Althena and throw rocks at her.

The sound is still breaking up, but one part is clear and that is the older Toadians calling Althena a freak multiple times. The next part of the visual is of a Young Althena whose skin is blue showing that she's depressed being cheer up by adult female Toadian in monk type uniform. That hands her a piece of meat. What the adult Toadian says to Young Althena isn't clear except for one thing.

That she will train Althena to control that uncanny strength of hers. Other adult Toadians walk by in the visual they speak about Althena. Most of the comments aren't clear thanks to the sound breaking expect for one comment which is that one adult Toadian makes a comment about how could that abomination be our next Queen.

In the visual the adult female Toadian comforting young Althena and telling her in the visual even through the sound is breaking up. That she shouldn't worry about what others think. The visualization ends with the Adult female Toadian referring to Althena as young Mistress and Althena calling her Melina. Even through most of the sound is breaking up.

All the sound in the visual that can be heard clearly is being spoken in Althena's native tongue.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Do you plan on countering every question with an irritatingly coy response?" Blizzar questioned after a moment. "No matter. Sufficient evidence has been gathered about your various activities. We'd like you to come with us so that we may take you to Earth's authorities for questioning. There should be no issue with that, I trust...?" Blizzar asked the scientist.

“I refuse. You have yet to demonstrate actual physical proof. Just words.”

She taps the side of her glasses and smiles.

“30 seconds.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Ochazuke's response was delayed. Analyzing the source connections of the energy surrounding Adam, in the space between seconds he was searching for something.

"Dr. Gero said she's upgraded you. Yet I your inaction says otherwise," he said. For Adam had never been an observer, its dichotomy of input and output always pushed it to process a swift logical course without pause. Burrowed in the laboratoru, while Ochazuke could not see the light upon the android's polyally wrist, he was acutely aware of its resonance, queued and connected to something. "So tell me Adam, do you bear a purpose, or a voluntary yoke?"



His lips pressed together, a characteristically grim expression spreading upon his face. "We'll likely have to move out shortly," he said, "there's another presence directly below this facility, and it's started moving."

Ochazuke took a sharp inhale, and a heightened focus fell about Parsley and Wilhelm as he applied Kei'i-Ken. "We have what we came for, but right now we need to get Karis out of there."

This was the sort of dramatic exit a certain other eccentric tended to pull when the whim suit him. But this was rather a grand, petty gesture, and for all she had to hide, she seemed bent on throwing everything once exposed. What are you playing at Gero? Slowly, he knotted his fingers together, a long exhale leaving him as he cracked his knuckles. "If she's the one controlling it as a response, then you're the only that she hasn't accounted for, Parsley. I don't know how much time we have..."

With that he lift off from the laboratory floor and started flying back to the main Geofront laboratory. As he got closer, he increased his focus on the mass sequestered waiting within the Earth as it approached.

Adam responds after a moment.

“Jinzi is free. I merely waited for his confirmation.”

A whisper of his power.

‘The Circle Screams.’

And he vanishes.

—————

Ochazuke, an old familiar presence starts to beat a rhythm you recognize.

Damask.

From within the earth the old golem from a bygone era heads straight for Gero.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Praxat goes back to her lab after removing the electrical disruptor. Praxat then places the electrical disruptor on her desk and tests to see if the alarm is working. " Testing 1, 2,3 okay is this working can anyone hear me. This is Praxat and I have urgent news there is an intruder at Capsule Corp," Praxat said through her intercom.

Praxat sets her video camera that's hooked up to her computer to live feed. " The intruder was recently in my lab, and they stole several of my blueprints. I have physical evidence that I will be broadcasting live from my lab," Praxat said through her intercom.

Praxat uses her UV flashlight to reveal the three fingered claw/finger marks that are around her lab." Others at Capsule Corp, If you all can see this on my desk is a common Black Market electrical disruptor. I took this off the powerline the security system was running on. According to the various tools I used to examine it, this device was disrupting the security system," Praxat said.

Praxat points at the three fingered claw/finger marks. " As you all can see, if you're watching? That there are three fingered claw/finger marks around my lab, these marks are being shown by a UV Flashlight," Praxat said.

The live feed that Praxat is streaming from her lab is running at a frame rate of 720 frames per second, and being converted to 60 frames per second.

To her annoyance, the feed seems to not being going through. After a moment of broadcasting nothing, further investigation discovers another device. This one is of unknown quality and appears to be jamming CC’s signals. Not personal comms or anything, but just the CC main ones and any broadcast CC can do.