The Belle of the Ball (Tarch, Invite)

This thread name makes me sad for unrelated nostalgic reasons.
Tarch PL: 5,000
Set to: 1,000

It wasn’t often Tarch was found on his own. It was even rarer he was seen willingly on his own. But if there was one thing Tarch wasn’t ever, it was a quitter. Especially when something as important as his reputation for petty thievery was on the line. It seemed a certain beetle was such an expert that he thought Tarch’s methods were boring. Of all people, he called HIM boring. Saying his style of quiet but effective was too droll and his loud and explosive methods were just plain no fun. This was all code for Chromo has no clue what realism is. But never one to turn down a challenge in light-hearted fun, Tarch told him that not only could he pull off the heist of the century, but he could do it both while being flashy and cool, but without being caught then be back before dinner. Best of all, he would do it without hurting anyone in the process!

Being slightly more methodical than his slightly dumb baby brother, Tarch would start small and work his way up. Nothing like a good old-fashioned convenient store shakedown to stretch the muscles. If Kon were here, she would probably do it quietly and sneaky, with one person running distraction. But For the first time, Tarch was stealing on his own. He had to plan accordingly. Oh! Maybe he could copy those cartoons. With a cheeky grin, Tarch threw open the doors.

Then, it began. In a speedy storm of afterimages, Tarch would zip around the store. One phantom making faces at the cashier, another shoving bottles of soda indiscriminately into his bookbag, another sticking his head under the slushy machine to try and pour the Hetap flavor directly into his mouth, and yet another taking a sip of coffee before spitting it out in disgust. How did adults even stand that stuff? To the average human, this was barely comprehensible. But any trained eye would easily spot the child running around without issue. Unfortunately in his haste, Tarch failed to sense the enormous power level inside trying to go about his day.

At his speed, Tarch almost mistook him for a giant statue made entirely out of bubble gum. He’d give the ‘statue’ a few pokes and prods and even a good sniff before realizing this was actually a person. A person carrying some goods. The prime target. Tarch put on the most apologetic face possible.

“S-sorry sir! But Imma need this! Really I am SO super sorry!” and he was too despite not even hurting him. This guy looked so cool! But Tarch couldn’t let Chromo get away with calling him boring. Still unaware of the power level, Tarch would attempt to yank the soda from the gum man. Should he succeed he would simply continue darting around. If not, however, he would stop, his icy blue eyes going wide with surprise and shocked realization.

What was this… man? One minute he’s pink and squishy the next he’s hard as steel. It was intimidating to be sure, but not anywhere near as much as his iron grip on his arm. Tarch pulled slightly, not budging an inch. He looked the being up and down, finally taking a moment to sense his power level. His heart sank into his stomach as he sensed what had to be the largest power level he felt ever. It was somehow higher than Chromo’s and he was supposed to be the strongest ever. Tarch’s light-hearted situation quickly became frightening.

“W-well t-technically I don’t k-know where my parents are…” Should he mention Aunt Tanga who was practically his mother, to begin with? No, this was a complete stranger and a scary one at that. “I-I w-wasn’t gonna hurt you s-sir. Honest!” If he even could. All the while Tarch would begin to tug his arm with more and more force, all to no avail.

“I-I just need to show my b-brother I can be cool on my own! S-so i-if I could just borrow that.” Out of fearful instinct, Tarch’s tail would start waving shakily, staying close to his body. If he had it his way, he would now be running off with his tail between his legs. Literally. But this steel gum man was just too strong to deal with on his own.

“Um… If you don’t m-mind me asking sir. What are you? I mean uh-!” That was far ruder than Tarch would have ever intended it to be. But between the incredible strength and odd pink body, this was not any of the aliens or fellow earth dwellers Tarch had ever heard of. “Wh-what I meant was, h-how are you so strong? I’m sorry I didn’t mean to be so rude. Y’know I’ll- I’ll just go. If uhh… if I can just-” Tarch would once more try to free himself. This was clearly not like any of his previous failed attempts of mischief. Those all boiled down to being caught by adults who brought them to justice so to speak. This was a real-life threat, one that a ten-year-old boy like himself had no idea how to react to properly other than aborting the mission.

“Well uh… A-actually I’m only half saiyan, see?” using his free hand, Tarch would pull his left eyelid down with his pinky. From what his Aunt told him, most Saiyans had dark eyes, while his were damn near cyan. Really, his eyes were inhumanly and insaiyanly blue. Maybe his father was a really small part alien. Regardless, his halfbreed nature didn’t seem to help anything at a glance. This Majin thing was living up to his own self-proclaimed spread of fear. “B-but uh I’ve never seen a Majin before. A-actually I’ve barely ever seen another Saiyan. M-maybe you can introduce me to them?” Despite the overwhelming dread, Tarch somehow managed to remain ever the optimist. Being raised by a scientist left him always wanting to know more about the world around him. No matter how scary this Majin was, he was still a mystery worth solving. Chromo would probably be pretty awestruck too. He loved food more than Tarch did, and this man was practically metal bubble gum.

“Oh, crud that’s right! Uh sir actually my little brother is waiting for me so i-if you could just-” Take him to the correct authorities?! Like the police?! The last time Tarch ever had an encounter with law enforcement he had to say goodbye to his big sister. There was no way in hifl he could do that to poor little Chromo. “NO! I mean uh- I-I actually live my Aunt Tanga at CURE labs see? You can just take me back to her right? Please please please don’t take me to the police! I need to stay with Chromo!”

Any fearful undertone disappeared as soon as the prospect hit Tarch’s mind. The idea of leaving his brother behind was a fate worse than death. The poor bio android already had few if any other friends. Even if he was the stronger of the two, Tarch knew he wasn’t strong enough to live without him. Leaving Tanga was bad enough, but Chromo, not the little demonic monkey lizard. Of course, comparing Tarch and Kon’s crimes were like comparing apples and oranges. Petty theft wouldn’t land a ten-year-old in prison, while Kon became a full-on murder. Not that a child such as Tarch knew any better.

“Please Mr. Majin, at least take me back to Chromo first? He’s waiting for me to come back!”

Metaphorical red flags and sirens should have been blaring in Tarch’s mind. But all he could feel was the huge wave of relief as his heartfelt plea seemed to reach the Majin’s… ears? Where those ears? More like holes on the side of his head. But obviously, he could hear, thank kami too because that meant he would be nice enough to take Tarch to his brother. Besides, even if this guy was dangerous, Chromo could handle it, right? Though it was a scarily impossible thought, this guy was stronger than Chromo. But was he stronger than the two brothers put together. Tarch’s tail gave an excited wag as his Saiyan genes flared up.

“Thank you, sir!” he breathed in a relieved sigh, “Chromo shouldn’t be too far away. We had a bet, see? I told him I could steal hetap and still be as cool as he is while doing it. Of course, I wasn’t gonna hurt anyone.” The naive innocence of youth. As long as he never actually hit anyone then he wasn’t hurting them. Or the naivety of believing that just because this majin wasn’t turning him in meant that he was automatically trustworthy. The store clerk seemed too scared and confused to react, allowing Tarch to lead his new “friend” outside and down the sidewalk.

“Around here? At least I thought so. Maybe he’s hiding.” Tarch took a deep breath, “HEY CHROMO! You gotta check this out! I met a bubblegum man! Kinda… He’s called a Majin!” At that he paused. Sure he had a name, but that didn’t really tell the Saiyan what that actually was. “Excuse me if I’m being rude again sir, but what exactly IS a Majin anyway? I mean I know you’re not actually bubblegum… Are you?” From the scholar approved poke and prod test, no he wasn’t. Maybe alien gum? Being raised by a scientist instilled a healthy if not overzealous curiosity in the boy.

Chromo

His own danger? Couldn’t be more oblivious. Chromo’s? A million and one nopes flooded into his brain all at once. Thankfully the miniature bug was already firmly latched onto his arm. Tarch’s cyan spheres widened, his hand slowly shifting to secure his brother just in case. The Majin was creepy at first. But with the mania written on his face and literally pooling from his mouth, Tarch was sure something bad was going to happen.

“Well uh,” he stammered, hoping to distract him, “he actually has my DNA whatever that is. So that means he’s part Saiyan too. So I can tell you… everything… so you don't have to... oh crud.” just as Tarch could continue his rambling, the majin would lunge at the two. Instinctively Tarch wrapped a hand around the beetle’s shell, attempted to pull him close and blurted out, “I’m faster,” in a hurried whisper. While it was true Chromo was the stronger of the siblings, Tarch’s speed was supposedly unmatched. Every test he performed for his Aunt showed incredible speed in spite of his only marginally high power level.

The last thing the Majin would see would be the panicked phantom image of Tarch carrying his brother like a small parcel on his shoulder. The question was, would he even manage to get far enough away? The magic bubblegum man effortlessly caught him back in the store. But that was an enclosed space. To further add to the situation, it was Faustus that had the prized drink in his hands that Tarch was after. It was poetic irony now that the roles were reversed.

“Now you see how he managed to catch me?” the halfbreed called to the hopefully still in his arms. Of course, he hadn’t expected him to actually have stretchy arms given how solid he was. This would be really cool if it wasn’t drop-dead scary. Speaking of which, he'd try and move his brother back to his shoulder, “while you’re up there look behind me and let me know if he’s gaining on us!”  It was around now he would likely notice whether his rescue attempt was a success, or if Chromo did something stupid like hop out to try and fight this thing.