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Dragon Ball: After the End

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Welp, the visions are fine, if somewhat sparse on the details, and you do not find a chance to determine the arcosian warlord's identity as a bonus.

Finishing up the writing.
 
Section done. As part of my overall effort to shift more rolling to you all, let's have more. Now, let's knock all the training goals out of the way in one update, shall we? Gimme 5 d100 rolls, please! One per person.
 
Well, then. High rolls on training, low rolls on mysterious other things. Hopefully these other things are enemy actions.
 
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Chink In the Armor
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    • [X] Yes, spend the vision. You may avoidit coming to a fight at all with the proper information, and...you may be developing something of a complex about never engaging on incomplete information, but come on, who can blame you?
    -[X] Focus on trying to find the decision points for the three outcomes you've Seen today.
    [X] Plan Deathbybunnies
    -[X] Sight: 3 (2+1)
    --[X] Continue Your Training (1 AP)
    --[X] Looking Abroad (1 AP) [Perfect Cell's Perfect Multiform]
    --[X] Looking Abroad (1 AP) [The Namek invasion fleet - from where will it stage the invasion?]
    -[X] Training: (3+2)
    --[X] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Kikoho]
    --[X] To Go Beyond (1 AP) [Perfect Multiform]
    --[X] Style Training (2 AP) [Tien Style]
    --[X] New Skills (1 AP) [Ki Overdrive] Use a vision if Kakara thinks it would be helpful.
    -[X] Social: 4 (2+2)
    --[X] Strengthen Host Bond (1 AP)
    --[X] General Training (2 AP)
    --[X] Talk to Dazarel (1 AP)
    -[X] A Cause: 1 (1+0)
    --[X] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Ki Refinement]

    Chink In the Armor​

    You delve deep into the eddies of the future.

    In the past few months, you've come to feel almost more like a Seer than a saiyan. It's starting to bother you, somewhat. You can't leave Bassoon's head. You can't really train often at full power without distracting him. You feel cramped in despite having this vast space inside of his head, mostly to yourself. And leaving in the wrong place or at the wrong time could spell disaster.

    Still, at least if there's one thing you have to be stuck doing as your primary means of touching the world, at least it's something you enjoy.

    The current of the future are as materially disgusting as ever -- that same vile, churning mixture that you struggle to adequately describe -- but the process of diving into it and making it your tool is incredibly satisfying. You're good at it. And since your Sensei's veil came off of your Sight when you stepped out of your physical body, you still haven't found your limit here.

    And so you search around for the telltale eddies of the futures you're seeking all around you, reach out, and grasp the ones that look most promising, diving away into visions of what may, if you so choose, come to pass. You wonder, briefly, if Ancestor Bardock ever moved past uncontrollable flashes of what would come, with no power to change it. But before you can consider that in any depth, the vision comes, and you flash away.

    Vision Quality Roll: 12​

    * * *

    Away.

    * * *​

    What makes the fleet move in three months?

    You see yourself and Bassoon. You see Flute, Bugle, and Lyre alongside you, flying slowly, power levels suppressed, through the halls of a space station, or a spaceship. You're looking for something, you can tell, but what?

    Too little time to tell. The vision is focused on showing you what causes the fleet to move, and so you see what causes that to happen.

    You make a mistake.

    It is infuriating that the answer is that simple, but that is what it is. You all make a mistake. You cannot see that mistake, but you do see the shape of its aftereffects.

    A door opens, and there stands an arcosian.

    He stands perhaps five and a half feet tall. He's walking around in armor. Some sleek and futuristic design with a helmet included. Still, even under all of that, you would guess that he's in the fourth form -- no spikes, no strange bulges, just a smooth set of lines and a thrashing tail. Two humans stand by his side, both armored, one a woman with long, flowing, blonde hair, the other a man even shorter than the arcosian and with black hair pulled back. Their eyes all widen-

    "Scouts," spits the arcosian. He raises his finger with a blast ready, his ki stirring swiftly, but Bugle has already finished spinning to the wall, and a blast blows it out, spoiling the shot and carrying the team into vacuum while the arcosian spends precious seconds ensuring his allies have their air supplies sorted. By the time he goes to pursue, you all have already reoriented, secure in your suits, and blasted away to your ship    .

    * * *

    Gone.

    * * *​

    Sideways, now, because you also want to see what happens to make the fleet come through on-schedule for your premonition. And in this one...flashes. The team, scouting around on Tamrii itself, shadowing soldiers on shore leave or watching from afar as that armored arcosian speaks to the planetary leadership. You see them floating silently through space at a respectful distance from the warships, counting and assessing them, but never approaching to board. You gather your data, send regular reports back to New Namek, and, just ahead of the fleet, return. The fleet leaves on schedule, none the wiser of your presence.

    * * *

    Gone.

    * * *
    ​
    And then, the true question: what makes Frigid come? How can you avert that nightmarish possibility?

    You see, again, the team sneaking down the ship's halls. You see the door open. You see the arcosian's eye widen behind his visor-

    -and you see yourself, panicking, lunging forward out of Bassoon's skull unaware that Bugle is securing your escape route, and you crash into the arcosian with a flash of golden light, realizing even as you do what a colossal disaster you may have just wrought. But the fight is on, and however it ends, Frigid arrives months later, furious and ready for revenge    .

    * * *

    Back.

    * * *
    ​
    You return. Rubbing at your temples, you mull over the vision.

    Straightforward. Not the most informative, but straightforward. If you delve into the leader's ship directly, he will run into you. Perhaps you can scry a way to avoid that, but going in blind, you will run across him. And he will scramble his invasion forward to compensate. An opportunity? A threat? Depends on how or if you prepare for it.

    If you restrict yourselves to distant scouting and remain clear of the warlord's center of power, you will not be found, absent further foresight.

    If you delve into his ship and decide to fight him there...that is what brings Frigid. Reports of a super saiyan assaulting his brother in the middle of his own fleet. And small wonder.

    But what warlord was it? You laid eyes on him, but couldn't get a good read on his power level, and that damned suit...! Not enough information.

    You grimace and open your eyes. "Bassoon?" you call. "I have answers."

    * * *
    ​
    -[X] Training: (3+2)
    --[X] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Kikoho]
    --[X] To Go Beyond (1 AP) [Perfect Multiform]
    --[X] Style Training (2 AP) [Tien Style]
    --[X] New Skills (1 AP) [Ki Overdrive] Use a vision if Kakara thinks it would be helpful.
    -[X] A Cause: 1 (1+0)
    --[X] Improve a Skill (1 AP) [Ki Refinement]
    -[X] Social: 4 (2+2)
    --[X] Talk to Dazarel (1 AP)

    Kikoho: 74
    Perfect Multiform: 9
    Tenshinhan Style: 32
    Ki Overdrive: 54
    Ki Refinement: 99
    Socialize With Dazarel: 93
    ​
    You move through your forms, Dazarel watching nearby. "So tell me a little about what made you come to Garenhuld," you say, pulling your ki into the refined aura you learned from Jaffur as you spin.

    'Random chance, to be honest,' he replies, his eyelids dipping lazily. 'I simply felt the desire to head out, away from the center of the galaxy where I had nested. Along the way, I happened along your system. And, once there, I felt the profundity of life it held. I was feeling hungry, so...' He shrugs, wings fluttering.

    "You really are a vile little thing," you say, feeling Jaffur's technique strengthen and speed your movements. You blur as you move from stance to stance.

    'I'm a predator,' he replies, yawning. 'I eat.'

    "Yeah, so am I," you reply, snapping out a kick at an imaginary opponent's head. "You don't see me eating people."

    'People aren't your food,' he says. 'Or, rather, the thing you eat isn't ki. If you ate ki, you would understand my distaste for eating animal energy.'

    "I've seen you eat plenty of actual food," you say. "Hasn't killed you yet."

    'But I grow stronger by eating ki,' says Dazarel, lifting his head off the ground. 'Would you like me to tell you that you were not allowed to grow stronger?'

    "It's not the same thing," you says, getting properly into a rhythm.

    'Isn't it?' he hisses, narrowing his eyes. 'Look at you. Severed from your home, your people lost to the rule of a madwoman, cast into the existential struggles of a planet and people not your own, exposed to your great Enemy, and here you are, training. Here you are, spending half of your time training!'

    You freeze mid-kick, leg curled up in the air. You stare ahead, thinking. "It...it isn't half of my..." You frown.

    Dazarel lets out a grating hum. 'Indeed. It is. And that discounts the time you spend improving your psychic abilities. Growing stronger -- bettering yourselves -- is the most fundamental part of the saiyan race. Oh, the legends have you as born fighters, but that's not the whole of it, is it? Your ancestor, Gohan, became a renowned scholar, and often let his strength languish. No, what characterizes you saiyans is the drive to improve and push forward.'

    You lower your leg. "...I'll admit, you have a point. I have a rough time sitting still."

    He stands. 'Yet you would tell me, "Remain where you are, Dazarel!"' he mimics in a high-pitched voice. '"Don't improve, don't better yourself. Remain as you are until something stronger than you comes along!" It may not be the fundamental drive to me that it is to you, but I will not deny myself the right to grow stronger.'

    You turn to look down at him, frowning. "You know what, Dazarel, that's something I never understood. Eating people is about the energy you consume?"

    He bares his teeth at you. 'It is also fun.'

    You give him a contemptuous look. "Oh, I know you think that." You turn away.

    Behind your expression, though, your thoughts are churning. The big obstacle to you finding some more comfortable state of affairs with Dazarel has always been...well, that. The fact that, left to his own devices, he eats people. That he has eaten people. That he enjoyed it, and refuses to apologize for or regret it.

    But when he's not focused on defending his position, he always comes back to the fact that eating people makes him stronger. He doesn't lead with saying that he enjoys eating people, he does it after his first reaction...and his first reaction is that when he eats people, and absorbs their ki, he grows stronger for it.

    You've always found that people are more honest with their first reactions than the ones that come once they have time on the defensive. You might be wrong...but at this point, you don't know what else to try. Dazarel just refuses to listen to you if you say that what he was doing was wrong.

    You take a breath. "Dazarel, if you're willing to kill planets to get stronger, why aren't you willing to train?"

    'I don't have to train,' he replies, snorting. 'I consume somebody, I add their strength to my own. Not all of it, mind, but some. I grow stronger naturally, with every victory.'

    "Until you came to Garenhuld, and I stomped you flat," you say, putting your hands on your hips.

    He glares. '...you were an exception.'

    You fold your arms. "Uh huh. And how..." You take a second. You brace for the answer you're about to get. "How many planets, exactly, did you attack before coming to Garenhuld?"

    Dazarel peers up at you. '...twenty-four.'

    You hold your reaction to that in; you cannot show him what you want to show him in response to that. Instead, you simply say, "Twenty-four. And the twenty-fifth was Garenhuld. In a galaxy of thousands of planets, it only took twenty-five tries for you to find one that had strong enough defenders all on its own to fight you off. And in those twenty-five planets -- with all of those people eaten -- you only got up to around nine hundred million for a power level."

    Dazarel looks away in apparent disinterest. 'Is that what I was? I never really kept track.'

    Your eyes narrow. There it is. "Oh yes, it was," you say. "And you lost. Thing is, the only thing that really kept you ahead of us was how deep your ki reserves are and your psychic abilities. We couldn't handle those. If I met you of then today, though..." You reach out with your ki telekinesis and lift him up. He squawks before falling silent as you lock eyes with him. "...do you think it would go as well for you?"

    Dazarel stares back at you for a moment before looking away.

    You allow yourself a grim smirk. "Twenty-five planets, Dazarel. If I weren't so nice, you'd be in Hell right now." You drop him. "Today, I wouldn't even need spirit saiyan." You take a few steps back. "I don't even think I'd need my psi to beat you." You clench your fists and fire up your aura. Then, closing your eyes, you condense it down into Jaffur's variant.

    Your skill with ki refinement hasn't reached a new watershed yet, but it is starting to come easier. You feel measurably stronger now, even though you know it doesn't broadcast at all. Dazarel knows what it is, though; he's seen it during your spars with Perika. He eases back, hissing.

    Then you let it go. "And, if I really needed it, I'd have this, too. HYAAA!"

    With a thrumming crash, your aura unbinds entirely and blasts out into a nova of golden light. Tabe's technique of overdriving his ki sends your effective power level skyrocketing for a moment. You frame your fingers into a triangle sighted on the ground in front of Dazarel's feet. "KIKOHO!"

    BANG

    The ground collapses in front of Dazarel, screaming with more power than you've ever eked from that attack. Your aura washes over everything, searing the world gold. Dazarel quails.

    Then, quickly, before it can drain you, you let it go. You fold your arms and stare down at Dazarel. "Sure, Grandma with just overdrive wasn't enough, but with both? I'd have the focus to pierce through your interference, and the power to smash you down once I did. With both of them, Dazarel, you wouldn't stand a chance, and that's ignoring all of the other ways I've improved."

    He bows his head. '...I won't contest that. What is the purpose of this exercise?'

    "How do you think I got this strong, Dazarel?" you ask, tilting your head. "How do you think I went from a hard fight to probably your superior in just a year and a half since our battle? And that without getting any more powerful at all." You fold your arms. "I trained. I'm not telling you that you're evil, Dazarel. Oh, you are. But that's not my point right now. I'm telling you that you're pathetic. You're a waste."

    His head snaps up and he snarls. 'I nearly killed you all!'

    tsew

    You snap down into his personal space, down on a knee to loom over him. "And then I nearly killed you." Dazarel quails, laying his neck and head on the floor. You stand up again. "Twenty-five planets, Dazarel, before you'd met somebody who trained enough. There are a lot of planets out there. Some day, you'll find somebody who won't be as merciful. And you won't have trained, because you'll have spent the last twenty-five planets getting a measly 900 million power level boost." You sneer down at him, channeling your inner Vegetan as hard as you can, before turning around and returning to your forms.

    Minutes pass in silence, broken only by your grunts and the sound of shuffling as you go through your exercises.

    After you've finished one set and moved onto the next, Dazarel finally speaks up, quietly. 'I don't know how to train,' he admits.

    You blink, stopping mid-step, and turn to look at him. "You what?"

    'My teacher never taught me how,' he says, looking down at the grass. 'I don't know how.'

    You stare down at him, appalled. "Who taught you?"

    'I don't want to discuss it,' he mutters. 'But he never taught me how to train my strength. He told me that consumed ki was all I'd ever need.'

    "Your, 'teacher,' tried to get you killed," you snap, shaking your head.

    Dazarel actually, physically, sighs. 'I would not be surprised,' he says.

    You stare at him. "Then why did you trust him?!"

    'I didn't, but his advice worked,' replies Dazarel. 'For years, I was without peer! Or I could escape.' He huddles in on himself. 'And then, Garenhuld. You. I cannot train, Princess. I've never tried.'

    You shake your head. "Then you've crippled yourself, and you've spent your life justifying a path to failure." Then you turn away, and get back to training.

    You need to think on this.

    One pip of progress added to Tenshinhan Style. Kikoho [Unlearned-->Competent] improved! Perfect Multiform progress stalls! Ki Overdrive [Competent] learned! Ki Refinement massively improved; only one successful training required for level-up!

    Dazarel has revealed a crack in his worldview -- an option for turning him away from his views that people are expendable and only psychics are worth living. It would be a long path, but Kakara has realized that, ultimately, the way he thinks is a rationalization for a fundamental truth -- that somebody fired him up with a desperate conviction that he was doomed if remained weak, before denying him any option but murder to grow strong. If Kakara were to take a hand in training Dazarel, she could show him that there was another way...at the cost of improving his physical strength marginally, but nonthreateningly, now, and creating a far more powerful dragon, should he ever be unsealed    ...


    Kakara's efforts have yielded an opening: Dazarel's fundamental reason for being what he is, is something Kakara is in a position to change. Does she?

    [ ] Yes, train Dazarel. It will take a lot of effort over a very long time, but with your own plans to reverse a great many sealings, you're of the opinion that Dazarel's prison no longer seems as comfortably secure as you once thought it. You would like him not to want to be a problem. And...a part of you -- one you are mostly and unsuccessfully trying to ignore -- feels sorry for him. He is the way he is because he was manipulated into hurting himself and hundreds of billions of other people for somebody else's ends. Nobody should live like that -- and this, you can fix. Options to train Dazarel as a means of redeeming him become available on monthly votes.
    [ ] No, do not train Dazarel. Dazarel could be good, but right now, he is an evil little monster. You will not hand him the tools he needs to kill another planet. You will find another way to turn him away from his path -- you aren't breaking the seals yet, and out here, he is fully within your power. He'll just have to live with being less powerful than he could have been. No options to train Dazarel appear.

    MANUAL MORATORIUM.

    All right, I think I've actually got a rotation going. Here we go, folks! After this vote, we'll hit up the last of the month actions! Enjoy, and see y'all around the thread! :D
     
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