"That's not fair!"
"All is fair in love and war Krillin." Jazz laughed. "You have your talents, I have mine."
They had reached the castle ruins and stared at the opaque dome of ki and magic Yamcha had referred to. Jazz had recently activated Max Power and was charging a Magic Fire-Kamehameha, the name he coined for his technique that mixed magic and ki."
Krillin was complaining about that very technique. He knew Goku could do the Kamehameha, and he accepted that Chi-Chi had an inherent talent with Ki. "Roshi didn't teach me that yet!" He shouted.
"Krillin, you learn it all by yourself though, that's how Goku did it, right?" Jazz looked up to the Oozaru, who nodded.
"Are you sure Roshi didn't tell you anything?" Krillin asked.
"Nope, just, feel, or pretend you feel, your energy, the very essence of who you are, flowing into two halves and concentration back together between your palms. "Then release it…like so!" He launched a blast at the barrier. Jazz had beaten the plurality of Oni, so he was graciously allowed to try and break the barrier first. Jazz had grown much stronger since that fateful night 5 months ago. Even without using Max Power/ Pump Up, he was just about at the strength of himself of the past using Pump Up, of course, that didn't stop him from showing off now. Jazz bulked up, causing Krillin and even Yamcha to nod in approval of his well sculpted muscles. 'Muscles are a man's romance!' He thought, turning to look at PaoPao, she looked at him with a bored expression before turning away. 'But… a man's romance?!' His mind cried out in anguish as he released a massive Magic Fire Kamehameha into the barrier. The sky was bathed in yellow and blue light, followed by a rush of smoke.
As the smoke slowly cleared, Jazz's face twisted in displeasure. "Nani- the fuck?!" The barrier, as pristine as it had always been, remained standing.
"Wow… 'like this!' Pft…" PaoPao imitated Jazz's inflection and emulated the Kamehameha pose, causing Chi-Chinto giggle.
"Shut up! Let's see if you can do better!" Jazz backed off and lay down on the ground.
PaoPao smirked and took out a talisman. "It will be easy." As she walked forward, Jazz simply folded his arms and waited. PaoPao took out her blade and launched several ki waves forward, then launched 5 talismans forward. The blades clashed against the barrier, then bounced back towards the talismans, which seemed to rebound the blades back to the barrier, again, and again, and again, growing faster with each rebound. A dull whine filled the air as the blades of ki moved faster still, and finally a loud explosion rang through the air. As the dust settled, the barrier remained, much to PaoPao's Chagrin.
"'It will be easy!', pft, that's you." It was Jazz's turn to mimic PaoPao's tone.
"At least I put a scratch on the barrier!" PaoPao retorted.
"Hey, at least I've broken a barrier once before, one pass and one fail is way better than one fail."
"I could have broken that earlier barrier with much less time than you, that doesn't count for anything!"
As the two teens continued to bicker, Goku looked at the barrier, then at his hands, and began to concentrate.
The others began to slowly back away as the massive oozaru charged a kamehameha.
"...and really now, you think just because we both couldn't achieve a breakthrough, our efforts were the same? Getting a 50 on a test is very different from getting a 0." PaoPao snorted.
"That's right PaoPao," Jazz replied, "a 50 is very different from 0, but don't beat yourself up too much. At the least, I don't think you did so badly that we should give you a score of 0, right g-" He immediately tackled PaoPao towards the group, morphed into the largest thing he could think of, and rocketted them as far from Goku as possible. Not a second too soon, as the sky went white and filled with a sound so loud they went deaf almost instantaneously after. As the world was blanketed in the void of night once again, ringing filled everyone's ears.
…
The first to recover from the daze and shock was Krillin, he looked to see each of his friends, save Jazz, were falling from the sky. "_!" He shouted in alarm, but the ringing was so great he didn't hear anything. He looked at his allies and saw PaoPao was the closest. He looked down to see they were rushing towards the first layer of clouds. Krillin gulped, but angled his free fall, at least, he attempted to, but realized he still had the weighted clothes on, which made it nearly impossible to do anything other than fall like a stone. Eventually, he was able to angle himself. "Kame...hame...ha!" A small burst of ki escaped from his hands, careening him towards PaoPao.
The fog of unconsciousness abruptly left PaoPao as Krillin crashed into her. It took her a few seconds to return fully awake, and another thirty to realize the group's predicament. "WHERE'S JAZZ?! GOKU?!" She screamed from the top of her lungs. Unfortunately, neither she nor Krillin could hear her words, so with little choice, she began rushing to each ally. She caught up to Hercule first, he held Miguel in his arms and was covering her, the both looked extremely frightened and Mark accidentally punched PaoPao when she touched his arm, causing her to almost careen away, but luckily, her mastery of the air dance was enough that she could angle her free fall with ease. She grabbed Hercule tightly, and bound a short rope first to him, then to Miguel. Then she flew to Chi-Chi, then to Yamcha. Krillin had already fastened himself to her by the time they flew past the last of the clouds and saw the roiling see beneath them. PaoPao slowly began to put more and more energy into flight, slowing down her fall so as to avoid whiplash and damage. She narrowed her eyes as she looked down, the island was gone, either that or they were still too high up to see anything but the waters.
To make matters worse, she was running out of ki quickly.
Their hearing returned, enough for PaoPao to notice that Krillin was attempting to un strap his weights, she stopped him.
"No! We can't, we have not been allowed to yet."
"But! You're exhausted!"
"Then this is my burden, I will not let any of you die!"
They were about 1000 feet above the ground, and at this point PaoPao felt her consciousness ebbing, but she held on through sheer determination.
Eventually, they reached 500 feet, and she felt her energy give out. Their gentle descent transformed into a tangled free-fall once again. Diving after them with all the speed he could muster was Jazz.
'Oh god, my head, everything hurts, that attack… It was insane!' Jazz felt a blinding pain and a pounding headache, disorienting and confusing him. He felt he was falling, but couldn't see, hear or touch his surroundings, he felt weightless, nothingness, and pain. When Goku unleashed his Kamehameha, Jazz grabbed everyone, took on a massive transformation, and attempted to fly out of the range. The blast still caught him, but he managed to launch his friends further forward even as he was engulfed by the explosion caused by the blast. He couldn't tell whether he was alive or dead.
'If you feel pain, you are still alive, so perhaps you should calm down.'
Jazz flinched in confusion. "Who… who said that?"
'I've been with you for over half a year, and only now do you hear my voice? You humans truly are ignorant.'
Jazz felt something stir in his mind's eye, and felt something within him. "Are you…Rosuto?"
'TRY AGAIN!'
"You're the immortal Phoenix?" Jazz murmured, "but you've been dead for god knows how long…"
'Well, not-so-immortal' The voice chuckled, 'I have been watching and judging you, the reason it took so long for Rosuto to gain control over the flames, and the reason they came to you rather easily, is due to me.'
"What are you then? A spirit? A Ghost? A memory fragment!"
'A bit of all three, and maybe more, as it is, I come to you now because it seems like you are in dire straights, tell me child, why do you not know how to use my power?'
"Please be as specific as possible."
'Fine, I'll skip the poetry, why do you only use the flames to burn, attack, and destroy? I am the immortal Phoenix, yet you only use my flames as if you were Rosuto. True, Fire embodies destruction, death, and consumes all in its path. But it gives way to life, renewal, and enlightenment. My flames are more than just death and destruction, and I advise that you think about that." The Phoenix sighed, 'As it is, you should wake up soon, your friends need you.'
…
Jazz awoke with a start, and saw his friends hurling towards the ground at breakneck speed. Without a second thought, he transformed, taking the shape of a missile to cut through the air as he dived down towards them. He caught up, turning back and transforming again. His form was unorthodox and odd looking, causing his friend's eyes to widen in shock and incredulity, but at the moment, it was the best thing Jazz could think of. He took the form of a massive amalgamation of creatures. A massive octopus with 8 tentacles acted as a head, the body was that of a gorilla, thick legs and arms, and countless wings sprouting from every inch of the body, varying in size and shape. The tentacles grabbed into his friends as the wings flapped at full force, slowing Jazz to a hover.
"J-Jazz?!" Krillin shouted fearfully.
Jazz, still disoriented, merely grunted as he flew them to the ground. He landed on his feet but fell to his hands and knees and surveyed the island. It was mostly gone, with only maybe a quarter of the land left. The 5 peaks that consisted of The Devil's Hand mountains was reduced to one finger. Jazz gently placed down his allies, and collapsed in exhaustion. "Are you guys okay?"
"Yeah, just some bruises, but no one broke anything." Yamch said.
Mark shuddered as he held Miguel. "She fainted, but she's still breathing. What the hell happened?!"
"G-Goku? Where's Goku?!" Krillin looked around in terror, but Goku was nowhere to be found.
Jazz shook his head, he couldn't see Goku, but he could feel him, as strong as normal, or… "wait!" He ran towards the base of the mountain, and at the rubble. "Goku! Can you hear me?"
"…My arm… I broke it…I can't get up…"
Chi-Chi sprung into action, shedding her weights and rushing to the rubble. "Goku! We'll save you!" She lifted rock after rock. Eventually, she found a rock she couldn't lift. "Guys! Help!"
The others rushed in, shedding their weights as well, they began lifting and clearing rocks. As they worked, the rocks slid haphazardly, causing them to tumble off.
PaoPao shook her head. "The structure is too unstable, we need to be more careful." As if to emphasize her point, Goku screamed out as the crumbling structure collapsed further.
"Goku!" Krillin tried to grab rocks faster, but Yamcha stopped him.
"If you're too hasty, you'll kill him! Even if he's huge and powerful, he's still a living creature and has limits."
"I'm sorry, it's my fault, I thought I could destroy the barrier, I didn't think it would be so powerful…"
"No… it's… it's okay Goku, we know you didn't mean any harm," Yamcha began, "just, please be careful, now, give us some time, we'll get you out of there."
"But how?" PaoPao asked, "I can't even see a potion of his body, if I did, I'd use my magic to bolster his strength."
Jazz flinched at that statement, "magic…" he thought to the Phoenix, it said its fire wasn't just destructive, it gave life, renewal, and enlightenment. He thought to the time he had been able to help control Goku's movements as an Oozaru by passing along ki and his flames. How did they not burn Goku? He thought hard on the feelings he was imparting when he did his action. "Fire…" he said, louder, "fire isn't just destruction." He felt the words before he even needed to speak, "Flames of Renewal." A gout of flames blasted from his palm, engulfing the rubble.
"Jazz?!" Chi-Chi shouted, she tacked Jazz to the ground and punched him hard. "What are you doing! Are you mad at him?! It was an accident!"
Jazz barely blocked her second punch, "Chi-Chi! I'm helping him!"
Before anyone could say anything else, the rubble exploded as Goku burst out of it. "PaoPao, Krillin, and Yamcha kicked away the rocks coming towards their group's way.
"Goku!" Krillin shouted.
They observed the Oozaru, he had minor cuts here and there, but moved without issue. But most importantly, he had no signs of burning, neither singe marks or burned skin and hair.
"Goku? Are you alright?" Chi-Chi asked.
"My arm is better!" He shouted, flexing his massive arms.
"That's good." Jazz plopped on the floor. He looked to the top of the castle. "It also looks like you popped the barrier."
"Eheh…" Goku rubbed his head awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it would be that strong…"
"It's okay," Jazz waved his hand, "though, next time give us a heads up." He couldn't necessarily be mad, Goku's Oozaru form right now had a power level of maybe 1,000 or even more depending on Goku's strength currently, mix that with a fully charged Kamehameha that would multiply the power at least three times over, and you'd now have a blast equivalent to an attack unleashed by a being comparable to Nappa in terms of power. No one else had a power level even pushing past 150 at the moment, so such an attack could kill them just by being in the vicinity.
"What did you do to Goku? He's healed." PaoPao asked Jazz, "actually, how did you even fly us up there so quickly?! What was that transformation?"
Mark shouted, "hey! Calm down, he just saved our lives, you don't need to attack him too!"
"I wasn't attacking, I was just…" PaoPao sighed, "nevermind."
Jazz stretched out, "Let's all calm down please." He chuckled, "PaoPao, sorry, I know you're probably very curious about my abilities, I am about yours too, let's trade techniques later, okay? Right now, I'm a little worried about that barrier." He looked at the top of the mountain, the barrier was gone, but everything past where it had been was unscathed. "There's no way a barrier that powerful wasn't put there on purpose." The others nodded.
"Yeah, let's get to the bottom of this." Yamcha stepped forward. Jazz nodded, and allowed him to take the lead, or at least, somewhat take the lead, Goku made it to the top of the mountain in seconds, with the others, even Hercule, taking a few minutes.
Miguel awoke as they reached the top of the mountain.
"Are you okay?" Hercule asked.
"That was… wow!" Contrary to their expectations, Miguel seemed elated.
"You're having fun? We almost died though!?" Mark asked in disbelief, he'd been prepared for her to yell, or cry, or anything, and had mostly been numb due to just how insane the situation had become.
"Of course! The city is sooo boring! I love to sing, but it's just awful being by myself there, everyone here is so interesting, and no one treats me weirdly." She smiled, "besides, you've been protecting me, right Mark?"
Mark stuttered and attempted to bluster out a few words, but the most he could get out was a goofy laugh, which served to lighten everyone else's mood.
As they reached the top of the mountain, Jazz launched out a small spark of fire, illuminating and revealing a large hatch. "Well that's new."
He opened it, only to be shot in the chest.
"Die!" An Oni jumped out and attempted to fire at the rest of the group, only to be blasted away by a small ki blast from Jazz.
"Fuck!" Jazz coughed, "that was unnecessary! Any other assholes feel lucky?"
Another Oni crawled out and aimed a gun, before he could fire, PaoPao cut it down. "Perhaps we should just show by example the futility of their actions." She looked up at Goku, "sorry, you'll have to sit this one out, unless you can shrink or turn off that form." The giant monkey nodded.
"I'll try…" He lifted a massive hand and covered his eyes.
…
The rest of the group made their way inside.
"It looks like the castle had an underground dungeon." Yamcha looked around at the slightly dilapidated walls and floor. "It looks like it's been maintained somewhat though, there's not much smell."
"Maybe the last of the Oni hid away here." Krillin suggested.
"Maybe," Yamcha closed his eyes, "I'm just bothered that I never could make it through the barrier before. Those monsters seemed to appear from nowhere, but now we can finish things once and for all!"
Mark looked around, then quickly moved forward to catch up to Jazz. "Uh… Jazz, sir…"
"What's up?"
"Those… monsters, you guys fought them before?"
"Yeah." Jazz nodded, "they had a boss, called himself Lucifer and the Demon King, had an energy cannon that was powered by some gem called the Sleeping Princess. His plan was to take out the sun."
"Take out the sun?"
"Blow it up, destroy it, annihilate it, vaporize it." Jazz shrugged, "I don't know whether his plan would have worked, but the cannon could have probably blown up the Earth at the least."
"You're kidding right?!" Mark stared in disbelief.
"I wish."
Yamcha held his hand up to stop the group. At this point the sound of drums beating and odd music assailed their ears. They had reached the end of the corridor, infront of them was a pair of massive double doors with skull-like door handles. "Alright, we will take a few seconds to understand what's going on, then we'll fight if we have to." He turned to Jazz, "you seem to be able to heal quickly, can we have you take point? Be as loud and flashy as possible to attract the enemy gaze."
Jazz nodded, "I can do that."
Yamch nodded, turning to Krillin, "hey, you're the physically strongest, other than Goku, right?"
Krillin smiled. "Yeah!"
"Good, whoever in there is the biggest guy? Go after him first. ChiChi, give support to Krillin and take out anyone trying to interfere. PaoPao, with your ki technique and strength, you can take out multiple enemies, target anyone who seems like a leader, if that overlaps with Krillin, go after another target unless it seems like Krillin is in trouble. "Hercule, you're pretty strong, but it's best for you to stay back and protect Miguel."
"What will you do?" PaoPao asked.
"I'll do my best to fill any spots I'm needed in, otherwise, I'll simply be getting rid of as many Oni as possible, I have the most experience fighting them after all. If there are any disagreements, let me know now please." Yamcha turned to the group.
Jazz, after glancing around, spoke, "I'm alright with it." He stepped forward and prepared to transform. The others quickly got into position, as Goku gently opened the door… into a blast of music and revelry.
"W-what?"
Several Oni danced and sang and drank, laughing and screaming and shouting. Others lay comatose, spilled alcohol and food staining their clothes, weapons, and skin.
"This is… new." Yamcha unclenched his fists in disbelief.
"Hey, who's that?" Chi-Chi was the first to point out the center of the room.
In it, several Oni danced and bowed around a blonde woman. She was downing tankard after tankard of alcohol and shouting and screaming into the air, which roused up the Oni even more.
Krillin raised an eyebrow. "Launch?!"
…
...
Jasper(Jazz) Duncan
Age: 15 (and 10 months), physical appearance: 15-16
Hair color: Red
Skin color: white
Race: Quarter Caucasian(White American of English-Irish descent), Quarter Asian (Korean), Quarter Black(African-American), Quarter Hispanic (Cuban)
Height: 5ft 9inches | 175 centimeters (69 inches, nice)
Weight: 157 lbs | 71 kilograms (the namekians granted him a pair of 10, 15, and 20 kilogram wrist and ankle weights. (3 sets of weighted clothing in total, 4 parts each, 22 pounds, 33 pounds, and 44 pounds respectively, currently using 15 kg (33 lbs) weights.
Skills: Decent Sports Talent for Age, Semi-Above Average Intellect for age, intermediate martial arts skills, average ki control, good pain tolerance, trap building, intermediate weapons mastery, basic boxing, basic mma, street fighting skills
Powers: Magic Materialization (Fire) (Intermediate Understanding)
General magic: Rudimentary Understanding
Max Power/ Pump Up,
Shapeshifting, Mastered Skill level (indefinite)
Noble Werewolf (dormant)
Powerlevel: 54, will raise to 81 temporarily when using Pump Up/Max Power
…
…
Afterword?
After words. Uh…. uh… long hiatus, apologies for that. Expect next chapter in like, soon.