Disc 1 Part 2
Where we left off, Neoru hightailed it to a local bathroom and left Dina to fend for herself like a true hero. Dina was nearly knocked into a coma and began to hallucinate a flashback, albeit a helpful one that'll help establish characters and give the story a bit more solid ground. Speaking of which...
"YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED! FAREWELL!"
The swordsman, clad in a black trench coat and sporting long, light-purple hair in a half-ponytail style, took a sip of his cherry Hetap as he waited for a few moments.
As he waited, 3 speeding blue lights came crashing down before him.
"Is it just me, or does this process get slower every time?" the swordsman thought to himself. The lights held in place, and bodies began to materialize. One was a boy in nigh shredded wears, with bruised skin to boot. Another was a teenage girl in a uniform with the words "YPD" etched onto them, a fist-sized hole jutting through it showcasing a sizeable bruise on the right of her stomach. The final body was a large, tailed young man in a fancy, futuristic-yet-fur laced and sigiled armor indicating some sort of status, a faint print of what looked like a large, segmented tail firmly grafted around his neck.
The girl began to blink rapidly before springing upward with a screech. "GAH!" Her breathing was all over the place, and tears sprang out her eyes. She began turning her head at breakneck speeds, desperately attempting to get a hold of what was real, and what had just happened. Soon, her eyes fixed upon the swordsman, standing a few meters away.
"Hey," he said in a calm manner. Despite the sentiment, she still looked at him as of she were a frightened animal, eyes agape. The only word she could just barely stammer out was "What?"
"I'll explain everything in a moment in order to save time. In the meanwhile, I'm gonna need you to calm down."
The uniformed girl's expression slowly but surely escalated from scared, to confused, to annoyed, to livid. "WHAT!?" she exclaimed.
"Huh? What'd I say-" he pleaded in bewilderment before being cut off by the raging girl. "HOW THE ACTUAL FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO 'CALM DOWN' AFTER WHAT JUST HAPPENED? WHAT, AM I JUST GONNA THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS AND HAVE THE TRAUMA JUST DISAPPEAR, LIKE THAT? HAVE YOU LOST IT? I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE HELL I AM, I HAVE NOT THE SLIGHTEST FUCKING CLUE WHO THE HELL YOU ARE, AND I'M QUITE CERTAIN I JUST FUCKING DIED! IF THIS IS SOME FUCKED UP GAMESHOW, I WANT OUT! DO YOU HEAR ME!"
To say the swordsman was taken aback would be an understatement. "Is this chick bipolar?" he thought to himself before hastily explaining himself. "L-look, if it'll help you cool off, I'll save you the wait and cut to the chase now. How's that?"
"I AM COOL!" the girl yelled. "But by all means, give me the rundown like that'll change anything!"
"Jeez, Recruits have gotten upset before, but never this upset..." The swordsman internally complained. "Alright, I'll start by giving you something formal to call me. I'm Trunks."
"...Like the swimming undergarments?"
Trunks took a deep breath. "Yep" he calmly confirmed.
The girl let out a giggle before returning a name. "Alrighty then. Name's Dina Spaurk."
Trunks felt a wave of relief brush over him, knowing he diffused yet another panic attack. His bizarre name had that effect on people. "Next, I'll get you up to speed on why you're here. Promise me you'll stay calm for this."
"No."
"Oh."
"But if it'll help make sense of this all, I'd like you to fill me in."
Trunks took another deep breath before explaining in the softest tone possible:
"You're... all... here... because you've basically died, but were brought from the brink of death to our current local, Conton City."
Dina froze for a good few seconds before slowly looking around the grass-topped plateau they were currently standing atop.
What seemed like an infinite blue void surrounded her on all sides. A mind-bogglingly giant, sentient dragon statue decorated the cloud-dotted skies with another layer of absurdity.
"Ha... ha ha ha..." Dina started before letting out slow, disoriented laughter, as if she'd suffered a concussion at the force this revelation had upon her.
"It all makes sense now... The flying, the super-strength, the golden hair out of nowhere, the big ghost hands coming out of Luna, all the blood..."
"It's all been one big dreeeeam!" Dina exclaimed before letting off more hazy, hysterical giggles, attempting 2 weak steps before falling to the ground.
"You just, uh, take some time off to let this all sink in," Trunks conceited before directing his focus to the tall, tailed man standing over him.
He was a good 6'7 or so, with hardened muscles and hair not too far from a small, groomed lion's mane. He wore a black-goldish armor, complete with an extraterrestrial beast's fur serving as small shoulder pads. A red-gold sigil, which somewhat resembled a cross between a shield and a mast, coupled with a trident crown protruding forth from atop it, was placed across the location of his heart. The suit must've looked sublime at a point, but was now caked with all kinds of ash and debris. He also wielded an ominous aura, floating about him like fog.
Trunks was unimpressed, and his tone showed. "I'm assuming you heard all of that?"
"I want one."
"Hm?"
"One good reason why I shouldn't obliterate you where you stand."
The man, despite a nigh-foot in size difference, posed no threat to Trunks, but he decided to play along. "Where would you be then?"
The man shrugged. "Hmph, there's truth in those words in suppose."
"Got a name, Big Guy?"
"Voshyo. 6th in my lineage and successor to the Saiyan throne," the proud man announced in a refined and smooth-yet-deep accent.
Trunks was somewhat surprised at the name and position of the young man. "That's odd. Didn't know there was another..." his inner inquiry was cut short by Voshyo's observation. "You look surprised", he said in a smug tone. "Yes, that's right! I am indeed the inheritor of the glorious warrior race's crown! Your urge to kneel is greatly warranted, if not obligatory! Vermin like you are only fit to-"
During Voshyo's boastful tangent, Trunks had an inner epiphany of his own. "He is just like dad. Right down to the V. Put all that height into his hairline and he's just another grumpy old man."
"-WITH A SIDE OF MAPLE JUICE!"
"What?"
"Hm?"
The 2 suddenly heard rustling as the 3rd new addition to Conton's staff came to.
"Mrrgh..."
The boy rose to the chorus of fuzzy laughter and some tangent about servitude. He opened his eyes to see a man in black and a tall man with stupid hair and a bushy tail.
The initial thought which took ahold of his mind was now, in his eyes, all but confirmed.
"Yeah, this is Hell, right?"
Trunks was immediately taken aback by the sudden, unsurprised tone of voice the boy had. There wasn't a shred of fear in his purple eyes, and his expression was completely careless.
"What the actual-NO! Why would you think this is hell?"
"Well, I'm dead, right? You know the shit I've done. Hell. Not rocket science, jackass."
"Hey!"' Trunks shouted. "You aren't dead, this isn't Hell, and if you seriously expected to end up there, I don't think I WANT to know what you've done!"
"Oh...huh." The boy scratched his head, the situation becoming awkward. "Then, er, how'd I get here?"
Trunks took a 3rd deep breath, his new record for "Most Sighs Taken in 5 Minutes."
"I'll get to it, as soon as you give me a na-"
"Neoru, forgot the last one. Get the 'splainin.
"Who the hell names their city 'Conton'?"
"The same one responsible for the giant moving dragon statue you somehow haven't noticed yet."
"Oh. Oh-OOh-OH FUCK THAT THING'S HUGE!"
"Any more questions?"
"Yeah, whaddo they have here?"
"Specific. Questions."
"The hell does the ocean hafta do with... I mean, do they got food places or, like, bathrooms and stuff? And those things you sleep-BEDS, beds they got beds here?"
"Yyyep. Pretty much everything you just described, we have here."
"Sick."
"But you can't, and you won't, mooch off resources for the rest of your lives."
Trunks raised from his crouched position towards to now-sulking Dina and cross-armed, staring-into-nothing Voshyo. "That goes of all of you! In fact..."
Trunks snapped his fingers, transporting he and the trio from a plateau overlooking Conton to a vast, flat grassland under a dark-blue sky, complete with Aurora Borealis.
"Starting now, I'm gonna see what you're all made of!"
"Eh?"
"What!?"
"Hrrn..."
From the looks of it, Trunks has issued a sudden sparring match with the 3 recruits! How will these strangers fare against this savvy sword-wielder? Find out in the Next Installment of DB:STEP!
Yo! OP here.
That chapter was honestly fun to write! I stalled for a while at some points, but I'm happy with the results. Even better, I actually have a clear idea on how to go forward now, so yippee!
Turns out someone brought back LordCaldrin45 with the Dragon Balls, too, so even bigger plus. Next chapter, we'll be seeing our first fight of the series, how petty Voshyo can be, how angry Dina can become, and also Neoru is there.
Until then, See Ya.