AGE: 846
LOCATION: Yarg, Earth
"Power to reign over the cosmos... Wealth beyond my wildest dreams... and Lady Towa's hand..."
Ravenous thoughts ate away at the man's psyche. His skin was a deathly pale, his black and grey hair draped to his knees. The robes he dawned were no-less extravagant, in shades of violet and red. They did little to mask his eyes - blood moons afloat in empty voids.
Before him, an indescribable shape made of an ethereal energy twisted and turned, as if forcing reality to accept its birth, otherworldly mists that encased the chamber indicative of its inevitable success. Around him, a league of tar-cloaked magi cast continuous spells - many of which took the form of hands - to maintain and empower the construct, his own attire blaring amongst his peers. One of them suddenly dropped to their knees with convulsing. Their only form of acknowledgement stemmed from the leader, who paid them a look of resentful disgust.
"Would one of you find it in your heart to remove that child from the ritual? Kill him, if he isn't already dead!"
A sound like a heavenly instrument rang behind him. A light followed. He groaned, as if he'd encountered yet another minor annoyance.
"And speaking of children..." He turned his head. "Yet another of Chronoa's pawns dares to-"
The man soon realized just who he was facing, and diverted all attention. "... Oh, this..."
Trunks rose to his feet.
"THIS is a welcome surprise."
There's Never Enough Time! So, Let's Enjoy What We've Got Tonight, Lover.
"Age 846." Trunks made a circular outline on a holo-map. "Five years before Mira first appeared outside the Demon Realm and destroyed New Namek as his opening act."
Vegeta retained his folded posture. "Why not 851?"
"851 assumes that the 'door' hadn't been opened at that point. This is only the point in history where he made himself known. Going back this far, there's less room for error. After all, going off what we already know,"
"I believe it would take around a decade for a cabal of first-class sorcerers to force a portal to the Demon Realm," stated Selaine, "with the lot of them working together. Perhaps more than that, but them taking even less time is much more likely. Their very existence should be hidden from all but other disciples, so wiping them out won't affect any greater scheme or anything."
"This way, we're catching them in the act, and ensuring they've done enough to kickstart the central events leading onward. It's a chance to observe Who, What, Why, and most importantly, When and How. And also... they've been able to conceal themselves from the Time Patrol, specifically."
Vegeta's arms unfolded. "So they..."
Trunks nodded. "Towa can talk to mortals through their dreams. It's not at all implausible that she'd originally warned them of Chronoa before the TP's conception... but considering this is TOWA we're talking about, with this new boost in power, it's a possibility that she's relaying to them more and more info as of late, strengthening their defense against detection." Trunks analyzed a specified date, and then whipped out a notebook.
"... And check this out. New Namek's destruction is getting earlier by the minute. Literally."
"Damn her...!" Vegeta shot to his feet. "She's creating her own power supply! For all we know, those 'wizards' could be funneling Dark Magic to her, directly, as well!"
Trunks snapped his fingers.
"That there, is Bingo."
[ BGM: Kenji Yamamoto ‒ Battle Point Unlimited ]
"So, THIS is the infamous 'original sinner' and slave to Chronoa's whim, hmm? How ironic, you-"
As the leader of dark arts broke into self-absorbed monologue centered around Trunks being a hypocrite without free will of his own (one that he found hit harder the 5th time he'd heard it), the lavender-haired swordsman inspected the area. "It's some kind of chamber," he noted internally. "What kind of wards can deter Chronoa's level of detection? And one of this size... can he be altering space to create an array like this? Just how far has Earth magic come, and completely under our notice?" He re-centered his gaze on the ominous master, who seemed to just be finishing up.
"Are you done?"
The nose of the master warlock scrunched, as if Trunks had failed to give the correct answer. "Are you truly so intoxicated by self-righteousness, you'd gloss over your own contradictions?"
"No, I just don't let them get in the way."
"Snide little rodent... acolytes! Double your efforts! One of you so much as glances at what comes next, and I'll wipe you from existence!" His caped robe fluttered, as did his hood — gnarly ridges lined his forehead. "Let Lady Towa be pleased by the death of her enemy!"
The lilac envoy drew his blade and released his aura. "One way or another, it isn't Towa that you'll be seeing."
Suddenly, the drafts adrift within the haunted halls ceased. The acolytes went stiff, as if cutouts. Trunks followed. All that remained was the master warlock, with a grin inching further up to his demented eyes. He dove in, his hands reaching out for the hybrid's heart.
And then Trunks moved.
"...!?" The master warlock dove back, barely dodging a swipe of sword that swathed through his robes.
"Bad move, freezing time for someone that exists 'outside' of it."
Trunks zeroed in.
"Tch...!"
The THWACK of a giant, metal rubber band.
"...!?"
The wizard smirked victoriously. "Weep! I've cast you to the furthest reaches of the cosmos, countless millennia after my Goddess has established her reign! I bid you farewell, fool!"
With another booming THWACK, the warlock returned to his moment in time, where Trunks's flying boot awaited him. He crashed through the bottom of the floating city, slowly pulling his broken body back together after the killer strike.
"How...!" He whipped his head around, taking in his surroundings before sending them both further in time, ensuring none above or below could see his identity.
Trunks soared after him, like a falcon amongst the backdrop of time's rewinding film. "Just how the hell do you think I got here? There's no way you could've killed a patroller with what you're using now." He folded his arms. "So how about you stop wasting both our time and show me your Chaos Embrace."
"What are you blathering on about, you oaf!? Have you lost your mind, trying to comprehend my power?"
The hybrid rolled his eyes and gathered ki into his hands. It expanded to the size of a meteorite before condensing and launching toward the dark mage, veering through every mountain, every deep-sea trench, every asteroid, planet, swirling space body, and offensive or protective spell he placed in its path in a trippy light show of spinning spacetime, rewinding and fast-forwarding across millions of years in seconds.
"YOU DAMNED-" He thrust forth his hand.
"KHAOS AMPLECTOR!"
Before it, a massive, grotesque, foil-esque rift tore open, a demonic interpretation of a hand forming outward and tearing through the attack. Trunks weaved out its way, arms folded with an "I told you so, me" grin across his face.
"MISERABLE LITTLE RODENT! HOW DO YOU KNOW OF THAT SPELL!?"
"Conton grows every day! Sometimes, pieces just happen to fall into your lap!"
His grimace seemed to squirm. "JUST WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH!? LADY TOWA'S ARRIVAL IS GUARANTEED!"
Trunks grinned harder. "Now that I'm this much closer to solving the puzzle, you're one less pawn. One less means of power."
The sorcerer raised his hand, summoning an amulet that looked like a catalyst straight out of a cosmic horror story.
"COCKY CHILD! I AM HER SOON-TO-BE! AND THIS PROVES IT! KHAOS AMPLECTOR!"
He suddenly erupted with demonic pressure, broadening and splitting a ridge on his forehead as it ghoulified him. Trunks frowned. "(So that's how...)"
He balled a fist. "(I'll give him one. One for all of you.)"
Endless rifts opened around the mad sorcerer, and from them spewed clawed hands of multiple size and shape that corrupted the space around them.
"(Did she always make pawns this strong or is this a new development!?)" He hissed, cladding himself in a sky-blue aura and leaping into the fray. Like a bat out of Hell lit ablaze, he darted over, under, and just-barely around the hands and claws out for his soul, all the while firing precision blasts at his target, who quite-literally waved them off with his ghostly appendages. As the fighter's efforts grew, so did the mage's, and one of his incantation-born hands fired its own mystic blast; Trunks held it back with his will, but found himself being forced down by its power, the commander sent into the ground by the attack. The struggle reaching its peak, Trunks forced it back, sending his arms skyward just as hundreds of dark-magical limbs descended upon him. He gripped his sword.
"(Whatever traces of God ki are still there, dammit, please...) SHIN! BURNIII–NG...!"
His blade, and aura with it, briefly ignited into flames,
"BRE–EEAKE–EEER!"
and he slashed through the air in a brilliant display that might's well've taken place in frozen time. The hands had been flayed in a shower of divine sparks.
"FOOL!"
Trunks widened his eyes, and just as quickly, he was sandwiched between tectonic plates. The wizard responsible, up above the now-Mesozoic backdrop, teemed with glee as if he'd won a gold star and a kiss from mommy. "STRUGGLE ALL YOU WANT, YOU'RE STILL BUT A MORTAL! WITHOUT YOUR FOOD, YOUR WATER, YOUR AIR, YOU CRUMBLE INTO NOTHING! NOW I WONDER... HOW WILL YOUR MOVING OF THESE LANDS ALTER TIME, GALLANT SERVANT OF THE WHORE CHRONOA!?"
A distant geyser suddenly plopped open beneath a sizable sauropod. It rose about 173 cm into the air before being set down gently.
"No..."
In a heartbeat, Trunks had caught up with the fiend. "You're trying REALLY hard to make this personal."
/ARE YOU SAYING THIS ISN'T PERSONAL AFTER WHAT HE JUST SAID!?/
Trunks caught his bearings after the gunshot in his ear. "H-he just can't know I'm bothered, t-that's all!"
/HOW COME TOWA GETS ALL THE ZEALOTS, ANYWAY!? WHERE'S MY OBEDIENT SHADOW CULT!?/
"How old is the Time Patrol, again...?"
/What was that?/
The environment suddenly shifted to a barren, gaseous wasteland, absent of any ozone to temper the wrath of the sun above.
"Sorry, somethings come up," Trunks replied before cutting comms.
The swordsman simply reinforced his barrier, ripping and tearing his way through the encroaching demonic hordes clawing for him, and blasting away any projectiles that spun their way through space. He briefly disappeared into the sun's deadly light, blinding the demon-mortal before an even BRIGHTER solar flare eclipsed the wasteland.
"You have no idea..." Trunks gleamed, overloading his blade with ki as his foe screeched in agony and shielded himself from the light, "How grateful I am that you chose this point."
"... GRATEFUL NOW, ARE YOU!?"
He flung the two forward in time.
"...!?"
The frozen world was right back where they'd started, only now, hovering above a city.
Trunks hesitated for a moment. Enough time for the magus to swath through space, lunge at the swordsman, and take hold.
"FADE!"
Trunks's began rapidly de-aging, sealed within an isolated timeline within which the dark sorcerer was god of.
"FADE YOU WORTHLESS-"
And then his eyes flared green.
The warlock was suddenly blasted back.
Staring back at him was a Super Saiyan.
"...what? B-but that's..."
"That's simple, really. I went 'beyond' that timeline, wholesale. Hell... space and time, as a concept? I'm on their 'threshold' at all times. All I need is to 'flip the switch' and..." He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. You'll have plenty of time for regrets, pretty soon."
The panicking heretic turned back. "ACOLYTES! TO ME!"
Not one came running.
"...ACOLYTES! RESPOND, DAMN YOU!"
The acolyte shivered in fear.
"Your master's calling you. Tell me, what's your excuse for disobeying?"
Another body of her comrades fell to the floor, from the grip of the smiling, golden-haired alien before him, glimmering moth-hole distortions opened all around.
"Are you starting to disagree with his teachings? Is it fear? Or perhaps both?"
The amulet was snatched from his hand, without regard for said fleshy appendage. He howled in pain, before a sword raised above him.
"W-WAIT! I'M STILL USEFUL! YOU NEED ME!"
"14."
Fourteen slashes of his sword cleaved through the demon. He was too far gone, too 'above' humanity to be done in with division alone. So Trunks added a kiai, and the zealot returned to dust.
The commander exhaled. "(I can't bring you guys back. But...)" He sheathed his sword and inspected the amulet. "(I've at least given your sacrifices weight. Thank you. Everyone.)"
Vegeta appeared over comm. "Mira's events should be back on schedule, after this. Towa's little 'side-gig' is on indefinite hiatus."
Trunks nodded, his stern fixation on the amulet unshifted.
[ BGM: Bruce Faulconer ‒ Episodic Trunks ]
"Earth's people still hold so much potential... but knowing that, it just..." His expression went sullen. "Where was all of this when Gero's creations raised hell? When Zamasu went on his 'crusade'? How come they kept it all to themselves?"
Vegeta looked off. "Those who sit on a surplus are reluctant to share. They fear losing it all, more than anything. For power, more so than all else."
"... so much for helping each other live." His father's words suddenly sparked a thought.
Trunks twitched a bit. "... The Zero-Law Suite."
Nothing.
"I'm wondering if... if they'd've been able to-"
"Forget it. They wouldn't've."
"But if they died anyway-"
"DEATH IS A MERCY TO THAT..." He was suddenly lost for words.
He was a man that knew Hell. In every sense of the word. The sole phrase he could think of, the only one that dwarfed Hell itself, was redundant.
"THAT PLACE."
"... Father, I'm not talking about juniors or students, or anyone picked off the street. I'm talking about some of the best we have."
"Exactly. That is not a year being extended inside some poultry space of shifting thermometers in gravity that saiyan children happily wake to. There is NO END to that realm. Not its agonies, not its depth, its length...! We've done that in the past and barring ourselves and Kakarot, NO ONE has withstood it without losing themselves. Need I remind you that Kakarot hardly has anything besides self-betterment in his skull!"
"... and then there's us."
Vegeta paused. "... it took us months."
"And we came back. Both of us." He balled his fist. "I want... I want someone to try. Especially now."
"... someone like Pan?"
"No. Absolutely not. You KNOW why she's not ready."
"..."
"... maybe in time. But as of now... her mind would shatter."
Another long pause.
"... I've taken the liberty of performing Mira's opening act in his stay."
"Meaning..."
The prince finally surfaced, arriving by his son's side. "Of course, the one left alive THEN is still alive NOW. I'm well-enough capable of doing my job, bo-"
Vegeta inspected Trunks a bit closer.
"... HM... HM-M-M-M-M..."
"Hey."
"HEHEHEHEHE..."
"Stop that."
"HEHAHAHAHA! OH, OH WHAT A SHAME! YOU REALLY ARE YOUR MOTHER'S SON, BOY! HOW MANY TIMES DOES THAT MAKE THIS!? IT'S GETTING RIDICULOUS!"
Trunks, the 40 year-old adolescent, groaned. "(Maybe Chronoa will-)"
/WELL, IF NOTHING ELSE, I STILL HAVE AN ETERNAL SERVANT! KYAHAHAHAHAHA!/
Trunks sighed, rolling with yet-another punch, donning a smile. "(... great.) Can I propose something else, or should I wait until you two are done?"
"OH, OH DO GO ON! WE WOULDN'T WANT YOU MISSING CRAM SCHOOL, WOULD WE!?"
He twitched.
"... I wanna move the semi-finals back by a week."
Barring a single, heated foster-mother moment, Ayeva had not stopped working.
Especially not after junior patrollers had stepped up in their seniors' place.
... she'd become everyone's mother, yes. One with invaluable information, eyes everywhere on the battlefield, and unlimited mobility and versatility, but mother nonetheless. Due to her efforts, lives were saved, and even those who'd never done a proper patrol before could rectify the discrepancies present and live to gloat and/or sulk over it.
She'd also spent days plugged into a chair.
Splitting one conscience into dozens on a good day (hundreds when things got bad) and receiving an ocean's worth of data flow, coordinating with different people in accordance with different scenarios... it was something feasible only by a god, a hivemind, or a machine like her. And yet... she still couldn't save everyone.
She had to see it up-close, every time it happened. That "absolute end" that came with combat's tightly-knit relationship with entropy. Beyond all planning, all it ever took was impossibly-small margins of error.
After Trunks and Vegeta's expedition, she'd finally been left with nothing to do. An entire day had passed without a single rift, change, or hiccup in time.
It was only after at-last unplugging, and feeling the gasp that escaped her, that she'd finally found her limit as a sentient being.
"...hhh..."
Ayeva wanted to throw her badge into the largest, deepest, most volatile fucking star in the xenoverse.
"...I can't do this again," she whispered into her palm, knowing very well she was one of the select few that even could. Being very good at one specific, difficult task came at a cost.
Her usual means of coping only angered her. Math's certainty reminded her of how useless it all was when it fell off paper and into practice, only for something to go wrong anyway. It felt like a lie. Engineering inevitably reminded her of her cage's many cables.
She wanted to forget. She needed to.
TzZ-tZz.
"Swear if it's that fuckin' old man again..."
In a groggy stupor, he checked his gauntlet.
"pls help"
-Ayeva
He did a double-take.
"what you need?"
...
...
...
"idk anymore"
He let out a small "ooooh," before tapping something else. A golden, see-through calendar sprang into the air, and he squinted at a certain date.
"Damn, that's today?"
...
"plaza, fountain, 20:00"
...
...
...
...
...
Read. 08:37.
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
"k"
A junior patroller had recently taken the role of Samaritan and healed up any seniors still incapacitated by the Towa Surge. Which was just in time.
"By Chronoa, she actually came."
"Hey, I told you."
Under the night sky's swirling magenta ether, Ayeva met with Kaset and Stroga. Besides Stroga, who'd taken to wearing a dress suit common on Planet Riztach, the two wore their usual; only now, Ayeva wore a knee-length skirt not dissimilar from her mentor's, over her usual leggings. Kaset now donned a low-top fade and a smaller afro, as well as having actually ironed his jacket and black pants.
"So what's this about?"
She'd really hoped Kaset'd planned out a movie night or something along the lines.
She almost short-circuited when she saw the poster he held up.
"You're taking me to a club!?" She talk-shouted.
"Ye," Kaset answered in kind.
She covered her face, slowly turning around and walking away as she muttered complex obscenities.
"See?" Stroga smirked.
Kaset slowly raised his index finger.
.
.
Ayeva angrily paced back. "I hate you."
Kaset looked in a direction (one she'd likely avoid like the plague if this were any other day,) pointed, and looked back and raised a brow at Ayeva, straight-face the entire time.
"... what he means to say is," Stroga elaborated, "We're not forcing you to do anything you don't want-"
"Drinks are free for patrollers."
"I'm not going back home," Ayeva rumbled as she stomped off in the direction Kaset pointed.
"... in the words of a former student... holy wow."
"... yeah I'm actually with you on that, holy wow," Kaset concurred as he leapt to his feet. "I gotta see this shit."
"It's my duty as a historian to ensure no one lives down any event from tonight."
"Hey-"
"No."
"But I-"
"No."
"Come o-"
"Zero-One-One-Zero-One-One-One-Zero-Zero-One-One-Zero-One-One-One-One."
The dejected guy walked in as Ayeva continued stubbornly sitting outside the bar.
"... it's fine."
She crossed her arms and legs, as if binding herself to one spot. "I don't mind this at all. The music's fine from here. I'm not working. I got out. I'm having fun."
"Ayeva you're not having fun."
She nearly jumped out her seat.
"In... struct..."
"Honey. It's Eighteen right now."
She noticed the drink in her hand. "... but why?"
"I've been cosigning as a patroller ever since that snobby demon skank showed her face. So drinks are free for me, too. Krillin wouldn't stop going on about how fun this'd be, but he's in there dancing, so I excused myself." She sipped. "What's your excuse?"
Eighteen literally watched Ayeva process an excuse. There were literally characters flashing back-and-forth between the latter's eyes.
"OK that does it." The more mature model grabbed her protégé's shoulders and started pushing. "Get your ass inside before ANOTHER spark catches fire in that supercomputer up there."
"But I-"
"Go.
"Please-"
"Zero-One-One-Zero-Zero-One-One-One-Zero-One-One-Zero-O-"
Ayeva stubbornly hugged a corner.
"(... I'm glad Eighteen did that.)" She looked around.
— it wasn't a large spot. That said, it could fit an uncanny amount of omni-sorted people at once without getting too cramped. The bar table was lined with those seated and standing aside towers of glasses at varying sizes and levels of empty (or full, if you happened to be anyone besides Ayeva while looking at them), and every table was occupied with patrollers yucking it up over incredibly elaborate versions of mundane foods and some form of alcoholic drink.
"(The atmosphere's pleasant. People are enjoying themselves. This is all I need.)"
She made the mistake of looking over at the center (the designated dance circle) for a second. Kaset and Krillin were doing something stupid and vaguely homoerotic, as what she'd only describe as a flash mob — Stroga amongst them — egged them on.
"(That's... NOT... what I need.)"
"He-hey Ave! Heck're YOU doin' here?"
She sighed. Of course, she'd have to stomach the sight of Calculations peers stumbling around as intoxicated idiots, in spite of their job. "I'm sorry, do I know y-"
Ayeva stared.
"Wha? 'Course you know me, silly! Since like… Uh… I forgot, chick, it… it's been a FYAAAT minute though!"
.
.
"... Ta… ru…"
"OH, FRICK YEAH, I LIKE THAT NAME!" The short saiyan downed more spiced rum as if it were lemonade. "YEAH I'M… I'M TARU NOW! THAT'S ME!"
Ayeva accepted this paradoxically familiar-yet-foreign woman as "Taru." Any closer to the truth, and her psyche would burst into flames.
She stumbled for a breath, catching herself on the edge of Ayeva's table. "Ave, baby, we've…" Taru swallowed. "We gotta… DO somethin' about this…!"
"..."
"..."
"About wha-"
Taru waved her hand across Ayeva's empty table. "THHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIS! WH… WHERE'S THE FUN JUICE!? YOU'RE… You're parched, sis, you're…" Taru started breaking down out of nowhere, to the android's horror. "You've gotta drink something…"
"I think I'm fine, actually, I… don't require hydratio-"
"THAT AIN'T WHAT I MEEEEAN!" Taru tried skewering her temple with both fingers. "Thiiiiiiink you gotta think." She slowly pointed over to the bar table. "Stuff's for free, you're… wastin' EVERYONE'S TIME just… SITTING DOWN lookin' SAD an'... S-SAD."
She staunchly disagreed on one end, but…
"(I did come here to forget, after all. If getting to THAT level of inebriation is what it takes, then… should I really-)"
"H-HEH! HER LITTL'... COGS ARE-" Taru twirled her fingers, "SPINNING!" A cracked lightbulb suddenly flickered on in her head, and she started stumbling off. "H-hold on, chick, I'll…"
"W-wait, Tarub-b-Taru, I can-"
BNK!
Taru was very fast.
"Here, Ave. It's like… machine junk… I'D DOWN THIS CRAP But like I'd die or something…"
"..."
"..."
"... I-"
"ELECTROOO—NS! Yeah that's a funny word, but yeah, drink it. Do it. Do it. I wanna see you do it."
"..."
"... you won't."
"..."
"... 's what I like about you, sis. You're…" Taru snickered. "You're so… so freaking responsible. It's… AWESOME."
"..."
"... you're awesome."
Ayeva snatched the macabre concoction and downed the whole titanium mug in one go, before slamming it and a fist onto the table in a coughing fit. "... PIIISS!" she yelled in a rage. "THIS TASTES LIKE… FUCKING DOG ASS! GODS-FUCKING-DAMMIT!"
Taru held her mouth. "AVE SWEARS!?"
Ayeva bolted up, approaching the bartender as if she couldn't beat the shit out of him unless she got closer, slamming down the empty mug.
"MORE!"
"... The Heat Dome?"
"YES!? NO!? I DON'T EVEN WANNA REMEMBER MY SERIAL NUMBER, NOW MAKE IT HAPPEN!"
"YES MA'AM!" he yelled, psyched.
"WOOOOO!" Taru screamed, running over and slinging her arm around the disgruntled android. "YEAH AYEVA! THAT'S MY FREAKIN' HOMEGIRL!"
[ BGM: skankfunk – Overkooled ]
"I hate my job…" Ayeva moped, buzzed with a migraine.
Taru stared emptily.
"I just… I just SIT there and… I just listen to… to a bunch of fucking NERDS scream about… numbers? I don't…" She sighed. "What am I doING? I'm… what am I doing?"
"H-hey. Hey." Taru grabbed Ayeva's head and pulled her in. "I… I GET you."
"... you do?"
Taru blew her lips. "Jsf-NO? I just wanted to say that. But like… listen… uh… mh… ah crap I forgot-j-just listen, sis, I… no-no, I just had it, I just-"
"Don't stress out over it, Taru, just… GOOODS I just wish I were like you guys."
The small saiyan waved her hand. "Naah, we're fine, you… man. Numbers are… wow. Numbers."
Ayeva giggled, bringing her mug to her lips. "What are you even saying?"
"Ionnnnno~."
"..."
"... hey Ave?"
"Mh-hm?"
"... I'm so frickin' glad you came, you're always so… so frickin', frickkkin', frickinfrickinfrickinfrickinfrickinfrickin-distant."
"... I am, huh?"
Taru hiccupped. "We don'... we don' even talk like we use to… did… did I do something wrong?"
"I-huh?"
Taru started breaking down again. "I jus'... what I do? I'm… I'm sorry, I… I didn' mean it, I…"
Ayeva frowned amidst her "new" friend's stuttery sobs. "I don't know Taru… you didn't do anything, you just got ahead of me… I don't even LIKE to fight, it's…" She sighed. "Fuck… I just really don't wanna fight, and you do, and there's nothing wrong with that, but… I'm… I'm sorry, Taru."
"NO. No, it's me, I'm… always… BUGGING YOU ABOUT IT! You just wanna be left alone, but… I can't… take a… FRICKIN' HINT, I…"
"N-no, no, c-come h-" Ayeva pulled her in.
"... I DON'T CARE ANYMORE, YOU'RE STILL MY… FREAKING SISTER…! I LOVE YOU!"
"Yeah. Yeah. You too."
"..."
"... t-taru?"
She'd passed out.
"... you're still way too far ahead of me…" She smirked, setting her back down on a seat. Now even more intent on getting as much worse as she feasibly could, she looked over to the middle of the club. "… what're they doin'?" she asked herself.
As expected, people danced around a crowd of others. Why? If she had just a bit more wit about her, she could come up with something objective to describe the ritualistic practice.
Now?
She didn't know, she just wanted to see.
[ BGM: Paul Oakenford ‒ Ready Steady Go (2:02) ]
The DJ played something synth-y. Ayeva couldn't help but vibe to it — stereotypes sucked, but dammit, synth ran through her processors.
For a time, the research woman enjoyed the feel. There were faces she recognized in the circle, from work and history alike, and such a rare opportunity to stack her data bank with scenes like her boss getting jiggy with Captain Ginyu ‒ the one who'd helped against the Towa threat, for he seemed to favor this place over Frieza ‒ couldn't be allowed to slip by.
She didn't notice the footsteps behind her.
"aaaAAH NO YOU-"
"AH-"
Taru suddenly hurled herself and Ayeva onto the dance floor. "DOOOON'!"
The Sadala veteran quickly got the both of them to their feet.
"HAHAHA, YEAH!" she squeed, twirling her to the center as she spun off. She wound up in the dead center, about fifty eyes on her at the same time.
Her foot rapped along the floor to the ongoing beat, despite her steadily-rising anxiety.
She knew this song — this specific segment, especially. The oncoming drop helped her through some times.
At the height of her buzz, she genuinely questioned the tense feeling in her core.
"(... If I wanted to think any more than I have… I wouldn't've stayed at home.)"
She looked over at Taru's stupid moves. "(I'm here to forget who I am, after all.)" She smiled, blinding herself.
"(Therefore.)"
The beat dropped, and Ayeva's stiffness with it.
— it was a sort of quick sway. She threw her upper body left, not caring where her arms went, as it gradually slowed, coming to a blink-and-you'll-miss-it pause before repeating with her right, and alternating in line with the bouncing beat. Eventually, as she fell into a rhythm and got into it, her feet joined in. A different pose for every flare of the strobe light, as if she were dodging, blocking, parrying an invisible attacker. She soon broke free of her left and right limitations, using all of the floor.
Ayeva had stopped thinking. She even let a laugh escape.
Eventually, her back crashed into another, and she woke up.
The patroller met eyes with her cohort. The song seemed to change on cue. Or... no, it had already changed. She just hadn't noticed.
[ BGM: Linkin Park ft. Jay-Z Britney Spears (lemesios10 Mashup) - Jigga What/Faint/Toxic (1:33-3:23) ]
"..."
"..."
Kaset now had a red tint to his mocha skin.
"... Gff-f…" He shrugged, disregarding the sudden surge of shame. "Fukkit."
He swerved around her and started going berserk. Ayeva got back as he erratically used as much space as he cared to, puppeteering his body across the floor. He'd infused his style of fighting with rhythm and flair, as he transitioned a punch into a swing of arm and every kick into the floor, moving himself in a seamless, smooth whirr from one point to another. How he wasn't tripping, she had no idea.
… she was starting to get jealous. Arms folded, she watched on with an ever-disapproving expression, hip cocked and bottom lip raised in a pouty, very un-Ayeva scowl. She slowly backed up and out, before spinning to meet the bartender.
"More?"
"More."
Kaset's forearm was stopped before it could swing him around.
Ayeva now had a blue tint to her porcelain skin.
One of her fists crashed onto her hip. Another fell to the floor, becoming a domineering pointer.
"Mmine," she said. A brief, excited silence descended upon the circle, like that pervading a saloon enraptured by a duel.
Kaset smirked. "Fine." He jumped back, she jumped forward.
It was like a fight. No, it simply was.
The two had reached a point of synchronization they hadn't seen for years, itching to out-flair each other as they performed with choreography the likes of which no million dollar-budget Mark Satan product could hope to mimic.
Taru had to see this shit. "... VA! A-YE-VA! A-YE-VA! A-YE-VA!"
Stroga sigh-laughed into his palm before further inciting a gang war. "TO! KA-SE-TO! KA-SE-TO! KA-SE-TO!"
As expected, more and more people took a side and vouched for it. The two seemed empowered by the effect, slipping deeper and deeper into the dance-battle-dance trance, slipping from their simulated death match in-between "attacks" to use each other as their props.
The duo had fought alongside each other in the past. That fact grew clearer and clearer with every captured fist and crossed leg, every checked kick and every interwoven hand, every vault and bound, limbo'd lash, and…
"...!"
"...!"
… only in that sudden, leaning "clench," did they realize they'd reached their limit.
"... damn… so you… still… got it…" Kaset smiled, about ready to pass out.
"And you're… still… functional…" Ayeva smiled, on the verge of overflow.
The two had just about enough of that night.
But God help Stroga, the three dragged him to Karaoke.
Kaset proceeded to play the worst fucking song known to man, because humans are a hateful, merciless, psychotic race of monsters.
[ BGM: coycoy88 (Ripper) ‒ Havoc (Fan Edited Anime Remix Edition) ]
"BEES LIKE THESE MCS, FO' YO' HEADS, DROPS LIKE GLASS, DON' EVEN ASK, BLOODY RED, SITUATIONS ACROSS THE NATION IT'S WORLD DOMINATION, YO, YO, YO-"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP KASET YOU FUCKING STUPID BITCH, GOD DA-HA-HA-" Ayeva screamed, laugh-crying.
Stroga couldn't tell if she was laughing herself to tears or if her mind was shattering to bits under indescribable anguish. I use the latter so frequently that I don't blame him for not being sure.
"People are filming this."
Taru shot up. "IF HE SETS THAT STANZA FREE, IT WILL BE THE END OF ALL OF UUU—S!"
"-LECTION, AIN'T NO VOTE! EVERYBODY GOIN' DO-HOW-" Kaset suddenly keeled over in demented cackling.
.
.
Ayeva ran for the mic.
"-FIRE, YO, POPPIN' LIKE AN OSCAR, MEYER, HOT DOG IN THE MICRO, WAVE TOO LO-HO-HO-HA-AH-AH-AH-"
Ayeva keeled over in demented cackling.
"NOOOOO—!" Taru screamed in despair.
Stroga stared at the floor, questioning the life decisions he'd made until that point.
Someone crashed into the room. "CAPTAIN TARUBEI!?"
The woman in question beheld her master sobbing like a child, her rival's mentor going insane alongside that of her potential enemy's, and her old teacher. The latter slowly turned with a look of fathomless bloodlust and contempt for sentient life.
She was not ready for an opponent like that. The saiyaness – in a strange, light new chassis holding five engravings – slowly walked toward her mas-
"PICK IT THE HELL UP!"
The saiyaness – in a strange, light new chassis holding five engravings – sprinted toward her master, slung her over her shoulder, and bolted out the door.
Stroga leaned back and sighed.
"BRO THOUGHT THAT SHIT WAS HEAT!" Kaset howled, losing air rapidly.
"I HATE YOU!" Ayeva managed to squeeze through her constricted chest.
The historian's suffering didn't end.
They would not stop reminding him of that cacophony of loose rhymes amid maddening beating of vile drums, and the thin monotonous whine of accursed synth.
Yes, they sang it all the way home.
"YEEEAH, BEEF STROGANOFF!" Kaset slurred, Ayeva giving a "WOOH!"
He eventually joined in. He wasn't immune.
To conserve the rest of his sanity, he dropped them off at the closest person's complex.
[ BGM: Uyama Hiroto ‒ Stratus ]
Stroga helped them both up the stairs. Both continuously confessed their undying love for him all the way.
"... goodnight, you two." Stroga closed the door behind him, a weary smirk visible from behind the closing crack.
They both stumbled onto the couch. Their giggling finally died down.
"... thanks for tonight."
"I would've gone anyway. That was all you."
"You told me about it."
"You asked."
.
.
"Kaset?"
"Uh-huh?"
"... why'd we break up, this time?"
"You're a neat freak and I'm not."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
.
.
"Kaset?"
"Yeah?"
"... give up field work."
The human looked back at her. "What?"
"... I wanna try again."
"Why do I have to stop fighting for us to start over?"
"You know why."
"… oh."
Ayeva slowly rose and fell atop his sigh.
"I guess we can't try again, then."
"Why not?"
He looked down. "I like field work."
Ayeva glared at him through her drunken stupor.
"... why?"
"... rush. Getting as strong as I can. Doing something."
"... that's stupid. You'll die one day."
"I know."
"You won't be able to be wished back, out there."
"I know."
"... then why? Do you WANT to die? Don't you care about anyone here?"
Kaset looked away again.
"Well?"
"... I do. But I'll die one day, anyway. That's what we do. It's either this or old age."
She started shivering. "... I can-"
"I know. That just… don't sound right. I don't want it."
.
.
"You hate me, don't you?" Ayeva whimpered.
Kaset looked back.
"Just say it. You'll get sick of me if you had to live forever. Just say it."
"Would that make it easier-"
"Just say it…!"
Kaset stared.
"Why else would you be so… desperate to die…?" she wept.
"... If you kept living forever, then one day, you'd find everything. Do everything. Learn everything. Then what?"
"Don't say that…!"
Kaset began opening his mouth.
"JUST STOP TALKING…!"
.
.
"... what comes after. You don't know that, do you?"
She grit her teeth, as he held her a bit tighter.
"All we got are stories, yeah. Even then, you… ain't that sure you qualify either way, do you?"
"... nnh…"
"... I'm scared, too, y'know. No one's sure exactly where they'll go. I sure as hell ain't." He chuckled uneasily. "Probably shouldn't say it like that. Smokin' just… nulls it, I guess."
"You still smoke!?"
Kaset looked away.
"Why? That KILLS you!"
Kaset wouldn't meet her eyes.
"Kaset, I… I don't want you to die…!"
"..."
"I don't… I don't want any of you to die! I don't... even know if I'd ever see you again!"
Ayeva clung onto him, as if she'd be able to at least keep him if she held on tight enough. "Why are you doing this to me!? You don't even have a century, you stupid...!"
"... that's why you gotta savor it."
"No. No more...!"
"Like this night. Like there's no tomorrow."
"I know...! Please, just... please…!"
"Shit, I mean, I could even drop right now off-"
"PLEE-E-EASE, STO-O-OP!" she wailed, finally succumbing.
Kaset finally shut up, a handful of sentences too late.
— there was nothing that could be said to ease a fear as rational as Death. Especially not for one without the guarantee of an afterlife.
He silently hated himself, for being born as something so susceptible to it as a human.
She cried for what seemed like eternity. He felt every dry heave, every new tear, every shaking decibel. It would get worse every time she'd get quieter.
And then it stopped. Kaset stared into space, all the while wondering when she'd start again. Why she'd start again. He silently questioned himself.
And then she shifted, finding the strength to lift herself over him again, silently eyeing him like a lens in the rain.
"...?"
Ayeva kissed him.
It lasted until Kaset could no longer hold his breath. An hour.
He gasped. "... why?"
The girl looked at him emptily.
"I'm savoring it." She kissed him again. "All of it." She kissed him again. "It's all I can do."
"I'll just keep hurting you…" he said, guilty.
"I know."
"Come on, we'll…" Kaset turned away. "We'll just break up over dumb shit ag-"
"I know." She turned him back to her and kissed him again. "So I'll savor it."
… it was pointless. He really did love her. Everything he liked and hated about her.
"I'll never be able to savor it enough. So I'll try as hard as I can."
Kaset held her tighter, pulled her in, and kissed her back.
He loved what he did. But he hated the idea of her misery even more.
"I love you," he said, his own voice getting shaky. "I swear, I love you. I'll never stop. 's long as I'm still here."
"... I don't know how long that'll last."
And they sank further into each other's touch from there.
"Therefore."
Ayeva opened her eyes, beholding the sun's golden morning spires, and looked down. Around the same time, sensing movement, Kaset awoke, and looked up.
"... hey, Kaset?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you still feeling it?"
He groaned, squinting off his splitting headache. "My shit's still wobbling. You?"
"Everything's still spinning."
"..."
"..."
"Hey, Kaset?"
"Yeah?"
"That never happened."
"Pretend that never happened."
"Nothing happened last night."
"If you tell anyone, I'll kill you."
"Let's forget."
She set her head back down. "... nothing."
She'd savor it.
For someone like him, there was nothing else she could do.
[ OP: Hironobu Kageyama ‒ Fight! Oh, Fighting Road! ]
Between one's unorganized chaos and the other's active nuclear facility, his complex was the safest for two drunks to stay overnight.
With that in mind, Stroga had no regrets as he gave his couch a proper viking funeral.
"(Could I make a paper on romantic love?)" He pondered amidst the flames. "(Has anyone done that yet?)"
I'm not crying fuck ofI MEAN YO! OP HERE!
NGL, the OP was gonna be Naked Hero by Vaundy because I couldn't for the life of me find anything that suited the tone of the chapters preluding the semi-finals.
But then I BELIEVED IN MR. DBZ. AND MY FAITH. WAS REWARDED. Man I love Kageyama. Good on you, Fighting Road, you never made it to a Dragon Ball opening but damn it I'll show you the love you deserve. It's got the same somber tone and lyrics that I saw in Vaundy's work, but more Dragon Ball-y and less tragic. It's more hopeful in spite of the struggle.
... but I won't even hold you I might randomly decide not to use it sometimes. ED is Step Into The Cypher by Bop Alloy btw.
Anyway, the plan for this stuff is me enjoying how far the characters have come from each's introduction except for you Akaki you post-Chapter 35 NuBITCH. Besides that, it'll let me explore new avenues for the 2 Holy Beasts and 2 Dignities to get stronk, further develop the lessons learned in their QF fights, and most importantly, help other characters on their own way to enlightenment.
Rounding out everyone and having fun is the biggest thing.
So that said, Kaset was waving some major death flags this chapter, huh? Will I kill him off in the future, or will I subvert and have Ayeva get it? Well, the truth is...
.
.
I DON'T WANT TO KILL THE MENTORS!
I CAN'T FUCKIN' DO IT! NOT AFTER THIS SHIT!
I LIKE THEM MORE THAN THE MAIN CHARACTERS AT THIS POINT, I CAN'T LOSE THEM!
... mh-hm. But yeah. I've actually got something plotted for that. It involves Kaset really, really wanting to be there for Ayeva, and also Neo getting his Tlatla groove back.
Speaking of Ayeva, expect, at minimum, a last oorah with Taru-bae in the future. Something I thought up a while back when i was listening to Voodoo People Pendulum Mix while playing Titanfall 2. Good times.
Oh yeah the other pretty big thing I put here, the Zero Law Suite. Yeah it's STEP's explanation for its use of Heroes scaling for the Super Saiyan Trio and, scaling off them, Ace and Puddin. I literally can't describe it directly, so...
Imagine being crushed. And stretched. And everything in between. Forever. And also every horrible thing that's happened to you, ever, jets back at full force, just not as an illusion, but literal alternate universes, one for every moment, constantly broken down. Cold enough for cells to stop movement while you're scorched over with skin-melting heat.
And the best part is that you're immortal during all of this. Every death means another alternate universe that manipulates its reality in order to establish new laws that ensure things are somehow always worse than the first. The only way out is growing past everything and breaking out. It's bad. But IDK maybe if, say, you really, really wanted to become stronger for, say, a loved one's sake or some shit, and like, maybe had a method of undoing the limits of your own willpower, maybe you'd put yourself through all that.
I'm giving myself a Chekov's Nuclear Submarine, yes.
Alright, current plan for next chapter: Kora enslaves Akaki via blackmail after doing an AC tailing mission on him. Maybe Videl and Tenshinhan finally serve a purpose via Neo and the absence of Kaset. Maybe Dina and Selaine double-team Konus - jokes on you, he doesn't fucking HAVE one of those - and Dina learns how to Thunderbolt Fantasy her magic. Maybe Pan does something. Maybe Voshyo edumacates Zinco on love while they beat the shit out of each other. I'm just throwing ideas at the board right now. It's fun. Fun for now but, yeah, fun.
That's about it. See ya.