#i have over 1000 day streak and i had a system that worked for me

[medicinemane]

Sigh... end of the month is up and that means time for me to be pissed off about duolingo

I need 400 more xp in 6 days for the stupid badge

I've done a lesson every single day this month, and... that's like 16 lessons I need to do in 6 days, like 10 lessons I fall short when keeping a perfect streak and doing the same lesson over and over cause it gives more xp than new lessons

Really fostering learning duolingo, nice job

[pollylynn]

Title: Catenation WC: 1000 Episode: Cops and Robbers (4 x 07)

He thinks she might be stalling. He thinks there’s a distinct possibility that her reluctance to leave is dead equal in weight, force, and whatever to his eagerness for her to stay, and this feels winning. It feels like more than that, because winning was getting her here in the first place—under his roof, with his family.

It’s tradition, Beckett, he’d said with as much solemnity as he could muster. One of us almost gets blown up, we regroup at my place.

She’d laughed. She’d let him reach for her arm and slip it right through the loop of his own and she’d fallen for it. Willingly, and with that—admittedly shaky—little laugh, she’d come along home with him. That was the win, and now here they are, the two of them engaged in the most leisurely, least efficient dish-clearing exercise in history. She’s down to fetching a handful of serving spoons at a time from the table to the counter by the dishwasher, and yeah. Definitely stalling.

She’s quiet as they ease past one another, moving in sync like they do this every night. She’s not silent. She laughs at his occasional jokes. Or rolls her eyes. Or glares. She comments, now and then, on a particular dish, a particular sauce, a particular combination of things that was unexpectedly fantastic. She’s not at all silent, there’s just no . . . nervous teenage chatter or bright, brittle conversation meant to cover for the fact that she’s very definitely stalling.

He kind of loves it. He is kind of totally in love with everything that feels natural and easy and familiar about this—the simple task of cleaning up after a meal—and he loves the slightly awkward streak running through it. He loves knowing that it’s work for both of them.

Oh, It has the untouchable, slightly unreal magic of a mundane night that has followed hard on the heels of a day that’s been unbelievable, even for them. It’s certainly that, but it’s not just that. It’s a choice and a little bit of a struggle. It’s a stretch of time that—at any moment—could tip right over the edge into something that’s too strange to go on with, but they’re not letting it. They’re fetching a handful of spoons at a time to draw things out, and he loves that.

“I think we’ve made as big a dent as we’re going to,” he says eventually. He eventually has to say, because really, they’re at the point where he’s pretty sure that she’s been sneaking utensils back to the table just to have something to do. He knows he has, so he cracks a grin. He presses a button. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Damned right I am.” She snaps him in the chest with a table napkin, and the way she straightens her shoulders and turns her blushing face away at the same time is just a devastating combination.

“Tell me about it.” It’s a non-response from him. It’s his version of an eye roll, because she’s gotten just a little bit competitive about the whole who’s-saved-whom—and-how-many-times? thing. She has proposed a quality-over-quantity scoring system that had kept Alexis and his mother pounding the table with laughter all evening long as they egged the two of them on.

Tell me about it. It’s the ultimate in offhand comments, but she’s stalling tonight. She’s working at this, and so is he.

“It was awful.” She sets down the slotted spoon in her hand. She sets down the napkin she’s been wielding as an occasional weapon, and the whole tone of the room changes. He’d swear the tone of the entire world changes. “It was a nightmare.”

“Tell me about it,” he says again. He swings up the door of the dishwasher with an air of finality. He rests his elbows on the counter and folds his hands. He takes a breath and makes himself ready to listen. This is an untouchable, slightly unreal moment. It’s an artifact of a trying, extraordinary day, and it’s not that at all. It’s work, so he makes himself ready to listen. “Really. Tell me about it.”

“I wasn’t in charge.” Her cheeks go seven kinds of red. He can see even though she hangs her head. He can see, even though she buries her face in her hand, the scarlet spots of residual fury and pink fingers of embarrassment creeping toward her temples. “I had to wait. And talk. And take orders.”

She’s laughing at herself. He’s laughing at her laughing. He’s biting his tongue, because if he were telling her about it, this would be a very different story of her running the table, capturing the fancy of the head bad guy with her bedroom voice and her hellcat claws. It would be a story of her finding a way inside and ultimately making good on the promise he’d made everyone from the very start—my partner is going to get us out.

But he’s not telling her all about it, not at the moment. Maybe the night will go that way. Maybe they’ll tell each other about it until the sun comes up, because tonight has been a win and then some. But that’s not what’s happening right now.

Right now, she’s telling him. She’s been stalling all this time because she wants to tell him a story he hadn’t dared to hope he’d get to hear. She’s been stalling all this time because she doesn’t want to keep all this to herself anymore—the fear, the awful feeling of helplessness, the constant, terrifying threat of loss and more loss. She wants to to tell him, and he wants to listen.

“Nightmare.” So he shakes his head with exaggerated empathy. “Absolute nightmare.” He’s teasing her a little. He’s coaxing, because this is work. It’s a team effort. “Then what?” He nudges the back of her hand with his knuckles. “Then what happened?”

A/N: Uh. Do I even need to point out the complete lack of morphousness in bebes clearing the table together and aimlessly talking? I do not. There's going to be another pause for a few days. I have a rough trip to make. I will try to at least get some chapters of Season 3 up to AO3.

images via homeofthenutty

[sigmadecay]

You said you can info dump about Jonestown massacre? I'm here to learn about Jonestown massacre.

OHOHOHO YES

okay so if I start from Jim Jones’ early life this is literally gonna take me hours to write and probably take you forever to read so I will try to cliffnote the context of....y’know, his life

He didn’t have super present or even very parental parents, his mother worked a lot & his father was a disabled WWI vet. A neighbor took him to church w her family on Sundays and that began his interest in religion. He went to different churches all the time to see what they were about but had a particular interest in the Pentecostal church, it was loud & interactive & joyful but they did get a bad rep for “speaking in tongues”

Jim married his wife Marceline when he was 17 or 18 and she was like 20-21. She was working as a nurse in a hospital that Jim did custodial work in while he was trying to get himself through school. I have a lot of thoughts about Marceline Jones and most of them are “she deserved better” but we will come back to Marceline later.

Fast forward fast forward and Jim & Marcy have a number of kids, their “rainbow family” which consists of one bio child and a number of adopted children I think?? Listen in my defense he ended up with nine (!!! NINE) kids and they’re hard to keep track of but I know Stephan was their biological son and they adopted Jim Jr. who was black and Lew & Suzanne who were Korean which was a bigass deal at the time. More kids cropped up over the course of things but y’know. When Jim founded the Peoples Temple he got the MLK Jr award for racial equality because his church was the first fully integrated church at least in Indiana which was fucking nuts at the time??? Lots of people liked him. It appeared that he was doing good things.

And then shit like faith healings started where he would stage religious healings from cancer and shit and his congregation began regarding him as a deity. Someone would be blessed and would spit out a “tumor” (a piece of chicken liver) or the woman in the wheelchair who got up and walked turned out to be Jim’s secretary. Completely bogus nonsense, but it was a good, integrated church and they all thought he was a good person.

So, (and I’m leaving out details here sorry) Jim starts teasing like an escape to a “promised land” type deal. And he goes to a bunch of places looking for one—he spends time in Brazil especially—until finally settling on Guyana. The Guyanese govt was excited to have Americans coming bc they were at war with Venezuela and it was...sort of like insurance, but yeah. They gave the Peoples Temple a couple hundred acres in the middle of basically the fucking rainforest. And it was touted as like this socialist utopia and shit. It’s work but there’s housing and you grow your own food, and it seemed nice! Especially for people who were so disillusioned with the government and racial inequality. So they move out to Guyana and start to build houses, and shit is pretty alright at first, but...The soil isn’t fertile and almost no food actually grows. The hours are long and the work is backbreaking, not to mention the HEAT, but it’s like, deal-with-able until Jim Jones gets there. At this point Jones is like completely totally paranoid and he’s losing his grip on reality. He’s been doing drugs for years and his sermons have gone from “the US government is bad because it’s capitalist and racist” to “the US government is literally plotting to kill us.”

Some people managed to get out, and formed a group called the “concerned relatives.” They were, you guessed it, concerned relatives of the members who’d been whisked off to the Guyanese wilderness. Lots of people wrote off their concerns because of how many people, namely politicians, liked Jim Jones for his work in racial equality, but the one guy who listened to them was Congressman Leo Ryan, who was by all accounts a Pretty Solid Dude. He didn’t think anything fishy was happening, necessarily, but his whole stance was “I hear you & your concerns, and we should check it out to put your mind at ease! :)”

By this point, life in the Temple is falling! the fuck! apart! Jim Jones has a PA system set to run 24/7 that either play a) recordings of past sermons or b) his announcements happening Right This Second. People work for like 16 hours a day, there are armed guards at the entrance and around the fields to keep people in, the housing is cramped and overcrowded and they do Not have enough food for the almost 1000 people there. They are also getting record low amounts of sleep because Jim Jones, Nutjob Extraordinaire, has gotten into the habit of blaring the air raid siren at god knows what our and calling all his followers into the pavilion for a White Night. Which is, if you can even fucking believe it, a PRACTICE MASS SUICIDE BY KOOL AID.

Talk about foreshadowing.

So anyway, Leo Ryan rolls up to the compound, relatives and an NBC camera crew in tow, and is like “hey what’s up! :)” Jim Jones has been COACHING PEOPLE to tell him how much they love it. It’s fucked up. But okay

So they put on this dinner and a show type deal for the congressman and all the visitors, and Marceline (remember Marceline?) gives them a whole tour and shows them her pride and joy, the school she’d built and helps teaches at, and the medical center, and the daycare, like Marceline ADORES children this cannot be overstated. There are about 300 children in Jonestown and she loves them with her whole heart. ANYWAY

And everyone is having a funky good time, except Jim Jones, whose sanity is coming unraveled like an old sweater and his 950-ish overworked undercompensated cult members

But as Leo Ryan is leaving, someone slips a note to one of the reporters, BEGGING him to get them out of there. And then someone else comes forward. And then another. There are like....maybe 10 people total that come forward? Jim Jones loses his mind, naturally, but Leo Ryan is still like “hey, 10 out of 950 isn’t bad at all! They just miss their families :)” and they get going.

Unfortunately, because the number of people traveling back to the US from Guyana is greater than before, and they came on a small plane, they’re all posted up at the Port Kaituma airstrip waiting for a second aircraft. And this is when shit gets fucking real.

Jim Jones secretly sends his Red Men (read: “guards” with shotguns) to the airstrip to kill everyone because they’re going to give their secrets to the CIA or whatever. So they fucking roll up in this trailer and...open fire. Leo Ryan is killed, an NBC cameraman is killed, some of the defectors and concerned relatives are killed, many of them are wounded.

The Red Men return to the compound and report back to Jones. And then he gets on the PA and tells everyone that the USA��s destruction of them is imminent. He lies and tells them that the pilot will be shot and the plane will go down, and the US government will come into the compound for retribution and kill their seniors and kidnap the children and rape the women. You can hear a recording of this on YouTube! It’s called the Jonestown death tape and it will absolutely ruin your day if you listen to it. Anyway.

People are panicking. It’s time for the real White Night. Jones gets a vat of Flavor-Aid (off brand Kool-Aid) filled with cyanide and narcotics and says “drink :)” and...everyone is...understandably afraid. They’re tired and exhausted and terrified and have no idea what’s true or not. One woman, Christine, argues and pleads for another solution, like running off to the Soviet Union. The entire rest of the compound shouts her down.

So, finally, people drink. Those who won’t, and young children, are injected with it. The death is not painless. People suffer for a long time, and move to the back of the line, lie down, and die. At a reception house in Georgetown, one of Jones’ aides kills her three children and then herself with a steak knife.

A handful of people get out. Maybe five are able to hide, and three of Jones’ sons are away at a basketball game in Georgetown while this is all going down, so they live.

Jim Jones does not drink the poison. Jim Jones shoots himself in the head, and his private nurse does the same.

Marceline Jones screamed, sobbed and struggled until every single child had died, hoping at least one of them would be spared. And when none were, she dried her eyes, resigned herself to her fate, and drank the Kool-Aid.

The 900-something bodies, about a third of which were children, began rotting in the tropical sun almost immediately. Many of them were decomposed beyond recognition by the time the US troops got there. Those unidentified are buried in a mass gravesite in...California, I think? It was the largest loss of American life not due to a natural disaster up until 9/11. The place is still there, though now it’s overgrown, and it’s just...haunting. There’s a number of documentaries on it (recommend) and if you have a really masochistic streak, the Port Kaituma airstrip shooting and the Jonestown death tape audio are both on YouTube the last I checked.

Thank you for indulging me my special interest, and I’m happy to expand on anything here or give more details :3

[anyu-blue]

~

Medical stuffs below the cut. Nothing graphic.. just me lamenting how our system is failing and possibly killing me more than it was before.

So aside from the mid-apocalyptic headline in the newspaper this morning about how our state isn't getting the number of covid-19 vaccines it was promised, the government blaming low supply, and the supplier blaming the government's refusal to give orders to distribute supply that is very much there.... I had hope today would be helpful.

Turns out the doctor I've been bugging with my ailments REALLY did not want to see me and kept calling instead. Then he told me that I was too impatient and if I really really wanted answers I needed to go to the hospital... Oh but he didn't mean the hospital.. he meant the emergency department of the hospital, and based on my insurance it was going to be extremely expensive and he'd rather i tough it out for another week waiting for blood results to come back, and THEN refer me for any scans that might be necessary (another week minimum after the results until they could get me in after the results are back)...

It's been nearly a month.. or has it been longer than a month? Tough it out tough it out tough it out.

I've HAD to call off work because I couldn't see straight or hardly move!! I couldn't drive in that condition!! Let alone be by myself for 8 hours!! I might have to again in the time I'm kept waiting!! I CAN'T afford that!!!

So.. go to the ER... Where it's literally (seriously I'm not kidding, I have Medicaid which usually covers all deemed-necessary expenses) $1000 to walk in right now due to limited supplies, low staff, and limited capacity. That's BEFORE any work to help is done.

??? What?

I... I can't.... I can't afford that...

I'm not going to lie and say my eyes are dry.... Right now... Because they're not... Even though crying is probably only hurting me.

Lol

Doc thinks I've got a major infection (as do I!!!) In my abdomen. Doesn't know which of two (possibly 3) specific organs... And therefore will not and cannot prescribe treatment.... Even though they all have the same starting treatment of antibiotics/penicillin. Nope. Can't prescribe without knowing- which through his office will take a minimum of 3 weeks. Kaaay....

I just... I just... I'm so sick.. more than my normal sick... And idk what to do. I cannot convey how scared and desperate I am through this text... How the thought makes my vision blur streaks and grabs my throat so tightly I can't breathe...

I'm scared. I'm hurting. I might also be dying from an easily curable sickness... And I don't have the money- NO ONE I know has the money- to get the help I'm asking for. Wait.. the help I NEED. I was told to tough it out as long as I could.. I did. Told to call my doctor if I didn't get better. I did (and she's too busy even to take a phonecall from me or call me back). So I took it into my own hands and begged to be seen. Was given a Covid test which was negative and 2 H Pylori tests- immediate one was negative and the one that took nearly a week to get back- SURPRISE also negative.... And told to discuss my symptoms again over the phone.. which didn't help the first time. How.. how does that make sense?

I can barely pay my bills right now... Especially with missing two days of work this month... Thank the Gods for my amazing boss pulling some strings for me and adding the $1 differential to my paychecks even though I'm the temp... Or I wouldn't be able to at all. $1000 and more... CT scans too alone are $3000 and that's what he told me to ask for up there... After rapid testing labs... Some of which I know from being a phlebotomist a few years ago were $150 a pop THEN... Gods what are they NOW?

I'm not the only one suffering. I know I'm not. I will not be the first nor the last death from our corrupted healthcare system if it comes to that either... Lol... Nor will I be the first or last who keeps waiting and waiting and ends up in the ER anyway... Racking up even MORE bills than if I had just gone in right away....

I'm so distraught and lost (gotta save gotta save gotta save!!! So sick so sick so sick!!! ????????) I had to call my sister.... I'm so lost that even with all my experience I need someone who has none to tell me what to do out of my options...

I am toughing it out until Monday.... Going in to a different clinic ASAP where they see people from $10-$100 up front (medicaid is usually free but at this rate I don't trust that)... If they can't help me or won't like this other doctor... I'm to go straight to the ER... And we'll figure out the thousands of dollars in expenses however we can....

I hate this.. so much... I understand it's not perfect in other countries either.... But I don't really know of many more 1st world countries (can we even be called that any more?) where people are literally dying and drowning in medical debt... And are dying Because of their fear of the costs... And are dying because they choose the cheaper options... And are dying because they can't get help in time due mostly to costs and also to our fucked up referral system ....

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (135/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation.   This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

[14 November 233 Before Age. Nagaoka.]

Zatte was a Dorlun, born with a unique ability to manipulate energy. She mostly used this for bending light and other radiation around her body, to make herself invisible, or for deflecting ki to protect herself or to hide her own power level from those who could sense it. She had accompanied her wife, Luffa, the Legendary Super Saiyan, on what she considered to be a holy mission to Nagaoka. Luffa had sworn to destroy the planet, and the wicked Saiyan cultists who lurked beneath the thick grey clouds of the Nagaokan atmosphere.

Mostly, Zatte's job was to keep the ship running and coordinate with Luffa's attack fleet. And she was more than happy to do this. This was Luffa's epic story, and Zatte was simply honored to be a part of it. The Dorlun culture prioritized survival, and the Dorlun religion commanded its people to stay alive so that they might eventually find a worthy cause to support. Zatte believed that Luffa was her cause, a pivotal figure destined to change the course of history, what the Dorluns called xan-nil'Dor. Zatte's life had become a swirling mass of contradictions since she realized Luffa's importance. It was hard to balance out all her roles-- loving spouse, devoted disciple, martial arts student, sensible advisor, down-to-earth sidekick-- but now those roles seemed to have finally converged into one. As Zatte stood on the bridge of Luffa's yacht and watched Nagaoka, she felt a serenity in her heart that told her that everything had worked out for the best. Luffa would triumph, and the universe would prosper. All Zatte had to do was follow her beloved the rest of the way.

And then the bombardment failed. Every ship in the fleet fired conventional weapons on the planet, and nothing happened. It was like some enormous force field surrounded the entire planet, but Zatte couldn't locate a power source on the surface big enough to support such a technology. She had never heard of a force field big enough to shield an entire planet, but she knew such a device had to run on something.

Undaunted, Luffa went to the cargo bay to fire on the planet herself. As the Super Saiyan, Luffa's power was greater than any other Saiyan in the universe, greater than the firepower of the entire fleet. For a moment, Zatte felt reassured. Nagaoka would be destroyed in an instant, and its secrets would die with it. From the bridge, Zatte could sense her bride's immense ki energy building. On the viewscreen, she could see the lance of golden energy streaking out to the planet.

And then the energy faded away, only for the planet to split it up and shoot it all back from a hundred different directions. Even if there was a force field big enough and strong enough to do this, there was too much cohesion in the reflected energy. It should have just diffused evenly, leaving little more than a harmless wave of radiation. To split a beam into dozens of smaller beams was something more like Zatte's own innate ability, but how could anything achieve this on a planetary scale? It was impossible, unless...

Her mind raced with horrified speculations, but soon the answer appeared before her as she watched the clouds on Nagaoka shift and swirl until they formed the image of a man's face. She instantly recognized it as the likeness of King Rehval III, the Saiyan monarch who abandoned his kingdom to start his bizarre alchemical cult on Nagaoka.

And then, as the lips of the cloud-image began to move, Zatte could hear his voice in her mind. "Hello, Luffa. I'm so glad that you've finally arrived. Now, at last, we can put all of this to an end."

Saiyans all had a low-level telepathic ability. Over a limited range, they could send their thoughts to other beings, like a sort of mental walkie-talkie, although they lacked more advanced mind-reading powers. Luffa could read minds, but only by making physical contact. In this case, it seemed like Rehval was projecting his thoughts across a much larger range, not just addressing Luffa, but anyone nearby. Zatte began to wonder if the entire fleet could hear this.

"I'm sure you remember Pozet," Rehval began, and Zatte's heart sank. She remembered Pozet well. Zatte had killed that horrible creature aboard this very ship. It had tried to prevent her from rescuing Luffa on planet Pflaume. It should have marked the end of that nightmare, it looked like Rehval wasn't finished with it yet.

"Homuncular synthesis is one of the greatest tests of an alchemist's skills. Many of the greatest alchemists die without ever achieving it. I actually pulled it off on my first try, but I didn't feel like I had truly mastered the technique until I created Pozet using folicle samples from your wife. She's an amazing woman, really. My compliments."

Zatte forced herself to look away from the viewscreen and get back to the computers on the bridge. The energy bursts from the planet hadn't been aimed at anything in particular, but a number of ships had been hit anyway. She needed to contact the fleet commanders and get them to back off from Nagaoka before something else happened.

"I created Pozet to act as that serial killer," Rehval explained, "which I used to lure you to my trap on Pflaume City, but she was also a peace offering if you changed your mind and decided to see things my way instead. I thought we could join forces, Luffa. I thought there would be no limit to the things we could achieve together, but you rejected my gift and you spurned my friendship, and now you've come here to destroy me. Fortunately, Pozet served a purpose for that scenario too."

"No," Zatte murmured to herself. "No, no, no..."

"I made three of her, Luffa," he said. "One to present to you, the second to act as my 'serial killer'. You and your lovely bride made short work of them, but the third Pozet I used for my research. I was fascinated with the energy manipulation powers, you see. Imagine what a Saiyan could do with that sort of ability! Imagine what I could do with it, the greatest Saiyan of all!"

Zatte looked up at the viewscreen and clutched at the fabric of her shirt over her heart. She didn't know exactly what all of this meant, not yet. She didn't know how Rehval had become so powerful, or what he planned to do with that power, but she knew that it would be something terrible.

And worst of all, he had used her to make it all possible.

*******

[14 November 233 Before Age. Despye.]

Prester Ganzut paced in a tight circle around his office in the capital city of Despye. There had been no word from the Federation fleet they had sent to Nagaoka. He didn't expect to hear anything, since they were avoiding communications to prevent anyone from learning of their counterattack. He would only receive word when the battle was over, and by his reckoning, the fleet would have just arrived in the Nagaoka system. A cold pitcher of iced tea was waiting for him at his desk, slowly soaking the wood with condensation. Every time the pitcher caught his eye as he walked around the room, he told himself that he would drink it later, but he never got around to it.

Nothing would be the same when this was over. Even if Luffa won the battle, she had all but promised to bring sweeping changes to the Federation when she returned. He had no idea how drastic those "changes" would be, and she probably had no idea herself, which was what made her so dangerous. Even if it all went perfectly, he doubted that her plans would bode well for his career.

As he mulled over his political prospects, the ground began to shake under his feet. He wasn't sure what to do about an earthquake, as this part of the planet had never had one before. Just as he decided to take cover under his desk, two of his security detail rushed into the office and escorted him to an emergency transport. This was standard procedure during an attack on the city, but he couldn't hear any air-raid sirens or any other sounds he had come to associate with a battle.

The way to the transport was underground, connected to his building by a tunnel, but before they could reach it, they found the entire entrance smashed into rubble. A large column of earth was rising out of the ground, and the tunnel entrance simply had the misfortune of being located in its path. So too, was the ceiling above them, and the upper floors of the building.

His security team managed to get him outdoors, and they even evacuated most of the other people inside, but as Prester Ganzut watched the Despye Executive Hall being impaled by a giant column of rock and dirt, he was certain that there had to have been causalities. Angrily, he demanded an explanation for what was happening, even though he doubted that anyone else had one to offer.

Then the great tower of earth began to shape itself, like clay in the hands of an invisible sculptor, and Ganzut suddenly knew.

"The cultists!" he gasped as the column finally took the form of a man. He had heard of this taking place on other planets, but Luffa had always been there to stop them before they could do any real harm. But Luffa was at Nagaoka, supposedly fighting the cultists, wasn't she? If so, then she wasn't fighting them hard enough for Prester Ganzut's liking.

"Prester Ganzut, I presume!" the earthen giant said aloud. It looked right at him, and Ganzut's blood ran cold. "Good day to you, sir. I'm King Rehval III, also known as Trismegistus. Well, this is an avatar of me, anyway. My followers planted it here so that I could talk to you when the time was right."

"This can't be!" Ganzut said. "You... can't be here! Luffa's fortuneteller, she told us there wasn't gonna be any more attacks from you Jindan Saiyans!"

"Fortuneteller?" Rehval asked. By now, the avatar was so detailed that Ganzut could see the look of surprise in its "eyes". "Well, now, that does explain a few things. I expected her to defeat my warriors, but I could never understand how she always seemed to know exactly when and where to find them. Such a resourceful woman. Well, Luffa's fortuneteller was right, Prester. There will be no more attacks on your territory. Right now, my avatars are rising up on planets all over the Federation, but they aren't going to fight. They'll just be standing by, awaiting your unconditional surrender!"

"Surrender?" Ganzut asked. "Are you sayin' you already defeated her at Nagaoka?!"

"Prester, you don't understand!" Rehval said with a laugh. "I don't need to defeat Luffa, anymore than I have to attack you. As of today, I've become invincible, and Luffa? Well, she's simply no longer relevant!"

*******

[14 November 233 Before Age. Chai I.]

A similar scene was playing out on the grounds of the Imperial Palace on Chai I, seat of the Camelian Empire.

"The war with the Federation was never about conquest or revenge, your Majesty," the rock-Rehval explained to Zinenz 15, the Emperor of Camelia, who had been playing cricket on horseback when the avatar rose up from the field.

"It was a diversion," Rehval continued. "Luffa had to stay put inside her own territory to defend it from my warriors, while the rest of you watched from the sidelines, believing that I was only interested in the Federation. All the while, my agents were traveling to your planets in secret, and pouring a special potion into the soil of your planets."

"All of them?" Zinenz 15 asked with some skepticism in his voice. His mount was very nervous in the shadow of the earthen giant, but the emperor did his best to stand his ground.

"Enough of them," Rehval replied. "The figure that stands before you know is more than powerful enough to destroy Chai I with ease. I can't destroy every planet in your empire so quickly, but I can threaten enough of the important ones to throw Eternal Camelia into turmoil."

*******

[14 November 233 Before Age. Festid III.]

"Unless we submit to you, is that what you're saying?" asked General Zinfandel asked.

"Precisely," said the rock-Rehval that had manifested on Festid's capital city. "You cannot defeat this giant creature that stands before you, General. The potion that animates it was already absorbed into the very matter that makes up your planet. You might destroy this physical form you see, but another will rise out of the ground to replace it, again and again, for as long as I see fit. Luffa has the power to break the spell, but your armies simply don't have what it takes. You'd only destroy yourselves in the attempt."

"Or we could simply take the fight to you, Your Majesty," Zinfandel suggested. "Killing you on this planet, you mentioned, Nagaoka, would surely disrupt your control over this thing you have created."

"Indeed it would, General, which is why I've taken measures to protect myself," Rehval explained. "Even now, my stronghold is under attack by a Federation fleet, led by Luffa herself. The entire planet is impervious to her strongest techniques. Even if she could find a way to reach the surface, she would have to fight through tens of thousands of my followers. Each of them has been empowered by my Jindan potion. Luffa struggled to defeat twenty of my warriors at a time. How can she hope to beat them all at once?"

*******

[14 November 233 Before Age. Goldwall.]

"This planet has seen enough tyrants, Rehval. I won't allow it to be dominated by another, no matter how powerful."

These were the defiant words of M'ranga, formerly known as Ensign Liberty, now the Kami of Planet Goldwall. Being a goddess was still new to her, and her performance of the role was highly unorthodox. When the giant Saiyan-thing emerged from the dirt, she descended from her Heavenly Lookout and met him directly, rather than watch passively from a distance. The gods of the higher realms might not have approved of this hands-on approach, but Ensign Liberty was a revolutionary, and to her the divine hierarchy was just another power structure to be questioned whenever possible. Likewise, she saw King Rehval as simply another bully.

"I respect your position, Your Grace," the rock-Rehval said. It knelt before her in a mocking show of respect, and kept angling its ear closer to M'ranga as if straining to hear such a tiny creature. "For the time being, I'll allow you to indulge in whatever comfortable slogans you like. Devastating your planet right now wouldn't accomplish anything. I don't want to make an example of Goldwall, but if it comes to that, I'd prefer to have witnesses to see it happening."

"Then wh--?" M'ranga began to ask, but then the earthen giant rose to his full height and looked away from her.

"I only produced these giant avatars because I wanted to inform you all of what was happening," Rehval said. "The Age of Trismegistus has begun, but it hasn't really reached you just yet. For now, this is mostly just to prove a point to Luffa, but once I've finished discussing it with her, I visit all of your worlds again, and I'll explain exactly what it is I expect from each of you."

M'ranga continued speaking after that, delivering a fiery speech about freedom and the irrepressible spirit of sentient beings, but if the rock-Rehval could hear her, it gave no response whatsoever.

*******

[14 November 233 Before Age. Nagaoka.]

"It's amazing, truly amazing," Rehval said as he bathed in the glowing red liquid that filled his sunken bathtub. It was a public section of his compound, and his followers were encouraged to enter and watch him soak. Some fell prostrate at the edge of the bath and worshiped him, while a parade of attendants added scented oils and other chemicals to the liquid as he soaked in it. Behind him, Treekul lounged on a mat and massaged his neck and shoulders.

"Tell me about it, boss," Treekul said. The hair on her head was over two inches long.

"I'm everywhere at once now," he said. "Not literally, but but I might as well be everywhere. I'm talking to a thousand people at once right now. I can see them, Treekul. They all look so outraged, so envious of what I've become."

"I'm sure Luffa looks pretty ticked off right about now," Treekul said with a smile.

"Oh, I can't see her," Rehval said. "But I can see her ship, and all the other ships she brought along. They're just hanging there in space like little toys. And beyond them, the stars, my kingdom. My laboratory. The very clouds have become my eyes, Treekul. I can see it all as easily as I see you."

He looked back at her, and raised one of his hands to caress her cheek. She pulled back at the sight of the crimson fluid still dripping from his fingertips.

"Oh, it's harmless, I promise," he said. "I've been drinking different potions and rubbing ointments into my skin for weeks to prepare myself for this. Without all those treatments, all of this would be useless, like stewing in melted candlewax."

"That's what you said about this lotion, too," Treekul replied. She held up her hand to show the oily film she had been rubbing into his shoulders. "And you talked me into that, but let's just say I'd like to know more before I jump in there with you. How did you pull all of this off?"

"It's like I told you from the beginning, my Apprentice," Rehval said. "The energy of living things is what gives rise to ki. Saiyans have more of it than most, but it never seems to be enough, and there's more than one way to get it. There's untapped power within the very planets themselves. My namesake, the original Trismegistus, found ways to study that geomantic energy, but he lacked the vision to do anything with it. I named myself Trismegistus to honor the fulfillment of his discoveries."

"I thought you took that name to claim supremacy over all other alchemists," Treekul asked. "You know, 'Look at me, I'm the best.'"

"Well, that too," Rehval said with a satisfied smirk. "I can have more than one reason."

"Yeah, I guess you can have anything you want now," she said as she went back to rubbing his shoulders. One of the attendants handed him a crystal sifter of wine, and he sampled the bouquet with relish.

"I had more than one reason for keeping you here, too," he added. "Of course, I couldn't let you just tell outsiders about this place. Not until I had its defenses prepared, anyway. It took some doing to incorporate Pozet's abilities into my link with the planet's geology. But besides that, I needed someone I could talk to. Someone removed from the Saiyans, who could appreciate everything I put into this plan."

She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "Well, it's not like there's anywhere else for me to escape to, is there?" she asked. "You've practically conquered the whole universe, so I might as well stay here where all the magic happens."

"Exactly," he said. "Admit it, you didn't think any Saiyan was capable of this sort of genius. We're all nothing but brutish warriors to you."

"I gotta admit, I have been rethinking a lot of old attitudes since I got here," Treekul said.

"The whole universe has looked down their nose at the Saiyan species," Rehval said. "And rightfully so, because many of us believe in the same stereotypes. I tried to reverse that perception, to play the dignified statesman, an ambassador of goodwill from the Saiyans to the rest of the galaxy, but I knew they didn't really believe me. They thought I was a curiosity, or an aberration. Sooner or later, they expected me to revert to type. What those haughty princes and emperors didn't understand was that I was counting on them to underestimate us."

He raised his glass to toast the worshipers at the opposite end of the bath, then drank. "That was how my flock was able to seed so many worlds in such a short span of time. No one thinks of a Saiyan using stealth. They expect us to crash onto a planet's surface and run wild, pillaging everything in sight. No one imagines a Saiyan infiltrating a group of tourists, or a work crew. No one is on guard against a Saiyan stepping out of sight and pouring a vial of liquid into the soil near a government building. And even if that Saiyan were spotted, no one would understand what he was doing. They wouldn't even know he was a Saiyan, not without a tail to give him away."

Treekul gestured at everyone else in the room. "That's why you had everyone lop off their tails?" she asked. "So they'd be sneakier?"

"More than that," Rehval said. "I did it to prove that we no longer need the tails, that we're so much more without them. Look at Nagaoka. Surrounded by clouds, its moonlight is useless here. Even if you had a tail, on another planet it wouldn't be good for more than a day or two. But I've channeled the geomantic currents of this solar system. The planet's relationship to the moon serves me at all times, without a tail. That's progress, Treekul. Why would anyone want to escape from that?"

*******

"Aren't you forgetting something, dad?" Seltiss asked from the bridge of the SFC's command ship. It was unnerving to stare into the eyes of his image on Nagaoka's surface, but she fixed her gaze anyway, determined to show her resolve.

"Ah, Seltiss," Rehval said telepathically. "I hear you've kept busy while I've been away. I'll admit, I was somewhat surprised when I found out you had joined forces with Luffa."

"You were surprised? I thought you were dead," Seltiss shouted. "Or that you had gone totally freakazoid after you evacuated Planet Saiya! Then this cult shows up and I thought some lame-o wizard was trying to enslave us all! Turns out it was you all along."

"Then you should be relieved," Rehval said. "The Saiyans are in no danger from me. The Jindan power is a way for them to become stronger, and a way to make myself stronger in return. That's how I've made all of this possible. By merging my spirit with the planet, and drawing power from my followers, I--"

"You've empowered yourself," said Xibuyas, who stood beside Seltiss on the bridge. "But only yourself, from what I can see. You say you have rock-avatars on a thousand key planets, ready to destroy them if anyone defies you. The only way to stop them is to destroy Nagaoka, which you've made indestructible. That's not like you, Your Majesty. You always taught Princess Seltiss and me that wielding power was a much more subtle art."

"Yeah," Seltiss added. "It's a scalpel, not a club. That's what you always told us. Its like a strategic game. You make one move at a time, building your position until you can win."

On the viewscreen of Seltiss' ship, the clouds on Nagaoka chuckled in time with Rehval's telepathic laugh. "Don't you understand, children? It was a game, but it's over now! I've won! I wielded the scalpel, since long before you were born, and now the surgery is finished! The game is over, and this is the end of history. Whatever happens from now on will be decided by my power, and mine alone. This was always the point, Seltiss. It was always about securing the future of the Saiyans at the top of the universal food chain. Everything before today was a means to an end."

"But you've forgotten something, dad!" Seltiss insisted. "Whatever this creepy future is you've envisioned for the Saiyans, it can't outlive you! Who's going to maintain all of this when you're gone? You need heirs for that, and right now you haven't got any!"

She was trembling now, and Xibuyas nearly reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, until he thought better of it. He knew this was something she had wanted to say to her father for a long time, and now that the moment was finally here, she was building confidence in her words. Seltiss pointed her thumb at herself, then poked her own chest with it, deforming the logo of whatever musical act was featured on her 7000-credit t-shirt.

"I know about your eugenics plans, dad," Seltiss said. "You told me about it often enough. The genetic profiling, the incubation chambers, that was only just the beginning. You wanted to breed a stronger generation of Saiyans, and you wanted your descendants to be the strongest of each new generation, right? That's why you needed Xibuyas! He was your special project to make an ultimate Saiyan, but you needed me to bear his offspring, so they would share your bloodline!

"Well guess what? Xibuyas and I aren't playing along anymore. You may need us, but we sure don't need you, not anymore! So even if you are invincible, your new era won't even last another century... unless!"

Her lips curled into a triumphant smile, like a high-stakes gambler on the brink of winning the pot. Xibuyas couldn't help but smile himself. He didn't understand her fashion sense, or why she insisted on dyeing her black hair pink, or how she could possibly think Luffa was "cool." Xibuyas only knew that he admired this girl more than he could possibly express.

"We can work something out, father," Seltiss said. "You'll have to agree to share power, and grant certain concessions to my Saiyan followers. They have their pride, you know. They're not about to start bowing down to you like some sort of graven image, not when they came to me to get away from your bogus brand of order."

The cloud-image of Rehval seemed genuinely impressed by her bold demands. "Concessions," he said, as though trying the word on for size. "Interesting, Seltiss. Suppose I agree to your terms. What do I get from you in return?"

Seltiss relaxed slightly. "When we're older, Xibuyas and I will produce those heirs you want," she said. "And the two of us can take over your rule when you... well you know... die. And I can talk the Free Companions into a working relationship with you. They can act as enforcers, since you and yours are probably, like, stuck on that planet for the long term right?"

Xibuyas chuckled quietly. Luffa and her Federation fleet would be furious over this, but what could they possibly do about it? She had them over a barrel. As powerful as Rehval had become, she was the one person in the universe who had something he wanted. He watched Rehval's face on the atmosphere of Nagaoka, curious to see how he would react.

The face in the clouds simply laughed.

"Seltiss, Seltiss, Seltiss," he said as the cloud-image shook its "head". "I'm impressed with how far you've come. I really am. Organizing this Free Company of yours, building a coalition against me, well I knew you would try it, but I honestly wasn't sure how well you would succeed. You really are my twenty-seventh greatest creation."

"You... you knew I would turn against you?" Seltiss asked.

"I raised you, my dear. Sent you to all those private schools to teach you political theory. I chose those programs because I knew they would fill your head with ideas about taking bold steps to secure power, and how important it is for leaders to take initiative. I wanted you to grow up looking for ways to seize power from me wherever you could. At first, it was just so you would be a worthy successor if something ever happened to me. But when I abandoned Saiya, I knew you might start gathering all of my enemies together. Every Saiyan who would oppose my rule, all united under one banner. And how thoughtful of you to deliver them to my doorstep!"

"You wanted me to do this?" Seltiss gasped.

"Either this, or maybe you'd get them all killed in a war you couldn't win. Or they'd abandon you in disgust and recognize my power as the only one that works. But this! Oh, you've made me very proud. Your sisters were never capable of this kind of leadership, Seltiss. That's why I chose you to be the one who bore Xibuyas' children. It had to be you."

"Well it won't be!" Seltiss shouted. "I'm not your puppet, dad! I don't care how powerful you are, I'm not going to play along with your sick plans!"

She began to stamp her feet on the deck, not quite hard enough to smash the deckplate apart, but enough for everyone on the bridge to feel the rumble.

"We won't do it!" Seltiss insisted. "You can send your goons to chase us all over the galaxy, but you'll never get your heir! And Xibuyas can beat those rock monsters of yours. Luffa's already shown us how! So unless you plan to die of old age on that planet of yours, you'd better--"

Rehval started to laugh again.

"Seltiss, do you really think you were ever that important to my plans?" Rehval asked. "Would I really let a spoiled teenager out of my sight if I actually depended on her cooperation?"

"You knew you couldn't stop me, so you didn't try!" Seltiss protested. "That's why you didn't send your men to stop me from rescuing Xibuyas from Pflaume--"

"I let you have Xibuyas," Rehval said, "because I had no further use for him. He failed to defeat Luffa, and I knew he wouldn't bother me too much while he was with you, so I abandoned him. Just like I abandoned you when I had no further need of you."

The cloud image shifted, forming a planet-sized monochrome photograph of a cryonics laboratory. A scientist could be seen handling frozen embryos.

"I wanted grandchildren through you and Xibuyas," Rehval expained, but I never needed your cooperation to get them. I took genetic samples from both of you when you were small children, and sent them to a facility that specializes in genetic engineering projects. It's on Planet Bliff in the Nullon Sector. I'm telling you this because one of my avatars is already on the planet, ready to protect it in case one of you tries to interfere with my business there."

Seltiss was horrified. "You... you what?"

The image in the clouds shifted into a wider view of Rehval, soaking in his alchemical bath, surrounded by his faithful. "I saw great potential in both of you, but I had to see what you could do in practice, and I didn't want to risk losing your genomes if you got yourselves killed. You see, Seltiss, I want a line of descendants, but not as heirs. No, I needed you to produce a line of enforcers. Saiyans of royal blood who would go out and handle provincial matters in my new kingdom. You would be the matriarch of that line, and I think you'd be very good at that work. But your sons and daughters will fill the role just as well. I wanted you to cooperate, I really did, but I only needed one thing from you, and..." he paused to chuckle, "I already have it."

In the cloud-image, Rehval clapped his hands together with great enthusiasm. "As for my death, I wouldn't mark your calendars anytime soon. I'm not just bonded with the energy of this planet. I am the planet now. Its vast geomantic energies are mine to control, like the ki of my Saiyan body. The process has merged us in a way that I can't quite put into words, but I think I'll have plenty of time to figure that out. We Saiyans think of planets as things that are fairly easy to destroy, but Nagaoka is now a planet that can defend itself. Or rather, myself. And we think of Saiyans as creatures with a finite lifespan, but I've become so much more than that now. How long does the moon live in the sky? Well now I am the moon. I am the sky. I am the planet. So now that we've got that straightened out, let's talk about the concessions you can make for me, my daughter."

Xibuyas saw Seltiss trembling again, but this time it wasn't out of anxiety or excitement. Now, it was despair. He couldn't help but share it. He wanted to call Rehval's bluff, to say that it was impossible for him to do the things he was claiming. And yet, he knew he owed his life to Rehval's alchemical skills, and he had fought the rock-Rehval creatures before. As for Nagaoka, he could sense the strange power of this planet, and he had already seen how ineffective their weapons were against it.

"Every Saiyan who partakes in the Jindan potion has given me a portion of their energy," Rehval began. "Every Saiyan who does not, will be considered an enemy of the state. You, Seltiss, my daughter, will bring your followers to the surface of Nagaoka, and they will join me. Any who refuse, well, that's fine. I can destroy you here and now, or my followers can hunt you down later. I know there are other Saiyans out there who haven't taken sides yet. I'd like your help in finding them, Seltiss. But I don't need your help, and honestly, I don't mind taking my time. Those other Saiyans are no threat to me."

*******

Aboard Luffa's star-yacht, Luffa and Guwar watched Rehval from the open door in the cargo bay. The force field that maintained the bay's atmosphere offered a perfect view overlooking Nagaoka, and Rehval's telepathy relayed everything he had said to Seltiss.

"I'll go ahead and offer an invitation to Luffa as well," Rehval said. "No harm in that, since I know she won't accept it, but I would suggest that you consider the alternative, Luffa. You can't defeat me here. Even if you reached the surface, you'd never stand a chance against my armies. You can defeat my avatars, true, but you'd have to get to them first, and it'll take you weeks to get back to your precious Federation. If I were you, I wouldn't bother. I'll command my avatars to destroy any planet at the first sign of your approach. The Federation will surrender to me, immediately, I think. And you... well, I guess you can roam the stars, Luffa. No inhabited planet in the universe will dare accept you, not if it means incurring my divine wrath. I suppose you can find some remote world to settle on, or just fly your star-yacht as far as you can go until it runs out of fuel.

"I'm willing to let Guwar return the fold as well. Yes, I can sense you aboard Luffa's ship, Guwar. You were part of my plan, after all. I knew my scheme would make no sense without an understanding of what I intended to do with this planet. That was why I took you into my 'confidence', Guwar. I knew your faith in me would falter, and that you would go running to the only person you thought was strong enough to stop me. Hopefully, you see just how wrong you were to doubt."

It horrified Guwar to hear Rehval speak to him directly. He hadn't wanted to come along on this mission at all, and he had hoped the cult wouldn't learn of his presence on Luffa's ship. But now, Rehval had seen him, and.... forgiven him?

"I hope you appreciate my revenge, Luffa," Rehval went on. "I sacrificed so many of my favorite things when I tried to kill you on Pflaume City. And then I had to give up my kingdom on Planet Saiya. Well now I've taken away the thing that matters most to you, Mrs. 'Super Saiyan'. I've taken away your relevance. I've become more powerful than you now, and that makes your power meaningless. Now you can slither under a rock, the way I only seemed to do when I left Saiya. The difference is that I came here to achieve an even greater glory! While all you can do is decide how you want to die. Have fun making up your mind, woman."

Here, the telepathic words of Rehval Trismegistus came to an end. Luffa didn't move as she watched the clouds resume their natural patterns. She didn't move when Guwar approached her.

"I guess that's it then," he said with a sigh. "He played us all. Nothing left to do but head down there and accept d--"

Luffa powered down, her gleaming yellow hair resuming its natural black color. She turned and shot Guwar a murderous glare. "I'm going to kill them," she said. "Every last one of them."

"What?" Guwar asked. "Whoa, wait, you heard what he said! You saw what happened when you fired on the planet. There's nothing anyone can do! Let's just be glad that he's being graceful enough to let us join him. I mean, I've been there before, you know. The cult's not so bad, once you get used to it--"

There was a loud "crack" as Luffa swatted her hand across Guwar's head. Guwar himself didn't hear it, as the force of the blow killed him a split second before the sound arrived at his ears. The last thing to go through his mind was the right side of his skull. For a brief, horrific moment, his dead body remained standing, and then it finally collapsed, as though remembering what it was supposed to do.

Luffa turned and walked out of the bay.

NEXT: Become The Wind.

[agentpeggicarter]

Animal Crossing Guide

I’ve seen a lot of posts in the animal crossing fandom asking similar questions so I thought I would make a guide to clear the air and help everyone. I will update and add information as I experiment with the game, and new information comes to light. 

To start off with you should download this app if you can because it can help you keep track of bugs, and fish you can catch during the month as well as the various times. It also keeps track of your fossils for you, once you put them in of course, and shows you how close you are to completion. 

Now! On to the Q and A!

Tips:

Your island spawns 6 rocks that you can hit for clay, and stone; if you use the flimsy axe, and iron if you use the stone axe, ax, and shovel. 1 rock will be the money rock and give you 100 to up to 8000 bells. If hit 8 times your bells are as followed: 100, 200, 300, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000, 8000 for a grand total of 16,100 bells 

Your island randomly spawns 4 fossils that you have to dig up to give to Blathers for the fossil section of your museum 

There will always be a message in a bottle when you start a new day so be sure to check your beach.

There is always one glowing section on your island per day, it’s for your money tree. You dig up 1000 bells and if planted get 3000 bells. once picked of the bells the tree will not grow more, so don’t worry abt checking them everyday.

Shake your non-fruit trees with your net in hand, you can get resources from them like tree branches, but also items fall from them, as well as bells, and with your net in hand if you shake a wasp down you have better odds of catching it then getting stung.

Your villagers make 3 diys every day. The villagers who makes them will be different everyday, so be sure to check in with everyone who is home. The times also verify, but its usually one until noon, one from noon to five/six, and one from five/six to nine/ten. Your villager will craft it for awhile so be sure to share with your friends!

If you talk to Sable enough times she will start to give you custom fabric for your furniture for when you customize it. Be sure to talk to her every day after to get one to continue getting it, miss a day and you will have to start over.

Visit Resident services every day and log on to the terminal to get a streak going for nook miles, seven days in a row is 300

How do I get posters of animals to hang on my wall?

You first have to have Harvey (or Harv) visit your island and talk about the photo studio he has. Once he’s talked to you, you have to visit his island and enter a room where you start to decorate it. The last tab is residents, add them to the room and then when you leave the island and exit the airport Harv will call you and tell you about the posters you can buy which will be in nook shopping under special goods.

Can I sell to Flick or CJ on other islands?

Unfortunately you can not. You can talk with them and they will talk about bugs and fish, but it wont give you the option to sell anything to them. 

How does one get ants?

The only way I have found to get ants is from a rotten turnip on the grass. I originally had it on the stone path and I only got a flies. The other problem is you can’t put one turnip out, you will lose 10 turnips if you want an ant.

What if there is someone at my campsite that I want and my island is all full?

This happened to me and I will let you know that it’’s very stressful doing it without knowing anything. The good news is they tell you who they are going to evict and you can still say no. Before you do anything SAVE THE GAME, this is important because you can always turn off the system if you don’t like who they chose to move out.

 First you have to play a card game, basically pick a suit, with them and if you lose the camper will decide if they want to stay or not, mine said no. You can play again and they make the game easier, basically pick a color, when you win they will go ask Tom Nook if there is room, and then come back and say they are full do you still want to proceed in which case I said yes. Then they will talk about a rumor they heard of a certain villager wanting to move out. Now that is the random part. Once they give you the name there are two things you can do, you can say no and it stops the process or you can turn your game off and do it all over again until you get the name of a villager you want to leave. Thankfully i didn’t have to do this because they chose one I didn’t want any way so that worked out for me.

Why is there a random villager on my island that I did not invite?

The most annoying thing that happened to me. Two villagers set up shop on my island and I did not ask them to live here. Here is why.

Apparently when you get to the point where you are recruiting the last set of villagers for your island you are asked to buy plots from Tom Nook for 10,000 bells. I bought and placed all of mine within two days of each other but didn’t start filling them hoping that more villagers would come to my island via the campsite and I would ask them to move in. That was a mistake, cause apparently at the end of each day if you don’t have anyone in that house they will randomly assign someone there, and it will probably be someone you don’t want, which is what happened in my case. Be aware of your land and plan for a day of nookmile hunting for villagers or build plots as you need them.

How do I get different color flowers?

Each flower has 3 starter colors; red, yellow, white. From there you will have to make hybrids for the other colors. I’ve seen guides that give you various ways to get them, I’ve even done them and the standard checkerboard and they do work, but they work best when you have fellow animal crossing people help you by watering them. You have a better chance of getting the hybrids when you’re friends come over and water them. Below is the guide I use when I’m trying for hybrids and when my friends water them I get more of these hybrids. Mums is the only flower where you can get green and roses are the only ones who can give you gold. ( I have yet to figure out the gold, last I heard is you need the golden watering can, but I don’t know how accurate that is)

How do I display my designs at the Able sisters shop?

You can display 8 custom outfits you have made at the Able’s shop.

If you head to the back of the store where the sisters have two rows of outfits hanging from the wall that is where your work is displayed. Just stand in front of one of the four rows and click A, Mabel will ask you which row you are looking at, top or bottom, you select which row you are trying to change and she will tell you whats displayed there and what you want to do with it. Mabel gives you four options.

I want the design: If it’s not your design and you would like to save it to wear this is what you would click. You will have to delete a custom design to save the design there. Now you can wear this item whenever.

Display my work here: This is where you will display various outfits you have made with the pro designer.  Once you display an outfit your villagers will randomly wear them. It’s very cute.

Report: If there is a design thats offensive you can report it

Just Browsing: You just wanted to see who made the item on the wall and don’t want to save it.

I have turnips, but still want to time travel, will they spoil?

If you are moving forward in time the turnips will not spoil, it would be as if a new day had happened generically anyway, so no worries there. The two things you shouldn’t do if you have turnips is go backward in time or go farther than Saturday because once it’s Sunday it’s Daisy Mae Day and your turnips are spoiled. 

[hannahwayward-blog]

Kolkata Day 4: “All This Weird Beauty, Thrown Right at Me”

Tuesday, my fourth day in Kolkata, dawned far too early as I had fallen asleep at 4:00 the previous afternoon. After unsuccessfully trying to sleep, I finally made my way downstairs for the hotel’s breakfast around 8:30. Much to the enjoyment of the waiter, I ordered a “real Indian breakfast” of tortilla-like breads and potatoes in sauce. Taking my banana for the road, I headed to New Market for some retail therapy, which I felt was well-deserved after the long journey to Dakshineswar on Monday.

New Market is the oldest indoor shopping mall in the world, built around the S. S. Hogg meat market. Going as a Caucasian Westerner is intimidating, even in a group, but going alone was exhausting. As soon as I arrived after the quick walk from my hotel, I was accosted by porters telling me to follow them to the best shops, saying that they would give me the best prices, vying for my patronage. I shunned them, but one relentless older man followed me, and so I let him lead me to an “emporium.” This shop turned out to be the same shop from which I’d bought scarves, a ring, and a tapestry during my last trip to Kolkata, and which had benefited greatly from my DukeEngage group’s almost-weekly visits. Notorious amongst us for the insane prices they tried to charge and aggressive haggling required, I declined to buy anything here and asked my porter to show me to a place to buy shoes. The shop seemed familiar, and may have been the place from which I bought handmade flats last time. I was looking for a pair of leather, closed-toe sandals to add to my travel wardrobe, since the only shoes I’d packed were my trusty Chacos. I found a pair I liked, and after some back and forth, paid Rs. 1900 for them - about $30 USD. This was more than I’d intended to spend the entire day, but I liked the shoes and lacked the strength in numbers to feel empowered to haggle more.

From the shoe shop we went to a store selling pants, scarves, skirts, and other fabrics. I knew I wanted a pair of black pants and a black “om” scarf, similar to the white and red one I’d bought during my first visit. Somehow I ended up paying Rs. 1500 for the pants (WAY too much, and I don’t even like the pants that much - they’re way too ~white girl visits India ~ with multicolored elephants and bells on the drawstrings) and Rs. 1000 for the scarf. Feeling elated, but also a little defeated, I left the market accompanied by the porter and paid him my balance after visiting an ATM.

I wanted to take photos inside the market, so after he set me on a course back to Sudder Street I turned around and headed back inside. I spent probably 15 minutes taking photos of the meat market and the surrounding streets before a young man began following me. Usually I can deter the followers by a shake of my head, a stern “na,” or simply ignoring them, but this man was not to be dissuaded. He kept asking for a “shelfie” with me, which I declined, and continued to tail me as I wove through the meat stalls. I was feeling a bit unsettled, when I saw what I thought would be salvation - a mid-20s, Caucasian man buying beef. I hustled over to him and struck up a conversation, but the man was more of a boy, and totally oblivious to the hints I was dropping that I was being followed. My “daddy,” he told me, “works for Exide, the battery company, and we’ve lived here a year and a half. Enjoy your time here” And with that, I was left with my trailing Bengali man again. Luckily, my porter soon found me and I told him I was being tailed. He quickly ushered me out of the market, told me I shouldn’t be there by myself, and sent me on my way yet again.

Again feeling defeated, I made my way over to Cafe Coffee Day with the help of the map on my phone (and no help from my porter or any locals, who didn’t seem to know what it was). There, I had a latte, and spoke very bad Bangla with the waitress and the host. After spending some time collecting myself, I decided to head over to the Mother House. It appeared that the walk would take about an hour, and I pulled out my camera and went on my way 

The walk was pleasant -- there had been a tremendous thunderstorm on Monday night, and the day was cooler (still in the 100s, but cooler) and cloudy. I took pictures of beautiful, crumbling colonial palaces, walked by shop after shop selling foods and drinks and sweets - and stopped for my favorite Bengali sweet, the dripping, luscious gulab jamun - and felt completely at home amidst the heat and the filth and the bustle. When I arrived at the Mother House, it turned out I had stopped at the wrong place, it was actually a branch of the Missionaries of Charity; the Mother House was further down the road. A young street girl, 19 years old when I asked her age, offered to walk me to the real Mother House. I knew as soon as we started walking that this was going to end in a scam, but I was exhausted from fending off beggars and yellers and askers and attention-grabbers and so I let it happen.

Her name, she said, was Kokomoni. She was married with a one year-old child, she said, and her husband, much older, had fallen out of love with her and was interested in another woman. She worked at a hotel as a cleaner. Recently, she hadn’t been able to produce enough milk for her child, and so “please, ma’am,” she asked, “please buy me some powdered milk. No money, just milk.” Sigh. Upon doing some research once I arrived at the Mother House, after buying her the milk (which cost Rs. 350!!), I did some research. Apparently this is a classic scam, and the milk is shortly exchanged for cash, of which the shop owner takes a cut.

Not only had I just been ripped off, but the Mother House was closed. Double sigh. And my phone had just run out of rupees. Triple sigh. I was exhausted - tired of being stared at whistled at and yelled at, tired of sticking out. I sat on the stoop of the House for a bit, collecting myself yet again, and then decided to go down to my old neighborhood.

From Park Street, I took the metro down to Kalighat. My first order of business was to purchase a chicken egg roll from our beloved Bavarchi, one block up from our old home. To my dismay, Bavarchi was closed! There were two new restaurants in its place, one Chinese and one offering rolls. I got a chicken roll, which was almost (but not quite) as good as the ones I was used to. Chicken rolls in West Bengal aren’t the Chinese type that comes to mind, but deep fried naan-esque bread rolled around kabaab-cooked chicken and veggies. I ate it as I walked through the neighborhood and made my way down to Rabindra Sadan Lake, where I spent an uneventful hour or two walking the lakeside path.

When I left the lake, I decided to head to the Gariahat street market to get mehendi (henna), since I remembered having it done outside the Spencer’s grocery store there six years back. As I waited beside I chai stall to cross the street, I saw teeny little kittens darting around the stall’s wheels. I squealed, and a older lady sitting on one of the benches grinned. As I knelt down to try to entice one of the kittens to come closer, the woman was more successful, and lured a kitten to her only to snatch it up by the scruff of the neck and hold it out to me. Thrilled, I cuddled the distraught kitten for a moment before setting it down, thanking the kind lady with “dhono badh” (that’s a very butchered, phonetic spelling), and crossing back up to Rash Behari road.

I walked through Kalighat and the fruit and veggie market, then through rows and rows of saris and salwar kameez and backpacks and umbrellas before finding an entire row of mehendi stalls. I plopped down on one and told them I could spend 100 Rupees only - last time we got mehendi we got gloriously swindled into paying like 1500 apiece - to which they agreed. Apparently, each side of a hand costs Rs. 50, so I got the palm of each hand painted and then sat with the stall owners, Olima and Ashok, for a bit while my hands dried. They laughed with me as I sputtered out different phrases in broken Bangla, and taught me the words for big cat and little cat as we watched a cute orange and white kitten weave in and out of the stalls. The neighboring stall sold hair clips and bindis, and the young boy running the stall watched in amusement as I worked on “choto biral” (small cat) and “bolo biral” (big cat).

I took the metro back up once my mehendi was dry-ish, used another roadside bathroom stall for Rs. 2, and arrived back at my hotel around 6:00. My plan was to sleep early since I had been awake so early, but I was super hungry. Begrudgingly, I ordered the overpriced room service, and called it a night pretty late. 

The phrase that kept repeating itself during my self-guided walking tour of the city was (don’t judge me) Lady Gaga’s “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich.” Kolkata is the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen, and it’s difficult for me to describe why to people who haven’t been. The old world colonial buildings are streaked with dark lines from years of torrential downpours, and the newer buildings are painted in bright reds and blues and yellows. All of this clamors for space amidst the jungle, which fights against the city to overtake it, striking a tenuous balance of lush and green and industrial and manmade. The city  busy and loud, and no one can argue that it’s clean. Excrement from hordes of homeless people and from goats and cows and cats and dogs, garbage and food due to the lack of a strict municipal garbage system; the aromas of street food and sweets; and the sweat of millions of bodies all mix together to create an aroma that is, at best, disturbing, and at worst, gag-inducing. Piles of garbage line the streets and the air is full of haze from the gasoline of thousands of taxis and autorickshaws and motors and cookfires. And yet - every person, especially the women, greet me with a smile. People talk loudly and animatedly and argue and hold hands and sing. Indian music blares from car radios and the speakers of the shops. It’s intoxicating. It’s beautiful, dirty, and rich in every sense except for financially. There’s nowhere else like it. I’ve said hundreds of times that it’s exhausting, and it’s even moreso traveling there alone. Without the solidarity of travel companions, I stand out that much more. I am never alone and never not being stared at. I never blend in. As a friend in Bangalore helped me articulate, I know the city, but the city doesn’t know me. It’s almost unnerving at times, but still, the city has its hooks in me. I love it more than I’ll ever be able to convey, even when I hate it - and sometimes, I loathe the filth and the heat and the crowdedness. But I still love it, and it will always feel like another home.

[sambart93]

2017.02.14 Messiah: Akatsuki [Review]

Yesterday I spent valentine’s day watching a stage series that I completely fell into last summer! While I was super pissed and skeptical of this installment of the stage - due to favourite characters (Amane, Misu, Shuuto’s) and actors NOT coming back (Takaki, Nakamura, Shuuto, Hirose Daisuke, Naoya) this installment, and also some announcing that the next installment after this one would be their last (Amane/Takaki, Misu/Nakamura) - I went in with an open mind and was ready to accept whatever they were gunna send at me. And I did. Lets see how that went shall we?

Official Site Here Official Twitter Here Dress Rehearsal Video Here Press Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

CAST/CHARACTERS

Akazawa Tomoru as Shirasaki Mamoru Izawa Yuki as Ariga Ryou Sugie Taishi as Kagami Itsuki Nagae Ryouki as Miike Mayo Yamaoki Yuki as Yugi Kotarou Hashimoto Shinichi as Kugure Jun Asato Yuya as Doctor Ten Otsuka Kosuke as Doctor Three Ito Kotaro as Amane Gwen Shougo Yamada James Takeshi as Salut Araki Kentaro as Kumoi Ren / Cheka Kotani Yoshikazu kuroko / Momose Tatara Nakahara Yuya as Ichijima Harumi Osumi Kenya as Shikura Kazuhito

Ensemble: Hosokawa Akihiro, Kitamura Kai, Uraie Kenji, Hisada Yuki, Sugiura Yuichi, Ishigami Ryuya, Sakamoto Kazuki

STORY

Kaito Yuri has gone missing and it seems like he might have not only betrayed Sakura but also Mamoru. But Mamoru stays strong that Kaito isn't a bretrayer and that he's still alive, though many believe he's dead after 6 months with no contact from him have passed. Mamoru is sent on a solo Gradutaion (Sotsugyou) Mission to stop the AI hacker known as 'Necromancer' who had broken into Sakura's security system and caused havock. With the occassional help from Doctor Ten, Doctor Three, and the three new Sakura recruits, Mamoru embarks on his mission, alone.

NON-SPOILER:

Maybe it's because this was my first time seeing Messiah live the flesh but I felt there was a massive step up in production and everything in this stage! The most impressive thing was the choreography for the action. Holy moly, the stunts and the timing was amazing! Also I really enjoyed the projection mapping this time around and how they used it. As usual the music was amazing and also super nostalgic and hearing the bell when the stage began! I cried at the ending to this but for a different meaning than everyone else. I really, really enjoyed this which I didn't expect to and I am definitely looking forward to the next installment. The negatives I have is this story has two plots and one of the plots I absolutely loved and the other plot I absolutely hated and don't want to remember. The second negative is; I really don't like the three new recruits. They're like carbon copies of Messiah character's we've already met and they're boring and I don't really want to get to know them, which is unfortunate because the actors themselves are adorable!

Rating: I don't think I've rated the Messiah series at all up to now... but I'll put it at a safe 8/10 for now.

SPOILERS!

You’ve been warned; all the spoilers ahead!

Strangely enough the spoilers are going to start with my giving a more detailed story plot, which will be ‘colour coded’ due to sections of the story that I personally want to remove from my memory in italics because I hated those parts of the plot. Sound good? Okay!

Kaito Yuri has gone missing and after 6 months have passed everyone believes he's dead while Mamoru stays strong and believes he's alive and that he didn't betray Sakura. Mamoru is sent on a solo Gradutaion (Sotsugyou) Mission to stop the AI hacker known as 'Necromancer' who had broken into Sakura's security system and caused havock such as making satelites fall from the space and hijacking a plane and almost crashing it and in the end it locks onto the nuclear bombs across the world and threatens to set them all off. The rest of the Sakura crew (along with two sciencetists; Doctor Three and Docter Ten, and three new Sakura recruits; Yuge, Kugure and Miike, help Mamoru break into where Necromancer's main source is, but it turns out many people have been implanted with a chip meaning Necromancer can control and use their bodies, even after the person has been killed, which the AI does on several occassions and literally has an army of the undead under it's control. Not only that but turns out the creator of Necromancer is Kumoi Ren; Kagami's supposed-to-be-dead uncle, who long ago had implanted a chip even into Kagami's brain, and Kagami ends up being the HOST and being controlled by Necromancer, thus follows his uncle and leaves Ariga. So now Ariga is desperately trying to save Kagami and trying to find a way to bring him back in control of his body and brain without having to kill him (because we all know he has a streak of killing his Messiahs -__-). SO it turns out Kaito was working with them to help create the AI 'Necromancer' and it ended in them killing him because he protested to officially joining them, and they took and used his brain to fuse with the Necromancer AI software to create the ultimate AI. Meaning Kaito is well and truly dead much to Mamoru's ruined heart and feelings. However, Mamoru learns that because the AI is meshed with Kaito's brain, the AI actually understands emotions, and purposely chose Sakura as the security system to hack, and has a weak spot which is wanting to still protect Mamoru. Mamoru manages to gain control of the Kaito part of Necromancer and it decides to leave Kagami's body and the mission is completed without any nuclear bombs or anything going off. The final scene (as with all Messiah Graduations) is of Mamoru on his solo mission out of Sakura and in his spy uniform when he's surrounded by Necromancer controlled enemies but when one has his gun pointed squarely at Mamoru (who happens to have Kaito’s hairstyle and similar face structure to Hirose), Mamoru says 'let's go Kaito' and again the Kaito part of Necromance takes over that guys body and joins Mamoru's side to fight the rest of the gang. End.

Yeah I ain't even spoiled 80% of the whole story yet! Course I left some things out or else you wouldn't be surprised when you see the stage for yourself.

As you can see, I'm super not happy about the Kaito plot line and I'd like to erase that whole part from the plot. This story work perfectly swell with it just being about a super AI that has taken over Kagami’s body. << also this boy needs more character development so why not let him be the main story?! It really pissed me off how they've dealt Hirose Daisuke's exit from the series. Even just making a silly fucking short VTR of showing him dying would’ve been more satisfactory than a random line he speaks over a computer and better than just a projection mapping of his Sakura profile and at the bottom saying: Dead. and I’m also pissed at Hirose about going to the keikos and seeing the performance AND there’s clearly newly recorded recorded Yuri voice soundbytes for this stage too(!); so he obviously HAD THE TIME to do the fucking stage. Ugh, especially right at the end with the pretty much Hirose student double who LIP SYNCS Kaito’s lines at the end, oh my god I am so pissed about that! lets move on.

---

Now let's get to some specifics in the play that I enjoyed!

I freaking cried! As soon as that bell rang to signal the start of the play an we get Mamoru kicking ass and almost being kicked and it being action packed right from the start? I was like "YES!! THIS IS MESSIAH!!!"

I have such respect in this stage for Tomorun in this. His applause compared to everyone else was so much louder. While the applause at the end was solid anyway (it's the first time I've experienced applause not quieten a little between the bows and the actors getting in position) the sound got like 1000 times louder when Tomorun was stood on his own to bow, and he damn well deserves it! He had a LOT of weight to carry and he had a lot to hold up to in this stage and it really shows through and he was flawless and amazing in his role. He spends 70% of this stage crying his eyes out and/or being beaten to shit. I actually feel sorry for Tomorun for how much pressure he had this time around. We all know who to blame... anyway... One part I really love of Tomorun’s performance is (it’s really small but) when he gets captured and one of the bad guys kicks his leg and Shirasaki falls down on one knee and just the timing and the way he does it is SO good! And I was SUPER lucky the second show! I had a seat for row 13 which is THE row between the two sections which means there's a big enough gap for the actor to go running right past you and even fight in front of you, WHICH Tomorun did at least twice! Each time he stopped EXACTLY in front of me or what fighting RIGHT in front of me and so the wind caused by his punched were right in my face and his coat hits my legs a few times and I was just like 'oooooommmmmmmgggggggggoooooooddd' internally and everytime he exited away it always went quiet but I'm pretty sure people near me always heard me to exhale very deeply as I tried to calm down from the heart racing closeness I was to the action and Tomorun.... holy moly...

Ariga this time... I have a hate relationship with this guy because of what happened with Mamiya but (un)fortunately Izawa Yuki is such a freaking saint. He's so adorable and so nice and he's such an interesting person and this time around Ariga's character was given more room to group and kind of move away slightly from the Mamiya stigma, especially now that Kagami has fully accepted him as his Messiah. And also thanks to Izawa the higawari and improve scenes and lines are gold. He's so funny! So my opinion of Ariga has changed this stage but lets say that's more from Izawa and Kagami's influence rather than Ariga himself. But there's SUCH a good moment at the end when Ariga puts his gun against Shirasaki's chest and says 'See you again' and (I didn't notice the first time so I FREAKED the fuck out and cried hard the second time!) Shirasaki removes his gun and puts it against Ariga's and says 'definitely' SO THEY CHANGED GUNS!! THEY PROMISED TO MEET AGAIN!!! OMG I'M DEAD!! *dead* 

Anyway, I'm glad Ariga's still, in this stage, talking about and facing up and admitting what he did to Mamiya and he still mentions how he regrets it and everything and there's a scene towards the end where I was convinced 'Oh fuck it's Mamiya all over again!' --okay I seriously have to talk about this scene but can we go back a few more steps?

I need to talk about the Ariga x Kagami relationship before I can talk about that scene. 

I am so fucking onboard with this ship now! Holy shit this stage gave me ALL the (what're we calling them?) Karimi? Arimi? KaGa? Basically I am so in love with them as a pair! Holy moly! There's so many juicy scenes with them! Literally after the first mission for Necromancer fails they go on, Ariga and Kagami are talking and Kagami is like 'I'm really glad you accepted me as your Messiah... Mamoru still believes Kaito is alive... and you? ... Do you think Mamiya is alive?' *me with ALL the feels* 'omowanai....kono te de Mamiya wo koroshita. Soshite... ore no Messiah ha Kagami da. // no... I killed him with my own hands. Besides that... you're my Messiah. (I have to put this in the Japanese cos I loved his reply!)' and then the scene Kagami is like 'can you stop that? ... I'm your Messiah... stop calling me Kagami....' 'Then what should I call you?' 'Itsuki'

And we enter the two higawaris from the day where Ariga attempts to call Kagami by his first name:

14:00 Performance

Ariga: 'I....i....iiiii' Sugie: 'Ariga are you okay?' 'I.....iiiiiiiii......iiiii' 'You don't have to force yourself!' 'Iiiiiiiiii!!!!! Renshuu shimasu! / I'll go and practise!' *storms off*

19:00 Performance *Prior to this higawari Sugie actually fucked up his 'I'm your Messiah...' line

Ariga: 'Nnnnnntsuki' Sugie: 'What?' 'Nnnnn...nnnntsuki!' 'Don't push yourself. Lets go slow okay?' 'Okay' 'I' 'I' 'Tsu' 'Tsu' 'Ki' 'Ki' 'Okay! All together' 'NNNNNTSUKI! Renshuu shimasu! / I'll go and practise!' 'Yeah you should,' 'also...don't mess up' / kamu na As Izawa walks off , Sugie yells 'Sumimasen! / I'm sorry' and the whole audience were laughing.

Okay lets get to MORE Ariga x Kagami moments. During their first mission to infiltrate Necromancer they obviously get surrounded and beaten to shit by the bad guys and the choreography is so GOOD. Ariga gets attacked and one of the kicks sends him flying into Mamoru who catchs him in his arms! And THEN Kagami get's attacked and flies into Ariga who catches him and then the guy goes to attack Kagami again and cos Ariga is holding him he turn him around so HE takes the blow instead of Kagami and Kagami is like 'Ariga!!' trying to keep and hold him up!!! Oh my the feels!!!!

Now lets get to the horrible moment... so Ariga finally finds Necromancer infested Kagami and Necromancer is like 'if you shot me hear *points to his head* you'll kill me. But you'll also kill Kagami,' and so the scene unfolds and I ALREADY was convinced someone was going to die this stage(!) before I even knew what the plot was to this stage so I'm watching scene unfold and everyone in the room was already crying and sniffling cos of Mamoru and Kaito's scene just before this one but THIS is where I grab my mouth in shock and I'm like 'oh shit... oh shit it's Mamiya all over again. Oh my god please don't kill Kagami' and I'm sat there and the tears start POURING out and I'm starting to make the most noise cos people haven't already gotten most of their crying out with Mamoru! and then wait for it.... Ariga SHOOTS his gun! BUT it goes PAST Kagami and so Necromancer turns and faces Ariga properly and he's like 'you missed! Right here *points to the center of his forehead' and Ariga SHOOTS again but hits Kagami's shoulder and then shoots another 4 times, three go flying past Kagami as he slowly moves forward towards Ariga and the other hits Kagami's leg, but because he's being controlled by Necromancer, he still keeps moving and ignores the pain and such. And then he TAKES Ariga's gun and SHOOTS him in the stomach and Ariga collaspes and I was FREAKING the fuck out. And of course (because it was so. obviously. set-up.) Ariga yells at him to try and bring Kagami's concious back, 'Kagami.... Kagami! ... KAGAMI!..... ITSUKI!!!!!!' and (I start crying even harder because he's finally called him Itsuki and) for a second Kagami comes back and stops the gun from shooting and killing Ariga. Oh my, I'm dead writing it now!!

The finally amazing shipping moment between these two is after Necromance leaves Kagami's body, Kagami falls unconcious to the floor and Ariga drags himself over to Kagami's side of the stage and sits with one leg under his butt and his other leg is kneeling and he rests Kagami's head on his thigh (almost at his crotch) of his kneed up leg (I hope this names sense) and has his hand on Kagami's shoulder. During this Mamoru is center stage doing the climax of the plot and everything and -- EVERYONE in the room is crying their eyes out at Mamoru and in the first performance I was crying from relief that Kagami didn't die and in second performance I was crying by how beautiful this scene unfolds -- eventually towards the end we see Kagami wake up from conciousness; he stays where he is but he opens his eyes half way and sees Ariga above him and slowly takes his right hand to grab Ariga's shoulder and Ariga sees him and SO STRONGELY grabbed onto Kagami's hand and holds it SO tightly and Kagami smiles and falls back into conciousness as Ariga smiles at him and -- oh my god I'm crying as I freaking right this!! I am so on board with this effing ship now! Oh my god...

Okay I need to go and calm down...

Now to solely talk about Kagami: I freaking LOVE that half of this plot ws HIS story line! I've been dying for MORE Kagaminess because I still think he's very new and underdeveloped, also he's currently my favourite Messiah in the series since Mamiya. BUT to say he was a MAJOR plot in this Sugie defo had LESS stage time than he should've been given. I feel he and James got about the same amount. Just after the higawari with Ariga, Sugie is missing from the stage (but constantly spoken about) for a good 30/40minutes which I think is super weird (and lets blame the writers forcing Kaito into the story again shall we?) so I'm annoyed because Sugie/Kagami really does deserve MORE time on stage. Now that Mamoru has graduated it means Izawa and Sugie's last stage should be next which I fucking hope it isn't because of how UNDER developed both of them I feel still are. They've just got another 2 or 3 installments of development left and needed in my opinion. Especially when Matsuda/Ono did EIGHT stages and movies in Messiah before they graduated, and Kagami's only done 3 installments so far and in such small roles(!). So yeah, Sugie deserved more time on stage as Kagami, especially because he does become a major story plot. Also I freaking LOVE how we got his uncle as the bad guy this time! And seeing the HATE Kagami has for his uncle is wonderful! AND Sugie did these two super cool stunts! One is when two of the guys hold his arms and he does this backwards spin thanks to the momentum and then kicks the crap out of them! Another is the ending credits where a bad guy flips him over before he shoots him and it looked SO freaking cool (and a little dangerous) in the first show but unfortunately they messed up in the second performance but during the curtain call Sugie explained how they have a safe execution if he can't land it properly even though it'll look weird, which it did but good to know they have a back up plan and a safe way to finish it if it doesn't go perfectly ^_^ ALSO a main reason why Kagami is a favourite character of mine (besides his bratty attitude and lollypop eating) is his fighting style. It MUST be something back Sugie because I am in love with both his Kagami and Namazuou (from Touken Ranbu Stage) fighting choreography. He fights so cockily in both roles if I really think about it xD OHHH! Another scene which was SO gun is when he first finds Kumoi and he eventually beats him down and ends up straddling above Kumoi and has a gun to Kumoi's face and Araki's hands (both times) were pretty much AGAINST Sugie's crotch because Sugie sat that far up him! I enjoyed it (a bit too much) even if they're supposed to be uncle and nephew xD

Now lets get to the problem children; the three new Messiah recruits.

I don't like them... I don't like them IF they're going to be the new MAIN Messiahs. If they stay as SIDE characters then I'm happy with them. They aren't bad characters but they're no where near MAIN character material. When the 2nd gen Messiahs came in, they were instantly developed and very well introduced, unlike these three; they're bland and too boring to become mains. I will give them a little room to grow but just... ugh. No I don't want these three to be 3rd Messiah Mains!

Nagae.... Nagae... I don't like you. I liked you for about 5 seconds in HetaMyu but like... your attitude in both roles is just so bad! Also I really don't like your chin! He was alright during the aftertalk but just... I don't like you and your character, Miike, in Messiah is an insensitive cunt << I've been dying to call him this outloud for a good 24 hours. They have a meeting at Sakura and he's just like 'wonder if you'll just kill your Messiah again. It's easy for you to do right' to Ariga! And I (did?) HATE Ariga but that's going fucking too far. Insensitive, inconsiderate little shit. Kagami is a little shit but at least he's a playful one who actually has a freaking heart and cares about those that matter. Miike on the other hand can seriously go jump off a fucking cliff. And you can TELL they've started setting things up for the three new characters because there's a point after he's killed the bad guys and only he is left on stage with a dead body and he's like 'your face looks relax... was living that hard? ... same as me then' and it's like 'oh bitch please! You're a fucking child, fuck off' I really didn't appreciate this sob story for someone who's as motherfucking rude as him. And breathe...

Next is Yugi... he's... alright. He's sweet and wants to help Sakura and he's strong and he's sensitive and he super nice to everyone but his personality is very weak and very... normal? and .... he's just not got the face to be a MAIN cast. Sorry guy!! But your face is very 'side character' looking. I hate myself for being so judgey about his looks but, overall I don't think he (meaning the character) is main Messiah character material at all. And again they obviously set it up at the end where he yells at Miike 'I'll take anyone as my messiah, so long as it isn't you' ugh...

And the last problem child is Kugure who is a carbon copy of Hamao's character. He's got the glasses, he acts all stoic, he plays by the book and does his job as a Messiah. He only has two tiny parts that make him a little bit different to Hamao's character. The first is a higawari with Izawa so technically it's not even his character!

14:00 Performance:

Kugure: 'I read your file' Ariga: 'What did you see?' 'Ariga Ryou's favourite food is... purin' 'Yes I love it... and?' 'The thing your particuar about... is how you eat it' 'Well... how do you eat it?' 'I just put it in my mouth' '...lets go....'

19:00 Performance:

Kugure: 'I read your file' Ariga: 'What did you see?' 'Ariga Ryou's favourite food is... purin' 'Yes I love it... and?' 'The thing your particuar about... is how you eat it. 'Of course I am! Kugure, do you know the Purin dance?' *audience cracks up, Shinchan was clearly not expecting this answer and just doesn't reply* '.........what?' 'Try and do it' '.....okay' *Shinchan slowly moves into position to dance* 'lets go!' and Izawa walks off as Shinchan is still half amused and half embarrassed.

In the aftertalk Shinchan talks about how usually he and Izawa have set higawaris that they'll do but tonight Izawa just made one up on the spot and it really shocked him, and Sugie was like 'yep that's Izawa. He's very unpredictable' xD And at the end of this stage, Kugure goes to Ichijima's office and says 'I have something I want to talk to you about' and Ichijima removes his glasses and says 'follow me' to which Kugure slightly touches his glasses before following him and thinking about it now, Ichijima and Kugure's actors DO look very similar AND they both have glasses. Are they setting them up to be father and son?! That's the feeling I got! ALSO I didn't realise until the end of the second performance who Shinchan was!! Towards the end, I suddenly shot up in my seat and was like 'SHIT that's the guy I like from Owari no Seraph!!! ... Why did I think it was Hashimoto Shohei who did Owari.... OMG IT'S HIM!!!!! Oh he can sing nice....' so yeah I'm a slow dumbass xD

So you can see how they've started to set them up being the next gen and I'm not happy. The actors themselves are sweet and really nice (more in the aftertalk) but... no thank you!

Is it just me or does Asato have a lisp?! It definitely sounded like he had/has one and I found it so cute!!! I expected his role as Doctor Ten to be pretty small in this but as he ends up betraying Sakura and works with Hopporengo, I'm sure he'll be a bigger role in the future. Because I didn't know the first performance he was an undercover spy for the terrorists, I didn't notice the subtle hints BUT the second time around you can SEE what he gets up. You see he purposely gave Mamoru certain information and we see him mess with the computer system JUST before it gets seriously hacked and we see him whispering stuff to Kumoi when Sakura have him captured and stuff. So kudos to the writers and director for the subtleness of showing the audience through multiple viewings what his true nature is.

Doctor Three had a much smaller role than I thought he would especially when Asato is partnered with him but Asato naturally got more stage time. I’m still not really sure about his character but I did enjoy his personality and I really liked his performance during the hacking scene.

Now we get to a character I have an issue with, only because of his name. His name is Amane... AMANE! I’m sorry but we already HAVE an Amane in Messiah so unless it turns out they’re related then why the hell do we have ANOTHER Amane! It’s just rubbing salt into the wounds because Amane is not in this installment and will be leaving the series! Okay, now for the character and actor himself, Amane was a very, very small role so he didn’t really leave an impression, but his uniform is nice and I assume he’s connected to the group of officers Shuuto’s character was apart of but without rewatching it or reading his bio, I can’t be sure if they’re the same unit (because the uniforms are different yet have the same boss). As for Ito himself, he’s so sweet and funny! During the Evening Performance’s curtain call, Nagae was like ‘please look forward to the AfterTalk because this guy at the back (of the stage) is very interesting’ and Nagae did not lie! More on that later. Main point is though: he acts SO cute and I was shocked to learn (after when I looked at the pamphlet) how old he is and everything! He’s totally adorable and needs to be protected like a son. Then I later learnt he’s gunna be the red haired character in Daiya no A stage and he looks amazing in that role! Almost tempted to go...

James... James.... James, James, James... I’ve been following you on twitter for a good year and know how great you are of a person but this day I FINALLY saw you act in the flesh for the first time and it’s the first time I’ve seen you act in something since 7 Days which I saw over a year ago!! And I was not disappointed. Firstly that hairstyle is freaking gorgeous and looks so good on you. Secondly, you fighting with a knife and in those slightly tight, white pants? Hell yes! ALSO (as I knew) you’re playing a terrorist in this? Hell yes!! I was so happy with James in this!!! I am so ready for him to be our next main Terrorist villain ones the Cats are sorted (in the movie I assume). Also I was super surprised when he first started talking because A. I didn’t realise nor remember his voice being as high as it actually is and B. he sounds SO MUCH like Fujita Rei! (<< who also has done Messiah btw ;) ) so yeah I was little surprised at first but his voice IS nice too ^_^ Also also also also!!!!! We got a James vs Izawa fight which obviously made all the fangirls happy! It was short but satisfying!! I also love how his character betrayed his ‘contractor’ at the end and also how brutal and ruthless his character is. ALSO the fact that he throws his gun away a lot in favour of the thrill and risk of fighting JUST with a knife or two is amazing too! His such a good character! OMG!!! His fight with Kuroko too was amazing!! But I’ll talk about that more with Kotani! So yes... thank you James and cannot wait to see you in the movie (even if it is a prequel to this stage like I assume).

I love Araki okay. I’ve loved him since he did TouMyu and played Yoshitsune(ko)! And his character in this is completely different. He is a cold ass, mean uncle in this! But I was so hyped when we learn he’s Kagami’s uncle and how manipulative he’s been and how much he did nothing but train and manipulate Kagami! Also the fact that he even had him getting captured by Sakurai and Kagami joining Sakurai pre-planned and everything was genius! I really enjoyed his final scene too! << mainly thanks to James’ character’s cruelty xD

And now it's time to talk about the wonderful star of the comedy relief show; Kuroko aka Kotani!!!! He was fucking hilarious! So many funny moments I want to talk about! The first is when Mamoru is trying to look at Kaito's profile so see if he could get any hints as to what his last mission was and such and Kuroko comes bouncing in and lightens the mood and then asks the computer 'When will the perfect boy walk into my life?' '...No data could be found' xD 'Oh what?! I wanted valentine chocolate....' and soon after this he gets all happy about something, pulls out a slipper from under his coat and begins to sing but Shirasaki soon stops him. Another amazing moment is when he and Salut are having a knife fight and Salut cuts Kuroko ONCE and Kuroko goes MURDEROUS and unstopable. He turns into an absolute ANIMALS when he's fighting and thus that's why he's been kept more as a housekeeper than as a spy at Sakura Church. That and also because we learn he in fact (like Ariga) killed his own Messiah. But turns out his Messiah was an undercover spy for (a similar group to) Hopporengo. During the end credit, his hits Ichijima on the bum with his brush xD he's such a cheeky but funny guy who goes batshit crazy in the battlefield! Oh my!! Another batshit crazy is when Sakura infultrate the boat that Kagami and Kumoi and Salut are on and he and Shirasaki come BUSTING in and (jesus chrsit I can't believe it happened, I pissed myself the entire time) Kuroko storms onto the boat with TWO machine guns and laughing like a crazy man and spinning around as he spot all the bad guys. It was such an epic but hilarious scene!! There's another great scene where Ichijima is talking about past graduated Messiahs and as he mentioned Haku's name, Kuroko pulls a Nanny milk carton out of his pocket and tries to give it to Ichijima xD Anytime he hit someone on the head with the slipper, it always such a good sound that you couldn't help laugh xD Kuroko EASILY shot to pretty much the top of my 'Fav Messiah Characters Ever' in this stage. He's absolutely gold; both when he's doing comedy AND being a badass!

Lastly I'm going to put Ichijima and Shikura's actors together here; these two have been actors for a long time; they're pros, they're damn good at their job, they're very well known and this wasn't they first Messiah; they were flawless and performed as they should of. The most interesting parts about the actors were how they behaved in the curtain call. Usually older Japanese actors have this scary and serious aura about them BUT in the first curtain call Nagae was trying to be all cute like 'I'm bad at curtain calls. I'm only 18 tehe' and then Osumi straight away was like 'Oooooh I can't give speech. I'm only 18 tehe' and totally ridiculed Nagae and he got so embarrassed and Osumi got a HUGE applause from the audience and then as soon as it died down we could see Nakahara on the other side of the stage acting all childish and only the audience saw and when the members turned around to him he acted normal again xD They were real sports! xD At first I was upset Ichijima was back rather than Naoya's character (and I still haven't figured out Ichijimia and Naoya's chara's relationship and status balance) but after seeing the stage, Ichijima is actually a MAJOR part of the plot so it made sense for him to be back. ALSO everytime Ichijima gets serious about fighting and clicks his leg back into place and fights is always badass and epic to watch! He did not disappoint this time either! ^_^

Curtain Calls

I've pretty much already spoke about the two major points of the two curtain calls I saw so lets just go to the aftertalk; about Nagae being teased for trying to act cute and when Ito got pointed out as a very interesting person. Oh but there was another point; because Sugie failed his stunt during the end credits, he explained about the backup safety plan he and the student guy has in case it doesn't go well, and mentioned how difficult the amount of action is for everyone, but that Tomorun never complains about it but then Izawa is like 'yeah but he complains to me when no one else is around' xD

19:00 AfterTalk: Sugie, Nagae, Ito, Shinchan (guest starring Izawa and James)

The AfterTalk was an absolutely shambles but it was a hilarious and uncontrollably laughing shambles. All four of the boys are absolutely hopeless! Basically none of them could talk properly and Ito at one point (already mentioned) was asked about what he likes about this stage and he’s stands up and goes ‘look at this uniform’ *points to his sleeves* ‘they’re reversed! I didn’t realise until I put it on for our first day! Isn’t it cool. Also look how cool this front is where it extends!’ and everyone was just like ‘....’ >.<

And there was another point where he wanted to talk about a scene or character he liked and he’s like ‘you know when that happens and you know like it goes like that and’ and everyone looked at him like ‘what the fuck are you going on about?’ ‘you get me right?’ ‘.....’ to which Nagae suddenly yelled to the audience 'you see what I mean by he’s interesting!' xD We were all dying. About 10 or 15 minutes into the non-stop random talking, Nagae looks at Sugie and goes 'don't you have a sheet of paper right there with topics for us to talk about?' and Sugie looks at him and went 'what's the point! None of this is interesting compared to the mess of a conversation we're having!' and threw the paper on the floor, killing the audience once again. Nagae went and picked it up for him, 'well if you don't wanna do those topics then why don't we get questions from the audience then?' the audience got super excited but (as predicted) they started going off on another random conversation between themselves. And then Sugie looks back and is like 'Izawa... why you taking pics of us from there?' and he replied 'you continue. I'll take pics!' and one of the guys was like 'you might as well come out here if you're gunna talk!' and he's like 'nah I'm good!' and then another of them went 'Oh look! It's Ariga and the guy that looks like him' xD to make the audience laugh EVEN more, Nagae commented: 'you know (the scene) when they're fighting? It's like a video where it's the same player (but in different clothes)' xD

The next topic was about what characters or side (Messiah / Police / Terrorist) they'd like to be on and it ended up (thanks to Ito, see above) becoming a 'what clothing do you like' topic and Sugie complained at how he's just all in black and it's boring and he'd like something like James' outfit with a little splash of white clothing. He complimented James' white pants and you just heard this 'thanks!!' from behind the curtain XD Sugie also spoke about when they all first got the script, his name just said ‘Sugie Taishi = Kagami Itsuki / N’ and then when they did the first read through THEN they realised N meant Necromancer and that at first he found it challenging to play N (because you basically how to act like a robot).

EDIT 2017.02.21: Another thing that was mentioned was suddenly Sugie started talking about ‘we didn’t know if this was going to be the last or not. And we didn’t know what was going to happen next’ which means there was a CHANCE Messiah wasn’t going to continue after THIS one or even get this one! But now that they’ve announced a new stage in Autumn and we’ve still got the movie to look forward to. Looks like they might be continuing it after all, especially when (starting with this play) it’s been labelled the New Messiah Series; so clearly they intend to continue the series under this new name.

By the way, Izawa really DID get takes from behind the curtain during the aftertalk:

You're welcome ;)

Extras

I think you're probably going to know all these already but lets have a quick run down of the non-actor things:

- The choreography is absolutely amazing! I've already said this but I really do feel like everything, including the choreography was stepped up massively this time! So many cool stunts and spins and swings and everything! - I really really really really want and need a Messiah OTS seriously. I freaking love all the music!! Even in the new stage!! Seriously, I just want a CD of all the Messiah music they use EVERY stage including the bell at the beginning of EVERY stage! <3 - Linking to the choreography; the stunt men* were phenomenal! - I really liked the staging and the stage design this time. Even with the scary SLOPE right at the front of the stage. But I loved the computer screen-like props they had at the top of the stage. - The projection mapping was used very well! It definitely didn't feel distracting (hell sometimes I hadn't even realise it'd been pulled down because of how well they co-ordinated everything) - The lighting was great too!

*I realise I've called them stunt me the entire review and that I should really call them ensemble but do you realise how long this review has taken me? I ain't going back and correcting it all. You all know who I mean anyway! xD

---

Okay I'll stop here! Pretty sure I've spent like 4 hours making this review! I'm done! Hope you enjoyed it!

[nrsranger]

3.1

CHAPTER Three Readjust

The New Republic MC-80 Star Cruiser, Ranger (NRS-67) a flying city of Mon Calamari Steal, Measuring in at 1,550 meters long, this Cruiser servers as both Cruiser and Carrier, housing squadrons of A, X, and Y Wing Star Fighters. This ship serves as a flying home for 10,200 Officers, Pilots, Engineers and Crew members. This ship is formidable on and off the Battlefield. Now a new threat is lurking in the fringes of the galaxy. The Ranger’s enemies can be lurking anywhere and everywhere, there is nowhere to hide when the battle is all around you

Coordinates N-13

Deep Space

Night Owl Squadron

0924 hrs

Three Y-wings flew in a formation of four groups of three Y-wings. Dovinivan Castile Night Owl Six callsign Credits glanced at the scanner on his right were the two other Y-Wings that made up his patrol, he and his gunner “4” made up the left side of the formation. Making up the right position was Night Owl Seven, Fluaid Daunt callsign Hotshot and his gunner Noss Dor, the Kel Dor gunner with the fitting callsign of Mask. The patrol leader was the squad Flight L.t Mac, he had no last name on his official record but his callsign was Cheese, with the gunnar Micran Debim callsign Mad covering his back. Just out of range to his right and left were the other patrols.

Credits’s Rodian gunner crackled over the comm “were now five hours and twenty four minutes into a eight hour patrol”

“Are you comfortable yet, four?” Credits asked

“Yeah, just board” Four’s Rodian voice said over the internal comm

“I’m going to bring up the Bantha in the room?” Credits said

“How so?” Four asked, acknowledging the many Banthas in the wake from the destruction of the Hosnian System to the rumors that every other Star System has either surrendered or fallen.

“What does your family think about having all four of yall assigned to the same ship” Credits asked

“Well not for much longer,” Four said

“What?!” Credits asked

“Grunnd is staying with the Night Owls, Leoin is transferred to the Torrent’s Y-Wing Squad, and Locatha got his qualification for X-Wing Pilot and is joining the Raysho Station Defence Squadron.” Four explained somberly

“....and what about you, buddy?” Credits asked

“I got orders that I am being transferred to the Theed’s Y-Wing Squadron, I would have told you sooner but this just came in recently, apparently Vine does not want all the sons of one mother on the same ship.” Four said

“I understand, but man I’m going to miss you guys alot, you guys accepted me into your family, heck Gosp Ma even yarned a sweater for me for life day. I just hope that the next guy could be half as talented as you” Credits said

“Ha ha, and I just hope my new pilot is twice as talented as you that way I only have to risk my life every other time I climb in” Four said

They both laughed that off, then went back to study their instruments and scanners.

“Patrol Squad, this is Firebird, is the Ranger Clear to Jump into sector N-13?”

“Firebird, This is P.L one; you are clear” Squad Leader Vines the leader of Patrol One

“Firebird, This is P.L two, stand by, I am getting some interesting readings” Credits’s Patrol Leader; Flight L.t Mac said”

“Roger P.L Two”. Firebird said

“Firebird this, is Patrol Leader Three, reporting clear” Sr. Pilot Officer Merrik said his voice betrays the lack of sleep he's had.

“Firebird, P.L Four here, we were clear too.”

“Roger, P.L Three, were standing by for P.L Twos clearance” Firebird said

“Got’cha!, Patrol Two, a ship is decloaking right above us, 3.4.2 Mark 6.0, 2 Kilos” Cheese said

“Roger,Cheese” I’m picking it up on scanners” Credits said “it’s transponder is reading as First Order”

“It does not appear that it has noticed us yet” Mask said.

“If it hasn’t yet, it soon will, Patrol Squadron Two, form a bombing lane on me” Cheese said, accelerating his Y-Wing and inverting so the bottom of his Y-wing faced the First Order Ship. Hotshot’s and Mask’s Y-wing pulled up behind Cheese and inverted as well, the Credits followed suit.

“If this is my last mission with you four, let's make it count” Credit said

“You better believe it,” Four said, spinning his turret to face the enemy ship.

“Follow my lead, we have to take it out before they can alert the First Order!! Or else we will have a lot of angrey company, and the Ranger and Torrent won’t come to our rescue” Cheese said, pushing his yoke down diving toward the First Order stealth ship. Hotshot waited ten seconds then pushed his yoke down. Credit waited ten seconds after Hotshot then pushed his yoke down.

Cheese took a breath and went over day one of learning how to make a bombing run, the magic angle was 70 degrees perpendicular to the target and to release the proton torpedoes 200 meters from the target, any further and the targeting computer could not guarantee an accurate hit, closer than 200 meters you risk not being able to come out of your dive. Cheese opened his targeting computer and selected the newly decloaked ship as its target, then his angle and distance appears on screen, he steepend his angle at 1,500 meters the Ship did not react,

“They have not noticed us yet, so let's take advantage of that.” Cheese said lucky, that his squad will have drawn the first, First Order Blood.

At 500 meters he ementy his mind and focused on when to press down the button to release the torpedoes. He felt his thumb tense and pressed the trigger as the yellow numbers counting down from 300 to 200 turned red as it counted down from 200. Cheese then pulled on the stick hard back peeling away from his vector, two purple torpedoes streaked from his bomb bay doors and scored two direct hits against the hull of the enemy ship crippling it.

“Their shields are down!” Mad, Cheese’s gunner said

Hotshot took his turn next, riding ten seconds behind Cheeses Y-Wing. Hotshot turned on his targeting computer and adjusted his dive angle and marked his distance at 1000 meters and waited patiently as his distance meter ran down from 1000 to 200 his finger rested over the firing button but as a random spasm jolted through his arm causing his hand to clench accidently pressing the button at 450 meters the two proton torpedoes fired and raced toward the crippled ship, but they only passed by harmlessly nothing more than two meters away from a hit.

Credit could feel the tension grow, it was up to him to knock out the stealth ship, if he missed they could alert the entire First Order Fleet that the New Republic was in bound. He pushed the pressure out of his mind, “now not the time to screw up because I got nervous” He thought to himself as he switched on his targeting computer. Currently his dive angle was at 80 degrees he pulled up just a bit to where his dive angle was at 60 degrees. By this time the Stealth Ship rolled over to bring their anti fighter craft batteries to bare. At 1000 meters the first laser bolts zoomed past Credits canopy, in return he grabbed his throttle and pushed it all the way forward, maxing out his speed. Next time he blinked he was at 500 meters and the laser fire was centimeters from his view, however he could not make any evasive maneuvers in fear of messing up his dive angle. At 300 meters he eased up on the throttle, then he saw his distance count switch from yellow to red. Credit waited for a few more seconds and the distance counted down from 200 to 150 to 130 to 120 to 110 at 100 meters he released his torpedoes and pulled out of his angle, maxing out his inertial dampers and scratching the paint off one of the rear engine units. It was a direct hit. The Proton Torpedo's initial explosion decapitated the ship cleanly in half , with secondary concussive explosions shredding the remainder of the ship and throwing shrapnel every which way. Due to his delay of releasing the torpedo until he was only 100 meters away, Credits Y-Wing was still in the blast zone when the ship disintegrated, it caught some of the shrapnel mostly in the rear engine units.

“Credit!Four! You guys alright!” Cheese inquired about his comm!”

A few heart pounding seconds later Fours Rodian voice broke through the comm

“Yes, sir, we're alive, our sublight engines are offline, but our hyperdrive is still active. Our hull and paint job took most of the shrapnell''

“Oh dear, Chief Canton is going to kill you for damaging one of his letter birds!” Cheese said

“P.L Two did the Stealth Ship send out any transmission?” Firebird asked

“Let me check the sensor logs, R5, did the ship send out any comm chatter?” Cheese asked his astromech.

“Bad new sir,” Cheese voice said quickly deflating from what was a quick victory to an loss “a message was beamed out before Credit could destroy it”

“Thank you Patrol Squadron Two,” Firebird’s voice said, more deflated than Cheese’s “good work Credit” he added. “First Blood,”

[awesomesuperbcollectormusic-blog]

Would certainly You Attempt The Brand-new 8 Point Facelift?

To those that have actually stuck with me via both the Streaks of Purple Saga and the Range Pressure collection, thanks! When the lifts are reduced down as well as use it to power One Globe Trade Facility, ThyssenKrupp's system will record the energy utilized. A stretching cardio-and-strength location with 450 pieces of equipment indicated we never needed to wait on a turn. It introduced that such a conserving sufficed to power a plasma TELEVISION for 158 days, light a space for 9,573 hrs as well as keep a fridge competing almost two whole years. A 3MW system would certainly be equivalent in power to smaller sized wind generators however can produce approximately 20% more power, the firm claims. After years of lack of exercise, Cassie returned as the Pink Space Ranger to assist the Galaxy Rangers fight the Psycho Rangers, and virtually lost her powers to Psycho Pink. 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I can't believe you in fact like that!" I raised my shoulders to claim it had not been all that bad as well as continuouslied eat. Increased by moms and dads who were martial arts masters, Webcam is one of the most concentrated, disciplined, and knowledgeable boxers of the Rangers.

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (117/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation.   This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

Previous chapters conveniently available here.

[13 March, 233 Before Age.   Hexill VI.]

The Hexillians had turned down multiple invitations to join the Federation.    Lying just beyond the Federation border, their solar system was a valued trading partner.    There was a strong pro-Federation movement in the planet's political arena, but it was hamstrung by conflicting opinions over the details.    Even the most isolationist voices in the Hexillian government could not deny that their world was growing closer and closer to the Federation each day, and had prospered for it.  

But the fact remained that Hexill VI was not a Federation member, and so when the Saiyan invader appeared on their world, and began to attack it, they had no mutual defense pact to invoke, nor any reason to expect aid.   Instead, they relied upon their own military, and while much of their arsenal had been acquired from the Federation, they were unprepared for the power that the Saiyan possessed.  

"Know that you serve an abomination!" she would say whenever she would attack one of their cities.  "Know that Trismegistus is the true answer, the reagent that will change the universe!   Rejoice, for I bring you a gift!    He has sent his prophet into your wilderness, that you may turn away from the abomination, and be cleansed!"

Then the Hexillians would launch a counterattack, and she would always withdraw.    The civilian leaders took this as a hopeful sign.   If they could just corner the Saiyan "prophet", then they could surely defeat her.   Those who opposed Federation membership used this talking point to argue that they didn't need an alliance for protection.    Those who supported Federation membership claimed that victory would be much swifter with a starfleet backing them up.   In either case, they painted a very rosy picture for their constituents.    Lives had been lost and infrastructure had been destroyed, but the invasion would be repelled, and soon they could rebuild.   That was what the politicians said.

The military leaders had a less optimistic appraisal.    They believed the Saiyan woman was merely playing for time, and that she had the power to overwhelm their defenses if she chose to do so.    Their weapons were supposed to be strong enough to repel a typical Saiyan intruder, but there was nothing normal about her.   Sensor data indicated that she was much faster than she seemed to be letting on.    Her battlefield sermons bore little resemblance to the usual low-brow banter used by most Saiyan pirates.   And her burgundy costume   made it difficult to tell that she was a Saiyan at all.   If the woman had a tail, it was hidden beneath the chlamys gown handing from her shoulders.    Her black hair was dyed with streaks of crimson, and bound with an elaborate series of red bands.  

"The fated day approaches!" she cried as she attacked a hydroponics complex less than a hundred miles from a defense base.    "Your bellies will go empty, that you might fill your spirits with the truth!"

Much of the complex was staffed by robotic workers, but the Hexillian technicians who maintained them were forced to flee.    Most Saiyans were content to fire blasts of  ki energy at their targets, but this one was different.   She would light fires wherever she could, then destroy various installations that tied in with whatever "topic" she happened to be raving about.    In this case, she burned the crops, blasted large food processing units to pieces, and then targeted the Hexillian workers who had remained behind to see that the others evacuated safely.  

"Ah, so you volunteer for the culling!" she said as she plucked a Hexillian shift manager from the ground.   "Your blood will write the history of the future!"

"Lemme go!" the man pleaded.   "I gotta family!"   Specifically, he had a wife and two sons, with an egg that was due to hatch any day now.   He didn't honestly expect the Saiyan to care, but as he struggled in her grip, he didn't know what else to say, and in his panic, his loved ones were the first thing to come to mind.

"Excellent!" she replied.   "Blood is always more valuable when taken from one who would be mourned!"   With that, she flew to a spot on the facility that she had cleared of wreckage, and dumped him into a small group of other captives.    Surrounding them was a circular pattern drawn in the ground, adorned with mystic inscriptions she had learned from worlds no Hexillian had ever known.

"The thrice-blessed is merciful," the Saiyan  announced as she drew a short spear from behind her back.   "The price of his transformative power is great, but he will ask only a small toll from your world.   Know that your lives will be taken so that your people will be permitted to witness his glorious triumph!"

In her hand, the weapon extended, growing into a long lance which she then leveled at her captives like a rifle.  The blade at the tip began to glow with a blue light, her eyes closed, and she spoke in tongues as she hovered over them, preparing to slaughter them all.  

"Nice boots."

The prophetess had sensed a powerful ki nearby, but in the moment between sensing the power and opening her eyes to search for it, the source of the ki had already closed the distance between them.  

"Who dares--?" she asked, but then she saw the interloper's black shirt and yellow pants, and she recognized her immediately.   "Ah, the abomination herself.    My master said you would come, though he did not expect you quite so early.    I should have known that you would defy his holy timetable."  

"Not big on the color," Luffa said.    "Lot of people think red's a good look for Saiyans, since we get bloodied up so much, but they never think about how it'll look when it dries.    Besides, there's other colors of blood out there.   Green, purple.   You name it."

The prophet pointed her spear at Luffa, who was floating directly above the captive Hexillians.    "You speak in riddles, heretic!" she said.   "Be warned that your idle chatter will avail you nothing here, for I have seen the truth, and the truth has enslaved me completely."

"What riddles?" Luffa said.    "I said I like your boots.    Not sure I could wear that style, though.   I'm not big on heels myself.   They make me look taller, but I feel kind of awkward when I wear them.    But on other people, I think they look pretty cool.    You look like you could stab someone with one of those.     Are they comfortable?   They don't look it, but you seem pretty used to wearing them."  

"We are both heralds, you and I," the prophet said.    "You, the abomination Luffa, and I, his humble servant, the prophetess Aonorry.    Fate has ordained this meeting, to mark the advent of his temple upon this world--!"

"I'm not wild about the cut," Luffa said as she stared at Aonorry's legs and rubbed her chin.    "Thigh-highs?   I guess the material is flexible enough, but I'm more into below-the-knee.    Just my preference though.   Oh, wait, I just noticed they match your gloves.   Okay, well that adds up then.   Now I'm trying to picture shorter boots with shorter gloves."

"Enough!" Aonorry screamed.    "This is my moment!   The culmination of my sacred training, of my life!    I will not stand at the gates of death and be mocked in this way!"    

Suddenly a blast of energy fired from the point of the lance, bathing Luffa in its destructive radiance.   Below, the Hexillians cried out in horror at the apparent destruction of their rescuer.    When the light faded from Aonorry's attack, there was no trace of Luffa.

"I'll not be fooled by your trickery!" Aonorry said.   She quickly spun around, scanning the immediate area with all of her senses to locate her enemy.     "I lack the power to defeat you so easily.   But you betray yourself by hiding from me.   If your power were true, you would have nothing to fear from me, and no cause to... run?"

It was the sound that gave it away.    Aonorry could sense flashes of ki all around her, but none of them lasted long enough for her to get a fix on Luffa's location.   Then she realized that she was hearing buzzes in the air, the sound of her enemy zipping past her so quickly that her eyes couldn't follow the movements.    Aonorry had expected power, for this was the core feature of Luffa's reputation.    What she hadn't anticipated was the depth of skill that Luffa now displayed.    Her ki control was so great that she was using it for only brief instants, flinging herself back and forth at amazing speeds, just to keep Aonorry off-balance.

And then, just when she realized that this was meant to throw her off-balance, she felt Luffa's fingers wrapping around her ankle, and in the next moment she found herself slamming into the ground.    In spite of the pain, in spite of the blood Aonorry felt tricking from her nose and mouth, she tried to get up and recover.   Before she could even roll over, she felt a tremendous weight pressing against her back.    Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Luffa standing over her, using one foot to pin Aonorry to the ground.  At some point, Luffa had transformed into her Super Saiyan form.   Aonorry couldn't see it, pinned to the ground face-down as she was, but she could certainly feel the increased power.

"On second thought," Luffa said, "your boots kind of suck.   If they were black, or knee length, or if they came in flats, any one of those, then yeah, I could overlook the other two, but no.     Three strikes."

As she spoke, Luffa raised Aonorry's lance in her hand, and began to twirl it around like a baton.   "You came here alone, as far as I can tell," she said.   The intel I received shows you're the only Saiyan involved in every battle, and I can't sense any others coming out of hiding to save you.    But you must have picked this planet because you know I'd have to show up and deal with you personally.  The Federation starfleet can't come out this far unless the Hexillian government asks, but I can come and go as I please.   So you knew I'd be coming alone, and you knew you couldn't stop me by yourself.    So this is a trap, and you're just the bait, right?"

She applied more pressure to Aonorry's back, and Aonorry's shriek surprised even herself.      She hadn't expected anything quite like this.   It was supposed to be majestic.    The abomination was supposed to recoil in terror as Aonorry revealed the true nature of her lord.   Instead, she lay face down a puddle of dirt mixed with her own blood.    

"Or is it a diversion?" Luffa asked.    "You lured me all the way out here to keep me away from something else?     Normally, I'd read your mind to find out for myself, but I know you Jindan-users have psychic booby traps inside your heads."

She pointed the tip of Aonorry's weapon at the base of Aonorry's skull.   "You sure got quiet all of a sudden," Luffa said.    "You said you were a prophet, right?    Had plenty to say a minute ago.   Well, go on and preach. I'm listening."

"He... he's not coming," Aonorry said.   "He said he would save me if I faced you alone.    But you've already beaten me, and he... he isn't here."

"Who?" Luffa asked.  

"T-Trismegistus," Aonorry said, choking back tears.    "He anointed me as one of the Orichalcum Order.   He told me that I would overcome any adversity and prepare this planet for his arrival.     But you're killing me and he isn't here!"  

"Well, I haven't actually started killing you yet," Luffa said.  "Let's give him a few more minutes.   Maybe he overslept."

"He... he used me," Aonorry gasped.   "I did everything he said, and now he's abandoned me to die here!    After all those things he said to me in his bedroom.   Was that all it was to him?"

"Men, right?" Luffa asked, thought not as mockingly as before.    "I guess this guy isn't as 'thrice-blessed' as you thought, huh?"

"That bastard," Aonorry shouted.    "I literally worshiped him, cut off my own tail for him, and he won't even lift a finger for me!    How could I have been so stupid?"

"Hey, it's not too late to turn things around," Luffa said.   "Tell me what you know, and I'll see to it that he'll regret the day he ever met you."

Aonorry hesitated at this offer.    "What will become of me?" she asked.   "You won't simply let me go."

"Hell no," Luffa said.   "You killed a lot of people here, and you'll have to answer for that.    Legally, I'm not even supposed to be here, so helping you escape would just make a bad situation worse.   But, if you help us put these Jindan clowns out of business... well, maybe we can work something out."  

She pressed the tip of the spear against Aonorry's neck, but gently enough that it didn't break the skin.  "Or you can die here and now," Luffa added.   "Your call, but for what it's worth, I know what it's like to be betrayed.   If I were you, I'd want to do anything I could to make the bastard pay."

Aonorry balled her fists and pounded them into the dirt.    "You... you actually care, don't you?" she said.   "You came here to save these people.   He told me you were the devil, evil incarnate... and here you are, actually sympathizing with me."

"I get that a lot," Luffa said.   "People tell me I'm not so scary once they get to know me.   Like it's so hard to give a crap."  

"All right, then.   I'll tell you all that I know.    Just  give me your word that you'll destroy hi--... Destroy h--... hhurk!"

Luffa was about to ask her what was wrong, when suddenly Aonorry vomited blood onto the ground.   She began to convulse wildly, and Luffa stepped away from her.  

Aonorry rose to a kneeling position, then grabbed at her throat, as if trying to strangle herself.    Her eyes, once proud and righteous, now looked to Luffa with a silent plea for help.   The blood--or whatever it actually was--continued to stream from her mouth.  

Unsure how to deal with Aonorry, Luffa aimed her hand in the opposite direction and fired a ki blast, which cleared a path through the flames that surrounded them.     "All of you!" she called to the Hexillians.   "Get out of here now!   Your soldiers are heading this way.   Find them and get them to take you as far away as you can.   Go!"

Though confused, they did as she said, leaving Luffa alone to witness whatever was happening to Aonorry.    By now, Luffa was convinced that the red fluid flowing from the other Saiyan's mouth wasn't mere blood.   The sheer volume of it defied Saiyan anatomy.   Within minutes, the former "prophetess" was kneeling in a shallow pool nearly ten feet in diameter.    Luffa's first instinct was to kill her now and put an end to this, but she doubted that killing Aonorry would actually solve anything.   Still, with no other obvious course of action, she pointed her finger at Aonorry's head, and charged her ki just in case.    

Then the ground began to shake, and Luffa knew that the problem was bigger than Aonorry.   The "blood"-soaked soil began to expand and grow all around Aonorry, and Luffa could sense a presence within it.     In seconds, a large hill had formed before Luffa's eyes.   Soon after that, it grew into a mesa, and then it began to reshape itself, like wet clay being sculpted by giant, invisible hands.     At last, the two-hundred-foot-tall formation stood revealed as a humanoid figure.    Gleaming purple eyes opened on its head, and it stared down at Luffa as it continued to refine its shape.    Gradually, the face of the creature sharpened and resolved, until at last she could see the features of someone she recognized.    

"Rehval..." Luffa muttered.  

"Welcome, Luffa," said the rock-creature who wore Rehval's likeness.    "I understand you've been looking for me.     Was there something you wanted to say?"

*******

"Vengeance Cannon," Luffa replied, and she fired a thin beam of red light through the forehead of the creature.  

However, the Rehval-thing suffered no ill effects from this, aside from the four-inch-wide hole she had bored through it.  

"As passionate as ever, I see.    You truly are a magnificent woman.   It's a shame we couldn't come to terms--"

Luffa fired a much wider blast of energy, this time blasting the rock-creatures entire head and neck into pebbles.   It stumbled forward, and just as she flew to avoid it, the creature managed to stop itself from falling over.    Instead, it stepped back, straightened its posture, then slowly regrew its head.    

"I trust that you're beginning to understand why I arranged to speak to you this way,"  he said after his mouth had been restored.   "I would have preferred a face-to-face meeting, but you're much too volatile, and I'm too important to jeopardize my safety that way."

"You're late, aren't you?" Luffa scoffed.   "Your lapdog Aonorry had given up on you.   She was all set to betray you to me, and then suddenly you showed yourself.    It's enough to make a girl think you were afraid."

"Don't flatter yourself, Luffa," Rehval said.   "The fact is that I was counting on young Aonorry to have a crisis of faith.    As part of my flock, she devoted herself to me completely, allowing me to learn her every strength and weakness.   Hers was a brittle sort of belief.   I knew that if I disappointed her, even slightly, that she would turn against me in anger.  So I had her drink a potion that would use her disillusionment as a catalyst.   Once activated, she would infuse it into the soil, and bring about the form you see before you."

He reached for his shoulder, and gently picked up the prone form of Aonorry, who had been laying motionless upon him.  

"So that's it," Luffa said.    "You've decided that being a self-righteous king wasn't good enough, so now you've become some sort of sorcerer with his own cult.     Trismegistus, that's what they all call you now."  

"The thrice-blessed one," he explained.   "It was the title of a great alchemist from many thousands of years ago.    So great, in fact, that he was eventually defied by his people.   I chose to usurp his title, since I consider myself to be just as blessed as he was.    First: King of the Saiyans.   Second: Master of the Jindan Cult.  Third: Savior of the Galaxy."

"Now it all makes sense," Luffa said.   "You went into hiding after our last encounter, then you packed up your kingdom and left before I could find you.    You knew you'd lose support among your idiot subjects, so you whipped up this scam of yours and promised to make Saiyans stronger in exchange for their loyalty.    I had heard 'Trismegistus' sent his cult to invade 'Rehval's' kingdom, but I guess that was all just a ruse to cover your tracks."

"You don't sound very impressed with that," Rehval said.  

Luffa turned her head and spat on the ground.   "You really do have no pride at all do you?   A true Saiyan wouldn't resort to potions and magic to make themselves stronger!    It wasn't enough for you to pollute your own body with that sort of filth.   Now you've tricked others into making the same mistake!"  

"Tricked them?" Rehval asked with a laugh.   "They all came to me.    Many of them despised my rule, but they sought me out anyway, all because they craved greater power. "   He held up Aonorry in his palm.    "This one, for example.    She was like you, once.   She hated the monarchy that my grandfather started.   She wanted nothing to do with King Rehval.    Ah, but once she heard about the miracle of Jindan, and how its creator, Trismegistus, led an attack on King Rehval's stronghold, she became fascinated.    She did everything she could to find it.    I didn't make the trail easy to find, Luffa.   It was a test of determination.    But my beloved Aonorry passed."

"And what does she think now?" Luffa asked.    "Now that she knows she's bound herself to the same king she opposed?"

"Let's find out," Rehval suggested.    Without warning, he dropped his prophet, allowing her to fall hundreds of feet to the ground.    

"Bastard!" Luffa snarled as she flew up to catch her.     As she did, Rehval pointed his enormous earthen hand down at them and fired a beam of energy.    

"You're so predictable, Luffa," he said.    "For all your talk of warrior pride, you can be so soft that it's pitiful.   Was it really worth dying just now so that you could save an enemy?"

When the light from his attack faded, he saw  no trace of the Saiyan women.    Then he noticed something on his mountainous shoulder, and he looked over to find Luffa standing there, holding Aonorry's unconscious form in her arms.    Before he could react, Luffa opened her mouth and a stream of golden ki energy blasted him in the face.  

"Predict this!" she shouted when she was finished.    Then she stamped her foot down onto Rehval's rocky shoulder.   The force was so great that a crack formed, and slowly expanded.    As Luffa jumped away, Rehval's right arm began to break loose from his body, and then it fell off completely.  

*******

Luffa flew until she reached a lake, then hovered just inches above it.    Satisfied that Rehval wasn't chasing her, she dunked Aonorry's head into the water.    

"Wake up, idiot!" Luffa shouted.   "Your precious master finally showed up.   Any ideas on what his plan is?"

"Whuh-what?" Aonorry sputtered as the cold water brought her around.  "Trismegistus is here?"

"Yeah, well most people know him as 'King Rehval', though I've heard that's not his real name either," Luffa said.   She tossed Aonorry onto the lakeshore and waited for her to get her bearings.   "He's been playing you for a fool this whole time.   You and everyone else in the Jindan cult."  

"He really did come for me," Aonorry said, now holding her hands over her cheeks.     "And... after I was ready to betray him.    Oh... oh my..."

"He was counting on you to betray him," Luffa said.   "The bastard's been toying with you, and he lied to you the whole time!    Loyalty means nothing to him!"

Luffa had more unkind words to say about King Rehval, but before she could speak them, the ground began to shake beneath them, and then another column of earth and rock began to rise up and shape itself into a humanoid form.  

"Luffa, Luffa, Luffa," Rehval's voice boomed.   "When will you ever learn?"

Luffa left Aonorry where she was and charged her ki before leaping headlong into Rehval's stone belly.  She made a crater on the surface, and knocked him off balance.    Without pausing, she flew around him, peppering his body with golden energy blasts as she went.   To an outside observer, it might have looked like a man being pestered by some glowing yellow hummingbird.  

She blasted his face again, and when he tried to reshape it from the remaining rock, she kept blasting it.    At the same time, she focused on his legs, damaging them enough that he had trouble staying upright.    

"You can't defeat him!" Aonorry cried out.   The unfettered joy in her voice made Luffa sick, but she pressed on in spite of it.    He's become one with the very earth itself!   You would have to destroy the entire planet, and you still wouldn't win!"  

"She's right, you know," Rehval boasted.   "I'm not actually here, as I said before.   You need the atmosphere to breathe, but I don't.    And as long as the planet is in tact--"

Luffa finally put enough cracks in his body that it crumbled into pieces.   A short distance away, she could already hear another rock-body assembling itself.  

"He rises!" Aonorry wailed.   "His glory rises, now and forever!"

"As I was saying," Rehval said as his third body sprouted its new mouth.   "As long as the planet is in tact, I can fight you like this indefinitely."

"Gosh, I'd better surrender then," Luffa grumbled.    "Is that what you want me to say?"

"Actually, no," Rehval said.    He clenched his fists, and suddenly a ball of violet light appeared in front of his rocky chest.    Before Luffa could dodge, he unleashed its power in her direction, and she had to catch the front of the energy wave in her hands.    

"Our confrontation on Pflaume was an experiment, Luffa," Rehval explained while she struggled to hold back the blast.   "I thought that if I stranded you on an ice giant, you would be neutralized completely.   No air to breathe, no surface to stand upon, no ships to rescue you.     That last one was the flaw in my plan.   I was sure your wife would abandon you, but not so."

Luffa was pushed back by the energy beam until she felt her boots press into the ground.   This gave her something to brace against for support, but it also reminded her that she had very little margin for error.   She set her jaw and screwed her eyes shut as she summoned up more power to halt the beam's advance.

"I had to evacuate Planet Saiya," Rehval went on.   "I knew that if you escaped Pflaume, the planet would never survive your counterattack.   Fortunately, I had a redoubt prepared on a planet in a secret location, just in case of emergency.   And while I was there, it occurred to me how dependent I am on planets and atmospheres.   So are you, but you can just fly from place to place in your ship, like a mercenary.    Very romantic, but a king needs a kingdom, and a kingdom needs earth to stand upon."

Luffa finally mustered the strength to deflect the attack, and with a mighty yell, she flung it up into the sky, where it exploded harmlessly in the upper atmosphere.    But this left her wide open to a punch from the rock creature that spoke with Rehval's voice.    The impact cratered the ground, and the Rehval-monster ground his fist into the center, like a child killing a beetle.  

"A foundation, Luffa," he continued.    "Without a solid rock to build upon, the builder is helpless.   That was when I realized the error in my thinking.    On Pflaume, I left you to fall into sinking sand, when what I needed to be doing was securing myself upon a solid rock.   That realization led me to realize how much we owe the ground beneath us, and how powerful it truly is.    I knew that if I made that power my own,  I could defeat anyone, even the Legendary Super Saiyan."

Nearby, Aonorry was chanting some a prayer in support of Trismegistus.     The earthen creature smiled as it sensed a victory, and then a tremendous explosion went off at his fist.   The giant figure toppled backwards, and when Rehval looked at his arm, it was simply... gone.

Luffa emerged from the smoke of the blast, already preparing her next move.   "Rehval," she said.   "You talk too much."    

What followed was a rapid-fire barrage.   Dozens of golden blobs of energy launched out of Luffa's fingertips, and embedded themselves onto Rehval's avatar.   He expected them to explode on contact, but instead, she swung her left hand upward, and he found himself being dragged upwards.     The ki she had affixed to his body was pulling him into the air.

"I don't know how you pulled this off, Rehval," Luffa said, "but I'm curious to see what your limits are with this monster body you've got.    "Can you attack me with two of them at once?   Because so far I've only seen you make a new body after the old one gets wrecked."

"Your... nnf!   Your overconfidence is your weakness," Rehval said as he struggled against the force pulling him towards the sky.

"Look who's talking," Luffa replied.    "You sprang this trap and gloated about it the whole time you were fighting, and where's it gotten you?   You probably never even considered that I was studying your power the entire time, did you?"

He managed to spin around and point his remaining arm at Luffa, but she  squeezed her hand into a fist, and the energy blobs on that arm suddenly exploded, blasting it into dust.  

"What now?" she asked.    "You've got to make a new body now, since you can't do much with that one."

"You underestimate me... Luffa!" Rehval said.   His body began to shift and reshape itself, until it finally sprouted a new pair of arms.   But unlike before, this caused the main body to become smaller than it had been before.

Luffa responded by squeezing her fist again, and blasting off his legs.   The remainder of his body began to fall, but she caught it by enveloping the bulk of his form in a sheath of golden light.    

"I think I'm getting the idea," Luffa said.   "You can't absorb more mass unless you're in direct contact with the planet.    And cutting off an arm or a leg doesn't help you, because those pieces aren't 'alive' on their own, so much as they're controlled by the main body.   Or maybe just the head. "

"Well done, Luffa," Rehval said.   "You're as magnificent as ever, and just as dangerous.    I can still use you in my plans, but I can't afford to trust you, not after you spurned my offer before."  

"Trust?   Trust?!" Luffa shouted.   "You honorless jackal!  You don't even know the meaning of the word!   Using that idiot Aonorry as your pawn!   Sending this... this proxy to fight me in your place!   When I find you--the real you-- I'll--"

Her threat was suddenly cut off by Aonorry herself, who had managed to sneak up on Luffa while she was busy restraining Rehval in midair.   The point of her short spear nearly connected with Luffa's neck, but she sensed her approach just in the nick of time, and caught her in a choke hold.    

"Your 'master' is more desperate than I thought," Luffa snarled.    Without hesitation, she broke Aonorry's neck to prevent any further distractions.   But in the moment it took her to do this, Rehval built up his power again, and this time turned it in on himself.    Before Luffa could react, before Aonorry's corpse could even fall to the surface, his rock-body exploded in midair, and only moments later, a new rock-Rehval was rising up from the ground.    

"You killed my prophetess," Rehval said, sounding only mildly annoyed.   "I'll miss her."

"This game is getting tiresome, Rehval," Luffa said.   "I've already figured out how to defeat you, so unless this next body can do something new, there's really no point in going on."

"You may be powerful, Luffa," Rehval said, "but you still think like a low-level mercenary.    Do you think one battlefield means anything to me?   I'm not even here.   I could destroy this entire planet right now, and lose nothing.    But I won't do that, because I have loftier goals in mind.    I mean to change the universe, and that won't be achieved through mere destruction.   Hexill VI has a place in my kingdom, like all worlds."

Luffa dove down and attacked one of Rehval's legs.    As he swung his arms to catch her, she dodged and attacked those as well.    But since he was touching the ground, he was able to repair this damage easily.    

"Think about it, Luffa," he continued.    "If I can send my avatar here, across hundreds of light years, then I can do the same on any number of planets.    Without warning, a graven image of me rises up from the ground, powerful enough  to defeat almost anything, powerful enough to impose my will, or destroy the planet entirely.   And by the time you arrive in your ship to stop me, I'm already gone."

Luffa formed a razor-thin disc of ki and launched it at the neck of Rehval.   It only carved a small section away, but when she followed up with a Gallick Gun, this was enough to blast the head off of the body.   She then snared it in an energy sheath and pulled it up into the sky.    Below, the headless body didn't move.    Luffa fired another ki blast to destroy it, but never stopped her flight.    

"You think you can sever my connection to the planet with distance, is that it?" Rehval asked.    "Well, so what if you can?    I only chose Hexill VI to make a point, Luffa.   I wanted you to see exactly what I can do.    What I've become."  

"Tell me where you're hiding, Rehval," Luffa said.   "I'll only ask you once."

"And why should I tell you that?" Rehval asked.    

"Because I'm going to kill you either way," she said.   "Painfully, if I can.    You're going to die, but if you tell me where to find you, I can get it over with.    Save you some sleepless nights."

"That's very kind of you," Rehval said.   "But no.   Come and find me, if you can.  I'll be waiting.   And if you can't find me, don't worry.   You'll be hearing from me sooner than you think."

Luffa suddenly raised her arms, and with a loud grunt, she swung the net of energy around the head, flinging it up into space.    She watched it shrink into the distance, then flew back down to the ground to make certain Rehval had not rebuilt his avatar.   She only found the broken remains of the last body that she had decapitated.   She incinerated it with a  ki blast.    Satisfied that her business here was concluded, she flew back to inform the planet's leaders about what had happened.  

*******

An hour later, Luffa was sitting in the cockpit of the light cruiser she had borrowed from the Federation Starfleet to get here.    She had orbited the planet a few times, just in case there was any chance of Rehval somehow returning, but at last she decided it was safe to depart.    She would have to contact the Federation and alert them of the situation, but first she removed her boot and examined the injury on her left foot.   Dr. Topsas had treated the wound days ago, but it would take some time to heal properly, and she was doing it no favors by constantly heading out into battle.   Somewhat painfully, she applied an ointment he had given her.    It was supposed to help promote healing and prevent infection, but at times she thought it hurt worse than the attack that had made the wound in the first place.    

She was weary, not so much from her wounds or physical exhaustion, but from the lack of a decisive victory.   Up to now, this had been a war of attrition, and Luffa's hope was that if she steadily chipped away at the lackeys, it would force the leaders out of hiding.    But if Rehval could strike remotely, with no risk to his own person, then... what?

Luffa leaned back the pilot's chair as far as it would go and began rubbing her temples.    There was a solution to this puzzle--there always was-- but she was too frustrated to find it.    For now, the best she could do was to report in with her allies, set the ship to autopilot, and take a nap during the flight home.   With any luck, the next cultist attack would be on the opposite side of the Federation, giving her more time to rest--

Then she saw the red light blinking on the comm system, and she realized that someone was trying to contact her.   Some small part of her wanted to ignore the light, to pretend she hadn't seen it, but she cursed that part of herself and opened the channel just to spite her own weakness.    

There was no audio or video, just a text message that had been encrypted with a code used by the Saiyan Free Company, led by Princess Seltiss.   The girl had formed the company to fill the power vacuum left behind when her father had disappeared, and she had allied herself with the Federation because she saw Trismegistus and his cult as a threat to Saiyan-kind.   As Luffa entered her password to decrypt the code, she wondered how the princess would react to the news that Rehval and Trismegistus were the same man.    

Those thoughts vanished as Luffa read the message: "ALL AVAILABLE FORCES TO FEDENDER SYSTEM.   URGENT.    SURPRISE ATTACK.   ENEMY STRENGTH UNKNOWN.   UNIDENTIFIED ALIEN COMBATANTS LED BY A LARGE CREATURE MADE OF ROCK.   EOM."

The terse statement was like a punch to Luffa's gut.    She had just rescued the Fedender System before rushing off to help Hexill, and Fedender was already under attack again?     And Rehval... he had told Luffa that she would hear from him sooner than she expected.    

"Well, that's a first, you miserable bastard," Luffa seethed as she set course for Fedender.    "You actually told the truth for once."

NEXT: Doublethink

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (62/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation.   This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

Previous chapters conveniently available here.

[24 November 236 Before Age.  Extraliga.]

The Shockmaster’s punch hit home, and Luffa staggered backward from the force of the blow.  Yet she stayed on her feet.  The yellow aura that flashed around her body thrummed as strong and as steady as ever.  A second later, she reached up with one hand to touch her jaw, then she stood up straight again and chuckled.

"Good one," she said.  "But you’re still holding back.  You still don’t want to kill me."

"I WON’T KILL, LUFFA," he insisted.

"That’s right, you won’t sink to my level.  You’ll just get one of your soldiers to finish me off, right?"

She looked around at the Wistian soldiers who had gathered around the two of them.  "How about it?!" she shouted.  "Anyone here want to try to kill me?  Your leader’s too scared to do it himself."

The Shockmaster made an irritated growl, and readied another punch.  Luffa turned her back on him.

"Fair warning!" she called to the soldiers.  "The last guy who tried to finish me off?  He’s dead.  So maybe you ought to run away while you still can.  Or stay and fight, if you have the courage.  Shocky needs all the help he can get!"

The Shockmaster threw a second punch, but this time Luffa dodged it.  She grabbed his forearm, and swung him forward, using his own momentum to send him flying into his own soldiers.

"Come on!" she screamed.  "You’re warriors, aren’t you?! You came here for a fight didn’t you?!  Well I sure as hell did!"

She raised her left hand and swung her arm towards the sky, pointing two fingers directly above her head.

"Vengeance Canon," she muttered.

A streak of crimson light erupted from her fingertips.  A moment later, a point of light appeared in the sky, indicating a ship she had destroyed.

The soldiers were dumbfounded.  Most of them either stared at her or looked fearfully to the Shockmaster.  A few of them moved in to help him up, but he was on his feet before they could touch him.

"Vengeance Cannon," Luffa said as she fired again.  Another point of light appeared in the sky.

The Shockmaster charged towards her, and she leaped into the air, avoiding him with ease and landing squarely on the top of his glittering silver helmet.

"Vengeance Cannon!" Luffa shouted, firing into the sky once again.    "You were right, Shocky.  You won’t kill me, not as long as you keep trying to toy with me the way you did last time!  If you don’t start taking this seriously, you won’t have any ships left!"

He roared and grabbed for her ankles, but she had already jumped down from his head and now stood directly behind him.  When he turned to find her, she delivered an elbow to his voluminous gut.

"Vengeance Cannon!" she screeched, firing at the sky again.  "Do something about it!"

At last, he stopped chasing her and stood his ground, summoning more of his power.  Luffa watched him with perverse fascination.

"That’s it!" she screamed.  "More!"

*******

In orbit, the Shockmaster's invasion fleet had broken formation and moved to a higher orbit to avoid Luffa's attacks.  Most of the crews had no idea who was firing upon them.  The working theory up to this point had been that the Extraligans had some new weapon in their arsenal, something powerful enough to shoot down enemy ships from the surface, but small enough and mobile enough to avoid return fire.  

But a number of mercenaries in the fleet had the ability to sense ki powers, and when Luffa's was suddenly revealed, they reported it to their leaders.

"It can't be her," insisted Cosia, the robotic captain of the mercenary ship Infinite Recursion.  "She couldn't have fired upon us and concealed her ki at the same time.   It doesn't compute!"

"I don't know how she did it," replied Ty-83.  The humanoid man was one of the few organic beings in the universe to earn Cosia's trust.   "But I've sensed Saiyan power before.  Only this is beyond any Saiyan I've ever encountered.  It has to be the Super Saiyan.  Captain, if she gets past the Shockmaster, there'll be nothing to stop her from destroying us next."

"The Shockmaster is our client," Cosia said flatly.  "If we abandon him now, we will forfeit our payment, to say nothing of the damage to our professional reputation."

"We can't spend our pay if we're dead, Captain," Ty-83 said.  

Cosia considered this for a moment, calculating whether her nickel-rhenium frame could survive the destruction of her ship.  

"Helm, take us to the opposite side of the planet from the battle," she commanded.  "And tell the engine room to be ready to take us out of the system.  For now, we will wait and see how the Shockmaster handles this."

*******

The Shockmaster tried to hit her again, and this time she hit back, their fists colliding at the midpoint between them.  The impact made a sound like thunder, and the air around them seemed to ripple from the sheer magnitude of the forces at play.

Many of the soldiers watching decided to take Luffa’s advice and ran.  Many more were too stunned to move, and they became engrossed by the battle that unfolded before them.

The Shockmaster continued to throw punches, only for Luffa to block with punches of her own.  This repeated itself over and over, faster and faster, and then the two of them vanished from sight as they began to move across the ground and through the air, much faster than any Wistian eye could follow.

It was at this point that Tigon regained consciousness, and slowly began to re-establish control of the camp.

"All personnel, full retreat," she said weakly, still rubbing her face from where Luffa had batted her away with her tail.  "We expected something like this.  Find a radio and raise III Corps.  Tell them to rendezvous with us at coordinates... 67J."

The troops were shaken, but they still followed orders.  She could sense the Shockmaster’s power had been withdrawn from her body, and she wondered whether that meant he was being careful... or desperate.

*******

"Do you want to know where you screwed up?" Luffa asked.

The Shockmaster refused to dignify that with a response.  Luffa had tried to bait him with idle chatter in their last fight.  That she was doing it again only proved she had learned nothing from her past defeat.

And yet, he found her new tactics bewildering.  Before, she had focused on gathering large stores of ki and unleashing it in big attacks.  Between these onslaughts, she would dodge and use diversions while she gathered her strength to try again.  None of this had worked against him, but he understood the basic approach.

This time, she was fighting at an even keel.  She would dodge and block, and sometimes strike, but she wasn’t building up to anything.    It was as if she was trying to wear him out, except that was impossible.  His powers had sustained him for millennia.  In their last encounter, she had been the one to collapse from exhaustion.  He had expected her to try to end this quickly, before her body succumbed to the strain.

It all felt like a trap somehow, but he didn’t seriously expect her to explain that to him.

"You’re incredibly strong," she said.  "But you don’t understand war.  You’re just used to dominating enemies with your power.  It’s made you sloppy.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m speaking from personal experience.  I know how tempting it can be to fall back on brute force."

He charged his left hand with power until it glowed bright violet, and fired a burst of energy at Luffa’s head.  She ducked, batting the blast away with her right forearm, and moved inside his reach to hit him in the abdomen.

"I’m not saying you’re a lousy fighter," she added, as though the last exchange had never happened.  "You beat me, after all.  But you couldn’t finish the job.  Just like you keep blowing this invasion."

"YOU THINK MY REFUSAL TO KILL MAKES ME WEAK?!" he shouted, unable to resist her taunting any longer.  "YOU’RE WRONG!  I’M MORE THAN A MERE FOOTSOLDIER, LUFFA.  I’M THE HOPE OF THE WIST, THE SAVIOR OF CIVILIZATION."

He put his hands together and launched a torrent of lighting from his arms.  The bolts of energy surrounded Luffa like a cage, and for a moment, she seemed to be stymied.

Then she made a loud, sharp cry, and the entire energy structure dissipated in a field of yellow flame.

"Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.  You think your powers solve everything, so you forget about tactics and focus on big picture stuff.  Only, the big picture doesn’t tell you how I got here so quickly.  Be honest, you thought I wouldn’t show up here for another three weeks."

She was right.  All of his intelligence reports put Luffa on a remote planet in the center of the galaxy.  It was less than half the distance to Extraliga than his fleet had traveled, but only his fleet had known the date of the invasion.  So how did she anticipate his arrival three weeks in advance?

"I got here two days ago," Luffa said with a grin.  I’ve been picking off your ships as soon as they entered orbit."

"YOU'RE LYING!" was all the Shockmaster could say.

"You should know better," Luffa scolded.  "After all, you’re the guy who gave me the idea.  You used a wormhole to launch the first invasion, so I used my own wormhole to come here and stop you."

"HOW DID YOU FIND A WORMHOLE FROM EXTRALIGA TO YOUR OWN WORLD?" the Shockmaster demanded.

"I didn’t," Luffa said with a shrug.  "I asked the faeries who lived in yours.  They built one for me.  You remember Queen Phenylal, right?  You forced her to let you move your troops through her domain.  Well I liberated them, so they owed me a favor.  I asked if they could construct a new wormhole for me, and they were happy to do it."

She held up her thumb and forefinger, spacing them less than half an inch apart.  "It’s not a spacious as the one they live in.  No more than eight feet across, but that’s plenty of room for me to make the trip."

"BUT I SHOULD HAVE SENSED YOUR PRESENCE ON THIS PLANET WHEN YOU ARRIVED!" the Shockmaster protested.

"I’ve been masking my energy," Luffa said.  "Not just from you, but from anyone else who might leak my plans before I was ready.   I can’t conceal all the power I’m putting out right now, but I can dial down my ki just low enough that I can hide it from you.  Turns out that’s still enough power to take potshots at your fleet, and to run around the planet so your goons can’t tell where it came from."

She dodged a kick and laughed.  "You people probably thought the Extraligans had some mobile surface-to-orbit cannon!  Only, how could something so powerful move so fast?!"

"HOW?" the Shockmaster snarled.  "YOU DIDN'T HAVE THAT ABILITY--"

"Before? No," Luffa said.  "I’ve been learning some new tricks, Shockmaster.  I knew you’d come back here, and while you’ve been rebuilding your army and polishing that stupid helmet of yours, I’ve been preparing to stop you."

"THEN WHY DID YOU WAIT UNTIL NOW TO CONFRONT ME?" the Shockmaster demanded.  "YOU COULD HAVE DESTROYED MY SHIP BEFORE I REACHED THE SURFACE."

She laughed again.  "You’re a fool," she said.  "What sort of a coward do you take me for?!  There’s no way in hell I’d be satisfied with a hollow victory like that!  Besides, you’d probably survive and fly the rest of the way to the surface on your own somehow.  You seem like the kind of guy who can pull off a stunt like that.

"No.  I want to beat you one-on-one.  No distractions, no soldiers running around, no meddling spouses to get in my way.  That’s why the Extraligan army hasn’t attacked you so far.  I told them to steer clear of you, and to focus on fighting your other forces."

She was almost giddy as she boasted of her plan.  "You probably thought you were overwhelming our defenses, but this whole time we’ve been herding you like livestock, she said with a twisted relish in her voice.  "And now that I’ve got you all to myself, out here in the middle of nowhere..."

"YOU’LL LOSE, LUFFA.  YOU CAN’T MAINTAIN THIS POWER LEVEL FOR MUCH LONGER.  I DON’T NEED TO DEFEAT YOU, I JUST HAVE TO OUTLAST YOU."

"Is that so?" Luffa said with a smirk.

Without warning, she screamed, and the aura surrounding her expanded in size.  The Shockmaster backed off, thinking she was preparing to unleash some offensive move, but it never came.  She was simply raising her power... raising it beyond what he had thought possible.

"NO..." he said, unable to hide his amazement.  "IT’S IMPOSSIBLE..."

When Luffa finally stopped, she looked at him and snorted.  "'Impossible?'," she scoffed.  "You know, I hear that word all the time.  I’m going to make you choke on it."

She rushed towards him and grabbed his hands, locking fingers with him.  He tried to shove her away, only to find that he couldn’t.  And she was still pushing forward, her teeth clenched as she grunted and huffed with effort.

And then he started to feel himself move backward through the air, in spite of his efforts to resist.

"Well?  How about it, Shockmaster?!" she shouted.  "Is this possible?!  What about this?!"

Before he could summon the additional power to stop her, she swing him by his hands around in a circle, and flung him to the ground  like a sack of laundry.  The impact of his body left a crater, and as he lay face up in the dirt, he could see her looming over him, cackling with delight.

*******

As Luffa battled the Shockmaster over the night sky of Extraliga, her only concern was that maybe things were going a little too well.

She had been looking forward to this moment for months, and she had been a little nervous at first, but now that she had finally gotten the Shockmaster to take her seriously, she was starting to enjoy herself.  Occasionally, she turned her ki senses to the rest of the planet, in search of any sign that things had gone wrong.  So far, she had found none.

She had divided the conflict into three theaters.  On the Orbital Theater, she had softened up the Shockmaster’s fleet prior to attacking him.  Soon, a Federation fleet would be arriving to finish them off.  When that happened, they could land ground troops to assist the Extraligan military on the Surface Theater, and mop up the Shockmaster’s ground troops, though Luffa suspected they might not need the reinforcements after all.

The third theater was simply herself versus the Shockmaster in isolation.  If anything went wrong, she supposed she could try to defeat him quickly, but she didn’t want it to come to that.  He was still a formidable opponent, and while she was much stronger now, she didn’t want to make the mistake of underestimating him again.  Also, the Wistian troops were counting on him to lead them to victory.  By keeping him occupied, Luffa could effectively paralyze the Shockmaster’s army.  They would fight defensively while they waited for him to win, and that attitude would give the initiative to her allies.

Besides, it was more fun this way.  The Shockmaster managed to land a hard right to her jaw while she was sensing the troop movements, but she managed to avoid his follow-up attack.  She had a worthy opponent, and a planet-wide set-piece battle going on at the same time.  It was the nearest thing to heaven that she could imagine.

But the Shockmaster still wasn’t using his maximum strength.  She wanted to push him to his limits before beating him, both to satisfy her pride and to ensure his attention was focused on her instead of his objectives.  Fortunately, she knew just the thing to get his goat.

"Oh, by the way," she said casually.  "You can forget about the Recollector."

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?!" the Shockmaster growled.

"Oh, plenty," she said.  "Those rebels on your home planet?  I’ve been in touch with them.    They did some research, and found out why you wanted to take this planet so badly.  They contacted me because they knew I was the only one who could stop you."

"YOU WON’T STOP ME!"

"Yeah?  Well, how about you beat me, and you can drag me over to the Recollector and show me just how stupid I was to get in your way!  Or did you come here for something else?"

"YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!  A SAIYAN COULDN’T COMPREHEND THE POWER OF THE RECOLLECTOR--"

She ducked a right hook and slipped around to his back, and kicked him with both feet. Before he could hit the ground, he stopped in midair and turned to face her, only to be bombarded with ki blasts.    He weathered this storm, and started firing back.

Luffa noted that he was ramping up his power.  She had struck a nerve. 

She wanted to strike it again.

"Here’s what I 'comprehend'," she said.  "Your worthless planet used to be a big deal a long time ago, because they had some power source called the Ur-Ember.  Right?  Only it was destroyed, along with Wist’s moon.  After that, Wist just had to make due with whatever they had left."

She flew through the crossfire, slipping between the Shockmaster’s ki blasts until she reached his person.  Then she drove her elbow in to his abdomen.  He tried to grab her, but he was too slow, and she flew straight up and kicked the chin of his helmet as she avoided his hands.

"Only you couldn’t accept that, could you?" she continued.  "You wanted to go back to the way things used to be.  Eventually, you found out that Extraliga used to be a Wistian colony.  I guess that explains why there’s a wormhole between them."

He managed to grab her by the shoulders and pin her arms to her sides, but she simply grinned at him and continued her story.

"The Recollector was some doohickey built by the last Sorcerer King of...of... well, I forget which dynasty it was.  I’m interested in history, but I'm not that interested.  It was supposed to be used for archaeology research.  Instead of digging up relics, you’d turn this thing on and pluck objects out of the distant past, back when they were still new.

"But the Recollector was abandoned on this planet.    Forgotten, along with the colony, until you rediscovered it.  You wanted to go find it and use it to pull the Ur-Ember out of the past, right at the moment Wist’s moon was destroyed.  Then you can take it back home with you and use it to jumpstart your little fantasy, right?  Well, you might have pulled all that off, if I hadn’t come along."

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" the Shockmaster asked.  She heard a trace of panic in his voice, and chuckled.

"Who, me?" Luffa asked.  "I haven’t done anything.  The rebels on Wist found out about all this.  I just relayed the message to the Extraligan government.  Once they knew what you were after, it didn’t take them too long to track it down."

"YOU LITTLE FOOL!" he shouted.  "YOU THINK THEY CAN HIDE IT FROM ME?!"

"Oh, we aren’t going to hide it," Luffa said.    "We’re going to destroy it."

"NO!" the Shockmaster cried.  He tried to squeeze Luffa in his hands, but she just laughed.

"Yes," she said darkly.  She set her teeth and growled.  Gradually, she pushed back against the Shockmaster’s hands, until finally she force his arms away with a burst of golden light.

Seeing him stumble backward like this was a thing of beauty.  She dove after him and started punching him.  His helmet, his chest, his legs, they were all fair game.

"You don’t even know where the Recollector is, or you would have secured it when you had the chance.  No, you didn’t want to take any risks, so you tried to invade the planet with as little destruction and bloodshed as possible.  You were going to wait for the planet to be completely pacified, and then you’d start searching for it.  Well, it’s too late for that now."

"NO!" he screamed.  "YOU THINK THAT YOU’VE OUTMANEUVERED ME, BUT YOU’RE WRONG!  I’LL DEFEAT YOU, AND THEN I’LL--"

He tried to shove Luffa away with his ki, but she crossed her arms over her face and blunted the force of it.  Then she delivered a kick to the side of his head, and he went tumbling to the ground.

"You still don’t get it, do you?" Luffa shouted.  "You lost the moment you decided to spare my life, Shockmaster.  I’d be grateful for your mercy, except that you thought I’d slither under a rock and hide like a pathetic animal while you went on with your scheme."

She dropped down beside him and grabbed him by the collar of his sleeveless jacket.  "For you, this war is just a means to an end.   But me?  Hah!  Before I was a Super Saiyan, I was a mercenary, from a family of mercenaries.  I was bred for war.  I was steeped in war.  I killed my first hostile when I was three years old.  At seven, I was reading battlefield maps and tactical readouts.  I was teaching aliens how to fight when I was sixteen."

He began throwing punches, and she deflected each one with ease, backing away slowly to invite him to come forward.  "Unlike you, I know how to fight a war.  How to gather intelligence, how to deploy troops, how to manipulate my enemy, and how to utilize my allies."

She sidestepped him, and drove the point of her elbow into his ribs, staggering him.

"I wasn’t completely sure I could get strong enough to fight you like this," she admitted.  "And a good friend of mine told me I’m more sensible when I’m around other people.  You have to learn to be careful when you’re as strong as I am, you know?  It got me thinking about how to beat you.  Not just win this fight, but to utterly crush you.  That’s why I contacted the fairies to make me a wormhole.  That’s why I stayed in touch with the rebels on Wist.  That’s why I’ve been relying on the Extraligans to keep your goons out of my way.    And I’ve got my wife handling the Recollector."

"SHUT UP!" the Shockmaster shouted.

"It keeps me motivated, you know?" Luffa said.  "I always wanted to beat you, but now I’ve got to, because if you somehow make it past me, you’ll have a clear path to her.  Thinking about that, well, I think it helped me with my training."

He began to scream, and Luffa made a satisfied grunt.  She’d been pushing him, trying to break through his cool and calculating demeanor, and now her taunts and jibes had finally paid off.  She could sense his ki rising, and while she was impressed, it wasn’t quite the increase she had expected.   It didn’t bother her too much.  If this was his limit, she could still have a good match with him.  

And if he still had more power to call upon, well, she had plenty of time to wring it out of him.

NEXT: Recollection