A Series Of Unfortunate Events
Alright guys, give it up for chapter 2! (If you want, not forcing you :/)
What I've had so far is that it seems like I'm just setting the scene, which is partially true. But otherwise, thanks for the positive feedback so far!
Almost to 500 views now. Thank you.
You guys want action? Then action, in some capacity, you'll get.
So without further ado, here comes Chapter 2 (or 3, no one really knows :P) of A Chance Observation!
Saiyans, by nature, are prideful. They resent weakness, they resent mercy, and they resent defeat in any form.
But above all, they despise helplessness. For good reason.
So, given that, you can probably imagine how Terasu, The Saiyan currently who was currently being used as a visual aid for a lecture, felt about being strapped down to a table.
"What… how… why am I here….?"
Terasu, an adolescent Saiyan of average height, remembered very little of what had led to him being bound here like some helpless new born whelp, so all he knew was to try and get free.
Terasu strained against his restraints, expecting them to give way like simple Rope… yet they did not yield.
Frustrated by this, Terasu threw an angry look at the old man, who was now standing directly over him.
"You… old… bastard…"Terasu growled at the old man before him, baring his teeth, "Get these things off of me."
A strange little thing on the side of the strangely dressed man's face bleeped twice, and whatever showed up on it caused the old man to raise an eyebrow.
The man didn't reply directly, but instead he picked up what appeared to be a small metal spike, with a tiny bottle containing some green liquid.
The next thing Terasu knew, he was drifting off back to sleep, with a slight stabbing pain in his left arm.
Precisely 24 hours earlier…
3 Saiyans, one of average height and two slightly taller, stood over a younger Saiyan boy, who was currently on his hands and knees on the floor, blood running from his nose and trickling slightly from his mouth. One eye was almost swollen shut.
The Saiyan in the middle, the one who was slightly shorter than the other two, grinned a sadistic grin, "So, we gonna have to beat you some more, or you gonna give us that big tooth o' yours?"
The 2, larger Saiyans flanking him chuckled at this. Obviously, they were the ones who had done the beating.
The smaller Saiyan on the floor brought himself to one knee, before looking the leader of the group in the eyes, saying, "You coward… getting these thugs to do your dirty work for you… ungh!"
The leader kicked the boy in the chin, sending him onto his back. He rolled on to his side, and spat out a tooth. The object in his hand rolled on to the ground next to him. It was a fang, belonging to one of the beasts that roamed the Bad Lands. The boy was proud of having claimed it from a beast much larger than he was.
"You know, calling me names like that just makes this harder."
Walking in front of the brutes flanking him, who were still grinning, the shorter Saiyan went to claim his prize. His tail was swishing from side to side with what can be described as contentment.
"Ah, now wasn't that just such a simple little task." The Saiyan bully's voice was smooth, but with the typical gruff tone that came with being a Saiyan. I'm no coward, you little whelp. You're just not worth me getting my hands dirty with your filth."
Then, for no explicable reason other than to further agitate the young boy beneath his heel, the bully crushed the fang to dust in his palm, and blew the dust into his victim's face, causing him to cough.
The Bully stood. His skin was tanned, and his arms were muscular. His hair was an array of short spikes, with four spikes on his brow pointing directly upward, being slightly longer. His face had not a trace of a scar, and he seemed to exude arrogance.
The two grinning brutes flanking him, named Oden and Mame, were considerably taller than their apparent charge. Oden had a shoulder length, scruffy pony-tail, kept in place with a makeshift band. He had a scar on his left cheek, in the shape of a crescent moon. Mame had much shorter hair, but in a similar fashion to the leader's. Just without the four spikes on his brow. He had a scar above his Lip.
Mame spoke up, "You want us to beat on him s'more, Terasu?"
Terasu turned around, with a slight grin upon his features. "No, that'll be all for now. Little Sap's got no fight left in 'im. Not worth our time.
Terasu turned to the boy, who was once again getting to his knees.
"And don't forget to tell all your little friends to cheer extra loud for me when I beat my brother to a pulp tomorrow. Maybe then, I'll let you keep what you find, Whelp."
The Bully kicked some dirt into the boy's face, before turning away with his cohorts in tow.
As they walked, Oden spoke up, "We sure showed that little punk who's the boss in this Village, didn't we Mame?"
Mame turned his head to look at Oden "Sure we did…" Oden replied, before scratching his head, "Uh, who's that again?"
Terasu turned his head to Oden and replied, in an irritated tone, "You mindless low-class, It's me! I'm the boss, and by extension, your boss! And don't forget it!"
They continued to walk in silence, on the lookout for any little wimps they could terrorise for a fun 5 minutes. "And tomorrow, my claim to succeed my Father's rule will be set in stone. I'll beat my weakling brother, that fool Suna into the dirt, and he'll hand his claim to me. And then, when 'dear old Dad' bites the dirt…" Terasu said in a tone of mock affection, "I'll be the one calling the shots around here. Literally."
The henchman flanking him grinned at each other, before Mame asked, "And we'll still be your go-to guys, right boss?"
Terasu turned to his cohorts, and formed a slight grin, "Sure. If you learn to keep your mouths shut more often, I'll keep you guys around. I don't pay you to talk!"
Oden looked confused at this, "You don't really pay us at all, Boss."
Terasu looked irritated at this, "Serving me is its own reward, don't you know?" He said with a mock smile of assurance, in a bid to keep his 'hired help' on side.
Oden looked confused at this for a short while, before a nudge from Mame jerked him back to the present. "Oh yeah… sure Boss. Whatever you say."
And the not-so-motley crew walked back into the Village, full of confidence.
The current heir to his father's seat was currently in his own mud-hut, meditating. Suna was very similar to his brother, the exception being that one of the spikes on his brow hung over his face, with the rest pointing up. And unlike his brother, the boy had a long scar, tracing the length of his jaw-line on the right side of his face. An angry reminder, of what playing with your opponents results in.
Suna had been deep in thought now for several hours, the fading light of dusk playing shadows across the walls and across his face. But the youthful Saiyan did not notice the Sun setting, nor the distant groans of pain from outside the Village. His mind was focused upon tomorrow's battle.
"Based on how the Brat's behaved these past few years…" Suna inwardly growled, "He'll have barely trained. In fact, given that he's always flanked by those two retards he keeps around, he might not have actually fought anyone in a long while. Meaning…"
Suna's eyes snapped open, and a slight grin crossed his face, the setting sun appearing to fill the Chieftain's son's eyes with a yellow flame, "…that he'll have not suffered a beating since our last bout. And this time, I won't be pulling my punches."
Suna stood, and looked toward the centre of the Village, from his home upon the hill that overlooked the Village. His family had lived on this hilltop since… "Well, since we ended up on this rock. As Dad said."
The grin faded, as Suna spied the trio in question returning from doing God-knows-what to God-knows-who outside the Village. As ever, his Brother was spotless, and the Brutes hands were stained with spatters of blood.
"Tomorrow" The Saiyan growled, "you arrogant, jumped-up little prick. Tomorrow, I'm gonna feed you your own teeth."
"Not thinking too hard ova there, huh?" came a harsh, yet cheerful voice from further down the hill. Suna was snapped out of his stupor, and looked down to see his Father, carrying over his shoulder what appeared to be another one of his Women.
Suna clapped his hand over his face upon seeing this all too familiar sight. "Still not content with just the one woman to share your hut, old man?"
His father, Kabu the Mountain, let out a hearty laugh. Clearly, he'd been drinking again. "Boy, I'm the Chief of this Village, and I can have any Woman I want. Right, Caillery?"
The Woman slung over his shoulder let out a raucous laugh, before shouting in a slurred voice "Hellsh yeah!"
The pair set about laughing at each other, before Kabu set about lumbering up the hill once again. The Man was known as Kabu the Giant among his people, and for good reason- he stood a full head and shoulders above the henchmen of his youngest Son, and was almost half as wide as the home of his eldest son. And he had the incredible ability to drink what seemed to be 3 times his own weight… night after night. This left incredibly irritable in the mornings, much to the disgruntlement of those who would accompany him to his bed.
"Dad, who do you think'll win tomorrow?" Suna asked, with a little interest.
"Don't know, too pished to care. Woman'sh more interesting." Kabu replied, not stopping to properly consider the implications of what tomorrow's result would determine.
Suna wasn't surprised, as he had come to expect this of his drunkard of a Father. The Boy simply returned to his hut, and decided to attempt to get some rest. This was successful for a few minutes, before a low thudding coming from his Father's hut disturbed him. With a sound that was very similar to a 'Yuck!', the older brother decided that he would take a walk to clear his head. The night was still pretty young, after all.
Terasu, meanwhile, was behaving very much like his Father. After giving a few final thrusts and giving a last moan of exhaustion, the Saiyan adolescent collapsed on to the chest of the Woman in front of him. The pair laid there for a few moments, before Terasu pulled himself up from the bed, and began to dress himself again.
"And that, my dear sweet little thing…" The boy said with his typical mock tone of affection, his tail swishing once again, "…is why I will be the new Chief of this Village."
The Woman, slightly older than the young man before her, sat up and replied with "Whatever you say, hotshot. You gave out quicker than your old man, you know."
"Pah!" Terasu replied, turning his head from the Woman who had called him out. "What would you know anyhow? You'll regret talking to me like that, you bitch!"
Terasu left the hut with the sound of chuckling fading behind him.
"Stupid whore, how dare she! When I'm the Chief, I swear…"
Terasu strode angrily toward his home, situated on this all-too familiar mound of dirt his family called home. But before he reached his home, someone approached him from the left.
Terasu turned his head angrily in the direction of the approaching person… before regaining his composure in the face of his woman.
He opened his mouth to say hello, but he was stopped short when he saw the Woman's expression.
"Don't bother with any of your sweet-talking bullshit." The Woman growled, "What's this I heard about you spending the last few hours drinking with some other girl?"
Terasu looked surprised for just a moment, before recovering his composure and feigning indifference, "Celipa, dearest, she's nobody, who even told you…"
He was cut off by a back handed slap which sent him to the floor, spitting and cursing.
"Liar! I fucking saw you leave that harlot's house!"
"Agh! Bitch! You hurt my face! I have something really important to do tomorrow, don't you get it? Why'd you have to do that! It's not even you're business, so stay out of it!"
"Asshole, the only reason I stick with you is because you say you're gonna be the Village Chief, and I get good rep out of that! You lose tomorrow, and I'm dropping your ass quicker than you last in bed!"
Celipa turned and began walking back down the hill, some of the Villagers pointing and laughing at the young man sitting flat on his ass, rubbing his cheek, cursing at the woman who'd put him in this humiliating position as she walked away.
"…and when I'm the new Chief, you'll come crawling back to me! I swear, you'll beg! Gaaaah!"
Terasu picked himself up, and began to massage his cheek as he walked angrily to his home. Once there, he collapsed angrily onto his Bed, and drifted off to sleep. Assured of his victory over his Brother, and knowing that once it was done the entire Village would be listening to him, Terasu drifted off.
It has been said, that Humans and other organisms like them use but 10% of their total Brain power under normal circumstances.
Under extreme circumstances, or perhaps by complete chance, the mental 'switch', to use a turn of phrase, can be flipped, allowing access to the other 90%. But only for a brief time.
Some reports of this occurring indicate heightened senses, improved reflexes and even some people claiming to have had premonitions of the future.
And in his sleep, by complete chance, Terasu was having one such premonition.
Terasu, for want of a better word, awoke.
He was standing in what seemed to be an Ocean of Darkness.
Nothing around him, above him or beneath him. In this place, wherever this was, he was totally, utterly alone.
He could feel it. The feeling of emptiness. Whatever he'd had in his former life, it was gone now. Replaced with this… this… nothing.
And then, movement! Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure coming at him, with something in its hands. He whirled to meet it, and grabbed it by what he reasoned was its throat. And just before he began to gloat, something small and sharp struck him in the middle of the back.
And once more, all was darkness, and Terasu was barely even aware of himself.
And then, Light!
All consuming, great white light, coming from the Sky above! Words could not describe the intensity of this brilliant white light, which suddenly seemed to condense into a massive ball in the centre of his vision, just out of reach.
Suddenly, he felt power growing within him. Great power, power enough to send you mad. He could feel himself growing larger and larger, almost tall enough to take the object in his hands and make it his own! If he could have this power, he'd be the strongest Saiyan ali-
And then, abruptly, he shuddered, and shrunk back down immediately. The power left as soon as it had come, and the great ball before him faded from existence.
The emptiness filled him once again, and he felt himself falling into this… void. Back to rest.
But before he left this place, he caught one last image, off in the distance. Fires, on the edge of his vision. A Demon, with a cruel face and terrifying power. And before this terrible being, stood many figures he had never seen before.
And then, all he knew was darkness.
Terasu awoke with a start, to find that the morning had come. And… oh crap… what a headache.
"I don't know what any of that meant… but I don't care. Today's the day I beat my Brother half to death, and take what's rightfully mine. And then… they'll all have to respect me. Heir Terasu, soon to be Chief Terasu."
Terasu, still muttering to himself, dressed quickly and went outside.
There was no-one around.
Clutching his aching head, Terasu looked around.
"No-one, no-one, no-one, no-one…" He stopped, and looked to the other end of the Village. The chosen battleground. And there, sure enough, were the rest of the Saiyans.
"No… no no no! I've overslept! Those fools, no one came to wake me! They'll pay for that, I swear it!"
Terasu ran as fast as he possibly could, in order to challenge his brother and claim his prize.
The chosen site for the challenge was on the outskirts of the Village. It was rather unremarkable, save for showing signs of repeated, and lengthy, use. The area designated
There were no seats save for the Chief, who now sat clutching the bridge of his nose in an effort to ease the pain in his head. "I hate mornings…" Kabu muttered under his breath. Around him were several Saiyan women, sitting around his throne. Some grinning in anticipation of the fight, some frowning at being kept waiting, and some just not caring. All of these emotions and more were reflected in the rest of the crowd, some 400 Saiyans strong.
At one edge of the makeshift 'ring', so to speak stood Suna, wearing the typical animal furs that all Saiyans wore. He stood arms folded, watching his challenger push his way through the crowd to the ring. Clearly, his Brother wasn't in great condition.
Kabu stood for a moment, noticing that both of his Sons were now here. "You know the rules. Fight 'til you can't fight anymore, and do whatever you have to do to win. Whoever loses is either dead or gets exiled. Whoever wins'll get my job. Now kill each other already!"
"He challenges me, and then doesn't even show up ready to fight?" Suna thought to himself, "Cocky little punk. Never changes."
Terasu had succeeded in forcing his way through the crowd, and now stood opposite his brother.
"Ready for me to beat you into the dirt, Brother?" Terasu gloated, flashing his trademark grin. "Once you lose, Dad'll exile you!"
Suna grinned back at his brother. "Tough talk coming from baby Brother. Not got your hired help around to do your dirty work now, huh?"
The bully snorted at this, before replying, "You think I need those slugs to beat you down, you wimp? Things have changed, and I'm taking what I deserve!"
"Sure. And what you deserve is the beating of your life." Suna said, with a slight growl. He slipped down into a fighting stance, putting one hand up to his forehead, and the other out behind it. He spread his feet, in order to attain proper balance.
Terasu growled at this last remark, before clenching his fists and bringing them forward. He widened his stance, and declared, "You're mouth's too smart for my liking, you prick. Just for that…"
Terasu sprang forward, charging his older brother, right fist raised as a feint while putting more power into the left, preparing to strike his brother with the left when he ducked under the right.
"…I'll break your Jaw!"
Terasu performed a right hook, aimed at his brother's cheek, seeming to make good on his earlier promise. But instead of ducking under the blow and into the path of his other fist… Suna blocked the blow with his right forearm.
Unprepared for this, Terasu continued anyway and brought his other fist up in an upper cut. And to his great surprise… Suna caught that one as well.
The next moment, a knee came crashing into Terasu's slightly unstable stomach, doubling him over and knocking the wind out of the younger Saiyan. Without pausing for breath, Suna grabbed his brother by the neck, and slammed him face first into the dirt. He then packed off a few paces, and set his stance once again.
Terasu brought himself to his knees. He was about ready to vomit up all of yesterday, and his left wrist was burning. He looked into the crowd. There, he saw the boy from before. And he was grinning.
Terasu saw red. "I'll teach you to laugh at me!" He screamed, "I'm not holding anything back any more, so get ready to die!"
Terasu leapt at his brother once again, intending to elbow him in the chin, and then follow up with a punch to the ribs. "I'll rip his bastard heart out…and show it to him!"
Terasu went to attack… and was relieved to see that his elbow had hit its mark!
"Yes! Haha! What now, Brother?!" he exalted, as he followed up with a punch to his brother's rib cage. He was shocked, however, to find that his blow had been stopped short. Looking down, he saw that his cursed brother had his hand once again around his wrist.
Suna put his mouth closer to his brother's ear. "That was better." He said, a small trickle of blood coming from his split lip, flowing onto his now bruised chin. "You've got strength, that's for sure. But…" Suna let go of Terasu's fist, and began to hammer his own into his torso, "You're out of practice, motherfucker!"
Terasu's mind and body were reeling at this onslaught. He hadn't been expecting an actual challenge for this!
"GRAAAH!" Terasu roared, thrusting out his own hands and catching those of his brother. The two struggled against eachother, the battle of skill having already been won by the older Saiyan.
To the crowd, the pair seemed deadlocked. They had all laughed raucously as Suna beat the cocky Terasu into the dirt, but now they were on the edge of their seats. This battle… was intense, especially by young standards.
Kabu looked on with interest. "Looking at it now… looks like Suna's got this one. That's good."
One of the women at the feet of the Chief looked up at Kabu and asked "Who do you think's gonna win, big guy?"
Kabu looked down at the woman, and gave a grin. "Use your eyes, woman. I'm betting my Lunch on Suna at this rate."
While Terasu was straining furiously against the challenge presented by his brother, Suna was by no means finding this easy. He was giving a lot of his power here, but he was still deadlocked with his brother.
"Don't tell me this is all you got, Teri?" Suna mocked, hiding what concern he had with this taunt. "At this point, it should be easy to provoke that idiot." he thought.
Terasu was furious. He was pouring everything he had into this… but his bastard of a brother wasn't giving an inch! Not an inch! It wasn't possible, it was his destiny to win this fight! It always had been!
"AAAAAAAAGH! SHUT! UP!" Terasu screamed, ripping his hands away from his brother's and began to punch him repeatedly in the face, batting Suna's head from side to side. He barely even cared about being the Chief anymore… he just wanted to reduce his brother to a red stain on the battleground.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you, then I'll kill Dad, and then everyone of the bastards laughing at me! All of you!" He continued, ending his furious combo with an uppercut, sending Suna sprawling. He quickly regained his balance however, and got back to his feet, pausing for breath.
Terasu stood, having worked off most of his rage. He was sweating profusely, and showed several signs of exhaustion. He was panting heavily, and had numerous small cuts across his face and arms. His fists ached, and he clenched his teeth.
Suna, meanwhile, was less exhausted. He too was panting for breath, and had a lot of cuts across his body. But he showed no signs of stopping now.
"Like I said… you're out of practice. You let your goons fight for you, and you've forgotten what it's like to have a real fight. It's why you can't control your emotions, and that's why you're gonna lose."
Suna spoke evenly, with a serious tone. Terasu, meanwhile, was boiling with Rage.
"Out of practice! Fuck you! I can keep this up all day!" He growled, balling his fists up again, preparing charge.
Suna sighed,"Here's the best part. I'm not using my full strength yet. Gimme a moment…"
Suna bent slightly, before a slight increase in muscle mass became apparent. He looked… slightly more intimidating now.
"Tell you what, Teri" Suna chuckled, watching his brother's bemused expression. "I'll let you have three hits for free. And after that, I'm ending this."
Terasu barely heard this boast, and simply replied with, "I'll… kill you!"
He charged forward, a fist raised, which collided with his brother's Torso. Nothing.
He kicked his brother in the exact same spot, right in the centre of his belly. Again, nothing.
Snarling with rage, and focussing all the power he could into his right fist, he brought it up and forced it to collide with what felt to Terasu like an explosive impact.
He looked up, expecting to see Suna's smug, prick face rocketing into Space… and was greeted with Suna smiling at him, Terasu's fist imbedded in his chin. Which was now bleeding.
The next thing Terasu knew, three blows in rapid succession caught him in the temples, and he was on the ground. He felt that he was falling into the darkness from last night once again… but this time, there weren't any visions. Just one voice, that hated, contented voice.
"Lights out, little Brother."
And then his body hit the floor, the crowd roaring in appreciation.
And Terasu was out cold, his cronies standing nervously on the sidelines.
Suggested Music- Falling Into A Trap With A Sexy Lure
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I put some effort into making this slightly more interesting to read. Had fisticuffs and everything!
So, for maybe the next chapter or 2, I'll cover what led to Terasu being on Raichi's table, from several perspectives. And then we'll see more on the lecture, maybe. Should be fun to write.
And of course, with the full moon looming over Plant, what will the Night bring? And what will it mean for the few characters I've introduced?
Eh, I don't know. I'm sure we'll find out at some point.
Thanks for the positive feedback so far, everyone. I promise, there will be more 'story' to read eventually.
Speaking of which, shall we say Mondays? Monday sound good to everyone?
Mondays it is, then.
Bye for now!