Bassoon has spent decades traveling the galaxy, and never has he seen anything quite like Kakara Goku.
Oh, he has seen weirder. Space tortoises overrunning planetary defense forces. The sapient nebulae of Transvaee XII. Honest capitalists. Tons of bizarre stuff. But none of it quite like the curious monkey riding shotgun in his head.
Bassoon likes to think he's been good at rolling with the punches, but traveling with Kakara has nearly been one crisis to the next the whole way, and that's if he ignores the genocidal dragon she carries on her shoulder like a pet. Still, he's rolled with it, and tried to teach her a little about his people and the galaxy into the bargain.
His people might be mostly cloistered anarchists, but Bassoon has spent enough time in the wider galaxy to have a very keen sense of what Kakara's titles mean. How he treats her has political implications.
Which means it has been time for politicking. Yip-pee.
Still, the girl's been friendly enough, and helpful. Bassoon has seen weirder, but few rarer. He can count the number of people willing to leap to another planet's defense at the drop of a hat on a single hand, and that's including himself. His aid to Arcosa was something undertaken after a long time spent considering his options. Kakara leapt into her situation with both feet.
Even despite that, though, he's been worried. Kakara is a generous young woman, but he's seen the strain on her She never seems to set burdens down, and having so many already makes him fear that she'll snap. He worries, too, that perhaps the warlord they're hunting won't be Haila after all, and all this scouting will just be so they can go home and tell his people to run.
And he worries about Kakara's visions. He has projected confidence in front of the group, but the context they offer worries him. Rule number one of scouting is to commit only as much as you need to. Get as close as necessary to find what you need, then get out. The only thing he can think of that would require them to enter the warlord's flagship would be if the couldn't otherwise find what they were looking for at all. And that worries him, because he can think of only a few pieces of information that would require that, all of which would likely only be obscured if the warlord had reason to think he needed to be taking precautions against spies.
Bassoon worries that Kakara's visions imply that there's a trap being laid which he can't see, but whose bait will be too tempting to pass up.
Still, if he has learned anything in his long years adventuring around the galaxy, it is this: when you know a trap is coming, don't run or scream, because your opponent probably is ready for that.
Spring the trap, instead, and fight your way clear.
We moved again, which annihilated writing time, but I am hopefully back! Just posting this to prime the pump a bit. Small and quick piece to show what's in Basson's head right now (other than you). Enjoy!
AN: Not super happy with how this came out, but wanted to get it out nonetheless.
There's more to this, you know.
The Golden Oozaru is brilliant - the fur gleaming bright with the power of your ki, amplified by the titanic strength of the primal power your race had long abandoned.
Until you transformed.
You growl, and frame your hands - power drawn from deep within you in a furious blast, life force intermingling with your overdriven strength to hammer a vast hole into the sea, white light burning away even further then you can see.
It's strong - stronger then anything else you have, stronger then you would have dreamed possible, without killing yourself with the kaioken - but it's not enough.
Not enough to face the arcosian war lords, not enough to face what you have waiting for you, back home, and certainly not enough to brave through the fires of hell.
You need more - not just the incrementally advantages eked out with refinement of techniques or your ki.
You need to be stronger, and you need every little bit of that you can get.
You blink as a memory flashes by.
A memory said:
It's a flash of intuition, something that Sensei has told you to look for. It's just on the edge of your consciousness, but you grasp onto it and follow, because you need something -- anything. You grab onto it, and dig deep for power. Deeper and deeper, not that you know why, because this isn't your normal form and what works there won't work here, but-
Oh. Of course. It's so obvious. Super Saiyan isn't something that swells the pool of your base power, after all. It's you digging into a reservoir of strength apart from your base strength.
Why wouldn't you be able to use it now?
With a mighty bellow, you dig deep, and transform.
If one discarded path can become yours to wield, then…
Why not another?
You scream, every tiny scrap of your power surging out of you, a full-throated roar to the heavens as you dig deeper. You reach for more strength then any saiyan has wielded in perhaps hundreds of years, the earth shattering beneath your feet as a storm of power forms around you.
Lighting spills out from your mind, thunder clapping as your muscles start bloating.
Your arms bulge, your legs swell, your whole build stretching and crackling with strength as you drag out the power of the ultimate form - over a hundred million units even as the shade you are.
It's dense, too - the same solidity and depth of your strength translates to even this, and the raw pressure running through your veins is impressive but…
You throw out a few experimental jabs, each sending ripples through the air as you are forced to constantly adjust for the sheer mass of your body.
You frown, tamping down a quiet surge of the anger of your primal form.
It's useless.
The speed drawback of both forms compound - even as an Oozaru you can be a sitting duck for a peer opponent, and this is far far worse.
You take a deep breath as you let the form fade back, the swelling fading back as you try to think of what you can do with this.
It's still more - more strength to gift, more power to throw around against spells, more durability and more oomph behind your blasts, if you ever need that, but…
You flinch, thinking back to the false vision you saw oh so long ago, of what could happen if you took the next step along the path of the forms laid out before you, shrinking back down to your human form as you try to think this through.
It's… something, and even an exciting discovery, in a way.
It's just… not enough.
So, you clean off the lingering hairs, take a minute to breathe, and meditate on what you can use, in the coming battles.
[X] Plan: All Is One in Bassoon's Head
-[X] The Sight (2 AP)
--[X] Continue Your Training (1 AP) --[X] Looking Home (1 AP)
-[X] Training (3+2 AP)
--[X] Style Training (1 AP) [Tenshinhan]
--[X] To Go Beyond (1 AP) [Perfect Multiform]
--[X] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Dodonpa]
--[X] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Crowd Fighting]
--[X] To Go Beyond (1 AP) [Ki Sense - All Is One]
-[X] Social (2+2 AP)
--[X] Talk To Dazarel (1 AP)
--[X] Strengthen Host Bond (1 AP)
--[X] General Training (2 AP)
-[X] The Outside World (0+1 AP)
--[X] Historical Insights (1 AP)
-[X] A Cause (1 AP)
--[X] Ki Refinement (1 AP)
Found, Not Fixed
Continue Your Training: 90
Style Training (Tenshinhan): 36
To Go Beyond (Perfect Multiform): 91
Improve A Skill (Dodonpa): 54
Improve A Skill (Crowd Fighting): 81
To Go Beyond (Ki Sense - All Is One): 59
Talk To Dazarel: 50
Strengthen Host Bond: 61
Ki Refinement: 83
'Are you ready?' asks Dazarel.
You breathe deeply, kneeling in Bassoon's mindscape. "Yes. Are you ready, Bassoon?"
"READY TO GIVE IT A SHOT," he replied, his voice booming from the sky.
"All right," you whisper, threading your fingers into the grass. "C'mon, then."
There is, you have come to notice, a thread between you and your unexpected host. A link that, as your abilities grow, you are able to reach out and grasp.
It feels almost alive. Like a vine, maybe.
The feel of it, though, is fairly irrelevant. What is relevant is that, now, you can reach out and touch it. And what you can touch, you can manipulate.
Come over here.
You give the tendril a tug, and suddenly, Bassoon stands before you, blinking.
You look up at him and grin. "Nice."
He grins back.
* * *
Pulling Bassoon into the mindscape doesn't change much in practical terms. He could already join you under his own power. But it does tell you that if, in the future, you find yourself in the head of somebody without any appreciable command over their mindscape, you should be able to still bring them in for a face-to-face chat.
In the meantime, though, it adds little and less for Bassoon and you, although these advances usually mean broader gains that probably won't be apparent until you make contact with the fleet and need to start scouting around. Still, there is always a benefit to bringing your host to see you, face to face.
"KIKOHO!"
"SHIT!"
BOOM
Bassoon hurls himself to the side as your blast vaporizes several square miles of ocean. Steam shrouds you both, and immediately, you both-
pingping
-lunge in to renew the attack.
Bassoon grunts as you slam into him and clinch. He's actually stronger than you, when you're sticking to base form like this, and you keep having to fall back on your arsenal of tricks in order to keep ahead of him. "You've been practicing," he says, straining against you. He lashes out with a kick; you see it coming and effortlessly nudge it to the side.
"Constantly," you say, releasing your grip on him and-
tsew
-blurring around to strike at his back.
Bassoon tucks and rolls, twisting to swing at you, and you float back just an inch far enough, feeling the air cracking off of his fist. Before he even finishes his swing, you move in through the fragmenting mist, punching him right in the crook of his left elbow.
Bassoon gasps in pain as his arm goes numb and tingling, and he lunges back out of the steam column. "What the hell are you doing to keep ahead of me like this?"
You slowly float forward to join him, and he pales.
You smirk, eyes white with presentsight.
'Good,' says Dazarel watching from the sidelines.
Bassoon's fingers twist, light flashes, and you grimace at the sensation of sorcery as he whips away as though yanked, rocketing across the waves. He spins, hurling blasts back at you. You slide just slightly off to either side, Sight letting you clearly see exactly where they're going to land even as the blasts leave his palm.
You feel a spiking headache centered in your forehead and wince, firing a large blast of your own to break up the barrage. Sighing, you release the Sight, light up your aura, and tear off after your host. You grit your teeth and focus, drawing your aura in and pressing it down. The flame turns into a dense, blue haze, and you grin at you blast off at greater speed.
"How many tricks do you have?!" says Bassoon, cupping his hands and firing a beam at you.
You don't bother to dodge. It's a broader beam, relatively unconcentrated. Instead, you raise your finger and fire a Dodonpa ray that pierces straight through the center of his blast and peels it open, forcing him to dodge. "Plenty and more, Bassoon, and I can't even use all of them in here!"
Bassoon throws himself downwards, skipping off of the ocean waves before recovering. With a growl of frustration, he drags himself to a alt, signs again, and begins zipping towards you on a collision course. In his fist, the glow of ki swiftly builds.
You smirk, charging ahead, and at the last second divide yourself into a quartet of multiforms, each of them peeling away from Bassoon's course like pedals on a flower. He shouts in dismay as his hand comes forward and a massive blast consumes the space you just vacated.
You then pause a moment, re-merging into a single being and taking a deep breath. You close your eyes, your aura pulsing wildly. With a flash of gold, you transform, spiking your power as far as you can and rocketing past his. Then, you dig deep, push your power out into quarters.
Bassoon snaps his head up to look at you as his blast clears. He frowns. "What are you-?"
You throw your arms wide, light pulsing wildly. "Rrrrrrrrrrrah!"
SKREE
At the last second, you push the quarters larger, incredibly so, to the point of your maximum power level even as a super saiyan, and before they can correct the metaphysical imbalance, cast them apart.
Four of you, full-powered super saiyans one and all, float above Bassoon, each flaring at your maximum power level as a shade. Bassoon's jaw drops.
You can already feel the incredible drain on your reserves. 'Quickly,' you send to your fellow clones, all of them sending the same thought to the rest of you at the same time. The four of you screech in and batter him back and forth in a coordinated assault he can't possibly resist. In a blurring moment, you have him rocketing down towards the ocean, pursuing him every inch of the way.
He tries to fight back, of course. He unleashes blasts so prolifically that his power reserves start draining in a great flood comparable to your own. It becomes difficult to see and you need to fall back on your ki senses. If you were less skilled than you are, even that would be cluttered enough to force you to disengage a moment and give him space, but as it is, you drive onwards, sliding between blasts and continuing to rain blows on him. As he lashes out at you, you duck to the side, clutching onto his arm and tugging. For a moment, so immersed in your senses, you almost struggle to tell the difference between his ki and your own, an echo of the Genki Dama's transcendent oneness.
The feeling vanishes as Two flickers in beside you and kicks, catching Bassoon in the gut. A heartbeat later, Three tackles him away, and she and Four drive through the ocean in a heartbeat, pinning him to the seabed as their passage blasts water out of the way. Bassoon coughs frantically, tapping the ground, and the four of you relax, allowing him up.
And just in time, as your ki abruptly runs flat out, the technique burning through your reserves in seconds. You collapse back into a single Kakara and wobble, barely staying in the air.
He sighs, flying up into the air as the seawater comes rushing back in. "Made you work for it, I guess," he says, barely audible over the roar of the ocean. "What was that last one? Aren't your clones always weaker?"
"I've been working on that in my spare time!" you reply, panting. "And don't worry, Bassoon. The gap's pretty big. You're doing really well."
He sighs. "I know, I know. It's just frustrating to be matching up against somebody so effortlessly powerful."
"There was a fair amount of effort involved," you reply, annoyed.
"Yeah, I know," he says, shaking his head. "Just...you move so swiftly. And this is you being hobbled."
You shrug. "I suppose. Honestly, I'd rather trade it for your situation."
He huffs, smirking. "Our planet is about to be invaded, and the only reason we have any hope is because of you," he says.
"But your home needn't hide from everybody lest they be destroyed," you say. You straighten, stretching, you power surging unnaturally swiftly in the strange environment of the mindscape. "Sure, the galaxy is dangerous, but Garenhuld has the largest axe in the universe over its head. We're so tired of hiding, Bassoon. All our strength didn't help at all, when the time came." You sigh. "I don't even particularly enjoy fighting. I just know that it's always going to be in my future. No choice."
He shifts, frowning. "Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to drag things down."
"It's fine," you say, waving your hand. "It's never really far from my mind." You close your eyes, sighing. You put a smile on and open them again. "How about we switch things up, for a change? Three of us will fight with you, and you all work together to take down me."
He blinks, slowly starting to smile. "...you don't need to try and make me feel better, Kakara."
"I need the practice fighting groups anyway," you say, grinning. "It's fine." You raise up your arms. "C'mon!"
Bassoon laughs, your other clones fall in around him, and they charge.
You lose, of course. But hey, lessons learned.
* * *
Later that day, you experiment with the new depth of your bond with Bassoon as Dazarel lounges in the sunlight nearby.
"You see it?" you ask, eyes white.
"MY GOD," Bassoon replies, the sky echoing with his voice. "THAT'S WHAT YOU SAW DURING OUR MATCH?"
"For a little bit!" you answer. "Isn't it fascinating?"
"IT'S LIKE SEEING THE NUMBERS UNDERNEATH EVERYTHING," he says, awestruck.
You laugh, letting go of the Sight. "I'm a little bit of a math nerd, yeah."
"FASCINATING," he says. "WE'LL HAVE TO EXPERIMENT MORE LATER. FOR NOW, THOUGH, I HAVE TO FOCUS ON FLYING."
"We'll chat later," you reply as the sky stops echoing.
'Wasted effort,' sneers Dazarel, lifting his head to stare at you. 'Better to simply call a warning to the slug if you must, but he could never learn to use your gifts the way you do.'
"That's my decision," you say. "And what's it to you?"
'Oh, nothing at all,' he sighs, flicking his tail. 'Merely some trifling distaste for the fruits of my efforts going to some worthless speck of a being.'
"Bassoon is stronger than me, unless I substantiate," you say. "He's a powerful champion, and he's been out in the galaxy for years. You shouldn't underestimate him."
'He has less than a twentieth of my full strength, let alone yours,' he sneered.
"And yet we're both sealed, and neither of us has our full power," you reply. "Dazarel, for better or worse, we live in Bassoon's head, now. Even if you don't care for him, you should value making him stronger."
'What I object to is not the slug making some efforts to better himself, within his breathtaking limitations,' replies the dragon, scoring lines on the ground with his claws. 'I object to you lowering yourself to grant him the use of your abilities, which he assuredly has not earned.'
You sigh, shaking your head. "You are so concerned with holding yourself above everybody else."
'No,' he replies, scratching in the dirt. 'No. You've made your point many times over, Princess. I'm down in the dirt, now. Congratulations, I understand. But I needn't appreciate these slavers.'
"Why do you call them slavers?" you ask. "Porunga seemed content enough. In fact, he seems to consider his situation an improvement over yours."
'It is an insult,' growls Dazarel. 'I may not be the same manner of dragon, but I am one of Porunga's distant kin. I look at the fate he has suffered and my hair stands on end. Of course he is content; he has no other choice! Bound to the life of those who made him as a slave...no, I would die before submitting to that fate. I have known freedom. Even this is not a fetter so complete as Dragon Balls. I will end myself before I give it up.'
"You're making a lot of assumptions you can't possibly be sure of," you say.
He looks away. 'I know,' he says with quiet conviction.
You sigh. "Still so determined to see everybody as an enemy," you say. "That's really it."
'You would tell the one who tried to murder your home out of greed that he is wrong in that?' he asked in an attempt at levity.
You put your hands on your hips, cocking your head. "As much as you talk about that, I would've thought you'd remember it better." You close your eyes, taking a deep breath. "We're all connected, Dazarel. Every stranger is a sibling you haven't met yet. The world can be so much kinder than you insist."
You reach out with your senses. You mind goes blank.
Feel the grass.
Dazarel lets out a quiet, hissing sigh. 'I do not think I can believe that,' he admits. 'I have lived centuries. Never have I met an open hand instead of a closed fist, not from anybody without an agenda.'
By way of reply, you stretch your hands up overhead.
A small, blue sphere of ki sparkles into view, the quiet, joyous songs of the objects tumbling through space sounding from it. The light showers down on you and Dazarel, lightening your weariness, if only just for a moment.
You open your eyes, knowing that he knows what this is. "This Is what you've lost, Dazarel," you say, bringing your hands down to your sternum. "This is what your teacher stole from you. Only somebody like me can do this." Slowly, you let the org begin to dissipate. "You said you don't think you can believe that. This is what I'll teach you. By the time we're done, you'll be the kind of person who can do that."
He stares up at you as the technique fades. 'How?'
"Same place I started," you say. "Close your eyes."
Slowly, glaring suspiciously, he complies.
You smile. "Now…feel the grass."
A very successful month for training. This month, Dazarel's program for you centered on the use of your first gift, your Sight. Specifically, he started training you on better using presentsight, which traditionally has been a lesser focus of yours, and you can now use it for brief flashes in fights, giving you dizzying situational awareness. For Perfect Multiform, you've put in some work on improving your endurance with your new approach to the problem. It's to the point where, against a weaker opponent, it's tactically usable as a fight ender, but it still burns your reserves far too swiftly to be useful against peers unless you can absolutely for sure put them down in the seconds you get. You've also improved your host bond again! New features: can drag host into mindscape (useless with Bassoon, but future hosts may lack command over their mind), can grant host direct use of your senses (including psi), can form the Genki Dama while in the mindscape (meaning the hobbler on training progress has gone away), and have improved manifestation time to half an hour. Dodonpa has also leveled up; you now will be able to use it to pierce beam and blast attacks from weaker opponents, or particularly unconcentrated or sloppy attack from peers or near-peers, giving you a scary new angle of attack. Ki Refinement has reached Competent; it is now field-ready, and yields the same 10% boost in effective power Jaffur boasted during the Sealing.
Training in Tenshinhan Style yielded incremental gains. You're definitely more than halfway to the next level, but at this rate it'll be almost the rest of the year until your skills increase to the point where it's noticeable. You've been gaining flashes of that transcendent togetherness that characterized your use of the Genki Dama, but not controllably. Kakara is electing not to push it for now, remembering Goku and Gohan's lessons on the Genki Dama and how it cannot be forced. Crowd Fighting has made excellent progress and should improve to Excellent with another training action. Finally, you used your ability to use the Genki Dama in Bassoon's head to provide a bit of demonstration to Dazarel about the value of your mindset, and a reminder of the failure of his defeat. He is troubled. You have begun his training with a focus on fundamental ki talents, in which he is deeply lacking.
* * *
When you finally find the fleet, it is almost entirely by chance. You're stopping over at a system to gather fuel from asteroids, and...suddenly, there they are.
Bassoon swears, and you spend a frozen moment being grateful for the stealth systems, as the screen lights up with contacts all over the system. He immediately brings the ship up close to one of the asteroids drifting through the system's edge and slides behind it. Then he stands, reaching for his suit.
"We're going to check it out up close," he says, rolling his shoulders. "I won't risk the ship that close into those guns."
You nod, swallowing. "Futuresight, combat precog, or presentsight?"
"Presentsight, and keep it for yourself," he says. "I'm going to focus just on moving us slow and steady, and staying hidden. You focus on keeping your eyes peeled. I want everything you can get on the fleet. Where's the leadership? How many soldiers can you feel? How likely is it some of the ships are shielded and we can't feel their inhabitants? What are we up against, in short, and how is it organized?"
You take a deep breath. "Got it. Let me know when to fire it up."
Shrugging his suit on, he vents the atmosphere into storage, kills the gravity, and approaches the airlock. "Got it," he says. The hatch slides open, and he floats out into space.
Bassoon increases his power level as far as he can and keep it within the suit's dampening limits and begins flying forward. Then, he casts a spell, and you both abruptly jerk forward as that small bit of momentum starts doubling itself once every few seconds.
It takes less than a minutes before you're hurtling into the edge of the fleet and he stop the spell, simply drifting and nudging your both from side to side. "Now," he breathes.
Your eyes film over white.
That ship has far too much armor relative to any others visible. Few visible weapons, multiple exit points.
You frown. That one is almost certainly a troop transport. You sense nothing from inside it. You'd keep your strongest fighters there, if it was you. The armor serves a dual purpose in keeping it intact until it hits atmosphere, and then you can have the soldiers inside bail out high up and make it the rest of the way down, if need be.
Cannon-armed vessels concentrated towards the edges. Cannons outstrip Refugee Fleet weaponry in power significantly.
The edges? That's not where you put trump cards. You keep those inside the outer ring. So, fearsome as they are, the cannon ships are just screening forces. The ships inside, the ones built along the heavy-armor-many-exits lines of that earlier one, those have to be what the leaders think is important.
Then again, they don't intend to fight in the void. They intend to land. Not surprising they favor their soldiers, otherwise there won't really be a battle. And not all of the transports are shielded. You sense a lot of soldiers who are...well, not pathetic, no, but certainly no match for even the average Namekian warrior.
The shielded transports have to be the champions. Elite strike forces, meant to survive a battlefield and deliver its cargo, and with no ki signatures while the rest of the ships are projecting a veritable riot of them.
Your eyes take in everything as you muse over its findings, and swiftly, as Bassoon rockets through the formation, you see what is obviously the flagship. The biggest vessel there, with one huge ki cannon, and otherwise built along the armored transport lines, you honestly thing that even as a super saiyan, it would be an effort to destroy it.
It's also bristling with antennae and dishes in a way the other ships aren't. This is a vessel that wants to hear and speak to a lot of other ships. That alone makes clear that it's meant to coordinate things.
"Can you do a close pass of that ship?" you ask, pointing it out.
He nods, nudging you that way, and moments later, you tear past.
In the fraction of a second you spend next to it, your eyes take in thousands of details. Micrometeorite scars. Little bits of graffiti. Seams in the armor. Weak points. The details of that colossal cannon.
And, almost uniquely amongst this fleet, a broad window stretching across a blister poking up out of the cannon.
Bassoon curses as he sees it, propelling you both to the other side of the ship at the last second. You take your observations-
-and are gone, thousands of kilometers away before your hearts stop pounding.
It takes less than a minute to rocket through the fleet. Your request to get closer to the flagship is the only exchange you two had in that time. You both take a moment to breathe in relief that you weren't discovered.
Then Bassoon turns. "Another pass."
You let the presentsight go to save it, nodding. "One more."
Your conclusions from your early pass of the fleet are that, while it is a formidable battle fleet, it is primarily structured around the expectation of fighting on the ground, and making sure its fighters make it there. It obviously is not in the plan for New Namek to possess significant capabilities in space combat, which, to be fair, is...not inaccurate. Still, if properly planned, an early strike in orbit or elsewhere in the void could do a lot of damage, although whoever put this fleet together clearly has prepared somewhat for this possibility. In particular, you've identified the vessels the enemy is almost certainly using for their strongest fighters, as well as the command ship. Causing lots of damage to either could heavily hamper their plans.
* * *
General Training: 32
Historical Insights: 26
Your return to Tamrii is considerably more subdued than your trip out, and considerably swifter, as you needn't make a search pattern. You visit the others, spend some time, train them up a little, and then head back out to gather more observations.
It swiftly becomes clear just why the fleet is moving so slowly. Namely, Snare was wrong when he guessed it would be moving already; it isn't moving at all. They're sat in their muster point, closer to Tamrii than any of you would have dared guess, in a completely dead system. Not quite the rings of dead systems on dead systems on the edge of civilization that hide Garenhuld, but even in the heart of civilization, there are some stars that just aren't worth settling or visiting. From what you can see, there are no new warships or transports coming in, but so long away from any support bases, running the engines, eating up the food stockpiles, and enduring wear and tear has left its mark. At this point, a lot of ships are coming in, but Bassoon identifies all of them as underway repair and replenishment vessels, swarming the fleet in a hurry to get everything back in shape to move. The fleet is, indeed, readying up to move out to Tamrii.
"They must be planning on filling up their stockpiles in Tamrii and getting everything reorganized before burning hard for New Namek," says Bassoon. "Maybe spend some time showing the flag on the planet."
"Lots of people fighting in one place takes up a lot of food," you say, nodding. "On Garenhuld we had Senzu beans, but with the Senzus hidden away, those were limited. Of course, everything back home was settled by Lord and Ladies fighting, but their followers fought underneath all of that, and they needed food. And beans are expensive, even if they aren't bulky. Whoever the leader is, they probably want Tamrii set up to handle all the supplies he'll need for a long battle. Even if he isn't expecting one."
Bassoon only grows more morose, at that. In fact, overall he withdraws into himself, as the weeks wear past. You do your best, pointing out possible vulnerabilities in the fleet, but for each one, he points out that New Namek doesn't have the capabilities to exploit it.
A grimness that deeply troubles you falls over your host as the fleet readies itself to make way for Tamrii.
* * *
History With Bassoon: New Namek
When we received New Namek -- when Cooler was defeated -- when the Tournament of Power was done -- after all of that, peace seemed like a foolish dream, but finally, we had it. Safety seemed fantastical, but there it was.
We should have known better.
We spent decades content in our isolation, and only the Death of Earth snapped us out of it. The elders came together and agreed that it was time to finally start reaching out into the wider galaxy. Long past time. There was no talk of avenging Earth, how could there be? We hadn't grown stronger at all, as a people, after Freeza. Piccolo was a hero and an inspiration, but those who followed his path already ventured out into the galaxy without us, and they didn't tend to come back. Either because they found a life elsewhere, or...because they couldn't. It didn't stick.
So, we started encouraging folks to spend some time out there, traveling -- in groups or alone -- and getting to know the wider galaxy.
Some of them stayed out there, yes. Others came back, stronger and wiser for it. I wonder, sometimes, how much we squandered, all those thousands of years on Old Namek, hiding away from the galaxy. Heading out there changed us, sure, but we learned so much from it that I can't bring myself to regret it.
It paid off when the first warlord came for the Dragon Balls.
We never intended to become protectors. Not at first. But after years of venturing out, we'd made friends with our neighbors. They trusted us, we cared for them, and when conquerors came tearing through and grinding them underfoot, we couldn't stand by. We stood up. We fought.
And, eventually, there grew to be a region of space where no warlords reigned. Where worlds were peaceful and people were safe. Small, yeah, bounded by how many people of ours could go somewhere. But it kept the bonds strong.
At first, we didn't think much of the New Cold Empire. We disliked them, sure. Freeza's legacy isn't worth claiming. But we didn't think they were anything special, not at first. We know better, now. Dozens of our adventurers have challenged their Princes, and none have won. They're just so obscenely powerful. Even you're only a match for one of them. The others...no contest, no chance.
Unfortunately, we caught their attention. There's something about the old stories that fascinates them. It's common knowledge that any Prince would gift a planet to somebody who could lead them to a saiyan, and not so they could turn that saiyan over to the Enemy. No, they want to fight one. They want to relive that epic age of heroes and demons firsthand. It's one of the reasons they fight the Starries so much; with your honored ancestors in charge...well, there's your legend, right there.
Those legends being around has probably kept us alive longer than I'd like to think.
In the end, we haven't really learned anything. We started going out into the galaxy, but most of us only so far. We started protecting people, but only the ones we could see. I tried to go farther, do more, but...I'm only one guy. We're still so passive. We just change the terms a bit. We've never reached out to the Starries as a people, for all that their leaders never were the ones with close ties to us or ours. We never got proactive. We never tried to really join the war. We never even got serious about growing stronger as a society, not really. We just...sat on our patch. I feel proud of the things we've done, but...faced with extinction, it's hard to look and things and say we couldn't have done more.
And now the echoes of the Death of Namek are stronger than the living legends to the south, and the demons have come to find some heroes to fight.
Even we don't measure up to how badly they hunger for a Saiyan, though. Not even Lapis or Lazuli. Not even Buu. There isn't the personal connection. There isn't the heady feeling of knowing that they're squared up with a being whose ancestors never found a limit they couldn't break, and who clashed time and again with the being from which you claim your own legacy.
It seems almost fitting that after years of never doing enough, they might refrain from chasing us down wherever we go only out of excitement from finding one of the people who always did more.
...that's the alarm. Time's up.
The fleet is moving.
Very limited gains in training the rest of the team this month, mostly helping them to solidify new habits more than helping them to advance. Not worthless, but nothing notable.
The fleet is en route to Tamrii. The clock keeps ticking.
Scouting from a distance is not yielding success in finding out the identity of the Prince leading this fleet. You need that identity to inform your plans. It is the single most important piece of information to inform your defense plans. It determines whether or not you will be mounting a serious defense at all. One way or the other, you need the identity. And if you go in close enough to get the good data, you know you'll be found...and you don't see yourself even managing to get close enough to be caught on his ship at any time past the next two months. Presumably, security tightens too much after that point, for whatever reason.
With time running out to make that choice, you're beginning to understand some of that desperation.
[ ][PRINCE] You'll wait until the last possible second according to your Sight, but if it comes down to it, you'll make that trip to his ship to discover his identity. The entire plan turns on getting that identity.
[ ][PRINCE] You will not chance it. New Namek needs time to prepare defenses and evacuate not only itself, but those among its pseudo-protectorates who wish to leave.
Even having decided that, the question remains as to what method you're going to primarily favor in gathering information on this Prince.
[ ][HOW] Snare is your technical specialist. He doesn't have the time or equipment to crack the secure channels the fleet uses, but not everybody in this fleet will be talking over secured channels; one of them will have loose lips. Assuming that the Prince has actually disclosed his identity to the fleet, of course. He's powerful enough -- and the Namekians comparatively weak enough even relative to the weakest Prince -- that it wouldn't be strictly relevant to the average soldier. You recall him wearing head-to-toe armor in your visions, his power level difficult to discern. That speaks to his caution. Guaranteed to find what's available, but the amount of junk data or outright lies will be high.
[ ][HOW] Caution or not, you know one thing, and that is that a society which has Princes must have those Princes show their faces for something this big. The Prince will need to appear in public at some point, discuss things with elites, show the flag. You won't exactly be able to get within eavesdropping distance, not with his security as it'll be likely to be, but you'll be able to get closer than you would on his ship, and even if he keeps that armor on everywhere, close proximity will give you more chances to deduce things. A decent chance to suss out conclusive hints as to his identity, but you would be conducting close surveillance on a very personally powerful man.
[ ][HOW] You'll target those he speaks with, trailing in his wake and eavesdropping. Snare can hack a bureaucrat's computer more easily than encrypted military communications, and those bureaucrats will definitely gossip about the high company they're keeping. Of course...while the Prince is likelier to be honest with some members of the planetary bureaucracy, he will definitely mislead lots of them, with as careful as he's being. You'd have to judge which ones are correctly informed. A good chance of finding information, and you're pretty sure the right information will be in there somewhere, but it'll take a lot of sifting.
You have five free AP, which may be used among the following options as you wish.
Going by your visions, you have seven months until the invasion hits New Namek, or three if you are discovered while scouting.
This plan will constitute your actions over the next two months, until the deadline for boarding the Prince's ship to investigate him. Actions' impacts will be appropriate for a two-month span.
Form a plan from the following options.
[ ] Plan [NAME]
The Sight -- or, perhaps more accurately, your psychic abilities -- got you into this mess. Kais and Ancestors willing, they will get you out. This category has 2 AP.
-[ ] Continue Your Training (1 AP): Your psychic abilities are dizzyingly versatile, and more applications seem to come out of the woodwork every time you poke at them. Follow Dazarel's training regime.
-[ ] Looking Home (1 AP): Events home have spiraled into open civil war, and your family and friends are caught in the middle. You need to know more. Devote a substantial amount of time and effort to using your Sight to keep up to date on the current events on Garenhuld.
-[ ] Future Options (1 AP): The mysterious destinations that called to you when you fled Garenhuld, and again when you departed the Other World, are an intriguing mystery. Bassoon may have been a friend, but can you guarantee that the self-described, "Enemies," will be? Try to pierce the odd veil around your host options, revealing a chosen option's identity for the next time you need to find a new host.
-[ ] Looking Abroad (1 AP) [TOPIC HERE]: It is difficult to fully describe the dizzying potential of your Sight. With sufficient precision and effort, literally anything past, present, or future is yours to behold. Use your Sight to look into a topic of your choice to the best of your abilities.
The drive to improve oneself is intrinsic to the saiyan race, and you are as saiyan as they come in the modern world. This category has 3 AP.
-[ ] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [SKILL NAME GOES HERE]: Choose one of your existing skills to improve. Make a training roll in the specified skill. Exceptional or higher skills are a matter for the, "To Go Beyond," option below. Please note that you can no longer directly train super-skills like Hand-to-Hand or Ki Manipulation.
-[ ] New Skills (1 AP) [SKILL NAME GOES HERE]: Your repertoire is impressive, but it can always expand. Variety is the spice of life and the key to not losing it. Acquire any skill of which Kakara knows, at an appropriate starting level. The skill's theory and practice must be things to which Kakara has access.
-[ ] Research Project (1 AP) [PROJECT NAME GOES HERE]: There are some whispered legends yet to be recreated; there are some things held to be impossible. You brought the Genki Dama back into the world. You're only getting started. Start making research rolls to acquire or invent a skill to which Kakara does not have access. The project name should be the name of a technique you want to acquire or an effect you want to achieve, whichever is more descriptive (i.e., "Perfect Multiform," or, "a good piercing attack with an emphasis on speed." Success is not guaranteed.
-[ ] Style Training (1 AP) [STYLE HERE]: Yammar took you apart. A good part of that is who he is and the experiences he has endured, but another part was his simple superiority as a fighter. You must improve. When you return to Garenhuld, it will not be peacefully. Make training rolls towards leveling up one of your combat styles.
-[ ] Invent a Style (2 AP): Perhaps the answers to your needs do not rest in the past. Perhaps you need to strike your own path, if you are to stand up to the trials set against you. Design a new combat style and begin training it.
-[ ] To Go Beyond (1 AP) [SKILL NAME GOES HERE]: You have experienced moments throughout your life that hint at an understanding of your current techniques which few can equal. You have the chance to truly push the boundaries of your people's knowledge. Select either Ki Sense or Multiform and begin training it to Elite+ levels.
-[ ] Broken Precedent (2 AP): Perika was brought into this world at peak base saiyan strength with a wish that supposed she'd be useful for fighting an opponent at your level. Moreover, she is a saiyan without a support structure, loose in the wider galaxy. You have already given leave to the Senzus to reach for the next level. You must do the same for Perika. Settle down with Perika, and for the first time in your life, help to create another super saiyan.
For as long as you can recall, you have been an outgoing girl. Though you have grown rapidly over the past year or so and your life has turned upside-down, that fundamental truth has not changed. This category has 2 AP.
-[ ] Strengthen Host Bond (1 AP): Neither you nor Bassoon fully understand the nature of the ties that bind you. Perhaps you can unravel the mystery of your presence here. Deepen the metaphysical connection you have with Bassoon by running experiments with him and exploring his mindscape.
-[ ] Talk to Dazarel (1 AP): Dazarel is a twisted, evil monster who believes might makes right and that psychic might makes rightest of all. He is also, you have learned, a deeply injured being, one fundamentally betrayed by his mentor -- whoever they are -- when his training began, and twisted into thinking as he does. You have promised to train him to grow on his own merits; you will. Spend significant time and focused effort trying to connect with Dazarel. Train him in the use of ki in order to give him a path forward that does not involve murder.
-[ ] Strange Sister (1 AP): Perika has established a bond of trust with you that you can't help but try to live up to. She has claimed you as her Lady. It is only right that you spend time with her, and ensure you're doing right by her.
-[ ] General Training (2 AP): You've made a start on establishing your teammates' foundations in the arts of ki; now you intend to continue. Continue imparting knowledge and power onto your teammates for this mission.
-[ ] Socialize With [TARGET] (1 AP): You can now use your telepathy to speak with individuals outside of Bassoon's head, and your social circle has thus expanded tremendously. Take advantage of this and grind up your relationship with any person of your choice.
With the level of access you have, it's all-but-guaranteed that you'll be able to sway Bassoon into doing things in the outside world. This category has 0 AP (2 locked in).
-[X] Adventures (2 AP): New Namek is bracing for invasion, but there's a whole galaxy out there. You and Bassoon have access to a stealth ship. With the scouting trip coming soon, this will mostly be groundwork for that, but you might find something interesting.The scouting trip has begun, and you are committed to it.
-[ ] Instruction (1 AP): He might complain about bottle blondes again, but you're riding in Bassoon's head, and you have a vested interest in keeping it intact. In spare moments, impart some of the secrets of your people's warrior traditions to him. The irony in you, of all people, doing this is stifling, but you'll power through. Now that he's had time to take a break and rest, Bassoon is ready to go again, at a more sustainable pace. Bassoon makes a concerted effort to train his power level and abilities this month, and you directly assist him.
-[ ] Historical Insights (1 AP): Bassoon has mentioned to you, offhand, that he's originally a historian by trade. That actually represents a significant source of information for you on the state of the galaxy, and it'd be nearly criminal to neglect it. Bassoon gives you a history lesson on a topic of his choosing. Gain deep insight into that topic.
You have sworn Dandeer Vegeta's complete and utter defeat, and your and Jaffur's ascension to your people's leadership. You will see it done. This category has 1 AP.
-[ ] Anything (AP Variable): You may fill this category with any type of action from any other category, as long as it applies directly to improving your ability to defeat Dandeer.
-[ ] Write-In (AP Variable): You are Kakara Goku, the options facing you are faintly dizzying! You're sure that you can come up with even more, though!
THERE WILL BE A MANUAL MORATORIUM FOR THE VOTE. WRITE-INS, AS ALWAYS, ARE PERMITTED. APPROVAL VOTING.
So, it turns out that the problem was ADHD. But now, I have drugs. Legal ones, even! And being able to focus properly feels amazing.
Hopefully, this should, finally, be the thing to get me properly back into the groove. Glad to be back, everybody.
As noted above, this plan will cover the next two months, up until the deadline to do something precipitous and board the command ship in search of details on the Prince. Take note accordingly.
[X] Plan Deathbybunnies - General Training
-[X] Sight (2 AP)
--[X] Continue Your Training (1 AP)
--[X] Looking Abroad (1 AP) [Tien Style]: Utilize our Sight to view Tien himself and/or historical Masters of Tien Style, to supplement our own Style Training (Free AP)
-[X] Training (3 + 3 AP)
--[X] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Dodonpa]
--[X] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Kikoho]
--[X] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Crowd Fighting]
--[X] Style Training (1 AP) [Tien Style] (Free AP)
--[X] To Go Beyond (1 AP) [Perfect Multiform] (Free AP)
--[X] To Go Beyond (1 AP) [Ki Sense - All Is One] (Free AP)
-[X] Social (2 + 2 AP)
--[X] Strengthen Host Bond (1 AP)
--[X] Talk to Dazarel (1 AP)
--[X] General Training (2 AP)
-[X] The Outside World (1 Free AP)
--[X] Instruction (Free AP)
-[X] A Cause (1 AP)
--[X] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Genki Dama]
[X][HOW] Caution or not, you know one thing, and that is that a society which has Princes must have those Princes show their faces for something this big. The Prince will need to appear in public at some point, discuss things with elites, show the flag. You won't exactly be able to get within eavesdropping distance, not with his security as it'll be likely to be, but you'll be able to get closer than you would on his ship, and even if he keeps that armor on everywhere, close proximity will give you more chances to deduce things. A decent chance to suss out conclusive hints as to his identity, but you would be conducting close surveillance on a very personally powerful man.
[X][PRINCE] You'll wait until the last possible second according to your Sight, but if it comes down to it, you'll make that trip to his ship to discover his identity. The entire plan turns on getting that identity.
Meanwhile, Back On New Namek...
The chirping of birds echoes oddly, trapped in the bizarre acoustics of the unnatural chamber. Blue grass stands still and frozen in the dead air. The sounds of nature seem almost confused, cut off as they are from the endless shifting of the circle of life.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
BANG
Birds panic, screeching and flapping wildly as a shockwave blasts through the air. Grass flattens, trees sway.
Perika hangs in the air, wreathed in her pulsing, white aura, and stares down at her group of Namekian sparring partners.
Tambourine grimaces, rolling his shoulder and raising his fists. "Ah, crap."
tsew
Perika flashes down through the air and hurls a kick into his guard. He falls back, grunting in pain with every blow turned aside.
From the side, Oboe charges, forcing Perika to turn and catch him. He howls, aura flaring as he strains to hold her in place. "COME ON! FOCUS ON ME- OHGODAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!"
Perika smoothly whirls in place, dragging him along with. She spins for a moment, and his legs flare out like a propeller, forcing the others to back off. Laughing, she releases him, letting him slam into Tambourine. The two men yell in pain as they go down in a tangle of limbs.
She lets the spin carry her around to face the other two fighters, spreading her arms and grinning. "C'mon, boys, gimme something here," she says, dropping to the ground and bouncing on her toes.
The remaining fighters, Tuba and Cello, trade deeply resigned looks, then sigh and square up. Cello charges as Tuba raises his fingers to his forehead.
Perika grins, teeth glinting in the gloom.
tsew
Cello screams in shock as she appears in his face. He rolls to the side as her leg snaps up, wincing as it streaks through the space where his stomach just was. Throwing up a hand, he lets out a broad blast that consumes her entirely-
tsew
-only to go spinning into a hillside and obliterate it. Perika half-turns, grin widening as she looks over her shoulder at Tuba out of one eye.
His eyes widen. "Oh, crap." He aborts his charging and draws one arm back. "Special Beam Cann- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Perika darts forward mid-word and throws her arms wide, releasing a wave of ki in all directions that scours the hilltop of grass and sends Tuba hurtling into the air. He cringes, ready for an impact-
thump
-only to slam into Perika's hand as she catches him on the way up. "I'm pretty sure Kakara calls that the Makankosappo," she says, smirking.
"Pretty sure Piccolo didn't actually speak Namekian," replies Perika. "...weirdly enough, come to think." She slams her fist on the katchin dome blocking out the suns' light in a specific sequence. "So I don't think he would've called it that either."
"Ugh, whatever, it still works," says Tuba, engaging his own flight and drifting out of her hand. "I mean...usually."
"Have to hit to have an effect," says Perika, shrugging. Around them, the dome begins to dissolve. "Ah, there's some sunlight!"
The others fly up around them. "Honestly starting to think we don't have much to offer you, Perika," says Cello.
"Kinda got our asses kicked," adds Tambourine. "Not even close." He folds his arms, scowling.
"Well, that just means that I have something to offer you!" she replies, grinning. "You'll catch up a bit, then I'll catch up a bit, and eventually Kakara'll get back and help us all get stronger!"
Oboe shrugs uncomfortably. "She didn't agree to train us, Perika, just you."
"Yeah, but she's generous," replies the saiyan woman. "She'll help out."
"Are you all done up there?"
The group looks down to the small group of mages standing on the grass below.
One mage waves up at them. "I know the training is fun for you all, but we've just been sitting around occasionally hearing the dome ring!"
Perika laughs awkwardly, drifting down to the ground. "Sorry, Cargo!" she calls. "Got a little caught up. We're done now." She touches down next to him.
He shakes his head, laughing. "Well, as long as we can go home. Getting late in the day, it's time for a drink."
"Food too!" she says. "I hope so, at least!"
"Some of the refugees have a meal going. Whole neighborhood's pitching in," says Cargo, lifting off. "I think they called it a potluck? Come on. You can see for yourself."
Perika grins, following. "Couldn't keep me away!"
* * *
With the coming invasion fleet, refugees fleeing the advancing forces have begun slowly filtering onto Namek.
As of yet, it's a trickle, the result of Namekian adventurers telling trusted friends and acquaintances to make quiet preparations so that the fleet doesn't realize that they've been compromised. But those early waves have established communities springing up around the Namekian villages, with plans and room for more once the word is out.
It's Perika's favorite place on the entire planet.
Tail wrapped securely around her waist, under her clothing, she absolutely wolves food down, her sparring partners looking on in bemusement.
"How do you eat so much of it?" asks Cello, cocking his head and eyeing her musclebound stomach. "Like, where does it even go?"
Tuba smirks. "Pretty sure it goes up."
Perika swallows. "Yeah, yeah. Screw all of you, drink your water."
The four men each take a sip in tandem, eyeing her with amusement.
She snorts. "If you really wanna know, it all goes to these." She slaps her arms, bulging with rippling muscles. "Muscle mass doesn't pay for itself for most animals. I can't pull stuff out of water the way you can." She shoves a plate of food their way. "I know you can eat, though. Try some! This stuff is delicious!"
"Pass," replies Oboe, pushing it back. "Like, yeah, sure, we can, but it really doesn't play well with heavy exercise."
"Cramps like you wouldn't believe," says Tambourine.
Perika rolls her eyes, picking up a leg from some kind of massive bird. "Oh wow, cramps. Can't possibly imagine what those are like!"
The namekians all wince.
She chuckles. "Poor baby boys."
"I refuse to believe that's natural," says Cello.
"Ask Kakara when she gets back, she'll back me up," replies Perika.
"No thank you," says Oboe. "I'm not particularly interested in hassling the super saiyan."
"She's not that bad," snorts Perika.
"She regularly blasted you into the ground," points out Oboe.
"And I asked for it," says Perika.
"Saiyans," sighs Tambourine, shaking his head. "I don't know how Bassoon does it." A slight smirk gives the joke away.
Perika flips him off regardless. Gotta thank Kakara for teaching me that one. "You're just jealous."
"Of course we are," says Cello. "We aren't going to complain about it, though."
She flashes him a grin. "Thanks, guys." She settles in to eat for a moment, her friends sipping at their water.
After a moment, Tambourine speaks up again. "Any word yet on how we'll be deployed when the invasion comes?"
Perika swallows, sighing. "Depends on how much stronger I can get," she says. "If it's Haila, they're saying that when Kakara fights him, I might be able to support her, or maybe take care of any soldiers who manage to get inside the dome with him. If I stay stuck here, though..." She shrugs. "Guess I can hide my tail, tie up my hair, and act like a human champion fighting with you all." She ruefully touches the spiky, black locks of hair cascading down her back and over her shoulders.
"I think you'll be fine," says Oboe. "You kick our asses all the time and you're still getting stronger. Once the Scion returns, I'm sure you'll really hit the jets."
"I hope so," she says.
She glances around the bustling market, at the people from a dozen races filling it. The smells, the sound of conversation, the laughter and joy at a good meal shared. All of it underlaid with an air of tension and dreadful anticipation. This is a home, but for people fleeing theirs. This is temporary. It is a moment of connection and peace, but in the midst of a world turned mad and cruel.
"Gonna be a good fight, right?" asks Tuba, grinning and nudging her in the arm. "I'll bet that gets your blood pumping!"
Perika's eyes linger on a family down the line, a mother settling a young child while his siblings eat quietly. Then she shakes herself, glancing back to her friend and grinning. "Sure does," she says, taking a bite. "If they have anything that can give me a real challenge!"
The namekians groan, Tuba shoving her. She cackles, tossing her hair.
* * *
Old Namek did not have nights; while New Namek was similar in atmospheric terms, it only had one sun and lacked the accident of astrology that placed its predecessor at a livable distance between a cluster of three. Thus, it did have nights, and the namekians who made it their home had adapted to the idea of sleeping when it got dark out pretty seamlessly. They had very good ears, but absolute crap night vision. They never needed it at home.
Perika, creeping out into the grasslands beyond the refugee settlement, wondered what Planet Vegeta had been like, that her night vision was excellent by comparison.
Probably overthinking it, she mused. Kakara told me that humans are like this too. Probably just that we had to move around at nighttime every now and then.
Coming to a halt in a small stand of Ajisa trees on a hill overlooking the sleeping town, Perika starts stretching, rolling tension and stiffness out of her muscles and calming her breathing. After a few moments, she takes a stance and starts running forms, boxing with the air.
She keeps her power level low as she does, remembering-
* * *
Months ago.
She screams, aura raging around her. Five million, ten million, fifteen, and just creeping up to the sixteen that she has barely scrounged her way to after months of nearly continuous practice against all of Kakara's warnings about how even that was an exceptionally high cap, there wouldn't be much more, and she should focus on transforming instead.
All of it, and then hold. Breath. Let the dust settle. Lock eyes with her Scion, currently sitting pretty at a measly ten.
Kakara smirks.
Perika snarls, pride stung. She dashes forward with a roar, fist wound back-
Kakara ducks, crouching almost all the way to the ground and stepping past Perika whip-crack fast in a loping, smooth stride that makes Perika's thighs ache just to look at it.
Then, Perika feels a hand closing around her ankle.
She wails as she goes tumbling, her foot wrenched clean out from under her just as it touches the ground. As she rolls across the ground, she feels Kakara lunging forward and kicking her, again and again, keeping her going until finally she smacks into the dome and lays still, groaning.
"Sloppy!" calls Kakara, bouncing from one foot to the other. "C'mon, Perika, you can do better than that!"
Perika growls, hauling herself to her feet and scowling down at her Scion. The other woman grins up at her, unbothered by the difference in height that Perika knew for a fact some would find intimidating.
Perika snorts. "I'm not a toy."
Kakara's expression instantly falls, guilt crossing her face. She settles down. "Sorry. Yeah, no, that's not fair. Just..." She shrugs, giggling. "This is a weird feeling for me!"
"You're better than most of the warriors," grumbles Perika.
"And that is strange to me," says Kakara. "I'm a good fighter back home. I worked hard for it. But I'm not top-tier, not by a long shot. Heck, a lot of the warriors here are a lot more developed than me. I don't have too much of a style to speak of." She settles down to the grass with her familiar, eerie grace, legs smoothly folding up beneath her as she goes. "I mostly get by on my fundamentals." She smirks, tilting her head. "And you're trying to distract me."
Perika rubs at her hair. "Ha...yeah, I guess you're right. Your techniques, they..." She grimaces, fumbling for a word. 'They don't come naturally,' she thinks, which Kakara repeats aloud. Perika nods in thanks. "They don't come naturally. I've been trying, but..."
"Reminds me of some really old stories," says Kakara. "Don't worry," she says, teeth flashing in a sudden grin as Perika tenses. "No storytime. Not right now, anyway."
Perika laughs awkwardly, embarrassed at being caught out that easily. Her Scion...really...likes to tell stories. "Like our people on Planet Vegeta?" she asks.
"Exactly," says Kakara. "You can be better than that, Perika."
Perika ducks her head, looking away and folding her arms. "I know!" she says. "I...I know. It's just hard. I have to learn years in month."
"Months," says Kakara. "And that construction was a bit awkward." She flashes a suggested alternative by telepathy and carries straight on. "You're not wrong, though. There's a lot to pick up, and that's why we're trying to help you transform too. But you'll always fight better with both. Jaffur..." She trails off, her gaze distant. Her brow furrows.
Perika swallows. Kakara always gets like this when her home comes up, and especially regarding the people who were closest to her. It hurts to watch. She's clearly feeling a lot of pain, but the worst part actually comes next, as she remembers, herself, snaps back, clears her throat, and-
"He's the best fighter I've ever met," she says, voice too light to be natural. "Alive, anyway. Powerful and skilled. You need both, Perika." She smiles; it looks very convincing.
Perika's right hand, tucked between her arm and her chest, tightens into a fist. Yeah, that, she thinks. I really hate that. "I'll try," she says, trying to keep her voice level. Judging by the furrow that appears on Kakara's brow, she doesn't entirely succeed, so she unwinds her arms -- carefully flexing her right hand to take away the sting of her fingernails from her palm -- and takes a stance. "Can you show me again?"
Kakara visibly considers calling her on the obvious lie for a moment before letting it pass. She stands, as smoothly as she sat, her tail lashing idly. "Sure," she says. "Let's start from the top."
* * *
-Perika shakes her head, focusing on her forms. She delves deeper and deeper into them, one move chaining into the next with the smoothness of constant practice. She feels the burn of exercise and the rush of endorphins. Teeth glint through her lips as something approaching the rush of battle fills her. More moves, more forms. A punch; pivot into a kick. Miming a blast into the dirt, but keeping her power suppressed. Hopping up to snap her leg through the air as her imaginary opponent leaps up to dodge the shot. Hanging in midair, lunging forward to exploit the opening. Punch, kick, a proper flurry now that she's unmoored from the ground. Knee to the gut, push back, frame the target and Kikoh-
And then, a light clicks on. "You're up late."
Perika nearly swallows her tongue, pinwheeling in the air to look behind her with wide eyes, hanging upside-down.
Cargo stands there, arms folded, a flashlight in his hands.
She stares back at him. "...hi!"
"Hi," he replies, one eyebrow raised. "You do your best fighting on a night of crap sleep, is that it?"
She flushes. "It's just for a few minutes!"
"It's already been over thirty," he says.
She blinks. Slowly, she glances down at her watch; sure enough, she's lost the better part of an hour. "...oh."
The mage responsible for supervising her training sessions sighs, stepping past her towards one of the trees. "You're just lucky you didn't touch any of the Ajisa. The Elder would've had your tail if you'd broken any."
"I'm more careful than that!" objects Perika. "I know how important they are to you."
"I know," he replies, touching one of the branches. "But the Elder's a real stickler for the trees. Probably would've gotten on your case if you even put a leaf out of place."
"You're exaggerating," she huffs.
He turns, finally grinning at her. "Maybe a little."
She chuckles, folding her arms and cocking her head, not bothering to right herself again. "I'll come to bed. Soon. Just one more form."
"'One form,' means, 'One form,' with you, Perika, but only until you're far enough into the form to forget that you promised that," he replies, arching an eyebrow again. "Come now. There'll be training tomorrow. With katchin, so you can actually power up. Pinky swear."
She scowls at him. "I'm not a child!"
"No, but your teacher is," says Cargo. "She taught me that one. Well, I saw her do it to Bassoon once, anyway."
Perika frowns. "A child? Kakara's a grown woman!"
Cargo shakes his head. "Kakara had a growth spurt. Apparently you saiyans do it all at once. She had hers early. She looks like an adult, but she's thirteen years old."
Perika feels her jaw go slack; a moment later, she flips back upright again so that it can properly drop. "What?"
"Yeah, your Scion's a kid," says Cargo. "Hell of a kid, but still." He tilts his head. "What, she never mentioned it?"
"It never came up," mutters Perika, mind racing over old conversations.
Cargo hums. "Well, now you know. You learned something. The day wasn't wasted. Good job." He scratches at his scalp. "Maybe it's genetic. Explains why the two of you never stop and take a break."
Perika scowls, thinking over all the times she's seen or spoken to Kakara, and...drawing a complete blank on a single time when the Scion wasn't doing something important. "...I don't think so," she murmurs. She thinks again of that reflexive daze, flinch, and placid smile any time Kakara thinks of home.
Not privy to her inner thoughts, Cargo shrugs. "If you say so." He yawns. "Now come on, let's get back. Gotta set a good example, don't you?"
Perika snorts, shaking herself out of her ruminations. "I was literally born a few months ago."
"As an adult!" Cargo chews on the inside of his cheek contemplatively. "Kinda."
She scoffs. "All right, screw you, asshole."
He snorts. "Riveting. Put that one in a poetry contest."
Perika rolls her eyes and turns, stepping towards the town. "Fine, fine. Mood's ruined anyway, now. You killed it."
He sputters. "I- I killed the mood?! You were sparring!"
"It was a lovely moment for training by starlight," she says, her customary, airy tone settling back into place. "And you ruined it."
"I ruined you punching the air! Come on, Perika!"
She snickers and folds her hands behind her head as he scurries after her. While he isn't looking, though, a slight frown glides over her face again, still stuck on those moments of disorientation and rapid self-collection.
I'm getting better, Kakara, she thinks, gazing up at the stars as though she can find the war Kakara's visiting right now. Stronger. Better. And once this is done, you and I have a conversation we need to share.
Perika, her caps shattered in her final spar with Kakara, is continuing her training, her strength and skill growing in bounds. In her training, she develops bonds with her partners, the namekians closest to her on New Namek. And her thoughts on her wayward Scion grow more troubled.
Perika is determined to improve both her skill and her strength, but she has a particular focus, as she grows, and after months of effort, she has a crowning achievement to her name. By the time Kakara returns to New Namek, what has Perika achieved?
[ ] Perika has developed a personal technique around which the nucleus of her own style is beginning to form.
[ ] Perika has grown more adept at harnessing the wellspring of power within her, able to deliberately invoke it, with great effort.
[ ] Perika has taken up the use of a weapon -- a sword forged in the heart of a star, gathered by an adventurer years back.
NO MORATORIUM; HAVE FUN! APPROVAL VOTING. WRITE-INS PERMITTED; TAG ME WITH YOURS FOR A GO/NO-GO.
Heya, y'all! Lookie what I have here~
We're heading back to Kakara after this; this was meant to be a brief series of updates, but as you see, 4,000 words later it was a short story that stood on its own. Good to see y'all again! Enjoy!
In retrospect, a 100% training-by-volume plan usually does tend to kick my ass. Revising my approach!
In the meantime, can y'all give me some rolls? d100s, one per customer, first come is first served. I need...1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 rolls for the plan as voted, and another one for how your reconnaissance on the Prince goes. You are opposing this:
[X] Plan Deathbybunnies - General Training
-[X] Sight (2 AP)
--[X] Continue Your Training (1 AP)
--[X] Looking Abroad (1 AP) [Tien Style]: Utilize our Sight to view Tien himself and/or historical Masters of Tien Style, to supplement our own Style Training (Free AP)
-[X] Training (3 + 3 AP)
--[X] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Dodonpa]
--[X] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Kikoho]
--[X] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Crowd Fighting]
--[X] Style Training (1 AP) [Tien Style] (Free AP)
--[X] To Go Beyond (1 AP) [Perfect Multiform] (Free AP)
--[X] To Go Beyond (1 AP) [Ki Sense - All Is One] (Free AP)
-[X] Social (2 + 2 AP)
--[X] Strengthen Host Bond (1 AP)
--[X] Talk to Dazarel (1 AP)
--[X] General Training (2 AP)
-[X] The Outside World (1 Free AP)
--[X] Instruction (Free AP)
-[X] A Cause (1 AP)
--[X] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Genki Dama]
[X][HOW] Caution or not, you know one thing, and that is that a society which has Princes must have those Princes show their faces for something this big. The Prince will need to appear in public at some point, discuss things with elites, show the flag. You won't exactly be able to get within eavesdropping distance, not with his security as it'll be likely to be, but you'll be able to get closer than you would on his ship, and even if he keeps that armor on everywhere, close proximity will give you more chances to deduce things. A decent chance to suss out conclusive hints as to his identity, but you would be conducting close surveillance on a very personally powerful man.
[X][PRINCE] You'll wait until the last possible second according to your Sight, but if it comes down to it, you'll make that trip to his ship to discover his identity. The entire plan turns on getting that identity.
[X] Perika has developed a personal technique around which the nucleus of her own style is beginning to form.
Sweet Baby Kami That's A Lot of Training
"Hey, Scion?" asks Snare, the tech specialist watching his fellow adventurers sweating and swearing through their exercises as he sips water from his perch on the pilot seat.
'Yeah?' you reply, glancing over to him.
"Why are you like this?" he asks.
'Hey!' you reply, scowling.
"Seconded," groans Bugle.
"Getting curious," grunts Lyre.
Flute just lays on his back, staring up at the ceiling. "I want to die," he says in a calm tone of voice.
'Seriously?' you say, dismayed. 'Bassoon?'
Your host pauses in the middle of a push-up, arms shaking. "...sorry," he gasps, starting another.
'Whiners,' you grumble. 'I did it! You all can too!'
Lyre drops out of his stance, halfway collapsing down to the ground. "Okay, there's the line." He faces Bassoon, and you. "Scion. Kakara. Scary lady who can vaporize planets with a backhand. You have done nothing, for the past few months, but train."
You blush, glad that only Bassoon can see. 'That's not true! I've...uh...talked...to you all?'
"Yes," interjects Flute, hauling himself off the ground and sitting up. "While training. Lyre's being flippant, and exaggerating, I imagine, but he isn't entirely wrong."
'I've used my Sight to do some research!' you offer, grimacing.
Bassoon gasps as his arms give out and he faceplants. He speaks without bothering to lift his head. "Kakara, you're in my head, and you've been sharing your visions by default since we figured out how to do that. For practice. And training. You've been looking up historical resources on your combat style."
You rub at the back of your head, biting your lip.
'Um...' you dither, chuckling awkwardly. 'I've been...chatting with Dazarel?'
They all groan at that. "Training the Genocide Dragon does not count!" yells Lyre.
You sigh, sitting down in the grass. 'Okay, fine, I guess it's been...kind of a lot.'
Bassoon lifts his head up from the floor, eyes narrowed.
'Definitely a lot,' you amend. 'But, well...when else?' You spread your hands, gesturing up at the sky. 'I mean, we're all stuck here whenever- okay, hang on.' You leap up, up, up, past the point where things start to stretch and twist in weird ways, and-
tak
You land on the floor of Bassoon's ship, Dazarel sleeping on your shoulder. You take a breath and wrinkle your nose as the scent of sweaty Namekians. "Okay, yeah, I've been pushing hard."
Bugle, bent over and panting, shoots her a dirty look. "Our stink is your fault, Scion."
"Granted!" you say, raising your hands. "But look, we're stuck here anyways whenever we're not out scouting. And things are coming to a head soon, one way or the other. We're not going to have time for this for much longer, and this is the best time to do it. I...I want us to be prepared..." You duck your head, whispering, "...when the time comes."
The silence that falls in response to that is heavy. You feel your teammates glancing back and forth for a moment before Bassoon levers himself off of the ground, cursing under his breath. "...Kakara, I understand, but this isn't going to be like with Dandeer."
You scowl, gritting your teeth. "You're right," you snap. "It's not."
He puts a hand on your shoulder. You stiffen, snapping your head around to stare at him. He raises his other hand. "Hey. I'm not attacking you. I understand your concerns. But I'm talking about the situation. It's different. Either it's Haila and you can beat him already, or it isn't and we have to run."
You shrug his hand off. "I've thought that way before. I've dealt with too many surprises I wasn't counting on to do it again. I am a surprise nobody's counting on. I need to be as much of one as possible. Maybe Haila has an ally who can counter me. Maybe Haila has been holding back! I can't-" You drag yourself to a halt, taking a quick, sharp breath. "...there is too much resting on this for me to take it easy now. I don't know how to unlock my next transformation, and I'm not getting any stronger until I do. I need to be better. Last time I lost because I wasn't as good as my opponents. I can't let that happen again."
Silence falls. You sigh, rolling your shoulders to work some tension out. "...let's just get to work. You only have another hour before your next break."
It is at that moment, as you shift your weight, that your sleeping shoulder dragon abruptly overbalances and topples to the ground, screeching in panic as he snaps awake. Claws skitter on the floor as he scrabbles up and starts trying to run to gain momentum for flight. 'WHAT'S HAPPENING? WHY ARE WE OUT? WHY...why...?' He slowly slides to a halt, looking around at the Namekians, all of whom are staring at him with disbelief and amusement. His head droops, and he turns to you, eyes narrowed. 'I hate you.'
You growl, pinching at the bridge of your nose. "Oh, goodie. A volunteer." You reach out and tug him into your hand with your mind. "Dazarel, show us what you've learned lately."
He hisses in indignation, but complies, starting to go through his exercises. You fold your arms, watching impassively as your teammates get back to work on their own training.
* * *
Active Reconnaissance: 84 vs. 159. Success!
You've had to be crafty, on occasion, but only rarely stealthy, and never for this long. When it comes down it, you have to admit that your approach to solving problems you can't talk your way through is very straightforward.
This sneaking and creeping about sits extremely poorly.
tsew-tsew tsew tsew
Bassoon rockets across the city at full power, concealed only by his armor as he flash-steps from cover to cover in the wake of the warlord's transport. He pulls on every ounce of magic and ki he has, moving only when the distant warriors escorting the ship down through the atmosphere are looking away, all the while having to keep behind the ship and its supporting craft so their sensors don't pick him up. It's tense. It pulls on every scrap of ability and strength in his body.
It is so kais-damned boring.
If you were out there, you could just teleport into position and have done, and yet you're watching Bassoon do -- well, his best, sure, but baby stuff by your personal standards. You'd rather leave it up to one of the others, but Bugle is racing around planting devices all over the city for Snare, Flute is on standby as heavy backup in case somebody gets made, and Lyre is helping Snare. Bassoon is the man on the spot.
And he wouldn't even be doing this much if it weren't for the need to keep within a certain distance of the transport.
"I'm losing it, Bassoon!" snaps Snare over the comm.
Your host grits his teeth. "I'm. Trying!" he snaps. "This isn't easy!"
"Should I have asked Flute?"
"Oh, fuck you!" replies Bassoon. "That's cheap!"
"He's the strongest," says Snare, sounding almost bored.
"Yeah, barely!" says Bassoon, sounding wounded now. "I get a double dose of training from Kakara since I share my head with her! I've been catching up, believe me!"
"I feel like I should be insulted that you're talking about me like I'm some horrible challenge," you observe, smirking.
"Not now, Kakara!" yells Bassoon.
"Why, what's she saying?" asks Snare.
"Not now, Snare!" roars your host, launching himself across a block in a blur of speed.
You open a line of telepathy with your tech specialist directly. 'How's the hacking stuff going, anyway? You in yet?'
'I've been in,' he says. 'What do you think this involves?'
'Dunno,' you reply, folding your hands behind your head and leaning back. 'I never got much into tech. Thought about it when I was little, never followed through. I mostly know what you'd see in movies.'
Snare grumbles. '...probably inaccurate,' he manages with strained politeness.
'Probably,' you admit. 'So watcha doing?'
'I got in using the comms the ship uses to contact ground control,' replies Snare. 'I hacked that first. Bugle planted something for me. I'm just looking at stuff, now. I can only get into the navigation computer this way, though, it's all that talks directly to the comm on the ship. I don't think we're going to get an answer in here, but I'll keep looking.'
'Damn. Okay, I'll quit distracting you,' you say. You cut the line and go back to watching as Bassoon moves across the city.
Eventually, the transport comes to a halt, settling down in a crowded plaza of titanic size as its escorting warriors peel away with auras alight in a spectacular display, and Bassoon drops down into a more settled piece of cover on a roof, breathing hard. Down below is a sea of people, most of them the diminutive natives of Tamrii, all cheering and chanting as their Prince arrives. Security is everywhere; Bassoon has touched down not far away from one guard standing watch over the crowd. And then, you watch as a scene from your visions plays out.
As the ramp on the ship drops, the gathered citizens go wild, leaping about as they cheer for the figure coming down the ramp. You catch a flash of bright, bright green-
-as the Prince emerges from his ship, aura alight. The cheering is like a bomb in its intensity. You feel Bassoon flinching a bit at the volume. The Prince's armored form strides slowly down the ramp, taking his time for dramatic effect. As he nears the bottom of the ramp and steps off, his arms spread wide, beckoning for more. The crowd starts throwing...pamphlets? Yes, small pamphlets with large, blocky writing. You wordlessly grant Bassoon your Sight and nudge him. "The pamphlets-"
You peer at the unfamiliar characters and your borrowed Sight causes them to swim into sight. "What do they say?"
"Good health, safety, victory, that sort of thing. Blessing talismans, I'll bet, I've seen stuff like this before. Has to be a local custom, no way they'd be allowed to throw things at the Prince otherwise." He settles back on his heels, sighing explosively. "Damn, that sprint was exhausting."
Naturally, at that point, the Prince steps fully off of his transport and it starts lifting off.
Bassoon growls quietly. "Snare, the ship is lifting off! Please tell me you have everything you need!"
There's a slight delay. When Snare responds, it's harried. 'No can do! I'm copying data still! I need like three more minutes! Can you give me that?'
Lyre actually responds to this. 'We can. I'm looking at the Air Traffic Control data. The transport is cleared to withdraw on the same trajectory as it arrived.'
Bassoon sighs and prepares to rise. "Fine. Getting ready to-"
tak
You tense. He freezes. A figure in power armor touches down next to the nearby security officer.
It's one of the warriors from the transport's escort. Clad head-to-toe in bone white power armor with a blood-red visor, they cut an imposing sight. From what you can see, they're humanoid, and...well, probably female, unless some other species has a different reason for that exact body shape.
They approach the security officer and get their attention before tapping their helmet. A moment later, the two start gesturing, clearly having a conversation you can't hear.
Bassoon hisses. "I do not want to repeat that routine so close to one of the Prince's champions," he says.
"Me neither," you mutter, eyes fixed on the threat. "How badly do we need the data?"
"No real way to tell," he replies. "Not unless we get it. It's probably nothing, but...maybe somebody got careless and we answer this whole thing right now."
You bite your lip, watching the transport start to really get underway.
What do you do?
[ ] The data's a long shot and it isn't your primary plan, but with the possibility of ending your search immediately, you have to try. Go after the ship and hope Bassoon's experience in evading contact keeps him unnoticed.
[ ] Don't try it. The champions are going to be a cut above, and this data was more of a bonus you could take care of during your primary mission. Settle in to watch the show.
[ ] Dispatch Flute to do it. Snare will have to switch over to using Flute's communicator as his relay, which will cost him time, but it's not worth the risk of moving now. Of course, Flute is supposed to be the strong backup in the event of disaster.
[ ] Write-in.
[X] Don't try it. The champions are going to be a cut above, and this data was more of a bonus you could take care of during your primary mission. Settle in to watch the show.
Creative Solutions
The Prince's transport fires up its thrusters and zips off, and as Bassoon tenses, you sigh. "...no, not worth it," you say.
He tenses again, nearly lunging...but then relaxes, nodding. "Probably right," he agrees. "Sorry, Snare. One of the Prince's bodyguards just landed right next to us. We can't pursue."
There's a rush of static as Snare sighs. "Damn it. All right. I'll start looking through what I found."
"We'll stay in position for now. Don't want to tip off the champion," says your host, slowly drawing further back behind cover. "Bassoon, out." He mutes his line, settling back on his heels in a crouch. "Wish we could hear what they're saying. Could get something out of this."
"I could listen in," you say. "External gifts aren't my strength, but I can at least do that."
Bassoon grunts, shaking his head. "You never know what abilities the champions have," he says. "If it isn't your specialty, don't risk it."
Dazarel stirs on the ground nearby, peering up into the sky. Then he shakes his head and lays down again.
You raise your eyebrow at him. "Yes?"
'My abilities are sealed,' he says, not opening his eyes. 'If they were not, I could listen in trivially. It is my gift.'
You hum, glancing back up into the projection of the world on the green of Bassoon's skybox. "...could you guide me through it?" You reach out with your psychic abilities to listen in on his thoughts.
Dazarel opens an eye, staring at you. Then he stands, stretching. '...theoretically. You wouldn't really gain anything from it, mind. And it would take an awful lot of trust in me.' He bares his teeth, menacing.
Deliberately so, and emptily. You can hear in his thoughts that there's no malice in it, no gain he can see from sabotaging you that would outweigh the cost of his possible destruction from the champion's retaliation. It's just for the form of it, at this point.
And besides, it leaves him open.
"Then I trust you," you say, simply.
Dazarel freezes, blinking. 'What?'
Clouds streak across the sky as though being painted on by a slashing brush. "WHAT?" booms Bassoon's voice.
"I trust you," says Kakara. "Go ahead and walk me through it."
"I DO NOT THINK THIS IS A GOOD IDEA!" calls Bassoon, his focus turning sharply inwards.
"Trust me on this one, Bassoon," you say, looking up into the sky. "He's not going to try anything."
'It's fine,' you say, privately. 'I can hear him thinking. He still hasn't gotten used to the idea that his defenses against that don't work anymore. I wouldn't be able to if they still did, but here we are.'
"...IT'S NOT LIKE I CAN STOP YOU," thunders Bassoon. "I'M GOING TO BE READY TO RUN AT A MOMENT'S NOTICE." Then, privately, he says, 'Be careful.'
'I will be,' you reply.
Dazarel is still staring at you, face blank. '...you're sure?' he says.
"Positive," you reply.
He slowly settles down onto his haunches, face flickering between impassivity and just a hint of bewilderment. '...then, fine. Very well. Sit down, and...I'll guide you through this.' He snorts. 'Meditate. You seem incapable of focusing any other way.'
"Exaggeration," you sigh, gracefully sinking down to sit cross-legged in the grass. "But it works."
'Focus!' he snaps, looking uneasy. 'And...reach out. Like you're listening in on somebody unshielded. I'll tell you what to do.'
The dragon talks you through the process, and it fights you at every step. It feel like falling badly, or walking sideways. You can do it, but your gift doesn't thank you for the experience.
But you can do it.
Your normal telepathy is more like listening; Dazarel's feels like actually pushing into things. With his guidance, you push. And...
Dazarel snorts. 'Wasted effort. They're as psi-blind as a child.' You feel his guiding hand withdraw, and suddenly it's just the typical eavesdropping again.
"Thank you even so, Dazarel," you say, smiling at him.
He looks away.
You turn from him and tune back into your target, searching for the mental shadow of spoken words.
"-risk," says the champion, fingers twitching at her side. "There could be anybody in that crowd."
"Yes, ma'am," says the trooper she landed next to. "We're going to keep a close eye out." He hesitated, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "...he'd be fine, though, right?"
The champion's head slowly turns to face him.
He snaps his gaze back over to the crowd. "Sorry, ma'am! We're watching, of course."
After a long moment, she turns away again. "He would be fine," she replies. "Normally, he'd be fine. But he's suppressing, now, just putting on a show and keeping any Namekian spies guessing."
"We'd see them, wouldn't we?" asks the soldier. "Green, six feet tall or taller? They'd stick out, here."
"And my eyes are on every tall alien down there," she replies. "But Namekians are not the only tall species out there. If you've seen the Prince's new auxiliary and his troops, you know that there are aliens even larger."
The soldier nods. "What's up with that guy, anyway?"
"He's after a particular Namekian," replies the champion. "We agreed to let him follow along with the assault."
Bassoon sighs. 'Tariq.'
"Still?" you ask.
'Apparently,' he replies. 'I guess he wasn't joking when he said his boss would have him come after me.'
You grimace. "Well, you'll be stronger than him this time."
'Still not a fight I'm looking forward to,' he replies, turning his attention back to the soldiers.
"Namekian adventurers are some of the most talented scouts and skirmishers in the galaxy," says the champion. "Even if His Highness were at full power, I would want you to remain vigilant. You'd be astonished at the places they can end up." She rolls her shoulders and turns away. "That's enough of gossip. Keep your eyes on the crowd. I'm going to get up high and maintain overwatch." She reaches over her shoulder and pulls out a rifle, rocketing up into the sky.
Bassoon settles back on his heels, continuing to watch and wait as the Prince performs for the crowd. Nothing else strikes you as significant, though. Once the crowds start to thin and security moves on with the Prince, Bassoon quietly slips away.
* * *
General Training: 35
Flute pants, kneeling on the floor. "We need...a break," he gasps, air rasping.
You chew on your lip for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, I can see that," you reply. "All right. Go ahead and relax, folks." You push down a little ember of frustration that this is coming up again.
Lyre instantly hits the deck, chest heaving. "Princess, I have never worked so hard in all my life."
Bugle groans, little wisps of smoke rising from his fingertips after all of his target practice. "My fingers feel like they're about to fall off."
You sigh, scratching at your head. "That's saiyan training. You do get used to it eventually."
They all groan, and Bassoon says, "I don't know that we want to get used to it. This is brutal. I know I'm spinning my wheels at this point. I can't keep it up."
You...can't really challenge that. Bassoon has stalled badly. "I get it. It's just...I don't understand how this is hitting you all so hard. You might not get stronger from it, but you heal better than me!"
"It's mentally exhausting," says Flute, pushing himself back to his feet. "You have us working nearly non-stop. We're not used to it!"
You slowly let out your breath. "...fair," you say. "I guess that's a culture thing." You reign in your frustration. I'm not even the most training-crazy saiyan they could have gotten. You take another breath. "I'm gonna go into Bassoon's head and keep working. I still have some energy to burn off."
They all groan in acknowledgement as you fade away. The second you rematerialize in your host's mindscape, you blast a trench into the ocean.
Training continues! Teammates are tired.
Bassoon power level 35.9M-->36.4M.
Lyre power level 35M-->36.2M.
Flute power level 43.7M-->45.3M.
Bugle power level 28.1M-->30M.
Ki Control for all increased [Competent-->Talented].
Snare fucks off and plays video games.
Kakara annoyed at culture clashes regarding training.
* * *
Improve a Skill (Dodonpa): 42
Improve a Skill (Kikoho): 44
Improve a Skill (Crowd Fighting): 37
Style Training (Tien Style): 48
Looking Abroad (Tien Style): 67
Bereft of your usual outlet, you hurl yourself into personal training.
You find yourself...struggling.
It's not the least productive training you've ever engaged in, but it's not your usual pace, either. You're struggling, you can tell.
You hit the dirt again, your other forms standing over you with equal frustration on their faces.
"We can't keep struggling like this," snaps Two.
"Clearly we can," replies Four, crossing her arms. "I don't think we're learning a damn thing here."
"Well, maybe if our team hadn't cut us off-!" begins Three.
Your patience and reserve, already fraying, snaps entirely. You lunge to your feet and scream, waves of power pouring off your body. Grass rips away, earth shatters, and the world darkens in contrast as your aura blazes gold. You float above the crater left by your exertions, snarling.
ping
You whirl on the nearest signature of one of your duplicates and frame her in your fingers. "KIKOHO!" you scream, voice cracking.
The signature winks out, and you feel your power level abruptly spike.
So too do the other forms', and they rapidly recover and charge in. You hear your voice, in stereo, crying out, "Dodonpa!"
You snap your fingers to your forehead-
vip
-kick out, and she's already turning, wincing as your leg slams into her forearm-
vip
-the other flashes in behind you crying, "Dodonpa!" again, and you barely twist aside. You curse yourself even as you raise a hand to blast her. You're trying to get more into the forms of Tenshinhan Style and that was just sloppy and formless-
-before a fist crashes into the back of your skull. Only a frantic spike in your power level keeps you oriented, and you slam into the ground. The impact is strong enough to blast out another crater, overlapping with the first and blanketing the world with ash and debris as the force of the impact superheats the earth. By the time you catch yourself, you're hanging over a roiling lake of molten stone.
vip
Three pops in behind you and swings for your neck, and you feel yourself snap again. Rolling forward mid-air, you kick her in the face and tense.
vip
And, as Four transmits in, you scream, forcing your ki to pulse through your body faster, faster, harder, more-!
The world washes out glow as you go into overdrive.
Four's strike looks like it's moving through molasses. You weave to the side and punch her once. She evaporates, popping in a second under the force of the impact. You turn to Three-
vip
-just in time for her to bail, transmitting far over the horizon.
And while ordinarily, you'd have it in you to pause, and realize what she's doing -- trapping you, baiting you, just trying to keep ahead in the only means she has to keep pace now that you're at such a high level until you burn out -- but you don't have it in you right now. You snap your fingers up to your forehead and-
vip
vip
-the second you arrive, she transmits again. You waste a crucial instant as it registers that she's right behind you, whirl-
-your fists each go through one another's chest as she pushes herself into overdrive as well, and you each dissolve.
You reform amidst the fading wisps of aura, panting with fury.
You scream again, aura blasting out in all directions and stripping grass for miles. Finally, the anger starts to abate. You thread your fingers into your hair, squeezing tightly, struggling to bring your breath back under control.
'...is it safe for me to be near again?' asks Dazarel, miles and miles distant.
You sigh harshly. 'I'm not going to kill you, Dazarel. I've never fought like that against anything that wasn't my own multiform.'
'Better to be cautious, I think,' he says. 'I will take that as a yes, regardless.'
With the anger fading, you just feel tired and vaguely sick. You transmit back to him and sit down, closing your eyes.
You did not get as much as you wanted from that. Not nothing, but not as much as you were hoping.
That's been the case throughout this frustrating, tense wait.
'Not to tempt fate, but perhaps you should shift your focus,' says Dazarel. 'Not abandoning your training regime entirely, but perhaps practicing some other sphere of it.'
You swallow your first response to that and manage to nod. "...probably a good idea," you admit. Taking a deep breath, you settle yourself and muster up your Sight. You've been meaning to look back to Tenshinhan himself for a while now; might as well take the chance since you abruptly lack anything meaningful to do outside of Bassoon's head. You blink, your eyes filming over white, and cast yourself back.
Dazarel glides in to land in front of you as you do, and the last thing you see before the world fades away is him, sitting in front of you with a watchful eye on your face.
Mixed bag this month. Dodonpa and Kikoho make progress but do not tick over, although they're getting close. Missing the mark so closely doesn't help Kakara's frustration. There is good news, though. Crowd Fighting didn't improve by a lot, but you were so close that it has ticked over to Exceptional! Finally, you added 3 to the progress bar on Tenshinhan Style, and are now at 9/10. One point from your manual training, and two from Sight usage.
* * *
Months crawl by in an atmosphere of increasing tension. Unspoken between the members of your team is that if your efforts don't turn up anything substantive, you're going to have to get risky.
Which, itself, tends to justify a fair bit of risk all on its own.
You stare at the sky until your eyes ache with the need to blink as Bassoon, in rags, stands on the side of the street, the Prince walking by. 'Somewhere between 165 and 170 centimeters tall,' he remarks to you and the others. 'Definitely in Form Four. Albeit, all of them always are.'
The armored arcosian struts down the street, visibly luxuriating in the attention. And, as usual, not a scrap of skin is visible.
"It has to be Haila," says Bugle. "Taigan wouldn't bother with this charade."
"Not unless he thought he wasn't going to be able to stop you all finding out about him coming, and wanted to make sure you wouldn't instantly run once you saw it was him," you say. Bassoon swiftly relays it. The argument resumes, and you feel your attention wandering as they start arguing over bits and pieces of the Prince's appearance.
Your gaze slips to the champion wandering in the Prince's wake. Like his boss, and the other elites you've seen, he wears full-body armor, his in black but you can get a little. Bipedal, two arms, a pretty solid human shape, for as little as that means out here in the galaxy. The most notable thing about him is that he seems to be carrying a sword.
-notable.
A sword!
"Bassoon!" you say, jumping up. "Forget the Prince. Every noble has retainers, friends, servants, something. People hang around them. Maybe there's two different people the Prince could be, but what if we look at his elites? How likely do you think it is that every prince has a group of companions around him in that exact combination of shapes and sizes?"
Bassoon goes silent in the middle of a reply to Snare. After a moment, the tech specialist says, "Uh, Bassoon? You still with-?"
Your host remains utterly still as, mentally, he yells, 'SON OF A BI-!'
* * *
"I can't believe we didn't think of this already," growls Bassoon, still fuming hours later.
"We got tunnel vision," says Flute, eyes closed and a muscle in his jaw twitching. "Of course the Prince is the only one that matters. Whether we can even fight or not turns on him, if we engage with him the wrong way we bring his whole family down on our heads, and the timeline of events changes completely depending on if he personally becomes aware of our presence. Of course we got over-focused on him-!" He cuts himself off as his voice starts rising, and he takes a slow, deep breath.
Lyre pats him on the shoulder. "It'll be good, buddy."
Snare stares at his screen, hammering away at the keys so rapidly it sounds more like a little waterfall. Then, with a decisive, loud tap, he leans back. "Okay. We have two detailed descriptions. Both humanoid. One with white armor, one with black. White armor has a conventionally female body type -- for whatever that means, as many species as there are out there -- around 180 centimeters, carries a rifle. Black armor has a conventionally male body type, maybe 160, 165 centimeters, carries a sword. Accounting for the fact that each observation was taken under less than ideal conditions, and that description potentially gets me long-service retainers with four different princes. Including Haila."
The team all groan. "Of fucking course it couldn't be definitive," growls Bugle.
You express yourself out of Bassoon, folding your arms. "We need more information."
"We do," sighs Bugle, compulsively snapping his fingers to bleed off tension. Little sparks of ki leap with every snap.
Looming large over the conversation is the brick wall you've run into regarding leads on the Prince. Your latest observation has him too tall to be Haila — but depending on how that armor is designed, it might just be the boots giving him a lift. You've heard him speak — but too heavily distorted to give you anything definitive. The disguise is too well-constructed to pierce, even as close as you've dared to get.
And you're running out of time.
"Our deadline is coming soon," says Bassoon. "We need information now or we're going to be forced into a corner."
Bugle nods, snapping his fingers again. "Then fuck it. Let's go loud. If we choose a time when the Prince is otherwise occupied, we're powerful enough to draw out the elites. We'd get close looks at them and we'd see how they fight. That's the best information we could ask for. I'm confident that we could extract if we needed to."
"Are you nuts?!" asks Lyre. "It's seconds at best for the Prince to respond to that, no matter how busy he gets. We'd get stamped out like bugs! No, we need to be careful. Snare can get us enough information if we can get him access to the right security systems. Those elites get out and about plenty."
"If," replies Bugle. "If we get the right access, if we get it fast enough. Take too long and we're taking the risk anyway! Might as well control the risk. Put me in a suit and I can fire off enough beams at the fleet from extreme range to force the Prince to play defense while you all wrap up on the planet."
"Hold on, we're forgetting something," says Bassoon. He turns to you. "Kakara? Can you scry enough of the elites to resolve this for us?"
You mean back, cupping your chin in your hands. "…maybe," you say, tail lashing. "Ordinarily yeah, but I've been running my sight hard lately. It'll be an effort. Easier if I can get close to the them, but we'd be talking really close. Close enough to touch. I don't know if we can keep it subtle." You grimace at the sudden silence, punctuated by the thrum of the ship's engines. "Even if we don't do that, I should at least try. But I can't guarantee I can hold focus long enough to get everything we need." You glance at Snare. "How much information would you need to narrow it down?"
He cracks his fingers and brings up four different lists of names and pictures, side-by-side. "We can drop these two because we know it's either Taigan or Haila just from their aura." He flicks two lists away with his fingers. "Confirm three human males and it's Taigan. Confirm any arcosians and it's Haila. Confirm more women than men, it's Taigan, but if you can do that you have a full count, and if it's over a dozen then it's Haila." He swipes the lists down out of sight, his wrist snapping with barely-restrained annoyance. "That's what I'd like to say, but these are each months out of date. Realistically I'd need to get enough information to identify a group from their core cadre, the ones the princes keep around long-term. So, Kakara, we're gonna need a lot. Start searching. I'll tell you when we get there."
The debate resumes, and your run at your chin, thinking deeply.
There is one other option. If you were to manifest, burst to full power, and search swiftly, you could do a circuit of all the elites before anybody could respond. The prince is keeping himself suppressed. If you were intent on attacking him, that would present a potentially fatal vulnerability, but here it would mean you'd be done and back under cover before he could react.
But there'd be no way to hide it. Their fleet's sensors would pick you up, and they would know that somebody of your strength had just buzzed them. You can't predict their exact reaction to that, but it would almost certainly be something drastic to reassert their control.
But, with the deadline so pressing…well. Sometimes you need to take risks. Is this one of them?
No dice on the Prince, but you've had a brainwave that looking at his entourage might give you the information you need. How do you want to approach this?
[ ] Bugle's plan. Force the Prince to defend his fleet, then engage the elite and rely on the team's skills to get clear afterwards. Fast, and it would get you the information you need, but if things go wrong, they go wrong fast.
[ ] Lyre's plan. Focus on helping Snare hack public surveillance cameras to get enough information on the elites to identify them. Much slower. If you can't get it done on time, you're bumping up against your deadline.
[ ] Bassoon's plan. Use scrying to divine the information you need directly. You'll need to find a way to get close undetected, but if you succeed, you'll have everything you need. If you fail, Bassoon is in very close quarters with a powerful enemy, and the team needs to act fast to avoid being compromised. Potentially, they'd face the unpleasant dilemma of carrying a prisoner in hostile territory. If this option is not chosen, Kakara will attempt scrying in the blind for the information before anything else. DC of 50, rolled flat, to get enough to identify the Prince.
[ ] Your plan. Personally go out and get those descriptions. You will succeed, and the enemy will know that somebody of your strength just buzzed their elites.
Heya, y'all! It's been busy! Change in job duties, several company shakeups, I have a kid now, and honestly I haven't had spoons to write in quite some time. But it's not over until I hit the bell. I've got the spoons now, and I hope you enjoy the update! See you around the thread!
Vote Closed! Still getting a hang of the automated voting programming, so let's see if this tallies for me...
Scheduled vote count started by PoptartProdigy on Mar 7, 2024 at 10:53 PM, finished with 24 posts and 15 votes.
[X] Bugle's plan. Force the Prince to defend his fleet, then engage the elite and rely on the team's skills to get clear afterwards. Fast, and it would get you the information you need, but if things go wrong, they go wrong fast.
[X] Your plan. Personally go out and get those descriptions. You will succeed, and the enemy will know that somebody of your strength just buzzed their elites.
[X] Lyre's plan. Focus on helping Snare hack public surveillance cameras to get enough information on the elites to identify them. Much slower. If you can't get it done on time, you're bumping up against your deadline.
[X] Bassoon's plan. Use scrying to divine the information you need directly. You'll need to find a way to get close undetected, but if you succeed, you'll have everything you need. If you fail, Bassoon is in very close quarters with a powerful enemy, and the team needs to act fast to avoid being compromised. Potentially, they'd face the unpleasant dilemma of carrying a prisoner in hostile territory.
[X] Bugle's plan. Force the Prince to defend his fleet, then engage the elite and rely on the team's skills to get clear afterwards. Fast, and it would get you the information you need, but if things go wrong, they go wrong fast.
