[OP: My First Story - King and Ashley]
Fist-Carved Epiphany! Embrace Your Past, But Never Let It Rule You!
There she was again.
In that vile hall, painted red and drowned in a repugnant smell no one outside a morgue should ever be subjected to. Dawn's glow and the still fresh, still sickening coat cast a ghastly scarlet-gold hue upon the reality which she still struggled to understand.
She'd look down and see people. Some older, some younger, some about her age. She briefly locked eyes with one of her exes. The rest of him limped off the top of a locker.
And there she was, still at the end of the hallway. Piles of people, some of whom she'd seen alive and well not long before... this... surrounded her.
A strangled noise, vaguely of giggles, seeped from her as she knelt, hiding her face behind her back and facing a wall like a coward.
She slowly turned her dripping head to face her.
The widened, ecstatic grin she held, after all this, sealed it. Whatever the hell came from those moving lips, she didn't care to heed it.
She exploded in a golden aura, and everything went blank.
And then, the sharp pain in her side.
Rose-red eyes burst open to the early morning's dark blue.
She knew she'd brought those vivid recollections upon herself. That didn't make them any easier to bear.
In turn, that didn't mean she wanted them to stop anytime soon. Any-and-all motive to become stronger was welcome, and that of dealing a dose of justice to that treacherous shit would serve her well.
"Hahhhhhhh..." she psyched herself after getting up, stretching a bit to alleviate yesterday's lingering soreness. Certain areas were nigh-inconsolable if she so much as touched them, but alas, negligible so long as they were usable.
She showered, put on a red t-shirt and twilight-blue sweatpants, ate something, brushed her teeth, drank a... thing... that supposedly psyched her up further, gagged for 2 minutes, brushed again, and threw open her gate. One step marched forward, the other lingered in-place hesitantly.
"Pull it together, Dina," she coldly scowled at herself. "You're not a child anymore. A splotch of pain never hurt anyone."
"... wait, what am I talking..."
"Oh, shut up," Dina groaned as she hopped on through.
Feet slammed down forcefully atop the chamber's metallic tiles, popping off sparks like fireworks as the room illuminated in embers.
"(More...!)"
She lunged at D.I.A.N.A. again, throwing another stream of aggravated punches its way as it continuously weaved through and around her.
"(I need to be faster...!)"
It abruptly sidestepped, attempting a left hook before a savage right straight sent it skidding half-across the room.
"(That felt like a sodding love-tap... come on, focus!)"
After far-too brief a pause on the android's part, Dina aggressively made a move, only for it to send a partial uppercut into her gut, the force lifting her off the ground and send blood-stained saliva flying.
"(If that's enough to stagger me, I'm still piss-weak...!)"
On that note, she grit her teeth, snatched its wrist with one hand and bashed its head in with a scream-coupled cross, gaining distance and promptly closing it before the two left eyesight, the entire room hazing in a sea of sparks consistently sent flying by the shockwave.
"(More...!)"
Her red eyes began dilating.
"(More...!)"
Her breaths seemed more like hisses as she pushed harder and harder.
"(MORE...!)"
Her punches, though strong and fast enough to beat the android senseless, lacked any above-average form. It helped that the halfblood was slowly losing consciousness. After a brief, desperate evaluation, it seized a moment of vulnerability, it struck out with a sudden low kick to her side.
"(IT CAN FUCKING KICK!?)" she mentally freaked before a hook sent her bouncing off the chamber wall.
"..."
"..."
"(... Get up.)"
Her back against 99Gs, in her state of delirium, it took every drop of her energy just to rise an inch. No, to even breath.
Yet still.
"(This... isn't... enough...)"
The room, reddened by the massively-heightened gravity, hazed by ember-shaded sparks, stained by her blood, and the pain in her side from the blow beforehand, caused the happenings of That Day to rapidly flash in her eyes.
She suddenly slammed her fist to the ground, boosting her upward as the loud grunt gave her lungs just that bit more needed levity to exhale.
"GET UP, DAMN YOU...!"
Her adversary attempted to move in and end things.
And in that moment, she saw her.
"GRAAAAAH!"
With strength she didn't know she had, she sprang upward and shot her fist straight through, raw force rocketing off the ground alone violently shaking the chamber.
D.I.A.N.A. limply flailed across the room, thudding onto the floor with a grisly clunk.
Dina slowly came off her rage-induced high as both she and her sight stopped their shaking, and looked over the damage she'd caused.
"Oh... oh, god!"
The room's gravity returned to that of an Earthly normal as Dina rushed over, silently rattling off profanities and phrases of denial alike.
"Nonononono, no, no, no, no..." she repeated, almost-coddling her robotic companion and eyes-wide staring at the horrific injury.
She snapped toward the sound of footsteps on her flank.
"I-I... Ah..."
"Calm down," stated Ayeva, motioning for space. After a panicky respite, Dina obliged and scooted over. The patroller pulled from seemingly thin-air a tool resembling a blowtorch and pen's amalgamation.
"Ms. Ayeva, I..." the young woman began, noticing the uncharacteristically-exhausted look painting her face.
"I... I'm sorry..." she barely choked out, uncertain of her words' impact after such a thing.
Ayeva continued her work.
"..."
"Dina."
"YES?"
Ayeva tended to some wiring.
"You're a lot stronger now. Exponentially so."
Dina kept quiet.
"You've gradually improved in work ethic, as well. Even your grades are improving."
Dina pulled down the smile that attempted to form.
"That said..."
She addressed a few stray currents.
"... The way you've gone about this. It needs to stop before it gets worse."
The way she spoke was her usual stoic tone, almost as if it were a throwaway piece of advice.
"Wait, whaddo you mean, what 'needs to stop'?"
Ayeva continued. "You're not giving yourself any pause between sessions. You've been blindly attacking D.I.A.N.A. without any strategy, using your own body as a shield and taking unnecessary attacks. I don't even think you're receiving optimal amounts of sleep."
Dina grew defensive. "I mean, it's worked, hasn't it? You said it yourself, I'm stronger now, why's that a proble-"
A stray spark sputtered from D.I.A.N.A's abdomen wound.
Remorse slammed against Dina once more. "... I mean..."
Her mentor sealed the broken circuit. "Dina, machines break. Machines are repairable."
She turned.
"It should go without say, but you aren't a machine. This reckless, beast-like approach of yours isn't just destroying tech, your health is suffering and you're reaching your ceiling far faster than what's safe. Your body can hardly keep up at this rate."
The half-saiyan folded her arms. "Then I'll just take it easy once I've taken care of things in my time, no big deal."
"But you can't-"
Ayeva shut herself down mid-sentence. Dina held her agitated expression.
"Can't what?"
"..."
The mentor returned to repairing the endoskeleton. "You shouldn't keep doing this to yourself," she muttered. "Recovery for humans isn't as simple as 'taking it easy,' Dina. I'd know."
"But I'm just a bit more than human. yeah?" She tossed out a gate. "Look, what matters is that I need to be stronger. Therefore."
Ayeva, back still turned, finished up on D.I.A.N.A.
"Therefore..."
Dina looked back with reluctance.
"Thanks for the repair. Now then, I have school to deal with."
Just like that, Dina was gone.
Ayeva continued staring downward in a slump.
"... Why am I letting her do this to herself?" she sighed.
"When did I become so soft...?"
Conton City.
A mad city with good kids.
...
SOME. Good kids.
Others still fuckin' suck.
"I hit the jackpot last night!" gleefully declared a tailed, small-framed girl in an overly long-sleeved plaid shirt, sharing the screen of a small, cutesy cartoon sticker-padded device to the tailless, wide-eyed boy in a saiyan chassis over a short-sleeve polo.
"Are you kidding me!? I've been chasing Bejitoman for months!" he sulked, serving to stretch the grin on his companion's face.
"You would've pulled him by now if only you'd stop summoning on trap banners, dummy!" she boasted.
"Hey, any banner featuring Biruman is no trap banner! Did you forget that once he's fully built up, he can hit for approximately 7.7 million damage WITHOUT a critical hit? And that's when he's 55%!"
The girl shrugged. "I hate to break it to you bu~t 0.1% pull rates don't scream 'value' to me!"
The boy pouted. "Well we'll see who's laughing once I..."
The girl abruptly lost her enthusiasm and hastily shoved the thingamajig into her pocket.
"Huh? What's wro-"
"Shut up! Just look natural!" she whispered in an almost-pleading tone. The light-armored boy took the signal and threw his head down toward the bench's seat.
Not long later, 6 footsteps accompanied by snickers approached.
"-trashy Majin poser wasn't even pink, like can you believe it?"
"And, like, so tall too, like, totes freaky!"
"Y-yeah, what a loser..."
Sweat began to form across plaid's forehead, her breathing unevened and her eyes stared off intensely to her left as the babbling neared. It wasn't long before the boy shared her paranoia as he started translating the voices.
"(Please just leave...)"
After reaching an agonizingly-close proximity, footsteps paused.
"..."
"..."
"Ugh, oh my gawds, my binder! I, like, knew I was totally leaving something without, like knowing! Like, isn't that crazy or whatever?"
"I guess if we don't follow you, you'll end up unscrewing your head somehow, stupid... Step it up, lambchop!"
"I am, I am!"
To their shock, the footsteps passed. Plaid let out a sigh of relief once they were far enough.
"That was close," Chassis stated with contempt.
Plaid slowly took back out her recreational PDA. "I know, I hate those three... sorry for being rude earlier, Fenerel."
The prior-mentioned Fenerel waved his hands, grinning. "Hey! You're the one who saved our respective bacon strips back there!" he laughed, garnering a giggle from the girl as he slowly slid over the screen. "Now, let me show you what magnificent power Biruman is capable of a 100 perce-"
"BOO!" a disembodied head shouted from behind.
The PDA jumped from Fenerel's grasp and rocketed toward the ground.
"NO!" Plaid screamed as she lunged for it, only for the device to be
"Yoink~!"
ed out of the air by two outstretched arms.
"Oh, color ME surprised, Four-Eyes Blind Yuka's still hooked on baby games!" The pink head crowned with flower-like tendrils mocked, before a small Majin girl's body draped in green and pink clothing snapped underneath. "Can you say LAME!?"
"LAME!" the mop-headed, blue blazer-donning human girl responded as if on-cue.
"Don't people, like, sell kidneys over junk like thaut?" an air-headed saiyan in a lacey yellow-pink top and ripped jeans added her input. "Like, that's hella freaky or somethin~"
"That's not funny!" Yuka shouted. "Give that back!"
"Or what, shorty? Gonna cry all over me?"
"But boss, isn't she taller than-"
"SHUT IT, LAMBCHOP!"
"B-boss!"
Yuka began heating up.
"I SAID GIVE IT BACK!" she yelled, rushing in for her belonging, only to be casually sidestepped. She caught her footing and ran for it again, the Majin keeping it out of reach with steps fast enough to create afterimages.
"HEY, STOP IT!" Fenerel finally demanded through a tight throat, to no avail. "SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO YOU, JERK!"
"Stop kidding yourself, slowpoke! Do you even want this back? Like, come on!" she teased, before throwing it into the air – much to Yuka's shock and terror – and suspending it with her once-more elongated arms.
"Go on, Yuck-a! Have it! It's right there!" she shook it, as Luka began shaking with tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
"Just give it back..."
Fenerel watched on with perceived helplessness. The lacey-shirt saiyan turned to the impotent, armored one. "Wowzers, guy, you're just gonna let Baubi, like, totally push your girlfriend around like that? Sorta kinda patheti~c, just sayin', Saiyan."
"S-SHE'S NOT MY-"
The airhead shrugged. "Whatevs, loser, just keep sitting there if that's your plan."
Fenerel gave a lingering, enraged glare toward the valley chick, who met his glare with demeaning indifference.
He then shifted his anger toward Baubi, still goading on his equally-defenseless friend. Then, to himself.
"I..."
He proceeded to dash toward the small Majin meangirl...
"I SAID STOP IT-"
... and slipped on an actual pink tube-squeeze of crap, falling flat on his face and causing an uproar of laughter between Baubi and her Earthborne subordinate.
The saiyan girl shrugged. "Props for trying, guppy, you can take that to the bank, I guess."
The gesture and subsequent humiliation broke what little composure Luka had left.
"Please, just give it back..." she softly pleaded, sinking to the ground.
"Gods, you're soft! We're just messing with you, big baby!" she snickered, tossing the PDA vertically as she arrogantly strutted off, the blue-blazer chick tailing her.
"And I thought all saiyans were supposed to be badasses or something!"
"You're so amazing, Bau-"
"BITCH WE AREN'T ON A NAME-TO-NAME BASIS! NOT EVEN CLOSE!"
"R-right, sorry!"
Lace-shirt stuck around for a second, watching the glasses-donning girl desperately fumble the newly-caught PDA.
"... La~me."
"MOVE YOUR BUTT, DEVINE!" Baubi screeched.
" 'Kay, Baubi, whatevs!"
Luka dried her tears an turned her gaze to Fenerel, who hadn't moved from his spot on the ground.
She knew why.
With a gentle hand on the shoulder and a "Hey..." his fists tightly clenched.
"I couldn't do anything..." he sobbed.
"But you tried anyway," Yuka reassured. "It's not your fault those jerks picked on me!"
"Is that all I can do?" Fenerel responded weakly, picking himself up. "Try?"
Yuka couldn't think of an answer that'd raise his spirits.
"..."
So, she didn't answer.
"You said you'd show me a 100% Biruman, right?"
"Oh, yeah..."
"... Then I WON'T forgive you until you do!" she declared, raising her nose in jest.
Fenerel's despair-ridden frown rose a tad.
"Then I'll... keep my word," he slumped, before having the pocket console pushed into his chest by a smiling Yuka.
He smiled, as well, and started it up.
"Lil' bitch started bawling her eyes out over a video game, like no backbone whatsoever!" the small egomaniac exclaimed.
"..."
"..."
"UM, HELLO!? I'M NOT TALKING TO MYSELF, AM I!?" she screamed, coiling her entire upper body with sass.
"N-NO, YOU SHOWED THOSE LOSERS WHO RUNS THINGS, AS ALWAYS BOSS!" Blazer exclaimed.
"Ugh, of course I did, stating the obvious as always..."
Baubi slightly coiled over to Devine.
"... the sky's, like, totally gorgeous right now..." she said, spaced out.
"..."
"OH, MY, GAWDS, BAUBI A CLOUD JUST SHOWED UP THAT LOOKS JUST LIKE YOU-"
"THERE'S NOTHING UP THERE, YOU BUM!" Baubi's head screeched down from the sky, using her elongated neck in the most necessary way imaginable.
"OOOOH, I totes forgot you could so that. So quirky!"
Baubi stared.
"Besides," she flicked a few stray tendrils after reducing her neck, "it's just a dumb pot of air and space junk. I'm WAY more gorgeous than anything up there."
"Way?"
"Like, WAY WAY."
"You're always gorgeous, madam!"
"WAS I NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT OR SOMETHING!?"
"O-of course not! But it should be totally said regardless!"
"That's, like, definitely the smartest thing that's ever come out of that teeny little mouth of yours. Good job, Euu!"
As Euu lit up, Baubi spotted someone looking pathetic enough to be another potential early-morning victim.
"Can't tell me what I can't..." she muttered as she dragged herself. "... can take whatever the hell I feel like..."
"OMG, check out THAT tacky wreck! Zero glam whatsoEVER!" Baubi sneered, pointing in the direction of a tired young woman in a red t-shirt and blue sweatpants.
"I don't know, madam, she looks hur-"
"DID YOU JUST QUESTION ME, BITCH!?" she screeched.
Euu threw up her arms. "NO, NO WAY!"
"I mean, like, you can do, whatever, cus like, you're the boss I guess."
"See? Devine gets it. You should be more like Devine. Why can't you be more like Devine? Gosh."
It wasn't long before said band aid-on-cheek donning teenager was approached.
"'Sup, Bird's Nest! Which thrift shop garbage can did you steal those rags fro-"
"Oy."
Back still turned, she cut her off.
"It's 6 in the morning," she growled. "I am not in the brightest mood. Do us all a favor, take your pocket-fanclub, and bugger off."
With that, she strolled off.
"I don't remember asking your permission, skank!"
With that, she stopped strolling off.
Baubi faked a gasp. "Did I strike a nerve, Trashy? To be honest, didn't think I could get through that jungle of a hairdo you've got! Come on, there's no way that THING could be real! VOMITROCIOUS to the MAX!"
"YOU TELL HER, BAUBI!"
"You're, like, ALL. OVER. that chick!"
The girl's fists shook.
"I mean, WOW, you look like you fell out of a garbage dump! I've seen CORPSES with better self-care! Salvation Army casualty much?"
"I don't even know what that is, but YOU GO GIRL! SLAAAAY!"
"YOU"RE SO COOL!"
Red lights burned through threads of hair concealing the girl's eyes.
" 'CAN NOT EVEN' doesn't even cut it at this point! How does someone like you LIVE with themselves? I'd totally give up if I looked anything LIKE you! Too much of a wittle baby to say anything back? Wait, are you crying right now? Is that it? What happened to that corny Big Girl act a second ago? Too scared to even look at me? I bet that would just crush you, wouldn't it? Come on, do something already, you boring Trash Princess!"
"..."
"Oh my gawds she won't even respond!"
The girl took a breath.
"Is that all?"
The flower-tendrilled Majin scoffed. "What-ever."
The girl walked away.
"... skank."
Dina burned the ground with the raw torque of her turning alone.
[BGM: Hiroyuki Sawano – Shut Up ~Go to Hell (1:17-1:48)]
"ONECHANCEONEFUCKINGCHANCETOPISSONOFFANDYOUBLOWITLIKEYOUDOWHATEVERSODDINGVARSITYSHITBALLTEAMTHEYHAVEINTHISSHITEINFESTEDPROVIDENCEYOUINSOLENTFUCKINGSLAGLETLIKEFUCKINELLHOWMUCHOFADICKSLURPINSUCCUBUSMUSTONEBETOMEASUREUPTOYOU, YOUABSOLUTEFFFFFFFUCKING TOEGREMBLIN-"
"Wh-"
"SHUTUP, SHUTYOURFUCKINYAPYEAHI'VEHALFAMINDTOPUNTYOUCROSS-CITYBUTI'DRISKCATCHINATLEAST12OFTHESEVERALMILLIONSTDSYOUREHARBORINWITHINTHOSE150CENTIMETERSOFWHOREBISCUITYEAHYOUWALKINGCLITONASTICKHOW'SABOUTYOURUNMEWAYSWITHOUTTHOSEBLOODYSELFESTEEMBATTRIESROUNDYOURBACKYEAHWE'LLSEEHOWFUCKINHARDYOUARETHENBUTIWAGERYOUWONTWILLYOUYAROTTENFOOKINWATERMELONCOSPLAYERSOI'DKEEPTHATSPUNKSTAINEDCESSPOOLOFAMAWSHUTBEFOREIJAMITINITFORYOUYA?I WOULD FUCKING WASH YOU, POSH DICKHEAD! I WOULD FUCKING WASH YOU!"
Euu covered her mouth with bulging eyes nothing less than distraught.
"Wow, did you see how her hair went all flashy-like? Pure pizzazz!" Devine stated blankly. Euu then focused her distraught expression on her.
Dina threw back Baubi by her collar and fell on her rump, exhausted.
"Hah... hah..."
"Ha... hehehe..."
Her eyes were once more concealed by bangs. She slowly lifted her head and...
"HIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI!"
She broke out into uncontrollable bouts of lighthearted giggling.
"Sweet mercy, I'm on Cloud 9 right about now! Where has that BEEN all my life!?" she exclaimed in between fits. The ecstatic halfling, who'd relieved herself of a portion of built-up resentment in that single outburst and was now experiencing a slice of heaven, steadily stood to her feet.
"Ah, jeez... shame you're a massive piece of shit an' all that rubbish but, still, I owe you a bunch!" said Dina, walking over and extending a hand toward the antagonistic djinnborne currently still on the ground.
"... Gh... gh..."
"Aw come on, love. Don't tell me you're crying over something so light!"
Equally-as-red irises, centered within two pitch-black abysses dotted with tears, suddenly glared daggers into Dina's soul.
"I-I'M G-GO-GONNA MAKE YOU BLEE-E-EED Y-YOU B-BITCH!" she screamed, jumping up with a sloppy punch.
[BGM: The Seatbelts – Rush]
"WOOAH, there!" Dina squeaked, leaning her head out of the way before getting another round of feral swings. "Was just bants, mate, no need to get physical!"
"STAND STILL, BUSHHEAD!" Baubi screeched back, before taking a quick, light jab at a speed she couldn't see.
"ll'right, if that's how you want this routine to end, Sole-Gum Lily, I'll oblige!"
"YOU SMUDGED MY LIPSTICK YOU FUCKING SHITHEAD!"
"Langua~ge mate, there's teenagers with mental capacities of CHILDREN watching!"
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"
As she swayed through the entity's increasingly-erratic attacks, parrying the occasional flying limb, she found herself feeling about 200-or-so times lighter than ever.
"(Blimey, I feel like I'm swimming in air right about now! Must be all that gravity training I've done! Come to think of it...)"
She vanished underneath two extended and grabby arms, ran in-between and further pulled them outward as if rolling out toilet paper, delivered 12 machine-gun jabs to the ever-enraged Baubi, and promptly darted down-and-backward as the latter smacked herself full-force in the face with both palms.
"(… This is the first real fight I've been in since training!)"
Flower-styled tendrils unraveled into a writhing mass as the egotist's face contorted in unrelenting rage.
"AAAAAAIE!" she screamed, nearly blowing out the eardrums of all 3 present before she finally delivered a rage-induced fist to a disorientated Dina's temple, sending her spiraling.
"NOT SO COCKY NOW, ARE YOU, BRAT-" she started, before Dina picked herself up not a moment later.
"Ah... bloody 'ell, nearly knocked my head off there, ya did..." she spoke, noticing the thick stream of blood tumbling from her mouth before spitting out a gob.
"But I read you loud n' clear, mate. If that's how serious you wanna make this, I'll just wrap things up 'ere."
With that, she shot toward her literally-fuming opponent, shot a shovel hook into her side, swung into her head as she keeled, back-fisted her back around with the same hand, and finished her assault with a downward hammerfist that literally imprinted itself into Baubi's face as if clay.
"Phew."
Dina tore her fist out as the Majin took a nap.
"Now then..."
She made eye contact with the other two.
"A go, either of you?" she smirked, reveling in her newfound levity with a raised, challenge-declaring fist.
Currently a quaking, stammering mess, Euu began questioning her religious beliefs as her idol lay humiliated.
Devine stood silent.
Then, she approached Dina.
The latter readied herself, knowing full-well what a full-blooded saiyan was capable of when angry, when...
[BGM: skankfunk – Love Sensation]
"Um, Baubi, you totally lost your cool there. You've GOT to work on that, pronto!" she critiqued in her unchanged, air-headed accent as she leaned over her friend.
"... er-"
"But like, don't even sweat it, bestie! I'm totes gonna avenge your honor, lickity splits or something! Oh my gawds, was that lame? Baubi, you've gotta tell me, was that lame or what?"
Baubi remained unconscious.
"Ugh, whatever, not like I'm your friend or anything, but sure, be that way."
Dina stared.
"... so we've established that we're fighting, ri-"
"BUT LIKE, I'VE GOTTA MENTION, BRUNEY, YOU WERE TOTALLY CUTE AS HECK BACK THERE! The way you were moving, like, tapping off the ground and stuff, was, whaddo they call it, CHRIS–STINE or something!" she squealed, tail frantically wagging.
"Th...anks? I don-"
"But I still, like CAN. NOT. Forgive you for hurting my friend! Even though she kinda? Deserved it? I mean, like, wow, she's been like WAY meaner lately."
"A-ARE YOU ANGRY OR WHAT? WHAT'S YOUR BLOODY TONE SUPPOSED TO BE!?"
"Tone? Ooooh I think I get it? I'm, like, tan or whatever they call it. I think it's something to do with the sun? But I know I'm COMPLETELY gorgeous because of it, so it's regardless! Thanks for asking, btdubbs!"
Dina stared.
"EVEN STILL, IF YOU'RE TRYING TO DISTRACT ME WITH COMPLIMENTS, THERE'S NO WAY IT'S GONNA WORK! THIS IS TOTALLY HAPPENING FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"
Dina sighed. "Know wha- good, GOOD, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WANT, HAVE AT Y-"
Devine threw out her hands. "HOLD YOUR HORSIES, MS. ACCENT! I can't just bedazzle my awesome power level out here in the city!"
"Alright so," Dina groaned, "We're about to take this to a Stagnant Timespace or whatnot, yeah? That's your plan?"
"What? Of course not, what are you even saying?"
"THEN WHERE?"
"So get this, I know these robo-thingies that, like, take you to places where you can COMPLETELY LOSE IT as much as you want, and like, EVERYTHING'S COMPLETELY FINE afterwards! Apparently, nothing changes in them, either, like isn't that crazeh? Almost like spacetime is stagnating or somethOOOOOOOOOH! Yeah, we're totally gonna fight in a Stagnant Timespace! How did you know?"
Blood began dripping from Dina's nose.
"just take me to the blasted terminal."
The two fell into the duel scenario, blaring combinations of deep and light blues zooming past them. As they sailed downward...
"Just so we're clear, airhead," Dina spoke, arms crossed, "if you think this stooge act is gonna make me drop my guard for a second, so you can unveil that you were some martial-arts scholar-mastermind-extraordinaire the entire time, you're dead wrong, yeah? It's full-throttle with me, from the start. Don't go crying like your sad little boss once you find out just how un..."
"OMGeeeee~ I'm like Jamberri Strau from Seagazing in the Sky right now..." Devine silently squee'd, looking and sounding high off existence as she floated on down.
"Un... uninterested you are... in absolutely anything. Wow."
She sighed. "(Ah, well... even if you aren't faking, won't take away from the pleasure I'll get from knocking bully garbage like you out flat. Seems like I've forgotten how good that felt.)"
"(Lately, I've been unable to think of anything outside That Day in regards to home... pounding you cretins is making for a fun distraction, no matter how brief-oh my-)"
"OY! YOU!"
The airhead looked in Dina's general direction. "Hah?"
"You said you were gonna 'avenge' your shite friend, right? What's with that stupid care-free attitude you're rockin'? You should be fuming just being near me, no?"
"No, I guess?" she lackadaisically responded. "I'm totally gonna do it and whatever and like, you're totally unforgivable and stuff, but, like, why throw a fit in the process? It's just bidness."
"... 'bidness'."
"LIKE, TOTALLY BIDNESS, BITCH!" she cheered.
"(actual sodding tone-mole...)"
And so, they touched down.
"What the-"
Upon landing, Dina found herself under a pitch-black night sky illuminated by just-about every possible color of light imaginable. The buildings they glowed from were cylindrical in architecture, fronted with massive, teal glass frames, white steel guards around them, and complete with miscellaneous holo-advertisements ad nauseum and, heights that ranged from a few stories to those which breeched the sky. To her left was a sizeable river channel separating another branch of the city, as well as...
"ISN'T THIS PLACE, LIKE, COMPLETELY GORGEOUS!?" Devine shouted from the other side.
"TAD OFFPUTTING, 'S WELL, BUT GO OFF, I GUESS!" Dina shouted back.
"SO WE SHOULD TOTALLY GO BOAT RIDING AND STUFF BEFORE WE SHOW DOWN, WHADDO YOU THINK!?" Devine shouted. "THIS CITY'S GOT THE BEST AQUAMOBILES IN THE UNIVERSE!"
"..."
"... SO... I DON'T EVEN REALLY KNOW YOUR NAME SO... CAN I CALL YOU 'LITTLE RED' OR SOMETHIN', 'CUS THAT'D BE HELLA CUTE-"
[BGM: David Bergeaud – Courtney Gears Battle]
Dina, wasting no further time, rocketed off her standing point, over the now-turbulent waters, and into Devine's face with a straight.
A backhand – or was it 3 – almost knocked her onto her back. 3 areas had been smacked at blinding speeds, one in particular hard enough to spurt even more blood from Dina's nose.
"Ugh, what-ever. Guess we'll do the water scooters afterward..." the slightly-taller girl sighed, illuminated water particles glinting their futuristic night battleground.
Dina threw herself back upright and dove in again, lightning-fast jabs gunning for the lace-shirted saiyan.
"There's that GORGEOUS footwork again! SUA~VE!" she commented, as every step Dina took was preceded with an aggressive fist forward, the two darting across the harbor while concrete was kicked up like dirt and missed blows popped like gunshots.
"Come on, why's it the feather-brain that knows how to fight!? And DAMMIT, WHY'S SHE ACTING SO FRIENDLY!?" Dina internally ragged, before suddenly lunging to the left and going for a hook into the gut.
The foot that Devine currently had on the ground further embedded itself, preparing to bound to the side.
This time, she SAW the ensuing blow before she violently flung into a vacant convenience store.
"A-TA~!" Devine cried, holding the pose she used to knuckle-smack Dina.
"Darn it all..." the halfblood groaned, wiping her nose with a tissue she conveniently found amongst the mess. "She read me like a smartphone manual, and discarded me just as fast..."
She grit her teeth, balling the tissue before throwing aside it and the box from once it came. "But I'm. Not. LOSING!"
Dina burst through a glass pane before Devine, guard above her face with a tensed core. The fragments moved in inched time as the stared each other down.
"Go on, then. Make your move," her eyes taunted.
"Kay!" Devine's responded, flicking several massively-accelerated shards toward the opposing girl. One dozen dodged with a shift to the right, another to the left, and the last with a downwa-
POW!
Dina was hit with a knee carrying enough force to knock her into the sky.
Catching herself with ki, the sky flickered with brief rainbow prisms as the glass and water sailed along with her, the fullblood leaping into the air to lock Dina in aerial combat. They locked eyes, one red set in a growing frustration, another black set in a growing curiosity, before the sky rumbled in a haze of shockwaves, each girl matching the unnatural speed of the other's fists. The two dashing across the landscape and shattering even more stuff along the way, Dina found the speed of hers vastly lacked in comparison to those of Devine's.
"Gh... how long can I... TCH, OH SHUT UP!" Dina began raging at herself again; it seemed that brief release of steam she had earlier was running its course. On the other side of the spectrum, however...
"They're getting so much faster... it's like they're, like, rolling down a hill or something..." Devine internally commented. "oooh, it makes me wanna..."
In a sudden zen, time in her eyes slowed to about 3/4s of its usual flow. Dina's fist flew toward her, and she feinted the same backfist parry she'd been conducting, before jerking open her active hand, attempting to grab the hand before it could retreat and make way for the next blow.
"Oh my- I think I CAN..."
Her nails briefly dug into Dina's fist. Her fingers briefly slowed its retreat.
Devine's fist closed.
With an empty clench and burning tips.
"... whoops!"
She proceeded to be punched in the face.
The water below jumped, soaking the harbor and giving the greenery alongside the riverwalk an emerald shine as everything in the area violently shook.
"HRAAAAAH!"
Dina took the opening, opted for a forceful cross instead of a jab, and sent her opponent shooting down through several buildings and smack-dab into a steel skyscraper.
Throwing herself over toward the helipad lookalike standing parallel to the skyscraper and landing footfirst, she looked over the area and smirked.
"(Ya gonna maintain that rosy personality after a punch like that, sunshine?)"
Slowly, Devine tore herself from the hole.
"You... actually hit me..."
"Mh. Suppose I did, huh? Though to be fair, you DID leave yourself wide open, yeah?" Dina sassed, fist on hip.
Devine began shaking.
"(Here it comes...)"
She raised her head.
"THAT WAS, LIKE, SO DAMN KEWL!"
.
.
"wha..."
She completely freed herself, jumped from the side-crater and down towards Dina's building, attempted to stick the landing, and completely lost her footing.
"Mega-wow, my legs are all wobbly and everything!" she mused with a blood-stained face, picking herself up from the prior faceplant. "Like, oh my gawds, your hands are hella hard! I'm STILL shaking ALL. OVER!"
"... you're MAD."
"Hah? I mean, not really? I guess that's kinda freaky, huh?"
"YES!" Dina yelled, confusing Devine.
"Woah, what's with the att-"
"WHAT'S WITH YOU!?" she retorted, wind frantically blowing at their heightened elevation. "NO ONE SHOULD BE ACTING SO BUBBLY AFTER SEEING THEIR FRIEND GET SAVAGED, DAMMIT! ISN'T THAT WHAT YOU'RE AFTER? AVENGING THE BASTARD!? YET HERE YOU ARE, LAUGHING OFF A BLOW THAT VERY-MAY WELL COST YOU THE MATCH!"
The red-eyed girl threw out her hands.
"WHY AREN'T YOU ANGRY ABOUT ANY OF THIS IN THE LEAST!?"
"..."
"Wait, I SHOULD be?"
Dina paused.
"I mean, like, why even stress over any'a that? I know I'm, like, honor-bound and whatever to fight you and stuff, but uh, I never said anything about being mad over it the entire time! That'd be SUCH a BUZZKILL!"
"Be... because... aren't you angry with losing?"
Devine shrugged, briefly stumbling before planking her arms and making some dumb noise to stabilize. "It'd be a bummer, I guess. Who cares about all that, though? Like, come on, Little Red, loosen up! Frowning gives you wrinkles and whatever!"
"... heh..."
Dina's teeth clamped down.
" 'Loosen up,' you say? Someone like me..."
[BGM: skankfunk – Snapped]
Her aura exploded, cascading the city in deep blue.
"CAN'T DO SUCH A THING SO SIMPLY!" she roared, bursting forward and sending most of the building scattering to the wind with its outward force.
"Your power just COMPLETELY supersized!" Devine cried with starlit eyes, triggering a "JUST SHUT UP YOU OVER-ZEALOUS SHIT!" and a forceful wound-up superhook from the enraged halfling. The ditzy saiyan blocked to test the waters of this new Dina, and found her entire being violently shaken by its raw impact, inside and out as the entire structure crumbled beneath her feet. Sending her flying, Dina rocketed behind her, attempting an interception only to be thwacked cross-city by a spinkick.
"YOU'RE TOTALLY BLOWING ME AWAY RIGHT NOW, LITTLE RED!" she ecstatically yelled with a smidgen of blood streaming from her mouth. "I'M GUESSIN' YOU'RE, LIKE, MIXED OR WHATEVER, 'CUS YOU GO ALL. THE WAY. OFF WHEN YOU'RE MAD! But you could prolly use a chill pill or somethin' I mean, it can't be good for you to be that-"
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Dina screamed, concentrating all her ki into her hands.
"YOU'VE GOT NO IDEA WHAT I'VE GONE THROUGH!" And with that, a torrent of blasts shot throughout the city, making a break through structures and straight for Devine, who had a blast weaving through them as she sailed across the harbor city, occasionally blasting some out the sky and creating fireworks before suddenly running into Dina's flying fist over the waterway.
"HOW IS SHE STILL SO DAMNED HAPPY!?" she subconsciously snarled. She got in several dozen consecutive attacks before Devine got in several dozen more, adjusting and shifting through the motions of Dina's infuriated assault with a torrent of disorientatingly-speedy attacks across her upper body and ending with a roundhouse knee that sent the red t-shirt on her way.
"(So damn slow... so damn weak...)"
The weight that had plagued her for so long had returned. She let off a kiai that stopped her in her tracks and mindlessly charged back in, resulting in the two bashing into each other repeatedly mid-air before Dina's sudden shovel fist was evaded and countered by 2 staggering, shank-like phalanx jabs in the gut.
"(So... damn... worthless...)"
Devine raised her leg and went for a downward kick.
Stopped by a forearm. Followed by a fist straight into the side.
Devine reeled, before a good hundred downward punches knocked her silly and a spun backfist took her to the ground at mach speeds, crashing through the city like a living bulldozer with dozens of times the speed. Dina followed close behind, her vision hazing with a palm bleedingly-tight fist in hand.
"HAAAH!"
She threw her shot with all she had, only to be stalled another, just-as fierce fist.
"GRAAAAH!" the laced-shirt saiyan howled in response, creating a giant sphere of entropy as otherworldly asphalt and architecture razed and crumbled around their struggle.
"(MORE, YOU PATHETIC SHIT!)" she mentally screamed at herself against the great opposing force pushing her to the absolute limit, the nauseatingly-intense rage taking hold of her as she warred with her. All the while, her aura began to densify, and grow gold. Rage and power began overtaking her, and a vicious, feral feeling of contempt strangled her heart.
"(I DON'T CARE WHAT IT TAKES, I'M NOT FUCKING LOSING AGAI-)"
In that chaos, ever-briefly, she saw it.
Battered beyond belief, pouring just as much her soul into the fight at hand as Dina was...
Devine was still smiling.
Stupid grin plastered across her face, eyes smashed shut as she exerted everything she had.
"(…)"
Her hold loosened.
"(Even after all that...)"
The anger she felt began decaying.
"(If I could just... be like you...)" she lamented. The devil-may-care attitude that'd pissed her off to such a degree, despite everything prior... she found herself envious.
"(All this anger, and what's come of it?)"
"(Could I have become this strong without it?)"
As her footing crumbled, a poignant, poetic, philosophical quote of utmost seriousness drew her notion into question, as if she were trying to tell herself something.
"LIKE, TOTALLY BIDNESS, BITCH!"
"(… huh...)"
In place of anger, a foreign feeling overtook her.
Just like that, her muscles retightened, and her foot hammered downward.
"(oh, tO HELL WITH IT!)"
"SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The two warrior-blooded girls rocketed off into opposite directions as a tremendous one volcanically shot off into the eternal nothing above.
The dust settled, as did the light, and neither was to be seen.
Aside from the downpour of teal glass, and the immense downpour of water from the lifted river system, coming down like rain and hail, things were quiet for a while.
Somewhere a tad quieter, beneath the wounded roof and above the torn floorboards of antique artifact shop, stood Dina.
The pseudo rain drenched her lowered head, as she tended to her hand by wrapping it with a sort of polishing handkerchief she found lying about.
"I get it now, somewhat. The more I resent you... the more I allow you to bind me. Slowly taking this second life of mine, just as you did the first. Feels like I've slowly been losin' my mind, just agonizing over the thought of what you've done."
Recuperating, getting over the soreness in her wrist, and taking a deep breath, she made a fist.
"That ends today. From here on, you're nothing to me. Just a loose end, in desperate need of tying. And when the time's right, I'm gonna do just that. For now, though..."
She pounded her fists together and gazed skyward.
"I'm going to-OH, OH GOD THAT'S GLASS, OH FUCK ME IT'S RAINING GLASS!" Dina shrieked, instinctively ducking downward to shield her eyes.
"... oh, wait a..."
She rose back up and faced the shards as they harmlessly bounced off even her eyes.
"OOOOH, that's right, I'm a lot stronger than glass now. Also a fuckin' idiot."
"HEY. 'Nough'a that. Gonna hafta rebuild me self-esteem from the ground-up, it seems..."
"..."
She felt something sharp in her mouth, and pulled it out.
"... oh god how much glass did i just-"
Her ears befell faraway girlish screaming and a distant "LIKE, WOW!" as the shop rumbled.
"Heh, she's still lively as ever."
Her light smile began to grow.
Dina's aura, a considerably lighter hue of blue than before, surged and overtook her. She began levitating before blasting into the sky.
Sailing upward, she noticed the levity she'd first experienced after screaming her heart out at the small Majin prick... only, more of it. Most of all, though...
"hn?"
As she thought of the ensuing fight, going against Devine's incredibly fast and flashy attacks again, Dina's heart pounded five times faster and harder than ever.
"... this is the first time I've ever been in a fight like this... isn' it?" she thought to herself, clutching it and ascending even faster.
"Heheh, it's never been so close before, no!"
She jumped through the hole at the top and
" 'Sup, sis!" Devine shouted.
"DYA~H!"
"SO, LIKE, I'M COMPLETELY PSYCHED NOW! WANNA GO ALL-IN?" she exclaimed to the girl who'd just prevented her heart from alien parasite-ing her chest.
She swallowed and calmed down before getting psyched up a moment after.
"... Totes," she grinned.
"O-KAY, HERE I-"
[BGM: Hiroyuki Sawano – B∀TTL∃field$]
"ORAH!" Dina cried, making the first move, throwing a jab which color itself briefly failed to keep track of.
Devine was not prepared for such speed.
"ALL-IN, NO HOLDING BACK!" Dina exclaimed.
Which thrilled her to no end.
"OH, YOU GO, GIRL!" Devine exclaimed, tossing several blows in exchange, which Dina dodged at the expense of a bang.
Dina quickly retorted with a volley of jabs, one which grazed Devine's cheek with a cut.
"AAAAAAH!"
"ORAAAAH!"
Swarms of punches, numbering in the hundreds of thousands each, blew past each girl.
"-TATATATAATATATA-"
"-RARARARARARARA-"
Each narrow miss raised the blood flow of the other, until they both vanished altogether, periodically popping up throughout the buildings and walks all across the city as the pouring water and shards of glass formed a bright, glitter-like effect with the racing lights of their auras. Suddenly, a particularly-large skyscraper – piercing the dark night clouds – was defaced by two small, opposing craters.
"TAKE THIS!" Dina yelled as she slid down vertically, shooting off rapid-fire ki shots through her palms while the wind violently whipped past her.
"YOU FIRST!" Devine taunted in response, utilizing the same "technique."
The pair shooting down the building, their colliding blasts splitting it with enough energy to send both halves flying as if cardboard. Both saiyans hopped onto their respective right-side ups and dashed toward the other's piece, colliding with and gobbing each other straight in the jaw, the shockwave reducing the still-flying halves of the building into even smaller chunks of rubble.
"HIHIHI!" Devine mumbled.
"HEHEHE!" Dina mumbled.
They recovered, circling each other while engaging in another rapid-fire exchange before Devine suddenly disappeared, kicking Dina in half. Really, though, Dina had returned the disappearing act, much to Devine's shock, befuddlement, and otherwise-embarrassingly longwinded realization as she vanished before a sledgehammer could do her in, resulting in Dina tossing a spun elbow to the back that Devine only barely caught. In close proximity, the tailed airhead popped off with a side kick that Dina blocked with a flying knee, a sequence they repeated a hundred times with each of their legs before a well-timed blow pierced Dina's guard and sent her into a rubble segment that crashed toward the ground like a meteor.
Water rose and fell all around them, as did colored panels and neon, as a massive influx of energy surrounded Devine.
"THIS IS, LIKE, MY MOST SPLENDIFEROUS ATTACK EVER, AND I TOTALLY NEED TO SHOW IT TO YOU BEFORE THIS ENDS! MAJOR PROPS IF YOU CAN STILL FIGHT AFTER THIS, DEFINITELY HOPIN' FOR YA!" she called out, a raising one of her hands skyward as massive bubbles rapidly condensed around her outstretched palm. Blaring pink-and-yellow encased the area, and she raised both hands, minor bubbles of ki fizzing around them as the spheres began crackling with and letting off plasma.
"In... incredible..." Dina muttered, her strength beginning to let out while she bared witness to the pretty attack. "She's really putting her all into that attack..."
Dina pooled every ounce of her ki into one hand, firmly clutching it with the other. "Expect me to follow suit...!"
"I, UH, KINDA SORTA FORGET ITS NAME THOUGH, SO LIKE..."
{"REALLY SUPER SPARKLY CANNON!"}
Devine shouted, throwing the spheres in front of her, which then rained down smaller discharges of energy as they approached.
In that instant, the light from Dina's hand expanded and became one giant ball.
"Apologies, this one's rather LAST-MINUTE!" she roared, throwing the blue orb it with all she had. It raced upward and collided with Devine's attack, uprooting and upheaving the terrain beneath the two immense concentrations of ki. Dina and, for the first time, Devine began straining, last of their power imbued within those spheres. Yet, seeing the other struggle just as hard still gave them enough adrenaline to push with everything they had. And with that, Devine's technique began ripping apart Dina's last resort.
"I'M KINDA... SORTA... GETTING THE FEELING THIS IS OVER FOR ONE OF US...!"
Dina gave a determined grin.
"IS'AT RIGHT!?"
Her hand, still thrust outward, glowed. She saw the orb as a part of her.
And with intense will, she stretched it.
"SAVE THAT TALK FOR THE AFTERMATH, WHY DON'T YOU!?"
The orb shot forth a beam. As if spitting it initially, it stretched until the ball itself was a trailing ray.
Devine looked on in shock, as it charged right for her; Dina stared rather helplessly as what was left of the condensed energy continued to rocket straight at her.
"Uh oh!"
"Uh oh..."
The city, the two contenders, and everything far beyond the horizon, once more erupted in light.
When everything settled within the sparkling, wet-shined city, one of them was still standing. She looked over the beautiful carnage, and then got a bead on her defeated adversary.
With tired eyes, sore arms, ripped clothing, wobbling legs, and decorated in red, they spoke.
"I'VE, LIKE, TOTALLY EXACTED MY VENGEANCE!" Devine ecstatically jumped for joy, erupting in bubbly giggles before high-fiving the ground with her face.
DING!
"Huh!?" Dina's eyes burst open. She got up from her resting position, noticed something was off, and checked her hands.
"(Hm... 's odd. Was just battered a moment ago... my clothes aren't even tattered...)"
She got to her feet as some robotic voice answered most of her questions, saw she was in a hospital room of sorts, checked out the window, and noticed the room was in an eternal swirling white-purple abyss.
"O-KAAAAY, THAT'S TRIPPY..."
A "Hey, sleepyhe~ad!" from the opposite side of the room caught her attention.
There was Devine, by another, parallel window.
Dina smiled. "Hey there! Apologies, but I sorta slept through our little skirmish's verdict. D'you know who won?"
"Me, but just barely. I kinda went to sleep, like, RIGHT after I saw you lying there."
"Hm~" Dina did a think. "How do I know you're not pulling a patch'a wool over my eyes?"
"I'm guessing you're callin' me a liar," Devine pouted, "and that's COMPLETELY lame, but the results are on that cute T.V. there, asshole."
"Oy," Dina nervously chuckled, "I was just pullin' your leg. Besides, you're not the lying sort, I can tell."
"What-ever," Devine scoffed before immediately shifting her tone. "Anyways, we've got like 30 seconds, or something? Before we get booted from here, so... wanna totally ditch school so I can show you those crazy aquamobile thingies already?"
"Ditching school, eh..."
The suggestion alone hit Dina with a warm, nostalgic wave.
"Yeah, sure, I'm in!" she replied with a toothy grin.
[BGM: skankfunk – Chain (Underwater Mix)]
As it turned out, the massive city they fought within was but a shiny, floating dot amidst an endless ocean of blue.
Far out into that sea, enough to where that newly-reset town was small enough to hold with two hands, a pair of bullet-like submarines shot from the murky depths.
"HIHAHAHAHA!"
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
The mosaic-like lids of both popped open as soon as they hit the ocean surface again.
"Told'ya, didn't I!?" the full-blooded saiyan exclaimed.
"HAVEN'T... HAD THAT MUCH FUN... SINCE IT SNOWED...!" the halfblood gasped, catching her breath. "Ah..."
They both sat back to enjoy the view of the city.
"The skyline here is to DIE for," Devine stated.
"Right on, that... y'know..."
Dina's eyes took on a reminiscent look. "I used to skip 'n get ourselves into all sorts'a trouble back in junior high... me and my friends."
She noted the lack of resistance on Devine's end, and continued.
"This boy would always throw a fit 't first, the prude... but he'd see we were leaving anyways, and he'd shuffle on with us regardless. Swell guy, him, but his name's somehow just out of reach... NO, CHESTAR! THAT WAS IT!" Dina laughed. "Oh, some friend I am, I know!"
"And, this girl I knew..."
For the first time in a long one, her memories of the past were pleasant. Not sugar-coated, unfocused upon any specific horrible act, but... pleasant.
"Quiet-like, and to call her 'father' a piece of work would be an insult to pieces of work everywhere, but... she kept me on the straight n' narrow, mostly." She giggled. "Hell, there were times she'd give me a right scolding if I ever acted idiotic or abused my what-I-called 'gifted' abilities. Now that I recall..."
"W'zup! I'm Dina!" one kindergartner shouted to another, self-isolated one near a small round table, slamming down all 7 of their cookie bags in the process.
"hello..." they almost whispered, formality a tad-too high for a kid talking to one of equal stature.
"How's it you're over here, but everyone else is over there?" small Dina innocently interrogated.
The other kid shrugged. "I just like being alone."
"That's odd. You're odd!"
The girl now-beside her began getting annoyed, until Dina ripped open a bag with her several-grown-men strength.
"I like odd stuff! Let's be friends!"
"...O... kay...?"
"Yeah... I was one who broke her out that little shell. Funny that, she tried to stay out other's way, and others, mine... but it was like she was an entirely-different person around me. All no-nonsense, but always willing to try things..."
A wave briefly bumped both their ships, and a bit of seawater got into Dina's eyes, maybe. "Oh, gosh, those were the days."
She suddenly realized how much she'd said to this person she'd only just met. "(Woah, I haven't opened up this much to anyone, not even Ms. Ayeva! Wonder what makes her so-)"
Dina turned to Devine and got her answer.
"WHERE'D YOU GO, LITTLE FISHIE?! I JUST WANNA PET YA, JEEEEEEZ!" she pouted over the side of her aquamobile. "STOP BEIN' SO SHY!"
Dina smirked. "(It'd be a miracle if she remembers her breakfast, much less my hopeless ramblings...)"
"Say, uh..."
"Oh yeah!" Devine flipped onto her back and over the OTHER side of the boat. "Devine! Cute name, right? How about yours?"
"Thanks for that, it's Dina by the way, but I-"
"OH. MY. GAWDS. THAT'S MY INITIAL, TOO! WE'RE LIKE BES'D'IES NOW! ISN'T THAT CRAZY!"
"Yes, totally besdies, spectacular wordplay that, but still. I wanna know why someone like you hangs with works like 'Barbie' or whatever."
"Baubi? Oh, she's weird. It's like, she's SO insecure for some reason, and she NEEDS attention, but she's pretty nice when no one's listening. She had a stick up her butt like a year ago, but then she fought me for... something?"
"H-how?" Baubi wailed. "T-there's no way anyone could be..."
A scratched, bloody hand was extended to her.
"What do you want? Aren't you happy with beating me? Just leave me-"
"SO YEAH YOU'RE LIKE MEGA STRONG AND JUNK AND, LIKE, YOU TOTES MADE UP FOR THAT GRILLED STEAK SANDWICH YOU BLEW UP!"
"W... what?"
"WANNA BE BESTIES?"
"B-but... you're better than..."
Baubi welled up before she clutched the hand, sobbing uncontrollably.
"So like, has anyone ever told you how loud you are, It's so freaky!"
"And we were besties ever since! She got, like, MEGA serious about talkin' down people since this tournament stuff started, though... weird..."
"Well, if she's as 'nice' as you say, then tell her stop that bullying crud, pronto."
"Bullying? What's that?" she asked in complete seriousness.
Dina facepalmed. "... Oh come... Spouting demeaning cow manure unprovoked to people, toying with 'em physically n' emotionally, that stuff?"
"Oh?" Devine gasped. "OOOOOH, yeah she's totally started doing that again! Why, is that bad?"
"Very, very, very bad. Like, fuckin' 'ell mate, what kinda shithole must Planet saiyan or what'sit be for that to not be a concern..."
"I wouldn't know, I'm an Earth chick."
"... wait, that explains a lot, actually... so you're one'a those 'Last-Minute Escape' -type saiyans, yeah?"
"Oh, no. It was a FABULOUS resort hotspot after Mom and Dad totally conquered it and squashed their strongest guys!"
"...eh?" Dina squeaked.
"Ya, they showed it off to this one important frowny-face creep with a beard and spike hair, and after that we became RICH AS HECK. But I got some time after all my training sessions, and I flew around and found these humans who tried ta fight me, and I totally kicked their butts, but I ended up liking them SO MUCH I stuck around, and I got REALLY HIGH off Earth movies and stuff, and there were these movies with really cool Earth girls that I guess were really strong? Cus everyone was scared of em and followed them around or whatever? But anyway, they sounded cool, and also there was this HAWT Earth guy in these kung-fu movies who beat EVERYONE HE FOUGHT and he got WAAAY soprano when he punched people, and I was like "THAT'S SO DAMN QUIRKY!" and so I trained Marshall's Arts with these humans and I really thought they were cool and junk, BUT THEN my STUPID PARENTS found their hideout one day, and I was there watching a movie WHICH THEY INTERRUPTED, UGH, RUDE MUCH? and they were like 'BLAH BLAH KILL THE HUMANS BLAH BLAH SAIYAN PRIDE' and I'm like 'SCREW YOU MOM AND DAD, YOU CAN'T TELL ME HOW TA LIVE MY LIFE,' and then they had the NERVE to kill my friends, like can you even believe it?"
Dina slowly nodded along, mouthing something along the lines of "sweet mother of..."
"So then we fought for a bit, and I could handle my mom kinda, but my STUPID ASSHOLE DAD was totally something else, and it sucked because I CANNOT STAND IT WHEN PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE, LIKE HELLO? THERE'S A LINE, PSYCHO! SO I CAN'T EVEN ENJOY MYSELF, and then they both shoot me down with these TOTES UNCOOL blasts, and then I wound up here! But it's whatever, I mean, I'm stuck here now, not like I can do anythin' about it so I mean what-ever~."
Dina stared blankly.
"no bloody wonder bullying's a punchline to a bloke like you- how are you not a Super Saiyan after all that?"
"There's that word again!" Devine exclaimed, batting her hands into the water. "You sound pretty passionate about that, y'know? What's that all about?"
"Super Saiyan?"
"Bullying, duh~."
"(Well that's a first...)" Dina sat up in her seat. "Well, it's never happened to me, but I had a hellava time batting people like your friend away from my own. Bastards of her type threw crass names like 'skank' her ways for sport, and she tried her hardest to ignore it. But circumstances change, and I couldn't always be there, I guess. Which meant easy pickings for those blasted vultures."
"They just called her names? That's pretty lame?"
"Yeah, well, humans are a tad frailer than hardass live-to-fight saiyans. Doesn't take much to chip away at one until they begin crumbling. In any case, it was never just words."
"The friend?"
Dina nodded.
"(Her name... why's it right there?)"
Her face slowly scrunched.
"Uh, what's up?" Devine asked, analyzing Dina's stupid expression.
"(Come on, how the hell'd I forget a name like that?)"
"... you're not about to do somethin' gross, are you?"
"(... almost lost my train of- REGARDLESS, IT'S ON THE TIP OF MY TONGUE, I JUST KNOW I-)"
Dina suddenly jolted to her feet and snapped her fingers.
"IT WAS LU-"
Trauma smacked her in the face.
"... na..."
Her mood nosedived, fond memories colliding with the horrid loss of life she caused.
"... Yeah..."
She made a fist, the cloth from before still wrapped around.
"Say, it's about time we came ashore, right?" Dina asked, plopping back down.
"Sure, but..." Devine gave her a look. "You're not crazy, are you?"
She hesitated on her answer. Then, revving up her ride, she gave a confident smirk.
"Not quite yet."
"... OH, YOU CAME BACK, LITTLE FISHIE!"
"wait wuh-"
Something roughly the size of a warship breached, knocking the two screaming back to shore.
[BGM: The Pillows – One Life]
"There's more I'm thanking you for besides the good time, mate," Dina chirped.
"Is it sitting through all that venting for, like, 30 minutes?" Devine chirped back, flushing Dina's face.
"Well... that, too, but still."
She raised her head to the sky. "It's 'cus you helped me remember how to live."
"WOW, THAT'S KINDA HEAVY."
"I know right? But yeah, you let me resolve a lot of my problems, just by fighting you. You're a spectacular fighter, by the... no, how'd you say it, BTDubbs? For whatever incomprehensible reason?"
"OK, just bloody vomit all o~vehr the way I to~lk, Ms. Ahc-cent!"
"Oh, what-ever~, like YERS is aneh bettah, love."
The two split a coy glare, before giggling away from each other.
"Really. I just needed to let go of all that resentment I felt. 's all rather useless at the end of the day, but if something needs to be done, I'll just... take care of bidness, proper."
"What bidness?"
Dina sighed. "Just some considering an old friend. Speaking of which, you ARE gonna have that 'chat' with yours about her not-so-pleasant qualities, right?"
Devine suddenly stopped, causing Dina to do likewise.
"Um, I think she's one step ahead."
On a bench not-too far, Baubi and Euu were still paying two familiar faces a visit.
"Is it really that hard for you?" Yuka almost-sneered.
"Come on! Just do it already, Baubi!" Euu demanded. "I did it first, you can do the same!"
"I-I'M TRYING!" the small Majin girl weakly hissed, still in bowing posture.
"TAKING.. YOUR..."
"A-BU-BUP!" Feneral interrupted. "You messed up! FROM THE TOP!"
"But..."
"BAUBI!" Euu shouted.
"I'M SORRY FOR PUSHING YOU AROUND, ALMOST BREAKING YOUR STUFF, CALLING DONKEN CLASH LAME, AND HUMILIATING YOUR GUY FRIEND WHO YOU IN NO WAY ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED WITH WHATSOEVER! I TAKE BACK EVERYTHING I SAID AND ACKNOWLEDGE SIR FENERAL AS THE COOLEST GUY EVER!"
Yuka nodded. "There. Wasn't so hard, was it?"
Baubi slowly turned to Euu with a crumbling composure. To her surprise, she gave back a smile.
"Now that I know you're just like me, we HAVE to stick together."
The leather-donning extradimensional entity proceeded to scrunch up in tears.
"We'll beat these guys in the tournament fair 'n square, won't we?"
"Uh... uh-huh..."
They turned to see their 3rd piece, and the one who knocked the queen off the board entirely, smiling.
"So I TOTALLY avenged your honor, bestie!" Devine proudly proclaimed, as Dina closed-eye nodded behind her.
"By a hair's breadth, mind you, but still. Certainly put me in my place."
Fenerel gave her a stern look as well. "I want an apology from her, too!"
"Devi, what'd you do?" calmly asked Dina.
"I called him a lame-o for not stickin' up for his girlfriend!"
"I mean, you weren't wrong, but still, quite rude."
"I'M RIGHT HERE!" the verdant-armored saiyan screamed. "AND FOR THE LAST-"
"It's whatevs! Hey, soz for damaging your ego!" Devine exclaimed with not a hint of ill will.
"W-WHY'D YOU PUT IT SO BLUNT!?"
"Welp... she definitely meant it..." Yuka sighed. "Now that that's out of the way..."
She whipped out her PDA. "You guys wanna see something cool!?"
Baubi and Euu sheepishly leaned in as her device made an ear-shattering start-up sound, before a Donken Clash logo appeared.
As those two did that...
"Yeah, hard pass. I like my kidneys. But I'll save you two seats, if you're up for seconds!"
She turned to Dina. "You want in?"
Dina gave it some time. Then, she sucked her teeth. "Ah, darn it all. Sorry, but it's high time I got back to training. In fact..."
She bashed together her fists.
"I'm gonna go ever further with it starting now. Climb even higher so I can take care of affairs quick n' snappy. After that, I'm just gonna take things easy!"
"... What's THAT supposed to mean!?"
"Huh?"
Devine threw her hands on her hips. "You KNOW I'm gonna do some crazy junk to raise my power through the roof, right? Would you SERIOUSLY ever just let me, after ALL THIS? That is SO. LAME!"
"I... hadn't thought about... Yeah. Yeah, that'd BITE."
"EXACTLY!" Devine aggressively pointed. "I'M GONNA BLOW MY TOP OFF IF I'M EVER HEAD 'N SHOULDERS ABOVE YOU, DINA!"
Dina gave a devilish, toothy grin. "Well no worries, Devine! It'll be a cold day in Hell before I let myself fall behind ANYONE like you!"
And refusing to waste any more time, Dina raced off into a gate's mystic blue.
"COUNT ON IT!"
[ED: Pay Money To My Pain – Weight of My Pride]
As it shut, and the 4 behind her made inaudible screeching sounds concerning something called a Billmon or whatever, Devine smiled.
In a somber manner.
.
[POST_POST: BLOODY MARY . . .]
"I feel like there's someone I forgot to apologize to..." Baubi contemplated under the night sky.
"Really?" Devine gasped. "Like, a mystery gal or somethin'?"
"I mean," Euu shrugged, "Maybe it's because we did something so minor to them, it wasn't worth remembering?"
"Uh..." Baubi conceded. "Yeah, you're probably right."
"I."
A quiet, ghastly, bloodthirsty whisper flooded the gang's earways, paralyzing them as if a spider had dug its fangs into all 3.
"FOUND."
Footsteps – clearly, those that wished to be heard – and what sounded like a dragged, ghostly chain slowly approached from behind.
"You..."
They each found the will to look behind them.
An ancient, blood-haired harbinger of death and vengeance awaited their gaze.
Screams faded into the night.
The 3 turned up in the local hospital ward the following morning, with just enough lacerations to keep them alive.
Reason? Unknown, possibly paranormal.
Yo! OP here!
IT'S OVER! THE CHAPTER'S OVER! I'M FREEEEEE!
10,800 words is what this is capping at. But screw the count, it's the TIME this chapter needed that killed me. 5 weeks, I am NOT great. Even then, this one still feels mediocre. Not to say it was complete hell to work on, but there were points were I'd look at the document and just... stare at it. Just, like, not even wanna deal with my own shit while staring at a heap of it. Bizarre.
Another reason for the wait: I have a job now. Ye. Big boi funds. We on dat GRRRRRINNNNDO-daze yo now.
Yeah. Massive apologies for how slow the story's going right now; believe me when I say I wanna get to the tournament and subsequent time-patrol arcs just as much as you guys do. But I really want chapters like this to make what these guys get feel EARNED. That's not all that common in fics, and I want my characters to go on these self-journeys in order to get closer to perfecting themselves, mentally and physically. And, uh, the big bad for this arc, if any'a you are wondering? Won't be one. The protagonists' respective big bads are the other protagonists, that's the plan for this one. Please be patient with me, I'm slow on the keyboard and in the head.
Now, HINTS of something afoot concerning our 2 favorite Xeno-Demon-Time-Baddies? You bet your ASS I can do that while I'm setting things up. I have BIG PLANS for developing Towa and Mira - Mira especially, considering how much this story revolves around fighting spirit and will - as well as two certain subordinates of them (Turles is... Turles is gonna be a great dude... you're gonna love this Turles, if I remember his dynamics by the time I reach him) and I'd LOVE to have them on. Spoiler tho: They're not exactly in the best position to be causin' abrupt, blatant chaos after all the ass-whooping the TP's done to them.
That's outta the way. In-universe talk. So I took the idea for Dina's first same-age friend, Devine, from Space Dandy's Honey and Grace Tyler from binge-watching Ruggington's Arc-V dub uploads. Spunk Yes, babyyyyy. Her style, as you probably guessed derives from Jeet Kune Do; some of the "Take What's Needed" philosophies combined with Bruce Lee's "Be Water" statement, mental and physical in implication. The ATA shizz was a dead ringer, regardless. I kinda failed to convey this in-chapter, but she's also somewhat dead inside. 's why she doesn't seem to strongly give a shit about anything serious anymore. I realllly wanted a strong valley girl because I thought it'd be cool.
Dina's character arc. I hate it. I hate it with everything I have, and I'm gonna force myself to end it in the best way I can. I've hated myself for far less, dammit, her arc should be complete within next chapter or two. Ayeva's gonna play a huge role, and Neoru will have a sorta sub-story in it.
And, uh, one more thing...
This goes out to SonGaton, the boy. You've been out here, critiquing my dogshit story since the jump, and giving me that extra lil' push to keep writing. Hell, I do this for people like you and me. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for sticking with me. (Sorry about the low stakes, but I wanna keep the stakes character-personal rn.)
No energy. Got paid. Got Hostess. Bought Yakuza 0. Bought Doom Eternal. Summer sale good. Will not interfere with story progress. Signal shutting off. Love you guys.
That's about it. See ya.