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

[grampagen]

The Knight grunts as he is flung out of the room. A moment later, his helmet rolls in as he’s been knocked unconscious.

Dissipating the staff extension, Zaofan prodded the helmet, before allowing himself a reprieve. Leaning on his staff, he winced as he nursed the wound on his shoulder.

The Queen of Reshlan is secure. Came the psychic reverb, though with what little feedback he could pick up on the other side, who knows if they were of a mind to respond? For now, she was his responsibility, and he'd already bungled his first impression.

"Okay, let's do this one last time." Zaofan cleared his throat. "I'm from Earth, came here with a few good friends of mine to see about Auroc. I've made the acquaintance of your daughter as well, rather fond of the well-done Sierra Cuts."

Pausing for a moment, he suddenly remembered himself as hurried over to offer her a hand up.

"The name's Zaofan, your majesty. How do you do?"

The Silver Knight falls limp as you examine the rune.

It’s been stamped deep into the planet, and tied back to the Maven and Auroc. Seems either can trigger it. The triggering range is within 100 miles it seems.

He also finds that if either are killed, potentially the shock of it could trigger the tune to go off. Possibly.

When Nevanlinna had told him that Auroc's presence had been woven into the very foundations of the Threshling world, he hadn't thought that the statement would be quite this literal.

"Auroc has a measure built for mutually assured destruction, should he or his Maven fall," Ochazuke relayed to the others. "If a protracted battle does not go their way, they claim to have the means to preserve their consciousnesses, even if their bodies and very world should crumble."

As they had seen on Baradur, Vocado and Earth, they very much had the means to seize a new world. And they may not encounter such resistance...should they succeed.

With the area secure - at least for now - Ochazuke, ever mindful of the flashes of power on the surface level, sat near the magical seal. The language remained cryptic to him, but the length and issue of its power he could infer.

"Held, Etrina, where are you? I'm going to attempt to neutralize the ward*."

__

Overhearing the chatter on the Comm, Zaofan's eyes widened.

"...this is rather abrupt," he said to the Queen, "but I don't suppose you can help us, to help you?"

OOC:

*Genki Charge: 1

[Miburo]

OT: huh.

IC:

The first Noble gets taken over, the will already supplanted by fanaticism.

As he goes to careen with the second, this one was perhaps a bit more savvy. He artfully dishes and then fires abram that knocks his companion away so that when the energy explodes, only the first one is taken out by it.

Damnit. I thought I had them both...I guess that one is a little bit more savvy...Looks like I better do that thing. I don't have many options while I'm so preoccupied....

Held sighed deeply, resolving himself to unleash a technique rarely used by a warrior of his caliber in the midst of all but the most desperate of struggles. It was keeping true to the roots of The Unicorn Clan, true, but it left the Nevadian with a certain distaste to use it against anything short of catastrophic odds of defeat, as a last ditch ace in the hole.


How ghastly.....I imagine one of the Saiyans would never let me here the end of it if I really allowed myself to be reduced to this in front of them against a mere minion...But, the pain of my ego is nothing compared to the suffering of this planet and it's people.

Reaching up to his ear, he pinged the group communicator and reached out over the psionic connection. "What's the situation up there? I've discovered a rune array beneath the Capital. It seems Auroc has weaved a particular spell down here, and from what his knights have said, his Maven is willing to destroy the entire planet if it means victory."

Held twitched slightly as the voice of his friend echoed in his mind, the ionic communication established between them. The Nevadian knew it would be only to herald victory for the team, or news that was nothing if not unhappy. And as Auroc's presence could still be detected, he was hardly surprised to hear the former.

I'm not too surprised to hear something like that. Held replied grimly, I was wondering how he managed to link up the leylines of the entire planet to do his bidding...He's even using it to absorb the essence of the lifeforms of this planet.

The Nevadian grit his teeth in effort, as veins protruded from his skin, his aura flaring to with an uncharacteristically potent Ki. Unrelated to those efforts, the energy constructs above the spears twirled and pulsed with a dazzling light that was blinding to behold.

The Nevadian stared his opponent down, his resolve steadfast and iron clad.

"Held, Etrina, where are you? I'm going to attempt to neutralize the ward*."

Preoccupied. The Nevadian responded simply, I'll deal with the leyline problem in a moment, if I can.

"You fool, that's exactly what I expected!" He bellowed with a determined sneer, ready to unleash the technique unseen by Threshing eyes thus far.

"You're within the range of my true attack! Prepare to witness the secret technique of the Unicorn Clan!"


OT: One post remaining.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Piccolo was a Namekian name, Vegeta a Saiyan, and Freeza an Arcosian. Quite the assortment of foes, and ones that paralleled her own.

I can't move..., she realized. When Goku spoke next, a cold chill tore through her chest. "No, that's impossible!" She reached up and felt the very same halo she had when she died the first time. "NO! There's no way some two-bit coward could kill me! Not from a sword and not while I was a Super Saiyan!"

She was just playing possum, making it seem like she was dead so she could easily get the drop on the noble and give him a taste of his own underhandedness. "There's been some kind of mistake. Besides, I would have passed over to Otherworld by now."

Goku puts his hand to his chin, sitting cross-legged, and thinks.

“Well, I’m for sure dead. Maybe you’re, only kind of dead? I mean, I can sense your energy still in the living world. Weird. Well, I mean Baba’s going to bring me back for a day here in a bit, so maybe....you’re only going to be like this for a day? Or something, I don’t know.”

He pauses a beat, then his eyes widen in surprise.

“You said super Saiyan? Like this?”

With almost casual ease his form shifts to golden haired and green eyed.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Time magic?" Inanna scowls. "You. Little. ****."

The woman drew a black arrow from nothing, and nocked it. "Mistakes like this happen but once in a lifetime. Hakai." Without much caring for the collateral, Inanna released the arrow of condensed Hakai straight and true.

The man’s eyes widen, and he goes incorporeal as the arrow sails through where he’s been and strikes the erected dome, utterly annihilating it.

He reappears, an alarmed look on his face. When next he speaks, his voice thunders and his staff glows bright.

“In the Name of Magic, Be Bound!”

From multiple small pocket dimension portals all around her, chains of glowing red magic wrap around Inanna’s arms, legs, and neck, pulling tight. The old man seems winded as he concentrates on keeping her bound.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Seeing this, Dash then looks around for more of the Auroc Black Goo. She isn't sure how many times she can do this before transforming back. Still, she facilitated this mess, she was gonna do what she could to clean it up.

OOC: 20/100

There is lots raining down, none in the temple obviously, and other than her own allies Sasheem and Rex, no one else appears within its range. It is circling towards them as well.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Dissipating the staff extension, Zaofan prodded the helmet, before allowing himself a reprieve. Leaning on his staff, he winced as he nursed the wound on his shoulder.

The Queen of Reshlan is secure. Came the psychic reverb, though with what little feedback he could pick up on the other side, who knows if they were of a mind to respond? For now, she was his responsibility, and he'd already bungled his first impression.

"Okay, let's do this one last time." Zaofan cleared his throat. "I'm from Earth, came here with a few good friends of mine to see about Auroc. I've made the acquaintance of your daughter as well, rather fond of the well-done Sierra Cuts."

Pausing for a moment, he suddenly remembered himself as hurried over to offer her a hand up.

"The name's Zaofan, your majesty. How do you do?"



When Nevanlinna had told him that Auroc's presence had been woven into the very foundations of the Threshling world, he hadn't thought that the statement would be quite this literal.

"Auroc has a measure built for mutually assured destruction, should he or his Maven fall," Ochazuke relayed to the others. "If a protracted battle does not go their way, they claim to have the means to preserve their consciousnesses, even if their bodies and very world should crumble."

As they had seen on Baradur, Vocado and Earth, they very much had the means to seize a new world. And they may not encounter such resistance...should they succeed.

With the area secure - at least for now - Ochazuke, ever mindful of the flashes of power on the surface level, sat near the magical seal. The language remained cryptic to him, but the length and issue of its power he could infer.

"Held, Etrina, where are you? I'm going to attempt to neutralize the ward*."

__

Overhearing the chatter on the Comm, Zaofan's eyes widened.

"...this is rather abrupt," he said to the Queen, "but I don't suppose you can help us, to help you?"

OOC:

*Genki Charge: 1

“A...pleasure.”

Her clothes are tattered, and while her skin is already healing thanks to her biology, patches of exposed skin greet Zaofan’s eyes as she stands up with his hand.

“Help? I can...help with...mage raft...to a degree.”

————

No other servant disrupts Ochazuke’s concentration.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Damnit. I thought I had them both...I guess that one is a little bit more savvy...Looks like I better do that thing. I don't have many options while I'm so preoccupied....

Held sighed deeply, resolving himself to unleash a technique rarely used by a warrior of his caliber in the midst of all but the most desperate of struggles. It was keeping true to the roots of The Unicorn Clan, true, but it left the Nevadian with a certain distaste to use it against anything short of catastrophic odds of defeat, as a last ditch ace in the hole.


How ghastly.....I imagine one of the Saiyans would never let me here the end of it if I really allowed myself to be reduced to this in front of them against a mere minion...But, the pain of my ego is nothing compared to the suffering of this planet and it's people.



Held twitched slightly as the voice of his friend echoed in his mind, the ionic communication established between them. The Nevadian knew it would be only to herald victory for the team, or news that was nothing if not unhappy. And as Auroc's presence could still be detected, he was hardly surprised to hear the former.

I'm not too surprised to hear something like that. Held replied grimly, I was wondering how he managed to link up the leylines of the entire planet to do his bidding...He's even using it to absorb the essence of the lifeforms of this planet.

The Nevadian grit his teeth in effort, as veins protruded from his skin, his aura flaring to with an uncharacteristically potent Ki. Unrelated to those efforts, the energy constructs above the spears twirled and pulsed with a dazzling light that was blinding to behold.

The Nevadian stared his opponent down, his resolve steadfast and iron clad.



Preoccupied. The Nevadian responded simply, I'll deal with the leyline problem in a moment, if I can.

"You fool, that's exactly what I expected!" He bellowed with a determined sneer, ready to unleash the technique unseen by Threshing eyes thus far.

"You're within the range of my true attack! Prepare to witness the secret technique of the Unicorn Clan!"


OT: One post remaining.

The Noble sneers, and Held sees a delicate mage-made rapier appears in the man’s hand. He then plunges at Held, intent on skewering him as energy glows in his other hand.

[Tami]

There is lots raining down, none in the temple obviously, and other than her own allies Sasheem and Rex, no one else appears within its range. It is circling towards them as well.

OOC: I'll have to reply to this tomorrow. Waiting to see if there is a response from KingofPie and/or Yun Lao.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

The man’s eyes widen, and he goes incorporeal as the arrow sails through where he’s been and strikes the erected dome, utterly annihilating it.

He reappears, an alarmed look on his face. When next he speaks, his voice thunders and his staff glows bright.

“In the Name of Magic, Be Bound!”

From multiple small pocket dimension portals all around her, chains of glowing red magic wrap around Inanna’s arms, legs, and neck, pulling tight. The old man seems winded as he concentrates on keeping her bound.

"It seems you've succeeded where others have failed." Inanna hissed, as she fought against her new bindings. "It's a rare thing, someone surviving long enough to **** up a second time."

The woman's hands gripped the ethereal chains.

"Hakai."

Black energy welled up and began pouring out and down Inanna's body, eating through everything it touched as she coated every inch of herself in it.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Goku puts his hand to his chin, sitting cross-legged, and thinks.

“Well, I’m for sure dead. Maybe you’re, only kind of dead? I mean, I can sense your energy still in the living world. Weird. Well, I mean Baba’s going to bring me back for a day here in a bit, so maybe....you’re only going to be like this for a day? Or something, I don’t know.”

He pauses a beat, then his eyes widen in surprise.

“You said super Saiyan? Like this?”

With almost casual ease his form shifts to golden haired and green eyed.

Kind of dead wasn't much of an answer. If he could still sense her body, that meant she was still alive, and yet somehow she was a spirit floating over her body. Her having a halo wasn't encouraging, nor did it clear up this mystery. There should have been no reason for her...

Unless...

She looked down and saw the bracelet Hilda gave her. The bracelet. Hozon! Hilda told her that it worked by preserving something in its current state. Meaning...it was preserving her body in the last state it was in, that being alive. That was why she hadn't crosses over yet.

Damn it. I really am dead. No! There has to be a way I can fix this.

She attempted to will herself back into her body, even as Goku went Super Saiyan. "Hm? Yes, like that." She, just as casually, went Super Saiyan. "I haven't mastered the form yet, but I'm close. And I saw that there's another two levels beyond Super Saiyan, so my training isn't done yet."

[Miburo]

The Noble sneers, and Held sees a delicate mage-made rapier appears in the man’s hand.

The Nevadian was more than aware of the actions of his enemy, but it was not through sight that he discerned those intentions.

In the moment between the Sneer and the rapier appearing, Held had prepared his ultimate technique. In the scant micro seconds between the pursuit, the Nevadian had already unleashed the most splendid technique of the Unicorns.

It was said that a Unicorn could never be captured by any except the most virtuous of beings, and even that was a voluntary surrender. Was it due to speed? Or power? Or some otherworldly technique?

Yes. But also no.

The Nevadian had already turned around by the time the Noble had decided to advance, flying away at a blistering speed. His aura burned with translucent white power as he rocketed through the stratosphere, focusing every bit of energy not dedicated to the preparation of his attack.

The world became faint as buildings, mountains, monuments faded in and out of existence in the second between seconds. The earth below shook from the force being released from the sky, the Nevadian crossing miles in moments.

Prudence was the most valuable power of the Unicorn clan, and the Unicorn---although quite willing to gore it's enemies into oblivion--was also quite willing to simply avoid trouble entirely.

Damn. I was hoping he'd pause for a split second to give me slightly more time, but even his shifting tactics slowed him down, if only slightly.

He then plunges at Held, intent on skewering him as energy glows in his other hand.

The Nevadian was vaguely aware of his murderous intent, but was more concerned with rapidly vacating the vicinity as swiftly as a person of his species and abilities was physically capable of.


Come on.....Just give me a little more time.....

The power being surging into his spears reached their zenith, the orbs above the tips of the spears rotating at a breakneck pace, as the tendrils connected to them began to spiral madly, resembling the head of a drill as the energy construct released a high pitch whine as energy of purest white radiated.

I have to time this just right.... Between Auroc, this guy, and those Leylines, I might not get a third shot at this...


OT: Attack fully charged

[bruceleegreyhulk]

OT: An alien metal. They are magically crafted too, but you can try magnetism on them.

IC:

One shields against the attack and the other spins around and lashes out with a fire whip, encircling Praxat’s neck.

Praxat stays calm and maneuvers her tongue to grab the two Threshlings. While at the same time using her Bio electromagnetism to attempt to levitate the pikes, The Threshling knights were previously swinging at her. ( Okay, I have to stay calm, but ****, how did one of them managed to encircled my neck. It's incredibly short, so short that I can't even move my head, yet one of them managed to encircle it,) Praxat thought.

[Yun Lao]

Rex, your Ghost Hakai twists towards Auroc, who’s form bends around them rather. However, Sasheem’s sudden surprise attack and then blasts knock him off course and two of the Ghost Hakai shots slam into and eat away his left arm and left leg, black I hit dripping where they once were.

Auroc flies back, grimacing. He powers up and opens his mouth, dozens of black ki beams streaming down towards Rex and Sasheem.

Reaching out once more, Rex's saurian hand clenches into a fist as if seizing something and by drawing his arm back, the remaining scraps of ghost hakai are drawn between Rex and Sasheem and the black energy streaming towards them.

"Even for a false god, my hakai still burns..." He noted to himself.

[KingofPie]

Rex, your Ghost Hakai twists towards Auroc, who’s form bends around them rather. However, Sasheem’s sudden surprise attack and then blasts knock him off course and two of the Ghost Hakai shots slam into and eat away his left arm and left leg, black I hit dripping where they once were.

Auroc flies back, grimacing. He powers up and opens his mouth, dozens of black ki beams streaming down towards Rex and Sasheem.

Reaching out once more, Rex's saurian hand clenches into a fist as if seizing something and by drawing his arm back, the remaining scraps of ghost hakai are drawn between Rex and Sasheem and the black energy streaming towards them.

"Even for a false god, my hakai still burns..." He noted to himself.

"Heh. Sasheem'll need way less than hakai to wreck this jabroni," The Majin noted, eyes narrowing at the black Ki beams. He pulls his arm back and unleashes the second part of his Cobra Curse, shooting the sharp wave of venomous ki, double his own power into the air. The venomous razor energy wave honed in on Auroc, sending itself on a collision course with the black energy beams in the process.

[KingofPie]

Elsewhere in Reshlan...

Blizzard was idly strolling the planet, seeing that all the others had the Threshlings' attention, he's decided to conduct a little planetary investigation. Nevermind the burlap sack doing over his shoulder.

The Arcosiam hummed a jazz tune as he hopped into a Thrahling shrine dedicated to Auroc. "Babbada-do. A dee-dum-dum-this looks expensive-adoobada-dee!" he sang, picking up a golden goblet and tossing it into the sack. "Doobidee-doo..I'll take you too-tatatta-tatatta-tattatta..." He sang on, ripping several jewels from a mural of Auroc.