Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2021 21:31:03 GMT -5
How many months has it been since he was forced to leave? Hard to say at this point, Shakuhachi had lost track of time. Wondering the wild plains of the Northern Scar had been trouble certainly, but for the most part he had managed to survive. This enforced journey originally had the plan of meeting and discussing terms with the Mazoku Clan of Namek, but that had proven to be more difficult than he had though. He hadn’t even seen another Namekian since he was banished by Guru, yet he heard whispers. When he tried to sleep he could sense through the trees that some beings were watching him, but were they friend or foe?
The boy knew that willingly walking into the territory of the Mazoku could be seen as a death wish. A few of the clansmen had reformed their harsh ways and moved closer to the Dragon and Warrior communities, trading and living among them. But those were not the Mazoku that he was going to meet with. Instead he was venturing deep into their turf, where the most ruthless and unforgiving lived. That’s exactly who he was looking for though. He needed the outlaws and the ruffians to meet with clan, to try and force a merging of ideas with the hope that a new kind of Namekian would be formed from the two; one better suited for what was ahead.
That was going to be easier said than done though. Contact with the Mazoku outside of those willing to live by the law and join greater communities was limited to say the least. Relations could mostly be boiled down to Mazoku and Warriors battling each other to the death. Diplomacy was not something he believed the Mazoku could say let alone understand, but that’s why he was coming: to force them to adapt as he would force his former family to adapt once he returned home. But for now he had to find them first. From what he could tell the particular group of Mazoku he was on the trails of was nomadic, not settling down anywhere.
These means that they would set up shop for a while, and then move when things got uncomfortable, which likely involved rival Mazoku tribes getting too close to their territory. Shakuhachi was not much of a tracker and so he didn’t fancy himself actually being able to find them through skill. Instead his plan right now was just hoping to get lucky with stumbling across them. That plan thus far had not worked out very well for him. He had no problem encountering the creatures of Namek; he must encountered at least a dozen different species of dinosaurs all of which had no problem attacking first and asking questions later, but so far nothing resembling intelligent life.
As he drifts to asleep after another uneventful day he is awoken by the sound of rustling leaves. He stands up to check his surroundings, but he doesn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. “Huh? I guess it was just the wind; maybe another damn bir-.” Before he could finish, a fist enters the scene and lands flush on his jaw. Shakuhachi is thrown to the ground and quickly scans the area to the find his assailant. He looks up and notices from the shadows several figures have now revealed themselves. It seems that he has found the Mazoku tribe he was looking for, or more accurately they have found in. Unfortunately it was at a time he was not prepared for them.
“Easy now. I didn’t mean to offend anyone, in fact just the opposite. I know your past meetings with outsiders, assuming you have any, were probably not so great for you. That being said I come in peace. I would like to talk to your leader or whoever is in charge.” Shakuhachi looked around, but no one seemed to be interested in what he had to say. “Alright, we got off on the wrong foot. The punch in the face I can look past, but someone has to tell me what’s going on here. I mean what are we doing here, huh? If you want to kill me you could have done it while I was asleep but I’m standing, breathing so what’s next?”
Still nothing. Shakuhachi began analyzing what he was dealing with. The one who hit him seemed to be the brute of the group. It’s pretty obvious the guy had not much in the way of brains, but he certainly made up for it in brawn. Shakuhachi was pretty tall himself yet this guy was close to being twice his size. He was a bit on the old side as the once pink patches across his body and turned to a sour yellow, and his skin had darkened considerably with what looked like a bit of scaled texture developing across it. When Shakuhachi looked him in the eyes he got a look into his mouth, which revealed mostly missing teeth but still a couple of fangs which looked like they could do some work.
The guy to the left of him definitely seemed mutated; not a good sign for peace talks. He didn’t have any pink or yellow patches over his body like a normal Namekian; instead it was all a very dark green with what seemed like a crusty exterior. He also featured a pair of wings; not commonly found of Namekians. His pair happened to be very badly damaged and it’s unlikely he could use them to fly. Shakuhachi sensed his power level and could tell he was definitely the weakest of the group, for still a challenge for him. He thought that might be the end of it, but behind him he felt another power approaching, this was the strongest of them.
Shakuhachi turned and saw… nothing, at first. Then he looked down and found a pipsqueak about half his size maybe. He thought he sensed a high power level in this direction though? He looks around and tried to find who it was, but instead his sense zeroed in on the little fella. This guy was mutated too; even more so that the other one. Despite being short was fat, very fat. His skin was a sickly looking light green and his mouth was no mouth at all but a beak instead. All three of them were wearing blue gi’s and all three of them didn’t look happen with Shakuhachi’s presence. If diplomacy was ever option it was going to have to start now, with the little guy.
“Judging by your power level I’m going to have to assume you’re the one in charge, so hopefully you’re a bit more talkative than the others. My name is Shakuhachi, a Namekian from the Dragon Clan. I know that probably doesn’t sound like anything good to you but you need to hear me out. I was banished from my clan for ideas I proposed; ideas which I believe will be much better received by you and your people. I don’t mean to insult you with what I have to say but I don’t think you have the infrastructure for what I propose, which is why you should gather whatever supplies and men you have with you and come back with me so we can take over.”
The little guy stood in front of Shakuhachi for a while, not saying anything. Then, he leaped head first into the gut of the Namekian, which brought Shakuhachi to his knees. “I don’t know you, and I don’t care to. You’ve done a lot of talking so far but now it’s time to listen to what I have to say. My name is Taiko; my friends you don’t need to know. We don’t take kindly to people wondering to areas they don’t belong, and whatever crap it is you have to say I don’t believe a word of it. To you take us for fools? Because we don’t follow your conventions? Because we don’t bow and pray to king Guru every time he farts on his throne?”
The situation was going from bad to worse. “How many times have we been led astray by a straggler we found claiming to have information which can help us. Sometimes they have resources to offer, other times that offer to get outside in the capital so we can attack from within as you are now. Where has that gotten us? The answer is nowhere good and I don’t see what makes you any more trustworthy than the ones who came before you. I’d hazard a guess you probably have a few warriors just far enough away as not to arouse suspicion, but close enough to come and help in a situation like this, am I right or am I right?”
Suddenly things went quiet. Shakuhachi looked up at his now captor and waited for him to say something. “No…? Nothing yet. No surprise attack. Nothing at all? Maybe… maybe you are alone. But why? Perhaps it’s some sort of new tactic being tested to earn our trust. Or maybe you’re just a bigger idiot than you appear.” Taiko struck his finger out in each direction, gesturing for the other two to search the surrounding area. “I want to you go out and check things; and don’t get lazy. I expect a few miles each from the both of you. When you get back we can discuss things further, but for now I needed to know no one’s going to jump on else from behind.”
Shakuhachi saw an opportunity to get out of this situation, but it was bold. He waited a few minutes until he believed the others were out of hearing range, and then leaped on top of Taiko. “What the hell are you doing? Get the hell off of me!” What Shakuhachi lacked in strength, he could make up for in size. He completely engulfed the little Mazoku and quickly went to work. He tried to wrap is right arm around the throat of the demon to cut off his oxygen supply, but was met with an elbow to the gut which forced him off. “And to think you spoke of co-operation? It’s nice to see your true colors.” Taiko leaped into the fray and the battle begun.
Shakuhachi found himself holding up surprisingly well. It seems that maybe his estimations of this guy’s power were a little off. With each blow he was able to adequately defend himself, and his own strikes were finding the mark more often than not. A quick left hook dropped his opponent to his knees and caused a splatter of blood. “You damned fool. Why did I ever give you the chance? We should have just taken care of you while you were asleep.” Taiko got back up and sprinted at the rooted Shakuhachi. The Demon’s body suddenly became horizontal. Shakuhachi thought he was going for a drop kick and brought his arms up, but he thought wrong.
Instead Taiko slid between his legs. Before he could react he felt a crushing blow land near his tailbone, bringing him down to his knees. Taiko walked back around to the front and grabbed Shakuhachi by the chin. “I’m going to give you one more opportunity to tell me what you’re doing out here; the truth this time. If I don’t like what I hear then it’s going to be the last thing you’ll ever say!” Before Shakuhachi could ever tell him to piss off a flurry of head-butts took the words right out of his mouth. “Sorry, did I interrupt you? Ha!” The onslaught continued with the myriad of small bones comprising a Namekians face on their way to shattering.
Before this terrible fate could transpire a noise came from the woods. “What’s that? Are you two oafs back already? I thought I told you to go out at least a few miles before coming back. There’s no way you fools could have already made it that far and back so why are you here?” Unfortunately for Shakuhachi the two Mazoku allies of Taiko did indeed reveal themselves, and with them another Namek was behind them. They had stuffed a bag over his head, so Shakuhachi couldn’t tell who it was. It seems his hunch of being followed was correct, but he had no idea why anyone from the capital would still be following him. Did not they not trust that he would leave?
“So, who is he?” The two Mazoku looked at each other, a bit perplexed by the question. “Well we don’t really know. He’s not much of a talker, unlike this other guy. We roughed him up a bit but not even a word. I guess he’s probably from the capital too?” Taiko gestured for his face covering to be removed, which it was. Underneath the face of an old friend was revealed. “Biwa? Is that you? What the hell do you think you’re doing out here? You didn’t go ahead and get yourself exiled as well did you?” Before he could continue Taiko elbowed Shakuhachi in the gut, bringing him to the ground. “Well, now what are you going to do with the two of you I wonder?”
Before any decisions could be made, Biwa slammed his head into the leg of the Mazoku nearest to him, tripping him to the ground. Before the other could react Biwa used his extended leg to sweep him to the ground, giving him a moment of freedom. He quickly leaped into the aim and landed calmly next to Shakuhachi, helping him up of the ground and pulling him away from Taiko. “For all the sparring we ever did, you never learned anything did you? Here am I to save you; I better get a thank you at least.” Shakuhachi was helped to his feet and the two friends prepared for a fight. “Save is a strong word for what you did; lets at least what until we see how this plays out first.”
They were outnumbered three to two, and even if things were level their power levels were weaker. Not by too much, but enough to make a difference. The Demons were the more aggressive group, and wasted no time leaping into action and starting the attack. Shakuhachi and Biwa could barely handle the ferocity of the two lumbering fools but when Taiko leaped in behind them and starting launching strikes from behind they were suddenly dealing with a war on two fronts. They decided they needed to separate the group. Shakuhachi was the weaker of the two, and took the winged one by himself while Biwa tried to deal with the other two.
Shakuhachi knew that a one on one battle was likely to play into their hands, and so he instead would have to rely a little on strategy to win. He slowed him movement, feigning tiredness and apathy in an effort to bait his opponent in. This Mazoku fell right for it and leaped into the attack. When the enemy got close enough, Shakuhachi fell to the ground, extending both of his legs and grabbing a hold of the Demon’s front leg, eventually tripping him to the ground. Once on the ground he worked his way onto the enemies’ back where the old the whittled wings revealed themselves. He grabbed ahold of the weaker looking one and put all of his strength into ripping it off.
A bellowing cry came from the now defensives Namek, who tried desperately to get the assailant off of him to no avail. The wings themselves were already useless, but they were weak and allowed to an easy opening. Now there was a wound to be exploited, which Shakuhachi took no time in taking advantage of. He plunged his fist into the cavity and ripped out whatever organs he could get a hold of. The other Nameks suddenly stopped fighting and they looked over in disgust. Shakuhachi did not stop there however, instead he kept going back in for more; not stopping until he was satisfied that the job was done.
Eventually the body stopped moving, and Shakuhachi got back to his feet. “Alright, now. That’s one taken care of which makes this more of an even fight. You’ve seen what we can do so I’ll give you this opportunity to leave. If I were you I’d take it because this forgiving mood won’t last for long.” This comment seemed to only make the Mazoku leader even more pissed than he was before. “Who do you think you are to give orders to us? We could wipe you away if I only wished it so, and now you’ve earned my wrath so pre-.” Before he could finish, the other Demon turned on him, charging and discharging a ki blast in the middle of his speech and ending things one and for all.
Biwa and Shakuhachi looked at each other a bit surprised over what had happened. “Enough. Enough.” Shakuhachi walked over to the last remaining Demon and enquired further. The Demon revealed that he was no Demon at all; instead he was once a part of the Dragon Clan himself. Seeking adventure he ran away from home and eventually found the Mazoku he sought out. He too was not given any friendly welcome, being subjected to daily beatings until he finally broke. Eventually they put him to work as a part of a slave labor program. His mind began to crack and the further he went on the worse he became. Eventually when dealing with other slaves trapped as he was he became more and more savage.
His brutality eventually earned the favor of his masters and was freed to be one of them; which in the end was all he ever wanted. The years went on and he did unspeakable things in the name of the Mazoku, and to continue the bond he had with his captors. In the end he knew he would never be one of them, not fully and so there was never a dropping of tension, never a moment of ease where he could feel as though he was a peace. But seeing the boy here, on a similar plight to him, it awoken something inside of him which he thought had died long ago. Suddenly, the brutality and violence of his life was no longer something he could handle.
“Time to turn back.” He was a man of few words, describing things in a very simple way. He didn’t want to kill any more, in fact he didn’t want anything anymore. All he wanted now was peace, away from everything including the two boys he had saved here. He took his pack, turned in the opposite direction and left. Shakuhachi finally found himself at ease again, but not for long. The question of why Biwa was out here was still not answered yet. He wanted to trust that his friend had come out here with a good reason, because he wanted to help him or because he believed him. Unfortunately there was a part of them that doubted that.
“So, are we going to talk about this? There’s a reason why you’re here and I needed to know what it is before we go any further. I want to be able to trust you but right now I don’t know who I can trust.” At first, Biwa didn’t answer. Instead he rolled out a small blanket and lay out on the ground. “First, we sleep, and then we can talk. We’ve been through a lot in a short amount of time. We could both do with some rest.” That answer didn’t satisfy Shakuhachi, but Biwa had rolled over now and was clearly not interested in anything else that Shakuhachi had to say. With that, he didn’t have much of a choice but to also rest.
A few hours later he woke up to find that Biwa was missing. What the hell was going on now? Why would he come all this way just to abandon him again? He quickly got to his feet and started searching the surroundings for his friend. After a few minutes he came to a clearing in the forest that had small waterfall and lush scenery. He took a quick bath in the runoff before noticing a cave behind hidden behind the waterfall. When further investigating he found Biwa inside the cove training with himself. “Further out in the Northern Scar you could never find a place like this. If you did the fall would be made from lava instead. We we’re lucky with this place.”
“So, am I going to get an explanation now?” Biwa was still unresponsive to that. “First, we spar. It’s been awhile and I want to see how far you’ve come. I doubt you’ve surpassed me but there’s always the chance.” He didn’t even give Shakuhachi a chance to defend himself, instead throwing himself into action right away with a flurry of punches. The young Dragon only had the time to put his hands up in front of him and could barely defend himself. Biwa had become so much faster than he was before. Shakuhachi didn’t even notice in the right against the Mazoku had much he’s grown; If he thinks he’s stronger than Shakuhachi then he’s right.
All he could do was slowly give up ground with his arms up in front of him, waiting for some sort of opening. Eventually Biwa began to tire himself out, and Shakuhachi took advantage with a strong kick to his midsection. This rattled him, but he quickly shifted back into gear, overselling his pain to lure Shakuhachi in. Unfortunately he fell for the bait, and Biwa hit him with a strong upper cut when he had his guard down. Shakuhachi was now planted firmly on his ass, looking up at his friend who would give him no time to regain his composure. He appeared again in the air on top of him, about to throw down a first before he quickly rolled out of the way, leaving Biwa to hammer the ground instead.
Shakuhachi came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his midsection. With a firm grip he picked him up off the ground and ran straight forward into the nearest wall. He was hopping to face plant Biwa into the stone surface but at the last second the Warrior put his feet up in the air to stop the impact. This backfired however, as Shakuhachi was move with such force that instead the wall buckled under the pressure and Biwa’s legs were push into the wall. Shakuhachi let go, and now his friend was stuck inside of the wall parallel to the ground. He could have gone easy on him here, but he knew Biwa wouldn’t respect him if he did, so he kept going.
A barrage of elbows to the chest and midsection came down while Biwa could only try to dig his legs out of the wall. The longer this went on the more energy was being drained from him though, so he didn’t have any time to spare. He eventually he dug on his legs out and delivered a searing up-kick to the chin of Shakuhachi, which only brought him down to his knees. With this window Biwa freed himself from the wall and picked up a fist sized stone which had come down with him. He placed the stone on the shoulder of Shakuhachi, who was still on his knees dazed out of his mind, and then delivered a vicious roundhouse kick to the stone, driving it into the head of Shakuhachi.
This showed the ingenuity and sometimes cruelty which Biwa was not afraid to use. Shakuhachi dropped down to the ground now completely out of it. He felt his mind drifting away from him and needed to do something fast as the only thought in his mind was that the battle was not over yet. Up next was an unsophisticated but remarkably effective stop right to the gut which induced blood and vomit from the now prone Shakuhachi. “This is the best you can do? After all this time out by yourself I would have expected a bit more from you, and yet here we are again with me the victor. How many times have things played out like this?”
Shakuhachi crawled over to his friend and gave him the puppy-dog eyes. Biwa believed the battle to be over, but this was far from the case. With his guard now down, Shakuhachi struck. He elongated his arm behind the back of Biwa, out of his site, and grabbed another lose stone. Now his opportunity was open he brought his arm back in and plunged the stone through the exposed foot of the Warrior. The stone had no trouble piercing through the skin, but stopped at the bone. It would be enough to wound, but the damage would not be permanent. His scream from the pain pierced for miles and brought him down on his own ass, surrendering.
“You never were afraid to play dirty, were you? Fine. You win.” Shakuhachi was satisfied with his victory, but he was not satisfied with the lack of a straight answer. “I believe you still owe me an explanation as to why you’re here. Are you spying on me? If Guru wanted someone who could earn my trust then you certainly are the one who he would pick. Or maybe you’re here for your own reasons? You want to follow me? If you believed in my cause then you would have been on my side when I gave my arguments to Guru, but instead you were nowhere to be seen so I find that hard to believe. So why don’t you help me understand what’s going on.”
“I came to turn you away from the path you’re going down. I don’t know what it’s like to be banished, so I won’t pretend like I understand what you’re going through. But what I do know is that you have no idea what you’re getting into. You’re young; you don’t understand the Mazoku like I do. I’ve been told stories about their kind my whole life, I’ve even gone on expeditions into their land with the elders. These Namekians are unlike the one’s you’ve been dealing with your whole life. They aren’t kind and peaceful, and they won’t welcome you with open arms. You’ve already found out what they’re like last night. This crusade you’re on has to end.”
“So what am I to do instead? What other options do I have? I can’t ever explain to you what I feel, but I know that this is my destiny. I have to do this.” Biwa got back up onto his feet. “You’re wrong. Namek is not the only planet in the galaxy. There are other places you can go, things you can do. Mercenaries are always looking for new recruits and that seems like something you could do well.” Shakuhachi looked away in disgust. “Have you heard nothing of what I have to say? You should know that leaving Namek is something I’m not willing to do, not right now. Right now I’m needed here whether they know it or not.”
Biwa at this point was beginning to understand that the path his friend was going on was not something he could be easily steered away from. “This is really your choice then? You’re not even going to consider the alternatives?” Shakuhachi picked up Biwa’s pack and threw it to him. “As far as I’m concerned there aren’t any alternatives. I had hopped you weren’t like the others; that maybe you could see my point of view. Maybe you could even help me out. But now I can see that perhaps you are just like them. I have to thank you for helping me out last night, and for one more good sparring session, but you should head back now. I don’t think there’s anything here for you.”
Biwa looked back over to his friend. He was a little shocked that he couldn’t get through to him. Biwa had believed that all his talk and his actions thus far were of someone who was afraid and didn’t know where to go, but right now he was beginning to see differently. Shakuhachi knew exactly what he was doing, where he was going and there was nothing he could say that was going to change that. He felt disappointment; he knew that wherever Shakuhachi was going he wasn’t going to find the outcome he wanted. The most likely scenario was death, if he was lucky. But if that’s the choice he wanted to make then Biwa would just have to accept that.
“I guess you’re right then. I can see that this conversation is pointless, so I guess it’s time I take my leave. Just know that you always have other choice.” Biwa packed up his things and flew out of the waterfall with Shakuhachi following him. They landed on the ground just outside the cove and said their proper goodbyes. “I wish it didn’t have to be like this, but it does. In time, when I return, I think you’ll be able to understand better than you do now. I hope that you’ll all be able to understand what it is I have to do. But until then, I guess this will have to be goodbye. I trust you aren’t going to try and pull me out again, or send anyone else after me, will you?”
Biwa laughed at this. “No, I can see there’s no use to it all. You’ve made up your mind. Though I don’t see things working out for you, I hope that they do.” Biwa and Shakuhachi hugged, and then the Warrior left. Shakuhachi turned back to the waterfall, and thought about staying here for a while. It seemed nice and peaceful; not a bad home for someone in need of one. But then, everything went dark. A bag was draped over his head and two large powers grabbed a hold of him. “See, I told you I heard the scream coming from over here and look what we found. The other one looked bigger and stronger than this one does, but maybe we can still find a use for him.”
Shakuhachi tried to fight out of it, but the more he struggled the more he tired himself out. The sparring session took a lot out of him and he felt more bodies surrounding him. The last thing he heard before being knocked unconscious was the familiar voice of his friend shouting his name out. Shakuhachi and Biwa were found by someone, clearly they were friends. His lifeless body was dragged for miles away; he later woke up still inside of the bag but he could feel the heat getting more and more intense. Whoever had ahold of him was taking him closer to the First Scar, a land considered uninhabitable by most, but was known as home of the wildest Mazoku.