Towa wiped a small wave of sweat off her face. "This… should do it."
Turles and Slug cackled at each other.
"DID YOU SEE HOW CLOSE SHE GOT!? MY HEAD ALMOST WENT ROLLING!"
The former princess of the Demon World looked on them with satisfaction, as Mira approached her. "What do you ask of us now, Lady Towa?"
"Bide our time. The Time Patrol is steadily reclaiming ground, and they've caught wise to our movements. I can only access so much of the prime timeline, and by now, our earlier exploits have been rectified." She glanced back over to the two former space conquerors, still high off near-death adrenaline. "You saw for yourself how close we've come to death. Not even you are quite-yet ready to deal with that caliber of patroller, as of yet. My, how that petulant child has grown… furthermore, well done, you all." She eyed her staff, now swirling with energy and with its own dark orb mimicking the vat she once needed.
"Our reappearance has been a grand one, has it not?"
Slug raised a fist, Turles, a thumb. "AYE!"
"So I believe this is all the excitement we'll need for a while." Towa then checked her very-much leaking slash wound. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm quite weary."
Mira then caught the unconscious devil. "L-LADY TOWA! ARE YOU…"
As it turned out, Towa snored when she slept.
Escape portal having closed, their would-be pursuer grew even more restless.
"DAMN IT!" A young woman in an orange-scarlet crop top jacket, ripped jeans, and an arm-wrapped bandana snapped in annoyance. "SO CLOSE!"
Someone on the other end of her comm shared her frustration. /"Ever the escape artists, KOFF-KOFF, cowards…"/
"Mhrrrr- HONESTLY! She's got some nerve trapping my grandpa in her own crummy world! Who does she think she is, anyway!?"
/"Just your fr… friendly-neighborhood fugitive princess. Towa used to be one for theatrics… would've made things a lot easier. Still, there's some good from all this."/
"What could THAT possibly be?"
Back, finally, at the Time Nest, slumped over in a chair, Trunks checked a holographic status report. "Through everyone's efforts, we've been able to bay the worst of the distortions to a manageable degree. Though, e-heh-specially amongst the seniors of the patrol, we've been fighting without stop for almost a day, now. Doesn't really matter how much stamina you have when you've been sapping away at your own life energy for hours on end."
The young woman scoffed. "You don't need to make excuses, old man. I know how bad you all've had it."
/"HEY, I'M NOT THAT O-O-OLD YET!"/
"I can't hear you over your COPD, gramps," she replied smugly. "You sound like your mom used to!"
/"S-Shaddap!"/ Trunks snapped back. /"... wait… say, Pan…"/
Trunks began steepling his fingers. "You're about the same age as the students in the tournament right now, right?"
Pan's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You're not gonna call me a kid just because I am, are you!?"
/"Shut up. I have a request to make. Right now, junior patrollers are covering the current distortions in the stead of the seniors. So, seeing as you've done a bang-up job, and are still fine in the stamina department…"/
The request was made.
"Hmm. Hmm."
The granddaughter of every Tenkaichi Budokai winner from the 23rd onward slowly nodded.
"... I want a suit. And glasses. And spotlights. And a kabuki band."
/"... Of course, you do..."/
[ OP: B'z ‒ Into Free ~ Dangan ]
Battle Nine: Neoru Vs Mei!
"Who the fuck invited the Losers' Guild?" Kazikum growled, eyeing the six non-contestants to the side of the room. Baubi cowered, stepping behind an undeterred Katlij.
"Now now," Dina stepped in, "These're our honored guests! There's no reason we can't get alo-"
"The tender lips of your mother called to me once more," Tengano snarked. "From what she's whispered, you aren't your father's only bedroom failure."
"IS EVERYONE FROM YOUR ISLAND AN INSUFFERABLE TWIT!?"
Unfortunately, Dina's anger did little to quell Kazikum's. The hooded youth could tell, just by the monsoon of killing intent that enveloped him. His dagger-like teeth bared, fists clenched with enough strength to reduce a diamond to dust, Kazikum eyed his prey and, not a moment later, Tenganosu shattered the tiles with his face.
Dina gawked.
"HOW COULD YOU!?" Devine wailed, fist still balled from pummeling her former beloved. "WE JUST START DATING AND YOU'RE ALREADY CHEATING ON ME!?"
She had done the unthinkable and stunned the rage out of the half-spawn.
"B… baby, please, I'm just playing around-"
"WITH MY HEART, YOU HEARTBREAKING JERKFACE! I, LIKE, SO CANNOT EVEN WITH YOU RIGHT NOW!" She ran off, sobbing uncontrollably. "WE'RE THROUGH! I NEVER WANNA SEE YOU AGAIN!"
"I can… ex…" Tengano weakly outstretched his hand, before passing out from a broken heart and/or skull.
Kazikum looked down at Dina. "Is she re-"
"Yes, and if you say it out-loud, I'll kill you where you stand."
It was hyperbole, but the black-sclera'd boy still furrowed his grey brow, wondering if he should chance it.
"She'd probably pull it off."
Both red-eyed devils glanced over. There stood Kora, arms folded.
"But you should be spending the time you have now training, if you want a sure shot of at least winning." She scowled over at Kazikum; in fact, she'd been giving him the evil eye ever since he'd appeared at the gathering spot. "After all, who knows whether or not you'll come out alive against that psychopath you're fighting."
"Hey-"
"Look bitch, I don't give a fuck how bad you want it, I'm not gonna fuck you. Fix your fucking face, you're not even on my fucking radar!" "ᴼʰ ᵍᵒᵒᵈ ʰᵉᵃᵛᵉⁿˢ," ˢᵃᶦᵈ ᴬᵏᵃᵏᶦ.
"HEY-"
Kora stepped to him with worlds of malice, snarling. "BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T BEAT HIM, AND HE FACES ME, LET'S JUST SAY I'LL MAKE WHAT HE DID TO ARCHI LOOK LIKE NOTHING."
"Hhhy-"
Kazikum stepped right back. "GET OFF YOUR FUCKING HIGH HORSE, YOU PUTRID SAIYAN COCKGLOVE. YOU FREAKS ARE ALL ABOUT TEARING APART THE WEAK, SO WHY THE FUCK CAN'T ANY OF YOU LIMP-DICK CHICKENSHITS TAKE IT WHEN IT'S YOUR TURN ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK!?" "ᴼᵒᵒʰ, ʰᵉ'ˢ ⁿᵒᵗ ʷʳᵒⁿᵍ."
"HE MAY'VE BEEN A JERK, BUT HE NEVER DID ANYTHING DESERVING OF WHAT YOU DID, YOU BASTARD! HE'S NEVER CONQUERED A PLANET, NEVER WIPED OUT A RACE, HE'S NEVER EVEN MURDERED ANYONE!"
"AND WHAT ABOUT YOU!?"
Kora's eyes went feral with fury. Then, to Dina's surprise, they began to relent. "ᵁʰ ᵒʰ, ᵍʸᵃʳᶦᵏᵏᵘ⁻ʰᵒ."
Kazikum cackled, vindicated. "I called it! You're even more fucked in the head than I am!" "ᴰᵉᵇᵃᵗᵃᵇˡᵉ."
The saiyaness' glare returned with a vengeance. "DAMN YOU…!"
Before she could do something she'd regret,
"OI, DICKHEADS!"
Dina unwedged herself, splitting them up.
"Fuckin' 'ell, you're like…" The half-blood collected her breath. "... two prick walls comin' in on me…" She cleared her throat and retained composure, hand in pocket and on hip respectively. "But um, sorry, can't shake the feelin' we've been here before, Kora. Bit odd how things've suddenly flipped, innit?"
The full-blood in question huffed, crossing her arms with a guilty twinge in her lip.
"'Sides…" Dina turned to Kazi. "That one's mine, in all regards."
Kazikum glared at her. Dina responded with a dumb, shut-eyed grin. "Isn' that right?"
"Khh! You don't own me, dumbass!"
She threw her head onto his chest with a light giggle, as if they weren't set to fight at all. Her ruby eyes opened, and her grin diminished, leaving a warm smile.
"Right you are."
Kazikum's standard grimace softened, becoming more of an annoyed, pained frown.
"i mean not about the dumbass part, twat, but-oh-"
The devil-saiyan pushed her back onto her feet, turning his back and going somewhere – anywhere – else.
"LET'S THRASH EACH OTHER REAL GOOD, YEAH?" Dina yelled after him, provoking a finger. She raspberry'd in response.
Kora burned a hole through his skull, or if nothing else, tried. Seemingly giving up, she turned to Dina. "How can you even stand that asshole?"
"Well for starters," replied the sharp bob-cut tomboy with a straight face, "colossal prick he is, I make efforts not to antagonize him out the blue." "ᴴᵉ ᶜᵃˡˡᵉᵈ ᵒᵘʳ ᶠʳᶦᵉⁿᵈˢ ˡᵒˢᵉʳˢ ʸᵃ ˢᵗᵘᵖᶦᵈ ᵇᶦᵗᶜʰ, ᴵ ˢʰᵒᵘˡᵈ ᵏᶦᶜᵏ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵃˢˢ" ᴺᵉᵒʳᵘ ˢᵃᶦᵈ ᶜᵃˡᵐˡʸ.
The long, thick-haired saiyan blushed. "Well yeah, but…" "ᴬⁿᵈ ʸᵉʳ ʲᵘˢᵗ ᵍᵒⁿⁿᵃ ᵀᴬᴷᴱ ᵀᴴᴬᵀ, ᵈᵘᵐᵇᵃˢˢˀ"
Dina shrugged. "Hey, it's not like I don't get it. He mauled your, um, friend-who-happens-to-be-a-boy – let's go with that – into a bloody coma, I'd be a BIT miffed if that happened to me; if anything, you're taking it rather well. But for gods' sake, his welcoming party here consisted of fighting some dick he'd never met, no-doubt getting washed, and then getting a shock collar strapped 'round his neck like he's some rabid dog! He's not here by choice, and he's ostracized on a daily basis, so of course he's a violent asshole to everyone!"
"But he didn't need to be here."
[ BGM: Norihito Sumitomo ‒ Beautiful Murderer ]
Dina opened her mouth, certain that a logical retort would fly out.
But it never came.
"I don't care about his 'why', he would've killed Archi by choice, and he almost pulled it off."
"Kora, he had lost contro-"
"THAT CHANGES NOTHING. No one forced him to be here, yet here he is, unstable as ever! What does he even stand to gain from any of this? 'Tearing apart the weak'?"
Dina was unable to respond. It all came out in stutters, like every point she would've raised was immediately shot down the moment it appeared in her head. "ʸᵒᵘ ᵍᵘʸˢ ᵃʳᵉ ˡᵃᵐᵉ, ˢᶜʳᵉʷ ᵗʰᶦˢ ᴵ'ᵐ ˡᵉᵃᵛᶦⁿ'."
"Someone like that shouldn't be babied. Maybe it's a 'human thing', but it's bothering me how you're the only one that won't agree."
Amid a period of silence, Dina gripped her pants seams.
"You… you just don't get it. And that's fine." She punched into her pockets and stormed off to the outer gate, but not without a last word.
"But I must say, you've gotten AWFUL good at lectures lately, especially the 'holier than thou' sort. I can't help but feel that there's… I don't know, a hidden irony to that, that I'm missing." She turned, ruby eyes sharpened. "Got any words of wisdom there?"
Kora now tried burning a hole through Dina's skull. Dina did likewise. Based on the very real, intensifying heat between the two, that was no longer a figure of speech.
"... You know what? You two were made for each other. Hope that spiel holds up when he 'loses control' again, and he's choking the life out of you with a smile. Either way, I'll be fighting a Super Saiyan, so I guess it makes no difference to me."
"Cus 'either way', you'll get your FUCKING SKULL CAVED IN, you FUCKING TOOL," Dina snarled, small, silent red bolts flashing in and out of existence before her.
The bizarre phenomenon slipped Kora's mind; it had gone blank. On Planet Vegeta, any such claim would instantly kick off a death match. Her year-and-a-half in Conton had done little to dull such a violent instinct, not any more than she'd already trained herself to. Even then, it took every ounce of restraint not to lash out at Dina, and her aura – now a white outer flame, with a deep indigo "shadow" outlining her body like bubbles in a boiling pot – had risen.
She was very-much stronger than she'd been in the tournament's beginning. As if responding to her, Dina's aura shot up, buzzing up and constantly outward like an electric arc.
It was rapidly becoming a silent, pride-birthed argument, comparable to two predators posturing before tearing into each other. Although Kora's power output edged it out by a notable margin, the saiyaness was outmatched in sheer ferocity – told in aura and eyes alike – by the half-blood.
So intense was that of the latter, Kora snapped out her trance, and quelled her fighting spirit. They'd attack each other at the rate they were going, and the small, quaint holding area was no place to settle things. Dina followed suit; though it'd been made clear that she was weaker, she had responded, and she sure-as-hell wasn't the one who backed down.
Kora recalled how she'd fled from Archi's match the second Kazikum began losing his mind.
"I'm no good at talking with humans, so maybe I've been too blunt. But if you don't even have it in you to stare down that… that 'man's' true nature for what it is, and you choose to stay in your own world where he can do no wrong…" The corner Kora's lip twitched, as if it were about to explode.
"Then Dina, he might just KILL you."
She was just worried.
Though it took a tense moment, the hybrid's feral look began to melt. In fact, it became a sadness; she couldn't even convince herself with certainty that Kaz was there for any noble reason. Of course she wouldn't gain ground with stubborn, unwavering, annoying Kora.
"No choice then, but to show you all how sane he is once I'm in there with him."
Kora went sullen. "Suit yourself," she muttered.
"That's the plan," her would-be rival responded in kind, screwing right off and Kora seeing her do such.
"... you hopeless idiot."
"AND IT'S, LIKE, SO UNFAIR!"
Devine blew into another napkin. "LIKE, WHAT'S SOME WRINKLY OLD MOM GOT THAT I DON'T!? I BET SHE'S OLD AND WRINKLY!"
Baubi consoled her, as the latter wolfed down another comfort Paozusaurus steak mid-hysteria. "There there, just let it out, Devi…"
"LIKE," Devi hiccupped like mad, gazing directly at the person opposite of the table, "WHY ARE ALL GUYS SO TRASHY!?"
Neoru stared, his tongue poking the inside of his cheek. He unclasped his hands from around his water glass.
"... check it out, how would Tengano even find the guy's mom?"
"... um…"
"He's like, junior patroller at best, ok? Apparently, you still gotta go through extra bullshit to become a full-fledged 'piss-off-to-other-timelines-we-trust-you' patroller unless you win the tourney."
"Wha?"
"I asked a doc cus' I didn't have shit else to do- whatever, point is, Tengano can't even bang the guy's mom in the first place, he just made a joke about it 'cus he knew it'd piss him off."
Devine's eyes steadily grew, as if they were taking up water – not far from the truth, she was still welling up – before cupping her mouth in horror.
"OH MY GODS, REALLY!?" she squeaked. "NOOOO I'M SUCH A DUMMY I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!" She proceeded to run off in search of her former ex, barreling through multiple tables in the process like a full-speed bullet train and sobbing all the way.
Neoru and Baubi eyed each other.
"Baubi you dumbshit, you did Trash-Talk full-time like two months ago, you should have a PhD in this sorta bull. Why didn't you say anything?"
The small majin crossed her arms, turning up her nose as if she had an inch of moral high ground. "I didn't know he was joking! Even I didn't know humans went THAT low!"
"Jeez Lou-j-just go get her ass before she burns the whole place down, please. Last thing anyone needs right now is a THIRD Saiyan goin' Super and BELIEVE ME, one'a them's givin' it their A-game."
"Well, when you put it like that…" the flower-tendrilled girl shot from her seat and after Devine, calling her name.
Neo facepalmed with a groan. Not long after, the cringe across his lips retracted into a neutral frown, and then a small, soft smile.
"(How the hell'd I manage to meet people like that…)"
He felt someone's approach, and the buzz of a moving chair got him to break from his thoughts.
"... Yo," said Neoru.
"... Yo," said Zinco.
"... how are you?"
"Could be better, not complaining. Pretty quiet here, all the spergs are steering clear."
"Oh. Yeah, I noticed that too. That's good."
"What's good? That the spergs ain't here to bother ya?" Neo taunted, prodding for a limit to Zinco's people patience.
"..."
"... yeah, yeah, I know what you meant."
[ BGM: Kensuke Ushio ‒ livingroom ]
Zinco maintained a dejected stare at his food.
"... Somethin' on your mind?"
"... I think you were right."
"About what?"
"I didn't wanna believe it at first, not after I tried so hard and got so far"ᵈᵘᵈᵉ ᶠᵘᶜᵏ ʸᵉᵃʰ ᴵ ˡᵒᵛᵉ ᵗʰᵒˢᵉ ᵍᵘʸˢ"with what I had, but…"
He started tensing up.
"No matter what, I can't… think of anything that I haven't already tried, what others have already tried…! And I've reached the point where… where I'm… I'm just making things worse for people."
"... that must've been rough for you to get out."
Neoru was a master at inferring things.
"Wanna fill me in? You weren't like this before I took that nap."
The emerald-eyed boy nodded. "I made a new move." He brought up his perpetually-destructive hands and stared in disappointment. "It was awesome at first. It did everything I wanted it to, I could fight without hurting my opponent. I figured everything out, I was right there. But I got Kaza to try doing the same, and… and she got hurt for it." The half-breed finished his recall with a deep growl. "She just wanted to help me out and show others a different way, and somehow, that got the person she fought angry enough to hurt her…! They wouldn't've stopped if she didn't fight back… I failed her."
Zinco's hands fell to the table in a deathly heap.
"And then Mei showed me what my move was capable of. What it did to people."
His lip quivered.
"It was the only thing I had left, and now I know it can do WORSE than hurt someone. I don't have anything else I can try. I HAVE to destroy violence, I HAVE to make a world that everyone can find peace in, but I can't…! I CAN'T EVEN…!"
Zinco bashed the table, shocking the daylights out of Neo and sending a shockwave across the room.
"I CAN'T EVEN PROTECT ONE PERSON!"
He, too, realizing what he'd done, Zinco looked at his hand with a panicked scowl. He really didn't want to cry in front of Neo for some reason, so he didn't; he couldn't masked the sound of a sob being choked back and swallowed, though.
"I don't wanna stick to recycling or giving directions, stuff like that. I have to do something big for the world, or I can't pay it back. But I can't. I can't."
If it were any other time in his life, he'd congratulate the boy for starting to grow up and call it a day.
"... Well, yeah, no shit. It's a dumb dream that no one can do, not without any bullshit like mind control or whatever."
However, that familiar despair, one from a boy casting aside those pure aspirations only to sink into the world's apathetic current…
"But…"
It reminded him just how much…
"No one said it was a bad dream."
He hated submission.
"Ahh, how do I put it, uhh… yeah, face it, you'd have to be insane to try makin' it happen, a world where no one wants to at-least smack someone else, but… but shit, you'd have to be a psycho to not wanna see it happen, right?"
"M-maybe, but I've tried everything and yet-"
"Yeah I'll stop ya right there. Zinco, you're a fuckin' idiot."
"... oh."
"A really strong, damn-motivated, scary hard-working, fuckin' idiot. Who may or may not be crazy."
For the first time since he'd sat, Zinco had been pulled from his depressed frost. Now he was just confused, trying to decipher in his head Neo's mixed signals.
"Look, my point is…" Neo leaned back into his chair, staring skyward. "I'm not saying you CAN, cus you 95%, 99% sure-as-hell can't… but if anyone's got the best shot at it, it's you. The only dumbass willin'a hold onto that Perfect 1."
"That… Perfect 1?"
[ BGM: Unreleased Yakuza 7 OST ‒ Friendship ]
"It's still a one, so like, don't go getting excited. You're gonna get that wish crushed eventually, but uh… in the meantime, don't do it to yourself, l'right? That's holding yourself back. And it's just kinda sad."
He leaned back down. It was small, but Zinco had a smile, staring into the table's reflective surface.
"You're telling me to keep trying?"
Neo put on a similar smile and returned to his empty skyward gaze. "Till it's proven wrong beyond any doubt. You're bound to at-least change somethin' until then."
"... you said you'd be the one to prove it wrong, right?"
Neo's smile popped out of existence.
"... I did say that, didn' I?"
His chair came back down with a thud; it was his turn to peer into the table's mystical granite surface; he saw for the first time how light his eyes had become, how erratically they shined.
"Dunno."
"... then you or Mei."
Neo looked up. Zinco's smile now had some sort of confidence to it.
"If I can prove something, to just one of you, then I won't let go."
"And… if you can't?"
Zinco's eyes darkened. His smile faded for only a moment.
"Then that'll settle it. Everything's better off without me."
The magenta-eyed boy caught a feeling that any further prodding would land him with an answer he really wouldn't like.
"... cool."
"... yeah."
.
.
Neoru and Zinco had entered an extradimensional space known as Awkward Hell.
Neither felt like they should leave and risk something going unsaid, yet both held concern over uncovering something horrible if they spoke on that certain topic. Neo's physical, mental, and especially spiritual changes were fended off by a bouquet of artificial takoyaki balls. Zinco's ominous answer was bayed by a slowly-sipped glass of salted water. The stalemate, like an increase in gravity, was slowly crushing them, as time seemed to slow to an agonizing crawl. That is, until...
Thankfully, peeking around a corner, a hero had come to free them, wrapping things up with a fuchsia ribbon.
"Found you!" Kaza shouted in a sing-song tone. Both boys jumped.
"K-Kaza!" Zinco shouted, a tangible mix of shock and relief in his face before the giant girl grabbed the back of his seat.
"I know you have to keep your strength up somehow, but we should really start preparing with the time we have now! Besides, silly, kebab sticks aren't food!"
Zinco had only just-then realized he'd been gnawing on an empty stick for Kami-knows how long.
"H-hah… yeah, let's train!" The hybrid led the way, somehow. Kaza, with a wistful sigh, followed suit to point him in the right direction. Not after a brief pause.
"I don't know why you said all of that, but thank you."
There was a long silence before Neo realized who she was talking to. She could've been less rude about it and faced him, but he found the subtle sass a nice change of pace from the normal clutz he vaguely knew. Neo stopped sipping air.
"I mean I didn't really do shit but, ok. Wait…" He went red. "WAIT, HOW LONG WERE YOU-"
"Long enough. He really needed to hear that. Actually, you're the only one who could've said such a thing to him."
Neo felt funny. A corner of his lip curled a bit. "Yeah, right."
She turned to him. "Don't worry. No matter what happens, I'll make sure Zinco can find happiness."
The amount of confidence she spoke with, the resolve in her words... it gave him the belief that Zinco was actually lucky to have someone like that around him.
A part of him started wishing he had someone like-
"I SAID GO!"
Oh. Yeah. He did.
"Good. That loser needs you like you wouldn't believe."
Kaza got annoyed, but she expected it from this jerk. He wasn't finished, however.
"Say… come second match… you're gonna let him, ain't ya?"
"..." Kaza flashed a coy smile. "Don't worry about it!"
Neo sucked his teeth. "Lucky bastard."
"Speaking of," Kaza's stupid smile maintained, "I hope Mei beats you up! And hard!"
"OK asshole, we're done here. Go chase your damn boyfriend before I throw somethin' at you."
"Hmph!" She set off. "I will!"
That was the second majin he'd told to go chase after a mentally-unstable saiyan that day. It was weird.
"(I don't think I'll have to worry about Zin doin' anything stupid, as long as she's there for him.)"
Neoru inspected his hands, as if checking gear before setting off to war.
"(I can focus on givin' this last one my all.)"
A melancholic smirk.
"(Just knowing if I was strong enough to chase my own dream. I can settle for that.)"
Small, serrated streaks lined the floorboards in droves, amid the dawn's autumn light.
Shoe skid marks did likewise, and in varying straight-forward patterns. Drops of sweat surrounded them.
A mù rén zhuāng made from deep spacecraft-certified steel stood up front, its body dotted by small holes, and seemingly laser-cut pieces of its numerous arms littered across the floor.
In the style of a jiangshi, a drawn smile hung off its "head"; bar one piercing on its forehead, the sheet of paper went untouched.
Steam floated about the small room, emanating from the lower crack of a second door. Right outside it, folded clothing, black and indigo with smaller, flashy metallic pink designs around it.
Before them, the door opened.
Cladding herself in her combat hanfu, Mei began doing her absurdly long dark-scarlet hair. After a dozen swipes of her sword-finger hand, it was done; beautifully bun-knitted in a tight, body-length double ponytail, with two thinner arm-length strands guarding her ears, and two pointed, symmetrical and diagonal bangs just over her eyes.
She glanced over at a distant clock, and her eyes narrowed. The bubbly, grinning, innocent girl she'd known flashed through her head, as did the broken mess she'd witnessed in the fourth match. The subsequent, haphazard smile of the pale yellow-haired bastard who'd bewitched that girl summoned forth a sharp aura, and with it a current that splintered the door before her, as if someone had slashed it with a machete.
Calming herself down, Mei opened the door and immediately threatened to decapitate someone.
"Shall I purge you of that earthly desire, lech?"
"Well, I'm not exactly Earthly to begin with," replied Akaki, still leaning by the side of the door. Hands still in pockets, the tsufruian hadn't lost composure, finally able to – sans her bun – look down on someone. "And I'm no perv, either. I just wanted to offer you an answer."
Mei maintained her dagger-like hand. "Answer?"
[ BGM: Rob Dougan – Born Yesterday (Instrumental) ]
"Oh, no-doubt you've asked yourself at-least once since getting here, 'How could those,' uh, 'Hougui do such terrible things to me and my civilization, when they shouldn't've even been able to leave their planet during my era!' Am I right?"
"... Saiyans. It was lost to Saiyans." She lowered her hand. "Why have you chosen this moment to tell me this 'answer'?"
Akaki shrugged. "A whim. You were around."
"Fiend."
"I know, right? Anyway," he strolled to her opposite side, "In your timeline, a few more alterations to a few more moons meant that the Tsufruians – that's me – met the Saiyans veeeery early. We took Frieza's role for them, only much more mutual in nature. Saiyans drop onto a planet. Saiyans do Saiyan things."
As he continued, Mei's eyes slowly opened wider and wider.
"Then we swoop in, offer a few resources – which, to them, is everything they need and more – and take the entire planet under our control along with ITS goodies, the remaining survivors giving themselves to that timeline's ever-expanding Tsufruian Federation. And all the Saiyans ask for are new, EXCITING opportunities to explore, fight, kill, eat, pillage, and…"
Mei looked on the verge of tears.
"Oh. Huh. Well, even I'm not heartless enough to finish that. Point is… that's your answer."
"... why? Why are you telling me this?"
"Like I said, you deserve an answer, right? The reason why you'll never see your world again, why everyone you love went up in smoke, why that memory is burned into your skull…"
Akaki exaggeratedly, with both hands, pointed to himself.
"Is right here."
Mei glared, without a word.
"... you could make it look like an aneurysm, you know."
Her fists shook.
"I mean, you can't just let me walk after that, right? Knowing what I've done?"
Her hair rose.
"Can you really find it in you to let me slip by?"
"... of course." Mei passed him. "You are a cruel man. But you have done nothing to warrant death, nor have you done me any wrong. Even should I ignore that, the future of an innocent girl hangs in the balance. Before that, matters of my past are without meaning."
Akaki glanced behind his back, a disappointed air around his concealed mouth and eyes.
"... huh. Call me underwhelmed. Still, how are you so sure that you're helping that 'Kaza' by murdering the love of her life, only to send yourself away forever and leave her without anyone left?"
Golden threads retraced Mei's left hand.
"How would you… how long have you been watching me?"
Akaki puckered air. "Eight… was it nine months? I forget, I just like keeping tabs on people like you. People who can't let go of the past, insist that they can change something once they're in this dead-end pit. Wiping out whatever fits your vague description of 'evil,' creating a utopia absent of violence, even though any real impact you make will always be confined to one city. Things like that." He turned to a shaking Mei. "Speaking of impact, Majin are very impressionable, you know. Especially when exposed to the idealistic, simian cockroaches known as humans. The course of that one's life was decided the day you two entered hers. Removing yourselves from the equation now will only make her more miserable than she's gonna be, because at this point, she'd follow either of you to Hell."
"... lies. You only seek to get under my skin...!"
"And of course, denial. That ever-compelling, oh so deeply-human argument." He about-faced with a wave, before making his exit. "Alright, I'll leave you to it. Feel free to maul that insufferable urchin to your heart's content. Oh, after you wipe those tears first, of course."
A choked sob had slipped out while the boy spoke, beneath her own notice.
He'd said every horrid thought that she'd shoved away, and with a smimy apathy.
Mei slowly collected herself, raising a forearm to her eyes.
"... Even... even if he's right..." she whispered to herself.
She ripped it away, her amber eyes glowing with conviction, and moved forward.
"All I can do is try."
The dimension was pitch-black.
"HMM-MMH!"
Disembodied shamisen and taiko began playing in the style of rock music, slowly building up.
One spotlight lit a corner of the arena.
"The howling winds from the mountaintop declare war."
Another spotlight, another corner.
"Waves endlessly crash, as the seas applaud the coming battle."
The third spotlight.
"The clouds weep with rain, crying out for an end with the boom of thunder."
One more corner.
"The burning flames cast dancing shadows on the turbulent wilderness, carving the beginning and end into the earth for mere moments."
And a light-blue aura slowly lit up the center, revealing a suave-dressed young woman, though her dress coat was open and draping off her shoulders, slowly raising her finger toward the sky like a clock hand soaring toward High Noon.
"Even now, they consume all in their wake, ALL in their wake. Yet say you, O inferno…"
She pulled down her flaring, futuristic and rhinestone-caked sunglasses and cast them into the air, firing a giant ki blast at the same time.
"DARE YOU FACE THE MORTAL FLAMES WITHIN THE HEARTS OF WARRIORS!?"
It then exploded in a gloriously blinding light red, briefly lighting the world in said color. Once it faded, the expansive snow-white tile terrain, and the crystal-blue and cirrus-streaked sky showed themselves. Four mountain-sized demon masks loomed over the arena in the distance, as if leaning over in interest.
"(That semester in Drama finally paid off…)" Her glasses descended back down, two more holographic panels for each dozen meters fallen, and landed right between her two fingers, redonned.
GOOD MORNING, CONTON! YOU'RE TUNING IN TO THE OFFICIAL BROADCAST OF THE 'RULING IN ENDLESS STRIFE TO ENSURE TRIUMPH' MARTIAL EXAM TOURNAMENT! Name pending. Hopefully.
The event unfolded on a giant floating screen back at Conton, drawing eyes.
IN THE MEANTIME, I'M YOUR RESIDENT PLAY-BY-PLAY, REFEREE, RULE ENFORCER, AND ALL-IN-ALL HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTEST, SON PAN!
.
.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤしーんㅤ.ㅤ.ㅤ.
"(I forgot how spectating works now!) Ahem... before we kick off the first match, I'm required to lay out some ground rules!" She took out a crumpled yellow post-it note from her back pocket.
... Announcer may now call the match, should their good judgement declare a decisive victor. Past rules and win conditions remain the same. For the love of all that is good and just, Pan, don't let them kill each other, blah blah…
Pan threw it to the wind.
WITH THE RULES LAID OUT BARE, IT'S OFFICIALLY UP TO ME TO PRESERVE GOOD ORDER IN THIS TOURNAMENT! THEREFORE I, A PURE AND JUST ANNOUNCER, SOLEMNLY SWEAR TO UPHOLD ALL THAT IS FAIR, GOOD, AND JUST! THAT SAID, I AM NOT BEING PAID FOR THIS! DO WITH THAT INFO AS YOU WILL!
The Son's body began to flicker in and out of existence.
Oh yeah! So I'm not in anyone's way, mentally or otherwise, I'll soon be taken to an outside space where I can spectate away from the action!
{ SEVERAL WEEKS LATER }
"I had it added because Pan's too excitable."
TRUNKS BRIEFS
Current Commander of Conton City's Time Patrol
{ PRESENT DAY, PRESENT TIME }
I'll still be able to cut back in whenever a super-strong referee is needed, so have no fear! I'm pretty sure that's all I've gotta cover before we kick this off, and I'M REALLY, REALLY TIRED OF TALKING, so WITHOUT FURTHER ADO…
Amber eyes slowly emerged from the left.
Magenta eyes slowly encroached from the right.
THE QUARTERFINALS OF THE GRADUATION TOURNAMENT, NOW KNOWN AS THE RESET-MET, WILL BEGIN!
The up-and-coming announcer soon found herself sandwiched between razor-sharp winds indistinguishable from a sub-zero current, and a dry heat wave like that of a desert high noon.
The sources of the phenomena stepped into the light of day, and up the platform. Straight after, in the blink of an eye, their respective entrances retracted, making Pan jump.
WHOO! MH-MMH… OUR FIRST MATCH OF THE DAY IS… oh wow grandma's lessons paid off, XIĀO MÈI VS OROJIA NEORU!
The two continued to walk toward each other, eyes blankly set forward without acknowledgement for the announcer.
Wha? No words before the fight? No preachy talks or snarky comebacks? IS DRAMA DEAD AS AN ART FORM!? OR ARE THESE TWO JUST THAT JET-SET ON TEARING EACH OTHER APART FROM THE START! Pan started flickering in greater amounts. ALRIGHT, THE RULES HAVE BEEN SET IN PLACE, THE STAGE IS SET, THIS TIME LIMIT IS COMPLETE BOGUS, THREETWOONEGO-
Pan vanished, and the tip of Mei's dagger-edge shoe shot through the split-second mirage.
"...?"
Neoru had blocked it with an elbow. Not without Mei claiming first blood, but not one pressure point was struck.
He shoved her away with a forward charge, advancing on her and – in theory – knocking her off balance simultaneously. However, Mei caught her footing immediately, tilting out the way of Neo's oncoming fist and scarring his face with a kick, before landing on her feet, perfectly inside his "bubble." Her phalanx-laden response was parried instantly on the outside, setting her up for a jab, only for her to sidestep into Neo's blind-spot, only for another phalanx jab to be stopped by a knee kick, only for her to duck under the following knife kick, only for Neo to stop her higher, retaliatory variant. He grabbed hold just as she lashed out at his exposed side.
"HA!" he shouted as he threw her away by the leg, spacing out. Mei caught herself in a series of acrobatics, before glaring daggers at him.
"You insist on making this painful."
Neo touched his side, red with a dot of blood but with no vitals damaged. He resumed his formless stance.
"I'm gonna give this my all. So yeah."
[ BGM: Takanori Nishikawa – Crescent Cutlass ]
Mei let out a hissing sound as she channeled qi, and both her two giant ponytails and two shorter, half-meter ear-guarding strands raised above her arms.
"Just a snake longing to swallow an elephant!" Mei jeered, charging the momentarily-confused boy.
Neo found himself on the wrong end of two several-meter appendages intent on, at best, impaling him. He entered a razor's-edge dance to dodge the lethal weapons that jabbed at him like machine gun blows, taking multiple cuts in the process as they zipped past him, only to instantly return. Adrenaline coursed as his mind ping-ponged between evasion and counterattack, the magenta-eyed boy momentarily attempting to close distance only to face five quick, sharp appendages instead of two long ones, going into a speedy, one-sided engagement before sending him in a voluntary leap backward as his elbows and knees bled with multiple piercings; had he not worked them overtime to guard his squishy spots, he'd've had several pressure points activated by now, and his loss would've been guaranteed. Landing on his back, he looked back up to see Mei's kick and ponytail-arms descending upon him like a triad of poisoned arrows. In a last-minute solution, he charged his palm with energy and blasted himself off to the side with a kiai just as the tiles were shot through, tumbling for a spell before bounding onto his feet and hissing in pain over his hurting joints. The tiles behind him expanded as he rolled, compensating for the hundreds of meters he'd flung himself.
"(No ring outs, huh… tight.)"
He motioned into a stance as his hunter motionlessly stared him down.
"(I think I came up with something.)"
Watching Mei close in on him from so far gave him a moment to appreciate how bowel-churningly terrifying it felt to see a human go from standing still to full-speed sprinting toward you like some kind of agitated arachnid in an instant. Still, he'd seen it before, and he was ready for her.
One bundled tendril of hair shot toward him; though his timing was sloppy, he blasted the first one away with a kiai parry just as it entered his cheek, nailing the timing on the second one just as Mei charged him with a knife-hand strike; Neo used a palmbourne kiai to blast the back of his fist into it, charging her at the same time and resulting in a shaky headbutt counter.
"GYA…!"
He could've struck harder. He should've.
And yet still, 20% of Mei's HP flew into nothing. They were now equal.
Neo's pent-up adrenaline, a culmination of fear and excitement on the edge of death, was released with a low growl through grit as he charged Mei, as she let out one of her own in a rage, before the two exchanged a rapid stream of blows against each other.
It was like a dance. No, it simply was.
Each warrior beamed with desperation, teetering on the edge of failure as their souls were laid bare on the stage. Their life essence, clad in red, flowed freely in the wind with each narrowly-evaded attack.
Any full-power assault from the dragon's jaws would crush her body in an instant.
Any successful piercing from the spider's fangs would quickly destroy him from the inside.
They engaged each other with such intensity, sparks of passive ki began to fly with every collision of their limbs, every narrowly-dodged attack pushing their flesh, wits, and mettle to the limit.
"Beautiful…"
Pan was mystified. Killing intent had painted the stage, yet her Saiyan blood rooted her in place.
She was also back on the battlefield. She couldn't resist; Trunks' attempt to contain her with snacks, music, and any other teenager-distraction he could come up with had failed spectacularly. Two fighters mirroring her age were dueling each other with a heated passion the likes of which was almost romantic.
It had reached the point where the two were forgetting to breathe, their bodies solely focused on staying alive and destroying the other. They tested each other's guard, pressed each other's footing, feinted, blocked, flipped, slid, spun, used every conceivable limb suited for warring with another human, to no avail, as their HP slowly, steadily declined at the same pace. Mei's ancient arts clashed against Neo's modern style, both a combination of all they'd learned.
Suddenly, Mei's right hand lashed out. Neo's abdomen erupted in a streak of red.
Had she performed the technique with a calm, clear mind; had Neoru's abdomen been a tenth less perfected; his guts would've spilled. And they did not.
Neo's eyes widened, himself immediately going on the back foot as if his opponent had picked up a machete. In truth, her weapon was several thousand times more lethal. Once again, they danced, only now, the magenta-eyed boy danced to the ember-eyed girl's tune, as the air around him was sliced with a haunting buzz with each successful dodge that would've looked like clumsy flailing to any outsider. He leapt onto his back after a split-millisecond limbo, and Mei's sharpened left hand shot down at his neck, as if to behead him, but he thrust his hands down and rose to the sky in a handstand as Mei's strike bisected the tiles. Mei side-glared as she sliced toward him, only for Neo to kick her right hand aside from the wrist and throw himself over an attempted lance from her left. Powerless without some sort of weapon, he attempted to use a halved piece of tile as a shield, only to have it bisected even further before his eyes; but puzzle pieces snapped together in his brain, and he soon started parrying Mei's strikes and swathes with makeshift kali sticks, gaining distance with a bound backward, transitioning into a wide stance with a deep exhale.
"How'sat?"
Mei glared down at her bruised wrists, shaking them out before shifting her death-gaze toward the now-armed Neoru.
"Quaint."
She stomped, a tile soaring in response, and she kicked it toward him. Neoru smashed them out of the way as she continued, inching ever closer, sensing her position through the growing cloud by way of fighting spirit, until suddenly dodging a spear's pointed tip, only for Mei to appear right beside him, smacking him in the gut with the opposite end of her weapon before engaging him proper in an edged whirlwind of attacks and connected kicks that sent her opponent, once again, on the defensive; even shattering Neoru's sticks, as her honed generation of qi surpassed his own dwindling reserves. Her weapon even reached a point where it detached itself, stretching far beyond its already-vast range before reconnecting itself. Yet still, with a surge of power, he dodged a shirt-ripping strike and yanked her forward while her spear still had solid shape, tossing it away and grabbing her by both arms. Too tired to make another move, both aggressively stared each other down as they struggled for breath, burning eyes scanning for any sort of hole in guard.
Mei delivered a kick; Neo checked it.
She dealt another; he checked it.
Her hair struck out; he pivoted behind her and raised a crescent kick; she went to the ground for power and pivoted, stopping it with a kick of equal power. The boy's eyes flashed in a brief stint of realization as to where she'd learned such a technique, before both lashed out with an intensifying series of kicks as they fought to return to even footing once more; both accomplished the feat at the same time, as they once more dueled with every form of strike in their mental and physical arsenal, spirits fortifying both.
Sparks flew between their auras with every blow, feral grimaces across their faces.
Neo swept low; Mei leapt over him, twirling through the air before opening her palms. Neo immediately noticed the stinging pain all over him, threads appearing across his body and, noting Mei's coiled mid-air kick, deciding then-and-there how he'd counter, grabbing onto the threads himself and bounding just as Mei yanked herself forward with all her strength.
Blood flew from the two like frantic ink splotches. The two disappeared behind silhouettes into the dawn light as their flying kicks intersected.
Mei sprang back toward Neo on contact with the floor, dashing toward him the nanosecond his foot touched the ground. And at long last, she pierced him.
His hand, rather.
"NH-HH-"
Her own was grabbed and yanked forward.
"RU-SHAAA!"
One punch to the chest. And the dance was over.
Mei sailed away as Neo stumbled backward, both crashing into the arena floor.
One was lacerated all over; the other was coughing blood with a mild concussion. In any case, both were equally low, according to their HP bars.
"(F… fuck…)" he clawed for air and clenched his eyes shut, in an attempt to ward off the white sprites haunting his blurred vision. "(Two hits… took everything I… had…)" He erupted into fits of coughing, last ditch efforts from his body to continue breathing.
He looked over to his opponent, the one who'd once trounced him twice-over. She was now struggling to stand.
"(I can step to her, now. I'm more-than happy just knowin' that.)" He smiled faintly. "(Yeah. She's even stronger now but, but I can actually keep pace when she's goin' all out. Awesome…)"
His breathing regulated a bit. "(And I've got somethin' that'll end this, guaranteed.)"
He slowly levitated into the air. "(I'm not killin' anyone as I am right now… but it'll have enough kick to catch her, no matter what. Directly or with its blast zone, I don't mind.)"
Mei watched him ascend with a bored glare, leaving the blood dripping down her chin.
Neo then threw his hands out before him, bringing them together by the bottoms of his palms.
"Ka…"
Mei maintained her glare.
Neo slowly drew his arms back into his hip. "Me…"
Mei didn't even flinch.
Energy pooled into the outsides of Neo's palms."(... is she just accepting it?) ... H-ha…"
Mei stayed put.
"(... shit, this… this just feels dirty, now… shouldn't I just… I dunno… settle this up close?)"
"... kuh…"
"...?"
Mei began covering her mouth with a weird, conjoined cat's cradle.
"Kukukuku… kahahahaha—..."
Mei began laughing, full tilt, like a madwoman. Her face, even her voice, was uncharacteristically smug.
"REALLY? YOU WOULD TURN TAIL BEFORE AN INJURED LITTLE GIRL?" she howled, covering her eyes as she raised her voice to the sky. "AND YOU WOULD DEEM YOURSELF A MAN!? WHAT DRAGON… FLEES FROM A BUG!?"
Neoru started contemplating coming down there.
He was REALLY giving the idea some thought.
"(... wait. Dumbass, what're you thinking? She's trying to goad me into getting in range for something. Doing that at THIS point doesn't prove a thing, it just makes me stupid.)"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"(And she's REALLY startin' to PISS ME OFF. There's THAT, too. So yeah, thanks for takin' that off my shoulders, asshole, this one's to you!) MEEEH…!"
"HAHAHaha… Hm…!"
Neo thrusted his arms, and the spiral of ki accompanying them, forward.
"HHA-"
Right as he did, something dashed by his view.
There was a wet sound, like a butcher quietly at work.
He looked at his arms. Small, black dots began cropping up along their sides.
And then his nerves erupted.
[ BGM: Kenji Fujisawa ‒ Man's Poison Uses Willowing Dragon Light ]
"AAAAA—!"
Neoru shattered his vocal cords, a primal, uncontrollable scream stemming from the overwhelming volume of pain alone. He crashed to the ground, his brain having gone haywire as reddened slobber streamed from his mouth and tears blurred his vision. His arms had been struck through in deep lacerations that left cauterized wounds on impact, searing his flesh and sending his mind into a beast-like. The louder his screams, the more his throat tore apart, blood and saliva eventually beginning to block his airways.
"Re… Sol… Ve."
There, Mei stood. Floating around her, spinning through the air, were two small Kienzan, connected to the end of her trademark threads.
"Resolve. That was one of the first 'needless' words I made certain to keep forever in mind as I learned the modern tongue. A willingness to fight, to endure agonies, to suffer loss, and to die, all for a purpose which one holds over their very being. It resonated with me, to say the least. So, tell me, boy..."
She advanced toward him at her own leisurely pace, like a spider inching toward a dragonfly encased within their web. All the while, the arena began to distort and alter around him, warping colors and shape simultaneously in a nauseating swirl. Neo calmed down a tad and realized that his surroundings had changed, without a trace of its original, bland state.
"Do you possess the resolve to see what petty goal you hold through to the end, even through this agony?" She'd begun going downhill, until thousands of stairs preceded and dozens proceeded her steps amidst a bamboo forest. One foot up a step, the other foot down one, she brought in both all-cutting disks.
"For I would die a thousand savage deaths for the sake of my own."
[つづく]
[ ED: Eve ‒ Last Dance ]
Yo! OP Here!
Welp, welcome to 2023. If you're reading this, you made it to the next one. Let's make that push to 2024!
So yeah, the story's finally hit its first major battle: Neoru VS Mei. I've decided on making the theme revolve around resolve, and if the weight of a goal is truly what matters in the strength of one's resolve. Those two characters embody that quite well, especially considering how human the concept is. It's also an excuse to go balls-to-wall with martial arts shit, so that's cool.
Y'know, I really, REALLY wanted to put the Duet version of Crescent Cutlass as Neo vs Mei's opening fight theme, but for SOME REASON, it's forever unreleased. Actual travesty.
If you're wandering what took THIS one so long, I've basically been figuring out a new structure for these fights. Basically, Opening Fight into Major Shift Backstory Chapter Major Shift into Climax and then Closing Fight. It MAY not stay that rigid, or adhere to that at ALL, but that's my broad idea for direction going from here.
So on some real shit, man. Both God of Highschool and Mob Psycho have ended forever. GoH is pretty recent in my life, so it's just kinda cool that I got to witness its end, but... Mob's been with me since before I started high school. It's hard to explain tbh, but seeing how PERFECTLY it ended, just... it hit home for me. Thanks, ONE. That was an experience. Stone Ocean also ended, and I've been following JJBA since middle school, so damn, that's another thing in itself. Shit a lot of great things ended in 2022, huh? Makes me glad that I could see it all.
I'll be doing some pretty big shit IRL starting from the 18th. That'll affect things here for sure, sorry, but it'll be worth it if I give every ounce of myself to said IRL stuff.
On that note, that... IS... all I've got for you guys. Next chapter: Mei's life sucks for approx. 10,000 words.
That's about it. See ya.