@* Dragonball SU : Reboot! *@* RPG THREAD

[Heald]

Dragonb@ll: Spirit Unleashed

A new threat has appeared on Earth. A dangerous alien force led by a bloodthirsty warrior called Rothax has come with one objective in mind: to collect Earth’s Dragonballs, no matter the cost. A small band of Earth’s most powerful fighters, loosely allied for now by a collective need to defeat Rothax and his band, they must overcome their differences in order to fend off the invasion.

Currently, skirmishes between the two sides has already resulted in fatalities and near-death incidents, but all the Dragonballs have now been collected by someone. It is only a matter of time until all 7 are united, by whom is the ultimate question.

_______________

Finally, we're underway. Please feel free to pick up where you left off, or whatever, as long as it gets the story going.

I'll have my post up soon.

Cast List:

Good

Zaito Zhin (Human) – Heald
Basawe (Saiyan) - Blademaster
Shitagi Summers (Human/Saiyan) - Master Rudy
Psycho Soldier Gamma (Android) - Mystic_clown
Van Osiku (Human???) - Master of Paradox
Hammer (Namek) - Bear
Retasu (Saiyan) - Asilynne
Drake Camper (Human) - DivineAll
Kiyabet/Kura Satou (Saiyan) - Kuro Espeon
Victoria Summers (Human/Saiyan) - Master Rudy
Furuto* (Namek) - Heald
Kuji* (Namek) - Heald

Evil

Rothax (Alien) - Blademaster
Shimuto (Alien) - Heald
Kamo Kwali* (Alien) - Heald
Kados Kwali* (Alien) - Heald
Tennan* (Alien) - Blademaster
Rinetst* (Alien) - Blademaster
Chita* (Alien) - Blademaster

(* denotes an NPC)

Please yell if I missed you.

Original Sign-Up Thread

Original RPG Thread

Lounge Thread

New Sign-Up Thread

[Master Rudy]

So I heard there was an RPG here......

Name: Shitagi Summers (Shi for short)
Race: Saiyan/Human Hybrid
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Appearance: Resembles two of his ancestors. In his facial features he resembles Trunks. As for his hair it's very dark blue in color (almost black) and resembles Future Gohan in style. Shitagi stands at about 5'9" and usually wears black jeans, a white t-shirt and an orange and black jacket. If he's in a Budokai or training he'll wear a blue gi with orange undershirt (think Vegeto). Currently at this point in the story his clothing has seen better days: his pants have a few minor rips in them and he's lost the top to his gi. The undershirt is still in halfway decent condition but that too has taken some damage.
Personality: Shi is an intresting mix as far as his personality goes. While he's got the general love for fighting that's common for Saiyans he's also got a love of science that comes from being a member of the Briefs bloodline. He tends to be calm and caring most of the time and believes everyone should be treated equal regardless of race. Likes to test his skills in battle in much the same way Goku did but unlike his great grandfather he knows when to abandon that happy go lucky mode and be serious about something. Originally was fearful when death became a very real possibility in battle but overcame it quickly as he knew holding back could result in innocent people dying. Finally while usually calm he does have a breaking point and can show a temper/smart mouth if he feels someone is being mistreated. While Shi usually won't start a fight he's got no problems with finishing one. This can be a problem if he gets too angry without knowing he's in over his head.
History: A decendant of Bra and Goten. The Briefs name was lost when Bra married into the Son family and the Son name was lost when his mother married a Capsule Corp scientist. As a young boy Shi had things a bit hard. His father was a CC scientist who had died in a freak accident while testing a new spaceship. As a result Shi grew up with a fear for spaceships and planes and will choose to fly using his ki as opposed to using a transport. In school he was either picked on because other children found his tail strange or thought he was nothing more than a spoiled brat. It didn't get better in middle school when the teasing turned into bullying since some of the more brawny kids thought they'd make a name for themself by beating up the great grandson of the legendary Son Goku. Needless to say that never happened. Eventually the bullies learned to leave him be in high school as he gained a reputation for protecting those he felt needed to be guarded. While Shi eventually made some friends in high school he mainly prefers to be around those that are decended from the other Z Fighters or other martial artists that he has respect for. Shi had recently entered the Budokai for the first time when he was 15 but lost to Gavin. Topping him is now his primary motivation in his training. Finally when he comes face to face with Saiyans that hold onto the old ways they try to treat him with the respect that was reserved for royalty but Shi simply reminds them without being rude that times have changed. Currently training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
Techniques: Mainly a student of the Kamesenin style. Shi has also incorperated moves he's learned from his mother who in turn learned them from some of the original Z Fighters. He's also demonstrated an ability to grasp various skills quickly. While his mastery of these skills may not be there it would be unwise to ignore this fact.

• Kamehameha

• Burning Attack

• Kaio-Ken (normally uses x2, has used x3 in last ditch efforts; trying to adapt this into a lower powered actual transformation instead of a short term boost)

• Boost (trying to adapt this skill for other uses; see below)
  -Boosted Kaio-Ken (Boost assisted version of Kaio-Ken, can hit levels equal to his strongest KK without the ill effects for a few seconds provided he can gather the energy for it; could possibly bypass his KK limit like this at great risk to himself)
  -Spirit Bomb (not perfected, untested in battle)

• Makankosappo (not perfected)

• Scatter Shot (too draining)

Off the battlefield Shi has a very good mind for technology and can repair a great many things. Just don't ask him to pilot or ride in anything that flies.
Relationships: His mother Victoria is his main living family. Gavin is a distant cousin by way of Vegeta. Has quickly become friends with Zaito and Basawe and would trust either of them with his life. Isn't prepared to fully trust Retasu yet as he's deducted that her interest in protecting Earth is related to the Dragon Balls.
Theme: Spirit vs. Spirit (power up theme)
Battle of Omega (battle theme)
The Lone Warrior (main theme)



Shitagi Summers
Hyperbolic Time Chamber-Day 3 (approx. 12-13 minutes of real time)
------
At the moment I was alone in the vastness of the time chamber. Due to overstraining myself I lost about a day of training. However it gave me time to think about the skill I had learned from Basawe. Since his Boost gathered energy from around the user, it pretty much followed the same general idea behind the Spirit Bomb. Because of this I had a strong feeling that I'd actually be able to attempt to use that skill as well. While I still wanted to try to perfect the Kaio-Ken for use in ways no one had ever considered, that wasn't my goal today. My goal was to attempt to create a Spirit Bomb. Needless to say it wasn't an easy feat. First was the fact that this was just a theroy. It was untested and if it turned out I couldn't do this then it would have been time wasted. Next was the room itself. There wasn't a ton of spare energy in the room. I also had to contend with the increased gravity.

Despite two hours of no progress in attempting to create this thing, I still felt like this wasn't a bad idea. At the very least this would give my body time to get better adjusted to the conditions of the room, not to mention give me some much needed practice in controling and using my ki. I knew that without this sort of practice that several of my skills would remain very impractical as far as using them went. As things stood now the Scatter Shot left me too drained and was more of a last ditch skill that could be used to surprise someone. Meanwhile my Makankosappo took too long to charge up. While the Kamehameha was far more versitile and had many uses, the Makankosappo had raw power and could potentially be a quick end to a battle if used in the right situation.

Following another three hours of being almost motionless I could feel my frusteration and fatigue getting the better of me. The occassional confused looks and questions of Basawe, Retasu and Hammer as they passed by me didn't help matters either. In fact at times it downright made me feel like a jerk as I didn't answer them back for fear of losing my focus on what I was trying to do. After another thirty minutes or so I was on the verge of giving up on this for the day. However I wasn't going to quit just yet as that would be too easy. Another hour passed. However something felt different now. I actually felt like I was making progress. Meanwhile the others had gathered around me and talked among themselves as they tried to figure out what I was doing. I knew it must have been a very odd sight. Here I was standing here for almost seven hours doing what appeared to be nothing. To onlookers it must have seriously looked like I was some kind of mental case. In fact that very thought was actually expressed by Retasu when she said "Well I think it's obvious. He's totally lost it. In fact it might be time to snap him out of whatever little trance he's in." Before she could make her move however it finally happened......

A surge of energy went through my body as a bright, white aura enveloped me. Moving for the first time in several hours I faced the others and showed them the tennis ball sized ball of pure energy I now held in my left hand. "Sorry to keep you guys waiting" I told them with a renewed sense of confidence. "Once it's perfected and we're outside of this room it shouldn't take nearly as long to prep this. I just hope I don't have to use it as this thing is still going to take too damn long and will leave me wide open if I have to gather the energy for it." To outward appearences it seemed like a simple ball of energy. However even the normally skeptical Retasu seemed curious about this as she was slowly starting to learn that she shouldn't judge things based on their appearence or scouter reading.

As everyone watched, Basawe pressed a button on his scouter and seemed to have a mix of confusion and curiousity and he continued to look at my very first Spirit Bomb. "What the hell is that thing Shitagi?" he asked. "My scouter readings can't even give me a firm number. The occassional number that does pop up has been everything between one thousand and ten thousand. Either way it's obviously not right!" With a smirk I told him "Well the short version of the story is that your Boost has something in common with one of the most powerful techniques ever created. It's an amazing coincidence....one that might take a little time to explain. It might be best to just show you guys."

Facing away from the group once more I took the Spirit Bomb and flung it deep into the room. Powering up slightly I threw my arms in front of my body and told them "It may not be a bad idea to brace yourselves......if the stories I've heard are true this might pack quite the punch......"
------

I'm gonna leave things off there since I personally don't know if being able to make a Spirit Bomb might be a bit much considering the current power levels. I originally got the idea from Blade following a comment he had Shitagi make in one of his posts in regards to the Boost. As a result I'll leave it up him and Heald to decide if this thing is gonna go off with a whimper or a bang ^_~

[Bear]

Name: Hammer
Race: Namekian
Age: Unknown
Gender: Genderless
Appearance: Looks like Nail, but a bit taller
Personality: Extremely quiet and reserved, rarely utters more than a few words at a time. Like his grandfather Nail, he remains as humble as he can. He also inherited Nail's strong sense of justice, which often prompts him to become involved in conflicts that may not directly be his own, sometimes even against unfavorable odds.
History: Hammer's father Mallet, being Nail's son, was just a boy when Frieza attacked Namek. Mallet was wished to Earth along with the other surviving Namekians, and later produced the offspring Hammer. Hammer was raised on the strict ideals that Nail had taught Mallet, including his role as a protector. When he learned of the fate that befell Namek at the hands of Frieza, Hammer became so unundated with rage that he fled to a remote region of the Earth to train in solitude. After years of intense studying and training, Hammer mastered the art of Xing Yi. Once he had completed his training, he sensed the new threat to Earth that ended up being Rothax and Shimuto, and became entangled in that plot ((in the previous incarnation of this RPG)). Currently, Hammer has entered the Hyperbolic Time Chamber with Retasu, Shitagi, and Basawe.
Techniques: Hammer, during his training, mastered several fighting styles. His preferred style is the Xing Yi, an ancient Korean art that is both physically, mentally, and spiritually intensive. It centers upon the artist's control over his/her own Qi, allowing it to power the body and even manifest in its own physical form (beam). Hammer's primary attacks are the Xing Yi Quan (Path of the Will Fist), Di Zhu (Earth Keeper), and regular Qi attacks (beams and such). He has one special attack called Mind of Gaia, an attack that calls upon the five elements of Earth, Water, Fire, Wood, and Metal. A series of blows are dealt to the foe relative to each of the 5 elements. For example: for Water, a huge tidal wave engulfs the enemy. This attack is a final attack, usually obliterating anything in the vicinity and leaving Hammer on the brink of death. He tends not to use weapons, but he can use anything if he has to. Also, as per all Namekians, he regenerates.
Relationships: Nail's grand(son?)
Themes: Character Theme
Battle Theme
Mind of Gaia Theme
Other: uh...gurk?


Hammer ~ HTC

As Shitagi flung his Spirit [Bomb?] into the distance, Retasu and Basawe crossed their arms in front of their faces to brace themselves for the impending explosion. Hammer turned to watch, but chose not to brace himself. He already knew what was going to happen.

As Shitagi brought his attack to the ground, he clapped his fists together and detonated it with a loud "HAA!"............

piff.

The three of them slowly uncovered their faces, and stared into the distance, puzzled. Shitagi began to ask questions.

"What? Why wasn't there an explosion? Basawe's scouter was giving readings up to 10,000 on that thing!"

The others seemed equally puzzled, and began to examine Basawe's scouter.

"Are you sure this thing is calibrated right?" Retasu asked Basawe, poking the scouter.

"Well yes. At least, it should be." Basawe responded.

"Well I can take it apart later to see what the issue might be. But even if the scouter was off by a little, there should have been considerably more power in that ball than the explosion would indicate. I spent 7 hours making it!" Shitagi stated, sounding a bit miffed.

After a brief pause, Hammer finally spoke.

"Your Spirit Bomb won't work in a place like this."

Snapped out of his daze, Shitagi wheeled around to face Hammer, and questioned him.

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"Well, I cannot use it myself, but from my studies I learned about the components of the Spirit Bomb. It relies on drawing energy from the living organisms in the surrounding environment, right?" Hammer asked Shitagi.

Shitagi paused for a moment, then responded "That's correct."

"And the Hyperbolic Time Chamber is in its own realm, separate from Earth's plane, right?" Hammer continued.

"Yes it is." Shitagi again responded.

"How many living organisms are currently present in the Chamber?" Hammer asked.

"Four." Shitagi said.

"So, when you were creating your Spirit Bomb, the entirety of its energy would have had to come from those four organisms. But what you also failed to remember is that the energy for the Spirit Bomb cannot simply be taken. The beings you are drawing from must freely give the energy away. Had we known this is what you were trying to accomplish I'm sure we would have obliged, but since you did not tell us..." Hammer trailed off to allow Shitagi to finish the answer.

"...I wasn't able to extract any energy..." Shitagi finished, a wash of understanding coming over him.

"Exactly. The ball you held in your hand was nothing more than a manifestation of your own thoughts, a psychological result of your desire to see your efforts evidenced. There was no actual energy in the ball, so that is why there was no explosion. The scouter malfunction could be due to any of a number of factors. It's possible that energy output does not exist on the same wavelength in this realm as it does in our own, so the scouter was unable to read it. It's also possible the scouter itself is not working properly to begin with. Either way, you may want to take it apart anyway to study it. I'm sure you can modify it in some way, I've seen how brilliant your mind is." Hammer concluded in an unusually long-winded reply. There was a long pause before Shitagi finally broke the silence.

"I see now. Since there were no organisms to draw from, I was unable to get any energy. It's not enough to simply draw, the organisms must allow me to. Sorry guys, I should have told you."

Basawe put his hand on Shitagi's shoulder briefly.

"Don't worry about it, we were just confused about what you were doing other than practicing being a statue!"

The trio chuckled quite heartily. Even Hammer cracked a little smile.

"Come on, I think it's time for a break. Who's hungry?" Basawe continued.

"ME!" Retasu and Shitagi exclaimed, their Saiyan appetites speaking for them. All four fighters walked steadily back to the entryway, enjoying a brief reprieve from the stress they had been enduring.

[Blademaster]

We're back. With a bang.


Name: Basawe
Race: Saiyan
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Appearance: This is my newest imagining of him. He also typically wears a Scouter with an orange lens over his right eye. He has just recently shed his standard armor in favor of a more modern suit provided by Shitagi's family.
Personality: Basawe is much calmer than most Saiyans because he has spent most of his life repressed. He almost never received assignments on his home planet, and any attempts by him to fight were typically met with him being subdued by his almost-always stronger opponent or laughed off outright. Because of this, he views other Saiyans with mixed feelings, ranging from jealousy and disgust to admiration. He treats non-Saiyan races as they treat him. Really a neutral guy, all things considered. Unless he's fighting. Then he puts his all into his actions, brawling with everything he has.
History: Basawe was born with a very rare Saiyan birth defect. So rare, in fact, that his is the only documented case for a full-blooded Saiyan on or off Planet Vegeta in recent history. This defect has two effects: The first is that it makes him lose energy at random, if not totally inopportune times. The second problem - the more obvious of the two - is that Basawe was born without a tail. As a result, he cannot become an Oozaru, and he was more or less a laughingstock on Planet Vegeta throughout his life. All his classmates and sparring partners picked on him, his parents were ashamed of him, and he was bullied and beaten on more occasions than he can count.
Then, one fateful day, his life changed forever. Kerratins, an illegal equivalent of 'Saiyan steroids,' were offered to him by a shady individual who to this day remains unknown and uncaptured. Capable of multiplying a Saiyan's power level by 20 for about twelve hours, these pills would allow Basawe to get revenge on one of his most hated rivals. Basawe bought the two pills in an instant, used them, and engaged his rival in combat. Basawe quickly beat his opponent senseless, but his disorder sapped his energy just before he could incapacitate his enemy, who snapped back and, in a blind rage, beat Basawe nearly to death.
Had he been so brutally beaten during Frieza's reign, Basawe would likely have been left for dead or simply thrown into a recovery chamber. However, his sudden surge in power intrigued Saiyan scientists, and so they, for lack of a better word, pieced back together: He'd been beaten up so badly that he required a blood transfusion from another Saiyan before even the rejuvenation chamber could heal him.
After that, Basawe resumed his normal, miserable life, albeit his Zekai DID make him a bit more powerful. As if anybody would notice... until the next Full Moon, that is. Some of Basawe's antagonists enjoyed terrorizing him as Oozaru's, much like children would stomp around and near a bug. But as Basawe was bathed in the moonlight, he suddenly felt a painful surge of energy rip through him. His hair became a wild, tangled mass, turning an icy silver-white color, his aura surging like never before. He expelled the extra energy in a series of powerful blast waves that knocked his assailants out cold or scared them off.
Since then, Basawe has come to realize that his Saiyan blood - a mix of diseased blood unaffected by moonlight (and the Blutz Waves within it) and healthy foreign blood capable of becoming empowered by Oozaru energy - is responsible for his bizarre transformation that night. He does not know how strong his transformation makes him, but based off what he knows of the Oozaru, he estimates it increases his power tenfold, then lingers since he has never transformed and thus cannot transform 'back.' As a result, he has started to train himself to 'hold onto' any excess energy he can before his system expels it. And it is working - he grows stronger with each Full Moon.
Recently, Basawe was approached again. Despite his newfound power, which he has dubbed the "Extra Saiyan" transformation, he was still ostracized by his peers for being different. And finally, that ostracizing nearly claimed his life: The same Saiyan who nearly killed Basawe before returned with several of his peers; they ganged up on Basawe and forced him into a pod, which they ejected into space in the hopes that Basawe would starve or freeze to death.
NEW: As luck would have it, Basawe's pod landed on Earth, the new model getting him there in mere weeks as opposed to a year. Weak from hunger and a bad case of jet lag, Basawe stumbled out of his pod and found his way to West City, where his hunger and curiosity were sated at the Tenkaichi taking place that same day. That is, until Retasu and later ROthax showed up... In the past few hours, Basawe has since met several new friends and foes, the former of which he is now training with in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber in Kami's Lookout high above the Earth.
Techniques:
-Basawe Beam: Basawe pulls his hands back, then thrusts them forward, firing an orange-white beam of energy. Almost a dead-ringer for a Kamehameha.
-Basawe Blitz: Basawe focuses energy from his whole body into a single, glowing punch.
-Basawe Boost: A self-taught Kaio-Ken, Basawe summons any spare energy dormant in his blood as well as around him, flaring an orange aura around himself and multiplying his strength by anywhere between 2 and 5 for a short time.
-Basawe Bomb: Basawe gathers his energy into a single concentrated sphere of orange-white, then hurls it at a target. Cannot be used consecutively.
-Basawe Blitzkrieg: Basawe's strongest attack thus far. He gathers all his energy in his hands, forming two energy balls, which he then hurls into the sky and detonates, raining down shards of burning orange energy. Cannot be used consecutively; drains a lot of energy.
-Kamehameha: The newest technique in Basawe's arsenal, just moments ago taught to him by Shitagi. It needs no description.
-Extra Saiyan Transformation: Only occurs when Basawe is exposed to sufficient Blutz energy. Multiplies Basawe's power approximately tenfold; gives him long, grey-silver hair, a burlier frame, and translucent red pupils.
Relationships: Shitagi's kindness has led Basawe to strike a shaky friendship/alliance with him; other Earthlings he has shown signs of care for are an old man at the Tenkaichi, Shitagi's mother Victoria, and the human warrior Zaito.
Themes:
NEW: Calm theme.
Battle theme.
Extra Saiyan theme.
Other: Basawe's name is a near-anagram of 'wasabi,' which (really) is a vegetable, and thus is in keeping with the Saiyan name theme.

Basawe

It had been nearly a week since Basawe had re-entered the Time Chamber, granting him a total time in the Chamber of nearly 3 weeks. Longer than anybody else, yet his crippling debilitation had kept him from escalating past everyone else as he'd hoped... His power level had been hovering around the 10,000 mark for a long while, and he was beginning to grow desperate.

Basawe took another step into the void... If he had to guess, he'd assume the gravity at this distance was 50 times that of the Earth. Approximately 5 times that of his home planet... He could push himself further, but it was becoming hard to breathe. And he'd nearly collapsed twice more since Kura rescued him...

"Damn it all." He sighed and turned, returning to the entrance of the chamber.

-----------------------------

A short walk later, and Basawe was back near the rest area, where Shitagi and Hammer were sparring. The two of them were moving almost too fast for Basawe to keep track of...

'I guess THEY'RE getting more out of their training than I am...' he thought bitterly.

A few minutes later, and the two of them were finished. Shitagi turned to Basawe.

"Oh, hey Basawe. What's up?" he asked. "You wanna have a go next?"

"Actually, no..." he admitted. "Shitagi, I feel like I'm reaching my limit... You know more about Goku and Vegeta than I do. How did THEY train? They exceeded their limits. How did they do it?"

Shitagi shrugged.

"Die-hard dedication?" he answered. "They kept increasing the gravity they trained in, they trained in this Chamber..."

"There MUST be something else." Basawe insisted.

"Well... I don't know exactly how strong Frieza and his men were, but I know Goku went from about as strong as I am now to stronger than Frieza's best men in only a short time. He trained in a special spacecraft that simulated gravity a hundred times stronger than the Earth's."

"I've been training in increased gravity and my power won't increase anymore." Basawe clenched his fist. "I'm not done in here. There has to be something else... What about Zenkai?"

Shitagi frowned and shook his head.

"If you're asking me to beat you nearly to death, forget it. Your disorder makes it too risky."

Basawe began to lose his temper. His power began to flare.

"If you want to get stronger," Shitagi scolded him, "I suggest you stop training the way you are and use your Boost or something to increase your power. If you can sharpen your power-increasing skills, you might be able to make yourself stronger. That's how Goku got stronger once he became a Super Saiyan."

"I'm... not following you."

"Once Goku learned how to become a Super Saiyan, he trained himself to stay a Super Saiyan until it felt natural to him. Like when he was in his normal form. It made him a LOT stronger, both transformed and not transformed."

Basawe was silent for a long time.

"You're sure of this?" he finally asked.

"Yes, positive."

Basawe smiled, then held out one of his hands, palm facing upward.

"Shitagi, can you lend me a bit of your energy?" he asked.

"For what?"

"A Power Ball."

Shitagi blinked.

"A Power Ball...?" he asked, clearly confused. "But I thought you couldn't become an Oozaru."

"I can't. Just trust me. I'll show you."

"...Alright." Shitagi gave in, holding out his hand and blasting Basawe with a sphere of yellow light. The Saiyan's hair stood up for a moment; he raised his outstretched hand a bit and concentrated, his hand crackling with white energy until it finally took the form of the familiar little energy ball. With a triumphant cry, he flung his hand upward, and the Power Ball launched high into the air overhead.

"That one... has much more Blutz energy than the last one I made here." Basawe said, looking up at the ball of energy. "Thanks Shitagi."

"No problem..." he replied, still sounding quite confused. "But I still don't get where this is going. You made a Power Ball, and I doubt it's for Retasu. So what now?"

"Now, Basawe replied, raising his fists a bit, we wait..."

Shitagi, perhaps sensing a faint new power or perhaps out of instinct, stepped back from Basawe.

Basawe could feel it... His pupils dilated. His heartbeat began to quicken. A strange pressure began to fill his entire body as his every last blood cell became charged with power... The pressure mounted and began to become painful...

"Ahh... AAA-aaAAhhh...!!"

His energy surged.

"AAAAAAAAH... AaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH...!!!"

His energy spiked, and his muscles began to swell with power. The pain was great, but he refused to let it get to him. He threw back his head, his black hair lightening to a silver-grey color before darkening again. The change had begun.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!! !!!"

Basawe's power level began to skyrocket. A fierce wind whipped up around him, forcing Shitagi to shield his eyes and back up even further. Basawe's hair turned grey again, then back to black; before Shitagi's disbelieving eyes, his hair began to LENGTHEN! His orange aura crackled and turned white, then grey.

"AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaAAAA... AAAH- AAaaah-ha-ha... AAAh... AAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

Basawe's hair, now almost as long as his arm, turned grey and stayed that color this time, his aura whipping up around him with a force Shitagi had never felt before. Basawe's newfound strength multiplied, making the ground of the Chamber itself shake. With one final scream, Basawe clenched his fists and his aura exploded to life, shattering his scouter and almost knocking Shitagi off his feet! Basawe finally let himself succumb to the intensity of the change and fell forward onto one hand and knee. His aura drew itself around him in a tight outline of moon-colored light.

Basawe got to his feet and opened his eyes, now looking at Shitagi through vivid red pupils.

"Well, Shitagi," he asked, his voice a bit strained, but a smile on his face, "what do you think? Will this suffice?


----------------------------------


Basawe has finally taken his Extra Saiyan form on Earth for the first time. With his power increased almost tenfold, and his allies growing ever stronger, Rothax's reign of terror seems destined to soon be just a bad memory... or so our heroes think.

Will the amazing strengths of this new generation of Z-Fighters be enough to guide them through their coming trials? Or will their conflicting ideals lead to their doom at the hands of Rothax's venomous lieutenant Chita? Find out next time, on Dragonball SU!

[Master of Paradox]

Van Osiku

No picture of Van Osiku shows him at any age other than the one he is now.

High in the air over the field, Van struck at Kura again and again, his hands a blur as he tried to pierce through her defenses. Every time, however, her own hands got in the way, the air crackling with each strike and counter. The two split off, hovered around, and collided again, sending spikes of energy into the air. Neither could find an advantage.

----

Down below, now ignored by everyone present, the Kwalis just watched, wondering if they should intercede. At that moment, their communicators blared to life.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rothax shouted into their ears.

After the recoil, one of them answered, "Our targets just started fightin' each other. We're hopin' to snipe down the winner once they wear themselves out."

Their employer sighed, and with a bit more control in his voice continued. "While that would be an acceptable strategy most of the time, this is not the right moment to sit around and wait. The radar's detecting three Dragon Balls not twenty feet from you!"

"How the hell-"

"How they got here doesn't matter! Retrieve those Dragon Balls and return immediately!"

The communicator turned off, and the Kwalis began their search. It only took a minute for them to find Van Osiku's discarded duffel bag.

----

Something went cold along Van's spine. Deep in his mind, one voice went quiet and another spoke up. He glanced down, and saw two large aliens begin to open his bag.

NO! he shouted in his mind, and his hair returned to its normal color, body shifting back into its original proportions. Just as it did, Kura struck him full across the face, and he flew down, crashing to the earth.

As soon as he recovered, he threw himself across the field, lashing out at one of the aliens. "Don't touch them!" he yelled, knocking the closest one back as he rested a foot on his bag.

"Boss's orders," the alien answered, cracking his knuckles.

Van kicked the bag up, slung it on his shoulder, and drew in as much energy as he could. Then he channeled it into his hand, performing a standard palm thrust, going for a Pulse.

He didn't get the chance, as the other alien struck him in the spine. The first one then punched him square in the chest, and his lungs missed a breath. He blocked the next strike aimed at his face, but couldn't stop himself from being hit in the side with a double axe-handle. The force rolled him away, and he grunted as he made hard contact with the soil.

But he still had the bag, and as he shifted slowly to his feet, he readied his free arm, prepared to defend it with his life.

[Master Rudy]

Shitagi Summers
Hyperbolic Time Chamber-Day 7 (approx. 25 minutes of real time)
------
"What do you think? Will this suffice?"

I couldn't come up with an answer at all to Basawe's question. Upon transforming my first thought was that he had somehow become a Super Saiyan. However despite never seeing it myself I know this wasn't the case. From what I had been told the transformation left Saiyans with golden colored blonde hair, green eyes and a gold aura. This was something totally different as it left Basawe with silver hair and red eyes. Whatever kind of transformation this was I knew that Basawe could easily take me, Retasu and Hammer. With a smile creeping onto my face as I checked my scouter I knew what else this would mean: he could easily take on Rothax.

"96,461.....that's almost four times the power level of Rothax and nearly ten times your normal level. How the hell are you able to do this?" I asked him in a mix of shock and awe. In a voice slightly deeper than his normal one Basawe told me "Well it's a long story. Something I'll need to explain later. What I need to know now is how does this training in a transformed state works." With a smirk I took off my own scouter and tossed it to Hammer. Turning back to Basawe I said "It's actually not all that different than basic gravity training. As you know once you train in a higher gravity level and go back to normal levels your body is actually stronger since there isn't as much strain on it. The key however is not doing any rough training in whatever state you are trying to master. The key is to transform and simply go about your daily business. Amazingly by doing this Goku and his oldest son could actually maintain Super Saiyan as if it were their normal form. They were even able to actually sleep in the form without losing it."

"Sleeping in a transformed state?" Basawe asked me. "Seeing as you are telling me they did this I'm guessing it's not impossible. However I'm having trouble wraping my head around that." Nodding I said "It's understandable as many don't even consider this type of training. Fighters that can't transform eventually will hit a wall. It's not impossible to increase your power level once this happens but it'll be slower compared to others. On the flipside many warriors that are capable of transformations seem to forget that not everything is achieved by brute force. By getting your body used to being a transformed state it puts less strain on you in your normal form. As for the transformation it will allow you to draw out more power when you really need it and also allow you to overcome the disadvantages that it may normally put on you: things such as higher energy usage, damage to your body and in the case of Super Saiyans even being able to overcome the rage and violent mindset that the form puts a Saiyan in." Without facing Hammer I asked him "What's the scouter say about my power level at the moment Hammer."

"It's about 18,000" he said.

"How about in Kaio-Ken prior to my training? What was the increase and how long could I maintain it?"

"It would double it. Base was about 20 minutes at most before you ran out of power. You could go as far as three times but any large attack would leave you too drained to keep fighting."

Taking up a stance to power up in I let my aura flare into my new and improved Kaio-Ken. My aura turned red which was to be expected with the skill. However the look on Basawe's face showed that he instantly noticed the difference. Unlike the first time he saw me use this skill he instantly noticed that my hair didn't spike up the way it had before. In addition to that despite the red aura my body itself didn't take on the red glow that normally went with it. Soon after I heard the characteristic beeping of a scouter before Hammer told us what my power level was at. "22,472......instead of doubling his power Shitagi's normal Kaio-Ken now gives him a smaller increase in exchange for actually being able to get much more use out of it." With a smirk I added "At rest I've been able to hold this as long as two hours. I can only assume my ability to maintain a basic Kaio-Ken in an actual battle is much longer than a mere 20 minutes now. As for higher levels......"

With a shout my aura flared stronger as my body now took on the red glow that was normally seen with higher levels of the Kaio-Ken.

"KAIO-KEN TIMES FOUR!!!!"

As much as I liked to show off my new power I cursed under my breath slightly as I heard Hammer let out a yelp as my scouter shorted out. Dammit.....100 years worth of upgrades to the basic design and the damn things still blow up. I'm seriously going to have to look into making improvements in that area. As I powered down I was about to ask Basawe about his trasformation when we got interupted.

"Seriously guys......can't we NOT destroy every single scou....."

Looking to my right I saw Retasu coming out from a deeper part of the vast space of the time chamber. She was carrying he now busted scouter but was frozen in place with a shocked look on her face as she stared at Basawe. "It can't be....." was the only thing she said. After repeating it two more times I knew exactly what she was thinking and with a slight chuckle I said "I can promise you that he is not a Super Saiyan. He's....." Stopping for a moment I remembered that Basawe still hadn't explained this to us. ".....well I have no clue what he is. However I'm sure we could all use a break. Basawe will explain it to us while I work on our scouters."

Before I could step away to get the tool filled capsule I brought in with me Retasu was snapped out of her trance and focused on me. "No. You will NOT touch my scouter!" she said very defensively. I was caught off guard by that statement but composed myself enough to remind her of something very important. "Well I understand attachment to personal property and not letting others touch it. However in case you've forgot you won't have time to fix it before the battle once we're out of here. In here I'm the only one with the tools to fix it and even if I let you borrow them I could do it in half the time you could." From right next to me Basawe made a small sound as if he was trying to get my attention. Looking at him I suddenly remembered the talk me, him and Hammer had prior to entering the chamber. Remembering the fact that she insisted on helping with Gamma and my theroy that he could track Dragon Balls I had a sudden feeling what I'd find on her scouter if I worked on it. Keeping my voice low I told Basawe and Hammer "If she attacks just stay back. She repects the real Saiyan royalty and I feel she'd be less likely to do anything rash if it's just me."

Turning back to Retasu I decided to lay it all out on the table and see how close my theroy to why she was willing to help was to the truth. "Fair enough" I began to say. "You can keep your own scouter and make your own repairs to it." With a slight smile she said "Well at least you can be reasonable. Thank you." As she started to walk away I added "In return I'd like to know why you stole the programs for the Dragon Radar from Gamma and what your true plans are." Retasu instantly stopped in her tracks at that comment. At this point I knew I had her: even if she said nothing her body language told me all I needed to know.

Apparently I've struck a nerve I thought to myself. I just hope she doesn't go off the deep end......
------

Since we're only just starting to get back on track I tried to hit a bit of everything by covering what's currently going on with the Time Chamber group as well as picking up an old plot thread. Note on the power levels and my reasoning behind them:

-Basawe: About 10,000 (stated by Blade)
-Transformed Basawe: About 96,500 (stated to be "almost tenfold" be Blade; came up with a number more than nine times but not quite ten)
Rest of group: About 18,000 (once again pulling it from Blade's post; Hammer/Shitagi are almost too fast for Basawe to track so I figured almost twice as strong)
Shitagi's base Kaio-Ken: About 22,250 (25% increase over base power with minimal ill effects)
Kaio-Ken x2: 36,000
Kaio-Ken x3: 54,000 (replaces KKx2 prior to HTC training; prolonged use will drain his ki)
Kaio-Ken x4: 72,000 (prolonged use will damage body)
Kaio-Ken x5: 90,000 (replaces pre-training KKx3 for a last ditch attack; can do big damage but will knock Shitagi out of the fight)

Anyway I'll leave explaining Basawe's transformation to Blade as it's his character. In the meantime......

TAG BRANDY!

[Bear]

You forgot "Farmer with Shotgun: 5"

Fix please!

[Asilynne]

~Retasu~
Innocent until proven guilty

I froze in place, my back to the Saiyan ‘prince’ as his words washed over me. For a brief moment of fear I wondered, did he know? Was he able to catch me somehow? Then, as my mind raced and I reviewed the steps I had taken to conceal what I had done, and what little he seemed to know about Gamma’s operating system and creators, I realised he couldn’t possibly know for sure. He was guessing, and trying to bluff me into giving myself away.

So in the space of a mere second I turned around and regarded Shitagi with a stare of frozen fury. Cold hard ice laced every word as I strode up to him, getting within inches of his face. “Listen to me, Shitagi Summers. You may be the son of the daughter of the Great Prince Vegeta, but if you think I am going to stand here and allow myself to be accused when I have been nothing but civil to you all, you are sadly mistaken.”
I stepped back and eyed a couple of the others before returning my gaze to the blue haired saiyan hybrid. “Yes, I am secretive, but so are you. Tell me, if you do not trust me, why did you invite me to become stronger in your Time Chamber? If you do trust me, why do you guard your dragon radar so carefully from others? If I did have what you accuse me of taking, and I am untrustworthy, I would have immediately made my way to Rothax and delivered it to him, wouldn’t I? Or, rather than waste time risking my life with you lot I would have gone out on my own seeking the dragonballs for myself, if what you seem to think is true. How would staying here to help your ragtag group of hybrids and rejects benefit me in any way if I had the ability to find the dragonballs without you?”

He kept control of his face but I saw a flicker of doubt in his eyes. But before he could speak I decided to drive the point home. “So while we’re assuming things, Mr. Summers, how about we just assume that I am on your side since I am currently planning to risk my life to save your puny planet out of respect for the Prince who chose to live here.” Abruptly I turned my back on him and began striding away, before giving him one last parting shot.

“I suggest you worry about the REAL threat for a change.”

Strolling into the small dwelling the four of us shared while within the Time Chamber, I gathered the tools used for my style of scouter and began to work on fixing it. Politics, intrigue and distrust broke the people of Planet Vegeta apart. Sadly it seems Prince Vegeta’s influence wasn’t enough to save the Saiyans of planet Earth from such things. I supposed it was Saiyan nature to turn upon its own race when there were no outside challenges to face, but it seemed Shitagi would turn on me even with the presence of a bigger threat.
It didn’t matter. Being alone didn’t scare me. Death didn’t even scare me. The only thing that did was failure and I would endure anything to make sure that didn’t happen.
So fuck Shitagi and the rest, I didn’t need their gratitude or their approval for anything I did.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tag anyone~

[Blademaster]

It's time to move on. Things are about to get heavy...

Basawe

"How would staying here to help your ragtag group of hybrids and rejects benefit me in any way if I had the ability to find the dragonballs without you?”

Basawe smiled to himself when he heard this... He knew that Retasu was out for nobody but herself, and she'd just confirmed it. She was after the Dragonballs, no doubt about it. He didn't know if she could find them by herself or not, but he knew that if the Dragonballs were all gathered - by Shitagi and his friends or otherwise - then Retasu would definitely be there when it happened.

'Rothax, Retasu...' he thought. 'They're my objectives. I could possibly destroy Retasu here and now, in this form, but Rothax is another matter... I may need her strength. Like it or not, she's the strongest person here once my transformation wears off...'

Basawe looked up at his Power Ball. It wouldn't last for too much longer... Maybe a half an hour before it vanished.

"I'm going to train myself further in the Chamber." he said, turning away from Shitagi. "I can't stay like this for long. What are you two going to do?"

------------MEANWHILE, AT THE PLOT------------

Name: Rothax
Race: Mizimian
Age: 39
Gender: Asexual; is referred to as a 'he.'
Appearance: This is his first form. His second (and as of the RPG's decline/revival, his current form) form is depicted here.
Personality: Rothax is a power-hungry despot, prone to throwing tantrums if he doesn't have his way. He can be cool and collected, but typically for short bursts only. When angered, he often becomes childishly hotheaded like Frieza, but rather than remain uncontrollable, he will eventually become silent and frigid cold if his anger continues. At this point, stay away. In fact, just stay away period. He only seems to be happy when he has exactly what he wants and when he wants it, at which point he becomes almost friendly.
History: The Mizimian race descends from a common ancestor that they share with the Namekians, which is why both races are so similar in appearnce. Though not enemies, the Namekians rarely speak of their brethren race simply because they tend to keep to themselves. They inhabit a planet called Mizim, which is only a few days from the original Namek (farther from New Namek), and while the Namekians are a more sage race, the Mizimians are a technological species. What they lack in Namekian strength and wisdom, they make up for in technological achievment and outright intelligence.
Rothax's history is not very remarkable. He was raised as a scholar, capable of fighting well but spending more time tinkering with his 'toys' than the typical Mizimian brawler. Like his fellow Mizimians, he knew of the Namekians and their Dragon Balls, the latter of which Rothax became interested in. He tried to find them, his impulsiveness getting in the way of him learning much more about the Dragon Balls than how they granted wishes.
A few years later, he returned to Mizim, infuriated that he didn't get what he wished for from the dragon he summoned, which was Porunga (Hilariously, when Porunga denied his wish since he didn't speak Namekian, Rothax wished/yelled for Porunga "Shut up and go away!". This wish, Porunga DID grant.). So, he began to search his planet's libraries and archives for any record on how to get what he wanted... And he eventually uncovered a manuscript written by the creator of the Dragon Balls himself. The manuscript stated that the Dragon Balls acted as inhibitors that kept their Dragon's limitless power from being misused. And so, he began work on a machine that would separate the Dragon from the Dragon Balls. As he constructed it, his people began to shun him for his selfish intentions and his attitude, though he did manage to coerce (scare and/or bribe) a small army to follow him. His machine is complete now, and his troops are ready to begin the old hunt once again...
NEW: Now on Earth, Rothax's squadrons of soldiers have been decimated, forcing him to transform once as well as to call in his most senior special forces group, who will be listed below. As of now, Rothax has ten men left at his behest. His machine is fully operational, and his top 3 soldiers are with him on his ship, ready to engage the enemy and assist the struggling Kwali brothers. He possesses 2 of the 7 Dragonballs and has laid waste to West City.
Techniques:
-Chitin Barrier: Rothax's armor shines a sickly blue and he holds his hand out, stopping any attack that hits it (If his armor is crippled, this move becomes much less effective; now that he's transformed, his armor is straining and this move may just push it past its limits.)
-Claw Crusher: Rothax uses the claws on his wrists and ankles to mercilessly crush or cut up whatever he can get them around.
-Needle Cannon: Similar to Vegeta's barrage attack, Rothax fires a veritable hailstorm of glowing blue needles from his hands, which typically lasts anywhere from one wave to ten seconds. before needing to recharge.
-Ozone Burst Ray: Rothax's most powerful basic attack. He holds his hands straight out sideways, the bases of the palms pressed together, all five fingers lined next to one another, before firing a thick blue beam of negative energy at the target.
-Supersonic Yell: Rothax utters a vocal shockwave that can inflict agonizing pain and even deafness on enemies.
-Rothax Third Form: Rothax assumes his second form. More information is unavailable at this time.
Relationships: Shimuto, his second-in-command, is probably the closest thing he has to a 'friend.' His special forces' leader, Chita, he treats with more respect than the rest of his soldiers, though it is currently unknown why.
Themes:
"Calm" theme.
Battle theme.
Second form theme.
Other: Despite his temper and intentions, Rothax doesn't consider himself evil. He just wants what he feels he's entitled to.

Rothax

Rothax looked over his remaining soldiers... Blaque, the armored mass of red-eyed muscle, and Whyte, the slim, mohawked, hook-nosed stick figure beside him.

"Where is Chita?" Rothax growled. "She said she was already on-deck. That was several minutes ago. My patience is-"

Rothax's grumbling was interrupted by a beeping on the monitor a few feet from him, where Tennan was hard at work trying to keep his superior from getting any angrier.

A futile effort, he just realized.

"Uh, sir?" Tennan said timidly. "According to these readings... THREE Dragonballs have just appeared, together. Their location is where... the Kwalis are right now...?"

"WHAT?!" Rothax shoved Tennan aside and looked at the monitor. Sure enough, there were 3 blips clustered together, almost overlapping, on the display. Three foreign power levels, two of which seemed to fighting each other(?), were present, as were the Kwalis. The orange one, representing Kamo, was still, but the blue one was still quite mobile... and barely five yards from the Dragonballs!

Rothax grabbed the communicator off the wall and began to yell into it: "What the hell are you idiots doing!? The radar's detecting three Dragon Balls not twenty feet from you!"

A short pause.

"How they got here doesn't matter! Retrieve those Dragon Balls and return immediately!"

"Your blood pressure, Captain..." a female voice said behind him.

Rothax slammed down the com-link and turned. Behind him, standing in front of Blaque and Whyte, was an armored female figure in red-and-beige boots, with white gloves and webbed skin. She seemed fit, but her face was that of a well-aged woman. One who had seen, and won, many a battle... Her faintly green eyes were colder than the void of space.

"Chita, it's about time." Rothax growled. "I've-"

"I already know the situation, sir." Chita interrupted him. "And I've briefed Blaque and Whyte while you were speaking with the Kwalis. One of them has been critically injured. What should I do about them?"

Rothax wasn't always happy with Chita's fast-talking, but at the moment, he wasn't in the mood to brief his remaining men, anyway. "If the Kwalis are no longer able to fight, then order them to return to the-"

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

"Sir!" Tennan cried out, sounding even more scared than usual. "Someone... Something is coming from the west! It's making a beeline for the ship, and it's strong!"

Rothax paused. "How strong?"

"It has a power level of... 9,000! Maybe more!"

Rothax narrowed his eyes. 'It's her.'

He turned to Chita, Blaque, and Whyte.

"You have your orders." he told them. "You know where to go and what to do. I won't be gone long. When I return, those 3 Dragonballs had better be on my ship."

"Yes, sir!" they replied.

-------------------------------------

If one were a few miles in the sky above Rothax's ship, they'd have seen a stunning sight: three streaks of energy - one pale grey, one dark grey, and at the forefront, one pitch-black - were flying to the northwest at great speed. South of them, a much thicker and faster blue one was speeding to the west, en route towards an approaching golden-white streak of energy, the two seemingly on a collision course.

------------------------------------------

With a half hour remaining in the Time Chamber, the brave mother of Shitagi is ready to engage the fearsome Rothax all alone in a desperate bid for more time. But she isn't the only one fighting to beat the clock...

With her own ultimatum issued, Rothax's most powerful General leads the charge towards Zaito, Kura, and Van. Will the Earth's first line of defense succeed in repelling this vicious attack long enough for reinforcements to arrive? Or are our intrepid heroes about to bite off more than they can chew? Find out next time, on Dragonball SU!

[Kuro Espeon]

Yay! A post! It's a miracle! XD

BTW, Heald. You conveniently left Kura and Retasu off the main cast list again. *taps foot impatiently*

EDIT: Fixed it so that there is only one Kwali involved. Since the other one is...uh...incapacitated.


Kura Satou:

It was official. Kura was completely and utterly confused. Not 10 seconds ago she was locked in a fight with an entranced Van Osiku who, it appeared, had every desire and intention of killing her. Now, in the blink of an eye, his personality had done a complete 180, and any of the murderous rage he had possessed just moments before was now replaced by a strong desire to defend a piece of luggage. He seemed to have forgotten all about Kura, who was left hovering mid-air, her body still poised in a fighting stance. Her eyes were on the ground below and on the scene unfolding between Van and the remaining Kwali brother, Kados. A noticeable twitch above her right eye was an indication of her rising confusion and irritation.

“What the….bloody hell….I don’t even….What’s going…” She stammered to herself. She eventually resorted to slapping her hand over her face and letting out a muffled groan. “I think I’m getting a migraine…”

Not that she wasn’t relieved that Van was no longer trying to kill her for no apparent reason, she was just puzzled as to what could’ve been so important that it had snapped him back to reality. She wondered what it was inside that duffel bag that Kados was so intent on getting and Van was so vehement on defending. Unless…

‘Wait…! Could it be….?’ Kura eyes widened with realization, ‘The Dragonballs!?’ Suddenly, she was just as interested in that bag as the rest of them. While she wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of leaping to the aid of someone who had, until a few moments ago, been trying to kill her, she knew that letting the Kwali’s take however many Dragonballs were in that bag was NOT a good idea. She had no choice. She couldn’t let these Dragonballs be taken. She had too much riding on them.

Down below, Kados was closing in on Van, his stride quick and determined. The human fighter was clutching the duffel bag for dear life and attempting to fend off the alien with shots of ki from his hand, but Kados was merely side-stepping them. It was apparent that the boost of strength and speed Van had obtained in his entranced form was now nowhere to be found. How convenient.

Kura had to act fast. Throwing her arms down to her sides she powered up, her aura flaring around her like a burst of white-blue flame. She turned in the air and flew at top speed toward Kados, just as he swung one of his massive arms to strike Van Osiku once more. He never got to finish his swing, however, for Kura slammed her body into him full force, catching him off guard and sending him flying into a nearby rocky outcrop. Kura quickly touched down and firmly planted her feet, placing herself between Van and the fallen Kwali.

It was a good 30 seconds before she saw Kados emerging from the rubble, his eyes bulging with rage as he stared down his attacker.

"YOU!" He roared, "How DARE you interfere, woman??"

"You sound surprised," Kura replied, her tone slightly mocking, "You didn't think I would just stand idly by and let you take MY Dragonballs, did you?"

Kados laughed in response. "HA! Yours? That's a good one! Who knew you monkeys had a sense of humor!" He bared his sharp teeth at Kura as he cracked his knuckles in an attempt to intimidate. "Hate to break it to you, girly, but those Dragonballs belong to Captain Rothax. And the boss man gets pretty...upset when he doesn't get what he wants. Ya get my meanin'?"

But Kura was acting totally disinterested in Kados' speech. She casually picked a piece of lint out of her hair and flicked it away before looking back at the alien. "Are you done?" she said flatly. Kamo let out a low growl, the muscles in his arms flexing in preparation. Kura kept going. "Perhaps you didn't hear me. Allow me to reiterate." She bent her knees and got into fighting stance once more. "You're not getting these Dragonballs."

"I'll make you pay for your insolence with your life, Saiyan!"

"Sorry...but didn't you already have your ass handed to you once today?"

As Kados let out another angry roar, Kura knew she only had a few moments before the fight would officially begin. She took that moment to turn back over her shoulder and address Van.

"Hope you're ready to hold on tight to that bag, Van. Things are about to get ugly." She looked back at the bulbous, contorted face of Kados Kwali. "Real ugly..."



Kura shouldn't have too much of a problem disposing of Kados. Hmm... if only she knew that three more aliens were heading in their direction... *evil cackle*

Anyway, I'll tag MoP or Heald (if Heald wants to get Zaito back into the fray).

[Master Rudy]

Shitagi Summers
HTC-Day 7 (approx. 26 minutes of real time)
------
Well.....THAT went well I thought to myself bitterly. Retasu's words echoed in my mind. Just what were her motives? I knew she couldn't have been working with Rothax. First off she didn't strike me as the type that would work for someone like him. There was also the fact that he was actively fighting all of us in our first encounter. If she was really working for him then that would have been the perfect moment to turn on us. Even so she seemed to accuse me of thinking along those lines. When she first arrived she said she was looking for the Saiyan prince. However once the Dragon Balls became a factor she seemed to take an interest in them. The more I tried to think about things the less sense everything made. It was actually starting to hurt my head.

Thankfully the voice of Basawe snapped me away from my thoughts. "I can't stay like this for long. What are you two going to do?" he asked us. Facing him I said "Well I can't just keep standing around here. I'm going to get our scouters repaired. After that I need to get back to training." Pausing for a moment I then added "And I guess somewhere in the middle of all of that I've got to patch things up with Retasu." I could tell from the look on Basawe's face that he didn't approve. He was thinking back to the first words she spoke upon landing on Earth:

"If anyone here knows the whereabouts of the offspring of Prince Vegeta step forward now! If no one can tell me where he is I will destroy this place and move on until someone can give me a correct answer!"

I felt it was nothing more than her trying to come across as more threatening than she really was. Had it not been for the sudden attack on the Budokai grounds I would have stepped forward almost instantly. Before Basawe or Hammer could speak on the matter I said "I know you both have misgivings about her. Hell I do as well. However when you think about it all she has done is help. Even if she has her own motives we can't forget that she could have easily put as much distance as she possibly could between herself and us once things got sour. The last thing we should be doing is pushing potential allies away. I shouldn't have pushed her so hard. In hindsight that was perhaps the worst possible time and way to do that." Turning away I told them "I can't waste anymore time thinking about all this.....I'll be back at the living quarters if either of you need me."

About five minutes after I started to make my way back I saw the building come up in the distance. I knew that at this paticular moment speaking with Retasu was not the best of ideas. Instead I decided to fly up to the roof of the building so I could work alone. As I sat down I pulled out a capsule I had hidden away in a special compartment on one of my boots. When I tossed it however I suddenly remembered that the one with my tools were in my other boot. Seeing a metal box appear I suddenly realized that it was the capsule my mother had given me. I had promised her that I wouldn't open it until just before it was time to leave the chamber. With it out in the open now however I figured that it couldn't hurt to look inside.

Opening the box the first thing that caught my eye was orange fabric. As soon as I saw that I couldn't help but smile knowing exactly what it was. When I pulled it out I expected to see a blue shirt, wristbands and boots. Instead there was a pair of white boots, white gloves and a blue bodysuit. All of these were normally worn with battle armor. Turning my attention back to the gi I noticed that the fabric was something new. In fact it was something I couldn't even describe. Mom did say she was working on a new prototype that was just as tough as the battle armor. I'm guessing this is it then. As I unfolded it yet another thing caught my eye: on the back of the gi was the symbol for the Son family. Expecting another symbol on the front I flipped it back around and nearly dropped the gi out of shock. On the front was a symbol that no one had worn in over 100 years......

It was the crest of the royal family.

Between the mix of clothing and the two symbols I knew exactly what the clothing stood for. It represented two Saiyans. One was the strongest one in history and the defender of the Earth. The other was the prince who stopped wearing the royal crest once he had felt he failed his people. I stared at the crest for a good five minutes before remembering I hadn't yet fully unpacked the box. Once I removed the boots I saw something else at the bottom. It was a piece of paper. I unfolded it and read it silently to myself.

Shitagi,

Hope you like the gift. What I didn't tell you about were the more serious matters. There's not going to be enough time to go over everything. However these are things you need to know for the future. Things that are going to become issues if you beat WHEN you beat Rothax. I'm sorry if all this doesn't make sense to you as I'm writing this rather quickly......however I hope that by the end you at least have a better understanding of things and what the future may potentially hold.

As you already know the existance of the Saiyan race became common knowledge to the people of Earth when the first refugees arrived here. The first week was far from the easiest. There were actually fears among humans that we were actually planning to take over. Thankfully this didn't last long as Vegeta and Goku were quick to come forward and admit that they weren't entirely human. This actually calmed the public quite a bit as it made them quickly learn that we had been living with them in secret for many years and that several prominent members of society were actually hybrids. The two most notable examples of the time were Trunks while he was the CEO of Capsule Corp and Gohan while he teached at Orange Star University.

When the refugees first arrived Vegeta wanted to help them. While it's true that there was always a split between the "elite" and the "lower class" one thing did remain to keep them united: King Vegeta cared about his people. In fact the king was a hero among the Saiyans. The current "king" on the other hand does not care about anyone other than himself. The Ninjin family has done everything they can to keep the lower class oppressed and all the power to themselves. If the stories I've heard are true then the situation for these people has actually gotten worse than it was during the time we were slaves under Frieza.

Vegeta had originally intended for his son to try to set things right as he was too old at this point to do anything himself. However Trunks felt he wasn't the right person for the job due to being half human. He felt that for this reason alone that the Saiyans would never accept him as the true heir. Sadly this caused a rift between the two of them that they never recovered from until the day Vegeta was on his deathbed. As a result of this he named the firstborn male on his daughter's side of the family as next in line for the throne. Due to this event this makes you the true ruler of the Saiyan race. I hoped to keep you out of the loop until you were a little older so that you could have as much of a normal life as you possibly could. However recent events have made this impossible.

Retasu's arrival changed everything. While I'm sure she means well this essentially forces me to tell you these things sooner than I would have liked. While things have been peaceful here for years I've always had a fear that the Ninjin Loyalists would eventually set their sights on Earth. It doesn't matter if we aren't a threat to them or if we have no desire to retake our homeworld. From what several refugees have told me Vegeta Loyalists don't live for very long once they are outed. As far as Ninjin is concerned a true heir being alive is the biggest threat to his power. It's not much of a stretch to think that if he found out that Vegeta's heir was alive and on Earth that he would put all his power into destroying us.

My stomach just absolutely sank at this. Ninjin on top of Rothax? It didn't matter if it was just a remote possiblity. The fact that it was even a possiblity at all gave me the feeling that this would turn into a situation that Earth hadn't seen in years.....one that we weren't prepared for.

The people of Earth cannot afford a full blown war with the Saiyans. There would be many innocent people killed and caught in the crossfire of a Saiyan Civil War.....and that's the best case scenario. I feel like the only option we may have as far as protecting the Earth will be taking this fight to them. In doing so however you may not have a choice but to begin telling people on our homeworld who you really are. This will put you in a ton of danger but in the end it might be the only way to save the Earth from total destruction.

For too long the Saiyan race has been without a true leader. Frieza's attempted genocide wiped out many of us and set our technology back many years. However Ninjin has the makings of another Frieza.....all he needs is the motivation to wipe someone out. If he finds out that a decendant of Vegeta is alive it'll be the only motivation he needs. Once he destroys the Earth and gets that taste of additional power he'll want to make sure absolutely no one can get in his way. Come to think of it I actually now picture Frieza starting out in much the same way.

Vegeta's final wish was that one of his heirs could reclaim the throne and lead our people to a better future. Until this happens the Saiyan race will never fully escape it's blood stained past. Some would argue that it started with the Saiyan-Tuffle War. However that's so many years ago now with so many fragmented pieces of infomation that it's hard to say who truely started it: some accounts say it was us while others say it was them. In my opinion I feel both sides had an equal part. We may be a warrior race but we were never murderers......at least not until Frieza entered the picture.

The Saiyans need a true leader. They need Prince Vegeta.

They need you......

Your mother,
Victoria Summers

All of this new info suddenly left my mind very heavy on what I should do. In fact I never gave the situation on Planet Vegeta much thought. I actually cursed at myself when I stopped to think why. It was never my problem. I never gave it any mind because I foolishly believed he would not see me or my family as a threat as long as we didn't oppose him over his leadership of the Saiyan race. I now knew that this wasn't the case. It didn't matter if I wanted to be a leader or not. Ninjin would not stop until all traces of the Vegeta family line were wiped out. I then remembered something else. All those Saiyans from Planet Vegeta that refered to me as the prince for all these years......is this the reason why they did that? If that were the case then indirectly I was disrespecting them without knowing it......

I layed on the roof feeling exausted. It wasn't from training however. It was from everything on my mind. For me it had been a long week. I went from fighting to be one of the best to fighting for the Earth. Now it appeared that destiny had decided that I was to fight for the freedom of the Saiyan race. Honestly I didn't know if I could do it. I'm not a natural leader. What am I suppose to do? Up until now I never knew my mother felt so strongly about this subject. I had much to think about as I jumped off the roof with the letter in hand. Looking behind me back towards the living quarters I saw Retasu still tinkering with her scouter. She stopped for a moment noting that I was in new clothes and even had a questioning look on her face once she noticed it had the royal crest on the front. Off in the distance I saw Hammer and Basawe returning. I needed to speak to someone about all this as I felt lost. Personally I felt the best option would be to discuss this with another Saiyan. Hammer however would also be another option. Despite not being a Saiyan he was quite knowledgable about many things. Plus since he wasn't a Saiyan he might actually be a better choice as he would be able to give an unbiased outside viewpoint on the matter.

The real question right now was who should I talk to? Should I take one of them aside and explain everything.....or should I try to get them in a room together and see what everyone has to say?
------

Post has been edited to fit in with what's been established a bit better. It's also a bit more open ended now. Instead of pretty much forcing Brandy to be the next to reply to me this ending gives everyone a chance to move things along. Also edited the choice in music as Saiyan Blood doesn't fit the mood too well........at least not yet anyway

Recap on Shitagi's new outfit as well as an expanded explanation of the prototype: the "Vegeto Gi" (blue on orange) is no more. Shitagi is now wearing the traditional Z Fighter gi with symbols for the Son family and the royal family. There's a few other changes as well. First he's got a blue bodysuit under his clothing instead of the blue shirt. Second instead of the wristbands and blue boots he has a set of white gloves/boots that are normally worn with the armor. Finally the new gi is a prototype. While it's not as protective as actual armor since it's still a type of cloth it's made of a new material that's harder to damage. Just about the only thing that could potentially damage it is a piercing attack such as a Death Beam or Makankosappo. As a result it could potentially be a better choice for a prolonged battle as the traditional Saiyan battle armor eventually does get cracked and broken in long fights. As for clothing damage the best way I can describe it is seeing things go in reverse: his bodysuit is bound to take noticeable damage before the gi actually does ^_~

[Bear]

Hammer - In HTC with Basawe, Shitagi, and Retasu

As Shitagi left to go ponder the predicament and continue his training, Basawe and Hammer were left in the piercing void. Basawe had commented that he wanted to continue training before his form ran out, so Hammer felt it was appropriate to engage.

"I will train with you then." Hammer said, returning to his short-worded manner. Basawe looked up at him and gave a slight nod.

"Be on your guard. I possess great strength in this form." Basawe stated, sliding his foot forward and entering a fighting stance. Hammer did the same, entering the Xing Yi stance.

After several silent moments, Basawe finally made the first move. Digging his front toe firmly into the ground, he shot forward and delivered a lightning fast punch aimed at the center of Hammer's chest. Hammer reacted quickly, parrying with his left arm and countering with a right handed undercut. Basawe easily evaded this, disappearing completely and reappearing behind Hammer. Hammer just barely had enough time to duck underneath the ensuing roundhouse kick, and attempted to retaliate with a Qi blast. Basawe effortlessly swatted it away with his defending hand, the blast disappearing into the distance before an explosion erupted. The two fighters paused again, standing straight up.

"You're going to need to step it up if you want to grow here. Going easy on you won't help either of us." Basawe said to Hammer, sternly.

Hammer's response was simply silence, re-entering his fighting stance.

Hammer then vanished. Basawe jumped back into his stance immediately, as he could sense Hammer approaching him. Hammer's body would appear and disappear in a flash, each time growing closer to Basawe as his speed increased. As he reached striking distance, Hammer swung his fist with a mighty force. Basawe brought his left arm up to block, and the punch...went right through Basawe's body. The illusion of Hammer's visage dissipated, and Basawe looked confused for a moment. His confusion was quickly wiped away as Hammer's real strike landed, the impact of his fist against Basawe's chest echoing throughout the entire chamber. Basawe stumbled back a step or two, but recovered in time to stop Hammer's followup kick. Once again he paused, addressing Hammer.

"Much better. But how's your defense?" Basawe said with a smile. With fists tightly clenched his aura burst in all directions, glowing the intense silver of the moon. His power began to climb astoundingly fast, pouring out of him like a cascading torrent. Within an instant he was on the move, appearing in front of Hammer as if he had instantly teleported. His fist crashed into Hammer's cheek, jolting him off his feet and into the air. As Hammer careened backwards and tried to shake the daze from his head, Basawe was already behind him to deliver another blow. Hammer spun in mid-air and swung his leg, his knee meeting with Basawe's fist in another earth-shaking impact. Whereas Hammer had just barely recovered in time to launch the attack, Basawe's did not stop there. Brushing Hammer's leg to the side, he entered into a flurry of punches, repeatedly dealing blows to Hammer's midsection. As Hammer floated backward during the onslaught, he struggled to regain control and slow Basawe down. He managed to hammer his forearm down and briefly halt the barrage, but it took all he had to protect himself from the continued attacks. Blow after blow, punch after punch came at Hammer, and his arms furiously deflected as many as he could. However, Hammer could only hold this up for so long, as Basawe finally penetrated his defenses.

BOOM......BOOM BOOM.....BOOOOOOOMMMM!

The sound of the powerful conclusion to Basawe's attack reverberated through the air. In a brutal combo of kicks and punches that culminated in a Qi blast, Basawe sent the bruised body of Hammer crashing to the ground. As Basawe slowly floated down and gently landed, he walked toward where Hammer had come to rest. Hammer lay on his back, motionless. At first he appeared lifeless, but when Basawe got closer he realized he was wide awake, and simply staring upwards. As Basawe stood over Hammer, he cracked a grin.

"Ready to keep going?" He asked.

Hammer slowly sat up and got to his feet, dusting off his clothing. He looked at Basawe and said "I think we're on the right track."

Both fighters nodded, entering their fighting stances once again in preparation for another round. Strange smiles crossed both their faces as they began to spar again, repeating what had just happened several times more. The results of the altercations were often similar, but as each round progressed Hammer was getting slightly faster. He was adapting to the pace of Basawe and learning his technique, all the while his power climbing steadily. This process continued for another thirty minutes or so, until they were interrupted.

The power ball that had been levitating in the air suddenly began to flicker. Both Basawe and Hammer noticed it, and stopped what they were doing to observe. The ball grew smaller, throbbing and bobbing up and down a bit. After a few more seconds, the energy completely vanished and the light dissipated. As the power ball flickered out, Basawe's body began to transform. He tightened his fists again as his aura swirled. Slowly, his vibrant silvery glow turned to a normal, dull white. His muscles bulged and receded, bulged and receded, until they had returned to normal size. His hair changed color back to its natural black, and his eyes regressed to black. As he re-entered his normal state, he suddenly felt the heavy gravity of the Time Chamber, and dropped to a knee. Panting heavily, he attempted to regain his posture.

"Man, that form takes alot out of me." Basawe commented between his labored breaths. Hammer stood next to him, not commenting but simply observing. After a couple minutes of rest, Basawe could stand and function normally again. He turned to face Hammer.

"I guess now would be a good time for a break. Let's go see what Retasu and Shitagi are up to." Basawe suggested.

"Very well." Hammer replied, as the two of them turned and began walking back toward the staying quarters.

------------

I won't get into power levels at this moment, I'll wait until we emerge to do an assessment of where we all stand.

[Heald]

Right, here is my post, I slightly build into your Rothax post Blade if you don't mind.

Name: Zaito Zhin (pronounced Shin)
Race: Human
Age: 19
Gender: Male.

Appearance: He is around 6' 2" and muscular, but also athletically built and not bulging with muscles. Only his shoulders are broad really, although when he does get pumped up, he does look noticeably bigger, although not significantly so (i.e. he doesn't become like USSJ uber-muscular). He has slightly tanned white skin, so he's neither pale nor dark-skinned. He had short black hair that's spiked on top, although short spikes.

Currently, he is wearing an orange gi with blue under-shirt, much like the original Z-fighters, although he has not insignia on these clothes. He received this gi from Shitagi.

Personality: A good, kind-hearted, morally strong person, he is never afraid to speak up against injustice and stand up against those who would commit evil. As a result of his intense and focussed training, he is, most of the time, slow to anger or emotion (at least compared to Saiyans) but at heart he is headstrong and subject to strong feelings, leading to impulsive actions, perhaps against his better judgement, when times get heated. He is usually friendly and open-minded, often more than willing to put aside differences for the benefit of the bigger picture, but he isn't afraid to confront those who are acting contrary to what he believes is right.

History: Born and raised in a community where it wasn't uncommon for the young to be raised in fighter's schools and monasteries, he was promising from a very young age, being a very energetic infant. At the age of 3 he had proven himself to be a natural fighter, defeating a boy three times his age in an exhibition match and was quickly sent to study with the Blue Dragon School, a school similar to the Turtle and Crane schools that specialised in utilising the energy and lifeforce of the Earth and the very elements themselves. By six years old he could fly and form basic energy attacks, but he had more natural ability than focus and concentration, meaning he found it difficult to truly harness his true potential, and found himself on the wrong end of his sensei's walking stick numerous times for his lack of judgement and discipline. He followed the Path of Air, being able to utilise wind-based techniques and infusing the planet's natural air energy with his own ki in order to unleash incredible techniques.

At the age of 18, he elected to leave the school with the blessing of his sensei, who felt that leaving the school and experiencing the world, learning from other schools and fighters would match well with his energetic passion. With this in mind, he gave himself a year to travel the world and watch and spar with other fighters and schools before entering the Budokai.

After the Budokai was attacked, he formed an alliance with the rest of the fighters, fighting alongside Basawe and Shitagi in order to defeat the alien invaders and to protect the Earth. He has suffered terrible injuries at the hands of the Kwalis but was brought back to full health by Shitagi and Victoria, and has since had a an hour in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Currently, he is in combat with the Kwali Brothers and Kura, which has now been interrupted by an enraged Van Osiku. His base power level is currently hovering between 7000-8000, although he can increase it further for short periods of time.

Techniques: Kazeken - A passive ability that allows him to absorb wind energy from the atmosphere, especially enhanced whilst flying and in the sky. He can then activate it for short periods of time in order to increase his attack power.

Nenshokaze - He powers up wind energy in his fist and strikes his opponent, sometimes with enough force to impale his opponent. When powered up significantly, a small tornado appears around his fist.

Bikokaze - Briefly infuses his own body with the wind, allowing himself to become intangible or even completely invisible, moving very quickly and materialising somewhere else. Can only be used in very short distances and can be very draining if used more than once in a short space of time.

Ranbokaze - Like a bigger version of the Nenshokaze, he wraps his own body in a tornado-like stream of wind energy, being able to deflect attacks and move very quickly, concentrating all of his energy in the apex of the tornado at the final moment to do incredible damage. Appears much like the Fang Over Fang attack from Naruto.

Kadoutama - Puts his hands together in a gun-shape and powers-up a small but very dense ball of energy and fires it very quickly. Explodes and can stop most things in its tracks.

Ryuukyokaze - Definitely the last-resort, final attack and most powerful one in his arsenal. He powers up as much energy as possible (a possibly very lengthy process) in his arms in front of him (with his left palm over the back of his right hand) and when ready, unleashes a very fast, very destructive beam of swirling energy. Requires a lot of concentration and he will find it difficult to dodge attacks or move whilst preparing it.

Relationships: Has formed friendly relations with Basawe and Shitagi, and is on good terms with Furuto and Kuji. He trusts Hammer and has a seemingly friendly rivalry with Kura, although he is unsure of what her exact motives are (yet he doesn't distrust her). He finds Retasu's rough disposition somewhat troubling, but he is wise enough to understand she is a formidable fighter.

Themes: Character Theme (My Name is Zaito)

Powering-Up Theme (Hurricane Impact)

Battle Theme (When Powers Collide)

Other: As a human, he develops more slowly than other races and does not have the resilience or healing abilities that Saiyans and Nameks have. He more than makes up for this in natural ability, technique, concentration and sheer willpower.

---

Zaito Zhin

Zaito released Kamo from his grip, Kamo's eyes were wide open but devoid of any activity. Getting up onto one knee, Zaito was slightly panting, having had to break a considerable sweat during that last technique. As he got his footing, he looked up and looked around the considerable dent in the Earth his attach had caused. He gave a slight grin, but then regained a sense of the bigger picture; Van Osiku, Kura and Kados were still about, and with Van Osiku acting as crazy as he was, he would need to take control of the situation quickly.

Zaito prepared to leap out of the crater, but as he did, he felt a large grip on his leg. He turned his head to see, incredibly, that Kamo was still alive and conscious. Zaito was completely astounded; Kamo still had the same lifeless look in his eyes, but his muscles were still ready to continue the fight, and although his power level was dwindling, Zaito could still sense that Kamo was not finished, even if he was as mangled and broken as he lay now.

"...Pinky..." Kamo breathed, and with considerable effort he craned his fractured neck, veins popping out of his skin, and he set his eyes dead set on Zaito. Zaito then felt an instant surge in the alien's energy.
"Wh-"
"PINKYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!"
A bright purple glow grew from Kamo's mouth and in an instant a torrent of destructive energy shot out from his maw at blinding speed, enveloping both warriors and causing a mammoth explosion.

The dust began to settle, and the scene wasn't too different: Kamo was still tightly gripping Zaito's leg, but Zaito had shot an arm in front of him, his hand now slightly blooded and burnt, black smoke pouring from his palm from where he had shielded the attack.

Zaito was astonished; this would seemingly never end, these aliens would stop at nothing to get what they wanted. It seemed to come flooding to him; the attack on the tournament, the Kwalis' wave of destruction, the destruction of West City. The death and suffering of each human being that these invaders had caused would not end until every last one had been stopped.

[My Name is Zaito]

Zaito looked down and stared at his foe in the eye. He had renewed desires and was fully coming to realise the true role he had to fulfil. Up until now, he had been surrounded by friends, allies and others with common goals, and their true aim had not yet manifested itself to them. But now, standing face to face with the enemy, now realising that every life on the planet was at stake, he now had a dangerous new way to channel his energy - purpose.

"What the hell are you idiots doing?" came a tinnied, angry voice. Zaito recognised it immediately - Rothax. It was come from some kind of communicator that was on the side of Kamo's head, but during the battle it has become damaged and the receiving unit was broadcasting loud enough for him to hear it. He heard Kados yell back through it about the dragonballs and about Van Osiku and Kura, and figured it was able to broadcast his own voice as well as receive incoming communications. Zaito spoke up.
"This brute you sent here to kill us is just one of the first of many to fall in our mission to stop you, and mark my words, I don't care how many of these guys you send, or how strong they are, they will not succeed so long as I or any of us draw breath! I make this promise to the people of Earth: I. WILL. STOP. YOU!"
With the last word, his anger swelled inside him and, ripping his leg from Kamo's grip, he roared and, with great power now swirling around him, he slammed him foot down onto the communicator and, almost mindlessly, straight through Kamo's skull, crushing it into oblivion.

He looked up, with a determined look on his face and renewed strength - the passion he had shown in mere flickers during his battle with Kamo's was now his default mode - his muscles were at full power, his energy levels were maxing out, even his aura, until now only having been visible in glimmers of his fights, was burning brightly around him. This was a new feeling for him -his uncharacteristic, brutal coup de grâce on Kamo was an example of this change in perspective. He leapt out of the crater and landed to the side of the stand-off - Kados staring off with Kura whilst Van Osiku clutched onto the bag which, according to the conversation he heard on Kamo's communicator, held 3 Dragonballs. Zaito knew Kura could easily handle this but also knew she would take her sweet time in doing so, perhaps as Zaito did during his first skirmish with Kamo.

"Kura!" Zaito yelled. All 3 of them turned to look at him. "Kamo is dead. Kados needs to be taken care of too."
Kados seemed both angered and astounded by this news - he hadn't expected a puny human to have so effortlessly killed his brother. Kura, on the other hand, grinned.
"Well Zaito I have to give you credit, I thought it would have taken you at least twice as long to kill that weakling! Now I'll show you how a Saiyan crushes their opponents!"

And with that Kura powered up. Zaito allowed himself a smile - despite his shift in perspective, he could at least learn to appreciate the dryness and arrogance of the Saiyans.

[Master of Paradox]

To everyone involved: Yeah, sorry about the Kwali situation. I would have checked, but my home computer is ridiculously old (ask Blade), and I was afraid it would crash if I went digging through the old thread. Or edit the old post. It's crashed for less.

That said...

[Van Osiku]

Although no one alive remembers when Van Osiku first appeared, astronomers have found evidence of unusual celestial activity several centuries ago. For a few seconds, several hundred light-years from Earth, every star within a ten-million-mile radius went out.

Just his luck. Van Osiku had managed to break out of whatever it was that had overtaken him, retrieve his bag and get away, only to find himself under attack from the alien that had tried to steal the bag. Normally he could have blown a hole in this creature's chest with one Drill Shot, particularly since his surge in power on finding the third orb, but he felt completely drained. The best he could do was clutch the bag to his chest and hope.

And then the Saiyan woman flew down and interfered, at which point he scrambled back a few steps and caught his breath. He listened into the conversation, feeling a little better with the orbs back in his arms.

Dragon Balls? So that's what these are? Van unzipped the bag and touched them directly, reassured that all three were still present. He zipped the bag shut and exhaled, his body quivering a little as his depleted energy continued to rebuild.

And then the Saiyan woman said something very, very stupid. Anger - a new emotion for Van - shot through his body, and his energy spiked back up to where it was supposed to be.

"Pardon my interrupting," Van said as he stepped forward, "but who told you that these were your Dragon Balls?" He looked into her eyes, head tilting. "Did you think they were reparations for our fight?"

The Saiyan woman glared back, her power crackling around her. "You're the one who tried to kill me. I wouldn't start being defensive now."

"If I knew why I did that I would tell you. I... wasn't myself." Van frowned, still not sure what the voice was.

"I figured as such," the Saiyan replied. "But that doesn't change that you tried to kill me when I was in the middle of a fight."

"YOU STILL ARE!" the alien screamed, charging at them. Van slung his bag over his shoulder, turning to face him.

Shifting his feet, he placed one arm out, so that it met the alien's stomach. As they collided, he shifted back a few feet, but kept his hand in place.

"Oh?" Van Osiku asked, drawing his replenished power through his body and into his palm.

A burst of energy shot through the alien's back, exploding up and down, blowing him into his separate halves.

Van smiled, before staggering and dropping to his knees. He'd burned the energy from his anger in that manuever, having overestimated it.

"Neat trick, but can you do it again?" a man (apparently human) said from nearby.

Van looked up, keeping the bag under his arm, and said, "I... think it'll take me a while."

[Blademaster]

Here we go again.

Basawe

As Basawe's transformation wore off, what Shitagi had said earlier rang in his mind again...

"Once Goku learned how to become a Super Saiyan, he trained himself to stay a Super Saiyan until it felt natural to him. Like when he was in his normal form. It made him a LOT stronger, both transformed and not transformed."

"Let's go see what Retasu and Shitagi are up to." he said, wanting to test something. Though he really hated having to talk to her...

Hammer agreed and followed Basawe back to the rest area, walking in silence the whole way.

"You're a man of few words." Basawe noted. "Shitagi's people are very vocal..."

"Humans usually are." Hammer responded in his typical curt manner. He wasn't rude, Basawe thought. He just didn't seem to have much to say. "Namekians rely more on their minds than their mouths."

"Minds... and fists, it would seem."

Hammer grunted and offered a half-smile, not looking away from the path he was walking. "The warrior Namekians are a rare breed. I'm the only one on this planet that I know of."

"There are no others...?" Basawe was genuinely surprised. "How could that be?"

"Not on this planet." Hammer repeated. "On New Namek, there are other warrior Namekians. My people are peaceful, so they require strong guardians."

Basawe was quiet for the rest of the walk. A planet with guardians as powerful as Saiyans, yet they were peaceful? Such a place... sounded like a paradise. Like the exact opposite of Ninjin.

Back at the rest area, Basawe excused himself and went to the other side of the plaza...

Retasu was still tinkering with her scouter. It beeped and chittered a bit as she replaced the conversion panel, reconnecting the wires that translated energy into Saiyan numerals...

"Excuse me, Princess," Basawe said, sarcasm dripping from the title, "but I've got to talk to you for a moment."

Retasu audibly sighed as she flipped the casing of her scouter shut and screwed it back into place. "Basawe, is it possible for you to ever leave me alone? I'm not planning to destroy your precious planet or steal your Dragonballs. I'm just upgrading my scouter right now."

"I know. That's what I'm here about."

"I already told Shitagi that I'm not-"

"I need a reading."

Retasu looked up for the first time, slipping the scouter back on.

"Excuse me...?"

"When I transformed earlier, the surge of energy destroyed my scouter." Basawe explained. "My power increased greatly, but as you can probably see, it's decreased again. I want to know if my base power has increased."

Retasu arched one eyebrow, but to Basawe's surprise, she complied.

"Fine." she said, pressing the button. "After all the hassle you've given me since I got here, consider it a token of good will. Or a bribe so you'll leave me to my own devices for a little while."

81664642842536345334251475195424886745364867145671 4846957112

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

16920.

"...What was your power level before you transformed?"

"The highest it reached was just over 11,000."

"Well, it's at almost 17,000 now."

"What? Are you sure...?!"

"Positive."

Basawe couldn't believe it... Shitagi had been right. His power was increasing. Gradually, but to be sure, it WAS climbing. And he still had, he assumed, over a week left in the Chamber. If he could just keep transforming and holding his power...

'I'll become the strongest Saiyan alive...' Basawe thought.

A smile began to cross his face, but it was quickly erased by a pained yell on the other side of the rest area. It sounded like Shitagi...

Chita

A small explosion on the horizon... Either Kados had just avenged his brother, or he'd met the same fate.

"Double-time, gentlemen." Chita ordered. "The Kwalis seem to have worn out their welcome."

If Blaque or Whyte had a response to this, Chita tuned it out as she listened in, her sensitive ears picking up faint voices, growing slowly in volume...

"Neat trick, but can you do it again?"

Chita smiled; with a quick gesture, she vanished from her flight path...

"I... think it'll take me a while."

...And she reappeared between the fallen Kwalis and the three Earthlings that had evidently killed them.

"I'm sorry," she said unapologetically, "but Rothax doesn't enjoy 'whiles.' Those Dragonballs will be in his possession within a few minutes."

The human who was holding the duffelbag stood up, very quickly for someone so weak, Chita noted.

"Actually," he said in a voice brimming with rage, "I think I just got my second wind."

"And I haven't even used my first yet." the lone female of the group added. "Who do you think you are trying to just take my Dragonballs like that?"

Two figures landed behind Chita at that moment - Blaque and Whyte.

"I am on the clock." she replied, barely seeming to notice her associates. "So if you don't mind..."

What happened next seemed to last several moments for Chita: She walked up to the Earthlings, then grabbed the duffelbag from the one in the middle and opened it, inspecting its contents... There were 3 orange, crystalline spheres inside of it. One had 3 red stars in its center, another had 5, the last, 7. All three of the orbs pulsed with an energy Chita had never felt before.

'This is them...' she thought, before stepping back and up to her two associates...

Approximately 0.000016 seconds after the word "mind" reached the Earthlings' ears, Chita had turned to her associates... with a bag in her arms...

The Earthling who'd been clinging to the bag looked down at his suddenly empty arms; his eyes widened so much that they threatened to bulge out of his head.

"I'll be taking these back to Rothax's ship." Chita informed her colleagues. "You two handle the Earthlings."

"Understood." Blaque said, smiling wickedly. "Well, Mr. Whyte, it would appear that-"

FWOW-WOOOOM!!!

The verbose warrior's words caught in his throat as the lone female of the group lowered her smoking hand... It had just fired a sphere of energy at Whyte.

From the middle of his exposed ribcage up, Whyte's body was gone. His head and one arm were now little more than small fountains of blood; his remaining arm twitched as it dangled from a shattered shoulderblade, spasming a good 70 degrees in the wrong direction before the body it was attached to fell over, the organs visible in its chest cavity pulsing irregularly before going still.

"MR. WHYTE!!!" Blaque cried out, clearly terrified. At the same moment, the Earthling that had been clutching the duffel charged forward with an animalistic howl, fist pulled back and glowing with energy.

Chita blinked; as her eye opened, she saw Van coming towards her with all the speed and intensity of a drifting cloud whose movement is only noticed when focused on for several seconds.

Chita blinked again; breaking the sound barrier, she dashed at Van and kicked him upward, in the chest. Time resumed its normal flow for a fraction of a second before his ascent slowed to a more manageable speed; Chita flew high into the sky and spun in a somersault, her fists balling together and striking the back of Van's neck. Upon impact, time again returned to normal as Van plummeted like a meteor, crashing into the side of a ridge hard enough to actually indent into it.

"What the Hell?!" the remaining human cried out. "How... she didn't even move!"

"Yes she did." the female replied, clenching her fists. "She just did it really, REALLY fast. It was all a blur to me."

Chita's mouth curled into a smile of pure smugness.

"Blur or not, you could keep track of me?" she asked. "That's quite impressive..."

She turned and flung the duffelbag to Blaque; in his stupor, he fumbled and barely caught it.

"Make yourself useful and take that to Rothax's ship." Chita ordered.

Blaque was still shaking a bit, but he did as he was ordered, flying back off into the sky the way he came a little TOO eagerly for Chita's liking.

'Coward.' she thought.

"You aren't going anywhere with those!" the Saiyan woman yelled, flying after Blaque.

FWAM!

...And getting an elbow into her stomach for trying.

"Kura!" the human cried.

"Kura...?" Chita echoed, chuckling as the Saiyan clutched her stomach and fell back down to the ground. "If you and your friends are that adamant about keeping hold of the Dragonballs..."

She held her arm out to one side.

"...You'll have to go through me."


------------


The gauntlet has been thrown down. The next three Dragonballs already secured, Chita is ready to use her mind-boggling speed to end the battle with Earth's defenders before it can even begin!

Can the uncooperative heroes put their differences aside long enough to discover a weakness in this interstellar speed demon? Or has the race for the Dragonballs - and the future of the Earth - already been lost? Find out next time, on Dragonball SU.

[Mystic_clown]

Psycho Soldier Gamma
------------------------------------------

The room was silent except for the gentle hum of the machinery. Gamma laid silently on the steel table, his eyes closed and his body motionless. His body and mind were hooked up to the large amounts of machinery surrounding him, small robotic arms finishing closing him up and restoring him to how he was. It had been a long trial, but it would soon be over.

----two and a half hours ago ago----

After the brief battle with the Kwali Brothers, Gamma had opted to stay back to the lookout, in order to guard the entrance to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. He had learned that destroying it would trap the inhabitants in that different dimension for an eternity, and as possibly dangerous as some of them were, their assistance would be vital to the defence of the earth.

But...there was another reason, and Gamma knew it. There was no dbouting the power the Kwali brothers truly possessed, and their last battle with Rothax resulted in him being completely overpowered and almost destroyed. He couldn't begin to thank Retatsu and Victoria for saving his life.

And there was no doubt that in this case, he clearly came off as inferior. Him, a being who was created to defend the Earth. He was built to protect humanity from outside threats, yet he was completely tossed aside by the first true enemy he encountered. At this rate, he would let humanity down. He would fail.

And he could not allow that. Ever since he had woken up, he had felt something new to him. A desire to become stronger. A desire to live up to his role as defender of earth. But how? He was mostly machine, so regular training would prove innaffective in this case.

However, he had an opportunity, a way.

"An upgrade?" Victoria asked, clearly surprised by the request, "You just awoke an hour ago, and now you want to go out again?"

"An upgrade is neccasary," Gamma explained, "In my current state, I am not powerful enough to be of any assistance. I need more power in order to be of use."

"I can strengthen your body, but your true power comes from your mind. That would involve tampering with your brain. Even the slightest mistake could permanently shut you down."

"Being a defender of humanity was what I was programmed for," Gamma's face was set in stone, "If I cannot do that, there is truly no point in my existance."

Victoria was about to counter when she paused. Gamma seemed completely determined about this.

"Are you sure you want me messing around up there?" she asked finally. Gamma nodded.

"Yes. I...trust your abilities."

Victoria sighed. She really had no choice in this. He was just going to keep asking until she gave in.

----Fifteen minutes later----

Victora had Gamma completely hooked up to the computer system. Repairing him was one thing, but this would involve rewriting his whole system, along with tampering with his mind. Victoria definately had to be careful with this.

"Are you ready?" she asked, looking down at the android. Gamma gave no verbal response, instead merely nodding.

"Ok, here we go..."

And at that point, Gamma's entire world went black.

----in the present----

It was done. The modifications were complete. Victoria could not stay for the whole duration, so she had allowed the machines to carry on the rest of the process while she was gone. With any luck, Gamma's system would accept the changes an upgrades without failure, kind of like an organ transplant. If even the slightest error was made, especially with his mind, it would have reduced the android to a vegetable.

All that was left now was to wait and see what would happen.

-----------------------

Since everyone seems to be getting more powerful, I figured it was time for ol' Gamma to get an upgrade. Prepare for a new, more powerful Gamma, with new and improved mindraping abilities!

[Master Rudy]

A smile began to cross his face, but it was quickly erased by a pained yell on the other side of the rest area. It sounded like Shitagi.....

Shitagi....letting out a pained yell?

Not really how I ended things or what I had in mind at the end of my redone post. However I can work with that ^_~

Shitagi Summers
------
Rather than speak with everyone right now I decided to hold off a bit. With my mind pre-occupied I wasn't training and while this room gave us far more time than we would have normally had I knew I couldn't waste it. However first things came first. If I was going to be able to get an idea of how I was progressing and how hard to push myself then I was going to need my scouter.

Heading back to the roof so I could work away from distractions I finally got out the right capsule and accessed my tools and spare scouter components. Opening the casing I instantly saw what the problem was. From the looks of things my little power surge seemed to have fried the main CPU. Everything else however was pretty much intact. At least this will be a quick fix I thought to myself. I grabbed a replacement chip but then stopped. Actually.....what I really need is something to monitor my own performance. This might actually be the perfect time to test out that new chipset I was designing. Going back to my spare parts I hit a hidden switch with my screwdriver and opened up a hidden compartment. Pulling out the chip I placed it inside my scouter, made the connections needed and closed it back up. Time to see if this works. According to the readout on screen it seemed like everything was in working order:

Target Subject Race: Hybrid (Human: approx 73.78%, Saiyan: approx 26.22%)
Power Level/Estimated Max Level: 38/50 (WARNING! SUPRESSION SUSPECTED!)
Heart Rate: 71 BPM
Current Gravity Level: 10x nominal Earth levels

It was a new chip I had designed solely for the purpose of personal training that I had yet to test. Simply put it monitored the user instead of everything in the surrounding area. It also made use of a newer scanning mode that would attempt to estimate the target's highest power level. However it did away with serveral of the old and new features that newer scouter chipsets had: mainly the communicator, maps and ability to track and scan other power levels. This could however be a good thing. Without other things to track I was hoping it would make this one less likely to blow a fuse. If it could pass that test then it would be the first step towards making a newer model that could withstand wild and sudden power changes.

Setting the tools back in the box along with Basawe's scouter and my mother's letter. it was time to see where I stood and how far I could push myself. With a quick burst of power I launched myself off the roof and about 100 yards away from the living quarters. First off I had to see what my absolute peak was. My scouter started to beep to let me know that it was indeed working as I started to power up.

WARNING! POWER INCREASE DETECTED!
Power Level/Estimated Max Level: 4819/9600
WARNING! ESTIMATED LEVEL SURPASSED! RECALCULATING!
9808/18069......
15252/18069......
APPROACHING MAXIMUM.....DEACTIVATING SECONDARY SCAN TO PREVENT CRITICAL FAILURE!
Power Level: 18071

Not bad! Seems the new scanning mode is right on the money. The failsafe system seems to be working as well!

With that I went into a quick flurry of every move I could think of trying: punches, kicks, ki, flips, rolls, afterimages. However as my power level remained static I knew that unless I pushed myself that I would see no improvement. This was merely a warm up right now. It was time to change that.

"KAIO-KEN!"

Going into my new improved Kaio-Ken it was time to start pushing myself harder. As far as I was concerned this was still a warm up.....it was just a warmup of a different type. I could feel my heart racing as I fired multiple ki blasts into the air. A quick check of my scouter confirmed that. It confirmed something else too: my power level was going up past the point Kaio-Ken boosted me up to.

Power Level: 24425
Heart Rate: 99 BPM

Eventually I stopped firing ki blasts. Instead I managed to keep them floating in midair. Crossing my arms together I managed to bring them together in a bright explosion. The best part of all this was that fact that for the first time ever I wasn't drained following a Scatter Shot. Seems my ki control really is starting to improve. Now for the real test! Bringing my fingers to my head I started to power up an attack that normally took me a minute or two to charge. To my amazement however it was ready in merely seconds! NO WAY! I thought with excitement. With a newfound sense of purpose in my training I eagerly fired it off into the distance.

"MAKANKOSAPPO!"

Feeling proud of my ability to control ki better I decided to push even harder now.

"KAIO-KEN TIMES THREE!!!"

As the wind whipped around me I began throwing out attacks in every possible direction as I rose into the air. 100 feet, 200 feet, 300 feet.....I rose higher and higher and attacked like a crazed tornado of fury. Upon reaching 500 feet I stopped using ki to keep me in the air and went into a headfirst freefall. At the last possible moment before I would have been a mess on the floor I let my power surge once more.

"KAIO-KEN TIMES FIVE!!!!!"

With an absolutely shocking amount of speed I quickly corrected my course and flew parallel with the ground a mere two feet away from it. I went into a tumble that left me facing back in the direction I had come from and was shocked to see that I had left several afterimages without even trying. With a smirk I drew just one hand back so I wouldn't use too much power at this level and fired a one handed Kamehameha at my own afterimages.

"HAAAAA!!!!!"

For a moment the area was so bright that I couldn't even read my scouter. Amazingly I was expecting this level of Kaio-Ken to leave me too drained for anything else. However despite some fatigue I still felt fine. I chalked it up to the fact that since this wasn't an actual battle and I didn't have someone beating on me that I was able to push my Kaio-Ken harder than I normally could. Since I wasn't actually injured in any way that also would mean that my Kaio-Ken wouldn't be putting strain on any injuries. As I stood panting and catching my breath eventually I was able to once again read the scouter:

Power Level: 91280
Heart Rate: 127 BPM

Doing the math in my head the rush of excitement I had felt suddenly died. If I was correct then my power level was only at about 18256. It was barely an increase at all! No! This CAN'T be my limit! This can't be! Suddenly despite still being in my Kaio-Ken a wave a calm came over me. I know what I'm doing. I'm starting to do the very things I've warned Basawe about. I'm starting to focus on just brute strength.....the ironic part is that I'm the Saiyan Prince and I'm now acting like Vegeta. Letting Kaio-Ken disapate for now I stood there for a moment. I remained powered up however so that I could let everything go in a quick burst if I desired. Despite the fact that his body had issues I knew that Basawe was gifted with abilities that could allow him to make up any kind of difference in power very easily. That transformation.....he was able to reach ten times his normal power. If he can do it I can do it.

I was about to power back up with the Kaio-Ken again but then thought better of it. Recently the highest I had attempted was factor of five. Despite being able to do it I knew that if it came down to using that level in a real battle that it might actually kill me. There was also no telling what effect a higher level would have on me even if it was solely for training purposes. i did have the option of using the Boost and perhaps combining it with a Kaio-Ken. However following my failed attempt at a Spirit Bomb I knew that unless I had a willing person or something I could draw energy from that attempting it here would be impossible. For now I decided to just meditate. Perhaps then an answer would come to me.

Closing my eyes I stood there with my hands together. My thumb, middle, ring and index fingers were clasped together as if I was about to hit someone with an axe handle but I had left my index fingers extended. Bowing my head slightly I did what I could to think of calm thoughts. It seemed to be working as I eventually saw West City prior to it's destruction in my mind. Soon I started to see other things as well: my family, my new friends. With the exception of Gamma, Retasu and Hammer I actually imagined each of them in the traditional Z Fighter gi. It seemed like things were peaceful.......

That was when all hell broke loose.

For whatever reason the image in my mind turned to one of destruction. One by one everyone fell and I couldn't stop it. What....WHAT IS THIS!? Why am I imagining something so horrible? I thought to myself in a panic. Despite my attempts to turn my attention away however I couldn't. It was like a bad car wreck. You couldn't help but to watch.

West City was burning and one by one my friends, family and allies were dying! Whoever the attackers were they were conceled in shadows and I couldn't make out who they were. Gamma exploded in a shower of sparks, metal and synthetic blood. Hammer was crawling his way towards me with a gaping hole in his torso......it wouldn't be long before he bled out. Kura had her arm broken before a kick to the neck twisted her head and made her lay still on the ground. My mother had her tail ripped out before she was thrown into the Capsule Corperation dome. A moment later it exploded with the force of an atom bomb. Retasu had attempted to fight back but was quickly overwhelmed by four of them. Before long her broken body hit the ground and was twisted and bent in ways that it shouldn't be able to do. The last two people in my image were Zaito and Basawe They were yelling at me.....however no sound came when they moved their lips. Despite this I knew what they were saying. They were telling me to run. A moment later they too fell in battle. Zaito was engulfed in a blast that left no trace of him and Basawe's eyes rolled lifelessly into the back of his head as a fist went into his back and out his chest. Once the last one died the shadows made themselves known: they were Saiyans and they had a message for me. A message that I could hear echo in my mind:

DO YOU WISH TO END THIS YOUNG PRINCE? IF SO THEN BOW BEFORE THE ONE TRUE KING!!!

"NOOOOOO!!!!!"

I let out a scream that was almost animal like in nature. I didn't know how and I didn't care to know how but I knew what I saw as my eyes snapped back open. I saw the future. Logic told me it was imagination running wild. This was only a dream. A waking nightmare. However deep down I knew it would come to pass and the only way to stop it was to push myself harder no matter the cost!

"I will NOT allow this to happen! Even if it means losing myself entirely I will STOP THISSSSS!"

Feeling a new rush of power within me I knew what I had to do. Even if it left my body broken at this very moment I knew that the damage would only be short term. Pushing myself harder than I ever did before I let out an absolutely inhuman scream.

"KAIO-KENNNN........TIMES TEN!!!!!!!!!!"

I was in such a rage that I couldn't even clearly see my scouter. I could feel my power surging. I felt my muscles expand and then feel as if they were on fire. My heart felt like it was about to explode in my chest and I knew that if I was able to read my scouter that it may have paniced me enough to calm me down. However I wasn't going to let the pain stop me. I couldn't let it stop me. If the others were watching I knew they would do everything in their power to stop me from what I was about to do as it may very well destroy me. I hoped they didn't try to stop me because I knew deep down that if they did it would only get them killed. Drawing my foot back and pulling my hands to my side I said something my great uncle had told his father years ago in this very room. In a voice that didn't even sound like my own I said to myself "IT'S ALL OR NOTHING! THERE IS NO IN BETWEEN!"

"KAAAA......
MEEEE......
HAAAA......
MEEEE......"

With an absolute roar I thrust my hands forward and let loose the biggest Kamehameha I had ever used into the depths of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber......

"HAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"

Out of instinct I shut my eyes. I knew the attack was going to be so bright that it might cause temporary flash blindness for several minutes. Eventually after about 15 or 20 seconds of maintaining the attack I felt the last bits of my power drain as my muscles returned to their normal size. Soon after I felt my knees give out and I brought my hands forward to keep myself from doing a faceplant on the floor of the time chamber. As I panted and felt my heart continue to race I felt two sets of arms grab me and help me back to my feet. "Do you have absolutely ANY idea how reckless you are at times?!" Retasu shouted as she and Basawe each draped one of my arms over their heads. Feeling more calm again I gave her a weak but lighthearted chuckle. "Thanks for looking out for me mom....." I said jokingly. The humor was lost on her as she made a disgusted sound. Looking to my left at Basawe he just shook his head as if I had lost my mind.

Slowly they helped me make my way back to the living quarters. Hammer was standing outside waiting for us with his arms crossed. While he too carried a look of concern on his face he also had one that almost seemed to suggest that he was looking upon me as a student. Deep down I had a feeling he knew what my purpose out there was as he asked me "What exactly made you want to push yourself so hard? Also where the hell did you get those new clothes?" Despite my best attempts I was having trouble making eye contact with him so I just eventually settled to looking at the ground as I spoke. "I got a letter and this gi from a capsule my mother gave me before we came in here. I'm going to tell all of you about it after I've had a few minutes to pull myself back together. As for what happened out there......I'm still trying to make sense out of that myself." Basawe was the next to speak up. "Well did you get the results you were looking for?" he asked me. It was at this point I noticed my scouter was offline. Seems like the failsafes on the chip work.....now if I could only turn the damn thing back on! Turning my head slightly towards Retasu I asked "You mind helping me out and hitting the button on the side of my scouter?" With a sigh she pressed it and as it booted up said "Are you sastisfied?"

Power Level/Maximum Known PL: 8/237.8K
Heart Rate: 156 BPM

With a smile I told everyone "Very much......"
------

Whew....this one took awhile!

I don't want anyone panicing and thinking I'm going to suddenly be busting out times ten Kaio-Ken now. Due to rage and a feeling of helplessness in regards to helping his friends for the time being this was a one time occurance. In actual battle Shitagi is still going to use only as high as Kaio-Ken X5. He may push higher in solo training but deep down Shitagi knows that if he's injured that a big attack with a Kaio-Ken that large may kill or cripple him.

As for the boost that gave Shitagi it's on par with Basawe's recent increase. At normal levels with no transformations or boosters Shitagi (as well as Hammer and Retasu) are stronger than Basawe. In terms of raw power however Basawe is clearly the strongest one in the group thanks to his transformation and other powers.

Current breakdown of Shitagi's power levels at each stage of Kaio-Ken he has shown:
Normal: About 23800
Kaio-Ken: 29750 (25% increase)
X2: 47600 (attacks against Shitagi do more damage)
X3: 71400 (drains ki/causes fatigue)
X4: 95200 (starts to damage body more if already injured)
X5: 119000 (last ditch attack/potential death)
X10: 238000 (will NOT be used in battle, solo training ONLY!!!)

As for what happened to Shitagi during meditation he started to drift back to thoughts of what could happen if the Saiyans invaded the Earth. His mind wasn't as clear as he had hoped and he essentially gave himself a nightmare while he was awake. It makes a bit more sense if you remember the scene on Namek where Goku is near death from drowning and imagines Frieza killing everyone and destroying Earth.

Tag to anyone in the HTC! Feel free to cover these events from your POV is you wish starting with the moment Shitagi lets out that inhuman scream following his nightmare ^_~

[Master of Paradox]

[Van Osiku]

Van Osiku did not appear in the final rounds of the Budokai Tenkaichi he appeared in twenty years ago, despite qualifying.

There are few things more frustrating than seeing something coming and being unable to react.

Van Osiku had taken a moment to recover when the Dragon Balls were snatched from his arms, but when he did, he did with all the power at his disposal. Standing up, he threw himself at Chita at full speed, his apparent exhaustion a thing of the past.

And then she moved, and Van's eyes were the only part of his body that could follow her. Even as the rest of the world went into slow motion, he could see every move she made, could see her dancing along...

...could see that horrible smug expression. Anger was new to him, but he felt no greater urge than the desire to punch her face into her neck.

But he couldn't do anything about it. His body refused to move at anything more than glacier speed. Even as his mind screamed to his limbs, he could do nothing more than move in the same direction he'd started in.

When the blows came, he could only let it happen. And so he flew into the cliff face, feeling the rock shudder behind him.
----
Van Osiku stood in a small, black-painted room, wearing only his pants, not sure how he had arrived there. For the first time since he could remember, he looked at his left arm, noticing an odd scar just below the shoulder. It encircled his arm entirely, thin but obvious. He touched it, and for a moment felt a horrific pain that came and went before he could understand it.

He looked around, confused by the room's construction. The walls were made of gray stone, which had begun to crumble. He knocked on one, and heard a solid thud even though the walls appeared to be falling apart. However far they'd degraded, they were still solid at their cores.

Before Van could draw any conclusions, a voice spoke in his head, the same one he'd heard during the battle on the ocean. So you've come.

"Not by choice," Van said. "I don't even know where I am."

Inside of yourself. In the real world, no time at all is passing. You're still against the rock, the pain blinding you to the world at large.

"So what am I doing here?"

The way you are now, you stand no chance of defeating the enemies ahead of you. Deep down inside you, you know that. But until you have more of the Dragon Balls in your possession, you can grow no stronger than you are now... and you know that your strength does not come close to matching even those who would be your allies.

Van frowned. The voice had a point. He'd stayed at just over 500 in his power level for as long as he could remember, and even the boosts from the Dragon Balls had only tripled that. The Saiyan woman beat that by a considerable amount, and she hadn't even powered up. "You're right," he said. "But what's the point?"

With my power at your disposal, you are stronger, but not strong enough. You are not yet ready to wield it all of the time, but I can grant it to you in bursts. If you reach out for it, it will be there, but the cost will be high.

"I can't argue with that," Van answered, crossing his arms. "But how much can you give me?"

That is why you are here. I can grant you more, much more than you have now. This will hurt, however, as no growth is without pain.

It took Van only a second to answer: "All right." He stepped forward and held out his arms.

The floor shook, and something gigantic burst from beneath him. Van fell for a second, and then a massive form wrapped itself around him and began to squeeze. Van couldn't make it out clearly, but what he could see resembled a giant serpent.

It squeezed, and every bone in his body cracked. The pain felt like being forced through a tiny, razor-studded crevice, and Van could not even breathe, let alone scream. He tried to resist, but a moment later, he realized the truth.

I need this.

And he went limp, accepting the crushing coils.

The pain vanished, and Van could feel raw energy seeping into every pore of his skin. He reached up with one arm, miraculously freed, and laid a hand on the crushing force.

In the blink of an eye, it disappeared, and he hovered in the air, electricity crackling around him. Van Osiku clenched his fist, and all of the power shot into him in one go.

He landed on the floor, arms at his side, and smiled as the air warped in his wake.
----
At that point, Van fell from the cliff face. He landed on his feet.

His eyes opened, and one of them had changed. The pupil now slitted like a snake's... or a dragon's.

[Blademaster]

It's been two days. I'm bored.

Basawe

"IT'S ALL OR NOTHING!!! THERE IS NO IN-BETWEEN!!!"

It had been several days since Shitagi had managed the insane surge of power that had led to him screaming out those words (amongst many others). Basawe couldn't be sure, but if he had to guess, he probably had less than 3 days remaining in the Chamber. He hadn't amassed enough power to transform again just yet - creating a Power Ball wasn't TOO draining, though it did take time to recharge the necessary energies required to construct one.

Transforming, on the other hand, left his body almost totally drained of Blutz energy. And the lack of atmosphere in the Time Chamber was greatly slowing the time he needed to fully empower himself again.

Further from the rest area, the gravitational force was stronger than ever before. He could still feel it trying to drag him down, but after a few days, and one or two sudden bouts of weakness, he'd grown accustomed enough to it for his body to be able to endure it.

And so, he stood in the void. Letting Shitagi's words echo in his head over and over again.

'How could he do it?' Basawe wondered. 'How could he be THAT powerful? He's more human than Saiyan, yet he outclasses almost all of Ninjin's forces. At that level of power, he could easily destroy Rothax. And yet he STILL is staying here longer? It's unbelieveable!'

Shitagi had been nothing but kind to Basawe, yet he couldn't help feeling a little jealous.

'I guess I was wrong.' Basawe thought, closing his eyes. 'This planet isn't so weak after all. I'm not needed here if such immense power resides here...

"IMMENSE SAIYAN POWER."

That voice...

--------------------------

In his mind, Basawe was no longer in the hallway. And he was no longer naked. Light surrounded him, emanating from behind the massive creature in front of him. The humongous, muscular beast with the glowing red eyes...

"IMMENSE SAIYAN POWER."

'He's not like them.' Basawe thought.

"HE IS DESCENDED FROM VEGETA. THE SAIYAN WHOSE SELFISH DESIRES AND LOYALTY TO FRIEZA TURNED THE SAIYANS INTO THE MIGHTY WARRIORS YOU KNOW."

Basawe scowled up at the great beast. 'Retasu and Kura are those Saiyans. THEY are out for themselves and nobody else. But not Shitagi... He is NOT like Vegeta. And besides, he said himself that brute force isn't everything.'

"YOU TRULY BELIEVE THAT? HIS DRIVE TO BATTLE, TO BECOME STRONGER... YOU WITNESSED IT FIRST-HAND. AT THE FIGHTING TOURNAMENT, THE LOOKOUT, HERE IN THIS CHAMBER..."

"Shut up!" Basawe barked out loud. "I have my own training to do!"

"IT WON'T HELP YOU. YOUR TRICKS MAKE YOU SLIGHTLY LESS PATHETIC, BUT YOU ARE STILL NOTHING COMPARED TO THE POWER OF A TRUE SAIYAN."

The beast lifted one arm and patted its chest; the motion was effortless, nothing at all, yet it sounded to Basawe like boulders striking together.

"Stop it...!" Basawe growled, covering his ears with his hands.

"THEY ALL SURPASS YOU. THE NEW BLOODLINE AND THE OLD ONE. HE EVEN WEARS THE CREST OF THEIR POWER NOW. WHY WOULD HE DO THAT?"

"SHUT UP!" Basawe yelled, pulling his hands back and firing his Basawe Beam at the beast.

The light of the blast illuminated the beast's face and form just enough... It resembled a giant ape, with palm-tree leaf hair and a suit of orange-and-black Saiyan armor...

The beast grinned and lifted one hand, swatting the Beam aside as if it were a mosquito.

"YOU CANNOT RUN FROM THE TRUTH. HIS ACTIONS ARE CLEAR. HE WEARS VEGETA'S CREST OUT OF PRIDE. HE STRENGTHENS HIMSELF MORE AND MORE WITH EACH PASSING DAY. ROTHAX WOULD FALL TO HIS STRENGTH, BUT HE STILL HONES HIS POWER FURTHER. NINJIN WILL BE RULED BY THE NEW BLOODLINE... AND THIS PLANET WILL BE RULED BY THE OLD ONE."

Basawe's stomach went cold... Shitagi wouldn't do something like that. Why would he? He was stronger than any Saiyan Basawe had ever met, yet he was so gentle... He was only training in case Rothax was stronger than he'd led the Earth's forces to believe. Yes, that must have been the reason.

"DEFENDING EARTH IN VEGETA'S NAME... POWER CORRUPTS. YOU OF ALL PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW THAT... OR PERHAPS YOU SHOULDN'T, SINCE YOU HAVE NO TRUE POWER. EVEN HE HAS A TAIL, AND HE'S BARELY A QUARTER SAIYAN."

"Leave me alone! I don't NEED you!"

The beast laughed.

"OF COURSE YOU DON'T... YOU'RE PERFECTLY CONTENT TO CONTINUE LIVING A LIE, NOT KNOWING WHERE YOU BELONG, BEING INFERIOR TO THE SAIYANS OF NINJIN AND THE ONES HERE, LOYAL TO VEGETA. ISN'T THAT RIGHT, FREAK?"

Basawe was seeing red. "SHUT UP! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! LEAVE ME ALOOOONE!!!!"

--------------------------

Basawe's eyes flew open; he looked around the void.

He was alone. Shitagi wasn't there. Retasu wasn't there. The voice wasn't there.

"Live a lie...?" Basawe growled. "I live NO lie!"

Basawe's aura whipped to life around him.

"I will NOT go on like this!! I WON'T live as some joke for the rest of eternity!!!!"

Basawe's power began to skyrocket; he kicked off the ground and jetted forward, further into the Chamber. The temperature began to fluctuate wildly, the gravity increasing ever-greater...

"I have the means..." Basawe said in a dangerously low voice. "My power is growing all the time. I will make them all PAY for mocking me! My day WILL come!!!"

The gravity spiked, and Basawe crashed to the floor. He struggled to force himself up, blood trickling from his nose.

"All or nothing..." he growled. "All... or nothing..."

With every last ounce of willpower he could muster, Basawe forced himself to his feet and raised one hand... It crackled with blue and white energy.

"There IS no in-between. Not anymore...!"

The sparking white energy coalesced into a Power Ball; Basawe cried out in exertion as he flung his hand up, launching the sphere skyward and locking his gaze onto it.

Several seconds passed... Basawe could feel the change. His muscles bulged, his hair turned grey, his eyes turned red... the changes 'flickered' off a couple of times.

"Come on, damn it...!!!" Basawe growled. "Come ON!!"

The surge of energy filled his body; with a strained yell, Basawe changed. He went Extra Saiyan once again.

And then, he kicked off the ground and flew further into the abyss.

...Only to stop dead in his tracks a few moments later. The gravity had increased again, but Basawe felt something else...

"No... Not again...! Not now!" he pleaded.

His power began to plummet. Sweat beaded on his brow; he clutched his chest as pain wracked his entire body. He fell to his hands and knees, shaking with weakness. He turned and, for the first time since he entered the Chamber, crawled back the way he'd come. Pitifully, like some wounded animal, the young Saiyan forced himself back the way he'd come, the rage in his mind the only thing that spurred him away from the lethal gravity that would crush him flat once his transformation wore off...

--------------------------

Barely ten minutes later, Basawe finally passed the invisible threshold and managed to stand up again. His power exhausted, the Power Ball over his head destabilized and dissipated. Basawe just barely sensed it in time to look up and brace himself as the transformation wore off, and the gravity again brought him slamming down on his hands and knees.

His entire body shook... Not just with weakness, but with anger. Self-loathing. Envy.

"D-damn it..." he muttered, tears in his eyes, "I... I won't be... weak... Everybody else... can overcome their vices. HAS overcome them."

His tears hit the floor of the Chamber.

"WHY CAN'T IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII???!??!!?!"

--------------------------

Yyyyyyyyyyyep.

[Master Rudy]

Name: Victoria Son Summers (Victoria Briefs in public)
Race: Saiyan/Human
Age: 49
Gender: Female
Appearance: An absolute dead ringer for Bulma with the obvious addition of a Saiyan tail. Victoria stands at 5'8" tall. Her normal clothing choices tend to hide how she really looks and despite having a slender looking appearance, she is actually quite fit. Clothing wise she normally wears a long sleeve black shirt, blue jeans and a blue CC jacket. If she's actually training she'll swap out for the traditional orange/blue gi the Z Fighters wear with a long sleve shirt. Victoria also has Saiyan Armor with light green spandex for times when she expects trouble. Finally as a part Saiyan she doesn't look her age at all and looks more like she's in her late 20's to early 30's.
Personality: Just like her son she's got an absolute love for science and fighting. In her later years however she's leaned more towards science since Capsule Corperation needed someone to run it. Can be extremely friendly but will not take crap from anyone. As a result if you make her angry then she'll be more than willing to trade insults with you ala Vegeta. Refuses to allow her son and the other Z Fighters brush off serious injuries as minor and will do everything she can to keep them from pushing too far when hurt.
History: Daughter of Goten and Bra. While Gohan focused on science and business in his later years, his brother went more the route of Goku. As a result Goten didn't really settle down until he was almost 40. It wasn't until he was in his mid 40's that he slowly backed away from fighting, married and started a family. Due to the union of Goten and Bra, Victoria has been in both worlds for as long as she can remember. On the one hand she got a crash course in many forms of science and business thanks to Bra and Bulma. On the other side of things she wanted to fight and compete at a young age much to the surprise of the Z Fighters. As far as martial arts goes she's been trained at one time or another by her father, her uncle and both of her grandfathers. This gives Victoria a frightening range of skills in battle. However due to the long years of peace as well as eventually needing to run CC her skills and power level have suffered. Without the aid of Kaio Ken she can only max out at about 5000. The most she's ever done as far as fighting goes was become the Tenkaichi Budokai champion for three years running before withdrawing to help run CC. She's currently planning something in regards to dealing with Rothax and has given her son a capsule prior to entering the HTC. In it were a letter and a prototype gi made of a revolutionary new material that is almost as tough as Saiyan battle armor and almost impossible to damage. The letter itself revealed that she wanted to eventually tell her son that he was chosen to be the rightful ruler of the Saiyan race at the time he would have been old enough and trained well enough to be able to fight for his people. The plan however was pushed into motion early due to the arrivals of Retasu and Rothax. While her son pushes himself to new limits in the Hyperbolic Time Chamer, Victoria has donned her armor and is planning an all out battle with Rothax's remaining forces.....a battle that she may not return from......
Techniques: As noted above the wide range of teachers she has had gives Victoria an extremely wide range of skills. As a result expect her to adapt to nearly any situation.


Victoria Summers
------
It wouldn't be long now.

Shitagi and the others had been in the Time Chamber for about 40 minutes. To them this would be around 10 or 11 days. Meanwhile the others were tied up with the forces of Rothax. However this left Rothax himself unchecked. If we were going to win then someone was going to have to distract him from the main battle. Until Shitagi and the others were ready if he entered the current battle then I feared the outcome would be far worse than the group's first encounter with him. With no other options it fell upon me to keep him busy.

I had tracked Rothax's ship to an area that was in the middle of the mountains. Thankfully it wasn't near any cities or small towns meaning that the chances of civilian deaths would be non-existant. At the very least I was going to do what I could to damage his ship. While I didn't like to think about it in the event that we failed I had hoped to limit his destruction to Earth. Unknown to Rothax the destruction of West City and Capsule Corp took out the one place where any damage to his ship could be easily repaired. Even if he could get off the planet eventually I was hoping that if anyone could escape should things take a turn for the worst and make it to the Lookout that the survivors could regroup and come up with a new plan for stopping him before he could move on. Of course that also depended on them not getting tracked back to the Lookout which I felt was impossible as well as the area and entrance to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber not being destroyed.

I cursed silently at myself. The more I thought about it the more I started to noticed just how much of my plan was focused on maybes and what ifs. There were too many holes in it and so much that could potentially go wrong with the plan. However considering the short time frame and the fact that I didn't know much about Rothax it was really the best I could come up with. The only thing I could really do was wing it, make things up as I went along and hope for the best.

Once thing I wasn't worried about however was the key thing Shitagi told me about Rothax: he angered easily. I hoped to use that to my advantage and let my power level flare up as much as possible on my way to his ship. I wanted him to know I was coming and hope that he was still bitter enough about our first encounter to attempt to engage me in battle before I reached his ship. I got my answer soon enough as I eventually felt him powering up and his power level begin to approach me. I stopped in my tracks once this happened. I didn't need a scouter to know I was outclassed. As things stood I knew it'd take me about another 20 minutes worth of flying full force to get to his ship. Rothax would be on me in about half that time. Rather than meet him head on I decided to stand my ground and power up. I'd need as much time as I could get if my plan was to work.

Eventually I saw him on the horizon. Without giving him a chance to get any closer I started to unload on him firing ki blast after ki blast. As the gap started to close I eventually went to more powerful attacks. Three Kienzans, a Makankosappo and even a weak Kamehameha......all were dodged or deflected by Rothax as I had expected they would be. Eventually with less than 30 seconds before he was on top of me I drew may arms out wide and started to charge ki in each hand. I strained to push my power level higher before unleashing what would be my last attack on him.

"KAIO-KEN TIMES FOUR!!!!"

I hoped not to be in this form too long as the last thing I needed at this point was fatigue or injuries. Meanwihle all Rothax did was laugh. "You'll have to try harder than this!" he screamed at me as he got closer. "No more party tricks! This time you won't escape me!" I couldn't help but smirk now. Rothax didn't know it but he had played right into my hand and so far everything was going exactly as I had planned it. I stopped powering up for a Final Flash and instead closed my eyes and brought my hands in front of my face......

"TAIYO-KEN!"

The unexpected move had the desired result as it blinded Rothax and made him lose track of me. Not wasting any time I let my Kaio-Ken fade out and dropped down to let Rothax overshoot me. What he didn't know was that the whole time I was firing at him I was also focusing on another power level.....a weaker one that was on his ship. "Sorry Rothax.....I'd love to stay and talk things over with you but I have more pressing matters to attend to!"

With that I used the Instant Transmission and teleported myself to his ship. I quickly supressed my power level in the hopes that no one on the ship was able to sense power levels. On pure instinct I lashed out as quickly as I could at the four armed alien sitting at a glass table before he could figure out what just happened. With my power level so low I knew I'd need to use the room to my advantage to take him out. I just hoped that it didn't draw attention. Even in a low powered state I was able to move quick enough to deliever a palm strike to his throat with my left hand and grab him by the hair with my right hand. I then drove his face into the table and shattered it before yanking back just as fast and bringing him to the floor. Finally I drove my fist into his chest with enough force to hear a few ribs break. The ugly little bastard spit up blue blood before passing out. To be honest I kinda felt bad. His power level was low enough for any one of these attacks to possibly kill him. However I didn't need him or anyone else raising an alarm. Steping away from him I noticed for the first time that I was in what appeared to be a medical bay. Eventually I noticed an injured soldier on a bed nearby. I had no idea how he got into this condition but I could tell from the machines that he was totally out thanks to some pretty good pain killers. While what I was about to do didn't sit well with me I didn't need this guy waking up. While I was sure I could take him I knew that the less fighters Rothax had the better. Without a second thought on the matter I adjusted a knob on the machine to give the guy a lethal dose of whatever they were pumping him with. At least it'll be quick and painless I thought grimly once the deed was done. I personally didn't like the idea of killing a defenseless person but as far as I was concerned this was a war. The standard rules of engagement had no more meaning to me once Rothax leveled a city with thousands of innocent people.

Once that was over with I approached the door of the ship carefully. As I got close to it the door slid open on it's own. Amazingly the racket I caused while taking out the doctor hadn't alerted anyone to my being on board So far so good.....I have to work quickly however. If no one is able to sense me they may not know I'm here but at most I've got about ten minutes before an extremely pissed Rothax returns to the ship. I had to do whatever I could to disable the ship and disrupt their plans. If I got lucky I also needed to see about grabbing the Dragon Balls. Whatever happened however it needed to be done fast.

Time was not on my side......
------

Heh.....sorry if you were expecting a big battle there Blade. Don't worry however. I'm sure Rothax will get his battle soon enough

Of the personal Victoria encountered she has knocked out Rinetst and left him worse for wear. The unnamed soldier with the low power level struck me as an acceptable death as well as a chance to show exactly how far she's really been pushed. Despite the normally calm and friendly personality the incident with West City sent her to a dark place. Irony should set in once you read the post with her letter to Shitagi again and notice that she said the Saiyans were NOT murderers

As for the plan she's kinda making this all up as she goes along but the basic plan was this:

1-Sneak onto ship
2-Attempt to disable ship
3-Attempt to find Dragon Balls
4-Escape or die trying

She's assuming/hoping they can't sense her power level without scouters. I'll leave it up to Blade to decide if they can or can't.....either way she won't be getting away from the ship without a fight.

[Blademaster]

Jesus Christ finally.

Rothax

"TAIYO-KEN!"

Rothax could barely even mutter a response before what looked like the infinite light of a STAR overwhelmed him. His body felt no burning pain, as one may have expected a star to do, but his EYES, on the other hand...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!" Rothax bellowed and screeched to a stop in mid-air, grabbing his face in his hands and clenching down over his eyes. "OWWWW, DAMN YOU FILTHY APE!"

"Sorry Rothax..." he heard her voice below and behind him. "I'd love to stay and talk things over with you but I have more pressing matters to attend to!"

"More pressing... What, running again?!" the Mizimian removed his hands from his eyes, which were still clenched shut; he could have sword he heard some sort of soft FWISH! sound where the voice had come from; with a roar of fury, he spun around and fired his Needle Cannon at the empty patch of desert where Victoria had been a few seconds earlier.

"Damn that Saiyan bitch..." Rothax snarled, rubbing his eyes. His vision would return soon... He'd have to rely on his other senses for the moment. He strained to hear anything of use... But there was nothing, save for the distant sounds of battle in the direction Chita had flown.

Fumbling his the sleeve of his armor for a moment, Rothax produced a transceiver and, as he often does, began to bark into it.

"Tennan!" he yelled. "Tennan, answer me now you worthless-"

"I'm here, sir." Tennan's voice replied. "What-"

"The power level that was approaching the ship earlier... Where is it now?!"

A pause.

"I... thought you'd intercepted it, sir."

"SHE ESCAPED AGAIN!"

Tennan

Tennan reeled back from the transceiver, a hand over one ear. He'd likely need Rinetst to remedy what he was sure was yet another tympanic rupture caused by Rothax's shouting later.

Unfortunately, Rothax wasn't done yelling yet.

"Where has she gone?!" he demanded.

"I-I wasn't watching the monitor, sir." he replied, his stomach turning cold even without Rothax having responded yet. "I'll have to loop it back."

"Do it! NOW!"

Not wishing for his eardrums to be tortured any further, Tennan began mashing keys before Rotha could even order him to. A map of the Earth on one monitor began to rotate in the opposite direction, all of the significant power levels on it represented by colored spots that began to reverse themselves... Before one suddenly vanished and simultaneously reappeared near Rothax out of nowhere.

"What...?" Tennan asked nobody in particular. "What just happened...?"

"TENNAN!" Rothax howled. "RESPOND NOW! WHERE IS SHE?!"

Tennan played the feed back... It showed Rothax and an unknown power level approaching one another, and then once they were almost on top of one another... The unknown power vanished.

"Sir," Tennan began, zooming out his view of the map, "I'm not certain how to tell you this, but she... vanished. Just disappeared into thin air."

"That's impossible!" Rothax insisted angrily. "She must be masking her power! Find her and find her now!"

As if to answer both Rothax's and Tennan's prayers, a sudden spike in energy appeared for a brief moment... Not 100 feet from Tennan.

'What? What was that?' Tennan thought, quickly replaying the almost too-fast-to-see footage. Coordinating himself and the positioning of his and Rothax's powers, he quickly realized...

"TENNAN!"

"Sir," Tennan quickly yet quietly whispered, "please forgive my boldness, but I need for you to be quiet for a moment. I have to contact Chita. I believe she may have just returned to the ship with the Dragonballs... and then left again..."

"WHAT!?" Rothax replied, sounding shocked. "How do you... Never mind. I'll call her."

Tennan, relieved to have a moment of silence, returned to his monitors and began to search for the last 2 Dragonballs. Their energies had not appeared in a good hour or more. Where could they be...?

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

Tennan looked up, expecting 2 new results.

What he saw instead turned his stomach to ice.

Chita was still battling 3 power levels far from the ship, and instead of 2 new Dragonballs appearing... THREE OLD ONES appeared instead, approaching the ship. Tennan's claws flew over the keys, and he quickly locked on to the energy signature carrying the 3 Dragonballs... It was Blaque.

'Neither he nor Whyte could have moved that fast...!' he thought in horror, as it all began to add up. He quickly looped the footage one last time, the entire continent now under his careful scrutiny.

"TENNAN!" Rothax's voice blared through the transceiver again, its usual anger once again present. "Chita hasn't been on the ship since I deployed her! She said Blaque has three Dragonballs and is returning to the ship!"

"He's... He's not here yet, sir!" Tennan said as the loop passed that critical moment, where the power Rothax was fighting suddenly vanished... The flash of power appearing on the ship and then quickly fizzling out again happened at that same moment.

"TEN-"

"It wasn't Chita or Blaque!" Tennan suddenly said into the speaker, an unprecedented urgency in his voice. "Sir, I repeat, the power I just detected was NOT one of us! It was her! The one you were fighting! She is on this ship!!!"

There was silence. For a moment, to Tennan's absolute disbelief, Rothax was totally silent.

"Pinpoint her exact location." he finally instructed, his voice... calm? "I'm returning to the ship. Contact me again the second you have information on her."

"Y-yes, sir." Tennan replied immediately, not wanting to tempt fate. "Right away, Captain." A few key codes later, and a monitor on the wall opposite the map of the Earth illuminated, displaying the entirety of Rothax's ship. It was a multi-leveled vessel, somewhat round in shape, with several entrances and exits. At the moment, only 2 power levels were shown on screen: one in the cockpit, which Tennan recognized as his own, and a larger one in the depths of the ship, slowly moving about in a large chamber.

'Nothing...' Tennan thought, quickly readjusting the level readout. It currently detected only entities on the ship with power levels of 5,000 or greater. He adjusted it so it registered everything with a power level greater than 100.

Like radar, a wave of energy swept over the monitor; when it passed the medical bay, a third power level illuminated. Obviously Rinetst. But still no sign of an intrusion...

Tennan began to lose his patience; he turned down the level detector so it registered everything on the ship with a power level. Unless the intruder was dead, she'd have to be visible now. Unless, Heaven help Tennan, she had escaped again, possibly with the Dragonballs.

At that realization, Tennan's life nearly flashed before his eyes. But whatever Kai watched over him must have been feeling kind, because as the screen scanned once again, two more power levels finally became apparent, right beside one another in the medical bay... One of them was the last survivor of the Veia Squad, whose power now hung at a mere 10...

Wait, a mere 9...

Tennan's eyes stayed on the monitor like his life depended on it (which it probably did, causing him to fumble a bit for the transceiver again.

"Captain," he finally said, grabbing a hold of it just as the decreasing power level hit zero and the other power beside it left the medical bay, "I've found her. She's in the medical bay, making her way aft."

"What is her power level?" Rothax answered, his voice a bit louder due to the wind whipping around him mid-flight, but still oddly calm.

"She's minimized it greatly." Tennan answered. "She's not even registering 100."

"Does she know she is being watched? Or where the Dragonballs are?"

Tennan looked at the screen.

"It... doesn't look like it, sir." he replied. "She's descending to the lower deck, but she's moving slowly. Possibly to avoid detection, but she certainly isn't taking the straight path to the chamber."

There was silence for a moment, before Rothax finally answered:

"Tennan, you are to wait for Blaque to return, and then secure the 3 Dragonballs he has. Then seal the chamber to Level 2. If she finds the Dragonballs or attacks before you can secure them... You know what to do."

Tennan gulped. "Yes, sir."

-------------------------

Somewhere in the depths of Rothax's ship, there existed a chamber bathed in near-darkness... The only sign of life within the chamber was the slow, steady breath of a large, sleeping creature.

CLOP... CLOP... CLOP... CLOP...

Just one floor above the chamber, Victoria's footsteps steadily tapped against the floor. She was trying to be quiet, but her footsteps were drawing closer to the ceiling of the chamber.

CLOP... CLOP...

One of the beast's closed eyes twitched.

CLOP...

Another twitch.

CLOP...

Twitch.

CLOP...

...

The eye opened.

------------------------------------------

Victoria has begun her covert operation on Rothax's ship, unaware that the rutless alien's advanced machinery is now tracking her every move. To make matters worse, a sleeping giant stirs in the bowels of the ship, threatening to make a meal not only out of Victoria, but the rest of the ship's inhabitants as well!

Can Victoria recover the stolen Dragonballs and halt Rothax's progress? Or will even Victoria's cunning mind and power be snuffed out by Rothax's seemingly endless legion of galactic terrors? Find out next time, on Dragonball SU.

[Heald]

Name: Shimuto
Race: Alien
Age: Unknown
Gender: Male
Appearance: A very tall, imposing person, just over 7 feet tall. He is a humanoid and closely resembles Nova Shenron, although without wings and without lips. He is very muscular and is covered by a hard exoskeleton that is dark blue in colour. He wears a white dogi that is sleeveless and is cut in between the bottom of his chest and his waist, leaving his abdomen uncovered. He has black boots and a white cape as well. His hands have three fingers and an opposable thumb, each digit with a large claw.
Personality: He speaks with a dark, brooding voice and commands respect. He is a mostly respectful and calm individual, even with his master Rothax. He does not tend to insult or disrespect his opponents, although he does not mince with words or actions, being a quick and lethal force on the battlefield. In contrast with Rothax's anger and tantrum-heavy nature, he never tends to show anger. At worst, he shows an intense dislike to something, so do not mistake his calmness for indifference. He is willingly subserviant to Rothax, although at the same time is confident that Rothax would never try to turn on him without warning, so he is not a sycophant, nor does he kowtow to Rothax.
History: Not much is known about his race: their planet is a very secretive and supposedly dangerous one, although it is located in the same region as Namek and Mizim. It is not uncommon for warriors to leave the planet and become space-pirates, and in his youth Shimuto did just that. However, along the way their ship was forced to land on a small planet controlled by what could be best described as blood-drinking cultists. Shimuto does not speak much about what happened on this planet, nor of his previous life, of which he refuses to acknowledge, but he became fanatically religious and rose up through the ranks of this death cult, becoming a high templar, hence his robes. He bathes himself in death and decided to leave the planet on a pilgrimage in order to find a civilised planet to sacrifice to their blood god. It was on his pilgrimage that he came across Rothax and his band, and when Rothax's then-second-in-command called Shimuto and his cult a bunch of crazy cultists, Shimuto decapitated him and drank his blood. Rothax, although more powerful than Shimuto, was impressed with his deadly and no-nonsense attitude and immediately offered him the post of second-in-command and his personal bodyguard, in return for giving him passage to search the universe. As of yet, he is yet to find a planet worthy of sacrifice to their blood god.
Techniques: He is a quick, lethal close-combat specialist, although he does have some energy attacks, he prefers to get up close and personal. He does have a second form, although he has hardly used it as to reverse it is a long and painful one. His exoskeleton is incredibly hard and it takes great effort or strength to puncture it.
Relationships: He is second-in-command to Rothax.
Theme(s): Calm Theme
Battle Theme
Other: Nope.

---

Shimuto

"SHIMUTO! SHIMUTO, REPORT ON YOUR LOCATION IMMEDIATELY!"
Shimuto coolly put a finger to his ear and glanced around.
"What seems to be the problem Sir? You sound somewhat...agitated."
"YES I AM AGITATED! I'VE BEEN BLINDED BY SOME MONKEY BITCH, WHAT REMAINS OF MY FORCES APPEAR TO BE EITHER FIGHTING OR TOO INCOMPETENT TO RELY ON AND THE VERY SAME MONKEY IS RUNNING AROUND MY SHIP!"
Shimuto paused to let the venting finish and then spoke.
"Yes, I did sense some...great powers managed to dispose of those Kwali cretins. I do hope Chita doesn't have the same difficulty they had."
"LISTEN SHIMUTO! EITHER TELL ME SOME GOOD NEWS OR ELSE RETURN TO THE SHIP IMMEDIATELY! BLAQUE IS RETURNING WITH THE DRAGONBALLS AND I DON'T WANT THEM FALLING BACK INTO THE WRONG HANDS!"
A small, almost insignificant energy blast zipped past Shimuto's head. He seemed completely unphased by it. He simply raised his arm, powered up a shot in his hand and shot another blast back, causing a small explosion.
"The news is Rothax...I have found some promising..." Shimuto paused to lick his lips.
"...leads, so I may be somewhat delayed. I will do my best to finish here quickly and secure the Dragonballs as swiftly as possible."
"LEADS?! SHIM-" but the rest Shimuto ignored as he picked the earpiece from his head and flicked it to one side. He looked in front of him to see the corpse of the Saiyan boy he had just blasted, surrounded by three other teenaged Saiyans powering up. It seems Saiyans were far more populous on this planet than he had been led to believe, and many of them had mastered basic energy and flying techniques.
"You killed my brother you...you freak! We'll make you pay for this!"
Shimuto licked his lips again.
"Oh I very much doubt that, boys."
Behind him lay a wake of devastation. Houses, shops and building gutted. Blood-drained corpses or otherwise disembowelled, macabre bodies littered the street behind him. What would otherwise be a bustling, lively city now was a ghost town.

The teenaged Saiyans in front of him prepared to defend themselves, but Shimuto, without warning or hesitation, darted forward, closing the distance between them in an instant, striking one of the Saiyans in the gut with a deadly blow. The boy let out a gasp of air, and then lifelessly slumped to the ground. The other two instantly became very afraid and took some steps back, realising now that their deaths were very much imminent. Shimuto looked at one, then the other and smiled. He turned to one and prepared to shoot forward. The teenager raised his hands up to energise a blast, but before he could even form an attack Shimuto had landed a knee to his ribs, breaking most of them and nearly killing the boy in the process. As he fell backwards, about to scream in agony, Shimuto had power up his claws with burning energy and swiped across the boys chest, burning through his heart, lungs and spine. The boy silently fell with a lifeless look in his eyes. Shimuto stood up straight and craned his neck to see the other had begun to run as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

"This planet is teeming with delicious life," Shimuto pondered to himself. He raised a single finger and aimed it at the boy.
"I think it is time I took this opportunity to feast upon it."
And with that a red beam shot from his finger, skewering the fleeing Saiyan straight through his heart. The boy paused for an instant and then dropped dead.

---

Shimuto has apparently taken it upon himself to go against Rothax's orders and carry out his own personal mission. Is this something he had planned all along, and will Earth's warriors stop him before he kills any more of Earth's population?

[Mystic_clown]

Psycho Soldier Gamma
------------------------------

It was a most unusual experience, being unconcious as ones very being was being tinkered and altered. One could compare it to sleep, Gamma's mind never properly shut down, a human mind never does. But his very mind warped and twisted as Victoria and later the machines performed the delicate operation on his brain.

Memories flashed through his mind. His memory as a human, before his conversion. He remembered the two psycho soldiers before him. Alpha, who proved inaffective, being purely machine. Beta, who went mad from the power. He took a great risk, volunteering for the role as Gamma, he could remember the fear he experienced.

He remembered how it first felt when he awoke, as a psycho soldier. His mind involuntarily reached out to the minds of everyone in the room. He could remember their thoughts for the brief second before his mind adjusted and took control. The desire he felt to protect the people of this world, which now has gotten stronger.

He could feel his very being slowly changing, accepting the modifications that Victoria had given him. His mind slowly reached out to the changes to his programming, to his systems.

He then felt a surge of power go through his very core.

He could see the interior of Rothax's ship through Victoria's eyes. He could see the battle raging between Kuro and Chita. For a brief period, he even saw into Rothax's own dark, twisted mind.

But something seemed to catch his mind for longer, something that struck the very essance of his soul.

He saw Shimuto. He saw him slaughtering the people. He saw into his mind. He saw his intentions. He saw the bloodlust and cruel desire. He felt the pain of his victims as he snuffed out their lives one by one.

Gamma was a psycho soldier. He was created for the sole purpose of protecting humanity. This will not stand!

Gamma's eyes shot open, his golden eyes glowing for a brief second as his mind adjusted to conciousness, taking in the room around him. He slowly began to move, getting a feel for his upgraded form. He could feel the change within him. He felt stronger, and for a brief moment his mind had trouble controlling his limbs before it adjusted.

He stood up from the table, getting full use of his form before turning his head in one direction. The one direction where HE was.

Rothax was a threat, for certain. But at the moment, he felt another had higher priority, one possibly more dangerous.

"Shimuto..." he spoke, his voice completely level as he slowly walked for the door.

----------------------

Gamma is up and ready to fight. Bring it on Shimuto!

[Master Rudy]

Time to get the show on the road......feel like I got a good reason to get us out of that white hellhole


Shitagi Summers
HTC: Day 11 (approx. 48 minutes of real time)
------
It had been yet another day of intense training for me. How many days had it been now anyway? 11? 12? If there was one thing I had quickly learned about the time chamber it was that it was easy to lose track of time. I wondered how everyone was holding up.....and I hoped my mother didn't do anything senseless. I also hoped that somehow this nightmare would be over by the time we were ready to come out. However deep down I knew it was wishful thinking. Our power levels were starting to surpass what I had detected from Rothax following his transformation. Even so I suspected that it wasn't his true power. What if I reached 30,000 while in here? What if his max in that form was 70,000? Essentially it'd be the same difference in power that was displayed in our first battle. While I had much better mastery over the Kaio-Ken now I still worried over the possibilty that I would need to use higher levels for long periods of time. I didn't even want to start thinking about how bad things would get if he had another trasformation we didn't know about.

Despite these worries I knew we couldn't be in here much longer. None of us were used to such conditions and despite knowing it was possible I didn't see how Goku, Vegeta or anyone else could stay in here for a full year. I also started to see another issue with the room. While the gravity did get stronger further out the air also got thinner. I myself got out to a level almost 20 times the normal levels of Earth before I could barely breath. Overall I started to see the room for what it was. It was a means to train and power up when there simply wasn't any time. The fact that Goku and everyone else had to remain in here for a year told me that there was no other way. There were better training options avalible to them but with no time to use them they had to maximize what they had. Finally since the day of my outbust I had hit a wall. No matter what I did I couldn't get a meaningful increase in power. Because of this I was planning on leaving the room early. Each day in here was several minutes of lost time on the outside and I felt that if I couldn't improve anymore that it would be best to start doing my part to help everyone else. I was getting ready to share my thoughts with the others. However a shout as I neared the living area snapped me back to what was currently happening.

"WHY CAN'T IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII???!??!!?!"

Despite feeling drained I powered up and quickly flew to the living area to see what was going on. Just before it appeared on the horizon I saw Basawe about 100 yards away from it. He looked rather upset over something. Noticing me he said "I just can't do it Shitagi. I can't be like you or Retasu. I'M TOO WEAK!" Just then Retasu and Hammer arrived. They too looked a bit worse for wear and even frusterated. At that point I connected the dots. They haven't figured it out yet. We've all hit a peak that we cannot surpass without a serious time investment. Mom was telling me to push for a full month but she herself has never been in here. Perhaps if I was a Super Saiyan I could push myself harder and into the harsher conditions but at this point it's a waste of time to even try.

Retasu looked as if she was about to say something but I shook my head gave her a glance that instantly made her back off. Honestly I didn't know if it was out of respect or contempt. Since the incident several days prior she hadn't spoken to me much so I really couldn't be sure. Walking over to Basawe I offered a hand to help him up and said "It's not you. It's this room. You've gone as far as you can without pushing yourself to more extreme conditions that none of us can handle at the moment." As he got back to his feet I looked at the others and continued. "We could stay in here as long as we want. However I'm starting to feel like that'd be a bigger waste of time. Judging by the looks on your faces I'm guessing you both also feel like you can't do anything to improve. Right now all of us lack the power and endurance that would help us get more meaningful results from being in here." Basawe looked like he had started to recover a bit and asked me "Well what about you? What about that huge burst in power the other day?" Deep down I wasn't really sure what had resulted in that and why it gave me such a big boost. However I did have a theroy. With a shrug I gave him my answer. "I think that may have been more of a fluke than anything. Saiyan-Human hybrids are prone to sudden bursts of power. Scientists have researched it for years on this planet but no one has a solid answer. All we know is that it tends to happen during times of distress."

Basawe and Retasu seemed confused over this. Hammer looked like he understood better which was likely due to the fact that he lived on Earth. I knew a visual demonstration would be in order. Taking up a stance I told them "Be ready to check your scouters in a moment. Hammer do you remember what my power level peaked at the other day?" Nodding at the question he gave a quick and to the point answer "It was around 24,000 without Kaio-Ken." Not wasting any time I being to push myself as hard as I could to power up. After some time I stopped and let my power fade away. I looked at Retasu for the answer. Despite not saying much to me for the last few days I could see some shock in her face. "Your power level is 22,773. That means....." With a grim smile I said "Yeah.....it's dropped slightly. If anything my little outburst managed to give me the push I needed to cross 20,000. However without a serious time investment at this point I won't be able to match that day. At this point we aren't going to get much of a boost without pushing ourselves to levels that are very dangerous at this point. I'm guessing the looks on your faces is because you aren't seeing the kind of improvement you were hoping for at this point?" Crossing her arms Retasu said "Yes. Right now I'm just short of 21,000. The Namek is around the 20,000 mark."

I let the numbers sink in. I myself didn't rely on scouters too much but it proved my point. Following the first week any improvement at all was minor. Looking at Basawe I told him "I guess it's time to see where you are at." Basawe looked uneasy about this. It was almost as if he were thinking that we'd tell him how useless he was if he didn't hit some level we deemed acceptable. Despite this he took up his stance and began to push himself......

11337
13763
16310.....

As he pushed himself harder I could see that Retasu clearly wasn't expecting this from him......

17021
19987......

With a scream he let out one last burst of power. "IMPOSSIBLE!" Retasu scremed as Basawe hit his peak. Finally as he stopped powering up I saw Retasu rip her scouter off the side of her face. She looked at if she was going to go absolutely nuclear as she yelled. "This damn thing need to be recalibrated. There's no way in hell that Basawe is STRONGER THAN ME!" She stormed off to the living quarters for her tools. Looking to Hammer I was about I ask him to keep an eye on her when he shook his head. "No need to say anything Shitagi. I was already thinking of it." With that he too went to the living quarters.

This left me and Basawe alone. He looked shocked over what he had heard. "It can't be possible.....I'm not stronger than Retasu am I?" he asked me. With a chuckle I placed a hand on his shoulder and said "Well unless my shouter is also broken I would say you are. I was reading it as being at 22,093." Basawe's eyes widened as I told him this. "But how? Everyone has always been naturally stronger than me. The only way I've ever surpassed anyone is because....well. I'm a freak of nature." Frowning at him I told him "First off you got to stop thinking like that. You let self doubt rule your thoughts. Now I won't lie to your Basawe. That condition of yours does tend to cause you problems. However you've adapted to it. I saw it in you the day you used a Kamehameha perfectly on your first attempt. Deep down you are just like Goku. You are a natural warrior and you have the potential to be one of the strongest Saiyans of this generation.

I let that sink in for him but even after a minute or so it still seemed like he didn't know what to say. After he had time to think about it I said "Now I can't make promises to you but I can tell you this. Earth has one thing that our home planet does not: it has people that would be willing to look at your condition. Honestly I don't know if they could help. However I feel like it's something you should look into. If you're going to do this however there's something we need to take care of first." He knew what I was going to say and finished it for me. "Rothax.....we need to make sure he doesn't destroy this planet." Nodding I said "That's right. You've heard what I said. We can't do much more to improve. At this point our best option is to get out there and help everyone else. We're all going to take a day to rest. After that we need to focus on the battle at hand."

Basawe looked like he agreed with me but it appeared he had something else on his mind. "What then?" he asked me. It seemed like an odd question until he pointed to Vegeta's symbol on my gi. "I do want to help you Shitagi. However ever since you started to wear that it's made me wonder what's on your mind. What are you doing after Rothax?" I hadn't really had the chance to talk to anyone on the matter of Ninjin yet. Shortly after my power surge I passed out. Upon waking up everyone was always focused on training so it didn't leave much room or time for talk.

With the grim feelings of what was to come returning to me I gave him the quick version of the story. "Apparently before he died Vegeta named the next male born into his family as the royal heir. This makes me the true ruler of the Saiyans. My mother planned to tell me this in a few years time but Retasu showing up threw her plans off. She's worried that if they somehow find out that Retasu came here it'll out her as being a supporter of Vegeta. She's also worried that if Ninjin finds out a heir is alive he'll attack the Earth." As I continued to speak I reached inside my gi and pulled out the letter she had written to me and handed it to Basawe. "The whole idea boils down to stopping Ninjin and taking the battle to him before anyone innocent gets killed. With him gone it leaves things open for a new ruler.....me."

I let out a sigh since deep down I still felt like I wasn't a leader. "It a lot for me to take in Basawe. However I've had a few days to think about it and I know I have to do this. As long as Ninjin stays in power the Saiyan race is going to be forever locked into class warfare with itself and looking down on those that don't meet their standards. You know what that's like firsthand. The only way it will end is if I stop him. The Saiyans of Earth have learned to let go of that arrogant way of thinking. I know it won't happen overnight but I have to try. Deep down I'm worried because I don't feel like I can be a good leader. Before all this I looked at training and fighting as a hobby. I know a good portion of the Saiyans on that planet won't accept me as their leader. However unless something is done I feel like the Saiyan race is going to destroy itself. Eventually Ninjin will come here. It could be in a year or it could be in ten years. Hell it might even be his son or grandson in 100 years. It doesn't matter. Whenever they do set their sights on Earth no matter what the outcome is many people will have died over it."

Basawe looked up at me at that point. I'm guessing he just finished reading the letter but he didn't say anything. I figured he was waiting for me at this point so I went on. "If I go there to fight Ninjin I'm pretty much walking to my death. Even if people would accept me I know he won't leave without a battle. Plus I'm sure he's got himself surrounded by warriors who would not question him and would fight for him. I can't take on all of them alone Basawe. I'll need help and to be honest you've quickly become one of the people I trust most. I want to know if you'd be willing to help me save our race from him. I know you have issues with them and I wouldn't fault you if you just wanted to remain on Earth and live a peaceful life. No matter what you decide however I do want you to know that I'll think of you as a friend and that you'll have my full support." With that I stuck out my hand for him.

"Are you with me?"
------

There we go! Groundwork for leaving is set as well as starting to set things up if Blade/Heald eventually decide to do Ninjin later on. As for the power levels everyone is on par and very equal. If it came down to a fight in the Budokai all four of them would have an equal chance of winning. I just figured it would be in Retasu's character to freak out over Basawe being stronger than her even if it was by a laughable amount ^_~

[Blademaster]

Basawe

Basawe was in a state of utter shock, his mind a whirl of conflicting emotions.

'I'm stronger than Retasu.' he thought, not really even paying attention to what Shitagi was saying. 'But how? Is it because I've been in this room for twice as long as they have?'

"We're all going to take a day to rest." Shitagi said from somewhere far away. "After that we need to focus on the battle at hand."

It was then Shitagi handed him a piece of paper, as well as the declaration that he would become the new ruler of the Saiyan race.

"The whole idea boils down to stopping Ninjin and taking the battle to him before anyone innocent gets killed. With him gone it leaves things open for a new ruler.....me."

Basawe's stomach turned to ice.

"YOU SEE?" that infernal voice jeered. "YOUR FAITH IS MISPLACED. THE HONEY-TONGUED BOY IS JUST LIKE HIS ANCESTORS."

"As long as Ninjin stays in power the Saiyan race is going to be forever locked into class warfare with itself and looking down on those that don't meet their standards. You know what that's like firsthand."

Basawe looked up, a dark look in his eyes. Was Shitagi mocking him? Or was he truly sincere? Basawe looked down at the letter, but he couldn't really take it in: He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Shitagi, mostly human, unheard of by the planet Ninjin and even most of the Earth... Could he truly believe what he was saying? Did he expect Basawe to?

"IF YOU LISTEN TO HIM, YOU WILL REGRET IT."

'Because listening to YOU has benefited me so much in the past...' Basawe thought bitterly. But before his internal struggle could go any further, Shitagi did the last thing Basawe had ever expected:

He held out his hand.

"I can't take on all of them alone Basawe." he said, his voice like that of a child. "I'll need help and to be honest you've quickly become one of the people I trust most. I want to know if you'd be willing to help me save our race from him."

Basawe's mind began to wander again...

"I know you have issues with them and I wouldn't fault you if you just wanted to remain on Earth and live a peaceful life. No matter what you decide however I do want you to know that I'll think of you as a friend and that you'll have my full support."

...But that stopped it.

"Are you with me?" Shitagi asked.

Basawe just stood there for a long moment.

'He's like a child...' he thought. 'He doesn't understand what Ninjin is like. But... Vegeta was the CAUSE of all of this. If he hadn't kowtowed to Frieza, that worm Ninjin would never have succeeded him and taken over.'

His mind flashed back to his restoration. Vegeta would never have wasted the time or resources that Basawe's operation cost.

'Ninjin's doctors saved me.' he thought. 'But... What does that mean for me? Do I owe him something? ...No, I owe him nothing. I owe Vegeta nothing.'

He paused.

'...But do I owe Shitagi something...?'

Basawe raised his hand...

...And handed Shitagi his letter back.

"I'll think about it." he said, turning and walking away from Shitagi, back to the rest area. He needed time to think about all of this... He'd sleep on it, he decided. His mind and body weary, he walked to the nearest bed and let himself collapse onto it.

He was asleep before he even hit the pillow.

Tennan

The navigator of Rothax's crew paced back and forth across the deck, his forehead slick with sweat. It'd only been a few minutes, but with an enemy snooping around the ship and nobody else to engage that enemy, those few moments were like an eternity.

'I could have enlisted in Miira's army,' he thought bitterly, 'but noooooooo, I wasn't good enough for "the illustrious Red Pants Army!" Albino bastard, who does he think he is? The next Frieza?!'

Tennan snapped out of his brooding as the monitor beside the front window of the ship beeped: Blaque was quickly approaching.

'Finally,' Tennan thought as he ran to the upper airlock of the ship to intercept Blaque before he could draw the intruder's attention, 'some good news!'

"Officer Blaque!" he called as soon as the hatch opened. "Do you have them?!"

Blaque altered his course and made a beeline for his superior.

"You know about this, sir?" he asked, confused.

"There's no time to explain! And keep your voice down!" Tennan hissed, grabbing the bag off of Blaque and tearing it open. "You have three of them, don't you?"

"Yes, sir...?" Blaque responded.

"Good, follow me. I'll fill you in on the way!"

-----------------------------------------

"An intruder, sir?" Blaque asked incredulously as the chamber door locked. "But... how? Where?"

"I don't know," Tennan replied, inserting the third Dragonball into one of the claws of Rothax's machine. "And Rothax doesn't know or care, either. All that matters now is that we do NOT allow her to get these Dragonballs."

He added the fourth Dragonball.

"If we lose these," Tennan added, "do you have any clue what he'll do to us?"

He added the fifth.

Blaque pondered for a moment. "Do you, sir?"

"NO! And I don't want to find out. Now let's get out of here before the intruder hears us!"

The two of them quickly exited the chamber, Tennan briefly pausing to hit a series of digital keys on the wall beside the chamber door.

"Security Level 2 enabled." a mechanical voice spoke from the keypad. The door beeped, and a second door, thicker than the first, slid over the rooms only entrance. More barricades of even greater strength were sliding and configuring within the walls, sealing the device in a massive cube of nearly-impregnable metal.

"What are our orders now, sir?" Blaque asked, following behind Tennan as they rushed back towards the deck.

"We've secured the Dragonballs." Tennan answered, ascending a staircase and sprinting down a series of hallways. "All we can do now is wait for Rothax to return. and pray that we-"

SPLERCH!

Tennan felt something splatter against his back; he spun around just in time to see Blaque with a smoldering hole burned clear through his torso. His blood splattered against the walls and floor of the hallway around him; more of the dark liquid seeped from his mouth, before he stumbled and dropped lifelessly to the ground.

Standing at a corner a few meters behind him, still-smoking palm raised, was a female human with blue-hair... and a tail wrapped around her waist.

"Hi." she said flatly, lowering her hand. She was smiling, but it was NOT a friendly smile.

Tennan clenched his fists.

"You...!" he snapped. "Intruder! You damned Saiyans, why do you ALL have to live on THIS planet?!"

"Long story." she replied, walking towards Tennan. "The Dragonballs. Tell me where they are."

"And have Rothax tear my limbs off?" Tennan squawked. "You're strong, I'll give you that, but I'll gladly deal with you over Rothax's fury ANY DAY!"

She cracked her neck and kept walking, stepping over Blaque's corpse without even registering it.

"You sure about that?" she asked, pointing at Blaque...

KER-FWOOOOM!

Where Blaque had been, there was now a crater going clean through the ship, and likely several hundred feet into the planet beneath it.

"STOP THAT!" Tennan yelled. "YOU'LL BREAK SOMETHING!"

"That's the point." The woman was dangerously close now. "Tell me where the Dragonballs are. This is your last chance."

Tennan gulped, but he kept his composure.

"They're locked up." he said simply. "Inside of a chamber on this ship. There's only one way in, and it's been sealed. Rothax himself couldn't break into it."

"How do I get in?" she asked, already knowing what the answer would be.

"You don't." was Tennan's only reply. He hissed and withdrew his gun, quickly aiming and firing an explosive blast at the intruder's heart...

When the smoke cleared, she stood there, barely even fazed.

"That's what I thought!" she replied, before quickly counterattacking.

-----------------------------------------

The showdown on Rothax's ship has begun. Will Victoria be able to dispatch Tennan quickly enough to find the Dragonballs and escape before Rothax returns? Or is there more to his lackluster lackey Tennan than meets the eye? Find out next time, on DragonBallSU!

[Master of Paradox]

[Van Osiku]

An old rumor, started shortly after the Budokai Tenkaichi twenty years ago, says that Van Osiku cannot be touched by rain.

The tension filled the air, and Van felt his muscles twitch. His newly-gained power screamed to be unleashed, but he couldn't do anything just yet. Chita and Kura stared each other down, Zaito standing to the side, and everything quivered around him.

Van shut his eyes, and felt for power. Off in the distance, he felt small, short spikes of energy, and with them, pain. Someone was going on a killing spree.

Not too much farther, he could feel one single, harsh burst. Two figures of immense power were getting into a battle.

This place isn't my fight, Van thought. What I want is the Dragon Balls. Which direction should I go to get them?

Taking a coin from his pocket, he tossed it into the air and caught it in his hand. Unfolding his fingers, he glanced at the design.

And trusting that Chita and Kura would keep each other busy, Van flew in the direction of the single burst.

----

Tennan and Victoria were engaged in battle, energy beams rebounding around the tunnels of Rothax's ship. Tennan sweated all the more, his eyes wide as he desperately fought for his life.

"Stop this, you crazed female!" he yelled, his gun waving wildly. "If you wreck this ship any more, do you know what will happen to me?!?"

"Here's a more important question," Victoria replied. "Do I look like I care?"

Tennan swallowed hard... and then felt something coming.

A man, short by any standard, flew into the ship via the hole Victoria had blown in it. He landed, his clothes rippling slightly as he straightened up, and his eyes flicked about before he pulled his sleeves up.

In a quiet, calm voice, he said, "Am I interrupting something?"

----

It was unclear who was most surprised - Van, the woman, or the alien.

Before any of the three could move, Van felt a cold shock run down his spine. Something was waking up... something strong.

Something angry by its very nature.

Why do I keep throwing myself into something more dangerous every time I run?

[Heald]

Zaito Zhin

Kura seemed to struggle with this Chita warrior. Every punch she threw, Chita seemed to effortlessly dodge it and counter with an attack of her own. Kura was visibly getting more and more angry by the mockery this warrior was making of her, but Zaito was wiser than to interfere. Kura, in her reckless attempt to catch Chita, swung a sloppy fist, allowing Chita ample opportunity to catch her off guard.
"See ya," she winked, powered up a blast, and before Kura could even object, she had been blasted over the cliff and out of sight. Chita lowered her smoking hand, smiled, and turned to the shocked Zaito.

"Now, do you fancy a shot at me, muscles? I can sense you might be a bit of a match for me, and there's nothing I love more than kicking around a big handsome man such as yourself around."

Zaito was not going to let himself get angered by this girl's taunting. He carefully judged the situation and then frowned.
"You can't beat all of us, and I'll do my best to make sure you don't get any further than this."
He put his arms to his side and prepared to power up. Chita frowned and looked like she was about to attack, but Zaito flared his energy, sending his power level spiking and shooting out a powerful blast of wind, meaning not even Chita could get near him whilst he was shooting off that much energy.

[Eye of the Hurricane]

"You're fast lady, I'll grant you that," Zaito said as the wind began to build up around him, "But lets see you dodge this!"
The wind kicked up suddenly into a tornado around him, then became rounded and elongated as he lifted off and built up speed.
"Have a taste of this! Ranbokaze!"Zaito shot towards Chita and nearly hit her, only for her to dodge at the last second. He quickly turned around and blasted towards her again at lightning pace, but still she avoided it. Zaito took a top-down approach and belted towards her from the sky, but she side-stepped, sending him drilling straight through the earth and nowhere to be seen. She lowered her guard and smiled.
"Heh, what good is all that power when he can't even seem to hit me."

The earth then began to tremble beneath her, and suddenly geysers of wind began to blow up, breaking holes in the rock and blasting terrain out of the way, startled, she did not realise that the earth was being eaten up from beneath her feet until it was too late.
"RAAAAARGH!" Zaito yelled as he emerged from underneath her, catching her with a powerful uppercut that knocked her flying onto her back.

Zaito landed and prepared to fight as she made her way to her feet, a small trail of blood dripping from the side of her mouth.
"All that for one punch? I'll have to make you pay for that Earthling," she scowled. As she prepared to fight again, someone else spoke up.
"Pay for this you bitch!"
A blast of energy exploded against Chita. Kura had recovered and was boiling mad.
"Zaito!" she yelled, "Go get those Dragonballs back if you can! Leave this cow with me!"
Zaito could tell Kura was in no mood to be disagreed with and, begrudgingly, although knowing Kura could handle herself, leapt up and blasted away, but only got a few yards before Chita appeared in front of him, aiming a punch.

"You're going nowhere!" she hissed, but as she threw her punch, Zaito seemed to phase through it with his Bikokaze technique, being able to make his escape.

Once he was a safe distance away, he tried to lock onto Blaque, but it appeared he was a lot faster than he thought, and that Chita had tied him up long enough for his signature to be too distant to accurately locate.

Zaito, this is Kuji.

Zaito was surprised to hear Kuji's voice in his head, having briefly forgotten about the Lookout.

Return to the Lookout. The others are about to emerge from the Chamber, and I have some news for you all.

Zaito nodded and without hesitation blasted off towards the Lookout at full speed.

[Blademaster]

Time to get the blood flowing.

Chita

When the first human departed the scene, Chita barely even noticed. He hadn't seemed focused on the fight anyway, and upon his departure, he seemed to be heading the way Blaque had gone. Towards Rothax's ship? With his laughable power level? Blaque and Tennan could handle him until she was done, Chita assured herself.

The more powerful male, however, was an unexpected departure. He (and the Saiyan woman, as well) seemed to zone out for a moment, before they came to the unexpected and strangely similar idea for Kura to stay behind and fight.

Chita, however, was intrigued by this. He had seemed eager to fight until something had distracted him... Was he wearing some sort of communicator? Perhaps he knew something that Rothax would find interesting...

"Where is your friend going?" she asked.

Kura ignored her, instead opting to charge her power. "He's not who you should be worried about." she warned, before flying at Chita, arm pulled back.

Chita's eyes dilated, and her perception of Kura slowed to a crawl. The alien assassin ran to Kura and grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her back and grabbing Kura's neck with her other hand. Her concentration waned, and Kura suddenly uttered a choked cry as she realized what had happened.

"I will not ask again." Chita warned. "Tell me where he is going."

Kura cried out as her arm was further pulled back, feeling ready to pop from its socket at any moment now.

"O-okay! OK!" Kura yelped. "I'll tell you! H-he's going..."

Then, suddenly, she turned her head and gave Chita a snide look. Getting a better look at her, her small nose and her slimy, mealy lips were not very attractive...

"He's getting as far away from that syphilitic cunt you call a face as possible!"

WHAMF!

Chita cried out and let go of Kura, her hands flying to her small nose which Kura's skull had just crushed. The Saiyan jumped forward, her charged power building to its maximum as she spread her arms.

"So he's probably halfway across the planet by now." Kura remarked, thrusting her hands out. "Aishou-Ken!"

Her focus as broken as her nose probably was at the moment, CHita was defenseless against the blast, which consumed her in a huge cloud of dust and smoke. For a few moments, it seemed that the fight was over...

But Chita was still alive. Her armor was charred, cracked, and completely gone from one shoulder and her collarbone, and her boots were torn and burnt clean off of one shin. She was bleeding from several wounds, but she still stood.

And while Chita was far less hot-headed than her captain, her patience had just about run out: Not only were these Earthlings surprisingly resilient, but Chita's time-based training made every second with them seem to drag for an eternity. Even hearing them speak and fighting with them at normal speed felt like it was taking an hour, when in actuality only a few minutes had passed. Against all of her previous foes, Chita would have been done by now. But not against this Saiyan. And that was making the lieutenant very irate.

With a burst of her remaining power, Chita cleared the dust and smoke around her. She was weakened... The Saiyan could probably fight her on even ground now. She couldn't afford that waste of time and energy. So only one course of action remained...

"If you won't tell me where he is going," Chita rasped, the dust taking its toll on her mouth and throat, "then I'll simply follow him myself."

Kura gave her a cold look. "What makes you think I'll let you?" she sneered.

But Chita didn't even let her finish: As the word 'let' left the Saiyan's mouth, Chita managed to focus her power once more. Her eyes dilated, and she raised one hand, charging her fingertips with all of her power... Her blunt claws glowed a purplish-black, and then she charged.

SQULCH!

And, as her focus was lost again, her spearlike hand erupted out of Kura's back. The Saiyan's eyes bulged as she suddenly looked Chita in the eye, feeling an immense pain in her chest as Chita grinned, and ripped her blood-stained hand out of Kura's cleavage. Helplessly, Kura slumped to the ground and fell to her side, blood pooling around her. All she could do was glare up at Chita.

"Goodbye, Saiyan." Chita said, smiling for the first time before turning towards the way Zaito had flown off. "It's been fun."

And then, she was gone.

Tennan

If Tennan lived to see the end of the day, he was going to push his fear aside for once and ask Rothax for a raise.

It was bad enough that most of the rest of the captain's forces had been decimated, but now his ship was invaded, and as a result, Tennan was standing alone with the strongest Earthling yet. He could do nothing but run, block, and evade the woman's vicious onslaught. But he wouldn't last. Her power dwarfed his, and she seemed to be everywhere at once.

But just as Tennan finally managed to land a shot in the woman's face, she not only shook it off completely unfazed, but also...

"Am I interrupting something?"

'Another one?!' Tennan thought in exasperation as Rothax's pet began to make its infernal racket again somewhere further within the ship. 'What did I do to deserve this?! ...Wait a second, this one looks familiar...'

After the new Earthling (this one a male) seemed to get over the shock of the noise, he seemed to suddenly see or hear something.

"Is that them?" Tennan heard him mutter, just as he turned towards a wall... and then he blasted an energy beam clear through it.

And straight at the chamber containing Rothax's machine and the Dragonballs!

"NO!" Tennan cried out without thinking. He suddenly remembered - that was Van! The human they had caught as a hostage... and who had subsequently DIED! He must have somehow learned where the Dragonballs were stored when he was on the ship earlier... But how was he even alive in the first place? And why was he so much stronger than before...?

Van wasn't interested in sticking aroun or listening to Tennan, though: He flew through the holes he'd just blown through the ship and charged another, larger blast, hurling it at the security doors surrounding the room. The female Earthling wasn't sure how he knew what he was doing, but she quickly realized that chamber was important. She smiled coldly at Tennan.

"That's where the Dragonballs are, aren't they?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Tennan began to sweat. "Uhhhh..."

"Thought so." The female Earthling flew to Van's side and blasted the wall with her own intense ki attack. But the blast simply wasn't enough.

"Stop that now!" Tennan barked. "You can't break those walls! They're designed so not even Rothax can break through them!"

The female Earthling turned and half-heartedly blasted Tennan, searing a huge hole in his chest and slamming his carcass into a wall.

"We'll see about that." she responded, turning back to the chamber. "Kaio-Ken times four!!!" Her aura became a red inferno of energy, and she quickly began blasting the Level 2 security barrier in time with Van. They charged their attacks, their auras combining into a single fiery energy as they took one more shot at the wall, giving it all they had.

But Tennan was still alive. He shakily looked up, horrified to see that, combined, the Earthlings' powers did indeed surpass Rothax's limits. Alarms blared through the ship as the wall was struck with a power exceeding 40,000.

"C-captain..." Rothax groaned, dragging his transceiver in front of him. "Rothax, come in...! Level 2 security breached...! The ship is under full attack...!"

"GO TO LEVEL 1 THEN!" Rothax's frenzied voice boomed. "YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO! SO DO IT AND GET OUT OF THERE, NOW!"

The security wall was overheating.

And then, with what Tennan was sure was Rothax's fist crushing the transceiver, the line went to static before going totally dead.

"Y-yes sir..." Tennan responded, flipping open a mollyguard on his arm. Underneath was a red keypad. Tennan in-put a specific code known only to him and Rothax, reserved for only the most dire of circumstances...

The ship began to emit a strange sound as several walls and floors on it began to shift and reconfigure themselves. The lights illuminating the ship went dead, leaving only the flashing red alarm lights and the Earthlings' blasts to light the halls.

Until, suddenly the floor fell out from under them, forcing them to lift off the ground and halt their attacks just as the wall of the chamber began to warp.

The ship went dark for a moment, before the female Earthling fired her aura up enough to provide a dim light. She glanced around, unsure of what was happening; her eyes quickly fell on Tennan's twitching, chuckling form on the floor.

In an instant, she had him by the neck, slammed into a wall. He was in a delirium, possibly from blood loss. She didn't care at the moment.

"What's going on?" she demanded. "Turning off the lights is not going to stop us!"

Tennan didn't answer.

That horrible screeching roar, however, did.

In the dim light, Van fell back. The woman quickly turned to Tennan again, raising a glowing hand to his face.

"What did you do...?" she hissed.

But Tennan was gone. Blood loss and sheer terror had finally broken him. "Die..." he answered, grinning like a madman. "Die, I die. You die! We all die!" He laughed aloud, coughing up yellow-green ichor. It splattered on the woman's face. She prepared to fire.

But suddenly a horrible cacophony of sound filled the trio's ears. Clattering, stomping, shrieking. Like a gigantic iron horse, galloping at full speed.

And it was getting closer VERY quickly.

The woman could scarcely even look up at the immense power source before a humongous quadrupedal shape, hunched like a gorilla, barreled into her. Tennan was still laughing wildly when it crushed him like... well, like a bug, beneath one of its massive feet. More ichor flew, much of it splattering on the creature. Some landed in its mouth, causing it to howl in pure bloodlust before continuing its merciless charge.

Tennan's one remaining glassy eye fell on the woman as she struggled to get up. But the monstrous, metal-plated entity gave her no quarter.

"KAIO-KEN TI-"

KRURNCH!

Fresh red blood and splintered bone splattered across the walls, floor, and ceiling.

-------------------------------------------

In one horrifying last-ditch attack, the tables turn once more as one of the Earth's mightiest warriors vanishes into the literal jaws of defeat. Her name was Victoria "Briefs" Son Summers, granddaughter of Son Goku and Prince Vegeta.

Will Shitagi be able to avenge the loss of his mother and put an end to Rothax's twisted ambitions? Find out next time, on Dragonball SU.

[Master of Paradox]

[Van Osiku]

The few people who have seen Van Osiku sleep claim he never sleeps soundly.

"Is that them?"

The sensation of the Dragon Balls replaced the cold chill, and Van reached into himself, looking for the source of that power. It slipped through his fingers once, twice, and then it waited for him.

With only a moment's thought, Van activated it, and power flared to life all around his form. He lifted off of the ground and held a hand in the direction he sensed the Dragon Balls.

Without any effort on his part, he unleashed a powerful Drill Shot, and metal melted like ice under the force of the energy. He then flew down the newly created pathway to an even sturdier door.

For a moment, it didn't register that he had company, and then he saw the human woman. She drew power into herself, and he timed his attacks to sychronize with hers, their combined strength burning into that metal.

And then the lights went out.

While the human woman went off to complain, Van sensed that cold feeling again, deep at the base of his spine. I don't have time for this, he thought, and turned back to the door.

And then that feeling turned into a moment of absolute cold throughout his body.

I really don't have time for this. It's here.

And a monster beyond Van's ability to describe burst out of containment, crushing the alien from before under its foot. Van watched the human woman attack it.

He watched her die. Her blood soaked the white fabric of his clothes, seeping into it all along his form.

Van drew forth all of the power he had at his disposal, the peak of his strength in this form, and threw it at the monster approaching him. It slowed the creature down for, perhaps, a half-second.

Running away seemed the only option left. He took it. His feet echoed on the metal as he ran with all the speed he had available.

The only way off the ship was blocked by the creature, which he could hear right behind him. He could feel its breath on his back at points as he fled through the unfamiliar territory.

When they reached walls, Van blew them apart, tearing the ship's interior to pieces in his mad dash. Room after room passed on the edges of his vision, and wall after wall melted before him. Even as he fled, Van had some degree of sense; he had circled back around towards where he came in.

One wall away from the starting point, Van felt the world shake, his vision blurring. No! Not here! he thought, drawing all of the power that he could into his hands. He placed them against the wall...

...and nothing happened. The power he'd tapped into was spent.

The creature stood inches from Van Osiku, who collapsed against the wall, out of breath and sobbing. He'd almost made it out alive, and now this...

If I die here, it's over. I'll forget it all, just like last time and the time before that. I... I'll never know what I am...

An instant before the monster's jaws came down on him, Van lifted a hand and hit its tongue with a jolt of electricity.

The monster roared and lifted a hand, slamming Van Osiku into the wall. The force of the blow smashed him through it, both the man and the wall flying out through the hole in the ship. Both arced through the air and came down a solid mile away.

Van Osiku lay on the metal, panting and staring at the sky. His left arm was sliced through, bleeding and broken. Deep cuts scored his flesh, and he couldn't see out of his left eye. But he was alive.

Help... he thought, looking at the sky. He had little hope that anyone would save him. His only hope was that the monster wouldn't pursue him now that he was off the ship.

He prayed like Dabura himself was chasing him that it would leave him be.

[Mystic_clown]

Psycho Soldier Gamma
---------------------------

It didn't take Gamma long to find Shimuto's handiwork. The numerous mutilated dead bodies scattered around the place. Their blood drained, completely disemboweled. It was like a ferocious beast had torn them apart.

But no, it wasn't a beast that tore them apart, but something much more frightening. Beasts at least do it for some basic reason. Shimuto's was much more sinister.

The psychic android silently scanned the area, trying to find any source of life in the area. No such luck. Shimuto had been thorough. He had completely killed off everyone in the city before moving on. Gamma sighed. Trust Rothax's second in command to be thorough about this sort of thing.

Gamma closed his eyes, trying to extend his mental focus throughout the area. Hopefully Gamma could pick up Shimuto's thoughts, indicating where the demon was going. Unfortunately, Gamma's range wasn't as vast as it was when it woke up. He'd have some serious mental training to do once this was all over...if he survived that is.

He stood there in silence, searching the area with his mind, before suddenly something flashed across his senses. He sensed pain, fear, before quickly vanishing. It wasn't too far from outside the city, and Gamma could easily guess what had happened. Shimuto had claimed another victim, but at least this one gave his position away.

Slowly Gamma hovered off of the ground, before shooting into the air towards the fading emotions he sensed. Gamma had at least two advantages. One, Shimuto didn't know he was coming. And two, if Shimuto could sense energy, he couldn't sense him coming.

[Master Rudy]

Shitagi Summers
HTC: Day 12 (approx. 52 minutes of real time)
------
As both Retasu and Basawe slept in the beds I was finishing up the letter to them that I had written. The next time they would wake up I wouldn't be in the Time Chamber. Having figured out that we had hit a wall I stopped pushing myself and was already fully rested and ready to go. They however needed at least a day or two to recover. Overall it'd only be about a ten minute headstart. However I couldn't wait any longer. I had to do something to help and I had to do it now. Every day in here was only about four minutes in the real world but it was time I couldn't get back. I read back over the letter one last time to make sure everything that needed to be said was in there:

To Basawe and Retasu,

First off I'm sorry. I can't wait here any longer and I need to do something to help the others. By the time you read this I'll most likely be engaged in battle with Rothax. I just hope I can get to him before something happens to my mother. Just before entering this room she had told me of her plans to do whatever she could to slow down his search for the last of the Dragon Balls. She said that she would do whatever she could to distract him but that it would likely result in her death. I'm sure you both understand that I cannot let this happen. However that's not the main reason for this letter. I've been around you for almost two weeks and from what I can gather you both have different ideas about Prince Vegeta. It's time for you both to learn what Ninjin would never say as well as the things he doesn't know about.

It's time for the truth.

First off Vegeta never considered himself one of Frieza's men. Yes it's true that he was trained from a young age to serve him. However once the Saiyan race became strong enough for Frieza to fear he felt he needed to control Vegeta in any way he could. He showed his true colors and sent my great grandfather on what should have been suicide missions when he was barely in his teens. The price for disobeying him would have been the death of King Vegeta. His true goal was to break Saiyan morale and spark a civil war. The death of the prince would have been a huge blow to the king. Frieza hoped the death of King Vegeta's only son would push him to a point where he couldn't lead his people the way he once did. This would in turn hopefully lead to an usurper attempting to overthrow him.

As Vegeta kept coming back alive it eventually became clear that this plan wasn't going to work. Frieza instead decided to go another route. He sent the two strongest groups of Saiyans off planet. Vegeta went with Nappa and Raditz. While the prince himself had plans to eventually break away from Frieza his two partners were fully loyal to him. Meanwhile another team consisted of a Saiyan named Bardock and his men. Vegeta's team went on an actual mission on the far side of the galaxy. Bardock's team however was sent into a trap and promptly killed.

Once the plan was in motion Frieza had planned to fully destroy the planet from orbit. He however didn't count on one thing: Bardock had survived the trap and somehow made it back to Planet Vegeta. He managed to warn King Vegeta en route and what eventually ensured was a battle that wiped out the king and many of the top warriors. Once Frieza and his men killed everyone capable of fighting back he eventually came to the conclusion that the full destruction of the planet would tip off Vegeta that some serious foul play was involved. Instead he opted to destroy one of the nearby moons and let it do the work for him. The destruction was all caught on camera for Frieza to show Vegeta later. Frieza himself then used a weakened version of his Death Ball to level the only city on the planet. The end result of it all left about a thousand Saiyans alive on a devestated world with minimal technology. As for Vegeta he got the video and a false report that there were no survivors as well as new orders to regroup on one of Frieza's planets. Scouters were too short ranged to scan for power levels off planet and without the knowledge to sense power levels Vegeta had no reason not to believe Frieza. Off planet this left only four Saiyans alive: Vegeta, Nappa, Raditz and Kakarot (the Saiyan who later became known as Goku and was the one who finally defeated Frieza on Planet Namek).

Vegeta never abandoned our home world. He simply always believed it to be a freak accident. Even so he never fully trusted Frieza and worked to try to eventually become strong enough to fight him. Eventually he learned the truth years later on Namek from one of Frieza's commanders. Despite this he still didn't know about the existance of survivors until the first exiles appeared on Earth near the end of his life.

Please do not blame Vegeta for the state of things on our homeworld or refer to him at a traitor. I can promise you that had he known the truth in his younger years that he would have made a difference. With his death and the reluctance of his only son to go to a planet he never saw there was no one strong enough to change things.

Basawe already knows this but for Retasu's sake I'll repeat it again: prior to his death Vegeta named the first male born on his daughter's side to be the new heir. This make me the rightful ruler of the Saiyan race. I hope to eventually set things right but first we must focus on getting out of this current situation alive. I'm not a natural leader and deep down I wish we could bring Vegeta back just to ask for his advice. However since that is impossible the only thing we can do is work together and hope for the best.

I know the two of you have had your differences. I also know that we didn't get off to the best start Retasu. However we need to set these differences aside. If we can't do that then we'll never be able to stop Ninjin. After having time to think about things I must say that I can admit when I'm wrong. I know that if you were only in this for yourself that you would not still be here Retasu. As for you Basawe I hope you've given things some serious thought. Regardless of what you eventually decide to do in regards to Ninjin I want you to know that I will do what I can to help you.

I trust both of you. I need the two of you to start trusting each other. As far as I'm concerned you are not an elite Retasu. You are not a low class warrior Basawe. All three of us as well as every single person with Saiyan blood is an equal. It's been proven time and time again that all Saiyans have the potential to be the strongest one. It's time to stop thinking that the only thing that makes any of us valuable is our power level. We each have our strengths and weaknesses. Only by working together will we be able to overcome what gets in our way.

Currently you each have a Dragon Ball. Once you leave here work under the assumption that Rothax has the other five. No matter what happens it'll be your job to protect those Dragon Balls first and foremost. Don't worry about protecting Kuji. If things get really bad he'll have Furuto with him. However as prone as Rothax is to snapping and going on a rampage I don't see him or any of his men trying to attack Kuji. Rothax needs him alive so therefore he's the least likely person to be killed. If there's several battles going on it might be a good idea to split up. I know it's going to sound cold but if the worst should happen to one of you it'll only result in the loss of one Dragon Ball. When you guys do eventually join up again just keep each other safe, protect those Dragon Balls and do what you can to help the others. I myself will need to deal with Rothax. I'll hold him as long as possible but I have a feeling I'll eventually need help. Get everyone else together and join me as soon as you guys can.

Let's make it through this alive so we can work together to stop Ninjin once and for all.

From,
Shitagi Summers

It was a bit longer than I expected it to be but there was much to say. There was in fact plenty more to discuss but no more time to talk about it. I taped the letter to the door of the chamber but as I was about to open it a voice behind me said "Leaving early Shitagi?" Turning I saw it was Hammer standing there with his arms crossed. I knew he was likely the one to understand best without much explaination. Wanting to keep it short I nodded and told him "I'm rested and I can't waste anymore time in here. The others aren't however and need at least one day to rest. Please look after them and make sure they get this letter on the door. I know you can't make them stay and that waiting a full day is going to be hard on them but please try to insist on them resting. Without moving or changing the serious expression on his face that all Namekians seemed to have he simply nodded. "Consider it done." With a smile I said "Thank you Hammer. I'll see you on the other side in about ten minutes.

Not wanting to spend another minute in this godforsaken room I opened the door and crossed back over into the lookout......

------
Kami's Lookout
(10 minutes before the first serious injury/death)
------
Upon leaving the Hyperbolic Time Chamber I almost instantly ran right into Mr. Popo. "Oh my! You look just like Gohan in that outfit Shitagi! But why aren't the others with you?" he asked me. Stopping very breifly I told him "I decided to come out early. There just wasn't anymore meaningful progress to be had in the time I had left. The others need the remaining time to recooperate. Can you send Kuji to meet me at my mother's ship and let him know to bring whatever Senzu Beans he has?" With a bow and a smile Popo ran off to get the Earth's guardian.

Without wasting any time I quickly made my way to the ship. It didn't take long before I was joined by Kuji as well as Zaito. I couldn't help but smile upon seeing my friend ok but I knew there wasn't much time. Getting straight to point I said "I mean no disrespect Kuji but I need to be blunt: how bad are things right now?" With a frown he brought me up to speed. "Progress has been made on thining out Rothax's forces. The Kwali brothers were defeated as was another of Rothax's men. However currently Kura is fighting a tough battle with what appears to be one of Rothax's top commanders. Meanwhile the one who had fought with Hammer seems to be fighting on his own accord right now. I can sense him killing many people for seemingly no reason. Gamma is on the way to fight him. Your mother is on Rothax's ship. She's avoided him so far and I can sense that she's taken at least a few of his men out. However right now she's fighting someone that's close to her power level. Even if she wins I don't think she'll be able to get out of there in time. It's not going to be long before Rothax gets back to the ship. Then....."

Kuji trailed off in a way that told me I wasn't going to like what I heard next. Zaito was quick to fill me in.

"They have five Dragon Balls."

I got seriously worried at this bit of news. It put us at a severe disadvantage. Before I could ask how it happened Zaito was already explaining it. "Don't ask me how he got them but that one guy from the tournament somehow got three of them.....I think his name was something like Dan or Zan." It suddenly clicked for me. "Van Osiku?" I asked in disbelief. "The drunk guy?!" I'm sure I had a puzzled look on my face. As I looked at Zaito's face I'm sure the look he had matched my own. "Yeah...still trying to figure him out actually. One moment he's fighting us and the next he's helping. As far as I could tell he wasn't himself. When that happened that's when he lost he Dragon Balls to them. Before I was told to return here he flew off towards Rothax's ship. I can only hope that he's on our side."

As I tried to ponder all the new developments I felt a my heart skip a beat. It didn't take long to figure out it was a power level that was dropping fast. No.....SOMEONE'S DYING! Reaching out to feel who it was I eventually sensed that it was Kura and that whoever she was fighting was on the way here. Not wasting a moment I quickly turned to Kuji in a panic. "How many Senzu Beans do we have avalible?!" Handing me a bag he said "I'm sorry Shitagi....there's only three left following the last battle with Rothax."

I knew serious choices would have to be made. Quickly opening the bag I took one for myself and handed Zaito the other two. "Kura's not going to last long! Get the others out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber right now! Take either Retasu or Basawe with you. You've got to slow down her attacker but above all else one of you needs to get to Kura! Give the other Senzu to Hammer. Whoever doesn't go with you will pair up with him and go help Gamma. Retasu and Basawe have the last two Dragon Balls. Right now them traveling together would be bad. If they get killed then Rothax has them all. Whatever you do don't worry about me. By the time I reach Van and my mother I won't be alone. We'll all be in groups of three."

Breaking off into a run I quickly saw that Zaito wouldn't have to waste time getting the others out. In the distance I saw the door open and Basawe, Retasu and Hammer making their way out. Not wasting a single second I shouted at them as I ran. "There's at least three battles going on and it isn't good! Kura's hurt bad and she might not make it! Her attacker is also on the way here! One of you with a Dragon Ball needs to go with Zaito to help her and keep the attacker away from the Lookout! Whoever is left needs to group up with Hammer and go help Gamma. Kuji and Zaito will point everyone in the right direction but you guys have to HURRY!"

Before anyone could say anything I was already over the edge of the Lookout and flying at top speed. I did have enough time to see a look of pure shock on Retasu's face as well as some worry on Basawe's. Even if they hated each other I could at least see that at the very least neither one of them wanted to see Kura die. However I couldn't waste time thinking about a different situation. I had to be focused on the one I was getting ready to fly into. Now that I was out of the chamber I got a sense of just how much faster and stronger I actually was I didn't even need to use the Kaio-Ken to for a speed boost to get me to Rothax's ship. Eventually I saw the ship on the horizon. Good! I'm almost there! Just a little bit more and.....

Suddenly my heart once again skipped a beat. It all happened so fast that I didn't even have time to register it. A strange power level that I couldn't even describe made itself known. All I knew is that it wasn't Rothax. Then without warning another power level was gone. It wasn't dropping. It wasn't being masked. It was just gone. Stopping in my tracks about a mile or two away from the ship I silently landed on the ground. I didn't believe it. In fact I couldn't believe it. It had to be a mistake of some sort. My mind had been very clouded as of late so I did the only thing I could and reached a hand to my scouter.

"Shitagi to Victoria.....come in!" The only answer on the other end was static but stupidly I still refused to believe it. "Mom it's Shitagi! ANSWER ME!" Nothing......it was at this point I knew there was no mistake. This was the point pure rage took over as I ripped my scouter off my ear and crushed it in my hand.

"DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!!!!!" I screamed at the sky as I felt some of the glass from my scouter cut into the palm of my hand. It didn't matter now. I knew she was gone. Even if Rothax wasn't the one to have killed her he was surely the one responsible. He would answer for this. I only prayed the bastard was on the ship as I powered up.

"Fuck it.....this'll destroy five of the Dragon Balls but Rothax won't be getting his way. It'll be an added bonus if the son of a bitch is on that ship when this hits."

I knew I wasn't thinking clearly and that doing this would pretty much condemn everyone who died today to permanent death. However I just didn't care anymore. Powering up with tears in my eyes I took up my stance and pulled my hands back.

"KAAAA.....MEEEE....."

At that moment in the distance I saw a part of the ship come flying off. As it got closer to me I saw a person as well. Eventually the battered body of Van Osiku landed about 100 yards away from me. By the looks of things he too was dead. At least I won't be killing anyone innocent I grimly thought to myself.

"HAAAA.....MEEEE....."

Just then I saw some slight movement from Van but I ignored it. To me this was just too important right now. As I drew more power I was about to fire my Kamehameha when I heard a voice.

"He...help m-me......"

Van was alive and he apparently knew I was there. I knew if I didn't act now he'd die in a matter of seconds. On the other hand I could end this. Even if Rothax wasn't on the ship it would ruin his entire plan. Even if we all died he would not be able to get his way. He'd win the battle but the war would be won by us.

If you all die what's to say he isn't going to destroy the Earth and kill everyone? You'll be condemning everyone to death. You're better than this Shitagi!

As those thoughts went through my head for a brief moment I could swear I was imagining them in my mother's voice. However it didn't stop me from firing......

"HAAAA!!!!!"

Despite firing in the end common sense won out. The Kamehameha went right over Rothax's ship and harmlessly into the sky and quickly fizzled out as I put almost no power into it. Falling to my knees I blinked away my tears as I struggled to pull myself together. Suddenly I remembered Van was nearby. I couldn't let him die. Quickly getting up I rushed over to him and saw he was almost fully gone. Damn....I hope I'm not too late! I thought as I put the Senzu Bean in his mouth and helped him swallow it. Instantly I saw his wounds heal up and felt his power level stablize but for now he was still out cold. What the hell did this to him and my mother? I was determined to find out so I could kill it. However before I could move a single inch towards the ship I heard a voice behind me.

"Well the light show was impressive. However I really wouldn't suggest going towards my ship boy. It would seem that my pet is in one of his moods and right now he's very protective of his home."

I knew the voice before I even turned around. As I did I noted his changed appearence but there was no mistake. It was definately Rothax. Feeling my rage come back to me I slowly walked over to him with purpose. "You son of a bitch.....do you have any idea how many deaths you are directly resposible for today?" Crossing his arms he said "Deaths? Dear boy those weren't deaths. They were collateral damage towards the greater good! And if you are going to blame me for it then you are wrong. You should look at yourself.....all if this could have been avoided had you simply given me what I wanted." I absolutely fumed at that statement. "Collateral damage?! THE GREATER GOOD!?! What the hell is your purpose here?! What is it that you want that has driven you to destroy West City? MY MOTHER IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!" At my last comment his eyes seemed to light up. "Ah....your mother! I knew there was something about her fighting style and skills that reminded me of you. Well take comfort. I'm sure she proved to be a tasty snack for my pet!"

I knew what Rothax was trying to do but I couldn't contain my anger anymore. I grabbed him by the neck with my left hand. I was ready in case he tried to counter once he provoked me into an attack. Rothax however took no action at this. Currently despite my rage I wasn't powered up. Despite my anger I still had enough of my common sense left to try to make him drop his guard. As risky as this was I hoped it would make Rothax think I wasn't a threat. It seemed to be working as he looked at my left hand and the small trickle of blood that was starting to drip down. "You are bleeding on me boy. You're also starting to test my patience." Raising an eyebrow at this I told him "Yeah.....well mine's always gone in regards to you. As for the blood you can color coordinate a bit better by using some of your own."

Without warning all the power I was holding back quickly flared. Catching him off guard I pulled Rothax's face into my knee and sent him flying. He quickly righted himself and sent out a beam at me.....or so he thought as it only destroyed an afterimage. "WHAT?!" he exclaimed as it disappeared. Before he could even figure out where I was I had already kicked him in the back and back down to Earth. With no wasted movements I quickly powered up a weak attack and fired it down at him.

"Kamehameha!"

Rothax instinctively threw up his arms to block the blast. However I didn't aim directly at him. I aimed it at the ground just in front of him which kicked up a ton of dust. "Damn you! You and your bitch of a mother and your blinding attacks!" Ignoring the comment I quickly used a basic Kaio-Ken to get behind him and ready another attack. "Not this time boy!" he shouted as he quickly turned around and swiped at me with a claw.

Instead he merely got another of my afterimages which passed through him as I attacked from the direction he was originally facing. A quick roundhouse kick to the head sent him skidding across the ground. As it broke and cracked under him I brought my fingers to my head and powered up what I hoped would be the death blow.

"MAKANKOSAPPO!!!"

Just as I shot the corkscrew like beam at him Rothax managed to flip himself up to his feet and with a sudden surge of power batted it away like it was nothing. I felt shocked at that sudden show of power but I didn't let it get to me for one simple reason: the fear and shock in his face was apparent. "YOU!" he said with a look of worry. "You could barely keep up with my first form mere hours ago. Now you suddenly are able to equal this form without the aid or your parlor trick?! HOW?! Who are you? Better yet......WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!" I couldn't help but let a smirk come across my face as I slowly walked towards him. "It's a simple answer really Rothax" I said as my blue aura flared around me and my hair stood on end. "I'm the protector of the innocent. A nightmare to people like you and the new hope of Planet Earth as well as Planet Vegeta." Stopping about ten feet away I took up a fighting stance once more. "Most importantly I am the Saiyan Prince!" Letting my power flare even higher I screamed at him.

"MY NAME IS VEGETA AND YOU ARE ABOUT TO DIE ROTHAX!"
------


Yeah.....Shitagi will still respond to his real name. However be aware that from here on out as the Saiyan Prince he has unofficially taken the name Vegeta......the 3rd (provided Blade/Heald are ok with it and don't want to veto that awesome scene ^_~)


Here's the breakdown/recap since it's a very long post:

1: First off Shitagi is urging the other Saiyans to start working together. The plan for now is to keep Retasu/Basawe on seperate fronts in order to keep the Dragon Balls in different places.

2: Outside the HTC I tried to cover everything that's happened since Shitagi's group went inside. Pretty sure I got all the important bits but since there was a shitload to cover it's highly possible I missed something. Let me know ASAP if that's the case!

3: As Shitagi was outside when Kura got injured he quickly sensed that. With three Senzu Beans and three battles he quickly tried to come up with a plan for even groups (provided Kura doesn't die):
-Zaito, Retasu/Basawe, Kura against Chita (who is heading for the Lookout)
-Hammer, Basawe/Retasu, Gamma against Shimuto (who is apparently going for the "Killtacular" achievement )
-Shitagi, Victoria, Van on this ship (which is not going well since one is dead and the other is out like a light)
Overall it'll be up to you guys to figure out who goes where ^_~

4: In case you didn't pick up on it Shitagi crushing his scouter was symbolic to regards to my own posting: I feel we're starting to reach a point where power levels are meaningless (not to mention that Gamma can't be measured since he's an android). You guys don't have to follow my lead and can keep using them. I'll follow whatever is posted in that regard but personally now that everyone has powered up quite a bit I think/hope we're all mature enough to keep things in line and not argue over made up numbers.

5: Shitagi thought it was all in his mind when he heard Victoria's voice.....but this is DBZ! Figure it out

6: Rothax was caught off guard due to the simple reason of expecting the power level of 3K-8K again. Now that he's seen what Shitagi is actually capable of without Kaio-Ken I'm sure Blade won't be letting that happen again.

7: Finally Rothax's pet is still on his ship. I myself personally am not expecting it to leave the ship for the time being but I'm sure Blade is gonna be evil in that regard. Speaking of which we all still need a solid description bro....one of the reasons why I brought Rothax in as opposed to fighting the pet (not to mention he was already on the way anyway )


I hope that covers everything. If there are any issues at all with this post from anyone then by all means bring it up in the lounge topic. I'm reasonable.....I'll make changes if need be

EDIT-Just added in all the music....ENJOY!

[Blademaster]

Basawe

Shitagi's note had given Basawe a lot to think about. That voice in his head continued to doubt what Basawe was being told, but those doubts were rapidly growing weaker and weaker.

His doubts about Retasu, however, remained unchanged. He would never trust her. No matter what Shitagi had to say about it. He stepped out of the Chamber...

"There's at least three battles going on and it isn't good!"

...And into a warzone. Shitagi had just taken off, calling over his shoulder that Kura was hurt and the Lookout was under attack and the Android was fighting someone and... What? This was all happening WAY too fast.

But the first thing that Shitagi said still rang clearly in Basawe's head...

'Kura's hurt bad and she may not make it!'

Kura... The Saiyan who had saved him in the Time Chamber...

Basawe caught a quick glance of Retasu's face. She looked shocked that Kura was hurt... But not just shocked. Basawe knew Kura and Retasu were... Well, he hesitated to use the words 'friends' and 'Saiyans' in the same sentence, but he knew the two of them had some sort of history together.

Was he right? Retasu wasn't just shocked, but... upset? Sad? Hurt?

"I have to go help her." she said as Kuji and Zaito tried to explain the battle plan. Her attention fell squarely on Zaito. "Human, we're going now."

"Wait." Basawe said, stepping forward. "If anybody is going to help Kura, it's going to be me. Zaito..."

"Kura is a SAIYAN, remember?" Retasu snapped. "Why would you help her?"

"I owe her a favor." Basawe replied flatly.

"I owe her a lot too." Retasu replied.

The two continued arguing for a few moments before Zaito broke them up, probably putting himself in the line of fire as well.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

But before that could happen, one of their Scouters beeped. A power had suddenly made itself known, and it was stronger than Kura...

They all looked up; Kuji gasped, Furuto quickly jumping in front of him.

Hovering in the air above the edge of the Lookout was a battle-damaged female alien, with webbed black skin and tattered red-and-beige armor and boots. She was injured, surely, but very much still able to fight. Her green eyes fell on Zaito; she smiled wickedly.

"Found you."

Rothax

Rothax could see his ship on the horizon. He was in a good mood now that he had 5 Dragonballs, and he was in an even better mood when he received notification that his pet had dealt with the intruders... Yes indeed, things were finally coming up Rothax...

PSHWAOOOOOOOOOM!!!

And then a massive blast of blue-white energy flew at his ship. Rothax's eyes widened...

But the blast sailed harmlessly over his ship.

Silently, he breathed a sigh of relief, before glancing down at the source of the blast.

Two humans... And he recognized them both. One of them was unconscious, though. The other one, however...

Rothax dropped from the sky and walked up to his nemesis.

"That was an impressive light show, boy." he said. "Impressive, and foolish. I'd stay away from that ship if I were you. My pet does NOT like intruders in his home."

The boy turned around and began to walk towards Rothax, a look of pure hatred on his face. "You son of a bitch..." he growled. "Do you have any idea how many deaths you are directly resposible for today?!"

Rothax merely folded his arms over his chest.

"More than I'd have liked." Rothax answered, glancing down. "Two squadrons of my best men were deployed in that city I blew up. You think I would willingly slaughter my own men? Every life lost in that city lies on the shoulders of you and your allies. If you'd simply handed over the Dragonballs like I initially asked, all if this could have been avoided."

Somehow, that answer only made the Earthling madder.

"What the Hell is your purpose here?! What is it that you want that has driven you to destroy West City? MY MOTHER IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!"

Rothax smiled.

"Your mother... The biggest thorn in my side since I arrived here. Her cheap tactics and her stubborn refusal to cooperate are what pushed me to transform and destroy West City. All those lives lost? They were her fault. But she wasn't content to leave well enough alone: She had to infiltrate my ship as well! Now that Bandlim has taken care of her, I would say justice has been served."

That seemed to drive the boy over the edge. He grabbed Rothax by the neck... But the mighty Mizimian barely felt it.

"Stop bleeding on me." Rothax grumbled, becoming annoyed again. "I was in a good mood. You're ruining it."

What happened next was something Rothax could barely process. The boy's power skyrocketed, and his knee smashed Rothax in the face. He cried out and flew back, but quickly recovered and struck... nothing? With a yell, the boy blasted a humongous energy beam at Rothax, surrounding him with a cloud of dust. Rothax shouted out and tried to recover, only to be slammed across the side of the head and go tumbling across the ground. He snarled and flipped over...

"MAKANKOSAPPO!!!"

...Just as a massive yellow-and-purple spiral of energy flew at his chest. He swung his arm with all his strength and blasted the beam aside, sending it careening into a mountain... and blasting through it with enough force to tear off the peak and send it slowly skidding down to the base of the mountain.

Rothax couldn't believe this... This boy was absolutely NOTHING when they last fought, but now... Now he was even stronger than his mother had been at her very strongest!

"You... You wretched little monkey...!" Rothax growled, beginning to sweat. "Your power was nothing compared to a mere HALF of my current strength a few hours ago. But now you can surpass me at this level...?! You... What ARE YOU?!"

The boy merely grinned, his hair flying as his aura rose enough to begin to crack the ground beneath his feet as he walked.

"I'm the protector of the innocent." was his response. "A nightmare to people like you and the new hope of Planet Earth as well as Planet Vegeta."

He stopped in his tracks and let his power flare to a level even Rothax had to shield himself from.

"I am the Saiyan Prince!" he cried out. "MY NAME IS VEGETA, AND YOU ARE ABOUT TO DIE!"

And with that, the boy (Vegeta, he called himself? That name sounded familiar somehow...) flew forth and slammed his fist into Rothax's stomach. The mighty alien coughed up spittle and fell back, the wind totally knocked out of him, before a knee to the face sent him flying end over end.

Rothax righted himself and dug his heels into the dirt. He staggered for a moment, gritting his teeth as his enemy yelled out.

"KAIO-KEN TIMES THREE!!!"

Rothax's jaw fell open as Vegeta's aura turned from a fiery blue to an absolute INFERNO of red. His power skyrocketed... Rothax's eyes widened.

"N-No...!" he gasped. "How is he doing this?!"

"You may be strong, Rothax," Vegeta said as he pulled back his arms once more, "but not even you can survive this! This is where it all ends!"

His hands glowed blue-white.

"KAAAAA... MEEEEEEEE..."

The look of fear on Rothax's face vanished, replaced by rage. He was the smartest being in the galaxy! And he was only a few hours from having the power to match that mind! He would NOT be bested by some filthy half-ape!

"HAAAAAAAAAAA... MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE....!!!"

Rothax's antennae twitched and flared out. The boy's power... He could sense it exceeded his own. Rothax held out his hands, forming a barrier.

"GO ON, SAIYAN!!" Rothax yelled. "SHOW ME WHAT YOUR TRUE POWER IS!!!"

Vegeta's eyes narrowed; his palms flew out.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

If one were to view the Earth from 10,000 miles out of orbit, they would have seen a pinpoint of blue-white light on its surface, like a star... A star that was about to explode.

The Kamehameha was absolutely immense... Thicker than a redwood tree trunk and flying at Rothax at thousands of miles per hour. It slammed into his barrier with the force of a meteor, the ground around and behind Rothax utterly disintegrating from the sheer speed and volume of air it displaced.

"AAaaaAAAaaaaAAAAAAH!!!!"

Rothax cried out, his muscles bulging as he tried to force ever-more power into the barrier. But his enemy responded by feeding more power into his beam of energy. Veins pressed through Rothax's skin and even his very armor as he tried with all his might to deflect the blast slamming into his barrier.

But it was no use: Vegeta's attack pushed into the barrier, making it concave, before finally...

"AAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!

The barrier shattered under the Kamehameha's sheer force. Rothax howled out in pain as the blast finally consumed him and forced up an explosion the size of a small mushroom cloud. The shockwaves of the blast flew in every direction; Vegeta could scarcely grab Van in time to shield him from the residual force of the blast.

After what felt like hours, the great clouds of smoke and dust and even uprooted stone settled... Vegeta stood ready, though. Even with the evident death of his enemy, he dared not drop his guard.

"Is... it over...?" he heard Van mumble.

Vegeta simply stood his ground and didn't reply.

The dust at the epicenter of the blast settled, a weak wind blowing the last of it aside....

There, in the center of the huge crater, was Rothax. His chestpiece had been shattered, one of his claws had been blown off, and his entire body was covered in scuffs, cuts, and burns. The worst of his injuries was a deep puncture wound in the left side of his chest, which trickled navy-colored blood.

"What was that you said... about me not being able to survive that...?" Rothax asked shakily.

"Don't talk to me like that." Vegeta snarled, preparing another attack. "One more blast like that and you're done, and we both know it."

"That sort of overconfidence..." Rothax rasped, raising one set of his arm claws. They opened like a pair of shears. "I HATE it. You KNOW nothing! Do you really think I'll die..."

Between those open claws, a thin spine emerged, glowing with some sort of faint white light.

"SO EASILY?!?!"

Rothax swung down... And plunged the spine into the center of his exposed chest.

Vegeta's eyes widened briefly, but he didn't drop his guard or cease his next attack, even as Rothax bent over, clutching his torso as though he were in great pain. The spines on his back began to spread apart and lengthen as he groaned with exertion... then pain.

And then, he lifted his head, his eyes wide and bloodshot, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints.

"AAaaaaaaaaaaaaa...!!!!!"

He raised his arms... And to Vegeta's utter shock, a SECOND set of arms erupted out from his armpits with two spurts of blood!

"URAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! !!!

Vegeta quickly shielded himself out of instinct, while Van was blown clear away by the sudden eruption of power as Rothax's dull blue aura blew up into a raging hellstorm that made even his own Kaio-Ken look tame! Veins bulged and injuries healed across the monstrous being's body, drool dripping from his mouth as his fangs elongated and a third row of black spines erupted down his neck and back, his spread antennae forming on either side of them and settling into what looked like some sort of wicked crown.

Rothax unleashed one final yell - no, a ROAR - as his body finished changing and his immense power settled and condensed around him, his aura like a wildfire. Vegeta could do little else than gasp in shock... Rothax was fully-healed, and his power had doubled... no, it had TRIPLED!

...And it was still rising. QUICKLY.

"Now, 'Prince,'" Rothax's deepened, distorted voice boomed, "which of us did you say was one blast away from death?"

--------------------------------

Moments before Shitagi can finally do away with Rothax once and for all, the crazed invader plays his trump card, transforming for the second time.

To make matters worse, Chita has successfully followed Zaito to the Lookout. Will our newly-empowered heroes be able to defeat Chita and make it in time to rescue Kura? Or has Rothax's deadly triple onslaught succeed in dividing and conquering the Earth's only remaining hopes for survival? Find out next time, on Dragonball SU.

[Heald]

Zaito Zhin

Zaito could barely comprehend what was going on. Having failed to retrieve the Dragonballs, he had returned to the Lookout, and now it seemed Chita had defeated Kura faster than he had thought; in fact, he thought Kura would have actually beaten her.

Chita floated above the 3 warriors, with Furuto standing just behind to ensure she did not attempt to capture Kuji. This did not seem to be the primary concern though, at least not yet; she seemed perfectly content with trying to defeat the 3 assembled warriors.

"Thought you'd escape so easily Earthling?" she smirked, noticing his stunned experession. "Or, no wait, let me guess...you- you thought that girl would defeat me!"
She began to cackle, this very much irked the three of them.
"Human, who is this and how the hell did she beat Kura?"
Zaito found it somewhat difficult for his mouth to find words but then spoke.
"She's fast. And I mean, really fast. If you blink, you die."
Basawe sized up the alien, whilst Retasu merely gave a condescending smile.
"You mean she just has a bit of speed on her? Don't tell me-"
"Shut up you insolent fools!" Chita spoke up, having finished laughing.
"It's not like me to let prey get away, but maybe if you live long enough Earthling, I might tell you how I killed her, considering you were too busy fleeing in terror to see."

Those words. Zaito looked down at his feet and bit his lip. She was right, he should have ignored Kura's attempt to get him clear of the battle and stayed, even if it meant he had died in her place. Retasu began to flex.
"Well since you've clearly lost your mettle human, I'll take the pleasure of-"

And with that Zaito's power flared.

"I won't-" he began, his muscles beginning to bulge as his power swelled,
"Let you get away with THIS!"
Before Retasu could even finish her sentence, he roared, leapt two feet in the air and disappeared from sight using his Bikokaze.

[Vengeance]

He materialised a split second later behind Chita, landing a powered punch behind into her spine. Being virtually undetectably whilst de-materialised, he figured this would give him the edge. Chita flew forward several yards as Zaito disappeared again, reappearing in front of Chita, who was unable to change direction and landed a rising knee right to her chin, before disappearing again.

Basawe and Retasu could only watch as Zaito kept this up, the wind energy he was producing a near-tornado effect, only becoming visible to the naked eye for mere nanoseconds. He landed hit after hit against Chita, before finally appearing at the edge of the zone he had been performing this in. As Chita's body flew towards him, he put his hands behind him, powering up a beam attack.
"This is for Kura, you FUCK!" he roared, firing his attack just as Chita flew into him at practically point-blank range. Chita, how, opened her eyes and, with an expression of desperation and terror, managed to curve her body around, ever so narrowly avoiding the attack as it harmlessly blasted straight into the upper atmosphere and exploded.

Zaito began panting, never having been able to exert that much energy in such a short space of time, was defence and Chita swung around, clenching his throat in her hand.
"You...insolent...SHIT! How dare you mock me you weakling!"
Her grip tightened around his throat.
"I'm going to crush you like an ant! An ant! And-"
"Sorry, but we're going to interject here!"
Retasu and Basawe flew up towards Chita who, in a rash move, threw Zaito by his throat down at them. They avoided him and carried on to move in to attack.

Zaito hit the floor the Lookout and rolled, eventually landing on his front.
"Zaito!" Furuto yelled as he ran forward to check if he was okay. Zaito got onto one knee, panting for breath.
"I'm...I'm fine...just...a bit tired from that..."
Furuto grabbed him and pulled him up.
"Zaito, if you can feel that, Kura's power signature, it's very faint but it's still there."
He blinked.
"She's...still alive? But-"
"Forget Chita! She's not going to be alive for much longer unless she gets this senzu bean! Can you make it?"
At once Zaito stood up straight.

[Time's Running Out]

He grabbed the senzu bean out of Furuto's hand.
"I'll get to her."
And with that he activated what little of his energy reserves he had left and blasted towards where he had left Kura. With Basawe and Retasu, who were now far stronger than before, and now even stronger than Zaito, keeping Chita busy, he was clear to get past. Now he just had to make sure he got there in time, concentrating hard to pick up what little of Kura's power signature there was.

[Master of Paradox]

[Van Osiku]

On occasion, those who have met Van Osiku have reported that he will not always answer to his name. This occurs most commonly when he has just emerged from a battle.

For a long time, how long was unclear, Van Osiku lay unconscious on the ruined piece of ship hull, body still and unmoving. He felt his wounds knitting as from a great distance, as if he were dreaming. The man did not wake up, even when a massive burst of energy threw him like a ragdoll a fair distance away. Somehow he did not suffer injury when he hit the ground.

Deep within his mind, Van Osiku looked at a half-finished puzzle. The pieces were scattered around him, and many of them were blank. He shifted the puzzle pieces around, trying to make sense out of the frame.

After a moment, he sighed and shook his head. For all he could see, he had three separate puzzles going at once. This made no sense, since he was only one person.

Then again...

Van had a piece of the puzzle in his hand. He took a closer look at it, turning it over and over in his hands. All it showed was a single, reptilian eye, like the eye of an alligator... or a dragon.

He turned it around, and the other side was a mirror. Only now did he see his own eyes, and how one of them had changed.

"What the..." he began, only to see that eye widen, glowing with a deep fire.

That fire burst from his eye, and Van Osiku let out a scream as it scorched his entire body...

And then his eyes opened, and he stood up, surprised at how light his body felt.

Someone... he didn't know who... stood a fair distance away, facing a horrific, ugly creature. The sense of their power was almost enough to disintegrate a weaker man, and anyone with any sense would walk away.

Van thought to himself. Not my fight. Nobody would think less of me if I turned and left right now. Why should I get involved?

Then another thought popped up in his mind: Wait. The boy... he looks like that woman from the ship. The one who died fighting... whatever it was. If I help him, he might want to avenge her...

Van smiled.

...and the two of us together might be able to kill it. And then I can get to the Dragon Balls.

So he walked towards the pair, staggering a little until he got his legs together.

The four-armed monstrosity laughed as Van approached, cracking his knuckles. "What's this? An ant interrupting a god? Why are you getting yourself killed like this?"

"Do you see this blood?" Van answered, pulling his shirt forward. "Not mine. Someone got torn to pieces with one bite. Someone who looked a lot like that guy." He gestured to the human-looking one, seeing his eyes widen. "Any connection to you?"

The alien's body language made it clear, and so Van reached for the power. The dragon answered, and Van lifted slightly off the ground, his body settling easily into its empowered form.

"Even with that boost, you are nothing compared to me," the alien said, letting his scorn flow through into his words.

Van said nothing, just looking to the human and hoping he would know what to do.

[Bear]

Hammer - At lookout, where apparently everyone has forgotten he existed

As Zaito blasted off the side of the lookout, Retasu and Basawe were left staring up at Chita, who looked a bit puzzled at her opponent's sudden departure. She took the opportunity to play a little mind game and attempt to bluff her power.

"So, he was a coward after all eh? It's a shame, you would have needed his help to even stand a chance against me." she stated confidently, crossing her arms with a grin. "Now I only get to fight two of you!"

Basawe and Retasu looked at each other for a moment, also catching up to what just happened.

"Zaito didn't really give us a chance to object. I wanted to help Kura but it looks like we need to take care of the Ugly Duckling up there first." Basawe said to Retasu, briefly ignoring Chita's taunt. Retasu frowned at the prospect of letting someone else help Kura.

"Did you not sense what was going on out there? Kura is on the brink of death. I for one will not trust her safety to the likes of an EARTHLING!" she burst angrily, quickly powering up and blasting away from the lookout at frightening speed. Basawe reached for her in futility but grasped nothing but air. With nothing but a cloud of dust in her wake, Basawe was left alone, and turned his attention finally to Chita.

"Correction: one of us." Basawe responded to her earlier comment, squaring himself up and briefly raising his power. He exuded confidence, but inside he couldn't help feeling slightly nervous.

"I hope my training in the Chamber was enough..." he muttered to himself, under his breath. Meanwhile Chita's grin turned to a sneer as she reacted to Basawe's statement.

"You are quite bold, warrior, I'll give you that. But you do not know that which you face. Your confidence will fail you before the end!" she asserted, her eyes widening as she finished and prepared to attack. And with the speed of a camera flash, she vanished...

She reappeared almost instantaneously behind Basawe, burying her fist in the middle of his back. Basawe was unable to block the attack, but the force was only enough to cause him to take one step forward. Chita's smile once again faded, and was replaced with a look of slight bewilderment.

"What!?" she exclaimed, hopping a few steps back from Basawe. The half-Saiyan slowly turned, and smiled at her.

"Please tell me that wasn't your strongest punch." he jeered, his confidence now soaring. Chita felt herself boiling, but quickly checked her emotion and settled down.

"Don't be foolish. That was simply a test to see if you were fast enough to react to my speed. Judging by the result, I'd say you clearly are not. That means you will meet the same fate that befell your full-blooded sister!" Chita mocked, her evil grin returning once more. Despite her taunts, however, Basawe's expression remained unchanged.

'You are referring to Kura? Don't bet on it. I have serious doubts that you emerged from that battle without expending a great deal of energy. Kura's strength is not easily cast aside, so I'd wager you're running low on gas right about now." Basawe countered with a verbal jab of his own.

"Attempting to call my bluff, are we? Normally I'd say that's a smart play, but I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. I'll make sure you end up with a hole in your chest even bigger than Kura's!" Chita responded, her voice growing into a shout as she powered up to battle mode. Basawe slid into a fighting stance without a word, preparing himself for whatever onslaught this creature would unleash.

...

Meanwhile, Hammer watched all of this going on, seemingly unnoticed by the pair. As he stood off to the side, gently leaning against one of the statues, he pondered the situation. He stared down at the shimmering white tiles of the Lookout floor.

The choice I must make is not ideal. Shimuto is on a rampage, and Gamma is the only one going to face him. Judging by our previous encounter, Shimuto could be far more than the Android could handle, even if he had been upgraded. This means he could be in serious danger...

Hammer then glanced over at Basawe and Chita, who had already begun to fight.

But if I leave, only Basawe remains to battle that strange woman. I have seen that Basawe is a determined and resilient fighter, but I do not know to what depths this woman's power delves. She could very well possess the strength of ten of us, which would spell doom for Basawe...

Finally, Hammer looked over at Furuto and Kuji, who were watching the fight intently.

If that were to happen, Furuto and Kuji would be nigh helpless to defend themselves, and that is a disastrous prospect for this Earth.

Hammer looked back down at the tiles, his conflicted grimace evident on his face. The decision he had to make was difficult, but necessary.

I must remain here a bit longer to observe the fight between Basawe and Chita. If things go wrong, I must be here to intervene and protect Furuto and Kuji. Unfortunately, their safety is far more important at this moment than Gamma's. He'll just have to hold off Shimuto until I can safely depart and come to his aid.

Looking back at the ongoing battle again, Hammer's brain continued cooking.

However, it looks as though the others have neglected my presence, which could prove to be a considerable advantage. I must remain vigilant, for an opportunity could present itself that may be our key to bringing this villain down. I will be ready when that time comes.

Hammer concluded his inner monologue and went back to watching the fight, which was getting more intense by the minute. Chita did not appear to be as drained as expected, but she was still not at full power and therefore Basawe was holding his own. Hammer watched closely, following their every moves, all the while trying to keep his own mind at ease.

Be cautious, Gamma...

[Blademaster]

Aaaaand suddenly the RPG is moving at a MUCH quicker pace. Very nice. Very, very nice.

Basawe

Basawe wasn't sure how this new enemy moved so quickly, but however she did it, he really wished he could borrow that power for a moment.

Within the span of a few minutes, Shitagi had run off proclaiming some sort of doomsday scenario, Zaito had returned and then left again, one of Rothax's cronies had found their hiding place, and Retasu had (predictably) left Basawe to deal with all of it by himself.

"I hope my training in the Chamber was enough..." he remarked, before adopting a fighting stance...

And suddenly feeling something hit him in the back.

"........Ow?" Basawe mumbled, almost chuckling as he realized she'd hit him with all the force of a wad of paper.

The alien woman seemed to quickly lose her composure, ranting at Basawe with a bit more vigor than seemed proper for her as he turned to face her.

"Me?" he said when she had finished, trying his best not to sound condescending (and failing). "With a hole in my chest? I doubt that... Who are you, anyway?"

"My name is Chita." she replied, her emotions suddenly a bit more stable... and proud? That's how she sounded to Basawe, anyway. "The top Lieutenant of Rothax's forces and the greatest assassin in the galaxy."

Basawe wasn't sure whether to be VERY scared or VERY relieved.

"You are the greatest assassin in the galaxy," he replied in an uncharacteristically smug tone, "and your last hit barely made me - the WEAKEST Saiyan in our race's history - even flinch."

Chita's composure vanished like an ice cube in a volcano.

"How DARE you mock me...?!" she growled, her eyes dilating. "Maybe THIS will make you flinch!"

Basawe began to reply, but suddenly he, and the world around him, slowed to a crawl. For a nanosecond, he saw Chita smirk before she vanished in a blur of afterimages.

To the left.

The right.

The left... Her hand pulled back into a fist and flew into Basawe's face.

WHUMF!

...But the force of it merely sent his head snapping back. Which was itself an interesting sensation to feel at such a sluggish speed.

But then, without warning, time's flow returned, and Basawe lost his balance. He stumbled back a few meters before righting himself, just in time to get a roundhouse kick to the side of his head. He raised his arm and blocked it with ease.

"What?" Chita growled in disbelief.

'What?' Basawe thought. 'How did I just block that? I could barely even recover before I saw it... Did the Time Chamber really do that much to enhance my power?'

It was then, as if on cue, that Basawe suddenly realized just how light he felt...

The Saiyan outcast grinned, and then punched Chita square in the nose, sending her flying into the air. In a combination of elation, confidence, and innate Saiyan bloodlust, he kicked off the ground after her and elbowed her in the back as she flew. She cried out and plummeted towards the Lookout.

FWISH!

Where Basawe stood, one fist charging with power.

"Basawe... BLITZ!!!"

Chita's eyes widened as she realized how much power was charged in the Saiyan's fist. She couldn't survive that! Mustering every last ounce of willpower she could, her eyes dilated, and time slowed to a crawl again. Even at this level, Basawe was still fast enough to speak in an audible (albeit very slow and deep) tone, and his fist continued to move. Chita was millimeters from impact when she grabbed his wrist and pulled herself, flying just past Basawe at the last possible second. Time resumed its flow once again, and Basawe's fist hit only air. He turned towards her, his charged power vanishing.

"I can't believe this." he said, actually laughing at the irony and plain ridiculousness of the situation. "I - Basawe, the disgrace of the Saiyan race - am fighting against one of the self-proclaimed strongest warriors in the galaxy. And I'm WINNING!" He really didn't mean to be so rude, but as it all sank in, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Chita

Chita was seething. This Saiyan was fighting her - Chita, the elite warrior whose foes claimed had "made lightspeed her bitch" - and he acted as if it were all a game?! Some JOKE?!

And he called himself the weakest Saiyan when his power was much greater than Kura's... Was he toying with her? He was certainly an odd one. Something about him was strange. But that didn't matter at the moment.

'Calm yourself, Chita.' she thought, forcing herself to power down. 'Whether he's truly this smug or he's just an idiot, he's expecting you to lose your patience and attack. That is not your style.'

She closed her eyes and took a breath.

'You have to focus your emotions or your Hyper-Circadian training will not work. And that is the only way you can deal with someone this powerful. Now get it together and kill him!'

"Chita," the Saiyan called, still chuckling. "are you awake? I'd like to hurry this up so I can go deal with your boss."

Chita opened her eyes.

"You're stronger than I am, to be sure," she admitted calmly, "but you are still ten-thousand light-years away from being able to engage Rothax in battle."

She raised her arm, her hand glowing with a purple-black aura resembling a spearhead. "I'll see to it personally that you never impede his plans again."

And then, her eyes dilated, and she rushed at Basawe, her power suddenly flaring, all of it channeled into her hand. She pulled back and thrust her deadly Quantum Spear into the Saiyan's chest, her eyes returning to normal at the point of impact.

Several loud cracks rang out across the Lookout. The first one was Basawe's chest armor.

The rest of them were the bones in Chita's fingers, at least 3 of which had buckled on impact. Dark purple blood dripped from a compound fracture on her middle finger.

Basawe

"AAAAAAHH!!!!" Chita cried out and fell back, clutching her hand. "You... How!?"

"Was THAT your best?" Basawe asked, raising his fists. That attack had stung.

Chita merely gawked at her new enemy in disbelief, her blood dripping and staining the pristine tiles of the Lookout.

"I thought so." Basawe replied, as he himself vanished...

WHAM!

...And kicked Chita across the face, sending her flying off the edge off the Lookout. Basawe powered up to his maximum and flew after her, punching her dozens of meters through the sky. Chita flew end over end, and Basawe pulled his hands back.

"You're mine!" he yelled, hands glowing with blue-white power. "KAAAMEEEEEEEEEE..."

Chita righted herself and turned to face Basawe. There was fear in her eyes.

"HAAAAAMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE..."

"Not today!" Chita yelled as she gathered the last scraps of her power and forced herself to concentrate... Her eyes dilated.

And then, she was gone. If Basawe squinted, he could see a tiny black figure flying away in the distance. He let his Kamehameha fade, before flaring his full power. He was ready to go after her.

"STOP." a voice called behind him.

Basawe let his power drop, turning to face the Lookout.

Hammer was standing on the edge of it, arms folded over his chest.

"Let her go for now." he instructed. "We have another, greater threat to deal with, remember?"

Basawe honestly didn't remember. Shitagi had been talking so fast he barely got any of it aside from Kura's injuries and something about-...

"Gamma...?" Basawe replied, guessing more than actually answering.

Hammer nodded. "I'll give you the details on the way there." he replied, kicking off of the Lookout and flying past Basawe. "Come on, we have to hurry!"

"But what about them?" Basawe called back, pointing to Kuji and Furuto.

Hammer stopped. It suddenly clicked that if Chita knew where the Lookout was, then Rothax soon would, as well...

"Furuto," Hammer yelled back, "take Kuji and find someplace safe to hide, quickly! Any of them could come back here in as little as a few minutes!"

"How will you find us?" Kuji asked.

"...Hide in West City." Hammer grimly replied. "They blew it up once; they likely won't see a need to do it again..."

Furuto looked ready to protest, but Kuji quickly stepped forward and nodded.

Moments later, everybody had gone their separate ways. With the Guardian of the Earth safe for the time being and Hammer and Basawe carrying a Senzu bean and a Dragonball (respectively), things seemed stable for the moment.

...That was, until the two warriors suddenly felt an obscene surge of power from somewhere far away, in the direction of Rothax's ship...

------------------------------

The table has been set. The Earth's new generation of Z Fighters is finally ready for battle, forcing Chita into a desperate retreat. But little do they know that Chita is the least of their worries...

Will our heroes' powers be enough to draw the same results from her superiors? Or do Rothax and Shimuto have yet to truly begin to fight? Find out next time, on DragonBall SU.

[Kuro Espeon]

Kura Satou ~ Somewhere on the brink...

At the moment…there was nothing but darkness.

Kura was not entirely sure where she was. Somewhere between life and death, she supposed. Her spirit suspended in a strange sort of hiatus while her physical body was deciding whether it wanted to keep fighting or simply throw in the towel. Considering the force of the blow she had received and the extreme amounts of pain inflicted, the latter option seemed almost welcome right now.

‘No…’ She thought, the stubbornness of her Saiyan blood making its presence known, ‘I can’t die yet… I won’t die yet…’ Even though she was floating somewhere in her subconscious, her motivation to keep living shone through - not for herself, but for her desire, her need, for vengeance and justice.

She coughed violently, wrenching herself back into a rather fuzzy consciousness. She was cold all over, her body almost numb. The only warmth she felt was from the blood --- her blood --- that was welling from the gaping wound in her abdomen and also filling up in a large pool in her mouth. She coughed again, expelling the thick liquid from her mouth but leaving behind its putrid taste. The lurch from her coughing fit made her suddenly more aware of the rest of her body, or whatever was left of it. With every movement she made, no matter how minor, a new wave of pain washed over her, forcing her to be still again.

Despite the struggle and concentration it was taking to merely keep herself from falling back into darkness, Kura found a way to collect her thoughts and take proper stock of her situation, the memories of the battle that had just taken place flying through her mind like a movie on fast-forward.

Fast forward… The words made her recall the sneering form of Chita and it brought a new sensation into her current mix of conflicting emotions – pure, unadulterated rage. Her fists clenched reflexively at her sides and, despite the protests of her gravely injured body, she raised one fist slightly and brought it crashing back to the ground with enough force to shatter the earth beneath it, forming a small crater.

’That….that bitch!’ Unable to form the words out loud, she let out an audible grunt of protest instead, bringing on another fit of blood-filled coughing. She mentally scolded herself. ‘Alright now, Kura, settle yourself… You’re only going to die faster this way. Keep a clear head and think about this.’

Not that there was much to think about. She was lying on the ground with a gaping hole in her chest, bleeding profusely, more than likely minutes from death. If not for her training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, she reminded herself, she probably would have simply died on impact. Although an instantaneous death might have very well been more merciful than this was. Summoning up enough strength to move her head, Kura glanced around at her disturbingly quiet surroundings. Even though her eyesight was no better than a blurry haze, she could tell that she was completely alone. ‘Chita must have gone off after Zaito or Van, deciding that I was as good as dead. Not that I can blame her for assuming…’

Her strength hanging on by a thread, Kura couldn’t tell if there were any power levels close by. She supposed her only hope at this point would be if one of the others somehow made it past Chita and found her here in time. Although she wasn’t she sure how they would be able to patch a basketball-sized hole in her miserable carcass. Resigning herself to her apparent fate, Kura laid her head back and stared straight up at the clouds that were drifting casually overhead against a backdrop of the bluest of blues. No sounds of battle, no painful cries, no bursts of power and blood-lust that had filled her life so recently. It was almost….peaceful.

‘Huh…’ she thought, her thoughts oddly calm, ‘That one cloud looks like a Dragonball…’

*dusts hands together* There. Now if someone could show up soon and save us from the existentialism, that would probably be best.

[Heald]

Zaito Zhin

Zaito was blasting at full speed to the place where he last left Kura. Her energy so weak now, and himself putting all his power into flying there as fast as he could, he could not detect her and could only hope he could get there fast enough. He did not even notice the fact that Retasu was also following hi, but so blindly speeding towards the battlefield he was that she could not hope to reach him before he got to Kura.

Suddenly, his eyes spotted her. It was faint from the skies, but it was definitely her. He dropped from the skies instantly and landed hard near her, running the rest of the way.

At first, he thought he was too late. She seemed lifeless. He fell next to her, clutching her body and cradling her in his arms. The wound was severe, and he began to fear for the worst.

Then, all of a sudden, she coughed and opened her eyes slowly. Her pupils came to focus on Zaito's eyes and, to Zaito's huge surprise, she weakly smiled, heartwarming to Zaito, even with a trail of blood trickling from the side of her mouth. She opened it to speak, but Zaito quickly spoke over her.
"Don't speak, just eat this senzu bean."
He got it out of his pocket and carefully placed it on her tongue.

Her body broken but her spirit still burning strong, she chewed the bean in her mouth, before very slowly swallowing the morsels. She then closed her eyes again. Zaito heard a noise and looked up - Retasu had now landed a few metres away from them, looking a mixture of angered and concerned. She looked almost offended by the sight of a fallen Saiyan warrior being cradled by a weak human, one who thought himself the one to save her life, and she opened her mouth.
"Hu-"

[Recovery of an Elite Warrior]

And then they both felt it. Kura's eyes burst open with life and Zaito felt life rushing through her body. Not just life, but energy. He relinquished his grip and stood up, Kura now sitting up in a state of both shock and rejuvenation. The hole in her chest began rapidly repairing itself, as well. She got to her feet and an energy wave emanated from her body, causing Retasu to lift an arm to cover her face and knocking Zaito from his feet onto his backside. She began touching the area where the wound was, now completely healed, and she smiled as yet another wave of energy coursed through her. Retasu was astonished at how much power her friend now had, whilst Zaito began laughing, both happy at Kura's recovery from near-death and the fact she had now grown far more powerful.

She left off one more wave of energy before calming herself down, although no less at full power. She turned to face Zaito, who was still sitting on the ground.
"Thank you Zaito," she smiled.
Zaito grinned and spoke up,
"I-"
And then it hit him; what had kept him going this entire time was the fact that he needed to defend against danger, and to save or avenge a life. Now, for a fleeting moment, they had a moment of peace, and his body had maxed itself out, having over-exerted himself to speed himself to Kura's side. He closed his eyes and with a smile on his face, fell backwards.

---

Zaito is still alive, but he cannot expend that much energy and not feel it, so he'll be out, at least until someone heals him or whatever. Furuto or Kuji are prime choices, since they can actually heal.

---

Shimuto

Shimuto could sense something was not all it should be. He looked around and could not sense a single life form, but he was never usually wrong about these things - he knew how many fighters were on this planet working against Shimuto, the fact that not even one had turned up to challenge him was perhaps just a coincidence, but the utter unease he felt at this moment in time, he knew something was not right.

He heard a sound behind him, unmistakeably the sound of someone landing behind him. He spoke up.
"I've met warriors who have managed to conceal themselves from me in one way or another," he spoke up. He turned around and faced the warrior in front of him, who seemed to fearlessly stare straight at him, not caring for his words.
"But to meet one who is seemingly devoid of life whatsoever, that-"
He said, now frowning at this pink-haired warrior,
"Is not something I can tolerate."
The warrior still did not react to him words.

"I am sure - though I could be wrong - that you are curious as to why I differ from the rest of Rothax's men. Why they all seemed to wear armour and use scouters, whereas I can sense life wherever it can be found."

The warrior began to power-up. Whatever the explanation for Shimuto's reasons, it did not seem he was going to let him finish. Shimuto smiled at the android's eagerness.

"I see you are in no mood to talk. And I'm sure you haven't noticed how I've...decorated the place."

[The Cult of Blood]

It had not escaped the android's notice, but even he had to take one more glance around. Hundreds of the local population of this town had been ornately butchered and staked into the walls and ground by peculiar, ivory-like blades and spears. In each of them, the same symbol had been carved into their skin, a triskele-esque motif. In the centre of the square around which he had arranged these bodies, he had painted the same symbol in blood. The strange thing - Shimuto's white robes were completely unstained. Whatever he was doing, it was not mindless killing but something far more sinister, perhaps all the more reason for Gamma to kill Shimuto where he stood. As he stepped forward, readying an attack, Shimuto raised two arms. From either side of him, two bodies staked into the ground through their backs had the stakes pulled straight from them, flying into Shimuto's hands. They turned out to be very fine swords made of a kind of bone, but they looked no less sharp and, in the hands of a skilled butcher like Shimuto, they could be very deadly Gamma charged Shimuto and, likewise, Shimuto flew towards Gamma.

---

And so Gamma and Shimuto finally lock into battle. Gamma, being undetectable and perhaps slightly stronger than Shimuto, may possibly have the upper hand. But Shimuto is a very calculating, very ruthless fighter who will not prove easy to defeat. Furthermore, his exoskeleton is naturally hard to penetrate. Good luck...

[Master Rudy]

Shitagi Summers (AKA Prince Vegeta)
Hope Fades......
------
This can't be happening......

Mere moments ago I was actually stronger than Rothax and nearly had this nightmare over with. Then out of nowhere Rothax actually stabbed himself in the chest. By the time I figured out what he was doing it was already too late: whatever it was that Rothax had injected himself with had turned him into an even bigger monster than he was before. I wasn't even worried about his appearence or the extra set of arms. What caught my attention more than anything was that this had fully healed him and at the very least tripled his power. In fact as far as I could tell it was still rising!

I now regreted breaking my scouter in my fit of anger. While it was likely the surge would have broken it anyway I seriously needed to know exactly what I was dealing with here. By my best estimate his power level had to be at least over 100,000 now. I could close the gap with Kaio-Ken but my big fear was using higher levels. I knew how my body responded in training but I didn't know how things would go if this turned into a prolonged battle and forced me into using the higher levels. I knew that my normal Kaio-Ken had little risk since I had mastered the skill. However higher levels ran the risk of increased injuries and fatigue. I could close the gap with the third level and MAYBE equal or surpass him with the fourth. However I dreaded to think of how things would go if I had to use five times my normal power and didn't even want to consider what may happen to my body if I had to push even harder than that.

My mind was racing. Ok.....enough worrying about the Kaio-Ken. I'll cross that bridge when I get there. I knew I didn't have much time before Rothax went on the offensive so I did the best I could to size him up quickly. Well his armor is gone. Provided my attacks can actually hurt him I might be able to do some real damage. Once I made that observation I grimly noted that if it wasn't for his armor saving him last time that this would be all over. Next I noticed his size. He's bigger now. If he's bigger then he's bound to be......

Almost on cue Rothax let out some kind of battle cry. I didn't know if a shriek or a roar described it better but no matter what it was he was now coming at me with an unreal amount of speed. Getting a sense of what was about to happen I pushed Van to the side before bringing forth every bit of power I could.

"KAIO-KEN TIMES TWO!!"

With a quick burst I attempted to jump out of the way of an attack that would have surely beheaded me had it hit fully on target. It missed it's mark but a sudden pain in my right arm told me that he didn't miss fully. Looking at my forearm as I let my power boost fade I saw he had torn through my bodysuit and cut me with his claws. Thankfully the cut was fairly shallow and it wasn't bleeding seriously.

Ok then......he's not any slower!

At that point I heard a low laugh as Rothax's deepened voice hit my ears. "I really hope that isn't the best you can do Vegeta. Deep down I actually enjoy these battles with you. It'd be a shame if it ended quickly." Despite my own worry over the current situation all I could do was scoff at this. "This coming from the guy who looked like he felt fear for the first time in his life mere moments ago?" I asked. Turning to face him I said "I think you only enjoy it when you're sure of your victory." With that I let out a shout and rushed Rothax.

"KAIO-KEN!"

It maybe wasn't the best of ideas to get into melee range with a guy that had four arms without powering up a bit more. However if I was going to come up with a plan I needed to start seeing how he moved while conserving enough energy to be able to act later. As I got into range I let out just about every kind of punch and kick I could. Just as I was expecting everything got blocked and there seemed to be no openings at all. After about a minute of this he eventually used his lower hands to grab my legs. It happened so quickly that I didn't even see it happen. I tried to react to this but before I could do so he already had his upper hands around my arms. Oh boy.....this really is NOT good! I thought in a panic as I tried to figure out just how the hell I was going to get out of this one.

Suddenly from out of nowhere I saw Van out of the corner of my left eye attempt a counter. Before he could land a punch however Rothax had let go of my left arm and without turning his head had backhanded Van and knocked him away. Just when I was getting worried about what he was about to do to me Rothax made the mistake of turning to face Van without grabbing me again. "Wait your turn Human! I promise you I'll be done with the Saiyan soon enough!" With my left arm free I did the only thing that came to mind at that point.

I fired a ki blast right into Rothax's left eye.

The alien let out a scream as I no doubt permanently blinded him in that eye. However to my dismay instead of releasing me his arm instantly came back and grabbed my hand again. I could see his blue blood trickling down his face as he turned back to face me again. I was expecting rage over my last act. Instead the look on his face seemed to suggest that Rothax was actually.....calm. That more than anything made me nervous. It scared me even more when the tone of his voice was just as calm. "One would think I'd be angry over this but I'm not really" he said. "To be honest in this form I don't really need my eyesight as much. I'm sure you saw how I backhanded your friend without even looking. Of course you know what they say Vegeta......'an eye for an eye.'" My heart begain to race at the prospect of him blinding me as well. Instead he simply started flying full speed while I was still in his grasp. It was at this point that Rothax finally let his anger explode.

"IN THIS CASE HOWEVER I WILL PAY YOU BACK TEN FOLD!!!!"

I had to admit that part of me was morbidly curious as to what he had planned as I turned to look behind me. I instantly wished I hadn't as I saw that Rothax was getting ready to impale me on a spearlike outcropping of rocks along the side of a mountain. I did what I could to get free but it was just no use. Rothax started to let out the laugh of a madman as a messy end for me was fast approaching. I was half ready to stop fighting and just let it happen when the voice that told me not to destroy Rothax's ship came back to my mind.

You have no choice Shitagi! Kaio-Ken times six RIGHT NOW! It may leave you slightly winded but I've been watching. Your body will hold up! Just don't fight him head on with that level!

I knew without a doubt now that it was my mother's voice. Deep down I felt like I was slowly going crazy but now was not the time to worry about possible insanity. Bringing forth as much power as I could I let out a scream and watched Rothax's face turn to pure shock.

"KAIO-KEN TIMES SIX!!!!!!"

At the last possible moment I managed to halt Rothax's forward movement just as I felt the point of the rock in my back. Heeding the advice I had recieved I drew my arms and legs in with my now higher power level and broke his grip easily. Rather than attack Rothax head on I thrust my hands and feet out in all directions and let loose a wave of ki that destroyed the rocks behind me and sent Rothax flying back slightly. Letting my Kaio-Ken fade back down back to it's normal level I was about to counter when I suddenly had Rothax back on me with his blazing speed once more. With no time to react all I could do was be glad that I dropped that level of Kaio-Ken quickly as he drove one of his lower fists right into my side. I felt a few of my ribs crack as I coughed up blood from the blow. The look on Rothax's face after the hit told me that the new prototype gi had absorbed much of the impact as he clearly looked as if he was expecting that blow to do more. Out of disgust he grabed me and threw me back towards the area where Van was.

I managed to get my feet under me and turned the wild throw into a skid as I stopped next to Van. While I was still standing at this point I didn't know how long I could keep this up. I was already slightly winded from the Kaio-Ken that saved my life but the addition of busted ribs was making it tough to breathe. If I kept using no higher than the second level and only used the third and fourth in very short bursts when I felt I had an opening then it was possible that I might last long enough for some kind of help to show up. As I reached out and felt the various battles however I knew that for awhile at least it was going to be just me and Van. Rothax himself was slowly making his way towards us. "You continue to surprise me Vegeta." he said in a tone that almost seemed to have admiration. "You think fast on your feet, apparently have the ability to develop cloth that is as tough as armor and can even match my power level in short bursts. I'll give you a chance out of this and even forgive you for the loss of my eye if you accept. I need people such as yourself. You could be an amazing leader among my men. If you join me all you would have to do is trick your friends into giving you the final Dragon Balls. I'd even be willing to spare this planet despite all the trouble it's caused me." I remained silent for a moment and kept a serious expression on my face before saying "Well when you put it that way the right answer becomes so obvious." Out of the corner of my eye I could see a look of shock on Van's face as he seemed to believe I was seriously considering the offer. However I was sure that my next action quickly got rid of any doubts he had as I pulled my hands back without warning and thrust them forward again just as fast.

"KAMEHAMEHA!"

The attack had zero power behind it so I didn't have to worry about draining myself. More than anything it was an act of defiance that was designed to show Rothax that there was no way in hell I'd be joining him. Despite standing there looking unamused I could hear a hint of regret in his voice as he spoke. "It's a shame you have to oppose me each step of the way. You are one of the first worthy opponents I've come across in a long time and apparently you're going to leave me with no choice but to kill you."

As Rothax started to gather his power to get the fight moving again Van asked me "So what's the plan right now?" Despite the grim situation and the fact that it would hurt to do so I couldn't help but chuckle at that question. "A plan.....yeah I've got one" I said with a hint of a weak smile. "Right now it's just stay alive!"
------

Hope you don't mind the blinding too much Blade. I figured with the description of Rothax's new form and his enhanced ability to sense motion, sound and ki that losing an eye would be more of a painful annoyance than an actual game changing injury for him. To recap the injuries:

Shitagi-Minor cuts on right forearm, cracked ribs with minor internal bleeding, fatigue starting to set in from a high level Kaio-Ken, would consider him about 90% and slowly dropping
Van-Aside from getting backhanded nothing too major, figure about 90%
Rothax-Loss of left eye, otherwise he's in near perfect condition, 95%

Also a recap on how Kaio-Ken currently stacks up to Rothax:
Base KK: I think it's safe to say this is Shitagi's normal state now, won't give him to power to do decent damage to Rothax but it'll give him a little more speed for getting the hell out of the way
X2: still a wide gap, Shitagi would take more damage from a hit in this state
X3: slightly below Rothax, would lead to more fatigue
X4: equal to Rothax, would put strain on existing wounds
X5: slightly above Rothax but would drain Shitagi too quickly if he was forced into using it for a prolonged period
X6: purely a defensive level, the situation would get bad quickly if Shitagi was forced to attack or took a hit at this level.

Tag to either Blade or MoP.....oh and Blade provided you don't kill, disable or permanently maim/cripple Shitagi feel free to tear into him next post ^_~

[Master of Paradox]

(Sorry about stealing your gimmicks here, Blade.)

-Last time on Dragon Ball: Spirit Unleashed...

The New Kai Warriors finally emerge from the Hyberbaric Time Chamber, only to find their ally Zaito with grave news about events in the outside world! Before they can react to this, they learn that their other ally Kura was grieviously wounded in battle with Rothax's lieutenant Chita! Zaito rushes to save her life, as the other Kai Warriors move in other directions to deny Rothax valuable resources, and to assist Gamma, who prepares to battle Rothax's other lieutenant Shimuto.

Meanwhile, in the outside world, Victoria Son Summers is dead, killed by Rothax's vicious, monstrous "pet". Her son Shitagi arrives too late to save her, but in time to save Van Osiku, who escaped with severe injuries. As Rothax himself arrives, Shitagi launches a desperate attack - only to trigger Rothax's transformation into an even greater form.

Though Shitagi has tapped into untold power, and Van is channeling his strongest form, they are still not even close to equalling Rothax's might. Can they hope to last long enough for the others to arrive, or will their lives be sacrifices in this most desperate battle?-

[Van Osiku]

There is a place near Satan City where the grass does not grow, and has not grown since before the city was built.

Van hovered a few feet off the ground, feeling the energy crackle through him as he assessed the battle. The boy - Vegeta, he called himself - had managed to wound Rothax, but at the same time it could not be called a wound. Although the alien had lost the sight in one eye, it had not stopped him from knocking Van away.

So he bided his time, listening to the offer (and never for a moment believing Vegeta would take the alien up on it), and watching the melee that resulted. As Vegeta fell back, Van quietly asked, "So what's the plan right now?"

"Stay alive," came the unhelpful answer.

"I'm all for that," Van replied, gathering his power. He thought through the next few moments, playing different battle strategies in his head.

They all ended with his body torn asunder.

Then he saw a flash of an unfamiliar fighting stance, and a set of moves resulting from it. He went with it.

In one fluid motion, Van slid into the stance - his left leg pulled back and turned to his left, his right leg forward, his right arm extended with the palm out, and his left arm held above his head. In his mind, he played through the next few steps.

Rothax tilted his head and muttered, "What do you think you're playing at?"

Van launched, hands flashing out and striking at his foe. The blows swung in from odd angles, body contorting and twisting in odd shapes. This was the first time in a long time he'd used his old attacks, and from the new stance they felt oddly comfortable.

To his dismay, Rothax blocked every one, even ones that came from his "blind side". In several cases, his four arms were in the way before Van's attacks even got there. Sparks of energy flew into the air with every attack, Van letting more of his power flow into his limbs, but he just couldn't move fast enough to break Rothax's guard.

At that point, Rothax lifted his hands and charged up four balls of energy. "Thank you for the dance," he said as the energy hissed in the air, "but I think I've seen enough."

And he fired, the beams placed so close together that Vegeta would not see Van amongst them.

When they died down, Van was untouched, the bloodstained shirt not even singed. He glanced to Vegeta.

And the two launched themselves at Rothax, limbs blurring and the air snapping from the speed of their attacks. Every attack they made, Rothax countered, the ground starting to show burn marks from impact.

As one, the two from Earth fell back, and Vegeta took a familiar pose, channeling his ki into his hands. He let it loose with a ringing, "KAMEHAMEHA!"

The air shuddered as the raw energy blew across the landscape, and Rothax watched it come at him. He held out his hands, and they swung out, unleashing a burst of ki. The two energy attacks wavered and canceled each other out.

To Rothax's side, however, Van had taken to the air. Just as Rothax realized this, Van drew his arms back, taking a deep breath.

In a voice that sounded like him and not like him at the same time, Van spoke: "Shal-Kirath Tide!"

Five waves of energy burst out of Van's hands as his arms snapped forward, buffeting Rothax one after the other. Before they were finished, spirals of energy spun up Van's arms, and he snapped them down into his enemy.

Smoke hid the results as Van landed, cracking his knuckles. He silently wondered how much of the dragon's energy he had just expended.

The smoke cleared, and Rothax glared with his one good eye from the center of a glass plain. Scorch marks marred his chest and stomach, but otherwise he seemed as strong as before.

"So much for underestimation," he muttered, dusting off his chest. "There's more strength than I gave you credit for in that frail body of yours. Now..." And he straightened out. "We'll play for keeps."

Van sighed, moving back into his stance, not sure how much time he had left. Once the power left him, he and Vegeta would be at death's door.

-Shitagi and Van continue their two-on-one fight for survival against the powerful Rothax! Even though they can damage him, their power is nothing compared to his, and Van's power is on a running timer! How long will it last, and will they make it out alive when it runs out?

Find out on the next Dragon Ball: Spirit Unleashed!