Dragonball M, Chapter 2: Lighthouse! Across the Shores of Shattered Time!

[Tami]

"I'll just look through this for now." He replied to the waitress, not certain of what they even carried. With that said, he flipped through the few pages the menu had to offer, looking for anything familiar or interesting.

"So... where are we, exactly?" He asked Cyanna, figuring he needed to get that question out of the way.

"Papaya Island, actually just off the coast. Dash told me about it. She said that they sometimes hold World Tournaments here. I read that this restaurant was one of the best on the Island. They specialize on sea food, but they have a lot of other things on the menu too."

[Tami]

"....Well.....it looks like your attuned to lightening magic. This will make a good foundation for your spellcraft. Now since my teacup needs a while to lose its charge....lets work on practical application. Lightening is about quick and direct destructive power, but more then anything it requires more focus then other classes to produce the desired results. By the end of the day I want you to be able to throw a simple lightening bolt, and hit and moving target with it....."

Etrina snapped her finger and the white minitrina danced mockingly into view.

"....and here is your target. You need not worry about harming her, magicite beings absorb most magic sent there way. At most you'll give her a charge for awhile.....IF you can do it."

Waving to the cute Mini-Etrina, Cyanna then looked to her new teacher, "Dash can control lightening, how is what she does different than using magic to control it?"

[Yun Lao]

"Papaya Island, actually just off the coast. Dash told me about it. She said that they sometimes hold World Tournaments here. I read that this restaurant was one of the best on the Island. They specialize on sea food, but they have a lot of other things on the menu too."

"Papaya Island..." The name was unfamiliar, but then again, it wasn't like he prided himself on knowing the name of every single location on earth. Cyanna's response did bring him a measure of relief, as he didn't have to worry about converting some alien currency with his zeni. On the other hand, he was slightly disappointed that this meant there wasn't going to be any alien cuisine for him to try this time around.

In the end, he simply shrugged to himself as he looked through the menu, "Got anything in mind?" He would ask her, curious on what she might find to be appealing.

[MrSandman]

Waving to the cute Mini-Etrina, Cyanna then looked to her new teacher, "Dash can control lightening, how is what she does different than using magic to control it?"

"There is often a huge difference in controlled an elemental force and generating one via mana. Especially if your attuned to that element. Its one thing to generate a lighting strike via a technique....but when casting a spell your filtering mana through your own ki. Thus, the result will require not expenditure of ki and will be entirely dependent on strength. If you produce a lightning bolt....that bolt is unique to you, and strengthened by your energy....so its not some generic bolt of lightning. Just as...." Etrina opens her hand and a shard of glittering ice forms above her palm. "....This is my ice, made with mana filtered through my ki. If you were unable to guess I have an elemental affinity for Ice....among other things."

The ice breaks apart into a cloud of snow that seems to lazily float around. "With finer control...you can learn you manipulate it long after you cast it. A lightning bolt that follows your commands, moves through conductible materials to strike unseen, split, combine....and so on."

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Sarada and Meagan would find that despite the damage done by the Saiyan's outburst, the desert itself remained largely undamaged, merely a span of several dozen miles had been 'glassed', with many hundreds more a shifting sprawl of sand dunes and ruination.

Though the trip itself, was uneventful.

After a short time, the two would find however, that Ishtar's position was moving ... first south, then south-east, then east ... and should they look they would find a mountain range similar to the volcanic landscape they had left some time previously.

---

The other Archon -- save one -- responded swiftly to the Eldest's summons.

The conversation too, once summoned was brief; merely the request of a status report, and a decision on what to do. That the two women seemed to be searching for something -- or someone -- proved at the least that it was as Ishtar said, as well. Though without fully understanding how the situation had progressed, or what the cause of it was ... there was little to be done but handle the 'threats'.

Several Archon expressed interest. Three were selected. Two from the 'tribes' that had been damaged, one to serve as witness, and arbiter.

With a gesture from the Eldest, they departed swiftly then, outpacing the intruders as they made for the boundary of Lasair and Gaineamh territory ...

[Ptrvc]

"Space Vegas, this is the Great Galloping" Held said over the hailing frequency, hailing the mighty colony, "Requesting permission to land."

"Galloping, please state the nature of your business." A calm, suave voice asked in response.

"I'd rather not." Held replied, chuckling slightly, "Can we say that your business is the nature of my business, and leave it at that?"

"Heh. Fair enough, Galloping. Permission Granted. Welcome aboard."

"Thank you kindly." Held replied, flicking off the ships broadcast with a button.

What were you saying, Jack....Oh, right, right.

"Not quite...." Held said with a dismayed sigh, "I've flew around once or twice, just to get a feel for the place, but..."

He shrugged.

"I pride myself on my assessments of situations, and as it was, I didn't have the skill to make it out here back then...Or the funds, to be honest."

As the Ship slowly descended into orbit, a small docking port appeared on the side of the asteroid, and the cities large shield made an opening just big enough for the Galloping to enter comfortably.

"But!" Held smiled at his comrade in chance, "That was some time ago, and I'm practically a different person at this stage, so I'm sure it'll go fine. We won't end up like those indentured guys in the tenements, I'm sure. For one thing, I'm sure we have more than enough cash to cover our bets, for one....."

It was hard to tell if the Nevadian was stating a fact, or attempting to gather morale for what he might have realized to be a more taxing endevour than realized.

For another thing, if the stories are true, they bet the sort of thing I can't be arsed risking....

The ship rocked slightly, having safely made it to its destination.

"Well, here we are."

Raising from his seat, Held stretched mightily, his mouth opening in a wide yawn. "That wasn't so bad was it, Jack? And, er, Manco, was it?"

He bent over to grab the sizeable rucksack near his feet, hoisting it over his shoulder with a grunt. To an ear as experienced as Jacks, a metallic clang could be heard, the distinctive sound of Zeni coins colliding with one another.

"Did you want to take the Grand Tour, or should we go check in first?"

Quick tour down to the red light district could be just the thing you need to help you get over S-

"Check in!" Jack said quickly, trying to shut down anymore of the Spectre's commentary.

His mind registered the clink of the cash a second later. "Lotta cash in there..." he said scratching his chin. "If I was still a bandit, I'd be considering hitting new arrivals, still flush with cash."

Jack pointed to his eyes and then his ears, "Keep them peeled."

[Tami]

"Papaya Island..." The name was unfamiliar, but then again, it wasn't like he prided himself on knowing the name of every single location on earth. Cyanna's response did bring him a measure of relief, as he didn't have to worry about converting some alien currency with his zeni. On the other hand, he was slightly disappointed that this meant there wasn't going to be any alien cuisine for him to try this time around.

In the end, he simply shrugged to himself as he looked through the menu, "Got anything in mind?" He would ask her, curious on what she might find to be appealing.

"Hmm, let's see." She looked over the menu, then up at Charco, "Maybe I'll start with the Seaweed and Sea Scallop salad. Then I'll try the Gado-Gado"

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Sarada and Meagan would find that despite the damage done by the Saiyan's outburst, the desert itself remained largely undamaged, merely a span of several dozen miles had been 'glassed', with many hundreds more a shifting sprawl of sand dunes and ruination.

Though the trip itself, was uneventful.

After a short time, the two would find however, that Ishtar's position was moving ... first south, then south-east, then east ... and should they look they would find a mountain range similar to the volcanic landscape they had left some time previously.

"She's moving?" It seemed that Ishtar was well enough to move, and move quickly. Either she was being chased, or was exploring. Either way, Sarada sighed and changed directions. "I don't know what's going on," she commented, mostly to herself.

After a while, she found that the location Ishtar was heading toward was similar to the terrain they encountered when they first arrived. Volcanic, molten, filled with lava. Why is she going here?

[Yun Lao]

"Hmm, let's see." She looked over the menu, then up at Charco, "Maybe I'll start with the Seaweed and Sea Scallop salad. Then I'll try the Gado-Gado"

"I think I'll go with the tropical rice with tempura eel and then some grand marlin." Closing the menu reluctantly, it was fairly apparent that Charco was restraining himself this meal. With how hard the earthling fought, his body had developed quite the appetite, one that possibly rival their Saiyan comrades. Of course, such a hunger would be... problematic for such a public restaurant on their wallets.

I'll have to go hunting after this...

If he was to continue his training right after, he would need those calories, but he wasn't going to object relaxing just a bit with Cyanna for the time being.

[Lord Falcon]

"Doubt you were thinking about age when you made that drugged water for everyone." Etrina voice came through the still open doorway from somewhere down the hall.



"........Ashy, I don't like to see your worried. It hurts..." Erosa frowned, and shook her head. ".....I'm not going to die.......I just think, maybe it'll be better if I leave the rest to you and the others. Or maybe....you could stay here with me? I know a few good......spots for......a picnic..." The Id took Asha'rahs hand in her own and squeezed. ".....its not fair......your not being fair.....you keep giving me a chance and saying things like love....even though I'm the farthest from striving for anything...Ashy you...."



".....a voice...?" Erosa pulled herself upright almost immediately. Not for any particular reason she knew....the voice had a familiar flavor to it. One she had heard somewhere, she just couldn't put a finger on where.....and it was dangerous.

For a few moments the two cast their gaze to the immediate environment, senses reaching out to grasp whatever immaterial energy would reveal the source of the new observer.

It was only then that the blue haired figured stepped out next to the tree....and the moment either gaze fell upon her, so too did they finally see the bloom of power held carefully in check.

"Hey...about time we met. Or did we meet before?" Chrona scratched her chin, and gave Asha'rah a knowing smile. "Another place, another timeline, another dimension.....I'm sure I've met you once by now. But just in case...So happy to meet you, I'm Chrona, an aspect of time.....and I'm here to save your lives."

The time familiar lifted her arms in a gesture of peace, making no obvious move to defend herself, and seemed to be waiting for whatever action Asha'rah would take.

As much as it touched Asha'rah for Erosa to admit caring for Asha'rah's happiness, to admit that it hurt her to see Asha'rah worry, it would not be enough. Not for Erosa. It was not enough solely to live for another. Even if it were, Asha'rah did not presume herself so steady a presence as to be worthy of such an imbalanced devotion.

Erosa's own lethargy filled her with...shame? For not striving.

"To love only when it suits you is the love one has for a tool, discarded as soon as the tool is of no use. Ideology isn't everything, Erosa. Not even for me. And you are not a tool. You are a very special person in a deep ebb, and I am here for you."

Before she could say anything further, another made herself known. It was a blue-haired girl, introducing herself as Chrona. And she claimed the purpose of saving both their lives.

"A bold claim. From what do we need saving?"

[Sub-Zero MKA]

Time moved at an indeterminable pace in Otherworld. What seemed like minutes could have been hours, days, or even weeks. The milestone moments that marked passage of time melded together into a physical slideshow of images that held less and less importance.

That, contrary to how she felt some time ago, was just fine with Parsley. Ever since she met Agoz, her attention had been spent paying rapt attention to his history lesson. It was miraculously shorter than she thought it would be, but just as informative and vital to the remainder of her lesson. During this lesson, she learned that certain races had more aptitude for magic than others. Hers, unfortunately, had very little talent for sorcery. In its history, not one Saiyan had ever practiced sorcery, much less enough to consider him or herself a mage of any sort.

Good.

If she was as talented in the ways of combat and martial arts as she thought she was, then magic and sorcery should have been no different. At the very least, she should have been able to wield this strange power source enough to diversify her arsenal enough to make her unpredictable. Unpredictability was dangerous. It kept the enemy on their toes, and kept them guessing. The more time they spent guessing and reacting meant less time they could spend forming a strategy against her.

After answering a series of questions to ensure she had a firm grasp on the history part of the lesson, Azor moved on to the practical part. “Every mage had an elemental affinity. You have the four cardinal elements: fire, earth, water, air. Then you have the elements that branch off from those four: lightning, metal, ice, etc. There are other types of magic, also, like time, healing, dark magic, and so forth. For now, we'll keep it simple.

Azor reached into his robe and pulled out a rock. He placed it on the ground between them. The source of magic is an inner force known as mana. Its completely different from ki, but the two work intrinsically together to not only craft a spell, but power it. Mana is channeled through your ki, giving your spell the power it needs to do its work substantially. But, before we start spellcrafting, we need to determine your affinity. Here, channel your mana like I showed you and manipulate this rock.”

She learned that channeling mana was similar to channeling ki. The result, of course, was different, but the mechanics were similar.

Parsley closed her eyes and breathed in slowly. Just like she did when she was a young girl first learning how to charge her ki, she concentrated on breathing in and out at a steady, consistent pace. It was in there; every being had at least some mana; the point was whether or not they were able to do anything with it. Even conjuring it forth was beyond the multitude.

Parsley, of course, was not among those lesser beings.

One of the many good things about being dead was that there was no rush. She would get it when she got it, no sooner. They would keep at it until she got it right.

Azor, for his part, waited patiently, for his young student to begin the task at hand.

Finally, her eyes opened. She felt, more like guessed, that she was ready to try. She picked up the rock and shifted it until it was resting in the center of her palm. Manipulate the rock was her task, using the element that came naturally to her. She could feel her mana flowing through her. It felt cold, and hollow, nearly empty. She pushed it through her arm and into her hand.

Slowly, a small air current flowed up from her palm and lifted the rock skyward. It only lasted a moment, but it was enough to push the rock from her hand into an arc that eventually led to it landing on the ground beside her.

“Good. So, your attuned to air. Good, you can get a lot of mileage out of that. While it does have some offensive uses, air is more of a defensive element. Specifically, evasion. I think that would suit you quite well.”

With Parsley's element now figured out, they could start working on basic spells. Since she was still learning the very basics, he kept it simple and showed her how to generate a blast of air. It was very similar to a generic ki blast. In fact, the mechanics were the same; and since her mana needed to intermingle with her ki to generate power for the air blast, it felt the same as what she had been doing for nearly half her life.

After showing her that and offering a demonstration, the lesson concluded for the “day”. He left Parsley alone to ruminate and meditate on what she had learned, and to practice channeling her mana and performing the wind gust spell.

This wasn't exactly where she saw herself, even when she met Azor. She only intended on having him teach her how to break spells apart and twist mages around her finger. Yet, learning a new craft was... exciting. Especially one that forced her to exercise her existing skills and talents in new ways to achieve similar yet wholly different results. She could use her ki to manipulate the air around her and create a wave of pressure to knock back her enemy. But, that was vastly different from actually generating a gust of actual air and wielding it as a weapon.

The possibilities were endless. And exhilarating!

Every “day” was more of the same. She spent the mornings with Azor, slowly but surely becoming more adept at channeling her mana and practicing the wind gust spell over and over until it became second nature. Her afternoons were spent walking around speaking with others who were allowed to keep their bodies in Purgatory. Her nights were spent training. Not so much training her body – though that was a big part – but training and honing her techniques and martial arts until both became second nature. Every day, every hour, every minute that passed brought her closer to her entire repertoire being performed purely off muscle memory. Every second that was shaved off having to perform the build up to her more powerful techniques was a second saved toward paying attention to something else.

Those seconds could and would save her life when she returned to the world of the living.

After countless hours training, she took a break to find a nice secluded spot to herself. It was hard, since there were countless billions of souls floating around Purgatory, seemingly pouring out of every crack and crevice imaginable. In the end, she ended up sharing a spot with some unwitting cloud.

Her moments alone in semi-solitude were spent thinking of Avoca. Most of those thoughts were pondering how she was faring without her. Obviously, she was fine. Sarada wouldn't let her best friend deteriorate from grief for very long before forcibly pulling her out of whatever rut she allowed herself to fall into.

Sometimes, Parsley would close her eyes and pretend that she was laying next to her. Sometimes, it felt so real. She could hear her breathing, hear her soft voice whispering as they spent the nighttime hours talking about whatever was on their minds. She could feel her soft, calloused hands gently caressing whatever part of Parsley they could get at. She could feel herself staring into those beautiful, endless violet eyes.

Those were the times when Parsley found herself regretting her actions the most. How she lived her life up to her death, how she carried herself. If she had have been a better person, then maybe they could have gotten together sooner, and she would have been able to love Avoca longer.

Maybe she would have even worked up the courage to tell Avoca she loved her.

In the end, it didn't matter. Once she was resurrected, she could do all those things and then some. They could get paired, have children – if Sarada and Ishtar planned on having babies somehow, then they could too – have a family. It wasn't what she wanted when growing up, but she realized that it was what she wanted right then.

I wonder if she knows how I really felt, she would ponder sometimes. To be fair, she wasn't expecting her to. She was big enough to admit that it really did look like she was, at times, just using Avoca to get at Sarada, even if that hadn't been true since they started their affair/relationship. Even still, all she had to do was get back to her, then she could tell her everything.

“I love you.” The words came out easily enough. Then again, she was alone.

“Aw, thanks. I love you, too,” said a man some distance away.

Parsley sat up to glare at him, coercing him into make a hasty retreat. “Ugh.” Anyway. “I love you, Avoca. Avoca, I love you. I...I love you.” See? The words weren't hard to say. In another dimension. While dead.

Saying them in front of Avoca loudly enough for her to hear them was another matter entirely. Well, it was a good thing Parsley could do anything, had no fear, and was completely incapable of embarrassment.

…

The heat she was feeling around her cheeks was just... because it was hot around here. That was all!

“Ah, young love,” Azor commented from a short distance away. Parsley abruptly sat up, wide eyed and cheeks crimson. “Hehe. Relax. I was like you when I was your age. I know you Saiyans think you don't need sappy stuff like love, so I'll spare you the story. Time for another lesson.”

“Oh.” How much time had passed since their last one? “Okay.” She stood and wiped her face.

If nothing else, she would have a greater appreciation for clocks by the time she returned to life.

[Tami]

"She's moving?" It seemed that Ishtar was well enough to move, and move quickly. Either she was being chased, or was exploring. Either way, Sarada sighed and changed directions. "I don't know what's going on," she commented, mostly to herself.

After a while, she found that the location Ishtar was heading toward was similar to the terrain they encountered when they first arrived. Volcanic, molten, filled with lava. Why is she going here?

"More likely being moved. If she is being held prisoner, her wardens probably know about us by now. I can't imagine Isthar not coming to meet us, or reach out to us, if her movements here weren't restricted in some way." Meagan continued to scan ahead, "It also means that our movements will soon be impaired as more attackers come after us. Fighting has it's uses, but in this instance I'd prefer to be able to obtain more information first. Why is she here? Who is keeping her? And why?"

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"More likely being moved. If she is being held prisoner, her wardens probably know about us by now. I can't imagine Isthar not coming to meet us, or reach out to us, if her movements here weren't restricted in some way." Meagan continued to scan ahead, "It also means that our movements will soon be impaired as more attackers come after us. Fighting has it's uses, but in this instance I'd prefer to be able to obtain more information first. Why is she here? Who is keeping her? And why?"

Sarada growled, but didn't respond.

She didnt care why Ishtar was there, only about bringing her home where she would be safe and sound. The who and why and how didn't matter to that end.

Damn it. Why can't anything be easy?

"Fine. We'll ask questions next time."

[Tami]

Sarada growled, but didn't respond.

She didnt care why Ishtar was there, only about bringing her home where she would be safe and sound. The who and why and how didn't matter to that end.

Damn it. Why can't anything be easy?

"Fine. We'll ask questions next time."

"There is a reason why she hasn't been killed or otherwise disposed of. Knowing that reason could work to our advantage."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"....One more inquiry, if I am permitted." Cthylla observed her immediate surroundings curiously. "I require an unused chamber....One that can be sealed properly and that you do no plan to use for any other task for the immediate future. Is such a thing available?"

Eva nods as Kai seems to keep his distance. Kai seems to know what she is.

Eva shows her an unused room she can use.

“Asha’rah should be by at some time. If not....perhaps Sihn could.”