Dragonball M, Chapter 4: Kidnapping! Invasion! A new Threat Strikes First!

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

At Parsley direction, Pinach left with his little niece in tow. In all likelihood, Pois would be in something resembling a position to care for the infant on top of her two children. All five would be on Langal, which was likely the most secure planet in the empire due to its distance from the other worlds. Knowing that her children were safe put her mind somewhat at ease. She wouldn't be completely at rest until she knew the fate of her wife versus Tundra's forces on Ruco, and until Sarada killed Tundra and ended this madness once and for all. Until then, she would be on edge.

She intended on joining Pinach for a spell, but Ronin Kai suddenly summoned her. He spoke and moved with a sense of urgency she hadn't seen in some time. She held her questions until she found Eva at the edge of the Lookout. "What's going on? Has Auroc made his move already?"

It had barely been a day since he was humiliated on Vocado. She would have thought he would take some time to recollect himself. If that even happened, then he was able to regain his composure and make adjustments in his overall plans. Whatever the case, she was ready to end him once and for all. For the good of not only the universe, but the Threshling in particular, he needed to die quickly. The creature had aspirations that would plunge everything into darkness.

Eva nods, eyes faintly glowing as she watches something only she can see.

“A ritual to make him stronger. They are prepping their defenses and planning on holding out for a long time. The longer we wait, the stronger he gets. The best moment to strike is now, I’ve seen it.”

[Tami]

Eva nods, eyes faintly glowing as she watches something only she can see.

“A ritual to make him stronger. They are prepping their defenses and planning on holding out for a long time. The longer we wait, the stronger he gets. The best moment to strike is now, I’ve seen it.”

"Dang, we can't catch a break no how." a faint smile, lasting only a moment, as she took a more serious stance, "What's the plan? How do we all get there?"

[Sub-Zero MKA]

The realm of Tintreach the Lighning Archon was exactly what she expected it to be, to a degree. The sky was covered by a dark blanket of pitch black clouds. A torrential rain drowned the myriad of tiny islands peppering the massive open taking up over half the realm. The other half was a dry, lifeless patch of land leading into the final realm. Pure white lightning bolts streaked across the sky, striking the ground and leaving massive black marks in their wake.

One of these bolts remained, and took on the form of a Saiyanoid. "You have arrived at last," they greeted with only a note of impatience. "I expected this meeting yesterday."

"Sorry. Lasair and I were having a heart-to-heart."

"Interesting. It seems the two angry children have reached an accord." He sighed, a rumble of thunder boom in the sky in accord. "You have made it to the penultimate stop in your quest. This proves you are more flexible than we originally thought."

Inanna could have told you that, she thought to herself, resisting the burgeoning smile that threatened to appear. "I know, right? I've surprised even myself. So, what's the stipulation this time? Catch you in a bottle?"

The reference was lost on him. "I fear that is impossible. We will clash until I am satisfied with your progress."

A straight up fight was just what she wanted. Unlike yesterday when she faced Lasair, she had no illusions of being able to somehow nullify lightning. Instead, she had to figure out how the hell she was going to hurt a being made of pure electricity. She assumed that it was intangible, so she had at least one tech that was able to hurt him. Well, she supposed that she would have to make something up as she went along. Unlike the others that came before, she was completely unfamiliar. In fact, she didn't even know this one existed until late the night before.

"Sounds good to me." She got into a defensive stance. She stayed loose. If he was made of electricity, then he was slower than her. As such, she wanted him to make the first move so she could get a measure of that speed. Surely a master of his element would be faster than said element. If not, then this was going to be easy.
Tintreach bolted forward with a boom of thunder. His movements were quick and precise, appearing frenetic, but each one having a purpose. She moved to block, keeping up with him easily. Even though she managed to block, she felt a jolt of electricity run through her body with each touch. Individually, it wasn't an issue. One after the other had her entire entire body tingling. Thanks to Ishtar, she was plenty used to that, but not in this capacity.

The impenetrable wall that was her Undisputed Sovereignty ate the blows without trouble. That confirmed that she was more powerful than him, but with his inability to maintain any of the damage she inflicted on it - assuming she could even hurt him - nullified that advantage.

Sarada fell back to put some distance between them and immediately launched her offensive volley. She had a good measure of Tintreach's speed and felt good about her chances. Her fist flew forward, but given the distance, she was nowhere close to actually hitting him. However, the beauty of the One in a Million Punch wasn't the first punch, but the thousands of punches that came after that. Her aura exploded, launching countless hidden punches that sailed toward Tintreach.



With a wave of his hand, he erected a solid dome of electricity that blocked the majority of the punches. Several got through and peppered him throughout his form. A burst of light flashed as he teleported to a nearby island.

She was quick to follow him, another One in a Million poised to tear into him again. She dodged a streak of lightning fired by the Archon, then spiraled around a bolt that arched down from one of the clouds above. That temporary lull in her pursuit gave Tintreach the time he needed to attempt to close the gap.

More lightning arched down from the clouds, only this time, they struck him instead. His hands were shining brightly, electricity jumping from them like a live wire. He burst forward, catching her off-guard with his improved speed and tagging her several times. The punches themselves didn't hurt, but the bursts of lightning that jumped into her with each strike did.

She could feel her muscles twitching uncontrollably. It never last long, but it happened enough times to slow her down and leave her open to more attacks. It was like getting hit with bunny punches. One never did anything, but dozens stacked on top of each other and in the same general area often did more damage than the heavy haymakers ever would. Chipping away at a person's defense was the more demoralizing way to win. It took a long time, and it left them with enough hope that victory was still in their reach.

Sarada gained enough of her wits to erect a barrier not only protect herself, but to also push Tintreach away and give herself some room to work with. Her barrier shrunk until it was a thin green layer, basically a second skin. That gave her the added protection and the ability to attack without dropping her shield. It was almost like she layered the shield, but that would be ridiculous and too overpowered.

She charged forward, letting the incoming bursts of lightning bounce off her shield, then laid into Tintreach.

He responded, answering her strikes with equal but opposite strikes. They darted from one side of the sky to the other, creating shockwaves that echoed through the empty expanse like the thunder that boomed with each heralding crack of lightning. Neither combatant wasted a single motion. Each thought, each action was precise and served its purpose and nothing more.

Sarada had neglected her martial arts, but training with Parsley over the years forced her to work on her hand to hand. Her sister was one of, if not the best hand to hand fighters in the empire and would give any of the martial artists on other worlds a run for their money. Sarada wasn't anywhere close, but she was better than she had been in the past. And she was good enough to match this elemental.

They clashed one last time, causing the water under them to explode upward like a geyser. As the water dissipated and fell back into the ocean beneath them, she noticed immediately that he was gone. Where'd he go?!

A brilliant white light flashed. The next instant, a long, thin blade of electricity sliced through her shield like a knife through butter. She realized that he focused the electricity that had been around his hands into blades, making it even more potent than it already was. She wouldn't have been shocked if they could cut through her damage barrier and actually hurt her.

Tintreach pressed his advantage, taking short and precise swings with his blades.

Sarada was on her back foot and on the defensive. The momentum and lead in the fight was taken from her; the Archon dictated the fight's direction and pace, which was bad for her. There wasn't anywhere for her to escape to and regroup. The clouds were filled with lightning, and the ocean below was just asking to get electrocuted and seriously injured, if not killed.

The only way to go was forward. And the only way forward was through. She narrowed her eyes and started charging ki in her right arm. As she did this, she started to assert herself and parried his strikes instead of blocking them. She just needed one single opening. It didn't matter if it was only open for a brief instance; that was all she was going to need to end it.

Tintreach seemed to know what she was trying to do and increased his efforts to keep his guard closed and off-limits. Every time she poked and prodded his guard, he responded by shifting his position and immediately attacking right after. This didn't so much as catch Sarada off-guard as it stalled her momentum for a brief moment. That momentary lull in her advance gave the Archon the chance to regroup and collect himself.

Sarada knew she had an opening and that it would only present itself for an instant at a time. Tintreach was adept at closing those windows of opportunity almost as soon as they were opened. Yet, she was better at finding them. Like Goath said, any small crack, the most minuscule hole, even the most insignificant sliver was all it took.

That sliver presented itself, and she struck.



The thunderstorm was blown away by the power of Crimson Death, leaving the still murky sky with rays of sunlight breaking through the clouds. Tintreach had a basketball sized hole in his chest, but a hole three times that size in his back. The damage that would have been done to anything that was behind him would have been catastrophic. Yet, he seemed nonplussed and unconcerned by the blow. The reason why revealed itself as the holes in his torso closed by quickly, all trace of their existence gone.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"Impressive. Your fighting prowess is indeed well worth the praise Inanna boasted in your behalf. And you have taken to our lessons well. This is good." He held up a hand and disengaged his blades. "You have done well."

"You were holding back, weren't you?" she demanded.

He chuckled, each laugh sounded like a soft rumble of thunder. "I fear so. Perhaps next time, we may both go all out."

"Yeah, I'd like that." Eight milestones done, one to go. And that one was going to be the hardest. It didn't escape her notice that the oldest and most powerful Archon had yet to cross her path. Clear, the final test was going to be her hardest and most taxing. Everything she learned up to that point was going to be needed just to keep up, much less win. Suppose I should just drop any illusions of victory, she thought as she headed for the final realm and her final test. Criostalach was going to determine whether or not she was as powerful as she thought, and if the eight previous stops in this quest taught her anything, or if they were just a waste of time.

Whatever the outcome, she was already pumped !

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Eva nods, eyes faintly glowing as she watches something only she can see.

“A ritual to make him stronger. They are prepping their defenses and planning on holding out for a long time. The longer we wait, the stronger he gets. The best moment to strike is now, I’ve seen it.”

Praxat listens while pondering to herself. ( Hmm, this is serious, and that new power-up tech I'm well on my way to developing is still incomplete, and Dash saw glimpses of it. When she and I were working on improving my Max Mode technique during our time in the RoSaT) Praxat thought.

( I could ask to go back to the RoSaT to develop this new tech I'm working on further. However, I can return to the RoSAT with Dash later. Right now I have to focus on the task at hand,) Praxat thought.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Eva nods, eyes faintly glowing as she watches something only she can see.

“A ritual to make him stronger. They are prepping their defenses and planning on holding out for a long time. The longer we wait, the stronger he gets. The best moment to strike is now, I’ve seen it.”

Parsley was... suspicious that Eva suddenly knew exactly what Auroc was planning, which they had no such idea or even an inkling of it the day before. It couldn't have been a vision of the future powered by her powers provided by her status as Guardian. If that was the case, she surely would have foreseen the attack on herself and Capsule Corp.

With slightly narrowed eyes, she asked, "How do you know this all of a sudden?"

"Dang, we can't catch a break no how." a faint smile, lasting only a moment, as she took a more serious stance, "What's the plan? How do we all get there?"

"We have several people with us who know where Reshlan is and Inanna can open a portal. Getting there is no issue."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Parsley was... suspicious that Eva suddenly knew exactly what Auroc was planning, which they had no such idea or even an inkling of it the day before. It couldn't have been a vision of the future powered by her powers provided by her status as Guardian. If that was the case, she surely would have foreseen the attack on herself and Capsule Corp.

With slightly narrowed eyes, she asked, "How do you know this all of a sudden?"



"We have several people with us who know where Reshlan is and Inanna can open a portal. Getting there is no issue."

“You can’t. No portals will get you there. The Threshlings have wards against such, activated after Auroc’s defeat.”

She looks at Parsley, eyes glowing.

“I have for seen it.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Dang, we can't catch a break no how." a faint smile, lasting only a moment, as she took a more serious stance, "What's the plan? How do we all get there?"

“Ships. Allies will soon be upon us.”

[Tami]

“Ships. Allies will soon be upon us.”

Dash did notice the change in Eva. For some reason it made her think of Meagan and Jinzi, and Cyanna. She found herself feeling a little worried, not about herself, but about them. Though she wasn't sure why.

Shaking it off, she decide that she was just being silly and needed to stay focused.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

“You can’t. No portals will get you there. The Threshlings have wards against such, activated after Auroc’s defeat.”

She looks at Parsley, eyes glowing.

“I have for seen it.”

The planet being warded against portals was not surprising. Annoying and inconvenient, but not surprising.

Her eyes narrowed as she regarded Eva. She was being unnecessarily vague. "You foresaw it. How fickle your powers of precognition must be then. Earth is under your purview and yet you failed to foresee Auroc's invasion of this planet and Koorimaru's attempt to kidnap you. And yet, you conveniently receive a vision of things to come on a mysterious world millions of miles away."

She took note of the peculiar energy filling Eva's eyes and sought to determine its source, assuming it wasn't her own power.

“Ships. Allies will soon be upon us.”

"What allies? The GP?"

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

For Solas and Neamhní, Inanna's death was a simple, necessary truth.

They had been there when the Moon fell. In the process of talks to make themselves known- and be recognized- by the other Elementals, when the Moon split and descended from above to annihilate the world below. So they knew all too well the damage the Oni-That-Was could cause, given her duality. A thing that these newborn's playing at rulers, these… 'Archons' had merely experienced the aftermath. A thing that had been particularly devastating for Solas, and Neamhní. The lack of sunlight weakening them both and forcing them and what few of their 'children' to survive into dormancy.

A dormancy they had only just begun to stir from, when the Oni-That-Was had come to the Newborns with a proposition… To bring Tatenen to a place where it might mend in peace.

Something they had both expressed concern over, but had been far too weak to enforce.

So they had returned to a near-dormant state for a time, allowing the new dimension they found themselves in to benefit their recovery. As time passed- flow augmented by the hand of the Oni-That-Was... the newborn's Banrigh a ’Chruthachaidh- they found their power waxing swiftly; and with it a return to their true form and former glory. When they did finally find full wakefulness however, Solas and Neamhní found themselves lacking interest in the affairs of the newborns... the 'Archon'; their aims benign and in the end inconsequential and the realm of Vaikuntha equally so.... until the death and rebirth of the Oni-That-Was came to pass and they sensed the duality within her consolidated. The threat she now posed could not be ignored. They had waited patiently then, until they were sure of their strength, and purpose. Were positive their ability to rise up and cast the Newborn's False God down; and now was that time.

Bearing down on Inanna, and their wayward child Criostalach however; Solas, and Neamhní were slightly surprised to see the golden-eyed woman still standing... a defiant glimmer in her eye even as her left arm hung limply at her side.

"It seems she was more resilient than we expected." Solas noted.

"So she was, yet it matters not." Neamhní offered. "That first was nearly enough. Two more should be sufficient. What of the Newborn?"

"It does not matter."

No more needed to be said, the duo descending with killing intent.

------

The first chime was dull, and fleeting. "...hachaidh."

The second, nothing more than a waxing ostinado. "... a ’Chruthachaidh." The golden-eyes fluttered, but recognition was a nonexistent thing. Until, finally... Cacophonous crescendo.

"INANNA. THEY COME."

The woman's eyes snapped open, and she sprung to her feet... or rather, would have. The blow that had separated her briefly from consciousness, had done far too much damage for that. A blow with enough force to nearly kill her... had she not been in Vaikuntha, or capable of regeneration.

"Nnh. What... hit me."

It had caught her unawares. The woman had been speaking with Criostalach about the things she'd learned; and what she meant to do about- the ever growing list of- them. What she, and the Archon had not expected, was visitors. Especially none here, in Vaikuntha, that lashed out with killing intent.

"Solas. Neamhní." Criostalach chimed, softly.

The names registered slowly, only clicking after Inanna- having by now forced herself upright- twisted her mangled arm. Grunting in pain as gristle and bone were forced back into a tenuous alignment in a bid to speed up the healing process. "Ah... Lost." She wheezed, through perforated lungs. They'd come out of hiding. "N...ow, of all t-times?" There was a staccato of rasping wheezes that followed this question, and it took a moment before Criostalach realized it for what it was.

Banrigh a ’Chruthachaidh was laughing.

"... now is not the time."

"No time... like dying..." the golden-eyed woman mused aloud, as she prepared a meager defense. Yet Inanna knew quite well how out of her depth she was. A single blow had nearly ended it, which boded ill for anything more than an attempt to dazzle, and flee.

"I'll... need your help." Inanna whispered, only to hear Criostalach chime, softly.

A diminuendo.

Assent.

"Thank you..." the golden-eyed woman muttered, before slipping out of her seal, causing her power to skyrocket dangerously; and she hoped it might be enough. As even though she didn't know the true motivation for their attempt on her life now; she understood that they meant to succeed.

Given the state of her, their odds were good; but the time for second guessing had come and pass.

The Goddess sighed. The Crystal chimed… and the quartet met head on.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

The planet being warded against portals was not surprising. Annoying and inconvenient, but not surprising.

Her eyes narrowed as she regarded Eva. She was being unnecessarily vague. "You foresaw it. How fickle your powers of precognition must be then. Earth is under your purview and yet you failed to foresee Auroc's invasion of this planet and Koorimaru's attempt to kidnap you. And yet, you conveniently receive a vision of things to come on a mysterious world millions of miles away."

She took note of the peculiar energy filling Eva's eyes and sought to determine its source, assuming it wasn't her own power.



"What allies? The GP?"

“I was given the vision. Someone....came to me. A Kai I did not recognize. And yes, the GP were alerted and are on the way.”

[Sub-Zero MKA]

“I was given the vision. Someone....came to me. A Kai I did not recognize. And yes, the GP were alerted and are on the way.”

"I see." Parsley didn't know...anything about Kais, so she couldn't determine how concerned she should have been that a Kai Eva didn't recognize tried to contact her. And why would it do so?

This was a burning question, but it wasn't one she could hope to ever find the answer to. Unless the Kai in question decided to answer it himself.

"Did this Kai show you what Auroc is doing right now? Is he about to remobilize or is this some kind of ritual to grant him more power?"

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"I see." Parsley didn't know...anything about Kais, so she couldn't determine how concerned she should have been that a Kai Eva didn't recognize tried to contact her. And why would it do so?

This was a burning question, but it wasn't one she could hope to ever find the answer to. Unless the Kai in question decided to answer it himself.

"Did this Kai show you what Auroc is doing right now? Is he about to remobilize or is this some kind of ritual to grant him more power?"

“He’s currently healing and being boosted by the ritual. Currently, the High Priestess, ala the Grand Maven, is in charge. Ahe’s calling the shots for the moment.”

[Sub-Zero MKA]

“He’s currently healing and being boosted by the ritual. Currently, the High Priestess, ala the Grand Maven, is in charge. Ahe’s calling the shots for the moment.”

The Grand Maven was the one calling the shots. Meaning she was their primary target. "Then this Grand Maven is the one who needs to die above all others." She opened the doorway to Vaikuntha. "I need to learn all I can about her, and also retrieve Inanna. I'll be right back." She stepped inside and closed the doorway behind her.

Auroc was busy healing and gaining strength. Each moment they wasted was another moment Auroc had to get stronger. She by herself was well above his previous level of strength when he humiliated her and Sarada with ease. If they were to fight right that moment, the tables would be reversed and the outcome the exact opposite. She knew that, and she knew that he did as well. Inanna's power put the fear of GoD in his heart. A so-called "god" couldn't stand to be humbled in front of his servants. If they were too late and allowed him to restore himself, he would fight them with everything he had at his disposal.

The same mistake would not be made twice.

She took flight and landed where the Threshling Knights they saved from his foul influence were congregated. "Your former master is healing and gaining strength. The Grand Maven is now in charge, I'm told. Arm yourselves and come with me so you can fight to save your planet."