Heart of the Adventurers
By LastationLover5000 & Demod20
Chapter 44 - The One Who Knocks
Milky Way, Southern Star Systems, Tullece Capital Ship
If Tullece hadn't been so confident in himself, he would actually be feeling proud of his accomplishments. A standard year. That was all it had taken him to bring the bulk of Freeza's army under his complete control. As he sat in his throne, the Saiyan Emperor going over what appeared to be an itemised list on the datapad he held in his hand, Tullece reminisced fondly over the past year's accomplishments. The most critical of them, in addition to killing Cold, had been subduing the Heeters as an organisation. With Elec's vast information array under his thumb, Tullece's army had become able to "see" in places where all was dark, and "hear" sound even in the deepest vacuum of space.
Using this information, he'd summarily crushed any potential rebel cells before they'd had a chance to full crop up. Groups of Freeza or Cold loyalists, who wanted to depose the Saiyan who had slaughtered their former Emperor for all to see. Many had begun to form ragtag militias, only to be flattened under the Imperial bootheel of the Tullece Army. Some had even formed what sounded like religions - whispers of a successor to Freeza, in the form of a another member of his species. Tullece, leading the charges personally in some cases, had deposed it all.
Planet after planet had fallen back into line. Fools who thought themselves loyal to a now dead dynasty. Weaklings who believed the death of Freeza and his father had freed them. Quickly and efficiently, within the year, Tullece had reestablished order and balance in every corner of the Milky Way that his army had influence. Truth be told, Tullece had only been having one hiccup the entirety of his first year on the throne.
Vegeta.
The efforts in ruling an empire necessitated all threats be utterly and summarily crushed, yet Tullece had been forced to ignore the single biggest threat to his claim to the throne of Emperor of the Universe - the Prince of Saiyans, Vegeta. It had been a month after he had assimilated the Heeter's fully into his organisation, and taken Macki for his own, where Tullece well and truly realised what Vegeta was doing. He'd received a report, that one of his planets had been attacked; it was an agricultural planet, largely important for growing and shipping food to the army and their military bases. It had been raized by one man, and the reports from the Heeters' devices matched the description perfectly.
Short stature, unique Combat Jacket, dark black, spiked hair, and a tail. It had been Vegeta.
Tullece's mission still wasn't over. Not only did he need to destroy the last few dissenters, he needed to find planets which were disposable enough to plant the Shinseijū. Over the course of the past year, Tullece had replanted the seed of the Shinseijū on two planets - one of which his system had found for him, and another simply as a show of force. None of the natives of that particular planet would work for him, and Tullece, while he had other measures, preferred his clients to be understanding and accepting over the forced labour that Freeza had profited from during his tenure.
Fittingly, he and his family had made leaps and bounds in their strength from these two planets. While the bulk of the fruit had gone to Tullece, Aspara, Chi-Chi, and Macki had all partaken from the Shinseijū's fruit and grown in power. But he needed true nurseries for his garden, something his system was ill-adept at finding. It could narrow down possibilities, but it still gave him a multitude of selections based on the most likely. He had, however, found a possible candidate, based on an outdated signal coming from a planet close to the Outer Rim. He hadn't been able to determine its exact location, and neither was the ship's navigation, but the signal was old, dating back to before the formation of the Cold Army.
The mystery of this signal was why his adept Saiyan ears picked up the sound of light footsteps coming down the hall. Why he had chosen to meet with this young man today.
"Your Majesty."
The presence announced himself by speaking at the exact moment the door to the throne room on the Capital Ship opened. Walking through was a young alien who, if Tullece hadn't known him by name and reputation, he would have completely and understandably expected to be a woman. The person in question was a green-skinned Limean, with bright white hair worn in a ponytail, and protuberant, pink eyes, wide and interested. He wore purple spectacles, and a stylised Combat Jacket, consisting of dark purple shoulder plates, a matching stomach plate, and beneath this, was a white coloured robe, billowing out much like a dress. His boots were armour tipped, matching the shoulder plates. Immediately upon making it a certain distance to the throne, the young man knelt on a single knee before his ruler.
"Arino, I was wondering when you'd make it," Tullece turned off the datapad, resting it lightly on a floating platform by his side. Reclining in the Capital Ship's throne, the Saiyan Emperor looked down at the Limean called Arino. Though he would not look it at first glance - appearing more as if he belonged in the ship's library as opposed to its laboratory - Arino was the Chief Understudy of the Tullece Research and Development Department.
"My apologies, your Majesty," replied Arino. Even his voice was light and soft. "Sir Kikono held me up. You know how he is about acquiring precise and accurate data."
Tullece nodded. Kikono was the man responsible for pioneering the massive bulk of technology that Cold had used to conquer the Galaxy. Scouters, the earliest models spaceships, and the elastic material used to create Combat Jackets. All of those were the inventions of Kikono, who was a truly brilliant scientist Tullece had wasted no time in ensuring was given the proper accommodations to continue his research with satisfaction. He knew better than to waste valuable resources, and none was more valuable than Kikono.
Arino's contribution, however, rivaled that of Kikono to Tullece personally. This young man, in spite of his beautiful face and innocent smile, was as twisted on the inside as Tullece himself. The Saiyan Emperor had employed his corrupted mind long before he'd ever ascended to the throne, and Arino had personally lead the Compliance Operation. Making breakthroughs in that study, even an incomplete product had proved to be exactly what Tullece needed. This had led to a quick and unquestioned promotion through the ranks of the Research and Development Department. Only Kikono - who had recommended Arino for the project to Tullece in greatest confidence - was positioned as a higher researcher.
That was Arino. While as multi-faceted a researcher as Kikono, Arino's true skill lay in bio-science, and he was terrifying efficient.
"What of these results, then?" inquired Tullece. "Kikono has yet to ever disappoint; did the probes send back any useful information?"
"Yes, Your Majesty," replied Arino, head still bowed. "Our probes, combined with the information network of the Heeters' own probes, confirmed the location of what you seek: Tullece Planet 291, colloquial name Agmus. I've taken the liberty of programming the coordinates directly into the ship's navigational computer. You may depart at your leisure, Your Majesty."
The Emperor was unable to suppress the grin that crossed his face. It paid, it paid very well, to have such competent staff. His work had been done form him, all while he was pouring over that list to review what remained to be handled. "Raise your head."
Arino complied, looking directly at Tullece.
"You've done well," said Tullece, grinning. "Naturally, the kan bonus will be forwarded directly to your quarters. You may use the rest of the day as you see fit. I believe you are quite fond of someone called Coco? Leave the laboratory to Kikono and the rest fo the staff - good work deserves good rewards."
"Y-Yes, Your Majesty," replied a stunned Arino.
"Use this rest time wisely, Arino," said Tullece. "As one of my important staff, your presence will be required when I return from Agmus."
Arino, utterly perplexed, could only nod fervently as he took his leave. Tullece picked up the datapad by his throne, and, holding it carefully, slid from his seat. His dark cape billowed out behind him, in spite of the lack of wind.
"To Agmus it is, then."
Capital Ship, Training Arena
Adrenaline coursed through her veins, and Chi-Chi relished the sensation. Rushing past her, grazing her skin, singing her hair, was a flurry of crimson kikōha. Deftly, she managed to avoid each and every blast, which collided with the side of the walls, impacting the barrier that protecting the training arena from the bulk of the damage, and exploding. Her crimson eyes flashed dangerously, the beautiful, ebony-haired woman staring down her partner. Macki, eyes a matching crimson, and having changed her attire since joining the Tullece Army - sporting a Combat Jacket of purple and blue, with a shining metal collar that matched Chi-Chi's own - coated her hands in ki for another volley.
Chi-Chi flexed her muscles, bubbling ki rushing up to protect herself in her unique aura shape. She swung her arms outward, releasing a massive shockwave; the pressurised air collided with Macki's kikōha volley, forcing it tp peter out and die from the pressure.
"You're really trying to kill me, aren't you?" asked the Earthling woman bitterly.
"I have no idea what you mean," replied Macki slyly. "If you're too slow to dodge these, then the title of Empress is wasted on you anyway!"
"Are you still jealous?!" snapped Chi-Chi. "You've been petty about this ever since you woke up for the first time!" She pulled her hand back, thrusting it then forward and extending the aura around her body. The hand-shape construct snaked it's way to Macki, who leapt back, avoiding the dangerous attack as best she could. It followed her relentlessly, all while Chi-Chu kept talking. "You would think to show our Lord gratitude instead! He gave you life, and a purpose, but instead you waste time on pettiness?"
"I am grateful to him!" snarled Macki, igniting her arm in a blade of ki. She cut through the arm as it closed in, slicing off a portion which fizzled, the remainder retracting to join Chi-Chi's aura again. "But why should I be second?!"
"I was literallyat his side first!"
Macki rushed across the tiled flooring, her arm still coated in sharpened, pulsating ki. Boots clicking harshly against the flooring, the Heeter woman leapt into the air, spinning like a violent top towards Chi-Chi. She had become a blur of colour, a rotating mixture of purples and blues, encased in a single wheel of crimson.
Chi-Chi braced herself. The scarlet-clad Empress focused the entirety of her mental acuity on the aura surrounding her body. It was, after all, unique. An extension of herself. A limb possessing a full 360 degree functionality. The aura itself began to bud additional parts - resembling the tails of a bull, though much larger, and thicker - bubbling them forth in a massive surge. The tails whipped violently through the air, striking in every which way; they struck the walls, the ceiling, the floor, and served as a powerful and effective barrier.
Macki's blade struck one of the tails, locking Chi-Chi and Macki into a clash of wills which lasted seconds - a third and fourth tail flanked Macki, repelling her with ease.
The tails retracted, Chi-Chi grinning. Her ruby eyes flashed maliciously, staring into Macki's matching set.
"Earthling bitch...!" snarled Macki. She raised her hand, palm outstretched. Crimson ki spiraled in front of her palm, forming a powerful, concentrated kikōha. Chi-Chi, in response, began to cup her hands, pooling purple ki between them.
"Ka...Me..." She began the incantation. Her entire form was bathed in the violet hue of her normally azure attack. "...Ha...Me...HA!"
Chi-Chi thrust her arms in front of her, the Kamehameha exploding forth in a wave of purple. Macki's own technique responded in kind, a funneling blast of crimson rushing forward to meet its opponent. Both women were striking with the certainty of victory in mind.
"Cut it out!"
Both women were surprised to see a shape rush into the room, the long billowing of a cloak being the only thing they could see before it rushed into the middle of both of their attacks. There was the glow of a third source of ki, and their own techniques were nullified under the force of two explosions of purple. Smoke filled the room, though it was quickly extinguished by a tanned hand brushing it aside with an invisible kiai. Tullece stood in the middle of the room, unharmed by their attacks, though looking suitably annoyed.
"My lord, I'm sorry, we didn't—"
"—you weren't supposed to get hit, we're—"
"Enough!" Tullece raised a hand, and silence fell between his two wives immediately. "This was meant to be a training match between you two to polish your skills and get you both accustomed to fighting with these bodies. Instead, you're trying to kill each other?"
"We..." Chi-Chi averted her eyes, looking sullen.
"My lord, I do apologise, but I can't simply abide an Earthling girl like her being so well favoured," interjected Macki. "Aren't you a Saiyan? Shouldn't you strive for higher?"
Tullece gave her an appraising look. "You are aware, had I let you two fight seriously, that battle would not have ended well for you?"
"What do you mean?" Macki asked venomously. "She hadn't even landed a hit on me."
"Because I wasn't trying," said Chi-Chi icily.
"What I am trying to say," said Tullece, raising a hand for silence before Macki could butt in again, " is that I fought her firsthand. The power of the Shinseijū baptised her in a fierce battle between us. Had I not been Saiyan, she may have been able to best me."
"Beat you, my lord?" Macki floundered at this revelation. "Impossible! She's but a lowly Earthling, a backwater slug! I am a child of the Heeters, powerful for generations for our martial prowess as much as our intelligence gathering. Even Freeza gave us the kind of free reign he never assigned anyone else. And yet, she's the Empress?!"
"
She is," replied Tullece simply. "And that is final. It is up to the Emperor to decide who reigns at his side. If you have a problem with this, you're welcome to take it back up with me later. Or do you find my company displeasurable?"
"T-That's not it at all," Makci replied.
"Then learn to accept it," Tullece shrugged. "But enough of this. I have a mission for the two of you. You will accompany me to a foreign planet."
Capital Ship Navigation Room
"My Lord, is there any reason you're plotting the course yourself?" Mato, the head astrogator and pilot of the Capital Ship, inquired curiously. They were an alien with an oblong, hairless, crimson head, sharp green eyes, and whisker-like attachments on their face. Even their Combat Jacket favoured crimson accents over other colours. He looked distressed, or perhaps offended. "I am perfectly capable of providing this simple service."
Tullece ignored him for a moment, casually importing the coordinates Arino had given him into the ship's navigational computer. Only when he'd set the course for the planet, and taken the seat in the pilot's chair himself, did he reply to his navigator. "I am aware of your exemplary records. In the past year, you've not failed to take us to a single location as request. But in this case, I must affirm something for myself."
"My Lord?"
"See yourself out, Mato," said Tullece casually. "Take the day off."
"A-As you wish!" Mato scuttered out of the room, leaving Tullece alone with Chi-Chi, Macki, and Aspara, the latter of whom had been summoned upon his arrival into the navigation room, and appeared almost as disgruntled as Mato had been.
"Father, why did you send him away?" inquired Aspara, curiously.
"Because I want to leave no room for error," replied Tullece. He pressed a button, and the ship began to move. The engines revved to life, bursting through the deep vacuum of space and into the realm of hyperspace. Outside the viewport, Tullece's twisted family could see the familiar blue and white lights that indicated where they were. Tullece grinned. "Excellent. I was worried there wouldn't be a hyperspace lane along this route. It certainly means we're headed in the right direction."
"That's fine and all, but why am I here?" Aspara asked. "I could be training, Father, and—"
"You're here, because while the three of us depart to Agmus, you will be in charge."
Silence. Absolute, deadpan, silence. Aspara gaped at her father, blinking rapidly. Never once, not even during sieges on now conquered planets had he ever left her in charge of the Capital Ship. Her single visible eye bored into his, mistrust and confusion reflecting in equal measure.
"What?"
Her reply was simple.
"You are in charge," replied Tullece. "This mission is unique, different from any invasion we've ever undergone, even the ones I've led personally. Who else but my own child - the heir herself - would I leave in charge when taking my wives with me?"
"I..." Aspara found words difficult to mould.
"I simply need you to keep operations running as regularly as possible, child," said Tullece. "Our men know better than to disobey an order." The Emperor placed a hand on Aspara's shoulder. "You are my child, I am trusting you with my Empire as well." The navicomputer began to beep furiously, altering Tullece to the fact that they were coming out of hyperspace. Blue and white suddenly darkened, the void of space appearing outside their viewport as the ship came to a sudden, slowed pace. Tullece quickly turned his attention back towards the computer, frantically searching the system for their location.
"It's just like I expected."
"W-What is?" Chi-Chi asked, looking over her husband's shoulder.
"There should be nothing here," Tullece explained. He pressed a button on the keyboard, bringing up a holoscreen menu which showed a sequence of lines, dots, and connection points. A star chart. He placed a finger at an empty void within the net of lines. "This is where we are. According to our most reliable cartographers, there is nothing here. There never has been."
"And that's bad?" inquired Chi-Chi.
"The Heeters' own database has no information on this sector of space," said Macki, exasperated. "If we don't know, that's bad."
"But Father, isn't this a numbered planet within the database?" Aspara asked.
Tullece clicked his teeth irritably. not at his daughter, but as his damned predecessors. "That's what's so alarming. There is a named planet in the army's database that neither emits broadcasts nor can be reached by signal waves." He held up two fingers. "We have two options. The first is that the cartographers in Cold's time were simply unreliable; this is a fact, their early star charts left a lot to be desired."
"And the second?" asked Macki.
"The planet moved." Tullece said simply.
"That's impossible!"
"So is a set of magical wish granting orbs, or a tree that drains an entire planet of life force to propagate itself," shrugged Tullece. "I've learned to expect anything and everything. The Emperor of the Universe killed the engines with a click of the override function, turning to Aspara again. "It's time. Go let Rezin know that we're going to keep the ship out here; have him activate the forced suspension system and stop the ship's locomotion. Beyond that, simply keep everything running as normal."
If Aspara had any questions, she swallowed them down with her surprise and moderate irritation. "As you wish, Father," she said, seeing herself out.
"Ladies," said Tullece, motioning them to him. "With me."
Capital Ship, Space Pod Docking BayTullece, Chi-Chi, and Macki all quickly loaded into a spaceship. These were different from the standard round spaceships typically used by invasion units - these were, instead, ships built for parties of multiple individuals to travel at once. These models, still round in design, though not complete circles, were essentially smaller models of the Capital Ship. Tullece had seen no reason to undergo a mass change in aesthetic for the military equipment, as their armour and transportation had become as ingrained in Saiyan culture as any other that the army had conquered.
"Sir, are you sure it's wise to go to out on your own?" One of the aliens manning the Docking Bay, a green skinned, beak-mouthed individual, whose words came out in basic, mixed with intermingling clicking, asked. "Surely, we should send footsoldiers out first? We can't even ascertain that the planet is actually the-"
"If I don't trust the results from my Research and Development Department, what is the point in continuing to employ them?" asked Tullece sharply. "Bana, have you ensured the preparations have been taken for my vessel?"
"Y-Yes sir, everything is accounted for," replied Bana.
"Then that's it," said Tullece, stepping back and closing the door of the pod. Seating himself at the pilot's chair once more, he pressed the keys on the dashboard just as the hatch opened beneath them. The ship's ignition system, made such as to resemble the way an organic being flew, as opposed to a proper set of thrusters, burst to life, and the pod made a dash into the unmapped portion of space.
"How long do you think it'll take to get to Agmus?" asked Chi-Chi.
Tullece poured over the navigational computer. "Judging by the coordinates given to us by Arino, a few standard minutes at most. But now, I'm going to give the two of you a set of instructions - and while we're on this world, I want them followed, is that understood?"
"Instructions, Master?" Macki blinked in confusion.
Raising a hand, Tullece held up three fingers, still keeping his vision on the viewport showing nothing but the blackness of space. "Three conditions. The first, you will follow any and all instructions I give you. This mission is to inspect the nature and viability of this planet, and I have brought you two along because I trust your skills and because your are close to me. But I will not be dragged down, am I understood?"
Macki and Chi-Chi nodded nervously.
"Secondly, no infighting," Tullece said, his voice turning stern and sharp. "I allow you to vent your frustrations in training, but I will not have your personal bickering hamper our progress. You two are my wives, and I expect you to act like the family you are - whether or not you like that."
If Chi-Chi and Macki had objections here, they kept them silent. There was a threat in Tullece's voice they hadn't heard before, and an explicit instruction to behave kept them quiet.
"Thirdly, prioritise your lives," Tullece added. "I am stronger than either of you, I need neither protection nor saving. I intend to leave this planet with as many people as I landed on it with. Am I understood?"
"Y-Yes!" The two said at once. Whatever part of them had become nervous in the wake of his stern warning moments ago melted and warmed again at this instruction.
"Then get ready," said Tullece. "We're about to la—"
The lights began to flicker, accompanied by a rapid clicking noise filling the entire pod. To Tullece's surprise, the whole of their transportation began to rumble and shake, quaking in the void of space. "What the hell is this?!" snarled Tullece, rage taking him over. He did not enjoy surprises, no Saiyan did. Being surprised meant that a battle was a failure, or a hunt would often end with the return of no prey. Surprise, to the Saiyan mind, was synonymous with failure. Tullece swiftly began to examine the navicomputer, and to his ire, saw it was fizzling in and out. The starchart had vanished entirely from the display screen.
"What's going on?!" called Chi-Chi.
"Are we caught in a tractor beam?!" screamed Macki.
"No, we're suffering from a total systems failure!" Tullece growled. "Everything has been jammed; the navigation, the engines, everything!" Inwardly, he was grateful the artificial atmosphere had auxiliary power. He could survive in low air environments for much longer than someone like Chi-Chi, who would simply suffocate. "Damn it!" Were they simply going to be adrift in space here? None of them could survive the vacuum of space, so flying back to the ship under their own. They couldn't simply drift out here.
"Um...I don't understand much about how to fly these things, but shouldn't we be slowing down?" asked Chi-Chi.
"No, dolt," snapped Macki. "We're in space itself; unless something else stops us, we should keep the same pace the ship was moving before the engines were cut."
"...Then why are we picking up speed?"
She's right! Tullece took a sharp intake of breath, as the ship began to rumble and quiver once more. A sharp uptake in velocity was not what they needed, yet the ship was achieving speeds close to what Tullece would expect out of it in a dogfight. Staring at the height of irritation out of his viewport, Tullece was confronted with the situation he liked the least: one he had neither control nor infuence over. This wasn't how he liked to operate, with so many unknowns in the background. It was always hard to place pieces on a board when he couldn't see his opponent.
Outside the ship, something was coming slowly into view. Something so large, Tullece was astounded he'd not seen it before. Chi-Chi and Macki's eyes widened like saucers, their mouths falling open.
Before their very eyes, a planet had practically materialised. Where there had been an empty. inky blackness, they could now see a beautiful world of pinks, greens, and blue hues, mixed and dotted with the white of clouds. If only there was time to bask in it.
"This is what's pulling us in! It's Agmus itself!" Tullece called out. "Grab a rebreather, now! I'm gutting the auxiliary from the atmospherics to the shields! We're going to crash anyway!" He didn't even check to see if they followed his orders - the Emperor had to land his ship.
The Saiyan used his knowledge over years spent in Freeza's employ and even beforehand usage of ships to work quickly. His hands tore out cables from vital systems meant for enviro - dipping the flashing red into a pure crimson for loss of air - and hurry rigged them into the generator. Watching the shields brim to life, a luminous opaque light bore fruit of his desperate venture; covering the exterior of the circular vessel even as flames lapped over in rapid descent into the planet.
Seeing his mates place rebreathers on, he sat down and pulled straps on himself. Hearing the two click them on, he looked up in time to see a rapidly approaching glade of trees.
He had enough of a breath in order to shout out.
"Brace!"
And then, an incredible impact.
Smashing through trees, splintering at their burning kinetic battering, they blew past stories upon stories of woodwork. A series of shrapnel petered off the field of energy, watching it fizzle and flicker doing its best to fully disperse damage.
He heard metal grinding, glass cracking and saw a sudden break through the thick viewing port glass just as the last tree smashed to flotsam. The vessel sailed in the air for a handful of seconds, a body of water incoming before they skid across it with a shaking deceleration.
Jerking to a halt, the vessel rocked back along what looked like a beach, tipping a bit to the right and settling into the sand. Waiting a few tentative moments, Tullece slowed his heart rate and thanked his navy built these ships to withstand violent impact.
"Another happy landing," Tullece muttered with a smirk to himself.
"My lord, we seemed to have survived," Macki breathed out with surprise.
"Truly, the Heeters are lucky to have a fountain of intelligent observations when you were born," Chi-Chi snarked.
The Heeter woman cast an icy glare, but didn't rise to the bait. Instead she unbuckled and went back to check on the ship. Smoke spewed from the engine room, sparks awry from multiple cables and signs of water leaked through gaping holes of hull breach.
Grimly, she walked back carefully along the tilted hall, seeing Chi-Chi unstrap herself while Tullece looked already to be exiting out the viewing port.
"My lord, the ship is too damaged for us to get it off ground!" She called after him.
He didn't respond.
Instead, he drank in the entirety of this new world he crashed upon. The sky filled with a deep verdant purple, with clouds circling from where they entered. The distant star of the solar system bled this purple through the cracks of the atmosphere, draping lush green woodlands and rose colored mountains in the distance.
The lake they stood upon had a purplish-blue, that had a clearness that showed a deep hole below it a few dozen meters behind the ship at its center. Similar rivers and lakes dotted the vast landscape between another stretch of forestlands as far as he could see.
Winged creatures with furred wings and bulbous eyestalks stared down at them. They let out burbling sounds, just as aquatic creatures dipped above the surface too quick to be observed before diving below. Little rodents with reptilian limbs and tails scurried away from burrows by the beach, diving into the soil before visibly swimming along the ground.
"This place is perfectly untouched by technology or sentient life," Tullece proclaimed, his eyes marveling at it while a dark smile worked its way naturally across his visage.
It's perfect to use for the Shinseijū.
"My lord?" Macki asked, standing at his side with a look of perplexity aimed up at him.
"You can put the rebreathers away," Tullece informed, reaching into a confine of his armor, retrieving a single seed.
Chi-Chi looked at it with recognition immediately. While Macki had only academic understanding, this could be the first time she ever saw it in action herself.
Kneeling down, Tullece placed a palm to the earth. A brief grunt of force and it became distended, a crater of a decent depth, billowing up a cloud of dust into the air. Waving it away, he stood up, and dropped the seed down into the hole.
Then, he felt a sudden shift beneath his feet.
Eyes wide, he leaped back, watching the seed throttle up with a plume of bluish flame. Burning away, the Saiyan became shocked at what transpired.
"The Shinseijū seed! Why did that happen?" Chi-Chi cried out with angry frustration.
"That's what I want to know," Tullece muttered, putting a hand through his own messy hair with befuddlement. "I've never seen a planet reject the seed, let alone destroy it. Yet, for some reason," he looked around, finding his gaze looking everywhere, "yet, this is impossible. I feel ki everywhere. It's as if everything is not simply existing but aware."
"That's because of Agmus," A voice spoke from their right.
Chi-Chi and Macki reeled around, adopting fighting stances whereas Tullece simply turned his head.
There stood a figure that didn't appear to have stood there a moment ago. It appeared bipedal, a physical build akin to most mortal based life forms yet looked uniquely set apart from those of the Freeza Army's diverse ranks.
It had a reptilian head, with purplish scales enamoring the top of its curved skull down the back of its neck, leaving the protruding round visage with a pair of slanted nostrils, side faced eyes facing forward of yellow slits in black sclera and a row of intersecting teeth that had every other wrapped outside of where lips normally lied. Dressed in an ornate set of bluish-black linen that defined a pair of muscular arms with three clawed fingers and a pair of metal shouldered robes that flowed down to a belted pair of leggings that were partially concealed by a kama skirt of violet trimmed black. A silver tube dangled by his belt, and a leather bound book by a series of chains on the hip.
Apart from that, he appeared to look neutral in stance, his voice deep and echoed of calmness that permeated their surroundings.
"Agmus?" Tullece asked, raising a brow pointedly. "You're saying the planet is responsible for this?"
"To the uninitiated, it sounds rather bizarre, doesn't it?" The bipedal reptilian intoned, raising a single clawed finger for emphasis. "But I speak as one who has spent centuries of my life here. Agmus is a sentient world, the virbrant life around him are his extension and the ground below his skin. Yet, he's also much, much more than that."
"Are you saying it's alive?" Tullece asked with furrowed brows.
"Living just as you and I are," The strange being gestured to himself, his reptilian face grinning as he spoke. "But just as an insect is to us. We are but tiny mortals walking upon a god. You feel it in the nature too, don't you? The boundless Mana that swirls around us speaks volumes of his power and presence."
"Mana?" Tullece asked with a confused look. "You mean ki?"
"Hmmm," The reptilian raised his three fingers to scratch his chin thoughtfully. "I am not familiar with that term. Explain it to me."
"Better idea, how about we just kill him?"
"Chi-Chi," The Saiyan calmly assuaged, his eyes looking over to his Earthling wife. "I don't think it's a good idea."
"It is a poor one," The enigmatic figure responded bluntly.
"Why's that?" Macki asked, less invested than the other wife of Tullece, but still annoyed at this stranger's arrival.
"I seek to only exchange a dialogue. To kill me will benefit no one. You'll still be wondering where to go, and what to do. I simply wish to share my knowledge, and also perhaps learn something from fellow travelers such as yourselves," He explained calmly, showing not a hint of being riled or intimidated by the pair of women.
This intrigued Tullece.
A living planet? Mana? Something interesting is going on and he wishes to know more.
"I have a splendid idea," Tullece proposed with a fist onto an open palm. Both women looked at him in unison, bringing a smile that they were paying close attention to. "First, what's your name, stranger?"
"I am Zard," The bipedal reptilian bowed, placing a hand on his chest and swinging out an arm with his pair of fingers to his right. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"The pleasure is mine," Tullece nodded, looking at his two wives. "You want to have a demonstration of what ki is. I want to know what you mean by Mana. I propose a collaboration: my wives each taking you on in a contest to land the first blow. And after they take their turns, I'll show you the gap between them and I is. Does that seem suitable?"
Both Macki and Chi-Chi were surprised to hear this. Just a moment ago, he tried to make peace with this estranged hermit. Now he wanted to spar with him? And not just that, he wanted them to go first?
Zard gave a throaty chuckle, a hiss escaping his mouth as he grinned deeply at them.
"Very well. I accept the challenge," He affirmed, clapping his three digit palms together. Looking between the two women, he inquired politely. "Which of you would like to try first?"
"I will," Both women spat. Looking at each other, they let out another, "No, it's me! Stop that! I'm first!"
"Ladies, what did I just say earlier?" Tullece inquired, instantly quieting the two. Smiling, he placed his hand on Macki's head, rubbing it in a rare sign of affection to the woman. "You can go first. I want to see that Heeter blood of yours tested."
"Y-Yes, my lord!" She excitedly spoke, her face blushing reddish with confused yet welcomed acknowledgement.
As she trotted away, Chi-Chi looked between her husband and her mutual co-mate with confusion. Before the hurt could be felt, she felt Tullece's breath tickle her ear as he whispered.
"My Queen should always be second to me. I'd never allow a disgrace for you to be first and blind to an obvious unknown."
Her own face warmed, a smile sinisterly spread as she looked over to Macki walking about the soft soil in a semi-circle to Zard's right.
The Heeter's mind engaged with what she could see of this creature. He seemed tall, almost four meters in height, yet possessed a far more slim frame than a reptilian sentient should possess. His eyes made it difficult to get to a blind spot, as she could see the side of his face poising an eye straight at her.
A smile presented along the being's lips, causing Macki's left eye to twitch.
"Whenever you're ready," Zard said, boredom threatening in his tone.
Macki's body erupted into a flaring aura. A scarlet hue that held jagged angles across the field of bio-energy, her red eyes enhanced by the ethereal glow about her. Swinging her arm to the side, the field of red siphoned onto her appendage, creating a finely woven blade of ki.
Seeing him not making a move Macki made her own.
Seeing him not making a move Macki made her own.
Bending her legs, she darted in a line, a streak of red light to many except her beloved and rival. Held at the side, she changed trajectory ever so slightly to spin around in a buzzsaw spiral, aiming to cut him in half in a single motion.
Slashing through his neck, she grinned, watching the head detach from the body in a spout of smoke. Vapor that seemed to dissolve the rest of his body in front of her eyes.
"How-?"
"Apologies," Zard murmured, his clawed hand placed just behind her head. "This may sting."
THUUM!
An instant later, Macki felt herself collide with an immense blow of force. She didn't feel his hand touch her, not any build-up of ki. It happened so quickly that she hadn't time to process her own momentum until she smashed through several trees and halted upon a massive boulder beyond their sight.
A cloud of smoke, followed by more eye-stalked furry avians rising up with burbling warbles of alarm of a kinetic disturbance rattling them from their perches. Zard lowered his hand, looking at Tullece and genuinely surprised Chi-Chi at what he accomplished.
"How sturdy is your wife? I hope I didn't permanently damage her," He professed to Tullece.
"The only true thing damaged is her pride, I think," Tullece remarked, his glance in the direction of woodland carnage to reaffirm his own confidence. His ki sense telling him she was likely stunned but not unconscious.
Smiling, he looked to Chi-Chi who blinked at Zard. He could see the cogs in her mind turn, obviously reevaluating her opinion of the man.
Slapping her butt - eliciting a surprised yelp from the woman - he encouraged with an oddly upbeat sound from his voice, "Knock'em dead, Chi-Chi!"
"Y-Yes!" She affirmed, walking ahead with a silly crooked smile on her face, eyes briefly glowing a brighter red at the tap given to her.
"Knock'em dead?" Zard inquired with a tilt of his head. "Isn't this meant as a test?"
"It's a figure of speech meant to encourage people to do their best," Tullece explained away, watching his wife's sultry hips move side to side with a distracted gaze.
"Ah, an idiom," The bipedal reptilian nodded with understanding. "I am out of practice with all the nuances of the Common Tongue. We Saurians are usually more direct with our speech and don't tend to-"
A crimson light flared out, causing the hermit to look around in surprise as Chi-Chi appeared in front of him. Her legs had been wrapped by the ghostly image of a bull's, propelling her far more quickly than even a propulsion of ki flight could manage.
Throwing out a punch, Zard leaped up in an instant, somersaulting acrobatically over her to land in a crouch in front of Tullece. Chi-Chi turned about, blitzing back his way, his own frame spinning away just in time.
Her fist stopping inches away from Tullece's armored chest, releasing a buffeting gust of wind that made his dark cape raise up in a dramatic flutter. She looked up, momentarily taken aback, but the Saiyan smirked and merely thumbed his right hand over to the rising Zard a few dozen paces away.
"Sorry," She muttered lowly, turning about and dashing yet again to a swiftly evading Zard. He seemed to dance about, leaping from place to place, not dispelling into smoke like before when he had with Macki. She couldn't tell if it was a one time trick or if he simply knew that her seeing it done is enough not to try it a second time.
Regardless, she felt confident in her speed. If she could keep paces with her husband, there's no way a backwater magician was going to avoid her forever.
Landing down on the ground, Zard rose up, his back to Chi-Chi's incoming frame. She smirked, leaping up and over him, watching him lash out with a three fingered hand.
And in that moment, she kicked his face with a vibrant flash of ki to his jaw. She felt a solid connection, but a rippling liquid seemed to emit over the reptilian's visage, vanishing as quickly as it appeared.
Dashing back away, Chi-Chi looked warily at Zard as he lowered his hand.
"You've landed the first blow," He spoke with a smile. "Congratulations."
"I didn't," The black haired woman glowered with a glare. "You deflected it."
"That was there the moment I started the conflict," Zard admitted, shaking his head ruefully. "I don't know how durability works for people who use this thing you call ki, but for those who use mana, it's common to use barriers to shield oneself from harm," he raised a clawed finger, tapping the spot she kicked. "I recall the one to land first blow is the victor. This means you're the winner of this contest."
"I don't care!" Chi-Chi rebuked, her aura igniting in an earth cracking blaze of red, far darker than Macki's brighter scarlet hue. Many more avian beasts for miles rose up in fear, the air conducting electrically as she glared vehemently at the bipedal reptilian. "I am the Empress of the Saiyan Empire! I am not going to settle for anything less than first blood. If you're so worried about hurting your scales, than you shouldn't have started a game you couldn't win!"
Sighing through his nostrils, the hermit looked to Tullece with a conflicted glint in his eyes. The Emperor shrugged, smirking with eyes closed and a sigh of his own.
"You heard her. I can't argue the logic behind her feelings. Your engagement continues till first blood is had," He confirmed aloud.
"Very well," Zard murmured, looking back at the Empress and observing her mantle of flame surrounding her. Despite her rage, it held a soft serenity to the lapping current. Like a roaring inferno, there held a majestic unity as it worked in concert as one force rather than a discordant frenzy.
"Your energy has a beautiful appearance, my lady," Zard remarked, sliding a foot back raising a three fingered palm up while placing another behind the small of his back.
To Tullece's eyes, it looked to be a fencing stance, but there was no weapon in hand. Things are about to get interesting, he thought with a smirk.
"If you're hitting on me, you're wasting your breath," Chi-Chi replied with a wry smile, eyes glaring challengingly at Zard; punctuated by her aura transforming into the visage of a bull, with several serpent like tails and four legs. "I'm already married!"
"If you had studied the arcane, your use of mana would have been exquisite to see," Zard professed, staying still even as she changed her aura to suit her engagement. "But alas, I see you're already walking down a different path. Show me your power, Empress."
Chi-Chi rose up to the challenge.
The tails stretched out from an arching curve, snaking down to snap at his body. His clawed hand became alight with a shocking coil of energy, parrying the appendages of energy with flashes of lightning shocking the energy away into a host of sparks.
Chi-Chi didn't let this deter her, closing the gap between them as he had dealt with the spectral limbs. Just as she throttled both hoof surrounding fists at his chest, he stepped back, allowing them to whiff just short.
Grinning, she surprised him with the hooves launching from her arms in an extension of her aura straight at him.
KRAK!
"Impressive," Zard complimented, his arm swiping the spectral limbs away in a wave of lightning, dispelling them all the way back to her arms. She felt numb, as if she were shocked by an actual electric shock.
Yet, she dashed at him again, this time arching a kick around to hit his head, only this time parried by his shocking palm.
Leaving him open to a swift spectral bull's head charging straight at his torso and head.
"Most impressive," He deepened his voice, eyes glowing alight with a pupiless yellow stare.
A fraction of an inch away, Chi-Chi felt frozen in place.
Telekinesis?
She tried to use her own psychic ability but felt her ki was completely stilled. Even the coursing current of light had been paralyzed around her, making no sound.
Unbeknownst to her, flocking bulbous eyes furry avians froze in the air, the water's ripple stopped and even nearby land creatures stopped moving. Everything in a surrounding perimeter had ceased movement.
"I commend you for pushing me to use this," Zard applauded, seeing her eyes locked into the glare she had made in a determined last effort to stroke him. He raised his palm, positioning it right over her face. "I recall you wanted the condition to be one who extracts blood to be the victor?"
His reptilian digits began to course with bluish sparks, becoming more intense and spreading into a white orb of flickering light.
"Allow me to collect."
KRAK-KOOOOOOM!
Tullece watched the space of an instant between his wife making one last effort to attack, and then an instance of lightning throttling her backwards. A wordless cry came from her throat, her eyes rolling back as her body coursed with a mantle of intense shocking energy.
Tumbling back over a few meters, she was caught a moment later, her momentum skidding back with the one who captured her flying frame. Her gaze barely see anything other than a murky haze, her ears still ringing, and her mouth couldn't form words.
When she could see, it was a surprise to her.
"You did good, my Empress," Macki offered, a streak of blood noticeably trailing from her nostril and mouth from the earlier blow dealt by Zard. She smiled down at her, red eyes meeting her own as she remarked with a teeth displayed grin. "I can see why you're his first wife. If you came at me like that, I would've been a smear on the floor earlier."
"Ymfffsurebfffftinwaaaaay," Chi-Chi slurred out, her eyes rolling down with her head and her mouth foaming saliva. Before Macki's eyes, the woman in her arms passed out, still steaming from the intense heat of the lightning that throttled her.
"Did she hear anything I said?!" The Heeter cried out in anger. "Hey! I was giving you a compliment!"
"As pleasing it is to see you trying to mend your differences, Macki, it's time to step back," She heard Tullece speak, his boots crunching the grass under his heels. Her red eyes looked wide, seeing a wafting thin line of purplish-white ebb off him. Streams of violet smoke twisting into the air with his coinciding stride.
Feeling the man's ki rise, she felt goosebumps crawl along her skin. The last time she saw this was when she was with her siblings, when Tullece was about to fight Elec. Grinning with excitement, she lifted Chi-Chi in a bridal style hold, rising into the air and back to the canopy of trees a safe distance away.
Walking over to a handful of paces away from Zard, the Saiyan Emperor smiled thinly while staring hard at the bipedal reptile.
"You've piqued my interest when you spoke of mana, but now that I've seen it in action I have to say you made quite the impression," Tullece admitted, his cape fluttering under the wave of his glowing emission of rising energy that sparked his dark eyes into a purple glow. "You're a mage, aren't you?"
"I see you've peered past my veil of obscurity," Zard commented with a curl of his reptile lips, something akin to a smirk for himself. "Yes, I am a practitioner in the arts of magic. There are many ways one can achieve enlightenment, and sorcery is by far the most diverse road one can take."
"Now that you've seen ki in action, how does it differ from your use of mana?" Tullece asked, curious as to what made this particular specimen tick.
"Ki uses one's internal energy by way of martial arts," Zard began to intone, raising his hands to gesture for emphasis. "Meditation, grueling physical exercise and honing one's mind are all necessary to use one's life force efficiently.
"Among my people, the Saurians, this path is used by warriors and they call it khiss: it is harnessed through anger, giving into one's primal instincts and surging your body with immense power from one's spirit consuming the mind in rage," He explained, smiling with a nostalgic glint in his reptilian eyes. "In my youth, I used this power. It is useful, in circumstances. But mana is far more adept and capable in any situation."
"In what way?" Tullece asked.
"Khiss pulls at the life force of one's body and spirit, with the mind working in concert to make it function. Mana is the fabric of all existence of which khiss is pulled from, and without it, khiss cannot flow. But mana can exist in places where khiss cannot," He explained, gesturing to the planet around him. "This planet's mana was so vast that it awakened an intelligence separate from mortal beings. It used this intelligence to create its own biome, and all life here is abundant with khiss because of the wellspring of mana that exists here."
Tullece looked taken aback.
"Are you saying, the planet manifested its own soul and created everything alive on it?"
"Incredible, isn't it?" Zard inquired with a smile. "Gods had nothing to do with this planet, yet it willed itself into existence. The phenomenon is one of a kind, and may be the only world in the Universe that has evolved this way. I have been here for the past three hundred years, and I have been only one of many who have journeyed here. Agmus wishes to connect with others in the cosmos, and he wishes to test them; much in a similar way we are testing each other."
Tullece felt trepidation. He knew this world was different than any other he came across. The records being inconsistent, the name being known apart from designation despite nothing else to describe it.
What had Cold truly know about this world? For that matter, what had Freeza?
A living planet with the power to create life and be actively seeking out other sentients made him wary. He never encountered such a life form, and he wondered how he could reason with it.
Especially after he tried to plant a planet killing seed into it.
"My lord?"
Zard's words pulled him out of his daze. Shaking his head, he looked back at Zard with a smile.
"Apologies, I became lost in thought," He said, reinvigorated to begin their contest. "I'm ready."
"Good," Zard began with a word, returning to his 'fencing posture' while looking at him with patience.
Raising a gauntlet wrapped hand of his own, Zard curled one scaled brow up at this small gesture of the Saiyan's. He curled his fingers, slowly forming a fist.
The Saiyan Emperor pulled his fist back, putting his other hand up with a thumb wrapped palm while crouching down in a squat. He let out a soft inhale, his aura disappearing into the air. His eyes closed, allowing him to focus on the flow of energy around him, his target and himself. Swirling around in a symphony of life, he blocked out each part till only he and the Saurian remained.
Then, he opened his eyes, and his body flickered out of view.
VOOOOOOOOM!
Zard's eyes widened, his mouth agape and the breath left his lungs. The barrier around him split apart in a liquid flash of light, centering at a fist sized impact on his chest from a materializing fist over a dozen meters away.
Tullece's knuckles steamed, a smirk forming on his face as he saw Zard stagger a few steps backwards.
"I win," He proclaimed softly.
"A-Amazing," Zard gasped out, blood escaping his toothy lips as he grinned broadly at the Saiyan rising tall in victory. "You moved so fast, and your attack penetrated my barrier with ease. You truly are a world above the two who you've claimed as wives."
"Had I powered up any higher, I couldn't guarantee your body to be intact," Tullece admitted with a shrug. "I can't have someone so talented being harmed in any severity."
"You please me, my lord," He responded with joy, placing a hand on his chest and bowing his head. "I assume you wish to have an audience with Agmus. I can assist with that, if you permit me."
"By all means," Tullece waved an arm dramatically. "Show me the way."
The following minutes that passed into hours as the hermit mage guided Tullece and his two wives through the jungles of the planet. Creatures of all shapes and sizes kept a wide berth, a product of the battles they had waged. That or the mere existence of this sorcerer had a means of staving off large beasts and other potent surprises on the group of travelers.
Making their way through the glade they came upon a mountain with winding stairs circling up a violet tipped, blackish mountain ahead. Carved into their sides, Tullece wondered how many walked them up the mineral formation. Did the planet forge it, or was it the pilgrims that strode up their ancient steps?
"Is this all necessary?" Tullece asked, coming up on the seventh hour of walking up the mountain stairwell.
"Absolutely," Zard replied, not looking back as he kept a brisk walk up each step ahead. "Agmus wishes to be greeted in a humble manner. Showing temperance in the face of an easy route shows that you wish to meet, not waste his time."
"Humility is not a tenet I like using," Tullece confessed with a grumble. "Even if I have extensive experience using it."
Zard didn't respond. He kept walking ahead, scaling the mountain as he followed.
The Saiyan looked over his shoulder at Macki, hauling Chi-Chi on her back with arms draped over her shoulders and legs held underarm. His first wife still looked spaced out, not fully conscious even after all this time.
Sensing her ki, he couldn't tell when she was to awaken.
More hours were spent, scaling up the mountain. At first, when he saw it from afar, he had underestimated the scale of it at a distance. But now, at the tenth hour, he saw clouds pass around the peak, and he could see the eye-stalked avians perch on patches of cliffs near the steps.
The air felt thin, the ki weak and yet an ominous sensation weighed upon him. He started to notice it past this tall step how heavy every muscle had been. When was it last since he felt physically strained at simply walking?
Then, with his mind adrift, he arrived at the peak. Looking ahead he saw a perfectly carved stone surface, a floor that circled around with various symbols of a runic alphabet he had no knowledge of. Even the Shinseijū ruins he found weren't this archaic.
Walking ahead, Zard knelt on his legs, placing his hands up on his lap. He looked to Tullece, watching the Emperor of the known Milky Way galaxy sit down with his legs crossed at his right.
"Please, join us," Zard offered to Macki, gesturing to his left.
She looked wary, unsure what the mage is up to. Staring at the spot, she heard Tullece, "Listen to him," drawing her gaze to the man before looking back at the spot.
Slowly, she approached, unwrapping Chi-Chi and resting her next to her left while she crossed her own legs to sit to the Saurian's left.
Zard looked ahead, his eyes closing.
"Oh ancient one, master of mana and bringer of life, I beseech you," He uttered, his eyes opening in a pupiless glow. "Grace us with your presence, Agmus!"
The planet below, shifted. Tullece's keen sense of hearing allowed him to hear the ground quake, the plates tectonically quivering and air swirling about straight to the sky. His eyes widened, seeing light shoot up from the center of the carved platform, an enormous wellspring of bluish fire rising to ebb into the outer reaches of the depths of space.
Within the pillar of flame came a voice, and one that thrummed his chest like a bass of a million instruments in chorus, and the sound of a hallowed chorus.
Beautiful and terrifying.
Be not afraid, Saiyan.
Swallowing hard, his eyes could scarcely fathom what he was feeling. This isn't telepathy, nor is it technology at play. The flames themselves willed words into being and formed straight into him in a way he could understand. His heart beat swiftly, sweat sloughed off his skin and his eyes reflected the fire burning ahead of him.
Why have you come here? My disciple is not easily impressed to entertain guests onto this hallowed ground.
"I…" Tullece started, finding speech hard to form. Shaking his head, he reaffirmed his motivation and looked ahead at the fire. "Agmus. I am here to find value in this world. I had intended to use you for the sake of my empire. But instead, my ship crashed, my only resource to plant here burst into flames and I found intrigue in this power called mana. I wish you to share with me this power-"
Do not lie to me, Tullece, son of Nonoi.
He found his speech cut down by the flames, its words tearing through as easily as a child chastised by a father. The utterance of his name, of his own parent's, brought back a painful memory.
The one prompted over a year prior, by his near death at the hands of his nephew. His drunken, blinded father, beating him for skipping missions to train with an elder Saiyan. It has forged his hatred of the modern Saiyans, of his father, and led him down the path of groveling and scheming to his position today.
Only to be judged before the flames of a god atop this alien world.
I know of the world eater, Shinseijū. One long ago tried to plant it on my very body, intending to rob my life for the sake of power. He now suffers a fate worse than death, forever till the end of the Universe.
"If I may," Zard intervened, clearly realizing that Agmus is angry. "He only believed you to be an uninhabited planet, devoid of intelligence. Easy to extract whatever this Shinseijū provides him."
The stench of death hangs heavy on him. I hear the cry of mana off him. Their souls scream and he smiles at their suffering. I will not grant him knowledge of my wisdom, Zard, as I have you.
Tullece grit his teeth, his hands clutched his knees as a dark shadow cast over his eyes. He looked down, expression unreadable to the Saurian. Even Macki looked over with a fearful expression, not able to fathom where this line of dialogue is going but knew it wasn't good.
"What will you do?" Zard asked out quietly.
His fate was sealed the moment he came here. He shall be tested, as all who came before him. Whether you, Tullece, son of Nonoi, prove worthy is completely up to you.
A sudden scream of light erupted upon the mountain. Tullece had stood up in an instant, a roar of purplish-white rose up around him, his aura large and defiantly blazing with crackles of black electricity around him. Hair stood on end erect, veins throbbed along his brow, jaw and neck, eyes ringed with purple as he balled his fists and glared down the blue pillar of fire.
"You think you know me, Agmus?!" He shouted back at the flames, his ire feverish and fury boiling over. "Let me tell you something. I alone know my destiny lies beyond this place. You are a footnote in the annals of history. For I, the Emperor of the Galaxy, have bested the Legendary Super Saiyan in combat and tore down a dynasty centuries of old with my two hands!
"And I will kill anyone who stands in my way," Tullece snarled, raising a hand threateningly at the pillar of fire. "Even you."
The bluish flames didn't waver. They continued to roar, stretching into the sky. Even Tullece knew what his anger wrought was a foolish bluff. He had no idea if he could kill something of a supernatural level.
Yet, as he held his hand out, something else appeared in the fire. Taking shape, it began to walk out, a man walking towards the enraged Saiyan. The flames began to disperse off him, unveiling brown vested blue undershirt clothing with thick gloves and boots of similar brown leather material. Pale skin, pointed ears and a mohawk of orangish hair flowed along the gust of wind Tullece's ki created. Green eyes opened, and a rough voice escaped his lips.
"Agmus sent me here, did he?" He questioned, the being wistfully staring at Tullece's visage with a far-off stare. "Is this my fate? To be tested again and fail? Or are you my salvation?"
Tullece didn't know what to think. This man just materialized out of thin air, walking out of the flames unharmed. Just what madness is he dealing with that he could spawn entities out of the ether as if just breathing?
"My name is Tapion of Konats," He proclaimed, his green eyes flickering yellow, an immense wind billowing out from him as a ghostly greenish projection of ki swathed out of his body. From it all could see a monstrous beast, a skull for a head with a broad darkened body and a scorpion's tail as long as a massive tower. Clawed gray claws formed from thick arms, and its feet placed on either side of the sky near the mountain top. "The prison for the Demon, Hirudegarn. I failed to keep him in check, and he rampaged while I became his prisoner. Agmus consumed us, and now I am doomed to be one of many chosen to test Pilgrims set before us."
The projection of Hirudegarn swirled back into Tapion, siphoning into his body. Reaching to his back, bluish flames whisked into being, forming a scabbard and broadsword whose hilt he grasped. Unsheathing it, a beautiful shimmer of metal appeared, ringing the air with its magical design of runes enamored along its center.
Swinging it to the side, the air ignited with a sudden explosive burst of crimson fire. Roaring out in abundance, he hefted it forth with one hand, green eyes glaring ahead at Tullece's standing person.
"Defend yourself," Tapion whispered, suddenly appearing up above him in a mind blowing display of speed. A single swing, and a blast of fire streamed out, connecting with the Saiyan's gauntlet, blazing out in a blistering discharge of heat that scorched the sky and rolled down the massive expanse of the mountain.
Zard stood up, watching with eyes wide. His body shimmered with friction, the barrier holding up against the clash between the pair of warriors. Tullece held up against the downward shove of the blade, having embedded into part of his gauntlet's armor. Visibly he sweat under the heat of the flames, kicking past his impressive aura of purple that continued to roar around him.
Macki felt horrified.
This strength exceeded her in magnitudes. Even now, the only reason she couldn't feel the immense heat of the flame was Zard standing in between her and the two's collision.
Macki of the Heeters, and Chi-Chi of Gyūmaō.
The braid-haired woman looked over in fear, and a barely rousing Chi-Chi blinked in a dazed state.
"Where?" She asked, seeing wafting flames surrounding her environment. One spoke to her, and the other looked to be bearing down from a dagger eared man facing her husband.
You have potential to wield the fetters of mana. But you, too, shall be tested.
"What's going on?" Chi-Chi asked, looking at Macki who looked at the blue flame with even greater fear. "Hey, what does that mean?"
Another figure stepped out of the blue inferno. This one looked bigger, and much more physically imposing. Both women trembled as it took shape, knowing full well Tullece couldn't protect them.
And that they were on their own in the face of this god's test.
A/N:
LastationLover5000: These sorts of chapters are my favourite. This one, and the previous one, devoid of any kind of involvement from the main cast of characters, while we get to dive into the villains and explore what they're doing, or what makes them tick. My co-author and I are both massive fans of My Hero Academia, and one of the most memorable moments in that series was the Rise of Villains Saga, specifically the Meta Liberation Army Arc - in which the focus is largely set on Tomura and his cronies. Naruto also did it before MHA ever did, in the Fated Battle Between Brothers story arc, which details Team Hebi as they finally track down Itachi, and Sasuke's battle against Itachi and subsequent assault on Killer Bee, leading into the biggest arc in the entire series: the Fourth Shinobi World War.
A story is not all about its protagonists, and while it can certainly manage just fine if you tell it from their point of view, the antagonists points of view are just as - if not sometimes, more - important. And that's the kind of narrative my co-author and I desperately want to tell here. So, that tangent aside, this was a massively fun chapter to write. We got more of Tullece, Chi-Chi, and now, carrying over from the last chapter, Macki, who is fitting right in - and to anyone wondering why or how, patience.
Now to explain a few name puns. Fruit and vegetables abound here. Arino is a pun on 有りの実 (arinomi), or pear. Something delicate and sweet, like Arino himself. Mato is simpler, as it comes from tomato; it is the most imported fruit, fitting for the navigator of a ship. Nonoi, the father of Tullece and Bardock, comes from "onion", a root vegetable, sharing his name origin pun with that of his first son, Bardock, and grandchildren, Kakarotto and Raditz - root vegetabes, but not, noticabely, with Tullece. Gine is also a pun on an onion, so Tullece is fittingly the black sheep. Zard is a lot simpler. Lizard.
My co-author's section was amazing, full of fantastic descriptors and battle scenes, as well as establishing characters and concepts! Agmus is fantastic, but Tapion is the biggie. If Tullece was my huge filler suggestion for this fanfic, then Tapion is my co-authors. I have mixed feelings on Tapion myself, as well as the sixteenth Dragon Ball film, which can be boiled down to "What if Gokū fought Gojira?" and that really isn't as awesome as it sounds.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this update! With Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet coming out tomorrow, my longtime readers know what this period means: at least three weeks of suspended writing! To our American audience, have a happy Thanksgiving! To our global audience, be happy anyway! We'll see you all soon in the next update!
Demod20: I. Love. World building. Ever since Toriyama's scripted movie in Super's film, Broly, I have been *starved* for more sci-fi expansion and exploration. Here, I wanted to make similar strides by crafting some new and mixing something old together.
Agmus. A living planet isn't a new concept. Ego is known in Marvel, especially ever since his debut in the MCU, and even the Planet who also became a Green Lantern in DC Comics. But to me, Dragon Ball seemed like a perfect opportunity to show not just a sentient planet, but a new original character displaying the nuances of magic; another underutilized system that is barely touched up on despite one of the main villains uses it. Many Dragon Ball characters uses it but they and fans kind of take it for granted that people just do it but never think about how and what are their limits?
Hope this continued exploit generates some excitement and intrigue as I had writing it. My co-author did fantastic setting it up, making the build-up to Agmus debut all the more great. Hope to see more of his Tullece Army and the colorful members he keeps staffed. See you all in the next update.