[ OP: Granrodeo ‒ Remember Your Passion ]
Kora VS Renchiru! A Proud Saiyan Is Incorruptible!
{ 248 PRE-AGE }
"Hey pops, how come we live so far away from everyone else?"
The saiyan in olden garbs answered without hesitation.
"Because the others are evil."
"What's that mean?"
He paused.
"See, they prey on weaker species. They bludgeon each other without a moment's hesitation, and if anything dares question their way of life, they destroy it. Beauty, harmony, these things are deemed worthless in their eyes."
"..."
The yellow-eyed, black-scelera'd boy looked up again.
"But you're not like that. How come?"
"I'm just a freak. See, saiyans don't tolerate freaks. For instance, there were once five others like me who tried to change things for the better… one of us got thi~s close, in fact. But he was snuffed out, as were the others, and things were returned to the way they were before."
He placed a hand onto the boy's head.
"This place, these 'monsters…' they make sure that nothing 'good' can ever come from this planet. Isn't that horrible? Wouldn't you KILL to rectify that?"
"Iunnuh."
The saiyan's smile twitched. A sigh washed over him.
"You're hungry, aren't you?"
"... ye."
The saiyan stood, on his way out the door only to be stopped by his son.
"WAIT, I CAN FIND THINGS TO EAT ON MY OWN!" he claimed with pride.
"Hm-hm. I know. I'll meet you wherever you end up, and we'll spar once more."
Nodding fiercely, Kazikum ran off like the wind, out of sight in moments. The father saw him off with a faint smile, before giggling from his flank drew his attention.
A beautiful woman in the same leather hide, with deep-red pupils cased within obsidian sclera, long and pointed hair, and a bushy tail awaited him, leaning against the outer wall.
"He's adorable! I mean of course he is, he's my own, but still!"
"Hah," he sarcastically mused, turning around.
"Shankuha, that form is disgusting. Why do you insist on it?"
"It's the ideal saiyan beauty, you fool! I'll have you know dozens of men have killed over this!" She flicked her hair in a fit. "What, would you like my dozen horns instead?"
The leather hide-clad saiyan chuffed. "Anything's better…"
She approached him.
"He's strong, he's sweet, he seems to be approaching that 'end' you strove for. So what has you so tense, Tsurai?"
"The boy just doesn't mind anything. Even after showing him glimpses of the rest of the universe, and what we do to that beauty, he just accepts it and never connects the dots. Just stares blankly at the bloodshed and asks if he can go down to meet them."
Somewhere else, after curiously observing its behavior for a while, Kazikum lunged out and tussled with a colossal, bear-like lifeform. The two struggled a tad, uprooting the rocks before the bigger beast was sent crashing down to the ground.
"He'll turn eight soon. I'm running out of time. He very-well may become another blood-hungry bastard, and then what?"
Bloodied, far too ravenous to let any pain bother him, he prepared to rip into it, only to freeze.
"And if he goes the opposite direction? If your meddling results in a kind soul without any care for violence? Would you, a saiyan, truly be complacent with a passive boy of his potential?"
A smaller beast, resembling his would-be kill, angrily bared its teeth. Shaking as it faced one of the planet's apex predators, yet refusing to step back for a moment.
"No, I... I don't know how I'd feel, actually. Were things just a bit different, that would be preferred. But…"
Initially baring fangs right back, he began to piece things together. With one last glare, he wiped off his own drool and hopped off the fifty-meter behemoth's abdomen.
"A mindset in a world like this is unacceptable." Tsurai raised his shaking hand. "In regards to what he needs, I'm lost."
"What, are there hints within that palm of yours?" The "saiyan" beside him looked curiously, before the hand covered her face.
"See for yourself."
"Peh!" Shankuha staggered back after the light push. "Jerk! I'd devour that hand had it not reeked of feces!"
"(Fe… what?)" He raised it to see what she was talking abou-
SMACK!
"HAH!" Shankuha childishly cackled. "Once again, you undermine a succubus's patent for deceit! Serves you right!"
Tsurai looked at his hand in abject disappointment. "(... how?)"
He was promptly pulled into a smooch.
"If you were any less amusing, dear…" she innocently ‒ as innocently as a former dweller of the demon realm could ‒ smiled. An angry blush cropped up Tsurai's face.
"Of course, that's where he gets his lack of focus…"
"Ma! Pops!"
Kazikum, possessing the same dumb little frown as Tsurai, returned, having dragged a 3-meter scaly small fry all the way home.
"I wanna cook it."
Shankuha picked the tyke up, his tail waving as she did.
"O~h! Look at you, my big, strong devil! You're becoming the man of the house already!"
Tsurai played along. "Oh, the horror. He's brought back a mudeye. My saiyan pride is in pieces."
"I COULDA BROUGHT BACK BIG… ger…" Kazikum scowled, able to pick up the insincerity.
A raspberry landed on his cheek, upping his mood. "We know, Kazzi! The planet itself could ride to our doorstep, and you'd be right there, ready to mow them all down! You're my big, strong ogre, aren't you?" Shankuha mused, Kazikum vehemently nodding.
A mortal's emotions, as intense as it may be in the moment, only last for so long. Across their meager lifespans, any strong feeling eventually dulls, if it remains at all.
Watching the two, Tsurai smiled.
But a demon's emotions are bottomless. Until its source is extinguished, millions of years may pass, and it will linger on, as brightly as on the day on which it was first incurred.
A few days passed.
"Kazikum…"
"Hn?"
Without warning, right in front of him, his mother was killed.
"This is a Saiyan."
The last thing he saw before passing out, as he was grabbed by the neck and slammed to the ground head-first, were her lifeless eyes.
"Don't forget what we took from you," it said.
{ PRESENT DAY
Kazikum's eyes snapped opened.
PRESENT TIME }
He'd missed the snacks by a few halls, and passed out due to blood loss. Despite that, his arm was back. Using his other to lift himself up, he eyed the regrown arm for a moment before deducing who it must've been; it smelled like it, anyway.
"Fuck's sake."
Still hungry, he made his way to where the food hid. His lip slid to the side of his mouth in the process, having made trouble for the person in question.
"Stop fucking... babying me..."
Kora had maintained her post outside the sick bay for about 20 minutes.
Jammed into her consciousness, the image of her raw-strength-over-all Archi using defensive martial arts against someone. And, right after, that of a Super Saiyan shattering his skull.
"(If you'd used techniques like that from the beginning, you wouldn't be in this mess…)"
The more time she spent stewing over it, the further her wondrous perception of Archi's actions faltered.
"(Archi, you…)"
His stupid smiling face was now at odds with his current, venturi mask-concealed visage.
Her nails had burrowed into her folded arms. That final, agonizing thought had finally broken through her otherwise-steel skin, drawing blood.
"'Scuse me, is this 'Archi's' room?"
Snapping out of it, her gaze swayed toward a lanky, lime-green namekian.
"Sorry but no visitors allowed. He can't exactly take ques-"
He showed a license.
"... Alright, 'Wabi,' that doesn't change anything."
"I'm looking to heal him, yes."
Kora was still apprehensive, only now to the prospect of good news.
"He's physically sound, so there's no further need for healing. But if you really want to waste your time, be my guest."
"Yeah, thanks." Wabi walked past, taking the sentiment in something vaguely resembling a stride. Inside, the resident medic made a brief fuss, but took an honor-based step back at the sight of the redeployed card.
He placed his hand upon Archi's temple, and focused.
"Lesions on this level… he's been saved from total brain death, as expected of Conton's best healers, but the limbic system's still holding on by a thread… he'd hardly be the same person once he woke up. Here goes nothing."
Wabi breathed, and went into a different state.
Soon, it was just him, and the ethereal link between all things.
Thus, he channeled that link through himself.
"... there."
Opening his eyes, he returned to the world. The glow around Archi expired.
[ BGM: Kenji Kawai ‒ Pride of the Warrior King ]
"I've done all I can. Doctor, how long will it take him now?"
The androgynous, elven-eared fellow got up to check. Their eyes, after straining with a mystical glow, nearly bulged out of their sockets.
"... Oh my… it's like the dead tissue's being replaced! At this rate, his recovery period's been cleaved tenfold, if not more!" the medic giggled. "He'll be back from yasai to saiya- in a matter of DAYS!"
Joy rose through Wabi's face like an updraft. "Thank schlyft…"
"Honestly, who are you? I've never seen you around the ER or anything-t-that was nothing short of a saint's work!"
"Well, I'm just busy on the field, heh…" The young man in casual brown and blue gave an uneasy peace sign, before hastily getting a move on. He took a handful of wobbly steps out the door before being stopped again; the hand on his shoulder almost sent him to the ground back-first.
"DA~H!" he screeched, just the touch comparable to a needle-coated truck after his procedure.
"Sorry," Kora quickly put him back on his feet. "I'm thankful, more than you could know, but… why?"
"I'm just…" he began as he relocated his shoulder, cutting himself off with a pained wince. "Just covering for a friend of mine."
It took Kora a sec. A small narrowing of the eyes marked her figuring-out.
"... oh."
"He's not the monster you must think he is, I swear. Something just caused him to snap, and…"
"I don't need to hear it. He was stronger than Archi, that's all. I wouldn't be much of a warrior if I held a grudge over a fair victory."
"But-"
"I SAW THE FIGHT, DAMMIT." Kora's fist shook by her waist. First in a clenched rage, then as if struggling and failing to come loose.
"Archi's a warrior, too. It doesn't matter where he is, if he's in a fight, then he's ready to put his life on the line if it comes to it. He wouldn't hold a grudge. Neither will I." She advanced. "Again, thank you."
Wabi sullenly saw her off.
"(You say that…)"
He saw hazy, brick-red vectors all around Kora's frame; hovering within her aura, stabbing into her body, he couldn't differentiate in the moment.
Further down the hall, near the restrooms, her attention descended toward someone in a sad, silent heap against a wall. Once she got beside her, Kora paused.
The other looked up, and they eyed each other for a moment.
As Dina's eyes shook, Kora began to scrunch up.
Back during the fight, during the period where Kazikum had begun to lay into Archi, she'd up and ran.
"... why the hell didn't you stay?"
It would've been easy to lie ‒ her hands were still rife with sink water, the question would've been self-answering to anyone emotionally stable ‒ but the half-breed couldn't bring herself, too ashamed of what'd just come over her.
"I..."
"It clearly wasn't decided. Hell, your boy toy was clearly winning. Why didn't you see it through to the end?"
"... I dunn..."
The speaker beckoned her name. Kora gave her one last, pathetic look.
"Seems like your pride in others only shows up when it makes you feel good about yourself."
"Wh- no, that's not..."
Kora resumed her advance. Further self-disgusted, Dina's forehead hit her hugged knee.
"(Am I cut out for this?)"
Trunks's gaze was traced to the cloud-spotted sky, now entering dusk following the freak rainstorm of last match. A thin layer of sea-soot from the last battle still lingered up above, further dimming the sky and giving the illusion of late twilight.
"(I've seen things like this my entire life, and I'll keep seeing it, but these… these kids, they're doing it to themselves, and by their own will.)"
He sighed, unable to completely hide the fatigue from the microphone in his hands.
"(Just make it through the last two, and I'll decide from there. Goku seems a better fit, in any case.)"
Two raspy booms from his throat flooded the mic, and the announcer returned to the field in Trunks's stead.
STUDENT KORA! VERSUS! STUDENT RENCHIRU!
Kora approached, with daggers for eyes. Renchiru did much the same; though, now, he carried a mace of sorts, duel-sided and brick red on both of its flanged tail ends, built from the rock of Planet Sadala.
A brow raised in curiosity as Kora approached. "(A toruutsu?)"
In the stands, Tarubei had a similar reaction.
"A relic of Sadala's warring era..."
Kora looked him up and down; standing up, he was especially lean for a saiyan of his size, just below 6'8. Discounting that, area around his arms looked seasoned, especially his pectoral region and forearms; in those areas, every individual fiber was visible.
Noting his build, Kora refocused on the weapon. "(It should go without say, but if he hits me with that, something's gonna break.)"
The announcer raised his hand and, after a swift chop, commenced the match.
GO!
Renchiru's eyes flared, and with a violent twist and step, using his entire body and every muscle within,
"HR~AAAAH!"
He swung his ancient mace.
There was a tremendous fissure left across the path of his swing, the force alone causing a tremor to ripple across the field as it was dispersed. It happened so fast, one could be forgiven to think Kora was obliterated in the attack.
"You copycat…"
[ BGM: Shunsuke Kikuchi ‒ The Immortality Wish ]
But there she was, hunched on all fours like a rabid animal. Her fingertips smoked; 10 drag-marks had been etched into the ground before them. Her hair cast a shadow over all but the whites of her eyes, and by the way they narrowed, she was one impulse from maiming the mace-wielder.
"That 'technique' doesn't suit you," Kora began, rising back up. "It was too telegraphed, too uncertain of its own efficiency, an unnatural mockup. You're like a child trying to imitate a wild animal. Try something like that again, and I'll tear into you without a warning."
Renchiru glared, spitting off to the side.
"It was a homage."
"Homage?"
As oxymoronic as it sounded, the smirk he developed could only be described as "angry."
"He put on a splendid display last match, despite his impure nature. The Kazikum one, that is. He denounced his place as a Saiyan, and yet, compared to the wretch he fought, he held the pride of one in spades."
Despite the lack of change in Kora's always-annoyed expression, the light around her seemed to darken.
"What's that supposed to mea-"
"DON'T PLAY COY!"
In an instant, the leather-clad warrior had lunged; he'd seemingly taken Kora's advice, and her ribs paid the price with a savage, laser-fast blow from his toruutsu.
"The minute he paid the slightest tribute to that pissant Frieza through the garbs he donned, the bastard stamped out what little pride he had left!" he snarled, stepping forward with another, overhead blow. "What's more, how quickly he squashed his ideals for battle once he realized he was on the back foot! A DISGRACE, THROUGH AND THROUGH!"
His adversary had ducked underneath the blow and past his side. While he turned back from the cracked side of the arena, holding her struck side to assess damage, Kora's emotion had become visible; not only within the white depths of her ever-expanding eyes, but her louder, raspier breaths. Renchiru noticed, and somehow welled even further with rage.
"And even after that, before me stands an oaf donning the garbs given by the villain who ensnared her race. Without a HINT of shame." He pointed his weapon toward her, looking just-about to vomit. "And look, you've even personalized it with your own carvings."
Kora grabbed the top of her chassis, as if her antagonist's gaze were enough to putrefy it.
"This is my FAMILY's mark, you bastard," she growled at a low pitch, implying a final warning.
A bizarre grunt, wedged between confused and insulted, rushed from Renchiru.
"Family? You hail from an era in which entire FAMILIES prided themselves on kneeling to a child!? THIS is what's to become of the Saiyan warrior race!?"
Renchiru charged once again. "SCUM LIKE YOU, WITH NOT AN IOTA OF SAIYAN PRIDE, AREN'T EVEN FIT TO BEAR TAILS!"
He held far too much range, and his speed was nigh-equal to her own. All she could do was block the oncoming swing to her head; if it'd hit, her time in the match would've been halved.
Even still, the blow traveled just-barely past her guard, resulting in a CRACK resounding throughout the stage.
A weak "geh…" left Kora, as she went tumbling across the ground.
Again, Renchiru spat off to the side at the sight of her. "Pathetic showing, from a pathetic product, of a pathetic age."
..
.
It kept compounding.
The seething anger within her.
In the span of a few hours, everything she'd ever valued had been insulted. But of all of them, she hadn't expected her family's honor to be attacked.
"You…"
[ BGM: Satoshi Okamura ‒ Lineage of Clan ]
She spoke with a blood-stained face, still on the ground as if a corpse cursing its slayer.
"You stupid fossil…"
Nor did she expect to become so enraged at THAT. Not Archi, not the Super Saiyan that nearly did him in, not how quickly she'd been critically wounded.
"When did you get so confident…"
One step at a time, she rose to full. Her aura followed suit.
"I overestimated you…"
"What was that, YOU PRIDELESS DOG?" he yelled, going back in for another swi-
Kora shot into him.
"YOU'VE HAD IT SO FUCKING EASY!"
Her fist swung into his temple at point-blank.
Renchiru staggered back, readying the weapon he'd seared into his muscle memory, but the blue-armored saiyaness allowed no distance to be gained.
"You've never had to worry about your pride… not when the biggest threat was another saiyan!" she gutturally hissed, launching a knee into his side, taking advantage of his stagger and climbing onto him before laying into his head.
"YOU GOT TO FIGHT AND DIE WEARING YOUR HEART ON YOUR SLEEVE, TO HELL WITH CONSEQUENCES, ISN'T THAT RIGHT!?"
"Why, you…!" Renchiru yelled, slamming her to the ground and raising his dual-sided mace, holding her head still by the neck and sending the weapon crashing down onto it. Evading at the last second, Kora's ear was battered, further fueling her rage. Renchiru reared back his toruutsu, only for Kora's head to smash into his own; she'd grabbed the weapon as it flew back up.
"YOU'VE NEVER HAD TO LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE BEING STRONG MARKED YOU FOR DEATH, YOU ARROGANT BASTARD!"
With her opponent's weapon still in her hand, Kora yanked it back and tucked it under her arm, winding back her own fist as Renchiru slowly came to. Before getting a chance to retaliate, 5 bone-shattering consecutive straight punches had carved into him.
"I WON'T LET AN OUTSIDER LIKE YOU…"
With another lash of her palm, she'd grabbed his head and, slowly sending her foot skyward, dragged him toward the ground. Atop it, a red orb of ki formed, her energy pooling to it like a meteor shower being pulled into a condensing star.
"TALK DOWN TO ME!"
She cast it down, sending him careening face-first into the arena with an ethereal burst akin to a deep-sea volcano erupting; a very-real, dozen kilometer-high ring of fire distantly erupted around the island soon after
WHAT AN IMMENSE TURNAROUND! AFTER A SHORT SPELL SPENT ON THE ROPES, THE BARE-HANDED STUDENT KORA SHIFTED THE BALANCE TO HER FAVOR WITH A ROUSING ASSAULT! WHAT'S MORE… STUDENT RENCHIRU IS STILL KICKING, EVEN AFTER THAT SEISMIC STOMP THAT BRIEFLY SET THE WORLD ON FIRE!
Accompanied by haggard breaths, Kora's lowered gaze upon the downed opponent continued to shake in anger, despite her prior rageletting.
"(Wake up a few hundred years after your age is through… and yet you DARE talk to me like that?)"
Eh…?
Kora's face began to contort in outrage, to an unnatural extent.
"(Prideful piece of shit… where the fuck do you get it all from? You don't know your place…)"
What began happening next, only the time patrollers recognized.
A violent dark aura, akin to a trapped storm, hovered over her, then erupted in an unstable mixture of energy.
Ayeva and Kaset, in perfect unison, shot to attention.
"THIS IS…"
"THAT'S…"
"Imposs…"
Tarubei's eyes weltered in uncharacteristic woe.
"How…"
Eyes flashing red, making noises much like a dying animal snarling toward encroaching hunters, Kora staggered backward.
"Saiyan pride… saiyan pride, saiyan pride, all I can heAR ARE BROKEN FUCKING RECORDS!" Kora screeched, blatantly possessed by something else as dark energy encased her body, steadily translating sound mind into more and more power.
"YOU SHITHEADS CAN'T EVEN MAKE UP YOUR DAMN MINDS ABOUT IT!"
Of the honored guests, Ace immediately stood from his seat.
… APOLOGIES, "BUT THE TOURNAMENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!" Trunks yelled, tossing the tone alongside the mic and preparing to jump in.
"Wait!"
[ BGM: Kohta Yamamoto ‒ The Demon Xing Hai ]
Ace paused, bewildered.
A confused stutter escaped him, one soon replaced by an agitated grunt as he connected voice-to-person.
"What the hell are you talking about,"
Trunks turned.
"PUDDIN!?"
She'd seemingly dropped her happy-go-lucky persona; even her now-laced hands concealed the stupid manga-esque cat face she usually donned.
"Yeah, yeah, I understand your concern, especially with your early record. However…"
Renchiru slowly arose from his buried state, much the same aura enrapturing him as dilated crimson moons shifted toward the first person in sight.
"What we're now witnessing is a rare opportunity for this 'new generation' to show their mettle against mental assault, especially the sort that the Time Patrol's faced countless times in the past and, with this 'fun' new development, WILL face in the near future. That was the point of this, right? Not a cutesy point-based sports match, but an actual training ground for the best and brightest to see what they'll bring to active combat?"
She raised a finger before Trunks could interject. "Furthermore, Conton is finally in a position where we can safely run such a thing without suffering casualties. Healers have reached high-enough levels to make physical injury a non-issue, and we even hold SRU's in case things go spiritually awry."
Trunks telekinetically bayed the two beasts before they could reach each other. "And from there, what? Watch as whoever the hell's behind this gets their sick kicks or, worse, reaps a reward?"
Goku, also intent on spectating from the get-go, turned toward the demon-demigoddess.
"No, that ain't all, is it?"
Pudding immediately read his trepidation. "As obviously stupid as it sounds, yes, we'll need to use that cookie-box elf's method of tracking them down. I'm one of two beings, and the only stable one of the pair, capable of tracking dark energy to its source. Though judging by the bare-minimum slivers of it entering this timespace, hardly fit to corrupt a nun… for a while, we'll need to play the waiting game before any action can be taken. That means letting the two fight."
"Yeah, I'm in favor," said Goku, crossing his arms. "Doesn't sound like there's any big way we can lose from this, least not more than we can gain."
Ace looked toward Trunks, wordlessly saying "It's your call, commander."
Ayeva, in the stands, wasn't convinced. Locking onto her acquaintance's troubled expression, she scanned her for any sign that she'd resist.
"Tarubei…!"
"I accept."
"What!?"
"I ACCEPT!"
Panged creases creeped across the android's face.
"She could die!"
"And she will not! If I were to pull her from a trial the likes of this, she'd never forgive HERSELF, nevermind this Tarubei!"
"So WHAT!?"
"IF SHE SHOULD DIE HERE, I WILL FOLLOW WITHOUT A MOMENT'S THOUGHT!"
Tarubei clenched her heart. "Even now, she fights within herself, as does her body fight outside. Doubtlessly, as she's done every self-imposed mountain prior to this day barring SOLELY ONE, Kora will surpass this battle by her own will. I know it."
Ayeva gave her a dejected look. "... Fine, have it your way."
Heeding her confirmation, unbeknownst to the bite-sized captain, Trunks nodded.
"(From here on, this is no longer a tournament.)"
He lowered his hand and, from there, his telekinetic grip.
"(It's a proving ground.)"
"KRAAAAAA!"
"HAAAAAAA!"
The two mindlessly butted heads, giving into wrathbourne instinct.
"PATHETIC WHELP…!"
Renchiru swung his hand into the sky, his toruutsu flying out of it; revealed were three small, deep-red spikes on the hilt, blood trailing from the hand as the weapon flew out of bounds.
"HOLLOWED HUSKS WITHOUT SAIYAN PRIDE, EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!" he screamed, to such a crazed extent that he'd gone cross-eyed.
The fist smashed into the side of Kora's head; it did nothing to move her fixated eyes off him.
"THAT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING FROM YOU!" she roared, clawing across his face with enough force to send him off his feet.
"There's always some new damn rule to it…"
Renchiru recovered with a flip and charged back, snarling all the way as his wounded right hand was forcibly changed into a fist.
"WHAT DOES IT EVEN MEAN AT THIS POINT!?" Kora screamed. She punched his fist, breaking it once more before slamming a hook into his jaw, taking him down to the ground again.
"IT'S ALL JUST NONSENSE…"
She knelt down, choking the life from him.
"BULLSHIT TO HIDE THE FACT THAT YOU'RE ALL JUST COWARDS…"
Her nails dug into him like claws as she bared her teeth.
"WE'RE NOT THE STRONGEST, WE'RE NO WAR GENIUSES, WE JUST LET OURSELVES KILL EVERYTHING BENEATH US! YET THE FIRST THING WE DO WHEN SOMEONE STRONGER COMES ALONG IS BOW!"
And yet, unconsciously, her grip began to loosen.
"YOU ALL JUST FIXATE ON FABLES THAT ONLY SHOW WHEN IT'S TOO LATE TO SAVE ANYONE… AND ONCE IT TURNS OUT TO BE TRUE, ALL THAT'S LEFT IS THE FACT THAT IT'S…"
Renchiru unhinged his jaw to a demonic degree, and ki spewed forth from it, sending Kora flying off.
"It's never… enough-" she muttered, before being kicked in the side, then relentlessly battered by her vacant-minded opponent.
Losing her last scraps of consciousness in the ensuing carnage, the thorn-like energy around her constantly digging into her soul, her resolve dwindled. Outside, Renchiru droned on in fury.
"COWARDS…! ALL OF YOU…!" Renchiru howled as he pummeled his enemy.
"COWA~RDS!"
Inside, her soul finally giving way to black.
"(Yeah… that's right… every single one of us…)"
She began slipping into a blissful nothing, allowing the empty feeling to take over.
Outside…
[ BGM: Yuki Kajiura ‒ She Did Not Answer ]
"KAAAAAA!"
Renchiru was suddenly blown back, the jagged wind alone splitting his skin. Staring back now were vacant pits of magenta.
Kora's dark aura now stretched to the sky, her complexion turning from caramel to a deathly gray.
Slightly twitching, breathlessly, what once was Kora raised its head. Its idea of a grin splintered its vessel's face.
Seeing it, the former toruutsu-wielder further seethed, his own corrupted aura burning into him as he released a feral roar, charged, and was promptly gutted nigh-straight through.
"Keh… Keh-ha-ha, HAHAHA!"
Sending him sliding across the ground, it snapped to where he'd soon stop, stomping him into the arena and continuing each time he attempted to get back up, demented cackles abound each time.
As it transpired, Trunks turned to Puddin; to his surprise, she was hard at work, her own aura's skyward spiral growing higher. He turned back, sweat practically dripping from him; behind his back, Puddin snuck a few eyefuls.
"DISGRACEFUL… SHAME-RIDDEN FOOLS… YOU'D STRAY FROM YOUR ROOTS…"
He suddenly let loose an abyssal kiai.
"AND DARE BRANDISH SAIYAN BLOOD!?"
The consumed fighter took a few staggered steps back, before the possessed Renchiru let loose an assault with his breaking body.
"DIE!"
Looking up with more curiosity if-not amusement than with agony, it gave another twisted grin before biting one of his flying fists and jerking its entire body off the ground in a pincer-like front flip, sending its boots into his face and tearing through his left hand with its teeth. As if mocking him, insidious laughter followed.
"... YOU THINK THAT'S ENOUGH…"
After another struggling fit, Renchiru stood again, his demonically-enhanced rage toward a flinching Saiyan race being all that drove him.
"I'LL TEAR YOUR HEAD CLEAN OFF-" he roared, cut off by a fist to his jaw that sent numerous teeth flying.
Outside, the beast made a noise vaguely akin to giggles, goading the other unsanctified warrior into amusing it further.
Inside...
"(... you know... I've never really felt it before.)"
In a vacant void, submerged to her neck in a tar of sorts, Kora stood.
"(All I have are second-hand retellings of how important it is, each one different than the last. I've only been able to grasp the concept from others, because they told me it's meaningful. Yet, I've never held any perspective myself.)"
She looked down, away from the white blobs floating about within the eternal black.
"(All I've ever had, all I ever wanted to achieve, the sole focus etched into me… was Super Saiyan. And I hardly have that anymore. Now, all I see when I think back to them are…)"
"COWARDS!"
"... hm. Yeah. But…"
She balled up beneath the sludge.
"If it's so true, then… then why did I get so angry once he brought them up?"
For a while, her plea went unanswered.
And then dull light shined above her, its tint absorbed by the tar she'd been submerged in.
"This is a technique from a long-conquered planet. If they were correct, it should allow for concealing power, even from scouters."
She glanced up. "That voice is…!"
"No matter what, around Frieza's men, you are to use this technique. Am I clear?"
A tall, tailed, menacing one-eyed man in green and black armor held the attention of three children.
"... Look. I get it. Coward."
"Not enough! Fight harder, you pathetic runts!"
The same man who scorned his two sons for daring not to meet his quota of strength, all while she was restricted to watching.
"An excluding coward that kept me, a Saiyan and HIS daughter, out of any real combat, and into the role of someone's wife."
"Don't act like you're anything like me, you bitch!"
"Shut up! I'll surpass you AND Father if that's what it takes!"
"You…!"
The same son who she feared, and who feared her back, and who shared a mutual contempt rife with brutal conflicts that never quite fizzled out.
"Who made his own children hate his guts, almost as much as they hated each other."
"Keep your spawn on a tighter lease… Should I hear such snark from them again, maybe I'll take one of their eyes, so they match their papa. Am I clear?"
"Yes, my liege."
"Good, that's a good monkey!"
Whose father knelt to common soldiers, even those whom he could destroy with ease.
"... I get it, alright? I already know how horrible he was, especially now."
Kora's apathy gradually crumbled, as her teeth grit behind resentful, quivering lips.
"... So why am I still seeing this?"
[ BGM: Hiroyuki Sawano ‒ Before My Body Is Dry (nZk Ver.) ]
"FIGHT! FIGHT HARDER, DAMMIT!"
The same father that wouldn't relent.
"Why?"
"IF YOU'RE SO SCARED, THEN WHY NOT TRAIN ME LIKE YOU TRAIN THEM, HUH!? TELL ME!"
"BECAUSE SHOULD ANYTHING HAPPEN TO ANY OF US, YOU'RE OUR LAST HOPE!"
The same father that maintained, despite the needs of his family, in spite of his own pride as a Saiyan, for his idea of hope for his species.
"If you're so desperate to prove yourself, go cross-planet and fight by yourself, you pest. We'll handle this side of the rock. Now get moving."
The father whose son, despite everything, respected his sister enough to spare them the same prideless assassination he would suffer, having become a "threat" with a power still far below the planet's dictator.
"..."
"First Kiniki and now..."
"Father, I… I'm…"
Who shed genuine tears for his children, and, infused with a father's anger,
"I'LL CRUSH ALL OF YOU FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE! ALL OF YOU!"
Cast all things aside, and struggled to the end of his life.
"... why not?"
Even her wounded mother, further assailed by the grief of losing all but one of her family,
"If you're that preoccupied caring for a worthless sow, then I'll simply lift the burden… oh?"
"I agree completely. Just like the empire you bow to, I've been on borrowed time from the very beginning. Come, dog."
Struggled to the end. Holding out hope for it, the day the Legend would unbind the chains upon the Saiyan race. Some day.
"Why can't I take pride in them?"
She hated all of his methods, and she'd never accept anything her father ever did. That much was certain.
However...
"They DID have pride… so WHAT if they couldn't show it?"
Angry tears streamed down her face.
"They all hid it… in the hope of creating a Super Saiyan... in creating SOMETHING that could stand up to Frieza... And at the end of their lives, when no one could see them, they DID show pride, dammit! Why does that make them any less of Saiyans?"
Outside, Rechiru yowled, slowly losing his own sense of self. The already-mindless beast, however, had seemingly paused in its advance.
The abyssal grime around her solidified and broke off, layer by layer.
"They weren't legends, they won't go down in history, but DAMN YOU, they were strong! No matter what I, or anyone else says, they fought to the end!"
So did she.
"Ah… A-AAAA~H!"
To the end of her life.
"Saiyans with pride, not in themselves, but faith in their people as a whole…! I've just been ignoring that… blind to something worth so much…"
Tears began rolling down its face, its rouge-sealed eyes fluctuating as its aura started to diminish over it. The other possessed fighter didn't seem to mind, charging head-first.
The last of the tar gone, she fell to her knees.
The blobs that had been scattered now formed a helix.
"So do it, then."
Her own voice spoke behind her.
"Forge your own Saiyan Pride."
Struggling back onto her feet she revealed to herself another Kora.
The other, with a dark aura and red eyes, gave a smirk.
"If you can."
Kora took in the odd sight, and what it meant. Then, burning, coal-black eyes of determination stared back.
Countless sharp, quick blasts followed, more like vectors than orbs as they illuminated the space in white glows. Some managed to scrape into her, but all whizzed past as she darted toward the doppelganger.
"HHG...!"
And in a moment, she closed the distance, forming an orb in her palm as she lunged toward the other's face.
"G... R~RR...!"
And...
"RA~AAAAAA!"
A blazing white aura burst through, drowning the entirety of the audience.
Even the rabid, warring-era saiyan before her stopped in his tracks.
Erratic tails shooting from the arena condensed into one single beam of light, sailing into the fading day's amber-blue and corroding the soot that once lingered; the full truth of the sun's still-bright rays were exposed once again.
Below it,
"Hah… hah… hah…"
Kora.
The damage she'd amassed as a husk crashed atop her at once, and she staggered backward.
"... not yet."
Hissing the phrase toward herself, she stood back upright.
"I'm still... fighting."
Not long after reawakening, the low snarls of her opponent demanded her attention.
"VILE… GUTLESS WRETCHES…"
"... you've been through one hell of a struggle, too, haven't you?"
Kora took a stance.
"'Lri~ght… time to knock some sense back into you."
[ BGM: Hiroyuki Sawano ‒ Before My Body is Dry (Karaoke Ver.) ]
"DIIIE!" he roared, kicking himself toward the saiyaness. His wild swing was parried by a backhand block, Kora entering a pivot before a spun roundhouse cratered into the back of her opponent's head.
"Come on…!"
Renchiru spun back around, lunging back in and throwing another crazed barrage.
"DIIE!" he wailed, the same phrase seemingly being played on repeat.
He was stronger without a doubt, around Archi's level. But even Archi had more wit in his attacks than what she was currently dealing with. And more than once, Kora had beaten Archi on pure wit.
"You've done nothing but mope about pride all this time, yet you can't even break out of THIS?" she barked, reading and timing her evasions with bursts of speed as she dodged Renchiru's onslaught.
"GR-HH!"
"You're a Saiyan, dammit! ACT LIKE IT!" she roared, dodging an attempted lunge and countering with a driven elbow to the back of the head once again.
Then she noticed something; for a dragging moment, he eyed the ancient weapon behind her, now in his peripherals and currently out of bounds.
"(So THAT'S it!)"
His growls became even more incoherent, almost strangled, before he sailed around and gave Kora the most befuddling scissor kick ever witnessed by man.
"Kh…!"
Unconscious for half her voyage across the arena, she bounded back up and ran toward the corner of the stage. An enraged roar flanked her, before the possessed Renchiru cut her off.
"DII-"
"MOVE IT, DUMBASS!" she replied in kind, shoulder-barging into him and vaulting over. Her opponent's tail suddenly swung at the Saiyaness, only to be parried by her own. In her now hazy state of mind, pouncing off the stage and collecting the trinket of olden times, she hadn't given thought to how she'd disqualif-
"TAI-YAH!"
Before Renchiru could reach her, the toruutsu slammed into his core, knocking the wind out of him. Grabbing it mid-air, Kora swung down, wielding the weapon by its tail end.
"WAKE UP!" she yelled, clobbering him again, and again, and again; he clawed at the air twice before the blows seemingly overpowered him.
"No, no, that's all wrong."
"Oh, bullshit!" the other saiyan confidently retorted, holding the toruutsu like a caveman would a club before swinging it again. "How else d'ya use this?"
"The very same in which my father, and his father before used it, you clown." Renchiru grabbed it from the shorter, stockier man in gray leather, before placing his dominant hand over the base.
"Wh-hold on! There's spikes on that!"
"Ah, but of course. 'Tis how the weapon binds to its user, how it balances its weight. More importantly, it's how a savant manages to never let go in battle."
After a pained wince, he gripped the weapon tightly.
"It's his arm."
"G-GA~AH!"
"What? Are you angry? Humiliated, is that it!?"
Her arm getting tired from her inexperience with the weapon, running on fumes, Kora bashed him again.
"THEN GET BACK UP AND TAKE BACK YOUR DAMN STICK!"
"WAIT!"
Renchiru, for the first time in his life, kneeled.
"I'll give my life to you devils, if that's what it takes!" he pleaded, without a trace of fight in his voice. "But please, spare him!"
The saiyans in furred cloths cackled.
"WELL THAT'S NEW! GO ON, GROVEL SOME MORE, AND WE'LL THINK ON IT!"
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?"
Renchiru looked back up.
"Your totsu-whatever! It's slipping from your hand, dumbass!"
"What are you talking ab- that's of no concern!"
"LIKE HELL IT IS!"
"DA~AAH!"
Renchiru swung wildly, desperate for his weapon, but Kora refused. Every step, he walked into another swing.
"THIS IS A TRUE SAIYAN'S WEAPON! I WON'T GIVE IT TO A LOSER WHO CAN'T EVEN RECLAIM HIS PRIDE!" she snarled, tossing it upward and bringing it down.
"THAT'S YOUR PRIDE, RIGHT THERE!"
The dark hide-clothed saiyan rolled onto his stomach, knocking one of the captors off-balance, and swept his other leg before jumping back up. Before anyone else could react, another saiyan punched right through.
"PAAK!"
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"
The stocky Saiyan grinned ear to ear.
"IF YOU LET THAT STUPID STICK SLIP OFF, I'LL CLAW MY WAY OUTTA DEATH ITSELF AND BEAT YER' SORRY ASS UNTIL YOU'RE BLUE!" he roared, before disappearing in a burst of energy.
"... You…!
Despite the number disadvantage, Renchiru jumped to his feet, his life essence binding with his toruutsu once again. In his last charge, eternally humiliated, he roared.
"DI~E!"
By its hilt, Renchiru grabbed his toruutsu, it embedding itself into him once more.
"HAAAAA!"
Another tremendous beam of light consumed the area. The weapon was snatched from the stunned Kora's hands, as a kick to her stomach sent her reeling to the edge.
Sliding across the stage, uncontrollably on her feet, Kora finally ground to a stop. Above her, the mace-wielder soared down with a proper swing; she stared blankly, almost mystified.
"(There it is…)"
But an annoying voice from the right shot into her ear before she could go to sleep.
"DO IT, KORA!"
She snapped out of her stupor and, void of every other option, resorted to-
"SORYA~AAH!"
The arena disappeared in a mighty plume of dust and debris that shot into the sky for miles, a massive shockwave rippling through the island and sea as it did.
Within…
"Ha… ha…"
Still gripping his totem, as the crashing waves outside the arena brought down mock-rainfall, Renchiru heaved; all of his reserves went into that final swing.
Beneath him was his proud foe.
"Welcome back."
Crouched along his toruutsu like it was a tree branch.
Right before the swing hit,
She'd timed a leap, rotating herself midair in a way that mirrored the blow's trajectory.
She leapt and, with a kick to the temple, dispelled his consciousness along with the plume. Thus, the result was revealed to the onlookers.
0.8% to 0%.
Trunks looked over to the commentators; three sets of 10 sat up as cards. Ace and Goku were standing, ready and able to end things before they could begin.
As for Pud-
"Hee~h, I'm all nyautta ju~ice! Keeping a straight face is so much wooork!"
As pooped as she acted, Puddin promptly liquified behind the booth and, soon after, stood at attention in front of it.
"I guess I pinned down the source from all that labor, though…" she pouted.
Trunks couldn't bring himself to be cross. "Honestly…"
Both students had broken free from the dark energy; hell, one student HELPED the other break out.
In essence, the first student to successfully complete the first, most basic time patrol, was…
STUDENT KORA ADVANCES TO THE QUARTER-FINALS! the announcer screamed, redonning the mic with gusto.
"Good gods!" Kaset chuckled, blown back. He spoke for Ayeva in the moment, as well.
"(She really does know her students…)" the android affirmed, as her gaze wondered to Tarubei.
Who was abnormally quiet as she shook.
"... Tarubei?"
She could just-barely make out a small mutter, almost mouse-like as the small saiyan gripped her heart.
The usually ear-splitting warrior had a full-face smile, eyes and lips sealed shut as if she'd release an apocalyptic amount of cheer if she pried them open just a bit.
"... thank goodness…"
Ayeva gave her a soft smile, touching her shoulder and causing Tarubei to whirr around in anxious shock.
"As expected of your student."
The shortie somehow smiled harder, and giddily nodded.
"Mh-hm!"
Back down at the stage, Kora crashed to her knees; now that her high was gone, the acidic swimming pools' worth of damage was finally catching up to her.
"(I… I wonder if…)"
She looked down and, sure enough,
"(He's still holding on.)"
Kora gave a weak chuckle.
"(Still… with all the rage I felt throughout the match, even overcoming myself… and not even a hint of Super Saiyan.)"
Realizing what she'd just said, she scoffed. "(Seriously, I'm still on that? Gods, I'm hopeless.)"
Her own consciousness faltering, her eyes finally began to close.
"(I guess I can't help it… their desire's just... a part of me now…)"
With a bit of newfound inner peace, Kora slept.
[ BGM: Pay Money To My Pain ‒ Weight of My Pride ]
"I've sent in for a replacement. Let's go."
"Got it!"
Ace nodded.
"Hh Hh Hh!" Puddin added, nodding aggressively.
The four set off.
Yo! OP Here!
Take a shot every time the word "pride" pops up in the chapter.
Wait, no, sorry. I've just got an issue with overwriting. I'll say that again, but in fewer words.
Yo! OP Here!
Kill yourself.
no but seriously don't do it please god don't i'm kiddin-
But yeah, the PENULTIMATE post-prelim chapter. There's about 1 more that I need to do before the ladses (tried to combine lads n' lasses, uh, didn't work) can catch a break and the REEEEAL fic can begin in the quarterfinals. Gonna do Fox Bitch vs Fun Sentai Man and thenOh yeah right there's a subplot now.
You can blame me not knowing wtf to do with Rentil for that, by the way. I even celebrated my renewed shits about him by giving him a historically-significant weapon and throwing romanji into his stupid fucking name. Congrats my man, you're no longer a rental, you're a REN~~~CHIRU-de gozaru-gozaimasu-desu-sushi-aru. Towa making her move, and the subsequent payoff (if the word "Shibuya" gives you PTSD, you probably already know how I'm gonna use this), will be focused on next chapter; it'll be important for the stuff post-tournament, but for now, still a subplot. But yeah, I doubt after that, bar the finals, it'll show up in this arc again.
Y'know, speaking of, I'm thinking about using this story as a Dragon Ball to the Z that's to come. I'll be real, everything all up to now, even throughout the rest of the tournament, has been one colossal afterthought; the plan way back when was to spend 4 chapters or less in Conton before jumping into the Saiyan Saga and throwing ki blasts at Bejita Umbra for like 5. But damn. This has been an adventure in character building that's stuck with me for THREE years now. There are regrets, definitely, but I can't say I'm not content with it all. Like... wow. But anyway, yeah, when this finishes up, I wanna go into the time patrol stuff with a clean new fic. If you'd still be with me after that, thanks. Even if not, thanks for sticking this far. Seriously.
The stuff with Wabi wobbling and being hypersensitive after healing up Archi was meant to kinda nerf the one thing he has going for him; after doing really complex heals like that, he'll just get really receptive to pain. Has something to do with that "link" he establishes with energy as a whole (I'm trying use the principles of reiki for him, though very loosely.) I get it, I don't know anything about brains, I just looked at stuff online for 20 minutes. Please don't hurt me.
On giving Kora a "Saiyaness" moniker: I get that it sounds odd af, I just wanna further compliment her motif. By the way, I've reworked her rep. animal; thanks to some research on Tibetan Buddhist symbols, I wanna base her a bit more around the eastern lion (and especially the Snow Lion of said Tibetan Buddhism, in general; it's one of the 4 Dignities, represents states of mind that Kora will hopefully achieve as time goes by, and shares a major group with the Tiger. Archi's will still be a shisha first and foremost, because they protect shrines and ward off evil spirits. Like demons and shit.
That means altering Voshyo's Oozaru, yeah, but I've already established something for that. Hint: Slavic significance, can tear apart the heavens in some myths, likes packs.
I did some exploring on Herms' History of Ever timeline for a while and uh, Christianity is canon to Dragon Ball. Not even just the cross Upa did to Dracula Man, THE ENTIRE RELIGION. Buddhism, too. That actually gives me MORE levity, believe it or not. Don't have to make up random shit in-story religion-wise (I mean I'm still gonna, should the whim come to me) but regarding shit like Mei's mudra and Dina's insistence on using "God" in place of gods, plus other touchy things, I'm just a bit more freed up. I'm not gonna bastardize anything because "I can" like a jerkass, but yeah. God is good. God is good.
Smiling Friends is also good. Was worth the 20 on Prime. Watch it.
So Kazi got some beginning-of-chapter backstory, Kora got some cash screen time, things are moving, and uh, yeah. I'm feeling pretty good about this chapter.
Real quick puns:
(From Archi and Kora's chapter on Planet Vegeta) Kiniki, Gomubo - Ki Ngumbo. West African-Bantu word for Okra.
Shankuha - Shankha. Conch instrument relevant to Hinduism/Buddhism. Inspired by the name puns for the demons in the prototype Demon Realm from OG Dragon Ball filler.
Tsurai - Turai. Ridged gourd. Funny enough, it also translates in JP to painful or heart-breaking. Also a place in California.
Renchiru - still Lentil.
Toruutsu - Root, Roots.
Paak - Pak Choi - Bok Choy.
Next Chapter: TFS's Neco Arc OC, Silent Protagonist-kun, Bejita-sama, Tranks, and Goku go on a field trip and DEFINITELY... definitely... stop Towa. Meanwhile, Towa n' Friends do a thing and are proud of it.
Also maybe Akaki vs LITTA-MAN.
That's about it. See ya.