Right. Agh. That's a concussion. Okay, take stock.
All is well, as these things go. No other injuries, at least, or as near as you can tell. You refrain from healing the concussion yet, in case.
"He's awake."
You sigh at your son's voice, and try to heal yourself after all. It doesn't work.
The feeling of metal at your wrists makes itself known.
Of course. And I remember...oh dear, that's embarrassing.
Your last memory of having true agency is stumbling into a magical trap in what, on reflection, was an obvious setup. Then there are years of careful mental nudges discouraging you from action. And then...ah, poor Kakara.
You open your eyes and see your bitch of a daughter-in-law, grinning down at you. "Well hi, Patriarch," she says, kicking you in the chest.
"That tickles," you reply, words slurred by the concussion. "Go fuck yourself."
"No," she replies, scowling at you. "How about you try it?"
You groan. "Did you seriously just, 'no, you,' me?"
"Oh Ancestors on high, can you not go one word without being an ass?!" she exclaims, throwing up her hands.
You sigh, closing your eyes. "...head hurts."
"He has a concussion," you hear Jaffur say in a clinical tone. "Deliberate."
"Why did you hit him that hard, sweetie?" asks Dandeer.
"He is dangerous, Mother," replies your grandson. You shiver at the dead monotone he's using. "I would not risk you to his full intelligence."
Dandeer sighs. "Honey, I know you have a big vocabulary, but can you talk like a normal person?"
"I cannot," he replies. "Your spell is continually disrupting attempts at slipping subtle insults into my speech, when I try."
You snort. "Good boys."
Dandeer kicks you again. "Shut up! You know what, just shut up! Jaffur, thank you for trying to help, but I don't need him fuzzy for this. Parapa."
You shiver at the incantation, and even moreso at the feeling of her magic washing over you. The concussion fades away, and everything gets sharper. Your eyes snap open, and you grin. "So, kiddo, how's it feel to realize that even when you use your magic, your sons don't really love you?"
She flinches back before covering it with a scowl. "Just growing pains. Jaffur, sweetie, tell him."
"They are not. This is the farthest you will get," says Jaffur.
Dandeer flinches again. "A- aren't you not supposed to hurt me?"
"I have not tried to injure you," replies your grandson.
You see her tearing up. "...just shut up," she says.
"Maybe I don't even need to say anything!" you chime in. "Seems like they're doing just fine on their own."
"Very funny, Dad," she spits, leaning in. "You know that all you have now is words, right? That's it! You lost, and now I'm going to win. Forever. So talk all you want." She turns away.
"You don't look very satisfied!" you say. "What, isn't this everything you've ever dreamed of?"
"Sure is!" she replies, walking off to where Berra stands in the distance. "What, do you not know what losing looks like?"
"Of course I do," you reply, chuckling. "Which is why I have you pegged. Even now, with your victory so close at hand, there's not a single person here who loves you."
Dandeer misses a step, and stumbles to a halt.
You give her back a vile smirk. "Forget me. Forget Kakara. Not a single one of your puppets loves you. I remember what it's like, being under. Let me tell you, Dandeer, there's no love. I just forget why I shouldn't do as you say. Do you know how much stuff you need to strip away to make me forget why I shouldn't follow your orders? There's barely anything about you left!" You bare your teeth. "They don't love you any more than a golem you made would. Nobody and nothing loves you, and nothing ever will."
Dandeer starts walking again, at a faster clip. You settle back, satisfied, and go back to taking stock.
Kakara is chained next to you, still unconscious. You feel a moment of regret for what you said and did to her. Hopefully she'll realize that she shouldn't take what you said to her seriously; you were only trying to rattle her. Then you push past the regret.
The Senzus are lying in the mud off to your right. They're even unrestrained. Makes sense, you suppose; restraints like this aren't cheap, and it's not like the Senzus stand a chance against the arrayed might of four super saiyans. Still, a potential opening.
And...you look at the assembled super saiyans. Berra, Apra, Jaffur, and Vegeta, all up and about, unrestrained.
...that bodes poorly for you.
You glance at Kakara out of the corner of your eye. Dandeer would obviously want to gloat at Kakara, but Kakara is useful to Dandeer, as a symbol, as an asset. Looking back, perhaps your single most unpardonable sin in this whole mess was underutilizing Kakara. Scions who put as much time and focus into learning the craft of ruling are rare, and she has a gift.
Of course, there's a reason why you were so damned passive about things, and Apra...she wanted to keep her granddaughter out of it as much as possible. You know your counterpart has been crying herself to sleep most nights, given what the plan called for regarding her son. She probably wasn't thinking about cold-blooded, efficient ways to exploit her granddaughter.
What all of this shakes out to is that Kakara is valuable to Dandeer. She'll be woken up, Dandeer will gloat, and Kakara will be Sealed.
You...you're another matter. You are less valuable. You are getting older. You are useful only as a symbol of terror...and if your suspicions are correct, Dandeer will soon have no need of that.
You take a slow, deep breath, closing your eyes. Everybody has to die sometime.
Ancestors all, but especially Penitent Vegeta, I call on you for strength. I call on you for the courage to face the end, when it comes, with eyes clear and hands steady. Give me the resolve to stand true to my beliefs and die worthily.
I know that I have often lapsed in my faith, over the years. Even now...I admit, I am unsure that you're listening. At some point along the way, I lost the path, and I don't know if I ever made my way back. But if you're listening...please.
Don't let me fail here.
I have done horrible things, and when I reach Yemma's house, I fully expect him to send me down with a sneer of contempt. Nothing I do will ever be enough to justify my failures, but I beg you to give me the strength to earn something with my death. Don't let it be for nothing. Senzu Hall still stands, and should Dandelor reach it, I know that the wards will hold against whatever Dandeer throws at them. Let me ensure that he makes it. Give me the strength to strike one final blow, and ensure that somebody escapes to carry on the fight.
I do not deserve anything, but...after so long, I want to know that I did something without a shade of grey. I want to know that my final act was a worthy one.
Please. I have done...so much wrong. Allow to to do one last thing right.
You hear Dandeer stepping over to Kakara; you hear a muttered incantation. Kakara stirs, without a sound.
You are confident that now, a mere moment after awakening, Kakara has some plan. Now might be the best time for her to try it. Nobody expects her to try anything. Dandeer is not an idiot, per se, but she is arrogant, and not nearly as smart as she thinks she is. Certainly far less intelligent than Kakara. The Scion will think of something that Dandeer -- and you -- could not.
You try to establish telepathy with Kakara; you cannot. In this, it seems, it falls to you to wait and see what she has in mind. You can only act in support of what she tries, once you see what she's doing. Hopefully, you will be useful. And then, surely, you will die, as soon as Dandeer can make it happen, for fear that you will trouble her again.
And now, at the last, you are ready.
What plan has Kakara formed, in these few seconds?
[ ] The original plan. As the vision counseled, Kakara will break her restraints, wreak havoc in order to give the Senzus an opportunity to escape, and send messages to as many people as she can giving them the coordinates to Senzu Hall and an order to get under cover. When she is finally subdued, she will cast herself free in a mind projection to escape Sealing. She'll find a safe place to anchor, and find a way to get stronger in preparation for her return later.
[ ] Kakara has an alteration to the plan in mind.
-[ ] Kakara plans to free Yammar as well. Anything else will need to wait until she sees how this shakes out, because she won't be able to focus on anything until it has.
-[ ] Despite the vision's very explicit warning to not go for Jaffur, Kakara intends to try. Again, anything else will need to wait.
[ ] It is the worst chance she's ever faced, including the fight with Yammar that she just lost, but Kakara intends to let her vision's plan go hang. She'll break free, sure, but she intends to win outright. (OOC: I'm only not saying that this is physically impossible because I'm not capable of envisioning every possibility in Creation. Take at your own risk).
-[ ] Write-in tactics.
[ ] Write-in.
MANUAL MORATORIUM. APPROVAL VOTING.
Here we are again. A reminder: if you wish to examine the mechanics in planning for this vote, check the Rules Screen and Kakara's character sheet.
I hope you all have enjoyed the update, and I look forward to your discussions as we proceed again with the quest.
@PoptartProdigy have an... Omake? I think? It's something.
Operation Success
She left the great hall, moving quickly to a small corridor hidden away from the rest of the compound. It had taken a bit of time, but she'd successfully modified the spell to ensure that all her puppets would keep following a convincing mimicry of life. It wouldn't stand up to suspicion for long, but then again, it didn't need to. She went down the stone steps, past torchlight and mage light alike, before reaching a dead end. Reaching down to her wrist, she quickly typed in the password on her tool. The wall slid down, revealing a corridor made from advanced alloys and lit with electric lights.
As the woman called Dandeer walked through that corridor, she let the all-encompassing illusion that disguised her figure and voice fall away. It was no longer necessary. She stood outside the room for one brief moment, reviewing the report she was about to make. She entered, walking up to metal podium in the center as it turned on, receiving instructions from light years away. A few seconds later, a blue holographic image of her boss appeared. She looked up briefly, then set aside the pad she'd been looking at and focused her full attention on the situation at hand.
"You were successful then?" Under her mask, 'Dandeer's' flesh pulled back in what could have been a smile, a habit she'd picked up in the company of her previous employers.
"Indeed. The Saiyans have been"-gshk-"subverted. Garenhuld is yours"-gshk-"Minister T'Vael."
Through a combination of the strange biotics found on the planet and the technology you reverse-engineered from the SO-4 site, Shurna has successfully subverted all relevant governments on Garenhuld, hidden or otherwise. The military force you have gained from this could very well be the solution to fighting the Rachni in a land war.
AN: Interesting idea I had of what might happen if we try to visit Otherworld as a Shade.
The Temporal Sphere
[ ] Work on binding yourself to the physical world.
[ ] Make sure no one is going to do anything rash until you have a plan ready... or until Dandeer gets a really bad case of food poisoning despite having a mindcontrolled personal chef.
[X] Attempt to contact Ancestors.
Kakara was reasonably sure her current degree of anchoring was enough to avoid her soul simply passing on if she tried to visit her Ancestors, and she was concerned pushing it any farther would make it difficult to move off-world if they could provide more accurate information on the locations of the Androids, Majin Buu, Namek, or Hit. If she had Dragon Balls to wish on, Hit's Time Stop, and Buu as an ally, she might well be able to bumrush Dandeer, since a magical entity such as Buu seemed like he'd be... difficult to mind control.
As she attempted to reach out to Otherworld, she neglected to take into account her current state, which was closer to that of a ghost than a living being, and in her efforts to make the journey, she punched straight past the afterlife, to a space unlike anything she'd ever seen.
The landscape around her shifted from moment to moment. At one instant, it was scraps of paper floating in a golden nothingness. At another instant, spheres of various colors, reminiscent of the tales of the Dragon Balls during the Tournament of Power, floated, and while she had little to give her a sense of scale, she felt as though they were immense. The last stage of the cycle, relative to when she'd arrived, was that of gates, set on floating islands less than 10 meters in diameter. In every iteration, her vision, capable of seeing impossibly fine details even at her current maximum powerlevel, failed her before the objects ended in every direction.
"What... is all this? Either the stories left out a lot about Otherworld" she paused in a moment's thought. "...which could be since they don't seem to have exactly gone out exploring, or else this is definitely somewhere new." First order of business was to find her way back. She was standing on solid ground, and, getting a hunch, turned around. Sure enough, a door, er, page was next to her. The page, er, sphere had familiar energy signatures, but she'd need something a little more distinct to latch onto if she wanted to explore this place, because she could swear that she could sense the exact same signatures, over and over, in all directions.
"I... suppose I should just go back and try again. I'm not sure I could find my way back to this... I'm not sure what this is, because there must be hundreds of these things, and Zeno'o would have noticed if there were more than a hundred universes." Kakara mused. Before startling and turning as a signature suddenly appeared behind her in a manner that sort of felt like Instant Transmission, but that wasn't quite right.
"That's because they aren't really separate universes." The person before her appeared to be herself, but with slightly duller hair, stained clothes as one might expect of a stereotypical artist but rarely saw on real ones, a giant notebook and a bandoleer of... colored pencils? She'd assume that's what the pad was for, but why the notepad in the first place? More pressingly, her signature felt.. wrong somehow. Hollow? That was the word she'd use.
"Uh, hi. If they aren't other universes, what are they?" Kakara asked.
"You know how Future Trunks created a brand new timeline when he tried to use timetravel? Well, sometimes that happens with other things, temporal distortions that slip through the cracks when a Time Kai is indisposed, being selected, or dealing with a more major crisis. All of these timelines are minor differences that echoed out. Things that could have been if someone had been a little faster or slower, physically or mentally. If they'd been a little better or worse of a person. If a hit was at just a little more of an angle. The main universe of each of the Temporal Spheres, one linked to each of the 12 Universes, is guarded by the Supreme Kai of Time, to prevent timeline distortion, though they will sometimes look the other way if someone alters the timestream for the better." The person explained. The 'Temporal Sphere' seemed to have stabilized in the paper stage in their presence.
"So, who are you, exactly?" Kakara asked.
"I'm... well, technically I'm an alternate you, but I go by Artist," There was something off about how she'd said that. "since talking to other versions of me makes it hard to address people. I should be getting you back to your timeline, since the Time Kai doesn't like it when I mess with the timelines directly, and to be honest I prefer not to interfere either." Artist explained.
"Hold on, what was that technique you just used. That wasn't Instant Transmission." While Kakara wasn't 100% convinced Artist had told her everything, or even the exact truth (she was surprisingly hard to read for someone so talkative), her sensing abilities were something she trusted implicitly, and that had felt like IT, but wasn't.
"Oh, teleportation is a completely different thing. It's just as fast, and it doesn't need gestures, but it's a lot more draining, and it gets exponentially more draining the further away you are. Goku's 7000 miles jump? I couldn't do that even if I put everything I had into it. Now, 10 feet? That, I can do without any trouble. You really should be getting back inside your timeline. You're really lucky I was the one who found you and not... uh, well, there's less friendly people out here, and they don't take intruders nearly as well as I do. Plus, the Time Kai would yell at me for getting a- er, you killed." Artist insisted.
"Can you visit to teach me that?" she asked, managing to keep most of the desperation out of her voice. If she could use this, then her battlefield mobility would improve immensely. Instant Transmission's main weakness was that it required a very obvious, and in Exile circles, well known gesture to use. This technique didn't, and even if she couldn't jump very far with it, she could have reached the Senzus or Jaffur without any trouble if she had known it. Not to mention anything else Artist might know. Who knows what sort of things she might pick up in alternate timelines?
Artist paused, clearly considering it. When she spoke, something had clearly changed. "Well, maybe, but I'd need you to give meideas in return. See, I like stories, but I'm not good at making them myself, so I help people who are, but mycreativity and imagination have their limits. "
While Kakara was getting creeped out, she felt that she needed to have every advantage she could, and what harm could giving someone ideas for a story do? "Sure, I can do that." she nodded.
Artist smiled a little wider than Kakara usually did, which was odd to see on her own face. "Great! We're gonna be great friends, I can just tell." She dragged Kakara into the piece of paper. "I'll come home with you. We can start the exchange." All was quiet for a moment, before someone else arrived.
"Artist was definitely here." Trunks, the version of himself that was a member of the Time Patrol at least, reported to the Supreme Kai of Time, "But I'm not sure who was with her. Their Powerlevel was under 2 million. Even if they were at the usual 10% of maximum most people hover at most of the time, they'd still only be a little under 19."
"That's... a weird spot for most version of the current era of Saiyans to be at. Above the cap for non-Super Saiyan-unlocked, but barely past it for anyone who unlocked it, and Saiyans hate staying below at least half their cap unless their bodies are quitting on them from old age, because they know what sort of stuff is out there." Chronoa noted.
"Maybe it wasn't a descendant of Goku and the others?" Trunks proposed. "It could have been some Frieza alternate or someone trying to be a galactic emperor."
"Maybe, but you guys and your descendants get into more trouble than half the rest of the universe combined, even if they aren't 'you' strictly speaking." Chronoa replied.
"Well, I'll leave a sensor here, in case one of them comes back." Trunks placed a spherical device, which rippled with divine energy, as Artist had difficulty sensing it, before cloaking itself in an illusion that it was not there.
"Report back to the Time Zone for now. There's a pair of new timelines Artist's created that we need to deal with before they start causing problems." Chronoa ordered. "Apparently, Artist didn't know that alternate timelines of alternate timelines of alternate timelines" Definitely a note of exasperation there. "Are unstable. Which I could tell her if she bothered to check in on her creations afterward."
"We'll find her soon. She can't keep running forever." Trunks reassured, as the portal to the Time Zone opened and he flew through it. The Future Warrior was off investigating elsewhere, quelling alternate versions of the Time Breakers mostly.
***
NormClown: ...Well, that was a thing. Does anyone else think that this alternate us is secretly evil or something? She was acting like story ideas were some kind of precious commodity. Are we looking at someone who gets a power-up from ideas or something weird like that? I mean, magic works on concepts for Garenhulders, but maybe other people use other things, like creativity itself.
Maybe those 'bad guys' she was warning us about were coming to warn us about her, and what her abilities were. Of course, I could have it backwards and she's actually just trying to amass the power to take them down without messing up the universe too much.
Karasi: The hell? Since when was Xenoverse involved here?
SirMacOrator: I just want to know where Artist came from to be honest.
PoptartProdigy: I'll answer that. Nowhere. She doesn't have a home timeline.
AN: Okay so what's happening here is that Artist doesn't have a soul, and thus can't feel without a special substance that only comes into existence when a new universe or timeline comes into existence. So, she cribs ideas from people, or uses her own, and creates alternate timelines. What if Beerus had killed Frieza after he destroyed Planet Vegeta? What if Bardock had convinced King Vegeta that Frieza was going to destroy their race, and they'd rushed him as Oozaru? Or if Frieza had destroyed Goku's escape pod for a laugh (don't lie, he'd do that) causing Bardock to go SSJ from rage, and killed Frieza before he could change forms. Stuff like that. Since these changes are so extreme, but not 'villains win' changes like the Time Breakers were doing, she's not sure if she should just destroy them, because of that whole divine law thing, or leave them be because destroying universes of people for the crime of existing is not something to be done lightly, especially since in most cases good things result from them. Currently, she's trying to find Artist and interrogate her on what her goal is here, since she's not destroying things for the sake of it, and could be said to be doing the opposite of that, but she is being irresponsible. Artist hasn't exactly been forthcoming, and in most cases doesn't come back after creating a timeline, unless to make a branch off of that branch.
The core of the first Super Saiyan transformation shares much in common with a willpower push. It is done in response to great need, and it has a broadly similar effect on the psyche.
The best metaphor you've heard for the difference? Yoki are like struggling to push a gate wider, but Super Saiyan is like pushing open another door entirely - the initial rush of power is hard to regulate, but with practice you can do it comfortably, and even keep it open while resting.
And so your exercise for the time being is simply to meditate while staying transformed. It is a strangely relaxing challenge, and you welcome it. You succeed surprisingly quickly.
(A/N: That link is to something I think mirrors the Super Saiyan mechanics a tiny bit better than the metaphor I used in the story. There's a reason it affects Base Power Cap, after all.)
Practice Session
The Garenhuld Exiles' Hall
Three Months before Lord Berra's Tournament
You wave excitedly as your husband descends feet-first into to the wide open spaces of the Hall, stopping close by you and your disciples.
"Sorry I'm late, Mitsuba; got caught up talking with your parents."
"It's okay, honey, we were just talking about how to gang up on you." You gesture to Mikan and Budo, at your left and right hands, respectively.
"Wait, me?"
"Hey, just because you don't do pro tournaments doesn't mean I don't think you can fight. Besides, for what we have in mind, a Trunks stylist is just what we need!"
"I thought you said we'd be talking about how to fight the aliens together. Dealing with power level restrictions, working in teams, that kind of thing."
"Exactly! And the best kind of talking is the kind with punching, don't I always say that?"
"No. No you do not."
"Huh. Maybe I should start. What do you think-?" You bite off a 'dear,' you never say 'dear' when you're telling him a joke. Bana's iffy on sarcasm and deadpan sometimes, and he's always needed a way to tell when you're not teasing him.
"I think three against one sounds rough." With the unspoken addendum, especially if one of the three is you, against me. There are couples that spar affectionately. There are couples that spar where one partner's kind of a bully about it. You long since resolved that you would be the first, or neither. On the other hand, that resolution is perfectly consistent with the plan.
"Stop being such a big baby, we'll spot you a power level advantage! Budo, Mikan, six fifty. I'll be at six hundred."
"And me?"
"Let's just say that the last time you clocked yourself, you evil alien, you were at... one million." You pronounce the words with relish and a mockery of a traditional loremaster's oratorical pose.
"Gotcha. Okay... that sounds... maaaybe."
And even with him not being a pro, but rather a charming roguish dilettante- if you do say so your own biased self...
The hell of it is, even three-on-one, it just might be. Bana may focus so much around the sword that even by Trunks Style traditions he's a bit lopsided, but he does fight according to its precepts. Agile, counterpunchy. Not much time wasted. Practically designed around being able to defend against two enemies at once, almost as well as against one. Practical, as most of the sagas depict Future Trunks. And hoo boy is keeping up distance control tough- and all the more important- when your opponent is waving around one of those glorified skewers!
And all of that is how Trunks Style is supposed to work when they don't have a power level advantage. This is going to be good practice, for working together to tackle a stronger opponent.
You go airborne, carefully moderating your power levels. Budo takes a moment to stabilize- sloppy, should work on that- and Bana's a bit high, but eh, good enough.
He folds his arms, clearly getting into the spirit of the thing, letting out a surprisingly good bone-chilling laugh.
"Guardians of Garenhuld! You may have destroyed my scouter, but I've seen quite enough. Feeble wretches, you cannot hope to resist the power and skill of QADGOP THE MERCOTAN! Soon you will all fall beneath my blade!" He draws his training sword.
Qadgop the Mercotan, huh? You laugh inwardly. He may not be good at sarcasm, but he's still funny.
You tilt your head towards one of your disciples, then the other. "Boys? Let's get 'im." Mikan and Budo spread outwards, angling out and tossing blasts at 'Qadgop,' keeping your husband zigzagging as you circle low and underneath.
The sword whips out on the end of its long, woven-wire lanyard, and Budo jets backwards to avoid the blade. You've seen that, occasionally. Lots of Trunks stylists use a lanyard. Slinging the sword out on it isn't really a technique as such, too hard to control, but it can be a good way to buy time and space, sometimes.
And Trunks Style is all about buying time and space to land a shot in against a stronger opponent. Against weaker ones- Well, Budo's disengaged long enough that Bana must have decided he can take liberties.
"Ha-ha-HA!" He barks out a stuttering war cry as his hands twirl around one another.
You love Bana more than fighting, more than victory, more than anything in any world, save perhaps your son Taro- but you have to admit, your husband is not the best Trunks stylist you've ever fought. With its criss-crossing hand motions, the Burning Attack is a telegraphed punch by default. He's moving fast and you still have time to realize what's going on. You close in to pin his arm just as he lets fly, spoil his aim, and give Mikan or Budo a clear shot and get him to say 'uncle-'
Your husband isn't the best of Trunks stylists. He is also not stupid.
He may not be a pro, but he knows you, and he knows your eye for an opening.
And a sixty percent margin of power level superiority covereth a multitude of weaknesses.
Fast, fast, Bana whirls to face you before releasing the blast, turning his back on Mikan and beginning to roll with the punch he has to know is coming-
THOOM
You'd begun to pour power into your hands to deflect, and you knew you wouldn't manage it in time, and you didn't have to because now you twist lithely and push to one side, letting recoil and opposing pressures angle you to one side as the yellow-white fireball roars past. It works, sort of- but the heart of the burning wasn't all you managed to redirect, and some of it went directions you wish it hadn't. The sphere of ki deforms, begins to fragment, and it's running hotter than you're ready for, scorching the floor of the battle-space across a broad area. Sidescatter washes across your face like you'd looked into the open door of a furnace and OW OW FACE HURTS-
Inhale, exhale. There is no pain.
You don't see it, but while this may be one of Bana's blunted training blades, Mikan's honoring the threat just as well as if he was the real thing- and it's still a metal rod, heavy and thin enough to leave a hell of a mark. Against that power level advantage, it's all Mikan can do to avoid the sword- and he doesn't avoid the kicks very well. By the time you open your eyes and can think straight through the haze of FACE STINGS DAMMIT he's already been thumped three times, and a sharpened blade would have trimmed Mikan's hair from that last stroke.
But to go on the attack against Mikan means he's not fending off Budo with the blade anymore. A punch delivered to where Mikan had to dodge into to escape the sword sends one of your disciples tumbling groundward at hypersonic speeds, but the other one lands a numbing blow to his sword arm.
Nice punch.
His hand spasms open and the sword goes flying- to the end of the lanyard. And in the instant his hand opens, you see your opportunity, with an aerobatic downward twist to follow the curving path of the weapon on its wire, pouring ki into the edge of your bladed hand-
"HAAA!"
-and chop your hand through the lanyard.
As the Krillin stylists would say, he's stronger than any of you, but he's not stronger than all of you.
WHAM
OOF!
Aaand Bana kicked off of Budo and now he's got you in a literal flying tackle. That's happening now.
Ground. GROUND!
You somewhere find the leverage to twist and angle your own aura and he's suddenly towing an aerofoil in exactly the wrong place. And it flips him and now you're both tumbling together and you're used to this, you love this, but Trunks Style trains for aerobatics and you try to slip free but you just can't... quite... break loose... even with the leverage, because he is- leveled off and exactly as damn strong as you asked him to be dammit.
BOOOOM!
Ahh dammit ow ow ow ROCKS!
Stone deforms plastically and splashes out of your way, leaving another crater.
You both stagger to your feet coughing, and he looks as bad off from slamming into stone this fast as you feel from it. Trouble is, you're pretty sure he doesn't feel as bad as you look.
Since he knows the power level differential, he probably knows it too.
You don't actually think about what comes next, it's a tactical reflex, part repeat of what you tried earlier, and part not. And part you having spent a long, long time fighting Trunks stylists.
Wrestling maneuvers aren't one of the most common tricks for a Piccolo stylist to learn, but on the other hand, you've never heard of a Trunks stylist working on them. The entire idea is to not get tangled up... But then, Bana doesn't spar every damn day. He's letting the power level advantage go to his head, forgetting himself a bit, or he'd already be back in the air instead of half-watching Budo and Mikan as they angle for position. A master Trunks stylist would be.
Come to think of it, they're not closing in and firing, and he's not reacting as if he knows you're still a problem. Maybe he's more worried about them. Maybe they're more worried about angling a blast so it doesn't hit you by accident while he's still on the ground.
Maybe they're all expecting you to be closer to down and out than you really are.
Hard to blame them. Ow ow ow.
But you've got enough for this. While his attention is split between their aerobatics and charging energies, you lunge.
He's fast enough to dodge, but not fast enough to react in time to try. You wrap arms around him, twist so-
"WHOAH!"
Bana he struggles like a bull oozaru, trying to throw you off. It's a pretty good hold, won't last long, could be broken, but not right away even with the power advantage. You smile a little, knowing you are right at the range he most needs you not to be...
Budo and Mikan, blank-faced, snap fingers to brow. Crackles of electricity form around their hands as they charge the Special Beam Cannon.
"HNNGH... nhhgh... Love, in real life... nnn... you wouldn't let something like this end with a Raditz, would you?" The poor dear sounds honestly worried about the idea. So sweet of him!
And you laugh and shout "NOPE!" and let him go, even actively slinging him forward as best you can.
He was struggling *hard,* and it felt like you trying to wrestle oozaru. In terms of power level, you kind of were. He catapults forward, the sudden lack of resistance more than even his empowered reflexes can compensate for instantly. In that moment, his location is predictable, and a couple of paces in front of you.
-As your airborne disciples, in the move the three of you drilled together, let fly. The Makankosappos, with their confinement helices deliberately distorted, break containment and explode in two expanding cones of mostly-harmless smoky orange light- spotlighting your husband.
THOOM
Well, mostly harmless. He coughs a bit and wavers on his feet, trails of smoke whispering from his clothes. Staggers once more...
"...Uncle."
You're pretty sure him falling over after that was a pratfall.
"Good job, 'Qadgop.' " You boop Bana playfully on the nose as the four of you settle down for after-action.
Mikan and Budo- and, haltingly for he doesn't do this very often, Bana- go over the spar from their points of view. Dissect, analyze. Plan for next time. You don't know if you'll want Bana along when the real thing goes up or not, part of you wants to keep him safe and sound and deep under a bunker. But still, he deserves to learn all he can.
Eventually, the conversation ends. You flit to a heavily armored locker, reach into your bag. Fish out the dice. All of you roll the dice.
Six eyes look at the dice. Three throats gulp.
"And now?" With a certain glee, you clap your hands together. "My turn!"
You don't know it, but your evil smile echoes a mural your star pupil saw once, as a child. Ancestor Vegeta, facing Android Nineteen.
You do know the men are eyeing each other. Back to you. Each other. You.
[X] Rebuttal Monologue
-[X] Calmly talk about the chains, bring up the concept they use, therefore making Yammar aware.
-[X] Be disappointed that you were unable to save Dandeer from herself, due to your anger at her.
-[X] Bring up the faked injuries and sorcerer massacre, make it seem like we've always known the second. Freak her out and make her doubt her magic, while making it seem that's why we weren't on her side.
-[X] Mention the traitors, terrorists and her plan, make her think the only reason she got this far is because we over-estimated her, while alerting Yammar that a SSJ needs to get out.
-[X] Point out the damage she did to Jaffur and Jaron, driving them to suicide.
-[X] Bring up how she's destroyed anything good in her life, and is doomed to go to hell rather then be with the rest of the ancestors in heaven. Mention actually meeting them, reveal that they're against her.
-[X] Make sure to Willpower Push.
-[X] Counter every argument she makes calmly and fully.
-[X] If we reach the end, and she's not turning, reveal how to break the bindings and implement Future Kakara's plan.
-[X] If Dandeer tries to shut us up, implement Future Kakara's plan.
On Her Own Terms
"Hello there, Kakara."
As your vision focuses, you get the distinct displeasure of Dandeer's being the face to which you awaken. You groan and close your eyes again for a moment. Then you again open them and take stock.
Yammar, in chains, to your right. The Senzus, unchained but effectively helpless, beyond him. Dazarel, perched on Dandeer's shoulder, gives you a sneer before lifting off and taking to the air, circling the Hall. Everybody else is arrayed behind or beyond Dandeer, blank-faced. Including Sensei Carrick.
You ignore the stab of pain at the confirmation that your teacher has been suborned, and glare up at Dandeer. "...hi." You crane your neck over to Yammar, where he sits with his eyes locked on Dandeer. "Feeling better now, old man?"
He grumbles by way of reply, but doesn't say anything, keeping his eyes on Dandeer.
"Glad to see you're awake!" chirps Dandeer, a malevolent gleam in her eyes.
"With the view, I think I'd rather be asleep," you reply, narrowing your eyes at her. "Nice chains. I can't move." You don't look at him, but keep your ki sense tuned on Yammar to see if he picked up on your hint. You don't get anything, and hope that it just means that he's keeping quiet about it. You return your focus to Dandeer. "Do you get a lot of practice with chains like this?"
Yammar barks out a laugh, and Dandeer flushes. "Why you little-" She slaps you. It doesn't even make you flinch.
You give her a smug grin. "Do you want to try again? I'm sure it'll go better the second time."
Working her fingers to dispel the sting in them, she scowls down at you. "Mouthy little brat. How about you take a moment to reconsider comments like that?" She turns around and steps away from you, Vegeta and Sensei Carrick following her.
As soon as her back is turned, you try to open a telepathic link with Yammar, but it doesn't go. Instead you cut your eyes across to him, shifting in a way that makes your chains clink. He blinks once, far more slowly than anybody that intent on an enemy ever would, and subtly flexes his arms against his bonds.
You relax fractionally -- and then feel somebody's eyes on you. You snap your gaze up, and lock eyes with Jaffur.
Your fellow Scion's expression is still as blank as ever, but his gaze is locked on you with an intensity you have never seen matched.
Well, no. That's not quite true. You've seen it before; when you've faced him as an enemy.
You shiver. Yammar took you down hard. You don't want to know how a fight with Jaffur would go. You don't have expendable allies to split his attention like Yammar did.
Then a commotion catches your eye, and you turn your head in time to see Dandeer sinking her fist into Sensei Carrick's gut. He grunts and falls to his knees, grimacing.
"So why didn't I hear about this until this morning?" snaps Dandeer, waving at you. "They've been planning this for years! And I swear to all the ancestors, if I hear, 'you didn't ask,' out of your mouth one more time-!"
"But you didn't," gasps Sensei.
She hisses, snatching him by the hair and dragging his gaze up to hers. "Answer me, completely and honestly," she growls, peering into his eyes. "Why did you not tell me before today? Yammar, I couldn't keep under the real version of my spell. He's a public figure. People would notice the change. But you? You're a hermit. Your own family isn't in your home often enough to pick up on all the little differences. You've been under for years. Tell me what I screwed up that let you keep this from me until now!"
At the direct order, Sensei's eyes glaze over completely, and his voice comes out in a monotone without inflection. "While you object to the phrase, 'you didn't ask,' you genuinely did not specify that you were to be informed of potential threats against your person.'"
"Potential?!" she shrieks. "They've been plotting this for years! They've had the date set for a month! How in Earth's name was this a potential threat?!"
"As you said, they have waited for years, and changed their schedule more than once," replies Sensei. "Given the facts, it would be unwise to assume that this time, they were really committed."
Dandeer looks to be on the verge of strangling him, but masters herself with what looks like immense difficulty. Taking a deep breath, she gives your Sensei an ugly smile. "Thank you for mentioning that, Carrick. I'll make sure to patch that hole when you get your refresher."
"As you wish, my Lady," he intones, staring into the middle distance.
You stare at your Sensei with a mixture of horror and revulsion. This is nothing like the man who's taught you. He's just...a puppet.
And even under all of that, he's still fighting.
You narrow your eyes on Dandeer. "You know what? I'm disappointed," you say.
Dandeer turns to face you, raising an eyebrow. "Oh really? Tell me just how I've let you down, Kakara dear."
You laugh. "Oh, I'm not disappointed in you! I didn't expect anything better."
The smirk drops off of her face. You take a second to check yourself. For this, you need to be calm. You need to be controlled. You need to keep your head about you.
Nothing about that says that you need to be kind. You lift your chin. "I'm disappointed in myself. All these years getting ready to fight you, when I could have been getting ready to save you instead."
At that, Dandeer lets out a scornful bark of laughter. "Save me? I think you might have the situation turned around in your head, Kakara."
You give her an annoyed look. "Not from me. Not from them." You nod at your co-conspirators, enspelled or otherwise, and then turn your gaze back to Dandeer. "I'm disappointed that I couldn't stop you from destroying yourself."
Dandeer stares at you for a moment before laughing again. "Oh, this is cute. You really think you're the hero here, don't you? That's adorable. Go on. Tell me how I've screwed up."
That said, you hear the hollowness in her tone, and see the tension behind the forced levity in her eyes. You square your shoulders. "No, Dandeer. I won't. Remember? This isn't about you. You aren't worth my regrets. This is about how I failed. I let myself get so angry at what you've done that I stopped trying to think about how to save everybody. When I saw you crippling yourself to frame Jaffur, I just stopped thinking."
Her eyes widen. "You what?!"
"But that's nothing compared to how much I hated you once I learned what you did to the Vegetan sorcerers," you hiss, leaning forward.
Her eyes widen...and then return to normal as her expression smooths out. "Of course." She looks over to the Senzus. "Thanks ever so much, Dandelor. That's going to make this harder."
Dandelor spits in her direction, stone-faced.
She sighs and turns back to you. "So my wayward apprentice-"
"I am NOT your apprentice-!"
"-told you some things he was able to scry," she says, looking bored. "I don't see why you're even bothering to mention this. You have to know that's a quick fix. Snip, snip." She makes a scissors motion with her fingers.
"And there it is," you hiss, narrowing your eyes. "I wasn't able to save you, so I wasn't able to stop you from messing up this bad."
She blinks. "I've won."
You laugh. "You've won? You call this winning? All you're going to do is throw magic at the problem, just like you do with everything else." You wipe the laughter off your face and get ready to bluff. You don't know -- you've never known -- but a part of you has always suspected, and with what you now know about Dandeer... "Want to get some prisoners of war murdered? Mind control some people into ruining their lives by turning into assassins!"
You here shocked gasps from the Senzus. Dandeer's head snaps over, seeing that Dandelor is surprised as well, and her eyes widen as she turns back to you. "How did you-?"
You continue, driving into the opening now that you know your intuition is right. "Want to sabotage our relationship with the humans? Make dozens of people destroy their own lives by trying to blow up their own city!" You scowl. "And then there's this; just mind control all of the nobles until there's nobody left to stop your plans. I always knew you could do this, Dandeer; I just didn't think you'd be so stupid."
Dandeer's nostrils flare. "Oh yeah? You think you're so smart, then you tell me how I'm supposed to be losing now!" She folds her arms. "I have you on your knees. I'm about to get everything I ever wanted, and it's because of my magic. I-"
"You haven't won anything!" you shout, leaning forward in your chains. You notice Jaffur tensing and settle back. "Every time you use your magic, you make things worse for yourself. Try to kill the scouts, and instead make them love me more than ever. Try to sabotage my meeting with the Congress of Nations, and you make me look like a superhero! Everything you've done has made things worse and worse for you, and you just keep on trying!"
Dandeer grabs at her hair in frustration. "Yes, yes, you're very smart, but you lost! I get it, you're lucky and you tend to be in the right place at the right time, but it didn't change anything! You still lost!"
"I wasn't finished," you say. "You're heading for a cliff, Dandeer, and you're starting to sprint. You keep falling, and you always tell yourself that it's somebody else's fault, so you don't need to change. Well, that's not the way the world works. It's not how the universe works. I have Seen it." You take hold of the edges of a vision fluttering in the space around you, just enough to let your eyes film over white. Dandeer flinches back at the sight, and you purposefully refrain from tracking her, instead staring blankly off into space. "I've seen Heaven, Dandeer. I've met our ancestors. None of them spoke for you. Gohan told me to take you down. When you meet Yemma, he's going to look at your life and send you down to Hell with the rest of our people's nightmares." You let go of the vision and refocus on her. "Because hey, forget what you did to all the people you've twisted trying to ruin my life. That's just what you've done that bounced off of me. I didn't just start being your enemy one day. It happened for a reason." You narrow your eyes. "You sealed your son, and I never forgave that. What should have been your biggest victory just wound up making your worst enemy. And that's not even the start of the chain!"
Dandeer draws back, rattled, and you laugh in her face. You subside, and tilt your head.
Calm. Not nice.
"You couldn't make your own husband love you, so you sealed him, too," you murmur. "And so your own son tried to kill you."
tsew
Dandeer's hand closes around your throat as she phases into your face, eyes wild. "...shut up."
You just stiffen your neck and let her bruise her fingers. "And so you sealed him, and earned me."
Her grip tightens, for what little that's worth. "Shut. Up."
You tilt your head back to look her square in the eye, not showing a single bit of strain. "And now you're going to seal me. What do you want to bet happens after you try that?"
"Nothing," she hisses. "Nothing happens, because everybody who could possibly stop me will be sealed or dead! Do you understand that, little girl?! Do you understand? You've lost! You can talk all you like, but you STILL! LOST!"
You give her a small, restrained smile. "Maybe. But that doesn't mean you've won."
Calm.
Not nice.
You take a breath and raise your voice. "Hey, Jaffur! How likely do you think it is that Jaron'll try to commit suicide to get away from your mom?" You watch Dandeer's face as she swells with outrage. She opens her mouth. She inhales. And then, you say, "Again."
Dandeer's retort sputters to a halt with a horrified croak. The blood drains from her face and hands, turning her skin sheet-white. Her grip on your throat slackens.
But before she can even begin to respond, Jaffur replies to you in a smooth and mechanical tone. "Almost zero, I would estimate," he says. "At this point, Jaron is far too intent on killing Mother to want to kill himself. At the moment, he is describing in considerable detail his intent to blow off parts of her body until she has nothing left but-"
"SHUT UP!" Dandeer screams, stumbling back from you with horrified eyes. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT! UP!" She reaches towards you with a desperate, insane shine in her eyes, her fingers twisted into claws. "Paparapapa! Paparapapa!"
You feel sorcery spiking into your mind and snarl, throwing up that barrier of lightning Dad taught you during the fight with Dazarel.
"PaparaAAAAAGH!" Dandeer stumbles back with an agonized shriek. Her fingers twitch and spasm, and she clutches at her hands. "What are you? What the fuck are you?!"
You growl at the fading headache from her intrusion, cursing yourself for pushing her too far. "What am I?" you ask, looking up to glare into her eyes. "Done talking."
You transform and burst to max power in an instant, and jerk your wrists apart. I can move.
snap
WHAM
Even as the shackles break, Jaffur slams into you in a flying tackle, bearing you back from his mother even as the aura from your transformation sends her tumbling back to the edges of the Hall. His focus on moving you leaves him open, and you snap your forehead into his nose, dazing him. Then you fire a blast into his midriff, casting him away from you.
The instant you get him away from you, Grandma charges into zero range, and you barely duck her first strike before knocking her back. The two recover and form up between you and Dandeer as Vegeta and Dad help Dandeer to her feet in the background.
Ordinarily, you'd be happy to keep the standoff going, and postpone the fight which you will inevitably lose. But today, you have a bigger objective than simply winning a fight.
You open telepathic links to the Senzus, and find that with the chains broken, you can now do so. 'Senzus, you need to get out of the Hall, now. Get back to Hall Senzu, and Dandelor, raise the wards! Dandeer's about to fire off a ritual she's spent decades building. You need to get home and make sure something is unaffected by it. I'll be sending other people your way; anybody who shows up at our usual spot, let them into the wards, saiyan or human. Somebody needs to keep fighting against Dandeer.'
'We understand, Scion, but how are we going to get out of here?' asks Raditz, glancing at the unengaged super saiyans checking Dandeer for injuries. 'We can't help in this battle.'
You take a deep breath. 'I'm going to cover you.'
You fire up your aura and charge Jaffur with a defiant cry.
Grandma immediately closes on your flank, and you release an area blast which she eats to her face. You hammer into Jaffur's guard, driving him back. Across the Hall, Dad and Vegeta leave off of Dandeer and begin heading your way, and that's when you feel Yammar's power level spike as he interdicts them. Impacts and explosions ring out across the Hall, Dazarel goes tumbling through the air above with an indignant screech, and the Senzus, after a stunned moment, start dashing for the exit.
After a stunned moment on the defensive at your sudden aggression, Jaffur counterattacks, ducking under a punch and kicking you all the way back into the wall. Winded, you barely roll to the side and kick away as Jaffur follows up by hammering into the wall. Stone shards fly everywhere, and you dart away. Instantly, Grandma intercepts you. You block a punch and roll away as Jaffur phases into place beside you. You barely avoid his swipe, and start flying backwards at maximum speed.
Across the Hall, you see Yammar kicking Vegeta away before turning to face Berra, but you don't have the time to take in any more before Jaffur overtakes you and punts you up into the air before you slam to a halt against the wards. This time, when he follows up, you don't manage to roll away in time, and he pins you against the invisible ceiling with a brutal elbow to the center of your chest. You gag as ribs creak, and he hurls you to the ground.
'Scion, status!' sends Yammar.
'Still moving,' you gasp, lurching up off the ground and setting your feet in just enough time to catch a punch from Jaffur and throw it off to the side. Grandma phases into visibility and kicks you to the side, and you hit the wall.
'Scion!'
You let out a whine of agony, sliding to the floor and rolling forward under another strike from Grandma. 'Still moving.' You see Yammar taking a kick from Vegeta full across the face, and the old man goes down. 'You?'
'This isn't working,' he grumbles, kipping back to his feet with the ease of long practice.
You take a single moment to check the Senzus' progress, and sure enough, they've barely made it halfway to the exit. 'We need to buy more time.'
You spin, sweeping Grandma's legs as she closes. You block a strike from Jaffur, and then catch Grandma in a wide-area blast that hurls her back. Then you turn, hurling a punch into Jaffur's guard full force. "Come on, Jaffur," you snarl as the two of you struggle with each other. "Fight this." You lash out with your other hand, and he catches that, too. The two of you clinch. He tries to throw a knee into your gut, and you block with your own.
"Mother's spell is seamless," he intones. "It is also powered by energy borrowed from the other Super Saiyans. It is impressive. I am not going to turn now."
"You managed to send me energy through the Seal!" you snarl. "You've managed to do more with less than any other person I know! You can survive the Seal for six years; you can do this!"
He looks at you with a gaze devoid of any emotion or expression. "Perhaps another day."
WHAM
Grandma kicks you in the side, and Jaffur takes advantage, kneeing you in the same spot before flipping you over his shoulder and slamming you into the floor to the sound of shattering stone.
You cough in the dust, and use ki to hurl yourself back and out of reach. 'Still...moving.'
'We can't do this four on two,' replies Yammar. 'We're going down too quickly.'
You haul yourself to your feet. '...you know, you're right.' You straighten and stare at Grandma and Jaffur, back cracking. 'But how about four on one?'
'...magnificent.'
You kick backwards and pour ki through your feet, rocketing away from your opponents as you raise your hands over your head. 'Send me your energy!'
You don't have long, before Jaffur catches you up. Just a second. Nowhere near enough to gather the energy of the entire planet.
But Yammar, he knew that this was coming. A second is more than long enough for him to kick back from Dad and raise his arms. A blue sphere the size of a moon swells into being over your head as you immediately draw it down, down-
In the fraction of a centimeter before Jaffur's fist makes contact with your face, a golden glow pours outwards from your body. He goes hurtling back, stone shatters, and the world glows with the light of a star. Then it clears, and you hang there, transformed and shining.
Yammar collapses, a welt raising on the side of his head. The four other nobles all turn to you, wary. On the other side of the Hall, a door slams shut as Dandeer flees into the warren of warded tunnels lining the walls.
You turn to Jaffur, calm in the storm. "I guess you were right," you say, lifting into the air. "Another day." Your hands flash into place, framing him. "KIKOHO!"
BANG
The column of light swallows Jaffur whole, pounding him down into the floor. You turn to Grandma. "KIKOHO!"
BANG
vip
Dad emerges from his transmission mid-kick and you catch it, hurling him away. That said, he recovers-
vip
-like he's been training all his life for just this fight, getting back into your face immediately. He goes on the attack, actually driving you back for a moment. That moment allows Vegeta to close, and the two begin weaving their movements together to keep you busy. It's not enough -- the power gap is now wide enough that you can still beat them, even with this.
But it's enough that below, you hear little crunches, and the sound of chewing. A moment later, Grandma's power level returns to full, and she joins your attackers.
You give ground, trying to keep them all to one side of you. You're not going to win -- you didn't expect to win, even without assuming that they'd use Senzus -- but you need to buy time-
crunch
tsew
You swing out your arm and blast away your opponents with a wide-angled blast before whirling and catching Jaffur's first strike. You kick him back and throw your elbow out behind you, shattering Vegeta's nose as the Lord recovers and charges you. Jaffur gets back in your face and you kick him back before spinning and grabbing Grandma by the wrist as she tries to punch you. You turn and hurl her into Jaffur as he tries to close with you again, and then turn and lever your entire body's weight through your arm, straight into Dad's gut. He flies back so fast he phases, shattering the opposite wall.
You turn, and see Jaffur floating there, already recovered again. He wipes away a trickle of blood from a split lip and spits off to the side.
"You fight better when you're not distracted," you say.
"So do you," he replies.
Then, you hear the grinding of stone on stone, as the Senzus reach the first gate and begin opening it.
Jaffur's eyes slide past you, and he stares at the retreating House for a moment before returning his gaze to you. "They are not the objective," he says, loud and clear. The other nobles drift up to the two of you. "We are to protect Mother."
"They will try to become a threat," says Vegeta.
"You're welcome to leave her to Kakara, if you prefer," says Jaffur.
Vegeta grunts, but subsides.
Jaffur looks at you. "We will fight you," he says.
You stare at him, in simple awe at how much effort it must have taken for him to make that decision. You give him a warm smile. "Perhaps another day." Then you clench your fists and scream, unleashing your aura and blasting them all back. Of all of them, Jaffur is the only one to maintain some control, struggling against the pressure as he meets your eyes. Your voice thrums with power as you say, "This is not the end."
"You can't win," he says, forcing himself a foot closer to you.
"No, I can't," you say, smiling. "Maybe if you weren't here."
Jaffur falters for a moment, slipping backwards.
"With all of them, I can't beat you, even like this," you say as he resumes his forward progress. "All I can do is draw out the clock. So I'm not going to try. One last push, and we're done. I know you'll win if I just fight you."
Jaffur fires up his aura and refines it, beginning a smooth, if slow, advance towards you.
"But I will win," you say. "I will be back, and I'll be stronger. I'll free you all, and you and I will have our chance to fix our world. Our people. It'll be our turn."
"We'll be done watching them fail," whispers Jaffur, sliding closer. "It'll be our time to fix things."
You smile. "Yes. And on that day, there will be nobody who can stand in our way. I will come back, Jaffur. I'll be better than anything our people have ever seen."
For the first time, his dull expression cracks into a look of longing. "Gods, I can't wait to see it."
You blush at his tone. "...yeah, I felt that in Synchronicity. I don't have any answers for you, Jaffur. Not for what that is, and not for what I think about it. But I know one thing: I want to see what you'll do, too."
His breath catches and his eyes widen, even as he pushes forward farther still.
"You are the Scion, the Prince Vegeta," you say. "We're supposed to test each other. And you're my friend. I want to see you succeed. We will succeed. I just need to pound it into your skull, first." You smirk at him.
He draws to a halt in front of you, within arm's reach. You can feel your well of ki beginning to run dry from the expense of maintaining the pressure. Jaffur stares at you with a hungry look. "I'll make you work for that," he promises, fingers clenching.
You laugh, tilting your head back and peering at him. "Test me, Scion," you tease, spreading your arms.
He nods, slowly drawing back his arm. "Stop me, Scion."
You close your eyes and open telepathic links. To Fenn, to Tabe, to Dillon, to Mom, to Mato, to Endivan, to Fasha, to Miss Fren, to every saiyan you know and care for. One-way links only; this is the Hall. You'll just have to hope that they listen. 'This is...'
Your eyes open, and you stare into the air for a moment in debate. Then you sigh, and close them again.
'This is Princess Kakara Goku. There is about to be a planetary-scale magical disaster. By my authority, I am issuing a full pardon to all members of House Senzu. You all are ordered to evacuate to their Hall and hunker down under their wards.' You send an image of your rendezvous spot. 'Head Raditz is in command for the duration of the crisis. Go, now. This is an order.'
With regret that you can't give them a real goodbye, you cut the links, and open new ones to the Misfits, save Maya. 'It's Karen. There are a lot of answers I owe you all, but I'm sorry; I can't. What you need to do, right now, is go here.' You send the location. 'I need you to go there right now. Please, don't stop for anything. There's not enough time. I promise, I'll see you when I can. Listen to the man called Raditz; he can be trusted. He'll explain everything."
You cut the links, and you open one last one, to Maya. 'Maya, it's me. I can't hear you right now, so please don't answer back. I need you to go back to those mountains where you learned the truth about me. Find the tallest mountain. One of my people will be there; his name is Raditz. Listen to what he tells you, and do what he says. I'll see you again, I promise, but you need to go now. There's no time for anything else.'
Then you cut the link, and open your eyes.
Jaffur is struggling against your aura. He keeps lunging forward, only to be buffeted back.
You open one final link. 'Raditz, Yammar is down and I'm about to follow. The next time you see me, I'll be sealed. I have a plan, and I'll be back, but I don't know how long it'll be. Until then, keep fighting. Make sure Dandeer doesn't just own the planet.' You feel your power running down to its last dregs. The light flickers. You lower your arms and sigh. '...when I come back, I'll fight for you, no matter who's against me. So...do whatever you need to.'
The last of your ki blasts out through your pores, and the well flickers dry. Jaffur blurs.
* * *
"...arapapa!"
You blink, the world fuzzy and distorted. You have a headache.
"Paparapapa!"
That voice doesn't help.
You open your eyes fully, and dimly focus on Dandeer as she twists her fingers as though they're holding puppet strings. "Paparapapa!"
You feel her sorcery encroaching on your mind, and you give her a dim smile. Behind her you see Jaffur, again blank-faced. Dazarel rests on her shoulder, looking at you with a face that oozes unholy satisfaction.
Dandeer twists her fingers again. "Paparapapa!"
You let out a sigh of pain. You feel people holding your arms, and you have nothing left in your reserves. You close your eyes and look down. "I guess that's it," you whisper. "You beat me."
Dandeer pauses. "That's right," she hisses, fury and hatred in her voice. "I beat you. You think you can take my family away from me? You think that you can steal my son? It's over!"
You look up at her and open your eyes, filmed over white in a sightless glare. You bare your teeth. "You lose."
* * *
Gone.
* * *
Your shade springs out of your body, and you feel refreshed. Your power level, neutered as it is in this form, is miles above the depleted dregs in your physical body. You sigh.
Dandeer's head jerks up in shock, meeting your gaze. She's not the only one.
A pulse of fury bolts through you, and you point at Dazarel. "YOU! What did you have to do with this?!"
He licks a claw, unconcerned. "Spied on you. What are you going to do about it?" He flashes teeth at you. "Disappointed that I found a greater patron?"
Your fury boils over, and you swipe at him. To your shock, you feel resistance, and you wind your fingers around his neck. You yank, and yelp in surprise as a ghostly version of him peels away from his body, which slumps off of Dandeer's shoulder. The three of you glance between each other and the little body for a moment.
Then your eyes harden, and you lift the miniature dragon up to eye level. "You're coming with me."
Dandeer's head snaps up. "Wait, no! No, you can't escape! You're not supposed to-!"
Take me away.
You rocket up into the sky, Dazarel in tow. He lets out a little dopplering shriek of indignation.
"No!" screams Dandeer. "You can't get away now! No! No!"
"Oh, don't worry!" you reply, nearing the wards. "I'll be back."
"NO-!"
Then you pass through the wards as though they were butter and accelerate away, up into the sky, past the atmosphere, and into the stars.
To whom do you reach? And remember:
There are no wrong choices.
[ ] Old friends.
[ ] New friends.
[ ] Old family.
[ ] New family.
[ ] Old enemies.
[ ] New enemies.
[ ] Those above.
[ ] Those below.
MANUAL MORATORIUM. NO WRITE-INS.
The winning plan, as I described in my unlock post, used this as an opportunity to destabilize and demoralize Dandeer, with a secondary focus on information sharing.
It succeeded. Unfortunately, it did not succeed in its other aim, that being of convincing Dandeer to stand down. Nor did it get out Yammar. I'm sorry, but the modifiers were too nuts. Thus, as instructed, we proceeded to the plan, and Kakara executed it magnificently. You even got off a couple of free shots at Dandeer and Dazarel on your way out.
I want to emphasize: this was a great plan, and it has earned you a lot. You got out evacuate orders to a huge number of people, many of whom will likely go on to have an immense impact on the impending struggle, and ensured that the Senzus escaped, thus not rendering the whole affair moot. Furthermore, Dandeer is about as off her game as she is ever going to get. You have given the incipient resistance the best shot you can, and you've escaped with a potent potential asset.
Now it's time to make good on this opportunity.
I hope that you all have enjoyed the update. Now, here are the rolls.
Targeting arguments [Willpower, DC 87]: 68, failure
Recover! [WP, DC 50]: 99, success, no penalty
Opening exchange of words [Communication, Kakara vs. Dandeer]: 142 vs. 145, failure.
I know what you did [communication, K v. D]: 162 vs. 138, success
You've destroyed all you ever loved and are going to literal actual hell [comm, K v. D]: 215 v. 172, success
Jaron tried to kill himself [comm, K v. D]: 279 vs 124, massive success
Semi-bullshit [deceit, K v. D]: 74 v. 22, success
Does she back down? [comm, K v. D]: 162 vs. 189, failure
Passive messages [deceit, K v. D]: 98 v. 56, success
Get room to fight [crowd fighting v. team fighting, Kakara vs. Jaffur and Apra]: 104 vs. 99 and 80, success
Delay 1 [cf v. tf, K v. J&A]: 92 v. 123 and 105, failure
Delay 2 [same]: 54 v. 98 and 114, failure
Keep going 1 [Willpower, DC 80]: 119, success
Keep going 2 [WP, DC 100]: 153, massive success, have a free recovery option
Kakara goes Spirit Saiyan: Why yes, yes she does
Kakara uses alpha strike [Kikoho v. flight, Kakara v. Jaffur]: 145 v. 32, massive success
It's super effective! [Kikoho v. flight, Kakara vs. Apra]: 92 v. 43, success
*teleports behind you* [IT v. Dueling, Berra v. Kakara]: 98 v. 134, success
ow [team fighting v crowd fighting, Berra and Vegeta v Kakara]: 142 and 123 v 122, mild failure, Apra and Jaffur recover
4 v. 1 [team fighting v crowd fighting, Jaffur Apra Vegeta and Berra v Kakara]: 152, 72, 45, 12 v 168, success
Jaffur fudges his IFF [Willpower, DC 100]: 132, success
Jaffur convinces the mind-controlled drones to focus on the obvious threat: trivial, auto-pass
Last stand [Ki projection v flight, Kakara v J A V & B]: 143 v 134, 62, 89, and 56, success, senzus escape and you have time for another round of comm in addition to a full round of evacuation orders
Motivation [comm, Kakara v Jaffur]: 189 v 12. Yeah.
Evacuation order [comm, Kakara v so many people]: 82 v ??? (situational modifiers applied to recipient rolls, given nature of check)
Get over here! [sight??? v psi, Kakara v Dazarel]: 54 v [PSI DISABLED], auto-success
I'll see you all around the thread. Have fun, everybody!
hello again pardon me@gamer50018, between your tagging multiple users voting in ways you disagreed with to pester them, one post at a time, this thing, and your general flipping out over this vote and quest, you have violated Rule 4. As such you have also received 25 points and a two-week threadban. Please do not continue this behavior when you return.
...Now that i think about it, can Papata Fren transmit her radio program from inside the wards? It would be hilarious to have a rebel radio program. Dandeer would probably need a ritual like the genocide one to have everyone forget every episode
Non-canon and proud, unless Papata Fren can figure out how to rig a radio transmitter that can't be back-traced to Senzu Hall... waaait, cloak yourself in wards and set up a pirate radio station out in the middle of nowhere, then broadcast from there.
Well, probably still noncanon.
The Last DJ
It was, literally, magical. Like some legendary artifact from myth, like the Power Pole or the Bansho Fan. The Cloak of Shadow, she'd taken to calling it. To ward the wearer from all perception, by mind or machine or magic. And it worked, by and large. Dandelor was good.
It let her walk right into an Aramaian long range military radio transmitter station, and smash the ceramic disk that contained, itself sealed by the disk, a spell that would render all the soldiers inside unconscious and amnesiac. For juuuust long enough for her to install the recording and tsew the hell out, then for it to play a few minutes later.
She knew what the recording would say, before the extra equipment she'd attached to the big long-range transmitter melted itself into slurry at the end of the message. It was her radio show. Hyper-compressed now, instead of encrypted. A burst of incomprehensible static to anyone with a power level below several hundred, on several of the most popular radio frequencies on Garenhuld. Never the same frequencies one time as the next.
First the three quick notes, and one long- 'dun-dun-dun-DUN,' drawn from a very fragmented music file she'd found as a child. Earth vintage. She wondered if it was part of a longer piece, but even if it wasn't, it sure grabbed attention. She'd used it in her old program sometimes. Then the narration beginning.
"This is Lookout calling! The Exiles, speaking to the Exiles... Hello, folks, welcome to Lookout Radio! I'm Papata Fren, your host."
It would go on. This time, it'd be... "Before we begin our program, some personal messages from Lookout to gallant warriors the world over. Firstly, Mato has a long mustache. Remember this on Tuesday. Tuesday. Secondly, there has been a fire at the insurance agency. A fire. Thirdly, and this is very important, the coffee is in the cup. I repeat, the coffee is IN the cup!"
As a general rule, none of the 'personal messages' actually meant anything or communicated anything to anyone. But Papata had to hope they kept that usurping witch wondering, just what they meant, and who they were aimed at... Then there'd be one song. Usually one of Dandeer's favorites. If she was going to wide-angle mind-wipe memories of the whole broadcast, and she liked to do that, she could at least accidentally blow up everyone else's memory of her favorite songs in the collateral damage.
Their little resistance had planted a bug, once. While the reason for it hadn't been to get a shot of Dandeer pulling at her hair in incomprehension... The look on her face when no one around her could figure out what she was talking about, when she told them to put one of last year's Top Forty on the speakers... fucking priceless.
Then, the message, always substantially the same. Ringing with every ounce of sincerity she could put into it. She didn't know if it worked often enough to matter. She wasn't entirely sure it was working at all. But dammit, she had to try.
"You will likely soon forget this message; the false queen has woven her magics well. But if you concentrate- really concentrate- and will with all your might and all your power and all your soul, maybe, just maybe, you can remember it, in spite of what the false queen wants you to forget. The Princess did it, once."
"Remember this. All you hear from other sources is a lie. Trust no one who denies this truth. For they are minions of Dandeer, the secret usurper, the reigning false queen of Garenhuld, Babidi reborn! Dandeer, who has made all but one of the royals of the two Houses into her loving slaves. All except for the Princess, who has passed from us to the stars, to find help and begin the liberation. Remember, there is hope! Speak of it never, but think of it always!"
"If you remember this message, and look upon your kings and princes, remember that you look upon Majin Berra, and Majin Jaffur, and, in a sense, Majin V- I will not speak the name. Still mighty warriors, but robbed of their heroism, for now. Enslaved to an evil wizard, to be redeemed when the Princess returns. Remember those who have gone mysteriously missing these past months- and know that they are free, and with us, on Lookout."
"The false queen's magic will try to rob you of this memory now. Now, concentrate, with all your will, and resist!"
Then, the bookend. The music that closed every broadcast. She'd recorded it herself, thinking it might some day be her final swan song, to a tune she'd found in an ancient, half-corrupted music collection left in the computer aboard the Senzus' ship, a lost echo of Old Earth. Maybe not Earth's best, but the most fitting, for a time like this.
"Well you can't turn her into a company girl
You can't turn her into a whore
And the tarnished gold just don't understand anymore...
And the fake queen don't like her talking so much,
And she won't play what they say to play,
And she don't wanna change... what don't need to change...
And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what she wants to play,
And says what she wants to say,
Hey, Hey, Hey...
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last saiyan voice...
There goes the last DJ...
Well some folks say they're gonna blow her to bits,
'cause you just can't do what she did-
There's some things you just can't put in the minds of those kids!
As we celebrate mediocrity, all that the fake queen wants to see
Is the fake love of all the boys she's scared to let go free!
And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what she wants to play,
And says what she wants to say,
Hey, Hey, Hey...
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last saiyan voice...
There goes the last DJ...
Well she got her a station up in Tastreya,
And sometimes it'll kinda come in,
And I'll raise a glass and remember how it was back then...
And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what she wants to play,
And says what she wants to say,
Hey, Hey, Hey...
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last saiyan voice...
There goes the last DJ...
"But I will win," she says. "I will be back, and I'll be stronger. I'll free you all, and you and I will have our chance to fix our world. Our people. It'll be our turn."
"We'll be done watching them fail," whispers Jaffur, sliding closer. "It'll be our time to fix things."
She smiles. "Yes. And on that day, there will be nobody who can stand in our way. I will come back, Jaffur. I'll be better than anything our people have ever seen."
I am torn between the massive headache that will make of our- wait nevermind, the extra SSJs won't make the bureaucratic nightmare any worse than the mind control itself did. I support this notion wholeheartedly.
