Rise to Greatness [CH]

Sadala.

A city he did not particularly want to visit. He had always been conflicted about his own kind, ever since the very elimination of his own family at the hands of his kin. It was a difficult one to approach but nevertheless, in the eyes of anyone, nearly few knew Nasu decided to ally himself with the Tuffles. And those few were not even people of Plant (except Cheri) or anyone who had ever come close to this place before, therefore he technically had the freedom and liberty to just cross the streets.

Why was he here? He had heard something had happened. He did not know what, he was still on Earth, too, at the time but the rumors alone made it feel like some kind of intricate thing he could never approach to understand, there was no way he wanted to, either. But of course, he was sure that even here things were supposed to begin taking place, for one reason or another. Things at Hatchi had been stale instead.

In a way, he was assessing the ground. Because he knew an incident like that would not go unspoken. Therefore, it had been a few days that he had hung around the capital. Despite the fact he found nothing. But nevertheless, the tall Saiyan scrolled through the capital quietly and without paying any mind to anyone else. He did not really seem to care. He believed most of this city was not theirs to begin with, as he was pretty sure it used to be a Tuffle place once. It was really a bitter bite to gulp down, but he did not want to let it get to him.

But today was no regular day. Something was fishy, no, not even… something was wrong. He could sense it, powers were beginning to skyrocket left and right. Each and every area of the capital began to crawl with power. His face did not hide the uncertainty and concern, but it was not long until shadows began to tower him. He could see them quite easily, those apes that began to be over the town. His eyes were wide and for a moment, his heart stopped.

The imagery easily reminded him of times past, back when he was a bloody mess trying to fight off dozens of huge primates wreaking havoc on his world. But soon his eyes shut, his memory went black and had now left from his mind. He breathed out, with a frown. He rushed off to the source of it all, as even his mind began to be visited by a presence: was this the first time he experienced this? He did not remember at all.

It was an unfamiliar voice, one he was sure he did not hear before. But the man knew by any lengths that this was not good. This was not good at all, he kept repeating in a corner of his thoughts. He reached out for the center of the capital: the palace. He could at least begin to tell where the voice came from, it had to be that large power… but he noticed something odd. Why were these Oozaru so compliant to listening?

He could see them, almost like puppies. While his very memory of those beasts was not pleasant at all. It was scary, in a way. But he reached the castle. To make sure he would not waste any time, he was quick to summon his golden cloud and rode upon it across the streets and within the cloud. Truly he could have flown directly to the balcony, but he would have just had to deal with the Great Apes directly at that point. And so he ran through the palace halls, not sure where he was going besides Rosemary’s ki acting as a signal.

(“The Shredder Corps… was it not that group that first found me on this planet? I see. But I do not like this one bit. She is clearly resentful of what happened here.”)

The man’s thoughts spoke for themselves. He reached the end of that room, opposite to the balcony as his rush came to an end, and his body hopped off the very cloud as he let it hover behind himself. Part of himself tried not to think or even try to look up. Having gotten to see the Oozaru raise for himself, he knew he was not supposed to potentially go and become an ape himself. If he even could anymore, it had been too long since he had experienced such a thing.

But now, he had Rosemary right ahead of him. He looked down at her silhouette, she looked interesting. But she did not look like a Saiyan, at first glance. Not full blood, at least. Then again he could see her possibly be worthy to be seen as a Queen, she looked different enough from the rest to be recognizable amongst many. But Nasu did not care for the looks. He wanted to know her intentions.

“Deployment?”

He spoke up, if she had not noticed him earlier, she would have now. The man had been suppressing his energy to go unnoticed as an average Saiyan in the capital and not draw too many eyes, and now he stood at base power. He quietly paced himself forward and away from the stairs and began to walk towards Rosemary. A slacking announcement for his introduction, but one nevertheless.

“I am Nasu. You would not know me. But I got to meet your group before. Frankly I am not prone to acknowledging somebody I do not truly know.”

A man dressed in torn clothing, a blood red shirt, his pants were dark together with his gloves and boots, but the latter two were decorated by pure gold. Red drapes hung down from his waist, where a white belt tightened his attire together. But his attire was not the big deal about him, his face was rather ‘scary’. As in, his complexion was perfectly fine but rather he was one of those guys who rarely smiled or showed any other kind of emotion in front of others.

“What are you planning, Rosemary?”

He did not begin with any kind of aggressiveness yet, however. He wished to see for himself if this woman was truly dangerous. If she was… then he knew what he had to do.

Nasu’s face was indeed one hard to read. It could either be a trait common to many in a certain underworld. While he did not bear any aggressiveness with himself at the moment, his face alone could be mistaken for a dangerous person. Not because it was ugly or for complexion, but his stoic stare was one hard to beat. Only a few people could only hope to earn some kind of recognition with a change in his facial expression.

Nevertheless, the man was a good listener.

“The Tuffles attacked with a large force. I did hear about that.”

The man hesitated briefly to comment any further. The first thing he would have commented upon was his ignorance behind the attack even happening in the first place, but he was not that stupid. He knew that if he was to mention that first, she would probably not even listen to the rest of his talk. Therefore, he decided to just briefly tilt his head to the side so that one eye could stare straight at the woman with no pause.

“It is strange. It was an attack not on one settlement, we are talking about the very capital. Are we not? Your buddies called the Tuffles cretins. But even they knew they are smarter than us. Do you really think they would attack this capital without calling their best men?”

He decided to take her confirmation first, but he mostly knew what everyone else could probably get to find out across the galaxy. Bare news and nothing less, he did not know who or what was behind the attack. But he could tell there had to be something else to it, otherwise many things would keep not adding up.

“You alone, Rosemary. It would not even take a single one of the apes out there to go and ravage the Tuffles, with this level of power. That is how weak those poor people are. Not because they can not become strong, but they choose to hold onto the bare minimum to survive. With fewer exceptions.”

Cheri was the one exception he knew. He did not see or experience any sort of other Tuffle warrior, but he really believed in what he thought: all it took was honestly one Saiyan as strong as either him or Rosemary to do the Tuffles.

“Why would you bother with warfare anymore? These people have been at war for longer than you have been alive. If you are going for the crown, you have the power to do the best thing and end this with a deal.”

Nasu tilted his head back once more, making sure that both of his orbs could keep themselves latched upon this woman. He could see she was off the charts. He knew she was attaining power, but her type was quite chaotic.

She felt a lot more like an Oozaru capable of speech at the moment, but the man was not intimidated. Even in the back of his mind, where he could remember himself in a bloody pulp trying to fight his way across dozens of great apes to try and bring civilians to safety, a memory played and yet that only made him more invested in this.

He was pretty sure the attack was not willed by the Tuffles. He would have known, either by them or surely Cheri would have let him know in advance. But by now, the Saiyan had to bring up a crucial point.

“Only the Gods up there may not hate us at this point. Namekians, earthlings, arcosians… you can hardly find someone who does not depict us as invaders. We can start cleaning up our name. Because there are way more Tuffles out there that just want to end this peacefully. Beyond those that have attacked this capital. They may have been Tuffles, but at this point, it could have been anyone and we would have deserved it.”

Nasu frowned a little. He was worried whether or not she could possibly be drunk on her current power, so he did not have high hopes. He was almost sure she would have denied any of it.

“I would not be so sure about that. From my understanding, the war has lasted this long due to the leadership’s incompetence. No one has tried anything besides constantly poking one another on the battlefield. That is why, to my eyes, you could be a danger. All it takes is the right person to end this.”

Even as her stare began to grow more intense, the man did not seem disturbed but rather he quietly stepped closer. His own face did not grow more intense, but he did not take his eyes off hers. His gaze narrowed a bit. She spoke about one of the strongest Tuffles out there, frankly he believed that to be Cheri. But Nasu’s memory also fuzzled with an encounter, back on Earth. A Tuffle in a suit. He wondered if that could be it or perhaps there was a third warrior amongst them.

He could probably begin asking questions but at this point, it was not like he could return to the past and see for himself. So, he put the thoughts alone away and instead he nodded briefly.

“I will take your word for that.”

Even at her looking smug like that, he briefly batted an eye. He did not quite seem to let his wall down that easily, but there was something amusing that awaited him. Something that boasted a little bit of a reaction even from Nasu, as Rosemary spoke of a peaceful solution, it was plain and easy to see Nasu’s tail beginning to wag left and right until he subdued it. He shut his eyes briefly and sighed.

“I don’t think they have a leader yet. But anyhow...”

He briefly stopped and let his eyes see the light of the sun once more.

“I am impressed. I expected a different person when I came here. But I like where you are going with this, so far.”

The man inherently let his lips make one lopsided smile, for once. His eyes did not remove themselves off Rosemary for a moment, however, as much as he believed in those words he said… he was not of course convinced or somehow charmed into following her like a soldier. That, for him, was not an option.

He was as free as a bird now, and he already let his wings spread wide. But that only meant he had more options in life than to follow someone, and in his best interests, as much as the resentment he could have had for his own blood, he really wished to help the Saiyans change.

“But that is not enough. I have been betrayed before, by my own family. So, as good as your words may be... I can not take them for granted anymore.”

Nasu was honest in believing that he appreciated the fact alone he was not facing someone he could just not let become a monarch, but he had no reassurance she would keep up her word either.

“I can not allow myself to be naive anymore. Not when people I care about would be involved from your rule. From here onwards, I will make sure you speak to your heart’s content.”

And with that, the man’s arm rose to the other side, it laid just across his body and to his shoulder before he grasped onto the crimson shirt tight. There was no doubt that the man could no longer take words. There was only one other way Saiyans could communicate, that was something his grandfather taught him dearly. He closed the grip around his shirt and in one swift motion he pulled upon it with no struggle at all, and it came off. It flew across the room, while Nasu’s chest was left bare.

Across his back, a silver dragon crawled between each and every one of his muscles and left his mark with his fangs and claws. The man closed his fists, an ominous and subtle blue aura began to emerge from his silhouette and began to zap off his body and up, to the very rooft. It was ‘electrical’ in the way that its movements let the aura spread across the area, it discharged across the room but it was actually energy-like. It was not actual electricity.

He felt completely different but the man, unlike her, did not hold the spiritual signature of a Great Ape, it was almost like a whole dragon stood right behind Nasu right now.

He put his foot forth, his body tilted to one side with an arm bent and up, across one side of his chest, his fist was high enough to stand at a height below his chin. His other arm was only slightly bent and rested across the lower part of his chest, both of his fists were closed.

“Let’s do this!!”

Those words were blurted out from his mouth with tenacity, and now the man released a gradually increasing roar from his lungs as he began to charge forth, before long his body rose from upon the air. His arm that once was fully bent up, now stood straight and dragged across with his leap, the very grip of his hand shaped like a Dragon’s: but the danger came from his legs first, as he launched a right hook straight at her before his body began to dissipate and once more quickly reappeared at each and every side of hers thrice. Every time the man tried to land a quick but impactful hit across her head.

“At best I will acknowledge you as Queen, if you are worthy. But I have none who will ever rule me.”

The man exclaimed well and plainly. He did not plan to serve her in any shape or form, this was either a way to dethrone a possible mass murderer or a way to test the waters for the Tuffles and see if they could establish peace. Either or, he did not really need to talk about himself or his relationship with the Tuffles. By now, the man was already invested in bringing this as far as he could. But, of course, there was also plenty more to consider other than how far fetched his concerns could be.

“Do keep your clothes on.”

She was strong. That much was sure, he did not know anything about her. He had not even seen her before, but of course by now it was all or nothing. The man pretty much sent himself in all directions to try and get a kick out, but no matter, something was off. He could feel it around her, but nevertheless all that was left from his strikes was the impact that spread across the air. And even then, the man’s senses alerted him about incoming danger. With the batting of an eye, he spread his arms and suddenly shifted to the side in a quick step.

He moved off to the side with newfound speed and agility, almost as if the man’s entire fighting style changed briefly and all of a sudden. The man did not know if that large hand, as he eyed it shortly after, was one of her powers and backed off down from the room and instead threw himself down the balcony and down to land on one knee on the ground, with his fist carved into the ground before he rose up himself.

“Both of us are strange, in our own ways.”

The man knocked his fists together and as they moved apart from one another, something else filled the gap: a quarterstaff made of energy, as he came to wield it himself and take it for a couple of swings, as he let the staff spin around his fingers before he held it behind his back with his hand gripped around it. One other hand forth as he awaited further actions.

“But you better not underestimate me, kid. I am not falling for tricks like that.”

Nasu said before he spun on his heels and planted the staff into the ground. He used it as leverage to pull upon it and leap across distances once more, before he swung the staff down, trying to take a solid hit on her head and then swing it left and right to try and hit her on both sides of the waist before he pulled away and returned into a closer distance with a fist aiming for her sternum.

His eyes widened, not so much because the man felt impressed visually but rather in his charge he also felt a level of obstacle that suddenly stopped him in his tracks. His arms did not move, but it was free but rather it was the weapon alone that had been reached out for and was now stuck in the grasp alone of the smoke arm. How annoying. He did not know what kind of power this was, neither was he sure whether or not he fought somebody like this before. His right arm had then been left also partially stuck in her grasp.

“Smoking is not good for you.”

He said perhaps as a joke or perhaps he was actually serious. Hard to tell with his gaze being uncharacteristically neutral, even though his temples looked strained almost as if he was beginning to tense up. Was it from stress or did he have something in mind? A curiosity that could only be fulfilled as the fight progressed, and even then Rosemary prepared herself for her strike. Nasu allowed his body to firm up, but he did not remain still as a stone, rather, his left hand released the grip.

But not just the grip. It was an energy quarterstaff that worked much like an energy blade. Therefore, there was no real blade. He did not have magic abilities of that extent, and so instead, the man completely let go of the energy and the weapon once more disappeared from their realm of realities and left space for nothing other than a gap between them. As she came to him with her kick, he did with her hand.

However, his intent was not to harm her. Rather, his hand aimed for her collar and gripped for it as if his life depended on it, possibly causing her distress depending on how tight the shirt was as his pull, of course, increased as his midsection was subject to her kick. It hurt. This girl really hurt a lot harder than anything else he ever got in his life thus far, not that he needed confirmation because his senses could tell the extent of her power but surely she was good at combat. It was almost a shame that both stood on different sides of the coin.

Maybe if it was more than just a kick he would have coughed up blood. Or maybe not, hard to tell without verifying firsthand.

Not because he was pulling harder, but because that led his body to rocket back with air being blasted out of his lungs but as he was leaning back and possibly further falling, he stomped his foot down and his head that had been knocked away from the pain began to descend much like a meteor on fire and with his grip still hopefully locked upon her, his head aimed to crush into her own face.

In any case... the hand that held onto her shirt let go of the shirt, it attempted to connect its closed fist against one side of her head before his other hand did the same and tried to lock itself against the other side of her skull. Both hands were shaking as Nasu kept pushing against her skull, some kind of Skull Crusher.

Other than some slight pain, it was not what Nasu was trying to subject Rosemary to but rather his body leaned a bit closer to build up momentum, before he performed a small hop off the ground to release it and moved back into the air before his quick descent began, taking the chance to land on his foot but with the knee bent, and his grip hopefully guiding the hybrid to meet his knee right into the face.

His hands nearly hurt one another, something was not right. He soon pulled away and realized even her body could apparently form into that smoke of hers, it was curious. A little bit of a first time, however. She was no Saiyan, in his mind at least. He believed this was not just a matter of technique, in a few words. He could not imagine a way to transform into energy, however it could be an idea he would be able to use for himself one day perhaps. Somehow, though, even then his mind did not race much longer than what it took him to realize the shadows descending upon his form.

(“Interesting. I wonder how it works. There is no way that she is completely immune to physical attacks.”)

That was his first thought that accompanied his body, the moment he sprinted once more away from the cub’s grasp and immediately hopped up the cub, but he did not believe it was going to let him stay upon it for long. Just like it appeared, there was a large chance it would have disappeared shortly after as well.

“Maybe if I feel like it.”

Nasu said. Whether he was making fun of her or he was serious was uncertain, but nevertheless the man sent himself forth towards the strange Oozaru. He was not really going to do much by kicks alone, therefore his hands once more fired up with energy but this time they took the shape of a couple of energy blades that extended their length from his hands and hopped forth to try and penetrate the sinister form with both energy blades.

Almost as if he was trying to climb a mountain, he would have stuck both blades inside and let his body slide down. He doubted that it was even real, and his mind was a little conflicted between this stranger being a ghost or possessing some kind of demonic heritage. Tiamat did tell him about their strange illusions, after all. Technically speaking, it was not a real blade. And any damage dealt was meant to be spiritual as well, unless this smoke made one completely invincible, he would have had to see some kind of effect.

He was studying her at this point. He had to know what he could hit her with before launching a blind response and potentially waste power.

As soon as his blades began to come down, his mind began registering the useful information. She was not completely invincible, but of course rather as this came to merely a hint that he had to play with energy. He was mostly a physical fighter, for the most part, but he did not have any trouble manipulating energy. It would have been a little different, indeed. But there was something that had been sitting in his mind. This was no Saiyan.

That much was obvious. But something else was what truly concerned him: what kind of person could do things like that with their body? It could have been some kind of strange mutation, but even as Nasu made his descent through her armor, something struck him as odd. This was not just an illusion, it was a real illusion. She could be hurt through it, nevertheless. She was not a magician. He had never met one before, but much like he had already hypothesized this kid was not from this world.

And as he thought it over, even another strange fact appeared in his mind. What were the chances that every single Saiyan in this capital could control themselves that perfectly in their great ape form to even praise some Queen? He could not have some kind of grasp from her aura alone, but he was beginning to piece together details that he had been ignoring until now. And somehow, that made his blood boil. Not from fun, but this upset him. If the Saiyans were being manipulated anyhow, even the faintest idea was merely bringing him flashbacks to where even his loyal soldiers had been turned into destroyers.

A chill ran down his spine, and the thought alone had his skin shiver. But his senses also alerted him, his eye noticed the hand that came towards him to flick him away and almost instinctively now that he was truly on alert, he put his leg between himself and her finger.

“You are a demon, are you not?”

The Kaio’s words rang in his head. A manipulating species of liars that corrupted those who surrounded him. He trusted Tiamat to no end with the kind of span she had across the view of this world and her good heart; there was no way he was going to let this slide at all. A blue aura began to erupt from Nasu, easy to resemble the serpentine monster that resided in his aura: they were one the same, but right now, even his earlier words had been spoken with a harsher tone. It was particular, as well. It had lots of tiny, white dots and was made out of entire flames, with a spiral that subtly circled the man.

Instinctively he hopped off her own fingers and flipped in mid-air to fight against her flick, as he stomped his leg down upon her finger. His draconic aura was now empowering each strike that he dealt now, therefore it was bound to hurt a little more. And even if it was physical, the technique itself in reality was imbued with his spiritual energy. If a mere fist did not hurt her, energy had to do it.

But this was not about hurting her because she was a Demon. He could not trust her, after all.