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

[Sub-Zero MKA]

“So, this is your max power, huh?” she remarked with a growing smile. “Good. I was starting to think I was worried over nothing.”

Bloodied and bruised, battered and beaten and humiliated thus far, Tundra still found it within himself to laugh derisively. “Your arrogance will be your undoing, Monkey.”

“My arrogance?” She chuckled and shook her head. “People like you never learn. Not even the hard way.”

“People like me grind people like you into dust,” he retorted. “You have had your fun, but now it’s time for me to reassert myself. You’ve been lucky to have caught me off-guard a few times, but now that I’m fighting at 100%, you have no chance.”

If he could sense energy, Sarada had a feeling he would have still felt that way. Arrogant assholes like him always stared reality in the face and managed to fool themselves into thinking 1+1=3.

Day of Fate (Metal) - Jonathan Young

She charged ahead. Tundra charged to meet her. They met in the center, a collision that created a sizable crater under them. Unlike before, when it was next to impossible for him to even lay a finger on her, Tundra had no issue landing his strikes. The only problem was that she was responding to those strikes almost as soon as they connected.

They went blow for blow, staggering each other. The ground shook from the force of their combined might.

Sarada threw a roundhouse that was promptly ducked under. Tundra took that moment of vulnerability to connect with a sharp kick to the chin, then an uppercut that launched her into the air. He chased after her, intent on hitting her again.

She quickly regained her composure and managed to surprise him with a haymaker that knocked him back. When she moved to follow up with a quick, he caught her with a jab square in the face. The two combatants powered up and engaged again. They exchanged thunderous blows that not only shook the ground below, but destroyed any tree, mountain, or rocky formation that happened to be nearby.



Sarada managed to break away and put some distance between the two of them. She charged a pair of ki blasts and fired them. Tundra set himself up to block them, only for them to veer in opposite directions when they reached the halfway point. Sarada charged forward and caught him with a kick to the shin, then an uppercut to the chin that popped him up further into the air. Then, one of the blasts struck him in the back and propelled him into the path of the second.

Tundra was in a freefall toward the ground. Sarada caught up to him and booted him into a mountain range. His crash landing destroyed two of the four mountains and damaged the other two.

She was breathing heavily and took that moment to catch her breath. He was tough. Man was he tough. She knew they would be dead even before he even thought about jumping up to his full power, but she had no idea it would be so exciting! That was what she had been hoping for since it all started. Her vs him for the fate of the Saiyan race. If she lost, it was all over. Even if she was strong enough to win out, her back was still against the wall because he was strong enough to win out.

She was at her best with her back against the wall.

Tundra rose to his feet, prompting her to descend to meet him. “Still think you’re the strongest in the universe?” she inquired as she landed near him. “Here’s a hint for you, in case you’re still confused: you’re not. I can think of at least four people currently in this universe who make the both of us look like shit.”

“Impossible,” he spat. “No one can surpass me, not while I’m at full power.” He sneered and laughed derisively. “This is nothing more than a sad attempt to get in my head! And it won’t work!” He dashed toward her and launched a relentless volley.

Sarada matched his intensity and his offensive blow for blow. Shockwaves created from their strikes colliding ripped through the sky as they danced across the sky. “Not really,” she eventually responded. “Just informing you of the truth. You think you’re stronger than gods and people who make those gods shit their pants? Really?”

Tundra’s eyes widened slightly at the mention of gods, but quickly scoffed and dismissed it. “Bah! Utter nonsense. There’s no such thing as a god!” He threw a haymaker in an attempt to catch her off-guard.

She caught the punch and yanked him into her elbow. “Don’t exist? You sure? Because I’m married to one.” Well, she was sure Inanna was only a demi-god at that point, but fuck it. It wasn’t like he knew the difference. “And my mother-in-law is one, too.” She smirked. “And pretty soon, I’ll be one.” As soon as she figured out how. Getting immensely strong was a part of it, she was sure, but it wasn’t the key. Ah well; she didn’t have time to figure it out right then. And it wasn’t like she needed godhood right then.

Tundra growled and ripped himself free from her grip. “Liar! I know of the woman you call a wife. She’s no god; she’s nothing but a space goat! An animal just like you.” For the umpteenth time, an invisible force took hold of her. Just like all the times before, she found herself unable to break free from the unseen grasp. “And just like animals, you need to be put down.” Suddenly, she was catapulted into the air at breakneck speed.

Sarada had no control over her trajectory or speed. Even powering up failed to steal any control away from Tundra’s attack. She sped upward and upward, past the clouds and the peaks of the highest mountains. Shit shit shit!! There was no sign of her stopping, so she took as deep a break as she could, then captured more air within in a form-fitting shield. It wasn’t skin-tight, but still flowed with the contours of her body. That would let her fight while still protecting her from the perilous climate of outer space.

Sure enough, she kept hurtling until she was literally looking at the planet Sadala. Tundra was speeding toward her, a murderous glint in his eyes. Shit! Thing were getting insane, even more than she thought. In space, Tundra had a distinct and very weighty advantage. Unlike her and most races, Arcosians didn’t need to breath in space and could survive within its vacuum just fine. While Sarada felt she was strong enough to resist the unimaginably bitter cold, she needed to breath.

She was quickly approaching the moon, which had been split clean in half by Tundra earlier. She still didn’t know how, but she had a feeling it had something to do with the very same force he was using to shove her away without ever touching her.

Tundra stopped and reached his hands out. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the two halves of the moon shift and move on their own. Then, they erupted into a cloud of rubble and flowed upward like an upside down drain. The pieces that formerly made up the lunar celestial body flowed and melded together into what looked like a massive spear.

Sarada’s eyes widened as the spear continued to change. It became alight with some kind of power until it was a spear of pure white light.

What the actual hell? That was all she had the chance to think. An instant later, Tundra launched the spear of light at her. She was still somewhat enthralled by his distant control and was unable to get out of the way. Not that it would have made a difference. The spear moved at speeds far exceeding her ability to even keep up with, much less react to. It slammed into her with tremendous force, knocking the wind out of her and cracking her shield.

She hastily took in a breath before it all escaped.

The spear carried her at such speed, the tiny dots that were the distance stars passed by as barely conceivable blurs of white light. How fast was she going? She barely had time to think, much less figure anything out. A literal instant later, she had crossed into another planet’s atmosphere and had only mere moments to do something before she was skewered between the planet and the spear.

She formed a shield around her hands and pushed against the spear. She managed to get the tip away from her chest, but only until it was pressed against her side. That was all she could manage before slamming into the planet’s surface. The spear smashed through her side as it drove her through the planet’s mantle and down toward the core. Had she not been actively pushing against it, it could have cut her in half, for sure. Her cries of pain and agony her drowned out by the overwhelming roar of millions of tons of rock being shoved aside and crushed.

The impact of the spear was similar to a mile-wide asteroid. The destruction across the planet was monumental and immediate. Everything within a 200-mile radius - from lofty mountains and plateaus to forests filled with gargantuan trees - was flattened. An incomprehensibly massive cloud of dust and moisture filled the sky across the planet to the point that the sun was blocked out. The entire planet was pitched into complete darkness. 10.0 earthquakes were triggered even on the other side of the planet, causing structures to crumble to pieces. Avalanches, mudslides, and tsunamis wreaked endless havoc. The planet was literally falling apart at the seams, with Sarada somewhere in the middle of it all.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"Do you doubt that we would, were the means afforded to us? Cheh." Ochazuke said, casting his view sharply to the door. "Who was it that decided they should be beyond mortal ken?"

Zaofan, still reeling from the expenditure of the Phoenix resurrection, nod along slowly, even though by this point the both of them had been sweating bullets from pulling Earth's Guardian from the furthest brink. They had seen firsthand the power of Destroyers. On Terra, on Darkle, and the remains here on Earth.

In the far Northlands in the remnants of the Kingdom of the Magi, the Ghost of Hakai reared its horrid jaws against the powers of the Void, and the source of the deep magic that now split, sundered below the ancient ice shelf. Waiting. Dreaming. It was there that he first saw Islay, and the subtle power brimming within her, the aloof watcher and chaperone of the Legacy of Ogatan, astray from the old celestial office she'd once held. She had been content to watch from a distance, and could afford to wait thousands of years.

They, however, could not. Yet at the retort about Sakin, Ochazuke smirked faintly.

"'Impossibility,' from a Saiyan. What a strange conceit. Tell me, Parsley, who decided that this was so?"

Moreover, those that determined that power should be the only currency to govern the universe had determined their limitation. As ever it was far simpler to tear down than rebuild.

"I suppose we shall see soon enough, won't we?"

"Their creator, I suppose. I know this because I fought Stine in Sihn's office in Otherworld a few days ago, with Sasheem and Inanna. Inanna intended on killing Stine there and then, but we were told by her uncle that it wasn't possible." She shrugged. "Angels are a much higher breed than GoDs, as evidenced by Hammer being killed now four times, so I took his word for it. That doesn't mean that Sakin and his ilk are unbeatable. We beat Stine just fine." Well, Inanna did, but that was neither here nor there.

"Don't confuse me for my sister. I'm not one to endlessly bash my head against a katchin wall in hopes of tearing it down. If I see someone is unkillable, I don't intend to waste time trying to prove reality wrong. My efforts, and yours, are better spent conversing with those who know Angels best and devising another means of subduing Sakin. Anything else is a waste of time."

[grampagen]

Dash and Praxat have also landed on the remnants of the lookout, Dash happy to see Eva alive and well.

The doors of the kitchen swung open to the Lookout veranda. Zaofan cursed under his breath, grumbling as he came, rolling up his sleeves. Ochazuke lift his gaze towards the chef for a moment and called out to him.

"Something the matter in the kitchen?"

"Hm? Oh, no, it's fine," he said, "We're actually somewhat over stocked for a change."

From what he'd gleaned, apparently Sarada and Parsley had reconvened on Earth only recently, and Totoma had been with his family before being pulled to Reshlan. When the Judge made his shot, he was exacting in some places, but spared them the creature comforts. Of course, no measly pot of soup could truly replace friends as familiar and dear as Jack and Nunlil.

Spotting Dash and Praxat out of the corner of his eye, Zaofan loudly cleared his throat.

"'Scuse me, but this place is a mess," he said. "If you're going to train here, you'd better start now. Tidy things up, get them back in order, and make Kai's job a bit easier. For all that...I promise that you can have dinner when you're done."

It still stands, his soul there to speak to.

Ochazuke in the meantime moved to the basement below the West Wing, where soon he stood among the spirits of the ancestral office. Summoning the old King, he sought his counsel.

"We've lost a great deal over the last day. In fact, we'd nearly lost Evangeline, and Alakazah..."

Frankly, he hadn't the slightest clue outside of a vague intuition where the ancient dragon had gone to. But there were some rather pressing matters yet to tend to.

"Moreover, it seems that lost souls have been escaping the afterlife," he said, expanding a capsule as he produced the jug. "The dead have come to possess the living, and I'd want to know why."

"In addition, there is the matter of your killer we've yet to attend to. This entire time Sakin has been plotting, but he hasn't made a move for five years since his parasite had absconded with Fife."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Parsley and Maiz reappeared right beside Avoca.

“Ah!” Avoca touched her chest and took a deep breath to calm down. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Busy.” She looked around the bedroom they suddenly found themselves in. Other than the three of them, they were alone. She could feel her children elsewhere, alive and healthy. She could breath one sigh of relie that they were okay. They hadn’t been on her mind constantly - she had been seeing about too many things to worry about much else until very recently - but that didn’t mean she wasn’t concerned about them. Avoca was also okay, which was just as good.

“O-kay.” She looked Maiz over and nodded. “I’m glad you’re okay, Maiz. I didn’t know what that fuckin’ freezypop was going to do with you.”

“Nothing,” she said in reply. “The boy’s dead, but that’s an entirely different can of worms. Who’s in charge here?”

“Uh, Botarega, I think.”

The three woman stepped out of the room and into the hallway. They walked with urgency, mainly because Parsley and Maiz were eager to find out what was happening.

“Lady Maiz, Princess, good you’re both still alive,” Botarega intoned when they walked into the war room he was standing in with Pois. “Sadly, you both missed the excitement. The invasion’s been taken care of.”

Excitement was relative, but she was gracious the colonies were safe. “Any word from Sarada?”

“Not since I last spoke with her,” Pois answered. “That was thirty minutes ago.”

That wasn’t good. If Sarada wasn’t keeping in touch at that critical juncture, that meant only one thing: Tundra had arrived on the homeworld and they were doing battle. At that point, Parsley was at a crossroads. The colonies were safe and sound, according to Botarega, so Parsley was free to do what she wanted. The thing she swore to do was help Sarada when she returned from finding Maiz. Anything and everything that could have happened between that point and the present did happen, completely changing the parameters of their arrangement. She was to clear out the invaders on the colonies while Sarada fought Tundra. Tasure had already taken care of that three days ago. Thus, there was only one thing for Parsley to do.

“I’ll see about her,” Parsley said. “I’d rather leave the fight to her, but I’ll help if I see she needs it.” She closed her eyes and placed a pair of fingers on her forehead. Her sublime senses spread out throughout the galaxy and locked onto Sarada’s energy. “I found her.” No sooner had she said that, she was gone.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Sarada wasn’t sure how far down she was. Turned out, the spear had pierced over two thousands miles, well into the planet’s mantle before dissipating. She was so far down, it was pitch black. There was nothing, no signs of life other than the two of them. It probably wasn’t going to be long before Tundra left, thinking she was dead. By all rights, she should have been. She supposed he was right when he said she was an escape artist. Whenever it seemed she was about to die, she always found a way out. This time was no different.

She had become buried under a pile of rubble, but was still more than strong enough to break free.

Saiyan Grit

She had been partially cut in half, but she was still more than able to keep fighting. Her body’s healing ability stopped the bleeding and closed the gash. The flesh that had been ripped away was gone for good, and would remain gone until she managed to get to a healing tank. “Ugh... goddamn it,” she said as she climbed to her feet.

She looked up. She was so far down, she couldn’t see the top. By her completely inaccurate method of measurement, she guessed she had been driven at least a few thousand miles underground. Meaning Tundra would never see her coming.

Perfect.

“Here we go!” Her aura roared to life and she rocketed upward back through the hole Tundra’s light spear created. In one hand, a ball of violet ki was charging. In the other, she was channel ki into its clenched fist. If he managed to avoid one, he wasn’t going to avoid the other. Best case scenario, she fucked him up with both.

She blew through hundreds of miles in seconds. It wasn’t long before the light at the end of the literal tunnel became visible. Just in time, because both her attacks were primed and ready. “Here I come!” She shot out of the tunnel just as he was clearing away all the smoke and dust from his immediate area and immediately made a beeline for the suddenly discombobulated Arcosian.

”Crimson Death!” Her ki sheathed fist slammed into the side of Tundra’s head with thunderous force. The ki she had been charging transferred to him and detonated, engulfing him in a massive explosion from the inside out.

Purple blood splashed all over her. It wasn’t the first time she had been sprayed with body fluids, and it hopefully wouldn’t be the last.

The sun was blotted out by all the dust and smoked so she couldn't really see too far in front of her. She could see enough of him; and better yet, she could sense how much his power dropped. Her surprise attack didn’t fuck him up as much she hoped it would have. He was badly cut with pieces of his body blown off, but nothing that would have substantially hindered him.

He was breathing heavily, one eye swollen shut. “H-how?” he said, the single word sounding like it took a Herculean effort to spit out. “How do you keep surviving?”

Any smile she had been carrying faded. “You wouldn’t understand. I’m not just fighting for myself. I’m fighting for every person who lives in the Saiyan Empire. You just fight for yourself. That’s why you’re weak; you don’t have any urgency pushing your upward.” Her smile returned, one brimming with confidence. “I won’t lose because I can’t lose.” She extended her other hand forward, bringing the ball of violet ki to bear. “And this is the end. Never threaten anyone ever again.”

“...no... No. No! NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” The roar of defiance heralded a exertion of energy that felt like a category five hurricane. Sarada had been launching her Galick Destroyer at that exact moment. The force of Tundra’s power was such that it actually blew her attack back in her face, as well as knocked her out of the air.

His power is skyrocketing again! she realized. He wasn’t any stronger, but somehow, he found it within himself to bring himself back to somewhere around her level. Despite all she had done, the fight was far from over.

She let out a cry and raised her own power, pushing it to its limits. Her aura shone brightly against the pale green sky of the mysterious world they found themselves on. This was going to be the final push. Whoever managed to score the next big blow was going to win. She didn’t know how much more she had left, but it wasn’t much. She assumed he was the same.

She threw herself forward again and engaged him. With no one but the two of them on that world, there was no need to hold back. She could use her full strength and not have to worry about anyone but herself.

The two dashed across the sky, filling it with thunderous shockwaves produced by the collisions of their fists.

She tried to keep up that torrid pace, but the severe injury to her midsection had left her without much stamina left. She could feel herself slowing down; and in the fight of her life, that might as well have been a death knell.

Tundra noticed it and immediately took advantage. He suddenly fired a pair of death beams from his eyes that struck her in the injured side. However, instead of piercing straight through her, they traveled within her, up the length of her upper body, then back down her legs and blowing out the back of her thigh.

She shrieked in pain and fell out of the sky. It felt like every square inch of her body was on fire. The smoke coming out of the entry and exit points wasn’t encouraging. She groaned and tried to roll over on her back. The pain was too much.

“Ohohohoho! Such is the finale of the mighty Saiyan Queen, face down and defeated. This time, I’ll make sure you die.” With that, he lifted her up by that same unseen power - she realized at that point that it was psychokinesis, or the ability to life things up with the mind - and fired a Death Beam through her heart.

She was dropped and fell like a marionette with its strings cut. For the second time, the cold chill of death was slowly creeping up her extremities. For the second time, she resisted. She wasn’t done. She couldn’t have been done. There was still so much left to do, things she wanted to see done for herself and for her people.

Saiyan Grit

The bleeding stopped, but the hole in her heart remained. She was on her back, so she could see Tundra flying high into the sky. His aura flared to life; she could him charging a massive amount of ki. He was getting ready to destroy the planet, a move that would kill her for sure. Even if she survived the blast and the planet exploding around her, there was no way she was going to survive being left floating in outer space with no air and no energy to form a shield to save herself. Get up, Sarada. Please get up.

She couldn’t. She had no energy left. She had been running on dregs, and those dregs had run out. I can’t give up! I can’t!

“Sarada, what are you doing? Get up!”

Maiz? But how? She should still be on Reshlan. It was Maiz’s voice; she had heard it as clear as day.

“We put our faith and hopes in you. You can’t quit now!”

“...Par...sley...”

“Get up!”

“Stand up and fight!”

“Fight!”

“Win!”

“We believe in you!”

“Stop embarrassing me and get up, damnit!”

Theme - Who Will Remember Me (Twelve Titans)

Spirit of Saiyans

An onrush of power overflowed within Sarada. It wasn’t like any energy she had recovered with her own ability, because it didn’t feel like it belonged to her. It felt like a collective energy, a little bit gathered from every person she had ever met. It was like a raging inferno trapped in her bones; it ached to be let out, to be unleashed.

Sarada rose to her feet, wobbly but steady enough. Tundra was ready to go. She had one final shot. She had to make it count.

“THIS IS THE END, MONKEY!” he bellowed from high above. It didn’t seem he knew she was on her feet. “NOW....”

”...YOU...”

“....DIE!!!!

A blast of enormous proportions was launched and fired directly toward the planet. If she didn’t act soon, the entire planet and whatever living things happened to be on it were going to be killed.

She let out a harrowing cry and powered back up to Super Saiyan 2. Then, she launched herself into the air, directly in the path of the blast.

Lasair’s Gift - All-Consuming Flame x4

She ran headlong into the blast. It was beyond any blast Tundra had thrown at her up to that point. He had obviously poured every ounce of power he had left into it. All for nothing. With the energy flowing through her at that point, nothing was going to stop her from ending the fight right then and there.

She pushed through the blast easily, reducing it to nothing more than a black mist of twinkling dots of energy. She pushed up the beam, closing in on Tundra like a predator stalking her prey from within the dense jungle. Just like a prey that was completely unaware of its surroundings, he never saw her coming.

She emerged from his blast, fist cocked back. Before he could so much as utter a single word of surprise, she punched him in the chin with immense force. She felt his jaw shatter against her fist, which brought her a joy the likes of which she had only felt maybe two other times in her life. It was pure elation, and she wasn’t done yet.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Tundra was sent pin-wheeling through the clouds, with her chasing after him. She caught up to him and wrapped her arms and legs around him. The planet was completely visible under them when she prepared her final attack, the attack that would final put an end to this hellish battle once and for all. She descended, piercing the atmosphere like a meteor. She poured every ounce of power bestowed to her by the millions of people depending on her into him. She wasn’t healing him or restoring his power.

She was turning him into a bomb that would explode the very moment they impacted the planet’s surface.

Tundra screamed and squirmed in her grip, but she was holding him too tightly for him to break free. Crimson energy swelled and swirled around them as she pushed them closer to the ground. The energy shifted, forming a shell that resembled the Saiyan royal crest. One final bit of humiliation before the end.

“This is the end!” she shouted over the roar of her tempestuous energy. “Burn in Hell!

ROYAL SPEAR



The devastation and destruction were immense and far-reaching. The entire planet was subjected to a shockwave that shattered it on impact. The force of the impact set off a rapid chain of events across the already unstable planet that gave Sarada no time to react. Tundra’s mangled corpse in her hands, all Sarada could do was look up at the darkened sky and close her eyes.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

The flash of light from the planet’s explosion was blinding, the roar of it deafening. Tundra’s body was torn to pieces, completely obliterated. Sarada was whole, but was far from hale. Much of her body was badly burned from being bathed in endless tons of magma. She had next to no energy to do anything other than float aimlessly through space. It was a miracle she was even alive. With no air to breath and unable to conjure a shield to protect herself from the vacuum of space, it seemed that finally Sarada found the end of her rope.

She should have known better than to count herself out.

Her eyes began to flutter closed when a figure suddenly manifested in front of her. Parsley? Was it an hallucination? A specter of her memory that was conjured to ease the transition into death? If so, there were a few people she would have rather seen in her final moments.

It was neither.

Parsley grabbed her arm and teleported the both of them away. An instant later, Sarada was on solid ground, Parsley, Corra, and Sellerie looking down at her. The former kneeled down and gathered her blood for a spell. That stupid magic spread through her body. She feared that Parsley was going to do something in retaliation for her suckerpunching her earlier, but no. Sarada could feel her body knitting itself back together. Her lungs could draw in air more easily, the burns were soothed and healed, and her midsection was whole once more.

Sarada sat up with minimal difficulty. The sound of crunching bones and meat being chewed attracted her attention. She turned her head and found the natives eating the bodies of the slain soliders under Tundra’s employ. ...now I’m hungry. She turned away and looked up at her sister. “Thanks.”

“You did it, Your Highness!” Corra hugged Sarada tightly.

She let out a soft chuckle and patted her awkwardly. In truth, it was still all registering. She had just saved their race from extinction and she didn’t know how to feel about it. Maybe it was come later; right then, she just wanted a bed to lay down on. “You two did well. Thank you for saving my life back there.”

“You’re welcome.” Corra then blinked, then bowed her head sheepishly. “I was just doing my job!”

“I’m just glad we were able to help somehow,” Sellerie added meekly.

Something about Sellerie annoyed her. She was so powerful, far more so than any of the “stock standard” Saiyans, those that weren’t of the royal family or the council. If she actually bothered to train, Sarada could put her to good use. Instead, she wasted her time milling away in a research lab. It was good to have people interested in history, she guessed, but to let all that power just waste away...

She supposed that was her choice. Sellerie wasn’t a warrior like Sarada, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t do both. Parsley could and did.

“So, this is our homeworld,” Parsley commented. The sigh that followed said more than any word could. She turned and held out a hand to help her up, which she accepted. “The colonies fended for themselves. There wasn’t much for me to do.”

Sarada accepted it and rose to her feet. “Yeah.” There was much she wanted, needed, to say. It could wait. There was still a lot to do even before she got back to a Saiyan world. The rest of Tundra’s clan needed to be wiped out to break the circle of violence before it even had a chance to start. Then and only then would she be able to rest. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

“Home?” Sellerie said, hopeful.

“You and Corra, sure. I have business on Tundra’s throneworld.” Her sister raised an eyebrow, but nodded and cocked her head toward Tundra’s ship. Then, she disappeared.

Sarada supposed that was the best way to go, since they had no idea where that world was. Also, she had an idea that was too good to pass up.

Finally, the looming specter of destruction had been exorcised. They were free to continue their reformation and redemption unhindered.

Tundra was dead.

Sarada had won.

–END–

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Parsley reappeared right next to Avoca shortly after leaving Sadala. She had left right on time. The battle between Sarada and Tundra had been a hellish one, one that utterly destroyed one planet and heavily damaged another. The degree of damage spoke to the level of power both combatants were exhibiting. She had no idea how powerful Tundra was, but he had to have been up to have that - Sarada floating in outer space in the midst of planetary debris and rubble, nearly burned to a crisp. Regardless, her sister had survived and won. The war with Tundra and his army was finally over, and they had come out on top.

Avoca jerked in surprise and glared irritably at her. "I wish you'd stop doing that."

Parsley smiled and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Sorry. Sarada's okay. She won the fight."

The sigh of relief was the only response, but that was all that needed to be said. "So, what now?"

"I'm sure there is a great deal of work to be done, dismantling the remainder of his army, freeing whatever captured slaves he has, and liberating his planets." She fished through her pouch and pulled out a capsule. "But, I have my own work to finish." When Avoca raised an eyebrow, she sighed. "Guess I should explain."

She spent some time explaining a great deal of things, even things not pertaining to Night. She glossed over much of it with the promise that she would explain in greater detail when she got back. The most important bits were about Night and she spent more time on those. It was important that she impress on Avoca how dangerous and powerful he was, that even some of the most powerful beings in creation feared him and for good reason. Her wife wouldn't understand until Parsley explained everything in full detail, but for then, that would have to suffice.

"...and you plan on meeting this person right now? By yourself?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'm coming with you." Before Parsley could argue, she slapped a hand over her mouth. "No. I'm tired of you and Sarada dotting here and there, getting into trouble, and leaving us in the lurch. You two were missing for three days while the rest of us were left to deal with the invasion. Yeah, it worked out for the best, but what if it didn't? And now you plan on going to another universe by yourself to meet with some kind you can pop your eyeballs out like it's nothing? Yeah, no. I'm coming with you, whether you like it or not."

It wasn't like Avoca to do a lot of talking or to get so impassioned about things. However, when it came to Parsley, she suddenly gained a voice and the urge to speak her mind. Funny how that worked. "Fine," she relented. "You'll need a tribute to appease him, so he'll let you leave."

"...yeah, I got something."

Parsley nodded slowly and grabbed her hand. Then, she transformed to Super Saiyan

Perfect Intuition - Planeswalker

With a slight tug, the two Saiyanness stepped foward, disappearing from Langal. Another step and they reappeared on Night's planet, in Universe 18.

[Monstrous Bird of Qin, Ou Ki]

The soldier was cut clean in half by the Diamond Fang and as a result dropped the small rock creature to the ground. She scampered for safety, but not before bowing at Tasure in gratitude.

A section of soldiers broke off from the greater battle and closed in on Tasure. "Kill that Saiyan before it's too late!"

The little rock creature was safe, scampering off to hide. Didn't feel too bad, helping people once in a while.

Her arrival and subsequent attack on their ally gained the attention of a fair number of soldiers. Nothing she couldn't handle... didn't even need to use Super Saiyan against these guys. It'd just be a waste of energy to transform.

...and given that transforming and maintaining the form was a negligible effort for her at this point, that was saying something.

As they neared, she sighed, then sped forward. And so she began a deadly dance, weaving between the soldiers with surprising grace... for a Saiyan, attack and counter-attacking whenever the opportunity presented itself. And given the gap in power and skilled, boy did it present itself often. Normally, she'd play around a bit, but lives were at risk... so not this time.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Tundra Planet 227

Sarada tossed Tundra’s journal over her shoulder and leaned forward. After killing the hated Frost Demon and securing her people’s future, she was struck with an idea. It had only been a few hours at most, so most likely the news of his untimely death at her hands hadn’t reached the wider galaxy yet. If not, then the people on that planet were certainly waiting for his triumphant return. It may not have been his, but Sarada was going to give them one they would remember for the rest of their lives.

When she departed Sadala, she decided to leave Tundra’s ship and his armada untouched. She intended on flying his entire army back to his throne world to trick his clan into believing his won his battle with the Saiyans. It was all to lull them into a false sense of security. Of course, it wasn’t even remotely necessary. It was a power move. The last of Tundra’s clan, his family, was on that planet. She intended on wiping them out, but not before seeing the flickering flames of hope and joy snuffed out from their eyes like a candle in a stiff breeze. His reign of terror was close to coming to an end; those planet-side were either guilty of aiding him or were complicit in his proclivities. Either way, they had been judged guilty, and the penalty was death.

She ordered a small squadron of Elite soldiers from Pepa to rendezvous with her. Among them was Pinach, who was a Super Saiyan at long last. Sarada had to admit, he looked good with a golden crown; and it was great that he finally ascended like most everyone else had. She wouldn’t say so out loud, but she was proud of her little brother. “Any slaves or servants are to be passed over. If what I’m reading is right, this planet was taken over four hundred years ago and the descendants of the original slaves are still serving. It’s time to liberate them.”

Beyond this world, there were literally hundreds of worlds that needed to be liberated. What she learned about the arrangement Otatop made with Tundra hundreds of years ago made her realize that several dozens of those worlds were conquered by the Saiyans.

It made her blood boil knowing that she nearly became a conqueror and help expand that bastard’s empire. He had been sitting in the shadows for centuries, reaping the benefit of their wholesale slaughter of innocents and completely avoiding repercussions while they became hated and reviled for being nothing more than middlemen.

No more.

“Yeah, I got it,” Pinach said. He looked and sounded exhausted. Hours of non-stop fighting army after army on the colonies had taken their toll, especially on a teenager with no real combat experience outside of amateur heroics. They were all tired, but there wouldn’t be any time to take a vacation any time soon.

At least not for Sarada.

“Great. Follow my lead. These guys are wimps, so they should fold quickly.” She stepped toward the window, then turned to face Pinach and the other Elites. “Once his men are dispatched, work on freeing any captives. Someone’s been keeping this planet running for hundreds of years, and it sure as hell wasn’t any Arcosian.”

The planet was just about upon them. A crimson marble in the center of what was otherwise a largely unremarkable star system. The planet was trending on the large side and had a pair of moons revolving around it. The strangest quirk about the world was that there didn’t appear to be any significant bodies of water. Arcosians could survive in the harshest environments, ones in which most other races would die in short order. She never thought that would have included lack of water, but she couldn’t be bothered to learn or even care about their physiology enough to look into it.

The Frost Demon ship and the smaller armada pierced the atmosphere and began their descent. The closer they got to being within landing distance, the more the discordance of the planet’s surface became evident. Her attention was immediately drawn to the massive, sprawling palace off in the distance. The building was white with an architecture that put her in the mind of the dark carapaces that Icer’s limbs and heads were decorated, for lack of a better term, with. Further out, she could see what looked like bundles of shantytowns. Even from that distance, they could see the pitiful condition of the villages were kept in. Undoubtedly, the people that lived there were just as pitiful.

Birth of Freeza's Army - DBS Broly

The ship closed in on Tundra’s palace quickly. As they drew closer, they could hear fanfare as trumpets were blasted along with raucous cheers from his clan and associates. She saw a large crowd forming near the landing area and couldn’t stop the excited grin from splitting her face. “This is too perfect,” she chirped happily.

The ship landed on the largest landing pad with a slight jostle; the smaller ships making up the armada landed close by on the smaller pads. The crowd gather near the gangplank of the largest ship. She could hear them excitedly chattering. “Open the gangplank,” she ordered as she walked toward it. Before she walked out, she grabbed one thing: Tundra’s dismembered head. Parsley managed to snag it while getting her to safety. She gave it to Sarada as a memento. To her, it was the perfect insult to injury.

The Elite Saiyans flew out of the upper opening to initiate the surprise, while she and Pinach stepped down the gangplank. She withheld a smirk when the startled and distressed murmurs and gasps rippled through the assembled crowd. Her heels clacked against the metal plank as she descended. Cold green eyes darted to and fro, taking in the crowd before her. A female Arcosian was in the front, a completely dumbfounded expression on her face. Sarada could see the panic creeping into her features. Her eyes drifted down and fell upon the severed head in Sarada’s possession. “NOOOOOOOO!!” Panic was swiftly replaced by pure, unadulterated rage. A snarl so acerbic it could have melted katchin appeared on her face. “KILL THOSE DAMN MONKEYS!!”

The generic soldiers that padded the numbers of Tundra’s army pointed their generic energy weapons and unleashed a hail of generic energy bolts. Their aim was true, so there was that. The bolts struck various parts of the Saiyans’ bodies, but did absolutely nothing of note. Even their armor, top of the line fabrications from Turrip, was barely singed. In truth, if Sarada hadn’t been looking directly at them, she wouldn’t have noticed.

She contemplated killing the lot of them right then and there, but it was a much more poignant statement to let them continue firing while she went on with her business.

She stopped about halfway between Icia and the ship, a confident smile playing on her lips. As the hail of energy bullets continued unabated, she spoke, “You’re the second pure-blooded Arcosian female I’ve seen in the last few years. I take it you’re Tundra’s bitch, Icia?”

Icia growled impotently. “Vulgar cretin! How dare you speak to me that way?”

She scoffed and flicked her tail like a whip in her direction before wrapping it back around her waist. She dropped Tundra’s head to the ground, where it rolled to the midway point between the two of them. “Too bad nothing this is the only part of that worthless bastard that survived. At least then you'd have something more substantial to remember him by. Anyway, as you can probably guess, your husband lost the war. And as per the rules of engagement, everything he owns belongs to me now. Spoils of war and all that.” She grinned, even as a stray bullet pinged against her eye. She gestured, prompting Pinach to act.

The youngest Super Saiyan raised his hand and fired a single blue beam into the air. At its crescendo, it broke into hundreds of smaller beams that twisted through the air until they found an enemy target. Several were hit multiple times until they were riddled with bloodless holes. Almost simultaneously, they all slumped to the ground.

“One piece of advice,” Sarada said shortly after, “for the future: invest in better minions.” The moment the final word left her mouth, she flashed foward and punched her hand through Icia’s chest and out her back. The Icer’s still beating heart thumped in her hand, violet blood dripped from the severed arteries.

Despite the vital organ literally being ripped from her chest, the Icer clung to life. “You...” she said weakly. A shaky hand scratched feebly at her armor. Her eyes clouded over. Life was quickly fading, but she held on resiliently.

“Heh.” Sarada jerked her arm upward, tearing it free by way of bisecting the top portion of the Arcosian’s body.

Whatever life she had been clinging to was snuffed out immediately. Like a split chicken breast, she slumped to the ground, the two halves of her upper torso splaying in two different directions. Blood poured from the expansive wound and stained the landing pad a sickly purple.

People - Sarada guess they were nobles or something - backed away in fear. With neither the army or the powerful Arcosian “queen” to protect them, many did what they felt was their only choice. They fell to their knees at Sarada’s feet and groveled.

“Please! Please, spare us!” some cried out.

“We only went along because we were scared they’d kill us!” others said.

The quickly stilling heart slipped from her grip and fell to the ground, landing with a sick splat against the hard paved platform. “Is that so? What makes you think I won’t.”

[Sub-Zero MKA]

On the one hand, these people appeared to happily go along with whatever Tundra and his people decided to do. They were dressed in the same manner as Icia, meaning they weren’t slaves. They were complicit. On the other hand, she knew nothing of this world. They could very well have been telling the truth, and only went along because their lives were threatened. If so, she couldn’t bring herself to kill innocent people.

Those two prevailing thoughts cycled through her mind one after the other on repeat. All the while, she stared down at the groveling people in silence. “I’ll let the Galaxy Police decide your fate,” she finally spoke before moving forward. “Kill the rest of Tundra’s men, then strip the palace of everything valuable.” After a moment and just before she entered inside. “And help yourselves to as much as you can carry. Leave the rest for my treasury.”

Raucous cheers erupted from the Saiyans. Sarada smiled to herself as she disappeared inside. “It’s over. It’s finally over.”

It had been a hellish few days. Between Tundra, Auroc, Maiz being kidnapped, the Ulthan, Eva being killed, and drama within the M Fighters, she had been stressed out and pushed to her breaking point. And beyond. But, beyond the pain and mental anguish was a power she had previously never thought possible. True, she and Parsley were looking to surpass Super Saiyan in some way, and had done so, kind of. The kind of power she achieved on Sadala, though? That was beyond her wildest dreams.

Tundra’s palace was decorated with the most ostentatious and gaudy artwork and statues she had ever seen. She figured he had a small dick given the size of his ego, but by the gods, it must have been fucking microscopic. Literally smaller than Held’s. It was a wonder he was able to stick it in far enough to knock that bitch up three times.

...

She assumed that was how... fuck it. She didn’t care enough to want to think about it.

She walked up and down the halls, seemingly wandering through them aimlessly. She was, kind of. While she had a specific destination in mind, she had no idea where it was. “Where the hell is his office? I know he has one.” She could have made one of his men take her...if she hadn’t had them all killed.

Oops.

Suddenly, a dark figure seemed to jump out at her. In a flash, that figure was caught by the throat and pinned against the wall. Pitch black eyes stared back at her, a too-wide mouth equipped with too many jagged teeth yawned open in shock “What the hell?”

“Please, please don’t hurt me!” the man begged. Shaky hands rose up by his hand, signaling his surrender.

Her eyes narrowed. She could literally smell the fear pouring out of him. The nobles, or whatever, outside were just as afraid, but there was something... genuine and earnest about this man. They may have been trying to fool her into believing they were innocent parties, but there was no such possible deception in this man. She dropped him and stepped back. “Get up. What’s your name?”

“Tram,” he answered. His voice was hoarse from her vice-like grip around his neck. He rubbed his throat as he stood. “You must flee. Lord Tundra will return any day now. His wife has been awaiting his return after killing the Saiyan Queen.”

“I’m the Saiyan Queen.”

Upon hearing her confirmation, Tram’s face blanked. Disbelief colored his expression. “No...it can’t be. He’s the most powerful Frost Demon in existence. No Saiyan can defeat him...”

“His head is outside if you want proof.”

He breathed out a chuckle and shook his head. “I...I can’t believe it. I’m free. After a hundred and fifty-two years, I’m finally free!” He lunged and wrapped his arms around her. “Thank you. Thank you, Saiyan Queen!” Letting her go, he broke into a sprint down the hall.

What just happened? She frowned and followed after him. The joy and jubilation he exuded was tangible and contagious. She could feel her own spirits lifting; they rose even higher when she heard a shout of absolute exultation, followed quickly by mass singing. Her footsteps picked up the pace, carrying her quickly across the remaining distance, then around the corner he disappeared just moments earlier. A short flight of steps led her to what looked like a prison area. The doors were opened and people were in the center of the room, singing and dancing and shouting praise.

One woman noticed her approach and immediately moved to wrap her arms around her. She said something in a language Sarada had no hope of understanding, but the tears and the expression of gratitude on her silver face were both universal.

There were close to two dozen people in total. All of them were wearing simple clothes that put her immediately in the mind of what Glacier’s slaves wore during his heyday. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. She saw Tram hugging a little boy - likely his son. “How many other captives are there besides you guys?”

Tram turned to face her. “There are three heavily guarded villages a few yactas due north. Each one has hundreds of slaves. We are all the descendants of the indigenous races that inhabited this world before that devil arrived in his ship. We were all born into slavery. Bondage and exploitation are all we have known our entire lives. But now we are free. If you could do the same for the others in the nearby villages, we would be forever in your debt.”

Sarada saw the villages as she was landing earlier, so finding them again would be no issue. As for being indebted, “Don’t worry about trying to pay me back. My people have a lot of bondage and exploitation to answer for ourselves. Consider your people the first beneficiaries of our new way of life.”

“Oh. Well, please, take this as a small token of our endless appreciation.” He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small statue. It appeared to be an image of an eagle perched on a tree branch. “This will bring you good fortune and the protection of the gods. Please, take it.”

She saw no need for the “gods” protection. If anything, they were going to need protection from her as soon as she got strong enough for her punches to actually hurt them. It may have taken a few more decades, but that time spent was going to be worth it. “Thank you, Tram. I’ll be back so we can discuss financial aid to help you all get back on your feet.”

He nodded and shook her hand. “Ah, yes. Thank you again, Saiyan Queen.”

“You’re welcome. I need to get back. Uh, before I go, could you tell me where Tundra’s office was?”

“Of course.”

Sarada quickly took her leave once he gave her directions to her destination. As she walked, she contacted Pinach. “How goes it?”

“We found the treasure room. I picked up this cool looking sword. I got something for Parsley and Maiz too, if that’s alright.”

If she wanted loot, she needed to pull her own weight. Then again, she did literally save Sarada’s life when she was trapped in the vacuum of she supposed that was good enough. “Tch, whatever. Yeah, that’s fine. I found Tundra’s office, so I’m going to go through his files and see what’s what. Those villages we passed on the way here are full of captives. Go free them, would you?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll see you soon.”

By the time the brief call was over, Sarada reached the metal double doors leading to Tundra’s private quarters. Entering without fanfare by pushed the doors down, she took a step inside and took a look around. The room was massive, easily the size the slaves’ quarters down below. There was a giant video screen against the back wall; it easily took up most of the wall. There were smaller screens interspersed throughout the room, most likely to house supplementary information in relation to whatever was displayed on the largest screen. A hover chair was stationed in the center of the room, facing the screen. Holographic projectors were hidden throughout the room; they didn’t appear to have been activated in some time, at least a few months.

She moved to the chair and noticed controls on the armrest for the screens and projector. She turned on the largest one. Her eyes narrowed when she saw the image that was last displayed: the planet Namek. I guess that was where he was headed after he finished with us and Earth, she thought. Two planets with dragonballs. She didn’t have to think very hard for what a tyrannical despot like him wanted: immortality.

Not that he would have been able to make his wish anyway. Eva's balls were scattered across the galaxy by Alakazah, and Elder Nail was dead.

She started to cycle through his history, hoping against hope that he wasn’t a porn addict. He wasn’t, but what she found was even more nauseating. It was a list of the planets that made up his empire. Scrolling down and taking the time to count them all, she came to learn that there were over 350 planets. “How is this possible?” There was no fucking way the GP wouldn’t have caught wind about it.

It was then, and only then , that she remembered a name she hadn’t thought about in three long years. “Oh shit, Captain Lau!”

[Sub-Zero MKA]

The last time she spoke to him, she was attacked by Sword immediately after and left in a coma. Between that, becoming trapped on Earth, and partaking in a time jumping mission to save Zurvan and the entire universe, she forgot all about him. To her recollection, he was conducting an investigation into Blizz’s - actually Tundra’s - operation. He also mentioned that someone gave him some information that would break the case wide open.

Who was it?

“Damn it, I can’t remember,” she huffed. It would come to her eventually, she figured. She busied herself with making a copy of Tundra’s files and saving them to her PDD. Once she returned to...wherever most of her people were, she would go over everything with the Council and figure out the best way to approach. Obviously, her plan was to liberate these worlds; but 350 worlds was going to take a long time, and it wouldn’t end there. There was financial support and separating the planet’s infrastructure from Tundra’s vile influence.

She sighed heavily and put a hand to her forehead. There was so much shit to do, but she knew it needed to be done. She also knew that they had to be the ones to do it. It was just as much because it was good PR as it was the right thing to do. After learning that Otatop IV and Tundra had a handshake agreement to terrorize the universe together, she knew that the Saiyans had a lot of work to do to repair their image even beyond what they had already done. However long that took, so be it. If she didn’t live long enough to see the fruits of her labor, then Kumara would be the spear that finally freed the Saiyans from their bloody past.

She couldn’t wait to see her baby girl again. It had been a few days and all she wanted to do at that moment was hold her daughter as close as she could while curling up in Inanna’s embrace. She could practically hear her cute little giggles and could see those tiny hands reaching for her.

A small smile touched her lips. Luckily I’m alone. Can’t have anyone thinking I actually care about the little snot.

She quickly made her way to the treasure room. Her men very kindly had most everything already gathered in cargo boxes. From what little remained, she saw that Tundra’s tastes were expansive and varied. Suits of armor, exotic weapons, jewelry, statues, gems, jewels, books, and everything between. All in all, it was going to fetch a hefty amount of credits once she liquidated all of it. Just at a glance, she estimated that there was a few million credits worth of stuff just from what was left over. There were about six large crates full of other stuff that she didn’t know the contents of.

When they were done boxing everything up, they pushed the crates into the center of the room where in a puff of smoke, it was all deposited into a capsule. “Alright, let’s get out of here. A few of you stay behind to protect the natives. At least until a GP presence arrives.” She left them to discuss that between themselves.

There was nothing left for her to do, so she made her way outside. As she walked through the halls toward the exit, someone hastily sprinting in the opposite direction caught her eye. She flash-stepped in front of them, causing them to run into her and fall backwards as if running into a brick wall.

It was a woman in a similar manner of dress as Icia. That wasn’t what caught Sarada’s eye. It was the infant Frost Demon in her arms.

The woman looked up at her and gasped. “Please don’t kill me!”

“What is that?”

“What?” She looked down at the baby, her eyes growing wide with despair in instantly later. She rotated her upper body to shield the child from Sarada’s gaze. “This...this is Lord Tundra’s son, Glacio. Please, he’s just a baby. Don’t hurt him!”

“His...son...” That was the last and final living member of Tundra’s clan, that she knew of. Unless he had other hidden children or siblings, that was it. This was her chance to wipe his miserable bloodline from existence. But... could she really kill a baby? He hadn’t done anything wrong. There wasn’t an ounce of hatred or malice to be found in it yet.

On the other hand, she felt nothing but absolute disgust whenever she looked at it. She hated his kind with every cell in her being. They were nothing but greedy, treacherous, murderous bastards whose ambition and thirst for power and prominence led to the slaughter of countless innocents.

She could have taken the child and raised it as her own. If she did, there was a good chance he could grow to be something decent, a force for good instead of selfish gain. Though, there was no guarantee she would be the loving mother for him that she was for Kumara. That would certainly foster a hateful jealously that would only nurture his natural Frost Demon instincts. They were all evil, and a loving family wouldn’t change that.

But what if it did? She could be robbing this boy of a chance to be the change that his race needed to redeem itself.

But was that a bad thing? Was an Arcosian truly capable of being a good person? Blizzar immediately sprang to mind. He fought on the side of justice, but there was little doubt that he wasn’t a good person. Anyone who scammed and conned people out of their money was nothing more than a complete scumbag. Then, there was Koorimaru, who also fought on their side, but for his own selfish gain. It only took a few short years for him to show his true colors once again.

She could have let the boy live and allowed the woman to leave with him. That was, probably, the most morally acceptable outcome. Yet, she didn’t know this woman. She could have had a hatred of Saiyans herself and would certainly pass that on to him. With that thought, letting them go free was off the table.

Kill the child, or adopt him as her own?

Confliction tugged at her heart. She could never bring herself to harm a child, much less kill one, or so she thought; but even the very thought of welcoming an Icer as part of her family made her sick to her stomach. What was worse, the boy looked just like his father, only magnifying the hatred that was already churning in her heart.

“Pl...please!” the woman begged.

Sarada snarled and fired a beam that pierced the woman’s skull. “Shut the fuck up.”

Smoke billowed up from the smoldering wound as the fresh corpse fell back. The sudden jostle threatened to rouse the small boy. He started to become fussy, but the remaining warmth of the dead woman’s embrace seemed to calm him. He fell silent and fell back asleep.

Sarada watched him quietly for a long moment. Eventually, her mind was made up. Bending down, she gently untangled him from the corpse and took him into her arms. Naturally, his tail wrapped around her forearm.

Her own tail unwrapped from her waist and snaked around the boy’s throat. Her eyes squeezed shut. Her heart was pounding so hard, she could feel it in her ears. Any moisture in her mouth evaporated, leaving her feeling more arid than the most desolated desert.

Come on, do it. Just do it. Do it! Her mind had been made up and determined that killing the child was in the best interest of not just her race, but also the entire galaxy. One less Frost Demon was a good thing. She knew it, and that was why she was going to kill this thing. But, the more her mind resolved to end his life, the more her body resisted. Her tail was wrapped flaccidly around his neck, essentially a furry necklace for as much of a threat as it was to his life at that moment.

She swallowed raggedly, an action that felt like she was trying to force down wet sand. Her eyes were still squeezed shut. She couldn’t bear to watch what she was going to do.

Just... just do it...

The more time that passed, the more her body’s subconscious will overrode her mind’s active resolution. She had never harmed a child in her life. How could she? They were innocent, barely having gotten their start in life. They were undeserving of harm, even if they deserved it. This child in her arms had done nothing. Nothing. His father was the recipient of her hatred and ire, not him. How could she pass on punishment for the father’s sins onto the son, when the father had already been punished and paid the ultimate price for his transgressions? How was that fair? How was it right and just? How would she be any different than any of the monsters she actively resisted? How was she any different than the Tuffles who, while blinded by vengeance, killed not only men and women, but also the children on Turrip?

She knew the answer.

I... I can’t do it.

Her tail unwrapped from around Glacio’s neck and returned to its place around her waist. Slowly, her eyes opened. The child was still sleeping peacefully, his tail curled around her arm like a small snake.

She let out a short exhale. With all her options exhausted, another idea popped in her head. One she should have realized a while ago. Killing him, adopting him, and letting him go with the woman in relative peace were no good. Giving him to a family who would raise him to be something productive instead of yet another genocidal monster was the right course. She knew exactly who to give him to.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

She quickly started walking back to where Tram and the others were located. The closer she got, the louder their cheers of exultation and jubilation became. It sounded like a real party down there. Her heavy footsteps down the stairs attracted their attention.

“Queen Sarada! Was there something else?” Tram greeted with a wide grin. It faltered slightly when he beheld the child in her arms. “That’s Lord Tundra’s son...”

“Yes, I know.” She sighed and swallowed. “Listen, I know this will be a lot to ask of you, but... will you please give him a good home? He’s just a baby and I... I killed his entire family. He doesn’t have anyone else to take care of him.” Saying that made her realize just how dire the child’s situation was. She murdered his entire family. For good reason and mostly out of self-defense in three cases, but they had all been slain by her hand.

Tram sighed and regarded the boy briefly, then turned around to look at the people behind him. A woman, presumably his mate, hesitated, then nodded tentatively. Tram nodded back and returned his attention to Sarada. “Very well. We... will give the boy the best home we can manage.” He held his hands out.

She breathed out and gently placed Glacio, son of Tundra, in his hands. The boy whined for a brief moment, but eventually settled down. “Thank you. I’ll be checking in every so often to see how everything is going. Good luck, Tram.”

“To you, as well, Queen Sarada.” He nodded once and turned to walk back to his family.

Sarada took her leave. When she returned to the hallway and made her way outside, she could feel a heavy weight disappear from her shoulders. She realized that had she carried out what she intended on doing, the guilt would have been unimaginable. Further, she would have eventually had to out herself as a hypocrite. If anyone tried to threaten Kumara to get to her or Inanna, she would have - rightfully - torn them a new asshole. They would have been a monster, but then, so would she. Thankfully, that moral quandary had been dissipated before it had a chance to manifest.

With that behind her, she could leave with her head held as high as it was when she arrived. She had done the right thing. A thing that Maiz or Mato would have done.

Time to go home. I need a drink.

[Monstrous Bird of Qin, Ou Ki]

Meanwhile in Vaikuntha.........


Totoma’s body jerks, than coughs and staggers up. He looks around, bringing a non existent cigar to his lips as one hand drifts to his hip for a gun. He frowns, looking at his empty hands for a moment before a slow smile spreads across his face.

He flexes a bit, than throws a few punches and nods.

“This will do. Time to remind them who’s King.”

He powers up and walks forward into this new place, laughing quietly.

Three days. After that Earthling had attacked... that man, she'd found herself transported back to Reshlan, with three days having passed. After situating herself, Nevanlinna got to assessing the situation. Quickly, this diverted itself into something... other than assessment.

A few hours after coming to, she entered Vaikuntha and found that the idiot half-saiyan's body had disappeared. The fauna in Vaikuntha wasn't dangerous--for the most part--and would have left it alone, and Seri had strict orders to just let the 'Just Saiyan' rest in peace until his soul could return to his body, so...

...

Perhaps what had happened before, and a lost soul had somehow found its way into his body? Or perhaps he'd returned to life in the three days she'd been... absent? It was a possibility, but as she understood it, he was training with the Legendary Super Saiyan himself, and what saiyan would give up a chance like that?

No saiyan would, she could assure you of that.

Stretching out her senses through Vaikuntha, she quickly found her answer: Totoma's body was moving around, and it was doing so intelligently. As such, it was likely yet another lost soul...

How curious and... exhausting. She simply didn't want to deal with this. However, leaving the halfbreed's body and its illicit occupant to wander in this sacred place was simply unthinkable. What a bother...

She retreated to the normal universe to monitor "Totoma's" movements from the outside. Soon enough, a potential solution presented itself... quite out of the blue.

"You. I've been told that you have my boy's body in that pocket world of yours."

Nevanlinna jumped at the sudden intrusion, turning around to find the Saiyan Tasure standing behind her. Ah, right, she had that 'instant transmission' technique that allowed her to teleport... just about anywhere, provided she had a ki signature to lock onto. According to the Saiyan Sisters, she seemed to have a fondness for popping in and out at her own discretion.

One might think this woman got a not-inconsiderable amusement out of startling people... but that was neither here nor there.

Composing herself, she responded: "Yes... I placed him into Vaikuntha--my 'pocket world', as you put it--which would ensure its is preserved until his soul can return to it. He's...."

"Training with Vocado, yeah, I know," said Tasure.

"I see you've been informed of the situation. However, there is a... slight issue. I trust you were informed about his body being possessed?"

"I have. Not surprising. My boy's always causing some sort of insane trouble."

She was his mother, so the Threshling Princess took her words at face value. Not that the half-saiyan didn't have his virtues, but... he sounded absolutely exasperating to deal with regularly. "Good. Well, it... happened again. His body seems to have been inhabited by some other soul and is currently wandering around... quite aimlessly. I'd rather not go through the slog needed to subdue it, so I've been monitoring it from here."

Tasure's expression didn't change... at first. Then, a slight, but wicked smile crept into her features. "...I hear my boy achieved a level beyond Super Saiyan."

"I, ah... yes, even the 'fake' seems to be considerably beyond what I remember him being capable of."

"And I understand that this Vaikuntha of yours has beneficial effects in terms of healing, stamina, and ki restoration... just from being present in it?"

Nevanlinna's heart dropped as she realized just what train of thought this woman was heading down. "...that is correct."

"Fuckin' outstanding. Open 'er up and let me at 'em. I'm bored."

...

Sigh

Not even bothering to argue against the idea that surely was lodged inside this woman's head, Nevanlinna opened a portal to Vaikuntha. Most likely, Tasure planned on using this fake as an unwilling sparring partner. What saiyan would pass up a chance to train against a stronger fighter at full bore, with little chance of permanent injury or death? Very, very few.

"Feel like joining?"

"No... that is quite alright. Please, enjoy yourself."

Tasure regarded the Threshling with a curious expression, then shrugged. "Suit yourself." She proceeded to step through the portal...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tasure's senses were met with... calmness. Peace. The feeling of everything within this place wasn't quite stagnant, but... stable? Pleasant--by most standards, an idyllic, unchanging paradise. She could hear the characteristic sound of animals scampering away from her as she entered.

Good, there was food here, at least.

After taking a moment to situate herself, Tasure closed her eyes and focused, her ki senses spreading outward until... ah, there he was. Her boy... or the person joyriding in his body, rather. And he had, indeed, gotten rather powerful. Stronger than her, actually.

Ha! This was going to be fun as hell.

Placing her fingers to her forehead, Tasure concentrated for a moment, her body disappearing... and reappearing a few meters away from Totoma. She grinned. "...well well, I wasn't entirely convinced by everyone saying it, but someone really has jacked my boy's body. And don't even try to lie about it... I can tell you're not him just by the way you're carrying yourself. So, who the hell are you?"

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

The doors of the kitchen swung open to the Lookout veranda. Zaofan cursed under his breath, grumbling as he came, rolling up his sleeves. Ochazuke lift his gaze towards the chef for a moment and called out to him.

"Something the matter in the kitchen?"

"Hm? Oh, no, it's fine," he said, "We're actually somewhat over stocked for a change."

From what he'd gleaned, apparently Sarada and Parsley had reconvened on Earth only recently, and Totoma had been with his family before being pulled to Reshlan. When the Judge made his shot, he was exacting in some places, but spared them the creature comforts. Of course, no measly pot of soup could truly replace friends as familiar and dear as Jack and Nunlil.

Spotting Dash and Praxat out of the corner of his eye, Zaofan loudly cleared his throat.

"'Scuse me, but this place is a mess," he said. "If you're going to train here, you'd better start now. Tidy things up, get them back in order, and make Kai's job a bit easier. For all that...I promise that you can have dinner when you're done."



Ochazuke in the meantime moved to the basement below the West Wing, where soon he stood among the spirits of the ancestral office. Summoning the old King, he sought his counsel.

"We've lost a great deal over the last day. In fact, we'd nearly lost Evangeline, and Alakazah..."

Frankly, he hadn't the slightest clue outside of a vague intuition where the ancient dragon had gone to. But there were some rather pressing matters yet to tend to.

"Moreover, it seems that lost souls have been escaping the afterlife," he said, expanding a capsule as he produced the jug. "The dead have come to possess the living, and I'd want to know why."

"In addition, there is the matter of your killer we've yet to attend to. This entire time Sakin has been plotting, but he hasn't made a move for five years since his parasite had absconded with Fife."

Dash and Praxat rush to do as asked, and as they zip about, the place starts to get a cleaner.

Meanwhile, Arthur’s soul stirs and appears to Ochazuke.

“A few souls have escaped, or tried to, due to chaos. Auroc, the Wolf God, and other powerful foes have been sent to their demise in a short span of time. Not only that, Sheki’hinah and Sihn were both preoccupied for a time when Stine and Hammer attempted to kill them both, further adding to an already hectic system. Either they helped facilitate some leaving or some few took the chaos as opportunity, we know not. About a half dozen so far are not accounted for.”

“As to my murderer, I have completed the task only recently while you were away. I know Sakin’s planet’s location.”