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

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Heh!" The Majin cackled smugly. "Seems to Sasheem, ever time he tries to pull somethin' off, he gets mopped. You sure he's really all that strong?" he asked, with a cocky shrug. Sasheem glanced around at his surroundings. Otherworld. Given their mystical nature, Majin's path to the afterlife was never a sure thing. Most didn't die in the regular sense, they simply reincarnated. This may be his only glimpse at things on the other side....not that planned on dying at all....or that he would end up on this side of the afterlife anyway.

“He’s killed...many before him. Even stronger than you, Majin Sasheem.”

Sheki’hinah says this as Parsley heals her.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Rules from the Old Guard, got it." The regime change would be a tumultuous time, surely... that's why one needed a solid foundation.



"Part of why I returned here, Lampton. I survived his 'gift'."



"Unfortunately I'm in dire need." Inanna responded before turning to Sihn.

"Sihn is familiar with her, Genesis. She has Creation, Hakai, Ruination, more... if I mean to stop her, I need to keep up, or figure out sufficient counters." The woman explained. "The arm of an angel, cells inundated with creation. I need it. If for no other reason, than to siphon what energy remains and make use of my Forge."

The woman tapped her Runeforge arm.

"Gift from the Maven... an arm capable of 'divine' works."



"What I want to know is, what they stood to gain." Passing by Stine, Inanna kicked him in his wounded gut. "I suppose it doesn't matter in the end, that's two less Gods I need to worry over. Though I've certainly pissed off She Who Stalks."

Sihn pauses and nods.

“Very well.”

Caliban carefully hands the limb over.

“I imagine they sought two things: a swift end to their divine opposition, and to either detain or secure Lampton for Sakin.” Sihn He frowns as he says this, then looks at her.

“And how did you piss She Who Stalks off? And how is Caliban here? What have you been doing? How can you have gotten into that much trouble in less than a day? Your mother just escorted Auroc to HFIL.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"Tch." So, he wasn't dead, merely shunted back into a harmless little cloud and sent back to HFIL. That meant Parsley hadn't yet earned her first god-killing badge. All in due time. "Someone who's died three separate times can't possibly be that powerful. Otherwise, he wouldn't keep getting his ass kicked." She shrugged. All in due time, I suppose. I'll figure out how to get strong enough to challenge these so-called gods.

She glanced at the blue man, this Stine. He was, according to the one named Sihn, an Angel. She had heard of both him and Sakin, but had never seen one of his kind in person. An interesting looking creature. With the exception of the blue skin and white hair, he could easily pass for a Saiyan. The swirling Hakai and Creation energies in him were disconcerting, but he was bound with divine binders provided by this Grand Priest. She assumed he was no longer a threat.

She powered down to her base form and returned her ax to its capsule in a puff of smoke.



Parsley scoffed. "I think you're discounting the rest of us. Genesis is a fight you won't be fighting alone. And, unless my memory has lapsed, she will be arriving to Earth in seven years now. Plenty of time for us to train specifically with her power set in mind."

Genesis was one person she knew Inanna had in mind to rid the universe of, for good reason. But to do it alone was ludicrous. They defeated Auroc without any trouble, though he was far more idiotic and much weaker than Genesis. The point was it was surprising by how much they outclassed him in such a short time. She had little doubt the same could and would be said about Genesis when the time came.



"A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Landinghorn," Parsley greeted with a respectful nod of her head. "I'm Parsley, Inanna's sister-in-law. She speaks very highly of you, as did some of the more fortunate ones in HFIL."

She placed her hands on Shek'hinah and closed her eyes. With the amount of blood pouring out of her wounds, she felt compelled to store it somehow and use it for later. Divine blood would have made for a tremendously powerful spell. In fact, she did exactly that, drawing several ounces of it and storing it away in a capsule. "I have a feeling I'll need that later." The rest of the blood on the Death Goddess was drawn out and shaped into the rune for a healing spell. She let it wash over Shek'hinah to heal the wounds she suffered during the battle.

The Oni nods her greeting and the two women accept Parsley’s healing with thanks.

“Parsley, just visiting hmm?” Sheki’hinah jokes.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Sihn pauses and nods.

“Very well.”

Caliban carefully hands the limb over.

“I imagine they sought two things: a swift end to their divine opposition, and to either detain or secure Lampton for Sakin.” Sihn He frowns as he says this, then looks at her.

“And how did you piss She Who Stalks off? And how is Caliban here? What have you been doing? How can you have gotten into that much trouble in less than a day? Your mother just escorted Auroc to HFIL.”

Inanna quickly preserves the arm and stows it securely, before moving on to answer Sihn's questions.

"Simple. Auroc had been keeping notes, and she happened to be after a thing I, and Parsley were after. The Amulet of Bitter Mourning." The woman explained. "We goaded her, and unfortunately the power gap was far larger than I figured; but Caliban managed to scare her off. As for why he's here. Some agreement with Parsley, gave us a button to summon him." Inanna shrugged.

"Honestly this is all small potatoes considering I managed to piss off Genesis. Hence the need to accelerate certain things, and secure means of amassing power rapidly... and assuming she manages to return from wherever I shunted her, she'll likely come after me. My fault really, I went and triggered my Ascension to fight her off." Inanna shrugged again.

"But Auroc's still around mm? I should probably drop in." Not to gloat... certainly not that.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Ochazuke's nose curled, suppressing the heaviness of his sigh as the tensions gradually wore down.

Would that we had experienced the generations of this blood feud in miniature...

Just what had happened on Vocado? He, Zaofan and Held had been focusing on the Threshling worlds for so long, their focus had been on ending that threat, that he had heard little of what brought the Saiyans back to Earth in the first place.

If Maiz is this on edge, then Parsley'd kept her tongue unusually still...and Sarada...

Wordlessly, he then offered Maiz the cup of tea.

"As I said, Auroc was routed by our company, and the crown world he enslaved released from his yoke once he was ended."

Hearing that Auroc was dead was a relief. She let out a sigh and sank down in a nearby chair. "Good. That's very good. A fitting end for a 'benevolent god'."

She showed a wry smile. Parsley played a role in Auroc's demise, but there was no mention of Sarada. Maiz knew that, if she survived the initial attack, there was nothing that would stop her from carving a piece of the would-be god's hide for herself. Except Tundra, perhaps. Maybe my vision has already come true and Sarada's already facing him. Is she strong enough? Knowing her, she's fighting him alone...

"You mentioned that Parsley took part in Auroc's destruction, but didn't mention Sarada? Where is she?"

"You know this one?" Ochazuke queried as the GP Officer fell to ease at the mention of this Tundra. "A strange coincidence, perhaps."

He'd had no reason to distrust Blizzar for his own part. Whenever he'd requested help from the GP liason to Earth in the face of the many schemes surrounding Grinthorn, he'd been there by his side. An unlikely ally, but a welcome one all the same, given to the same, strange comraderies of this disparate group, who continued to garner the attention of increasingly deadly enemies.

"It is difficult to fathom how the path of one enemy intersects with the next. Yet as the universe is besieged by threat after threat of this magnitude, it remains the matter of Guardians, nonetheless."

"You are quite welcome," Blizzar noted, taking a seat, his faceplate masking his amusement at a Saiyan displaying such humility.

"Tundra is known to the GP in general," Blizzar noted. "I was tasked with monitoring his son, Blizz's operations for a time, but the most I know of Tundra himself is his ill-intentioned plans for the Saiyans," he continued, his face calm, but internally he felt a pang of regret. Guilt? No, of course not. Never. However...uncouth as they were, while he couldn't say he liked Sarada or any of the Saiyans he had grown acquainted with, he at least had a healthy dose of respect for them. How could he have known who his future allies would be when he kept the GP off of Blizz's back for so many years. How was he to know the situation would actually escalate to the level it did.

The Saiyans and Arcosians would fight, this was almost natural. But what Tundra was doing was...very costly in a myriad of ways. "Ah, Ochazuke," the lieutenant stood up. "I hope you don't mind if I pour myself a cup?" he asked, gesturing towards the tea. It would do greatly to quell the galaxy sized headache he was on the precipice of receiving.

"To add to the... Lieutenant, Tundra's was behind the Tuffle's attack on one of our planets that cost Parsley her life. He also was behind the assassination attempt that nearly killed Sarada. He and his sister also attacked Vocado a few years ago and tried to destroy it."

Her smile faded into the aether, replaced by a sour scowl that she directed at the floor. "His wretched clan has cost me a great deal personally. I won't be able to rest until he's dead, because my family and my people won't be safe until he's dead." She sighed heavily. "I won't pretend that we Saiyans are some innocent flock of lambs being picked on for no reason. We've... I've committed more sins than I care to admit. We all have. But we deserved the chance to redeem ourselves and atone for the sins of our fathers. Wouldn't you agree?"

However slightly, his words did seem to put Maiz more at ease, but it was Ochazuke's efforts--honest and direct--that really made her realize that she was among, if not friends, then allies. Good, since, as said, he did not relish the idea of having to subdue a cornered Saiyaness--especially one that seemed wily even by saiyan standards. Now...

"I'm glad you're alright, Guardian Maiz," said the old soldier. "I'm quite sure neither you, nor any of this group wish to remain here any longer than necessary, so I shall take my leave to pilot us out of here."

Voyavoda bowed and made his way to the bridge, sitting himself down in the pilot's chair. Quickly, he got to work warming up the engines, running the obligatory checks, and so on. However, his gaze drifted to the scenery outside, and something bubbled up from deep within his memory...

"Good man, see it done."

Their return course plotted, Ochazuke turned his attention back to Maiz.

"From what I understand, we're a long way from your homeworld. Now that you're awake, I suggest you recover your strength before we meet with Parsley and the others," he said. "Until then, can you tell me what you remember? Of Koorimaru, and Vocado?"

Maiz finally sipped the cup of tea Ochazuke offered her. She also breathed in the steam, allowing its alluring and minty aroma to calm her nerves. "The last thing I remember is that Auroc's army had just arrived on Vocado and started attacking. They killed several and converted them into these... monsters. Sarada, Parsley, Avoca, and Inanna left to confront him while I handled the evacuation. They were severely outclassed by him, but apparently the gap wasn't as large as I feared at the time."

The name Koorimaru conjured memories of Sarada regaling of with stories of her first time on Earth. The Frost Demon had somehow been stripped of his power and sought to use that planet's dragonball's to restore them, in exchange for fighting in Earth's interests for a time. Everything went according to his plan and he promptly faded into obscurity.

From what Sarada told her, he wasn't one to do something for no reason. Even the, in her words, erotic wrestling he engaged in with Ochazuke was for the purpose of wresting the ball from him.

"As for the Arcosian, I have never met him. I've never seen him before. I was on my way to the palace to help mitigate the bottleneck during the evacuation when I was attacked from behind. I have no idea what happened or who attacked me. I have my doubts it was Koorimaru, but rather one of his minions; Arcosians rarely do their own dirty work." She glanced at the two men present, her eyes darting from one to the other. "Have you spoken to him? Do you have any idea what he wanted with me?"

[Sub-Zero MKA]

The Oni nods her greeting and the two women accept Parsley’s healing with thanks.

“Parsley, just visiting hmm?” Sheki’hinah jokes.

Parsley smiled and bobbed her head. "Yes, visiting. I have no intention of ever being a resident again."

Speaking of residents, she just so happened to overhear that Auroc had been recently escorted to the Home For Infinite Losers, quite the fitting resting place for the charlatan. He would have to spend the rest of eternity thinking about how he was completely humiliated on his own home turf. Parsley knew from experience what he was feeling. The unending boredom.

The humiliation.

The curse of replaying the most embarrassing defeats time and time again because there simply wasn't anything else to do. Without doubt, he was unable to keep his body; thus, he was nothing more than a floating cloud.

"Hm. Auroc's in HFIL, huh? Say, would it be possible to pay him a little visit?"

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Inanna quickly preserves the arm and stows it securely, before moving on to answer Sihn's questions.

"Simple. Auroc had been keeping notes, and she happened to be after a thing I, and Parsley were after. The Amulet of Bitter Mourning." The woman explained. "We goaded her, and unfortunately the power gap was far larger than I figured; but Caliban managed to scare her off. As for why he's here. Some agreement with Parsley, gave us a button to summon him." Inanna shrugged.

"Honestly this is all small potatoes considering I managed to piss off Genesis. Hence the need to accelerate certain things, and secure means of amassing power rapidly... and assuming she manages to return from wherever I shunted her, she'll likely come after me. My fault really, I went and triggered my Ascension to fight her off." Inanna shrugged again.

"But Auroc's still around mm? I should probably drop in." Not to gloat... certainly not that.

Sihn pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.

“Of course you found Genesis too. Of course you did.”

He looks at her.

“Anything else? Piss off any other godlings?”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Parsley smiled and bobbed her head. "Yes, visiting. I have no intention of ever being a resident again."

Speaking of residents, she just so happened to overhear that Auroc had been recently escorted to the Home For Infinite Losers, quite the fitting resting place for the charlatan. He would have to spend the rest of eternity thinking about how he was completely humiliated on his own home turf. Parsley knew from experience what he was feeling. The unending boredom.

The humiliation.

The curse of replaying the most embarrassing defeats time and time again because there simply wasn't anything else to do. Without doubt, he was unable to keep his body; thus, he was nothing more than a floating cloud.

"Hm. Auroc's in HFIL, huh? Say, would it be possible to pay him a little visit?"

“Not currently. He’s still in processing to his personal confinement and rehabilitation area.”

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Sihn pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.

“Of course you found Genesis too. Of course you did.”

He looks at her.

“Anything else? Piss off any other godlings?”

"In my defense, she found me. I just gave her a reason." Inanna replied.

"As for anyone else? Uhh..." the woman trailed off and fell into silence for several seconds before blinking. "Oh right, Remnant. Technically I've pissed off Indar'en, AND what's left of Asha'rah. On the whole I've been pretty productive."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"In my defense, she found me. I just gave her a reason." Inanna replied.

"As for anyone else? Uhh..." the woman trailed off and fell into silence for several seconds before blinking. "Oh right, Remnant. Technically I've pissed off Indar'en, AND what's left of Asha'rah. On the whole I've been pretty productive."

He stares, then picks up one of the half empty spilled bottles on the ground, eyes it, than downs the contents in one go.

He finishes, shakes his head, and then moves and sits his chair up before sitting down.

“A lovely hat trick, niece.”

Caliban just keeps chuckling in the background.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

“Not currently. He’s still in processing to his personal confinement and rehabilitation area.”

Parsley sighed profoundly. "Fine. I suppose I'll have to catch him next time." She paused and thought for a moment. She intended on picking these gods' brains for what they knew about certain parties. Though, given the line of questioning Sihn had for Inanna, it seemed that they weren't too aware of what was happening in the World of the Living.

"I'd like to ask you three about a certain person." She showed the picture of the ki image she took of Koorimaru's killer back on Khoolis.



"He killed Remnant's host about fifteen minutes ago. From over two solar systems away, with precision accuracy. Koorimaru was deep in a cavern when he was murdered."

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

He stares, then picks up one of the half empty spilled bottles on the ground, eyes it, than downs the contents in one go.

He finishes, shakes his head, and then moves and sits his chair up before sitting down.

“A lovely hat trick, niece.”

Caliban just keeps chuckling in the background.

"It gets worse," Inanna replied. "Or better."

"To add to the trouble, I believe I am being hunted by another group of individuals. Which is perhaps, part of why I'm here. I need a great deal of help, or training. Honestly the latter more so than the former."

[grampagen]

Hearing that Auroc was dead was a relief. She let out a sigh and sank down in a nearby chair. "Good. That's very good. A fitting end for a 'benevolent god'."

She showed a wry smile. Parsley played a role in Auroc's demise, but there was no mention of Sarada. Maiz knew that, if she survived the initial attack, there was nothing that would stop her from carving a piece of the would-be god's hide for herself. Except Tundra, perhaps. Maybe my vision has already come true and Sarada's already facing him. Is she strong enough? Knowing her, she's fighting him alone...

"You mentioned that Parsley took part in Auroc's destruction, but didn't mention Sarada? Where is she?"

"I'd been hunting Auroc down, finding the path to his homeworld over the last half year, but as far as I know, she's safe, taking refuge on Earth according to Parsley," he replied, "Immediate retribution aside, if she's not with us right now, then our Guardian is likely helping her to prepare her counter-attack,"

Of course, what he left unsaid was something quite harrowing. Suppose she'd taken the measure of one enemy after the other?

"Tundra is known to the GP in general," Blizzar noted. "I was tasked with monitoring his son, Blizz's operations for a time, but the most I know of Tundra himself is his ill-intentioned plans for the Saiyans," he continued, his face calm, but internally he felt a pang of regret. Guilt? No, of course not. Never. However...uncouth as they were, while he couldn't say he liked Sarada or any of the Saiyans he had grown acquainted with, he at least had a healthy dose of respect for them. How could he have known who his future allies would be when he kept the GP off of Blizz's back for so many years. How was he to know the situation would actually escalate to the level it did.

The Saiyans and Arcosians would fight, this was almost natural. But what Tundra was doing was...very costly in a myriad of ways. "Ah, Ochazuke," the lieutenant stood up. "I hope you don't mind if I pour myself a cup?" he asked, gesturing towards the tea. It would do greatly to quell the galaxy sized headache he was on the precipice of receiving.

Silently he poured a second cup and slid it over to the GP Lieutenant, considering his every word as he outlined the scope of this spacefaring faction.

"So this has been a conflict in the making for some time...to say the least" he said, moving his gaze from Blizzar to Maiz as she recounted her story

"To add to the... Lieutenant, Tundra's was behind the Tuffle's attack on one of our planets that cost Parsley her life. He also was behind the assassination attempt that nearly killed Sarada. He and his sister also attacked Vocado a few years ago and tried to destroy it."

Her smile faded into the aether, replaced by a sour scowl that she directed at the floor. "His wretched clan has cost me a great deal personally. I won't be able to rest until he's dead, because my family and my people won't be safe until he's dead." She sighed heavily. "I won't pretend that we Saiyans are some innocent flock of lambs being picked on for no reason. We've... I've committed more sins than I care to admit. We all have. But we deserved the chance to redeem ourselves and atone for the sins of our fathers. Wouldn't you agree?"


Maiz finally sipped the cup of tea Ochazuke offered her. She also breathed in the steam, allowing its alluring and minty aroma to calm her nerves. "The last thing I remember is that Auroc's army had just arrived on Vocado and started attacking. They killed several and converted them into these... monsters. Sarada, Parsley, Avoca, and Inanna left to confront him while I handled the evacuation. They were severely outclassed by him, but apparently the gap wasn't as large as I feared at the time."

The name Koorimaru conjured memories of Sarada regaling of with stories of her first time on Earth. The Frost Demon had somehow been stripped of his power and sought to use that planet's dragonball's to restore them, in exchange for fighting in Earth's interests for a time. Everything went according to his plan and he promptly faded into obscurity.

From what Sarada told her, he wasn't one to do something for no reason. Even the, in her words, erotic wrestling he engaged in with Ochazuke was for the purpose of wresting the ball from him.

"It seems Tundra and his proxies waited for Auroc to move in first before assaulting your capital directly. Why is that? Perhaps despite the strength of his forces, their numbers are fewer than they let on. Hence the subterfuge."

"As for the Arcosian, I have never met him. I've never seen him before. I was on my way to the palace to help mitigate the bottleneck during the evacuation when I was attacked from behind. I have no idea what happened or who attacked me. I have my doubts it was Koorimaru, but rather one of his minions; Arcosians rarely do their own dirty work." She glanced at the two men present, her eyes darting from one to the other. "Have you spoken to him? Do you have any idea what he wanted with me?"

"Something all cruel men covet, and that is power." Of course, this was a story he'd only heard half of, and the rest withheld for reasons he could not fathom at this time.

"In the absence of the God of Creation, many peoples across the universe have only the Guardians as a source of some divine guidance. Whatever vision there was at the beginning has been carried on and reinterpreted in as many ways as there are fragments of a fallen goddess' soul."

This was hardly new information, they knew it well - especially one affixed with a spark of the Creation itself. Having stood there when the Creator herself flit her barbs at the incoming Destroyer, however, Ochazuke was all too aware of the lingering rot that continued to fester; only now, he had a clearer picture of just exactly what had been left unattended all this time.

" Asha'rah plucked the power of Destruction in some desperate plot to protect her creation as she'd seen it, and took Inda'ren's power into himself."

Lifting the teapot, Ochazuke found it empty. He filled it to steep once again.

"Yet as much as she had forgotten, he never did, and as she balanced her power with his own, so does the old Destroyer's power remain. A Remnant, as he calls himself. In exchange for incredible power, he possessed the body of one foolish enough to seize his amulet, and sought to remake himself through Koorimaru. By consuming the piece of Creation that lingers in certain Guardians, he would open a gated passage between realms to where the remainder of his power lingers, seemingly unable to pass on."

Quite a scheme, indeed. And then there was the matter of Asha'rah's own disappearance.

"Parsley and Inanna went to see to this matter, but if Koorimaru wasn't killed by them, there is yet another lurking faction out there."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Parsley sighed profoundly. "Fine. I suppose I'll have to catch him next time." She paused and thought for a moment. She intended on picking these gods' brains for what they knew about certain parties. Though, given the line of questioning Sihn had for Inanna, it seemed that they weren't too aware of what was happening in the World of the Living.

"I'd like to ask you three about a certain person." She showed the picture of the ki image she took of Koorimaru's killer back on Khoolis.



"He killed Remnant's host about fifteen minutes ago. From over two solar systems away, with precision accuracy. Koorimaru was deep in a cavern when he was murdered."

The various deities look, but it is Ms. Landinghorn that has an idea.

“Try the Kai’s. They might know.”

Sihn nods, picks up a strange green crystal orb, and starts talking in a strange language into it. After about ten minutes, he finally nods once.

“Well shit.”

He sips another drink before responding further.

“From Universe 17 apparently. Nasty cybernetics. Got several planet kills and genocides under his belt, all in the name of ‘judging’ a planet or people. Apparently he his longest snipe is half a galaxy away. And he doesn’t miss. Ever.”

He sips his drink and sighs.

“My Kai in 17 says the guy went missing about two years ago. Just vanished off everyone’s radar.”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"It gets worse," Inanna replied. "Or better."

"To add to the trouble, I believe I am being hunted by another group of individuals. Which is perhaps, part of why I'm here. I need a great deal of help, or training. Honestly the latter more so than the former."

“A group? Any ideas who’s in it?”