Dragonball M, Chapter 1: Silent Menace Aproaches!

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

"Great." Held said, slightly sarcastic. "I look forward to the day I get challenged to a duel because I misread a humans name during routine paperwork."

Held had been here for three years, and during that time he had seen many things, of nobility and courage, of love and desperation, but also of greed, of bitterness, and of sheer hatred. But he hardly professed to understand the entirety of humanity during that time. The idea that someone would compare them to Saiyans in that regard did worry the Nevadian somewhat, but he shrugged it off as hyperbole.

Hopefully.

"I'll be honest." He replied to her query, "I didn't entirely come here by choice...."

He sighed slightly, recalling the sudden destruction of a planet, the the fateful disabling of his ship, and then darkness.

And then the awakening, on a foreign world.

"It's more Kami's doing than my own, apparently, but given that the alternative was death, I can't complain much....It's been a fun trip, until I find a way back, anyways."

I guess I should just count my blessings. My ship was beyond fragged...I'm half surprised I haven't turned it into scrap metal yet...

"Still. I could ask you the same thing." He replied, laughing slightly, "I'm not exactly an expert on this world, but you seem a bit......"

He paused, fumbling for the word best used to describe her noticeably different appearance from the humans on this planet.

"More.... exotic, than most of those I find on the planet...You don't appear to be any extra-terrestrial life form I've met, anyways...."

He paused, looking her over, as he attempted to place her. After a moment, he surrendered.

"Where are you from, exactly?"

"Traditional duels have fallen by the wayside. I doubt you will find that a common occurrence." Ishtar said, hoping the words would be of some small comfort sarcasm or no.

She listened to his tale then, or rather what bits of it he cared to share. Kami being instrumental in his continued existence, and his arrival here just three short years ago. It seemed to fit, really. An undertaking such as this was not spontaneous. It had been a thoughtful joining, and despite their current stare of dishevelment, that had to count for something.

"I see," she said finally. "I hope, when you find your way back, it is everything you expect it should be." More often than not, that wasn't the case Ishtar knew .. but such things were better left for the traveler to discover.

The conversation turned then, to her. More words of the flattering sort- if one was of the mind- filtered through, and Ishtar nodded silently in acknowledgement, before she finally replied.

"My place of Origin is Otherworld. What you might know as the afterlife. The Haunt of Kai, and lesser deities. Where the flora is tended to by my kind, Oni." How long had that been though? Time was a thing she barely acknowledged anymore, it could have been centuries. She shrugged.

"Yet that was a long time ago. Far longer than I'd care to admit."

[grampagen]

"What? Returning home?" Midori asked, and Shiro frowned in thought and said "Nothing, I guess. I mean, we can't exactly get stronger through training considering our synthetic nature. We'd either need to travel all the way back to Dr. Nijimoto in Saito to upgrade us or allow Mr. Pantaloon to study us so he can perform the necessary upgrades himself. And while Midori mentioned the possibility..."

"Allowing a man we don't know to do something as deeply intimate as that is embarrassing. I mean, it's like a human stripping naked before a stranger." Midori finished, her cheeks somehow managing to darken despite not having blood in her body.

"I won't pretend understand your predicament in full," Ochazuke said, "but it is a matter we share in common."

Ochazuke folded his arms contemplatively as he continued, "in life our possibilities are fastened to our limits. Once we reach the xenith of our efforts, what then?"

At Midori's remark, he smirked slightly, "naturally, we all have our secrets. But in our current situation, do you suppose your doctor and our host would be willing to collaborate?

[IGee]

“ Ajna, nice to meet ya.” Yeah it will be fun. Just need more besides our robot friend.” The majin will help too, but he’s sleeping, limping along. Faster as he is being helped. Just where is the med bay?! Wishes he got stronger by injury, sadly not the case. Lucky space monkeys. Oh, he knows of Saiyan. He banged one once last summer. They love Earth, visiting, eatting their food. Oh yeah. Then she left to go back to space, good riddance I say. As he then smiles. Just thinking of adventures that follow.

"Right back at'cha Chou." As they made it to the door, it occured to Ajna that he had no idea where the medical clinic here was. Glancing over at his newfound acquaintance, he asked, ".. does this place have a map or what? Any idea where we're headed?"

[Sol_M]

Kabuto stretched, attempting to ease the stress placed on his shoulders from all the fighting. He worked his jaw, which was stiff from clenching it against the changing gravity.

The fight had been more difficult than any of the fights prior to this, but it had ended in an instant when the rest of the group actually started to use their more powerful techniques.

He wasn't entirely certain what the upper limits on their abilities were, but some of them were clearly a lot more powerful than he could have expected. This gave him more confidence in their ability to retake the dragon balls. Not that he hadn't been confident in his ability to do so to begin with.

"Oh man...", he clutched his sides of his head with both hands.

His vision was starting to blur a bit from the buzzing in his brain.

He walked over to the others. As he approached them, the visor slid back revealing a humanoid face with the beginnings of antenna from the top of his forehead.

Looking around at the rest of the group, he said, "Hey, do you have any booze around here or not? I kinda need it for...recovery purposez."

[Noldere]

Kabuto stretched, attempting to ease the stress placed on his shoulders from all the fighting. He worked his jaw, which was stiff from clenching it against the changing gravity.

The fight had been more difficult than any of the fights prior to this, but it had ended in an instant when the rest of the group actually started to use their more powerful techniques.

He wasn't entirely certain what the upper limits on their abilities were, but some of them were clearly a lot more powerful than he could have expected. This gave him more confidence in their ability to retake the dragon balls. Not that he hadn't been confident in his ability to do so to begin with.

"Oh man...", he clutched his sides of his head with both hands.

His vision was starting to blur a bit from the buzzing in his brain.

He walked over to the others. As he approached them, the visor slid back revealing a humanoid face with the beginnings of antenna from the top of his forehead.

Looking around at the rest of the group, he said, "Hey, do you have any booze around here or not? I kinda need it for...recovery purposez."

"Will this work?" Kai asked, as pulls out a rather sizable bottle of Silver Wolf vodka out from within his robes, somehow still intact despite everything that happened today thus far. Willing it over, he continued, "It's technically something that I was getting for a friend of mine, but if you truly need it to recover, I can just swing by a store and pick up another later. I could also just deal with your injuries, if you'd like."

[Tami]

Jinzi, behind his barrier of spheres, watches as Sasheem grows large and begins clothes lining his way through the spheres, regardless of the force behind them. He sees Totoma using ki strings to try and manipulate his way through the spheres, and Jack as he begins pin balling spheres into one another, trying to make room.

Meanwhile, his mind tells him as he gazes forward, that Chou has destroyed many spheres via his forty blades and Asha'rah has done well in keeping the ones on the outskirts away from herself and those around her using her own spheres. Even Slak's ki enforced rock manages to damage several as Meagan's disc smashes even more.


More and more fall, and Jinzi watches, seeing Ochazuke and Karine both readying their own attacks as Kai attempts to plan their next steps and Ishtar moves forward, body hardening, to join the fray. Just as his spheres begin really going, four things happen at once:

Meagan's ki blasts distract him ever long enough that Koorimaru's back attack half hits, sending Jinzi reeling to the ground, clutching his shoulder. Looking up, his eyes widen as Charco's blasts feeds through his spheres towards himself AND, high above like a bird, Zaofan unleashes a wide angle optic blast.

He reacts, and the world goes white around him as an epic explosion tears through the arena. The wind and dust and dirt kicked up stop even Adam and those fighting him as Jinzi, Held, Sasheem, Jack, Totoma, and Ishtar are encapsulated by the twin ki attacks. When the smoke and dust settle, a crater stands where Jinzi once was. Totoma, Held, and Jack are both laying on the ground, conscious but hurt and banged up. Ishtar, her body hardened, is a bit burnt around the edges but is still standing somewhat. Sasheem is fine, though his body looks like a flattish pancake now and is stretched across twenty feet on the edge of the crater. His toilet is also cracked somewhat.


As for Jinzi...............

He is laying on his back, looking up at the artificial sky as he smiles. All his spheres are gone, and the patch on his neck crumbles away. After a moment, so to does Jinzi.


Clapping fills the air as Jinzi walks up from the forest, smiling, completely unharmed.

"Well done, you defeated my simulacrum. I think that's a good stop for the night, don't you? Adam, I think that's enough for now. Come over here and greet the group properly, please."

"Oh, and to those banged up, don't worry! I have plenty of regen tanks on hand to make you all right as rain!" Jinzi says, grinning madly.

Her sword now a wrapped around her waist like a sash, Meagan bows to him, "Well played, Mr. Pantaloon. I did not think for a moment that you were so foolish as to risk your own life against so many unknowns." She then looks around at the others and smirked, "And never in my life have I seen so many strange ways of fighting. They truly are unpredictable. Perhaps I can learn a few things from them as well."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

As the others talked among themselves, Sarada sat on the floor and thought. This first day of training, while evidently exceeding what others may have experienced in the past, was barely beyond the training she received on Vocado. Yet, there was little doubt that it would bear positive fruits. Her power had nearly doubled after just one battle a few hours ago. It wouldn't shock her if the same happened here.

Training at the CTC wasn't inferior by any means, if the number of powerful warriors it created was any indication. Her own sister, just four years older than her, possessed a power level of almost five thousand. When she graduated, it was a little under two thousand.

Sarada couldn't understand. The same elite blood that ran through Parsley's veins ran through hers, yet, they situations couldn't have been more different. Something… just doesn't feel right.

She didn't know what, but there had to be something she had been missing all that time that was finally clicking on Earth.

"Hey Sarada?" Jack asked, "You ready to finish what we started?"

Jack's voice tore her from her thoughts. She glanced up and noticed that he was injured, just like the half-breed. Unlike Totoma, though, he wasn't going to get a massive boost after healing.

Despite that, he still wanted to fight. His spirit was admirable, if nothing else.

She grinned and climbed to her feet. "So, you know that our enemies won't wait for us to heal if we get injured in battle, hm? Fine. Let's continue."

She wished she had something knew to bring out this time, but she was in the same place as before, with all the same tricks she had shown him before.

She stepped toward him and stopped once she was a few feet from him.

"You know I won't hold back, right?"

[Hazard]

Slak slowly flexes his hand. He doubts a single fight has been enough to significantly raise his strength. He will need to train under augmented gravity a lot more to even have a chance against his blind brethren.

Jinzi offers them the use... regeneration tanks. He has heard about them, though Namek never needed them. Slak certainly does not need them now. He did not sustain injuries and his Ki will recover in time. Slowly, his eyes go over each of his... teammates? Partners?

They are kind of a mess. Not because they are weak, but rather because he has seen year-old Namekians with better coordination skills.

[Ptrvc]

As the others talked among themselves, Sarada sat on the floor and thought. This first day of training, while evidently exceeding what others may have experienced in the past, was barely beyond the training she received on Vocado. Yet, there was little doubt that it would bear positive fruits. Her power had nearly doubled after just one battle a few hours ago. It wouldn't shock her if the same happened here.

Training at the CTC wasn't inferior by any means, if the number of powerful warriors it created was any indication. Her own sister, just four years older than her, possessed a power level of almost five thousand. When she graduated, it was a little under two thousand.

Sarada couldn't understand. The same elite blood that ran through Parsley's veins ran through hers, yet, they situations couldn't have been more different. Something… just doesn't feel right.

She didn't know what, but there had to be something she had been missing all that time that was finally clicking on Earth.



Jack's voice tore her from her thoughts. She glanced up and noticed that he was injured, just like the half-breed. Unlike Totoma, though, he wasn't going to get a massive boost after healing.

Despite that, he still wanted to fight. His spirit was admirable, if nothing else.

She grinned and climbed to her feet. "So, you know that our enemies won't wait for us to heal if we get injured in battle, hm? Fine. Let's continue."

She wished she had something knew to bring out this time, but she was in the same place as before, with all the same tricks she had shown him before.

She stepped toward him and stopped once she was a few feet from him.

"You know I won't hold back, right?"

Jack chuckled, finishing his cigarette and stomping the butt on the arena floor, "What would be the point if you held back?"

He then got into a stance, noticeably different then he had before. With only one good arm, Jack stood almost sideways, leading with his good shoulder forward, and his feet inline. Apparently to anyone witnessing him, Jack actually knew how to fight with only one good arm.

"Come on then."

[Tami]

Slak slowly flexes his hand. He doubts a single fight has been enough to significantly raise his strength. He will need to train under augmented gravity a lot more to even have a chance against his blind brethren.

Jinzi offers them the use... regeneration tanks. He has heard about them, though Namek never needed them. Slak certainly does not need them now. He did not sustain injuries and his Ki will recover in time. Slowly, his eyes go over each of his... teammates? Partners?

They are kind of a mess. Not because they are weak, but rather because he has seen year-old Namekians with better coordination skills.

Noticing the Namekian, the young woman with the lavendar skin and pointed ears walks up to great him. "Namekian, I don't know if we have been properly introduced. It is rare to see one off the world of Namek, about as rare as it is to see one of my people."

[KamenRaida]

Slak slowly flexes his hand. He doubts a single fight has been enough to significantly raise his strength. He will need to train under augmented gravity a lot more to even have a chance against his blind brethren.

Jinzi offers them the use... regeneration tanks. He has heard about them, though Namek never needed them. Slak certainly does not need them now. He did not sustain injuries and his Ki will recover in time. Slowly, his eyes go over each of his... teammates? Partners?

They are kind of a mess. Not because they are weak, but rather because he has seen year-old Namekians with better coordination skills.

"If you're thinking that our dear benefactor Kami has odd qualifications for her choice in avatars, you will be glad to know the sentiment is not your alone." Koorimaru said, his face wearing a grimace similar in expression to the Namekian's, "I had once believed Saiyans the most reckless amongst all the races in the cosmos, but I fear that dubious honour may well soon be lost to them."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Jinzi nods to Koorimaru.

“I had the Geofront already for a city wide emergency, but I did create the arena within the last week in anticipation.”


He leads those injured to a bank of regen tanks near by a large connection of single room buildings.

“This is where you can stay this week while we train you up. There is a room for each of you, with a sauna and bathhouse in the back to relax in. There is also a large cafeteria building on the end there with plenty of food for you.”

[Hazard]

Noticing the Namekian, the young woman with the lavendar skin and pointed ears walks up to great him. "Namekian, I don't know if we have been properly introduced. It is rare to see one off the world of Namek, about as rare as it is to see one of my people."

"No, I do not think we have yet," Slak says. He is pretty sure most of them have not properly introduced themselves to each other yet. "I am Slak of Planet Namek. Greetings. You are correct. It is rare for us to leave our planet, but I wished to see the universe. Earth seemed as good a starting place as any."

Something he is doubting now.

"I must admit my ignorance though. I am not familiar with your species. I am not familiar with most species to be honest."

"If you're thinking that our dear benefactor Kami has odd qualifications for her choice in avatars, you will be glad to know the sentiment is not your alone." Koorimaru said, his face wearing a grimace similar in expression to the Namekian's, "I had once believed Saiyans the most reckless amongst all the races in the cosmos, but I fear that dubious honour may well soon be lost to them."

This species he recognizes. He has never seen a Frost Demon before, but their voice is unmistakable even if you have never heard it before. Slak supposes he should be surprised a Frost Demon is among Kami's chosen, but he is pretty sure has seen at least one Saiyan in this group. Besides...

"I... admit I expected more," Slak says. Then again, he is no grand prize either. He was a mere farmer just weeks ago. "Numbers are good, but there is too much recklessness among us. Humans are quite chaotic."

From their all too busy cities to their fighters.

Slak grimaces as he recalls his encounter with his blind brethren.

"And I fear cooperativeness will be required in order to stand a chance against this world's former Guardian."

[Sion Reaver]

Jinzi nods to Koorimaru.

“I had the Geofront already for a city wide emergency, but I did create the arena within the last week in anticipation.”


He leads those injured to a bank of regen tanks near by a large connection of single room buildings.

“This is where you can stay this week while we train you up. There is a room for each of you, with a sauna and bathhouse in the back to relax in. There is also a large cafeteria building on the end there with plenty of food for you.”

At those last words, Karine knew Totoma would more then enjoy things even if he didn't partlcularly like laying around. "Food, bath and all you can eat? If I didn't know any better I think you did this stunt on purpose." She teased her friend lightly.

"You can recover people that quickly with these? Impressive Jinzi. I'm not a technical person like my mother but I respect things like this due to her job." She didn't think so, but she decided it couldn't hurt. "Does the name Nikki Cromwell ring a bell? She's not as well known as some but is slowly making a name for herself far as combining magic and technology goes."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

At those last words, Karine knew Totoma would more then enjoy things even if he didn't partlcularly like laying around. "Food, bath and all you can eat? If I didn't know any better I think you did this stunt on purpose." She teased her friend lightly.

"You can recover people that quickly with these? Impressive Jinzi. I'm not a technical person like my mother but I respect things like this due to her job." She didn't think so, but she decided it couldn't hurt. "Does the name Nikki Cromwell ring a bell? She's not as well known as some but is slowly making a name for herself far as combining magic and technology goes."

“I know of her, yes. I haven’t had the pleasure myself, but I know her work is quite fascinating. Alas, I have discovered that I have zero talent, magic wise.”