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

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Parlsey spent much of her time in the air thinking. Thinking how quickly her friendship eroded to the point of resentment. Had she pressed too hard? Been too sanctimonious? This apparent "high horse" she evidently mounted led her to believe so.

Every word she had spoken was the truth, but the manner by which she spoke that truth, she realized far too late, left too much to be desired. Naturally, she came to that realization after the fact, and after it was too late to smooth things over.

Since when am I so beholden to emotions?

Her smooth, honeyed words were a natural weapon, sharpened claws in the hand of the most subtle predator. She could cut a man down with biting remark, and reduce what should have been a Super Elite into a washout and a runaway. Yet, ever since her resurrection...

She had thought reclaiming her pride meant a more tangible return to her old self, but that apparently wasn't the case. A swell of emotions after an incredibly long, arduous two days left her claws dulled and her words filled with a pious venom.

Piety was unbecoming of her.

Parsley was right. Every word she spoke was the truth, but that truth applied just as much to her as it did Inanna. The latter was just an easy scapegoat for her emotional anguish. She wondered if she intended on telling Avoca about any of the horrible things she found out the day prior. She wanted to say yes. After all, she informed her of the marathon week of time-displaced adventures she had undergone in her joint quest to undo the mess Midori Pantaloons created. Why not that, also? Avoca still, somehow, had been blessed with a certain ignorance that left her blissfully unaware of the universe just outside Vocado's priorities. She hated to kill that bliss, but she would rather not prove herself a hypocrite.

She tired. So... so tired. She just wanted to complete her deal with Night and find somewhere to run away, at least for a little bit. But, she couldn't, could she? Sarada needed support to battle Tundra, and then his empire needed to be dismantled. That would take time, and power and effort from those who had it. That meant her. Negotiations and diplomacy would needed to be utilized, rather than martial might. That also meant her.

It never ended.

It...



T...Totoma?

No, that wasn't possible. He should have still be in Otherworld, training with Vocado and Rutaba. He said as much, and Shek'hinah was more than amicable. She would have allowed it for a hero of his caliber. Yet, there he was.

There was something off about him. She had spoken to Totoma before she left. This man spoke in a manner completely foreign to the half-blood Saiyan.

Her eyes narrowed as she set her heavy gaze upon him from a distance.

Observational Focus

The body is Totoma’s.

The energy is Totoma’s.

The movements of the kata are....stiff....in a way, but still look like Totoma’s.

Nothing appears.....abnormal.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

The body is Totoma’s.

The energy is Totoma’s.

The movements of the kata are....stiff....in a way, but still look like Totoma’s.

Nothing appears.....abnormal.

Parsley was... puzzled. She knew that Totoma would be training with Vocado, and yet everything she saw about him indicated that it was, in fact, him. His body, his energy, his movements...

But something... it bothered her. Time didn't move that fast in Otherworld. A year there was a year in this realm. No Saiyan would pass up training with a legend like Vocado, even if for a day.

Her eyes narrowed as she quickly descended and landed near him. "Totoma," she greeted with a note of surprise. "A pleasure seeing you up and about. I trust the training went well."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Parsley was... puzzled. She knew that Totoma would be training with Vocado, and yet everything she saw about him indicated that it was, in fact, him. His body, his energy, his movements...

But something... it bothered her. Time didn't move that fast in Otherworld. A year there was a year in this realm. No Saiyan would pass up training with a legend like Vocado, even if for a day.

Her eyes narrowed as she quickly descended and landed near him. "Totoma," she greeted with a note of surprise. "A pleasure seeing you up and about. I trust the training went well."

He pauses and shakes his head.

“No......I wasn’t ready.”

[Sub-Zero MKA]

He pauses and shakes his head.

“No......I wasn’t ready.”

She doubted that, given the level of power Totoma had just achieved. Any Super Saiyan would have been powerful enough. Maturity played no part in it, since it was just training. Tasure's Son tended to shirk his training, but when he actually put his mind to it, he was adequately focused.

She assumed. How else could he gain so much power. Unless he just fell ass-backwards into it.

Tch.

"Ah, that's a shame," she remarked with a disappointed tone. "Training with someone like him is a lofty privilege for any Saiyan, so it makes sense he would send you back. After all, not everyone can train with someone as benevolent as Otatop IV."

Her trap was set. Would "Totoma" take the bait and expose himself.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

She doubted that, given the level of power Totoma had just achieved. Any Super Saiyan would have been powerful enough. Maturity played no part in it, since it was just training. Tasure's Son tended to shirk his training, but when he actually put his mind to it, he was adequately focused.

She assumed. How else could he gain so much power. Unless he just fell ass-backwards into it.

Tch.

"Ah, that's a shame," she remarked with a disappointed tone. "Training with someone like him is a lofty privilege for any Saiyan, so it makes sense he would send you back. After all, not everyone can train with someone as benevolent as Otatop IV."

Her trap was set. Would "Totoma" take the bait and expose himself.

Totoma frowns.

“Who? I’m sorry, but my memory is...spotty. I don’t even recall how I died other than a blast. I think I need some time to get my head right.”

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Totoma frowns.

“Who? I’m sorry, but my memory is...spotty. I don’t even recall how I died other than a blast. I think I need some time to get my head right.”

Parsley sucked her teeth and jabbed a hand onto her hip. "Of course you don't remember, because you don't know." Her ax appeared in her free hand, its blade gleaming menacingly in the pale moonlight.

"The real Totoma is still in Otherworld. I know this because one, I'm the one who sent him there, and two, I just saw him fifteen minutes ago. He intended on training with King Vocado and my cousin. To claim he wasn't ready is a laughably transparent lie."

As she spoke, she started channeling energy into her ax. The runes on the blade became aglow as she poured her power into it. "You have one chance before I send you to the shadow realm. Who are you really, and why have you possessed Totoma's body?"

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Parsley sucked her teeth and jabbed a hand onto her hip. "Of course you don't remember, because you don't know." Her ax appeared in her free hand, its blade gleaming menacingly in the pale moonlight.

"The real Totoma is still in Otherworld. I know this because one, I'm the one who sent him there, and two, I just saw him fifteen minutes ago. He intended on training with King Vocado and my cousin. To claim he wasn't ready is a laughably transparent lie."

As she spoke, she started channeling energy into her ax. The runes on the blade became aglow as she poured her power into it. "You have one chance before I send you to the shadow realm. Who are you really, and why have you possessed Totoma's body?"

Totoma scrambles back, hands out.

“Whoa whoa whoa! What the hell!? What are you doing!?”

His energy rises as his eyes flash green and he turns Super Saiyan.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Totoma scrambles back, hands out.

“Whoa whoa whoa! What the hell!? What are you doing!?”

His energy rises as his eyes flash green and he turns Super Saiyan.

She had been hoping to get whatever spirit or whatever to abandon the body before it figured out how to utilize Totoma's power, but it was apparently far more adept than she realized. "Last chance."

This is strange, she thought to herself as she also transformed into Super Saiyan. He's obviously a fake, but perhaps it isn't a possession? At least not by an evil spirit thing.

"Tch. If you're really Totoma, and you really passed over and came back, tell me this. Which of your young fans did you meet while speaking with Vocado? Was it Pinach or Rutaba?"

[MrSandman]

Spireward takes a bloodied hand from a pouch on his side and throws it at Ochazuke’s feet. Banespell’s hand, freshly cut, with a ring on its finger still.

“Banespell yet lives, but he will.....not Forge......again. Stripped....of power.....and imprisoned. Justice.....for now. Death....may still.....come. Our....elders will......decide.”

"Feh...." Etrina could only look at the severed hand from where she stood with a look of distaste. ".....I suppose the fae left this part out, old man...had you not involved others it never would have came to this. You have only yourself to blame...." The mage shook her head.

"At least we don't have to worry about that silly prison anymore...."

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

The sound of heavy pages turning on the binding, his calloused fingers brushing over the texts and rendered visuals shift an uncomfortable silence in the face of Inanna's glib, dismissive reply.

It was around the start of Reshlan that the book slammed shut in his hands.

"Listen to you, resigned to the state of things as they are."

The chronicle of the mad god he held close. There was much to glean from this still.

"What purpose does the knowledge serve, if there were only the slightest chance to affect the outcome? Everything is fixed as they shall be by some fickle design, left to chance."

A cosmic joke without plan or purpose. Only the shadows of might and fear. Even for the Godkiller.

"You most of all know circumstance is not static. Things are always in flux, subject to change for those who possess the will to act and a purpose to fight for. It broke Ishtar because she would not bend."

Inanna smiled sadly.

"For all your talk, you don't seem to understand who Ishtar even was." So she began to tell him, exactly who it was that stubborn woman had been; and what that meant. "In the beginning she believed this unwaveringly: that time was inevitable and would always lead to a singular outcome. Her ascension as Destroyer, and the execution of her given task.

"In time, she would have even come for that which you hold most dear... Earth. A nexus point of cosmic instability: a threat to balance. Could you have stopped her then, like you did all those years ago beneath Capsule Corp? I wager not." Question hanging, the woman continued her explanation. "Of course, due to the 'intervention' of Evangeline, and her falling in with the 'M-Fighters'; she began to question the inevitability of time considering the various trials you'd overcome collectively; and of course... her second love. This is where the cracks began. Hope is dangerous, makes you believe there's something to be done... but Zurvan had seen to that."

Inanna took a deep breath, only for the the exhale to nearly double her over. Whatever that Sword has done...

"Ishtar's life... My life. All of it. From birth, to her being 'plucked from Fate' by Evangeline; had been planned. Even Sarada, to an extent had been fit into Zurvan's grand designs; after an unplanned 'Divine' intervention had caused a deviation. And for Ishtar to learn that Sekhmet's death- and the destruction it caused- had been planned? That her love for Sarada was a thing to be manipulated... ended on a whim by someone she cared for?" the woman trailed off. "That is why Ishtar broke, Ochazuke. Why she died. In her desperate attempt to salvage what little remained of her sanity; she would have done the work assigned her. Taking Sarada, and then all of you down in a bid to purge the Universe of the suffering brought on by stagnation, and fashion a clean and balanced slate... Only for Zurvan to put her down like a feral beast, after she had done her 'life's work'."

A life of suffering, meticulously planned; only to learn of hope... just not for her.

He cast a hard glance over his shoulder at her.

"For you to espouse this ignorance as some act of charity, even as you collect and consume knowledge on a whim, or withhold, aloft in a solitary sphere of self-indulgence..."

That Ishtar reborn now walked among them; now he knew with certainty the Ishtar that he'd call friend was truly dead.

There were ways she could have responded to this. Ways she wanted to. Lash out. Drive home just how little she wished for this burden. How maddening it was to know just how close they were at every waking moment to simply being blinked out of existence were it not for cosmic coincidence; and yet there was a glimmer of truth however fleeting, in what Ochazuke said.

"In a way..." Inanna started. "There is a particular satisfaction to be found, yes. In knowing that the burden of salvaging what's left of our, and five other universes; sits... sat, squarely upon my shoulders." She stated. "That my life, after nigh one-hundred thousand years of suffering within a prison forged of my own body, might be worth something. Is it wrong to wish to hold onto that feeling, however briefly?"

The woman took another deep breath, and this time the pain did cause her posture to shift slightly; the burn beginning to spread up that wounded side and spread. Numbness beginning to tickle at the tips of her fingers. "Even still, that feeling did not govern my actions. What you and the others seek to crucify me for in this moment, is simply due to a matter of timing. A delaying by a few hours at best... information I had only just learned of myself due to the need to tackle more pressing matters." She replied, flatly. "That book had only just been translated, the connections only just been made; before we split off to rescue Maiz, and recover the amulet. I hadn't enough time to get a grip on it all myself before, "she gestured weakly at the destruction around them.

"So please. Save that bit of this at least, for someone more deserving... We all know my other missteps today have been far worse." Her attempted murder-suicide likely being the hill she would inevitably die on.

"Cheh, perhaps we've all misjudged you, Oni," he said. "In the face of all of you've learned, for months now, perhaps you've decided that mortal concerns are immaterial where they no longer serve you. It rather hearkens back to a Remnant of the Godly way of doing things."

Entirely without regard for those who only wish to live their lives, all that remained was a cruel struggle, surrendered to broken things that yet lingered.

Inanna smiles again sadly.

"Ishtar is who Zurvan wanted me to be, not who I am. Who's fault is it then, that I've been misjudged, and compared time and again to her?" Not on her, entirely, though she could at least understand why and where they placed the blame. Regardless of who Ishtar was, she was someone they had fought and nearly died with time and again, and forged strong bonds with. Now, she was gone, and in her place, was something foreign. Dangerous. It was in their nature to fear her, find any justification they could to distrust her; and she'd done little to dispel that. Had even given them ammunition... but their misjudging her character was not the discussion of the day. Her 'shady dealings' were.

"Yet I've only truly learned one thing, in recent months. That more than anything, the only ones who suffer the 'Godly way of doing things' are mortals. Something I doubt you would disagree with, would you Ochazuke?" This struggle with Auroc. All those months searching, bearing witness to worlds in which mortal will had been ground to dust... and now, to know that for all his hard work the actions of a misinformed Darkling had brought his world, the only home he truly knew, to its knees: with a single wish.

She could see it in his eyes. It was slowly hollowing him out; though whether or not he'd break like Ishtar... she couldn't say. "Regardless of how you see it... I meant well." But if she was to be damned for anything, it was this.

"Yet you mentioned matters I sat upon for months and months, of which there are... only two. Neither are a burden I found satisfaction- self-indulgence- in carrying. One merely fills me with dread." Her gaze fell away, then.

"So... I suppose at the end of it, despite all I've said, well meaning or not. I can't... refute it."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

She had been hoping to get whatever spirit or whatever to abandon the body before it figured out how to utilize Totoma's power, but it was apparently far more adept than she realized. "Last chance."

This is strange, she thought to herself as she also transformed into Super Saiyan. He's obviously a fake, but perhaps it isn't a possession? At least not by an evil spirit thing.

"Tch. If you're really Totoma, and you really passed over and came back, tell me this. Which of your young fans did you meet while speaking with Vocado? Was it Pinach or Rutaba?"

“I don’t know! My memories, they aren’t.....well! It’s just a blur and........”

He pauses and stares at her, eyes narrowing slightly.

He calms down and stands up a bit taller.

“Rutaba. It was Rutaba.”

[Sub-Zero MKA]

“I don’t know! My memories, they aren’t.....well! It’s just a blur and........”

He pauses and stares at her, eyes narrowing slightly.

He calms down and stands up a bit taller.

“Rutaba. It was Rutaba.”

"..."

That was either a lucky guess, or... he was actually there.

She didn't understand. It wasn't him, she knew it wasn't! It was Totoma's energy, his body, and his moves that were performed in that previous kata, but she knew it wasn't him.

Was it?

She sighed and powered down. "Sorry. It's... it's been a long day." The previous argument had her nerves frazzled and her paranoia on edge. Whether this was Totoma or an imposter, this wasn't going to be the venue of his exposure. "Sorry."

Toki Yo Tomare

It was her last ditch effort before giving up. If there was any magic or sorcery involved with his sudden reappearance and strange behavior, she was going to detect it.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"..."

That was either a lucky guess, or... he was actually there.

She didn't understand. It wasn't him, she knew it wasn't! It was Totoma's energy, his body, and his moves that were performed in that previous kata, but she knew it wasn't him.

Was it?

She sighed and powered down. "Sorry. It's... it's been a long day." The previous argument had her nerves frazzled and her paranoia on edge. Whether this was Totoma or an imposter, this wasn't going to be the venue of his exposure. "Sorry."

Toki Yo Tomare

It was her last ditch effort before giving up. If there was any magic or sorcery involved with his sudden reappearance and strange behavior, she was going to detect it.

Totoma’s body has no magical aura on it.

His shadow however does seem off.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Totoma’s body has no magical aura on it.

His shadow however does seem off.

Nothing. Totoma's body has not a single trace of magic to be found. Parsley's frustration - both with this and with herself - was barely restrained. That was her last chance, or so she thought.

His shadow. There was something off.

Why not?

Her eyes fell to his shadow. Observational Focus to narrow her focus to what exactly was off, and Tiki Yo Tomare to see if there was anything magical about it.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Nothing. Totoma's body has not a single trace of magic to be found. Parsley's frustration - both with this and with herself - was barely restrained. That was her last chance, or so she thought.

His shadow. There was something off.

Why not?

Her eyes fell to his shadow. Observational Focus to narrow her focus to what exactly was off, and Tiki Yo Tomare to see if there was anything magical about it.

There is.

It’s not his shadow. It’s someone else’s.