Dragonball M, Chapter 1: Silent Menace Aproaches!

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"The land of the dead." Koorimaru finished for her, "I'm afraid in all my travels, your blue-skinned friend was the first of your kind I'd met. Unfortunately, I did not have much of an opportunity to question her of the nature of your homeland, although I suppose it must have been a sickening place if you sought... freedom from it, was it? My question is, if you'd somehow managed to free yourself from that prison once, why ally yourself with someone like the Old Kami? Surely you know he betrayed those under his protection so many centuries ago. What makes you think you would fare any different under him?"

She pauses, but then shrugs, knowing there isn’t little reason not to tell him.

“I came here, long ago. The humans, they saw me a monster. Sought to kill me. Sought to send me back. We fought, but I bested them all. Until a man came forward, a magi. He sealed me away in a prison worse than Otherworld. For centuries I was trapped until Fife, the one you call the Old Kami, released me. He knew the old incantations to send me back. He knew the ones to seal me away. He said to follow him and revenge for my imprisonment would be mine. Failure to follow him would result in a fate worse than being sealed away. I believe him. So I did as was asked of me.”

[The Dog]

“Soon. Once we are done with this little gathering, I can perform it. Once we are done with that we can leave here for our next location. I have my satellites trying to locate it right now.”

"Very well, and thank you again Mr. Pantaloons." Shiro said with a smile, one mirrored by Midori who said "Thanks Mr. Pantaloons."

[Ptrvc]

...did she just call him by his actual name? That was a surprise. Besides his mother, he couldn't actually recall a purebred that had ever referred to him as anything other than mutt or halfbreed or the relatively benign "halfie" she'd used just now. Maybe... giving her that pizza had been a good idea, after all.

"...seeya," said Totoma.

He turned to Jack and gave him a smirk. "...nice try with trying to pass the cost off to me. But... ya know, I was legit trying to do you a favor there. You two do seem to get along."

"...better than with me, anyway," he said, his smirk fading. He sighed and shook his head. "Ah well, at least she called me by my name instead of mutt or... I dunno, Raditz. Never call a Saiyan that, by the way. Seriously. Just don't, unless you really wanna piss them off."

Jack felt a tinge of guilt. Jack had to admit he had a habit of reacting to any perceived attack or threat by biting back. Physical or social, it did not matter. The thing was, not everything he sunk his teeth into ended up being an attack.

"Sorry about that...I can get be bit defensive sometimes. The pizza vomit kind of set me off."

"Listen, if your free later, I'd like to follow up on that sparring match we've never got to have."

Jinzi hands Jack a nice looking weighted jacket.

"Something tells me you'll appreciate this, Jack."

"No way! I haven't had any weighted clothing in ages!" When Jack was younger, Manco had trained him with weighted clothing, which where generally just breastplates made of lead and other heavy metals. The problem was that as Jack got stronger, the suits just became to impractical, the amount of weight he needed to make difference being just to bulky to bother with."

Jack tried the jacket on, and nearly lost his balance at first until he managed to stabilize the weight. "This is great! Super heavy, but you can barely tell anything's under here at all just by looking!" Jack said as he excitedly shook his Jinzi's hand, "I mean, gravity chambers are well and good and cutting edge and everything, but there's just something about the classics, you know?"

Besides, for all the use you could get out of gravity chamber, you could never dramatically take the thing off.

[KamenRaida]

She pauses, but then shrugs, knowing there isn’t little reason not to tell him.

“I came here, long ago. The humans, they saw me a monster. Sought to kill me. Sought to send me back. We fought, but I bested them all. Until a man came forward, a magi. He sealed me away in a prison worse than Otherworld. For centuries I was trapped until Fife, the one you call the Old Kami, released me. He knew the old incantations to send me back. He knew the ones to seal me away. He said to follow him and revenge for my imprisonment would be mine. Failure to follow him would result in a fate worse than being sealed away. I believe him. So I did as was asked of me.”

"It seems your Fife has a fondness for recruiting those trapped by way of sorcery. The beast you were sent to unleash in order to distract us, and the Vitalmancer were similarly restrained in their own ways. I suppose even the yetis in Cask had similar origins, as was your.... reproductively inconvenienced friend." Koorimaru sighed at the last of those words, hurriedly trying to push the image from his mind, "And like you, I presume Fife gave little choice to them in the matter. Not that I blame you. I would have made a similar choice to you in your position."

Or perhaps, I've already made such a choice. Koorimaru thought to himself before continuing.

"Although in a way, I suppose your defeat was a blessing in disguise. After all, inconvenient as your current trappings are, you are in many ways under our protection against Fife now, are you not?"

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"It seems your Fife has a fondness for recruiting those trapped by way of sorcery. The beast you were sent to unleash in order to distract us, and the Vitalmancer were similarly restrained in their own ways. I suppose even the yetis in Cask had similar origins, as was your.... reproductively inconvenienced friend." Koorimaru sighed at the last of those words, hurriedly trying to push the image from his mind, "And like you, I presume Fife gave little choice to them in the matter. Not that I blame you. I would have made a similar choice to you in your position."

Or perhaps, I've already made such a choice. Koorimaru thought to himself before continuing.

"Although in a way, I suppose your defeat was a blessing in disguise. After all, inconvenient as your current trappings are, you are in many ways under our protection against Fife now, are you not?"

She pauses, then nods slightly.

“This is true. Fife does not wish a confrontation, he said. Not directly yet. Too many variables.”

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

He stood before her, silently, scanning her features. His gaze lingered on her limb--what would have been her limb---before returning his gaze to meet hers.

"I-I Don't understand how this could---"

He fumbled for the correct words. It was a situation he would have expected from her, least of all.

There was no consoling. She had not struck him as one to enjoy such words, and Held would not know what words to speak, even if she had.

He surrendered. The only thing he could think to ask was an obvious question. It was practically rhetorical, almost insulting in it's simplicity, but it could not be avoided as things were.

"Ishtar...." He said finally, "Are you alright?"

"Held." It had taken a moment, but the Oni had found his name buried beneath the memories she hadn't the strength of will to suppress anymore. It was a passing strangeness, to. Earlier that day the man had given her a music player, before agreeing to help her fill it with the music she had lost when her first had been destroyed. The Oni was aware- dimly- that the new device had not been on her person for the events that transpired ... and yet it didn't seem to matter anymore.

He asked what had happened to cause this.

"I sacrificed what was left of my arm, to protect Ninlil from ... them." She was of course speaking about Sarada, Jack, Meagan and those who had assaulted her 'cousin'. There was a distance in the way she spoke, though she was not unkind. Simply speaking the truth of what would have transpired. No one else would have bothered, after all.

"It had been damaged beforehand, when I chose to shield others, and not myself. From an ... acquaintance." The word was bitter in her mouth. The carelessness of one, had caused the injury of many. What manner of acquaintance was that ?

Held asked if she was okay, then. A simple question, with a more ... complex answer. Her body would be fine. The loss of her arm was something that could be worked through in time, perhaps. The relearning of balance, learning how to function with a single arm ... teaching one's self to use the opposite hand. She did not doubt it was possible; but what of her mind ? The chain of events leading to the loss had been particular in their relevance. A decision forced upon the Oni by circumstance, the decisions of those made afterwards ... the loss of something.

Was she well ?

"No. I am not."

There was a pause, and the Oni noticed the golden shimmer of something familiar.

"You dropped your spear."

For some reason, that seemed more pressing. Though the Oni's eyes flickered with something, then; and she took a hesitant step forward. "Have you seen my sword it is ... the shards of it. Wrapped in the boy, Chuan's, shirt."

[KamenRaida]

She pauses, then nods slightly.

“This is true. Fife does not wish a confrontation, he said. Not directly yet. Too many variables.”

"And yet, he sends you to unleash a demon upon us, while another of your comrades tries to steal away our Dragon Balls." Koorimaru scoffed dismissively, "That is far more than a mere confrontation."

And then, Koorimaru smiled with what might have been sympathy while he coughed out a smooth chuckle, "Still, I suppose that if he wished to avoid a confrontation then, he certainly has less room to mount an affront now." Koorimaru's fingers folded as he began listing down Fife's failures, "His assault on Cask was unsuccessful, and his agents there have been killed. The Vitalmancer of Dusk has imprisoned himself and is now our captive. Your invisible friend has been... disposed of. And you are no longer in his service. As it stands, he has only a single Dragon Ball in his possession while the rest are distributed amongst his rivals."

"This war is his to lose. It is shocking to me that someone who has made so many miscalculations in these past few days was able to threaten a formidable warrior such as yourself. One would almost have to assume he has more than one gambit in mind to swing the circumstances to his favour."

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

He nods his thanks and then moves over to Ishtar.

“It is not as pretty as the original one, but for the moment, it should suffice. I swear I shall build a better one for you, but until such a time, please, allow me to attach this to you. It is the most state of the art cybernetic arm I have on me. It functions exactly like a normal one, controlled by thought, but can also channel ki through it.”

Jinzi was simply doing what he felt was proper, yet to Ishtar, the surrogate arm was nothing more than an attempt to wash away the events that only hours ago; had cost her flesh and blood ... and balance. She could not fault the man for trying. What had happened was not his fault, he merely stood witness to events beyond his control ... as she had, all those years ago. The Oni considered it a moment more, before shaking her head.

"Unlike the others, I am not quick to forget the carelessness that led me to this loss. I would speak with Ninlil first; before I accept your ... pittance."

[Tami]

"Indeed. I had to do some research, but I finally found something that the Chromaki consider battle armor. Or did, at least, some years ago."

He passes her a capsule.

"Inside is a training outfit of Chromaki design, with a little CC flair. It's a bit like Saiyan armor, but less resilient and more mobile than theirs. They tend to take hits while you flit around them. It's also weighted a bit to give you a workout."

Looking puzzled, she took the capsule anyway, "I have no idea how you did that, but thank you. It's not like my people ever visited Earth before, as far as I know." She then bowed slightly and walked away to leave him to deal with the others.

Jinzi was simply doing what he felt was proper, yet to Ishtar, the surrogate arm was nothing more than an attempt to wash away the events that only hours ago; had cost her flesh and blood ... and balance. She could not fault the man for trying. What had happened was not his fault, he merely stood witness to events beyond his control ... as she had, all those years ago. The Oni considered it a moment more, before shaking her head.

"Unlike the others, I am not quick to forget the carelessness that led me to this loss. I would speak with Ninlil first; before I accept your ... pittance."

Before opening her capsule, Meagan had chosen to unobtrusively listen in on the conversation between Ishtar and the others. There is a reason why she did not speak to Isthar yet, why she did not offer sentiment of any kind.

As she listened, a look of concern and uncertainty crossed her face. There are those who relish sympathy and company at times fo pain or loss. then there are others who prefer isolation, prefer to be left alone to work things out on their own. Meagan couldn't quite figure out Isthar, so for now she would give her space to deal.

But first, Meagan went over to speak briefly with her, "Isthar, if there is any way in which I can be of assistance to you. Please do not hesitate to ask."

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Jinzi was simply doing what he felt was proper, yet to Ishtar, the surrogate arm was nothing more than an attempt to wash away the events that only hours ago; had cost her flesh and blood ... and balance. She could not fault the man for trying. What had happened was not his fault, he merely stood witness to events beyond his control ... as she had, all those years ago. The Oni considered it a moment more, before shaking her head.

"Unlike the others, I am not quick to forget the carelessness that led me to this loss. I would speak with Ninlil first; before I accept your ... pittance."

Jinzi nods and places the arm within a Capsule.

“Whenever you wish it, Ishtar. Now then, I believe Koorimaru is speaking with Ninlil now. Why don’t we go over there and find out what’s what, hmm?”

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

"And yet, he sends you to unleash a demon upon us, while another of your comrades tries to steal away our Dragon Balls." Koorimaru scoffed dismissively, "That is far more than a mere confrontation."

And then, Koorimaru smiled with what might have been sympathy while he coughed out a smooth chuckle, "Still, I suppose that if he wished to avoid a confrontation then, he certainly has less room to mount an affront now." Koorimaru's fingers folded as he began listing down Fife's failures, "His assault on Cask was unsuccessful, and his agents there have been killed. The Vitalmancer of Dusk has imprisoned himself and is now our captive. Your invisible friend has been... disposed of. And you are no longer in his service. As it stands, he has only a single Dragon Ball in his possession while the rest are distributed amongst his rivals."

"This war is his to lose. It is shocking to me that someone who has made so many miscalculations in these past few days was able to threaten a formidable warrior such as yourself. One would almost have to assume he has more than one gambit in mind to swing the circumstances to his favour."

“Yes, that is true. He does have the current Kami trapped.”

[KamenRaida]

“Yes, that is true. He does have the current Kami trapped.”

Koorimaru’s countenance locked into a stern grimace, “I suspected that was the case if you came here under her guise.” Koorimaru sighed, “Still, I hardly see how this puts him in a better position than before. Even as inconvenient as Kami’s capture is, he can’t very well threaten us with her life. Not when we know he wishes to use the Dragon Balls. So the question is, what has Fife told you about his plans with his successor.”

[KingofPie]

“Heh, majin are tougher. Still, I did find something........”

He fishes inside a pocket and brings out an old, red, stone.

“Magical in nature, created by a majin sorcerer ages ago. Majin normally havethe power to regenerate and stretch to great lengths, but you no longer have that capability. In simple terms, Sasheem, hold this stone and it will make your magic stronger.”

"Oh!" Sasheem exclaimed as he greedily grabbed the stone. He examined it a bit to determine it's nature. He didn't want to get tricked into being beholden to powerful magic that forced him to stay in the toilet or prevented him from harming people.

After determining that it would be harmless (to him) he places the stone in the palm of his right hand where it slowly sinks through his skin.

[Tami]

Walking over to an area away from the others, Meagan finally opens the capsule and in a puff out comes an outfit, armor actually. She picked it up and looked it over, then a wry smile was quickly followed by a laugh. Speaking outloud, "I thought I recognized it." She shook her head and laughed again, "It was sweet of him to make the effort, but this isn't Chromakai armor."

Thinking for a moment, "Now what was her name... Astra the Star Warrior, that's it!."

After a moment's thought, "Well, knowing Mr. Pantaloon, it might actually work." She then found a private place to change and came out wearing the armor, her cloak on her back.

Walking over the others, she asked, "Well, how do I look?"

armor-2w.jpg

[The Chou Lives]

“ Stylish. Very stylish. Like you said, a heroic look to inspire youngsters while saving the world.”

: He made note of it. Yeah he did honestly like it, and not hitting on her as he respects her.: