No man is an island, but isle be yours

Pom seemed to be adjusting to it just the same as Erys did, it wasn't like it was difficult to move in this world, but the last people he accidentally brought here with him was screaming. "You silly, you'd never get lost in here." Rhuba bumped up against him, teasing him as he sat down, for his earlier panic. "I'd find you, promise." Rhuba's tail gently swayed behind him, moving with his body in sort of a giddy fashion. Just as Pom grabbed his tail, he turned to him, and just as he tugged on it, Rhuba leaned forward and groaned lightly. No one's ever touched his tail, let alone grabbed and tugged. When he was younger they removed his tail, and he only recently started growing it back out. Once he realized the tail as a weakness, he trained it to be able to carry his own weight without issue. The difference here, is it was Pom, and Rhuba's never felt that part of his body being touched, so as he raised his head back up from his earlier bending, his face was already bright red.

"Y-you got me... he...h." He said, his breath close to being exasperated, he tried to cover it up with a slight chuckle but only an exasperated breath left his mouth as a 'heh.' Rhuba straightened his back, and coughed, his head swirling as he finally recognized Pom had said something to him, which snapped him back into it. "Oh, this?" Rhuba didn't open, but took it and held it out to Pom, pointing at the black and white drawings on it. "You might be able to say that. So, while in my mind, I can summon books with my memories in them." Rhuba glided his finger to each drawing, nodding and shaking his head between them. Some were clearly better than others, and Rhuba had skipped quite a few.

The entire cover itself had likely 20 drawings on the front. The book itself was white, but the spine was red. The drawings were clearly done by a child, though with inspection, one might be able to tell that this child had at least a slight knack for drawing. The renditions on the cover were mixed between knights, dragons, and wizards. Flipping the book over, he showed the back. It was a big drawing, it took the entire page. The only thing colored on the whole book was the single bang on the character on the back. It looked nothing like Rhuba does now, but it was clearly meant to be him, older, as a superhero. He had a red cape, and an intricately (for a child) designed suit.

"This one, hah." Tapping the drawing multiple times as he spoke, Rhuba felt silly about it remembering how it came to be. "I thought I'd grow up to be a super hero." Rhuba smiled, looking at Pom. "How about it? Did I do it?" Rhuba stood up, and turned around to Pom, placing the book on the nothingness bench vertically standing so he could see the picture. As he got into position, he pulled the same pose the drawing did. Hands on his hips, chest out, and looking slightly off to the side away from Pom. Glancing back down at the book a few times, he adjusted his clothes in the mindscape to be similar to the suit and cape he had drew as a kid. "Come on, I think I grew into it, right?" He joked, but not entirely. Rhuba did view himself as a superhero, even a god, yet those words meant slightly different things for him than others.

After the pose was perfect, Rhuba snapped his fingers and the book zipped from the nothingness bench to his hand. Walking over to the bench, he sat back down. "Okay, let's go. I wanna show you some childhood stuff! It'll be fun!" Rhuba's tail swung behind him ecstatically, his face full of excitement. Rhuba opened the book, and the entire landscape around them shifted, as if someone had rotated new images into existence right before your eyes. Rhuba wrapped his tail around Pom's waist a moment before the nothingness bench became part of it's namesake again, and it would force them to their feet. Rhuba used his tail to make sure Pom didn't fall, just as a safety net in case he didn't catch himself.

In front of the two was a little boy kneeling on the ground over a piece of dirty paper. The room itself was a tiny cement room, the walls cement, the door, everything, even the bed. Strangely, there was a cement bookshelf beside a standing mirror on the cement wall, more of a joke The Grandmaster thought was funny, teaching his slave how to read and making him somewhat literate, but not smart enough to use that literacy.

The little boy was biting his lip and was making wide strokes on the paper, the crayon he was using blackened both his hands, as it was charcoal from the mines. The little boy froze in time, as Rhuba paused the memory with another snap of his fingers. "Look! It's me!" Rhuba said, walking over to the frozen boy in the scene, and pointing at the boy, then him. "Weird, right?" He chuckled as he hoped to get a good response from this at least.

Rhuba's never made that noise before

WC:   895
TWC: 5,449

Base PL: 92,011

HP: 0%/250% (+0%)
KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Aggressive Attacker (1/1) | Zenkai (Inactive) | Raw Talent (2/2) | Noble Blood (+20% HP/+30% Critical Threshold)
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)

As the memory finally settled, the room became a bit clearer, more details would emerge out of thin air as if being drawn in front of them. "Tiny, yes." Rhuba shapeshifted into the same smaller version of himself, not even needing Parasitix due to them being in his own mind. Rhuba talked to Pom, through the child-like voice he once held, "I wanted to show you where I put on plays, and here it is!" Rhuba jumped slightly in excitement during his words, the child-like form he took made him feel the part again.

Rhuba didn't feel embarrassed about anything they were witnessing, the drab aesthetic is what he grew up in, and at this point, tended to enjoy a minimal lifestyle because of it. Only recently has Rhuba gotten into spending his money, and it was only ever on Pom, or something Pom related. Rhuba forced the memory to keep playing, the little memory version of him had just finished putting the finishing touches on his drawing. He looked to be about five, his face clean of scars, his little eyes sparkled with the same enthusiasm as you'd usually see on Rhuba. Though, you could tell there was still an air of innocence behind them.

"I don't remember how old I was then." Rhuba walked around the room, looking at all his old possessions, stone bed, standing mirror, bookshelf, and a single blanket. "They never told me how old I was, and because there was no windows," he said, still using the form and voice of the young Rhuba from the memory. "I didn't know when it was night or day." Rhuba laughed, as he slid his hand across the stone wall to feel the tally marks he had set.

"I thought I'd count the days, but got tired of that and gave up." The memory had kept going, little Rhuba picked up his new drawing and ecstatically jumped up and down as he rushed over to his bookshelf. Taking out a makeshift book, he flattened out the paper the best he could, and put it at the end of the book. The book itself was clearly just a bunch of papers taken and drawn on with chalk, some better than others.

Rhuba had noticed the lack of a tail on his younger self, which made him look behind him to see if his was still there. It was, just a mental holdover from his usual form. "Look, I got a tail this time. They would cut mine off. I didn't know why at the time, but I heard that some Saiyans can turn into a huge ape!" Rhuba grabbed his own tiny tail and shook it at Pom as he spoke, only to let it go with a sad look, having remembered that he's never once turned into one of those big apes.

Little Boy Rhuba!

WC:   475
TWC: 5,924

Base PL: 100,000

HP: 0%/250% (+0%)
KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Aggressive Attacker (1/1) | Zenkai (Inactive) | Raw Talent (2/2) | Noble Blood (+20% HP/+30% Critical Threshold)
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)

Rhuba wasn't as observant as usual, given that he felt excited showing Pom his younger self. Sure, it wasn't the best place, wasn't like where he was now, but it wasn't all that bad, right? Truly, Rhuba believed this, at least on the surface. His life wasn't the best, plus he didn't like that he was used as a slave, but he felt different when he was in this room. It was his, nothing bad happened here. When he would be brought back in after trainings, after teachings, it would end at the door and he'd be himself inside this room. This place wasn't the bad place, beyond that big concrete door was, the one that had no handle on the inside, but an outline that implied he would be moved if needed. Though the prison had no windows, at least he had a light switch for a single bulb above him! He was allowed to control it all himself! All the other slaves were so jealous.

Rhuba's master wasn't a fool either, he knew that even Saiyan children could be powerful and dangerous, but not if they believed they were supposed to be there, and had no reason to be dangerous to him. As a second safety net, Rhuba's tail was removed each time it began growing back. Later on in his life, at times he'd be given better accommodations once his subservience was no longer questionable. This stage of his training phase was to force him to be alone to deal with solitude, at a young age it would either break or mold him.

Rhuba had unfortunately been absorbed in the scenery, he hadn't came to this memory before today. He made sure he was good enough to sustain this magic for Pom, just to show him without issue. Rhuba knew this was what Earthlings do with people they enjoy spending time with, at least that's what he had seen and heard watching and listening to Earthling media while on Earth. They would share baby pictures, and childhood memories. Rhuba didn't have any pictures of him as a child, but a memory was even cooler, right? Earthlings would even put pictures up of each other in their houses! Oh, perhaps I could ask Pom to take pictures with me, so I can frame them?

Shaking his head of previous thoughts, he went back to looking at the walls. "Oh, and this right—" Rhuba turned to see Pom with a wry smile, but he could tell something was wrong, who couldn't. Pom wasn't able to hide it as a few tears came down. Why was Pom crying, was his drawings that bad. "What happened? My drawings were that bad?" He said the thought, as he thought it, chuckling to himself. There was no reason for Pom to be crying, even Rhuba knew this. It was just his room, and him, drawing! Even acknowledged by Rhuba himself, this was as wholesome as Rhuba gets!

Pom came over to Rhuba, and scooped him up. Behind him, what Rhuba had been gesturing to Pom was a charcoal drawing of a window on the wall behind him. All four walls looked like there were drawings on them at one point but scrubbed away. Rhuba wasn't allowed to draw on the wall, every time he did it was erased just like all the others. He was given a proper punishment and told to stop, but he never did stop drawing the exact same window. You would imagine he'd draw a cliche rectangle window, with a tree in the distance, maybe a bird in the sky, and a line for the grass. No, this was actually somewhat pear-shaped, outline denoting the edges of the 'window' and had a vague figure of a face looking into the window. The face resembled a Saiyan of some kind given that the hair was almost identical to Rhuba's own, at least as identical as a child using shards of coal can be.

Pom's words reached his ears, it wasn't a good voice, it was Pom, but once Rhuba had swallowed those words and started to digest what was going on, he felt the pit of his stomach well up with a new pain. Regret? No, it was different. What was this? It hurt his chest, and all the excitement from his face earlier washed away. A terrible fear consumed him. He must have hurt Pom somehow, but HOW? Rhuba scanned the area, looking for a clue, how did he cause this? Was it because he shapeshifted? He did promise not do that, it must have been that. No, it wasn't that, Pom would have just yelled at him for that... He had to have caused it, he made Pom cry.

"Wait, no, no, no. I didn't mean to make you cry. Wait, what happened?" Rhuba's breath quickened, the feeling in the pit of his stomach grew, bubbling up into his chest. No, this wasn't how this was supposed to go down. Pom didn't look happy, even if he tried. Rhuba knew now, the dam was open, the confusing torrent of emotions and pain caused him to step back into the wall, his back now pushing against the crudely drawn man. Rhuba wanted to change back to be himself again, but his mind wouldn't listen. Rhuba's tail stopped flailing anxiously behind him and just, fell off, hitting the ground with a thud and slowly shifting out of existence. He stayed in that form, exposed, scared, and unfortunately for Rhuba, Pom would be here for the entire experience.

Rhuba's breath quickened, "No, it wasn't supposed to. I didn't mean to—" Rhuba stopped himself, as the world around them fell out of place for a moment. Concepts rather than objects would shift into view around them slowly as Rhuba stared off into the distance, his memories forcibly being ripped out of him as he began to relive the moments he had suppressed many many times, even recently. Rhuba had wanted to end the Mind Walk, actively tried to, but wasn't able to. Pom had disappeared from his vision, he couldn't see them, but they were still there, where they had always been. Couldn't hear them, couldn't even sense them.

Pom's gone. Why was Pom gone? He said he would not lose them, he promised Pom he wouldn't let him get lost. No, no. Rhuba scanned the room, looking for an answer, looking for Pom. "P-Pom?" His voice was shaky, unable to put up the cool facade he usually did, doubled by the fact that he thought something bad might have happened to Pom, his eyes went from scanning, to frantically scanning as the memory was now frozen in time.

The feeling of falling overwhelmed them briefly, but they never left the concept of the space underneath them existing as a platform. Finally, it shifted back to an actual space that resembled reality, a front yard of a manor. Rhuba's appearance had shifted slightly, his red bang prominently present, as well as he looked a little bit older than his earlier appearance. Rhuba hadn't done this himself, he had no way to even know he looked this way. Rhuba's eyes laid upon his old master, his blood wanted to boil with rage, he wanted to lash out at him... he couldn't. Fear, his eyes cowered at the man, who stood just ahead of him. The men were positioned in front of Pom, standing in front of two children. One child was crying, afraid, cowering behind the other child. She was scared of the men in front of them, and was pleading with the child in front of her, telling him that he doesn't need to listen.

Rhuba heard the sobbing, turning to look at the two children. The first he laid eyes on was a very familiar face, his own. The one he bore now, slightly older from the one he was using earlier. The other one, no. "No." Rhuba mumbled in a whisper, backing away instinctively. "No, no, no." Rhuba didn't know what was happening. What was going on? "I didn't mean to, I didn't want to." The memory shifted again, the space around them felt similar to inside an elevator moving but in all directions at once. Rhuba was now in his room again, Rhuba was kneeling over a small basin, splashes of red in the water and on his hands. The little Saiyan washed his hands weeping, only slightly older than the memory they had first encountered whom had been drawing, there were quite a few more scrubbed out drawings on the walls in this room. Rhuba unknowingly, during this new memory shifted into a younger version of himself, tailless once more. 

"I don't remember th—" Again, it shifted back to outside the manor. The memory version of Rhuba's eyes darkened, his expression shifting fully right after The Grandmaster said something, "Red," as the first word, and then the next few of the words were censored in his memory, like a song that skipped in your CD player. The memory turned to the other child beside him, who began to back away from him, pleading. "No, no, no." Rhuba whimpered as he crouched down, pulling into his knees and tucked his head down covering his ears. It was just like the mind trap, the one that broke him! He wanted to die, wanted it to stop. He couldn't stop it, he was trying, it was doing everything on it's own now, Rhuba was just a passenger on a ride of his memories.

"NO!" He shouted, as the memory shifted again, moments after Rhuba lunged toward the child, a scream escaped her lips, while the memory, expressionless. The scene changed one last time, back to his concrete prison. The real Rhuba crouched, still as a child in the center of the room, hands covering his ears, eyes shut tight, head in his knees. Everything felt wrong, he didn't know what was happening, or even who he was at this point. He wanted to cry, but he couldn't, he felt the overwhelming emotions, but couldn't release them as he should, something somewhere in him was stopping him.

The sound of the concrete door sliding inward made Rhuba jump briefly, and push his hands harder into his head to try and block the sound out more. The absence of the door brought in natural light that extended from the door, to where Rhuba was crouched in the middle of the room. The memory Rhuba was of the same age as the real Rhuba again, and his expression was dark, empty, splotches of a red substance sprinkled around his hands.

The memory walked into his room, washed his hands in the water basin that he had in the corner, his face showing no sign of activity or care. Turning, he walked through the real Rhuba who was still holding his eyes shut and covering his ears in the center of the room. The memory phased through him and stood in front of the mirror, and smiled, his dark expression having vanished like it was never there. The force that stopped Pom from approaching Rhuba, and talking to Rhuba would no longer stop him, unless Pom had chosen to end his portion of the Mind Walk and attempt to wake Rhuba who was still stuck in his mind.

?? ?? ?? ??

WC:   1,893
TWC: 7,817

Base PL: 100,000

HP: 0%/250% (+0%)
KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Aggressive Attacker (1/1) | Zenkai (Inactive) | Raw Talent (2/2) | Noble Blood (+20% HP/+30% Critical Threshold)
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)

Silence, that's all he wanted now, it was so loud. He didn't need to hear this, it wasn't important. It was just another slave, it was a nobody, he'd do something like that in a heartbeat! I'd easily be able to snap the neck of my friend if I needed, I'd be able to do that without hesitation. So why, why does it hurt!? Wait, I'd be able to... Pom? Rhuba's little lips quivered, tears wanted to stream down his face, they didn't. No, not Pom. No, I can't. I wouldn't. I won't! Rhuba wanted to cry, the tears wanted to come, but none would.

Silence, more, deeper. It was getting quieter, it was quieter than quiet. It became loud again, Rhuba could hear the memory again. Had to make it quiet, it shouldn't be loud. Rhuba could feel it in his ears, it was quiet again. He could wake up, it was safe again. Open your eyes.

They were out of the memory, back in the car, Rhuba had leaned over closer to Pom so he could hold his shoulder in a much more comfortable position during the Mind Walk. Rhuba's tail, the little rascal, had found Pom's tail and twirled itself around it.

"I'd never hurt you Pom, you know that?" His eyes were still alight with the same giddy they had before the event that caused Rhuba DEFCON 1. The memory was a blur to him, he had slipped and fell. Why did he slip though, he remembered being surprised, but all he could muster were thoughts of the window he wanted to show Pom. It was a blur, a blur but also gone, like a whisper meant for someone else. They were close at this point, but it didn't bother Rhuba as he hadn't quite noticed it due to the general confusion caused by his memories.

"Pfft," Rhuba sighed, "Clearly I suck at this stuff, I couldn't even get this form to stay right. Tch." Rhuba's mouth went into a pout, then remembered Pom was there and looked away, trying to cover his expression, believing his reaction might make him look uncool. He had clearly messed up by somehow tripping and hitting his head, in a memory no less! It was uncool of him. Why else would his head and eyes hurt? Jeez. Why did I say that? Felt for a moment that if he didn't say it, he'd explode, like he would die.

Then he realized, he was very close to Pom. How long had it been? Not that long, no, they had just came back, right? Rhuba could feel an overwhelming sensation, he's held his hand, he's embraced him multiple times before, but he wanted to wrap his arms around him now. It was a deep desire, but he didn't know how to accomplish it. How could he? What would Maxsuz do? How would he conquer this battle? He'd kill it dead, atom by atom, obliteration. Well, that's out, can't do that to Pom. What else, what would he do here? He'd just take it, by force, yeah. No, take? From Pom? Rhuba wouldn't take from Pom.

Nervously, his tail squeezed Pom's tail as Rhuba tried to catch Pom's gaze, actually believing it may work as a good intimidation tactic to get what he wanted. Though, the moment his eyes laid upon Pom, it became extremely difficult for him to try and look intimidating. "Can I hug you?" Rhuba couldn't explain why he wanted that now, it felt urgent, the feeling stung. Maxsuz would say take, Rhuba would have taken from anyone else, but for Pom, he'll ask.

Rhuba asks Pom.

WC:   604
TWC: 8,421

Base PL: 100,000

HP: 0%/250% (+0%)
KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Aggressive Attacker (1/1) | Zenkai (Inactive) | Raw Talent (2/2) | Noble Blood (+20% HP/+30% Critical Threshold)
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)

Rhuba was acutely aware of Pom's shift in expression, to Rhuba, it was likelu due to Pom being disappointed that Rhuba had tripped. It wasn't his fault! Gah, couldn't remember what exactly happened! Rhuba nodded to Pom, confused by his words. "Of course I'm okay, what do you mean? All I did was trip..." He was embarrassed to admit it, but he found himself having a hard time looking away from Pom even in his embarrassment. It didn't matter anyway, for Pom already knew of his tripping, it was the only thing he could be referring to anyway.

"I only got to show you that one memory..." Pom squeezed his hand, Rhuba's face began to redden as the pace of his heart began to pick up. There it was again, at this point it was becoming an extreme annoyance. He couldn't do anything without feeling the impact from his allergy. Perhaps when the trip was over, he'd go to a doctor, or find some magic to cure his symptoms.

"What do you mean? Pretending? Again?" Rhuba looked absolutely puzzled, his hand sliding down Pom's shoulder slowly and gently as he thought about the question. His hand stopped short of his elbow, and he lightly held the man's bicep, mostly unaware that he had even done this. Pom was upset about something? Oh, the tripping! Pom was worried about him for tripping? Perhaps he had been too obvious with his pouting earlier, and Pom was worried that he was actually upset. "No, no. I'm fine. That was just a trip, I'm sorry, we only got to see my old room." Rhuba squeezed the man's bicep with his hand very gently, as kind of a way to emphasize his apology. Rhuba now fully aware that he had moved his hand down from Pom's shoulder, his face to start taking on the color of a tomato. Rhuba couldn't even feel disappointed in himself about the tripping anymore, as his gaze and thoughts were now captivated by the man in front of him.

I don't have to ask?! Is that what Pom said? I could hug him whenever I wanted? Was this really true, was this even legal? Rhuba's never cared about laws, but Pom's words made his pitch dark eyes light up in excitement. Rhuba quickly leaned into Pom and pulled himself into Pom, his arms snaked underneath Pom's and wrapped around his back while he leaned his head into his chest, close to his neck. He scooted himself to be as close to Pom as possible, luckily there was no console separating them so Rhuba was able to get extremely close.

Rhuba could feel his own heart beating faster, per usual. He was so close to Pom, he was so close that he could smell him. Pom's scent infiltrated his senses, something he had smelled before while carrying him, but now that Rhuba was this close, he could sense him much better, a similar experience to when he was teaching Pom to fly. There was no distractions, no flying, no landscapes. It was just Pom, it was just them.

Rhuba's racing heart slowed, Pom could feel the tension in Rhuba's body melt away as he pulled himself closer, and deeper into the hug. He didn't know why he wanted this, he didn't know why it felt so good to him. Rhuba had never experienced a hug before, it was another brand new experience. He knew the concept of a hug, he's seen people hug, he's never thought about doing it until now. This kind of affection existed, he knew that, but he didn't believe it was something designed for him. He either didn't care enough about people, and believed there would never be anyone that would even get close enough to him to do this.

For some reason, he began to feel better. Didn't realize why it felt better, or what exactly was feeling better, but the moment his arms wrapped around the man in front of him, he could only feel warmth and a mind numbing sense of completion.

Rhuba hugs Pom.

WC:   677
TWC: 9,098

Base PL: 100,000

HP: 0%/250% (+0%)
KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Aggressive Attacker (1/1) | Zenkai (Inactive) | Raw Talent (2/2) | Noble Blood (+20% HP/+30% Critical Threshold)
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)

His body relinquished itself to Pom, he felt lighter, his eyelids felt extremely heavy. "Pom..." Rhuba's voice came out weakly, tired, as if these were his last words. Rhuba's arms slowly lost their strength, his grip weakened around Pom as he was finally able to strain enough to open his eyes just to see if Pom was, in fact, still there.

Then it came, oxytocin, serotonin, his brain had been experiencing this briefly around Pom, but this was the first true contact Rhuba had with those in such high doses. Pom embraced him, and if magic wasn't real in the world, Rhuba would have believed in it now. It felt strange enough to be this close to Pom, but he couldn't even begin to describe the feeling he felt once he was in Pom's arms. It felt, safe? It felt, warm? It felt, good? Pom was safe, warm, and good. Rhuba's lips curled into a smile naturally, as if his body didn't know what to do with the overload of positive feelings, and had to release it through his expression.

Then another, more oxytocin, more serotonin. Pom's devilish hands gripped at his very soul the moment they touched his head. The feelings caused Rhuba's entire body to shiver, which vibrated all the way through to his tail, which was still wrapped against Pom's. After the first stroke of his hair, his tail stopped vibrating only to now lay loosely wrapped around Pom's. A deep connection unlocked, Pom has always been here, and always will be. There was nothing before this, nothing that mattered anymore. Rhuba was hooked.

A cold damp feeling rushed across his cheeks, as if it had somehow started raining inside the car. Pom would eventually feel a dampness on his shirt as well, as tears ran down Rhuba's face which was buried in his chest. The tears burst from his eyes, a dam that had been repaired one too many times. Rhuba had no idea why, he didn't even know he was crying, he was much too tired, and he had no reasons to cry, right? All he felt was an immense calm, nothing could go wrong in this moment, and nothing will ever go wrong.

His his eyelids were now much too heavy to lift, but he wanted to see Pom again. Rhuba struggled briefly to open his eyes, only to see a glimpse of teal through a watery blur before his eye shut. Why am I so... tired? This was the last question he asked himself before he fell into a deep sleep, his head nestled perfectly into Pom's chest. Restraining the memory into the deepest part of his mind had taken a huge toll on him, and that price was hitting him now.

Rhuba's power slips, as he weeps and sleeps

WC:   459
TWC: 9,547

Base PL: 100,000 Ki Setting > [50]

HP: 0%/250% (+0%)
KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Aggressive Attacker (1/1) | Zenkai (Inactive) | Raw Talent (2/2) | Noble Blood (+20% HP/+30% Critical Threshold)
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)

Rhuba floated down from the ether and landed in his mind, an unusual entrance for a Mind Walk. It wasn't something he had experienced outside of Mind Walking, and that one time where he had passed out. It was different, the darkness that had enveloped his entire mindscape had weakened in strengnth. Rhuba never thought it was something that could weaken. He stood in a mix of teal, red, and black space, splotches of white walls lined the old empty space. The light above him shifted on, glowing teal once again down on him.

Great, trapped here again? It wasn't all bad, at least. He knew where he was this time, but he wasn't able to stop it like he was when Walking with Pom. There was a certain dejavu vibe to it, being unable to wake up from this Mind Walk, that is. Huh, it's all different. Rhuba gazed down the corridors, where they used to be concepts of walls, had portions of those concepts painted in with white. Rhuba walked to the closest wall to him, a single book placed on the wall, and as he looked at the portions of the walls painted in closer, they were actually shelves of books.

Taking the book from the shelf, it looked old, like it was withering away. Opening it to the front page, the spine creaked, making Rhuba think he was about to rip it in half. As he looked down at the page, the area around him disappeared, as did the book. It was a blurry image, he felt warm. He wasn't able to move, but he could tell he was floating in something. There was a window in front of him, he was looking out of it. Two figures ahead of him.

He could see a streak of red move away from the window, and then a face approached it. It was hard to see, blurry. Rhuba looked on, wanting to squint, but unable to. Who was that? This was a memory, right? This meant that wherever he was, it was something he should remember. What is this? The face wasn't clear, but the hair, facial hair, the look, it was clearly a male Saiyan. From what he could tell, it looked like an older version of himself, perhaps the man's hair was a bit different, but he looked so similar. I don't see the future, right? He asked himself, now just fully accepting his inability to move. He could feel himself feel warm and nice as he looked at the figure through the window, the feelings of the memory leeching into him.

The memory ended, and the book collapsed into his hands into ashes as he appeared back in the corridors. "What?" Rhuba asked, out loud, to Pom. Rhuba's eyes opened, and immediately he could feel his body not respond as well as it should have. Uh oh. Rhuba could hardly lift his head, to look up at Pom. How long was I out? Rhuba's body felt good, but not good. He was extremely relaxed, but at the same time extremely exhausted. Quickly, he mustered his strength and lifted himself slightly off Pom. Wiping away the wetness on his face, and seeing the small wet area he left on Pom's clothes, caused his face to turn beet red. I fell asleep and drooled on Pom!? NOOOOO! Rhuba's face contorted multiple times in pure cringe, had this been anyone else he could have easily joked it off, but this was Pom we're talking about.

"I'm sorry for drooling on you." Rhuba felt embarrassed, more so than he has before, completely obvious by his glowing red cheeks. His words also came out slower than they should have, as if he had to think about each word before saying it. Rhuba weakly lifted his arm to Pom's chest, and with weak hands tried his best to wipe away the wet spot, as if that would help. Rhuba's eyes then caught glimpse of the landscape through the window behind them. The gravity barrier slowly began to melt away, it had already started at the top of the dome, but now it was reaching all sides. "We're here." Luckily, this snapped him out of his stupor from embarrassment, still red and reeling, but he had stopped trying to wipe the drool away and had actually returned his arm around Pom. He knew he was tired, but luckily he had also remembered that his men had told him the jungle was safe.

Rhuba realized he still had Pom in an embrace, and while staring at Pom directly, his heart began to pound in his chest. He didn't want to pull away, to end this magic they had created together. Pom was like a metal object in winter, and Rhuba was the unsuspecting teen told to lick said frozen metal. Pulling himself free from the embrace, it felt much harder to exist as the warmth of Pom was taken from him, and he began to regret ever pulling away.

The sounds of insects, littered the air as the gravity barrier finally dispersed. Looking out into the jungle that they had came to investigate, he could smell the magic in the air, stronger going further in. Rhuba could feel his energy, it was nothing, he couldn't even take Pom on in this condition. Feeling tired was one thing, but for some reason his energy reserves, even magic, they were done to nothing. No, no. That's not true, he couldn't be weak. This was just a small setback for now, and when he needs it, he'll be able to gather his strength. He thought to himself, trying his best to hype himself up, and gain resolve to not let Pom find out.

"It's deeper in." Rhuba pointed weakly toward the jungle edge as he sniffed the air, as if he was a dog pointing to it's owner where the scent was.

Rhuba's tail had regained a little bit of it's life, and instead of retreating like Rhuba did, it stayed around Pom's, now holding it much tighter. Rhuba hadn't even realized himself, as this just felt natural to him at this point.

Drool!?!

WC:   1,027
TWC: 10,574

Base PL: 100,000 Ki Setting > [75]

HP: 0%/250% (+0%)
KP: 6/6 (+0)
MP: 0/6 (+0)

Traits: Saiyan Pride (Inactive) | Aggressive Attacker (1/1) | Zenkai (Inactive) | Raw Talent (2/2) | Noble Blood (+20% HP/+30% Critical Threshold)
Items: Battle Armor (Unused) | Battle Liner (Unused)