A Different Time, A Different Man - Invited

Coming back to the Capital was a strange experience for Taori. He'd never really joined the military with the intention of becoming some kind of hero. Hell, the only reason he'd worked so hard was really just so he could be good enough for Alpinia. Yet, there he was, returning to Sadala with the most wanted man in the galaxy in handcuffs, cheers and praises being sung his way by people he'd never even met before. It was kind of... Uncomfortable. Taori forced a small smile and occasionally waved at a few of the spectators who had come to see Yangcong's return, though he felt that for every cheer he received, a jeer was being tossed at Yangcong.

While Taori could understand their anger, he wasn't too sure what to think of this all being made a public spectacle. They were really only here to deliver the prisoner to the Queen. It was up to her what happened from there. As Taori glanced back at Yangcong, briefly, he looked just in time to see a Saiyan spectator rush up and punch the old man in the face, which sent him to the ground. "Hey," Taori sternly stated as he stepped between Yangcong and the angry spectator. "It's not worth it," he warned them. "Trust me."

Yangcong had been disgraced enough by this little show, Taori felt. As they marched closer and closer to the royal palace, the crowd grew thinner, until it was just Yangcong, Taori, and a few Saiyan soldiers. And, suddenly, Alpinia. "Taori!" she exclaimed, catching him completely by surprise as she ran up to the group. "A-Alpinia?" he stammered, "What are you doing-" "Here?" she interrupted. "Everyone heard the news! I flew over here like lightning! I can't believe you actually got him!"

She leaned to the side to get a glance at Yangcong behind Taori, and grimaced when she got a look at him. "You look horrible," she commented, "I guess your outside finally matches your inside, then." Taori gently moved Alpinia back to a straightened posture and had her walk along in front of them, with him between her and Yangcong. "I think you should go home," he gently warned her, "I don't know if-" "Oh, come on," she protested, "Look at him. He's not gonna try anything. And I want to meet the Queen! That is where we're going, right?"

Taori sighed. "Y-Yeah, that's where we're going," he replied. As they grew ever closer to the palace, he had to say, he honestly didn't know what Rosemary was going to say when she saw what Taori had brought in.

Yeah, this whole thing was going about as well as Taori should have guessed. First, Yangcong transformed and ramped his power up to match the Queen's, then the Queen decided to give off blutz waves for some reason, despite her having already powered up. Luckily, he and Alpinia were both wearing their scouters, so they quickly turned on the latest wave cancelling app, which redshifted any incoming light just enough so that it didn't trigger an Oozaru transformation. As for the uncovered eye, well, they just closed it. Taori still kept Alpinia behind him, but she peeked her head out from the side to get a look at what exactly was going down between Yangcong and the Queen.

Rosemary was definitely doing... Something. It was kind of hard for either of the Saiyans to tell what was really going on, as an awful lot of smoke and black mist was pervading the area, but Taori could at least tell that Yangcong was being restrained, somehow. And Rosemary was currently yelling at his face about how stupid he was. "Yeah, already tried that," Taori thought to himself with a roll of his eyes. There was no way Rosemary of all people was actually going to be getting through to Yangcong, unless she used some sort of dark magic to twist his mind.

The black mist finally began to clear a bit, and while Taori still kept his blutz blocker up and one eye closed - just out of caution - he approached Rosemary and Yangcong with Alpinia following shortly behind him. "Er, nice work, Rosemary," he commented towards her, actually fairly proud of his Queen for restraining one of the most powerful men on the planet so easily. He didn't truly understand any of this magic stuff, but he knew one thing for certain: it was powerful. Yangcond had all but admitted defeat as he hung, held up by the magical arms Rosemary had procured.

So... What now? Alpinia looked back and forth between Yangcong and Rosemary, fairly certain that now was not the time to be saying anything, but Taori spoke his mind. "You're sad, Yangcong," he said, his voice full of scorn. "Garrick would have been just... Ashamed to see what you've become. I'm almost glad he's gone if it means he doesn't have to see you like this." Taori took a step back to give Rosemary some room to do whatever it is she planned on. "Whatever you're going to do, Rosemary, make it fast. Linger too long and this snake'll find a way to slither himself out of this."

Taori still had to say he disagreed with Rosemary's sentiment that a Saiyan's Oozaru was their 'true form'. A Saiyan was born in their humanoid form, and lived almost all their life in it, too - hell, the Oozaru required specific, outside influence to trigger. He certainly didn't picture his Oozaru when he pictured 'himself', nor did he picture any of his comrades' Oozarus when he thought about them. But, there was one thing he could agree with Rosemary on: it felt good to let loose, sometimes.

Taori's punch may not have done a whole lot of damage to Yangcong's ugly mug, but it was something he'd been wanting to do for quite a while. And it sure as hell was satisfying. ...Although, given the differences in their power level, Yangcong was probably going to unleash an incomparable world of hurt on Taori once he struck back, so that was something to look forward to. Taori braced himself for some pain as Rosemary made her own moves. She violently ordered Yangcong to submit, to bow to her, and then he - well, he did.

Taori had his fist reared back for a punch when Yangcong suddenly lashed out at random. His fists smashed into walls and his blasts of energy burst out the ceiling, and then, finally, he submitted. The old ape bowed his head before the Queen, and rather kindly held out his hand for her. The battle that had hardly even begun, was now over.

"Wh... What the hell did you just do?" Taori asked Rosemary, flabbergasted. He glanced back and forth between the pacified Yangcong and the menacing Demon Queen, who had somehow brainwashed a man who hated nothing in the galaxy more than her into bowing at her feet. How could she have done that so easily to someone so powerful as Yangcong? Could she just... Brainwash anyone into submission? Though emotions were harder to read on an Oozaru's face than they were of a regular Saiyan's, it was probably obvious that Rosemary's little feat had shaken Taori up a bit.

"Is that something you can pull on just about anyone?"