I have also formulated and posted a new Data Files collection. Original character bios, original attack information, a time-line, and powerlevels spanning all six current sagas up to, but not yet including, the current battles against Doom and Gloom. Those levels will be added after said battles conclude. Further information pertaining to the series will be added over time. All of this information can be found in the "Fanworks" section of the Kanzenshuu message boards.
XXX
Chapter Sixty-four - Changes
Hotaru clenched her hands into fists and ground her teeth as she listened to Nova scream and watched the pulsing energy that had engulfed the Changeling. There was nothing she could do to help, she didn't have the strength at the moment. "Come on, Nova." she said softly, watching for some sign that the woman was about to make her escape. She saw it a moment later as red and green light began to seep out from the center of the energy sphere. Then, suddenly, with a deafening crack, the sphere shattered to again reveal Nova.
The alien Queen had her hands on her knees and was panting heavily. It didn't look as though she'd taken much damage, there were no visible cracks in the woman's natural red body armor. What she might look like on the inside, after an attack like that, the Tanarian couldn't say, however. Nova's power hadn't dropped much, though, and based on what she'd been hearing from the Demon all this time she figured the attack had hurt far more than it had damaged.
Nova straightened, letting out one last push of air, and then scowled at her opponent. She'd had to exert a lot more force to escape that attack than she'd anticipated. Her people rarely needed to breathe, except to talk, but breaking free had been so straining she'd found herself involuntarily, and uncontrollably, gasping for air. A state she'd only ever experienced five other times in her life, and one that was still just as terrifying as the first time.
Normal panting was one thing. There was a time when Changelings had to breathe to survive, just like Sai-jins or Tanarians, and they could still benefit from the act. So, when tired, they would often subconsciously breathe, even pant, as a means of restoring their body's reserves of nutrients and other base materials. Really no different than when the normal breathers were breathing heavy. But what she'd just experienced was a deep seated, edge of oblivion, survival response. Her body struggling to keep its functions going, her minds fighting to remain conscious, alert. It meant she'd come dangerously close to, at the very least, passing out. At worst...
"Such a beautiful scream." Gloom said, smirking, her long black tongue emerging to run along the length of her scaled snout.
"Lacero!" Nova called, quickly forming and pitching the attack at her opponent. As soon as she let loose with the ki attack she shot off to her left on an arcing course for the Demon. Even as Gloom dodged around the first attack Nova's arm snapped out again. "Flamma!"
Gloom turned toward the sound of her opponent's voice and scowled as she saw the attack coming. She dipped down under it and then charged toward the Mortal. The other woman reversed direction in response, flying away from her, backwards. As she flew she crossed her arms over her chest and they began to glow blue. The Demon narrowed her solid red eyes into thin slits and scowled, bracing for whatever the Mortal was about to attempt.
"Frigeo Frons!" Nova cried, snapping her arms out in a wide arc to her sides. Gloom's eyes widened and she pulled to a stop as she saw the attack released. In an instant the glow around the woman's arms had swelled up into a large wall of ki, which was now charging right at her. Charging at her incredibly fast, and still growing larger as it came, there was no way she could dodge it. Quickly the Demon brought her arms across her body, ducked her head, and brought her legs up, curling into a defensive ball. Meanwhile Nova had reversed course, now charging toward her opponent.
The wall of ki hit an instant later but, instead of an explosion, there was a flash of white light at the point of impact and the Changeling Queen smirked as the Demon's eyes widened in surprise. Even as Nova pulled back her right fist and began to gather energy in her hand the Demon's power rapidly plummeted. In just under half a second it dropped from over eighty million to zero, and as soon as it did the Demon began to fall.
As she fell Gloom made no move to stop her plunge, to brace herself, or any kind of move at all. Not because surprise had frozen her but because her body refused to respond. Her muscles were stiff, completely locked up, like they were frozen. Even her eyes, now frozen in a wide-eyed look of surprise, remained as they were. Reaching the plunging Demon only about thirty feet above the ground, Nova thrust her right arm forward, pointing her palm directly at Gloom's chest.
There was a bright flash and crack as the energy in her hand was released, impacted the Demon, and then exploded. The point blank attack drove the Demon down into the ground at incredible speed, blasting out a crater forty yards in diameter and launching a dust cloud four hundred yards into the air. The Changeling Queen had just started to relax when suddenly her scouter flared to life again and Gloom's power returned, though stopping just short of eighty million now.
There was another loud crack as Gloom's foot shot up and slammed into her stomach, driving her back out of the dust cloud and down the street six blocks before she fell back to the ground again, rolled another half a block, and came to a stop on her stomach. Grimacing at the pain she felt, her natural armor unable absorb much of the force of that blow, she was none-the-less glad she hadn't yet released her Invalesco as she had been about to do. She had not expected the Demon to have come through her attacks in such good condition.
/The Frigeo Frons bottled up all of her energy./ Nova thought, pushing herself up onto her hands and knees. /Her defensive capacity should have been severely reduced, my follow-up attack should have done a lot of damage./ As she regained her feet and turned to look down the road she saw Gloom walking out of the thinning dust cloud showing far less damage than she had expected. Her clothing was torn in a few places around her abdomen, where the attack had made contact, but there was nothing else.
In a burst of purple and black Gloom suddenly surged down the road, flying only a foot above the surface, the rush of her energy tearing up the blacktop in her wake. Nova braced herself for the resumption of the fight as she contemplated what else she could do to end it. She knew she had to end it soon or she'd loose, the strain of maintaining the Invalesco this long was becoming more and more pronounced by the minute. Much longer and she wouldn't be able to keep it going.
She quickly brought her left arm up and blocked the kick Gloom had aimed for her head, then countered with a right jab for the Demon's stomach. The other woman reacted quickly, however, and managed to grab the Changeling Queen's wrist with both hands. With a quick twist and grunt of effort she pitched Nova off further down the road, then thrust both arms out in front of her, thumbs touching, hands open, and smirked.
Black and purple energy flashed around Gloom's hands as her aura flared up and the ground began to shake. The blacktop beneath her feet cracked and a crater began to form, caused by the out washing energy as she charged her attack. Four blocks ahead of her Nova had brought herself to a stop and, seeing the attack the Demon was preparing, thrust her right arm out, hand closed, and gripped her wrist with the other hand as red and orange energy began to gather in her fist.
/I have to end this, now./ Nova thought, gritting her teeth, as she pushed everything she could into her charging attack. The Invalesco wouldn't much longer and once it failed she would be insurmountably outclassed. If she could overcome whatever attack Gloom was preparing she could finish it here. If not... /If this doesn't end it, I'll need to think of something else./
"This could be bad. Do you feel that?" Tien asked. He and Hotaru stood on the roof of a building a few blocks from the fight, Tien having flown the two of them up there so they could continue to watch.
Hotaru nodded. Nova's energy felt unstable. It was dipping, just slightly, and then jumping back up again. For the moment it was still going back to her maximum but the Tanarian knew that wouldn't continue forever. If Nova lost... "Could you get above them?" she asked. "Charge something while the Demon's distracted with this coming exchange?"
"Maybe." said Tien. "But a strong enough attack to kill her, she'd notice that coming before it hit. She'd have time to dodge with that move of hers."
Hotaru frowned and was about to say more when Nova's voice rang out from below.
"Caleo Unda!" The was a loud snap, a flash of red, and then a rippling, swirling, pulsing wave of alternating bands of red and orange flame-like energy exploded from the Changeling's fist and surged down the road at the Demon. Hotaru had never seen anything like the attack the Changeling had just unleashed. Its width varied, the red bands spanning about three feet while the orange only a foot, and as the wave continued down the road the red energy bands seemed to separate from the main wave forming four foot wide rings encircling a purely orange energy stream.
Gloom smirked as she watched the attack approaching. She waited until it was about half way to her and then fired as well. "Darkness Cannon!" There wasn't so much a flash of light as there was a loss of it accompanying the Demon's attack. As though someone had dimmed the lights within a hundred yards of the black and purple energy stream she had unleashed. The energy itself could barely even be seen through the darkness, and through the thick black mist or smoke that seemed to be radiating off of it.
The two attacks slammed into each other about a block and a half from where Gloom stood with a resounding crash. At first Nova's attack tore through the Demon's stream and, for a moment, Tien thought it would overwhelm her with ease. But within half a block the momentum shifted, the attacks stalled, and then Nova's wave reversed direction as it was overpowered by the Demon's attack. The Changeling dug her feet in, jaw clenched, muscles straining as she tried to regain her momentum, but realized within five seconds it was a futile effort. The Demon's attack was surging toward her faster and faster, already it had passed the midway point and it was still picking up speed.
There was a thundering explosion two seconds later as Gloom's attack fully overpowered Nova and slammed into the royal. The blast sent her surging backward, careening a dozen blocks down the road where she smashed through the wall of a building before hitting the ground and sliding into another wall where she finally came to a stop. Groaning in pain she shook her head to clear it as she pushed herself up off the ground. Blinking as her blurry vision cleared she realized she wasn't alone in the room and froze for a moment.
Off to her right, about twenty feet ahead of her, was a group of about seven people. Four of them appeared to be Sai-jins, and one of them a child. Glancing to her left she saw another ten or twelve people along that wall. A few more Sai-jins and a few children among them as well. All of them were staring at her in fear, and some in hate as well. According to the scouter she wore Gloom was already flying toward the building. /I have to draw her away./ she thought, climbing the rest of the way to her feet.
She flew back out of the hole she'd made coming in and quickly flew up into the air, and relaxed a little as she saw Gloom change course to match. And then she heard a voice from below, a woman yelling something that sounded like a name, and she glanced down. One of the children had run out into the street and was running down the road, unaware of the Demon above them, while their mother chased after them. Nova flicked her gaze up from the pair to the Demon and saw that she was already aiming an arm toward them, energy building.
Nova redirected her momentum again and angle down toward the fleeing child and pursuing mother, pouring all of her energy into her flight. She was a little closer than Gloom but they were running toward the Demon, away from her. She heard the Demon's voice above her but barely registered it, caught sight of the charging ball of energy a second later, and knew it would be close. As the child's mother caught up to the kid, pulled them down onto the ground and then lay on top of them to shield them, Nova thrust her arms back along her body, opened her hands, and fired twin beams of energy in an effort to increase her speed.
It worked, just barely, and she felt herself accelerate a little more. A second later she felt a sudden stab of pain along her spine and the Invalesco failed, a second later she was directly over the mother and child pair, less than a hundredth of a second after that she felt Gloom's energy blast slam into her back and explode. She screamed out in pain as the blast slammed her into the ground only a few feet ahead of the two Sai-jins. Her vision blurred and went white as the pain threatened to threatened to knock her out, but she fought against unconsciousness and tried to stand.
Above her she could hear the Demon laughing as, with great effort, she forced up onto her hands and knees, and then upright onto her feet once more. She could feel the armor on her back crack and crumble as she moved, felt sections of it break off and heard it thud dully to the ground. She could feel, also, a faint burning pressure inside her lower back that told her that her armor hadn't been the only thing cracked, ruptured, by the attack. For now, though, she ignored the still laughing Demon above her and turned to face the two behind.
"Are you... ok?" she asked, grimacing at the unexpected pain speaking had generated. The woman and her child, a boy, looked unharmed but said nothing. Just stared at her in apparent surprise. She watched them for a moment, then turned her attention back to Gloom who had yet to stop laughing.
"I'm gald... you're... amused." she said, wincing with each word.
"How could I not be, such a grand display of idiocy?" Gloom called down, grinning. "What a fool, jumping in to save such pathetic creatures, and for what? Now you are too injured to fight and so I win, and you all die anyway."
Nova knew she was right, she couldn't fight now. Even if she hadn't been so badly injured by the attack she'd taken her body could no longer sustain the Invalesco. And with these injuries even if she could still use the Invalesco she'd not have nearly enough power to fight the Demon with. /But if I die... again... at least I'll know I did what I could./ she thought. She was about to say as much to the Demon when her scouter suddenly pinged and the holographic display lit up with a new, fast approaching, power indicator.
/Now what?/ she wondered as the power reading for the new arrival quickly built. As the number broke the hundred million mark there was loud crack in the sky and Gloom was knocked flying a block away and down into the ground. The Changeling blinked a couple of times as she gazed up at the figure now floating where the Demon had been a moment before. Her mind was still a little dazed from the pain and it took her a moment to recognize them, and she smiled.
"Nice timing, Piccolo."
The Namek grunted. "Get the two of them and get off the street." he said. "I'll take it from here."
XXX
Otherworld, H.F.I.L.
There was a thunderous crash as Kibito slammed head first into the ground. A second before Pikkon met with the same fate he flashed blue and vanished, reappearing an instant later a few feet in behind Doom as the Mazoku stumbled back a few steps. As Kibito pulled himself out of his impact crater the dead alien above turned and thrust an arm out firing a blast of energy at his opponent. The orb of ki slammed into the back of Doom's head and exploded, knocking him forward a couple feet.
"Kibitio!" Pikkon called as he reached out and grabbed his snake like tail, twisted, and pitched the Mazoku down toward the other's location.
Kibito looked up, saw the Mazoku pitched toward him, and clenched his hands into fists. Then, with a cry, he thrust his arms up and unleashed a massive wave of bright blue energy which hit and engulfed their opponent. The bulge to the stream at the point of impact, however, showed that the Mazoku had managed some level of defense and after a few seconds Kibito let up his attack. As the energy faded Doom unfurled from the defensive ball he'd curled into and scowled down at his red skinned opponent.
"How are you able to fight me?" he growled. "Your clothes say that you are a Kai."
"I am." Kibito said, floating back up into the air so that he was at the same level as the Mazoku. Pikkon flew over to float beside him. "Or, more precisely, I am becoming one."
"Becoming... bah." Doom muttered, frowning. "You're still part Mortal, still making the transition. That explains it."
"How, exactly, does that explain anything?" asked PIkkon.
The Mazoku grinned. "It's nothing you need to worry about." he said.
As Doom lunged in at his opponents again Zenryou, having overheard the conversaton, frowned. "Interesting, though also annoying." he said.
Mikomi nodded. She'd heard as well. Apparently it was something specific about being a Kai that was causing Kibito's trouble with the Mazoku, and had caused her to be unable to harm it. She was still unsure what, exactly, it was since Pikkon was also affected and he was not a Kai. Perhaps it was because he was dead, and not a living Mortal. Either way, it seemed that this Mazoku was, effectively, invulnerable against a Kai. /An unpleasant ability for someone so powerful./ she thought. /Were it not for the fact that Kibito is not a full Kai yet, and for the technique that Pikkon is currently employing, we would have no means of fighting this one./
"At least they appear to be about even." she said after a moment, watching the on going battle. Working together Pikkon and Kibito were able to give as good as they were getting. The Mazoku's ability was reducing the effectiveness of blows landed against him but it had no effect on Kibito's superior speed. The future Supreme Kai was notably faster than the newly created Mazoku and was taking advantage of that edge, dodging most attacks that came his way.
Pikkon launched a punch at the Mazoku's head but Doom quickly side-stepped it, then reached out and grabbed the alien's arm. Turning he pitched him toward Kibito and then fired off a blast of energy after him. Kibito, who had been in the proccess of charging in for another attack, pulled to a quick stop and readied to catch his ally, and then attempt to deflect the coming attack. He caught Pikkon without issue, but before he could deflect the incoming energy blast a stream of blue energy surged by, slammed into it, and knocked it away. Kibito, Pikkon, and Doom all turned their gazes from the deflected attack and toward the source of the second energy blast.
"Olibu, you should have stayed on the Grand Kai's world." Pikkon said, crossing his arms and frowning. "You're not a match for this Demon, or Mazoku, or whatever it is."
Olibu snorted. "Most people say thank-you when someone helps them." he said. "I couldn't just stay back and wait. Don't worry, I know when I'm outclassed, I'm not going to do anything stupid. I just wanted front row seats." Pikkon frowned for a moment, then turned his focus back to Doom again, shooting off toward the Mazoku in a burst of blue-white electric energy. While Pikkon and Kibito had charged back into battle Olibu floated over to join Mikomi and Zenryou.
Kibito, too, had charged back in and the two of them were giving the Mazoku all they had. Kibito's greater speed still working to their advantage, even if it seemed that what little damage they could inflict soon faded away. As Pikkon dodged around a punch aimed for his head and countered with an elbow into Doom's shoulder, which Kibito followed up by kicking the Mazoku in the side of the head, Pikkon considered their options.
/Nothing we do to him really seems to last./ he thought. /The attacks that land clearly hurt, clearly faze him, but he does not seem to be tiring or weakening in the least. Perhaps that, too, is another ability of his. If so, then likely only a single strike killing blow can stop this one./
The long dead alien scowled as he shot backward, just barely avoiding the rather nasty looking ball of red ki that Doom had tried to take his head off with. Once it had zipped away he shot back in again, catching Doom in the side with a kick while the Mazoku was occupied with dodging a furious assault from Kibito. /It's unlikely even my strongest attack would be enough to outright kill this one, at least at my current level. But a Triple Burst.../
He'd only attempt a Triple Burst once before, while developing the Hyper Striker and testing it's capacity. If he had been alive it would surely have killed him. As it was, even dead it had left him in such bad condition afterward that he'd not even contemplated a second attempt at it. Yes, his power had increased, but the strain of the technique had been far too severe to maintain for more than thirty seconds, and even that long had done excessive damage to his body. It was unlikely that he'd have enough time, or control, to manage a powerful attack before his power failed.
Which left them with just a single option.
"Hyper Flash Barrage!" he called, his body glowing blow and then vanishing. There was a sudden series of resounding cracks as Doom was rocked this way and that, and then Pikkon re-appeared in the same place he'd just vanished from as the Mazoku was knocked surging toward the ground. The alien turned his focus from his opponent to his ally. "This is getting us no where. Do you have any attacks capable of taking him out in a single strike, even with his resistance?"
The red skinned man smiled and nodded. "I do, though it will take a moment to ready."
"Make it a short moment." Pikkon said, turning back toward Doom just as the Mazoku slammed into the ground. "I'll try and keep him occupied."
Kibito nodded and began readying his attack. He clenched his hands into fists and hunched over, gathering energy as though powering up.
"Shouldn't this be going more in our favor?" Olibu asked as Pikkon surged down toward the billowing dust cloud of Doom's impact point.
"Ordinarily, yes." said Zenryou. "But this one has special abilities working in his favor. Something about being a Kai makes him immune to us, and partially so to Kibito."
"And Pikkon?"
"I suspect death is having the same adverse affect on Pikkon that being part Kai is having on Kibito." said Mikomi. "It's the only obvious connection I can see between them."
Olibu frowned in thought as he watched the battle between Pikkon and Doom resume at ground level. What Mikomi had said made some level of sense, but somehow it seemed off. As far as he could tell Pikkon had been doing about as well as Kibito, despite being weaker than Doom while Kibito had been significantly stronger. It could be something as simple as being a Kai has greater effect than being dead but...
"Unfortunately, all of those living with the power to contend with this one are currently either in Hell or in Makai." said Zenryou, frowning. "With no tell-" he was cut off there by Kibito's voice.
"Pikkon!" Kibito cried, drawing the attention of both the alien and the Mazoku. The dead warrior quickly lunged out of the way as Kibito thrust both arms and legs out toward his target. "Riot Gun!"
Olibu and Zenryou flinched away, turning their heads to the side as a brilliant red light flared from Kibito. Mikomi, knowing what to expect, had already been shielding her eyes. As the glare faded the Grand Kai and the human saw a massive stream of red energy, with white and blue bolts of energy crackling around it, surging down toward Doom. The Mazoku saw it comming and his eyes widened, quickly recognizing its power and danger.
"No, I don't think so!" he called, slapping his hands together in front of him as though in prayer. Zenryou and Mikomi both frowned as they saw it, and saw the black wisps of smoke coming from the Mazoku and swirling around it. Both recognized this from earlier, from when the two Sai-jins had battled the Demon Maku. An instant later the black smoke and energy erupted into a massive swirling twister, and a second after that Kibito's attack slammed into the raging vortex of wind and power that surrounded the twister and came to a halt.
In the sky Kibito scowled and pushed more power into his stream, trying to break through the invisible barrier and get at his target. It quickly proved to be a futile effort, and a waste of energy, and he let up. The twister raged for a moment longer before bursting apart and revealing the newly transformed Doom. The lion's head, the scaled torso, the bull's legs, the snake of a tail, the tusks, the antlers, they were all gone.
Now he looked like something like a skeleton, his overly thin body covered by a segmented white exoskeleton, leaving only small gaps at the joints exposed. The bone like armor covered his head as well, looking like a pure white skull, enhanced by hos lack lips and subsequent full-toothed, permanent, creepy smile he bore. His eye sockets held no eyes, just empty black voids, though a faint red light floated in the center of each socket. The power they could sense from denied the largely fragile appearance of his new body, however. It was still not as great as Kibito's, but it was much closer and with the edge his ability gave him it was perhaps close enough to be too much.