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

[MrSandman]

"Ohoho! Is the Sheep's Mistress to ashamed to lower herself and ask permission? Too accustomed to having it given to you at the snap of a finger?" She smirked and looked down at the human mage. She then sighed softly. "Having two children has made me soft. Fine, you can read it. After I'm done. And...after Inanna is done. And that's assuming she bothers to give it to you, so you should ask her instead."

"Why am I in a queue, behind Inanna!" Etrina throw up her arms, realized she had lost her composure and then quickly coughed into her hand. "Yes....well...I suppose I've no choice but to accept the terms. Honestly.....to think I was beginning to like you the most out of all the saiyans.....why I was....ev......en...."

Etrinas eyes fell back towards the queen.

He paced among his comrades, past the remnants of the Royal Guard, until his presence demanded an audience of the Queen of Reshlan herself.

He turned his katchin staff up from his side, and pointed at her for a hanging moment.

"..."

All that and for a second, he was at a loss for words.

"...two things. First off, Highness, remind me what your name is?"

".....what...."

The Man in white would feel an intense burning gaze on his peripheral.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Inanna chuckled, mostly to herself.

"A being of Destruction causes life to spring forth; and the world beneath her rejoices for it. What sweet irony, this." Having reverted back to her lesser self however, there was a brief pang of regret at the use of that last vestige... followed swiftly by the pain and realization that she was standing on what amounted to little more than an amputated limb.

"Welp."

With Rex alive, but in a state of suspended animation as he- it, they, them?- attempted to recover within a cocoon of Ghost Hakai however; there was little left for Inanna here. Only the scent of shiny things on the horizon, and a need to process the energy she'd pulled from the wounds she and Rex had sustained. Something to be done surely on the walk toward her new destination.

So drawing it forth, the former Oni held the globule of orange energy up on one finger.

"So tell me, little light... what are you."

A single thought echoes in your mind.

‘ Cancer, Rot, Decay, Ruination.’

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

A single thought echoes in your mind.

‘ Cancer, Rot, Decay, Ruination.’

Ruination... wasn't that the calling card of her alternate self?

Well now, where'd she go and get that? Explained the taste at least, and the ease at which it had ripped through limb, and torso. Its only use after all, was to corrupt. Before much else could be gleaned from the globule however, someone she'd almost forgotten about in the scuffle with Genesis poked her telepathically.

During her "bartering" with Etrina, she nearly missed what she was looking for. The Frost Demon homeworld was indeed marked. "Perfect. I may know exactly where Koorimaru is; or where he has been, anyway," she said.

Beyond that, she continued flipping through the pages and making sure she had read everything she was capable of reading. She would read it over again and copy everything over by hand to help her commit everything but the numbers - those damned equations - to memory. Hm, seems that's everything. She was about to close the book and put it away when her keen eye caught two final words in a common language.

Genesis' Ark

She felt her eyes widen. "He knows where she is," she murmured. She knew of Genesis from Inanna. She knew of how the being struck fear in the heart of the otherwise proven fearless GoD apparent. She also knew of how the creature had been amassing vast amounts of power: Hakai, Creation, Temporal, Katchin. It was immensely powerful, frighteningly so. If this was its base of operations, or perhaps its place of origin, they could find a clue as to how to kill it for good.

'I know where Genesis may be.'

It was a simple message sent to Inanna, but one that would have the former Oni arriving in mere seconds.

Parsley would immediately get a response in the form of a wave of exhaustion, and simple words. 'Oh... Is she back on Reshlan already? I won't be able to stop her a second time, I'm afraid.'

[bruceleegreyhulk]

The Nevadian sighed in sympathy at Praxat's tale. "That's.....Well, not my idea of the good life, but I suppose there are other ways to find our fun, eh?"

"Well, I can still smoke. I can try my hands at basketball, kickball, skateboarding, gymnastics, swimming, and bungee jumping. I can also try my hands at an activity were I swing on giant rock foundations using my tongue. Oh, I can also breakdance, I'm quite the break dancing queen," Praxat said.

"Ah'll speak to the Guardians of both worlds. When they can, ah'm sure they or someone who represents them will be in contact with you."

Dash then bowed again, before taking her leave. By leave, that meant stepping a little further away. There was not much more she could do, except...

Looking around, she saw Held, but didn't see Praxat.

Moments later Praxat appears behind Dash and touches her Dash's right shoulder.

[Tami]

"Well, I can still smoke. I can try my hands at basketball, kickball, skateboarding, gymnastics, swimming, and bungee jumping. I can also try my hands at an activity were I swing on giant rock foundations using my tongue. Oh, I can also breakdance, I'm quite the break dancing queen," Praxat said.




Moments later Praxat appears behind Dash and touches her Dash's right shoulder.

Dash jumps at being startled. Turning around, "Oh, hey. Sorry for not comin back sooner, got distracted."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"Why am I in a queue, behind Inanna!" Etrina throw up her arms, realized she had lost her composure and then quickly coughed into her hand. "Yes....well...I suppose I've no choice but to accept the terms. Honestly.....to think I was beginning to like you the most out of all the saiyans.....why I was....ev......en...."

"Because you and I both know you will have to muscle this book away from her. There are plenty of loose ends on these pages, pretty much all of which are pertinent to her interests."

Parsley would immediately get a response in the form of a wave of exhaustion, and simple words. 'Oh... Is she back on Reshlan already? I won't be able to stop her a second time, I'm afraid.'

Speaking of, Inanna contacted her soon after. What she was not only surprising, but concerning. 'Genesis was here?'

Parsley hadn't felt anything. She supposed someone as beyond everyone else as Genesis was could go about unnoticed until it wanted to be noticed. Parsley was so busy with Auroc, who suddenly looked like the far lesser concern, that she completely missed that a greater threat was on the same planet. They could have been killed and they wouldn't have even known what had happened.

Damn it.

She sighed. 'I meant I know where her Ark is,' she explained. 'Auroc had a journal he kept notes in. Among those notes was the location of Genesis' Ark, among other places. It also had information about something called the Ulthan. I'm going to make a copy of everything I can understand, then I'll let you see it.'

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

"Because you and I both know you will have to muscle this book away from her. There are plenty of loose ends on these pages, pretty much all of which are pertinent to her interests."



Speaking of, Inanna contacted her soon after. What she was not only surprising, but concerning. 'Genesis was here?'

Parsley hadn't felt anything. She supposed someone as beyond everyone else as Genesis was could go about unnoticed until it wanted to be noticed. Parsley was so busy with Auroc, who suddenly looked like the far lesser concern, that she completely missed that a greater threat was on the same planet. They could have been killed and they wouldn't have even known what had happened.

Damn it.

She sighed. 'I meant I know where her Ark is,' she explained. 'Auroc had a journal he kept notes in. Among those notes was the location of Genesis' Ark, among other places. It also had information about something called the Ulthan. I'm going to make a copy of everything I can understand, then I'll let you see it.'

`Sure thing.` Came Inanna's response. Followed quickly by. `So you're what set my 'Shiny Senses' tingling. Heh. See you soon.'

[Sub-Zero MKA]

`Sure thing.` Came Inanna's response. Followed quickly by. `So you're what set my 'Shiny Senses' tingling. Heh. See you soon.'

'No, Blizzar,' she replied hastily. 'He got most of the good stuff.'

That wasn't a complete lie. She had no idea what any of his loot could do. While she doubted that anything could surpass a literal universal doorway to other planets, but she did say he had gotten most of the good stuff.

With Inanna on her way, Parsley decided to go ahead and say a few quick words to Nevanlinna's mother. Whose name was Nevin. It occurred to her that that was the first she had heard anyone utter that name. Even Neva never said it. Probably out of respect.

She approached the Queen and bowed respectfully. "It's good to see you back on your feet, Queen Nevin."

[Yun Lao]

BGM: Sky Burial

Layers upon layers of fukushuu materialized and hardened until there were no visible traces left of Rex, only the large egg that emanated the dreadful energy of the ghost hakai. A self-imposed hibernation, the broken body of Rex would recover in time, but the dinosaur's mind, driven to the darkness of his subconscious in despair, had found that he was no longer alone.

Was this how Charco -no, how countless others- had felt when he lurked at the back of their minds? It might have been a humbling experience to finally understand why there was always a reluctance from the Ogatan when he would manifest in their minds... or at least it would have been humbling were he not enraged.

Your self-immolation must have driven you mad...

The specter of the boy had spouted insanity. End the cycle? He had been trying for countless millennia, but before he could grasp the means to escape his undeath and completely be reborn, he would always be set-back.

You mean to vanquish me? Exorcise me like some poltergeist? There's no need... you can have your body back, I have no use for it...

Isn't it tiring?

Of course, it was. The mere act of keeping himself sane grew harder and harder to maintain with each time he was cast back into the void of limbo. There was no other option, for he had long since exhausted every available plan and scheme to escape this fate of body-hopping. What could this child propose that he himself had not?

Once again the being named「Charco」offered his hand, a minuscule thing before the massive tyrannosaurus.

We are all the same... lingering beyond death. Separate, we are unable to proceed forth but perhaps together...

What madness is babbling on about?! Together?

It was then that Rex began to take note of the specter's familiar yet alien energy. A strange sense of nostalgia overtook him as he examined the foreign parts of the ki signature and by repeating the boy's words in his head did he realize the truth. This being was an amalgamation of souls... no... memories. Memories of the Ogatan clan. Just as he could pick out Charco, he could pick out Penhuoqi, Phospho, and even him, the one who had originally slain him, Bonfi.

How?

Then it hit him and the dinosaur laughed bitterly. How foolish he had been not to even think of the possibility that the imprints of emotion and memory, the very core of his fukushuu, would reside in his own mind? The boy, broken by his own suicidal attack against Midori, had gathered those imprints and used them to rebuild himself, although one could only think of the Ship of Theseus thought experiment. Was this spiritual chimera still Charco, or had the boy been lost in the mix?

It makes sense now... how you could have so easily overwhelmed me back at those mountains...

A growl rumbled in his chest.

In that case, you should know that I will not give in to the demands of the weak. Prove yourself and I might just entertain your delusions...

The being smiled in response, even with Rex bearing down on him, those massive jaws closing around the Ogatan.

-----------

Those who might have stumbled upon the egg would witness it moved slightly, a crack forming at the bottom.

[grampagen]

She quirks an eyebrow.

“Nevin, Queen of Reshlan. Yourself, Warrior of Earth?”

"Timely as ever for a proper introduction, I suppose," he said, then, rather daringly, strode toward the gathered Threshling Royal Family. His pace was as casual as could be, for in this makeshift court there was hardly any remaining decor.

Save, perhaps, the Royal Guard.

"Why am I in a queue, behind Inanna!" Etrina throw up her arms, realized she had lost her composure and then quickly coughed into her hand. "Yes....well...I suppose I've no choice but to accept the terms. Honestly.....to think I was beginning to like you the most out of all the saiyans.....why I was....ev......en...."

Etrinas eyes fell back towards the queen.



".....what...."

The Man in white would feel an intense burning gaze on his peripheral.

As he moved forward, the Man in White spotted a certain White Mage in the area, and as he turned his head towards her his lips split into a wide grin that was as smug as it was hauntingly unpleasant.

Suddenly, he then found himself face to face with Sir Nei K’lot, Lord of the Golden Knights and High Commander of the Queensguard in a standoff. The staff balanced on his shoulders, as sure as gauntlets rest on his magic blade.

In a blink, he was suddenly behind the knight, and the drapery had been torn from the pauldrons of his golden armour.

"As for me? Well, frankly, you might have an idea of that already," he continued to Queen Nevin, raising before him the pilfered garment that had borne her crest. "Now, if you would be so kind as to return my cape?"

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Dash jumps at being startled. Turning around, "Oh, hey. Sorry for not comin back sooner, got distracted."

" Well, I'm fine now, wait let me check," Praxat said. Praxat does a sick breakdance that ends with a quintuple backflip into a handstand, into a cartwheel, into a front flip, into a side flip, into back handspring, into a split." Yeah, I'm fine," Praxat said.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

The man returned, just as stupidly mysterious and dodgy with his answers as before. Without the specter of battle hanging over her, Parsley could more clearly sense the harmonious and parallel energies running through him. It was as if he was two separate people combined into one.

"Your energies give you away," she remarked, turning her head to eye him.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

'No, Blizzar,' she replied hastily. 'He got most of the good stuff.'

That wasn't a complete lie. She had no idea what any of his loot could do. While she doubted that anything could surpass a literal universal doorway to other planets, but she did say he had gotten most of the good stuff.

With Inanna on her way, Parsley decided to go ahead and say a few quick words to Nevanlinna's mother. Whose name was Nevin. It occurred to her that that was the first she had heard anyone utter that name. Even Neva never said it. Probably out of respect.

She approached the Queen and bowed respectfully. "It's good to see you back on your feet, Queen Nevin."

The Queen bows her head back.

“I’m grateful for your aid, Princess Parsley. I cannot.....I cannot thank you and your allies enough.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Timely as ever for a proper introduction, I suppose," he said, then, rather daringly, strode toward the gathered Threshling Royal Family. His pace was as casual as could be, for in this makeshift court there was hardly any remaining decor.

Save, perhaps, the Royal Guard.



As he moved forward, the Man in White spotted a certain White Mage in the area, and as he turned his head towards her his lips split into a wide grin that was as smug as it was hauntingly unpleasant.

Suddenly, he then found himself face to face with Sir Nei K’lot, Lord of the Golden Knights and High Commander of the Queensguard in a standoff. The staff balanced on his shoulders, as sure as gauntlets rest on his magic blade.

In a blink, he was suddenly behind the knight, and the drapery had been torn from the pauldrons of his golden armour.

"As for me? Well, frankly, you might have an idea of that already," he continued to Queen Nevin, raising before him the pilfered garment that had borne her crest. "Now, if you would be so kind as to return my cape?"

She cocks an eyebrow but shifts, handing it back.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

The Queen bows her head back.

“I’m grateful for your aid, Princess Parsley. I cannot.....I cannot thank you and your allies enough.”

"You are quite welcome, Your Highness," Parsley said with a gracious smile. "My sister will likely be contacting you at some point in the near future. It would be beneficial for both our races to broker some kind of agreement, be it trade or something to that effect."

She glanced down and noticed that Neva still hadn't woken up yet. She must have been exhausted; doubtless a maneuver such as the one she pulled to strip Auroc of his regenerative abilities drained her nearly completely. She deserved her rest. "Your daughter did well. We wouldn't have won without her efforts."