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

[Yun Lao]

"Then why haven't you already done that?" Cyannna spoke up, not showing any sign of fear, "Way I see it, existence is still, well, existing."

"Oh, a retort from dearest Cyanna? Tell me, you were one of the first of Charco's "friends" to know of me, yet why were you the last to act?"

[Tami]

"Oh, a retort from dearest Cyanna? Tell me, you were one of the first of Charco's "friends" to know of me, yet why you were the last to act?"

Cyanna looked as if he asked a dumb question, "Cause Charco didn't ask me to. I have too much respect for Charco as a strong warrior to do anything without him asking first. My sensei taught me the importance of free will and of respecting a warriors right to fight their own battles if they chose to do so. When he ask for help, that's when I got involved."

[Yun Lao]

Cyanna looked as if he asked a dumb question, "Cause Charco didn't ask me to. I have too much respect for Charco as a strong warrior to do anything without him asking first. My sensei taught me the importance of free will and of respecting a warriors right to fight their own battles if they chose to do so. When he ask for help, that's when I got involved."

"So you watched him accept assistance from Eva and Ochazuke without wondering why?" Rex was amused, to say the least, having always had front row seats to Charco's thoughts and emotions, "When he broke down in Eva's arms, crying like a child, you did nothing but watch. When he needed you the most, you did nothing and I'm the villain?"

"Rex, that's enough!" Charco barked out, catching the spirit's attention once more, "I'm surprised you still have some spine left to order me, the Strongest, around. You knew this would end this way, boy, but you continue to delay the inevitable."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Parsley's silence during Grinthorn's and Blizzar's negotiations meant that she was open to being able to focus on other, far more important things. Be they directly around her immediate person -- such as Dash's ill-time and baffling arrival -- or from far afield. Such an example of the latter gave her serious pause when Ishtar's voice filtered into her ear via comm link.

"Grinth- Alakazah confirmed that one I was once acquainted with, has come into possession of the Arcosian artifact. A 'peer' he called him. Which means he is a threat, and a dangerous one at that. In any event, once this matter with the Doctor is sorted ... I feel I will be busy still."

Such a short statement left much to unpack. She didn't know much about the Frost Demon artifact she spoke of, or the supposed peer who had come into contact with it. Her first inclination was to believe it was one of these artifacts that held beings of great power who had fallen from grace and sequestered themselves away to hide from judgment after Asha'rah's fall. If that was the case or not wasn't necessarily important, nor did it matter right that moment; though, it was worth mulling over and inquiring about later.

The important bit was the short thing right at the beginning. Ishtar began to call the President of the World by his given name, only to correct herself midway and refer to him by a previously unheard of name. Alakazah? Could that be his first name? Alakazah Grinthorn? She would never profess to know anything at all of the naming conventions humans utilized. They appeared to vary from country to country, and yes, even from one city to the next. Yet that was far afield of anything she had ever heard before.

And it was worth inquiring about.

She activated Observational Focus to minutely refine her attention to even the smallest change in posture as she turned to address the President.

"Mr. President, I have a question. Is Alakazah perhaps your first name? If so, then it's beyond anything any human could possibly think of."

[Tami]

"So you watched him accept assistance from Eva and Ochazuke without wondering why?" Rex was amused, to say the least, having always had front row seats to Charco's thoughts and emotions, "When he broke down in Eva's arms, crying like a child, you did nothing but watch. When he needed you the most, you did nothing and I'm the villain?"

"Rex, that's enough!" Charco barked out, catching the spirit's attention once more, "I'm surprised you still have some spine left to order me, the Strongest, around. You knew this would end this way, boy, but you continue to delay the inevitable."

"Hey! It's not like I was watching Charco the whole time." her annoyance was quite evident, "We're here now, right? So stop acting like a dordendum and tell us what you really want. Obviously you're not in so great a shape yourself or you'd be terrorizing planets or something instead of just giving Charcho headaches."

[grampagen]

She grits her teeth.

“It serve me. It serves my name in the History books. You’ll see. This isn’t the end of me. One way or another.”

Again, even with her back to the wall, Char Banner Gero seemed to fix her gaze on the smallest portion directly in front of her. But the world beyond the reach of her own to hands, only now was it apparent that it was not as beyond her as she seemed to make it.

"History cannot be written without testament to its account," he said. " Your work is marked under the banners of others, and you thought you could validate yourself by playing them against each other, shedding their blood while keeping your hands clean?"

All of this to leave a legacy. "Rest assured, your conduct will all but assure that you live on. It will validate your name as well as Pantaloon had your proposals." This was no more science than it was a reapporpriation of beings to component parts. "In accruing knowledge, the substance of living, how ironic yours is so shallow a purpose."

It then struck against the field of his sense-awareness. Not only for Gero, but the noose closing around them.

As if summoned by BlizzarÂ’s stray thought, Grinthorn and a squad of earth based military police appeared, rounding around a corner of the nearby Cryogenic lab.

“Ahh, the illustrious Doctor Gero. Well done, Officer Blizzar. Princess Parsley. Master Ochazuke. Seems you caught quite the criminal. Her declaration of working with the Raiders is more than enough to condemn her.”

He smirks, eyes glowing faintly in the shadows of his hat.

“We’ll take her from here.”

Gero looks terrified at the prospect.

Grinthorn

Like Damask, as soon as they stepped into his meditational vector, they had set foot into his territory. In an instant, about an arm's length away from Blizzar's GP officers, the webs of ki rose and fell over them, the Task Force were affixed within the Woven Path..

Though his name was called, he did not move to face the World's President at this time, only surveying Gero's reaction at the prescient knowledge Grinthorn seemed to have on her. It seemed she knew everything could come to an end in an instant.

Still, his stance seemed to soften, right where his feet nestled in the blackened earth and rendered glass. Standing right before her, he seemed to withdraw into himself, and concentrate.

OOC: 1

[Yun Lao]

"Hey! It's not like I was watching Charco the whole time." her annoyance was quite evident, "We're here now, right? So stop acting like a dordendum and tell us what you really want. Obviously you're not in so great a shape yourself or you'd be terrorizing planets or something instead of just giving Charcho headaches."

"You don't get it, do you? Did Charco not explain this? If I so wished it, I could fully consume all of those who share the boy's blood and convert millions into an army of one mind. However, quantity is not what I want. I, the Strongest, desire the strongest vessel, in which this boy has been forging for me and in return, I gave him seventeen years of freedom."

The mental image of Rex grew blurry as he exerted his will, slowly growing from human-sized to a much larger frame, "It is not what I want, child. It is when you should be asking."

[Tami]

"You don't get it, do you? Did Charco not explain this? If I so wished it, I could fully consume all of those who share the boy's blood and convert millions into an army of one mind. However, quantity is not what I want. I, the Strongest, desire the strongest vessel, in which this boy has been forging for me and in return, I gave him seventeen years of freedom."

The mental image of Rex grew blurry as he exerted his will, slowly growing from human-sized to a much larger frame, "It is not what I want, child. It is when you should be asking."

Suddenly looking thoughtful, "You know, Charco may not be the most powerful is his line. I hear that mixed-breeds are even more powerful than pure ones, like my sister's child whose father is human. Let's say that Charco and I had a kid together, imagine how powerful that child might be. If you kill either of us, or mess us up, how wil you ever know just how powerful a half-Chromaki/Half-Human child might become?"

[Yun Lao]

Suddenly looking thoughtful, "You know, Charco may not be the most powerful is his line. I hear that mixed-breeds are even more powerful than pure ones, like my sister's child whose father is human. Let's say that Charco and I had a kid together, imagine how powerful that child might be. If you kill either of us, or mess us up, how wil you ever know juts how powerful a half-Chromaki/Half-Human child might become?"

"Cyanna!"

"So you would sacrifice the souls of you and a future child to appease me?"

"Rex! It's me you want, not her! Not anyone else! Just leave them be... "

"Heh, so easily broken... Very well, boy."

[Tami]

"Cyanna!"

"So you would sacrifice the souls of you and a future child to appease me?"

"Rex! It's me you want, not her! Not anyone else! Just leave them be... "

"Heh, so easily broken... Very well, boy."

"Will you two just shut up!" Cyanna yelled at them, "All I'm saying is give Charco ten more years. Leave him alone for ten years, then see what happens."

[Yun Lao]

"Will you two just shut up!" Cyanna yelled at them, "All I'm saying is give Charco ten more years. Leave him alone for ten years, then see what happens."

"Don't you worry. Should I find a hybrid that can surpass Charco, I may grant him the 'freedom' he deserves..." Rex replied, his tone implying the worst.

"Well then, I do believe this was a productive and civil negotiation, do you two agree?" The dinosaur cruelly said to Morgana and the sphinx.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Praxat stops to get her Hazmat clean and disinfect. She then grabs a new pair of boots and later arrives at where Gero is being held." Where's Jinzi I need to speak to him about the Red Raiders!" Praxat said.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Grinthorn’s eyes brighten, teeth clamping on his cigar.

“Alakazah. Alakazah. Yes, that’s my name.”

For a brief moment his shadow seems to alter shape but settles down.

To Ochazuke and Parsley, a massive looming insubstantial dragon seems to coil around and behind Grinthorn. It’s presnece seems ancient and aware they see it.

Grinthorn snaps his fingers and all his people stop cold, asleep standing up. Blizzar’s people do as well.

“And I never said I was human.”

He grins wider, impossibly wide, and looks at Blizzar.

“Seems Perhaps my disguise means little aside from to my men. Let’s let them sleep a bit as we discuss business.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Again, even with her back to the wall, Char Banner Gero seemed to fix her gaze on the smallest portion directly in front of her. But the world beyond the reach of her own to hands, only now was it apparent that it was not as beyond her as she seemed to make it.

"History cannot be written without testament to its account," he said. " Your work is marked under the banners of others, and you thought you could validate yourself by playing them against each other, shedding their blood while keeping your hands clean?"

All of this to leave a legacy. "Rest assured, your conduct will all but assure that you live on. It will validate your name as well as Pantaloon had your proposals." This was no more science than it was a reapporpriation of beings to component parts. "In accruing knowledge, the substance of living, how ironic yours is so shallow a purpose."

It then struck against the field of his sense-awareness. Not only for Gero, but the noose closing around them.



Grinthorn

Like Damask, as soon as they stepped into his meditational vector, they had set foot into his territory. In an instant, about an arm's length away from Blizzar's GP officers, the webs of ki rose and fell over them, the Task Force were affixed within the Woven Path..

Though his name was called, he did not move to face the World's President at this time, only surveying Gero's reaction at the prescient knowledge Grinthorn seemed to have on her. It seemed she knew everything could come to an end in an instant.

Still, his stance seemed to soften, right where his feet nestled in the blackened earth and rendered glass. Standing right before her, he seemed to withdraw into himself, and concentrate.

OOC: 1

She doesn’t answer, instead remaining stoically quiet until Grinthorn says he wants custody of her. That marks a real and tangible terror and fear in Gero that you can sense.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Praxat stops to get her Hazmat clean and disinfect. She then grabs a new pair of boots and later arrives at where Gero is being held." Where's Jinzi I need to speak to him about the Red Raiders!" Praxat said.

Jinzi comms her.

“I’m at the Lookout, Praxat.”