Happy New Year's Eve! Stay safe out there!
AnonymousDBZFan,
OMG, YOU are amazing! *Heart emoticons!* Your overwhelmingly positive feedback blows me away every time. That is the thing I wish to hear: that reading the story is like watching a movie. My favorite writers had that effect on me, and I really strived to figure out how they did it. It is the absolute best thing to hear from you that I've been succeeding! Thank you so very, very much!
And I am moved beyond words that this story got you thinking on the controversial wish to wipe peoples' memories in the Buu saga. That's something that I always found unsettling. Because Touketsu Vegeta's situation so strongly paralleled Majin Vegeta's, I was inspired to write in this aspect of the Buu saga near the end of "Touketsu". It was in the third and final chapter of "Something in Common" that I examined the morality of that wish. On one hand, it's a violation of a person's very thoughts. On the other, it spares them trauma that could potentially destroy them.
Lol, I'm glad you caught that part of Baba sweating a little when Touketsu threatens her. I re-watched some episode from DB, Z, and Super, and I def saw her cowardly side (in spite of her sassiness – though she certainly isn't afraid of Yemma). I definitely make her a little braver here, but perhaps she was feeling bold after picking up on Touketsu's devotion to Bulma and Bra, lol. I really enjoyed writing these two opposite each other, and I'm glad I could find the opportunity. Baba and Vegeta barely interact in Z, and I always thought it would be fun to see more. :)
I so enjoyed coming up with this armor, though for once I forget just how that happened, lol. You can see Touketsu Vegeta modeling it if you go to DeviantArt and punch in ATrenbeath. :)
AnonymousDBZFan, your readership and comments have made this long journey so worth it. You are the people I write for. Thank you again, and have a Happy New Year!
Crossroads
The sky was barely lightening with a frail dawn as Toska's waning crescent moon began to dip behind the mountains. Bra asleep in his arms, Touketsu descended beneath the cloud cover and scanned for the crossroads as a light snow began to fall. They approached a valley, and his eyes widened. Far below, the silvery fields gradually took on a blue hue; they were fields of tiny, indigo periwinkle flowers.
The blue flowers the witch mentioned, he thought. They were close, they had to be. Still, no crossroads could be seen. Perhaps it was hidden beneath the wildflowers? He landed in the valley and gave Bra a little shake. "Bra. Bra, wake up, sweetheart." She was unresponsive, and his brows furrowed in fear. He shook her. "Bra?!"
"Hm?" she straightened groggily.
Gods. He let out a breath. "Hey Princess," he said gently. "I think we're close to the hotspot. I need you to get the doll out and help me find it."
She rubbed an eye and yawned. "Mm. Ok." She pulled the effigy out from her pocket and held it light side out as he walked forward with her in his arms. She tracked it back and forth a bit without luck. After only a minute her arm began to droop, her eyelids growing heavy.
He jostled her gently. "I know you're tired, tough girl, but you have to hang in there. Come on."
She straightened and tracked with the effigy again, Touketsu aimlessly wandering through the vast field. How were they going to find it like this? Was it even here? The effigy dropped from Bra's loosening fingers onto the ground, and she slumped against him.
Shit. "Bra? Wake up, Princess. Reach down and pick up the doll." He placed his manica-clad left hand over her back and leaned her down. She was limp in his arms, fast asleep. "Bra? Bra, please, wake up!" She shifted a little, alive but exhausted. They were running out of time. He turned desperate eyes on the effigy lying amidst the periwinkles, its dark side stark against the gathering snow.
Aware of the risk, he snatched it up and began urgently tracking the effigy back and forth. The snow suddenly came down harder as he strode through the field without success. Damn it, he had to get her off this plane! He tried futilely for all but a minute before stuffing the effigy back into her robe pocket. He was never going to find it this way. They needed to cover more ground.
His bright ultraviolet aura flaring, he shot into the sky with Bra and flew over the expansive valley. The clouds were darkening, the winds picking up as the now heavy snow quickly covered the fields in a white shroud. Touketsu caught his breath when he saw something: Amidst the field of white was a blue cross, its edges fading into the fallen snow. It was the only spot where the periwinkles hadn't been covered. It was warm there…
It was the hotspot.
The crossroads! Yes! He flew down and alighted at its center. "Bra! We found it!" She awoke with a start but began quickly falling asleep again. "Come on kid, get the doll out. You only need to hold it for a…"
His head snapped up. He'd seen something from the corner of his eye. Lightning? He saw it again, but it flashed in a strange manner, almost undulating. His eyes widened, his heart slamming in his chest when he caught sight of white, snake-like coils gliding up and down through the dark clouds. No…No!
"BRA, WAKE UP!" She jerked awake, and Touketsu looked up to see a jagged blast of white energy coming at them.
Pulling Bra tight against him, he leapt to the side. The icy lightning struck where they'd been, instantly freezing the ground. "What's happening?!" Bra cried. Touketsu tore into the sky with her, the glittering white dragon in pursuit.
A blast struck him, and his muscles went completely numb. Touketsu tumbled out of the sky, and to his horror he lost hold of Bra.
"Fly, Bra!" He barely had time to get his unresponsive body back under control when Bra was hit by a blast of icy power from the dragon's mouth. "Bra!"
The energy whirled around the little girl, trapping her like a figure within a snow globe. Imprisoned within the sparkling white ball of magic, Bra was drawn into the dragon's talons. Touketsu's head whipped to his adversary as she sped towards him.
He flew backwards, leaping over mountains as the dragon crashed through them. He crossed his arms over his face, his body darkening. Zhernobog said my Demon form was the only way to win against Marenna. So be it. His ultraviolet-white aura still encasing him, his body darkened. Purple light ran through his markings and lit up the stone as his aura took on a dark purple hue swirling with black energy. His stature and muscle mass increasing, the diagonal markings of his feral form split over his pectorals as a ridge of hair ran down his tail. The purple light strobed down the Phoenix Manica before immediately becoming blue-white. His aura began to lighten.
The bulging muscles over his body stopped growing, and Touketsu smirked to himself. This power is MINE, Zhernobog. Remember? Thestone in his chest briefly flashed ultraviolet-white, the energy crackling through his markings once like shadow was expunged from his body, and his aura changed to a bright, roiling purple.
Larger than Touketsu's base form, Demon Evolved was more constrained than its predecessor. The Phoenix Manica, imprinted with Vegeta's ki signature, had influenced the dark energy and successfully tempered the transformation. He had full control. The pupils of Touketsu's red eyes constricted.
Massive muscles flexing, Touketsu pulled back his arms in what looked almost like his Galick Gun attack. Hands cupped and fingers curled, they were held a foot apart from each other as balls of ki rapidly built within each one: From the right, a purple ball of tempered dark ki, and from the left a blue-white ball of true ki. They combined into a searing ball of ultraviolet light, white hot at the center. His arms shaking as the energy built, he thrust his hands forward.
"KAMI KOROSHI!"
There was an explosion as a beam of energy was unleashed. Touketsu closed his hands around it like he was gripping a pole, and the attack flashed before taking on the form of an immensely long, crackling ki spear. Inspired by Raditz's Riot Javelin, Touketsu fed his power into the God Killer and charged the incoming dragon.
The dragon was caught in the throat and stopped in her tracks, her coils writhing about in a ball. With a war cry, the enhanced Touketsu pumped power through the spear, blasting off bits of sparkling, snowy scales from the beast. The pearl was released to slowly float down.
Touketsu glanced at the sphere hovering in the sky. Marenna's hold over her magic was weakening, but Bra was weakening too; he had to be ready to catch her after destroying the goddess. He looked back at his adversary, and with a roar channeled an explosion of power through the weapon. Ultraviolet light grew within the beast until it exploded outward in showers of snow.
Still holding the spear, Touketsu swiftly turned his attention to Bra; she was still trapped. His head snapped up when the falling snow suddenly flew together at a single point. With a deafening thundercrack, it exploded like ball lightning. He flew back as Marenna's power traveled up the spear and into his body, dispersing his ki weapon and shocking him as he was sent crashing through mountains.
He hit a mountain side and tumbled down, the ensuing avalanche covering him. There was a rumbling, and purple light pierced through the snow and rubble like lasers. The entire thing blew outward around Touketsu as his roar echoed through the mountains. Demon Evolved still holding, he gripped his chest and snarled at the dragon racing towards him, the pearl again in her clutches.
Touketsu's eyes narrowed. Fight fire with fire. His body's animal instincts kicking in, he darkened to black. With a roar the shadow left to lash out in wild tentacles, forming the Black Dragon Avatar in seconds. Touketsu its glowing purple heart, the black dragon flew at the white one and lunged for the pearl in its talons.
Marenna released the swirling pearl to go straight up to disappear into the clouded sky. The powerfully built avatar grabbed her around her long neck, and she swiftly wrapped her sinewy coils around the broad-shouldered black dragon. They twisted and grappled in the sky as purple ki built within the black dragon's maw. It aimed for the other's head and fired.
She ducked beneath the column of energy and blasted her opponent in the chest with brilliant, aqua energy. The black dragon's chest freezing and fracturing under the onslaught, it shattered like smokey glass when the white dragon plunged her head through. Her jaws closed around its pulsing, purple heart.
The red eyes of the Black Dragon Avatar snapped wide, the purple energy still streaming from its mouth thinning and disappearing. Clamped between the beast's jaws, Touketsu roared in agony as he was jolted with icy power, his draconian avatar mirroring him. The black dragon's heart was ripped out, and it collapsed in a deluge of heavy shadows as the white dragon rocketed with its prize to the valley below.
Touketsu struck the ground, a crater forming around him in an explosion of land as the dragon became pure energy. Like a lightning rod, the electrical dragon drew bolts of lightning from the sky, its own form becoming a huge, jagged column of light. Frigid lightning spidered out around Touketsu, the power breaking away the soil and fusing it into fulgurites of ice around him.
Eyes wide and mouth open in a silent scream of agony, Touketsu's breath was ripped away with every jolt. Graying out, he lost hold of Demon Evolved and went limp, his head dropping to the side. The thinning lightning still dancing about his twitching form, it dimmed to take the shape of a massive, clawed forepaw covered in white, pearlescent scales.
"Bra won't be leaving home again."
Touketsu blinked through heavy eyelids at the gentle voice, and the dragon's claws tightened around him. He was lifted to large sapphire eyes, the dragon's catfish-like whiskers and alabaster mane floating amidst the whirling snow. "And neither will you," she intoned through unmoving lips.
Like a person dying of exposure, Touketsu felt as though he was wrapped in a warm, woolen blanket. His half-hooded eyes alighted on the magic sphere descending from the clouds into the dragon's claws, Bra trapped within. The globe dissipated, and the white dragon gently wrapped her talons around the little girl.
Touketsu resisted the siren's call to surrender and sleep. "Marenna," he slurred. "Y… you've succumbed to the dark just as I did. Can't you see that? After ev-everything you taught me? Let Bra go. Turn this around."
The dragon turned to him, the movement creating a soft rumble of thunder. "Forward is the only way, my love."
"Are you sure," he panted, "that's the direction you're going? Can you see in the dark, Marenna?"
The white dragon brought her drowsy captive up close, regarding him as though he was a precious stone. "I see you," she intoned, her soft voice lilting up in affection. She nuzzled his small, incapacitated form. "My light in the dark." The dragon took to the sky, her undulating, serpentine form riding the currents to disappear into the blizzard.
Touketsu weakly strained against the dragon's grip. Shadow Cast came over him, but he couldn't access his fiery Berserker transformation. Marenna's frigid energy had smothered it. His body darkened to jet black, his tempered aura exploding from his form before turning ice-blue. "K…Kuroshimo," he gasped. If he could drain her, she could loosen her grasp. Ice cold as Marenna's energy, the attack had no effect. Touketsu weakly raised his head to Bra. She'd been watching him, awake but drowsy. His eyes widened; the Super Saiyan. As powerful as Marenna was, Nappa and Raditz had been able to hold their own against her.
"Bra," Touketsu sent telepathically,his hair whipping around him. "Bra, can you hear me?" She barely nodded her head. "I need you to do two things. First, I want you to go Super Saiyan. Just for a moment." His body darkened to a flat black, his aura contracting around him. Then…I want you to attack me." Bra's eyes widened, and she nodded. She closed her eyes, and gold light suffused her body. With a scream she ascended to Super Saiyan.
The taloned paw wrapped around her rippled like water before blasting away in sparkling droplets. The dragon's head snapped over in surprise as Bra free-falled, and the little girl blasted Touketsu. The attack instantly pulling into his body, his markings strobed gold. He released the Super Saiyan power in an explosion of gold light to temporarily destroy the dragon's other paw.
Touketsu dove towards Bra and snatched her up. He blasted over the mountain range, leaving a blistering contrail of energy in his wake before landing on a ledge. They'd created some distance, but she'd find them eventually. They had to hide. Spotting a small cave, he held Bra close and wedged himself in.
"Bra, are you alright?" She sniffled and buried her face in his neck. "I'm proud of you, kid."
"Is she going to get us?" Bra whispered.
He didn't answer. Zhernobog told him that embracing his demon form was the only thing that could defeat Marenna, and he knew why: As Demon Touketsu, he'd simply destroy everything. Demon Evolved wasn't enough. The only thing that seemed to have any effect on her was beyond his ability.
"I'm sorry I can't go Super for you, Bra," Touketsu said quietly.
She leaned back, sleepy and looking as though she was pushing through a mental fog. "When I went Super and gave you some energy, didn't that almost happen?"
"No. Whatever energy I absorb, I have to use it immediately or it will lose its identity. This armor slows the process, but it has its limits."
"Well, what if I sent you a bunch?" He shook his head. "But what if-"
"No, no, Bra, that's not how it works. Absorbing second-hand energy just doesn't provide enough power. It's not your fault, kid."
There was silence between them for a few moments. "What was that thing you were doing? Kuro…Kuroshimo?"
His brows drew down, unsettled why she'd ask that. "It's that draining technique I told you about. It takes other's life force."
"What if you tried it on me?"
His hair bristled and stood on end. "Why in the hell would I do that, Bra?" he demanded quietly.
"If I went Super and you took some energy, it should make you go Super, too."
"Bra," he began firmly, "your life force would be drawn directly out of you. Kuroshimo's purpose is to injure."
"But the Super Saiyan form will protect me, won't it?"
"To a point, but-"
"And if I just hold the transformation, you could get enough energy to transform."
He faltered. It was theoretically possible. Bra's energy had helped him reconnect with the Life Force because her ki signature was half Vegeta's. Absorbing her Super Saiyan power could trigger a recognition in his body. He'd certainly gained incredible power when he used Kuroshimo on a Super Saiyan 3 Goku. He grit his teeth. But that was Goku…at Super Saiyan 3! Bra was an inexperienced, first stage Super Saiyan. She was risking her life.
He shook his head. "Bra, no. Channeling that amount of Life Force through an untrained body is far too taxing. Just being on this plane is draining you!"
She briefly came to life when she delved into science. "But at Super Saiyan I can do it! You know how electrical devices can only handle a fixed amount of power?" He stared blankly at her. "Ok, like halogen lightbulbs. They have filaments that produce light from the heat of flowing electricity. A power surge will overheat the filament, and when that happens it will burn out and snap and the whole bulb explodes."
"…Bra, what are you getting at?"
"I'm the bulb, and Super Saiyan is like a surge protector or a light fixture with a high wattage rating. Through it, I can channel more power without blowing up the bulb."
His mouth pressed into a thin line. "Perhaps Super Saiyan can enable the body to handle a greater influx of Life Force, but as soon as you drop the transformation you'll be tapped out. Doing that while on this plane could kill you!"
"We have to try!"
"Bra, damn it, you'd have to sustain it while I constantly drain you. Kuroshimo will hurt you! I won't hurt you!"
"I can do it, I'm stronger now! I'll be alright!" His face tightened and he shook his head, and Bra brought both of her little hands up to cradle his face. "Please, Touketsu. I trust you, ok?"
His brows furrowed. "Bra, I…"
"I've been thinking about training Trunks. For Super Saiyan."
Bulma reached out to the side of his face. "Hey." She gently turned his head so he was facing her. "I trust you, ok?"
"…Ok," he whispered. He drew Bra close, his arms around her. "Alright, Bra. You'll need to stay awake and keep channeling your ki, ok? It's important you stay awake. It's going to feel very cold. It will be difficult to breathe, and…it will hurt. Do you still want to do this?"
She nodded, wrapping her arms around his neck, her head over his shoulder. "Yes. I'm ready."
My brave girl. "Do it, Bra." She clung tight to him and began powering up. With a scream and a burst of brilliant light, she ascended to Super Saiyan. Touketsu patted her back. "Ok. Here we go." His body darkened to jet black as the blue light strummed through his markings, and his ice-blue aura burst forth. Here we go," he repeated to himself, his voice barely above a whisper. He closed his eyes. "Kuroshimo".
Bra gave a stifled yelp as the cold bit into her. Quickly, she felt her breath leave. As Touketsu had trained her, she focused on the feel of the Life Force flowing through her rather than the pain her body was being subjected to. Touketsu was battling to maintain the mental state of his Detached form. This was ludicrous! Goku had to push above and beyond Super Saiyan 3 to provide enough power to override his own. At Super Saiyan 1, Bra's ki would be converted to dark more quickly. The manica now slowed that process, but Bra was still pushing extra hard.
The cold light lancing through his body turned gold, the stone in his chest going from blue to yellow. As though in recognition, the breastplate of the manica began to glow blue-white with the sustained feed of this new but familiar power. It became gold, the energy pulsing up and down the plates covering his arm as the energy circulated through his body. The manica was successfully maintaining the identity of the Super Saiyan, but no transformation was taking place.
"You still with me, Bra?" She didn't answer. His now gold eyes snapped open and caught sight of her hair shifting between yellow and blue. His body blanched as he dropped the technique. "Enough of this! Bra, are you-"
The cave they were in suddenly burst around them. Touketsu curled protectively over the now unconscious Bra, fragments of rock whirling around them to be swept into the blizzard above. Touketsu looked up when a deafening thunderclap ripped through the heavens. The face of the white dragon pushed through the clouds, the mist curling around its face as it breathed in. White energy built within its jaws.
Touketsu shot into the sky with Bra, but not quickly enough. He cried out when the blast struck the little girl in his arms, the impact sending them both tumbling to the valley below. Touketsu twisted his body beneath Bra, and powdery snow was sent into the air when he hit the ground and went sliding through.
Urgently he rolled over and checked Bra. She was once again trapped in Marenna's suspension spell, her body frozen and unresponsive. There was a thunderclap, and his head snapped over his shoulder to see the dragon rocketing towards them. His gold eyes widened, Bra's Super Saiyan power circulating ever more weakly through his markings and manica.
Shield her. SHIELD HER! The gold light strobing up and down the armor quickened in speed and power, and he brought his left arm up as all the Super Saiyan energy diverted to it. "RAITO TATE!"
A shield of brilliant gold energy exploded over his arm. It flared outward, burning like the sun and stopping the dragon midair. Marenna writhed about in a nest of coils, the snow whirling about her falling as rain. Touketsu rocketed up into the air and pushed the dragon back at breakneck speed. With a pulse of darkness and heavy ki energy, Svaroken was summoned over his right hand.
Touketsu drew the dark blade back, preparing to land the killing blow as the beast weakened under the radiant power of his shield. The dragon grew translucent, and it began to shimmer and ripple. Touketsu roared, the shield flaring threefold with refulgent energy as he raised the dark sword.
The blade never met its mark. The overwhelming power of the Super Saiyan shield had dissolved the dragon into vapor. Touketsu hovered in the air, too concerned for Bra to really register his sudden victory. He was about to rush back to her when he stopped at the sound of a disembodied voice.
"You're exercising greater conscious control over your opposing energies, Touketsu."
The mist whirled around, growing denser and quickly turning into a blizzard that retracted in on itself. Touketsu leaned back, teeth grit and his eye twitching at the sight of Marenna across from him.
"It is that armor, isn't it? I sense its ki signature. It is from your old life, I can tell. While it has improved the balance between your energies, they are still at odds with one another."
Touketsu brought up the energy shield that was still blazing over his left arm and charged her. He saw too late: The Super Saiyan energy had been expended, the shield reduced to the blue-white of his ordinary ki. Marenna struck it with the palm of her hand, sending him flying back as the energy shield froze and shattered.
"Do you remember what I told you during our first spar, Touketsu? Dark and light are two sides of the same coin. As one, but separate and individual. They cannot coexist at the same time, not if their identities are to be fully embraced."
I won't embrace that form! The dark blade retracted up Touketsu's arm to cover his body in darkness. Purple light strobing, he released the shadow with a burst of power to again become Demon Evolved. He phased behind her, arms raised in a double axe handle as Marenna whirled around. Her black fingernails were now 2-foot-long claws.
Touketsu's eyes bugged out when he was slashed through the midsection, his body faltering. She slashed him left and right, leaving him no time to react before holding her hand out to him. Touketsu howled in pain when her long claws shot forward to spear him through his right arm.
"You can't win against me."
He was driven through the air by her lengthening nails until his back struck the side of a mountain. Pinned, he watched Marenna draw back her other arm before flinging a barrage of ki-imbued icicles at him. They struck him like the bullets of a firing squad, the attack ceaseless.
Touketsu lost hold of his transformation. Fighting through the onslaught, he blasted away the mountain side with a roar, shattering her icy nails and evaporating the incoming projectiles. Marenna's fingernails returned to their original state as Touketsu summoned Svaroken. Eyes wild, he flew at her.
Marenna's staff met his blade, and Touketsu was sent rocketing back in an explosion of white light. He looked at his hand; the dark blade was encased in ice, its dripping fires snuffed out. His head snapped up when Marenna slashed her staff through the air in a series of blurring moves, sending sickles of white energy flying from the waning crescent scepter.
Touketsu cried out as he was struck repeatedly at multiple points, sharp, freezing energy slicing across his arms, torso, and legs. One grazed his left cheekbone, several more his throat as blood flew from the deep wounds, the ruby drops freezing and darkening to fall like showers of garnets from the sky. The onslaught stopped. His alabaster body covered in red slashes of coagulating blood, Touketsu attempted to reach Demon Evolved. He couldn't; his strength had been frozen by Marenna's last attack.
Tears rolled down Marenna's cheeks before freezing to crystalline drops. "Please stop resisting. It pains me to hurt you."
Touketsu raised half hooded eyes to the ice queen. His lethargic body trembling, he drew in a shuddering breath. "You've gone mad, Marenna. I won't let you make Bra a goddess of misery!"
"I must if I'm to have you."
Shaking, a hint of desperation flashing in his eyes, he flew at her with his left arm cocked back. Her hair turned white and flew out to lash around his wrist, jerking him back. Swiftly bringing his arm to his side, he was quickly bound in a cocoon of her lengthening locks like an insect in spider's silk.
"You embraced your true ki too late, Touketsu," she said as he strained against the binds. "You relied on the dark ki too much. So much, that you developed an insidious new power capable of disrupting my magic. You used it that night in the arena to destroy my barrier and escape. Why have you not resorted to it again?" He didn't answer, and her locks tightened. "Why?"
"The cost is too great," he ground out as her tendrils constricted around him like snakes. "Zhernobog hadn't been receiving enough energy to rebuild his army, so he hoarded whatever he got for me. I accepted it to defeat Zeygorn, but I won't again. If I do, I'll lose myself to it. Then everything would be lost. This world, the Mortal World, my family, EVERYTHING!"
A smile of admiration touched her face. "You protect Creation," she said softly. "My dear, sweet man. You've proven responsible after all. If only you'd exercised responsibility from the beginning."
"It would have been irresponsible to not train and strive for self-mastery, Marenna. Zhernobog can't be ignored, his influence has to be fought!"
She shook her head. "Saiyans. Fighting is all you seem to understand. You fought at Volkfangr to distract yourself from your past, and all you did was lead it back to you. By fighting, you strengthened the dark ki. You should have done as I suggested and drank. You'd be my king instead of my prisoner."
"Weren't you the one that told me the importance of self-awareness? My mental state generates negative energy just as the dark ki does, it's true. They go hand in hand, they feed each other. I have to be cognizant of my every thought and action. If I'm not, he'll find a way to work through me."
"It is your lost family that has been driving your anguish, Touketsu," she implored. "Zhernobog's been using that against you. You needed to forget them. You needed to let them go as I did my husband."
"You didn't! Turning your back on a shadow doesn't make it disappear, Marenna. You locked him away in the dark unseen, but still he influenced you. Drove you to addiction and madness. You claimed you burned away your connection with him, but all you did was displace your issues into your daughters. The secrets you kept – from your children, your people, the gods, ME – they're what brought us here!"
"It is your drive to fight that brought us here," she spat resentfully. "You rejected my attempts to rid you of your pain. You stubborn man, you just wouldn't listen. Zhernobog left me bereft, and you did the same the day you were banished. You're making me go through it again. You could have stayedwith me!" she cried, her hair tightening around him. "Your battle lust and pride separated us!"
"My battle lust and pride separated me from my wife," he choked out, tears squeezing from his tightly closed eyes. "I was never yours."
Her fracturing face hardened. "You will be," she said coldly, her binds tightening around him possessively. "I could imprison my husband because I was his weakness, and he is now bound to your soul." Touketsu's eyes cracked open, his brows furrowing. "I told you. There are many gods more powerful than me. I simply have power over you."
Marenna's hair instantly became lightning, her form disappearing into the snow-filled atmosphere as Touketsu was struck 360 degrees with flashing bolts of power. The icy, white lightning flashing and suspending his form like a fly in a web, he screamed as he was jolted with freezing energy. Marenna's gentle, disembodied voice rang out over his cries.
"You're a good man, Touketsu. You're simply misguided."
The relentless, icy lightning blasting through his body felt like frostbite through his veins. Touketsu screamed out in agony, his fibrillating heart stopping with every assault only to be restarted again. His eyes rolled back and closed, and his head lolled over his left shoulder as he went limp.
The lightning dancing over his form moved behind him, diminishing in brightness to again become silken, white hair. It gently unwrapped from him and returned to its raven shade as slender arms came up under his. A sheet of ice appeared mid-air beneath his feet like a floor as he was pulled close in a tender embrace. Marenna lay her head upon his shoulder, her cold tears falling on his skin.
"I love you," she said, her voice cracking, "but you are so very difficult." One hand gliding up his chest, the other stroked up and down the ridges of his abdomen as he shuddered. "Can you not see how hurting you hurts me? There will be no more disharmony between us. I will be rid of my anguish, and after you drink, I will tell you of your best qualities. Your passion, your charm, your nobility…your loyalty to your queen. Your defiance will die," she whispered into his ear, and Touketsu opened weary eyes. "I will shape you into my perfect lover. Strong, noble…and obedient."
Deep within, Touketsu heard a dark chuckling. "I approve of this union."
Touketsu's half-hooded eyes widened as he marginally lifted his head. Zhernobog…the Bond! The dark god could exploit him through the recurrent dreams generated through the Bond. The unknown peoples' lives would plague him, slowly fill him with subconscious longing and anguish. His mind wiped of Zhernobog and all he'd learned combating his influence, he'd be vulnerable to the power harvested for him. He'd become the mindless Demon Touketsu, and Creation would be destroyed.
"Marenna…N…no," he mumbled weakly as she tilted his head back to trail apologetic kisses up his slashed throat. "You're Zhernobog's weakness, but he's also yours. He's using you, he's using us both! Through the Bond he'll destroy everything! P-please!-"
"Shhh. It will be alright, my love. I will take care of you and my new daughter. I'll take care of everything," she whispered as her hand rested over the breastplate of the manica. "I will strip you of your tortured past, and you and I will start anew." Ice began spreading from beneath her fingers as she prepared to tear the armor from his body.
My family. They won't be destroyed! Touketsu's body darkened, his weak Berserker aura pushing against Marenna's magic through sheer was no desire for power or control, there was only a need. He needed to protect them. His circulating negative energy purified by the manica, it rapidly grew in strength. The breastplate flashed gold.
Something began to happen. As though the last influx of Super Saiyan energy had revived a forgotten memory within the armor, golden power began pulsing up and down its plates. Marenna gasped and drew her melting hand away from the Phoenix Manica that was beginning to burn like the sun.
The energy pulsing through the armor brightened as it circulated through Touketsu, and the blocked ki channels quickly reopened. His body instantly reconnected with the Life Force, and something dormant began to awaken as the Manica continued feeding its influence through him. Marenna released him in surprise when water began to weep off her form.
I won't let you do this, Marenna. I won't let you do this, Zhernobog!"
The ice encasing Touketsu's sword began to shimmer and drip, the dark blade shattering incrementally to reveal something bright beneath.
"YOU WON'T DESTROY THEM!"
There was an explosion of golden ki like a solar flare, driving the goddess back and instantly melting the ice floor. Suspended in the air, Marenna stared in shock at the sight before her.
Touketsu hovered in the air with his back to her, his body a blinding white and his radiating aura yellow as the sun. The dark Phoenix Mancia had become gold. His wavering hair that had once been black as night, from his wild mane to the wooly hair that covered his arms and legs, shone a brilliant, solar yellow. He turned to face her. His eyes were a piercing blue-green tourmaline, the stone in his chest burning like the sun and his markings like veins of gold.
The demon had ascended. Touketsu was a Super Saiyan.
He brought his cracked sword up. "TAIYO-KEN!" Touketsu swiftly brought it down to his side. Like rust knocked off a blade, the darkness shattered to reveal a straight and blazing sword of solar energy.
Marenna gaped. "Zhernobog…I can't sense him. H…how?"
The blazing power of the Super Saiyan was one of the Kagemazoku's weaknesses. The other was Touketsu himself. Like the sun chasing away the night, Touketsu's Super Saiyan energy had completely overwhelmed Zhernobog's dark presence. In his Ascended form, Marenna had no power over him.
"Light and dark. Two sides of the same coin, but separate and individual. I understand now, Marenna." Touketsu took his battle stance, the Phoenix Manica burning gold as he brought his left hand up before him. "My war with Zhernobog isn't over, but my battle with you is done."
The ice queen's face ran a gambit from disbelief, to grief, to desperate determination. "You're MINE!" Her staff materializing, she rushed him.
He caught the weapon in his gauntlet clad left hand, and Marenna flinched when shock waves of the refulgent energy traveled up through her staff. Her entire form rippling like water and growing translucent, he pulled her over just as the staff shattered into glittering fragments of ice. The suspended particles melted as he held her against him, the blistering power of Taiyo-Ken growing over his right hand. When Touketsu spoke, there was not an ounce of irony in his quiet tone.
"Thank you for your lessons, milady."
Eyes wide, Marenna watched as the gilt energy blade was driven straight through her. Her wavering form became as transparent as glass, the brilliant gold energy filling her like light through a suncatcher.
The gold light grew to blinding levels before exploding outward, reducing Marenna's body to sparkling droplets of water before evaporating.
The clouds surrounding Touketsu were driven back in a circle as the brilliant energy traveled outward, the blizzarding snow instantly falling as rain. She was gone. Touketsu had become Marenna's weakness, and without her power over Zhernobog, he was able to defeat her. He watched the rainfall, somber. Before his death, he couldn't say he was capable of feeling remorse. I'm sorry, girls.
His chakra centers cleared in his Super Saiyan state, Touketsu had attained a strange new ability: He could now detect energy given off by supernatural objects. The Phoenix Manica, which at first only gave off Vegeta's detectable ki, now vibrated with its own individual energy. He also detected a change in himself. Marenna's binding spell had been broken. He could again use Kuromon, and as a Super Saiyan he could do so undetected. The energy signature given off was completely different, essentially disguising the black hole that created the portal.
He looked down at his glowing Super Saiyan form. Bra had done it. A small smile quirked his lips before quickly dropping, and he sped back down the valley towards the girl. Spotting her small form amidst the melting snow and periwinkles, he landed and knelt at her side. Marenna's suspension spell had broken, the frost having lifted from her face. Still, she was unresponsive. Her skin was nearly white, and bruised half-moons rimmed the undersides of her eyes. Her lips had a sickly blue tinge.
He drew in a sharp breath at the sight of her. "Wake up, Bra. We made it. You're going home. "Bra?" He checked her pulse, checked her breath. Fear tore through him when he could barely register anything. "Hey…hang in there, kid."
He snatched the effigy from her robe pocket, fearful that the effigy wouldn't work with Marenna gone. To his brief relief he could feel the supernatural object's unique frequency. It was intact. Like a child, it bore the energies of its parents while nonetheless being individual and unique from either.
Touketsu curled Bra's fingers around it. "Come on, lazy girl, take it. I'll make a portal and-"
A cold, dead weight dropped in his stomach when he saw it: Minuscule particles of light were drifting off her. Her body was dissolving.
"No. No, it can't be," he muttered. "Come on, Bra." He wrapped an arm around her and hoisted her in a sitting position, his other hand over hers and the effigy. "Come on, take it. Take it! PLEASE, Bra!...Please," he choked as the effigy fell from her lifeless grasp.
He swiftly lowered her back down over the periwinkles and put his ear to her chest. Moments passed as his eyes started in disbelief.
"NO!" He sat up and laid his gauntlet-clad left hand over her heart. "I was dead, Kakarot. You brought me back. If you can do it, you fucking clown," he hissed, "then I sure as hell can, too. I will. I HAVE TO!"
Gold power channeled from his Super Saiyan form down to her, gently, willing the residual life force fast dissipating from her dead body to strengthen. He felt the faintest connection.
"Come on, girl," he whispered, his eyes closed and his brows drawing together. "I've got you. Come back to us." Suddenly he felt her energy begin to blossom like a tiny flower. Hope began to stir within him as it steadily grew, and his eyes snapped open when her chest began to rise and fall beneath his glowing hand. "Good girl. Strong girl. You've got this."
Bra took a sharp intake of breath. Her body began to grow rosy, and her breathing evened out. Her blue eyes fluttered open, and they widened at the sight of Touketsu's battered but brilliant Super Saiyan form. "Touketsu," she said in awe. "You…you did it."
"Bra," he breathed as he pulled her to him.
She wrapped her arms around his neck as they embraced each other. "You're alright! You did it!"
"You did this. Thank you, Princess." He leaned back, her arms still wrapped around him. "It's over now. Marenna's gone. Her spell's been broken, so we don't need a hotspot anymore. I'll create a portal and send you straight home."
Bra was silent as she regarded his blue-green eyes. "Now?"
He snorted in disbelief, a wry smile quirking his lips. "What the hell do you mean, 'now'? Haven't spent enough time in purgatory?"
Her brows furrowed, and she pulled him back into a hug. "I'll miss you," she whimpered. Touketsu stared out over her little shoulder.
"Do you believe they miss you?" Zhernobog asked from his memories.
His eyes drifted closed. No, Bra. You won't. She wasn't ready to hear about Vegeta's dark past, not without being drawn into it. Her light couldn't be overshadowed. There had to be a balance. Touketsu pulled away. Grasping the pendant around her neck, he gently lifted it over her head and offered it to her.
"Bra, before you go, I want you to drink this."
She looked confused. "I'm supposed to drink it? What is it?"
He uncapped it. "It's water from a river called Lethe. It will make you forget everything you've experienced in Other World. Drink it, and it will start working as soon as you get home."
She looked at him uncertainly. "E…everything?" He nodded. "Will I remember you?"
"No, Bra," he said quietly. Her brows furrowed and she began shaking her head.
"Why do you want me to do that? I don't want to forget you," she whimpered. "And I don't want to forget everything I learned. I can go Super, now. I want Daddy to be proud of me."
He sighed. The role reversal of now encouraging Bra to take a memory wiping drink was not lost on him. "He already is. Bra, some of the things you've experienced here, you're not ready for yet. Maybe eventually, but not now. You risk breaking if you take on a heavy burden too soon. It's important to build your strength first." His turquoise eyes dulled. "Trust me. Your father and I would know."
Bra studied him, tears beginning to well in her eyes.
"I made mistakes."
She sniffed. "Ok," she said quietly, and she accepted it. Upending the small vial, she drank its sparkling contents. Touketsu took the empty vial from her. "Thank you, Bra." He looked down at the effigy, a frown forming over his face. He drew one sharp claw over a slash on his arm, reopening the wound and drawing blood.
She gasped. "What are you doing? Don't hurt yourself!"
"It's alright, Bra. Just need to leave a message." He picked up the effigy and scrawled on its light side with a bloody claw before wrapping her hands around it. "Remember, you have to hold the doll tight. You ready?" She nodded before throwing her arms around him in a hug, and he sighed when she planted a kiss on his cheek.
Kneeling by her side, he extended his right hand out before them. Touketsu focused on her bedroom, the warm pink of the night light, its sense of safety and security, and his urgent need to bring the little girl back to her sanctuary. The familiar feeling of the shadow crept over him, but he maintained his focus on the Super Saiyan transformation. Gold light strumming through his markings, the stone in his chest glowed like the sun.
"Kuromon". The shadow traveled from his body up his arm and punched through the atmosphere, the black hole rimmed in disguising gold light before it burned its way to the other side. The blessed sight of Bra's familiar bedroom opened up to them, her bed just a few feet away.
"Hold on tight, Bra. Go straight to bed and don't look back."
Her eyes fast becoming bleary, she rubbed them sleepily and nodded. "Ok." She kissed him on the cheek once more. "Thank you."
He nodded and gently pushed her towards the portal. "Time to go. Goodbye, Princess."
"Goodbye, Touketsu."
"Don't look back. Don't look back," he whispered to himself. His heart was hammering in his chest, terrified she'd lose her grip on the effigy just as she crossed the threshold.
She stepped through. He watched her walk the few steps to her bed, all but falling into it as she hugged the effigy close. She didn't look back when the portal closed.
Touketsu knelt alone as the snow continued melting under the rain. His eyes closed as he tilted his head up to the heavens, abject relief washing over him. Bra was at last safe at home. It was over.
His blue-green eyes cracked open, and they returned to crimson when his Super Saiyan form at last winked out. The Phoenix Mancia returned to its dark shade. There was a rumbling of thunder as the rain fell harder, plastering his black hair to his back and running in rivulets down his face. His eyes dulled.
It was over.
His body slowly descended into darkness, the dark ki pulsing weakly through him several times. Then, it simply stopped. The shadow lifted as his eyes closed, his brows drawing together. They furrowed, and he collapsed forward onto his hands and hung his head. The shrouds of snow continued to melt under the pelting raindrops, the periwinkles and silvery grasses reemerging all around him.
Alone in the empty fields of Toska, Touketsu wept.
Final chapter up next
While writing this final battle, I kept in mind the battle between Goku and Touketsu Vegeta back in the first story. In this case, Touketsu Vegeta is now in the position of Goku, trying to talk some sense into his opponent who has gone completely mad. The fight between Touketsu and Marenna also ties in with that of Dazbog and Morana. After goddess of winter Morana poisons the sun god and holds him captive during the winter, he breaks free, 'burning her and sending her back to Nav,' according to Slavic mythology.
Dazbog, aka "The Giving God" is a Slavic god of sun and rain (which is where the "giving" part comes in, as these are essential for crops). Dazbog is also associated with the Underworld, given the illusion that the sun disappears into the earth every night (much like the Egyptian sun god Ra, said to travel through the Underworld between dusk and dawn).
I ended up assigning a couple Slavic gods to Touketsu Vegeta in this story, namely Dazbog and Veles. Veles and his brother Perun are the oldest gods in the Slavic pantheon, the two strongly paralleling Loki and Thor respectively. Veles is a horned god of the forest and is associated with cattle, fertility, rain, and the Underworld. A trickster, he is nonetheless venerated as a god of nature and all its chaotic qualities.
Marenna's long claws were inspired by another depiction of Morana, portraying her as a hag with "rakes for hands". In this case, she's called "Cow Death", and is a personification of the cattle disease anthrax. I felt compelled to weave this in, after Touketsu indignantly accused the princesses of confusing him for cattle, lol (and also for the Veles parallel).
Periwinkles are symbolic of new life. They are often found in Slavic cemeteries, and a number of European cultures adorned children's graves with them. Red poppies on the other hand are associated with fallen soldiers and Morana herself. I had this in mind when I planted poppies on the other end of Kalyna bridge near the end of "A Knight".
Typing out the scene where Touketsu uses Kuroshimo to take Bra's energy, I immediately realized where the inspiration came from: It's from a scene in James Cameron's ultra-old movie "The Abyss". Check it out if you haven't seen it, it's a good movie.
Thank you for reading! Have a safe and happy New Year!