#Orek | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jazzystudios82 · 5 months ago

Text

His Lovely Rose - Chapter 23: Frieza Beaten

WARNING: This chapter contains gore, violence, and potential disturbing imagery.

Previous. . . . Next Story. . . .

——————————————————————————

Brier watched Vegeta and Frieza in the middle of their stand-off. It was like watching two rival gunslingers waiting for the other to draw their weapon in those films Kero likes so much. Though it was unclear if the "hero" would be able to defeat the "villain" in this unscripted battle.

"Sorry Frieza, but I can't let you kill Kakarot." Vegeta said. Brier blinked in surprise. Did Vegeta have a soft spot for Goku after all? "As annoying as he may be, I need him in my life so that I can have someone always pushing me to get stronger." he added.

Ah, so that was why. It made more sense actually.

"You. . .how dare you, you mongrel?! You coward!" Frieza shouted, angry at having been robbed of his moment.

'Coward? Says the one taking cheap shots. . .' Brier thought to herself, annoyed. Releasing a sigh, Brier outstretched her right arm and used magic to bring Goku's weakened body to her and the others. As soon as Goku's body made it to the group, Bulma and the Z-Fighters gathered around him.

"Dad, are you ok?!" Gohan exclaimed.

"Back up everyone." Brier commanded. "He needs room." Everyone nodded and backed away. "S-Sorry about making you do this, L-Lady Brier." Goku said, apologetic. "I-I screwed up big time, huh?"

"It's fine, Son Goku. Though I'm afraid Whis did try to warn you about something like this happening. So you should probably be more concerned with him." Brier told him.

Goku looked at Whis for a reaction. As always, Whis didn't seem to care.

Brier then gently placed her hands on Goku's chest and said, "laeH!" In a matter of seconds, the Saiyan's body was healed of its life-threatening injury.

Goku almost immediately sat up straight, alarming the others (except Beerus, Whis, and Brier). "Goku, take it easy!" Piccolo told him. "Relax! I'm fine! Looks like Lady Brier's magic works as well as the Senzu Beans!"

Upon seeing that his father was fine, Goten immediately hugged him. "D-Dad! I-I was so scared!" he cried. "Hey, it's ok bud. I'm alive, aren't I?" Goku said, attempting to calm his youngest son.

Before anyone else could speak, a loud blast was heard. Brier looked to see that Vegeta and Frieza were now fighting one another, and that the one known as 'Sorbet' had been shot in the chest, and was almost dying. Whether he was shot by Vegeta or Frieza during the battle was unclear to her, but she didn't care. It was when he made a weak attempt to shoot Vegeta that she decided that she had enough.

He needed to be taken care of now.

Brier then snapped her fingers and let out a low whisper, "emoC, oreK! Kcatta!" Suddenly, the ground beneath Sorbet turned blood red. Before Sorbet could react, his entire body was ensnared in the massive jaw of a cream colored wolf with glowing ochre colored eyes being pushed back into the sockets of its exposed white skull. The demonic wolf, Kero, was chomping on the now limp, bloody body of the former commander of the Frieza Force. It was such a disturbing sight that Bulma and Gohan made sure to cover the eyes of Trunks and Goten respectively. Pretty much everyone was disgusted by it, except for Beerus and Whis. They had seen this before, therefore they were used to it.

The giant wolf swallowed the remnants of Sorbet's body and licked his lips. He then looked at Brier, ignoring the others.

"Is this all that you called me for, my lady?" Kero asked, his voice booming like Shenron's. "Yes, that's all. I just needed you to take care of a pest for me. You can go back home if you wish." Brier said. "Although I wouldn't mind if you wanted to stay and meet everyone."

"Hmmmm. . . It's probably best that I go." Kero said. His eyes glanced at the others for a brief moment, startling them. "After all, it seems that the Earthlings don't want to be near me. Perhaps another time, with me in a more. . .comfortable form for them to comprehend."

"If that's what you want, then that's fine. We'll see you soon." Brier said as she bid him goodbye. The void-like portal that led Kero to Earth vanished as soon as his giant wolf head disappeared. As soon as he left, Gohan and Bulma allowed Trunks and Goten to see again. The only one who had the courage to ask Brier who that was was none other than Bulma herself.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Bulma exclaimed. "Him? That was Kero." Brier replied, nonchalant. "Kero. . .? Wait, isn't that the same name as Whis' co-worker?!" Bulma asked. "Are you telling me that that thing is the guy that is the same person Whis thought about bringing over for a party?!"

"Co-worker? I suppose that you can call him that." Brier replied. "Though he's technically my familiar, and-" "Familiar?! Is that a fancy way of saying a 'pet' or something?!" Bulma nearly shouted. "No. A familiar is a daemon who is in a contract with a god or goddess." Brier explained. Brier hoped that Bulma was done asking follow up questions. But alas, she wasn't.

"If you had something like that, why didn't you use him against Frieza?! We all could have-" "Ms Bulma, like what my husband said earlier, we're not really allowed to intervene in mortal affairs." Brier said. "What? Then why did you have that wolf eat that guy?!" Bulma questioned.

"It's simple. He annoyed me, and I decided to get rid of him." Brier answered with slight cold tone. This comment made Bulma slightly scared of the goddess. In fact, nearly all of the Z-Fighters were a little disturbed by it. Brier seemed like such a kind-hearted being that it seemed impossible to even imagine that she didn't care about taking the life of another person. Even if they worked for a bad guy.

"Are we finished now?" Brier asked, seemingly back to her regular mood. She then patiently waited for Bulma to answer. "I-"

An electric blue glow appeared from behind the goddess. "?" She turned around to see that Vegeta had transformed into Super Saigon Blue as well, having the same characteristics that Goku had prior.

"I-I don't believe it!" Brier heard Frieza shout, sounding shocked. She watched as the Saiyan Prince descended to the soil of the Earth with a smirk on his face. "Things have changed the last time you were around. For starters, I can now do this." Vegeta said. Frieza gritted his teeth in anger as Vegeta got closer. The tyrant then shot at Vegeta with an energy blast, but it had no effect. "?!"

Brier could tell that this was pushing Frieza over the limit as he continued to shot at the Saiyan. "NO! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!" he yelled. "You of all people should know about me: I don't share the same taste for forgiveness like Kakarot does! You're going back to Hell!" Vegeta declared. He flew straight towards Frieza and punched him in the abdomen, causing him to cough up a mixture of purple colored blood and saliva.

Vegeta avoided Frieza's attempts to punch him, using his newfound speed to attack the one who caused him so much pain. To rob him of his right to be king.

Vegeta used an excessive amount of force to kick Frieza's calf. The kick was so strong that he could hear the sound of bone shattering. It was obvious that Frieza's leg was now broken. Vegeta watched as the space lizard cried out in pain. To say that this made him feel a small amount of victory already was putting it lightly. But he knew that his fight wasn't over yet.

"Give it up Frieza. You don't stand a chance against the true power of a Saiyan God!" Vegeta said.

"It's simply not possible for me to be defeated by the likes of you Vegeta! It won't happen!" Frieza shouted. He made an attempt to stand, but was quick to remember what Vegeta did to his leg. He fell to the dirt once more, and to make matters worse, Frieza's golden form vanished, meaning that he was now in his original form once more. "!" Frieza tried to move away from Vegeta, but due to his injuries, he did make it very far.

"Woah, look at that! He's lost his golden form!" Krillin nearly exclaimed. "I guess this means that he's completely at Vegeta's mercy now." Piccolo commented as well. "Yeah. Sucks to be him, I guess." Goku said.

"How. . .how could this have happened?!" Frieza began to shout. "OUT OF ALL THE BEINGS IN THE UNIVERSE, THE ONE WHO GOT THE BETTER OF ME WAS VEGETA?! THIS IS NOT THE WAY THIS ENDS!" "Hmph. At least try to face your death with a shred of honor." Vegeta said with a cold smile. He then outstretched his right arm once more and was preparing an energy blast just for Frieza.

He had waited a long time for this. "And don't ever dream of resurrecting again."

"You. . .YOU CAN ALL GO TO HELL WITHOUT M-" Before Frieza could finish his sentence, a black circle appeared under his body, turning into a dark void instantaneously. Slimy ink-like tendrils formed around the tyrant and forcefully dragged him into the void, covering his mouth to prevent him from screaming. And just like that, Frieza was gone.

Everyone was stunned by what happened. Especially Vegeta.

'Was this some kind of new trick Frieza learned? To escape from his enemies?. . .' Vegeta wondered. He felt around for Frieza's energy to see if he was going to attempt a sneak attack of sorts. But he didn't sense anything. It appeared that Frieza was truly gone.

"Woah, what was that Vegeta?" Goku asked, he and the others going to the Saiyan Prince. "Did Whis teach you some kind of secret technique or something?"

"What? No, he didn't. I thought that Frieza had some kind of new escape tactic. Unless. . .Lady Brier, did you use magic to get rid of him?" Vegeta questioned, causing everyone to look at the goddess.

"N-No, I didn't. Believe me, I'm as shocked as you are." Brier answered honestly. "Although from the looks of it, Frieza didn't seem to have known about this. . .thing that took him, so it was most likely against his will."

"So you're saying that someone kidnapped Frieza?" Gohan asked. "Either that or perhaps Vegeta was right and he used a new method to escape. Or at least, a surviving member of his army did." Brier said.

"So then. . .does this mean that Frieza can come back?" Trunks asked. "Most likely, I'm afraid." Brier answered.

Everyone began to worry about the potential return the evil emperor, but Beerus decided to break their scared silence. "Oh relax! Even if he does come back, I'm sure that all of you will get stronger in the meantime. That is if you still want to protect Earth anyway."

"Of course we do! Why wouldn't we?!" Piccolo nearly shouted, but then remembered that he was speaking to a god. Luckily for him, Beerus didn't seem to care. "Good, then you can all worry about this for another day." he added.

"I hate to say it, but Lord Beerus is right. We should be happy that Earth's been spared for today." Bulma said. "Let's have a get-together at my place. What do all say?" Pretty much everyone nodded their heads.

As everyone began to get ready, Brier felt an odd presence nearby. "?" She looked around to see where it was coming from. Then her ruby eyes noticed a peculiar bird resting on a nearby tree. It was that damned crow from Bulma's birthday party. What the hell is it doing back here?

"-r? Brier?" The goddess turned around to see Whis and Beerus looking at her. "Darling, is something wrong?" Beerus asked. "What do you mean? You don't see the. . ." When she went to look back at the bird, Brier saw that it was gone. "That's odd." she mumbled, which the two men heard.

"What is, my lady?" Whis asked.

". . .You know what? It's been a long day, I'm probably just a little tired and seeing things." Brier replied, hoping that she was right. The Titan then walked with Beerus and Whis to follow the others to Capsule Corp for a celebration.

Location: Unknown Planet. . . .

Frieza roughly landed on the ground of a dark and cold room. Well, more specifically on something hard and boney. The sudden fall made the sharp pain in his broken leg worse. "Argh!! Who's the one that brought me here?! Just so you know, I'm NOT in a generous mood today!" Frieza yelled, his voice echoing across the vast room. His blood red eyes looked around for any source of light he could find and use so that he could get out. He didn't find any, it was just a vast darkness all around him.

Frustrated, Frieza created a small red energy orb with his finger to use a as a light source. And the first thing he saw was a wrinkled, lifeless body of what appeared to be a Namekian, who had a forever horrified look on his smelly decomposing face.

"!"

Frieza backed away in a panic, his back colliding into something. Or rather someone, given how soft it was. Frieza turned around to see a cloaked figure behind him. He couldn't see their face properly due to their face being partially obscured by their hood.

"W-Who are you?!" the tyrant shouted. "Tell me at once, you bastard!" "Oh my, you're a feisty one, aren't you~?" the hooded person said as a response, his voice rich and melodic. Like a siren. His voice strangely somehow managed to soothe Frieza just a little bit.

"I apologize for startling you, good sir. It wasn't my intention. And for the mess of the place. I haven't had guests for some time." the stranger said. He snapped his fingers and a strange mist appeared, getting rid of the Namekian body, and several skeletons that were nearby. When the mist disappeared, he muttered something in a language that Frieza couldn't understand. Whatever it was, it resulted in his leg healing.

"There you go. Hope you're feeling better now."

Frieza stood up from the ground and dusted himself off. "Who. . .who are you?" Frieza asked once more, this time more relaxed. "A possible new ally of yours, I hope." the stranger said. He then noticed the small light from Frieza's finger and chuckled, which sent a shiver down Frieza's spine. A pleasant one actually. "There's no need for that, anymore." he said as he then raised a hand up in the air, creating a white hot flame that flew to several chandeliers on the ceiling. This lit up the room properly. Frieza looked at the stranger to see if he could finally see what he looked like.

Frieza couldn't see the upper half of his face, only the mouth area. From what he could tell, the hooded figure had skin as white as porcelain, and cupid bow lips that were colored a deep shade of pink, and near the left side of his lips was a dark beauty mark. Even though he couldn't see the entirety of his face, Frieza could tell that this man was a rather attractive individual, like Zarbon was when he was alive and in his primary form.

"Is there something odd about me, Lord Frieza?" he asked. "You're staring." "!" Frieza couldn't believe that he was caught staring. This was not like him. This wasn't like him at all.

"M-My apologies, Mr. . .?"

"Right, I never did tell you my name did? I'll fix that soon enough." the stranger said as a black ink-like portal appeared behind him, allowing a half-skeletal crow to enter in the room and fly to the hooded figure and gently land on his left shoulder. Frieza's eyes widened in surprise at the sight. It was similar to the one that brought him here. "Wait, are you the one who saved me from meeting my demise?" Frieza asked.

"Yes, I am. I've had my eye on you for a while now, and I believe that you and I can be beneficial to each other for our. . .respective goals, to say the least." the stranger said, not minding the fact that the crow was now resting on his shoulder. "I have an offer to make, if you're interested that is."

Frieza raised a 'brow' in suspicion. "As intriguing as that is. . .I would still like to know your name before we talk about your 'offer'."

"Oh! Right! Of course." the hooded figure said. "How rude of me. A thousand apologies, good sir. I'm called 'Montsechia'. Though you can just call me 'Monty' for now. Does that sound good?"

"I suppose it'll do. Now tell me, uh Monty, how do you plan on helping me?" Frieza asked. Monty smiled and said, "Oh, I'm so glad that you asked~." He stood up and led Frieza to a nearby table with two chairs that seemed to have been made from bone and silver. Where Monty got the bones from, Frieza didn't really want to know. But then again, it's not like he wasn't capable of performing disturbing acts himself.

Frieza sat in his chair and waited for his savior to do the same. Upon sitting down, Monty snapped his fingers and it resulted in a bottle of wine and two crystal clear glasses to appear in front of the two. "Would you like a drink?" he asked. "It's chilled."

"I suppose." Frieza answered.

Monty placed the glasses on the table and poured the dark red liquid in both of the glasses. He gave Frieza a glass and took a sip from his. Frieza looked at the contents of the glass. He sniffed it to see if there was something wrong with it. He didn't smell anything wrong, but that didn't mean that Monty didn't try anything. It could contain an odorless poison that could kill him in an instant.

"Is something on your mind, Lord Frieza?" Monty asked. "Did you put anything in this? Such as a poison that only affects its intended target?" Frieza questioned, acting as if Monty was a criminal in an interrogation room. And Monty reacted in a way Frieza didn't expect: he laughed. Frieza waited for him to stop so he can get his answer.

"Oh my. . .You're not one to trust easily, are you?" Monty joked, having calmed down.

"After what I've been through, of course not!" Frieza nearly shouted.

Monty laughed once more at Frieza's little outburst, revealing a pair of sharp white fangs that glistened in the light from the white hot fire. "Oh, you truly are going to be fun to have around." he said, which caused Frieza to become embarrassed. What the hell is that supposed to mean?

After composing himself, Monty said, "Answer me this: Why would I save you only to then poison you? It'd be a waste, wouldn't it?"

". . ."

"Aw, what's wrong, Lord Frieza? Cat got your tongue?~"

Frieza said nothing as he took a sip from his glass. He was pleasantly surprised by the taste. How did someone who lived in such. . .morbid and decrepit area have such a fine tasting wine like this? Frieza cleared his throat and said, "Well, I can see now that you mean no. . .physical harm. So tell me: why do you need my help with whatever it is that you're planning?"

Monty placed his glass back on the table, and let out a sigh. "Well, normally I wouldn't need outside help, but I'm not exactly as great as I used to be back in my prime."

In his prime? Just how old was this man?! Frieza thought he was a relatively young man, since he seemed to have smooth skin and sounded like he was barely a day over twenty. Maybe he belonged to an alien race that aged slowly or stopped aging at a certain point in their life.

"I'm building an army. And I need a right hand man to help me with the process." Monty said honestly. Frieza blinked in surprise. "You want me as your right hand man? And what makes you think that I wish to follow you?"

"Oh please, haven't you ever heard of the phrase, 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours'? If you help me build an army and take back what belongs to me, then I'll help you make the Frieza Empire the greatest force in the entire universe. I can make you the most fearsome being this solar system has ever seen and no one will ever question your rule." Monty said with a grin. "And all you have to so is help me, and everything that you desire will be yours. What do you say?"

Frieza took a minute to think it over. There had to be more to this deal, right? It sounded too good to be true after all. But if he wanted to take down Goku and his friends, then he's going to need all the help he's going to get, especially if he wanted to be Emperor of the Universe. Besides, if this "Monty" proved to be troublesome in the future, he could always just kill him.

Frieza took another sip from his wine, and after placing the now cool glass on the table, outstretched his hand for Monty to take.

"Very well, Monty. You've captured my interest. You have yourself a deal."

Location: Planet Earth, Capsule Corp. . . .

Brier took a sip from her wine glass as she watched everyone chatting amongst themselves. She herself wasn't in the mood to interact with anyone, for she was mentally drained and wanted to go back home to rest. The goddess stood up from where she sat and was going to walk to Beerus and get his attention. But she stopped in her tracks when she felt someone lightly tug on the skirt of her attire.

Brier turned to see that it was none other Goten and Trunks. "May I help you boys?" Brier asked. "I'm fine, but Goten wanted to say something to you, Miss Brier." Trunks said, gesturing to his dark haired friend. "I just wanted to say thank you for helping my dad." Goten told her. "Oh it wasn't a problem, Young Goten." Brier said, kneeling in front of the boy with a little smile. "Is there anything else that you wanted to say or was that it?" "If it's alright, can you show us more of those magic tricks like you did on Bulma's birthday?" Goten asked with a hopeful smile. The goddess's smile turned bigger and let out a little laugh before replying with, "Of course. What kind of tricks do you want to see?"

The first to reply was Trunks, now getting interested. "Can you do that trick with the butterflies? Only this time, can you make like a horse or something?" Brier nodded and with a flick of her wrist, created a big glowing rose red stallion made up of magical energy. Trunks and Goten became excited and immediately got up on the horse, which sprouted wings and began to ascend up in the air and took the boys for a ride.

Their parents and everyone else noticed and were amazed by the sight. Brier even heard young Marron ask her parents, Krillin and Android #18, if she could ride on the horse when Trunks and Goten were done. After Trunks and Goten were done, the young blonde girl was placed on the back of the magical stallion and began to go for a ride as well, with her mother #18 going with her to make sure she didn't fall.

Brier then felt a tap on her shoulder, and she turned to see that it was none other than Beerus. "What is it, love?" she asked. "It's time for us to leave. Whis has gone to bring back leftovers for us, so he'll be back soon." Beerus said. "Oh, is it?"

"We have no business here, and I can see that you're tired." Beerus added, placing his arm around her waist and bringing her body close to his. Brier nodded her head slightly and said, "Of course you noticed. I assume that this means that you want to for us to nap together again?" "We could. But if you still have enough energy, I can think of something else for us to do back home~" he whispered in her ear.

"!" The goddess face warmed up at the suggestion. "B-Beerus!" she nearly exclaimed, flustered. "What?" he said innocently, though Brier knew that his mind was anything but. Brier gave Beerus an amused smile and said, "Very funny, love. As tempting as that sounds, I'm afraid that I'll have to decline. I'm not in the mood." Beerus shrugged his shoulders and said, "Oh well. If that's what you want. I can settle for a nap with you."

"Oh I know you can." "Hey. . ."

Brier gave her husband a playful shove as she walked to the others to inform them of their departure. The first to notice her was Bulma and Goku. "Hey Lady Brier! How're you doing? Is everything alright?" Goku asked, taking a bite of a piece of barbecued meat he had on his plate. "I'm fine, Son Goku. I've simply come to inform you all that Beerus, Whis, and I are going to leave soon." Brier answered. "What? Already?"

"I apologize. But since we don't have any business here, we have to leave." Brier told him and Bulma. "Oh, well that's fine." Bulma said. "Again, I'm sorry for the three of us having to leave so suddenly." Brier said. Just as she was about to leave, Goku stopped her by asking, "Wait, Lady Brier! Are you guys still gonna come to Pan's party?" "Your granddaughter's party? Oh, is it to celebrate her birth?" Brier asked. "Yeah! I kind of haven't done anything for her yet, and Chi-Chi wants me to be a good grandpa for her." Goku explained.

"Hmmm. . .I suppose I can come as long I'm not too busy. And as for Beerus and Whis, they can come with me as well as long as there's good food for them." Brier said. "All right. And this time we'll be sure to have enough pudding for Lord Beerus to have!" Goku declared. "Goku! Don't go making promises that we can't probably keep!" Bulma told him. "What? You have money, so can't you just-"

Seeing that this was her time to leave, Brier bid everyone goodbye and walked back to her husband and Whis, who had a bag filled with food that the chefs made for them personally. The three deities left the planet and were now traveling through space with Whis in charge of taking them all home. During the ride, Brier fell asleep, causing Beerus to wrap his free arm around her body and to hold on tight, so that she didn't fall into the vacuum of space.

Location: Beerus's Planet. . . .

Beerus woke up to find himself in bed with Brier, whose back was facing him. Beerus softly smiled as he made an attempt to bring her body close to his for warmth. But then he sensed the energy of three deities nearby. What made it odd was that they were three people he wasn't expecting to see for a while. Letting out a low growl, Beerus got out of bed and put on his shoes, ready to confront the trio near his planet. The destroyer made sure to silently close the door so that he didn't wake up Brier. As he was walking through the hallway, he made contact with Whis.

"You can sense it too, right?" Beerus asked. "Yes, I can." Whis answered. "Take me to him, now." Beerus ordered. Whis nodded and used his staff to transport the two off planet. They were now in front of the three unexpected visitors. He was primarily looking at his twin, Champa, with annoyance.

"I've heard of people getting lost, but you're taking it to new heights." Beerus said. "Ha! So you're awake for once, guess there is such a thing as miracles!" Champa said as a slight jest. "You wanna go?!" Beerus nearly shouted, but then he decided to take a minute to calm down. The sooner he can get this over with, the better. "You're in the 7th universe, Champa. Surely you know that as a Destroyer god of the 6th universe, you have no business being here." Beerus told him.

"Will you relax? We were just taking a short cut. Honestly, why do you feel the need to be such a stickler?" Champa said. "How Brier puts up with you, I'll never know." "What was that?" Beerus asked darkly. A woman with bright pink hair noticed Beerus' tone and was quick to jump in. "Please do forgive Lord Champa, Lord Beerus. He didn't mean anything by it." she said, trying to calm him down.

"And you're sure about that?" Beerus asked. "Of course! You know how he is sometimes, saying things without thinking."

"Camellia!" Champa shouted, his cheeks turning pink. "What?" Camellia said, genuinely confused. Not wanting this to take any longer, Beerus asked, "So what's the reason why you came?" "I told you already, the three of us were going on a stroll!" Champa declared loudly.

"If you say so. C'mon Whis, let's go back." Beerus told his angel. "Right away sir." Whis said. "W- Wait, that's it? You're just. . .gonna let it go like that?" Champa asked, shocked. "I'm a bit too tired to care at the moment. Just be glad that I am letting this go and not keeping you here for an interrogation." Beerus said as Whis took them back home.

Beerus and Whis both went their separate ways. The angel went to his room for some much needed alone time while Beerus went back to Brier's room so he could sleep next to her again. But as he opened the door, Beerus was shocked to see that she wasn't in the bed. He looked all over the room to find her, but she was no where in sight. Where was she?

The destroyer's ears picked up the sound of Brier humming a gentle tune, so he followed the sound to learn where she was. It led him straight to the bathroom, and as he opened the massive metal door, he was met with the sight of a naked Brier in the bathing pool. She stopped humming when she heard the door opening and closing, and turned her head to see Beerus by edge of the pool.

"Oh! You're back. Do you want to join me?" she asked, stretching out her wet hand for him to take if he wanted. Beerus nodded and removed every article of clothing he had on and took Brier's hand, joining her in the bath. He wrapped his arms around her body and brought her close to him, her back touching his chest. "So, who was here?" Brier asked. "My annoying brother Champa." Beerus mumbled, placing his chin on her bare shoulder.

"Really? For what reason did he decide to visit Universe #7?"

"I don't know. He said that he was going for a stroll, but I know that he was lying. He's up to something that he doesn't want me to know about."

"Beerus! Why must you always assume that he's up to something?"

Location: Outer Space. . . .

"Vados, how many have we collected so far?" Champa asked. "So far, we have five in total." Vados answered. "And based on our luck so far, the last two will be much harder to find, yes?" Camellia asked. "It's possible." Vados said.

"That means that we have to be more careful from now on." Champa told them. "I don't want Beerus or Whis finding out that we're almost done with getting the Super Dragon Balls!"

——————————————————————————

Montsechia "Monty" Info:

Voice Claim: Hexxus from Ferngully: The Last Rainforest

Age: N/A

Gender: Male

Species: Titan

Powers & Abilities: Magical Prowess

——————————————————————————

AN: And that's a wrap on Book One! Thanks to those who stuck around to see how this would go! And in case you were wondering, I did make a picrew of what "Monty" will look like, from here on out, though it's as close as I could get anyway: please ignore the human ears and pretend that they are elf ears and that his hair is straight. As for the purple paint and the blood? Let's just say that he got a bit creative when designing his mask's look.

I'll do proper designs for all of the original characters at some point in the future when I can draw digitally.

Hope you'll check out Book Two when I post it here. If you want to read it right away, you can check out my Ao3 account.

12 notes · View notes

pyxisastronautica · 7 months ago

Text

Guilt

Life in the Ninth was pretty laidback, all things considered. It lacked the hurriedness present in the bigger cities like the First or the Third, the boiling tension of the more exploited cities like the Eleventh or Twelfth, and had less of a reputation of seedy political intrigue compared to the likes of the Fifth or the Eighth. Orek had proven to be the perfect place to start over for four robots in hiding.

Or at least, to pretend that they had.

Golf, Hotel, Kilo, and November sat around a table where a holographic projection emanated from one of November’s eyes. For the past decade it had been Hotel’s turn, but after settling down in Hades they had decided to start a new campaign and shelf the old one for now, and it was agreed that it was her turn to take the reins.

On the table was a snowy town, and three figures wandering through it- a shaggy minotaur with a battleaxe at their side and a shield on their back, a hooded gnome strapped with daggers, and a wood elf with a wooden staff. The low and eerie sound of wind whipping through was played as November’s voice layered over it.

“It’s much quieter since the last time you’ve passed through here. Ebrathor, Meedelwurtz, you notice that there’s only a few people around, and all of them are behind their doors. The lights aren’t on.”

“Mmmm, that’s a little spooky. What’s the phase of the moon again?” Golf asked, idly rotating around the hologram of a druid with his finger, which November allowed.

“Waning crescent- tomorrow will be a new moon.”

“Tomorrow?” Kilo asked, drumming their fingers, “Are they like? Getting a headstart then? Do we see any smoke around?”

“Looking up at the sky a bit, you do indeed see a column of smoke rising from what looks to be the town square.”

“Aw fuck, we were supposed to meet Hippo Wizard again, weren’t we? We should probably make sure it’s not her over there.”

“Lady Wisteria Bellington,” November corrected, “But yes, she was still, as far as you know, waiting at the Hoary Boar for you to come back with that crystal.”

“Sooo, maybe we check there first then?” Hotel offered, bouncing the minotaur figure in their hand to imply talking, “She doesn’t strike me as the kind of lady who’s easy to catch- wizards are notoriously slippery and hippo wizards have GOT to be even doubly so.”

“Tch, Blondie, we can’t chicken out this time, as much as I wanna,” replied Kilo as “Meedelwurtz”. As they folded their arms, so did their character. “If she IS there we gotta bail her out somehow, or we risked our necks for like. A little bit of cool loot and a lot of no extra party member. Plus we need the gold anyway and a bunch of people gawking at a flame is a great opportunity. Just saying.”

“Uggggggh fiiiiine. But if you get caught, we don’t know you. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“Shall we away then?” Golf asked, miming tapping a staff on the ground.

“As the Lady would say, ‘Indubitably’,” Kilo replied.

After a moment of further agreement and planning, November readied the next scene, but before it could render a knock on the door cut her short and the projection disappeared altogether.

“Nose goes,” November blurted out.

“But we don’t have-” Kilo started to object before realizing that their compatriots were tapping the nose of their synthetic skins, “Oh, right. Damn.” Letting out a sigh for pure exaggeration, Kilo stood up. “Alright, but the rest of you should check on the food.”

“On it,” Golf said, already on his way into the small kitchen of the two bedroom apartment the four of them shared.

Hotel and November, meanwhile, scrambled to pull out several taped-together sheets of computer paper meticulously illustrated upon with pen, which depicted a copy of the map they had just been using, as well as a handful of painted clay figures.

“Heya Cedes, you’re early! Chicken’s still got thirty minutes to go I hope you don’t-” Kilo shouted as they opened the door to familiar faces, but not the ones they were expecting, “...mind.”

“Sorry Kelv, are we ah…interrupting something?” Asked one of two pretty and only slightly overdressed people standing in front of them- in particular, a svelte dark-haired fellow.

“Does it matter? Get in here, then.”

Romeo strode past Kilo with Tango in tow, the former pulling out a chair for the latter in a gentlemanly fashion before taking a seat himself. Tango, for their part, immediately started to pick up and examine the pieces on the board with fascination, as if recording their analysis of them.

“So. You’re…back a lot sooner than we thought you’d be, Ro-Ro,” November noted.

“Got a job for us I venture to guess?” Hotel added.

Romeo quirked an eyebrow at the two of them, opting to reply in messages instead.

R: You’ve gotten rather comfortable with speaking aloud, darling. Have your worries about surveillance been assuaged finally, or are you just getting a little too cozy here while you’re- how did you put it? “On vacation”?

November put her hands on her hips and pouted.

N: This is way more suspicious in a way, if you think about it! And…a little Column A, a little Column B. Besides, you don’t seem too worried about it, showing your face up right at our doorstep.

T: We’ve been careful about the security cameras, I assure you. As far as anyone who cares is concerned, we were never here. And as for everyone who doesn’t, this is nothing more than a social call from a couple friends. Great work on the minis by the way. Golf’s doing?

N: Kilo’s, actually. Golf did help with the pine trees, though.

T: Really? I took you more for a collector of the arts than an artist yourself, Kilo.

K: What can I say? Sometimes you gotta make the trinkets you wanna see in the world.

Golf walked in and sat down at last, hunched over the table with his head in his hands.

G: They’re Siberian Pines, by the way. It seemed the most fitting for the environs of the setting.

T: Oh? Do you think you’d be able to tell me how they differ from other pines perhaps?

G: I mean, yeah, but…

Golf could have told them in quite a bit of detail, truthfully. They weren’t very good attractive bonsai plants compared to their neighbors, the stone pines, among other differences. But something about dragging out the conversation felt tortuous.

As if sensing their discomfort, Romeo cut the conversation short.

R: …We’ll need about 120 bricks, darling.

K: For what? Another skyscraper?

R: Do you care?

K: …I mean. We care a little.

N: And we’re nosy. You know that. We’d ask anyway.

R: Fair enough. Yes, it’s for another demolition, no, it’s not a skyscraper. She wants them to seal off her current location. She’ll be able to handle it as long as she doesn’t have to deal with reinforcements.

H: Like how she intended to seal off the rest of Hades, I assume?

R: A little less permanent than that, I hope. But yes, for a time they’ll all go dark as far as we’re concerned.

H: How long of a time are we talking here, though? If the collapse she wants destabilizes the entire tunnel it’ll be years before they can dig them out. Two cities- arguably some of the most important cities- just gone like that? It’ll be pandemonium. I know we've been pretty hunky dorey with setting you guys up but I do think that we should maybe have uh. Some. Some standards.

R: The tunnels were built in segments, supposedly, to prevent that kind of failure. Obviously, it’s never been tested though. It’ll probably be a solid month or two, though. Equally obviously, the incentive to dig them out will be very, very high.

Of course, I’m sure that if those efforts go poorly and a mass famine appears to be looming, TCCAI will step in. That is what you expected to begin with, isn’t it?

Anyway, about this Cedes…?

N: Hey. Hey. Fuck you.

I know it’s easy to forget because we just wanted to pretend to have a normal life for a little bit, but we are still robots, same as you. We can’t just fucking give the okay on shit we’re not convinced is a good idea for like, the survival of this civilization. I’d love to be able to blindly trust my captain again but like. People did die in that last blast. It could’ve been city-to-city war right then and there if it weren’t for your lot’s meddling- the only reason we were able to agree to it to begin with.

That doesn’t automatically buy you our trust now.

H: Does Yuma even actually know what she’s doing with those? I mean. She clearly knows how to use them, but. Has she had Delta and Sierra scan the tunnel to give any credence to their hypothesis? The architecture here might be impressive, but that doesn’t make its builders infallible. I mean, not to be that person, but they were human after all.

T: D ‘n S are still tied up in Taros, I’m afraid. I don’t like this much either, but she doesn’t exactly have many strategic options out there, as I understand it.

R: Say we were to supply you with the equipment and an opportunity to conduct your own assessment? Would you all be willing to take a field trip?

The logisticians looked between each other, as they often did, as if embroiled in some unspoken debate.

G: I mean we won’t start racking up time off for another couple of months, so like…

T: Oh come on. Dears, at least make up your mind as to whether or not you prioritize the wellbeing of the humans here or yourselves. Whether Yuma’s revolution works or Echo sweeps in to gather up the wreckage of it, anything will be better for the people here in the long run than what we’re currently seeing. I know being here may have sheltered you a bit from the cruelties that humans inflict upon one another for the sake of upholding their wealth, but

November chucked a fake pine tree at Tango’s head before they could finish the sentence. They caught it before it could hit them, naturally, but the sentiment remained and it had done its job of taking the robot in front of them off guard.

“You don’t know a damn thing about us,” November hissed, her voice turning softly staticky.

There was another knock at the door. November, who was already standing, elected to be the one to get it this time.

“Ceeeeedeeeees! Hiiiii girl!” she said upon opening the door- to a correct guess this time. Mostly correct at least. Her twelve year old son was standing next to her, fidgeting with something in his pocket. “And Xander? What’s up dude! Come on in, food’s done.”

The table cleared quickly and bowls of seasoned rice and vegetables with chicken were set down. Simple, but filling. Romeo tilted his head at it for a split second, before craning his head over towards the kitchen for and noticing the piles of bowls where Golf had filled and emptied bowls of food back and forth to make the dishes look dirty.

“Oh, before we eat- Xan, go ahead and show Kelv.”

“I…can wait till afterwards.”

Kilo tilted their head and grinned. “Awww sorry, man, but your mom ratted you out and now I gotta know. Gonna be SO nosy about it until then, like. What are you holdin’ out on me, you know?”

“But it’s not even that good.”

“So? You still did something and you’re my friend so obviously I’m not gonna harsh on you for it. Now show! C’mon I wanna seeeeee.”

Xander pulled a clay figure out of his pocket. It looked sort of like a purple horse with a yellow belly and red eyes and a long tail that curled on the ground. The artist’s intent was given away, though, by the stiff and uneven attachments on the back of the creature- wings, or something like them.

“I wanted to make one of those creatures you talk about in your games- the dragons. And I really like your figurines so I wanted to try making them too. I can’t…make it look as good as yours do though. It’s really frustrating because like, I know how it’s supposed to look in my head but I just…”

Kilo held out their hand, and received, reluctantly, the figurine. They immediately held it up to the light, inspecting it with wonder as if it were an ancient golden coin.

“Dude, what are you talking about? This is great!”

“...It literally isn’t though. You don’t have to lie about it.”

“I’m not! Like. Okay, it could definitely use a second pass, but this is your first time making one of these right? Most people using modeling clay would start with like. Blocks. Plates. Balls. Stuff like that you know? This was really ambitious.”

“But I had to restart like, three times before I could even get it this good.”

“So??? That just means you’re stubborn enough to get better at something, which is way more important than any mistake you made building this. You might hate me for this but I really wanna keep this, Xan, if you’ll let me. I think you could make some really cool stuff if you keep at it and this’ll let me see how far you came. Also like. You made something for me. I wanna cry, dude, you’re gonna make me look bad.”

“Kelv, c’mon…”

“Alright, alright. But like. For real, can I use this in my games? Do you have a backstory for this guy already or…?”

“Uhhh, yeah, um. You said dragons usually had fancy names so I named him Morachillanir. He’s like. A good dragon, but not like the regular good dragons. He fights evil dragons, has lightning breath, and knows a lot of magic spells.”

“Dope. Actually,” Kilo turned to look over at November, who was trying to suppress the goofy smile on her face over the whole exchange, “Nova, do you think you could work him in as a guest character?”

“Oh. Yeah, just like, give me ten minutes. Do you wanna sit in on us play for a bit? We decided to get a little time in before you showed up, kinda figured your mom would be in and out like usual.”

Xander looked up at his mother, who looked at her phone for a moment before sighing and shrugging.

“Well I mean if you’re offering, it could be fun. I kinda wanna catch up with you in a bit though, Nova, if that’s okay.”

“Oh for sure, for sure.”

The impromptu addition of a dragon was, it was agreed upon, going to create a split timeline in their session. But that was of little import. There could be a blue dragon with a color mutation and a love of hunting white dragons, for the sake of seeing someone smile as their character was acted out with full description.

Afterwards, Golf and Kilo stuck around the table to talk to Xander while the remaining robots gathered in November’s and Golf’s room. November sat down on her bed, patting the space next to her to beckon Cedes, while Hotel, Romeo, and Tango sat down on Golf’s bed.

“I’m…guessing this is about Brune?” November ventured to start.

Cedes nodded. “She got her new legs today. Non-motorized. They were a pretty good price all things considered, low down payment- hazard pay covered it all. The interest is a little steep, but we’ll make it as long as she can keep her job. They’re…determined to try, even though they can’t afford PT. I can tell they’re in pain, but. She’s determined to put on a brave face.”

“I’m…really sorry. If there’s anything we can do to help-”

“You’ve been covering my groceries- and others too, sometimes, don’t think word doesn’t get around- and helping Xan with his homework when I bring him over. That’s way more than enough. Plus, you know,” Cedes fixed an intense, almost pleading look at Hotel, “Even though you couldn’t save her legs, you did save her life, Herak. She’s been wondering why you won't answer her texts.”

Hotel cover their face with their hands. “It should have been all of them. I should have told her to wait in cover.”

“It’s not your fault, it’s fuckin’ Petrin’s. Nobody blames you for that, least of all her.”

Romeo cleared his throat awkwardly. “Dear lady, may I ask what happened to them?”

“Ah, yeah, I. I know we did introductions earlier but, Nova said you just got back in contact after some time, yeah? I’m afraid it’s not a complicated case, Detective: almost two months back now, our boss was negligent in getting a crane fixed and it resulted in it raining a ton of rebar it had been lifting.”

“The guy who was supposed to make sure it was up to code was a full hour and three minutes late,” November added, “and our skinflint, hardass boss who never lets a single soul clock in seconds without giving someone hell didn’t say a damn thing to him about it. I don’t even know what the point of that is, you’d think all that money saved just gets spent on bribing inspectors anyway.”

“You’d think, but as infrequent as inspections are, I guess I can see how it’d save an obol or two in the long run,” Hotel growled, “as long as nothing goes wrong. Which it did.”

“But the blame gets passed onto the crane operator instead,” Cedes elaborated, “I can’t believe Miko’s the one that got fired for that shit. A lot of people are getting fed up. That’s…why I’m here, actually.” Cedes bunched up her hands into a clenched grip on her pants as she willed herself to continue, now staring down Romeo and Tango in particular. “Novvy, Noe, I’m sorry but I know that you’re lying to me about your friends here. You two- I know what you are.”

Tango blinked several times. Romeo looked away, acting like a kicked puppy.

“...Do you now?” Tango asked at last, sounding more flabbergasted than threatening.

“Brune tells me everything. She’s one of the people who helped you move those charges, and you match her description of Nova’s associates. Two weeks later, the big corp in Taros falls, its headquarters collapsed- but the surrounding blocks are fine from how it looks in the papers, as much as they could be in the situation. Not the same kind of blast pattern you’d see from mining explosives. You two are the contacts for the labor movement, I know you are. And I want in.”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Hotel interjected before either Romeo or Tango could respond, “Ced-”

“No.”

“Ced-”

“Listen to me. I know what you’re gonna say, but I want you to at least listen to me first. My grandfather’s from Taros, okay? He risked his life trying to escape. I still have extended family there that I’ve never met. My mom worked at this same damn company Brune does and after forty years of giving her life she gets cut off the minute she literally, literally can’t stand anymore because of how hard it was on her body. My son is going to grow up and learn that if the world knocks you down nobody is going to help pick you back up. And it’s my fault she even took this job to begin with. I can’t live with all of this weighing me down, I can’t. And I’m not the only one that feels this way. Other people in the company- other people in Orek- have the same stories. I have to do something about it.”

“Cedes…” Nova put a hand on her shoulder, “I know this has been a shit few months, but. At least you still have a wife and a kid. If you get caught, you are going to lose everything and everyone. And I don’t just mean they’ll be taken from you- you’re going to die, and so will they.”

“We’ll die slow of hunger anyway if something isn’t done to fix this. Brune’s health…it’s fragile right now. And I don’t make enough to help her if something goes wrong because of her injuries and put food on the table.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. We’ve got you, Ced, we’ve always had your back about that,” Hotel told her, standing up only to sit a little awkwardly on the other side of her on the edge of the bed.

“I know. I know, and it means the world to me, but you lot are putting yourselves in danger. What if you get caught because I didn’t do something? What then? I could give up Xander to my in-laws, maybe. I haven’t spoken to them in a while- they…definitely blame me for her taking the job instead of taking that scholarship to get into Manus, but I think they’d understand. But Brune? She’s doomed if nothing changes. We both are.” Cedes took another deep breath and steeled herself.

“So. What do I have to do to get in on this?”

Romeo pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. He looked guilty still as he looked at Cedes, but swallowed it as he proceeded. He didn’t have his dear Juliet’s iron will and grace, but he would do what he needed to regardless.

“...I’d like to first ask if you knew we were coming.”

“I didn’t. This is pure luck, actually. I was going to have a talk with Nova and Noel about this anyway, maybe ask to get into contact with you. This definitely saved some time, at least.”

“Okay, followup question: how many of Brune’s coworkers are in your corner about this? As in, how many do you think would be willing to organize?”

“Everyone in her crew, certainly. She got drinks with people in other crews sometimes, too. Maybe I’ll ask her about which ones.”

“That…will be good enough for now. I’m sure you’ll hear more from Nov and Noe first, but we’ll be in touch from here on. I can’t promise you immediate retribution for what’s been done, but I can tell you that your contributions will make a difference, and that if what you say about Orek is true, that difference could be what ensures a better future for this city in the end.”

After a little more casual chatter, Cedes and Xander left, the latter taking with him a few sheets of note paper that Kilo and he had started brainstorming new ideas for models on.

As the door clicked closed, Romeo’s shoulders dropped as he walked over to the blinds covering the view to the patio, peeking out through them for a moment before turning his head to the side.

“Tomatoes and carrots aren’t known to make good bonsais, are they, Golf?”

Golf folded his arms. “Guess not.”

Romeo sighed before turning around. “I…suppose I owe you all an apology. You’re always so flippant and unbothered by everything. You never even mentioned her before now.”

“We never wanted any of them to get swept up in this. Not…not so soon. And not because of us, certainly. But it’s bad for all of us if Yuma gets herself caught or totalled. But it’s not like we don’t care- we can’t avoid caring any better than you can.”

Tango put an arm around Hotel, who seemed to be fairly miserable about the whole exchange still.

“I know we’re not Juliet, but. You can talk to us, even so. If you want, that is. None of us are doing this on our own.”

The four of them looked between each other.

“You know, T, we really were excited to get these stupid jobs,” Hotel started, “Maybe we had some grander purpose out in space, but we knew we were never going to see the fruits of all of that pointless planning. Even less so once we knew TCCAI was taking over in the future. Here, even though we’re not doing much, we can see the direct impact we have on humans’ lives. Call it illogical, but that counts for something to us.”

“And like. What do you all even want from us, anyway?” November asked, “We’re not genius inventors or decisive leaders or even especially useful lunatics. All of our jobs could have been done by models that weren’t even sentient- I’m a clock for stars’ sake- it feels like the only reason we exist is because we’re part of a boxed set.”

Romeo frowned deeply. “You…You know none of us ever thought of you like that, though, right? You doing your jobs made ours easier, gave us the room to focus on our own purpose. If anything, we…sort of took you for being people who were slacking at important work we needed you for. I…suppose I never really stopped to interrogate why you were like that, and just assumed boredom. I’m sorry, darlings.”

“And,” Tango added, “whether you meant to or not, you have been changing things here. The people here must have a deep sense of community with you and each other to be willing to support the requests we’ve made of you, and you of them. That in itself is a valuable thing and more than I honestly expected.”

“Yeah, well,” Kilo shrugged, “We like it here. We like helping people, helping this neighborhood, even if it’s just in mundane, achievable ways. Of course we do. Feels good, you know? Hell, it’s not even like we hated helping you guys, it just felt shitty feeling useless. And being bored- not gonna lie, that was definitely part of it. How the rest of you could keep it together with fuckall else to do I’ll never know.”

“As you’ve learned, the world’s full of little things to do. Like karaoke nights. I miss those, don’t you?”

“Sure do…” November sighed, before walking up next to Romeo and elbowing him in the chassis, “Speaking of old hobbies, do you have any gossip for us?”

Romeo touched the back of his hand to his forehead dramatically. “Oh thank goodness, I was starting to fear your time here was making you all less incorrigible.” But a sly smile appeared on his face as he continued, “I might, though.”

The division’s eyes lit up- November’s especially. “Come on, then,” she egged on, “spill!”

“Well. I might have heard from a Capital B Birdie that our new Captain has a new crush.”

“Whaaat? No way, does that mean the previous one is over already?”

“I doubt it. Someone as historically repressed as our dear Engineer probably has room inside their core for a third one yet, I’d wager.”

“Well who’s the new one, then?”

“Some mercenary in their employ. I haven’t met him yet, but he sounds like the strong, silent type from what I hear.”

“Poor thing must be awfully patient to be bossed around by E all day.”

“Perhaps. But then, who’s to say that’s not a sign of possible reciprocation…?” Tango shrugged, then leaned forward, “How about you four? Surely someone must’ve caught your eye in these parts, no?”

Hotel shook their head and grumbled, “This undercover shit is poison for one’s love life. Also it’s gonna kinda suck if we bring someone home and end up having to go back to space again.”

“On that front I must sadly concur,” Romeo agreed, holding his head in his hands, “It is such a shame, though. Everywhere around us are such lovely, beautiful people. Oh but to take a warm hand in mine, to achieve closeness with our predecessors.”

“Can’t doing anything for you there, I’m afraid,” Golf said, but held up a hand for a high five, “but hey. Next best thing?”

Romeo smirked and returned the high five.

“Indeed it is.”

#G #H #K #N #R #T #story post #((meanwhile in the present.))

4 notes · View notes