"Oh my, you did… quite marvelous… I suppose it's my fault, with all the handicaps I allowed you."
Jazz 2 was howling in the air, his power skyrocketed from drinking the water, it wasn't a massive boost, but coupled with his stronger transformations, and he almost compared to Jazz 3 in power, cementing his place as the second most powerful of the Jazz's, but also most definitely the fastest of the Jazz's.
"But… it looks like animal instinct has taken hold of your mind." Korin continued nervously.
Jazz 2's pupils were thin and angled, like a predatory cat, his nails had grown slightly, and were sharper. His hair had also lengthened a few inches and he bulked up slightly. He turned to Korin. "Thank you, master Korin, with this power… I should be capable of working with my fellow doppelgänger and taking out that apparition…"
Korin nodded then whistled out. A massive golden cloud appeared before them, from there, a tiny cloud cut off and approached Jazz 2. The almost feral human raised an eyebrow, then hopped on. He was surprised to see that he could land on it.
"It's as I thought, pure of heart is a trait given to those with incredible discipline, those who are like newborn children, and those who are like animals, ruled by instinct alone. Jazz, which one do you think you are? And think carefully about your next actions, instinct is powerful, but for humans, civilization dulls much of your instinct, your journey into the world of martial arts is brief, so take care that the wrong instincts do not end up leading you down the wrong path. Jazz 2 nodded.
"Thank you. Come on, flying nimbus!" As Jazz 2 charged forward on his kintoun, he gave off a feral smile. "Alright you uppity jerk, you think you can ignore us? Let's see what the problem is."
…
"Well, that went great!" Jazz 3 patted PaoPao on the back, she smiled wanly.
"It's not as if it would have gone another way." She said. "That old fat man spent so long getting his way, it's dulled his sense of diplomacy and politics." She giggled, "I'm surprised he didn't order his guards to attempt to capture us. That sort of international incident would have easily justified harsh sanctions against his nation." She turned to Jazz, "though, it also doesn't help that 45% of their national wealth was stripped away in a day. So he should be commended for keeping his composure."
"Look, I know I could have handled things smoothly, but your life was in danger." Jazz 3 raised his hands in mock surrender. It had been an hour since the ball ended, and everyone returned to the ship in high spirits, except for Launch and Krillin, the latter because he couldn't pick up any girls, and the former because apparently, her other half met a man, the Blue-Haired one blushed as she mentioned it, and quickly asked to return to her room. Jazz 3 had laughed at the absurdity of the situation, only to be tackled by the two kids.
"Why didn't you let us come!" Lapis wined.
"Yeah! It's so boring here!" Lazuli shouted, pounding his leg with her small clenched fists.
"Hey, look, I'm sorry." Jazz 3 muttered, smiling, "it was an important diplomatic meeting."
"Huh? Diploma...tic? What kinda bug is that?"
"Hey! I asked that question too!" Goku said, smiling.
Jazz shook his head in amusement, he turned to PaoPao, who had already left for her room. "Remember, you guys will have to return these kids home, my men are already done restoring the home and their father was cleared from the hospital…" She paused as she watched the children's expressions, faces twisted in fear. "Is something wrong?" She walked over to them quickly.
Lapis grabbed his sister's hand, and Lazuli looked like she was about to hyperventilate.
"What's up with those kids?" Krillin asked, "They look like they're about to faint or something, it's just returning home, what? Hate the fact you don't get to stay up anymore?"
Lapis shouted angrily, "shut up!" Lazuli kicked Krillin in the shin, causing him to grip it in pain.
"Ow! I was relaxing you jerks!" He was about to chase after them when Yamcha stopped him.
"Jazz, help me get them." PaoPao turned to her red-haired friend.
Jazz 3 nodded, "of course."
They found the children in the back corner of the boiler room, this time huddled and hiding in the dark.
"Hey…" Jazz 3 beckoned them to come closer.
"No! Not if you're taking us back there! I don't want to go back! I hate my dad! I hate that stupid place!" Lapis screamed angrily. "I won't let you take me to that bastard!"
Jazz 3 widened his eyes at the young boy's ferocity. "What happened?"
Lapis trembled angrily, Lazuli was covering her ears. Neither child wanted to answer his question.
PaoPao crawled past Jazz and lowered herself to the children's eye level.
"My family used to be a family of assassins. Do you know what that is?" The kids shook their heads. "They used to get paid money to hurt people, sometimes kill them." She smiled, "but I wasn't very strong compared to my sister or my dad. And they thought I was an embarrassment. They made fun of me, belittled me, and hit me sometimes too. So I ran away in order to prove I was strong, I started challenging dojos to prove I could be as strong as them."
The kids looked on in interest. "What happened?" Lazuli asked.
"I won every challenge I found myself in until I faced the Shaolin monks of the Orrin temple. There, before I could fight the leader, assassins sent by my father came to kill me."
The children widened their eyes, "that's not fair!" Lapis shouted.
"I did almost die, but a dear friend saved my life." PaoPao glanced at Jazz once. "I at first thought he was trying to take advantage of me, but I realized that he simply wanted to help me and that in this world, good people exist." PaoPao smiled at the kids, "I want to be like him right now, for you two, can you trust me?" She extended her hands out.
The kids turned to each other, then, after some hesitation, turned around.
Jazz 3 and PaoPao's eyes widened in shock as the children pulled up their shirts, revealing a matching set of horrific scars. The scars were from whips canes, chains, and knives, there was even a set of burn scars that spelled out the word TRASH in capital letters at the base of Lazuli's back.
"He gave this to you." PaoPao's voice was deceptively calm and she spoke more like a statement than a question. The children had tears in their eyes as they looked down.
"You can't tell anyone, or else no one will want us…" Lazuli said.
"Who told you that?" Jazz asked, but again, the children didn't speak.
"I have a home now." PaoPao said, "I didn't finish my story, would you like me to?"
The children nodded.
"I got stronger, alongside my dear friend, and eventually, I went back home and beat down my terrible sister and dad, took over my organization, and changed us for the better. Would you like to go with me?"
The two nodded excitedly. "We don't have to go back to our dad?" Lazuli asked.
PaoPao nodded, "I'll make sure of it. Now, you two, head to bed. Uncle Jazz will show you the way.
Jazz 3 scoffed, "I'm 17, I'm nowhere near…"
"That's a bajillion years older than us!" Lapis exclaimed, his black hair bobbed as it shook with his head.
Jazz 3 sighed, "All right then, follow this old man."
…
~"Look I'd love to speak to you some more, but I'm in the middle of something, our master's about to have us partake in a Kumite, if I miss this one, I'll end up having to eat from a straw for another half a year."~
An annoyed Orrin temple monk whispered to Mei Lin over the phone. Mei Lin's face was emotionless, but her voice perfectly mimicked the high-pitched cutesy style of a girl trying to flirt with babyish talk, she also twirled the phone cord to help play into her bit a touch more.
"Aww… but can't I have just a few minutes of your time, sweety pie? We had such a fun date night two weeks ago…"
~"Arr… well… hahaha! I guess I can talk, what's up?"~
"Well… do you happen to remember a girl going around attacking dojo's 2 years ago?"
~"Hmm… oh? Oh yeah!"~ The voice twisted in disgust. ~"She was covered head to toe in grime and stunk to high-hell when she challenged our dojo master, we thought she was a feral, homeless child until she dropped the flags and banisters of other defeated dojos. Our master agreed to challenge her in a few days, and when she came back to fight him, he trounced her."~
Mei Lin rolled her eyes, while her sister was trash back then, it was still pitiful to think that something as inconsequential as an attempted assassination would leave her unable to fight. The master of the Orrin temple had hired her father to send the assassins, though he had been planning on disposing of PaoPao either way, so it was good fortune, or at least, it should have been a good fortune. "Wow… your temple's head is really amazing! You're super duper cool, training under such a guy." She held back a derisive chuckle from the man's boastful laughter.
~"I know, right? I can't wait to see you again, maybe… you'd like to go somewhere a bit more private?"~
"Definitely, babe, just… I had some more questions, do you remember anything else about the girl?"
~"Hmm… well, nothing much… oh, wait yeah! I remember now, some of our experienced students went to find her to give her a lesson, but she beat the crap out of those losers. Then one of our loser disciples started entangling himself with her! Then he left, only to break my nose almost a freaking year later!"~
"Oh? What kind of jerk would do that?"
~"Some loser named Krillin, he might think he's tough, but he's no match for any of the real disciples of Orrin Temple."~
"And this loser… he trained with the girl?" Mei Lin asked.
"Yup… there was one more guy… uh… what was his name, Jeremy? Chad… Jacob? Well, whatever, he wasn't important, he was even more of a loser than Krillin was, one of the disciples trained after Krillin the day before he left, and found that the two were sparring. That kid could barely keep up with that failure Krillin."
"Wow… he sounds like a loser, but…" Mei Lin began, voice softening, "Was there anything weird about him?"
The monk was silent, ~"weird, how?"~ He asked with suspicion.
"Oh, nothing, the fact he's hanging out with a dirty dojo challenger and that loser should mean he's weird too, I was just wondering what about him was weird."
~"Oh… well, I don't know, I never saw the kid myself, so I didn't care… but… I think one of the guys who got beat up said he was with the girl when that happened. Some of them even tailed the two back to a hotel room."~
"Oh?" Mei Lin's eyes widened, and she grinned. 'Bingo'. "Wow… how scandalous." She laughed, "I'd certainly love to go into a hotel room with you."
~"Definitely!"~ The voice was all too eager.
"So… tell me, do you know how long those two shared that hotel room? I promise if you can tell me, I'll definitely reward you when we next meet."
~"...Months."~ The guy said, ~"they said months, it was so weird, she was so hostile to him at first, but then she meekly followed him to a hotel, then they stayed there together for months, then she left. Like, what were those stupid brats doing?"~
"Thanks for all the info babe!" Mei Lin hung up the phone before the other could reply, then she closed her eyes and held the phone to her forehead. She turned to the Jiang Shi, it was training utilizing state-of-the-art technology Gero had provided. Despite being a Jiang Shi, it was of the corpse of her father, and since the body had still been mostly warm and alive save the heart and the brain, the Jiang Shi could still gain strength. Even without the boost the Jiang Shi transformation provided, her father's body would have been stronger than the power PaoPao had displayed to defeat them in the first place, in fact, she saw him having no trouble defeating Tien in an all-out brawl. "How fun!" She giggled, her sister as if overcompensating for the way she had to stifle herself in front of her sister and father, who was often cruel to people outside of the Dango. Whatever the boy had done to earn PaoPao's trust was nothing short of miraculous, but Mei Lin had no choice but to believe he was the catalyst for change. Both Krillin and PaoPao were semi-finalists to the 21st Budokai Tenkaichi, and given the strength of Son Goku, the 2nd place, and footage of their assault on the Red Ribbon Army Base, she had to admit that neither fighter fit the image of trash she, her father, or the Orrin Temple would have pegged either of them for.
"Jazz has to be the reason." She began, "and once I find out how he did it, I'll exploit that." She giggled.
"Lady Mei Lin!" A Red Ribbon Army Guard walked over. "We have a completed record of the damage to the Kingdom!"
Mei Lin smiled and took the report. She skimmed over the damage summary and moved on to the itemized list, there, numbered 187 out of 253, she saw a small house in an area just southeast of the castle. Given the location, it was outside the blast zone and any important places, save the docking zone/ main air and seaport, which is where PaoPao's ship was situated currently.
"Was there something or someone there…" She thought to herself as she read into the report. "Oh… oh…" She went into the home profile. "Interesting, abusive father, dead mother, and an inheritance?" She giggled, "wow, it's quite similar to my poor little sister, maybe she knows." Mei Lin smiled, turning to the guard she asked. "Hey, you."
"Yes ma'am!" The guard blushed.
"Can you tell me where these kids' father is?" She asked sweetly.
"Of… of course!" The guard blushed and turned to the profile. "Oh… him, he was released from the hospital and sent to the jail, he's awaiting trial for child neglect, abuse, assault on a family member, threats with the intent of force, vehicular manslaughter, public intoxication, public indecency, general lewdness, and living in unsafe conditions."
Mei Lin smiled, "my goodness, what a peace of work…" She ticked the guard's chin, causing him to giggle. "Can you tell Dr. Gero I request an audience with him pretty please?" She batted her eyelids.
…
Gero looked at Mei Lin, who sat across from him, a serious expression on her face.
"Ah, Ms. Dango, how can I help you?" He asked.
"I will be frank, I have a way to throw away the Crane School dead weights and hopefully both deal some damage to the enemy and/or glean a bit of information about them, it will also set them back a bit, and allow us to act a bit easier."
"Do tell please." Gero sat down and poured himself and Mei Lin a cup of black coffee.
"Ugh… no sugar or cream?"
"I have little time for such items." Gero said simply, "and I have little time for small talk."
"Thanks, doc, that's what I like about guys like you." She giggled when the old man rolled his eyes. "Anyways, you know the house that was destroyed in the Northern Quadrant? Just a bit south of the castle?"
Gero nodded, "the only reason I included it in my notes was the way it was destroyed and the fact that Tsukimi forces reached that location first and secured almost all the information. Fortunately for them, the owner of the home accidentally corroborated, and outed himself as a criminal, thus taking away any of the potential tension we could have created in selling the idea of Tsukimi as an extrajudicial band of mercenaries."
"Good, you're aware of the gist, then, I have a fun idea." She smiled, "have the king pardon the bastard, then spread a story that the children suffer from some mental disorder, like schizophrenia or bipolar or something similar, but basically, make it so that anything they say can be taken with a grain of salt. And order that they be returned to their parents."
"I am not a doctor of biology and medicine, but I'm almost certain that it would be difficult to prove the symptoms while those children are still so young."
"You don't have to be proving it, it just has to be convincing enough to get part of the population on our side. Knowing the kind of person my sister is. This will provoke her into either fleeing with the children in tow. That's kidnapping, kidnapping of a citizen of 'our great nation', and thus an act of war. If she attacks rashly, that's the assault at the least, and murder at worst, also an act of war."
"What if she quietly leaves?" Gero asked.
"She wouldn't." Mei Lin laughed.
"Not if she's my sister, I know her enough to know that she'd never abandon them, especially if she knew the truth." Mei Lin giggled, "truly a weak, soft heart."
"Interesting. But you haven't explained how this helps get rid of the Crane School." Gero had welcomed the Crane School, believing that they would provide ample data and research, but he found that except for the basic enhancements, few of the members ever attempted to interact with the Doctor's research. This made it increasingly difficult to keep up with their demands of more and more powerful ki enhancing technology and made their relationship very one-sided. His only saving grace was the fact that the king currently still favored the Red Ribbon Army over the Crane School. Getting rid of their leadership would make it easier to absorb the rest of the students. Gero craved the chance to experiment on a specimen like Tien, who at one point was capable of facing Goku, and could still compete with the tailed boy, as long as Goku did not activate his golden-eyed agitated state.
"I convinced Shen that the King was looking to get rid of Tsukimi and that if we caught them in an action that would provoke hostility, the Crane School's quick intervention would lead to the King's favor. Regardless of whether they win or lose, they will be injured and tired if they attempt such a large-scale siege, as PaoPao is there now and her Jiang Shi magic is stronger in such group fights. Regardless of whether they win or lose, we'll glean a bit of information, and that boy, Jazz, may not be able to afford to attack the drones in the middle of a potentially hectic fight."
"Interesting, thus, if he attacks, he disobeyed my direct order, and we have the plausible deniability of arguing that they ignored my warning."
"Ah, I predict that in the next 5 minutes, Tao may come in, looking for an upgrade, so, do it, and do well this time. But don't forget to add a little present."
Gero smirked, "interesting request, but you've been quite helpful, thanks to your efforts my work on Artificial Humans 11 and 12 will be completed in only 1 and ½ years. So I can oblige." He turned to the side room, revealing a large android hidden in a tarp. "I was looking to test the specifications on my new and improved Android, so this will be an interesting turn of events."
Mei Lin grinned.
"I do apologize though, your predictions aren't 100% perfect." Gero chuckled, "Tao already came in."
…
"And you're telling me you're going to try and steal away my fucking kids?"
PaoPao sat in a simple meeting room. The carpets and walls were white, with a window on the north side that faced the massive castle. Across from her, a well-groomed, handsome man with coal-black hair and piercing blue eyes glared at her. He wore a well-kept and pressed business suit. He carried the appearance of a handsome and stern-looking businessman. PaoPao, however, knew better than to trust his appearance. It had taken her a bit of digging, but she discovered the extent of his abuse.
Standing in between them was a representative of the king and an agent of the kingdom's child protective services.
"Please, we must be civil." The representative was a middle-aged man with round spectacles. "Now, Ms. Dango, I understand that you allege that Mica here is an abusive father and that you mean to take his children into your custody? That is a bold accusation and an even bolder move, did you assume you would just have your demands met?"
PaoPao shook her head, then glanced to her side quickly. Jazz was in the form of a white Samoyed dog, and seated at both sides were Lapis and Lazuli, who clutched the dog with vice-grips, using him as a form of comfort. Micah, the children's father, had attempted to force the dog away from the children, despite his attempts to provoke the dog, Jazz 3 kept an iron will, even as the man smacked and hit his face, it was only after he attempted to reach the children did Jazz growl. The kingdom representative had argued at that point that the dog was too violent to be kept in the room. PaoPao calmly stated how Micah had struck the dog multiple times, only to catch its ire when he aimed to grab the children, and that if Micah had struck her, or any member of her staff, the reaction would have been much more violent. "The dog stays unless you don't believe Micah can behave himself more professionally than it can."
Micah's face reddened in fury, but PaoPao simply ignored him and glared at the Kingdom representative. "...Fine." The representative narrowed his eyes. "I don't understand why you're going through this much trouble. The children are members of our kingdom, and thus subject to the will of their king."
"Even if it infringes on their human rights?" PaoPao asked.
It was the CPS agent that spoke this time, "it is our job to deduce whether or not abuse is ongoing. I take the accusations you levy forth with the utmost sincerity, but due process is required, I cannot in good faith turn in the children to your custody, how can we be certain that upon the chance your accusations are false, you will release them back to their father's custody, a neutral third party would be better. In fact, how can we confirm that you do not simply flee the country with them?"
"To be honest, there is little I can do to earn your trust." PaoPao admitted, "But that doesn't mean I will simply hand them over." She took out a manilla folder, stuffed with documents and photos.
The agent widened his eyes and the CPS agent looked on in confusion.
"What is this?" The agent asked.
"You aren't aware?" PaoPao smiled, "this is the file for Lapis and Lazuli."
The CPS agent turned sharply to Micah, whose frown deepened, "this isn't the records we were given." The agent's piercing gaze caused Micah to glance at the kingdom Agent.
"Those documents are falsified!" The spectacled man shouted,
PaoPao smirked, "are you sure? I received them two days ago."
The CPS agent looked through the documents. "What the hell are these!" He yelled at the Kingdom representative. "What are you trying to get me to do? Where the hell did these documents disappear to?" He was inflamed, "my job is to protect children from people unfit to raise them, with this much documentation, this…" He couldn't finish speaking his insult to Micah, "Lady PaoPao, I cannot make a deliberation now, but you can take my recommendation that unless the counselor I recommend determines-!" They were interrupted by the Kingdom Representative, shouting.
"You cannot leave this room without my express permission!" Guards entered the room.
PaoPao raised her eyebrow, she kept herself calm, but couldn't help but feel a rising irritation. "Might I ask, why you are acting so… incompetently? Is it that surprising that I'd order a background check on guests to my ship? Is there a reason you've been screaming like a petulant child, so-called agent of the king? Is there something important about Lapis and Lazuli, other than the wealth their father stands to inherit, that allows you to act with such callous disregard of their emotional health, mental stability, and physical well-being?" She turned to the guards. "I want you to realize, if you continue down this path, you will regret it."
The representative laughed, "you are in our kingdom, off of your ship, and without any fighters to help you, I doubt one little girl can handle 10 grown men, just quietly surrender." He turned to the agent, "as for you… I'll be speaking to your superior, you stupid traitor." The room exploded into white dust, at the same time, Lapis, Lazuli, and PaoPao jumped into the air. The CPS agent screamed in shock as he was lifted up involuntarily. As they remained in the air, the dog transformed, revealing Jazz 3, Jazz transformed, his skin turning a dark greyish blue as he imbued the traits of an electric eel and launched a super-powered electric shock into the ground. The ground began to light up and melt from the heat, and the guards and kingdom representative screamed as 1700 volts of electricity coursed through them for an instant, the men collapsed in pain, some groaning, and some unconscious.
"Well… that was kinda new…" PaoPao raised her eyebrows at the dark blue, almost rubbery-looking skin. Jazz 3 smiled, "I've been experimenting."
"Interesting!" A new voice interrupted them. "So the brat was disguised as a mutt!"
Jazz 3 felt his breath escape his lungs, followed by a deluge of blood as pain exploded from his sides. Cyborg Tao had charged in from the side, stabbed into Jazz with the hidden blade, and tackled Jazz through a brick wall.
"Jazz!" PaoPao shouted in shock. She turned just in time to feel the heat rush as waves of ki fired off towards her. Wincing, she prepared her barrier, engulfing the twins, the CPS agent, and the king's representative and guards in her barrier. The room exploded in light and vaporized under the onslaught of ki.
"Heh!" Running into the room, several upgraded crane school disciples laughed.
"We have you on tape attacking agents of the kingdom! As such, we will give you the king's punishment, death! Followed by the seizure of your organization's assets…" The Crane School student screamed in pain as a sword came slashing down on him. PaoPao stepped away from the corpse and turned to the other cyborgs.
"Well now, I'm surprised it took you this long to get to me."
The Crane Students moved back in fear, but one raised an eyebrow and stepped forward. "You can't fool us PaoPao, you were injured, we saw it via video recording taken by our remote spy drones. It's only been a few days, you couldn't have possibly fully recovered, in fact, this is probably the extent of what you can do!" The others stepped forward, emboldened by his declaration.
PaoPao turned towards the twins, who nodded and took to the skies after Jazz.\
"What the?!" The Crane students had little time as a flood of energy burst from PaoPao's body piercing into the Crane students. They jumped away, but some had already been marked and weakened by her attack and its magic.
"Looks and events can be deceiving…" She glowered, "and I recently had a fun little upgrade, a friend of mine decided to get into rock collecting." She raised her hand and black ki wrapped around her sword.
…
Jazz 3 puked out some more blood as Tao pierced his stomach and launched him into the air. He watched as the assassin channeled gold-colored ki into his hidden blade.
"This is my brand new technique! Don Don Cut!" The assassin blitzed past Jazz, who felt his arm separate from the rest of his body and another spray of blood to hit the air.
"You know, that was unnecessary." Jazz 3 winced, "it's not like I could keep up with that level of power anyways."
"Of course, you cannot even hope to keep up with my power." The mercenary turned around to fire off another blast, only to be knocked back by a twin tri-beam attack. "What!" He shouted, "who dares turn against their master?" He looked around, then narrowed his eyes at the sight.
In front of Jazz 3, Lapis and Lazuli were gasping for air, trembling slightly, and flying. Their hands had been formed in the shape required to fire off the tri-beam. Jazz 3 smirked, "so… PaoPao doesn't need my help?"
The two shook their head, in a puff of smoke, they disappeared and were replaced by identical copies of Jazz 3. The copies merged into Jazz 3, who breathed a sigh of relief.
"I see, you expected this?" Tao asked.
"Well, it seemed obvious, who's going to go through this much trouble over two children unless the children are important or they want to pick a fight." Jazz 3 replied, "there's no way we'd let them be in real danger."
"So I can assume you're fighting me at your best now?"
Jazz 3 thought for a few seconds, "well… the best I can do without risking killing myself." He exploded into a silver whirlwind and activated Pump-Up 2x.
"Oh, unfortunate, you might need to kill yourself if you hope to survive against me then." The assassin charged forward.
Jazz 3 activated his full psychic energy, looking to destroy Tao's cybernetics from the inside as he had done to Commander Black. Tao froze for a second before rapidly charging forward and stabbing Jazz in the chest. Jazz bounced backward rapidly, his chest had turned into steel from a quick transformation just in time. He did not have enough time to detransform as Tao appeared beneath him and stabbed him upwards. Jazz felt his metal body dent and tear from where it was pierced, then felt a blast of ki puncture his torso and bisect his body. Using his psychic energy, he forced himself back together and sped up his healing, ignoring the drop in ki, then transformed the blood in the air around him into military-grade gunpowder. He launched a ki-infused fireball into the black cloud, igniting it and sending both him and Tao backward. Tao launched through the cloud of smoke and fired multiple beams of ki into Jazz 3, who transformed into a fly to avoid the attacks, then transformed into a massive Cthulhu-esque monster. Tao raised an eyebrow and charged forward, carving a hole into the grotesque beast, but Jazz anticipated that, as the blood that surrounded the mercenary changed into gunpowder and exploded. Jazz 3 transformed his body into an eider duck and flew away as quickly as he could. Tao came out of the smoke cloud, then widened his eyes when he saw the duck flying away at over 200 miles an hour. Tao fired don don ray after don don ray at the duck, who weaved in and out of the attacks until they separated themselves to a distance of 3 miles. Jazz 3 transformed from the duck and transformed once again. Tao raised his eyebrows as the Saturn V rocket, wrapped around in silver whirlwinds and purple aura, slammed into him at Mach 8. Jazz reappeared 3 seconds later, gasping for air as the attack took nearly all of his energy to do. Tao was slammed into the ground, the robotics around his right arm completely shattered, and his face goggles broken in many places. He growled and stood up.
"What the hell was that?!"
Jazz 3, feeling a little chatty, released his ki and landed heavily on the ground, he threw out a capsule and began to stuff himself with high calorie, high protein, high sugar, and carbs food. He also drank several water bottles. "I turned into a rocket to hit you."
Tao narrowed his eyes at Jazz's display. "What are you doing?!" The assassin growled, charging forward. Jazz 3 swallowed another mouthful of food and used his psychic power to split a 30-meter slab of land, throwing Tao slightly off balance, the assassin leapt into the air and charged down. Jazz used his magic to summon a massive ball of water, and transformed into a 20-foot long electric eel, shocking the water and frying the assassin's exposed circuitry. Still, the assassin charged forward and sliced the eel in half. Jazz used his psychic power again, gathering the water around Tao and launching him as far into the air as possible. Tao burst out of the water, only to be knocked around as Jazz 3 boiled it rapidly into steam which blinded him.
"You can't hide forever!" Tao roared.
He spied Jazz sprinting away, in the form of a cheetah. Tao pressed a button, and a rocket strapped to his back propelled him after the boy.
The Jazz in front of him was stabbed by Tao's intact arm, only to disappear into a cloud of smoke, revealing a puddle of blood.
"What the?!" Tao looked at the puddle in front of him, dumbfounded. "What the hell is this?!" He looked around, left and right, then turned around, only to hear a small explosion and a wave of ki slamming into him from behind.
Jazz 3 downed energy drinks and caffeine pills like a madman, willing his body to digest the food and get the energy he was expending as quickly as possible. "That should buy me a few seconds…" He muttered as he watched Tao sail through the air. He had tricked the cyborg just now, because of the steam he fired off, Tao's vision was not as good as before. When he chased after the cheetah and speared it, instead of transforming, Jazz transformed into a puddle of blood. This was one of the hardest things to do, a skill he barely mastered from Ebizu, that required both an understanding of the transformation art and water magic. Tao must have assumed Jazz was an after image, as Jazz had hoped, which allowed him to gather and concentrate his ki into a blast, launching the cyborg away.
Jazz 3 groaned in pain as he sat down. "Fuck… my body hurts…" The damage and recovery he was going through took their toll on his body and psyche, and even if his stamina regenerated, he needed real sleep to get back all his mental fatigue, which fights like these often taxed. Cyborg Tao was stronger than he'd imagine him to be, his ki was higher than Goku's at the beginning of the 21'st tournament, and his cybernetics made him even stronger than his power level would imply. "Somehow… Gero found a way to allow Tao to utilize his ki through the cybernetics, bolstering it, the way I bolster my transformations with ki." Jazz closed his eyes, allowing himself to drift off. 1 minute later, and Jazz 3's eyes snapped open as a beam of ki barely missed his face.
"You think you can rest when I'm around?!" The Cyborg roared angrily.
Jazz 3 prepared himself for Tao's attack, then watched as a massive wave of ki smashed into the cyborg's back.
PaoPao appeared from the room, her nice clothing was tattered, revealing a slim battlesuit and chainmail armor underneath, she looked at Jazz 3, then smiled. "Do you mind if I cut in?"
Jazz 3 smirked, "What? Why would I mind? I'm flattered that you wanted to come and help." PaoPao didn't answer, she instead tossed down a talisman. Jazz caught it. "Hmm?"
PaoPao winked, "put it on, there should be some upgrades."
Jazz 3 nodded. "Alright, I will." He put on the Talisman, eyes widening as a flood of ki, almost comparable to the strength of the fusion dance, filled his body. "This is what you used against the Sleeping Princess, right?" He turned to PaoPao.
She smiled and nodded, "yes, but with a little tweaking, I'm able to grant you autonomy." She held the talisman to her own forehead, and Jazz's eyes widened as her power level skyrocketed as well. "The curses within those blood rubies, it will take me a while to fully consume all of them, but the little I have taken has restored me and fueled some of the more… dangerous and powerful spells." Her ki was black and violet, it whipped back and forth violently and made Jazz feel queasy, despite that, inside the blackness, he felt sparks of purity and goodness, that helped keep the almost miasmic ki from harming Jazz's senses. The normally white sclera in PaoPao's eyes was black, and her irises gleamed in purple light as she smiled at Jazz 3. "Well, are you ready?" She said.
'Wow… she's pretty.' The boy thought, before turning to the cyborg in front of them, "Are you sure we need this much power to take care of him?"
"I'm not going to let him, or any of those Red Ribbon bastards, make a fool of me, or my people again. Besides, you seem a bit under the weather, so I thought you could use the pick-me-up."
Jazz 3 grinned, "well, thanks for the kindness."
…
...
Jasper(Jazz) Duncan
Age: 17 years (happy belated birthday)
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 11inches | 177.8 centimeters
Weight: 159 lbs | 72.12 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) (Mastered Understanding), Magic Materialization (Ice) (basic understanding), Magic Materialization (smoke) (basic understanding), Magic Materialization (steam) (basic understanding), Magic Materialization (lightning) (beginner Understanding) Telekinesis (Mastered),
General magic: Basic Understanding
Shapeshifting, Mastered Skill level (indefinite)
Noble Werewolf. Juvenile Awakening, 1.5x,
Emissive Techniques: Kamehameha, Don Don Pa, Solar Flare
Body Techniques: Max Power/ Pump Up (1.5x (mastered), 2x (capable), Four Witches Technique, 12 Eyes Technique
Fusion Dance
Powerlevel: 30, will raise to 45 temporarily when using Pump Up/Max Power 1.5, or 60 when using Pump Up/Max Power 2x, if using Juvenile awakening, power will be 67.5 or 90 respectively
Jazz 2 (Currently developing and training his werewolf and pump up ability)
Werewolf: Adolescent Awakening (1.65x), Pump Up/Max power: 1.3(gains power and speed), 1.575(gains power and some speed (the same speed gain as 1.3) ), 2.1x(speed is not reduced (same speed gain as 1.3))
Powerlevel: 35, will raise to 55.152 or 73.5 utilizing Pump Up, raises to 57.75 utilizing juvenile awakening alone. If utilized with Pump Up, raises to 75.075, 90.95625, and 121.275 respectively
Jazz 3 (Currently training with Master Roshi)
Powerlevel: 47.5, Pump Up: 71.25 or 95 respectively, with Juvenile Awakening: 71.25, if utilized with Pump Up: 107.25 or 142.5 respectively
Due to PaoPao's talisman magic, power level is temporarily: 237.5
Meaning: Pump Up: 356.25 or 475, if with Juvenile/Adolescent awakening: 534.375 or 712.5
Jazz 4 (Currently on the 6 month trip to Namek with Kami)
Powerlevel: 41
Staff Technique: Intermediate
Hand to Hand Technique: Intermediate
Ki techniques: Basic
Magic materialization: Intermediate
…
…
Afterword:
Cyborg Tao in the original series had a power level of 210 in the Budokai Tenkaichi following the 5 year timeskip after King Piccolo, it's never confirmed who helped with his cybernetics, but it was most likely not the Red Ribbon Army, as in GT, Goku and Uub were both able to detect Cyborg Tao's ki, as opposed to most Androids and other artificial humans. With some early research done on the teams, and with the ability to observe the Crane School, and especially Tien, I believe that if Gero set his mind to it, he could probably create an Android with an effective power level between 800 and 1,000. Just given the power of Gero's Androids in the Android/Cell saga based on his knowledge of the Z fighters. Since Gero likely found Tao after the surgery, he can only replace and upgrade what was already done, as opposed to a full retrofit.
As far as adoption processes go, this one kinda was screwy to begin with, as the country has a certain level of corruption that's exacerbated by only one primary government. A kingdom is only as effective as it's king and nobility. Gurumes isn't exactly a good guy, so ergo, this cluster fuck of a system, where some guy beats his kids black and blue and there's a record of it, but money is involved so no one gives a poot.
As for what their plan was? PaoPao knew this was a likely trap, but she didn't know what exactly would happen, so Jazz 3 split into 4 pieces, and re-absorbed one of his clones. The other two pretended to be Lapis and Lazuli, and Jazz 3's main body turned into a dog, a pretty okay disguise that would make it difficult for anyone to harm the children, as they're on the ship with Goku and co.
Oh, also, the Diagram I tried to draw last Chapter is Cursed as all heck, so I'm going to try and fix it and if it doesn't work, hopefully it looks good here.
J = original Jazz
JC = first Jazz clone
J2 = Jazz 2
J3 = Jazz 3
J4 = Jazz 4
...
. . . . .J. . . .
. ./ . . . . .\
J . . . . . . . JC
| . . \ . . . | . . .\
J_-_J2_-_J3_-_J4
Hopefully, this looks good.
AH! before I forget, thanks for all the follows, favorites and Reviews once again! That so many people read and enjoy this story is honestly awesome, I know there are a bunch of guest readers too, thanks for continuing to read the story!