Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

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Gog
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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Gog » Sat Mar 11, 2017 8:04 pm

Kanassa wrote:
Gog wrote:I'm going to be honest here, at first I thought that Bulma was trying to make a second Vegeta.
She is a mad scientist :D

What'd you think of the chapter in general?
Bulma: And this time he'll be even hornier!

The chapter was good as usual, but I have a pressing concern, what the heck is Coola doing right now?

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Kanassa
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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Kanassa » Sat Mar 11, 2017 8:08 pm

Gog wrote:
The chapter was good as usual, but I have a pressing concern, what the heck is Coola doing right now?
He's exploring while being... TAILED. And it's raining now, so, sucks for him. Next chapter.
When Super apparently shoves Goku down our throats:

Kanassa wrote:
FoolsGil wrote:I hope Mark is dead. But chances are the dragonballs will bring his stupid ass back. :D
- FoolsGil, Out of Context, 2017

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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Kanassa » Wed Mar 22, 2017 10:36 pm

Chapter 11: The Tyrant, the Apprentice and the Swamp
[spoiler]The ground was wet, brown sludge barely made solid as it sunk into the depths of the dark bog that was scattered throughout the scenery. The transition had been seamless, a light gathering of trees that offered a teasing glance up to the blue heavens, now a thick infestation of root and bark that only made way for the black hole that had absorbed all colour in the sky. A smooth path of dirt contrasting with lush grass by the river bank, now faded to sprawling hills rising above the surface of the muck like a drowning victim frozen in place. The roots being their mangled arms and fingers, which scratched for anything to keep them above their fate. All-in-all, Cooler found himself a tad disappointed with the change in scenery.

He was a man used to putting himself through the mud with little mind to how unbecoming it would be for a man of royal blood, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate the more beautiful locations this dust ball of a planet had to offer. Through his journey to find that strange tick in his senses, he only now noticed the constant downpour that had developed from above, infectious worms that wriggled from the sky and broke through even the tiniest of cracks in the thick ceiling of leaves. But as he moved through the swamp-like area, Cooler acknowledged that he really didn’t mind the rain much. It was cold, bitter, overwhelming and showed no mercy to those below it. So, much like his home planet really. Being a part of a family literally named after the lack of heat, it made sense that his cold heart wouldn’t take much heed of the rain.

What did bother him was the other noises, the squelching. That bothersome and rather disgusting noise of your foot sinking into that sticky substance on the ground, a piece sticking to the underpart of your foot, before releasing a noise akin to that of an old man keeling over; winded for the last time. And with each step the noise seemed to only grown in volume, bring up images of the mud clambering over his skin, dragging him down like quicksand. And despite the loud thrashing of the rain, he could still hear it.

The biggest problem, though, was that Cooler wasn’t walking. He was hovering above the mud. Someone else was squelching. Someone else was following him.

He had a building suspicion a while back when he first heard the noise through the drowning dominance of the rain, but his mind had been so caught up in the displaceable aspect of the sound, he hadn’t really thought about who was making it. But as he had this mental realisation, the tempo of the squelching increased for only a moment, as if the person in question had stumbled. Like a reaction to his realisation. This resulted in him stopping dead in his tracks, which, now that he thought about it, was a foolish decision on his part. Giving his stalker a good signal that he was aware of being followed, taking away the advantage of surprise from Cooler. I can still salvage this, just stay casual, you’re just stopping for a breather…

Cooler lifted his hand up slowly to brush against his brow, beating off droplets of rain that attempted to drop down and blur his vision. “Terrible weather…” He muttered loudly, calmly. His thoughts racing with possibilities of the purpose of his stalker. Chances were large that it was simply an Earthling who took an interest in the strange alien creature taking a stroll through a swamp, but more and more possibilities came along and drowned that one out.

As a royal, you tend to see all who trail behind you in a remotely sneaky manner as nothing more than a possible knife in the back. In his early days, Cooler had an amusing pass time of trying to spot the few assassins Frieza would send after him. The loser of the game was the one who allowed the assassin to get close enough to touch him. And Cooler had only lost once. And with his ascendance to the throne itself, Cooler had only learned to trust that sense of paranoia more. He had many instances of attempted assassination attempts in his power struggle to keep the throne. With Frieza and Cold gone, every other politician has gotten confident. Perhaps one had followed him to Earth so they could take him on alone.

So, the Arcosian decided on his plan of action, he would not take the chance of losing the first strike. And so, he let his ki subtly flow through to his index finger, letting out a loud yawn and stretching his arms out. Sneak attack Death Beams never lose their lustre… In one quick motion Cooler stamped his foot into the ground (The mud letting of a pleasant squelch that Cooler cringed at hearing), pivoted on said foot to spin around and face his stalker with his killing hand outstretched. Without hesitation, he let a beam of pure crimson shoot out of his fingertip at a speed barely visible to the eyes of non-warriors. In the brief moment before the penetrating blow could inflict death upon it’s target, Cooler witnessed a small figure easily (Insultingly easy in Cooler’s mind) dash out the way of the beam.

This movement at least revealed her to Cooler as she leaped out of the cover of bushes and tree bark she’d been hiding behind, and stood fully in front of him. All, what? Five feet of her? Cooler could swear for a second that he’d just fired at a child considering her height. “I don’t like being stalked” His eyes took in the woman’s deep pink skin and rather strange blue robe, couple that with her bright hair and regal-esc earring, she had an otherworldly aura about her. She definitely wasn’t an earthling. He was starting to doubt her as an assassin. “What are you? A fangirl?” But then again, she was able to easily predict and dodge his attack.

The woman started off with a panicked expression at the realisation that she’d placed herself in full view of the man fully willing to attack her, though she was quick to take offence to Cooler’s question, quick to growl back “I’m not some obsessive fangirl, I’m a kai! I’m very important!”

“Uhuh.” Cooler kept his gaze locked on the small woman, speaking dryly with a tone that dripped with mockery. “Okay, you’re some type of fruit. Are you here to kill me?” Clearly unimpressed, Cooler allowed himself a small dark chuckle at her. “Because I hope you have more than cuteness in your arsenal. Or are you planning to lob fruit at me?”

Chorona was starting to feel two contradicting thoughts racing through her, one was telling her that she shouldn’t have told him she was a Kai and that she should try and get out of this peacefully. The more dominant voice boomed that ‘she was cute, how dare he mock her for it!’ And so, she placed her hands on her hips and glared at the man; Tyrant or not, he should show some common manners! “I’m not here to kill you, but with that attitude I’d consider changing my plans”

With that Cooler’s dark hand rose yet again as his ki materialised at the tip of his finger again, just waiting to fire at the woman. “Ah, so I should just kill you now and get it over with?”

At this, Chorona jumped back and pulled her hands up in defence, her mouth hanging open in panic. “Hey, hey, hey! You can’t just randomly shoot at people, that’s immoral!”

“I don’t care, I’m the Emperor of the Universe, you cretin” Cooler shrugged, keeping his threat high. “Why are you following me? Answer the question, Welp”

Chorona was prepared to simply rush out of Cooler’s reach again, or even jump in and get the first attack as this man was clearly unreasonable. Like His Brother. But after letting some of her anger drain away, she allowed herself to be reminded of the mission. Following Cooler has done me no good… Maybe it’s time for a new approach. “I’m investigating” She admitted, her arms now crossed.

She knew she could easily avoid Cooler’s attack, and she might have been able to get a good few shots on him, but she also knew it would be easier to learn of Cooler’s reasons for coming here if she tried to get on his good side… Or find blackmail material on him. Cooler didn’t drop his hand yet, gesturing for her to go on. “Strange things happening on the planet… Thought you’d be a part of it” She wasn’t laying, but she wasn’t spilling everything. Reel him in, Chorona, he’s just a dim-witted fop…

“You assume I’d have anything to do with the shenanigans happening on this planet?” At this moment, Chorona wondered if Cooler could form a less condescending tone and expression. “I suppose it’d be only natural to suspect I’d be up to something, after all, this planet is the grave site of my family legacy”

In Cooler’s mind, he was straight to theorising that Chorona was either a pawn of one of the powers seeking his throne, or an agent of a rebellious planet that somehow knew about his departure to Earth. In hind-sight, coming to such a pathetic planet after all this time was rather suspicious. No matter what, this woman was strange, and Cooler wouldn’t let his guard drop around her. Perhaps I should just kill her and be done with it But there was always that nagging sensation in the back of his mind, something about this woman, a sense of something higher. It was the same feeling he remembered having as a child when he met another noble who he didn’t know. An important figure that no matter the clothes, was recognisable as one.

“What’s wrong with you!? You can’t just kill me!” The pink haired woman jumped in protest, flicking mud in Cooler’s general direction, which only soured his mood more. “This is not how you treat a cute girl”

“I’m starting to think you might be insecure about your looks-“ And then Cooler suddenly froze mid-sentence, his eyes narrowing on the woman with suspicion. He didn’t state his threat aloud. How did she know to respond to it!? Or was he really that obvious? “What are you?”

“A cute-“ Cooler’s glare could melt steel. And a mental chime in from the Supreme Kai reminded her that she was TRYING to get on the guy’s good side “A curious person. I don’t know why you’re so kill happy, but- Look, I’m not up to anything mischievous. I’ just trying to find out why all this strange stuff is happening”

This peaked Cooler’s interest, a possibility came to mind. “Strange? Like something wrong, distorted… Changed?”

“Well, yes. Though I don’t really know what it is-“

“I came along this way because I noticed something strange, a distortion that felt unnatural on this planet” Chorona lulled her head to think over his words, her master chiming in.

He noticed something strange around the area of what we suspect to be the source that’s caused our scrolls to…. Malfunction? Hmmm, this does seem to covenant to be a coincidence. It’s possible that there’s some sort of time anomaly caused by the changes in this area, which interferes with the scrolls. If only there was a recorded mention of something like this happening before…

The apprentice nodded to herself, which Cooler noted as strange, before responding. “That could be what I’m looking for. Where did you see it?”

“Why should I tell you?” Cooler tilted his head as if to try and inspect her from a different angle.

She stumbled over her response, trying to think up an excuse. “Because I might be able to stop… Whatever it is from doing… Uh, whatever it does”

With a heaving sigh Cooler’s extended finger dropped to his side, signalling to Chorona that he had lost his intent to kill her. He could tell that this woman, whatever she was, knew more about whatever was going on than him. And he hated that. “Are we to make a deal then?”

“A deal?” Chorona tried to mimic Cooler’s hard stare in return, puffing out her cheeks.

“We both want to know what’s up with this ‘occurrence’. As you’ve arrived looking for this very event, you must have the knowledge to at least asses it. And I have the knowledge on how to inflict severe wounds and harm upon you” As much as Cooler was suspicious of the woman, he had learned by now that it was best to make allies you could keep an eye on, then enemies you let stew in your shadow.

Chorona pursed her lips at this, understanding the underlying threat very clearly. Charming man. “We work together to satisfy our curiosity. And you don’t kill me?”

“Basically.”

“So, we’re partners?”

“Allies.”

“Coincidental Affiliations.”

“Perfect” His hand came back up again, but this time without an extended threat, but an open hand which had to curve lower to reach the other Kai’s height. “I am an Arcosian of my word, going back on one would only invite shame on my name. And my family has already done quite the job on that front”

Hesitantly, Chorona lifts up her own hand and reaches up for Coolers, his firm grip threatening to bruise her skin. As if sealing their deal in iron chains. I’m gonna regret this… “All right… Oh, and my name is Chorona”

“I’m going to call you Squirt from now on” The Emperor stated bluntly with a tinge of amusement, before turning right back around and continuing in the direction from before. Leaving a twitching, seething, pink apprentice to run after him.

“Jerk!”
***
Cooler assumed that they were getting close to their curiosity, for as they continued through the sludge laden path changes started to make themselves apparent to the Arcosian. First off was the reason his feet now begrudgingly took their paces on the muddy ground, Cooler couldn’t come up with any other reason for why. In an almost unnoticeable process the gravity in this particular area seemed to have increased, and before long had pulled him out of his hovering without him even noticing, and a few seconds later he found that this made it extremely difficult to fly up.

The fact that his ability to fly had practically been taken away did nothing to alleviate the young Emperor’s nerves, for him flying was a necessary factor in his life, a privilege he’d never live without. To lose it, even for a brief period, and even if it was only limited, it felt like chains sprouting up from the ground and wrapping around his neck. Pulling him down as a slave to nature.

“Geez, you are such a drama queen. I know flight’s awesome and all, but surely you can last just a little while” And the small pink anomaly’s constant comments didn’t make it any easier. “Hey, this is an adventure! This just makes it more interesting” She was a strange one, she never went five minutes without causing Cooler to second guess himself. Had he spoken aloud? Or was he really that obvious?

After their initial agreement, the two devolved into locking their metaphorical horns in a battle of condescension; starting off with him abusing his new nick name for the girl, as well as him firing off the various ways he could say ‘You are short, feel bad’ at her. Her own comebacks always rounded back to comparing him to a lizard of some kind. But soon her short fuse had dissolved into a bubbly mixture that was really starting to weird Cooler out, and he’d met the Ginyu Force. Where as any normal person would have a problem with the sludge he was supposed to call water in this area, no matter the tolerance, all could agree it was absolutely disgusting. Yet the pink one seemed to find it absolutely fascinating, reaching out to put her fingers only inches from the muck, a bright grin stretching her skin as she felt the liquid tickle the tips of her fingers. “It’s really moving, like… Like it’s alive”

Cooler chalked it up to her species, maybe they were born in a planet of mud, sludge, and any other disgusting substance that would ruin anybody else’s day. Like a pig. The Arcosian chuckled to himself at his own private joke. That was it, she was a pig. Pigs were pink, pigs liked mud. Soon she’d be rolling around in her own faeces. Her voice did sound similar to a screeching sequel of a such a filthy animal. When Cooler had made it clear that he wasn’t going to wait for her, Chorona had jogged after him, picking up a long tree branch that had broken off a tree. With this, she could give the ‘water’ a good few quick pokes without losing any pace, it seemed to make her happy. Though, the Emperor didn’t stay quite out of any ideas of politeness, only because her strange pleasantry managed to keep her relatively quiet. Which meant he could focus more on the issues at hand,

And that brought him to the second reason he assumed they were getting closer, along with the gravity shift, he felt a new pull. A strange presence that swept the swamp like a flash flood. One that gave off the feeling of someone poking you, beckoning you over to them with an alluring wiggle of their hand. Something was calling to the two, and that nudge from before that had taken to hiding in the back of his mind had now been dragged to the front to stand prevalent.

“So… What brings you to Earth?” Chorona tried her best to slip that awkward line in casually out of the silence, taking a small joy in hopping from each hill over the water, the rain only seemed to make her even more happy. If she wasn’t trying to keep Emperor Frosty out of his ‘Kill! Kill! Kill!’ phase, she wouldn’t have resisted splashing in the mud and risking splashing the substance on the royal’s feet. He was already having enough trouble listening to the ‘squelch’ with each step.

He didn’t even look at her as he responded. “Why do you want to know, Squirt?”

This made Chorona frown as she felt up the harsh and bumpy surface of tree bark, it felt so odd and foreign to her. “I don’t know how it is on your planet, but where I come from, it’s common curtesy to get to know the people you spend time with”

“Where do you come from?” The Arcosian went to crossing his arms, patiently waiting for the answer. This time his question came with a tone of curiosity, the question had been bugging him for a while.

To her credit, Chorona didn’t trip up too badly when the question came. But she did still come into face first contact with another tree, her brain screaming at her to respond. Ahhh! I didn’t plan for him asking me about that, what do I say? If I refuse to answer he’ll be even more suspicious… “Uh, you know. From off planet… Like, down south”

“You’re odd, do you know that?”

She gave a nervous chuckle in response “S-some would say I’m out-of-this universe!” Her head peaked out around the tree to meet Cooler with what was most likely the most forced smile imaginable. Fortunately for her, Cooler had returned to looking away, sighing at her answer.

“You said you were Kai” The blunt statement had Chorona mentally slapping herself, she was starting to find that she this ‘subtlety’ thing was pretty hard. “I’ve never heard of such a species. Does it explain why you enjoy filth so much?”

“Filth?” She again had to jog to catch up with the tall figure

“You continue to find so much entertainment from every aspect of depravity here. The mud, the trees, most would usually be disgusted” He turned to face her this time, stopping in his tracks with a judging cross of his arms. “Why?”

Chorona have a hesitant look of confusion at the man, as if HE was the odd one here. “It’s a bit gross, but that’s what makes it cool. It’s weird. Flawed. Interesting!” She clasped her hands together as if she only just found the right words it describe it. “And when you get it on your hand, it moves! That’s amazing!”

The Emperor remained unconvinced, stating dryly. “It’s mud. All it does is stain your skin and increase how annoying it is to be around you”

“You Tyrants are all so simple” Chorona giggled, kneeling down to reach into the mud again, a clump of dark brown goo now dripping from her fingers. She didn’t mind though, in fact she rose back to her feet with a grin and held the clump in front of Cooler’s glare, rubbing it between her fingers. “Feel it! It has so many layers and texture to it. It’s cold, it’s wet, it rough and it makes my skin tingle. And you can paint with it” As an example, the girl moved her fingers to her face and painted three lines of mud on her cheeks, with one going over her nose. In a flash, she had jumped over to the nearest tree, running her other hand up the bark. “And this tree! How old do you think it is? Look at the cracks- Oh! I think there’s an insect in this one! Just feel the bark, it’s breathing. It looks gross, but it’s beauty lies in it’s life. I wonder how many things it’s seen… Too bad it can’t talk”

“Well, there is a race of sentient tree creatures in the east quadrant…” Cooler mutter in response, too confused over Chorona’s strange attachment to such simple things, his voice came out too low. “I can understand a blind, death, lobotomy patient getting excited at their first time harassing a tree. But even for them, the glamour should fade after the first time”

At this, Cooler witnessed the woman frown, as if a depressing weight pulled at her lips at whatever memory he brought up. He wanted to be indifferent, but part of him was interested to try and understand this strange person. There was a certain enjoyment factor to finding the motive for madness.

“Maybe. For anyone else a tree is just a tree. Plants are just plants. And I’m just a tree-hugging hippy-“ Cooler nodded in agreement, realising that hippy was the word he was looking for. “-But, where I come from, and from where I’ll be… Everything’s stale. The grass is perfectly cut, the water is clean and shining, everything is tidy, beautiful and in order…. But that’s the problem. There’s no direction, there’s no turns, no flaws, no motion, no change… There’s no life. And there, all I see is a empty picture frame”

“You’re clearly capable of space travel” Cooler’s tone showed no sympathy for what she was trying to make dramatic (She’d spent an entire century working on her performance skills, and she was going to use them). “If you dislike your home, leave”

“There is no leaving. I have a responsibility, bound by duty… I’m trapped there, with a kind old man who’s always busy and an owl who ALWAYS used my head as a perch“ She spent a moment shifting to a scowl as she mentioned the bird, before spreading her arms out wide and looking up into the rain. Welcoming the downpour. “So, right now? For the first time, I get to see life, I get to see what I’m missing before I’ll never see this again. All this water hitting me? I’ll never forget this feeling, the glamour will never disappear, because I’m never gonna be able to repeat it” In all honesty, the thought of such a wonderful memory being drained of all its joy frightened her.

At the end of it all Cooler looked quite bored, though Chorona didn’t expect him to purposely see him in any other emotion unless it was to be smug. “Are you done with your mid-life crisis?”

“You asked me.” She couldn’t bring herself to get mad at his lack of tacked or care.

“I thought the explanation would have been shorter” Cooler shrugged with a cold indifference

“It's not so simple”

“Yes it is. I’m sure you’re simply over-reacting. Just because you have a responsibility doesn’t mean you have to be there 24/7. I hear the Yardratians have a technique that lets you teleport across the universe” Chorona found a tinge of joy in Cooler’s ignorance. “You can learn their move, then make a trip to where ever in five minutes. There. Solved your problem. You may praise me now”

“Seriously…” Chorona shook her head hard enough to send her brain spinning, pushing on past Cooler. THAT was a pointless detour. Urg, I get so caught up in myself sometimes.

We all have our moments, Chorona. Sometimes we just need to let it out.

She stopped at the intrusion of her master’s voice, she had completely forgotten that he was watching her. The realisation had come with a wave of guilt flooding her body, she had just monologued complaining about the Time Vault. She just hoped she hadn’t offended her master. She said he was a nice old man!

Don’t worry, Chorona. I just never knew you felt that way. You make it sound so… Grueling. Something to talk about when you return. So, for now… Imagine I’m patting you on the shoulder in a comforting way

She found herself giggling at her Master’s words, before realising that Cooler had once again set his glare upon her. “I wasn’t giggling at you, I promise!”

“Huh?” The Arcosian thought to question her further, but simply resided to continue with what she apparently didn’t hear from him. “I said, I have responsibilities too”

“I’m not understanding…”
He sighed, growled, and groaned all at once, putting his hand against his face as he calmed himself down. “You asked earlier why I was here. I assume that since you gave me your sob story, it would only be right that I trade you an answer in return” He paused, waiting for her to interrupt, but she simply gestured for him to go on while her face lit up once more. “I have responsibilities to my subjects, to my throne. A universe-spanning empire is not easily maintained, and my reign has started off under opposition. I’m here because I was informed that something that could aid my Empire lies here”

The gears in Chorona’s head started to turn as she began theorising. The change caused something to appear here that could help him? “So, you’re here to help your people?”

“And serve my own ends in gaining more power and control. But, yes, that’s the gist of it” Chorona wondered if he was hiding another detail to this reason, maybe she’d get more out of him if she informed him of all the time travel shenanigans.

No, no, no. Don’t tell him! She chastised herself before looking back to Cooler, crossing her now drenched arms and offering him a nod. “Thank you, that’s very helpful.” Cooler seemed confused by the gratitude, but didn’t push on it. “…Grumps”

“What?”

“Grumps, that’s what I’M gonna call YOU”

“Just… No, pick a better one. You’re terrible at this. I should kill you for that”[/spoiler]
When Super apparently shoves Goku down our throats:

Kanassa wrote:
FoolsGil wrote:I hope Mark is dead. But chances are the dragonballs will bring his stupid ass back. :D
- FoolsGil, Out of Context, 2017

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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Gog » Wed Mar 22, 2017 11:11 pm

I never knew how much enjoyment I could have garnered out of a small pink women and a large tall lizard king dunking it out with swears, and name calling. Coola does have a point she really was acting like a pig. I really think he could teach a certain alternate counterpart of his with those skills... Also with how Coola describes his planet it's no secret to why he's such a big grump.

And huh who was this assassin who managed to touch Coola? And did any of them ever pose an actual threat to him? Did Freeza send those assassins against him as a sort of game? Actually another thing did Freeza and Coola ever like each other in this Fan Fiction? And why was the gravity increasing?

Anyway great characterization all around with Chronoa and Coola. They truly are a ship in the making.

And where does Chronoa stack up against Coola?

But great chapter as usual.

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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Kanassa » Thu Mar 23, 2017 4:32 am

I never knew how much enjoyment I could have garnered out of a small pink women and a large tall lizard king dunking it out with swears, and name calling.
What did you like about it? I for one, really enjoyed writing the two taking pot shots at each other :D
Gog wrote: And huh who was this assassin who managed to touch Coola? And did any of them ever pose an actual threat to him?
Well, that one is currently Cooler's Second-in-Command
Actually another thing did Freeza and Coola ever like each other in this Fan Fiction?
Cooler never liked Frieza, but at one point Frieza did look up to his older brother, but it didn't last.
And why was the gravity increasing?
Plot/Time Bullsh- I mean, it's because of the pull of the 'Distortion'. Closer they get, stronger the pull becomes.
Anyway great characterization all around with Chronoa and Coola. They truly are a ship in the making
They are? I thought you were shipping elsewhere? :D
And where does Chronoa stack up against Coola?
You mean combat-wise? He surpasses her in power, but she does have a few tricks up her sleeve. She is a Kai after all :D
When Super apparently shoves Goku down our throats:

Kanassa wrote:
FoolsGil wrote:I hope Mark is dead. But chances are the dragonballs will bring his stupid ass back. :D
- FoolsGil, Out of Context, 2017

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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Gog » Thu Mar 23, 2017 5:17 am

Kanassa wrote:
I never knew how much enjoyment I could have garnered out of a small pink women and a large tall lizard king dunking it out with swears, and name calling.
What did you like about it? I for one, really enjoyed writing the two taking pot shots at each other :D
They just bounced off each other far too well, Chorona's bubbly excitement, Coola's grumpiness, the fact that they where taking pot shots at each other, the fact that there personalities are just so well done, and just clash together so well.
Gog wrote: And huh who was this assassin who managed to touch Coola? And did any of them ever pose an actual threat to him?
Well, that one is currently Cooler's Second-in-Command
I never knew that Salza made it far.
Actually another thing did Freeza and Coola ever like each other in this Fan Fiction?
Cooler never liked Frieza, but at one point Frieza did look up to his older brother, but it didn't last.
Huh, why did Coola never like his younger brother?
Anyway great characterization all around with Chronoa and Coola. They truly are a ship in the making
They are? I thought you were shipping elsewhere? :D
Well... Pan and Coola haven't even met yet... While Chorona and Coola have had a whole chapter taking pot shots at each other while being adorable together.
And where does Chronoa stack up against Coola?
You mean combat-wise? He surpasses her in power, but she does have a few tricks up her sleeve. She is a Kai after all :D
Now that I think about it, where do Coola, Chorona, Trunks and Pan stack up against in the main canon?

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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Kanassa » Thu Mar 23, 2017 5:20 am

Gog wrote:Now that I think about it, where do Coola, Chorona, Trunks and Pan stack up against in the main canon?
They're all around Buu Saga level for the moment
When Super apparently shoves Goku down our throats:

Kanassa wrote:
FoolsGil wrote:I hope Mark is dead. But chances are the dragonballs will bring his stupid ass back. :D
- FoolsGil, Out of Context, 2017

User avatar
Kanassa
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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Kanassa » Fri Mar 31, 2017 6:31 pm

Chapter 12: A Link to the Past!?
[spoiler]“So… What is it?” Cooler’s eyes narrowed upon the object that now floated before then, scrutinizing it’s clear surface with mild disappointment. There was no doubt in his mind that this was the source of the distraction, the strong feeling had escalated from a subtle tap to a grab by the shoulders with a yell, all around this one rather plain object.

“Uh… A thingy? A thingy that floats” It was a crystal. Not some roughly shaped chunk of expensive material broken off from the underground, but a smooth and tempered jewel you’d most likely find in a shop, a hand-crafted appeal of a trinket you’d most likely wear around your neck or on a crown (Which also made Cooler mentally note to get a crown, Frieza broke the last one). But still, it was so simple. In Cooler’s mind, he imagined a grand creature or some sort of complex device burrowing into the Earth that had somehow ripped into the air. Not some jewel.

At what felt akin to a bolt of electricity race through his body, he gave a surprised gasp at Chorona grabbing a hold of his tail, pulling on it as she was tugged forward a few inches. She gave a sheepish smile in return for his eventual glare. Cooler supposed it made sense, as they had neared the site beforehand he found the increasing gravity limiting his flight, now that they had arrived at the crystal gravity had changed enough to attempt to pull the two towards it. The young Arcosian was lucky enough to have his feet bare and digging into the ground as a natural response, the Squirt on the other hand seemingly had shoes that did little to grip her to the ground.
That didn’t mean he would keep his venom to himself at her grabbing him. “Maybe it would be more productive to simply toss you at it!”

“Maybe we can use you to hammer it, your head’s thick enough; you oversized gecko!” She shot back with an indignant smirk, that quickly turned into a pained squeal as she grasped Cooler’s tail tighter.

And so followed a noise that Chorona could on describe as the pained scream of a castrated, dying turkey. “Gah! What is wrong with you, you pig! You don’t squeeze it!” Cooler growled after his shriek tore through Chorona’s ear drums, his feet digging deeper into the ground as he tried to squeeze the stinging away.

The Kai gave out a triumphant smirk at the momentary pain she caused the Emperor. “Keep insulting me and I start biting”

“Start biting and I decorate this hole with your insides!” The Arcosian shot back with a viscous bark, swinging his arm around in an attempt to grab the woman. Sadly, he found that he couldn’t quite reach from this angel.

“Then you can b-“ Chorona was forced to bite down on her immediate remark as a quick flash of light sparked around the crystal, dragging the two’s attention back to the object. It floated above a deep pit, which looked like something big had crash into it recently, like a pod. Around the Crystal small fragments of rock, grass, dirt and even wood circled around the object mid-air. Behind them was a small mountain, it seemed that they had arrived at the edge of the swamp, which connected to the other side of the wasteland.

Before any questions could be posed another flash occurred, this time accompanied by a sound as a sharp as a crack of a whip, as if the crystal was attempting to communicate with the two. With his focus back on the crystal, Cooler noted a myriad of shapes that populated it’s flawless surface. From this distance he could make out a bit of what he assumed to be reflections on the underside of the crystal. The reflection depicted some type of strangely human-shaped creature, whose form was obscured quite a bit by fog, that stared blankly into the distance. Before the creature pulled up it’s hands, putting two fingers to its forehead. In an instant, the form had faded away, leaving only the fog to cloud up the reflection.

But it couldn’t be a reflection, Cooler told himself. Nothing under the crystal or around it in anyway replicated fog, nor were there any other creatures around randomly disappearing, Cooler and Chorona were the only ones there. “You can see that on the thingy all the way from here? Wow, you ice people have a good eye”

“Well, we can fire lasers from i- YOU DID IT AGAIN, HOW!?” Cooler shriek caught Chorona off guard, but she simply returned to an innocent and sheepish expression that only made her look all the more guilty. That’s it, there’s something off here. I KNOW I didn’t say that out loud, and I KNOW that there’s no way she could have guessed what I was able to see! It’s as if she’s… As if she’s… “You…”

“Huh?”

Cooler was unsure whether to explode in anger and utter humiliation, or break out into laughter at the realisation. Instead, he resolved to simply push forward with bitter amusement. “You filthy, conniving, cheeky little wench. You can read my mind, can’t you!” That explained why she, oh so conveniently stumbled over herself when he realised that she was tailing him, that’s why she seemed to even expect his sudden death beam. She had been reacting to his own thoughts. “Oh, father would have adored one with such a tempting advantage”

Chorona sighed, responding in a simple manner “Okay, you got me” Which gave more disappointment to Cooler, he at least expected the girl to stupidly deny the claim for a few more wasted seconds. “It was obvious, of course someone as amazing as me would have such a power” And there came the outcome Cooler should have predicted.

Then followed the immediate narrow of the eyes, the flash of possible embarrassment and a tone of cold curiosity. “How long have you been reading them?”

She greeted him with a teasing smirk that managed to get a twitch from his eye. “I stopped doing it a while back… Your mind goes to some weird places, Grump. Though, I must say how flattered I am-“

“Shut up.” No attempt at wit, no entertaining her jabs, just a loud and angry snap. He was not prepared to deal with someone who might have some unexpected dirt on him. Now he had to fight his mind to remember if he thought anything too revealing on his way here. Maybe something that could damage him. Maybe a chink in his armour.

“Look, I’m sor-“

“I told you. Shut. Up. Peasant” He didn’t realise it at first, but the mere notion that someone like her could so easily break through his mind, the one place he ever saw as a sanctuary from danger… It struck a chord of fear. A feeling Cooler thought his father had long forced out of him a long time ago. As if in line with Cooler’s cold tongue lashing, the crystal made yet another cracking sound, this time booming much louder and even managing to cause the scenery around them to shake and… Contort?! It was as their own vision was becoming a fun house mirror, bending all sight into funny shapes. Followed by a roar of thunder as sparks emitted from the crystal, individual bursts spraying outwards and lashing out at the landscape, dragging pieces upwards.

“What the-“ Cooler gasped out as the Crystal’s pull increased, the sparks lashing out at the air and forcing it to explode in a gust of strong wind.

“It’s getting more violent-“ A spark grew into a dangerous bolt that aimed right for Chorona’s head, forcing her to leap upwards and let go of Cooler’s tail, providing him a moment of relief before she set her arms around his neck. “Your Ki! It’s reacting to your Ki rising!”

“Are you saying this is my fault!?” The Emperor roared as the woman’s arms pulled at his throat, practically choking him. The wind picked up and the loud scream of broken glass told Cooler that the crystal was beginning to crack.

“Just calm down, Cooler! You’re making it worse!”

“I will not take orders from some dendrophilic pig!” With another shout the crack spread across the crystal, taking on an appearance similar to a very thin thread reaching from either side and attempting to pull the crystal apart. And pull it apart they did.

Within seconds the crystal was torn open, an explosion of energy and light engulfing their sight, but only for a moment. When that moment passed as the light was drained away, all that was left was a crack. Not a crack in the ground, nor in the crystal, nor in anything physical. It was a crack in the air, that spread like a virus, all leading to one giant opening that reeled the bickering duo in despite their resistance. His feet could help him no longer as a tree slammed into Cooler’s back, along with a large accumulation of the dirt below it, the wind delivering a crushing blow to his legs and forcing him upwards. And like that all control was take away, his limbs left to flail helplessly against the crushing power of the vortex, his body brought to drown in the light blue sea of light.
***
Chorona could only sigh in frustration at her situation, taking in the dark and damp landscape around her, spires of rock penetrating a sea of fog. The air thick with heat and musk, weighing down on her lungs and drawing out hollow breaths. It was a new feeling for her, the air in the Time Nest had always been so clear and light, but this felt as if she had been dragged underwater with how much punishment her lungs were taking. The gravity felt lighter at least. To make things worse, a right stinging sensation had already struck her backside. Whatever she had landed upon was something not made for sitting on, a misshapen structure that led to plenty of fidgeting from her as it only seemed to make her itch. She was partly afraid of removing herself from the ‘seat’, looking down at the fog she felt her stomach go queasy at the sight. It looked thick, not even an inch of her gaze could pierce through it, she didn’t even want to think about what could be beneath it.

Trying to ignore the oppressive atmosphere that weighed down on her body, she tried to think back to how she got here. They were bickering at the crystal, Cooler was totally being an unreasonable prat, then the crystal broke into an unstable crack, there was a tree, they were sucked in… “And then… And then there was a bright light. And now I’m here, wherever here is”

The kai grumbled to herself as she spoke, rasping her knuckles against her forehead in frustration. “Think Chorona, think. You can figure out what this is! Then you can act all intelligent and rub it in everyone’s face… And get out of here” She pushed her fist into her palm like a thinking stance. “This was the only thing otherworldly in the area, so this has to be the cause of the interference with the scroll. And if it interferes with the scrolls, this has to be something time related. Which must mean… Which must mean…” Swiftly, she brought her arms out wide in desperation, a ‘gah’ caught in her throat. “Master would be able to figure this ou- Ah! That’s it, I’ll ask him!”

Master! You might be a bit confused, not being able to see what’s happened and all, but I think I found something.

She waited for a moment, pausing for an introjection from her Master to respond with his usual concerns, but her Master didn’t comment this time. Master? So, she waited. No response. She waited longer. Not a peep. Master!? MASTER! Can’t you hear me!? And yet again her question was only met with silence in her own mind, a sliver of dread filling her stomach. “He can’t hear me anymore...” She muttered to herself, a pained pull to her tone. Her shoulder deflating with her confidence.
Chorona was cocky and egotistical sometimes… A lot of times. But that didn’t mean she didn’t appreciate the fact that her master was within ear shot, ready to give timely advice for when she eventually screwed up. The knowledge that he was currently unable to speak to her, at now of all times when she was sent to an unknown location. It all weighed heavily on her. “Oh, crud. I’m all alone. This is a punishment, isn’t it? For all those times I forgot to get Master his tea, for all the times I chucked bird seeds at Toki-Toki. It was a joke, it was a joke!”

“And now I’m all alone. Well, aside from that fo-“ A sudden memory sliced through her voice midsentence like the gleaming edge of a blade, a mixed feeling of both hesitation, anger and desperation. “COOLER! Cooler! Where did that gecko get thrown too!? I can’t stand it here all alone!” Her answer came in the form of a familiar bitter and dry delivery that rose in volume and emotion, almost instantly, though that wasn’t what caught her attention. The strange part was the direction of the voice, it wasn’t coming from above, nor hiding in the midst of the strange spires, strangely enough: It was coming from right below her.

“You better count your lucky stars that I wasn’t in my first form, Squirt” She felt her mis-shapen, ungrateful, and uncomfortable chair rise beneath her. Her body carried upwards as she let out a quiet squeak of ‘eep’. “Because if I was only so lucky, you’d find the jagged end of a horn penetrating you from the bottom up, skewering your kidneys, puncturing your lungs AND MAKING SHISHKABAB OUT OF YOUR EYES!” His voice rose to the largest output of air his lungs could muster. “NOW, REMOVE YOURSELF FROM ME AT ONCE. I AM NOT YOUR PERSONAL THRONE!”

With yet another squeak at the bellowing voice of a tyrant (She could guess he had plenty of training shouting orders) the small Kai threw herself from her perch on his head, and in her heated confusion only grew more fearful as her eyes made contact with the veil of fog, which grew ever closer as she fell. “NO, NO! I don’t want to drown!” She desperately flailed in mid-air, clamping her eye shut, awaiting what-ever horrors her mind could conjure up for what slept below the fog.

“Stop screami-“ She ignored Cooler’s venom fuelled complaints, continuing to cry for help from the man.

“Help, please, I’m too cute to die on some random backend of the universe!”

“Squirt, this is just path-“

“Shut up and save me!”

A sigh was heard “Alright.” And within a few seconds she felt his index finger deliver a hard jab to her forehead. “For the sake of decency, open your eyes you pathetic worm” With a pout and a good helping of bitter remarks from Cooler, her eyelid opened up, just a peak. To her amazement, and embarrassment, she found that she now stood up. Both feet firmly on whatever ground there was, her chest submerged in the fog as her chin just managed to keep itself free.

“Oh… That was a lot shallower than I thought…”

“Of course it was”

“I think I blew this a bit out of proportion”

“Yes, yes you did. You are an idiot. You fail at life yet again” Cooler rolled his eyes and loosed his arms, moving past her to examine the environment. “Besides, why didn’t you just try flying. You know, like I just did?”

Chorona froze up in embarrassment, silence ensuing.

“You forgot that you could fly, didn’t you?”

“…Maybe” With another scowl, Cooler continued onward, though this time he did at least have the curtesy to move his tail to force her along to follow him.

“Just… Grab my tail, or you’ll just get lost like that” He growled reluctantly, an offer that Chorona was only happy to take him up on as she instantly reached for his tail. It was softer when he wasn’t trying to hit her with it.

“Thanks!” She piped up with genuine appreciation, a bit taken back by the gesture.

However, in response she only received an annoyed scoff “If I didn’t you wouldn’t shut up, like the cry baby you are”

Chorona puffed out her cheeks and bit back an insulting response, the brief flicker of appreciation for the man immediately died. Why does he have to be such a snob!? I can’t wait to be rid of him… She settled to instead to question him, applying a light layer of annoyance to her tone. “Can’t you just take the thanks and be content with that? Why do you have to just fight me very step of the way?”

“Because I’m the Emperor, I can not possibly offer you an inch” He states dryly, stopping around a spire, the rocky structure reaching up to penetrate the abyss of the sky. “Besides, I can’t allow filth as low as you to gain any outlandish ideas”

“You can’t handle basic manners and have to be Mr Grump all the time, got it” Chorona shrugged with a condescending wiggle of her finger. And to think, I was thanking him. Gah, I should ge t reward for this, the temptation to bite this fop is too tempting for even an cute and innocent Goddess-in-training like myself!

By this point Cooler had taken an immense interest in their surrounds, but not in the sense of a strange new discovery or the plain curiosity from earlier when he took to the swamps, this time his gaze swept with a sprinkle of recognition. “It couldn’t be, could it?” He thought aloud as his fingers grazed the rock, though before Chorona could question what he meant her ears jolted to life upon hearing a gaggle of loud murmurs approaching.

“Uh, Cooler?” She tugged on the man’s tail, but he seemed to take no notice of her as he thought out whatever conundrum had just hit him. Craning her neck around she could just see the dark silhouettes of multiple humanoid creature’s approaching them at a tempered rate, the fog embracing their forms like a lost love and adding to their mystic.

“I think I might know where we are, even if it sounds completely deluded…” Cooler now turned to the figures, another knowing look reaching his dry gaze, the edges of his lips wobbling as they didn’t know which emotion they wished to emote: confusion or smugness. “I knew I recognised the figures in that reflection” Either way, the biggest factor that Chorona took out of it was that the Tyrant didn’t look worried. And she did not know whether to take that as a good thing, or a bad thing. “This might sound completely crazy, and I don’t know how this would be possible; but I believe we have found ourselves stranded on the Planet Yardrat”

“Huh, that does sound crazy” The fog finally gave way to let Chorona catch teasing glimpses of the creatures before them, large bulbous heads pertruded through the fog, long and thick cat-like whiskers shooting out from around their mouths, wrinkled and curled chins stabbing at the air. All but one were dressed in rather ceremonial looking crimson guard, with one black shoulder pad that stretched across their waists. “But not as crazy as you think…”

One lone yardratian that looked like the most especially dangerous one, seemed to have ditched his outfit, instead opting for dark violet gi pants and iron-esc boots; leaving his blue flesh bare. Both Chorona and Cooler took this to mean that this one was the strongest of the group, or was the residential nudist of the species. “I recognise the planet’s surface, and these creatures just confirm my theory. Did that crystal crack really bring us here?”

Chorona thought it made at least a little sense, though she acknowledged that Cooler did lack some context to come to her conclusion. If the crystal was related to a time disturbance of some sorts, maybe when it broke, it opened some sort of link to another point in history. To Yardrat. Cooler had seen these figures reflected in the crystal before it broke. That was the theory the Kai was going with. “I think we have bigger problems, Grump. They look a little… Uh… Angry.”

“Oh, calm yourself before you grow a small sewage plant in your trousers” And Cooler’s condescending tone struck again, the shaking of his head only making him sound more smug as he ‘educated’ the pink woman. “Yardratians are a largely peaceful people, and very few of them are even warriors of any note. As long as you don’t offend them, by which I mean if you open those puffed up prunes you call a mouth, there will be no trouble here” Chorona doubted this as the group of Yardratians came to a stop in plain view of the two, throwing out any hope that they couldn’t see the duo. And they looked more than a little peeved off. Maybe pink and purple was offensive for them? Of course, Cooler took the first initiative and held out his arms, a self-confident glow radiating from his expression. Surely, nothing could go wrong.

“Greetings, Yardratians. I am Emperor Cooler, ruler of all the known universe, and strongest to boot. And this is my pet pig, Squirt-“ He was delighted to meet Chorona’s death glare head on. “-And due to regrettable circumstance, we have found ourselves lost on your planet. It would be much appreciated if you could lead us to a ship of sorts…” As Cooler continued his greetings, the Yardratians stood still with nothing indicating that they could even hear him, leaving him with suspicion in his thoughts. Could these vermin be responsible for our sudden relocation? They do have a technique that allows them to teleport… “Well? Answer me… I said, out with it. Speak before I am tempted to remove your he-“

The blue Yardratian opened his mouth, and Cooler’s voice immediately halted in its tracks, a twinge of pain seemingly tugging at the man’s eye. This left Chorona in a state of confusion as she witnessed the smug demeanour fall to a flat and frozen figure, with the exception of the momentary twitch of his eye. “Cooler?” The girl was too distracted to attempt to hide the worry in her voice, her gaze turning to spare a glance at the blue creature, whose mouth still remained wide open, but no sound ever escape.

All at once Cooler’s pained scream echoed across the depths of the fogs, making Chorona jump backwards and forcing her to act as a witness to Cooler falling to his knees, grasping his ears in shock as his eyes widened. “Can’t you hear it!? It’s terrible!”

“Hear what!?”

“That noise, it’s ringing in my ear, ripping my hearing in two and bounding off the walls of my brain… That… That…” He let out another growl before he bit down on his lip, hoping for the noise to stop “You mean, you can’t hear that static?”[/spoiler]
OKay, I swear when I started writing the Cooler/Chorona bits last chapter, this par tof the story wasn't suppose to spread across more than at least two chapters. But as I wrote more and more, it got much too long for just one or two chapters alone. So, hopefully we can start going back to the other characters in the story after the next chapter!
When Super apparently shoves Goku down our throats:

Kanassa wrote:
FoolsGil wrote:I hope Mark is dead. But chances are the dragonballs will bring his stupid ass back. :D
- FoolsGil, Out of Context, 2017

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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Gog » Sat Apr 01, 2017 3:15 am

Coola and Chorona taking pt shots at each other shall never grow old? Now that I think about it what would have happened if that Time Crystal was left too itself? And now that I think about it what would have happened if Coola hadn't raised his Ki? Also why is Chorona threatening to bite Coola, it's just such an odd threat... Moving on why isn't Coola hanging out in his first form, and how do they work here? Also why are the Yadratians so warlike here? Great chapter as usual.

[spoiler]I also can't believe that Chorona managed to find her way on top of Coola's head![/spoiler]

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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Kanassa » Sat Apr 01, 2017 3:37 am

Gog wrote:Now that I think about it what would have happened if that Time Crystal was left too itself?
It was already fucking with the environment, so...
And now that I think about it what would have happened if Coola hadn't raised his Ki?
He'd be stood there, bickering with Chorona still :D
Also why is Chorona threatening to bite Coola, it's just such an odd threat...
She has his tail on hand at that moment, closest thing about him to threaten
Moving on why isn't Coola hanging out in his first form, and how do they work here?
The odd circumstances are troubling to deal with, but they're no where near draining enough to power Cooler down.
Also why are the Yadratians so warlike here?
Well, these aren't really the Yardratians, in a manner of speaking. I mean, since when did they have a sonic boom-esc scream that doesn't affect Chorona :D
[spoiler]I also can't believe that Chorona managed to find her way on top of Coola's head![/spoiler]
Strange accidents occur when theUniverse wants to laugh at you
When Super apparently shoves Goku down our throats:

Kanassa wrote:
FoolsGil wrote:I hope Mark is dead. But chances are the dragonballs will bring his stupid ass back. :D
- FoolsGil, Out of Context, 2017

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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Kanassa » Fri Apr 07, 2017 1:46 pm

Woohoo, how long has it been since we've had a REAL fight? Around chapter 2? Well, anyway, time to finally end this mini-journey of the two stooges. Be warned, in word this chapter stretched to over 15 pages. This is the longest chapter I've ever written...
Chapter 13: A Matter of Trust - Chorona and Cooler VS Soba and Suga
[spoiler]The Yardratians faded into the mist like water flowing into a murky river, only leaving ripples in their wake as their forms dissipated around the two outlanders. From Cooler’s perspective, the trio of abnormal creatures were only predators playing with their food, dancing around the realms of his vision to give false hope of escape, before they’d pounce on the two and strike the killing blow. And to make matters worse, Cooler felt weak and frail from his position on the ground, his ears still ringing from the abuse of the static noise. It wasn’t just the burning in his ear drums that hurt him so, his lungs felt pressured and shrivelled from the humid nature of the planet’s atmosphere. Couple that with the high-risk situation, moments of fleeting panic, and the increasing tempo of his heart. Cooler’s was sweating up a storm that dragged down his muscles. And of course, my far inferior, less important, less skilled pig is dealing with this better than I!

Overall, it put a bit of a shadow over his day.

Chorona had positioned herself in front of Cooler, keenly watching the movements of their Yardrat attackers, only a few beads of sweat dripping down her skin. It was almost insulting to Cooler that this woman could stand while he, the Emperor of the Universe, had already been forced to his knees to gasp by a simple sound. This simply would not do! “I don’t know what hit these worms hard enough on the head to think they can attack ME-“ Cooler began, breathing out his self-motivational quip in a husky tone. “-But they’re in for a rude awakening if they believe they, worm-eating insects, can stand up to an Emperor!”

In response to the tyrant’s words, Chorona gave a roll of her eyes along with a quick glance towards him before retorting “Maybe try saying that when you’re not on the floor” Her gaze snapped at the slightest noise from the mist, her eyes flaring in frustration as she attempted to sense her foes. But low and behold, her ability to sense ki was distorted as well here. Of course She thought bitterly. Her gaze was allowed a sweeping view of the thick fog, no green or blue creature in sight aside from the few moments where she was able to catch a glimpse of a moving shadow at the edge of the empty veil. As her frustrations grew, and the anticipation of the next attack built up within her stomach, her vision became loose. The fog morphed into various vague shapes, some were laughing faces, others were fluffy bunnies, another one would have made her blush if the situation wasn’t so dangerous.

She felt tempted to move, but another remark from Cooler reminded her that if she did she would leave him wide open to attack while he was recovering, and despite his disgusting behaviour it was her duty as a Kai to not purposely leave the man for dead. At least, for now while he hadn’t committed any terribly ill deeds in her presence. As a plus, she also acknowledged that for now their position by the spires allowed them to limit where their foe could strike from, meaning less chances of Chorona receiving an attack from the rear. Well, unless Cooler recovered and decided to for some reason. Besides, in this atmosphere she had to make each of her movements count, as well as always take time to breath. The Yardratians would be used to it, giving them a daunting advantage in this fight.

Right on cue, her pointed ear twitched at the loud thump that emitted as soon as one fighter pushed themselves into a charge. And out of the mist’s tight embrace a form of the blue Yardratian sped like a bullet as it launched itself towards her, it’s fist shooting out to slam in her face. Upon reflex, her hand opened and her feet shuffled, instantly putting an open palm in the way of the punch. Though she only JUST managed to keep her balance after the full power of the punch shook her stance.
Without hesitation, Chorona pushed her self-back a few paces off of the blue fist, throwing her weight onto her back to dodge the next strike. Following up her dodge with yet another pivot that spun her forward, manuvering around her opponent and planting her foot firmly into his back. Taking a moment to take in the appearance of her opponent, a spark of familiarity arose in her mind, a memory of her study on the various species of Universe 7 from the Time Nest. A name came to mind at the sight of his blue skin. Soba.

She didn’t know whether this really was supposed to be the well-known Yardratian figure, but she preferred at this point to at least have a name for her foe other than their species. Then again, were these really Yardratians? She never recalled any of them having a scream that could bring men to their knees, nor something that she was apparently immune to. She reasoned that this distortion world or whatever it was is merely taking the form of Yardrat and its inhabitants. For one reason or another.
However, there was no time to think further as Soba’s form disappeared within only an instance, replicating what Chorona knew was the ‘Instant Transmission’ technique. As if on cue, on either side of her she witnessed both of Soba’s accomplices fade into view, their legs raised with threatening efficiency. One aimed high for her head, another aimed down for her legs. Upon spotting this, Chorona threw herself forward while swinging her body, managing to put her body just in-between the two kicks and avoid their damage.

Unfortunately for her, Soba came back into view instantly from above her as she spun in mid-air. His form came rocketing to the ground like an anchor, his large foot slamming down upon Chorona’s head and crusher her form against the ground in a sudden and blunt strike. She only managed to choke out a gasp of pain before her face met the ground, her bones groaning against the pressure of Soba’s boots. In a moment of slight relief, Soba leaped back towards the sky, only to aim down with his hand and charge up a golden beam of energy that felt blinding to look at when Chorona attempted to turn over. Before she could even attempt to scramble to her feet the crushing pressure of golden energy began its descent to bear down upon her, adding a mix of beauty and hopelessness to the bleak veil of the fog as the golden hue spread. Her leg came up to bring her to a kneeling position, her only chance to dodge this now was to pull out that technique. If I don’t use it, I’m going to be lit up like a Christmas tree. But if I do use it, I’m not sure I’ll still be able to stand…

However, her mental weighing of the pros and cons of the decision came to a complete halt as she felt the rough surface of Cooler’s tail land on top of her back, the fog around her pushed away by the presence of his feet; a growl very audible above her. “I already told you…” Managing to shield her eyes from the glow, her gaze made out Cooler’s tall figure standing over her body, grunting and sweating as he slammed his hands against Soba’s blast. “THESE INSECTS CANNOT COMPARE TO ME!” To her great surprise, even in his weakened state, the man managed to hold his own against Soba’s attack. The effort welcomed many grunts of disapproval from the annoyed tyrant, but his efforts in pounding his fists against the beam managed to allow him to slowly knock it off course. Sending the golden blast to shoot off behind the two, quickly swallowed by the mist.

As she now scrambled to her feet, making haste to return to a fighting stance, she felt the ground around them crack and break in reaction to the shear impact of the Arcosian batting away the blast. Of course, the first sight she took in when she got up was the smug fop’s smug mug, looking quite pleased with himself. Thankfully, it was short lived as merely looking at her made him frown. “So, you can fight too. Of course, you can” And like that, he returned to digging deep into his lungs for breath. Admittedly, it was a miracle that he was still standing and ready to fight after taking the beam head on.

“I’m not just a pretty face, Grump” Still, she managed to at least give out a smirk as she turned her back against Cooler, looking to where the dangerous trio of Yardratians had disappeared to. “Though, I wouldn’t blame you for assuming that. Since I do have a pretty cute face”

“And it’s all balanced out by your terrible personality” Cooler shot back with a grunt, cracking the bones in his forearms for some type of relief.

At this Chorona’s pink lips pulled together to form a pout “I’m charming and quirky. You’re unappealing and grumpy. Shut up.” Her voice came out as a petulant drone, though unlike other times her annoyance didn’t seem to amuse Cooler. “Maybe it’d help your mind focus”

“I’m sure if my mind strays you’ll let me know” This time around Cooler’s tongue let loose venom into his tone, and Chorona was sure she’d spot a glare in his gaze if she looked back at him.

Admittedly, she could have responded better. “Oh, come on. Are you still on about that?” As their bickering started to arise again, their three opponents materialised around them, all rushing to meet the two in battle. Chorona jumped to avoid the lunge attack one attempted, ducking past Cooler as he reach forward and formed an iron grip on the attackers arm, before proceeding to throw the fighter back into the mist.

“I’m sorry if I don’t view you skipping around the corners my mind like a child’s playhouse the same way as you, it isn’t a trivial matter to me” The monarch spat out in a threatening growl, leaping back as Soba rained down a barrage of Ki blasts upon them.

Chorona slammed her knee into the stomach of the third Yardratian, getting a successful grunt of pain from the creature before dropping down to sweep him off his feet with a strong kick. All before firing back “It’s not a big deal!”

At those small words from the girl Cooler only seemed to quickly approach his bursting point, shooting her a look of pure rage that stopped Chorona in her tracks, as if the intensity of the stare let out some invincible force. “That’s easy for you to say, you low-level scum. Your power your skills, your dominance. None of that registers in your life” He reached forward with his hand, before crushing his fingers together to form and fist and continue to bat away Soba’s blasts. “I am the Emperor, YOUR Emperor. I stand as the strongest in the universe, I suffer a life that revolves around strength and ambition. I don’t show weakness. I don’t have weakness! Through my position all I face is knives in my back, every moment spent with a look over my shoulder-“ Despite the ever growing problem of his aching muscles, Cooler managed to pull himself to experience a spike in his ki. His rage flowing into his body as he powered up, the tormented winds of power that were created through his screaming pushed the Yardratians back a few paces. “-The fabric of my mind existed as my only sanctuary. For a creature such as you, one of such shameful filth, one of such lower class, to defile that sanctuary. TO make me experience the concept of vulnerability... That’s simply DISGUSTING!”

He threw his left foot forward to slam into the ground, creating an explosion of dust as the ground quaked in his wake, before he pushed off that foot and into the air; throwing himself towards Soba with a battle cry, his momentum carrying him through at an amazing speed. “And now these insects dare to challenge me, to mock me?!” Within an instant his shoulder slammed into Soba’s stomach with a force that could shatter mountains, leaving Soba only a moment to gasp as the wind was knocked out of the creature, before Cooler followed his attack up with a spin that allowed his tail to lash out at Sob like a whip; tearing off a clean strip of Soba’s skin. “UNACCEPTABLE!”

Before Soba could even register the pain the monarch joined his hands together as one fist and raised his arms high, and then proceeding to bring his fists down like a mighty sledge hammer sending Soba’s battered and bruised body careening into the ground and under the layer of fog. But to Cooler’s disgust the creature had the audacity to still live despite the devastating blows, as a few seconds later Soba’s body rose past the surface of the mist engulfing the floor, managing to pull himself from the crater created from his landing. Instead of charging Cooler, his jaw dropped opened and the creature let loose a familiar damning tune.

“Arg!” It started as a great struggle, the static reaching Cooler’s ears drew out howls of anger and pain from the man, though this time he managed to resist against the pain. Still, his ear eventually had enough and his form began to descend to the ground, his muscles giving into the static’s crushing song. However, Chorona shook herself from her shocked stupor and jumped into action, using the advantage of Cooler’s ‘distraction’ to slam her foot into the back of one opponent’s head.

“Hang on, Cooler!” She called out as she pulled away from her target, turning her body in mid-air to lck her eyes onto Soba. With little hesitation, she fired her own two handed ki beam at Soba. With little charge up time, it was weak and did little damage to the creature, but it had enough punch behind it to put a stop to Soba’s singing for a little while. Unfortunately for her, the other two Yardratians took this opportunity to rush towards the distracted kai and take her from the rear, in a synchronised formation, the two swooped in struct her in the back of the head, before the other appeared before her and unleashed a ki blast into her stomach.

In the span of five seconds Chorona had been sent soaring through the air and into the unsuspecting arms of a still recovering Cooler, who fell straight to the ground upon the small woman slamming into him. Ending up with the two crouched on the ground, Cooler now gripping his chest as his exhaustion began to catch up with him; Even Chorona was finding it difficult to hold on. They simply couldn’t cope with the atmosphere. “No, this can not be… I am the strongest… I can’t be surpassed by insects!”
Cooler’s statement was let loose as a mostly desperate act of self-confirmation, his voice shaking as he refused to accept the danger of their situation. For once, Chorona gave the monarch a sympathetic look, it was a rather pitiful sight. Around them their foes hadn’t simply sat idle for the monarch to rage, Soba and the two Yardratians moved to surround the downed duo, raising their hands to deliver the finishing move. Again, a golden hue drowned out all other colours in bright flood.

“Does me being able to read your mind really affect you that much?” The little Kai questioned softly, looking to Cooler with a reserved expression. She had a plan, but she needed him to trust her. His only response was to try his best to keep his expression imposing. “I won’t do it anymore, okay?” Her voice was softer this time, like a friend who just realised they’d offended you. It was a strange tone for her to take towards him.

He could guess that his thoughts at the moment had become details that weighed heavily on his face, she needed no mental ability to know his emotions. That little fact only added fuel to the inferno that was his jealous rage. How pathetic, how humiliating. “You’re mocking me, aren’t you?” His face didn’t make any move to turn as he accused her.

“Wha- No! I really mean it. We’re ‘Convenient Acquaintances’ in this, right? We have to trust each other, at least for a bit, and you can’t trust me if I’m violating your brain” She tried to keep the mood light, weakly raising her hand to tap him on the fore head. The dangerous trio still charged up their blasts.

“Is this really the time for this?” Cooler growled, his gaze fluctuating between all three of their executioners.

“This is the only time we do have for this. Look, I’m sorry. I won’t do it again, I think I can get us out of this… But I need you to trust me, because I trust you” She re-affirmed holding out her hand for his, the gold glow getting dangerously brighter. “You have my word. A kai always pays their debts, appreciates their companions and keeps their word”

Cooler took a moment to stay silent, his lips turning into a thin line. At the same time, the beams of pure light and power were finally unleashed, bounding towards the two like a blood hungry beast. “Cooler…” With a grimace and a mutter that he’d regret this later, Cooler’s fingers shot out to take Chorona’s hand, their fingers intertwining as the beams closed in on the two. The Monarch turned his gaze to the light, determined to face his demise with at least a little pride. However…

TIME… STOOOOP!” Chorona’s cry almost didn’t register to Cooler, but upon her scream he felt a light pressure on his shoulders, as if some unseen force was attempting to pull him away from Chorona’s hand. What shocked him even more were the golden beams, they seemed to be slowing down gradually, the sounds that surrounded them distorted in a manner similar to a voice’s pitch dropping. This was quickly followed by a strange filer of black and white that emerged from the tops of Chorona’s fingers, stretching out around them, drowning the landscape and draining every last drop of colour. Soon, everything had come to a stop. The light was frozen. The Fog was static. And the Yardratians were stuck in a state of determination as they ‘fired’.

“You… You…” Cooler couldn’t believe his eyes or the ideas that accompanied his vision. It had to be impossible, yet he could come up with no other explanation as to what was happening; she stopped time around them. Before he could come up with further questions, Chorona urged him to move, hinting to him that this was probably a temporary event. Nodding and stunned into silence, Cooler took off into the sky (Just managing to push against the might of the gravity) with Chorona grabbing onto his shoulder. “We should use this opportunity to level the playing field” He spoke aloud, still not too sure on everything going on around him.

Still, now was the perfect opportunity to strike while they still could. “Hurry up, I can’t keep this up for long” Chorona’s voce prompted Cooler to look at her, giving him a sight that caught him off guard. As a far cry from the woman he bickered with a few seconds before hand, Chorona looked very different, her hair and skin looked paler and more rotten, eyes were empty. She looked so much more unnaturally fragile. The technique, or power, or whatever. It must have been taking a lot out of her.
Instead of pussy footing around Cooler nodded and accepted the woman’s request, turning to look down on one of their attackers and raising his arm, charging up his ki. It seemed that this temporal state of limbo between time allowed Cooler to catch his breath and loosen his muscles, making his next attack easier to pull off. Chunks of rock floated upwards as he charged up, a spark of amber ki crackled between his fingertips, roaring to be unleashed in one powerful beam. And as Cooler noted the black and white filter draining from the scenery, he realised he had little time left, so her pushed his arm outward and unleashed his sweet retribution.

FULL POWER ENERGY WAVE!” He screamed before all his energy flowed out of his palm in the form of a darker shade of gold energy that coursed with power. As the effects of Chorona’s Time Stop came to a close, Cooler allowed himself to grin, witnessing one Yardratian only just realising that the two had gotten out of the way before Cooler’s devastating blast engulphed the creature. Soba and the other Yardratian stood in amazement as their companion’s very form was completely disintegrated by Cooler, who now floated above them. A smirk stretching his lips, despite the fact that Chorona had now returned to her original position on the man’s head. “I don’t know about you, Squirt, but I’m starting to get fired up” It seemed like that minute to catch his breath as all Cooler needed to get back in the game.
The two Yardratians only looked to where their fallen comrade’s body would lay under the fog, as if they were waiting for something. To both Cooler’s and Chorona’s shock, they spotted a dark and purple aura inch out from the fog and rush over towards the two Yardratians, splitting in half before engulfing them both. “This is bad…” Chorona mused “Why do I get the feeling that killing one of them just made two of them stronger?”

“Because dark ominous aura has never been a good sign so far…” Cooler groaned, his feet meeting the ground in a soft landing as the two Yardratians turned back to stare him down. Now that I mention it, that aura does look similar to the one around the crystal… Maybe they’re connected somehow? He didn’t make his surprise visible as Chorona plopped off of his head and back onto the floor, her face shifting away from its previous fragility, and moving back to its usual soft pink colour. While the strain of her technique did seem to leave some exhaustion on her features, she looked ready to fight. And while he’d never state it out loud, Cooler was a tad impressed. Earth is just full of surprises…

Soba and his comrade now stood tall and stern, their eyes flashing a crimson flair as the ominous and villainous aura grew around their form, the mere presence of their rising ki could be felt even by Cooler. “Are you okay?” He kept his eyes glued to his opponents despite the suddenness of Chorona’s question.
He only scoffed at her concern and responded with his silver tongue back in action “Hmpf, I’ve ha better days. Though it seems I should be the one asking YOU, that strange technique of yours didn’t seem easy to use”

“It took a lot out of me, but not as much as I thought it would”

“Have you got any more tricks up your sleeve?”
“I don’t think so. You?”

Cooler looked down to his curled fist, letting out a grunt of dismay. “I did, but I believe I lost the chance to pull out that card after this fight started” Despite his readiness to fight, he knew his muscles were still too worn down for him to put them through his transformation. Maybe in a different atmosphere… Fitting. A technique I was saving for Frieza once… Then a Super Saiyan… And now upon the moment I finally want to whip it out against a foe, I am unable to. Pitiful. “But I will say, I’m starting to feel confident about our odds. Let us finish this!”

“Wait a sec…” Chorona chided in before Cooler attempted to charge into battle by himself, before surprising him by placing her hand on his chest. Is she attempting to push me away? But before he could question the action, Chorona gave him a confident smile and closed her eyes, a light green glow emanating from her palm. Instead of blast or beam shooting from her fingers, the energy came out as a pleasant wave that pulsed out, spreading around his body. And in only a few second Cooler began to feel lighter, his muscles relaxing and to his amazement some of his bruises were fading with each green pulse. “I can’t fully heal you, but I’ll do what I can”

“You’re like a walking pink swiss army knife…” Was all Cooler could muster at the sudden healing ability, and he began to wonder why he was even surprised at this point. Soon, Chorona pulled away with an awkward giggle, turning back to the fight where it seemed that their two opponents had finished powering up. “Now, as I was saying. Finish this and all that crap…”

“I’ll take Soba, and you take on Suga?”

“Sure, I’ll ta- Wait, what?!”

“I gave them names…”

“Bah, seriously?”

“JUST GO AND FIGHT SUGA!” With that yell of encouragement, Chorona took off in the direction of the blue one, making Cooler guess the red one was Suga. Wasting no time, Suga flashed out of view with instant transmission before appearing just behind Cooler and delivering a solid blow to the man’s back, pushing Cooler into a stumble. However, Cooler managed to swerve to avoid the next kick, throwing his body around to grab the offending foot with one arm, before driving his other elbow into Suga’s knee.

This dragged a satisfying scream from his opponent, but it didn’t keep the creature down, and only encouraged it’s other leg to come swinging and slam into the side of Cooler’s head. This forced Cooler to let go of Suga’s limb as he stumbled back, the kick followed up by a barrage of powerful jabs with Suga’s feet that pushed the Arcosian backwards. Suga finished his attack by flipping back to land on the floor with a ball of ki in hand, pushing off and attempting to slam into cooler and drill the ki ball into the monarch’s chest. However, upon making contact with Cooler’s body Suga found himself merely falling through Cooler’s chest as the Arcosian’s tall image faded from view. Cooler wasted no time and used his after image to bolt past the Yardratian, his tail following swiftly with the base of his tail lashing out against Suga, prompting the limb to coil around the Yardratian’s throat with ease.

Not content with just choking his victim to death, Cooler threw all his weight forward, bringing his body into a dive and allowing him to land slamming his hands into the ground; resulting in a handstand that caused the choking Yardratian to suddenly jerk as the tail brought him down to meet the ground for a brief moment of pain. Before the tail dragged him back up above Cooler. “Good boy, now… Kneel before your Emperor”

With only another whip of his mighty tail, Cooler sent the Yardratian hurdling through the air and towards Soba and Chorona’s fight. With a sickening and smug grin Cooler called to Chorona, letting her know of the body that was flying towards her. The Kai’s fight seemed to have gone well, managing to keep up a decent pace with Soba and constantly weaving and swerving away from all his attacks. Even with his instant transmission that allowed him to pop all over the place with only a thought, Chorona still managed to get in some good hits.

Before Cooler had thrown Suga, Chorona had been put on the defensive side of the fight, jumping back a few paces every few seconds and Soba’s hands shot out at a break neck pace to deliver devastating jabs. Her small and nimble form allowed her to keep her body quick and easy to dodge the attacks, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep this up forever. Thinking quickly, she shot a small energy blast from her palm that easily smashed into Soba’s face, temporarily stopping his assault for a moment and allowing Chorona the chance to lunge forward strike the underside of the creature’s head.

At this Soba let out a growl as the uppercut sent him reeling, and despite her best judgement Chorona took this as an opportunity to use her Time Stop technique yet again. In quick succession, all the colours of the world faded away to allow her time in limbo, this time Cooler froze in his position as well, as long as nobody was touching her she’d be the only one unaffected by her technique. She hurried up her plan as the strain instantly hit her, pulling down on her flesh and screaming into her brain like a pack of wolves pulling apart their dinner. She even felt her skin cracking at the pressure of it all.

Despite the pain, she sucked it up and jumped forward, initiating a barrage of punches and kicks of her own this time. Striking Soba’s stomach, pounding his chest and for good measure she gave a good few chops to the creature’s head. Upon letting go of her technique the colour gradually flooded back in around, Soba didn’t even have a chance to move before all the pain and effects of Chorona’s punches set in and descended upon him. A strike to his stomach had him stumbling back, the blow upon his chest took the wind out of him and the chops upon his head left him rather confused.

And then came Cooler’s warning as his opponent came rushing towards them as a limb and beaten body. With her body screaming for a moment of rest, Chorona dived to the ground into a small roll that took her around Soba, where she put every last ounce of her strength into sweeping the blue bastard off his feet and into his comrade. It only just managed to work and Suga’s body slammed into Soba, sending both over Chorona and the slammed into the spire. Prompting Chorona to scramble to her feet and share a knowing nod with Cooler, both jumping to each other’s sides to face the other duo with their hands raised. Cooler firing his death beams like there was no tomorrow while Chorona unleashed a ki blast barrage, every hit forged a puff of smoke that only grew and obscured where the two were firing.

That didn’t stop the two from unloading all they could muster onto their opponents, a mixture of green and purple flashes drowning in the smoke and causing the spire to crumble to dust that increased the smoke’s reach. But soon they came to a point where they had to stop, or risk pushing themselves into total exhaustion. So, they let the smoke clear, both eagerly waiting to see the result of their effort, and too their dismay they spotted to figures still standing. As the smoke pulled back, they were greeted with the sight of Suga’s now lifeless body standing in front of Soba, filled with bruises, scratches, blood and even holes. It was clear Suga had taken the brunt of the blasts and had paid dearly for it, though Soba did still look pretty badly beaten as he watched his last comrade fall past the fog and fade away. Soba rose with his eyes now completely blank, leaping towards the center of the clearing, and like before a villainous aura rose from the depths of the fog and headed straight towards Soba, engulfing him with an explosion of power.

However, this time when Soba stopped to power up, the entire area seemed to shake in dismay. As if they were atop of a disrupted volcano that was about to blow. From under Soba, the ground gave way to constant shaking and split apart into the familiar shape of a crack, one that exploded with dark blue energy. As the villainous aura swallowed Soga the crack burst with what could be seen as a bolt of lightning that shot out and struck Soga dead on, as if he was a metal pole in a thunder storm of power, and instead of harming the creature it only seemed to channel the explosive power of the distortion into him. His muscles strained, his aura grew and his screams ripped into the very surface of the planet around him.

“If us killing the others makes him more powerful, what will us killing him do?” Cooler had to yell to have his voice heard over the roars of the rumbling grounds. Before Chorona could respond, Soba leapt forward with a earth shattering thump fractured the ground around him, charging straight at her with a face of pure rage, but just as she raised her hands to defend herself Soba’s entire body disappeared before her eyes. The follow up noise of Cooler’s surprised grunt as well as a high-pitched clash of fists caused Chorona to turn around, realising that Soba had simply teleported behind her, where he now rammed his fists into Cooler, who had pulled his arms up in a blocking position to defend himself.

Cooler felt weaker with each blow, Soba’s new power up adding an extra layer of pressure to his punched that made Cooler’s bone groan as they attempted to stay together. Not pleased with Cooler blocking him, Soba instead switched tactics and took advantage of his positon, slamming his knee straight into Cooler’s gut. Which coaxed a scream from the monarch. The follow up knee broke through Cooler’s defence and the third blow decisively left Cooler wide open as her fell back, Soga showing no mercy and mimicking Cooler’s earlier Sledgehammer move with his arms raised, and slamming down upon Cooler’s head, sending him to the ground with little stress.

“Cooler!” Chorona called out rushing forward to help the fallen monarch, only for Soba to whip around and let out a powerful beam of ever darkening blue. Upon hitting Chorona dead on, it ripped through her hip with a sizzling hiss; not only ripping the fabric of her clothing, but also taking a chunk of her flesh with it. This ended up with Chorona hitting the floor like a sack of bricks, lying on her side and glaring at Soba as the creature approached her, ready to finish her off. “I’m not going down that easy!” She spat out in defiance, using her other hand to fire a ki blast at Soba, which ended up not effecting him in the slightest. She tried again, soon falling into spamming small amount of her ki to try and overwhelm the creature, but he only easily swatted each blast away with his hand.

She attempted to use her time stop ability again, but this time her attempts only served to cause a burning sensation in her mind that only proceeded to sting her at every attempt. Behind Soba she spotted Cooler getting back to his feet his rage consuming his face as he charged Soba, only for the creature to easily turn slightly and grab Cooler by the arm, stopping him in his tracks before driving it’s foot into Cooler’s knee; forcing the Arcosian to kneel. Trying desperately to ignore her pain, Chorona took off to help Cooler. If he can still stand, so can I! She jumped up and twisted her body to send her leg swinging into the back of Soba’s head, but this time he raised his other hand to block her, but this now left him with nothing to block a third attack. She took this opportunity to send both her hands to punch Soba directly in his beady eyes, resulting in a scream of pain from the creature before Cooler reeled his head back and threw it forward to deliver a powerful head butt to the creature’s chest.

This pushed Soba back and away from them, but not in a stumble, his feet stayed firmly on the ground and dug further into the earth as he was moved back. They could guess his rage mimicked Coolers if his eyes weren’t just empty white balls now. With another roar from the ground, the crack began to spread, the blue energy lashing out at the landscape and dragging down more pieces of the planet into its abyss. Soon it was beginning to look less like a crack in the ground, and more like a whirlpool of energy that sucked in everything it touched. Soba now moved above the whirlpool with his energy crackling around him, the blue hue reaching out to strike him once more. Pushing both of his hands together he formed two dark balls in either hand, as he charge up his ki once more both Cooler and Chorona could tell that he was preparing for his ultimate attack that would hopefully finish them off.

Letting out a short-lived scream of anguish, Cooler barked out “What do we do against that?”

“Simple…” Chorona breathed out slowly as she began to charge up her own ki, mimicking Cooler’s own movements to charge up his beam attack from earlier. “We push it back!”

“Are you crazy?”

Chorona shrugged at his response, gesturing to Soba “Maybe, but that has nothing to do with this. This guy is too agile and strong for us to fight him up close, but maybe if we combine our powers together we can get him in a beam struggle”

For a moment, Cooler merely glared at Chorona, then he sighed, then he rolled his eyes, and with a grunt he moved into a similar pose beside her. Charging up as they watched Soba slam his two balls of light together, causing the whirlpool to yet again reach up to him, before he finally loosened his fingers and push out both his palms together; unleashing his final attack.

Full…” Chorona felt a rumble in the pit of her stomach as her and Cooler spoke in unison. “…Power…” The ground around them crumbled as a dark and twisted beam of destruction grew in size and strength the closer it got to them. “…double…” Together their palms let off a glow that flowed into one another, creating a link that bound the two’s powers as they finally unleashed it “…ENERGY WAVE!” And with that final shout of resistance the two let loose their building power, their golden beams twisting around each other in a deadly dance as they collided with Soba’s blast.

Neither of the two could see anything as their world became a filter of bright and intense power, the ground beneath their feet trembling as their bodies refused to buckle, the repetitive hum of their beams became the harmony of their struggles. Every bone in their body, every sense of comfort, everything screamed at them to give in, to give up and let death take them. But their eyes remained resolute in their defiance and they pushed on no matter that pain that clawed at them, Chorona’s wounded side especially cried for release, but still they remained strong.

And to their great shock, the gold began to actually push back the sapphire, their efforts finally began to come through. This little fact, this little sprinkle of hope that they could win, it pushed them further to unleashed more of their excess ki into their attack, pouring every last drop they muster. Screams of determination joined as one ballad of triumph, another inch won and another ray that pushed them forward. They could do this. They could win. And finally, the blue hue seemed to drain away, it’s size diminished as the golden glow took over and pushed it back towards Soba; a triumphant choir gushing in Chorona’s mind. The two could only just make out Soba’s form now, his aura fading from him like a diminishing flame, at the duo’s energy beam marching forward Soba’s arms parted in surprise, breaking his beam, and allowing himself to be drowned in a golden light. With all resistance knocked down, the beam carried Soba into the fog where his form soon disappeared into the abyss.

“We…We..” Chorona began, almost completely speechless as they relinquished their hold on the attack, the sudden loss of power allowing her wounds to finally catch up and force her to the ground. At least she kept her smile.

“WE DID IT!” Cooler’s boisterous yell of victory got a giggle out of Chorona as he jumped into the air, staring at his bruised and batter hands, which now shook with pure adrenaline. “Nothing can stand in my way, NOTHING”

And that wasn’t all, to their complete shock the sky above them began to experience a crack of its own. One that opened up to reveal, not another abyss of energy or another fighter, but a view of the clearing they had found the crystal in. Like a window into another world. It had to be the way back, it had to be. Immediately Cooler was racing upwards, mustering his remaining strength to fight against the gravity, take flight, and head directly into the crack.

Chorona, however, was met with a more tragic hand of bad luck. At this point, the whirlpool still grew in size, not deterred by the death of Soba. For Chorona, this meant she was currently lying on the ground, completely vulnerable, while the whirlpool began to swallow everything in sight. Including her. “Cooler! Help!” She tried to get to her feet, but as the whirlpool grew, so did its pull; which had now grown to such a strength that she could barely move.

What was worse was that she didn’t get the response she wanted. Instead of an affirmation of help, she received a crooked laugh from the man above her as he looked down upon her situation. “I believe that this is where our partnership ends, Squirt.”

“What?!”

“We traded some good jabs, even fought an admittedly good fight. I’ll admit it, I might have even had fun. So, if you survive this, maybe we can meet again and hunt for more oddities together” He chuckled darkly, shrugging with that smirk of his “And if you don’t survive… Oh well, I’ll pretend to cry at your funeral. Actually, no, scratch that. I’ll be too busy to come to your funeral. Hell, WHO is going to throw you a funeral?”

“You cannot be serious, right now!” Chorona shouted back up, her voice cracking as the whirlpool’s reach grew ever closer. “I thought we were partners!”

“Uh, uh, uh. Convenient Acquaintances, Piggy, who had a similar curiosity. And now that our curiosity is sated, I have no further need of you” With that he turned away from her with a mocking wave, heading up towards the sky. “Tata”

“You… You gave your word…” Chorona managed to roar out her distain toward Cooler’s ascending form, actually managing to stop him in his tracks. “And an Arcosian always keeps their word, remember? Or did I just mis-judge you?” A bolt from the whirlpool reached out to strike at her, only just managing to miss her as she inched away, the ground around her almost completely gone. More bolts follow, each dragging away a section of the ground along with them, each strike got an inch closer to Chorona. Her heart sunk, her eyes shook and her lungs leapt up into her throat. Was she going to die here? I’m sorry, Master… I should have known better... I probably wouldn’t have made a god Supreme Kai of Time anyway.

With her fate determined, she closed her eyes and let her mind wonder into yelling at herself for her failures. It was as if she was already drowning before the whirlpool had reached her, her body giving up to the strong hold that now pulled at it. She felt the pull of the whirlpool weaken as she was lifted off the ground, as if she was being pulled away, her body feel more and more light. Was this what death felt like? Or was this drowning in that whirlpool?

“How can a woman so small weigh so much?” Her entire body jolted awake at Cooler’s dry insult, the man grunting as he pulled her upwards, struggling against the whirlpool’s pull. Her eyes widened a she realised his tail hand wrapped around her waist, hoisting the girl along with him in a kess damaging manner.

“You… You…”

“Shut up. And don’t you dare start crying, or I WILL drop you like a sack of dead Namekians!” Cooler shot down at her along with a reluctant glare, pushing upwards and inching closer towards the sky. Chorona immediately slammed her mouth shut, but couldn’t help but smile at averting her death…Drowning… Whatever. “And stop smirking, there is no joy here!” He snapped, the Whirlpool relinquishing it’s hold and allowing him to shoot off into the sky, crashing through the ‘window’ and not looking back at the Whirlpool that had now swallowed the world beneath them.

And before they knew it, both had been spat out of the crack and back onto the familiar ground of Earth, Chorona landing on top of Cooler’s chest as he landed on his back. Using him to break her fall once more. “YOU CAME BACK FOR ME!” She screamed with a loud laugh of relief, wrapping her fingers around Cooler’s arm and chanting “I’m alive! I’m alive! I’M ALIVE!”

“Stop it!” Cooler protested, waving his arms in a vain attempt to loosen her grip. “You’re getting your tears all over my arm! Get off!” But still she did not stop, even ignoring the searing pain in her left side as she giggled. “Oh, please tell me that’s not drool- I SAID, GET OFF ME, YOU SCUM!“ And with that yell he spared no time in pulling back his free hand and ramming it into Chorona’s shoulder, sending her hurdling off to the side and into the dirt.”Urg, this feels like the time Frieza’s pet Gelitan tried to eat me…”

“Ow, what was that for?” Chorona’s moan came as muffled as she spat out the chunks of dirt caught in her mouth after Cooler punched her.
Cooler merely growled back at her “Don’t make me regret pulling you out of there, Squirt”

“You’re suck a grump…” And so, she returned to pouting at him as she dusted herself off, moving her gaze to where they had popped out from. The crack was gone now, but the crystal still hung in the air, seemingly repaired. However, Chorona easily noticed how much weaker the crystal seemed now, there was little pull and the gravity seemed to have returned to normal. But how long would it stay that way?

Maybe some sealing magic would work…

She gasped at the sudden voice, a smile reaching her lips once more Master!

I don’t know what you did, but I have a clear view of you now and I don’t like the look of that crystal. I doubt trying to destroy it would do any good, but perhaps sealing magic could help contain whatever it is inside the crystal in it’s now weakened state.


“A-alright, I’ll try that!” She yelled confidently aloud, resulting in a few strange glances from Cooler. “Hey, Cooler, you might want to stand back…” With a grunt in response, Chorona moved towards the crystal, rolling up her sleeves to give the image of someone who was about to conduct some serious business. She stopped in front of the crystal, which now gave a threatening hum in her presence, before taking a deep breath. She held out her hands, spread apart her feet and cleared her mind. Only leaving her memories of when she was taught sealing magic. It required a focused, calm and collected mind to perform.

“SEAL!” Like when she had healed Cooler, a green hue emitted from her palms, an emerald wave that pulsed over the crystal. This time, however, the pulse started to form two semi-circles, surrounding the crystal before coming together like a cracked egg. As they pushed against one another, they locked the crystal inside them, before all at once the green glow began to flow down into the crystal, melting together the cracks on the crystal’s surface. Soon, the crystals began to fade, leaving just the crystal in the air, its surface clear and all the effects of its presence long gone.

“I did it, it worked” She exclaimed, starting a little victory dance of her own as the crystal dropped to the ground. However, this distraction allowed Cooler to easily walk up and catch the now obsolete crystal in his palm.

“What did you do?”

“Whatever was in that crystal got weaker when we killed those three Yardratians, so I was able to seal the distortions remaining power inside the crystal properly. Meaning, it should be destroying landscapes or sucking up people anymore…” Again, she allowed herself a moment to breathe a sigh of relief, before facing Cooler. “Thanks, I guess. You saved me back there” She smiled. Maybe he isn’t so bad after all, maybe I got him wrong. I mean, yeah, he’s related to Frieza, and he acts like a giant jerk all the time, and he doesn’t appreciate my good looks. But, maybe... Mayb-

“Of course, I did. You owe me your life now. And if I am recalling correctly, a ‘Kai always repays their debts’. I’m ecstatic to have you in my favour” Cooler shrugged with a smug grin returning to him.

“Oh, com- YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST PRETENDED TO BE A GOOD GUY ABOUT IT!”

He rolled his eyes, lazily raising his finger to point out “What’s the point in lying to someone who can read my mind like a book?”

“I already told you, I’m not gonna do that anymore! I, unlike you, have respect for people’s privacy” She groaned, yelling at the man with her arms up in the air, waving like crazy to emphasize her point.

Cooler shrugged at her constant berating, merely writing her huffing off “No matter, when we meet again, I’ll be sure to have found a way to combat your ability”

And so she puffed up her cheeks and yelled back “Meet again? As if, I hate you!”

“We will meet again, Squirt.” His response was a simple statement, and to emphasize his statement he tossed the crystal back to her, a knowing smirk stretching his lips.

“Fine!” She stuttered out, unsure and surprise, she hadn’t even noticed that he’d taken the crystal. “AND MY NAME’S CHORONA!” With no response, Cooler took off into the air, relived to be able to fly easily again; his flight soon taking him out of view.

Uh, so… Am I intruding here?

Chorona groaned to herself, her Master’s tone couldn’t help but let his laughter and amusement leak into it.

I’ll just wait for you to return to the Time Nest, shall I? Or do you wish for more time with your new friend?


“WE’RE NOT FRIENDS!”[/spoiler]
When Super apparently shoves Goku down our throats:

Kanassa wrote:
FoolsGil wrote:I hope Mark is dead. But chances are the dragonballs will bring his stupid ass back. :D
- FoolsGil, Out of Context, 2017

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Kanassa
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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Kanassa » Sat Apr 15, 2017 12:15 am

Chapter 14: Battle Strategies
[spoiler]Pan felt a curse word developing under her breath for the fourth time as she was yet again forced to come to a sudden stop, twisting on the back of her foot to transfer all her previous momentum into her turn, just avoiding the snapping jaws of the large creature in front of her; the dinosaur’s eyes narrowing on its prey as it’s teeth only managed to dig into the ground. The only thing stopping her from letting out such dirty language was the presence of her own mother some ways away on a makeshift platform on the rocks, who spectated Pan’s desperate struggle alongside a grinning Trunks. This only added more pressure to Pan’s current training session, now she had another audience member to entertain with her talents. Plus, it probably wouldn’t look good on Trunks part if Pan found herself eating dirt on what should have been a simple training exercise. And as Pan spotted the herd of snarling tigers dashing towards her, she had to remind herself to put ‘simple’ in mental quotation marks.

The exercise was a simple obstacle course. Pan had a set path throughout the canyon that twisted its way back up to the platform Trunks stood on, from here she could spot the path dipping into a rather deep and intimidating stretch of a gorge, where the path broke off into little spires standing amidst the drop. Rules were what made it a pain in the backside to complete, the focus of the session was dodging; so, no ki blasts, no flying, no touching the ground below the path and blood-thirsty animals hunting her down at every turn. It was no cake-walk, but Pan would never let that deter her. Well, she’d never admit to it deterring her. Once more she broke out into a sprint, the weights starting to feel like a second skin against her arms as she pumped her limbs like a super-powered piston down the clear path. She couldn’t go back towards the tigers, but the T-Rex was still slamming itself into the side of the path (Which now felt to the need to remind herself was like a bridge between two mountains, built from rocks). Looking further down the path just before it dips into the gorge, she could see that it faded into a mountain path, circling around the mountain, and continuing out of the other side.

“Hey, Rexy; wanna help a girl out?” She called over to the rampaging dinosaur, who merely responded with a roar as it charged her yet again. “Thanks, you’re the best!” She lunged forward to avoid the beast’s snout, which quite conveniently destroyed the path behind her and cut off the tiger herd from persuing her. Pan began to add a hop to her step, testing her acrobat skills, before looking to the gap between the two different sides of the path that circled the mountain. Where she shared a smile to herself.

From above up on the platform Trunks’s eyes kept a firm lock on Pan as she pushed forward, taking a certain measure of amusement from watching the girl turn as red as her old shirt as she squirmed through the course. “She’s doing better than last time” He commented aloud to Videl, keep his gaze fixed. “This is the first time she nailed the turn, all the other times she always made the same mistake of going too fast”

At this, Videl let out a chuckle as she pictured it in her mind. “So, she ended up flying off the road before she even had a chance to stop herself?”

“Yeah” A sigh followed, Trunks shaking his head at the display of Pan purposely allowing the T-Rex to get close so she could just jump out of the beast’s reach just in time. That cocky attitude will cost her. “The key to dodging is timing. You have to know when to speed up and when to take it slow. Still, her progress is impressive”

“Well, I did teach her everything she knows” Videl spoke confidently with an idle look to her fingers, as if to emphasize a point of ‘hand crafted’ into her sentence. This only got a roll of his eyes from Trunks who, out of respect, decided to stay silent instead of treating Videl to a retort. As if on cue there was a scream of ‘YOUCH’ as the dinosaur’s teeth skimmed Pan’s behind and ripped off a piece of her training shorts, which made it Videl’s turn to groan. “Except that. That was all Gohan” She quickly coughed out, Trunks stifling a laugh. “Why doesn’t she just punch out the Rex? Can’t she take that thing on with one hand tied behind her back?”

“The point of this exercise is to force Pan into a tense situation where she can’t just easily fly out of harm’s way, or punch her way through. When me and Gohan fought the androids, more times than I’d like to admit, we were forced to run and hide. Flying would get us spotted immediately, but on the ground, it was easier to get the drop on… Them” He stopped, his teeth clamping down on his lip as he tried to avoid the bitter memories. It didn’t help Gohan. To compensate he turned his lips back to the grin he had beforehand as he quickly added “Besides, I told Pan that these animals were ‘Super Powered Mutant Animals’ that Gero had experimented on and released into the wild before he made the androids…”

“And she believed you?” Videl turned to Trunks to laugh, who would believe such a ridiculous statement.

Again, on cue came the scream. “Trunks! It bit me! AM I RADIOACTIVE NOW!?”

To which Videl yelled back “I don’t know, Sweetheart. You look a bit melty, but that’s been a problem for a few years now!” Videl’s grin fell to a frown as Pan gave only the most unfriendly gesture in return before the response of karma was near instant as the dinosaur lunged in for another bite, encouraging Pan to speed up. “That is not appropriate!”

After offering a desperate expression that showed Pan didn’t expect Videl to see her gesture, the girl set her eyes on the ever-nearing turn of the path, her gaze flickering to the T-rex to make sure her plan was still possible. The beast was quickly catching up with her subdued and weighed down speed. And as Trunks immediately noticed, this prompts her to slow down a bit, allowing the beast to get ever so much closer to her. What is she planning? “Looks like her body is starting to give up” Videl shrugged, noticing the rather confused expression on Trunks’s face. “We all have our breaking poin-“

Trunks cut through Videl’s sentence with a dismissive wave of his hand. “No, she’s up to something. She’s teasing” He noted that Pan’s face kept a wide smile and a self-assured stare, and as their training sessions had shown him, Pan was not one to stay bright when she thinks she’s about to be beaten. And as Pan turned her head to nod at the rather ravenous T-Rex, Trunks could bet that the woman was giving her new friend a teasing wink.

Pan now ran side by side with the T-Rex, as if the hunt had suddenly turned into a race to the end of the path, the girl even offering another wave to the beast. In a moment that coaxed a giggle from Videl, Pan proceeded to lean over the side of the path, grinning and all, and press her cheek against the shaft of the T-Rex’s snout so that it almost looked like she was eye-to-eye with him. I don’t know whether she’s trying to hug him, or push him off… Only Pan would literally bump heads with a Dinosaur.

In response to Trunks sighing to himself, Videl piped up. “She always had a flair for the dramatic. That’s Gohan’s fault…”

“As long as no one at the tournament blames her behaviour on me” Trunks pulled his fingers up to massage his temples, wondering if this is what he’ll be known for. Not for destroying Android 17 & 18, not for helping rebuild the world, but for the one who taught that girl who pulled down someone’s trousers in a fight.

“What is she doing now?” Videl’s sudden gasp of confusion prompted Trunks to pull away his fingers and return his gaze to the scene before him, where by now Pan had separated herself from the dinosaur, digging her heels into the ground in a couscous effort to bring herself to a stop. Behind her a noticeable whirl of grit and dirt was beginning to swirl around into a cloud of thick dust, all from the rough friction between Pan’s heel and the ground; and conveniently all this dust trailed right in front of the poor dinosaur’s eyes.

The dinosaur of course didn’t take too kindly to the particles of dirt, the creature’s large eyes turning red with pain and strain, unleashing a roar that could shake mountains. With the setting sun as the race’s backdrop, the creature’s teeth gleamed threateningly as it lunged forward with a snarl to snap at Pan. By this point her grinding had produced progress, her body finally coming to a complete halt in a twister of dust in her wake. Due to her sudden stop, the dinosaur’s blind lunge went completely passed her and sent him ramming into the path, shortly disorientating the beast, and causing him to stumble towards the gap between the two paths. Briefly, she took a moment to look back up to her spectators with a look of pure triumph, a cheeky smirk tugging at her lips.

The dinosaur was in perfect place, his long and large body forming the perfect short cut to fill the gap, and now she noticed that the beast’s back did kind of look like a rocky path. All she had to do was wink at the spectators, perform a stylish backflip onto the dinosaur, take a moment to acknowledge how cool she was and then she’d shave off the time in this obstacle course. “Don’t look away yet, folks. I’m not done ye-“ But before she could finish her smug quip and cap off her plan, she found herself meeting her own dust cloud head on, as the ground took this opportunity to flood into her mouth, pinch her nose and burn her eyeballs.

Still, her body was ahead of the game and flung itself into the game as her throat began to cough up a storm “Ack-Fudge Stick- Ack! I have this under con-“ And upon her body falling back for the flip she caught another whiff of the cloud “I’M BLIND! I’M BL-Auuk!" As her head came up from the second flip around she spotted a rather amused Trunks carrying Videl towards her, but this was only for a moment before her view shifted back to the dark scales of the dinosaur’s back as it got closer and closer; all until she slammed face first into it. Through an aching nose and a squished upper lip, her muffled tone asked “Why does this crap always happen to me?” before she promptly slid off of the dinosaur and onto the ground beneath it. Out of bounds.

For the most part, Pan could say that she at least face defeat with dignity, but then again; she wasn’t aware of the fact that her shorts were ripped to air her rear to the air as she frowned into the mud. The dinosaur leaned down to prod her with it’s snout, unsure whether it’s prey was dead or not. Pan simply replied to this with an aggressive groan. Which was returned with what Pan could only interpret as a snort at her expense from the creature. “Even Rex is laughing at me!”

“Videl is too. And I’m only JUST managing to hold it back” Trunks retorted as his feet touched the ground, dropping Videl off safely. “You’d be laughing too if you weren’t too busy with your foot in your mouth, or dust” He offered up a hand which Pan begrudgingly took, before she turned to the dinosaur and shook her head threateningly.

“Not sure I’d expect any less from a Super T-Rex…” Before breaking out her fist into a wagging finger, warning the beast. “Next time, Rex! I don’t care if you’re radioactive, I’m kicking your tail to the curb” The only response she got was the dinosaur to breath on her heavily (Dowsing her with his saliva) before turning away and slinking off into the distance. “Truly, he is my greatest rival yet…”

“You have a way with wild life, Pan” Despite her complete and utter failure, Pan couldn’t help but smile along with Trunks as he looked over to the mountain above them. “You got further than last time”

“Still fell over with my ass in the air…”

“You improved. That’s what matters, Pan” He placed a hand on her shoulder, patting off the new layers of grim that matted her body. For a moment he squeezed her shoulder, allowing him to feel the muscle growth around her arm as she didn’t even wince at his grip. “You’ll go far in the Tournament next week”

When her lips curved to flash him a confident smile, a fire clearly burning in her eyes, Trunks felt like a relaxing force had pressed against his back. “I’ll dominate this tournament for sure! I mean, if someone like you isn’t entering, then it’ll be a cake walk” The mention of someone comparing to him brought up the androids in his mind yet again, though for once the mere thought didn’t weigh down heavily on his heart for the moment. Maybe that’s why he agreed to train her in the first place when she was clearly doing fine on her own. In the past week her comedic failures, her ego-centric attitude, her strange habits, and her determination burned bright enough that his daunting thoughts to what Sixteen and Bulma could find melted away for a time. Allowed him to enjoy himself again.

Though, there was also just an endless amount of amusement to watching her screw up. But that didn’t sound as heartfelt. “Don’t be so sure of yourself, Pan. The World Tournament brings in its fair share of surprises. There could be fighters just as strong as you, and even those who aren’t have tricks up their sleeves”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve heard it all” Pan retorted, tilting her head backwards as if she was reciting a text book. “Nam’s Close Arm Dive technique, Bacterian’s paralyzing stench, Giran’s Merry-go-round gum” She brought her fist into her palm in realisation. “Oh! And Ranfam used her clothes to win by taking them off. Maybe I should try that; it would at least distract my opponent for a few moments”

“Absolutely not!” Videl screeched, causing a very red in the face Trunks to jump back at the very suggestion.

“Pan, please! I do not want anybody to think I taught you THAT”

“I could totally pull it off, I just need the right underwear-“

“THAT’S NOT THE PROBLEM!”

The unanimous scream brought Pan to tears in laughter, pointing at their exaggerated expressions. “You like something that’s been left in the sun too long!”
Trunks’s head fell to glare at the floor, refusing to let Pan get any further amusement from his embarrassment. “Pan… Just promise me that you won’t strip in front of all those people in the World Tournament” He did not need that image in his head.

“You mean I should do it off stage, really shock the audience?”

“You know, the worst part is that I don’t know if you’re joking or not”

“Exactly.” Pan giggle, patting Trunks on the head like there was some hidden context only Pan knew about. “Thanks for the training, does this mean we’re done after the Tournament?”

“There’s always more to learn, Pan. We’ll train for as long as you’re up for it” Trunks sighed, shaking his head. This girl, I swear… “The tournament will serve as a good measuring tool for me. I’ll be able to see just how terrible you’re doing”

“And when I win the tournament, I’ll make sure to finish it off with a Kamehameha” She proclaimed, shooting her fist into the air, gaining an odd look from Trunks.

“You can do that?”

“I’ve been watching old footage of Grampa. I think I got his technique down” As an example she let a ball of ki form in her hand, before sending it up to whiz and them.

“And now that I have this down, I’m sure of it”

“Why not simply go to learn it from Master Roshi, you know where Kame House is…”

Pan proceeded to roll her eyes. “Duh, I can’t just go and learn something from Master Roshi. YOU’RE my master, that’d be like spitting in your face. I couldn’t betray you like that” She broke out into a smirk as she moved past Trunks, taking her mother’s hand as the two prepared to take off. “I’ll see you at the tournament, Trunks”

“I’ll give you your present then”

“Present?”

“Think of it as a good luck gift. Until then… I’ll be cheering you on”[/spoiler]
When Super apparently shoves Goku down our throats:

Kanassa wrote:
FoolsGil wrote:I hope Mark is dead. But chances are the dragonballs will bring his stupid ass back. :D
- FoolsGil, Out of Context, 2017

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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Kanassa » Thu Apr 27, 2017 12:09 pm

Chapter 15: Lost in Memories of Better Days
[spoiler]The wasteland was peaceful. Soft winds peeled off layers of grime from the foundation of rock and bone, built upon the corpses of the old world that had long since joined with the earth. The wind acted as desperate finger scraping away at their tombs, ripping into the earth for last grasp of life, but only pulling way to bring their harrowed screams across the land.

In retrospect, the waste land could be considered a scar on the planet, back when the only surface existed to drown under the grip of water and gas. As time went by, the corpses merged to form land, plan life evolved through the rot and the Earth continued to age, yet the wasteland stayed the same. It seemed to choke despite the seas long since departing from around it, as if it could stay within the days that had faded away. Like every scar, it’s purpose was to remind, to warn, to keep the consequences in view. To reflect on the changes.

It was too familiar.

And yet again, the winds swept down to take a gander at the graveyard, where now a wolf had hobbled across the area with a deep wound leaving a trail of blood behind it. It’s once soft grey fur now formed a rough and sticky surface as blood stained it’s body, the memories of it’s previous fight for food clearly inscribed on it’s flesh. A howl of pain escaped it before it’s front paws gave way, knees buckling and the weight of all it’s injuries bringing the beast to the floor.

In the span of a minute, the wolf noticed the sun moving over to cast a curious glance towards it’s predicament. Despite the intense gaze, the temperature seemed to drop, all the colours the creature had once found a curiosity in now dimmed, a numb sensation taking over. Even the wolf could feel that the end was coming.
But it didn’t want to die, not yet. In defiance, the beast tried to raise it’s paw again, scraping at the floor for some type of hold, something to help it to it’s feet. But every time it thought it managed a grip, the texture beneath it’s paw gave way. All while the wind pulled at the soon-to-be corpse. Soon, the grime’s colour began to shift, the wolf’s blood drawing an outline around it’s body. But before long, the wind, with a dark chuckle, dragged a quilt of sand over the blood splatter.

A pathetic creature.

It was immediately noticeable that the sun’s glare began to darken, a tall shadow sheltering the poor creature in it’s final moments. It’s eyes barely managed to muster up the energy to face the visitor, who’s form now seemed to dwarf the sun to peeking beyond her shoulder. It didn’t growl. It didn’t yelp. It didn’t cry. It looked indifferent, almost accepting. The wolf had given up. And looking down at the wolf through a narrowed gaze, Torne let her frown become apparent before she slammed her foot into the Wolf’s head. Not caring for the red stain that now stuck to her boots. “It didn’t even glare.” She noted with distain. “How worthless”

“It was a defenceless creature” Dashade landed beside her with a puff of sand swirling around his feet, his tail beating against the ground casually. A disapproving gaze thrown in the Saiyan’s direction. “Unless it somehow made silent insults about your mother, killing the poor thing was pointless”

Torne offered a flippant shrug and a dismissive wave of her hand, her frown fading as she turned away. “It was an eyesore, so I made it more appealing. Red suits such a worm that would bow their head at the Grim Reaper” As she moved away the Arcosian shot the wolf a sympathetic look, be he turned to follow, his tail pushing sand over the corpse. “The strong thrive and weak fail to survive, and all that. Survival of your pride is the important part, because that is the only important part that lives on after you die. That creature had none, it was disgusting, I did this boring planet a favour in at least improving it’s décor”

Dashade didn’t really know why they continued to walk to their destination when they could easily take off into the sky, maybe this insignificant additional work in walking added something for Torne, or maybe it was because it gave her more time to torture his ear drums with her voice; either way, he didn’t like it. Arcosian feet were not made for walking, they were made for grabbing. It didn’t make it any better that he was unable to keep his tail up, resulting in an annoying rhythm to follow his every step as the tip hit the ground.

Looking over Torne’s own attire, the Arcosian could only scoff as he retorted “Then how fitting you find yourself garbed in the colour of your distain. Or is the irony lost on your monkey brain?”

In response, he received another low chuckle from the woman, her hands spreading out to tug at her crimson garb. Like it was flesh she was tempted to peel off. “So, narrow minded, but what do I expect from a Lizard? Think of it as those metap-watzits you bean counters use to sound pretentious. I’m covered in red because all I see is red, all I hear is red, all I receive is red. Because all that I encounter is pathetic” Dashade then concluded that walking gave her a good work out lugging around that over-inflated ego. “No offence, Conehead. Your pathetic nature is the most fun I can have at the moment, at least… Until we face those two Saiyans…” He could practically hear her lick her lips at the prospect.

“Trust me, I’m very honoured” He did not smile.

“I am curious though, every member of our rag tag group of attention hounds is out to prove something. So…” The two moved up a hill, the peak of said hill offering them a good view of a small out of place cottage in the middle of wasteland. “What are you running from?” Dashade arrived beside her, his eyes closing in his moment of hesitation, it looked like he’d have to give the monkey some credit. “Don’t tell me though, I like looking into the possibilities”

His eyes opened, an annoyed grunt let out in response. “There’s the house…”

“Hmpf, I expected something more… Subtle”

“Are you ready?” The duo leaped down in front of the small structure the wind whipping past their ears. Everything about the place just screamed bad omens.

Rubbing her chin thoughtfully, Torne felt an idea coming to mind “I need a fruit…” As she spoke, the two raised their hands, a ball of magenta ki clashing against a ball of emerald. “…Then we can knock on the front door” Before the two unleashed their attack on the cottage.
***
Tunson wasn’t what you’d call a small town, plenty of buildings all around spreading to an outline you couldn’t see at first, and the amount of people walking by was nothing to turn your nose at (Though a few of said people weren’t exactly people you want your nose pointed in the direction of). The smell the general folk was dominated by the rich aroma of fresh vegetable, plants and plenty of dirt mixed in with sweat, which Thirteen regarded as the smell of nature and a hard days work.
Something about the smell that tugged at his nose, something about the feeling of the rough and uneven ground shifting upon his every step, the abrasive and intrusive tune of the crowds. It was warm, and welcoming, and it wasn’t the sun beating down on them; it was something familiar. Like that imprinted smile brought from a deep seated memory, that you only remembered a fraction of.

Thirteen wondered if he had been here before, there was a welcoming air he knew he hadn't encountered a long time. Was it back when he was first activated? That couldn't have been it, Gero never took Thirteen outside the lab, he hadn't been allowed. The android could remember that day clearly, he hadn't even been able to reach the outside world before he was labelled problematic and forced to shut down.

A human would of probably felt bitter about the whole experience, maybe developed a grudge, angry at being denied their rights for a simple flaw. But with one look at the sliver of silver that gleamed from his bruised flesh, Thirteen reminded himself that he wasn't human, any emotion was simply a simulation. "What do you two think?" He looked over to the other Androids, who compared to him, stuck out like sore thumbs in the crowd.

"It's alright" Fifthteen's eyes seemed slightly disgusted when he looked over the people. Maybe he was just annoyed that despite his bright yellow attire, dark purple skin and large green hat, no one took a second glance at him. "Loud though, and murky. Someone needs to spray some colour on this joint"

"And what about the big fella?"

The dwarf took one look at the long haired android, who gazed intently at the bird that had landed on his nose. "He likes the peace" 15 sat atop a make-shift wooden bench that was pressed up against a wall, pulling out his flask to start sipping on it again.

"Don't ya feel anything... Familiar about it?" The Trucker hesitated with his words, they sounded silly even to him. I can’t have been here before. Gero never let me out, which means dat there ain't any other time I could of come here.

"Man, everything looks the same down here" The response only kept 13 grinning. "Maybe there's a few houses, a few bales of hay, dog people; it's all still the same hill of crap" 13 felt like he was in his element here, and it was clear that the opposite was true for 15. "Why are we even hanging out in dis backwards hole?"

"Can't knock simplicity, 15. We're just squatting here, taking in that sweet country air, looking for some fun" Thirteen reached over and grabbed a hold of the Android's oversized hat, pulling the dwarf up with a smirk "Gotta smell the corn while it lasts"

To this, 15 glared as the laughing Trucker carried the dwarf through the crowd, 14 following close behind. "You mean, before we’re shut down again" Which made their tallest companion turn to look at the two with a down trodden expression, which for an android almost came off as a disgusted glare.

"Oh, don't start whining now" 13 groaned, before he offered an eye-roll at 15 yet again raising the flask to his lips.

"I ain't no one's fool. As soon as those time hopping hobos are done with us, that's it. Our time is up. When the beat drops, we won't be around to dance to it" With that the android punched 13's arm and wrenched himself out of the man's hold, stomping into an alleyway with a grunt.

A frown now weighing on his lips, Thirteen tore after the angry dwarf, spitting out "You're just determined to ruin this day for me, ain't ya?"

"I'm just putting things into perspective" Flask already in hand, 15 dipped his head back to pour the dark liquid down his metal throat.

"It's too early in the morning for your self-help book bullcrap. I have half a mind to-" Thirteen stopped to look back into the crowd, now noticing that their middle Android hadn't followed them into the alley. "Arg! Where did the muscle-welp go? I reckon he left during your hissy-fit" With that, Thirteen turned swiftly on his and took off into the crowd. "Wait here."

It wasn't really difficult to find Fourteen, unlike the short stature of Fifthteen, the other android was a towering figure whose white as snow skin and stature made him a quite the spectacle in the crowd. Thirteen spotted him not far away from the alley way, on the other side of the street where a line of food carts had lined up, which from here looked like boats fighting off a monstrous current.

"-an' dinosaur meat. Now, THAT'S where the flavour comes in. Just like Grandma made them" As he got closer, Thirteen could see a rather poor looking woman grinning up at Fourteen, with a smile that showed a few missing teeth as she attempted to sell her wares to the Android. "And all smothered in barbeque sauce. It's a sure fire way to set your taste buds ablaze!"

The android took in the meat, staring down at it and tilting his head. As if being introduced to an entirely new and confusing concept. "Taste Buds?"

"When my Grandpa was still kicking around, he'd swear his tounge was square dancing at the taste. And heavens knows that he stopped feeling anything on his tounge years ago!" Each word clearly sucked the Android in, especially the idea that even someone who couldn't taste anymore could still taste. It wouldn't affect his artificial stomach at all, but maybe, for a moment; he could...

"Fourteen!" A large hand clamped around Fourteen's arm, yanking the Android backwards to the surprise of the saleswoman. "Nice to see ya, Ma'am. We've got stuff to do, so say goodbye" He stated simply in quick succession, the woman's pure white hair falling over her eyes as she was left speechless to her customer being dragged away to a dark and foreboding alley.

Without hesitation, Thirteen threw the other android into the alley, the silent man hitting the cold floor with a crash; to which Fifthteen showed no reaction to as simply stared at his flask. "I told ya'll to stick with me, not go gallivanting off like a lost pups!"

"I just wanted to look at the food..." Fourteen admitted simply, not moving to get up from the floor due to the obvious anger in Thirteen's voice.
"And what the hell for!? Unless you need to pretend, you don't need to eat-" The man marched over and slapped the flask out of the Dwarf's hand. "-you don't need to drink. And you ain't gotta be bringing attention to ourselves!"

"You're the one yelling" Fifthteen lunged for his flask, only to receive a kick to his stomach from Thirteen.

"No back talk, Runt. What the hell's wrong with y'all?"

"I wanted to eat." Again, a simple statement from Fourteen. Who moved to sit and lock Thirteen with a hollow stare. "They eat. We can eat. So, I wanted to eat"

"You wanted to eat because the humans eat?" Thirteen almost sounded offended at the very idea, before turning back to the keeled over Fifthteen. "Is that why you keep drinking from that darn flask? Because you think it makes you human?" Before Fifthteen could respond, Thirteen placed his foot on top of the dwarf's head and pushed down. "Now, let me make this clear. Humans eat. Humans feel. Humans drink. You ain't human, and you ain't ever gonna be human! You're the most advanced tool of fire and brimstone ever to grace the Earth. We're Androids. We follow orders. It don't matter if we're shut off again at the end of it all, because we did our job like good little soldiers"

With that, Thirteen stopped grinding Fifthteen's head into the dirt, moving past him towards the other side of the alley. While the man's back was turned, Fourteen nudged the flask over to Fifthteen with his foot, allowing the dwarf to subtly hide away the flask in his coat.
"You're junk. You'll never be anything more. Remember that."
[/spoiler]
When Super apparently shoves Goku down our throats:

Kanassa wrote:
FoolsGil wrote:I hope Mark is dead. But chances are the dragonballs will bring his stupid ass back. :D
- FoolsGil, Out of Context, 2017

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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Kanassa » Fri May 12, 2017 10:04 pm

Chapter 16: A History Repeated - Deal with a Sinister Sorcerer!
[spoiler]The pained scream of agony escaped from Pui Pui’s lips after Torne’s punch connected with his stomach, forcing him to stumble back and keel over against the wall, the sheer force of the punch sending a crushing wave of pressure to squeeze his insides like they were about to pop. “L-lucky shot, Moron…” Red liquid trickled down the corner of his lips, a coughing fit tickling at the underside of his burning throat.

“Now see, that’s the problem. I don’t appreciate being so meagrely insulted by the lesser species” The Saiyan’s voice was laced with a low expectation, a smug edge to her smirk as she held up one hand and moved her fingers back and forth in a taunting motion. “If you can’t cut me with your fists, at least hurt me with your words; otherwise you just look pathetic”

“Don’t let your arrogance blind you, or it will lead to your death!” The alien spat out in response, disappearing from view for a split second before reappearing before Torne, not even one moment of hesitation before he launched into an all-out assault on the woman. Punches as fast as lightning shooting out in a visual barrage, but despite the amazing speed of Pui Pui’s punches Torne body moved in a quick and unified movement to easily avoid each and every one of the punches, like water flowing around an object.

Her smile never left, her flexible way of dodging make her almost resemble a pale snake, her ‘fangs’ already bare and waiting to dig into their prey.
“Oh, please, is this all? I haven’t been this disappointed by a fight since the Yardratians wanted to end a conflict peacefully” Her body gracefully swung itself around, stepping to Pui’s side, before it launched a hand up to drive two of her fingers into the wrist of one of his hands mid-punch. “Can you transform the room into your planet again? Because that was the closest thing you had to fun.” His eyes widened at the ease in which Torne stopped his fist, before devolving into a narrow glare that ripped a growl of rage from his throat.

“Enough!” The fighter jumped away from Torne through a flip, landing adjacent to her with a full glare, bringing up his hands as a violet aura consumed them. “STEADY BARRAGE!” Before unleashing a continuous stream of bullet-like purple blasts upon Torne, an attack which neither seemed to phase Torne or Dashade, who stood to the side of the room with an expectant expression from his spectator’s seat. “I’ll show you just what I’m made of!”

With the grace of a dancer Torne’s body weaved through the storm of ki blasts, her creaking of her bones audible as she bent her limbs to dodge; adding to her snake-like appearance. “That’s simple…” She broke into a sprint, throwing herself into a forward flip over Pui’s blasts (Leading to a roll of his eyes from Dashade as the blasts just barely missed his head), ramming her fist into the fighter’s throat; knocking the wind out of him before she pulled back to open her hand and grab his throat with an iron grip. “You’re made of bones that break, and blood that spills” Her voice had lowered to a deadly whisper, squeezing Pui’s throat hard enough to make his eyes pop. And with another dark chuckle she picked up the man by the throat, threw herself backwards and slammed him into the ground.

She had raised her free hand to deliver a killing blow, Pui’s choking groans like music to her ears, but Dashade dark green fingers caught her fist before she had a chance. Dashade’s voice was expectant and simple “We’re here for business, not pleasure. There will be no killing. Yet” Before his fingers slipped away and he turned to the rest of the room, Torne scoffing at the man’s request; before hesitantly letting go of Pui Pui.

“I’m starting to think you bring me out on these missions just to tease my bloodlust” She got to her feet, her tail unravelling from her hips to lie at a disappointed down angle.

Dashade seemed to ignore her. “I know you saw our little display, Babidi. Rest assured, we do not come to hinder or harm you. We only wish to offer you aid, if you’ll only come greet us, face-to-face”

The Saiyan kicked Pui (Who was in the middle of a coughing fit) to the side before she walked to stand beside Dashade, wondering if the Arcosian even knew where he was supposed to be looking. With a furrowed brow, she whispered to him “Not that I didn’t enjoy breaking that one. But, if we weren’t looking for a fight, why did we attack first?”

He tilted his head slightly to cast a glance at her, but still awaited Babidi’s response. “It is better for us in the long run to establish how much of a possible threat we are to Babidi, otherwise he might grow to arrogant and do something he’ll regret. We need him alive, unfortunately”

When an echoing voice cut in, neither of the two could tell where it was coming from, it felt both far away and too close for comfort. Torne chalked it up to ‘magic’ and moved on. “Aid me? Bah, you blew up my front entrance!”

Torne shrugged. “We were knocking, like polite neighbours; welcoming you to this dirt pile”

“That Supreme Kai must have sent you, he’s the only other person who knows of my operations. Too much of a coward to come himself? Bah! I hope he has a strong stomach, because I’m going to send you home to him in pieces! Give me one reason to trust you.”

“Torne.”

The Saiyan nodded and reached around to grab the odd smelling sack strapped to her back. “You’re gonna love this” The bottom of the sack was dark and damp, giving it an ominous and foreboding aura about it.

“What is it? I’m not hungry!”

“An offering” Dashade responded curtly, Torne letting the sack drop to the floor, spilling its contents out for all to see. And what he saw made Babidi’s heart stop for a moment, as out of the bag rolled out the severed head of his arch enemy; the Supreme Kai. While some features of the head were unrecognisable (Due to the head seemingly being squeezed by something), Babidi couldn’t deny the likeness to Shin.

“Is that… Really the Supreme Kai?” There was a moment of silence as Babidi debated with himself, before a bout of joyous laughter could be heard. “Oh, it is. YES, IT IS! I feel like dancing, singing; HE’S DEAD. THE KAI IS DEAD! Now, nothing can stand in the way of Majin Buu’s resurrection”

“I take it you accept the offering?”

There was a commotion in the ship for a moment, the small circle in the center now opening up with ease. “Oh, yes. I LOVE it. Please, come and sit with me! Pui Pui, get up and grab that head; I want it on a pike!” There was a sarcastic groan from the man on the floor, clutching his throat. “Now! Don’t be lazy”

Dashade looked to Torne with a raised brow, she only shrugged in response before turning to the now open hatch, experiencing no hesitation before she jumped down. ”It would be rude to keep him waiting” The Arcosian soon followed. The two found themselves falling for a short while, Torne fighting off a bored expression while Dashade attempted to keep an unbreaking mask of calm; both knew full well that they could have just jumped into a trap. But both were also confident that Babidi and Dabura posed no threat to them.

Upon reaching the bottom of the shaft the two experienced a graceful landing, Dashade with his hands frozen behind his back in a regal manner while Torne was still cracking her knuckles in what she hopes was a threatening way. The first thing to notice about the room was the lack of light, the only source of vision coming from the purple hue radiating from the orb where Babidi stood, stroking his… Whiskers? Dashade’s eyes instantly landed on the red skinned devil that stood between the two and the sorcerer; Dabura, King of the Demon Realm. A stone-cold glare of pure menace locked onto the two, a gloved hand at the ready to unsheathe his blade. Casting a glance to see Torne’s aggressive look in response to the glare, Dashade hoped that the Saiyan remembered that no matter her power, Dabura’s spit could cut her life short.

“Hmmm, what do we have here…” Babidi spoke with an edge of mischief, like a witch trying to decide what animal to turn her victim into, his beady eyes looking closely at the two. “An Arcosian and a Saiyan. How quaint.” Torne didn’t like Babidi’s expression, it dripped with a certain calmness, one that showed he was quite confident that Dabura would have no problem wiping the floor with them. How hard it was to fight against the urge to prove him wrong. “And you wish to aid in Majin Buu’s Resurrection? For what end?”

“Your enemy was the Supreme Kai.” Dashade stated, to which Babidi nodded in response.

“Yes, a pain in my backside”

“Now, imagine others, many others, just like him. Gods, who feel untouchable, who go unchallenged” He took a step forward, the red skinned devil visibly tensing at the action, though Babidi didn’t seem to mind. “We want to challenge them. And for that we need your monster, and of course his master”

The sorcerer scoffed at this. “You take me for a desperate fool. You come here, break down my front door, nearly kill one of my minions and now you think waxing poetic will convince me to trust two random strangers?” A cackle followed, along with another stroke of his whiskers. “Who put you up to this, because he clearl-“

With a sigh of annoyance and a shrug of his shoulders, Dashade momentarily disappeared and in a flash of speed seemed to reappear besides Babidi, two fingers pressed against the creature’s throat before Babidi could even register that Dashade was gone. “Someone who has witnessed your fate…” He increased the pressure of his fingers, it was clear that with one small flick Dashade could drive his fingers into Babidi’s spinal chord.

Upon realising what Dashade was doing, Dabura unsheathed his blade and lunged forward to cut Dashade, but only found himself forced to a screeching throat, Torne’s brown tipped boot drilling into the back of Dabura’s leg; forcing the demon to kneel while she grabbed a hold of his curved sword with one hand. From this position, she easily kept Dabura down, nodding for Dashade to continue. “One who has seen your failure.”

“D-Dabura! Stop messing around and stop this maniac!” Babidi blurted out in desperation, only quieting down after the pressure increased and it was made clear that Dabura was not coming to his rescue. With a grimace, Babidi said “Of course, I only mean ‘Maniac’ in the most flattering of ways. P-please, tell me more of your ambitions!”

“You need not worry, Sir.” The Arcosian’s voice remained calm and collected, neither optimistic nor threatening. “We only want you to accept our assistance in making sure all goes well, because your success is very important to us. But… If you still wish to continue to hinder your progress…”

Dashade reached into his pouch with his free hand, casually pulling out a bright green fruit which he held up to his inquisitive gaze for a moment, before tossing it to Torne who caught it with ease; her hand instantly crushing the fruit with an audible ‘squelch’. Her grin stretching from ear-to-ear and she released her fist, allowing Babidi a full view of the green stain on her glove. “Then, however my associate acts… That is simply your choice”

With that, Dashade pushed his fingers away (Leading to Babidi gasping out for breath he didn’t even know he was holding), his arms returning to their usual position behind his back. “Come, Torne. Let us give our friend here time to think things through” He drops a scouter next to Babidi, the message simple.

Torne let out a dark chuckle at the scene, taking in the expression of broken nerves dripping from Babidi. And here I was worried that the Lizard had no guts. Good to see he’s not a complete pushover. Sending her captive, a grunt, she shoved the demon down to the ground, kicking away the sword for good measure. Dashade made his way past her, patiently waiting for her to keep up with him.
***
The room was large enough, curved into a stylish circle with clean pink metal lining the walls around the few windows there were; allowing a clear view into the room from above. Though, to say the least, the room was definitely murky, a red tinge added to the atmosphere as the violent fumes of science were produced by the experiments being done on the ground. Strewn throughout the room were plenty of lab equipment, turned over tables, computer consoles and monitors, the incubating tubes that held the various subjects. Descending from the wall, lowered by vine-like wires, was a large set of metal pincers, suspended above a small platform that was held up by an assortment of mini-cubes.

"Yahehehe!" The cackle bounced off of the walls of the room, lost in the build up of noise from the machines within the room. The monitors were beeping, the ship's engine was growling and a wheezing noise broke through in a steady rhythm with every step from the cackling man. "Boil and trouble, foil and crumble" He stood at a short height, crimson skin that stretched a pudgy stature, cheeks stretched into a cartoonish smile. A yellow cap hanging off one ear, just above the red tipped shades that rested atop a large crimson nose. "When the specimen toils, better crank up the heat on the double. YAHEHEHE!" Around his throat the pink smoke wrapped around him like a scarf, the rest of the bright yellow outfit standing out in the pink room, as well as his floppy shoes that let loose plenty of air like an open balloon with each step.

His small legs worked like a piston, moving backwards and forwards at such a speed that they appeared as a blue that carried the large creature; though despite this, he still seemed to move rather slowly as he made his way to an incubator with a syringe in hand. "Oh, if only mother could see me now! With my own litter of abominations against nature. I can just think of her pure smile, her loving eyes..." For a moment the thin line that formed his lips curved at a loving memory, before immediately falling along with his eyes becoming completely black. "But her simple and empty mind would never understand the pure beauty and grace of my great work! OH, JUST THE THOUGHT OF THAT PIG MAKES ME SO MAD!"

The sharp point of the syringe charged forward in a jabbing motion, the man growling before his skipping came to a stop in front of the incubator, his mood returning to a wide smile with little transition or warning. "Don't you worry, my precious specimen. You'll make all of them sweat with envy, and those repugnant FILFTH will squirm like... LIKE PIGS, before the genius of DR. SLUDGE!" He raised the syringe and plugged it into a small port in the side, the needle allowed into the incubator so it could poke at the small fetus-like creature within. After injecting an orange liquid into the specimen, Sludge felt anticipation pull at his eyes, not even noticing that he was breathing heavily on the glass.

And then his face fell, as to his great disappointment the specimen began to convulse, the green liquid around it bubbling; all before the creature flesh eroded, dissolving before Sludge's very tear-filled eyes. "THE GREAT DOCTOR SLUDGE... needs to hide his great shame!" When a series of high pitched beeps from the adjacent console cut through the crimson man's tears, his lips forming a thin line one more. "Well... At least the evidence cleaned itself up. ASIDE FROM THE EVIDENCE LEFT IN MY HEART!" For emphasis he slammed the brunt of his fist against the orange heart design in the center of his chest plate, before skipping over to the beeping console. “Oh well… It seems Dashade and Torne make their triumphant return; at least their primitive antics can always elevate my mood”

“Your experiments are pointless in the end” A deep and gruff voice echoed from the terminal, thick with self-assurance. “Flesh is trivial matter on it’s own, that’s why I discarded my shell for an artificial frame’ the possibilities were endless” The voice itself seemed to have a hypnotic effect on Sludge, his smile widening at just the sound.

He reached the console, leaning over it type away at the screen, pulling up images of various sections of the ship. Torne and Dashade were already on their way. “Oh? Not to question the genius of a fellow scientist, but wasn’t your greatest creation organic?” In another window the camera gave view to a room that was built like one big dance floor (The floor a checkered rainbow), where the smouldering remains of androids formed a pile in the center, their eyes blank.

A thin figure sat atop the pile, a dark purple hat obscuring most of it’s features as it nodded it’s head; a boom box perched on it’s shoulders. A single claw came up, pushing against the rim of the hat, letting the camera get a good view of the gleam that came from the large array of sharp teeth. Hm, it seems that Treble is making short work of his training regime.

“Bio-mechnical. Completely different field.” The voice snapped back.

“Well, I can’t argue with a great mind such as yourself” If it were possible, Sludge’s eyes would have formed stars, giggling to himself in sheer joy. “I still can’t believe I’m here, talking to you; it’s like a dream come true!”

“So, you’ve said… Seventy times… For the last month…” The voice did enjoy get praised for his work, but this red blob was pushing it. The creature was lucky he was a beyond competent scientist.

“I merely want to make sure that you know how lucky we are that Torne found you among the wreckage. I’d have never been able to upgrade and reprogram those three androids without your valuable insight” He let out a sigh of joy, twirling the barbels on his cheeks. “Why, without your aid, I’d just have ended up turning them into scrap metal after some miscreant had already stolen all of your blueprints”

Dr. Gero was silent as he mulled over this information. He knew who had stolen his data, it was the same half-blooded savage that destroyed his ultimate creation, who then went on to erase every trace of the Doctor’s great work. Yes, even after the Artificial Twins went rouge and cut down their creator, Gero never died. His ambition, his desire, his drive, and rage placed him above the concept of death. While he may have discarded his physical form, and while he may only be a contingency backup of the original Gero’s mind in A.I form, he would have his revenge on this wretched planet. My revenge on Son Goku was taken from me, as well as my revenge on those treacherous brats… But I can at least have my revenge against the bastard child of the Saiyan Prince that took away my ultimate creation.

“Some people just don’t have any respect for us scientists. THEY JUST CAN’T ACCEPT OUR GENIUS! It makes me so sad, YET IT ALSO FILLS ME WITH RAGE, and they still have the gall to call us crazy” The texture of Sludge’s skin began to redden. “It all just makes me…” His muscles began to expand, his form growing bigger as the red tone became deeper with the rising temperature. “…Want to…” The smoke began to circle around him, the room being drained of it light pink hue. “…EXPLODE!” And so, he did. The climax of his rage ending in his body being torn apart in a flashy explosion of ki and smoke, forcing back any type of equipment that wasn’t nailed down.

“Ah, Dr Sl-“ Dashade had little to no chance of finishing his greet, as he entered the room only to run face first into a piece of the good doctor’s flesh, stopping it’s journey through the air to hang off his left ear. For a moment, the Arcosian was left in silence, desperately clinging to his composure. But soon, he simply let out a sigh “…Not again…”

As if on cue of Dashade ripping the piece off of his head, the smoke in the room seemed to suddenly come to life, rising from the ground and pooling into the centre of the room like a flowing river. At the centre the ‘river’ seemed to morph into a tornado of crimson air, swirling at an increasingly quick pace. Each rush of air creating a strong gust that slammed into everything in the room, pushing anyone close back, though throughout the whole experience neither Torne nor Dashade seemed more than slightly annoyed about the whole series of events.

Even when the smoke began to contort into a thick red mould, like a large lump of clay, neither batted an eye and simply waited for this bazaar outcome to play out. Not a single exclamation of ‘What the?’ was uttered as the clay faded into crimson flesh, or when the mould took on the shape of the late doctor. Really, when a rejuvenated Dr. Sludge stood before them the only question they had on their mind was ‘How did he get his clothes back?’.

“Ah! Dashade, Torne, you’ve returned! I’m overflowing with joy and passion” The familiar squelch of his shoes returned as the plump man skipped forward to bow before the two. “How did the meeting go?”

“Quick and to the point. Nothing a good explosion couldn’t handle” Torne answered for Dashade, pounding her fist into her open palm with a smirk. “The shrivelled-up prune got the message, up to him if he wants to comply or not” For emphasis she formed a fist with her stained hand, squeezing a green substance out over the rest of her hand.

“With the Buu angle covered, the plan should be smooth sailing from here on out, as long as we don’t bring any unnecessary attention to ourselves” Dashade made his way past Sludge to face the blinking light on the console that represented Gero. “Even then, I doubt that Earth can throw at us anything we can’t handle”

“The son of the Prince.” Gero stated plainly, his voice laced with bitterness.

“Is one man, who is none the wiser and will be powerless against our numbers”

The A.I grew silent for a moment, as if it was trying to stare down the Arcosian, before chuckling. A chuckle put Dashade on the edge. “They always think that, as did I. But a word from the wise, Arcosian; Never underestimate a warrior of the Earth”

“Miss Torne!” Behind them Sludge had bounced his way up to Torne with his eyes wide. “Ah, Miss. Will you be requiring your medicine today?” He said much louder than Torne was comfortable with. “You’re looking a tad paler than usual, maybe it’s acting up against; perhaps a medical examinati-“

A green stained glove shot forward in an instant and grabbed a hold of Sludge’s whisker, pulling the man closer to Torne as her heated glare burned into his retina. “Listen here, Doc…” Her finger coiled the face-tentacle around her finger, tightly. “…I’m perfectly healthy. So, until I say otherwise, I don’t need any medicine” Her other hand gripped his chest, slowly digging her fingers into his flesh. “Until I say otherwise, you don’t ask me about my medicine. And you don’t talk about my medicine anywhere near the others. Got that?” Her fingers pushed in so far that he could feel her fingertips press against his heart, threatening to tighten around the organ and squeeze the life out of him. “Because if you don’t, I’ll take these ugly little face-tentacles here, and wrap them around your neck. Okay?”

“O-of course, Miss!” The Doctor spluttered, trying to keep up his smile as Torne’s hands pulled away. In return she took broke out into a smile, ripping a boisterous laugh from her throat, before she gave him a ‘friendly’ slap on the back (One that nearly knocked him over).

“Now, go and play with your toys”[/spoiler]
When Super apparently shoves Goku down our throats:

Kanassa wrote:
FoolsGil wrote:I hope Mark is dead. But chances are the dragonballs will bring his stupid ass back. :D
- FoolsGil, Out of Context, 2017

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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Gog » Sun May 14, 2017 1:08 am

I feel that the repeated comparisons with Torne being a snake at the start of chapter felt really awkward. Honestly, with her needing medicine also feels really awkward as well. But, the second half of the chapter with Dr Sludge was fantastic, he's a wacky, weird lovable character that I could easily see being in the original Dragon Ball. I also love the fact that Dr Gero is alive and kicking here.

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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Kanassa » Sun May 14, 2017 6:02 am

Gog wrote:Honestly, with her needing medicine also feels really awkward as well.
You mean the plot point itself, or the awkward way it was introduced?
But, the second half of the chapter with Dr Sludge was fantastic, he's a wacky, weird lovable character that I could easily see being in the original Dragon Ball
Did I get across his almost bi-polar emotional shifts through his dialogue? Starts off happy and instantly ramping up to extreme anger?
I also love the fact that Dr Gero is alive and kicking here.
I have 16 here, it was given that I'd utilise Gero in some way; plus, you can never have enough people who want to kill Trunks. :D
When Super apparently shoves Goku down our throats:

Kanassa wrote:
FoolsGil wrote:I hope Mark is dead. But chances are the dragonballs will bring his stupid ass back. :D
- FoolsGil, Out of Context, 2017

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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Gog » Sun May 14, 2017 6:07 am

Kanassa wrote: You mean the plot point itself, or the awkward way it was introduced?
Both. Honestly, I just don't know why it's even here. It also really doesn't help that it's Torne who's the one who has this Plot Point.
Did I get across his almost bi-polar emotional shifts through his dialogue? Starts off happy and instantly ramping up to extreme anger?
Yeah you did. Honestly, I really liked him. He's definitely my favorite of the villains. Wacky, weird, sincere and heart warming in but a single moment.

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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Kanassa » Sun May 14, 2017 6:11 am

Gog wrote:
Kanassa wrote: You mean the plot point itself, or the awkward way it was introduced?
Both. Honestly, I just don't know why it's even here. It also really doesn't help that it's Torne who's the one who has this Plot Point.
It ties heavily into why she is the way the she is, plus why someone like her would work for these people.
Did I get across his almost bi-polar emotional shifts through his dialogue? Starts off happy and instantly ramping up to extreme anger?
Yeah you did. Honestly, I really liked him. He's definitely my favorite of the villains. Wacky, weird, sincere and heart warming in but a single moment.
Heartwarming?
When Super apparently shoves Goku down our throats:

Kanassa wrote:
FoolsGil wrote:I hope Mark is dead. But chances are the dragonballs will bring his stupid ass back. :D
- FoolsGil, Out of Context, 2017

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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Gog » Sun May 14, 2017 6:19 am

Kanassa wrote: Heartwarming?
His mother, the reaction to her. Brought a smile on my face.

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Re: Fanfiction: Dragon Ball - Another Road

Post by Kanassa » Wed May 31, 2017 9:04 pm

Gog wrote:His mother, the reaction to her. Brought a smile on my face.
I seem to get much more emotion fro the villains than the heroes... That worries me.

Also, for this chapter, I swear to god that any sexual innuendos you can find here are completely unintentional.

Chapter 17: Strange Encounters
[spoiler]Like a tortured soul trying to break free of it’s cage, the house shook with a mighty groan from the floor boards, rumbling in response to what Videl could only describe as a ferocious roar. It reminded her of that day in her youth when her friends had somehow roped her into sneaking up on a sleeping T-Rex, a memory that remained fresh in her mind and brought a small smile to her face.

When she ran her hand along the dust clad wall, she found the old oak wood twisting in texture to form the rough indent on the top of the rock she peeked around to get a good look at the beast. Beneath her feet, the particles of the dirt trembled with ever snore from the slumbering dinosaur. As her eyes took in its intimidating form, it’s lips parted to reveal a sharp row of teeth that’d rip through her like she was cheese, prompting her head to turn towards the rocket launcher that lay against the rock.

This is stupid. She thought, scowling at her trembling hand as her fellow morons waited out of view, probably questioning their life choices as well. But with that thought her stomach chimed in to comment on how delicious that dinosaur’s tail would look over an open fire. The closest city was in utter ruin after the latest Android attack, and Videl just couldn’t force herself to scavenge through the ruins (In what she would say was the equivalent of grave robbing) only to scrounge up rotten food that would only further burn her stomach. She needed meat. Fresh, cooked, and without an insect egg wrapped in dirt at the centre.

Videl still didn’t understand why SHE volunteered to be the one closest to the thing, handling a highly explosive weapon she’d never used before, and that’s only the worst of it if the beast doesn’t wake up and decide to sate its appetite. Dad would have volunteered. The image of her late father came to mind, his smile so vivid and far away now. “He wouldn’t even need the gun… He’d walk up to that dinosaur and turn it into a corpse with one punch”

Suddenly, looking at the rocket launcher stirred a strange layer of disgust within her stomach, the very sight of the weapon making her feel self-couscous. There was a need, a need to prove something, to prove something wrong. A need that pushed down every part of her mind that screamed that her next action would be insanely stupid. I don’t need a gun! I’m Videl Satan, and that thing is gonna be my dinner! With any sense of logic thrown to the wind, Videl launched herself over the rock, leaving the rocket launch abandoned on the dirt. Before any of her friends could yell out their warnings and cries of ’What is wrong with you!?’, Videl’s legs had already brought her too close to the slumbering animal, her lungs exploding to deliver a desperate battle cry. “Hey, you three-toed, overgrown Lizard! WAKE UP, BECAUSE I’M GOING TO EAT YOU!”

It was certainly loud enough to pull the T-Rex from it’s sleep, eyelid big enough to form a tent pulled back to reveal a pair of large and confused eyes. Still not deterred, Videl followed up her cry with her best attempt as an endless roar, her legs pumping overtime into her strides to take her to just in front of her ‘opponent’s snout. The woman pulled back her curled fist, throwing all her passion and puberty-fuelled anger behind the punch, her eyes stitched shut as the fist propelled itself forward.
In that moment, all she could feel was the grinding of her teeth again her lips and the rough particles of dirt digging into her heel. All she could hear were the stifled gasps from her friends as they watched what they assumed to be a gory scene. And in the next moment, she felt her fist make contact with the Dinosaur’s iron hide. And holy cow, did it hurt like hell.

Pain shot up her arm, a sharp pain of torn muscles and then a numbness followed by an audible snap. Oh, that’s definitely a broken bone. Her legs brought her backward in an awkward stumble as the dinosaur rose to its feet with a rage-filled growl escaping it’s lips. Right now, she could imagine a person representing common sense standing beside her, hands on their hips asking ‘Well, that didn’t work did it, dumbass?’

Now that her pride and teenage stupidity had died down for the moment, all Videl thought was Rocket Launcher. Rocket Launcher. Dead T-Rex’s lover Rocker Launchers! Her hand reached to grab her broken limb to stop it from uselessly flailing about, pushing off her pivoting foot and breaking out into a full on mortified sprint back to her weapon. Behind her the angry beast let out a ferocious roar.

But as she let her legs carry her with all the speed she could muster, she swore she heard a new sound enter her ear. A soft swoosh cutting through the air behind her, one that immediately cut off the beast’s roar as well as slam into her back, sending her hurling forward into her destination. With her face in the dirt, she heard it again, but the sound was much sharper this time, slamming into something solid and strong. She didn’t have time for that though, her hands had already found themselves brushing up against the rocket launcher. With no hesitation, she strengthened her grip around the weapon and whipped back around to face the beast, dragging the gun in front of her with a finger on the trigger; primed and ready. “Take this you-“ Her finger pulled the trigger before her voice stopped, and before she caught sight of the teenager that stood atop a dead T-Rex.

Looking back on it now, Videl realised that it wasn’t the most ideal way to meet your future husband. But, there was no hard feelings. He even taught her how to punch a dinosaur right after the rocket exploded in his face. The final memory of Gohan’s bright young face brought her back to the present day, the crumbling house slowly materialising around her. Reminding her that she had a mission, possibly even more dangerous than punching a T-Rex; waking up a half-Saiyan woman.

Videl pushed through the creaking doors with no concern for the volume of their creaking, as she had learned long ago that Saiyans were heavy sleepers. Inside her daughter’s room she was faced with beams of daylight from the mid-day sun trickling through the window drapes. Though a much brighter hue enveloped the room from Pan’s nightlight, illuminating just how untidy the room was.

Packets of unidentifiable food products littered the ground. Videl had already found a rather disgusting looking week-old toast sandwich under her feet upon entering, resulting in only a roll of her eyes as she hopped over towards the small bed where a feminine form laid. The covers had been kicked off the bed hours before by the girl, leaving her curled up in her slacks and a bra; revealing the cold droplets of sweat decorating her skin. And to Videl comedic surprise, Pan’s thumb was firmly pressed into her mouth.

Ah, it’s so cute… I’m never going to let her live this down. If only I had a camera. Videl shook her head, now standing over the girl, stopping to think on just how she’s wake her up. It was delicate process waking up a being who could bend you like a twig. One wrong move and Pan might turn Videl into a pancake by accident, purely on the shock of being woken up. If it wasn’t for the night light, Pan would still be shredding her bed because of the nightmares.

So, of course, Videl decided that the best course of action would be to slam her soggy foot down on Pan’s chest.

“ACK! No, Mom, it’s not what it- Ow!” Pan’s yell first came out muffled, before shortly being cut off as she accidentally bit into her thumb, immediately drawing blood. At first, she looked as if she’d been caught committing an atrocious sin, but when her eyes faced an expectant look from her mother, her face fell. “Oh, you. I hope you know that counts as child abuse…”

“Don’t be a baby. You barely felt it” The mother chuckled, walking over to the other side of the bed to shut off the nightlight, before moving to open the drapes fully.

“Can’t say the same about your poor little thumb… I didn’t know you still sucked you thumb”

“I-I wasn’t- I didn’t do it like I was still a child! I was just having a dream…” A pout already front and center on the girl’s lips. Prompting a raised eyebrow from Videl.

“A dream?... About what?” She was almost afraid of what Pan could answer.

“Meat. Sausages specifically. There was this big one, which I think meant it was the best one, but I didn’t want to bite straight away; I wanted to savour it. ‘Cus you don’t waste good meat” Well, that was a relief. “Which reminds me… Time for some meat!”

“We’re out of food. That’s why I woke you up” Within a flash, Videl had hurled a random shirt as her daughter. “And you’re going grocery shopping with me”

“You can’t just order me around, Mom. I’m over twenty years-old. I’m an adult!”

“I can order you around until you move out of the house. Until then, you’re still the little baby who still needs her nightlight” To emphasize the snappy insult, Videl proceeded to pat Pan on the head like you would a child.

“But it’s EAAAAAARLY”

“Honey, it’s four in the afternoon”

“That’s even earlier! Like, eight hours earlier than mid-night” Without a word Videl turned and walked out of the room, waving at Pan.

"I want you down stairs in five minutes!"

"...That's right, you better run" She muttered
***
“Zis is it!” Salza proclaimed with the righteous vigour of a religious fanatic, his gloved hand just above his brow to shield him from the glare of the mid-day sun (From his time on this planet, Salza had learned that the sun and moons that orbit the Earth are rather moody no matter what time of day it is), his other hand out stretched to point at the quaint little country side town below the slop of the mountain.

Behind the ‘valiant’ leader his fellow squadron members were not as enthusiastic, Dorne laid down sprawled out on top of the lush grass. His chest moving up and down slowly, only allowing him to puff out. “You said that… For the last three towns we crossed…”

Salza waved his hand dismissively as his comrade, before thumping his fist against his chest. “Ah, but zis time, I know it to be true! I can veel it deep down in my core”

“You sure you ain’t just got indigestion? You never had a strong stomach for spicy foods”

At the comment, the soldier swung to face Dorne with an annoyed frown. “Ack! I’ve told you a million times, zat incident on Dian Seven was a fluke. My stomach is forged from iron- STEEL even!” In his turn Dorne found a chance to shake his head again at Salza’s face. Where there had been blue-tinged skin like melted ice, there was layers upon layers of makeup and dirt used to make the man’s skin look darker. The final product was an image that Dorne would call both hilarious and disturbing. “No, my empty-headed swine. It is my soul crying out in a victory chorus, singing to me of our success! How this town will be the one zhat holds the information that will be worth bringing before the feet of our great Emperor”

Dorne groans “It’s been days…” Before rolling his eyes and looking away from Salza’s mud smeared skin. “Urg, do you have to look like that? It takes away the only thing people remember about you. You look like a bloody muppet”

The man crossed his arms, frowning “It’s a disguise!”

“A muppet disguise.” Dorne replied bluntly. Though, to be fair, it wasn’t as bad as when Salza tried to add an old hat to the disguise, only for his hair to send the article of clothing flying. Those blonde locks were stiff enough to be used as weapons. “I don’t see why we don’t just walk in there and bash a few heads in”

At this, Salza could only let out a scoff worthy of a supreme snob. “Z’hat is why you are the subordinate, and I am z’e leader. V’e are not mere brutes who thrash around the mud like rabid dogs. V’e are z’e elite! To not treat our mission with elegance and class, to lower ourselves as mindless animals in the heat of blood lust. It would be spitting on the great name of our Emperor”

By this point, Dore had completely tuned out Salza, instead looking over to where their third comrade had walked off to… Change. “Ey, Neiz! How long is this gonna take? What, are ya braiding your hair back there or something?”

The high-pitched squeal that was Neiz’s voice barked back with an angry wave of his arm. “Don’t rush me! These Earthlings must be masochists, their clothes are so… Tight fitting”

“’Course they are. I don’t think Earthlings make clothes for your size”

“Are you saying I’m fat!?”

Dore shrugged and fell back down to lie on top of the grass “I’m just saying, you always wonder why people shoot at you first. Might be because you’re the biggest target, Mate” He said before chuckling.

He saw Salza move from the slope to join in on the conversation, taking a moment to peel back his hair ‘to perfection’. “Ze green toad has a point. Perhaps you should break ze habit of gorging on our fallen foes”

Only hearing agreement, Dore nodded in response. “Yep…” Though after a few seconds the rest of the sentence settled in, prompting the red-hot anger to rise to Dore’s chin (A natural occurrence for his species) as he jumped up. “Wait, WHO YOU CALLIN’ A TOAD, PRETTY BOY?”

The man simply shrugged with a roll of his eyes, nonchalantly saying “Z’ou are green, bloated, bulgy-eyed and are only good at 800 degrees served on a silver platter. Zou are a toad.” With that, Salza snapped his finger like he just got an idea, slamming his fist into his palm. “I know, you should start saving up, zhen zou would at least have royalty to compensate for zour less zhan stellar looks. Preferably a blind girl”

The green ex-wrestler jumped to his feet with a loud thud, his impressive chin steaming up. “Alright, that’s it, Laddey. I’m gonna bend you like a Glorbian tooth pick!” He said as he stormed over to Salza, cracking his knucles while the other man simply looked offended by the spit coming out with each word.

As Dore drew closer, Salza pushed out a sole finger to push into Dore’s forehead, prodding the hulking man with an indignant frown. “Ack, you moron. It’s a Toolian Tooth Pick for the metaphor, a Glorbian makes no sense in this context!”

“Don’t you chuck your fancy words at me, you…” Dore struggled for the word “Ponce!”

“Oh, Dore, how impressive; zhat's a pretty complicated word for you”

The two’s foreheads connected, their bodies twitching with frustrating as they barely held themselves back from throwing a punch at the other. But before either could initiate their usual fight, Neiz’s tall form stepped into view, his screeching voices speaking. “I’m done!” And in that moment the two turned their head to look at their comrade, and in that moment, both of them had to do a double take.

In front of them, their tall amphibian comrade stood with his back bent over like an old man who’s spine had long since been thrown out of place, wearing a long and tattered green trench coat that reached down to the creature’s feet. Coupled with a large sombrero over his head and a pair of glasses with a fake moustache, creating an odd combo of complete suspicion.

“THAT’S your disguise!?” Both exclaimed in unity.

“I know, I’m like a chameleon!”

And in unison, the two face-palmed.
***
An hour later the three had found themselves pushing through the road winding its way through a town called ‘Tunson’, Dorne leading by a few paces with a wagging tongue, it seemed that a strong scent of food had caught his nose; prompting the man to take off with Salza and Neiz trailing behind. “Look at that bastard go!” Neiz exclaimed.

Salza (Refusing to look at Neiz while he wore that stupid hat) huffed as he nodded, saying “I know, imagine if he put that much energy into our work…” Slipping through the crowd was a rough experience, Salza knew that with his strength he could easily send any one of these people flying with just a tap, it took a lot of effort to restrain himself while keeping pace. They didn’t want to attract attention to themselves. “At zhis rate we’re going to lose him”

“I’ve got this!” Neiz pushed Salza aside, his snout barely sticking out from the folds of the trench coat’s collar.

In response, Salza’s tone grew dry “Ze last time I heard Zat, ve had the natives of an entire planet looking for our heads within ze hour”

“That doesn’t count!” The tall amphibian stopped, trying to look casual as he smacked his hands together, a spark emanating from between them upon collision. In only a moment his finger crackled with purple electricity. Before Salza could say anything on the matter, Neiz pushed his hand forward in a flicking motion and flicked the spark off through the crowd, the small abnormality darting out of view in a sea of unsuspecting people. When the two heard an all familiar ‘Ouch… NEIZ!’, the creature allowed himself a moment to cast a gloating smile which Salza could not see. Instead, Salza grabbed Neiz by the shoulder and dragged the amphibian through the crowd, bursting out of the other side to see their companion twitching down on the floor in front of a very confused saleswoman.

Salza looked over Dore, who had some sort of wrapped meat in his hand, before his arms fell into a crossed stance. “Ah, Dore. Sleeping on ze job again, I see”
The snow haired woman looked down from behind her stall, her eyes wide with confusion and worry “Is he gonna be okay? I did warn him that those dinosaur tails would be mighty spicy”

Her southern drawl drew Salza’s attention, making him realise just how stupid Neiz’s public attack was and how lucky he was that no one had seemed to notice their involvement. It also made him mentally note down ‘Scold Neiz’ on his to-do list. “He is simply being a vet blanket, mi’lady. Ze poor boy just doesn’t know ven he is in over his head, especially ven it comes to food” Stepping over Dore, Salza made his way closer to the stall, moving his arm across his chest in his species natural stance of apology. “I apologise for any inconvenience zis oaf has caused you” He bowed his head, the woman breaking out into a nervous giggle, still partially confused.

“Uh, no problem, Mr. He didn’t do nothing wrong, just hungry is all” She held her hand up with rushed wave. Behind Salza, Dore had finally stopped twitching, however this also meant he could get up to his feet; now a burning glare set on an unsuspecting Neiz. “Mighty strange bow you got there”

With that, Salza saw an opportunity. “Ah, yes… I must look old fashioned. You could say zhat me and my friends have been living under a rock for ze past few years” There was no hesitation before Dore lunged at Neiz from behind, wrapping his rock-hard muscles around Neiz’s neck, the amphibian struggling.

“You ain’t alone there. Course, most folks went underground after the androids arrived, scorching all the cities” The struggle continued, Neiz kicking his feet up wildly while slapping at Dore’s biceps. “I reckon not even half of them even know the androids are gone”

“Androids?” Salza rubbed his temples, pretending to strain his memory

She clapped her hands together “I know most folk like to call ‘em demons, but they’re metal monsters, alright. They look just like people, but they ain’t got no soul in those eye of theirs” Behind Salza, Neiz sung his feet up, throwing his weight back to slam into Dore and knock him to the floor. “Some crazy experiments by that Red Ribbon Army, you could tell because of that logo on them. I got to see an android up close once… What a nightmare”

“I’ve never heard of this ‘Red Ribbon Army’ before”

“Nasty lot, I heard. I wasn’t born during their time. Cut throats and tyrants, taking the world by force. They had this logo, a red ribbon with two ‘R’s on it” She held up her hands, wiggling her fingers like a twitching spider to make an ‘ooooo’ effect. “I still can’t believe someone like my grandpa worked for those cretins- Ooh, don’t tell anyone about that. Could ruin business!”

A dust cloud enveloped the spot where the two aliens fought for dominance, making their fight only a barrage of lines and mud to the naked eye. “You have my word. And my word has ze patience of stone! Now, vat happened to ze androids, again?”

“Well, a few years back some fella just came along and cut them down. Just like that. The few people there at the time couldn’t believe their eyes, it was like a giant swatting a fly… Explosive flies. Like-“ With a raise of his hand, Salza cut her off with a polite smile.

Before he turned around, throwing his mouth open to yell at his subordinates. “Stop behaving like children, zou morons! ZOU’RE DRAWING ATTENTION TO US!” The constant rhyum of the two’s struggles came to a complete halt, the dust cloud exploding into clear air around them, revealing the two companions on the ground. Dore in the process of wrapping Neiz’s leg around his shoulder with a fist aimed right at Neiz’s snout, while the amphibian had his teeth over half of Dore’s head. Two pairs of eyes awkwardly met Salza’s glare. “Zou make a mockery of our leader with your foolish antics”

“I don’t know about that, I’d say all that air your lungs are letting out is what’s bringing the most attention” The reply’s southern accent made Salza initially think it was the merchant woman, but then he realised how much more deep and coy the voice was. Twisting his neck to face the voice, Salza was surprised to meet the sight of an even odder-looking trio than his own.

The speaker was a man who had a stunning resemblance to the saleswoman, even with all the muscles that built the man like a mountain. Again, the man spoke. “Don’t be sour, stranger. I was making a joke” Instantly, something was… Off about him. And it wasn’t the purple mime/clown beside him. His blue iris’s were empty, a calm and steady sea of emptiness. No life. But they were moving, inspecting Salza.

“If I vasn’t in such a mood, I’m sure I vould of laughed” Salza offered a forced smile, fully turning to face the man, signalling with his fingers for Dore and Neiz to get up. “I do not mean to be so rude. My name is… Sadala. And you are?” The man’s smile did nothing to settle Salza’s expectation of a threat. It was the cocky smile a mugger would make towards an unsuspecting victim that just walked into an alley way.

“Me? Well, I’m…” At the question, the man grew hesitant, thinking. “They call me Tucker”

“And your friends?”

“Are not important” At this, the purple dwarf huffed, turning away. Which only made ‘Tucker’ chuckle. “Don’t mind that tiddler, he’s having a tantrum” Before ‘playfully’ slapping the dwarf’s back. “Ain’t that right?”

“Uhuh” Both the dwarf and Salza replied under their breaths.

Tucker’s eyes trailed off slightly, towards Salza’s cheek. “Funny looking glasses you got there”

This threw Salza off guard a bit, before he realised that the man was talking about the scouter. Had he forgotten to take it off? “Technology grows every day, Mr Tucker”

They both shared a fake chuckle, Salza moving his hand up to fiddle with his ‘glasses’. If he had his scouter with him, might as well take a read on the man that’s making him suspicious. The results were a great shock to Salza, prompting him to do a double take. It wasn’t because of a surprisingly high power level for the planet, nor was the power level undetectable (As he heard was a frequent occurrence on Earth), but it was… Odd. The readings read less like power level data, and more like energy readings. As if he was scanning a machine…

“What’s wrong, Sal? You’re looking a little… Blue.” ‘Tucker’s thumb prodded against Salza’s cheek, a knowing grin on his lips. Can he see my true skin under the mud!? How in the hell would he- Then a possibility tugged at his mind?

“I know most folk like to call ‘em demons, but they’re metal monsters, alright”

The unnatural feel. The threatening grin.

“They look just like people, but they ain’t got no soul in those eye of theirs”

The lifeless eyes.

“They had this logo, a red ribbon with two ‘R’s on it”

Hesitantly, Salza’s eye moved away from the captive steel gaze, lowering down the yellow vest; immediately coming upon a logo on the breast pocket. A ribbon. A red ribbon. Looks like the Androids weren’t finished off after all. “Nice shirt, I’m guessing you’re a… Mechanic of sorts?”

“Do I?” ‘Tucker’ moved closer, looking down at Salza, daring the man to make a move. “I don’t think you’re from around here, son. Where are you from, huh? Out of town? Country?”

“Lots of different places” Dore and Neiz could be heard moving to back up Salza, ready to brawl through the fog of thick tension. It seemed the Android had sniffed them out as well. Looks like keeping it quiet is out of the picture now…

“-on’t you dare!” The scream from above them didn’t break the intense stare down between the two trios. Salza tugged at the cuff of his glove, ki bubbling beneath his finger tips and ready to strike out.

“It’s like you said, Mom. Don’t be a baby!” That didn’t deter either of the fighters either, but even they had to look up when the argument from the heavens broke down into a terrified scream. Tilting his head skyward Salza was met with the sight of a woman falling straight out of the sky, and hurdling down towards them, all why screaming her head off.

“SON PAN, YOU ARE SO GROUNDED AFTER THIS!” Like any mother scorning her children, the voice was almost demonic as she got closer to the ground. The people on the ground too stunned by the strange turn of events to move.

Android 15 was the most stunned when a pair of feet landed atop his hat, pushing the brim down over his eyes as the person tried to regain their balance. “And she sticks the landing… Kind of” This left the dwarf struggling to stay of his feet. It made him glad he didn’t have lungs, or this would have been suffocating him. The others merely recoiled in confusion at the scene of the chirpy raven-haired girl landing on a dwarf’s head, all to catch the falling woman with an awkward smile. “See, Mom. Was that so bad?”

“That was terrifying!” Videl spat at her daughter

Pan shrugged. “That’s revenge for my poor thumb”

Dore was the first to speak “Is anyone else really confused, or am I just dumb?”

To which Neiz bluntly responded “We’re all confused. You’re just dumb as well”

“Oh, okay.”
“Pan, you’re causing a scene…” Videl reached out to grab Pan by the ear lobe, pulling roughly on the girl’s vital lobe, coaxing out a pain howl.

“Okay, okay, I’ll put yo- OW- Stop it!” Immediately, the girl jumped off the dwarf’s head (It took him a good few tugs before he pulled his hat back into place, allowing him to glare at her as she landed) and set the woman on the ground. Pleading for the mother to stop pulling on her ear. “You’re such a buzz kill”

After a roll of her eyes, Videl mercifully let go before pointing at 15 “Now, you go and apologise to that strange purple midget for standing on him”

“But, mom. I want-“

“You say you’re sorry, or no meat”

Within an instant Pan had flashed over to the dwarf, taking his hand and shaking it vigorously at such a speed that their handshake was invisible. “Sorry, sorry, sorry. Please don’t let her take my meat away” Then she came to an instance stop. “That good enough?” When 15 didn’t reply she took that as a yes and jumped back. “Now, meat.”

“Slow down, honey” Videl waved a knowing finger in Pan’s face, dragging yet another sigh from the girl. “I’m sorry about her, she gets very jumpy when she’s hungry”

“It is quite alright” Salza looked to Videl with a smile, waving off any tension he had felt before. “Zose little quirks are vat keep people interesting, no?” Casting a look back to the other trio, Salza was surprised to see the change in their expressions and body languages, all three of them becoming tense. ‘Tucker’ was confused, and the dwarf looked as if he was about to explode. Maybe it’s best ve leave and report zis to Lord Cooler. He vanted us to lay low, and zis is our chance

“I’ve been telling myself that for twenty years”

“Mom!” The girl pouted like a child, which was strange on someone who Salza assumed was much older. She looked over to the adjacent wall, which caused her face to immediately light up. “Hey, look, they’re already advertising for the tournament!”

“Tournament?” Finally, Dore was the one to speak, to which Salza shook his head at. This was the time to be leaving.

“Yeah, the world tournament’s coming back soon. The world’s strongest warriors come from all around to see who’s the best. Awesome, huh?” She stared up at the rather shabby looking poster with awe. “And not to brag, but the one who’s going to be taking that title, is gonna be me”

Salza could only face palm when Dore and Neiz lurched forward with shock all over their faces, yelling. “You mean YOU’RE the strongest warrior on the planet!? WOW!”
For a moment, the girl jumped back in surprise, before crossing her arms and forcing a cocky smirk, trying to assume a ‘cool’ stance. “Well, duh. See these muscles?”

“Pan, please…” Said Videl, sighing at her daughter’s antics.

“I haven’t even gotten into the tournament yet and I already have admirers. I AM awesome”

“Anyway.” Salza made sure to speak loud and clear into Neiz and Dore’s ears, grabbing them both by the shoulders. “I zink it is time for us to go. Have fun at zour tournament” With that, much to the two’s displeasure, Salza dragged Neiz and Dore back through the crowd. And in only a few minutes the two had completely disappeared.

“They were nice” Videl commented as the two took off down the other side of the street, looking for a specific stall.

Pan added “I liked the chocolate one’s hair”

This left the three androids back to their lone selves by the stall, 13 and 14 looking at each other trying to confirm if their heard the same thing. In their brains, their computer minds were going haywire as old subroutines and programs that had long since become invalid were drudged up. Flashing in each android’s mind was the colour red, an order of blood, a need to kill. Each one felt a small piece of Dr. Gero’s rage.

“Her name… That couldn’t be…”13 looked down to 15, who’s stare had grown as stiff as stone towards his hand. In the palm of the dwarf’s hand, a spec of blood stained the metal skin, having found itself there when Pan shook the dwarf’s hand. 14 and 13 recognised her surname. But 15’s scanners instantly recognised the blood.
15 nodded grimly. No matter what the android thought about the nature of his life, no matter how much he didn’t want to take orders anymore, his programming override every bit of thought in his metal mind. The rage of Gero’s revenge was like alcohol to his mind.

“Son Pan…” 13 muttered.

“Son Goku.” 15 curled his hand into a fist, imagining the blood’s squelch as it’s screams. “Son Goku must pay”

At this, 13 found his grin again at this revelation “And do the Granddaughter’s bear the sins of the father?” Before switching his gaze to the World Tournament Poster. “She’s gonna get a title, huh? Well… I think someone needs to make this Tournament interesting. How about that, 15?”

“This target is… Acceptable”
[/spoiler]
When Super apparently shoves Goku down our throats:

Kanassa wrote:
FoolsGil wrote:I hope Mark is dead. But chances are the dragonballs will bring his stupid ass back. :D
- FoolsGil, Out of Context, 2017

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