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

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

The wounds seemed to be healing. Good... good. He wouldn't be able to handle it if another innocent died today.

"Yeah... yeah, it's me. You ok? Some bastard sneak attacked us," said Totoma. He paused, a sight escaping his lips. "...lookout's totaled and... and... Eva, Jack, Nunlil..."

Words failed him, but he knew Kai was perceptive enough to get the gist of things. "We need to get you out of here. Somewhere safe..."

But where? That guy could just do another drive-by, no matter where they were on Earth, he figured.

He coughs and then summons up a small image of Meagan and Jinzi.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

...

Without another word, Sasheem exhaled deeply and took a stance of the formerly lost school of the Lion School. "HOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He began to shout raucously, decibel waves, breaching past the barriers of sound to rip apart something else entirely. The Majin wrapped his fists in the distortions and began to proceed to pummel the blue not-quite-an-oni-but-still-a-jabroni, the dimensional distortions multiplying his fists even further, allowing him to hit Inanna in four directions.

It was hard to think, what with the sheer amount of times Sasheem was punching her in the face... but this was exactly what Inanna had asked for. So when he gave the signal, she simply shot him a thumbs up.

Maiz raised an eyebrow. "If keeping Sarada sane is the last thing you need from me... this isn't going to end well." Ki pooled in her hands. "But given the circumstances, I'll do what I can." Her ki blasts grew darker as she concentrated them and pooled more of her energy into them. Her eyes glowed silverish-white as she conjured as much creation energy as she could. "Get ready. Here it comes."

Inanna was currently getting the **** punched out of her, but she sensed well enough what was coming and held up an arm, catching the blast before subsuming it with her own energy. She'd have a short window before it was gone, but it was a window she could work with.

[Monstrous Bird of Qin, Ou Ki]

There was nothing more Sarada could do for Eva. Bellowing to the empty skies above her was going to accomplish nothing. Her seething anger was roiling, but until she had an enemy in front of her to unleash it on, it was nothing but impotent. She took in a shaky breath and scooped Eva's lifeless body in her arms. Her left arm screamed in agony, but she ignored it.

All she could do was at least give her body a comfortable place to rest until they could bury her somewhere. She didn't know where else to take her except her bedroom, so that was where she went.

"Thank you for everything, Eva," she said softly. Her good hand gently caressed her quickly cooling forehead before pulling the covers up to conceal the gaping hole in her chest. "I'll see you again. Real soon." As soon as the others returned from Reshlan, they needed to go to Namek to retrieve those dragonballs and wish her back to life. From there, the Earth's balls would be restored and they could start planning their revenge against whoever the hell did this.









Totoma's energy spiked to a level she had previously never thought possible for a Saiyan. She gave Eva one last glance, then hurried outside. What she saw was a mixture of astonishment and horror. Totoma's aura had gained what looked like an electrical current. His hair was spikier, his muscles bigger, and his power had swelled far beyond what the standard Super Saiyan form could accomplish. "He did it," she whispered. "He ascended."

She and Parsley had been struggling to surpass Super Saiyan the entire year of the training. She thought she had it with the muscle-bound form she gained against one of the Archons, but that fizzled out far too quickly to be of any use. Worse, it almost killed her. Even worse than that, if it hadn't killed her, it would have been completely useless. This form Totoma had gained was what they had been searching for that entire time. She knew it.

"You did it," she choked out. Grief overtook her again when she looked down on the ground by his feet. Torn pieces of Jack's duster and a broken horn belonging to Nunlil were all that were left. Their energies were nowhere to be found. She knew they had been standing by Kai when the blasts hit. If he survived just barely...

They were dead.

She had lost him again. Her Earthman was gone. Again.

Unlike years ago, when her love for him still burned strong on some level, she only thought of him as a fond friend. They had both moved on to other people, both Onis funnily enough. The point was she didn't have the urge to run off to his cabin and cry her eyes out like she did when she was younger. Still, it hurt. He died again, presumably along with Nunlil inadvertently protecting Kai from certain death.

"The balls on Namek are our only..."



She was cut off by Slak's voice, a voice she hadn't heard in years, echoing through her head. The Namekian Elder, Nail, was dead. The balls on that planet were inert, and all the members of the Dragon clan who could create new ones had been secreted away.

"No..."

They had no dragonballs.

"...no..."

No way to revive those that were kiled.

Eva.

Jack.

Nunlil.

Rutaba.

Mato.

All the Saiyans who had been killed during the invasion of Ruco and Auroc's invasion of Vocado.

They had no way of bringing them back.

Sarada fell to her knees. Her hand tightened into a fist, her fingers digging into the blackened, broken tiles beneath her. "Damn it... DAMN IT!!!" Whoever had targeted those who could control dragonballs. Maiz... Vocado didn't have any. She had never gotten around to creating them, or getting lessons from the Dragon clan to create them. She was safe.

"This is not happening."

Did what? Totoma didn't know what Sarada was talking about. Maybe something related to his power swelling a moment ago, but... didn't matter now. What was important now was how... fucked everything was.

So many people dead and now Slak chimed in telling them that Namek's elder had been killed, rendering their dragon balls inert. It seems they could recreate them, with time, but with how things were now, they didn't have the 'get out of consequences free' card anymore.

If they died, then it was permanent. Or at least until the Namekians could get theirs up and running again, and... actually getting their approval to use their set was pretty involved, even with someone respected vouching for you. He hadn't noticed it before, but the idea that death was (semi)final was kind of... scary. There'd always been that knowledge in the back of his mind that his mom, dad, or Karine would wish him back if he slipped up and got himself killed...

Sarada seemed to be taking it... uncharacteristically not-in-stride. Totoma couldn't blame her, but with how things were now...

"Sarada, we need you focused. Do you have any way to let us regroup with the others? We're too... isolated, and that guy could come back for another drive-by," he said. Given that whoever it was seemed to target those that could create and maintain dragonballs, it was unlikely, but they couldn't take chances.

He coughs and then summons up a small image of Meagan and Jinzi.

Totoma quirked an eyebrow. "Meagan & Jinzi? Chroma's pretty unknown and sort of out of the way, so... it would be fairly safe." Though weren't they having a civil war or something? He could've sworn he'd heard something like that somewhere.

[grampagen]

Hilda keeps assessing Held.

“It is logical. The body is alive, the soul I can sense is departed. If his Jump Start activate safely, he will return.”

Her eyes glow silver.

“The energy beam that struck him down was laced with odd nano-machines. I can sense them. It will take a while to remove them safely so he can return.”

As Hilda explained the mechanisms of what had happened, Zaofan nodded his head slowly, but by the way his eyes were glazed over, it was clear that about the time logic had entered into the analysis of the fallen body of his friend before him that there was a disconnect.

Nanomachines...? But it was a beam of energy, and...

Regardless, he continued to nod, even as he felt his knees go weak, propping himself up on the butt of his staff as he leaned forward on it with a shudder.

His eyes were unblinking, flickering red intermittently as tears welled in the corners as he quietly sobbed in stillness.

"Please...you've got to bring him back," he plead. "Why'd this have to happen to him?"

There were any number of strange cosmic goings-on he wasn't aware of, but he'd stuck by his friend through thick and thin since that once-in-a-lifetime cruise, so long ago.

Ochazuke, your senses explode outward. Further and further, your mind and senses expand as light years pass and time has no meaning. Distance warps, planets wiz past, and something fundamental changes in Ochazuke as he, for one moment, senses the infinite expanse of time and space and beholds creation.

Your focus lurches and narrows to a strange planet, filled with a perpetual twilight forest it seems. Outside a series of buildings, one a forge, Ochazuke sees three individuals. A small in stature man wielding a forge hammer, crafting away as another, a large Lupine creature, speaks to a mechanical man with a large gun.

Another figure, one that looks startling like Ishtar, walks out of one of the buildings and joins the others.

BGM: Yoko Kanno - Blaze

The veil of daybreak seemed to fall away, and this high above the planet the revolving rings of Reshlan could be seen in utmost clarity, and where they revolved silently about the sphere's axes, it was as if they had suspended its many moons upon a prismatic path around the planet's orbit.

Mere refraction, a trick of the light. The majestic view of this heavenly body only served to impede him Even with all he had at his disposal to hone his skill, as all else fell away to the throes of Battle Meditation he became increasingly aware that the lead was fading. Pursuant of that thinning trail of photon-vapour, it was as if the entire planet itself seemed to be in the way of chasing down the killer.

Frost gathered from condensation, pinpricks gathering at the back of his throat. If Ochazuke could have physically torn his way after this sniper, he would have, but as the energy of dead guardians poured into the cosmic wayfinder, he'd have to settle for the next best thing.

In the next moment, nothing could have prepared him for the strange absence of sensation. As the energies increased, his consciousness expanded beyond the means his flesh and nerves had equipped him for, and reached deeply into that ethereal space which ki itself served as the medium of spiritual expression. If he had need for breath, he was unaware of it, for there came a flood of sensation from a distance of lightyears around as they seemed to fall away in an instant, chasing after the course of that fatalistic weapon.

A small, slime-covered quadraped pulled itself from the waters, the first of its kind to draw breath as it set foot upon the rock of a young world entering a new age; The luminescent, florid canopy's still branches, so alien seemed to scream in stillness as colour itself seemed to carry its will and sustenance as light passed through the air; A man from a distant world gazed through a window at his final sunset, his brow wrestling with his thoughts in confusion, as if grasping for some crucial memory that would not come in these last moments.

What...is this...?!

Countless moments rose in figments simultaneously, a dreamlike expanse housing endless living wills in one passing instant of the suspended flux of reality. Across the cosmic expanse their gathered whispers became a deafening roar of desires, ambitions, and experiential longing; Striving.

The...Creation...?

Separated by the span, yet near uniform in their purpose, there it was, the collective expansion of the Universe itself in a warped chaos. Even without his own comprehension of the matter, there was something grounding it all that he seemed to know on the instinctual level...

It was only by the sight of that shadowy planet that the cacophany ceased and solidified into four figures, and in this instance all at once by the strength of his mortal fury, his disembodied ego regathered itself.

Somehow, in some way, Ochazuke for a moment you feel butterfly wings against your cheek and EvaÂ’s voice whispering.

‘I believe in you, Ochazuke. May this help.....’


A trickle of Creational energy pools into him as a swarm of silvery butterflies absorb into him.

"Evangeline?" At the edge of losing himself to this means of untapped knowledge, a familiar voice seemed to call him back from the spiritual expanse. He'd almost ignored it as he burned the images of this hidden cabal into his mind, and the path toward them...

Delicate wings of liquid silver passed before him as he heard Evangeline speak.

"I don't understand, what do you mean...?"

Intuitively, he reached out his hand. As his fingers passed through the butterfly swarm, he'd seized upon something and he felt it.

The chill of a death rattle. It cut through his palm and seemed to fill his veins with ice as it fell into him. The last of Evangeline's presence swept through him.

In that instant, he knew just what had transpired across the distance back home on Earth.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Did what? Totoma didn't know what Sarada was talking about. Maybe something related to his power swelling a moment ago, but... didn't matter now. What was important now was how... fucked everything was.

So many people dead and now Slak chimed in telling them that Namek's elder had been killed, rendering their dragon balls inert. It seems they could recreate them, with time, but with how things were now, they didn't have the 'get out of consequences free' card anymore.

If they died, then it was permanent. Or at least until the Namekians could get theirs up and running again, and... actually getting their approval to use their set was pretty involved, even with someone respected vouching for you. He hadn't noticed it before, but the idea that death was (semi)final was kind of... scary. There'd always been that knowledge in the back of his mind that his mom, dad, or Karine would wish him back if he slipped up and got himself killed...

Sarada seemed to be taking it... uncharacteristically not-in-stride. Totoma couldn't blame her, but with how things were now...

"Sarada, we need you focused. Do you have any way to let us regroup with the others? We're too... isolated, and that guy could come back for another drive-by," he said. Given that whoever it was seemed to target those that could create and maintain dragonballs, it was unlikely, but they couldn't take chances.

Totoma quirked an eyebrow. "Meagan & Jinzi? Chroma's pretty unknown and sort of out of the way, so... it would be fairly safe." Though weren't they having a civil war or something? He could've sworn he'd heard something like that somewhere.

Sarada's head bobbed. Slowly, she was coming to grips with everything, but she still couldn't understand why or how any of it was happening. She breathed in and rose to her feet. "Right... right."

She swallowed and looked down at Kai. He was awake, but still weak. They needed to get off Earth, as soon as possible. When Totoma asked if she had the means, it hit her. "Yeah. Yeah, I actually do." She tapped her wrist and activated the teleportation device she received on Turrip years ago.

The next day, Sarada and Ishtar left to spend the rest of their time on the colonies. They spent a few days at each, receiving tours and being briefed by the viceroys on how each planet and the people there were faring. For the most part, all sounded good.

Turrip was probably in the best shape. The Conglomerate left detailed notes of the welfare of the Saiyans there for the viceroy to follow so the transition of power would be as smooth as possible. Economically speaking, it was extremely well off. Trade and jobs in the various technology fields were both booming, and Turrip's exports accounted for a great portion of its income. The people seemed happy, for the most part, though there were some still uncomfortable with having an, in their words, non-intellectual on the throne.

Sarada tried not to take offense, but being called stupid in such a snobbish way irritated her. It was then that she remembered why she hated coming to this place so much. The Saiyans here to just as prideful as every other Saiyan; it was just that their pride took on a different form.

Before they left, they received gifts. Sarada received an experimental teleportation device that would allow her to transport before planets instantly. With a bit of doing, she could even transport to other worlds if she knew the coordinates or had some way to lock onto a fixed location.

She quickly looked up the coordinates of Parsley's PDD and inputted them. "I got this teleporation device when I made my first visit to Turrip as Queen. I logged in Parsley's coordinates, so we'll arrive instantly to wherever she is. I'm assuming she's with the others." They really didn't have much choice. She had no way of finding the others with it. "Whenever you're ready, grab hold of me."

[grampagen]

Judging from the grim expression on her face, Inanna realized in just how much **** they were in. Parsley sighed shakily. The news that Sarada was badly injured shook her to the core, but she was going to be fine. She was too stubborn for her own good at times, but in times when death was the only alternative, a little stubbornness was a blessing from the heavens.

"Fine." She lifted into the air and quickly flew to meet Ochazuke. She transformed, surpassing Super Saiyan and ascending to Super Saiyan 2. A battle was likely on the horizon, but she would need the extra power to fuel her observation skills. They were far inferior to his, but she would do what she could. "Where do you need me?" she asked him.

More moments had passed when Parsley met Ochazuke, and hanging there in the stratosphere, his left arm was raised before him, bound tightly in a trembling fist as if he'd reached for something that threatened to fall out of grasp. His breath steamed, casting a pale fog before him, and his eyes quaked under a trembling brow.

After a stretch of silence, he spoke.

"Forger...Wolf God...Ishtar...," he said tersely. "Held's assassin has company...gathered on a Dark Planet..."

[KingofPie]

Sarada's head bobbed. Slowly, she was coming to grips with everything, but she still couldn't understand why or how any of it was happening. She breathed in and rose to her feet. "Right... right."

She swallowed and looked down at Kai. He was awake, but still weak. They needed to get off Earth, as soon as possible. When Totoma asked if she had the means, it hit her. "Yeah. Yeah, I actually do." She tapped her wrist and activated the teleportation device she received on Turrip years ago.



She quickly looked up the coordinates of Parsley's PDD and inputted them. "I got this teleporation device when I made my first visit to Turrip as Queen. I logged in Parsley's coordinates, so we'll arrive instantly to wherever she is. I'm assuming she's with the others." They really didn't have much choice. She had no way of finding the others with it. "Whenever you're ready, grab hold of me."

Lantro had simply remained silent for a moment, taking the time to reflect on what had happened. Things were going too fast. "I admit...I have no clue what the hell is happening. But if you're gonna put a stop to whatever's causing all this count me in. Not a fan of unsportsmanlike conduct."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

More moments had passed when Parsley met Ochazuke, and hanging there in the stratosphere, his left arm was raised before him, bound tightly in a trembling fist as if he'd reached for something that threatened to fall out of grasp. His breath steamed, casting a pale fog before him, and his eyes quaked under a trembling brow.

After a stretch of silence, he spoke.

"Forger...Wolf God...Ishtar...," he said tersely. "Held's assassin has company...gathered on a Dark Planet..."

With three names and a place, Ochazuke proved why he was so invaluable. He had found them, at least three along with The Judge. "Those three... Held's assassin is named The Judge. He's a cybernetic assassin from another universe. He, along with the three others you mentioned are members of a group called the Ulthan." As she spoke, she pulled out the star map she purchased in Universe 16. She doubted the starways were that different between universes. If this Dark planet existed in 15, she hoped it existed in 16. "They mean to kill Genesis and Inanna. The former is no never mind, but the latter needs to be prevented at all cost. Can you give me a description of the cosmic landmarks you see. I'll try and find this world on this star map."

She activated the star map, and expanded it so that it enveloped the both of them. Once he started giving her characteristics of the planet and its surroundings, she would minimize it until only that planet was in view.

[KingofPie]

Judging from the grim expression on her face, Inanna realized in just how much **** they were in. Parsley sighed shakily. The news that Sarada was badly injured shook her to the core, but she was going to be fine. She was too stubborn for her own good at times, but in times when death was the only alternative, a little stubbornness was a blessing from the heavens.

"Fine." She lifted into the air and quickly flew to meet Ochazuke. She transformed, surpassing Super Saiyan and ascending to Super Saiyan 2. A battle was likely on the horizon, but she would need the extra power to fuel her observation skills. They were far inferior to his, but she would do what she could. "Where do you need me?" she asked him.

Maiz stepped forward when beckoned. "I don't know how much help I'll be, but I'll do what I can," she said, voice heavy with grief.

More moments had passed when Parsley met Ochazuke, and hanging there in the stratosphere, his left arm was raised before him, bound tightly in a trembling fist as if he'd reached for something that threatened to fall out of grasp. His breath steamed, casting a pale fog before him, and his eyes quaked under a trembling brow.

After a stretch of silence, he spoke.

"Forger...Wolf God...Ishtar...," he said tersely. "Held's assassin has company...gathered on a Dark Planet..."

As he flew to join Ochazuke, Blizzar was passed by a golden streak of light, presumably Parsley. The Arcosian reached there soon after, managing to catch the human martial artist's explanation to the Super Saiyan.

With three names and a place, Ochazuke proved why he was so invaluable. He had found them, at least three along with The Judge. "Those three... Held's assassin is named The Judge. He's a cybernetic assassin from another universe. He, along with the three others you mentioned are members of a group called the Ulthan." As she spoke, she pulled out the star map she purchased in Universe 16. She doubted the starways were that different between universes. If this Dark planet existed in 15, she hoped it existed in 16. "They mean to kill Genesis and Inanna. The former is no never mind, but the latter needs to be prevented at all cost. Can you give me a description of the cosmic landmarks you see. I'll try and find this world on this star map."

She activated the star map, and expanded it so that it enveloped the both of them. Once he started giving her characteristics of the planet and its surroundings, she would minimize it until only that planet was in view.

"It's such a shame half of our foes aren't content to simply dwell in their own wretched universe...or timeline, or what have you," he sighed. "The time to plan is now and we must do it quickly and do it well. They're likely expecting some form of retaliation, I wager."

[Monstrous Bird of Qin, Ou Ki]

Sarada's head bobbed. Slowly, she was coming to grips with everything, but she still couldn't understand why or how any of it was happening. She breathed in and rose to her feet. "Right... right."

She swallowed and looked down at Kai. He was awake, but still weak. They needed to get off Earth, as soon as possible. When Totoma asked if she had the means, it hit her. "Yeah. Yeah, I actually do." She tapped her wrist and activated the teleportation device she received on Turrip years ago.



She quickly looked up the coordinates of Parsley's PDD and inputted them. "I got this teleporation device when I made my first visit to Turrip as Queen. I logged in Parsley's coordinates, so we'll arrive instantly to wherever she is. I'm assuming she's with the others." They really didn't have much choice. She had no way of finding the others with it. "Whenever you're ready, grab hold of me."

Awesome, so she did have some way to regroup. Courtesy of those Saiyantists on Turrip. Totoma wasn't the science type, but he always appreciated a useful gadget. "Good. Let's get the hell out of here..."

Gently picking up Kai and supporting him with his shoulder, Totoma decided to ask about what she'd said. "Uh, Sarada, before, what did you mean? You whispered something about 'doing it' and 'ascending'?" He placed his hand on her shoulder.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

As Hilda explained the mechanisms of what had happened, Zaofan nodded his head slowly, but by the way his eyes were glazed over, it was clear that about the time logic had entered into the analysis of the fallen body of his friend before him that there was a disconnect.

Nanomachines...? But it was a beam of energy, and...

Regardless, he continued to nod, even as he felt his knees go weak, propping himself up on the butt of his staff as he leaned forward on it with a shudder.

His eyes were unblinking, flickering red intermittently as tears welled in the corners as he quietly sobbed in stillness.

"Please...you've got to bring him back," he plead. "Why'd this have to happen to him?"

There were any number of strange cosmic goings-on he wasn't aware of, but he'd stuck by his friend through thick and thin since that once-in-a-lifetime cruise, so long ago.

BGM: Yoko Kanno - Blaze

The veil of daybreak seemed to fall away, and this high above the planet the revolving rings of Reshlan could be seen in utmost clarity, and where they revolved silently about the sphere's axes, it was as if they had suspended its many moons upon a prismatic path around the planet's orbit.

Mere refraction, a trick of the light. The majestic view of this heavenly body only served to impede him Even with all he had at his disposal to hone his skill, as all else fell away to the throes of Battle Meditation he became increasingly aware that the lead was fading. Pursuant of that thinning trail of photon-vapour, it was as if the entire planet itself seemed to be in the way of chasing down the killer.

Frost gathered from condensation, pinpricks gathering at the back of his throat. If Ochazuke could have physically torn his way after this sniper, he would have, but as the energy of dead guardians poured into the cosmic wayfinder, he'd have to settle for the next best thing.

In the next moment, nothing could have prepared him for the strange absence of sensation. As the energies increased, his consciousness expanded beyond the means his flesh and nerves had equipped him for, and reached deeply into that ethereal space which ki itself served as the medium of spiritual expression. If he had need for breath, he was unaware of it, for there came a flood of sensation from a distance of lightyears around as they seemed to fall away in an instant, chasing after the course of that fatalistic weapon.

A small, slime-covered quadraped pulled itself from the waters, the first of its kind to draw breath as it set foot upon the rock of a young world entering a new age; The luminescent, florid canopy's still branches, so alien seemed to scream in stillness as colour itself seemed to carry its will and sustenance as light passed through the air; A man from a distant world gazed through a window at his final sunset, his brow wrestling with his thoughts in confusion, as if grasping for some crucial memory that would not come in these last moments.

What...is this...?!

Countless moments rose in figments simultaneously, a dreamlike expanse housing endless living wills in one passing instant of the suspended flux of reality. Across the cosmic expanse their gathered whispers became a deafening roar of desires, ambitions, and experiential longing; Striving.

The...Creation...?

Separated by the span, yet near uniform in their purpose, there it was, the collective expansion of the Universe itself in a warped chaos. Even without his own comprehension of the matter, there was something grounding it all that he seemed to know on the instinctual level...

It was only by the sight of that shadowy planet that the cacophany ceased and solidified into four figures, and in this instance all at once by the strength of his mortal fury, his disembodied ego regathered itself.



"Evangeline?" At the edge of losing himself to this means of untapped knowledge, a familiar voice seemed to call him back from the spiritual expanse. He'd almost ignored it as he burned the images of this hidden cabal into his mind, and the path toward them...

Delicate wings of liquid silver passed before him as he heard Evangeline speak.

"I don't understand, what do you mean...?"

Intuitively, he reached out his hand. As his fingers passed through the butterfly swarm, he'd seized upon something and he felt it.

The chill of a death rattle. It cut through his palm and seemed to fill his veins with ice as it fell into him. The last of Evangeline's presence swept through him.

In that instant, he knew just what had transpired across the distance back home on Earth.

Hilda nods.

“One to two months. Maybe even three. That is how long it will take to bring him back safely. But he will come back.”

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Lantro had simply remained silent for a moment, taking the time to reflect on what had happened. Things were going too fast. "I admit...I have no clue what the hell is happening. But if you're gonna put a stop to whatever's causing all this count me in. Not a fan of unsportsmanlike conduct."

Awesome, so she did have some way to regroup. Courtesy of those Saiyantists on Turrip. Totoma wasn't the science type, but he always appreciated a useful gadget. "Good. Let's get the hell out of here..."

Gently picking up Kai and supporting him with his shoulder, Totoma decided to ask about what she'd said. "Uh, Sarada, before, what did you mean? You whispered something about 'doing it' and 'ascending'?" He placed his hand on her shoulder.

Perfect. Lantro was still alive and able to fight. With both him and Totoma close enough, she prepared to flip the switch. Before she did, she answered Totoma. "You surpassed Super Saiyan."

With that, she pressed the button to her teleporter. The four were enveloped with an bright yellow flash of light and whisked across countless light years in less than a blink of an eye.

It was an experiment piece of tech, but Sarada gave no room for doubt. It was going to work. It had to work. It didn't have any other choice. She would never admit it, but she felt more comfortable being with the others, where she had a punching chance against whatever, than she did being isolated with only one other standing ally. At least with the others, she could be with her friends and help out however she could.

The yellow light faded, giving way to... the dank blackness of outer space.

"What?"

Parsley was... standing.. floating right next to her, so it worked, but what the hell was going on?

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

More moments had passed when Parsley met Ochazuke, and hanging there in the stratosphere, his left arm was raised before him, bound tightly in a trembling fist as if he'd reached for something that threatened to fall out of grasp. His breath steamed, casting a pale fog before him, and his eyes quaked under a trembling brow.

After a stretch of silence, he spoke.

"Forger...Wolf God...Ishtar...," he said tersely. "Held's assassin has company...gathered on a Dark Planet..."

Three more slowly appear to his far vision, two with long reptilian tails and another a small flying humanoid, flirting about.

The large human-lizard hybrid man folds his arms.

“I dislike this method of attack. I joined to find what was taken from me, not sneak attack from behind, Lord Forger.”

The woman with the same human-lizard hybrid looks nods.

“Father is right. Effective, but I don’t see how this helps me or my goals, Lord Forger.”

The forger nods.

“You agreed to help me with my problem, I agreed to help you with yours. Simple, effective, an agreement bound in blood and oaths. Until my targets are gone, we remain together. We fight, together. My methods are cowardly and craven, yes, but effective and will accomplish my goals faster, so that I may then in turn complete your goals. As was promised.”

The smaller Fae thing flies over and lands on his shoulder, nodding.

“All will be well, trust us! We’ve worked this out to a T! Soon phase two will begin and we’ll be closer to your dreams!”

[KingofPie]

It was hard to think, what with the sheer amount of times Sasheem was punching her in the face... but this was exactly what Inanna had asked for. So when he gave the signal, she simply shot him a thumbs up.



Inanna was currently getting the **** punched out of her, but she sensed well enough what was coming and held up an arm, catching the blast before subsuming it with her own energy. She'd have a short window before it was gone, but it was a window she could work with.

"Sasheem would ask when ya want him to stop punching, but..." the Majin chuckled, his punches warping the fabric of reality all so he can batter Inanna with dimension layered fists as per her request. "He's honestly not sure he can hear ya at this point!"

[Monstrous Bird of Qin, Ou Ki]

Perfect. Lantro was still alive and able to fight. With both him and Totoma close enough, she prepared to flip the switch. Before she did, she answered Totoma. "You surpassed Super Saiyan."

With that, she pressed the button to her teleporter. The four were enveloped with an bright yellow flash of light and whisked across countless light years in less than a blink of an eye.

It was an experiment piece of tech, but Sarada gave no room for doubt. It was going to work. It had to work. It didn't have any other choice. She would never admit it, but she felt more comfortable being with the others, where she had a punching chance against whatever, than she did being isolated with only one other standing ally. At least with the others, she could be with her friends and help out however she could.

The yellow light faded, giving way to... the dank blackness of outer space.

"What?"

Parsley was... standing.. floating right next to her, so it worked, but what the hell was going on?

He'd... surpassed Super Saiyan? Something like that was possible? Why? How?

Now that he thought about it, ever since E Bekon had given him back his body, his ki had felt a bit different. More responsive, more... expansive. Maybe he'd done something, or the experience of just being in E Bekon's body had 'rubbed off' on him?

...whatever, it didn't matter. He just needed to figure out how to access this Super... Duper Saiyan at will.

"Oh," he replied, lamely. Normally, he'd be more hyped, but he was mentally exhausted from everything that had happened this day. As Sarada activated her device, he took a deep breath.

And good thing he did, because when they were whisked away to... uh, wherever the others were, they appeared in space, next to Parsley. And also Ochazuke.

...

Also, Parsley was all electric-y for some reason. Maybe... huh, actually, he did recall seeing similar sparks when he'd 'surpassed Super Saiyan', now that he thought about it.