"Long time no see."
"Screw off…"
Two men sat opposite each other. One man wore an orange jumpsuit, the other was in a simple white T-shirt and khakis.
The man in the T-shirt shook his head. "Silver-san, you've got to speak, else they'll keep you here forever."
"I have nothing to say to any to those ineffectual, inept, government stooges, or to a traitorous scum like you." The former Colonel Silver of the defunct Red Ribbon Army crossed his arms. He was physically imposing, standing 6 feet and 2 inches tall at full height. His deep-red hair, which had been cut short when he was first thrown in prison had grown back to its standard height.
"Don't be like that, the real traitors are our leaders, ready to throw us away. Commander Red is locked up here too, don't you remember?"
Silver remembered, he remembered seeing Commander Red and seeing the surviving member of the Blue Squadron punching the short man's lights out when the latter insulted General Blue. They were both forced into solitary after that debacle, and then he was called into this interview. Silver had been a model prisoner, courteous to the guards, avoiding conflict, and quiet and punctual, the guards, however, did little to hide their animosity towards himself and the several Red Ribbon Army personnel locked up with him. Silver closed his eyes, the man before him, Reuben, had been compliant with the world government's demands, and despite being a low ranked medic and private in Captain Yellow's squadron, he was privy to decent levels of information, enough to allow the King of the World to position his army into the last few key strongholds. To their surprise, only half of these bases were occupied, with the others stripped of even the most basic of items and empty of staff.
"I remember, our leader is a sniveling loser who forced us to slave away for him because he was too embarrassed to wear lift shoes…" He opened his eyes, glaring at his former friend, "that doesn't change my answer Reuben, I won't betray any secrets."
"Damnit Silver! They've done nothing for you! You lost so much, we were taken from homes and families, dragged away from the streets we called home! We were little more than slaves to them." Reuben slammed his fist on the table. "Death Penalty this, Death Penalty that, like he was already the king." Reuben looked at his former friend. "Please man, I don't have anything to protect you with any more."
"What?!" Silver glared at Reuben, "what are you talking about?"
"That bastard Red," Rueben grit his teeth, "he took a plea deal and is talking, but he's pinning all the blame on the officers, and saying he only provided money. He's throwing you all under the bus, people call for your execution, you, White, Blue, and Violet, you're the last officers alive, I've been doing my best to protect you and Violet, but it's getting harder and harder unless you give up any information, you'll die"
Silver smiled, "you care about us? Why? Didn't we stop being friends a long time ago?"
Reuben didn't take his bait. "I don't want either you or Violet to die, and I don't care if you don't care about your life, but you care about Violet's."
Silver narrowed his eyes, "watch what you say next."
Reuben stared at him but did not reply, after a short battle of wills, Silver looked away again. "Fine, I'll speak a little." He chuckled as Reuben visibly relaxed. "You were worked up about this I see." He sighed, "so… how is Violet? Did you speak to her?"
"She was as stubborn as you when it came to this bull shit…" Reuben laughed, "but yes, she's doing alright."
Silver smirked, "I assume then we've been spied on this entire time?"
Reuben turned to a wall in the room that was replaced by a giant mirror. "Of course, that's why I'm not asking for any information from you, it's yours to bargain with, I've done my best to help you with keeping my promises to them."
Outside the room, Gnocchi and Strazza, intelligence agents for the King of the World and Tsukimi respectively, listened in on their conversation.
"This is good," Gnocchi sighed, "we'll finally be done with the whole Red Ribbon Business once and for all with their information."
"I'm surprised you're alright with Reuben's plea bargain and appeal. Your home was razed by the Red Ribbon Army."
"That' funny coming from you, weren't your specific family of fox-kin wiped out by General Copper?"
Strazza nodded, "well, my story isn't unique." She sighed, "but if I demand their execution, I'm no better, am I?"
"That's noble hogwash." Gnocchi spit, "I just believe that we shouldn't punish them outside the law, if it's determined that those two have information and can strike a deal, we strike that deal, I want to make sure as many of those Red Ribbon Army scum are detained, apprehended, and stopped, if I need the assistance of former members to do it, so be it."
Their musings were cut short as an explosion shook the prison complex.
"That's not good." Gnocchi reached for his gun, only to be pulled down by Strazza as a blast of energy crashed through the wall.
Reuben coughed out dust as he struggled to lift the pile of broken rubble that covered the lower half of his body. He looked around, eyes wide with fear and shock. Eventually, his gaze turned to three figures. The first he recognized as General White, also in a prison jumpsuit. The second was dead at the feet of the third person, looking at the second, he realized it was the diminutive figure of Commander Red, the leader… or well, former leader of the Red Ribbon Army. The man's face was twisted in fear and disbelief, the expression he had on when he died. Reuben couldn't blame the bastard, as he looked hard at the third being. He was tall, nearly 7 feet tall, and had a familiar face that all Red Ribbon Army members recognized.
"Staff Officer Black." Colonel Silver knelt before the current highest-ranking member of the Red Ribbon Army.
"Well, at this moment, you can call me Commander Black." The former staff officer chuckled. His left eye was replaced with a cybernetic prosthetic, silver metallic pauldrons covered his shoulder and a massive hand cannon replaced his right forearm. Smoke billowed from it, evident from where he had chosen his attack. His lower half was completely robotic, digitigrade legs like that of a deer or goat if the animal was made of metal and oversized grooves near the hoove-like feet. He smirked, I bring you good news, Colonel Silver, we have the opportunity to rebuild. All you need to do is take my hand."
Silver glanced at Rueben once, then turned to General Black. "What of Colonel Violet?"
Black smiled, "she is already back in our new base." He turned to see Reuben and frowned. "Ah, another traitor." He raised his hand towards the injured man, but Silver stepped in front of him.
"He'll die anyway." Silver said, "it's better to let him suffer."
Black thought for a moment, then nodded, "I'll respect your wishes, Colonel." He turned to General White, who nodded.
"I don't care what happens to the traitor, I'm already satisfied with the death of one." He sighed, "to think my idiot brother wanted something as inane as extra height." He sighed. "Dammit."
"It's alright." Commander Black placed a comforting hand on the General's shoulder. "We'll rebuild, better than ever."
"W-wait!" Reuben shouted, but he was too late. Before his very eyes, a beam shot out of Commander Black's robotic cannon arm, vaporizing a hole through the ceiling.
The alarm continued to blare loudly as Reuben lay there, bleeding to death.
…
Bulma smiled as she cruised through the air, using the billions of Zeni she had gained after selling some of her treasure, she souped up her lab and designed a new jet that could break Mach 1 casually.
"Now, this is flying!" She laughed, turning to her passengers, "wouldn't you agree?"
"Y-yeah… if you want us to end up as pancakes!" Oolong muttered. Puar nodded, smiling uncomfortably, the cat was simply excited to be reunited with Yamcha, so the threat of death by reckless flying was the least of their worries.
"I'm just happy to see Yamcha again!" Puar shouted in excitement.
Miguel giggled, "I'm happy to see Hercule again!"
Bulma rolled her eyes, "I don't get what you see in that guy. His afro's ridiculous."
Miguel ignored Bulma's slight, she was just happy to be reunited with her friends. Even after learning of her fame, from Krillin, Yamcha, PaoPao, Oolong, Puar, Chi-Chi, Bulma, Jazz, and Hercule, none of them treated her any differently from before, nor did they put on unfair pressure or veneration. They appreciated her singing talents and often said they were happy for her success, but they never acted like she was something above or below them. She was especially happy to see Hercule again, it had been 6 months since the Budokai Tenkaichi, and 6 months since the fiasco with the Red Ribbon Army. She was happy and prepared to leave the fear and sadness she felt back then behind and seeing Hercule would be a big part of that help.
They came upon the island quickly and landed in front of Roshi's home. It was the middle of the afternoon, so everyone was likely out still training.
"Who's making all that racket?!"
The two ladies turned to see a blonde woman with an angry face step out of the house, in one hand a bloody butcher knife, and in the other, she gripped dripping intestines. Puar fainted.
"Haha, you're such a scaredy-cat" Oolong chuckled.
"Oh? It's you four?" Launch smirked, she wiped the bloody knife on her apron and sheathed it. After wiping her hand on her smock, she walked over to shake their hands. "How's it been? What has it been though, 6 months since we last saw you?" She turned to Miguel, "hey! How's the singing thing going? Making lots of money? You gotta treat me out to something ya know? A real fun girl's night, like bar hoppin', carjackin', that sorta fun stuff, ya know?"
Miguel nodded, "definitely! We should plan something!"
"Carjacking?" Oolong gulped. He looked over at the intestines Launch was holding. "So uh… I'm guessing you're cooking?"
"Yeah! I'm just making some pork!"
Oolong fainted.
About 2 more hours passed before the others returned from their training.
"Wow Krillin, that was an embarrassing slip up." PaoPao chided, smirking as she wiped the sweat from her brow.
"Shut up! That last-minute blast of ki was unfair!" Krillin growled, "I'll pull off even more amazing techniques soon!"
"Sure you will…" PaoPao rolled her eyes. Chi-Chi giggled, but PaoPao turned around, "don't think you've escaped trouble, young lady."
"Eeep!" Chi-Chi squealed like a caught mouse and moved to hide behind Yamcha. "It was an accident!"
"Your accident almost blew up my eyebrows." PaoPao sighed, "don't get caught in daydreams." She turned to look at the house, "oh?" Her expression softened, "I'll drop it, for now, it seems we have guests."
...
"Let's see…" Jazz watched the blood pooling at his feet, his blood. A hole was in his stomach, caused by the Crane Sage trying a new utilization of the Don Don Ray. As he stared at his blurry reflection on the puddle of blood, after a few moments, the hole healed up. "Damn, I'm hungry." He sighed, using his magic to summon a cup full of water that flowed into his mouth. After a few quick gulps, he looked at the window.
"I'm bored…" Z sighed, "Can't you escape now?"
Jazz shook his head, "I don't have the ability to do so at my base power just yet, maybe a bit more."
"At the pace you're going, it will take you literal years to break out." Z whined, "You promised you'd let me see the world, are you breaking that promise now?"
"No, I'm not…" Jazz closed his eyes and concentrated. He began to feel a tight sensation on his shoulder and back. Opening them, he looked behind him just in time to see a new pair of arms exploding out from his shoulders and back, giving him four arms. Jazz inspected his two new arms. "Okay… okay, I can do it."
"Alright, so… I can read your mind, but can you please run over what exactly you did? You're so vague in the way you processed it out it's like me trying to justify the thought process and neural pathways explored and used to pick up and drink a cup of water."
Jazz nodded, "well, if you must know my dear friend…" He chuckled menacingly, "it was elementary, my dear Watson."
"Just explain it!"
"Alright, fine," Jazz stuck out his tongue. "If you must know, it was simple. As you know, I can sense ki. But I wanted to see if it was possible to increase my sensitivity." He closed his eyes. "I could sense the general ki of someone's body, and sense when it raised or lowered in conjunction to the course of a battle and the use of techniques. But unless their ki was concentrated and strong enough to be visible, I couldn't sense when it concentrates on specific parts of the body."
"What does that mean?" Z asked.
"Okay, let me give you a simple example, the Kamehameha." He raised his hands, "it works by concentrating your ki within your core, close to the stomach, then you split the ki in two, separate them out and have them flow through your arms into your palms. The concentration of ki then combines together again, colliding and igniting the particles in the air, which helps create its color. This concentrated blast of energy is further concentrated as it is cupped and contained between the two palms and the continuous flow of ki into it, allowing one to utilize an attack that could be considered as greater than their normal power by three-fold, or maybe even more."
"Interesting observation." Z said, "So… you know that's how it works because that's the way your ki flows to use the attack, but you can't sense it when others do so, because your ability to sense ki isn't sensitive enough to perceive the intricacies of such a technique, even though from your own understanding, you see how it works."
"Most ki techniques are more feeling than science, as ki is an inherently spiritual concept." Jazz began to scratch his body, his eyelids began to lid and he sighed in relief. "Oh god… all those unscratched itches. I'm so freaking pent up…"
"Hey! Continue please, I'm liking the explanation!"
"Okay, anyway, long story short, I increased my ki sensing capabilities, sensed how Tien moved the ki around his body and emulated my own ki based on what I saw. Thus, I have now replicated the Four Witches Technique. And…" He smiled as one of his hands pointed forward and a don don ray, almost equal to the one fired by Master Chen, blasted out and poked a hole through the roof."
"That's pretty cheeky, what if someone saw?"
Jazz smiled, both he and she knew no one was on the premises.
"Are you sure you aren't worried?" She asked.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned." Jazz said, "but I have faith, besides, I'll be able to keep an eye on them soon."
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, if there are four witches? How many eyes do they have?"
"Oh? Umm… that's easy, 8."
"You can read my mind, can't you?" Jazz replied dryly.
"Just because I can read your mind doesn't mean I'll humor your stupidity, I may not have a lot of life experience, but even I know 4 times 2 is not equal to 12!"
"Okay," Jazz smirked, "wanna make a bet?"
…
...
Jasper(Jazz) Duncan
Age: 16 and 6 months
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 10inches | 177.8 centimeters
Weight: 146 lbs | 66.2 kilograms, bound by a Crane School Training/ Torture device
Skills: Skills are what you make of them, it doesn't matter what's known, just how to use it
Powers: Magic Materialization (Fire) (Mastered Understanding), Magic Materialization (Water) (Advanced Understanding), Telekinesis (Intermediate)
General magic: Basic Understanding
Max Power/ Pump Up (1.5x (mastered), 2x (capable),
Shapeshifting, Mastered Skill level (indefinite)
Noble Werewolf. Juvenile Awakening, 1.5x, currently possible only under a full moon
Powerlevel: 106, will raise to 159 temporarily when using Pump Up/Max Power 1.5, or 212 when using Pump Up/Max Power 2x, if using Juvenile awakening, power will be 238 or 318 respectively
…
…
Afterword
It's now been 6 months since the Budokai Tenkaichi. Everyone's getting into training again, even Jazz, but what's this? The Crane School isn't in school? Hasn't been there for a while? That might not bode well, especially after the attack on the prison holding all the Red Ribbon Goons. We might see more from that soon. As I'm sure you're noticing, Jazz is quickly loosing a bunch of weight as they attempt to starve him to death while torturing him, but he's resilient, if anything else, and the restorative properties of the werewolf transformation helps keep him alive.